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Guest Post by Samantha March: My Characters Did What?
For Writers

Guest Post by Samantha March: My Characters Did What?

I am in the process of writing book number two. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I didn’t give myself a lot of details before I started writing. I planned on the main character and a few of the supporting characters, I knew what I wanted to happen with my plot and some key scenes I felt needed to be included, but otherwise, I was just gone with the wind. Seeing where my writing takes me. And oh boy, has it taken me places.

Now, I’m about to where I think the halfway point should be, and my characters are getting themselves into some rather large messes that I didn’t see coming. How is this possible? I wondered the same thing when I was just starting out, and authors would tell me that they could type without even thinking. That the story was coming from somewhere inside of them. Crazy? I thought so. Now? Not even close. I’m starting to slowly plan for my third book, and just last week as I was leaving my job, a scene came at me with full force, uncurling slowly in my mind. I saw the characters, I saw the opening scene, and I saw a new character that I hadn’t yet thought of enter the picture. I ran the rest of the way to my car so I could dig out a napkin and write everything down.

Then just yesterday, I was typing Chapter 11 for book number two. I had a set scene that I wanted to get written. Planned it in my head, knew how to approach it. All of sudden, something had taken over my fingers and what was being typed was not what I had envisioned. A whole new scene popped out of nowhere and found its way into my story. After I finished the scene and was rereading the chapter, I found I was in love with this version of Chapter 11, which was completely not what I had expected when I started my writing.

When I first realized that I could type scene after scene without really thinking, that I was just letting that inner voice do all the work, was a thrilling moment. Do I have to go back and heavily edit and make some revisions? Of course. Do I cut some of the scenes that came so naturally to me? Yep. But that’s all part of the writing process and one that I have come to accept. Now, I don’t feel so confused when someone talks about the voices in their head or says one of their characters is giving them a hard time. I’m right there with them––and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

December 8, 2011
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Guest Post by Ella Slayne
For Writers

Guest Post by Ella Slayne

From One Writer To Another…
(I admit that a lot of this is easier to say rather than do but the tips below are things I try to work towards. I don’t always achieve it but they serve as reminders and hopefully keep me on a relatively sane track – LOL!)

Believe in yourself.
Writing takes guts. So if you’re already doing it on a regular basis, or even on and off, you should give yourself a pat on the back right now! As writers, we expose our creative selves and that can leave us feeling vulnerable. We take part in critique sessions and submit query letters, always hoping for some positive feedback, for some praise, ultimately a publishing contract!
And if we get a rejection or some negative criticism, we try and suck it up and move on from it. But somewhere in between taking the feedback and pushing forward we may find that our self-esteem take a little knock, and over time those knocks create a bit of a chip or dent which can get bigger and bigger until it seems that although we keep writing, we begin to doubt ourselves and the worth of our work.
So I say this: don’t look to others for validation that your work is worth something. Criticism is vital, yes but don’t make the mistake of thinking that a rejection for example, somehow means your work is not valuable or that you have nothing to offer. You do! And the biggest trap you can fall into is self-doubt. So take a moment to give yourself self-worth because after all your own self-belief is the most important. Without that, you have nothing to offer the rest of us!

Don’t be stubborn though.
Believing in your work doesn’t mean that you should be stubborn or a stick in the mud! It’s easy to be attached to the manuscript you’ve written and you should be, I mean if you don’t care about what you’ve written, why should anyone else right? We all have paragraphs, descriptions, character development or a plot twist that we’re proud of and that’s great, but if you are consistently given the critique that something’s not working or that you should cut a significant section of text, don’t just flap it away as irrelevant because you particularly like that bit, or it took you hours to write it. You won’t learn anything by simply disregarding feedback you disagree with.
Instead I try to be flexible (and this is not always easy I admit). I take time to explore why the reader may not have felt the same way. Usually there is a reason and it may just be that I need to rewrite it or move a piece of text to a different place in my book (maybe even save it for a different book altogether).
Ultimately a writer’s goal is to communicate efficiently and to as many people as possible. We don’t always get it right and that’s why the opinion of others is imperative in helping us hone our craft.

