C.C. Jackson's Blog, page 5

Review of Stay by Jennifer Gwendoline of @stargirlrainbow

Stay is a wonderful paranormal romance. It is fast paced and intriguing and totally absorbing. I really felt like I was there inside the book. It is full of suspense and danger and of course a little bit of romance.

The characters are brilliant, especially the protagonist, Callie. I loved the fact that she is just a normal girl who is thrust into the world of the paranormal and she struggles to accept who she really is: a faerie princess and her rightful place is on the throne as the faerie Queen. I could totally connect with her struggle to accept who she really is and cope with the massive changes that thrust themselves upon her.

I really loved the fact that Callie had to learn how to fly! This book is unlike other paranormal faerie books that I have read where the faeries don't fly. 

I particularly liked the reference to normal everyday modern things like Callie's iPod, the song she was listening to and the vampire novel she was reading. Not only does it give you a insight into who Callie is and what she likes and what she is interested in but it also makes the novel more applicable to today. Most people have an iPod and vampire novels are all the rage at the moment.

I thought the title,'Stay', was very appropriate to the story! The book is essentially about whether Callie should accept who she is and what she is and stay and fight for her rightful place as Queen.

Callie's confrontation with the faerie Queen was brilliant and the romance in the book was passionate and intense. Brokk makes a fantastically gorgeous, crush-worthy hunk. It's no wonder Callie is instantly attracted to him, despite the fact that he kidnaps her. I liked the fact that Callie and Brokk know each other even though she cannot remember. I think this adds a lot of history to the story. 

Overall I found this book to be enchanting and simply lovely with some action and suspense in there too. Callie makes a fantastic heroine.

I hope there will be a sequel and I can't wait for any other books C.C. Jackson has in store for us. 

Stepping Back

  
   I had to take a step back from all of my social networking. It was starting to consume me. I wasn't getting any writing done at all. My house was a mess. I think my hubs was feeling a little neglected. It was just to much.
   I'm still checking in to Twitter and Facebook, but I am not going to allow myself to spend so much time on them. I love all of my Tweeps and Facebook friends, but I just need to write.
   If you have ever wondered how effective social networking is for advertising, I am here to tell you that it is very effective. For the last week or two, I have definitely noticed a drop in book sales. The only other thing that I can say that may have caused such a drop would be spring fever. The temperatures are starting to warm up and folks are getting out more and reading less. At least that's my theory.
   I'm okay with the decline, it needed to be done. If I am ever going to finish writing my current WIP or the sequel to Stay, I need time to write.
   I am anxious to see how big of a role Book Bloggers play on getting your book out there. I have sent Stay out to at least ten over the last couple of weeks. I know not to expect five star reviews, but I have read that any review is good publicity. So, we'll see.
   I did my first interview this week. I am very excited about that. It should be appearing on the Southern Writer's Network blog soon. I hope that you will check it out.
   Back to writing. I hope to talk with you soon.

Spring Fever

   I know that I should be writing on one of my many works in progress, but this beautiful weather is really giving me spring fever. All that I really want to do is research all of the places that we want to go on our family vacation this summer.
   We love to travel and we always say that one of these days we are going to head out west and see California, The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc. We started out a few months ago thinking about a cruise, then we changed our mind again. Colorado, Montana and Yellowstone was our next pick, at least for a few weeks. Now, we are back to Florida. It's really our favorite place to be, and we spend more summers there than anywhere else.
   We would love to move there someday. Our excuse for going is that we can narrow down where in Florida is the best place for us to live. I really think it's just the draw of the tropics. I think I am happiest when I am surrounded by the beautiful turquoise water, the palm trees, and the warm ocean breezes.
    I keep using the excuse that I would be able to write so much better if I were sitting on my balcony overlooking the clear blue. I think it might be working. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
   As of today, our latest in vacation adventure planning has us back in Orlando for Universal Studios and Sea World for a few days. From there we are going to head south to check out Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami, and maybe a little Key Largo. (How we are going to squeeze all of that in, I have no idea.)  I am so excited, June can't get here soon enough.
   I guess that I should get back to doing what I am actually suppose to be doing, writing. Thanks for reading. :)

