Month: October 2015

Why Extroverts Are Happier Than Introverts

A recent Washington Post article claimed “extroverts are on the whole happier than introverts.” I was outraged when I read that (and thrilled when I read the Thoreau quote near the end of the article. Well, DUH!).

There’s a reason extroverts are happier: our culture is made to revolve around them. The needs of introverts are ignored. If peace and quiet reigned, if everyone had their own office (instead of a cubicle), if everything wasn’t a damned group activity, introverts would be happier than extroverts. The capacity for happiness is not in the makeup of the personality; it’s in the makeup of society.

And who did this survey? Leave me alone already!

Work-In-Progress Wednesday: Julie Doherty

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Today I’m pleased to welcome author Julie Doherty.

MJ: The first full week of October is National Great Books Week. As a reader what do you consider three essential elements of a great book and why?

JD: Great books have the perfect balance of interesting characters, a fascinating plot, and superb writing. Great books also teach us something. They take us on a journey, let us slip into someone else’s skin, and allow us to lose ourselves in other realms when our real worlds are less than satisfying.

A book goes from great to sublime when it does all of this with lyrical sentences containing just enough detail for readers to envision the scene. Too much description spoils the journey for me. It’s a bit like someone sharing vacation photos. I’m interested at first, but the moment you start pointing out the details of every photo, I’m going to pray a fire alarm goes off.

MJ: If you didn’t write, what would be your creative outlet?

JD:  It definitely wouldn’t be dance. I have two left feet. I’ve been a singer, a calligrapher, and a canine artist.

MJ: Other than writing, what would be your dream job? Why?

JD: I experienced my dream job for exactly eight hours back in the nineties when the City of Harrisburg needed temporary help transcribing Civil War letters, some from a general to his wife. *fans self* I can’t describe how privileged I felt to touch those letters, let alone read their contents.

MJ: Describe your ideal/dream writing space.

JD:  A room with a locked door and no telephone within earshot.

MJ: What do you love most about your WIP hero?

JD: His determination to regain custody of his son. I also love that in spite of horrific emotional trauma, he has retained his sense of humor.

MJ: What do you least like about your WIP heroine?

JD: Her low self esteem. Who could blame her, though? I mean, her husband left her sitting in the fertility clinic while he was out impregnating a twenty-something airhead. It takes a while to recover from that.

MJ: What genre is your current WIP?

JD: Contemporary romance with elements of fantasy.

MJ: How did you come up with your hero and heroine’s names?

JD:  I chose names that fit their personalities.

MJ: How did you choose the setting for your current WIP?

JD:  Since my heroine (Ann McConnell) owns the farm where my second novel takes place (SCATTERED SEEDS, releasing today, woot!) I had to set my WIP in Pennsylvania. She unearths a gold torc there and embarks on a journey to Scotland to research its origins. Most of the story takes place on the Isle of Iona and around the Oban/Taynuilt area.

MJ: And can you share a bit of this WIP?

JD: I’m tentatively calling this one SCENT OF FOREVER.

With birds chattering in the trees above her, Ann stared at the footprint of her ancestors’ cabin. Time had reduced its log walls and roof to ruddy banks around a flagstone floor. Only the hearth and part of the chimney wall remained upright. The rest of it lay in a heap, just like the pieces of her life.

She would repair the chimney—starting today—but her dismantled world? That would take a different kind of mortar.

MJ: Love the title! I understand you have a book being released today.

JD: Yes, SCATTERED SEEDS is available through Amazon.

Scattered seeds Julie Doherty600x912

 

MJ: And how can readers stay current with you?

Social media links:

 

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Scent-Soul-Julie-Doherty-ebook/dp/B00SZ0SKUE

BOOK TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBuB3WC3FGU

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/532434.Julie_Doherty

TWITTER:  http://twitter.com/SquareSails

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/juliedohertywrites

WEBSITE: http://www.juliedoherty.com

MJ: Thanks again for joining me today, and good luck!

Supermarket Workout

For several years, I’ve come home from grocery shopping in pain. My body aches all over. A few weeks ago, I finally figured out why: Grocery shopping has become a workout. I even work up a sweat in the store.

It started when my supermarket replaced its shallow shopping carts with deeper ones. They are now so deep that short people–like me–have to stand on tip toe and stretch to empty the contents onto the conveyor.

Then the store raised the height of its shelves. Either that, or they looked at my weekly list and moved all the products I buy either to the bottom shelf or the top. More stretching.

Then they rearranged all the aisles–twice in the past five years. This means I wander around looking for things. And they changed their groupings, too. Very bizarre.

The latest thing they’ve done is tier some of the more “exotic” fruits and vegetables in the produce aisle. I can longer reach the mangoes. At all. There is a barrel of something else in front of the barrel of mangoes. I am simply not tall enough to grocery shop anymore.

Hmmm. Maybe it’s my 6’1″ hubby’s turn to do buy the groceries.