A preview of the cover! Devinez (guess) the rest…

The cover for my new suspense novel has been chosen. Here’s a petit morsel of it:

The composition of this cover is simple in some ways, and complicated in others. The triangle effect, the size of the lettering and the font selection are important. So are the couleurs..

A few hints about the book (and cover):

– There’s a bit of français in this novel, but not near as much as in MAKE THAT DEUX.

– The title of the book has more than one meaning, and so do several chapter titles…

– The shades of color on the cover were difficult to decide

– One of the chapters in this book is entitled “Revelation” – I will reveal the title and full cover shortly!

Another petit morceau:

August 14, 2013 0

How Chapel Hill has changed, on the surface…and below

A few weeks ago, when I was in Chapel Hill, N.C., someone asked me what the town and university was like when I was a student at UNC (before and after my year in France). Was it very different? The answer is yes, and no.

The Old Well on UNC campus

Back then, life was simpler, more private, and much more dependent on serendipity. On the other hand, some things are much simpler now, like “typing” a paper and doing research. It’s easier to arrange a rendez-vous (“date?”) now, but even easier to renege on one. *

Very few students studied abroad when I was at UNC, and those who did applied for the (young) program through the Romance Languages Department in Dey Hall. Now, there’s a Study Abroad Office and a wealth of information available on the UNC Global website. And when I was a student, college debt was much less, even in “real dollars,” and few students signed up for it – college tuition was much more affordable, and so was a year abroad.

The UNC campus hasn’t changed much, except for many new buildings and, of course, fewer parking lots. The town has changed a bit, though. The Franklin Hotel stands close to the spot where the Greyhound Bus Station used to be. Lots of restaurants have come and gone (see below). Now, you go to the Dean Dome for basketball games (if you can get tickets) instead of Carmicheal Arena.

But the Post Office on Franklin Street remains where it was, and so do the Carolina Inn and Granville Towers. The Graduate Library, Wilson, still stands of course, and so do Morehead Planetarium, Playmakers Theatre and the Paul Green Theatre. If you want to live near campus, you can still find rentals on McCauley Street and West Cameron Avenue. And it’s still a short walk to Carrboro.

The house on West Cameron Avenue where I lived during my last year at UNC

When I was a student, I worked during the year to help pay expenses. I was a waitress at Spanky’s, the Carolina Coffee Shop, and at the Country Squire, a steakhouse located on the bus line between Chapel Hill and Durham (important, because I didn’t have a car). Spanky’s and CCS are still in business, but the Country Squire was torn down after I graduated, to make room for I-40.

Like any college town, many establishments have disappeared:

– Papagayo’s (new when I was a student)

– the Rathskeller (I only went there once)

– Krissa, a favorite Greek place

– the Yacht Club (fancy, but in a basement)

– Hector’s

– Sadlack’s (where my husband worked as a student)

– Roy Roger’s

– Harrison’s (another bar is there now, I think)

– the Mad Hatter

– the Shack

– Troll’s

– the Porthole, a restaurant in the alley next to CCS

But some remain:

– Four Corners

– La Residence

– Squid’s (in a different location now, I think)

– He’s Not Here

– the Station in Carrboro

– Aurora (moved)

– Breadman’s (also moved, but only across the street, and a bit different now)

– Crook’s Corner (way different, and in a different place)

– Pyewacket (used to be vegetarian)

– Ye Olde Waffle Shop, a CCS competitor

– and of course, Sutton’s Drug Store.

Below the surface changes, I’m sure that life as a UNC student is different now, but still the same in many, many ways. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…

Which is a very good thing.

* See my post of Sept. 19, 2012: Call me maybe, but don’t break my heart: Sortir avec quelqu’un

August 14, 2013 1

French leave, and a nouveau livre

I’m not sure if “French leave” is de rigueur en France, but if so, it would make sense – because the French seem to do so many things better.

Perhaps because I’m an introvert, leaving a party without bidding farewell to the host seems easier, less awkward, and more gracious – and even unselfish, in a way. You don’t have interrupt a conversation to announce your departure and your gratitude for having been invited. Since it’s socially acceptable, at times French leave is la solution parfaite, especially if you’re aren’t fond of goodbyes.

