Jill Writes

Surviving the holiday

2011-01-09T23:42:00.001-05:00

Every year I promise myself not to eat so much, avoid some of my more annoying relatives, hide my credit cards, stay out of the mall and write more. Sorry to say none of these things happened. Another year has gone and I've racked up my credit cards, gain ten pounds, nearly got trampled in Macys, and found a cousin I'd forgotten. Every time I tried to sit down and write something happened. Either I'd forgotten a present I didn't wrap or the cake I was suppose to make or a party I hadn't brought a dress for. The only good thing about the whole affair is that I have eleven months to prepare for it (or not prepare). I need a rest.

The third book of the Maggie and Odessa Mysteries is finally out. Semisweet took some time to write, and I should take a break, even though I'm already thinking about the next book. I'm always thinking about the next book! I hate resolutions but here goes. Lose the damn ten pounds, spend less, call my cousin more and write, write and write. Happy New Year all.

Giving In…

2010-12-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, I give up. It was suggested to me that I should have a book trailer. Whatever! As usually, I'd totally convinced myself I don’t need something, like that new pocketbook (with matching shoes of course) and find it in my closet anyway. I guess I have a new book trailer. Even a hardheaded woman can change her mind…or not.

Here Comes the Holidays

2010-11-14T22:41:00.002-05:00

The typical holiday chaos is coming up, and I'm gearing up for it. Too much food, family and did I say too much food. Usually around this time, I don't even attempt at getting any writing done. Between errands, reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in years, early holiday shopping, party planning, I'm too tired to write. Though the holidays give me the best ideas for stories, especially with my family. There is always drama. What family doesn't have it? Luckily, my immediate family tends to be extremely well grounded in the area of dealing with crazy. They know like a bad cold, it will pass. At least that's what my sister plans for because she's having Thanksgiving at her house (Thank you God!). My only role this year is to bring dessert.
This got me thinking about recipes in my books. At first, I was keen on the idea, but something always stops me. Usually, it's my sisters threatening me with lawsuits if I give up the family recipe to strangers. I've yet to give any of my family members my grandmother's recipe for her famous Tea Cakes. My grandmother would make a batch for the entire family and ship them out before Christmas. As children, we use to fight over them. Since we're all adults now, not much has changed. Sadly, my grandmother passed away several years back. But before she went, I sat in her kitchen for over three hours getting that recipe from her. I loved it. Especially, when her idea of a measuring was using a old chipped china tea cup. It gave conversion a whole new meaning for me. When all was said and done, I walked away with a great experience and the only written recipe to my grandmother's Tea Cake.
I don't know about placing recipes in the book but I thought here's one of our family favorites. Just don't tell my sister J

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Pound Cake.
1 cup of butter (soften)
1 ½ cup of sugar
2 ¼ cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 oz of Cream Cheese
4 Eggs
2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
2 Teaspoon Vanilla
12 oz package of Chocolate Chips
Direction: Dry mix flour, salt and baking powder. Creams butter and cream cheese in bowl. Beat in sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, alternate with dry mix until thoroughly mixed. Add chips. Pour into greased bunt pans. Bake at 350 degrees 50 -60 minutes, until done.

Book Trailer or not to Book Trailer?

2010-11-03T20:08:00.001-04:00

I've been debating whether to do a book trailer for my new book Semisweet. At first, these trailers seemed all the rage but now, not so much. Does anyone really look at them? Does your book sells improve by any margin that makes it worth the effort. It's hard to say. I've never met anyone who saw a book trailer and ran out and brought a book. Most look a little dodgy. Unless you pay a pretty penny for a professionally made one, they all look a little home made. Therefore, for the time being, I'll leave that off my marketing agenda list and work on a nifty press release or something. I might have better luck throwing flyers out of a moving train. Mmmm that's a thought.

