Monica Jackson's Blog, page 332

For the Love of Story

For me to find a book compelling, to rate it a five star read, boils down to one thing–the story.

A great story can enthrall me so I overlook other flaws and inconsistencies, carried by the tale. The story is why readers often tolerate Mary Sue or generic characters if their story expectations are satisfied. A great story is what makes me sigh as I lay down my e-reader, or with far less frequency lately, my book.

My love of story is why I will probably never be able to get into literary...

Books I Love

When I'm burning rubber writing, I find I read less, but I do read. Addicted to it. I'll post my finds and recommends here.

32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter

I loved this book! This book chronicles a young black woman's journey to her 32nd birthday. She doesn't have it easy. It has romance, but the book is more than romance. It's wry, funny, and real, but doesn't loose the happy-ever-after at the end of the road. Five thumbs up and very much worth the money.

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Works in Progress

The Look of Love series! Stay tuned for news as I settle into it. I'm very excited about the stories. They focus on how perception and acceptance of your looks can affect your ability to accept love. I tackle this from both ends of the spectrum, from Carmel, who weighed over 200 pounds to Jasmine, who is body confidant, but puts too much weight on her looks as far as attracting and holding a man. When you think a man is with you for how you look, this can be as damaging as thinking a...

Percolating Plans

Okay, I'm going to pull A Magical Moment from the Eastman series.  It is simply too paranormal and it doesn't go with the other books which on high on emotion and drama in addition to romance.  I want to make another series (I actually have been wanting to do this for ages) with a X-Files paranormal tone and mystery threads.  I have so much to write, but now I'm doing this on my own, I will get to it.

I want to write a three book series for Midnight Blue. When I was revising my old books, all...

Edits, Rewrites, and Revisions

3/14/12  Revisions of the three Eastman series books and A Magical Moment loaded to Smashwords, Amazon, and B&N.  Too Hot to Handle got a new cover along with the most significant revision.  Upon revisiting it, sheesh, the ending sucked. (Hey, I can admit it).

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I'm hoping to have a revised and edited version of Midnight Blue out later this year.

Creepin', my paranormal romance anthology featuring the late and great L.A. Banks, is slated for next Halloween.

I will also be re-editing Merry...

Freebies & Contests

Until 3/31/12

Prize: A free e-copy of Too Hot to Handle in a random drawing

What you have to do to enter: Comment on a post by 3/31/12!  Easy.

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My Tweets

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People on the Cover Redux

I'm putting people on the covers.  Oh, the joy of being able to change my covers!  I want people because

1) I think readers like people covers better for romance.

I know I do. I really like it when the images resemble the character(s) I'm reading about.

2) It helps readers identify the subgenre and content of the book.

I underestimated how important it is.  I did as some of my cohorts have done, wanting artistic or nonpeopled covers to broaden the market for my work.  This is so majority readers ...

A Real Life Romance Hero

From the New York Times about John Fairfax, who recently passed away.

For all its bravura, Mr. Fairfax's seafaring almost pales beside his earlier ventures. Footloose and handsome, he was a flesh-and-blood character out of Graham Greene, with more than a dash of Hemingway and Ian Fleming shaken in.

At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle.  At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar.  When the planned confrontation ensued, however, reason prevailed — as did...

Boring Sex Will Lead to Alzheimer's Disease

Okay, I made that up. But every other week I read about something else that may cause Alzheimer's. Bad sleep. Walking slow. The flu. Eating too much. I feel sorry for gluttonous, sauntering, flu-ridden, insomniacs, because now they are destined to lose their minds too.

You can see the baby-boomer wave crest into their late fifties and sixties with the near-hysteria going on about Alzheimer's, a terrible disease I wouldn't wish on anybody. But the disease isn't new. I'm on the tail-end...