Jessica A. Scott's Blog, page 6

Writing for a Cause

Good morning everyone!

I’m not really one of those people who is always talking about charities or donating money, etc, because a lot of people (like me) don’t have the extra money to donate to those things, and they shouldn’t be made to feel bad about it. But today I would like to tell you about a cause close to my heart.

A few months ago, I was reading my mom’s copy of Reader’s Digest, and I came across a story that really touched me. It was about a young woman who decided to start writing letters to strangers she saw on the subway or in the grocery store, or other such places, who looked like they needed a pick-me-up. She calls them “love letters.” She started by just leaving letters in random places, hoping that the right person (in this case, a person who needed encouragement or inspiration, or even just a kind word to turn their day around) would come along and find them and be better for it. But eventually, this one-woman letter writing campaign grew into a global project. Now, thanks to her, people from all over the world are writing letters and leaving them around for people to find. Or, perhaps more importantly, people can send in requests for people who could really use a letter to give them strength and support, like these listed here: http://www.moreloveletters.com/the-letter-requests/

Although she calls them love letters, they are not romantic. They are more of an expression of familial love for our fellow members of the human race who might need a little reassurance that they are not alone, and that someone out there, maybe even a stranger someone, cares about them.

I have written a few letters myself, and have found it not only very fulfilling, but also very therapeutic. The woman who started it all, Hannah, recommends that you not just write a letter about the other person, but also that you put a lot of yourself into it. It is more sincere that way, and it helps you to work through your own things while simultaneously bringing up someone else. And a lot of times, that very act of making someone else feel better through this process of relating to them and being kind, can end up bringing YOU up too, and making you feel better yourself.

So, whether you are a writer by nature, or would just like to spread some affection around, take a look at http://www.moreloveletters.com/ It doesn’t take much to brighten someone’s day, just a few minutes of writing and a postage stamp. And the whole thing is anonymous, so you don’t have to worry about a big time commitment. You can write to as many or as few people as you’d like, and you don’t even have to sign your name, or include your return address.

As the website declares, the world needs more love letters. So why not give it a shot?

Let me know if you try it! You can leave me a message in the comments, or send me an email at Jessica@jessicascottauthor.com.

Cover War Results

Hello again!

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the results of the Author Shout Cover War. Chase and Charlie came in fourth place, with around 80 votes, which is not too bad, considering that I’m a newbie and that there were nine other authors to compete against!

It was pretty close between my book and the third place book, and the second place author had around 150 votes. The winner, though, had well over 600 votes! I’m not sure what she did to get that many voters… but I think I should try to find out her secret!

In any case, it was fun to be entered into a contest, and I hope that if I enter another one in the future, I will still have the support of all of the wonderful people who contributed to my score this time.

Thank you to everyone who voted, and to everyone who has been there for me and my book on this crazy journey. I couldn’t do it without you!

Cover War! (And Overdue Credit)

Hello!

I promised more updates and more action in the book promotion sphere, so here it is!

This week, Chase and Charlie is being featured in a book cover war on authorshout.com. The book with the best cover art (and the most votes) wins, and becomes the “Book of the Week” the following week, which would be great publicity. You can vote once a day per device, and the competition lasts all week. If you’d like to vote for my book, you can do so here: http://authorshout.com/cover-wars/

Since we are on the topic of cover art, I think this would be a good time to give credit where more credit is due–something I should have done much sooner. Chase and Charlie, might be my own creation, but the cover art was all Sarah Hance. My best friend since college, Sarah is the best artist I know, and the only one I would trust to create the perfect cover for my book. She spent weeks on the cover, first on one design, then on another, drawing it all by hand. (And all for FREE!!) When I saw the finished product, I couldn’t believe the incredible amount of detail she had put into it, and I couldn’t believe that something that looked so amazing would be gracing the cover of MY book. It perfectly captured the tone and the spirit of the book, and it was exactly what I had envisioned–actually, it was even better.

Sarah deserves more credit than she got for this, and I hope she knows that her design is surely the reason that people will be picking my book up off of shelves. Because the truth is, people DO judge a book by its cover…which is lucky for me, because I have the best cover artist around.

As for other updates, I have almost finished typing the mystery novel I mentioned in my last post, and I will soon be starting the editing process. I am still shopping around my second novel to literary agents, and will let you know if I have any luck! In the meantime, make sure to vote for Sarah’s cover in the Cover War!

