Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 152

My Mom’s Gift To Me

I’m feeling a little sentimental here  If you haven’t heard, Her Temporary Hero hit the USA Today List this week at #108

Her Temporary Hero
by  Jennifer Apodaca
 (Entangled Indulgence)
in Romance




USA TODAY BEST-SELLING BOOKS

# 108

this week

Debuted: September 10 2015

Former beauty queen Becky Holmes and her baby are on the run and wealthy Logan Knight can help; second in series

 

It’s pretty awesome especially since Her Temporary Hero has been out for over a year.  Once, hitting a list only happened during the first week or two of release, then the book was dead.  But now, if all the stars line up–and it’s a combination of having the right book, pure luck and a ton of strategy — then it can happen.

I’m thrilled! It’s my first time on the list. But you know what really surprised me? The second I found out Her Temporary Hero hit the list, my one huge regret was that my mom wasn’t here to see this. My mom was a very realistic woman who fully understood  life can be unfair and we have to work damn just to survive. But she believed in me and my dream from the moment I told her I wanted to write a book. She would give me money for my birthday so I could buy research books. Wizard and I had three kids and lived on a very tight budget, but Mom would do things like that. (FYI, so did Wizard. He’d set aside money we couldn’t afford so I could pay writing expenses or go to a class.)

Back to my mom — unfortunately, was very sick by the time I first sold.  In fact, when the editor called to offer me my first contract, I missed the call because I was in the emergency room with my mom. But that didn’t stop her from telling everyone — doctors, nurses, x-ray technicians, and in one case–the paramedics I’d called after she passed out, that her daughter was a published author. Even at the very end when I sat at the foot of her bed as she struggled to breathe, she asked me if I was ready to handle success. She believed in me that much.

Sadly, she passed away before my first book came out so she never got to hold it in her hands.

So when I got the email that I’d hit the list, all I could think of was I wanted to tell Mom that her belief in me was validated. But last night I woke up at 3am and realized something. My mom left me with a tremendous gift that lives on — she believed. Sometimes all we need is someone to believe in us.

And that’s what I wanted to share with all of you. I believe in YOU. It won’t be easy, my friends. But if we believe in each other, we can do this! Keep building our dreams one step, and one day, at a time.

Wednesday Worthy

I’m done with the blurbs for the first four Wing Slayer Hunter books! Soul Magic, Night Magic and Sinful Magic are at the formatter! Once we have the pre-order links, we then add those (and any corrections),  then re-upload them and then HOPE the retailers send out the right file. But the biggest chunk of my work is done!  I’m happy about that!

But did I make the right decision spending a significant amount of time and $$ re-releasing these and continuing the series? There is no way to know for sure. I took a chance, and a rather huge risk. We shall see. I will let you know in about by Thanksgiving. This is the series I just couldn’t let go.

Now for a bit of good news. I got an email last night that I made Entangled’s top ten list…twice. HER TEMPORARY HERO is #1 and THE BABY BARGAIN is #5. That made me very happy! So totally unexpected for those two books to take off during Entangled’s 99¢ sale! These days, even older books have a burst of new life. So cool!

And now for Wednesday Worthy. This guy is a rerun, but he makes me think of a vacation at the beach and right now, I would love to be on a beach vacation where it’s cool at night and I can hear the waves.

 

So what do you think — is he vacation worthy?

Weekend Roundup!

For all U.S. friends HAPPY LABOR DAY!! Hope you get a day of rest and fun!

So yesterday I was working. No really, Wizard was off doing guy stuff, and I had the house to myself. I finished the edits on Sinful Magic and got it all ready for the formatter. All I needed to do was get the blurb for that book in shape.

Then this beautiful girl came out.

 

This is Roxy. She’s the dog. The blue shirt and arm belong to Youngest Son’s girlfriend, who is also beautiful. This was Roxy’s first time in Youngest Son’s prized Jeep Once they came over, I dropped work instantly because I adore Roxy (and I adore Youngest son and his girlfriend beyond words).

But Oh Roxy…such a smart girl! She’s the type of dog that looks at you as you’re talking, and it FEELs like she understands every word.  We played, Roxy showed me her tricks and then she relaxed while Youngest, Girlfriend and I chatted. Roxy was such a pleasure to have over for a few hours. Exactly the break I needed.

Today I’ll finish the blurb and send off Sinful Magic to the formatter. Blood Magic is up for pre-order right now for 99¢, and Soul Magic, Night Magic and Sinful Magic will be up soon at $2.99 each. If you’d like to pre-order Blood Magic, here are the links:

Kindle / Nook / iTunes / Kobo / Google Play

So how was your weekend? Are you off today? Any special plans?

 

Happy Friday!

A crazy busy week!

The best part? HER TEMPORARY HERO took off after Entangled put it on sale and placed a Bookbub ad. I was stunned but happily so!

Worst part? Writing the same freaking blurbs. True story, yesterday Wizard came in the house, looked at my wild eyes and said, “Uh, what’s going?”

“The blurbs! Especially Soul Magic, which I can’t get right!”

