Are you tired of men behaving badly filling up your social media feeds? Me, too. I absolutely believe they need to be called on the carpet for their actions and that their behavior must come to a swift and complete end. I also know that there are incredible women all over the world doing amazing work that needs to be celebrated just as loudly. That’s why I’m making the commitment to send at least one tweet a day to share good news that women are creating. I’ll be using the hashtag #amazingwomen. I hope you’ll join me and spread the word.
Month: November 2017
In the pause: With enough time, life and career come full-circle
Yesterday, my life and career went full-circle. The company where I work now is a service and product provider for the Annie Russell Theatre at Rollins College. I worked at the Annie from 2003-2004. What’s more, our products and services are mainly used by the person who now has my former job. I spoke to her yesterday. She sits in the same office where I used to sit, and many of the same people are still at the theater. And to further bring it all around, I found my name and contact info at the Annie in my current company’s opportunities pipeline. (Apparently, I even got a cold email from my current CEO as he was prospecting for the business at the Annie and he sent me his first book on email marketing!)
This reminded me how often our circles cross and overlap, how timing really is everything. Every once in a while, an opportunity comes around a second time, perhaps in a different form, and it clicks in a way that it couldn’t the first time. A missed opportunity today always has the possibility to find its way back to us. I wonder what other opportunities will find me again.
In the pause: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
“The heart is built of starlight
And time.
A pinprick of longing lost in the dark.
An unbroken chord linking the Infinite to the Infinite.
My heart wishes upon your heart and the wish is granted.
Meanwhile the world spins.
Meanwhile the universe expands.
Meanwhile the mystery of love reveals itself,
again and again, in the mystery of you.
I have gone.
I will return.”
I just finished the book The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. This book reminded me how many stories are waiting to be discovered and shared, how many characters and secrets remain buried in our own imaginations. The passage above was a particularly poignant one for me because I believe so strongly in the power of the human heart and the love it can contain, because I remind myself everyday that while there are miracles happening all around us, there are also an infinite number of miracles happening with us. And all those miracles are connected.
People go and people return. Love goes and it finds us again in a different form. But a story? A story finds us and stays with us, helping us through trial after trial until we become so free from what used to weigh us down that we can then share that story with someone else. Today, I share this story of Luna, the girl who drank the moon, and the beauty she found in her own magic. It is the perfect read if you need more hope (and during the times we live in now, we could all use a little more hope.)
In the pause: On this Cyber Monday, meet Privé Revaux, my favorite popup store of the season featuring an online brand
Happy Cyber Monday!
I was walking to the Times Square subway from the Bryant Park Holiday Market and stopped short when I saw a set of retail windows that celebrated Artists, Explorers, and Dreamers. I went inside to find an art installation that featured a graffitied subway car, a space scape, and an artist’s work room. They encourage you to go in and snap selfies so Emerson Page did a little photo shoot.
The art installation doubled as a retail popup for online sunglass brand, Privé Revaux. The designer sunglasses are all handcrafted, polarized, and $29.95 in over 100 styles. Now if only all shopping experiences, online and in brick-and-mortar, could come with a side of art, we’d all feel a little more inspired and a little less tired during our holiday shopping.
If you’re in NYC, check out the Privé Revaux popup store at 120 West 42nd Street. Not in NYC? No problem. All frames are also available at https://priverevaux.com/.
In the pause: Help my discover the secrets hidden underground and overhead in New York City
I’m completely obsessed with the secrets of New York City. It’s haunted in the best possible ways. As I write Emerson Page’s second book, I’m learning that there is so much here she needs to discover. I need to explore these secrets first-hand, and I want you to go with me! Interested? I’m now amassing a list of tours and places that I’ll be poking around in the coming months. Here’s a sampling of what I’m finding:
- Hidden places, often in plain sight. Wormholes, secret passageways, and underground art installations.
- The strange and mysterious history hidden in the architecture that rises up dozens of stories high everywhere we go.
- Secret ways to get up close to priceless treasures that are usually impossible to access.
This city literally breathes. It’s always whispering to us. I’m listening and getting it all down as best I can. I hope you’ll join me in this pursuit.
In the pause: My book about Emerson Page is the perfect gift for readers who love mystery, adventure, and New York City
And so the holiday shopping season begins!
