Thursday, July 7, 2016

Julie Lawson Timmer's night on the town...plus a book giveaway

We're thrilled to have Julie Lawson Timmer back at CLC as part of BookSparks' 2016 Summer Reading Challenge! Today she's participating in our July theme month, which is Loaded Questions (from the board game). Her sophomore novel, Untethered, published exactly one month ago and BookSparks has one copy to give away!

Julie grew up in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, their four teenage children and two rescued dogs. By turns, she is a writer, lawyer, mom/stepmom, and dreadful cook. Five Days Left (Putnam 2014) is her debut novel. Visit Julie at her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


Synopsis:
Char Hawthorn, college professor, wife and stepmother to a spirited fifteen-year-old daughter, loves her family and the joyful rhythms of work and parenting. But when her husband dies in a car accident, the “step” in Char’s title suddenly matters a great deal. In the eyes of the law, all rights to daughter Allie belong to Lindy, Allie’s self-absorbed biological mother, who wants to girl to move to her home in California.

While Allie begins to struggle in school and tensions mount between her and Char, Allie’s connection to young Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she tutors, seems to keep her grounded. But then Morgan, who was adopted out of foster care, suddenly disappears, and Char is left to wonder about a possible future without Allie and what to do about Morgan, a child caught up in a terrible crack in the system.
(Courtesy of Julie's website.)



Fill in the blank: When I want to have a good time, I get dressed up and…
… go on a date with my wonderful husband, Dan, in downtown Ann Arbor. We love going out for dinner--our city has some terrific restaurants--and then to the Michigan Theater, a lovely restored independent theater that always has something going on, from Sundance screenings to concerts to performances by people like David Sedaris. Cap the night off with a drink or a decaf coffee at a second downtown restaurant and it’s a perfect date.

What profession have you always admired?
Oh, so many. For me, any helping profession is incredibly admirable--nursing, medicine, psychiatry, social work. Helping professions that concentrate on children really win my vote--pediatric oncology, foster care case workers, school psychologists, teachers.

Who should be this year's "Person of the Year?"
I’d make this plural, and name the victims of the Orlando shooting. I think we run some risk of moving on to other things and forgetting the hate and violence that occurred that night. Keeping these people at the forefront of our minds may be the only way for us to make the social and political changes we need to prevent something like that from happening again.

What is the funniest movie you have ever seen?
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It may not objectively be the funniest movie around, but I’ve never laughed as hard as I did when I first saw that movie as a child. I remember a group of us watching it at our summer cottage, and we were quite literally rolling on the floor with laughter. It was that watering-eyes, can’t-breathe, can’t-stop kind of laughter that’s so good for your soul.

When you look back at pictures of yourself, what age are you most embarrassed about?
You know, I have always been the least photogenic person I know, so I’ve gotten rather used to looking at pictures of myself and cringing. No one period of my life is more cringe-worthy than another, which is either a good thing or a very bad one! My kids get a kick out of my school pictures from elementary school, in which I had short, unflattering hairstyles and tended to show all my teeth to the camera rather than smile.

If you could move to one international city, where would you choose?
London. We took our children there a few years ago and my husband and I immediately had the feeling that we’d like to go back when we’re empty nesters, maybe for a year, or maybe every year for 3 months or so. I’d love to spend time in other European cities but I could see using London as a jumping off point. As a Commonwealther (I grew up in Canada) there’s something very familiar to me about London. It’s like being in the Mothership.

Thanks to Julie for visiting with us and BookSparks for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here

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Giveaway ends July 12th at midnight EST.



24 comments:

Janine said...

I don't like looking back on any old pictures. I always felt awkward and it shows in pictures.

Anonymous said...

I wss so skinny in elementary school.Got picked at lots.

Vera Wilson
snoopysnop1 at yahoo dot com

Gena S said...

High school pictures.

Unknown said...

I have never liked having my picture taken. It has only recently dawned on me that it was a mistake to feel that way. I would be most embarrassed to see pictures of me now. I don't like how I look old. I only wish I had some younger pictures to prove I didn't always look this way.

Jenn B said...

I have never liked having my picture taken....

Letty B said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Letty B said...

I don't think I was ever really embarrassed about how I looked at any age (even though I was always self-conscious), but I do remember a picture of me when I was in my 20's in the mid 80's with a REALLY BAD PERM!! Shoulder length hair and it was all over the place. I'd say having that perm made me feel a bit embarrassed!! :-)

traveler said...

I didn't like pictures taken of me when I was a teen.

cpr040304 said...

High School

Rita Wray said...

Elementary school.

Bonnie K. said...

My awkward teen years didn't produce many good pictures--I would say between the ages 11-13.

Burma Turner said...

When I was about 13, I was overweight and very shy. I don't like looking at any pictures from this time!

Linda Kish said...

I don't really like any pictures of myself but I think there's a pretty bad one when I was probably 9 or 10. It was just before a growth spurt when I was kid of round. I hated to shop for clothes (still do), so mom would hem her skirts for me to wear for church. It was in the 50s so you can imagine how wonderful they must have looked.

Jennifer said...

Whatever age is grade 8. I had this HORRIBLE haircut that basically had one side of my head short and the other long. I have no idea what I was thinking.

Laurice Mcclung said...

5 th grade picture was horrible.

Kelly Rodriguez said...

My awkward junior high school years.

Mary Preston said...

My 20's - I had the ugliest perm of all things.

Carol D said...

I would saw my gawky teenage years.

Tatum Rangel said...

I never liked looking at pictures of myself when I had shoulder-length hair. I was in the sixth grade, at the time. I didn't like having short hair. Also, pictures of my teen years didn't look great.

Susan @ The Book Bag said...

It would probably be about 6th ot 7th grade. Cat-eye glasses. Need I say more?

Melanie Backus said...

Jr. High was probably the worst time!

Suzy said...

Definitely middle school.

bn100 said...

not sure

Lisamarie said...

My freshmen and Sophomore year of high school... short permed hair!