Unpredictable Worlds—The Stories Are Almost Here!

Friday is the day! Unpredictable Worlds releases for your reading pleasure! I've been taking something of a tour of some wonderful blogs in honor of this exciting time.

Jody A. Kessler has already featured Unpredictable Worlds on her blog, saying it "sounds incredibly entertaining." There you'll find an excerpt of the prize-winning story "Stairs to the Beach."

Monday, I'm at author Tina Traverse's blog.

Author Maer Wilson is hosting me on Tuesday.

I'm stopping by author Jae Blakney's blog with a great interview with my friend and fellow author Seymour Hamilton on Wednesday.

Thursday, with the pre-release excitement mounting, I'll be traveling Steven Ramírez's Glass Highway with an excerpt from my favorite thus-far unpublished story. Unpredictable Worlds will be featured on the site all month!

Friday, May 15 is release day! Please check out the fantastic interview author Kristin Gleeson did with me at her blog on that day.

Sincere thanks to all these authors for hosting me.

You still have time to get Unpredictable Worlds at the never-again bargain price of 99 cents here. Pre-order and receive the book for the lowest price, before anyone else, on release day.

The softcover edition is already available. Affordable, nicely designed, and chock-full of astonishing stories. Order it here or from Amazon, or request it at your favorite bookstore or library.

Thanks for sharing the excitement!

Six Years of Christmas

Having a full time job has made me into one of those people who just can't do it all. This blog has suffered most. I've worked hard on it for years and appreciate every single one of my readers, so my New Year's Resolution will have something to do with establishing a regular schedule here again.

Looking back on the year at this holiday time has brought to mind all the travels (and accompanying emotional ups and downs) my husband and I have done since we met. And so, enjoy photos that represent Christmas through the past six years.

2008

We had been living together in Massachusetts for half a year when Christmas 2008 rolled around, and it was a small apartment and so had only a tiny potted Christmas tree at home. But we had love, and my husband was determined to fulfill a promise he'd made sooner rather than later, so we also had Mickey! At Disneyworld! An unbelievable Christmas.

2009

Christmas 2009 was bare-bones. We had moved to Pennsylvania only days before. But at least we had love, and Saxophone Santa (still our favorite holiday toy). See Saxophone Santa in action here and with a friend here.

2010

The following year, we had placed our stuff in storage and moved in with my gracious sister-in-law in Arizona the previous month. It was the beginning of an explosively creative period in all aspects of my life, but I wasn't aware at the time. Holiday 2010 is represented by fake snow for the wondering Arizonans at the Winterhaven lights display.

2011

By 2011, we had moved to our own apartment in Arizona and both had interesting jobs, and I was writing like crazy. But we hadn't been able to get our stuff out of storage, so at home, we decorated a tree with candy canes and a beautiful compass rose ornament I received from an author who had already become a good friend. This year, we had even more fun at the Winterhaven display because we found this gorgeous Christmas rhino!

2012

We moved from Arizona to Georgia in 2012, but didn't make it to Christmas there. Instead, we went from the boiling pot of water that was summer in Georgia to the icebox winter of Illinois. This was the Christmas my husband realized that I own four giant tubs worth of Christmas decorations, enough to decorate our tree several times over. My mom got me started when I was a kid, and you can't throw away memories like that. I accomplished the amazing feat of finishing my first novel, Seven Noble Knights, in November 2012, and it's commemorated with the cake and the thumb drive, and the new ornament.

2013

Christmas 2013 was probably the most surprising of all, as my husband and I had been living in a hotel in North Carolina since May. We never expected to stay there for so many months, and yet again, our stuff was in storage. We got a little tinsel tree and set it on top of the dehumidifier I insisted on earlier in the year. Those North Carolina summers might be even wetter than the one in Georgia!

2014

And that brings us to this year! In the photo, our tree with a lot, but not all, of the ornaments from the four tubs, stands out in front of a medieval Christmas banner I picked up at a museum in New York City and stacks and piles of other memories. Note the Fight for Rhinos sustainably sourced wooden ornament, front and center.

Finally, this photo was taken on Thanksgiving Day, but the bare trees, the church tower, and roofs covered in snow scream Christmas.

Coming soon: a guest post from outstanding author Kristin Gleeson!

Happy Holidays!

Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop — Celebrating 50,000 Hits!

Sometime when I wasn't looking (in October, I think), this blog hit a thrilling milestone: 50,000 page views. I never imagined it would come this far.

