Tag Archives: jennifer eaton

It’s time to set goals for 2015 (If you haven’t already)

Ah, yes, it’s that magical time of year. Resolutions are everywhere… but rather than resolutions, I like to set goals. That way I can look back on the previous year and say, “Yeah, that was a good year.”

FireInTheWoods.v6-Book1-FinalWell, last year ended up getting blown out of the water (in a good way) by getting the multi-book deal.  That sort of set all my previous writing goals way way way onto the back burner. And for this year, those old 2014 goals are getting pushed back even further.  Maybe even to the point of hanging them on the wall to get them completely out of the way (but still in sight, in case I want to grab one. You know what I mean?)

As usual, I need to look at what I “have to do.”  This year, per my contract, I “have to:”

  1. Edit and sign off on the final version of ASHES IN THE SKY
  2. Market ASHES IN THE SKY for tentative September 2015 release.
  3. Finish “Book Three” and submit it to my publisher by March 1
  4. Complete the outline of optioned “Book Four” and submit to my publisher for approval by June 1.
  5. Edit and sign off on final “Book three”
  6. Market “Book Three” for Tentative late 2015 release

That’s a lot to do, but I have some other goals in mind.

Book three is half way done. I need to submit it in March, so that gives me nine whole months to play with something new while I’m not editing. Woohoo!

So here are my remaining goals for 2015:

7. Write a new book in a new world (Complete, polish, and send out to query)

8A. Write first draft of a second new book in a new world, OR

8B. Write the outlined “Book Four” of FIRE IN THE WOODS if my publisher takes up the option.

So, if you’ve been following along my insanity train for the past few years, it’s going to be another fun ride.

What is in store for you this year?

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JenniFer_EatonF

Lesson Fourteen from a Manuscript Red Line: Keeping inside the Point Of View, Part 2

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can also look under “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

Lesson Thirteen talked about making sure we only see what the Point of View character can see.  We also have to worry about accidentally getting into the heads of other characters as we describe what the POV character is seeing.

It seems to happen most for me when I describe what another character in the scene is doing.

“Mike studied the sign on the wall.”

Is Mike the POV character? No?  Then how does the POV character know that he is studying it? He may just be looking in that direction but thinking of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Right?

Hold up your right hand and say:  forever more I will call this…

The publisher red-lined something very similar to this, and said that you need to show what the characters are doing by showing what the POV character sees them doing.  You cannot get into their heads, or assume what they are doing.

You might be able to fix something like this with “Mike stood in front of the sign on the wall, and scratched his head.”  This would work especially well if there was a little dialog afterwards that made it obvious he looked at it.  REMEMBER NOT TO SAY HE LOOKS AT IT.  (See my earlier post on “Write without Looking”)

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15 second trailers. Don’t laugh. They are worse than a query.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on Instagram. It’s been great talking books with readers.  Tons of fun.

But of course, I’m also there to mention my book once in a while. Mostly this is with pictures of my book, or with snappy memes.

But I’ve also started enjoying 15 second or less mini-trailers.

Hey, you thought querying was bad!

This has been a huge challenge, and I have to admit… a little bit of fun.

Think it over… how can you entice a reader to check out your book in 15 seconds or less. It’s flash fiction, with videos!

For the next few weeks I’ll be showing these videos here on Fridays. I hope you enjoy them!

Here’s number one. This was really an experiment to see how it was received. I took for granted most people have at least heard of my book (Because they followed me)

What do you think?

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JenniFer_EatonF

My resolution is bigger than your resolution

It’s that time of year where everyone is making resolutions. In most cases, I don’t so much make resolutions, as much as I make plans.  One of these “plans” though, smacked me in the face.

In 2013, I read 21 books. Read-hold up PKO_0016876Oddly enough, without even trying, I also read 21 books in 2014. So when Goodreads popped up and asked me how many books I wanted to read in 2015, I answered with “21”.

But great googly-moogley! Then it showed me what everyone else’s reading goals were. Holy cow!  100 book in a year? SERIOUSLY?

