Jamie Farrell's Blog, page 19

Welcome to Jennie Marts!!

Hey, y’all!! Happy Monday! Today we have a fun treat – Jennie Marts is swinging by and “borrowing” my blog for a blog hop! She’s here to tell you about her writing process. Take it away, Jennie!

 

Thanks so much to Robin Nolet for inviting me to be part of her blog tour. 
 
She had a few interview questions for me: 
 

1)     What am I working on?
I’m currently finishing up edits on Book 3 of The Page Turners series. Just Another Maniac Monday will be available the first part of June. This is Edna’s story. She’s a spunky retired widow who finds herself face to face with the love of her life, a suspected murderer she thought died sixty years ago. But she’s not the only one surprised to see him. Someone else knows he’s alive and is hunting him. Now Edna must face her past, learn to forgive, and risk her heart as she fights to save the man now that she couldn’t save then.

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre?
My books are romantic comedies that combine the friendships found in women’s fiction with a fun romance and a dash of mystery.

3)     Why do I write what I do?
I love stories that make me laugh, cry and fall in love with the characters. I adore reading a great love story and a happy ending. And I also enjoy the touch of suspense that makes you wonder just who-dun-it!

4)     How does your writing process work?
I set a writing goal of 10,000 words a week and try to write 2000 words a day. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer so I work with a loose outline and let elements of the story come to me throughout the process. My mind is always thinking about the story. My writing fuel is Diet Coke and coffee mixed with Crème Brulee creamer. I adore Cheetos and have been known to use a DQ blizzard as a word-count rewards.

I would love for you to meet the Page Turners book club, a fun group of women who search for clues and romance while eating really great desserts.
Find my books on Amazon:
Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body : http://amzn.com/B00AQPJ924
Easy Like Sunday Mourning: http://amzn.com/B00HUTZLG2

Sign up for my newsletter at www.jenniemarts.com. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter a twww.facebook.com/JennieMartsBooks and @JennieMarts.

Thanks so much to Jennie for stopping by today!! Hope y’all get a chance to check out Jennie’s books – she’s a hoot!

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

 

A Year of Happy Mondays – Look What I Found! Edition

I’m doing something crazy today – I’m starting Monday on Sunday night. Or, I’m starting Monday on Australia time. Take your pick! Either way, that means something fun is coming tomorrow too!!

The packing and purging for our move have started in earnest, and we’re discovering things we had forgotten we owned.

And I’ve found at least ten that have made me smile, and I suspect at least seven of them will make you smile too.

So, this Sunday-Parading-as-a-Monday, I present to you…

Ten Awesome and Funny Things We’ve Discovered In Our Closets And Cabinets

10. Baby Binks (He’s, ah, gone now.)

9. A bag full of blue surgical gloves, size medium (and I know the size because the med tech quoted it to me when she gave me the bag full of blue surgical gloves last summer when I tried to cut my finger off). (And for SuperHubby and anyone else who gets the reference: “Two by two, hands of blue.”)

8. An empty photo album that SuperHubby and I each think belongs to the other.

7. Monkeys. As in Barrel o’ Monkeys monkeys. They’re EVERYWHERE. Seriously. Does anyone know how many monkeys are in a barrel?

6. This card

The Outside

The Inside

**Note: I think I pulled this out of a magazine when I was in college. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever gotten a card from anyone named Louise.

5. A set of keys to the old locks on my parents house, from before the time when my dad switched the locks while my mom was out of town. (True story.)

4. Baby pictures of SuperHubby. (Isn’t he ADORABLE?!)

3. This book. Internet research indicates it dates back to about 1975, and y’all… we’re going to have some fun with this book. Stick around.

2. This card

“Thank you”

here.

The Maybe-Last, Maybe-Not-Last Help A Military Wife Move Giveaway!

It’s crunch time with the move, y’all, and I still need help finding good homes for the books I can’t take with me!

Super thanks and congrats to last week’s winner,

Kimberly Dawn!!

Kimberly Dawn, send me an email at jamie @ jamiefarrellbooks . com (no spaces) with your address, and I’ll get your books and a couple bonus surprises mailed out to you ASAP!

I have one more box of books to give away before the big move! And I might have a few more things to give away… but you’ll have to stick around to find out.

Even if you’ve entered before, enter again today! My books need good homes, y’all. And this is a great group of books!

Y’all like Linda Howard, Maya Banks, and Julia London?

Me too.

And these four books need a good home, and I have a couple little extras I’ve found lately that just might get tossed in too!

To enter, comment below and tell me how you like your hamburger, or your favorite food at a cookout. Winner announced next Friday!

