Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, Chapters - condensed, Self Publishing, tagged Berlin, Books, Pentahotel, reading, Writing on January 2, 2012| 4 Comments »
As promised here’s the first chapter of my next book. It’s the follow up to my first book: Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color.
I’ve created a separate tab at the top of the Home Page. To read it all you have to do is click on the tab that says New Book / New Chapter.
Happy Reading!
Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, tagged blog, Books, rewrites, Writing on January 1, 2012| 4 Comments »
Okay, I thought I had a Chapter ready for New Year’s Day. But yesterday my editor returned my draft with so many comments and questions that it may take me another day or two to sort it all out. There’s nothing like all those little red marks to keep a girl humble.
Notes to self: Do not try and back into your story. Don’t rush – these deadlines are self-imposed. Send thank you note to Mel. A good editor is worth her weight in gold.
Stay tuned. It’s only a temporary delay.
Books, blog, writing, rewrites
Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, Lifestyles, Self Publishing, Social Media, tagged blogs, Books, Memoirs, My Life, Robert McKee, Story, Women on Writing, Writer’s bloc, Writing on December 31, 2011| 13 Comments »
In every writer’s life there are two stumbling blocks to overcome. On second thought, make them stone walls to surmount: writer’s bloc and writer’s resistance. Writer’s bloc, as I learned from a Robert McKee Story seminar, occurs when you run out of ideas. Writer’s resistance is a lack of dedication to your craft. Lately, I’ve been suffering from both.
“How is that possible?” you may ask. “She’s been posting content consistently all through December.”
Well, I have a confession to make. I’ve been coasting. Yes, that’s right. For my December postings, I’ve mined content already created for my WOW blog tour back in October and November. Regular readers of just “The Chronicles” may not have noticed this, but crossover readers between it and the WOW tour found at least one familiar post.
This strategy gave me a much-need rest, but now I’ve run out of content just as I’ve fallen out of the habit of writing every night. Of course this would happen just when my blog took a significant uptick in readership and e-mail subscriptions – for which I am amazed and incredibly grateful. In fact, all of this new interest, new subscriptions, increase in comments and “likes” has given me a new sense of purpose. I am now accountable to a new and growing invisible group of friends who drop by the Café regularly to catch up on the latest happenings.
Realizing that I might find it tough sledding in December I also promised my readers a chapter (one with a surprise ending) of my second book by the end of December. Many of you have also been kind enough to ask me about a sequel, and both things have motivated me to sit down and write.
I’m happy to report that although it doesn’t quite have the surprise ending I had in mind, I do have a chapter ready for you to read. It’s a Destination Chapter. Those of you who are familiar with the structure of my book Any Color but Beige will recognize that this chapter picks up the story where my first book leaves off. Where we go from here remains a mystery.
I’m superstitious so I decided to post it the first day of 2012 rather than the last day of 2011: a new chapter equals a renewed sense of purpose.
I’d also like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Whatever your projects are this year, may they bring you the satisfaction and joy of doing something you love.
Back Behind the Computer
Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, Color, Lifestyles, tagged blogs, Books, color, color marketing, color therapy, Writing on December 29, 2011| 14 Comments »
The Color Purple
photos: ©iStockphoto.com/photodjo
Color has a profound psychological impact on our lives. It’s used every day to stimulate our senses, excite us, calm us and, yes, induce us to buy products. Each color family has its own set of characteristics that trigger certain responses in us. With that in mind we should tread carefully when adding color to our space, especially our writing space.
There are trend colors, those colors du jour that we fall “in like” with. Be careful here because this relationship is a bit like infatuation. Color fatigue sets in quickly with trend colors. And before your know it, it’s time to move on to something else.
Then there are colors that last a lifetime – those are your favorite colors, the colors your intuition chooses. These are the colors that you feel close to and comfortable with. These are the colors that already appear in your closet and in the most comfortable rooms of your house.
When it comes to choosing color for any room, keep in mind that you don’t have to have an all red or all green room. Sometimes a dash of color is just enough to stimulate your creativity or get you in writing mode.
What follows is my take as a color marketer on color and how it can affect us as writers. Keep in mind that if you’re seriously engaged in the writing process, you’re focused and so you don’t see any color – it’s actually the absence of color, i.e. black type on a white page.
