Tag Archives: Make Believe Anthology

So, What goes through the mind of a headline author?

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 10 comments

Yep, I am still hopping through the Bioshere. Whew!  What a crazy ride!

Hey!  Don’t forget to sign up on the Rafflecopter to win a copy of Make Believe of For the Love of Christmas (Your choice)

We’ve got another review today, so if you would be so kind as to Hop on over to Machenwood Chronicals and let me know what they said?

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In the meantime …  Welcome J.A.Belfield, author of Escort to Insanity from the Make Believe Anthology.

So, JA.  We all had to come up with a story about the picture of the Lady In Red.  I came up with Last Winter Red … and you came up with Escort to Insanity.  What the heck is up with that? 

I guess I’m a little backward to everyone else in the anthology because I was asked to write a short for a winter anthology before the picture prompt had even been chosen. Which meant my story was almost fully formulated before the image even went live. Fortunately, with a little playing about and tweaking, I was able to adapt the tale to reflect the beautiful imagery of the picture, the chill winteriness, the redness from the cloak.

Ohhhhh… well that makes a little more sence.  So how did this madness come about then?

Well, I think I read a story somewhere about a dating agency where the couple who went out turned out to be destined soul mates, yada, yada, yada, and I thought, but what if a couple went on a pre-arranged date and everything went wrong instead? What would happen then? And so the opening scene with Cole’s best friend popped into my head. I jotted it down as fast as possible, and everything spun out of control from there. Though, I will admit, I did reach about halfway through and decide to alter the path of the story slightly. After deleting a couple K words, Escort to Insanity is what I ended up with.

Deleting? [shiver] I Hate that word. Thanks so much for stopping by today, J.A.!

Everyone make sure to check out Escort to Insanity, snuggled up right behind Last Winter Red in the Make Believe ANthology (but you don’t have to read them in that order.  I won’t mind) 🙂

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Oh!  And don’t forget the review!  Hop on over to Machenwood Chronicals and let me know what they said!

Thanks so much, J.A. Belfield!

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Make BelieveFor The Love Of Christmas CoverWhy all the hullabaloo? Well, it’s to promote my two new releases “Make Believe” and “For the Love of Christmas”

That’s why!

And don’t forget to click on “Enter to Win” for a chance to win your choice of the two titles! Yay!

Oh, I almost forgot… A few random commentors along the tour path will win their choice of anthologies, too. So be sure to hop on over and say “Hi”

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Visit my Anthology buddies!  They are celebrating too!

Jenny Keller Ford

J.A. Belfield

Kelly Said

Lynda R. Young

Terri Rochenski

Janelle Lee

Dani-Lyn Alexander

 JenniFer_EatonF

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Why might you find me running around wearing sunglasses and a black suit?

Posted on December 3, 2012 | 15 comments

Wouldn’t I look great in a sexy tailored black suit? Why would I need one?

It’s all part of the Official Release of “Make Believe”!

That’s right, baby.

You heard it.

I am officially a PUBLISHED AUTHOR.

So, do you want to hear more about that suit? Hop on over to Julie Reece’s blog to find out about my need for a fancy get-up as she hosts day-one of the Make Believe Blog tour.

Julie Reece’s blog

Don’t leave me hanging! Be sure to stop by.

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Road to Publication #25 – One week to Release Day – And the Reviews are in…. Deep Breath

Posted on November 26, 2012 | 26 comments

I think I’ve mentioned that people have contacted me to say that they liked the story.  Yeah, that gave me the grins and giggles.  But the actual reviews have now started to pop up on Goodreads. (Amazon is not live until the actual release date.)

When I heard, my hands shook.  “Nope, not going to look.”  I was a wreck.  Then I got a nudge from a friend telling me that I should definitely look.

Here are the reviews of “Make Believe” so far on Goodreads… cutting out just the parts that mention Last Winter Red. Links are included in case you want to see the full review.

Brook – 4 Stars http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/459716333

Last Winter Red was probably my most favorite story. I am really into dystopian literature and this definitely had that underlying theme. I loved the world building that went on. And I liked the separation of the “classes” in the two different worlds, which is something you see in all dystopian novels. I could definitely see this story sprouting into a book or even a series. And I loved the twist to this story, it was one I was not expecting!

Jill – 4 Stars  http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/462048340

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton … was an interesting story. It reminded me a little of Brave New World. We have to civilizations living apart from each other both thinking the other is diseased and living a strange lifestyle. This follows a girl that is moving from one civilization to the other and the discoveries she makes about her life and herself. This is one of the top stories in the anthology.

