PREORDER How to Unbreakup on Kindle for .99

My book HOW TO UNBREAKUP is .99 pre-order priced on @AmazonKindle! #YA #Romance
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RY204ZS?ie=UTF8&at=aw-iphone-pc-us-20&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links …

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HUGE CONGRATS to my Crit Partner Penny Randall!!!

OMG, so this message is a long time coming. But last week my LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY crit partner and fellow YAFFer Penny Randall signed with literary agent Jamie Cowen of The Ampersand Agency 

I can’t even tell you guys how happy I am for Penny. She’s a MAGNIFICIENT writer and storyteller. I can’t wait for everyone to read her stories, she’s absolutely brilliant. I’ve had the pleasure of being one of Pen’s crit partners for over 4 years now and knew this moment was coming. And I tell you all now that she’s a writer you’re going to want to keep on your radar! Her stories are so awesome and you’ll LOVE her characters!

LOVE YOU PENNY!!! And am SO SO SO SO SO proud of you!

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My Writing Process

I’ve been asked by a friend and fellow author Vanessa Barger to join her in a My Writing Process Blog Tour. As a part of it, I’ll feature two authors who will in turn do their own blog about the writing process.

 

1. What am I working on? Currently I’m writing the Legend of Me bk 2. It’s a fantasy w/horror and romance elements.
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? I try to have my own little twist on my characters’ reality—which I think every writer tries to do. I also love to add humorous situations, no matter what type of book I’m writing.
3. Why do I write what I do? Because I love it. I love creating worlds and characters. To give readers at least somewhat of an escape from reality.
4. How does your writing process work? Phew, this is a fun one to answer (LOL). Actually every story I write gets a notebook. In that notebook I do character sketches (like what they look like/personality traits/where they live/who their friends are/enemies etc). I also keep track of setting information, outline info, the back cover blurb, playlists, and any notes having to do with that particular story. I keep these notebooks throughout the whole writing process (from start to publication). That way if I have to look back at something, like let’s say a certain character’s eye color from book 1, I have it right there.

I generally do most of my writing during my lunch hours at work (except for when I’m on deadline—then I’ll use evenings and weekends). But yeah, that’s pretty much my writing process…

 Next week, two of my crit partners will be on board to tell you about their writing processes:

Kit Forbeshas been a lover of books, history, and all things paranormal for as long as she can remember. Characters are always the focus of her stories. Being true to them can sometimes mean unpredicatable turns of plot but that’s half the fun of writing (and reading).

Expect the unexpected is the best way she can think to sum things up.

Traci Kenworth has been enthralled with storytelling since she was old enough to string sentences together. She didn’t just play with her toys, she wrote scripts for them. In high school, teachers often thought the assignments she wrote she copied off the book jackets. She tends to write on the dark side as fiction goes. Ghouls, flesh-eaters, ghosts, and soul-stealers among others. All those spooky books she read influenced her. She’s created a world that spans from Ohio to Tennessee in which a culture comes together to fight evil, to make a stand when others look the other way. Everyone is important from young to old and pulls their own weight to keep things safe. She likes the idea of their unity, of the mixture of their heritages, of fighting back evil. They are strong, proud, savage when called for, and determined to win.

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Back from deadline hell/book release updates/upcoming blog tour/contests

 

Phew, well, I’m back from “deadline hell”. LOL. Had to get a book cranked out, which is due in April. And yes, I wrote that thing in like a month. Yes, I know, that’s TOTALLY crazy. HA! It’ll be my 2^nd ya contemporary I’ve written, and it is a follow-up to (not a sequel) The Romeo Club, which will now release on April 8^th, 2014. Why yes, I have been on a contemporary kick lately. But seriously, the book was a TON of fun to write. Hope my editor loves it as much as I do.

