Patricia Sands

Author

memoir

Torre DeRoche is back!

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One of the things I like best about the internet is the opportunity it offers on a regular basis to connect with people you might otherwise never have met.

One such connection that occurred six years ago was with writer Torre DeRoche.

SIX YEARS AGO? How can that possibly be, I asked myself when I looked at the date on my first post about her. You can read it right here … and I hope you take the time to do so.  IMHO, Torre is an unconventional young woman and a talented writer, with a perceptive and unique literary voice. I also see her as sensitive, with strong values, and a wicked sense of humour. Full disclosure, she does swear.

Here’s how she describes herself: “I live in Melbourne, Australia, but hold two passports, because I was born to American parents. I’ve always felt conflicted about whether I’m a bohemian Californian flower child or someone who gets intimate with dangerous wildlife and uses too many swear words. I settled somewhere in the middle.”

It absolutely boggles my mind the way time flies! But, it does … and that’s a fact … so opportunities should not be missed. This is one.

In October 2011, Torre had recently published her first book. The title and cover were different and the novel was published again in 2013 as Love With a Chance of Drowning.

I read a review of the memoir and knew I wanted to read the complete story of Torre crossing the Pacific on her boyfriend’s 32-foot sailboat, in spite of her debilitating fear of water.  A Kirkus review said: “”A funny, irresistibly offbeat tale about the risks and rewards of living, and loving, with an open heart.” I loved the book.

Finding my way to Torre’s blog, I immediately wanted to discover more about this engaging young woman who could bring a reader to tears of laughter and sorrow in the same sentence.

The first post of hers that I found, was a poignant recounting of how excited she was with the success of her book … only to discover that her beloved father had just received a devastating cancer diagnosis. The manner in which she described the clash of emotions within her, touched me to the core. I wrote to her about loss and grief and life, sharing my experience of being widowed when I was 43 with two young sons. We then exchanged some personal emails. After a while, life moved on with me writing and Torre living a life of adventure with her boyfriend and her father responding to treatment.

I followed along on her blog until at one point she seemed to disappear. From time to time I would catch sight of an Instagram posting and be assured she was still around. What I gathered was that she was not writing, but walking … and worrying.

Now Torre and I have reconnected and I know the whole story. So will you. It’s all documented in DeRoche’s new memoir, The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World: Love, Loss, and Other Catastrophes–through Italy, India, and Beyond.

The release date is September 5th ~ two more days! You can pre-order here.

Sadly, Torre’s father died and around the same time her 9-year love affair also ended. Not surprisingly, she was devastated and consumed by grief. Wracked with fear, doubt and anxiety, on a whim she set off to confront the darkness and discover a new light … if indeed there was one. Along the way, she met up with unconventional pilgrim, Masha, a woman who was pursuing her dream to walk the world.

Together they walked through parts of Italy and India, talking, laughing, eating, and drinking as a powerful friendship evolved. Through it all, de Roche searches in her inimitable way for answers to her admitted neuroses and interweaves researched facts and thoughts to help support her quest for meaning in her life.

Author Janice MacLeod describes this book as, “”A moving account of conquering fears while walking a pilgrim’s path. Also funny as f@#k.”

I’m glad to see Torre is writing again. She makes me laugh out loud … and ponder “stuff”. On her website, The Fearful Adventurer, she promises new ventures. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Her blog has been profiled in NatGeo and was one of Viator’s Top Travel Blogs of 2015. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian Travel and alongside Cheryl Strayed, Dave Eggers and Sloan Crosley in the Lonely Planet travel writing anthology, An Innocent Abroad.

Connect with Torre on Facebook here. All other social media links are on her website.

Are you a worrier? Have you ever taken a pilgrimage of one sort or another to try and find answers to your questions about life? Curious minds would love to hear about it, so leave a comment. 

Torre will be offering a giveaway or two in my next (September) newsletter. 

