Happy February!

All right! It’s FRIDAY!!!

First before I get into this blog, I want to give some space to a couple Backspacers that have February releases: Christa Allan’s Walking on Broken Glass came out on February 1st and Carla Buckley’s The Things That Keep Us Here comes out on the 9th along with Lisa McMann’s Gone!

So Valentine’s Day is coming up in a little over a week and I haven’t the foggiest idea of what to do for my family. Maybe we’ll just go out to dinner as a family or something special like that for a change instead of doling out boxes of chocolate.

I have a ton of stuff to do tonight so I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

What is the most romantic Valentine’s Day excursion you’ve encountered?

The journey . . .

Another Friday – another blog. This time I asked my friends and fan base over at Facebook what they’d like me to talk about this evening. I got some great ideas but the first post intrigued me. For the others that piped in, I’ll tackle your ideas in subsequent Friday posts.

Anna Walls piped in with this gem:
As a relatively new author, I’m always intrigued with how my peers made that journey. Was it planned? When did you start planning if it was? That sort of thing. What did it feel like to see your own very first book in published form?

Was this planned – no not in the least, at least not the path my life took when I got married almost twenty one years ago. In college, I had dreams of being a writer, producer and director. My major was in Communications with a concentration in radio and television broadcasting. I loved it. I mean LOVED that world. When I got out of school, I went to work at a local television station in the capacity of a film editor. What that meant in the practical world is I reformatted movies to fit into the specific timeslots and took out scenes that were not suitable for broadcast television. I also helped out in the news room at times and on occasion wrote and directed kids news spots. It was a fun job, but it paid a pittance, so when the opportunity came to switch gears into the world of finance.

In all the years I worked and raised a family, writing was always in the back of my mind, but time just wasn’t there. But even during that time, my imagination stored all the ideas away into a “this might be interesting” file cabinet in my head.

The catalyst for change was in the beginning of 2007, my daughter asked the million dollar question.

If you could do anything, what would it be?

That was an easy question to answer. Write a book and get it published. And with that, my husband and kids gave the go ahead. For close to two years I wrote almost non-stop – every evening, every weekend, every vacation and I have eight manuscripts to show for that crazy brain dump. Since then I’ve written dozens of short stories, but my focus has been on refining those manuscripts.

I made the classic rookie mistakes with query letters, from the first batch which was really more like a typical business letter introducing myself and the stack of manuscripts I had written to the naivety of being sucked into those less than reputable publishers – luckily I got wise before I peeled off any cash.

The turn of everything happened when I met Lauren Baratz-Logsted on MySpace and she turned me onto Backspace (www.bksp.org) and the forum there. Talk about eye opening and humbling. I had a lot to learn and the folks there were exceptional at sharing knowledge and pushing me to write better, cleaner, more compelling prose.

That is when I started planning. I set up my own website, my own blog, branched out from MySpace to the other networking sites, and then started refining my pitch. I met the editor of Allegory and volunteered to be an associate editor on the E-zine and landed my first publishing contract myself. So now it’s a balance of branding my name, writing, editing and learning more about the craft. While I’d like to have an agent and get my more mainstream books in the hands of the big markets, I can’t complain.

As for actually holding my first book in my hand, it’s an amazing, surreal, joyous, unbelievable feeling that I can’t begin to describe.

Now all I need to do is find balance between my writing life and my family life. Once I find that, I’ll be golden.

NFL Championship Games and other weird blogging thoughts.

Hey all.

I was chatting with a co-worker today and asked him – what should I write about in my blog tonight? Of course he, being a he, said write about the AFC and NFC championships and make a prediction. I smiled and raised an eyebrow.

I have to admit, I had to look up who the teams were this year. After all, the Patriots didn’t make it – therefore my interest dropped to almost nil – just a backdrop to my busy writing life – the dull drone of the announcers, the frantic cheers from the crowd, yeah – I don’t think I even looked up after seeing the first half of the Dallas game at my folks. Even so, I like a good match and am hoping the games this weekend aren’t runaway wins like most of the games last weekend. It’s been a while since we had a nail-biter for Super Bowl.

