I don’t remember when I met author Jean Brashear…probably a longer time ago than either one of us is willing to admit! But I’m a huge admirer of her work and I consider her a wonderful friend. I’m intrigued by her newest book, not only because of the subject matter, but because of the method she used to write it. I’m very excited to have her here to share more about her book with our jungle community. So please give Jean a warm jungle welcome!
Wandering Off the Beaten Path…
I have been very fortunate to stay continuously under contract since my first book, and I promise I’m mindful of the blessing. I never miss a deadline, I’m a good girl, I play well with others…but sometimes, you just gotta stray, right?;) I’ve always had a side project going—much of that was how I learned to write, since I came to the profession later than most (yep, I’m in the slow class on what to be when I grow up) and with no training for it. Except, of course, a voracious appetite for reading.
The most fun (if crazy-making) of these side projects started out a few years ago when I rushed one deadline and pushed back another to carve myself three weeks in which to just play. To try to remember what it was like when I wasn’t worrying about all the details involved in the business of publishing but instead to simply write for the fun of it.
I ditched my computer for my Alphie and sat on my deck in the cool morning shade…and from somewhere—heaven knows where—came this woman who had lost her boyfriend, her job and her place to live all on the same day and had thrown everything she had in her car to set off to find her sister.
The only problem is…well, her sister’s dead. 
But Eudora “Pea” O’Brien had consulted a psychic and was on the trail of the new body her sister was in now. Sister, see, had raised her and was all the family Pea had. Plus Pea had unfinished business with her.
Not that I knew any of this when I began THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA. I’m definitely a seat-of-the-pants writer, but I do sell on proposal and have to at least know where I *think* I’m headed. Yes, later, I had to get analytical on this book, but for those three weeks, I just let myself wander without worrying about narrative structure or anything, just…play. I pretty much wrote the whole book just going with my gut and my sense of adventure, though later I had to get serious. (I also had to battle a lot of doubts, both my own and those of others, but that’s another story…)
So as it turns out, Pea is watching for Fate to drop hints, reading roadside historical markers as she goes. Along the way, she picks up an odd assortment of companions (because Pea is a sucker for a lost cause) like a starving kitten, a pregnant Goth teenager, and a sexy con man trying to go straight after a disastrous meeting with the husband of his latest vic—er, lady friend.
They encounter a gun shop owner named Glory (her shop is Guns ‘N’Glory ) who is obsessed with warrior goddesses and a big fan of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Glory, I might add, is prone to wearing combat boots and pearls, and oh by the way, she’s also a master swordswoman. And cranky as all get-out. Not that this stops Pea from pestering Glory to teach her swordplay, too.
Pea also meets the ultimate grandmother, a café owner named Lorena who is not only Glory’s polar opposite but who teaches Pea the art of perfect fried okra, something everyone in the South would agree is food of the gods. As Pea says, country food and swordplay…how much better does it get?
But some of this book didn’t come from sitting on my deck, it came from wandering off the beaten path, physically. Does anyone else find that driving is great for plotting? I’m not sure why that is—I’ve heard theories that the same part of the brain we use for plotting is also used for navigating ourselves around, and I can see that, but also, it just helps me to get out and slip into neutral mentally and just see what pops up. Plus there’s also the fact that if you’re a devotee of wandering back roads as I am, you see oddball sights that can trigger any number of interesting ideas (okay, maybe only interesting to me, but…;))
So…Conan the Barbarian? Not exactly my cup of tea. But my husband and I were driving on back roads one day, and I happened to spot a little sign about the Conan the Barbarian Festival held in Cross Plains, Texas. Who knew?!?
Turns out that Robert E. Howard was a Texas native (I can only imagine the horrified citizenry of Cross Plains because I promise you he was one weird dude. But prolific like crazy.) The festival that year was over, but who could resist following the trail of something like that, I ask you? There’s a mural on the side of the library of good ol’ Conan. I hadn’t started this book then, but things like that never leave you, right?
I’d almost forgotten the festival the next year but Fate helped me out with a tiny note in our electric co-op magazine, I think it was. So I immediately dial my beloved who is in the car with a client: “Darlin’, wouldn’t you like to go to the Conan the Barbarian Festival tomorrow?” “You took the words out of my mouth,” says the man who loves me enough to go to all sorts of bizarre places in search of a story. (Someday I’ll tell you about dragging him along to see a WWE match.;))
So away we went. We watched the parade (you have no idea how disappointed I was to see no Conans in furry leggings brandishing swords amidst the sheriff’s posse and floats) and we toured the tiny two-room library to check out the exhibit of one of REH’s manuscripts.
