FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Yeah, another mountain conquered! Kudos for wearing the mantle of your successes lightly.

For those of us who do not come to public speaking naturally, your description brings back many memories. Good job , Kristin. I, too, can't wait to see the video.

What delightful synchronicity - my birthday, Paris and being in Kristin Espinasse's audience - à la fois!

Bravo chère Kristin. Intelligence, beauté et charme...c'est toi.

Kristin,
Your comments about being sweaty seemed to be a very normal acknowledgement of the importance of the event! I could easily see myself with a runny nose and red ears if I'd been in your shoes. I think that what endears you to so many of us is that your writings make us feel like friends. You had an audience full of those friends Monday night!

Hi Kristin,
Great job and I can't wait to see the video. I too am not a natural public speaker and my heart pounds, I shake and feel like I will just pass out right on the spot. Be proud of yourself for going ahead and doing it anyway. I am sure your natural charm and warmth shone through and nobody noticed that you were nervous!

We are SO sad to have missed you. In fact to have postponed the trip due to the strike and weather. You look radiant with the lights reflected behind you. No one could suspect there was a choir of inner voices! Rather you have this following of supportive readers who wait for each thoughtful post. Well done! jan

I was a theater major in college and had several speech classes. From the easiest kind where I just said my name and a sentence or two about me, to delivering a 35 minute speech. It was as nerve-wracking as you describe, and I made errors, and literally fell on my face as my heel caught on the cuff of my pants while stepping onto the stage.

you cannot be a weak person to give a speech. you get better with good subject notes on index cards and rehearsal. Taping yourself and perhaps video taping your speech is the best way to catch the ums and ahs and personal "tic" habits that we all have.

You did fine! better than fine, excellent! and the other comments are dead on...you were in a room of friends. Your personality was warm and charming and no one was judging you on your drippy nose. Take a handkerchief with you and not a paper tissue. Just watch other "professional" speakers, they are wiping and drinking and fidgeting all the time. so if you did any of those things, you are in good company. don't be hard on yourself, you have something to offer and your fans want to hear it, read it and see it.
best to you and Jean Marc.
M

The picture of you standing next to an F Scott Fitzgerald poster, who held forth at Shakespeare and Co., is priceless. I think today's passage would have been comfortable in one of his novels.

You slayed that dragon, Kristin and we were all in your supportive army! Thanks for the ongoing, completely natural ease with which you described it all!

Thanks Kristin for carrying my thoughts to Shakespeare and Company with you. I know it's not the original Shakespeare and Company, but close enough for me.
In an interview on PBS last year, the comedian Steve Martin said that in his early days he worried about the audience not laughing at his jokes, but when that started to happen he got used to it. Bookings never dipped, and eventually he became somewhat famous for not being funny. He was okay with that. Eventually he got out of the business by not accepting bookings. As Lewis Carroll said, 'It's a funny kind of memory that only works backwards.'

Kristin,

Well done. I think this was one of your best pieces. As I read it, I was standing there with you. What a gift you have for words.

I wish I could join Suzanne in Brooklyn when Jean-Marc is there. I guess I will just have to wait until September in Provence. Not a bad thing to wait for!

Margaret in semi-spring Durham, NC. That could all change tomorrow!

I am laughing at the mental image of Kristin sniffing a Sharpie. Thanks, Karen. Can't wait to see the video.

Bravo, brava, kudos, whatever! You deserve them all. I too love your desaxe photo of "cott Fitzgerald" and half of Kristin and a peak of Notre Dame. Memories for a lifetime were made that night!
Jeanne in Ohio

Your words are lovely, and so vivid! I wish I could have been there to hear you in person, you have a magnificent style.
Barbara Epplett, Eugene, Oregon

just joined your site.just what the doctor ordered to re-kindle my efforts to learn french after procrastinating for so long.

Dear Kristin, your recounting tale made me cry. I suffer from the same disease, and I know what it takes to get over it. It takes courage, and you have that in great abundance. I can't wait for the video. Congratulations. You looked wonderful, by the way. Linda in AZ

The way you transcribe the voices in the back of your head is really charming. Your audience is transfixed by your apparently successful struggle with the demons of stage fright, all while bringing us along on your journey. Bon courage as you forge ahead.