I looked at the team records and made my picks based on their seasons and players on the injury lists and all that jazz.

AFC – Jets versus Colts. My pick for this match is the Colts. They have a better record overall – but I’m thinking this game might be a close one.

NFC – Vikings versus Saints – I’m betting on Brett to bring the Viking victory home.

And my picks are the polar opposites of my friend’s picks, so we’ll see who’s grinning on Monday morning.

I know this doesn’t have a hoot to do with the writing world, but I do enjoy watching a good football match.

So weigh in – who’s going to the Super Bowl?

A moment to reflect on writer’s conferences . . .

Another week, another blog and this time I decided to focus on the Backspace Conference considering there are two weeks left to get the discounted registration rate.

I had an absolute blast at the conference and learned a great deal about the inner workings of the publishing world. In addition to meeting a whole host of writers, both published and those waiting for their big break, I had my first opportunity to meet agents face to face and hear what works for them and what doesn’t first hand.

Between the workshops and the chance to read the first pages of my book to an agent panel, it was an experience of a lifetime. And the bonus: getting to finally meet the friends that I had cultivated online face to face. That was a hoot!

I also understand that seven writers who attended last year obtained representation from the agents that were at the conference.

And if you’re interested in more information about Backspace or the confernce – here are the websites:

http://www.backspacewritersconference.com/ (Backspace Conference)
http://www.bksp.org. (Backspace, the Writer’s Place)

Well enough about me, tell me about your favorite conference!

First week of January brings some wonderful surprises…

This week has been quite an experience starting with the receipt of my Survival Games ARCs. Wow, let me tell you cutting the tape off the box and pulling out that first copy was surreal. It’s been a dream of mine since high school, and I had the pleasure of sharing it with my folks who were at the house to get my son off the bus like they do every Monday afternoon. I actually made my father tear up because that first book I pulled from the box, I gave to him as an early birthday gift. You have to understand the relationship I have with my dad, he is and always has been my hero. The man has a heart of gold and an equally sharp sense of humor that has defined my outlook on life, so it just seemed right for him to receive that first copy.

And here I thought my week couldn’t get any better than that but then Monday night I received the preliminary artwork for Mind Games from a stellar cover artist down under. Working with Scott Dawson was a pleasure and after a few minor adjustments in the image eye color, we had the cover ironed out and submitted. I posted that cover over on Facebook and I’m telling you, it is beyond beautiful.

The rest of the week was tied up with work – my day job overriding a lot of my time and sucking the life out of me so I had nothing left at night and even wading through the Allegory submissions was slower than usual. Well, I guess that’s what you get for taking close to two weeks off from work. LOL. I did get an invite to the Winslow House Bookstock event in Mass on October 2nd and set up a couple guest blog events close to the release dates of both books, so it wasn’t a total loss.

The week ended on an up-note. I was hired as a content editor and my story Grayson House hit in the top ten over at the P&E readers poll which thrilled me to no end. I’d love to see this story get within the top 5, so if you get a chance, please take a second to vote for me before the polls close on the fourteenth. Here’s the link and I would be eternally grateful for your vote! http://www.critters.org/predpoll/shortstoryh.shtml

Well, that about does it for me for this week faithful fans. Until we meet again!

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year. 

My new year resolution is to pay a little more attention to my blogs.  I’ve neglected them for too long.  So prepare for a weekly rant from yours truly.  

I received wonderful news a couple days ago, Mind Games, the second book in the Games trilogy has been picked up by eXcessica for release on November 29, 2010.  A little over four months after Survival Games goes live.  I’ll have to work on the last of the series which is appropriately titled End Game and hopefully that can get on the docket for early 2011. 

I also have a short story that is in the staff showcase over at Allegory in the January issue.  Armageddon.  So jump on over to www.allegoryezine.com and check out all the fabulous stories that made it into this edition.  There were some stellar submissions and I had the joy of helping Ty Drago narrow down the maybe list to the final eight.  It was a joy to read all the maybe’s but a bear to try and pare that list down for both the best and a balance of fantasy, science fiction and horror. 

