Author Loraine Despres will give you short takes on love, life's little ironies, and the world as she moves through it, with detours including how to attract men and keep them happy. That's easy. Writing, that's harder. The writer's life, that one is the hardest of all.
I just got back from St. Croix where Ethlie Ann Vare and I broke story on a romantic comedy set in the islands. She has a villa there overlooking the Caribbean. That picture of sunset over the ocean at left was taken from her balcony. We found the crystal waters so inspiring. That's me on the right, Ethlie in the middle, and her friend Craig Torrey on the left. The final shot shows rain on the water to remind us that a writer's life is hard.
directions to where you could buy some really good weed, for medicinal use of course. I just wanted to share a walk in the beautiful park near our house.
Sometimes the Southern Belle is able to actually go to a book club. 
Most women's hats don't fit and those that do look down-right silly. So I found this great men's hat. I loved it. It was warm and kept the rain off. And I loved the way I looked. I'm sharing the photo with you because, I gave it away. Sob.I want to give a call out to Mindy Long and her excellent blog MINDY WRITES: http://mindylong.com/blog/ She writes about books and writing.
I did a call in to her book club tonight and she posted the following. I've embedded it here to make it easy for you to read, but check out her blog for lots of good stuff on what it's like to be a free lance writer, she has a virtual book club too.
I love my virtual book club, but every once in a while even I miss talking in real time about the books I love. So tonight I hosted an in-person book club, pulled out some serving platters and dusted off the carafe.
The holidays and the dreary weather here resulted in a small turnout, but we delved into The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell by Loraine Despres and had a great conversation. In addition to writing Belle, Despres wrote The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc in which Belle appears as Sissy’s grandmother. Despres was generous enough to call in and take part in the discussion and we peppered her with our questions.
Belle is full of details from the 1920s—details that could only be captured by meticulous research. Despres said she spent a year researching the time period. “Thank God for the Web,” she laughed. She read books, visited the library and studied magazines from the period.
To capture the details of one particular scene, Despres reached out to the Stutz Barecat Club and found someone who shared the particulars of how to shift.
Despres even committed to only reading literature written before 1920 during the three years it took her to write Belle.
I fell in love with Sissy, and the entire time I was reading Belle I couldn’t help but think about how Despres weaved the two stories together even though they were very different stories. I was also left wondering how much the author knew about Belle when writing Sissy.
“I knew I wanted a lady like some of the ladies I knew in New Orleans—very imperious, very sure of themselves. Belle really came to me,” she said.
Of course we asked Despres her favorite rule. Without hesitating she said, "It’s okay for a woman to know her place. She just shouldn’t stay there."She also told us she doesn’t usually come up with a rule cold. “If something tickles me, I write it down,” she said.
Several parts of the book were inspired by Despres’s own experiences. She told us she grew up in a house like the Rubinstein’s—a house complete with bullet holes in her bedroom wall. “A vigilante group tried to drive my family out of town. It probably happened in the 1890s, but I knew I wanted to tell that story,” she said.
She also shared that she some of her favorite traits of Belle’s were her courage and her cynicism. “She was pretty much based on my mother,” she said.
SPOILER ALERTS—IF YOU HAVEN’T READ BELLE, STOP READING NOW. COME BACK AFTER YOU FINISH THE BOOK.
Based on the letter Belle found in Claude’s jacked, I assumed he was having an affair, but since I’m ever the optimist, I held out hope that Belle just misunderstood parts of the letter. I asked Despres flat out if Claude was having an affair. She confirmed my fear—he was unfaithful. Oh Claude—how could you? I will cut him a little slack since he was at war.
Throughout the novel I went back and forth on whether Belle was ignorant of the dangers she faced or if she was brave. I felt that she became more aware of her danger she faced as the novel went on and clearly was courageous when defending the Rubinsteins against the Ku Klux Klan.
Despres said she envisioned Belle as being brave when writing her. She added, “As a middle-class southern lady, she thought [the KKK] wouldn’t hurt her. Her family was important in the town and she thought they wouldn’t go after her.”
There were so many great story lines in the book. After we hung up the phone with Despres, we kept chatting about the book. I definitely recommend it as a book club pick and, you never know, Despres might call into your group, too. You can visit her blog athttp://www.lorainedespres.blogspot.com/ and her Web site atwww.lorainedespres.com. Also, check out my earlier Q&A with Loraine here, my post about Sissy here and my virtual book club post about Belle here.
By the way–my local library system had a a good number of copies of Belle available, but there was a wait list! So, you may want to check your local library or order from Amazon.
GIVEAWAY!!! What could be better than adding an autographed book plate courtesy of Loraine Despres to your copy of Belle or Sissy? Leave a comment by midnight Dec. 4 and I will pick a lucky winner on Dec. 5.
"A Southern Belle never ignores a compliment. She knows she's worth it."
