Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Four Weeks Til MAYHEM

There are officially only four weeks left until Mayhem's big debut.

Four weeks until one of the biggest dreams I've ever had comes true.

And I just want to take this opportunity to share some things I've learned...

  1. Everyone reading this blog post right now is awesome.  Seriously.  The support I've gotten from friends, family, coworkers... it's all been amazing.  But the most surprising thing has been the support I've gotten from friends of friends, moms of friends, total strangers I've connected with through social media.  I never would have imagined I'd have so many people rooting for me, and it's been surprising and overwhelming in the best possible way.  You guys make me feel like a rock star.  I get excited hearing about how excited YOU are to read the book, and I can't wait to hear what you think when you finally get to.

  2. The publishing community is awesome.  Seriously.  My agent, my editor, all of the authors who've read the book or said that they want to, bloggers, avid readers -- EVERYONE.  I feel so privileged to be a part of this amazing circle full of all of these amazingly supportive people.  I'd heard that it was hard to break into the "cool kids club" once you get a publishing deal, but truly, everyone in the publishing community is a cool kid, and I love talking to each and every one of you.  Everyone has been so accepting and welcoming and out-of-their-way supportive... I love you guys, I really do.

  3. Publishing is so much more than writing.  Seriously.  It's deadlines (ugh) for first drafts, edits, copyedits, blurbs, etc.  It's legal issues and contracts.  It's stock-photo black holes and compromising on covers.  It's promotion -- SOOOO much promotion (networking, blog posts, social media, events, etc.).  It's one hell of a learning curve.  To put it plainly, it's a lot of work.  A lot of work.  You really have to love it.  And you have to have the time and discipline for it, because gone are the days when writers could be flighty space cadets who have no concept of time or obligation.  Being an author means managing your time and managing it well -- and not completely losing your mind while you're trying really hard to manage it.  And for me, personally, all of that hard work has already been more than worth it.

With four weeks left, I want to sincerely thank every single person who has preordered the book.  You guys are freaking awesome, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it when it comes out (in four weeks... FOUR WEEKS!!!).

And if you haven't placed your preorder(s) yet, here are some links to do so.  :)  (Paperbacks will be available within a month or so of each e-book release, but the e-books are cheap sooo... just get both!)

MAYHEM (Mayhem Series #1):
**Kindle --- http://www.amazon.com/Mayhem-Jamie-Shaw-ebook/dp/B00L1AJUKE
**B&N --- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mayhem-jamie-sh…/1119738861…

RIOT (Mayhem Series #2):
**Kindle --- www.amazon.com/Riot-Jamie-Shaw-ebook/dp/B00L1AJUKY
**B&N --- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/riot-jamie-shaw/1120303519…

CHAOS (Mayhem Series #3):
**Kindle --- www.amazon.com/Unti-Jamie-Shaw-3-ebook/dp/B00N81I66I
**B&N --- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unti-jamie-shaw…/1120303520…

Friday, December 19, 2014

Title for Mayhem Book 3!

MAYHEM (1/20) has been sent off to the publisher... and RIOT (2/10) has been sent off to the publisher... which leaves only the third book in the Mayhem series, currently UNTITLED BOOK 3, for me to work on right now, and I figured one of the first things I should do is give this book a title!

Something that fits the plot.  Something that fits the theme of the series.  Something that would look cool as hell in that rock star font that's on the covers of my books.  ;)

So, without further ado...

1. MAYHEM
2. RIOT

CHAOS!!!  This title totally fits the book and fits my theme, but I'm not going to lie... the thing that sold me was how awesome it's going to look on the cover.  I'm almost halfway done writing it, and you are going to LOVE this heroine.  She's the definition of rock star chic, a girl who can hold her own against the sizzling hot guys in the band.  She grew up in a big family with four older brothers, which has made her a complete spitfire.  She's spunky and witty and... well, you'll see on July 21st when the book comes out.  ;)

MAYHEM releases in one month and one day (EEP), and RIOT releases three weeks later.  So get those, read them, love them, and then place your preorder for CHAOS because it's going to rock just as hard.  <3


Thursday, December 18, 2014

RIOT Style Sheet Gems

I'm finishing up my review of RIOT's copyedits tonight (woohoo! almost done!), and I thought of a great idea for a blog post....

How would you like to see some of the words that appear on my copyeditor's style sheet?  ;)  A style sheet is a running document that a copyeditor keeps to make sure certain grammar-related things are staying consistent throughout the book, and it includes a list of special words that should be spelled/hyphenated the same way each time.

Here are some of my favorites from RIOT:

  • badass
  • batshit crazy
  • dickhead
  • douchebag
  • douchey; douchiest
  • hand-cooties
  • man-whore
  • motherfucker
  • shit-faced
  • shit-ton
  • skeezy

I had to laugh as I was going through the list.  ....Because I'm a professional.  ;)

Plus.......................... douchey.  *insert professional giggling here*


Tuesday, November 18, 2014

RIOT Cover Reveal

It's here: the RIOT COVER!!!


