Cabanon and field of fennel near the town of Orange.
se donner de la peine pour faire quelque chose
: to go to a lot of trouble to do something
Il s’est donné beaucoup de peine pour réussir. He went to a lot of trouble to succeed.
A Day in a French Life… by Kristin Espinasse
Writing Lesson Number 1: Show up at the Page, Step out of God’s way
Three times each week it is the same effrayant feeling. Today it was no different. Lying there asleep in bed I gradually gained consciousness. My eyes were already open when I found myself gazing at my husband’s bare back. There were his deep scars (post melanoma), there was his bent hair, or “pillow head”, there was that poetic point at which the curve of his torso meets the curve of his hip.
It is the most delicious part of the day, those fleeting few seconds of quiet observation–before thought ticks in, dispersing the peaceful moment. And they are the most nerve-racking, those seconds that follow…. when apprehension arrives. I turn over and peer out the porte-fenêtre, as if by shifting the body a shift in perspective will follow.
The position of the morning light falling, just so, on the grape vines, this is my alarm clock. I know it is 6:30 a.m. But the question remains: Quel jour est-il?: Saturday?… Sunday? Around this time my husband’s alarm chimes in, with a hint…
Then it hits me and there I feel it, beating at the walls of the soul’s chamber! A field of butterflies begin to flap wildly and take flight. I am carried forth, with the papillons, to the following, undeniable conclusion: this is not a day of rest…. this is not a day of repos….
THIS IS STORY-WRITING DAY!!!!
The pressure is on! As a self-appointed écrivaine (when no one else is hiring, you’ve got to hire yourself!) with a self-appointed deadline (11 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) there is the alarming realization that I now have 4 hours and 26 minutes to create une édition, one that will be automatically pulled from this blog’s server and delivered to readers inboxes at around 10:59 a.m.!
This is where faith comes in. After the initial panic (What to write? What-to-write?!-What-to-write?!-What-to-write?!) there is nothing left to do but to work. The words will come….
Panic subsides as I grasp at a few scraps or impressions, letting them continue to bubble up to the surface of memory. But how will the broken bits and fleeting pieces add up to a meaningful story? Temptation comes haunting–the temptation to throw in le torchon and just give up. Çela ne vaut pas la peine!
That is when I am reminded that it is all beyond me; I need only to let go… and let the story set itself free. I am no more than the fingers through which the words will flow. That is my only job. Heaven knows.
Le Coin Commentaires
What are your first thoughts each morning? Are you apprehensive or excited for the new day? Do you hit the snooze button or do you bound out of bed each morning? And what about self-imposed deadlines–do you have those too and do they help you to produce? Click here to leave a comment.
Do you want to write stories? Books? You can! Read and be inspired by “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”. Buy the paperback or download the Kindle edition.
French Vocabulary
effrayant,e = frightening
la porte-fenêtre = French window
Quel jour est-il? = What day is it?
le papillon = butterfly (also, a fickle person)
le repos = rest
un écrivain, une écrivaine = a writer
une édition = (newsletter) edition
le torchon = (dish)towel
Çela ne vaut pas la peine! = It’s just not worth
The next time you are asked to conjure up a peaceful image… try this one.
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Summertime reading: New, in fiction–and in based in Paris! “Die For Me” by Amy Plum. In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity. When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life–and memories–behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent…. Click here to buy the paperback or buy the Kindle edition
The rocks on top of the roof help hold the tiles down when the Mistral wind blows! All photos taken with this handy pocket camera.
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The picture of the fennel field is very poetic, lovely contrast of yellows, too.
Poignant observations put into just the right thought sequence. Thank you!
First thought in the morning, after the light of the day wakes me up? As I am looking out across fields of sunflower I think just how lucky I am to see this.
Self-imposed deadlines? Being a freelancer my customers inevitably impose narrow deadlines – often people think how wonderful, freelancing (translator), one can work any old time of the day… Deadlines I set for myself are usually tied to doing book-keeping or weeding quickly after a rainfall or cleaning the shelves in le dressing (which my French friend calls la remise). And if I fail to meet those self-imposed deadlines I don’t feel uptight about it any longer, one of the benefits of wising up with age!
Three days a week is alot! I find it hard to do one blog a week, and yours always sound fresh, like you’ve just thought of another wonderful story for us to enjoy! Love the cabanon picture, went to Mont Ventoux yesterday and took similar photos of lavender, merveilleux, will be posting soon!
