Julia London's Blog, page 83

Bringing out the fun

Saw this on Facebook over the weekend, and thought it was really cool:

I mean, why shouldn't getting from one level to the other be fun? For that matter, why shouldn't all sorts of things be fun?

Now, I'm not the kind of person who thinks everything needs to be fun (though, gee, that would be nice), but the video reminded me of something I wish I'd thought of earlier this weekend as I was trying to get the girls to clean their rooms (and the spillage from their rooms out into the entire upstairs). Since I'm in the final throes of finishing a book, my attitude was "get it done or lose the Wii." But honestly, I could have had a cleaner upstairs using honey (that metaphor really doesn't work, does it?). In the past, we've played various cleaning games–the one that works best with my kids seems to be Army Cleaning. "Private Catherine!" "Sir, yes sir!" "Acquire vacuum and eradicate dirt from enemy territory!" "Sir, yes sir!"

It's silly, but it works. And usually has the kids giggling like fiends.

Similar with cleaning the tile floors–strap damp microfiber cloths on their feet and have an ice skating competition. It may not be the best cleaning job, but with a 9 and 7 year old, the best job is only going to last for 37 seconds anyway.

So today's goal: work something fun in with the work and the school.

How about y'all? How are you going to bring out the fun today?

When Blood Calls

YOU'LL PROBABLY THINK I'M CRAZY, BUT…

I don't do a lot of reading when I'm on deadline–not only do I not have the time to thoroughly immerse myself in a book, but I don't like to muddy my brain waters by reading a story other than my own.

But I love to read. So what to do?  Well, mostly I read magazines.  Or sometimes, crazy as it sounds, I just grab one of my own books from the shelf.  It gives me the comfort of reading, without muddying those brain cells. The time I did this the book grabbed was Not Quite a Gentleman, a Regency-era historical that was published in September 2005.

 

The idea for Not Quite a Gentleman began with a single scene that played out very vividly in my mind–the heroine coming upon the hero while he's swimming in the lake.  Naked.  From that scene an entire book was born, one that led to a sequel, Never a Lady .  I really enjoyed writing NQAG–I loved my doctor hero who had no use for Society, yet found himself falling for a society diamond, and for the heroine who was supposed to marry a titled gentleman yet could not think of anyone other than the country doctor.  And then there were spies, and murder, and all sorts of mayhem, as well as, of course, romance (and that naked-at-the-lake-scene).

The stepback artwork for Not Quite a Gentleman depicting the scene that inspired the entire book

So,tell me–do you ever re-read books? If so, what are your comfort reads?  Do you have any exciting plans this weekend?  Hope you're enjoying yourself!

The Real(ly?) Housewives of Whereever

[image error]Oh yay, oh yay! I woke up this morning to a note in my inbox telling me the current episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is ready to download. Now, I know that means it aired last night, but I haven't heard spoilers, haven't read blogs, I don't want to know until I know…but yeah, I'm looking forward to it with glee. (Discuss all you want, but no uber-spoilers, please! I can't watch until tomorrow as DH would kill me if I watched alone, and we have company tonight).

I like this show.

The glamour, the women, the houses (I'm not entirely sure why someone–even a really rich someone needs 7 of them, but hey, works for me).

I'm not big on reality shows. The only other one that held my attention was Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. But I started with Real Housewives of O.C., primarily because we actually lived right near that neighborhood for a while. Then I watched NYC, which was fun (but I don't think it'll be the same if Bethany's not on it, and I don't know if she's coming back). Tried Atlanta and D.C., but was utterly uninterested. But Beverly Hills is my favorite so far.

For those of you who do watch it: the woman who is the basis of the tv show Medium? O.M.G.

'nuff said.

How about y'all? Anyone else watch the show? Did you see last night? Is it good reality tv? What city do you want them to do (I want Dallas!)?

GG Fashion/What's Your Sign Now?

It's a split blog today! Maybe I'm really a Gemini?[image error]

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[image error] I wanted to cover astrology, but it was the Golden Globes this weekend. How could I not talk clothes?