And remember – Southern Fried Blues is still just $0.99! It’s a great weekend read at a great price!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble |  Kobo |  iBooks  |  Google Play  | Smashwords

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

How To Make Your Own Yummy

While SuperHubby was in Morocco, I may have had a minor meltdown once or twice. Planning the most complex move to date of his military career while he was out of the country had its challenges, and when you add kids who are… well… kids, and cats who are… well… cats, sometimes the sanity has to give.

One morning was particularly bad, and it started well before the kids were up. So by the time they were asking for breakfast, I was in total “I don’t care” mode. I had a plain pizza crust (bread), ricotta cheese (milk), nutella (coconut oil and hazelnuts), and strawberries (fruit), so I slathered layers of everything onto the pizza crust and gave the kids a well-rounded, delicious breakfast. (Anybody else thinking about Bill Cosby and chocolate cake here?)

Munchkin asked me what it was called.

“Yummy,” I told him, complete with the Duh inflection that I expect him to master entirely too young since I’m silly enough to use it in front of him from time to time.

What I’d forgotten, however, was how literal children are. The next morning, I was fine, the meltdown a distant (and somewhat hazy) memory. I got up and showered, the kids got up, and I asked them what they wanted for breakfast.

“Yummy,” Munchkin said. No hesitation, no waffling (heh – breakfast joke), no mistaking it.

And I stood there and gaped at him like an idiot. “Yummy? Munchkin, you’re going to have to be more specific–Oh! Yummy!”

So there you have it.

Strawberry nutella ricotta pizza has officially been renamed Yummy.

And in other news… Have y’all read my friend Maria Geraci yet? Her publisher has put not one, but TWO of her ebooks are on sale for $5.99 right now!, which is a significant steal considering they’re normally over $10 each! Treat yourself to a copy of the RITA-nominated A Girl Like You or Bunco Babes Gone Wild (and how can you resist a title like that?!) today!

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

 

Southern Fried Fun

I made this a while ago for kicks. It makes me smile, and I hope it does the same for you.

So tell me… what do you think about book trailers?

I’m so excited at how excited y’all have been about SOUTHERN FRIED BLUES being on sale for $0.99!! Thanks, all, for spreading the word and leaving new reviews!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble |  Kobo |  iBooks  |  Google Play  | Smashwords

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

Buttercup vs. The Other Cat

This is Jinx.

She’s the least coordinated cat I have ever met. When she jumps, she looks like a drunken turtle trying to imitate a reindeer. She frequently thinks her tail is trying to kill her. And my dad likes her, and he hates cats, so he’s pretty sure she’s a dog.

I love this cat. I call her SpastiCat (affectionately, of course), and I believe if she could talk, she would make my children sound normal, which makes me love her a little bit more. (And I just looked at this picture and giggled again, because she’s such a funny cat, and she jumped out of the window and meowed at me. And I said, “How did you know I was laughing at you?” and she took on an injured look at meowed again, at which point I promised her I loved her and she went off to do her business, which either means licking herself, coughing up a hairball, or chasing Saffron.) (Also, Carolyn Haines selected Jinx as one of two cats “Most Likely To Solve A Mystery” in Kelsey Browning’s Pet Parade last week! Thanks, Carolyn!)

But back to the point. Know who else loves Jinx?

Buttercup. All the kids do, but Buttercup has just recently “discovered” Jinx, and so Buttercup currently loves her the most.

The other day, Jinx was sprawled on the floor, belly up, in desperate need of attention. So Buttercup toddled over to her, bent down, and used both hands to smack her in the gut.

“Gentle!” I told Buttercup.

Jinx stretched a little, meowed, then looked at Buttercup as if to say, “Do it again. That felt nice.”

So Buttercup obliged, except this time, she put the full force of her weight (all 21 pounds of her) into massaging Jinx’s kidneys.

And Jinx let her.

SuperHubby was watching. And while Buttercup continued to maul Jinx and Jinx continued let her, he just shook his head and said, “That’s a damn good dog.”

 

Remember to tell your friends that SOUTHERN FRIED BLUES is still on sale for $0.99!!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble |  Kobo |  iBooks  |  Google Play  | Smashwords

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

A Year of Happy Mondays – The “Did I Say That?” Edition

In honor of Mother’s Day yesterday, for this Monday’s Top Ten Smiles, I present to you:

My Top Ten Favorite Things I’ve Said As A Parent (In Just The Last Week)

10. “Buttercup! Don’t throw your socks in the trash!”

