May is Blooming

Not in my garden! I have a black thumb. Nothing I plant grows. I always tell my kids they are lucky they survived childhood because everything I try to grow; dies. :)

No, my writing and producing books is blooming. I have two self-published books out, one out in a couple of weeks, and the paranormal romantic suspense, the book of my heart will be out by month's end. Dangerous Shift is the story I always wanted to write when I decided to pursue writing as a career. It is hot and sexy, scary and dangerous, and totally out of the box according to my husband. LOL After that I will start plotting a new series about a single mommies club and my zombie romance.

So, by the end of May I will have two more books on my virtual shelf, with more coming soon. These days I feel like I have a barren lawn and the little sprouts are popping up here and there, the green so noticible among the brown, more of them every day. Not a green, sweeping fairway, but the promise of one.

I'm very much a creature of seasons. Winter and I are not friends. I read alot, not write alot. I hibernate until spring arrives with warmer weather and pretty flowers and blooming trees. This year I feel like I might have the growing thumb after all, only for books and stories, not plants and trees.

Is there a time of year that your writing blooms?

Jill James, author of Tempting Adam and The Second Chances series at Amazon and BN.com

April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day - according to Wikipedia - April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good-humoured or otherwise funny jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc.

I remember as a kid in elementary school we would do the infamous "your shoes are untied," the person would look at their shoes, and we all laughed "April Fool's." Not quite sure now as a grown-up why we thought that was so darned funny. :)

When I worked in an office there would be the inevitable gag jokes like whoopee cushions and hand buzzers. I'm probably a great joke victim because they just piss me off and then everyone just laughs more.

Have you pulled one over on someone for April Fool's Day? What is your favorite joke for the day?

Jill James

Spring has sprung

At least here in Northern California. The trees all have blossoms and the plants are starting to bloom. My Bird of Paradise plant has the most awesome bird-like, orange flower on it. The cherry trees are all covered in pink and white blossoms.

I find that my writing blooms when springtime comes. I look out my office window and see the cherry tree, all fuzzy with white and pink. The sky is a clear blue with puffy little white clouds and I don't need my desk lamp to start the day.

I suffer from seasonal affective disorder and my writing suffers too. I am all blah when it is gray, windy, and dark outside. I don't want to write a thing. I am a spring and summer child and love when it warms up and the seasons change.

Do you have different levels of writing progress due to the season at hand?

Jill James

2012 and you

Whether you call them resolutions or goals doesn't matter. It is still what you want to accomplish in the new year. At the end of 2012, assuming the Mayans were wrong and we are still here, what do you want to have achieved?

I started out with a goal of wanting four books published in 2012. One (fingers crossed) to The Wild Rose Press, two more self-published to finish the trilogy of Second Chances, and my zombie romance. But when I looked at the calendar I realized with how much I have finished on each of those stories I was probably only looking at April or May.

Last time I looked, a year had more months then that. LOL So I reset my goals to six books in 2012. For me, that is an ambitious task, but I'm determined that 2012 is the year I take writing seriously and devote hours a day, each day, to the job.

I have other goals, not writing-related that I want to see through in the new year. I want to read more and different genres and to leave reviews for every book I read.

I want to exercise more and get healthy to see many more books published by myself and my friends. I want to eat better and make my husband eat better too. (this may be impossible goal. LOL)

I want to write more letters and send them to our military family members. Mail from home is a gift they love.

I want to be stronger in my convictions and state what I feel without second and third guessing myself with if it is too opinionated.

At the end of 2012, what do you want to look back on and see as your accomplishments?

Jill James
Tempting Adam, now available
Divorce, Interrupted, now available
Someone To Trust, available soon

Falling Skies vs. The Walking Dead

Falling Skies vs. The Walking Dead

Why The Walking Dead is so much better than Falling Skies? I have 3 words for you: The Hero's Journey. I watch both of these shows but until I rewatched The Walking Dead Season 1 I couldn't figure out what was wrong with Falling Skies. Looking over my craft of writing books, I discovered it. There is an excellent book for writers, The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell. It uses the 12 stages of the hero's journey. The first stage when using the Hero's Journey for writing a novel is The Ordinary World.