I've now had many more views than that, but I still thought I would take this opportunity to celebrate by giving you, my readers, FREE BOOKS.

The books up for grabs:

Egyptomania by Bob Brier. A fun study of the fascination with ancient Egypt in the Western world and a great resource for understanding what the museums are talking about. This is a publisher's Advance Reader's Edition paperback with just a few signs of wear. Full review to come later.

Dragon's Child by M. K. Hume. The first book in a new King Arthur series that's sure to enthrall all round table enthusiasts. Another publisher's Advance Reader's Edition, but with almost no signs of wear.

The Abencerraje. The softcover edition of this enchanting short story from medieval Spain includes the original Spanish with modernized spelling and the popular new English translation. A Top 20 Amazon bestseller and 2013's #2 bestseller at Açedrex Publishing, which has also been adopted as a college textbook.

Tree/House by Jessica Knauss (yours truly). The softcover edition with the gorgeous new cover of my jaw-dropping, head-scratching coming-of-age novella. Highly rated on Amazon, Tree/House gives any reader a lot to ponder.

The Fleet Angels of Lakehurst by Barbara Marriott. Loose Leaves Publishing's first book is a humorous and factual tribute to the Navy helicopter pilots from Lakehurst who saved so many lives. Seven ***** reviews on Amazon and Silver Medalist in the Stars and Flags Military Book Award!

Three fiction, two non-fiction! Prize winners and bestsellers! Have you chosen your favorite yet?

RULES

To win, just comment below. Please tell me which book you'd like and include your email (written out to avoid spam if you desire) so I can contact you for a mailing address if you're a winner. Winners will be drawn on January 11th and notified the same day. Increase the number of times your name is in the "hat" by following this blog via GFC or email, liking my and/or Açedrex Publishing's Facebook page or following me on Twitter or Pinterest. Drawing is open to US residents. (Sorry, I wish postage wasn't so expensive!)

There are a lot of other books that need new homes! Check out all the other blogs on this linky list to enter their drawings — you could get quite a library going!


Thanks for 50,000 magical internet moments! Many more to come!

Just Do it, One Step at a Time

So, if (and only if) I repeatedly write, I'm a writer. Cool.

Few people have internalized this idea as successfully as Dean Wesley Smith, who ghosted an entire book in ten days and didn't even think of taking a break from writing after that feat. Because he was being paid to do it. Because it needed to be done. Take a look via the link. You'll love it. Any way you slice it, it's impressive, and it's likely to inspire you. I read through his blog posts and realized that I could do something like that, too, in spite of not having a New York publisher paying me. In spite of the compliments I talked about in my last post, I've really let life get in the way. I have ideas for novels and they aren't going to write themselves.

Dean Wesley Smith gets a lot done in the wee hours, when distractions seem to be at a minimum. I wouldn't be able to do that and carry on with my business and personal life. What's worked for me in the past has been concrete deadlines. So, let me start in my new residence with the deadline of the end of the work day Friday.

By that time, I want to have completed some specific finishing touches on "Middle Awash in Talent."  I'm planning to submit it to a prize contest, and if it doesn't win publication, I'll publish it the self way.

I'll let you know how it goes next week. I also hope to have some great new material for you by then!

New Interview

Internationally interviewed author (yours truly) has this to share today, from the blog of the wonderfully helpful and supportive author Diane Major. Thanks for checking it out! And hooray for rhinos!

Readers!! Last Chance for Great Prizes!!

To be entered to win your choice of an astonishing panoply of e-books, go to this post and enjoy. This is the last day -- winners are drawn tomorrow. Good luck!

Note: I'm really looking for FANS on Goodreads. Friends are nice, too, but it's FANS I lack.

New Blog "Schedule"

The most requested new subjects for posts when I did my reader survey last month were "things I like," and "history."

Good thing I like history!

So, for this new year of blogging, I plan to keep to the following schedule except in cases of special events:

Mondays will feature something I like or love. When I have new book reviews, they'll appear on Mondays.

Wednesdays will be "history," broadly interpreted. If anyone has suggestions for Wednesday history topics, lob them this way! When I have new author interviews, they'll also go up on Wednesdays.

Fridays will be open. This is meant to be the time for any news about my writing and/or publishing. If I don't post anything on a Friday, it doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you.

Saturdays will feature the sweet excerpts for Sweet Saturday Samples, unless I can't find anything sweet enough. I really support them! Way to go, gals!

Sunday is the territory of Six Sentence Sunday, which has hooked me like a fish. I'm going to see if I can skip it in September to devote more time to the actual writing process. Wish me luck!

