Friday, May 27, 2011

About Janie's Pendant...

I bought my first piece of butterscotch amber at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. I’m only able to make it up to the PA Faire once a year, but I always stop by to visit the two fabulous men who run a store called Amber Forever.  That year, they had a square pendant that I simply had to have, though I didn’t know anything about the stone.

I’ve learned since then that at one time butterscotch amber was worn exclusively by royalty (which makes it very appropriate for the Faire).  Now, all varieties of amber are worn for love, luck, happiness, and especially healing!

For a long time, I wore that pendant every single day. So when it came time to give Janie a piece of jewelry that she would wear every day in the book - the pendant which would become the magick charm - I decided it would be made of butterscotch amber. I wanted to change the shape of the charm to something more symbolic than a simple square, though. A rose for a love spell would be perfect, I told myself. And it was. In theory.

Fast forward a few years to when my book was finally being published (yaaaay!). My friend, Sam, was holding my book release party at her store, 13 Magickal Moons. I should get a pendant like Janie’s to wear for the book signing, I thought. Okay, have you ever tried to find such a thing? Probably not. Let me tell you it’s next to impossible - at least if you want to be anywhere near reasonable about the price. But by this time, it was a Quest and I wouldn’t rest until I found and bought my pendant!

Finally, success! I believe if you look long enough, almost anything can be found on the internet. My pendant has a bit more silver work than Janie’s did, but it’s almost exactly perfect.

The lesson I learned is this: If you’re going to put something symbolic in your book, find out if such a thing can be obtained first, just in case you might want to wear it to a book signing. Okay, I admit this lesson probably doesn’t apply to a lot of situations… But if I had looked first, Janie probably would have been wearing a silver flower pendant with a round amber cabochon set in the center instead!



Thursday, May 26, 2011

Blog Tour - Win a Kindle or Nook - Final Day!

Welcome to the final day of the blog tour, our huge contest with tons of cool stuff you can win including a Kindle or Nook with a dozen CMP titles. If you're joining the games late, don't worry - you have until the end of today, May 26th, to finish all of the quests. Head over to the Crescent Moon Press blog for the complete 411. 

Here's the final group of authors for you to visit today: 







Once you've finished the quests on each of the 16 author's sites, check out Crescent Moon Press for your final question!

Want to know if you've won? The CMP blog will list the winners by June 4th!

To everyone who participated, shared the contest news with your friends, left comments, or followed my blog, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU! I've had a great time doing this and getting to chat with you, and I hope you did too. Please stop in to the blog next week when I'll be writing in from my vacation in New Orleans and posting pics and videos (goddess help me, my husband has a new video camera he's dying to try out!).

-Jen

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Blog Tour - Win a Kindle or a Nook! - Day 2

Today’s the second day of the Memorial Day Blog Tour, and it’s my turn to send you on a scavenger hunt!

What can you win? I’ll be giving away a Magick Spell Kit. Included in the kit is a signed copy of my book, Magick Charm, a love candle from 13 Magickal Moons, love spell oil, and a hand-made clay replica of Janie’s pedant from Dragonfly Design Jewelry!

Complete my quest, then follow the links to other Crescent Moon Press authors. Every author is going to give away her own prize package! Finish all the quests for a chance to win the grand prize: Your choice of a Kindle or Nook plus a dozen Crescent Moon Press titles to get your summer reading started!


Here's what you do: 

  1. Follow my blog. Just click the “Follow” button on the right hand side of this page.
  2. Answer this question: What type of pendant does Janie use as the magick charm for her love spell? Email the answer (gemstone and pendant shape!) to jenniferwells@email.com. Hint: You can find the answer on the excerpts page of my website.
  3.  More authors will join in the fun on the 26th, so make sure to come back or check out Crescent Moon Press for the complete list. Don’t worry if you’re just getting started today! All the quests will remain open until the end of the day tomorrow.


May 25th Blog Tour Participants

Visit Renee Rearden on the 26th for your next stop on your blog tour!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Blog Tour - Win a Kindle or Nook! - Day 1

I'm so excited the Memorial Day Blog Tour begins today!


