Venice Or Venaughty?

Everyone is racing around out there trying to get everything done in time for Christmas. The post office is crazy. Traffic is crazy. Moods are crazy. Families are crazy. Our government is certainly crazy. But in spite of all the craziness, there's a great feeling surrounding it all. Some might call it the Christmas Spirit. People are just a little bit nicer. A little bit cooler. A little bit more helpful. A little bit more fun. We're also all reflecting back on a year that was extra crazy, and thinking ahead to what will be next year. I already know it's going to be better, it just has to be. This reflection also begs the question ... were you Venice or Venaughty ... and what WILL you be next year?

I like to be balanced, so I suspect I will be a little bit of both (in a good naughty way). The world can really use us ALL being a whole lot nicer, so my hope for the new year is that everyone will fall far more over to the VeNICE side of things - no matter where you are. It's a state of mind, after all.

As we spread out all over the globe, please know that I wish a MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all!

And the BEST New Year any of us has ever had!!!

Looking forward to sharing many yuletide tales upon my return back to VeNICE. Spread peace, good cheer, and have fun, Everyone!

Love, your Christmas Carol 

French Girl With Mother By Venice's Norman Ollestad

I'm all excited because there is a new book by my friend Norman Ollestad coming out this coming Tuesday (October 11th)! French Girl With Mother is Ollestad's first fictional novel, after becoming a New York Times best seller with his incredible memoir Crazy For The Storm.

Most writers will tell you that they write from what they know, and for Ollestad, his decades of travel informed his latest book. He had been thinking about a torrid love affair he'd had with a French girl in his 20's, and the "shadow life" that he could have almost had ... like what if I'd gotten on that train? What if I had helped that friend hide money all over Europe? What if, what if, what if ... and the story just unfolded in his mind from there.

Ollestad has always held a fascination for art and artists, hence his main character is an artist who finds his muses in a French mother and daughter who he wants to create portraits of ... and it all takes off from there in what Booklist is calling "A unique, atmospheric literary thriller". Ollestad told me today (over coffee at the French Market) that French Girl With Mother continues his theme from his other books that if you want to find out about yourself or become a better person in your life, you have to go into the guts of a storm, whatever your storm is. To generate whatever you're trying to generate (a book, music, art ...), you can't shy away from the things that will test you or be intense, because that's how you find out about yourself, and what you're capable of. And that's why I can't wait to read this one!

We have to wait until Tuesday to get our copy of French Girl With Mother ... UNLESS you come to Venice and visit Small World Books, where it's available right now. And where I'm headed right now.

Ollestad will be reading from his latest book and holding a book signing at Diesel Books in Brentwood on Sunday, October 16th at 3:00 pm.

A Moment In Time

The World is huge. We know this much. But there are so many things that make us all the same. Sometimes there are things or events that come along that make this all the more clear ... like the massive "A Moment In Time" photo project from the New York Times "Lens" visual journalism site.


They've had photographers all around the world take shots at the same time (15:00 UTC on May 2, 2010) for several categories: Nature and the Environment, Family, Social Issues, Play, Arts and Entertainment, etc ... You go to the home page, pick a category and spin the globe to the region you want to see. So far, ALL the photographs I've seen have been exceptional, and force you to realize how ONE we all are.

One cautionary note ... as the home page says, "Make no plans for the rest of the day." They're not lying. I only stopped looking at photos long enough to share it with you here. This is the ultimate armchair traveler's dream, and you will get sucked in.

Gotta go ... I'm off to Africa.