Jenny Miles, the protagonist in my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, is not particularly fond of them, but she’s not opposed to them, either. For Jenny, leaving someone she loves – or some place she loves – without saying goodbye is impossible. So, if her story had been titled FRENCH LEAVE – well, that would have just been wrong.

On the other hand, that title could have fit the story well. Pourquoi? Well, like me, Jenny’s an introvert. She also goes to parties. And she has some experience with being awkward…

My new book will be out shortly, and deciding its title was an easier process this time. I knew it needed to be in English (despite at least one scene in France), and I wanted it to be two words, at most. I wanted to simplify. I ended up with a title that has fewer words than MAKE THAT DEUX, but more syllables.

It was harder to decide on this one’s cover image,* however. I’ll reveal it in a future post, but first I wanted to show you a few snippets of the ones I reluctantly rejected. They’re displayed below, not in order of preference:

You may notice some things that these images have in common. Without revealing my new book’s title (yet), all I will say is that the cover image I chose is different from all the above in at least one important way – no, make that deux ways…

And it’s as fitting and apropos as French leave.

* My talented cover artist is Michael Faron; visit him at msfaron.com

August 5, 2013 0

Make that a Page-turner! (and cut it out)

While writing my upcoming Suspense novel, this is what I kept in mind: Make the reader want to turn that page. Make them want to know what happens next. Keep them wondering, and guessing.

You’d think that, in action scenes at least, that would mean get to the point, and move it along. Cut to the chase.

Well…yes and no.

Sometimes it does mean that – but not just in action scenes. In dialogue scenes and descriptions, my primary and continual goal was to move the plot forward, and to leave out anything that didn’t. Sometimes things moved quickly. But in some places, the idea was to move things along steadily – or somewhere between steadily and quickly.

Advance readers told me that – Yay! – this novel* IS a page-turner! But in working with my editor, I realized that one of the many things I needed to accomplish in revisions was to cut out unnecessary content.

Oops!

Basically, to cut to the chase. So, I (painfully) cut some things: if it wasn’t intriguing and/or necessary, it had to go.

[On the other hand, I had to (also painfully) add some scenes, tweak others and make several changes, which I did. But it was only painful at first; once I decided to get going, I dove in and kept on swimming.**]

Having spent time last week with lots of people who seem to encourage cutting to the chase when telling stories, it seemed appropriate that that was one of the things I was doing during my final revision to the book, whenever I had the time to work on it.

A different kind of “cut to the chase”:

What to do with what I had so carefully written, that now had to be removed? When I talked to my editor, she suggested that I save them and use them in upcoming blogposts, to show what might have been, kind of like “deleted scenes” in movies.

Perhaps. If it makes you wonder, and guess.

* The (one-word) title of which will be revealed in an upcoming post

** This (necessary) paragraph provides two clues to the aforesaid title; your guesses are welcome

July 19, 2013 2

“How is that romantic?” – 4 ways, and a comment

During a recent family vacances au Colorado, I was asked this question about Paris.

Imaginez! (Imagine!)

To be fair, I think the person who asked me has never been there. I joined in his conversation with another (male) family member about Italy and France, and I was ~~probably~~ the person who brought up the idea of romance. But when he asked the question, I was speechless at first. What was the answer, and how could he not know it?

I started to say something about the history, museums and art, and then he they quickly seemed to believe that it was that simple, and didn’t let me explique.* Non, messieurs! C’est pas vrai!

Because I’m an esprit de l’escalier** kind of woman, and a list-maker, I thought about it later, and here is the réponse I might have given:

1. It’s not just the art and history; it’s their relationship – their connection – to the people, and to the city. It’s something tout à fait français – absolutely French – and something you just feel. New York City and Washington D.C. have a lot of museums and history, but I don’t find either place particularly romantic. For other reasons, I really, really like them, though.

2. It’s the streets, the restaurants, the gardens and the neighborhoods of Paris…and it’s les français (the French) themselves. What (American) woman doesn’t know that Frenchmen are (normalement) très romantique?

3. It’s La Seine, the river that runs through Paris! A body of water*** (whether sea or river) at sunset or later, makes everything more intimate. How? Je ne sais pas.

La Seine

4. It’s l’amour – love. It’s in the air in Paris, whether you’ve just discovered one another, or are rediscovering…Trust me.

