Je suis presque all a Paris….

Tags

art, author, books, Louvre, louvre trilogy, Paris, travel

I almost went to Paris. Or, as I said to my tour director Antonio, “April 6, 2016. The day I almost went to Paris.” And Antonio replied, as he was about to board the bus that would take the rest of our group to Paris while my group returned to England, “It will live in infamy.”

My recent trip to Europe was supposed to include the city of lights. And more specifically for me, an art teacher, the promised land, also know as Le Louvre. But then came Brussels and a moment of panic among some of our tour group and the trip was rerouted to include Normandy but not Paris. Instead, we would cross the channel (a five hour trip where most of our party got seasick) and tour the Bath region of England before returning to London for another two days. I understand why the decision was made, but I still haven’t quite gotten over not seeing Paris.

I almost went to the Louvre. I almost walked up the steps to the Winged Victory of Samothrace, almost linked eyes with La Jaconde, almost saw Liberty Leading The People. Almost walked where my favorite of all the characters I have written, Alain Darnay spent most of his waking hours. (If you haven’t read my Louvre Trilogy, stop reading this and dash over to Amazon!)

I almost viewed the Eiffel Tower. Almost had the opportunity to see Paris from a bird’s eye view from the structure built by the same man who gave us the Statue of Liberty.

I almost got to see the glories of the Garnier, Notre Dame, the Tuilleries Gardens. Almost had the opportunity to stroll along the Siene, to visit Versailles, to pass under the Arch de Triomphe.

I almost got to sample macarons at Lauderee, marvel at Chartres, hope to catch a glimpse of the wonders of the d’Orsay.

Almost got to explore the shelves of Shakespeare and Company,  almost got to see the city illuminated at night….

Two and a half days would not have let me see and take in all the wonders of the city I know far too much about considering that I have never seen it. And I did enjoy my trip and am glad to have seen what I saw. But still, I wish I had not lost the opportunity.

Hopefully one day soon je vais me retrover a Paris.

 

 

 

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Southern Snow Days

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Atlanta, books, Lynn Murphy, snow day

I live in the south. I have for most of my life, except for the four years I lived in Maryland. I know, they are technically below the Mason Dixon line but they don’t consider themselves southern. The first time it snowed after we moved there, we got four inches.  (It was the end of October.) I assumed that everything would be shut down, but no, traffic was moving fine and the roads were quickly cleared away and everything was open. Even schools stayed open if the snowfall wasn’t too bad. Being accustomed to near panic when flakes begin to fall all my life, I chose to venture out only to the video store down the street  ( I rented 1776 and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. My husband was out of town) and to get some take out. I alternated between the musicals and episodes of Designing Women– I was desperate to hear someone else talk right.

In the part of Georgia where I live, in the southern almost suburbs of Atlanta, and below we joke that if someone tosses a popsicle in the street, then school shut down and the shelves at the Piggly Wiggly are immediately relieved of their milk and bread. (Exactly why people only eat milk and bread in a snow storm, I don’t know. I personally prefer something warm and more filling.) Yesterday at the school where I teach we let out early and cancelled Homecoming…for rain.

Back to Baltimore.  The storm they are describing on the news today for that region is exactly like what we experienced when we lived in Baltimore. The worst storm we lived through was when I was pregnant with my youngest son (who is now nineteen.) My oldest son, Ian, was almost two and came down with a stomach virus about the time the snow started to fall. By midnight I was also throwing up nonstop in danger of becoming dehydrated and the snow had not stopped falling. I wandered around downstairs most of the night, checking the snow in between puking. At dawn I went upstairs to try and sleep and my husband took Ian, who was doing much better, downstairs for breakfast. As they ate, Pat kept watching Ian’s Little Tikes slide- as it disappeared under the snow. By the time my stomach virus and the snow had stopped we had nearly thirty inches. We got a reprieve for a day and then it snowed ten more. We had to shovel our way out the doors. To get out of the cul-de-sac-(because it was an unfinished subdivision we didn’t get plowed) we had to back into the neigboring driveway and go out through the luge run like tunnel that was the result of shoveling ten driveways into the center of Quern Court.

