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LOVE IN MID AIRBY KIM WRIGHT
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A chance encounter with a stranger on an airplane sends Elyse Bearden into an emotional tailspin. Suddenly Elyse is willing to risk everything: her safe but stale marriage, her seemingly perfect life in an affluent Southern suburb, and her position in the community. She finds herself cutting through all the instincts that say "no" and instead lets "yes" happen. As Elyse embarks on a risky affair, her longtime friend Kelly and the other women in their book club begin to question their own decisions about love, sex, marriage, and freedom.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kim Wright has been writing about travel, food, and wine for more than twenty years for many magazines including Wine Spectator, Self, Travel & Leisure, and Vogue, and has twice won the Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing. She is the food and wine editor for Charlotte Taste. She has written the annual Fodor's Walt Disney World with Kids for 18 years and also writes erotica. This is her first novel. Kim lives in Charlotte, NC.
A chance encounter with a stranger on an airplane sends Elyse Bearden into an emotional tailspin. Suddenly Elyse is willing to risk everything: her safe but stale marriage, her seemingly perfect life in an affluent Southern suburb, and her position in the community. She finds herself cutting through all the instincts that say "no" and instead lets "yes" happen. As Elyse embarks on a risky affair, her longtime friend Kelly and the other women in their book club begin to question their own decisions about love, sex, marriage, and freedom.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kim Wright has been writing about travel, food, and wine for more than twenty years for many magazines including Wine Spectator, Self, Travel & Leisure, and Vogue, and has twice won the Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing. She is the food and wine editor for Charlotte Taste. She has written the annual Fodor's Walt Disney World with Kids for 18 years and also writes erotica. This is her first novel. Kim lives in Charlotte, NC.INTERVIEW WITH KIM WRIGHT:
1. Welcome to BOOKIN' WITH BINGO, Kim Wright, author of LOVE IN MID AIR. To start, can you tell us a little something about yourself?
I've been a food, wine, and travel writer for 25 years but Love in Mid Air(www.loveinmidair.com) is my first novel.
When I got divorced fifteen years ago the strangest things began happening to me. Women I barely knew - women I would have assumed were happily married if I'd stopped to think about it at all - started flagging me down in the supermarket and darkly muttering about their own discontents. It was like though my own marital failure, I became the person it was okay to confess to, the one who wouldn't judge them. My journals from that time in my life became the basis of Love in Mid Air. Of course, a lot of years had to pass before I got the perspective to turn all these stories into a novel.
2. What is the next or current book/project you are working on?
I've developed a furious passion for ballroom dance and I'm presently working on a novel set in a suburban dance studio. It's got love, sex, revenge, passion, tango - the works.
3. What have you just finished reading?
The new Alice Munro short story collection. She's fabulous.
4. What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out?
Probably growing up I was most influenced by Moby Dick and Heart of Darkness. It wasn't just the adventure aspects, it was the first-person voice and the idea that someone had been through this gut-wrenching, life-changing experience and now they were telling you about it. That's the effect I'm always going for in my own writing...like you're sitting across the cafe table from a friend and she reaches over, grabs your wrist, and says "You wouldn't believe what happened to me last night."
5. What gets you started on a new book? A character or story idea or….?
For me, it's almost always an image. An image that has enough force to become a symbol. When I was writing Love in Mid Air, I kept imagining the sound of breaking pottery - of things falling and shattering and my main character Elyse, trying to create something new out of the broken pieces. It seemed a pretty good metaphor for divorce. In the new book the image of dance shoes came to me. They're so impractical with their high heels and suede bottoms and they're so feminine and expensive and whimsical that I think it's hard for your average woman to picture herself owning and wearing something like that. But my main character Abby puts on the dance shoes and it's sort of a Cinderella moment. The shoes have the power to change how she sees herself, and ultimately her life.
6. What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?
I walk around the house talking to my characters. And I dream about them. It's a freaky aspect of being a novelist that I wasn't prepared for, even though my fiction writing friends had tried to warn me that at some point the people you're writing become "realer" than the people you actually know.
