Jennie Bennett, Romance Author

Can I just say that blogfests are the best? I should really host my own sometime... anyway, I saw this one on a couple of blogs and I just had to join in. It is that fun. For all the info hop on over to Kate Larkindale's blog. Here is the beginning, middle, and end to Earth Song. And yes, the end is a cliffhanger. Let me know what you think...? Beginning : I could die if I am caught here; die on my own land. Middle: I close my eyes and see that I am surrounded by archers on all sides. If I do not move I will die. It is not long enough for me to find my horse, but it is long enough for me to save my own life. End: It is time for our generation to stand; time for the magic to return and the tyranny to end. It is now or never.

Until September 10th the lovely and amazing Abby Flowers is holding a blog-fest called Kurious-Kids, and there are some fun prizes involved! Like so many of us, Abby was introduced to the power of poetry through Shell Silverstein. I'm a big a fan myself, and I would love to win "The Light in the Attic" for my kids. One of many great things about being a mom is that I get to share all the books, games, and toys that I loved as a child with my children. Before my son was born my husband and I went to a local book store and bought every single Dr. Seuss book they had. I love Seuss for so many reasons, but mostly I love him becasue they were the only books my father would read to me. My dad is master of voice inflection, he memorized major poems like "The Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner" and he would practice his recitals on us. I still remember being six or seven and feeling chills as repeated the line "Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink." Anyw...

You may or not remember that I held a giveaway for the premier of Kid History episode 6. Thanks to John Roberts (one of the Kid History stars) I was able to go to this event and have tickets for the giveaway. I had a serious blast! I haven't laughed that hard in ages, my sides are still sore. Yesterday they posted the new episode to their You Tube channel, and since not all of you could go, I thought I would share it here for your viewing pleasure. (Plus I'm in the video at the very end yelling Yellow Gwapes - although only I know where I am, mawhaha!) Have a great day all!

Back in High School I had this amazing English teacher, he was the person that believed in my writing enough to get me to this point. ( For the full story click here ) Anyway, he made us plot. He taught us the value of thinking ahead of time so that our writing would be conveyed clearly. I enjoyed neatly outlining my little five paragraph papers and I tried to apply those techniques to writing a novel, but it didn't work for me. I still did free write sessions to get ideas before writing, but an outline felt too detailed. For me, it killed the fun of writing. Looking back I regret that, I wish that I had come up with a big picture view so that I wasn't re-writing my book at this point. Lesson learned. Thankfully, the online writing community has provided me with a wealth of new ways to look at outlining and plotting, so today I thought I would share them with you. The first one is called The Eight Sequences , it actually refers to play writing, but it's a good model for a ...

Welcome to another Life List club post, Today I have Sonia with me (yeah!) and I hope you'll check out my post over at Pam Hawley's blog. Here's Sonia: Growing up, I was always a storyteller. I started telling stories as soon as I could put a few sentences together. And the minute I could write them down, I put them on paper. All the way up through high school, I wrote like mad. I wrote on anything I could get my hands on. Receipts, envelopes, backs of spent ticket books from my waitressing job, fliers, and my arm if I had to. I spent hours in front of the computer. The words, although probably not spectacular, flowed. And then they stopped. Not all at once but not a lingering death either. I started college and stopped listening to the stories in my head. For fifteen years, I wrote nothing more creative than last-minute term papers, memos, and shopping lists. Although there was a occasional sputter of words and there were still ideas rattling around inside my head, I co...

I just wanted to let y'all know that I guest posting at Pam Hawley's blog today! So go check it out and have a great day!

This week I am participating in Rachel Harrie's platform-building campaign . So if you're here for that, Welcome! I feel kinda bad that my post on Monday was so dark, and everyone who to came to my blog got depressed, but I promise it's a lot of fun around here most of the time :) My writing is coming along slow and steady. I've updated my writing status bar to your right to show my progress on the re-write. That way you guys can poke me when I'm not doing anything. That's pretty much it on the news front so I'll leave you all with one of my long-time favorite songs. It's one that never grows old to me. What goals do you have this week?

For the first time in a while I've gone through several books that I absolutely adored and devoured with a voracious hunger. These are the kind of books I want to write. They are the kind that stick in your head. The ones where you wonder about the characters becasue you feel like they've become your friends. The ones that you want to read again, and again. A part of me wants to horde them to myself, I want them to belong to me. I want to study them and dissect them and think of every possible every possible scenario that could happen in the character's future. Another part, a bigger part, needs to talk about them. To tell someone so that I can lay them aside for a little bit and think about other things. Because these books are all-consuming. So I'm going to share the books with you and give you a little blurb for each one. Then you can go read them and we can chat, then we will both be happy. First Up is Divergent. I read this one becasue I saw it spreading across t...

