Julia London's Blog, page 37

One Giant Snowball

I know you guys have heard me complain about the half wall between my kitchen and living area that I despise.  It doesn’t serve any purpose but to block the sight of people in the living room, and to block the sight of people in the kitchen.  Tell me how ridiculous this is:

So I decided to have the wall taken out.  I talked to a few people who do this sort of thing.  The guy I went with had some really great ideas for lighting and what to do with the columns that would remain.  He had such great ideas that I asked him about some other things that were bothering me.  Like…a recessed wall where the TV is supposed to go, but where nothing really fits.  He said, easy-peasey.  An entertainment center is what you need.  We can get it built, finished, delivered and installed.  I said yeah yeah, do that.  And what about that front door that’s all glass and people can see all the way to the back of my house and they look in?  He said, simple solution.  You pick a door and I know where to get it cheaper than anywhere, quality construction, installed.  I said, okay, let’s do that.

This has all been really fun, but last week, I went to see some of this guy’s work.  The woman was happy to show me (and the work was excellent).  She had expanded her kitchen, enclosed an old patio and added walls and taken down others to make it part of the now swank den, then expanded her patio and put in an awning.  Oh, and she redid the master bath.  But she said something that sobered me:  She had called this contractor because she really wanted to put in a double oven in her kitchen.  This all started with a double oven.  A double oven!  And I figured she was well into six figures now, which started with a renovation that might have been a couple of thousand dollars.

I thought about my wall, which currently looks like this (almost gone!):

And the entertainment hutch thing.  And the door.  And how I toyed with the idea of a new bathroom.  And some changes upstairs.  It was a cautionary tale, sent to me from the universe.  It whispers, stop.  Stop now.    I needed to see how a double oven could become an entire construction project with no one to help me pay for it but me. Whew!  Dodged a bullet there!

Have you ever done a renovation project?  Have you ever gotten carried away on a grand scale and watched an enormous snowball forming?  What about your house would you change if you could? What is your house missing?  What do you love about your house?

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Way Back When…

Way back when, in November 1999, just a few weeks after the publication of my first book (Red Roses Mean Love), I was interviewed by Jill Vejnoska, a features reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  I was really excited about it, and Jill was extremely nice and witty during our phone interview.  She told me the story would be in the Sunday paper, on the front page, “unless there’s a war,” she joked.  A few days later a photographer from the paper came to the house and snapped some pics to accompany the article.  Totally cool!  On Sunday morning, I ran outside to snatched up the paper from the driveway.  Back in the house, I pulled out the Living section and looked on the front page.

No story, no picture.

My stomach felt like it crashed to the floor.  I turned to my DH and said, “Holy crap, we’re at war.”  I rifled through the other sections of the newspaper to find the main section to find out what country we were at war with.  And this is what I saw:

No war. Me.  Yes, that’s ME.  Sitting at my desk.  On THE front page of the AJC.  I about passed out.  I had no idea Jill had meant THE front page of the paper!  My husband and I couldn’t believe it.  I shook my head and said, “I bet I’m the only Yankee who’s ever been on the front page of the AJC without having committed a heinous crime.” 

Needless to say, we bought about 20 copies of the paper.  I laminated the article and have it in a frame along with a cover flat of Red Roses Mean Love, as well as the pages from the New York Times and USA Today when I hit those print lists with the anthology It Happened One Night.  The frame hangs on my office wall and I get a tingle of pride every time I look at it.   And I tell you all this because I’ve kept in touch with Jill  all these years, but we’d never met.  Until yesterday.  She’s doing another story about romance writers and she came to my house to do another interview.  We marveled over the fact that the last time she interviewed me, my son was in third grade–and he’s graduating from college this Friday.  Here’s a photo of  Jill and I standing by the framed article of our last interview.

She told me the story won’t be on the front page this time but that’s okay.  We had a terrific time together and it was great to meet her in person.  I’m not sure when the article will be in the paper, but I’ll keep y’all updated.

So, lots of excitement here at Casa D’Alessandro–newspaper interviews, my parents arrive on Wednesday, and on Friday we’ll see our baby boy graduate from college–I really can’t believe it.  What have you been up to?  Ever been interviewed?  How did it go?  Any graduations coming up for friends/family?  Seen any good movies?  What’s going on in your life?  Enquiring minds want to know!   

