Luminous Book Blog Tour & Giveaway Begins!

Exciting News!  November 24th marks the start of the official Luminous Book Blog Tour!  With 25 tour stops over the next 55 days including exclusive excerpts from the book, author interviews, a letter from the heroine, and several reviews, you won’t want to miss it!  Be sure to enter to win 1 of 3 copies of the ebook at the first tour stop at Read Between The Lines.

http://www.rbtlreviews.com/2013/11/giveaway-review-luminous-by-jasmine.html

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It’s NaNoWriMo Time!

Every writer is different and each one has a unique process that works for them.  This post is about my process.  I’ve completed three novels over the past six years and with each one, I naturally fell into a routine that worked well for me.  I usually start working on a novel at the beginning of the year in January and I have the bulk of it completed by late August.  From September to November, I edit and polish it.  By Thanksgiving, the manuscript is in the hands of my close circle of friends/family who give me their impressions.  From Thanksgiving until New Year’s, I take a much needed break from writing/editing and devote my time to preparing for the holidays, holiday shopping, my kids’ birthdays and all of the 1001 things I tend to put off during the year while I’m immersed in writing.

But this year was different:  I spent the first half of the year preparing my novel, Luminous for publication and editing it over and over, countless times.  I was also working with my graphic designer on the cover, going through the self-publishing process for the first time, establishing an online presence in the form of my website and social media sites, promoting the book at a local convention and a myriad of other tasks to establish my marketing platform.  My head is still spinning!  Since the Luminous ebook was released in mid-August, I’ve been feverishly researching promotion avenues as well as preparing the paperback for release.  Still, the best thing an author can do to promote their first novel is to write another one and publish the polished, edited, shining example of your work as quickly as possible.  With that in mind, I’m feeling pretty comfortable since I have the sequel, Prism, completed and waiting for the final polish for ebook publication.  The book that has me a little nervous is the third novel in the series because I refuse to publish the sequel until I have a decent, completed draft of the third book waiting in the wings.

With that said, National Novel Writing Month is November.  How fortuitous!  By accepting the challenge of NaNoWriMo to write 50,000 words in 30 days, I’ll be giving myself the best Christmas gift this year–peace of mind knowing that my third novel in the Psyne series is completed and that I can proceed with publishing the sequel on schedule for release in May 2014.  Since I’ve been spoiled with writing my novels over a 10 month period of time in the past, this will be quite the challenge for me but I thrive under structure and I’m hoping this is just the boost I need to focus so I can complete my third novel.  It’s time to leave my past behind.  I’m not merely a writer aspiring to publish anymore.  Now I’m a published author with fans to think of and I need to supply them with what I know best–my Psyne!  I’ll keep you posted on my progress come November and I wish all the best to my fellow WriMos!  May the Muse be with you!

My Very First Author Interview

Today my very first author interview has been posted on the enchanting blog of fellow writer, Sara C. Snider.  Everything from belly dancing, cake making, and of course, my novel, Luminous, is covered.  There’s also an exclusive excerpt from the book revealed, it’s one of my favorite parts of the book.  Be sure to check it out today and leave your comments on her blog!  http://saracsnider.com/interview-with-author-jasmine-angell/

A Writer’s Near Death Experience…

Last Friday, I experienced the kind of day all writers look forward to:  the day they finally get to hold the book they’ve worked so hard on in their very hands!  It was delivered in a flat brown box via FedEx and opening it up was surreal.  Looking at Luminous manifested in book form for the first time was one of the most magical moments of my life.  To have something that started as a tiny speck of inspiration in my mind so many years ago and to see it take shape in this world…for it to go from the mists of the imagination to the solid compilation of pages, words can’t describe.  In many ways, I had a near death experience because in those few moments, all the years I’d worked on creating the Psyne Universe flashed before my eyes.  Finally, all that work had paid off and Luminous was in book form as it was always meant to be.  To make the memory complete, I had the privilege of showing my toddler the back page of the book and when I asked her who was in the picture on the Author page, she promptly exclaimed, “That’s mommy!”  I say “I had the privilege of showing” her the book because for me, even more than the personal satisfaction of publishing my first book is the fact that I’m now a role model in the professional world to my children and I can be proud to show them that through perseverance and determination, their dreams can come true too.  It means the world to me that they can draw strength from my example.  Every writer has different reasons and motivations for going down the difficult road to publishing and it took becoming a mother to push me to finally do it.  Keep writing aspiring authors, keep working and dreaming and believing and learning and editing.  Keep creating and you will get there too!  In the age of e-books, Kindle and other such devices (I love my Kindle Fire), nothing quite beats the feeling of holding a physical copy of my book in my hands.  Nothing.  I’m on Cloud 9!

Dreamer

Hi!  I’m Jasmine Angell and I’m a dreamer.  Up until a few weeks ago I was like many of you – an aspiring writer.  All of my life I’ve wanted to be a published author and that goal was realized less than 2 weeks ago.  Goal?  Who am I kidding?  Dream!!  My dream of becoming a published author was finally realized and two weeks later I’m still jumping up and down!  I’d read once that for most people when you publish a book, nothing really changes:  the Earth keeps spinning, you don’t become famous in that instant and fireworks don’t go off every time you’re in public.  All of those things are true for me (I’m especially glad the Earth is still spinning) but in actuality, everything has changed!  I’ve realized a goal I’ve been working tirelessly towards for the past 6 and a half years and now I’m wearing a rather large, rather heavy, and rather gaudy hat called Marketer/Promoter/Publicist.  I don’t want my novel to be like one of those DVDs you rent with some big-name actor/actress in it that is surprisingly good but you didn’t even know was in theaters months prior because there was no marketing campaign behind it.  You know what I’m talking about.   I don’t want my novel to be a best-kept secret.  So this is my blog about my continuing journey as a writer, my new adventures as a published author and all of the things I’m passionate about.  I hope you’ll join this fledgling blogger for future posts.  Long live your dreams!