Eiffel Tower Archives - Janet Sumner Johnson

Eiffel Tower

My Crazy in Pictures

Jun

08, 2015 |

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The last few months have been full of crazy. Or I could use other adjectives like exciting. Fun. Adventure. Sports. Play. Work. Celebration. Food. Art. Writing. Culture. Bonding. Homecomings.

Lots of good things. But LOTS of things. I’ll be going off-line for a bit since we will be moving in a couple of weeks. But for your viewing pleasure, my crazy (and by crazy, I mean awesome) life in pictures:

This might have been one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Ile de Ré on bikes!

Oh wait! I mean THIS was my favorite part. Tartelette aux fraises!

I could have stayed here forever. So peaceful!

You can’t go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Or the Mona Lisa.

(Do I look exhausted??? Yeah, it was the end of a full day of travel and site-seeing. I was EXHAUSTED. All-caps are needed to fully capture the feeling.)

And Versaille. (Though it wasn’t my favorite. Don’t hate me!)

My 11-yo and I took the stairs to get to Sacré Coeur.

Yep. We are that awesome.

And Crèpes. Need I say more?

Home never felt so good!

Because I got to watch my soccer star!

And play with my crazy, pink-loving Girlie.

And yes! This is me making my book deal all official. Release date is Spring 2016!!

I hope you all have a great summer! I’ll be back as soon as I get my world organized in my new place.

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| TAGS:

book contract, Crepes, Eiffel Tower, Girlie, moving, Paris, soccer, Tartelette aux fraises, Travel, Versaille

The Best Laid Plans . . .

Apr

27, 2011 |

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Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to go to France for two weeks as a tour guide. No, I am not French scholar. And Yes, it was a LOT of work to get ready.

But as a favor to my sister (for whom I would do a lot because she is just that awesome), I went and posed as a confident tour guide. I not only learned all kinds of French history, but all kinds of random tidbits about life. For example, cobblestone may look cool, but it’s really not fun to walk or drive on.

Still, I digress . . . now that I’m back, I get to subject you with all kinds of travel log writing analogies. Bwah ha ha ha! (Your ears should be ringing with my evil laugh.)

So, here we go . . . the first thing we visited after dropping off our luggage was the Eiffel Tower.

This iconic building fascinates me. It was built for the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889. It was meant to stand for 2 years before it would be dismantled. Then they upped its life to 20 years, and finally, with the coming of the radio and its usefulness assured, they decided to keep it.

It’s hard to imagine, from our current frame of reference, that the French would ever have considered taking the Eiffel Tower apart. But back then it was something of an atrocity to many. Modern art at it’s worst, so some people thought.

Now we can look back and breathe a sigh of relief that they revised their plans. Somehow, Paris just wouldn’t be Paris without it.

Writing can be a bit like this. We lay out our plans. We set our goals. We write our books and think that’s the end.

And then the first critiques come back.

We revise our work and sigh with relief that that’s done.

And then the next batch of critiques come back. I’m sure you get the idea.

What’s important to remember though, are the breathtaking results from your efforts.