10K Day and Freebie:)

Hey y'all, I'm scheduling a 10K day for next Sunday, Nov. 7th. We'll be participating right here on this blog. I'll make a post in the morning, and you can do your check-ins in the comment section. Don't know what a 10K day is? Here's an article about it from my website: 10K Day. You can use this as part of your NaNoWriMo if you're doing that this November as well.

On to the Freebie! :)

I've been lucky enough to have a great friend, Milli Thornton, put together an ebook for me a few years ago. Extreme Writing: Crafting the Action Scene is a free .pdf book I'm happy to give to anyone who sends me an email at jturner4ATcharterDOTnet with "My Copy" in the subject line.

Have a super Happy Halloween everyone!! :)

Wholelotta Links

Here's a list of great links y'all might find interesting:

Where to find me on the internet:

My website
Linked In
Good Reads
Twitter
Facebook
Manic Readers

Quake:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Some publishing opportunities with Echelon and Quake:

ECHELON:
Echelon is seeking submissions for ALL eBook divisions. Please visit our site for guidelines. http://echelonpress.com

EXPLORATIONS:
Echelon Explorations is seeking submissions for eBook publication. Guidelines at http://echelonexplorations.com

SHORTS:
Echelon Shorts is seeking submissions for eBook publication for all genres.
Deadline for Holiday submissions 11/10/10. Guidelines at http://echelonshorts.com

QUAKE:
Quake is seeking submissions for eBook publication for all genres.
Deadline for Quake Holiday Shorts submissions 11/10/10. Guidelines at http://quakeme.com

I'm also a member of WRWA.

Enjoy surfing the web! :)

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Writing

Today I've spent the morning on busy-type work. This afternoon, I'm going to put everything aside and really dig into Detour 2 Death. This is turning out to be emotionally wrenching for me. Many of y'all know my father died in February and I find myself drawing from that experience a lot.

Book 3 in the Extreme Hauntings series is set in a hospital. David, the boy-next-door in a wheelchair, has taken a turn for the worse. Kaylee, our heroine, escapes the monsters at her reformatory and hits the road, rushing back home because she's had a premonition that David needs her. When she sneaks into the hospital, she finds her best friend, and blossoming love interest, in a coma and about to die.

The scenes where she's entered his coma-dream, where she's understanding that he's about to die if she can't intervene in some way, are really difficult for me to face. I think this is why I've had such a hard time really getting into the flow of this story. I want to stop, go back and edit, just to avoid what I know will be hard to write. So, today, that all stops. I'm going to punch through my own grief and get this part down, come heck or high water.

If you want to see what led up to this moment, find out why Kaylee was sentenced to a reformatory for girls, you can read the first two books in paperback or on your Kindle.

Wish me luck!
Jenny:)

Huge Wind Storm

Last night we had a big wind storm come through and knock out all of our power. Because it's been so dark and overcast here lately, I didn't get up until almost 7:30! Yikes! I got the kids up and between breakfast, a mad hunt for socks, banging in and out of the bathroom to wash faces, brush hair and teeth, I managed to get everyone ready in about 30 minutes--a world record, I'm sure. I drove them all to school--Molly on the west side was about 20 minutes late, Matthew on the north side was on time (phew!) and Dustin in a whole 'nother town (Kellner) got there about 15 minutes late. Alls well that ends well, I suppose.

I've just got to take some time to get rid of all the goofy blinky red lights. (Even the dishwasher is flashing red lights at me.)

Today, I'm working on editing a novel for Quake and later this evening, I'm putting together more notes for tomorrow's writing marathon. Detour 2 Death is getting really exciting. I love having free reign with reality. Supernatural stuff is always great!

Here's to a nice, quiet, wind-free evening!

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Random Word

As I sit here, blinking myself awake over my morning coffee, I remember there were a thousand things I thought to blog about, but now can't recall one. Lol. So, I'm going to open a random website from a google search on ghost, close my eyes, and point. Then I'm going to blog about whatever word my finger lands on. So, here goes:

I landed on The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) and my finger hit the word "evidence."

Interesting. What evidence would you need to believe in ghosts? I say I don't disbelieve in ghosts, but I don't believe in them fully either. The jury is out on that one. I'd probably have to experience one for myself. A full-on apparition appearing directly before my eyes. Do I believe that we live on, beyond our physical bodies? I do, though I have doubts. On this issue, though, I have more faith that we do exist beyond our mortal life.

What about you? What do you think?

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Life as an Editor

Today I get to make "the call" for the first time. I'm excited about doing this, but I'm nervous as well--how funny is that? :) I find sitting on this side of the desk very strange. After years and years fearing what an editor or agent might think about my writing, I'm getting some great insight. Most editors or agents, if they're anything like me at all (and I imagine most are) wish they could say yes to every decently written good story that crosses their desk. This experience totally makes me respect them even more than I did, and has the added benefit of making them more accessible to me. In other words:

Editors and agents are people, too ;)

We're still open to submissions, if you write YA. You can find the details here: http://quakeme.com/submissions/

Warmly,

Jenny:)

Sick, Sicker, Sickest...

