Book Sale!

I’m a girl who loves a good sale.

Sooooo… I’ve decided to have a summer sale for all of my EBooks! Right now, they are only $.99, including my new release, I Run to You. It’s a great time to stock up on them, even if they are on a TBR list for later.

Go and take advantage. Tell a friend! It won’t last forever!!! 🙂

I Run to You
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/I-Run-You-Jennifer-Sivec-ebook/dp/B00KPK5EE2/ref=sr_1_2_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1405434916&sr=8-2&keywords=I+Run+to+You

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-run-to-you-jennifer-sivec/1119886694?ean=2940149786183

Leaving Eva
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Eva-Jennifer-Sivec-ebook/dp/B00CBDHYCG/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1405434953&sr=8-1&keywords=Leaving+Eva

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leaving-eva-jennifer-sivec/1115148135?ean=2940016461694

Losing Eva
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Eva-Jennifer-Sivec-ebook/dp/B00G99ZIDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405434977&sr=8-1&keywords=Losing+Eva

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/losing-eva-jennifer-sivec/1117254869?ean=2940148589853

Milestones…

My  birthday was yesterday.

My “pretend” birthday anyway. Like many adopted or abandoned children, I don’t have any idea what day I was actually born, although it is the date on my birth certificate. I don’t have a birth story and I don’t know what my first word was. I have often wondered where I was when I took my first step, if I was held and cuddled immediately after I was born, or if my birth parents loved me. I don’t have any recollection of the first bite of food I had, or any pictures of me right after birth, or video tape of any portion of my childhood.

All of these moments and milestones are missing, of which I am reminded on a day like yesterday. The day we actually celebrate my birth. I’ve never been big celebrating my birthdays, though I love celebrating others. Nonetheless, I have come to terms with my birthday and have even come to love and anticipate it.

Though my own childhood milestones are missing and I am quite terrible with remembering dates, I have come to appreciate milestones that I have reached as an adult. The day I got engaged, promoted at work, married in Vegas, and the births of my two children. I’ve had milestones this past year that I didn’t expect which were self-publishing my first book, the birth of my blog, and then releasing my second book.

In 2014, I anticipate the release of my third book, the completion of the “Eva Series,” and then who knows what after that? Someone once told me that life is a marathon and not a sprint. I know that sentiment has been around for quite some time, but for the past couple of years I have been learning to embrace it as one of my absolute truths. While life didn’t start with a perfect beginning for me, I believe that I have chosen the milestones that I’ve been able to reach in my adulthood.

I took a Facebook quiz recently that resulted in telling me that I use both sides of my brain equally. A dreamer, a thinker, a doer, and a romantic… I believe that I am enough of a dreamer to imagine and create, but disciplined enough to anticipate and “do.” All of these qualities challenging me and confusing me as a child, now finally coming together. The life that began so uncertain, now has meaning and direction as I continue to move forward toward Milestones that I am not even aware of, yet.

It’s funny how I often wonder when I will finally “feel like an author.”  With two books, and a third on the way, I still have to pinch myself that what I have fully completed works out there. I don’t even care if they never top any best sellers list. I am just so excited that I got to write them and that there are people out there that have even bothered to read them. I don’t know when I will feel like all of this has been real and that I have been able to accomplish something that I’ve always wanted to do. Will it be when I have released my third book, my fourth, my fifth? Actually completing and then releasing the first book was a huge milestone, one that I have been dreaming of my entire life.

Every year around my birthday I start to wonder what day I was actually born. It could be the difference of a matter of days, or weeks, or even months. I’m guessing that someone had to estimate my age when they found me, and then someone assigned a date of my birth. That someone in this world who was there when I was born, taught me how to walk, talk, eat, and live, is someone that I will never know. There are days when I let myself feel a little sad about that, but most days I just look ahead to what is in front of me.

I’m excited about the prospect of what lies in front me and the milestones that I have yet to reach. Even though with each passing year, I get a little bit older, I know that it won’t matter as long as there are things to look forward to. With each “pretend birthday” there will be exciting things to celebrate… driver’s licenses, graduations, more books to release, grandchildren, and who knows what else? I know that one day I may finally feel like an Author, and I am looking forward to it. But for now, I am just thankful that I get to celebrate more birthdays.

But I am the most thankful for those BIG moments that I get to remember, now, with the people that I love the most.

 

Shiny Objects…

So, I’m working on my third book. And it’s going painfully slow.

Painfully.

I decided that the story was getting too dark. I decided that I need my main character to experience a little more love in her life. So now I need to go back and add it. The love that is. The truth is… I love dark stories. I always have. The twistier and uglier, the better. I think that’s why I loved mythology when I was a girl. Mythology rarely had the Happily Ever After and I was good with that, even at a young age.