So I want to give a call out to Mindy Long, a talented free-lance writer, and reader of great perspicacity. She has a terrific blog on writing and writers. A few days ago she was kind enough to review my novel, The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc. Here's a taste:
"On a recent trip to the bookstore, I just happened to reach up on the shelf and pull down The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc: A Novel
Within 30 seconds I knew I would be taking the home with me and I’m so glad I did. It is a page-turner packed with small-town scandal and choices–not to mention a cute high school football star. The author’s Web site says, "More than a rip-roaring good read about a feisty Southern girl tearing up her hometown, The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc is a poignant story about innocence lost and hope regained, about the dangers of taking a risk—and playing it safe, about wresting control of your life before someone does it for you. Shifting back and forth in time, Loraine Despres limns an utterly captivating portrait of Sissy LeBlanc’s tumultuous coming of age and her struggle to break free from the loveless, stifling marriage it led her to."
I was already staying up past my bedtime to read, then I hit Chapter 13 and BAM! The book got even better with a plot twist..."A Southern Belle never hides her light under a bushel...or under anything else. Admit it, we all love attention. So let's live in the spotlight while we can. Rule 230 Southern Belle's Handbook.
Ok, I admit it. I love it when someone praises one of my books. I was delighted to find Mindy Long's excellent blog MINDY WRITES especially when she wrote:
"On a recent trip to the bookstore, I just happened to reach up on the shelf and pull down The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc by Loraine Despres. I was hooked before I even finished reading the back cover, which starts, “It’s a steamy June afternoon in Louisiana, circa 1956, and Sissy LeBlanc is sitting on her front porch, wondering—half seriously—if she could kill herself with aspirins and Coca-Cola.”
Within 30 seconds I knew I would be taking the book home with me and I’m so glad I did. It is a page-turner packed with small-town scandal and choices–not to mention a cute high school football star. The author’s Web site says, "More than a rip-roaring good read about a feisty Southern girl tearing up her hometown, The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc is a poignant story about innocence lost and hope regained, about the dangers of taking a risk—and playing it safe, about wresting control of your life before someone does it for you. Shifting back and forth in time, Loraine Despres limns an utterly captivating portrait of Sissy LeBlanc’s tumultuous coming of age and her struggle to break free from the loveless, stifling marriage it led her to. I was already staying up past my bedtime to read, then I hit Chapter 13 and BAM! The book got even better with a plot twist I never saw coming." For more and to read her excellent posts about writers and writing go to: http://mindylong.com/the-scandalous-summer-of-sissy-leblanc//
" 
My cousin Cecile wrote: "Had an exciting experience with the British National Health Service. On our last night in
Braving the Dreaded British National Health
The hotel manager told me there was a doctor’s office next door, so with trepidation, (I’d heard the horror stories about long waits and grim conditions) I ventured in. A receptionist told me I’d be seen by a nurse practitioner who specialized in abrasions, asthma treatment, and other chronic conditions. Apologizing, she said she’d have to charge me fifty pounds since I wasn’t registered on National Health.
After waiting in a pleasant waiting room for all of seven to ten minutes, I was greeted by a friendly, efficient nurse who bandaged my knee with a waterproof surgical dressing and asked if I was otherwise in good health. My husband mentioned I have asthma. She gave me advice on how to manage it and a booklet (not an advertisement from a drug company) but a manual published by the National Health Service NHS with clear information on how to manage asthma along with a card to carry in your wallet, outlining a treatment plan, and phone numbers including the Asthma UK Adviceline available from 9 to 5 with interpreting service in more than 100 languages and a 24 hour nurse-led helpline for all medical inquiries along with websites and further information.
We were out of there and on our way in half an hour and I’m happy to report my knee is fine.
C100 in LA--The Southern Belle Loves a Good Party
What’s the Council of 100 you might ask? I explain it as the one hundred most successful women ever to graduate from Northwestern—who are willing to go to those meetings. Our mandate is to mentor and serve as role models for women students and young alumnae. This year we met at Caffe Roma in the heart of Beverly Hill’s golden triangle. Here are a couple of photos of the event. I’ll hold these on the blog until I get some comments from participants and then I’ll post more. So come on ladies and gentlemen (there were two gentlemen in attendance) start commenting, especially those in the pictures, and I'll put up more photos.
The Cost Effect Of Global Warming Or Stupid Is As Stupid Does
When you hear the Bush Administration or other politicians talking about complying with the Kyoto Protocols as long as they are “cost effective,” they are talking about the cost to their campaign contributors not to you and me.
This week the Commerce Committee gutted Senator Feinstein’s sensible bill requiring car companies to improve over-all fuel efficiency of their fleets by 10 miles per gallon over the next twelve years. There’s nothing radical about that plan. It may even be too little, too late. But Tuesday the Commerce Committee added a little zinger to the bill: It would let the car makers off the hook if the annual goals aren’t “cost-effective.”
Cost effective to whom? If we really took global warming seriously, we would see an economic boom similar to that in
If people get the government they deserve, then as my character Sissy LeBlanc might say, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