If you've never had Pyelonephritis, there's no way to describe the sort of pain and exhaustion that both forces you into bed and keeps you awake. My cycle went like this: Body aches followed by a high fever with massive, teeth clenching chills, and then a sweat that left me limp and soaked. This cycle has progressively gotten worse since the end of September. For one blissful week, I thought I had it kicked. Week before last Thursday I took my last antibiotic, and by the following Saturday night, all the symptoms came rushing back, and twice as bad. I barely escaped a hospital stay.

So if you've been wondering, that's what's been happening with me. I'm in a slower recovery now, just getting my feet under me, but I can tell, this isn't going to be easy for me to bounce back from. I still can't make it all the way through the night without waking up from one symptom or another. The lower back pain feels very much like labor pains! Ugh. This stuff is horrible.

Anyway, now that I can sit up and actually focus my eyes again (the meds they gave me for the muscle pain makes my eyes blur) I'm getting back to business. Yes, this seems to be the yo-yo of my life this year, but I'll keep coming back and I'll keep trying. I'm working on Detour 2 Death for a spring release and I've got some great new talent I'm looking at as the editor for Quake. There's exciting stuff going on--I only pray I'll continue to be healthy enough to enjoy every minute!

Warmly,

Jenny:)

Writing and Music

On my Facebook page, I asked my friends to suggest songs for the playlist I'm compiling while I write Detour 2 Death, the 3rd book in the Extreme Hauntings series. I got MANY great suggestions (Thanks y'all!) and here's where you can see what I've put together so far:

Detour 2 Death Playlist

I'd love to add more music so if you have any other suggestions, feel free to add some. In this book, Kaylee, my heroine, has just run away from the girl's reform school to see her best friend who's near death in the hospital. This is a ghost story, so I'm enjoying some of the more eerie picks.

Okay, I'll check back later to see if there are any suggestions :) Thanks!

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Writing Tips

I thought I'd take a minute and jot down a few of my writing tips:

1) When you're just beginning, choose writing contests where professionals are judges and give feedback. Nothing will help you learn to self-edit faster than a qualified stranger's red pen.

2) Little phrases can add voice--or padding. Make sure you know which one you're doing--and how often. Does the phrase fit the protagonist? (i.e. "fiddle-dee-dee" or "to be honest..." or "as a matter of fact...")

3) Names do matter. When looking for a new name for another character, look for those that begin with a fresh letter and reflect the traits of said character. If you have two characters named Luke and Laura, you'll want to find a letter other than "L" to begin the next character's name. A "Dexter" might be a lab geek moonlighting as a serial killer, or a "Wilma" might be a stay-at-home wife and mother. Remember, people treat others differently according to their names. Imagine the difference between Donald Trump and Gomer Trump.

Hope that's helpful to some of y'all :)

Warmly,
Jenny:)

The Writing (and editing) Life Songlist

What is it they say? When you love what you do, you can't call it work--or something to that effect. Not only do I get to spend my early morning hours writing my own work, but I get to spend the remaining bits of my day editing and marketing. Pretty cool way to earn my living, I think ;)

I'm putting together a special playlist for Detour 2 Death, the 3rd book in the Extreme Hauntings series. I'd love any suggestions for a tune you think might work well with my story. I tend to like big, thumping music--like Disturbed "Down with the Sickness" and Marilyn Mansons' remake of "Sweet Dreams." This particular ghost story takes place in a hospital that isn't necessarily haunted--as much as it is a gateway. Sort of like the movie Silent Hill, but with a totally different mythology. So what do you think? Got any recommendations?

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Busy Bee Buzzzzzzzzz

I've been editing like a mad woman to catch up on the two weeks I was so sick. It's amazing how when you're finally feeling great again, you realize how very ill you actually were. I kept thinking that being bed ridden would be a great time to get some work done--after all, I was too sick to run errands (beyond basic needs) and obviously wouldn't be up for mowing the lawn or any other mundane task I'm usually expected to complete. Yet, my eyes would literally cross every time I stared at the screen--if I wasn't battling a migraine. So--in other words, it feels AWESOME to be able to work again.

I'm excited by some of the projects I'm seeing cross my desk. I'm working on clearing up some of the longer waiting queries this week--so if you've been waiting a while, you may be hearing from Quake very soon :)

See y'all in the funny pages! :)

Warmly,
Jenny

So Sick of Being Sick

A great big evil Fever named Painful laid me low for over a week. Even an in-hospital visit and IV fluids didn't make me any better. Now that they've tracked the sucker down to an infection in my kidneys and given me some good ol' antibiotic pepper spray for this crooked time-stealing theif, I'm back at work again. Thank goodness!! I never knew sitting upright could feel so great! :)

So I'm back to work and looking through the batch of submissions that came in for Quake while I was laid low. Some good stuff in there. Keep them coming folks! Quake is interested in e-publishing great YA books in all age-appropriate genres. Send in your book, or tell a friend! Submissions

Warmly,
Jenny:)