The curse has been lifted

Yes, I'm pretty sure that I've been cursed when it comes to writing my second book. I started back in July (I think) and until the other night had only written fourteen pages. Talk about frustrating! But finally - finally! - I finished the first chapter. You hear that? That was me sighing in relief. Now I feel like I can get somewhere with this book.

And I better get my butt in gear because I have six months to finish the manuscript in time for my deadline so Playing With Fire will have a September 2012 release date. Yes, September 2012. But, Jennifer, that's a year away. Surely you can finish a manuscript in time for that! One would think, wouldn't they? I'm s-l-o-w when it comes to writing. I'm fairly certain I drive everyone involved crazy with my snail speed.

Have you checked out the Teasers tab? You'll find a sneak peek to Last Call. You can also find it on Goodreads now. Wow. Seriously, I'm still in surreal mode here http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12576927-last-call.

And because I've been so busy with my kids and trying to write when inspiration actually raises her stubborn little head, I've had NO time to read. The last book I read was WATER FOR ELEPHANTS months and months ago. I have about 30 books on my TBR list and can't seem to knock any of them off *sigh* One day I'll get around to them I suppose.


Jennifer

I have a blog?

Okay, do I even need to say I suck at keeping up with this thing? I think it's fairly obvious since I haven't checked in since July. And apparently I have followers, they just don't show up as following me so really it just looks like I'm talking to myself. Thanks a lot, followers. Like I don't come off as crazy as it is ;)

I've been playing the part of "mother" the last few weeks and "author" has been put on the back burner. My oldest is starting Kindergarten after Labour Day (how the hell did that happen??) and my youngest has been MIA visiting his father. I miss my little booger :( Also, writer's block has been kicking my ass. As soon as I figure out how to kick that ornery little fucker to the curb my creativeness should resurface again. I hope.

But in the mean time, some pretty exciting news. My first novel Last Call is now available for pre-orders on TWCS Publishing House website! PUB day is September 29, but if you order now you'll get your copy by that date instead of having to wait! I mean, I'm pretty sure that's how it works. Damn, can you tell I'm not on top of these things?

Here's where you can find it http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/publishinghouse/ along with so many other great books! Check them out. I promise it will be worth it.


Jennifer

Finding my way to the end

I've been working on a new book...Okay, that's a lie. I've been trying to work on a new book, but so far in the last month I've done, like, seven pages. It's frustrating as hell. I know where this story is supposed to go. I know where this plot is supposed to lead these characters. I can see it. I can feel the creativeness building inside me every time I think about it. I'm excited to lead another couple on an (hopefully) unforgettable journey. The problem? It's all bogus.

I don't use outlines to write. I'm not organized like that, nor am I naive enough to believe that the story is going to turn out the way I want. I could write an outline right now about the plot I envision, and yet I know that as soon as fingers meet keyboard that outline is worthless. My characters are going to do whatever they feel like  and really I'm the one on the unforgettable journey. They are going to tell me the plot. My characters are the story tellers, I'm simply the writer.

But that doesn't mean that I don't imagine how I want it all to turn out. Right now, I can easily picture writing the middle. I can see it playing out behind my eyelids. Same with the ending. I can't get there though. I can't get passed the beginning. I'm stuck. Writer's block is an evil thing.

Do I write the  middle the way I want? Do I end the story without knowing how these two characters come together in the first place? Do I do it the way I want and just hope it all fits together nicely in the end? Or do I suffer it out, writing one sentence at a time only to go back and delete every single word over and over again?

Finding my way to the end depends on my characters. How do I find the end when there's no beginning?

To "cheat" or not to "cheat"? That is the question.

As I was reading through comments on an old fanfic I wrote a year ago, I started wondering if I could somehow take the piece of work I did and turn it into an original fiction. The fic has had lots of positive feedback from readers, but maybe that's just because it's in the fandom world. Is it good enough to stand alone?

Apparently, I've decided to see if it is or not. I've started working through it again, fixing it up, changing names, characters, places, basically erasing anything that made it a fanfic to begin with and turning it into my own. But as I'm doing this I'm thinking two things: 1) how this  may turn out to be a bigger pain in the ass than I originally thought by having to go back and basically redo it all and 2) that I feel guilty.

The guilt comes because of this. Even though this is my own work, I did create the story and I did spend the countless hours it took making a plot and making it work and receiving all the amazing feedback I have from it, it still doesn't feel like mine. I took characters that already existed from another book and just made them do naughty (but very nice) things. I know several authors who have made their fanfic their own original for publication, but for some reason, I feel like I'm cheating if I do this.

