The Long Way Home

by Scott, Jessica

  As a writer, I can only dream of a day when journalists and politicians actually read books before they criticize them. A day when they will acknowledge that the books speak to others even if they don’t speak to them. Teens live in a world we would not recognize from our own childhood. Arming them with information is not a bad thing but it’s up to parents to guide and help those kids out.

  And for those kids who are lost, looking for a way out of the darkness, without a parent to guide them? I don’t think there is a single author out there who isn’t honored to be that light. Authors know we have a responsibility. Just follow the hashtag #YASaves as evidence of all the people out there who have been positively impacted by books.

  The darkness is out there. Closing our eyes to it only makes us blind.

  Vacation? Sort Of

  June 9, 2011

  IF YOU’VE BEEN FOLLOWING me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know my other half is home on R&R from Iraq. He literally got off the plane and we headed back east to spend time in Delaware with his family.

  Those of you who know me know that I have a hard time “relaxing.” I’ve always got things to do. But this trip, I’m literally hanging out. I’ve spent a ton of time with my sister-in-law and her boys. I’ve got to say, there aren’t two sixteen and twenty year old guys on the planet who are better with kids. My girls go nuts to see their cousins and the cousins, bless them, tolerate it like champs. My oldest learned to ”surf” the other day, much to her mother’s anxiety.

  There has been fishing and time at the beach. We went up to Cowtown, a rodeo that, believe it or not, is in southern Jersey. It didn’t feel like south Jersey, that’s for sure. It was fun, though, and the girls discovered the fun of rolling down a hill in the fading summer light.

  These are the memories the girls will remember. Rolling down hills. Learning to surf. Playing on the beach with aunts and uncles and cousins.

  Best of all, I’m actually, relaxing. I’ve left my XO in complete charge (don’t get excited, of course I left him a to do list). He’s learned a lot over the last few days and I’m sure he’ll continue to grow. I’m lucky to have a fantastic team back at Fort Hood that is strong and capable and forcing me to unplug and relax. It’s kind of funny, actually. Sometimes I feel really useless that I don’t actually do anything. My boss tells me it’s a good thing that the company keeps rolling smoothly along when I’m not there. She tells me it means I’ve got everyone pushing the right buttons. I just think it means my 1SG really runs the show and only lets me think I’m in charge. But isn’t that the way NCOs always do it?

  Vacation to me, though, means that my brain gets the chance to relax and recharge. I’ve finished round one of revisions on my latest project and idea two is rapidly moving to the forefront of my brain. It will soon move down to my fingers and start taking shape. It’d better.

  For me, relaxing is something foreign, something I don’t actually get to do very often. I feel guilty taking me time, even though my boss taught me that I’m an INTP, which means I need my me time to recharge my energy.

  Knowing that, I feel a little less guilty about it. But not much. So I’m enjoying my vacation and enjoying my time away with my family.

  It’s kind of nice.

  RWA 11 Conference Prep: Part 1

  June 9, 2011

  SO THIS YEAR WILL be my second RWA National Conference. For those of you who remember last year’s freak out, it was kind of a BFD (big f**ng deal) for me to go from soldier to girly girl. I didn’t know what to wear. I had major shoe trauma. I didn’t know if anyone was going to talk to me or if I’d end up sitting in my room waiting to be invited out to play. Add in a healthy dose of crowd anxiety and yeah, it could have been a disaster.

  Instead, I had a blast. I made new friends and got to hang out with some of my favorite people on the planet. And I learned my way around conference when I had no idea what I was doing. I don’t pretend in any way shape or form to be an expert on the Conference Experience. But, I’ve done some prep work already and the prepping will continue until, well, I get on the plane to arrive a day late (but hey, at least I’m going).

  If this is your first year at RWA conference, let me tell you, you are in for a great time. If you’re online at all, you need only follow the Twitter hashtag #rwa11 to catch up, find new people to follow, and generally start picking up on the excitement.

  Prep Work So Far

  June 10, 2011

  I have clothes. I haven’t stressed out too badly about clothing because the outfits I’ve been buying for professional work outings can easily double at conference. Now, this is before the actual decision time comes, when I have to figure out what to pack in order not to be charged overweight baggage fees but that’s another story.

  I do not have the shoe problem figured out. I might. I have these great Borne wedge sandals that I’ve had for years that are incredibly comfy and go well with all things summer. If they go with the outfits I’ve got, I have day shoe problem solved. It gets trickier, however, for the evening shoes. And that remains a problem as I have not discovered a good trick for stopping blisters. Alcohol will solve most pain issues but blisters? I’d have to get roaring drunk, which my agent would probably recommend against, in order to solve the blister problem. So, strappy sandal lovers, I need some blister solutions that won’t look like I’ve got my toes mummified.

  Work Yet to Be Done: I’m thinking about workshops. What am I going to attend this year? I’d love to get some craft workshops in and definitely some professional workshops. But I have to figure out how to balance the limited time and get to where I need to be. Part of the challenge of RWA being held in NYC is that the publishing houses aren’t limited to the conference site for their cocktail parties. So time will be of the essence as I’m in the overflow hotel and so will need to rush back there, change, and get back to wherever it is I need to be.

