I'm right behind you, Julia!

I haven't been around for a month or more...

Severe and abject depression...NOT!  Snort!  Just living with my own stupidity...and that isn't very easy.

I forgot that most editors are working a "real" job, and can only get to your books when they have the time.  So after subbing and getting a contract, I now find that my edits will not even begin for another month or so.  Sigh.

 I adore my editor. Please don't get me wrong. But I have been dormant for so long, I can't wait several months for a book to take shape.  It's my own damn fault...I know that.  So now I either live with it...or...take the leap.

I am about to take the dive into self-publishing a couple of my books, just to get them out there.  And even though several friends have done just that, I find that leap terrifying.

I have several novellas that could be put into publication quickly.  I can make myself self-edit as ruthlessly as my past editors.  I can make myself toe the line.  But stepping out into the great unknown is rough.  :P

I have been getting a lot of fan mail asking when my next book is coming out.  I know for a fact that authors LOSE readers when they have so few books coming out. You have to stay on that roll.  If you do like I did, and let things get you down, and stop fighting, you can easily lose all the ground you've gained.

I think that I will be asking around and checking out possibilities.  Any ideas?

Hugs!

Fran Lee

http://www.franleeromance.com

I cannot remember a Friday to save my life!

News -

I'm on a massive blog tour for Incorporeal, my ghost romance. You can follow my schedule (if you have any interest) here: http://juliarachelbarrett.net/2011/07/incorporeal-virtual-book-tour/

What else is new? Um...good weather, getting in lots of hiking, dog basketball, baseball, gardening - my potatoes are ready, but I can't harvest them all at once since I don't have the proper place to store them. It's so fun to dig up these multi-colored gems! Purple, red and Yukon Gold! Plus they taste great. Hubby is asking if we're on the potato diet. Hey, worked for the Irish for a long time!

I have several works in progress - a sequel to Incorporeal - In the Flesh, another paranormal. I'd like to tackle a romance suspense that's been put on hold, and then I believe I'll have time to delve into a sci/fi series. Fingers crossed!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Bookstores - Outdated?

Borders, the 2nd largest U.S. bookstore chain is closing its doors after 40 years in business. Experts attribute this in large part to Borders being ill-equipped to adapt to bookbuyers migration to digital formats.

Obviously, ebooks are a big part of my life, but I truly hope print books and the places to go to buy them won't completely disappear in the future.

Over the years, I've spent countless happy hours in used bookstores, trading in paperbacks, combing through the shelves for 'new to me' finds, chatting with other book lovers. I've consumed large volumes of caffeinated beverages while reading in Borders, Barnes and Noble and Walden Books. The used bookstores around here began disappearing about ten years ago. When Waldens closed, my daughter and I shared hugs with the staff we had come to know very well. Many of them went to work at Borders. Of the seven used bookstores I used to frequent, only two of them are left.

Being completely honest, I have always preferred the atmosphere and selection of our local Barnes and Noble, but if I couldn't find what I was looking for, Borders was just up the street. Yesterday, as my daughter and I stood in line at Borders, our arms full of 'great bargains', I was overcome with sadness.

Purchasing ebooks over the internet is a solitary event. The act of shopping for them can't be a looked forward to event with your friends, or a bonding time with your kids. You can't dig through the boxes of them that you've saved over the years to discover that gem you forgot about. You can't touch the yellowing pages, or see the crease at the top of the page indicating where you stopped reading.

I don't know actual numbers, but I do know that there are still a vast amount of people who do not embrace all things digital! I wonder if this shift in the literary world will force them to conform to the changing times, or deprive them of a beloved pasttime?

Tessie
http://www.tessiebradford.com/

John Carter and Barsoom on the horizon

When I was a child I was a big Tarzan fan. When I was very young my mother was kind enough to take me to Baldwin Gardens where the early Johnny Weissmuller, Tarzan movies were filmed, so I could play there and enjoy what was left of the Tarzan movie set, up close.

I also have a very clear memory of my mother driving up to the edge of the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, getting out of the car and pointing out the house to me. Of course Edgar Rice Burroughs wasn’t home. He passed away many years earlier, but the house was still in the family. I don’t actually remember seeing the house. I believe it was hidden behind many trees, including (in my memory) quite a few large Spanish oaks. My mother said Burroughs had written Tarzan while nearly homebound and invalid. He looked out his windows at the dense trees surrounding his ranch-style home and dreamed of being free.

I was too little to realize at the time that my mother was very ill and slipping toward her own early death, but when I look back I’m so grateful she took the time to impress a few really important lessons on me before she left.

