LAST CHANCE CHICKIE! If you haven’t entered for the $3,000 Big Romance Author Spring Giveaway yet, you’re missing out. Some lucky chick is going to win all that money. It could be you. Share this post then click the chick pic to enter! It’s EASY! And there are 100 different ways to do it. Go nuts! Good luck!!! http://hmward.com/blog/?p=367 LINK TO YOUR BLOG POST

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  Terms & conditions are listed on the rafflecopter. Read it for full details. The winner will be chosen on May 1, 2016 and contacted via the email address they used to enter. CHECK YOUR EMAIL! The winner’s name will also be posted on the rafflecopter widget above. Participating Romance Authors: 101 different authors came together to make this giveaway possible. If you’ve been looking for a new book boyfriend, or you’re literally famished between your fave author’s releases, check out some of my peeps! They write in various hot romance genres including contemporary romance, new adult romance, erotic romance, steamy romance, urban fantasy romance, dystopian romance, historical romance, futuristic/ sci-fi/ fantasy romance, Teen/ YA romance, inspirational romance and time travel romance!

Enter the giveaway

H.M. Ward Kim Golden Drew Jordan Christi Caldwell Scarlett Metal Chris Almeida & Cecilia Aubrey Heidi McLaughlin Jenny Gardiner Stacey Joy Netzel Merry Farmer Mallory Crowe Julia Kent Jean Oram Vella Day Meli Raine Sherri Hayes Jayne Rylon Sarah M. Cradit Erica Ridley Christine Zolendz Beverly Preston Marquita Valentine Melissa Storm Dana Marton Amy Bartol Michelle Fox Magan Vernon Ainsley Booth Venessa Kimball Sidney Bristol K.M. Scott C.C.Wood J.M. Miller Zara Keane Eliza Knight L.P. Dover Sadie Haller Patricia McLinn Suzanne Rock Katherine Lowry Logan Erin Richards Tori Scott Danielle Stewart P.T. Michelle Suzan Tisdale T.M. Franklin Evelyn Adams S.E. Hall Lauren Hawkeye Josie Bordeaux Melanie Marchande Raci Ames Catherine Gayle Sam Cheever J.M Cole Brooke Blaine Ella Frank Allison Bell Cristin Harber Jacki Delecki Tawdra Kandle Sydney Logan Laura Kaye Laura Kamoie Evie Harper P.J. Fiala Taylor Law Pamela DuMond D.L. Roan Jenni Moen LG Castillo Rachel Schurig Nina Levine Rachel Hanna Cheryl Bradshaw Jessica Scott Beth Yarnall J.T. Geissinger Stacey Mosteller Kylie Gilmore Maryann Jordan Cari Quinn Lauren Royal Renea Mason Christine Bell Felicia Tatum Fabio Bueno RaShelle Workman Nana Malone Annika Martin Sophia Knightly Nikki Lynn Barrett Marian Tee Sarah Castille Allyn Lesley Ambrielle Kirk Jami Davenport Bonnie R. Paulson Laura Stapleton Kennedy Layne

TERMS & CONDITIONS: Must be 18 years of age or older to win. No cash value. Void where prohibited. Open to international & US residents. *The winner will receive an e-gift card via PayPal in the amount of $3000USD for this prize.* Winner must have: 1. an email account, 2. may be requested to fill out additional paperwork for tax purposes, and 3. must have a PayPal account to accept the prize. We are not responsible for fees taken by PayPal for this transaction, nor are we in any way responsible for VAT and/ or taxes. We are not responsible for items damaged or lost in the e-mail. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. We hereby release Facebook of any liability. By entering you agree that we are in no way to be held liable for anything pertaining to this giveaway. Winner(s) will be contacted by email 72 hours after the giveaway ends. You must claim your prize within 48 hours or it is forfeited and another winner will be selected. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send us an email!

