BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR L.B. JORAMO

L.B. Joramo lives in Montana on what she calls an accidental farm—her son wishes for animals and they appear, complete with a sixty-pound turkey! When not writing for the Immortal American series, she writes romance under the pen name Red L. Jameson. When she’s not writing at all, she enjoys hiking, historical research, reading, watching movies, and sloppily trying to cook and bake. Learn more about L.B. at her website and blog.  

A Most Unpopular Setting

A few months ago I was interviewed on another blog where I was asked, “How did you choose the American Revolution as your favorite era? What is it about the American Revolution that you like so much?”

I was stymied. Who said I liked the American Revolution so much? Since when did it become my favorite? To be fair, I understand why I was asked this question. My paranormal/historical book series, the Immortal American, so far is set during the American Revolution. And I do research that era painstakingly, ensuring accuracy as well as trying to bring to light some forgotten elements of this time. But I’m not sure this is my favorite era, let alone that I like it all that much. So why then did I write a whole series in the period? Because I’m an idiot! Or am I? You be the judge as I explain.

When I began writing the series, I had no clue about the publishing world and not that much about writing, to be honest. I wrote the first draft before I went back to school for my Master’s in history, so I didn’t know much about history either. Yikes! It was a trifecta of ignorance. But it was my bliss, the writing that is. I loved writing about my protagonist Violet in colonial Massachusetts. Back then I wrote Violet from the turmoil of the American Revolution to the revolutionary times of 1918, when the nineteenth amendment was lobbied for ratification, giving women the right to vote by 1920.

I wrote hundreds of pages of conflict, change, and Violet stumbling with love through centuries of time. During which I did go back to school and discovered a lot of my history (my main source had been Wikipedia) wasn’t exactly accurate. So I had to rewrite the beginning of Violet’s tale. Oh, and this whole time I had never sought publication with Violet’s stories. But after my critique partner rallied me to try it, I finally bit the bullet and began querying agents and editors. I lucked out almost instantly by winning a pitch contest. It was a public contest, judged by an editor and the commenters on the blog, and the editor openly asked for my full manuscript.

A week after the high of winning the contest died down, I received a very blunt email from that editor. She wrote something like, “Listen, I can tell you’re a good writer. But I can’t publish your manuscript. No one will probably publish your manuscript, because you have a whacky cross-genre. But mainly no one will publish a novel about the American Revolution.”

Ouch, right? I did ask why she’d asked for my manuscript then, to which she said that I had had the most votes and the best pitch, and she didn’t want her publishing house to appear biased. She also said that when I started writing a more popular era, she would love to look at my work then.

It was my first lesson in the publishing business and it stung. So what did I do? I decided to buck the system. I did warn you, I’m an idiot, right? I kept querying. And I kept getting rejected. All the while I kept honing the craft of writing and my historical research. Finally I received news that a small publisher liked my work.

This was years after that editor had told me “no one would publish my book.” In that time I thought more and more about what that editor had written to me—to give up my story. I might have had a much easier tale to tell you if I had. I might have gotten traditionally published, because the editor that asked for my work when I finally wrote a more popular setting was in one of the big houses. Who knows what might have happened to me if I had taken her advice.

The problem is, it wasn’t the story of my heart. And for me to give up on Violet would have been as painful as giving up on my right arm and hacking it off. I’ve written many other manuscripts while I keep plugging away at Violet’s story. And maybe one of them might prove to be “popular.” But each one is written from my heart.

So call me an idiot. Or you can call me the writer who writes from the heart. That sounds nice.

The Bones of War

It began with the ripple of rebellion, but ended in eternal change.

Cannonade erupts as the Battle of Bunker’s Hill commences, where Violet Adams is disguised as a soldier. She’s joined the sieging militia, surrounding Boston and the British redcoats, to run from her grief and from her affections toward the dark French spy, Jacque Beaumont—the ripple in her life that gave her an undying heart. To flee is the only choice she could think of, soldiering the only act that seems to bring her any comfort.

Then again, mayhap it isn’t the soldiering that gives her comfort, but more one of the soldiers. While trekking north to invade Canada with other Continentals, Violet finds herself drawn to a man who turns out to be more than just a friend—another immortal. From 1775 to 1776, through all the battles, Violet finds her mourning heart healing, only to discover it’s done the most inexplicable! It’s set its sights on another.

Similar to Violet’s phoenix-like heart, America’s War for Independence burns to ashes before the Battle of Trenton, where Violet spies for her Patriots and must choose between old flames or the revolution that never dies—love.

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HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE—GUEST AUTHOR L.B. JORAMO

Have you ever felt the need for change? L.B. Joramo did, and she’s here to tell us about it today. Learn more about her at her website. 

