Jennifer Wilck's Blog, page 33
January 30, 2018
Mondays
I’m pretending today is Monday. Yesterday was actually Monday, but yesterday was a terrible day. So I’m pretending it didn’t happen. I want a do-over.
See, I love Mondays. It’s the beginning of a new week. The house is empty once again with everyone else back in school or work. I’m inspired and motivated. If my FitBit tracked productivity rather than steps, you’d see a huge uptick on Mondays, followed by a slow but steady decline the rest of the week.
This is sort of what it would look like--it was the closest graph I could find. At least the shape is close!
It’s the same reason why I love the new year, both Jewish and secular. I get a chance to start again—to make myself a better person (or try; I’m a work in progress) and I get to set a goal of cleaning out the house (which, when living with a bunch of packrats is a never-ending battle).
I love the beginning of each season, too. The first snow is exciting, the leavings beginning to turn, the trees beginning to bud, the first warm day. Of course, since there are only about 3 days a year whose temperature keeps me comfortable, I’m usually done with the seasons after that, but it’s the beginnings that I love.
So you all go along with your Tuesday. I know I’m in the minority when it comes to loving Mondays. But I’m still going to pretend.
See, I love Mondays. It’s the beginning of a new week. The house is empty once again with everyone else back in school or work. I’m inspired and motivated. If my FitBit tracked productivity rather than steps, you’d see a huge uptick on Mondays, followed by a slow but steady decline the rest of the week.
This is sort of what it would look like--it was the closest graph I could find. At least the shape is close!It’s the same reason why I love the new year, both Jewish and secular. I get a chance to start again—to make myself a better person (or try; I’m a work in progress) and I get to set a goal of cleaning out the house (which, when living with a bunch of packrats is a never-ending battle).
I love the beginning of each season, too. The first snow is exciting, the leavings beginning to turn, the trees beginning to bud, the first warm day. Of course, since there are only about 3 days a year whose temperature keeps me comfortable, I’m usually done with the seasons after that, but it’s the beginnings that I love.
So you all go along with your Tuesday. I know I’m in the minority when it comes to loving Mondays. But I’m still going to pretend.
January 24, 2018
DUKE DU JOURLords in Time series, Book 1by Petie McCartyG...
DUKE DU JOURLords in Time series, Book 1by Petie McCartyGenre: Regency Time-Travel RomancePublisher: The Wild Rose Press
Jared Langley, present-day Duke of Reston, tumbles into an abandoned fountain on his ducal estate and travels back in time to the year 1816. There, Reston servants and local villagers think him a dead ringer for his namesake and rakehell ancestor—the seventh Duke of Reston, gone missing at the Battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, Seven got mixed up with French spies out to assassinate the Duke of Wellington, and an unwary Jared ends up in their crosshairs.
Lady Ariana Hart has loved Jared Langley, the seventh Duke of Reston, since she was twelve years old, until the night the rogue broke her heart. Given up for dead, her rakish neighbor makes a miraculous return from Waterloo—only Jared shows up a changed man and reignites all the feelings Ariana had long ago buried.
Jared is in a race against time. He must waylay the suspicions of his quirky servants and neighbors, get to Wellington before the French spies do, fix his fountain—before Seven shows up—so Jared has a way home, and definitely not fall in love with the irresistible Lady Ariana.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, as he pulled the boot free.
“No!” she blurted.
His gaze swung up to her face, and she forced a smile. The boot removal had affected her as much as him. How would he ever make it through the night? He frowned slightly and then set to work on the other boot, holding her other knee and reigniting the heart palpitations all over again.
She made another swipe at the coverlet with her palms and almost fell over sideways. He fought back a grin. Misery loved company, and the sight of her flushed cheeks and bright eyes caught his breath in his throat.
Jared straightened and placed the second boot by the first next to the bed. “Are you feeling all right? You look a bit flushed. Maybe the ride was too much for you.”
He leaned in and placed the back of his hand against her forehead, ostensibly to check for a fever, and she whimpered at his touch. The intimate sound had his mouth feeling dry as sand, and he desperately wanted to touch more than her forehead.
His gaze locked with hers. Her eyes darkened.
Oh no. This could be trouble. A misstep here could ruin her…Or keep me here forever.
Still he did not move his hand. His gaze held hers. “You feel warm.”
He heard his voice go low and raspy.
Great. Let her know she has the upper hand.
Was she warm or was he? Every vein and artery in his body pulsed with the need he had denied since the day he’d met her.
“I’m fine,” she said softly.
He had to fight this magnetism, or he would have her ruined in short order.
“Are you?” He leaned closer.
Her look of befuddlement tugged at his heart, and he fought the lust roiling in his chest. He couldn’t read the look in her eyes. Did she want him, too? Oh, what did it matter unless he kissed her?
She leaned forward, whispered, “I think so.”
“Let me check.” He pressed his lips to hers.
Every nerve ending in his body exploded with pleasure. Primal desire had overwhelmed him in the taproom after he had saved her from the drunken farmer, his primitive nature taking the lead.
My lady. Mine.