Have you ever had a moment where you feel like your heart has just stopped beating? I just had one of those. You know when two people are just meant for each other from the moment they meet? My friends KJ & Macie where just like that. So it was no surprise when they got married. They had a beautiful little girl, and it was a storybook family. Of course they had more love to give. When Macie found out she was expecting again everyone was so overjoyed. They are such good parents , I thought, I am so happy for them . Better news yet, it was a boy. Only the ultrasound didn't leave them with just that happy thought. The baby was small, really small. They proceeded with caution and did everything they could. The baby stopped growing. They tested to see if the child was down syndrome or if he had other diseases. Nothing was conclusive. When Macie went into labor three weeks before her due date they where anxious. It wasn't terribly early, but they knew the baby could have serious...

Okay awesome readers, I normally don't blog twice in a day, but trust me, this news was worth it. Remember that HILARIOUS video I showed y'all on Wednesday? Well, here's your chance to see it on the big screen, along with the four other episodes and the premier of Episode 6! I am going to giveaway two tickets to TWO lucky winners next Wednesday. The best part? I'll be there too ;) The premier is being held on Saturday, August 27th at 7:00pm located at the Cottonwood High school in Murray, UT. So the contest is only open to those who live (or want to travel to) Utah. For all the details of the showing click here . So here's the deal, it means so much to me that I am asking you guys to help me spread the word, and the more you spread the more likely you are to win! You'll get one entry for following my blog THIS IS REQUIRED , each subsequent entry is given for passing the love along. When you've sufficiently plastered Cyber-Space, come on back and fill out th...

What's that you say? You're looking for some new music to inspire? We'll you've come to the right place. The band Temper Trap has been around for a while, but it took me some time to warm up to their music. Dougy Mandagi has a rather high voice for a man, but it's not feminine either. It's one of those voices that could go either way. The first time I heard "Sweet Disposition" I was unimpressed, but the more I heard it, the more I couldn't get enough of it. Eventually I broke down and bought the album. And you know what? I love it. Take a listen or two and see of your opinion matches mine. Is there a band you love, that you once hated?

The biggest update I have is that I reached 300 followers! Wahoo! Thank you all so much for coming and visiting my little blog, it really means a lot to me. I want to shower you all with everything you want, but all I have is virtual confetti. Feel free to throw it around liberally! I would do a giveaway, but I'm going to be doing one next month for the life list club (shhh, don't tell.) Other than that I have nothing to update, no blog awards, no contests - it's a pretty slow week. So instead I thought I would post another one of the You Tube funnies that I so enjoy. Anyone doing any fun writing things this week?

Tomorrow will mark my eight year anniversary with my husband. It's crazy to think that I was a 19-year-old newlywed. Looking back, I know how insane it was. At the time I felt mature enough to handle a HUGE commitment like marriage, but now I realize that I was so young and naive. Luckily, I found the right man to go through life with. Our marriage has been through so many trials, but in the end we've always stuck together, and I have confidence that we will be together forever. Why? Because we are both willing to put in the work that a marriage requires. When I was 19 I had these skewed fairy-tale romance ideas about love. Cinderella was a subtle theme to my wedding (see the big poofy dress) But I have learned that love isn't the only factor in creating a family. Marriage is about give and take. Sometimes you're going to be the strong one and you have carry the relationship, and other times you'll need your partner to support you. In writing, it's the same. So...

Hello faithful readers and welcome to another edition of the Life List Club. Since I'm super special and lucky I get to have Carrie with me again today! SQUEEE!! Her post is rockin' and I'm sure all of you will love it! But first I must tell you all to hop over to my post on Lyn Midnight Against the Odds . It's pretty much the complete opposite of what Carrie's talking about so it will be nice for you guys to have two fun things to read. Here's Carrie - I was at a barbecue the other night when an acquaintance asked, "How's your novel coming?" I stared back blankly, sipped my drink and hoped they'd just go away. Finally I managed a, "It's OK." That was a big, fat lie. If I was telling the truth, what I really would have said was, "Terrible. I don't have a clue where my story is going next, and writing in the past scares the heck out of me." But I didn't. Instead I chose to lie. Now on the scale of lies, min...