Julia London's Blog, page 5

Historical Finds

My mom’s cousin scanned and sent a bunch of photographs out to us this weekend (thanks Teresa!). I’m especially pleased with the pictures because a lot of them were taken during the time period I’m currently writing in.

Thornbrook Park, my new historical romance series coming in June 2014, takes place in Yorkshire England, 1906. This old photograph, of my great grandmother’s family, was taken right around 1900 in Pennsylvania. 

My maternal grandfather’s mother Teressa (often called Trixie) is the woman in the lower row, center, with the bow on her dress. Her parents are above her. Dig the long beards and full mustaches? She was the youngest of seven, and she went on to marry a railroad man and have seven children of her own.

Teressa at age 12. 

Teressa’s father, Private Stephen C. Derby, right around 1850 (without the long beard he would sport in later years). 

Teressa with her husband Earl and their own seven in 1930, My grandfather is seated on the left.

This prompted me to go through the family tree (my mother is big into genealogy). My favorite ancestor name is Scarborough Snead, of Virginia, born 1755, who had 9 children. One of her girls was named Zeporah, another great name. And there are Tabithas and Lydias, some Elizabeths. Some really great family names to draw from in writing.

My mother has traced us back to Richard Ashburnham, born 1210 in Sussex England. He married Catherine de Peverell. They had three sons. And all these years later… here I am.

Family history, do you love it? Have you any interest in genealogy? Any great family names you would consider reusing, in writing or for new generations?

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Moving On Up! by Jennifer St. Giles

 

 

 

 

 

Whenever I am not at my day job, or comatose from said job, I am currently barricaded in my writing rabbit hole.  I am about nine months to an entire year behind in my writing goals, which has me feeling worse that frustrated with myself…and life.  But venting about that would be a different blog for another day.  I can happily say that Cocktail Cove(see cover above), my fun and sassy southern contemporary is almost done.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am very excited to be so close and look forward to sharing with you about the story on my next blog.

Today I’d like to tell you about two interesting bits of news I recently found out about.  It might be old news to some because I always find out things after the fact.  And for others who are not local to the southeast, you might not have heard or even care.

Anyway, for  the past  few years the Atlanta area and its suburbs has been the backdrop to at least two popular TV shows.  The Vampire Diaries, films in Madison, Georgia and occasionally at Oglethorpe University and The Walking Dead has zombies all over Atlanta.  I am here to let you know we are moving on up from the sexy and not so sexy dead to an exciting world of interesting possibilities.  Coming in 2014 to Gwinnett County, will be the biggest movie studios in the entire Southeast.  Then to top that off, Pinewood, the makers of James Bond Movies and Europe’s biggest filmmakers—as I hear it—will be building a studio just south of Atlanta.

So will Daniel Craig (see above though not sure anyone can miss that) be dropping into the neighborhood?  LOL who knows.  I will keep you posted.   (Don’t they hire nurses on movie sets?  Uh, I know CPR…)

I also can’t help but hope that my chances of getting either one of my books or one of my not-yet-finished scripts made into a movie are going to greatly improve as The ATL becomes the new LA.   And why limit my dreams to just one.  Why not an entire series?   Why not all of my books?

LOL.  My how one can dream…

What book or series would you like to see as a movie or on TV?

Have any of you watched Cedar Cove Series on the Hallmark Channel yet?  It is based on Debbie Macomber’s books.  I am enjoying it so far.

Love to hear from you!

Remember every day to dream, believe, create, inspire, love, heal, succeed, and GROW WEALTH!

Happy Reading

Jennifer St. Giles/ Jennifer Saints/ JL Saint

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Achy Breaky Break-Ups

I have a confession.

I have never been dumped.  Unless we count my eighth-grade boyfriend’s announcement via his best friend that he would no longer sit with me at my lunch table, I have never been on the receiving end of a break-up.  I started dating my husband, David, when I was fourteen and a freshman in high school.  He was sixteen.  We dated all through high school and college, then got married after graduation.  And the most serious argument we had was when I told him I felt like his priorities were family, church, school, hunting, fishing, his truck and then me; and his response was, “Oh, come on, you’re ranked ahead of my truck.”

He was eighteen.  He’s grown since then.

So here’s where this is a problem -  I write about people falling in and out of love.  And while I am familiar with the falling in and staying in love process, I have to imagine the most angsty,  hurtful parts of relationships.  As with my current project, in which I am trying to come up with the worst possible way for my main character to be dumped by her lazy, emotionally unreliable boyfriend.  I’ve written a couple of different scenarios:

-Finding out that he’s cheating by coming home to find that he’s moved his stuff into another apartment in their building (occupied by the woman they refer to as Hot Neighbor.)