 

My Good Life in France ~ Janine Marsh ~ pre-order

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

I’m SO excited to share this news with you! May 4th is the publishing date for this long-awaited memoir by Janine Marsh!

Even more good news is that the book is available for pre-order on Amazon right now! Click here to purchase your copy of My Good Life in France.

As we all know, Janine is the founder and editor of the fabulous The Good Life France website and ezine. For all of us who love to dream about France and read about and see photos of and plan trips to and … well, you know … there’s no better resource!

And now Janine tells the entertaining story of how her life in France all came to pass. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy and am happy to share my review here with you:

 5*****

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the publication of Janine Marsh’s memoir, My Good Life  in France, and was honoured to receive an ARC for an honest review. It’s no surprise that this book is everything readers hope it will be. With her sharp insight after many years as an ex-pat in France and her engaging sense of humour, Marsh takes us on the bumpy road of highs and lows restoring a “truly awful” (her words) property in the north of France that captured her heart. 
 
Through the author’s eyes and experiences we discover the (relatively unknown to tourists) Seven Valleys area in the Pas-de-Calais, which is now on my “must visit” list. Easily drawn into Marsh’s entertaining narrative by her sharp observations and warm-hearted nature, we get to know her neighbours, the local traditions and her growing family of dogs, cats, and assorted feathered friends.
 
Thank goodness for an understanding husband who is also an enterprising craftsman. There are challenges that would deter most from staying the course. Yet not only do the Marshes survive, but a brilliant new career path is born.
 
This book is a delightful read that I highly recommend.
Click here to read an earlier post when Janine visited my blog.
If it’s cool and rainy in your part of the world, as it is in mine today, pour yourself a warm cuppa (a hot toddy sounds good to me!) and lose yourself in the pages of The Good Life France Spring Magazine. You’ll be glad you did!
Bon weekend!

Change your life ~ Jacquie Gauthier did!

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Recently in my newsletter, author Jacquie Gauthier3a3784b2-4b9a-4cf7-b8a5-436813b3168c offered two copies of her memoir, The Gift of an Elephant, in our giveaway. I’m delighted to have her stop by the blog today to chat with us.

Jacquie is a Canadian now living in South Africa and she has a most interesting story to share. Like Kat, in The Promise of Provence, Jacquie had a major mid-life transition that took courage.

She’s a great example of how to be a possibilitarian and you know how I feel about that!

PS ~ I love how our lives first connected through friends we have in common in Canada! Please share a bit of the story of how you took a chance and completely changed your life to make your home in South Africa.

JG ~ I have always thought of myself as a true romantic, but I even surprised myself when Johann and I eloped! We met in January of 2010 in South Sudan. Johann, a South African paramedic was there on a U. N. contract locating the landmines that had been laid in the region during all the years of conflict there. I was visiting as part of the team from Canadian Aid for South Sudan. We only saw each other a total of four times, but we both knew we had made a very special connection. After 6 months of constant conversation via email, we needed to know if it was love, so I went to visit him in South Africa. On the fourth day of my visit, we were married in an intimate African ceremony in the bush!
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PS ~ Of course, your memoir, The Gift of an Elephant, explains your journey in great detail. What prompted you to write a memoir? Had you ever written a book in the past?

JG ~ Almost every time someone heard our story, they would exclaim “Wow- you should write a book!” After getting that response so often, it occurred to me that maybe I had something of value to share.  Our story seemed to resonate with so many people !