This stage is vivid in The Walking Dead. We see Rick Grimes as a deputy sheriff, doing his job. Talking to his buddy, we can see his love for his wife, his child, and his duty. When he is shot pursuing a bad guy his first action is to tell his buddy to not tell his wife about his injury. His first thought is to not worry her. This tells us all we need to know about Rick Grimes and his relationships around him.

The loss of this stage in Falling Skies is glaringly clear. The action opens with an older man and a young man on the run. We learn later that one is the dad. They are running from aliens. The aliens kill grown-ups and capture and enslave young kids. All this is great action but we don't know these people. We don't care they are in danger.

Later we learn Noah Wylie's character was a college professor before the aliens arrived and now he is with the army. The show missed an opportunity to show me this character as a professor. What was the character arc of the nerdy, bookish professor becoming a rebel, resistance fighter? Show me the loss of his middle son to show me his love for his youngest and his oldest. Show me losing his wife. What did that do to him? Was that the moment that drove him to the army to fight the invaders? We don't know. There has been no flashbacks, no dreams of what was, how life used to be.

Falling Skies dropped the ball. The Walking Dead grabbed it and scored a touchdown.

Jill James

Cover Art

One of the joys of going Indie published is the cover art is yours to choose. You can design it yourself if you have any graphic arts talent. Or, if you are like me and have none, you can hire someone to do it.

I checked a lot of cover artists before going with Elaina Lee, For the Muse Design Her covers had a dreamy effect to them that I really liked. Almost dream-like.

I sent her a blurb of my story, a description of the couple in the story, and things I knew I wanted on the cover; the couple, a divorce decree, and a cabin in a storm in the woods.

She got back to me right away with a cover. I was sure the divorce decree would be the hard thing to find for the cover but she let me know it was the cabin. All the ones she found were happy and sunny, not storm-drenched like my story. But, she did find one and sent me this cover.

While it was gorgeous the font of the title was just wrong. I didn't like that the two words of the title were in different fonts, way different fonts and I really like the author name below the title.

So I shot her an email and requested some changes. (Yeah, the awesome part of being Indie) We emailed back and forth a few times just to check we were on the same page. Was I happy with the couple she found? Yes! Although they are younger than my 40 year old couple in the book, I liked their look. What font was I looking for? Slightly fancy, but not as fancy as the Interrupted on this cover.

She was so nice to let me know she was in the process of moving and packing but still my cover was ready in a couple of days. And here is the final cover for Divorce, Interrupted.

I totally love it and feel it fits the story perfectly. So, this week I will be an Indie Author and thrilled so far with every step of the process. Hopefully, I will still feel that way after a weekend of formatting for Amazon, Pubit, and Smashwords. LOL

Jill James

Natural Disaster as Plot

Hurricane Irene had me thinking how as writers we use natural disasters as plot for our stories. Allison Brennan used an earthquake to engineer a San Quentin prison break in her series that had Killing Fear as the first book. Nora Roberts had wildfires and smoke jumpers in Chasing Fire. Jennifer Blake wrote of the real hurricane that took out Isle Diernere in Midnight Waltz.

Why choose what is a tragedy to many as a plotline for a book? Disasters bring out the best in people and the worst in people. To show that in a book is to touch on true human nature. The danger of the situation strips people of pretensions. It shows them in all their glory, for who they truly are.

Does your character loot the store? If he loots the store, is it for money and big items, or for diapers and baby food for the child in the upstairs apartment? Does he leave a note for the owner that he will pay later? With his address and phone number.

Does your villain use the storm and chaos to try to do in the hero? Is the hero more vulnerable because the heroine is somewhere in danger and he must get to her?

