More Updates Than You Can Shake A Stick At

This is one of many update notes. I apologize in advance for blitzing you with info you may or may not want.


Kim Smith, writer and wonderful Blog Talk Radio host, interviewed me on Tuesday and to say I had a blast is putting it mildly. If you'd like to listen, click here and follow instructions on the screen.

Did I tell you about the totally terrific Bonnie Blose at Accessible World who invited me to spend an hour with her and her wonderful readers, talking about writing and love and life? I'll be back again for another visit at the end of August but you can listen to last month's free-wheeling chat right here. This was pretty much a writer's dream visit. Bonnie hosts a romance novel book club and somehow they found Sentimental Journey, a twenty year old Harlequin American Romance of mine. Sentimental Journey is one of my all-time favorite writing experiences. It was part of the wonderful Century of American Romances, a truly spectacular group of books that deserved a far wider audience than they received. Sentimental Journey was about the World War II homefront here in the United States and its follow-up book, Stranger in Paradise, continued the story during the McCarthy Era 1950s. Can you imagine my excitement when out of the blue I received an email from Bonnie and discovered that my books had found new readers after all this time? I love the internet!

I'm embarking on a gigantic blog tour on Monday so be prepared for lots of links. You're going to know everything there is to know about me (even things you'd rather not know!) by the time this is over.

Willa, my wonderfully talented web designer and jewelry maker, will be doing a cosmetic overhaul of my personal blog the next few days so there won't be any new content until Sunday or Monday which means I'll be posting a lot of book-related info here in the interim. I promise compensatory knitting content!

Laced With Magic goes on sale Tuesday August 4th and I'm entering the Crazed Author Zone. As anyone who knows me can attest, I'm not too great at letting go of a manuscript. Given my druthers, I'd still be making revisions in the back of the truck as the books leave the printer.

Did I tell you that Publishers Weekly gave Laced With Magic a coveted starred review? In case you missed it:

Laced with Magic Barbara Bretton. Berkley, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-425-22752-7

Half-sorceress Chloe Hobbs and policeman Luke MacKenzie, the only humans in the sleepy Vermont town of Sugar Maple, face worldly and unearthly challenges in this sweetly charming sequel to 2008's Casting Spells. When Luke's ex-wife, Karen, shows up in town claiming that their dead daughter is trying to ask them for help, Chloe must deal with smalltown gossip and fix her relationship with Luke while she battles her old Fae enemy, Isadora, over the child's spirit and the future of Sugar Maple. Bretton seamlessly blends a playful world of eccentric and meddling supernatural creatures living in the midst of New England with a warm, natural and romantic story and just a hint of mystery. Scenes in Chloe's yarn shop and helpful knitting tips hold extra appeal for yarn aficionados while never distracting from the plot.

And Penguin posted an interview with me on their new paranormal website. You can find it here.

Jeremy Bredeson, a wonderful knitter and writer and friend, posted a review of Laced With Magic on Facing North, a terrific and very magical website I think you'll enjoy.

Oh, and did I tell you that all of our tomatoes are dead or dying thanks to the same blight that destroyed Ireland's potato crop? We finally decide to try our hand again at growing and a blight strikes up and down the east coast. I mean, what are the odds??

More to come. Stay tuned!

PW confirms it: we're still cool

Was there ever any doubt? Of course, we're cool. However, it's nice to have Publisher's Weekly, the Bible of the book world, agree. Even though the article is titled "Sew, What's New", there's alot about knitting in it. (I have to admit that I didn't appreciate the cover's subtitle: "A quaint revival extends its appeal." "Quaint"?!?! We're not quaint, we're cutting-edge.)

Claiming that it all began with Uma Thurman's knitting obssession (excuse me, I was knitting before Uma was born), PW points out that the trend has engendered a Knitting Olympics, a bestselling romance series, and countless knitting clubs. (They forgot to mention Romancing the Yarn but I intend to write to correct their oversight. LOL)

Melanie Falick, knitting author and editor, says, "In this big, insecure world, where everything moves so fast and most of our lives are spent in a virtual reality, we can find balance by slowing down and using our hands to create."

Evidently, the popularity of today's needle crafts has taken the spotlight away from what's known as the "hard crafts" like woodworking. Who knew?

As we knitters have become more proficient, we've begun to demand more diversity in our craft books. "It's the funky stuff that keeps people interested," one editor says. Publishers are looking for more niche books and using high-end photography to tempt us to buy their products.

Yarn stores see a trend away from bulky yarns (tell that to the fashion designer who commissioned a special set of knitting needles the size of broomsticks to knit his chunky sweaters on) and toward thinner yarns used to make garments and lace.

PW talks about the communities crafters create. Aha, they're catching on that we're a friendly, chatty group of folks. They also mention the rise of "craft celebrities" (like our own The Wendy) who write books and blogs and run charity events.

Here are a few of the books mentioned in the article as catering to us sophisticated, funky, niche knitters:

Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter;
Sensual Knits (Sensual Crochet will follow.);
The Museum of Kitschy Stitches: A Gallery of Notorious Knits-"hideous knitted creations. from ugly sweaters to atrocious 1970s knit shorts";
Anti-craft: Knitting, Beading and Stitching for the Slightly Sinister, which includes a pattern for a duct tape corset (ouch!);
Knitted Icons-featuring 25 celebrity doll patterns, including Gandhi, Madonna and Elvis.

Okay, call me boring but none of those titles makes me want to run right out to the bookstore (although I'm kind of curious about what, besides the long striped scarf, one would make for Harry Potter).

How about you guys? Anything there tempt you? Or do you have a better book you'd like to recommend?