Until next time!

Little Red Writing Hood

Hello everyone!

It has been a long time since I have written you all a nice, full-fledged blog post, but in my defense, I have been very busy! (Which, for an author, is always a good sign!)

Over the past few months, I have been working with the head of the PR department of Black Rose Writing to find new and different ways to market my book and reach out to potential readers. I am finding new markets every day, and I am hoping that this will increase my readership and lead to more book sales.

In addition to marketing Chase and Charlie, I have also been searching for an agent for a previous novel I wrote, a book that is very near and dear to my heart. I just wrote a dynamite new query letter, so if things go well (cross your fingers for me!) you’ll be reading that book in no time!

But that’s not all!

For the past few months, I have been writing a new book, this one a mystery novel: the first in a series. It is a departure from my normal genres of thriller and romantic suspense, but I had a lot of fun working on it. If you have read any of my interviews, you know that I am one of those “eccentric” writers that just can’t seem to do things in the easier, more convenient way, so you know that I always write my stories out by hand first, and then type them on the computer. It takes months, but it is worth it in the end (even if that is hard to believe now that I am in the seemingly endless typing stage of this book…). So, once that is typed and proofed and edited, you’ll be seeing that too!

My last piece of news is a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. Since Chase and Charlie was published, I have been getting some nice reviews for it on Amazon, and some small bits of press locally. Yesterday morning, though, I received an email from a storybook-making website that I wrote a children’s book for over five years ago. I had written the story, a retelling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale, for them, and had been paid, but after months of frequent checking, I never saw my story on their website. I decided to just be happy I got paid for it anyway, and move on with my life.

Apparently, though, I was the only one who moved on.

The email I received said that someone had commented, “Excellent story. I love it!” Intrigued, I clicked on the link… only to find that over 1300 people had read my story, making it one of the most popular books on the site. I was shocked! I hadn’t been aware the story had even been posted, let alone enjoyed by so many people! This discovery could not have come at a more perfect time. Marketing and querying agents are both arduous tasks that are beyond discouraging ninety percent of the time. To see that so many people are not only interested in reading a children’s book I wrote as a sample for a website long before my first “real” novel was published, but are actually LIKING said story (It has been favorited by hundreds of people) gives me confidence that maybe my author dreams aren’t so far-fetched after all. Maybe one day thousands (or tens of thousands, if I’m lucky) of people will be reading my novels as well!

Until then, I’ll keep writing, keep querying, keep marketing, and keep hoping that my readers will find me and enjoy what I have written for them.

 

Look forward to some big changes to this site and to my marketing methods over the coming months, and in the meantime, I will try to keep you updated on what’s going on in my neck of the woods!

If you would like to read my apparently famous version of Little Red Writing Hood, written for StoryJumper.com, you can find it here. http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/5694/Little-Red-Riding-Hood

If you like it, leave me a comment! I always love to hear from you.

Second Author Interview

In my last post, I shared a review of Chase and Charlie written by Shawn Micallef of Knightmist’s Blog. He didn’t just give me a great review, though, he also gave me the opportunity to answer some questions about myself and my writing! I had a great time doing this interview–he asked me a lot of interesting questions that really made me think.

So, without further ado, here is my second official author interview (I especially liked the last question):

Ten Plus One Questions with Author Jessica A. Scott

14Sep

I have to say that it is always a bit humbling when an author reaches out to you for a book review. This is what Jessica A Scott did and I have to say I’ve enjoyed working with her when it came to her book and the questions below. I got a sense of the author through the may post it notes behind her in the author photo on the page. Those notes combined with the honest answers below make me hope there will be a lot more coming from the author. So please enjoy the answers to those Ten Plus One Questions.

Question 1: When did you realize first wanted to be a writer?

I think I have always wanted to be a writer. I’d been making up stories since I was old enough to think, and as soon as my mom taught me to read and write when I was three years old, I knew that’s how I wanted to spend my time. My stories got better and more complex over time, of course, but I’ve always known that writing was what I wanted to do with my life.

Question 2:  How did your friends/family take the loss of your time as you wrote the book?

Honestly, I don’t think they minded too much. I’m sure that my parents would have preferred that I do something that paid more (haha), but they were/are still very supportive of me and my pursuit of my dream, so I don’t think the loss of my time was much of an issue for anyone, especially since I’m able to balance writing with friends and family time fairly well.

