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June 30, 2008 -- Well, I survived release week, yay! Thank you to all of you who went out and bought Lessons From A Courtesan already. And to you who asked booksellers about it if you didn't see it on the shelf. Both are enormously helpful. I hope you love the book! There have already been some wonderful comments from readers, so truly... thank you. It means a great deal to me. If you haven't gotten it yet, hopefully by now all the stores have put it on the shelf. If they haven't, definitely ask!

Okay, so last week I forgot to mention that I have revisions that I got for my NEXT book, Her Notorious Viscount, which comes out in April of next year (and you can already pre-order it on Amazon). They came a couple of Fridays ago, so that was another thing that I worked on last week. I'm almost done with my editor's always-fabulous and insightful comments, so I'm working toward getting this bad boy back to her in the next week.

I have another book due at the same time, Taboo, which is a full-length erotic romance coming out next year (May 2009 as Jess Michaels). Actually, the deadline got shifted a bit to accommodate the revision for HNV, but I'm almost done with it, too. My big personal goal is to have both of these things done and emailed away before I leave for San Francisco. I would love to have a month and a half to enjoy my conference, celebrate my brother's wedding and collapse on my couch before I start my next project.

Yes, Secret Mystery Jenna Historical Series. It's going to be huge. But that is a story for another day.

June 23, 2008 -- IT is here. Lessons From A Courtesan officially hits shelves tomorrow (Tuesday), but I've already had some scattered reports of it being seen in stores.

It's a rather terrifying thing to have a book out. I think it's gotten more scary as I've become what is termed a "midlist" author. You see, as a new author, there weren't really any expectations beyond a very basic base. So if I did that, they were happy, if I exceeded it they were very happy. But the more books I have had out, the more solid their expectations have become. And as a result, I feel the pressure to do at least okay.

So here's hoping people can all find the book (please stock it on time, PLEASE!!), that they actually want to buy the book, that they DO buy the book and that they enjoy it.

So what are you waiting for? Go find Lessons!! ;)

I am always excited when I have a book out. I think my previous diary entries can attest to that fact, but there is something different about this release. I'm as nervous as I was when Scandalous came out and it was my debut!!

Anyway, what this means is that likely a few people will start to see copies in the stores as early as this coming weekend! So if you do see the book and pick it up... please let me know! I'd love to track as it shows up and people see it. No one ever emails me about this, so I'd love to hear from anyone who finds it and where and when! LOL

Oh, and just to add to the fun, Amazon has already put up the link to buy both my next historical and my next erotic romance. So if you want to pre-order A Red Hot Valentine's Day (January 6, Jess Michaels) or Her Notorious Viscount (April 2009, Jenna Petersen) click the links! More on both of them next month-ish

In other news, I've donated a critique to Eloisa James and Julia Quinn's charity auction at their bulletin board. So come on by and bid if you're interested in that sort of thing.

My RWA National Conference schedule is starting to come together. Every year I think this is going to be a light year... and every year I get slammed with things to do. LOL Which is good. I'll be adding a couple more events that are currently tentative in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out! One of them is one people who are staying home can participate in too!

Happy writing all!

Everything Forbidden won the Erotic Category of the From the Heart RWA Lories and is a finalist for overall Best Book.

Everything Forbidden finaled in the Detroit RWA Booksellers Best Contest in the erotic category.

Seduction Is Forever finaled in the Detroit RWA Booksellers Best Contest in the historical category.

Everything Forbidden finaled in the Orange County RWA Bookbuyers Best Contest in the historical category.

Desire Never Dies finaled in the Orange Country RWA Bookbuyers Best Contest in the historical category.

Seduction Is Forever finaled in the First Coast RWA Beacon Contest in hte historical category.

Desire Never Dies finaled in the KOD RWA Daphne Contest in the historical category.

I never spoke of it here, but last year was very... difficult for me professionally, for a wide variety of reasons. I stressed about stuff I couldn't change and worried about stuff that might happen and stuff that DID happen. There are so many things that I just can't share here, even though I've been tempted. I try to be honest, but I also have to keep some things to myself. Things seem to be turning around now (thanks in great part to the efforts, support and endless patience of my lovely editor and wonderful agent), but to see these books, especially, getting some recognition... well, it's very sweet.

Know what else is sweet? That Lessons From A Courtesan will be in stores two weeks from Tuesday. Eep!!

