s'envoyer des fleurs & a request for blurbs!

Tip: take a break from the current "book publishing" theme by simply reading the stories that follow, below. In the stories "Foi" and "Conjoint" you will continue to build your French vocabulary, while in "Envie" you can read about longing.

Mas la Monaque - rent this beautifully restored 17-century farmhouse! Click here for photos and availability.

 

s'envoyer des fleurs

    : to pat oneself on the back

Yabla French Video Immersion.
The fun way to learn French

 

Publishing Update!

Now listen in, closely: we are racing toward the imminent deadline for this 21 Day Publish A Book challenge and I need your help today big time!

I am about to do the unthinkable. I'm now going to ask you "to send me flowers"! Not because I received bad news at the doctor's yesterday (another suspicious spot will need to be removed—this time from the side of my nose. Gah! Double gah!!)...

No, I am not asking for flowers for that... I am asking you "to send flowers" in the very French sense of the phrase:

envoyer des fleurs = to send compliments
s'envoyer des fleurs = to send oneself compliments 

 

In fact, what I really need from you today is what we readers, editors, writers, and publishers call "BLURBS".

Normally, a publisher (or author or editor or marketing team) will seek such endorsements from other authors or from journalists. You then see these promotional statements on the book's back cover or on the inside flap or on the first few pages of the book or on the product description page at Amazon. 

Such blurbs serve many purposes. Here are just a few. Blurbs help to convey:

1)  the book's subject matter
2)  the author's writing style
3) the tone of the book  

Especially, blurbs help to sell the book!  They help potential readers decide whether to buy.

 Again, blurbs are typically written by writers... but, personally, I think they should be written by readers. This is where you come in! As readers of this "thrice-weekly" blog, you are the most qualified of all critics to comment on my stories. It is you who can best label my writing style, the subject matter and the tone of these essays.

So forgive me for being brazen or blatant ...or even a bit bumbling... in asking you to send me "flowers"! But I sure need your positive words at this time.  

And now, à vos plumes! To your pens! (or keyboards...). Please answer my call for blurbs by leaving one here, in the comments box (be sure to leave your name as it should appear... should your blurb be published).

Tip: For help writing a blurb for my book, please have a look at some of the books lying around your home or office. Notice how the blurbs effectively answer the questions: What is this book about? Who is this author? What is the author's style? The book's tone? How am I left feeling, having read a chapter? Would I recommend this book to someone?

To those of you who do not feel up to writing an endorsement, I hope that you will stick around to help choose one for the back of my book! Your job will be to read the blurbs as they come into this box, and help decide which ones will work best for my book's promotion.

Thank you very much! Meantime, here are the next set of stories that will go into the book. Click on the following links to begin editing.

FOI: My daughter and my hot-tempered mom say grace

ENVIE: Restless souls and longings...

CONJOINT: My husband courts Mother Nature

 

 

(2006. Before we had any idea we were destined to move to a vineyard...) I thought I'd run this photo for you today, as most of the stories in my next book focus on this time period (so that when you read about Max or Jackie, you can picture them at this age.) The photo was taken at Uncle Jean-Claude's winery, Domaine du Banneret.

Don't forget to leave a book blurb in today's comments box. Thank you again! Your support makes all the difference!

A Note to Editors
Note, if you have helped to edit a story for this collection (that is, if you have submitted a correction to one of the stories in this "publishing challenge", then please add your name to the Acknowledgments box, here.