Suzanne Palmieri's Blog, page 5

Practical Romance

The other night, a hard night, he said:

“You have a complex about being swept off your feet”

After that, we asked the waiter to bag up our food. I couldn’t keep it together. And I was afraid we’d both start throwing things at each other in the restaurant. (We do that, occasionally, throw things. We’re Italian American, don’t judge.)

At home I ran, ran, ran up the stairs three flights to the attic where I write. There was no consolation. No reasoning. No solace. I was in a situation.

What is romance?

He traveled up two flights of stairs and began to play, as good daddies do, with our little witches. They laughed. It’s a laugh specifically made for him. He chased them, he held them and he laughed too.

The timbre. Oh the timbre of his voice. His voice and his arms and his love all wrapped securely around our babies.

“you have a complex about being swept off your feet”

I’m not a Hallmark card kind of girl.

I’ve had beautiful boys sing to me while they played guitar.

I’ve had beautiful boys propose to me in the middle of the night in the middle of the street.

One beautiful boy walked through a hurricane to be with me. A long time ago… a lifetime ago.

I didn’t marry those boys.  I married practical romance.

What is romance?

Have I ever turned around to watch him watching me? No. That is not his way.

He laughs with the children.

When I was little, I craved my father. Longed for him. Cried for him, quietly because I couldn’t hurt my mother.

“You have a complex about being swept off your feet”

He cleans the bathroom. He does the laundry. He keeps the house beautiful.

He loves our girls relentlessly.

He does all this… and it is a practical type of romance.

And every time I ache inside for a sidelong glance, a sweet soft whisper, a word or two of hushed, sacred love, this is what I’ll try to do. I’ll try and translate:

He laughs with the children: “Look at these amazing babies we made, I love you.”

He folds my laundry: “You are the most amazing woman I ever met and I can’t imagine my life without you.”

He stays: ” I stay.”

He stays. My gypsy soul wanders. In search of all the things.

Better, shinier, more broken.

I never stay. I run away. Into my mind, up the stairs, away…

I’ll stand in my own rain. Outside half dressed. I’ll stand there on the outside of myself and maybe, someday, he’ll hear my siren call.

Until then, let practical romance reign, instead.

He laughs. And it kisses my soul, if not my lips.

It sweeps me off my feet.

Sort of.

 

 

At the cafe

Cafe Dumond

I wish we were back at the cafe, that day, with our little girls and powdered sugar everywhere. 

Hot coffee, hot. Summer morning. Day’s reaching out to us, “come see….”.

Those girls, our girls, not a hint of horror, not a moment of mistrust. Sugar girls.

The sweet sun never set on them, not at all when we were there.

Days are cold and dark, now. Drizzly to the bone, days. Night before I leave, days. Night when I return, days.

But when I think of them, and you, and me… too, (pensive though I always am, because)

It seems to make the sun shine, shine around me.

 

If not inside.

The Lost Witch (me!) is a bonus ninja mentor of #pitchwars

 

Hello writers!

SO, I am now… drumroll… a bonus mentor for the amazing contest the Brenda Drake concocted!

There’s been a bit of confusion about what this contest is. Think, THE VOICE, only with writers (and not on TV). If you don’t watch this show… and no hating about the fact the I watch this show…. then… well, visit Brenda’s blog!

Because I am a bonus mentor, I can’t have pitches sent directly to me, but I can STEAL pitches from other mentors (if they haven’t already claimed them) OR snag them from a super secret folder.

Anyway, there’s still time to enter, and it’s a fantastic way to get your unpublished (FINISHED Manuscript), out into the world.

So, then you blog about it, then you go and use #pitchwars on twitter!

Fun. SO MUCH FUN.

 

Sleeping amongst witches….

I returned after two days here and gone but mostly gone

back to the home I only know because my things are there

and there were chores I had to do with no knowledge of the ways to do them

crying was an option that I chose instead of being brave

so the witches came, little and middle

they kissed my head, they soothed, they brought me to a room where water fell from the sky

“What is this place? What do you call it?” I asked.

“This is a shower,” they answered. Their voices echoing, bouncing off one another. Witches speaking in tongues.

They helped me dry and dress.

“What is this thing?” I asked.

“It is a bed,” they giggled.

We all piled in. A tangled web of witch hair and arms and warming toes and noses.

Yawning large. We spoke our dreams and dreamt our lives.

Three witches home at last.

 

You live where you are

I’ve been doing a lot of searching lately about who I am. It’s an odd place to be… in the in between. My day to day life is hectic. I have three daughters (my little coven!) a loving husband who I call Mr. Wonderful (that works when he is making me happy, OR when he’s making me mad), and I’m a teacher.

I teach Sociology at area colleges as an adjunct (for those of you to whom that word is unfamiliar, it means PART TIME and LOWER PAY and a lot of driving around), and I am also a full time history teacher with the New Haven Public Schools. The high school where I work is not your average high school. Is there an average high school? Hmmm… anyway, my students are on the fringe. This school is the “last chance” school. The dropouts. The expelled, the ones who are disengaged. Needless to say, it takes a lot to compel them to learn.

That’s my day to day life.

BUT, and this is a big BUT, I’m a writer. I have already had some success. Though my books are not yet on the shelves, I have the support of two amazing editors at two amazing publishing houses. I have marketing people and publicists. Both my novels have sold internationally and will be on shelves in different countries. I’ve mad money through nice advances.

