by Jennette, January 2, 2013

I have nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true; I did spot one new release this past week, but that’s all. Rather than feature just one, I’m saving it for next week, and re-running last week’s WANA Wednesday, as many people took a break from blogs over the holidays, and these books deserve to be seen! 😀

StrongerThanMagic YA fantasy author Melinda VanLone celebrates the release of her debut novel, Stronger than Magic. Being attacked by a demon in Philadelphia shouldn’t have been a big deal. Tarian Xannon is, after all, heir to the Dolphin Throne and the strongest magical talent in generations. Never mind that demons aren’t even supposed to exist. Never mind that the demon managed to swipe some of her blood. She’s never met her match before and she’s confident she can handle the situation. She creates a plan to find the demon, and kill him, before he destroys her, or worse, steals her power and the Dolphin Throne. Of course, she hadn’t counted on the throne insisting that now would be a great time for her to provide the next heir. She’s a modern woman with a demon to kill, and a baby to produce. What could possibly go wrong? More info at: http://www.melindavan.com/2012/12/20/its-here-and-its-stronger-than-magic/

Kristy K. James has been busy – she’s had two releases in December! Most recently, novella “Erin’s Christmas Wish,” in which Erin has been in love with her neighbor, Scott, for nearly two years. When working together to raise food for the less fortunate in their community, it appears that Scott may return those feelings. Or does he? Will a bad experience from the past come between them?

Someday_Maybe_cover Earlier in December, Kristy also released a short story, “Someday… Maybe.” In this story, one young girl is killed in a tragic accident. Another is forced to make a choice that results in long-term consequences. Twelve years later, Evie realizes exactly what she gave up. The question is, does she regret the decision she made so long ago? Kristy sneaked this one out under my radar – if she blogged about it, I missed it! Both stories are available exclusively at Amazon, so visit Kristy’s author page there for more info.

Christmas-on-the-Run Louise Behiel released her Christmas romantic suspense, “Christmas on the Run,” just in time for the holidays! I read this last week, and it’s really good! In this short story, Ramon Ramirez is found not guilty of first degree murder, so Adelina Ramirez grabs their six year old daughter and leaves Atlanta, determined to keep him from taking Sadie to Brazil and keeping her there.

A bad snow storm on an almost-deserted road in Montana forces Lina to stay in Bandit Creek for Christmas. New friend Todd Black is bound to help the quiet woman and her child. He knows there’s more to her story than she’s saying, but it’s none of his business. In the midst of Christmas preparations and a record snow storm, Ramon tracks her down. He doesn’t care about Lina but he wants his daughter and he’s going to take her. With Todd at her side, Lina is forced to confront her worst fears. Together, they will face Ramon and forge a new future – a gift from her Christmas on the Run. This is a Bandit Creek romance, and fellow Bandit Creek author Sheila Seabrook has the scoop at: http://sheilaseabrook.com/2012/12/15/christmas-on-the-run-by-louise-behiel

Finally, I have some news of my own! I’ve collected my Saturn Society series into one, convenient, value-priced “boxed set” of ebooks. Times Two includes Time’s Enemy and Time’s Fugitive, plus the short story, “Time’s Holiday.” As a special bonus, Chapter One of my upcoming science fiction romance, Hangar 18: Legacy, is included.

Time’s Holiday
In this short story, Taylor Gressman’s initiation into the Saturn Society is a baptism by fire when she sneaks away on Christmas Eve, hoping to find the angel who saved her life a few weeks earlier. Instead, she takes an unexpected trip back in time, and finds herself in the midst of a murderous street gang. Now it’s up to Taylor to ensure that she and a newfound friend don’t become the gang’s next victims, and in the process, learn that giving is the best gift of all.

Time’s Enemy
When a freak accident leaves Tony Solomon with the ability to travel in time, he becomes an unwilling initiate in the Saturn Society, a secret society of time travelers. Wanted by the Society for a crime he hasn’t yet committed, he seeks help from Charlotte Henderson, the woman whose life he saved decades before he was born. Loyal to the Society, Charlotte faces a terrible choice-condemn the man she loves and to whom she owes her life, or deny her deepest convictions by helping him escape and risk sharing his sentence.

Time’s Fugitive
Violet Sinclair remembers nothing of her past, but she’s certain she loved Tony Solomon… and did something terrible to him. Time-traveler Tony Solomon is sure he never met Violet, yet she bears an uncanny resemblance to the woman he loved and lost decades before he was born. After an impulse encounter leaves Violet pregnant with his child and targeted by killers from the future, their only escape is to jump into the past, something Tony swore he’d never do again. But when they jump back much further than planned, their troubles are only beginning—and secrets can get them killed.

Times Two is available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble. Coming soon to other e-book retailers!

What about you? Do you like Christmas stories? Do you buy boxed set collections? Whatever the case, I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season! See you next year!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

by Jennette, December 26, 2012

It’s WANA Wednesday! Our authors don’t take a break for the holidays, so neither will WW. We have five great new reads this week!

