Category: Writing

Blogger Bouquet #38

Published on by J. Kelland Perry

blogger bouquet spring

Tara of Tara Sparling writes is an established writer and award-winning blogger from Ireland.

From her About pages:

Tara writes fiction and screenplays. Originally from the west of Ireland, she now lives in Dublin. She spends all of her spare time with words. The writing of them and the reading of them…
…This blog offers a reader’s perspective on traditional and indie/self-publishing, book sales and genre trends, writing and publishing follies, marketing tips, author success stories and spectacular failures.

Tara raises an excellent point in this post from June, a topic I have also blogged about. Check it out:

We Were All Young Adults Once: Why Are We Not All Reading Young Adult Fiction?

Comments are closed here but you can leave a comment on the blogger’s page.

I hope your week is going well, everyone!
❤

Finished :-)

Published on by J. Kelland Perry20 Comments

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At last, Calmer Girls II: Calmer Secrets is finished. Yippee!

What I mean by finished is that it is out of my hands and into my first readers’ hands. Once I receive feedback and make any changes from their suggestions (and eagle eyes), the manuscript will be submitted to my editor.

Because I’ve been consumed recently with its completion, many things have fallen by the wayside around here. So I need to take a breather.

What I mean by taking a breather is not exactly a breather at all, except when it comes to my blog. I must begin getting my surroundings back in ship-shape: tackle the freakishly giant dust bunnies multiplying as I type this, start digging into the mountain of laundry piled up from neglect, and get busy on dozens of other tasks I’ve been actively ignoring.

Once I see I’m making headway, I’ll be back! In the meantime, below is the info for the upcoming Signing Event in my area. Also there’s only one week left until the Calmer Girls Paperback Giveaway ends. You can enter for your chance to win here.

Does anyone (~ GROAN ~) despise housework as much as I do? 😦

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Blogger Bouquet #37

Published on by J. Kelland Perry

blogger bouquet spring

Andrea Stephenson is a gifted writer who shares her inspirations on her blog Harvesting Hecate. 

From her About page, A Creative Life:

“My first writing memory dates back to when I was around 8 years old and feverishly re-writing the Nancy Drew novel I’d just read.  Once I began writing, I didn’t stop.  I wrote stories, the beginnings of novels, journals.  Writing was a compulsion, something I felt I had to do.”

I chose the following post of Andrea’s to help illustrate an emotion I too am feeling as of late: mourning for the story that has ended and for the characters that became part of your daily life, as well as the struggle writers experience in finding the thread of a new story. When you read her colourful prose, you may also be moved to click the follow button.

Finding A Story

Comments are closed here but you can leave a comment on the blogger’s page.

Have an inspiring week, everyone!

❤

Scenes from a St. John’s Book Launch

Published on by J. Kelland Perry34 Comments

My Book Signing Event was a success!

The Launch included an introduction and bio, a short author reading of an excerpt from Calmer Girls, question period, and sale and signing of books.

I wish to bestow a huge thank-you to everyone who took time out of their Saturday to attend. It meant the world to me. Several of you even drove from out of town to be there, and for that I am forever grateful. ❤

I also wish to thank Jewel S. Cousens, B.A., M.L.S., NL Librarian with the A.C. Hunter Public Library, Arts & Culture Centre, for all of her valuable assistance, as well as her insight and suggestions for future promotions. Ms. Cousens was happy to tell us that interest in Newfoundland and Labrador books has grown in recent years and continues to grow.

Special appreciation to my husband and family for everything you did to make this past weekend one I will never forget.

I hope you enjoy the photos and the slide show I’ve shared below.

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Reading
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Intent Listeners   🙂
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Answering Questions
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Signing Books
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Catching up after the Launch with a Scotiabank bud!

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Sad

Published on by J. Kelland Perry

I have always hated good-byes. They suck.

There are all sorts of good-byes in this world. This past weekend, a blogger friend of mine had to say good-bye to one of her dear little cats, and everyone who knows me at all knows what cats mean to me. I feel your grief, Lois!

And you might think when another blogger friend decides to no longer continue with her blog that it wouldn’t be a very big deal, but to me, it is. A virtual, cyber relationship can be meaningful, especially when it is a relationship that has gone on for a while and you have supported each other in ways other people can’t. She will be missed. 😦

But I am richer for having known her. As a writer, I understand why she needs to do this. And we will still be in touch on Twitter (though that isn’t the same!)

I wish all the best for you, C.R., in your writing career and everything you do.

Try to drop by once in a while, okay?

