Jennifer Shirk's Blog, page 18

Teen Crushes

Happy Friday, all!

So I don't know if I mentioned this but times are a changing in the old Shirk household.

My little kiddo now has a celebrity crush.
How in the world did this happen? She was just playing with her Webkinz the other day!

Literally. Just the other day.

Anyhew, the new crush is...Niall Horan from the band One Direction.

Meh.

At least he has a good head of hair. (Actually they all seem to)


So last night as I was tucking her into bed, she asked me who I liked when I was her age.

Well.
For me it was Rick Springfield all the way!

Oh, those little skinny ties he wore!

I started watching General Hospital because of him!
PS. I heard he's back on the show NOW. Along with Frisco!

Of course, when I showed her the picture of him (the picture of him from the 80's), she just shook her head.

Hmph. Excuse me. At least Rick had better music. LOL

Who was your celebrity music crush?
Have you heard of One Direction? What do you think of them?

******Oh, and as a side note, I'm over at Burning Impossibly Bright today.
I'm giving my Top Ten List of Comfy Hero names.
Come on over and tell me yours!

Have a great weekend!

Inevitable!

Hi, all!
I'm back from my visit with the in-laws and announcing the release of Inevitable, the newest young adult suspense novel by my bloggy buddy Tamara Hart Heiner!



Visions of death plague Jayne, who thinks watching her boyfriend die is the worst that could happen to her. But when she witnesses a murder, Jayne finds herself caught up in a dangerous world of intrigue and suspense.

As it turns out, she is not the only one doing the stalking. The killer is on to her, and all of her visions of the dying don't reveal how her life will end. Somehow, she must stop the murderer before he arranges Jayne's own inevitable death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lo and behold, I actually happened to have read this one!
So I'll give a little review. :)

I had this book on my Kindle and planned to read it while I was on my mini vacation last week. But I took a peek at the first chapter and well...one thing lead to another and I ended up finishing it before I left for Florida. LOL!

The main character Jayne has an unusual "gift". She sees visions of people's deaths--if they're going to die early and in a tragic circumstance. Heavy stuff for a teenager! But to make matters worse, she gets herself involved in a murder investigation through this gift and then things really get interesting.
This book had a little bit of everything: a teen love story, murder/suspense, and a little paranormal/fantasy.
I have to say the murders/suspense thing kept me turning the pages. I couldn't wait to see how everything was going to work out in the end. Very enjoyable read!

Check it out for yourself: First page
Available on Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, Barnes &Noble.com, and Kobo.com!


Since Tamara writes YA, I thought it'd be fun to have her come on here to tell us what her TOP TEN FAVORITE YA BOOKS are!

Take it away, Tamara!

My top 10:

Man, this is hard! I just love these books. I don't know which is first.

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. Unleashed by Nancy Holder
5. Stung by Bethany Wiggins
6. Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
7. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
8. The Line by Teri Hall
9. The Death Cure by James Dashner
10. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Thanks, Tamara!
I have Beth's book and read The Hunger Games. I need to check out the rest!!

After an awesome ebook launch on Facebook, Tamara's trying hard to top that with the paperback. So here's the plan:

1) For the entire month of March, every comment on Tamara's blog gets entered into a drawing to win a HARD COPY of one of her books. (You get to choose which one!)

2) Leave a comment on THIS BLOG for a chance to win ALL of her young adult ebooks!

3) Enter the Goodreads Giveaway for another chance to win Inevitable.

Good luck!

Have you read Inevitable?
Have you read any of the YA books on Tamara's list?
What are some of your favorite YA books?
 

Making the Headlines

Happy Monday!

So the other day, hubby told the kiddo, "Hey, our name made the paper!"
(Which it does from time to time.)

Then he showed her this:



She was not amused.

I, however, cracked up. But then again, I am my hubby's best audience. :)

Just so you know, I'm taking this week off and will be back here on Monday.

See u then!

                         “If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.”
                                               ― Robert Frost

Author Justine Dell and a Giveaway!

 Happy Friday!
 I'm so thrilled to have bloggy friend and author today: Justine Dell  
 A little bit about Justine:  Justine lives in the Midwest, happily catering to her family, which consists of a horse obsessed teenage daughter, four dogs, and a husband who is too good to be true. She's never moved from her hometown, but hopes to grow old in a much warmer climate.

