Stacey Jay-paranormal YA romance

Dear Internet,



THINGS ARE HAPPENING! Lots and lots of things.



My two boys are full of sass and fun and I've had to blow lots of bubbles with them (and ride bikes and prepare for all the END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR MADNESS and it's all been WORTH IT. And an honor and a privilege. These boys are anti-birth-control lately. What magical creatures. I greedily want just one more.)



I'm learning to sew, and, did you know that it can take up to two hours to cut out a complicated pattern? Well, it can. (But it's totally worth it.)



I'm also still taking ballet twice a week. The class is an hour and a half and I have a twenty minute commute both ways and so that's quite a chunk of free time used up in the getting to and taking and getting back of ballet. (Also totally worth it.)



I'm also working on a new adult urban fantasy partial and it is CREEPY and also FUN. I think. I'm not sure if it's going to ever see the light of day, but I'm having a blast spending time with the characters. (Ditto. Worth it.)



I'm also reading and digesting and responding to an editorial letter for my 2013 young adult book for Delacorte. I am eating, dreaming, and showering this book right now (some of my best thinking happens in the shower or in the middle of the night when I wake up and slap my husband and shout "I've got it!" before going back to sleep. It's fun to sleep beside me. You never know when you'll be rudely, but enthusiastically, awakened in the middle of the night.) But the dwelling is helping. I think I'm getting close to a breakthrough. (So yeah, not only worth the time, but necessary. Since this is my job and I have a contract to fulfill and yada yada.)



Long story long, I've had some busy, Internet, and I'm sorry. I swear I will be back around to posting more frequently soon. I have a fun Star Wars themed post planned. I just need to find my little blue camera. My big camera is too bulky to get the shots I want. I've also got a rant building about why it's best to keep your real life interactions more numerous than your online interactions (if at all possible).



So stay cool, and I"ll check in soon with some pics and rants and the belated posting of 8's birthday montage,



Stacey

Dear Livejournal,

I thought you might want to see this letter I wrote to Blogspot. I know I didn't mention how awesome you were by comparison, but that's just because I DID have some trouble using you too in the very beginning. (Though now all is well.)

Hope we can still be cool and you won't start changing your ways just to mess with my head.

xo,

Stacey Jay


Dear Blogspot,



This new interface you've got going on is completely counter-intuitive and ugly and I hate it. Why have you done this to me? Against my will?!



When I think of all the years I stuck by you, defending you when everyone told me to dump you and start going out with Wordpress, I am literally sickened. (Yogurt just rose in my throat and I BARELY swallowed it down.) "Blogger is so much easier to use," I'd enthuse! "You just jump on and everything you need is there so clearly marked even a cyber dummy like me can figure it out," I'd encourage those wishing to start a new blog.



And now you've gone and become just like Wordpress, with a side of the new Google inbox and its "simple" look that is really just annoying and strange and not any more functional than it was before.



I mean, Wordpress and I had some really bad times back in the early 2000's when I couldn't figure out how to change the templates and kept getting bombarded by spam and then there were plug-ins to install and blah blah blah, but I'm seriously thinking of making a change and going back to him (Wordpress). Or maybe I'll put my blog over on my website like my web designer told me to do in the first place. But even then, after working with square space and realizing how easy it is to use, I was reluctant to leave your warm, comforting waters, Blogger. And how do you thank me? By throwing me into the icy river of this new version of you that I will NEVER love the way I loved the old one.



(If you've never jumped into an icy river, it is really, REALLY scary. I was at a church retreat in 7th grade and we were swinging out on a rope swing and dropping into a creek so cold that when you went under your brain completely short circuited for a few seconds and you were no longer aware of who you were or where you were or what you were doing there. Would have been SO easy to drown there. So easy. It was so cold and shocking that it literally put you outside of yourself for a moment while your brain tried to work out how to convey to the rest of your body that you were really THAT cold.



Reading that, you'd probably assume I only made that jump once, but you'd be wrong. I jumped off that rope swing about 10 times. I was a crazy kid and, in my defense, it was a Church of Christ retreat and by the second day an out-of-body experience was sounding pretty good. Even my Baptist upbringing hadn't prepared me for the intense Conservative ministry smackdown that was leveled upon my vulnerable 13 year old brain. If I hadn't read so many romance novels I probably would have been convinced that wearing a chastity belt for the rest of my life was a good idea. But thanks to romance novels, in a mere three years I was happily making out in the back of my church boy boyfriend's Pathfinder. Thank you romance novels!)



