The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy: Growing pains

Monday, 4 October 2010

Growing pains

I am stuck for a cover. Photoshop daunts me. I wander to rush outside with a model/friend and make meaningful photographs in broad city piazzas. Or along Venice's shoes. Something essential. Something that represents Marilyn's vast and hampered transformation in Italy. At times I see colours that jag against each other, snapping the reader's eyes. Simplicity. Other times I see a little more douleur, drama, a coercion I have been looking at book covers for months. Italian ones at Feltrinelli in Milan. English ones online and at the American Bookstore there too.

How to convey my message in the crispest visual terms? How not to fumble with the mumlit/chicklit graphics that are so prevalent?

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Monster Games30 October 2018 at 16:45
Thank you for a great explanation. I was looking online for a similar idea and really appreciate it

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Catherine McNamara Author

I am an Australian author living in Italy after many years in West Africa. This erotic comedy is my first novel and I consider it my publishing baby, even though I've published many literary short stories in the past and continue to do so now. The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy was published quietly on April 16th 2012 by Indigo Dreams Publishing UK, a brave independent willing to publish a kooky book for off-beat mothers attempting Italian classiness. Even braver was IDG's publication of my short story collection Pelt and Other Stories, which came out on 2nd September 2013. Pelt bustled ahead and was longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award 2014 and a semi-finalist in the Hudson Prize USA 2011. I am now concentrating on a new short story collection and so far I've won two competitions and my work has been shortlisted and anthologised widely. My story 'Magaly Park' received a Pushcart Nomination in 2014. This blog is a continuation of the crazy spirit that produced The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy.

Review Comments

‘..Then I reread the last line of McNamara’s blurb: But sexy glamorous Milan is about as unfeeling as a Prada bag. Dang. That’s harsh. And anyone willing to write that sentence must have a sense of humor…’ Erica Firpo, journalist www.moscerina.com '..as soon as we saw the cover, combined with the intriguing title, we just knew we had to read it. This is definitely a cover composition that has Europe written all over it: the off-centre positioning of the woman's face, the heavy sunglasses, the gloved hand, gorgeously coiffed hair and the striking colour combination of pink and grey..' www.tripfiction.com

AUTHOR EVENTS

*Catherine read from 'The Book of Bruises' at the Word Factory Christmas Evening at Waterstones Piccadilly
*Catherine read from 'Love and Death and Cell Division' at the launch of AMBIT 222 in London in October 2015
*Catherine attended the launch of the Hilary Mantel/KWS Short Story Competition Anthology 'What Lies Beneath' at Kingston University London on 30th September
*Catherine read from her story 'The Book of Bruises' at the launch of Issue 14 of Structo at The Society Club, Soho, London, on 25th July 2015
*Catherine read from her story 'Three Days in Hong Kong' at the launch of Fugue II, an anthology by The Siren Press, on 24th July 2015
*Catherine attended the fabulous London Short Story Festival at Waterstones Piccadilly in June 2015

SHORT STORY NEWS

*'The Ukrainian Girl' has been accepted by The Lonely Crowd
*'A Very Tall Lady' was commended in the Prole Short Story Competition
*'Astragal' appeared in Arabesque, Trafika Europe 6
*'Tales from Bodri Beach' appeared in the Lakeview Journal
*'Yann at Night' appeared in Issue 1 of Flight Journal, by London's Spread the Word, December 2015
*'They Came from the East' won first prize in the August edition of The Short Story (TSS) Competition and was awarded £250 !
*'The Architecture of Humans' appeared in Short Story Sunday on Litro Online
*Catherine's story 'Hotel de Californie' appeared in Issue 1 of The Nottingham Review, September 2015
*Catherine's story 'Love and Death and Cell Division' was published in the autumn issue of Ambit in October 2015
*Catherine's story 'The Book of Bruises' appeared in Issue 14 of Structo, launched at The Society Club in Soho London on July 25th
*Catherine's kinky story 'Three Days in Hong Kong' appeared in Fugue II', an anthology by The Siren Publishing, launched on July 24th at the Enitharmon bookshop, Bloomsbury London

*Catherine's story 'Return to Salt Pond' was published in the Stockholm University review Two Thirds North

*Catherine's story 'The Wild Beasts of the Earth Will Adore Him' was shortlisted in the inaugural Hilary Mantel/Kingston University Short Story Competition 2014 and was published in the competition anthology What Lies Beneath

*Read Catherine's story 'The Healing of Santo Yeboah' on shoutoutuk.org

*Catherine's story 'Enfolded' was a shortlisted finalist in the LOTR Short Story Competition and appears in Love on the Road 2015 Anthology, published by Irish independent Liberties Press
*Catherine's story 'Adieu, Mon Doux Rivage' was a shortlisted finalist in the Short Fiction International Competition and appears in SF8 2014
*Catherine's story 'Magaly Park' received a prestigious Pushcart nomination and a Ruby Award. The story was a shortlisted finalist in the Labello Press International Short Story Prize and appears in the Gem Street Anthology 2014
*Catherine's story 'The Sneeze' from her new collection won First Prize in February's Global Short Story Competition
Judge Fiona Cooper said: 'The story takes us through the ambivalent and confusing surges of emotional reality that are brought on by enormous changes to one's life. It reads as a compelling stream of consciousness, with vivid snapshots along the way..'

Monday, 4 October 2010

Growing pains

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Monday, 4 October 2010

Growing pains

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