Anyhow, submission period starts again in February, so we all get a breather to focus on our own writing.  Once I finish polishing End Game, I’ll start my focus back on the FBI series and start hunting for representation of that series.  I already have 5 books (that need work) and a partial 6th in that series and I’ve been away from them for too long.  It’s time to get Special Agent Steve Williams back into hot water. 

My wish for all the writers out there is for a prosperous and productive New Year!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve morning and I’m all done with the shopping and wrapping, and have cookie mix ready to go for when my sister and her family arrive. Now I’m just relaxing and alternating between editing and watching television with the kids.

As I sit here and reflect on 2009, I figured I’d do one last blog to recap our year. I still can’t believe 2009 is almost over!

Let’s see, this year was a very busy year starting with celebrating New Years in New Hampshire, a trip to the Carolina’s in February, a business conference in Orlando in March, a writer’s conference in New York City in May, a wedding in Nashville on July 4th, and summer vacations in Maine. Beyond the traveling, we also had school dances, spring sports, recitals, and rondoris, your basic mayhem with the kid’s schedule.

My son won an award in his Jukido Rondori, taking the first place trophy in his division. He also jumped up to a yellow 2 belt and continues to do well. He also pitched his first game in little league this past spring. The boy is a natural and the next sport he wants to tackle is football. So in 2010 it looks like he’ll get that wish.

My daughter graduated from middle school and chose to attend a high school for the arts. She is now dancing 4-6 hours a day along with her academics and has limited her extra curricular dancing schedule to only one class, but it’s a competing Hip Hop class and I’m told they may be competing in New York City in February.

This summer we had the pleasure of housing two college girls from Missouri who were working for the Southwestern Company doing the most hideous job I can think of – door to door sales. They fast became members of the family and when they left, it was like a blanket of solemn silence descended on our home. We truly miss them.

Both my husband and I continue to enjoy our day jobs. He is still playing in the APA (American Pool Association) at his brother’s bar every Tuesday and whooping my butt every time we play at home. Maine was relaxing as always, unfortunately this year the fish weren’t biting and he came home empty handed most of the time, but he did reel in a couple striper and we got some stellar fish chowder courtesy of our neighbors at the campground. He was able to get a few golf excursions in between the rain storms and we got a rare treat at the end of the season, a clear warm day and we joined our neighbors on a kayak venture up the York River.

As for me, I’ve had a busy year between work, writing and a new assistant editorship for Allegory e-zine as well as the general taxi service on the home front. But by far the biggest news of the season is the publishing contract I landed for Survival Games.

Survival Games – an erotic thriller – will be released in both e-book and paperback on July 19, 2010 and can be picked up through my publisher eXcessica.com or from Amazon.com. You can now pre-order the Kindle version on Amazon!

Well that about wraps up the recap. I hope this finds you safe and warm during this holiday season.

Here’s to a Merry Christmas and a safe, joyous and prosperous 2010!

JETaylor on Writing Survival Games . . .

Now that Survival Games is going to see the light of day, I can share some of the more amusing stories relating to explaining the plot to folks like my family and my co-workers.

This was the first book I wrote when my family gave me carte-blanc to go for it and I’ll tell you – after 20 years of not writing, the words sailed out. It took me less than a month to get the story on paper – of course after that it took two and a half years to refine it to what will be published – but the original book spilled out like a levy crumbling under a flood. And when I was done, I looked at what I created and had a ‘holy shit’ moment.

The book is dark and twisted, intense and graphic and I didn’t realize I had that level of darkness in me – and the first draft of this book was much harsher than what will be in print in July – but regardless, I figured I’d better get over the WASP-bred embarrassment of creating something so controversial and steamy.

So I asked my father to read it.

Yes, my father.

Well, I’m sure I shocked the hell out of him but he didn’t say much regarding how he felt about his little girl writing erotica or such a horrific tale. The one thing he did say is that it had a lot of sex – but he amended that by saying the subject matter warranted it and considering the plot line, he thought it was appropriate and not gratuitous. Overall he liked the story.

