My Weblog

On Rolling With The Traveling Punches...

I’m back from my whirlwind trip to the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) tradeshow in beautiful Mobile, Alabama. I had an amazing time meeting hundreds of independent booksellers. It’s great to see that independent bookstores are alive and well. I urge everyone to support these booksellers.

 

 

At the tradeshow, I participated in the “Movable Feast,” an event where 29 authors and I moved from table to table meeting the booksellers and telling them about our books.  After the Feast, we had the opportunity to sign advance reading copies of our books for the booksellers and answer any other questions.

 

 

It all went like clockwork, until, I got to the airport to fly home.  The plane was late, which caused me to miss my connecting flight. The rub was that the plane arrived about 15 minutes before my connecting flight was scheduled to take off, but US Airways had already closed the doors and wouldn’t let me (and others) board.  They issued us hotel vouchers since there were no more flights out until the next morning.  As ready as I was to get home, I had to spend another night away.  What made it worse was that my parents live about two and a half hours from the airport where I was stranded. But it was nearly midnight by the time the dust had settled, and my flight took off at 7:45 am. So there was no use calling them.

 

 

Since my parents and I live in different states, I don’t get to see them as much as I’d like and all I could think of as I tried to get some sleep at the hotel was that I was so close, but still so far away from them (key word there is *tried* to sleep. I’ll bet I didn’t get three collective hours of sleep.)

 

 

I finally got home about 10:00 Monday morning.   Even though I was road-weary and wrung out, I was elated to have had such a good time at SIBA.  

           

 

 

On the Holy Grail for the Curly Head…

Why is it that we always want what we don’t have?  I’m guilty of that myself, and I can tell you why... I've always longed to trade in my naturally curly hair for beautiful, silky straight locks.  My particular brand of curl is unpredictable and unforgiving, venturing into obscene gesture/fright wig territory when left to its own devices or exposed to high doses of Florida humidity.   To get my hair to behave, I’ve had to buy stock in hair product and learn to wield a blow drier like a pro. I have two words for you: high maintenance.  And I’ve never been a high maintenance hair girl.  I thought unruly hair was simply a sad fact of life until I discovered the power of Chi… the most remarkable hair appliance ever known to mankind.  Don’t be fooled by imitations. A few years ago, I bought a cheaper thin-line flat iron, but it didn’t do the job. Then after a particularly bad hair day, I finally bit the bullet and invested in the real McCoy… it’s as if I found the Holy Grail. A few sweeps of that baby and my hair is respectfully beat into sweet submission.  So, if you’re in the market for a new flat iron, it’s worth it to invest in a Chi. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a report on my weekend at the Southern Booksellers Alliance Trade Show. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Sunday! 

On Meeting With Independent Booksellers…

Today, I’m flying to Mobile, Alabama for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Trade Show.  http://www.sibaweb.com/2008-trade-show  I’ll be part of the SIBA “Movable Feast,” a “speed-dating” type of event where authors, prompted by a moderator, move from table to table and talk to indy booksellers about our books.  Of course, I’ll be promoting With Violets.   Should be fun!

On First Publishers Weekly Reviews...!!

 

  

 

Just received my first ever Publishers Weekly review! It’s on my historical With Violets. They consider it a debut novel since it’s my first book published as Elizabeth Robards.
Here’s what they have to say:

With Violets

Elizabeth Robards. Avon, $13.95 paper (320p)

ISBN 978-0-06-157912-7

 

In her debut novel, Robards takes up

the story of impressionist painter Berthe

Morisot, who was a friend and lover of fellow

artist Edouard Manet, and imagines a

love affair between them against the backdrop

of a disapproving time. After they

first meet in the Louvre, Manet invites

Morisot to his studio, where he paints the

first of what would be countless portraits.

Morisot basks in the great man’s attention,

but she must learn to tread carefully

around Manet’s wife. Together, the painters

test the limits of propriety, engaging in a

risky affair that is compromised bit by bit

over time, leading to unexpected ends. Robards

constructs a convincing plot for these

real-life characters, her sense of emotion is

keen and the setting serviceably rendered,

but readers looking for insight into the art

should look elsewhere. (Nov.)

Hmm... Sort of conjures the feeling, "Thanks, I think..." But since my editor was pleased, and I wasn't aiming to "teach" art history, I suppose it's a good review.  Although, if the reviewer would've paid attention, he/she might have learned something … such as how the Salon de Paris operated... how the Impressionists formed... how they got their name... there was even an actual review of the first exhibit... I wasn't trying to hit people over the head with a history lesson, but subtle details were definitely there.

