Attention Seeking

I have to admit that I've been slacking big time at advertising my novels for the last year or so.
In an effort to get them out there, I had some photos made that incorporate the book cover into pictures, along with a blurb of a review.

I love the way he found a picture that use the same colors and foliage.

The Summer of France is about (surprise) a woman who runs away from her life in Ohio to run her Uncle's B&B in Aix en Provence. Could a crackly phone call from France save Fia Randolph’s jobless and family troubles? That’s what she hopes when her Uncle Martin asks Fia, her husband, and teenage twins to move to Provence and take over his bed and breakfast. She pictures long picturesque walks carrying crusty baguettes and bonding with the kids. But Fia didn’t bargain on being pulled into Uncle Martin’s World War II secret that wrenches her family further apart.  

The Summer of France is available on Amazon or Amazon.uk

This picture definitely feels like a dive down a forest trail, this one is my only novel set in the United States, so far. 

How does a woman know what she wants after spending 20 years thinking about her husband and children? Sometimes it takes an escape from everyday life, time to examine the forest before the trees become clear. Friends Jess and Andi figure life hiking the Appalachian trail can't possibly be worse than dealing with disgruntled husbands, sullen teens home from college, and a general malaise that has crept up in their daily lives.

Trail Mix is available on Amazon and Amazon UK

This photo might be my favorite, the way the book cover is slotted along the top of the building, like a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower between different sides of the building. 

I See London I See France is about another woman running away. When her husband of a dozen years walks out in a huff, Caroline Randolph walks out too – to Europe, with her kids after impulsively selling her minivan for travel money. Tired of being the perfect wife, she escapes to rediscover herself, and possibly rekindle the unrequited love of a Frenchman from her college days.  While shepherding her kids from London to Scotland then Paris to Provence, she finds herself at a crossroads. Does she choose love, or lust, in the arms of a European man, or should she try again with the father of her children and the man she truly loved, once?

It's available on Amazon and Amazon UK 

And, of course, my latest novel set in Paris needs a picture from Paris. I love the Metro sign in the foreground. 

When divorced mom Sadie Ford realizes her 17-year-old daughter Scarlett has run away to Paris, all she can imagine are terrorist bombings and sex slaves. After learning her daughter chased a French exchange student home, Sadie hops on the next plane in pursuit. She joins forces with the boy’s father, Auguste, and the two attempt to find the missing teens. The chase takes Sadie and Auguste to the seedier side of Marseille, where their own connection is ignited. Since the divorce, Sadie has devoted herself to raising kids and putting her dreams on hold, but when her daughter needs her most, Sadie finds that concrete barrier to life beginning to crack. In her journey, she learns the difference between watching the hours pass and living.

Paris Runaway is available on Amazon and Amazon UK 

If you haven't read my novels, I'd appreciate the support. Just click and download to your Kindle.
And if you don't have a Kindle, they're free to download on your computer or your phone. I love reading on my phone because if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, I don't have to turn a light on, I just pick up my phone and get lost in a story (with the screen on black and the print white to reduce ambient light).

Friday Exploits

Thanks to all my new readers who are coming along to watch the fun-- or carnage -- of my adventure of moving to France. If you haven't read my novels, I hope you'll consider downloading on Kindle. Through Sunday, my first novel, The Summer of France, is only 99 cents. I'd appreciate if you'd give it a try and leave a review. Click on the book and it will take you to Amazon.

This is only for the U.S. edition. I'll have to figure out how to include the UK edition and let you know when it is reduced. 

On to our Friday exploits:
Friday morning the rains had stopped and the sun began to shine in some Biblical Genesis way.


After being stranded on Thursday, we were determined to get out of our isolated island on Friday. First, we took the dogs for a walk, exploring the roads that would lead us to civilization.
The current was fast across the road in one direction, but not too deep. In the other direction, I handed Earl the dog leash so he could hold both dogs while I walked through the deepest section. It didn't top my boots, which come to my knee, so we knew that even though the water looked deep, we could ford that stream.


We decided to go to Bordeaux, which is about an hour and half away. We were missing cafe life and pictured sitting in a square with the sun beaming on our faces. After we showered and readied the dogs for their time in the house alone, I pulled up my weather app.
It predicted heavy rain in Bourdeaux! How was that possible when the sun had forced us to don sunglasses?

