Winners for My Contest!

Hello friends!

So I told people who entered my contest that they would get a signed copy of my book of their choice a week from the contest, which obviously didn't happen. But a lot of people participated over at Alex's blog, and today I'm choosing two winners!

Unfortunately, pretty much everyone who played the game played it wrong, which is partly my fault because I turned the game Two Truths and a Lie into Two Lies and a Truth. The goal of mine was to guess which one was the truth and a lot of people tried to guess which one was the lie. Because of that, no one really got the answer correct, but that's okay!

I ended up picking two winners from a hat.

The winners are…

CARRIE-ANNE

and

NICK WILFORD

Congrats guys!

All you have to do is choose to win From the Ashes (#1) or The Inferiors (#2) and I'll send you a signed copy!

Have a lovely day!

Jess

It's Official

Officially on Amazon.com as a paperback and eBook! Also I wanna give a huge thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for hosting me on his blog today so be sure to check that out!

Also for my little launch party, it would mean so much to me if you all could help, at least write a little post tomorrow or play the game Two Lies, One Truth! All you have to do is post a picture of my book cover, link to my paperback or eBook, then write two lies and one truth either about yourself, a character in your story, or a character in your favorite book/movie.

Whomever guesses the answer correctly (which one is the truth) on my blog or Alex's will be selected as a candidate to win a signed copy of either From the Ashes (book 1) or The Inferiors (book 2). Your choice.

So here goes.

CHARACTER: Liam Rodan
Age (as of book 2): 17

1. I used to be best friends with my worst enemy
2. I'm a player, I live for the game
3. I'm a hopeless romantic

So only one of these is true, can you guess which one?

Spread the word and sign up here:

---

1. Imagine Today-Kathy

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 7 hrs, 4 min (9/18/2017 11:59 PM North America - Eastern Standard Time)

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

I will pick a winner a week from today!

Love,

Jess

Release Day!

Dearest friends,

My book release will be on Monday, September 18th, so I'm having a big release party on Tuesday, September 19th! And it wouldn't be a party without your help.

So I'm holding a blog hop, yay!

If you want to participate, all you have to do is post a picture of my new book cover (The Inferiors) and tell the world a little bit about me (I'll send you details). Now the fun part is, you're going to post two lies, and one truth. Because in The Inferiors there are a lot of times where Jaina, my MC, discovers the truth and some lies about people she thinks she knows.

It can be about you, or one of your favorite characters in one of your stories, or even in a book you've read.

Sooooo here's the signup list, it would mean so much to me if you helped me out on September 19th!

Thanks guys!

---

1. Imagine Today-Kathy

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 1 day, 7 hrs, 39 min (9/18/2017 11:59 PM North America - Eastern Standard Time)

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

Love,

Jess

IWSG – Book Release

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, so you know what that means…

Insecure Writer's Support Group day!

I've been missing the blogging world lately, and I feel bad I haven't been able to visit all of you who still follow me! But between college, friends, boys, and writing, things have been quite crazy lately. In fact, I even stopped writing for a bit.

DON'T JUDGE ME.

It wasn't intentional, it just became difficult to balance school, a social life, and writing. And I used to be more of an introvert, but sometime in the past year that changed. I know because my best friend and I took the Myers Briggs 16 Personalities Test a few weeks ago.

And extroverts need more social human time than introverts, generally.

So I wasn't writing much, spending time with other humans.

Over the summer, I started writing again. Well, editing actually, since it has been taking me forever to finish my second novel.

But now, my moment of victory has arrived!

I have completely finished The Inferiors, and as of September 4th, it has been published! I have not yet made it available on Amazon.com or any other distributor because I'm trying to set up a release party for the official release date, which is on Monday, September 18th.

So coming to why I'm insecure this month, I'm really nervous about my book release. Apart from the normal fears (what if people don't like it? Will they like how the story continues?) I really don't know how to market my book.

There's a guy I've been friends with for the past year, and he didn't even know I'd written a book until about a month ago. It's not something I talk about really, it's just something I love to do.

The biggest fear I have this month is for September 9th. I ordered 50 copies of my first book, and they're supposed to get to my house on September 8th. But I have this local author festival thing at my library on the 9th, and if my books don't come I'm going to be there with no books to sell. So…that's quite nerve wracking.

Anyway, I'd like to thank Alex J. Cavanaugh for hosting the IWSG every month! Click here to visit more people in the IWSG!

