Julia Barrett's World

My husband says so. Therefore, I find it necessary to elaborate upon my post of yesterday. In the world according to him, we are, each and every one of us, a combination of male and female characteristics. My husband has some personality traits that are traditionally considered feminine, i.e., nurturing, an ability to listen, sensitivity (but not like The Most Sensitive Man in the World as in the movie Bedazzled - when is that sun gonna set?). This is why he’s reading The Female Brain, by Louann Brizendine, and then he’s going to read the book related to my previous previous post, The Male Brain, i.e., the penis, by the same author - so he can potentially develop some additional insights into his own behavior. See…prime example - female brain…how many males seek insight? I mean, other than mystics and saints and Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, a book and an author who, along with Martin Buber, set me on the right path back in the days when I searched for enlightenment.

I have to admit there is one male-brain thing my husband does and it involves the TV remote - it’s like this male obsessive compulsive disorder called: Point Remote and Switch from One Game to Another for Hours On End. Today the disease involves the NCAA Women’s Final Four - Stanford vs. Oklahoma, The Golden State Warriors, the Sharks (hockey), and a preseason Giants game. The male brain at it’s finest…

But I digress. I’m thinking of getting a Kindle. I read Jayne’s review of the Ipad on Dear Author: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/ - please somebody change the name from Ipad so I don’t flash on Kotex every time I hear it - and she mentioned that as far as uploading or downloading ebooks, it’s no competition for the Kindle or the Nook. I love holding a book in my hand, but I’m not only starting to feel guilty about the waste of paper, I’m running out of storage space. Every single chest, bookcase, coffee table, kitchen chair, is piled high with books. And…I won’t feel as bad if I spend, say, $6 and hate a book than if I spend, say, $24 and hate a book. Yeah…thinking about it. Jayne’s post may have sealed the deal.

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You can check them out - interesting reading. A friend of mine works as a volunteer for these groups. The volunteers who upload the books are only uploading those books whose copyrights have expired - there are some rare old works of fantasy and sci fi available.

Off to the day job! Enjoy!

www.gutenberg.org

http://www.pgdp.net/c/

Remember my contest for mega-prizes! Send me your 500 word or less romance hook - Julia@JuliaRachelBarrrett.net and you can win a signed copy of The Cougar Book, including my story - You Might Just Get It - or an ecopy of My Everything, or maybe Beauty and the Feast or maybe even Captured! Many thanks to Chris at Stumbling Over Chaos for her shout out!

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Crafty Dana: http://craftydana32.blogspot.com/

challenged her readers to a spring break duel - find five books that take are set in the winter. Hmmm - okay, here goes:

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin (a series)

The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwall (a series)

Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer

Here Be Dragons, by Sharon Kay Penman (a series)

Of course the stories are not entirely set in the winter but there’s a lot of winter in them and I love them all. I’d also like to add:

Cloudsplitter, by Russell Banks

***So Dana, if you’re reading this - here’s an answering challenge for you, and anyone else stopping by - what do you consider your five most favorite sensual foods? And unless you sincerely consider raw oysters an aphrodisiac, you can’t say raw oysters. That’s too easy. I gagged on one a few weeks ago. I didn’t find it arousing, stimulating maybe because I was trying not to choke to death in public, but the experience didn’t bring sex to mind.

My Five Most Sensual Foods:

1. Milk Chocolate for sucking.

2. Creme Brulee for sharing.

3. Hot Fudge Sundae for indulging.

4. Wild Mushroom Risotto for a group.

5. Bittersweet Chocolate Pot du Creme for closing eyes and fantasizing.

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was kind enough to answer some questions for me.

I love the site: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is amusing, irreverent, informative and it tops my daily must read blog list. When I emailed Sarah about an interview, I didn’t really expect a response. I figured…why would she bother? But sometimes you want to know a little about what’s behind the public persona. Here ya go!

