Now & Forever ABCs (Janet)

Janet Naomi Ramos

15 June 1994
Unitarian Universalist

Janet is a quiet, brusque young woman who generally knows what she wants and does it or gets it.  She is at the top of her class in grades, she is an accomplished pianist, practices gymnastics, and competitively figure skates.

Her tastes in clothes, music, books, and art tend to leave most people rather fazed — she doesn’t tend to strike anyone who’s heard her practising Mozart and Bach, or discussing Beethoven’s symphonies at any length, as the sort to favour bands like Apocolyptica and Rhapsody of Fire, nor does anyone who has ever heard of her accomplishments tend to picture someone whose clothes seem to come in equal measure from a normal Juniors’ department, Hot Topic, and a burlesque show’s costumer.

She’s been dating Travis since a few days after the 2009-2010 school year let out, and the two get along one moment like fire and ice, the next like fire and gasoline.

Many of her friends tend to see her as having no sense of humour.  She tells few jokes, laughs rarely — and little when she does, and often just cocks her head at other people’s jokes.  She’s a very serious person, and can be unintentionally a little rude or harsh when talking to people, except when teaching.  Part of the fees she ‘pays’ her skating, gymnastics, and piano instructors is assisting them with lessons, a task she takes to happily and with saintly patience.  Her plans include a Nobel prize in astrophysics and to run a figure skating school (her favourite among her various endeavours); she’s currently working very hard to secure a scholarship to attend MIT.

A bestseller in the making.

#14 in “Hot New Releases” – Lesbian, and #29 in Lesbian fiction overall?!

That’s where Love or Lust is on Amazon’s ranking system as I type this.

According to some, this means that I am a bestseller.  I’m still in the 12k-th slot on Amazon, overall, but … wow.

oh, and for my UK friends?

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I’m so sorry!

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God, I’m sorry folks, I got distracted and completely forgot to schedule a post announcing a sale!

Luckily it is for the entire month of July, and if you shop on Smashwords already then it would have kindly told you to use code SW50 to get Love or Lust half off.

Lots and lots of books 25%, 50%, 75%, even 100% off today. A lot of authors presenting their hard work at discount for us. So today I’m posting my link to the promotion. Err … There’s a lot of erotica on Smashwords. They kindly turn on an Adult Content filter by default, but be forewarned – or, if that’s your thing, I suppose you could call it rather a plus … just remember to turn the filter off (I work in Tech Support, if you don’t think people have to be told this kind of thing – I’m terribly sorry, but I must excuse myself to laugh until I hyperventilate).

Smashwords’ Summer Sale

Announcing: Love or Lust now available!

Love or Lust coverNow available in eBook and Print: Love or Lust the first of four books in the Now & Forever series.

A light-hearted, slice-of-life, romantic-comedy for young adults, Love or Lust introduces you to Lauren Conners, a ballerina, a Good Girl, studious, and sweet, and to Salencia Constellino, an exotic, irreverent cowgirl new to the little Washington town.

When the girls meet it’s love at first sight; sparks fly, angels sing, lightning and fireworks. But they attend the best school in the area, a Catholic secondary school, Immaculate Conception. It’s not just their school that brings trouble for the young couple. The young teens have their own inner turmoils and anxieties — especially Lauren, who always wants to think the best of people, but quickly learns just how petty people can get.

It’s an uplifting story, though, meant to inspire and give hope. The girls have supportive and loving friends and families. And, largely, the obstacles of life and of being teenagers are navigated with quirky senses of humour and strange misunderstandings.

In this book Lauren and Sally are first and foremost, young high school freshmen, fourteen years old and trying to make sense of themselves and the world around them. It is my hope that it might show people that we’re all human beings no matter who it is we choose to love. That homosexual, heterosexual, bixsexual, asexual, trisexual, or what have you, are still people; still feeling beings with hopes and dreams.

Print book us$17.99/£11.50/€13.75
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eBook us$3.99. Available in numerous countries at proportionate price.
Currently in:
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Coming soon to:
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What gives?

Okay, we’re all readers here, right?  I mean I can think of few other candidates for followers of an author’s blog, and it breaks my mind to try to imagine a writer who doesn’t read.