Man against nature is the oldest conflict in the world. How we deal with it says so much about us as people. Do you pound the steering wheel of the stalled car and curse the heavens or do you get out and push the car to dry land?

What ways have you used nature or natural disasters in your writing? Do you enjoy disasters in your reading or is it too real?

Jill James

Birthday Resolutions

Unlike New Year's Resolutions that I constantly break, I treat my birthday month as a time of reflection of what I have accomplished so far this year and what I want to accomplish next.

This year saw me brave enough to submit to The Wild Rose Press and to see my first published book. This birthday's musing has really seen me digging deep for where I am and where I want to be. What kind of writer do I want to be?

For this coming year, starting now, I want to shop my paranormal romance to agents, self-publish at least two titles, and learn to promote more effectively. I want to use my time wisely and write at least three more books by the time the next birthday rolls around.

Do you use a specific day of the year as a time of reflection? New Year's? The end of the year? The Summer Solstice?

Jill James
Tempting Adam @ TWRP, Amazon, BN.com

Reruns of Buffy and Angel

It is really bad to watch reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Joss Whedon created a magical universe with Buffy/Angel. The episodes are a reminder that it was television at its best. And writing at its best.

Whedon is a master at his craft. The character arcs are exquisite, the dialogue shining, and the lessons learned in each hour-long drama are seamless. Teaching a lesson without being preachy is a skill all writers need to learn.

I really enjoyed watching the shows with my teenage daughter. It was great to discuss the hidden lessons in each episode. It might seem like it was about demons, vampires, and monsters, but the true monsters walked among us.

One of my favorite episodes was about a boy using a potion Ala Jekyll and Hyde, but it was really about dating abuse. It was great to show young girls that having a boyfriend doesn't mean he owns you or can tell you what to do.

So, sometimes you can write one thing and mean another. Romance does this a lot. Many romances are based on fairy tales; Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty. For example, Pretty Woman. It might seem like a Cinderella story when the prostitute is rescued by the Prince (rich) Charming, but the true tale is how she rescues him.

So, I'll keep reading romance, writing romance, and watching Buffy/Angel reruns to enjoy how its done.

What tv show or movie has taught you a writing lesson? What is your favorite fairy tale?

April Fool's Day

Happy April Fool's Day From Wikipedia: April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on the 1st of April of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a legal holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day which tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good humoured or funny jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc. Traditionally, in some countries such as New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and South Africa, the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] It is for this reason that newspapers in the U.K. that run a front page April fool only do so on the first (morning) edition.[2] Elsewhere, such as in France, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all day. The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). Many writers suggest that the restoration of the 1st of January as New Year's Day in the 16th century was responsible for the creation of the holiday, but this theory does not explain earlier references. What is the best (harmless) prank you pulled on another?

I Am Launched

I am officially launched. My debut book came out February 16th. My husband threw me an enormous party for 50+ of my nearest and dearest family and friends. It was a night of being Cinderella. I was celebrated, congratulated, and toasted. But even Cinderella had only until midnight. The party is over. Now, back to reality.

Once your book is out there the real work begins. You used to think writing the book was the hard part, but you did that. You used to think selling the book was the hard part, but you did that. Now, you discover really selling your book is the hard part. You haunt the sales lists to see how you are doing. Guest blog everywhere you can to be 'seen'. Check and Google yourself to see if you have any reviews. The job of being published is not for the faint of heart, any more than any other part of the process of this chosen career.

I wouldn't trade if for all the world, of course, but it is a new set of neurotic worries to be concerned about. Sales for this book. Selling the next book. Promoting all your books and yourself. Being out there enough to sell your book but not so out there that you get burnout.

And I wish that kind of neurotic worry on every other writer I know. Because it means you are published.

The Launch of an Author

Once in an writer's life they get to call themselves a debut author. This month is my turn. Tempting Adam comes out February 16th from The Wild Rose Press. This story was just my second completed novel. I sent it everywhere. It could not find a home. So it sat on my computer for a few years.