Danielle Villano – 4 Stars http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/460337884

This was such a great premise for a story! “Last Winter Red” had a significant dystopian feel that was not present in the other pieces, and so it stands out in my mind. While Emily is a bit whiny as a main character, her personality is completely justified: her upbringing has her believing that she is entitled to a certain way of living, and a certain caliber of privilege. As she leaves the boundaries of the Red and enters the world of the Gray, she is faced with the fact that she is “different,” and not cut out for the hardened Gray lifestyle. The twist in this story was very well-done and I enjoyed it immensely.

Rachael Morgan – 4 Stars http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/442896275

MAKE BELIEVE is a magical collection of short stories. Just the right size for someone like me who falls into bed too late every night and doesn’t have much time (or energy) left to read! It was a pleasure to escape into so many diverse fantasy worlds, some completely different from our own, others familiar but with a dash of the paranormal. All the stories were well-written, but I think my favourite was LAST WINTER RED, followed by BIRTHRIGHT. Those two captured my attention the most, and kept me clicking through the pages when I should have been switching off my light and sleeping! Overall, an enjoyable escape from the real world. Fantasy-lovers should definitely check this one out.

Jen – At Random – 5 Stars http://lratrandom.blogspot.com/2012/11/make-believe-anthology.html      (Loved it overall and didn’t comments on any story specifically.

Aimee Lane – 5 Stars http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/327147561

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton 4/5
Another self-sacrifice story, but one mixed in with selfishness (on some people’s parts) and a totally different world in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting. I liked that this was totally different than the rest with its settings and purpose.

Sans – 5 Stars on Amazon

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton
This one is a kind of dystopian tale in that Terra is surrounded by a wall to keep out the “diseased”, the people inside are known as Reds. Reds are supposed to marry and have many children to increase the population as they all seem to die young. Outside the people are known as Grays, or vermin. The two are not supposed to mix ever. There’s a “red” doctor trying to help the grays and give them health care as they seem to be living to older ages and have age related ailments that need medical help. Emily is a Red besotted with the doctor who ferrys the doctor supplies from Terra to Outside. Emily’s husband died before they have children so she now needs to find a new husband and begin having children to contribute in Terra and be considered a good valued Red.
I enjoyed this as the dystopian genre is one of my favourites. I would also love
to read more about these characters too. Maybe this short story could be the
start of a series?  So I would give this story a 5/5 I want more!

Wow.  Ya gotta love that!  But I’m a realist, so I will now stop reading them again until someone nudges me.

This really helps me moving forward, though.  Maybe I should step out of my comfort zone more often!

How about you… have you had success with something that was far different from anything you’ve done before?

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Road to Publication #22: You liked it? You really liked it?

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 26 comments

I just had one of those “no way” experiences. Silly, I know… but this is what happened.

The review ARCs went out, and as I mentioned a few weeks ago, people are contacting J.Taylor publishing to ask to do interviews/ book reviews/ or otherwise host the website.

Someone contacted them and asked to do an excerpt from the Anthology. The story that they asked for was Last Winter Red.

How exciting is that? Most of the people are asking for multiple authors, but this person was interested in my story in particular.

What a rush…

Now I have to go and do an intelligent sounding interview with her.

Hmmmm… intelligent? How about moderately sane and able to spell. That I can do.

Errr.. hmmm. The spelling might be a problem too… [**GACK**]

Have you ever gotten all giggly about a reaction when someone read your story?

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Did anyone save Jennifer? Who will take home a free copy of the Make Believe Anthology?

Posted on October 6, 2012 | 6 comments

Oh, Okay.  I will let you go.

Whew!  Thanks.  That gag was really starting to hurt!

I’m sad

Hey!  I’m the one who’s been tied to a chair for three days.  What’s your problem?

They like you.

Huh?

They like you.  Did you see?  All those people came to beg and plead… and now I can’t explode anything.

Awe, it’s okay Little Blue Lady.

No it’s not!  No one likes me!

Umm, well, maybe if you didn’t always try to blow everything up…

No one likes me.

Okay, well, whatever… so I guess I need to send someone a copy of the make Believe Anthology, huh?  So, who was it?  Who pleaded the best to set me free?

They all did.

All?  Umm, I don’t think that will make my publisher very happy.  You need to pick just one.

That’s my problem.  I liked a lot of them.  I liked them enough to let you go.

Awe!  Super thanks to everyone who helped set me free!

Okay, let’s take a look at this.  Who was the most creative?

Oh look!  Vanessa Chapman wrote a poem.  That’s creative.

Yeah, it reminded me of a song.  Shall I hum it?