I’ve had the same feelings of apprehension first thing in the morning as review what I have to do for the day while I lie in bed. I usually come up with a list and then try to remember everything until I can get up and write my list down. Beautiful pictures of the fennel. We missed both the fennel and lavender when we were there in early May, but we did see the poppies in bloom!
Wonderful post today, my dear. I sat curled up in bed with my little dog, Yoda, and longed to lift my head and smell those fields of fennel. Ah!
In writing the “e-Devotions” I submit every ten days or so for our church to distribute, I have had the same rude awakening happen to me… getting the due date wrong and suddenly having one extremely short hour or two to write five- or six hundred words, including scriptural references! And it only works when, as you say, you let go… The words are already there, in head or heart… you must just let them happen. Very much an event of the Spirit, not to put too religious a slant on it. And it never ceases to amaze me how much power there is in personal writing… yours is a marvelous example.
Love all your book recommendations – just ordered “Die for Me” and see I must now order W.S. Merwin’s “Mays of Ventadorn.” Love Merwin – a beautiful man. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!
Hoping you get to see Charles McGrath and our Princess Martha soon. They are bringing you a small gift from me. Then please tell them to hurry home, we miss them!
Peace, Nan
I am new to your blogs, about two months now, and I have loved every one. I am a very early riser and am excited about each new day. You pictures are wonderful, thank you, they add just that much more to my day, I sometimes picture them in my head, later in the day when things get hectic. Sometimes we expect too much of ourselves everyday, but just enjoying life and living it, it what is really important. Thanks again.
“… and let the story set itself free.”… Like a sculpture being set free from the stone that contains it. Lovely, Kristin. Beautiful weekend to all!
Hello Kristin,
We may take FWAD for granted, but it is obvious that “tu te donnes beaucoup de peine” to produce FWAD three times a week… each time, with a different story, a different flavour … and again, and again, week after week… You have in the past talked to us a few times about that “page blanche” – the agony over that blank page!
Yes but, you are the only one who set the rules of ‘THREE times a week’, so yes, this is, as you say, your only job, as a dedicated 3 times a week ‘blogger’, … until… ?
until the day you use your imagination and your immense talent of writer towards writing a book, followed by other books… as dedicated “écrivains” do.
I remember very well when you told us about that DREAM of yours. I remember your June 2010 Writing Seminar in Paris with the famous Sheila Kohler … I was wondering whether your future writing will then take a turn and concentrate on children tales, short stories, novels…?
Recently, you said novel writing was ‘simmering on the back burner'(such a picturesque expression!)
Anyway, “Quand le jour viendra” (FWAD,May 11, 2011) means that I still believe in your dream!
By the way, you know that when you are asking yourself whether “cela” (cela = your blog) “en vaut la peine”, you will get an overwhelming confirmation of what you want to hear, so, nothing to worry about.
Kristin, I love the field of fennel and the far away echo of sunflowers! Wonderful scenery, gorgeous colours! Many thanks.
Kristin, I’ll let you change my ‘whether your future writing WILL …’ into
‘whether your future writing WOULD…’
Merci bien!
Hi Kristin,
What’s a typical weekday breakfast like chez Espinasse? Is it different on the weekends? Are you the only cook? What wildlife is there on the vineyard other than Labradors? Any thieving magpies around? What are you growing in your garden this year? What are the kids up to these days? (Or is this a
forbidden topic?) Have any good recipes from your in-laws? Howabout having one of them over for a cooking lesson for the kids? Where do you shop for food? What are the merchants like? or do you shop at a hypermarche? And did JM ever get the allopurinal he needs for his gout??
Best regards,
Paul
Thanks for sharing the moments of doubt–for me, all of your posts are wonderful: they transport me to different places and moments–always wishing you happy inspiration. Mary
Hi Kristin,
I was wondering one day if you ever feel like not writing and just taking the day off? You probably know so many people are waiting for your beautiful posts. Do you ever feel pressure and does it take away some of the joy of writing when you know you have to produce something?
Sometimes I think “oh, it’s Monday (or Wednesday or Friday), Kristin will have a new post today!” I always look forward to your posts but don’t always think about all the work that goes into it! Merci beaucoup!
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott
is one of several of her books that I have read and enjoyed. Lamott is one of my favorite authors. I also recommend Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. It will give you appreciation anew for those who suffer addictions and the light that can be at the end of the tunnel for them.