Red is a very stimulating color; it is the color of heat, passion and warning. It’s used a lot in fast food restaurants to move people in and out quickly. Use a dash of red to jump start your project.
Purple is a mystical color. It promotes healing and meditation. Leonardo da Vinci said that the color purple can increase meditative powers tenfold. A purple room is good for contemplating plot and structure.
Blue is a very relaxing and calming color. If you’ve put yourself under the pressure of deadlines, then blue is the color for you.
Green is Mother Nature’s favorite color. And just look how creative she is.
Yellow is a high-energy color that stimulates the mental process of thinking and activates memory. If you’re writing a memoir a little yellow will go a long way.
Orange is a color you either love or hate. It’s also a high-energy color and encourages socialization. It might be a good color to use in a room where writers convene to discuss their work.
Whatever color you choose for your writing room it should be a color that enhances and promotes your personal well-being – as you feel it. Color like everything else in a room should disappear after a while as you engross yourself in your story. At that point your story’s own color will jump off of the page.
©iStockphoto.com/RuslanDashinsky
Pick a Color, Any Color
Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, Color, tagged Any Color but Beige, blogs, Books, My Life, reading on December 27, 2011| 10 Comments »
Many years ago, a friend, mentor, teacher and author gave me a T-shirt that said: So many books, so little time.
That phrase has been burned into my brain ever since. When it comes to books and book stores, I’m like a kid in a candy store. I borrow way more books than I can ever hope to read from the local library and incur enough late fees to add a second wing to the building. I didn’t think it was possible but I swear I’m about to overload my Kindle with dozens of titles in as many genres, all unread. I also bookmark more blogs than I have time to absorb and enjoy, and then there are the magazines and newspapers that I buy because I still like the feel of them. They are piled at the foot of my couch.
I’m also guilty of being a multiple book/media reader. When I was younger I used to be able to get away with it. I could remember the various plot lines of novels, biographies or thrillers not to mention the anecdotes and statistics of business books. Lately less so. I blame it on this new age of information overload rather than my own advancing age. And so I’ve had to grudgingly limit myself to two books at a time and a few periodicals. That way, there’s a chance I might get to enjoy them.
I have further diminished my normally good reading habits by enhancing another good habit – that of writing regularly. Whoever says you can have it all never had to balance reading, writing and working a full-time job (or raising a family.)
I’ve been writing a blog for two years now and I recently published my first book, a memoir entitled Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color. And while writing the blog and the book has been a real labor of love, it has ultimately cut into my reading habits. Instead of reading before bed, I’m busy taking notes. Instead of reading on the plane, I’m turning those notes into posts or pages. And therein lies the dilemma because reading is the ultimate resource for new ideas and a sure cure for writer’s block. But reading is not only about work, it’s also about pleasure. So here’s my own personal list of why I read. It’s a mix of reasons as eclectic as the books I read.
Photo: © iStockphoto.com/
1) Reading enriches my vocabulary.
2) Reading good prose inspires me to be a better writer.
3) Reading transports me to new places without ever having to pack a bag.
4) Reading gives me insight into myself and others.
5) Reading gives meaning to my life.
6) Reading allows me to appreciate the beauty of a well-turned phrase or line.
7) Reading relaxes me.
8) Reading teaches me like nothing else can. I read therefore I learn.
And finally, reading adds color to my life. Without books it would indeed be a beige world.
Posted in Adventures, Life Style Design, Lifestyles, Spas and saunas, Tango, Tokyo, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged A Suitable Boy, adventure, Books, French Kiss, Kathy Reichs, movies, Roman Holiday, The Shadow of the Wind, Travel, When Harry Met Sally on December 21, 2011| 8 Comments »
I often find myself in new places for business and because I’m in and out of a city quite quickly, I don’t always have much time to spare. However, when I do get some downtime, whether I’m traveling for work or pleasure, I always do a bit of research before I set out to explore. I like to arrive in a place that I know a little something about, and I’m not talking about its tourist attractions. I’m talking about its soul, its character(s) and its culture.
There’s nothing more thrilling than the flash of recognition you get when you see or visit a place that has some significance because you’ve read about it in a novel or seen it in a movie. There is a familiarity that arises from knowing a place’s “back story”. If you have that, you’re no longer visiting a stranger; you’re visiting a friend.
