paris

First Fridays: Bonjour “Paris in Color”

This month’s First Friday artist sticks with the Bonjour Paris theme: Nichole Robertson is another writer, photographer and Parisian-lover. She has a delightful book out called Paris in Color. Yes, Paris is definitely photograph-able. But Nichole takes it to a lovely work of art level by gathering her images together by color.

Before she moved to Paris for a year, she began a site called Little Brown Pen. The name and the site are adorable and it links you to the book, a bit of info about Nichole and the photography collection she dubbed “The Paris Color Project.” After moving to Paris, she would head out with her camera, and when a colorful item grabbed her attention, she’d take photos of that color for the day. As she says in the book, “Nothing sharpens your senses like a new address.”

Upon returning home each night, she’d post the colorful images. Now those images can be found in her book. They can also be found in The Paris Print Shop. It’s a site Nichole and her husband set up to sell the images, postcards and more. And her work has gone on to be featured by Martha Stewart, Real Simple, and The New York Times among others.

Are you green with envy for that little Vespa you saw near the market? Now you can own a collection dedicated to the color. Are your skies gray because you miss Paris terribly. Or perhaps yellow is how you are feeling today. This yellow image is downloadable for your desktop wallpaper from her publisher’s facebook page at Chronicle Books.

Bonjour40 Awards and Anniversary

Ahhh Paris. Can it be? Yes. It was a year ago today that I was looking out my apartment over Paris having just arrived. A year ago, I spent a month of wandering the streets not feeling 40. I met Bandit and Dorothée. I fell in love with Ted again. And that lovely trip became my first published book, Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log (40 years. 40 days. 40 seconds.)

A year later, I am thrilled to announce, Bonjour 40 has won three eLit Awards. A silver medal for best travel essay non-fiction book, silver for the book trailer, and a gold medal for best author website. The eLit Awards is a global awards program, focusing on e-book submissions only, and open to all e-publishers.

To celebrate the one year mark, and the new awards, Bonjour 40 will be just 99¢ for the entire month of May on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes. For those of you who haven’t read it yet, or who would like to share it with others, grab some change from between the couch cushions, and say Bonjour Paris!

Thank you to all of you who read or reviewed the book, found yourselves written into it, or supported the original Bonjour 40 blog. A special thank you to everyone who helped me get the book edited and published, programmed the website and more. These awards aren’t mine, they are ours.

Award Credits:
Book edited by Kristen Weber and April Michelle Davis
Book trailer editing by Steve Hobbs of VPS
Website programming by Niki Sebastino of DesignGeekess, with assistance from Christina Reeser of io studio.

 

This series of three photos captures how Paris feels to me a year later. Antiqued. Magical. Covered with a little dust. These were miniatures I found in the Musée Carvivalet about the history of Paris. Is that me heading to the wine store?

 

Prompts for Reluctant Writers

I read a quote by Gene Fowler that said, “Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

That’s not writing. It’s writer’s block. That nasty thing is like Beetlejuice: I try not to say it too often or it will show up and it won’t go away. So, how do you get over it? Writing prompts.

I can watch ten minutes of a movie about a writer (Shakespeare In Love) and I too pick up the pen. Sometimes I read back over what I wrote the day before until I have to continue the story I’ve begun. Inspirational quotes help.  “I will write my way into another life,” by Ann Patchette is among my favorites.

Christina Reeser, the programmer featured previously here on Compositions, gave me another great idea. She calls herself a “reluctant writer.” Her daughter is encouraging her wordsmithing. Each night she tells Christina to write only one sentence. Who made her happy? What sucked about the day? A quote she heard. Something. Anything. One simple sentence. It doesn’t feel like writing and it’s not overwhelming. It’s a brilliant idea.

To exorcize that writing demon, try writing just one sentence and go from there. One sentence prompts the thinking. One sentence leads to another. Christina may be a reluctant writer, but in a year she’ll have 365 sentences. For novelists, that’s a heck of a great beginning to a full manuscript.

 

Based upon George Clymer, the man who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the photo of this statue in Philadelphia helps inspire me–especially in writing my historical fiction novel about the Declaration.
Although this statue from Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris is of a Greek actor, it still makes me feel like writing. - Photos by Karen A. Chase

 

 

 

Food Franc-Oh La La

Our October issue of Food and Wine Magazine came last week, and the main article is “Francomania” food and wine. After my recent trip to Paris, I have no doubt the French know how to do food. As I said in my original Bonjour40 blog, “Don’t worry if you trip and fall in Paris, because you’ll land on a loaf of bread.” The art of the boulangerie alone is worth the trip, but the food in France is stunning, fresh and flavorful beyond description. The sheer number of fabulous restaurants and cafés is enough to tell you why the French aren’t known for winning wars. They’re busy making and partaking in gastronomical delights instead.

Successful compositions are about using ingredients together in a unique, thoughtful or beautiful way. And to me, French culinary art and plate presentation are something from which every artist, photographer, writer, and designer can learn. Every ingredient is chosen because of its impact, how it will combine with the other elements, or because it can carry the flavor and message of the entire meal. It should begin with the eyes, fill your senses, make the mouth water, ignite your palette, and alter your perception. The food photos in the October Food and Wine issue, stir me, and make me want to head back to France. At the very least, I should head to my own kitchen to try making their onion soup recipe.

Is there a French food that excels in composition for you?

My photo of the onion soup I had in Paris. With wine and bread of course.

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