Author: Jennifer Lane

Thank you to Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews for hosting the Streamline Blog Tour (and creating this beautiful banner)!

Here is where you enter for the grand prize of a $25 gift card of your choice (Amazon, etc.)

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STREAMLINE TOUR SCHEDULE
(We’ll post links when they’re up!)

Monday, May 7:
The Autumn Review ~ Review & Giveaway
The Fairytale Nerd ~ Excerpt #1 & Giveaway
StuckInBooks ~ Review & Giveaway
A Diary Of A Book Addict ~ Review
The Bookish Babes ~ Review
Tater’s Tall Tails ~ Excerpt #2 & Giveaway
Book Nerd ~ Review
Realm of Fiction ~ Interview with Leo & Giveaway
A Pocket Full of Books  ~ Excerpt & Giveaway
Splash Of Our Worlds ~ Review
The Book Barbies ~ The Writer’s Cave & Giveaway
Journey with Books ~ Review & Interview with Audrey
Supernatural Snark ~ Review

Tuesday, May 8:
Sweet Southern Home ~ Review & Giveaway
Chapter by Chapter ~ Review
Maji Bookshelf ~ Review
Insightful Minds ~ Review
Kindle and Me ~ Excerpt #3 & Giveaway

Wednesday, May 9:
FireStarBooks ~ Excerpt #4 & Giveaway
Pink Polka Dot Book Blog ~ Review
J.R. After Dark ~ Review
So Simply Sara ~ Review
Little Library Muse ~ Review
Cozy Up With A Good Read ~ Review & Excerpt #5
Mostly YA Book Obsessed ~ Author Interview
A Trail of Books Left Behind ~ Review
Nicole’s YA Book Haven ~ Excerpt #6 & Giveaway

Thursday, May 10:
JJ iReads  ~ Review & Excerpt #6
Refracted Light | YA Book Reviews ~ Top 10 with Jennifer Lane, Interview, & Giveaway
Living Fictitiously ~ Review & Top 10 with Audrey
Journey with Books ~ Review & Excerpt #7
Letters Inside Out ~ Review
Novels On The Run ~ Review
Livin’ Life Through Books ~ Top 10 with Leo & Giveaway
Shiirleyy’s Bookshelf ~ Excerpt #8 & Giveaway

Friday, May 11:
I solemnly swear that I’m up to a book ~ Review
Electrifying Reviews ~ Music Playlist & Giveaway
We Fancy Books ~ Review/Creating Chemistry & Giveaway
Good Choice Reading ~ Excerpt #9 & Giveaway

Saturday, May 12:
The Magic Attic ~ 6 Words for STREAMLINE & Giveaway (visiting the Girls Who Fly blog)
A Tale of Many Reviews ~ Twitter conversation & Giveaway
Jennifer Lane’s Blog ~ Dream Cast and Grand Prize

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I kind of miss April’s A to Z Blogging Challenge. Therefore, guest blogger Heather Smith is bringing you one more “Z” post as she talks about finding zeal in your blogging.  Take it away, Heather!

Anyone can be a blogger.

Anyone.

Take a look around the blog world and you’ll see people of all walks of life blogging about their passions, their lives, or what they think will make them money.

But not everyone can be a successful blogger. A second, closer look at the blogging world will show that there are definite ranks in blogging. There are the big-time bloggers who have made an empire out of their blogs, the successful ones that blog on the side but still have amassed a loyal readership, and the blogs that rarely see the light of day.

So what does it take to be a successful blogger?

1. Consistent posting: It’s the only way you’ll gain a steady readership. People don’t like to commit to reading blogs that are sporadic with their posting at best. You have to be dependable with your posting – whether it’s once a week or once a month, so long as there is some rhyme and reason to how you approach it.

2. A loyal readership: Once you develop a loyal base readership they’ll be your biggest fans and the best promoters of your blog. They’ll want to share you work so that more people will see what you have to say because they feel they have a relationship with you. In fact, it’s sort of reminiscent of a proud mother, wanting to showcase your work and share your insight.

3. A high level of zealousness: This is the differentiating factor between regular bloggers and the successful ones – the pure, unadulterated passion with which they approach their particular niche in the blogging market. Readers can quickly see when someone is posting just to get up content and when someone is posting something that they are enthusiastic about, something that they love and that they really believe in.

Anyone can be a blogger, sure. But not everyone can be a great blogger. Zealousness makes all the difference.