So check out the gallery here: Golden Globes at GFY, and let's discuss.

Best? I loved Scarlett Johanssen (maybe not her hair), Olivia Wilde (oh no, again with the hair), and the simplicity of Emma Stone (hair, decent, but I love her as a redhead, the blonde is for a role). Natalie Portman (regrettably, I don't like her, but she looked adorable).

Worst? Sandra Bullock, love you, could not get past the hair (still on the hair). Maybe it was a nice dress? I don't even know. All I could see was bangs. Julianne Moore, awful choice. Dislike. January Jones, no, blech. Angelina Jolie, does she have one of these sheaths in every color? Boring. Michelle Williams, so cute, but so misguided. Helena Bonham Carter, wacky, but she gets a pass because that's part of her schtick. Similarly, Tilda Swinton.

Can't make up my mind: Anne Hathaway. Chic or yawn or ewww? Jennifer Lopez, looks so seventies. It's like she's at a party on the Lido Deck of the Love Boat.

So let's talk gowns! Who are your best and worst and hunh? And now on to my original blog for today…

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The internet was in a snit last week about zodiac signs changing. It probably would have been a buried news item, a non-issue, if we weren't all on Facebook and Twitter and reading blogs. But, ta-daa! This is how news travels in an Internet age. We're all buzzing. Over one little statement coming out of Minnesota.

How can signs change?

The ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was in on the day a person was born. But this was thousands of years ago when the Earth was positioned, in relation to the sun and the stars behind it, in a different place on the rotational axis.

The result: The sign you think you are, and the sign you really are in terms of the constellation the sun is in on your birthday are different, according to this Minnesota group.

"Because of this change in the tilt the Earth is over here and the sun is in a different constellation than it was 3000 years ago when this study of the stars began," explains astronomer Parke Kunkle of the Minnesota Planetarium Society.

This is not a "new" thing, according to Kunkle. This alignment shifted a long, long time ago. It's just, the Horoscope world didn't shift with it. And suddenly, we're all catching on. Or we're supposed to. Supposedly.

Here is the new list of  zodiac signs (plus a new one!) with adjusted dates:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20

Ophiuchus is apparently represented by a man ripping a serpent in pieces. He is supposed to represent man and the power of man, with ties to Imhotep. Or something like that. I'm sticking with the old chart. I'm a Libra! I always have been, and no one is going to make me a Virgo. No one! It just doesn't fit. So yay, I found a CNN article explaining why we should all stick with our birth signs and not change, and I'm taking that one to be the gospel. Stick with your sign! CNN explains it all.

Libra. That's so ME!

Or, okay THAT's so me.

Do you want to keep your old sign or change to the new one? Or did yours stay the same? Do you follow astrology/believe in signs? Just for fun?

It's All in the Rhyme!

[image error]So my daughter's AP English Lit class is getting ready to start on a unit in poetry.  An avid, reader, she's never been much of a poetry person, except that we both share a love of T.S. Elliot's The Hollow Men.   Anyway, it got me to thinking, and I remember once a long time ago, that I was in fact a fan of poetry.  But somewhere along the way that got lost.   And I don't find myself as moved as I once was.   

I even used to write poetry, some of it within the constrictions of certain form, some of it basic Seussian rhyming, but most of it very bad free verse angst, written when my adolescent life had gone to hell.  (Or at least I perceived that it had).   I even tried song writing once.  Again the angst would have put an old style country western singer to shame. 

When I think about the poetry I loved, the poets that spring to mind are Lewis Carroll, A.A. Milne, Carl Sandberg, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Elliot,  e.e. cummings, Shel Silverstein (from my daughter's childhood), and the aforementioned Dr. Seuss.  There are also words that come unbidden—sometimes without context or author.  Things that meant something in the moment, and stuck somewhere in this old, overly filled memory of mine.  

A lot of them surprisingly are from Shakespeare and not so surprisingly from Seuss  It's interesting what the mind chooses to preserve.  And I will say that I usually am misquoting.  Not quite remembering the words as they were truly written.    So anyway in celebration of all things poetic—here are two of my (shorter) favorites. 