StrongerThanMagic I was actually going to take the week off what with the holidays and not many people reading blogs, but these are too good to wait, not to mention it’s the perfect time to read a Christmas story. I may take next week off, and leave these up so they get the exposure they deserve!

YA fantasy author Melinda VanLone celebrates the release of her debut novel, Stronger than Magic. Being attacked by a demon in Philadelphia shouldn’t have been a big deal. Tarian Xannon is, after all, heir to the Dolphin Throne and the strongest magical talent in generations. Never mind that demons aren’t even supposed to exist. Never mind that the demon managed to swipe some of her blood. She’s never met her match before and she’s confident she can handle the situation. She creates a plan to find the demon, and kill him, before he destroys her, or worse, steals her power and the Dolphin Throne. Of course, she hadn’t counted on the throne insisting that now would be a great time for her to provide the next heir. She’s a modern woman with a demon to kill, and a baby to produce. What could possibly go wrong? More info at: http://www.melindavan.com/2012/12/20/its-here-and-its-stronger-than-magic/

Kristy K. James has been busy – she’s had two releases this month! Most recently, novella “Erin’s Christmas Wish,” in which Erin has been in love with her neighbor, Scott, for nearly two years. When working together to raise food for the less fortunate in their community, it appears that Scott may return those feelings. Or does he? Will a bad experience from the past come between them?

Someday_Maybe_cover Earlier this month, Kristy also released a short story, “Someday… Maybe.” In this story, one young girl is killed in a tragic accident. Another is forced to make a choice that results in long-term consequences. Twelve years later, Evie realizes exactly what she gave up. The question is, does she regret the decision she made so long ago? Kristy sneaked this one out under my radar – if she blogged about it, I missed it! Both stories are available exclusively at Amazon, so visit Kristy’s author page there for more info.

Christmas-on-the-Run Louise Behiel released her Christmas romantic suspense, “Christmas on the Run,” just in time for the holidays! I’m reading this right now and it’s really good. In this short story, Ramon Ramirez is found not guilty of first degree murder, so Adelina Ramirez grabs their six year old daughter and leaves Atlanta, determined to keep him from taking Sadie to Brazil and keeping her there.

Times Two is currently available on Amazon and Smashwords. Coming soon to other e-book retailers!

What about you? Do you like Christmas stories? Do you buy boxed set collections? Whatever the case, I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season! See you next year!

by Jennette, December 5, 2012

WANA Wednesday is back, with three great reads just in time for the holidays!

Fantasy author Debra Kristi celebrates the release of her short story, “The Lonely Egg,” in the anthology Open Doors: Fractured Fairy Tales. By purchasing Fractured Fairy Tales, you’ll be giving too – all proceeds from copies purchased between now and December 20th will be donated to the Primary Children’s Hospital.

Fractured Fairy Tales is a whimsical collection of fairy tales. Ever wished to be like Sleeping Beauty so you could take a nap–for once? Isn’t it a bit annoying how the fairytale princes always get the girl, or how the three little pigs always beat the wolf?

Debra’s story, “The Lonely Egg,” is a new look at Humpty Dumpty. Sounds like fun, huh? More info at: http://debrakristi.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/fractured-fairy-tales/

Stacy Green’s romantic suspense novel, Into the Dark, was released last week. Into the Dark takes us into the two-hundred-mile labyrinth of dark storm drains beneath Las Vegas, where for a delusional stalker hides. He’ll go to any lengths to possess fragile, emotionally isolated Emilie Davis. To survive, Emilie will have to confront the secrets of her past she has kept locked away from everyone, including herself. She has nowhere to turn but to Nathan Madigan, the hostage negotiator who worked the robbery.

Nathan is haunted by his failure to protect a loved one fourteen years ago and has dedicated his life to saving others. Determined to catch the lunatic hunting Emilie, he finds himself losing his professional detachment. He fears history is about to repeat itself if he cannot protect Emilie from the Taker’s obsession. The police close in on the Taker’s identity as Nathan and Emilie grow closer to each other and to resolving the misery of their own pasts. At the height of The Taker’s madness, his attempt to replace someone he’s lost will either kill them all or set them free. Into the Dark has received some great reviews, and Stacy is having contest with two $25 Amazon gift cards as the prize! More info at: http://stacygreenauthor.com/2012/11/30/into-the-dark-is-available-now-is-it-the-next-big-thing/

There’s also a new historical romance from Renee Vincent newly released. In The Temperate Warrior, Gustaf Ræliksen lives by the blade of his sword. After avenging his father’s murder and reuniting with his family, he wants nothing more than to settle down and have sons of his own. Only one woman will do—a fiery redhead he saved from the spoils of war.

