Category: GENERAL

Now here’s an interesting concept – custom made romance novels.
This online business allows the average Joe (or Jenn) to be the hero/heroine in a novel. Sure it can be you and hubby (booooorrrrrring!!!) but it can also be you and Hugh (or anyone else you fancy).

www.ustarnovels.com offers people this opportunity just be sending the names of yourself and your ‘significant’ other, along with a few salient facts, such as nicknames and physical attributes. Then you choose whether you want a subtler romance or something “steamy.” For the low, low price of $39.95, they’ll send you a 160-180 page book with you and your hero in it.

The novels are apparently set in an array of glamorous destinations throughout Europe, and depending upon the story you select, you might find yourself undercover on a secret mission in Barcelona, being chased by diamond smugglers in the exotic French Rivera or discovering a hidden tomb in Naples. (Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered about the ‘other side of the fence’ you can forget Hugh and do Paris (and I’m not referring to the city!) That’s right, same sex novels are available.
So if it wasn’t hugging Hugh in Havana, I guess I’d go for a Rumba in Roma with J Lo – LOL.

Cool idea or what?

Yep! It’s happy birthday to me.

I’m 49 today and very excited. Why? Because this is MY year. I can feel it (unless that’s just old age I’m feeling!) If it is old age, that’s okay, ’cause it feels pretty darn good.

What an amazing year of achievements (even if I do say so myself). Two mss finished, revised and finished again, three short stories, two 1 page synopses, two 3 page synopses, two query letters, an agent/publisher submission tracking database, a blog, (another blog/website), seven seperate entries over four RWA competitions (finalling once), two agent submissions out already.

Wow! No wonder I’m exhaused (unless it’s that old age thing happening again).

But this birthday toast is not about me. It’s about my very good Bootcamper and RWA friends who have inspired and encouraged me throughout the year. (As well as my partner – without whom there would be no ‘J’ in JennJMcLeod.)

So here’s to you all! If not for you I wouldn’t be nearly as excited about turning 49. I can’t wait for the next year to see what happens.

50 is going to be GREAT!

To read or not to read – that is the ultimate writer conundrum.
You see, I’ve been told I’ll never be a great writer if I am not a great reader.
For me, however, reading novels when what I really want to be doing is writing them tends to play with my head.

People say this writing/publishing game is a rollercoaster. Well, rollercoaster it may be for those already on the ride, but for me, still waiting in the ticket queue, it’s more like a swing. I find that when I do read novels my mind swings between – “I can write better than that” and “I’ll never be as good as that.” One makes me want to attack that keyboard with gusto, the other makes me want to attack it with a baseball bat.

So, to read or not to read – that is the question.