"French Women" Author Jamie Cat Callan Shares Her Secrets to Creating Art

Author and purveyor of the secrets of French women, Jamie Cat Callan, has done it again. The author of Bonjour,Happiness! and French Women Don’t Sleep Alone has a new tome on the secrets of French women: Ooh La La! French Women's Secrets to Feeling Beautiful Every Day. Today, Jamie shares her writing sec

By Jamie Cat Callan

rets with us, starting as a young girl dreaming of Paris.

AMA: Thinking back on those late afternoons when you admired the Moulin Rouge print that hung on the wall of your grandmother’s home, what did you imagine as you gazed at the picture?

JCC: Summers at my French grandmother's house, in Connecticut, were always a bit dreamy. I took afternoon naps in her living room. And so, when I fell asleep on the couch staring at the picture of the Moulin Rouge, I imagined a life that was very glamorous. The Guy Dessapt print is from the Belle Epoch era, where ladies wore long dresses and really big hats. Even the men wore big hats. I imagined that France was a place that was lost in time and that if I were to go there, I would actually time-travel. You know, I think this is the very idea that Woody Allen captured in his film "Midnight in Paris." I do believe we all have this feeling that when we go to Paris, we will reconnect with a bygone era. Of course, when I finally arrived in France as a teenager in the 1970s, I found a very different place than what I imagined. But still, I believe there is a connection to our collective past that is still very much there–in the outdoor markets, the delicious smell of perfume, the fashionable people on the streets and the tradition of café life. I believe Hemingway's ghost still walks Rue Monge.

AMA: What is it about your French background that most impacts your writing and creativity?

JCC: This may surprise you, but I believe it's my French background that makes me a very practical artist. My family was never very wealthy, but they lived a rich life. During the Depression, my grandmother sewed all my mother's dresses for her to wear to school. She cooked the most wonderful meals, with very few resources. My grandfather had a big garden in the summer and a cold bin for vegetables in the winter. My grandmother made use of what was available, but whatever she did, it was done with a sense of art and beauty. I began my writing career as a poet, and then I went on to write three young adult books in the 1980s (Over the Hill at Fourtee

Author and teacher, Callan

n, my most successful book, sold half a million copies and was a Scholastic Book Club selection). When the YA genre seemed to dry up, I went on to film school, wrote screenplays at UCLA, worked in development at Paramount Pictures, and wrote a lot of literary short stories. I also wrote a few novels that have never been published. But you know, that's okay. I found a niche with my nonfiction/French women books. And I am now writing a novel about three American girls in Paris for the first time. All this is to say, that my French grandmother's example of coping and making the simplest things artful (whether it's a pretty lace dress made from an old curtain or a rabbit stew with garden vegetables) has taught me that anything can be beautiful and well-made. It's a matter of intention. And so, while the self-help genre might seem less than literary, I believe with honesty, attention to detail, and an eye for beauty, the genre can rise to the level of art.

Publishers Weekly had this to say of Ooh La La!: "This charming foray into French femininity will make a perfect cadeau for any Francophile lady." For more about author and teacher Jamie Cat Callan, visit Jamie Cat Callan.

Bonjour! Writing Happiness: Author Jamie Callan on the Joy of Discovery

Jamie Cat Callan,Paris

Award-winning author and instructor Jamie Cat Callan tells about French secrets to joie de vivre in her latest book Bonjour, Happiness! Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes said, "With warmth and sincerity, Callan shares that most precious of French life lessons — when to say 'enough.'" To research her topic, Jamie traveled throughout France, interviewing hundreds of women to find their secrets to living a well-balanced life. In this guest post, she describes the process.

AMA: What's your background?
JCC: I grew up in Connecticut and taught creative writing at Fairfield University, Wesleyan University and the Educational Center for the Arts. My grandmother was French-American, and inspired me to find the secrets to joie de vivre and true happiness.

AMA: Tell me about the new book.
JCC: Bonjour, Happiness! Five Ways to Find Your Joie de Vivre, American Style goes beyond relationship advice and offers a unique brand of whole-life happiness, sharing French women's secrets to finding joy.

