Here is a link to join my newsletter group. It's announcement only, which means the only e-mail you'll get from the group is the newsletter. http://groups.google.com/group/Jessie-Verino
I'll be giving away prizes with each edition to subscribers.
If you don't want to subscribe, my newsletter will be posted on my website, www.jessieverino.com, about a week or so after it goes to print on my group.
I expect my first edition to be available around April 20, 2006.
I'm very pleased and excited to announce that my Surge submission, Sensual Energy, was accepted by Phaze!
Here's a teaser:
His aura darkened, like a blush. “Sorry, I can’t answer that. Classified.” Holding out his hand, he smiled, took a step closer, and offered to help her stand. Their fingers barely touched, but the light contact sent sparks flying, and the shock sent erogenous heat radiating through her charged system and igniting her libido.
“Did you feel that?”
Hoping he hadn’t felt the same jolt of lust that still hummed in her veins, she answered with the obvious. “You mean that static electricity?”
“Not static electricity. Sensual electricity. I got the first shock, and it must have taken on the characteristics of my nervous system which was pretty revved from watching you straddle me.”
Sensual electricity. That was the perfect description—a high intensity aphrodisiac shock. And addictive. She already felt the need to touch him again, and before she could stop herself, took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him as if some kind of magnetic force pulled them together. A sudden burst of red and blue energy engulfed them. The arcs coalesced into a purple haze, enveloping them in the heat of a cocoon.
Eight manuscripts were selected for the Surge line, and I'm sure excerpts will start showing up today on the Phaze Forum. Be sure to stop by and check them out at www.phaze.com/forum.
Peace,
Jessie
It's the first day of Spring and Old Man Winter decided to shut the door in her face and refuse her entrance. Here in East Tennessee, a steady rain has fallen all day, and we may even experience some light flurries. The last time we had weather like this in late March/early April, it turned into a blizzard. Well, as the old saying goes, you can't do anything about the weather. And I refuse to complain. If nothing else, all the cold rain should lessen the pollen in the air, and I'll quit sneezing for a little while.
I'm still trying to decide which project to tackle, working in very short spurts on all of them to see if any story will reach out, grab me, and take off.
So far, that hasn't happened. I guess I'll keep plucking away at them and try to find my muse.
Peace,
Jessie
Good Monday Morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I gave a workshop at my local RWA meeting Saturday morning, slouched around Sunday, and am ready to start a new week-- and a new project.
Ah, herein lies the problem. Which new project do I start (or return to)? I have the second book in the Lord Night series mapped out, I have an idea for a companion piece to Spellbound, I have a few pages on a non-erotica sci-fantasy for Kensington, and about 70 pages of a romantic suspense. Too many stories, not enough time. Priorities must be established.
But, not until I have my second cup of coffee.
Peace,
Jessie
Whew! I made it just under the wire after chucking my first attempt and starting over. The title of my submission is Sensual Energy. It's about Amy & Jake who, through an accident with a defibrillator, get pulled into an alternate dimension and find themselves "charged" with sensual energy. To get back to their own dimension, they must discharge all the energy, and the only way to discharge it is to have sex. Definite sparks fly (literally) in this story.
I understand that Phaze had quite a few submissions, and I wish everyone who submitted luck.
Peace,
Jessie
To celebrate the March 14th release of Her Passion, Denise McDonald is having a savenger hunt. The winner, whose name will be drawn out of all the correct scavenger hunt answers and announced on Monday, March 13th, the day before the release, will win one free copy of Her Passion. Visit her blog at www.denisebelindamcdonald.blogspot.com to find out how to win.
I'm still writing on my Surge and hoping like heck to get it finished by the deadline. More on that later.
Peace,
Jessie
Never one to give up, I've started another submission for the Surge promotion at www.phaze.com. I've only managed to write about 1000 words so far, but hey, I have 7-8 more days.
Peace,
Jessie
I'm very excited to announce that Lord Night has been contracted by Samhain Publishing! You can read an excerpt at my website, www.jessieverino.com.
I'm still surging, but the story I originally went with completely fizzled out as a short story. It's now on the back burner, slowly simmering, and I'm sure it's going to be a great book -- someday. Meanwhile, I've started another story for the Surge contest, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, when they're not typing, that I can finish it in time.
Peace,
Jessie
I've gone from surge to fizzle.
Some writers feel they are sculpting a fine work of art from a lump of cold stone, and they work skillfully with hammer and chisel to produce their masterpiece. Me? I feel like I've got a jackhammer in my hands and shards of rock are flying everywhere. Bits and pieces of my story showering around me, dropping at my feet, and stirring up a cloud of dust that is choking the life out of my manuscript. I'm considering nixing the whole thing and moving to the next lump of cold stone.
Yeah, right. That's the problem. I can't let go. Even if I don't complete the story in time for the Surge promotion, I'll keep it, and keep hacking at it, until I sculpt something recognizable.