 

Also wanted to catch up with everyone because I’ve gotten a few emails in regards to The Legend of Me, which was originally supposed to have been released by now. I know the last time I did an update on it, we’d been looking at possibly January 2014 (which has obviously come and gone). Well, right now, the release date is kind of a “floater” meaning, I don’t have one yet. The thing is, I write for various publishers, and with my contracts, I can’t have books release too close together from different publishers. In other words, I can’t have a book release from publisher A today, then in a week, have a book release from Publisher B because then those titles would be “competing”.  And because the Legend of Me release date got moved, it was too close to a book I had coming out with another publisher. So, it is now floating (in space—LOL—just kidding), and my publisher will let me know probably about 1-2 months in advance of when it’s going to release. But I promise you, Legend will eventually release.

 

I will hopefully, soon, have more AWESOME news to share. News I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks now. Just waiting for an email to come through giving me the go ahead to share. Oh, and pretty soon (May, I think), I’ll start seeing Arcs (advance reader copies) for The Winter People! SQUEEE….how exciting is that? I have one book signing scheduled so far in September  (you can see my news page for that info).

 

Otherwise, I’ve been staying mondo busy. I’ll be getting back to writing The Legend of Me bk 2, and also getting ready to jump into The Winter People bk 3 soon. So the crazy writing schedule will continue.

 

Oh, and before I forget (because I’m good at that—hehehe), I will be posting my book blog tour info next week for The Romeo Club (squee). During the blog tour and also the week of my release, I’ll have some contests running for people to enter to win “Nerd Packs” for The Romeo Club! I’ll also be giving away signed bookmarks etc. So stay tuned for that.

 

Hope you’re surviving the winter. It’s been rough. Hoping Spring will “arrive” soon (LOL). ((HUGS))…talk to you all again soon!!

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A new year has begun, welcome 2014!

Hi my lovelies! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve dropped in. Been hanging out with my family, working on writing stuff (handed in The Winter People bk 2 to editor over Christmas vacation), and just got back from an out of town conference at work.

So this year, I’ll have 3-4 books releasing (OMG—seriously). LOL. It’ll be a busy year that’s for sure. But I’m excited and have been waiting for 2014 for a while now. Definitely can’t wait for everyone to read my stories.

This year, I also have a couple crit partners and agent mates with books coming out too. And I’m WAY excited for them as well. I’ll definitely be having them all stop in to share their releases with us.

This upcoming week my daughter has basketball tryouts. I know she’s way nervous (fingers crossed that she makes the team). She made it last year, but you never want to get over confident that it’ll happen again.

In other news, I might attend ALA in Las Vegas this year to sign The Winter People, still trying to get some last minute details worked out though. We normally take a 2 week family vacation in the summer and we’d talked about maybe switching the time frame of our vacation to correlate with ALA. But again, still have to figure out a few more details before I’ll say it’s set in stone.

Winter has been crazy up here. The kidlets missed a few days of school due to snow/temps/roads etc. So they got an extended vacation from school.

I hope everyone is doing great and that we’re ready for a FABULOUS year! ((HUGS))…

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Welcome Jennifer Fischetto YA author of I Spy Dead People

I want to welcome Jennifer Fischetto to my blog today. She was nice enough to let me interview her! You guys HAVE to check out her YA book I Spy Dead People, which just came out this month (December 2013)! It’s SO adorable!!! Here’s my interview with Jenn and the cover of her awesomely FAB book:

Tell us a little something about your book and what genre it is?

 I SPY DEAD PEOPLE is a young adult, paranormal mystery, about fifteen-year-old Piper Grimaldi. Her dad is a true crime novelist, and in order to research his novels, they must travel to the different locations where the crimes occurred. So Piper spends every school year in a different town and state. In the beginning of the book, they’ve moved to Hollow Ridge, MA, where Piper finds the dead body of teen soap star, Linzy Quinn. Suddenly Linzy’s ghost is in Piper’s face 24/7, and Piper makes it her mission to figure out who killed Linzy.

 

What character(s) do you like the most and why?