Scrolling through, I realized that my goal was the lowest of anyone’s on my friend’s lists. It left me feeling lacking… but only for a second.

I could have typed in 100 books, but that isn’t realistic. Not for me. I’m not one of those people who can find the time to sit down and finish an entire book on a Saturday afternoon. It’s just not in the cards for me. Reading a book in about ten days is realistic to me. So why didn’t I enter 35 books?

Well, I normally read about 10% of a book in a day, but I don’t always have time to read every day.

I don’t want reading to be a chore, or to end up one of those people grabbing for novellas just so I can add another “finished” to my list. I’d rather read slowly, relax, and enjoy. I don’t ever want reading to be a competition.

Education Concept. Read Books Sign.What I do want to do this year is read more top-selling, five-star young adult novels. I want to see what the trends are. I want to make sure that I am keeping up with the styles that are making people scream for more.

Here are 10 of the books I have already purchased to read this year. I’ll leave the other ten open for new releases or new books that get buzz going about them.

The 5th Wave

Origins

Doon

A thousand Pieces of You

Alienated

White Hot Kiss

Snow Like Ashes

Lifer (Not a best-seller yet, but I hear it’s good)

These Broken Stars

Gravity

What’s on your bucket list to read this year?

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JenniFer_EatonF

Lesson Thirteen from a Manuscript Red Line: Keeping inside the Point Of View, Part 1

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can look under “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

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I used to slip out of my POV all the time, and now I am trying to really get my head inside the POV character so I am very aware of them and their surroundings.   I used to write partially omniscient, and I could see through walls and such.  Silly me.

This publisher noted that when you are in one character’s POV, make sure the narration does not tell something that the POV character cannot see.  For instance, if your character looks out the balcony window, thinks it’s a warm wonderful night, and then goes to bed.  Don’t Pre-tell with a three sentence closing scene of velociraptors swarming just on the other side of the trees, quarreling about who will get to eat your main character.

Great dramatic effect? Yes, and they use it in movies all the time, but the POV character can’t see it, so it’s a bit strange and out of place, right?

Hmmm.__Wait_a_minute_00000

Now, if they heard something in the bushes, a growl, something unsettling… that would work fine. Then let them go off to nighty-night.

The same goes for a passage like “What Jessica didn’t know, was that someone was stealing her car while she put on her makeup.”  If we are in Jessica’s POV, this doesn’t quite work.  We need to wait and follow Jessica out the door to find out WITH HER that her car was stolen.

Make sense?

 

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Second Trailer for FIRE IN THE WOODS, From David’s Point Of View

Since I seem to be on this Friday Vlog kick, I figured I’d show off another piece of “exclusive content” I created for one of the vlog appearances.  This is a teaser trailer told from David’s point of view.

And in case you have not seen the actual trailer for FIRE IN THE WOODS, here it is.  This one I am super proud of. I think it really shows off Jess’s voice, and what the book is all about. Enjoy!

Looking back at 2014. Wow, what a year for me!

It was quite a year for me writing wise. I came into 2014 having queried FIRE IN THE WOODS for quite some time, and I had pretty much decided that the dystopian I was finishing up would probably be my debut novel. I had three more publishers on my bucket list to send FIRE to, and then I was going to tuck it away for a rainy day.

Fire-in-the-Woods-Cover 3DSo the big news, or course, is signing the three book deal for FIRE IN THE WOODS.

Plus, with the help of my publisher, Month9Books, I edited and marketed and did two complete blog tours for FIRE IN THE WOODS, bringing FIRE to #6 on Amazon’s ALIENS best sellers list in the UK, and #45 on Amazon’s YA/Aliens best sellers list in the USA.

Whew! Part of me still has trouble digesting that.

