Jaye Robin Brown's Blog, page 12

Keeper of Wonder: Interview with Karen Jensen

(And the winners of last week's T-shirt giveaway are Lindsey L., Jen Malone, Vickie Weavil, & Akossiwa Ketoglo! - Emails coming  your way)

I'm so pleased to introduce you to Karen Jensen, one of the staff members at TeenLibrarianToolbox.com! I've followed Karen on her Twitter account, @tlt16, for a while now and knew I wanted to pick her brain when I came up with the idea for this interview series. Best part is, she said YES! So here we go, ladies and gentlemen, the Keeper of Wonder s...

Reading As A Writer - When Did that Happen?

I suppose it was inevitable. You spend so much time learning a craft, refining, expanding, that at some point you must look for new and stronger teachers.

In my case, I've gone from my fledgling words, to on-line forums, to an in-life writing class (or two or three), to tentative chapter swaps, to full novel critiques, to beta reads from strangers and students. Years of this, in case you're wondering.

Then my book sold and I started working with my lovely editor. I hit the first round of revisi...

Introducing-THE KEEPER OF WONDER SERIES-Librarians & A cool T giveaway

Some of my earliest memories of books have less to do with books than the place where they lived. The Mobile Municipal Library, Springhill branch, was the holder of my dreams. My mother drove me, and my younger brother, most Saturday mornings to exchange old books for new.

In the summer, you’d push through the thick glass doors and be greeted by a blast of icy cold air conditioning. When your skin adjusted to the prickle, the smell would hit your senses. To me it smelled like far-off places an...

Oh Boy - The Aliens have landed! Oh wait? What's that Green Cloud?

I have a most unusual guest on my blog today. He's this little green dude named Ace Hansen that my writer friend, Angelina C. Hansen introduced me to.
But get this! Little Green Dude is a writer, too. And his book just came out this past Friday!
Here's the awesome cover and some links to purchase it! For less than FIVE DOLLARS load this on to your kid's Kindle!

Amazon Link - Muse It Up Link
But the most exciting part is Ace granted me, LITTLE OLD HUMAN ME, an interview! So without further ado:
Hi...

All About My Firsts! Like A Virgin Pitch Contest Bloghop

Hey y'all! Nice to meet you. As a brief introduction, I'm JRo, author of NO PLACE TO FALL, a contemporary YA coming Fall 2014 from Harper Teen. As well as being a writer, I'm a high school art teacher, an equestrian, dog lover, blueberry picker, and lover of wild things (nature that is). Looking forward to getting to know you and reading your AWESOME WORDS!!

So, without further ado:

My first birthday and first piece of chocolate cake! I still enjoy it as much!
1. How do you remember your first k...

Contest Opportunity for Young Adult & New Adult Authors

Hi Blog followers! Just wanted to give you a heads up about a pitch contest I'm participating in.

Rhiann Wynn-Nolet and Kristina Perez, the brains behind the Thursday's Child bloghop, have put together a manuscript pitch contest for Young Adult and New Adult un-agented authors.

The contest, called Like A Virgin Contest, or #LV13 on Twitter, is for manuscripts that have never been touched before (ha ha!). But...since there are a metric ton of contests happening in July, you may enter LV13 and on...

Focus on Back Story

As writers we always hear about the importance of back story. To me, back story is the "why" of our characters. And it's not only your protagonist who needs a healthy back story. The more you know about each person who appears on the page, the deeper you'll be able to write them.

Back story informs our actions. If I had never had a bad horse wreck, I'd still be riding with gusto. But that accident informs my decisions in the here and now. For example, you're reading this story about a girl who...

It's COVER REVEAL day for DAUGHTER OF CHAOS, by author, Jen McConnel

I am so excited about this release and reveal day! I first met Jen on Twitter, then we met in real life at a Cheryl Klein workshop hosted by the SCBWI Carolinas. We stayed in touch and became critique partners. She was with me when I got news of my book deal and we are still quick to e-mail one another when exciting writerly things happen. Having read Daughter of Chaos (be jealous), I was blown away when I opened the e-mail to see Darlena made flesh and bone as the super hot red witch that sh...

Update on Me and My Pony

A little over a week ago, I wrote about tackling my fear of returning to riding.
I arrived at Allison Creek Farm on Friday at noon. The clinic had already been going for half a day and my trainer, Joyce, caught me up. There were four other riders with their horses participating.

When Joyce first asked me if I could mount up, my hands started shaking, a fear ball lodged in my throat, tears welled up in my eyes and I told her I couldn't do it yet. She backed off, said it was fine. About thirty mi...

COVER REVEAL! For BURN OUT, by Kristi Helvig

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

We have another one of our sweet and loving 2014 YA Debut Valentines with a cover to reveal! Don't forget read all the way down to learn about the giveaway.

It's Kristi Helvig!

Kristi is a Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist turned sci-fi/fantasy writer. You can find her musing about space monkeys, Star Trek, and other random topics on her blog. Kristi resides in sunny Colorado with her hubby, kids, and behaviorally-challenged dogs. Find out more about Kristi at kristihelvi...