Hitting the Road

Hi, friends!

I won’t be blogging as much this week as I normally do becaaaaaause I’m road-tripping up to Lubbock tomorrow to pick my sister up from college!  Since my dad still can’t drive, my mother has enlisted me to help be a mover and a driver.  I’m secretly stoked, even though I’m totally allergic to Lubbock.  I just can’t wait for a good road trip and to see my sister!  We’re going to have a blast.

I will probably be updating my adventures on Instagram and Twitter, however, so if you’d like to keep you, you can follow me here:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacquelineesmith/

or here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackieSmith114

In other news, I had a fun weekend.  It was two of my friends’ birthday, so I got to bake them a layered cake!  I have never baked a layered cake before, so this was a brand new adventure.  I like to think, however, that it was a success.

Then this morning, I visited the Transamerica Book Club as a guest author!  I had so much fun and so enjoyed meeting everyone and talking about ghosts and books!

Now tonight is going to be a HUGE treat.  You me obsessing last fall over a little book called FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell (and if you don’t, here’s the link: https://jackiesmith114.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/ode-to-fangirl/).  Well, Rainbow herself is at BARNES AND NOBLE tonight and guess who is going to meet her?!  THIS GIRL!

I’m so excited.  I’m so excited.  Fangirl was a huge contributing factor into my decision to write Boy Band.  For one thing, it was also a NaNoWriMo book.  For another, it just reminded me of how much I love cute, fluffy, fun books.  I cannot wait to meet Rainbow tonight.  I know, just from reading her books and following her on Twitter, that she is super awesome.

I’ll definitely be posting pictures!  Talk to y’all later!

Such an Amazing Weekend!

Oh wow… where do I start?

I’ve got to be honest, I might share more than one blog update today because I’m not sure that everything will fit in one post!

I guess I’ll start with Wednesday evening.  I had the distinct honor and privilege of meeting Kathleen Kent, NY Times best-selling author of The Heretic’s Daughter and The Outcasts.  She was such a friendly and lovely person, very personable.

I also took her a copy of Cemetery Tours, which, I admit may have been a bit presumptuous of me, but she was so sweet and excited about it.

The next day, I was delighted to be a guest at the Melissa Book Club.  They were lovely ladies and I had such a wonderful time!  I love going to book clubs.  It’s so much fun meeting and connecting with people who love books as much as I do.

On Friday, I was finally, for the first time in my life, talked into signing up for NaNoWriMo.  Originally, I had been led to believe that people just write books during the month of November.  I honestly had no idea it was this entire website and community that you join!  How cool is that?!  Anyway, I signed up under a super secret pen name A) just in case it doesn’t work out and B) because the project I’ll be working on is YA and SO COMPLETELY different from Cemetery Tours and I want to keep my reputation as a spooky ghost story writer for at least a little while longer.  I’ve got to tell you though, I am SUPER STOKED to be participating this year.  I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!  I even designed my own cover for the book.

Saturday, was one of the most exciting days of my career thus far.  I was asked to give a short presentation on ghost stories at the Colony Public Library!

I decided that no one wanted to listen to me talk at them, so I decided to engage the audience in a little Ghost Story Trivia!  I think everyone really enjoyed it.

There was a bucket of fun prizes.

And consolation prizes.

This is me, looking dumb while talking.

I also had the honor of meeting and listening to a presentation on Ghost Towns by non-fiction author, Robin Cole-Jett.  Her photographs and experiences in these abandoned places are so fascinating that she’s inspired me to delve more into urban exploration.  You can find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-River-Historian/195104580538409?ref=hl

Afterward, I went on an amazing history tour of the Colony, but I’ll tell you more about that in my next post.  I have a lot of pictures and one totally creepy story to share!

Before I get to that blog post, however, I wanted to share Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s AMAZING review of Between Worlds: http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2014/10/worlds-jacqueline-e-smith.html

I highly recommend Kimba for anyone looking for an honest, thorough, reliable, and all around awesome reviewer!  You can find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/kimbathecaffeinatedbookreviewer

Seriously, folks.  She’s awesome.