What this break also means is that I'll be catching up on all the things that seem to get put off while I'm finishing a book. So if I haven't emailed you back, answered your comments on MySpace, etc, etc... I'll be doing that soon. Oh, and I've joined up at Facebook, so if you are over there please do friend me!

Oh, and Lessons From A Courtesan is out in less than a month now! Check out that countdown! I'm soooo nervous... if you haven't guessed.

Happy writing everyone!

Another great piece of news is that Seduction Is Forever has finaled in the historical category of the Beacon Award. I found out when the finalists were posted on an email link I'm a member of, so that was very exciting!! And unexpected. When I didn't get a call, I assumed I was out of the running. It's been quite a month for me when it comes to contests! LOL

Finally, this is the last week to bid on anything in the Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research, including the lunch I've donated with me during RWA Natioanl in San Francisco, CA! So if you are waiting until the last minute... this is pretty much it. You can find my lunch by searching for "Jenna Petersen" from the main link above.

Have a great week, everyone!

In other news, as of Saturday, my lunch that I donated to the Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research is sitting right at about $100, so that's pretty nice! You still have almost two weeks to bid, so if you're coming to San Francisco for RWA or you live in that area and want to meet me and pick my brain about... whatever then click on the link above and search for "Jenna Petersen" in order to bid!

One more cool thing. Below you will see the Brazilian cover for From London With Love, which is pretty darn awesome. I love how sweeping and 80s throwback their covers are.

I believe this translates to Seductive Enemy or Enemy Seducer. Yeah, baby!

Of course I was utterly thrilled. We took the groceries home and then went out to lunch to celebrate. After we had ordered, my cell phone rang. It was another of the coordinators in the SAME contest calling to tell me that Everything Forbidden had finaled in the erotic category!

Then on Sunday night, after we had a very nice Mother's Day dinner prepared by Mr. Petersen, our phone rang. It was the coordinator for the Orange County Chapter of RWA to tell me that Desire Never Dies finaled in THEIR Bookbuyers Best contest!! About ten minutes later, the phone rang again and the same coordinator (who had realized Jenna and Jess were the same person) told me that Everything Forbidden also finaled! Both of them are in the historical category.

So it was a pretty good weekend all in all! Wish me luck!!

Otherwise, I wanted to post a little something about my donation to the Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research. I'm sure you all know about this event. Brenda hosts an auction for diabetes research every year and there are super awesome things for writers and readers all over the place and it raises HUGE amounts of money for a great cause.

This year I donated a lunch (though it could be breakfast or dinner, too) during RWA in San Francisco. So if you're in that area or are coming to RWA, you might be interested. Why? Well, I promise full disclosure at any rate. I'll bring extra treats. You ever wanted to ask a question to a published author and get the straight scoop... well, you'll get it from me at this lunch (dinner/breakfast). So... you know that could be good if you manage the right question. ;)

Anyway the proceeds all go to a great cause. So click on the link above, go search for "Jenna Petersen" and my lunch will pop up. The price is pretty low right now, so you could end up with a steal! Or at least a consolation prize if you don't win lunch with that editor/agent/NYT Bestseller you wanted to win lunch with. ;)

Happy writing everyone!

May 5, 2008 -- Well, last week was interesting. On Tuesday my husband booked a weekend getaway for us to Florida, so Thursday-Sunday I was sunning on the beach in Hollywood, FL. It was awesome and totally relaxed me.

This week, I don't plan on getting too much writing done. My Mom is coming for her annual trip on Friday, so I'm going to be getting ready for that. I may not update next Monday, either, it just depends on how busy I am. So look for a maybe/maybe not on that.

I'm about halfway through the erotic right now, with almost two months to go before it's due, so I'm not too, too worried about it at this point. I know I'll get it done.

Have a great week everyone!

April 28, 2008 -- This past weekend, I attended the Chicago-North RWA Spring Fling Conference and it was faboo!! You can see a cool little video of me there at Barbara Vey's Publisher's Weekly Blog. And while you're there, check out the whole thing because it's awesome! I'll post some pictures from the event later at MySpace and here probably.

The nice thing about going to conferences is that I tend to leave them wanting to write! Which is great since I've been a little slack on that lately. This week I want to write at least 50 pages. The next couple of weeks I'll be wrapped up in preparing for and enjoying my Mom's annual visit, so this week I'm hoping to write, write, write before I take a little break.