What a beautiful composition -- the wonderful poster to the left of the picture frame -- Scott Fitzgerald --hinting at being in a book lovers -literary circle in a salon In the middle starry light reflection through the window with hints of Paris - the Notre Dame, and the rippling River Seine below,
And then (you) Kristen, the main attraction for the evening,

How Simply Divine,
Joanny

Kristin, as long as we live we will get "butterflies." I think sometimes this happens in new situations. I have been "on stage" in various ways over the years, but a couple of weeks ago got a bad case of nerves when I was a "room supervisor" for standardized testing. I had a roomful of hgh-school students taking tests that could affect their entrance to college. They had to be perfectly timed, materials handed out and collected in the exact same order, and so on and so forth. I'd never done it before, had no real training, my ride to the place was late, etc. etc. But as soon as I started, I just took it page by page and test by test.

I've found - and I think you discovered with your speech at Shakespeare and Co. - that if we focus on what we have to do, or say, or sing - our presentation - we can think about that, and not about ourselves, runny nose or whatever. It is truly a milestone that you were able to keep talking in the midst of seeking a hankie and avoiding microphone cords. Now that you know you can do it, you will have more confidence for the next time.

They say you can pick a person in the audience and speak to him/her - but before long, you will be addressing the whole group.

Regardless of whether the video images are desaxe, I'm sure your friends in Le Coin Commentaires will be eagerly awaiting your speech. I know I am.

I don't know where to begin to tell you how much I enjoy this site. In the short period of time that I've been a member, I have an incredible sense of enjoyment. Thank you very much for bring this site to our lives.

Merci for sharing these special times with us; I feel like I was there in the back row! I used to speak at real estate conferences and once when I was ill prepared, I totally lost my train of thought during the speech and had to start all over again; I thought I would die right then, but the audience was so forgiving.
Your audience was as delighted as we are!

Newforest: Thanks so much for the helpful vocabulary today. I love the formality of the way the French refer to a joke. And I can not wait to use "Mouche-toi!" on my son instead of shoving the tissue box in his face. :o')

Saturday afternoon, 6th March 2010
from the South of England,
opposite the Isle of Wight,
heavy sky,
first daffodils bravely smiling,
sky trying to get through as I am typing...

Hello everyone,

I just read Nadine's post... and would like to say that, before thinking about Kristin's next event at "La Librairie Shakespeare & Co", go and have a look NOW at the most inspiring photo taken in front of it last Monday. Kristin would be too humble to say it's one of the most beautiful photo of herself. It is the last photo of the gallery. It says everything about her smile and her dream - and more! You've got to see it. Look also at the one before last, showing the delightful shopwindow announcing her talk, then go back again to the last photo, and you will appreciate it even more.

Robin Katsaros,
Thanks for the photos in the last 2 newsletters, but more particularly, for that marvellous photo of Kristin shown today in Cinéma Vérité ... and bless you for the fantastic message about 'Life' painted on the walls in your Paris apartment.
The message can now be shared by all of us, thanks to the photo taken by Kristin and offered in Cinéma Vérité today. Un très très grand merci.

Karen, I can hear you saying to your son:
"Mouche-toi",
"Allez mouche-toi!"
"Voilà ..."

Sun still trying very hard - on and off - but more often off than on... Just now, back to a light grey sky... Byyyyye!

I agree, Newforest. If there are readers who have not subscribed to Cinema Veriti, I have to say that they are missing out. I love getting that special format from Kristin as it takes us many more steps closer to life in France through Kristin's eye. Many Saturdays, I'll look at the photos over and over throughout the day and just dream. And then on Saturdays - like today - it feels like I'm seeing A Day in the Life of Kristin - which is always a pleasure to experience.

I want to be Kristin when I grow up! :-)

Seriously, congratulations on overcoming such a fear of public speaking. That is awesome! I wish we lived close enough to pop over to Paris to hear you talk!

Exactement, Newforest.

I was very happy to meet your husband tonight at Cleveland Park Wines in Washington. His wine dealer told me all about how healthy his wines are. I bought a case of the dentelles, which is very nice. I think I remember these mountains when we were in Provence. The rose is very nice too. I was glad to have this opportunity.

Take care. I love your writing.

Douglas