Ummm… No.    Hmmm.  You talked to Wendy Reid for a while.

AAAA!  Wendy Reid scared me!

Ha!  Really?  You should read her book if you want to see scary. [Jennifer Shivers]

I think she likes you

Huh?

Nevermind

Ummm… okay, so… What’s this with Heylookawriterfellow?

Mike Allegra?  He’s an abomination!  He lured me to his website, and made me feel welcome… but it was all a distraction while he tried to set you free! And I was going to buy his book!  He’s a children’s author, you know… and he has this great post on…  Wait!  No!  Ban Mike Allegra for tricking me! Heylookawriterfellow is not my friend!

Well, I kind of liked Mike’s distraction… it stopped you from setting off firecrackers under my chair for a while.

And what’s with Widdershins?!

Oh!  Widdershins is a fellow alien.  I must make a note to friend Widdershins on Facebook.

Ha!  What else do we have here?

Richard Leonard tried to convince me that there was something wrong with Mars.  Pfft.  I checked.  Sandy and red as usual.  It’s fine.

And Jmmcdowell threatened to dump nuclear waste on Mars… Like it wouldn’t explode on the way… silly archaeologist.

Oh!  I have an idea!  To be totally fair, l let’s take our top picks of the most creative and let people vote, okay?

Oh!  Then can we vote on how I take over the world?

Umm, yeah, I guess, but for now let’s see who wins the contest, okay?

So, here we go!  The finalists are below.  Please vote for your favorite.  The highest number of votes gets a copy of the Make Believe Anthology and can do their very own review of my debut story “Last Winter Red”.  So let’s get voting for your favorite!

And then will you finally give me an interview?

Ugh… Here we go again.

.

Please vote for your favorite in the form below! You can see their full entry in the comments from October 3rd’s post

In review…

Vanessa Chapman – Poem “Ode to the Little Blue Lady”

Wendy Reid – Scared the pants off the Little Blue Lady (Maybe I should rephrase that)

Heylookawriterfellow (Mike Allegra) – Kept Blue Lady occupied on his own site to give Jennifer time to escape.

Widdershins – Fellow alien, keeps humans as pets

Richard Leonard – Planet Mars Is Dead.  There’s nothing to go back to.

JMMcdowell – Dump Earth’s garbage, politicians, has-been entertainers on Mars. Ticking time bomb.

(By the way, convincing all your followers to vote for you is completely and utterly not fair … but I have no possible way of proving you did it, so… umm… never mind… I shouldn’t have even said anything.)

Voting closes tonight (Saturday, October 6th around 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time)

Good luck to the finalists, and thanks again everyone for convincing the Little Blue Lady to set me free!

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Road to Publication #17: Getting the ARCs for final approval

Posted on September 24, 2012 | 31 comments

Why is my blood pressure up today?  The Advance Release Copies (ARCs) for the Make Believe Anthology have been released.

They arrived while I was at work, and unable to download them.  I see a flurry of “Yay” and “high-fives” from a few of the other authors during the day as they review their own, and see the other author’s work for the first time.

They seemed excited.

I’m not excited.

Excited is definitely not the word for it.  I think nauseous covers it about right.

I think part of my problem is that the first 500 words were recently released.  I found a sentence in the wrong place.  My heart sank.  I contacted the publisher, and they said to go ahead and fix it for the first page release, and to make sure I fix it when I got the ARCs. Whew!

But now I’m worried about what else I might find.  Maybe I’m overreacting.  I hope I’m overreacting.

Okay.  Enough stalling.  I’m going to download it to my Kindle now.

Okay.  Wow.  So cool to see it for the first time.  I need to fix any errors in mine in the next two weeks and return it.  So… sorry ladies, but I will read yours later.

I flip to my story, and my gaze hovers over the cover page.  Yep.  That’s my name.  Feels good.

I flip to the next page.  Something’s wrong.  Have you ever stared at something, not even read it, and known something was not right?

The formatting.  Oh, crud.  The Font in my title pages is important.  It gives an emotional impact… a “feel” of being outside.  They replaced it with a blocky, emotionless ruggedly bold text.

The first “first 500” that was sent to me to post on-line had the correct font.  Hopefully this will be a simple fix.

Before I really get down to reading, I receive an email with the instructions on how to notify them of changes, and what kind of changes will be accepted.  One phrase stood out.

“We won’t guarantee all your final changes will be made, but now is the last possible time for you to make them.”

Now my blood pressure is pumping because I never had the chance to “okay” a final completed version before it went to ARCs.  I have no idea if the changes that I discussed with the editor “piece meal” were inserted correctly BEFORE it was sent to copy editing.

