As a River for the Holidays

Me and Margaret Atwood hanging out in the entry of the Red Wheelbarrow in Paris.

It’s been 3 months since my debut novel came out and what a whirlwind!

Signing at the Paris launch party. (You’ll notice by all those wine glasses we were prepared for success. And it was! Full house and sold out!)

I had a fantastic little self-created tour. Only 5 events, but that’s just about all this introvert could handle. Launched in Paris and finished with a bang in New York with some great stops in Stockbridge, MA and Philly in between. Had some ups and downs but largely huge ups. Saw old friends and made new ones everywhere.

WHAT. MEMORIES.

Culminating event at Brooklyn’s Books are Magic with some literary superstars. Left to right: Michele Filgate, Kristen Arnett, Briallen Hopper, Angie Cruz, Elizabet Velasquez & me!

And literally the day after I returned to Valencia…I got a new job out of the blue and started work a few days later. I’m now teaching English exam prep classes at a university and it is INTENSE. I still haven’t caught up – and it’s mid-term exam time! – so I simply have not had the time to post here.

Reading at Shakespeare & Company…the one in Philadelphia! Someone told me I looked glamorous in this shot. I was reading to 3 people in the audience. WONDERFUL people. But yeah. Glamorous feels a reach 😉

But, I hope I may sate you with some photos and many THANK YOUs to everyone who has been so kind to my book baby since it’s entered the world. I’ve been so heartened by the generous response…and the lovely reviews…and the numerous interviews! (Feel free to check out the list on my website!)

Honestly nothing will ever compare with seeing my book in a beautiful bookshop right next to a novel by my literary hero, James Baldwin!

And speaking of lists, AS A RIVER is on a Holiday Book Recommendation list from Read Her Like An Open Book! I’m sandwiched between some of this year’s biggest titles (Melissa Rivera’s THE AFFAIRS OF THE FALCONS and Tea Obreht’s INLAND). Swoon! My novel has certainly not made any other list, but I’m quite content that the book is continuing to spread its wings and fly. I think of it as the little small press book that could 😉

And I’m apparently very animated when I talk about it! Here’s a picture from the New York launch. Maybe I’m talking about the book sandwich!

In case you’re still looking for holiday gifts, books are *always* a good idea. I’d be thrilled if you considered giving AS A RIVER to your loved ones.

You can buy it on Indiebound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository – or ask your local bookseller to order it for you! It’s available as a paperback or an ebook!

Thanks to my friend Jennifer Geraghty for this lovely photo. One of my favorite parts of this process is people sending me creative photos of them receiving the book!

I’ll admit that the holidays have not really been on my mind. December has completely crept up on me! I can’t believe we’re starting a new decade soon! Oh my, what do we have in store?

I have some ideas brewing, but that will have to wait until after grading.

The only holiday party I’ve been to so far, but I did don the reindeer antlers and make the most of it.

Still, it’s quite something to stop and take stock of how interesting life continues to be…and how change can still arrive in a moment.

Sending you warm wishes as we wind down the year. I’ll be waiting for the winter solstice and welcoming the light that will start returning a little more each day after.

In front of the Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore in Paris

[Thanks to the kind reader who just let me know I didn’t even link to my book in this post! HA! Thank you, Catt!]

Here are the purchase links for AS A RIVER again for good measure:
Indiebound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

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Today is Pub Day! (+ How You Can Help!)

Hello, friends!

The big day has finally arrived. My novel AS A RIVER is officially out in the world. As of today, I am a published novelist. WOOHOO!

I wrote the first line of this book way back in 2005. Many of you were here while I was working on it and when I started sending it out in late 2011/early 2012. Who knew how long it would take to finally reach this milestone? To say I’m feeling all the feelings would obviously be an understatement.

A lot has been going on the last few weeks in the lead-up to launch. I’ve had nice reviews and interviews already – today I even appeared on a podcast! (For those not already subscribed, you can find some advance reviews in the last newsletter). I’ve also added a section on my website to collect all of the links.

But for now, I just wanted to thank you all for the support over these many years. I am so grateful for the encouragement and comments and kind words.

My book is with a very small press. We don’t have the resources of a big house. So anything that happens now comes from community word of mouth. If you’d like to help, here are some things you can do.

1. Buy the book.
Simple, yet so effective! Indiebound, Amazon, Book Depository, your local independent bookstore. I didn’t receive a dime in advance so know that any sales now aid me directly.

