Category: Jina’s Book Chat

Jina Baccar's column

Home > Columns > Jina’s Book Chat

I was a Doughnut Dolly…another tale from my wayward youth for Veterans Day by Jina Bacarr

November 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Army, Soughnut Dolly, Veterans Day, womens fiction

I love this fabulous painting outside the Salvation Army Building in Tulare, CA re: the photographer © Karinoza – Dreamstime.com

.————–

I was a doughnut dolly.

Back in the day, I served with the U.S. Army Special Services in Livorno, Italy. My job was to make coffee and play pool with the troops, set up entertainment and gourmet restaurant tours.

And make cookies.

I whipped up hundreds and hundreds of cookies. Chocolate chip.

And doughnuts, too. I got help from the mess hall sergeant, a bespectacled guy from the Midwest who let me commandeer his big pots and huge ovens. Along with my Italian liaison, Maria, we’d cook up hot doughnuts and top them with powdered sugar we got from the PX, a sweet favorite with the boys.

Those were the days.

I’m proud of the time I spent with US Army Special Services — I made turkeys, fruitcakes, hot chocolate, and tons of cookies!

So on this Veterans Day I think about all the Doughnut Dollies who help bring our servicemen and women a touch of home.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize the amazing effect my time with the service affected me. I had some difficult times, like being assaulted on the street by a thug and my pants ripped, also in an elevator (story for another time), but I had some heartbreaking and soulful times, too.

Like the sisterly bond I developed with another American girl on base that lasted far beyound my time there, the wonderful Italians I worked with who took me in like I was family and taught me about music and photography and how to properly eat pizza.

I drew on these experiences when I started a series of historical novels set in Wartime Paris about the brave women who fought in the French Resistance.

An actress, a parfumier, a Philly debutante and my latest, SISTERS AT WAR.

On this Veteans Day, I want thank the brave servicemen and women who have served our country. If you were stationed in Livorno and dropped by the service club once up a time and saw a girl with long hair from California handing you a cup of coffee, it was me.

Jina

PS — For fun, I put on my old uniform with U.S. Army Service Clubs patch.

I lost the hat years ago somewhere in Italy.

Sisters At War:

US https://a.co/d/eZ25gZb

UK https://amzn.eu/d/0LEWy2z

Who are the Beaufort Sisters?

They’re beautiful

They’re smart

They’re dangerous

They’re at war with the Nazis… and each other.

0 0 Read more

Sisters At War: You ain’t seen nothing yet… the sequel is coming! by Jina Bacarr

October 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, new release, romance, World War 2, writing

@jinabacarrauthor
the surprising thing that happened to me when I was writing Sisters At War #books #booksthatmakeyoucry #womensfiction #authorlife #history #booktok #historicalbooklover @Bold Book Club ? Boldwood
♬ original sound – Jina Bacarr Historical Author♥

Sisters At War — new release Paris WW2

When I was a little girl, I loved sitting at the feet of my grandmum coloring in my ballet books while she twisted tiny pieces of wire and blue or green beads into rosaries and spun tales about Ireland. How my English great-grandmum, a grand lady, ran away from her overbearng, stuffy father to marry her Irish rogue.

I used to pretend she became a ballet dancer like the drawings I colored in Degas pastels.

She didn’t.

But I spent hours coloring and cutting out the dancers. I discovered I had an artistic bent like my grandpop but I also loved telling stories like my grandmum. So at times in my life, I used my artistic talents to get the job done; other times, I wrote stories.

Both require intense concentration as well as precious time. (I swear there’s a watch that can stop time with its golden hands, but I haven’t found it on Amazon). And sometimes you have to make a choice.

Which brings me to my current dilemma.

I had an intense year writing SISTERS AT WAR with ‘life’ getting in the way numerous times as well as reliving diffucult past experiences to capture the emotions of the story. Then the book came out and I loved making the pretty graphics, the videos, the everything you get to do that’s artsy and fun…

But here’s the rub.

Readers are waiting for the sequel called SISTERS OF THE RESISTANCE… some want to read it now.

Oh, my, I’m still writing the sequel.

Which means I need to take a deep dive and put away my coloring book and crayons. Write, write, write. I know where the story is going, new characters to add to the tension between the Beaufort Sisters in my story, a life-altering experience for Eve and a heartbreak for Justine, but there are no shortcuts on this journey. Writing about WW2 requires maddening research as well as intense, emotional dialogue.

So, mes amis, I have pull back for a while on social media while I finish writing Sisters of the Resistance.

I’ll be here once a month, but not so much on other venues.

Alas, I’m going to close now. I’ve got research to do and a chapter to write tonight. I hope you enjoy my short video about what’s going on with Sisters At War.

See you soon.

Jina

Sisters At War:

US https://a.co/d/eZ25gZb

UK https://amzn.eu/d/0LEWy2z

Who are the Beaufort Sisters?

They’re beautiful

They’re smart

They’re dangerous

They’re at war with the Nazis… and each other.

0 0 Read more

When a writer’s best-kept secrets inspire a novel… and that writer is me by Jina Bacarr

September 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Paris, sexual assault, sexual violence, World War II, writing

Writers have secrets.

Even when we don’t want them to, those secrets sneak into our stories. Subtle at first, a moment in your heroine’s life that mirrors something awful you lived through. You shiver. How’d that get in there? Oh-oh, it’s flashback time. I’m not going there again… am I?

You dismiss it at first, then you fixate on those moments. They fester, begging for attention. Like the scar covering an old wound, it’s always there to remind you.

