Jacqueline E. Smith's Blog, page 59
September 24, 2013
Declaration of Independence
As an independent author/publisher/what have you, I really like to support other independents. Not only writers, but musicians, actors, artists, etc… One of my friends is an independent model, actress, graphic designer, and singer/songwriter. She has already released quite a few songs on iTunes, and on October 22, she is releasing her second album. She has put a lot of hard work, time, and money into bringing this production to life, and I have to say, I respect the heck out of her for doing so! I know how hard it is to write and publish a novel independently. Even with as many awesome and amazing people helping out as I had, it was still took a lot of hard work, time, patience, and dedication! But as much work as that was, I can’t imagine all that goes in to creating an album! Seriously, it was all I could do to figure out how WordPress worked.
So, if you have a chance, please stop by and check out my very talented friend, Giselle Grayson.
Website: http://www.gisellegrayson.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gisellegrayson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GiselleGraysonPage
If you’re an independent artist of any kind, actor, musician, writer, artist, etc… please leave a link to your page in the comments section! I’d love to see your work as well!!
September 23, 2013
Cemetery Tours Photo Album
In the last week since Cemetery Tours has been available, I’ve had several people send me pictures of their books, or of themselves with the book! I thought I’d share a few, along with pictures from the websites, reviews, and so on!
The very first copy!
Spreading the word at Starbucks!
The Amazon page! As shared by my high school’s Facbeook page. Proud to be an LHS alum!
The GoodReads Page! http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18470430-cemetery-tours
The first shipment. These are all gone now. 
Cemetery Tours sold alongside a Meg Cabot novel! I couldn’t be prouder!
My friend sent me this photo! Check out her awesome nails!
This is Cody. Legitimately one of the coolest guys I know. He’s an amazing actor and he’s also a writer! Check out his blog! http://ayearsabbatical.blogspot.com
Cemetery Tours on KINDLE!
First review!
September 20, 2013
Things that Happen Once You Become a Published Author
1) You start going out to eat. Like, a lot. A lot, a lot. I have at least three or four scheduled meetings/dinner/lunch plans within the next few days. It’s kind of insane, but in a really good way! Not so good for the Party Diet that I’m trying to stay on for the book release, but good in the sense that I get to eat a lot of great food!
2) You become so desperate to conserve whatever money you have left in your bank account, that you actually start carrying around your gigantic bag of collected loose change to be able to pay for things.
Exhibit A
3) As paranoid and confused as you were about taxes before, it increases by about a million percent. That brings me to another discussion point. I learned plenty of stuff in high school. I learned about the Pythagorean Theorem and a lot of physics crap that I don’t remember and something about organic chemistry and I might even be able to tell you that the integral of e to the xy looks like the word “sexy,” but boy oh boy, I did not learn one thing in high school or college about how to do your taxes. Maybe they tried to teach it and I tuned it out or something, but the point is… I am a 25 year old woman with a published novel and a Master’s Degree and I don’t know how to do taxes. This life skill completely evades me. But you know what? I don’t blame the school system. I blame the government for making it so ridiculously difficult! Seriously, I hate feeling like if I don’t understand and I make some kind of stupid mistake or error, I could end up being fined or arrested or something! I’m pretty sure that won’t happen, but it’s still something I worry about.
(I received a letter from the tax office today… can you tell?)
4) You start realizing that you’re not actually good at explaining your book out loud to people.
5) You have to set limits for yourself on how many times a day you can check your sales record. You sill actually drive yourself crazy trying to figure out if your book is actually selling or not.
6) Your new found sense of confidence inspires you to think about things that before, you’d never consider.
7) Instead of taking your day off to play around on Pinterest or stalk people on Facebook, you actually have to run around and do grown up, author things, like sending two copies of your book to the Library of Congress and writing up miniature press releases and biographies and announcements. There is basically no such thing as a day off when you’re an independent author/publisher. There is always something that you can be doing.
8) Your brain get like, ten times more cluttered than it was before. I’m just glad I managed to wear matching shoes today.
9) You realize you like the fact that you have a million things you could be doing, even though you’re scared to death that you’re either going to forget something or screw something up.
10) Everyone thinks you’re really cool for following your heart and accomplishing your goal, and you think that of yourself, too. It’s a really neat feeling. I highly recommend it.
11) You start advertising everywhere you can.
Go buy my book! 
September 19, 2013
Found the Link to my old Photography Blog
Found the Link to my old Photography Blog
I’ve got to be honest… I’m not sure what all is on here!!!
