Romantic Times Booklovers Convention – Day 1 by Jill James

So, day 1 was busy with a welcome party, romance novel cover models, and some awesome workshops. My favorite was Conquering the Premature Beginning, Sagging Middle, and Flat End. I took away from this workshop a lot of great ways to shore up that sagging middle and not race to the finish.

I checked out Club RT and found my old CP Grace Greene. It was our first face-to-face.

Then I had dinner with a couple of lovely fellow Wild Rose Press Authors, Barbara and Linda. We ate at Fritzi’s with a train overhead that delivered your food to your table on a track and lowered it to the table!

Then Lee and I went to the Ellora’s Cave Bad Girls of Romance Disco Inferno. There were great gifts at the tables and some awesome costumes. I haven’t seen that many afros in a long time! Lots of bell bottoms and halter tops.

Didn’t get to bed until 2 a.m. What a time!!

Romantic Times Booklovers Convention Recap – Jill James

Our adventure started with a 3:45 am wake-up call. I had to be up that early to get my friend, Lee at 4:15 and to head to Oakland to the airport. The husband took us and dropped us off before he had to be at work. Check in went really well and easy. We got coffee and waited for our flight. The plane ended up half full and everyone got their own row of seats. Cool! Lee and I sat together but had tons of room with the middle seat empty. It was a lot of cloud cover the whole way but I did get a few shots.

 

We had a stop in Albuquerque but we got to stay on the plane. The flight was smooth with no turbulence. Awesome!! Got the shuttle to the hotel and met other RT’ers on the bus. The fun is already beginning. The room is beautiful and just a short skywalk away from the convention hotel. 5 minute walk.

Hotel waterfall

Union Station

The Union Station is gorgeous at night, all lit up in purple.

Lee and I headed to the Sheraton to get our books for the Book Expo and meet a wonderful fan in the bathroom (of all places). LOL

More on Friday……Jill

 

Sneak Peek Sunday

So, I signed up for Sneak Peek Sunday for the first time. I’m supposed to show off 6 paragraphs of a WIP and then send you back to see the rest. Jill

Love in the Time of Zombies by Jill James (coming in June)

Guess you just never know. Who would have thought something as terrible as the zombie apocalypse would bring me something as wonderful as Seth Ripley?

Of course, the zombies got Momma, and Daddy, and my husband, Carl. Pretty much, my whole family. Okay, my husband Carl was an asshole so he was no great loss. Never could keep it in his pants, if you know what I mean. If he could’ve kept it in his pants he might have kept that appendage all together. But, it was the early days of the Z mutation and how was he to know the hooker he took to the cheap, by-the-hour motel had the sickness? I’m sure he didn’t realize anything until the woman ripped it off. He never was a great one for paying attention during sex as it was.

Five years of him spreading it far and wide and all I was left with was a one-sheet police report and a blurred photo of Carl with one between the eyes. The police had stopped trying to take sickies to the hospital a couple of weeks before. By the time Carl was attacked it was kill ‘em, identify ‘em, and burn ‘em in a pile. K.I.B. was the order of the day. A few weeks more and they skipped the identify part of the acronym.

Six months later and the police were all gone, along with the military. Now it was survival of the fittest. Never in a million years would I have pictured myself; little, bored society wife, Emily Gray, in that category. Guess you never know.

Your day can start so shitty and end so . . . well, not great, because there weren’t too many great days anymore. There were get bitten by zombies days and not get bitten by zombies days. But this day would turn out better than most.

I got zombie patrol for the morning, which is so not my best time of the day. But zombies don’t have an off switch so we have to hunt first thing in the morning to clear a perimeter around the strip mall.

Now, back to the rest of Sneak Peek Sunday.  http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/

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Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance

The Author Exploitation Business

Reblogged from David Gaughran:

• 

Writing is a glamorous occupation - at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.

Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It's a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.