People down here post on Facebook about how much they want snow and then about how they never get any snow…but I am here to tell you: YOU CAN GET TOO MUCH SNOW. And another thing. It is NOT true that the post office will deliver despite the snow. We did not have mail delivered for almost a week- and they also had rolling waves of cutting off the heat and power to conserve it.

Still, life went on. People went to work, the Giant, wherever.

In the South a snow day goes something like this: You go to bed anticipating, praying for snow. You wake up early and run to turn on the tv to see what schools have closed. It always takes forever to get to your school. You eat breakfast, spend an hour putting on your snow clothes, attempt to play in whatever has fallen and then after about thirty minutes decide its too cold and come inside, take off all your snow clothes and then watch movies all day. And I guess eat milk and bread.

I had three kids other than my own get snowed in after a superbowl party once when we lived in Memphis- and oddly,  for a whole day no one’s parents called to check on them or come get them. Finally we politely suggested that they call their parents, then went to Popeyes and got a ton of chicken to feed them while we waited on their parents. That was a huge snowfall for Memphis- six inches.

Since we moved back to the Atlanta area we have had two bouts of bad weather. One was our first year here when we had an ice event and school was out a full week. The other was what they call Snowmaggedon, a snow and ice store that left metro Atlanta looking like an eerie real life version of the opening scene from The Walking Dead with cars abandoned all along the interstate. It’s finally snowing as I write. I just came back in from a morning walk. It’s cold, no ice, just a little steady stream of snow. Not rushing over to Kroger.

It is cold, and a good day to read a good book. For those who got snow and are stuck inside, once you’ve gotten your milk and bread rations, stay in the comfort of your own home and order or download a book. You can check mine out at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vous ne voulez pas lire Le Louvre Trilogy?

Tags

books, Lynn Murphy, Paris, The Louvre, The Mona Lisa

Bonjour.

Je vais le Musee du Louvre. Not for a  few more weeks, but I am excited about actually communing with the great works in la terre promise. One of my students asked if I planned to kiss the steps as we entered the building. I just might.  I spent a year at the world’s greatest art museum without ever crossing through her doors, as I wrote my three favorite of my nineteen and a half books  (The Red Finch is about 50 % complete). That is of course, my Louvre Trilogy. Hiding Mona Lisa, Finding Fritz Gerhard, and Rescuing Rembrandt.

My good friend Dave Kegel once referred to The Louvre as ‘this art museum in Paris’ that he and his wife Val visited. Since we were in Sunday School at the time I didn’t publicly correct him, but I have had  fun ragging on him about that several times since. It isn’t just an art museum, it is the art museum. Designed first as the palace to the kings and queens of France, threatened and rebuilt and evacuated, it has a long history, the most interesting, at least to me, the setting of my trilogy.

I am sure as I climb the marble steps to gaze at The Winged Victory of Samothrace that I will be looking over my shoulder for my mysterious and yes, lovable, art thief turned Louvre curator Alain Darnay. Of course he was never there, as Jacques Jaujard was during the 1939 evacuation of the Louvre, but I am not sure that as I wander past the wonders of the musuem, especially as I pass his favorite painting of all, La Jaconde (aka known as Mona Lisa) that I can separate him and the other characters, who aside from Jacques did not exist from The Louvre.

(Here is what the covers of the trilogy might look like in the museum itself.)

Hopefully for those who have not yet read The Louvre Trilogy this is enough to pique your interest. If you have read at least one, merci beaucoup. If you haven’t, you can find them in paperback and kindle versions at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com and http://www.amazon.com.

I will blog about my European adventures, so be sure to check back and see how it went.

