Sunday morning, in a coffee shop. It’s cold outside, warm and cosy inside, the music is very coffee shoppy – jazz and voice. There’s not a lot of people, it’s 8:30am and it’s usually packed on a weekday but students may be still asleep. I might be hangover, but after 30, waking up early isn’t an issue, right? I have some time to write this article, the Monday Morning I’m here also to plan the upcoming week which will be… fresh. My tours of Boston in French Boston le nez en l’air are still going on, I know that some of you like the winter weather, cold, blue sky, sunny – as long as I’m wearing a warm coat, I’m in too. My team is getting bigger, and it’s been a couple of weeks that Manuel joined me and he’s now taking care of some tours. You can read his profile here, where you’ll learn that he’s a French teacher and a volunteer at the New England aquarium.
Blogiversary
November 2011- November 2017, my blog is 6 y.o.! It’s that time of year where I take some time to reflect of what works, what I want, where I am and where I am going. I know, it seems like the most ambitious program. I actually don’t know how to answer those questions.
I’m organizing a Facebook live event on Thursday, November the 16th to talk about blogging. I’ve asked you a few days ago on Facebook if you had some questions, at first I wanted to talk about anything, but I have narrowed the topic down to the blogging side of things. Hélène already sent me a question “how do you do to be so prolific. How do you organize your work? When the blog has started to be known? I live in Mexico, I’m French but my blog is in English: French people don’t read me. Would you recommend to write in your mother tongue?” This is the kind of questions I’ll be answering, if you have some questions, comment below!
☞ Rendez-vous on Thursday, November the 16th, at 2pm in Boston (8pm in France, 11am on the West Coast). It’s recorded on Facebook, if you can’t be there you’ll be able to see the video later.
Nanowrimo, week 2
I’m half way through it! It’s now completely part of my daily routine to write, in particular this story. I’m proud to be there at that point, and I’m also glad to still be determined to keep going. I’ve reached the 25 000 word count. It’s crazy to see the pile of words getting bigger after each day and the story slowly taking shape. But… I doubt myself! I wanted really badly to print out everything, read and edit. There’s no strict rule in Nanowrimo but one of the main piece of advice is to shut down your inner editor. I also sometimes doubt about the story itself, where my characters are going, if it’s even a little bit good. I’m reading a great book right now (novel, fiction, nothing to do with the writing I’m doing) and I watched a couple of good movies: each time I think shit, what I write sucks. I have to tell myself that yes, my stories does suck, but it’s okay, and normal. It’s just a first draft. It doesn’t mean I have to quit. Auto-pep-talk.
What helped me this week: not to print what I’ve written, read some forum threads on the nanowrimo website, browse again the great book No Plot No Problem
A book + a podcast
Pete Souza, the official photographer during the 8 years of the Obama presidency, has just released a new book. He sorted 2 millions pictures and pick a selection of the most famous ones to tell the story behind the curtains, like the one in the Situation Room when Obama and Clinton were following the arrest of Bin Laden. NB silly: I ran into Malia Obama in Cambridge. This anecdote doesn’t mean anything, but I’m still mentioning it.
Pete Souza was on Fresh Air one of my new favorite podcast: he told the journalist Terry Gross how he used to work (very discreet) and what he does now. We can follow him on Instagram where he regularly throw some shade to Trump (it’s funny in the interview he says he had no idea what throwing shade meant).
His book:Obama, an intimate portrait
Some great other books
I’ve recently spent some time in bookstores, and since Christmas is coming, there are many great books☟
▶ You want to react about something, comment below!
▶ If you have a question about blogging, don’t forget to tune in on Facebook this Thursday, 11/16 at 2pm (EST, +6hours in Western Europe)