When Dee Dawson meets sexy mohawked guitarist Joel Gibbon, she knows it won’t be long before she has him wrapped around her finger. No guy has ever been able to resist her… but Dee’s met her match in a player like Joel.

Dee’s not the relationship type—not after seeing the pain “love” has caused her friends and family—yet she’s desperate to make Joel want her more than anyone else. He quickly becomes an obsession, and when a reckless attempt to make him jealous ends in disaster, Dee turns into the damsel in distress she never wanted to be. With her carefree world crashing down around her, the last thing she needs is Joel’s pity.

But Joel is suddenly determined to prove he cares, and no matter how hard Dee tries to push him away, he refuses to let her shut him out. Now the girl who swore she’d never say those three little words must choose between guarding her heart and losing Joel forever… or falling head-over-heels for the tattooed rock star of her dreams.


---- Click here to pre-order on Amazon ----

---- Click here to pre-order on Barnes & Noble ----


I'm trying not to pick favorites among my covers... but... GUYS, SERIOUSLY, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE THAT COVER MODEL?  *swoon*  And if you think he's hot, just wait 'til you read the character that goes with that blonde mohawk and those gorgeous blue eyes.  ;)

I can't wait for you all to read RIOT!  Seriously seriously cannot WAIT.  And I'd love to hear what you think of the cover, so bombard me with comments either on this page or on my author Facebook page, because I really want to hear them!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

MAYHEM Cover Reveal

It's finally here: the MAYHEM COVER!!!


When college freshman Rowan Michaels meets gorgeous, up-and-coming rock star Adam Everest, she knows a player like him is the last thing she needs after her ex-boyfriend shattered her heart. But she can’t stop thinking about the kiss they shared on his tour bus.

On the first day of school, Rowan is stunned when Adam saunters into her French class. He’s soon failing miserably, and on a whim, she offers to tutor him. But Adam doesn’t recognize her as a makeup-free, glasses-clad college student—a far cry from the beautiful, mysterious “Peach” he met at his concert.

During a wild weekend on tour with the band, Rowan can’t help falling for the sweet guy buried beneath Adam’s rocker persona. Yet she knows she could never compete with the girls constantly throwing themselves at his feet. She’d just end up hurt... again.

Peach is all Adam thinks about, though, and when Rowan realizes this, she has a decision to make: stay just friends to protect her fragile heart…or reveal the truth about the night they met and admit she’s fallen completely, hopelessly in love with him.


 
...so what does everyone think?!  Post in the comments below or comment on my author page on Facebook, because I'm dying to hear your thoughts!

 

Announcement Recap

Last week I made a TON of announcements on my author Facebook page, so here is a short recap of everything you might have missed!
  1. MAYHEM's official synopsis was released! Click here to read it!
  2. RIOT's official synopsis was released! Click here to read it!
  3. MAYHEM is going to be translated into German by German publisher Blanvalet AND French by French publisher J’ai Lu!
  4. The MAYHEM audiobook is going to be narrated by Andi Arndt, with the epilogue narrated by Adam Verner!
  5. The RIOT audiobook is going to be narrated by Khristine Hvam (UPDATE: Khristine unfortunately had to back out due to unforeseen circumstances, so Arielle DeLisle stepped in, and she ROCKED IT), with the epilogue narrated by Kirby Heyborne!
Lots of exclamation points all over the place last week!!  :)

If you're not following my author Facebook page, make sure to give it a like and select "get notifications" so you don't miss future announcements about the Mayhem series. They're coming in FAST and they're all amazing!

I may or may not have a cover coming up for you guys VERY soon *coughthisweekcough*.

;)   Stay tuned!

Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I'm feeling festive, so let's talk COSTUMES!

In the spirit of Halloween, and now that you know a bit more about Rowan and Dee because the synopses for MAYHEM and RIOT have been released (make sure to 'like' my Facebook page if you missed them, or check here for a reminder), I figured it would be fun to talk about what you would wear if you were to dress up as one of my heroines!



For Rowan, you'd have two options: you could go as "Peach" (the party-girl Adam meets at his concert), or you could go as a total college-bum (which Rowan settles into when she realizes Adam doesn't recognize her).


SO, next year, if you want to go as PEACH, this is what you'll need: 


Super-high pink high heels that are WAY outside of your comfort zone, a short black skirt that is equally WAY outside of your comfort zone, and a slinky, revealing top that is WAY... well, you get the point.  You should look HOT, but you should also feel totally naked.  ;)

For COLLEGE-BUM ROWAN, this is what you'll need:

Flats. Leggings. A messy bun. Glasses. A loose top.  Aaand, OH... and maybe a little scarf.......... read the book to find out why.  ;)

For DEE, this is what you'll need: 


The flirtiest, sexiest heels you can find. A curling iron for Hollywood curls. A super-hot dress or top-and-skirt combo. And a smile that can stop guys' hearts.