My first two books were dark. Sad, ugly, tragic, and dark. I actually wrote about people killing and being killed, which surprised me because I didn’t plan it that way. It just happened because that’s where the story went. That is the beauty of writing, at least for me. Something comes out of nothing and then the unexpected happens. Magic.

But I’m having a hard time getting to a point in the story that makes me feel like I have finally made progress. I’m at least, if not more than halfway into the first draft. Once the draft is done, I tell myself that I’ll feel more resolved but chances are that I won’t. Since I’ve been writing again there is a consistent sense of things being undone. I feel more sane and there is a lot less chaos in my head, but I definitely feel a lack of completion in my daily life.

The fact is, I’m just busy. With a full time career that has full time responsibilities, a beautiful but active family, two dogs, parents who aren’t in the best of health, and a brain that won’t settle down… it’s hard to find the time to write. Even now, I’m blogging when I should be trying to figure out why my characters love each other so much. But I am writing and the exercise of writing and creating is what gives me peace, helps me breathe, and quiets the noise in my head. It always has. But moments like this don’t come every day.

My last post was about needing a vacation. But truly, I know that I can’t take a vacation from my own mind, only from some of the rigors of life. I’m always questioning how I can finish the next book, and with each one it becomes increasingly more difficult. But I do know that I need to be more disciplined in my writing. Writing instead of Facebooking tweeting, and daydreaming about writing. I need to just hunker down, “clear the mechanism” (For Love of the Game), and write, even if it stinks. I can work out the bugs after the first draft is done, after my editor and awesome pre-readers get done hacking it up.

Sometimes I am frustrated because I feel that there are so many stories to tell, yet not enough hours in the day to tell them in. When I began my first book, I told myself that I would feel like a writer after it was done. Then it became, after the second book is finished. Now it feels like, after the third book is finished, I may finally feel like a writer.

But who knows? Maybe I will never feel complete again. Maybe that is what compels me to write, this inward sense that there is so much more to write about. I’m hoping that after I finish this third book, that I will be able to take a little teensy weensy break before I write the third book in the Eva series. The overall 3rd Book, tentatively titled Run to You, was meant to give me a break from the heaviness of the Eva series. This was supposed to be my easy novel. As it turns out, it has actually become my most difficult in many ways. Now that my main character wants more love, it’s proven to be more challenging. But being more challenged it great!

So I gotta go now and try to bang out some more of this story. That is unless another shiny object comes floating by…

“Because I Love You…” Giveaway

I’m hosting my first big giveaway as a way to show appreciation for all of the wonderful people who visit me on a regular basis. ❤

A year ago, I was in a very different place in my life and wasn't even sure if I would finish my first novel. Now, I've self-published two books with a third one in process. I know that I would have never been able to complete them without family, friends, and new friends who have given me so much support and encouragement.

So please click on the link and join in on the giveaway! And Thank You for all that you have given me just from being supportive and kind!!

"When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others."
~Dalai Lama

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour

It’s been quite a week. I released my second book and had my first Blog Tour! Whew! I’m tired and my brain is a little tweaked from reading all of the reviews. I’ve been feeling quite overwhelmed that people even read my book, let a lone appreciate it and understand it. It’s amazing that people love Eva as much as I do! I’m truly in awe and overwhelmed that they love her and her story so much. Here are some of my favorite lines from the reviews:

“This whole book is about choices, forgiveness, acceptance, loss, grief, circumstances, judgments, death, life. I don’t think there was a single emotion or topic that this author didn’t cover in this book. I was mentally exhausted, yet demanding more by the time I finished it. I woke up this morning and it was the first thing on my mind. I sobbed in the last chapter and then became angry and then I was so happy for Brynn, it was time her dream came true. But then back to sobbing because once again life and others choices took her dreams away. Finally I went to being scared out of my mind and hopeful at the last sentence. THAT WAS MY EMOTIONS FROM JUST ONE CHAPTER.”
T-bird~Life Becomes me http://lifebecomesme.wordpress.com/tbirds-reviews/3426-2/

“This book had a lot more surprises then I was expecting there would be. After all the heartache from book one I thought that this story would be more on the full romance side but man was I sadly mistaken. Drama, heartache, feelings that this book will give you is overwhelming…I give this book 4 1/5 stars. Thank you Jennifer Sivec for writing such an awesome book and looking forward to see what else comes out of that head of yours. ”
Rick~One Guy and His Book Review http://www.oneguyandhisbook.blogspot.com/?zx=64d3da302026605b

