Next Chapter Book Club Skype!

Thanks to The Next Chapter Book Club for a truly fun Saturday night!  I can’t tell you how much fun we had and I can’t believe how lucky I am to get to meet so many interesting and thoughtful people.  Chanel was our starting point but there was no end to what we could all discuss and share.

It couldn’t be easier to set up a Skype or FaceTime Q & A with me.  Just email at chanelbonfire@gmail.com.  Whether you’re around the corner or around the world, we can get together.  Cheers!

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  "The Next Chapter Book Club", Book Clubs, Book Group Skype, Chanel Bonfire, Wendy Lawless

Writing From Readers

Reading Chanel in Texas while waiting at Little League!
I just want to give a shout-out to all the readers who take the time to write reviews on Goodreads or Amazon or send pictures of Chanel like the one above or email me…  

          Dear Wendy,
          I finished your book on Sunday and have recommended it to at least 4 people. 
          Including my own little sister (I’ll have to time her finishing it with arriving with 
          Kleenex and martinis).
          Lili

Or Tweet…
          Katherine ?@gentilek
Best book I’ve read in a looong time. Highly recommend! 
           
Started #ChanelBonfire by @WendyLawless2 today and I cannot put it 
It is humbling and gratifying to know that the book generates such enthusiasm!  I hope everyone is enjoying or surviving their hot and sticky Augusts!
If you get a chance, Tweet me @wendylawless2 , post on the Chanel Bonfire Facebook page or email me at chanelbonfire@gmail.com.  And, as always, if your book group is reading Chanel, I’d be happy to set up a Skype Q & A with you.  You can look for Chanel on Pinterest and Tumblr as well!
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Book Group Skype, Chanel Bonfire, email, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Wendy Lawless

Chanel Bonfire Video on Huffington Post

Thanks to The Huffington Post for putting up my video.

http://videos.huffingtonpost.com/author-wendy-lawless-on-growing-up-with-her-mother-517476583

And to Howard Sherman for his HuffPo piece about memoir and Chanel, “All About My Friends, Indexed For Your Convenience”.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-sherman/all-about-my-friends-inde_b_2427045.html

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, Howard Sherman, Huffington Post, Wendy Lawless

Book Bloggers: Summer Reading Lists

Diamonds, Louboutins & Baby
I am very impressed by the number of people around the world (many of them women, many of them women with children and jobs and spouses) who write and maintain blogs that regularly feature books in addition to other preoccupations and interests.  And naturally I am grateful when any of them gives up their valuable space and time to Chanel Bonfire.  Thank you for sharing Chanel Bonfire with your followers and friends!  http://diamondslouboutinsandbaby.blogspot.com/  http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.co.uk/  http://rai29bookreadnreview.blogspot.co.uk/ 
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Beachreads, Blogs, book blogs, bookreadnreview, Chanel Bonfire, Jeanzbookreview, Summer Reads, Wendy Lawless

T-Rex and the Young Americans

“The Groover”
If, as the song says, music can save your soul, then the Glam Rock of early 70s London definitely saved mine.  This footage was shot May 3, 1973 just as Robbie and I and our wild expat friends were stepping out and away all over London while our parents partied and went crazy.  We were truly becoming Bowie’s “Young Americans” and T-Rex was performing a great deal of our soundtrack.
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  70s London, Americans Abroad, ASL, Chanel Bonfire, David Bowie, Robin Lawless, T-Rex, Wendy Lawless, Wendy Rea, Young Americans

Smiles of a Summer’s Day

Robbie’s gap-toothed smile.
One of the great treats of our summers in Minneapolis with dad was the neighborhood park (Thomas Lowry aka Seven Pools) which contained a water feature you could play in — seven pools varying in temperature and depth strung along a manmade stream.
Thomas Lowry Park aka Seven Pools
The park was built on land donated to the city park system (at Douglas and Mt. Curve Avenues) by Thomas Lowry the man who built and owned the street railway system in Minneapolis.  The neighborhood, Lowry Hill, was developed by him.  The park had been called Douglas Triangle and then Mt. Curve Triangles (yes, plural for some forgotten reason) before finally being named for Lowry.  Of course all the kids in the neighborhood just called it Seven Pools.
As it looked to us.
Another little piece of our childhood heaven in Minneapolis with our dad — much thought of and much missed after our return to our mother in New York.
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, children of divorce, Minneapolis, Mt.Curve Avenue, Robin Lawless, Seven Pools, summers with your dad, Thomas Lowry Park, Wendy Lawless

Sunday In The Park With Dad

One of the unexpected joys of publishing Chanel has been the unearthing of photographs from friends and distant relatives.  (This one is from a series taken by an old Minneapolis friend one our last summers with our Dad.)  As you can imagine after reading the book, not very many pictures or keepsakes made it through with us — things were lost in storage, destroyed by our mother or simply left or abandoned by us as we tried to run faster and faster from our past through a long series of houses, rooms and apartments.  

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, children of divorce, James Lawless, Minneapolis, Robin Lawless, Summer, summers with your dad, Wendy Lawless