Peeking Between the Pages

...escape into the pages of a good book

Guest Post with Kim Wright, author of Love in Mid Air & Giveaway

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Welcome to Peeking Between the Pages Kim!  I read Kim’s debut novel Love in Mid Air and reviewed it yesterday (my review).  I enjoyed it.  It’s an honest and real look at a woman looking at options for herself whether it be divorce or just changing her life.  Kim has joined us today to share some thoughts on how she transitioned from a food and travel writer into a novelist…

People sometimes ask me how I transitioned from a food and travel writer into a novelist…which is too long and winding a story to report, so I usually just tell them that my nonfiction life and fiction life merge more often than I would have guessed.

Travel writers have lots of experience describing settings and place and that’s useful in a novel too. My debut novel, Love in Mid Air, is set in the South and you have to stop and really think about it to avoid falling into southern place cliches. It’s not all maganolias and marsh! And I’m always a little amazed by how often food works its way into my fiction. I can’t seem to resist telling readers what my characters are eating. (A writer friend of mine who is part owner of a dress shop has the same compulsion to describe her character’s clothes in detail.) My character Elyse hosts a Christmas party at one point in the book and I trot through the whole menu.

It’s funny because as the book has gotten closer to its pub date several of my friends have offered to hostess events such as book clubs and wine parties to help me along my way. Maybe it’s just because foodies tend to hang out with other foodies or maybe it’s because I went into such extreme detail about dinners in the book, but a couple of them are actually reproducing “recipes” from the book to serve at these parties. One sainted friend is recreating the entire Christmas dinner and another is taking the more whimsical route of serving “airplane food” right down to foil wrapped pretzels and little drink bottles in honor of the book’s first chapter. The running joke is that my next book is going to be Love in Mid Air II: The Cookbook.



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.
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Thanks so much for joining us at Peeking Between the Pages Kim!  I wish you luck in all your future endeavors and look forward to your next novel!

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have 5 copies of Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright to share with you courtesy of Miriam with Hachette Book Group.  To enter…

  • For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
  • For 2 entries follow my blog.  If you already do, please just let me know in your comment.
  • For 3 entries blog or tweet this giveaway.

This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) as the books will be mailed out directly from the publisher.  I will draw for the winners on Saturday, April 24, 2010.  Good luck to you all!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Please enter me!
    +1 – I follow your blog on Google reader.

    Thanks for hosting the giveaway!

  4. I had no idea that Kim was a travel writer! I love the idea of a cookbook – she should go for it. No need to enter me.

  5. Although hist. fict. is my favorite genre, I freguently enjoy a comtemporary 'chick lit' especially novels w/ southern women. Thanks for the giveaway.

    And I am a follower.

    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com

  9. I've seen different reviews on this book. Would love a chance to decide for myself. Thanks.

    freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca

  15. Very cute guest post! I'd love a chance to win this book, so please enter me in your wonderful giveaway! I have been reading good things about it!

    zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net

    I am also o follower of your blog!

  16. Great sounding book and I would love to read. I think that she went from food for the body to food for the soul, sorta. LOL
    Thanks for the opportunity to enter.

    I follow via GFC

    misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com

  20. No need to enter me for the giveaway because I'm not eligible but just thought I'd say hi to you and the author! I've enjoyed the various reviews by book bloggers and already placed a pre-order with Amazon for its Kindle edition. 😀

  21. This looks like a good one. Please enter me for it..

    I follow on google friend connect.

    mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

  22. This sounds great. Please enter me in the drawing

    I'm a follower.

    forwhlz at gmail dot com

  23. Thanks for the interest, everyone. I've loved virtually meeting readers through this blog tour and I hope that those of you who do read the book enjoy it!

  24. I love the idea of recreating certain foods or meals from a book for a book club meeting – brilliant idea!

    + follower

    melacan at hotmail dot com

  25. I think it would be great if books that have a lot of food in them also included recipes…some of those dishes make your mouth water with how they are described.

    I'd love to be entered to win this book.

    i follow as usual…and I will post this giveaway in my sidebar.

    savvyverseandwit at gmail

  30. I'd really like to read this book. Thanks.

    I am a follower.

    pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

  42. Hi. It's interesting how sometimes chance encounters can make a significant impact on people's lives. I like the premise of the book and would love to read it.
    polo-puppy-fluffy[at]hotmail[dot]com

  47. Would love to read this book… Please accept this as my entry. Thank you!

    Aliya D.
    aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca

  48. Please enter me into this one! I've read some great reviews!

    jonitathebookchick(at)gmail(dot)com

  54. I enjoyed learning about Kim Wright's love of life, the foods in her fiction.

    I have blogged about the giveaway in my sidebar.

    teakettle58(at)yahoo(dot)com

  60. I am a bit of a foodie myself, I would love to read a novel that also includes food related details… two for one! 😛

    teagirl1 at telus dot net

  67. I am a follower.

    librarypat AT comcast DOT net

    At one time or another, we all question our lives and the paths we have chosen. Some things we can act upon to change and others really are better left alone. This should be an interesting book.

  68. now I'm hungry! Argggg….
    enter me please: adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

    yes – I'm a new follower