Julia Rachel Barrett's Blog, page 121

Advice from book bloggers:

[image error]I've been seeing this everywhere from all sorts of book bloggers -

how to create a reader/googler-friendly site.

1.  Delete the bells, whistles and gimmicks.

2.  Ax the media crappola.  No music, no downloads, no video presentations.

3.  Make the site easy to navigate.

4.  Keep your books where we can see 'em!  Same goes for your publisher links.

5.  Quit yer yappin' – me me me me me…all the time…more me.  Talk about somebody else once in a while.

Pretty good advice, but I feel a little like there's a finger wagging in my face.  Speaking for the gratuitous me…yes, book blogger mommies, I'll clean up my site…hangs head in shame…

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My best mom moment…

[image error]One piece of advice – despite the fact that I have strong opinions, I rarely give advice.  I'm a bad advice-giver, but if I could give you a single piece of advice -

READ TO YOUR KIDS.  READ WITH YOUR KIDS.  INSTILL A LOVE OF READING IN YOUR KIDS.  IT'S THE VERY BEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE THEM – A WORLD OF ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

I've read a bunch of blogs lately bemoaning the fact that as mothers, we have very little time to write, or if we do make time to write, we feel guilty for not being with our kids.  Yup.  I have no advice to offer.  There is no solution to the conundrum.  Every one of us has to figure out for ourselves what works.  Some mothers use babysitting coops, grandparents, fathers (yeah, uh-huh, sure), babysitters, daycare, school – a perennial favorite – play dates…you name it, we use it – necessity is the mother of invention – which is why women are so much smarter than men.

From author Hannah Moskowitz on Nathan Bransford's site:  Professionalism, It's not What You Think.  http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/10/professionalism-its-not-what-you-think.html

" This post has nothing to do with writing and absolutely everything to do with being a writer.

The stereotype of a writer–the middle-aged man pounding feverishly at a typewriter, cigarette in his mouth, sending hard-copy manuscripts to his agent and protesting the change of every word–has yet to catch up with the reality of what being a writer entails today.

We are not locked in our attics alone. We are not even the romantic writers of the '20s, drinking coffee and discussing literature. We are a legion of overworked, underwashed normals, pounding away at our laptops and shooing the kids to the next room.

And more importantly, we are not alone."

I think I'm in love with Hannah Moskowitz.  Her post about the challenges of writing is brilliant!  Where was I going with this?  Oh yeah, writing and kids.  If I can do it, anybody can do it.  Sleep suffers.  Housecleaning suffers.  Big deal.  Write and take the time to read to your kids

Heading south Friday to speak to the Yosemite Valley Writers RWA Chapter – cool!

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Sex, heaven and the quest for Nirvana.

[image error]Hubby and I have this on-going argument – I say, "I'm coming back to this life again and you're coming with me."  He says, "Well, what if I don't want to come back with you?  What if I'm done with this life?  What if I've repaid all my karmic debt and I don't want to come back?"

"You're coming back and you're coming back with me and you're coming back as a man because I like being a woman, we're so multi-orgasmic. YOU'RE COMING BACK! I've repaid my karmic debt and I'm coming back, the psychic said so."

Hubby – "Well if you want to come back, obviously you haven't paid your Karmic debt, you're not ready for Nirvana."

Me – "Of course I'm ready for Nirvana, (ego much?) but I don't want Nirvana.  I want drama.  I love drama.  And sex, I love sex.  I'm not sure you get sex in Nirvana."

Hubby laughs.

Me – "And the pets are coming back and everyone in our families because that's what I want."

Hubby – "Yeah, I want Louie to come back.  I miss him.  If Louie comes back, I'll come back."

"Me too."  Sigh.  "Jake is great, and I totally love him, but Louie was a special being.  Wait, you'll come back for the dog, but not for me?  I think I've been insulted!"

Hubby – "Wouldn't you come back for the dog?"

Me – "I guess I would.  I'd probably come back for my horse.  I love the roller coaster that is this life."

So why am I thinking about this?  A friend of mine died during surgery.  She coded and it took six doctors to resuscitate her.  She was on a ventilator, unresponsive, for six days.  And then she came back.  She confided her experience to me today because she knows I died in an accident at the age of 16 – but I didn't die enough so I was sent back.  I totally believe her account because of the following -

1.  She returned knowing that love is all we take with us.

2.  All her existential questions were answered when she was dead, but she no longer remembers either the questions or the answers, she just knows she knew when she was dead.

3.  Nobody sat in judgment.  She assessed her life and her issues by herself, with guidance from another person, a male person whom she cannot describe, other than to say she sensed it was a he.

