Always remember…
To never forget.
This was a quote from a Colonel in the army who gave a beautiful and stirring speech at our town’s Memorial Day Service in the park today. He was right. We much always remember to never forget and to give thanks. Wishing you all a beautiful day and week ahead.
Now taking a moment to give a reminder over here if you don’t follow me on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/KmJacksonAuthor?ref=hl That I’m having a BOUNCE book chat over on the Fan Group page on Wednesday the 28th at 9pm. https://www.facebook.com/groups/KMJacksonFans/
I’d love to have you join me and answer any questions you have about BOUNCE. *Jack not included*
All the best,
KMJ
NOLA… a pictorial
So instead of getting all wordy about my time in New Orleans last week at the fantastic Romance Slam Jam Conference and then the incredible RT Book Lovers Convention I decided to let pictures do the talking for me with a few collages.
First up a collage from Romance Slam Jam. I’ll say it here once again… I can’t thank the amazing Farrah Rochon enough for inviting me. I feel like I made so many new friends and I got to speak on my 1st ever panel with the super talented Yvette Hines and Sienna Mynx. Talk about a great moment and one that I’ll always cherish. Not to mention signing next to our keynote speaker Angie Daniels. Holla! I’m already looking forward to next year in Dallas!
Next up was the RT Book Lovers Convention at the Marriott. Wowza! Talk about a grand time. Over 2000 attendees and 700 authors. There are still friends I’m connecting with online that I didn’t get to see in the crowd. But I’m sure grateful for those that I did. Can you spot some of your favorite authors in this group?
I was so happy to have my 1st ever RT signing here and to sit next to the wonderful USA Today Bestselling Callie Hutton. There were so many amazing authors in both rooms and I was proud to be among them. I’ll also be forever be grateful to my friends who came by to see me at my spot and put on their best fan faces for pics. You all are the very best and we had a fantastic time. Thank you all so much. I can’t wait to whoop it up again.
Now where are my shrimp and gravy? I’m starting to feel a little put out after not having them for over a day. Hmph. seems a girl’s gotten a tad spoiled.
All the best,
KMJ
The Sweetest Hangover…
Hello all! It’s been so long. I’m home from my back to back conferencing and have a huge conference hangover complete with laryngitis from all the talking at high volumes. But I had a fabulous time and now I’m happy to be back home and ready to focus once again on family and my writing. This week I plan on sharing lots of conference pics as soon as I’m coherent enough to put them into some order. But first I’m going to work on waking up and then it’s off to restock the fridge with my (Yay! She’s back home) DD. It’s so nice to have my family of 4 back to together again. I’m amazed at how French my daughter has become. She really did so well and I’ll forever be grateful to her wonderful host family in France who are now a part of our family too.
Ok I’m off for now… Leaving you with a pic of me my at my 1st RT Booklovers convention signing….
And a general recap from Bubba Gump on all I ate while in NOLA (winks to my friend who will totally get this joke). Seems I never met a po’ boy I didn’t like.
All the best,
KMJ
NOLA Darling…
What a week this has been so far. I promise a longer post with lost of pics to come soon but I just wanted to mention that BOUNCE is on Kindle Books and Tips today so Yay to that! You can check it out here. Have you picked it up yet at the $0.99 limited sale price? If so thanks and please tell a friend.
I had the best time at Romance Slam Jam last week and so far RT is a big hit. I’ll leave you with a pic of how my day started off…
Yeah, there’s no crying for me and I know it.
All the best,
KMJ
Bouncing in the Big Easy …
So I woke up this morning in New York and now this afternoon I’m chilling in the Big Easy!
For the next few days I’ll be soaking up the romance—along with plenty of good cheer—with many of the top writers and the most delightful and avid readers. We’re all here at the Romance Slam Jam fired up and excited to celebrate the genre we love.
And then the following week I’ll still be in the Big Easy celebrating romance with RT Book Reviews at the RT Book Lovers Convention.
This is all pretty exciting as this is my first time coming to either of these events as a published author myself. I’ll try and play it cool, but I’m not making any promises. This should be a wild time. I can’t help but wonder though, how the menfolk will fare at home with so many ladies whooping it up in NOLA. Didn’t they try a reality show with that concept a while back? Trust me there won’t be any women in tears to run home here though. LOL.
