Julia London's Blog, page 102
July 19, 2010
July 17, 2010
Would You Like That in Twenties?
(Classic Kathleen Givens, originally published on 5/01/08)
Charles Ray Fuller had himself a big day. He showed up at a Fort Worth, Texas, bank last week with a check written out for $360 billion. Yes, BILLION.
Charles wanted to cash the check, but alas, instead he was arrested and charged with forgery. And with with unlawfully carrying a weapon and possessing marijuana. Seems clever Charles had marijuana and a .25-caliber handgun and magazine in his pockets.
He claims that his girlfriend's...
June 24, 2010
What Makes A Romance?
I considered making this a really techy-writing post, but I’m sort of techy-writing-ed out. I’m just starting on the new book and that is never easy for me, so I decided to do something fun today instead.
Lately I’ve been thinking about romance, the genre. Recently my editor was talking about some of the changes to my line and how Blaze wanted to laser-focus on the romance, upping the emotional quotient. The sensuality would stay as is, but they wanted more romance. I adore reading romance, all kinds of romance, but the more romancey the book is the better.
I love the ooey, gooey scenes where the hero does something uber-romantic for the heroine. Something that is personal and particular to her. Or the scenes where the hero reveals (sometimes in words, usually not) how much the heroine means to him. Or when the heroine lays down her pride to fully commit to the hero, when the cost to her own self-image/career/loyalties/family is high. And for all those great scenes, there are the lows, the time when all seems hopeless and lost.
The scene with Devin McKade, where Cassie breaks up with him because her son has to come before her own happiness. In Lord of the Scoundrels, Dain murmurs in Italian when he’s with Jessica. I don’t remember the words, but I remember swooning because he didn’t dare tell her in a language she would understand. The genre is full of these moments when your heart just sings.
There is no other genre (except for maybe straight fiction) than can capture the emotional highs and lows of romance. What do you love about romance? Any great scenes you remember?
May 4, 2010
Admit It You Knew I had To Have It
So, yes, I bought an iPad.
And, yes, I’m loving it! It was the inclusion of real wordprocessing and spreadsheet software (Pages and Numbers) that did it for me. The iBook thing still hasn’t tempted me. I have the Kindle App, and it looks just fine on the iPad. I may buy from iBook. I may not. Probably not, as I like to be able to read outside in the sun, and that is the only downside I’ve seen so far to the iPad. Ate lunch outside with the girls today and tried to answer a few emails. Just. Wasn’t. Happening.
Even though I don’t carry my Kindle with me at all times (what with the app on my phone) at least I know I can use it outside. So I prefer to have the books in an I Can Read Outside In the Hammock format.
But that’s just me, and not a dig against the iPad. I didn’t buy it b/c of the book software.
I wanted a portable writing system with email and the web, and boy is this it. The keyboard that’s built in works pretty well, but the bluetooth is awesome! And the iPad and the bluetooth fit in my purse and weigh a lot less than a laptop and are a lot less annoying than the Netbook I’ve totally given up on. (I’m just not a PC girl!). And, yes, I’m writing this post on the iPad using a combo of the Blogger and WordPress apps. Next I’m going to hop over to Safari and changed the saved draft to a scheduled post for tomorrow morning. Theoretically, I won’t need the computer at all!
And, yes, I bought it on release day (the 3G version). In part, because I wanted it right then, and in part because, hey, pop culture! The line was only 30 minutes, so I didn’t have to suffer for my poppish culture, and, frankly, it was fun.
So, yeah, this was a splurge (it’s my Christmas and Birthday presents combined!) but it was fun.
What’s your favorite Totally Worth The Splurge purchase?
UPDATE: so many folks have asked me how I use it…. Here are some pics. I set it up like this-or prop on something and keep the keyboard in my lap. This gizmo came with a sleeve I bought at the apple store
November 10, 2009
Who Doesn't Love Surprises?
Oh, such a tease I am! We have a huge surprise coming to Whine Sisters. Huge. You're going to love it. But you have to be patient. We kind of have to hang out for a few days because we are moving the site to a friendlier platform. You have to feast your eyes on this until next week. Can you do it? Can you wait for the big surprise?
November 9, 2009
A Whine and Some Cheese
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The Whine:
I get really annoyed with people who can't take the extra few seconds or few steps to put the grocery cart in the cart return area in grocery store parking lots. Most stores have quite a few cart return areas. Chances are, there's one near your car. They're very handy and they keep carts from rolling around loose and damaging other cars. Not to mention, it's easier to find parking when valuable spaces aren't taken up with random abandoned carts. I'm sympathetic to mothers of small ...
November 7, 2009
She's Got Legs!
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Julia London's headed for her second week on the New York Times list and on the USAToday list with A COURTESAN'S SCANDAL.
Yay, Julia London! Congratulations!
November 5, 2009
Sherri's Big News
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October was a fabulous month for me, because I was head-down, all-out involved in a new project that had me really excited. And I'm happy to report that other people were excited about it, too. Publishing people. My agent. Some editors. I had my first taste of auction action. And now… I can announce that my next book will be out in spring 2010, from Pocket Books. And it all started here.
Months ago, I blogged about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I was re-reading JANE EYRE at the time...
November 4, 2009
Our New Baby!!
We're havin' a baby...my baby and me…
Those are the words to an old song, and they're perfect for the news I have to share. I have to say, it came as a bit of a surprise—we hadn't really planned to get a baby at this time, but when we saw her, my husband and I fell in love with her and couldn't resist. She was delivered a few weeks ago and we can't stop playing with her! At 5'3", she's a little bigger than some babies, but she fits in our home perfectly. Her name is Yamaha. Here's her...
November 3, 2009
One Million Hits and Climbing!
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No, I'm not talking about an oldies collection. Or the World Series collective stats. I'm talking The Whine Sisters! And it's way over a million hits - like 200,000 over. We rarely track that, but maybe we should. So thanks to all of you who visit and read our madness, and an even bigger thanks to those who comment and keep coming back for more.
We love you, man! It's nice to know it's mutual.
Oh, and Sherri's got her own reason for champagne to be flowing, but I'll never tell.
