"Everyone wanted Cat’s life. She had a handsome husband, a stylish home and a fascinating career as an international color-marketing consultant. Work took Cat to some of the world’s most beautiful cities but something was missing: ironically, it was color. One day she found herself in Paris watching a sunset and, in a moment of clarity, she caught a glimpse of her sepia-toned future."
This blog entry entails a Review, an awesome Guest Blog and two great
book Giveaways, one of them ending on Dec. 18th! Read on!
Author: Catherine Larose
Pages: 232 pages
Publisher: Friesen Press
Published: August, 2011
Form: E-book ( received from the author for an honest review )
Genre: Memoir Amazon: Buy / $6.59 (kindle)
The Book Depository: Buy / €14.46 (paperback)
Barnes and Noble: Buy / $15.77 (paperback)
Pages: 232 pages
Publisher: Friesen Press
Published: August, 2011
Form: E-book ( received from the author for an honest review )
Genre: Memoir Amazon: Buy / $6.59 (kindle)
The Book Depository: Buy / €14.46 (paperback)
Barnes and Noble: Buy / $15.77 (paperback)
I absolutely loved the first half of this book, I just had to blurt that out immediately! I truly enjoyed it!
I agreed to read this for the Women On Writing ( yes WOW ;) ) tour about a month ago, and was at a Chick Lit kick at the moment, now I started reading "Any Color But Beige: Living Life in Color" last Friday and when opening the book I wasn't feeling like reading it at the moment, but boy did I change my mind by page 5! This memoire is so well written! The feel of the words and the flow of the "story" is so effortless, her past is told in a novel like vibe and you get hooked on it. I feel honored to have read this book, it feels like I know the author now, but that's what a good memoir does.
Cat is born into a half-irish, half-italian family and becomes to only red head of the family with dad, the odd child out, the memoir follows her through high school and college, her travels and her work as international color consultant. She discovers her life has become a neutral shade and she rebels to bring out the color and her heritage into her life which sort of results in divorce and discovery of a new/old side of her. Sure, it's a life, but it tells so well as a novel too. ;)
I think this book would be a perfect fit for women and men who like chick-lit and like to have a little drama in their books, because just show me life without it. You'll love this memoir, it's so well written, you can tell writing was a calling from school, to eventually writing a book. Her writing style is warm, witty and funny, if she wrote a novel I'd love to read it!
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How Travel Can Cure Writer’s Block
Anyone who has ever stared down a blank page and blinked first knows how devastating writer’s block can be. I’ve read several articles on the causes of it, but the best reason I’ve heard to date is actually the simplest to cure – the cause of writer’s block is a lack of fresh ideas, and the best source of new ideas that I know of is travel.
You don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth either to be inspired. A jaunt across town to a new neighborhood is just as inspiring as jetting off to Japan, and a lot more economical for those of us on a budget.
Let’s take a look at all of the potential ways local and long distance travel can inspire us.
First and foremost, it’s all about the place. First impressions can be quite powerful when you’re visiting a place for the very first time. For frequent travelers like me, who have been so many places, the challenge is to see a familiar place with fresh eyes. Armed with a seek-and-you-shall-find attitude, I’m always amazed at how many new things I can discover.
The most fascinating thing to write about is people and the cast of characters that make up the place you’re visiting. You can write about their physical appearances, perhaps so very different from your own. You can capture their mannerisms and customs, or you can dig a little deeper and find the commonalities. One of my favorite things to do is recreate conversations with the colloquialisms of unconstrained everyday conversation. It makes us feel like we’re eavesdropping.
Another thing you can do is take us on a tour of some of your favorite places and tell us why they’re your favorites. For example I’m a WWII history buff, and on almost every visit I make to London, I always go to the British War Museum. I become a time traveler. I can feel the sense of urgency, the life and death struggle of nations as the fate of democracy hangs in the balance.
Why not make up stories about your favorite places. I’m often fascinated as I walk the winding back streets and alleyways of old cities. I try to imagine the everyday life of the inhabitants of these ancient dwellings. What happens behind closed shutters, on bougainvillea-covered balconies or in local shops? I look at the laundry hanging on the balconies and try to guess, from the articles of clothing, who lives in that household. What they do for a living?