If you asked me, which was the most important lesson, I’d have a different story to tell you on any given day. Today I’m going to say she showed me and told me that when you have freedom of imagination you’re free. She insisted a free, creative mind could go anywhere and I try to live that truth today.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was a beautiful example of a free mind. Early in his life he was broke and working as a pencil-sharpener-wholesaler with a young family to support when he decided he could write a story at least as good as the pulp fiction magazines he was reading:

"...if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines, that I could write stories just as rotten. As a matter of fact, although I had never written a story, I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines." ERB.

Burroughs wrote the John Carter, Princess of Mars “Barsoom” series and it was an instant hit.  The Tarzan books followed a few years later.

As an adult I delved deeper into the Burroughs lore and was disillusioned to find a few controversial things about the man. 

No one’s perfect and I had to let childish ideals go and simply look at Burroughs’ body of work that I must say overall is highly creative and “free minded”.

Recently, I was very happy to see that next spring Disney pictures will be reintroducing the John Carter Princess of Mars, “Barsoom” series to a new generation on the book’s 100^th birthday. 

(Please see the video above.) I also think its of special interest, at least to me that Disney chose Peter Gabriel’s moody cover of “My Body is a Cage” as the music for this trailer.

I have to say I liked Burroughs’ can-do attitude. It gave me the freedom, quite late in life to start writing my own "rotten" stories and I thank him for that.

What bit of freedom will allow your mind to embrace today?

XXOO Kat

My series on self-pubbing my first book!

As you read this, I am really in Utah at a Shakespeare Festival and absorbing the cool evenings and sights of the glorious red canyons! BUT for those of you who started my series on self-pubbing my first digital book, I hope you did come to my blog last week for all the parts of that.
Where is that? http://cerisedeland.blogspot.com
AND I am NOT FINISHED YET.
As I do more, learn more, I will give you the blow by blow AND PUBLISH MORE IN THE SERIES. No holes in my/your knowledge left unfilled!
(FOR EXAMPLE: I still must put up the formats for Smashwords and ARe. Ah, yes. More adventures in publishing!)
And at the left, the beautiful artwork of LADY STARLING'S STOCKINGS!
Ciao, bella!

Is it Friday already?

Beauty and the Feast

One of my favorite books - I'm giving away six copies - six Kindle uploads. Please email me at juliarachelbarrett(at)gmail(dot)com for further information or leave a comment letting me know how to contact you.


Eva Raines is an uncomplicated country girl who's all about food. Eva moves to the Napa Valley where her culinary skills come to the attention of the owners of a start-up, All Things to All People, and Eva finds her niche as a personal chef. Now all she needs is a man as perfect as her cooking, but she has serious doubts that such a creature exists.

When wealthy entrepreneur, winery owner, and noted lothario, Gabriel Abbott, makes plans to seduce his flavor of the month, his assistant hires All Things to All People to cater a gourmet dinner. Eva expects to use her way with food to showcase the startup. What she unexpectedly discovers is that her culinary skills showcase far more.

Once Gabriel finds himself seduced by Eva's voice, and the sensual flavors and textures of her food, his previous plans are quickly forgotten. He begins to obsess about meeting his little chef in person. But when Eva and Gabe finally come face to face, the question is, how hot will their fire burn?

Food and Romance

Happy Thursday! I'm thrilled to post my new cover! Matt's Return releases August 10th.

The following blog has absolutely nothing to do with Matt or his return.

I get a tremendous amount of ribbing from my family over my love affair with “food television”. The Cooking Channel, Food Network, all food ‘reality’ shows on Bravo, and anything with Gordon Ramsey (lord that man revs my engine) – I’m addicted!

Creating new recipes and cooking with my hubby, who is a barbeque master, are two of my favorite things to do!

When I’m in the author ‘zone’, it is a given that some culinary program is playing softly in the background of my writing cave. The experience of enjoying good food hits all of the senses.

In most of my books, sharing a meal happens. It is a time for the characters to connect, reminisce, learn about each other, or simply enjoy spending time together.

I become extremely squitchy, however, when food plays too large a role in actual love making. A well placed drizzle of honey or chocolate sauce, a dollop of whipped cream, those I get. The use of phallic shaped vegetables is okay, I guess, if there aren’t real toys around, and the lovers are desperate for additional stimulation.

What I don’t ever want to read about again is the use of entire entrees, side dishes and desserts being put places they should never be!! Spaghetti with meat sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cheesecake belong on plate! Feed it to each other, lick your silverware seductively, but please stop there.

And on a related note, if the kitchen is going to be the setting for naked fun, let’s use the area wisely. The floor and the chairs are just waiting for someone to have sex on them. The counters and table are available to hold onto, lean across or against, use for leverage, but please keep them free of moist, sweaty parts unless the next scene describes, in eloquent detail, the participant’s cleaning regimen!!

Have a great weekend~

Tessie

http://www.tessiebradford.com/