Book Paintings!

Book paintings?!

What the heck is a book painting you ask? 

Many moons ago in a land called Instagram there lived a painter, an author and a reader.  One day the reader tagged the author in a sketch of The Perfect Game and the author proceeded to ask intelligent questions like:

OH MY GOD!  WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!?
IS THIS A SKETCH?!?!?
AND THEN IT BECOMES A PAINTING?!?!?
ARE YOU GETTING THE PERFECT GAME AS A PAINTING??!?!!
OMG, CAN I GET TPG AS A PAINTING?!?!?!?
CAN I BUY SOME PAINTINGS FOR MY AUTHOR FRIENDS?!?!?
WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL LAND I HAVE STUMBLED UPON?!?!?!??!

And thus, my Perfect Game painting was born.  :)

And so were these other two paintings I bought for my author friends, S.C. Stephens

 

And Samantha Towle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren't they freaking cool?

 

I think so too.  Obviously.

 

So anyway, Danielle (that's the painter from the land of Instagram) has set up shop on facebook where you can go and order your own painting!  From whatever book you loved- although if she hasn't read it yet, you'll have to help her out and make sure you tell her what elements you want on it.

 

They're pretty unique gifts and they are even more awesome in real life if you can believe that!  Not to mention that they are affordable as well! I just wanted to give her a little shout because I believe in her talent and I want nothing but great things for her. 

 

If you're looking for a cool, one of a kind painting, look no further than Pushy Girl Paintings.  :)

 

http://www.facebook.com/PushyGirlPaintings

 

 

 

You want to write a book PART 3

Cause it's so much fun to piss everyone off, I figured i'd just keep verbally vomiting so you don't have to.  lol

This one will be short.  But it's still the truth.  Well, MY turth anyway.

You need to have integrity as a writer. 
And you need to stay true to yourself and the stories you choose to tell.

I know you want to write a book that connects with people. And i'm sure by now you've read all the "popular" self-published books just trying to figure out what those books have that yours doesn't. But what you don't realize is that it's all a crap shoot. I'm not kidding. Timing, what's trending, who is buying and reading books, exposure, what else is out there, how over or under saturated the market is, what people want, what they're sick of reading, where the moon is aligned in your sun sign, etc.  Whatever sold two weeks ago might not sell two weeks from now. Readers are fickle. You shouldn't be when it comes to your writing.

The biggest thing for me personally is- I know that I could take the route of writing in a certain manner, or about certain topics for shock value simply to make a buck, but that would be completely disingenuous of me. I'm a smart person. I know what sells in the same way that marketing genuises learned that sex sells in advertising. I could do all sorts of things to ensure that people will talk about my books once they've read the last chapter. But I can't do things that don't feel real to me. That doesn't mean that my stories won't break your heart, or have painful topics in them... because they will. But what it does mean is that you can rest assured that the story came from my heart and not my wallet.

Listen, I want readers to love what I write, but I want to know that my story came from the right place. I don't write for the money. I write because of the way it makes me feel to put my story on paper. And for the way that people react to it. No matter how few or how many the number- the genuine feeling you get as an author is the same.

So my advice to future writers out there:

Just be you.

Write the stories that make you FEEL like you are being true to your calling.
You will find your groove. You will hit your stride. And you won't feel like you sold out to do it.

There's nothing more beautiful than being successful doing something you genuinely love to do.

Now go do it.  :)

Happy 2 0 1 3 !!!

It's New Years Eve... like RIGHT! NOW!

And i'd be lying if I didn't tell you that new years was pretty much my most favorite holiday ever.  There's just something MAGICAL about new year's eve.

I don't know if it's all the promise of what's to come... or if it's the hope, the excitement, the unknown, or all the chances we seem to give ourselves at the start of a new year... but whatever it is, I FREAKING LOVE IT!

You already know that the beginning of 2012 saw a lot of struggle.. the loss of my home, still no job, and my books not really selling enough to make me feel "worthy."

BUT, the end of 2012 has pretty much rocked. I released The Perfect Game in October and since then it's hit the USA Today Best Seller's list, been a Barnes & Noble best seller, a Kobo Best Seller, along with being an Amazon Top 100 Best Selling Book for OVER 60 days (and it's only been out for like 70 something)!!!! That surpassed even my wildest hopes and dreams! I never expected to have the longevity I am having with this book.  :)

But I am so freaking thankful. 

AND HAPPY.

Sincerely.

2012 brought me an agent.

