Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 154

Wednesday Worthy

My flight is at 6:25 am and I’m off to NY. But a couple days ago, Wizard said, “So do you have a back up RITA Dress?”

I was like…”WHAT?”

“You know, in case something happens?”

I’m in the kitchen, staring at him like he morphed into a demon and was eating all my chocolate. “What’s going to happen? Is this because you think I’m too fat for the dress?” Okay my voice may have pitched up to a tad hysterical. My thoughts were spinning with regret and worry. Plus I need to point out that this was right before CAGED MAGIC came out and I may have been a tad stressed.

He rolled his eyes. “I think you look hot in the dress. Calm down. I just mean, what if you spill wine on it? Or something random happens.”

Now I’m picturing the straps breaking and OMG A WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!

Wizard peered closely at me. “Are you okay?”

Is he freaking kidding me? I’m practically hyperventilating until I realized how ridiculous this is. It’s just a dress. So I snapped upright, pretended that I was walking up stairs to a stage, thanked everyone for the lovely award and added, “You all can see how graceful I am by the big red wine stain on my dress, any bets on if I make it down these stairs?” Then I grinned at Wizard. “And that’s how it’s done. If I were to win and if something happened to the dress.”

Wizard cracked up. “That’s my Witch.”

Seriously. I was freaking out over a dress. Life is way to short for that! Nothing will happen, but if it does, I’ll figure it out. Unless it’s a wardrobe malfunction…LOLOL!

I’ll try to check in on Friday and post a few conference pics if I have them (I forget to take pictures).

A quick reminder, you can follow the CAGED MAGIC blog tour here.

So while I’m gone, is this guy worthy enough to keep you all entertained?

Muscular man bodybuilder. Man posing on a black background, shows his muscles. Bodybuilding, posing, black background, muscles – the concept of bodybuilding. Article about bodybuilding.

 

 

And They’re Back!

The Wing Slayer Hunters are back! It’s here, release day for CAGED MAGIC! Assuming all the vendors released the book as promised, it should be live!

Linc Dillinger is one of those unexpected characters who walked into my mind at the beginning of the second book in the series, SOUL MAGIC, and refused to leave until he found and saved his witch. Nothing deterred him: Not when the original publisher dropping the series, not when the second publisher wanted the series but we couldn’t come to terms that worked for both of us, and not even when my youngest son was seriously injured and my life came to a screeching halt.

In the case of that last one — Linc totally approved by the way. He’s all about moms putting their kids first. Believe me on that.

But then, my oh-so-patient Linc got tired of waiting and he haunted me relentlessly, saddling me with an ugly case of insomnia until I wrote the book. I had to…or Linc was never ever going to leave me alone.

So yesterday, I asked Linc, “Dude are you nervous? I am, I want readers to love you.”

He shook his head. “You don’t get it, do you, Lyon?”

“What?”

“It wasn’t about that for me. It was about her, about Risa. She’s the reason I breathe.”

Well okay then. So the Magic is back and I hope you enjoy the book that Linc was absolutely determined to make happen.

Kindle / Amazon Print /  iBooks / B&N Nook / Google Play / Kobo

 

And if you want to follow the CAGED MAGIC BLOG TOUR (grand prize a $50.00 gift card, and two runner up prizes of $25.00 gift cards), you can click here or if the pretty little giveaway widget below works, click there. (Widgets sometimes work for me, other times they just laugh in my face and refuse to work).

Entry-Form

So I’m boarding a plane obnoxiously early Wednesday morning for New York and I’m not sure exactly when I’ll post to the blog again, but I’ll try! I would like to mention that I am honored to have HER TEMPORARY HERO nominated for two award. First is the National Readers Choice Award give by the Oklahoma Chapter of RWA. This is a special award that is well-known and highly valued in author-circles because it really is about the readers. The second award is the RITA Award, a very prestigious award given out by Romance Writers of America. To be nominated for that takes my breath away.  It doesn’t matter if I win, just the nominations are cherished moments in my career.

But in my day-to-day life it’s all of you that I value. You guys are the reason that I keep writing, and hanging out here on the blog brings a smile to my face.

So how was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

It’s Friday and I am all kinds of happy!

