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

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

Encore: “From the Author, and Behind the Scenes”

My friend Rachelle Ayala featured me and MAKE THAT DEUX in her BookChat post of April 9, 2013 in Rachelle’s Window…

Two sections in particular offer some insight about why I wrote the novel, and what was going on in my life while I did…

“From the Author:

A new world of adventure and romance opened up to me during my junior year of college when I was an exchange student in the south of France. Instead of living with a French family, however, I shared a beach apartment on the Mediterranean Sea with two other American girls, and I left my boyfriend behind in the U.S., unsure of whether our relationship would survive the time apart.

We three girls bought mopeds (mobylettes) to drive to and from our college campus in Montpellier, France, and we spent the year learning French, traveling and doing everything else that college girls do…

The year we shared made a big impact on me, and the three of us have stayed in touch since, even as our lives have taken different turns. When my children began growing up and moving out, I considered my long-held dream to become a writer. I decided to draw on my memories of my experience in France and write a novel set in the time I was there.

I felt that Jenny – with her innocence, naiveté and idealism (and that of her two roommates) – could be a fresh character in a literary world sometimes crowded with cynicism. While not everyone would identify with the girls’ belief in “The One,” many would relate to Jenny’s feelings dealing with a long-distance relationship, especially when other appealing men enter her life.

Through Jenny’s story, I wanted to show that even (and maybe, especially) for young people on the threshold of adulthood…

…love is possible and important, and that it’s okay not to want to “do life” alone, and to want to go through life with – and to love – another.

Behind the Scenes:

Lots of things happened while I wrote the book…

I got lots of feedback on different drafts of the story from my Writers Critique Group, several beta-readers, and some interested literary agents. I took all their advice to heart and revised the novel many, many times. I connected with one of the readers, who turned out to be the most helpful, through the friend of a friend.

Before I finished the novel, though, I took a break from writing/revising because one of my sons, age 19, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2010. He had two surgeries and 5 weeks of radiation therapy and was able to go back to college as a sophomore that fall. His second surgery was performed at Duke University Hospital by the renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Allan H. Friedman.

My son faced his illness with courage, strength and hope, and cheered me on in my writing. He is now cancer-free and involved with raising funds for cancer research at his university, and he will graduate later this year.

Just before I published MAKE THAT DEUX, I traveled to France to celebrate a milestone anniversary with my husband.

We did a tour of the south of France, visiting Montpellier and Palavas, where I had studied and lived, as well as other lovely spots, then spent several days in Paris. I was thrilled to go back to visit the place where I had spent my year in France and to show it to him.

When we returned, my mother was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. She moved in with us and had chemotherapy and radiation last fall, and she shared my excitement about publishing my book. Her cancer responded to treatment and she moved back home (a few miles away). She is now cancer-free.”

Mom and me at her college reunion in fall 2011

April 18, 2013 0

Make that TROIS (THREE)! My 3rd Guest Post…Merci!

Jill Edmondson, author of the Sasha Jackson Mysteries, invited me to write a guest post on her BLOG of today, April 17, 2013! Thanks, Jill!

Le sujet?

Dialogue! (and those pesky pronoms relatifs!) Let’s TALK about it!

Pre-book club dinner set-up: books + accoutrements. What do you recognize?

April 17, 2013 0

Une interview de 5 questions avec Rona. Merci, Madame!

My friend Rona Simmons has posted her recent interview with me about my novel MAKE THAT DEUX!

You can find mes reponses to her questions on the Review and Interviews page on her blog Write, Write, Write! Here’s part of Rona’s intro:

“As a member of the Atlanta Writers Club — purportedly the largest writer’s organization in the United States — I have had the opportunity to come to know a number of emerging and established writers and to read their works covering every genre, voice, and style and providing a wealth of innovative, insightful, and interesting reading.
A few weeks ago, I read a novel by fellow member Julia McDermott. A fun romp, the story follows the college age protagonist as she confronts a number of trials and tribulations during her Junior Year Abroad. Having learned that Julia herself spent time abroad, I was interested in exploring how much Julia drew from her own circumstances. I learned this and even more….”

Merci beaucoup, Madame! Voici les questions (cliquez sur son blog pour mes responses, s’il vous plaît):

1. Describe your book and why you chose to write it

2. What is your favorite passage and why?

3. Can you share the evolution of a few sentences of your writing … one that you labored over, revised and revised, and revised until it was just right and one that flew off the keyboard in final form, why did you make the changes you made to the first one and why did you particularly like the latter as it was?

4. How did you edit your manuscript, assuming you did at least some editing yourself? Did you read it aloud? What do you think, if you did, reading aloud does that reviewing on screen or in hard copy does not?