Can you see the mistake I made when I searched for the weather in Bordeaux? I misspelled it and got a Bourdeaux somewhere else in France -- 400 miles away. But we didn't catch the mistake before we ditched our trip to Bordeaux. We needed to stay in the sunshine.
We decided to drive to Jarnac instead because it had a market going on and it's less than half an hour drive. Plus it has a Cognac house there -- Courvoisier. Our host served us some cognac the night we arrived. I think it must be an acquired taste. I had only a sip and felt the burning through my throat. Although, perhaps I should try it as a cold cure when I'm not drinking pastis.
I plowed ahead through the shin-deep water with our Citroen C3 and safely arrived on drier ground. Earl and I shared a fist bump at making our escape from the flooded island.
Driving is when I get my most French practice because the GPS is in French. À la fin de la route, tournez à gauche, she'll say (at the end of the road, turn left), allez toute droite (go straight ahead) or dirigez à  droite (veer to the right). Living in the country definitely curtails my French practice. Sometimes we share "bonjours" with the men fishing along the long or other residents walking along the country road. For the most part though, we're isolated with our English speaking.
We made it to Jarnac and speedily found a parking spot at city hall. The sign warned only 90 minutes of parking, but the hours were from 9-12 and from 2:30-6. Luckily, we parked at 11, so we had until 3 to move the car. Thank goodness parking wasn't enforced during the requisite French lunch hour. 

Inside city hall, we asked for the location of the market, le marché, which wasn't apparent. In the summer, the markets fill up the "centre ville" but in the winter, this market is inside. The man directed us down the hill and to the left (more French directions). We walked into "les halles" where we were immediately assaulted with the pungent odor of fish. Once our eyes stopped watering, we saw fruits, vegetables, a coffee bar, meats, cheeses, bread and pastries. 

We loaded up on baguettes, some croissants for breakfast the next day, two types of cheese and some luscious red tomatoes. Once we returned the bag to the car, we still had some time to kill. We decided to walk around Jarnac and read the lunch menus in preparation for our next big event -- lunch.

The Courvoisier Chateau, which means castle, but apparently when you make alcohol the house is called a chateau, too, stands along the river, so parts of the riverwalk were underwater here. They give tours from May through September, but during the winter months, you have to reserve ahead of time. We might look into a tour of a cognac maker in the next few weeks just to see the process.

Through the window, we could see the barrels of cognac. I wonder if these are actually filled since the light and heat from the sun might affect how the alcohol ages. I guess I'd have to take a tour to find out.
Jarnac didn't have a lot of open restaurants to choose from, but we ended up at l'Alambic. We usually try to choose a restaurant that  has a menu of the day. Frequently, we end up paying between 10 Euro and 13 Euro for a three course meal if we go with the menu of the day. This restaurant had several things on its "menu" that I didn't recognize, so we ordered individual entrees. A goat cheese and honey salad for both of us.

You can see the goat cheese on toast, along with slices of oranges and pears. 
After our lunch, we stopped at the pharmacy for more Fervex. I'm feeling better, but my cold may have mutated into a sinus infection. I've promised myself if I'm not feeling really well on Monday then I'll find a doctor. But this Fervex helps relieve the symptoms beautifully. 
When we got home, we took the dogs for a long walk, Earl still carrying short Jeff through the deep parts. We waded along the road and noticed some swans paddling toward us. They were amazing. 
If the fields hadn't flooded, we wouldn't have captured this magical swam moment. 

I took several shots of the swans and I wondered as I watched them if they might not have been mistaken for the Loch Ness monster as they dipped their heads in the water in search of food. They are huge.
Another pair of swans flew in and landed as I tried to capture their flight. 

As we walked on wading through the rushing water, we came to a church in Angeac-Charente. The sun was setting just behind it and the clouds looked ominous. 

Our hosts had told us about this church, but when we read the sign on the door, it looks like they aren't having mass here during the winter. The local mass is at 6:30 on Saturday in another nearby village. 
Walking home, having actually reached my 14,500-step goal for the day, I felt thankful for the flood which brought me the swans and the magical sky, and grateful for a day of good meals and wet dogs. 
A day in France living my dream, cold or no cold. 

In Memoriam -- Uncle Junior

When I wrote The Summer of France, I included the character Uncle Martin. Uncle Martin came from a family of nine children in Kentucky and volunteered to fight in World War II. He fought in Italy, was wounded and ended up in France where he fell in love with a Frenchwoman and never returned to live in the U.S.
Uncle Martin's character was loosely based on all of my uncles, but mostly on Uncle Junior.
That's what we called him because my mother always called him Junior. His wife called him Luther because that was his name -- Luther John Phillips.
Junior was the oldest boy in a family of nine. He had two older sisters, three younger brothers and three younger sisters. My mother grew up the baby in that family.
Uncle Junior was drafted into the army and  he did serve in Italy in World War II. Somewhere, I have a videotape of him sharing his war experience. He was wounded four times but came home in one piece with a Purple Heart. As we talked about his experience, he recalled that he warned his younger brothers not to wait to be drafted. Instead, he urged them to sign up for the military. Clarence, the next oldest brother, signed up for the Navy so he could avoid the ground war that Uncle Junior faced.