While I wouldn’t say I’m caught up, I didn’t a ton of work this week to get on top of the blog tours (okay I’m laughing because Anna is doing two tons of work–whatever…we can’t all be Amazing Anna) but I feel like I can dive into next week with at least a chance of retaining some sanity.

So Wizard finished reading CAGED MAGIC days ago. He closed the book and said, “Forget the contemporary series you want to write, you have to write the next Wing Slayer Hunter book. Get on that.”

This is pretty dang funny since he’s been bugging me to write the contemporary series. Even funnier is when Wizard suddenly stops whatever he’s doing, grabs his head and yells. “Soul screams! I have soul screams!”  (Soul screams are in the book, and trust me when I say he’s not doing it right but his version is much funnier.) Or if I’m walking by him, he’ll turn his back to me and say, “Touch my wings.”

I try not to laugh but…yeah, we all know I cracked up and just encourage him.

And then on Wednesday, I was working away on some blog or interview, and Wizard comes into my office. “So Monday is the big day, huh?”

I frantically tried to think. I’m not leaving for New York until Wednesday so what did he mean? “Uh…Monday is my hair appointment?” That’s all I could think of.

He busted out laughing IN MY FACE.  “Release day for CAGED MAGIC? That ringing a bell?”

**Face Meet Palm**  I’ve been juggling so many things this week, I totally blanked.

Wizard walked out of my office laughing his ass off.

I’m excited and scared for Monday. I really can’t predict how this is going to go, but I know this, I kept my promise to the fans and that truly makes me happy. Now if only I could write faster!

This weekend I’m cleaning and tying up loose ends.  What are your weekend plans?

Wednesday Worthy!

Bet you’re all thinking, “Jen’s got a big release on Monday, she’ll be promoting on the blog today.”

Um…nope. It’s Wednesday Worthy and who is our candidate? Do you want to see? Hmm??? (Nod yes, because trust me, you reaalllly do!) I borrowed him from the Romance at Random website and asked him real nice to come on over here and hang with us for the day. He obliged, although he looks a little tired. Be I don’t think you’ll mind…

 

So what do you think, is he worth of hanging out here with us for the day?

Weekend Roundup

One More Week!! After all this time, worry and work, I can’t believe CAGED MAGIC is almost here.

Pre-order Links

Kindle  /  iBooks  /  Nook  / Kobo  / Google Play

I spent most of this weekend working on blogs and interviews for the two books (Caged Magic releases 7/20 and Exposing the Heiress releases 8/4). One of the interview questions I struggle with is: “Tell us about yourself.” Umm, I’m not that interesting. I realize I probably think that because I’m around myself all the time and therefore, immune to my charm (SHUT UP, WIZARD! I CAN SO BE CHARMING IF I WANT TO…AND I’M TIPSY.) Seriously, Wizard’s on the last few chapters of Caged Magic, so lets not interrupt him okay? He already snapped at me once for bugging him while reading. Which is pretty ironic since he chatters to me all the freaking time while I’m reading, but whatever…

What was I saying?

Oh right…so I’m tempted to make stuff up about myself to sound more interesting. Here’s a few ideas I could lead with:

–Since I was never actually convicted of the crime…

–I’d love to tell you but being in Witness Protection means I’m forbidden.

–After I woke up from the coma, I couldn’t remember who I was. Do you know me? What’s my name? And also, where’s my dog?

–If I tell you, the people in my head will hear…

–I see dead people (because come on, who hasn’t wanted to say that?)

But of course, I do none of these things because bloggers and readers are asking sincere questions, and I truly want to hang out and chat with them. I just would love to share more interesting stuff about me. Although, there was the time a neighbor was stabbed right in front of my apartment seconds after I went inside (true story, actually) but that’s pretty hard to work into “Hi I’m Jen, I write books, and also my neighbor once saved my life…” Somehow that just sounds awkward and a little creepy, LOL!

So how was your weekend?

TGIF!!

Who else is happy it’s Friday?

I’m in a working-light mode. I am working but not at the frantic pace I was for most of the year, so it’s a nice breather for me. I’ve accepted that I’m not going to really start a new book until after I get back from N.Y. Just editing first four Wing Slayer Hunter book files, writing promo blogs, answering interview questions and trying to keep up.

