2022: End of the Year Wrap Up

 

Hello everyone!

It's been half a year since I posted on here, so you may be wondering what's going on in Jessica's world. Well, I'll tell you all about it today!

First of all, 2022 has been a rollercoaster of a year for me. I was able to publish The High School Sweetheart, the first book in the Bluecastle series, on June 21st. That same day, I caught COVID. I was sick for a week and subsequently had brain fog for at least 2 weeks.

My original plan was to write and publish The Fall Fling (the second Bluecastle book) in October, but I pushed it back by a month after the COVID setback, thinking I'd still have enough time. But then I faced major car issues, my neighbor getting sick and passing away, among other setbacks.

I had to face the music: Publishing another book just wasn't going to work out this year. It was upsetting to say the least, but it was the smart thing to do. I didn't want to push myself too hard, especially with the words not flowing and everything else going on.

Here's the thing: I still published one book and that's something to be proud of!

Despite the bad parts of the year, there were definitely good parts. I completed my Goodreads reading challenge, spent time with family and friends, and have been able to work on some cross-stitch and crochet projects.

I'll be back in a few days to discuss my plans for 2023. So, make sure you return to hear all about it!

Here's to a good year!

2022: Halfway Through the Year Check In!

Hello everyone!

Can you believe we're halfway through 2022 already? It doesn't seem possible, but here we are! I thought I'd pop in on the blog and share with you what's been going on and what's coming soon.

So Far...

First of all, I finally released my first fiction book since 2014 last month! The High School Sweetheart was released on the first day of summer, June 21st. It was a labor of love and I'm super pleased with how the story turned out as well as the lovely response I received from readers.

Unfortunately for me, June 21st was also the day I came down with COVID. After two whole years of avoiding it, getting vaccinated, and being as safe as I can be, both my husband and I spent a whole week cooped up in our apartment feeling terrible. Luckily I got the antivirals and got better quickly. My husband has taken a little bit longer to get better, but he's getting there.

This leads me to the rest of this post...

Next Up...

My original plan for the rest of 2022 was to write and publish 2 more stories: The Fall Fling (Finn's story) and a short story taking place at Christmas featuring Winnie and Westley. Sadly, I've had to rework my writing plans for the remainder of this year and the beginning of next year. After contracting COVID, I realized not only how far behind I am but also how much further behind getting sick has made me. The Fall Fling was going to release in October, but I've decided to push it back a whole month to allow enough time to write the story. I've also moved the Christmas short story to the end of 2023 instead of this year.

You may be wondering why I would need to push releases back, especially since TFF is going to be a novella. Surely it won't take that long to write, right? Well, it isn't just about the writing of it, but also other things happening in my life. Getting sick not only put me behind at least 2 weeks when it comes to working and keeping my apartment clean but also seems to be making it difficult for me to focus and think properly. I also write under another name and I've had to make adjustments to that schedule as well.

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So, I just wanted to fill everyone in on what's happened recently and what to expect. I'm still in the process of getting everything in my life back to where it was prior to getting sick and I genuinely hope that as time goes by things start to look up and get back to some sort of normal.

In the meantime, take care and stay safe out there!

Release Day for my Sweet Romance novella The High School Sweetheart

It's release day for The High School Sweetheart!

The Bluecastle Inn is opening in a few weeks. There’s a long list of tasks I need to accomplish before opening day. I don’t need any distractions—I have to focus on making the inn a success.

Then guess who happens to show up out of the blue? Westley Powell: my high school sweetheart and the man who left me four years ago, not to mention the last person I want to see right now.

Since my father decided to hire Westley to help me get the inn ready, I have to see him practically every day. His return is stirring up all sorts of emotions, for both him and me. I don't know if I can let go of the hurt he caused, but I can't stop thinking about all of the good times we shared. The two of us clearly haven’t gotten over each other, but can I trust him to stay this time?

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Add to your shelf on Goodreads

Happy Reading!

The High School Sweetheart Cover Reveal!

Hello everyone!

It's cover reveal day for The High School Sweetheart! I love the cover for this book, which I actually made myself.

This is the first book in the Bluecastle series. All of the books will take place (at least in part) in the small town of Bluecastle. The High School Sweetheart is about Winnie and Westley, high school sweethearts (obviously, lol) who are getting a second chance at romance.

Without further adieu... commence the cover reveal!

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Title: The High School Sweetheart

Series: Bluecastle #1

Author: Jessica L. Tate

Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance

Trope: Second Chance Romance

Release Date: June 21st 2022

Blurb:

The Bluecastle Inn is opening in a few weeks. There’s a long list of tasks I need to accomplish before opening day. I don’t need any distractions—I have to focus on making the inn a success.

Guess who happens to show up out of the blue? Westley Powell: my high school sweetheart and the man who left me four years ago, not to mention the last person I want to see right now.

Since my father decided to hire him to help me get the inn ready, I have to see him practically every day. His return is stirring up all sorts of emotions, for both him and me. The two of us clearly haven’t gotten over each other, but can I trust him to stay this time?

Add to your Goodreads shelf

Preorder for only 99¢ on:

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(More retailers are coming soon!)

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What do you think of the cover? What about the blurb?

Are you excited to read The High School Sweetheart?

Sign Ups for The High School Sweetheart Cover Reveal, Release Blitz, and ARCs

Hello everyone!

I'm super excited to announce the sign-ups for my upcoming release, The High School Sweetheart. This book has been a long time coming. I actually wrote it in 2019 and it took me until this year to actually buckle down and do some intense revisions. I finally finished them recently and the book is about to be in my editor's hands.

In the meantime, I would like to reach out to all of you for help in spreading the word about the release of my first fiction book since 2014. I'm looking for people to share the cover reveal, post during the release blitz, and read and review the ARC by the end of the release month. The cover reveal will be happening on May 20th and release day is on June 21st.

