Julia Barrett's World

I suppose I could leave the Boundary Waters with parting words  like,

what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, or some such nonsense.

The truth is, the Boundary Waters are beautiful and I’d love to give them another go round under entirely different circumstances.

Instead of words of wisdom, Hubby wants me to leave you with a potty story.  It’s his fave.

So…Mr. and Mrs. Bob’s cabin is lovely.  Really.  And it’s perfect for two people.  As it happens, there were six people sharing the one bathroom, because Mrs. Bob’s daughter and son in law were staying in the guest shack in order to look after the cats while we were gone.  Oh, by the way, the cat kibble is counted out and the cats are super skinny – the female cat gets something like twelve pieces of kibble for breakfast.  I know because I got yelled at our last morning when she was crying and I dumped a handful of food into her dish.  Oh, back to the potty story!

As I was saying, there were a couple potty-related incidents that hubby, in particular, found quite disconcerting.  I simply decided that should a bathroom issue arise, I’d shit in the woods.

When  Mr. and Mrs. Bob added on to the cabin, adding a great room on one side of the A-frame and a bedroom and bathroom on the other, they made a mistake.  At least I consider it a mistake.  Their bedroom is only accessible through the bathroom.  In other words, you enter the bathroom through the living room – and if you are in the bathroom, you can slide a door shut between yourself and the living room.  But there is another doorway opening from the bathroom into the Bob’s bedroom.  The Bob’s insist that that door remain propped open with a brick AT ALL TIMES…whether or not they are in their bedroom.  So you could be, oh I don’t know, peeing or pooping or taking a shower, and who should walk by but Mr. and/or Mrs. Bob.  What do you say?  “Hi!  How ya doin’?  Nice day, eh?” (Canadian speak.)

Before I used the bathroom, I always took a quick head count.  Hubby didn’t understand the drill on the first go-round.  He assumed the Bobs had another entrance to their bedroom.  So he stayed up late reading our first night there, and then went to use the bathroom after the Bobs had gone to bed.  SURPRISE!

On the day of our return, he went to take a shower and Mrs. Bob opened the sliding door from the living room into the bathroom so her cats could get in to use their litter box – in the bathroom.  Poor hubby steps out of shower nekked as the day he was born and wonders who the hell opened that door – I was collapsed on the bed in the loft at the time since we still hadn’t eaten solid food since our return.  He was so delirious he thought he’d lost his marbles and left the door open.  Good times, man…good times.

Thank you all for your supportive, indignant, hilarious comments!  I love you guys!

BACK TO REAL LIFE!

I want to thank Teagan at Book Wenches and Steph at Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust for their lovely reviews of Anytime Darlin’ – my latest release.  This is my all-time best book!  I’m begging you – buy it and enjoy it.  Sigh…

You can read their comments here, plus Penelope over at Penny Romance is reading the book:

http://www.bookwenches.com/august10reviews.htm

http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/

http://www.pennyromance.com/

Tomorrow – I got my new cover for my menage.  Yummolicious!

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stays in Minnesota.

Mostly that means crashing after weeks of extreme sleep-deprivation with a little sumthin’ sumthin’ thrown in!

The weather isn’t bad, the lakes are beautiful, no mosquito bites so far, went boating on the St. Croix today.  Heading north to the Boundary Waters on Monday morning.

Wolfgang Puck is a god.  I swear it.  Wolfgang Puck is a God.  Ate at his restaurant, 20.21 Minneapolis, in the Walker Arts Center last night.  OMFG!  I could live on his udon noodles with yellow curry sauce for the rest of my fucking life.  I want Wolfgang to move in with me and make me those curry noodles every single day.  That and a tray of his very own dim sum creations.  My mouth is watering at the memory.  Talk about a spiritual awakening to food…Wolfgang – your flavors caressed my soul!  Dear Mr. Puck, please read this blog so you’ll know how much I loved 20.21 Minneapolis.

Got some more edits – these for Daughters of Persephone Book Three Reborn and Book Four Red Demon.  I’m going to take advantage of this brief moment of quiet to work.

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This is so exciting!

Anytime Darlin’, my cowboy romance, just became available for pre-sale!  Oh!  I am in love with this book!  It’s my firstborn!

http://www.bookstrand.com/anytime-darlin

What a nice present just before I leave for my canoe trip.  Thank you Siren!

Oh, also, Daughters of Persephone is on the What’s Hot List all All Romance Ebooks.  I have absolutely no idea what this means.

