Jacqueline E. Smith's Blog, page 45

Short Lesson

Today’s post is short but relevant. 

As an author, I have learned that you should never leave the house without a copy of your book.  You never know who you might run into.  

I also happened across this neat new review of Cemetery Tours! 

http://decembermonologue.com/?p=405

Enjoy!  

Long Weekend

This past weekend has been a long one, and not necessarily in the good sense.  It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the best either.  For one thing, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather (even though the weather outside now is GLORIOUS!  Finally it’s feeling like spring!).  For another (and this is the big stressor), my sweet almost 21-year-old kitty has not been feeling her best, so I’ve pretty much been on round-the-clock nurse duty.  She’s doing okay.  I honestly thought she might not make it through the weekend, but she’s still happy, still purring, and most importantly, still eating and drinking.  So yeah, she’s been my number one priority these last few days. 

 

She’s my girl and she’s been my friend for a long time!    

On the book front, however, I am pleased to report that I have made quite a bit of progress.  I went through and did sort of a quick edit/format/spell-check and it’s ready for my editor and beta readers.  In doing all that, I got to reread and refresh and I am so happy to say that I love this book.  I love it just as much as I love the first one, maybe even more because there’s some new scenery and new characters and the old characters are already established so it was more fun to write!  If you enjoyed Cemetery Tours, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy this one.  I’m in the process of assigning its ISBN, but I still need to know a few things, like publication date, how many words the final copy has, etc…  Right now, it’s at 73,000 but that is always subject to change.  I do need to get back in touch with my cover designer, but he’s currently in Kentucky filming at the site of the sinkhole that swallowed up all those Corvettes (my uncles were in mourning for days…).  

Finally, A Platform of Sorts was nominated once again for the Liebster Award!  I’m so honored, and I will try to get around to nominating and doing all the facts, but Jazzy and the new book are, again, my first and second priorities.  Thank you to my friend Diana at http://brilliantlynovel.wordpress.com for nominating me!  I’m honored!  :)  

I also took a trip to the library for research for my next book.  If all goes according to plan (I’ve learned that nothing is set in stone when it comes to writing), my next book will be either a stand-alone novel or the first in a trilogy.  I’m thinking it will be the former though.  I guess we’ll all find out!  And hey, I’d rather have too many ideas to choose from than no clue at all!  

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  

Also, if you’ve read Cemetery Tours, it only needs ONE MORE REVIEW to break 30 on Amazon!  It’s been stuck at 29 for a few weeks now, so if you’d like to stop by and write like, two or three sentences on why it’s a good book (or an awful book, but honestly, I’d prefer the former), I’d be eternally in your debt.  Thank you all!  

Peace out.  

Well, the first draft of the second book is finished! As...

Well, the first draft of the second book is finished!  As great as that feels, I really didn’t intend for today to become a day of self-congratulatory celebration, but that’s sort of what it ended up being.  

First my good friend and neighbor surprised me with flowers!  She’s such a sweet heart!  She also happens to be one of my beta readers!  

 

Jazzy liked the flowers too.

 

Then this evening, I had dinner and dessert with my best friend, Jessica.  I ended up finding out that she has absolutely no faith in my taste in men.  But other than that, we had so much fun.  Actually, talking about guys is fun too.  

To top it all off, my sister and I were texting and she started sending me a bunch of funny Frozen pictures and this one almost had me in tears.

 

Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard.  

Anyway, this blog post is kind of silly, but I’m tired and all I really wanted to do was show off my flowers because I love flowers.  Good night, all!  It’s almost Friday!  Yay!  

It’s 3 AM…

… and I just finished the first draft of my second book.  

Yay!  

Time for sleep. 

Good night.  

ONE CHAPTER LEFT

Okay folks, this is it.  The final sprint to the finish line.  I have one chapter to go until I finish the first draft of sequel!  YAY!  

That being said, this is going to be a short entry since I really want to get this done.  

To make up for my lack of words, here is a picture of a damselfly and her shadow. 

 

By the way, did you know that you can tell the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly by the way they rest their wings?  Damselflies’ wings close together above their bodies (like in the photo above), while dragonflies’ wings lay flat.  

You’re welcome.  

Looking For John Green

So, I’m going through a phase.  It’s an “I need to purchase and read as many John Green books as possible” phase.

