Bookworm Press

What made me write my first novel? The story behind Love of a Stonemason

Find out here: What is that book about?  

What do characters in a novel eat? And why is it important? What does it mean?

Hop on over to author Shelley Workinger’s blog where I talk about one of my favorite hobbies:
EATING AND DRINKING!

Have fun!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE BLOG

Today, I have the honor of welcoming one of my favorite authors to my blog. I loved Lindsay Edmund’s first novel CEL & ANNA, which I almost didn’t read because science fiction isn’t usually the genre I’m interested in. But I liked Lindsay’s blog posts and I figured I’ll give it a try. I am glad I did. I loved her interesting and quirky characters, the humor, and the funny jabs at modern government and society. But most of all, I realized that behind those imaginary beings are real people with real human feelings and problems. Besides, who has ever written about a computer who falls in love with its owner? What was even more intriguing was the fact that I fell in love with Cell, the computer. But enough preamble. Here is Lindsay. Take it away!

Your family trilogy is about good people doing their best. Karla Bocelli and Andreas O’Reilly and their three children do not have trouble-free lives, but their approaches to trouble are heartening. These people fix things. They also make things: Karla is a painter; Andreas, a stonemason. This is heartening.

 I read EMILIA on a summer Sunday, and it was a pleasure to hang out with these folks. The armchair tourist in me also enjoyed the locales of Switzerland, France, Peru.

focus on the human characters and how they solve their problems.

Lindsay Edmunds blogs about machine intelligence, books and independent publishing, movies and TV, and life in southwestern Pennsylvania at Writer’s Rest. Drop by, say hello, and share a story or two. She is newly on Tumblr, looking for people to draw her e-beasts and sometimes blogging about old movies, and on Twitter.

Every writer knows the feeling of elation when he or she finishes a book. “I did it. It’s done!” Then comes the moment of truth. I realize that although I am pleased and happy to have arrived, the book I wrote is not the book I intended to write. It falls short of my initial expectations.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to be negative. I don’t mean to belittle what I have achieved. It is more than I ever dreamed of. But I am not there yet.

What keeps me going is the process of writing, the insights I gain, the joy and (sometimes) the despair I experience. It’s a journey and I may never get to the ultimate destination. But I will reach milestones and enjoy the vista from a mountain top, from where I can see the next, higher mountain. I rest and then go on …

This is the last part of my research project for my novel The Italian Sister (The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Book 1). I checked out a few more of the places Sofia and her Italian sister Julietta visited.

Grocery shopping at the local markets in the small town of Cecina is fun and interesting.

Here you find almost anything you need for your wardrobe, your household as well as your kitchen.

Meats, cheese, the famous Prosciutto di Parma, as well as fish and seafood along with freshly picked vegetables.

On the right side: that’s how prosciutto looks before it’s sliced. Quite a hunk!

I hesitated to post the photo above for fear of offending my vegetarian and animal-loving friends. But, hey, that’s how it’s done here to attract pork-hungry customers. They put the whole roasted pig on the counter and you get to chose from which part of the animal you want your cut. I’m not a vegetarian, but I have to admit, I didn’t linger in front of this stand.

Courtesy of Kconnors, MorgueFile

We ended the shopping spree at a local coffee/liquor bar with one of Italy’s perfect cups of espresso.

Now comes another part of my “serious” research for my WIP (work-in-progress) novel: winemaking and winetasting! Here we are at one of the many hill-towns in Tuscany. This is Querceto, a small town near Cecina. The only tourists here seem to be those who have heard about the excellent wine that’s being produced in the local wine press house. Queceto is much smaller than Volterra and, perhaps because of its size and lack of tourists, even more charming.

View from Querceto at the Tuscan scenery.

A castle, a church, one restaurant with lodgings, the winery, and plenty of friendly, helpful people.

… after a few months or years sitting in the barrels, the wine is syphoned into bottles … and … after some more time, it can be enjoyed. Sounds magical? In reality it is hard, backbreaking, and often dirty, sticky work. And the risk of a bad harvest when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate has ruined many small vineyards and winemaking outfits. You really have to love this process to continue. I haven’t met a vintner or winemaker who wasn’t passionate about it.

Cheers! By the way, that young boy is NOT drinking wine, just smelling it!

