Welcome Josephine Templeton

When the opportunity arose for me to participate in Beth Carter’s Guest Blogging venture, I leapt before I looked. I am not an everyday Blogger. I am extremely cautious about what I put online, and so after she confirmed my participation, the thought occurred to me – what am I supposed to write about??

After about a day of pondering, the solution hit my while listening to an online interview of one of my teenage heroes, Simon LeBon. I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane as I contemplate a lifetime of My Favorite Things. Perhaps it shall give us all insight as to what makes Josephine Templeton tick!

The road to creativity began with Elvis Presley. I remember as a young child watching his movies. Or perhaps I should say, dancing around and jumping on the couch while watching his movies. In particular, I love Jailhouse Rock – not only because of the lively beat but because of the line ”Little Joe was blowing on the slide trombone” … for obvious reasons.

This is about the time I wrote my first story. It was about a witch, and my sister Joan never lets me forget that I had a nightmare about it that same night.
I’m a little blurry on when some of this list became part of my all time favorites.

Movies - The Sound of Music, Romeo & Juliet, and Indiana Jones.
Books - The Hobbit (and all subsequent J.R. Tolkien works), the V.C. Andrew’s series beginning with Flowers in the Attic, Little Women (I associated a lot with the main character Jo, who was also a writer, and Beth because one of my older sisters is named Beth.) and many romance novels.

TV Shows - I used to love The Dukes of Hazzard (Bo Duke in particular), and Moonlighting with Bruce Willis. Since all my siblings were out of the house by the time I became a teenager, my summer up-all-night-fests started with Star Trek and ended with The Rockford Files. I played solitaire until the TV stations signed off at midnight, then listened to the radio and read or wrote until I fell asleep.

I loved country music until high school started. Then I gradually lost touch with it for the next four years. My country favorites included Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker and Loretta Lynn. Then, Duran Duran entered my life when my brother Bill took me to their concert in the 9th grade. I was hooked and am still a Durannie. I bought everything I could afford – from albums to buttons. The walls in my room became a shrine to John Taylor and Simon LeBon. To say I was “gaga” over them is putting it mildly. I still have everything but the albums – they got left/ruined in the attic of the first house I owned. Now I am very cautious with what goes in the attic.

My second favorite band during high school was Berlin, and when they came to Baton Rouge in concert, I was lucky enough to have met them. I was on a natural high for days, and I proudly showed the pictures I took with Terri Nunn and John Crawford to everyone!

As an adult, I have many more favorites. I wrote a lot of poems and short stories in high school but stopped from the time I graduated until my ten year high school reunion. I got back on the wagon and am so glad I did. The TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer spurred me to expand upon a short story I had written, and it blossomed into my vampire romance novel, Forever Yours. After I finished that, I wrote Convicted of Love, my historical romance set in Louisiana.

These days, I am writing freelance articles for 008 Magazine in Lafayette, Louisiana and Town Favorites in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I also have two completed but as yet unpublished novels – a pirate romance and an urban fantasy with romantic elements.

In retrospect, the most favorite thing in my life thus far is my husband, Mike. While our life has been one huge rollercoaster ride, I have to say that love has seen us through many rough times. So when I get the “look” from people about writing romance, I brush it off. Money may make the world go round, but Love gives us the courage and strength to deal with every day issues.



Thanks for asking me to blog, Beth!
Josephine Templeton
www.josephinetempleton.com