7. What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?
Do whatever you can to meet other writers. Go to conferences, join a critique group, find them on line. You'll need to network when it's time to find an agent and sell your book but, even more importantly, you need people to give you feedback and solace as you're going through the process. Most writers are far too isolated.
8. What is something you would like to share with us about writing your favorite genre in general?
Fiction is all about voice. I believe in the end, voice matters more than plot or characterization or theme or anything else. I read every line I write aloud. When I'm reading other people's novels, I often pause and read lines aloud. There has to be a certain rhythm to the words. It should sound like someone is really talking to you - it's a nuanced, sympathetic, honest voice that pulls the reader in and makes them care.
1. Welcome to BOOKIN' WITH BINGO, Kim Wright, author of LOVE IN MID AIR. To start, can you tell us a little something about yourself?
I've been a food, wine, and travel writer for 25 years but Love in Mid Air(www.loveinmidair.com) is my first novel.
When I got divorced fifteen years ago the strangest things began happening to me. Women I barely knew - women I would have assumed were happily married if I'd stopped to think about it at all - started flagging me down in the supermarket and darkly muttering about their own discontents. It was like though my own marital failure, I became the person it was okay to confess to, the one who wouldn't judge them. My journals from that time in my life became the basis of Love in Mid Air. Of course, a lot of years had to pass before I got the perspective to turn all these stories into a novel.
2. What is the next or current book/project you are working on?
I've developed a furious passion for ballroom dance and I'm presently working on a novel set in a suburban dance studio. It's got love, sex, revenge, passion, tango - the works.
3. What have you just finished reading?
The new Alice Munro short story collection. She's fabulous.
4. What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out?
Probably growing up I was most influenced by Moby Dick and Heart of Darkness. It wasn't just the adventure aspects, it was the first-person voice and the idea that someone had been through this gut-wrenching, life-changing experience and now they were telling you about it. That's the effect I'm always going for in my own writing...like you're sitting across the cafe table from a friend and she reaches over, grabs your wrist, and says "You wouldn't believe what happened to me last night."
5. What gets you started on a new book? A character or story idea or….?
For me, it's almost always an image. An image that has enough force to become a symbol. When I was writing Love in Mid Air, I kept imagining the sound of breaking pottery - of things falling and shattering and my main character Elyse, trying to create something new out of the broken pieces. It seemed a pretty good metaphor for divorce. In the new book the image of dance shoes came to me. They're so impractical with their high heels and suede bottoms and they're so feminine and expensive and whimsical that I think it's hard for your average woman to picture herself owning and wearing something like that. But my main character Abby puts on the dance shoes and it's sort of a Cinderella moment. The shoes have the power to change how she sees herself, and ultimately her life.
6. What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?
I walk around the house talking to my characters. And I dream about them. It's a freaky aspect of being a novelist that I wasn't prepared for, even though my fiction writing friends had tried to warn me that at some point the people you're writing become "realer" than the people you actually know.
7. What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?
Do whatever you can to meet other writers. Go to conferences, join a critique group, find them on line. You'll need to network when it's time to find an agent and sell your book but, even more importantly, you need people to give you feedback and solace as you're going through the process. Most writers are far too isolated.
8. What is something you would like to share with us about writing your favorite genre in general?
Fiction is all about voice. I believe in the end, voice matters more than plot or characterization or theme or anything else. I read every line I write aloud. When I'm reading other people's novels, I often pause and read lines aloud. There has to be a certain rhythm to the words. It should sound like someone is really talking to you - it's a nuanced, sympathetic, honest voice that pulls the reader in and makes them care.
First novel for Author Kim Wright, LOVE IN MID AIR, is the stuff our secret dreams are made of…or perhaps our nightmares depending on your place in life right now. What woman hasn’t looked at a person on television or in movies, or at work, or even someone sitting next to them on a plane and fantasized about what being with that person would be like? Elyse Bearden lives out this fantasy and actually made me wonder if people who have these thoughts might want to reconsider.
Elyse lives a comfortable life in the suburbs in the south where she is well known and respected and would seem to have an idyllic marriage. However, as we first read about Elyse, we understand that her marriage is stagnant and she is bored with it all. Her daily activities are robotic and routine. Her friends look up to her and seek her advice….even after she begins her affair with Gerry!
