Emilia, Espresso and Prosecco – an interview

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

Hi there, my dear reader and author friends!

As part of the launch of EMILIA, Book 3 of the Family Portrait series, I am being interviewed on Open Salon by author Susan Dormady Eisenberg.

Hop on over and meet Emilia, the little girl who will either make or break the O’Reilly-Bocelli family!

Interview at Open Salon

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THE NEXT BIG THING

Friday, March 1st, 2013

Author, Elizabeth Egerton Wilder, recently invited me for a ‘chain’ blog entitled ‘The Next Big Thing’ where I answer a few questions about my current work-in-progress, then I invite other authors to do the same. A bit like a chain letter, except it is only focused on an author’s work-in-progress. One of the authors who participated earlier is author Darlene Foster. I included a link to her blog so you can explore her answers to the same questions.  

The Questions:

What is the working title of your next book?
Emilia

I just got the cover from my designer friend.       


Where did the idea come from for the book?
This is the third volume in my Family Portrait series. The seeds of the novel began to sprout when I was writing the first novel, LOVE OF A STONEMASON, which became the second book in the series. LOVE OF A STONEMASON deals with two young artists, a painter and a sculptor/stonemason, and takes place in the south of Switzerland, in Italy, and Peru. Having lived with these characters for several years, I couldn’t let go–or they couldn’t let go of me. So I continued and explored their past as well as their future.

What genre does your book fall under?
Ah, genre. I hate that word. EMILIA as well as my other books cross genres and I always scratch my head when I have to come up with one for the different book sites that require such a narrow definition. You could call my novels “family dramas involving artists with a touch of romance in an international setting.” How about that for a genre?

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I have to pass on this one. I am terrible when it comes to names of actors and I’m not a frequent movie goer (in spite of the fact that I live in the Los Angeles area). However, if my books ever make it to the big screen, I want to be part of the actor selection team. I’m sure the producer/director would value my opinion?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
EMILIA deals with the struggle of a family of artists who are trying to keep the flame of love and creativity alive through difficult times.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Independently published. I have my own micro publishing company, called Bookworm Press. So far, it’s only for my own books. Self-publishing is a lot of work, if you take it seriously. For the most part, I enjoy the experience of being in control of every aspect of the publishing process–choosing the cover, picking the editor and the proofreaders. I have met many wonderful and helpful people in the process and made some great friends. I have also learned a lot and am still learning. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Somewhere around 8 or 9 months or so.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Not sure. I can only name a few of my favorite authors, but they don’t necessarily write in my genre: Joanne Harris (Chocolat), Carlos Ruiz Zafon (The Shadow of the Wind), Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife), Olaf Olafsson (The Journey Home), Ann Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars), Harriet Doerr (Consider This Señora), etc. etc. etc. I am an avid reader and I hope I learned something from these wonderful writers.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The characters I created in the first two books wouldn’t leave me alone. They kept bugging me to continue. I created them and so I owed them a future (at least that’s what they claimed).

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
EMILIA takes place in particularly beautiful part of Switzerland as well as in Paris and Peru. It deals with artists, children, puppies, lots of espresso, Merlot del Ticino, the smell of paint, the fragrance of jasmine and honeysuckle, and thunderstorms (emotional as well as weather-related ones).

  Here are the authors I invited to participate:

We want to include a hashtag (on Twitter) so we can see where this goes from here. #BlogNextBigThing.


Linda Cassidy Lewis

Susan Dormady Eisenberg

John Cammalleri

Annie Acorn

Darlene Foster 

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Author in training: A critical review that did NOT make me want to rip out my hair

Friday, February 1st, 2013

Picture by Davi Sales, Bigstock.com

In addition to many positive 5- and 4-star reviews, I also get my share of less enthusiastic and downright negative ones. I read all of them. I rejoice in the glowing ones and have grown a thick skin when reading the negative ones. Here I distinguish between critical and negative. Critical reviewers are those who point out stuff they didn’t like about a book in a professional manner. Negative ones are often just plain hostile. I particularly take issue with reviewers who don’t like a book and for that reason belittle or condemn those who do like it.
The other day, I received a 2-star review of Love of a Stonemason. This was an intelligent albeit critical evaluation. The reviewer stated that this was a book one either liked or disliked and that she unfortunately did not like it. She also mentioned that after reading some of the glowing reviews, she gained a different perspective and appreciated it. In other words, the reviewer respected other readers’ opinions, although she did not share them. I am sorry that she didn’t like the book, but I value her honest and professional assessment of it.

