Monthly Archives: November 2012

Oh Yes! Orgasmic eggs!

  By Julia Barrett | November 30, 2012 - 7:00 pm | , , , ,
14 Comments

You all know I want chickens, right? And you know the hubster refuses to let me have chickens, right? Which means my chickens have to wait for my next life, right? Along with my own milk cow, right?

Well… I found this free range chicken ranch just a couple miles from where we hike and the woman who lives there lets you come collect your own eggs. They have like hundreds of chickens - all kinds. Little black and white ones that can fly. Big fat red-brown ones. Gray ones. Black ones. Grey and white ones. Ones with fluffy snow shoes on their feet.

$10 for 30 eggs. Fun AND a bargain.

Free range eggs!

So my son asked if I was making breakfast for, are you listening Penny Watson? A bunch of lumberjacks. Nah, just us.

Now I have to go back to the kitchen and use the eggs to bake some pumpkin ginger bread with cream cheese icing.

 

 

Going a little crazy…

  By Julia Barrett | November 29, 2012 - 7:42 pm | , , , , ,
7 Comments

Wait… I’m already crazy.

I have a lot of stuff to do. It’s sort of the usual holiday season times twenty.

Baking. Cards. Wine. Edits. Proofing. A very special ARC to review. A blog tour thingy. My dad. My kids. Hubby’s birthday 12/12/12 - good fortune or the approaching end of the world according to the Mayan calendar? Rainageddon is coming - so my planned drive back up to Oregon will have to wait until I’ve turned into a real masochist like Anastasia Steele, cuz maybe then I’ll be all hot for flying trees and flipping semi-trucks.

So my Nazi aesthetician was scraping my skin off today (damn, maybe I am Anastasia Steele!) - she plays music while she’s torturing me - and this song came on. My brain did a double take. It wasn’t the kind of soothing song one expects to accompany a skin-scraping. Bad idea to laugh when your epidermis is being removed~

Some Assembly Required.

  By Julia Barrett | November 28, 2012 - 7:00 pm | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
7 Comments

Lately I’ve been thinking I should post an explanation, or rather a breakdown, of my books according to genre and relation, or interrelation, i.e., series.

Right off the bat you should know I’m not ‘branded‘, as in I don’t write in one specific genre. Which is not a good thing for an author, or so I’ve been told. Branded authors sell better.

Not being branded is fine for me. It’s like this, when you are as ADD-ish as I am, easily bored and have an interest in all kinds of literature… I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I like my stories to come in all shapes and sizes so I write Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Paranormal Romance and SFR or Science Fiction Romance- all with some overlap. And I throw in a few short stories, some of which have nothing at all to do with Romance.

I plan to expand into plain old Science Fiction/Fantasy and Lit Fic. Because that’s where I began. All things eventually return to their roots, at least that’s what I believe.

(Oh, by the way - my dad is doing much better. He’s turned a corner. Thank you god, gods, fates, doctors… everyone. I’m feeling optimistic for the first time in a month, and more important, so is he.)

1. Contemporary Romance:

Beauty and the Feast - which is also a bit of a Romantic Comedy and definitely erotic.

Pushing Her Boundaries - another Contemp that is weighted pretty heavily toward erotica.

Come Back to Me - which overlaps into the category of Romantic Suspense in addition to Women’s Fiction and Coming of Age.

Anytime Darlin’ - another Contemporary which also fits into the category of Romantic Suspense.

My Everything - ditto! Contemp and Romantic Suspense with a Special Forces theme.

2. Paranormal Romance: A progression of the dead, ghosts and heavenly hosts~ all three can also be considered Contemporary Romance and works of Romantic Suspense.

Incorporeal, Book One, The Soul Series.

In the Flesh, Book Two, The Soul Series.

Stay, Book Three, The Soul Series.

The Soul Series Special Edition - contains all three of the above books.

3. Science Fiction/Fantasy Romance (SFR):

Captured - Writing this book was fun. Tops my list of writing experiences. I will eventually revisit the world of Mari and Ekkatt.