Book Bloggers

    I finally got the nerve up to send my book out to some book reviewers who so graciously agreed to read it. Now all that I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope that they like it. I know that there will always be mixed reviews. Some have different tastes than others, but it is just so unnerving to put it out there for someone who reads and reviews for a living. Well, maybe not a living since most are doing it for free.
    I love to read, and can spend an entire week doing nothing else if I'm not careful. I just really suck at giving a review. I could never tell someone that I didn't like their book or that it wasn't well written. It's just not in me, I stumble over the words that I want to say in a review. I give everybody five star ratings. I do it because I know there are some people that will give one or two star ratings just to be spiteful. You can tell in some of the bad reviews. I figure it will help balance out. That's just me and why I could never do what the reviewers do everyday.
    I saw a discussion on someones Facebook about reviewers posting ads on their blogs. The tone of the discussion was pretty much against it unless they were ads for books. I'm not really against the idea of the reviewers putting ads up. They do commit a great deal of their time to reading our books and writing our reviews for absolutely no compensation. Most of them seem to be pretty overwhelmed with the number of review requests that they are getting. Not to mention the reviewers that do interviews and giveaways to promote our books. I really don't see the harm in putting some tasteful ads on their page if they can get a little extra pocket change out of it.
    The other side of the discussion... I chose not to put ads on my blog or webpage even though my tech savvy sister almost insisted on it. My argument was that you don't really make any money from them and that's not what I was looking to do with my site. I told her that it looked very tacky and unprofessional. Hmm.
    I guess I'm talking out of both sides of my face, but to each his own. I have not come across a book blog that I found offensive in any way. Having a few ads on the page were not enough to turn me away from any particular blogger. In fact, the few that I noticed with ads were usually Amazon or book related.
    So a special thanks to the bloggers out there for giving us your free time and putting up with the occasional writer who goes crazy over a bad review.

My Name in Lights

   I have been researching all of the ways to get your name out there. There are so many sites that want a fortune to list your name in search engines and on other websites. Of course with a little effort you can do all of that for free. I just wonder if it's even effective at all. I'm thinking it's not.
   It wouldn't hurt to list on some of the majors like Yahoo, Google, etc. Just in case. But does anybody really use the rest of these sites? I have never heard of most of them and I doubt that many others have either. I also have to wonder who goes to a search engine and types in BOOK when they are looking for something to read?Maybe a few, but I think listing yourself on Goodreads or other book sites would be more effective.
   The only problem that I see with listing on a book site is that there are so many books out there. My book seems to get buried under the stack. So, what do I do now?
   Some say that social networking is the way to go. Now that I would agree with. Facebook is okay, Myspace without Tom is a waste, but Twitter, Twitter puts you out there.
   For me, Twitter has been the most effective tool for showing the world who I am. If you think about it, it's kind of like ripples in a pond. You tweet something cool, all of your followers see it, and then someone retweets. Suddenly not only have all of your followers seen it, but all of the retweeter's followers have seen it. Genius.
   A lot of articles that I have read say that I need to blog. Blog as much as I can. I try, I really do. I find that I don't really take myself as serious as some other writers. I don't have a strict list of things that writers are supposed to do if they want to be taken serious. Honestly, I don't care about all of that. I just want to write and I like to write about whatever is on my mind at the time. Especially when I blog.
   I have always looked at blogging as more of a diary. A window into who I am as a person. One day I may feel like writing about my crazy cousins, another day I may blog about my book. I just like to keep it more personal and less business. I'm not a corporation, I 'm just me.
   Someday I hope to see my name in lights, until then I'll settle for my name in print.