That is all.

scarecrow goodbye

Couch Potatoes & a Giveaway

Published on by J. Kelland Perry20 Comments

I’ve been a certified sofa spud all weekend due to a bout of illness, but I have company. Her name is Maisie.

Does this photo of her remind you of anyone?

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Our Maisie in her usual nap pose

For those of you who are “old codgers”* like moi, you might be reminded of Dagwood Bumstead from Chic Young’s comic strip Blondie:

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Or it might make you think of this guy, another legendary comic-strip couch potato:

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Andy Capp by Reg Smythe

I think I’ll go with the latter.

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“Andy Cat”

*Codger – derived from the expression: coffin dodger. You learn something new every day!

On another note, there is still time left to enter my Calmer Girls Giveaway. This one is for US only but next week I will be hosting one for everyone with Goodreads.

Check it out:

Enter my #AmazonGiveaway for Calmer Girls! Paperback version – NoPurchNecessary/US only: This event has ended.

Have an inspiring week, everyone! ❤

The Ends of the Earth

Published on by J. Kelland Perry21 Comments

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“I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
There’s nothing that I would not do
Go to the ends of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love.”

Bob Dylan wrote it. Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, Adele, Neil Diamond, and many others recorded it. These talented singers knew a great song when they heard it.

Make You Feel My Love has been one of my favourite love songs ever since Dylan released it on his 1997 album, Time Out of Mind. As it happened, that was the same year he came to perform two shows at St. John’s Memorial Stadium here in Newfoundland, one of which Paul and I attended.

A little side note here about that concert: My daughter Denise was in class during her last year of high school when she heard through the student grapevine that Dylan was coming to our fair province. Knowing full well how big a fan her mother’s fiancé was, she phoned Paul from school on her lunch break to be the first to blurt the good news. Needless to say, we were elated and scored our tickets right away for the show. But as excellent as the concert turned out to be, Paul remembers that phone call with a special fondness. It showed him how much his stepdaughter cared.

Nowadays I like to tease him about the song and how I identify with the lyrics in the last verse shared above. I am reminded of how I followed him to Newtown five years ago. Now tell me, what could be more proof of my love and loyalty – to make him feel my love – than to go to “the ends of the earth” that is Perry’s Point, a wild piece of land that juts out into the cold North Atlantic?

Mushy? Sentimental? I don’t care.

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*Photos taken from Perry’s Point on April 19, 2016.

New Author Interview

Published on by J. Kelland Perry13 Comments

Happy Friday, all.

 Fellow author Lisa D. Montanino from Accidental Bohemian interviewed me a few weeks back, and yesterday she shared it on her blog. To access, click the link at the end of this post. A huge and appreciative thank you, Lisa!

I couldn’t resist snapping these photos yesterday. Yes, I fully confess it felt special, and a little surreal, to see my new books hanging out with other books at my house.

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dedication 🙂

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FYI: Next week I will return to my usual blogging content of photography, the adventures of Maisie & Vivian, general writing and poetry, and everything Newfoundland. Sincere thanks to those of you who did patiently bear with me through my book’s release.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. ❤

“Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.”
~Bill Watterson

Interview Link:
http://ldmountain.wordpress.co/2016/04/14/author-interview-with-jennifer-kelland-perry/

Blogger Bouquet #36

Published on by J. Kelland Perry

blogger bouquet spring

Barbara Vitelli is a book reviewer and blogger at Book Club Mom here on WordPress. She also shares author interviews, indie author profiles and blogging advice.

In addition to all of that, Barbara is a book-clubber, an avid reviewer on GoodReads, and she has over five thousand followers on Twitter.

I chose the following post from her lovely blog, not because it is her most recent, but because I appreciate that she reviews the well-loved classics by famous authors as well as newer selections by current and lesser-known authors.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Comments are closed here but you can leave a comment on the blogger’s page.

Have an inspiring week, everyone!

❤

Sweet Ride

Published on by J. Kelland Perry21 Comments
66 Thunderbird Convertible
’66 Ford Thunderbird Convertible

This gorgeous convertible is the vintage car 18-year-old Ben Swift drives in my YA novel, Calmer Girls. It belongs to his dad but he gets to borrow it often. 

Interesting trivia: Out of 69,176 T-Birds built in 1966, 5049 were convertibles. This generation of the Thunderbird played a starring role in the TV series Highlander and was also in the 1991 movie Thelma and Louise.

By the way…good news! Calmer Girls is now available in paperback, as well as e-book, on Amazon.

Have a great week, everyone! ❤