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/index.html#whatsHot

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This picture is labeled ‘funny cat fight’.  Fighting ain’t so funny.

Just before we leave, life gets crazy to the point of insane.  I think I will be happy to be without a cell phone and the internet for a week.

I doubt I’ll have time to post Friday – we leave at 4 a.m., so ya’ll be good, read lots of books and I’ll see you when I see you.

Drop by Rhobin’s Rambles:  http://rhobinsrambles.blogspot.com/

She’s posted one of the best blogs I’ve read on why some of us love to write science fiction and science fiction romance – you get an overview from many wonderful authors, including moi.  Just FYI.

Much love, Julia

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Edits!

Edits!

Edits!

I have to finish these up today.  The edits for books three and four of Daughters of Persephone were due on Monday, but my editor’s computer crashed so I’m SOL.

We’re leaving Friday and I will not be able to do much of anything internet related for ten days.

Remember lovely ladies, Anytime Darlin’ will be released on August 26th.  I won’t be here until the 30th.  Take care of my baby!  I’ll miss my puppy too.  Jake had his first visit to the vet today.  It did not go well.  I could hear him screaming from the parking lot when they took him into the back to give him his shots.

Back to edits!

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I do not read romance when I’m writing.  This is my hard and fast rule.

I was writing, now I’m working frantically on edits because I’m leaving town Friday and I will be sans internet and indoor plumbing for a week.  (God help me.)

Two days ago, hubby ‘o’ mine issued a challenge, who could finish Katalina Leon’s BDSM masterpiece, Noblesword, first – him on his Kindle or me with my pdf version.  Because I was writing, he had a full day’s head start.  But taaa daaa!  I finished first since I didn’t sleep the entire fucking night.  Pardon my French.

Noblesword is my first, ever (and his), erotic read about domination and submission.  This is a foreign land.  It feels a bit like eating forbidden fruit.  If handled improperly, this genre could really really suck or blow or be flat out rotten.

However, Katalina binds together her subject matter and her characters with delicate, bright, lively, silken threads.  Her writing style is intelligent, nuanced and elegant – she does not dumb anything down, which I totally appreciate.  For crying out loud, she refers to M.C. Escher and the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries  (which of course have to do with the cult of Persephone…i.e. Daughters of Persephone…gotcha!).  The erotic scenes are, well, they are sensual rather than graphic, and quite frankly because of that, wildly arousing.  Um…ask hubby about the first third of the book.  Guess who got to be the recipient?

Noblesword is above all, about emotional growth and honesty – both as an individual and within a relationship.  And, lucky Katalina, the book has a perfect cover.

From Katalina’s site:  http://www.katalinaleon.com/book-shelf.php

Go.  Buy.  Enjoy.

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I think if you hold your cursor over these, you get a number.  Which do you like best?  Or do you prefer yesterday’s photo?  I have no idea what to choose.  Besides, I’m too stressed to think about it right now.  You know that saying…you are only as happy as your least happy child?  Well, in that mode, unfortunately.  Just when you think things are smoothing out, BAM!  Sigh.  I’m at Romance in the Backseat today, discussing Mythology!  Drop by:  http://naughtyinthebackseat.com/blog/?p=125

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Remember to drop by Michelle’s Book Blog and give yourself a chance to win a signed print copy of Captured – you can read my interview too and see one of my new head shots!  http://michellesramblins.blogspot.com/

She’s posted both an interview with me and a lovely review of Captured, one of my favorite books to write.

This is head shot number one.  I climbed a tree for this shot.  I look happy and it seems as if I have cleavage.  I don’t.  It’s the push-up bra and the tree branch I’m leaning on.  Jewish people may have cleavage, but they get nervous when they look happy – it attracts the evil eye.  And no, I’m not wearing make-up.  Make-up makes me look like Bozo the Clown.  Or maybe Ronald McDonald.

Anyway – I’ll be posting head shots this week and you all can choose the one you want me to use for my blog.  You decide.  As I said, this is option number one.

I finished reading Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human – it’s a great fast nonfiction read.  The author, Richard Wrangham, kept me enthralled with his very easy to understand theories on the cooking of food and how it influenced the rapid and astounding evolution of the human brain, the human body, and the division of labor between the sexes.   My next book?  Spice, the History of a Temptation, by Jack Turner.  Cannot wait!  In my TBR pile?  Mukiwa, A White Boy in Africa and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, both by Peter Godwin.  On ebooks I’ve got romance author, Katalina Leon‘s entire libraray – yummy!  I plan to start with Noblesword.

