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List Post, juin 2016 (June)

Even though fall is my favorite season, I love May and June. It’s warm, but not too hot, and flowers are blooming…And this year, my wedding anniversary falls on Father’s Day, and last month, my son Jack’s birthday fell on Mother’s Day! 

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This month’s list:

  • I’ll soon be on the way to a very fun city out west to help celebrate my sis-in-law’s milestone birthday with a bunch of other members of the family. I’m told there will be T-shirts!
  • I’m appearing from 7pm to 9pm on June 15th at The Snug Gastro Pub in Canton, GA with 4 other local authors to do a book reading and sign books.
  • Publicity update: If you missed the Neighbor Newspapers/Marietta Daily Journal article about me and the Georgia Author of the Year Award nomination of ALL THE ABOVE, click here to read. Winners (and finalists) will be announced this Saturday night by the Georgia Writers Association.
  • There may be another article about it in a different Journal soon, so stay tuned…

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Wine with Wendy on Wednesday, numéro huit (8)

For our May lunch together, Wendy and I chose a French Bistro/restaurant called Atmosphère.

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I won’t be able to attend the Wine Tasting on June 1st, but we enjoyed a glass of rosé with our lunch. We had a leisurely, French déjeuner and chatted about a variety of sujets. She’s younger than me, has one more child than I do (and they’re all younger than my youngest), but we connect on so many things. I always learn things from her, too, and I love to find out what she’s doing.

She has a busy summer planned (and I have a fairly busy one ahead, too), so we may take a hiatus from our lunches until August. But we did pencil in late June as a possibility. I hope that works out, and if it does, of course I will write a post about it then 😉

By the way, atmosphère is a vrai-ami (literally, “true friend’): it means the same thing in French as ‘atmosphere’ does in English. How nice it was to go to Atmosphère with a vrai-ami !

 

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Pizza and a Movie: The Nice Guys

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Artichoke Hearts
  • Capers
  • Pineapple

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Movie:

The Nice Guys

I was all prepared to really like this Shane Black film, but I found it kind of disjointed and a bit of a mess, plot-wise. But because I prefer to talk about what I liked rather than criticize, here’s a (short) list of what I liked best:

  1. Ryan Gosling
  2. The actress who played his daughter (Angourie Rice)

I’m a fan of Russell Crowe, but I didn’t find him or his character very appealing. I did like Kim Basinger in it. I was okay with the movie being set in the late 1970s, too, and a kind of Lethal Weapon-ish redux (and Lethal Weapon is one of my all time favorite films), but this one just didn’t work for me.

Other films I’ve seen recently (sans the pizza) are Zootopia and The Money Monster. I thought the first was very entertaining, but I didn’t feel the same way about the second.

As for the pizza, I wanted only vegetables (and fruit), and he selected the artichoke hearts. You may have noticed we aren’t going every Friday anymore; sometimes we’ve been out of town, and other times, it didn’t fit into our weekend plans. For the next few months (at least), for the same reasons, we will probably only go once or twice a month.

And hopefully, the movies will get better!

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List Post, mai 2016 (May)

Because I recently sent my bimonthly newletter* (and a previous announcement, about my new novel, DADDY’S GIRL), this monthly List Post is different.

I won’t list my upcoming events** and travel plans, but focus instead on this Sunday, May 8: Mother’s Day, my son Jack’s birthday, and the sixth anniversary of day Jack (and his dad and I) learned he had a brain tumor.*** Read ALL THE ABOVE for more about that.

Two things about Mother’s Day:

  1. Something memorable happens on a Mother’s Day in DADDY’S GIRL. Be the first to comment, explaining what happens, to whom, and when – and win a free, signed copy of the book!
  2. I have four children, and have celebrated many Mother’s Days. The photo below is of my absolute favorite Mother’s Day gift, ever. My daughter made it in school a long time ago, when she was very young. Her “9 Reasons” were spot on about me, and they melted my heart! (side note: this was when I was into scrapbooking, and I made one for each kid – her and her three older brothers).

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In “List” format:

  • She always knows when to give a hug!
  • Knows how to break up a fight.
  • Can sometimes be a little pushy about what she wants!
  • Warning! Can get very emotional.
  • Loves to go to the movies!
  • Knows where to go shopping.
  • Can drive U Nuts! but is still as sweet as can be!!
  • Doesn’t yell unless needed to.
  • She’s the best scrapbooker I know!

*sign up to receive it, under FOR READERS and NEWSLETTER

**see EVENTS

***A friend recently told me she didn’t know that it was malignant – maybe because we were so private about it in the beginning, and we desperately hoped that it was benign. If you read ALL THE ABOVE, you’ll understand. One reason I wrote the book was to tell the true story; another reason was to try to touch others.

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Pizza and a Movie: Eye in the Sky

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Pineapple
  • Portobellos
  • Red Onions

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Movie:

Eye in the Sky

I wanted a vegetarian pizza, and so this is what we chose. It was très bon.

As for the film…well, he picked it. I wanted to see Everybody Wants Some!! but he convinced me that it would be out for at least a few weeks, so we can see it next time, whereas as Eye in the Sky may be getting close to the end of its run.

(He later mentioned wanting to see The Jungle Book sometime too, which totally surprised me.)