No longer forced to warm the beds of the men who’ve taken everything from her, Æsa has nothing to offer the noble warrior but her heart. When someone with a deep score to settle seeks revenge upon her, Gustaf’s world is torn asunder. He has but one vow—saving the woman he loves from the ignorant fool who dared to best the temperate warrior. More info at: http://www.reneevincent.com/2012/08/the-temperate-warrior.html

Quick ROW80 Update: I’ve finished the type-in to the latest revisions for Hangar 18: Legacy, have my editor lined up and ready to go, and have emailed my subject matter expert (on the military, not aliens) with a few final questions. He usually gets back to me pretty quickly, so I should get the book to my editor this week. Also, Christmas decorations are up! Shopping’s started, but there’s a good bit more to go. Yikes!

What is WANA? It stands for We Are Not Alone, a guide to blogging, social media and networking for authors by Kristen Lamb. It’s writers helping writers, whether or not we’ve taken the course, and proving that we really are not alone!

What about you? Do you like suspense novels? How about twisted fairy tales, and romance? If you are doing ROW80, how’s your week going so far? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, November 26, 2012

While I work on my book for NaNoWriMo, here’s another blast from the past… IOW, a post from way back when, in 2006, when publishing was a different world… yet it wasn’t.

This topic’s been brewing in my mind ever since the 2005 RWA National conference, and a young writer’s thoughtful post yesterday reminded me of it. At the 2005 conference, one of the keynote speakers was Debbie Macomber, who gave a poignant talk about her struggles to become a published writer. During the journey, she decided she’d never become a published author unless she took a chance and quit her day job to write full time. She gave herself a year (if I recall) and told her husband she’d go back to work if she hadn’t sold by then.

It wasn’t easy (is it ever?). She struggled to pay the bills. Right before she sold (which was also right before her self-imposed deadline), she struggled to come up with the postage to mail her submission to Silhouette. Though we are talking back in the eighties (again, I think), that couldn’t have been more than ten bucks. Can you imagine not being able to come up with ten bucks, with having to choose whether to eat lunch, or mail your manuscript? I can’t. Yet plenty of writers deal with this. Even more (published and not) have difficulty coming up with $75 for their RWA dues each year, or to fund attending National conference.

Do we have to struggle financially to sell? I don’t think so.

Perhaps the pressure gave Debbie Macomber that extra push to produce, to hone her craft, to excel. It would have the opposite effect on me. For me, this kind of stress is burdensome and stifling. I would not be able to produce. The quality of my work would suffer if I was worried about having the electricity shut off, or feeling guilty because we were eating ramen again instead of steak (or even chicken).

My late father in law was a gambler. My husband’s childhood memories include getting steak for dinner because the Lakers won – and eating macaroni and cheese (again) when they didn’t. My husband is never comfortable without having considerable savings. Many full-time authors still struggle to pay the bills, and live off of credit card debt. My husband would not be able to sleep at night if this were our case. Neither could I.

Granted, plenty of full-time writers are supported by a spouse or by retirement income, and while they may not have the standard of living they’d have with a regular paycheck, they don’t struggle financially. I was without a job for two years, thanks to the dot-com bust. We got by fine, but I always felt a cloud hovering over my head because we didn’t save anything during that time, much to my husband’s discomfort. Because I felt obligated to help in any way possible, I did all the child care and taxiing during that time, and often ran errands for my husband’s business. I ended up not producing any more writing than I did while working for a paycheck. I did freelance graphic design work to alleviate the burden somewhat, but the fact is, it was a huge relief when the current day job fell into my lap.

Many people posted blogs last week about what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving. Of course I’m thankful for family, friends, home, health and all that. I’m also thankful for my day job. It allows me to focus on my writing during my writing time, without worrying about credit card debt piling up or not being able to pay the mortgage. I’m fortunate that my day job is fairly low-stress, pays decently, and provides health insurance without requiring me to take work home. There are plenty of writers who work crappy-paying jobs to pay the bills while they try to sell, because they can’t get anything else that wouldn’t take too much time away from writing. These are the folks I really feel for. I have worked hard over many years to excel in my fields – graphic design and software development – but I still realize I’m very fortunate.

Each writer can only determine for her/himself which is the right path. The young woman linked above is smart to go to college and plan on a career where she can earn a good living. You can’t count on ever making a penny on writing. Sure, it would be great to get paid for the stuff I make up, and yes, I think my work is worth being paid for, but realistically, the odds are long. I don’t plan to quit the day job when I do sell (thinking positively), as I know how low the advances typically are for a first-time romance author. Plenty of successful authors continue to work a day job. For now, I consider my writing a second job. It works for me.

Without the suffering.

What do you think? Are writers with a hard luck story more deserving of success in their art? What is it about the whole “starving artist” thing that makes it seem so? How much are you willing to suffer for your art, whatever that may be? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, November 14, 2012

First, congratulations to Kassandra Lamb, who’s celebrating the release of Celebrity Status, book #4 in her Kate Huntington Mystery series. In Celebrity Status, Kate is now married to Skip Canfield, the man who patiently courted her through the last two books in this mystery series, and life is good. Skip’s private investigating agency, Canfield and Hernandez, may be doing a little too well, however. They have attracted their first celebrity client, a pop singer whose anonymous stalker has a twisted concept of love. Before Skip realizes just how twisted, he involves first his psychotherapist wife and then their lawyer friend, Rob Franklin, in the case.

