I received a new cover for A Hint of Wicked today, with some changes! Can you see them? The old cover is the one on the left, and the new cover is the one on the right. What do you think? (Click on the image if you’d like to see a bigger version.)

I’m in the mood to give something away…so how about one of the very last advance copies (ARCs) of A Hint of Wicked (old cover, by the way!)? Just let me know what you think about one (or more) of the changes to a cover and I’ll enter you in a random drawing to win an ARC. I’ll draw the winner on Monday and post the results here!

Okay, so this is fun. Goodreads, where people can list and share the books they’ve read and post reviews on all of them. I just joined a couple of days ago, and lo and behold, someone has already read an advance copy of my book and posted a review of it! I’m gobsmacked!

Jennifer Haymore at Goodreads

A Hint of Wicked

reviews: 1
ratings: 10 (avg rating 4.50)

Anyway, I’m thrilled to be on Goodreads, and it seems like a very cool place to connect with other readers and authors, and learn more about the books I’m interested in reading.

Do you ever get paranoid? I tell you, the internet can do that to a person. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s currently a whole list of things I’m paranoid about!

(1) I get a blunt-sounding email from a friend, and I wonder why she’s angry with me (even though logically I know that it’s impossible to determine tone from email).

(2) My writing critique partner didn’t ask me to critique her latest book. What does it mean? Was my last critique useless? Did I make her angry about something? Did I do something wrong?

(3) Someone on a chat board I’m on posted that she’s ignoring the posts of a certain other poster. I immediately assume it must be me, even though there’s no logical reason for me to think so. We’ve never had a run-in (that I know of!). We’ve always been friendly. But have I said something? Does my personality annoy or offend her? Is it me?! Argh.

I wish there was a pill to take to eliminate paranoia. I don’t need it in my life. But to my friend, my critique partner, and my board-mate: If I upset you, please forgive me! I didn’t mean to! I really like all three of you and don’t want to cause discord! Hugs and chocolate all around! I’ll even splurge on a cafe-mocha-vodka-valium latte (nonfat and sugar free!) for all of us.

Okay, I feel a little better now. Back to writing. I have a deadline in…3 days!

An average day in Jennifer’s life:

6:30: Mr. Haymore wakes me up. I’m not very happy about this and I turn over and try to go back to sleep. He’s forced to yank the covers off me and drag me to the shower.
7:00: Get the kids dressed, breakfast made, lunches made. Make sure everyone’s backpack is ready to go.
8:00: Drive carpool. Me and six kids in my car. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that books on tape is one way to calm them down. We’re currently listening to Lemony Snicket’s The Grim Grotto. Poor Sunny!
8:30: Go to the post office, run to the store to buy a birthday card for the preschooler’s teacher.
9:00: Take the preschooler to school. We arrive late, as usual.
9:30: Get home, finally get a cup of coffee and open my emails. As always, there are bunches of time-consuming issues to deal with and responses to make.
10:30: Finally get to work. Today I’m finishing up edits on a manuscript. I’d like to finish before picking up the preschooler. I don’t.
12:30: Pick up preschooler.
1:00: Pick up the two boys early from school and hurry them home to brush their teeth for dentist appointment.
1:30: Dentist appointment. I have computer propped on my lap in hopes of finishing the edits (I don’t).
3:00: Leave dentist, expressing disappointment in the oldest’s toothbrushing capability. He has four cavities. FOUR!
3:15: Run around like a chicken without its head looking for the middle child’s gear for baseball. He needs about 20 different items for these games, and never can find about half of them. Nor can the oldest find his fencing gloves (which I told him to put in a safe place!).
3:45: Arrive at baseball game in the cold. Bundle up and set computer on my blanket-covered lap in hopes of finishing edits (I don’t). Supervise the oldest doing homework while the game starts. The preschooler finds a friend and is occupied.
5:30: Mr. Haymore arrives at game, which is going fairly well, despite my son having a tantrum because he hasn’t gotten a hit. I immediately leave to take oldest to fencing class.
6:00: Fencing starts. My computer battery dies and there are no plugs (hence I’m still not able to finish those blasted edits!), so I watch my son fence instead.
7:30: Arrive home from fencing. Make dinner, get everyone ready for bed.
8:00: Deal with broken vacuum cleaner. It’s a true family affair as we debug the problem.
9:00: Kids are in bed, I’m exhausted, and…

My writing day begins!!

I mostly write when the house is quiet and no one’s around to use as a distraction. Last night, though, I was sooo tired. Instead of writing 3000 words (my goal) and finishing the edits, I wrote about…oh, zero and got through only about 2/3 of the edits. By by nine, I just couldn’t face any more, so I took a respite and watched the Oscars (Mr. H. DVRed them for me while I was off somewhere writing). Unfortunately, they cut off just as they were about to announce the winner for best actress. I could have cried. Thank goodness for internet…but it still wasn’t the same as seeing it live (well, DVRed, but live to me, anyway!).

Maybe I’ll get that 3000 words written today… Sigh! I tell you, some days I think it’s a miracle I’ve managed to write anything at all…

Pretty much sums up my 2009 so far…

First off, Happy New Year! I’m excited to be here, excited to have a new website, excited about my upcoming book…I’m just excited! I’m so glad it’s 2009, too. 2008 was a wild ride, and I need to rest for a while, I think.

I hope to jam pack this blog with all sorts of…um…interesting things. You see, in the course of my research for A Hint of Wicked, I visited Google Books quite a lot. Google Books is this massive archive of all kinds of books, from way back when to the here and now. I usually looked for books in the 1800-1825 range to search for information for A Hint of Wicked. The kinds of things I looked up were along the lines of “bigamy divorce annulment 1800-1825″ or “arm arteries stopping bleeding” or “opium overdose cure” (thus in A Hint of Wicked, you’ll find the solution of drenching an opium addict in ice water!).

As I slogged through countless works written in that time period, I came across some extraordinary opinions, writings, and facts. Things that were a very strong reminder that times have changed and that people aren’t the same now as they were in the early 19th century. Things that if I suggested I write about to my editor, she’d probably dismiss me as the biggest lunatic of a writer she’d ever worked with.

I’d like to share some of those things here, because I think they are not only interesting, but funny, enlightening, and sometimes frightening. I hope you agree, and I hope you’ll come back to visit me again!

Stay tuned for the first blog post coming soon!