Anyway, take Helen Mirren (wonderful), add a war movie of sorts (think: drone strike), add a little girl who just wants to sell bread (unfortunately, near the target), and…well, you get the idea. Oh, and throw in the British and Americans arguing about it.

I can’t say I loved it, but I did enjoy watching it, for the most part. A bonus for me was that Aaron Paul (who played Jesse in Breaking Bad) was in this movie. Jesse was my favorite character in BB, and in this, he almost seemed like he was still Jesse (in a good way). Two other notables: Alan Rickman, and Jeremy North. The latter was in a movie I LOVE called The Winslow Boy (think: England in the early 20th century – he was great in it).

I’m looking forward to something a little less serious and intense when we go see Everybody Wants Some!! ….The title alone has hooked me (!!)

 

 

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Wine with Wendy on Wednesday, numéro sept

Hours before my new suspense novel DADDY’S GIRL was published, Wendy and I met for lunch at one of the (new) French restaurants we had been to once before. But this time, we sat outside.

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Our table was to the left of the side window

Le restaurant? Le Bilboquet.

It’s always so much fun to catch up with Wendy, hear about her kids (side note: four out of the five have a “y” in their name), her travels, her adventures, and talk about art, books, and movies.

It was delightful sitting outside in this new Buckhead shops and restaurant enclave, unimaginatively dubbed The Shops of Buckhead Atlanta, on Peachtree Road. I had rosé, she had chardonnay, and we each ordered something très bon et très français. 

(I just love how Wendy and I are both interested in French – although she is taking a needed break right now from French classes.)

De toute façon – anyway – our lunch lasted well over an hour  an hour and a half, and we both felt at the end that time had flown. A talented artist, Wendy gave me some great feedback recently about the details on the cover of DADDY’S GIRL. I have learned so much about art from her (my all-time favorite course I ever took was Art History). We also talked books: the great, the good, the fair, and the I-don’t-recommend-you-read-this-but-somehow-I-finished it. And we discussed the publishing industry and talked a little about films.

Wendy has never been to Paris (!) and I told her that when she does, she must visit the Musée d’Orsay to see all the Impressionists’ works there. (I would love to go with her.)

Afterward, I’m sure we would find a lovely French restaurant or café for lunch. 🇫🇷

 

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Publication day for DADDY’S GIRL!

My women’s fiction/psychological suspense novel DADDY’S GIRL is out today! Find it on Amazon, or download it on your Kindle!

A spoiled, entitled princess risks it all to join a technology startup, loses it all, and then embarks on a mission of revenge and retribution.

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Pizza and a Movie: The Martian

This Last weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Arugula
  • Bacon
  • Sun Dried Tomatoes

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Movie:

The Martian

Yes, I know this movie is no longer playing in theaters. We missed it when it was,* and since nothing at the cinema at the moment seemed interesting, we decided to go home and watch this film.

We had both recently read the book, and we both liked the movie. But, as is often the case, the book was better, and there were some things left out of the film 😦 But it was still really good.

What made it really good, for me (now I wish it had won an Academy Award; I think it was nominated for 3, including Adapted Screenplay, yay) weren’t the science of it, or the special effects. I don’t even (normally) like science fiction. Though I know we aren’t sending people to (make that, leaving people on) Mars yet, I felt like this story could actually be happening. Now.

No, what made it so good were A, the characters (all) – notice I didn’t say actors, though it was well cast; B, the humor (mostly in dialogue); and C, the story itself. And B was the best. Same thing for the novel by Andy Weir, which I highly recommend.

When is Hollywood going to figure out that it’s about the writing?

We passed on going to see The Boss, and I guess we will go see that soon. I hear it’s funny. However, it will be a different kind of humor than what Weir did in his book, and what was in the movie.

Now for the pizza. He wanted Arugula. The other toppings gave it the crunch and the tang (and flavor) we wanted. Yum.

Bon appétit.

*Two others we missed and plan to watch at home are Mad Max: Fury Road and Steve Jobs. We did see Creed, though, and it was fantastic. Blood and all.

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Cover Reveal: Daddy’s Girl

After rejecting 2 earlier (working) titles, and 3 other (very different) cover images, the cover for my new suspense novel, DADDY’S GIRL, is set in stone! I can’t wait until it’s published, only days from now!

What’s it about?

A spoiled, entitled princess risks it all to join a technology startup, loses it all, and then embarks on a mission of revenge and retribution…

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List Post, avril 2016 (April)

  • My next novel will be published this month! The title is DADDY’S GIRL, and the genre is women’s fiction/psychological suspense (with an emphasis on the latter). Choosing the cover was difficult, but I love it. Stay tuned to my blog for a preview of the cover and for the exact publication date!
  • I’m getting great feedback from both writers groups I’m in, on my work-in-progress, which is another novel. Thanks, Linda Sands, for connecting me to the newer one!
  • I’ve been selected to be a nonfiction presenting author at the Milton Literary Festival this fall. Read my updated bio here.
  • In case you’re wondering, we skipped a few Pizza and a Movie Fridays recently. There aren’t many films out right now that we want to see. 😒
  • Later this month, I’ll join phenomenal photographer Lynn Crow and Beautycounter consultant extraordinaire Valerie Langman, at a Social in Johns Creek, GA, to benefit CURE Childhood Cancer. I’ll be signing copies of ALL THE ABOVE, UNDERWATER, and possibly, DADDY’S GIRL!  See my Events Tab for more information. 😀

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