Author name: Jill Monroe

Despite the open invitation to blog whenever I felt the need – it’s been awhile. After the near frantic pace of my release date month, I really needed to take a bit of time to catch up on things. E-mail, housecleaning, actual writing. Okay, not really the cleaning. My husband has been a little shocked that there are still opportunities for booksignings even after my books are not technically on the shelves anymore. But then if romance writers had a holiday, it would be Valentine’s Day. We own that one. Which brings me to the Valentine’s Day signing. As Gena […]

One of my romance writer friends was recently told to get a more glamorous picture. Readers expected a little more from romance authors. Well crap – no one ever told me this. There are now expectations that I be glam? I have really missed the mark. Especially since I make it a habit of posting my worst pictures to my website (much to my Mom’s disgust). Do readers want a certain persona from their genre writers? Should John Grisham lug a briefcase as he dashes into Wal-Mart because his first grader forgot to tell him 32 cupcakes MUST be at

I found the exception to the rule – the rule where even bad football is still good football. Well, last night bad football was bad football. Got to hand it to USC – they played a practically flawless game and my beloved Sooners…they’re still my beloved Sooners. I call Booksquare at half-time. “Oh, we’re losing. It’s 35 to 10.” “Oh, really? Yahoo says it’s 38 to 10.” Yes, thanks Booksquare it was. Final score: 55-19. My husband’s favorite team didn’t make into the NFL playoffs, so I may be losing my computer even sooner.

I’ve been told writers are more creative when they write in longhand than at the computer – the whole left brain/right brain theory. I’m a computer writer. While I take a notebook with me and spend my down time using a pen and paper, I write much faster at the computer. Which is why I’m sad about football. I always look at this time of year with both excitement and melancholy. Bowl season is almost over. The playoffs are nearly here, which means there will be a frenzy of football…then nothing. This also means my husband will want to be

Try as I might, I have not found any other way to get actual recorded written words than by sitting down and writing them. Someone once coined the phrase BIC-HOK (butt in chair – hands on keyboard). A painful, yet true sentiment. For me, tackling a manuscript best works very early in the morning. After making some appropriate South Beachy breakfast I sit down and stare at my monitor. I do not check e-mail. I do not check my stats. Okay, I don’t do those things much. Actually, at 5:30 in the morning, I’m pretty self-disciplined. One advantage to writing

December, the last day of the month, the last day of the year. This also marks the last day my books are officially on the bookshelves – just 21 trips to Wal-Mart and Target later Tomorrow my book will reside only on the cyber bookshelves. The time has flown! I want to thank you for sharing the first time I spied my book at Wal-Mart. My first booksigning. My first road trip and of course, my first time to creatively shelve my books (and those of friends). I’ve contacted my first contest winner (still waiting to hear back). Booksquare has

I know that I had a point when I wrote this blog last week. However, I started coming down with strep throat, thanks to my oldest. I haven’t had strep since high school, when it knocked out the senior class for several days. Then the doc gave you a shot the consistency of mayonnaise, now it’s a nice pack of pills. Anyway, I began to write the blog below, but felt there was something off – sent it to my friend Betty to read. Afterwards, she sent me a nice note suggesting I drink a warm cup of tea and

Bill wrote in the comments section earlier this week: BTW, Jill, you do all this work for the site, but I don’t see any links to your romance novels? Can’t you at least get some publicity out of this site? I can’t believe it, but I haven’t posted a single link on how to purchase my book, nor have I mentioned my title very much. It’s Never Naughty Enough (NNE) by Jill Monroe. A December Harlequin Temptation. So, using my new ability to post links, here you go: Jill Monroe’s NNE at eHarlequin Jill Monroe’s NNE at Barnes and Noble

After that first initial barrage of questions I received after getting “The Call” I was asked about a website. Okay, talk about panic. What’s a gal with little money, and even less amounts of website creativity to do?The first thing I did was use the free resources at my disposal. Since I use cox for e-mail, one of the benefits is free web space. Okay, first hurdle down. Secondly, where to get it? Godaddy.com was the logical choice, came highly recommended, inexpensive and easy to use. But there was a problem…JillMonroe.com was already taken, so after a quick discussion with

When it comes to promotion, I have become basically a follower. Most all romance writers have a website. I have a website. Most all romance authors do a contest. I’m having a contest. A lot of romance writers have a yahoo e-mail loop – I have a yahoo e-mail loop. The best thing about these – they are just about free, which fits my price range quite nicely. Romance writers typically will run a contest of some sort to get people excited about their book and coming to their site (here’s where the follower part comes to play). As I