2. Tell your friends, family, and coworkers to buy the book.
The more the merrier!

3. Take and share selfies of you with the book and share on social media with the hashtag #asariver. Be sure to tag me; I want to see!

4. Snap photos of book sightings “in the wild” (bookstores, airports, on your subway ride) and post those, too!

5. Ask your local library to order a copy.
My mom, who was a librarian for 45 years, went into my hometown library to do this. Turns out, they already had because two patrons had already asked. SWOON!

6. Write a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
These are reportedly VERY helpful. I already have some great reviews on Goodreads. Please help me keep the high star rating!

7. If you’re a writer/reviewer, pitch a review to a publication. Send me a message if you want deets.

8. Choose AAR for your book club!

9. Read the book in public, with the cover conspicuously showing.

10. Hmm, everyone likes a top 10, right? Feel free to comment with other ideas!

THANK YOU!

If you’d like to see photos from my upcoming tour, follow along on Instagram. I’ll post from the road. First stop: Paris!

Novel News + Goodreads Giveaway!

Friends! We’re in the dog days of summer and I have several items of hot news to share. I’d hoped to chronicle the publication process of my debut novel As a River here and/or in my newsletter, but it’s all been a whirlwind.

So let’s jump straight to this moment:

Do I look really happy? Are there also tears in my eyes? Yes on both counts!

This photo was taken right after I opened a package and held my book for the first time. I grinned wide – then immediately burst out crying.

As you all know, it’s been *such* a long journey. To finally hold my book, to see that it was real…well, there’s simply no overstating how moving it was. It’s been a dream since I was a child.

There have been a dizzying amount of steps to get here. I have friends who have been through this before so I knew some of what to expect. But just because you’ve heard about what it’s like doesn’t mean actually experiencing it isn’t still a doozy.

There’s much to fill you in on – like this stunning review that literally made me gasp. Or having one of my favorite authors – who I did not know before! – say this:

Reader, I put that quote on my front cover. (And reader, this amazing author, Rene Denfeld, also has a new book coming out in October. The Butterfly Girl. Get it!)

My book, As a River, officially comes out on September 3.

But friends, I have a chance for you to get your hands on an early copy before then!

Advance Reader Copies (ARC) are free copies publishers make of their forthcoming titles before publication to send to potential reviewers, media outlets, booksellers, etc, to try to get the book on the radar screen. Many venues need the book at least 3 to 6 months before the pub date to consider it for coverage.

So, the past several months we’ve been busy approaching different people and venues to see if they might like an ARC to hopefully drum up some press. I still have a few ARCs remaining and I would like to give them to you!

Just click on the link to enter a Goodreads giveaway to win an ARC. (US entries only. Sorry sibling international folks! But I have more opportunities for you below!)

The ARC has a different blurb on the front than what will be on the final (Rene wrote that blurb after reading the ARC!! So now I get to put her words on the final version. See how it works?)

The ARC also has a different author photo and description on the back. And a few minor changes inside. (You can read your book ONE TRILLION TIMES and you still find mistakes and things you want to change!) But the story is the same. It’s your chance to get an early peek!

These are the two photos I was going back and forth between. Do I want to look warm and approachable or soulful and contemplative? I am all of those things!

The Goodreads giveaway runs until August 17. I hope you enter! And if for whatever reason you don’t want to (though who doesn’t want a free book?) it’s still really helpful to put my book on your “want to read” shelf. This helps with visibility on the site so more people will see it. I’m with a small press so we don’t have the same level of resources as big publishers. Word of mouth and organic community support is what makes a title like mine rise. I would love your help!

A photo of a beautiful bookshop here in Valencia, Libreria Ramon Llull. Posting it here to break up this long string of text and because it’s pretty!

But wait! There’s more!

After the Goodreads giveaway, I will randomly select a subscriber to my newsletter to win another copy on August 20. So, you might want to sign up there, too! (If you’re already signed up, you’ll automatically be entered). The winner can be based anywhere for that one. No borders! I love you all!

This is turning into an epic update. Thank you for sticking with it!

Before I go, I want to give you the dates for a few events in case you’re in any of these areas. I would love to see/meet you!

Can you guess? I’ll launch my book in Paris. September 12 at the lovely new incarnation of The Red Wheelbarrow Bookshop in front of the Luxumbourg Gardens. Swoon!

Then I’ll head to the US. Yes, I’ll be flying Stateside!
Anyone near New York, Philadelphia, or the Berkshires, come on out!

