First, a couple brief announcements …
The talented Dave Tavani produced and directed a super-cute, enticing book trailer for Simply From Scratch. Thank you so much, Dave. And thank you to the lovely Lola Culp-Osborne for lending her voice as Ingrid. Turn up your volume & enjoy!
If you’d like to read the first chapter of my book, visit the Book page of my website, and click “Excerpt.”
And now, onto this week’s theme: Trash.
I learned more about life while yardsaling with my friend Jen than I did in four years of high school. Accompanying Jen on her hunt for the perfect coffee table to decoupage was a lesson in perseverance, character (both a person’s and an object’s), quality, map-reading, map-folding, and usefulness.
In my opinion, Jen’s most impressive score of all time was a door handle for her used Jetta, which she found after roaming through rows of wrecked cars in a junkyard. As you might guess, she comes from a long line of fearless and thrifty Yankees.
South Jersey also boasts a fair share of brilliant yardsaling sharks, including my mother-in-law, who once staked claim on a set of pristine woolen Ethan Allen area carpets, and haggled the seller down to $30, right in his own driveway.
I don’t have that kind of tenacity. However, I am proud of one item that I trashpicked during summertime in college. I was driving home (coincidentally, from Jen’s house) when I spotted — on the curb next to a row of trashcans — an old wooden letterbox that had been antiqued. After inspecting it in my headlights, I tossed it onto the passenger seat and headed home. One man’s trash ….
I scraped the gunk off, sanded the wood, and stained it a warm oak color. Then I crafted little velvet pillows for the inside, and voila: the letterbox was transformed into storage for Matt’s chess pieces.
In Simply From Scratch, my narrator, Zell, treasures the very last items that her beloved, Nick, trashpicked before he died. But you’ll have to read the book to find out what those items are ….
~Alicia Bessette
July 28th, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 8 Comments
Recently a bookstore chain in Germany interviewed me, and one question really got me thinking: What is the role of the non-human character, the greyhound, Captain Ahab?
Greyhounds are a little bit odd. They’re different than other dogs. Their affection is subtle; their presence is calm and cool; and they have many quirks (they rarely sit, for example).
Like her dog, the grieving narrator of Simply From Scratch is a little … different! An artist, Zell “feels” the world more intensely than most people. She’s got her fair share of quirks too: talking to Ahab in pirate-speak; composing emails to Nick, her deceased husband. Captain Ahab’s reserved yet quirky personality underscores that of Zell.
Many people who feel a bond with animals will tell you that animals know things. They know when their people are hurting. They know when there’s celebration in the air.
Captain Ahab joins literature’s many animal characters that serve to remind us of intuition, of inner-knowing, of keen perception. In the very first scene of Simply From Scratch, Ahab looks on as Zell discovers a present hidden in her oven, a gift Nick intended to give to her. Not emotionally ready to open it, Zell hides the present away, until the end of the book.
But I think part of her knows all along what’s in that box. Some readers might know it, too.
(Only a few more weeks now until the official publication date of August 5. In the meantime, click here to pre-order!)
~Alicia Bessette
P.S. For information about greyhound adoption, see the National Greyhound Adoption Program, where Matt and I rescued Stella.
July 21st, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 14 Comments
This week’s topic is “Promotion” … so I thought I’d announce one!
To win a signed copy of my debut novel, Simply From Scratch (the real thing, not an ARC!) leave a comment below, before midnight tonight (Eastern time). A winner will be contacted via email and announced in the Deb Ball Sunday Newsflash.
Please feel free to spread the word. Good luck!
~Alicia Bessette
July 14th, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 36 Comments
A third of the way up Okemo Mountain in Vermont, you can spread a blanket in a field, recline on your back, and wait for fireworks, which are ignited from across a pond. They seem to spider across the sky much lower than other fireworks that I’ve seen; they seem touchable and more thrilling. And because you’re on a mountain, the noise booms and echoes and sometimes even makes your ribcage hum.
In true Vermont fashion, Okemo’s Fourth of July fireworks are small-scale. But you can smell the trees all around, and it’s neither hot nor crowded.
In Simply From Scratch, Okemo is sort of a sub-setting. Some key scenes take place there, in both winter and spring. It’s been a getaway destination for me for years; I ski there in the winter, hike in the summer. Some of my favorite memories take place on a certain back deck in Plymouth, just a few towns from Okemo. I suppose it makes sense that such an important place in my life would find its way into my first novel.
Anyway, I’d love to know: What’s your favorite place to see fireworks?
~Alicia Bessette
P.S. Happy Fourth!
July 7th, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 7 Comments
Hanging in my closet, wrapped in plastic, is a Montreal Canadiens jersey signed by famed Habs (and later Avalanche) goaltender Patrick Roy. I have the certificate of authenticity, too. Someday I’ll get that jersey up on eBay.
I acquired it when I was 15 and a huge hockey fan. Patrick and a handful of other big sports stars appeared at a fundraiser at Boston College High School. My friend Andrea and I scrounged up fifty bucks for admission. Then, somehow, we convinced my sister Annie, who lived in Boston, to drive one hour west to Worcester; pick us up along with Andrea’s little brother and sister; drive us all to Dorchester; wait around for hours in the crowded, sweaty gymnasium while we stood in Patrick’s line; and drive us all back to Worcester. (How cool is that? Props to big sisters everywhere.)
Stacked in the same closet is the book Revolution From Within, signed by its author, Gloria Steinem, who visited Bryn Mawr College when I worked there. When I reached the front of the line and passed her my copy, I opened my mouth with the intention of saying something fun and bold. But no words came out. I just stood there and grinned while she scribbled her name. So much for my revolution from within.
My friend Shelly has the autograph of Sorrell Booke, who played Boss Hogg on the TV show Dukes of Hazzard, which I watched religiously growing up. (Via Wikipedia, I was fascinated to learn that Sorrell was fluent in five languages, had degrees from both Columbia and Yale, and served as counter-intell in Korea.)
About ten years ago, Shelly was in an airport and saw Scott Hamilton signing autographs in her terminal. Remembering how our friend Mary hung posters of figure skaters in her dorm room, Shelly dug scrap paper out of her carry-on, joined the mob of adoring fans, and got Scott’s autograph to give to Mary. And that’s one of the many reasons I love Shelly.
Please share your autograph stories below!
~Alicia Bessette
June 30th, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 14 Comments
Happy Fathers Day! Here are some of the literary fathers whom I find very memorable:
Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Reverend Maclean in A River Runs Though It by Norman Maclean
Matthew Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (not technically a father, but a close-enough father-figure, I think)
Bull Meechum in The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
Dr. Murry in A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Jack Torrance in The Shining by Stephen King
Which memorable literary fathers would you add to the above list?
~Alicia Bessette
June 23rd, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 13 Comments
To win an advance reading copy of Simply From Scratch, leave a brief comment below addressing this week’s Deb Ball topic: Ereaders such as the Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc.
I’ll choose a winner (perhaps more than one winner, depending on the number of responses) at random and announce it in Sunday’s Newsflash (June 20th). Good luck!
~Alicia Bessette
June 16th, 2010
| Posted by Alicia Bessette | 2010 Debs
| 34 Comments
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