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
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
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
Dedication…
To you always my love…
With all my heart.
And all my spirit.
Forever…
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Me
image fm pinterest
Bounce is in print! (and I get a bit embarrassing) …
Let’s all hold hands for this shall we?
It’s finally here! Bounce is available in print and I’m a little over the moon about it!
So much so that I’ve gone and made a totally embarrassing unboxing video to express my feelings (no one was home and I had a not so bright idea about documenting a moment). Um, yeah, there’s a reason that I don’t do public speaking and you’ll all get to see it now. But at the encouragement of my Dear Son who was either moved by my video or wants others to share in his mother’s silliness I’m going to take a leap and go ahead and share.
Hey, I may not be blessed with the gift of gab, but I am happy to finally have my 1st step into self-publishing now in print as well as digitally available to share with all of you. Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this happen. I will forever be grateful. There are too many to mention, but I would like to give a heartfelt special thanks to the amazing Ms. Lauren Dane for her beautiful cover quote. I am so honored. Also a special thank you to Irene and Julie for their wonderful quotes. You ladies are fabulous!
Thanks, Thanks and more THANKS! This has been quite the journey.
BOUNCE with me people!
Available in print here
All the best,
KMJ
Swanky!
I’m getting really excited and a little bit nervous about going to New Orleans next month and attending my 1st Romance Slam Jam and my 1st RT Conference back to back. It will be 10 days of Authors, Readers, Books and (if rumor has it) Wild Fun.
I’m looking forward to a chance to connect with readers on more of a one on one level and as the romance fangirl that I am, I’m also looking forward to geeking out a bit over all the way cooler than me authors that I’ll get to meet up close and in person. BTW I need to start practicing my cool and unaffected face now… let’s see….
…nope not gonna be able to pull it off.
And speaking of pulling it off, I hope I can pull off playing the part of a human billboard because I just got in what I think are the swankiest tees with my BOUNCE book cover printed on them and I can’t wait to show them off in NOLA as I hand out my bookmarks and postcards to anyone I see with a free hand. Watch out NOLA I’m on my way 🙂
Bouncing Along!
All the best,
KMJ
And another one…
Happy Monday! Don’t worry we’ll get through this together.
Wishing you a great week ahead.
All the best,
KMJ
Image fm Pinterest and beyond
Coffee, My Love
So I’ve been up for hours comparing online reviews of coffee makers. Mind you that’s after spending a good portion of my afternoon going from store to store looking for just the right machine in person and coming up short in the decision department. Silly I know, but I’m a writer and I spend the better part of my day at home with my laptop and my cup of coffee as my literal right hand companion and brain stimulator. Looking back now it’s hard to believe I ever used to be a light tea sipper. Those seem like such carefree innocent days now.
Happily, I finally went for a little talked about Hamilton Beach that got not much press, but amazing reviews on each site I went to. We’ll see how I like it when it comes in.
Tell me are you a coffee or a tea drinker or do you take on the day on au natural?
All the best,
KMJ
image fm Pinterest