In closing, I'd like to say that I'm not the only one who isn't down with the new you, Blogger. There's talk on the street and well...a lot of it isn't very complimentary.



Sometimes change is necessary, sometimes change is just change and annoying and inconvenient and dumb. The end.



Disappointedly,



Stacey Jay

Hey ya'll,

So I've been promising to post pictures of my office before my husband worked his magic and after the renovation for a long time, but I kept forgetting. But since I'm in a blog rut, I thought now would be the perfect time to dazzle you with pictures. Prepare for sparkle-motion as the blog proudly presents...

THE OFFICE! BEFORE AND AFTER!

Before....



(Ew! It's a hole without a door! What kind of freaks would buy a house with random holes on the basement level. *raises hand*)



(Exposed insulation! There's no ceiling!)



(Storage stuff, including the crib I still can't bring myself to part with and lots of concrete.)



(Bare corner, already filled in with some concrete.)

After!



(Look closely at the bookshelves and you can spy my Viking hat. Kept within easy reach of my chair for when the need to write avec Viking hat arises.)



(All the essentials here. The baby toilet (so cute!!), the sink, the fridge and the hutch for making the magic happen, aka brewing the coffee.)



(A window to let in the light, a door to keep out the bugs, a dehumidifier to fight off the dank, basement nasty, and a daybed for hurling myself upon in moments of angst--almost as good as a fainting couch, much less expensive.)



Thumbs up! Many thanks to my amazing husband for giving me a lair of my own for the first time in my writing career. So much more fun than writing at the kitchen table or my bed or a corner of my bedroom with my desk shoved in beside the chest of drawers.

I can't WAIT to get back down there and work tomorrow. All this time off has been making me twitchy.

Oh, and Random House aside, follow them on Twitter and retweet their tweet about Shakespeare's birthday (today!) for a chance to win JULIET IMMORTAL and an Advanced Reader Copy of ROMEO REDEEMED! Here's the link: https://twitter.com/#!/randomhousekids

Have an amazing Monday and rest of your week,

Stacey

...over ten years after my obsession began.

Here's a picture of a picture (my dear friend and photographer, Jamie Fender, clicked this pic of her display screen with her iPhone. Actual pictures to come when she has the time to process the images):



Is that Agent Scully red or what? And I even have the same haircut as season whatever (post layers and pre long haired Scully). So now I can go to my grave a fulfilled woman.

So....*sigh*...

I haven't been blogging much, have I? Apparently I don't have much to say. I mean, I do have quite a bit to say, but between politics getting me down, a few unanticipated doctor and acupuncture appointments (nothing serious, just little things that nevertheless require dentist and doctor appointments and several sessions of being stuck with needles), ballet class twice a week, kids, and the tremendous stress of knowing I would soon be getting my picture taken, I've been hard pressed to find time to work, let alone blog. (I'm supposed to be taking April off to prepare for edits that are coming in May, but I suck at taking time off and fail at relaxation.)

But yeah, getting my picture taken seriously stresses me the hell out. I fretted about it for about two weeks in advance. I know I don't look stressed in the picture above, but I had slugged a hefty glass of champagne about twenty minutes prior. Using alcohol to relax is a bad idea, but if I don't do something I end up looking like I'm facing a firing squad instead of a camera lens. I don't know why I get so knotted up about having my picture taken. I suppose it comes from my time as an actor, trying to get that "perfect" headshot that would make people call me in on auditions and feeling SO much is riding on that 1 hour photo shoot and knowing I really couldn't afford to spend the money on the pictures and my dark eye circles would show up and look terrible if the photographer didn't find just the right light and yada yada.

Glad I'm not an actor anymore and headshots only come around every 4 or 5 years or so. (My last shot was from 2008 and I now have short red hair instead of long brown hair so I figured it was about time.)

What else?...um...yeah. I don't know. Just needing to take a break from the blog (and the internet at large) at this point. I'm sure I'll be back to posting more regularly in a month or two, but in the meantime I hope you'll stick with me as I breeze in here once a week. I appreciate your patience.

Have an amazing week,

Stacey

The only thing more disturbing than a chocolate zombie Easter Bunny?

Just....



how...



many...



different kinds...




...there are.

Dear World, I love you and your crazy.

Happy Easter (and slightly belated Passover) to those who celebrate!

Stacey

Even unrelated things seem related with exclamation points!

That is the lesson we learn here today.

So--

1. Thank you so much to everyone who is pimping out BLOOD ON THE BAYOU, buying a copy, getting a copy for a friend, writing reviews to share and building excitement for the book, etc. You are amazing and I appreciate you so much.