This is problematic for a number of reasons.

1) Money.  I know I could go and check them out from the library, but for some reason, I rarely ever read pleasure books from the library.  I read research books, no problem.  But fiction books?  I don’t know, I just really like to own them.  That way, I don’t feel any pressure to get them read by a certain date.  I like to read for fun.  Time limits are no fun.  Neither, by the way, is not having any money to buy every book John Green ever wrote.

2) I am currently in the middle of the Percy Jackson series.  Not a bad thing.  I’m really loving Percy Jackson and I have a feeling that once I’ve finished with that series, I’ll go on to read Riordin’s other mythology series.  Greek mythology is just so cool!

3) I’m still about a chapter and a half away from being done with Cemetery Tours 2.  Again, not a bad thing.  But I’ve come to realize that I have this habit of, once I get close to finishing a project, I get self-congratulatory and decide that I need to go out and buy myself presents because of how great I am.  The problem is… I haven’t actually finished.  That means that even if I were to go out and buy these books (and okay… I just came home from the bookstore with An Abundance of Katherines), I’m still not allowed to read them until I’m done with the sequel!  So what I actually do is go out and buy myself a reward that I’m not allowed to use until I’ve completed the task at hand.  That’s how I got through my last semester of grad school.

4) I have so many other books that I own that I still need to read!  Do I really need to be going out and buying more?  Well, yes.  Some women go out and buy shoes that they don’t need.  I buy books that I don’t need.  I was able to restrain myself today, though.  I discovered the old books and nostalgia section and it was all I could do to not buy every cool old book I found.  I have a thing for old books.  I almost fainted when I found one from 1899, but then I noticed how nasty the cover was.  It looked like someone had used it as a coaster!  Really?!  I might use a crap book like 50 Shades as a coaster, you know, if I hadn’t burned it to the ground.  But a cool old book that’s over 110 years old?!  NO!

So, yeah, that’s the big thing on my mind right now.  And finishing the new book.  That’s important also.  I’m almost done.  I’m so close to being done, I can almost taste it.  Metaphorically of course.  No one eats books.  At least, I hope not.

In the meantime, the old book has been getting more great reviews!

Okay, does anyone else have this thing where your post randomly goes blue while you’re writing it?  Because that’s happening right now and I’m afraid I’m going to click the wrong thing and erase the entire post.

Anyway, here are the new reviews!

That makes 29 reviews in total!  I can’t thank you all enough for your amazing and wonderful support and I hope I can support each and every one of you the same way!

Ways to Help Your Indie Friends

You know exactly who I’m talking about, don’t you?  That one, the really weird one, who isn’t married, might not even be dating seriously, may have been in school forever, works odd jobs, and is absolutely hell bent on writing books or making music or taking pictures.  Yeah, I’m talking about that friend.  If you are not “that friend,” chances are, you have one or one of your friends does.  

Indies come in many forms.  Some of us are authors.  Some are musicians.  Some are artists, graphic designers, photographers, screenwriters, or filmmakers.  But see, we all have one thing in common.  We have found something that we love so much that we are striving to make a career out of it, even if that means going it alone.  Crazy?  Yes, perhaps we are.  But I think anyone who’s ever made an impact has been at least a little off their rocker, or else they wouldn’t stand out.  

If you have one of these charming and yet mildly insane people as a friend and you’ve been wondering just how you can help them make their dreams come true, well, here’s your lucky day!  Presenting…

Ways to Help Your Indie Friends!

1. Offer Encouragement!

As a friend embarks on his or her journey to indiedom, they are going to encounter a lot of helpful and positive attitudes, but they will also encounter a lot of negativity.  If I had a dollar for every time I heard,

“You’re getting a Masters in Humanities?  What are you going to do with that?”

“I get that you want to write, but what do you want to do for a job?”  

“You know you’re never going to make any money, right?”  

Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have to do the indie thing because I’d be so rich, I wouldn’t need a job!  There are people out there who will have no problem telling the aspiring author or photographer or musician that their ambitions are a waste of time.  As their friend, one of the best things you can do for your indie friends is to support them, encourage them, and most importantly, accept them for who they are.  

2. Like and Follow Things!

On social media, that is.  Facebook pages, Amazon pages, GoodReads author pages, websites, fan pages, Twitters, Tumblrs, Pinterests, I don’t even know how many things there are to like and to follow, but there are a lot!  Numbers MATTER. 