 

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Tequila!

Is there any better way to welcome Monday? Kidding. I started with a breakfast smoothie, tequila free.

Check out Smoothies 101 at my other blog, Sherri and Charlotte. 

But Saturday was Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby Day, and both occasions called for celebration here at Casa Erwin. Especially with my dad staying with me all weekend.

Dad’s a bourbon fan, so we had the Derby drinks covered. My husband and I have been brushing up on tequila after falling for a few samples (no, not literally) at a tequila tasting in a little place called La Cava del Tequila (Mexico pavilion, World Showcase, Epcot, Walt Disney World). Up until last year’s visit to La Cava, my thinking was that tequila was for margaritas. And they do make some fantastic margaritas at La Cava. Looking for a new margarita recipe? Try their avocado margarita! Tastes like banana, weirdly enough. It’s smooth, creamy, yummy, and unique. [image error]

Avocado Margarita

1/2 ripe Haas avocado

2 oz. white 100% agave Tequila

1 oz. Midori melon liquor

juice of one lime (about 1 oz.)

1 oz. Agave Syrup

Ice

Blend all ingredient in blender until very smooth and creamy. Serve in a salt-rimmed glass (or without salt, if you prefer).

Thanks to La Cava del Tequila, now I know that there are some good, smooth sipping tequilas that go down like aged whiskey. I loved La Cava’s sangrita, a tequila chaser shot, so much that I got the recipe. Make it a day or two in advance to give the flavors time to meld then serve it with your favorite tequila. You might find that tequila is not just for margaritas anymore. [image error]

La Cava del Tequila’s Sangrita

Makes 1 gallon

Ingredients:

24 ounces Tomato Juice

6 Serrano Peppers (very fine chopped)

Half of a Red Onion (very fine chopped)

17 Mint Leaves (very fine chopped)

7 ounces Fresh Lime Juice

7 ounces Fresh Grapefruit Juice

7 ounces Fresh Orange Juice

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients together and shake well. I like to give them a whirl in the food processor to ensure a smoother blend (it can be a little chunky, but you want a texture you can comfortably drink).

Unfortunately, I did not pick the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby. We never actually bet anyway, but we like to watch and choose a few favorites. This year, I went with Bodemeister (2nd place) and Creative Cause (4th). The winner was the appropriately named with Cinco de Mayo in mind, I’ll Have Another.

I won’t have another. Now what I’ll have to have is plenty of exercise to atone for my weekend diet sins. Maybe Julia London’s Running for Burgers can inspire me to get back on track. Leslie of KC, are you out there? We haven’t heard from you in a bit, and I was thinking of you this weekend (your love for horses).

Did you enjoy Cinco de Mayo? Watch the Derby? Do you love margaritas? Tequila fan or foe? Do you enjoy a good breakfast smoothie now and then? Have you joined Running for Burgers yet?

 

 

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Grave Expectations

Heaven knows, we need never be ashamed of our wolfish cravings. . . .

Bristly, sensitive, and meat-hungry Pip is a robust young whelp, an orphan born under a full moon. Between hunting escaped convicts alongside zombified soldiers, trying not to become one of the hunted himself, and hiding his hairy hands from the supernaturally beautiful and haughty Estella, whose devilish moods keep him chomping at the bit, Pip is sure he will die penniless or a convict like the rest of his commonly uncommon kind.

But then a mysterious benefactor sends him to London for the finest werewolf education money can buy. In the company of other furry young gentlemen, Pip tempers his violent transformations and devours the secrets of his dark world. When he discovers that his beloved Estella is a slayer of supernatural creatures, trained by the corpse-like vampire Miss Havisham, Pip’s desire for her grows stronger than his midnight hunger for rare fresh beef. But can he risk his hide for a truth that will make Estella his forever—or will she drive one last silver stake through his heart?

