Liz DeJesus's Blog, page 50
August 24, 2012
Update
Hey Everyone! It's been a pretty busy week for me. I've been getting everything ready for next week's blog tour. Have to answer a whole bunch of interview questions and I'm currently working on a character interview. You'll also get a chance to read some excerpts of First Frost (some really awesome parts of the book) so I can't wait to see what people have to say about that.
I'm almost finished with Glass Frost, I'm literally ten pages away from the end of the book but I just can't find the time to sit down and just finish writing. My kids are a handful, so I'm waiting until my son goes back to preschool next week. We'll see what happens. And trust me I'm going to celebrate when I'm finally finished with this book. It feels as if I've been writing forever.
Anyway on other news I just got a four star review from Night Owl Reviews! I will celebrate by dancing to this song:
I'm almost finished with Glass Frost, I'm literally ten pages away from the end of the book but I just can't find the time to sit down and just finish writing. My kids are a handful, so I'm waiting until my son goes back to preschool next week. We'll see what happens. And trust me I'm going to celebrate when I'm finally finished with this book. It feels as if I've been writing forever.
Anyway on other news I just got a four star review from Night Owl Reviews! I will celebrate by dancing to this song:
August 21, 2012
ChickLitGurrl Review of First Frost
5 out of 5 lattes!!
I've been a fan of Liz DeJesus and her mystical, fantastical tales for years, and she has only improved her game and skills with First Frost. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel: the characters, the situation, the tension, everything. DeJesus gives us a wonderfully complex and cool character in Bianca, and her development of First Frost's other major players and the fantasy world that Bianca journeys through kept me locked into the story. As I read, I could easily see this story as something to be seen on the big screen. DeJesus' imagination always keeps me on my toes, giving me something unique and interesting to read. I look forward to seeing what she does next in this adventure.
Check out Shon Bacon's blog! She is twenty different kinds of awesome. :D
http://chicklitgurrl.blogspot.com/
August 17, 2012
Writing with Scissors
Today I'm a featured author at fellow Musan Clarissa Johal (who is super awesome by the way). Here's a sample of the interview.
So, Liz, please tell us about yourself and how you came to be a writer.
My name is Liz DeJesus, I’m a stay at home mom to two beautiful little boys and I’m also a full time writer (if you can call writing between naptime being a full time writer). I’m the author of Nina, The Jackets and First Frost. I started writing when I was 12 years old, and moved on to poetry at 13 (blame my first boyfriend. He was into poetry and I was trying to impress him). It turned out that I was pretty good at writing poems so I stuck with that for a while. Then when I was 18 I decided that I wanted to be a novelist. I’ve been in love with writing novels and short stories ever since.You started out writing women's fiction such as Nina, The Jacketsand Note to Self, which are quite different than First Frost. What made you embrace the genre of young adult fiction?I’m actually a huge fan of young adult fiction, especially books in the fantasy genre. The main character, Bianca, is seventeen years old and after much soul searching I decided that First Frost would be a fantastic book for young adults. Her best friend Ming is the comedic relief (they have an amazing back and forth dialogue). And basically I’m just having fun writing these books, my hope is for it to be an ongoing series, but for now I have ideas for up to four books. But lucky for me Bianca is an incredible main character and there is an enormous amount of fairy tales that I can draw inspiration from.
Read the rest of the interview here.
And also, thanks to Lydia Sharp and the magic of twitter I'm featured here as well. :) How awesome is that?! http://paper.li/YABookShelf
So, Liz, please tell us about yourself and how you came to be a writer.
My name is Liz DeJesus, I’m a stay at home mom to two beautiful little boys and I’m also a full time writer (if you can call writing between naptime being a full time writer). I’m the author of Nina, The Jackets and First Frost. I started writing when I was 12 years old, and moved on to poetry at 13 (blame my first boyfriend. He was into poetry and I was trying to impress him). It turned out that I was pretty good at writing poems so I stuck with that for a while. Then when I was 18 I decided that I wanted to be a novelist. I’ve been in love with writing novels and short stories ever since.You started out writing women's fiction such as Nina, The Jacketsand Note to Self, which are quite different than First Frost. What made you embrace the genre of young adult fiction?I’m actually a huge fan of young adult fiction, especially books in the fantasy genre. The main character, Bianca, is seventeen years old and after much soul searching I decided that First Frost would be a fantastic book for young adults. Her best friend Ming is the comedic relief (they have an amazing back and forth dialogue). And basically I’m just having fun writing these books, my hope is for it to be an ongoing series, but for now I have ideas for up to four books. But lucky for me Bianca is an incredible main character and there is an enormous amount of fairy tales that I can draw inspiration from.
Read the rest of the interview here.
And also, thanks to Lydia Sharp and the magic of twitter I'm featured here as well. :) How awesome is that?! http://paper.li/YABookShelf
August 14, 2012
Mera's YA Book List
My publisher is currently having an event at Mera's YA Book List. Check out my interview!
Here's a little sample:
Mera: Hello Liz and welcome to Mera’s YA Book List! You have penned three novels. Has the process of writing a book changed for you since writing Nina in 2007? Liz: Absolutely. When I wrote Nina, I still had a full time job and would write in a tiny notebook during my breaks and rush home to type my notes into the computer. With The Jackets it was a slower process because it’s a collection of short stories that I had written over the years. The thing that changed while I wrote First Frost was the fact that I was a new mommy while writing it. I couldn’t sit around and wait for inspiration to hit me because I rarely had any free time to myself (anyone that is a mom and a writer will be able to understand how precious those free moments to yourself are). So I learned how to write on demand…meaning even when I didn’t really feel like writing I still picked up a pen and a piece of paper and wrote until it made sense.Now I have two kids! So it’s even crazier but I’ve learned how to continue to write and embrace the chaos in my house. I write while the kids are napping or when they’re playing peacefully in the living room.