As a way of celebrating I’m putting the e-book of BOUNCE on a $0.99 Limited Time conference special! If you haven’t yet, now’s the perfect time to BOUNCE.
All the best,
KMJ
image from Pinterest
A Question of Class… Interview with author Julia Tagan
Today on ye old blog I’m so happy to have my RWA chaptermate, friend and debut author, Julia Tagan here to talk about her writing and her historical A Question Of Class out from Kensington/Lyrical. Thanks so much for being here today on ye old blog, Julia!
First off can you tell us a bit about your current work A Question of Class?
Sure thing – thanks for having me! “A Question of Class” is set in New York City in 1810 and involves a woman who’s risen into high society, only to find out she’s being tossed aside:
On the strength of her wit and intelligence, Catherine Delcour climbed from Connecticut poverty to opulent Paris society. But once in New York, her lowly past is a scandal her wine merchant husband won’t tolerate. After five years of marriage, Morris announces their union isn’t valid and reveals his plan to send her to the West Indies. Fearing she’ll end up destitute, Catherine schemes to escape–and secure her future with his treasured bottle of wine.
Under the guise of supervising Delcour’s wayward wife, Benjamin Thomas seeks to avenge his sister’s death by ruining him. But Catherine isn’t the spoiled society wife Benjamin expects. His growing affection for Catherine threatens more than his carefully constructed plans. His vow to never touch another man’s wife has never been harder to keep than when he’s around the beguiling beauty.
When Catherine and Benjamin join forces, their sensual natures collide even as their individual desires for passion, vengeance, and escape threaten to tear them apart.
What inspired you to write this story?
I was inspired by a visit to the Morris-Jumel Mansion, which is located in upper Manhattan. A scandalous woman named Eliza Jumel lived there in the 1800s, and after reading her biography, I realized her story would make a great jumping-off point for a romance. Her ghost apparently haunts the mansion to this day.
What made you choose this genre to write in? Do you enjoy the research part of being a historical author?
I love the idea of stepping back in time, and I have to say the research part of writing is both enthralling and distracting. You can research for months and months and still feel you don’t know everything you should. At some point, you just have to start writing. For example, in an early draft I had a coyote howling in the distance, until one of the judges in a contest I’d entered pointed out that there weren’t coyotes in New York in the early 1800s. Who knew? Luckily, there were wolves, so it was an easy fix.
Can you tell us a bit about your writing schedule. Are you a Plotter or a Pantser?
I am such a plotter, no question about it. I’m amazed and awed at authors who dive into a story without knowing their way out. My process involves first figuring out who the main characters are, doing tons of research into the period, and then setting up an elaborate diagram on the wall of my study, using different colored sticky-notes, to figure out what happens when. From there I write the synopsis and then I’m good to go. It helps because even if I’m stuck on one scene, I’m excited about what’s coming up and that gets me through any rough patches.
Lastly what can readers expect next from you?
My next historical romance, “Stages of Desire,” just went to contract with Kensington/Lyrical and will hopefully be released by the end of the year. It’s set in London during the Regency era and I can’t wait to share it with everyone.
Thanks so much for being here today. It’s been a real pleasure. I’m so excited for you and A Question of Class!
And thank you for being such an inspiration to all your fellow authors and readers!
Thank you too!
A Question of Class can be picked up here
And Julia can be reached here:
On her site: http://juliatagan.com
& Her blog, on twitter, Facebook and on Goodreads .
All the best,
KMJ
Thankful, Grateful & Rambling along…
Both thankful and astonished doesn’t begin to say how I’m feeling as a write this post. Yesterday I was quite floored when I went to my local RWA NYC annual chapter May Brunch. I was first, really excited because our guest speaker this year would be the amazing romance trailblazer Sandra Kitt.
Once there I quickly made a fangirl B-line to her table to introduce myself while in a smaller setting and then get all goofy and request a picture. Ms. Kitt will be honored the week after next in New Orleans at the Romantic Times Convention with a Pioneer Award, but with over 2000 attendees coming to that event I was taking my chance for a pic while I had it. I have to say Ms. Kitt was all I dreamed she would be, so incredibly kind and gracious and generous with her advice on how to navigate the convention. I can’t thank her enough for that moment and for her inspiring talk to our chapter.