Thanks everyone!

P.S. I'm going to be posting this week about a blog hop for my release party, so stick around!

–Jess

The Inferiors

Hi guys!

So I have some pretty big news.

Life has been absolutely crazy, I think you can tell by how long it has been since I last posted. But I have successfully finished my first year of college, had lots of amazing adventures this summer, and finally finished my second novel!

And by finished, I don't mean I finished writing it.

I finished writing it, editing it, and it is almost ready to be published! The only thing I'm waiting for currently is for the proof to get here, and then I can click the publish button!

I can't believe it's been four years since I was last published, but it's better late than never!

I'm so excited to officially release my book cover, front and back :)

I'm really gonna try to get back into the blogging world. Of course college makes everything hard, but let's be honest if I have time for a boyfriend as well as a job and then I'm able to do some writing on the side, I'm sure I can fit in some time to blog with you guys again.

Hope you guys are having a lovely day!

Jess

BE PROUD OF YOURSELF

Hello my lovely friends!

I'm so sad that I've gotten so out of the loop with blogging. With The Inferiors coming out in September-ish I should really post a lot more and visit people, things are just getting so crazy!

Examples:

ONE: I had to take my driving test three times in the past three weeks before I passed. The first time was just cause I sucked. The second time was because of a super mean lady, who didn't even let me finish my test. The third time, I finally passed because I took my test in a totally different place. So, the three weeks before I passed my test were filled with me driving everywhere so that I could pass. (I'm writing about this in detail on my other blog within the next few days).

TWO: I've been looking for a job. Well, more than looking. I've applied to a couple places, had a few interviews, and it seems that my luck might be changing for the better in that area. I'll emphasize it seems.

THREE: I'm starting college on the 29th! It's just at the local community college, but I'm so excited. I'm taking a few really cool classes, and I can't wait to get started.

So those are just three out of many examples on why I haven't been here. I know everyone hates excuses, so I'll try to make this the last time I ever make excuses for not blogging! The point is, it's been super hard to get editing done.

Though, I do have some VERY exciting news.

The book cover for The Inferiors finally came in.

I have no words to describe it. It's just perfect.

I haven't set up a cover release date YET. But within the next few days I'll have it all set up. So, stay tuned.

Overall, I just have to say: I am so proud of myself.

I hope that doesn't sound cocky to say. I honestly never think it's cocky or egotistical to be proud of oneself. So yes, I'm very proud of myself. And all of you should be proud of yourselves too for everything amazing you've done, and don't feel too humble to share it!

Question of today: what's something you've done recently, big or small, that you're proud of yourself for?

Have a lovely day everyone!

–Jess

IWSG Post… :(

Hi guys. Sorry I'm late posting today, but I've definitely been feeling a bit sorry for myself. It's really stupid and silly, but I've been very insecure.

First and foremost, I finally took my driving test today to get my license aaaaand…I failed.

Literally, I failed both parts of it.

I know it has nothing to do with writing at all, but I've been pretty upset about it since I took the test. Luckily, Ohio law says that I can take it again one week from today, which I'll be doing. So yes.

Anyway, it isn't just the driving stuff that's been making me feel insecure.

My wonderful, amazing editor, Nicole Zoltack is looking at The Inferiors right now. I've already started the publishing process on CreateSpace and they're in the process of creating my book cover, and that's freaking me out just a little bit too.

They created my cover for From the Ashes which turned out really great…

But I've just been incredibly anxious because I'm supposed to get it any day now. I've found myself refreshing my email over and over again like a crazy-clingy obsessive girlfriend (I sort of am though, ask my boyfriend haha).

So yes.

I want the cover to look really good but also have similar features to From the Ashes so that it ties in to the series. And I'm also nervous about getting my final draft done, once my editor sends my manuscript back to me. Oh lordy.

Anyway, that's what I'm insecure about this month.

How about you guys?

Visit other IWSG posts here. Thank you Alex Cavanaugh for hosting this!

–Jess

V & W are for…

My A to Z Challenge theme is: characters from my trilogy, From the Ashes.

V is for…

Dezar Viraak

I used to feel guilty about murder. I was 14 when I first killed a man. He was a general with a weakness for alcohol. I didn't do it for money, I did it for revenge. He killed my mother.