 

 

 

 

The Best and Worst Books I Read This Year

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author, books, Lynn Murphy, Writing

As the year comes to an end, I have read almost everything I had set aside on my (many) bookshelves to read this year and I am pondering what to read next, I will take a few minutes to reflect on what I read. Stephen King once said that if you don’t have time to read then you don’t have time to write. I think that he is right- how can you write if you never read? I teach creative writing and sometimes teach English and I firmly believe that the reason children cannot write well is not due just to a proliferation of electronic devices, but due also to their lack of  time spent in literary engagement. When I taught middle school English each grade (6-8) read eight novels over the course of a year. That being said, I have been a reader all of my life and plan to continue doing so. My tastes in reading material are varied, but tend to gravitate toward fiction and I like a story steeped in history but am not limited to any particular genre. I will start with the best books.

1.The  Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I absolutely loved this one. AJ is a widowed bookstore owner who has his valuable and rare book by Poe stolen (the book that was to be his ticket to retirement.) While investigating the theft, a surprise that changes his life changes the direction of the book. It is littered with references to books and stories I have read and I highly recommend it.

2. Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel. I picked this up at my school’s book fair and it was a well written YA novel that I would easily use in class. The main character has a freak accident the leaves her needing a face transplant during her senior year in high school. The novel is about how she and everyone around her deal with the changes.

3. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Using odd old photographs as the catalyst for the plot, Ransom Riggs wrote an interesting tale about a boy who discovers he has inherited some interesting powers that he must use as he travels in time to save himself and his new friends.

4. Saving Mona Lisa by Geri Chanel. A non fiction book, not to be confused with my novel Hiding Mona Lisa, which provided some historical background for my Louvre trilogy. Fascinating reading about the evacuation of the Louvre during WWII. (Read the Louvre Trilogy when you are done!)

5. The Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It’s been around a long time but I just got around to reading it this summer. A look at the civil rights movement and the relationship between a little girl and some people from her mother’s past.

6. Paris The Novel by Edward Rutherford. A lengthy novel about three families whose lives intersect over centuries as the city of Paris grows and develops. Since I am traveling to Paris in the spring I found this one fascinating and really enjoyed it. Don’t be overwhelmed by the size of the book.

Now for the books I read but didn’t love….

1. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Okay I know it got the Pulitzer prize and a million five star reviews.  My husband calls it “All The Book We Cannot Read” because it took me almost a year to get past the second chapter. I’m sorry, but I never got into the story or bonded with the characters and the story ended abruptly without really ending. I would have thought I was crazy, the one person who didn’t get it based on the reviews, until my friend Sara Martin concurred. ( Maybe the fact that it is written in present perfect tense that I equated it with reading term papers in MLA?) Sorry, but I won’t be thinking of this book or its characters when I actually go to St. Malo in the spring….

2.Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Let’s just say by the fifth time the main character died and was reborn it had become a little redundant.

3. Z by  Therese  Aine Draper. This one falls in a  genre I call “Books about the lives of famous men’s wives.” I loved The Paris Wife  so I tried this one, based on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald. While it was well written, I ended up not liking either Zelda or F. Scott Fitzgerald and was more than a little depressed when it ended.

If you are looking for something to read before the end of the year, check out my books at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com.

 

 

Top 10 Reasons Why Someone Should Buy My Books

Tags

Amazon, Blogs, books, fiction, Holiday Gift Ideas, indie publishing, Lynn Murphy

With so many books out there in Amazon land, I thought I needed to let potential readers know why the should choose my books over someone else’s. So here’s my Letterman style list, since he’s gone and I missed the chance to have him read it on late night television.

10. They don’t suck. This reason is in response to a blog post by Jon Konrath, an indie author who has sold a ton of books who suggested that if your sales weren’t what you wanted then maybe your books sucked. Accepting that challenge, I reread all 19 of my books. And…they don’t suck.

9. You might learn something. Many of my books are based on historical events that I carefully research to give my fiction credibility. That doesn’t mean  I stay  100% to the facts but I’ve done enough homework that my story feels real, plausible. In any case, they might make you want to look up the inspiration.