It brought me deals and offers...

It brought me audio versions of ALL THREE of my currently released books! I never expected that. In all honesty, I'd never even thought about it. So that was such a nice surprise. Thank you Audible.  :)

2012 has blown my mind.

YOU have blown my mind.

But as I sit here writing this blog post, I'm honestly hoping and praying that this is just the beginning. I find myself wishing with all my heart that the end of 2012 is just the beginning of what's to come for me in 2013.

I want to continue to grow my team, my business, my brand, my name- I want people behind me (or beside me) who want the best for me, my books and my readers... and who understand how the indie world works (or at least are willing to listen and try to figure it out). It's different coming onto the scene as a traditionally published author versus going from being a self pubbed one to a traditionally published one. I want all sorts of brilliant people around me who want to help me rise to the top. Positive, good, smart and ambitious people. Here's to hoping my team grows in just that way in 2013 because I want to continue being successful.  :)

Because honestly...being a successful author feels really fucking good. The fact that I am making a living from writing now... I cannot even put into words how absolutely mind blowing it feels. How I finally feel like I am doing the right thing- I'm on the right path- I'm following my heart and it's finally paying off. And I can stop beating myself up for being a non-income-bringing-in-loser-mcloser-face.  lol  You know what I mean. It doesn't feel good to contribute NOTHING to your household.

But now I am! And it's been so FULFILLING!

THANK YOU.

Because I've said it a million times before, but it bears being repeated... I can't do this without you. 

I could have never had the year I just did without every single one of you who gave my book a chance- who fell in love with the story I told- and who recommended it to other people.

Your word of mouth is my best friend. And I can never tell you "thank you" enough for it. Just please know that I never take you for granted.  And that I honestly do try my best to answer every email, tweet, facebook post, etc.  Because you mean the freaking world to me. You're not just "a reader"... I consider you a friend.

So kittens... Here's to a freaking amazingly MAGICAL 2013! 
For all of us! 
I hope you follow your heart and it leads you to true joy. Thank you for inspiring me with your words, your emails, your posts... and i'll do my best to keep turning out books that make you proud.

Remember when I released The Perfect Game I talked about getting a tattoo if it reached the Amazon Top 100?

Well I did it.

Just a little while ago. By a Giants fan, but let's not talk about that part. (hi tito's vodka, you are amazeballs)

This is what I hope I do for every.single.one.of.you.

Is it bad if I already want to add to the tattoo?  LOL

Happy New Year everyone! I love you! 
xoxoox

it's all good in the hood

hey everyone. thanks for listening to my pity party the past few days. i'm EXTREMELY happy to say that i'm in a far better place then i have been the last week. i feel good. i am determined to take all the negative feedback in regards to my writing and apply it to my actual writing. i want to write better. i want to tell my stories better. i want you to care about the characters. so i'm trying to learn from all of the crap. :)

anyway, enough of that. i'm sick of talking about it.

i went home and i don't think i ever posted any pics!!!! so without further adieu, here are some pics of my crazy brother and sister, my hot nephew and my soon to be hot son. :) is that weird? eh, so what.

the pier in santa monica... it was a gorgeous day!


blake walking...


i guess you're never too old to chase birds! :)


my brother, my sister and me!


LOL- this pic makes me laugh


this is awesome! i wish blake's face wasn't cut off


when my books become movies, i want him in them


playing on the lifeguard tower


cousins. or brothers as they like to tell people


sisters

more! new! doggy! pics!

have you met our new doggy pete? i call him puppy. it makes me laugh because he is clearly NOT, a puppy. but he's so freaking cute i can barely stand it.

i think i could look at his face all day. i love him so much! he's one million times better than a brand new puppy and i'm so happy we have him in our house. :)

so today, i took him to a dog park for the very first time. and yes, i brought my camera. so here's some more pics of my puppy. lol











ps- the weather was so nice today. it almost felt like i was at home. WHICH I WILL BE ON FRIDAY! woo hoo!!! wish i could bring my doggy with me! :)

my wish for YOUR 2012

i love new years eve!! it is one of my most favorite days of the year! i associate it with new beginnings, the pursuit of dreams and realizations and goals fulfilled... and of course, my most favorite... MAGIC!

new years eve to me is magical. it's an evening filled with wonder. and hope. when our eyes and hearts seem more open than usual to the possibilities of what's to come... what will the upcoming year hold for us?

my wish for everyone in this 2-0-1-2 is...

that we are all blessed enough to follow our hearts. to feel as though we are doing what we are meant to.

