Patricia Sands

Author

the value of laughter

Bonjour mes amis!

by

Please join me in the south of France for the summer! My husband and I have rented an apartment in Antibes between Nice and Cannes. We have visited this area on several vacations and fell in love with the beauty, the history, the culture, the people, the weather … I could go on but you will see what I mean … and besides that, I LOVE to speak French! I think I must have been born here in another life!

The two most important criteria we wanted for our accommodation were location and view and we have both to perfection. In fact, there really is no need for a car as we can get to so many places all along the Riviera and even into Italy from the train station just down the street. The town of Antibes is more like a village and one walks everywhere. There’s a car rental agency around the corner from us if we want to go further afield from time to time.

As you know, photography is a passion of mine so my beloved Canon Rebel XT has been steaming. I’ll get some photos organized and share them here in the next week or so. We’ve spent the past few weeks getting settled here and also having visits from some good friends, which we’ve spent exploring and discovering. I’ll share some of those discoveries as well – beautiful perched villages, switchback roads that open onto stunning vistas, talented artists and traditional artisans, fabulous coastal towns and beaches, architecture that takes your breath away from the very simple to the sumptuous, and restaurants … oo la la, the restaurants.

What does this have to do with my writing? Well I’ve been working on my next novel and when I knew we were coming to this part of the world for an extended time, my storyline moved over here too. I’m busy making notes and plotting and hopefully will have something close to a finished product by the time we leave. It’s easy to be motivated here as the ghosts of  artists come to you in the narrow streets lined with shuttered houses, many hundreds of years old. Writers as early back as 1500 BC left their work in caves in the area. In the last few centuries a long list of  influential writers found inspiration here including Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, DeMaupassant, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham, Graham Green, James Joyce, Nabakov, Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound, Sylvia Plath and the list goes on. Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse, Renoir, Chagall, Picasso, Bracque, Miro  are just a few of another equally long list of painters and sculptors who found the special light and air of the south of France irresistible.

The musical history of the area, particularly during the Jazz Age, is also impressive and we are excited to be here for the Jazz Festival of Nice in early July, followed by the 51st anniversary of Jazz A Juan in next-door Juan-Les-Pins. More on those later.

If spending an extended time in a different part of the world is something that appeals to you, talk to me about it. We are experienced home exchangers and renters and I have lots of good tips. I’m happy to say we have never had a bad experience.

There’s a small fish market on the pier at the end of our street so I’m off to consider our dinner menu and shoot some more photos of the local fishermen cleaning their nets.

A bientot! (Now I’ll have to figure out how to add the french accents to my text!)

Further to my last post …

by

Continuing with the subject of finding the balance between social media and writing, I wanted to give this next website it’s own separate post. First I want to thank my friend and fellow author Patricia Caviglia for forwarding the link to me in the first place.
At the risk of repeating myself, the online writing/publishing community provides an astonishing number of excellent blogs and websites. Kristen Lamb’s is a standout! She is a an author, a blogger, and a woman who offers inspiration and encouragement to all writers. She is talented, articulate, candid and very funny – unless she has me and many others completely fooled! As well as frequently laughing out loud, which I love to do, I’ve learned a lot from every one of her posts since I began following her a few months ago. What I like best about her is that she keeps things real. This particular post about the concept of T.E.A.M. as it applies to the effective use of social media is a fine example. If you are still attempting to find the balance, as I am, do read it. I’m betting you will subscribe to her blog as quickly as I did!
For your added enjoyment, guaranteed laughs, and in further praise of Kristen, check this site out Educlaytion by Clay Morgan.

Thank you, Audrey Grant and Barbara Seagram

by

What an honour to have The Bridge Club read and reviewed by the internationally renowned bridge educator and author Audrey Grant as well as Barbara Seagram, owner of the popular Barbara Seagram School of Bridge in Toronto.

Audrey’s article is in the current publication of Better Bridge and Barbara’s can be found on page 6 of her online newsletter. Both are excellent sources of information, instruction, and resources for the fabulous game of bridge. If you have never played the game of bridge, try it – you’ll like it!

Let’s begin 2011 by answering some questions

by

Ok – the decorations have all been carefully put away for another year. The suitcases have been unpacked. The last of the shortbread has mysteriously vanished. It was a wonderful holiday season and now it’s time to get back to business.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE READERS WHO TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE TO ME. I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW REWARDING IT IS AND HOW MUCH I VALUE YOUR FEEDBACK AND YOUR STORIES ABOUT YOUR OWN GROUP OF FRIENDS.

I’ve decided the first challenge I’m going to tackle in 2011, from a very long list, is to answer some of the questions I’m receiving from readers about different characters in The Bridge Club. Today let’s talk about Cass!

Yes, her character in real life did in fact live on a sailboat on the other side of the Atlantic for eight years with the man in her life at that time. Her experience was very much as described in the novel and she and I spent many long hours talking and reminiscing as I developed the chapter. She did indeed make tapes and send them to us from time to time which we then returned to her. It was a fantastic way to stay connected and of course long before the days of computers. If only  we had been able to Skype! The journey came to an end as described and she did meet her current employer a few years later when she worked as a cook on his yacht. Even though she made some very unconventional choices in her life, everything somehow worked out. Her relationship with her son is strong and he is a fine young man. To the rest of our group, in her real life the model for Cass really does exemplify the saying to “dance as if no one is watching”. She is proof that for some women, thinking outside the box is the way to go. It has certainly worked for her! If you have a dream, pursue it.