Okay… Deep breath.  You have two weeks.  Just get it done so they have time to fix any errors you may find.

Oxygen anyone?  Nah—skip the oxygen.  I need chocolate.  And lots of it.

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Road to Publication #16: Tchotchkes… Huh? Is that a typo? What the heck is my publisher sending me?

Posted on September 17, 2012 | 39 comments

Okay, let’s just get this part out of the way… since it’s an obvious question:

tchotch·ke/ˈCHäCHkə/Noun: 1.A small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional; a trinket.

(Typically pronounced “CHACH-kee”)

Honestly, I had no idea what this was either.  I even had to look up the pronunciation.  I did see a mention of this odd word in my marketing plan, but I didn’t want to sound stupid and ask back then.

When the email arrived from my publisher, I stared at it.  Should I open it?  Is it Spam?  Was their email hijacked by some foreign based worm?  Honestly, I was worried.

But you know what?  Today is my Birthday, and it ended up being a big fat fun present!  Just For me!

Well, not really.  All the Make Believe authors got it, but it’s still like a present, dernit!

Inside was the artwork for a whole bunch of neat marketing pieces.

1.       Email signature tag

2.       Bookmarks

3.       Posters

4.       Trading cards/postcards

5.       Desktop art (for your computer)

Oh!  Oodles of good stuff.  This is the front of the bookmark.  Pretty cool, huh?

This is all so neat!  I can’t wait to figure out how to slap that signature-thingy into my email.  Good fun!

Oh, you know what?  Yesterday was my three-hundredth Post.  How wacky is that?  Who knew I’d ever have this much to say?

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Road to Publication #15: My Goodreads page

Posted on September 3, 2012 | 28 comments

Yay!  Another “Me” page.  This is starting to sound a little self-centered, but geeze it’s exciting to see yourself “out there” other than on your own web-site, where you are in complete control.

I’m not going to get into all that “tingly” stuff again.  But yes, this is incredibly cool.

Here’s the link to my Goodreads Author page.

Yep, that’s me with my own Goodreads author-page.  There’s a link right there to “Make Believe”.  The Christmas Anthology will be featrued here as soon as Still Moments Publishing releases to cover.  Anything else I am lucky to get published will also get listed under my picture and profile.

So cool.  Really.

Oh — Shameless self promotion — while you are there you can slip “Make Believe” into your “To read” list — if ya wanna 🙂

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Road to Publication #14: Wow! It’s excerpt Time [She quakes with anticipation] Or is that FEAR?

Posted on August 27, 2012 | 45 comments

Yay!  I finally have the okay to release an excerpt from my upcoming story Last Winter Red, which will be released December 3rd as part of J.Taylor Publishing’s Make Believe Anthology.

This is super-exciting stuff!

This is the first time I’ve seen my manuscript in a pretty long time, which is a little nerve-wracking, since it’s been in the hands of editors.  I haven’t even approved the finals yet.  **GACK**

Soooo… without further ado, here is the premier of the first 500 words of Last Winter Red.

Enjoy! (This is me, holding my breath)

Four Days Before Spring

Any less than forty-five vials wouldn’t be enough. Emily tucked the crimson cloth around the containers in her basket and continued down the long, stark corridor leading to Terra’s south exit. As usual, the hallway was empty; no one else would be foolish enough to leave the city, especially a few days before spring when the weather was so unpredictable.

The soft patter of footsteps came as her mother rounded the corner. The woman’s red dress stood out from the white walls and gray ceramic tiles, swishing at her ankles until she stopped. Her eyes narrowed, gaze settling on her daughter’s basket.

Emily continued toward the exit. “We’re not having this conversation again, Mother.”

“You can’t keep going out there. It isn’t safe.”

Emily reached the door and unlatched the lock. “I have to. The people outside need this medicine.”

“But what if you catch the disease?”

Emily sighed and released the latch. “I told you they medicate me each time I go to the village. I’ll be fine.”

Black ringlets fell over her mother’s brow as she shook her head. “You’re my oldest daughter. You should be setting an example, not traipsing around outside with the vermin.”

Pulling her crimson cloak over her hair, Emily tucked in her own dark tresses. “These people need my help.”

“You couldn’t care less about those people. It’s that renegade doctor you’re helping. It always has been.”

Emily lowered her gaze. Her mother knew her all too well. “My husband is dead, Mother. I need to find someone else.”

“That is the duty of the scribes. They’ll assign you another.”

