Janice MacLeod's Blog, page 14

10 Beautiful holiday gift books ready for wrapping

Ah shucks. So USA Today made A PARIS YEAR one of their top 10 books ready for wrapping. The best news ever. If you haven’t purchased a gift for your favourite Francophile (or favourite person for that matter), then might I suggest A PARIS YEAR. I’d sell you one in my shop but the book is so robust that neither of us can afford the shipping. At least from where I write to you now in the middle of the snowy Rocky Mountains. Though if you buy it and want my autograph, you can get a signed bookplate in my shopw with free shipping. Just sayin’.

And here is said Rodney from the book plate… and Scott…

And here is David S. Lee, who will kill me over this…

 

Because he prefers this look of his from LOST…

But I prefer this look as it’s truly us in our natural environment… the coffee shop.

Anyway, A PARIS YEAR is getting out there and I couldn’t be more pleased because your humble author has her shop to run, sending out letters and notecards and can’t be off in outer Mongolia asking bookstores to prominently display my books. Speaking of…

Dark moment the other day.

I’m in my local big bookstore. They’ve rearranged and I couldn’t find the beloved Travel section. Finally, I found it in the far far back corner (the outer Mongolia of this particular store). The Travel section was so far in the back that nobody but me and Amélie were back there. How disappointing. However, there were a bunch of copies of PARIS LETTERS and A PARIS YEAR on display. They looked lovely, even though no one in the store could find them. I sighed. I looked at my book neighbours. Ewan McGregor was there with his LONG WAY AROUND, as was Peter Mayle and A YEAR IN PROVENCE… and I’m happy to report that some authors who have become friends were there, too. And if it were a contest, my books were winning the whole section. However, it was a section no one could find.

Just then, Amélie gave me that look. The look that says she’s tired, thirsty, hungry and bored. There was an empty chair so we sat down. I nursed my baby while sitting next to my books. I thought, you know, that’s not so bad. There was a time I was browsing in this section of the bookstore and I would have never believed that I would be here again a few years later with two beautiful books and an even more beautiful baby. So what if the Travel Section was LOST in the back of the store. It was an intimate moment with my babies, and that was just swell.

A September Paris Letter, October Paris Letter, and a Secret Letter

Remember the days when I could write poetically about a whole lot of stuff? These days I feel like there are just a few precious minutes in between naps (Amélie’s, not mine… sometimes mine) when I can sit long enough to get to my Paris Letters. So when she decided to have a growth spurt and take a rare long nap, I pulled out the paints and wrote a letter about my second favourite boucher in Paris. We all know who wins first place.

But I digress. I was so very pleased by how the water ran and mixed and mingled with the autumn leaves in this Montmartre scene…

Almost a shame to write all over it, but I did. I mean, a copy of it. I’m not insane. As we can read in reviews of my books, typos and errors do happen on occasion. Gawd don’t people have other things to do?

Being a writer these days is a tough business. Everyone has an opinion and our inboxes are maxed out with requests to review our purchases and services. Someone on Facebook even had the audacity to criticize the apple of our eye, Sam Heughan, in the most recent episode of Outlander. I mean, if Sam is getting grief, is there hope for any of us artists who put our work out in the world?

They said WHAT?!?!

Anyway, the Montmartre Autumn Paris Letter from October is in the shop. Another in the shop is the September Paris Letter and it’s about my preferred afternoon snack: Cookies.

It tells the story of when yours truly went to cooking school in Paris. Hey, if you need an egg poached, I’m your girl.

I’ve also been reading the Secret Letter Project by fellow Sourcebooks author Juliet Madison.

It is “a journal for reflection, growth, and transformation through the art of letter writing,” and by golly it works. After you have a baby, your mind gets all mushy and weird. You stop hearing that voice inside… the voice that helps you figure out your life… the voice that actually writes your books for you… the voice that is your pal, your confidant, your Golden Girl.

So for a while there, my inner Estelle went mute. Estelle was replaced by, well, just a list of things to do around the house and another voice that tried to arrange the list so that it could get done.