So after the slightly awkward conversation, he asked if I was done with the second book yet. He wanted to read that too – wanted to know what happened to the characters from the first book and as any writer knows, this is the best feeling in the world.

Ok – so I tested the waters with a co-worker and I’ll tell you, the looks she gave me after she started the book – it was all I could do not to laugh every time I saw her. And then one day she asked a priceless question – she asked if I could teach her to dance because my main character in the book knows how to dance.

I did laugh then, because I have no rhythm what-so-ever. Two left feet and then some. And she thought there was reality based in the book. The only shred of “me” in the book is the fact that my favorite color is described. That’s where reality ends; the rest is just a figment of my imagination and a reflection of my nightmares.

I said, “Oh honey, the book is FICTION – I can’t dance.”

Needless to say she was both embarrassed and relieved.

The next slightly awkward moment was right after I announced to my co-workers that I got a publishing contract. It was one of those not so politically correct moments. Most of my co-workers know I’ve got an unpublished FBI agent series, but most of them didn’t know about the erotica, so well, you can imagine the raised eyebrows.

My boss had announced to a group – did you know JET got a publishing contract? And of course, someone asked what type of book.

“It’s an Erotic Thriller.”

“Oh neurotic thriller? Like something by Woody Allen?”

I laughed and said “No – EROTIC thriller, like something by Jackie Collins.” Bad example – but all it was all I could think of at the moment and while I turned about five shades of red – my co-worker tripled that. To lighten the shocked silence I added. “But I’m the one who’s neurotic.”

So after tackling my parents and my co-workers, I feel confident I’ll be able to speak coherently and not turn sixty shades of red when I participate in a panel called “You write your mother with that pen?” at the Backspace Conference in New York City in May about incorporating sex scenes into your novels.

Anybody else have some fun stories about explaining their novels to friends and family? I’d love to hear them.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

Hello! It’s snowing in CT and I figured I’ve neglected my blog long enough. The stew is on the stove simmering and the Christmas shopping is done, so I’ve got no more excuses.

November was a mad rush of a month – my first Nano and I didn’t hit my goal. In the past 2 years I’ve done 4 successful Writing Marathons through Backspace hitting 50k or more in a month each pass but not this year.

This year it went by the wayside because I just didn’t have the story fully baked in my head. I could sit here and blame it on the day job or sifting through the Allegory submissions or even on the edits for Survival Games or the holidays even, but every one of those reasons is just a lame excuse.

My brain was more centered on the things I need to do in the Games series, and the fixes I want to make in the FBI series. I do have 3 partial stories started and waiting for the timer to go off, but until I clean up the existing ones, I really can’t seem to focus.

I did have some success with short stories though. I’ve written one for an eXcessica anthology and am editing my way through the second as we speak. I also have a third one due by year end and I don’t know if I’ll make that deadline with all the other items on my plate – but I’m sure going to try!

In the meantime, the release date for Survival Games was moved from May to July – just in time for the summer heat.

Well, the big fluffy flakes are falling and the fire is cranked in the wood stove, so it’s time to get back to the creative side of writing.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy holiday!

Yipee! I’ve got a publishing contract!

I’m excited to say the least.

eXcessica publishing has picked up Survival Games for publication. The release date is set for May 17, 2010. Both print and ebook will be offered through Amazon.com and the ebook version will also be avaialbe online at eXcessica as well as other venues such as Fictionwise, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks, BookStrand, Smashwords, A1 Adult Ebooks, Fiction4All, My Bookstore and More, and Mobi/Amazon/Kindle.

Now that I’ve done the celebratory dance, filled out forms, signed a contract and given blurbs and excerpts to the publisher, I’m wondering what’s next? What kind of ride am I in for? Excitement, hesitation, fear are all now working my bones now that this is real.

So, I’ve got to start planning like a fiend now that another step in the great publishing quest has been attained. I’m talking an all out sales blitz!

WooHoo – you up for the ride?