I never intended to make murder my career. I was on the run from the law, working at a bar. I was 15, but I looked 18 and had a fake ID, and the owner of the bar liked that I worked hard. That's when Jamal Tel found me, and threatened to expose my true identity. We came to an agreement, if I could assassinate his political nemesis within a month, he'd pay me 10,000 Imperial Ariks. Seemed worth it.

These days I don't take a job that pays less than a million.

I completed the job in less than a week.

I had a steady job of assassination after that from many different customers. Don't know how they found me, I never asked.

If you had known me back then, you would have seen that I wasn't the killer type. Then again, no one in their right mind is. Now I do it for the money. It pays well, keeps food on the table, and helps me support my two children and the woman I love.

I don't feel guilty about it anymore. Not at all. Maybe it's a coping mechanism, but through all the madness, and all the blood, I found someone I love. Her name is Ana. Can't imagine why she loves me, she knows what I do.

Now I have a daughter and a son. My children and Ana are everything to me.

***

W is for…

(Since nothing starts with W, I'm just doing a little excerpt from Book 2, The Inferiors.)

We take the lift downstairs in silence. When we reach the bottom, I walk through the lobby and out of my apartment complex. He follows close behind me as I lead us into the pale light of the late morning.

My apartment is built on the outskirts of the Crystal City Plaza. It's a large expanse of area paved with white Tarnoshian marble. Ever few meters or so, there are gardens that line the fountains where strange, unfamiliar birds hop around and bathe in sunlight. They're smaller and more colorful than any of the birds I had known on Virana. Their songs are more intricate, and they sound more like wind chimes than birds.

Things were so different back home.

The air is more stale, the gentle breeze less…real. There is not a breath of disorder, and it makes everything feel so wrong.  

***

I hope you enjoyed my post for today!

Don't forget to visit other A to Z Challenge Participants, and my other blog, My Unofficial Guide To Everything, where I wrote a "breakup letter".

Also, From the Ashes is on sale for 99¢ this week, so make sure to check that out too!

Have a lovely day :)

–Jess

B is for…

Today is the second day of the A to Z Challenge! The fact that I'm even writing this post is crazy, because I didn't think I'd make it past day one. Anyway, in case you didn't stop by yesterday or for my Challenge Theme Reveal, my theme is: The A to Z of From the Ashes (my trilogy.)

B is for…

Barys Tazrin

I don't know when I was born. Genetic testing has revealed I was approximately 28 when I married my wife, Zera. She was not a beautiful woman, but I didn't marry her for her looks or even out of love. Truth be told, I married her because her family had money and status. I wanted to give my future children a better life than I had as a child.

Zera gave birth to my son, Raval in the year 376 After the Stellar Wars. He was the light of my life, and I gave him everything. We moved into the Crystal City as a family. I worked for the Imperial Alliance government, I got my son into a good school. I don't know what it was that made him join the Army when he was 18.

I didn't live to see the great and terrible things he would do, I didn't live to see his courage and his influence on the Alliance.

***

This is the slightly uneventful story of Barys Tazrin. He's actually not written into the story, but his son, Raval, becomes very important.

Thanks for visiting everyone! Check out more A to Z Participants Here! Also, I'm going to start giving a link to my 5 favorite A to Z posts of the day starting tomorrow. Leave a comment so I can check your post out!

Leave your A to Z post links in the comments and I'll come visit you!

–Jess

A is for…

April 1st!

Happy April Fools Day, everyone! Not only is it April Fools Day, but it is the beginning of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the A to Z Challenge is: characters from the From the Ashes series!

So, what is A for, you ask?

Azad Viraak

As of today, I still know very little of my early life. I was born in the year 405 After the Stellar Wars. I know my father's name was Dezar Viraak, but I hardly remember him. My mother was not my birth mother. Her name was Ana, but I can't recall her last name. She gave birth to my sister, Rasha.

Rasha and I were taken away from our parents when we were young, I must have only been four or five years old. We were taken to a gifted school, one of the best in the Alliance. Rasha was a few years younger than me, so I would always take care of her when I wasn't in class. I remember that a lot of the kids in my class would make fun of me, since I was older than most of them.

It was hard to make friends until I met Altair Kasev. The fact that I used to consider him a friend disgusts me now. Yet as much as I hate to admit it, once, we were friends. We trained together nearly every day for the glory of the Alliance, for the glory of the Emperor. That is until I discovered his secret. He was not and would never be true to our nation and our Emperor.

My sister fell in love with him. And that's what killed her in the end.

