Paris and I ~ 'Swanning It'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Swanning It ~

Swaning It, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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An author friend of mine invited me to lunch the other day. After the usual preamble and small talk we got to the crux of the matter. "It's like this Sab", she said.

She'd finished her book with one little glaring detail, because details can glare in Sabsworld: the nookie, the steam; the sex. Her characters were to get intimate, said her editor, the story needs it, the readers deserve it, you know it makes sense, so off you go. Only she couldn't, which is where I came in...

"Which is where you come in, Sab", she continued, "because you're going to write it for me!" she finished triumphantly, not even realising that I don't even know on which side of the speech marks the comma's supposed to go.

"But I don't even know which side of the speech marks the comma's supposed to go," I cried, never mind getting a Kama sutra's worth of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' in the right place.

She grimaced as I grinned. "Nope," I said, "It's your book, and you're just going to have to write about the sweaty stuff the same way you sweated over the righteous stuff. So she went home and did.

With the moral of the story being, as Osama or Obama or whatever his name was said, of course you can. It's amazing what you can, and sometimes all you need is someone to have a million times more confidence in you than you, to laugh contemptuously in the face of the hint of the slightest idea of failure, and mention that they're looking forward to seeing the results into the bargain.

Which brings me back to me. For some reason I've let myself be talked into teaching four groups of French school kids four hours of English today, having been out of the circuit for a few years. And I'd quite like someone to laugh contemptuously on my behalf, in the face of my enormous feelings of foreboding, and sneer, "You, nervous? Hah, what a joke! You'll knock 'em dead, they'll love you. It'll be great. Oh, and let me know how it goes..."

There, I've done it; my imaginary friend thinks I'll be fine, and to be honest it probably will, but, you know, sometimes it's just nice to be told.

P.S. My author friend also told me there are black swans on the lake in Parc Montsouris. This photos' for her.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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