Oh, yes, they have catwalk fashion shows for flamenco style, oh yes.

So, even though it's Wednesday, I'd like to catch up with Monday by saying that I love polka dots. Especially red ones. Hence the new look for the blog.

I first enjoyed the polka dot glamour of the trajes de gitana in Andalusia, and then, when they finally came back in style in American fashion, I bought every piece of clothing I saw that had them. Not always to my own benefit. But the polka dots were the higher cause. The Spanish call them "lunares," or "moon-shapes," so that may explain why I'm loony for them.

SULTRY SUMMER NIGHTS: IGNITE YOUR PASSIONS BLOG HOP (AUGUST 22-29)

I can't say I have ever truly enjoyed summer weather, especially when it can be described as "sultry." This year is the worst summer weather I've ever lived through. I mean, it's scary to step outside, folks! Killer heat, wildfires, bacteria-filled dust storms, random lightning strikes!

I'm pretty passionate about good air conditioning.

I'm also passionate about reading, writing, running my publishing company Açedrex (acedrex.com) and providing a blog that satisfies my readers.

Today is my blogoversary! One year ago I timidly began this adventure.

To celebrate, 1. I'm changing the entire look of the blog. Keep your eye out for the changes some time today. They may evolve according to reader input.

2. The suggestions from the reader survey last month will be implemented in the coming weeks: more information to follow.

3. I'm also participating in this huge hop! Look around at my excerpt pages, see if there are posts you like, and then, if you'd like to win prizes --

Comment on the new look. Do you like it? Do you have suggestions for a different look?

You can receive an additional entries into the sweepstakes by following this blog, liking my Facebook author page, liking Açedrex Publishing on Facebook, and/or becoming a fan on Goodreads. I'll try to keep track of what you do, but the easiest thing would be for you to tell me in the comments whether you completed any of the extra entries.

PRIZES: Choose anything from Açedrex's list in English. The English list includes all my purchasable work (Tree/House, Sail To Italy and Sail From Italy, Threads Woven, Dusk Before Dawn), translations of two Spanish classics, and the novelized memoirs of Marie Danielle Frankson. More options will be explained to the winners directly.
PREMIOS: Escoger lo que quieras de los títulos en español de Açedrex Publishing. La lista de títulos en español presenta una rica variedad de libros digitales de la más alta calidad de autores clásicos -- ¡las novelas que siempre has querido leer!

There will be three winners. First prize will choose three books, second prize will choose two books, and third prize will choose one book.
Habrá tres ganadores. El gran premio es el derecho de escoger tres libros gratis, otro ganador escogerá dos, y otro ganará un libro gratis, a escoger.

Please visit the other blogs in the hop, starting here! Many more wonderful excerpts and prizes!

Rules for the hop as a whole:

1) HAVE FUN!!!


2) INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!


3) THIS TOUR STARTS: Monday, August 22, Midnight (Arizona Time)

THIS TOUR ENDS: Monday, August 29, at Midnight (Arizona Time)

Winners will be drawn and posted August 30th! ***


4) MEET AND MINGLE WITH ALL THE AUTHORS! EXPERIENCE A NEW PARTY DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY BLOG CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!!


5) PARTICIPATION AT ALL BLOGS IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. REMEMBER, THE MORE BLOGS YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES. EVERY AUTHOR IS WAITING TO MEET AND INTERACT WITH YOU, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO SHOW EVERY AUTHOR SOME LOVE!


6) DID I MENTION TO HAVE FUN? WHOO! HOO!! HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOO!


***Authors have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules***

Treasure Quest: Discovery Lies Between The Covers: Mega Author Blog Hop Tour WINNERS

The winners have been chosen!

Grand Prize Winner of a signed paperback: Barbara (Babs) Hightower

First Prize Winners of digital copies: Avid book reviewer Saph of saphsbookblog and voracious reader Robin D

Congratulations! Enjoy your copies of Sail To Italy and Sail From Italy!

These are my two favorites out of all the wonderful suggestions I got for the coming year of my blog. (Thanks for the compliments! They make me feel like I have some idea what I'm doing!)

1. "I want to continue following your writing adventures!" Kay Springsteen. iluvkimi220 and Krystal Larson expressed similar (flattering!) desires.

2. "It's cool to put up stuff you like... what makes you you... whether it's hot guys or chocolate fantasy painting" Nikki. Robin D made a similar comment. Sorry to say, my interests outside of writing aren't that inherently exciting! But we'll see what we can do.

