Title alert! Under A Tuscan Spell. The Artist's tale.

What's in the title? As an artist I'm usually pretty intuitive about finding titles for my paintings and composing them has become a part of my artistic ritual: the final flourish, the artist's statement, nailing it down in a phrase and signing off on the painting.

However, I've been finding it unusually hard to intuit the definitive title for my memoir.  Yellow Ochre, Brushing off Fate, Still life with Sunflowers, coming back to Flight of Faith, the original title and a sentimental favourite with a good tie in to the book, but somehow sounding too ecclesiastical (see previous post). So... announcing the latest manifestation: Under A Tuscan Spell. The Artist's tale.

Cortona

Now this a deliberate take on Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, but one I feel justified in making because we are both writing about same time and place, and not just trying to piggy back on her success but adding a completely fresh perspective to the story. I thought her book was well written and enjoyed the read (bitterly disappointed by the film) but felt slightly irked by her shadowy portrayal of actual life in Cortona. Believe me, it is an amazing place (was?). Readdressing the balance was one of the reasons that motivated me to write- to put the Cortona of the 80's and 90's that I knew back onto centre stage.

And where am I regards finding a publisher? Well, moving slowly, no scatter-gun approach, trying to tailor my queries and target Literary agents and Publishers one by one. I have done my home work and am resigned to the long haul, all the time praying for that magic to happen, when events unfold smoothly, synchronistically, along the path of least resistance!

The tally so far: deemed refusals from 2 publishers and 2 literary agent. Contacted 3 authors, including Ms Mayes and David Malouf -no response.  I know David because he lived in Tuscany and figures in the memoir so I have sent him a hard copy of the ms, but am not sure if his address is still current because I haven't seen him for ten years.

Don't you hate that? When you don't hear back and are left wondering if your missive ever arrived? Like emails, you can never be 100% sure if the no-reply is deliberate or completely innocent and you have to weigh up whether or not to re-send. I have a friend who thinks he has resolved the problem with an email application that lets him know if his email has been opened. The annoying thing as the recipient is that you are obliged to click on a link in the body of the email in order to read his message.

What I have learnt today: despondency only leads to defeat. And recently I heard this one: it's not a question of give and take but rather give and give.