Enfin, the “comment:” Another (short) conversation came up about becoming fluent in French, and someone (who doesn’t speak a foreign language) asserted that “you have to live there.”

Hmm. I diligently studied the language, il y a longtemps et récemment, lived in France for a year as a student, and now I practice and speak it autant que possible. I’d love to live there again un jour, but in the meantime, I’m going to continue speaking it and improving my fluency. C’est possible, madame!

Sunrise at a beach on the Atlantic in Florida earlier this year

* With over thirty members of the famille converging in two cabins in the Rockies for a week, it was hard to finish your sentences without being interrupted (and I’m just a belle-fille et belle-soeur – much nicer sounding than ~~“outlaw”~~ daughter- and sister-in-law)

** See my post L’esprit de l’escalier, spiral staircases and faux-amis

*** While there’s romance in my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, there’s more water than romance in my upcoming Suspense novel…. More later!

July 17, 2013 0

Vive la différence: “And now for something completely different”

En ce moment, I’m in between WIPs (works-in-progress). Make that, my WIP of the past two years has become a Completed Work – for now, I’ll call it CW – and is in the hands of my editor. My next WIP is not exactly “in progress” yet; I’ve only written two pages.

But I’ve chosen the title for it, have the plot outlined (très important, as you might imagine), and even know to whom it will be dedicated. All that remains is to write the dang thing.*

My CW will be released later this summer or early fall. It’s very different from my first novel, MAKE THAT DEUX, and my next work will be very different from my CW. N’ayez pas peur: I’ve begun writing the sequel to MAKE THAT DEUX, but some major changes to my draft are necessary, including the setting.

Because change is good.

Δ

The mathematical – and Greek – symbol for change

Which brings me to the title of today’s post: two expressions très bien connus – very well known, I dare say. Tout le monde knows what Vive la différence means; it seems as American as it does French. As for “And now for something completely different”….well (if you don’t know), that’s the title of the 1971 film spun from the television series Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Actor John Cleese

It’s a great ~~expression~~ title, and it comes to mind when I compare my CW with MAKE THAT DEUX. The two novels are completely different, yet they share a few elements, such as scenes that take place in France (much fewer in my CW) and some lines in French…

Evidemment, I like doing, reading and writing different things, and I love memorable book and movie lines and titles. Perhaps ANFSCD was in my subconcious when I chose two characters’ names in my CW: Monty and John.

I also love French expressions, and I’ve learned some useful ones from my French prof. Here are a few that could describe some characters in my CW:

Elle a le coeur sur la main – She is very generous

Elle a du pain sur la planche – She has a lot of work (and things) to do

Elle est au bout du rouleau – She’s at the end of her rope

Il a un poil dans la main – He’s lazy

Il est timbré – He’s crazy!

Au fait (by the way), there’s more than one “She” and more than one “He,” as I’m sure you’ve guessed…

* Because now, it’s time for something completely different.

June 5, 2013 1

How I’m like my protagonist(s)

Remember that scene in the movie ELF when Buddy the Elf gets on an escalator for the first time? When he puts one foot on the moving staircase, holds onto both handrails and drags the other foot behind, doing a semi-split?

I’ve never done that on an escalator, but I’ve been known to get freaked out on them. If it’s impossible to hold the handrail – if I’m lugging large suitcases or carrying a heavy desktop computer – I ~~almost~~ can’t even get on. Elevators bother me, too, especially if I have to ride them alone; I always fear the thing will break down, and then I’ll panic so much, I won’t be able to call for help – or that if I can, it won’t come.

I’m able to dispel such elevator-fears if other people are riding with me. But then I always think of the fact that we’re suspended by cables, riding through space. Which arouses a whole new set of fears.

Jenny, the main character in my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, doesn’t have these phobias, but like me, she’s afraid of heights. Whether she’s in the Swiss Alps, the Medieval fortress of Carcassonne, France, or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, she’s afraid she’ll never make it down, or that one false move could be the end.

I’ve always been afraid of heights – that hasn’t changed – so it was natural to let Jenny have the same phobia since MAKE THAT DEUX is drawn from my own experience as an exchange student in France. Facing my phobia hasn’t cured it, malheureusement.