Author Bio

Heather Smith is an ex-nanny. Passionate about thought leadership and writing, Heather regularly contributes to various career, social media, public relations, branding, and parenting blogs/websites. She also provides value to nanny service by giving advice on site design as well as the features and functionality to provide more and more value to nannies and families across the U.S. and Canada. She can be available at H.smith7295 [at] gmail.com.

In honor of young adults everywhere (including those adults who are young at heart), Z is for ZOMG!

My first A to Z Challenge has come to an end, with the last day of April and the last letter of the alphabet.

Overall I’m glad I participated. I hope this exercise will help me blog more frequently–if I can blog every day, surely I can blog twice a week. My pub sister Nicki Elson is the one who encouraged me to give the Challenge a try, and it’s great she introduced me to this universe.

The best part of the challenge was meeting new bloggers! Here are some of the noteworthy writers and bloggers I came across:

*Roland Yeomans at Writing in the Crosshairs blog: His dead and undead characters in New Orleans have been interesting to follow!

*Kyra Lennon at Write Here Write Now blog: She just finished her sports romance (I love this genre) and it was great to hear from the various characters on a professional soccer team

*Heather Gardner at The Waiting is the Hardest Part blog: The adventures of the gnome Stormy kept me giggling throughout the challenge.

Thank you to the organizers of the challenge, including authors Karen Jones Gowan and Alex J Cavanaugh! Alex and Nicki are part of the Insecure Writers Support Group and I want to join that group once I finish my upcoming blog tour.

If I participate next year, I hope to write some posts in advance and visit more blogs. I think a theme might be too constraining but it’s interesting to consider. Have a great week, everyone!

In the midst of writing adult romantic suspense books (The Conduct Series), I decided to publish a Young Adult novel I’d written back in 2007: Streamline.

It’s been interesting to cross genres so far, and I have a feeling I’m in for quite an education with the upcoming blog tour for Streamline on May 7-12. About 40 YA bloggers will be reviewing my baby, eek!

This story isn’t your typical YA, for several reasons:

1) It’s 129,000 words, when most YA’s are about 80,000. (It started over 200K words(!), so my editor and I have done a LOT of chopping.)

2) It features many points of view beyond the hero (Leo) and heroine (Audrey), including parents, siblings, and coaches.

3) It’s a murder mystery that’s for older teens and adults due to mature themes of abuse, violence, and sexual situations.

4) There’s no love triangle.

Because of these anomalies, I’m nervous about the reception to the novel by passionate bloggers. I hope there’s room for my unique take on YA! Regardless, I’m sure this will be a learning experience that will help me become a better writer.

What’s your favorite genre to read? If you’re a writer, have you crossed genres?

Are you a fan of erotica? I’m a prude at heart, and I used to blush when reading any sex scene. But when I started reading and writing fan fiction, my reaction changed. Now I enjoy a well-written sex scene, and I’ve read quite a few stories with BDSM, male-male romance, and kink . . . nothing fazes me anymore. I do prefer more plot than sex in romance novels, but a well-crafted intimate scene that advances plot and characterization is wonderful.

At my book club last night (see the Book Club tab above to learn more about these lovely ladies) we not only discussed our chosen read for the month (see my review of the hilarious Domestic Violets HERE), but also the erotica Dom-sub sensation Fifty Shades of Grey.

I still haven’t read Fifty but I must see what it’s all about soon. My friend Sally wasn’t impressed by the writing but there’s definitely something in there that keeps you reading.

Sally shared one theory about our attraction to books like Twilight and Fifty: women want to be desired. Edward and Christian desire their objects of affection so much that they become possessive and stalkerish, and women are drawn to such adulation.

Do you enjoy erotica? Why do you think Fifty Shades of Grey is so popular?

Have you heard of actor Wentworth Miller? He’s my favorite actor, and an inspiration for my writing. I loved him in the TV show Prison Break. He played the lead character Michael Scofield with intelligence, passion, suaveness, and just the right amount of vulnerability. I think he is so sexy!

Who’s your favorite actor or actress? How have they inspired you?

And now it’s time for the Author Blog Bounce! Check out instructions HERE.

A character that fascinates me is the vixen. I’m referring to the slang definition of vixen–“a sexually provocative female”–not “a woman regarded as quarrelsome, shrewish, or malicious”.

My favorite TV vixen is Samantha Jones from Sex and the City.

Do you remember the melon episode? Kim Cattrall plays her brilliantly.

She cracks me up. Samantha is coy, intelligent, sexually adventurous, and disdainful of monogamy. She doesn’t want to marry and she sure as hell doesn’t want children.