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Watching Girls

Girls, as in the HBO show Girls, and not “watching girls” in general. Have you seen it? [image error]

If you haven’t seen it, you have no doubt heard about it because it seems to be all some of my favorite blogs can discuss lately. Usually with vitriol and not without a mention of nepotism. Girls stars Lena Dunham, child of photographer/artist Laurie Simmons. Lena is also a writer and producer of Girls, along with Judd Apatow (yeah, that movie guy who makes a lot of movies featuring men-children or addressing young men problems).

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Lena Dunham as Hannah in Girls

Girls also stars Allison Williams (newscaster Brian Williams’s daughter), Jemima Kirke (the drummer from Bad Company’s daughter), and Zosia Mamet (David Mamet’s daughter). Yes, they’re all privileged white girls. Moving on. Lena Dunham plays Hannah, our central character. Our introduction to Hannah involved her parents breaking up with her. No, not really. But it felt like a break up. They tell her that they can’t keep supporting her, that it’s time she give up her five year unpaid internship ( I know, right!) and get a job, pay her own rent. And she pouts, whines, and acts like a jerk. So… yeah, loving Hannah.

And after that? She sleeps with a guy friend who clearly has no respect for her. He treats her badly, won’t return her texts, and he’s actually a bit skeevy (no, really skeevy). But she keeps going back for the sex, which never actually involves her pleasure, if you know what I mean. It’s all about him. Nice.

Yeaaaah. And Allison Williams’s character hates her boyfriend for being too good to her and loving her too much– but she won’t break up with him. And Zosia Mamet’s character is obsessed with Sex and the City and her own virginity. And the other one is our free spirit, who thought she was pregnant but blew off her abortion to get drunk and hit on a guy… then had a convenient miscarriage.

So that’s Girls. I have a feeling I don’t get Girls because I consider myself a woman. At their age, I was a woman. At their age, I was a mom. So, no, I don’t really understand the whole lost, entitled generation presented on Girls. But I started watching it because my kids are almost at that age– the girls are in their early 20s, my son is turning 21, my daughter will be 19. Is this what they’re dealing with out there?

I actually laugh at the Girls, their cluelessness and complete lack of self-awareness and self-respect. At the same time, they make me sad. I want to invite them all over, feed them cupcakes, and tell them it’s okay to grow up and take care of themselves. It feels good, actually– I promise. You Girls, you can do this! Respect yourselves and guys will respect you, too. And you will meet new guys who are actually grown-ups! Yes, that’s my problem: I watch Girls and I want more for them. I’m a parent. Maybe I’m supposed to feel that way. I’ll keep watching and hoping for that character evolution, from girls to women.

For girls who grew up on Sex and the City, I think they missed a lot of what made that show work. We were watching grown women navigate their single lives, not girls who needed their parents to pay the bills so they could keep making childish mistakes.

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Not that I didn’t have my share of problems with Sex and the City. Those women were not like me or any of my friends. A lot of the series didn’t ring true for me, perhaps because it was adapted from a woman’s book by a man. But still… we were dealing with real adults in occasionally unrealistic situations. Carrie’s closet and apartment on a journalist’s salary? No way. But, the fantasy was part of the fun.

Maybe Girls needs a little more fantasy along with a big ol’ dose of “grow the F up!” What scares me about Girls is that Lena Dunham, in character as Hannah, wants to be the voice of her generation. If this truly represents her generation, raised by my generation and the one before me, we’ve done our kids a huge disservice by allowing them to be so entitled, to avoid responsibility, to win without struggling, or accept losing as just another day in the life.

Also: E.L. James has to struggle with the same eye-rolling question most romance writers get asked: how does your husband feel about helping you research? Albeit, she does it in an interview with People magazine. But she sounds like a really nice woman. A really nice, very lucky woman.

Have you seen Girls? Do you know any twenty-somethings? Are you twenty-something, and if so how does Girls represent you? Were you a fan of Sex and the City? Any thoughts on parenting or raising successful kids?

 

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Once More With Feeling

[image error]“Half my life is an act of revision.”  John Irving

This week I’m revising.   (Double Danger, coming Jan. 2013) Taking a scalpel to my work and trying to make it better.   But sometimes it is like killing my children or at least bits of myself.   My words, each carefully thought out to make a perfect sentence take on a life of their own after I write them, and it takes a certain frame of mind to butcher them with both precision and purpose.