Soon they are being hounded by paparazzi and someone is planting evidence to convince Skip that Kate and Rob are lovers. As they try to protect their relationship and family from this onslaught of unwanted attention, as well as a stalker who will stop at nothing to remove the obstacles in his path, Kate and Skip struggle with the reality that you can’t always keep those you love from harm.

Kassandra kicked off a big blog tour on Monday, where she’ll be giving away an Amazon gift certificate, a signed paperback, and several e-copies of her books. More info at: http://kassandralamb.com/2012/11/official-launch-of-celebrity-status-were-having-a-blast-and-a-contest/

And now for the Next Big Thing

This one’s been around for a while, but it finally caught up with me. Stacy McKitrick tagged me with the Next Big Thing meme, where I get an excuse to talk about my next book!

Since I don’t know if my NaNoWriMo book will be publishable, I’m going to answer the questions about my upcoming release. Here goes!

What is your working title of your book?
Hangar 18: Legacy

Where did the idea come from for the book?
This book has actually been published before, as paranormal romance Nothing to Hide. A while back, I decided to rewrite it, and rewrite I did – I didn’t even look at the original book. But the characters, their names, and the suspense/psychic abilities premise are the same, I just added the aliens (and improved on the writing). I got the idea for the psychic hero when my boss stopped by at work one day and asked me a question about the exact thing I’d just been thinking of. It was freaky, and I started to wonder, what if he could really read my mind? What if I was attracted to him? (I wasn’t; this is a romance writer’s mind at work. 😀 ) The alien part came many years later, when I started working at the base that supposedly housed Hangar 18, where, according to legend, the aliens and wreckage from the Roswell incident were supposedly taken. I wondered what if it were real? And what if, somehow, the aliens were still alive?

What genre does your book fall under?
Science fiction romance

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I watch so little TV and so few movies, I honestly have no idea!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A psychic AF researcher and the skeptical developer of mind-control software must team up to rescue an imprisoned extraterrestrial thought dead for decades.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first time, about six months. For the rewrite, maybe half that. But revision took a lot longer!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
In its original incarnation, a reviewer compared it to Jayne Ann Krentz’s “gift of” series because of the psychic element. Of course now, the psychic is also a sexy Air Force officer.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The same things that gave me the ideas.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Hangar 18: Legacy is a different science fiction romance, with a good bit of suspense and one very angry alien. There’s not a lot of tech in it, so readers who shy away from that will still find Hangar 18 accessible. OTOH, my romances tend to have a lot of other action in them, so I have had male readers enjoy them as well. Basically, Hangar 18: Legacy is about Adam Keller, a psychic Air Force researcher, who can sense the thoughts and emotions of others. Because of his gift, he keeps people at a distance. But when an angry voice demands rescue, dark thoughts of death and suicide threaten to overwhelm Adam, until he meets a woman whose emotions quiet, if not silence, the voice. All he has to do is risk his heart and engage his own emotions. Lisa Stark wants nothing more than to finish the subliminal messaging software she’s worked on for over a year. But when command cancels the controversial project, someone else wants it badly enough to kill for it. The only person who can save it and Lisa is Adam Keller, a man who’s as irresistible as he is crazy. Soon, not only is Lisa’s project at risk, but also her heart, and her life.

I’m going to weasel out of tagging others for this, because just about everyone I can think of to tag has already been tagged. But if anyone wants an excuse to talk about your Work In Progress, feel free to say I tagged you, and share!

Here are the Rules for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop:

***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.

Quick ROW80 Update: This month, my main focus is my NaNoWriMo novel. My weekly goal is to write 1,500 words four weeknights, and 3,000 words each on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday through Tuesday, I’ve written over 5,000 words, bringing my total to 23167 – right on track. So far so good!

What about you? Do you like mystery/suspense novels? How about with romance and aliens? If you are doing ROW80, how’s your week going so far? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, November 12, 2012

Note from Jennette: This post was originally posted on March 22, 2006, before eb00ks were a truly viable means of reaching readers, unless you wrote erotica. So the publishing industry details are majorly outdated now, but the sentiment could still ring true. Oddly enough, I’m now published by a means that back in 2006, would have been considered desperation, or a last resort, and I feel more published now than I did then. Anyway, here goes…

A lot of authors are blogging about their first books this week. The book I’m currently working on is my fourth. The one I’m shopping to agents is my third.

The second will never see the light of day. But the first… I guess it’s time I came out about it. I was an e-book author.

I say “was” because my book went out of contract two years ago and has not been available since. I was published, once. My book sold all of two dozen copies.

A couple months ago, an RWA-chapter sister reminded me that I’m published. My response? “But I don’t feel published.”

