Jacqueline E. Smith's Blog, page 36

Back to Work

Well folks, the summer is winding down.  School is starting back up again.  Real life is making more demands than ever.  I’ll admit, though I do feel I got a lot done this summer (books published, books sold, books read, a few events, etc…) I probably did a lot more playing and a lot less working than I should have.  Oh well.  That’s what summers are for. 

Regardless, it’s time to dive back into the professional world.  I have two books that I’m working on simultaneously (on chapters 8 and 4, respectively) and along with focusing every bit of attention I have on making these next two books the absolute best I can, I also need to be sure to keep the momentum going on the first two Cemetery Tours books.  I’m thrilled with how well both have been selling this month and I’m hoping it keeps up, especially with the haunting Halloween season right around the corner!  I have three events scheduled for the next two months, and I’m hoping to book at least one or two more.  That’s a goal I have for next week.  

This week, I’ll admit, I’m going to be playing a bit more.  I’m going out to visit my best friend from high school in San Francisco.  I’m really excited, but at the same time, it kind of doesn’t feel real yet.  It feels like I’m going in like, three weeks.  

In book news, I recently finished Inescapable, the first book in the Premonition Series by Amy A. Bartol.  It’s called Inescapable and I actually stumbled across it at a local bookstore.  I picked it up because I saw that Ms. Bartol used the same printing company that I use and I thought, Hey, I like supporting my fellow indies.  

I loved it!  I really want to read the rest of the series, but I’m waiting until I finish a few of the other books waiting to be read that I have lying in a pile on my bedroom floor.  

I also recently read A Time to Reap by Jonas Lee, also the first in a series.  I’ve not read many sci-fi/futuristic time-travelling books, but this one was very enjoyable and a fast-paced read.  

Finally, I also got to read the second book in my friend Melissa Zaroski’s series, Davenport Manor: The Living Weapon.  All I can say is if you like vampires, you’ll enjoy these books.  I kind of wish that I was friends with all the characters.  And the book ends with a cliffhanger, so you know you have to keep reading the next one.  

I love that the last three books I read and truly enjoyed were written by indie authors.  Just saying. 

Finally, Cemetery Tours received an AMAZING review from Carol Allen of StarAngel’s Reviews.  Her words actually gave me chills.  You can read the review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Or here:

 

 

You can find Carol on GoodReads here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...

Well, with all that being said, I’m going to go get to work!  Have a good week! 

Life is Short

Add sprinkles.

Read books with pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch on them.

And enjoy some “Teen Non-Fiction.” Vampires are real, y’all. Be prepared.

You’re Okay

This is a post I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time. I’m not sure what’s been stopping me, really. Maybe because it’s another one of those personal things that really doesn’t have much of a place on this kind of blog. But in wake of the apparent suicide of Robin Williams, a man that could make anyone laugh, it’s something that’s weighing heavily not only on my mind, but on everyone’s.

I’m not saying anything new when I write that depression is an unpredictable disease, or that its victims often take friends and family by surprise. The illness itself is bad enough. What’s worse is being afraid to confide in anyone. That shouldn’t be the case, but it often is.

I can’t speak for all victims of mental illness, but when my symptoms began, I tried to convince myself that it was nothing.

Mind over matter.

I just have to will it away.

You’re just being silly.

Telling myself that was hard enough. It was even harder to hear it from the people I loved.

I was told that I was just hormonal. I was told I was just being paranoid. I was told that I didn’t need to see a doctor. I was told that I didn’t need medication. Hearing all of that made me feel crazier than I already did.

I should probably stop right there and tell you that I am not clinically depressed. My mom’s side of the family has a history of mental illness, mostly anxiety. My mom and my sister have both suffered panic attacks in the past and have been treated for anxiety. As for me, I’m more on the obsessive compulsive end of the spectrum. As I got older, it got progressively worse until finally, I would completely shut down at the thought of last minute changes. On top of that, I began suffering from PMDD. Long story short, those few days of depression a month were absolutely miserable. I felt worthless, pathetic, and worst of all, unworthy of everything and everyone I loved. If those few days were unbearable, I can’t imagine the toll chronic depression takes on its victims.