He backed up a step. “You mean the same ones you’ve been working on?”

Tearing at my hair, I snapped, “Yes. Stupid, freaking–”

“Uh, yeah, gotta go Witch! Later!” And he grabbed his wallet, muttered something about being out of propane for the BBQ and vanished.

No idea why getting propane was such an emergency since I had dinner cooking in the crock pot. Seriously, I’m not that bad  (Just don’t ask Anna, she’ll agree with Wizard when it comes be me and blurbs!)

And now for a little fun! CPA Boy and Special K (oldest son and his wife) have a new addition to their family. Meet Max:

He’s a six month old Maltipoo who needed a home so they took him. He’s all of seven pounds. CPA Boy calls him Max Muscles. Wizard and I haven’t met him yet, but we will soon!

Here is their entire pack:

That’s Cookie on the left, Corky in the center and Max on the right.

This weekend I’m working and cleaning bathrooms. I know…you’re all jealous, right? What are you doing?

Wednesday Worthy

This year, I stopped going to the gym as I just couldn’t do the workouts anymore. So I began walking in my neighborhood, which sounds pretty easy…except it’s hills and I was doing 2 miles.  It’s a stress relief, gets me away from the computer and out of the house, and I listen to audio books. This is one of the rare times I can get my brain to take a break.

But three different doctors, one after another said STOP WALKING ON STREETS AND HILLS. It’s killing your bad ankle, and causing other issues.

I ignored them, sure I could force my ankle and the rest of my joints to get with the program. I explained all this to the fourth doctor, my RA doc, who basically said, “You need to knock that crap off, adjust your routine to deal with reality. Nobody’s saying you can’t exercise, but you have to be smart about it.”

Finally, I paid attention. First I switched to a flat track at a school and reduced time and frequency to let my ankle rest. Once school was back in session and the track closed to the public, I began going to a big park and I’m increasing my time, distance and frequency. So far, my ankle is doing reasonably well and I’m starting to feel better overall. I’m not going to be pain free, but it’s manageable. My goal is to eventually get back to the gym, and feel stronger.

Hmm, maybe I should listen to the doctors? When I say stuff like that, my RA doc gets this little smile that translates into, “You think?”

And what does all this have to do with our Wednesday Worthy Candidate? Let’s just call it motivation to get back to the gym

 

 

What do you think, is he worthy?

Weekend Roundup

Growing up I was a bit of a tomboy. I hated playing with dolls, and mostly swam, skated and rode my bike. I also loved to build forts, play with my dog and that kind of thing. I’m sure a lot of that came from having two older brothers.

These days,  I rarely think about it. Until the other night when we went to the fun party for BLB’s girlfriend’s birthday and had a really good time. We love her. But it was a pool party so I, you know, got in the pool. And swam, played and finally realized I was the ONLY WOMAN MY AGE DOING THIS.

The rest sat in chairs in the shallow end, with cute hats, pretty drinks and delicate shrills if they got splashed.

Umm….they possibly, maybe, sort of got splashed when I did a cannonball because CPA Boy did one and so…I had to do a BETTER one. (I did!! I rocked that cannonball! But CPA Boy later did an awesome somersault into the pool, and no way in hades am I doing that!)

Fine I’ll admit it, I’m still a tomboy. Except when it comes to snakes, then I’m a full on screaming girl.

But we had a great time! It was fun, and her family and friends were wonderful and totally accepting of me and my tomboy tendencies, LOL!

On the work side of things, the editor sent back Soul Magic and Night Magic, so I’ll get those files cleaned and ready for formatting and try to settle on the dreaded blurbs (ugh, I stress so danged much over those!). In a couple weeks, all this will be done and the pre-orders all up and ready to go, which will be awesome! Then I can get back to the business of writing full time, I can’t wait!

So how was your weekend?

Happy Friday Covers! Pre-order is up!

And here they are! The covers for the first four Wing Slayer Hunter books I’m re-publishing!

BLOOD MAGIC (Book 1) is up for pre-order now! Only 99 cents!

Kindle /  iBooks  /  Nook  /  Google Play  (coming soon to Kobo)

Release Date: October 5, 2105

SOUL MAGIC (Book 2)

Release Date: October 19, 2015 Pre-order Coming Soon!

 

NIGHT MAGIC (Book 3)

Release Date: November 2, 2015 Pre-order Coming Soon!

SINFUL MAGIC (Book 4)

Release Date: November 16, 2015 Pre-order Coming Soon!

All the covers were designed by Jaycee DeLorenzo of Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs. I really enjoy working with her!

So that’s my exciting news for the week! My proofreading notes for the next three books will be arriving in the next week, and I’ll get those cleaned up, formatted, then up for pre-order in the next couple weeks. It’s so fun to see it all start to come together after all the work!

Oh and the editor going over the books  texted me yesterday morning,  “I’d have had them back to you earlier if I hadn’t caught myself reading for pleasure.” Love that!!

And now onto the weekend. Saturday we’re going to BLB (youngest son’s) girlfriend’s birthday pool party. Wizard and I are both looking forward to that. Then it’s more work I’m still struggling to find time to work on the new book, but that’s okay, all this is just part of the job.