The puppy, Jake, is out in the backyard running his little feet, oops, his big feet off, after his doggy cousin who is visiting for a few hours.  She’s an 18-month old German shepherd-coon hound mix.  I used to think she was crazy.  Compared to Jake, she’s an angel.

Many thanks to those of you who’ve signed up for my newsletter.  I still have three unconfirmed email addresses I cannot access.  Check your spam folder and see if the confirmation letter is there.

Oh, one more thing – I got word from Siren yesterday that the release of my full-length cowboy romance, Anytime Darlin’, is scheduled for August 26.  I won’t be around – I’ll be canoeing in the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota.  I love all my books, but Anytime Darlin’ is very, very special.  I encourage you to give it a try!

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My hero:  Steven Slater of Jet Blue.  This Chinese re-enactment is priceless.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBvakgglAPM

Purchase these tin banks from this man:  http://www.blueq.com/shop/114-catId.117440656_114-productId.0.html

He and my sister had a wonderful conversation via the internet.  She kept trying to purchase a tin bank, but the site repeatedly refused her credit card.  As instructed per the site, she emailed the webmaster about the problem.  The webmaster is, of course, the owner of the store.  He responded – My dear sweet (let’s call her) Mary.  I believe the problem may lie in the year you’ve entered.  I don’t recall credit cards being readily available in the year 1012.  Perhaps you’d like to purchase the bank with a bag of grain or a wheel of cheese or a skin of wine? Thus was born a friendship!  I love these banks!  See if you can view both sides.

I’m an interviewee at Michelle’s Book Blog today, Saturday – please drop by – http://michellesramblins.blogspot.com/

You’ll even get to see a real photo of me and you might win a prize!  Here’s her review of Captured.  It’s lovely.

Captured is the first book I have read by author Julia Rachel Barrett and I really enjoyed it.
Mari Damon never in her wildest imaginings, thought she would find herself being held captive in a cage on a spaceship. Trying to get her bearings, Mari listens as her captors discuss their cargo. The language sounds familiar – Mari can almost pick out a word or two – and with time and patience she is sure she can speak this language.
Ekkatt has never had one of the females wake ahead of schedule. When the red haired female speaks to him – he responds in English, telling her she must go back to sleep. But when the female attempts to carry on a conversation with him – Ekkatt is amused and curious. Surely it would not hurt to allow her to remain awake.
Mari sees befriending Ekkatt as her only chance of survival – but she is not aware of the strict laws the Attun race have in place. Human women are seen as nothing more than cattle – and the Attun do not interact with cattle.
Captured is a great read. The entire premise of this book is unlike any I have read before and I would be happy to read more.

I give Captured 4 out of 5 stars.

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What am I reading?  I am a huge-amongus fan of nonfiction.  My current massively enjoyable read is Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human, by Richard Wrangham, professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University.

“A man does not live on what he eats, an old proverb says, but on what he digests.”  Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy.

Love this book!

What am I watching?  Baseball, mostly.  Haven’t been to a movie in ages and I’d love to go.  I want to see Salt and Inception and The Kids are All Right.

The puppy is angel pup by day, devil pup by night – keeps me busy!  I have to carry around this thirty pound 9 1/2 week old puppy.  He’s a big guy!

I got my first review for Daughters of Persephone from Happily Ever After Reviews:

“I’ve read other books by Julia Barrett, so I was eager to start Daughters of Persephone. I commend Ms. Barrett for the time and devotion in creating a realistic sci-fi world with its own terms and rules. You are pulled into the realism of a new world and kept there by the larger than life characters.”

Here’s the link:  http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-daughters-of-persephone-by-julia.html

Michelle, over at Michelle’s Book Blog – posted this great review for Captured.  Here’s the link.  I’ll post the entire review tomorrow:  http://michellesramblins.blogspot.com/

ATTENTION:  THREE PEOPLE HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO MY NEWSLETTER BUT HAVE NOT CONFIRMED.  PLEASE CONFIRM OR YOU WILL NOT BE ADDED TO THE MAILING LIST.  I CAN’T ACCESS YOUR EMAILS.  IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS CONFIRMING, EMAIL ME AT:  Julia@JuliaRachelBarrett.net and I will get you confirmed!  Thanks!