Readers are notoriously opinionated people (about books).

So why is it, then, that I’ve only one reply to my question?

I did have one person click like — so I turned Like off for that post because, really?  Why?  What is the magic of the Like button that, not only does everything have one now, but that people will click it on things where it either makes no sense to do so or it is expressly asked not to?

Anyway stress is not fun.  Editing is stressful.  As is the realisation that I’m hitting the final week that 2/3 of my agents say they take to respond.  I’m of a mind to say to Hell with self-publishing and just keep shopping the series out to publishers and agents till I get a bite, but I’m pretty sure I’m nowhere near so patient a person.

Wish me luck, I’m going back to editing now.  At a scene I like, but have this sinking feeling ought to either be axed or relocated.  Always such a bother to figure out if that’s true or not, and then if so there comes the question of which to do.

A question about book habits

I notice I have over four dozen people following this blog, and rather a sizable traffic rate of visitors. I also notice that I’m about a week away from the “if we haven’t replied by …” date for the agents I’ve submitted queries to. Figures, this close and I find a site that may well have upped me from a dozen and a half to almost a gross options – so a little question, call it a market study.

First, don’t hit like. If I can I shall turn off the button for this post. Do, please, leave a comment (they’re moderated to block SPAM and trolls, be patient and your post will show up).

Second, I notice a number of my followers are also writers of various sorts. This means the answers to the questions coming up may benefit you as well, so spread the link, have your friends come by and comment, give the URL to the girl making your mocha if you want. The more that answer this the more data we all have.

The question (well, questions, really):

  • Do you have any tendency to buy print over ebook?
  • Do you prefer self or publishing house books? Are you indifferent?
  • Where do you buy books? Online, in a store? Which shops/e-shops do you prefer?
  • Does genre change your answer to any of this? Maybe you were thinking Westerns, but you’ll read a good Thriller if one comes your way – would you shop for it the same way?

 

The purpose of this? Simple, to decide if there’s any gain in waiting and to make that answer as public as I’m able to help other authors make that decision. Please, keep to the golden rule here, I really don’t wish to learn how to Ban anyone, but feel free to discuss each other’s answers.

Thanks

Writer’s block of the ugliest sort

I’ve been a bit stuck in Ready or Not for awhile. Far longer than I even realised (I hate file date stamping; it’s depressing sometimes. Last time I edited the file for the book was near the beginning of September!).

Writer’s block is never fun, but it has different forms and I’ve got the one I hate the most. See, there’s the writer’s block where you’ve no idea what happens next, that’s the normal sort. The next sort is arguably not writer’s block, but I think of it as being so, and that’s where you have a brilliant idea in your mind but can’t get it to come out of your head and play nice with the written word; I’ll admit this one is pretty bad and can lead to tears and madness, but it’s still (for me) not as bad as the third and final sort. The sort to which I refer is when you know exactly what comes next, yessiree bob you do. You know lots of happening nexts. The problem is you’ve got to get the story there! Yeah, I’m stuck like that. I’m at the start of chapter nine. I need to get from the end of chapter 8 to the bits and pieces in my head. Either all of chapter 9 or its opening paragraphs need to fulfill this job. I can’t seem to manage.

In my own defense I’ve been a bit overworked at work – something that has been mercifully alleviated as of this week (and remember, buy lots of copies of my books when they’re out, and encourage your friends, family, acquaintances, enemies, and random people on the street to do the same and I could quit this silly job thing and write full time … just a thought). I’ve been ill, both actual illness and just a kind of recurring migraine I always get this time of year thanks to the horribly awful and hellish place I live (I am not a native of this place and my fondest wish is to one day be far removed from it and ne’er return again). It has all combined to leave me a bit too spaced and blah to write much of anything.

Still, things are improving so I hope to be back to work on book 2 shortly. As for Love or Lust it’s coming along well. My editor is happily devouring it and will be handing me back a copy that looks quite thoroughly bled upon in short order, at which point it should quickly find itself available for sale.

Færie Patrol still only exists as a couple of pages and a handful of concept.