One Four All - my foray into the world of Menage - had to make it sci fi in order to stop giggling.

Daughters of Perserphone, Book One, Exile.

Daughters of Persephone, Book Two, Return.

Coming soon -

Daughters of Persephone, Book Three, Reborn.

Daughters of Persephone, Book Four, The Red Demon.

I’ll probably release an anthology containing all four books as well. The Daughters series began as a self-challenge and ended as a very satisfying Space Opera.

Oh yes, almost forgot - I have a book of poetry out:

Poems of Love and Hate. I’m a big fan of poetry.

4. Shorties:

Is It Spicy? (Non-Romance)

You Might Just Get It.

Liz and Me.

The Artist.

So there you have it. Can’t wait to get to the next book - Kerosene!

‘Tis the season for giving.

  By Julia Barrett | November 27, 2012 - 8:00 pm | ,
8 Comments

I don’t need much. There’s no gift I want, as in a particular item. I wish for happy and healthy children. Hope my dad continues to make slow and steady progress. I wish for a better tomorrow for the human race. If I was a betting woman I probably wouldn’t bet on the third.

I do give to charities, yet every time I send money I wonder what percentage goes to cover administrative costs and what percentage really improves the lives of those for whom the charity exists- whether the organization helps protect lowland gorillas or feeds hungry children. And by the way - there are far too many hungry children in America. It’s seriously shameful. Most parents want to work at a job so they can earn money to feed and clothe and shelter their children. I know a lot of people who haven’t had regular employment in over four years. Breaks my heart.

For the most part I prefer to spend my money on local charities. I know where the money goes. Besides, I can donate time as well.

However, there are two non-local organizations I support. I’m completely behind them. I wish I could do more.

One is cheap - COJ - Cup of Joe for a Joe. Green Beans Coffee Company sends coffee to our troops overseas. These young men and women are risking their lives for us. The least I can do is send them a cup of coffee. Here’s the link if you’re interested: Cup of Joe for a Joe.

The second is less cheap but oh so worthy. A donation can make an incredible difference in the life of a woman - in fact, a donation can help restore her life - The Fistula Foundation. There’s so much information I’ll give you the link. What this group does is amazing. The Fistula Foundation.

If you can set aside an hour, this video will change your life:

A Walk to Beautiful~ Nova.

I have this vision of spontaneously combusting…

  By Julia Barrett | November 26, 2012 - 8:00 pm | , , , , ,
18 Comments

I’m experiencing one of those episodes when I feel out of control. Not just a little out of control, a whole lot out of control.

Oh yikes.

My dreams have been insanely vivid, totally crazy, my waking hours equally crazy, my dog scraped up one of his pads chasing after a hawk - yeah, like he was really gonna catch him. The hawk found the whole thing hilarious.

Oh shit, someone will probably come and remove Jake from my home due to my poor oversight as his guardian.

I went to the grocery store three times this morning to buy sugar. I forgot to buy sugar all three times. I still need sugar. Have to get all my holiday baking done this week between trips to Oregon.

I am going to make - Melt In Your Mouth Cookies, Heart Attack Bars (sorry dad~ but at least you didn’t have a heart attack), Chocolate Cherry Cookies, Chocolate Croissants and two Chocolate Sheet Cakes.

I’ve got to get a week’s worth of meals made for my parents, and I should probably double up on that so my family has food to eat while I’m traveling back and forth.

Um, I’m worried my hair will start to fall out, or go pure white, or something.

My husband’s birthday is 12/12/12 and we’ve had a house on hold in Monterey, right on the beach, for an entire week - room for all of us - where we can celebrate and party hearty. I’ve been planning this since his last birthday. We’re taking a private behind-the-scenes tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, maybe some of us will enjoy a day of golf, and whale watching, and scuba diving, and sailing, and kayaking - all the stuff we love to do. Fingers crossed that I get to be there.

This is what I looked like a month ago:

Me, a month ago.

This is what I look like now:

Me, now.