Mera: I understand you are a poet as well as a novelist. Which comes more natural to you? Liz: Writing novels is definitely what comes naturally to me. I love poetry though. It’s always going to be something that will be near and dear to my heart. Mera: Your latest book, First Frost, incorporates the magical aspects in the Grimm fairy tales. I, like many others, love these fairy tales and their renditions. What about the topic lured you to write about it? Liz:Anyone that has met me knows that I love fairy tales. Borderline obsessed with fairy tales. So it was natural for me to choose this topic for my first Young Adult book.
Read the rest of the interview here.
August 6, 2012
Review for First Frost ~ 3 out of 5
I enjoyed reading First Frost a lot. It was a fun book that didn't seem to take itself too seriously. We get to experience pieces of fairy-tales we know and love through the artifacts but follow a completely new girl on a new quest. I did wish at some points that we would get more detailed descriptions or more details in general of what happened when some time elapsed, but I think I also enjoyed it at the same time because it moved the story along without becoming dull. It was a semi-different concept on a theme that is growing in popularity and I liked it.
Read the rest of the review here.
Update
Hey everyone!
Currently working on the sequel to First Frost, now officially titled Glass Frost. It's definitely going to be longer than the first book, but in a good way I promise. You'll get to meet Terrance's parents, the king and queen of Everafter, you'll find out what happened to the seven dwarves after Snow White married the prince and of course new villains. Some of the fairy tales that I'll work into the book are Toads and Diamonds, The Frog Prince, and Cinderella. Oh! I almost forgot, Bianca also visits the Fairy Realm. :D
On other news, First Frost is now on three Goodreads lists, if you could please vote for my book that would be fantastic. :D
http://www.goodreads.com/list/book/15700479-first-frost
I'm hoping to get some more writing done today, so we'll see how that goes. I've exceeded my goal of 50k words for Glass Frost and I'm almost at 70k words, probably the most I've ever written in a single book...ever. So that's exciting for me. :)
And I'm gearing up for yet another blog tour. I figured why not? I had so much fun the first time around. Should start on August 27th, but I'll definitely keep you all posted.
I think that's all I have for now.
TTFN Ta Ta For Now!
Currently working on the sequel to First Frost, now officially titled Glass Frost. It's definitely going to be longer than the first book, but in a good way I promise. You'll get to meet Terrance's parents, the king and queen of Everafter, you'll find out what happened to the seven dwarves after Snow White married the prince and of course new villains. Some of the fairy tales that I'll work into the book are Toads and Diamonds, The Frog Prince, and Cinderella. Oh! I almost forgot, Bianca also visits the Fairy Realm. :D
On other news, First Frost is now on three Goodreads lists, if you could please vote for my book that would be fantastic. :D
http://www.goodreads.com/list/book/15700479-first-frost
I'm hoping to get some more writing done today, so we'll see how that goes. I've exceeded my goal of 50k words for Glass Frost and I'm almost at 70k words, probably the most I've ever written in a single book...ever. So that's exciting for me. :)
And I'm gearing up for yet another blog tour. I figured why not? I had so much fun the first time around. Should start on August 27th, but I'll definitely keep you all posted.
I think that's all I have for now.
TTFN Ta Ta For Now!
July 27, 2012
New Review!
New Review for First Frost!
I loved this last bit of the review:
First Frost is the literary equivalent of frozen yogurt, covered with many tempting toppings. It’s not traditional ice cream, and the toppings might leave some tastes less emphasized than you’d expect, but it’s a sweet, cool treat for the summer.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
I loved this last bit of the review:
First Frost is the literary equivalent of frozen yogurt, covered with many tempting toppings. It’s not traditional ice cream, and the toppings might leave some tastes less emphasized than you’d expect, but it’s a sweet, cool treat for the summer.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
July 26, 2012
4.5 Stars!!
New review for First Frost!
...I was thrilled with this book. And the ending? Wow! I won't spoil it for you, but it was as true a fairytale ending as any.
So if you're looking for that next fun read, pick up a book about friendship, bravery, a hilariously quirky prince, true love's power, and vicious spells. Pick up First Frost and see what you think.
Read the whole review here.
http://bound2astound.blogspot.com/
...I was thrilled with this book. And the ending? Wow! I won't spoil it for you, but it was as true a fairytale ending as any.
So if you're looking for that next fun read, pick up a book about friendship, bravery, a hilariously quirky prince, true love's power, and vicious spells. Pick up First Frost and see what you think.
Read the whole review here.
http://bound2astound.blogspot.com/
July 25, 2012
Blog Tour ~ First Frost
Last day of the blog tour. It stops at Reader Girls with an excerpt of First Frost.
And I want to thank everyone that followed me around cyberspace during my blog tour. I had a lot of fun going to everyone's blog, reading reviews and writing guest posts. Hopefully I'll get to do it again soon.
*hugs*
July 24, 2012
Blog Tour ~ First Frost
Day #16 of the blog tour stops here at Read and Reviewed. There is a hilarious interview/guest blog post. Ming interviews Bianca and asks her questions about the book. I think it's pretty funny.
Tomorrow the blog tour is over. :( Sigh.