Question 3: What inspired you to write Chase and Charlie?

I know this is a cliché in the writing business, but for this book, the idea came to me in a dream I had years ago. The dream itself was really strange (like most of my dreams are), but it gave me a general idea and the main character, who I instantly fell in love with and just HAD to write about. I think when a story idea comes to me in a dream, it makes me want to write it more, since it feels more real to me. It makes me feel like I myself have lived at least a part of it, or have met the characters before!

Question 4: During the initial writing process where did you get the idea for the book and its characters? 

Well, like I mentioned, I got the idea for the plot and the characters Chase and Charlie from a dream, but the story itself really began to develop on its own once I started writing it. Charlie, the main character/narrator, is a little bit like me, and a little bit better and more courageous and funny than me, and I feel like she just sort of wrote her own story. I just held the pen!

Question 5: Who were some of the authors that inspired you as a child growing up and their books? 

I’m not sure if her books really inspired mine, since they are so different, but J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was always my favorite as a kid, because I was always amazed by how she had created an entire world for her and her characters, complete with different languages, names, and ideas that no one else had really put together before. I wanted to be able to do that, and do that in a way that seemed real to the reader, and to me.

I also read a lot of Dean Koontz books, even as a child, and I was (and still am) inspired by the way he took somewhat unbelievable or fantastical events and made them seem like something that could really happen. I am a huge fan of realistic fiction, and that is what I strive to write.

Question 6: What was the feeling like when you saw the first completed version of your book?

This is a good question! Honestly, I was kind of in shock when I first held the printed, paper copy of my book in my hand. It seemed so bizarre to me to read my own words, that I’d only seen on notebook paper and on my computer screen, inside of a real, honest-to-goodness, published book! (Which looks pretty great, thanks to my best friend and cover artist Sarah Hance.) I still don’t know if I quite believe it really happened… haha!

Question 7: Do you continue to write and in what genre? 

Of course I continue to write! Even if I never had anything published, or never have any commercial success, I will still continue to write, because that is my passion. My main genre focus is still thriller/romantic suspense, but I am experimenting with some different genres lately, such as the mystery and crime genres. I think it is a good thing to try different genres from time to time—it is a good exercise for your creativity!

Question 8: Who do you imagine being the people reading your book?

The characters in Chase and Charlie are sort of a “young twenty-something,” so I think that people in that age group would enjoy it, as would teenagers. There really isn’t anything too offensive in it, so I think that it could be read by anyone who likes suspense, regardless of age. I think young women especially would enjoy it, because it is always good for us to read a book about a strong, self-possessed, relatable female character who really gets things done.

Question 9: Any good suggestions for those who want to try writing their own book?

Yes, I have two suggestions, actually. First: NEVER GIVE UP!! Writing a book is hard, and it takes a lot of work, but mostly it takes perseverance. There will be days when you feel like you don’t connect with your characters, or days when you feel like you just don’t want to write anymore, but you can’t give up. Writing is something you have to do for you, not for anyone else, so you have to keep at it until you make yourself proud.

Secondly, I would suggest reading a book called On Writing by Stephen King. This is the best book about writing I have ever read, and it helped me a lot when I was experiencing writer’s block on a recent book. On Writing not only gives you a lot of great tips and advice about writing and how to improve your process, it also lets you see how a successful author like Stephen King became a successful author like Stephen King. Most importantly, though, it gives writers hope. As King himself says, “writing is a lonely job,” and it is really great to hear stories and advice from someone (a surprisingly relatable someone!) who has been there before, and who understands what being an author is really like.

Question 10: When not writing how do you like to spend your time?

When I’m not writing, I like to read, which actually helps a lot with the writing, so I’m not sure that counts. I also like to watch old movies and tv shows, like Chase and Charlie do in my novel (Maybe that’s where they get it from!). Writing is always my favorite thing to do though, so usually when I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing!

The + 1 Question

If your book got turned into a movie do you have any actors/actresses you’d like to see play your characters?

Hmm… that’s a tough one. I’m not sure who I’d like to play Chase or Hoagie, but I could definitely see Jennifer Lawrence playing Charlie. They both have a lot of spunk and a great sense of humor toward life, and I feel like Lawrence would really capture Charlie’s lighthearted, “never say die” attitude.

