On Writing

  • Another review …

    Karen Healey over at Girls Read Comics has reviewed Karma Girl.

    She had some good things to say about the book:

    Carmen’s an engaging, likeably-flawed protagonist whose first-person narration is fun and funny …

    And some bad things:

    … but Striker is a cardboard cut-out. He’s a cardboard cut-out of Batman, which is much cooler than the back of the refrigerator box, but he’s still disappointingly flat.

    Click on the link above to read the whole review.

    Not as positive as I’d hoped for, but I still appreciate Karen taking the time to review the book. And she gave me some things to think about for future books. So, thanks, Karen! 😎

  • Another bit of shameless self-promotion …

    In case you haven’t looked at my Appearances page in a while, here are the varios blogs and book signings I’ll be doing in April and May to promote Karma Girl. Hope to see you there! :cool: 

    April

    n April 28: I’ll be doing a guest blog about surviving the editing process at Magical Musings and my regular column over at Romancing the Blog.

    May

    n May 5: I’ll be appearing from 10 a.m.-noon at the Thomas Memorial Branch Library in Bluff City, Tenn.

    Then, I’ll be signing books from 1-3 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Johnson City, Tenn.

    And finally, from 4-6 p.m., I’ll be at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. signing books as part of Free Comics Day.

    n May 8: I’ll be doing a reading and signing books from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Madagascar Coffee Co. in Kingsport, Tenn.

    n May 12: I’ll be signing books from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at B Dalton Booksellers in Bristol, Va.

    I’ll be signing books from 4-6 p.m. at Books-A-Million in Johnson City, Tenn.

    n May 26: I’ll be signing books from 1-3 p.m. at Waldenbooks in Kingsport, Tenn.

    n May 27: I’ll be signing books from 2-4 p.m. at Carpe Librum bookstore in Knoxville, Tenn.

    Whew! I’m exhausted just thinking about all these … 😀

  • Another rave review …

    karma-girl-cover.jpgKarma Girl has gotten another awesome review, this time from Fresh Fiction. Here’s what the reviewer, Paula Myers, had to say:

    KARMA GIRL, by new author Jennifer Estep, is a laugh- out-loud roller coaster ride of pure escapist entertainment! Readers are drawn into an amazing world of good and evil and heroes and villains with over-the-top settings and characters. Ms. Estep has painstakingly created a comic book world and populated it with a collection of creatively believable people entwined in a basic battle of good vs. evil, with some romance thrown in on the side.

    When I started reading this story, I had no idea what to expect. And when I read the words “spandex” and “superheroes” in the same paragraph, I was concerned about getting through the next 300+ pages. Well, I was up until 3 a.m. (not good on a school night!) because I couldn’t put this book down! Ms. Estep has a gift for storytelling and showcases it beautifully in what I hope is the first of many adventures of Karma Girl and the Fearless Five. This one is going on my keeper shelf!

    Wow! I’m going on her keeper shelf! Yeah!

  • Off to guest blog …

    Tehcnically, this happened yseterday, but I did a guest blog for Louise Ahearn’s site, Boom! Explosive PR Solutions for Authors, where I talk about what some authors dread the most — being interviewed by a journalist. 

    I recently took Louise’s PR Bootcamp class through Author MBA, and I would highly recommend it. She really makes you work hard and think about branding, themes in your writing, and how you can make the most of them. 

    Enjoy the blog! 🙂

  • ·

    The blogs, they are a’changing …

    I’ve realized something about my blog habits — they’ve changed in recent months.

    When I was first starting out as a writer, I surfed over to Miss Snark’s just about every day. I also checked out blogs by other agents, like Kristin Nelson. Now? Not so much. The truth is I just don’t need info anymore about what to put in a query letter or how to act if an agent calls with an offer of representation. And I find that I get tired of reading about people obsessing about what “not right for us at this time” really means. (It means no people, nothing more, nothing less.)

    Now, I’m into review sites, like Dear Author and The Good, The Bad, and the Unread, and All About Romance. I want to see what people are buzzing about, what’s getting read and what’s not, what’s getting great reviews, and how my own book fits into the scheme of things.

    My blog habits have changed because my writing’s changed. I’ve moved from the desperately-trying-to-get-an-agent phase to the almost-published phase. The wide-eyed newbie has morphed into a slightly savvier, tougher chick. At least, I hope she has. 😎

    What about you? Has your Web surfing changed as your writing career’s taken off? Inquiring minds want to know …