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Behind The Words A journal by Barbara Wood 2012-05-17T11:49:15-05:00 3abe49dd27bb69fbe7edbcf4a781def3 fatsyndication Doomsday Has Been Cancelled http://plone.org/ a77beae289b5338518ac86eaf822e54b <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/BarbaraWoodAuthor"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_120517_doomsday.jpg" alt="(image of destroyed world)" /></a></div> <p>I never believed that the world was going to end on Dec. 12 of this year because the Mayan calendar is a calendar of cycles, not doomsdays. I learned this during my research for <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/my-titles/book-23" style="font-style: italic;">Woman Of A Thousand Secrets</a>, in which I explore the Mayan culture before the arrival of the Europeans. But now an earlier, more accurate Mayan calendar has been found in Xultun, Guatemala, proving my personal theory -- that when the 13th "baktun" (cycle) ends, a new series of cycles begins -- NOT the end of the world. Which is a good thing because I have Christmas plans.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Barbara Wood 2012-05-17T11:48:07-05:00 2012-05-17T11:49:15-05:00 I'm on Facebook http://plone.org/ 0258cb9e866d4f411f1b90e9a4abbef1 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/BarbaraWoodAuthor"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/facebook_logo.jpg" alt="(image of facebook logo)" /></a></div> <p>I am now on Facebook. Yes, it's finally happened! I post regularly, so please visit me there to find out all about my work (and of course a little bit about me too). <img src="/editor/images/smiley/msn/regular_smile.gif" alt="" />  I will still maintain my blog here, for all of you who like to visit my blog page.</p> <p> </p> <p>http://www.facebook.com/BarbaraWoodAuthor</p> Barbara Wood 2012-05-16T15:49:14-05:00 2012-05-16T15:49:14-05:00 THE DIVINING - my latest book http://plone.org/ 566962d859f862ce8a0c475f38090bd0 <div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2011/11/24/archive/2009/12/images/the_divining_cover_resize.jpg" alt="(image of The Divning" /></div> <p> </p> <p>THE DIVINING is here! This book is inspired by one of my previous books SOUL FLAME.</p> <p>I hope you enjoy it!  You can read an excerpt <a href="http://barbarawoodbook.com/The_Divining__By_NYT_Bestselling_Author_Barabara_Wood/Excerpt.html">here</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Barbara Wood 2012-03-13T17:45:45-05:00 2012-03-13T17:46:43-05:00 Happy New Year! http://plone.org/ 1d3a388006e43c6418522fd6bb60c2ff <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2011/11/24/archive/2009/12/images/blog_120101_happy_new_year.jpg" alt="(image of butterflies and happy new year" /></div> <p><font size="4">HAPPY NEW YEAR!!</font></p> <p>Wishing you all a wonderful 2012.</p> <p>Love, Barbara :)</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Barbara Wood 2012-01-02T18:09:05-06:00 2012-01-02T18:09:05-06:00 Happy Thanksgiving!!! http://plone.org/ 73af2961e624b3eb0b7c4735c429944c <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2011/11/24/archive/2009/12/images/blog_111124_thanksgiving.jpg" alt="(image of child reading book" /></div> <p>However you may be spending the holidays this year, I wish you a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving.</p> <p>Love, Barbara :)</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Barbara Wood 2011-11-24T19:00:02-06:00 2011-11-24T19:00:52-06:00 Is It Okay To Burn Books? http://plone.org/ f77377c6db2c314fb88e40eeeb6e87e4 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110831_child_reading_book.jpg" alt="(image of child reading book" /></div> <p>I have always answered that question with an emphatic NO.</p> <p>However, I recently came across a book that so appalled me that I threw it in the trash (the equivalent, I suppose, of burning it).  If this shocks you, let me explain.</p> Barbara Wood 2011-08-31T14:40:52-05:00 2011-08-31T14:43:00-05:00 A Beautiful Quote http://plone.org/ b5f042274e5db391949051904b432015 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of sunlight bursting through oak tree)" src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110807_oak_tree.jpg" /></div> <p>We find inspirational words in all kinds of places, and sometimes a source can be most unexpected. I occasionally watch a television show called “CSI,” about police lab technicians in Las Vegas. Recently, in an episode I was watching on DVD, supervisor Gil Grissom entered the lab and asked technician Nick Stokes how he was coming along on the tree analysis. Nick said, “Nothing yet, but hope still bears fruit, so I am going to examine the tree rings next.”</p> Barbara Wood 2011-08-07T11:43:20-05:00 2011-08-07T11:43:20-05:00 Frequently Asked Questions http://plone.org/ f78e151b59821f38e1f6815b0ff10a31 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110726_women_reading.jpg" alt="(image of two women drinking tea and reading)" /></div> <p>I receive a lot of delightful mail from readers, much of which usually contains at least one question about a specific book.  While I do write back with the answers, I thought I would post a list of the most frequently asked questions, in case any of you have been too shy to write.<br /> <br /> Q: I have just finished reading <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/my-titles/book-08" style="font-weight: bold;">DOMINA</a>.  Did Samantha Hargrave really live? </p> Barbara Wood 2011-07-26T11:27:16-05:00 2011-07-26T11:27:16-05:00 The Long-Lost Diary http://plone.org/ ae53bb64079bf116d537d89e32c26cf3 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of young girl walking on clouds)" src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110630_walking_on_clouds.jpg" /></div> <p>  I was cleaning a closet last night and pulled out a dusty old box filled with memorabilia from my past – things I had not looked at in years.  I found a diary that I had written when I was fifteen.  It was summer, I lived in the San Fernando Valley and was attending Reseda High.<br />      The entries in the diary fascinated me.  So much drama!  