Let me give you a few examples of books and movies that can help you learn the back-story of specific places as well things you can do when you get there to enhance your experience.
Books
Barcelona – The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlo Ruiz Zafón. The novel includes hand drawn maps that trace the characters’ steps through plot twists and turns so you can follow in their footsteps.
India – A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth. This sweeping epic does a great job of breaking down the early formative politics of the country. Reading it will give you a better appreciation and understanding of today’s India.
Montreal – Forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs sets many of her thrillers in Montreal. I sometimes half expect to bump into her character, Temperance Brennan in one of the many settings she describes.
Movies
Rome – Roman Holiday. Follow Audrey Hepburn as she hops on the back of a Vespa with Gregory Peck to see the sights in Rome. Fall in love with both the city and the guy.
Paris / France – French Kiss. Follow Megan Ryan and Kevin Kline from Paris and Province to the Cote d’Azur in this delightful little comedy.
New York – When Harry Met Sally. For me this is the best way to live vicariously in New York.
Having read a book or seen a movie about a place gives significance to the sights in the places you visit. It makes the experience that much richer. But you can also enhance your experience once you are there.
Here are five fun things you can do.
1) Take a class in a “native” subject. Take tango lessons in Buenos Aires, cooking classes in Bologna and an Ikebana class in Tokyo.
My attempt at Ikebana
2) Attend a cultural event. Attend the local symphony, a dance performance or a concert given by local talent in a club or a restaurant.
3) Take a tour. It’s a quick way to get an overview of a place, after which you can pick and choose your favorite spots to go back to and savor on your own.
4) Treat yourself. Travel can be stressful process at the best of times: standing in long check-in lines, losing your luggage or just getting oriented. Book a massage, facial, or a wash and blow dry at a local hair salon. It lends an air of “normalcy” to a place, and it makes you feel better no matter what situation you’re facing.
5) Sample the local cuisine. Always make it a point to try one local dish, whether it’s pizza in Naples, poutine in Montreal or antelope in Africa.
Finally as a way to relive the experience once you return home, bring back a music CD of an artist or group that you heard while visiting a place. If the music isn’t live, but piped in through a sound system in restaurant or played on the radio in a taxi, go ahead and ask the waiter or taxi driver about the singer or group. They are happy to tell you about the music to promote their country’s talent.
Once home, you can become an armchair traveler and let the music transport you back in time and place to experience those magical moments again and again.
What the teacher did
Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, Lifestyles, Self Publishing, tagged blog, Books, Memoirs, My Life, self publishing, Writing on December 16, 2011| 10 Comments »
The secret is out. Now that my life is officially an open book, the world (I have friends on six continents) knows that I am not Wonder Woman. It is an image I struggled for a long time to preserve, but with the publication of Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color I have given up that struggle. And I feel the lighter for it.
I didn’t intend to write a memoir and I certainly didn’t mean to bare my soul to strangers. Because up until recently, I have often said that I would rather chew broken glass than admit to any vulnerability. Ah, vanity!
On the surface I was calm, cool and confident as I shrugged off life’s slings and arrows, like some superhero in a movie. I’ve traveled the world for my job, lived abroad in some very nice cities and had a romantic life that was ripped from the pages of a Harlequin romance novel. It made for some sparkling conversation over cocktails with the girls for whom I put on my game face and pretended that my life was perfect.
But it wasn’t. The truth was I was in a blue funk nursing a broken heart and I didn’t know what to do about it. So I started to write. I poured my heart onto the page because I wouldn’t allow myself to cry. All of the emotion I felt went into my writing, and slowly I began to get my bearings.
Before I knew it, I had 200 pages of perspective. Having gone that far, I sent it off to a freelance editor for an evaluation. The minute I pushed “Send,” I felt a rush of embarrassment. What did I just do? I asked. I’ve sent 200 pages of total nonsense to a complete stranger. I was mortified. It took a month before I heard back from her and each time I thought about it, I’d squirm a little bit in my skin.
Much to my surprise, the evaluation came back positive and with it a long list of recommendations, one of which was to create a blog based on my experiences. The blog helped me build an audience for my book and hone my voice. It also helped me to get over some of the awkwardness I felt when writing about my experiences. I soon learned that what I had to say resonated with readers.