During the day she works a normal job with college students who try their best to keep her young. They've done a good job thus far. At night, said teenage daughter and her horse require mounds of love and attention. The weekends belong solely to her and her writing. That's when she morphs into a sticky bug, unable to leave the confines of her computer chair.

She started writing four years ago after seeing a movie that set off a chain reaction she couldn't have stopped if she'd wanted. It's not a hobby for her; it's an obsession. One she loves and one she loves to share. Her debut book, Recaptured Dreams and her newest release, All-American Girl, are available now onJustine has a new romance out called All-American Girl that sounds fantastic!
I thought it'd be fun to get to know her book with some fun questions.



                              Title: All-American Girl     Hero: Lance Cummings  Heroine: Samantha Moore     1) describe your hero in THREE words  -determined-rough-n-tumble-sexy (truly, that’s one word…heh)
 -stubborn 2) What is the best personality trait of your heroine? Worst personality trait?
            -The best personality trait is that Samantha knows she’s broken and desperately wants to be the girl that people remember her as being. So she tries so hard.            -The worst is her temper (but like I said, she’s working on that!)
   3) Give us the 140 character TWEET description of your book
            -Broken, tempered girl + Mr. Hot-Fix-It-Guy = Roller coaster romance that leaves you breathless  4) What kind of car does or would your hero drive?
 Oh, he’s a construction man, so only a pick-up truck will do.   5) Name one thing your heroine would not leave home without.

 Hand sanitizer. (She’s a little OCD)
  6) What would you pick for your book's theme song?
 One of the gals at Literati Literature Lovers sent me a message on Twitter while she was reading the  ARC. She said Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” would be perfect for Sam and Lance. I would have to agree. (Never mind that it’s for Twilight).
 Thanks so much, Justine!
I'm a little OCD too and carry hand sanitizer always. LOL

Now that you know the main characters, here is a little about the book:

BLURB:
  At the age of thirty, with two failed marriages and a tanking writing career, Samantha Moore deals with the world with the only tool she had left: anger. And she’s tired of it. When her grandmother's near-death sends her rushing back home to Vermont, she hopes for the chance to overcome the rage ruling her life.

Once she’s home, Lance Cummings becomes a constant source of indigestion. Lance is a single father who learned first-hand the devastating effects of a damaging relationship. He sees through Samantha’s nasty temper—straight to her cry for help. He wants to help her, but he also wants to know why Samantha ran from him—and their future—twelve years before.

Taking care of her Grams, dealing with an alcoholic brother, and getting Lance to remove his annoyingly attractive nose from her business is draining on Samantha. And she’s only got three weeks to finish her stagnated novel or her publisher will drop her. No pressure. To top it off, pretending to hate the man she actually loves makes each day in Vermont harder than the last. Especially when Lance turns up the heat

 
 We’ll give away an ebook copy of All-American girl to a lucky commenter TODAY!

***And don’t forget to stop by Justine’s blog for a chance to win a signed paperback copy, a fancy smancy swag pack, or one of four other romance books.
(including one of mine: KISSING KENDALL!)a Rafflecopter giveaway   Thanks so much, Justine!
Don't forget All-American Girl is available on Amazon, B&N, and Omnific

Yes, I'm still alive

Hey, Happy Monday!

Thanks for all the GREAT reading suggestions! I'm actually starting with Life of Pi because I just happened to see that at the library. Then I think I'll be going to Stephen King.
In case you were curious. :)

Now, onto my scrambled brain.

Do you remember the anti-drug commercials where the speaker would hold up an egg and say, "This is your brain" and then crack the egg in the frypan and say, "This is your brain on drugs"?

Yeah. Well, I'm changing that to "this is your brain on a double blog tour".

And put a side order of toast with that.

I've been so busy with other blogs that I haven't felt like blogging here. Nothing personal. It's the fried brain. But fear not, I have some things to say coming up soon about blog tours, writing, and reviews. So have patience.

In the meantime, a few things:

1) I have the lovely Justine Dell stopping by my blog on Friday. She has a new romance out and will be hosting a double giveaway of sorts.
You'll have to stop by then to figure out what I mean. :)

and

2) I'm at Reading, Writing and Raising Boys today. I have a fun little interview going on there and I hope you stop by!

I think that's it.

So I'll leave you with my kitchen picture because I finally got window treatments and it is now officially DONE. Yay!


Have a great week!