Thanks to everyone who has already bought Something Reckless! I've heard from a few of you that you found it and a bunch of people bought it this weekend, so I hope you enjoy!

Happy Writing Everyone! See you next week.

April 21, 2008 -- Wow, this is a busy week! Obviously the big news is that Something Reckless is officially in stores tomorrow! I am so excited to have another Avon Red, full-length erotic historical romance out! And Penelope's story was just awesome to write, so I hope you all enjoy reading it if you do pick it up!

This week I'll also be doing some other Events, so be sure to check out where I'll be online and in person. Yup, this weekend I'm making the drive to a suburb of Chicago for the Spring Fling Conference! I won't be presenting, but I will be signing books (hopefully including Something Reckless on Saturday). So if you're a reader or writer in the area, come on by and see me!

Otherwise, I continue to work on Taboo, my next erotic historical. It's coming along. After this week I'll be more than a third of the way to "The End".

April 14, 2008 -- I won! I actually won something. Up until now I've been "Award-Finaling Author Jenna Petersen/Jess Michaels". I final, but I never win. But this past week, I won! I took first place in the Erotic/Steamy category of the Lories, a published contest held by From the Heart RWA (an online chapter). Now all the first place people from all the categories will get sent on to two booksellers who will pick an overall "Best Book of the Year" winner. Winning was very cool, I'm still excited.

One week until Something Reckless comes out, which means there will probably be some sightings later this week. That issue is always a struggle for the midlist writer, probably more so for my mass market books than for my trade releases, since the trades are unlikely to hit bestseller lists of any kind.

Still, if even  a few hundred sales trickle out before the release of a book, it can mean the difference between appearing on a list and not appearing, between hitting in a postiion that makes the publisher sit up and notice and that makes the publisher say nothing at all.

I used to stress over that more, but now I feel more Zen about it. Honestly, if a reader finds my book, I would much rather they buy it right then and there and enjoy it, rather than keep themselves from buying it and maybe forgetting about it later. The sale to me is more important than the timing of the sale.

Besides, it's really a publisher/bookseller issue. The publishers have to convince the booksellers to protect street dates more strenuously. If that happens, then readers won't have to hesitate and writers won't have to worry.

Bottom line: if you see my book and you want to buy it, by all means do! I love you for it. :)

In other news, I'm busily writing away on my next erotic historical as Jess, Taboo. Finally, I'm getting my act together and getting words on paper! Go me!

April 7, 2008 -- Just two weeks left and Something Reckless will be on shelves. It's so funny to get to this place because I turned the book in so long ago and then I forget about it for a while and then suddenly it's really coming and it takes forever to get here. And then it's here and I'm freaked out about it doing okay.

You know, typical author neuroses.

Last week was a total wash. Between illness and weather-blahs and just life in general, I didn't write nearly as much as I'd hoped. But this week I'm back to the grind again. I just have to get back on track with my writing and my diet/exercise and my schedule in general. This is the week. REALLY!! This is it!!!

In other news, I've begun fiddling with a new idea for my next historical. And I think it's going to start a new series, so yay for ideas!

Happy writing all.

March 31, 2008 -- I'm home! We had a wonderful, spectacular, amazing trip of a lifetime in China. It was just... perfect in every way. I've posted some pictures at MySpace, and I've also uploaded a new album at my Avon site, but it may not be up just yet, keep checking.

Of course now it's time to start getting back to normal, whatever that is! I'm hoping to be awake and alert enough to start writing my next erotic romance, which is due July 15. Right now it's titled Taboo. If you read Everything Forbidden, you might recall the seamstress, Cassandra Willows, who supplied Ethan with the special... toy for Miranda's pleasure.

Well, Cassandra is getting her own story. :)

Oh, and did I mention that we're just a few weeks away from the release of Something Reckless? I can't wait for this story to hit shelves! I hope you'll all like it!

One last thing, I just sold Spanish rights to all three Lady Spies books! So if you are in Spain, you'll be able to find them in the next couple of years or so. I'll let you know if I get more details.

Off to wake myself up and get ready to write. Maybe.

March 10, 2008 -- After months of planning and anticipating and packing... it's here! It's finally here!! My husband and I will be boarding a plane on our way to China on Wednesday, March 12!! So obviously, that's what I'm all about this week. LOL No updates for the next couple of weeks while we travel. I also won't be online at all, so I won't be answering email. Please be patient.