Oh! And Wizard is reading CAGED MAGIC. I had the print proof copy sitting around, and he picked it up and started reading yesterday. He was at the half way point this morning when a sprinkler pipe sprung a leak so he had to put the book down. For the past 24 hours I’ve been getting random comments like:

“How is Risa going to get out of this lie?”

“What about the baby? What happens when Linc finds out the truth?”

“I hope Ram and Ginny  **  again.” (I had to bleep that word — let’s just say that Wizard was blunt. And worried about Ram and Ginny — who have small point-of-view scenes in CAGED MAGIC.)

“Shield witches? Witch hunters? Demons, spawns and angels? How do you come up with this stuff? Should I be worried?” (He plots a lot of this with me, but seeing it in the context of the story is vastly different.)

“Get out of my reading room! Can’t you see I’m busy?” (I pointed out that “This isn’t your reading room, dude, THIS IS MY UPSTAIRS OFFICE!” To which Wizard replied, “You were on the phone, it’s my reading room now. Go away.”)

And so much more. Just random, off the cuff comments. But one thing I’m happy about is that Wizard is following the book with no problems. He only read Blood Magic years ago so that likely means those who haven’t read the series won’t be too lost. Also, Wizard isn’t a reader and he seems pretty hooked.

Today I’m hoping to find a couple little things I need for my NY trip, and then I’m meeting Biker Witch (my sister) for coffee. I’m also writing more blogs, more interviews, trying to stay on top of it all. Nothing exciting on tap this weekend.

How about you guys? What are your weekend plans?

Wednesday Worthy

Biker Witch (my sister) has thrown down a bet. If I win the Rita for HER TEMPORARY HERO I have to buy her a Starbucks coffee. LOLOL!! I’m totally going to win and she has to buy me a Starbucks! And the prices at Starbucks just went up, so I’m going to order something very expensive and enjoy it immensely. That will teach her to torment with texts like, “…after you have to get up and speak in front of thousands of people when you win…”

Not going to happen. And I will get a free Starbucks coffee out of it! I’ll take pictures when I collect my winnings and share with you all

But now let’s get to Wednesday Worthy.

 

It’s David Gandy! (Photo from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/... ) So what do you think? Is Gandy worthy?

Favorite Tips To Writers

Happy Monday! Hope everyone who celebrated Independence Day in the U.S. had a great time. We stayed home and really enjoyed it. I got some real downtime in this weekend.

I’m also working on promo blogs for the two blog tours and started thinking about some of the best advice I’ve gotten over the years. I wanted to share these four with you guys (although they may be repeated in my blog tours ):

1) No one will believe in you until you believe in yourself. This was before I was published and I was whining to a friend about people not taking me seriously as a writer and wondering if I would ever make it. My friend looked me dead in the eye and said, “No one will believe in you until you believe in yourself.” That was a light bulb moment for me. Why was I looking elsewhere for validation? I started treating myself as pursuing a professional writing career, not a hobbyist. And I quit looking for validation from everyone else. Instead of talking about my career goals, I focused on believing in myself and achieving them. Believing in myself help me focus on my goals, and once we do that, we begin achieving our goals.

2) The only one standing in your way is you. I believe this was way back when I decided to try to write paranormal and I was scared, throwing out excuses. One of my writer friends, Marianne Donley, told me the I was the only one standing in my way and it stuck. It’s very much like the time I was talking to my oldest son about colleges. I was helping him fill out paperwork for the state university, while he was telling me his high school councilors told him he “should be going to an Ivy League school.” He absolutely he had the grades, intelligence and drive. But this was a life lesson. His dad and I had clear goals about what we wanted to teach them, so I explained, “We are not paying for college. We will help, and the harder you work to make things happen for yourself, the more we will help. But if you think an Ivy League school is the way to go, then you go out and make it happen. Don’t ever let your dad and I stand in  your way. Ever. If you want it, you can make it happen.” Oldest son has done well — it doesn’t matter what path he chose, but he made his life happen and is very successful now. This is exactly what Marianne meant — the only one standing in your way is you. If you want it, then you work your butt off, as hard and long as it takes, to make it happen. No excuses.