While the phrase “it takes a village” always sounds a little cliche, it really does hold true for the career of most writers. It’s the rare author who launches from the starting gate into the stratosphere without many people behind her (or him) helping in so many ways.

It’s hard to even recount some of the many, many people who have helped me to get to where I am at this point in my career. Certainly first and foremost to thank is my husband, whose constant support has bolstered me through the ups and downs I’ve experienced as a writer. And I’m most appreciative of his reliable income: when mine was most unreliable, I was still able to persist in my efforts to help sustain us financially with my income as an author. Without him I could not have continued to try to plug away at a career as an author. And my kids, who have ridden the highs and lows alongside me as well and been my biggest cheerleaders. That goes for so very many family members who have been there for me on the sidelines (starting with my mom, who bought me my first laptop so I could write books while waiting for my kids at various after school practices and while on the road for soccer matches).

Many fellow authors loom large for me: those who have been in the trenches alongside me and shared in the frustrations and successes—and there have been many of both. These include writers I’ve befriended and become good friends with online, some from writing groups, others I’ve met at conferences. And of course the lovely ladies of the Girlfriends Book Club—an amazing group and super supportive. Many of my writer friends are women and it’s a unique sisterhood we all have forged for ourselves in this business that has often been inherently more challenging for women than men. But there are a lot of guys who write whose input and support has been invaluable as well.

And there are authors who were way ahead of me in the business and were kind enough to reach a hand down to help pull me up: the lovely and hilarious Meg Cabot, who kindly blurbed my first novel for me; Jane Porter as well for that matter. And a host of author friends who kindly took the time to read and blurb my books also, which is asking a lot when they have their own books to write and edit: Kristy Kiernan, Eileen Cook (who’s got the book of the spring launching soon!), Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Suzanne MacPherson, Bev Katz Rosenbaum, Wade Rouse (who also has a much buzzed-about book coming out soon), Beth Hoffman, Sarah Pekkanen, Ad Hudler.

And some top-tier authors who are all-around good people: the late Pat Conroy, such a lovely, humble and exceedingly talented writer, and Jamie Ford, so funny and so poignant, both come to mind.

Along the way I’ve had some terrific editors, who help so much to polish a book to its full luster: Chris Keeslar, Emily Westlake, both in the land of traditional publishing, and now folks like Anne Victory and Nikki Busch, Jen Pooley (who will honestly tell you when you need to know when to fold ’em), and Bev Katz Rosenbaum. I couldn’t be where I am without thanking Kim Killion, who creates excellent covers for my books. And my assistant Joanne Levy, who truly has the patience of a saint when it comes to disorganized me.

And I can’t forget my excellent agent Holly Root who without doubt has the patience of Job with me…and who will one day get The Book from me. It’s fermenting in my brain as I write this. And a shout-out to agent Jeff Kleinman, who gave me lots of early encouragement when I really needed it.

And last but of course far from least, loyal and lovely readers: without whom I’d never have gotten past my first novel—and wow, did readers help to bolster my confidence when I launched my first novel! I’d be an awfully lonely writer without supportive readers, who send the most wonderful emails and post awesome reviews just because they’re really nice people, and who continue to seek out books I’ve written and pop in to say hi when they’re on Facebook (and, um, maybe even send me some adorable panda pictures, which I love to obsess over): I can’t say enough about how grateful I am to you all, who have stuck with me over the years and given me the impetus to keep on keeping on in this crazy business, because I know there are people out there who enjoy reading the books I write. For that I can’t say thank you enough!

Geeze, I didn’t mean to get all Academy Award on you here–not like I’ve been handed a gold statue and been asked for my acceptance speech or anything! But I think it is so important to thank everyone who has contributed to my getting here: I think more so in publishing than in  most traditional jobs, an author stands on many, many strong shoulders to get to where they’ve gotten, and to you all I say thank you, thank you, thank you! (and if I forgot to mention you, many mea culpas for that failure!).

