Hello, everyone! Writers have done it from time immemorial, and the French have made an art of it. And what is that? Flanerie, the noble art of walking the city. Any great city will do, but for me Paris and New York are the lodestars of my life, the sources of inspiration for my blog Desperately Seeking Paris. Come, walk with me!
Ever since the story broke that the 123-year-old Henri Bendel flagship would be closing in January 2019, nostalgia buffs, visitors to the city and fans alike have been streaming through the doors at 712 Fifth Avenue, hoping to walk away with a last-minute purchase from what had been an iconic store. The cry of the crowd has been: Sell me something to remember you by! Unfortunately, the once swanky icon with one-of-a-kind designs is long gone, and nowadays you’d have to content yourself with commercial pieces. It’s the end of an era.
Fans of ‘Mountain Bird’ will be delighted to hear it’s been sighted at 251 East 110th Street. Until now, the ‘bird’ has refused to stay on one perch. Notwithstanding its popularity and critical acclaim, Mountain Bird, originally at East 145th Street in Harlem, was forced to close because of lease issues. After taking a year sabbatical, the owners have reopened in collaboration with the events organization Tastings Social.
“What would you like to do?’’ asked a friend coming into town for the day.
“Let’s go to Paris.”
“Paris?”
“Yes, I’ll meet you at the Paris theater. There’s a new film, ‘Colette,’ playing. Afterwards we can go to a little French restaurant for lunch and catch up. How’s that sound?”
Summer just won’t let go. And where better to chill than a place that’s a bastion of cool, even during the dog days of August. Thinking such thoughts, I grabbed a sweater and headed for the Paris theater, across from the Plaza Hotel, to set sail for Tahiti, following in the wake of Gauguin.
With the opening of “Delacroix” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I instinctively knew it was as time to say au revoir l'été and bonjour l'automne. Yes, goodbye to summer—to bees buzzing the hydrangea on the terrace, to children sailing boats in Central Park and to the Park Avenue mall bursting its buttons all summer long, thanks to hardy begonia. And hello, Autumn—hello to cooler crisp mornings, to showy trees with brilliant canopies and to things getting started again.
It’s time for she who is Desperately Seeking Paris to say au revoir, if only for a few months. Summer draws nigh and with the temperature rising we New Yorkers have moved out of the winter doldrums and into the summertime highs, all in the course of a week.
Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, currently at the Met, is an enchanting show featuring rare treasures from the Sistine Chapel Collection that have never traveled before, and 150 exquisite creations by designers raised in the Catholic tradition. In great abundance and with consummate attention to detail, the exhibition illustrates the extraordinary ways in which designers, from Coco Chanel to Donna Versace, have adopted the imagery, metaphors and storytelling integral to the Catholic faith.
It was a week to celebrate! For starters it was the 2nd Anniversary of the publication of Veronica’s Grave. These past three years, including that leading up to publication, have been an amazing learning experience with a steep learning curve. Every bit as difficult as, say, earning a doctoral degree. So, you want to write a book? As the late Joan Rivers would say: Can we talk?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art had its origins in Paris in the year 1866. It was then that a group of Americans, having visited the Louvre and Versailles determined to create ‘a national institution and gallery of art to bring art and art education to the American people.’ And so it was that the museum took root. Surely, those foresighted men would be delighted to see what their efforts have brought about: Met Fifth, Met Cloister and now Met Breuer.
What better time to walk the streets of any great city than when it’s snowing or raining? It's that precipitation—be it rain, sleet, hail, snow or fog—has a way of blurring the sharp edges of a metropolis, slowing the pace of its inhabitants walking with downcast eyes, and lowering the decibel count. When the everyday hustle-bustle fades, the city takes a deep breath.
Are you longing for Spring? Tired of winter-grey skies and the dreary parkas scurrying by? Take it from me, it won’t be long in coming. I've seen the signs. For starters, last week the calendar was reminding me to change the clocks from Daylight Savings to Standard Time. Spring Forward!
21st century life continues to dazzle. To think that here I am in Manhattan and my publishers are in hip Berkeley and trending Toronto; my website manager in Austin TX; my PR team in Nashville TN; and that the 'Writer of the Week' interview with Universal by Design in Oslo, Norway. There was a time when we thought a ten-inch black-and-white Emerson TV the last word. The times they are still a-changing. But for the last word today from your trusty blogger, click on the video. It was a wonderful experience. I learned a great deal about what to do and what not to do. Listen carefully for the New York 'ambiance.' I hope you enjoy it.
After nine years, the Michelin starred La Goulue has returned to the swank Upper East Side, opening a few blocks from its former location. When it closed the doors in 2009, its regular habitués, especially the ladies-who-lunch, felt forsaken. Where would they go to shake off a case of "Missing Paris Blues’? Who could satisfy a craving for the fabulous cheese soufflé?
Last week I had the great pleasure of serving on a panel discussing publishing options today -- from self-publishing and vanity productions, to small independent presses and traditional Big Five publishing. For those of you who have been bopping around town with me for some time, you, undoubtedly, have heard my story. For those new to the blog, Veronica's Grave: A Daughter's Memoir, was published first by She Writes Press, an independent publisher dedicated to women's writing, before being picked up by Harper Collins Canada and brought out as Missing Mother. As someone who has experienced two very different publishing models, I was invited to share my publishing journey.
Behind every successful book lies not only a great story but a great PR team. Never a month goes by that I'm not asked by a writer with a story to tell if they need to hire a publicist. My answer is always the same: Absolutely! Invariably the next question is: What did your PR agency do for you? Most people, myself included, have no idea what happens in the complex world of public relations. Which is why I was delighted early on to have crossed paths with JKS Communications. What fellows is a brief and instructive overview that, by chance, I recently found on the their website. Read on to find out how they made Veronica's Grave a standout. Enjoy!
What follows is an inspirational article by my friend Diana Y. Paul that appeared in the literary journal Women Writers, Women's Books. Having previously written three books on Buddhism, Diana published (She Writes Press 2015) a highly-praised debut novel, Things Unsaid. Ranked #2 in the “Top 14 Books about Families Crazier Than Yours,” Things Unsaid was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Struck by how many other women were reinventing themselves after retirement, she interviewed a number of authors. The overriding consensus? Yes, Virginia, there is life after retirement...a fulfilling life, at that. Read on.
In the summer of 1890, in the small country town of Auvers-sur-Oise to the west of Paris, Vincent Van Gogh stumbled up the main street one evening, a bullet lodged in his stomach. The artist had a troubled history—the incident years earlier when he cut off a part of his ear is well-known—but it remained a mystery as to why and how he was shot. A regular whodunnit.
If you’re ‘desperately seeking Paris’ in New York, how best to welcome in the New Year? À la française, of course, with a soupçon of French style and elegance. So off we went, my companion and I with our dear friends in tow, to Michael White's French brasserie on the Upper East Side, the wonderful Vaucluse on Park Avenue.
On a blustery winter day, one calling for hoods, mufflers and gloves, a friend and I found ourselves on lower Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron district. After a bit of shopping, all we wanted to do was find a place to have a relaxing lunch—perhaps a cozy ‘French.’ Where to go?