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I asked my fellow Siren author, Sophie Oak, to replay her timely post here:

I got back yesterday afternoon from my first RWA (Romance Writers of America) convention.  It was really neat because I got to go in as a published author.  I was surprised at the amount of wide-eyed enthusiasm in the air.  The majority of the attendees are either people interested in writing or those actively pursuing but not yet published.  I got to listen to Nora Roberts.  She’s awesomely funny and has a potty mouth.  I had lunch with Jayne Anne Krentz.  (So did 2,000 other people.)  I took a class from Angela Knight.  And I got a hug from Linda Howard.  I hung out with some really great authors and got some much needed advice.  (Thanks, Shayla Black.  You’re the best!)  And then I got my ass kicked.

I should have stayed a PRO

I went to my first PAN retreat where an industry professional was speaking.  To set this up for you, the PRO retreat was next door it filled two ballrooms and had lots of door prizes and games.  The PAN retreat was one half a ballroom (given there are fewer of us) and we should have been given an anti-depressant as we walked in.  While the PROs hooted and hollered, we were hit with reality.  The publishing industry is at a crossroads.  Sales are down and the iPad is changing the world.  The industry is slow to change, but that’s okay because there are a bunch of people in e-publishing who are happy to make up the ground they lose.  The days of big advances are fading.  Some formerly surefire sellers are tanking.  Everything looks bleak, except…e-book sales are exploding.  The market isn’t going away, but it is changing.

A bigger pie, smaller slices?

I can see the future.  We are moving from a world where publishers and bookstores told you what to read.  This new market is almost entirely consumer driven.  You wanna read a vampire D/s book set in the apocalyptic future?  There’s a book for you.  Want a romance with cowboys who share?  There are entire publishers willing to slake your thirst.  The pie is bigger than ever before, but the slices maybe not so much.  And that might not be a bad thing.  It’s a bad time to be a bestseller, but it might be the golden age of the writer and the reader.  More is out there than ever before.  As the talk ended I realized I was both depressed and invigorated.  I’m never going to be Nora Roberts.  But I can write what I want and more than likely, I will find a home for it.  I can be the writer I want to be, follow my passion, find my bliss.  I just have to search and find the readers willing to take that journey with me.  Hopefully some of you enjoy my slice of pie.  It’s small, but it’s all mine.

Author Bio – Sophie Oak

http://www.sophieoak.com

A lifetime devotee to the written word, Sophie published her first novel this year.  Prior to becoming a novelist, she worked in theater and comic books.  She lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband and three precocious children.   Sophie believes in happy endings for everyone, no matter how extreme the story.  Her stories may feature some of the fringe elements of sexuality, but at heart they are always about love.  Small Town Siren is available now from Siren Publishing.  Siren in the City and Three to Ride are coming this fall from Siren Publishing.

http://www.bookstrand.com/small-town-siren

Note from Julia:  Thanks Sophie!  Damn, I love Linda Howard!

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http://www.pennyromance.com/

She is the nicest person, an author, a book blogger and reviewer.  She’s in the hospital.  I know we’re only friends online, but online friends are great friends.  I’m wishing her a speedy recovery.  Having spent time as a charge nurse in Coronary Care, I know she’s getting all kinds of TLC!

Chris, at Stumbling Over Chaos, posted this link and I found it very interesting.  Most readers said their pet peeve about books is a bad cover.  I’ve had more than my share of those – in the past – not now – it wasn’t my fault!  I didn’t ask for a sucky cover…I swear!  http://lesleywbooknook.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-prejudices.html It’s not as if I said – Gimme the worst POS cover ya got – on my cover request!  Whether we like it or not, we are a visual species.  A cover is the very first thing a reader sees and a cover can make or break a book.  Even though of all people, I should know better, I’ll skip over a book with a silly, stupid or just plain bad cover.

Literary agent, Nathan Bransford, no…he’s not my agent…I have no agent…but he writes a good, informative, participatory blog – oh, that’s what I was going to say…he writes a good, informative, participatory blog – here’s the link:  http://blog.nathanbransford.com/ I’m considering attending the writer’s conference – haven’t been to one in a number of years, not since I got hit on by the published author who was supposed to be mentoring me.  Blech.  He, Nathan, not the lecherous author, has a recent post for all you Lost fans.  My sister is Lost-obsessed.  She watches the DVDs over and over and over again.  I’ve never watched it and I never will.

If you’re reading this, happy Saturday!  My puppy is doing well.  I’m still too sleep-deprived to do much more than stare at my WIP.  My husband promises to sleep with the puppy this weekend so I can spend at least one night in my own heavenly bed.  Sigh…

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Or is there no such thing?

Disclaimer – the cover for My Everything is for illustrative purposes only, however, I must add that  I love that cover, and the sex in the story is great,  loving and very tender.

