Au Revoir!

By the time you read this, we'll be heading for the airport. 

I haven't wanted to talk about our upcoming vacation for fear of jinxing it - the last time we were supposed to go away was March, 2020, and everyone knows how that turned out. Then there were two reschedulings, with corresponding family crises that made us cancel.

But here we are. On the way to Paris. This was the trip in 2007 that made us a couple. Eighteen years later, Paris has a lot to answer for. Most of it good.

Can't say I'm not a little twitchy about traveling, for all the usual reasons and even more so for all the new ones. But it will be fabulous, and when we get back, I'll be sure to share a ton of photos.

And because I'm that person, I'm also taking a copy of French Lessons with me, so I can photograph it in all the places the story took place.

No post next week - that's the day we're coming home, but I'll try to pop in before the following Wednesday with some lovely Parisian photos.

Spring Not Spring

It's my favorite time of year - not - when it's a different season when I leave for work than when I come home. Yesterday morning it was 35 when I went in and nearly 60 at lunchtime. Do I shiver in denim on the way in or sweat in wool walking home?

The garden isn't as confused as me, though it is messy. Past Karen did a fabulous job cleaning up the vegetable garden in the back, and the bed along the side of the house is pretty tidy, but the front garden looks like a heap. Much needs to be done, and apparently by me, though not in time for yard waste pickup this week, alas. I ran out of steam.

So instead I'll show the nice bit. Here's the back garden. Eight raised beds waiting to be topped off with a bit more soil and some compost, and three new beds in the back along the garage wall. The empty space at front left is where my hammock frame sits; once everything is growing, I can hide behind my walls of tomatoes and no one can see me. 

The new raised beds are because I fell afoul of the garden section on Temu. I didn't know they had one, but it found me, and then I somehow acquired three circular beds, a garden cart, netting bags for my fruit trees and smaller ones for the blueberry bushes, and two obelisk trellises for the big pots that anchor the corners of the front yard.

Oops. 

Insomnia shopping for the win.

I'm still gathering seeds and making my diagram for the vegetable garden, but another thing I acquired this year was an electric pressure canner, so I can vary my produce a bit more as I'll have other ways to preserve it than just freezing and water bath canning. 

This and that

It's been a bit of a week, folks. Working on my next project, busy at the part-time job, and occupied on the homefront. 

But rather than not showing up at all, I thought I'd thank you for the comments, both on the blog and by email, on my boycott post. It really is a complicated issue, though if we're going to go about dismantling structures in society, Amazon isn't the first one I would choose. 

Some writers never read their reviews. I get that. I'm the opposite end of that spectrum, though. I love reviews. I read them all - good and bad - and have a strict 24-hour wallowing rule for bad ones. Thankfully, French Lessons hasn't had any of those yet. Here are a few snippets that are too good not to share:

I was quickly drawn in to this story of life, love and living your best life. A young woman spends a year in post war Paris, looking for inspiration for her writing. Pearl finds inspiration not only in the streets is Paris, but with the strong women in her life. From start to finish, with a backdrop of Paris, I was drawn into the aptly painted picture of Pearl finding herself.

***

This book arrived on a day I got some bad news. You know, the world the way it is right now, that means bad news on top of bad news. I settled down to read it with a cup of tea, blanket around me, and fell headlong into Pearl's story. I read it over two days. I may read it again. In fact, I will read it again.

***

From the houses of the ultra-rich to the pensions of the working class, from the threadbare midinettes of the couture houses to a poverty-stricken nobleman bent on keeping his chateau, author Karen Heenan paints a believable picture of Paris and its people after the Second World War. Written in tight, economical prose that kindles the imagination of the reader, we follow Pearl through her year, her doubts and determination, her triumphs and failures, as she matures both as a woman and a writer.

***

If you felt sympathy for Pearl in the Ava and Claire books, you’ve probably been waiting to read about her successful solo year in Paris. Although it turns out to be a very different year from the year she had imagined, it also turns out to be a year full of self-discovery. Pearl faces the realities of the intense poverty of post-war France, learns about different kinds of love, and with a push from her mother, starts to write her book.

***

It was delightful to see Paris with Pearl’s eyes. The historical details of daily life after the war were vivid.

