500 Fan Celebration on Facebook!

by Kristen James

We just reached over 500 fans on Facebook! If you haven’t “liked” the page yet, come join the conversation! I also post any specials, giveaways and freebies there. www.facebook.com/WriterKristenJames

To celebrate and thank everyone on Facebook and here, I ran a free book day. I’m extending it for today as well, so you can still get Embers of Hope, Flickers of Passion for free in Kindle today. (2-6)

Embers of Hope is my first women’s fiction, and it’s gotten much more attention than I expected! I’m in the beginning stages of putting together a squeal. The story revolves around Savanna and Jason, but many people asked about Cassie’s story. So, I’m going to write it.

I’ll keep you posted on that, and other surprise release in the next few months. In other writing news, I just posted the new cover for Book 1 of the Jeff Ivanov Series, Recovery of Agent M.

Make sure to check out the Romance Blog Hop running Feb. 6-13!

This is the deep woods…

by Kristen James

This is the deep woods, where you won’t ever hear a train in the distance, a far off truck engine or a dog bark as it walks with its owner. Instead a light breeze talks through the ancient tree tops, a hundred feet above. As the needles and branches shiver, the sun spots on the forest floor quiver and slide about. This is the only sunlight the ferns receive, but it’s all they want. The knee high ferns make another small forest on top of the thick, carpet moss. Their arms look years and years to grow. They grow like cacti.

When you’re here, you don’t listen to the nightly news or read internet headlines. The stories are in this deer trail cutting diagonally uphill through the ferns. The deer travel it to the creek at the bottom of this gully and then up to the top of the ridge. The giant trunk lying on its side here shows how many thousands of years this forest has been growing. The overripe huckleberries growing on a bush on top of the trunk tell a mystery. Why did the animals leave this bush? Was it too high and they felt lazy? Both cougars and coyotes left sign along the trail. Deer aren’t the only ones that use them.

The day isn’t 24 hours here. It’s timeless… until the sun begins to set.

Preview: More Than Memories

by Kristen James

I recently shared the new cover to More Than Memories but didn’t share a preview. So…here you go!

 

Chapter One:

“Maybe this is the one,” Molly whispered, hoping against the odds that people in this town would know her. She’d stopped by three towns already and asked if they remembered her living there, as her parents had told her. But no one had.

She drove her Honda Civic north on I-5 through the softly falling rain, watching for the Ridge City sign. She thought about the dangers of triggering her memory to return, but she had to do something to figure out what happened to her parents. Regaining her memory might give her those answers, plus she didn’t want to spend her life without a memory of her first twenty years.

The exit came and she veered to the right. A few miles later, the road ran along the top of a hill, giving her a view of the town below. A sign announced Entering Ridge City. The rain was just a mist now, letting the sunshine through for a minute.

The town’s houses crowded together until they reached the top of the hill, overlooking the generous farm land below. Molly had read as much as she could find on the place, which wasn’t much. The town sign said population five thousand. She saw a long main drag, a mill, the usual fast food and family restaurants, and a touristy section with billboards advertising Oregon gifts. If only she could remember this quaint little place. Had she been happy here? Would anyone recognize her?

She followed the main drag and parked in a free parking lot close to the police department, where she planned to go first. As she opened her car’s door, she felt pummeled by Oregon spring weather: fat rain drops and a cool wind. In like a lamb, out like a lion. This March, however, seemed to be starting like a lion. Molly pulled her raincoat’s hood up to protect her hair from falling flat. The weather wasn’t style-friendly at all, and her hair was curled and pulled up except for a few curls she left loose. Her black hair might draw some attention. If anyone here knew her, she didn’t think they’d miss seeing her today. Both her parents were a mix of American Indian and English, so Molly had light brownish red tone to her skin. Maybe someone here could tell her why she’d ended up in California without a memory or any family besides her parents.

The weather cleared and the wind died down to a gentle breeze that teased the curls by her temples. A few brave trees had blossomed, but the wind blew their petals all over the pavement like snow.

Seeing the police department sign, she slowed, hesitated, and then pushed herself to quickly walk inside. At the desk, an older and kind looking blonde smiled. “How can I help you?”

Molly liked her soft blue eyes and motherly appearance.

“My name is Molly Anderson,” she started with a shake in her voice. She cleared her throat and straightened herself, trying for confidence. “I might have lived here about five years ago, before I was hurt and lost my memory.”

The woman’s smile remained, but her brows pulled together and her eyes gained this intense focus. “Did you say Molly Anderson?”

Even while Molly nodded, the woman grabbed her phone. “Trent, get up here.”

Molly’s heart jumped into double time while her stomach squeezed into a ball. She crossed her fingers behind her back but also wanted to run right back outside.