He had not thought twice. Jumped in like the knight in shining armor she raved on about. He had wanted to be her knight.
His lips did not plunder, as she no doubt expected. He gentled his kiss so as not to frighten her, locked together in this room as they were. He brushed his lips across hers, caressed, hoping to make her want him half as much as he wanted her. He leaned back to stare into her eyes. He shouldn’t have started this. He would not be able to stop.
“This way lies disaster,” he rasped, “for both of us.”
“Maybe,” she said breathlessly, “but could I please have another?”
Amazon ✯ Amazon Int'l ✯ B&N ✯ iTunes ✯ Kobo ✯ The Wild Rose Press ✯ Goodreads
Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World -- "The Most Magical Place on Earth" -- where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to her "day" job to write her stories full-time. These days Petie spends her time writing sequels to her regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and her mystery-romance-with-elements-of-suspense series, the Mystery Angel Romances.Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband, a spoiled-rotten English Springer spaniel addicted to pimento-stuffed green olives, and a noisy Nanday conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in Angel to the Rescue.
Visit Petie's web site online or her Facebook page.
Facebook ✯ Website ✯ Twitter ✯ Goodreads ✯ Amazon
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January 22, 2018
Second Semester
College Girl is heading back to school today after a tremendously long winter break. It’s been lovely having her home—she brings joy and excitement into the house (as well as a REALLY loud voice), but I can tell she’s itching to get back to her friends.
We were pretty chill about coming back into the fold. We vacationed together and had a lot of meals together, but there was plenty of time for her to go off on her own and hang out with friends or even visit the when they, like practically the entire rest of the collegiate world, went back to school before her. She slept late, ate breakfast and lunch at weird hours, and added in additional food at odd times occasionally.
There was very little fighting between her and her sister, other than a passive/aggressive “game” involving hiding Banana Girl’s hairbrush in the sink because she was taking over too much of the bathroom. This resulted in Banana Girl doing the same to College Girl’s hairbrush and reminding her that she “really doesn’t live here anymore.” Oops.
So now we’re stuffing last minute items into the suitcase, making piles of things that need to be shipped, and preparing to go to the train. This time around, I know that I’ll talk and text her multiple times a day or week as long as I leave it to her to initiate (ha! Didn’t take me long AT ALL to learn that trick). And I’m thrilled that she’s happy enough to be eager to return.
Let the second semester begin!
We were pretty chill about coming back into the fold. We vacationed together and had a lot of meals together, but there was plenty of time for her to go off on her own and hang out with friends or even visit the when they, like practically the entire rest of the collegiate world, went back to school before her. She slept late, ate breakfast and lunch at weird hours, and added in additional food at odd times occasionally.
There was very little fighting between her and her sister, other than a passive/aggressive “game” involving hiding Banana Girl’s hairbrush in the sink because she was taking over too much of the bathroom. This resulted in Banana Girl doing the same to College Girl’s hairbrush and reminding her that she “really doesn’t live here anymore.” Oops.
So now we’re stuffing last minute items into the suitcase, making piles of things that need to be shipped, and preparing to go to the train. This time around, I know that I’ll talk and text her multiple times a day or week as long as I leave it to her to initiate (ha! Didn’t take me long AT ALL to learn that trick). And I’m thrilled that she’s happy enough to be eager to return.
Let the second semester begin!
January 15, 2018
#AmEditing
The thing about writing is that to some extent, I can make my own schedule. I can write when I want, working around other things. Of course, that assumes my muse is cooperating and that I’m inspired at the time I sit down to write. I can write until I’m finished, not worrying about anything other than finishing the book.
When it comes to editing, however, I have less flexibility. Usually, I’m editing according to someone else’s deadline. If I want my book published, I have to accommodate the needs of content editors, copy editors, layout people, etc. So when they send me something, everything else I might be working on has to be put off to the side so I can meet my deadlines.
Currently, I’m entering into the editing phase. I’ve been editing my own manuscripts for a while now, polishing them in order to get them ready to submit to my critique partners, or incorporating my critique partners’ comments into a manuscript I’m preparing to submit to my editor. But now, a bunch of different projects are coming together and for the next few weeks I’ll be busy.
My editor will be sending me my galleys any day now (I’ve been saying that for weeks, but really, it’s true) and I’ll have about a week to scour every word, letter, space and punctuation mark for accuracy before turning it back in and getting a release date for Five Minutes to Love—the sequel to Addicted to Love.
I’m also working on a self-publishing project and the editor I hired just returned my manuscript to me with all of her comments. They’re fantastic, but whoa, there are a lot of them. So for the next month, I’ll be working on those a little at a time. I can’t spend entire days on them because of other things going on and the fact that I’ll go batty. So I need to space it out a bit. But when I’m done, that manuscript is going to shine!
And finally, I’m judging a writing contest, so I have books to read. While I don’t have to edit them per se, I have to evaluate them for a variety of criteria, and there’s a deadline for me to complete them. So in between editing, I’ll be reading.