Seeing a doctor and getting on anti-anxiety/anti-depression medication was one of the best things I’ve ever done, not only for myself, but for my friends and family too. I became the person I was before the anxiety and the compulsions started. I’m myself again. I love my life and everything about it.

No matter what anyone says, there is no shame in seeking help. Being on medicine doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means your brain chemistry just needs a little help to balance itself out. It’s time we stopped treating mental illness as something that can be overcome by sheer willpower or by pretending it doesn’t exist. It does exist, and it claims victims, more now, perhaps, than ever before.

If you are suffering from any sort of mental illness, know that you are not alone. You’re okay, I promise. I know because I’m right there with you. If you know someone suffering, listen to them, support them, and encourage them to get help. It might just save a life.

Oh Captain, My Captain

Five minutes ago, I was all set and ready to write a blog post about Shark Week, Ravenclaw socks, and new reviews. Now, I’m sitting here in shock, reeling from the news headline that just flashed across my television screen.

Robin Williams found dead.

It’s weird. Actors and musicians I’ve loved before have died, but none has hit so close to home as the death of the beloved Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and Genie.

My generation grew up with Robin Williams. He was simultaneously the funniest guy you could think of and the guy who could make you cry with a single scene. It didn’t matter who you were. Everyone had seen at least one Robbin Williams movie. And everyone loved him.

Right now, I have my favorite movie scenes playing in my head. I see a zany professor dancing around with his bouncing green Flubber. I hear a familiar voice serenading the fabulous Prince Ali Ababwa. I see an ambitious medical student, holding a dying man’s hand, and singing about blue skies. I see a ten-year-old boy in a 40-year-old’s body gazing in awe at a new butterfly. I see young Ethan Hawke standing on a desk, declaring, “Oh Captain, my Captain.” And I’m trying not to cry.

The world wasn’t ready to say goodbye to you, Robin. And neither was I.

My GISHWHES Experience

When my friend came to me asking if I would write a story for her friend for GISHWHES I had no idea what she was talking about.

For those who don’t know, GISHWHES is a scavenger hunt hosted by Supernatural star, Misha Collins. Technically, it is the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISWHES). This year, one of the items was to get a previously published sci-fi writer to write a story about Misha, the Elopus (half-octopus-half-elephant), and the Queen of England. The story could be no more than 140 words, which, ask any author, is a HUGE challenge. We are, by nature, wordy people. We love words. That’s why we’re writers. Being limited to 140 words goes against our natural instincts.

Still, I’m always up for a challenge. So when my friend came to me asking for this story for her friend, I thought, “Yeah, okay, sure. I don’t know what an Elopus is, but whatever…” Thankfully, she was there to walk me through this new world of GISHWHES.

I had so much fun with that first story that I decided to check the GISHWHES tag on Twitter to see what some of the other tasks were. As I browsed, I saw writers volunteering their talent to GISHWHES teams still seeking a story. I realized, “Hey… I could do that!”

Now, I’ve always sort of thought of myself as more of a paranormal writer than a sci-fi writer, but then I remembered that Ghost Hunters is totally a SyFy Channel show, ergo ghosts = Sci-Fi. There you go.

As of right now, I’ve written stories for 55 different GISHWHES teams. I’ve met some really awesome people and had a lot of fun with it, myself. I know there are authors out there who didn’t think they should be giving away free stories, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a great way to connect with people and it provides a challenge, not to mention it’s for a good cause. Not to mention, I’m a huge fangirl at heart. These are my people! I can’t let my people down!

To all the GISHWHES teams out there, I wish you all the best of luck! I’m so glad I got to participate this year. It was pretty neat to feel so in demand! If anyone else needs a story, I will try my best to fit you in, but I will be pretty busy for most of today. Regardless, like my page (https://www.facebook.com/CemeteryToursSeries) and send me a message there. I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to finishing what I’ve set out to do.

Tea and Puppies and Paper Towns

These last few days, not very much has happened. On the flip side, a lot of stuff has happened. I just feel like no one thing has really been big enough to deserve its own blog post. Ergo, this will be one of those List of Random Thoughts and Happenings Posts. Here it goes.