“Who? When? I’m twenty-three years old. You already had four children by the time you were my age. If they were going to find another husband for me, they would have done so. I will not spend the rest of my life alone like a sorry Gray.” Emily struggled against tears threatening to break free. “George is a good man … a doctor and a Red. When his work is done, he will come back with me.”

“Did he tell you that?”

Emily blinked. “Not in so many words…”

“You are placing your life in danger for something that may never happen.”

“You taught me it’s our duty as Reds to be fruitful … to support the growth of humanity.” Emily quaked with angry resentment. “I have no children to show to the Council. I am nothing. I need to find a new husband.”

Her mother’s countenance didn’t change, and she offered no words of encouragement.

“I’m going, Mother. And this time, I’m not coming back alone.” Emily pushed the door open. A chill slapped her face.

“What if he’s contracted the disease?”

Emily’s hand tensed on the doorframe. “If he hadn’t been careful, he’d have been dead by now.” She stepped out and slammed the door before her mother could offer further argument.

Whooooosh… Okay, that was me breathing again.

Now I’m cringing. **GACK***

So…. What did you think? 😐

If you liked this, you may want to hop over to see what my lovely and talented co-authors have for you.  They might just have a little excerpt for you to read, too!

http://jabelfield.wordpress.com/

http://jennykellerford.wordpress.com/

http://terrirochenski.blogspot.com/

http://kellysaid.com/

http://lyndaryoung.blogspot.com/

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Make Believe Anthology: The back of the cover. Yay! Another Reveal!

Posted on May 26, 2012 | 26 comments

Along with the book cover, and here ya go, in case you missed it.

Sigh… just don’t get tired of looking at my name on there…

Anyway…

Along with the book cover, we now have the back cover copy with details on all the cool stories about this little lady in red.

And no, It’s not Little Red Riding Hood.  It had to be about anything BUT that fabled character.  So without further ado, here is the back cover copy for “Make Believe”

Oh!  It would be great if you’d click on these lovely ladies’ names and give them a shout out on their blogs.  We’re all celebrating!

Back of the Book

Sacrificial Oath by Terri Rochenski

An impetuous act unwittingly makes Alesuela the fulfillment of the Sovereign’s Blood Oath to their Goddess. In five days, she’ll be forced to make the greatest choice of her life: become the virginal sacrifice already promised, or force the man she loves most to die in her place.

With an impossible choice in front of her, she searches for ways to undo the oath, and in her quest, finds not everything in her life is as she expects.

The Amulet of Ormisez by J. Keller Ford

There is only one way to save Elton Fletcher’s brother from an insanity-ridden death.

After years away from home, fighting for his people, Elton returns to discover his only sibling, Cayden, possessed by greed and malice, and responsible for malicious, unthinkable deeds. Cayden, though, isn’t the only one afflicted by the Amulet of Ormisez, and Elton finds himself in yet another battle, where the price of failure could be his own life.

Birthright by Lynda R. Young

Christa can mask the pain and hide the scars, but running from a birthright is impossible.

She’s tried to escape her grief by fleeing to a small town in Florida. Much to her frustration, the locals think they recognize her even though she’s never been there before. To make things worse, a man named Jack spouts outrageous theories about her.

Both spur Christa to bolt, to start fresh yet again, but there’s something about Jack that intrigues her enough to stay. The only problem? Someone else wants her to leave, and they won’t stop until she’s dead.

Petrified by Kelly Said

A mysterious storm has replaced summer with winter, devastating crops and smothering Castle lands in snow.  Prince Sterling August stands alone as a leader, lost in personal grief as well as a desire to help his people but with an inability to do either.

The answers he needs await him, but without Lochlyn, a woman who’s just as isolated as Sterling, he’ll never see what stands before him, cloaked in illusion.

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton

Emily is a Red, a woman whose sole purpose in life is to produce offspring. When her husband dies and leaves her childless, she risks her life and forsakes the safety of Terra—a disease-free city born after the nuclear holocaust. Beyond its boundaries, she knows, survives a man with whom she can be properly paired.

The Outside, though, holds secrets the government struggles to keep, and what Emily discovers on her quest for a mate will change her life forever.

Escort to Insanity by J.A. Belfield

From a charity auction, to a stroll in the park, to the craziest night of her life. Nicole Harrington can’t help but wonder how a simple event went so drastically wrong.

Of course, the male escort she booked is wholly to blame. Not only charming but shrewdly intelligent, Benjamin Gold drags Nicole into a platoon of unimaginable problems—ones from which she’ll have to find the courage just to survive.

URL: http://www.jtaylorpublishing.com/books/17

So, Whattya think?

Are you Excited?

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