Another Biloxi Photo, For A Post About "Downton Abbey"

Here is another picture of Biloxi's Beau Rivage Casino Hotel (i.e.the Belle Carnivale); in recent years this gorgeous wood-slatted walkway has sprung into existence, and is a truly delightful means of walking over the Gulf water to the beach, where you can choose to either continue travelling up the beach on a concrete walkway, or drop down onto the soft white sand. I will have to research when, exactly, this wondrous walkway came into being, because I don't believe it was there when my novel takes place; I might let it go, since I want Margot and Pieter's walk from the beach to the hotel to be unobstructed by even this miracle of convenience and beauty.

I am just about delirious and beside myself with the revisions I want to make to the Biloxi book (spurred by the amazingly astute and helpful feedback of my wonderful writing group!), but must complete its current draft first, and also attend to work issues in my own life. I am thrilled to report that I have been accepted into Artist Trust's EDGE Professional Development Program, which I am so very honored and excited to be a part of! This new chapter of my professional development will require a little re-shuffling of my current work schedule, which I hope will go well. I am also hoping to discover how to move my creative writing from an unpaid hobby to a self-sustaining career, and believe I will learn how to do this through the EDGE program.

So yes, I am very happy about my inclusion in the EDGE program, and can't wait for class to start on Feb. 24th. I am also thrilled to be currently caught up with "Downton Abbey" on PBS.

It was through a Facebook post of my friend Kirsten Rue (thank you!), months ago, that I came to learn of Downton Abbey, Season One. It was available On Streaming, via Netflix; I was available On a Sunday, via a Hangover, and thus watched all seven episodes of this inexplicably addictive BBC show.

I am an Anglophile, to be sure; if I could choose one moment to live over and over again it would probably be the scene in Merchant Ivory's film "Room With A View," when George Emerson (Julian Sands) bounds through an Italian field of brightly colored flowers to grasp Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) in his arms and kiss her passionately. Basically, I am all about corsets and long chesnut hair, and the thwarting of one's own desires to maintain societal order. However, I think that "Downton Abbey" has a crossover appeal that sucks in even those who wouldn't normally sit through a Merchant Ivory film, and that is thrilling--what is it about this television show that  is so addicting?!?

I can tell you one thing--I don't believe that this week's burn victim Patrick Gordon is Patrick Crawley, supposed fatal victim of the Titanic. He seems fishy, he does--and, I'm surprised that Lady Edith seemed to fall so quickly under his spell; you'd think a con could spy a con.

I am guiltily liking Sir Richard (Lady Mary's newspaper fiance) more and more, with his catch-phrase of: "Should I be worried??" emitted as various characters (Matthew, Patrick) shuffle through Downton Abbey.

I have to admit that I can't remember what, in Season One, drove Lady Mary and Matthew apart in the first place; money, I'm sure, but I can't remember the exact circumstance.

Regardless--I am completely enthralled by this series, and think everyone should watch it! I don't think many episodes are left, and I don't know what I shall do until Season Three airs on our shores; I am sending out a call for floppy-haired gents to come running at me in a field of flowers, that is the only thing that will get me through until then...

The Biloxi Book

The book is going; if it's going well...I couldn't say. The past couple months of cat-stress have greatly slowed progress, as well as the recent surprise people-deaths of close family members and friends. It's really been a difficult few months; the first truly "adult" winter of my life, I suppose, where terrible things can't be reset with a quick joke or laugh. In any event, I am still working on The Biloxi Book, and it looks like Storylandia 5 (containing my short story, "See You There") will be published any day now.

(http://www.storylandia.wapshottpress.com/)

I am going to miss Mardi Gras this year--after five straight rides with Slidell's Krewe of Selene, I will be at home in Seattle with Kiki when our parade rolls on Friday, February 17th. I couldn't afford it this year even before Kiki's crazy nerve mass, but I am truly, truly sorry to miss out on what has become a yearly family ritual, from my dad helping load bags of beads onto my float, to catching up on a year's worth of news with my aunt Denise while we throw beads to the screaming masses of Slidell, LA, during our three-hour parade ride. I would have swung it this year if there was any possible way, but it just didn't work out. Hopefully I will be able to reclaim my spot next year.

The picture above (taken by me in Spring 2011) is the pool area of the Beau Rivage Casino Hotel in Biloxi, MS, the inspiration for the Belle Carnivale Casino Hotel's pool area in my novel, Biloxi Suite Trapeze. It isn't exactly like this in the book, but this photo might give you an idea of the mood the book has, all sun-splashed & stylish.You can imagine the lead trapezist, Travina, swimming here, right? And the Sagarat! jugglers tossing ashtrays into the pool after a night of drinking. And, of course, Pieter and Margot sipping mimosas under a poolside umbrella, after a tumbling lesson....