Where to find Jessica online

Website:
Facebook page:
Twitter: 
Amazon:
Goodreads:

(To see the interview on its original site, you can follow this link: https://knightmist.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/ten-plus-one-questions-with-author-jessica-a-scott/)

First Official Book Review of Chase and Charlie

Hello everyone!

Things have been a bit hectic lately, so it has been a while since I posted an update! For the past couple months, I have been trying to raise awareness about Chase and Charlie by reaching out to book reviewers, bloggers, and interviewers, as well as to bookstores and libraries. If you have never tried to market a book by yourself before, let me tell you: it is exhausting! It seems like an uphill battle most days, since for every fifty requests or queries you send out, you might get one or two responses, and most of the time they are “No.” But I’m not giving up, and if you’re in the same boat, you shouldn’t either!

Chase and Charlie has already gotten several great reviews on Amazon (you can read them here if you want), but last week it got its very first official book review by a book blogger names Shawn Micallef, who runs Knightmist’s Blog. Both the reviewer and the review were very nice, and the positivity of the latter was very encouraging! I hope to get more reviews like it in the future.

In the meantime, though, from Knightmist’s Blog page, is the review in its entirety. Enjoy!

Chase and Charlie by Jessica A Scott

10Sep

One never knows how siblings will act together as they grow up and mature. They can either become best of friends, or complete strangers. The fact is that although they may be related there is no real reason to for them to like each other. One of the big differences is when the siblings are of the opposite sex. It seems that brothers and sisters have a closer bond with each other and if the boy is older he feels he needs to watch out for his little sister.

This brings me to the book, Chase and Charlie, by author Jessica A. Scott. I will admit when I first saw the title I thought of many businesses and even TV shows that had similar names to the book. I think maybe I was sensing something when that analogy came to mind as the book makes use of old TV shows. I of course did not know that at the beginning but that’s what makes reading and discovery what’s in the pages so enjoyable.

Chase and Charlie will introduce the reader to brother and sister pair that seems more like an old comedic act. I write this as Chase is a gentle giant as we learn the boy is 6’6 and weighs 310 pounds. Charlie, on the other hand, is petite and seems to be an average height for a woman coming in at 5’5. I have to say when I read those descriptions I thought of Laurel and Hardy, or Abbott and Costello. I realize some reading this may not know those classic comedic teams but I digress as this is about the book.

Chase and Charlie opens innocently with an introduction to the characters and their unique love of movies. At the same time within that first page the reader will learn that Chase is accused of murder and Charlie will try to clear his name.  The supposed murder takes place after the two go to Chuck E Cheese and win enough tickets for a life-size Chuck E Cheese Doll. The two do get many looks from younger patrons, and their parents, for the win but this is a special night. The plan is to catch the latest Star Trek movie, and one last night out before Chase graduates college. However, they will never see the movie as a blackout happens within the theater and when the lights come back up someone is dead up front and Chase is standing there.

The book will take off from this point and some readers will find the book hard to put down. The reader will get to experience all the things Charlie will do to free her brother. She will go as far as attempting to break into a mental hospital which will leader her to meeting Hogarth, who offers to help her. Hogarth is a janitor of sorts at the hospital who suspect things are not right there and the two will find out how right he is. As they work on showing Chase’s innocence they will uncover so many secrets about the hospital while they race to hide from those who eventually want Charlie stopped from her snooping.

Chase and Charlie uses a wide range of analogies within the book, and references to pop culture. One of my personal favorites is a nod to the old show Hogan’s Heroes which I watched as a kid. The book uses many others which are well timed and show Charlie’s sarcastic character. There are moments of high suspense and danger running throughout the pages. The book is written through the eyes of Charlie which leads to unique perspective on the events as they happen. This will also make sure we know what she’s thinking and what she plans to do to clear her brother. There will be those who find the book to be hard to put down as they begin to read it due to how it’s written. In any case those who enjoy some pop culture mixed in with a suspenseful mystery will enjoy the book. I will advise do not ask questions about where are the parents as that may cause you to over think the situation. Their absence is explained within the pages as well. Readers should just sit back and enjoy the ride you will be taken on within the pages. The book is published by Black Rose Writing.

If you’d like to see the review on its original page (or read any of Knightmist’s other book reviews), you can find Knightmist’s Blog here: https://knightmist.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/chase-and-charlie-by-jessica-a-scott/

Chase and Charlie Excerpt

Good morning everyone!

