A.E. Jones's Blog, page 38
June 29, 2015
She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not…An Author’s Dilemma
Have I intrigued you? My post today is not about the heroine’s plight of whether she loves the hero or not (even though that would be a fun post). Instead, it is about the relationship an author has with her manuscript. And yes, there are times when I am truly in a ‘loves me not’ state. Currently, book 5 has gone for second edits to my wonderful editor. I sent it to her today, after I had read it…again. Twice in the past week, actually.
And that’s when the ‘not love’ can rear its ugly head. Look at it this way…It’s like spending time with the same person in a small space. After awhile you start to notice their idiosyncrasies that were endearing to you in the beginning, but are now starting to grate on your nerves. And for an author, that is a precarious place to be in because you don’t want to change something in your book just because it’s the tenth time you’ve read it.
When that happens to me, I have to STEP AWAY FROM THE MANUSCRIPT. Even if it’s for a couple of hours. If I don’t, I could do more damage than good. And what makes it even more scary for me is that I write funny. When I’m in that ugly place, NOTHING is funny anymore. The first time you hear a joke you laugh, right? And maybe the next time your hear the same joke…but the fifth time? Right. I have to remember that the funny is STILL funny.
Ultimately, the person picking up the book for the first time is going to read it with fresh eyes. That’s what I keep in mind. Next week, when my editor sends me 2nd edits, I will be able to once again smile, cheer, and cry along with the characters. Because when it comes down to it, the journey to finishing the book is fraught with emotion, but when I pluck the final petal from the flower it will ALWAYS end with ‘she loves me’.
June 26, 2015
This Week’s First Blog…First Taste
It’s Friday and that means a new ‘First Post’ from seven of RWA’s RITA First Book Finalists! Today, Clara Kensie is hosting the first and I’m calling it ‘First Taste’. It’s the first page of each of our nominated books!
Clara is giving away a copy of Run to You and there is also a rafflecopter giveaway you can enter at the bottom of her blog for a big giveaway of books which will be chosen at the end of our 7 week extravaganza.
Come check it all out by clicking HERE
June 25, 2015
Guest Blog: Author on the Couch
Today I am spending time with Abbie Roads on her great blog called ‘Author on the Couch’. Come join me as Abbie asks some tough and not so tough questions.
I will also be giving away a free digital copy of my box set to a lucky commenter, so come visit us by clicking HERE
June 22, 2015
The Experience is What Really Matters
Every year my father and I participate in our city’s Chalk Walk event. We have gotten pretty good at it over the years, if I do say so myself. We take our supplies with us, including knee pads, water, brushes, paper towels, etc. And then the city provides free chalk for us to use on the sidewalks.
This year I was upset to find out that I was going to be out of town on Saturday when Chalk Walk took place. VERY UPSET. So we came up with the idea to do our own chalk walk on Sunday (or I should say I came up with the idea and convinced my father to play along).
So here was our plan:
Choose picture to draw
Dad to pick up free chalk on Saturday
Draw picture on Sunday
Sounds easy, right? Well…it would have been if we hadn’t had to deal with RAIN. It poured rain at my house Sunday morning and I thought we were done. But it didn’t rain in town where we were going to draw. As I drove to my dad’s house it started to rain. And we thought we were finished, but after a few minutes it stopped and the sun came out.
Dad drawing the outline
We looked at each other, grabbed our supplies and headed into town, knowing that the rain was coming again and we probably wouldn’t be so lucky the next time. And we sat on the sidewalk, by ourselves, surrounded by drawings from the day before and black clouds overhead. Dad had already drawn a preliminary sketch on cardboard to help speed up the process when it came time to draw on Sunday. Not sure if he was fearful of the rain or the cops coming and asking us what we were doing!
As he drew, I colored and the drops started again. I threw my arms up into the air and yelled ‘no’! Really, I did. It was quite dramatic. We took a quick picture of the partially completed drawing, fearful we were defeated.
See the raindrops! Thought we we finished for sure!
But my father, brilliant man that he is, threw a blanket over me and the drawing and I finished it while it sprinkled. And we laughed as I knelt on hands and knees over the picture and my dad held the blanket. He would periodically peek underneath and tell me what needed fixed. And this chalk walk will definitely stick in my mind as one of the most memorable!
Here is the final picture. Pretty nice, huh? About 45 minutes after we finished the skies opened up and rain poured down over our drawing. But it was okay, because the experience was what really mattered to us.
Final Product!!
