Belle BrettJul 15, 20193 minArt and Writing Meet: "Gina's Floating World" at the Great Bay Gallery (Somers Point, I’m not sure when I first got the idea that I wanted to create an exhibit of images that related to my novel, Gina in the Floating World....
Belle BrettApr 11, 20194 minOn Martinis and Mozart: A Remembrance of My Father, George F. Brett (1904-1995)This post is my third family remembrance in just over three weeks. The three members of my nuclear family all died in the springtime, and...
Belle BrettApr 3, 20193 minMy Mother, My MuseToday is the 19th anniversary of the death of my mother. In 2010, I wrote this post in remembrance of her in a blog I maintained for sev...
Belle BrettMar 16, 20195 minRemembering Beth Brett: A Conversation between Beth's Sister and DaughterMarch 16 is the sixteenth anniversary of the death of Beth Brett, my sister, and mother to Pippa. On the eighth anniversary of her death,...
Belle BrettMar 11, 20193 minThe Writer and Home Renovation EnvyOn the cold, dark days of winter, with snow and ice on the ground, I achieve my daily 10,000 Fitbit steps by jogging (slowly) in front of...
Belle BrettJan 27, 20193 minDigging Deep: Four Books on Japan's Nightlife that Informed My NovelThe first draft of my novel, Gina in the Floating World, reflected my own experiences as a foreign bar hostess in a Tokyo suburb in the m...
Belle BrettOct 24, 20188 minReliving My Book Launch Presentaton: The Evolution of My NovelFor those of you who missed my book launch at Porter Square Books on October 2, 2018, I present below the text of my presentation. In gen...
Belle BrettSep 10, 20183 minGaijin Women in Japan: Five NovelsAfter writing the first draft of Gina in the Floating World, I searched for other novels set in Japan with a young, female, and gaijin (f...
Belle BrettAug 23, 20182 minAnatomy of A Collage: After Work DelightsIn addition to being a writer, I am also an artist. I work in several media, but one of my favorite is paper or mixed media collage. Curr...
Belle BrettJul 24, 20182 min1981(Image from Amazon.com) It may feel like an arbitrary year, but I chose 1981 quite intentionally as the year in which Gina in the Floatin...
Belle BrettMar 8, 20183 minHow I Became a Bar Hostess in Japan, Part IIAs I prepared for my interview with Mr. K, the club owner, I worried about my lack of glamour. I had all the wrong clothes and the wrong ...
Belle BrettFeb 23, 20183 minHow I Became a Bar Hostess in Japan, Part IThe rain poured down in opaque sheets outside the American Express office in Tokyo, where I collected my mail, and considered my alternat...