But this is what I also accomplished:

  1. Finished a nearly-final draft of a dystopian (That will need to be re-edited)
  2. Started a dragon shifter novel (That I needed to set aside because I got a contract)
  3. Finished the first draft of a middle grade contemporary
  4. Finished the first draft of an adult contemporary sci-fi murder mystery
  5. Completed and submitted ASHES IN THE SKY (Book 2 of FIRE IN THE WOODS)
  6. Completed 28,000 words of the first draft of book three of FIRE IN THE WOODS
  7. Outlined two complete contemporary sci-fi YA romances
  8. Conceptualized two additional contemporary science fiction novels
  9. Conceptualized (in infancy) a YA demon novel

That’s a lot. Probably the most I’ve ever done in one year writing wise.

It’s been quite a roller coaster. Here’s to entering into 2015 with the same great luck and support I had in 2014. It was a wonderful year.

What was your greatest accomplishment of 2014?

JenniFer_EatonF

Lesson Twelve from the Gold Mine Manuscript Red Line: How Are Your Characters Feeling Today?

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can also click “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

PKO_0008514 SICK GUY“Magellan walked back from the library slowly, feeling exhausted from studying all day.”

Sorry, Gellan.  You’re not allowed to “feel exhausted”.  I have totally failed you as a mother author.  (Don’t you feel like their parents sometimes?)  Anyway… .

According to this publisher, Feeling, Felt, and Feel are very telling words.  They are right up there with “look” for setting off the “no-no” meter.  Instead of using these words, we should be showing our readers how our characters feel instead.  Give us actions that show us that he’s tired without telling us that he is.

Errghhh. Okay…

“Magellan dragged his feet as he walked home from the library.  He could barely keep his eyes open after studying all day.”

Okay, they are forgiven.  Point taken.  The second one is better.  The word count does suffer a little in this example, but I could probably have done better if I gave it a little more thought. (They might even consider “barely keep his eyes open” as tell. too.  I could have probably done better there, as well.)

PKO_0001507 tired pink robeAnother bad telly sentence that I would have been guilty of before seeing the Gold Mine Manuscript was something like:

“Magellan was exhausted.  He dragged his feet all the way home”
There is no reason to say “Magellan was exhausted” and SHOW that he is exhausted right afterwards.  Just delete that first part, and stick with the showing part and it will sound much better.

This tip, will definitely help make your manuscript stand out from the others.  I still have to stop myself from doing this.  For some reason, I naturally “tell” First, and then I show.  I don’t know why.  I’m starting to catch myself, but sometimes it’s tough.

Hope this one helps.

If you don’t get it, please drop me a line, and I will discuss in more depth. I think this is a really good point that a lot of people seem to be stumbling with (me included).  I saw it a lot critiquing a recent 250 word contest.  Set yourself apart by trying to avoid it.

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Happy Boxing Day! A special vlog about family

Boxing day is all about family — A day to be together and be thankful for each other and what you have.

While I spend the day with my own family, I thought I’d share a special memory.

Remember, even our furry family members have family. Here is a special Christmas memory for my little girl. She got to spend Christmas with her Mom. They were thrilled to see each other. And no, they did not forget. They absolutely remembered each other, and were thrilled (as you can see) Mine is the silver pup with the pink bows in her hair.

Enjoy, and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  Give someone you love a hug today.

Looking for a feel-good Christmas romance? Paper Wishes by Jennifer M. Eaton is only $.99

Merry Christmas

Looking for a nice Christmas romance to snuggle up with by the fire?  My contemporary Novella Paper Wishes is just $.99 everywhere ebooks are sold.

Enjoy, and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Paper Wishes FinalPart one: Jill has no idea what she wants for Christmas, but when it looks like her best friend Jack is going to get exactly what he asks for, Jill makes a Christmas wish that will change both of their lives forever.

Part two: Confronted with a choice of keeping Jack or holding on to her values, Jill makes a choice that leaves her alone on New Year’s Eve.  But the magic of Christmas is still alive, and one final wish will decide their future, one way or another.

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Buy link for Amazon

Buy link for Barnes and Noble

Merry Christmas

_JenniFer____EatoN