If it’s a gondolier, does he sing because he is happy? Is it a bank president having an affair with his secretary behind his wife’s back? Or is he madly in love with his wife and rushes home each night to plant a kiss on the back of her neck? Are the children bored with their over stimulated digital lives? Do they still play outdoors? Is a woman sick and dying behind shuttered window. Does she still have a burden of regret weighing heavily on her soul, pinning her to this earth like an insect in one of those shadow boxes. What was the regret and what could she have done differently?
Local culture, cuisine and customs also yield a rich harvest of stories, observations and ideas. Engage all your senses: taste, touch, hear, see and smell what the place and its people have to offer. Participate. Go out of your comfort zone and learn something new, something indigenous to the place. Mush a dog sled in Alaska, dance Flamenco in Barcelona or dive the Great Barrier Reef. Or be a tourist in your own city.
And, finally, never leave the house or hotel without a notepad and pen because Inspiration can strike at any time, curing your writer’s block in an instant.
You don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth either to be inspired. A jaunt across town to a new neighborhood is just as inspiring as jetting off to Japan, and a lot more economical for those of us on a budget.
Let’s take a look at all of the potential ways local and long distance travel can inspire us.
First and foremost, it’s all about the place. First impressions can be quite powerful when you’re visiting a place for the very first time. For frequent travelers like me, who have been so many places, the challenge is to see a familiar place with fresh eyes. Armed with a seek-and-you-shall-find attitude, I’m always amazed at how many new things I can discover.
The most fascinating thing to write about is people and the cast of characters that make up the place you’re visiting. You can write about their physical appearances, perhaps so very different from your own. You can capture their mannerisms and customs, or you can dig a little deeper and find the commonalities. One of my favorite things to do is recreate conversations with the colloquialisms of unconstrained everyday conversation. It makes us feel like we’re eavesdropping.
Why not make up stories about your favorite places. I’m often fascinated as I walk the winding back streets and alleyways of old cities. I try to imagine the everyday life of the inhabitants of these ancient dwellings. What happens behind closed shutters, on bougainvillea-covered balconies or in local shops? I look at the laundry hanging on the balconies and try to guess, from the articles of clothing, who lives in that household. What they do for a living?
If it’s a gondolier, does he sing because he is happy? Is it a bank president having an affair with his secretary behind his wife’s back? Or is he madly in love with his wife and rushes home each night to plant a kiss on the back of her neck? Are the children bored with their over stimulated digital lives? Do they still play outdoors? Is a woman sick and dying behind shuttered window. Does she still have a burden of regret weighing heavily on her soul, pinning her to this earth like an insect in one of those shadow boxes. What was the regret and what could she have done differently?
Local culture, cuisine and customs also yield a rich harvest of stories, observations and ideas. Engage all your senses: taste, touch, hear, see and smell what the place and its people have to offer. Participate. Go out of your comfort zone and learn something new, something indigenous to the place. Mush a dog sled in Alaska, dance Flamenco in Barcelona or dive the Great Barrier Reef. Or be a tourist in your own city.
And, finally, never leave the house or hotel without a notepad and pen because Inspiration can strike at any time, curing your writer’s block in an instant.
To take part in the Any Color But Beige book (us/canada) / e-book (international) Giveaway leave a comment with your email address. [CLOSED]
To take part in the Book Club Giveaway comment with the text "Book Club Contest" in your message, as well as your email address. [CLOSED]
As she was traveling the world, Cat managed to acquire a husband. A rather beige husband. Not a good match considering the fact that Cat sells color for a living. What does that mean? When you go to a home improvement store and to choose a paint color, those little color chips are made by Cat’s company. They produce color chips for the automotive industry, cosmetic industry and of course your local Home Depot. While in Paris on business, Cat decided that life was too short to be beige. Her memoir is a record of her escape from the beige tinge of her marriage to the wild colors of singlehood.
