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Jenny on the BLOCKED! New #College #Volleyball #Release 10/21/14

I started writing Blocked over a year ago, and release day is finally HERE.

Cover Design by Coreen Montagna

Want to win stuff? Attend these events to win books, gift cards, cookies, and bookmarks!

FACEBOOK Party Tuesday 10/21 11:00 – 3:00 EST HERE

AToMR Tours Release Event with over 30 blogs participating. Enter the giveaway HERE.

Blocked Review Tour, including another giveaway, HERE.

Add Blocked to your Goodreads shelf.

And find Blocked on Amazon.

Lastly, if you’re near Cincinnati, Ohio this weekend, stop by the Queen City Indie Con where I’ll sign books and give away Blocked cookies and Streamline swim caps.


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Excerpt #NA #Volleyball #Romance BLOCKED Releasing 10-21-14


Have you added Blocked to your Goodreads shelf yet? Enter a giveaway for a signed print copy. We’re less than one month away from the launch of the New Adult volleyball romance.

Here’s an excerpt from chapter 2, Dane’s perspective.

“Lucia!” Coach Holter barked.

Ignoring him, she took a step toward me. Her long braid whipped behind her shoulder. “I have my reasons for being here, and it’s not about the election.”

“What reasons?”

“C’mon,” said the agent with blond curly hair as she put her arm around Lucia’s shoulders. Her voice lowered. “Your coach is having a cow.”

“Oh, no.” Lucia closed her eyes, turned, and made a beeline for the classroom. At the door, Coach Holter grabbed her shoulder and jabbed his finger toward her chest. I couldn’t hear his words, but he was pissed. Lucia’s head lowered as she nodded, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Her thick, black hair shone. She wore modest dresses on the campaign trail, but her volleyball practice uniform — a form-fitting gray T-shirt and black Spandex shorts — was far superior. The toned muscles of her arms and long-ass legs left no doubt she was a scholarship athlete. Whether or not she could really play — to earn that scholarship — was yet to be seen. She didn’t have much of a chest, but the luscious curve of her butt more than compensated. Talk about junk in the trunk. Damn. Why’d all of that have to belong to her?

Coach Holter’s lecture appeared to gain momentum and his voice rose loud enough for me to hear. “Do you think you deserve special treatment!?”

Lucia shook her head as she continued staring at her shoes. “Look at me when I talk to you!”

When her head snapped up, I could see tears in her eyes. As she stared wide-eyed at her coach, her clenched fists shook at her side. La chica looked on the verge of meltdown, and I didn’t envy her. I’d been on the receiving end of my club coach’s ass-chewing too many times to count. Thank God my college coach, Phil, was as chill as they came.

China’s stern face filled my line of vision. “Time to go, Mr. Monroe.” Her short brown hair, gelled into place, didn’t move an inch as she shook her head. “I know it must be a pleasure for you to watch Ms. Ramirez get reamed by her coach — ”

“Not really.” Sure, it was kind of fun to see Miss-Conservative- Know-it-All get her comeuppance, but I wasn’t made of stone.

“But if we don’t leave now, you’ll be late for practice.”

By the time I was able to step around China to check out the doorway again, Lucia and Holter had disappeared into the classroom.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“This way.” Brad pointed to the opposite end of the hallway. “If ya want to avoid the media.”

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Cover Reveal is Coming 8-25! Blocked by Jennifer Lane #NA #Volleyball #Romance

Julie from AToMR Tours is hosting the cover reveal for BLOCKED in three days! Over 40 blogs will participate and there will be a big giveaway–check back here for the Rafflecopter link on 8-25-14.

Heroine Lucia Ramirez is excited for you to see the cover. 

She thinks the cover is caliente!



Sign up for the release event and review tour HERE.



Blocked is a New Adult sports romance.

College freshman Lucia Ramirez has a secret crush on Dane Monroe. He’s a tall drink of water — blond, brash, and one hell of a volleyball player. ¡Híjole! Lucia hopes her volleyball scholarship to his school will make him notice her.

