Alice Rene's Blog

I am so proud of myself today. I haven't really kept up my blog on Goodreads when I first set it up for my memoir, Becoming Alice. Somehow I was able to sell a lot of books without the use of a blog. Fast forward and now I have a new novel, The Other Side of Him, that I want to tell the world about. That old Blog on Goodreads was still there waiting for me. I wanted to sinc it with my Author Page on Amazon. Back and forth I went from one site to another for almost three hours....but I did it. I did it!! There is hope for me.The Other Side of Him

I'd been reading "Norwegian by Night" by Dennis Miller and was pretty close to finishing it. Then the system got all screwed up. A last minute decision caused me to go out of town for the weekend. The trip involved going from Ojai, California to Laguna Niguel, California a distnace that involves driving between two to three hours depending on the traffic. Usually the freeway between those two points is a nightmare. So my husband and I decided to take the Amtrak down to my daughter's house, a ride that takes about three and a half hours in each direction.

We've taken the Amtrak before and like it a lot. You can make your way to the car that has a little refreshment bar where you can get coffee, sandwiches, chips, etc. And--you can bring along a book or a Kindle to entertain yourself. We bought our Amtrak tickets.

The dilemna was that I didn't have enough reading left on "NorwegianHorowit by Night" to entertain me for seven hours on Amtrak. And I remembered I hadn't even started to read the book I needed to finish by the following Monday. I grabbed my Kindle and started to read "The House of Silk" by Horowitz.
By the time I got home I'd read almost 60% of the book, a Sherlock Holmes story.

I never tried to read two books at one time. I have enough trouble remembering what the book is all about when I've skipped several days in reading the "one" book I'm reading and now I need to remember the back story of "two" books I'm reading. I know other people do that. I'd wish they tell me how they do it.

I just started reading a book a couple of days ago entitled "Norwegian by Night" written by Derek B. Miller. I had no idea what the book was about. The only reason I downloaded it onto my Kindle is that it was recommended by someone whose judgement I really, really respect. It didn't take me but a paragraph or two to become totally hooked on the book.

The big surprise was that it is a genre I don't normally go for. It's a thriller, or suspense/thriller. I don't eve know if the latter is a genre. Maybe I've overdosed on all the shoot-em up, police/detective, robbery and murder TV programs I need to scroll through in order to get to anything decent--maybe I should say "decent" in my humble opinion.

Which brings me to ask myself, what is my own favorite genre? I do enjoy a good biography or memoir, especially the historical sub-genre of the same. I do like a good psychological drama or relationship story. Now, all of a sudden, this really well-written thriller comes into my life. I've just expanded my list of books I can pick from.
Becoming Alice: A Memoir

Have you ever noticed how your normal life comes to a screeching halt during the holidays? There is no time to do your normal life, like exercise, work the internet, garden, cook, walk the dog,��edit on your manuscript, gas up the car, etc. etc. etc. Instead you write Christmas cards, email greeting on card sites, shop and shop and shop. Then you go to wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. Which leads to delivering gifts to anyone living in driving range.��Standing in line��at the post office to mail gifts out, earlier in the month, has warmed you up for the frenzy you’re in during “the holidays.” I’m half-way through now and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In the meantime there is another week of parties, parties, parties. I like parties! And the best part is that I’m not hosting a one of them. Happy New Year, Everyone!

Filed under: Becoming Alice

I haven’t blogged in so long I hardly know how. But, here goes. What have I been doing? A lot of living that’s what. That involves spending time with family, walking the dog, working in my garden, dinner parties with friends, writing a book. Yes, writing a book. But more about that later. What is your passion? A weekend at the beach in Cambria? That’s in California, in case you didn’t know. That’s right, I like to walk on the beach and listen to the ocean roar and the seagulls squeak. Well, it’s time for a glass of wine. Oh, I forgot to mention that.

Filed under: Becoming Alice

I haven't done this in a while--been to busy writing a book and living. No one has ever told me to get a life. I have too many lives but I like it that way. Blogging hasn't been part of that life in a while so I'm a little rusty at it.

So, what shall I tell you? My book is finally in the hands of my editor so I have time to spend in my garden, entertain some friends I've wanted to be with more often, get through the holidays without stressing out, and walk my dog ore often. Oh! One more thing--decide how to get my book published. But more on that later.