I worked in the health and fitness business for sixteen years before I packed it all in and went back to school for my Master’s in US Military History; my area of concentration is the American Revolution. I had been planning to quit for several years, since my ultimate goal was to actually make a living at my writing, and my early “retirement” couldn’t have come at a better time. Before I quit my business, I partly tore my rotator cuff again and strained my groin. I could barely walk, let alone lift anything with my left arm. Obviously, I was doing something wrong, but what it was, I could have cared less, since I didn’t have to work out for my job anymore. I was elated!

For the next three years I became more and more sedentary. Hey, I was a part-time Master’s student, hence a lot of sitting while I read, and was actively pursuing getting published with my writing—even more sitting. And with my injuries, I didn’t mind sitting more. I really didn’t mind, but my body did. I started to gain weight, but what disturbed me the most was my mood. I was sad more often than I ever had been and agitated. I just thought it was because I was having such a struggle with getting published, but it was more, much more, than that.

You see, I know the science behind why our bodies do what they do. I knew better than to sit around with two injuries. The quickest way to heal is movement--gentle, consistent movement. The best way to lose a few pounds is movement. I’m sorry diet industry, but it’s been proven over and over again that diets don’t work. Activity does. Besides, what the diet industry really doesn’t want mainstream Americans to know is:

1.) being overweight does not mean you are unhealthy—the stats show that a person who eats more healthy meals and consistently moves, yet is overweight, will live longer and have less diseases than a thin person who does not eat the same kind of healthy meals or move regularly. And,

2.) most people are overweight by their standards, which might not be accurate or even scientific. All my male clients were 20, 30, sometimes even 40 pounds overweight, but none of those pounds were fat. All of my guy clients were fine with that. With my female clients it was more difficult to talk about the scale, because many women valued their sense of self with the number on that scale. And that broke my heart.

However, many of my women would open up to the idea that muscle did weigh more than fat. We would do a science experiment, where I would cube an inch of butter and an inch of steak, and the steak would sometimes weigh three times more than the butter, especially lean steak—in other words, pure muscle. The only way to get that muscle was to move.

I’m a realist, as well as a very sedentary person now. I do not, nor have I ever, thought you had to work yourself until you’re purple in the face to gain muscle. And don’t get me wrong, I do love a challenging exercise class, where I end up dripping sweat. But that’s me. Everyone has different emotional needs, so why not have different physical needs too? Some people move all the time, yet never work up a sweat, and they have great muscles and cardio health to prove it. Some people, like me, will want to burst with energy and lift weights and or do power yoga until sweat streams off us. Both these kinds of examples are proof of movement and people being active, and they are both right for those particular people.

We’ve been studying exercise for a long time, and the one thing that has been proven over and over again to work for people is doing what they like consistently. That means, when I was a trainer, I would have to think outside the box for training my clients. One of my clients actually liked cleaning, and I helped her set up her own organization of cleaners to help people who are diagnosed with a fatal disease. She cleans all day long, happy as a Jay bird, gets fit, and does it all for a great cause.

Another client of mine was a preacher’s wife, and for the longest time I couldn’t find anything that she loved so much that she would want to do it every day. Until I found strip aerobics for her. Yep, my client, the preacher’s wife, knows how to have a good time, and her husband has no complaints either.

The point is that exercise should be some activity that is fun and something you look forward to doing almost every day. My problem, before I quit, was that I had forgotten that, and was just working out because it was my job. As a consequence, I started to listen less and less to my body as I was moving, and that’s how you get a couple killer injuries.

Listen to your bodies, move as often as you can—during commercial breaks, get up and dance for me, lend a hand to your neighbor when they’re sick, show your kids how terrible you are at the hula-hoop, but the most important rule of exercise is to have FUN! Find something you find completely exhilarating and do it as often as you can! 

Our bodies will adjust and want something else to do soon enough, so then it’s your job to find that something else that is incredibly fun for you to do. It’s a journey, like so many other things, and I guarantee you will not only discover so much about your body, but yourself too. I’ve been privileged to watch my clients change, adjust, and grow, and now it’s my turn to do the same. I hope you’ll join me! Let me know what you like to do for exercise, activity, or movement, whatever word resonates with you?

The Immortal American

As black clouds gather for America in 1775 Violet Buccleuch transforms from simple colonial farmer to become the Immortal American.

While Boston roars with protests, Violet Buccleuch fights to survive. The lone provider for her mother and sister, Violet knows that soon enough she must surrender to the only option a woman of 1775 has: marriage.

For two years she's delayed a wedding to Mathew Adams, her fiancé. He’s loved her since they were children, and Violet knows he will be a good husband. But he’s gone and committed the most dangerous mistake a man can make: He’s introduced her to his friend, Jacque Beaumont, a Frenchman and a spy, a dark, dangerous man Violet can’t stop herself from wanting.

Then Violet’s life is shattered--brutality, death, and the threat of debtor’s prison surround her. Both Jacque and Mathew come to her aid--one man rescues her farm, the other rescues her heart. As the Battle of Concord rages at her door, Violet is entangled between her loyalty to Mathew, even as she's drawn further into Jacque's shadowy, mysterious world – perhaps a world from which there's no return.

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