I know when I peruse a book store or search online several things catch my fancy. The book blurb usually does it for me, or there is a nice intriguing cover. It depends. Mostly, I fall in love with an author and have to read every single one of their books. I put them on my wish list and beg my family to buy the book for the holidays or my birthday. Or a finally break down and buy it myself. This is why I have too many books in my house. None of which I purchase because I saw a Book Trailer.

The story continues…

2010-10-30T13:41:00.001-04:00

With the new Maggie and Odessa book finished, I look forward to seeing the reaction of the readers. Titled, Semisweet, their story continues as usually, with the ladies finding out more about themselves as well as solving a little mystery. I am working to get the book out by Christmas time if everything stays on track.

I've always been a fan of the book serial. I love the Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, the Domestic Diva series by Krista Davis as well other series. I'm hoping the Maggie and Odessa books are as successful and enjoyable. The one thing I was sure of when I started it, I wanted both characters to change and grow. Nothing kills a terrific series than reading the same old characters over and over again doing the same old things. I'd like to think I'd stop writing them when or if they get tired and flat. As for now, the characters are at the beginning of their journey, and I can't wait to see where they might end up.

Here we go -

2010-10-11T13:07:00.001-04:00

Writing can be an incredible endeavor, but what comes after is much more complicated. When your novel is completed and the last word is typed, you have to start from scratch, to get the work to the reader. I've been working on the third Maggie and Odessa book. I hope that learning from my past mistake (a clueless editor, clueless me), marketing, distribution and the damn cover design. I admittedly hate this part, but I embrace the fact it is a necessary evil. Since I'm not one of a Random House top ten bestselling authors, I have to do this process on my own. After getting over the shock of such a monumental task, you learn to embrace the lunacy and freedom.

For the last few weeks, I've been trying to update my website, and I'm back to the blogging. Social Network is so crucial to getting the word out. Not being a networking geek, I'm learning as I go. Twitting, blogging and managing a facebook page is a part time job, sometimes. So now here I go – again.

A Romantic Notion

2009-06-03T12:07:00.002-04:00

I haven’t written in a while. I’ve been busy with the new book and few other things. I recently went to a book signing, which was great fun. Readers where interested in more face time with Lee and Odessa in the next book. It sounds like a good idea. I love the notion of a mystery/humorous/romance book. I’ve sure it’s be done a thousand time before but who cares. I’ve always treated both Maggie and Odessa’s romantic relationships as secondary plots. Maybe the idea of bringing both Lee and Roger as characters that are more prominent would add to the series. I’m sure I’ll work it out and it might be fun.
Recently I attended the Book Expo in New York City. It was a great experience. I had the chance to met authors and publishers. Set in the Jacob Javits Center on the Westside of Manhattan, it is an expansive space. I must have walked ten miles just to cover everything. I met great people there and would likely go again next year. If you every have the opportunity to go, it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet authors at their book signing. There were a lot of famous ones there. If you do go, bring your walking shoes.

Change Is Good

2009-03-28T14:02:00.000-04:00

Besides working on other projects, lately I’ve been thinking about the next Maggie and Odessa story. In Drop Dead Delicious, a few things have changed. Maggie is working in a P.I. office and toward her own license. Her husband Roger is starting to accept this new career choice and Rocket…well Rocket is just Rocket. Odessa’s caking making business is doing pretty well. Her boyfriend, Lee has maneuvered his way into her house and her sister Candace is …well Candace. Some things never change and some things do.

I love mystery series and often fall out of love with them when the characters don’t change at all. I don’t expect them to fall out of character but do expect them to change just a little. Considering the genre, lots of stuff happens so I expect my hero affected in some way and show it. Maggie and Odessa are changing. They will always be the great people they are but stuff happens.

How will Sweet Maggie manage in the tough world of Private Investigators? In her, own sweet way, of course. She’s still a great mother and wife. As for Odessa, she has a man in her house and no longer single. She still is a wise cracking, self-deprecating best cake maker in town.

I'm what...okay!