My mother, who is in her seventies, claims that women like Samantha Jones don’t really exist…that women aren’t really sexual aggressors. I have to admit I don’t have any friends like Samantha, but I believe there are women out there who do crave sexin’ it up with multiple partners.

What do YOU think?

**Blogger help!** The past two scheduled posts have not published. Is that happening to anyone else? Any suggestions for how to fix it?

Here’s my review of my favorite read of 2011:

What a perfect title to describe the real-life hero of this novel, Louie Zamperini: UNBROKEN.

One tip for writers to evoke emotion in their stories is to put their characters through hell, and I’ve never witnessed such emotional torture of a character. I was on the verge of tears for most of the book and at one point sobbed, reading what Louie suffered. What makes this story even more emotionally compelling is that Louie isn’t a fictional character. He’s a real Olympic runner, Air Force veteran, and inspirational speaker, now age 94.

Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit, did exhaustive research for this novel and I’m proud to say I attended the same liberal arts college as she did (Kenyon College). I loved learning about the early days of competitive running . . . the firm belief that no human could break the 4:00 mile barrier . . . archaic ideas that training hills would make a runner slower . . . the cruise ship completely hindering training and race preparation as the American athletes traveled to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics.

But what was most educational were there fascinating details of WWII. I had no idea that rescue flights for downed air crew over the Pacific were so unsuccessful. Rescue missions often caused even more deaths. Most WWII novels and movies cover the European theater, but The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons taught me about the events in Russia, and this novel Unbroken really educated me about Japan’s role in the Pacific.

My book club recently read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which highlighted the unfair treatment of Japanese-Americans in the internment camps during WWII. Unbroken shows a very different side—the unimaginable cruelty of the Japanese toward their prisoners of war. I developed a thirst for vengeance reading what these poor POW’s suffered. But to seek vengeance or to view only one side is to miss the point of this novel and of Louie’s life entirely. Louie’s indomitable, forgiving spirit is truly a gift of God. His story is such a spiritual masterpiece that it absolutely confirms my faith in God. Gah, I’m welling up in tears again just writing this review!

It’s so rare to find a meaningful read like this one. I know Louie’s story will stay with me for some time.

I had the pleasure of watching my favorite movie in 3D yesterday: TITANIC.

What an incredible love story! The romance has all the elements I find intriguing: a strong hero and heroine, sacrifice, drama and humor, star-crossed lovers facing all sorts of conflicts including different backgrounds and a meddling third party, but most of all…two people making each other better through their love.

And of course I loved Rose guessing Dr. Freud would have something to say about men being obsessed with size, and Mr. Ismay replying, “I haven’t heard of this Dr. Freud…is he a passenger?” Hee hee.

Have you ever referred to a movie in your writing? I’m about 2/5 done with On Best Behavior, the third novel in The Conduct Series (adult romantic suspense). I just had to mention Titanic leading up to a love scene between my hero and heroine, Grant and Sophie. Here’s an excerpt:

           She didn’t need to tell him again.

What’s YOUR favorite movie? If you’re a writer, have you referred to the movie in your writing?

I’m getting my post up a bit late today, plagued by a bad cold that has stolen my voice. It was interesting doing psychotherapy yesterday with my lame squeaky rasps! Hopefully I did some excellent listening.

Streamline is my third release, though it was the first novel I wrote. It involves competitive swimming–a sport dear to me. I started swimming year-round at age eight and continued through college. I still swim a couple of miles twice a week with friends.

How do you streamline in the pool? Align your body after the dive or push-off to “spear” through the water with minimal resistance. Here’s a beautiful streamline:

(And a beautiful body!) How do YOU streamline when you meet up with resistance in your life?

This young adult murder mystery just launched 3-27-12, and I’m looking forward to the Streamline blog tour May 7-12, hosted by Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews. Julie’s signed up about 40 Young Adult bloggers and we’ll offer a $25 gift card as the grand prize.

Early readers have told me Streamline is a page-turner, as evidenced by comments from two Goodreads readers this morning:

Hallie wrote:  On page 103. “This is not my cup of tea. Can’t remember why I got it, either. But stayed up too late last night reading it anyway, so draw your own conclusions…”

Victoria wrote: On page 103. “Swimming and navy. Two plot combinations I know a lot about. Can’t put it down.”

Ha ha ha! I love the varied reactions to the same novel. Swimming and the US Navy may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I hope the story will captivate readers.

See you Monday when I plan to post about Titanic, my favorite movie.