I came back home and ordered a couple of his books. One of them, The Sword Woman, has this amazing creature on the front, a redhead named Dark Agnes wearing a nose-cone breastplate and swinging a mongo sword, trying to take off this burly brute’s head. Well, Pea is a six-foot-tall redhead, so tell me my brain didn’t start clicking! Voila, enter swordplay (and eventually Glory’s love of warrior goddesses) into the picture, plus Dark Agnes becomes one of Pea’s spirit guides (Pea has a habit of hearing voices.)
I feel like I became the truest me as a writer in the process of working on this book. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs with it, trying to hold onto my faith, having to sneak in sessions on it here and there as I met my contracted deadlines, and I won’t say I haven’t had my low points. But it’s the best work I’ve ever done, and I’m deeply grateful for the astonishing quotes I’ve been given on it, from writers I admire enormously–Susan Wiggs, Debbie Macomber, Stella Cameron, Cathy Maxwell, Sharon Sala and Julia London. Eloisa James is going to feature it on her B&N Romantic Reads column! You can probably imagine how I’m absolutely blown away by all this.
The other very cool part of this whole thing has been working with the amazing Debs of BelleBooks. I made a somewhat controversial choice to go to them instead of the majors because I just had this gut sense that this was where the book belonged, that they would ‘get’ this book better than anyone else…but they’re very choosy about what they accept.
I have to say that it’s a writer’s dream to work with them. I have worshipped Deborah Smith’s books and own every single one of them, but never did I imagine I’d ever have HER love something I wrote! Talk about died and gone to heaven! And Debra Dixon…well, she’s not only a very talented writer herself, but a true force of nature. I’ve had more fun than the law should allow, working with them.
It’s been a long journey, this ramble I took off the beaten path, but in the process, I’ve discovered a new joy in my craft, and I’ve also found a new me I had no idea was there.
Everyone who comments will be entered in a drawing for an e-galley (a pdf, so you don’t need an e-reader) of THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA. The book is out now, and you can buy it from your local bookseller or online at Bell Bridge Books, Barnes & Noble
and Amazon. It’s also available for the Kindle and will be on Fictionwise and other sites soon.
Thanks for letting me come play!
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Julie here again. First of all, the only way I eat okra is fried. The. Only. Way. Hate it otherwise. LOVE and ADORE it fried. I also ordered THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA last night while posting the blog. It is being delivered wirelessly to my Kindle. God, I love that.
Also, and I hope Jean doesn’t mind me taking a minute to let you all know that the prequel to my upcoming June Blaze (3 Seductions and a Wedding) is up now for FREE at eHarlequin. Click here to read the first three chapters. A new chapter will be posted every day. People who comment a eHarlequin will be entered to win a copy of 3 SEDUCTIONS.
By all reports, Julie Leto was a sweet child once, somewhat shy, preferring to play quietly in her room making up stories. However, being raised with three brothers in a loud, primarily Italian household did have its influences and Julie discovered her inner tough girl. That’s probably why most of her heroines kick serious butt. Writing sassy heroines has worked out, as she’s sold over forty books to four publishers featuring strong, confident women. Julie lives in Florida with her daughter, a spoiled dachshund, a haughty lynx-point Siamese and a wide range of relatives all within driving distance.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Hi Jean! Lovely to have you here. And bless you for following your heart and writing such an unusual, interesting story :) I think sometimes you have to get over the fear of the unknown and just go where the muse takes you :)
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It is hard, though, Stacy, isn’t it? I’ve just begun on another book I have a little time to work on before I have to leap into my next deadline and I keep falling back into old habits (because you can’t fool around that much with back to back deadlines) and not just playing. But when I manage, interesting things happen.
I’m scared to death, too, because Goddess is getting such an amazing response that I’m intimidated…do gifts like that drop in your lap more than once? Does magic ever repeat? Scary–and so hard to just let go of all the self-consciousness and just…write.
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Welcome, Jean! I think I know you even longer than Julie (ToBeez ring a bell?) Congrats on following the road and your heart on this story!!! Sounds fantastic!
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But knowing each other an ice age doesn’t mean WE’RE old, right!!?!?
Thanks for the welcome, Stacy and Carly and Julie! (And of course I don’t mind that you put up your link, Julie–can’t wait to go read it myself as quick as I send this comment!) You’ll understand, though, why I nearly spewed my tea all over the screen at the thought of you being shy–ever!
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Hi Jean – welcome!!! I loved hearing the process you used in writing this story. And it was perfect timing for me!
I’ve been working on a suspense for over a year and a half now and I’m no longer enjoying the ride with that story. I have to finish it, it’s one that I’ve been writing with my uncle and, for that reason alone, I love the story. But I’m not having fun with it anymore.
Yesterday I decided to pull out something I’d written just for fun back in the fall and see if it had any potential. It isn’t half bad and I immediately fell in love with the hero all over again. I also felt enthusiastic about writing and that was a wonderful relief. After reading your story, I think I’m going to go with this “fun” story for a few weeks and let myself play for a while. Then I’ll get back to the procedural.