 I adore Piper. She’s smart, cute, determined to get what she wants, and while she can get tunnel vision with her issues, she loves her Dad and friends. Plus, the only thing she’s scared of are axe wielding murderers wearing hockey masks. She’d be awesome to go on an adventure or in a haunted house with.

 

What are your favorite books? And is there any book in particular that made you want to become a writer? 

When I was little, I loved the fairytales, Snow White and Cinderella, and they made me wish to create my own stories, but I was so young that I’m not sure if I really understood what being an author meant. I’m a huge fan of YA books. It’s what I mostly read nowadays. I love contemporaries, horror, mysteries, and anything that can make me laugh.

 

What’s the one thing you can’t live without while writing?

  I can’t say there’s one thing, but I usually have a routine–not always. I like to start writing as soon as I get up, usually with a cup of coffee, and then I work for several hours. I like it quiet. Then around 11 am, I need noise, and I turn on music. It’s as if it’s suddenly too quiet, and I can’t stand it any longer.

 

Reality or Fantasy? 

Reality. I’d love to write a serious, gritty YA–one that deals with deep, emotional issues, but that’s not my voice. So I try to be as realistic as possible. You know, with ghosts and other supernatural tidbits. 😉 

 

Your favorite snack? 

Ice cream. Most flavors. Love it! I like mine with stuff in it, like cookies, brownies, nuts, ripples. The only things I don’t like in it are chocolate chips, because they get too hard, and cookie dough. Not a fan of the raw stuff.

 

Lastly, what’s your favorite season? 

Definitely fall. I live in MA, so the leaves fall and change colors. It’s beautiful. Plus I’m a cooler weather girl. I can’t stand summer, so fall is a treat for me. Back to school (which means it’s quieter), headed toward the holidays (which is my favorite time of year), and comforter nights. I love snuggling. 🙂

 

You can purchase I SPY DEAD PEOPLE at:

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Dead-People-Disturbia-Diaries-ebook/dp/B00G707QM2/?tag=jennfischetto-20

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-spy-dead-people-jennifer-fischetto/1117531638?ean=2940149089284

Paperback: https://www.createspace.com/4502042

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/i-spy-dead-people

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/i-spy-dead-people/id757148542?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

 

 

Website: http://jenniferfischetto.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennfischetto

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JennFischetto

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6421179.Jennifer_Fischetto

 

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Guess who has some more book deal news???? SQUEEEE The Romeo Club sold!!!

Soooo, I can finally share my AWESOMELY FAB news!!! My lovely agent Jenn Mishler ( at Literary Counsel), sold my YA contemporary romance entitled The Romeo Club to Georgia McBride at Swoon Romance, in a two book deal. The Romeo Club will have a May 2014 release date.

So for those of you keeping track (GAH–this is crazy insane), I’ll now have The Legend of Me releasing  December 2013, The Romeo Club releasing May 2014, and The Winter People releasing June 2014. HOLY BOOKS!!!

I’m super excited for everyone to read The Romeo Club. It was such a FUN write. And this is the book I got the title idea for from a spam email (which was actually advertising er…adult things).  My daughter’s excited for everyone to read about C.C. (one of the nerdy guys from the book who’s super flipping hilarious) and I can’t wait for you all to meet him and the rest of the cast of TRC, I hope  you’ll love this story as much as me.

I have to thank my FAB crit group (YAFF), you ladies are awesome and help to make every story WAY better than it started out. I love you ladies so much!!! And of course, my FREAKING AWESOME agent, Jenn Mishler, who lets me talk about crazy stuff that has nothing to do with writing (stalker cats who can open doors–hehehe). Lastly, have to give a giant shout out to my teen daughter Erin (who is beautiful, funny, and honest) for reading through my first draft of The Romeo Club and encouraging me to hurry up and finish so she could see what happened next. Between her and my sister nagging me to write this, I was able to crank it out in a short time and have fun writing something outside my comfort zone (contemporary YA Romance).