2009-02-25T22:04:00.008-05:00

If you write about women, is it automatically called ‘Chit Lit’? If in the same book there is a murder, do you call it a ‘Cozy Mystery’? I’ve pondered this genre dilemma ever sense I began writing. The minute you put pen to page and throw it out there to the mass market, you are considered to be in one genre or another. I guess I’m all right with this because I do want readers who are interested in the type of books I write. Since nothing is ever new, I’m sure there are similar books out there that would make what I write fall into a genre. What bothers me is that slight confining feeling I’m beginning to feel when people throw me in this genre or that genre. To say that I’m a female, African American, does it make me a female writer or an African American writer who writes female stories about African Americans. What if my protagonist is a white guy from Jersey, who drives trucks across the country? What am I then?
I know that when I walk into a bookstore or buy on line, it is the story that always catches my eye and my wallet. If at the end of the day, I have a penchant for mysteries, suspense, romance, and science fiction thrillers, is that a genre. Lately, I want to find books to read out of my comfort zone. I want to discover an author I’d never read before. I’ve also had the urge to write out of my genre as well. Mostly out of curiosity, I want to dip my toe into water of a different color. I don’t want to find myself twenty years now, writing the same old thing. I’m content for the moment to be place in a particular genre by readers or reviewers. It’s not worth it to argue the point…or is it?

Book Trailers

2009-01-11T13:35:00.011-05:00

I've been watching alot of book trailers on the web lately. They are like little movie trailers. It's a great idea, especially if done well. They are many websites for authors who wish to have trailers made of their books. If you want something really simple, you can make one of your own.

There are several programs to do this with, like Pinnacle or Adobe Premiere. The simplest and easiest would be Microsoft Movie Maker. Find images that relate to your book. You need to make sure they are Royalty Free, Click Art. The same thing with any music you want to add. The programs is simple and all you need to do is slice and dice the images and music together. It was pretty fun playing with it.

A New Year's Resolution

2009-01-06T20:07:00.005-05:00

It’s a new year and of course it’s time for resolutions. I want to make at least one. Be warned, I’ve never kept one New Year’s resolution I have ever made – ever! I’m too good at talking myself out of them. I’m brilliant. So that is why I never make them. This year I want to try, really try. Have some faith. Like Tinkerbelle in Peter Pan, I do believe, I do. Drum roll please, here goes. I promise that I will…I will…I’m sorry I can’t!

There is nothing I could promise on January 1st, that I couldn’t promise myself any of the day of the year. I want to, I do. Lose those ten (twenty) pounds, give more to charity, clean out my closet, and shred the last five years of bills or do the right thing, even when the wrong thing is really cute and tells me my hips aren’t that big.

What I will promise, are the things I can achieve. I promise to gain at least five pounds, not save enough, write every day, give into my weakness for really silly movies (Pineapple Express had me laughing on the floor), spend too much money on new books, discover a new author and oh yeah, write every day. I promise.

Drop Dead Delicious

2008-12-17T22:27:00.001-05:00

Finally, the second Maggie and Odessa book is done. Drop Dead Delicious is completed…over…the end. I think. As I typed the last word, on the last page, in the last chapter, in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t quite over. I’ll be with the girls for the next few months as I try to make their presence known. It isn’t enough simply to finish the book, now to bring it to readers. This part of writing is a tedious but necessary process. With hundreds, if not thousands of books coming out, it’s like shouting in the wind. I cross my fingers and hope for the best. Of course the best would be a number one best seller – ha!

I’m hoping that people, who purchased the first book, Pennywise, will like the direction the second book is going. Though I love serial writing, I hate when characters don’t change or grow. When I first wrote about Maggie and Odessa, each of them, were at different stages of their lives. This is not to say that they will change so drastically, you won’t recognize them. Odessa will always be the cynic (,she really thinks of herself as a realist) and Maggie a hopeful optimist.

I don’t know how many Maggie and Odessa stories, I have in me, but hopefully maybe two more. I’m very fond of these characters, and as long as they grow and evolve and try to do new things, they will always have a fan in me. I would love to hear from those of you who’ve read the first book. Send me a short message at jillbrock.net and maybe I’ll share, Odessa’s prize winning cake recipe.

