I’m a peaceful person.
By nature.
Ask my friends about me.
I’m named after a saint.
In case you’re wondering which saint that could be, think for a moment.
What kind of stories do I write?
Stories with music.
St. Cecilia. The Patroness of Musicians.
So now you know why I’m obsessed with music.
There’s another reason.
I come from a family of musicians.
Three brothers are professional violinists.
My late sister was a music teacher.
My late mother was a nightingale.
Should I go on?
I can.
But I won’t.
Do you want me to get a complex?
I believe in solutions.
Since I couldn’t master an instrument, I mastered a language: French.
Ask my students. They’ll vouch for me. I took them from zero to centum.
I still do.
But despite my success, I still felt something was missing.
So I started writing.
Romance.
And why wouldn’t it be romance?
I used to be an M&B fanatic who ransacked Eashwari Library on Lloyd’s Road looking for Carole Mortimer.
Yes, there was something about her stories then that kept me engrossed. I loved her dialogues, her humour, and her storylines.
Anne Mather and Emma Darcy too, but I wouldn’t die for them.
However, I don’t read M&B anymore.
Not the present kind.
Have I gone off romance?
No.
But I want stories with believable characters, natural dialogue, solid plots, strong conflict, and if possible, a twist at the end.
And since I’m named after St Cecilia, I want stories with music, song, and dance.
I found movies and bought them all. I watch those DVDs over and over again.
But this hunger for music, song, and dance eventually led me to pen my first novel, The French Encounter.
Those who have read the novel would remember Jean dancing to Beggin’ on his last day in India.
Katrina stepping into her first party as Cher’s Are You Strong Enough plays in the background.
George Michael singing Careless Whispers, setting the mood for love and infidelity.
And Jacques Brel’s Ne Me Quitte Pas when happily-ever-after suddenly turns doubtful.
Writing helps me emotionally.
It takes me places.
It introduces me to characters.
It gives me zest, zeal, and enthusiasm to work night and day without worrying about tomorrow.
It keeps me alive, active, and healthy.
And that is why I’m still writing—
even when my wrath is kindled by Kindle not allowing me to sign in to my account and Amazon not bothering to solve the problem.
It’s been nearly a year now.
I told you.
I’m named after a saint.
So what am I going to do?
I must ask you what you would do if you had:
•a nominated screenplay(JIFF 2026) that you’ve turned into a manuscript.
•a collection of short stories.
•a couple of personal essays, and
•an ongoing web series?
Would you wait for Kindle/Amazon to wake up and resolve the issue?
Or would you look for an author-friendly alternative?
Let me know in the comments.
Your suggestions are private. Only I will see them if you are replying on my blog.
Thank you for stopping by.
Love and Hugs,
Cécile Rischmann
After ten years of owning a website, I finally decided to make use of it!
I know. I’m strange.
I do things incomprehensible to man.
But there’s an explanation.
My first publisher, Partridge, an expensive branch of Penguin Random House, created the website and managed it for a while.
Until I decided to gain control of my website—
only to discover that WordPress wasn’t for the common mortal—
even experts, by the sound of it.
I contacted one who belonged to that category.
And even he couldn’t handle it—apparently.
His silence after bravely requesting my login details spoke for itself.
So I went to AI.
After all, weren’t they competing with humans?
I was certain they could solve the complicated process of simply inserting a new slide on the homepage when a reader clicked “Books.”
The French Encounter banner flashed every time the website opened, whatever page I clicked.
I was annoyed. I’d written three novels and twenty short stories—and all I wanted was to insert a new banner on that Books Page showing all my books.
That was all.
My goodness me!
I spent no less than four days and four nights going around in circles.
After fifty attempts—no exaggeration—I, the positive thinker, was beginning to feel slightly negative. My optimistic visualizing went into hiding.
Here’s the thing: AI has pride… like human beings. It doesn’t like admitting that it doesn’t know something.
From GPT to Gemini, I went step by step, following instructions like a diligent student wanting to impress her know-it-all professor.
However, the banner of The French Encounter stood firmly and stubbornly on my Books page, refusing to budge.
And still stays.
My banner displaying all my books has had to accept its fate and remain below it.
As for GPT and Gemini, I confronted them on the fifty-fifth attempt like a furious Bengal tiger.
“Tell me,” I demanded. “Do you know how to solve this issue or not?”
And pop came the apology.
“I’m sorry. You caught me there. I don’t know. I shouldn’t have wasted your time.”
And that’s when my anger cooled.
At least AI admitted it didn’t know something.
At least it didn’t imply that it was all my fault that it couldn’t perform.
How many of us are so gracious?
So I didn’t close the door on AI.
And today, if I’m able to access my WordPress website and do all those seemingly simple tasks that are so complicated—updating my book list, creating a blog page, adding pictures, and so on—I ask for help, and AI is ready to teach me.
Without holding any grudge about that past confrontation.
So yes, now you know why it took me ten years to use my website.
Five years of Partridge management.
Five years of trying to figure out how to operate the website.
But I’ve always ended up learning new things and am happy about that.
Even from a stubborn banner.
For those of you who have not heard of me, I’m not surprised… I’m shocked!
How could you have not heard of me? I’m everywhere.
That’s right.
I was advised that without social media, without being out there telling the world that I exist, no one would read my books.
And I thought being an author was about writing!
How disappointing. How frightening, some would say.
And I would say: how exciting.
We now have the opportunity to bring our work before an audience without agents, without expensive advertising, without huge investments.
Just with skill. With Passion. With hard work.
And ask me about writing—from short stories to novels, from poetry to screenplays, from stage plays to radio plays — I can’t resist doing it all.
What’s more, I dabble in both fiction and nonfiction. And I’ve just published a serialized story.
Have I done something impossible?
I don’t think so.
I simply love to write. And that’s it.
So if you feel you’d like to stop by now and then, please do. You won’t be disappointed.
How could you?
You are with Cécile Rischmann, author and linguist who has dedicated herself to writing.
Just writing whatever comes to mind.
You can be sure that you will leave with a smile, a tear, a message, or simply a good feeling about yourself.
Thank you for stopping by.
Love and Hugs
Cécile Rischmann