So my inner Russell Crowe from A Beautiful Mind was all “Laundry in wash, make lunch, laundry in dryer, go to store, first finish orders, then post office, then store, no wait, first store, then laundry…”

But then the Secret Letter Project came along and somehow, writing myself a letter from my future self, or my future house, or my old lady self (myself as a Golden Girl?) seemed to slowly rewire, or restitch my brain back together. Thank goodness, because I really like my brain. Anyway, the Secret Letter Project is a big recommend for making big plans, or even just connecting with your inner Golden Girl.

Hey, thank you for being a friend. Your heart is true. You’re a pal and a confidant.

Literary Paris: Note cards featuring Paris’s best lines in architecture and words

I love me a parallel concept. Back in advertising my teeth would tingle when I came up with a concept that had double meaning. Oh joy. Even if that concept was for a boring product like a satellite TV company, cereal or insurance.

So here we are again, this time I’m designing note cards. I must admit, designing note cards is soooo my thing. I wonder why I didn’t come up with this idea years ago, especially since I’ve been in the mail business for a long time.

This is a new collection of note cards of great Paris lines… both in literature and architecture.

Though I dig me some watercolour art, sometimes the best way to show off Paris is with a black pen and creamy paper.

Roman Payne’s book Rooftop Soliloquy drifts here and there. Sometimes I get lost in the language. Other times I just get lost. I put it down for months at a time, but then I return because in between all the bla bla bla are great lines.

Oh that Henry Miller. When he wasn’t boinking Anaïs Nin behind the bushes, he was writing great lines. This café, Le Papillon, is located between Christophe’s boucherie and our apartment. It is featured in one of Anthony Bourdain’s Paris episodes. Recently, it went from traditional French cuisine to a fusion of sorts. It still a great place for people watching.

Further up the street is the intersection where I have spent many a minutes awaiting the lovely Melanie for our rendezvous-ing with friends around town. I haven’t spent too many minutes. She’s Canadian, too, and therefore prompt. Christophe is the butcher in the background behind the umbrella-ed couple.

Most of my quotes are from literary greats of the past, but this one from Juliet Blackwell’s book The Paris Key went so very nicely with my key sketch. I couldn’t resist.

And of course, what is a set of literary note cards about Paris without a quote from Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast? I sometimes think that he’s talking not of he and Hadley but of Christophe and myself.

I doubt Victor Hugo spent much time at the English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company. But I know from personal experience, that I have often left my own apartment with one book, ventured into Shakespeare & Co, and walked out with two or more. I added a few titles you may recognize to this particular note card. Speaking of, Paris Letters, is a Kindle Monthly Deal for the month of October. A mere $1.99 USD… and the same deal is cheaperoo in other countries as well. Check your local Amazon.

Other news:

I was on the Creative Living with Jamie podcast: A super fun podcast where we talked about making a living with creativity.
I was interviewed on Smash Pages: The Comics Super Blog  about my ‘comics-adjacent’ books on the City of Lights.
I’ve got another sweet note card set up and ready in the shop. This one features birds, postcards and Paris. Ooh la la…

PS. The French generally prefer to send a card in January to wish friends a Bonne Année, hence a winter theme rather than a Christmas theme. Plus, birds and stamps look good together.

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Sweet October: Books and Cinnamon

I’ve done a taste test of various chai tea lattes. You’ll be happy, and surprised, to learn that the big winner is…

I know. I’m as surprised as you. I thought I’d have to search far and wide, but baby business has kept me close to home to investigate nearby chai. The key is to brew it in hot milk. NO WATER. Add sugar. Boom! Sorry Starbucks.

We had a snow storm yesterday, so you know… indoor activities. The soul is quiet when the weather is dramatic.

I, like so many, love autumn. If you look in my book A PARIS YEAR, you’ll find the October chapter draped in autumn.

If you know anyone who loves autumn and/or Paris and/or pretty books, A PARIS YEAR makes a great gift. Add gift cards from my shop and you’ve got yourself a pretty Paris kit:

Speaking of books, my other delightful book PARIS LETTERS is an October Kindle Deal. For a mere $1.99 USD, you can score what the New York Times hails as a best seller.

