Interview with Catherine West

Check over on the Ponderers' site for an interview with my wonderful critique partner, Cathy West!

Blog Tour Begins

My first interview was posted today. Check it out at http://romancewritersonthejourney.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/debut-author-jenness-walker-returns/ and leave a comment to win something!

And The Winner Is...

Okay, tonight I'm drawing one name from my list of newletter subscribers. Next time I'll do two. But for now, the lucky person to get a sneak-peak at Double Take is...

(drumroll)

(can you feel the tension?)

(are you getting excited yet?)

(does it feel like you're watching one of those elimination reality shows?)

(could it be YOUR email address I pick out of the proverbial hat?)

(does anyone else hate the word proverbial?)

(no, I do not have adhd.)

(what was I talking about?)

Thanks for reading my blog. Have a great week!

Okay, just kidding. The winner is: jmp4l4cios!!!! Congrats. You just won a free book! I'll be emailing you for your mailing address.

Everyone else, I have another drawing coming up soon, so stay tuned and get your friends to subscribe. :-)

My New Best Friend

Come to find out, I've been wrong about when the Steeple Hill book club members receive their books. Instead of getting Double Take one month ahead of my book hitting the shelves, it appears they get it a full TWO months in advance. So Wednesday I was surprised to find an email waiting for me from a reader. (Sign up for my newsletter if you want to know what she said. And if you want to know how to win a free book. Yes. It's called bribery.) It was a nice note and such a great encouragement. Someone other than my mom likes my book! :-)

Then I met my new best friend. lol. Her online name is Jessicue, and she read Double Take last night in one sitting, then reviewed it on a forum on my publisher's website. Here's what she said:

This is a new and first time author for me. I started reading it right after the Steeple Hill Chat Thursday night. My first thoughts were wow a book based on another book. The main Character Cole sees the book he is reading playout right in front of his eyes. WOW! The heroine in this book looks just like the girl on the cover of the book Cole is reading.Rather trippy I would say. The screenplay that was acted out in this book was unbelievably suspenseful. I loved the fact that I couldn't find the Villan. I give this book a 10!!!! Kenzie lived a complete nightmare in this book....
I can very easily say I can see this book turning into a movie. Yes that is right I said I could see this LIS book turning into a movie. This was an awesome read! If I didn't subscribe to LIS monthly* Jenness Walker would have just moved to my must buy author list.
Jessiecue

Thanks so much, Jessiecue. You made my week.

Now...I guess I should work on writing something other than a blog for people to read, eh? :-)

*This is the Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense book club, which automatically sends you all of the monthly releases from that line.

THE BOOK!!!

I got a little something in the mail today: A nice box full of books. That's something that'll always make me happy, but these books happen to have my name on them. Yup. My author copies of Double Take arrived today. I brought the box inside and looked at it, set it down, looked at it some more. But my husband was in a meeting, so he couldn't come home to open them with me. So I checked my email. Gathered some things for errands. Then picked up the box, too, along with the camera. I was good--I waited until Jason could be there before I opened it; I was bad--I crashed his meeting to do it. :-)


His mom and dad were there, and his mom brought out her massive video camera to record the event. Then we went over to my parents' house and did the whole blinded-by-camera-flashes thing over again.
So I did get to open it with my husband. Even though he doesn't even read fiction, he's been amazingly supportive through all my writing stuff--sending me to conferences, allowing me to work only a few days a week even though we could use the money, and promising to actually read my stuff once it comes out in its final version in an actual book. So...he pulled one out a brand new copy of Double Take, looked at it and said, "Oh no. Now I have to read it..."

Okay, he didn't actually say the Oh, no part. But THAT'S when we'll really need the camera--when my husband picks up this romantic suspense novel and reads it from beginning to end. :-)

So...I have my books. Forty-eight copies, to be exact. A little over half of these will go to a list of friends and family members who have been very supportive with my writing--a list that was so hard to narrow down. The other books will go toward promotional giveaways online in October.

Thanks for sharing in the excitement! :-)

Happy New Year

The new year is here already, and, as always, that's hard for me to believe. I celebrated with some friends--eating lots of food and talking and watching an old home video my best friend and I made. Scary stuff, let me tell ya.

And speaking of scary stuff...Earlier in the evening, I was feeding a friend's fish. (I think the fishies did survive. They're tough dudes.) Anyway, here I am in this dark house at night after watching a stupid, somewhat scary movie. In that scary movie, if you heard thump...thump...thump...someone was probably about to die. So there I am, dark house, all alone, and I hear thump...thump...thump...As I reach for my cell phone to call my husband, I realize it's only fireworks...But I called him anyway. Just in case.

So that was my New Year's Eve. Since then, I've been cleaning my house. Yes. A shocker. I actually dusted the blinds. The Christmas stuff is put away. A few more things on my to-do list, and then the house will be ready...to breed dust-bunnies once again as I sink into the couch and stare at my computer screen, telling myself only one more game of solitaire before I dive into the revisions I have to do.

Because yes, 2009 will be a year of changes to me. I mean, I have all my lists of goals and resolutions and plans to lose weight, exercise more, write more, save more, buy a decent car, pray for a bigger house, use all my stationary, etc. But something else will be significantly different.

I'm expecting.

Hey, I had to say it. I've been asked so many times...

Anyway, yes, I'm expecting. I'm due in October. But my child will be small and rectangular and...for sale. lol.

So the first change in my life is an official deadline. Don't think it'll be a problem--I was never late on school assignments unless I'd forgotten about it. Somehow I don't see me forgetting this deadline.

But there are other things I am a bit worried about. Like, say, marketing. And building a loyal readership. Which means almost all of my New Year's Resolutions can be summed up in one...To become more disciplined. I've prayed for that to happen, and it seems kind of like praying for patience. Here's something Oswald Chambers said: God will not discipline us, we must discipline ourselves.

So...here goes nothing...

Merry Christmas To Me (And You, Too)

Last year I came up with my own version of "All I Want for Christmas." My version replaced two front teeth with a two-book deal. Well, that deal still hasn't happened...but I did sell ONE!

Last week I got the call from my agent. Deja Vu, which placed first in the ACFW Genesis contest a few months ago, was picked up by Steeple Hill. Deja Vu is a romantic suspense and will be put out (possibly in October of next year) under Steeple Hill's Love Inspired Suspense line.

Emily Rodmell will be my editor, and I'm looking forward to working with her. She's offered a lot of feedback and encouragement over the last couple of years. It'll be a privilege to have her as an editor.

So...now the party begins! Cheesecake Factory, here I come. And then I'll have to get to work. I'm already learning things about the business side of the writing life. And wondering why I submitted two pages of things I'd do to try to sell my book. Two pages? Oh boy... :-)

I wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who has helped me get this far. Thank you for the advice, the encouragement, the feedback, the hugs and smiles and prayers. I couldn't have done this without you. Merry Christmas!!!