Getting closer to the end

Yes, Sever is getting close to the end. I can always tell when the story is getting close to the finish line -- because I end up crying all the time! And music! You know how a song can be completely normal, and then you listen to it while you're doing something really emotional -- and then you totally lose it?

Yep. That's what I've been doing. The song that's guilty of causing my little meltdown today as I was writing one of the sadder scenes in The Ever Series? Promise by Ben Howard. It's definitely outside my usual musical tastes, but it just seemed to fit what I was writing at that very moment.

I found the song like I do every other song -- from TV or a movie. On that note, I've been addicted to Reign on The CW, and I can't help feeling a little Francis-Ever/Bash-Alex connection going on in my head. Maybe it's just me. ;-)

Where I got the inspiration for the end of Never ...

Well, since retiring, my parents have been traveling a lot. And when they travel, they send postcards!  When they traveled to South America, they sent this from Patagonia, Argentina:

Imagination ... can take you anywhere!

So, I had it up on the cork board, and that's how Wren and Alex end up at the southern most tip of South America!

Pretty, huh?

For Ever's new paperback is here!

I love it. But maybe that's because I've been waiting so long for it! It is so pretty. And Never is coming along soon after. (If I get lucky, it'll be up by tonight. We shall see.)

On another note, I may very well be dedicating the third book in The Ever Series to For Ever's UK fans! Again -- wow!

All right. Back to editing the third book.

Happy Monday!

The kindness of strangers

So ... I was in a bit of a funk this weekend, and I wrote a somewhat rant-filled post. My apologies. I deleted it (you guys don't need to hear me whine!), and I was reminded the very next day of how some people who we've never met go out of their way to say nice things. It does not go unnoticed! (On a semi-related note: I was standing in line at an ice cream shop in Portland this weekend, and a man passed by me and gave me the remaining balance on his gift card. It was a tiny amount, of course, but it felt good to be in the right place at the right time. Kindness travels.)

Now, in my aforementioned (deleted) post, I talked about taking a little break to work on another side project, which is tonally way different than The Ever Series. Well, last week said project was sort of stealing my will to work on the third book ... but fear not. I'm going to try to do both at once. And if I can't manage it, I will go back to my first love -- Ever, of course!

In other news, the proofs of For Ever and Never's new paperbacks are ordered and coming soon, so they will be available for purchase in the near future. So excited about that!

Lastly, the first seven chapters of For Ever are up on Amazon for free right now. They'll be available for a day ... or maybe five. I haven't decided yet. If you have a friend who might enjoy the book, but he or she wants to try it first, this is a great time to check it out.

Hugs to all of you who have left the wonderful reviews of Never (and For Ever) on Amazon. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

More soon!

CJ

Beautiful

The paperback versions of For Ever and Never will be available shortly -- and this time I mean it! So, if you're sentimental (like me), you might want to order a copy of the first book with For Ever's original tree. (Otherwise ... Hillary, you're probably going to own one of the only originals! LOL)

Now, let me just say ... The new artwork for the paperbacks is gorgeous. My designer went above and beyond with beautiful detail, and I'm really looking forward to holding the proofs in my hands. (But in all honesty ... I just want to see Ever's bright green eyes staring back at me from the cover of Never. An e-book, sad to say, just can't do justice to his smoldering stare.)

Files will be uploaded soon. Then I will be ordering proofs. And finally they will be available to anyone who wants to hold Ever ... I mean For Ever and Never ... in both hands. (The books will be available via Amazon and CreateSpace for the United States and in Europe, and I'll post the associated links when both books are up for order!)

CJ

Ever: Chapter 1

Surprise! For the last few weeks, I've been working on the first chapter of For Ever -- only from Ever's perspective! (I'm still working on the third book in The Ever Series, but Ever's chapter is my little holiday season present to For Ever's super fans.)

***DISCLAIMER: This free chapter contains language that may not be suitable for all readers. Discretion is advised.***

Click the cover to the left for a first look at Ever! If there's enough demand, I'll start working on the full-length book, so let me know what you think in the poll to the right!!!

Again, I'm still hard at work on the third book, but I hope Ever's chapter is a welcome distraction.

Happy Holidays!

CJ

For Ever and Never available for Nook

At long last, both books are up on the Nook!

Get  For Ever on your Nook!

Get Never on your Nook!

I saw Ever last night

Last night, I could have sworn I saw Ever. It was eerie. I was driving by the gas station on the way to the store, and I looked over. There was a guy leaning against the wall at the side of the gas station, and for that half second I just thought, "Oh, whoa! Ever ..."

Hmm, maybe he's out there somewhere, sprung from my imagination. Shivers.

Plus, I started a super secret project over the weekend that I'm kind of in love with! (Yes, it's Ever-related!) Unfortunately, it's been distracting me from the third book in The Ever Series, which is not good. I may have more details by the weekend.

;-)
CJ

COVER REVEAL: Never

Drum roll, please. At long last, here it is ... Never's cover (after the jump). I, for one, am in love with Ever. Let me know what you think in the comments!