What are your weekend plans?

Wednesday Worthy

I hate waiting on stuff to get done by other people!

Okay now that I have that out of the way, let’s talk about Wednesday Worthy. So here’s our candidate:

Is he worthy enough for YOUR name to go on the blank line?

Weekend Roundup

A friend and I went to Fashion Island in Newport Beach.  I don’t think I’ve ever been there, probably because it’s high end and I’m…not But we were going just for fun and to have lunch. I can afford that!

So first we did some car shopping and I snapped a picture of this beauty. It’s a Tesla…and way out of my price range. I snapped a pic and sent it to Wizard, saying, “You wish.”

 

Then we somehow innocently stumbled on PUPPIES!! They were so cute! I fell in love with every single one, but I sent Wizard this picture of an English bulldog (trust me, this face was soooo cute in person!) and said,

“Can we have him?”

 

And Wizard’s reply? “YOU WISH!!!”

Crap. Foiled by my own clever words! So I sent him this pic and said, “I read him your mean text.”

 

Wizard texted back, “Bring him home in a Tesla and we have a deal.”

Dang the man drives a hard bargain.

So then I went on to look at sunglasses. Found one pair I liked —  $325.00!!! Um…no thank you. I’d rather spend the money on a dog that would pay me back a million times over in love and fun than a pair of sunglasses. Sheesh! (And no I wouldn’t buy a dog from a shop. I spent years working at an animal shelter, that would be the most likely place I’d get a dog or through a connection.)

But all was not lost! I found an inexpensive necklace for me and a birthday present I needed to get. Plus we had a blast.

In book news, we’re working on the re-release of Wing Slayer Hunter books, and the pre-order for Blood Magic should be up in a week! As long as everyone stays on time, it should all come together. That will free me up to spend real time on my new series. Once I get this first book drafted, then I need to write the next Wing Slayer Hunter book.

How was your weekend?

Quick Rant and then It’s Friday!

This is one of those blogs that are that has two sides, first a rant and then I totally flip-flop into fun chatter.

First up the rant: I detest people who maliciously hurt animals for no reason. It’s disgusting and repulsive coward-trolls who would do something this awful. Someone in So Cal is pouring battery acid on dogs. WARNING: I’m going to provide you with a link to a golden retriever who had battery acid poured on him — it’s hard to see so only click if you are up to it. The point of the story is this: Awesome people are taking care of this amazing dog and he’s making a full recovery. He will go to a home where he is loved. Evil people could NOT destroy this dog’s spirit. As horrible as this story is, this dog will have a happy ending. Here is the link but again, only click on it if you can handle it.

I wish this dog’s happy ending was with me But I honestly think he’ll get the absolute best home for him. I’m going to check in on this story just in case he doesn’t end up in a home, then I’ll drive way the heck out there and meet him. But I really think he’ll find the right home for him, probably with people better qualified than me to handle any special needs he may end  up having.

Okay…now for the flip side we’re going to leave the rant and go onto happier things. Yay it’s Friday! I know, it’s hard to care after reading a story like that, but we don’t let evil ruin our lives, right? So I have a Wizard story. You know how you all think Wizard is the sane one in our relationship? Oh come on, admit it. You’re all secretly thinking I’m the crazy one.

Well…

Last night Wizard was talking about my book CAGED MAGIC, only he was calling the hero Gabe. I was reading at the time, so I heard his mistake but ignored it.

Wizard, however, caught himself. “Wait, Gabe isn’t the right name, is it, Witch?”

“Nope.” I kept on reading.

“What is the right name?” Wizard asked.

I gave up reading. “Linc.”

“Right,  Linc.” Then he frowned. “So who is Gabe?”

“You’re thinking of Gabe Pulizzi from way back to the Samantha Shaw Series.” In case you’re wondering, the first book in that series was Dating Can Be Murder — I think it came out about 13 years ago. Time flies!

“Oh. Right!” Wizard said.  “Now I remember.”

I picked up my Kindle, thinking I could, you know, read.  In peace. Without answering a two million questions. But nope.

“You know what?” Wizard asked.

“What?” I was distracted because I was reading about SWAT officers who are also werewolves. Hot, sexy, werewolves. I may not have been giving Wizard my full attention.

“You need to invite all your characters over for dinner.”

“Um…what?” I put down my Kindle. Wizard had all my attention now.

“That way, I can talk to them all, get to know them better and I won’t get confused.” He looked at me with total sincerity.

I blinked. Then blinked again. “You want me to invite all the characters in my books over to our house for dinner?”

He nodded. “We’ll have a dinner party. We can make ribs and chicken. No wait, there’s a lot of them, maybe fajitas would be easier.” He went on rambling off plans until I burst out laughing.

SERIOUSLY THIS HAPPENED! Wizard said it and I wasn’t even drinking wine! I was just sitting there, minding my own business, when Wizard said this!

Now who is the crazy one??? Hmm???

Hope you all have a great weekend!