I’ve read about you on your site, but I’d love to hear, in your own words, where you are coming from. I’d like a little background, nothing too personal, but…for instance, have you been reading since you were, say, three years old? Was reading valued in your family? What genres do you read? Only romance, or do you throw in some nonfiction, biographies, straight science fiction? Do you have a favorite all time book?

I learned to read late, and had a lot of trouble with it. I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t want to read or because of my eyesight or what, but I was moved backwards in reading groups and got it into my head that I wasn’t intelligent. This is how I discovered romance: when I saw the class valedictorian in high school reading a huge thick paperback, I got all angsty but worked up the nerve to ask what she was reading. It was Catherine Coulter, and she dragged me over to the romance paperback rack to tell me all about the different books. I was hooked from there.

Reading was valued in my family, but my tendency to go completely deaf and become completely absorbed into the book was not terribly valued or popular!

I read romance, mysteries, nonfiction, and a LOT about cooking and the science thereof. I don’t have an all-time favorite book but I have some that never lose their power with me:

Lamb, by Christopher Moore
The Duke and I, by Julia Quinn
Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong
Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs
Charms for the Easy Life, by Kaye Gibbons

Be honest, do you read romance for the sex? Or do you read romance for the story? Or are both a must? How do you feel if a book has great sex, but the story sucks, or if the sex is merely insert tab a into slot b, but the story rocks? I would like to know what you think about the fact that romance/erotica has become increasingly graphic - both scenes and language - in recent years.

I absolutely do not read romance merely for the sex. I read for the story, the emotional power of a writer who can truly communicate the risk and fulfillment of a happy ending, knowing that no matter how bad the circumstances may become, it will all work out in the end. Sex is optional. I dislike it intensely when sex is, pardon the visual, wedged into the story for whatever reason. Sex is a complication, a form of progress or regression in a relationship - and its role or absence in a romance is important, but not the only reason I read.

I think erotica is popular for the same reasons that paranormal stories are popular: there are a lot of people who want to read them, and if that’s what someone wants to read, more power to ‘em. I think people should be able to read whatever they want, without comment or judgment.

How do you feel about authors who jump on the bandwagon, say switch from historical to steampunk or YA simply because it sells? Do their voices sound inauthentic, or can a very special artist successfully pull it off? Among the authors you’ve read or follow, who is able to switch voices and genres in a very satisfying way?

It always depends on the author. I don’t think a writer needs to be limited to any one subgenre. Many have written across genre lines and done marvelously well with it. Some haven’t. It depends on many factors, most of which rest on the talent of the writer.

Are vampires dead? LOL! Is the genre dead or is there life within it yet? Has it been done to death? Do you miss the good old days of bad vampires or do you like the new and improved versions? What about the shift to were-animals? Interesting? Not? I’ve skimmed a couple stories in which the characters have sex while in animal form and I’m not a big fan.

I’m very tired of vampires, personally. I am way over tales of angsty courtship with maudlin immortals. I do love were stories, particularly those that explore violence, anger, and gender roles, but I haven’t encountered many that feature graphic depictions of sex in animal form.

I may be taking my life into my hands here, but are you a Twilight fangirl, or would you prefer to say, no comment, and sparkle on your hard as marble merry way? Oh, and I must ask, Eric or Bill?

I read Twilight and gave it a D, but was very fascinated by the power and draw Edward as a character had and continues to have over a large group of fans. If folks are into Edward, they can sparkle on, though I wish they wouldn’t do creepy things like mail actors pictures of the hey nanner nanners because Lord that’s unnecessary. Eric or Bill? Neither, thanks!

Are you a BSG-er? Or perhaps you prefer Lost? Or are you more of a Thirty Rock kind of gal?

I’m a big ol’ loser in that question! My favorite shows to date are Bones and NCIS, and a few cooking shows I cannot get enough of. Sorry!

Tell me about your toughest post? I mean, what did ya’ll put on your website that drew the most ire or caused the most controversy? Do you ever back off because of controversy or do you dig in your heels and stick to your guns?

