Jordan Summers

Man, that was fast. I wish my regular mail came as quickly as this package from Canada. I guess you guys know what I’ll be doing for the next several days. (wg)

Right now I’m trying to decide whether to go to my local RWA meeting tonight. I haven’t been in a very long time. I know that I’ll have a good time if I go. It’s just working up the energy to sit in traffic for an hour. Never fun.

I do have an odd-ball question for you guys. What book have you wanted to read, but it hasn’t been written yet?

I found out my edits from Harlequin are on their way. I should get them by the end of this week. Hopefully they won’t take me more than a week to finish, then I’ll be able to start on book two of the Dead World series for Tor. Yay!

Alison mentioned something about violence in romance on her blog. I do find it ironic that people get so upset about sex in books, but not about violence. I think that says more about our society than anything else. We’re so de-sensitized, when it comes to violence. That’s probably a bad thing, but I doubt there is any way to change it.

I’m the type of reader that isn’t bothered by much in a book. If there’s a lot of sex or a lot of violence, I don’t mind as long as it makes sense in the story. I know I’m not the typical romance reader. And that worries me because my first single title release, RED has a lot of graphic violence in it. I wrote the type of book that I like to read. I know that some of the choices I made in the book will lose me readers. It can’t be helped. If I tamed down the story, then the book would no longer be my vision.

I set out to write a different kind of romance. Whether I succeeded or not, remains to be seen. One thing I’ve learned in this business is that you have to make yourself happy first. Everything else is gravy.

Does graphic violence in books bother you? Do you have a line that you don’t want crossed? If so, what is it?

Fangs, Fur, and Fey is doing an open call for questions on everything you wanted to know about writing/querying/genres/plotting/agents/etc., but were afraid to ask. Go HERE for details, and ask away.

We just returned from seeing the Simpson’s movie. It was as I suspected, the Simpson’s on the big screen. Entertaining enough. Now we just need to see Harry Potter again.

Today, a friend and I spent the afternoon brainstorming titles. I got the bad news this morning that I’m not going to be able to keep Revenge of the Sky Goddess as my Blaze title. I admit I’m disappointed. I REALLY liked that title. Here’s hoping that they like one of the new ones that I sent.

Not much planned for the weekend. Tomorrow night we’re going to meet up with friends. Maybe have some fish and chips. Not sure if they’re coming over here or if we’re going to their house. Doesn’t much matter. It should be fun either way.

We’ve pretty much finished the taxes. We have two more forms to fill out. They’ll probably take thirty minutes max, then we’re done. YAY!!!

The whole upcoming release thing is starting to feel real now that we’ve discussed cover art. I’m really excited to see what Harlequin and Tor come up with for my books. It should be interesting. I’ll let you know when I have something confirmed.

I went out to coffee this morning with my neighbor. It was lovely chatting with her. She’s a funny lady. I cannot believe that she’ll be 81 next month. Believe me when I say that she does NOT look it. I came back home afterwards and was beat. I tried to nap, but it didn’t work out. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep in tomorrow. For the next few days dh and I have to work on taxes. Yes, it’s always a party around our house. *ggg* Speaking of dh, he’s begun counting down the minutes to the Simpson’s movie premiere. So you know where we’ll be on Friday. (wg) Saturday, I hope to talk him into seeing Skinwalkers with me. Like I’m going to miss a movie about werewolves. The site says August 10th, but the TV previews say this Friday. I don’t even mind that they’ve changed the definition of a Skinwalker. It’s werewolves. Nuff said. *g*

I’ve been distracted by life as of late. Haven’t really had much to say. Been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want, what will make me happy, web designs, buying homes, etc. I need to get it together quick before my books release next year. The problem is that right now I’m feeling overwhelmed by everything I need to do. How am I going to be able to buy all the promo ads, redesign the website, go to all the conferences without bankrupting myself? Not to mention keeping up a little thing called writing.*wg* Yeah, I don’t have the answers either.

It’s so important these days to help launch the first book in a series. With very few exceptions, it’s mandatory. I’m counting on the fact that my book is different than all the other paranormal romances out there right now. Will that be the case come next year? Will that be enough to make my book stand out? I don’t know, but I somehow doubt it.