It has been a little over a month since Chase and Charlie was released, and I would like to thank all of you who read the book already! I really appreciate your support, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Today, though, I thought I would post something for those of you who haven’t read the book yet. Sometimes you need a little taste of something before you decide to commit to it, so I am posting a sample chapter of Chase and Charlie to whet your appetite. It is the first chapter, so you don’t have to know any background information about the characters or the story, and it sets up the plot a bit more thoroughly than just reading the back blurb.

So, without further ado, here is the first chapter of Chase and Charlie! If you like it, I hope you’ll consider reading the whole book. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Chase and Charlie

By Jessica A. Scott

Chapter 1

My big brother is awesome.

Sure, brothers and sisters are supposed to fight all the time, but

Chase and I never have (Don’t worry, my parents don’t understand

it either). Chase is two years older than me and, despite his

enormity (he’s 6’6” and 310 pounds) and my petite-ness (I’m only

5’5”), a lot of people mistake us for twins, possibly because we do

everything together. We go places together, we watch movies

together, we finish each other’s sentences, we read each other’s

minds…well, sort of. In our conversations, there’s never a “Chase”

without a “Charlie,” never a “him” without a “me” right after it;

we’re so close that my mom says we’re basically one soul living in

two bodies.

Chase is my best friend—which is why I had to try to clear his

name when he was framed for murder.

It happened at the movie theater, of all places. Chase and I had

gone to see the new Star Trek flick two nights before his college

graduation. It was supposed to be our last hurrah—our symbolic

last night of fun before he had to go off and join the adults in the

“real world,” where he had already landed an internship as a

physical therapist at the YMCA. To start our night off with a bang,

we had gone to Chuck-E-Cheese, where we had won enough tickets

to combine and exchange for an enormous, life-size Chuck-E-

Cheese doll and a handful of disapproving looks from the younger

kids’ parents. Next came the movie (we left Chuck waiting in the

passenger’s seat of the car to guard our leftover pizza) and after

that, we had planned to go to an all-night mini-golf course, where

we were going to play until one of us got a hole in one (which

probably never would have happened, due to my appalling lack of

coordination and the fact that Chase’s hands made the putter look

like a Barbie doll accessory).

Our night was supposed to be epic. Instead, it was epically

awful.

“Ugh, I hate previews,” Chase groaned as we filed into two seats

toward the middle of the theater.

“What, you don’t like movies about talking dogs?” I asked,

plopping down in my seat and pouring my box of Snocaps into our

gigantic communal bucket of popcorn.

“No, I just don’t want to see all of the funny parts of a movie in

the trailer.” He emptied his box of Sour Patch Kids into the mix as

well. “Half the time, the movie they’re advertising only has about

three funny parts in it altogether, so they show those in the

previews to market it as a comedy and get you hooked—”

“—then you pay to see the movie, expecting it to be hilarious,

but it’s actually some dramedy about a girl who gets impregnated

by some dude she met in a club,” I finished.

“Exactly.”

We had had this conversation before, many times. Chase and I

loved movies. We had seen every movie that had come to that

theater since we were ten years old, even if we had had to scrape

together all of our birthday money or do extra chores around the

house to finance our trip. When we weren’t at the real cinema, we’d

watch movies at home on cable or DVD, or on one of the hundreds

of old VHS tapes our Grandpa Max had left us when he died. Films

were our passion, and just one of the many things that brought us

together when that pesky “real world” kept threatening to pull us

apart.

The lights dimmed a bit lower as the more impressive trailers

began to play, reducing the visibility of the theater to “can barely

see my hand in front of my face” levels. I leaned back in my seat

and shuffled my feet to unstick my sneakers from the floor, then I

fearlessly plunged my hand down into our trademark cesspool of

movie theater snackage.

“Ugh.” I grimaced as my hand squelched against the soggy

popcorn. “We put way too much butter in this.” I took my hand

back out to show it to Chase and we both watched as big, fat

teardrops of golden butter glinted in the light from the cartoon

movie preview on the screen and splashed back down into the

paper bucket.

“I’ll run and get some napkins,” Chase sighed, rolling his eyes as

he squished his extra-large soft drink into his cup holder and stood

up.

“What am I supposed to do while I wait?” I asked, waving my

dripping hand at him.