Last week I pretty much just finished up all the busywork/prep work for our trip. Page proofs for Lessons From A Courtesan are back in New York now, which means that book is totally done and out of my hands. I have no other work to do until we get back and I start on Taboo, my next erotic romance that is due July 15.

Oh, and I found out that Everything Forbidden has finaled in the historical category of the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence! I found out in the grocery store. You can read all about it here.

Have a wonderful couple of weeks, everyone! Talk to you again on March 31!

March 3, 2008 -- What a crazy week! On Monday, my very first nephew arrived, so welcome to the world Jake! Later in the week, I received the page proofs for Lessons From A Courtesan (July 2008). They'll be back in New York this week, but I do adore seeing them. The book feels so real! Also, we'll be leaving for China next week (eep!!!), so I've spent a good deal of time just getting ready for that! Wow, we're so excited.

Here's how my vacation will work. Next Monday, I will post an update. We leave March 12, so I will not be updating March 17 for sure. We get back very late March 23, but I don't intend to update on March 24 at this point just because I'm sure we're going to be jetlagged and swamped with trying to catch up with family and friends and work items. But I will update on March 31.

If you are on MySpace, I'll be more likely to check in and say hi there some time midweek. The address is http://myspace.com/jennawrites. You don't have to be a friend to read my blogs. I'm not sure if you have to be a friend to look at pictures (which I'll post up there when I have time).

In the meantime, this week I'm obviously planning to run around like a chicken without a head, trying to finish getting everything ready and generally losing my mind before I leave. So really... nothing very different from any other day. :) Happy writing everyone!

February 25, 2008 -- Not a lot to report writing-wise. I ended up talking to my lovely agent before she headed "across the pond" for the week and she really liked both books I just turned in. Yay! She's such a great advocate. She reads everything I write, so she has a sense of my work as a whole and can really discuss it with me in a way that is so helpful. She never buts in with her voice, but she is always available for help with plotting and with insightful comments to make things better. Which rules. Yay for agents. Now I'm just hoping my fantabulous editor likes both as much. That would be sweet!

Otherwise, this past week was all about housecleaning. It seems like when I get heavy into the writing, the house suffers first. Now I've sort of got a handle on the main living space, so this week I will go down into the depths. The storage room. (Cue scary music). Yeah. Super exciting.

Oh, and this Friday is the last day to enter the February contest at Jenna Petersen. So be sure to stop on by if you haven't already and enter! The prize is a cute little Avon Ebook lipstick drive.

Happy Writing, all!

February 18, 2008 -- This last week was so productive, it was awesome. Not only did I finish the revision for my novella, but I was able to ship both books off to my editor over a month early. The really cool thing is that I'm feeling really good about both stories. And now it's all China for me.

Speaking of China, I had to get immunizations (blech, my arms hurt!!!) and send off our VISA applications. With those things done, I'm starting to get obsessed about packing, especially since our bag weight is pretty limited coming into the country. I'm thinking I'm going to be recycling outfits and mixing and matching quite a bit, plus getting laundry done, maybe when we reach Xi'an (the middle part of our trip). I've become such a clothes horse in the last year that only taking such a limited selection of clothes is painful. LOL

I've also started thinking about what I should be writing for my next historical. I have an erotic romance due first (July 15), but I'll need to turn in a synopsis for my next historical at some point in the next couple of months. It's funny, I have some secondary characters from both Lessons From A Courtesan and A Gentleman's Sin who might be interesting to play with, but I'm also considering starting with someone new. So it's a conundrum. Someone I know or someone new... choices, choices!

Happy Writing Everyone!

Oh and I got an early Valentine's present from my love! New laptop (my old one is awesome, but getting a huge screen was better in theory than in practice for many reasons). This one is so cute and so nice! He takes such great care of me. And that's a hero, people!

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you have much romance, whether in a book or in real life or both!

February 4, 2008 -- Well, despite being sick (maybe some people can write along blithely while ill, but I'm not really one of them), I did manage to finish my Red novella this week. Most of it was during the latter part of the week when I could actually BREATHE again. It's a 'friends turned to lovers' story and I loved it. I don't think I've ever written that kind of interaction between a hero and heroine before and it was awesome!

This week I'll let it sit because I'll be starting the revision on my historical that is due April 1 (so is the novella). It's still mostly title-less. I'm going with A Gentleman's Sin right now. Which sucks, by the way. I sort of loathe it. But I'm bad at titles. Oh well.