Network by all means, but do it your way!
This is a real problem area for me because I’m naturally quite shy, even in cyberspace, so ideally I would prefer just to publish my books and then shut-up! And I could do that, it’s true, but in reality very few people would know about my book, let alone read it.
We all know it’s out there, the new-age of social networking: Facebook, Twitter, blogging etc. Even if they are not your thing, you can’t avoid them, so it seems to me the best option is to embrace them.
I started a blog, signed up on Twitter and created an author Facebook page in an online networking frenzy! It felt great at first, I was tweeting and updating my status all the time and doing a lot of online socializing!
Then I read articles and blogs about the do’s and don’ts from writers and the publishing world and I became frustrated and confused. Because just like many aspects of writing, it’s all subjective; when one agent says they don’t like to connect via twitter, another will happily do so, when one writer says they welcome all comments on their blog, another will say don’t bother to comment unless you have something meaty to offer. What’s the famous phrase? “You can’t please all of the people all of the time….”
These online forums can be a brilliant resource, but they are not without pitfalls because it can be a nightmare trying to navigate around online networking etiquette. You can drive yourself crazy trying to worrying about whether you should return every Twitter follow or comment on every blog you come across.
I think the key here is to do what feels right for you; create your own networking style and be true to yourself.

December 6, 2011
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Beauty Review: Maybelline Superstay Concealer
Chick Lit Plus

Beauty Review: Maybelline Superstay Concealer

I don’t use concealer often, but let’s face it––sometimes it is just necessary. I recently picked up Maybelline’s Superstay Concealer for only seven dollars, and I think it works great! It boasts that it lasts up to twenty-four hours, and while I haven’t worn it for that long, it still lasts me throughout the day! I was impressed by how flawlessly it covered my, er, flaws, and that I didn’t have to retouch it once during the day. This has definitely made it on my list of beauty favorites!

[Rating: 5]

December 6, 2011
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In My Mailbox: Week of December 4
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of December 4

In My Mailbox: Week of December 4

Title: Your Eight O’Clock is Dead
Author: Kat Jorgensen
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Becca Reynolds is having a bad day. Her grandfather’s lecture (#405: Eat a Healthy Diet or Die Not Trying) makes her late for her job at Daley and Palmer, the psychiatrists’ office where she works as the office manager–her title, not theirs. Then her sausage and egg breakfast biscuit creates an oil slick that takes out half her desk, along with that day’s patient files. But she knows the day has taken a really bad turn when she discovers the firm’s eight o’clock patient dead with Dr. Dick Daley’s letter opener opening the patient instead of the mail.

With the fledgling firm in danger of an early demise, Becca appoints herself the unofficial investigator since the police seem to be looking in all the wrong places and doing a half-assed job of solving the crime. She begins a journey to find the killer, keep the practice afloat and with it, her job. In the course of her interfere–er, investigation–she finds a virtual cast of characters who could have done it, including the fancy side piece of the murder victim, his wife, his business partner, and even his psychiatrist.

The case takes Becca from the sordid depths of the Russian mob, to the upscale West End of Richmond, Virginia (known locally as River City), and even to her own backyard. In the course of the story she finds herself in hot water, hot danger, and with dreams of hot men.

Title: Waitlisted
Author: Laurel Gans
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Kacey Barlow had no idea it would be this hard to get into grad school. Her well-to-do family has been attending UI for generations, and admissions had been recruiting her since high school! She was a shoo-in—that is, until they gave her the boot.

She can’t tell her parents, and can’t stand the thought of her friends going off to grad school without her. Her grades are slipping. Her professors can’t remember her name, and her tutor, Taylor, won’t stop hitting on her when they’re supposed to be studying.

Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so bad. But it’s not going to help get her a seat in another school…and applications are due in two weeks…

Title: Blank Slate Kate
Author: Heather Wardell
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Waking up with a strange man is scary. Realizing you lost fifteen years of your life overnight? That’s terrifying. With her memories from seventeen to thirty-two gone, Kate has no idea who she is and where she belongs. As she begins to fall for the man who found her, she wonders if she forgot those years for a reason. Should she keep trying to retrieve her original self, or start a new life?

December 5, 2011
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Challenge:Post Reviews:December
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Challenge:Post Reviews:December

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Sign up for 2012 Chick Lit Reading Challenge!
Prize for November: Three (3) winners will win an eBook copy of Rock Star’s Girl by JF Kristin. You must post the link to your review in the Mister Linky below. This can be to your blog, GoodReads page, or other sources such as Amazon.