2. BLOOD ON THE BAYOU. This book really needs your support. I won't sugar coat it, the odds are stacked against it at the moment. The print run was very, very low and it isn't stocked in many stores. Word of mouth is the only way to move copies, drive this sucker into another print run, and convince the powers that be that this series isn't dead in the water.

There is still hope. If everyone who bought a copy last time around convinces one other person to buy a copy, there's a chance. So...*fingers crossed*. I'll keep doing my part to get the word out and sending out good energy into the universe and hope for the best. But it is a hard world out there in urban fantasy right now (much more difficult to break in and establish an audience than it was even a few years ago), so the new series you enjoy (mine or those of other authors) really need your support more than ever.

3. If you haven't taken a peek over at my pinterest boards yet, and are curious about my upcoming books, you might want to go follow me over there. I pin a lot of artwork/pics/etc that remind me of books published or in process. I also have a books board where I post what I've been reading lately (this helps me stay away from goodreads. Mostly. Okay, I admit I check it sometimes, but I always regret it. Always.) So yeah, my link over there is: http://pinterest.com/staceyjayya/ I will follow you back if you have boards. This is my new favorite form of procrastination.

4. And I'm thrilled to share the press release for the Mendocino Writer's Conference, where I'll be getting my faculty on this July. (It doesn't mention the YA panel, but it's happening baby. This I promise you):

Registration opens March 15 for the July 26-28 Mendocino Coast Writers Conference at College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg. Intensive workshops led by award winning authors Robin Hemley (memoir), Kim Addonizio (poetry), Victoria Zackheim (nonfiction), David Corbett (novel), Steve Almond (short story), and Elizabeth Rosner (emerging writers).

Access to editors and agents, a Paths to Publishing panel, social events and literary readings by contest winners and faculty authors are included. For more information on registration, schedule of workshops and lectures, contest entry rules and deadlines and presenter bios, please visit the conference website at www.mcwc.org. Register early to assure your choice of workshop intensives.

Have an amazing weekend!

Stacey

Hey ya'll,

It must be book report season because I'm getting a lot of requests for background information, always with this kind of stuff at the end: "I need this sort of quickly so could you answer me now? There's nothing on the web! What am I going to do? My paper's due on Friday!?!!! Arghhghghgh!!!"

Fear not, book reporters of the world, I am here to give you the information, all in one tidy place.

The Low Down on Stacey Jay:

Born: October 24th in Louisiana.

Raised: In Missouri and later, Arkansas, where she attended high school and graduated summa cum laude.

College: Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Stacey received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and graduated summa cum laude with honors.

After College: Stacey worked in Equity regional theaters in Vermont, Indiana, and New York before moving to Los Angeles to co-star in several really crappy horror movies. She quit acting in late 2005, when her first son was born. In early 2006, she finished her first full length novel.

Writing: In 2008, Stacey sold her first Young Adult novel, YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME, to Razorbill books (a division of Penguin). It was published in January of 2009. Since then, Stacey has continued to write for young adults and, in 2011, launched her first adult urban fantasy series with Pocket books. Her complete book list at this time:

Young Adult:

YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME (Razorbill 2009)
UNDEAD MUCH? (Razorbill 2010)
MY SO-CALLED DEATH (Flux 2010)
THE LOCKET (Razorbill 2011)
JULIET IMMORTAL (Delacorte Press 2011)
ROMEO REDEEMED (Coming in 2012 from Delacorte Press)

Adult:

DEAD ON THE DELTA (Pocket 2011)
BLOOD ON THE BAYOU (Pocket March 2012)

So there you go! Hope that was helpful. If you have any other questions, just leave them in the comments and I'll come back and update the post with those answers included.

Be back next week with details on the BLOOD ON THE BAYOU/SACRIFICIAL MAGIC, Stacia Kane/Stacey Jay blog hop. There are a lot of chances to win great prizes (including copies of both books), so you won't want to miss that event.


Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Stacey

Synopsis:

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries.

While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

My thoughts:

I hope you enjoy it. (I really really do, but from this day forward I'm forcing myself to stay away from Google and Goodreads. Yes, I know I was supposed to stay away from Goodreads because of my New Year's Resolution to do so, but sometimes my fingers and brain are traitorous and take me places I shouldn't go. In the interests of my mental health, however, I'm reinforcing the ban on Google/Goodreads, and vowing to stay away at least until my Work In Progress is finished. I need that energy I spend angsting to be creative and meet my deadline and etc.)