“I don’t want to go to all of the details, because it is a story that you need to read the plot line as it develops. I think that right now I should have stock in Kleenex. My tears flowed and flowed and my heart wrenched from the emotions that I experienced. The story was so well constructed that at many times it played in my mind as a movie.
And OMG are there twists and turns. At times, I was left with my jaw dropping open.
I want to thank Jennifer Sivec for giving us readers a chance to see her difficult but beautiful stories. I look forward to reading more by Jennifer. I do suggest these books for reader’s TBR list. Reading Jennifer Sivec’s stories are permanently stamped in my memory”
Susan-Cruising Susan’s Book Reviews http://cruisingsusanreviews.com/2013/10/31/losing-eva-tour/

“Hope. And Unconditional Love. That’s what Losing Eva is all about. When you love someone more than life itself, you NEVER give up. You NEVER let them go. You NEVER abandon them. And that’s what gave me the strength and the sanity I needed to write this review, despite the fact that I am in tears right now. This incredibly pure message.”
Mia-Mia’s Point of View https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/749520922

It was hard to pick only a few lines to highlight, because they all touched me so much. These wonderful Bloggers also gave invaluable constructive criticism which I deeply appreciate!!

Debra, from Book Enthusiast Promotions was completely wonderful. Her follow up and communication was impeccable. I also loved how flexible she was with the Blogger and the Author, and coordinated everything to come together so well. She was great to work with, and I would definitely love to work with her again. For my very first tour, her support and help made everything flow smoothly, because I really had nooooo idea what to do. http://bookenthusiastpromotions.com/

I want to say Thank You to all of the Bloggers listed below for their amazing support! Your kind words, promotion, honesty, sharing, and passion for what you do is what makes being an Indie Author a worthwhile experience. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! If you are looking for some great reviews, great reads, and wonderful people… check them out. You won’t be sorry!!!!

http://bookscoffeeandwine.blogspot.com/
http://booklunaticramblings.blogspot.com/
http://hookedonbooksuk.blogspot.co.uk/p/home.html
http://roomwithbooks.wordpress.com/
http://babusbookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://tiffanytalksbook
http://www.bookladysreviews.blogspot.com/s.com/
http://www.oneguyandhisbook.blogspot.com/
http://miasworldview.blogspot.gr/
http://jenisbookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://cruisingsusanreviews.com/
http://fictional-m-r-f-b-h.blogspot.co.uk/
http://storiesandswag.blogspot.com/
http://www.crystalsmanyreviews.blogspot.com/
http://www.maryelizabethscrazybookobsession.com/
http://bookaholics2.blogspot.com/
http://www.bookladysreviews.blogspot.com/
http://rumpledsheetsblog.wordpress.com/
http://journeyintopureimagination.blogspot.com/
http://lifebecomesme.wordpress.com/

You can still get in on the giveaway for a free copy of Losing Eva. Check it out!!
http://bookenthusiastpromotions.com/losing-eva-by-jennifer-sivec-blog-tour/

Losing Eva Release

It’s official!  Losing Eva, the sequel to Leaving Eva, has been released on Amazon.com!  Brynn’a story continues as she continues to come to terms with her past.  Can she finally have the love and happiness she desires, or will her abusive past continue to haunt her?

Losing Eva (Volume 2)
http://amzn.com/1492917192

I’m not freaking out… Really!

Pretty much the moment after I officially released “Leaving Eva,” I started to FREAK OUT.  The kind of freaking out where you almost need a paper bag and a horse tranquilizer to calm down. 

I wondered: What in the Heck am I doing?!  Who do I think I am? What if nobody reads it?  What if everybody reads it?  My Mom is going to read it and it has the F word in it.  What if it really really really sucks?  What if it doesn’t suck?  Now everyone will know something about me that they didn’t know before!  Why in the world would I do this? What if everyone absolutely HATES it?

I think I paced my bedroom, almost unpublished it, almost threw myself out of the window… then I called someone close to me who’s done this a few times before.  She told me that it was perfectly normal to freak out and that everything was going to be okay. I believed her, I calmed down, and she was right.  Everything was okay.

It was an internal battle to even decide to release my first novel to the world. I thought about just keeping it for myself. I was the only one who had ever laid eyes on the entire manuscript and very few people knew that I even wrote it.  If I had never let it see the light of day, it wouldn’t have mattered.  At least it wouldn’t have mattered to anyone but Me.  When I decided to finish it, to release and share it, I did it because it was something I have always dreamed of doing. There have been numerous unfinished works over the years that I either lost interest in or was too distracted to see through to the end.