4.  The colors of heaven made the colors of earth look like mere shadows.

5.  Her only concerns were for the people she left behind.

6.  She still felt like she inhabited a body.

7.  Despite the fact that she's a Christian and has always believed Jesus is THE way, she came back believing that your religion is of zero importance in the next world, it's how you behave toward your fellow man in this world that matters in the next.

8.  If you don't get it right, you come back until you do.

9.  The hardest part was coming back.

Yup – nailed it.  I will never believe anyone who claims to have had an NDE and says that only people of a certain religion get into heaven.  Never.  Gonna.  Happen.

Next ten books:

1.  Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence

2.  Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence

3.  Mila 18, by Leon Uris

4.  Sacajawea, by Anna Lee Waldo

5.  The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

6.  The Dragons of Pern – the entire series, by Anne McCaffrey

7.  Shogun, by James Clavell

8.  One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

9.  The Poems of Lao Tzu, by Lao Tzu

10.  The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, by Langston Hughes

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Lots and lots of stuff…

There is so much stuff that I hardly know where to begin.  Okay.  Let's see…

[image error]From Vanessa at Joyfully Reviewed:

"Anytime Darlin' grasped me from the first page and didn't let go until the last.  I didn't want it to end!  I don't usually care for romantic suspense but I cared about this one.  Ms. Barrett crafted an intelligent, well thought out story that made you care about the characters: Jake and Devlin. It would have been real easy for Jake and Devlin to give into their feelings right from the beginning but these characters had morals and values.  They knew they needed to wait until Devlin grew up and dealt with the traumas of her past and for Jake to reach the settling down point in his life, but once they reached that point . . . the fireworks went off!!"

http://www.joyfullyreviewed.com/new-reviews/anytime-darlin-by-julia-rachel-barrett

Thanks, Vanessa!

There's been some talk about the challenges facing mothers, working or otherwise, who want to be writers – I'm tackling the topic later this week – because believe me, it is a challenge, even when your kids are no longer babies!

Fun and exciting!  I've been asked to speak this Saturday at the Yosemite Valley Romance Writers Group – my topic…Spontaneous Combustion, Writing that First Encounter.  I can't wait!  And I'm thrilled they want to hear from geek-me!  I love that first encounter!

From my Scottish friend who refuses to read any of my work, because he says either he'll think I'm a perv or a horrible writer, and in either case, he'll never look at me the same again – this is a great article, well worth the trip to the UK -

Writing a sex scene is an impossible task
To avoid ridicule, less is more when it comes to writing about sex, advises novelist Jojo Moyes.

"It's a strange career path that can have you debating the use of a throbbing member before your second cup of coffee. But such is the lot (and the minimum caffeine requirement) of a writer about to enter the perilous territory of the sex scene.

Lyrical and metaphorical, or brutally realistic? Queasy Rothian coupling or jolly Cooperesque romp? Either carries a risk your reader will clench their toes, drop your book in horror, or worse, fall about in appalled hysterics. For as novelist Martin Amis observed last weekend, translating the act into print is an impossible task. "It's not that someone's going to hit upon the right way [of describing it]," he said. "There is no right way."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8056890/Writing-a-sex-scene-is-an-impossible-task.html

As a lover of sci fi, I'm sending you over to Rebecca's review of Ender's Game on Dirty Sexy Books.  While this work by Orson Scott Card isn't in my top 40, it is a good book for readers who are into science fiction and those who aren't.  I can't say I managed to finish all the subsequent Ender-related books.  They were, unfortunately, DNF for me.  I think it's important to note that we all read a story with new eyes and we each come from a different perspective.  http://dirtysexybooks.com/2010/10/12/review-enders-game-by-orson-scott-card-1985/

Next ten books:

A Grain of Wheat, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Brown Girl, Brownstones, by Paule Marshall

You Can't Go Home Again, by Thomas Wolfe

Look Homeward Angel, by Thomas Wolfe

The Web and the Rock, by Thomas Wolfe

Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton

Meetings with Remarkable Men, by G.I. Gurdjieff

Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker

The Glass Menagerie, a play by Tennessee Williams

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My schedule is so messed up.

Photos of Monterey Bay and our somewhat depressing yet strangely interesting weekend getaway.

[image error][image error][image error][image error][image error][image error][image error]So here's the interesting part, and hubby said – That's going to end up on your blog, isn't it?

Yup!

So while hubby was in lectures, I took a walk, then I headed out to Fisherman's Wharf to taste some clam chowder – which I love – all the restaurants on Fisherman's Wharf hand out samples and post signs that say theirs is the very best.

