• Growing older … and losing so much in the process

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    Today is my friend Keri’s 29th birthday — also known as the last one she’ll ever have.

    Because, of course, next year is the big 3-0. And the age I think when most folks finally realize that their 20s are gone and they are officially moving into middle age.

    And that getting old can really suck. Wrinkles. Gray hair. Creaky knees. It certainly ain’t no picnic. 

    But mainly, I think it sucks because we lose so much of the silly, goofy joy we had as kids. There was a time when I was insanely proud of the fact that I had eight pieces of pizza for dinner. Now, it’s more like Hey! Guess what? I only consumed 127 calories the entire day! Do I really want to be proud of self-starvation?

    When I was a kid, I didn’t mind getting sweaty and dirty if it meant I could go play in the creek and look for crawdads. Now, I don’t even swim, except maybe once a year. Part of this is lack of opportunity. But part of it is the fact that it seems like it’s just so much trouble, and there’s so much stuff to drag around. Bathing suit, towels, sunscreen, flip-flops, cover-ups … It just doesn’t seem worth the effort anymore.

    When I was a kid, I’d spend hours in the woods behind my house just wandering around and looking at trees and rocks and leaves. Now, just about every single minute of my day is already planned out. Day job. Exercise time. Dinner. Book work. Maybe watch a little TV. Maybe read — if I have time. I never just sit around and relax or do whatever pops into my head. I always feel like I need to be productive. To be doing something important. 

    Yeah, getting old can really suck.

    What about you? Does the march of time bother you? Inquiring minds want to know …

  • ·

    Publishers Weekly review time …

    17 Comments

    karma-girl-cover.jpgOMG! Karma Girl got reviewed in Publishers Weekly! And they liked it!

    Who-hoo!

    Here’s some of what they said: 

    Chick lit meets comics lit in Estep’s fresh debut … A zippy prose style helps lift this zany caper far above the usual run of paranormal romances.

    I can’t believe they liked it! I can’t quit typing in exclamation points!

    Who-hoo!

  • ·

    Putting on the buzz …

    2 Comments

    I’ve heard so much about J.R. Ward and her Black Dagger Brotherhood books that I finally reached into my to-be-read pile this weekend and started the first one, Dark Lover. More to come when I finish it.

    But it got me to thinking about how much I’ve heard about her — and how cool her books are supposed to be. And I was wondering how that happens. What makes buzz? Is it one reader telling another? A good review on a popular site like All About Romance? A feature in Romantic Times? Luck of the draw?

    Other authors I’ve noticed getting a lot of attention recently are Marjorie M. Liu, who’s been mentioned in RT a couple of times recently. Lora Leigh too. And, of course, there’s Nora Roberts, who’s always on everybody’s radar screen.

    What about you? Who’s the hot author you’ve been hearing about? What book do you want to read right now? How did you hear about it? What are your friends reading/recommending? Inquiring minds want to know …

  • On second thought …

    Maybe Megaphone would be a better ubervillain name when I’m in spread-the-word mode. Or Loudmouth. Or Obnoxious Girl. Or Broadcast Babe. Hmmm … the possiblities are endless …

  • It’s not a competition … except when it is …

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    It’s not a competition.

    Those are the words that my significant other said to me last night when I told him about the myriad of book work I was attempting to accomplish.

    My response? Oh, babe. It is so a competition.

    Karma Girl comes out May 1, and I have been busting my ass for the last six weeks trying to get stuff done. I’ve set up book signings and advertising and guest blogs. The last two weeks, I’ve spent about three hours a night stuffing envelopes and mailing out bookmarks to readers’ groups and bookstores around the country. Oh yeah, and I need to work on Bigtime 4 too. And my paranormal spy book. And get ready to do interviews. The list is endless …

    Evidently, the way I was explaning things, my significant got the impression that I was in a contest with myself to see how much work I could do — and how crazy I can make myself. That’s not the case. I’m in a contest with all the other authors out there.

    Every single one.

    Because we all have books to sell, and folks only have so much disposable income. I’m a newbie, a nobody really. People don’t know who am I. They don’t know what my books are about. They don’t know that they should give me a chance to dazzle them with my brilliance and campy, fun books.

    But I can fix that. And that’s what I’m trying to accomplish with all this stuff — getting the word out. And I have to compete with all the other authors already out there who want you to buy their book instead of mine. I have to compete with the other newbies scrambling for position and the heavy-hitters who already have their fan bases in place.

    In short, we are all single women at a wedding, jostling and kicking and clawing in an attempt to catch that elusive bouquet — in this case, a loyal reader and climbing sales.

    Don’t get me wrong. I love writing. Love books. Love reading. Love talking with other authors. Love helping people out and spreading the word about books that I’ve enjoyed or authors I think are cool stand-up people.

    But I never forget that this is a competition.

    Call me cold. Call me cruel and calculating. But by hokies, I want another contract. And another … and another … And if that means that I have to stuff envelopes until the wee hours of the night and visit the post office every single day for the rest of my life, well, so be it.

    Folks might not buy Karma Girl, but it’s not going to be for lack of trying on my part. I’m going to work as hard as I can for as long as I can. So consider me your friendly neighborhood ubervillain, Jen-Jen, whose mission in life is to inform you about her books … and take over the world one reader at a time.

    So yeah, babe, it is a contest — one I hope to win. And hey, world domination is always fun. 😎

    What about you? Do you think of writing as a contest? A sublime experience? Inquiring minds want to know …