Read more… 1,861 more words

Knowledge is power in this business. Read this and be back on Wednesday when I start my recap of Romantic Times 2013 in Kansas City. :)

E-Book, Indie Published and Graphic Novel EXPO – Jill James

Welcome to the Jill James Newsletter. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. RT Convention Edition RT Convention Special by Jill James FOR THOSE WHO *CANNOT* ATTEND THE EXPO IN PERSON Mark Your Calendar for the RT EXPO on May 2 from 4 to 6pm and join in the virtual EXPO event! THIS YEAR THE RT EXPO IS GOING GLOBAL! ARe is the official bookseller for RT’s Expo and this year we are making the book lover event global so that everyone from home can participate. Join in the fun by visiting this page by clicking on button above on May 2 from 4pm to 6pm and attend the virtual event! Just click on any author’s name and it will take you to their unique author page on All Romance e-Books website where you can begin purchasing. We recommend that, if you do not already have an account with ARe, you set one up before the EXPO begins on May 2 to make your purchasing easy on the day of the event. We will be tweeting and Facebooking from the hotel with a live feed so feel free to join in the fun! Tweet hashtag is #RT13EXPO Jill’s author page at All Romance eBooks! FOR THOSE WHO ARE ATTENDING THE EXPO IN PERSON I’ll be at the E-Book, Indie Publishing, Graphic Novel Book Expo Sheraton Crown Center, Kansas City, MO Thursday, May 2nd 4 to 6 p.m. signing books and postcards for my eBooks. ******************************************************** For my newsletter readers: Divorce, Interrupted (The Lake Willowbee Series, #1) is being made into an audio book. It will be available from Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.com Love in the Time of Zombies, my urban fantasy/horror/romance will be available late June. Thanks, Jill James Hope to see you at the RT Booklover’s Convention Sheraton, Kansas City, MO May 1-5, 2013 follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2013 Jill James, romance author, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you opted in at my website. Our mailing address is: Jill James, romance author P.O. Box 1992 Brentwood, Ca 94513 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Sent to mrsgodiva@comcast.net — why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences Jill James, romance author · P.O. Box 1992 · Brentwood, Ca 94513

Going to Kansas City – Jill James

Off to a writers/readers convention. I haven’t been to one in a while, and I’ve never been to Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. Very excited. I will be signing books, postcards, handing out promo stuff, pens, and candy. Hope to see lots of people who are only email addresses and yahoo loop names at the moment. Jill

Hope to see you there!!

Adventures in Writerland – Jill James

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a control freak. So, the past week has pushed all my control buttons. I’m signing my books at RT in Kansas City next week. We had to mail our books there ahead of our arrival. Complete, not under my control, time. I put that Fedex tracking number in the website twice a day. The time between left Reno, Nevada and arrived in Kansas City was the longest few days of my life. LOL Until later this week. I ordered postcards and magnets from Vistaprint. (none of this is their fault). So, again with the tracking numbers twice a day, because I paid a lot extra to get them here on time. So, they are due on Tuesday. No box. Go online. Train derailment in New Mexico. Wednesday. No box. Go online. Address label lost in San Pablo. Finally, today. Go online. Will be delivered by end of day. Did not realize end of day was 6:30 p.m. LOL

The box looks like it was toasted, but all contents arrived well.

My promo materials have more adventures than I do.

 

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance

eagerly awaiting Kansas City and Romantic Times Booklovers Convention!!

 

On The Internet – Barry Eisler on Konrath’s blog

Check it out! The comments are even more fun than the post…Jill

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/04/eisler-on-digital-denial.html

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance
(I’ll be signing books May 2nd at RT Booklovers Convention in Kansas City, MO.)

Romantic Times Booklovers Convention – Jill James

In a little over a week I’ll be in Kansas City, Missouri for the RT Convention. Check out my other blog, Baby Boomer Writer Chicks to see how I get out of my comfort zone.

http://babyboomerwriterchicks.wordpress.com

Jill James

The Lake Willowbee Series is only .99 cents today.