Insider tip: Now is a great time to invest in Advil, as I’ll be taking a lot of it! J
When it comes to editing, however, I have less flexibility. Usually, I’m editing according to someone else’s deadline. If I want my book published, I have to accommodate the needs of content editors, copy editors, layout people, etc. So when they send me something, everything else I might be working on has to be put off to the side so I can meet my deadlines.
Currently, I’m entering into the editing phase. I’ve been editing my own manuscripts for a while now, polishing them in order to get them ready to submit to my critique partners, or incorporating my critique partners’ comments into a manuscript I’m preparing to submit to my editor. But now, a bunch of different projects are coming together and for the next few weeks I’ll be busy.
My editor will be sending me my galleys any day now (I’ve been saying that for weeks, but really, it’s true) and I’ll have about a week to scour every word, letter, space and punctuation mark for accuracy before turning it back in and getting a release date for Five Minutes to Love—the sequel to Addicted to Love.
I’m also working on a self-publishing project and the editor I hired just returned my manuscript to me with all of her comments. They’re fantastic, but whoa, there are a lot of them. So for the next month, I’ll be working on those a little at a time. I can’t spend entire days on them because of other things going on and the fact that I’ll go batty. So I need to space it out a bit. But when I’m done, that manuscript is going to shine!
And finally, I’m judging a writing contest, so I have books to read. While I don’t have to edit them per se, I have to evaluate them for a variety of criteria, and there’s a deadline for me to complete them. So in between editing, I’ll be reading.
Insider tip: Now is a great time to invest in Advil, as I’ll be taking a lot of it! J
January 8, 2018
The Zipper
I’m not a klutz. Granted, we all have times when our actions are less than Fred Astaire-like, but in general, I can walk and chew gum at the same time. In fact, at times I’m downright graceful.
I’m also not stupid. I graduated from a well-respected university, have an excellent command of the English language and received good grades throughout my life.
But even graceful, intelligent people screw up, and when we do so, well...we blog about it.
My daughter’s jacket was broken. Now, first of all, I should say, this is a winter jacket she’s been wearing all season that neither one of us recognized. It was a color I don’t remember buying, with a hood of fake fur she’s never asked for. Frankly, I thought it might have been left in our house by a friend. And since it was hanging on our coat rack for months, I decided that if it wasn’t purchased by us, possession was nine-tenths of the law and it was ours now. Especially because it was a coat my daughter actually wantedto wear (as opposed to all the others she studiously avoided, regardless of the temperature).
So when she started wearing it, I was happy. I didn’t even mind that she wasn’t zipping it because, well, people have different body temperatures and I decided if she were cold enough, she’d zip it.
And then we had the deep freeze. The one where our thermometers are in the negative numbers and the wind chill takes your breath away. It was during this lovely blast of Mother Nature’s wrath that she and her youth group were going into New York City to feed and clothe the homeless. There was no way she was going with an open coat.
The only problem was that apparently the zipper was actually broken. The slider opening was closed, preventing the insert pin from being able to be inserted. The jacket was unzippable.
Normal people would say, “Go find another jacket.” Which I did. But I was also stubborn and decided I could fix the jacket by opening the slider. It had originally been open. Something just squeezed the two sides together, which meant I should be able to open them again. Only I couldn’t.
So then I forgot that I was a smart and graceful person and did something stupid and klutzy. I took a steak knife and tried to open the slider. The only thing I succeeded in opening was my thumb.
Which was no help at all for the zipper.
I’m also not stupid. I graduated from a well-respected university, have an excellent command of the English language and received good grades throughout my life.
But even graceful, intelligent people screw up, and when we do so, well...we blog about it.
My daughter’s jacket was broken. Now, first of all, I should say, this is a winter jacket she’s been wearing all season that neither one of us recognized. It was a color I don’t remember buying, with a hood of fake fur she’s never asked for. Frankly, I thought it might have been left in our house by a friend. And since it was hanging on our coat rack for months, I decided that if it wasn’t purchased by us, possession was nine-tenths of the law and it was ours now. Especially because it was a coat my daughter actually wantedto wear (as opposed to all the others she studiously avoided, regardless of the temperature).
So when she started wearing it, I was happy. I didn’t even mind that she wasn’t zipping it because, well, people have different body temperatures and I decided if she were cold enough, she’d zip it.
And then we had the deep freeze. The one where our thermometers are in the negative numbers and the wind chill takes your breath away. It was during this lovely blast of Mother Nature’s wrath that she and her youth group were going into New York City to feed and clothe the homeless. There was no way she was going with an open coat.
The only problem was that apparently the zipper was actually broken. The slider opening was closed, preventing the insert pin from being able to be inserted. The jacket was unzippable.
Normal people would say, “Go find another jacket.” Which I did. But I was also stubborn and decided I could fix the jacket by opening the slider. It had originally been open. Something just squeezed the two sides together, which meant I should be able to open them again. Only I couldn’t.
So then I forgot that I was a smart and graceful person and did something stupid and klutzy. I took a steak knife and tried to open the slider. The only thing I succeeded in opening was my thumb.
Which was no help at all for the zipper.