8. Sexy flawed heroes. Well, okay, if you’re a guy that might not make you want to read my books. But maybe you know someone who would appreciate that aspect. I firmly believe that a character can’t be perfect, so if my leading men are gorgeous, and they always are, they have to have something that keeps them believable; a tragic past, a broken heart that needs mending,  a secret, a scar, an illness, or even bad judgement.

7. Four and five star reviews. I generally get good reviews and I don’t know who is reviewing them, so the reviews are honest.

6. Female characters you would like to be BFFs with. I like to think that the women I write about are people my readers care about. Women they would like to know and root for.

5. I write a lot of series. Many of my books are series, so if you enjoyed the first book, there is usually more to come with the same characters.

4.  A reasonable price for a good read. I price my books reasonably so that cost is not a consideration. My average price for a kindle book is 3.99 and 8.99-10.99 for a paperback.

3. Unexpected endings. Some of my books are HEA- happily ever after, after about 350 pages of trying to get there. But some  of them, Terezin Twilight, for example, don’t end the way you expect or even want them to. And Hiding Mona Lisa, and the other books in my Louvre Trilogy have a twist at the end, or an unexpected narrator.

2. A little art education. Every book I write includes art, music or literature as part of the story. These are things that I am passionate about and share daily as an Art and English teacher. It flows over into my books.

1. A good story.  The most important thing. And my books don’t suck.

Books make great holiday gifts- for someone on your list, or for yourself. Shop at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com.

 

 

 

 

 

When Blue Butterflies Make Way For Red Finches

Tags

Amazon, author, books, fiction, indie publishing, the blue butterfly, the red finch, time travel

“The rain has stopped and I wake from dreaming of blue butterflies swirling past me. The dream is so real that I think I can feel that now familiar sensation of falling and being pulled  down into a narrowing vortex, that trip across time circles of which which I am never certain how long it will take and where I will end up. At first I think that I am time traveling again….

That is the opening line from the first chapter of The Red Finch, which is the second book in my Time Travel Trilogy. When the main characters’ stash of blue morpho butterflies- the object that has until the book begins made time travel possible, is compromised, they have to find another time travel mechanism. And, at least in the story, it seems that the feathers of red finches have the same capability. (That doesn’t mean that I am giving up the blue butterflies all together. They will still feature in this book and the next.)

As the book begins, three of the time travelers are still lost in the past. I have mapped out where they will visit over the course of this book and have written about fifty pages. My plan is to have it out in time for the Thanksgiving holidays, with a goal to finish the trilogy by early spring.  I still find the concept of time travel interesting and making it seem plausible is a challenge.

I like history, which the students I teach typically claim they do not. One of the things I hope to accomplish with this trilogy is to give the readers a taste of historical facts- just enough about a few events of the past in a way that will encourage them to explore history on their own.  Mollie and Jack will find their way to several more venues as the trilogy progresses, some even more perilous than the ones they have already experienced.

Here’s the cover:

While I follow Jack and Mollie through time, go ahead and check out The Blue Butterfly at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy

Paris Is Always a Good Idea….

Tags

Alain Darnay, art, author, books, butterfly, education, fiction, Paris, travel

I am planing on going to Paris in the spring. This spring. With London and Amsterdam on each end. I say ‘planning’ because even though I am generally an optimist I am just pessimistic enough to be afraid that something will happen to keep it from happening. If everything goes according to plan, I will find myself in Paris and London, two cities I have written about but never seen.

The cover of my first novel, I’ll Be Seeing You, was originally published with a picture of Big Ben on it, and when I rewrote and re-released it, I used a stock photo of Big Ben as well. I wrote about James and Fiona walking through war torn London, but I have never actually been there. The same is true for my Louvre Trilogy and Think Of Me, which all take place in the city of lights.