3) Never tone down one character to match the other. This was advice from Laura Wright. It was when I was revising a book, maybe Blood Magic, and the editor felt my hero was overshadowing my heroine. My editor suggested I “tone down” the hero. Laura and I were discussing the revisions and I told her that. Her response was NO, NO, NO and NO. Never water down a character (unless he’s an offensive jerk), but bring the heroine up to match your hero. I did that and it worked. It was harder than just toning down the hero, but it made for a much better book. A stronger heroine to meet a powerful hero automatically creates more conflict.

4) If a scene isn’t working, even if that scene is “gold,” dump it. Cut it. Get rid of it! This one is my advice to myself and one I’ve repeated over and over, especially in the last few years It just happened in Caged Magic. I had a scene of Linc and Risa spending some time together, laughing and building a rocket. My reasoning was trying to give the two characters a lighter-falling-in-love moment in a darker book, and at the same time, reveal more about the characters. It totally worked, except for one thing — Risa’s beloved baby was missing and there she is laughing, playing, flirting and falling in love while her godchild is out there in the hands of a demon spawn. The scene was well written (my editor said), but it didn’t belong in this book where it clashed with Risa’s internal and external motivations. And it was going to make any mother out there pissed at Risa. My editor suggested I keep the scene, but tone down some of the fun and cast more of a shadow of worry over it. To quote Laura, NO NO NO and NO.  That scene belonged in a fun contemporary book not a dark paranormal. If I’d tweaked it, I would have been forcing a square peg into a round hole. Instead, I kept the key dialogue in the scene that revealed character  and brutally cut the rest. Then I took the opportunity to write a new action scene where the two of them are trying to find the baby, and threaded in the dialogue. It made a huge difference in the book, and showcased Risa in a much better light. And it ended up showing them connecting on a deeper level than my original scene. Don’t be afraid to dump a scene and take the opportunity to up your game in the book. Yeah, I had to put some serious time and sweat into doing it, but the story improved dramatically.

So there’s some of my favorite advice to writers.

Now it’s your turn. If you’d like to share your advice or thoughts, I’d love to hear it. Or tell me if you had a good weekend, I always lover to hear what you guys are up to.

Happy Friday & Happy 4th of July

I can’t believe I leave for New York in 19 days! Where is time going? I’m trying to get all my promo work done before hand since I’ll be leaving two days after Caged Magic releases, then Exposing the Heiress will release less than ten days after I return. It’ll be a whirlwind, but it’s fine. The bummer is I haven’t started writing a new book yet, but that’s just part of the business.

I am bugging Wizard for a dog (only halfheartedly, because we both have mixed feelings), but that ended up in a bet dirty, sexy bet involving chocolate chips and a video. We then got into heated negotiations on the terms of the bet and dissolved into manic laughter before we could actually do anything too wild or crazy. Seriously, we really should have adult supervision. Things have only gotten WORSE since Wizard retired. We are a bad influence on young minds or puppies…just saying…

Anyway, let’s move on, shall we? It’s a holiday weekend–July 4th–here in the states. Wizard and I are staying home, probably making some tri-tip steak, and hanging out by the pool. See? Sometimes we can act like adults. I’m also thinking I will finally break down and make him brownies–if he makes me a margarita, and once margaritas are flowing, well…then I can’t promise we’ll act like adults…

What are your plans this weekend?

 

 

Wednesday Worthy

It’s so cool to get some advanced feedback on CAGED MAGIC and it’s good! Things like this one on Goodreads:

I rarely give 5 stars to books, I always give 4 stars because on those books there is always something missing. But with this one, I couldn’t find a reason to not give this book less than a 5, if there was a number higher than a 5, I would give it in a heartbeat, because this book had everything.

I know, I sound like Sally Field at the Oscars, “You like me, you really like me!” LOLOL!! Of course, not every reader will feel the same way, but this is a huge relief and happy dance for me. Since only my editor, copy editor and formatter had seen the book before it went out, I was a tad nervous. (Ignore Wizard’s choking sarcasm  A tad nervous? You haven’t slept more than four hours in weeks! He’s just amusing himself)

Okay so just one more thing then we’ll move on. I have all the pre-order links except B&N. I should have that one today — it just wasn’t showing up when I checked yesterday as B&N was doing some site maintenance. If you’d like to check out pre-orders that I have so far they are:

Kindle

iBooks/iTunes

Kobo

Google Play

 

And now for Wednesday Worthy Candidate.

 

So what do you think, is he worthy?