December 18, 2017
Looking Back
Every year at this time, Facebook does a year in review, showing a slideshow of various photos, status updates and friends from the past year. Like many people who have commented about this feature, this is one year that I’m really not up for reviewing.
We have a president who thinks women and minorities are less than human and would like us to relive the 1950s. We have a Congress with admissions requirements that are more lax than shopping malls. Powerful men who have abused women are pouring out of the woodwork (I’m telling you now, if anyone accuses Tom Hanks, I’m done), and not a single one knows how to apologize—you’d think with all the Hollywood elite accused, one of them would hire a screenwriter to give them a decent apology script that everyone else could plagiarize. And it seems as if the entire world is either falling apart or against us or both.
But, upon further reflection, this year had some incredible moments. Resistance is growing strong. Regardless of political affiliation, people are standing up for what’s right. Decency and courage are peeking through the cracks. Women are demonstrating hidden strength and destroying those who would do us harm. The silent are finding a voice.
I’ve had meaningful conversations with people that, up until that time, I hadn’t discussed anything other than superficial topics. I’ve learned the true meaning of friendship. I’ve watched people I love overcome things and succeed at things that I never thought I’d see.
Those moments are enough to carry me through and to give me hope for the future. And when those moments aren’t enough, I escape into my work, where the women are strong and don’t need rescuing; the men aren’t assholes; and happily-ever-after provides the light at the end of the tunnel (hmm, maybe I DO write about my real life...).
So 2017, while going into the history books for all the wrong reasons, does have some good things that I want to remember—book sales, new friends, fun memories.
But I think I’ll pass on Facebook’s end-of-year feature. Maybe next year.
We have a president who thinks women and minorities are less than human and would like us to relive the 1950s. We have a Congress with admissions requirements that are more lax than shopping malls. Powerful men who have abused women are pouring out of the woodwork (I’m telling you now, if anyone accuses Tom Hanks, I’m done), and not a single one knows how to apologize—you’d think with all the Hollywood elite accused, one of them would hire a screenwriter to give them a decent apology script that everyone else could plagiarize. And it seems as if the entire world is either falling apart or against us or both.
But, upon further reflection, this year had some incredible moments. Resistance is growing strong. Regardless of political affiliation, people are standing up for what’s right. Decency and courage are peeking through the cracks. Women are demonstrating hidden strength and destroying those who would do us harm. The silent are finding a voice.
I’ve had meaningful conversations with people that, up until that time, I hadn’t discussed anything other than superficial topics. I’ve learned the true meaning of friendship. I’ve watched people I love overcome things and succeed at things that I never thought I’d see.
Those moments are enough to carry me through and to give me hope for the future. And when those moments aren’t enough, I escape into my work, where the women are strong and don’t need rescuing; the men aren’t assholes; and happily-ever-after provides the light at the end of the tunnel (hmm, maybe I DO write about my real life...).
So 2017, while going into the history books for all the wrong reasons, does have some good things that I want to remember—book sales, new friends, fun memories.
But I think I’ll pass on Facebook’s end-of-year feature. Maybe next year.
December 13, 2017
Welcome to Leslie Scott
Leslie is a first-time author, so please check her out!
Jennifer has so kindly offered to host me today on her blog and give me some ideas as to what to talk about. Since, well, this is my very first release and I’m still learning the ropes of blogging and the like. As with most writers, I’d much rather talk about my characters and stories than myself. After all, their lives are far more interesting than ours are, that’s why we read.
My dream has always been to write for a living, to tell stories and have people read them. A few years ago, I decided to stop dreaming about it and actually do it. Helped in part by the fact that my Beta read (and dear friend) told me she wasn’t going to read anything else until I finished one.
One night, while sitting in bed with my husband watching yet another car related show while he talked about the big race at the drag strip that weekend, it hit me. I can combine both our worlds, make it entertaining and sexy. My novel, The Finish Line was born in that moment.
A few interesting tidbits about The Finish Line:
Street racing, since the birth of movies like The Fast and the Furious and shows like Street Outlaws has been given a lot of attention in the past decade. But, it’s not something new. Since the birth of the muscle car, drivers have been testing their mettle on dark streets in the middle of the night.
For me, I thought maybe it was time they try their hands at love.
Jordan, my hero was someone I wanted to be larger than life. The big fish in a little pond, town hero, the sort of guy that everyone wanted to know. So, as I was writing him, he became something special to me. I changed his name then, since I knew he was going to be my first published hero. As a kid, my two first crushes were Jordan Knight from NKOTB and Christian Slater. Thus, Jordan Slater.
Raelynn is the anti me. In truth, I’m much more like her snarky little sister. So, writing her was an adventure in, learning to let go and allow the character to create themselves. There were times writing this, when I really felt like I was being unusually cruel to her. That built a respect, each time the story knocks her down, she just gets stronger. I realized that while she isn’t much like me, she’s someone I could aspire to be like.
Their love story isn’t an easy one, though it was possibly the most fulfilling thing I’ve done aside from having my son. The day I signed my contract, I celebrated for about two minutes before realizing that meant I had to get started on the second novel. Which, reminds me now, that I need to wrap this up and finish up book three.
