Jennie Bennett, Romance Author

My two oldest kids go to an excellent Karate studio where they learn about a new value each month, and memorize scriptures to strengthen them. This month's theme is self-discipline. My kids had to fill out a chart for a week in which they needed to do things like chores and karate practice, as well as keeping a positive attitude, and respecting family members. If my kids are working to improve themselves, I figure I should be doing it along with them. When it comes to writing, I'm lucky to have a lot of support. Even though I tend to let self-doubt get in the way a lot, I know there are many opportunities to battle the blues. Photo by Gratsiela Toneva Gratsiela Toneva One such awesome friend shared this challenge with me, and I've decided to take part. My goal is to write one thousand words Monday-Friday. I've missed today because of other blogging commitments, but I'm confident I can make it up tomorrow. I hope you'll all take a look at t...

Wow. It's been six months since my last blog post. *wipes brow* I'm happy to report I'm still writing. It's iffy some days, but I always come back to it. I just wanted to do a quick update to let you know, I've...well...updated. Turns out the last time I changed my tabs was two children ago...which means at least three years. Yikes! My twitter handle has changed along with some other things, so you might want to check it out. I'd most notably like to turn your attention to the new cover design and blog banner tab. I'm still doing free covers, so if you're in the market, take a look! (And thanks Alex for the shoutout last time, you're awesome!) What's new with you? Any resolutions you want to share? Me? I'm going to write every day Mon-Fri. And yes, I'm already struggling. But the only direction from here is up, right?

It's officially summer break which means all three of my little devils munchkins are home all day, every day. It's alright, people, really, it's not as terrifying as it sounds. Just take a deep breath and read on. As most of you know, this September I'm planning on releasing my first full length novel, What Not to Do When You're Falling in love. Which means I can't take the summer off to spend each excruciating sweet moment with my pumpkins. All you moms out there, just settle down for a minute. I know the thought of working from home while your kids destroy everything you hold dear sounds painful. It actually is, but that doesn't mean your kids can't have a little fun along the way. Like every other mom on the internet, I don't want my kids to spend their summer days in front of the TV frying their brains, so I've come up with a solution that allows my kids to have a great summer, and me to get some work done. I present to you: T...

Trust me. The following post is not a joke. It's 100% real. March was a hard month for me. Really, really hard. Most of March included irrational thoughts such as: 1. I hate writing. I hate reading about writing. I hate thinking about style, and process, and eventual publishing. HATE. 2. I started writing almost four years ago, and I'm pretty much in the same position I started in. 3. I should just quit. Nothing I do is ever going to be good enough, or worth it in the end. 4. Time to cancel my flight to Utah in May. No point in going to a writer's conference when I'm quitting. 5. Everything I have ever written is trash. I'm sorry to anyone who has look upon my words, because they're all terrible. So yeah...I'm still not 100% over it, but I'm not completely giving up either. Although, I haven't worked on anything in almost three weeks. As you can imagine, this troubled time has made it hard to read as well. Here's the one book I r...

This post is late, but it's here! I didn't quiet reach my goal last month, but I did read, which is the whole point of the challenge. Woven by David Power's King and Micheal Jensen David was the very first blogger friend I had the opportunity to meet in person. That was three and half years ago. He told me his book was called Woven, and that it was about a ghost that could be stitched back to life with a magic needle. Naturally, that was the coolest thing I had ever heard of, and I was dying to read it. But I had to wait. I almost got read to read it a year and a half ago...then they switched publishers in series of FORTUNATE events. Anyway, the book was everything I expected it to be and more. I loved the world Michael and David created, and I haven't read a High Fantasy in a long time. It was fantastic! Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell When I was at the bookstore seeing if I could get my hands on Woven early, I decided to pick up a few books, and thi...

Fifty books in twenty-fifteen starts now! I only read two books in January, but I started my challenge late. Both these titles were fantastic, which gives me so much hope for an incredible year ahead. Let's get to it, shall we? Remake, Ilima Todd Let me just say, as an author, I wouldn't touch this subject with a ten foot pole. A lot of questions are asked through this story. What is choice? What is gender? What defines a gender? What defines a person? Does the way we look have an influence on our choices? Ilima took all these issues head on, and tackled them beautifully. More than just asking these important questions, Ilima tells a deeply personal story about girl who doesn't really know where she fits in her world, and has no idea what choices she wants to make. All the ideas presented in this novel are still floating around my head. I never once felt like I was being told how to think. Rather, I felt like the character was simply learning from the life that was ...

Honestly, I don't know what possessed me to do it. Three years ago I wrote a book poorly about a girl who could use natural disasters in an X-men kinda way. I named it Stealing the Stars, edited part of the first chapter, then gave up on it. I think the original word count was around 40K. It had all kinds of plot twists that didn't make sense, and it ended very abruptly. I'm pretty sure I even ended it in the middle of a sentence. Kidding . I wrote some other books after that one. Most notably, Existence. Which was also poorly written. And What Not to Do When You're Falling in Love. I queried both books with marginal success--meaning I received small press offers--which I ended up not taking. At the time it felt like the world was ending to turn down those contracts, but I'm glad I did. I wasn't ready yet. In between those two books, I decided to write Stealing the Stars again. The book about the girl with the natural disaster thing. Once more, it d...