Another reason to love October!

My friend and colleague Samantha Vérant who wrote SEVEN LETTERS FROM PARIS is also part of the October Kindle Deal bookapalooza.

For another mere $1.99 USD you can pick up her delightful book. It includes castles and a steamy love affair. Did you know her dad was once my boss in an advertising agency? Years later we would go on to write books about Paris with similar titles and the SAME publisher. Life is astounding.

I’ve been reading THE LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP, which is about a bookseller who doles out books as medicine for the soul.

His bookshop is on a little boat in the Seine. I’d like to think he has a view like this photo I took once on a cool autumn day:

I bought THE LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP ages ago, but then I had a baby and I spent every waking hour of her nap time asleep. But recently I read the sample of Nina Georges new book THE LITTLE FRENCH BISTRO and loved it. I thought I should read what I’ve got before buying the new book.

Other smashing news…

I was interviewed on Smash Pages, a comic book website for my book A PARIS YEAR. They called it “comic adjacent” which pleases me greatly. I was so enthusiastic that I drifted into other topics:

“I just love the word “adjacent.” I love that sneaky silent D. I’m a writer first, a visual artist second, so I have a collection of words I love. Five that come to mind: adjacent, capture, trinket, paraphernalia, haberdashery. I like how they feel when spoken. Haberdashery is like a full sentence.”

Added a little charm…

“Living in Paris for a visual artist is like living inside a jewelry box. Each corner seems prettier than the next.”

And a little neurosis…

“The search for the perfect font is a long, arduous journey. And I’m the graphic designer of the book as well as the writer so you know I was a control freak about the whole thing.”

A few secrets….

“Every sketch requires some digital jiggery-pokery… All visual art is really a balance between highlighting the good and hiding the bad.”

And a nice tie-in to this here blog post when asked about my preferred season in Paris…

“Autumn. Without question. Autumn. Old cities have old trees, which makes for a lovely place to witness nature’s most brazen costume change. Plus, by autumn the tourists have thinned out, the locals are fresh since their return from their big vacations in August, and fall fashion is draped all over shop windows. It’s a gleeful moment when the new warm coats and boots arrive to Paris.”

Read the full article here.

Now back to my chai latte and my pile of books. Cheers!

 

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The worrier’s guide to the end of the world

So Torre DeRoche calls me up. Asks me to lunch. The day of our rendezvous, I’m frantically wiping counters and reapplying lip balm before we meet. We sit on a lovely terrasse because that’s what one does when one is in Paris.

I don’t even know what we talked about.

Likely we talked about book business: Advances, publicity departments, agents, next projects. I’m sitting there but also sitting beside myself gawking at Torre DeRoche who just asked me to lunch.

If you don’t know her, let me illustrate just how cool she is. She recently asked if I wanted to give a little quote for her book. Since I LOVE her new book, The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World, I gave her two very sensible options that I poured over. They were filled with the kind of verbose language that came straight out of a thesaurus (You can’t just say beautiful. You need to say something like devastatingly handsome.) Speaking of…

Thank goodness the drought is over.

I digress.

I provided her some devastatingly beautiful quotes about her book, which TRULY IS devastatingly beautiful. But then I wrote an extra testimonial that was true, but likely inappropriate, but it was funny so I sent it along to amuse my friend Torre:

“A moving account of conquering fears while walking a pilgrim’s path. Also funny as f@#k.”

And that’s the one she chose.

High five!

My mum is displeased. Not very ladylike. *shoulder shrug*

Torre’s book is about two pilgrimages, one through picturesque pleasant Italy, the other through dusty difficult India. It is a memoir but it also serves as a kind of guidebook through your own psyche whenever you get pilgrim fever. Do I really want to do this walk? Do I need it? What will I get out of it? How can I avoid blisters… and snakes… and rapists. Will I meet cool people? Will I have to shower and sleep alongside strangers? Can I do a 5-star pilgrimage? Is that a thing? Does it count if it is 5-star?

My pilgrim fever comes and goes. When it arrives, I watch The Way again.