Thanks so much for spending time with me today. Happy reading!
Blurb:Another night at the races is more than burnt rubber with a hit of nitrous. For one young woman, it's navigating trauma, love, and loss in the stifling Texas heat under the watchful gaze of her brother’s best friend and reigning King of the Streets, Jordan Slater. Home in Arkadia again, Raelynn Casey starts to heal from a terrible incident at college. She finds love in Jordan, a member of her brother’s circle of racing buddies. When another in the racing circle, the guy who took her to her high school prom, exposes his feelings for Raelynn, tragedy erupts like a tank of race fuel. Guilt, remorse, and pain must be overcome before Raelynn and Jordan can race to The Finish Line. The Finish Line, Paperback http://bit.ly/2isnD4uThe Finish Line, Nook http://bit.ly/2A88mjHThe Finish Line, Kindle http://amzn.to/2A875ZXAuthor Bio: Leslie Scott thrives in the middle of chaos. Not because she home schools her son and rides herd over the family's zoo of indoor pets or listens to her soul mate wax poetically about all things car and related. Oh, no. That's nothing. The real chaos is the characters in her mind, elbowing and tripping each other to get to the front of the line so they can be the next romantic couple in one of her stories. Her family is her passion. Writing romance is her dream.Links: Readers can find me on my website: lesliescottromance.com, on Twitter @leslieSwrites, and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lesliescottwrites. I’m really active on twitter/facebook and would love to hear from readers!
Jennifer has so kindly offered to host me today on her blog and give me some ideas as to what to talk about. Since, well, this is my very first release and I’m still learning the ropes of blogging and the like. As with most writers, I’d much rather talk about my characters and stories than myself. After all, their lives are far more interesting than ours are, that’s why we read.
My dream has always been to write for a living, to tell stories and have people read them. A few years ago, I decided to stop dreaming about it and actually do it. Helped in part by the fact that my Beta read (and dear friend) told me she wasn’t going to read anything else until I finished one.
One night, while sitting in bed with my husband watching yet another car related show while he talked about the big race at the drag strip that weekend, it hit me. I can combine both our worlds, make it entertaining and sexy. My novel, The Finish Line was born in that moment.
A few interesting tidbits about The Finish Line:
Street racing, since the birth of movies like The Fast and the Furious and shows like Street Outlaws has been given a lot of attention in the past decade. But, it’s not something new. Since the birth of the muscle car, drivers have been testing their mettle on dark streets in the middle of the night.
For me, I thought maybe it was time they try their hands at love.
Jordan, my hero was someone I wanted to be larger than life. The big fish in a little pond, town hero, the sort of guy that everyone wanted to know. So, as I was writing him, he became something special to me. I changed his name then, since I knew he was going to be my first published hero. As a kid, my two first crushes were Jordan Knight from NKOTB and Christian Slater. Thus, Jordan Slater.
Raelynn is the anti me. In truth, I’m much more like her snarky little sister. So, writing her was an adventure in, learning to let go and allow the character to create themselves. There were times writing this, when I really felt like I was being unusually cruel to her. That built a respect, each time the story knocks her down, she just gets stronger. I realized that while she isn’t much like me, she’s someone I could aspire to be like.
Their love story isn’t an easy one, though it was possibly the most fulfilling thing I’ve done aside from having my son. The day I signed my contract, I celebrated for about two minutes before realizing that meant I had to get started on the second novel. Which, reminds me now, that I need to wrap this up and finish up book three.
Thanks so much for spending time with me today. Happy reading!
Blurb:Another night at the races is more than burnt rubber with a hit of nitrous. For one young woman, it's navigating trauma, love, and loss in the stifling Texas heat under the watchful gaze of her brother’s best friend and reigning King of the Streets, Jordan Slater. Home in Arkadia again, Raelynn Casey starts to heal from a terrible incident at college. She finds love in Jordan, a member of her brother’s circle of racing buddies. When another in the racing circle, the guy who took her to her high school prom, exposes his feelings for Raelynn, tragedy erupts like a tank of race fuel. Guilt, remorse, and pain must be overcome before Raelynn and Jordan can race to The Finish Line. The Finish Line, Paperback http://bit.ly/2isnD4uThe Finish Line, Nook http://bit.ly/2A88mjHThe Finish Line, Kindle http://amzn.to/2A875ZXAuthor Bio: Leslie Scott thrives in the middle of chaos. Not because she home schools her son and rides herd over the family's zoo of indoor pets or listens to her soul mate wax poetically about all things car and related. Oh, no. That's nothing. The real chaos is the characters in her mind, elbowing and tripping each other to get to the front of the line so they can be the next romantic couple in one of her stories. Her family is her passion. Writing romance is her dream.Links: Readers can find me on my website: lesliescottromance.com, on Twitter @leslieSwrites, and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lesliescottwrites. I’m really active on twitter/facebook and would love to hear from readers!
December 11, 2017
Happy Chanukah!