More soon, friends.

For now, don’t forget to click over to Goodreads to enter the giveaway or put my book on your shelf.

And feel free to sign up for my newsletter for a second chance to win.

Bisous, besos, kisses!

My Paris Decade

“I Am Running into a New Year” by Lucille Clifton

i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twenty-six and thirty-six
even forty-six but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me

Friends, today is my birthday. It’s an occasion I like to think of as a rebirth, a chance to ponder changes for my new year ahead.

Truth be told, I play at these “fresh starts” often (which probably says something not so flattering about my follow-through). The rentree with its bustle after the slow summer vacation is usually that kind of time. My birthday, too. New Year and then Chinese New Year about a month or so later (I never quite manage to have made good on my January 1 resolutions.)

But this post is to share that a major change has indeed come to pass, and it may come as a shock.

Friends, I left Paris. At least for a little while.

I gave notice on my apartment, gave most of my stuff away. I returned to the town I grew up in, where I haven’t lived in nearly 20 years.

A path in Chapel Hill, NC. (Photo by TranceMist on Flickr Creative Commons).

Whoa, whoa, WHAT? you may be saying.

I know. It’s a lot.

When last I wrote you, a move wasn’t even in the mix. But things changed quickly and I hopped on the ride.

Small Gifts, Big Gratitude (2015 in Review; Welcome the New Year Ahead)

One of my favorite shots from a 2015 photo session with my super talented friend Jade of Tripshooter.com

Most places in Paris were closed today – shops, markets, museums.

Out on the street by 9 am (early for me on a normal day, unheard of the morning after New Year’s Eve), I walked several quiet blocks before another person even crossed my path. After a winter so far blessed by soft temperatures and sun, clouds and cold have returned to the city. But the still, chilled air warmed me. Everything was calm. All was peace.

Though still dreaming of *this* kind of peace in Greece.

By a couple hours later, my neighborhood had yawned awake. Regulars traded stories over coffee at my corner café, rows of fruit beckoned from the fronts of a few epiceries, the rogue bakery near the metro displayed sandwiches and sweet treats. Their goods are not the best, but their weird hours comfort me – one can sometimes forgive a greasy pain au chocolat when it’s possible to procure the pastry at midnight. Or on New Year’s Day.

I also went to Zurich, though that wasn’t nearly as exciting (random lamps in the park, notwithstanding).

The majority of stores were shuttered, mind you, but these signs of life made me smile. I love the laid-back nature of my neighborhood. More of these open pockets exist when so much else is closed.

To my surprise, I stumbled across a Franprix that was also open. Score. Who ever expected to get groceries on January 1? Unprepared to do a big shop, I corralled a modest number of items up to checkout. “16.56€” the cashier said, “though you have 15.26€ on your carte de fidelité.”

“As in, I can use the 15.26 to pay?”

(A loyalty card shouldn’t warrant much confusion – a straightforward concept, yes – but at the Franprix I normally frequent, they don’t seem to understand how their system works. I’ve stymied more than one employee when trying to employ my accrued points. Once when I handed over a 5€ off coupon that the store had given me on my previous trip, the cashier looked bewildered, then annoyed, then asked “qu’est-ce que c’est ce truc?” What is this thing. A manager had to be called).

So yeah, I was delighted when this cashier-angel announced I could immediately apply the credit to my purchase.

“That leaves 1.30€ due,” she said.

“It’s like a gift!” I said.

“It is,” she agreed. “Bonne année!”

I saw magical trees in the small village of Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre this summer.

Waltzing out with my happy new year’s bounty  – (almost) free food is enough to make me giddy – I continued on my journey. Rounding the corner on Boulevard de Charonne, I suddenly saw a Christmas tree falling from the sky. I couldn’t say whether its descent was fast or slow – it seemed both, really. An elegant dive.

A pleasing spectacle, an unexpected pine tree cutting through the air, but I did think quite clearly: “wow, that’s dangerous sport throwing a tree out a window.” Slow day notwithstanding, it’s usually a busy street.

For some reason, I hardly slowed though I was heading straight toward the event. The tree landed with a simple whoosh and I realized I’d been holding my breath waiting to discover what kind of sound a dropped tree from that height would make. Then a redheaded man picked up the sapin and pulled it to the curb. Ah, the lookout! I was relieved.

I caught his eye and he shrugged amiably and offered a sheepish smile.

“It’s faster that way,” he said.