Don’t take this the wrong way. E-published is real published, assuming it’s with a royalty-paying, non-subsidy publisher, which mine was. But my book never felt real-published to me. Maybe it was the sales (or lack thereof), I don’t know.

I wrote my first book in 1999. Nothing to Hide is a romantic suspense with a paranormal element (empathic hero). I queried Harlequin – it was targeted to their Intrigue line – in February of 2000. Got a request for the full one week after I sent my query.

Two months later I got a form rejection. (As well I should have.) I was comforted by the fact that I didn’t have to wait a year or more for it, as many writers do. And heck, my only goal when I’d started writing it was simply to see if I could finish something. So I’d gotten much further than I thought.

At the time, I didn’t know of anyone else who took romantic suspense of less than 90,000 words, and my book was only about 75,000. (How hard that is to imagine now! )

I let it sit. Started to work on a couple other things, one of which I never finished, the other of which was the abortive beginning of the ms I’m now shopping to agents.

A year later, I got that first book back out. I thought it was good. I thought it should be published.

So I queried an e-publisher. A royalty-paying, non-subsidy e-publisher who’d been in business since 1996 and is still around now – no small feat in today’s business climate.

Almost right away, they asked to see the whole book.

A month later, they emailed me a contract.

I was thrilled for a short time, but made myself forget about it, and concentrate on my current WIP. After all, they’d told me my book wouldn’t be released until the following April (this was in July of 2001).

Even the book cover is outdated!

I designed the cover myself, hoping to accelerate the release, or at least to ensure the cover art wouldn’t be the cause of a delay.

They liked my cover and used it.

The book still didn’t come out until June of 2002.

Between the time I signed my contract and the book was released, several things happened:

The dot-com bubble burst.
I got laid off from my job.
The promise of the e-market was starting to sour.
Distributors who’d carried e-books were no longer doing so.
My publisher found Amazon’s business model unprofitable for them, so they stopped selling through Amazon.
The e-market was also maturing, and it was becoming apparent what kind of books that market wanted: erotica and erotic romance.

Romances like those readers could find on bookstore shelves didn’t sell well as e-books. In fact, I believe e-books’ time still hasn’t come*, other than for erotica/erotic romance.

My publisher had started to pick up on this last fact too, and between the time I signed my contract and the time my book was released, they’d changed their business focus to reflect this, and the books they promoted the most aggressively were the erotic romances.

My book contained only one love scene, and it was more sensual than erotic. So my book sold all of two dozen copies. After two years, my publisher released me from my contract,** along with several other authors who were no longer submitting new material to them and whose work wasn’t selling.

I was OK with this. I understood the publisher’s reasons for changing their business focus. And by this time, I realized Nothing to Hidewasn’t that good of a book. I mean, it had tea scenes*** for dog’s sake!

OTOH, I still don’t think it was a bad book. It got some very nice reviews. It even finaled in the EPPIEs.

So that’s the story behind how I once was published, now I’m not. I guess the main reason I consider myself as unpublished is because this is not something I can use as a publishing credit when querying agents or editors. If it had decent sales, it would be.

What it comes down to is I lost patience – with learning craft, and in submitting. I wanted an easy way to publication and I got it, for what it was worth.

Which isn’t a whole lot.

If you’re considering e-publishing, don’t let me dissuade you. I’m not dissing the medium. But do research your publishers carefully, and know their markets – as in, their readership.

* I do think it will come, as technology improves and becomes less expensive. But who knows when?

** This is when it’s actually a good thing to have designed my own cover – if I wanted to sell this book myself, the cover is mine. Other authors who were released and wanted to sell their own books had to get new cover designs. I designed a few of them, when I was freelancing between full-time jobs.

*** Scenes where a character is doing nothing but sitting, sipping tea, and thinking. Yawn.

What about you? If you’re an author, have you ever felt like a fraud? And whether or not you’re an author, do you read ebooks? If so, when did ebooks start seeming like “real” books to you?

by Jennette, October 22, 2012

No, I’m not talking about that lunch meat that someone forgot to put back into the fridge, that you really shouldn’t eat. I’m talking about way back when (in my case, at least), when one of the simplest, most unintentional things makes us feel terrible: being Left Out.

If you were like me, and were the slowest runner in your class, you know all about this. Being the last one picked for anything in gym class. Being the only one guaranteed to strike out when forced to play softball (because yeah, when you’re as bad at it as I was, it sucked). Being the unpopular kid, the one that didn’t get invited to the cool kids’ parties. Of course now, I look back and think, I wouldn’t have enjoyed those parties anyway (talk to people I don’t know? who were all drinking when I wasn’t?). But back then, it was just being Left Out. If I were a holiday TV special, I’d be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

It happened in college too. See, freshman year, I was an English major. Writing was something I’d always wanted to do. Then over the summer, my dad had the “what are you going to do for a job with this” talk with me. Since I didn’t want to be a starving writer, and I liked art too, I changed majors. It worked out well, because the way the courses were set up, I could cram four years’ worth of major courses into three years – and graduate on time.