Tweedledum and Tweedledee[image error]

   Agreed to have a battle!

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

   Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,

   As black as a tar-barrel!

Which frightened both the heroes so,

   They quite forgot their quarrel.'

 Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)

 Yesterday upon the stair

I met a man who wasn't there

He wasn't there again today

Oh, how I wish he'd go away

Antigonish  (William Hughes Mearns)

How do you feel about poetry?  What are some of your favorites?

Kathleen's Five-Second Holiday Flick Reviews

On Sunday night, they presented the Golden Globes, and I am not NEARLY the style-critic that Sherri is, so I can't comment on the dresses, but it did make me consider all the movies that I watched over the holidays, and thus, today's blog post — Kathleen's Five-Second Movie and Television Reviews

TRUE GRIT

I loved this one. Not having seen the original (although now I want to), I thought Jeff Bridges did an astounding job as an over-the-hill marshal. The formal language took an adjustment, but after a bit, I didn't notice it anymore and got caught up in the color of the time. We took the entire family to this one, and everyone enjoyed it. Dear Coen brothers, I will never again diss your movies as eccentric one-notes anymore.

BLACK SWAN

Natalie Portman won a Golden Globe for this one, and yes, she played a stellar crazy person, but Kathleen's Word of Advice: DO NOT TAKE YOUR 12 YEAR OLD SON TO THIS MOVIE!!!! My son is mature, his TV favorites are Family Guy and The Simpsons. He plays Halo like a hardened criminal, but OMG! I was cringing, I was shifting in my seat, I was feeling the judgmental eyes of the patrons behind me, all wondering WHY DOES THIS WOMAN HAVE A KID WITH HER? We didn't want to leave him home alone, but oh, sweet heaven, we should have left him home alone. My psyche would not be so scarred. He seemed to have recovered. He said it was the worst movie he'd ever seen (YAY!), but if you go see this, go alone. Don't even go with people you like or love. It's better seen with strangers. And also, frankly, I didn't even like it that much. I wanted at least one plot twist or two, but there were none. This was watching a pornified trainwreck in slow music, with really pretty music and a lot of tulle. That said, Natalie probably deserved the award, but next time, Natalie, I'll be looking very carefully before we go.

THE WIRE SEASON 4,5

I don't know this series keeps pulling me back in, but it does. I start with one or two episodes, and then I'm binging on the entire season, and then the next. Food is not my secret vice, I don't overindulge in oreos and ice cream, but the Wire? Oh, yes. I tell myself it's craft, it's research — because you all KNOW that I'm going to write a romance set in Baltimore, possibly involving two drug dealers. Ha! But every character is so perfectly drawn. Every plot twist so perfectly set up, you can't see it coming, but then OHHELLSYEAH — there it is! I could go on. I will shut up.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWO TOWERS, RETURN OF THE KING

We did the entire trilogy around Christmas, and I love the series. I think Gandalf is my favorite, and I have to say that Boromir is the most perfect screen death ever. I'm always sobbing my eyes out when he dies (for those who have not seen the movie, and might consider that a spoiler, I will not tell you who Boromir is, because it takes about five viewings before you get all the characters names straight anyway – much like JR Ward books, whose heroes I still describe as, "you know, the one that turns into a dragon" or "the blind one" or "the really ugly dude.")

THE TOWN

I am watching this one on the plane (on the way home from Dallas to NY). It's been on my list, and I'm anxious to see it. I will write my review in the comments section.

THE KING'S SPEECH

I kept getting outvoted on this because the rest of my family wanted to watch THE BLACK SWAN!!! Never again, I say. Never again will I let them overrule my judgment. The next time someone wants to argue, I will look them in the eye and say, "BLACK SWAN this!"

So, any new recommendations? Has anyone seen the Green Hornet? I read a good review on the Dilemma (sometimes I love Vince Vaughan, sometimes I hate him). What's good to see?

Oh, and also, GO JETS!!