One restaurant owner and I struck up a conversation – he was from Boston, but he knew all about the Iowa Hawkeyes – we chatted and chatted and he told me that I could taste up and down the wharf, but I wouldn't find any clam chowder better than his. I took him up on that bet and I tasted.  He was right – his was the very best.

When I came back to give him the news, he was so totally cool that he bought me lunch.  I am not joking. He bought me a cup of clam chowder and had 'his guys' bring me a plate of freshly caught, freshly cut, freshly fried calamari – he said his fishing boat unloaded it just that morning and he had 'his guys' cut it fresh for me and man, that stuff melted in my mouth like butter. I made him sit with me – he said, "You're going to get me into trouble…" Then he told the waiter to bring me a Crab Louie salad with fresh caught Dungeness crab – OMFG!  I was so full by that time I could only eat a couple bites, but the salad was amazing.  I asked if I could take it back to the hotel for my husband. Oh…my new friend looked so crest-fallen. He invited me to bring the hubs back later, he said he'd treat us to dinner. I told him we couldn't come, we had an event to attend. So he asked me if I'd come back later, after the event.  I shook my head, but I gave him a hug and a kiss before I left.  He was so sweet and so attractive in that David Crosby-type way – (the singer…David Crosby).

That was the second best thing that happened all weekend.  The adventure we anticipated did not materialize, but as you can see from the photos, the weather was good!

Tomorrow – more books and a couple reviews for Anytime Darlin'. And maybe, just maybe, a ghost story.

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Ten more books to take to the moon

[image error]Oh oh oh!  Before I say anything else – ya'll gotta get your butts out there and pick up ESPN Magazine's Body Issue!  It is to die for!  I ditched my Sports Illustrated subscription years ago because I got sick of reading the word 'iconic' in every other sentence.  Last year, I spotted the ESPN Body Issue, bought it, loved it, and got a subscription.  The magazine is great in every way.  I actually read it from cover to cover and I'm, um, a female – Sports Illustrated is all guy all the time and even though I break down and pick up the Swimsuit Issue for hubby, I secretly hate that damn Swimsuit Issue – it's just T and A and maybe some sand patted into the butt crack.

So go get the Body Issue – ESPN does what I've been saying Sports Illustrated should do – they feature the wonder of the human body, human performance, and real athletes, men and women – different sports, different ages, even athletes with physical challenges to overcome.  I have such an enormous crush on ESPN Magazine!

Next ten books:

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

Beloved, By Toni Morrison

Germinal, by Emile Zola

Ulysses, by James Joyce

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

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I coulda been at a ballgame!

This is hubby's deal – We sit at this big dinner, he gets more and more depressed and whispers to me – This stuff gets so old…  I look at the crappy meal set in front of me – Top Chef would have a fit at the multiple inedible garnishes – and listen to the even crappier band play some of what is quite possibly the worst music ever written in the past three decades and I think, I left my puppy home with a sitter for this?  I coulda been at a Giants game!

Okay so news – there are so many great articles out there right now in the blogosphere.  Author Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, The Tipping Point, Blink) says social media will not reinvigorate social activism.  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell I'm not so sure the revolution will not be tweeted.  Maria Popova disagrees with Mr. Gladwell.

Malcolm Gladwell is #Wrong, by Maria Popova

http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=19008

Ms. Popova – "We need a definition of what activism is, not what it is not, before we can argue for or against its existence. As far as I'm concerned, activism is any action or set of actions, be it organized, grassroots or self-initiated, that aims to resolve a problem that diminishes the quality of life of individuals, communities or society. The civil rights movement is one example: it sought to bring equality and justice across racial borders. The suffrage movement is another: it sought to give women equal rights as political and social agents."

I find myself leaning toward Ms. Popova's point of view – if social media is insignificant in terms of societal change, then why are so many governments around the world terrified of social media?  Why so much censorship in countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE?

In the world of science fiction romance, I've found a new site to love:

Science Fiction Romance is not an oxymoron - thank you Corinna Lawson!

http://www.geekmom.com/2010/10/science-fiction-romance-not-an-oxymoron/

"For over a decade, I went through a fantasy and mystery reading phase, mostly books by female authors, and eventually stumbled onto the "In Death" mystery/science fiction/romance series by J.D. Robb, aka Nora Roberts, the best-selling romance author of all time. And that's how I ended up reading romance.

I soon lost my negative preconceptions about the genre. It turned out that women are strong characters in romance, not simpering lovesick fools, that 'trashy romance novel' is an oxymoron for the most part, and that the idea they're written to a formula was as erroneous as saying all mysteries are alike because there's a mystery to solve.

