Julia Rachel Barrett's Blog, page 7

Excerpt- WINNERLAND BY J.R. BARRETT

The big man we’d met last night squeezed through the far door. He shoved Ken behind him. “Get the hell out of here before I let these kids wail on you.”

The boy next to me gave the tiniest grin. If I hadn’t been staring in his direction I would have missed it, it flitted across his face that fast.

Christ. The man was built like a mountain. He stomped towards us. I forced my sluggish brain to remember his name. Monte, his name was Monte, a name which I guess means a mountain or high place or som...

Busting nutrition misinformation. The sky will not fall–

if your kids don’t eat their broccoli.

Broccoli

It all begins with the senses– in particular our inter-related senses of taste and smell.

The tongue can taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory or what we now call umami.

Wealso have receptors for fat, briny- as in alkaline – metallic and water. Yes, even a non-taste like water rates receptors.

There are good evolutionaryreasons to taste bitter – Poisonous plants tend to be bitter. Makes sense that we would therefore be sensitive to bitter.

Child...

My hair person made me look like Rizzo from Grease so I had to bake an emergency pie.

Me, uh, I mean Rizzo. (Stockard Channing)

Rizzo has always been my fave. We have lots in common. I won’t say what, exactly, but lots. Even though we are generations apart. Sandy I was not, but during my anorexic daysI could have fit into those skin-tight black pants.

Every time I get my hair highlighted and cut, my hair person blows it into the Riz. I swear… It’s all poofy and stuff. Now if she could only styleme those boobs, the legs and the butt all would be right with the world.

All of which...

Covers Covers Everywhere…

Ya know, I’m trying to find the right cover for Winnerland and so I’ve gone back and forth from a very evocative cover to a stark literary cover and back to the cover that initially drew me in.

I’ve received a few suggestions – that the first cover was too scary- made readers think of child abduction, which the book sorta is…

Cover #1

It’s been suggested to me that the literary cover is too stark, gives the reader no sense of what lies beneath.

Cover #2

So I’ve compromised. Changed the cover to fr...

Jake’s World. The Poop and Pee Free Zone.

If you were a dog you’d look at the images and think- Poop and Pee Zone. Right?

So Jake glanced at the sign, walked on by, and I assumed hewas heading to the next yard. But he stopped suddenly, turned around, went right up to the sign, took a good look at it, sniffed it just to be sure, and then pooped right next to it.

I could see the wheels turning in his brain. It was like he had a little thought balloon above his head. His reading of the sign?

“Poop Zone.”

I’m serious. It’s scary. My dog can...

The Dog Ate My Emails and Other Fractured Fairy Tales.

I feel the same way.

Excerptsfrom The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey:

(The author says it better than I ever could. The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey, is a brilliant and entertaining fictionalized version of the mystery of Richard the III and the Princes in the Tower. Remarkably timely in its outlook, especially if you considerthe fact that it was published62 years ago.)

“Forty million school books can’t be wrong,” Grant said after a little.

“Can’t they?”

“Well, can they?”

“I used to think...

Busting nutrition misinformation–Sometimes you get a bad rep for no good reason.

The Potatoismuch more than the sum of its rumors.

Potatoes are a wild food plant (as most food plants once were) indigenous to the Andes.The potato wasdomesticated between 7000 and 10,000 years ago and there are currently over 100 varieties of potatoes.

The humble potato was introduced to the Western World approximately400 years ago and the Western World fell in love with this compact tasty nutritious tuber, so much so that the potato is now ubiquitous.

Unfortunately in recent years the humble a...

My Dad.

I’m not one of those women who feels slighted orhurt if I’m not recognizedon Mother’s Day– even though I am a mother.

I have a pretty jaundicedview of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day. As far as I’m concerned these holidays aredesigned to acknowledge the hard work and contributions of card companies and florists.

Yeah, call me a cynic. ‘Cuz I am.

On the other hand, I love my dad. I respect and admire him. He’s a good dad. Given the opportunity he would have been a better dad, ev...

Pardon my absence…

I do have lots to tell but my father has experienceda late complication from last year’s open heart surgery. Hopefully nothing life-threatening. In any case Oscar and I are heading up to Oregon for a quick visit with the folks.

This is kind of last minute so I have lots to do before Thursday. I’ll be back to posting on Monday. Maybe Sunday if I have the energy. I hope you’re all getting your feeds now! Love, Julia

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Housekeeping duties.

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Thanks and Happy Monday! Julia

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