Jyl Barlow

02/19/2025

What a fabulous beginning this little book had!! Thank you to all who purchased it!

And thank you, for a fabulous first review! You are a champion in our community!

As you finish reading, head right back into Amazon and add your own review! I hate metrics but Amazon LOVES them and reviews are its FAVORITE.

02/18/2025

So… what’s next?

Sparent is available now, so what’s next?

For today, the marketing team is hard at work packaging comp copies to go out tomorrow.

And by “marketing team,” I mean me.

The book may be finished but the real work has just gotten started!

02/15/2025

I'm coming for you,

02/15/2025

How authors handle release day…

Don’t forget to grab your copy of Sparent and be part of those Day One tabulations!

02/15/2025

"As we were sitting in our third therapy appointment in three days (well, four if you count physical therapy to alleviate the neck pain from banging my head into the wall), I thought, “Oh my god... who has three therapists?!” Not us. Three would just be a start."

***

Sparent, by Jyl Barlow, is filled with the true tales of life in a blended family. Through laughter and tears, Sparent offers insight and wisdom that is easily applied to all types of families. Jyl is best known for giggling at inappropriate times, something she carries into her writing. As a humorist, Jyl’s writing has been compared to Erma Bombeck's. As a stepmother, she’s been compared to . . . well, that’s not important.

“Jyl’s wit & wisdom left me feeling seen, heard & understood. She is both honest & hilarious in guiding others through the beautiful chaos of the blended family.” - Toni G., Raising His Kids

“Jyl cares deeply about her family even when things go sideways. She is honest about the challenges of being a stepmom- incredibly relatable. Jyl infuses humor through the hard parts, making them much more manageable.” - Alicia K., The Stepmom Side

Sparent is the much-anticipated follow-up to Jyl’s award-winning memoir, What to Expect When You Weren't Expecting (Parenting Tales from the Most Unqualified Stepmom Ever).

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

02/14/2025

ONE DAY MORE!

Why is tomorrow such a big day?

Sparent becomes available in all current formats and the algorithms of the Publishing Gods will be on the hunt for those books that hit the shelves with a bang!

Check back tomorrow for all the links to buy!

02/13/2025

TWO DAYS TO GO!

Pre-order your digital copy of Sparent today via the link in my stories. Prefer a hard copy? Check back on the 15th!

"Jyl has a way of writing that draws you in and makes it seem like you're there with her. I appreciate how honest she is about the challenges of being a stepmom-incredibly relatable. It is obvious Jyl cares about her family-even when things go sideways. The way Jyl infuses humor through the hard parts makes the hard parts seem much more manageable." - Alicia K, The Stepmom Side

02/12/2025

more days until Sparent hits the shelves and I can retire from the daily marketing push because, yes, it’s the most annoying part of being a writer.

“Sparent, by Jyl Barlow, is filled with the true tales of life in a blended family. Through laughter and tears, Sparent offers insight and wisdom that is easily applied to all types of families. Jyl is best known for giggling at inappropriate times, something she carries into her writing. As a humorist, Jyl’s writing has been compared to Erma Bombeck's. As a stepmother, she’s been compared to . . . well, that’s not important.”

Pre-order your digital copy of Sparent today. Prefer a hard copy? Check back on the 15th!

02/12/2025

Okay, fine, I’ll weigh in on the halftime show.

Or all halftime shows, for that matter.

I’m sorry you didn’t like it.
I’m sorry you didn’t understand it.
I’m sorry you thought it was a waste of your time.

It’s odd to me how many people are lashing out over an event that is absolutely free and typically viewed in the comfort of their own homes and, my goodness, why didn’t you just walk over and grab some seven-layer dip?

You know you didn’t have to watch the whole halftime show, right?
You could have switched over to the puppy bowl or taken a leak or anything at all, really, the second you realized you didn’t understand what was going on.

I didn’t understand most of the show either, if I’m being honest.
I blame myself.
I liken it to going to a musical without doing at least minimal research prior.
If I show up not knowing there will be cats in Cats, should I really complain about all the…cats?

Halftime performers are announced months in advance.

I know none of us is really going to dig into the artist’s works should the artist not be part of our annual Spotify countdown but that’s the rub, right?

We’ve gotten so accustomed to instant gratification and the ability to have anything we want that we’ve forgotten that the halftime show may be *gasp!* outside our age group or preferred genre.

You’re going to get through this.
It’s okay to admit defeat as you lose your grasp on being cool.

I didn’t understand much of what Kendrick Lamar was singing but, geez, the choreography. Chef’s kiss.