Four years ago January 31st my mom died. My writing enthusiasm died with her. For a good two years I did nothing with my writing. I tried, but I completed nothing. Then I was on a loop with Candace Havens. She spoke and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. "Editors and agents are not going to drive up your street and knock on your door. You have to put yourself out there to be found." I had spent two years saying I was going to submit to TWRP. I got off my duff, looked up the guidelines and submitted before I could get cold feet again.

Within days I went from the query letter, to three chapters, to a full, a wonderful detailed revise and resubmit to a contract and a welcome to The Garden. :)

It has been a whirlwind, but my story of love, lies, betrayal, and redemption at a Hollywood movie studio (a setting I was told would never sell) is going to be out in the world for readers to find.

Tempting Adam blurb:

They both want the same thing – St. Eden Studios.

Corporate raider Yvette Giardino intends to bring St. Eden Studios to its knees. It’s a job. One her grandmother’s health depends on. That Adam St. Eden will suffer isn’t personal. Until he awakens her sympathy and stirs her body in ways she can’t explain.

Adam wants one thing and one thing only – to protect the dream his grandfather began. But when the board demands he work with stunning Yvette, a woman he’d mistakenly indulged with in a little after-hours play, his world turns upside down. Missed meetings, unhappy clients, and nights of intense pleasure – he can blame one person. Yvette.

With his corporation crumbling around him, can Adam rise above the fallout and see his sexy temptress for what she really is – a victim of manipulation and a woman who desperately needs his love?

Please check out the awesome book video as well at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1dKXUrZKzo

Nanowrimo

I was so excited to realize my blog day fell on Day 1 of Nano. Short for Nanowrimo. Which translates into National Novel Writing Month. Founded by Chris Baty and his friends who wanted to see what they could accomplish in a month if they really tried. It is for writers to set a goal to write 50,000 words on a novel in 30 days. You can find all the information at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

This will be my fourth year of participating. I love the thrill of trying to sit down and write so many words in one month. This month is really important to me, personally. I’m going to write a sequel to the published book I have coming out early next year. I want to see if I can plot out a book for a week or two and write it in a month. 50,000 words for me will be the whole book.
Lots of writers say they can’t do Nano because it is too intense, the holidays are coming, or for whatever reason. I don’t believe that. Nano is a great way to see what you can accomplish. It might not be the whole 50,000 words, but I bet if you try, you will have more words than you started at with on November 1, or you might surprise yourself and get the whole 50,000 or more.

Writers with deadlines don’t have the luxury of saying, “oh, it’s the holidays, I don’t have time to write.” If you are a beginning or intermediate writer Nano is a tremendous example of what writing under pressure is like, with the added bonus of releasing some of that pressure if you must. The only deadline you have is the one you set yourself. But let me warn you, Nano is very competitive. Once you start accumulating words, you want more and more. When you see how many your Nano buddies have, you want to stay up late or get up early and get more than them.

Will I see you there? You can find me under mrsgodiva. I’ll be working on Taming Brad, a contemporary romance. Here’s to all of us finding our 50,000 words.

Dreams really do come true.

Sometimes we hold our dreams close, deep in our hearts, and wish with all our might for them to come true. For writers, getting published is our biggest dream. One I got to realize this week.

I've been offered a publishing contract and my manuscript will become a book. It still seems unreal no matter how many times I say it in my head, to my friends, or on a blog.

As I was reading the email with the good news a small part of me was whispering; now what do you dream of? Because, although we dream often and dream big, a little part inside worries it will never come true. I've been dreaming, and hoping, and working since I was 20 years old to publish a book. I won't tell you how many years that is. LOL

So, this wonderful editor sends me a wonderful email and in just a few short words makes all my dreams come true. I wish I could hug her and I hope she realizes what her note meant to me.

So, when one dream comes true what do you dream of next?

Jill James
http://www.jilljameswrites.com/