News

Aug

6 Months

Guess what? Yesterday marked 6 months until BORN WICKED is released! February 7 is circled on ALL of my calendars. I’m so excited! I can’t wait for you all to meet Cate and her sisters and Sachi and Finn and, oh, everyone! And we have a tagline! Blessed with a gift. Cursed with a secret. I love it. Thank you, Genius Assistant Paula, for coming up with it! Every month leading up to release day I’m going to have a contest. On the 7th or the closest weekday. Next month I’ll have my first ARC to give away! This month, since I don’t have mine yet, I’d like to give away two fabulous Putnam ARCs: LEGEND by Marie Lu and THE NAME OF THE STAR by Maureen Johnson. I haven’t read NAME OF THE STAR yet but I’ve loved Maureen’s other...

Aug

6 Things on a Saturday

Jessica

AKA Random Things That Make Me Happy 1. I bought a Nook Touch yesterday! I’ve had a Sony e-reader for awhile but I did not love it. Because I did not love it, I was letting all kinds of amazing e-galleys from Netgalley and S&S GalleyGrab expire before I read them. The experience just didn’t compare to a real paper book for me. But I really like the feel of the Nook Touch: the size of it, the page turns, the ability to take notes without the stylus, the different fonts and sizes. 2. Yesterday I ate a lobster grilled cheese. It was SO GOOD. I don’t like lobster rolls–texture issue–but this was cheesy deliciousness. 3. I also had a hot-stone massage yesterday. (It was a really excellent day.) I’m lucky to have a fantastic, affordable massage therapist two blocks away. I have been trying to make sure I get...

Aug

Book 2

Jessica

I started writing book2 of The Cahill Witch Chronicles today. For the last two weeks, I’ve been brainstorming, outlining, and writing synopses with Amazing Editor. It has been good and challenging and exciting and frustrating. There were days when bits of the plot clicked into place like puzzle pieces and there were days (well, one day) when I cried at Office Depot because I felt like I sucked so much. Plotting does not come easily to me. And thinking it through–really thinking it through, and having to make sure it made sense not only to me but to my editor, instead of just leaping into it and figuring it out as I went–was an entirely new way of doing it for me. I haven’t seen many writers share about this part of the process. I wanted to because, honestly, it was hard. The original outline was way too episodic, without...

Jul

Want List

Jessica

One of the wonderful-but-weird parts of getting a book deal is that it’s a dream come true. Like: yay! But also: now what? I believe in gratitude, but I also believe in dreaming. In telling the universe what you want. It might not always happen, and chances are good it won’t happen in the way you expect, but I like to put it out there. Getting my book deal was the culmination of a lot of dreaming (and some luck and several years of hard work). I also got to check off several other things on my list of dream-wants: working as a full-time writer, paying off my credit cards and student loans, taking my best friend to a weekend at a spa, buying a Betsey Johnson dress, and making a significant donation to a local theatre company. Now I am making a new want list. It’s inspired in part...

Jul

Treadmill Desk

Jessica

I bought a treadmill desk last week. Or rather, I bought this treadmill and this plastic shelf that attaches to it. Both things were pretty easy to set up (required less than an hour total) and I am in love. I’ve been using it for 45 minutes to an hour each day, and I can totally see myself using it even more once it’s less hot and I’m in better shape. I’ve been fighting with my weight for awhile now, between comfort eating through the ups and downs of publishing and some medication I take. I’ve gained *gulp* thirty pounds in the last five years since my wedding. It’s not healthy and frankly, no matter how many cute dresses I wear, I’ve been wincing at recent pictures of myself. It came to a head a few weeks ago when I was denied my first choice of health insurance because my...

6 Months

6 Things on a Saturday

Book 2

Want List

Treadmill Desk

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