Too bad what’s noticeable is Dane’s obvious hatred for Lucia. Her family’s politics contradict everything he stands for. And politics are front and center in both their families. Dane’s mother is about to face Lucia’s father in the race for US President.

When Secret Service throws them together, Dane can’t deny his frustrating attraction to Lucia’s athletic curves and sweet faith in the world. Amid the intense pressure of college athletics and presidential politics, can opposites not just attract, but overcome overwhelming odds to be together? Or do their differences block their match from the start?

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#IWSG Editing, Blurbs, Cover Design


Happy July to all writers! Join us at Alex Cavanaugh’s blog for the monthly support group.



My favorite season is summer, especially swimming outside. Swimming a couple of miles is much more fun in the sunshine.


Americans, what are you doing July 4th? Attending a cookout like me? I’ll attempt these patriotic red velvet brownies (*points right*)

Check out the recipe HERE.

My editor and I are thick into edits for my fifth novel, Blocked.

We came up with a blurb (that was tough!) and posted it on Goodreads.

And now I’m getting quotes from cover designers. What do you think is a reasonable cost for a cover artist? I’ll likely pony up and pay a bit more than I’d planned in order to get the designer I want.

One thing I’ve noticed in editing is my typical writer mistakes. (Thank God for editors!) In the past, I’ve had shifty POV, but I think I’ve cleared that up. But I continue to struggle with the timeline. My editor has to ask “When is this happening?” or “Is this before or after Beergate?” I wrote out a timeline, chapter by chapter, so hopefully that will help. 

A new problem with this manuscript seems to be my use of commas. Apparently, I use, commas, too much, at times. And at other times I don’t use commas enough. 😉

What writer mistakes haunt you?

I’m giving away a $10 gift card for the Freedom to Read Giveaway…feel free to enter below. Hope you have a wonderful July!

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What I Do and Why I Do It

Thank you to my friendly, funny critique partner Nicki Elson for tagging me to answer four writerly questions! (That’s her gorgeous self, on the left.) Nicki is the author of 80’s romp Three Daves and sexy angel story Divine Temptation. And I’m really stoked for the upcoming release of her hilarious chick lit, tentatively titled Vibrizzio (a buzzing Italian lover hehe).

Onto the questions…

What am I working on?

I’m nearing the finish line of writing Blocked, a college volleyball romance. Spike! The story features a forbidden romance between the offspring of candidates for US President: Lucia Ramirez, daughter of the Republican nominee, and Dane Monroe, son of the Democratic nominee.  Lucia and Dane are freakishly tall scholarship volleyball players who think the opponent’s political philosophy is FAIL. But they can’t deny their attraction to each other.

Swimmer Matt Grevers, who’s 6’8″, inspired the character of Dane Monroe:

Yummy.


How does my writing differ from others in its genre?

As a psychologist, I like to bring a psycho element to romance by including mental health diagnoses and therapy scenes. In Blocked, I gave Lucia an eating disorder and Dane an alcohol problem. (Tee hee.) Naturally, I threw them into some much needed therapy with a sport psychologist.

Why do I write what I do?

I write romance because of all the feels. It makes my heart skip when characters kiss! And I write stories of healing and redemption because I love to witness them every day. I want to inspire readers to overcome emotional pain in order to reach new heights.

How does my writing process work?

Recently I’ve relied less on an outline, instead letting the characters lead the way. It’s so helpful to share each chapter with critique partners…making writing more social is motivational for me. My one complaint about my process: it’s SLOW. Waah. I wish it could go faster.

And now I get to tag four authors so they can tell us what they do and why they do it. I tag:

***Darcia Helle***

***Elisa Dane***

***Matthew Alan***

***Lisette Brodey***


Please stop by next week (6/4) for the Insecure Writers Support Group. I need your advice for self-publishing!

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New Release: Compromising Positions by Mary Whitney


Title: Compromising Positions
Author: Mary Whitney
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
Cover Design: R. Doyle from Literati Author Services, Inc.
Event Organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.