Have a great day and thanks for being here with us!!
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Alannah, thank you–so happy to be here!
It’s just so easy to lose the joy that made us all want to be writers in the first place…good for you for listening to your heart. We just get so inundated with all the dos and donts, the what will sell and what won’t, what readers want, what editors want, what agents want…it’s so very easy to give away our power to all of that, and it impacts the work.
I’m sure not saying only write when the muse is with you or you feel like it…none of us could be working writers if we did things that way. But at the same time, remembering to listen to the gut, the heart, the truth of yourself as a writer is critical to avoid burnout.
Though I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that the best idea is always the one we haven’t tried to turn into a book yet.
They all seem so brilliant when we’re not in the middle of them, don’t they? But it’s that nasty, sticky middle that makes the book, in many ways.
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Hi Jean and welcome to the Jungle! I loved reading about the origins of this story and how you followed your heart on this one and just let it happen. Love the cover with the sword stuck on the side of the road. Thank you for sharing the process with all of us. Congratulations and I can’t wait to read it.
Cher
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Hey, Cher! Thank you!
Is that cover awesome or what? I swear I got heart palpitations when I first saw it. Risky, yes–you sure look at it and go “Huh?” (but hopefully HAVE to flip the book over and read what on earth it’s about!) And the lettering for the title…be still my heart.
Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for the welcome!
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Hi Jean.
Thanks so much for sharing.
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Debbie, thank YOU for stopping by! Is it a pretty spring day where you are, I hope?
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Your characters sound really interesting… thanks for introducing us to them… definitely want to know more about them!
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Colleen, I appreciate that so much! (Especially since you could easily have said “That is the weirdest sounding book I ever heard of–what were you thinking?!?!?”
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Hi Jean, Welcome to the Jungle. I love going off the beaten path! I’ve lived here in northern California Wine Country for over 40 years but still find roads I haven’t been down! Your book sounds fantasical, I’ll have to check it out. The title alone would make me pick up the book to see what it is about. Not being a southerner I can’t stand okra–
Julie I am reading a book that made me think of you because it is set in Florida and there is one scene in a Cuban restaurant that made me hungry!
The food sounded so good even though it was before I ate breakfast!! 
I’ll go check out the read at eHarlequin. Thanks for reminding us.
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Donna, say it ain’t so!!! Not even FRIED okra?!?!? You’re giving me the vapors, I do declare…
Glad you mentioned Julie’s read–loved it, Julie! Tell us…will the book be about Coop and Bianca, too…that poor boy’s got his work cut out for him!
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OMG! Fried okra! Now I’ll have to make a trip to the store to get some and some cornmeal.
Welcome to the Jungle, Jean. I love the premise of this story and have the feeling a “liquids alert” should be in force and effect while reading it so as to not damage paper or electronic devices when snorffling them through the nose. Getting off the beaten path can be so much fun. We call it FTA in my family: Fun, Travel, and Adventure! (Which usually occurs when my husband decides to turn right when the directions definitely stated left….just sayin’!)
Dang it. I need to get the book budget figured out. This is one more to add to the Kindle list. *sigh*
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FTA, Silver–I love it! (Love your name, too–a really great one!)
My husband has a whole collection of photos of oddball roadside sights we’ve stumbled upon…one of our favorites is a ranch gate sign that says “Oleo Acres…Just a Cheap Little Spread.” Ya gotta love it!
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Ok, you got me hooked at the title. (It’s the only way I can eat it too.) I can’t wait to read it and I will be sure to get it if I don’t win it.
I love books with quirky characters. The more the merrier!!!
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Ev, I’m proud to say I was a major part of picking that title, and we all fell in love with it, but you never know…then, literally about 5 min. after the sale was announced on Publishers Marketplace, the head of acquisitions for a Southern library system (state name withheld) emailed the publisher and said, “Even if I didn’t think the blurb sounded really interesting, I’d buy on title alone–how soon can we order?” We shrieked with glee! I love it because I never say the title to anyone without them smiling really big.
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Jean, welcome to the jungle. I don’t like okra, fried or boiled…Blech!!! I used to have to eat it as a kid growing up in Jamaica, and I just can’t stomach it now.
Your book sounds intriguing though. It sounds like a lot of fun. Pea must have had the time of her life on the quest to find her sister, and meeting such interesting characters.
Thanks for sharing your process with us too. What struck me the most was when you said, “I pretty much wrote the whole book just going with my gut and my sense of adventure…”
This is pretty much what I am doing now, with my first wip. It seems like this is the way most authors start out.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Well, yay for you, Paula–and best of luck! I really have a hard time with critique groups because that’s just one more set of voices crowding out your own. Not that we don’t all need editing or that input can sometimes be helpful…but at base, the ability to know when advice rings true and augments our stories, as opposed to homogenizing the life out of them, is possibly the most important skill a writer can develop.