But looking back, I don’t think that life had taught me enough about patience or perseverance, until now. And I don’t think that anything I would have written prior to this point in my life, would have reflected the depth or substance that it would have needed to be meaningful, to me.  After all, I’ve only ever written for my own benefit.  I knew that I had to be okay with releasing it because I felt good about it, not necessarily because I was convinced that others would love it. It felt strange to want to share it, but I did.  I loved Eva and in a way, she released me. 

While there are people who have read “Leaving Eva”  and didn’t feel it was for them, there have been others who have read it and it touched them, or it affected them, or it gave them a different perspective. And while it’s not a best seller, and it very well may never be, I have no expectation. With the millions of books in the world, I’m happy every time that one person chooses to read it.  

In two days I will hit “publish” on my second novel, Losing Eva.  This time, there have been a few people who have read it prior to releasing it.  And this time, I feel that it’s not just My book.  It’s Our book.  It belongs to me, Peggy, Kim K, Stacey H, Lisa, Angie, Lara, Rick and Kim, Rogena, Tara, Jeff, and Stacey K.  From the people who helped me with the first novel to the second, this time it’s finished because I’ve had some wonderful friends and family along the way who have supported, encouraged, and advised me along the way.  I’ve been humbled by having so much support on my Facebook page, Twitter account, and my blog~so much more than I ever imagined.

So this time, I’m not freaking out… as much. Reviews will start coming in tomorrow with the start of my blog tour http://wp.me/p3raRE-J3 . And if I said that I wasn’t nervous, I would be lying.  I’m human. I want people to love it, I want it to sell a million copies, I want the reviews to be great.  But if they don’t and they aren’t, then I will be okay with that too. 

I love the story of Eva.  She’s beautiful, strong, flawed, and she’s become someone I am proud of.  If you have the chance to read her, then I hope you will love her too.  ❤

 

Blog Tour for Losing Eva

To celebrate the release of my second novel, Losing Eva, Book Enthusiast Promotions is going to help me out with a Blog Tour! The Tour runs from October 28th through November 1st. You can “Follow” the tour by clicking on the link and then clicking on “Follow Tour.” You could even win an ecopy of the second book in the Eva series from one of the bloggers!!! As a always, thank you so much for your continued support!!<3

http://wp.me/p3raRE-J3

Losing Eva-Excerpt

I just sent the copy of my second book, Losing Eva, out for review. Literally. I just hit “send” one minute ago. It’s been so much fun to tap into and release my inner creativity through writing. I’ve been truly amazed by the amount of support I’ve received from friends and family and overwhelmed by all of the new friends that I’ve been able to make.

I’m excited, nervous, EXCITED! 🙂 🙂 🙂

I thought since I was so excited that I would share an excerpt. I hope you enjoy it and are looking forward to Losing Eva’s release on October 29th, as much as I am. 🙂

Adam and Brynn’s journey continues…

“I’m never leaving you again Brynn,” Adam would say to her repeatedly. “I’ll never hurt you again.”
“I want to believe you, Adam.” Brynn was stubborn and her heart had a hard time letting go of the fear. “I want to, but I just don’t.” Adam would try to hold her, and Brynn would stiffen up, pushing him away with her fear.
“Stop pushing me away. You don’t have to push me away anymore.” Adam won out, and he held her close, feeling her heart beating in her chest from the anxiety. “I’ll never abandon you.”
Brynn always felt herself give into the deep, low tone of his voice that she loved so much. She allowed herself to be enveloped in his strong, sturdy arms, but a tiny part of her still wanted to shrink away. She wondered if she would ever stop fighting the happiness he gave her.
20
She had experienced so much loss in life that she had come to expect it. First, her birth parents abandoning her. Then Stacy, her childhood friend who had been killed by her husband’s lover. Then Rose. And now Adam. Brynn finally decided that she would give herself permission to accept Adam’s love, no matter how long she was able to have it.
When she gave in, there was finally peace.
And now they were having a baby together. Brynn was 5 months along, and her belly was nice and round. When Brynn looked at her belly, naked in the mirror, she saw the scars from years of cutting stretched out wide. Some were still painfully visible while others were beginning to fade, but they all still served as a horrific reminder of her painful childhood. The first time she went to have her ultrasound done, Brynn was embarrassed. The technician didn’t even blink twice, and proceeded with ‘business as usual.’ Brynn was grateful.
She knew that she needed to accept the pain from her past and move on in order to be a good mother.

Losing Eva- Cover Reveal

I wanted to share my new cover with you for Losing Eva, designed by Stacy Ketcham!! If you go to the Coming Soon Page, you’ll see the synopsis. Losing Eva is the sequel to Leaving Eva and will be release at the end of October!! I hope you enjoy it!