So much angst and worrying about things that seem miniscule today but that, in that summer, were gigantic to me.  The pimples, the gossip, the ever-changing dynamics of the girlfriend sphere.  And did I really spend THAT much time by the phone waiting for Johnny to call? </p> Barbara Wood 2011-06-30T18:07:28-05:00 2011-06-30T18:08:00-05:00 A Shared Dream http://plone.org/ 8e86350724d533fa27f6ea0cbbcda701 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="" /> <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of joshau tree at sunset)" src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110523_shared_dream.jpg" /></div> <p>I had just finished my newest book, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Divining</span> (a story inspired by <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/my-titles/book-10"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Soul Flame</span>)</a> and I needed a few days of rest, so my husband and I went for a drive in the Mojave Desert.  It was one of those jaunts through pristine wilderness that makes one forget the stresses of daily life and steers one’s thoughts to higher levels and deeper peace.  We were the only car on the road beneath a golden sun.  We drove past Joshua trees, cacti, flowers, rolling sand dunes, and flat expanses that swept away to lavender mountains and impossible horizons.</p> </div> Barbara Wood 2011-05-24T11:42:02-05:00 2011-05-24T11:56:18-05:00 Adultery or Golf? http://plone.org/ 810aa4d33a259e643ac7c8e54eed64c1 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of man and women golfers kissing)" src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110504_golfers_kissing.jpg" /></div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I was chatting with my friend Vicki the other day and she told me she had run into a mutual friend named Bill at the country club. Since they both had time on their hands, they decided to “play around.”</p> <p>I was speechless for a moment as I was not certain what she had just said. Had Vicki uttered two words, or three? Two words, to “play around,” meant cheating on a spouse. Three words, to “play a round,” meant playing a game of golf. I didn’t know how to respond. She kept talking about “playing around” with Bill, and I didn’t know if she had been, well, getting naughty with Bill, or if she had been hitting balls on the fairway with him.</p> Barbara Wood 2011-05-04T13:57:05-05:00 2011-05-04T14:04:13-05:00 The Ingenious Ways People Sit http://plone.org/ a8357b29f0bcde80ea7c0124fe9ca88e <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110329_carrying_chair.jpg" alt="(image of woman being carried by footman in a carriage)" /></div> <p>Okay, this blog is actually more about my day at a PGA golf tournament than the ways people sit, but those ingenious contraptions were in fact a large part of my wide-eyed enjoyment of the event.</p> <p>I had watched golf tournaments on TV, but nothing prepared me for the tremendous rush of attending one in person! The celebrity players, the TV cameras, photographers, the thousands of enthusiastic fans, all filling the air with tremendous energy and cheer. The beer and wine flows freely, and the pizza is the tastiest! And no matter how dense the crowd, one can always finagle a good spot from which to watch a smoking drive, or a fairway shot that winds up in the stratosphere.</p> Barbara Wood 2011-03-30T16:26:21-05:00 2011-03-30T16:26:21-05:00 Who Was Saint Patrick Really? http://plone.org/ 072cd6b30d10fc8d74d4c955d19e4a03 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110315_green_beer.jpg" alt="(image of mug of green beer)" /></div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Having been born in England (yes, I came as an immigrant to these golden shores) I found the holiday that honors Ireland’s patron saint something of a surprise, considering that these colonies were no longer part of the British Commonwealth. Curious about the roots of this unique holiday (in which Americans don shamrocks and drink green beer) I did some research and was surprised to learn that the holiday is a very old one as it began in 1737 when The Irish Society of Boston organized the first Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the American colonies.<sup> </sup> In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, General George Washington had soldiers of Irish descent under his command and he allowed them to observe the holiday on March 17. From that day to this, Saint Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in America by Irish and non-Irish alike.</p> Barbara Wood 2011-03-15T14:14:35-05:00 2011-03-15T14:56:32-05:00 My Important Socks . . . http://plone.org/ fd38ae0d7ff2aba372199faf14ecef06 <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_110222_socks.jpg" alt="(image of messy sock drawer and tidy drawer)" /></div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">We all do it. Procrastinate. Put things off until tomorrow. You have to do your 2010 tax return. It’s time for that annual medical check-up. The car is making a scary noise. You’re way overdue answering important emails. So what do you do? If you are like me, you sort your sock drawer. Or re-arrange your spice shelf in alphabetical order, or play one more level of that computer game you have been working on for months. Procrastination, I am told, is a shoulder devil that whispers in the ears of a whopping 95 percent of the population.</p> Barbara Wood 2011-02-22T17:37:51-06:00 2011-02-22T17:37:51-06:00 Happy Valentine's Day http://plone.org/ 112d767e2a57dfc7e4e8d0b5d163280e <div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/blog/archive/2009/12/images/blog_100216_hands.jpg" alt="(image of golf ball)" /></div> <p>I write about love in its many forms and what I always enjoy creating is the scene where my two main characters first meet. What are the circumstances? Is it by chance or carefully orchestrated? What is the setting, the climate? Is it crowded, noisy, quiet, romantic, terrifying? Will they love eachother or hate each other? Too many options! With this in mind, here's a poem that inspires me. </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Barbara Wood 2011-02-14T14:14:08-06:00 2011-02-14T14:14:55-06:00