Peace,
Jessie
Literally. Phaze has a call for another set of themed Heatsheets for spring entitled Surge, and I'm trying to finish one before the March 10th deadline. For more info on entering, visit www.phaze.com.
Lord Night is finally finished, past the first edits, the beta readers, and is out the door! I've posted a new excerpt on my website, as well as a new excerpt of my Phaze release, Spellbound. Please stop by and check them out.
The weather is absolutely georgeous in East Tennessee today. I went out at lunch, and it's a beautiful 68 degrees with a slight wind. Considering we had snow last Saturday, I'll take the 68 any day in February.
Peace,
Jessie
Me! Yep, another year I survived. Thankful, I'm very thankful.
So far, it's been a wonderful day. I received flowers from someone very special, and he took me to lunch. It was very fairy tale.
And, I finished my self-editing on Lord Night (finally, only a few weeks after my self imposed deadline) and have sent it off to my beta readers. I was very excited about this story all the way through, and I loved the ending. There's a small snipped on my website now, from an earlier version, but I plan to have excerpts of Spellbound and Lord Night on my site this weekend when I update.
Next week, I'm playing listmaven on the Phaze e-mail loop. This is my first time hosting, so please drop by and give me some encouragement. And, since next Tuesday is Valentine's, I've got some romance tips and tricks to share. To join the e-mail loop, visit www.phaze.com and click the join box at the bottom. Every couple of weeks or so, another Phaze author will host for a week. This week, Leigh Ellwood, author of the Dareville series and Muse, is hosting. Please drop by and tell her hello.
On another note, Phaze has just announced its theme for the spring heatsheets -- Surge -- and it looks yummy! Please go to www.phaze.com and check out the guidelines. We'd love to see new authors submit, and it's a great way to get in the door! I love writing these short stories, and I've already got one started.
Phaze also has a new author blog with excerpts, reviews, and the ten things you've always wanted to know about the Phaze authors but were afraid to ask. Check it out at www.phazeromance.blogspot.com.
Peace,
Jessie
I took a small vacation during the craziness that is the holidays, but I'm back and ready to work!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that 2006 is a healthy and prosperous year for everyone.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Dungy family and their tragic loss. I hope they can find some measure of peace.
Well, the vacation stalled my writing. I had hoped to finish Lord Night by Christmas, but now it looks like another two weeks. I plan to have it submitted by February 1st. I've posted a small snippet on my web page to whet your appetite.
Then, I have a few other projects in the works: a companion piece to Spellbound, a short story I envisioned when the call came out for the Shivers line at Phaze, although it's morphed into something quite different, and enough ideas to keep me writing steadily through the year.
Please be sure to visit Literary Nymphs as they are featuring Phaze on their website. As part of the feature, you can vote for your favorite Phaze author. If you get a chance, please go by and vote. (even if it isn't for me) The link is http://www.geocities.com/literarynymphs/featured_publisher_Jan_06
Go Colts!
Peace,
Jessie
I just got the news this morning that Lord Night won the Spicy category in SMRW's Sweet, Spicy, Spooky & Suspense Contest! I'm very excited about the win since this was the first contest I entered with it since I reworked the plot. Briana St. James from Ellora's Cave was the final round judge.
I know the holidays are cram-packed for everyone, but if you have a few minutes, the Phaze authors will be having their monthly chat tonight from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., and another chat at Literary Nymphs on Wednesday night same time with lots of giveaways. To get to the Phaze chat, go to www.phaze.com and click the chat link. To get to the Literary Nymphs chat go to http://www.lhcw.net/Literary_Nymphs.
I'm gearing up for my first newsletter with the release of Spellbound and giving away some prizes for subscribers. If you want to subscribe to my newsletter, an announcement only Google group, visit http://groups.google.com/group/Jessie-Verino. Or, if you're not interested in the prizes, you'll be able to read it on my website, my blog, or the Phaze Forum about a week after it's published.
Peace,
Jessie
Coffee Time Romance.
That's where I'll be tonight from 9:00 - 11:00 p.m. with fellow Phaze authors, Alessia Brio, Selah March, Leigh Ellwood, and M. Barnette.
Join us for the chat and be eligible for some great giveaways! http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html
Peace,
Jessie
Stays at The Pink Banana.
Ha! Thought you were going to get all the juicy tidbits about the booksigning, did ya? Well, I've never been one to kiss and tell, but I can say that we had a great time and nobody went to jail.
No, really, nobody went to jail.
The Phaze authors who attended were absolutely wonderful ladies, and we had a blast with the very friendly staff of The Pink Banana (pun intended), and the myriad of customers who visited with us during the day. It was a very educational experience....
You may be hearing rumors about, oh all sorts of things, and I emphatically deny all of them now. (I'm really very shy and retiring, a true southern belle who swoons at the least little impropriety.)
