I'm Jenna. I never introduce myself as 'Jenna Bayley-Burke' because, well, it feels weird. When you meet someone you don't spew out name rank and serial number. Lucky for me, most reader events and conferences come with a badge :) I write sexy contemporaries, and have a love for monogamous erotica which I write as Jenna Allen. I've been writing forever, but finished my first novel with NaNoWriMo in 2004. It came out in 2006 with Mills & Boon in Europe, Asia, & Australia. I was so sad it never made it to North America - until today! Just Once Spark was my first release, and now, my 11th with Samhain :D
2. Do you write full time? part-time? for an hour at a time in the middle of the night? :) If you have a penname (or five), how did you choose your alter ego? Would you do that again? :) Did the characters in this story surprise in any way? Or did they do just as you anticipated?
My baby is in first grade this year! Which means I now consider myself a full-time author. I try my best to write during the week, while they're all at school. I take off one weekend day for family time, and try not to work from the time the kids get off the bus until they're asleep.
My name is my name. I should have been more imaginative, but I was just so darned proud to see my name on a book! For the erotica I went with Jenna Allen because they voice is so different. It's first person, which I know from meeting my readers that a lot of them aren't into that. And I didn't want a reader grabbing Desire Renewed expecting a sexy, light beach read and getting emotional erotica. The stories are different, so it made sense.
I wrote Just One Spark without any plan, so the characters were always surprising me. I mean, penguins? Hairless dogs named Monkey? I still can't believe I made that up.
3. Are you doing anything special to celebrate your newest release? Framed coverart? Night out on the town? New jewelry? New body art? New appliances? Trip to a place on your bucket list?
I'm down for the count! I usually celebrate with a nice, romantic dinner with the hubster complete with champagne. But I got sucker punched my diverticulitis on Friday and I'll be off food for at least another week. Every time I hit a big bestseller list I hit the Coach outlet for a new handbag, and name the bag after the book. So far, I have two - David & Xavier :D
4. Are you going on a blog tour? If so, let us know where so we can stalk, um, I mean, FOLLOW you ;)
I haven't had much success with my last few blog tours. Which ones do y'all follow?
5. Where can we find you on the web? (Website, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, etc...)
Jenna Bayley-Burke
Jenna's Romantic Notions
Jenna Bayley-Burke
Jenna Bayley-Burke (@jennabb) | Twitter
Jenna Bayley-Burke (jbayleyburke)
Jenna Bayley-Burke
Jenna Bayley-Burke (@jennabb) | Twitter
Jenna Bayley-Burke (jbayleyburke)
6. What are you working on next? Any sooper-sekrit projects coming up? Please spill--we can totally keep a secret! ;)
I just turned in Caribbean Cowboy, the 4th in the Under the Caribbean Sun series. Y'all will LOVE Janny. She's a die-hard romance lover who has Nik playing the role of all her favorite heroes. Lucky bastard.
The rest of the Just One series is coming soon. First up is Just One Touch, featuring Derek and Kate who play a prominent role in Just One Spark.
And...there may be a sooper-sekrit project in the works with Donna Alward & Sarah M Anderson. With cowboys. Not sure how much I can say on that one...
7. Speaking of bucket lists, what places or things ARE on your bucket list? Any plans to work down that list this year? :D Perhaps in the name of research? What's the most interesting thing you've learned/place you've gone for research?
Research is the best bucket list excuse ever! I'd love to go to a dude ranch and refresh my western skills. M grandpa sold the ranch when I was 14, so I'm way rusty. And Paris. Because it's Paris. I really want to take my kids to Disneyland. They've never been, and my oldest is 13 so I worry I missed my window with him.
8. Did you enjoy any conferences or signings this year? Where can your readers meet you in person? Do you enjoy these events or dread them? How do you choose which, if any, to attend?
I'm back on the conference circuit, and I have to admit, I like the smaller reader-focused ones best. I am horrible co-dependent, so I need to latch on to someone nice. Much easier to find nice people in a room of romance readers than industry types. I'll be at the Emerald City Writers Conference in Bellevue, WA next weekend. Next year, I'm planning on RT in Dallas, RWA in NYC, and maybe Lori Foster's reader author weekend. If y'all know of any fun reader events, I'd love to go.
9. Happy October! Any fun fall plans or are you writing, writing, WRITING?! (Not that writing isn't FUN! ;) ) And have you started your fall decorating? Do you go all out? Have you started shopping for Halloween candy? Do you dress up? Can you tell us what your costume plans are going to be? ;)
I have the kids costumes sorted out - Aurora, Blackbeard, and sullen teenager. We have a great neighborhood for trick or treating, and love seeing all the costumes. Our dogs however, hate Halloween. All that knocking and strangers. I always toss on some kind of hat and call it a costume. It's amazing how versatile a witch's hat can be.
10. Is your newest a stand-alone? Or part of a series? If it's part of a series, we'd love to learn more about the series too!!
Just One Spark is stand-alone, but also part of the Just One series, following the lives and love's of the McNally brothers. Up next is Just One Touch!
1 comment:
Fun post, Jenna.
Arizona Dreamin is reader event in Phoenix in April. Kris Tualla is the founder kris@kristualla.com
See you at ECWC and Congratulations on bringing Just One Spark to NA.
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