Nook vs Kindle

   I have a funny little trend going on with my book. At least it seems odd to me because all of the research that I have done around self-publishing led me to believe that Kindle would be where I should be selling the most books.
   I really have not found that to be true. Not yet anyway. My Nook books are outselling my Kindle books by about 13 to 1. A big difference.
   When I first noticed this trend, I sat down and tried to figure out what could cause such a difference. I started beefing up my posts and tweets to the Kindle link. I encouraged more people to leave a review on Kindle. I started running contests. Nothing has helped.
   I know that Amazon has never openly admitted to how many Kindles they are selling, but it is believed to be a pretty great number. I don't really believe that there are more Nook people out there than Kindle people. Maybe someone should do a study on the the two. Nook People VS Kindle People. Maybe it's some personality trait that causes someone to choose one over the other. Who knows?
   Maybe Kindle just has more books listed. Maybe it's too much competition. I don't have the answer, but I do have the numbers. For me, Nook is where it's at.
   I personally chose the Nook Color, well, because it was in color. Plus, I can use it to search the web when I'm to lazy to get out of the bed. I looked at a few other ereaders that were out when I purchased it, and the Nook had everything that I wanted and more.
   I do remember that retailers around the time of Black Friday and Christmas were practically giving ereaders away. I often wonder if that had anything to do with Amanda Hocking's success. Suddenly, a million teenage girls woke up to find that Santa left them a Kindle. What else were they going to read? Vampires, Fairies, and Trolls for $.99. You can't get any better than that. Heck, those were the first books that I purchased when I bought my Nook. I didn't even know who she was then.
   All that I can say is that it's definitely a learning experience. I figure out something new everyday. Maybe someday I'll be a master at it.

Family

   We lost one of our greatest family members a few weeks ago. My uncle, the oldest of my father's siblings. I think most of us took it pretty hard. I suspect that it has a lot to do with his death being so unexpected. He was actually our second uncle to pass on, but the first was suffering from Leukemia, so I think we were all a little more prepared for that one.
   The point in all of this is how such a tragedy can bring so many people together. I have a younger cousin who I was never all that close with when we were kids, probably because of our age difference. I would always pal around with his older brother but I have gotten closer to him in the past few years. I think age and distance has a way of doing that to people.
   Anyway, back to the point, this cousin decided that he was going to take a stand. At the funeral he made it known that he was sick and tired of only seeing our family when something terrible has happened. He decided that we need to start having a family reunion of our own.
   We all went to them as kids, they are some of our fondest memories. They were held every year at Rocks State Park in Maryland. We would spend the day tubing down the river and pigging out on the awesome cooking of my father's aunts and uncles. Not to mention my grandmother, boy do we miss her Thanksgiving feasts.
   They still have those reunions, although they have moved to Virginia. The only problem with attending them is that we really don't know any of those people. My grandparents have passed on, as well as most of their siblings, so the folks at the current reunions are usually some distance cousins of my parents.
   Oh sure, my dad still goes to them. In fact, my uncle that just passed stood up at the last one and announced that he didn't like the way the reunion was divided into family groups. No one was mingling. Everyone was off in their own little cluster. It was kind of sad. That is why we decided to start having our own family reunion.
   We are calling it The Cousin's Reunion. Not that we would leave our parents out, of course they would be invited, and even honored at the event. We just want to take things back to the way they were when we were kids. We want our kids to get to know each other, we want them to tube down the river and try their hand at catching a fish. We want to be able to see each other and actually have a conversation without being in a state of mourning. We just want to spend time together.
   It's a really great feeling. I haven't been this excited about something in a long time. Just knowing that there are other people out there in the world that truly care about you and want to see you. I am really looking forward to it.
   I got off my subject a little. Back to my cousin. My awesome cousin felt so strongly about this reunion that he rented out an entire 137 acre, sleeps 40+ ranch in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia for three nights. He didn't want anyone to have an excuse not to come. That's how badly he wanted to bring our family back together.
   He is my hero. I do feel bad that he spent so much, so I opted to take on the task of making sure that everyone is fed. I am planning meals to feed the masses for three days, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Now, all of the rest of the aunts, uncles, and cousins just have to get themselves there. It is going to be a blast!
   If you live in Southern Virginia and are looking for a nice place to have an event, check out visitstillhouse.com
   No, they are not paying me for advertising. :)  They have just been so accommodating, and the place looks like it is going to be awesome.
My CousinsBrandee, Me, Shannon (my sister), Ricky, Jay (awesome cousin), and Victor
   I guess that's enough of my ramblings for now. :)
  

