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Meet two descendants of Lisa Gherardini, the model for the Mona Lisa. In 2007, an Italian genealogy expert revealed that the Strozzi family directly descends from Gherardini.  In this photo are Tuscan princesses Natalia, left, and Irina Strozzi, I think I see a resemblance. Do you?

Last year I traveled to Paris and spent a full day in the Louvre. If you’ve been recently, you know that the Mona Lisa has a relatively new room that was constructed for her. Her smallish painting sits in the middle of the room on a free standing wall. The walls on the side of the room are filled with other paintings but I don’t think anyone ever pays attention to those!

If you’re someone who wants to see the Mona Lisa, I highly recommend going on to The Louvre’s website. You’ll get a better look at the Mona Lisa there than you ever could in person. The Louvre has a wonderful “focus” option where you can look at the famous painting as if you were within a few inches of the canvas! http://focus.louvre.fr/en

It’s better than actually being there. No crowds to fight. No tourists pushing and shoving and vying for a selfie with Mona Lisa. Yes, a selfie with Mona. I actually saw that. #headslap

The crowds that gather to see the Mona Lisa are usually intense, and, when I was there, the Louvre guards weren’t very motivated to move people along. So, it can be a challenge to get a good look at her. Plus the painting is small. Only 77 x 53 cm. So, check her out on the website. Lots of fun!

Leonardo was 55 when he finished painting her. It took him 4 years. When he did finish the painting, he carried it around with him for the last 12 years of his life. Obsessively. Some say he added little touches here and there to the painting during that time. You know, Lisa Gheradini was pregnant when she sat for the portrait, maybe that’s the reason for her mysterious smile.

She sits behind 3 inches of bulletproof glass and receives a minimum of 8 million visitors a year! Can’t wait to see her again.

Perhaps Addie and Blake will make a visit to see her as well…

“Summer’s approach signals the end of the traditional broadcast season — bringing with it season finales and scores of cliffhangers.” That’s a quote from the Hollywood Reporter as they preview the final episodes of this season’s hottest TV shows.  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-finale-dates-2015-complete-785817

And they’re predicting…cliffhangers.

Which, honestly, I find exciting.

But my publicist tells me that cliffhangers upset readers.

Really? I don’t get that.

But, then again, I didn’t grow up in an age of instant gratification. When I was a kid (and I realize I’m dating myself here…) we didn’t have smart phones, digital cameras, cable TV or computers.

If we were expecting a call, we had to wait until we got back home to receive the call. And if we missed the call, we had to wait until they called again because (gasp) we didn’t have voicemail. Or caller ID or call waiting for that matter.

When we wanted to see the photos from Christmas morning at Grandmother’s house, we had to wait until Mom took the film to the camera store — where it would be developed and the pictures were printed — before we could see how the they turned out. That process would take weeks. It could be Spring before we knew how the Christmas pictures turned out.

Can you imagine?

Didn’t bother me a bit, actually.

If we encountered a (teeth chatter) cliffhanger on a TV series, we waited until the following season to see how it came out. Which was — A YEAR — by the way.

When we had to do research for a school project, we went to the library and scoured books. It would take several trips to the library before our work could be completed. And if the book we wanted was already checked out? We had to wait for it to be returned. Or find another resource to use. Horrors.

Oh, and we didn’t have microwaves either. So dinner wasn’t ready in five minutes unless you had a bowl of cereal.

Which was fine.

Here’s a list of best cliffhanger books: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4564.Best_Cliffhanger_Ending

Check it out, you’ll see such familiar titles as Harry Potter, Divergent, The Lord of the Rings and about 97 other books that you’ve probably read and dearly love.

If there’s one word I’ve used over and over in this post, it’s — wait.

Which is apparently hard for some people to do. At the end of The Fine Art of Deception, Undoing Time, Book 1, ALL loose ends are not wrapped up. Because it’s Book 1. See that? It’s a series. So, there’s more adventure to come.

I love starting a series and knowing that there’s more fun to come in books 2, 3, and 4. It gives me something positive to look forward to. I’m so excited to see what happens!!!! Will they get off the cliff?? Who knows?? I can imagine all sorts of my own made-up endings and next scenes until the next installment comes out.

Honestly, I’m usually sad and suffer a major book hangover when the series does end. So, I *love* a good cliffhanger. The author is telling me that the fun continues…yay 🙂

But, I’ve learned, that not everyone can handle that. They need immediate gratification or risk losing their … patience.

I’m not sure if Book 2 ends in a cliffhanger or not because I haven’t finished writing it, yet. I’m close to the end of it, but I often don’t know what’s going to happen next until I write it. Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

I am pretty darn sure that everything isn’t wrapped up at the end of Book 2. The story runs deep. So, there will be more to come. And hopefully you’ll consider that a good thing. 🙂

Here I sit, watching baseball and thinking of writing baseball romance books… So many good ideas – definitely a series.

Maybe erotica this time! Just to spice it up…