This affair could be looked at as if it were fate that made it happen. Returning from a pottery show in Phoenix, she is asked to swap seats with someone on the plane so they can sit by their son and decent person that Elyse is, she agrees. Little does she know this change will be more than just a seat change, but a change of life as she knew it up until that point. The man she now sits next to is attractive and as they begin to talk, an attraction takes hold and before she knows it, Elyse is involved in an affair.
It didn’t take much to push Elyse away from her husband, Phil. He appears to be a nice guy but their marriage is boring and dull. He is a good father but is he still a good husband…a good lover? He lives a monotonous life and that includes his daily interaction with his wife…yawn! BORING! Elyse goes as far as counseling to save her marriage but the lure of the unknown is very exciting. Her friends all think it is thrilling and pretty soon they start telling her how their own lives aren’t very stimulating and ask her for advice which rather sets her back a bit (as well as it did me).
Kim Wright, as you see in her interview, has been writing and traveling in her job for years and so when she was divorced several years ago, the friends who sought her out for advice gave her a lot of ideas for this story. You might say that is one reason the book reads so well is because it comes from personal experience. Then again, it may just be that Kim’s wonderful style of writing mesmerizes her readers and her memorable character studies turn a familiar theme into a exceedingly enjoyable novel. Her sense of humor also adds to the gravity of the theme and thus makes it a pleasurable read at the same time. I actually read it on a plane and well, sure, I’ll admit it! I looked around to see who was near me to wonder about….but alas, my luck was moms with babies, teens with lip rings, and an elderly gentlemen who reminded me of my father so that was as far as my fantasy went. Perhaps yours will be different after you read LOVE IN MID AIR!
GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
FIVE COPIES OF THIS INTERESTING
BOOK TO GIVE AWAY!
--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
HOW TO ENTER
6 PM, EST, APRIL 16!
GOOD LUCK!
THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
FIVE COPIES OF THIS INTERESTING
BOOK TO GIVE AWAY!
--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT LOVE IN MID AIR FROM THE SUMMARY AND REVIEW ABOVE
+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND THEN COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK
+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT AUTHOR KIM WRIGHT ABOVE IN HER INTERVIEW OR BY GOING TO HER WEBSITE HERE
GIVEAWAY ENDS AT+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND THEN COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK
+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT AUTHOR KIM WRIGHT ABOVE IN HER INTERVIEW OR BY GOING TO HER WEBSITE HERE
6 PM, EST, APRIL 16!
GOOD LUCK!
The participating Touring Blogs are:
March 29
http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com
http://www.thedmlibrary.blogspot.com
http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com
http://redladysreadingroom-redlady.blogspot.com/
http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com
http://www.rundpinne.com
http://buuklvr81.blogspot.com
March 30
http://www.luxuryreading.com
http://frugalplus.com/
http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/
http://therempels4.blogspot.com
http://www.froggaritasbookcase.net
http://www.foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com
http://www.popculturenerd.com
March 31
http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com
http://www.mgpblog.com
http://www.my-book-views.blogspot.com
http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/
http://www.bellasnovella.com
http://www.maryinhb.blogspot.com
www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com
http://www.bridget3420.blogspot.com
April 1
www.madhattermom.com
http://www.stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com
http://ilratb.blogspot.com
http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com
http://www.sharon54220.wordpress.com
http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com
http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.coom
http://memybookandthecouch.blogspot.com/
April 2
http://www.madeleineatbooksandphotos.com/
http://dixie-afewofmyfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
http://www.booknaround.blogspot.com
http://www.psychoticstate.blogspot.com
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com
http://www.inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com
http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com
http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com
http://www.thedmlibrary.blogspot.com
http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com
http://redladysreadingroom-redlady.blogspot.com/
http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com
http://www.rundpinne.com
http://buuklvr81.blogspot.com
March 30
http://www.luxuryreading.com
http://frugalplus.com/
http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/
http://therempels4.blogspot.com
http://www.froggaritasbookcase.net
http://www.foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com
http://www.popculturenerd.com
March 31
http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com
http://www.mgpblog.com
http://www.my-book-views.blogspot.com
http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/
http://www.bellasnovella.com
http://www.maryinhb.blogspot.com
www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com
http://www.bridget3420.blogspot.com
April 1
www.madhattermom.com
http://www.stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com
http://ilratb.blogspot.com
http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com
http://www.sharon54220.wordpress.com
http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com
http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.coom
http://memybookandthecouch.blogspot.com/
April 2
http://www.madeleineatbooksandphotos.com/
http://dixie-afewofmyfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
http://www.booknaround.blogspot.com
http://www.psychoticstate.blogspot.com
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com
http://www.inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com
http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com
53 comments:
I would like to win this book
I follow you on google
I have your button on my blog http://edna-myfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
mamat2730(at)charter(dot)net
It was interesting to hear about the author being approached in the supermarket by other women whose marriages were suffering. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
I enjoyed the review greatly. By learning about the author's own experience with divorce she incorporated this into her novel. It sounds great. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
Hi Bingo!
