Another Review for Falling for Provence

My virtual book tour continues on FranceBookTours. Click on the link to see the stops for this week.

This time, it's the blog "Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers." Here's the link.
You can register to win a free copy of the book at each stop on the tour, and can even get extra chances if you tweet about it.
I'm not sure if the blogger really liked it. I'd love your feedback on the review. An interpretation, if you will.
Here's an excerpt from the review:

The story takes us along for the ride as Fia gets her feet back under her, trying to create a new life for herself and her family, while coming to grips with everything that happened not so long ago.  The monkey wrench of love being thrown in sends her a bit off course, but sometimes exploring those deviations from our chosen path can have AMAZING outcomes.  This time...umm, well, I can't REALLY tell you because it'll ruin the surprise, but let's just say that she DOES get closer to someone, while also cutting ties with several other someone's, and the ending sort of leaves you scrambling for solid ground. -- "Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers"

Hmmm. Well, any press is good press. I hope she did enjoy it, and I hope you'll give it a shot too.

Here's another review from Amazon and the reviewer had a more definitive opinion on the novel.

"Kincer has written a marvelous escape to Provence in this book that will male you forget “the time of Covid” as you get caught up in the simple life that’s healing her soul. Kincer has developed a type of hybrid heist ala Dan Brown (Robert Langdon cryptographic series)and Ritter Ames (Bodies of Art series) that will sweep you into a world you can only imagine while you stay firmly in your ordinary life." -- Amazon review

Here's a photo from a recent trip to Provence to keep you coming back.

Mont Sainte Victoire on a clear day in Aix en Provence

Tuesday Intro -- Letters from Paris

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 wrote about this book Letters from Paris by Juliet Blackwell for Dreaming of France on Monday, so I thought I'd share the intro today. The book goes back and forth in time from Claire Broussard who grew up in Louisiana and travels to Paris after the death of her grandmother who raised her. She's

trying to track down the artists who make masks like the one she found in her attic as a child, and the mask might be connected to her own history. The book jumps back in time to 1897 to tell the story of Sabine, a young French woman who travels to Paris in hopes of finding work.

Here's the intro from the prologue:

February 27, 1898
He sleeps.
Sabine creeps across the dark studio before dawn, beseeching the silent faces not to betray her. They watch her every move, mute witnesses to her crime.
Slipping through the door, she winces at the scraping sound of metal on metal as she pauses to latch it behind her. Fog envelops her,, the mist cutting through her threadbare blouse and underthings, wet needles of cold air piercing her skin. 

  I'm also joining in with Teaser Tuesday which is a weekly bookish meme, hosted Ambrosia @The Purple Booker.
Here's my teaser from page 65:

Claire's stomach growled again. And knock her over with a feather: there was a McDonald's. Right there on the Champs-Elysees.
If that wasn't a sign, she didn't know what was. Claire ducked into the fast-food restaurant. 

I don't know about you, but I'm a little put off by an American who eats at McDonalds when in France. We did it when we traveled with the kids, but I would have to be super homesick pass up French restaurants and cafes to eat at McDonalds.

Here are the kids outside a McDonalds as we drove through France. 

Hope everyone is reading something good.

Selected Feature Review -- Paris Runaway

Yesterday, Kirkus Reviews Magazine notified me that a review for Paris Runaway had been "selected as a feature review."

That  means that way back on page 132, they include their thoughts about Paris Runaway -- which were good overall.
But in addition to the entire review, they included a quote from the review at the top of the page.

I love that they experienced Paris with Sadie and that my use of concrete language stood out.

The placement of the review might be only for the dedicated who thumb through the pages to the end, but I'm grateful to be included.
Here's the link for anyone who wants to visit. It's at the bottom of page 132, but here's how the review looks.

 It starts at the bottom of the page then jumps to the top of the next column

Thanks to Kirkus Review and to everyone who supports my writing. I'm grateful and hope you'll visit the page, as well as consider reading Paris Runaway.
Here's the link on Amazon for paperback or Kindle version. And if you have Amazon Prime with the books, you can probably read it free.