Uncle Junior is next to my mother in the middle. This picture
was taken at the funeral of my most recent uncle who passed.
These are the remaining siblings. 

His two  younger brothers weren't old enough to fight in World War II, but they both served later.
Uncle Junior died at age 94 on Saturday morning. He had been moved to hospice care about 24 hours before.
His death makes me sad for my mother, who loved hearing from her big brother.
It makes me sad for my aunt, who had been married to him for 71 years. 71 years? Can you imagine how empty that must feel after so long together?
And it makes me sad for all of us nieces and nephews who enjoyed hearing his musings, even if we only saw him a few times each year.
Uncle Junior didn't have the same adventures that Uncle Martin did in The Summer of France, but he  had a rich life that took him back home to Ohio and allowed him to volunteer in the Masonic Order and the Shriners, along with telling his war stories.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Don't cry for me, Argentina!
But awful timing has me waist-deep in papers to grade this week.
I teach four classes at one college and two classes at another, and all six classes turned in papers this week. So my days are spent teaching and grading, along with pigeon-holing workouts in between.
Think fondly of me and any blog posts I might have been writing if I weren't busy grading.
But wish me a quick green grading pen and perfect student papers.

Here's a photo of a friend of mine who's on the Appalachian Trail and took a copy of my book with her.

My novel, The Summer of France, is on sale on Kindle for 99 cents Friday through Sunday. If you haven't read it, I hope you'll give it a try and spread the word to your friends who love reading.

Restful Sleep

First, shameless self promotion: my novel The Summer of France is only 99 cents on Kindle today, both in the U.S. and the U.K.
Here's a review that was posted yesterday on Amazon by someone who calls herself  "crazy for reading"

Loved this story! I stayed up till after midnight each night reading it after my family went to bed. So many twists and turns I didn't want to quit.

If you haven't read it, hope you'll give it a try.

Today, my family will gather again, five adults in our small house, for another week before my sons head off to college next week. (Grace is in and out since she has an apartment about 20 minutes away.)
But on the first night that I spent home alone since...forever maybe, I went to bed and did not wake  up for seven hours, until the cat jumped on me at 6 a.m.
Some people think that sleep is only disrupted while kids are babies, but I can tell you that teenagers disrupt sleep even more.

Here's Tucker in his portable hammock. He looks kind of bored.

In my house, someone is pretty much always awake and rambling around the house. They come in at different hours. They're searching for food at 3 in the morning. The television in the living room may be too loud. The floors squeak, the toilet flushes.
I cannot remember the last time that I went to sleep and was oblivious to everything until the next morning.
It was beautiful.
Of course, part of that restful sleep might have to do with the fact that I knew the boys were with their father camping, rather than on a college campus, where they might or might not find trouble. So I may not sleep so peacefully once they've moved to college.
I'd better enjoy them while I can!

My Novel For a Bargain Price

Thursday through Saturday, my first novel, The Summer of France, is available for only 99 cents on Kindle.
If you haven't read it yet, I hope you'll buy it.
If you have, why haven't  you written a review for it on Amazon? Well, a lot of you have, so thank you.
Here's a description to tempt you:

Could a crackly phone call from France to Ohio save Fia Randolph’s jobless complications and family troubles? That’s what she hopes when her Uncle Martin asks Fia, her husband, and teenage twins to move to Provence and take over his bed and breakfast. She envisions long picturesque walks carrying crusty baguettes and bonding with the kids as they all learn French. But Fia didn’t bargain on the way Provence would tempt her teens and husband away from the family. Then Uncle Martin’s World War II secret wrenches her family further apart. Can Fia pull her family back together and help clear her uncle’s guilty conscience?

Thanks for your support. Hope you enjoy it.

My Novel Free Today

Summer is almost over, so here's one last opportunity to download my novel free on Amazon today. Hope you'll tell your friends.
The Summer of France is free today on Kindle. Here's the link to Amazon in the U.S. or Amazon in the UK. Of course, whatever Amazon you use, it should be free there too.

Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway in honor of Paris in July. I had 118 entries and Rafflecopter randomly chose the winner Femto Femto.
The giveaway also helped me climb to 118 followers on my blog and 73 likes on my Facebook author page.

Writing Pain and Book Tours

This morning, I started outside for a run. I felt a few raindrops but figured the sky looked fairly clear. I tucked my iPhone inside my shorts and began. Within a block, the raindrops came heavier. Suddenly they were those plump drops striking against my skin with intensity filling the air around me.
I ran back home and used a towel to wipe my bare arms and legs then changed into shorts and a tank top for some indoor yoga.
The run this morning seems like a metaphor for my online book tour.
Okay, maybe that's a stretch.

France Book Tours is organized by the wonderful Emma at Words and Peace blog. She's a French woman transplanted to the U.S. and she loves books. She wrote an excellent review of my novel last fall.
Emma organized several stops for my novel -- two interviews and four book reviews.
One of the book reviews was positive, two were mediocre on the book, and one apparently felt it shouldn't be in print.
So that leaves me feeling fairly discouraged.
I know that with all books some people will enjoy them and others won't. I know that logically, but my heart still smarts from the rejection.
A student of mine who worked in the publishing/book reviewing world, said self-published writers are the worst about arguing with book reviews, so I try not to.

But... on Suko's notebook when she says "...other aspects were too hackneyed.  (For example, the idea that having extramarital affairs in France is the norm; maybe it is, but it just seemed a bit too clichéd.)"

I had to resist the urge to point out the cliche is French men having affairs. In my book, a French woman seduces the American husband, and it's not for the sake of sex. To me, that's a twist on an old idea rather than a stereotype. But I resisted. Instead, I said nothing.

Emma reminded me in an email that my book rating at Goodreads is 4.04 out of 5, so that's good.
My rating at Amazon.com is 4.2 out of 5.
I guess I need to put aside those needles prickling my confidence and keep writing.
Lots of opportunities to win ecopies or paperback copies of my novel if you haven't done so yet. Even the negative reviews are giving away copies. (Isn't that weird? If someone didn't like the book, who would sign up to win a copy of it?)
So click on the FranceBookTours pic above to see a list of stops on my book tour and you can enter at each one.
And thanks to all of you who have encouraged me. A breath of hope on a small flame, maybe it will grow into something more.

Anything Else You'd Like to Know About ...Me?

Another author interview today as I continue my week of online France Book Tours. Today you can see an interview on French Village Diaries. Jacqui asked some fun questions and I got to relate the story of discovering a Turkish toilet near Notre Dame.
I hope you'll stop by and leave a comment.
For those of you who may be getting tired of reading about me or my novel, I'll share some of my glamorous home life.
Last night, I was teaching a class when I received a text from my middle child, 19-year-old Spencer.
"I found dry cat puke. Should I clean it? Please say no."
Well, at least it made me laugh.
Some things never change.

France Book Tour is Live and First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser

Just in time for the first week of summer, a book tour for my novel The Summer of France.
It's not a book tour where I visit a store near you and sign copies, but it is an online tour where people review my book or interview me, and you can win paperback or ebook copies.

I hope you will drop by to see what people are saying about my book.
Here's a review from Griperang's Bookmarks. She has some great France pics at the top of her blog and she liked my book! Take a look at the review and sign up to win a copy. Ummm. No one has entered the giveaway yet, so I'm feeling very loser-ish.
Also today, on Patricia Sand's Blog you can find an interview with me. You're probably thinking, what else would I want to know about you? But Patricia came up with some great questions. Please, take a look and leave a comment so I don't feel all alone.

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

I know I saw this book on someone's website and I'm loving it. The Typerwriter Girl by Alison Atlee is set in

19th Century England and follows Betsey who is a typewriter girl trying to make an independent life. Just as she's about to make a break for a better job as a tour guide in a seaside town, she has a run-in with her current employer and leaves one man with broken fingers from the slam of the door. Here's the intro.

Type-writer girls, they oughtn't think too much. Betsey knew it was so. She understood the detached and nimble attention required for speed and accuracy; she had learned to sustain such attention for pages and pages at a time. When it faltered, she was able to remind herself: Concentration, not contemplation. The words in her mind had the patted-down accent of Miss Slott of the London Working Women's Training Institute.  

 Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read h and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. Here's my teaser from page 23:

"I haven't enough for rail fare." She whispered this confession even more softly than he had his, for she hadn't intended to speak it at all. Richard would be the last man she would be beholden to, she had determined some time ago. And Avery, -- well, she had never given him the chance to offer, not really. But with his arm tight around her, the words slipped out.