I met wonderful friends in some of my art classes. They were all a year younger than me, freshmen when I was a sophomore. But in my other art classes, the ones that were all sophomores, most people already knew each other from a year of being in class together already. Cliques had formed. Cliques I might have been a part of in the classes where everyone was new like me, but in the second-year classes, I was left out. Since I had my own artsy friends, I didn’t care, and unlike elementary and high school, it wasn’t like the students in the older classes weren’t nice to me – they were. I just wasn’t really one of them. Having my own band of misfit friends helped.

You’d think this stuff stops after we get out of school. It doesn’t. People can be clique-y in workplaces (thank goodness, not mine!) and really, anywhere people congregate, even online.

More recently, this has happened to me in online classes. Several years ago, one of my RWA chapters offered an online workshop on query letters, taught by a big NYT Bestselling Author. Every one who took the class and participated got a query letter critique by the NYTBA.

Except me. By the time I found my big girl panties and emailed the workshop coordinator to ask about it, the NYTBA had left the building. So no critique for me. It was a free class, and I already had a good query letter, so it wasn’t a big deal, but…. yeah. That Left Out Feeling never goes away, even when we can’t imagine that it’s intentional.

I was Left Out in another online workshop a couple months ago – mine was the only homework assignment the instructor didn’t address in the class. I still got a twinge of that Left Out Feeling, even though I’d taken workshops with this author before, and knew it was simply an oversight. This time I found my big girl panties right away, so I emailed her. Not only did she post my assignment, but several others in the class gave me some very nice feedback, and the instructor offered me a future workshop for free.

Yet that Left Out Feeling never stays far away from misfits! Just last week, it hit me again in a networking group I’m in on Facebook. I’d signed up for an activity offered by one of my peeps, yet when the schedule came out, I wasn’t on the list. This lady’s a class act, someone I’d interacted with plenty of times before, and she’d scheduled peeps whose credentials were as unimpressive as mine, so I figured it had to be a mistake, and posted.

It turned out, it was a mistake – mine! Yes, I’d signed up, but I hadn’t seen the instructions to provide her with my email address – d’oh!

Sometimes when we get Left Out, it’s our own fault!

So speak up, jump in… and who knows, you may be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and end up doing something very special!

What about you – were you Left Out as a kid? What about now? Do you still get that Left Out Feeling, even when you know it’s unintentional? I’d love to hear from you! Let me know I’m not alone – or if I’m just too neurotic!

by Jennette, October 8, 2012

As an author, every time I put a book down, I try to learn from the experience. By analyzing why didn’t that book work for me, I can hopefully pick up some tips on what not to do in my own books in the future.

It’s also something fun to discuss with readers (again, to learn) and useful to discuss with authors. Not the author who wrote the book in question, although that’s exactly what ended up happening last time I wrote a post like this. No, it’s honestly just for my own learning. I don’t want to call anyone out – last time, the author recognized her book, and she was a top-notch, class act, but the next one might not be. So with that in mind, I’m going to leave out the details, and focus on the problems.

I’d run across this book a few times and it looked like something I might enjoy, so I downloaded the sample. And boy am I glad I just got the sample, because I couldn’t even get through that. Actually, I caught myself starting to skim by page 2.

I can’t dig a book with too much dumping – of background information and baggage, that is

It wasn’t badly written. The author has a firm command of language, and I didn’t notice any problems with grammar, spelling, typos, or bad formatting (and note that some of the worst formatting problems come from the big publishers). S/he also had a good grasp on point-of-view, and evoking sympathy for the characters. But it just wasn’t enough to draw me in. It took a couple chapters for me to figure out why, but once I did, it was face-palmingly obvious: those two chapters were full of backstory dumps, repetition, and cliche situations.

Quite a bit of information was repeated, sometimes twice, as if the author wasn’t confident enough in the reader and had to give us a nudge, nudge, get it? There were also repeated words and phrases to the point that I once saw the echo phrase three times on one page – and that’s on my Android phone. It was so bad it got a song stuck in my head. It had some other problems too, but the repetition and infodumps were the main reason I stopped reading.

Who knows, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just pickier, being a writer myself, and one who’s been at this thing for years (I’ve been writing seriously since 1999, and messing around with writing since I was a kid). Romance novels are especially prone to backstory dumps – big, long explanations or flashbacks into a character’s past – given that the main conflict in a romance novel is between the female and male lead, and it’s often this kind of emotional baggage that keeps the characters apart for most of the book. And since it’s such a common issue, it’s one that many romance-specific craft workshops and articles touch on. So maybe I’m more sensitive to it because of this.

In the author’s defense, my early efforts had these problems too, so maybe it’s just early work (it may or may not be – OTOH, some people never learn). Either way, eliminating repetition and the other issues are all skills that can be developed.