I read Walking Home again.

Then I walk to the grocery store instead of taking the car and think Ahhh forget it. I’ll just walk to the grocery store. Can’t that be enough? Why do I put so much pressure on myself. I have an infant! Just getting through the day should be enough. Why can’t I ever be satisfied with just getting through the day? Maybe I should go on a pilgrimage and solve this snag in my psyche.

Then I read The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World again and start looking for the perfect hiking boot. When I read it the first time, I immediately started reading it again. You will, too, but I warn you… you might also get a serious case of pilgrim fever.

Get the book here and read more about Torre here.

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Pretty Paris note cards… is there anything better than stationery? Non.

So I’m inside a stationery shop in Paris. Christophe is standing outside with Amélie because the stroller won’t fit in the store. This is a big issue in Paris. Teeny tiny lanes inside stores of breakables make the nostrils of Parisian cashiers flare even more than normal. This is what Paris looks like to me:

There they are, walking ahead slowly while I take yet another photo. And…

They both don’t like waiting. They also don’t like waiting outside stores. They basically just put up with me.

So they are waiting outside the stationery shop.

I don’t have a lot of time. The shop is good and so full of beautiful PAPER. I’m such a paper nerd. I can deliberate far too long in front of a wall of cards and envelopes. But this time, I don’t have time to mull so I just buy everything I grab on my first tour of the store. I spend way too much cash on a bunch of pretty paper. I feel slight guilt in the moment, but after I come home I spread it all out over the bed and relished in the glory of pretty paper. So nice! I am like Sharon Stone in Casino…

But instead of jewels it is paper.

As I survey the paper, I come to three realizations:

The folder the paper is in can be just as delightful. Stationery sets are much more fun to have when you can slowly open the clasp to pull out your stationery.


Having a collection of cards rather than many copies of the same card was much more fun for sorting and deciding which of my pen pals would get which card.


Having pretty envelopes to go along with the note cards elevates the whole situation. I was floored by how many stationery sets had boring plain envelopes… like they didn’t think it through. But when the envelopes were nice, I relished the idea of addressing them to friends and family.

But not one of my stationery sets have all three elements. So that’s when I huff, puff and declare to the world, “I’m making my own stationery sets!” And that’s what I do. Thus far, I have two darling stationery sets in my shop.

The Paris Streets Collection:

Not surprising given my delight in painting Paris street scenes for the ol’ Paris Letters. Notice the orange envelope. It’s called Tangerine. How delicious.

The Paris Post Collection:

Also not surprising given my delight in all things philatelic. This collection is based on the postcards I found at flea markets around Paris. The penmanship of yesteryear France makes my teeth tingle.

I’ve got a few other collections in the works, but they require a deeper delve into font research. Speaking of, I received a fan letter the other day…

J’aime your book. Okay, my French is abysmal… I just got your book: A Paris Year, and absolutely love it! My question to you is this: what typeface did you, or your graphic designer/publisher use? It looks like it’s handwritten, but clearly, it is not. I love it. At any rate, it is such a fantastic book/work/journal/sketchbook. Bravo to you!

My reply…

The search for the perfect font is a long, arduous journey. And I’m the graphic designer of the book as well as the writer so you know I was a control freak about the whole thing. There are three fonts, The body copy is called MaryDale (I used the alternate stylistic set that substitutes a few less quirky letter forms. The original lowercase “g” was driving me crazy.). The headlines are Tuesday Script with the occasional Bruselo capital letter tossed in here and there for flare.

Some of the postcards I found that day became the note cards I posted on my shop today. Funny how life works.

So my love/neurosis about stationery is matched only by my love/neurosis of fonts. This is why it takes so long to design a project… oh, and this…


So glad I organized all those diapers.

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A backlog of Paris Letters to share and a whole lot of love

Boy oh boy. Having a new baby and new book makes for a backlog of… well, everything else. The lovely Amélie has provided me with a BONUS early evening nap so I can share the latest news happening over here at Paris Letters Headquarters.

