Julie Wright's Blog, page 7

Letters

Dear Mother Nature: That was one wicked lightning storm last night while I was driving the lone highways of Utah. I'm a huge fan of your work, and I think you've outdone yourself. It was so brilliant and otherworldly, I half-wondered if the alien invasion was coming. My normally static-ridden hair was straight on end. Bravo for a spectacular performance!

Dear Man in Bookstore: No, I wasn't admiring you. I was admiring the newly packaged leather-bound copies of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The fact that you weren't admiring the books I was admiring, in spite of the fact that you stood right next to them, means you really aren't my type and I'll never be admiring you. Sorry. I hope we can still be friends  . . . in the I'll-never-see-you-again-thank-goodness sort of way.

Dear James Dashner: Thank you for writing such a fun book. I truly enjoyed Scorch Trials and cannot wait for Death Cure. Your book kept me company while I drove the lone highways of Utah and watched Mother Nature do her thing. Your book and I had a great time together. Also thanks for the phone call. I"m glad you're my friend.

Dear Family: Thanks for not putting me up for adoption when I get weird. You guys keep me grounded.

Dear friends: Thanks for all the comments, private emails, and words of encouragement. I promise not to stop writing even though I did consider it for a few minutes. I appreciate all your support. You guys are like a lifetime supply of flashlights with batteries.

Dear Manuscript in Progress: Sorry for the trim yesterday, but you look much tidier now. Those forty pages made you look a shaggy guy wandering around with no sense of purpose. It's true when they say, "this hurts me more than it hurts you." so stop whining.

Dear House: No you aren't going to be clean this week. You'd think you'd be used to it by now. Honestly, House, you whine as much as Manuscript in Progress.

Dear Me: Why are you on the Internet when you have Manuscript in Progress to get ready?

all this whine and no cheese

This is a post with tons of whine ahead, so if you aren't up for that, feel free to run away quickly to someone else's blog. I am in a funky place and since sunshine, funny child antics from the boys, amazingness in general from the daughter, loving support from Mr. Wright, and people saying nice things to me aren't helping, I am blogging about it. Isn't that the American way? We have an emotion and make it public whether it's appropriate or not? 

I am sad.

Sad like wearing brown during the nineties. Sad like a mullet in any decade.  Sad like hanging out in your pajamas all day and having to answer the door that way and trying to make up some excuse about being sick when you're healthier than Jillian Michaels. Sad like doing all those crazy things and not even getting the Klondike bar for it. Sad like a shaved cat. Sad like a claustrophobe stuck in the airplane bathroom. Sad like a Star Wars fan during the last three films.

Just sad.

I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. I am paralyzed to write because I feel crummy and incapable. And I don't know why. I usually get a short bout of chronic depression in the month of May, but it only lasts a few weeks and I get over it. This is different somehow. This is epic. This has been the last month.

I'm thinking of moving to Africa.

Or maybe North Dakota.

Or maybe I'll eat a tub of ice cream all by myself and watch chick movies because moving to Africa or North Dakota would require unthinkable amounts of packing, and then there's that business of having nowhere to live once I got there . . .

I am actually writing this in a post because I went online to do something that always makes me smile. I've posted it before a few years ago, but is happiness something that can only be shared once?  This video has never failed to fill me with hope–hope in humanity, hope in understanding, hope in a simple smile and a dance.  It's something that manages to coerce my smile muscles to do their job. It's an absurdly easy job — lazy good-for-nothing muscles that they are.

I can't figure out how to embed this (which figures at the moment in spite of the fact that I've done it before), so you'll have to link to it on your own. Sorry for my lack of ambition.

Dancing

Who Is Romania Brown?

I have been asked this question a LOT over the last several months. I've received more fan mail for Romania Brown's quotes in the book CROSS MY HEART than I have for the actual book.

People have Googled her, quoted her, and laughed out loud at her. And they want to know who she is. So I'm telling all. I will meta-tag this post so it comes up in a Google search. I want the world to know.

She's my grandma.

Her full name is Julia Romania Brown Peterson. She is the person who I was named for. She was my very best friend growing up. I know I've mentioned it before, but it bears mentioning again–she was everything awesome in my life. I miss her sometimes more than I can stand. I hide bits and pieces of her in pretty much everything I write. It's my way of keeping her with me. It takes away some of the ache, and I know she'd love the joke of it all. Grandma loved a good joke.