I am at a point in life that I do not have many deadlines, none at all that are serious, that put me “out there” to others. I appreciate that. I did my best work w/a deadline, and the anxiety was always a necessary part of the process. Now that I think about it, maybe I did NOT do my best work with a deadline–what could I have done if I’d been more organized, planned ahead, etc. But that is not me. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort. Your writing always seems to come together and work, graced with excellent photos to boot!, and I appreciate having this column delivered thrice weekly.
Best wishes for continued success, Kristin.
Chère Kristin,
Once again your beautiful images and insights have moved me to tears! Thank you for sharing such intimate and precious moments. You remind us all that we need to let go and get out of our own way to let the creative energy flow. Thank you for never throwing in le torchon. Your work vaut toujours la peine!
Johanna
Albuquerque, NM
Dear Kristin – Even when you think you have nothing to write, you do! And it always transports me. Don’t throw in the tourchon! It was comforting to me to know that even you, you who lives what I would consider a charmed life, even you wake with that creeping awareness of things that can be troubling as sleep falls away. It’s also comforting to read how you deal with it and turn it into something beautiful and thoughtful. Write on!
Lately, my first thoughts each morning have been ruminations about the dream from which I’ve just awakened. They’re often a bit ridiculous. Recently I found myself worrying about something that was happening in the dream and was relieved when I realized that it was only a dream.
I love it! Merci for letting us in on what it is like to churn out three posts a week. I can only manage one a week. Sometimes I start mine early in the week. This week I started it on Thursday (yesterday). Mine marinate for a day or two before going out on the weekend. Yours are fresh off the vine. There is room for all of the different types. Merci!
I don’t have the light on a vineyard to tell me the time in the am but I do have a very chatty hedge that lets me know that it is time to get up. Don’t stop writing! I so look forward to your blog each MWF when I get into work. Sophie
Hello again!
–> “Çela”? no cedilla under c /C
It’s the casual version “ça” that needs the funny cedilla!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The word “peine” is now stuck in my mind and I am thinking of the several meanings of “La peine” (feminine noun):
-> sorrow, grief, effort, trouble, difficulty, punishment.
There is also the adv locution “à peine” = hardly, barely
No shortage of expressions with the word “peine”.
Here are only a few of them, when “la peine” means ‘effort / trouble’
Excellent ex given in the title.
–> se donner de la peine POUR… + verb in the infinitive
If more than “de la peine”, then you have “se donner beaucoup de peine pour…
= se donner beaucoup de mal/se donner bien du mal pour….
Kristin, it’s a good thing to make us all aware of the trouble and efforts you have to get through to produce your blog, THREE times a week. God! not only all the efforts, but I am also thinking about all the hours and hours you spend every week!… “Toute la peine que tu te donnes” makes me feel embarrassed and grateful at the same time
Of course, one can “se donner beaucoup de peine pour faire quelque chose…. (to do something)
but also ->
– pour “quelque chose”, pour “une bonne cause”
– pour “quelqu’un”
–> “Cela ne vaut pas la peine DE …” + verb in the infinitive
Ex: Cela ne vaut pas la peine DE … se fatiguer! (se fatiguer: to get exhausted)
If you’ve already mentioned what the trouble is all about, you can use “en”
–> “Cela n’EN vaut pas la peine!”
In other words, all ‘that’ (whatever ‘that’ implies) is a waste of time!
so, in the positive way, you can say:
–>”Mais oui, bien sûr, cela en vaut la peine! (absolutely worth the efforts, worth the trouble)
Expression with the word “peine”, in the plural, showing the relief you feel after a long period of troubles and difficulties:
–> (Ouf!) Me voici enfin au bout de mes peines!
Same meaning, but more colloquial:
–> “Ouf! Me voici enfin sorti de l’auberge”!
= At last, my troubles are all over now!
Kristin, Thanks for everything!
Take care and enjoy a long and happy weekend!
I am not a morning person, but once a friend and her two-year old were staying over. We were all huddled together in one bed. When we woke up, the two-year old exclaimed, “Look, mommy! It’s morning!” as if the most magical thing had just occurred. I try to hold that in my heart when I am waking up.
Kristin, Here’s an idea, perhaps, on another story…. What led you to create a blog? What were the beginnings? The progressive story that led you to finally start writing to share with us each day (in the beginning)….? I would love to hear about it…
Hi Kristin:
Love your column. Thanks for your efforts. I use a mental alarm; gentler and comes with built-in snooze alarm I don’t need much. Getting up is all about going to bed. Early to bed, early to rise?