Indeed. The tree looked to have been launched from the 6^th or 7^th floor at least.

Feel free here.

Just steps later, now near Pere Lachaise, an older man walked by briskly. He seemed to be looking at me, though whether he was a bit unstable or another nice surprise awaited I couldn’t quite tell. All I could make out was the word “cadeau” repeated over and over again. Gift. Gift. Gift. 

Or present, present, present, if you prefer.

I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions; I often just feel my way toward a theme or a vague longing at the most. This year, several people have suggested picking one word, which sounded intriguing, though I found myself resisting that slightly, as well.

But something about these small encounters crystallized into my New Year’s wish. On my walk I had been pondering how “intention” seemed to be the one word growing brighter. Sometimes it’s unclear just what my intentions are so the prospect can get hazy, but that was just it: I want more of my energy to be directed. I want to work with purpose and intent.

These tiny surprises that shook me today, though – they were enchanting. They were joyful. Serendipity is necessary, too.

The memorial at one of the sites of violence, La Belle Equipe.

2015 was a year bookended by horrors in Paris – in my very arrondissement, the 11th, where I live. Just one week into the new year and the killings at Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket shocked the country. Then this November the coordinated terror attacks on Friday the 13th slayed so many more.

In between, I watched news in my other home, the States, and saw more violence, by police with unchecked power, hateful political speech, and in a year with more than one mass shooting per day, by too many people armed to the teeth.

Back in Europe a massive refugee crisis saw wave after wave of suffering people wash up onto these shores. And all around, everywhere – from university students gunned down in Garisa to bombs in Beirut – so much sorrow and death.

I lost my words for awhile. What to do in the face of so much pain? These huge issues left me feeling lost and bereft.

But on the personal side, I experienced wonderful things. Two of my dreams even came true.

• My first novel found a publisher. Yes, four years after I first announced it as finished on this here blog (ahem, watch those optimistic claims, and whoa, how the years careen!), my book finally found a fine home with Queen’s Ferry Press. I am (a wee bit terrified, but mostly, overwhelmingly) thrilled.  There’s now more of a wait (pub date is April 2017!), but I’ve grown pretty patient, I must say. I will share more with you when we’re closer and there’s more news to tell!

I gave this as my current photo when the press asked for one, but I think I’m going to smile bigger in my next one.

 

• I became a dual national. Friends, I never thought I’d get to say this, but it’s true: I am French. After a long process (see patience evoked above), I acquired French nationality in 2015. My naturalization ceremony was held in November – just one week after the attacks. A poignant fact: there were 64 of us newly naturalized citizens at the ceremony. We came from 30 different countries.Vive la France.

  
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  On Christmas Eve, I defrosted my fridge and deep cleaned my bathroom – part of my preparation for starting the new year fresh. Then my beau came over with Thai takeout and we watched the film “Tomorrowland.” So simple. So easy. The no-stress holiday. “It’s one of the most beautiful Christmases I’ve ever spent,” he said.

  This is it. Tiny pleasures. Love. What gifts.

  “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” wrote Annie Dillard.

  What if we focused on these gifts, on love, on what we are doing every day?

  What if we stayed awake, stayed alive to all the small beauties surrounding us?

  Flying trees, yummy takeout food, butterfly kisses, and so many things I cannot yet conceive.

  Intention: big gratitude.

  Present, present, present, said the man on the street today.

  I’ll stay present in the moment, in this world.

  With these hopes I welcome 2016.

  Peace, love, and light to you.

  Gift, gift, gift.

Second Chances

Hello, friends.

My, it’s been an interesting year so far and here we are in March. In like a lion! Out like a lamb, we hope.

I’d been all prepared for an extra(ordinary) new year, emphasis on finding the joy in daily living, but wow, did some big stuff come our way instead. The attacks in Paris in early January had us reeling for long after and the conversations continue.

Personal stresses soon confronted me, too: a friend with a mental health crisis, my mom who needed surgery, my job which started exerting extreme pressure.

Hold up, 2015! Let me catch my breath!

“Picasso’s Goat” in the old Picasso Museum in Paris (the new one, after much drama, reopened recently). Photo via Malcolm on Flickr Creative Commons.

By mid-February, I was already done with it. I grabbed hold of Chinese New Year, February 19, and said, okay, second chance to start over. The Year of the Goat will be better!