And ... check back soon for the first chapter of Never!

CJ

Never's latest weekly teaser

Okay, so For Ever's new cover is up on Amazon! And call me obsessive if you'd like, but I keep going to look at it. I also have ... drum roll, please ... Never's final cover, which just feels strange, because the book itself is only halfway through the editing process.

As for the cover, do you ever get something that you've been holding your breath for, then it's even better than you imagined, and suddenly you just want to hold onto it a little longer? So, I'm going to wait a bit. I'm actually hoping to post all of Chapter 1 of Never soon. It won't be the final-final, but close enough. Maybe I'll post the cover and first chapter together. It's funny, because I've been done with the first draft of Never for nearly two months -- and I'm about 1/5 of the way done with the third book in the series.

I am ... all over the place. Now, here's the latest teaser:

Yay!

For Ever's new (finally finalized!) cover will go up on Amazon tonight! So pretty!

Plus, my editor is halfway through Never. Believe me, if I could get out and push the proverbial car to make things go faster, I would!

Why I love fiction

Is the end in sight?

I think part of the reason why I love fiction, particularly of the paranormal variety, is that the characters -- who they are, what they're fighting against, what they're trying to hide (or hide from) -- are operating outside of everyday life. Their problems feel grander -- and somehow less stressful -- than what we deal with in day-to-day lives. Everyday problems fall away as they worry about monsters, secret identities, secret powers, sacrificing themselves for the greater good, and maybe even the end of the world.

The journeys fictional characters take are epic, their romances are breathtaking, their tragedies are immense. And I love that stories can transport me anywhere. I definitely go through periods when I absolutely crave escape -- to another time, another place, another life. Don't get me wrong. I love my life, and I wouldn't swap it for a fictional character's (maybe there are a couple of exceptions!), but it's exciting, sometimes addicting, to slip into someone else's world for a few hours at a time.

I'm a little more than fifty pages into the third book in The Ever Series, and I can't wait to see where it will take me. My husband asked me the other day if I would be done after this book, and to be honest, after I wrote For Ever, I had moments when I thought it would be better to walk away from the entire thing, or maybe take it in-house and just write it for myself.

Now that I've started the third, I really feel like I've only scratched the surface of Wren and Ever's journey, but we'll see, because another great thing I've discovered is that the story goes where it wants.

For Ever's new cover is almost done AND ...

YAY! My designer tells me that I'll be getting the draft artwork for Never's cover tonight.

Deep breath.

This means that I'll be getting my first look at Ever. Well, not the first look. After all, I was the one who spent hours and hours searching for the images to use on the covers. That said, I'm hoping that my designer has been able to work some magic on the pictures I found since they didn't fit perfectly with what I had in my head. Ever is perfect, after all, and it's hard to find perfection. Ultimately, I had to make some compromises, given that unlike For Ever's re-design, which just fell into place, Never's cover required some extra elbow grease.

Okay. Now, I am officially holding my breath until my designer sends me the first look at Never's cover.

The song that inspired For Ever

There was definitely some musical inspiration behind the writing of For Ever. I listen to a lot of music while writing. Two of the most influential bands, for me, have been The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails. However, there are a lot of bands whose entire catalog I don't own but I absolutely worship one or two of their songs.

One song in particular that inspired a great deal in For Ever -- particularly the very end -- came out while I was still in high school, 1995 to be exact. (I guess that reveals my age!) The album it's on is named after a household appliance, and it's by a band that was active nearly as long as I've been alive (1981 to 2011).

The sound of the song and its lyrics -- pretty much everything -- fit the last chapter of For Ever in so many ways.

So, can you guess the song?

Tease! You're it

All right. So, I was going to do a teeny tiny one-line teaser of Never today, but I changed my mind! Plus, I'm hoping, not too far down the road, to tease Chapter 1 of Never (Emerge), but it'll have to wait. ... I hate waiting.

Without further ado ...

*** Teaser ***

 

For Ever's in-progress cover (re-design) reveal!!!

I am a very impatient person, so For Ever's newly redesigned cover art has been burning a hole in my brain! That said, those of you who are here because you took a chance on For Ever get to see the working cover re-design before it gets finalized and goes up on Amazon. (Take into account that this is still evolving, so some details may change. As soon as it's done-done, I'll put the real deal up.)

*** Cover reveal after the jump! ***

Random weekly teaser

I just realized that the week is half over -- and I haven't done a weekly teaser for Never, which is still with the editor. On another note, I am very happy (and thoroughly relieved given the long break I took after finishing Never's first draft) to say that I've spent the past two days -- hoping to make this three -- working on the third book. And w-o-w. This one is already surprising me. But I can't give anything away, obviously, considering Never has yet to arrive.

Next up, I'm just dying to show off the concept art behind For Ever's cover redesign. My designer took an idea that I wasn't sure would work and made it look so awesome! Beautiful, colorful, haunting, creepy -- love it! And I'm going out of my mind waiting to see what he does with Never's cover. So exciting to get two covers back-to-back!