No, it is not you!

2008-09-18T21:21:00.001-04:00

When developing new characters, I always try to take from the people around me. Unfortunately, this sometimes includes my family. To say that I take literally from people, their physicality, mannerisms or even their name, wouldn’t be true. However, when my sister cornered me and asked me straight out if a particular character was her; it was hard to say no. My best responds was that the character was ‘loosely’ based on her. It was the closest to the truth I was willing to get. Of course, this didn’t make her happy. She didn’t speak to me for two whole days. When she came to me about it again, she wanted me to define what ‘loosely’ meant. The discussion digressed into an argument in record time. When I asked one of my writing friends about this, she said that it is a necessary evil. We write what we know. Sometimes, I think I’m just being lazy, but she right. Some days, I would like to write in detail about a Norwegian Princess, and her crazy Gypsy family. Most days, I just write about my crazy friends and on occasion my sister. In the end, she will forgive. Next time, I’ll make her tall and thin!

New Orleans Love

2008-09-01T18:12:00.004-04:00

As I listen to the news of Gustave and New Orleans, I am reminded of my first trip there. It was 2007, a few years after Katrina. I’d always wanted to go, but work, time and just life got in the way. When I finally got there I wasn’t disappointed. Though there were a few naysayers about the New Orleans, most complained about safety, the condition of the city and as always the weather. I ignored them and went anyway. Coming from a large place like New York, most places dim in comparison. I tend to like places with unique personality, interesting people and memorable sights. I stay at a lovely little hotel in the Garden District on St. Charles Ave. I met great folks like Gee, who owned Sophie’s Gelato on Magazine Street. We had a great conversation about New York Chocolate Egg Cream. New Orleans delivered in every way. Of course, it seen better times, most cities have. What impression me were the people, their tenacity to love their home. New Yorkers are like that, we’re dumb and stubborn that way. It is a place like its Gumbo, a mix of spices, heat and comfort. I met great people there and would go back again and again.

Write or Wrong

2008-07-31T23:42:00.002-04:00

The other day I talked to a writing friend of mine. She has been working on a piece for the last year and half. I think she finished the story in about two or three months and now is in the process of editing and editing and editing. Every time we talk about writing, I ask her how it’s going. She gives me this exhausted smile as if she’s been in labor for the last twelve months. We’re pretty close and she knows I’m the opposite of her. I can spit out ten different story ideas while crossing the street. It makes her dizzy. What I find interesting about our particular dynamics is that we think the other person is doing it right. She complains she is taking to long to finish. I complain I’m not careful or patient enough to write a truly finished piece. She is meticulous in her details, cautious to the point of immobility. I overflow, spewing out everything and have no boundaries.
Recently we got into a heated argument about each others styles as if we were the experts on writing. Ha! I laugh now, because I can laugh at almost anything, given time and space. I thought about it for awhile (a whole five minutes) and I realize as inexperienced writers, we were each finding our own style of how to work. My friend hasn’t quite yet come to this conclusion. She’s still editing the idea!

Action, Cut and Print

2008-06-27T22:25:00.004-04:00

I've spent the last two weeks working on a Book Trailer. Anyone who ever said that you could do this on your own was a sadist. It helps if you have a degree in film making, are related to movie director and if you have nothing better to do. Sometimes, marketing a book is harder than writing the silly thing. Maybe in my next life I'll come back as an agent (well, maybe not) I will say this, I appreciate anyone who can do this without pulling out their hair. In the end, all you want to do is have someone read your damn book. It isn't the cure for cancer or the end of global warming. You want to tell a story and hope someone will sit down to listen. If they told me I had to be a movie director I would have slap them - hard.