“Just stick your hand back in there and mix the butter in with

the rest of the popcorn,” he said, shoving my hand back into the

soggy mess. “It’s already all gross anyway.”

“Thanks.” I smirked.

He stuck out his tongue at me in reply, then began his slow,

hulking, disruptive shuffle to the end of the row of seats. A few of

the Trekkies behind us shouted angrily that he was blocking their

view of the whole screen (which, admittedly, he probably was), but

he was eventually able to sidle past everyone to the end of the aisle

and down the carpeted stairs.

I did as Chase suggested and stirred the popcorn, mixing in the

butter with the melting Snocaps. Half-drooling with anticipation of

its gooey goodness, I grabbed an enormous handful of greasy

popcorn, oozing chocolate, and sticky Sour Patch Kids. Just as I was

about to shove the delicious disaster into my salivating mouth, the

lights went out completely, plunging the theater into complete

darkness.

I dropped my popcorn back into the tub.

It was normal for the house lights to go down at the start of a

movie, but the movie wasn’t playing. The screen was just as pitch

black as the rest of the theater, and I couldn’t even make out the

shape of my sticky hand anymore when I waved it in front of my

face.

All around me, people began to shift in their seats, whispering

nervously to each other, as if the darkness imposed some sort of

volume limit.

“What’s going on?” A man yelled from behind me, sounding

oddly panicked (Apparently he didn’t know about the volume

limit).

“Yeah, where’s the movie?” called a gruff-sounding woman

toward the front of the room.

“Chase?” I squeaked, completely inside the noise parameters. It

was a little known fact (except to Chase, of course) that I was—and

am, to this day—deathly afraid of the dark. It seems irrational, yes—

until you consider what kind of things could be lurking in said

darkness, especially in a shadowy movie theater full of possible

perverts and rapists. “Chase?” I whispered again, my heart

pounding so hard in my chest that I was sure that the Trekkies

behind me could hear it.

Slowly, people started to remember that they all had cell

phones. Soon, the theater was filled with tiny, floating squares of

blue light, all bouncing toward the exit. It didn’t help me see any

better, however; it only dazzled me, stinging my eyes and

reminding me of a swarm of lightning bugs bobbing across an

empty, black abyss.

Suddenly, there came the sound of a scuffle from up by the

screen.

The quadrilateral fireflies flocked in that direction as I rooted

myself to my chair, cowering in my fear of nothing and straining to

keep myself from hearing what was going on.

“Help!” a muffled male voice cried out, as most of the fireflies

reached the end of their thirty-second lifespan and flickered out.

There was a loud grunt and a clang, then the sickening, splattering

sound of a pumpkin being smashed to pieces across the carpeted

floor.

Several people screamed, but I didn’t know why.

Who cares? I thought. It was just a pumpkin!

Wasn’t it?

My mind was too alert, too many thoughts were racing through

my brain for me to figure out what was really happening, and the

bright, burning, blistering cell phone lights couldn’t even begin to

penetrate the cloying, suffocating darkness around me. There was

more grunting, more thumping, more cracking, more screaming.

Just as one last, loud, agonized moan reached my ears, the lights

came back up, this time to their full brightness.

Everyone gasped.

All of the people in front of me were staring at the platform

beneath the screen, covering their mouths in horror and disgust.

Some were crying, others were stoic and emotionless as they stared

ahead of them with blank faces, as if they were in shock. One of the

Trekkies behind me stumbled to the aisle and threw up.

I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t want to see anything. I didn’t

know why, but I was sure that my sense of foreboding, for once,

should be heeded, and that I should not, under any circumstances,

look at the platform below. Every neuron in my brain was telling

me to just stay seated, to just wait, to just sit still and stay quiet

until my big brother came back to get me.

But I was standing up.

Against my will, my numb, tingly body brought me to my feet,

to stand atop my jelly-legs.

I took a deep breath and looked down at the platform.

I felt the popcorn bucket fall to the ground, brushing wetly

against my pant leg, as I met Chase’s eyes beneath the blank white

screen.

It was him. He had been the one grunting, the one groaning, the

one smashing the pumpkin (it was a pumpkin, right?). He was what

everyone had heard, what everyone was gaping at with a mixture

of fear and anger.

He was holding a bat. A shiny, silver, aluminum baseball bat

covered in something that not even my delusional brain could

confuse with pumpkin guts.