I’ve been reading about the symbolic moments and I appreciate that—that Lamar put that much thought into his performance that moment after moment after moment meant something. Sure, it may not have meant anything to me, but that’s okay.

I did pop out of my chair when I saw Serena Williams bopping around.
Was she…crip-walking? I had to look that up. I didn’t know it was a specific dance.

What I did know what that, years ago, she did a similar dance after WINNING WIMBLEDON and got absolutely roasted. People immediately forgot that Williams WON WIMBLEDON as they quickly clutched their pearls and claimed she’d brought Harlem into the grass courts of London. Williams was forced to apologize for doing her own little happy dance after WINNING WIMBLEDON.

And now we’re worried about her cameo at the half-time show.
Get a grip, she earned that cameo in more ways than one.

I don’t care if you didn’t like the show.

I do care that you think all halftime shows should now be canceled because this one didn’t give you the warm fuzzies. Would you be saying the same if it were a country singer or an 80s pop star or the boy band of the year?

If you didn’t like the halftime show, why did you keep watching?
And why are you still talking about it days later?
And why are you offended by those who did like Lamar’s performance?
Isn’t that the actual waste of time?
Going on a hunt to find people who agree with your dislike of something that was over in fifteen minutes?

It’s okay if you didn’t understand Lamar’s performance but if you didn’t understand it, then how do you really know whether or not you liked it?

You’re going to be okay.

No one is asking you to buy bell bottom jeans or an “a-minor” necklace (my goodness, the symbolism).

Take a deep breath and grab some of that leftover seven layer dip.

You’re going to be okay.

Kendrick Lamar
Serena Williams

02/11/2025

Four days to go!

Four days to pre-order your digital copy of Sparent!

Four days until you can order a hard copy!

What’s the word on Sparent?

“Jyl’s wit and wisdom left me feeling seen, heard and understood. She is both honest and hilarious in guiding others through the beautiful chaos of the blended family.” - Toni G, Raising His Kids Podcast

Pre-order your digital copy of Sparent today via the link in my stories. Prefer a hard copy? Check back on the 15th!

02/10/2025

My mother-in-law's favorite words of encouragement included “You should have just stayed in North Carolina,” or “I just don’t know how Rich could have married someone like you.”

Still, I tried.

Click the link in my stories or head to jylbarlow.com to read more — then click share!

Don’t forget to pre-order your digital copy of my new book, Sparent, today!

It wasn’t long after my mother-in-law died unexpectedly that my husband sat across the room from me and said, “I’m really surprised to see you sad. I don’t understand why you’re not dancing around …

02/03/2025

Is it just me or did January 2025 include an extra 437 days filled with special surprises?

Special?

Sure, let's say that.

***

Don’t forget to pre-order your digital copy of my new book, Sparent, today!

Is it just me or did January 2025 include an extra 437 days filled with special surprises? Special? Sure, let’s say that.

01/26/2025

Welcome to the world, Sparent!!

This is a must read for blended families and a “probably read” for traditional ones.

Grab your pre-order copy today on Amazon (link in stories).

01/18/2025

We just took our youngest back to college after having him home for five glorious weeks!

Is it weird that, during that five weeks, he only saw his bio mom twice? She lives just a few miles away. Is that weird?

Yes, of course it is but I know my job is to *not* make it weird.

As a stepmom, I have learned to stop “copy and pasting” what I would do onto the other parental figures in our blended family be it bio dad, bio mom, grandma, etc.

My actions are mine—I cannot get upset with others when their actions are theirs. I own what belongs to me and I do my best to let bio mom own what belongs to her.

Has this been a journey? Um… yes.

Read about it in my newest blended book, Sparent, coming soon!

01/13/2025

“What if I swing by the meat plant and pick up a nice piece of beef?”

Admittedly, it was a crazy idea.
But it turned out wonderfully.

What if I swing by the meat plant and pick up a nice piece of beef? Admittedly, it was a crazy idea. But it turned out wonderfully.

01/07/2025

TUESDAY TEASER!

I'm so excited about the positive feedback rolling in from my ARC team!

Advanced Readers have a very low-paying job in which they read books for free before those books are sent to the publisher. As a writer, it is super-dee-dooper nerve-wracking to hand over your work to advanced readers because one of their biggest jobs is to be...completely honest.

Yes, they find the typos. Yes, they find weird sentence structure.
Yes, they may come back and tell you they couldn't make it past page ten without chucking your manuscript into the fire.

Thankfully, (S)Parent seems to be a hit!

Looking like it will hit shelves by March!

01/02/2025

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