Bonjour, Happiness!

AMA: What are some of the particulars you address in the book?
JCC: I describe my journey throughout France and the U.S., meeting with hundreds of women and talking about struggles with weight and body image, accepting middle age, and for me, coping with a new marriage — at age fifty — and rediscovering my French heritage.

AMA: Sounds like fun research. What did you learn during the process?
JCC: I embraced the beauty, mystery and magic of discovering a new culture, a spiritual journey told from the viewpoint of an innocent abroad, someone searching for inspiration, not just from the French, but particularly from French women. As a middle-aged woman living in youth-obsessed America, I looked for French answers to aging gracefully and finding joy in an imperfect body. I'm not so much interested in finding the fountain of youth as I am in finding the fountain of happiness. As Dove's "real beauty" ad campaign suggests, I learned to find the joy of loving my perfectly imperfect self.

AMA: How did the process of discovery play into the writing process, and life in general?
JCC: This is such an excellent question! French Women Don't Sleep Alone was so successful that by the time I began researching Bonjour I felt much clearer about what I wanted to do with this new book. Also, I had met so many great women on my American (as well as French women) book tour, and a lot of their questions and concerns went into the writing of Bonjour. My language skills had improved along the way, so I was able to connect with and interview a lot more women. The more I got to know and become friends with French women, the more I understood my grandmother and her sense of joie de vivre. It was as if these women were bringing her back to me. I would say this was especially true of my French tutor, Madame M. who is very beautiful, very elegant and in some ways a surrogate grandmere to me.

AMA: What an amazing journey. What was the writing process like?
JCC: Here's something that might surprise your readers. The book proposal for Bonjour, Happiness! was originally for a memoir. I wanted to write about my childhood, my grandmother, my experiences in France. However, my very wise editor at Kensington said she wanted another advice book similar to French Women Don't Sleep Alone, but that this new book could use narrative as well as prescriptive. In the end, I wrote a kind of amalgam of memoir and self-help. I blended the genres into something new—I'm not sure what to call it. Maybe literary self-help? Whatever it is, I'm happy with the outcome and readers are responding positively.

For more information on Jamie's amazing writing journey, visit Bonjour, Happiness! Or see her at Jamie Cat Callan. The book is available on Amazon at Bonjour, Happiness! Five Ways to Find Your Joie de Vivre, American Style.

Embracing Life: With "French" and "Bonjour" Author, Jamie Cat Callan

Author Jamie Callan at Cafe del Industrie

Engaging author, instructor and happiness expert Jamie Cat Callan was inspired by her French grandmother to return to France and discover the secret to joie de vivre — at any age. She shares those secrets in her latest book, Bonjour, Happiness!, which serves up the latest adventures of one woman on a quest to rediscover her ooh la la through all things French and some things not so French. Bonjour, Happiness! will be released on March 29 by Citadel, Kensington.

Submit a comment on your writing ooh la la to Word for Words. The winning selection receives an signed copy of Jamie's French Women Don't Sleep Alone.

AMA: You already lead a well-traveled, experiential life. What was the most influential lesson you learned while researching your prior book, French Women Don't Sleep Alone?

JCC: The French taught me how to let go of the sometimes debilitating idea of perfection.

AMA: That's a tough task in a demanding world. What's the secret?

JCC: I've learned the art of the French shrug! Rather than apologizing (something I used to do for a lot — often, for no real reason), I will now lift my shoulders, look heavenward, smile slightly, even mysteriously, and pronounce "c'est la vie!" This tiny gesture has truly changed my life. I believe I am a kinder and more forgiving person — to myself, to my friends, to my family and to the world at large.

AMA: Sounds like a great approach, especially to the writing life, and very French. How do they embrace life in general?

JCC: Things happen. We live. We learn. C'est la vie!

AMA: Living, learning and life — not a bad way to embrace Valentine's Day, and the rest of the year.

Jamie Cat Callan is also an expert in drawing out the writer's creative side with The Writer's Toolbox: Creative Games and Exercises for Inspiring the 'Write' Side of Your Brain.