SO MANY BOOKS SO LITTLE TIME

SO MANY BOOKS SO LITTLE TIME

Yesterday I attended my monthly book club meeting.  There are only five of us and we're a close-knit group.  Our meetings usually last for about three hours. Of that time we normally spend about fifteen to twenty minutes chatting about the book then we move on to discussing our lives and catching up with each other.  All while sipping wine and eating dessert.  It's a perfect melding of friendship, girl bonding, books and calories.

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So many books so little time!

One of the things I love about book club is that it gets me to read books I wouldn't have otherwise discovered.  If left to my own devices, I wouldn't read anything other than romances and mysteries and research books.  Through my book club I've read so many books I'm sure I would have otherwise missed.  Like Water for Elephants and The Help. My group knows I like happy endings in whatever I read, so when discussing what to read next, they'll often laugh and say, "Jacquie won't like that one."  Which is code for:  this is one of those depressing books.  Which yeah, pretty much means I'll avoid it, LOL!

Are you in a book club?  If so, what are some of the books you've read in it?  What are you reading now?  What's in your to-be-read pile?  Got any recs for us?

Book Highlight: Summer of Two Wishes

Summer of Two Wishes was my first of a new kind of contemporary, a cross between women's fiction and contemporary romance.  Before this book came out in 2009, I had written straight contemporary romance, which to me means lighter fare with the primary focus of the book on the romance.

This was a little different.  There was not one, but two romances, and the focus was on one woman's journey.  It was about Macy, who had been happily married to Finn, the man of her dreams.  She lost Finn to a roadside bomber in Afghanistan.  After a couple of years of being consumed by grief, Macy picked up the pieces and with all the strength she had in her, she moved on.  She fell in love with Wyatt.  She married him.  She was trying to have a baby with the unthinkable happened:  Her first husband was found very much alive.  Two loves.  Two husbands.  Which would she choose?

As you can imagine, I got a lot of mail about this book, and most of it had to do with the man she didn't pick.  Both men were heroes.  Both men deserved their happy-ever-after.  One of them didn't get it.   I am happy to report that we pick up with the one she didn't pick in A Light at Winter's End, which will be released February 22.  But in the new novel, there is no easy path for him.  In fact, the road gets even harder.  As a writer, I can be mean that way.

You can read about both books, as well as excerpts, at www.julialondon.com.

Enjoy. 

SNOWED IN!

It's been a pretty quiet week here at Casa D'Alessandro because like so many people in the US we here in the Atlanta area are snowed in.  The storm hit us last Sunday, dumping about six inches–not a huge amount, but for the south, it's A LOT.  Due to temperatures that have remained in the 30's, the snow hasn't melted.  Even worse, much of it turned to ice.  Schools have been closed the entire week, and while the major roadways have finally been mostly cleared, many secondary roads are still icy dangers. 

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So we've stayed home.  We shoveled snow on Monday, then watched the championship college football game with our neighbors Monday night.  In the intervening days I've caught up on my laundry (a miracle) and am nearly finished reading the galleys for my May release.  Pretty tame stuff.

Until last night.

Last night my DH and I did something we'd never done before.  It was exhilarating and let me tell you, we worked up quite a sweat.  What did we do?

We taught a line dancing class.

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This isn't our group, but we looked this professional by the end of the night!

 

Now, Fred and Ginger we are not.  In fact, we only know a total of six line dances.  But we decided to offer to teach them to anyone in our neighborhood who was interested in learning.  We sent out an email blast to the community and reserved a room at the clubhouse.  And hoped we wouldn't be the only ones there.

Well, about fifty people showed up!  Both men and women attended and we had a fabulous time.  We taught three dances–Black Velvet, Achy Breaky Heart, and Boot Scootin' Boogie.  Everyone had a great time and is looking forward to doing it again next week–so looks like what we'd thought would be a one-time teaching class will be a weekly activity.  Dancing, friendship, and calorie burning—it doesn't get much better than that on a Thursday night!

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"Don't tell my heart, my achy, breaky heart--I just don't think it'd understand..."

So what have you been up to this week?  Are you snowed in?  Or maybe you live in Florida–the only state without snow (lucky you!) What's your favorite stay-at-home activity?