  I know nothing about NYC. This I consider a huge weakness that I must mitigate. I hate going into situations blind. So more research is required. I also need to figure out what events are on my Must Do list versus my Want To Do list. I think I need some input on that, too.

  All in all, I’m really, really excited about going to NYC for RWA. This will be my only true me time for the entire year. There will be no kids. Hubby is going back to Iraq. It’s my only time for me to just be me. I’m thinking a massage is probably in order. Probably drinking (in moderation, of course) because I won’t have to worry about getting up at the butt crack of dawn to be in line for the Disney parks to open.

  Putting All Your Eggs in the Facebook Basket

  June 11, 2011

  AS MUCH AS I’M online, I’m still a very simple girl when it comes to finding people online. I use Google. I don’t necessarily look for people’s dot com address but when I’m looking for writers, I tend to think I’ll find at least something out on the regular, open interweb.

  And as much as y’all see stuff I post to Facebook, I don’t actually read much on Facebook. I recognize it is a time suck and yes, I know this means I probably miss out on lots of updates from people I really want to know about. I can’t tell you how many times someone tells me that they posted something on Facebook and I never had a clue. Plus, I have a hard time finding actual people on Facebook because, let’s face it, there are dozens of folks out there with the same name.

  I suspect there are many people out there who, like me, either use Facebook as a tool or who avoid it all together. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place to create groups and to reach out to potential readers. But when everything a person has is on a personal Facebook page (not a fan page, which I’ll get to in a minute), then said potential readers have to have a Facebook page to read it. They can’t find your contact info or any other way to connect with you unless you have an external website and if you don’t, they’ll have to create a Facebook account of their own, which many won’t do.

  Facebook is a great way to stay connected. I’ve reconnected with friends from high sc
hool who I never would have found outside on the world wide web, simply because I would never have had the time to sit and Google everyone in my class. With Facebook suggesting people I might know, it saved time and brought people back into my life. I’m glad for that. But as a writer, I’m not going to put all my eggs in a single basket.

  Which brings me to Facebook Fan pages. Press a like button and you’re a fan. You can leave messages on the wall. You can catch up on all the latest news. But what I haven’t figured out is how to leave the person you’re a fan of a message that the entire world can’t see. And if it’s difficult to find, people won’t do it. So as an author, do you need a fan page? Not necessarily. Is it useful? Probably but considering Facebook’s recent crackdown on author contests and promotions, I suspect we may see somewhat of an exodus back to self-hosted websites in order to run contests and other promotion.

  It is because of Facebook’s restrictions and weird, sometimes arbitrary enforcement of the rules that I urge all authors out there to have a Facebook presence but not to stop all interaction on their own websites. Yes, Facebook is easier but what happens when the day comes that you suddenly have to start paying to maintain your Fan page? Or they change the rules and stop allowing something you’ve depended on, such as author promotions?

  I recommend maintaining a personal website. If you’re going to post to Facebook, do it through your own website and feed it into Facebook. That way, people see fresh content on your own website and people in Facebook will see it, too. You end up keeping a solid presence at your own website as well as staying connected in Facebook. Plus, if Facebook ever changes the game and you’re no longer willing to play, you’ll have a home with a warm fire ready to go back to whenever you decide to leave the Facebook village.

  RWA Countdown

  June 22, 2011

  IN ONE WEEK, I will be at RWA 2011 in NYC. I know, I know, the conference starts on Tuesday. Unfortunately, in my other life, I have to give what’s known as the Quarterly Training Brief, where I brief my brigade commander what my training plan for the quarter will be. It’s tons of fun and lots of laughs. No really. It is. I swear.

  Okay, so RWA will be way more fun. Like off the charts. I was reading my article I wrote in the RWR last year after my first conference. It was really a refresher because I was that nervous about going. I didn’t know what to wear. I didn’t know how to act or if anyone was going to talk to me. It was easier for me to pack for deployment to Iraq than to pack for RWA (packing is a whole ’nother blog post).

  Last year, though, I was six months off the plane from Iraq. I was still adjusting and there was still a whole lot of transition going on in my life from deployment. This year, deployment is impacting us in a different way, one that I’m much more familiar with. My husband just left for Iraq again and once more, it’s me and the kiddos and the pets.

  And once again, RWA is looming. I’m not going to lie and tell you that I’m as freaked out as I was last year. I truly had an amazing time, blisters and all. But now, I’m a week out and yeah, I’m nervous. I’ve got to make sure I’m dressed right. This is a really big year for me and I really want to be comfortable but look right. Dress for the job I want and all that, right? So I want to be a big girl author in snazzy clothes and a great byline. Granted the clothes have nothing to do with that, but hey, when else do I get to trade in my combat boots for high heels and manicures?