Now, the confession part is that Grandma didn't write all those quotes. A couple of them are things she told me, but most of them are things I made up. I couldn't credit myself because . . . well, it looks tacky to credit a quote to yourself. I tried using quotes from real people, but had to rely on things my friends would let me quote them in a book saying, or things that are over a hundred (or whatever) years old so I didn't accidentally break any copyright laws. After using up my friends and classic works, I still needed a few quotes. It was then that I turned to my journal–my memories of grandma and my snarky personal commentary on love in general while I was in my dating years. I drew from that to come up with the quotes and the poem about love at the beginning of the book CROSS MY HEART.

So now you know.

Julia Romania Brown Peterson was hilarious. She loved to laugh. She was brilliant. Even without formal higher education, she never ceased to learn, to expand her mind, to grow her knowledge. She loved archaeology, which might be the reason I had such a fixation with Indiana Jones and that blasted hat of his. She planted all the seeds that created the person I am today.

And I do miss her . . . every day. But every day, I am also filled with gratitude that she existed, and she was *my* grandma. I am grateful that she was such a huge part of my life, and glad to share her with all of you even in this small part.

So now you know. Isn't she wonderful?

Julia Romania Brown Peterson as a Baby

Wow, What a Night and Winners!

So the launch party was awesome. And by awesome I mean humbling and exhausting  and thrilling, and amazing. Barnes and Noble was very gracious as hosts and the manager told me it was the biggest event they'd had in three years. They were very pleased with the sales. YAY for pleased bookstore managers!

What was really awesome was the amount of support from friends and family. It's really humbling to have the people you love stand behind you and support you when you have a reason to celebrate. It's fantastic to know they're celebrating with you and they're happy for your accomplishments. It was a great night. We talked, laughed, signed books, and had cheesecake.

THANK YOU everyone for your support in this new series. My goal is to make Hazzardous Universe shine like a star going supernova!

AND I was peer pressured into sushi with Howard Tayler because Kevin insists that sushi is best when eaten with Howard. Because of my negative notions of sushi, I strong-armed Jessica Day George into coming with. I don't want to be the only sushi novice in the group. Dan Willis joined us as well. I can honestly report it wasn't that bad (aside from the "dessert" that looked like a ripped out spinal cord). I think I'll even do it again sometime.

The winner of the blog, tweet, facebook mentions is . . .

PK HREZO!

Congratulations! You are the owner of a shiny MP3 Player and an even shinier, and much cooler, copy of Hazzardous Universe!

Here are some pictures from the launch party:

Tyler Whitesides, Josi Kilpack Annette Lyon, Shanda Cottam, Jeff Savage, Luann Staheli, and Nancy Allen

Shanda, Julie, Sheila, Kevin

Hazzardous Universe

A new book *and* a contest! (read to the end to get contest details)

Yesterday, I held my newest book in my hands for the first time. I should say our newest book because it belongs to Kevin Wasden and me together. I love the art inside the book. Love it, love it, love it. And the cover is so awesome, I can't even count all the shades of awesomeness! 

There is really nothing like seeing your novel in its finished form–all that research, writing, cursing, creating, deleting, adding, deleting again, rewriting finally shows up in your hands–bound and clean and satisfying.

It's strange that as I finish writing HU2, Hu1 is barely making an entrance. It feels good to be here with a book that holds such limitless potential, and with a partner who is as committed to the series as I am, and with a publisher who wants the success of this book as much as I do. It seems lame that even as I am giggling with glee over this shiny new book, I also feel humbled and grateful.

It fits in with a question I got at a school visit I did recently. A kid asked me, "Do you know any crazy authors?"

My answer?

"Oh, honey . . . we're ALL crazy."

Please come  join Kevin and me for our launch party for Hazzardous Universe! It's on March 9th at the Murray Utah Barnes and Noble (5300 south and State Street) We'll be there from 6-8 pm and we would love to see everyone there.

