We were sitting back in our chairs, sipping a glass of chardonnay, waiting to hear Paula Whyman read from her first\u00a0published book, “You May See A Stranger”\u00a0at\u00a0Book Culture\u00a0\u00a0on the \u00a0upper west side. \u00a0You remember Paula from my very first post, \u00a0Picasso and Paula<\/a>\u00a0?<\/p>\n I feel so connected with this book, I keep thinking I was there at the beginning.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, not the real beginning, Paula said during her interview that it took her five years\u00a0to write the book and I only met her in April. \u00a0 But\u00a0I was there for the finish, I\u2019ll take credit for that. \u00a0And the award for \u00a0“Best Eavesdropping Finish Line” goes to….. Kay<\/em><\/strong> of kaysnycways! Applause, applause!\u00a0 And, where does Paula get some of her ideas.. \u2026wait for it\u2026. \u00a0\u201cEavesdropping\u201d \u00a0she told the interviewer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I know a couple who \u00a0took eavesdropping \u00a0to a whole other level by developing the art form into a game of mischief. \u00a0Their\u00a0\u00a0targeted audience were\u00a0strangers sitting near them in a crowded restaurant. They would start in low tones and then perhaps display a bit of anger or a little laugh, a naughty word, here or there, purposely allowing \u00a0their eavesdroppers to catch something, look at each other \u00a0and stop talking. \u00a0The strangers would then discreetly listen to this couple tell their mostly lurid \u00a0fictional tales. And these \u00a0gamers had no shame – they began at cocktails and didn’t finish till dessert. \u00a0They’d get up and leave and as soon as they were outside become \u00a0hysterical \u00a0and\u00a0 congratulate themselves on what they considered\u00a0\u00a0spectacular acting, knowing full well \u00a0that the tables surrounding them were left wondering \u2026\u201dDid we really hear what I think we heard?”<\/p>\n I heard Paula use a word \u00a0at her reading \u00a0that I didn’t\u00a0\u00a0remember, “plotting”. It came about when someone asked the author what advice would she give to young writers, she answered, \u201cRead.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 One of her main reasons, she said, was \u00a0that reading helps in plot development, \u201cplotting\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now I was an English major and should have recognized the word, but please keep in mind, senior moments are always popping up at the most inopportune\u00a0 times.\u00a0\u00a0 I wrote the word \u00a0down in my blog notebook, so I wouldn\u2019t have another senior moment trying to remember what word I didn\u2019t remember.<\/p>\n Now in summary and to \u00a0paraphrase my Picasso and Paula<\/strong><\/em> post, “always stop for a glass of something and \u00a0always eavesdrop” cause you never know where the art of eavesdropping \u00a0will take you and it \u00a0may surprise you when you get there.<\/p>\n Enjoy!<\/p>\n KAY’S NOTES<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Important to know: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Paula’s site\u00a0:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.paulawhyman.com<\/a>\u00a0 Book Culture\u00a0http:\/\/www.bookculture.com<\/a>\u00a0a small chain of independent book stores on the upper west side<\/p>\n Good to know:<\/strong> Museum of National History is across the street and Central Park a block away.<\/p>\n Where to eat:<\/strong> \u00a0Lots – including Shake Shack down a few blocks and Isabella’s \u00a0at 77th and Columbus on the corner. \u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.isabellas.com<\/a> where we ate. \u00a0You can eat inside or out, we shared our meal, and with tip \u00a0and rose’ came \u00a0to about $45 each. \u00a0Nice casual restaurant.<\/p>\n Kid Friendly:<\/strong> \u00a0 Very – both at the bookstore and restaurants<\/p>\n Restrooms:<\/strong> Yes<\/p>\n *Disclaimer \u2013 I try for correct info on Kay\u2019s Notes\u2013 but no guarantees people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I leaned over to my friend and said, \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t gone to see the Picasso sculptures at MOMA \u00a0and didn\u2019t stop for a glass of wine at the Bar Room \u00a0 and didn\u2019t sit beside Paula and didn\u2019t eavesdrop, we wouldn\u2019t be here tonight!” We were sitting back in our chairs, sipping a glass … Continue reading “Eavesdropping…an art form”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7svLB-5j","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"blog](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaysnycways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/blog-book-culture-e1465859198301-110x300.jpg?resize=110%2C300&ssl=1\")
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