1) I have to go in for my annual physical in exactly one month. In preparation for the inevitable weighing and blood work, I have decided it’s time to start eating healthier. To begin with, in place of my delicious chocolatey treat that I normally get for myself at the local coffee shop, I ordered Green Tea.

Now, I am not really a tea drinker. Nor am I a coffee or soda drinker. My body is not really used to lots of caffeine. Caffeinated tea, it turns out, gives me a super jittery high. It doesn’t last for long, but it’s enough to notice!

2) My friend was having a bad day yesterday, so we went and played with a cute husky puppy. Best. Decision. Ever.

I took a lot of pictures of him, because when you play with a husky puppy, that’s what you do. You love him and play with him and take pictures of him.

3)

3) My sister finished reading Paper Towns by John Green. Now, I love John Green as a person, but as far as his books go, the only one I’m really wild about it TFIOS. Great book. Made me cry. Read it six times. However, I had a very difficult time finishing Paper Towns. I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t care about the story, and I thought it was the same book as Looking For Alaska only not as good.

The following contains spoilers for Paper Towns.

My sister, upon reading PT, said, “I really hope that Margo ends up becoming a serial killer and that she killed the guy in the beginning.” At that point, I realized that I too wished I was reading a book where the dream girl turns out to be a psychotic killer. How great would that be? If Quentin finds her and all she says is, “You shouldn’t have come looking for me, Q.” And then she shoots him and that’s where the book ends. That would have been a much better ending than what we got.

4) I made friends with another bird.

5) My sister and I went to Fry’s Electronics and saw Divergent on Blu-Ray and DVD. Is it actually out yet? I haven’t seen any previews or heard any news that it was, but perhaps I missed it. Anyway, here it is!

Those are the major updates in my life. What’s going on with all of you?

#AmWriting

Hi, friends!

Well, after another busy, busy week, I am finally getting back to my bliss: reading and writing. It’s been so nice. It’s been especially nice because we’re smack dab in the middle of the hottest months in Texas and… IT’S COOL OUTSIDE.

I’m not kidding. It’s been like, 80 degrees around here. Do you know what 80 degrees is to a Texan?! It’s sweater weather. I had coffee and tea with a friend the other day and we couldn’t stand around outside because we were getting chilled. THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN IN TEXAS.

Anyway, the lovely weather, naturally has inspired the burning of fall candles and the viewing of several M. Night Shyamalan movies in anticipation of autumn. Now that it’s August, the Smith family will begin celebrating all things Halloween.

I seem to have gotten off track. I set off to write a blog post about writing and I somehow ended up telling you all about how much I love Halloween and fall. But everyone loves Halloween and fall! It’s the best part about summer ending. And let me tell you, I love summer. It’s my favorite season. I am a summer kind of girl. But I can never say I’m sad to see it end because I’m always so excited about autumn.

Now that this week is over and things are slowing down a bit, I’m thrilled to be able to get back into writing, especially since right now, I’m working on two books. The first is the third book in the Cemetery Tours series, and let me tell you, I am so excited about it. It’s going to be so much fun to write this one. The others were fun too, but oh my goodness, this one is going to be cool. Then of course, I was driving the other day, and suddenly I knew exactly what I was going to do with the fourth one, so now I’m looking forward to finishing the third one just so I can get started on the fourth!

The second book I’m working on, as I’ve mentioned before, is the first in a brand new series. It’s one that’s been in my head for a while, but for some reason just never worked on paper. Well, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. Once I get closer to publishing it, I can tell you more about it, but for now, I’m just having a blast finally writing it the way it’s meant to be written. I’m writing it so fast that I know I’m going to have to go back and make several revisions. However, with a brand new project, that’s bound to happen. Getting a first draft out is my main priority right now and I’ve got to be honest, I’m loving it.

I’ve also been keeping an eye out for more events that I can attend in the area. I still have a few emails to send and a few calls to make. But hey, that’s just the life of an independent artist. It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer or a musician or an artist or a filmmaker. When you’re independent, there is always something you can be doing.

And with that, I’m going to leave you with this awesome quote I saw the other day when my friend and I were having coffee (though technically, I was having tea because I don’t like coffee).