NaNoWritMo -- National Novel Writing Month

I started out so strong in November with National Novel Writing Month.
The goal is to write a novel in one month. Well, 50,000 words, which doesn't quite reach novel length, but it's a sprint and a marathon to get the bones of a story done in such a quick amount of time. I've written parts of other novels during November, and I've even succeed in getting to 50,000 words a couple of times.
This year, I was determined to succeed. The first week, I was ahead of the daily word count.
I'm working on a novel that I'm calling The Wedding-Dress Theory.
Because I'm unsure how much of the plot I'll share when the book is published, I'll just give you the general idea that this is the story of a mother and adult daughter who have a tenuous relationship, and a tragedy prompts them to attempt to visit all 50 states in three months.
My successful writing paused on November 8. I was anxious about the election and couldn't seem to sit down and write. I assured myself that it would be better the next day. But the next day came and it was worse. I woke up to a new reality.
I spent time soothing my children, soothing my students, pretending that everything would be okay.
Part of the difficulty though, is that this wasn't a normal election with a candidate from the other side. This was a candidate who threatened people of color, people of other religions, women, -- pretty much the majority of the country has something to fear from his election.
People who voted for him claim that it wasn't racism; it was about jobs or the economy. Well, if they looked at the economy compared to eight years ago, they'd realize that wasn't true. In the U.S., we have 4.9 percent unemployment. During the recession, it reached 9.8 percent. Nearly half of those looking for jobs, have found them. No economy is perfect, and I realize that I live in a city with even lower unemployment, but I don't believe the economy claim.
In addition to Trump appealing to racists, I think a lot of people were afraid to have a woman president.
The past, nearly, two weeks have been depressing, like a death -- a death of the country we thought we lived in.
I unfollowed people on Facebook -- cousins who posted things like "protestors are paid" or "Suck it up Buttercup" bill.
This morning I cancelled brunch with a high school friend. We meet halfway between her house and my house. We've been friends more than 30 years. She's not political, but she is conservative. We don't talk politics, but so much of my life has revolved around the election, that I can't imagine talking to her about my life without referencing the despair I've felt, and that would be dipping into politics.
I still have a chance to finish NaNoWriMo. I'm only working one day this week, so I can write and write and write. (Plus also run and swim and lift weights, my way of dealing with the extra stress.)
Our family is having Thanksgiving with just us -- me, Earl and my three children. Not even significant others will be present, since Grace's live-in boyfriend is flying to New Jersey to be with his grandparents. I don't feel too stressed about cooking for just us, so even on Thanksgiving, I'll be able to work on NaNoWriMo.
Right now, I'm at 22,000 words. Only 28,000 to go.
I'll try to update you next Sunday to let  you know if I've been able to shake off my feelings of doom and dig into writing again.

Writing and Marseille

My week is busy with grading papers and writing.
I'm never really sure if anyone checks in on the blog and feels disappointed that I haven't written.
But, I have completed my first edit of Paris Runaway, my latest novel.
It's got a mother searching for her teenage daughter who ran away from their home in Florida to Paris chasing after the French exchange student.
The mother follows and learns about the importance of embracing life.
In addition to the streets of Paris, the novel will take you to Marseille, and into a Frenchman's bed.
Oh la la!
Thanks for sticking with me.
Here are a couple of pictures of Marseille.  The first is from the train station. In the background, you can see a hill and a spectacular cathedral sits on the hill overlooking the harbor. The church is called Notre Dame de la Garde.

And here's a shot of the ferris wheel along the harbor. 

Ferris wheels are becoming as ubiquitous as carousels in French towns these days. 

 

Short Story Available

I'm so excited to announce the publication of my short story, "French Masquerade" on Kindle.
I probably wouldn't be nearly as excited if not for the adorable cover, made possible due to the great photograph by Linda Mathieu on Frenchless in France.

Here's the description of the story:

As Joanna’s only son graduates and her marriage stumbles to an unexpected close, an old friend drags her to Paris to drown her sorrows in wine, museums and men with accents. Can the City of Light ignite a spark in Joanna or only torch songs from her younger days? 

I hope you all will consider downloading my short story. It's only 99 cent on Amazon Kindle.
And please, let me know what you think.

We All Judge a Book By Its....

What kind of book cover draws you in?
I started thinking about this when I saw the cover on Bibliophile by the Sea of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. The cover has a cartoonish or art look to it. Not realistic at all, yet I would pick up the book. What artist is this like?