The blog was good practice for writing the final version of the book. Through it, I got used to gradually exposing me and my life. Because the blog preceded the publication of my memoir, and chronicled my life, it felt a lot like the gradual opening of rose – one petal at a time. At its core lay the sweet essence of my book.
Now when I think about the book, I think about the authenticity of its story. Now, rather than feel embarrassed, I feel relieved at having shared it. I used to think I was alone in my experiences. So many people have told me that they have found themselves on its pages that I realize the feelings of love and loss, happiness and disappointment and, most importantly, optimism are universal. And feelings are always better when they’re shared.
Photo: © iStockphoto.com/olandesina
Posted in Cafegirl Books, tagged Books, Color quiz, happiness, Memoirs, My Life, Transformation, Writing on December 12, 2011| 13 Comments »
In my book, Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color, I finally realize that the picture-perfect life I created for myself was missing something essential – color. Once I identified what was wrong, I found happiness by living life in color. Use my little quiz below to determine if you need to add more color to your life.
Ticket to Happiness
Start by answering “yes” or “no” for each question.
Scoring
For each “yes” response, give yourself five points. For each “no” response, subtract one point. Add up the points to reveal your color score.
Color Lost: less than 25 color points
Oops! Looks like you’ve misplaced your color compass. A little Meditation Mauve (from the Any Color but Beige color palettes) would serve you well as a starting point to get back on track. Leonardo da Vinci believed that meditating in a purple light increased effectiveness tenfold. Hang a purple crystal in your window and bask in its beams. Now that is a mood swing for the better!
Color Roadblock: 26 – 50 color points
Time for a makeover – just add color. You are eyeing that box of crayons, poised and ready to choose your signature color. Who would have thought such a bold, marvelous creature was hiding behind all that sensible beige? Try adding some Marvelous Darling (from the Any Color But Beige color palettes) with clothing or accessories, to get moving again.
Flying Down the Highway: 51 – 75 color points
You are officially on Adventure Road. If color were a country, you would have a passport! Whether it’s from around the corner or around the world, you collect colorful souvenirs and use them to decorate your inner and outer space. Seize opportunities to bring colorful pieces of your travels and adventures home. Who says you can’t take it with you?
End of the Rainbow: 76 – 100 color points
Congratulations, you have a rainbow in your pocket! Your life encompasses a full spectrum of color experiences. Time to take all that Zenergy (from the Any Color but Beige color palettes) and share it with others. Start a blog, write your memoir or just find time to share colorful experiences with others. Keep focused on living life in color to continue to reap the benefits.
Photo: © iStockphoto.com/pagadesign
Posted in Books, Divorce, Lifestyles, Relationships, Sex & Love, tagged Books, change, Divorce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, My Life, reinvention, taking chances, Writing on December 2, 2011| 5 Comments »
We recreate ourselves constantly whether we realize it or not. It happens naturally as we live our lives. Outwardly we go from daughter, to wife, to mother. We graduate, we work, we earn money, we raise a family and, in the process of living, we raise ourselves. These are the facets of our life that the world sees. We’re “on script” so to speak.
But there are times when the script doesn’t match the internal voice of our character. That is the time we start rewriting our scripts, adjusting our personal narratives and changing ourselves.
Sometimes we make small and incremental changes in dialogue, like learning to say “no” when all our lives we’ve been saying “yes.” Sometimes we change our costumes, like getting into shape and upgrading our looks so we suit our new roles. And sometimes we make fundamental changes, like changing careers, going back to school or leaving the safety and security of life as we know it for the unknown – performing without a net.
Change, and the act of re-creation or reinvention, are never easy. When we’re going through it we often question our motives, our sanity and our judgment –and rightly so. It’s important to make sure that change is warranted because change for the sake of change is counterproductive. It’s like changing four quarters for a dollar – you’re no further ahead than when you started.
Naysayers, family and friends among them, who are stuck in their own personal ruts, will warn you off change and call your decisions into question. Don’t second-guess yourself! Don’t let “analysis paralysis” rule your life either!
Six years ago I recreated my life. As an international color marketer I was busy adding color to everyone else’s life but my own so I rewrote my script, changing my character from a long-time married suburban wife, to a single woman living in cosmopolitan Montreal.