September 18, 2013
Early Inspiration
Tonight, I took a break from playing the publisher/author/marketer/whatever and enjoyed a good, old-fashioned girls’ night with a few of my friends from college. We went out to dinner, grabbed a coffee at Starbucks, and then, like all the cool kids in town, we went and hung out at Barnes and Noble.
(I finished The Longest Ride, by the way. It was alright. Not my favorite, but it did make me long for a handsome cowboy to come and sweep me off my feet).
Anyway, one of my friends just had a baby, so naturally, she wanted to go check out the kids’s books. Our other friend and I took this as an opportunity to make fun of her. But as soon as we noticed the shelf full of Halloween books, we were sold.
We ended up spending a good half an hour browsing the the area, reminiscing about all our favorite childhood reads. Somehow, I always thought that the books I’ve read in recent years were the ones that really inspired me on my journey to become an author, but tonight, I realized that that’s not the case.
Books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have mostly my parents to thank for that. I’m pretty sure my mom read to me every night, from the day I came home from the hospital to the night I decided I wanted to read by myself.
The book that started it all for me…
I was obsessed with the Bailey School Kids. I read every single one of them.
As I got older, I found more books through school and other family members. For one of my birthdays, my cousin gave me a collection of coming-of-age Judy Blume novels. I loved those books. They were essential to surviving my early years of adolescence. Those years were really awkward.
Then of course, there were the books I read with my class in elementary school. I know a lot of kids thought assigned reading was lame or a waste of time, but several of the books I read in school ended up becoming lifelong favorites.
Indisputably one of the greatest books ever written.
I need to go back and reread this book. I remember loving it, but I actually don’t remember the book all that well!
Saddest book ever… but still so good!
It’s easy to think that the things we do and enjoy as children are insignificant to who we will become. After all, we all grow up and we all change. Some of us change so drastically, that we forget what it was like to be a child, when everything was new and exciting, when it was still possible to grow up and become a princess or an astronaut, or whatever it was we wanted to be.
It’s getting late and my thoughts are starting to get a little cloudy. But I’m glad I got this post written. It feels good to pay tribute to all the amazing books that I’d almost forgotten about.
September 17, 2013
Back to the Start
Now that Cemetery Tours is out, I sort of expected to feel like this huge stage of my life was coming to an end. You know, taking that huge step from Unpublished Writer to Published Author. I thought there would be some sense of finality, or a feeling of closure.
Not even close.
Cemetery Tours is published, it’s true. But the real work is only just beginning. It’s not enough to make a book available to the masses. Now, I have to sell it to the masses, and let me tell you, I am not a good salesperson. I can recommend stuff, sure, but I really suck at telling people what they should and shouldn’t read. ”I want you to read this book because I wrote it and I think it’s really good!” Yeah, that probably won’t cut it. I’m pretty sure every person who has ever written a book believes that. After all, they wouldn’t want you to read it if they didn’t think it was good! Heck, they probably wouldn’t have bothered to write it if they didn’t think it was good.
In the days to come, I will be coming up with more marketing strategies and reasons that people should buy and/or read Cemetery Tours. I think GoodReads will be a really good place to start.
For today, however, I’m going to take the day off, enjoy my triumph of finally being published, and read The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks. It also came out today, which is really cool, since I was reading a Nicholas Sparks book when I realized that I wanted to be an author (Just a note – my books are not at ALL like his! Not that I don’t love him, but I am NOT a romance author! I’m not really sure what I am… A general fiction author I guess!). And yes, I am fully aware of all the “white people almost kissing” jokes. I think they’re hilarious. And very true.
I still love his books though.
I also checked out The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (not to be confused with S. Morgenstern who “wrote” the Princess Bride – Haha, William Goldman… you really fooled the eighth grade me). I’ve been wanting to read it for a while now but what’s funny is that suddenly, all my friends are reading it and recommending it! I’m definitely looking forward to it!
Anyway, aside from selling and marketing Cemetery Tours, I’m also going to need to start working on my next book! I finally finished chapter seven of the CT sequel. I do not know what it is, but somehow, I ALWAYS get stuck on chapter 7! No matter what I’m writing, chapter 7 always ends up being this awful literary brain block! Maybe it’s because often times, chapter 7 is sort of a transition chapter. You know, no longer the introduction to the book, but not quite the exciting stuff just yet either. Necessary filler, if you will.
And on that note, I’m off to read The Longest Ride. I hope there are no random, heart-wrenching deaths, but considering it’s Nicholas Sparks, I’m not holding my breath. As long as the horse doesn’t die, I think I’ll be okay.
PS – Be sure to check out Cemetery Tours on Amazon!
