Reading at the Glen Ellyn Bistro Monet in front of a Monet print with Susan of the bistro. Brunch was great!

Reading at Kris Waldherr's Art & Words Gallery in Brooklyn

In the Irish West Country -- photo by Fiona Claire

Writing historical fiction: sometime journal of a New York City novelist

thoughts on the eve of the publication of my new novel

April 6, 2010

I have spent the evening going to dinner with my husband and have been e-mailing friends in a kind of daze. I think only another writer can know the time and intensity it can take to bring a novel together. It is an enormous force of will, thousands of hours, incredible support from many people, thousands of bits of inspiration pulled together, an incredible stubbornness. Sometimes this week before I go to Albany for the Empire State Book Fair I want to walk down to the Hudson River boat basin and look at the sky the way I did in the last few months of writing Claude and Camille. I noticed that at even the exact same time two days in a row the sky was not the same. I can only say tonight, "Go forth, little book, and may you find a place in many people's hearts!" And thanks to so many, many people for their kindness and help and belief in this story.

Comments

  1. April 6, 2010 12:10 PM EDT
    Go ndeirigh an bothair
    Good Luck Stephanie (and Claude and Camille)!!!
    - Fiona
  2. April 6, 2010 12:47 PM EDT
    Thrilling news--another Stephanie Cowell read. I have read, re-read, and passed along all your previous works. Stop writing this blog and start another novel!
    - Casey Kelly
  3. April 7, 2010 10:10 AM EDT
    I'm really hoping the book comes in the mail today. I intend to savor it every free moment I have. I know even before opening it that it will become one of my favorite books. I felt that way with The Day the Falls Stood Still as well, and it was certainly true.
    - Kim Bullock
  4. April 7, 2010 7:22 PM EDT
    Congratulations! I can't wait to begin reading the final version. I shall start it tonight.

    Love,
    Michael
    - Michael DiSchiavi

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MY FIVE HISTORICAL NOVELS ABOUT ARTISTS, WRITERS, MUSICIANS, ACTORS, 17th CENTURY PHYSICIANS, AND SPIRITUAL SEEKERS

CLAUDE AND CAMILLE
the love story of the young, unknown Claude Monet and his muse Camille Doncieux
MARRYING MOZART
Four lovely, musical sisters and one suitor -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
NICHOLAS COOKE and THE PHYSICIAN OF LONDON
The first two novels of a trilogy about a brilliant Elizabethan man who was an actor, physician and priest
THE PLAYERS: A NOVEL OF THE YOUNG SHAKESPEARE
the passionate love story between Shakespeare, his patron and Emilia Bassano -- based on the sonnets

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