“Don’t look, Charlotte,” Chase plead, in a whisper that carried

to me through the now-silent theater as well as if he had shouted it.

“Please, don’t look.”

But I looked.

I looked at his red-stained clothes, at his wide, panicked brown

eyes staring out at me from the depths of his pallid, blood-streaked

face. I looked at the bloody bat in his hand. I looked at his oncewhite,

now-crimson tennis shoes. Most of all, though, I looked at

the battered, bleeding, broken body of the man that lay on the floor

at his feet—the man that everyone in that theater knew had just

been killed by my big brother.

That’s when I fainted.

(To read more, you can purchase Chase and Charlie from Black Rose Writing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or other major booksellers. See the “Books” page for links.)

First Author Interview!

Recently, I had the opportunity to do an interview with Kathy Reinhart for her website, Ink Drop Interviews. It was my very first interview as an author, and I think it went very well!  (Even if my answers are a bit wordy…) I am posting the link below, so you can check it out and let me know what you think!

http://inkdropinterviews.com/2015/06/04/jessica-a-scott/

 

Chase and Charlie Publication Day (and my author origin story)

One of my actual Young Authors Medals

When I was in the first grade, I entered a city-wide writing contest, The Young Authors Competition. I wrote a story about a talking dog named Toby (named after my real dog, who, unfortunately, did not talk), and Tiger Lilly (named after a stuffed white tiger I’d had since I was a baby). Being a first grader, I didn’t stand much chance of winning the whole shebang, but I was the winner in my class. It was the first time I’d ever really won anything besides a spelling bee, and I was ecstatic—especially after I got a big medal for it that made it look like I’d won the Olympics.

But the actual winning wasn’t really what stuck out to me. What stuck out for me—what put me on the path that I’m still following almost twenty years later–was that my teacher, Ms. Kamber, told me that I was really good at writing stories.

I had always known that I liked reading and writing and making up stories, but it had never really occurred to me before that moment that I could combine all of those things into something so fun and fulfilling. And she said I was good at it!

So, from then on, I spent more and more time writing, getting better and better at it as I got older. I won several more Young Authors medals (some for sequels to “Toby and Tiger Lilly”) and some other bigger contests too. By the eighth grade, I KNEW—knew deep down in my gut—that I wanted to be a novelist. My teacher then, Sister Maureen, was a tough woman to please, but she said that I had a real talent too (even if my submission for Young Authors that year was at least fifteen pages too long to be considered…). Her approval and encouragement felt more “official” than any I had gotten before. I was 13 now, for heaven’s sake! I was an adult! And I was being taken seriously by someone who really seemed to know good writing from bad. That is when I realized that maybe I didn’t just WANT to be a novelist. Maybe I already was one.

In first grade I was given a purpose, and in eighth I was given the confidence to pursue it. A lot of things have happened since then; a lot more people have come in and out of my life, encouraging me or steering me in better directions, and there have been plenty of ups and down and doubts and opportunities, but I will never forget those two incidents. Writing is hard and publishing is a hundred times harder, but since the eighth grade, I have never once doubted that I would eventually succeed as a writer. It’s not because I think I’m the best, or that I have something that other people don’t have (in fact, I’m more convinced now than ever that everyone has the potential to make their own dream a reality, as long as they try hard enough). It is simply because writing is what I am meant to do, it is who I am. And I am never going to give up on it.

Today, after a lot of setbacks and disappointments and hope and hard work, my determination has finally paid off. My first published novel, Chase and Charlie, is now officially on sale from Black Rose Writing. It took a lot of time and effort to get here, and I still have a long way to go, but today, I can consider myself a full-fledged, published author.

My six-year-old self would be proud. : )

 

Chase and Charlie is available now from Black Rose Writing.
http://www.blackrosewriting.com/suspensethriller/chase-and-charlie
It will also be available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s sites in 5-10 days.

CHASE AND CHARLIE NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!

As of right now, Chase and Charlie is officially available for download exclusively from the Black Rose Writing Website:

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/suspensethriller/chase-and-charlie

If you order before May 28th, you can get a 10% discount by using the promo code: PREORDER2015.

(If you order ahead of time, you should get the book very close to its release date.)

Thank you to every one who made this possible, and to everyone who orders a copy of the book, regardless of when you order it. I really appreciate you all.