Tomorrow night is the start of Chanukah and this year is going to be a very different type of celebration.
To start with, the Princess will still be in school for most of it, so we won’t get to celebrate with her until the last two nights of the holiday. I picked out and wrapped her presents, as well as included an electric menorah for her to light in her room. I mailed her the ones she can open at school. And we hope she’ll be able to call or FaceTime us while she does it, even though she’s in the middle of finals. But it won’t be the same.
Chanukah’s not a big holiday, and even though it falls around Christmas usually, it’s NOT a Jewish version of Christmas. But it is a holiday and I like to gather my family around during that time. Short of a very select few things that absolutely can’t be skipped, everyone is expected to be at home, together, while we light the candles. That often means they leave afterwards, but for that half hour each evening, we are together.
It also means most of the traditions will fall on Banana Girl—putting up the window clings, lighting the electric window menorah (which I have never liked), and making gelt. The presents have been sitting out, wrapped, since I started purchasing them—I was very organized this year, which even surprised me—and there’s only been some of the interest level in them, probably because we’re missing a child. Although Banana Girl did show concern when she counted and didn’t see enough presents for the entire holiday (that’s because some of the orders haven’t come in yet, despite my best intentions).
We’ll be FaceTiming the grandparents in for the first time, and I’ll be introducing a whole additional group to the joys of fried Oreos. This year, the family Chanukah party is at my house. I still haven’t quite perfected the food pairings that go with fried Oreos, but I suspect no one will care. And I think even my husband got a little carried away with the amount of Oreos needed this season.
So, like everything else in this year of change, things will be different. And while I hate change, I have to admit that it’s been fun trying to figure out new traditions and balancing the old ones.
To all those who celebrate, wishing you a very Happy Chanukah!
To start with, the Princess will still be in school for most of it, so we won’t get to celebrate with her until the last two nights of the holiday. I picked out and wrapped her presents, as well as included an electric menorah for her to light in her room. I mailed her the ones she can open at school. And we hope she’ll be able to call or FaceTime us while she does it, even though she’s in the middle of finals. But it won’t be the same.
Chanukah’s not a big holiday, and even though it falls around Christmas usually, it’s NOT a Jewish version of Christmas. But it is a holiday and I like to gather my family around during that time. Short of a very select few things that absolutely can’t be skipped, everyone is expected to be at home, together, while we light the candles. That often means they leave afterwards, but for that half hour each evening, we are together.
It also means most of the traditions will fall on Banana Girl—putting up the window clings, lighting the electric window menorah (which I have never liked), and making gelt. The presents have been sitting out, wrapped, since I started purchasing them—I was very organized this year, which even surprised me—and there’s only been some of the interest level in them, probably because we’re missing a child. Although Banana Girl did show concern when she counted and didn’t see enough presents for the entire holiday (that’s because some of the orders haven’t come in yet, despite my best intentions).
We’ll be FaceTiming the grandparents in for the first time, and I’ll be introducing a whole additional group to the joys of fried Oreos. This year, the family Chanukah party is at my house. I still haven’t quite perfected the food pairings that go with fried Oreos, but I suspect no one will care. And I think even my husband got a little carried away with the amount of Oreos needed this season.
So, like everything else in this year of change, things will be different. And while I hate change, I have to admit that it’s been fun trying to figure out new traditions and balancing the old ones. To all those who celebrate, wishing you a very Happy Chanukah!
December 6, 2017
Welcome Donna Simonetta
Please welcome fellow TWRP author, Donna Simonetta, to my blog, talking about her latest book.
I love reading small-town contemporary romance! Give me a new Fool’s Gold book by Susan Mallery, a comfy chair, and a cup of coffee, and I’m set for the day. When I first started writing romance, I wrote paranormal stories, and I love those too. But I wanted to try my hand at a small-town romance––to be clear, a small town with no witches, shifters, or Fae. I’m a born and bred New Englander, and my husband is a native Virginian, so I thought I’d make the female protagonist from Connecticut and the male protagonist from Virginia. I decided to set it in Virginia, and the quirky, little town of Rivers Bend was created! Once I imagined the town and its inhabitants, I knew one book wasn’t going to be enough to tell its story. Rivers Bend deserved a trilogy.A Sweeter Spot is the first book in the trilogy, and tells the story of Magda Horvath relocating to Rivers Bend for a brief stay to help her best friend. Of course, she fell in love with the town, and once she got to know Jefferson Braden and his big, loving family, she didn’t want to leave. Too bad her oily ex-fiancé and wealthy grandmother won’t stop at anything to get her back to Manhattan and the life she left behind.Love is Lovelier is the second book in the trilogy, and it focuses on Jeff’s sister Heather, and her first love, who broke her heart back in the day. Now he’s moved to the Bend, and is wreaking havoc in her life again. I’m working with my publisher on the final stages of that book, and I hope it will be released in early 2018. I’m currently writing book 3, wherein the wildest Braden, youngest son Jason, finally meets the woman who might be immune to his charms.I’m going to be sad when I’m done writing the Rivers Bend trilogy. I’ve spent the last few years living there in mind, and it seems like a real place to me, and I’ll be sorry to say good-bye to its residents. Maybe, like Magda, I won’t be able to resist the easy pace, and warm comfort of Rivers Bend, and the next generation of Bradens will decide to tell me their stories too!