-Him dropping her off at a company retreat only to tell her that he “doesn’t think it’s working out” in front of her coworkers.

-Seeing him in public on a date with another girl and when she approaches, he pretends he doesn’t know who she is.

But none of these seem to be bad enough.   So I’m asking you for some inspiration. What is the worst break-up you’ve ever been through?  And how did you respond?

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Weekend Reads: Too Good to Be True

Kristan Higgans gave a wonderful keynote speech at the Romance Writer’s of America conference. She made me laugh, cry, and left me inspired. Who could ask for anything more? Also, I discovered that she lives in Connecticut. I always assume the big deal romance authors come from Texas or the south or midwest, but no. Yay, Connecticut Romance Writers!

Because Kristan was so overwhelmingly charming, I decided I wanted to read some of her books. If she can write and deliver a speech like that, it feels safe to assume she can win me over with her fiction, too. And yes, she did. I read Too Good to Be True on the plane home, and I laughed and cried and felt inspired all over again. It helps that her publisher gave it away free during lunch. But now I am hooked. More Kristan Higgins, please. Highly recommended if you’re looking for a zippy, fun read.

How far would you go to get over a guy? When Grace Emerson’s ex-fiancé starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she’s seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone …exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O’Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.

Whoa. No. Callahan O’Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so …right?

 

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Free Week continues – Terri’s Fangirl Moments

As Sherri’s mentioned, many of the Whiners were at the RWA conference last week — I was one of them. Even though it is my professional…cough..cough…conference, I always have a few fangirl moments and I did last week. These, of course, do not include meeting up with any of the Whiners though I did squee when seeing them!

I’d posted about this book during one of the Weekend Read posts — bought it for the cover, loved it for the story, romance, characters, etc. Well, I was sitting chatting with a friend at RWA and who should walk up and introduce herself but Bec McMaster!! I was so excited to tell her that her second book came with me to the conference to be read in down times (hahaha! yeah!). Bec is from Australia so she did some traveling to get to Atlanta…It was so great to meet her!

Then — another Harlequin Historical author tried to make me join her in stalking Jude Devereaux! Yes, she was there — but I was all the way on the other side of the signing from her so I didn’t get to meet her.

And one of the coolest moments for me was seeing my own cookies at the Kensington party! Isn’t this cute? It’s a lemon shortbread cookie, iced, with my edible cover on it! (I ate someone else’s cover to see how it tasted – they are great!) There was also a gift bag with a lovely photo frame and some other goodies, too.

So those were some of my fun moments at RWA — anyone else have a fangirl moment or something just fun to share?

 

 

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Royal Baby!

Are you all excited for the birth of HRH Baby Cambridge or do you wish the media frenzy would calm down?

I have to admit, I was pretty happy to see that they had their baby. On the first day. Now it’s getting a little old. Plenty of babies were born at the same time, and they’re all special and unique, and many of them will not grow up in wealth and privilege– or in the public eye. But I’m still eager to hear what they name the little guy, though it’s bound to be something boring and traditional. 

Penelope Cruz had a baby girl on the same day, so maybe there’s a royal match in her future. Names for Baby Cambridge? Any guesses?

 

 

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PoliDicks

 

“Hi, my name is Anthony “Wannaseemy” Weiner AKA Carlos Danger. I’m running for Mayor. Don’t forget to vote!”

Seriously? Again with the lewd pictures? Why is it that a man thinks a woman wants to see that? Especially after resigning his congressional seat in disgrace over the same thing. And his wife standing by him? Tell you what, Huma, divorce him and run yourself.

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Free for All Week!

Trying a fun new thing here at the Whine Sisters this week. Any Whine Sister could post anything at any given time! There’s no schedule. Some of my sisters are now scratching their heads thinking they didn’t get the memo. Aha, because I did not send one. Let’s see who shows up and decides to have some fun. The rules are, no rules.

Post anything, any time, Whine Sisters. Not your day? Someone already posted today? No problem. This is how we rolled old school, when it was just Julia London, Kathleen Givens, and me. Usually, I’m the one who ended up putting really cool and fun posts up all the time. And then occasionally, Julia or Kathleen would post something new five minutes after I put up my best blog ever. But that’s how it went, spontaneous and fun.

One liner? Go for it. Just a picture? No problem. Left the blog? So what?! It’s summer! Let’s keep it interesting.