What do you think? Have you put any books down recently? Have you ever put a book down because it was too cliched, repetitious, or had too much backstory or worldbuilding infodumps that stop the forward action? If you’re a writer, did your early work have these problems?

by Jennette, October 1, 2012

I’m not one to blog about my books very often, but some of my recent email tells me it’s time for an update. (I figure this fits into My Town because so far, all of the Saturn Society books take place in my home town, Dayton.) Readers want to know, what’s going on with the Saturn Society? Namely, when’s the next book coming?

There are common reader expectations here. Currently, there are two Saturn Society novels. Books typically are either standalone, or come in threes (or more). Duologies are rare. But the fact is, there isn’t a third Saturn Society novel in the pipeline – at least not yet.

You see, traditional publishing was the only viable path to readers until a couple years ago. Writers were typically advised to only write one book in a series, one that could stand alone, for a couple of reasons. One, the book might never sell, so why put a lot of time and effort into a second that would definitely not sell? Two, even if that first book sold, there was never a guarantee that a second would. Sometimes debut authors would get a two- or three-book deal, but they often didn’t. And if that first book didn’t sell well, the second would not be purchased.

So back to the Saturn Society. Time’s Enemy was the third book I’d written, but it was the one where I was really figuring out my process. Among other things, I learned that I could not write a book without outlining or pre-planning, when I ended up with 600 pages of rambling with no ending in sight (but I had a lot of fun!). However, I still loved the story, and there was enough usable material in there for a book. Or two, I realized, when I tried to write a synopsis.

So I reworked it enough to come up with a real antagonist (also missing from those early drafts) and a logical ending for the first book. Although Time’s Enemy was still too long (150,000 words – yikes!), I dutifully pitched it to agents and editors while I worked on Time’s Fugitive. I knew the odds of selling them were dismal, but I loved the story too much not to finish it. I never bothered to give Time’s Fugitive a complete revision until I decided to publish last year. However, I wrote it with the possibility of an out for my antagonists, on the off-chance that readers would want a third book.

So there’s my long-winded explanation of why there’s no third novel in the Saturn Society series.

Yet.

Because it does appear that readers want one! I have a couple other projects on deck right now that are closer to being ready to write, so those are going to happen first while ideas for a third Saturn Society book percolate. Who knows? There could be more after that – I’ve set up some possibilities for books and series for other characters, too.

In the meantime, I’m offering a little something to hold my readers over. “Time’s Holiday” is a short story that gives a fun glimpse into the background of a couple of minor characters. Hopefully, this will entertain existing readers while pulling in new ones.

In “Time’s Holiday,” seventeen-year-old Taylor Gressman sneaks away on Christmas Eve, hoping to find the angel who saved her life a few weeks earlier. Instead, she takes an unexpected trip back in time, and finds herself in the midst of a murderous street gang. Now it’s up to Taylor to ensure that she and a newfound friend don’t become the gang’s next victims, and in the process, learn that giving is the best gift of all. There is also a brief excerpt here. This is not your typical sweetness-and-light Christmas story. It includes a bit of true crime based on the “Christmas Killings” that happened in Dayton in 1992.

“Time’s Holiday” is currently available for free on Smashwords, and will eventually be available on other major retail sites. It will also be a part of the Home for the Holidays anthology that my RWA chapter will soon release.

On another note, it’s time for ROW80 Round 4! This is “the writing challenge that knows you have a life,” where writers set goals and report back on our progress twice a week. I typically haven’t done the Wednesday updates, but am going to try to get back on that bandwagon this round, since I’ve changed my posting days to Monday and Wednesday, instead of Monday and Thursday. The Sunday updates will continue. Round 4 ends right before Christmas. Last time, my goals were a bit, shall we say, ambitious. So this time, I’m going to step back a bit. Maybe. Here are my overall goals for this round:

Format and release OVRWA holiday story anthology
Revise Hangar 18. This one was on deck for the last round, but the changes needed after beta reads were more extensive than I thought, so this is going to take longer.
Keep up with my exercise, five times a week.
Finish the Get It Together exercises (description of that here).

I’d like to get a new book planned and possibly started (maybe even do NaNoWriMo?) but I’m not ready to commit to that just yet. Same with finishing How to Think Sideways, which really goes along better with working on a new book. The great thing about ROW80 is that we recognize that life happens, things change, so our goals can change too.

This week is mainly going to be taken up with #1, so I want to get that formatted and done, although I’m waiting on one more story. So for this week, the goals are:

Format Home for the Holidays anthology if all materials are received – otherwise, get as much done as possible.
Physical activity 5x this week
Finish list of major revisions for Hangar 18
Get it Together exercises 11 & 12

If you’re participating in ROW80, what are your plans for this round? And either way, do you like holiday stories?

by Jennette, September 6, 2012

My friend Jim Winter is back, with a fantastic new release in his Nick Kepler crime fiction series. He agreed to do an interview here, where we discuss the book. In Second Hand Goods, Cleveland PI Nick Kepler returns, but he’s trying to leave. A routine skip trace entangles Kepler in a stolen car ring and attracts the attention of a beautiful Russian woman, who may or may not be the mistress of one or more Russian crime lords. And all Nick wants to do is go on vacation.