Also, this cover is the final cover and you will notice that Ariel has a sleeve on her arm that isn't there on the ARC because there was some concern about whether she looked clothed. I always assumed she was clothed, but I like the sleeve. Sleeves are good. They cover arms and can also be decorative and fun as is the case with this filmy little sleeve. But seriously, I really adore this cover. I love that both Ariel and Romeo are featured since ROMEO REDEEMED is more of a shared book than JULIET IMMORTAL. And Romeo is just lovely. (Isn't he? I was so thrilled to see him. We went through several cover images before finding this one and none of the other Romeos were quite right. Handsome, but not quite right.)

(And yes, there was supposed to be an interview with Romeo available on another blog, but Romeo was contrary and refused to answer questions. He's an ass that way sometimes, what can I do? By way of apology, I'll be sending the blogger in question an ARC to give away on her blog.)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Stacey

Ya'll.



BLOOD ON THE BAYOU is coming out March 27th. That's so fracking soon! I'm not ready. Somebody hold me or bring me a coffee or bring me a coffee and let me drink it and then hold me (so I don't spill any on you) or something.

I can't even add the book to my website because I don't know how to add a selection to a drop down menu on Foursquare. (If anyone knows how to do that, please let me know and I will entrust you with the holy password to my website and then let you add it and then I will send you pretty things and all my sweet love and appreciation. Please. Help me. I should never have gotten my site on a platform where I didn't know how to do all the updates myself. Blah. Live and learn or take the website down and put up pictures of cute baby goats in sweaters or something. I don't know.)

But what I can do is send you a BLOOD ON THE BAYOU magnet. If you read and review BLOOD ON THE BAYOU (on Amazon's or Barnes and Noble's online sites) within the first two weeks of release, and then send me an email via the contact page on my website with your name and address and a link to the review (positive or negative, doesn't matter. I don't take offense. I just want to help Blood on the Bayou get into the hands of readers who will enjoy it and both kinds of reviews help accomplish that), then I will send you a big shiny magnet. Really big. Super shiny. They're almost as big as my hand (my hand is small and square, but it would be pretty impressively sized if it were a magnet).

So go, pre-order, read quickly, review, and let me know about it!

You can order your copy at Indiebound, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, over at the Itunes store, or wherever you like to be buying boooks.

In other news, so far 34 has been THE YEAR OF DOING THINGS I HAVEN'T DONE IN OVER A DECADE. I'm back in ballet class at least once a week (and LOVING it and planning to get fitted for toe shoes in April and see if I can get ready for Nutcracker tryouts next fall. I want to be a Snowflake, a pretty pretty snowflake. Or a flower. Nothing too crazy, not a solo or anything, just a flake among flakes or a flower among flowers. But not a parent in the party scene. I get enough of that at home, yo. I'm not going to parent imaginary children. Or children who are really children, but who aren't actually my children.)

And then, last night, in continuation of the DOING THINGS I HAVEN'T DONE IN OVER A DECADE trend, I decided to go swim laps. With my sporty swim team-esque suit and skull cap/condom hat thing, and my goggles. I managed 12 laps before I began shaking all over and my pale, pale, frighteningly white winter skin flushed red in an alarming way and I sat on the side of the pool heaving and dripping until a man with a beard down to his navel asked me if I was okay and then sat down to talk with me about exercised-induced asthma and why my mother should have breast fed me, and then I told him to shush because I breast fed both my kids and they are still all heavy and raspy in the spring when their allergies act up and then I noticed him looking at my chest with this kind of dubious look because, despite the fact that I've gained ten pounds since this time last year, none of it is in my chest and the girls looked especially flat in my swimsuit, but YOU DON'T NEED HUGE BOOBS TO FEED BABIES. I kind of wanted to say that to him, but I didn't because I was like, whatever, dude, your beard is too gross to look at anymore. And then I went to the locker room and felt proud of myself for not being embarrassed about the heaving or the dripping of the breast feeding conversation. Ten years ago, I would have been MORTIFIED by all of it.

Final verdict, I like 34 a hell of a lot better than 24, even if I was a wee bit smaller and more elastic back then. I was stiff in the ways that really count. Inside. Inner stiffness. You feel me?

I wrote all of this in fifteen minutes because I have no time for blogging right now, but I didn't want to leave you hanging. So if it makes no sense, I'm sorry. Disperse and come back next week when I'll have a link to an interview with Romeo from Romeo Redeemed and the official cover reveal of the book (with the FINAL cover, in all its sparkly, hot kissing in the sand, glory.)

Have a tremendous weekend,

Stacey