Blogs, Books and Upcoming Events

Hello everyone!

Well. I finished my novel (although I’m still editing it like crazy). I submitted it to a competition to be picked up by an agent, so I’m not posting any more chapters on the blog for now. If it doesn’t get chosen, I suppose I’ll finish it here and then self-publish it again. But seriously! Why wouldn’t they want to choose mine? 😉

I am so, so busy these days, I hardly know how I am surviving. Besides editing my new book, I’m recording my memoir so that I can put an audio file for sale on Amazon. Some people prefer books-on-tape rather than reading. It’s way harder than I imagined it would be. Somehow, after just one chapter, my mouth is dry and my eyes are crossed. But I want to take advantage of a week where my children are not around, and I can’t borrow my friend’s expensive mic forever, so I must plunge ahead.

I’m involved in a few other things as well, so let me tell you about some upcoming events.

1) The That’s Paris anthology that I was part of will be having a book launch for those of you located in Paris. It’s tomorrow night, and here are the details:

Tuesday, Feb. 24 From 6-9 p.m.

The Pure Malt
4 rue Caron
75004 Paris

I’ll be there signing books (and hanging out) if any of you are free to stop by!

2) Our church is having a Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8th. Here are the details, all in French of course. But if you’re in Paris and want to come, do send me an e-mail and let me know.

The funny thing is that I’m responsible for the short comedy sketch, which, as you can guess, requires some investment of time and energy. It should also require humour, but we are limited by our talent. It’s only two weeks away. gulp.

In addition, I agreed to go to the Message (English-speaking parents in France) Annual General Meeting dinner the night before. It’s loads of fun, but I wouldn’t have gone – knowing that I needed to be on my toes for Sunday – if it weren’t for the fact that I’m one of the Message members showcasing my talent. (Humor me here).

So that Saturday morning I have to teach English; in the afternoon we have our dress rehearsal for the sketch; that night I have a dinner in Paris until late. And then! And then it’s Matthieu’s and my turn to teach the kids’ class at church on Sunday morning before rushing off to prepare for Women’s Day. (heeeeelp)

If you find me a slobbering mess after that, you’ll know why.

3) Here is another event, which doesn’t involve me, but is organised by someone I’ve had the pleasure of communicating with through our common interests. It might be more applicable to people who live further south in France. (Or! People who have always wanted to visit France, since this is an all-inclusive deal):

Come and cook with Chef Jean-Claude Aubertin this Summer 2015!

• Cooking Class:  6 people
• 6 Nights Bed & Breakfast Accommodations at Château Gigognan in Sorgues, France
• For Cooking Enthusiasts
• Authentic Classic French Cuisine
• Market Visits
• Wine Tours at Châteauneuf-du-Pape
• Meet Local Farmers and Artisans
• And, lots of great eating and drinking!

June 6-12 Schedule

• Saturday:  Check in 3pm.  Welcome Dinner prepared by Chef Aubertin
• Sunday:  *Discover the region with Chef Aubertin and Lauren (this is optional, otherwise a free day to relax or explore on your own)
• Monday:  Cooking Class at Château Gigognan followed by lunch
• Tuesday:  Châteauneuf-du-Pape Wine Tour with Chef Aubertin followed by lunch at a local restaurant
• Wednesday:  Market Visit, Cooking Class at Château Gignonan followed by lunch
• Thursday:  *Discover the region with Chef Aubertin and Lauren (this is optional, otherwise a free day to relax or explore on your own).  Farewell Dinner prepared by Chef Aubertin
• Friday:  Check out 12pm.

You can find all of the details at Lauren’s website here.

4) In other news (and reverting now to a virtual event), my friend Jenn featured my book on her blog, which – if you love to read, you will love her blog. She’ll be featuring it again tomorrow for the Teaser Tuesdays, where she selects extracts from the book to lure people into wanting to read more.

Details are here. And again, Jenn is a good person to follow. Her blog is very active and brings a large diversity of books to her readers’ attention.

5) General news: We had two nephews and a niece stay at our house for 3 nights last week, and have only just deposited our children along with them at my parents-in-law’s place for a very rare and special week to ourselves. Believe me, going from 6 kids to none is quite a change.

We are not going anywhere, my husband has to work, and I have all of these upcoming projects and events. But I wouldn’t want to leave you with the false impression that I might be subject to boredom. Because if the aforementioned things were not enough, I am also applying to become a French citizen and have to take a written language test in a few weeks (that I will need to at least review for). And I need to collect and translate the official birth certificates of my kids, husband, myself, and even my parents. That, among a mountain of other necessary documents.

And then I was invited to appear in a magazine for expats featuring my garden (fortunately not in all its February mud). So I need to get pictures and answer the questions for that.

And one of my best friends is celebrating her 50th birthday at a chateau at the beginning of April. And I promised to sing and organise the music because I had nothing better to do.

I’m sure they will allow visits in the mental institution should you care to come say hi.

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