The internet allowed me to describe these places I had never been, but I am looking forward to actually seeing them in person. I have a poster on the backdoor to my classroom at school that is of the Louvre as it is today and the caption” How teachers wish they could teach art” and it shows a group of school kids in front of the glass pyramid. The teacher asks “Now kids, who can tell me what American architect designed the pyramid?” ( I Pei in case you didn’t know- the same artist who designed the Vietnam Wall.)

I hardly dare to think that in April that will be me, with a group of high school students and assorted others in tow. That I will actually be able to view the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the La Jaconde (French for Mona Lisa) and the rest of the treasures of the Louvre that my protagonist in the Louvre Trilogy, Alain Darnay, views each day. That I will be able to walk up the stairs of the Garnier, and be awed by the Chagall ceilings and legendary Box Five as Madison was in Think Of Me, my YA novel set in the Paris Opera House and inspired by Phantom Of The Opera.
I am sure that I will be inspired to write something else while I am there, and I look forward to seeing the places that my characters have been. In my mind’s eye I am sure that Mollie and Jack from my latest release The Blue Butterfly will be with me in spirit as I look down from the Eiffel Tower. But it is months to go and a lot of writing I can do until then. You can see how my characters fare in those European cities before I get there by checking out my books at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com. More on my adventures when they actually happen. Until then, Paris is always a good idea…..

Fictional Inspirations (The Story Behind My Louvre Trilogy)

Tags

Alain Darnay, Amazon, art, Blogs, books, fiction, Fritz Gerhard, Holocaust, Jacques Jaujard, louvre trilogy

Sometimes the best fiction, in my humble opinion, is inspired by a real story. I am fond of taking real historical stories and using them as a starting point for my own novels. I have called on historical facts and figures for several of my books, including Terezin Twilight, Unsinkable, The Blue Butterfly and the three books of my Louvre Trilogy, Hiding Mona Lisa, Finding Fritz Gerhard and Rescuing Rembrandt.

I did not blog much about my Louvre Trilogy. There’s a great story behind it and while my characters are fictional the events that inspired it are all true and an amazing story. In 1939, as Hitler was quietly taking over countries and WWII had not yet been officially declared, the museums of France began to worry about their national collection of art. Hitler had already launched his plans for the building of his Furhrermuseum in Linz, Austria and was making his way across Europe, talking whatever works of art he wanted, from museums and from private collectors, many of whom were Jewish. Fearing that the Louvre especially might be in danger, the director of the Musees Nationaux, Jacques Jaujard, began to put into effect a plan for evacuating the contents of the Louvre before Hitler could reach Paris. I first found out about this remarkable feat by accident when I showed a video about the history of the Louvre in my middle school art class. What Jaujard did is awe inspiring. He led his staff in packing up every art treasure in the Louvre’s collection, including the Mona Lisa and carried it out of Paris to the chateaux of the Loire Valley. When Hitler arrived at the Louvre all he found was an empty shell. Jaujard managed to keep the Nazis at bay for the duration of the war and every work of art returned safely to the Louvre after the war. Some people refer to movie stars and Disney characters as ‘heroes.” To me, a hero  is someone who does something remarkable without thinking of himself and his own personal risks. That is what Jacques Jaujard did- he saved the contents of the world’s greatest art museum as well as the people who worked under him. I ended up putting Jacques in the books as a tribute.

This story has stayed with me for many years. I have shared it with several classes since then, but in the back of my mind I was always trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into a story. I hesitated in part I think because I do seem to write a lot about WWII and Nazis…I can’t help it, I’m like Mel Brooks and they seem to find their way into my work, probably because of all those Facing History classes.  One day on a run, where, believe it or not, much of my writing occurs, the idea came to me. What of there was a plot to steal the Mona Lisa and a curator with a mysterious past and the characters meet against the backdrop of the evacauation…and Hiding Mona Lisa was born.

I hadn’t meant it to be a trilogy, but I got into the characters and there was so much left unfinished. So I kept writing. Three books later and I think there could be another book that takes place a few years later, one which would stand alone but have the same characters.