That's all for now! Well, except for this ...

*** Never's weekly teaser ***

How I came to write For Ever for just one person

Okay, the title of my post is tongue-in-cheek. Sort of. ... Recently I told my husband (For Ever's first supporter) that it's fitting that I wrote this book for one person to love. And for the record, I wasn't talking about him. Reading a young adult paranormal romance doesn't rank very high on his list of entertaining activities.

I have always been better at one-on-one interactions. I don't do well in large groups, because (for me) it never feels like anything truly meaningful gets said. You can barely hear the person next to you, or you're more interested in the conversation taking place two seats down, or you end up making polite, bland chit-chat with someone you barely know.

Ultimately, I would just rather have that intense conversation off in a corner that nobody else but one other person is interested in. And after I received an e-mail from someone who really enjoyed For Ever, it finally clicked: I wrote my story the same way I like my interactions. One-on-one. If I attempted to write a story with universal appeal, I would probably fail miserably. So instead, I'll keep having conversations off in a corner with people who respond in kind.

The above photo is random, taken on vacation, but it's pretty, and I think it underscores the fact that beauty (and value) is in the eye of the beholder.

For Ever’s Playlist

My playlist for The Ever Series is a constantly evolving thing. During the writing and editing For Ever (sequel is with the editor now!), I had a lot of songs on repeat and found that sometimes the lyrics fit a particular point in the story well. Other times, it was more the sound of a certain song. But overall, music is an integral part of my writing process, even though sometimes I don't even notice it's playing in the background!

I tend to gravitate toward stuff that isn’t top 40 (or at least isn’t anymore), and most of it’s a little eerie and/or sad. I always have iTunes going while I’m writing; it feels like something is missing if I don't. Then, when I’m not writing, I barely listen at all. Not sure why. I guess music equals inspiration and vice versa. I haven't listened to music much since finishing Never, but I'm planning to start up again -- soon -- for the third book.

So, if you're looking for a completely random list of songs, here it is:

Chapter 1: Smile Like I Mean It

- Smile Like You Mean It, The Killers

Chapter 2: This Is Nowhere

- Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans, Smashing Pumpkins

Chapter 3: Perfect

- Rest My Chemistry, Interpol

Chapter 4: Caring Is Creepy

- See My Friends, Gravenhurst

Chapter 5: Blank Page

- Rhinoceros, Smashing Pumpkins

- Right Where It Belongs, Nine Inch Nails

Chapter 6: Momentary Thing

- Elegia, New Order

Chapter 7: Run

- Jellybelly, Smashing Pumpkins

- Where Boys Fear to Tread, Smashing Pumpkins

- A Place to Hide, White Lies

Chapter 8: Tear Me Apart

- Death, White Lies

Chapter 9: Space Boy

- Alice, Cocteau Twins

Chapter 10: Disappear Completely

- Gasoline Rain, Moondog

Chapter 11: Love

- Minerva, Deftones

- Half of You, Cat Power

Chapter 12: Unfinished Business

- Popplagi›, Sigur Rós

Chapter 13: My Friends

- Kids, MGMT

- Young Folks, Peter Bjorn and John

Chapter 14: The Silence

- Everlong, Foo Fighters

- Intro, The XX

Chapter 15: Mirror

- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Guess the song!)

- How to Disappear Completely, Radiohead

Crashing back to reality

I had this crush in high school who was actually (in certain ways) the basis for Ever. Not so much in looks -- said crush had brown hair and piercing blue -- not green -- eyes. LOL

He showed up in the middle of sophomore year and was a bit of an enigma. And if he even looked in my direction, it was an adrenaline rush. For two and a half years, he totally dominated my thoughts. I obsessed ... and made everyone around me nuts. Like every crush, it was epic highs and crushing lows. Publishing For Ever has actually felt very similar!

Yesterday, after a grand high, I came crashing back to reality. Why? Because I had the brilliant idea to run a very last-minute free promotion on Amazon (thinking to myself, "Fewer people have been buying For Ever since August, so maybe its run is over ... let me test that theory."). By the end of the day (or as close to midnight as I got), For Ever had reached #13 in the Children's Love and Romance category (free) and #56 in the overall Children's Fiction category (free). Now, in my short foray in self-publishing, I know this is not a great feat. It's easy to give away free stuff. People love free stuff.

In the aftermath, I'm left with two questions: First, will anyone who downloaded a copy for free actually read it? And second, are the people who downloaded it for free the intended audience or simply people who like getting free stuff, regardless of whether or not it seems like something they would enjoy?

I just don't know; therefore, my experiment with free is over until I see compelling evidence (i.e. that someone who downloaded it for free read and enjoyed For Ever) to change my mind.

That said, I'm very grateful for the support of the readers who took a risk and splashed out the $0.99 (£0.77). (For those of you who have reached out to say a kind word, I am extra grateful.)