December 3, 2011
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Guest Post by Tony Timbol
For Writers

Guest Post by Tony Timbol

Why Single Mom’s are my heroes

Many authors write fiction because they want to entertain and not lecture when telling truths they believe in. The story below is fiction but based on some hard truths I and others have learned…

Walking up to the checkout lanes I could see I was in a race to get to the cashier ahead of my competition. The floor manager had just opened Lane 5. The smiling clerk said, “Over here! I’ll take you,” and waved me over even before she switched the lane light on. I picked up my pace. Holding on to the bulky paper towels saver pack and sweaty milk carton I looked again at my competitor and could see her closing fast. But I had a lead on her. I knew if I kept focused, I would win the day and get there first. Then I saw that she had stopped, dropped her Walmart reusable bag to the floor and started to kneel. I heard her say, “It’ll be fine sweetheart.”

I slid to a stop. The cashier waved again. But inside my head a voice said is that *Allyson? Turning I faced the woman and looking closer saw it was the single mom my wife and I had counseled four years ago. The tall, pretty blonde had bent down on one knee and soon had her arm around a sad faced girl child. I could not recall the little girl’s name. She was just a toddler then. I remembered Allyson, though, the woman whose lost smile eventually returned. Her story began to change my attitude about single moms.

Allyson’s divorce hit hard. The partnership she thought she had was one-sided. Her husband’s words of commitment spoken in passion and financial plenty faded as his gambling debts piled up. His addiction strained the relationship. 18 months of fruitless 12-step meetings became too much for her, his heart never seemed invested. Finally get help or get out was her demand, fair enough he said. Out he went with his truck leaving dark tread marks of a high speed exit from their lives.

During the first few counseling sessions, Allyson’s sunny view darkened and she worked hard work to see any light, let alone credit God for any of it. Church and religious people were the first, not to help, but to blame. The now available young mother, still thin and attractive, was soon isolated in the family values world of suburban religion. I was among those to cast the first stone, even as a trained counselor, whose was supposed to see brokenness and not simply behavior. She talked much about the poor cards God had dealt her until she began to recognize the game she had been playing and the men she had been drawing. It took time and many tears for her to find some peace. Eventually she accepted her history remarking in one session, “the past does not have to determine your future, but it sure pushes you hard in some directions.” I began to see my own past and judgmental eye. She vowed to break the pattern committing to a more spiritual course even though she was not sure what exactly that meant.

Her warm smile and kiss on her daughter’s cheek began melting the child’s frown. Picking up a few pieces of the wrapped mini-Kit Kat bars off the floor, the child’s bag had torn; Allyson placed them into the reusable bag. Glancing at the other pieces on the floor, she said, “Honey, it will be fine. The bag you had only took you this far, let’s put them into the sack and let’s get home. They’re not ruined, just a little dented.” The girl looked at her and smiled.

Standing up, Allyson saw me and beamed a grin. Taller than me, she approached and leaned over giving me a warm hug then looked around the store, “Is Serena here? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you and her.” I told her that she was home. She introduced to me Gabby, still smiling. We went through the checkout lane together. I offered to buy the small items she had.

“No, it’s okay, we doing fine. The first few jobs after the divorce sucked but I have a great job now with a good boss, two years last month. Even have a little savings, maybe for a house soon!” she said as she looked down and patted Gabby on shoulder. Exiting the store, I walked them to their car and caught up on news as much as we could before we said our goodbyes. Watching her and Gabby drive away, both smiling and waving, my spirit lifted.

Standing there waving, I nodded my head. Allyson was typical of the single mom’s we had counseled. Most had a lioness’s heart and a willingness to change. Despite wandering males strutting through their lives, they cared and protected their young and did what they had to do. Yes, Allyson and her sisters changed my attitude about single moms, now hero’s in my book.

Tony Timbol
Author, Cybil Raven Chronicles
www.cybilraven.com
www.tonytimbol.com

*Allyson is a composite of multiple single mothers and is a fictitious name so as to respect confidentiality.

