The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Hell hath no fury

What makes someone "go postal"? If you're a non-American and are hearing that expression for the first time, to "go postal" is an expression that describes what happens when postal employees go insane, either from the stress of working in the U.S. Postal Service or after being fired from the USPS (and clearly there are other contributing mental health issues), and they bring a gun to work and kill their coworkers and often anyone else who happens to be on the premises... like some innocent civilian who just wanted to buy a book of stamps. This began to happen with some regularity in the 80's and 90's, and after a string of them, someone cleverly coined the phrase and it stuck. Now, "going postal" is often applied to almost any situation where a person goes nuts with a gun. And it's often used with a bit of sarcastic humor when joking about our postal service (as in "You'd better tip your mailman at Christmas or he'll go postal on your ass!") Although we human beings often try to make light of tragedy, probably as a way of coping with painful things that defy common sense and explanation, it's a terrible... Read more →

A well-sent message

It's a landmark day in my life. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating un peu. But I just sent my first email completely in French! It is a rainy, dreary January day in New Jersey and I decided to go and look at the Paris Webcams to watch the people strolling and the traffic and the vedettes and bateaux-mouches on the Seine, since it's about 5pm in Paris right now, and if it is a sunny day in Paris the afternoon sunlight is really beautiful on the old buildings and monuments. But to my disappointment I noticed that most of the Wannadoo webcams were not working, including my favorite view of the Seine (although I did get a lovely look at Sacre Coeur with the sunlight falling on it, at just the right angle!) Normally if I was visiting a website and I noticed that something wasn't working properly, I'd fire off a note to the site's webmaster to let him or her know about it. But Wannadoo is a 100% French language website - no English version for me to cheat with fall back on. So being able to locate the Contact Us page and type off a short message... Read more →

Good one

Utterly hysterical: The Daily Mumps Read more →

Every 1 counts

I am just a big enough egotist to be excited about my Sitemeter hitting 5,000 visitors. As I write this, the meter is reading 4,978. So by the time you all read this AND the post I did earlier today, that ought to do it! What do I care that at least half of the 5,000 visitors probably wandered in here by mistake whilst Googling for fascinating topics such as: emotionally unavailable men why is my dog going bold [*I think they meant "bald"] still single after 40 (or) over 40 and still single 2005 email addresses of filling station owners in france [whassup with THAT?] jersey tomato 1001 ways to waste time making a living doing nothing mammograms suck turkey coma the translation of "foutre" Looking at this list of search keywords, I can't help but wonder... who does it say more about? The visitors, for Googling on this drivel? Or me, for writing the drivel that led these searchers here in the first place? Chicken and egg, I know. It took 6 months to hit 5,000. Let's see how fast we can hit the next level: 10,000 visitors! UPDATE: It's almost 10pm here in New Jersey and I... Read more →

Jane Austen, Macaroni & Cheese, and Changing Tastes

I am at a point in my life where my tastes seem to be leaning more toward the classics. Here I am, going on 45, and discovering Jane Austen at a time when it seems everyone else has "known" her for years. When I was in school, I'm embarrassed to say that studying the classics was a real bore. I preferred such high-brow novels as Barbara Cartland and the Harlequin romance novels (you know, the books where Fabio look-alikes posed for the covers with buxom young women with flowing long tresses), with a bit of Judith Krantz, Danielle Steele and Barbara Taylor Bradford thrown in for good measure. I mostly enjoyed romance novels that were set in foreign places and days gone by, and formed some of my early impressions of life in earlier times by reading about empire-waist gowns and how ladies never ventured out without gloves on their hands. I've always loved period films. From A Room With a View to Sense and Sensibility to Impromptu, I relish these glimpses into the past, brought to life again on the screen. Never mind that what we are shown is often a romanticized view of real life in the 18th... Read more →

Ticked off

There are few things in life more disgusting to me than finding a tick embedded in a dog (the obvious exception being if I found one embedded in myself, which I am relieved to say has not happened). I am one of the most squeamish women on earth and ticks are just plain GROSS. Having to deal with the existence of ticks ranks right down there with mice and spiders on my list of "reasons why I really DO need a man in my life". Yesterday I got to hang around my sister's gorgeous new house all by myself because she needed someone to be at home for the cable/internet repair guy. Well, I wasn't quite by myself: the family dog, Abby, was also at home. After taking her out for a short bio-break in the muddy, unlandscaped back yard, we came back inside... where I then spent 10 minutes trying to polish her muddy paw prints off the new hardwood floors ("My sister's gonna KILL me!") And where I spent 10 more minutes trying to figure out how to work their new wide-screen TV with fancy sound system and on-demand cable (requiring me to use all THREE remotes just... Read more →

Flippez la page!

Have you ever tried to get a French thought out of your English-oriented brain, only to have it sound like a Warner Brothers cartoon, à la Pepé Le Pew? Hilarious moment today in French class when Linda, a classmate, couldn't find the sentence our prof Martine was talking about. So I looked at her and said: Flippez la page! C'est là! ...when obviously what I really should have said was Tournez la page! It's another form of Franglish 101, taking an English verb and adding "-ez" to it to make it sound oh-so-French. Observez: To a Parisian taxi driver: Stop-ez here, s'il vous plaît. To a waiter in a French restaurant: I'll hav-ez the fish. And would you bring-ez moi a clean fork? Merci. To the conductor on a train: Could you tell-ez moi what time the train arrives in Lyon? Do we really think we're fooling anyone? Read more →

Busted!

While dog-sitting for Abby last week, during her family's move into their new dream home... OK, so she was lonesome and waiting for her family to come and take her home... Read more →

The adventure begins

So, last week I successfully launched my first book. (Yippee!!) Writing a book is no small task and this one started back in July, so essentially it took me 6 months to write and edit it, and get it set up on my web site as an e-book. Which isn't too shabby at all when you consider that I worked on it sporadically for most of that time. (Very few people can afford the luxury of being a full-time writer.) Since just after Christmas, I have been at it full tilt, however. My client workload was light, which was great because it gave me the space I needed to devote to finishing the book. There were a lot of very late nights involved as I finished the writing, edited and revised the book (over and over and over again) and tested the on-line shopping system to make sure people could actually buy it. After I finished it and officially launched it, I then sent off announcements to pretty much everyone I know: my friends and family, current and past clients, subscribers to my mailing list, and of course my blog readers. It's been a blast getting back dozens and dozens... Read more →

ANNOUNCING: The Writing Coach's Guide to FINALLY Writing Your Book!

Today is a day I have dreamed about for years. I am THRILLED to announce the publication of my first book, available on-line as an e-book: Attention, Aspiring Authors! If you have a book inside you waiting to get out, but you haven't been able to make it happen, let me be your personal Writing Coach and guide you through the process. You can't get published unless you actually WRITE it - so what are you waiting for? This 90-page e-book takes a "coaching approach" to helping you plan, write and publish your book, step-by-step, including: Understanding your motivation for writing your book What's getting in the way, and how to overcome obstacles Gaining self-confidence in your abilities as a writer (anyone can do this!) Creating a strategy and plan for writing your book How to decide if you need to hire an editor or ghostwriter Understanding your publishing options Tips and feedback from successful published authors A resource guide, and more! You can learn more, or buy and download your copy here. It's only $14.95 USD! Read more →