What do you think? Can't wait to see yours.

Saturday Snapshot -- Tire Frame

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
I tried taking an artsy photo when I was at my Mom and Dad's house in Florida. Then just last week I saw one similar to this in an art gallery. I must have been on the right track, idea-wise anyway.
This is a tire swing at Mom and Dad's house. I think I would be afraid to swing on it because it's bound to have snakes or fire ants or something Florida hiding inside it.

If you haven't downloaded my novel, The Summer of France, it's free today on Amazon for Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle reader for your computer or smart phone or tablet. Here's the link for Amazon in the U.S., or Amazon in the UK. Thanks for spreading the word too.

Free Novel -- Only Not Today

I messed up on giving away my novel this month.
I was fooled by one of those backward calendars -- the kind we don't have in the U.S. too much.
The calendar on Amazon begins the week on Mondays. Obviously, I'm used to a calendar that begins on Sunday, so I thought I was marking Friday and Saturday to give away my novel for free on Kindle, but I accidentally marked Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday is usually a bad day to give away books. Hoisted on my own petard. (Isn't that a great phrase!)
Hope if you haven't downloaded my book yet that you will. It's free on Saturday and Sunday to download on Kindle or on  your computer.

My Novel Free on Kindle Friday and Saturday

It seems weird to give away a book that I've spent hours writing and revising and now marketing, but that's just what is happening today and tomorrow. My novel, The Summer of France, is free on Kindle.
I have to honestly say that I don't understand how it works, but somehow, giving away my novel increases my chances of being seen by buyers after the giveaway is over.
I did an ebook giveaway in February and the number of sales have doubled in March. So here I am again, offering my book for free. I'd love to get a double double in April (That's basketball talk in honor of March madness.)
If you don't have a Kindle, which I don't, other options abound. You can go to the link and there's a place to click on "Get your kindle here free" and what that means is the Kindle reader is free to download to  your computer. So you might have to download the Kindle reader before downloading my book.
I have a Kindle reader on my iPhone and download books there.
If you haven't read my book, I hope you'll take this free chance to try it and then tell me what you think.
Even if you don't plan to read it, I'd appreciate it if you'd download it anyway just to help my numbers.
Here's the link to The Summer of France -- free Friday and Saturday.
Update: Thanks for your support everyone. How can I convey my excitement as I tell you this?
Squeeeee!!!
In the category of France, I'm #1 in the UK and #2 in the US. In the category of Family Life, my novel is #10.
So exciting to see my book move up the list.
Another update: Okay, now I'm #1 in the UK and the US in the category of France and #6 in the category of Family Life.
Double squeeee. Here's the screenshot to prove it. Click on it if you need the print bigger!

Saturday Snapshot

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
Sitting at a Writer's Conference trying to sell copies of my book. I feel so self conscious but my display looks pretty nice.

Sigh....

My novel received its first negative review yesterday on Goodreads. I had been lecturing myself before this, warning myself that I needed to be ready for a negative review. I mean, everybody gets some bad reviews.
But I didn't expect it to send me into such a tailspin.
The reader gave me 3 out of 5 stars on her Goodreads review. Some of the comments she made, I could see. She wanted the main character Fia to be stronger. But, of course, Fia is stronger by the end of the book and she has to grow from being a bit of a pushover. The reviewer also wanted the French flirtation to have a "happy ever after" ending, which, to me, would have made Fia weaker. So those criticisms didn't hurt too much.
The thing that really got to me is she said the book (she read the actual paperback) had a lot of grammar and punctuation mistakes.
Being self-published, I felt like the grammar, punctuation, typos, all needed to be eradicated to increase my credibility as a writer.
Since I am an English teacher, criticism of grammar and punctuation goes straight to my heart. I plunged into despair, imagining my words going out there flawed.
I was in the middle of some promotions for my book and I simply stopped, thinking what's the point if there are grammar and punctuation errors. A gray cloud descended on my mood and rested there.
I mentioned the errors to my husband, the copy editor, and he asked whether I planned to fire him.
I texted another college teacher friend who read the book and asked if she'd seen them because I can make changes to correct them.
"I honestly don't remember a single one," my English teacher professor responded.
So, I was feeling a little better.
The reviewer mentioned that she was British so I wondered if there could be strange punctuation differences between the U.S. and UK. But I read plenty of British Lit and haven't noticed it.
I comforted myself a bit more by finding a typo on page 4 of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. If this top seller book has typos after all of its editors, I supposed I should expect them too.
I'm still feeling a bit down about my writing, but hopefully I'll bounce back eventually to publish some more flawed writing.