Professional Clamdigging

This afternoon, I had the privilege of celebrating a friend’s book release. As it turns out, this friend is my high school English teacher and mentor, Mr. Lund. I’ve mentioned him before on the blog. He’s the kind of teacher who earned the respect of all of his students, who genuinely enjoyed teaching, and who inspired all of us dumb high school kids to love Shakespeare and Dante and Homer and Chaucer. I plan on conducting an interview with him that I’ll publish sometime in early August, but I just wanted to share his book with you now. It’s called Loving Grammar: Mr. Lund’s Guide to Professional Clamdigging.

You can follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/LovingGrammar

And check out his website here: http://lovinggrammar.com

This is a great book for those who are learning English, for writers who struggle with grammar, or for high school students! And it’s funny.

In other news, I am still hard at work on the third Cemetery Tours book (which I am so, so, SO excited about) and the new series. I can’t wait to share more about them! I went to the library this afternoon and checked out a lot of books for research. I might be a nerd, because I really love researching things that I’m interested in and that will help me write a book. It’s all so cool and fascinating!

Hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day!

Where the Music Meets the Ocean

Note: I apologize for the onslaught of photographs.

Also, the title of this blog post is a lyric to a song by the Zac Brown Band called Jump Right In. It was pretty much all we listened to on this trip.

Last week, my sister and I went to the beach. It was awesome.

The only downside was that we stayed in a hotel with no wifi. Yes, those still exist.

The good news was that there was a Jurassic Park marathon on all week.

But enough about hotels. The trip itself was amazing. We spent a morning at Fort Morgan, a civil war site. It was also used in the first world war.

We ate a lot of great food.

For the record, if you ever eat at Lulu’s, they will give you the option of waiting a really long time to be seated or being seated immediately at one of the bars. Guess which option we took?

Also, Lulu’s is owned by the sister of the one and only Jimmy Buffett! How cool is that?

On the trip, we also saw hibiscuses and dolphins.

We also saw boats…

A sandcastle…

A crab…

A lesser electric ray in a bucket…

And a lot of herons.

I’d actually been complaining throughout the entire trip that I just wasn’t seeing any herons. Then, our last night there, we hung out at the big fishing pier and saw no less than five great blue herons! I was very happy.

The rest of the time, we just kicked around the beach, which to be honest, was my favorite part.

Honestly, there is no place I’d rather be.

Medicine Park Paranormal Fair

My Saturday began at 4:45 AM. I am a night owl, so that’s actually not to long after my natural bed time. However, I’d actually managed to get to sleep around 10:45 the night before, so I actually got around 6 hours.

After loading up my car, my dad (also my book-selling partner in crime) and I loaded up the car and made the three hour drive up to Medicine Park, Oklahoma.

It’s a really beautiful area.

After I finished admiring the scenery, we went inside and set up the Cemetery Tours table.

This is me with all the stuff… I was really excited to see that I look tan.

The fair itself was really interesting. There were several venders and paranormal groups there. Also a few mediums and psychics, as well as a man who knew all about different rocks and crystals and ways to cleanse your home of bad spirits. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really been too much into the metaphysical. I don’t know what the different rocks and crystals mean, but it was pretty cool to learn.

There were ghost hunters and paranormal investigators there as well!

The highlight of the event, however, was when my friend and fellow author and WORDPRESS BLOGGER Sierra (http://permashift.wordpress.com) came to see me! It was so much fun hanging out with her and geeking out over the Lion King and books. She told me all about her service in the army and we bonded over a very nutritional Sonic lunch. Thank you so much for coming out, Sierra! I had so much fun meeting you!

Near the end of the event, Tanya, who headed up the convention, announced that there would be a raffle drawing. Now, I never enter raffles because I never win, but I decided to enter anyway.

Guess what? I won something!

It’s called a pendulum. I initially put my name in the drawing for it because I liked the color of the stone and I love dragonflies. But according to the guy who knew all about the rocks and crystals, the stone is a Sodalite and it represents the throat chakra (which I misunderstood as throat shocker). Anyway, it basically means that I don’t think before I speak, which is 110% accurate. My family is constantly making fun of me for my lack of filter.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome experience and I’m looking forward to more book and paranormal events like this one in the future. I sold several books, made a few new friends, and got to see a beautiful new town. Very worthwhile.