Blurb:Magda knows a 28-year-old shouldn’t run away from home, but Rivers Bend is the ideal escape. Helping out her best friend will get her away from her uber-wealthy, controlling grandmother and duplicitous ex. She doesn’t expect the quirky little town to feel so much like home. Add in hotter-than-the-sun Jeff and his daughter, and leaving seems as unthinkable as it is inevitable.Raising Sam alone, Jeff knew he wanted her to grow up in his supportive hometown. The arrival of a feisty new tenant sends Jeff's world spinning. Magda fills a void in his life that he’d like to make permanent.Will love triumph over the most powerful woman in the country, and can they figure out how to make this happy-for-now in Rivers Bend into their happy-ever-after?
Excerpt:“Being cheated on is no fun. It happened to me once. Up here,” he tapped his forehead. “You know it’s not your fault. But here,” he tapped his chest over his heart. “You feel like it has to be your fault – like you could’ve done something to prevent it. But you couldn’t have. It’s all on him, Maggie. Not you.”She picked a dandelion, whose flower had turned into a puffball, and blew on it, scattering the fluff to the wind. “Maybe. Maybe not. But thanks for the support.”She pushed to her feet and took a couple of steps toward the river. Jeff rose and followed. How could he be so angry at a man he didn’t even know? How could this Pierce jerk have slept around on a woman like Maggie? And the prick had even made her doubt herself in the process. It was written all over her anguished face.He stood behind her and gently kneaded her shoulders. He turned her to face him and cupped her face in his big hands.“This Pierce guy is the biggest fool on earth to go to someone else when he had you at home, Maggie.”She blinked away tears, and he felt his heart constrict. Before he could think it through and decide it was a really bad idea, Jeff dipped his head and captured Magda’s lips in a gentle kiss.
Bio: My career has been a winding road. I worked in the business world for years, got my MLS and worked in a school library, and am now living my dream as an author. I love to read and write contemporary and fantasy romance. I live in Maryland, with my husband, who is my real-life romance hero. We both enjoy traveling to visit our far-flung family and friends, and spending time on the beach with an umbrella drink and a good book.
Author Links: https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor
https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15422407.Donna_Simonetta
https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Simonetta/e/B06X415TWW/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-simonetta
Book Links: Amazon:https://www.amzn.com/dp/B01N1S1K06/
TWRP:http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4862-a-sweeter-spot.html
Barnes & Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-sweeter-spot-donna-simonetta/1125338511?ean=2940157374921
Amazon UK:http://amzn.eu/14pwrnP
Kobo:https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-sweeter-spot-1
I love reading small-town contemporary romance! Give me a new Fool’s Gold book by Susan Mallery, a comfy chair, and a cup of coffee, and I’m set for the day. When I first started writing romance, I wrote paranormal stories, and I love those too. But I wanted to try my hand at a small-town romance––to be clear, a small town with no witches, shifters, or Fae. I’m a born and bred New Englander, and my husband is a native Virginian, so I thought I’d make the female protagonist from Connecticut and the male protagonist from Virginia. I decided to set it in Virginia, and the quirky, little town of Rivers Bend was created! Once I imagined the town and its inhabitants, I knew one book wasn’t going to be enough to tell its story. Rivers Bend deserved a trilogy.A Sweeter Spot is the first book in the trilogy, and tells the story of Magda Horvath relocating to Rivers Bend for a brief stay to help her best friend. Of course, she fell in love with the town, and once she got to know Jefferson Braden and his big, loving family, she didn’t want to leave. Too bad her oily ex-fiancé and wealthy grandmother won’t stop at anything to get her back to Manhattan and the life she left behind.Love is Lovelier is the second book in the trilogy, and it focuses on Jeff’s sister Heather, and her first love, who broke her heart back in the day. Now he’s moved to the Bend, and is wreaking havoc in her life again. I’m working with my publisher on the final stages of that book, and I hope it will be released in early 2018. I’m currently writing book 3, wherein the wildest Braden, youngest son Jason, finally meets the woman who might be immune to his charms.I’m going to be sad when I’m done writing the Rivers Bend trilogy. I’ve spent the last few years living there in mind, and it seems like a real place to me, and I’ll be sorry to say good-bye to its residents. Maybe, like Magda, I won’t be able to resist the easy pace, and warm comfort of Rivers Bend, and the next generation of Bradens will decide to tell me their stories too!
Blurb:Magda knows a 28-year-old shouldn’t run away from home, but Rivers Bend is the ideal escape. Helping out her best friend will get her away from her uber-wealthy, controlling grandmother and duplicitous ex. She doesn’t expect the quirky little town to feel so much like home. Add in hotter-than-the-sun Jeff and his daughter, and leaving seems as unthinkable as it is inevitable.Raising Sam alone, Jeff knew he wanted her to grow up in his supportive hometown. The arrival of a feisty new tenant sends Jeff's world spinning. Magda fills a void in his life that he’d like to make permanent.Will love triumph over the most powerful woman in the country, and can they figure out how to make this happy-for-now in Rivers Bend into their happy-ever-after?
