I never ever, ever read the reviews on my book. Creatively it just isn’t a good idea, it will mess with my confidence not to mention my psyche. I know the importance of them-good or bad. I get asked often if I read them, now, I’m assuming that the person who’s asking has at some point read a couple. I don’t want to know what people are saying. I know that reading is subjective, I am perfectly aware that some people might not like my book, the subject matter, the protagonist, I can go on. But understand that writing a book takes a lot of work, a lot of yourself goes in to it. I’d like to at some point write more books and will probably never read the reviews for those either. But good or bad reviews sell books.
Book Quote…
If you’ve read When He Came Back then you know who John “Deere” Lowe is. The idea for this book was inspired by a photograph a friend showed me. It’sthe simple things that inspire, so here I go, running with this story. I have it all written out in my head.
Plan B…
I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately, having a very hard time coming up with the words to create a great story for you guys. I’m going through a personal situation that’s the cause of a lot of stress and that stress has been a huge culprit in the block I’m going through. The worst part is that the story is there, in my head. I SEE IT!
I have talked about writer’s block before and that my solution for it is to keep writing. Write anything to keep the creative juices flowing. I get a lot of emails asking if I’m going to write a book on the secondary characters in When He Came Back. Initially WHCB was going to be a stand alone, but the more emails I got the more the ideas for Alexa, Hunter and John’s story swirled in my head. So, in an effort to keep those creative juices flowing and keep this block from completely ruining my writing career, I started writing a novella. At first I wasn’t sure who the main character was, this is usually the case with me when an idea hits. I start writing and watch and see it develop into something good. In this case, I started the story and the more I wrote the more I realized I was writing John’s story. Alexa’s story, although I still work on it with some effort is progressing slowly and will eventually be finished. I had initially aimed for a summer release, but I’m afraid that isn’t going to happen. John’s Story on the other hand might be the quick summer read you’ll need to tide you over.
In the mean time if you haven’t read When He Came Back, it’s available now in ebook and paperback, see links below:
Alexa’s Story
By popular demand, I’m working on Alexa’s story. I’ve received a lot of emails asking about the secondary characters in When He Came Back. First up is Alexa. If you read WHCB, she’s Claire’s beloved best friend. In her novel, When They Met, we get to know her a little better and see that behind the quick wit and fun persona, she has one fear—being left behind. After her mother’s death she determined that the loss was worse than the gain and promised herself never to get close to anyone. In Comes Patrick Pemberton, dead set on breaking through every guard Alexa has ever put up. A man used to getting his way, this endeavor might prove to be more work than he is accustomed to.
Hope to spit this baby out by summer 2016. Can’t wait for you to read it, cause I’m already loving Mr. Pemberton and I hope you will too.
Here’s a peek at Patrick’s persistence:
Get Out There! Get Noticed!
Gosh, it’s been a while. Time is one hot commodity in my life—I have very little of it. Working full time, raising three boys and everything else in between, getting on my computer to do anything else other than write is hard. My days seem to get shorter and I have a book, that although it was published in October, I still need to promote. I try, but keeping and online presence isn’t my strongest suit. Being a self_published author is exhausting. I’m not going to lie—I’ts also terrifying and exciting and fulfilling. I love this job. I love creating, I love being able to create a world where people can escape for a brief moment. But I suck at promoting. So, I started to look into creative, fun ways to continue to get the word out there. We’ll see how it goes.
When He Came Back is Available now here:
Amazon Canada | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Nook | iBooks
Getting In Gear…
So, here’s the deal. Life is moving along perfectly, the first week of this new year was just an inch shy of perfect, but it was a great week. See life is moving along. I’m well on my way to my life goal, not resolution, goal. Resolutions are always broken, you never stop achieving your goals. So life is good. The writing part of my life not so much. I’ve fallen a tad behind and I need to get my ass back in gear. So I am, starting today I will putt pedal to the metal. I have a personal deadline and if there’s one person I hate letting down, it’s myself.
Giveaway!
Head over to my Facebook page for an end of year giveaway…Good luck!
Resolutions
I don’t make New Years resolutions. I have goals, writing goals and I aim for them everyday. My main goal for 2015 was to finish and publish my novel When He Came Back and I accomplished that. For 2016, one very important and more personal goal is to succeed at life. To be happy and know that life has so much to offer. Of course writing is a pretty significant part of my life and something I work hard to succeed at. But there’s more out there and I’m gearing up to find just what that is.
So tell me your goals?
Book Two—Sneak Peek…
A chapter a week, that’s my aim, forget the daily word count. Anyway, I’m eleven chapters into Alexa’s story and at this rate it should be done…well, I’ll let you know!
Mean while for those of you asking for Alexa’s story, here’s a little tease, unedited.
We know Alexa’s Story, here’a little background on Patrick, the billionaire who hired her and will eventually win her heart…Still working on a title for this baby.
Excerpt:
“Let’s get the ‘getting to know you’ out of the way then,” he said, swimming toward the ledge of the pool, leaning his chin on his folded arms. He was determined to get his way. “I am one of two kids. I’m twenty-eight years old. My sister Amy, who’s four years older, is married. She has two boys. Mark is 3 and Josh is 5. They also have three dogs and four cats…”
“Four cats?” she asked in shock.
He laughed that four cats shocked her more than his boxer briefs at her feet.
“Yes, four. Her husband Edward is a Thoracic Surgeon and an animal rescuer out of control. Amy is a certified teacher, but only substitutes now because she prefers being at home raising her children. My parents have been married for forty five years and live in a house too large for them on the outskirts of town.” There, no guilt, everything he just told her was the truth. She didn’t really have to know that his parents lived on seventy-five acres, in a six thousand square foot home he and his sister have been trying to get them to sell. At sixty-two and sixty-five, the place was just too secluded and big for them.
“Anything else?” she asked, hands on her waist.
He cocked an eyebrow at her, but continued on his shabby attempt to, in his mind, redeem himself for lying to her.
“I graduated from the University of Toronto, with honors and a business degree that, up until four years ago I had very little use for.” Another truth.
“You’re an executive assistant to Patrick Pemberton,” she pointed out with an incredulous look on her face.
“Yes, well, I’m moving up in the corporate ladder, fast.” Again, she didn’t have to know he was one of the wealthiest men in Canada.
“If you say so.”
“I say so. You don’t believe me?”
“No, it’s just that…”
“Look I’m poring my heart out here, revealing things most women I date for weeks don’t ever know about me. That has to stand for something.” It also stands for the fact that most women he dates are more interested in the size of his bank account.
Time!
Time is a precious commodit and I need more of it. Time to write, time to promote my book and time to just let it all set in. Like most self-published authors I don’t have the privilege of quitting my day job. And because of this day job, I lack the time to give my book the time it deserves to help it be a success. This is frustrating to me, despite what people may think of it, it’s my blood, sweat and tears out there. A piece of work that took months to create and it deserves better from me. I will try. I need to give it all I’ve got or all those late nights and early mornings would have been for nothing. That’s not to say of the people who’ve supported me. It would be so easy to throw in the towel, to say “well let’s just see how goes”, but I’m not a quitter. This is my passion, my dream and its up to me to make my dreams come true. That said, I will try harder.
Jessica A. Briones 