Thank you so very much, Barbara, for inviting me to be a part of Book Talk today. On good 'ol Friday the 13th!
I’m excited to be a part of this fun community and would like to say “hey there!” to all your readers, and send out a thank you for dropping by.
Before I share my piece I’ve prepared for Book Talk, I’d like to introduce myself.
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| Author Savannah Page |
I’m Savannah Page, a self-published indie author living in Berlin, Germany. I’m originally from sunny southern California, but somehow I wound up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for college. And even more strangely, I met my German husband in Oklahoma. He was doing a study abroad thing in the U.S., I happened to work in the study abroad office… Short story: We met. Fell in love. Got married. Then about two and a half years ago my husband was offered a job in Berlin so off we went! Adventure in store!
Now I’m an American expat living in Germany’s capital and I absolutely love it! When I’m not working at my day job blogging for a dear friend and florist from Tulsa, I’m writing. I wrote and self-published my first book last year, Bumped to Berlin—a personal narrative-style book about my expatriate every-day-life adventures over here. It was truly a 100% indie endeavor and I’m looking forward to actually rolling out a revised, 2nd edition some point this year, hopefully. And, I recently self-published When Girlfriends Break Hearts, my first chick lit, or, contemporary women’s fiction piece.
So without further ado here’s my piece for Book Talk. I hope you enjoy!
Friday the 13th: Are You Friggatriskaidekaphobic?
Friday the 13th. What does that even mean? And, does it even mean anything other than a simple denotation of a day and a date of any given week and month?
As I always do when I have a question about some mild topic that I don’t think requires much vehement research, I head on over to Wikipedia—usually “googling” the word or phrase or question and finding myself at, you guessed it, Wikipedia.
According to this thinks-it-knows-it-all site, “Friday the 13th” is only labeled as a superstitious day because long ago some scaredy cat decided that Friday was an “unlucky day,” and an even more scaredy cat decided that the number thirteen was to be deemed an “unlucky number.”
And, a fun little factoid to add to this Wikipedia search: What do you call the fear of Friday the 13th? Friggatriskaidekaphobia (Yikes! I’m scared of the phobia’s name!)
You know what I have to say to Friggatriskaidekaphobia? I say, “Isn’t every day Friday the 13th?” As in, “Isn’t it every day that I have something freaky happening to me?” At least something that leaves me scratching my head, going, “Why me? Why-oh-why me?”
See, I’m what the Germans call a Tollpatsch. That’s just a funny-sounding word for a klutz—an accident-prone woman who has her head in the clouds half the time and forgets all about the concept of depth perception and attention to one’s surroundings. And what do I say to Tollpatsch? I say, “I’m a writer. It’s what I do.”
I stub my toes on the furniture not because the furniture magically moves. (Seriously; toys may come alive, but not furniture. Toys do because Toy Story should have all taught us what we considered as children. Our dolls and Slinkies and army men do indeed have lives of their own when we’re not watching.)
I hit my head on the open kitchen cupboards not because I forgot I opened them before I decided something on the floor suddenly deserved my attention.
I slam my fingers in drawers not because my reflexes are slow.
I trip over sidewalk cracks, I bump my shoulder on door frames, I run into the edge of the bed not because I’m a dope. (All right, I guess sometimes that argument could be made.)
No, I’m a Tollpastch doing tollpatschig things because I’m a writer and my head is often in some alternate universe. I’d like to think I’m a pretty self-conscious and aware person. Always look left, right, then left again before crossing the street and always hand knives and scissors pointing in the correct position. But oftentimes I’m just so caught up in my little make believe world that I forget about those corners and coffee tables and doors.
Currently, my head is off in Seattle watching/writing the lives of six amazing women unfold as they deal with some dramatic, some fun, and some life-altering experiences together. My recent novel and first chick lit, When Girlfriends Break Hearts, is the first in what I’m planning to be a six- or seven-book series. It’s about a band of best mates—six amazing women—who found friendship with one another in college and are still, years and years later, great friends.
They have their ups, their downs, their dramatic moments and their blasé times, their battles and their peacetime. They have their lives and they’re all inextricably entwined. They have their stories and each one must be told so, that’s precisely what I’m doing. And I’m having a blast (and doing tollpatschig things) doing it.
Sometimes, as many writers I am sure can attest, I get so caught up in my fictitious characters and their fictitious worlds that I actually forget that these people are not real. They’re figments of my imagination. But the best thing is that I get to breathe into life these “people,” these stories, via the written word. It’s been my dream for years to be a writer and thanks so self-publishing, this indie author world, and each and every reader out there who picks up a self-published book from a no-name writer like myself, I am able to do what I love and (the best part) I get to share it!
I’m currently working on the second installment of my When Girlfriends series and boy-oh-boy does it have my head 5,000 miles away from Berlin (or 8,100 kilometres if you wish) and over in Seattle. The drama is juicy, the storyline is fresh, the characters are becoming more and more developed, the dialogue is a blast to write, re-read, and even edit, and, well, golly-jee-willackers, I’m just delighted to share it with you this autumn!
Until then, I’ll have to leave you with the first installment, When Girlfriends Break Hearts, if you wish. And I’ll be getting back to the drawing board (yup, actually have one—but I guess it should be called a writing board with a bunch of arrows and chicken scratch scrawled on it). And I guess I best keep a lookout for all those oopsies that always happen to me, regardless of the day or date, because my head is constantly off in Creative Writing Land.
Friday the 13th: Have you got me in your clutches today? Why naturally! As you do every day.
Here’s to a fabulous Friday, and 13th of the month to everyone, Friggatriskaidekaphobics and the rest of you!
A novel about the bonds of friendship, the power of forgiveness, and the lessons you learn when you let go. Available on in paperback on Amazon and e-book on Kindle.
Sophie Wharton doesn’t like losing control, especially of her life. She’s always been the girl who’s kept it together—the girl with a charming boyfriend, a lively social life, and plans to start her own bakery. Life is great for Sophie a few years out of college in Seattle…or so she thinks. Then a series of events start to turn Sophie’s perfectly ordered world upside down. After three years, her boyfriend suddenly decides to call it quits. Her close camaraderie of girlfriends is starting to fall apart. Secrets are exposed. And when she thinks things couldn’t get any worse, Sophie learns that one of her friends is fighting a devastating battle. Now living with her best friend Claire, Sophie struggles with learning to forgive or forget those who break hearts, while trying to accept that there are some situations she cannot control. But is there still a light at the end of the tunnel? Can a girl find the “good” in the “bad”?
This is a heartfelt story about what happens when friendships take different paths and when life doesn’t exactly go according to plan. It’s a story about betrayal, forgiveness, acceptance, and letting go. About what happens when girlfriends break hearts.
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