News – Page 45 – Jessica Spotswood

Jun

Craft Week – Where

Hi! Welcome to Craft Week on my blog! Today’s topic is where I write. Mostly I write in my office. Usually, I write all hunched over on my awesome loveseat, with a candle burning and an enormous cup of tea at the ready. I got the storage ottoman from Crate & Barrel and I love it dearly. Behind me, there’s my writing calendar (more on that later this week) and some framed prints from the Fables comics. I’m actually moving those downstairs soon because I got some awesome inspirational prints — one says Chin up, buttercup! and one says I am simply a book drunkard (a quote from L.M. Montgomery). I am just starting to write at my desk, because I just got that green swivel chair from IKEA. Can you see the little “Jessica Spotswood: Author” desk plaque? My friend Laura bought that for me several Christmases ago, when getting published...

May

March, April, & May Book Recommendations

Jessica

EEP! I am so behind on these. From now on I’m going to try to do at least a monthly book recommendation post! There are lots of books I read and enjoy that don’t stay with me, that aren’t Jess-books, for whatever reasons (sometimes mysterious even to me). As a reader, I tend to prioritize character and then setting and then plot, and I’m fond of historical fiction and rebellious girls and sisters and swoony romance. These are the books I read from March-May that I recommend. Sometimes I have hung out with the author, or we’re part of the Apocalypsies together, but I promise I mean it. ♥ THE WICKED AND THE JUST by J. Anderson Coats: This is one of my new favorites! It’s set in 1290s Wales and told from the dual povs of Cecily, a spoiled English girl whose father’s just moved them to this heathen outpost, and Gwenhwyfar,...

May

Exciting Updates

Jessica

Sorry for the blog silence lately! Lots of things have been going on behind the scenes: 1. I went on a lovely retreat last week that wasn’t very productive but was super-fun and soul-refreshing. I love my writer friends. There was lots of wine and awesome conversation. I also missed a step and fell, and tomorrow I’m going to the doctor to make sure the top of my foot isn’t fractured. Fingers crossed! 2. I’m still planning to do a Craft Week on the blog – next week! I’m thinking Monday will be where (pictures of my office + coffee shop); Tuesday – how (the programs and blogs I find useful); Wednesday – when (my night owl status plus finding time and what I do when I’m stuck); Thursday – misc Q&A; Friday – interview with my critique partner Kathleen Foucart on her writing process. If you have any writing process questions you’d like me to...

May

Thrice Interview: THE DOWNSIDE OF BEING CHARLIE

Jessica

Hi guys! Today we’re celebrating the release of Jenny Torres Sanchez’s THE DOWNSIDE OF BEING CHARLIE. Charlie is handed a crappy senior year. Despite losing thirty pounds over the summer, he still gets called “Chunks” Grisner. What’s worse, he has to share a locker with the biggest Lord of the Rings freak his school has ever seen. He also can’t figure out whether Charlotte VanderKleaton, the beautiful strawberry lip-glossed new girl, likes him the way he likes her. Oh, and then there’s his mom. She’s disappeared—again—and his dad won’t talk about it. Somewhere between the madness, Charlie can at least find comfort in his one and only talent that just might get him out of this life-sucking place. But will he be able to hold his head above water in the meantime? Now for the interview with Jenny! Describe your main character in 3 adjectives + a noun. Charlie is a lonely,...

May

Thoughtful Thursday

Jessica

I finally saw THE AVENGERS last night! I’ve heard lots of swooning over Loki, but my favorite by far is Tony Stark. A smart superhero who banters? Yes, please. On a similar note, I love SHERLOCK so much. Big brains are sexy. On ladies, too. Besides VAMPIRE DIARIES (see: boys who banter), my current favorite TV show is REVENGE. I love Amanda. And Nolan. I could kind of care less about both Daniel and…God, I had to stop and look up his name, he’s so bland…Jack. While I was toiling away on the last draft of STAR CURSED, toward the end, I hardly left the house. Balance kind of flew out the window. I’m discovering that I feel much better if I go out and write in coffee shops and run errands and don’t nap the afternoon away, and go to bed by 2 am instead of 5 or 6. We’ll see...