That done, it was time for Chapter announcements and one was the announcements was who were the winners of our annual Golden Apple Awards (nominated and voted on by the group’s members). Now I knew I was up for an award here, and of course in my heart I had given myself a few minutes to day dream about how nice it would be to win, but as I do I then quickly dismissed it because, hey this is me and I don’t win things. I’m the girl picked last, the one for who things almost, but just don’t quite work out as planned, the one that just muddles through and good enough is good enough. Besides, who did I think I was? The completion was stiff and I was obviously put in that list of real writers (really good writers) as a fluke. Right?
Well it was time for the winners to be announced. Insert drumroll here…
Lifetime Achievement Award: Alice Orr
Librarian of the Year: Frank Collerius, Jefferson Market Library (NYPL)
Bookseller of the Year: Barnes & Noble
Media Source of the Year: Heroes and Heartbreakers (taking a SUPER Cheer moment here as I contribute Scandal posts here- and my PIC Megan Frampton is the Manager of H&H)
Agent of the Year: Jill Marsal – Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
Publisher of the Year: Entangled Publishing
Editor of the Year: Megha Parekh – Forever Romance (Grand Central Publishing)
And then came this one…
Author of the Year: Kwana Jackson (writing as K.M. Jackson) …you have got to be kidding me with this! Talk about the girl least likely. The one who feels like she’s never quite doing it (meaning this writing thing) right. Holy Wowza. I don’t quite know how to say thank you enough or take it all in. What the heck do I do now? With so many rejections marking the path behind me and who knows what, lighting the trail as I take the next step. I stand still. Frozen in place.
Few know how much of a challenge this past year and past 10 years of writing has been as the never ending search goes on for an editor that gets my voice and an agent that believes in my work enough to fight the fight as I would. But then again most of my friends are writers, so maybe they all do. Maybe my story is not all that unique and is really everyone’s story. Hopeful, doubtful, but still writing along.
This may just be my turn. All that said come September I’ll probably have the freakout of all freakouts as I’m sure I won’t know what to wear, how to do my hair, the diet will not have stuck, and worse of all I’ll have to stutter through a speech (my worst fear of all). But know this, as I’m sure to not express it correctly that night, I’ll be forever grateful and forever thankful to my NYC Chaptermates for taking me in as one of their own and saying that they get me and believe in me as one of them. A writer too.
(My silly, stunned, no, I don’t know what to say, laughing so I don’t cry, moment.
Thanks for capturing it Falguni)
All the best & with so many thanks,
KMJ
Image from Pinterest
Image from me
Image of me thanks to Falguni Kothari
Good Reading and Fan-Girling!
This week is flying by way too fast. I can’t Believe Today is May 1st. I’m trying my best to hold it back, but nothing I do is slowing the progress of time.
The good thing is that in less than a week I’ll be in New Orleans at the Romance Slam Jam conference & then the week after that I’ll be at the RT Booklovers Convention also in New Orleans.
So what could be bad about either of these super exciting events? Just the fact that I feel so not ready. I will literally be flying by the seat of my pants as I wander around as a newly published author, faking looking smooth, while trying not to fangirl geek-out over all other not fake the cool published authors in attendance at both events. This should be interesting. I’ll be sure to check in as often as I can either here, on FB or on Twitter so look out for me and please wish me luck. Question: Which author would you fan-girl over?
And on another fun note, my Goodreads Giveaway ended last night and I was thrilled to have over 700 entries. Congrats to my Southern winners Hannah & Danielle. Your signed copies of BOUNCE are on the way! I appreciate all of you who entered. Thanks so much for Bouncing along with me!
All the best,
KMJ
P.S. check out the cool cards there in the corner from my friend PVE Design
May image fm We Heart It.
This…
Happy New Week!
All the best,
KMJ
image fm Pinterest
Strolling along…
Happy new week! I hope you all had a lovely Holiday weekend. Mine was very nice and now I’m ready to go back deep in the writing cave. I can’t believe how fast time is going and how slow I seem to be working. Eek! I think my mind is somewhere in Paris with my DD taking strolls down the Champs-Élysées. If you could take a stroll anywhere this week where would you take it?
Oh and speaking of strolls, I’m blog strolling over at Night Owl Reviews and have an interview over there. Please stop on by if you have moment and check me out. Thanks!
All the best,
KMJ
image Antoine Blanchard