Synopsis

We weren’t supposed to be friends. We weren’t even supposed to like each other. I’m Michael Grath. I’ll admit I was elected to Congress on my Republican family history. I was out to make a name for myself, until I met Jessie Clark, a spitfire Democrat. She’d be my nemesis, if I could just stop thinking about her. We’ve got nothing and everything in common, and one big issue that divides us. All of this is going to land us in more than one compromising position. And like I said, we weren’t supposed to be friends, we weren’t even supposed to like each other, and we certainly weren’t supposed to fall in love.



About the Author

Even before she graduated from law school, Mary Whitney knew she wasn’t cut out to be a real lawyer. Drawn to politics, she’s spent her career as an organizer, lobbyist, and nonprofit executive. Nothing piques her interest more than a good political scandal or romance, and when she stumbled upon writing, she put the two together. A born Midwesterner, naturalized Texan, and transient resident of Washington, D.C., Mary now lives in Northern California with her two daughters and real lawyer husband.

Connect with the Author: Blog |Twitter | Facebook |Amazon Author Page | Pinterest |Goodreads
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#IWSG: Political Differences in Love

Happy 2014 to all Insecure Writers! Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for joining us together. (Check out more HERE).


Do you wish you could write faster? I do! I’m about 1/3 done with my work-in-progress, a New Adult volleyball romance titled Blocked.

The story features the daughter of the Republican nominee for president and the son of the Democratic nominee for president. They both play varsity volleyball at a Midwestern university, and naturally, they hate each other. They think the opposing political viewpoint is idiotic and hurtful.

Ah, but that’s where the fun begins. Can love bloom among such differences?

There’s a new book launching by a famous cross-political couple Mary Matalin and James Carville:


So I guess they can make it work! I watched an interview with the couple, and when asked how she tolerates her husband’s liberal politics, Mary Matalin said “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” Then she kissed his bald head!

In your writing, do you explore politics? Do you post political views on social networks? If you write romance, do you enjoy writing aspects of forbidden love?

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Insecure Writers Support Group: Politics

I HOPE the Presidential election has been decided by the time this post goes live. The last thing we need in America is more hanging chads!

Today I want to talk about political beliefs and the extent to which you share them.

I live in Ohio, the state that COULD DECIDE THE ELECTION dun dun dun. I’d much rather frolic on the beach than listen to the endless political commercials.

But I am passionate about politics. I have strong opinions about who I want to win this election. Yet I stifle myself from sharing my political views in both careers as a psychologist and author (psycho author). Why?

1. Therapy is about the client, not the therapist. My political views don’t really matter. The only times I self-disclose are when those disclosures could benefit the client, and my opinion about politics probably isn’t central to our therapy goals. So I listen, nod with understanding, and sometimes *grr* inside.

2. Marketing my books is not about me spouting political beliefs, mostly because I don’t want to alienate half of my readership or author buddies. I believe our personal philosophies shine through in our work, but I don’t want to be too overt about it. Frankly, I’ve hidden quite a few Facebook friends who post their political agenda non-stop.

Thank goodness my swimming buddy Eric and I vent about politics all the time, or I’d explode!

Authors: How passionate are YOU about politics? To what extent do you share your views? Why?

And now to continue with “The Next Best Thing”. Author Darcia Helle challenged me to answer questions about my work in progress On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3).

* How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I started writing On Best Behavior about a year ago and I’m still not done (though at 84,000 words I’m getting closer to the finish!) However, in the past year I completed a HUGE edit on my YA novel Streamline, which launched in March, 2012. I also tend to edit as I go, extending the first draft time-frame.

* What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The genre is romantic suspense. I’ve received reader comments about how unique this series is, so it’s hard to compare it to other stories. Maybe the Black Ops, Inc. series by Cindy Gerard? But her heroes are more alpha than Grant Madsen. I don’t know many books featuring a psychologist heroine either. If you do, please tell me.

To those of you doing NaNo, best of luck to you! And to the rest of us, keep trucking.