Peace,
Jessie
Can you believe it, Phaze's booksigning & minicon is this Saturday at The Pink Banana in Virginia Beach, VA. A total of 8 authors will be there from noon to 6:00 to sign books. I've had the pleasure of reading these ladies' works, and they are awesome! And remember, books make great Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers to help heat up those cold nights. Plus, part of the proceeds from the sales will go to breast cancer research. If you're in the area, please stop in and say hello.
I have a question for the readers: Do really long sentences pull you out of a story? I'm asking because I just wrote one, 45 words. It's about 5 manuscript lines. Usually, I try to break them up into two or more sentences, but I can't seem to be able to here. To my eyes, it flows well and really conveys the mood of the scene. Of course, I have been known to be partial to my own words. ;)
So, tell me what you think when you run across these long sentences in your reading.
Peace,
Jessie
Has been humoring me.
I'm not a fast writer. Part of the problem is being able to write like the way I wrote before I knew how to write. That pesky free-writing problem I mentioned earlier. Another part of it is that I'm anal-retentive. If I can't think of the word I want right away, I simply cannot continue until I find the exact one. I trudge, and it isn't pretty.
But, this weekend, my fickle muse decided to grace me with her presence for more than five words. Of course, it's not been on the story I want to submit next. Oh, no. It's been on my romantic suspense. Now, I have gotten some work done on LN, but not near enough to be able to submit before the end of the year. Do you hear that, Muse? Lord Night. I want to finish the changes in Lord Night.
I'll be chatting at Phaze tonight. It takes place at 9:00 p.m. est. Go to www.phaze.com and click the link on the left above the In the Pink box. I've got to be honest here, I'm not sure how much actual chatting I'll be doing b/c the biggest game of the year is on tonight. That's right, the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots. Go, Peyton!!
Peace, (and good vibes to the Colts)
Jessie
If you read many author's blogs, then you probably know that November is NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month). For some, it's a way to get the creative juices flowing by completing a new 50,000 word novel in a month. For others (like moi) it starts out that way, but soon becomes an exercise in futility. Why? you ask. Because I get bogged down in the technical aspect of writing; you know, pesky little things like plotting, grammar, spelling, etc. I just can't seem to let myself free-write. Yet, I continue to try. (With all due respect to Yoda, I'm somewhere between "do" and "do not").
So, don't be surprised if some of your favorite authors aren't spending a lot of time in chats, or forums, or e-mails. They're probably agonizing over their NANOWRIMO word counts while trying to become better at their craft.
I chose two ongoing projects to concentrate on during my NANO writing craze, they are both at around 4000 words right now. I don't want to start a new project until at least one of them is finished. So, is it really cheating to start with a day old manuscript on November 1st? I don't think so. I think I'd be cheating myself, and my readers, more if I were to start something new with these two projects weighing me down.
On another note, Samhain Publishing opened its cyber doors today. Books won't be available until January 3rd, but stop by and take a look around. www.samhainpublishing.com
Peace,
Jessie
Well, I knew it would happen. I was sooo tired when I returned home from the Expo, and still so overwhelmed by all of the nice, wonderful people I had met over the weekend, that I forgot one group. The staff and volunteers of the Kingsport Times News couldn't have been any nicer or more accomodating. We were privileged to have some of them attend the dinner, and of course they worked extremely hard during the event to make everything as smooth as possible for us. Without them, the event would not have been possible.
The 2005 Women's Expo in Kingsport, TN was an absolutely wonderful weekend! I finally had the chance to meet Lora Leigh, and it was like getting together with an old friend. And of course, I did get together with an old friend, Sally Painter. Both of these ladies are great! I'm going to need some serious reading time to get snuggly with their books!
The other authors who attended were also great. Heather Graham is an angel. She purchased all the stock our bookseller had of Ghost Walk and gave them away for donations toward hurricane relief -- all while her own home was being threatened by hurricane Wilma. She was a first class example of what every writer should strive to be with their success.
I think they estimated that there were somewhere between 6000-7000 people at the Expo, and we got to meet a majority of them who stopped by our booth to check out the books and chat. It was such a pleasure to get to talk to so many readers about the books they like to read and their favorite authors, and to share the growth and evolution of the romance novel with many who hadn't read one on years. Several readers were surprised by the selection of genres within the romance market, such as the romantic suspense, comedies and erotica.
I shouldn't end this before I mention the other attending authors, they were such gracious guests and nice ladies. They deserve our appreciation. Rita Herron, Jennifer St. Giles, Debra Webb, Laura Marie Altom, Winnie Griggs, Robyn DeHart, Susan Crandall, Carolynn Carey, Donna Wright, Kate McKeever, Erin Katz & Trista Ann Michaels.
Last, but certainly not least, was all the hard work the Knoxville Area Romance Readers Group, headed by the fantastic Christy Haynes, put into this event. Thanks for everything you did for us this weekend.
Also, Waldenbooks were wonderful to work with and keep the bookselling end running smoothly for the authors.
It was a great weekend, and I'm already planning for and looking forward to next year.
Peace,
Jessie