These aren't my own characters, I've just used and abused them. Even if I do change their names, in the end they're still not going to be someone I created solely. The plot is mine, but I own nothing else. Is it even right?

To "cheat", or not to "cheat"? That is the question. Now I need the answer.

Jennifer

P.S. The answer was to NOT do it. I came to the conclusion redoing fanfic into something of my own just isn't my thing :)

Sleep is for the weak

That's what I tell myself (almost) every night as I stay up way too late knowing that in a few short hours I will have two warm little bodies crawling into my bed, prying my eyes open -literally!- and telling me it's time to wake up.

Take right now for example...it is 1:26 am. I should be sleeping, yet I have a thousand thoughts going through my mind and I know, I just know, as soon as I shut off all my lights, crawl into bed and my head hits the pillow a conversation between my new characters will take place. They have the worst timing to come out and play. I'll lay there, listening to them whisper in my ear their plans to take over my new book, taking it in a totally different direction than what I originally planned, and yet, I'll like what they're saying. I won't like that they tell me this at 2 am when I've tucked away my laptop for the night and am too lazy to boot it back up. I also won't like that in the morning I won't remember a damn thing that was said.

If all the good ideas come to you at night, then why not write them down? you might ask. Good idea! Except if I'm too lazy to boot up a computer, you can bet I'm definitely too lazy to put pen to paper. I suppose I hope that it will just magically stick to my memory, waiting until the first rays of morning light are burned into my irises thanks to two eager children. Unfortunately, the plot that was so quickly created while my eyes were drifting closed is just as quickly forgotten when dirty dreams take over my imagination and boot the characters out of my head. And my bed.

But that's a different post all together...


Jennifer

Welcome to the world of blogging....what the hell do I say now?

My blogging cherry will be popped once I hit the 'public post' button. And now comes the pressure of "what do I say?", "will anyone care what I write anyway?" "my life is not that interesting that I need to blog about it, what the hell am I thinking boring other people!".

You  know the old saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure"? Well, I guess that's what I'm hoping for here. Not that my life is trash! It does have it's shitty times, but then again, who doesn't? But maybe what I see as boring, readers will see as something totally different.

I am a mother of two trouble making young boys. But their cuteness makes up for what they lack in self-control.... most of the time. And as of recently, I am now an author. Well, let me clarify that. During the day (and most of the night) I am a mother, and during those wee hours that I get some time alone I am the author...and then I get to sleep (five minutes counts as sleep, right?) and start all over again...from mother to author and back again ;)

My first book, Last Call, is in the final stages of finally being published.This is one of the main reasons I decided to lose my blog virginity. Last Call took me almost a year to write, and my goal for my next book is...well, I don't have a goal for my next book because really, I'm only about seven pages in. But, I would like it to be less than a year. I'll even take 363 days, as long as it's less than a year! Maybe, by writing here, it will give me the outlet I need to vent those writing frustrations and keep you all (apparently by "you all" right now I imagine a hoard of people lining up to follow me) updated on the progress of Last Call and any other books in the making.

Hopefully you stick with this and enjoy the bumpy ride that could be ahead of us. If nothing else, you might have found a new way to put yourself to sleep and can now stop spending hundreds of dollars on sleeping pills. If it is the later, do me a favour and praise me anyway. It'll be our little secret that you did it while you were nodding off!

Jennifer

My Books

Last Call


While on vacation, a night out turns into a drunken haze and Novalee Jensen wakes up hung over, confused and…married? Fleeing Nevada, Novalee returns home to Montana to hide out, dreading the moment when her husband will show up to take her hard-earned business. But after two years, just when Novalee thinks her secret is safe, guess who walks through her door? Now, face to face with the man she left in a hotel room two years ago, Novalee discovers the difficult part isn’t having to explain her actions that night, or the questions that arise about the sexy stranger’s arrival, it’s keeping her hands off of her husband. And what’s Novalee to do when the hardest part turns out not to be confronting her past, but facing a possible future without her soon-to-be ex-husband?

Multi-millionaire Dean Philips wakes up in a Las Vegas hotel room to find the pretty blond he married the night before gone. The piece of paper he possesses proves she served her purpose and, guilt ridden over his actions, Dean begins a battle with his father for a fight for his grandfather’s fortune. When Dean is ordered to have his wife appear in court, he finds himself in a small town in Montana looking for the woman who ran off two years ago. Caught up in secrets and lies of his own, he has to find a way to persuade her to come back to Vegas with him without having her find out that she’s the missing puzzle piece to everything he’s been fighting for. But when Dean decides to mix a little pleasure with business, he suddenly finds himself in unfamiliar territory that could cost him everything.