Novelist

  Yesterday, I had the sweetest little girl ask me... "Are you a novelist? I've never heard of you before." I couldn't help but smile. Then, I got to thinking. Am I?
  Yes, I finally finished one of the many books that I have started over the years, and yes, I published it on Kindle and Nook. People even bought it, and not just my friends. I am elated!
  A few months ago, I was a nurse working part-time and a stay at home mom. Well, I guess I am still those things and will be for quite a while unless Amanda Hocking style magic happens over at Kindle and Nook. I guess I never really thought of myself as an "author" or a "novelist." A writer, yeah. I write, that's for sure. But when do you consider yourself an author? After you have completed something that you would consider good enough to share with the world? After you get picked up by an actual publishing company? After you sell 50, 100, or 1000 books? I don't know the answer or if there even is one. But I am starting to feel like an author. People have read my stuff! They even liked it!
  Yeah, so I went self-pub. I have never even thought about sending out a query letter. Will it be a mistake? Only time will tell I guess. Do I consider myself a novelist? Yeah, I think that I do. Hopefully, someday soon, little girls will have heard of me. :)

Charities

   I've spent a lot of the morning trying to interact with folks on several of the social networks. What I really find disturbing is the number of people who are bashing the celebrities, etc. for trying to drum up support for Japan as well as a number of other charities around the world.
   The biggest thing that shook me was the people that were saying things like... "stop sending your money to other countries, we have people that are starving and homeless right here in the U.S."
   While it is true that our economy has taken a blow, and we do have people that are hungry and homeless, we also have a lot of programs out there to help these people. We have homeless shelters, food banks, churches, WIC, Food Stamps, Section 8, HUD, Medicare, the list goes on.
   What we have to keep in mind is that a lot of countries, especially the third world countries, have none of this. That's why it is so important to help when you can. We need to help out in Haiti, we need to help out in Africa, and yes we need to help out in Japan.
   I was here for Hurricane Katrina, I know what the devastation looked like. I also know the help that a lot of those people got and are still getting. No, we were not prepared for such a disaster and it did take time for groups to come together and get the ball rolling. That just proves that we do need to help the people of Japan. We have been there, we have learned from our mistakes, we know to some extent what they are going through.
   Open your hearts and your minds. See the world in a bigger picture.
   If you want to help out please text REDCROSS to the number 90999 to make a $10 donation. You can also go to there website and choose how much you wish to donate and where you want the money to go.    This was not my normal random chatter Blog, I know. I just felt like I needed to say something.
   Thanks so much for your support!!!

Busy as a Bee

   Busy, busy, busy. I feel like I haven't stopped all week. I guess if I think about it, I really haven't. Between kids, work, writing, editing, marketing, cleaning, oh and American Idol. I just wish that there were more hours in the day.
   I was finally able to get Stay edited by someone other than myself. I made the foolish mistake of thinking that I could find and correct all of my errors on my own. Big mistake. I think that I had just read it so many times that I just wasn't seeing it anymore. Oh well, live and learn. The newly edited version is now online at Barnes & Noble, Kindle, and Smashwords. Please, if you find anymore, feel free to shoot me a message and let me know about them.   I am still working on my new book. It's coming along so well. I am really getting excited about it. I am so excited about it that I am thinking of giving it away. I just need to do a little more research on that because I think that some of the publishers require a minimum dollar amount. So we'll see. Stay was my first, so I am still feeling my way around this whole self-pub thing.   I would like to finish my latest work in progress as soon as possible so that I can get back to Callie Rose. I've got lots of good stuff in store for her and I can hardly wait to get it all on paper.    I am also working on building a website. It's coming along. You can check it out at ccjacksonbooks.com. Don't forget about my Facebook pages and Twitter. I would really love to hear from you!