You have the key obviously. Just show up. I have learned not to torture myself. Sit down, start typing and the ideas (creativity) will come.
Walks are always good.
Thanks again.
Hmmm, what are my usual morning thoughts? My deep delicious desire to make my French press coffee and sit in my “morning room.” My morning room is my living room and it is a museum of my life. There are horse paintings and posters from my long ago days as a horse person, an old saddle, a collection of hand made wooden farm tools, plants, and a comfy Palomino-colored couch from the 1920’s adorned with velvet pillows. Here I have my quiet time — to ponder, meditate, and think about my day and life in the hour before others wake. My morning time is a daily date with my destiny. Please don’t think I lead a perfect life with this wonderful start. Sometimes after my magical hour, the real world creeps in with the “to dos and the shoulds” and I get a tad down in the mouth. But that is another story….
Dearest Kristin — I too am a self-appointed écrivaine who only allowed myself a break from a rather futile morning’s work to enjoy your column — and now find myself re-invigorated and re-inspired. Merci beaucoup for reminding me that nothing can happen if I hold on too tightly — in my work or in my life.
I wake in the morning and try to remember to open my heart before I open my eyes. To embrace the new day with wonder and adventure knowing, I am the creator. My fearful mind always rears from the dark trying to take over. It always wants to run on panic mode facing whatever calendar event awaits me. Okay, I remind myself, it’s time to create this day in the way that nurtures my soul – slow motion…. and now I’m rethinking those automatic panic reactions.
You create so beautifully with the descriptions that meet your eyes. Allowing your gifted story to bubble up in that glorious time frame that is exclusively yours. ‘Dead-lines’- is a word that should not be used for a writer. No wonder a sense of panic arises from that connotation. It sounds like a title to the writers worse nightmare. I’d like to think a writer creates ‘Lifelines’ set to a timelines. 🙂 Afterall, what is time but the reminder that we can, experience again, the next story.
Your blog stories — even today’s story about feeling pressure to write a story — are always wonderful. I hope you know that I am living my life vicariously through you — Christian woman with handsome husband and beautiful children, living in Provence, making wine, writing for a living. Sigh! I am always in the midst of self-imposed writing deadlines (I’m a litigator at a large national law firm) but I dream of being a professional writer of stories, articles, memoirs, or books, or all of the above. Thank you for the inspiration!
Marilyn, Francophile/Attorney/Single Mom/Would-be-Writer
Orlando, FL
Thank you, Kristin, for featuring my book. I love your phrase in this post “Show up at the page”. Isn’t it so true? That one step seems so simple, but for people with a full life outside the page, it is one of the most difficult to achieve. Bises et remerciements from the Loire Valley. Amy
As always, “mille mercis” for your creative writing. Also, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! Don’t forget to fly the” stars and stripes” on Monday! Amicalement,Cynthia
Hello Kristi,
I loved your post, as always! I had to tell you that one line has stuck with me, and thank you for it, it is so encouraging in so many ways. Thank you for writing this message for me 🙂 “it is all beyond me; I need only to let go… and let the story set itself free.”
OXOX,
Missy
Haha…and there is only 42303 (at last count) pairs of eyes watching that screen three times a weeks….no pressure Kristin!! 😉
xoxo
I have to write a list of things to do and then check them off as each one gets done…or nothing will get done. It keeps me organized. 🙂 I finally sold my little red car yesterday…so I checked that off the list, but now I keep looking out the window to see it. I guess after 11 years I’ve become a little attached to it. 🙂
Hi Kristin
This is such excellent writing – do you really not know how good you are? Your eye and brain and hand will work in perfect harmony if you stop trying to be whatever you think you should be and just accept that what you are and what you have to say as you observe your life are so deliciously fragrantly real as well as imaginative. In my opinion, the best writers take you into their world to experience and observea and think about things you might not otherwise have the opportunity to do – you do that and you do it very well. Another of my favourite writers who does this is Jodi Picoult.
I love your pictures too – on the surface mundane subjects – but bus-stops on the journey of your life that others can still related to and yet evoke different things for them: the one of the field of fennel just conjured up such a strong aroma for me of that plant; I feel the same when I see swathes of lavender. How srange that one sensation – sight – can summon another sensory memory – smell. There’s that synesthesia kicking in again.
Keep doing what you do so well even when your inner critic tries to dissuade you! I’m sure the feedback from your readers validates for you that what you do is truely appreciated on a personal as well as a literary level.
