The Pillow Project

David Barnes of Spoken Word Paris reading while a member of the Pillow Project riffs

Hello friends,

Here’s your helping of a random (art) happening around town.

This past Tuesday The Pillow Project paid a visit to Shakespeare & Co. The Pittsburgh-based troupe plays “freejazz,” an improvisational form they describe as “using the body as the instrument playing visual notes.”

The experimental group is starting to forge deeper ties to Paris. On hand for this week’s event were members of the city’s active spoken word scene.

For non-French speakers, there’s a lot of blood and torture in the text!

Passing Love

In 1999, after years of working in the corporate world, Jacqueline Luckett took a creative writing class on a dare.

She hasn’t looked back since.

Now the author of two novels and a core member of a writers group featured in O Magazine, Luckett is an inspiration for those wondering about the possibilities of their lives. “I’ve finally begun to understand that it doesn’t matter how long it takes to get around to fulfilling your dream,” she writes in a blog post discussing her love of Paris and writing, “just as long as we have them and try our best to fulfill them.”

Both of Luckett’s novels – Searching for Tina Turner and this year’s Passing Love – center on women seeking a change. I think you’ll agree that Luckett proves it’s never too late to chase what you want – and that it’s the journey that counts.

Thanks so much to Jackie for coming on the blog today.

Your protagonist, Nicole, dreamed about Paris since the time she was a little girl, yet doesn’t make it to the city until she’s in her mid-50s. For you, what is it about Paris that inspires people to dream? And why were you drawn to set the novel here?

I’ve been in love with Paris for a long time, yet I never pushed myself to visit. I wasn’t adventurous in my twenties and I kept waiting for someone to go with me. That’s partly the basis for Nicole’s failure to fulfill her promise. But she served the old adage—“Better late than never”—quite well.

My mother told me after reading Passing Love, that she always thought I was a natural dreamer and drama queen. Though I’ve never thought of myself that way, Paris inspires me to express what my mother seems to have known all along. Why not?! I love the anonymity I have when I’m in Paris. No one cares what I do, what I wear, or what I look like, and I feel a freedom that’s different from when I’m at home in California.

For Americans, particularly those of us on the West Coast, Paris with its old buildings, its streets cobbled with stones that have been there for decades, if not centuries, is very different from where we live. Sure, there are old buildings in the United States, but in California they don’t date much before the 19th Century. So we’re in awe of what we see in Paris. Movies, books and photographs have fed our curiosity and set our expectations about Paris. So much so that I think we go there prepared to do and be different from our everyday selves.

We gawk at the towering peaks of Notre Dame and wonder about The Hunchback. If it’s raining, we conjure up Gene Kelly dancing in the rain. Or Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier playing jazz in Paris nightclubs. We let our imaginations run free as we wander about the city admiring the fashions, eating the food, listening to French and wishing we’d paid more attention to our high school French teachers.

Because Paris is so culturally different than U.S. cities, it spurs new thoughts and behaviors. It sparks our imaginations because our senses are constantly presented with new images, sounds, and smells: rose petals scattered on a florist’s floor, an afternoon of people-watching and sipping espresso at an outdoor café—especially if it’s a café as well-known as Café Aux Deux Magots. There we imagine what life must have been like for the American authors who sat in those caned chairs writing novels and poetry.

In Passing Love, I wanted to write a story about women who challenged themselves to step beyond ordinary. Sure, this could have happened in any other city. Truthfully, because of my affection for (and emotional connection to) Paris, it was the logical place for my characters to be.

Soaking up Sunshine; Stocking up on Books

Lazing around Le Square du Vert-Galant

Pont Neuf Bridge

Luxembourg Gardens

Spring. Is. Amazing.

It makes me want to dance!

Books, Glorious Books!

Sunday was one of my favorite semi-annual events in Paris: the English-language used book sale!

Twice a year SOS Help holds a 4-hour extravaganza where eager Anglophones come to stock up on new (to them) reads.

I like that the money goes toward a good cause, but selfishly what I really like are the prices. All paperbacks go for 1 euro, hardcovers for 2.

Guess how many I picked up? 35!

My loot from the book sale

This was the limit of the cash in my wallet and the amount I could physically carry back with me on the metro. I always come equipped with a large bag to the sale, but what I really need is a rolling cart!

Strangers in Paris (Book + Launch Party!)

Well here’s the thing to get me back into Paris and the writing life.

I recently had a story published in a new anthology entitled “Strangers in Paris: New Writing from the City of Light.” The book features lots of great contributors (including John Berger and poet Alice Notley!).

I have no idea how the heck I ended up in such good company, but I’m thrilled!

The Paris launch of the book will be this coming Monday, July 25, at Shakespeare & Co. Ten or so contributors will be reading. I’m excited and nervous to be one of them.

In the Past Imperfect

For the second day in a row, I had a lovely writer double date. Yesterday I met up with Karin of An Alien Parisienne and Isabelle Solal at Buttes Chaumont, my favorite Paris park.