“I can’t write five words but that I change seven.” Dorothy Parker

For me the editing process is always ongoing, as I work I edit.  As I move forward in the story I go back and edit.  As I write a sentence part of my mind is reminding me that I’ve just used that word or phrase or gesture five paragraphs ago.  I find writing the story difficult at times but always thrilling.  I find revising my work painful.  ALWAYS.

“Books aren’t written- they’re rewritten.  It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”  Michael Crichton

But in the end, if I can just persevere, I always find that I’ve got a better book.  Leaner, meaner.   Fundamentally better.    But never done.  No matter how much I tinker, there is always something left that could be tighter, stronger, more–something… If it weren’t for deadlines, I’d probably never actually finish a book at all.

“Books are never finished, they are merely abandoned.”    Oscar Wilde

So thank goodness for deadlines.  And editors.  And the weird workings of my brain.  Okay…back to the scalpel.

How do you feel about the art of fine-tuning?  Your book, your closet, your job, your life?  Revising isn’t just for writers, you know.

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The 25 hour day

I had planned to write this post yesterday afternoon.  I had it written down on my to-do list, a purposefully sparse piece of paper where the only the must of the must gets written down. Ha! The best intentions of mice, men, and overworked citizens of the world. Yeah, you’ve heard it all, but since I’m writing this on two hours sleep, you will probably hear it in some new, rambling, and possibly nonsensical fashion, with loads of typos. Yesterday, the news was all abuzz with the findings that sleep deprivation is linked to obesity. People who sleep nine hours of sleep (or more!) are less likely to be overweight (and also less likely to suffer from poor hygiene habits (yes, I swear I will be taking a shower in about twenty minutes), and also less like to suffer from frizzle-brain). Nine hours of sleep!! I can’t remember the last time I got nine hours of sleep. I always forget the curse of May, the concerts, the tests, the end of year things that don’t happen in June (which is actually the end of the school year), but in May, because you know, nothing happens in May! Argh. So, of yes, back to the fat-link. I can attest to this. I have gained about seven pounds, although that could be explained by compulsively eating ice cream during meal time instead of lack of sleep. I have never been too much of a compulsive eater. I scoffed at those people who downed a bag of oreos in one sitting, but now I am one of them, hiding my food behind Scrooge McDuck hands, glancing back and forth like a paranoid squirrel. However, there is a light at the end of my tunnel, and it’s not that bright light that calls us to death. It’s actually the light of me turning in my novella.

Amazing yet true, last night I started at 7:30, and I wrote solid until 4:00am. I think I logged in at 3000 words, which is like the Boston Marathon of Kathleen’s Writing adventures. And they were good words! I wanted to pull this story in at 15,000 words, but it’s going to hit 19,000 words, which is the *pardon the pun* story of my life. I plan for 15,000 words, and end up at 19,000 words. I plan for a dinner to take exactly forty-three minutes, but it ends up taking ninety (I know, how does THAT happen? Well, usually it involves an unplanned trip to the grocery store for the key ingredient that I forgot). Lately it seems that everything takes more work than what I want. On my list of May todos include, fixing the bank accounts, because apparently we have to convert to some other account system or else be socked with fees. Oh, yeah, thanks Wells-Fargo! Give me Wachovia, or give me… another bank. That’s what I think. And then there’s the weird font thing in the new version of Quicken that took me forty-five minutes of scouring on the internet in order to find a fix. And then there’s the call I need to make to our landscape guy, because I want to get rid of a ton of tree branches, but I’m not sure if it’d just be smarter to go ahead and rent a trailer and haul them off to the yard waste facility, but hey, if we’re going to rent a trailer, than it would make sense to go ahead and trim the trees in the rest of the backyard, and probably put down new mulch. But I’d have to weed to put down new mulch, and that would mean Kathleen get’s poison ivy, which would mean a trip to the doc for steroids because poison ivy is my unwinnable battle. So yes, you can understand why a simple thirty second call can turn into a four day gardening adventure. So, I ask that all of you take pity on me today. The novella is actually still not complete, but I only have two paragraphs left to write. A smarter, less frizzled-brained individual would have gone ahead at 4am and written them out, but I was so excited to be this close to the end, that I quit. Yes, that is another problem with my project management skills.