Often they expressed that they were feeling “stuck” in their lives, especially at a certain age when they felt that it was too late to risk or to change. I hoped that sharing our experience would show others that it’s never to late to create the life you want. If you can hear the call of something more and take a leap of faith, your life can change in ways you never could have imagined. 
PS ~  Is there any one lesson in particular about writing that you learned from the experience?
JG ~ Write from the heart.Be honest and share your truth. Ignore your internal editor and try not to judge what you are writing- there’s plenty of time to do that later.
PS ~ Do you have another book planned?
0c11d35e-8124-4740-9f3a-0700a02b7cfdJG ~ I have just started working on the sequel, tentatively titled ” Twenty-eight Elephants and Other Every Day Miracles”. The story I tell in The Gift of an Elephant ended over three years ago, and so much has happened since. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and about life. Probably the most important thing I have learned is that the only thing I ever have to change is my mind. I am happier now than I have ever been, and if  telling my story can in some small way inspire some one else to find their happiness, I want to do that.
PS ~ Two Girls and An Elephant is an amazing undertaking that began as a result of your new life in South Africa. I love the tagline on the website, “African art with attitude“. Please tell us about it.
JG ~ This new life has brought many gifts and one of the greatest has been the freedom and the inspiration to explore my creativity. Almost three years ago I had the idea of combining photography with fine art on elephant dung paper!  My friend Alicia Fordyce is a beyond gifted self-taught artist. I approached her with the idea, and now we are Two Girls and an Elephant; photographer, painter and paper maker. 
Last year we had successful exhibitions in Canada and Switzerland.  We are now focusing on selling prints of our originals as well as greeting cards and bookmarks. We are hoping to raise funds and awareness for elephant conservation by donating 10% of the price of these items to Elephants Alive South Africa.
2 Girls and a Leopard - Copy

PS ~ I love following your photography on Instagram (@Jaxisclever) and seeing your FB posts about the wildlife that is part of your new world. What is your involvement with that?

JG ~ I want to share the love and appreciation I feel for all of these animals with as many people as I can because Africa needs the help of the entire world to protect them!

Living where we do, at the gateway to Kruger National Park, almost every day we see the tragedy that is animal poaching. There are two ways to stop this practice- through education and economics. Teach people that ivory is not a status symbol, and that rhino horn is not medicine; and we  need to boost the South African economy with a  thriving tourist industry that will provide jobs and lift people out of poverty.
I try to be involved in any way I can, by volunteering in and supporting community projects, fundraising for conservation and encouraging people to come and visit these majestic animals in their glorious natural habitat. 
I’m also currently spearheading a Parliamentary petition that will ban the importation of hunting trophies in to Canada. I have to say I was absolutely stunned to learn that it is still legal to import ivory and lion skins into Canada! We can change attitudes and stop the slaughter of elephants and rhinos and other vulnerable species, but we have to do it now.
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PS ~ Would you say writing, photography or painting is your greatest love?

JG ~ That is a difficult question! Writing was my first love. I am at my absolute happiest when I am out on a game drive taking photos, but then I get really excited at the prospect of turning those photos in to art pieces. I love playing with multiple images and creating modern art- or as we call it, African Art with Attitude. I am an absolute beginner when it comes to painting- that is definitely Alicia’s department. But I am excited about learning.  And I recently had the privilege of working with respected Canadian artist Hendrikus Bervoets, the founder of Art for Aids International. We have done a series of collages using my photographs and they turned out beautifully!

PS ~ What can we eagerly anticipate from you in the near future?
JG ~ I will be coming back to Canada in May for a few events; May 12 I am returning to my home town of Penetanguishene and Midland, where I started my radio career. I am the guest for ” A Day in the Life” an interview series at the Midland Cultural Center. I’ll be there along with my books and some of our art.
Then May 15th we are hosting an event called” Music, Art and Africa” in Port Stanley Ontario which will feature the music of Denise Pelley, the Art of Two Girls and an Elephant and our friend Nicola Coady (a fellow Canadian now living in South Africa) Proceeds from the event will support the art and music camp in South Sudan, a project of Canadian Aid for South Sudan.  It’s wonderful to see all my passions dancing together to raise money for causes I am passionate about!
For more information about Two Girls and An Elephant, click here. 
Click here to visit Jacquie’s Amazon Author Page.
Stop by and say hello to Jacquie on Facebook.