I will email information for the cover reveal between 3-5 days prior to May 20th, for the release blitz between 5-7 days before June 21st, and ARCs will be sent as soon as they are available (at least 3 weeks before release day).

Please fill out the form in the link below this paragraph if you're interested in sharing The High School Sweetheart!

Fill out the form to sign up!

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Thank you so much!

Now You Can See Gets a Brand New Cover

Hello everyone!

I'm so happy to announce during the last week of Poetry Month that Now You Can See has a brand new cover. I put it off for far too long because I wanted to actually draw something for my covers. Ultimately I decided that I didn't want to wait around to get a drawing tablet and looked for one.

Here's what the original cover looked like:

And here's the new cover:

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I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out. It has the right feel to it that I wanted to create.

Something I want to do in the near future is to publish more of my poetry, but I need to get my old laptop back up and running. I had 5 books planned out, including Now You Can See, but I can't remember which poems belong to which collection. I've also been writing poems off and on over the last few years that aren't included with those. Plus, I found my original poetry notebook where I would write everything on my mind out in a solid paragraph that I would turn into actual poems later. There are quite a few that I never made into poems that could very easily be created now.

Once I have my mud together, I'll definitely let you know when more poetry is coming!

First Quarter Update 2022

It's the end of the first quarter of 2022!

Keep reading to find out how things went during the first three months of this year!

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The very beginning of the year was a little slow for me, especially when it came to writing and revising. January was not the month for motivation, that's for sure! February got better and I was able to get a move on with revisions on both my upcoming novella release as well as briefly getting back to revising If Only We.

Revisions on the novella are going very well! I've read through half of the story to see what needs to be adjusted and have been implementing those changes as well as removing unnecessary words, dialogue, and scenes, and replacing them with something better. April will be crunch time to finish revisions!

Something else I've been able to do is figure out all of the books that will be in the series as well as their basic plots and characters. If all goes well this year, I should also have the second book in this series written and published by the fall. Fingers crossed, you know.

However, revisions on If Only We are inching along at a snail's pace. I have a lot of plans for 2022 and 2022 as well as several deadlines. Because of this, I have a feeling that I may not be able to follow through on republishing it this year. There is still a chance that I'll be able to relaunch the book this year, but I'm thinking it would be smarter to wait given how many projects need to be handled at the current moment. We'll see how things go, though. I'll probably know for sure by the end of the second quarter.

I'm super excited to let you know that these revisions are happening on schedule and should allow me to meet my deadlines and goals for the year! Once I have the novella completely revised and in the hands of my editor, I'll be announcing everything: the title, series name, release date, and the cover reveal. I'm beyond excited to finally be publishing something new again.

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Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

Happy New Year! Hello 2022!

Hello and Happy New Year to you!

At the beginning of 2021, I didn't have much in the way of definitive plans when it came to writing and publishing under this name. Partway through the year I set some small goals but had trouble meeting them at the times I wanted to. In an update post, I shared my plans for the rest of 2021 as well as 2022.

So, what did I end up accomplishing in 2021?

One thing I finally accomplished was finalizing the new covers for my two fiction books, If Only We and Not Until Tonight. I also managed to reformat Not Until Tonight (with some minor changes with grammar issues and errors found post-publishing) and started to revise If Only We. I also did some writing under my pen name and while it wasn't as much as I wanted to, I still feel like I've made progress on something.

As far as the non-writerly-type goals, I was able to learn German daily with Duolingo (I had to use a few streak freezes, but I made up for it by doing extra practice). Also, I upped my original Goodreads Reading Challenge goal from 27 to 36 and ended up reading even more books.

Last year my word of the year was MINDFUL. I'm not sure how much I put the word into practice, but I feel I did take some time to be more in tune with myself. I didn't end up writing in a journal daily. However, I did write some new poems that expressed my inner thoughts and feelings, so I think there's something in that.

Enough about 2021... Let's get into 2022, shall we?

First and foremost, this will be the year I publish something new. I have a novella that I wrote a couple of years ago that just needs to be revised and edited. I also have ideas for at least 2 more books set in that town. Whether I can get to those this year is up in the air (as I currently have 2 novellas I'm writing under my pen name and a huge project that I'm in charge of), but I would like to at least get the first novella out there. I'm also considering getting back to sharing poetry again. I will also be finishing my revisions on If Only We and republishing on its anniversary.

When it comes to my other goals, I'll be aiming to read 27 books this year again (which will likely be upped to 37 if I'm a fast reader like last year). One thing I want to do differently with my reading is to get caught up on a bunch of books I've been meaning to get to for the longest time. I went through my Kindle and Nook apps and wrote down a bunch of books on pieces of paper. These books are ones I was super excited for or ones that everyone recommends or books that have been made into movies or those books that you've clicked on multiple times to purchase only to find out that you already own it. I'll also continue to read new books along the way, too, but this way I can catch up on that pesky mountain high TBR by a little bit.

My word of the year for 2022 is...

I looked back at a post on my old book blog where I shared my word of the year plus a bunch of accompanying words. When I was reading them off, the word RESET was the one that popped out for me. 2021 was one of those years where a lot of my plans fell to the wayside for one reason or another and I had to press pause on fulfilling some of my goals. While I dabbled away at some smaller steps toward bigger goals in the last quarter, I hadn't fully restarted. So, 2022 is my reset year, the one where I finally kick myself into gear to reach goals I've set to the side for too long.

Sometimes new years have a way of starting off strong and then finishing with little to show for it, but I'm not going to let this year be another one of those years. I'm determined to set aside time to accomplish as many goals as I possibly can and to not let anything stand in my way.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have an amazing new year!