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Sherry Jones's Blog

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Apr.16.2013
Country-music star Brad Paisley has created quite a stir — and a satire –with his new single, “Accidental Racist,” in which he confesses that, being an entitled white male, he just. Doesn’t. Get. It. Country music star Brad Paisley and rapper LL Cool J It seems that a Starbucks...
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Nov.04.2012
It’s National Novel Writing Month — NaNoWriMo — and I’m supposed to be writing my novel right now, even as falling leaves continue to blanket my front yard and sidewalk and my garden waits for me to mix compost into the beds and cover them with the aforementioned leaves. I’ve got 2,000 words to...
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Sep.28.2012
  After working at home for seven years -- and loving every minute of it -- I have decided to look for a studio elsewhere. The reasons for this are complicated, and have much to do with my new domestic partnership (hate this term!). He works as a university professor, and when he comes home...
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Sep.28.2012
After working at home for seven years -- and loving every minute of it -- I have decided to look for a studio elsewhere. The reasons for this are complicated, and have much to do with my new domestic partnership (hate this term!). He works as a university professor, and when he comes home from...
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Jun.22.2012
I have a novel to write — a complex, challenging tale, my most ambitious project yet. Under contract with Simon & Schuster, I have a deadline to meet. So what the heck am I doing on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads? Publicizing FOUR SISTERS, ALL QUEENS, is what. Six weeks after my novel’s debut...
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Feb.21.2012
           Have I created a monster? Last night, Blanche de Castille – the White Queen of France and the evil mother-in-law in my forthcoming novel “Four Sisters, All Queens” – tried to kill me.             I...
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Feb.18.2012
Here's a question for all those folks who say to me, "I want to write, but I can't find the time." What do you expect from me? Sympathy? Hand-holding? A motivational speech? Remember Danny DeVito as Owen in Throw Momma From the Train? "A writer writes," was his mantra. That's what I tell people....
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Dec.21.2011
Dear Reader, For the new year, I'm offering five advance reading copies of "Four Sisters, All Queens," my forthcoming historical novel about four sisters in 13th-century Provence who all became queens. To enter, simply go to my website and sign up for my email newsletter. (I only write one a...
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Dec.19.2011
  Blog, blog, blog! Lots of writers are blogging their fingers to the bone, and for what? In hopes of stimulating sales of their books, that’s what. But — is there a better way to hook readers into your work? Read my post on HuffPo Books and find out! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/red-room/...
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Oct.19.2011
  It’s National Love Your Body Day, the day in which girls and women are invited to reject the media hype about how we are supposed to look -- and embrace ourselves with all our lumps, bumps, scars, and flaws.   I love my body, and its every aspect, from head to callused toes.   My...
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Oct.11.2011
Am I ever glad that self-publishing wasn't easy back in 2005, when I was writing my first novel, "The Jewel of Medina." Why? Because of that elephant in the room: the aspect of self-publishing that no one talks about. You can read about it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/red-room/sherry-...
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Jul.18.2011
The first literary agent who read the manuscript of my first novel snapped it up. Don’t hate me, though: She turned it down the first time she read it, plunging me into despair.   Why did Natasha Kern reject my first submission? As so many first-time authors have done, I sent her my first draft....
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Jun.17.2011
I’m going to miss Slut Walk Spokane today. And I feel bad about that. Because, after a lifetime of shame and denial, I would so love to march down our streets in my skimpies and proclaim myself a sexual female with pride and unabashed joy.  I love sex. I enjoy it most in the context of a committed...
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May.22.2011
Like internet dating, self-publishing is something I always swore I would never do. Like internet dating, it seemed an act of desperation, the last resort for writers who couldn’t get published in any other, legitimate, way. Then news that an Oakland, California religious group had predicted the...
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Apr.12.2011
Egyptian woman in traditional hijab
Why do women wear the veil? The answer is simple. Hegemony. Patriarchal Muslim culture tells women that they should hide themselves from the eyes of men, and women buy into the notion. It's as misguided as the wearing of high-heeled shoes, or, in China, foot-binding (banned in 1912), both of which...
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