Jaclyn Paul's Blog, page 3

SHE’S NOT HOME: A NOVEL Coming April 25, 2023

Hey everyone! Between now and the release date, I’m going to keep this post pinned to my blog and update it with info about all things She’s Not Home. That includes preorder links, launch party info, and more details about how you can help spread the word about the book! Questions? Please ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to track down the answers

She’s Not Home launch event and preorder information

Please save the date for our launch event on April 25, 2023 at The Ivy Bookshop...

How to support authors you love

I get a lot of questions from my social circle about how to support my work. (Thank you, friends!) As a primary measuring stick of authorial success, book sales get a lot of attention. However, I consider them only a small piece of the puzzle. There are so many things you can do beyond purchasing a single book. You can even support your favorite authors without spending any money at all!

I’m going to round up my favorites here. Feel free to leave your suggestions or questions in the comments!...

On editing Roald Dahl, and what I’d want for my own books decades from now

I scrolled into an interesting article/headline the other day: Big-Five publisher Puffin is implementing “extensive changes” across legendary author Roald Dahl’s catalog of children’s books. Some strike me more as modernization — replacing masculine plural nouns with gender-neutral ones — while others explicitly aim to remove offensive language.

This is a thought-provoking issue for me as an author. It’s also one I expect to be seized upon by both political poles. Regardless of where you stan...

The magic of fifty words a day

I used to be really into New Year’s resolutions. Also, lofty goals and all manner of similar endeavors that look good on paper but inspire disappointment and self-criticism in real life. It felt good to tell myself — and the people around me, let’s be real — I was an ambitious person. The sort to set impressive goals and achieve them.

To offer an update several months later, not so much.

And that’s the rub with ambitious goal-setting. Maybe it works for some people, but it’s never really w...

Book review: Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder (middle grade)

When did you read your first serious novels? I remember the latter half of elementary school as a time of discovering dark stories, complex characters, books that grappled with big scary issues. Sometimes this was because I’d raided my parents’ collection of horror and dystopian fiction, but oftentimes not. When my own kiddo reached this age, I realized I’d forgotten how dark children’s literature can be.

I mean, Bridge to Terabithia, anyone?

Orphan Island

I grabbed this from the bo...

Book review: A Hand to Hold in Deep Water by Shawn Nocher

I don’t consider myself a book blogger or bookstagrammer, but people seemed to appreciate when I posted an actual review on Instagram the other day. Maybe I should get back in the habit?

If I’m going to get back in the habit, though, I want to cross post my reviews here for posterity. Feel free to follow me on Instagram, Goodreads, or Amazon. I post there because it helps lift up fellow authors (and their books). Readers also use these sites to help them choose what to read next. However, if ...

Self-publishing and print-on-demand platforms: which one we choose matters a lot

In my adult life, I’ve watched self-publishing evolve so much. These days, authors have a wealth of options to get a book out into the world, many of them surprisingly economical thanks to print-on-demand. It’s easier than ever to produce and distribute books in the same league with big traditional publishers.

This is kind of great for art-making, taste-making, and representation, but with choice comes responsibility. Because we have so many options, authors considering self-publishing now ha...

This week in pandemic history: Thanksgiving

I’m currently reading the new collection of Alan Rickman’s diaries. My writer-brain often absorbs tone and voice from what I read, and it’s been interesting to observe the melding of my journaling cadence with Rickman’s. It’s also been interesting to dig into the content itself. I suppose I expected something a little more distilled, based on reviews I’d read. However, the book so far reads much like my own journals, albeit with a much higher quotient of famous characters.

View this p...

Memorials, hometowns, and the stories we grow up in

A couple weeks ago I took a trip to my hometown, which also happens to have inspired the fictional town of Red Hill in She’s Not Home. I didn’t know how I’d feel about this visit. The book is, in many ways, a love letter to a beautiful place, and to the feeling of growing up there. It’s also full of grief and ghosts from the past.

The book, that is. But also the real-life town. While staying in my childhood bedroom I found a journal my sister wrote in third grade. “I love my home,” ...

Summer 2022, summarized in photos

I spent a lot of time offline this summer. Generally speaking, this feels like a net positive. However, I did have a few ideas I was looking forward to posting on here and now it feels awkward to do so without acknowledging my lengthy absence. Consider it hereby acknowledged.

At some point late in the summer I realized I had also neglected to take enough photos — or my definition of enough, anyway. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a Project 365 to rekindle my photographic eye. Once upon a ti...