Chatting with cover model Julian Christian!

 Unless you live in a cave, you've seen the hot men who grace the covers of romance novels. Well, I've known Julian Christian on Facebook for a few years now and had the pleasure of interviewing him for my blog. Enjoy :) I sure did!

 Wendy:  Writing novels chose me, what brought you to the world of modeling? 

Julian: Let's see, I am an actor first so that just kind of goes hand and hand with modeling. Plus I am a big fitness guy and seeing my hard work in print gives me a visual feedback look at how my results are going.

Wendy: Can you give us a sample of what a day is like on a photoshoot?

Julian: Well it depends on the shoot. If its a fitness shoot it usually involves a lot of prep work, shaving, tanning and dieting. Other shoots are more casual and fun, usually meeting new people and being in a cool location.

Wendy: Your body looks amazing. What type of fitness/nutrition regimen do you follow?

Julian:  Lot's of cardio, weights and a high protein diet. Plus my supplements and lot's of water.

Wendy: I read in another interview that you run two clinics for special needs children. That is totally different from your modeling career. Why did you choose to do this as well?

Julian: Well I believe you always have to give to others in life. I thoroughly enjoy helping others, especially children. It's a great way to make a living.

Wendy: How is your surfing going?

Julian: Surfing has been on a hiatus for a couple of months due to a injury while big wave surfing out in Cortes Bank. I'll resume in the spring when the waves are more gentile. Anyone want to join me?

Wendy: Your career looks like its headed in an amazing direction, but we’d like to get to know you outside of your work as well. What do you enjoy doing  during your free time?

Julian:  I love being outdoors, whether it's hiking, mountain biking or just taking my dog Rocky to Dog Beach. I love music and sometimes play drums with my band at events.

Wendy: We know each other from Facebook, but I’ve noticed that you are on some romance novel covers. None of those novels are mine (but I would love to change that!) and I’m wondering how an author can make it possible to have you be on their cover? 

Julian: Just let me know and I will give you some pictures to choose from. All I ask is that you make a donation to an animal shelter in Rocky's name. This goes for any author. I don't accept payment for Romance Novel covers any more. Just that they donate in exchange.

Wendy: What is the best way for fans to keep in contact with you?

Julian: Facebook is the best way.  

Wendy:  Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers?

Julian: That I appreciate their support tremendously. I love them dearly.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today, Julian. I hope you’ll visit again and I wish you the best of luck with your many projects! 

Here is the link for Julian’s facebook page just in case you would like to friend him: https://www.facebook.com/julian.fantechi

Have an affaire with chocolate!

Once a year a neighboring city has a Valentine's/chocolate festival called The Chocolate Affaire. Every thing is love or a romance themed. And of course, CHOCOLATE! You can find almost anything chocolate covered here. I even tried chocolate covered potato chips because a fellow author encouraged us to broaden our horizons. Ha. I will never eat them again. I do like the chocolate covered cheesecake. Here is a pic of my daughter with one! As you can tell, these cheesecakes on a stick are so big that we end up splitting one every time. By the way, she is probably going to kill me for posting this picture of her on my blog ;)

Besides stuffing our faces with chocolate, we love the live bands. We prefer the classic rock bands when they play. My daughter is pretty good on the guitar and has a huge interest in music so we spend a lot of time hanging out by the stages. Here is one of the bands I really liked. I don't know their name, but the lead singer had a voice that could melt butter.

I live in central Phoenix so how did I discover this festival that is pretty far from us? Valley of the Sun Romance Authors of course! I've signed here twice but go even if I'm not on the list each year. I get to meet lovely new authors like Morgan Kearns.  I collect autographed novels so of course I picked hers up. Here is me being all fan-girl! Just so you know: That book I am holding is titled Fade to Black and it is
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Its also like 500-ish pages. I looove love love long romance novels!

This year my daughter is a freshman in high school so she needs to do community service. She talked me in bringing her on the second day of the festival to work with the authors. I hung around, handed out fliers, met some really amazing people, and chatted with talented authors like these ladies. These pictures are of Tia Dani, Abby Irish, Stacy Connelly, and Marie Patrick.

But wouldn't you know... they brought a cover model this year. Yep, I got to meet Jimmy Thomas! I had a fabulous time touching his rock hard body while taking the picture!

So that is how I spent most of last weekend, friends! Going to this event is a lot of work but so much fun. I am already looking forward to next year.

Talk to you soon,
Wendy Ely