This is a bit late, but it hasn't gone as smooth as it did in my plans. I will know better next time. However, things are progressing, so that is good news. Meridienne Drake is currently available in ebook format at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords.
For some reason my formatting is skewed when Barnes & Noble and Amazon converted it. I followed their guidelines, so I don't know why it did that. It's not unreadable, but it just doesn't look the way I intended. I will be working on revisions and it should revise your copy if you've already purchased it. The smashwords versions are perfect though, and when you buy it, you buy it for all platforms (Ipad, Nook, Kindle, etc.).
If you are waiting for the paperback, the good news is I should receive the proof tomorrow. That has taken a week to get. Argh! If everything looks good, then it should be on sale hopefully Saturday. We'll see how that goes. After that, then the battle to get into stores begins. If you know me, then you know I will do whatever it takes to get into stores.
You know what's funny. I keep waiting to hear feedback on the book, but at the same time, I don't want to hear anything. Does that make sense? I keep telling myself that I put it out there for people to read it, so I have to accept that. I think the scariest part is not people hating the book, but liking the book.
If people hate it, you know it's a learning experience. I learn what to do better or not do at all. If people like it, how do you respond to that? When people talk about the book, I still kind of cower and withdraw, and that's not even when they are saying whether they like it or not, just saying, "Hey! You wrote a book!" Why do I do that?
Last weekend, I was talking to a musician who understood. He said that it's personal when he puts his music out there. IT SO IS! With a book as with music, people judge you openly. I think it's great that my book is out there, but when people take notice to it, it's a whole different story.
While my characters are not truly representations of people in my life, I do draw from personal experiences from those closest to me. It's what writers do...they write what they know. So, when someone says they love this character or they loved a certain scene, it makes me chuckle because of the my real world memory of it. Then I get funny looks. Hehe!
Then, I get the "How could you sit down and write a novel? Where does it come from?" I never know whether to take offense from this. I don't think people mean it in a mean way, but to me it sounds almost like, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Are you schizophrenic?" To me though, it's like a movie that plays in my head. Something in the real world sparks my Greek muse and I think "Hey that would make a great story." It's kind of like I have the TV on all the time, and it's always playing my favorite channel. Hehe!
All things considered, whether good or bad, I do want feedback. So if you like young adult, fantasy, or magic and you read my book, please let me know what you think. It's invaluable to me. If you don't like young adult or fantasy or magic, let me make it easy on you and don't read my book!
Find the ebook HERE!
Lots of <3, Jess
Harry Potter is back with Pottermore
I have to admit that when the final Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows Part 2 came and went, I was left with sadness and loss. I stood in line for every book release and movie release. I was always at the midnight premieres. I first read the Harry Potter series Books 1-4 at the time during the summer of 2001 right before my freshman year of college. It was something my brother who was in middle school had read. So like every book, as soon as I can get my hands on it, I read it. Just as the rest of the world did, I fell in love with it. The characters were so real in their fictional settings dealing with real problems even if they did have a magical twist. But of course, the magic was unique. What was not to love?All of us grew older with them. We saw the characters go from Movie 1 to Movie 7.
Then, at the end of June, J.K.Rowling released important news, Pottermore. What is it? What will it be? We don’t know. The site will be officially released in October. How perfect. Just in time for Halloween. However, a select few will get to be on it before then, but there are no guarantees or specifics for when that will be. After feeling the loss when the end credits rolled for the final movie, on July 31st we got excited again as we fought to be granted early access to Pottermore.
Because I had to be out of town on the Sunday Pottermore was released and where I was has horrible cell reception and no internet (truly it was caveman), I was disappointed and believed had lost my chance with Pottermore, but on Thursday, August 4. I happened to stumble across the lovely Twitter world that told me I still had a chance.
Following the times given at the Pottermore blog for the Day 5 Pottermore registration, I waited hitting F5 over and over until the Magical question appeared on the website. (If you are American, remember Britain’s time is either 5 hours EST, 6 hours CST, 7 hours MST, or 8 hours PST ahead of us.) I easily knew the answer and went to the instructed website. (For day 5, it was http://quill.pottermore.com/252) It brought me to the sponsor’s page where I had to find the Magical Quill (This day was an ad banner and you had to catch the quill). SUCCESS! I was in, I registered, and saw this:
As I write this, there is only one day left to attempt to get early access to Pottermore. So I wish you the best of luck. If you get it, then all that’s left is doing what we, Potter fans, do best…WAIT! Good Luck! Let me know if you get chosen to see the website.
*All pictures are courtesy of Worthing Theatres, Kris Olin, and Professor Mortis