My book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, is the perfect gift for people who love mystery, adventure, and New York City. It’s now available in paperback and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your favorite independent bookstores. It is appropriate for adult readers and for young readers who are 9 and older. (If the young people in your life have read Harry Potter books, this one will be just fine for them in terms of reading level and themes.)
Synopsis:
Thirteen-year-old Emerson Page wants to know what happened to her mother, Nora, a world-renowned anthropologist well-known for her research on ancient cultures and languages. Five years ago, Nora was found on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“We’ve never seen anything like it,” said the NYPD. “It’s as if she just fell asleep on the steps of the museum and never woke up.” Eventually, the police gave up their search for answers. But Emerson didn’t.
Her journey to discover the answers about her mother’s mysterious death takes her deep below the streets of New York City on a dangerous adventure into a magical world of books. There, she learns the stunning truth about her mother and her own destiny to continue her mother’s legacy.
Time is running out. An alarming threat looms large and too close to home. With the very existence of human imagination at stake, can Emerson find the strength to fulfill her mother’s final wish before it’s too late?
READERS’ FAVORITE 5-STAR REVIEW – “A big, imaginative, and beautiful coming of age tale that begs for a sequel. Able to win my heart from the very beginning with a powerful hook. A fascinating story deftly told, a tale of courage and a gritty investigation. A radiant adventure that is captivating and mystifying. The young heroine is brilliant and inspiring, curious and bold, strong and vulnerable, loving and powerful. A story that will enthrall both young adult readers and adults with powerful themes seamlessly woven into its fabric. It is all go, all the way through. A masterpiece. This story pulled me in deep, and there was no letting go until the last page. I hope that this is the first of many.”
In the pause: Happy Thanksgiving from New York City
A gorgeous and sunny Thanksgiving morning. Phin and I bundled up and went to Central Park. Thankful today for my sweet pup, Phineas, this gorgeous park, my homey Upper West Side neighborhood, and all dogs everywhere. And of course for all of you. Happy Thanksgiving. 🐾🦃
In the pause: DC friends, Emerson Page may be on your metro train
D.C. friends, keep your eyes open for my book on your morning commute. Books on the Metro has copies of my book and is placing them on the DC metro trains. If you find one, pick it up, read it, and then return it to the metro when you’re done for someone else to read. (And snap a picture if you can!) Happy commuting.
In the pause: Some words for the good guys
This morning, I have some words about men. I have long-held Charlie Rose as one of my inspirations in journalism. My eyes teared up hearing the accusations yesterday, and I’m so upset for the women whose lives and careers were harmed by his actions.
I know a lot of my female friends are losing heart that there are no good men out there in any field. While I’m outraged by how pervasive this issue is among men I never thought would behave this way, I also want to say that I’m not losing faith in an entire gender. There are a lot of fantastic men in my life who are dear friends. They care deeply about people and the world at large. They work hard and they’re kind, funny, and supportive. I just want to make sure that as a society we are looking at people as individuals and not painting with a broad brush, especially with an issue as important as this one.
Good guys, I know that you have often felt like you will never win. I never believed that. Good guys, in the end, will always win. And to my female friends, I hear you, I see you, and I support you. We are in this together, and my hope is that this painful upheaval now will lead to a more just and fair world for everyone.
I love you. Have a good Tuesday.
In the pause: Writing breakthroughs in longhand
On Friday and Saturday I had a few writing breakthrough in my second book in the Emerson Page young adult book series. And they didn’t happen while I was writing. I was actually reorganizing my closets. I was folding my sweaters when a very strange person showed up in my imagination, an old woman whom I have never seen before. I closed my eyes and listened to what she had to tell me about Emerson’s story, and I got it all down in longhand as honestly and as quickly as I could before it evaporated. And the story just kept flowing into the evening while I sat in a coffee shop on the Lower East Side waiting for friends to go to dinner.
I never saw this coming —this character, this plot twist, this revelation, this truth that was both painful and freeing. It explains so much that needs to be explained in due time. You won’t meet her until book three, which will be the final piece of Emerson’s story. I originally thought this series would be nine books, and had mapped it that way. Now I see that this portion of her story wraps up in a trilogy because of this new character.
In book two, Emerson will be exploring Iceland, Ireland, and Spain—three countries connected in odd and mysterious ways that will shed some light on Emerson’s path to her goal. I’m just glad to be able to tag along for the wild ride she’s about to take.
Christa Avampato 