Heather Foeh

Today is the day that all Golden Heart finalists will be notified via telephone and I must say that I’m a nervous wreck. It’s not even so much that I want to final (which I do) but the NOT KNOWING is killing me right now. When the day ends if I haven’t gotten a call I’ll be disappointed, but at least I’ll have closure.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the scoop: the Golden Heart is an international contest sponsored by the Romance Writers of America to recognize outstanding unpublished manuscripts. There are 10 categories and each will have approximately 10 finalists. The winners are then announced at the RWA National Conference at a ceremony on the final night (this year, August 2 in San Francisco). I entered into the “Contemporary Series Romance” category - just in case you were wondering.

So, here I am, trying to work while sneaking longing glances at the phone… Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Well, it’s now 9:20 PM Central time so I guess we can safely assume I will not be getting a phone call. Oh well…maybe next year!

I had a wonderful week visiting Paris! I was able to do some sight-seeing on Sunday afternoon and Monday and in those two days I covered a lot of ground. I found a yarn store, I visited two beautiful churches, I walked through the grounds of the Louvre, I visited the Musée de l’Orangerie where I was able to see Les Nymphéas (which were beautifully presented), I drank chocolat chaud (twice - it was cold!), I shopped, I visited the street where our apartment is located for our June family vacation, and on and on and on.

I think the highlight of my trip was getting to hear so much French spoken around me. The class I was teaching included people from Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the UK. We conducted all of our training in English, however each night at dinner the conversation slipped into French. I could understand 95% of what was being said and that thrilled me. I answered mostly in English with a bit of French. I probably would have been more willing to try French had the group been smaller, but being surrounded by six French speakers was a bit overwhelming.

My fellow Austin chapter mate in the Romance Writers of America, Sherry Thomas, has her debut novel out on March 25: PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. She has received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, among other illustrious quotes and reviews.

This week she created a lovely and clever book trailer all by herself and I wanted to share it here. Enjoy!

Now, go buy the book!

I’m a big fan of organization and I love to find new and geeky ways to get even more organized. Recently I discovered Remember the Milk - it’s an online application that allows you to create task lists, prioritize them, share them, integrate with your online calendars, etc. There’s even a nice little Gmail add-on if you use Firefox. Plus, you’ve gotta love the name. Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

So, if you read the Smart Bitches blog (or if you keep up with world events better than I do) then you probably already know about the latest writing scandal: Margaret B. Jones published a “memoir” about her gang and drug-infested childhood called Love and Consequences. Unfortunately, it turns out that Ms. Jones is really Ms. Seltzer and none of it is true. What on earth are people thinking?? It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Hello…remember “A Million Little Pieces”, the Oprah pick? Oops. So what makes someone believe they’ll get away with it.

Here’s my favorite part of the New York Times article:

“Ms. Seltzer’s story started unraveling last Thursday after she was profiled in the House & Home section of The New York Times. The article appeared alongside a photograph of Ms. Seltzer and her 8-year-old daughter, Rya. Ms. Seltzer’s older sister, Cyndi Hoffman, saw the article and called Riverhead to tell editors that Ms. Seltzer’s story was untrue.”

My first thought is that the sister was rather jerky, but then I thought about what I’d do if my own sister was getting famous off of falsehoods — I’d have to speak up (hopefully first to my sister before the publisher…). My second thought was, Ms. Seltzer is even more idiotic than I originally thought! She has a whole family who could at any minute unmask her. Did she not take that into consideration? Did she not think, “Hey, maybe I should give them a heads-up”? Apparently not.

I’ve done some dumb things in my life, but sometimes it’s nice to read about other people’s complete idiocy — it makes my stupidity just a little less stupid.

During the month of February I traveled to Madison, WI and Cincinnati, OH for work. Now in March I have the opportunity to travel somewhere a bit more exotic: Paris, France. I’ll be teaching two days of Eloqua 101 training for a client, but before that starts I’ll have a day and a half of sightseeing! I just went to Amazon.com and bought something that’s been on my Wish List for a while: “Paris: 50 Adventures on Foot“. It’s a little card deck that features different guided walks around the city. I like the idea that I can just put a few cards in my bag and head out for hours without needing to lug along a guide book.

Now for the extra exciting news: We’re taking a family trip to Paris this summer! We just settled all of our details this week, including the complicated airline tickets for our kids (who will be visiting my parents in Kuwait and then meeting us in Paris). We’ve found a wonderful 2-bedroom apartment to rent (only a block from Notre-Dame) which will be our home for the week.

So, it’s definitely my lucky year — two trips to Paris within a few months of each other! I’ve been listening to French podcasts today to brush up on my language skills, as well as doing some vocabulary and grammar exercises in my French review book. Yes, I’m a nerd.

Watch this space for pictures beginning on March 16th…