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Freedom of Choice For All

 

Did you ever wonder what it’s like? Without the villains or the media hype? Polygamy? Just regular everyday people, living their normal everyday lives in a plural way? You’ve all heard about the bad that can happen. Just like the spousal and child abuse that happens in regular monogamous societies that can happen in polygamous societies as well.

But… in a community or family that is trying their best to be their best selves, it’s very rare.

It’s wonderful that the Brown’s (Sister Wives), Darger’s (Love Times Three), and the Centennial Park Group (Polygamy USA) have stepped out of the shadows to show how happiness can be had living a polygamous lifestyle.

In my book New Parish, the reader will get to follow 27 year old Sarah, as she investigates living plural marriage and finds her own happiness living her normal life, a bit differently. The story is filled with so many realisms that you just might forget it’s fiction.

Christmas!

Once again Christmas is upon us. There’s so much about this time of year that I love, the tree with colored lights, the presents that cause children to have anticipatory anxiety, and the feel of the whole thing. I remember when I was young, Christmas was what every kid waited for all year, you always watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, White Christmas, and The Little Drummer Boy, along with whatever other Christmas specials were on TV. It was a bit limited back then but we have a myriad of choices now. I’m still drawn to the old sentimental ones but I’ve found that some of the new stuff is okay too.

Just like when I was a kid, Christmas brings hope, happiness, and dreams of how wonderful things will be when our Christmas Wishes come true.

I hope that all our Christmas Wishes come true this year…

Beautiful Places to Create Scenes Around

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These pictures are the inspiration for a scene in my next book, Return to New Parish, the sequel to New Parish. 
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It was so very quiet in this place, the only noise I could hear was a soft trickling sound from the stream.
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My characters sit on this bench like rock and share a special moment. 
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Special places bring life into a story. 
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I can’t wait to share the whole story with everyone!

New Parish Review

A recon trip to Vegas found this at the conference site.
A recon trip to Vegas found this at the conference site.

Review of New Parish

“I did two reads of the book.  The first time in January and then I just read it again and made comments. Honestly, most of my comments were simply wanting more information. It sounds like a second book is in the works that it covers more culture which will be fantastic. Julie is a captivating author. After the first six chapters I spent more late nights reading than I should have. I found that I made comments in the first few chapters and then as I got caught up in the story I had less to say because I was just truly enjoying the story line. This story captured the magic of your community, it’s the kind of hometown we wish we all had, and the kind of community where we wish all of our children could be raised. I’ll be first in line to buy anything she publishes.”

Jaclyn Knapp, M.S., ED.S – Weber State University, Ogden, UT

 

Now all I need is an agent and a publisher…. Going to Las Vegas April 29th for the writer’s conference. Wish me luck!

#LVWC

http://lasvegaswritersconference.com/

One of my favorite poems…

Good Timber

by Douglas Malloch

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The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

Query – New Parish

WagonS

 

 

My book New Parish, is a literary fiction, light romantic comedy, with an intriguing polygamous twist, it’s very different and diverse from the run-of-the-mill romance novels flooding the market these days.

The story follows Sarah from bad dates to total frustration as she explores her thoughts, fears, and feelings while contemplating plural marriage as an alternative to dating the losers she’s had to deal with. She asks the hard questions of her new friends, and even asks herself if she’s nuts or desperate for considering this option. All factors are explored, but the better side of living this unique social arrangement is truthfully told through the voice of its lovable characters.  The story reveals happiness, fulfillment, and safety in this lifestyle. The manuscript is 92,000 words.

Review of New Parish by Jaclyn Knapp, M.S., ED.S Weber State University, Ogden, UT:

“Julie is a captivating author. I spent more late nights reading than I should have. This story captured the magic of your community, it’s the kind of hometown we wish we all had, and the kind of community where we wish all of our children could be raised. I’ll be first in line to buy anything she publishes.”

This is a work of fiction but it has a lot of real life experiences that I’ve encountered as I moved west to live in a small polygamous community in Arizona. The realisms I use in the book are ones I’ve either experienced or heard about from others I’ve interviewed.

 

Curiosity….

Road to CP 2Have you ever wondered what life is like in a polygamous lifestyle? Through some humorous adventures and awkward mishaps the characters in my book find out.

Hard questions are asked, and answered.

I can’t wait till it’s published so I can share this journey with everyone!

Synopsis for New Parish

Harvey Beach for websiteSarah the main character is a 27 year old, graphic artist. She lives in Atlanta but is originally from Savannah Georgia. She’s had too many bad dates over the years with guys that just weren’t quite what she wanted.

She does volunteer work at a children’s center, which she enjoys and it gives her a way to spend time with children while she longs to have her own. She meets a new friend at the children’s center, this new friend comes from a polygamous community which arouses Sarah’s curiosity, her new friend tells her about a different way of finding a companion which sets Sarah on a quest to find out the truth about this lifestyle as a viable option to dating. This leads her to consider making a decision that will affect the rest of her life… go live out west in a community where they live plural marriage or continue to date hoping to eventually find someone, maybe.

Through her investigations she finds out that the people living in the polygamous community use an old form of matchmaking. Their system sounded similar to what her grandmother described when she married her grandfather, only it involved prayer and church leaders not just parents.

She goes to New Parish to visit and asks some of the women in the polygamous community to tell her the whole story “warts and all” so she can make her decision with all the information possible. She hears some difficult stories about women who had been mistreated but also sees how happy other women living plural marriage are. Sarah struggles with both sides of this coin and finds it difficult to focus on work or anything else after she returns to Atlanta. The distraction of her new knowledge is so much that she needs to take a few days off from work and go to her family’s condo on Tybee Island to sort it out…

More later…

Christmas!

 

I love Christmas! It might even be an obsession… maybe. All year I’m thinking about Christmas, the tree, the Christmas Tree 2015-2presents, the decorations… the reason it’s celebrated…  Many people celebrate Christmas for many different reasons, I have my own reasons and super happiness for celebrating it and loving it.  

I hope everyone has the best holidays and new year ever!                                                                      Merry Christmas!