And this is where the contest comes in! If you blog or tweet or facebook about the Hazzardous Universe Launch Party with its location and time, leave a message in the comments letting me know you've done it and you will be entered into a drawing. If you do all three, you get three entries (make sure to leave three comments so I don't accidentally miss anything). The prize is: a copy of Hazzardous Universe signed by both the author and artist AND a 4 gig Digi-star MP3 shuffle. 

Come celebrate with us!

LTUE 2011

Hey! Two posts in one month! I almost seem like a committed blogger . . .

Ah commitment–such a fickle thing. 

The launch party for Hazzard Universe Book has finally been set in stone! It will be held at: Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Murray UT. On the corner of 5300 S and State St on Wednesday, March 9th from 6-8 pm. Kevin Wasden and I would be thrilled to have you join us to celebrate the beginnings of this series with us. We'll have light refreshments, some door prizes, and be signing books!

Hazzardous Universe Book Two is finally over 40,000 words. And I started a new book yesterday. Mr. Wright came up with a title and the first line few pages just came to me and I had to hurry to get them written even though I'm on a deadline for this book, and even though I am on a deadline for another book. I also have a book trailer for Hazzardous Universe featuring several of the full page sketches Kevin has done for the interior.

I spent the weekend at the BYU fantasy and science fiction symposium of Life, the Universe, and Everything. I was on several panels and love being able to do that, but I also love being able to learn.

I learned a lot this year. I actually took notes. Something I came away with this time around is something I already knew but really struck home to me. It was from Tracy Hickman:

Being published isn't important. It is nothing to be published; it is everything to be *read*

Wise words.

Saw the King's Speech with Jessica Day George and Dan Willis and loved the movie. Loved loved loved it. It was poignant and rich. But it made me laugh a lot when, after a half hour of trailers and the movie FINALLY came on, Dan leaned over to Jessica and whispered, "I almost forgot why we were here!"

I love that LTUE means friends, laughing, Thai food, and books. Thank you to the committee who works so hard to keep the cooler in the green room stocked with Dr. Pepper. I sing praises to you. Honestly. Such. A. Good. Time.

Whitney Awards Finalist!

I am seriously beyond thrilled and excited, and humbled, and *relieved* to be a 2010 Whitney Awards finalist in the romance category for Cross My Heart!

There were so many great books this year who were nominees, and the list of finalists is inspiring. It's nice to know I've already read well over half of them which means I won't be as rushed as I read the rest of them. And how cool??? I am a finalist! I'm one of them! Woohoo!  In the world of writing where there are rejections at every level, it's nice to get good news.

The Whitney committee is made up of some mighty fine people and I can't even imagine how much work goes into running this thing, but I am incredibly grateful they take that time out of their lives and from their families to make this award possible. It's a generous offering they give us, and they expect nothing in return. Three cheers for the committee. And for all those judges who worked so hard at getting all those books read. Thanks guys.

In other news, I am a third of the way finished with the second book to the Hazzardous Universe series. Woot! (Mr. Wright says you can't say woot in public, but I'm sure it's fine to do as long as you say, "excuse me" afterwards) 

The launch party for Hazzardous Universe is on March 9th–location to be announced. You definitely want to mark the date on the calendar, because  this book is out of this world amazing. I can't even number how many shades of awesome this book is. Kevin Wasden's art is fabulous and the writing in the book ain't half bad either . There will be food and door prizes, and FUN. So come to the launch party–or feel incredibly lame and left out as you sit at home alone. Your choice.

And my daughter has decided on three universities to send applications to. Stanford, Harvard, and BYU Hawaii.

I checked into the tuition and living costs for her options and felt like one of those cartoons. You know . . . the ones where the eyes pop ten feet of their head and horns, sirens, and whistles sound all at once while the jaw drops to the floor. I am in the state of sticker-shock. I'm glad she's smart and has a perfect 4.0 standing in school because she had BETTER be earning a scholarship or TEN scholarships to pay for this. It's kind of ridiculously cool to think that a child of mine can consider applying to Harvard or Stanford, and knowing that wherever she applies–she will be accepted because she's just that freaking amazing. I hope she chooses Harvard, because secretly (or not so secretly since this is a public blog and anyone can read this), I would love an excuse to visit Boston more often. BYU Hawaii is the cheapest of the three and would also be fun to visit. But the girl is majoring in math (seriously! where did this kid come from??) and Stanford and Harvard are better schools for that major. 

