Francie Lanoo's Ideal Shoe: The Ongoing Pursuit

As mentioned in my first blog, just like Francie Lanoo in IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes, I’m actively hunting for my ideal shoe—one that best reflects me as a person, one that relays without words a great story about me. I haven’t yet fully defined it, but when I do, I’m pretty sure most of its characteristics will overlap with Francie Lanoo’s (except for the color because I’m very partial to the very versatile, endlessly chic, and understated hue of black).

I did a massive amount of shoe-browsing while I was writing IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes: meandering through shoe boutiques, flipping through fashion magazines, scouring the Internet, glancing at other women’s footwear choices. In my head I already knew what Francie’s ideal shoe looked like, but I was curious to know if a tangible equivalent actually existed out there (again, just as Francie does in the book).

It wasn’t until many months after I’d completed the writing of IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes (January 2015, to be specific) that I purchased an InStyle magazine and, low and behold, happened upon a shoe that came very near to matching the one I’d written about. It’s called the Guilietta Loretta (picture shown below), and it’s amazing/awesome/fabulous. The only aspect about it that differs from the shoe described in the book is the color; Francie’s is (spoiler alert) fuchsia, and the Loretta’s comes in lavender, orange or yellow.

Because the Guilietta Loretta came so close to turning fiction into reality, I felt an overwhelming need to own a pair. And so I started searching, and searching, and searching. Sadly though, by August 2015, I was still empty handed.

Unwilling to give up, I decided to email the Giulietta’s sales office in New York to request a direct purchase. A few days later, a gracious sales representative named Dajana responded with news: the shoe was sold out, everywhere on the planet. Evidently I'd failed to heed Francie Lanoo’s advice featured on the last page of IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes.  Which is really sad because I wrote that advice!

Moving forward, I guess my only hope in finding the Guilietta Loretta is via a re-seller, like Ebay. Speaking of: does anyone out there have a pair that they’d be willing to part with? Pretty please!?? In size US-7, any color??

On a related note, out of curiosity, has anyone out there come across another shoe style that they think matches the descriptors for Francie Lanoo’s ideal shoe? If so, I would love to hear about it. Especially if the referenced shoe is purchasable :).

BLOG ONE:  The Origin of IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes

Over the past few years, I’ve done a bucket load of writing, thousands of hours worth, easily. My writing skills are self-taught through textbooks, online tutorials, and workshops etc., and I have several story lines on the go at any given moment (if only there were more hours in a day so I could finish them all). The method for my work is pretty consistent.  First, when an idea pops into my head—via a dream, a memory, a picture, a life experience, or whatever—I immediately jot it down before it has a chance to slip away.  Then, I start developing an associated plot by letting my imagination go wild, which often takes weeks, involves many scraps of paper, and sees a lot of refinement before I decide if it’s got legs.  Then, when the storyline begins pulling together, I develop a chronological series of chapters, each with a purpose in pushing the plot forward.  And then, I spend many hours stringing words together, an insane number of which get chopped during the editing process.

The origin of IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes came by way of a cute compliment directed at a fabulous pair of shoes I was wearing, delivered by a guy from my past.  His single line, “Those shoes look amazing on you,” sparked the notion of a shoe style that had me written all over it, which subsequently prompted my footwear-loving brain to envision what it would be like to search for exactly that. The morning after, I excitedly began developing the storyline of a teenage girl questing for her ideal shoe who, without realizing, was actually finding her ideal self and her ideal love.  As the ideas for her adventure began meshing, I decided to make the lead character an artsy, fashion-centric shoe lover because I, too, am an artsy, fashion-centric shoe lover, and would easily be able to write from the protagonist’s perspective.  Which proved hugely beneficial because, whenever I needed to write dialogue for Francie, I would simply ask myself: what would I say?

Of course, I had to give Francie the motivation for embarking on a multi-year globe-trotting quest, and what better reason than her first love, a.k.a. the adorable, irresistible, incomparable Berkeley Mills.  A simple conversation with him, a simple stare into his amazing eyes, and Francie saw her entire life unfolding.  Shoe Love Collides with True Love.  Sole Mates Become Soul Mates. Yes, I know; those are some seriously hokey hook lines J but they work.

So, out of curiosity, have any readers of IF NOT 4 U and Some Shoes initiated a search for an ideal shoe?  Has anyone successfully found one? 

I’ve begun a search of my own, but thus far, I’m not entirely certain of what I’m looking for so I haven’t made much progress.  More on that in BLOG TWO.