Love Robyn xx
PS Happy 4th July for Monday – I sent you an e-card x
PPS Have you started working on a novel yet? Are the pieces of the jigsaw starting to fall into place as the cogs of your mind slowly turn things over?
My first thought most mornings is – how come it gets light so early? (around 3.30 am!) The night is so short and as I work mostly into the wee small hours – my next thought is usually – must get a few hours sleep! I don’t remember it getting light so early ever in my life!
When I first wake up in the morning my first thought is usually where am I working today. I have been being detailed to a different firehouses lately with people being on vacation. Over lsat weekend, I awoke having a good dream, and decided to lay there and add to it. I am a big daydreamer. They say that if you daydream too much you have a greater chance of alzheimer’s. I hope not, it is too late for me then.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to this story! The original title (or “word-of-the -day” was “créer” (to create) — and not “se donner de la peine”; but the clock was ticking, the newsletter was about to go out, and I didn’t think “créer” was the word that I wanted for summarizing the story. But then neither was “se donner de la peine”(!), for while one does trouble oneself to produce, it is a good and positive “troubling” and not one in which we believe the receiver (in this case, the reader) takes it for granted. I know that readers appreciate the words and stories and this is what keeps me going, here at the blog. I also enjoy recording the anecdotes, which help me to remember and to appreciate instances of our life that I might otherwise forget.
Newforest and Robyn, thank you for mentionning novel-writing and for remembering this goal. I should take a spoonful of my own medicine and “let the story reveal itself”. I should take the time to sit at the keyboard, faithfully. The truth is this: (re a fictional story) I have no idea what to write about! I half-heartely throw together scenarios… but I quickly “laisse tomber”. And then I tell myself that perhaps this is what I am cut-out to do: share this French life “thrice-weekly” via the short stories that I paint here. After all, there is a great amount of freedom and possiblility in this kind of writing — and I don’t have to stick to the same story, but can try-out all genres (last week I wrote about would-be space invadors…) And then, just when I am satisfied with settling back into my schedule of blog writing, another voice whispers, in regards to novel-writing: “You will never know unless you try!”
Paul, thank you for the writing prompts 🙂 The problem isn’t material (there is much to write about, as you’ve shown), it is in figuring out which direction to take each morning (which story to focus on!)
Newforest, you have mentioned that if I were to cut back to once-per-week, that there would then be time to focus on novel-writing. But then I would have to re-format this word-a-DAY blog (it is already “pushing it” to call a “thrice-weekly” blog a “daily”! Also, the once-weekly story would be hit or miss (it would be frustrating to decide which story to focus on… and there are other reasons for which this idea might not work (did I mention that this blog is also my “day job” 🙂 I’m not sure how sponsoring would work in the once-per-week scenario. But then “you’ll never know unless you try!”).
Thanks for listening to me “think out loud” 🙂 Happy 4th to readers in the USA! 🙂 🙂
HI Kristin, You write SO well. It is such a pleasure to share your tales of your daily life in France . I love the wods that you used to describe your favorite part of the day”delicious’ . It is whe you are so comfy in your warm bed,m yet you realize it’s time to rise and shine.
I am not naturally a morning person, I love the night. Yet I look forward to your FWOTD in the morning. I have the same anxiety too about accomplishing my goals or deadlines .
Anyway, Happy $th To you Too !!! Regards to your family , Smokey and to Jules !!!
Amicalement,
Madelyn E
Hi, Kristin.
I’m late in commenting but just in case you take another glance at the comments section, let me say that there is a feeling when you wake up and greet each “day job” morning that, for me, is very telling abut your happiness WITH that job. When the thrice weekly search for creativity leaves you feeling deflated and less eager to take on the challenge, then you will know to adjust your day job to fit you. I’m certain that this day will come in the future. Life is about change and growth. If the angels, God or your internal light bulb fail to light your creativity fire, it will be a message for you to seek change. You will know.
You are a pleaser, Kristin. We readers benefit from that. But we’d be happy for you if you changed it to “twice” weekly – so there is no harm in, at least, checking into the answers to all of the questions you ask above.
Meanwhile, thanks for a perfectly engaging and descriptive story of your morning thoughts. It’s because of all of your writing that you are able to write more beautifully each day.