The Lake Willowbee Series is marked down for a one-day sale at Amazon, BN.com, and All Romance eBooks.

The Lake Willowbee Series contains 3 novellas; Divorce, Interrupted, Dare To Trust, and Defend My Love.

You can find it at www.bookiniste.com and awesomeromancenovels.blogspot.com who were kind enough to do ads for the sale.

Also you can follow both these great sites at http://www.facebook.com/bookiniste  and  http://www.facebook.com/awesomeromancenovels

The book can also be found at AMAZON   BARNES&NOBLE   ALLROMANCEEBOOKS

 

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance

 

It sucked by Jill James

It sucks to get a bad review. Writers hate them. We want to know where we went wrong. It’s really bad when all the review contains is ‘it sucked.’ Writers fear that review a lot. What can you do with ‘it sucked?’ Was it the plot? The characters? The flow or lack thereof? How do you fix suckiness?

I’ve always thought that it was a stupid review. How could a whole book suck? Couldn’t the reader find something redeeming in the story? Nice descriptions? A great character? A unique plotline?

Until this weekend. As a writer I won’t leave a really bad review for another writer’s book. But if I did, I would for the book I read this weekend. I won’t tell you whether it was an Indie or Traditionally published. I won’t tell if it was romance or another genre. I won’t tell if it was a male or female writer. It would serve no purpose to have those facts.

It isn’t that a reviewer doesn’t know what to say. If they could help the writer they would. It is that it is such a hot mess that they don’t know where to start. The characters are vapid, shallow, and self-centered and the author has portrayed those as their good points. The plot meanders through every current hot trend and every trope known to writers, and doesn’t use any of them well. Events happen, but the story doesn’t. The book goes nowhere and takes forever to get there.

Sometimes all you can say is “It sucked.”

Jill James

NOOK Press

Reblogged from Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors:

• 

If you logged into PubIt recently you may have gotten this pop up:

But what is it talking about? Nook Press is Barnes & Nobles new self publishing platform. To tell you a little about it, here is the email they sent out to users today:

Dear Publisher,

Over the past two and a half years, our working partnership has made PubIt!

Read more… 755 more words

Self-publishing is changing at the speed of light, I swear!

On The Internet – Dealing with bad reviews by J.A. Konrath

This is hilarious. Great tips to deal with bad reviews by J.A. Konrath

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/04/dealing-with-bad-reviews.html

If any of those don’t work for you–just don’t engage.

Jill James

Guest blogging — Jill James

Doing my co-blogging duties today at Baby Boomer Writer Chicks, talking about sick kids and grandmas.

http://babyboomerwriterchicks.wordpress.com

Jill James

On The Internet – Indies Unlimited

Great post at Indies Unlimited about self-publishing and the power of knowledge. Check it out! Jill

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http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/04/02/the-blog-nobody-wanted-to-publish-except-indies-unlimited/

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Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance
proud Indie author!

 

Opening Day 2013

I love baseball. I love Oakland A’s baseball. We always go to a few games a year and we plan our summer vacations to see how many ballparks we can hit on a trip. We’ve been to 18 or 19 so far. The old Yankees, the old Mets, the old Cardinals, and the old Tigers stadiums. To A’s and Giants here in the Bay Area. To Astros and Rangers in Texas. To Wrigley and Fenway. To Camden Yards and Dodgers. To Angels and Diamondbacks. To Spring Training in Phoenix. With retirement around the corner, some day we will have hit them all.

Go Oakland A’s!!!

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance
coming soon: Love in the Time of Zombies
Lover of Baseball and the Boys of Summer.