***

If you fell in love with Pearl Kimber in Coming Apart like I did, then you've been waiting a long time for her to get her (most deserved) days in the spotlight. And what a spotlight! It's not the experience Pearl's been dreaming of - but it turns out to be even better. This is her year to find herself, to shrug off the heavy burden of family and duty she's always carried, to write and walk and make friends and simply live. 

Boycotts

There’s been a lot of talk recently about boycotting Amazon because of who owns it. I get that. And I’m all for protesting, but I’m begging you… 

The boycott isn't hurting Jeff Bezos. It's hurting your neighbors.Seventy percent of the sellers on Amazon are small businesses or indie authors like me. We use Amazon to reach customers we would never be able to find otherwise. 

The February 28 boycott cut my royalties in half that day. I had 4 canceled pre-orders. There were people who said that while they still intended to buy my book, they would wait until March 1 to avoid breaking thet boycott. Again, I get it. But many of those who did that don't realize the difference on the back end: for a book bought on February 28, I'd get paid for it at the end of April. A book bought on March 1 won't be paid for until the end of May. That makes a difference.

Please don’t cancel your Kindle Unlimited subscriptions or stop buying books from Amazon. You won't hurt the billionaires, but you will hurt indie authors like me. Kindle Unlimited page reads make up at least 75% of my royalties each month. It would be hard to pay the bills without it. 

Think of it this way. If you pay for Kindle Unlimited, read more. Make Amazon lose money by how many books you eat every month.

Just a thought.

This is not to say that I don't agree in theory (and in quite a lot of practice) with an economic slowdown. We all buy crap we don't need without very little thought. I'm in favor of more mindful purchasing, whether that means small/local businesses when applicable, reputable companies through big box stores or online markets, or small businesses not local to me who I can only find because of their participation on websites like Amazon.

I know several crafters who, without Joann's, have no access to certain supplies they need without ordering from another large chain or from Amazon. Are they supposed to close their small businesses because some portion of their supplies are sourced from a company that their customers would like them to boycott? The system isn't set up for us to bail on the elephants in the room yet. 

And that's a whole different topic.

I really thought I'd have more to talk about this week, but I had a few days of not feeling well, and the program I use to format my books was acting up, so mostly I was either lying on the loveseat or sitting at the computer, swearing. 

Probably swearing in both locations. I hate not feeling well, especially over a weekend. And of course by Monday I felt just fine.

On the plus side, I wanted to show off the devastatingly gorgeous full wrap cover for French Lessons' paperback. There will also be a hardcover edition, and its cover is similar but more "stretched out" because it has to fit around spines and wrap around the cover.

Anyway, it's beautiful, I love it, and I can't wait to hold a copy in my hands. 

The ebook will be released into the wild on March 2, and the paperback will actually go up a few days sooner, to get some early reviews. 

Podcast time

Things have picked up a bit, but I'm deep in the trenches, finishing the final format for French Lessons. It shouldn't be taking this long, but my formatting program did an update and broke nearly everything. They added a collaborative feature, and while I might be able to collaborate with another person, I was unable to collaborate with my own document. I've now reverted to the old version, and things are whizzing along a bit more to expectation. 

In case you'd like to get away from the dumpster fire that is our world right now, I recently appeared on The Write Place podcast. It was a fun interview where we not only talk about the new book, but the business of writing generally. Have a listen, if you're so inclined. 

Improvements

Rufus is not concerned

Not as interesting an update as talking about books - even to me, and it's about me - but I'm deep in formatting and other not very glamorous things this week, so this is what we all get. 

I had a follow up with the doctor last week. My blood pressure is definitely lower but she wanted to try me on a different medication now that she's seen my lab work. Knowing how I am about being stuck with needles, would I be willing to do another blood draw in a month to confirm that this new, better, combination blood pressure medication isn't affecting my kidney function? It's a rare but not unknown side effect. She's never seen it personally, but she'd prefer to be safe, and I get that. 

And honestly, since the blood draw wasn't the horror that I made it out to be, I've scheduled it for the same day as my mammogram because then I'm going to give myself one hell of a treat in the evening. After that, and after my upcoming vacation, I go back to her for another checkup combined with my yearly gyn exam, and then I'm on maintenance for the foreseeable future. 

Exhale. 

Though I think I'll keep up the therapy for a while. It feels kind of good.