9. “There’s a wet graham cracker in the bottom of my trash can.”

8. “Buttercup. We do not dance on tables.”

7. “Boys! Quit peeing on each other!”

6. “Buttercup, stop picking your brother’s nose.”

5. “Squeaker! You do not fight an imaginary shinger with a real ball!” (FYI, I did not end up with a black eye as a result of this statement, and SuperHubby lectured me on the inappropriateness of encouraging Squeaker’s fascination with shinging (which is the noise he makes when he swings around an imaginary katana.).)

4. “Buttercup, get your finger out of the cat’s ear.” (More about my poor cat, Jinx, later this week.)

3. “Buttercup, we don’t eat the wishberries. We blow them.”

2. (To SuperHubby) “Legos? Legos? Forget that. We do Extreme Parenting. Let ‘em play with forks. See how that feels when you stop on them in the middle of the night.”

1. “I love you more when you think I’m 25.”

From Muffins for Mom at Munchkin’s school on Friday. (More info on “Yummy” coming later this week.)

 

(Can you tell Buttercup’s personality is emerging stronger and stronger every day?)

Hope y’all had a fabulous weekend! And remember to tell your friends that SOUTHERN FRIED BLUES is on sale for $0.99!!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble |  Kobo |  iBooks  |  Google Play  | Smashwords

If you’ve already read Southern Fried Blues, would you consider leaving a review at your favorite retailer or online review site? it doesn’t have to be long. Reviews help other readers find their future favorite books! Thank you!

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

My Mother’s Day Gift To You

I have a winner announcement, but first!!

Because it’s Mother’s Day weekend, and because Southern Fried Blues is a finalist in the 2013 OKRWA National Readers’ Choice Awards, and because Southern Fried Blues has never been on sale before….

If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, get it today! Then get one for your mom! And your grandma! And your aunts and cousins and your favorite neighbor!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble |  Kobo |  iBooks  |  Google Play  | Smashwords

And because it’s Friday, and we’re getting closer to our move, and SuperHubby has started packing boxes, here’s this week’s Help A Military Wife Move Giveaway and last week’s winner! I’m so grateful to all of you who have helped me out by giving my books great new homes.

This week, congratulations to Julie H!!!

She wins last week’s Women’s Fiction bundle!

Julie, shoot me an email at jamie @ jamiefarrellbooks . com (no spaces) to claim your prize!

Y’all, I still have a couple boxes to go! And since packing has commenced in earnest, I’m discovering more fun goodies that I can’t take and you should have. So this fun pack of books?

It’ll have a couple extras thrown in. And they’re not just books. They’re fun surprises!

Comment below and tell me your plans for Mother’s Day, and you’re entered to win! Winner (and the full prize!) announced next Friday.

And tell your friends to snag Southern Fried Blues while it’s on sale!! (Because I know all y’all already have your copies, right?!)

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

Best of–A Mom’s Guide to Family Photos

Exciting news coming very, VERY soon, so today, I’m replaying one of my favorite blog posts from last summer, just in time for those of you who may be thinking of summer family photos. Enjoy!

A Mother’s Guide to a Memorable Family Photo Experience
Step One: Set a date

Plan a couple months in advance so you can finally lose those fifteen pounds you’ve been carrying around since giving birth five years ago. (And the ten each from the subsequent pregnancies.)

Step Two: Get a haircut

As the big day approaches, arrange for babysitting so you can go by yourself, or schedule the haircut so your husband can watch all the children while you go have a Mommy Day. Try to look in a few magazines so that  you know what you want done. Because your stylist will have forgotten your name since the last time you had a haircut was before you got pregnant with baby #3 who’s now four months old, and so he’s not going to remember how you like it cut either.

Step Three: Have a makeup meltdown

Casually mention to your husband that you haven’t worn makeup since Bush was in office. And that your supply might not have survived that last move. But, “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll just run to Walmart and buy some more.” When he asks if you know what to do with makeup after you’ve bought it, realize you’re a little rusty. Okay, a lot rusty. Have a glass of wine. It’s not like you have to surrender your girl card just because you’re a little rusty with the misc-masc–what’s that stuff called again?

Step Four: Phone a friend

Friends don’t let friends go to family photos looking like drunken raccoons with purple lips. This is why we have girlfriends. Use them. Request help with a “practice makeup session.” Bonus if you can leave the kids home again. Bigger bonus if she helps you look for your missing girl card.

Step Five: OMG, MATCHING OUTFITS!

