Unexpected in Brooklyn: A Brooklyn Writer Explores

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In Search of the American Dream: A Brooklyn Writer Wishes for a House

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

On the coldest day in several years, January 6, 2018, with the temp at approx 4 degrees F and the wind chill sending the temp to -20 degrees, I happened to be in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

I did not expect to see stunning brick mansions, one after the other, on President Street. 

The sun was going down behind buildings on the opposite side of the street. But isn't this house glorious?

These places are big: baronial.

I bet it's got beautiful rooms, with wainscoting, wood floors, beautiful proportions, high ceilings.

Those bricks were warmer than the people that day.

Look at this huge house! I want it all for me and my family!!

Lovely brick details.

Best for last. Gimme! How about you? Would you like to live in a beautiful house? Comment below! 

A Brooklyn Writer's American Dream: To Write during a Blizzard

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An American Dream: See Brooklyn in a Blizzard
By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

Today I'm in North Carolina with my new grandson, and it's snowing in a way that this part of the country rarely sees. It's nearly a white-out outside and has been for hours. The snow will continue until late tonight. 

It reminds me of the blizzard we had 12 days ago in the Northeast. In Brooklyn, I went for walks in the blizzard and enjoyed seeing my neighborhood blurred and ambiguous behind curtains of snow.

The wind blew snow between the bricks in the pre-war apartment buildings of my neighborhood.

I would have preferred being the only person out walking, but that never seems to be possible in crowded Brooklyn.

Aaah, I almost have Prospect Park all to myself.

But no, a jogger in red Santa Claus tights...

A cross-country skier...

The grass under these shade trees would be mobbed with family picnics if it were summer. Now it seems as though I am alone....

But no, they're plowing the ring road around the park. Then my phone/camera died in objection to being out in all weather. 

But I have one more pic for you anyway, me holding a book I'd written, with my name on it, for the first time ever.

A Brooklyn Writer's Dream: To Live and Write in Paris

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Brooklyn, I Left My Heart in Paris

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

Aspiring writers, I aspired for 30 years to not have to juggle earning a living and writing.

And my dream came true. I got a one-year creative writing sabbatical in Paris. I extended it for 3 months by signing up to be a nanny in Barcelona.

I wrote the first draft of a novel in that time and began revising: click on the cover to your right to read a sample. 

You could do a writing sabbatical, too. My Higher Power orchestrated events, and I leapt at the opportunity when it presented itself. I didn't have anything more than that influencing events on my side. 

PS: If you like my blog, would you Retweet the tweet that brought you here? Thanks!

The Pont Des Artes, before the chain link fence was covered with sheets of plywood, as it is now.  I used this scene in The Paris Writers Circle to portray a divorce--an unravelling of a love relationship, a hole left in one's life.

This is a picture of the Institut de France and the Pont des Artes. This kind of beauty is everywhere in Paris.

To be honest, I'm not sure which church this is. But isn't it glorious? There are buildings like this all through Paris and throughout France. A patrimony of architecture. This is woven into The Paris Writers Circle as well.

A Brooklyn Writer's Dream: A Blizzard to Write In

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Writing in a Snowstorm

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

How cool, to write clearly while being ambiguous, as E.B. White said, in a snowstorm. And in Brooklyn, no less. All the millions of buildings and people are still here, and as real as ever, but they're ambiguous behind a curtain of twisting snow.

I saw this first scene, below, two weeks before Christmas. Santicon was on that day in Manhattan. While walking in snow through Prospect Park to the Brooklyn Central Library, I saw Santa behind a tree. Red suit, green bicycle, black tree, white snow. 

He may have been using his cell phone to check on how to best get from the middle of Brooklyn to Manhattan on a bicycle in a snowstorm. But Santa can do anything, including slip down chimneys, so I'm sure he made it.

Santa with a smartphone checking who's naughty or nice

Grand Army Plaza as seen from the steps of the Brooklyn Central Library

Prospect Park's ring road

Same shot, only broadened to reveal that, no matter what, there are always people around in Brooklyn

A rather lovely tree in Prospect Park

A playground in Prospect Park. Note the elfin figure silhouetted on the gate.

Look how the man walking reflects the figure on the gate!

How about you? What are you doing in the Nor'easter we're experiencing today? Comment below!