It was weird when the last semester grades came in for the Wright children and the lowest GPA was 3.6. For kicks, Mr. Wright and I went through our old journals and scrapbooks and found our own report cards. Yeah . . . we made a pact to never show these to the children until they are all grown and out of college. We're a little mystified that these kids belong to us. If I didn't have physical DNA evidence that they belonged to me, I'd swear they were adopted or something because they are so much *more* than I ever was.

Anyway, I am cutting into valuable writing time by blogging so I will end with the list of finalists for the Whitney Awards (please note how nice my name looks on the list ) Congratulations everyone!

Romance:

Courting Miss Lancaster, by Sarah Eden
Cross My Heart, by Julie Wright
The Legend of Shannonderry, by Carol Warburton
Luck of the Draw, by Rachael Renee Anderson
Meg's Melody, by Kaylee Baldwin

Mystery/Suspense:

Cold As Ice, by Stephanie Black
Crossfire, by Traci Hunter Abramson
Murder by Design, by Betsy Brannon Green
A Time To Die, by Jeffrey Savage
Wrong Number, by Rachelle Christensen

Speculative:

Imprints, by Rachel Ann Nunes
Mr. Monster, by Dan Wells
Pathfinder, by Orson Scott Card
The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner
The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

Youth Fiction—Speculative:

Fablehaven 5, by Brandon Mull
Matched, by Ally Condie
Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White
The Forbidden Sea, by Sheila Nielson
The Fourth Nephite, Jeffrey Savage

Youth Fiction—General:

Glimpse, by Carol Lynch Williams
Missing in Action, by Dean Hughes
My Double Life, by Janette Rallison
The Healing Spell, by Kimberly Griffiths Little
Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me, by Kristen Chandler

Historical:

Alma The Younger, by H.B. Moore
Oh Say Can You See?, by L.C. Lewis
The Sheen on the Silk, by Anne Perry
The Silence of God, by Gale Sears
Trespass, by Sandra Grey

General Fiction:

Band of Sisters, by Annette Lyon
Blink of an Eye, by Gregg Luke
The Cross Gardener, by Jason Wright
Finding Mercie, by Blaine Yorgason
Lucky Change, by Susan Law Corpany

Oy! It's the New Year

Yes, I know, we're a week into January. And yes, I know, it is ten shades of lame to still have Christmas stuff up. But I am only nine shades of lame because I took mine down yesterday.Huzzah!  Losing that extra degree of lameness is super important to me. It's like losing that last  pound you committed to losing for those pesky New Year's resolutions.

Me? I don't make resolutions. We've been through this before–several times actually. I am not resolved. It makes the new year easier. I am all about easier.

2010 was awesome. I learned some things about myself that I was probably happier, but not necessarily better off, not knowing, and my family made it through the year with no harm, no damage. And to be honest, were I to make a resolution, it would be to get through 365 more days safely.

Which is not to say I want to play it safe.

My friend Jeff Savage (who I quote all the time, because he really is just that smart) said that if you succeed at everything you do, you aren't trying hard enough things.

This will be another year of hard things. Of doing hard things and hoping for success. I'm not even going to pretend to put diet and exercise on the list, because that's NOT going to happen. But some of the things that I'd wanted to get done last year are going to carry over to this year. I would like to write more, read more, have a cleaner house, and BE PRESENT.

I wanted to write three books this last year. I only wrote two. I'm sad that three didn't happen, but I'm really, really excited about the two that were completed.

I wanted to read fifty books this last year. I read sixty. LOVED doing that. There were so many talented writers discovered over the year and so many others that I was able to revisit. It just made for a dang good time.

I wanted to keep my blog up once a week. ~smirks and shrugs~ yeah whatever. It became more like once a month. But maybe this year . . . I can do twice a month? I'll try (shut up, Yoda).

I wanted to finish my basement once and for all. So did not happen. I've decided to sell one or two of the books I've written and then to pay someone else to finish my basement. The side benefit of this? I get to help the economy! Woohoo for helping the economy!