If you want to know more about this charming hill town and its vineyards, here is a link:

http://www.marchesiginorilisci.it/eng-home.php

Even the best things have to come to an end. The week in Tuscany is over and we have to say good-bye. It’s been fun and enlightening. One last look at our paradise.

 

 Goodbye Tuscany!

Welcome Switzerland! Yes, it was quite a shock. From the swimming pool to the snow-covered mountains. In the meantime, there had been an unseasonably early snowfall.

 

 

Fortunately, the snow is gone again in the lower areas and we are able to enjoy some gorgeous fall weather.

 

Now, that’s better. Wait with the snow until I leave!

I hope you enjoyed the journey through Tuscany and back into Switzerland. If you want to find out more about the novel, The Italian Sister, her is the link: https://myBook.to/ItalianSister

Here is the second part of my research in Tuscany, Italy, for my novel The Italian Sister (The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Book 1).

Volterra, one of my favorite hill towns, and the surrounding vineyards and olive groves are a feast for the eyes. Here I’m doing some “serious” research in the environment in which my WIP takes place. My heroine spends some time in a town like Volterra and the nearby vineyard.

The walls surrounding Volterra are a mixture of Etruscan (about 700 BC) and medieval architecture. Situated on top of a hill and protected by thick walls, the towns were in a perfect position to fight off roving aggressors. A fiercely independent city-state, Volterra has tried to prevent the hegemony of Florence but had to eventually accept its dominance. Inside the city, the narrow cobble-stone streets are lined with a multitude of shops, coffee shops, small restaurants, and art and crafts galleries. Volterra has fewer tourists than the more famous hill towns such as Siena and Pisa. The majority of the people are locals and the town has a vibrant life of its own.

I love Volterra and wouldn’t mind living here for a while.

Piazza dei Priori is the central plaza with city hall and other government buildings as well as a tourist office and a few coffee shops/bars typical of Tuscan towns.

The most interesting part for me was the symbol of on top of the building above. A skull flanked by two wings. It is the Christian symbol of what is left after you die: bones and the soul. Everything else, all your possessions and your achievements are gone. So the wings are arranged in the shape of a V for Vanitas or vanity to remind man to care for his soul rather than his vain ambitions.

I learned all this from a well-known American tour guide in Volterra. Annie Adair lives in Volterra with her Italian husband who is a sommelier. Here are a few links to some very interesting videos by Annie, where you can find out more about the history and present life in Volterra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chop_HmIEvk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b5qWsjikuQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtCGPc9nJ7U

And here are a few more pictures of Volterra and the view of the surrounding landscape.

At the bottom of the hill are the ruins of a Roman theatre.

Outside Volterra, about twenty minutes away, is a vineyard, called Podere Marcampo or the small farm of Marcampo. I was hoping to see the vendemmia or grape harvest in action but the grapes were already harvested and the place was closed. Well, perhaps next season. It was still great to see the small family farm and the vineyards.

We were driving back to our villa, enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Next time a visit to the local market as well as some wine tasting. Yum!

Check out the novel, The Italian Sister: https://myBook.to/ItalianSister

One of my favorite kind of “work” while writing a novel is the research, especially if the research consists of traveling to a beautiful location where my characters work and live. The books in my series called The Wine Lover’s Daughter take place in different wine regions and vineyards of Italy and California. I was lucky to be able to visit Tuscany back in fall of 2013 together with my relatives in Switzerland and spend a few days again in that marvelous part of the world.

We (my nephew and niece with family and friends) decided to visit Italy, Switzerland’s southern neighbor, and spend a week in one of my favorite parts of the world: Toscana or Tuscany! It was a vacation for my family and friends and for me it was also an opportunity to do a little research for my WIP, a novel that takes place, in part, on a vineyard in Tuscany.

We started in the German part of Switzerland at 4 o’clock in the morning. Getting up that early was a little tough, especially because it was pouring rain. And it rained all the way to Tuscany. Rain storms in Tuscany are not unusual in October and they can be fierce. If you have seen the movie Under the Tuscan Sun with Diane Lane you know what I’m talking about. When we arrived in the villa on a hill outside of Cecina (near the Tuscan Mediterranean coast), it was still raining. Since we were a fairly large crowd (ten people), we rented one of those large Tuscan villas. We unpacked and went shopping for groceries and when we got back, the house was flooded and we had to move. That was only a minor wrinkle in our vacation because the agency, from which we rented the house, moved us to a more elegant villa for the same price. What a treat! And the next day, it was sunny again.