Most importantly, I discovered that, when it comes to the romance genre, women are the stars of their own stories. It's not that I dislike reading about male protagonists, but I did get tired of women being secondary or a prop. New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie detailed how she started writing romance while researching her dissertation because she found the romance books to be incredibly feminist."

Check out this new review for Anytime Darlin' from Sensual Reads:  http://sensualreads.com/?p=5047

"A powerful story that takes you through an extremely delicate subject matter with compassion."

One more newly discovered science fiction romance link:  http://twillwoven.blogspot.com/

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A bucket list of books.

[image error]I recently stumbled across a book blogger site – don't ask me where because I'm very scatter-brained lately – and she has 1001 books listed that you…we…should read in our lifetimes.  I thought her idea was brilliant.  I decided to make my own list.  I'm going to try, try mind you, to add ten books per day to the list.  Here are my first beloved ten, in no particular order:

1.  To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

2.  The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk

3.  Dust Tracks on a Road, by Zora Neale Hurston

4.  On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

5.  Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs

6.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

7.  Ringworld, by LarryNiven

8.  Dune, by Frank Herbert,

9.  1984, by George Orwell

10.  Native Son, by Richard Wright

Once I started this list, I could barely stop myself from adding hundreds of books – okay…ten a day.

I almost forgot – my post-apocalyptic work of dystopian fiction, Salvation, took second place in the Paranormal category in The Dixie Kane Memorial Contest sponsored by the Southern Louisiana Chapter of Romance Writers of America.

And the Giants won – just got home and I can't talk, too hoarse from yelling.

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So here's the plan…

[image error]1.  Promote my new book.  If you want a fun, sexy romp, One Four All is it.  Go.  Buy.  Make me some money.  Remember, Anytime Darlin' is a good read too!

2.  Thank you all for your great, insightful, sincere, hilarious comments yesterday.  I loved reading them.

3.  Many thanks, Danielle, for being such a good sport – since I used your quote out of context – but you came by  to set me straight – which I was hoping you'd do since I couldn't remember where I read your thought-provoking article – and you made your points so eloquently!

4.  Hike with my Jakey-boy.  He's getting big!  I can barely lift him.

5.  Head into the City with hubs for a play-off game.  Go Gigantes and Andres Torres!  I'm getting a Cha-Cha Bowl with extra fresh salsa.

6.  Try to prepare a post for Friday because we're leaving town for a big adventure on the coast.

7.  Finish post-coital scene in new WIP.  The guy is so not a virgin billionaire.  But he's well-hung, Kat.  LOL!

That's the plan.  Oh, and write up instructions for Jake's dog-sitter.

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To Virgin or not to Virgin, that is the question…

[image error] Why a virgin?

I want to know.  I'm wondering about virginity in contemporary romance.  There are reasons, yes, of course…the primary reason being a woman's desire to remain a virgin until marriage or a commitment to one partner. I suppose a secondary and somewhat suspect reason is simply lack of opportunity or time – ala Karen Marie Moning's Highlander romances.  Her heroines want to have sex,  are indeed, very interested in having sex, but their priorities lie elsewhere – their career, their education, their ability to see gorgeous fae males…

I haven't written a contemporary with a virgin heroine.  To be honest, the thought hasn't crossed my mind.  Well, it's crossed my mind but not in a serious way.

In Daughters of Persephone, my heroines are virgins.  Sex involves a sharing of the blood and once the women share their royal blood, they are bonded to a man for life, so sex means a life-long commitment.  It's as good a reason as any to remain a virgin.

I'm never surprised to find virgin heroines in historical romances – while I don't believe that all women who entered into a committed relationship were virgins, I do believe virginity was sort of expected and valued, in particular among the upper class.  I associate virginity with the Bible, Vestal Virgins, the Victorian Era, and the 1950s, but not with the Roaring Twenties, the '60s, or the medieval world.  Even handfasting, common in Scottish romances, was considered a trial marriage and either party could walk away if things didn't work out.

I recently read two articles about virgins in romances – one claimed that one single word included in a title will sell a book – the word virgin.  The other article was by a reader who said nothing bothers her more than a virgin heroine who gives up her virginity to someone other than her ultimate love interest, i.e, the ultimate protagonist.  I think that's what got me asking myself the question – how much value do I put on virginity when I read romance?  I guess for me the answer is little to none, unless the situation realistically requires virginity.  I find the dichotomy interesting.  We live in a society that uses sex to sell just about everything, but the word 'virgin' will sell a book.

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