So I guess this picture is a teaser for the novel!

Check back for more news, I am watching my life closely and will report anything interesting on this blog.
--P

My Mom, The Style Icon (Although My Submission Didn't Make It Onto That Blog)

My mother, Esther Gaudet, and me, her daughter Paullette Gaudet

Toledo, Spain

1977

“My native Puerto-Rican mom was a nurse in the Air Force before meeting my father, also an Air Force officer. Stationed near Madrid, Spain, in the mid-Seventies, our family went on several day trips like this one in 1977 Toledo, where Mom displayed her uncanny knack for fashion even on this dusty, sweltering afternoon spent climbing ruins after a long day’s drive in a cramped Renault 5. Here, her lilac-rimmed sunglasses alone raise the fashion stakes to an all-time high! All throughout my youth, my mother was consistently and appropriately chic during every moment of any given day;  she dressed me accordingly as a girl, and even now I always view an outfit through her eyes before putting my own spin on it. My mom remains my style icon, for still being beautiful, exotic, stylish and tasteful. I love you, Mom!"

Intellectual Refuge, With Still-Alive Cat

I am still trying to figure out a raison-d'etre for this blog, thank you very much--I go between the impossibly limiting (posting a new mini-essay of a poignant memory each week, with a related picture), to the way-too-all-encompassing (Recipes on Tuesdays! Movie Reviews on Wednesdays! Hair-Related Questions on Thursdays!). I suppose if I have a resolution this 2012, it's to find a voice for my blog and stick to it; however, I hope that whatever that voice turns out to be, it will also take time out to shamelessly self-promote, like now:

The lovely and talented online literary journal, Intellectual Refuge http://www.intellectualrefuge.com/ will apparently soon feature my lyric essay, "Academic Barbie," on an upcoming Friday in 2012!!! One of the wonderful things about Intellectual Refuge is that it is free, so all y'all who have avoided purchasing the latest issue of The Ledge Magazine http://www.theledgemagazine.com/current%20issue.html, featuring my short story "Celebrity Sperm Bank," will have no fiduciary excuse whatsoever not to read my work.

Also upcoming are my story appearances in the next two issues of Storylandia: The Wapshott Journal of Fiction http://www.storylandia.wapshottpress.com/ These are not free, but they will be available for purchase as a PDF for your Kindle (or other electronic reading device), and in good old-fashioned print, for all you Steampunks out there.

Kiki (seen above with her copy of Storm of Swords) is doing better, and still has four legs. An inflamed sciatic nerve has apparently been the cause of all her trouble over the past six weeks; we're managing it with medication, which seems to be working okay. As for the G.R.R. Martin book--I can't talk about it without a slew of Spoiler Alerts, so will wait on that--but it's SOOOO good!!! The best of the series so far. Have started Feast For Crows, and am inexplicably sorry that only about 2,000 pages of this saga remain to be read. Whatever will I do, after?? Work on my own book, I suppose...

The Girl With The (Almost) Three-Legged Cat

Just a few years ago, an extremely successful novel by Dan Brown called The DaVinci Code moved from hardcover to paperback to an upcoming feature film starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. At the time, everyone seemed to have read this book, even people who claimed they never read books, but I managed to hold out for the paperback edition, which was a long time coming. I thought I was the last person in the world to read the book, and while enjoyed it, I quickly moved on to the paperback edition of Angels and Demons, which I felt was much superior.

US Weekly magazine has a delightful regular feature called "Stars--They're Just Like Us!" wherein humorous captions are applied to photos of celebrities going about the mundane business of filling their gas tanks, shopping at Target, or pulling parking tickets out from under expensive windshield wipers. It is definitely the guiltiest of pleasures, and remains the only reason I sometimes miss working at a salon that subscribes to US Weekly. In any event, months after I had completed my own delayed read of Dan Brown's breakthrough novel, a picture of actor Toby Maguire--wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap and probably walking to his car in Silverlake, holding a copy of The DaVinci Code--appeared in the "Stars--They're Just Like Us!" section, with an arrow pointing to the book and the caption "Better Late Than Never!"

Even now, I still laugh when I think of this photo. Don't ask me why.

This is a long way of getting to the news that I am now reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (on Kindle Library Loan), and *loving* it, approximately six years after everyone else in the world has read it. I am racing to complete it: A) before my library loan expires in two days, and B) before I allow myself to see the David Fincher film starring Daniel Craig, who is another of my celebrity crushes.

I apologize for being away from my blog for a couple of weeks; my beloved cat Kiki (pictured above) became seriously ill, and I was unfortunately occupied with daily vet visits and all-consuming grief. There is a non-cancerous growth on a nerve cluster in her right hip that is causing her extreme pain, which is now being managed by steroids and pain meds. Further biopsy results are due next Thursday, then I suppose a plan can be made for either surgery or longterm pain management.