Great news! I just released Throne for a Loop, book six in my It’s Reigning Men series! It’s available here: iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, GooglePlay, Nook

And what do you think of the cover for book 7? I love it! It’s available for pre-order, coming out May 24! You can get it here: iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, GooglePlay

Oh and for a limited time I’ve got an awesome free book for you if you sign up for my newsletter: Something in the Heir, book 1 of the It’s Reigning Men series! Sign up here http://eepurl.com/baaewn and you’ll be first to hear about deals and giveaways.

I have mixed feelings about resolutions. I mean when it gets down to it, they seem like a self-flagellating set-up for failure (by the way, I was going to post a picture of self-flagellation just for a laugh, but all the pictures I found were absolutely gross!). As if something miraculous happens at the stroke of midnight that means all of a sudden you’re going to eliminate sugar while binging on kale, exercise two hours a day, write masterpieces and publish them at a rate of one per month, master the fine art of marketing, and oh, while you’re at it, make world peace a reality. 

Yeah, I’ll get right on that.

I know some folks who are serious goal-setters, with annotated bucket lists (I really do not love the whole bucket list concept—it feels really trite to me), but if it works for them, good on ’em. I know one gal who is a bucket lister-extraordinaire: somewhere hovering around # 70 was this bold ambition: go to medical school. Well, last spring, at the age of 54, she completed her undergraduate degree, and now, at age 55, is enrolled in medical school. I can’t tell you how impressive I think this is–I mean, damn, what an undertaking. While the rest of us are lamenting hot flashes and praying to God for an early retirement, she has undertaken a whopping commitment that will have her busting her ass (and never sleeping, though maybe she’s maximizing the downsides to hot flashing all night)) well into her 60’s—and that’s before she even ends her training. WOW! That is A-MAZING to me. That said, she’s left teenaged kids home with her husband, which is something I could never do. Although what a cool example to set for your kids. But then again, you only have your kids with you for such a short period, it would break my heart to leave them behind like that. But that’s just me.

Okay so on to my resolutions. I do have writing goals that I am determined to achieve, and I do believe it helps to write them down, not only to just have it there in black and white, but to help you see it and remind yourself of it and even, if you’re lucky, tick off some of those achievements when they occur (usually a few years later).

Now’s time for you to laugh. I just took a look at my 2016 Goals for Writing (which I’d forgotten to look at since I wrote it a month ago). Top of the list?

1. Organize my life

Well, crap. So far, not so good on that one. Believe me, if/when I achieve this one, I’ll let y’all know.

the rest are in no particular order, and I’d just like you all to light a candle or two on my behalf if you have it in your heart that maybe I can get through these this year:

2. Master Facebook ads (i.e. listen to, then apply my 50-hour tutorial on FB ads)

3. Build mailing list

4. Write lots more books (haha, don’t ya like how I didn’t write a number. Though I’ve got 5 slated to publish and in my fantasies I’d write at least 3 more. Operative word being “fantasies”. Perhaps this is how I maximize that failure to sleep that menopause imposes on us at this age.

5. Have books made into audio books (this will be when the money starts falling from trees, or when I master Facebook ads, whichever comes first)

6. Have books translated into German (see #5 as far as realistic goal)

7. Make bestsellers lists.

So there you have it. I have my work cut out for me. And as I scramble to meet my deadline with a book to my editor by January 30, again, I will put it out there that I wouldn’t turn it down if you all wanted to light a candle for me to actually get it all together. 

And if I don’t? Well, there’s always 2017…

Oh hey! I accomplished something I forgot to write down. It was really an overlap from 2015 but it happened, so yay me: I overhauled my website, and it just got finalized last week. Feel free to check it out and tell me what you think! https://www.jennygardiner.net (now wish me luck with maintaining it, technophobe that I am…).

While you’re over there, I’ve got an awesome free book for you if you sign up for my newsletter: Something in the Heir, book 1 of my It’s Reigning Men series! Sign up here http://eepurl.com/baaewn and you’ll be first to hear about deals and giveaways.