Plan nothing

2008-06-11T19:40:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't written lately. Crap! Life, so gets in my way. How do people manage their time? I can't, I tried. I decide to have schedule – ha! That doesn't work because I forget the schedule. I need deadline; dire consequences or somebody's life has to be in jeopardy. Then I'm Rambo. I'm like the MacGyver of problem solving, especially others people. Don't get me started with New Year's resolutions. Ten years ago, I decide never to make one, ever again – for the rest of my life! I don't start diets, relationships, savings accounts, emotional decision making on New York Year's Day. The most I could commit to is getting up to work everyday and writing. God bless writing. Compulsion is a good thing. As long as I have a compulsion to write, I'm pretty much set!

Murder next time

2008-03-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

I've gain ten pounds. Why you ask? Recipes and more recipes. I always regretted that I didn't put real dessert recipes in Pennywise. I promised myself that if I wrote a sequel to Pennywise, this time I'd put in real recipes. As for the ten pounds, of course you have to try them. I've ask my friends for the best cake and dessert recipes they could bear to part with (family secrets!) One of the plot threads in the next book is Odessa's search for her Aunt Val infamous secret cookbook.
Though I love writing Pennywise, I thought it was a little light in the danger (minus a kidnapper or two). I wanted some real trouble for the girls. Yes I'm talking about murder. Someone dies in the next installment, some one close to Odessa. That's all I say. Wish me luck with my recipe search and my upcoming diet.

The Next Step

2008-02-23T13:10:00.001-05:00

In Pennywise, the introduction of the characters of Odessa and Maggie put the women in their comfortable setting of New York City. The next book in the series, I wanted to take them out of their comfort zone. I thought it would bring out a different side of the women the reader's having seen yet. Also, in the second book, the roles have somewhat reverse. In Pennywise, it's Odessa who comes to Maggie's rescue. In the next book, tentatively titled, Drop Dead Dangerous, it's Maggie who comes to Odessa rescue.

A Blog Begins

2008-02-19T21:55:00.001-05:00

Initially, I started this blog in the hopes that I could keep a running journal of how I was progressing with my next book, well so much for that idea. At first, I thought I hated blogging (I partially do). Then I remembered that I hated keeping a journal. So what do I do? What do I do? A friend told me I should embrace the blog. I told her to shut up. But she was right. So let me start over. I wrote my first book Pennywise, because I wanted to read something that I could relate too. I loved reading chick lit mysteries like the Stephanie Plum's series by Janet Evanovich, but I wanted to recognize these people in these stories. They didn't look like me or sound like me or my friends and family. None had by warped sense of humor or reality. The only way I could do that, was to write it myself. Yeah, that was easy. I took some writing classes and left most of them without a clue. What I got out of some of them was that I should just sit down, and write. A year and half later, I wrote Pennywise.

Something in the works

2008-02-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

I've been working on the new Maggie and Odessa book for the past year. I'm hoping by the year's end (Christmas!) book two will be published. Tentatively titled 'Drop Dead Delicious'. The girls are on a new adventure and new discoveries. The first book was set in boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. I've expanded their world. Maggie and Odessa take on Vegas and no one is safe :)

Pennywise

2008-02-02T16:39:00.000-05:00

Pennywise is my new book.

Synopisis:

Throw in a hyperactive eight-year-old, pepper spray, a really smart dog, rare coins, a recipe for bread pudding and two best friends and you have Pennywise. Pennywise is a humorous story about friendship, family and love. At the heart of the story is the mystery of finding Maggie’s Swifts missing husband, who may or may not be having an affair. Maggie is determined to find him with her best friend, Odessa. Odessa is determined to help her despite the fact that everyone thinks she’s lost her mind.
Maggie and Odessa are best friends from high school, as opposite as night and day, literary. Odessa refers to Maggie as an oversized redheaded Tinkerbelle, with the ability to talk almost anybody into anything, especially Odessa. Odessa’s dream was to be a richer and thinner Oprah. The dream died when she lost her job, her boyfriend and a little bit of her sanity. In searching for Roger, there is a lot of self-discovery. Maggie finds out she is more than a wife and mother. Odessa finds that she isn’t all that crazy and love can come from most unexpected places.