April 2017 – Julie Wrote a Book

Pray the Vegan Away

First Born Son likes to hang out with his gang of rebels and go rock climbing, body building, and go to vegan restaurants. They are living the thug life. And yes, it makes me laugh that the way he rebels against me is to be an athlete and eat vegetables. He went completely vegan for the month of April. My main goal was not to eat any of that fake meat garbage that is sold as health food, so I agreed to cook for him. It really was not all that hard. I had to plan ahead a little more than…

Do It Afraid

As you read this, I am at a writing conference in Austin, Texas, sucking up knowledge and stealing tacos from a whole bunch of crazy talented authors. This is my second trip to this particular conference, and I am SO excited to see my gang again. We are planning meals and drinks and bookstore visits, and a trip to see the bats, and even karaoke. (Oh, right, like I'm really going to do that one. I'm so sure.) I was not this excited last year. I had been listening to the podcast and reading the books for a long time. Something…

Readers, Guy Fieri, and Instagram

My Southern California Peeps: If you are looking for something fun to do today, I'll be signing books at the Anaheim Library Romance Author Day. Come say hi, and eat a London Demerez scone with me. I'll be selling the last of my Emma Foster books before we change all the covers. The original cover editions will be worth millions some day, I personally guarantee it.* So you should totally come buy them. Other fun for your weekend: Check out this Reading Infographic, revel in how wonderful readers are, and then pat yourself on the back for being the smart, bookish types.…

Pick Three

Work. Sleep. Family. Friends. Fitness. Pick three. -Randi Zuckerberg Not gonna lie – I absolutely HATED this advice when it started bouncing around the interwebs a couple of years ago. Three? That's it? If I'm a good mom, friend, and wife I have to give up on work, sleep and fitness? Obviously it pissed me off so much because deep down I knew her advice was true. On my Super Mom days, I do NOT get the words on the page. If I force myself to get a good night's sleep, I'm not going to the gym in the morning.…

Waffles. Books. Matcha. PEEPS.

Happy Easter weekend, to those of you who celebrate. We have dear friends staying with us, which will shake up our Easter traditions in the best possible way. I'm trying to come up with a good hashtag term for it. I see your Friendsgiving and raise you a Friendeaster! Friendster? Freaster? Please stop me. What are we doing on this Weekend? I'm so glad you asked. Serving: a Waffle Bar. You heard me. I'm doing it. Not even ashamed. Reading: Last week I took my kids on a field trip to Los Angeles. We capped off the day with a…

On Adult Friendships

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival. C.S. Lewis A few weeks ago, I found myself at a brewery late at night with three people I don't know all that well. Anyone who has met me knows how far out of my comfort zone that situation is. The people weren't strangers, exactly. I see Crystal every month at RWA meetings, I've met Mark at a few writing conferences. OK, well, Phillip was a stranger until we met at a writing class earlier that…