Category Archives: 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

How much can you fit in a handbag?

For Mother, sadly, possessions were 9/10ths of life.

Meet Louis, Mother’s handbag, and an integral part of our childhood abroad. Purchased at Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Louis (named for, well, you know) traveled the world with us and contained important on-the-go items: Rince-doights, Kleenex, Band-aids, cigarettes, passports, maps, guidebooks, and Mother’s movie camera, which once filmed the inside of Louis while we were in Paris. Notre Dame has a cameo at the end when someone’s hand reaches in to fish something out, and the spires of the cathedral are revealed at an interesting angle.

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Band-Aids, Chanel Bonfire, Georgann Rea, Kleenex, Louis Vuitton, Notre Dame, Paris, Rince-doights, Wendy Lawless

Reaching out through Book Group Skypes and more!

Cindy Chapman and her awesome St. Louis Book Group

I had SO much fun with these gals from St. Louis talking about Chanel Bonfire, writing, moms, “crazy” and “blue nightgowns”.  I love hearing from readers and especially getting to chat and hang out.  As readers will know, I was born in Kansas City and lived in Minneapolis (and my husband’s family lived in Ohio) but don’t get to spend as much time in the mid-west as I like.  So I was doubly grateful for this little virtual trip.  

There’s no way with two kids, a dog, a husband and a sequel to write that I can get to as many of the great bookstores and libraries around the country as I’d like.  Skyping (or FaceTiming) was a way I thought of to connect with readers without the travel.  And as it turns out, I like it better than book signings and readings because instead of a minute or two, I get an hour or so to really meet people and hear their insights and their own stories.  

If your group is reading or planning to read Chanel and would like to do a Skype Q&A, email me at chanelbonfire@gmail.com and we’ll schedule it!

If you are a member of a large group or organization that you think might like to have me speak about the book or “Mother Daughter Relationships,” “Surviving A Difficult Childhood,” or “Dealing with Mental Illness in a Family” you can click on the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau button on the right for more information.

Happy Reading!
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Book Group Skype, Chanel Bonfire, St. Louis, Wendy Lawless