A virtual media and web consultant by day and author by night, Carolyn Davenport-Moncel moved to Paris from Chicago, her hometown, in 2002. She received her bachelor's degree in Communications from Loyola University. Known for her online articles on media relations, Moncel owns MotionTemps, LLC, a bilingual Digital Project and Web Content Management firm with offices in Chicago, Paris and Geneva; and its subsidiary, Mondavé Communications, a media relations training and publishing company. She has written, placed articles or been featured in such diverse publications as Entreprenuer.com, Expatica.com, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Wired News, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and Working Mother. She currently resides in Lausanne, Switzerland with her husband and two daughters. Author of Encounters in Paris - A Collection of Short Stories and 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover - A Novella and Other Short Stories, her latest collection is called Railway Confessions - A Collection of Short Stories. Carolyn Moncel On WritingI started writing because I realized that it's very difficult for me not to tell a story. I come from a family of storytellers, so I've heard some sort of tale all of my life. I tell stories to my family, friends and even my clients. Even my non-fiction, business articles usually end with a moral. Short stories and novellas are my preferred genres because they allow me to describe brief moments in time and get off the page. I like to make readers think, but I also like to leave them with a bit of suspense.Other Projects in ProductionNearly Lost You will be a young adult novel written under the pen name, Ella Swinton, and in collaboration with my teenage daughter. The story follows the adventures (or rather misadventures) of Isobel Ballou, a sassy yet snarky, multiracial 15-year-old girl from Evanston, Illinois. Isobel thinks she hates almost everything about her life; most of all her parents' marital status. She would like nothing more than to see them get divorce - that is until her plan hits a series of unavoidable snags while vacationing with her parents and best friend, Danny Carter, in Venice. It's the Parent Trap turned upside down but we hope that teens and adult women in particular will find it an equally enjoyable read. Nearly Lost You debuts in fall 2012. Geneva Nights - A Novel is the last book in the Ellery Roulet series ties together all of the characters introduced in previous works like Encounters in Paris and 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover. New characters also emerge including a very sexy new man who definitely has his eye on Ellery Roulet. Geneva nights will debut in early 2013.That House on the Hill - A Novel (Coming in fall 2013) For 40 years a family has been divided due to an on-going feud. When the family's patriarch dies in Chicago, the surviving relatives gather to settle the estate and also return him to his final resting place within the family crypt in Eastern France. A lost diary and a tree located in a small town hold the keys as to why the feud occurred in the first place. Danielle Deschamps is a young African-American woman who is married to one of the French-American sons. Due to her own complicated history, family means everything to her and thus, finds it difficult to understand how other families can remain estranged for so long. As for the Deschamps' predicament, Danielle simply calls it as she sees it and at times, makes the in-laws around her quite uncomfortable. However, it is Danielle's outspoken nature and keen and truthful observations that propel the family forward so the feud can end and healing can occur.