But for now, it remains a trilogy of which I am very proud. You can find it at my website, http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com or on Amazon.

Never Have I Ever….

Tags

Amazon, author, books, indie publishing, the blue butterfly, Writing

Some of my students were playing a game when they thought I wasn’t listening. It was “Never have I ever….” and you fill in the blank and try to see who in the group has actually done whatever it is. I admit I eves dropped a little, but can’t say I really found out much.

In regards to my writing and this book business there are some things I’ve never done. And maybe some things I have tried that I might not again. One of those latter things is the free book. KDP allows authors to have five free days every so often. I’ve run freebies, which is supposed to skyrocket your book to the top of the unpaid charts. It used to work- I’d run a free day and there would be sales- paid ones- to follow for a few days. The last few times I’ve done that however, I just gave away a lot of books, with no return, not even reviews. I’d have to think long and hard about doing it again. I think one reason that its stopped being effective is that people have gotten used to getting books for free and only download the freebies. There are some people that also suggest giving it away downplays your faith in the book and your writing.

Back to the game.

Never have I ever….

Believed I couldn’t write.

Never have I ever…

Given up thinking I could one day write full time.

Never have I ever…

Written something I would be embarrassed for my kids (or the head of my Christian school) to read.

Never have I ever…

Decided to quit writing due to book sales.

I wrote a post the other day when I was discouraged, but that didn’t mean I was giving up. I believe in my books and myself. Maybe I’m not a marketing guru, maybe I don’t know a whole lot of people who want to read what I write, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a good writer. I have never wanted to be anything else- I could not give up writing if I tried. As Thomas Jefferson quoted, “I cannot live without books.” For me that statement is true, but it also includes MY books. I re-read a few of my own books this week- and if they weren’t mine, I would still think they were pretty  good.

So I’ll keep plugging along, never giving up, always trying to have that elusive bestseller.  Never have I ever believed it wouldn’t happen. Some day.

If you’d like to help make that happen, check out my books at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy  and my latest release, The BLUE BUTTERFLY

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Tags

Amazon, Atlanta, author, books, Lynn Murphy, the blue butterfly, time travel, YA

I am feeling a little frustrated this week. I don’t want to sound whiney and like I’m on a buy my book pleeese trip. But I had put forth a major marketing effort for very little return and I am not sure what to do about it.

ON my 52nd birthday, September 4th, I launched my 19th book. The Blue Butterfly is a YA time travel novel that is the first in a trilogy. The idea behind it is that using the reflective wings of a blue morpho butterfly one might be able to bend light and therefore bend time. The two main characters, Mollie and Jack Donovan, set out to find their parents using this method when their parents have accidentally catapulted themselves back in time, using their mother’s research on the subject. They children travel through several time periods in history as they attempt to find their parents and reunite their family.

This was my marketing plan:

Tweet a lot before the release. (I can be found at @LynnMurphy13)

Create a professional looking book trailer https://animoto.com/play/4ufCJcgUlbfQtjriGSyAQA

Send out a marketing packet to language arts teachers with lesson plans (so far I have reached out to 400 teachers)

Book signings (I had one at my own school’s PTA meeting- not much traffic)

Build my The Blue Butterfly Page on FaceBook

Media press releases (I had a nice article in my local paper http://thecitizen.com/entertainment/novel-explores-time-travel)

I got off to a great start with a few sales on the release day…and now I’ve hit a roadblock. I’m a little discouraged because I had really hoped for more sales. I believe in this book and I want it to be successful. I have worked harder to market this book than any other book that I have written so the lack of measurable results is frustrating. It doesn’t mean I’m not continuing with my plan, it just means…I wish more people were actually reading the book.

Writing has never been my challenge in this business. The story ideas come and once I start writing, I don’t struggle with the proverbial writer’s block. Marketing is always my Achille’s heel.

Thanks for a chance to vent. If you would like to share the book, here’s the link

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014RGVLEQ.  Guess I need to go market some more…..