December 1, 2011
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Interview with Ella Slayne
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Ella Slayne

Author Q&A for Samantha Robey

What made you want to write High-Heels and Slippers?
I had always liked the idea of writing a full length novel but I completely lacked the courage to do it. When my Uncle Alan passed away suddenly, it was the catalyst I needed to get started. It was a sharp reminder that life can be short and I decided not to waste anymore time.
How long did it take you to write the book?
Nearly four years. Of course I thought I’d finished after a year and half which shows how little I knew! 
What was the hardest part in the writing process for you?
I think one of the hardest parts of the writing process for me was learning how to take negative feedback in a constructive way and not let letting it send me into the depths of depression! At first I found it very hard to move on from a critique but actually I found that my book improved after I worked through feedback. Now, I find that negative criticism is often the most valuable because it helps me improve as a writer.
What were some of your favorite scenes to write?
Well I like a bit of romance, and I was always rooting for Josie and Callum to get together, so it was fun writing scenes between their characters. I also enjoyed writing the scenes with Tom in England, even though they were emotional. It was cathartic in a way and my intention was always to write a chick-lit story with a poignant twist; I wanted Josie’s character to have layers. I hope I managed that!
What made you decide to give Josie her own blog?
Starting Josie’s blog was a huge learning curve for me. I was completely new to the blog world but I wanted to test the market and see if there was an audience for a character like Josie. Besides I felt she had a lot more to say than just what was in the book so the blog was a good outlet for her! I’m so glad I did it, even though I was petrified at first.
Are you currently working on another novel?
Yes I am and I hope to release it in the Spring of 2012! It’s called “Holding Me Up – A Life Without Jasmine” and it’s about Trisha Miller, a bereaved mother, trying to find a way to move on from the grief of losing her daughter. It’s starts off in a dark place but I pull her out to somewhere good in the end!
You also do voiceover work. How did you become involved in this?
Back in England my plan, since I was a child, was to become an actress. I studied Drama at Manchester University and then trained as an actress at the Webber Douglas Academy in London. However everything was put on hold when I started having kids and moved to Belgium! A few years ago I made the decision to move forward with a voice-over career because I thought it would be flexible enough to fit around my family life. I am proud to say that I’ve recently become a volunteer reader to the Dallas Reading Resource center which provides a huge variety of audio material for those people who can’t read. It’s a fantastic facility, they reach out to so many people, and it feels good to be using my training for such a good cause.
If you could be on any reality show, which one would you choose?
That is so easy! I am a HUGE fan of American Idol and The X Factor so I would have to be on one of those. Although I’d prefer to be a judge if possible because it must be absolutely nerve-wracking to be a contestant!
Where would be your dream vacation?
I would be alone in an old stone cottage, half-way up a hill somewhere with a view of the sea, there would be a log fire, a steaming coffee pot, a tray set with jam and scones and a bookshelf crammed with books. The only sounds would be the crackling fire, waves crashing back and forth and rain lashing against the windows. I would be wearing cozy jeans, a pair of fleece slippers and a huge, but stylish, baggy jumper and I wouldn’t wash my hair for days! Ooh when can I go?
What is your advice to aspiring writers?
My advice to anyone wanting to start writing is the same advice I tell myself all the time (and it’s also the title of a FAB book by Susan Jeffers which I always recommend because you can apply it to all aspects of life): “Feel the fear – and do it anyway!” Just get started and don’t delete ANYTHING at first. Let the story come out; there’ll be plenty of time to edit your work later.

November 29, 2011
6 Comments
Guest Post by Deborah Coonts: Vegas Wild
Chick Lit Authors