The day before the photos, notice all your facebook friends are posting family pictures at the beach with their family in matching jeans and white t-shirts, and you don’t even know if you have jeans that fit the children anymore. Drive all over the coastal area looking for coordinating white shirts. Find appropriate shirts for the boys, but realize the matching girls shirts are practically see-through and way too tight. Jeez, it’s like the sizes are shrinking or something. (Or maybe somewhere above we forgot to go on that diet…) Curse your facebook friends for buying all the good white shirts in Florida. Decide not to do matching outfits but have no back-up plan. Give husband a coronary because he keeps making suggestions you don’t like but you can’t decide what you do like.

HELLO. We are still a woman! Maybe we still have that girl card after all.

Drink another glass of wine. Buy a couple packs of Hanes, and just wear two to solve the see-through problem.

Which brings us to The Big Day.

Step Six: This Is Not A Drill

Shower. Wash your hair. Get out the hair dryer and curling iron, if you can find them, because you should absolutely not look like yourself on the day when you have family photos taken. Remind yourself that hairdryers  have to suck air in somewhere in order to blow it out somewhere else and therefore you should not stick the entire hair dryer into your hair. Or, if you forget that part, you can yank your hair out of the back of the hairdryer when your newly (but short-lived) not-split ends get sucked into the dryer and you’re stuck in the bathroom attached to the hair dryer because you’re so freaked out you’ve forgotten that you can just unplug the hair dryer and your husband has driven up to Alabama for a last-minute effort to find different matching white shirts (or maybe just hide from you) and your children aren’t old enough to bring you the scissors.

Don’t drop your curling iron and burn your toes. Don’t touch it to your ears either. Why, no, this isn’t personal experience speaking…

Snarf a couple chocolate bars. Go get out your nail polish (Pictures on the BEACH! We must have painted toes!) and remember you threw it all out a few years ago when it started looking like a nuclear experiment with cottage cheese gone wrong. Offer sexual favors to your husband if you can please please please go have a pedicure by yourself.

Put the kids down for a nap, get dressed in your jeans and white t-shirt, and head out for manis, pedis, and the girlfriend THIS-IS-NOT-A-DRILL makeup session.

Spill make-up on your white shirt.

Fix it with hydrogen peroxide.

Repeat a couple times.

Go home to get the family ready.

Stick your finger in baby poop and get puked on by the two-year-old.

Step Seven: Smile!

You’ve gotten yourself all dolled up, the kids are clean, your husband is mostly sober, he’s held the two-year-old’s head over a puke bucket all the way to the beach while you race through traffic since you’re running late, because you are Not. Going. Through. This. Trauma. Again.

But it’s all worth it, because at the end of the day, you get this:

Buttercup, Me, Munchkin, Hubby, and Squeaker

And you realize it’s perfect, even if Squeaker looks like a blue Ronald McDonald and your husband’s head is in the clouds and you have some rather awkward love handles. Because they’re your family, and you love them just the way they are.

Just like they love you just the way you are.

If you haven’t already, go comment on last Friday’s Help A Military Wife Move Giveaway! Last chance before the winner is announced tomorrow!

Also – For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog that I post in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.

Wicked Fun Wednesday, Mr. Good Enough Version

I’m still hiding from the world doing a final polish on The Husband Games before my critique partners take one last crack at it, and I’m also working hard on that other surprise I might’ve mentioned on Monday, so here’s a quick snippet of one of my favorite scenes from Mr. Good Enough. Enjoy!

* * *

“Get in the truck, Maddie.”

“Nothing personal, but I’d rather get some fresh air.”

He rocked back on his heels, and a faint grin curved his lips. “Neighbors are watching. Word gets back to old Joe you left me here, taking my side won’t mean a thing.”

So he had noticed. She pulled herself up to her full five feet, five-and-a-half inches, and ignored the face plastered to the window of the bungalow across the street. “For your information, that was for my mother’s benefit.”

“And she wants me to take you home.”

She rolled her eyes. “That was for Joe’s benefit.”

He took a step back and tilted his head. His eyes wandered over her body. She crossed her arms, heat rising in her face. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out the best way to stuff you up in the truck with the least amount of damage.”

“To you, or the truck?”

He scratched his head. “Still working on deciding that.”

* * *

Want to know if she damaged the truck? Check out Mr. Good Enough today! Available now on Amazon, coming June 1 everywhere else ebooks are sold!!

For the month of May, I’m giving away a surprise to one blog commenter. A surprise, you say? That’s right, a surprise! It could be anything! Want to enter? Just comment on any blog posted here in the month of May. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! Limit one entry per post, though feel free to comment as much as you wish! Full contest rules here.