Jennifer Wilck : The Author Interview

Today I have fellow Rebel, Jennifer Wilck here answering some questions and sharing a little about her new release!

Tell us a little about yourself:

I’m a New Jersey native, although I went to college in the Midwest (where I learned to flatten my accent, at least temporarily). I’m married with two girls (aged 11 and 14) and there is a LOT of drama in my house! I’ve been writing pretty much my entire life. Prior to writing romance, I was a magazine writer and editor and I did some freelance work for a while as well. I’ve published two contemporary romances and The Seduction of Esther is my third.

What was the querying/agent/publishing search process like for you?

It was a very long process originally. Like everyone else, I did a lot of research into agents and editors who were appropriate for me to query. I am a member of RWA, and I’ve taken many classes and about querying, etc. This time around, I spoke to my writer friends about their experiences with their publishers, and I heard such great things about Rebel Ink Press that I decided to go to them with this book.

What genre do you enjoy writing most? Is there another genre you would like to try at some point?

I love writing contemporary romance, but if I ever get brave enough, I might try historical. The research is what scares me though, because everything has to be exactly right. But I have a story in my head that one day I may try.

Do you have a writing ritual or a certain way you like to get ready to write?

Honestly, my time is so limited that I just sit down and start to write. Not that everything I write is any good, but I don’t have time for rituals. This past February, I participated in a 30K writing challenge, which meant I had to write approximately 1,000 words a day. For that, I made sure to write first thing in the morning so that I’d be sure to get my writing in each day, rather than get distracted by other things. The discipline was terrific!

Tell us about one of your characters you loved writing:

In The Seduction of Esther, the heroine is a klutz whenever she is around attractive men, and I had such a good time writing her! There’s one scene where Samara is getting ready for a date with the hero, Nathaniel, and first she gets the hiccups and then her hair gets caught on a button and, well, it was just a lot of fun getting her into troublesome situations and having to figure out a way to get her out.

Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? If so, what changed?

Oh my gosh, every time I get a rejection letter I am convinced that I’m horrible! But it’s forced me to at least pretend that I have a thick skin and eventually, I’m able to convince myself that I can do this. Writing is subjective; just because one person doesn’t like something, doesn’t mean everyone dislikes it.

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Write because you love it. Write because you can’t imagine not writing. Learn your grammar, but don’t get caught up in the millions of “rules” that everyone talks about. Use common sense and be professional. And don’t stop writing.

What is your current obsession (absolutely anything)?

You mean aside from shoes? Um, I’d have to say I have certain TV shows that I love—like Game of Thrones, Dr. Who and Criminal Minds. I don’t know if I’m obsessed with them, but I really enjoy watching them and look forward to them every week.

Tell us about one of your recent releases:

My newest release, which came out June 3, is The Seduction of Esther. It’s a contemporary romance around the Jewish holiday of Purim. Here’s the blurb:

Samara Goldberg has a problem even the most beautiful singing voice can’t fix. She’s a walking disaster, especially when she’s around handsome men. To make matters worse, she’s in desperate need of someone to play the character of Mordecai for the Purim spiel she’s producing and the new congregant, Nathaniel Abramson, is a perfect fit. Nathaniel is a divorced dad who’s recovering from the biggest public scandal of his life. The last thing he needs is a relationship with the choir director at his new synagogue, who also happens to be playing the lead female role of Esther in the very play he’s been coerced into joining.

Woven around the Jewish holiday of Purim, The Seduction of Esther is a story of two people whose lives mirror the plot of the Purim story. Like Esther, who had to hide her Jewish identity from the King of Persia, Samara and Nathaniel are hiding key pieces of themselves. Evil Haman wanted to destroy the Jews, and the nasty Josh will do anything to keep Samara and Nathaniel apart. Will their love survive, like the Jewish people in Shushan, Persia, or will their fear keep them apart?

Sounds fantastic, Jennifer! 

Find Jennifer on Facebook 

She in on Twitter @JWilck

Her website www.jenniferwilck.com and blog  www.jenniferwilck.wordpress.com

And on one other blog to which she contributes www.heroineswithhearts.blogspot.com

The Seduction of Esther is available at these retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ARe

Here is an excerpt: 

           Samara stared at her reflection in the mirror, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. The breath was supposed to relax her—to calm her nerves, lower her blood pressure and help her handle Nathaniel’s impending arrival. However, her body didn’t get the message, because all she achieved was a case of the hiccups. Terrific. Her stomach flopped and her hands trembled. She took another deep breath, opened her eyes and hiccupped.