Topics of conversation were mainly about writing craft, though there was a fair bit of girly talk, too.

Isabelle recently took the plunge and put her debut novel directly onto Amazon’s Kindle Store. As I’ve been watching the current traditional vs self-publishing show-down with rapt attention, you better believe I’ll be following her journey. I’ll borrow any tips should I decide to go that route.

I’ve already learned from Isabelle that I don’t actually need a Kindle to read an ebook for Kindle. (Who knew?) You can download a copy to your computer.

I haven’t yet had a chance to read In the Past Imperfect, but if it’s as light and bright as Isa, it should be fun. It’s an updated take on Persuasion with a twist – and transported to France.

Author Interview: Laura Furman

Photo credit: Ave Bonar

Laura Furman is an award-winning fiction and nonfiction writer and teacher. Her new collection of short stories, The Mother Who Stayed, out last month, is already receiving rave reviews.

Short story writers the world over also hope to catch Ms. Furman’s eye, as she is the editor of the prestigious PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories series featuring some of the best short stories written in the English-language today.

I caught up with her after a recent reading at the American Library of Paris to talk about publishing, Paris, and not trying to please anyone with your work until it’s done.

Café Livre and Lots of Book Love

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about real books versus e-books, traditional versus independent publishing. The digital explosion means new possibilities for writers and readers in so many different ways. I’ve loved creating a cyber community that feels just as strong as my on-the-ground network (hmm, does that say something about my social skills?).

This blog and you lovely readers are now such a happy part of my life; I’m thankful for the Internet, for new technology that has revolutionized the way we communicate, how we stay in touch. So much information streaming at me from one little screen.

I dream of seeing my words in both print and electronic formats now.

Still, I love books. The kind I grew up with. What would we lose if they all ended up in a computer or on a wireless device? Ink on paper. Another person’s mind and imagination captured in a concrete creation. A book you can hold in your hands.

Library Lust

My mom has been a librarian my whole life. I don’t know if this contributed to my writerly aspirations, but it certainly didn’t hurt. Our quality time often saw us curled up on our respective couches, good book in hand. Who said I needed to move to France to learn about the simple pleasures of life?

Just why it took me so long to go to the public library in Paris, then, I really can’t say. My source of English-language books has thus far been bookstores (and a semi-annual booksale where paperbacks are only a euro! Details below**)

My other English language escape is, of course, the Internet. I am simultaneously in love/in hate with the Internet. Living abroad I’m thankful for how easy it is to stay in touch with everyone and get news from home. But I also fall victim to the web’s siren song. Somehow a 2-minute email check turns into a 2-hour black hole, time disappearing into it.

I have a lot of writing I want to do. Yet my best laid plans are often interrupted by my (almost) addiction. (Or should I say my addiction is sometimes interrupted by writing).

Trying to get a handle on this, I’ve set up lots of little tricks. I’ve gone so far as to install a program called “Freedom” that makes it impossible for me to connect to the Internet for a set amount of time (thank you, Freedom!)

But it’s not only the Internet. Working at home I find a myriad of distractions, even away from the computer screen. (Why do I always decide I must eat when I can’t think of the next sentence?) So yesterday I decided to run away from my house. And the library was my savior.

Turns out you can’t actually run away from the Internet at a public library. (Don’t worry, I knew that. I’m not that behind the times). It does offer a more serious atmosphere, however, and it reminds me that I’m not there to play. (Though in my early Paris days, I was intrigued by the fact that many libraries were equipped with “discothèques”. When I learned this only meant a music collection and not strobe lights and disco balls, I was quietly disappointed).

Unassuming library book display...

As I was leaving the library, I noticed a display of women’s titles laid neatly on a table. I’m sure it had been in honor of International Women’s Day on Monday.

...until I saw this

And then I really noticed one of the books: Le Petit Bout de Bonheur (The Little Tip of Happiness). The extended title: Le Manuel de Clitology.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t think the clitoris is awesome (it is!). But some measure of American Puritanism must have lodged itself inside me because I immediately looked around, kind of embarrassed, like, um, excuse me, did you mean to leave this out?

Then I picked it up (see, I’m no prude!)…and then took a photo of the cover to share with you. (By this point, the woman browsing next to me must have really thought I was strange).

I just can’t imagine a Manual of Clitology being part of such a prominent display in a library back home – at least not in my hometown library. It was a very, ‘oh yeah, I’m in Paris’ kind of moment. (And really, is clitology actually a word?)

To find your nearest public library in Paris click here.

**Huge English-language booksale coming up on March 20. SOS Help offers an English-language listening line. Living abroad can be challenging, and it’s nice to know there’s a resource out there if you just need to talk. The booksale raises money for SOS. I love walking away with a whole new set of books – last year I walked away with 37 – and knowing I’m contributing to a worthy cause to boot. Info here if you’re interested. (And stock up for me – I have a wedding to go to and will miss the sale!)