Here's what you do: 

  1. Stop at each one of the author's websites, participate in their scavenger hunts, and sign up for their newsletter or blog. Every author is going to give away her own prize package to a lucky winner!
  2. More authors will join in on the 25th and 26th, so make sure to come back or check out Crescent Moon Press for the complete list.
  3. Complete every author's quest to be entered for the grand prize - your choice of a Kindle or Nook as well as a dozen CMP ebooks!

May 24th Blog Tour Participants

Jean Murray

Lara Nance  

Christine Ashworth
  
Traci Bell

Tracy Farrell

Monday, May 23, 2011

Memorial Day Wekend Bash - Win an E-reader!

Permission to repost granted….

Crescent Moon Press
Memorial Day Weekend Bash~!

Three Day Blog Tour

May 24th, 25th & 26th

Prizes at every stop
Grand Prize Nook or Kindle, Your Choice
Every stop along the way will have a posted quest
Sign up for the newsletter or blog 
Email your quest answer to the author to enter for great prizes.
Complete all blog tour stops to enter into the grand prize drawing 
A Nook or Kindle, Your Choice
BONUS a dozen digital books

Full itinerary will be posted on the CMP blog. 
All stops must be completed to qualify for the Grand Prize.
You can join the games late. All quests must be completed by May 26th end of day.

All Winners Posted on CMP blog by June 4th.



Go to http://www.crescentmoonpress.com for all the details!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Thursday 13: Books on my to-be-read pile

I've said many times that I'd read just about any book that came into my hands. Well, here's a sample of a few of the titles on my TBR list - everything from mystery to paranormal to horror. I've spared you a look at my non-fiction list... it's populated with titles to satisfy my love of biology and has quite a few scary-sounding books on forensic science and epidemiology. 

This current list isn't in any particular order, and it contains books from a few years ago that I haven't gotten to yet as well as books that haven't yet been published. The Dark Tower title here is projected for mid-2012, and I'm already waiting very impatiently for it! I especially love series because I get a deeper understanding of the characters and because I already know that I like the author's work. I'm also looking forward to trying a couple of new authors! 

If you have any recommendations, I'm always looking for new books! Who cares if I have piles of books in my library? You can never have enough! 

  1. Gideon’s Sword by Preston & Child
  2. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
  3. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
  4. Smokin Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
  5. The Night Eternal by Guillermo Del Toro
  6. Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
  7. Hit List by Laurell Hamilton
  8. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
  9. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
  10. Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs
  11. Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong
  12. Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep
  13. The Wind Through the Keyhole (Dark Tower #8) by Stephen King

Friday, May 13, 2011

Thursday 13: Things I'm looking forward to in New Orleans

(Note: This really was posted on Thursday before Blogger had its little hiccough!) 


John and I are renting a house on the edge of the French Quarter for a week. We leave in 18 days and 17 hours (but who's counting)! The last time I was in New Orleans was only a couple weeks before Katrina, and I'm so glad to finally be going back. Here's a few things I'm planning to do there:


  1. Book research. My first book takes place in New Orleans, and I’m currently working on a sequel. What better way to capture the flavor of this fabulous city than to do a bit of writing while I’m there.
  2. Drinking a hurricane. A little rum on Bourbon Street… okay, it’s probably more accurate to say a lot of rum.
  3. Dueling piano bar. Pat O’Brien’s is also famous for their hurricanes. How serendipitous! And it’s always fun to make the pianists play “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
  4. Hot tub!
  5. Shopping at the French Market. Shopping... need I say more?
  6. Ordering a muffuletta from Central Grocery. What is a muffuletta, you ask? It’s an enormous sandwich made with Italian meats and cheeses and topped with olive salad.
  7. Live jazz music. You can’t sling a dead cat in this town without hitting a jazz musician. Not that I’d want to sling a cat, dead or alive, or hit a musician, jazz or otherwise.
  8. Voodoo shops. Metaphysical stuff + shopping = happiness.
  9. Beignets and cafĂ© au lait. There is no other way to start the morning in New Orleans, at least as far as I’m concerned.
  10. Aquarium. Have I ever been to a city with an aquarium and NOT visited it? I think not.
  11. St. Louis Cemetery #1. Okay, potentially morbid, but it is a key location in my next book!
  12. Karaoke at the Cat’s Meow. Yes, enough hurricanes (see #2!) and I have been known to do karaoke.
  13. Relaxing!