But here’s a list of places I have climbed or visited, in spite of my fear:

1. – 3. Those first three I mentioned above, where Jenny also went: the Alps, Carcassonne and the Leaning Tower;

4. The Colosseum in Rome (not a tower, I know, but it’s high)

5. (the top of) the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

6. Sacré-Coeur Basilica at Montmartre

7. (the top of) the Bell Tower at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (I know, not that high, but still)

8. The “nosebleed” seats in the Georgia Dome and Turner Field in Atlanta, and in Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia

9. The top of Stone Mountain, Georgia (I’ve hiked it several times, once while carrying a toddler all the way)

10. Numerous (steep) hiking trails in Arizona

11. The East Maui Volcano in Hawaii

12. Chateau Eza in Eze, France

13. The Empire State Building in New York

You may ask: What about the Eiffel Tower, pictured above next to the Leaning Tower and the Colosseum?I’ve walked over to it, but I’ve never ascended it. Last summer, in Paris with my husband, we decided it was too crowded to go up in the Tower (a good excuse).

However, I wanted to have a drink with him one evening, nearby or in it (if that can be done), to see it lit up at night. But we didn’t look into the possibility. Next time, perhaps.

I’m like Jenny in many other ways, but not all. Not even most, despite what those who know me might believe. The protagonist in my new novel (to be released later this year) is also like me in some ways. For example, “C” and I are of the exact same mind when it comes to jewelry: what we like and don’t like. And neither of us are fond of flying, though we do it.

But she’s her own person, with her own (deep) fears…

Stay tuned.

June 2, 2013 1

Par avion, with a kiss

“So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you’ll wait for me

Hold me like you’ll never let me go.

I’m leavin’ on a jet plane

I don’t know when I’ll be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go.”

– John Denver

Every couple has certain songs they know by heart.*

Like Jenny, the protagonist in my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, I ~~didn’t mind~~ almost enjoyed flying when I was younger…unless I was leaving behind someone I loved.

What once was an event – for which you dressed up – has changed. It’s now just a method of transportation that’s full of hassles and short of comfort, with bags, meals, and even legroom charged à la carte.

But some changes have been positive. No more smoking (if you don’t remember that, watch Mad Men). Better security, if ~~sometimes~~ aggravating. Presumably, better made airplanes. Cheaper flights? I suppose so, in “real dollars.”

The estimated cost of my round trip ticket from New York to Paris in 1979 and 1980 (with UNC’s Study Abroad group) was $385. Sounds affordable, but according to a Consumer Price Index calculator, that’s equal to $1233 today. I recently booked a round trip ticket from Rome to Atlanta for a family member for $1268.

[I know it was $385 because I saved the Estimated Costs information for my Year-in-Montpellier Program (based on 15 students in the group). Academic fees were estimated at $1,646 for the year. Lodging was $450, and ten months of meals totaled $820.]

In MAKE THAT DEUX, Jenny travels en avion, en train, en voiture (by car) and en mobylette (moped). She doesn’t hate to go to France, but she does hate to leave someone behind. She does it though, with a kiss…

In my upcoming novel, to be released later this summer, the main character (“C”) travels here and there by plane with the man she loves. She’s older than Jenny, and, like me, she’s not fond of flying. But she gets to travel the way I wish I could: first class, and sometimes by private jet – with ~~a kiss~~ kisses.

I won’t say where she and her boyfriend (“R”) go, or what happens while they travel together. But in an instant, everything changes…

*What are some of “your” songs? Here’s a few more of ours: “Danny’s Song” by Loggins and Messina; “Chuck E.’s in Love” by Rickie Lee Jones; “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers; and “Rescue Me” by Linda Rondstadt

May 28, 2013 3

“Why can’t WE be friends?”

My husband and I have many things in common, but certainly not everything.*

It’s the same way with most of my friends, and yes, he’s one of them – en fait, he’s my best friend. We believe that being each other’s best friend is not only possible, for us it’s pretty much imperative. Despite our “Mars/Venus” natures, we talk to each other, listen to each other and do things together.

And – we laugh with each other. Just like friends do.

Being each other’s best friend doesn’t mean we each don’t have other close friends. It also doesn’t mean we always communicate well, or that we always treat each other the way ~~friends~~ we should.

But we do keep trying.

Way back before we knew what we were getting into, we became friends (I kept telling him, “We’re just friends,” but luckily he didn’t take me seriously.) It was the 1970s, and a popular song was “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by the group WAR. We’ve sung the chorus to each other many times since then:

Why can’t WE be friends?