Thanks so much for hosting me on the site and for your great review! This blog tour has been a tremendous adventure and a great chance to chat with readers and potential readers...and your interview questions were intriguing and fun to anwer.
Kim
I like the storyline of meeting someone on a flight. I did that once and we dated for about 6 months.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I really enjoyed Kim's writing, too. She is an author to watch out for! No need to enter me.
Women started telling her their marital woes while she was shopping??? I barely talk to anyone.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Who can't resist a book that shows what REALLY happens when we give in to fantasy! Sounds really good.
Thanks,
Colleen
candc320@gmail.com
I found it interesting in the author interview that Love in Mid Air came from her own experiences after her divorce. Seems funny that people with THEN confess to you their shortcoming, but I can beleive it!
Thanks,
Colleen
candc320@gmail.com
I HAVE to read this book!! I happen to live in the same city as Ms. Wright and I am dying to see if I recognize anyone in her book!! Please enter me in this giveaway....
It's fasinating to find that the story began as a plane ride and the woman was asked to change seats. This happens in so many ways when unexpected things happen and you are thrown in a new direction where things can happen.
I would love to read Love in Mid Air. Pls enter me in the giveaway.
misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com
I am a follower via google
I follow via twitter(@misskallie2000)
misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com
I find it interesting that Kim was
a food, wine, and travel writer for 25 years and never wrote a book until now.
misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com
I tweeted (@misskallie2000)
RT 4-2-10
relientkenny RT @weekinrewind NEW UPDATE: Apple iPad Giveaway!: Movie Reviews, Trailers, Photos, Posters, News, Giveaways | Week in … http://ow.ly/1qtBjB
4:21 PM Mar 31st via TweetMeme
Retweeted by you
misskalllie2000 at yahoo dot com
How nice of you, Kim, to stop by. I think your book was a fun read and look forward to the next book you come out with. I know my followers will want to win a copy and your interview was super and so easy for me to do...I thank you.
"Bingo"
Herena,
My template was made by THAT BLOG PLACE and their link is in my right hand column. She is really good about taking a description of what you want and producing it. Her fee is REALLY reasonable and I highly recommend her. Hope that helps.
"Bingo"
Herena,
My template was made by THAT BLOG PLACE and their link is in my right hand column. She is really good about taking a description of what you want and producing it. Her fee is REALLY reasonable and I highly recommend her. Hope that helps.
"Bingo"
I think it's fascinating that the author was a food, wine, and travel writer for 25 years before writing this, her first novel.
melacan at hotmail dot com
I often find myself saying "what if"...This book looks like it examines the what if in that the potential becomes actual for Elyse. Sounds like a great read.
melacan at hotmail dot com
It's interesting how someone's life can look so perfect from the outside, and so different in actuality. Interesting also how a chance encounter can change the path of one's life.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com
I found it amusing that the author will talk to her characters in her head, and they will actually become more real than live people.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DO com
I found her advice for writers to reach out and network to be very useful. I do feel isolated, there is only one writing group in my area, and it is an hour away. The internet has been a great way to meet wonderful new authors and of course, find and read great new books.