I'll address all the ideas I received either in an individual post in the coming weeks, or as a general modus operandi in the coming year. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm so glad I asked!

Happy blogoversary to me....

Blogoversary Approaching

Hard to believe it: I've been blogging for nearly a year. My first post as a Famous Writer appeared August 20, 2010. I set up the site so that I would have a central location to log all the stories I published and to let readers know about my current projects so they could get as excited about them as I was. Barely knowing what I was doing, I shared a little about the way the economic turmoil has affected my family, about the trials of publishing, and about my dream of starting a publishing company coming true. Through unexpected and wonderful connections, this blog has grown into something much bigger than I could have dreamed. I've had the privilege of interviewing some wonderful authors and even participating in blog hops and the incomparable Six Sentence Sunday. Thanks to everyone for making this such a positive experience!

I think the anniversary is a great opportunity to reconsider the blog's purpose and execution, and so I'm turning to you, my readers. Please let me know what you would like this blog to become for the next year. More interviews? More reviews? More musings on geography or money? Fewer? More excerpts? More literature and history lessons? Something else entirely? I'd love to hear any of your ideas. Thank you for your important contribution. Please leave a comment here and leave an email address if you'd like to be entered into the next blog hop drawing for a gorgeous signed paperback of Sail To Italy and Sail From Italy, further explained tomorrow.

New Interview

I get just a little more Famous each time someone interviews lil ol' me. Don't miss this epic conversation with Sharon Jones.

http://color-me-read.blogspot.com/2011/06/interview-with-jessica-knauss.html

Things That Set My Heart Aflutter, Virtual Likes Edition

In this day and age, there are plenty of external gauges of popularity. No longer do we have to wonder whether they like us: the cold hard numbers will tell us whether it's so. Facebook has the "like" feature, which is becoming more common in other venues, and turning into rating features on a couple of my published flash fictions.

As of this writing, there have been 155 hits on "A Business Venture in Glue," five people have rated "The Writer's Wet Nap Dream" "six-tacular" (though that number seems to fluctuate up and down), and I have 33 "likes" on my Facebook author page (that's not as many as I have friends on my normal user account, but I'm still impressed by people's generosity!) I've also received interesting comments on other pieces floating around out there.

Any feedback fulfills my purpose as an author. Seeing the numbers grow, and especially whenever an actual comment appears, makes my job as a writer truly worthwhile. Yes, it makes my heart leap! Thank you!

Happy Memorial Day!

Things That Set My Heart Aflutter: Followers Edition

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, for many reasons, one of them being the Mega Author Blog Hop that ended last Monday. I got involved late because I couldn't wrap my head around the concept until I saw an example, so I was scrambling to put it together and make it not seem too bad or lame. Overall, the whole thing, with more than 30 authors, was a giant success.

Here's what sets my heart aflutter: for most of the week, every time I logged on to Blogger, I had at least one new follower here! Wow! Yippee! Without pandering or begging, I now have twice as many followers as when I started the blog hop! I even have more than some of the other authors in the hop. I never really thought I'd have that much of a "popularity" quotient because my writing is so unusual.

So thank you, thank you, to all the truly awesome people who have their picture over there! I promise to keep providing interesting content and make sure you're not sorry that you follow me here. I accept suggestions any time.

Trip Around The World Mega Blog Hop Winners

Thanks to everyone who entered the Trip Around The World Mega Blog Hop drawing. I really appreciate your comments and I wish there could be more winners!

As a matter of fact, I've decided to award two winners for each book, so four winners total. The winners who have given me permission to post their names are:

Tree/House winner Inga Silberg hosts an informative and entertaining bookish website at www.ingasilbergbooks.com.

Wonderful commenter Rhonda Helton and ice cream lover Krystal Larson won Sail To Italy and Sail From Italy.

 Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your prizes!

Trip Around the World Mega Author Blog Hop: Ticket to Paradise (Córdoba, Spain)

Interior of the Mezquita (former Mosque, now Cathedral). This part was under
construction during the time The Seven Noble Knights of Lara takes place.

Welcome to Córdoba, Spain! Gonzalo Gustioz, father of the Seven Noble Knights of Lara, travels to Córdoba carrying a very special letter for the de facto caliph of Andalusia, Almanzor, in my work-in-progress, The Seven Noble Knights of Lara. The book takes place in the year 974, and Gonzalo is completely gobsmacked by the beauty, technology, and culture of the capital of Andalusia, also a world capital of learning and science.