September 16, 2013
September 17
It’s here! Cemetery Tours is officially available!
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
I know I’ve talked about my time spent in Scotland on this blog before. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking a lot specifically about my time spent on Iona, otherwise known as St. Columba’s Sacred Isle.
Iona is amazing. Anyone who doesn’t believe that fairy tales exist, clearly has never ventured to the Iona, or any part of Scotland for that matter. It has the most beautiful white beaches, crystal blue waters, lofty hills, windswept meadows, and the most fantastic celtic crosses, some of which are centuries old.
St. Martin’s Cross
The plaque at the base of St. Martin’s Cross
Sometimes on Iona, chickens just walk down the side of the road.
As magical as Iona is during the day, it was equally captivating at sunset.
One of my favorite moments on Iona wasn’t spent on the beach or hiking the hills. It was one evening in the hostel after dinner. Of all the hostels we stayed at in Scotland, Iona’s was the one that felt the most like home. That evening, we’d made a home-cooked meal, a luxury we hadn’t been able to enjoy at any of the other hostels. Don’t get me wrong, their food was fine, but it sort of reminded me of cafeteria food. On Iona, however, we prepared our own meal and cleaned up afterword. It was the sort of thing I never enjoy at home, but somehow, in that cozy island setting, it was like a scene straight out of a novel.
After we finished clean-up, a small group of us gathered around in the den. The den was right next to the dining area. It had a few bookshelves and a small nook next to a giant window that overlooked the vast fields leading down to the shore. Jeb, the leader of the group and our youth minister, brought out his guitar and started strumming. My sister and I each settled down onto one of the couches with the books we’d purchased at the airport (yes, we took our own books, but really, who can resist an airport bookstore?). She read Matched by Ally Condie. I’d selected Insatiable by Meg Cabot.
I actually really enjoyed it. Sadly, the sequel did not end the way I wanted it to. Oh well. You can’t win them all.
Jeb played a number of songs that evening, but the only one I remember is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I remember it because every one of us in the room stopped what we were doing to sing along. It was just one of those magical moments. No computer. No television. Nothing but pure simplicity. Books, music, comfortable couches, and a sunset over the sea. I don’t think I’ve ever been more content.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDwmCFgoiE8
The Call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNsQewlFtEs
This is Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cKNl...
Into the West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Ynt...
September 15, 2013
Living Life Backwards
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard
Anyone who is on Pinterest or Tumblr or any form of social media has surely seen some sort of inspirational quote about living life like it’s your last day.
You get the picture. Now, if you take that literally, life might get a little complicated… and really expensive. Let me tell you, if I lived every day like it was my last, I would not have a real job. I’d be out backpacking through Europe, road-tripping across America, going on whale watches, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, etc… If I could afford it, I’d be out there doing all of that in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, even I have to admit that money is necessary for all of that. I hate the concept of money. I think it corrupts everything good and pure about the world, but there comes a point when even the loftiest of dreamers have to accept that some realities exist. I hate it, but I accept it.
Instead of griping about things I can’t change, however, I try to set goals so that even if I can’t change reality, I can at least influence it a little. I can change my reality. The quote about life being understood backwards, but being lived forwards really struck me as interesting. It’s true, we have to move forward. We have to learn. We have to experience. It’s impossible to fast forward and look back to know which choices are the ones we should and shouldn’t make. That doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t try to figure it out.
I think one of the most amazing and beautiful things about being human is the capacity to look beyond ourselves. Whether or not most people take advantage of this ability is another matter entirely. The point is, we are aware of things and people and ideas and creatures other than our own beings. We have the ability to imagine and to see life not only as it is, but how it could be. Life has so much potential, but I don’t think a lot of people realize that.
Personally, I’ve always sort of “lived in the future.” Perhaps that’s not a good thing, as none of us are guaranteed a future, but I usually try to think at least two steps ahead. How are my decisions today going to affect the life I want to live down the line? There are reasons I elect to live the way that I do, with very few strings attached, and that’s because I’m constantly thinking about the life I want to be living in five, ten, twenty years. I’ve even gone so far as to imagine my death bed. When I lie there, in my final moments reflecting on my life, what will I be thinking? What are the things I will regret not doing? This is how I am attempting to “live life backwards.” I want to take all of those things that I will regret not doing and do them. After all, at the end of the day, we’re all going to meet the same fate. Nothing that I do in this life can prevent death, so I might as well take this one chance I get to live and live it the way I want. Because really, what actually matters other than the people we love and trying to leave the world a better place than we found it? Not a whole lot.