I don't know where he is, or how I will find him, but I will find him. I don't care about what happens after. Altair destroyed the only kindness, the only good I had in my life. And he must pay for that.

This is what I live for. It's what I'll die for, and I will fight forever for my revenge.

***

This is the story of Azad Viraak, thank you everyone! Check out more A to Z Challenge Participants here!

Leave your A to Z Challenge post links in the comments and I'll come to visit you! And don't forget to check out my new blog, My Unofficial Guide To Everything!

–Jess

Stuff

Hello strangers…I know it's been a while, but the good news is that I'm back. I've just…kind of been…trying to…maybe…avoid responsibilities…like blogging.

It's really easy to get out of the loop on things.

I skipped the A to Z Challenge, thinking I'd easily be able to come back in May, but…one thing led to another, and…it's not that I didn't have enough time, it's just I didn't really make time.

I'm taking a few classes over the summer (one of which I failed during 9th grade, so…so yeah…don't judge) which is making things very hectic. And then there's all this teen drama no one wants to get caught up in, so I'll spare you the details on that one. Oh and I got my wisdom teeth out last week.

The Inferiors, my sequel, is coming along alright, except I'm coming up against these brick walls which making things very difficult. I won't say too much about it, but it starts off in the Crystal City, and…well…maybe it isn't as perfect as it's made out to be. So Jaina's going through her issues there.

I think over the long period of time I was publishing, I sort of lost my connection with Jaina. The Inferiors starts four, long, tiresome months after From the Ashes, so she's grown more during that time. And the thing is, it's been five months since I've been published, and well…I've grown during that time. I guess she and I just need to spend some Author/Character bonding time together and see how we can work things out.

Other than that, though, I've been revising and writing a lot of poetry, which I may or may not end up sharing with you.

So yeah.

That's it for me.

What are you guys up to lately? I need to catch up.

–Jess 龍

I'm Almost Free!

Life has been so crazy lately. I'm so tired and burned out from the whole school year, the only thing keeping me going is the fact that it's almost over! I only have about two weeks left of school, and god, am I relieved.

Not really looking forward to finals, though, and I'm taking a few classes over the summer.

Anyway, I got this really good (or, at least I hope it's really good) story idea recently, and I've been having a lot of fun adding to it and making character sketches, but I feel like I really should be working on The Inferiors, the sequel to From the Ashes.

It's such a hard choice, because now, I've got people waiting for me to finish it. At the absolute earliest, even if I worked really hard at it, I don't think it'd be done until the end of the year, which I might add, is approaching much more swiftly than I expected. It always does, I guess.

Is it so bad to want to take a break from my main story now and then?

Maybe.

Guess we'll find out.

What do you think?

Have a nice day!

–Jess

P.S.

IF YOU HAVEN'T MADE IT TO THE LAST EPISODE OF SEASON 4 OF DOCTOR WHO or ever plan on watching Doctor Who (which you MUST), DON'T HIGHLIGHT THE FOLLOWING WORDS HIGHLIGHTED IN BLACK.

I just made it to the 5th season of Doctor Who on Netflix, and I'M SO SAD. Okay, at least Matt Smith does a good job, but I was so heartbroken seeing the Doctor die as David Tennant! And DONNA. I don't ever cry, not really about anything, but I got tears in my eyes watching the episode where she forgets. Breaks. My. Heart.

The thing is, most people have made it that far, because I'm so awfully behind in the series. So I probably don't need that spoiler alert. Gotta be safe, anyhow.

BYE! :)

IWSG: I'm Still Here, Reviews, and Doctor Who?

Yes, everyone, I am still here, and hopefully I will be "here" much more often!

I hope the A to Z challenge went wonderfully, and I felt bad that I didn't participate, but ohmygosh did I have tons of stuff to get done. I can't say I have time to be blogging right now, but eh…I'm making the time for it.

So today is IWSG post day!

Right now, I'm really insecure about From the Ashes. I know, I know, I can't control the sales or anything. But when it slows down, it makes me nervous.

The good thing is, all of the reviews I've gotten so far have been really encouraging, and it makes me want to hurry up and get on with the sequel, The Inferiors.

I mean look! It makes me so excited looking at my Amazon page and seeing THIS:

(By the way, if you can't see it tell me because if you can't, then I can see why you may think I'm going crazy. Just click the link if it doesn't show up.)

I mean, a few people here and there have said that it's a little bit too much like The Hunger Games, and I try to pretend like it doesn't bother me. But hey, even the people who have said that still liked the story.