A door opened to her right and a man stepped out, actually a broad shouldered cowboy about six feet tall, built like a bulldog, with deep brown eyes that lit up all shiny and bright when he spotted her. He looked genuinely happy to see her, but his size and posture startled her.

“Molly?”

She jerked, jumped out of her skin really, upon hearing the rugged voice. “Uh…”

The excitement faded. “Mol?”

Now that someone actually recognized her, she didn’t know what to say. This man didn’t speak either, but stared right back at her. He was clean-shaven and neat with dark hair and eyes, a strong face that fit this build.

He glanced at the receptionist and back at her as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing in front of him.

Flip—flop went her stomach. Those eyes … wow. Molly didn’t remember ever feeling a burning and tingling excitement like this, but she knew what it was.

His chocolate-brown eyes gazed into hers like he was looking at Elvis back from the dead. Suddenly aware that her lips were parted in surprise, she pulled them shut, trying to pull her desperate hope back inside her before he saw. She saw a million emotions swirl in his eyes as he took her in.

“Molly, why don’t you come with me so we can talk?”

Visit Amazon to read more.

“Good” Writing

by Kristen James

The book world seems to be a hotbed these days. First we had the line between traditional authors and indie authors, and now indie, or self published authors, are drawing lines based on where they publish. Just Amazon? Or everywhere? It seems like a business decision to me, that each author should make for themselves, but I’ve seen some heated and mean conversations online about it. Along with that, there’s an almost frantic search for all information on book marketing and the best tips. You know, the secrets that really work. It could lead one to believe the way to make it as an author is through marketing. All this has been on my mind because you can get so focused on it that you’re not writing or improving your storytelling abilities. I want to believe the writing industry is still about producing great stories, and that the best books will spread by reader word of mouth.

I’ll admit I look at the bestsellers and think about what makes them sell. But I don’t simply look at how the book is marketed, I also look at what’s in the story that draws readers in. We love strong characters that we identify with, especially when they’re facing a giant hurdle. Sometimes it’s a hurdle we might encounter, and other times it symbolizes some kind of hardship or rite of passage. Those huge bestsellers all seem to take us somewhere new and different, even if that’s back in time. Think of Water for Elephants. It’s a very different story. Or The Help. Both of those novels take me to a reality that I didn’t know about in such depth. I haven’t read The Hunger Games yet, but I can tell they take you to a different time or dimension. In some books, that “other place” is just a small town with an engaging cast of characters. This element is one aspect of a great story. Another thing I’ve noticed is that I can’t always put my finger on it. That might be the best part for me. I read a story and savor it, and find myself going back again and again to think about the characters, what something really meant, or how other characters might have done it differently. Memorable characters, there’s something to that…

To write or not to write, is that actually a question?

by Kristen James

I suppose that is a question for most people and maybe even many authors, but it’s hard to imagine going a week without writing. It’s my hobby, passion and job. Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed with constantly creating. (I have trouble following a recipe; I always want to get creative with the spices, which you should double, and maybe the other ingredients too.) I usually have several projects in the works. That way, if I don’t feel excited about one project on that given day I can write on a different one.

I have several writing announcements in February, and I just published my collection of short stories called Quickies. Many of these stories have been published in print and online, and one did pretty well in a Writer’s Digest competition. The book also includes my two Kindle novellas, The Fairy and her Giant and Diversity Problems. So it offers quite a mix of my different genres.

Click here to preview on Amazon Kindle.

Along with the two novellas, Quickies includes:

The Look – a romance mini

Which One? – a mother is put in a tough spot when as she tries to save her children during a store robbery.

Demands of the Job – how can he live with himself if he endangers the one he loves?

Valentine’s Day – it’s once again the yearly reminder of the day he lost his wife. He finds a new connection but is scared of sharing it with his young son.

Living In The Christmas Tree – How do you say goodbye to your child forever, on Christmas?

The Perfect Christmas – He lived his life thinking he didn’t need anyone…until now.

In The Land of Huckleberries and Wokas – Native American fiction. She always thought the stories were just stories, but now she’s been taken from her tribe.

This is a short story that placed 32nd out of 12,000 entries in a Writer’s Digest short story competition. I’m expanding it into a novella for release later this year. It’s a bit like The River People, but about a young Klamath girl that is taken from her tribe during a raid. The Klamath live around a huge, shallow lake with marshes, so they made marsh shoes similar to snow shoes. They also had dugout canoes and guided them through the reeds with a stick to gather Wokas, aka pond lily seeds. They made all kinds of foods out the these seed pods. The story is an action/adventure story, but it’s so interesting to learn about (and incorporate) their lifestyle.

Well, I’ll be back later with more updates, including another surprise release coming soon. 🙂