I discovered early on I inherited the
gift of the gab from my large Irish
family when I penned a story about a
princess who ran away to Paris with her
pet turtle Lulu. I was twelve. I grew up
listening to their wild, outlandish
tales and it was those early years of
storytelling that led to my love of
history and traveling. I enjoy writing
to classical music with a hot cup of
java by my side. I adore dark chocolate
truffles, vintage anything, the smell of
bread baking, and rainy days in museums.
Hi, Maribelle, Thank you so much for your comment! I've started a daily blog [click on the link for the "Berlin Sex Diary of Lady Eve" referenced above in my blog] for the month of May about Lady Eve in Weimar Berlin in 1928 (Cleopatra's Perfume opens in 1939). This is a younger Eve, discovering this wild, erotic playground, meeting the artistes and literati of the era while the stage is being set for war.
Hi, Robin, Thank you for stopping by. I love the cover, too. The pearls on the cover play a role in Cleopatra's Perfume when my heroine, Eve, is in Cairo and performs her erotic dance in the Cleopatra Club.
Re: getting into a story--I think there are three stages when I'm writing a book: 1)first is that wild, creative high we all get when we can't get the story down fast enough as it unfolds; 2) next is the gritty part--making certain all those wonderful scenes advance the story, dig deeper into the characters, their motivations, goals, conflicts, then layering in the emotions, fact-checking, research then more research--all this involves the craft of writing; and 3) lastly, that sublime time when you're finished and you haven't picked up the m/s for awhile and you start reading then find you can't put it down...that's what happened to me with Cleopatra's Perfume.
Btw, I'm also recording audio/video podcasts (using visuals with my voiceover) of Eve's Berlin Sex Diary. Check out the link in my blog and that will also take you to the podcast(s). Thankz!
Thank you, Patricia, for your comment. The Weimar Republic was a wild, raucous time--Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest city in the world with a population of 4 million.
Film and music flourished under the guidance of such luminaries as Ernst Lubitsch and Bertolt Brecht--it was also the time of cabaret stars such as Anita Berber and nightclubs that catered to every sexual taste and perversion.
Kelli, your comment about series arcs is right on. Weimar Berlin was such a fascinating time, it's exciting for me to see what my characters will do next...
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