Whew! That was one really long paragraph. I had meant it to be two sentences!

So, how about youse guys? I know that Julia London is putting up new websites and running for burgers, I know Sherri is coping with unexpected house guests. I know Jacquie is playing pickleball and probably tanning by the pool, creating some new exotic drink that has an umbrella in it. I know Dee is NOT running for burgers, but is, probably take in the best of broadway. I don’t know what Julie Kenner is doing, most likely starting a new organic garden and doing genetic cross-pollination with the girls to create some new superbreed of tomatoes. Or writing another five books in the time it takes for me to write on long, slightly (OK, not slightly) rambling post…

Are you good planners or do you suffer from marginal planning abilities? How many hours of sleep do you need/get? Is there some task that is pissing you off because it got dropped in your lap, and it’s totally unnecessary (and yes, Wells-Fargo, I’m looking at you).

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My New Burger Bar–You are All Invited

Look how crazy I am.  I just opened my own personal burger bar!  In all seriousness, it is a new Facebook page and it is dedicated to women who have gathered around out of a love for books…but who also want to be healthy and eat right.  Being healthy and eating right when you sit in front of a computer all day is as much of a job as the writing.  How easy is it to snack on all the wrong things?  To feel your bones begin to cement into a sitting position because you’re on deadline and you never get up?

The thing is, I don’t like to deprive myself.  I like food, I like burgers, and I don’t want to be prohibited from eating them because I am constantly worried about being fat.  So I, like everyone else, have fought the battle of the bulge for years.  I gain a little, I diet.  I exercise to keep the potato chips I ate yesterday from taking up permanent residence.

Four years ago in April, I was out for my daily walk, and I decided to see if I could run to the end of the block.  I did, but I heaved a lung in the process.  I tried again the next day, and the day after that.  I got some running shoes.  In the last six months, I have run in my first two half marathons.  I am slow, and I easily qualify for the Clydesdale divisions (they really used to have this–bigger runners were called Clydesdale).  But I do it, and when I do, I get to eat a cheeseburger and fries and feel no guilt.

And isn’t that what we all do?  We either forego calories or exercise so we can eat the cheeseburger.

Well, I talk about it enough.  I know there are like-minded people out there, so I set up a new Facebook page called Running for Burgers.  Why?  Because that is what I do.  And it was too hard to fit “Running, Cycling, Walking, Swimming and Aerobicizing for Burgers” on the graphic.

This site is for camaraderie and support around a common goal.  And to make it worth your while, each month, I am going to select someone who as earned their burger:  They will get a silver hamburger charm and a signed book from me.  How fun is that?  I hope you will check it out and consider joining the support team.  Remember:  You do NOT have to run to be included.  That’s just my poision of choice :-.  Come like, come hang out.  You can find Running for Burgers right here

How do you stay healthy?  What’s your poision of choice?  What do you “earn” when you’ve been really really good? 

 

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The Demon You Know

When daughter Allie finds herself knee-deep in demons, Demon Hunter Kate Connor must come to the rescue in this first short story featuring not only Kate, but fourteen year old Allie, too! (This story was originally published in Those Who Hunt Monsters, published by Edge Books in 2011)

Nook

Kindle

Coming soon to other retailers

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Touching, moving, sentimental and short

I recently ran across this short film, Porcelain Unicorn, which won the Tell It Your way competition (3 minutes long, 6 specific lines of dialogue). I wasn’t expecting to be so moved, especially with only three minutes, but I’ve watched it twice now — once when I found it, and once when I showed it to the hubster — and teared up each time.

Granted, the subject matter is moving. And, granted, the script is deliberately sentimental (and I’m the girl who cries at sentimental commercials) but I don’t think there’s any denying that these 3 minutes pack an emotional punch. Check it out!

And speaking of short … (ahem) I have a short story now up for Kindle and for the Nook! Hope y’all check it out!

So what did y’all think of the film? Are you a short film (or short story) fan? Or do you want to hang with a story and characters for longer than a few pages or minutes?

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