First, the latest bunch of letters, now available in the shop:

Seems I can’t stop writing about Shakespeare & Company, that famous little English bookstore on the left side of the Seine. I think this is my fifth letter about this place. The most recent letter is about the most recent café they opened next door. Be still my heart.

Believe it or not, the famous Paris ice cream shop Berthillon closes in summer. They need vacation just like the rest of the city. So this letter is about that.

(Remember when I had all the time in the world and I was eloquent in my blog posts? Ya, I think we should accept that eloquence won’t return until kindergarten arrives.)

This letter is about a tobacco shop in Paris. For a long time I didn’t venture into these places because I didn’t need cigarettes, but some of them are oh so lovely in the back. A great place to hide out and write eloquently.

In other news, A Paris Year made it to #1 in the travel section of the biggest bookstore in Australia so THANKS AUSTRALIA! And it keeps bouncing near the top of the charts over in the Amazon world. What I like best about all this book business is the kind words from friends who I know don’t read books but have been loving A Paris Year. And Instagram has been all a-Twitter. So to speak.

This one is from Tranquility du Jour. We did a podcast episode recently. Coming out in August. And pocketfullofglitter outdid herself with the blankie…

And inthevintagekitchen outdid herself both with her photo…

And the corresponding blog post, which is about how some people can’t quit Paris. And I am definitely one of these people. Is it an obsession? Nah. It just feels like home… a really wonderful place to hang out. Speaking of wonderful places to hang out, I hear someone stirring… à bientôt!

A Paris Year: Launch Day

Here I am standing in front of the Paris Opéra that I painted, not realizing that it would grace the cover of A PARIS YEAR, my new book that came out TODAY.

Launch Day for an author is a Big. Fat. Deal. It’s the day when all the pre-orders become all the sold orders for this one day. Hopefully that catapults a book to super stardom, and I’m happy to say that of all the books on France on Amazon, this one landed here:

And that pole position of #1, my friend, is because of YOU. Unless you didn’t pre-order the book, but you still have time… until the end of this day, June 20th. Then any sale after this day is very good but not AS GOOD.

Also after this day I will quit begging you to buy the book already. But until midnight, I’d like to remind you that it makes a great Christmas present, even though it’s June and I’m sweating in my sundress as we consider winter gift giving.

Remember back when I was writing this book and announced the other big project I was working on?

Now look at her:

Imbibing with mommy.

Perhaps this is a better view:

Imbibing with daddy.

Speaking of daddy, she learned how to blow kisses on Father’s Day. How cute is that? And today, big launch day, she has given mommy the gift of an extra long nap so I can send out this Launch Day message to you:

Thanks for buying the book you wonderful human.

And if you haven’t bought the book yet, please for the love of Dieu, do it today. Here’s a handy list of where you can buy the book.

The lovely Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of Good Chinese Wife made A PARIS YEAR her Book of the Week.Thanks Susan.

And thank you once again for making A PARIS YEAR a success. And for showing up here to read all about it.

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Travels with baby in Paris

Paris, the City of Light becomes the City of Stairs once you have a baby. The Métro is the biggest challenge. No elevators, rarely an escalator, plus a heavy stroller filled with urban exploring supplies, not to mention the baby. It’s enough to make a person huff before even taking the first step. But when you live in Paris, you’re not huffing it to the Eiffel Tower every day, and if I were to go to the Eiffel Tower, I’d be taking Uber.

There was a time when I would feel guilty for even taking the Métro or the bus, thinking I should be walking everywhere lest I miss a chance to photograph the latest cat art around town:

But being a mother makes an urban explorer adjust her expectations. Strolls are more local, I pack a picnic blanket, I take the friggin’ taxi. Otherwise I just get angry and flustered, which rubs off on the lovely Amélie. She’s a good little traveler. She likes stopping for coffee and is patient when I do photo shoots with the new book.