Oh, this week I'm also teaching a class at From the Heart Romance Writers. Check out My Events for more info.

Wish I was more interesting. I'm still a little foggy-headed from being sick. :)

January 28, 2008 -- This week was plotting week for me! Had to plot the new novella (which I'm writing this week) and do plot work for my next full-length Red that I'll be starting as soon as we get home from China! I have found I'm really loving the plotting. I especially love doing character work. That's where my characters surprise me most. I'm very excited about writing both books. In fact, I will be heading off to work on the novella as soon as this week's update is published. That is, if my nasty head cold lets me. We'll see how far I get before I have to collapse for a couple of hours.

In other news, I also just added a brand new presentation to My Workshops. This one is about how to write like you mean it, and by that I mean make more time for your writing and get your output up! You can't sell a book unless you write a book and I know that's a tough proposition for a lot of people. I don't do presentations one-on-one, but if your conference or chapter would like me to present any of my workshops to them, I'm open to travel. I also do online courses. All your chapter has to do is Contact Me. And if you want to take a class from me, just take a look at My Events.

January 21, 2008 -- After the craziness of the last couple of weeks, I finally got a chance to do some catch-up. When you're not yet published, it's really easy to just concentrate on the writing and the dream of being published. And then you get published and there's all this other stuff that you don't necessarily think about. For example, copyedits, which I did finish and send back on time.

Also, promo. I had to finish up doing an ad for Romance $ells for Something Reckless, so I had to get the stuff together for that. When I was cleaning out my closet in my office, I also found the second box of bookmarks for my November release Everything Forbidden, so I had to find places to send those to get them out and about. Same thing with contests, which are starting up for published books now (best of 2007 type stuff), so there was busy work to be done there.

Oh, and I came up with an idea for a new workshop to get rotated in to my presentation info. So I've been working on that.

Oh yeah... and then I got offered a novella in a collection that will be out around Valentine's Day next year from Avon Red! Which I was not expecting, so I also had to figure out an idea, write up a little synopsis, get some character work done and then plot out my timing so I can get everything done before I head to China!

See, little stuff. Nothing really, really major, but when all put together... yeah, that's another story. LOL But it's all good busywork! I'm totally not complaining. I was just thinking the other day that my life is pretty blessed. So hooray for busywork and employment and friends and love in general.

January 14, 2008 -- Sorry about last week's update. I know it was really late and the diary entry was short and sort of weird. I actually forgot to update. Almost a decade doing this (in 2009!!) and I actually forgot I was doing it. I think it was leftover holiday brain coupled with BIAW brain. So, sorry!

Anyway, the BIAW went very well. My goal was 120 pages and I actually wrote 139 and... Tada!!... finished my book. Which is awesome! Actually, it's beyond awesome. I feel a huge weight off having this rough draft finished and ready to revise next month. For the rest of THIS month (after a short break to make my hands stop throbbing), I will be working on prep for my next erotic romance, which is currently called Taboo and is due in July. I'll need to start writing it right after we get back from China, so I want to be ready. It's got a synopsis and everything, but I actually did everything backward this time. I still need character sheets and some scene sketches so I'll be ready to start the week after I get back.

Actually, I was rather insane to do a BIAW last week since on Friday I had to take the train up to Chicago for a couple of work events for my hubby. Oh, and I had copyedits to work on. They are actually very good, I liked the copyeditor this time. So far, she hasn't mucked about with my voice and made a few good catches on things I'd missed. However, it still is sort of weird work because I realized I wanted to add a small plot point and chapter headers for all 22 chapters. Copyedits are the last place in the Avon line where you can actually make major changes like that, so that's what I'm going to be finishing up this week. Still, I think the book is going to be a little stronger for all of it, so that makes it worthwhile. Yay for Lessons From A Courtesan (July 2008, Jenna Petersen).

But I digress, as usual. Happy writing this week! More copyediting for me this week and sleeping and breaking.

January 7, 2008 -- This week I'm back to work after my holiday hiatus. Actually, yesterday I started a BIAW (Book In A Week) challenge, so I'm hoping to get pretty close to done with the book this week. I'm still searching for the right title, but these things tend to change anyway, so I'm not that concerned. Since I'm doing BIAW, though, next week's update may be a bit sparse.

Otherwise, I'm boring. :) And writing.

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