A lot of book covers have people without their heads. I guess the idea is probably to make the reader think: This could be you.
Here's one:

And here's another:

The second cover appeals to me more, maybe because I see action in it.
Sometimes the cover will show a part of someone's head, again, not a clear photo because it could be any reader.

The covers with only words appeal to me too.
Like this one:

 And, of course, I love the Brit  Lit books with cartoonish covers.

When making my own book cover to put on my dream board, I went with a landscape. Too generic? I don't see many covers like this:

What do you think? What kind of book cover draws you in?

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Red Garden

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.

This morning I'm planning to start The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman. Here's the first paragraph.

The town of Blackwell, Massachusetts, changed its name in 1786. It had been called Bearsville when it was founded in 1750, but it quickly became apparent that a name such as that did little to encourage new settlers. True, there were nearly as many black bears in the woods then as there were pine trees, but there were also more eel in the river than there were ferns sprouting on the banks. You could stick your hand into the murky green shallows and catch half a dozen of the creatures without using bait. If you ventured in waist-high, you'd be surrounded in moments. Yet no one considered calling the village Eelsville, even though people ate eel pie on a regular basis and many of the men in town wore eelskin belts and boots. They said wearing eel made them lucky at cards, but when it came to the rest of life, love for instance, or business acumen, they had no luck at all.

 Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
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 mine from page 53:

It shocked her to see him disappear beneath the ice. Mary made a gasping noise even though she wasn't the one who'd gone under. She felt that her heart had stopped.

I've liked Alice Hoffman before, so I'm sure I'll give this a try. What are you reading?

Inspiring Inspiration

I went to a writing conference on Saturday. One of the sessions was about inspiration, led by Hannah Stephenson of The Storialist. She's a poet, which a lot of times I don't get, but she inspired me in the session.
I liked her idea that inspiration is a muscle and the more we exercise that muscle, the stronger it gets. Inspiration begets inspiration.
And, I have to admit that writing in my blog makes my voice stronger, even though I have a friend who complains that my fiction voice is not as strong as my blogger voice. Of course, on my blog, I'm writing as the character of me. This is a character I know pretty well by now.
Stephenson suggested that writers, or creators of anything, set "ambitious goals" of what they will create each day or each week. She writes a poem every weekday. So I set a goal of writing for an hour each morning. Then I promptly got up and graded papers for two hours this morning rather than writing.

I also liked Stephenson's idea that many of us feel like we have to support our partners, our children, our careers, but we don't necessarily support ourselves. If creating fiction or art is part of us, then we have to "show up" for ourselves and not let down that inner part of us. I guess that's true. Other commitments take priority.
One of Stephenson's ideas was to take inspiration by simply noticing the mundane around us. Notice it and think about what makes it interesting. She finds inspiration in the grocery story, overheard conversations, and mostly art. She gave us a chance to try it too. In a piece of art made from cut and folded paper silhouettes, in a huge, sunlit room, children danced around a May Pole. And I noticed the shadows cast from the long ribbons around the pole. Then I began to connect the idea of shadows to a new novel I'm working on.
Most of my inspiration for writing comes from my daily life, slogging through work and motherhood and wifehood and friendship. Sometimes just a walk in the morning might inspire me. Many times I push that inspiration aside, put my head down and continue to push ahead with the things that must be done.
So part of my inspiration must be allowing myself to stop and soak in that inspiration before noting it on paper and incorporating it into my work.
What about you? What inspires you and how often do you feel inspired?

Writing Revisions

This morning, I am going through one of my novels changing it from present tense to past tense. I'm not sure why I wrote it in present tense. It just came out that way. But it was something that agents commented on. Things like, "Some readers aren't comfortable with 3rd person present tense." I always just moved on. Too bad, I thought.
Then recently it hit me. I could change it to past tense. And that's what I'm doing.
I'm only on page 51, so this may be a long, tedious process. This is the book about the two women who decide to hike the Appalachian Trail as the ultimate diet plan and as an escape from their almost-adult children who come home for the summer. The women use their time on the trail to figure out what their lives will look like without the day-to-day job of raising children.
As I'm making my way through though, I found this sentence which I liked and thought I'd share with you.

The trail snaked across the mountains, a mere comma in the middle of a sentence of unending trees.