These girls are best friends, but they are SO different, and so are their books!  Rowan's book, MAYHEM, releases 1/20/15, and Dee's book, RIOT, releases 2/10/15.  Make sure to check them out, and maybe next year we can have a Mayhem-series-inspired Halloween costume party and giveaway!  How much fun would that be?!  There are lots of other amazing characters you could dress up as too, because COME ON, the book is about freaking rock stars!  I can't wait until next Halloween -- my gears are already turning!  :D


Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Mayhem Book 2 Title Announcement!


The second book in the MAYHEM series officially has a title!  Are you ready for it?!

*Drum roll pleaaase*

RIOT

This title fits the book on so many levels.  The heroine is a total riot, and so are all the volatile feelings she has for the tattooed, mohawked, hot-as-all-hell hero.  ;)

I fell completely in love with Dee and Joel while writing their story, and you are going to love them too, trust me!  These two were insane to write, and this book is one I am ridiculously proud of.  It releases on February 10, 2015 (cover and official synopsis coming soon!), and I cannot WAIT for you all to read it!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

An Author Who Hated to Read


I’ve thought about writing this personal blog post for a long time, but part of me worried it would make me seem less legit as an author --- which I've come to realize is one of the reasons I really need to write it, so let me just say it:

I used to DESPISE reading.  I didn’t learn to love it until I was out of college.

Why is this important?  A few reasons:

  1. Some people assume that if they don’t like to read, they never will.
  2. Some people don’t understand why they (or their children/spouses/friends) don’t like to read.
  3. Some people assume that people who like to read (and/or write) are entirely different from them.

So let me first make another confession:

I was a BAD teenager.

I was the opposite of a book nerd.  I was the kid who got suspended (repeatedly) for fighting in school and generally being a disrespectful little punk.  I was the kid who flunked sophomore year for skipping too many days.  I was the kid who ultimately got sent to a private school because public school couldn’t handle me, and then had to get homeschooled when private school decided they couldn’t handle me either.  Had it not been for my determined mother, I would have been a high school drop-out.

Rewind: In elementary and middle school, I was always at the top of my class.  I was in all of the advanced classes, including advanced English classes, and I believe this is when my hatred of reading and writing started.  I was swamped with homework.  I was forced to write book report after book report on books I didn’t want to read, and that made me hate reading.  I never had a teacher who helped me figure out what types of books I might like, or who explained that there are all sorts of different genres.  I assumed I hated all books, and I never questioned this, even as an adult.

Lesson: If you want your children to enjoy reading, forcing books on them is not the answer.  Sure, kids should be encouraged and even required to read, but a love of reading can only be borne out of genuine interest.  Encourage your children to pick books they think they might like.

As a teenager, I liked rap.  Yes, rap.  So I liked writing poetry.  Which is initially why I went to college for Professional Writing (after drastically turning my life around).  But even then, I never imagined myself becoming an author, and I still didn’t enjoy reading.

What I did like was zombies.  After graduation, I heard about Max Brook’s The Zombie Survival Guide and decided to read it because it wasn’t traditional fiction.  I loved it so much that I thought maybe I could like reading other books about zombies, even if they were traditional novels—which I had been conditioned to avoid—and I was right.  Books like J.L. Bourne’s Day by Day Armageddon series blew me away.

Zombie lit was my gateway drug.

I began devouring zombie books, but that was still as far as I was willing to venture.  Since my dislike of reading was so ingrained in me by then, it didn’t even occur to me that I might like reading other types of fiction.

Then, a few years later, a coworker (now one of my best friends) randomly brought in a book she thought I might like to read: the first book in The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa.  My coworker’s reason for suggesting it?  She simply thought the main character’s voice sounded like mine and that I might connect with her.

When she described the book to me, I thought the faeries sounded kind of cool, but romance?  Seriously?  Didn’t all of those books have to have Fabio on the cover?

It took me months to finally pick up the book and read it, but once I did I COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN.

That was my moment.  That was the book that changed my entire life.

God, I’m getting teary-eyed just writing this blog post because I remember that feeling, that moment when I realized why some people LOVE reading, that *I* could LOVE reading too--and not just zombie novels, but all sorts of novels.  I read that entire series in like three days, and I haven’t stopped reading since.  Now, I can’t imagine my life without books.

My love of writing fiction came just as suddenly and unexpectedly.  Even though I got my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Professional Writing, my studies had always been geared toward nonfiction and teaching, never fiction.  (I’m not one of those authors who spent their childhoods writing stories in notebooks or dreaming up characters in their heads.)  About a year after I began reading romance, I began running a creative writing workshop at the college where I work, and those students pushed me to give creative writing a try myself.  One night, I gave it a go.