I didn’t do it overnight. In fact, I thought about it for 13 years before making a change that I knew was unavoidable. Once made, I never looked back. Everything changed: my outlook, my attitude and my approach to life. I rewrote my inner dialogue from negative to positive, gave myself a new setting, and added an interesting cast of characters to my love life.
For the first time in years I knew what it felt like to be fully alive. I took my life off autopilot and started flying solo, free to feel the full range of emotions I had been avoiding for years: love, lust, longing, happiness, sadness and, finally, contentment.
Recently I completed my memoir Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color. When I read it, I am amazed at the number of recreations there are in my life. I didn’t realize it as it was happening; it’s only now in retrospect that I can see the metamorphosis, the gradual pushing of boundaries from the safety of a beige chrysalis to a world awash in color. And this is only just the beginning because the one thing I realized when I finished the book was that as long as I’m alive, I’m never really done.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “There are no second acts in American life.” He was wrong, not only are there second acts; there are encores and lots of them. So take a bow and get ready for the next performance.
Photo: © iStockphoto.com/coloroftime
Take A Bow
Posted in Books, Cafegirl Books, Self Publishing, tagged blogs, Book Readings, Books, Carrie Bradshaw, Christian Louboutin, friendship, Munich Readery;, My Life, Sex and the City on November 30, 2011| 9 Comments »
I’ve had a lot of Carrie Bradshaw moments over the last few years: walking away from the wrong man at the right time, falling for the wrong man at the right time and an amazing rescue by my Café Girls when I returned home from a disastrous foreign love affair – on Valentine’s Day with nothing but the clothes in my suitcase. They were there with food, shelter and friendship. What more could a girl ask for?
Carrie and I have the great good fortune to live in magical cities that we love – she in New York, me in Montreal. Writing is our shared passion. Carrie writes a column and I write regular posts on a variety of topics including sex in a few cities, travel, relationships, careers and cultural commentary for this blog which has steadily grown in readership over the last year.
And now I too have my own book, Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color. In season five, Carrie agonizes over her image on the book’s front cover appropriately titled Sex and the City. It was all about what she should wear, how she should dress. For me it was about the shoes, and the challenge of securing permission to use the beautiful red soled Christian Louboutin shoes on my cover. We both succeeded in creating memorable book covers.
We each attended our respective book launches solo – but in my case, one was the luckiest number and not the loneliest number. While an eleventh hour rescue by Jack Burger gives her the plus one she’s been looking for. Stuff like that only happens in TV.
We’re both lucky to have loyal readers who support our efforts and show up at launches and public readings. Last week, I gave my first public reading at a The Munich Readery which is run by Lisa Yarger and her husband John. It was an especially fitting place for my first reading because I had read a few chapters of the then untitled and unfinished manuscript to some of the same people the year before.
An intimate group of friends and fans of the book and the blog attended. This official first reading ranked right up there with my book launch and my recent Girls’ Nights In cocktails moments pressed into the scrapbook of my memory. 
Lisa did a thorough job publicizing the event through the store’s e-mailing list and the local English speaking online publications. She laid out a colorful counter of fancy cheeses, figs, beautiful German breads and jam and a variety wines. It’s times like this I like to step back and take in the scene as an observer of my own life. Sometimes I just have to pinch myself just to make sure I’m not dreaming. Friends and family have been enjoying the process as much as I have it seems.
Tucked in between floor to ceiling bookshelves (I thought I’d died and gone to heaven), I sat in an oversized chair surrounded by my own books, amidst the small group who listened attentively to two selections that Lisa had selected “Destination Paris” and “Chapter 12: Unfinished Business.”
I read Any Color but Beige aloud dozens of times during the proofreading process but this was the first time I “played” all of the people in each of the chapters. I had fun taking on different roles changing my voice, my accents and my tone to reflect the individuals in question. As I looked from face to face, I could see my audience as lost in my story as I was, laughing at the funny bits and growing quiet in the sad ones.
Moments like these made me feel like Carrie Bradshaw, with one huge difference for which I will always be grateful: all of my memorable moments are real.
Photo: © iStockphoto.com/digitalskillet
Cafe Girl Chronicles 