So good luck!
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Thanks for the advice! I completely hear you on the “homogenization” of your work. I like the idea of spitting it all out, so that I am very intimate with my characters, then getting input from others.
I learned that here in the jungle! They have such wonderful craft days.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Well, the Plotmonkeys sure know their stuff–you can’t argue with success! I’m excited just to be visiting!
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Welcome to the Jungle. I enjoyed reading that today. Did you write a NASCAR book or two (your name seems familiar to me, and I’ll have to look that up).
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Hey, Katie! Yes, I’ve had 3 NASCAR books and a novella out, with two more to come. I knew absolutely nothing about NASCAR when I was asked to be part of the series, and I actually laughed at the notion and said “You’re kidding, right? Not only do I not know anything about NASCAR, it looks like a really stupid sport…I mean, what’s interesting about cars going around in a circle?”
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I have to read this book! I have to find out how Pea’s story turns out.
By the way, I love okra! Fried, in gumbo, however! This Texan loves okra!
Pat Cochran
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Pat, I’m a Texan, too! The story is set in Texas, with roadside historical markers at the head of each chapter. Thanks so much! (And amen on the okra!)
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Welcome! I’m a yankee so I didn’t know about okra until I moved here 10 yrs ago. I think fried okra tastes like fried green tomatoes and fried is the only way to go.
I love your writing and can’t wait to read this book.
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Well, thank you so much, Pat! I sure hope you’ll like it. And welcome to Texas (even if I’m a little late saying it!)
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Hi, Jean! It’s really great to meet you. Can’t wait to read your book.
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Carol, great to meet you, too! Thanks so much for being interested!
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I am a native Texan and have certainly heard of Cross Plains, Texas, but I had never heard of the Conan the Barbarian Festival. Thanks for clueing me in.
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Funny, Gladys–I mean, who knew?!?! Cross Plains is teeny-tiny, but they sure found an interesting niche!
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Btw, Katherine Anne Porter was also from that area–closer to Brownwood. Interesting mix with Robert E Howard!
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I think your books sounds wonderful. I’m not into okra in any way shape or form, but I do like your title and the cover is great. I’ve read your Nascar stories and really enjoyed them. I’m not much into it either, but my oldest daughter graduated with Jamie McMurray so we do watch to see how he is doing. I’ll look forward to reading your book. I’m so glad you followed your heart to write this story.
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Jamie Mac!!! Cool–he seems like such a nice guy, and it was so unfair that he was odd man out at Roush (though he’s doing really well at Earnhardt Ganassi, so maybe it was for the best.)
Thanks so much for your kind remarks about my NASCAR books–I’ve had fun with them. My Supers have always been so intense, and it’s a nice change of pace to do something lighter.
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That’s quite a journey you took there. While I’m not a big Conan fan, your book sounds like a really great read. Of course, anything with Okra in the title would have to be. I love fried okra.
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Yep, me, too, either on the Conan thing. Sword Woman is big-time pulp fiction, which is what Howard wrote, but it was fun to bring it into Pea’s story. Howard wrote all over the map–swashbucklers, detective stories, Westerns…you name it. He killed himself when he was 30, as I recall, but he was so prolific he’d written more than many writers do in a whole long career.
If any of you read it, I’d love to hear what you think afterward (but you, of course, don’t have to.) You can reach me at jean@jeanbrashear.com
A fun day, gang! I sure do appreciate the welcome!
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Um…guess I should clarify: if any of you read THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA, not Sword Woman!
Doh!
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Reading about your books and your process made me realize we should always be on the lookout for ideas…
Do you carry a notebook with you or are you all techy and use a laptop that you take with you etc. ? I’m going to be traveling this summer with my husband, kids and yes, mother-in-law and father-in-law to Florida. I’m thinking I need to take notes because who knows what will come of it!
Oh, I’ve lived in Michigan all my life and don’t remember eating okra– I do remember you can dry them and make crafts though. BAHAHAHAHA
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I hear you, Brenda–if I don’t write ideas down, I can’t be sure I’ll remember them. But no, I don’t get all high-techy…except that my husband put his foot down over my jotting notes while driving and got me a recorder to keep with me! My iPhone has one now, but it’s too cumbersome…I’m thinking about getting a digital recorder next.
Have a great trip! Driving time is great dreaming time for me, so hope you come back with a bundle of good ideas!
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That looks like such a fun book…thanks for shaing the story of how it “wandered” into your life.
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Monique, thank you! I sure do appreciate the chance to come and visit with such great group!