December Newsletter

Greetings of the Season:

The holidays are upon us once more.  Amazing how often this comes around, isn't it?  My shopping is almost done, thank goodness.  A major portion was accomplished online.  Nice, to have it delivered to your door with no driving, no waiting in lines.  My tree this year will be a tall arrangement of a dozen or more potted poinsettias in a tree-shaped holder.  Colorful, neat, and no complicated removal of lights and ornaments when the season is over, plus it will brighten the garden room next to my office until spring.  I do love fresh flowers.  And the older I get, the more important it seems to keep things simple.

 

Busy, busy…

The past month has been full, as usual.  The special projects continue in conjunction with the late January release of GUARDED HEART.  Though they mean extra work, I'm grateful for every one as an indication of industry and reader interest in the book.  One of the most exciting was notification that GH (shorthand for the title) will be carried by the Rhapsody Book Club, along with a spotlight in the club's brochure on its heroine as the "Heartbreaker of the Month."  For this presentation, I was asked to create a 100 word profile for Ariadne, my heroine, explaining what makes her a real heartbreaker.  Since she is out for the hero's blood in a daring vendetta for most of the story, this was no great problem!  I also received a request to share my views on "Romance in the 21^st Century" from a writer who is doing a magazine article on that subject.  This is in addition to a request for an article on "building" to a climax in popular fiction from the editor of IAW ("In Accordance With..."), a Wisconsin magazine.  Then my publisher forwarded a request from The Borders Group for a "Dear Reader" letter to be included in this major chain bookseller's February newsletter that will showcase GUARDED HEART.  What they needed was an informal note explaining how I came to write the story and anything that was unusual about it.  What a lovely perk; I was certainly happy to oblige.  Finally, I received and okayed the proof for the two-page spread for GH which will appear in the February issue of Romantic Times BookReview Magazine.  The art department at RT did a beautiful job on this ad; do check it out if you come across a copy of the magazine.

 

Foreign Sales, etc.

One of the books of my Louisiana Gentleman series, WADE, was published in Poland as BRAMY RAJU  this month. I also received the royalty statements from a variety of publishers, both foreign and domestic—some of which even had checks attached, wonder of wonders.  And…and there was another foreign sale, I know there was, but my desk is piled so high with notes, letters, catalogs, chapter and character charts, order confirmations and I-don't-know-what-all-else just now that I can't find the letter of notification.  There's a reason I clean my office every January…

 

The Book

Did I tell you last time that I'd changed my book files over to a laptop, using it for writing instead of my desk top PC?  It seems to be working.  I'm better able to focus on the story while looking at the smaller screen, this instead of having my attention wander away to revise previous paragraphs.  It doesn't hurt, either, that I'm more comfortable in my nice blue leather lounge chair than at my desk with its ten-year old office chair!  At any rate, I'm well into Chapter 6 of TRIUMPH IN ARMS at this point, and making my minimum daily quota of five pages without too much trouble.  Of course, this will probably change as the holiday nears.  It's not easy, thinking in historical terms while preparing for a big family gathering.

 

The Holiday

Our family will all be together this season, the daughter from Florida and her two children, the daughter and husband from Mississippi with their four; the older son who lives 40 miles away and the younger who is only 20 minutes distance, both these last with their respective families.  Then of course there's my mom who loves to be in the middle of things.  The head count will be 24–27, depending on how many of the grands have other plans.  I'll bake a turkey or two and a clove-studded, spiral cut ham.  There will be cornbread dressing with giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, sweet potato casserole, veggies, hot yeast rolls and iced tea—all the traditional Southern country favorites without which this grand meal would not be "right."  Then there will be the pies: coconut cream, pineapple cream, pecan, sweet potato, maybe chocolate, lemon and mincemeat.  Oh, and fruitcake, the "icebox" variety from a Fifties recipe that's my mom's specialty.  We'll all open our gifts in a storm of red and green wrappings.  Then we'll squirrel away our treasures and finally fall upon the food.  Afterward, we'll all sit around groaning because "somebody" let us eat too much. ("Somebody" being like The Little Man Who Wasn't There at our house since no one is rude enough to actually accuse anybody of a personal failing.  It's Southern thing, okay?)  So does this holiday scenario sound anything at all like what happens at your house?  I hope so!  Nothing like keeping the grand old traditions.

 

The winner of this month's autographed book is: karenxyzmart@yahoo.com

If this is your email address, please send a message from it to: pamrjb@aol.com.  In the subject line, type "Book Winner" and include your name and USPS address in the body of the message.  Since the publication date for GUARDED HEART is so near, this will be the autographed title sent.  Good luck!

 

With warmest wishes for all that's joyful and bright during this magical season,

Jennifer

 

PS: To receive a copy of my newsletter via email, click on the "Contest" link, then Click on "Join This Group".  You will be added to a Yahoo listserv, but only the moderator is permitted to post.  You will not receive other unsolicited emails.

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