Goals

As most of you know, I've been slogging along doing okay selling my novel, The Summer of France, although I'm nowhere near a movie deal or quitting my day job (yet!).
This month I decided to set a goal of selling 28 books, equivalent to one book per day. That seemed like a manageable goal.

This is an alternate cover that I did not use

I had my Kindle giveaway the weekend after Valentine's Day and 870 people downloaded my book, including more than 150 in the UK and 6 in Germany!
My number of sales were increasing slightly. I had 14 sales on Feb. 20, so I hoped I could still sell 14 more for the month to make my goal.
Today, on Feb. 22, I checked my sales and I have 22 total sales for the month. So for today anyway, I have met my goal of selling one book per day.
That makes me happy.
For people with bestsellers, this probably seems silly, but I'm thinking momentum. Who knows what could happen?
And I just checked on Amazon, my book is #59 under Travel/Europe/France. That puts me in the top 100!
Thanks for all of your support. (If you haven't read it yet, it's available on Kindle for only $3.99 or in paperback for $14 at Amazon).
I'm going to start thinking about my goals for next month.
Onward!

She Likes It!

In December, I had a giveaway of my novel The Summer of France. Jacqui at French Village Diaries won the book. She finished reading and wrote a review on her blog post today.
I hope you'll stop by and take a look at her kind words. And, maybe leave a message so I don't feel like I'm all alone in the publishing/blogging world. Hello? Echo, echo.
Jacqui also think did a bang-up job summarizing my book.  I may have to hire her on as a query letter writer or a back cover writer.
If you still haven't read my book and  you're a member of Goodreads, you can sign up to win a paperback copy in another giveaway. Just click to enter. The contest goes through Feb. 15. I'd also love to be your friend on Goodreads if you want to add me.
And, as an added bonus, here's a photo from Provence, the little village of Arles.

Earl and I stayed in Arles one night during our Provence bike trip. This is the Cafe Van Gogh. Love the color of the buildings and the chairs. Wish I were sitting there in the sun, having a glass of wine with all of you.

Author Talk

A few months ago, Clay, a fellow teacher invited me to speak to his writer's group.
I agreed and didn't worry too much about it, until he included me in the email to the group. The email said they would schedule about an hour for me to talk.
Gulp.
Me? Talk for an hour about anything? Nothing?
I was suddenly nervous.
I emailed my author friends and asked them -- what do I talk about?
But I needn't have worried. The group was supportive, welcoming and curious.
It wasn't at all like me speaking to them or lecturing them. It felt more like a group discussion. During my part of the agenda, I brought up some points and everyone shared their thoughts on it. Sometimes the discussion veered off the road, but we generally got things back on track.
One thing I had planned to do was read from my novel, The Summer of France. Afterall, publishing the novel was got me an invitation to the group.
Although I talked about the novel, where the idea came from and how it evolved, I never actually read from it.
Have I told you that story?
My book started out with the idea of a couple escaping from their everyday life to run a bed and breakfast in Mackinac Island, Michigan. If you haven't visited Mackinac Island, you should. It's an island that's reachable by boat and doesn't allow cars. It's full of horses and carriages, along with bicycles. And it's famous for its fudge.
My husband and I even went to stay in a house that might be turned into a bed and breakfast. I was going to call the novel, Fudge Ho!
So that idea evolved into a novel about an Ohio woman, Fia, and her family who go to Provence, France to run a bed and breakfast for the Fia's great uncle. The great uncle married a Frenchwoman after World War II, but he is hiding from a war secret.
As you can tell, the idea changed quite a bit, but I'm thrilled with the results. If you haven't read it yet, I hope you will.
You can buy it in ebook form or paperback on Amazon. The Summer of France.
The discussion yesterday didn't focus only on my novel though. We tackled the tough subjects like the state of the publishing industry.
I left feeling invigorated and supported, plus the group bought five of my paperbacks that I'd taken along.
The next time I'm invited to speak, I'll definitely feel less anxious.

Words and Peace Book Review of My Book

Emma at Words and Peace reviewed my book, and she liked it. She's from France, so it made me a little nervous for her to read it.
Would she think I was fair to the French?
Worse, would she think I stereotyped them?
Would she hate the spattering of Franglish I used?
Go take a look and leave a comment so I don't feel so all alone.
It makes me feel like a real author every time.