Guest Post by Deborah Coonts: Vegas Wild

Vegas Wild
By Deborah Coonts,
Author of Lucky Stiff
The words “Las Vegas” conjure thoughts of wild exploits, sexual highjinks, hangovers, and the scantily clad. Not too far from the truth, actually. I’ve lived here over twelve years, give or take, and this city gets under your skin. You just do stuff here you wouldn’t even think about anywhere else. And I’ve done my share.
Take male stripping. Who knew it was a contact sport? I’m not talking Chippendales or Thunder Down Under — great shows, but a bit tame, all things considered. True male stripping involves young men parading around in nothing but muscles with tiny sacks over their bananas. I think they smile too, but frankly, I don’t remember. I must not have been looking at their smiles, but I’m not admitting to anything. Anyway, the strippers paw the patrons, rubbing up against them in very provocative ways. I remember sitting across from a girlfriend of mine as one guy straddled her and ground his member into her lush chest. All I could see were his clenching butt muscles until my friend leaned around him, raised her glass, and gave me a shit-eating grin. It ruined me — I was done. Laughing does not make the strippers happy. Trust me on that one. Who knew that handsome young men in their near-all-together could be so sensitive?
Another fun evening out here in Vegas involves men and dancing, but of a different sort. You know how sometimes you just wanna dance? No fondling, no come-ons, no tired pick-up lines . . . just dance? The best place to do it in Vegas is Krave. They bill themselves as the Number One Gay Nightclub in the Country, and I would agree. Not that I have a great deal of experience, mind you, but boy is this place fun! The guys are great. They love to dance. And they are totally not interested in picking up women. A relief. Of course, if you’re in Vegas to score a bit of action, this might not be the place for you . . . unless you are gay.
And now I here the owners of Krave are opening a bar in downtown Vegas, near Freemont Street, where all the servers are drag queens. Who could resist? I plan on being first in line!
Of course, if you’re into beer and butt-whacking, the Hofbräveuhaus is for you. Yup, you can sing along to what I call oompah bands — I’m sure that’s not the technical term, but you get my drift (a bunch of guys with beer bellies in Lederhosen) and you can order a flagon of beer and get paddled by a pretty girl with a wooden paddle and a major-league swing. Why anybody would want to do this is beyond me, but they do — to the delight of the restaurant patrons. And the whole thing can be memorialized for posterity by a roving photographer. This is not something I’ve experienced personally — I’m not one to pay for physical punishment and pain — but I’ve seen it done.
Oh, a word to the wise: leave the cameras at home when you visit Sin City — you’ll thank me.
So, while we’re on the subject of crazy-ass stuff I’ve seen but not participated in, let me tell you about the best party in town. Most folks think New Years is Vegas-Gone-Wild, but I beg to differ. Halloween is the night you want to be here to get your naughty on. There’s this party — The Fetish and Fantasy Ball — and the costumes are . . . creative. Often they involve spray paint and pasties. Or maybe just Saran Wrap. Or a couple of triangles of fur and string. But is it one heck of a party! The people-watching is the best part.
Did you know it is possible to eat a five star meal, served by tux-clad waiters . . . while suspended 180 feet above the ground. The views of the Strip are amazing — as long as you’re not acrophobic. It’s the only meal in town to require a seat belt — and it’s a ton of fun. Champagne toasts, filet mignon, unobstructed views, both panoramic and straight down, where else could you have this experience? It’s Vegas all the way.
Now, there’s one other thing I’m working my courage up to do. There’s this bar called the Double-Down — billed as “The Happiest Place on Earth”. They sell something called Ass Juice — it comes with Puke Insurance. I understand it’s a place you want to go when you’re craving the down and dirty, punk-rock Vegas thing. Sounds too good to pass up. Anybody game?
© 2011 Deborah Coonts, author of Lucky Stiff
Author Bio
Deborah Coonts, author of Lucky Stiff, says her mother tells her she was born in Texas a very long time ago, though she’s not totally sure — her mother can’t be trusted. But she was definitely raised in Texas on barbeque, Mexican food and beer. She currently resides in Las Vegas, where family and friends tell her she can’t get into too much trouble. Silly people. Coonts has built her own business, practiced law, flown airplanes, written a humor column for a national magazine, and survived a teenager. She is the author of the Lucky O’Toole Las Vegas adventure series.
Her first book, Wanna Get Lucky?, was released in 2010.
For more information please visit http://www.deborahcoonts.com/, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

November 29, 2011
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In My Mailbox: Week of November 27
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of November 27

In My Mailbox: Week of November 27

Title: Princess of Park Avenue
Author: Daniella Brodsky
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Anyone can see Lorraine Machuchi is no ordinary Brooklyn girl. Anyone except for Lorraine, that is. She’s been too busy obsessing over Tommy Lupo to notice. Living day to day on his confusing midnight phone calls and big-haired memories of their relationship in the early nineties, she’s given up any opportunity of leaving Brooklyn. And though she never saw the home she loves as a failure, there’re a lot of folks she’s pissed off by staying put—her mother, her dead grandmother’s ghost, not to mention the old Italian ladies who shake their heads at her in the pork store. And what’s worse, the very guy she tossed everything away for just told her he’ll never wind up with her—a girl who’s not going anywhere.

