Author: JAB

Judith A. Barrett writes fast-paced dark thrillers, romantic suspense, and mysteries with a twist featuring sharp minds, moral tension, and characters who refuse to stay victims. Best known for her dark vigilante thriller series starring Maggie Sloan, Judith creates stories where small towns hide dangerous secrets, instinct matters more than appearances, and justice is rarely simple. Judith lives on a small farm in rural Georgia with her husband, two dogs, and a flock of unapologetically sassy chickens. Thou shalt not plagiarize. (See Commandment #8) But it's okay to share!
FlatRose

Pink Baby Alligator, Marketing Assistant

JAB

#FlatRose took her new assignment as Marketing Assistant seriously at the I Heart Books signing event in Jacksonville, FL.

When folks stepped close enough to snitch a piece of candy, Rose directed them to the opportunity to be eligible for our drawing for a free book, Sweet Deal Sealed, and the opportunity to be among the first to know when The Girl Who Saw Clouds is published. Triple bonus!

She was a little embarrassed for the balloon creature that was supposed to be an alligator, according to the balloon guy. Rose was heard to whisper it looked more like an anteater.

 

QuickJAB

So Many Chuckles in Just a Few Words

JAB

You fill in the jokes. I’ll supply the words. Ready? GO!

I will be at the GARS Hamfest in Waldo tomorrow from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM. I’ll be signing and selling Pink Baby Alligator and talking about Sweet Deals : Sealed and maybe The Girl Who Saw Clouds. #FlatRose will be there too.

And the best joke of all? It’s true – no joke!

Gainesville Amateur Radio Society Hamfest

14370 Kennard St. (First Baptist Church)

Waldo, Florida 32694

If you like electronics, gadgets, and books… might be worth the drive.

If your interest is piqued, then punch in the address and show up! Free parking and $7.00 per person entry fee.

QuickJAB

How Writing Is Like Making Jam

JAB

When I make jam, I pull out the Ball Blue Book of canning and check the recipe even though I’ve made jam dozens of time over the last several years. I crush the berries, dump in the sugar, turn up the gas, and stir. And stir and stir. I don’t use pectin to thicken the concoction, and I don’t have a jelly thermometer. I stir and after 30 or 45 minutes, it feels done. If I quit too early, I have berry soup. If I stir another two minutes, I have berry concrete. It’s all in the timing, and it all comes together—boom!

So this is my Writing blog, not my Farm blog, right?

I wrote a story on January 6, 2017. The story was 727 words. I added a few more words, and the name of my story became Novel Needs a Name. N3 became The Girl Who Saw Clouds last summer.  I have a total of 106 versions of Clouds. Different people have read different versions over the past year. One faithful reader has seen every single one! We’ll refer to her as Saint Rabbit. Writers have critiqued different sections, and I wrote and revised.

I read Don McNair’s Editor-Proof Your Writing and followed his twenty-one steps. Clouds was ready for a copy editor. Not too soon, not too late. Now I have to leave Clouds alone and let the copy editor do his work; otherwise, I’d have Cloud concrete, right?

Yesterday I read Guido Henkel’s Zen of eBook Formatting and made blackberry jam. Today I designed the book cover.  Only twenty more days before the copy editor’s work is due. Maybe I’ll make some more blackberry jam. Boom.

 

 

QuickJAB

Confessions of a Story-Teller

JAB

I was born a story-teller. The story words bubbled up inside me and strained to escape. They detoured my brain and flew straight to my mouth or my typing fingers. For years while my words and I struggled to survive in the corporate world, we were feared and labeled frivolous and irrelevant. Wordy, even. My brain suggested I was not a story-teller, and I turned to conforming by slaughtering words. Dark times. I popped the action, sights, sounds, tastes, feels, and detail bubbles. Even when words bolted through the typing exit, very few survived.

My story words and I abandoned the corporate world for the world of fiction. My empowered stories shoot from my typing fingers, leaving room inside for new words to incubate and grow in my brain. First Draft. Second Draft. The only slaughter is Killing the Darlings, but that’s another story.