Excerpt:“Being cheated on is no fun. It happened to me once. Up here,” he tapped his forehead. “You know it’s not your fault. But here,” he tapped his chest over his heart. “You feel like it has to be your fault – like you could’ve done something to prevent it. But you couldn’t have. It’s all on him, Maggie. Not you.”She picked a dandelion, whose flower had turned into a puffball, and blew on it, scattering the fluff to the wind. “Maybe. Maybe not. But thanks for the support.”She pushed to her feet and took a couple of steps toward the river. Jeff rose and followed. How could he be so angry at a man he didn’t even know? How could this Pierce jerk have slept around on a woman like Maggie? And the prick had even made her doubt herself in the process. It was written all over her anguished face.He stood behind her and gently kneaded her shoulders. He turned her to face him and cupped her face in his big hands.“This Pierce guy is the biggest fool on earth to go to someone else when he had you at home, Maggie.”She blinked away tears, and he felt his heart constrict. Before he could think it through and decide it was a really bad idea, Jeff dipped his head and captured Magda’s lips in a gentle kiss.
Bio: My career has been a winding road. I worked in the business world for years, got my MLS and worked in a school library, and am now living my dream as an author. I love to read and write contemporary and fantasy romance. I live in Maryland, with my husband, who is my real-life romance hero. We both enjoy traveling to visit our far-flung family and friends, and spending time on the beach with an umbrella drink and a good book.
Author Links: https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor
https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15422407.Donna_Simonetta
https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Simonetta/e/B06X415TWW/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-simonetta
Book Links: Amazon:https://www.amzn.com/dp/B01N1S1K06/
TWRP:http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4862-a-sweeter-spot.html
Barnes & Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-sweeter-spot-donna-simonetta/1125338511?ean=2940157374921
Amazon UK:http://amzn.eu/14pwrnP
Kobo:https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-sweeter-spot-1
December 4, 2017
Trying New Things
Part of being an author is trying new things. Sometimes that’s exciting and sometimes not. There’s a big part of me that would just like to hole up in a cozy chair next to the fire, tune out the world and write. But, that would mean completely ignoring the outside world. And there are people in the outside world, and those people are readers. So, we try new things.I actually tried two new things (yay me). The first was NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the month of November, you sign up with whoever actually runs this and commit to writing 50,000 words. That translates to 1,667 words per day, in case you’re interested. You keep track of your word totals, can interact with other writers who are doing the same thing, and at the end, if you make the word count, you can win a variety of prizes.I’m not sure who decided November was the best month to do this—sorry, Mom, I can’t come over for Thanksgiving dinner until I get in my word count!—but they did. I’ve never participated before because November tends to be busy. But I’ve been really bad with my concentration lately and I decided to give it a try. If you give me a daily deadline, I will meet it! So I wrote and wrote and wrote. And I made it with one day to spare. I didn’t actually start a new novel, but added those words to one I was already writing, which means I finished it on November 29.Here are some things I learned about NaNoWriMo. The discipline of having to write approximately 1,700 words a day was great. Again, I am too afraid of the consequences—even the made-up ones—to ever miss a deadline, so I wrote like a demon. But the words I wrote? Ugh. They will require a lot of editing. And because I was only supposed to write and not edit meant my typical writing process—write to page 100, go back and edit, write to page 200, go back and edit, write to the end, go back and edit—wasn’t possible. The result? I have a finished manuscript, but I have a major character whom I don’t know and right now has no purpose. I can’t delete her because, well, she’s my heroine. So, like I said, I have a lot of serious editing to do.To be honest, I’m not sure I’d do this again. I think it will depend on where I am in my writing, what my concentration is like and how much of this I forget between now and next November. My writing chapter also hosts a similar thing in February, but you only have to write 30,000 words. That’s much more doable and having done it for several years, it requires a lot less editing. Again, I’ll see where I am at the time, but I hope to participate in that one.The second new thing I’m trying is an Instagram account for my author persona*. I have a personal one, but I often post photos of my kids on it, and I don’t want to post too much about my books because I don’t want to annoy my friends. Plus, that account is private, which means I have to approve everyone who wants to follow me and I really don’t want strangers following me—again, I post photos of my kids.But according to my publisher’s marketing department, the most useful social media tool is Instagram. So, I created one where I just post about my books, my writing life and things having to do with being an author or a reader. I use lots of hashtags so people with interests in those things can find and hopefully follow me. The account is public so anyone can follow it (although I still block the creepy men who are looking for dates—eww).I’m curious to see what will happen and whether or not it has any affect on my sales. My goal is to post a photo a day and hopefully grow a following of interested readers. We’ll see!
*If you're interested in following me, you can do so here: https://www.instagram.com/authorjenniferwilck/
*If you're interested in following me, you can do so here: https://www.instagram.com/authorjenniferwilck/