This has been a blessed year on the writing front. This is the 2nd book deal Agent Jenn has brokered for me this year. She’s a ROCK STAR who believes in my stories and champions them! MWAH!!!! Will post the official PM announcement in my News Tab when it’s posted!!!!

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And I can announce my GOOD NEWS! 3 book deal…

 

I’m SO happy to announce that my agent Jenn Mishler at Literary Counsel sold my YA Fantasy The Legend of Me in a three book deal to Liz Pelletier at Entangled Teen through their digiTeen imprint, with a tentative publication date of December 2013. I’ve been sitting on this news since February and it was KILLING ME (LOL). But at least now I can share it with the world.

That means I’m gonna have at least 6 books coming out in the next few years (between The Winter People series and now The Legend of Me series). That’s a lot of writing/books. Of those 6 books, I’ve got three already written, but 3 more to go (ah).

It’s so awesome to think that a few years ago, I was struggling to get an agent, and now I have book deals to blog about. I’m just so humbled and happy and overwhelmed. And I have to thank my lovely crit group, writing friends, and my lovely agent who’ve championed my stories and kept me from totally freaking out (LOL). Can’t wait for everyone to read these two series. I hope you’ll love the characters, stories, and settings as much as I do.

As soon as the official PM comes out with the info about the book, I’ll post it here.

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HUGE CONGRATS to my crit partner Kit Forbes (aka Barb Sheridan)

OMG, you guys, I’m SO SO SO happy to announce that my crit partner Kit Forbes (Barb Sheridan) has a book deal w/Month9Books!!! SQUEEEE. So happy for her. So stop in and tell Kit  and her agent Emily Keyes congrats and see all the details:  http://kitforbes.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/its-official/

Her book is flipping awesome and I can’t wait for everyone else to read it. And I’m calling dibs on Mark before everyone else (LOL).

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Bigger Pants Sizes: AKA Life as a writer, full time day jobber, and kid wrangler

So sometimes this writing gig is kind of tough. There is so much juggling we have to do. For me, I work full time as well and have over an hour commute one way (on good weather days)—almost 2 hrs on bad weather days. I also have VERY active kids who play basketball, soccer, orchestra, band, Odyssey of the Mind, and Honor Society. Which means, most days I’m jetting right from work to whatever event is going on.

This of course leaves me very little time in my day. So I generally use my lunch hours to write and on occasion a few hours on the weekend. There are times when I get home from work and whatever practice/game etc and grab the quickest thing there is to cook—which accounts for the bigger pants size (LOL). I’m always like, hey, I can try to squeeze in exercise time. But then I’m so exhausted, I just imagine what it’d be like to walk on the treadmill or grab that fab work out video that kicks my butt to the point of wanting to fall over.  I imagine what it’d be like to have extra time to go for a walk or jog or do something “active.” But my chair is just too comfortable to leave.

And then you throw in those “publishing” world stresses: deadlines, waiting to hear back on projects, waiting to hear back on contracts, trying to apply crits to one book, while trying to write another. Soon, your head is spinning. You get this “love/hate” relationship with your email. Checking it like every 5 minutes because you just know today will be the day you get your news. Then you’re disappointed when it doesn’t come. Then you start to wonder if someone changed their mind or if maybe the story had major suckage. The doubt creeps in then you grab some chocolate because it’s a cure-all (LOL). You post your deepest fears to your crit group and they talk you back up and you’re excited and then the cycle starts all over again.

So yeah the writing part is the easy part. Getting those words down, creating this wonderful and FABULOUS story. Hard parts? The waiting. The finding time to exercise. The finding time to sleep. The bigger pants size. But it’s totally worth it. You fight for it because you want it so bad. It’s what you’re made to do.

So embrace your bigger pants and forge onward. Because, as I’ve learned all the bumps in the road make the journey that much more awesome when you finally hold your book in hand and say “Wow, this is mine. People are gonna read it. SQUEEEE.”

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