And it’s happened! I am so thankful to say everything is much smoother on all fronts. Loved ones are healthy and safe. Paris is resilient as ever. Exciting, creative developments are brewing…including another book giveaway for you soon!

I just wanted to touch base as I dropped off the radar for a little while, but don’t doubt: I am always thinking of you.

 How is your year going so far? Do you believe in second chances?

Thanksgiving Love and Tears

A recent fall walk through the Jardin des Plantes.

Since living in France, Thanksgiving has always been an improvised affair. Some years I’ve gathered in the apartments of friends who are much braver than me – they hunt down the obscure cranberry, shove large turkeys into tiny Parisian ovens, spend small fortunes on the fixins’, many of which are foreign foods here.

I’ve been to lively potluck parties and more intimate dinners, and sometimes, not even celebrated at all. It is just another Thursday in L’Hexagone.

The past few years, Thanksgiving has unwittingly become an unofficial marker of my relationship, too, though my beau probably knows I think this only now that I write it. A couple years ago, we had only just started seeing each other, so new it was that when people at that Thanksgiving referred to him as my boyfriend, he gently corrected them (but since there’s no French word for dating, I’m not sure what term we were then. Just curious about the other, I guess).

Last year, I was with my family, a rare occasion, and I was grateful to have the time with them. Just before the holiday, though, I got to experience that special bittersweet twinge unique to romantic partings. When I left Paris, it wasn’t just to return home for the long weekend, but to go to a long writing residency at the Kerouac House; my beau and I were saying goodbye for 3 months. I was moved to feel how greatly we’d both miss each other.

Birthday Time (and the best gift from you)

My feet in Dieppe on my first birthday in France (the rest of me is there, too)

Happy midterm elections, USA!

Ahem. Yeah. Doesn’t the world feel in such a sorry state these days?

You’ll forgive me if I’m focused more on the personal than the political today. Because…it’s BIRTHDAY TIME! Woot!

If I look a little dazed here, it’s because I am. I’d only been in France for a month and a half at this point. Ah, so many years ahead of you, sweetcake! A lot is going to happen.

I received a package from my mom last week with 3 wrapped presents and tried waiting to open them until today. (I’m like an impatient kid in this respect and could only last until the weekend before succumbing to my curiosity and peeking early).

Besides the thrill of gifts (thank you, mom!), this marks a triumph, too. It was the first package that has arrived safely from my mom IN YEARS.

Dipping way back in the archives, I once declared La Poste my number one nemesis. So many packages had gone missing (and I heard from a chorus of readers who experienced the same thing), that it seemed someone was sneaking away with the goods. And so I sacrificed the comfort of care packages from home forever (sniff!)

A 2014 portrait by Richard Beban.

My mom would heroically try again from time to time to no avail, but this time, holy miracle! It arrived. Let’s take this as a great sign for the year ahead.

I thought to do a little pampering for my birthday (France has taught me the value of self-care), but part of what I wanted was not to get bogged down planning anything.

So oops! Couldn’t get an appointment today for my little treats. That’s ok: I now have a salon appointment on Friday for a hair cut and a massage on Saturday. I’m more than happy to stretch the birthday out all week.

I’ll be seeing my beau soon, then have a little fete with my writing workshop tomorrow.

With any luck, I might even run into some colorful festivity such as this forró flashmob in Paris.

A simple celebration and I couldn’t be happier.

(Oh, actually I could! I love receiving your comments. Thank you for reading – it’s the best gift ever).

Update: wow, package from my dad just now arrived, too. 3 delivered packages from the post in a week? Amazing!

Love Beams and a Reading

“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” -Guillaume Apollinaire

Stop! Small miracle alert. Love beam over the Seine.

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!

I hope your life is full of love, on this and every day. I’ve spent the majority of V-days single rather than in a pair so I truly mean love in its widest sense, not simply the part about romance. Family, friends, the nice neighbor who baked you a pie, the stranger who gave you a smile – love is all around us!

I’d be lying if I didn’t confess to a special kind of happiness this time round, though. My beau has just arrived from Paris.

Culture Shock, Early Paris Days, and Crepes for Chandeleur

The day I arrived in Orlando to start my stint as the writer-in-residence at the Kerouac House, the project’s director drove me to the supermarket as soon as I dropped off my bags. Even if Central Florida felt a world away from France, I was glad one thing remained the same: food is a top priority! (That, and t.p. – not one roll left in the house!)

Pulling into the Publix parking lot, however, I realized, Toto, we’re not in Paris anymore.