Dear Kristen,
“If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” That saying really is true. I don’t think that reducing the number of your posts each week will let you get the novel done.I think it would just put extra pressure on you to make the weekly post the best post EVER. As Karen said, your blog life needs to suit you, but maybe it keeps your gears oiled and ready to write other things. The main thing is to remind yourself of your dream when it slips your mind, and for others to remind you, too. I once asked someone advice about finding time to write because I was working six days a week and was tired the seventh. “Sunday mornings” was my teacher’s answer. That was it. I need others to remind me of my dreams, too. Whatever you do, we’re with you!
Martine, you have understood so well the reason for which I continue at this pace. Your words are my thoughts:I dont think that reducing the number of your posts each week will let you get the novel done. I think it would just put extra pressure on you to make the weekly post the best post EVER. And I love all you said about keeping the writing gears oiled. And thank you for this: The main thing is to remind yourself of your dream when it slips your mind, and for others to remind you, too. I am grateful to so many, here, for reminding me of this dream. I know others join me in reminding you, now, of your writing dream! Were with you, too!
Guests arriving… gotta run!
Hi,
I’m afraid I could not appear to send you an email unless I had a Gmail account, hence this note – please can you contact me at carole@expatfocus.com regarding an Expat Focus Recommended Website Award for your site?
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Carole
Poetic and well-written!!! I love how you so beautifully describe one of my favorite moments of the day. This time of year, I wake as daylight breaks and lay cozily listening to bird song just outside my window. I look forward to making coffee and then feeding the dogs so we can all get outside to feed the rest of the farm animals and see what’s new: in the flowerbeds, which birds are visiting and what wildlife is in the fields.
It is a great pleasure and an inspiration to be given this peek into your French life. I am awed you create such inspiring stories three times a week and keep to your schedule. I can also see the value in this structure and your self-imposed deadlines.
I read Anne Lamott for the first time this year and have considered the purchase of the book you recommend. Good luck with your guests…remember warm affection not perfection!
I usually wake up thinking about what I need to do for the day and hopefully I have not overslept and missed an appointment. But sometimes I just lie in bed and watch the sky though my skylights as the clouds drift by or the rain drops slither down the window.
I too have writers block when I can’t think of what to write for my french essay for my French class which I take through the Alliance Française. I have written some wonderful essays and some pretty pathetic ones, but I love to write stories as if I am another animal or thing. I am usually under the gun to get something written and do it at the last minute and then don’t get the chance to reread it to correct my mistakes. I’ll insert english words by mistake and not use the right tense of a verb. I have saved all of my writings and need to go back and make the corrections which my teacher pointed out in class. Once a week of forced writing is enough for me. I couldn’t handle thrice weekly, but thank YOU for your continued writing which I look forward to each and every week. I am constantly reading them to my husband and showing him the pictures, and until he met you, I think that he just didn’t understand how wonderful you are and how much I have enjoyed getting to know you.
Hi Kathleen,
Loved your comment, did I get to meet you when you were at Kristi’s. I’m curious about your stories, especially from the animals point of view. Maybe I should make my story of running away in France (which has a donkey as a main character TALK). Are you on FB – and would you consider sharing a few of your stories with me. XOXO JULES = julesinprovence@gmail.com
Also look for me on Facebook – JULES GREER
What incredible responses to this post. Kristin, you have such a gift. And your blog is so much richer than a word a day or even anecdotes of life in Provence — though I do enjoy those aspects, of course.
But it’s the moments you describe, the awarenesses, the feelings, the humour, the poetry, your spirituality, and the honesty with which you let us into your life that are so rare and so beautiful, too.
It takes an enormous amount of self-discipline, as well as talent, to do what you do. And I for one am in awe.
Merci Kristin pour une grande leçon. Moi je suis toujours plein de projets À faire pour être pret à écrire. Nombreuses excuses: Par exemple, arrégler l’ordinateur et l’imprimeur, etc.,gacher le temps de ma favorite bartender (Je vous envoyerai sa livre, elle écrit et parle avec une brévité éloquente de paroles – des mots et phrases justes). Tout ÇELA N’EN VEUT point LA PEINE! IL FAUT ME DONNER DE LA PEINE POUR ÉCRIRE QUELQUE CHOSE UNE HEURE AU MOINS PAR JOUR!! “CELA VAUT LA PEINE, n’est-ce pas?
À PROPOS, CE dit roman-là est peut-être pas totalement fiction et ce LIVRE N’EST PAS BIEN CHOISIS POUR lES JENES GENS OÙ TEENAGERS! SAUVEZ LES TIMBRES POUR EUX!