3.  Buy the Book/CD/Craft

Okay, so this part costs a little money, but more often than not, it is a truly worthy investment.  Sometimes, since you’re a friend, you might even get a complimentary copy.  I’m proud to say that I have bought several indie books, my graphic designer is an indie, I’m getting ready to do a photoshoot with an indie photographer, and I even helped produce my friend’s second indie CD!  Okay, it was like, $20, but still!  Technically, I can say that I’m a producer.  The point is I have never once regretted supporting a fellow indie.  If they have the guts and the drive and the passion to put themselves out there and get the job done themselves, then you can bet I’m going to support them.  

4.  Review, Review, REVIEW!

I can not stress this enough.  REVIEWS ARE SO IMPORTANT, especially for an indie.  The more reviews an item has, the more likely potential readers or listeners or customers are to take it seriously and consider investing their time and money.  My book, Cemetery Tours, currently has 27 Reviews on Amazon.  I’m thrilled, but at the same time, I’m working every day to make that an even 30!  A review does not have to be a long, drawn out analysis or give a full plot description.  It can be as short and sweet as two or three sentences.  

“Hey, I enjoyed this book because A, B, C.  Author did a great job.  Highly recommended.”  

That, along with a nice rating, is simply invaluable.  

5.  Spread the Word!

You don’t have to spam your friends or send out mass texts, but if you’re talking to someone about books or music, you could mention, “Oh hey, my friend wrote a book” or “My friend is a singer.  You should check them out.”  Give a shout out on Facebook every now and then.  Recommend the book or whatever to a friend you think might enjoy it.  Retweet stuff.  Little acts like that can go a long way in the indie world.  Word of mouth is the single most important marketing tool an indie can ask for. 

Now, in the spirit of crafts, books, and photography, here are a few of my shots from a project in Grad School.  

   Enjoy the day, folks! 

Squirrels, Turtles, and Lawn Mowers

As I may have mentioned on this blog before, I am a writer.  That means that I like words and writing, and I like to think I’m pretty good at that kind of stuff, but I have absolutely no sense when it comes to things like business, strategy, actually getting things accomplished, etc…  Fortunately, my dad is extremely business savvy and he’s been a great source of information and support in helping me get Wind Trail Publishing up and going.  He also helps keep me on track when, for instance, I decide in the middle of writing one book that I need to stop and write a whole other book.  His advice for me?

“You need to stay focused.  No squirrels, no turtles.”  

The squirrels and turtles thing is sort of embarrassing.  My mom is sort of like Dug the dog from Up when it comes to squirrels and she sort of passed that on to my sister and me.  Okay, mostly just me, but I feel like throwing my sister in there too will at least make me feel a little more normal.  

The turtle part comes from the time I was talking to him on my cell phone and I was crossing the street and I saw a squished baby turtle and I got really sad about it and completely forgot what we were talking about.  So, yeah.  No squirrels, no turtles.

I had planned to spend today road-tripping out to a wildlife reserve about an hour and a half away.  I love wildlife conservation and one of my ultimate dreams is to work to raise money and awareness for conservation efforts all around the world.  I’d also like to volunteer, especially with sea turtles and marine mammals.  

Last night, however, the Cemetery Tours sequel took a new turn and I realized… I’ve got to finish this book.  I do want to go out and see the reserve, and I will soon, but I am so close to finishing this book that I just need to stay focused.  I don’t need to be taking on any new projects when I am this close.  So instead of taking the day to drive out to the reserve, I’ve been working on the sequel and learning how to work a lawn mower. 

Look! 

 

Look out world, we’ve got a badass over here.  

The original Cemetery Tours got another great review on Amazon!  I only need 4 more to reach 30!  Small goals, small steps.  

 

Thank you, Raul!  

Okay, I’m gonna get back to writing now.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks! 

Attempting to be Social

Last night, I went to a game night at a friends’ apartment.  It was a lot of fun.  I finally got to play Cards Against Humanity, which is oh so wrong and yet oh so hilariously right.  