That’s what happened to me when I was working on Sisters at War.

My two worlds collided head-on—my writing world with my past.

When I look back on my life, it’s been a wild ride. I traveled a lot, lived in different places, had crazy jobs, but I kept going and never spoke about what happened to me because you just didn’t.

I was sexually assaulted.

And I was ashamed.

When I saw the same thing happening to women in the Ukraine (rape by Russian soldiers), it hit me in the gut. I asked myself, why don’t things ever change? Why must women always be victims? Would they, if women spoke up? Told their stories? Should I tell my stories?

No, I said. People will judge me. Let it be. It’s over. Done.

Me back in the day…

Then when I was researching WW2, I came across the horrible sexual violence the Nazis did to women prisoners (I decided to concentrate on the emotional wounds instead). Then I discovered something that infuriated me. At the Nuremberg Trials, they kept out rape victims’ testimony because, and I quote, they didn’t ‘want a bunch of crying women in the courtroom’.

I was livid.

That’s when it became clear to me I had to write Sisters at War no holds barred. And I did. It’s raw in places, gut-wrenching, emotional, but in the end it’s a story about love, courage, and redemption.

I told the story of women assaulted during WW2 through the eyes of two sisters. Meet the Beaufort Sisters in Occupied Paris. Eve and Justine. They were once painted by a famous artist when they were fourteen and sixteen. The painting became known as ‘The Daisy Sisters’; then in August 1940, the SS stormed their home and stole the painting.

And one of the sisters.

The story continues with how each sister copes with the aftermath of sexual violence, how it affects her part in the war, and the men in their lives who stand by them.

The early reviews have been amazing:

‘A must read for anyone’

‘Hard hitting and heart breaking’

‘An absolutely gripping, powerful story’

Then a question popped up from more than one reviewer: Will there be a sequel? Yes!

I’m writing book 2 now about the Beaufort Sisters and continuing their story through the war and afterward. I admit, I’m petrified writing the sequel, praying I can make it as exciting and inspiring as ‘Sisters at War’.

Well, there you have it. My secrets are out in the open. I recounted what happened to me in the Acknowledgements of Sisters of War so readers will know the words of my heroine, her emotions, guilt, shame, and choices come from a real place. Along with the healing that still goes on. My editor said my acknowledgements were the bravest she’d ever read. Brave? I don’t know. Emotional, truthful. A cleansing. It was time.

I hope readers give my story a chance. I hope you give my story a chance.

Thank you for listening.

Jina

——————

Who are the Beaufort Sisters?

They’re beautiful

They’re smart

They’re dangerous

They’re at war with the Nazis… and each other.

Pre-order

US https://a.co/d/eZ25gZb

UK https://amzn.eu/d/0LEWy2z

NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/gSCTrL

———————–

2 1 Read more

Revealed: what novels inspired me to write French historicals that led to me writing ‘Sisters at War’

August 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, histoicals, writing

When I was making this video, I found an old photo of me ‘studying’ back in the day at university. I was sitting outside what we called the ‘student center’ near the science building on campus. A friend captured the moment and I kept the photo in my college yearbook. [college photo in video]

Yes, we wore dresses and I remember those black suede shoes. Low heels. I started out wearing 3-inch heels — red, of course — but that didn’t last. The campus was vast and hilly and I had to trek across the campus from the humanities building to the library and then to the science building.

A different time.

I lived in Laguna Beach steps from the ocean, got my first surfboard, and had a wonderful mentor from the golden days of Hollywood. A charming, older lady who helped me with my singing.

I’ve come a long way… but I’ll always remember those days sitting on the beach and reading my ‘Angelique‘ books.

And studying French and German.

I made it through college, then went to live in Europe, and embarked on the adventures that eventually made it into my novels. Especially ‘SISTERS AT WAR‘. The story of the Beaufort Sisters in Paris 1940 when the unthinkable happens to one of them… a violent sexual assault… and how it affects them both.

More later… and how I added my own life experiences to the story.

Jina

#BoldwoodBirthday Boldwood Books

Bold Book Club

0 0 Read more

The fine art of writing a travel postcard: where did it go? by Jina Bacarr #BoldDestinations

July 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Berlin, BoldDestinations, Paris, postcard, Travel

@jinabacarrauthor
Imagine receiving a handwritten postcard from Paris in 1940. Intrigue, romance and spies Paris is my #BoldDestinations for this summer’s celebration of places where we set our books like The Orphans of Berlin about the Kindertransport from Berlin to Paris @bookandtonic #booktok
♬ original sound – Jina Bacarr Historical Author♥ – Jina Bacarr Historical Author♥

Summer travel means waiting in airports or to catch a ferry across the channel… or waiting in a busy train station. Plenty of time to write a quick postcard and send it home.

No, wait. Send a selfie back home on your phone with a quick text. Fast, fun, but will it end up in a box of memories?

Or deleted?

The memory lost…

Yes, times have changed. We still waiti n airports or train stations, but the fine art of writing a travel postcard someone will cherish are gone. That personal touch of scrawled handwriting… a quick moment in time captured forever, a tangible memory of a card sent from Paris with the distnictive handwriting we know so well…

Remember when you got a travel postcard from a faraway place? It was like magic

Imagine receiving a handwritten postcard from Paris in 1940. Intrigue, romance, and spies…

Paris is my #BoldDestinations for this summer’s celebration of places where we set our books like The Orphans of Berlin and the Kindertransport from Berlin to Paris.