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Flash mob: Ode to Joy

Sunday, January 6th, 2013

A friend of mine sent me this and it made me realize once again that art and music are most powerful when they happen spontaneously among everyday people, not locked away in museums and concert halls.

I love the reaction of the children!

Enjoy!

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A tribute to my mother, Anna Umiker-Güntert

Sunday, December 30th, 2012



On December 30, 2005, my mother passed away in Switzerland at the ripe old age of 102. I was fortunate to be able to spend the last four months of her life with her in my home country. She had been able to live at home almost until the very end thanks to the help of some wonderful caretakers, some friends of hers, and, above all, my nephew, Rico.
Although I lived in California, I spent several months each year with her. It was sometimes difficult to spend that much time away from my home in California but now, I am grateful for every minute I was able to be with her.
I wrote this poem many years ago when she was still alive, but it foreshadows what I knew would eventually happen:
Mother
nearing ninety winds the old clock
pulling the chains dangling
from the wooden case.
Time stored in her flesh and bones
seeps through her hands.
I listen to each shallow breath,
feel the faint trembling of her arm
tucked into the curve of mine,
as we climb the last steep hill to the store
on those muted winter days
which follow each other like dull pearls
strung on the thread of life.
The late afternoon sun casts
our thin shapes among the
shadows of birches and pines
coated with hoarfrost.
In the coffee shop she softens bites of
crusty bread and dips them into hot chocolate.
A drop falls on the face of Madonna
staring blue-eyed and beige from the
cover of Mademoiselle.
At dusk the waitress switches on the light.
My mother’s face,
white as a moon,
refracts from the window-pane.
I peer past her into the growing
darkness outside.
It’s not death I fear,
I am afraid of being the last one alive.

(From Path of Fire)

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Author in Training: The Pesky Point of View (POV)

Friday, November 16th, 2012


I usually use third person limited point of view in my novels—at least I thought I did. In Love of a Stonemason, for instance, I tell the story through the mind and the eyes of Karla, the main heroine.

In An Uncommon Family, book two of the Family Portrait series, it gets more complicated. Here, there are three points of view, Anna, Jonas, and little Karla. Again, I thought I used third person limited POV. One reviewer, however, a student of literature, described it as “third person omniscient narrator.” I was startled and couldn’t understand why she called it “omniscient.”

In Emilia, part three of series, there are four different POVs. I asked Linda Cassidy Lewis, author of one of my favorite novels, The Brevity of Roses, if she would consider being a beta reader of my manuscript, since I admire her command of and feeling for language. And I’m glad I did. She gave me a lot of feedback and a few of her remarks had to do with narrative voice or point of view.

One thing she mentioned was the fact that the different POV characters weren’t distinct enough. She said—and I agree with her—that a reader should be able to recognize who the narrator is, even in the more descriptive parts, in other words those parts of text where the characters are not engaged in dialog but where they notice something and in those places the description should reflect the character’s way of thinking, use of language, etc. and not the author’s.

For example: in my novel, Andreas, the father, is someone who hates dressing up, has no interest in fashion or clothes. So when his son, Tonio, who loves fashion and studies to become a fashion designer, walks in the door, Andreas notices his somewhat outlandish outfit. He describes his son’s clothes, using expressions that only a person interested in and familiar with fashion would use. That of course would be unnatural and unrealistic.  He would certainly notice Tonio’s colorful outfit but would describe it in layman’s terms.

It made me aware how easy it is to slip into the more “omniscient” voice, telling the story from the point of view of the author rather than from one of the character’s POVs. Of course, there is nothing wrong with omniscient narration and there are places where this is done consciously by the author. But that’s not what I was trying to do. In fact, I didn’t realize I was doing it.