that when we hear our soul's call, urging us to do that certain something that seems impossible, THAT WE AT LEAST TRY TO DO IT!

i hope that we all have the doors to our hearts open wide. and when those doors open, we feel things in ways we've never felt before. we see things through clearer eyes. we feel things through a fuller heart.

i hope that 2012 shifts our perspective. i hope we all start seeing our world differently. through heart shaped glasses instead of dollar signs. i hope we see riches defined less with the amount of money in our pockets, and more with the amount of love we are giving and receiving. sure, love doesn't pay the bills at night- but money doesn't warm your soul.

i hope that we are all blessed enough to realize what it was that we were put on this earth, in this lifetime, to do- and that just the realization alone brings us more internal peace than we've ever known before.

i'm really not sure that i can say it better than Oprah did on her finale. it held as much meaning for me then, as it does now. i hope when you read this, you find yourself shaking your head YES in agreement. i hope it speaks to you, the way it spoke to me.

"What I knew for sure from this experience with you is that we are all called.

Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it.

Every time we have seen a person on this stage who is a success in their life, they spoke of the job, and they spoke of the juice that they receive from doing what they knew they were meant to be doing. We saw it in the volunteers who rocked abandoned babies in Atlanta. We saw it with those lovely pie ladies from Cape Cod making those delicious potpies. ... We saw it every time Tina Turner, Celine, Bocelli or Lady Gaga lit up the stage with their passion.

Because that is what a calling is.

It lights you up and it lets you know that you are exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

And that is what I want for all of you and hope that you will take from this show.

To live from the heart of yourself.

You have to make a living; I understand that.

But you also have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world."

Happy 2012 everyone! let this be the year that we each go out and find what illuminates us, and light up the world with our inner glow!

new doggy!

a friend of boyfriend's inherited a doggy.
well, it was his mom's dog...but his mommy passed away.
so then it was his dad's dog...but his dad is sick.
and well, he can't keep the dog.

so boyfriend said we would take him and if our other psychotic/crazy dog could be normal and not be affected by the new addition....

THEN WE COULD KEEP HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm already in love!!!!

so, meet PETE! :)
















who i affectionately call things like "pegged leg pete the pirate of the pacific" ... "peter mcpeterson" ... and... "fat head."

but i realized today that i really want to call him BEAR! cause pete... well it doesn't flow. and it doesn't fit him, really.
















so i'll start him off slow... tomorrow i'm gonna start calling him "petey bear"... and eventually i'll drop the petey altogether and he'll just be bear!

poor thing won't know what hit him. ha! :)

but really, isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?!?!

the beach!!!!

those of you who aren't familiar with northern california.... well.... let's just say that the beaches are often, F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!

they are usually windy.
foggy.
and cold.

but i spent the day at the beach yesterday and it was GORGEOUS!!!!! not a cloud in sight! and no wind!

i miss the beaches of southern california SO much, that i was over-freaking-joyed when i got the beach and it didn't suck! :)

i took pics (of course)!











wasn't it perfect?!?! :)

and this is my favorite pic i took all weekend. it makes me smile.

today is my birthday

(and leah oliver's too)

in a day and age where we don't hand write letters anymore...
and 99% of my birthday wishes come in the form of a text message or a facebook post...

i wanted to post a couple of the ACTUAL! BIRTHDAY! CARDS! i got in the mail.. cause they are funny! and they made me happy!

you know what is the most hypocritical part??? i am just realizing how much i love getting cards in the mail- the little notes, the funny sayings... but i NEVER freaking send any!!! to anyone!!!

but you know what? i never have. it's not like i just stopped one day because the internet got popular or something. i've never sent cards- not at christmas- not ever.

i really need to start. cause if these cards bring me this! much! happiness! then other people might love it just the same!! :)

this freaking card made me LOL so hard!!!! thank you ali! :)





and this card just made me happy! apparently, the word FOR jennster is AWESOME!!!! i'll totally fucking take it! (thank you catjacks)



i think i may change my name to jennster, the gold star of awesomeness! you know, just for today!

let's talk grilled cheese sammies!

i just have to tell you that while in cooperstown, i had THE BEST GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE (sorry mom)!!!!!!!

first of all... look at the size of the freaking bread!!!!!!!! screw no carbs, i was all over this thing!

that is seriously the THICKEST bread i've ever seen in my life!!!!!!!!

but look at this thing. oh.em.gee. doesn't it look amazing?!?!! and i haven't even opened it yet!