From the review, I liked the fact that this book had some real life elements to me. I'm a huge sucker for memoirs, but I already want to read this book just because it takes place in the air. I was a former flight attendant, and while working I never "fell in love" but, it is amazing the offers you get and what you see happening high in the sky. And, I once met a man on a plane and we feel in lust with one another, but never did anything about it, which made it even more enjoyable. Sigh. Oh, to be single, skinny, and in my 20s again ...
I think it interesting that her life so suddenly changed after a plane ride!
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
The fact that she walks around the house and talks to them and dreams about them makes me think she puts a lot into her books to make them interesting.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
I think that acting on such a short meeting could happen but not sure I believe it could work out the majority of the time
anjamie4 AT gmail DOT com
I like the fact that the author acknowleges taking ideas from real life. She must be an upfront woman to have her advice mean alot to her friends.
Love & Hugs.
Pam
pk4290@comcast.net
Kate was selected as an August pick of a huge internet book club.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290@comcast.net
I find it interesting that she tells others of her affair
mstlee2000 @ hotmail.com
I think it is interesting that the author gets her ideas for writing through images
mstlee2000 @ hotmail.com
I thought it was interesting the way her friends thought this was thrilling and asked for advice
tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com
tweeted--alterlisa
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/2010/04/love-in-mid-air-blog-tour-author.html
alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/
blogged about giveaway
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-memes-415-430.html
alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/
I liked the authors metaphor for divorce "imagining the sound of breaking pottery - of things falling and shattering and my main character Elyse, trying to create something new out of the broken pieces."
alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/
I liked your comment "I actually read it on a plane and well, sure, I’ll admit it! I looked around to see who was near me to wonder about….but alas, my luck was moms with babies, teens with lip rings, and an elderly gentlemen who reminded me of my father so that was as far as my fantasy went."
Yeap, that would be the type I'd encounter too so thank goodness no need to look. But, no harm in it either :)
alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/
I like the fact that someone is brave enough to take a chance
It cracked me up when you said you read this on a plane. What perfect reading material for a long flight!
AlexDean03@yahoo.com
With all her amazing credits, I was surprised to learn this isher first novel.
AlexDean03@yahoo.com
This book sounds very interesting. would love to read it and her perspective on divorce. Tore923@aol.com
This sounds like a really good read! I would love to win a copy! Please enter me.
Something that I found interesting in your review of the book was something that kind of made me chuckle! I liked that you said you read it while flying, and actually looked around! From what you saw when you looked around....sounds like we have the same kind of luck!!
lovemykidsandbooks AT gmail DOT com
I love how through a random act of kindness Elise enters into an affair
dmkayes@gmail.com
I love that Ms. Wright's new book is about dancing!
dmkayes@gmail.com
I found the insight interesting that sometimes, when we live out our dreams, we may wish to re-consider. :) joleehamlin@comcast.net
I found int interesting that she is reading Alice Munro's short stories. joleehamlin@comcast.net
I like the idea (for a book) of wondering what it would be like to meeting a complete stranger and striking up a relationship with them.
debp
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
"It should sound like someone is really talking to you - it's a nuanced, sympathetic, honest voice that pulls the reader in and makes them care." --Kim Wright
I really like how she worded this! I agree that this takes a good book and makes it great!
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Tweet! Tweet!
http://twitter.com/NancyeDavis/status/12128572268
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Kim starts a new book by seeing "An image that has enough force to become a symbol." Pretty cool!
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
I find it interesting what a twist of fate on a plane ride can bring to your life.
dawnpnr at aol dot com
Tweet
http://twitter.com/dawnpnr/status/12133589423
dawnpnr at aol dot com
I find it interesting that she has been a food, wine, and travel writer for 25 years but this is her first novel. I would have assumed she had written a novel already based on those facts.
dawnpnr at aol dot com
I follow on gfc/blogger.
misusedinnocence@aol.com
I've never understood the idea of affairs at all, so I'm interested in reading this, just to see if I can finally understand a characters motivation for such an action.
misusedinnocence@aol.com
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