…Okay, so you might disapprove of her motive—changing for a guy. But then you probably haven’t seen Tommy with three shirt buttons undone. Besides, when Lorraine crosses the bridge to Manhattan she begins to realize she’s got a lot to offer. She starts coloring hair at a swank salon where they actually appreciate a little talent, even if you have to bend some rules to use it. She gets a fabulous Park Avenue sublet, even if it does involve chasing around a dog/horse named Pooh-Pooh. She meets a guy who’s actually…perfect, even if she might be too hung up on Mr. Wrong to notice. She’s asked to become the newest member of the Princesses, an elite group of Park Avenue’s most powerful socialites, even if the reasoning behind it might be a little fishy. Sure, their $400 cashmere sweaters, charity balls for poor girls with small boobs, and ‘sexy’ yoga are a bit over-the-top, but a Brooklyn girl can learn a lot by discovering her own inner princess…

Title: Binding Arbitration
Author: Elizabeth Marx
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Libby pleads her case at the cleats of celebrity baseball player, Banford Aidan Palowski, the man who discarded her at college graduation, begging him to live up to his biological duty. Libby’s worked her backside bare for everything she’s attained, while Band-Aid has been indulged since he slid through the birth canal and landed in a pile of Gold Coast money. But helping her might jeopardize the only thing the jock worships: his baseball career.

If baseball imitates life, Aidan admits his appears to be silver-plated peanuts, until, an unexpected confrontation with the most spectacular prize that’s ever poured from a caramel corn box blindsides him. Libby reveals his son desperately needs him and it pricks open the wound he’s carried since he abandoned her.

All Libby wants is a little anonymous DNA, but Band-Aid has a magical umpire in his head who knows Libby’s a fateball right to the heart. When a six-year-old sage, and a hippy priestess step onto the field there’s more to settle between Libby and Aidan then heartache, redemption, and forgiveness.

Title: The Queen Gene
Author: Jennifer Coburn
Received: From Jennifer Coburn
Synopsis: If It s Not One Thing, It s Your Mother. “You are so lucky to have a mother like Anjoli.” — That s what all my friends say. But really, my friends weren t there when I was eight and my theatre-savvy, drama queen of a mother said she didn t want to take me to the Central Park Zoo because the animals didn t put on a good show. My mother is like a vapor: when she enters a room, she occupies every bit of space. Don t get me wrong — I adore my mom…from a distance. It s just, well, what can you say about a woman who takes her teacup Chihuahua to every new age healer in Manhattan, who has a living-beauty will so her eyebrows will still look great if she s in a coma, and who tells my cousin Kimmy that the sperm bank has too many rules and suggests a new lipstick and a train ride to Princeton instead?
To top it off, she calls me ten times a day to say, “Darling, I m in crisis!” What, like I m not? In addition to mothering my mother, I m also trying to keep my marriage hot with a two-year-old under foot — babysitting the artists in residence at my Berkshires artists colony, which seems to be the Bermuda Triangle of creativity but a breeding ground for seriously insane — resisting an attraction to a man so sexy he could give your eyeballs an orgasm — and trying to rid my 100-year-old home of mischievous ghosts. Yeah, sort of got my hands full. The way I see it, I ve got two choices: go completely mad, or start living my own life on my own terms, starting with my mother. I m just not sure which option is crazier…

Title: A Summer in Europe
Author: Marilyn Brant
Received: From Kensington Publishing/Unsolicited
Synopsis: On her thirtieth birthday, Gwendolyn Reese receives an unexpected present from her widowed Aunt Bea: a grand tour of Europe in the company of Bea’s Sudoku and Mah-jongg Club. The prospect isn’t entirely appealing. But when the gift she is expecting — an engagement ring from her boyfriend — doesn’t materialize, Gwen decides to go. At first, Gwen approaches the trip as if it’s the math homework she assigns her students, diligently checking monuments off her must-see list. But amid the bougainvillea and stunning vistas of southern Italy, something changes. Gwen begins to live in the moment: skipping down stone staircases in Capri, running her fingers over a glacier in view of the Matterhorn, racing through the Louvre, and taste-testing pastries at a Marseilles cafe. Revelling in every new experience — especially her attraction to a charismatic British physics professor — Gwen discovers that the ancient wonders around her are nothing compared to the renaissance unfolding within…

November 28, 2011
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