Posts tagged ‘Minnesota’
Book Tour! for A Long Way from Iowa
I’m really happy about the initial launch of A Long Way from Iowa. Thanks to everyone who has already bought the book!
If I can ask one more little favor of you, it would be for you to write a review on Amazon and/or GoodReads. These reviews really help writers, and they are so easy to do!
I have not been in the US since 2019 and I am very much looking forward to getting back there this summer, to see friends and family, and to do a little book tour.
My book tour will begin in France, with events scheduled for Paris and Nice. Then in August I will finally make it (fingers crossed) to my ancestral homeland (Sweden), with one of my sons. And I will fly from there to somewhere in the US (exact initial destination to be determined).
I’m very excited about one very special event, scheduled for September 23 in Washington DC, at Politics and Prose bookstore, which was one of my favorite places to be during the 14 years I lived in the Washington area. There I look forward to seeing not only many of those who took the classes I taught there, but also the wonderful friends I made in Washington during those years.
Of course this book tour has to go to the Midwest, and it will! I am also hoping to make it to a part of the country I’ve never been before and have always wanted to go: the Pacific Northwest.
And surely a book that has a chapter titled “A Cheap Loft in the West Village” should have some kind of event in New York City, shouldn’t it?
The details of such a trip take quite a while to arrange. But the first events have been scheduled, and they are posted here. Stay tuned for more as the calendar develops.
Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who divides her time between the US and France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France.
An Interview with BonjourParis.com
Thanks so much to Mary Winston Nicklin for this wonderful interview spotlighting my new book, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France. BonjourParis.com is a great resource for anyone who loves Paris: if you don’t know about it already, you should!
I hope you enjoy this interview, which touches on a number of the key themes in my book: writing, motherhood, travel, family relatonships, women’s lives, and France!
Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who divides her time between the US and France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France.
A Long Way from Iowa Is Now Available
More than thirty years ago I had the idea to a write a book that would pay tribute to my mother and grandmother, whose passion for reading, writing, and travel had been passed on to me. I wanted to honor the fact that this was a legacy they had passed down to me even though neither of them got to do as much of these things in their own lives as they would have liked to do.
They did live pretty happy lives anyway, and they were wonderful role models in that way. Still, I feel pretty lucky that I am the one of the three of us who was able to live out some of the unfulfilled dreams they carried with them through their lives–silently, but no less real for all that.
Finally, as of today, my book is now available in both e-book and paperback from my wonderful indie publishing service, BookBaby. In March you will be able to buy the book anywhere books are sold, but for now this is the only place you can buy it. (It is also the place where the author gets the best royalties. 🙂 )
If you prefer to buy the book some other way, the preordering period for Amazon is now open, and it should be open on Bookshop.org soon also. But I do hope that some of you will support BookBaby (and me through BookBaby). BookBaby is a wonderful thing for authors!
But honestly, I don’t care all that much where you buy the book: I will just be so pleased if you do; and I will be even more pleased if you like it.
.Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who divides her time between the US and France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France.
Snow across la belle France…
It is easier (and also more fun) to write about snow, and birds, than about the pandemic. So that is what I have decided to do today.
I grew up in Minnesota, where we “know from” snow. (Though we do not say that we “know from” anything; that is New Yorkers who do that. But I digress…)
People often wrongly assume many things about people who grew up in a wintry climate. They assume that the person is probably glad not to be living in a wintry climate anymore. (Wrong!) They assume that winter is a terrible thing (Wrong again!) They assume that winter driving presents no challenge for these people. (Really wrong! Trust me on this: winter driving is challenging for anyone who is trying to stay on the road. If you’re driving on snowy, icy roads and you think you’ve got it all under control, you’re probably not being careful enough. So be more careful!!! Tip: The way to be the most careful of all is not to drive in snow and ice if you don’t have to…)
Anyway. This week was a very wintry week across most of northern France. There was real snow, and real cold (though not as much of either as there often can be in, you know: Minnesota 🙂 ) And since I didn’t have to drive anywhere, I quite enjoyed it.
I particularly enjoyed watching the birds gather around my bird feeder. They were more interested than usual in the seeds and other treats I had put out for them this week. And it was fun to watch them hopping around, enjoying a little bit of this, a little bit of that…then flying away. I had to sneak up on them to get any pictures at all (like the one above). So it became a kind of game, a nice little break from whatever else I was doing, many times a day…
I didn’t take the time to photograph their “happy tracks” until today, four days after the snow first fell. So the trail of their joyful hopping around is not as clear as it was the first day. But you can see that they had a lot of fun, can’t you?
I’ll be back sometime soon to report on other things. In the meantime, stay safe, stay well, wherever you are. Prenez soin de vous…et a la prochaine!
Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who divides her time between the U.S. and France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and is currently working on her next book, a literary memoir entitled “A Long Way from Iowa.”
Being Midwestern
When I was living in New York City in my mid-twenties (35 years ago), one of my best friends made me aware that being from the Midwest was neither a burden, nor a shame…
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 