Reading Blahs

Hey, all!

I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I'm in a bit of a reading funk .

Every romance book I picked up within the last two weeks, I've struggled to finish. I have NO idea why. There was nothing wrong with the writing.
But I just didn't see any spark with the characters, which makes me believe I'm a little burned out on romance.

I even picked up a book from one of my favorite authors and I actually did something I don't think I've ever done with her. About halfway through the book, I put it down for a few days. And never thought twice about it. YES! I actually walked away from a book!

I thought maybe I needed to change my reading genre, so to cleanse the pallet, I decided to read non fiction and picked up Karen Walker's memoir Following the Whispers .
(PS I really enjoyed reading her story)

Then I thought I was ready to dive back into romance again.

WRONGO.

I can't believe I'm going to say this but I think I need a longer break from reading romance.

So, my dear friends, I need help with some book recommendations.

What is the BEST...non fiction, mystery, YA, women's fiction, thriller, OR literary fiction book you've read within the last few months? Anything BUT romance.

I need serious help, so pull out the big guns. :-)

Playing Catch-Up

Happy Friday!

Sorry I haven't been around the blogosphere in awhile.

That's because I felt as if I've been working myself to the BONE (hence the picture) and took the President's weekend holiday a little longer than nature intended. :-)

So sue me.

(No, don't really sue me)

Anyhew, I figure now is good time to catch up with you all.

1) Potty-training the piggy. My guinea pig seems to go EVERYWHERE but his potty. I give him credit for sometimes going next to it or behind it (it's in a corner so that can't be easy), but sadly he is NOT trained yet.

2) I'm in the middle of editing my Fast Draft novel I did last year and am finding the edits a bit daunting. I'm even doubting myself as a writer and desperately trying to figure just how I managed to complete five books. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.
Can you forget how to write?

3) My new office is coming along nicely. I bought a little throw rug and now I'm just looing for a few wall hangings before I deem the room blog ready. Soon...

4) Exercising like a mad woman. Going to need to be in a bathing suit in about 4 weeks. Yeah...
Nuff said.

5) Today is my dad's birthday. He would have been 80.
Missing him today. :(


And case you're wondering YES, I'm still on blog tour.
(Another reason I'm worked to the bone and a little frazzled)

***This past Wednesday I was at Read Your Writes . I talked about the Challenge of Writing a Novella. So if you are interested, then by all means stop by.


***And also I happened to make a special appearance at More than a Review blog, where I was musing over use of profanity is sweet romances.

It's been a busy week!

So. What's going on with you? Anything new?

Special Guest Blogger L. Diane Wolfe!

Happy Friday!
I hope everybody had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'm very excited to have author and speaker, L. Diane Wolfe
from her blog Spunk on a Stick.
She has a new book called HOW TO PUBLISH AND PROMOTE YOUR BOOK NOW. Since every author can use a little help in the promo department (especially ME), I thought it would be great to have her here on my blog to talk about some insights she gives in her book. So please give her a warm welcome!           ***                                               Pitching the media
Media exposure can do so much for an author's career. We have so many possibilities: radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and the various online versions of each. How do we secure an interview or feature and place ourselves in front of our target audience though? 
Before we go any further, we need to understand media pitches. What is the media seeking? Let's begin with what the media does not seek:
 
I'm an author and this is my new book.
 
Here's a tip: The media doesn't care. We are just one of thousands of authors who have released a book today� big deal! Even if the program focuses on authors, or it's our local newspaper or TV broadcast, we've got to come up with a more compelling reason for them to interview us.
 
Here's what the media is looking for: Experts. They want expert advice and information for their audience. Remember, we researched and wrote a book. We are experts in one or more areas. The media wants to talk to us about those subjects not about our book.

So how do we pitch ourselves to the media? What's our approach? Here are some suggested angles:

 ·                     Educate the audience on a hot topic
·                     Expose vital new information
·                     Provide expert advice by tying in with a current event
·                     Show people how to solve their problems
·                     Show people how to be healthier, younger, or sexier
·                     Show people how to make or save money
·                     Tie in with political or charitable organizations
·                     If applicable, provide any of the above with a dose of entertainment

The media is looking for ways to educate their audience. We give them what they want, focus on the topic, and will be rewarded with an opportunity to mention our book. If it's obvious promoting our book is our only agenda, the media will look elsewhere.