  So on that note, I’m packing dressy. I’m going glam for the week. I’m not Mommy. I’m not ma’am. I’m not the commander. I’m just Jess and I’m going to enjoy myself. Part of that means I’m going to wear white and hopefully not spill red wine or coffee on it. Part of that means that I’m freaking out and wearing my high heels around the house at night to get my feet ready for the miles of walking. And part of it means obsessively trying on different outfit combinations to make sure that I have the right clothes. For me the right clothes means comfortable and stylish. I hope I’ve figured that out. If not, I have friends who have volunteered to dress me. *cough*

  As far as everything else, I know I can’t do it all. There are a few workshops I really want to get to. There are a ton of people I want to see again and new faces from the online writing world I want to meet in person and several folks I owe the first and potentially second round of drinks to.

  For me, RWA this year is the same as the last. It’s a chance to hug those people who have helped me out over the past year and just say thanks. It’s sad that I have to go to New York to catch up with my Austin RWA peeps but unfortunately, that’s part of being a commander. Life gets in the way. Honestly, I would not be where I am today without a whole ton of people encouraging me, prodding me off the ledge, kicking me in the ass or cheering me on when things went really, really great.

  So I’m going to say thanks when I get there. And if I owe you a drink or two, I’ll see you at the bar!

  And I’m Off to RWA 2011

  June 29, 2011

  YOU KNOW, IT’S NOT like I haven’t flown before. It’s not like I haven’t been to Nationals before. But seriously, this is kind of ridiculous. I was up until damn near 1am, then back up at 3:30 because I couldn’t sleep. So now I’m at the airport, getting ready for the first leg of my trip.

  And I’m flipping tired. Really? The conference I’ve been looking forward to for weeks if not since last year, and I’m tired??

  Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited as all get out. I can’t wait to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. I’m stalking a couple of folks (you know who you are) because I’m a total fangirl nerd. And all in all, I’m going to have some me time.

  I’m dressing up and stepping out. No combat boots, no ACUs, no rushing the kids off to daycare. I’ve got meetings and parties and shoes that, please Lord, let me have broken in right.

  So wish me luck! I’ll try to blog during the conference but if I don’t, I’ll for sure do a wrap up at the end.

  See you in New York!

  And the text editor Wordpress app for iPad sucks. In case anyone was wondering.

  So I Sold My Book

  June 30, 2011

  SO I CAN FINALLY go public with the announcement. In case you missed it last night on Twitter, I’m the debut author for the relaunch of Ballantine Bantam Dell’s Loveswept line. My first book, Because of You will be out in November and it’s the first of a three book series called Coming Home.

  Excuse me while I jump up and down. It still hasn’t sunk in. Holy crap, I finally sold a book!!!

  Okay, I’m done.

  So yesterday was a banner day in my life. You’re only in NYC for the first time once. I had my first NYC cab ride and thought I was going to die. I almost got hit by a cab for the first time. I saw Times Square and Central Park for the first time. I stood in the lobby of Random House and was absolutely awestruck being surrounded by so many first edition books that are just iconic. Almost got ran over by some cyclists in Central Park for the first time.

  But yesterday was the day I signed my first contract, which I actually think I understood (I hope I didn’t accidentally sign away one of my kids...). I had my first invite to my publisher’s party.

  Dude, gang, I finally sold. I mean, when it really sinks in, I’m like in tears. Four and a half years and tons of angst and...wow. I mean, I sold. I really sold.

  So today is going to be another busy day and tonight, I’m shutting the bar down with friends and once more making sure that certain people make it back to their room in one piece. I’m having a blast seeing old friends and making new ones.

  The only thing I can really say is thank you to everyone who has supported me and let me cry on their shoulder and lean on them over the years. Because I damn sure wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t had some amazing people to help prop me up when the going got a little rough and you know who you are...

  I sold!!!!!!!!!!!

  Because of You: My First Book

  July 2, 2011

  SO IN CASE YOU missed my recent glee, I was fin
ally able to announce my very first sale to Sue Grimshaw at Ballantine Bantam Dell for the relaunch of the Loveswept line.

  From the press release:

  (June 21, 2011)— The Random House Publishing Group, part of Random House Inc., announced today that it is reviving its former Bantam Books-originated Loveswept imprint, a groundbreaking romance publishing line of the eighties and nineties, which helped launch the careers of such bestselling authors as Sandra Brown, Suzanne Brockmann, Janet Evanovich, Tami Hoag, Iris Johansen, and Kay Hooper. The 2011 Loveswept publishing program will be a digital exclusive imprint, comprised of original, newly written e-books, as well as beloved Ballantine Bantam Dell romances and classic Loveswept titles. The program launches with eight titles in August, and continues with one new e-only release monthly in the fall.

  So not only did I sell, but somehow, they seem to think that Shane and Jen, the characters in my first book Because of You are the perfect couple to launch the new imprint. No pressure or anything, right? I mean, hell’s bells, talk about the honor of a lifetime!

  So Shane and Jen have been with me for a while. I’m kind of thrilled at the opportunity to tell their story.

  Happy Fourth Of July

  July 4, 2011

  HOLIDAYS IN IRAQ ARE much like any other day. The biggest difference is what the chow hall does to celebrate. I distinctly remember walking through the chow hall on COS Marez up in Mosul and getting choked up on Memorial Day because they had such a beautiful display. For the Fourth of July, they’d decorated the whole place in red, white, and blue streamers and had a massive American flag cake.