The very first creative writing I ever did was my first (unpublished) novel, which I completed in three weeks because I realized I loved writing fiction.

As soon as I started typing that story, I was consumed.  When I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about writing, and I wrote an 86,000-word novel in three freaking weeks.  Granted, it wasn’t my best work, but it was the project that made me aware that this is what I was meant to be doing.

I was meant to be a writer.

So here’s the timeline:

Ages under 22 — despise reading; no interest in writing fiction
Age 23ish — discover love of zombie lit
Age 25ish — discover LOVE of romance, YA, NA, ALL THE BOOKS
Age 26 — write first novel
Age 28 — get agent, get publishing deal, get all the happy

Moral of the Story: It’s never too late to give reading a try.  If you don’t like one genre, try another, and then another.  Everyone has to learn to love reading on their own time, but I truly believe there is a book out there for everyone.

It’s also never too late to begin writing.  If you have any interest in writing, write!  The only way to get better at it is to keep writing and writing and writing.  Write every day; keep getting better.

And finally, it never hurts to offer to lend someone a book.  You might just change their life.  ;)
 

-- I'd love to hear your own stories about how you learned to love reading and/or writing!  Please share in the comments below!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

MAYHEM -- Coming Early 2015!

MAYHEM IS GETTING PUBLISHED!!!!

That is the largest font this blog will let me use, and it is NOT BIG ENOUGH!

This means a real cover, and real readers, and a real blog tour, and ahhh!!!

I have been DYING to share this news.  And while I realize I probably should have announced it here instead of on Facebook, Twitter, and the rooftops of my hometown, I was too damn excited!


*deep breaths* 

What I'm trying to say is that my debut New Adult series, MAYHEM, is officially scheduled for publication by Avon Impulse/HarperCollins in a 3-book deal.  The first book will be released in early 2015.

HARPER FREAKING COLLINS!!!!  3-BOOK DEAL!!!!  EARLY 2015!!!! 

I am beyond excited to begin this partnership with them and cannot WAIT for you to read the books!

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say about the books yet, but ummm... hot rock stars... need I say more?  ;)


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Guaranteed Inspiration Fuel!

So yesterday, this happened:


And before that, there may or may not have been a time when I washed my hair at least four times because I was so distracted with book ideas that I kept forgetting if I'd washed it or not..........

ANYWAY, that brings me to the reason for this post!  I have compiled a list of ten things that you, my dear fellow writers, can do when you need a kick of inspiration.


GUARANTEED FIXES:
(These fixes cannot be guaranteed.)
  1. Lie down to go to sleep, get snug under the covers (the warmer, sleepier, and more comfortable you are, the better this will work)
  2. Hop in the shower, get fully lathered up
  3. Be running late (for anything, but especially for work)
  4. Drive somewhere (ideally somewhere far away, on a route with heavy traffic)
  5. Sit down to watch a movie (preferably with someone who is also excited to watch it)
  6. Start cooking dinner
  7. Begin to read a book (make sure it's one that you've been waiting to read for a reeeally long time)
  8. Start to clean (this will work especially well when it's been so long since you've cleaned that if anyone walked into your house, you'd die from mortification right on the spot)
  9. Have your significant other try to initiate sexy time
  10. Be on a deadline for something else (homework, other writing projects, you name it -- the tighter the deadline, the better)


I know, I know.  I just changed your life. 


Do these happen to you?  Have anything to add to the list?  Share in the comments!


Friday, April 4, 2014

Lessons Learned

So back when I was writing MAYHEM, and then when I was slogging through the query trenches, I thought about making a blog or website... but honestly, the thought of having an author page when I wasn't a published author yet made me feel like a total poser.




Now, I wish I had gotten started on this stuff before I even finished the darn book!

My advice to all aspiring authors: MAKE YOUR AUTHOR PAGES NOW OMG.


 


Seriously.  Just because you're unpublished doesn't mean you're not an author.  If you wrote a book, you're an author! 

You're not an aspiring author; you're an undiscovered author, and the only way for you to get discovered is to put yourself out there!

So go forth, young authors!  Make friends!  Make connections!

Be awesome-sauce!



So. Much. Want.

 I don't think I've ever wanted anything so badly in my entire life...



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Getting Started...

Can I just say how weird it feels to actually be making my author page?

MY AUTHOR PAGE, PEOPLE! 
Do you realize how huge this is?!





Every day lately feels like a dream come true, and I couldn't be more thankful.

One day -- hopefully one day soon -- MAYHEM will be published and this blog will actually get some visitors (and a face-lift)!

In the meantime, major thanks to everyone who has and continues to support me.  You guys are the best!