Help!
It has been suggested (by friends and relatives, not a hot publishing house)that Julian and I make a book of Postcards From Provence.
The paintings would make a great coffee table jewel in their own right, of course. However an alternative has been put forward that we partner his paintings with my writing. Therefore I am trying to put together a portfolio of posts that I think would be suitable, either as examples of my marvellous style (ahem) or that might provide a valid commentary to particular small paintings on Julian's site. Maybe it's the mistral addling my brain and maybe it's because suddenly all my carefully crafted words just sound like drivvle about my life... but I can't get my head round it. So here's the thing:
If there is any particular post which you really do think is good writing or could be worthy of a place next to one of Jullian's paintings between a noble book cover, could you let me know which one?
No other news to impart as I have been cutting and pasting and then deleting posts all day and J, unable to keep up with demand (he sold 'vineyards at chateauneuf du Pape' twice in the middle of the night!) has been writing invoices and wrapping up paintings...
...Except: that this was the answer I received from my mother to a question about whether or not my brother could make a 10.30 flight from Naples from her place near Brindisi:
"Just finishing , prinying,binding boiok, translocating, designingcollecting
leaflets & postewrsin one town, delivering in 4 others, going to London on
Monday, back with Joh n Bunzl on Thursday, two fora to arrange ... nota good
time. So sorry..."
I know it's the election day and she is working hard for The Simultaneous Policy , and that our communication can be blurry even at the best of times (and maybe I did write the question in chinese by mistake)but ....
Now you can see the where my marvellous style comes from!
(Bless you Mum, and Bless the Simultaneous Policy.)
posted by ruth at 4:57 PM
12 Comments:
What a lovely idea! You have, I think, a number of posts that are more than just "suitable." My lousy 40-something memory will not bring my favorites immediately to mind, so I'll have to go hunting for them. More later...
And, by the way, which are your favorite posts?
good question kimberly! i always fantasize about being both deep and funny...broad beans? some say my writing about music is the best, others seem to just like the provencal life, and clearly the personal baby stuff hits a nerve...i guess what the question is is what, outside the subject, rings true in terms just of prose.. i have to send a good example of my writing and that cannot be self conscious ("Now i am going to write about 'blue shadows'!)..and what is the writing without the pics? aaargh ...wracking my non grenobloid brain.
Yes, it's a lovely idea.
ANY of your posts would be fine. You sound like you have the right idea by C&Ping your favorite bits.
Some would be easy to match up I imagine, others not so.
I know just what you mean about 'freezing' the moment you are asked to write something. I was offered a chance to sometimes publish a column. I cried and never replied...
I look forward to hearing more about your venture.
XX
Bloomin heck! I've just seen how many of Julian's (wonderful) paintings have sold.
Quick! Retire now Ruth! He can keep you in fine wines and pink handbags for ever!
You can serenade him whilst he works.
:-)
The book would be wonderful ... pick any subject ... you are good at them all ... plus, everytime I try to get my husband to buy one of Julian's paintings for me, they are sold by the time we get home from work ... please write the book! I am clearly in the wrong time zone to get a painting!
becca, just email julian if you really want a painting and he will put a red dot on it and save it until your hubbie gets home!
Impossible to choose my personal favourite of your recent pieces, but on basis of complementarity with paintings, not too controversial or sardonic (which I like, of course, but maybe not what's looked for in a coffee table book), fairly focused one thing, and also because I like it so much: your entry of 5 April -
Rapture in a Beeswing
thanks jean! (i like that one too but mostly because i am in utter love with the bee whose photo i took!)
Ruth, that's a great idea. I will order one now. I have both French word a day books and am waiting for Kristen's third. You two are inspriing me to start web writing and I have registered two domains. I'll let you know when it is up!
Maybe you could write some posts inspired by Julians paintings for the book, I love stories about life in Provence. You once mentioned a goat cheese woman you hadn't seen because of EU regulations and I always wondered what happened to her. Can you find out, maybe Julian could do some portraits of people at the markets? How about a book on the markets in Provence? I think that is the number one thing I wish we had in the States.
Silas and I ( my black and white cat) are reading your blog this morning. He likes to run things thought) Hear that bass purr? He is a bass kitty.
I do think you have a future as a writer. I have been looking for more books on life in France and really, there isn't much other than Mayle.
Zuleme
morphess darling i don't have pink handbags but I do like pink champagne!! thanks zuleme - i always wondered what happened to goat woman too. she is one of the mysteries of life! it's really interesting to hear feedback about what people feel to be a lack in the market, esp in the U.S. any specific posts by the way, so far we only have a vote for rapture in a beeswing, or was that one creeping in for goatwoman?
I would get a copy. :)
Hello, Ms. Phillips. It is January 2009, and I have just recently found your extraordinary writings online (can't bring myself to use the word "blog" -- what a dismal little word) and I have been savoring them, one month of entries read each day, beginning at the beginning (I am at May 2005). I can't possibly tell you how much I am enjoying them without sounding like some cheesy literary critic, so let me simply say that your voice is captivating and your compositions, utterly moving. I cannot imagine choosing any of your entries as favorites to be extracted from the whole, not just because each is wonderful but because each entry (being complete, discrete and its own distinct "color") lends and gains energy from that which it preceeds and follows, thus creating a tapestry that is more than merely a sum of its parts.
Thank you for such a joyous read. I am looking forward to all the printed (filmed? should a producer be clever enough to option your blo... uh, 'journal') versions to come.
Best wishes to you and yours.
Jennie
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