Anyway, yeah, that's all for today, and I think I'm back into blogging again :)

Happy May 1st!

–Jess

P.S.

I've gotten overly obsessed with Doctor Who lately. Hadn't watched the show before a few months ago, and my god, I'm hooked like a fish. Only on Series 3 though.

Do any of you watch Doctor Who?

Siúil a Rún

First of all, here's a pretty song I found recently, called Siúil a Rún.

The video isn't very good, but it had the best quality sound. According to Wikipedia, it's a traditional Irish song about a girl who's love has decided to go to war, and though she doesn't want him to, she's supporting his decision. If you want to read more about it, go here.

Anyway, I'm just editing The Inferiors lately.

It needs a lot of work. Luckily, it's like 25,000 words less than From the Ashes so hopefully it won't take as long. And the first draft of From the Ashes was absolutely terrifying, which isn't quite the case with The Inferiors.

So yup, that's what I've been up to.

My goal is to get from page 109 (where I am right now) to page 180 by the end of the week. Think I can do it? I'll tell you on Friday :)

What are your goals for the week?

--Jess

Oh Dear... The Challenges of Rewriting

I just realized I have to totally rework The Inferiors.

Again.

The first time I had to fix it, luckily I'd only written the first 30K out of what's now 112,000 words.  It was challenging.  Rewriting something you've already written is ridiculously hard!

Fortunately, I only had to rewrite 30,000 words then.

Now?

I've got 112K to sift through.  Hopefully I can keep a lot of it.  There are a few parts I don't want to lose, but the entire thing needs to be shortened.  Reason?

I discovered that the "end" isn't actually a good place to end the story.

In my head, I have a timeline of all three books.  Originally, when I first started writing book 1, I had no idea it was going to be a trilogy.  It was all meant to be one book.  But when I began to hugely exceed the standard YA word count, I had to break it up.

Anyway, my mental timeline includes just about everything in the story, from beginning of book one to the end of book three.  And as I'm going over it, there's no way book 2 can end where it did!  (Trust me, I've read over it like four times and the current ending is lame anyway.)

So, in the end, I guess I'm not rewriting it all.  'Compressing it' is more accurate I guess.

FINALLY OVER!

Yep.

The day has come.

School is finally out!!

To celebrate the momentous occasion, I stayed up until 2:30 a.m. last night with my best friend and slept in really late.  And, yes, I'm exhausted right now.

Honestly, I have no idea what to do with my time.  Never mind I've got a ton of stuff to do.  My brain just can't seem to handle a weekday that allows me to write EVERY FREE HOUR!!

Anyway, if I don't start making goals for the summer, it's just going to completely pass me by.

So, here I go.

I want to read at least 8 books over the summer.  I'm a slow reader, but maybe, just maybe I can get eight books out of the way.

I want to finish the complete second draft of The Inferiors.  That might be pushing it, but I think if I work really hard, I can do it.

I want to pass my Intermediate moves in skating.

Okay, I know I've got a ton of other things I have to do, but they're not really coming to mind at the moment.   (Maybe it's because I'm so tired?)

Either way, I'm going to have a very busy, writing filled summer.

What are your goals for the summer?


HAVE AN AMAZING WEEKEND!!


--Jess

Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!

Yes people, it's the first Wednesday of the month!  You know what that means... (if not, it's IWSG day, started by the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh :)

So let's see.  What am I insecure about?

I could talk to you about querying, because I am terrible at writing query letters.  Then again, I've already sorta written two posts about that.

What else?

My sequel.

Yeah, sure I already finished The Inferiors (book 2 of my trilogy), but I just started editing it.  And by the stars*, I've got a ton of work to do.  There's so much I need to add.

And, I have no idea how to go about this.

The Inferiors could go one of two ways.  Either my characters will go rescue   (person you can't know about yet)   or they can go find more about the   (thing you'd only know about if you've read it)  .  Currently, I have them rescuing   (person you can't know about yet)  , but by that time, will the reader be fed up about not knowing about the   (thing you'd only know about if you've read it)  ?

It's good to keep the reader wanting more, but will I have them wanting so much they decide to give up on me?

I'm in a big mess.

Luckily, I get out of school on Friday, so I'll have an entire summer to figure this problem out.

So... what are you're insecurities?  Have you guys had the same issue I've had with my sequel?

Happy Wednesday :)

--Jess

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*That's an expression my characters use... lol.