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Jacqueline West, Writer

Bestselling author of The Books of Elsewhere and Dreamers Often Lie

Podcast! (And Kirkus! And a familiar cat!)

January 19, 2016    Tags: , , , , , , ,   

Meant to post this weeks ago: over New Year’s, we got to visit the original Horatio (and his marvelous people) in Madison. I shared a more dignified portrait of him on Instagram (you can find me — and said portrait — here, if you’re interested), but this picture is my favorite.

Horatio photobomb

 

And, as promised, I’ve returned with the link to the first-ever podcast of “Voices in the Valley”! You can listen to the interview — it’s all about the writing process, getting started and keeping going, and DREAMERS OFTEN LIE — here: http://theshireonline.com/2016/01/16/vitv-episode-1-developing-a-writing-routine/

Speaking of DREAMERS OFTEN LIE, the first official, full-book review has come in. It’s from Kirkus, who are notoriously tough, but they had some lovely things to say: “Jaye’s personal drama [still] sets an engrossing stage… A dizzying new twist on one of the Bard’s most famous plays.” You can find the whole shebang here.

Events are starting to solidify. It looks like the official release party will be at the stalwart Red Balloon Bookshop of St. Paul, on Friday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. More info, links, and confirmation to come, but you can mark your calendars/spread the word/ignore me completely now!

Spectacles

12 Comments (Leave a comment)

  1. That interview is utterly delightful 🙂 Such great questions that they came up with. Thank you for sharing. And oh my goodness Horatio is adorable in that photo.

    Comment by Brenda on January 19, 2016 @ 11:40 am


  2. Thank you, Brenda! Yes, weren’t those interviewers fantastic? We really could have gone on for hours. (And I agree that Horatio is utterly adorable.)

    Comment by Jacqueline on January 20, 2016 @ 11:22 am


  3. Oh my gosh! DREAMERS OFTEN LIE… I’m excited! And I won’t ignore you! And Horatio is adorable! Say hi to Beren for me!

    Blueberry tea, fuzzy cats, and orange pickles,

    NicoleXx

    Comment by Nicole on January 20, 2016 @ 3:43 pm


  4. Thanks, Nicole. 😉

    Comment by Jacqueline on January 20, 2016 @ 5:17 pm


  5. Haha, no problem, Jacqui. (Is it okay if I call you Jacqui?)

    Hugs, freshly fallen snow, and purple strawberries,

    NicoleXx

    Comment by Nicole on January 21, 2016 @ 3:40 pm


  6. I’m currently listening to the podcast… Ooh, you’re a “fantastic guest.” You’re about to be introduced! Ooh, DREAMERS OFTEN LIE. And I’m delighted to be listening. And BEREN. I love your voice… and coffee. And dogs. And writing. I get how you feel with a baby in the house. And SAME with unlined paper. And SAME with not showing people. But NOT SAME with someone reading it to me. And SAME with not being able to stick to an outline. And SAME with the feeling about being able to write for hours. TWO HOURS in a coffee shop?!?! Wow. Shakespeare, romance, and brain damage? Oh. My. Gosh. He’s not a hallucination?!?! I JUST HEARD A TON OF THIS BOOK EXPLAINED. I. HAVE. BEEN. DYING. FOR. THIS. FOR. YEARS. Just kidding, just months. And same with the idea puzzle. And we have this house in my neighborhood that reminds me of THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE. Ooh, I keep hearing this stuff I want to type about but I can’t type fast enough! Ahhhhhhh! I’m a judgmental author too, and I can’t think of ways to untangle my jumbled thoughts and get it on paper. THANK YOU FOR THE TIPS. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Now I wish I could have been an interviewer… But it’s too far away. Wow, wall of text! But seriously. I love your voice! And I wish you could come to our school! Well, I gotta go… Hasta luego!

    Hugs, radio interviews, and Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans,

    NicoleXx (Do you know what the beans are from? You should.)

    Comment by Nicole on January 21, 2016 @ 4:01 pm


  7. Hey Jacqui- guess who I’m babysitting right now? Hint: He’s crabby, just woke up from a nap, is drinking his sippy, and he’s my brother. Oh, and Jack says hi! It’s fun to babysit. He’s such a goofball… Is Beren a goofy guy too? Speaking of which, how is he? Well, see ya!

    Hugs, hilarious little brothers, and purple tomatoes,

    NicoleXx (and Jack told me to send hugs and kisses, so here: XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO. He also says to ask Beren what his favorite book is. And favorite nook. And favorite thing to get into that they’re not supposed to.)

    Comment by Nicole on January 23, 2016 @ 3:10 pm


  8. *gasp* An author who lives in Minnesota for once? Who’s having a release party? Only a half an hour away from me?
    Time to start begging the parents. 😉

    It’d be so awesome to meet you there and celebrate your release! What an exciting (and probably stressful. o.o) time for you. <3

    Comment by Katie Grace on February 18, 2016 @ 9:25 am


  9. I’d love to see you at the Red Balloon! If you can make it, please do say hello. (And there are an astonishing number of us YA/MG authors in Minnesota — including my writing group cohorts Anne Greenwood Brown and Heather Anastasiu, who’ll be launching their new YA at the Red Balloon on Friday, March 4th…and I hear there will be cupcakes. http://www.redballoonbookshop.com/event/heather-anastasiu-anne-greenwood-brown-girl-last-seen-launch-party) Best wishes to you and your writing!

    Comment by Jacqueline on February 18, 2016 @ 11:00 am


  10. Happy birthday Beren! I hope it’s filled with fun and friends and family and presents and yummy birthday cake! Hugs!

    NicoleXx

    Comment by Nicole on February 28, 2016 @ 11:23 am


  11. So I think I’m going to google ways to restart a book… Wish me luck! Oh, and question: what do you do when you’re actually done with the writing and however many drafts you have and you have the final draft? And then what happens after that? Basically, what all happens from the time you’re done with your final draft to the time the book is released? I know there must be many phone calls and letters and such in there to find a company that will take you… Help!

    Hugs, sore wrists from writing longhand and crossing it out, and pink blueberries,

    NicoleXx

    Comment by Nicole on February 29, 2016 @ 2:29 pm


  12. What happens once I’m done with the final draft? Well, that depends on whether you’re talking about the draft that I thought was the final draft, or the draft that my editor thinks is the final draft. 🙂

    If you mean the manuscript that exists after the entire writing and editing process is done: While we’re in the very last editing stages (a final check by the copyeditor, careful reading of the galley/advance reading copy that the publisher prints to send to early readers/reviewers, etc.), the publicity and marketing departments add their magic to the mix. They promote the book, feature it in catalogs and on social media, pitch it for reviews, and present it at conferences; sales reps talk it up at bookstores, and hopefully, a little bit of a buzz starts to spread. In the last few weeks before a book is released, my publicist is also busy helping me to arrange events, guest posts, and interviews. That’s what’s going on for me and DREAMERS OFTEN LIE right now.

    If you mean what do you do once you’ve finished a final draft of a book but you DON’T have a publisher/editor/agent yet: That’s the time for research. You can find out what kinds of agents and publishers are looking for books like the one you’ve written (there are lots of websites to help you; I found agentquery.com to be particularly useful). You can learn more about how the traditional publishing process works. You can start writing your query letter (the letter describing your book to agents or publishers). Or you can set the finished book aside for a while and start on a brand new project. Most writers don’t sell their very first book. Some do, of course, but many more of us write one or two (or three or eight or twenty) “practice novels” while we’re figuring out how to tell a story in the best way we can.

    And I wish you luck!

    Comment by Jacqueline on March 15, 2016 @ 3:35 pm


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