Hope you find a gem in  your work today.

Book Review -- Underground Time

On Tuesday I posted the introduction to a book I had started and was loving. Well, I've finished it and please, let me warn you that you should not read it unless you are feeling so, so happy that you need something to make you feel miserable. As a matter of fact, you may feel guilty about being so happy and you immediately need to pick up this book to bring you down so strangers can stand to be around you again. Otherwise, skip the pretty language and the hopeful blurb on the back.
I know. What was I thinking? It's French. Even their comedies are depressing. But the book jacket said Mathilde and Thibault were two lonely people in Paris. And we get to see that loneliness, that misery building block by block. Have things taken a turn for Mathilde? No. Back down again. Maybe Thibault will meet her in the subway. No, they missed each other. The psychic promised her life would change on the day the entire book takes place. But the blurb on the book jacket left the reader hopeful when it said, "a lonesome city... But what if these two could save each other?"
It does say "what if..." which apparently in France means, they can't and they won't. So if you got your hopes up like I did, well, perhaps you skipped the part about it being French.
Most of the book has a great languid quality about it. Yet, it made me anxious. Nothing much happens except lots of angst from both characters. And (SPOILER ALERT) in the end, they do see each other on the subway, look at each other, and when he looks up again, she has exited. He exits at the next stop and the book ends.
I kept reading because I thought something in their lives might actually get better. Who wants the characters to walk away miserable? Apparently, the French do.
So if you're incredibly happy, read this book. Or, if you're already feeling miserable and you want to feel like you have company, read this book.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Secret Lives of Dresses

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 love picking up a new book, like a fresh shiny apple. I finished Anne Tyler's The Begginners Goodbye yesterday (truly enjoyed it), so today I turn to the shelves and plucked down The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean. According to the blurb on the back of the book, Dora has taken the path of least resistance, going to the college that offered a scholarship, working at a coffee shop with a crush on her boss, when her grandmother suffers a stroke, compelling Dora to return home to run her grandmother's vintage shop.
Here's the intro:

Dora had a rhythm going, or if not a rhythm, a pattern, and it went something like downshift, wipe tears away with back of hand, sob, upshift, scrub running nose with horrible crumpled fast-food napkin, stab at the buttons on the radio, and then downshift again. That had been the order of things for the past two hours. The first two hours had been pure howling, crying so hard she almost couldn't see, but then it had slowed down, a torrent turning into a spitting rain. Still bad weather, but not impassable.

Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
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 a randomly selected teaser from page 108:

"Got it." Dora sighed. "The worst part about dressing like this is that Mimi's wanted me to wear these dresses for years, and I feel terrible that she isn't even seeing me in them."
"For what it's worth, Mimi talked about you all the time, and never mentioned your clothes."
"That's because she hated my clothes, I think. I mean the ones I actually wore, not the ones she put aside for me."

I'm not too sure about this one, but I'll let you know.

First Paragraph, Teaser Tuesday -- Two Towns in Provence

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.

Continuing my obsession with France in general and Provence in particular, this week I'm beginning the book Two Towns in Provence by M.F.K. Fisher.

So here is the town, founded more than two thousand years ago by the brash Roman invaders, on much older ruins which still stick up their stones and artifacts. I was as brash a newcomer to it, and yet when I first felt the rhythm of its streets and smelled its ancient smells, and listened at night to the music of its many fountains, I said, "Of course," for I was once more in my own place, an invader of what was already mine.

And this first paragraph feels so right for me. Have you ever felt that way about a place?

Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
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 a teaser from within Two Towns in Provence.

Far above the stone ribs of the hushed room a small eye of open sky in the cupola looks down upon the empty basin that the first Christians found so conveniently ready for their baptismal rights, after decades of Roman ladies had bathed hopefully there to give themselves children. Perhaps, it is said, St. Maximin himself, one of Christ's disciples, stood beside that pool.

