The Magic of Chicago

Today, I am pleased to welcome Cynthia Ellingsen to Great Thoughts’ Great Authors.  Cynthia is the author of The Whole Package- a delightfully funny book- my review is here. 

Here’s Cynthia:

Great Thoughts, thank you so much for inviting me to post. The Whole Package just came last week and it has been a whirlwind of fun and excitement. I am delighted that the fun will continue by a talk with you!

My first novel, The Whole Package, is about three best friends who lose everything and lean on one another to bounce back. Of course, the bouncing involves opening a restaurant staffed by scantily clad men. This book was (obviously!) entertaining to write but one of the things I most enjoyed about writing it was revisiting the city of Chicago in my mind.

At the ripe old age of 35, I have already lived or spent time in many cities. I grew up in Michigan, lived in Chicago for three years, lived in Los Angeles for eight and am now living in Lexington, KY. During that time, I did a variety of marketing tours and ended up living for weeks at a time in cities like Berlin, London, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Milwaukee… and I loved each and every city in its own way.

There was something magical about Chicago, though. It was the first city I’d seen before seeing the world and everything about it seemed so incredibly glamorous. The shops on Michigan Ave. with their perfume counters and displays of white gloves, the restaurants on Rush Street, the lights of the dramatic high rises… I was there during the dot.com area, when cigar rooms were hot and martinis a necessary accessory. The sidewalk restaurants bustled in the summer time, the smell of roasted meat and grilled asparagus wafting down the streets. 

Since the restaurant culture was a part of the magic of Chicago during the time I was there, it’s not a huge surprise to me that the focus of my first book ended up being about a restaurant. Another Chicago-esque touch that had to be included was the weather.

Even though the fall and winter is the time of year when Chicago will chill you in a way that a hot shower can’t heal, it’s also the coziest time of year. Walking was often a must in Chicago and I loved the crisp smell of the snow giving way to the heady aroma of the indoors. Part of the best part of the winter was stepping in from the cold only to be surrounded by warmth and good friends. I made it snow quite a bit in The Whole Package, in hopes that the reader could experience some of the coziness Chicago has to offer.

To this day, I still feel a tug at my heart when I visit Chicago. I love to stand on Michigan Ave at night, staring up at the lit buildings that make such a perfect city. And of course, when I crack open the pages of The Whole Package, I have the opportunity to revisit it once again.

What are you reading and where are you going?