Book Review – Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell
The Order of the Sanguines Series

Book Description from Amazon.com

In his first-ever collaboration, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins combines his skill for cutting-edge science and historical mystery with award-winning novelist Rebecca Cantrell’s talent for haunting suspense and sensual atmosphere in a gothic tale about an ancient order and the hunt for a miraculous book known only as . . . The Blood Gospel

An earthquake in Masada, Israel, kills hundreds and reveals a tomb buried in the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators—Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist—are sent to explore the macabre discovery, a subterranean temple holding the crucified body of a mummified girl.

But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb’s sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christ’s own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. The enemy who hounds them is like no other, a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning.

From crumbling tombs to splendorous churches, Erin and her two companions must confront a past that traces back thousands of years, to a time when ungodly beasts hunted the dark spaces of the world, to a moment in history when Christ made a miraculous offer, a pact of salvation for those who were damned for eternity.

Here is a novel that is explosive in its revelation of a secret history. Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? And why does Catholicism insist that the consecration of wine during Mass results in its transformation to Christ’s own blood? The answers to all go back to a secret sect within the Vatican, one whispered as rumor but whose very existence was painted for all to see by Rembrandt himself, a shadowy order known simply as the Sanguines.

In the end, be warned: some books should never be found, never opened—until now.

********************

I got City of Screams for free and was introduced to Sgt. Jordan Stone. Then, in the back was a teaser of Blood Gospel. I could not get to the store fast enough to get the hardcover copy. I was hooked and Blood Gospel just reeled me in. Jordan Stone and Erin Granger are a great couple, the adventure is intense and death-defying, the term page-turner was invented for just such a book. I’m so thrilled this is the beginning of a series but sad that I’ll have to wait for the next installment. Mr. Rollins and Ms. Cantrell, please write faster!!!

Jill James

No Words Needed by Jill James

No words are needed. Just go and read and laugh your butt off…Jill

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/03/obsolete-anonymous.html

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance
coming soon: Love in the Time of Zombies

The Next Big Thing by Jill James

My lovely, best friend Lee Lopez coerced nicely asked me to participate in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. She answered the questions below on her blog, www.leelopez.com and then tagged me to do the same and then name names. Hahahahaha! I’ve already done this once so I will answer the questions but I take the 5th on naming names!

1. What is the working title of your book or story? Love in the Time of Zombies.

2. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book? Emily Gray found love and purpose the day the zombies came.

3. Where did the idea for the book come from? I’ve been on a zombie watching and reading kick for about 18 months now and I love The Walking Dead so I was thrilled to try my hand at a zombie urban fantasy.

4. What genre does your book fall under? urban fantasy and horror. If you want just zombies be warned; there is love and romance. If you want just romance be warned; there are ooey-gooey zombie parts.

5. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Alyssa Milano for Emily Gray. I like that she looks kickass and fragile at the same time. Alex O’Loughlin for Seth Ripley, the truck-driving poet. He is tough but sensitive.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? self-published.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? It is taking about 4 months.

8. What other books would you compare this story to, within your genre? Married with Zombies by Jesse Petersen.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? I’m loving all things zombie lately. I believe if you can find love in a world with flesh-eating zombies, renegade mobs, and a shortage of needed resources, how hard can it be to find true love in the real world?

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Although there is a big tale of the end of the world as we know it, at heart I’m a romance writer, so there will be a happily-ever-after.

If you would like to participate, take the 10 questions and post on your own blog. Come back and let us know where the blog post is so we can enjoy!!! 

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Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance
coming soon, Love in the Time of Zombies

Lucky in Love Blog Hop Winners

 

After over 4,000 comments our Lucky in Love Blog Hop has some grand prize winners!! These readers answered the questions on the posts and were chosen randomly using Random.org.

Congrats!

Grand Prize Winners:

Amazon Gift Card:

Shadow37

Swag Pack: Heather B.

The grand prize winners have already been notified and have their prizes or the prizes are on their way!

Sorry this took so long to post, unfortunately I was doing my civic duty and was on jury duty.

The winner of the Shamrock mug with chocolate hearts is:

parisfan_ca@yahoo.com

Congratulations!!