Here it is: Villa Bacio, a two-story house with a big yard and swimming pool.

A view from our house. All around us fields and hills stretched into the distance. The main vegetation aside from the cypress and Mediterranean stone pine forests: vineyards and olive groves as far as you can see.

Relaxing next to the swimming pool after the long drive–the water was a little on the cold side but we braved the waves anyway.

Here are some pictures of the inside of Villa Bacio. I love the Tuscan architecture with its vaulted ceilings, stone and mosaic floors, and the huge fire places.

Getting ready to cook! Swimming, hiking, or simply relaxing makes you hungry.

Cooking together with everybody pitching in was fun.

Dinner time!

Relaxing after an action-packed (or lazy) day.

Brunch outside, surrounded by a lush and beautiful landscape. What more could one wish for?

Pineapple bits topped with chocolate. Even Dad likes it!

The braver ones among us (my nephew and the two kids) went for a swim at night. Brrr!

I definitely preferred swimming during the day.

One of the many Tuscan hill towns nearby–Casale Marittimo.

A truly beautiful landscape–both charming and mysterious

Volterra, one of my favorite hill towns!

One of my friends and supporters from California was traveling in Europe and came to visit me in Switzerland. I always enjoy taking visitors through the old part of Zurich. My friend only had half a day to spend in the city, so I took her to some of my favorite spots. Since she read my novels that take place in part in Switzerland, she enjoyed seeing some of the places that inspired me.

Jeanie arrived by train from a visit to Montreux in the French part of the country and I picked her up at the train station in Zurich.

At this jewelry and watch store at the Bahnhofstrasse, each full hour is marked by music and a parade of turning figures

Another interesting feature along the Bahnhofstrasse is the monument of one of Switzerland’s and Europe’s famous humanists, children advocates, and educators of the 18th/19th century, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who greets children and adults from his pedestal.
 

Halfway through the Bahnhofstrasse, we turn to the left and walk up the Rennweg, a street leading to the old part. It’s closed to most car traffic.

Walking past one of the traditional coffee/tea/chocolate shops, frequented by the “older” and more sophisticated crowd.

And guess what? Here is the trendy competition. Oh, yes, Starbucks is all over the place.

One of my favorite spots is the Lindenhof (it got its name from all the linden trees), a park high above the city, from where you have wonderful view of the old part of the city, the River Limmat, a few cathedrals, and the lake.

Want to play a game of chess?

My friend loves the park, too!

Zurich got its share of literary and artist greats, some homegrown as well as the many artists and writers in exile during World War One and Two.

Photo by Roland zh

Photo by Roland zh

Yummy!

Lunch with my “old” class mates from business college

Yummy Latte Macchiato

It is the time of véraison in the Ticino, the southern canton of Switzerland, when the wine grapes are ripening and changing color from green to blue and purple. Lots of small and large vineyards line the valleys and hug the hills. In the smaller ones, vintners are still working the vines by hand. In the larger ones the topping (trimming off the excessive foliage) is done with machines. The goal is to give the grapes as much sun and air and strength so they can ripen to perfection.

These vines will be ready in a few years

In warmer climates, the grapes are grown lower on the vines so that they are somewhat protected from too much sun and don’t dry out. In colder climates, however, they are grown away from the ground to shield them from the frost rising from the ground up.

Beside grapes, there are plenty of fruits and vegetables grown here and sold at the traditional outdoor markets. Here is one in Bellinzona, the capital of the canton Ticino. It is not only a place to buy produce and other groceries but a gathering point for the locals and tourists alike, where they meet for a chat, a cup of espresso, a glass of wine, or, perhaps a grappa.

Monte Sosto, a mountain which also plays a role in Love of a Stonemason

Osso buco (veal shank) with mashed potatoes and veggies–my favorite

Another clear but cold mountain lake



These kind of Zen-inspired sculptures seem to be the trend everywhere

I hope you’re enjoying my journey through Switzerland. See you next time.