Falling Behind

I started the month with the intention of writing 50,000 words toward a new novel as part of NaNoWriMo. I did so well the first five days, writing 1700 words every day and documenting my progress along the side of my blog.
Then came the weekend when I needed to grade essays from four classes. So those took priority. Then when I had finished those by Tuesday, I had a book from the library that was only a two-week loan. I had two days to finish it, and I really liked the quarter of the novel I had read, so that took precedence.
I still have a bit of the novel to finish (it's a day late now but worth the dime)and I have another class of essays to read, but I'm going to hop back on this writing idea and see how much I can catch up in the next few days.
Technically, at 1700 words per day, I should be at 18,700 words by today. Instead, I'm at 8527 words. Just a little over 10,000 to write.
I'm sitting at Caribou Coffee with a skim berry white mocha and they're playing Christmas music.
I can do this.
Hope bout you?
Are you behind on any projects?

First Paragraph Tuesday

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.
Here's the first paragraph of the book that is sitting beside me as I drive 16 hours today from Florida to Ohio. If I take a driving break to let Grace drive, I may even read some of it.
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

She was floating, arms outspread, water lapping her body, breathing in a summery fragrance of salt and coconut. There was a pleasantly satisfied breakfast taste in her mouth of bacon and coffee and possibly croissants. She lifted her chin and the morning sun shone so brightly on the water, she had to squint through spangles of light to see her feet in front of her. Her toenails were each painted a different color. Red. Gold. Purple. Funny. The nail polish hadn't been applied very well. Blobby and messy. Someone else was floating in the water right next to her. Someone she liked a lot, who made her laugh, with her toenails painted the same way. The other person waggled multicolored toes at her companionably, and she was filled with sleep contentment. Somewhere in the distance, a man's voice shouted, "Marco?" and a chorus of children's voices cried back. "Polo!" The man called out again. "Marco, Marco, Marco?" and the voices answered, "Polo, Polo, Polo!" A child laughed; a long gurgling giggle, like a stream of soap bubbles. A voice said quietly and insistently in her ear, "Alice?" and she tipped back her head and let the cool water slide silently over her face.

I like this beginning because I can imagine my friend Sheila saying, "Funny" which she frequently says. I like the peaceful feeling it evokes, even though I know this will end up being a dream because I believe the book does not begin well.
What I don't like about typing out the first paragraph is that I notice little details that I might have glossed over, like the fact that "bacon and coffee and possibly croissants" should have gone near the words breakfast or taste, rather than her mouth. That's just the picky writer in me though.
This book description says 29-year-old Alice is married and expecting her first child when she wakes up on the gym floor as a 39-year-old with three children. She can't remember those intervening 10 years to figure out how her life got to this point.
What do you think? Would you keep reading?

Tuesday Intros

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea prints the first paragraph of her current read on Tuesdays. I thought I'd try it this week.
From Everyone She Loved by Sheila Curran.

"Penelope Cameron May had more money than God, which may have explained her need to play the deity from time to time. This impulse took on even greater urgency once Penelope's daughters were born. She added a codicil to her will, appointing her stepsister and three best friends from college to make certain that in the event of her own untimely death, her husband didn't marry the wrong woman."

I don't think the idea is totally unique. I know my friends and I have joked about an approval committee if something were to happen to one of us, but it may be interesting to see how it plays out.
I'm on page 88 so far and like the characters, but some money troubles for one of the characters is making me a little nervous. I hate when people become destitute. I could never stand those Shopaholic books.
What do you think? Would you try this book based on the first paragraph?

Porch Work

I'm sitting on my front porch with my knees propped up on the wicker chair across from me working on my computer. The birds screech and warble. The breeze flicks through the trees, moving the branches.

I see trees and weeds growing in the clover that I should get up and cut, but I don't move from this spot.
A bird swoops across, letting the wind lift him from below before he settles in a tree. Then the wooden wind chimes clank a few times. The sun shines hot, but this place on the porch is shaded.
I have papers I could grade, but I'm taking the day off. I can get to those tomorrow. Today, I plan to work on revising my novel. I've revised (again) the first 50 pages. Today I will finish 50 more. Grace is reading it, looking for typos or missing information. When she finished the second 25-page section, she handed it back and said, "Do you have more? I really want to keep reading."
She may have only said that to make me feel better, but I hope she actually enjoys it, and like a book you don't want to put down, wants to read on.
So think of me on this Memorial Day Sunday, sitting on the porch, feeling the breeze sweep across and reading through my novel with the title revised (actually changed back to the first title) The Summer of France.
Hopefully, it will be coming soon to a bookstore near you. You'll be the first to know.