Welcome to the A Grimm Legacy blog tour hosted by Patchwork Press!
Enchanted castles and charming princes thought to exist only in stories come to life in this classically twisted fairy tale that combines the timeless quality of generations old folktales with the challenges of the modern world.The woods of Elorium appear ordinary to Andi Grace, until birds start talking and elves answer doors. Along with three others, Andi has been whisked out of her world and finds herself the reluctant guest of the perplexing millionaire, Mr. Jackson—a stranger willing to help get them home, but who’s keeping secrets of his own.
Discovering unexpected family connections to this fairy tale land, the group must rely on each other as they dodge evil fairies and battle giants, intent on keeping them in Elorium.
Faced with characters short on whimsy and bent towards treachery, Andi, Quinn, Fredrick and Dylan are forced into fairy tale roles to find the way home. But in Elorium, happily ever after is never guaranteed
Title: A Grimm Legacy
Author: Janna Jennings
Publication Date: October 29, 2013
Publisher: Patchwork Press
Today I welcome Janna for a guest post! Let's see what she has to say!
I’ve been wracking my brain for blog post ideas. I wanted to
do something new, creative, inspiring. Getting to write for a guest post is
like hanging a huge blank canvas in the Louve and then having someone tell you,
“Now paint your masterpiece.”
No pressure.
But let’s face it, I feel like others have far wiser words
to impart. So I’ll stick to what I think might be most helpful for those
starting out down the writing/publishing road: how in the world did I get here?
Almost any other author I know has been writing since
childhood, or always had this burning desire to write, or had a story that just
had to get out of their brain an onto paper.
I wasn’t one of those people.
I had always loved school and learning about anything and
everything. (Except math! I managed to earn two degrees without setting a toe
inside a math class. Alas, I needed Statistics for my Master’s degree. A
perfectly good seven-year no-math-class-streak ruined.) And in the aftermath of
20 or so years of straight school, my brain was bored.
I kicked around the idea of writing almost two years ago,
mentioning it to no one but my husband. The good man that he is, he gave me the
little push I needed to get going: a brand new iPad and several writing books.
Now I had to give it a try or risk looking foolish.
What I discovered is that I’d rather write than do almost
anything (and it was certainly more enjoyable than going to work). I worked
about 6 months on the manuscript that eventually turned into A GRIMM LEGACY. I
found the wonderful website of NaNoWriMo and participated in what many of you
are now in the final throws of: the 50,000 words in 30 day challenge. Through them I found a few fellow
writing armatures that were willing to give me feedback. I borrowed books from
the library on writing and tried to apply what I learned to my work, and I
generally got little bits of help from anywhere I could.
Then I figured it was time to query my work. I slaved over
my query letter and sent my baby out into the world.
And basically fell flat on my face. NO ONE was interested.
I knew my manuscript needed something, but I had taken it as
far as I could on my own, and was at a loss of what to do.
So it got shelved. And I kept writing but I worked on other
ideas, I started what will now be the second in the Grimm Tales. What turned
things around was a contest run through some fellow NaNoWriMo participants.
Professionals in other areas of the writing world were offering their services
to one lucky NaNo winner to give them a leg up in self-publishing.
I was that lucky winner. Lucky being the key word. Kellie at
Patchwork Press had offered up the marketing portion of the prize, and she
extended me an invitation to join their fledgling group, and the rest is—as
they say—history.
I’m learning that my experience was a unique one. Most people invest hundreds of dollars into their independently
published projects. Cover design, editing, formatting, and marketing all take
money to have it done well, to make it your work professional. Because of the
way PWP runs, they not provided all this, they educated me in the ways of the
publishing world along the way.
I feel strongly about my book. I think there was a nugget of
talent and engaging story telling in it from the start. But I also realize I
was just in the right place at the right time, because I’m not so delusional
that I don’t know the finished product is so much more than I could have accomplished
on my own.
I wish this post would have been more of an, “If you do
this, this, and this, all your writing dreams will come true.” If there were a
formula for how books get published, I probably would never have figured it out
anyway given my dismal math skills. But hopefully one more success story will
give you the motivation to keep plugging away.
Thanks so much for stopping by today, Janna! So great to have you here!
Janna is a Colorado based YA author who loves a good fairy tale. She’s married to her own real life Prince Charming, and will usually admit to being mom of three, including her incorrigible middle child.
She has a good deal of education in subjects that are somehow not related to writing, which includes a Masters in Education. Currently she teaches toddlers important life skills like which end of a spoon to use and that gluesticks are not for eating. They lack a few things that make a good literary critic, but she loves her students all the same.
Besides wrangling with kids Janna can be found doing some therapeutic baking, dreaming of the ocean, and of course, curling up with a good book.
Janna’s Website - http://www.janna.patchwork-
Janna on Twitter – https://twitter.com/
Janna on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment