Updates in the Land of Jessica L. Tate

Hello everyone!

I realize I'm rarely on the blog anymore, but life has been chaotic over the last year, hasn't it? If you're reading this, I hope you're doing well, staying safe, and are healthy. My husband and I are hanging in there and we both received the vaccine earlier this month. He's been working through the pandemic and I've been working at home with our eBay business and my personal assistant business.

Over the last two years, I began working on a plan for what I would like to do with regards to publishing as Jessica L. Tate. Since my writing tends to be more for my pen name rather than this name, I haven't had much time to actually work on this plan. However, I would like to start taking small steps so that I can publish something new under this name.

Some small things include the following:

• Updating all my current covers
• Updating the formatting on all three published works
• Revising If Only We (there are some errors that have been discovered since publication)

You're currently able to view the new covers on retailers (for my fiction books), but I haven't fully updated the covers on Goodreads or on this blog. The formatting shouldn't take too long since I learned how to do it last year. But the revising of If Only We might take a little bit. I have to double/triple/quadruple check this one because the errors are regarding the timeline and I'd hate to cause any confusion to readers. And while fixing those timeline errors, I'll be going through and doing some light edits with grammar, etc. The main story won't be changing, but there's a decent amount that needs to be updated.

When it comes to future releases, that's another thing entirely. I wrote a novella thinking it would be published as Lilly, but the steamy scenes felt forced and didn't suit the story. Instead, I'll be doing a little bit of an overhaul of the story so that I can publish it as Jessica L. Tate (since my Jessica stories are no steam/no swears). This novella was created to be part of a series, so I still have to outline and write the rest of the series. My plan as of right now is to rewrite/revise the first book, write the rest of the series, and then publish them in 2022. Of course, this isn't carved in stone just yet. I am still writing books as Lilly, so I have to plan accordingly for the books I'd like to publish under that name, too.

Another thing is I would like to publish more poetry. Sadly, my laptop (which contains all of my poetry) is on the fritz and I'm unable to access those poems. I do have most of those poems available in notebooks that I wrote them in upon completion. It's basically a matter of either getting the laptop working again or typing all the poems up again. Since that's all up in the air, I have no definitive plans for the poetry just yet.

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What it all boils down to is that once I take care of the small things, I will know more about the bigger things. My goal is to have the covers updated everywhere by the end of May, formatting on Not Until Tonight updated by summer, design a new cover for Now You Can See by the fall, and have If Only We revised and upload the new version by the time we reach its anniversary (October 27th). I would do all of the above sooner, but I also have to work on getting taxes together, finish writing my current Lilly book, and update formatting on my Lilly books, too. There are so many things to do and so little time!

Anyway, I'm going to work hard on getting everything accomplished as quickly as I possibly can. I would love to share new stories and poems with you and I can't wait until next year when I can give you something new!

Happy New Year! My Goals and More!

Hello everyone! Happy New Year to you all!

I know, I know, the only time you ever hear from me is at the start of a new year. Seems like I need to come up with some sort of routine to stay in touch with you, right? Yeah, I honestly should. It's just difficult to come up with one since I don't really have anything happening to share with you!

I have it in my head that this year could be the one where I make a triumphant return. Then again, I wouldn't want to make promises I can't keep. However, I do feel it's time for me to make progress toward publishing at least one or two new books, don't you? I also have some other things up my sleeve as well, so be on the lookout for some news!

Word of the Year

Last year's word of the year was RECLAIM. While life in 2020 wasn't exactly the year to make wild proclamations, I still feel I was able to do some of that throughout the year. Even though I'll continue to work on the word reclaim and my words from previous years (balance and intention), I want to focus on a new word.

And that word is MINDFUL.

I need to get back to my roots of being more in tune with myself and what I need and want in life. This will also require the other words as seen in this graphic: gratitude, confidence, change, transform, rise, release, listen, progress, grace, and forgiveness. To achieve this, I am going to start writing in a journal regularly like I used to several years ago. When I stopped that, I feel like I lost a sense of myself and I want to have that part of me back again.

As for other resolutions, I want to continue to learn German daily, to become healthier (eat better, exercise, and lose some weight), be more positive, and write as much as I possibly can.

Since I no longer have a book blog to discuss reading goals, I'll go ahead and talk about that on here instead. I completed my goal of reading 35 books in 2020! And in 2021, I want to aim a bit lower. Reading 35 books was hard for me to do last year and I'm not sure if it was because of what was going on in the world or because of everything else I had on my plate, but I had to rally near the end of the year to meet the goal. So I'll be aiming for 27 books this year, with the possibility of increasing it later in the year. Who knows? Maybe 2021 will be a good year for reading for me!

Here are two pictures of me from 2020. The second one features me with my heart rat, Nigel (AKA Smoosh). Sadly, he passed in October, but I'll never forget his smooshy and loving face.

Expect to hear from me a little more this year! I hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves during this tough time. Hang in there and talk to you soon!

Happy New Year from Jessica L. Tate!

Hello everyone and happy new year to all!

I hope that this new year (and new decade!) brings you everything.

I'm popping in to say hello again! The last time I posted on here was January 1st 2018, so it's been a long long long time. I hope all is well with you.

There isn't anything to report from me at the moment, but I am genuinely hoping to have something new to share. In the meantime, let's talk the new year!

My word of the year is RECLAIM. As in take back my life. I've had some curveballs thrown at me causing various frustrations, but I'm taking this time in the new year/decade to RECLAIM myself.

I wrote a novella last year that I thought I would be publishing as Lilly Avalon (my pen name), but once I finished it, I realized it would be better as a Jessica L. Tate book.

Speaking of which, all of my books will now be published as Jessica L. Tate. I decided to combine both my names (maiden of Jessica Sankiewicz and married Jessica L. Tate) and use only one.

Anyway, I'm going be spending my first day of the new year/decade relaxing and making plans for the year!

Take care! Talk soon!