5. Would you share a favorite passage from one of your favorite authors? What makes this passage special to you?

April 13, 2013 0

“Be my guest,” she said!

Last month, I went to see Beauty and the Beast, performed by students at my kids’ high school. It was magnifique! Especially since I love pretty much anything French. My favorite song was “Be Our Guest.” Formidable!

Last week, my new friend Rachelle Ayala invited me to be her guest on her blog. Read about me and my book MAKE THAT DEUX here on her entry of today, April 9, 2013.

Merci, Rachelle!

April 9, 2013 0

Relationships: être ensemble – “to be together”

An article published today in the Wall Street Journal, Find a Man Today, Graduate Tomorrow by Emily Esfahani Smith is sure to spark some discussion.

The author (a member of Generation iY, or maybe just Y – and married) quotes her mother as telling her a few years ago: “You’re in college…There will never be a better time to meet someone…so start looking.”

Like Jenny, the main character in my novel MAKE THAT DEUX, I tend to like people who are direct – as long as they aren’t unkind or insensitive. I also happen to agree with that mom, who’s a member of my generation.

The Wedding Cake of a bride and groom

who met in college and got married last year

I know – declaring that I agree with her may not be wise. I’m sure that there are plenty of people who disagree – or, at least, who find that mom’s ~~instruction~~ advice ~~distasteful~~ ~~offensive~~ somewhat objectionable. I’m not fond of confrontation…but I think there’s more to college life than academics, and more to life afterward than career, for women – and for men.

In a word, relationships.

I suppose I’m biased, because I met my husband when we were in college. Many of my friends met their husbands years later, either at work or through friends. Some married after going to graduate school, after beginning their careers, or both. I wonder sometimes how difficult it was for them to find the right man.

A few of my friends met their husbands (and got married) younger than I did; I found “The One” – my One – in college. It was (and I’m sure still is) a great place to meet guys, and to get to know them. When your biggest stress is writing a paper or studying for an exam (or both), well, it’s not like having the responsibilities of adult life, even single adult life. Normally, when you’re in college, you have a lot more time available for friendships, fun and dating.

I didn’t set out “looking” for someone when I arrived at college, but I did look for relationships with friends – male and female – and I can’t imagine why young people today would not. You can have ~~your cake and eat it, too~~ relationships and achieve your academic and career goals, too. And sometimes, male friends can develop into something more…one of mine did.

I don’t apologize for finding the love of my life – or for him finding me – in college. Yes, we were both immature, but we matured together. I wanted company, and so did he. Turns out, initially, you’re going to be a rookie at adulthood. You can either do it alone, or do it with someone you love.

Perhaps because I did it with him, ça me fait en colère (it makes me mad) when I sometimes hear others say (self-righteously?) that it isn’t smart to do so… or that (since they did not?) no one should. Jenny in MAKE THAT DEUX (and her friends, and basically, her whole generation) believes that it’s just fine to find that special someone in college.

Pourquoi pas?

April 5, 2013 0

Allons à la plage (let’s go to the beach), Paperback Writer

“Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book*?

It took me years to write, will you take a look?”

– The Beatles, “Paperback Writer”

For ~~some~~ most authors, writing a novel takes years. One day, you sit down at a blank computer screen and begin. And one day – sometime later on – your book is published. I began writing my book, MAKE THAT DEUX, several years ago. Now it’s available as a paperback…and an e-book. (Click on my HOME page above, or on BOOK, for buy links.)

The main character, Jenny Miles, lives in an apartment right on the beach, during her year as a student in the south of France.

La plage in France last summer, in front of the apartment building where I lived as a student in 1979-80

Next week, I’m heading to an American beach for Spring Break. I’m looking forward to the sunshine and gentle ocean breezes; a few clouds or showers won’t bother me, as long as they don’t stick around. But no matter what the weather, I’m ready for sand and salty air while ~~reading~~ writing my next paperback (or e-book).

A vrai dire (to tell the truth), I’ll be doing both, in between long walks on the beach.

I hope to finish the draft of my work-in-progress (a Suspense novel) in the next few weeks. Then it’s time to revise, ask for feedback, revise, edit, and – one day – publish. After that, I’ll begin to write another story I’ve outlined (and that I can’t wait to start), then finish the (unnamed) sequel to MAKE THAT DEUX.

Because “I want to be a Paperback Writer.”

Joyeuses Pâques! (Happy Easter!)

* “It was… short.”

“I loved it.”

– Jacob and Robert Marley in A Muppet Christmas Carol.

March 31, 2013 0