However, throughout the night, I also ended up revealing how much of a big weirdo I am.  For example, at one point, we were talking about pets and how they destroy their toys.  I contributed by telling the story of my sweet, dearly departed cat Figo and how he ripped the eyes out of his stuffed frog.  Well, being the clever nerd that I am, I named the frog Gloucester, after the Earl of Gloucester in Shakespeare’s King Lear who gets his eyeballs gouged out of his head. It’s really gross.  Anyway, I ended up having to explain all of that to this group of people, and let me tell you, they were all staring at me like I had sprouted an extra head.  

Note to self: When you’re trying to make a good impression, gouging eyeballs is not the way to go.  

Other than me being really awkward and weird, however, it was a really fun night.  I spend so much of my time either writing or trying to get the word out about my book, that social life and getting out and having fun has kind of taken a back seat.  That’s okay, because it’s what I love and it’s what I want to do, but I think it’s important to remember that I am allowed to have fun and just hang out sometimes.  

That being said, I have less than three chapters to go before finishing the first draft of the sequel, so I really want to buckle down and just get it done!  I am SO ready to move on in the process, I’m about to go crazy!  I want to get this book out for all of you!  But I also want it to be high quality.  For me, that is the most important thing about self-publishing.  Make it big publishing house quality.  One of the reason self-publishing gets such a bad rap is because some of the books LOOK like they were self-published.  I know there’s that phrase, “Never judge a book by its cover,” but the sad truth is covers matter.  If it looks cheap, it’s going to have a hard time out there.  I’ve read books where I could tell the author put no effort into making the book look professional, inside or outside.  The story could have been absolutely amazing, but it was still a HUGE turn off for me.  

I’m not even sure how I got to that point, but you get it.  Make your book look professional.  Moving on…

I’ve been thinking about what book I want to start on next after the sequel to Cemetery Tours is out.  I might try to get a few single, stand alone novels out before diving into the trilogy I have planned or writing more CT books.  Then again, I might just jump right into the trilogy.  It’s something I’ve been wanting to write for years, ever since 2008.  I won’t go into too many details.  In fact, I’m not going to tell you much at all.  All I can tell you is that the idea came to me on the San Antonio River Walk.

 

So pretty.  I love San Antonio.  

Anyway, it’s a beautiful day and I’m going to go work on my book.  

Happy Friday, everyone! 

Characters, Quirks, and Eccentricities

This afternoon, I indulged in one of my favorite snacks ever – trail mix.  My favorite includes M&M’s, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, and peanuts.  Naturally, I love the chocolate, the peanut butter, and I actually really love the raisins, but peanuts?  I can tolerate a few to round out the delicate balance of flavor, but I could never eat them alone, or stand more than about three per handful.  Aside from the fact that they make peanut butter, I really don’t like anything about peanuts.  I don’t like the smell, I don’t like the taste, and I especially don’t like the texture.  They feel sort of soft, almost chalky, and yet they’re solid.  They’re just… weird.

Oddly enough, my admittedly peculiar contempt for peanuts got me thinking about personality traits, which of course, got me thinking about characterization in stories.  Characters are what make a story for me.  If I don’t like or connect with the characters, good luck getting me to finish reading your book.  If I don’t like characters that I’ve written, I will scrap the entire book and start over.  I got about nine chapters into one of my works that is currently in progress, realized I didn’t care if any of my characters died or not, and so I went back to the beginning.

Even though they don’t always turn out the way I think they will, crafting new characters is my absolute favorite thing about writing.  I love personalities, I love dialogue, and I love relationships.  I also love giving them quirks and eccentricities, kind of like my disdain for peanuts.  In Cemetery Tours, Kate has her germ-phobia and obsession with television, Michael has a dry, almost cynical sense of humor, Luke has a ridiculous fashion sense, and Brink… well… Brink is just a walking talking explosion of all things 1990s and plaid.  I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter who I talk to, Brink is EVERYONE’s favorite character!  I can understand that, though.

In my experience, side characters are often the ones that end up stealing the show and I think it’s because, I hate to say it, a lot of times, they’re more interesting than the main characters.  They are somewhat more realistic with their quirks and distinct personalities.  I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather hang out with Fred and George Weasley than Harry Potter.  Or I would, you know, if JK Rowling hadn’t KILLED Fred!

In my mind, he’s not really dead.  George somehow managed to come up with a way to bring him back to life.  Shh!

That being said, I’m about to head out to a poker night.  I don’t play poker, but my friends are going to be there, so I figured I’d go and hang out for a while.

Have a great night, all!