On top of all that, I realized the other day that this is the first year that I don’t have a new release coming out. Atlantean’s Quest: Fall from Grace came out earlier this year, but it contains two of my older books along with a newer one, so it doesn’t really count. I could probably write something for an epub, but I’d have to have my agent negotiate the contract and there’s no guarantee it would be released this year. Not sure it’s worth the effort. Besides, I’d rather have my agent concentrating on my single titles. (Fingers and toes crossed that she likes the urban fantasy and can sell it.)

As you can see, I don’t really have any answers, only questions. Sigh. I’m currently waiting for Harlequin edits, which should be here any day now. I have a few tasks to do. Nothing big, but combined, they’ll probably take up most of the day. Tomorrow, I’m going to have coffee with my elderly neighbor. That should be fun. She’s a really neat lady. I actually like hanging out with older people. I find them interesting. They always have great stories. :)Well I’d better get to it. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. Ciao!


On a separate note, if you want the Dresden Files to return to the Sci-fi network, then you need to go here. I really want the show back. I liked it a lot.

No, I’m not thanking J.K. Rowling in the heading for her last book or the wonderful movies that accompany the series. We went to Barnes and Noble at midnight to pick up our copy of the last Harry Potter novel. It was wonderful seeing all the kids and adults dressed up like the characters–and then some. *g* The energy was palpable. It was an amazingly geeky moment where the only people who didn’t fit in were the ‘cool’ kids. One might be moved to say that it was magical.

I stood there staring in wonder at all the people around me laughing and playing with wands and their wizard hats. The were wrapped in scarves and wore various types of round glasses. Black, white, young, old, they’d all come to the bookstore to experience the moment together. I continued to watch, enjoying the energy, and suddenly I felt tears in my eyes. I wasn’t sad, but I did have a profound epiphany. For the first time, I realized the power of books. I mean I’ve always known what books have done for me throughout my life, the hours they’ve allowed me to escape, dream…but to see a book affecting people in such a powerful way reminded me why I’m a writer. I needed that reminder more than I realized. Something inside of me that had been dormant suddenly woke and looked around. I felt a rise in my spirit as my soul sat up and took notice.

Now I’m nowhere near as successful as J.K. Rowling. Probably never will be. Yet, if my work can make just one person feel the way the crowd in Barnes and Noble felt tonight, then I will have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. So for that I say, ‘Thank you, J.K. Rowling’.

This will probably only pertain to published authors. Have any of you approached other authors for a quote? If so, how did you do it? Did you email them? Did you create a form letter? I REALLY need to see the kind of letter that was sent out because I have no idea what it should look like. :/ Thanks!!!

Sorry I’ve been MIA. I received news that my Blaze, Revenge of the Sky Goddess will be released in March 2008. Yay! I have to get a bunch of paperwork filled out asap. With that in mind, I may be quiet tomorrow. I need to get this done. Thanks for understanding.

Speaking of Harlequin, I saw this announcement on Cindi Myers newsletter. Good opportunity for all the writers out there. Why do I think that this is a good opportunity? Because winning the Blaze contest a few years back is what got me my book deal.

Harlequin Super Romance is sponsoring a Conflict of Interest writing contest. They’re looking for stories with “heightened emotional conflict that raises the stakes — and the sexual tension — for your hero and heroine.” Submit the scene or moment that best illustrates the conflict between the hero and heroine, along with the first chapter and a synopsis of no more than ten pages. The contest is open to both published and unpublished writers. Prizes include a critique by a Superromance editor, a one-year’s subscription to Harlequin Superromance (72 books) and the possibility of publication. Deadline to enter is October 31, 2007. For contest rules, see http://www.superromancecontest.com.

I’ve been looking at all the photos around Blogoland. It seems like everyone had a good time this past weekend in Dallas. Glad to hear it. I still stand by my thoughts on the changes that RWA made. I think in the end it’ll be for the best.

I’m taking notes today. Or should I say, still taking notes for the next Tor book/s. I found that when I take a ton of notes before I start writing, the book will flow much faster and easier once I do get started. My notes are short. They tend to be a paragraph or less. Just long enough for me to determine what needs to happen. Once I finish with them all, I write them onto index cards and arrange them. It may not work for everyone, but it’s been extremely helpful to me.

I want to send birthday wishes out to my ex, G. We dated for close to seven years and are still friends. I hope that you have a very happy day and many, many more to come. Best wishes.