I've rediscovered Goodreads. This is a great site! I haven't gotten the hang of everything I can do here but I will. Trust me. I'm sure you guys will help me out.

Oops, there's my phone. Gotta go. More later.
Becoming Alice: A Memoir

I'll be signing "Becoming Alice" in the Authors Pavilion on Ojai Day, Saturday, Oct.15th between 10 AM and 5 PM. Hope to see you there.

Filed under: Becoming Alice Tagged: book signing, Ojai

I’ll be signing “Becoming Alice” in the Authors Pavilion on Ojai Day, Saturday, Oct.15th between 10 AM and 5 PM. Hope to see you there.

Filed under: Becoming Alice Tagged: book signing, Ojai

Sometimes I wonder if there is a connection between self-image and reality. When I reflect back to my childhood, there was a very strong connection between my self-image and the child that I was in reality. I thought I was not like other children and I wasn't. I was this scared, funny-looking European kid going to school with a lot of happy American kids. I wrote about that in my memoir, Becoming Alice. Imagine how aweful these poor kids have it who suffer from anorexia when what they see in the mirror, a perfectly normal child, is percieved as a fat kid.

As time went on, my self-image and the person I was in real life became closer. I became an American adult. And the feelings of inferiority and lack of self-confidence went away. I was pretty much the person that I thought I was. It would be up to somebody else to tell me otherwise.

But now a chunk of years have gone by and I think that misconnect between self-image and reality is creeping up again. I still think of myself as a pretty average, normal, American adult. But now I often am reminded that I fall into another category. This incident made me become aware of that fact: I am sitting around at my athletic club having coffee with a group of girls/women (why is it that the older you get, the more likely it is that older women are called girls?) talking about this and that, nothing of great significance. I did notice, however, that most of these ladies with whom I play tennis are much younger than I am. I looked at one of them and was reminded that she wrote me a very nice note telling me how much she enjoyed reading Becoming Alice and that she figured I must be her mother's age. Okay. And then the cute young thing sitting next to me remarked that she thinks it wonderful that I still play tennis … and she hopes she will be able to do the same thing when she is older.

There it is. There is that word older that doesn't fit with my self-image. I don't know what to do. What behaviors should I undertake to fit into that category of old. There is a glitch between my self-image and what other people think of me. I know what I must do. I think I shall just ignore them and keep my self-image as an average American adult.

Filed under: Becoming Alice, Identity Tagged: reality, self confidence, Self-image

Sometimes I wonder if there is a connection between self-image and reality. When I reflect back to my childhood, there was a very strong connection between my self-image and the child that I was in reality. I thought I was not like other children and I wasn’t. I was this scared, funny-looking European kid going to school with a lot of happy American kids. I wrote about that in my memoir, Becoming Alice. Imagine how aweful these poor kids have it who suffer from anorexia when what they see in the mirror, a perfectly normal child, is percieved as a fat kid.

As time went on, my self-image and the person I was in real life became closer. I became an American adult. And the feelings of inferiority and lack of self-confidence went away. I was pretty much the person that I thought I was. It would be up to somebody else to tell me otherwise.

But now a chunk of years have gone by and I think that misconnect between self-image and reality is creeping up again. I still think of myself as a pretty average, normal, American adult. But now I often am reminded that I fall into another category. This incident made me become aware of that fact: I am sitting around at my athletic club having coffee with a group of girls/women (why is it that the older you get, the more likely it is that older women are called girls?) talking about this and that, nothing of great significance. I did notice, however, that most of these ladies with whom I play tennis are much younger than I am. I looked at one of them and was reminded that she wrote me a very nice note telling me how much she enjoyed reading Becoming Alice and that she figured I must be her mother’s age. Okay. And then the cute young thing sitting next to me remarked that she thinks it wonderful that I still play tennis … and she hopes she will be able to do the same thing when she is older.

There it is. There is that word older that doesn’t fit with my self-image. I don’t know what to do. What behaviors should I undertake to fit into that category of old. There is a glitch between my self-image and what other people think of me. I know what I must do. I think I shall just ignore them and keep my self-image as an average American adult.

Filed under: Becoming Alice, Identity Tagged: reality, self confidence, Self-image