By the way, the book launches June 20th, so if you’re thinking of buying a copy for you and yours, it helps your humble author more to buy on or before the launch day… one of those statistical plays that helps climb your book to the top of the charts. Here’s a handy list of places to buy your book. I’ve also included a signed copy option over at my Etsy shop because a few friends asked for it, so why not. They are doing their Christmas shopping early and I’m happy to oblige while I’m hanging out close to home with this good little French girl:

 

Book Buzz: In Other Words…. On Learning a New Language

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Rarely do I come across a book that actually inspires me to alter my own style of writing in a dramatic way. But In Other Words" target="_blank">In Other Words did just that.

There are no spoilers here, so you can read on.

It’s bothersome when someone reviews a book and tells you too much. All I will tell you about is the first chapter, which you can In Other Words">download free over at Amazon if you’d like.

This book is about an American woman studying Italian. In the first chapter, she equates learning the new language to the desire to swim to the other side of a lake.

“For twenty years I studied Italian as if I were swimming along the edge of that lake. Always next to my dominate language, English. Always hugging that shore. It was good exercise. Beneficial for the muscles, for the brain, but not very exciting. If you study a foreign language that way, you won’t drown. The other language is always there to support you, to save you. But you can’t float without the possibility of drowning, of sinking. To know a new language, to immerse yourself, you have to leave the shore. Without a life vest. Without depending on solid ground.”

If you’ve ever studied another language, you understand.

She goes on to talk about taking her Italian dictionary with her to Italy:

“It becomes both a map and a compass, and without it I know I’d be lost. It becomes a kind of authoritative parent, without whom I can’t go out.”

And on the day in Rome when she realizes she left the dictionary at home and didn’t need it:

“I’m aware of a turning point. A sense of freedom and, at the same time, of loss. Of having grown up, at least a little.”

So good!

Even now, after speaking with Christophe for five years in French, I turn on the French TV channel and feel despair that I’ll never easily understand French like I do with English.

When you first begin learning a language, you have total enthusiasm. “I’m getting it! I can say hello, goodbye, please and thank you. I’m nearly bilingual!” Then you visit the country of the language you’re studying and you’re beaten down by an entire language made up of mumbo jumbo.

It’s like standing at a locked glass door.

You can see a whole world on the other side but you can’t get there.

My first fling with studying Italian was through Michel Thomas’ Italian Language course. Then I stumbled through the language row at the library. They were all good and bad for their own reasons. The only course that held any enthusiasm was Coffee Break Italian from Radio Lingua.

It’s conversational tone keeps me going. It’s PDFs and videos work. And I’m not getting any affiliate cash to say any of this. I just like it and want to share.

I’ve been revisiting my French studies now, too. And I had a dream last night that I spoke French to a Polish relative. She was looking at me like she understood everything I was saying… a skill mastered by expats everywhere. But she didn’t realize I wasn’t speaking English. My French accent was THAT BAD.

So it’s a process.

Anyway, if you plan on a road trip though the lavender fields of Provence, or think the beach of the Sorrento is in your near future, Coffee Break Italian or Coffee Break French might be worth trying out. Their podcast is generous with information and you can upgrade for a more robust experience.

In other news:

You’ve got 1 day to enter to win one of five copies of A PARIS YEAR over at Goodreads. That’s May 10th. Open to USA residents only. Sorry rest of the world. Don’t feel bad. I couldn’t enter either. But this means you don’t have Trump as President. Sorry other half of the USA.

You can pre-order A PARIS YEAR now and it will arrive at your doorstep around June 20th. (Pre-ordering is a great way to take care of those Christmas gifts early… plus it helps your humble author mightily.) It has a textured hard cover, gold inlay and sweet vibrant colour pages throughout. Check out the Fliptastic video over at Instagram.

Nice words from nice people about A PARIS YEAR:

“A Paris Year is the kind of beautiful book you want to hug against your chest.” —Samantha Verant, author of Seven Letters from Paris and How to Make a French Family

“Janice’s journey of a year in Paris is downright magical. A wonderful read!” –Lindsey Tramuta, journalist and author of The New Paris

“As much a treat for the eyes as for the soul. A Paris Year is a must for anyone who loves Paris.” –Lisa Anselmo, author of My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home

Aw shucks. Thanks y’all. Pre-order at your fave book seller.

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