            This was not happening. She could not go out on a date with Nathaniel with a case of the hiccups. No way, no how. She turned on the tap, filled a glass and took a sip of water. Hiccup. She brought the glass into the kitchen, put a spoon in it and took another sip. Hiccup. She drank from the opposite side of the glass. Hiccup. Moisture on her chest made her look down. Wonderful, now I’ve spilled on my blouse. She put the glass in the sink and raced back into her bedroom to change into a sweater. She undid enough buttons to fit her head through the opening and yanked.

            “Ow!”

            Her hair caught on a button. As she lowered the blouse, more hair got stuck. Now the blouse hung in front of her face, neither fully on nor fully off.

            “Argh!”

            She reached her arm in front of her, felt for the bed so she could sit and untangle her hair. As she floundered, the doorbell rang.

            “No!”

            Please, please, please don’t be Nathaniel. The three days since his phone call asking her out had made ketchup falling out of a Heinz bottle seem quick. Despite her manner on the phone with him, she’d been so excited for today. Her mind wandered to him at the most inopportune times, like when she sang, worked on the spiel, walked down the street. She examined every note she sang and wondered how he’d receive it; she contemplated, and refused, moving scenes around to give Esther more time with Mordecai; she examined every man she passed and compared him to Nathaniel.

            No matter how she hid it or reason it out, she could no longer deny her feelings for him. He made her laugh, he made her relax and he made her feel like the most important woman in the room. She could stare at his hands all day and watch the way they moved when he spoke. When they touched her, her whole body tingled. The air she breathed with him was fresher, filled with more oxygen. Time froze, yet at the same time, sped by. Her worries faded away; he made her feel invincible. If he were here now, he’d laugh and have her untangled in an instant. But she would be mortified. There was no way she could let him see her like this. There was nothing she could do—she’d have to skip the date and make up some excuse later. She held her breath as her stomach dropped with disappointment. She didn’t dare move, for fear of alerting him to her presence. The doorbell rang again, accompanied by a scratchy, jingly noise.

Cover Reveal : Dead Run by Vanessa Booke

Check out this gorgeous cover! Vanessa Booke's upcoming New Adult Post-Apocalyptic Romance release, Dead Run, is having a cover reveal celebration today and I get to help! 

Here's a little about the book...

Carly

Carly Rios was supposed to go to college, forget about her first love, and live a normal life. That was the plan until the whole world went to hell and the dead started becoming…not so dead. 

Forced to live in the same quarantine as her abusive stepfather, Carly is hanging on to life by a thread, as she dreams of a normal world outside of the community. But when tragedy strikes home, Carly has no choice but to try and escape with her brother Michael. On the night that Carly plans to leave the community, chaos erupts, causing her plans to backfire, unleashing the undead inside.

Now, Carly must reach out to Joshua Tremell, a man from her past, and the one who left her heart in pieces. Trusting Joshua is one of the hardest things she’ll ever have to do, but without his help it’s only a matter of time until Carly loses her brother Michael to the undead.

Joshua

Two months after returning from fighting over seas and coming home to face a world overtaken by the undead, Joshua Tremell is accustomed to death and losing the ones he loves. But when fate brings him back to his childhood sweetheart Carly Rios, Joshua realizes there are some things still worth fighting for.

Carly is the last person Joshua thought he'd ever see again, let alone in the same quarantine. Facing off shufflers isn’t easy, but the thought of losing the only girl he’s ever loved again, is even worse. 

With a second chance at redemption, Joshua would give anything to save Carly and help her get her little brother back, but Joshua has more secrets than he can tell, and his past mistakes are bound to collide with the future he's dying to earn.

For Carly and Joshua, crossing the wasteland is just the beginning… 

*Mature Content Warning: 17+ for language, intense violence against the undead and adult situations. 

And now a teaser...

Chapter 1 - Teaser:

“The only good human being is a dead one.”

-George Orwell

CARLY

I knew his gun was in the top drawer. I’ve watched him place it there. Tonight is the last night I’ll ever let him touch me. I watch his breath rise and fall rhythmically as he sleeps. From where I stand he doesn’t look so threatening, anymore at least, not how he looked earlier that night. My cheek still burns when I touch it. A bruise is starting to form underneath my swollen skin. I step into the darkened bedroom cautious, as the wooden floors squeak beneath me. He can wake at any moment. My hands tremble as I make my way toward his nightstand. It has to be here unless…as I pull the top drawer open, I’m relieved to see the gun is still there. It sits shining in the moonlight that cascades down through the cracks of the boarded-up bedroom window.