Why can’t WE – EE be friends?

WAR

And we laugh when we do.

We became more than friends, but friendship is still a solid basis for our relationship. We like to hang out with each other. We encourage each other’s interests, whether we share them or not. Yes, we sometimes take each other for granted, criticize and even hurt one another – but we always forgive. We count on each other, and together we’ve faced more than one crisis.

What about other friends? And other family? Friends are people I met, got to know, and with whom I somehow connected – we accepted each other as friends. We talk, we listen, we do things, and we laugh. We don’t criticize, we don’t boss each other around, and we don’t (normally) offer unsolicited advice.

Family members (besides mon mari) can be, well, not exactly like friends. Yes, we met and got to know each other, but we may not have connected as friends. Because we’re related, we’re sometimes together. Hopefully, we accept each other, talk and listen to each other, and maybe we share some laughs. We probably interrupt each other more than friends do, though. Ideally, we don’t criticize or tell each other what to do.

But when things aren’t exactly ideal, I often wonder why we can’t be friends. Why we can’t just treat each other the way friends do.

The answer is, we could if we wanted to – it would be much more fun than WAR.

* Another one of our oft-repeated song lines is from Bob Dylan: “We like the same things. We wear the same clothes.” Well, we don’t anymore…

May 25, 2013 1

May in France, and fluency

“Le joli mois de mai, où on ne travaille pas beaucoup!” – mon prof de français

In my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, Jenny’s goal is to become fluent in French. She prepares for her final exams – often the only grade given in a course – by working hard in May, not noticing much about what happens in France that month. When she takes a (final) oral exam, she….

Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

During the month of May in France, due to several holidays in quick succession, almost every week-end is a long weekend (on fait le pont). Mais ici, we only have one of those (Memorial Day Weekend), and it happens after all of the French ones.

Yesterday May 1st was la fête du muguet, porte-bonheur et la fête du Travail (Labor Day). Next Wednesday the 8th is la fête historique armistice (WW II Victory in Europe Day). Thursday May 9 is a religious holiday (fête religieuse catholique), l’Ascension, though tout le monde celebrates it, même si they aren’t religious. Ditto for Monday May 20, which is Pentecôte (Pentecost).

Le muguet (lily-of-the-valley) is la fleur du bonheur: in France, you give loved ones a little bouquet of it for good luck (porte-bonheur) and to celebrate the arrival of le printemps (spring). I suspect that today through Sunday, on fait le pont (everybody takes a long weekend), or maybe just tomorrow through Sunday.

Le muguet

Next week, with the 8th and 9th falling on Wednesday and Thursday, I’m not sure what on fait/one does. Perhaps one takes a very long weekend, working only next Monday and Tuesday, in a kind of work-reversal week (2 days on, 5 days off). Sounds very French, I dare say.

The following weekend, one celebrates Pentecôte by taking a third long weekend.

Three long weekends in a row! Quelle bonne idée! On the other hand, could that be exhausting? Peut-être, Monsieur!

First, there’s only so much relaxing one can do; staying busy (working) may be less tiresome. Second, if one travels during a long weekend, it could cost more than staying at home. Even if one visits family (for free), one’s routine is interrupted. Third – well, my husband and I have a saying taken from a WSJ article dated some time ago: “Work is Home, and Home is Work.”

Yes, that’s right: we often feel “at home” when we’re at work (and since I actually work at home, it gets complicated; happily, I have a home office). But when we are at home, we may feel like we are working. Working on our house, our chores, our projects, our parenting (though we’re almost out of that business), our marriage…and beaucoup de choses!

That doesn’t mean that being at home (and not at work) is hard – but it can be, whether that’s ~~evident~~ admissable to others or not. Which brings me to fluency: the ability to speak a language smoothly and with apparent ease.

Some people have a gift for languages; others claim to be truly fluent when they aren’t (quite). I speak French, though not as well (yet) as I speak English. Fluency in another language can be hard to achieve, unless you learn as a small child. But if you work at it – practice it until you feel at home, no matter how difficult or confusing it may be – at some point it doesn’t feel like work anymore; on ne travaille pas beaucoup!

At least, that’s ce qu’on me dit! (what I’m told!)

May 2, 2013 0