Exterior of the Mezquita with Christian Baroque bell tower built on the
site of the minaret.

Córdoba today is a delightful small city having finally regained the population it had in its ninth-century heyday, and the magical atmosphere is the result of being a true crossroads and melting pot more than one thousand years ago. Be sure to visit the Mezquita, an jewel of world architecture, built by Muslim artisans over the site of a Visigothic basilica; one of the very few medieval synagogues that survived the Spanish Middle Ages; the Palace of the Christian Kings, where Columbus first asked Queen Isabel to finance his transatlantic journey, and which is being restored to its former glory; and Medina Azahara, the archeological remains of the caliphs' palace complex, physical reminder of astounding splendor and turbulent politics.

The Roman Bridge links Córdoba's two sides over the Guadalquivir.

Check back at this blog for news about The Seven Noble Knights of Lara.


Leave a comment on this blog for a chance to win a free PDF, epub, or Kindle copy (reader's choice) of my bewilderingly wonderful Tree/House and magnificently silly YA series Sail To Italy and Sail From Italy. There will be two winners! 


This contest runs from May 16 to May 23, midnight to midnight.

Not sunburned enough yet? Are you ready for your next holiday at a super sunny destination? Natural wonders abound in Arizona with author Kim Bowman.


Here are the rules for the Trip Around the World Mega Author blog hop.


1) Have fun!

2) Invite all of your friends! Spread the word!

3) This tour starts Monday, May 16, at midnight (Arizona time) and it ends Monday, May 23, at midnight (Arizona time).

4) Meet and mingle with all the authors! Experience a new destination at every stop! Participate in every blog contest and be entered for chances to win multiple prizes! Every blog visited is another opportunity to win! 

5) Participation at every blog is not required, but is recommended. Remember, the more you hop, the more chances you have to win. Every author is waiting to meet and interact with you, so please be sure to show every author some love!

6) Did I mention to have fun? Whoo hoo! Here we gooooooooo!

Ron Knight's 100th Blog

In honor of his 100th blog post, author Ron Knight has decided to help independent authors even more than he already does and showcase a bunch of us. I'm there! Check us all out! Thanks so much to Ron!

www.upauthors.com/blog

Writer? Yes. Famous?

Today I'd like to unpack the title of my blog. I think we can all agree that I am a writer. All I have to do in order to call myself a writer is write. Granted, my first year of being a full-time writer, I mostly just dreamed about my historical novel without a clue as to how it would ever get written. But I have written articles and fiction (many of which are linked at the Good Reading page to your left), not to mention a lot of words on this blog, so, that half of the title is a given.

Now on to "famous." I'm not actually famous. Gasp! I explained this designation in my first post as more or less a delusion from my childhood. I was famous in my own mind when I declared myself as such for the reasons in the post, but mostly because everyone I knew, knew that I wrote. To me, a famous writer is the kind of person you can ask anyone on the street about and get a decent response, along the lines of "Everyone knows who she is! Jessica Knauss is the author of Tree/House, many short stories, and the silly YA series Sailing Italy."Back when I called myself a famous writer, you could have gotten a similar answer from any of the several adults who knew me, therefore, I was famous. And the blog title has its own kind of validity, independent of how my career goes from here.

But lingering behind "famous" is its partner, "rich." If "rich" is a requirement for "famous," then I definitely am not now and may never be. I'm not getting paid much at all for my writing (copies of the magazines I appear in, sometimes a five dollar honorarium I prize like a pot of gold). My husband recently got a raise, so we can breathe just a little easier, but it's not enough to go back to Pennsylvania and get our furniture and books, so I still feel pretty poor. I couldn't afford to go to Oregon to meet my amazing fans. We had to save up for a trip to the Spanish restaurant, for goodness sake. We hunch over to eat because we decided the one table we could afford worked best as a computer desk (what a relief that was!). We choose Crunchy Oat Squares instead of Life cereal. I'm grateful for the deliciously nutritious Crunchy Oat Squares, because some people can't even afford them, but I hope I'm making the point that we are not rich.

"Rich" lingers around "famous" because people figure that if everyone knows who you are, then someone must be paying you a lot of money. This is true in enough of the cases I've seen to convince me that if I can ever get people on the street to recognize my name, I'll already have several bestsellers and movie deals.

Bestsellers and movie deals are not easy to come by, just to clarify.

I wanted to point out that I'm not famous for the sake of people who click over here from other countries, like Moldova and Ghana, using the keywords "famous writer." Sorry folks. I really appreciate your clicks! You can say you knew me when.