These two worlds collide everyday. Deadlines and doctors appointments. Bedtimes are put off by The Next Five Sentences. Students get their work back late. My mind, it wanders in mostly strange directions.

How do you put the two juxtaposed lives together?

I finally figured it out. You don’t.

You live where you are. You do the best you can, and you wait and see what happens next.

Do any of you have ways you juggle different parts of your life? I’m an SO open to suggestions.

XO

Suzy

Goodbye Blogger, Hello Wordpress

The Lost Witch: ME, has decided to try and cast her spell from another format.

This blog will remain up, but will no longer have new entries. ALL of the entries, user comments etc. are on the new wordpress blog.

Here it is: thelostwitch.com

Find me, maybe?

XO,
S

Goodreads Giveaway and goodbye blogger……

Hey there wordpress! I think I love you.

Okay, so hoping my followers all come with me… let’s give a quick update.

Go on over to GOODREADS and sign up for the giveaway that my publisher/marketing guru people put together. Here’s the link: THE WITCH OF LITTLE ITALY GIVEAWAY
Also, the book is available to pre-order on Amazon.com
ALSO I updated my website!  (If you find a typo, please email me. Thank you in advance)
ANNNNNNNDDDDD do you like this new blog? Let me know!

XO

Suzy

And the winners are......

All of you! Really... There are still 1st, 2cd and 3rd place winners, but I've decided that all of you, (and I'm keeping a file on this)  will receive a signed copy of THE WITCH OF LITTLE ITAY (as long as you blog about it, goodreads, tweet, etc.)  So... email me your addresses and I will send them out as soon as I get my pretty little hands on them.  I know March is a long way off... but think of it this way... you'll get a surprise  in the mail!

Now, onto the winners:


1st place winner:  Barbara Ellingson! "I watch the children." Brilliant.  Please email me and tell me what you would like as your prize. My agent OR my editor. Query or MS pages. 
2nd place goes to: Jessica Cora her entry reminded me so much of my favorite authors. Virginia Wolf, Sylvia Plath, and most of all, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Please email me so I have your email address so I can send you your giftcard!
3rd place goes to The Dharma Diva It was the last line. Moved me to tears. I can't wait to read more of your work... so I'm thrilled to be able to ask you to email me your query OR ten pages of an MS for me to edit. 

BUT, please, please know that you are ALL winners. It takes a certain kind of bravery to put your amazing words up for review in a public forum. And what I know about all of you, every single contestant, is that you will all succeed in this business because of your fearlessness. It is an essential quality.

Thank you all so much.

And guess what? I'm going to run ANOTHER contest beginning Friday! Come back and check it out!

And the winners are……

All of you! Really… There are still 1st, 2cd and 3rd place winners, but I’ve decided that all of you, (and I’m keeping a file on this)  will receive a signed copy of THE WITCH OF LITTLE ITAY (as long as you blog about it, goodreads, tweet, etc.)  So… email me your addresses and I will send them out as soon as I get my pretty little hands on them.  I know March is a long way off… but think of it this way… you’ll get a surprise  in the mail!

Now, onto the winners:

1st place winner:  Barbara Ellingson! ”I watch the children.” Brilliant.  Please email me and tell me what you would like as your prize. My agent OR my editor. Query or MS pages. 



2nd place goes to: Jessica Cora her entry reminded me so much of my favorite authors. Virginia Wolf, Sylvia Plath, and most of all, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Please email me so I have your email address so I can send you your giftcard!



3rd place goes to The Dharma Diva It was the last line. Moved me to tears. I can’t wait to read more of your work… so I’m thrilled to be able to ask you to email me your query OR ten pages of an MS for me to edit. 

BUT, please, please know that you are ALL winners. It takes a certain kind of bravery to put your amazing words up for review in a public forum. And what I know about all of you, every single contestant, is that you will all succeed in this business because of your fearlessness. It is an essential quality.

Thank you all so much.

And guess what? I’m going to run ANOTHER contest beginning Friday! Come back and check it out!

Writing under two names

As most of you know, I am being published by two publishing houses in 2013. Saint Martin's Press asked that I use my real name (married name) because the book is THE WITCH OF LITTLE ITALY and I guess that name gives the book some street cred, so to speak. That book will be released March 26th, 2013.

My other book, I'LL BE SEEING YOU, (co-authored with the amazing Loretta Nyhan) will be published in June, 2013 by Mira Harlequin ... and because of the nature of the book, as well as two different houses marketing my (our) work, I'm using a pen name. Suzanne Hayes.

That name is magical for so many different reasons. Suzanne Hayes was the maiden name of my father's mother. My grandmother. She died when she was 39... many years before I was even born. My parents named me after her out of respect, and love. (though my mother also insists it was because she loved the Lenard Cohen song, Suzanne.)

Here's the magic part. I've always loved her. I've always felt robbed not being able to know her. AND I've always felt her spirit around me.

Guess what? She wanted to be a writer. It was a dream of hers. My father recounted a story to me about the time she sent a story into readers digest, and got a rejection. How she was devastated by that.  And now, I get to publish a book (two actually, because we were contracted for two books), under her name.

How much more can you ask for?

Here she is, my beautiful grandmother when she was little:

 And here she is with my Grandfather, James Cooper, on her honeymoon.
 And here she is with my dad, James Sterling Cooper. Isn't she beautiful?
I am so proud that her name will be in print. It puts so much joy in my heart.