I pull the gun from the drawer but pause midway. My stepfather’s snoring has stopped. Fear paralyzes me, and I freeze, still. Is he awake? Is he watching me? I hold my breath, my eyes squeezed closed, waiting. Several seconds pass, and then like clockwork, I can hear the sound of his snoring again. I look down at the handgun and then back at my sleeping stepfather. I shiver in disgust at the memory of his hands on me; no amount of soap could ever wash away how dirty he makes me feel. My stomach rolls at the memory of the way he whispered how I would always be his.

Not anymore. I step into the hallway shutting the bedroom door quietly behind me. A small sense of relief washes over me. I did it. Before I know it I’m all the way down the hallway of our one story home. Tonight, is our last night behind the safety of the community fences. It frightens me to think about what’s waiting for us outside, but staying isn’t an option anymore. I stare down at the gun in my hands. I’ve never held one until tonight. The sound of a soft voice catches my attention.

It echoes down the hall. Michael must be awake. I slip the gun behind me. There’s no reason for him to see it; it will only scare and confuse him. He’s been pretty quiet these past few hours. He keeps asking for our mother. I don’t have the heart to tell him that she’s gone. The only thing left is a shell of the woman she used to be. It’s been seven days since she became infected.

I made her a promise when it happened. I promised her that no matter what, I wouldn’t let her become one. I know what I have to do, and despite what my stepfather Tom tells me, I know my mother is sick and she isn’t getting better.

Our home is made up of three rooms. Tom sleeps in the master bedroom. I share a bedroom with Michael, and my mother is in the guest room. We live in a town sectioned off from the outside world. It’s better than what most survivors have, but it’s temporary. Our emergency supplies were never meant to last past six months. We’re going on our seventh month and our food and water is nearly gone.

Tom keeps my mother isolated from everyone here. A cold draft hits me as I enter her bedroom. I can hear her heavy breathing, her lungs crackling as she inhales. Small white clouds of air escape her mouth. It’s freezing in here. I switch on the emergency lantern near her nightstand. The fluorescent light reminds me of a hospital room, as it chases away the darkness. I gasp at the sight of her; she’s gotten worse. Her eyes are blood shot and her pupils are dilated. I touch her skin to check for a fever, but she feels ice cold. I grab her hand and place it in mine. Her skin is pale yellow and she’s starting to bloat like the others. She has a day at most, maybe less. The bloated skin on her finger engulfs her wedding band. It’s the one my father gave her before he died.

It wasn’t the infection that took him away from us. He was in a motorcycle accident when I was fifteen. He suffered an injury to the head and went into a coma. 

I twist the ring off her finger.

My mother sold our old house to pay for his medical bills. She didn’t have the heart to pull the plug. Not too long after his accident, they flew him to a fancy medical hospital in Colorado. I thought he died. She told Michael and me that he did, but a few days ago I found some old hospital bills stashed in a shoebox. She lied. For the past three years she’s been paying to keep him alive. At least, she was until the outbreak happened.

“Mom.”

She stares at me blankly, making it clear she no longer recognizes her own daughter’s face. I’m sure in her eyes I’m only a stranger, someone she’s never seen before. I reach down for the wash pan at the foot of her bed, and I cringe at the sight of the brown, murky water inside it. Tom refuses to clean her with any of our clean water and instead subjects her to the dirty-brown, rusted water from the faucets. As far I know it isn’t hurting her but she deserves more than that. Tom wants to keep her around because of the food rations. Each person in the community is given a certain portion of food, no more, no less. He takes hers for himself. I hate seeing her like this.

A moan escapes her lips. I pull the gun out from behind me fearful that she’s turning. I have to do what she couldn’t for my dad. I have to let her go. I have to.

I raise the gun toward the front of her face. My hands tremble, the gun is heavier than I expected. Through her confused and sickened state, she looks up at me as if she has a moment of clarity. I close my eyes and turn my face. I picture her as she was before the outbreak. In my mind she stands radiant and beautiful as she smiles down at me. I can almost hear her saying everything will be all right. They say goodbye is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to say. So I don’t say it. I breathe in and pull the trigger.

***

Find Vanessa on Facebook , on Twitter @V_bogie and her website www.vanessabooke.com

Dead Run can be added to your Goodreads list and you can like the Facebook page.

And now a little about Vanessa...

My name is Vanessa Booke and I live with my husband Ryan and our three dachshunds Zer0, Zoey, and Zelda just outside of Los Angeles, California. I love poetry and all things Jane Austen. I've been writing since Jr. High, it started with poetry and eventually in high school I began writing fiction. My favorite genre to write in would have to be young adult, or new adult. I currently work as a communications coordinator for a charity, but I've also worked as a journalist. I have my Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Cal State University San Bernardino. In my free time, I like blogging about books, thrift shopping and taking grand adventures with my partner in crime

Stay tuned for a release date for this adrenaline pumping novel!