OH DEAR GOD! for the love of all that is holy, LOOK AT ALL THAT CHEESE!!!!! and it's white cheese! white american cheese! i've never had a grilled cheese with white american cheese before. *dies*

that freaking grilled cheese was literally the best i've ever had in my life! has diners, drive in and dive's been to this diner in cooperstown?! if they haven't, they should go. like now.

i mean NOW.

oh yeah, and bring me with em.

HOW word of mouth really works

um. i'd like to say i feel like a sucker right now, but...

i don't.

but all you marketing people, you should pay attention. because THIS is truly how word of mouth works.

here we have DRINK NEURO.

now, i have seen them in the grocery stores a lot lately. i paid them attention to them at first because i liked their bright, fun colors. and i liked the shape of the bottle. it was different. SEE- PACKAGING TOTALLY WORKS. but we know this already, because i posted years ago about buying herbal essence because their new bottles were pretty! remember that?! yeah. packaing.sucker.

so... carry on to me forgetting about the drinks. or not wanting to try them because they were pricey. even though i would LOOK at them everytime i passed them in the store, i was never really pulled to BUY any of them.

cut to twitter. and my buddy Matt posting about this stupid drink on it.


so then i was like, "hmmmm, what is this drink all about? maybe i'll REALLY check it out the next time i go to the store."

but then i let that thought go and sort of forgot about it.

cut (again, yes. we're doing a lot of cutting. it's fun for me.) to an impromptu get together a few days later at a friends house. and her teenage daughter (who i LOVE, WORSHIP and ADORE!) starts talking about the dang neuro drinks! she says how they are her most favorite drinks ever, she drinks them all the time, she LOVES them, they are so good, etc.

and that my folks, was all it took.

2 people who i know talking about the same brand of drink within about a 3 day time period.

so what happened next?

if you guessed that i went to the store and bought one of each drinks that they were carrying...

well...

YOU'D BE RIGHT!



so far i've tried 3 of them (sleep, sonic and sun). and up to now, THIS one is my most fave.


(yeah. that's me. sitting IN the sun, drinking SUN for the full affect. brilliant i tell you. how someone hasn't hired me is beyond all reason.)

it's freaking delicious!!! and i half wonder if i love it the most because it was the first one i tried? i dunno, all i do know is that it's really yummy.

and i didn't even want to buy it to be honest. i thought it sounded stupid. but the boy wanted it. he said i HAD to get it. so of course i love the one the most that was the least appealing to me. HA!

go figure that one out geniuses. :)

was there a lesson to be learned here? probably for marketers everywhere. and matt, i hope you get buttloads of cases of neuro sleep (and send the NEURO SUN's to meeeee) for free!

and um, if you're in the market for a new drink... you should try them out. and i should mention that i did drink a sleep before bed (i thought the taste was EH. i mean, not awful by any means, just not super yummy like SUN) and i feel like i slept more soundly than i have in weeks. but that could be the exhaustion setting in? or maybe the drink really does work?

if you try them, let me know! if you already love em, tell me which one's your most favorite! and you think i'm a total sucker, you can tell me that in the comments section right before i tell you to go blow yourself. ha

so cal trip!

i went down to so cal last week... which some of you already know because you saw my post about MAKING DONUTS AT A DONUT SHOP AT MIDNIGHT! which seriously, was pretty much the coolest thing ever!!!!!!

and you read about my high school reunion. which again, was ridiculously fun!! a billion times more fun than i ever anticipated it would be! :)

but you didn't see all the other things and people i got to see while i was down there! it was by far the best trip i've taken in a long ass time. i saw SO many people (and not in a rushed way either).. far more than i ever normally see when i head home.

i visited my super fun gf who i have known since we were teenagers!!! we made a reverse oreo with our hot friend franklin.




he was such a good sport and let us dress him up with silly glasses and do stupid things. we <3 you ft!!!!




i left santa monica in my rearview (literally)


and headed over to my most favorite beach ever... (enter malibu, pt dume, surfrider, zuma, etc)


headed home for my reunion, but not before stopping by my sister's house for a quick photoshoot with the fam!






then i headed down to san diego and loved my drive along the coast.


where i spent the night with my high school bff ali and her family. :)






and then i visited my college bff's family and had the best time ever!






what an overwhelming, emotionally satisfying, incredible trip- filled with people i love, adore and cannot believe i'm so blessed to have in my life. :) xoxo

happy summer everyone!