Be honest…how much sex is too much sex for you?  Do you cringe when characters have sex on their first meeting?  Or does it depend upon circumstances?  Is there a reason for the sexual encounter besides just the…well…sex?  Yes, I have indeed read cringe-worthy sex scenes – too many, too often, too icky for my taste – I stay away from books containing those.  I’ve also encountered the occasional book with major boring sex scenes – the prototypical insert tab A into slot B.  I stay away from those books too.

I admit it, I’m a wham, bam, thank you kind of ma’am.  While I make my characters establish a connection and I give them a dang good reason to begin a sexual relation, I don’t like a whole lot of beating about the bush, so to speak.  Nothing drives me more insane than reading what I consider a teaser.

What do I mean by a teaser?  I don’t mean a romance where the characters nearly get it on in a hot and heavy way, but experience sexus interruptus – you know…the bad guy shows up, a tornado hits, the building catches fire.  There’s nothing like good sexus interruptus for holding my interest and keeping my libido uptus.  What I mean by a teaser is when an author somehow manages to keep the characters out of the sack until the end of the book, without giving me any of that sweet and dirty sexus interruptus to ponder while I’m waiting for the big moment.  Good sexus interruptus is kind of like Levitra – when she’s ready, you’re ready…

I guess I prefer a blazing encounter relatively early in the story, followed by, say, a misunderstanding or circumstances that pull the couple apart – and then a smokin’ hot re-encounter and re-encounter and re-encounter…is that wrong of me?

Your thoughts?

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What can I say?  My puppy is named after my favorite male lead – Jake McKenna from Anytime Darlin’, my soon-to-be-released romance suspense with Siren.

Ah…Jake.

He’s so cute and furry!  And he chases his own tail…the puppy that is,

not Jake McKenna.

Jake McKenna is not a dog-shifter, he’s a rancher, among other things.  Anyway, I thought you’d enjoy looking at pictures of my little guy before you are forced to look at pictures of me.

Of course, the new mommy doesn’t get any sleep…or any work done for that matter.  I did finish one set of edits, waiting for three more and I’ve pulled up the work in progress – the post-apocalyptic novel.

That’s something, I guess, especially since I’m running on fumes, coffee and chocolate.

German shepherds always look so worried!

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Science fiction and romance…can ever the twain meet?

One of my all-time favorite works of science fiction is Ringworld, by Larry Niven.  He creates a colorful cast of characters who set out on an epic journey to explore an anomaly, a ring-shaped, artificially created, giant planet containing an earth-like atmosphere and ecosphere.  The crew includes the giraffy guy…that’s how I like to remember him, and the lucky guy – because in this story, luck is genetic.  Ringworld is my husband’s very favorite work of science fiction.

So last night, hubby was reading my book, Daughters of Persephone, on his Kindle.  Since I’m stuck downstairs with the new puppy, he came down to discuss his thoughts.

“I really like it,” he said, “but I’m feeling an existential conundrum coming on.”

“Oh?” I asked.  “What sort of existential conundrum?”

“Can science fiction and erotic romance exist in the same book?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, “but they coexist in both Captured and Daughters of Persephone .”

“Yes,” he said, “but true science fiction aficionados might go into shock when they come upon an explicit sex scene while fans of erotic romance might not get the science fiction, especially the science fiction references you’ve included.”

“Well, hmmm, but that’s what I’ve written.”

“But is there a market for this?  Is there an audience?”

Good question, hubby!  I don’t have a clue.  I hope so!

Can the two genres meet in the middle?  In Dune, for example, while the romance takes a backseat to the overarching messianic theme, there is love in the book.  In George R.R. Martin’s series, A Game of Thrones, there is sex, not what I would consider erotic sex or romance, but sex nonetheless.

Science fiction romance is not Paranormal, i.e., Vampire Romance, Shifter Romance, Were Romance, Faerie Romance, time travel romance…those fall more in the realm of fantasy and are a sort of pop-culture genre right now. Science fiction is not necessarily post-apocalyptic, although it may contain post-apocalyptic elements, nor is it quite Steam Punk – which does contain elements of science fiction.  I don’t know whether science fiction romance is a separate genre, a sub-genre, a new genre, a finding its way genre…and I have no idea if there is a fan base.  From what I’ve read on the blogs, there isn’t, not really.

Here’s what pops into my head when I imagine a damn good science fiction story containing romance and sex in addition to outstanding science fiction elements – The Terminator.

Any ideas?  Yes?  No?  Regardless, I don’t plan to stop writing ‘em.

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