Now, heeeeere’s Jim!

Jennette: Jim, it’s great to have you back on Making the Mundane Magical! Tell us a little about your new release, Second Hand Goods.

Jim: Second Hand Goods takes place the summer following the events of Northcoast Shakedown. It’s the July 4 weekend, and Nick is looking to blow town for a long-overdue vacation. However, at an engagement party for a friend, he hooks up with a beautiful Russian woman who seduces him into looking for a stolen limo. When the car turns up at an informant’s chop shop, he realizes he’s in the middle of a war between two Russian mobsters.

Jennette: Ah yes, Nick’s always a sucker for a hot chick! LOL – it’s gotten my main characters in a bit of trouble on more than one occasion, too. One of the challenges of writing a series based on a single character is deciding how or if to age the character, and how he/she changes, learns and grows. Can you share some of what Nick Kepler learned in Northcoast Shakedown that influences what he does in SHG without giving away spoilers? Or if you prefer, does Nick age? And if so, how much between books? Why did you choose this?

Jim: In Northcoast, Nick was basically working a case. He gets a little battered, but he comes out on top. In Second Hand, he’s about a year older, and the consequences to what happens to him can only force some lasting changes. He’s a bit tired of doing business with the seedier side of the city, and in the beginning, actually cuts loose Lenny Slansky (“A Walk in the Rain”) when Lenny stupidly rents him a stolen van for a fugitive grab.

Jennette: LOL I remember Lenny! One of my writing friends blogged about “stale” books not long ago – books with outdated technology or cultural references that in her opinion, pull her out of a story. You wrote both NCS and SHG in the early-to-mid 2000s, and you note this fact in your Author’s Note as an explanation for these elements. Can you tell us why you chose this route, as opposed to updating the books?

Jim: I left Northcoast as is since it was already released in paperback in 2005. Second Hand was six weeks from release when the publisher went out of business. Since they were essentially done, I decided to leave them as-is. As for future efforts, I haven’t decided yet. Nick will age, but whether his birth year remains 1968 or if it slides forward to accommodate when the books and stories are written hasn’t been decided yet.

I think if I keep him on the calendar, I’m going to have to be a bit more subtle about depicting the time. Technology inevitably goes stale. In five years, people might snicker at the idea of laptops, and few Mac users actually have a tower anymore. They’re mostly iMacs and laptops. Usually, the Windows world follows suit, and we’ll probably all be working off of pads before long.

Jennette: I’m so with you. That was a challenge with my books as well. On another note, both Nick Kepler books are set in Cleveland. Aside from the fact that you lived there for much of your life and are familiar with the area, what made Cleveland your choice for a crime fiction series, as opposed to your current hometown, Cincinnati? Are there any bits of setting in SHG that you love, that would give readers a good feel for the place, and would like to share?

Jim: Cleveland, I think, has more in common with larger cities like Chicago and Philadelphia than the river towns like Cincinnati. The language is coarser, the people more mixed, and there’s a certain energy you get in Chicago and the Northeast that you don’t see further south. I don’t think Nick would thrive very well in a southern city, and Cincinnati, being a somewhat southern-leaning, white collar town, probably wouldn’t appeal to him.

There is, of course, the appeal of having a large inland sea someone mistakenly dubbed a lake nearby. And Cleveland has that gritty post-industrial vibe to it.

Jennette: Having read the books, that totally makes sense–in fact, now that I think about it, it’s hard to picture Kepler anywhere else, and I’ve only been to Cleveland twice, a long time ago. So what’s next for Nick Kepler – are you planning to release the fantastic, LOL third book in the series that I had the privilege to read several years ago?

Jim: Bad Religion will get another pass before I release it. It was in mid-revision when my publisher shut down, so I’m probably going to have to work a little harder on this one. This one, like the first two, will be “on the calendar” so to speak, taking place in 2004. After that, I’ll decide if Nick is going to live on a floating timeline or just move on to 2005.

Jennette: Cool! I think of the three, Bad Religion was my favorite. I made the mistake of reading it at work when there was nothing to do, and was getting weird looks from my coworkers because I kept laughing! So what’s next for Jim – or for his alter-ego?

Jim: Next up is a short story collection. I’m going to put all the Kepler shorts together in chronological order, including a new short where a call girl Nick once got off of heroin decides whom she wants for her final client before retiring. Bad Religion will follow after that.

The alter-ego is working on a science fiction novel and a handful of short stories. Beyond that, who knows?

Jennette: It sounds like you’ll be busy for a while! I know I’m looking forward to re-reading Second Hand Goods–and to your short story collections–both of them!

What about you, readers? Do you like series characters who age, or do you think it takes away from the story? What about outdated technology–does it bother you, or are you okay with it as long as you know what to expect?

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