In some ways this process made me appreciate my writing path even more. Sometimes I have to remember that I can’t let things defeat me whether real or imagined. This weekend taught me that it’s overcoming the obstacles along the way that make the finished product that much sweeter in the end!
June 19, 2015
This Week’s First Blog? First Kiss…
It’s Friday and that means a new ‘First Post’ from some of RWA’s RITA First Book Finalists! Today, Elia Winters is hosting the first and it’s a REALLY good one…our first kiss (yes we went there).
Elia is giving away a copy of Combustion and there is also a rafflecopter giveaway you can enter at the bottom of her blog for a big giveaway of books which will be chosen at the end of our 7 week extravaganza.
Come check it all out by clicking HERE
June 17, 2015
Guest Blogging Today on Heart Shaped Glasses!
Today I am excited to be blogging on Heart Shaped Glasses! My post is all about writing that dreaded beginning…
So check it out HERE!
Come on, you know you want to…
June 15, 2015
Good Things DO Still Come In The Mail
Are you intrigued by my blog title? I would be. Usually my mail contains bills, ads, magazines I didn’t order and credit card applications (are there really THAT many credit card companies?).
And since I was away this past weekend I was dreading opening my mailbox because I would have multiple days of junk mail to sort through. I was pleasantly surprised to find a small box in my mail with an invitation to attend a reception at RWA Nationals to celebrate being a 2015 RITA nominee. And there were two RITA pins included with it!
Wow.
My emotions went into hyper-drive when I opened it. I was excited like a kid on Christmas morning, and at the same time humbled to be part of this wonderful group of writers.
I have been spending some virtual time with several of the first book nominees and they are an amazing group of women. It is so important to forge strong relationships with other writers. Who better understands what I’m going through? and vice versa?
And so I wanted to share this moment with you as well. Positive reinforcement is a very GOOD thing. Especially for writers who over-analyze everything. Is my writing good enough? Am I good enough?
So I’ll take a moment to celebrate this wonderful gift that came in the mail today. And nominations or not, I’ll continue to work hard to write the best stories I can.
June 14, 2015
Release Day! The Mind Sweeper Novellas
Happy June, my friends! Today is the release day for The Mind Sweeper Novellas, my first box set. And as usual I am writing my release day blog. This year has been a busy one for me so far. And today is a fun day because I’m releasing my two novellas, The Fledgling and the Pursuit, in one digital book (which is what a box set or bundle is for those of you who were wondering ;) )
This series has become such a part of me and I love sharing it with all of you! Book five, Sentinel Lost, is going through the edit process as I type this. It should be coming out mid September which will be fun since Mind Sweeper released September 15th, 2014. So we will be celebrating its one year anniversary as well!
Today I am kicking off my release by spending time with one of my writer friends, Marin McGinnis, on her blog. I answered some great interview questions and also shared a picture of my writing space as well. Come check out the interview HERE.
And you would like to check out my box set, click HERE.
Finally my release day blog is not complete if I don’t provide you with a tiara picture. For those of you who may have just started following my blog, each release day I take a picture with my ‘writer’s tiara’. I bought my tiara and wand (it was a set) at my local dollar store last fall right before the release of Mind Sweeper. And I have been taking release day pictures with it ever since. For this picture I’m holding my wand instead of the book since the box set released as digital only. And since I write paranormal, I like to think of it as my magic wand. I only wish it could help me when I have writer’s block!
What happens when I put down the wand for two seconds!
June 13, 2015
Teaser Repeats – You know you want to see them again…
Tomorrow is the release day for my boxed set, The Mind Sweeper Novellas. The Fledgling and The Pursuit are part of my Mind Sweeper series and were released as single novellas. They are about the continuing love story of Jean Luc and Talia, so it made sense to me to box them as a set. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I like to have visual picture teasers before I release a book. I did this before both releases of the individual novellas.
So I thought it would be fun to pick out my favorite teaser from each novella and re-post as an appetizer for tomorrow. Well, I thought it would be fun…until I realized that I loved them all! So I picked out one teaser from Talia’s point of view (The Fledgling) and one from Jean Luc’s point of view (The Pursuit). Enjoy!!!
June 12, 2015
Favorite Firsts
It’s Friday and that means a new ‘First Post’ from seven of RWA’s RITA First Book Finalists! Today, Alyssa Alexander is hosting the first and it’s a good one…each of us chose our favorite first scene in our book.
Alyssa is giving away a copy of The Smuggler Wore Silk and there is also a rafflecopter giveaway you can enter at the bottom of her blog for a big giveaway of books which will be chosen at the end of our 7 week extravaganza.
Come check it all out by clicking HERE.