Toughest post? I honestly don’t know if there’s one that was hardest to write. I know the post I wrote after Kate Duffy died was among the most painful to write, because I wanted to say so much about her, and was afraid I wouldn’t say nearly enough.

The posts that drew the most controversy and ire were those that revealed the rampant plagiarism of Cassie Edwards. I didn’t think the story would get that much attention but it grew over the course of a week until The New York Times covered it in the weekend edition. We didn’t back off, though, even though a lot of mud was slung our way for being the bearer of unpleasant tidings.

Favorite meal/wine/do you cook? What do you think about fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and would you like my insanely good recipe?

Favorite meal: it’s cold out, so soup with barley, please. Wine: cabernet or malbec are my current faves. And yes! Cookies! Bring it on!

Favorite weekend away? If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be and why?

Favorite weekend away? Anywhere with a beach and a book. And visiting: I’m absolutely hopping to go to Australia and New Zealand. Someday I will.

Anything else you’d care to share with my readers and your fans? Books? Movies? Politics?

I think the best part of running my website is the fact that I’m always meeting new and enthusiastic romance fans. I love how many intelligent, savvy people read romance and love to discuss it.

Thanks for answering my questions, Sarah. I have to come clean…I am an NCIS addict. Got it bad!

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I see a tipping point on the horizon.

My husband is thrilled with the Kindle I gave him for Christmas. He holds it in his hand with reverence, not so much because he’s enthralled with a piece of technology, but rather because of what the technology can do. I’ve heard him say repeatedly - I can upload an entire library into this thing!

It occurs to me that once we all, the human race, that is, develop the ability to travel to other worlds, we’ll want to take our written word with us so of course we’ll download as much as we can into tiny devices. Not only will we take whatever we believe to be important at the time, we’ll take our written history with us.

Yes, I believe ebooks have reached a tipping point and their sales will continue to rise for several reasons. First, the technology is very cool. Second, printed books are expensive to produce and purchase and people have far less expendable income than they used to. And third, it makes more environmental sense to read a book on an electronic reader.

Does that mean I won’t miss books or that I think books will disappear altogether? I don’t believe books will disappear altogether, but if they did, I would miss them terribly. Aside from my family, books are the love of my life. Always have been. This five minute article from NPR is well worth listening to.

20091230_me_05

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Books…Books…Books

I love to read, so it stands to reason I might take up writing Therefore, I attended the University of Iowa to become a writer and I worked with the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. But alas, it was not to be. When I got out of school, planning to write the next great American novel, I realized that I was in danger of starving to death! My roommate had been in nursing school and it occurred to me that I could be a nurse - the last thing I’d ever imagined when I was growing up. I had figured…president…astronaut…world-famous author…but as a nurse I could support myself - which turned out great since within a few years, I found myself a single-parent without any means of support aside from myself.

So writing got put off for quite a few years - lots of pretty amazing stuff intervened. Then, one day, while hiking in a slick, rocky area, two miles from my car, I fell and pretty much destroyed my left knee. Suddenly, I had to take a break…of sorts…from my hectic life and sit my ass down. The first surgery failed. For a year I wore a tight, titanium brace that stretched from my upper thigh down to my mid-calf in order to walk. When I took the brace off, and I could only stand it about two-three hours at a time, I hobbled on crutches…this was while waiting for another surgery with another surgeon who I hoped could restore my ability to walk without artificial aids. In preparation for the second surgery, and what we knew would be months of rehab, my husband bought me a laptop and I began to write - thus began a second career - as a Romance Novelist.

If you take a look at my pages, you’ll see some of my books listed. Everything there, including two more, will be released in 2010, and I’ll tell you about each one of them in later posts. Three more works of Romance/Suspense were released in 2008 and 2009 - they will be re-released with another publishing house in 2011, and I’ll be happy to talk about those too - I am very proud of those three works…They were a labor of love. Everything I write is a labor of love. If I don’t love it, I don’t write it. More tomorrow! Julia

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