What do you think? Where’s the fine line between teaching and entertaining? Or are writers of fiction obligated to teach?

On Letting Go…

 

(drawing by Kathryn Love) 

 

Yesterday, I said farewell to a dear friend who is moving up north to live closer to her family for health reasons. I’m not good at goodbyes and it hurts knowing that I won’t see her on a regular basis, as I have for the past twelve years.

 

Another friend, Teresa, was with me as we wished our friend well. Afterward, she said something so profound I can’t stop thinking about it. “We live the first part of our lives gathering people to us, and we spend the last part learning to let go.”

 

If I’ve learned one thing from this experience, it’s that it is so important to savor every minute of our lives and the time we have with those we care about.

 

How do you celebrate life and those you love?

On The First Whiff Of Fall...

 

I caught a whiff of fall in the air today, and it smelled like heaven. People laugh at me when I say I can smell the change of season, but I can. The air is lighter, crisper – and most importantly, less humid. It’s my absolute favorite time of year, and I pine for it all summer long.

 

Officially, the autumnal equinox happened this past Monday, September 22, 2008, at exactly 11:44:16 EDT  -- according to Wiki Answers. They have this to say about the seasons:

 

“The equinoxes and solstices mark the start of spring/autumn and summer/winter. The divisions are based on the rotation of the earth with respect to the angle of the earth. As the earth goes around the sun, picture it looking down on its orbit from above. Summer solstice is when the earth's north pole is pointed most directly towards the sun (longest day) - warming the northern hemisphere. Winter solstice is when the earth's south pole is most directly pointed toward the sun warming the southern hemisphere and leaving the north cold. (shortest day) The equinoxes are the midway points between the solstices with the sun halfway between its north most and south most points, so we have equal day and night.”

 

That’s interesting, but all I know is that I love the cooler weather, the chance to be outside more and the return of Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

 

What’s your favorite season?

On Italian Editions...

With Violets goes international!  Harper Collins sold the Italian language rights to a European publisher called Cairo. No details yet on when it will hit the shelves, but just knowing that it will be translated into another language is thrilling! (If you remember, it's also being published in Korean) I can't wait to see what they do with the cover. 

On The Final Countdown...

Did you know that as of today there are 100 days left in the year?

Before you know it, we'll be staring down the barrel of a brand new year and making a fresh set of resolutions. But since we have 100 days left, it seems like a good opportunity to take stock.  So dust off that list of goals and take stock:

*Which goals have you achieved this year?

*Are you happy with your progress so far?

*Which goals need attention? 

*What do you need to do to accomplish your goals?

Whether your goal is to lose weight, to learn a new language, to begin training for a marathon, or to start (or finish) that novel you've been longing to write, it's not too late! You can accomplish a lot in 100 days. Break the steps toward your goal into tiny, manageable daily tasks. If you devote even a little attention to your dreams every day, you'll be surprised what you can accomplish.

On Classics...

On this day in 1937 the classic, The Hobbit, was first published.

Here's what Garrison Keillor says in The Writer's Almanac:

 "...with a printing of 1,500 copies. A few years earlier, a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a man named J.R.R. Tolkien, was grading papers and he turned one of those papers over and wrote, "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit." He didn't really know what that meant, or what a hobbit was. But in the next few years, he drew a map of the sort of world he thought a hobbit would live in, and then he started to write a story about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Tolkien only managed to finish the story because he was encouraged by friends. It was passed around and eventually got to the publishing house of Allen & Unwin. Mr. Unwin gave it to his 10-year-old son, told him he would pay him a few pennies in exchange for reading it and giving him a report, and the boy was so enthusiastic that Allen & Unwin agreed to publish it. The Hobbit was so popular that they immediately issued a second printing. But since paper was rationed during the war, it was frequently unavailable for the next 10 years."

On the best eyeliner ever...

 

I wanted to share a great find... Bobbi Brown's Long Wearing Gel Eyeliner.  It's wonderful! Lasts all day. Doesn't smudge or wear off.  I like it because it's a gell base and it goes on easily. It was my big splurge before the RWA national conference.  Check it out here: http://www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com/templates/products/sp_shaded.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY10476&PRODUCT_ID=PROD1109