I wanted to finish landscaping the backyard. So did not happen, but I did get a sidewalk poured leading from the house to my store. No more muddy shoes! And the best thing about the path? While we were pouring the cement, my dog Copper got out and ran her cute little paws across it. We were a wee bit ticked off at the time, but now . . . well, we're grateful. Copper's gone, but her little paw prints make me smile when I walk home.

I wanted to be a good mom, and a good wife. Mostly this worked out. I am sometimes lame as a parent. It's really neat (meaning not really neat at all) when I throw a tantrum. After hurling the telephone at the wall, where it exploded, and the pieces flew all over the place, I was searching through the Christmas tree trying to locate the few pieces that got lost in the branches. My daughter came out and leaned on the couch and said, "You know, it must really suck to be the adult, and have to clean up after your own tantrums."   

Yeah . . . she's grounded.

Actually she's awesome. Families are fabulous. I endorse them in every way–even if they do laugh at me when I do the hula hoop on the Wii.

So here's to the new year and to trying hard things, and to succeeding at hard things.

Growing Pains

My husband planned a date night last weekend. One that would particularly interest me because it involved tickets to the Christmas folk dance festival at BYU. I love those sorts of things. I love dance and music, and once–long ago in my past–I was a pretty good dancer myself. Those days are so over, but it's nice to know they existed.

We left the kids in charge of the store and commenced to enjoy an evening OUT. Rae called to get a little help with the gas pumps since they weren't cooperating. And while Mr. Wright was on the phone with her, having a calm, rational conversation about how to fix things, she screamed into the phone, "Copper's dead!"

Copper is the family dog. More specifically, Copper is *Rae's* dog. More specifically, Copper has very much become *my* dog. I love that animal like crazy.

Copper was hit by a car. Merks carried her broken little body into the store. And on the phone, an hour and a half away, Mr. Wright and I listened to our children's anguish, and there was nothing we could do. We cried with them, but we also had to calm down the hysterics, the shrieking, the wailing, the begging for us to fix what isn't fixable.

They're all so little still–at least, they *seem* little to me. One's already driving, the others are fast approaching that, but I hated they were dealing with traumatic grown-up problems on their own.  I hated not being there to hold them, rock them, cry with them in person.

But they did deal with it. Bing asked for a prayer for Copper. The three of them closed the store, wrapped her in a blanket, joined together and prayed for their little dog. Rae, realizing she was in charge until we could get home, really took charge–in a way I don't think I could have when I was her age. She had them say their goodbyes, and herded the boys home to put up the Christmas tree (an act of service for me, since I'd had hand surgery the day previous and couldn't decorate), and spend an evening comforting each other.

Being the adult sucks muddy rocks sometimes. You have to do things that are hard. You have to do things you don't want to do–things you want to pawn off on somebody, anybody, else.

And my three little children did the adult thing that night. They handled it and were really there for each other. So while it's hard  losing a little dog that became so much a member of our family, it's good to know that the kids can come through a crisis without adult supervision.

They're growing up. So. Fast. I blink, and they're taller. I blink, and they're driving, stretching, growing. And they've proven they'll be able to handle growing up–even when it's hard. Even as I'm blinking away tears.

Dragons and Fairytales!

So, Cross My Heart made number three on the Deseret Book's bestseller's list for Romance. The top two spots were occupied by Anita Stansfield. I've thought of ways to off my competition, but it's hard to consider it, because I really like Anita. She bumped me to number four today and I STILL like her. I'm just charitable that way . . . I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Anita has been nice to me for my whole career as a writer–even when I was a lowly author with only one publication to my name (and a shoddy piece of writing at that).

In this time of Thanksgiving, I am reminded of how grateful I am to all those other authors who are my friends. Don't know what I'd do without them.

I am very excited to be doing a signing for Cross My Heart at the Dragons and Fairytales bookstore in Eagle Mountain on Thursday, November 18th from 5-7. Everyone says this bookstore is the cutest thing on the planet, so I'm pretty excited to be involved.

The address is: 3535 E Ranches Parkway Suite A

Eagle Mountain, UT 84005

Phone number is: 801-789-5014

http://www.dragonsandfairytales.com/

I also have a signing on Saturday November 20th at the Seagull Book and Tape in Spanish Fork from 11-1 pm. The address for that is:

1052 N Main St
Spanish Fork, Utah
I would love some company. Feel free to come visit me!