In any event, life as I knew it ended two weeks ago with Kiki's illness: what followed were many days of tears and confusion, and times when, groggy after four hours' sleep, I would wake up to a vet calling to ask if I'd like to have Kiki's leg amputated now, or after a biopsy. I chose the biopsy first, and things have lately returned to as close to normal as I could have hoped, even a week ago: Kiki is using the litterbox on her own, is eating and drinking, is walking around and meowing and purring when she wants attention. She is as close to her "normal" self as she has been in two weeks, and has gone right back to being at home after almost a week in the hospital. I know this might just be a charmed interlude--her nerve growth isn't going away, and while we might be able to control its size with steroids and its effects with pain meds, it'll be something we have to deal with for however much time she has left (she just turned 16, but please don't tell me how long a life that is for a cat (their lifespan can be from 18-23 years), or ask how much longer I could have expected her to live; I know you mean well by saying these things, but I don't want to hear it. I can't *not* try to help her get better/stay alive, we're not yet at a point of complete system failure. And just like Lorelei Gilmore often said of her daughter Rory, Kiki "is special," like a cat/angel hybrid).

Now that Kiki is more stable, I will be able to get back to my routine and do things like keep up with this blog. I am looking forward to a quiet Christmas week (had to cancel my trip home, to take care of Kiki) where I will be able to indulge in several movie matinees like Mission: Impossible, Sherlock Holmes, Young Adult and Hugo. And Twilight: Breaking Dawn!!!! In fact, I think my next post will be a review of Twilight...

Okay--hope this catches everyone up and maintains their interest in this blog! OH--I do have some publication news: two of my stories will be published in the next two issues of Storylandia: The Wapshott Journal of Fiction http://www.storylandia.wapshottpress.com/

"See You There" will be published in Storylandia 5 (Winter), Feb 2012
"The Deepest Crease Visible" (the story I read at Cheap Beer & Prose in Fall 2010) will be published in Storylandia 6 (Spring), April 2012.

Talk to you soon,
--P

Life Does NOT Include Jeremy Renner

I tried to post a permissioned-photo of Mr. Renner on this blog, but it didn't work out...it took over everything! Will have to hope that all y'all already know what he looks like--he's still a super-fox, and my first pick to play Pieter in the movie of my book, Biloxi Suite Trapeze.

I am at the climax of my book!!! This probably sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is, and is actually causing me a lot of stress.While I do have a concrete endpoint for my novel--i.e. the last scene--I don't actually know what happens between now and then, so every day is an "adventure" (i.e. stress-fest), and the demand of producing daily pages is seriously cutting into my karaoke time. Karaoke is fantastic, because you get to both sing, and the lyrics magically appear before you on the teleprompter. Writing, on the other hand, involves an iTunes soundtrack (Muse, for me right now, since that worked for Stephenie Meyer, and they do kinda rock) and a bunch of sitting around typing in sweatpants. Not the sort of thing Kate Hudson would find sexy, to go with our Muse analogy.

I am writing, and neglecting my dishes, and hoping to wrap this book up in an imaginative way....

Is That All There Is, Or Might Life Contain Jeremy Renner?

Oh, my god this blog is boring...I know its main function is to provide access to my story publication info and/or reading appearances, but come on--as Peggy Lee once sang: "Is That All There Is?"

I just completed Hugo House's ten-week "Master Class in Prose," (as chronicled by my friend/fellow MFA survivor Elissa Washuta, here: http://hugohouse.org/blogs/elissa-washuta) and several of my fellow students have committed to an informal writing group where we'll continue workshopping each other's writing.We're taking a poll to see what times/dates/venues work for everyone, and this made me think I should perhaps do something similar to decide which direction my blog should take.I really can't let it be the free-for-all gossip fest I'd like it to be (at least not until everyone I know dies, and/or I don't need a day job anymore), so that leaves the topics of:

1) Crippling Self-Doubt (I'm never going to finish my book, and even if I do it's gooing to suck)

2) Persian Cats (They are perfection! Although...I really don't care about them outside of my own cat, Kiki)

3) My Jeremy Renner Obsession (For those new to this blog/my life: every three months I have a different Celebrity Crush, some unattainable young buck who has caught my fancy for some reason or other and keeps me up at night. J. Renner held that position this time last year, and has come back to make history as the first "Paullette Gaudet Celebrity Crush Returnee," just in time for his December release of Mission Impossible: 4? 5? Am not sure what number they are up to now, but all you need to know that it is in theaters around Xmas and features Jeremy Renner.

Where were we? Oh yes, you should vote, if you are visiting this blog. The writing/publishing info is going ri remain, but am seriously trying to decide if I should also include book reviews and cyclical celebrity obsessions along with.

Vote below, in the Comments Section!!!