 Start brainstorming today.
Select an angle the media just can't resist!


  L. Diane WolfeProfessional Speaker & Author Known as �Spunk On A Stick,� Wolfe is a member of the National Speakers Association and the author of numerous books. Her latest title, �How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now,� covers her publishing seminars in depth and provides an overview of the entire process from idea to market. �Overcoming Obstacles With SPUNK! The Keys to Leadership & Goal-Setting�, ties her goal-setting and leadership seminars together into one complete, enthusiastic package. Her YA series, The Circle of Friends, features morally grounded, positive stories. Wolfe travels extensively for media interviews and speaking engagements, maintains a dozen websites & blogs, and assists writers through her author services.. www.spunkonastick.nethttp://www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.comwww.thecircleoffriends.net  
HOW TO PUBLISH AND PROMOTE YOUR BOOK NOW!
BY L. DIANE WOLFE
Publishing and promoting made simple!
 Have you always dreamed of publishing a book but didn�t know where to begin? This book walks you through the steps of identifying markets, budgeting, building an online presence, and generating publicity. Get the whole story on: 
·           Traditional publishing
·           Self-publishing
·           Print and e-book setup, formatting, and distribution
·           Finding your target audience
·           Generating reviews and media interest
·           Networking and developing an online presence
·           Promotional materials and appearances

 Uncover your ideal publishing path and numerous marketing options before you begin. Writing is your dream. Give it the best chance for success!
Publishing/Marketing, 214 pages$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2 Amazon$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0Available in all Ebook formats: Barnes and Noble, Amazon 
�She gives an unbiased take on the advantages and disadvantages of traditional publishing and self-publishing and publishing paths that combine the two… It's the perfect book for those who want an overview to begin the decision-making process.�
- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning series of how-to books for writers http://howtodoitfrugally.com/

�A must-read for writers planning on self-publishing or any writer who wants the ultimate how-to on promoting. Tons of links, advice, and how-to, whether you're going for print or e-publication.�
- Helen Ginger, author of Angel Sometimes http://helenginger.com/
                                ***

I never think of the media, because I'm usually so concerned with my small little blogiverse. 
 
Wonderful advice! 

So thankful she stopped by today!


Have you read L. Diane's book yet?
Does the aspect of approaching the media give you the hives?
If you are an author, is that an avenue of promo that you have pursued or neglected?



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Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
TONS of stuff happening today!!!

(And I have to say, I'm a little tired)



First, I'm being interviewed at The Minxes of Romance blog today!
(And yes, sweet fancy Moses, there will be a giveaway of A LITTLE BIT CUPID going on there if you can believe that) :-)
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Secondly, I have a Valentine's Day gift giveaway going on TODAY.

Stop by Read Your Writes,  Manga Maniac, or Books and Needlepoint and enter the rafflecopter to win!
One lucky winner will receive a swag bag that includes an eBook of A LITTLE BIT CUPID, an eBook of KISSING KENDALL, and a box of chocolates!
Let me repeat:
****There are CHOCOLATES****

Good chocolates too.
Just sayin'
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
                           FACEBOOK PARTY!
And lastly, if this day wasn't already filled with goodies, I'm hosting a party with my Entangled author pal, Stephanie Monahan, the author of 33 Valentines.

What: Join us on Valentine’s Day, chat with the authors and if you’re lucky, grab some lovely Valentine’s day themed prizes!

When: February 14th, 8pm – 10pm EST. TONIGHT!

Where: Entangled Edge Facebook Page.

Prizes: Other than the lovely stuff the authors are giving away, Entangled Edge is giving away a Philosophy Valentines Bath Set!

I'm giving away an Amazon GC and an adorable Valentine's Day coffee (or tea) mug!

So...if you happen to be online then or around a computer, pop in and say hi.
I'd love to see some familiar faces.


                                      
                      Whew! I need a nap :)


So what are your plans for today?

Valentine's Day trivia

Did you know that over 18 BILLION dollars are expected to be spent this year for Valentine's Day?


Yes, it's true. I saw it on the news a few days ago.

Yeah, I'm full of interesting trivia.
In fact, if you would like to hear more AND...want a chance to win a copy of A LITTLE BIT CUPID (yes, apparently, my publisher is sparing no expense on the freebies. LOL) I'm over at my good blogging bud Carol Kilgore's blog: Under the Tiki Hut.

Stop by if you can! :)