Keeping my beta reader’s remarks in mind, I began to reread my manuscript and I did so aloud. And boy, that sure made a difference. It was much easier for me to slip into the POV character’s mind and notice the places where the author intruded too much. I was also able to cut out a bunch of unnecessary “filler words,” for instance—here Laura, the daughter, is the POV: “Laura felt her family was in serious trouble.” We don’t really need “felt” since it’s obvious who does the feeling here. Why not simply: “Her family was in serious trouble?”

Thank you, Linda; you helped me make my book a better one. I am a little hoarse now from reading out loud, but it was worth it!

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New book covers

Saturday, October 20th, 2012

My designer friend and I are in the process of creating new covers for the books of my Family Portrait series. Here are some preliminary samples of the first two books. There will be minor changes (such as my name needs to be a little bigger) but I’m really excited about them. 

Enjoy!



 

 

Comments appreciated!

Okay, here are new versions with the larger name:









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Creativity is everywhere. Keep looking!

Sunday, October 14th, 2012


The other day, a friend of mine sent me an article he wrote and a video about an elderly couple in Clovis, California. The husband, who loved to ride bikes but didn’t want to do it alone, came up with a wonderful idea. He built a special bicycle so that both he and his wife could ride side by side together. Here is the link to the article by Shawn Gadberry as well as the video. Have fun with the senior couple on their ride “into their sunset years.”

http://clovisindependent.com/2012/10/12/a-bicycle-re-built-for-two/

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Mike Henderson – a look at a talented artist and Blues musician

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Mike Henderson is a wonderful artist and Blues musician and the husband of my artist friend and teacher, Susan Deming. They live and work in the San Francisco Bay area with their son, Isaac. The other day, I came across this video of Mike Henderson, which I love and wanted to share with you. To me, this is not just a story about an artist, but about a man who made his way against many odds and succeeded.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did.

For more about Mike Henderson and Spark, click here:

http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=17526

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A picture journey through my novels

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

I live in two countries on two continents and I love to travel and so the different places I lived in or visited infiltrated my creative writing. Both my novels, An Uncommon Family and Love of a Stonemason take place in several different countries.

When I first visited these places, I wasn’t planning on using them in my writing. I was just seeing them as a tourist. Once I started to create my stories, I wanted to go back to explore the different locals more closely. It was important to get the details right, and, above all, I wanted to portray them through the eyes and nose and ears of my protagonists. What are the scents, the colors, and the sounds like in Zurich, Switzerland, or Guadalajara, Mexico, or in the exciting metropolis, New York City for Anna and Jonas in An Uncommon Family? How does Karla, the artist, see her beloved Ticino in the south of Switzerland? What did the colors and shapes of stones in the Peruvian Andes trigger in Andreas, the stonemason, in Love of a Stonemason?

In the process of my research, I took quite a few pictures. An author friend of mine suggested I put some of them on my website. This gave me the idea to create a kind of picture tour of my novels. Readers who are familiar with my books may enjoy seeing some of the places they read about. Others who don’t know my books may get inspired to give them a try.

I’m starting with the first book in the Family Portrait series, An Uncommon Family. This novel takes place in Zurich, Switzerland, New York City, and Guadalajara, Mexico. For those who don’t know the book, here is a blurb:

A chance meeting between a middle-aged woman, a widower, and a semi-orphaned child in the city of Zurich, Switzerland, brings together three people who grapple with a past of loss and betrayal. Six-year-old Karla, whose mother died in a car crash, has a hard time accepting the loss. Anna, her aunt and guardian, struggles with her former husband’s deception and her shattered confidence in men, and Jonas, artist and teacher, mourns the death of his wife.

While trying to help Karla, a talented but troubled child, Anna and Jonas develop feelings for each other that go beyond friendship. The budding romance, however, hits a snag when Anna discovers a sinister secret in Jonas’s past. While the two adults have come to an impasse, young Karla takes matters into her own hands. Together with a friend, she develops a plan to bring the two uncooperative adults back together. The plan, however, creates havoc and as it begins to unravel, Karla is forced to learn some difficult lessons.

And now, click on the following link, fasten your seatbelts, put on your walking boots, or hop on a virtual train and enjoy!

An Uncommon Family – A Journey in Pictures

If you enjoyed the tour and want to continue the journey through part two of the “Family Portrait” series, click on the following link:

Love of a Stonemason – A Journey in Pictures

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