I’m exhausted, just back from a week of conference in Atlanta. Romance Writers of America. Whiners Terri Brisbin, Julie Kenner, Dee Davis, and I were on hand to represent the Whine Sisters. Why didn’t we take a picture of us all at breakfast? What were we thinking? Whine Sisters who couldn’t be there, don’t worry. We talked about you. You’re welcome.

Readers, we want to hear from you, too. Everyone who reads this post, check in with a comment! Did I see you at RWA? Miss you? What did you do with your weekend? What’s a weekend?

Sherri, Day One RWA: Looking relaxed in my pjs as I decide what to wear.

Sherri, Last Day of RWA: Still looking pretty relaxed, wearing the dolphin necklace that reminds me of my bff Kathleen Givens.

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Fun Stuff!

Lots of fun stuff going on this summer. First of all, my basil crop has been AMAZING! I already have enough pesto in my freezer to last the rest of the year, and there are still weeks of growing season left! I’m awed by the fact that these plants have done so well because, as I’ve blogged about in the past, I do NOT have a green thumb. Viva la pesto!

I get this much basil every week! Yay!

 

Next, the DH and I just returned from a fabulous trip to Boston. DH had a conference there and we stayed an extra few days to enjoy the sights. What an incredible city! Great public transportation, incredible history, awesome food, friendly people—we really loved it.  Our hotel was near the finish line of the marathon where the bombings took place and you couldn’t help but feel the love and pride in the entire city.  The city’s new motto is Boston Strong—very fitting. We spent one day on Cape Cod—took the ferry over with friends and had a blast.  Boston we love you and we’ll be back.

A beautiful day at Long Wharf in Boston

 

On to books—I’ll soon be releasing three of my titles as e-books in the UK: Summer at Seaside Cove, Seduced at Midnight, and Tempted at Midnight. Here’s a peek at the cover for the UK e-book edition of Summer at Seaside Cove. Makes me wish I was at the beach!

UK e-book cover. Let's go to the beach!

 

And last—but definitely not least—let’s wish a big Happy Birthday to Whine Sister Wendy Etherington! Wendy, I hope your day is wonderful and fabulous—just like you! Xoxox

 

 

From the RWA archives--Whine Sisters Jacquie, Wendy, and Jenni. Happy Birthday, Wendy xox

 

What have you been up to lately? Have you ever visited Boston? What are some of your favorite cities? Hope your summer is going well!

 

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If It’s Expensive, It Must Be Worth It…Right?

I recently made an impulsive and expensive retail purchase:

The Golden Pappardelle

Yes, I’m aware it’s a box of dried pasta. What you may not be aware of is that it cost $8.

I know, I know, it’s a box of dried pasta. My grocery store brand regularly goes on sale for $1.29 and sometimes runs a buy one, get one free sale. I’m crazy…probably. It’s all Ina Garten’s fault. She recommends this particular brand, Cipriani, which is made just like the pasta in their iconic New York City restaurants. After I saw the note in one of her cookbooks, I looked online to order some, saw the $8 price tag (without shipping) and laughed. That Ina, I thought, she’s just a little bit crazy. Who would pay 7 times the cost for something as simple as dried noodles?

Then recently I had a pappardelle pasta dish that was an absolute bowl of heaven. I began searching fruitlessly for pappardelle (which is a flat noodle wider than fettuccine, but not as wide as lasagna). Nobody had it. One day, though, I’m in my local Fresh Market (which is like a small version of Whole Foods), and I know they carry De Cecco brand pasta. Might they have pappardelle?

And there she is, the box of Cipriani, like a beacon…complete with its ridiculous $8 price tag.

No shipping cost, I rationalized. Ina assured her readers it would be great. She wouldn’t mislead me. Nobody has to know.

I snatched it up the box, also finding fresh jumbo South Carolina shrimp, baby portabella mushrooms and asparagus, and I sailed out of that store humming. I made the dish with garlic, butter, olive oil and a little chicken stock, and it was the yummiest thing I’d eaten in months. Between a lot of nodding and mmm-hmming, my family agreed.

The Cipriani pasta was–dare I say it?–as good as freshly made. Just like Ina promised.

Now I can make fresh pasta in a couple of hours for less than $2, and even though I don’t have a pappardelle attachment for my roller, I could probably use my pizza cutter and manage to slice reasonably straight strips, but I but I know the siren’s song of that $8 box with its delicate strips of blonde pasta, wrapped in parchment paper will call again.

Have you ever bought anything expensive and loved (or regretted) it?

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