Romanticizing Reality

*blows dust from old pages* It's been a long time since I've posted anything, and I apologize for that. Life has thrown more than a few curve balls. But I won't get into that. I wanted to share a little something, aside from the news that I will be reviving this blog and trying to update it regularly, from here on out. As many of you know, I took a huge hiatus from writing for a while (hence the prolonged silence on the blog). And, as some of you also know, I just recently started making time in my life for writing again. It's been hard, but man , did I miss it. How I even breathed without it for so long is a mystery, because now I feel like I will never be able to remove it from my life again. Not only have I been writing again, but I've been writing in a genre completely new to me. Unfortunately, HEMLOCK VEILS has not found another publishing home, and due to the market trends right now, it might not have another publisher for a long time. That being said,...

I was looking through my old files, and I found this character interview I wrote, back when HEMLOCK VEILS was released and when I was editing Book 2. I never posted it, probably because I either forgot about it or I thought it sucked (It kinda does). Either way, I'm posting it now. So, here's an interview between Stephen Ashton (Elizabeth's father) and myself--Stephen being the interviewer and myself being the interviewee: My interviewer sits casually at the other end of the square, wooden table in Starbucks. His plaid shirt is tucked into Levis, and his hand scratches the back of his head, ruffling brown hair. He clears his throat and opens his leather-bound journal. The end of his Bic ben has been chewed on, mauled. Strange, for someone who’s so laidback. But the old journal doesn’t surprise me; it’s just his style. He’s probably recorded most his findings of the Magical Realm in books just like this. I try to hide a smile as he flips through to find an empty page...

I know, it's been a while! In fact, it's almost been two weeks since HEMLOCK VEILS went live on Amazon ( get the ebook or paperback now )! I couldn't have asked for the book release to go any better, and its success so far has astounded me. It still shocks me when I get a picture of someone with the paperback. PEOPLE OUT THERE HAVE MY BOOK IN THEIR HANDS! Mine--the girl who doesn't really know how she got here. It's crazy and surreal and the best thing ever. It's been such a light in my recently darkened life lately, and I want to thank all those, again, who have contributed to its success. Most of the light has come from the awesome reviews. I have taken them all in, and I can honestly say that so far, I have loved every single review I've seen, even those with negative criticism. I appreciate them all like you wouldn't believe. Again, the way people love it ASTOUNDS me. I dreamed of this day for so long, and deep inside of me, though I couldn't ...

The hour has finally arrived! I can now say that my modern-day Beauty and the Beast retelling,  HEMLOCK VEILS , is officially AVAILABLE! You can get it on Amazon, in either paperback or ebook--just click here ! There were times I thought this day would never come, and now, when people tell me they've ordered it, I can hardly believe it. It is incredibly surreal, and will become even more surreal when I actually get to hold the paperback in my hand! *Waits impatiently outside the post office doors* I can't say thank you enough to those of you who've shown your amazing support! It's been overwhelming in the best way. I have the greatest family/friends/fans/followers ever. Onto the good stuff! YA Bound Book Tours has put together an awesome blog tour and blitz that will take place starting this morning (November 25) and last through December 5. It's too late to sign up, but that doesn't mean you can't still blog some reviews and stuff of your own! *nudg...

It's getting close! HEMLOCK VEILS is almost available for the masses to read in paperback and ebook form ( November 25 )! *ALL THE SQUEES* If you are interested in the ebook form and for some reason didn't already know this because you're mean and don't follow me on social media , it is actually available for pre-order on Amazon! Check it out HERE ! Also, I decided to get on top of things and create my Author Central page on Amazon , which I didn't even know I could do until last night . Check that out HERE ! Maybe I'll actually get used to this author thing someday and learn all there is to learn. Maybe. In other HEMLOCK VEILS news, those book reviewers/bloggers who agreed to review my book have been sent all the ARCs, which is SO very exciting. And nerve-wracking. I might never eat again. But mostly, it's just exciting! I've actually already received one review so far on Goodreads--my FIRST EVER review! My gut sank when I saw it, because it was...

For #MondayBlogs today, I decided to post an old flash fiction, from around the same time I wrote the Red Wheelbarrow stories. It's old and rough in spots, and I'm not happy with it...but it still means something to me. My younger sister went through chemotherapy at age thirteen, which is what inspired this character and this story. So really, it's dedicated to her and all she went through at that crucial age. Anyway, here. *hides* Thirteen I let my mind drift, let the sound of beeping monitors and bustling nurses fade into the background. I’ve always been good at escaping. Mentally, anyway. There was a time I tried escaping physically, too, when mental escape wasn’t enough. It was a night not so long ago, the night before I could officially call myself a teen, and I told myself that thirteen was young. Thirteen was strong. And maybe, I thought, if I could make it home, Jess wouldn’t have to spend our birthday at the hospital. By the time I ripped t...

Hello, everyone! The time has finally come when I can share this beauty with the rest of the world! I'm so  very excited to reveal my beautiful cover for HEMLOCK VEILS today! Feel free to spread the word and share, share, share! Thank you to Swoon Romance for this AMAZING and eye-catching design, and thank you,  YA Bound , for hosting this blog tour cover reveal!  Now, feast your eyes... Hemlock Veils by  Jennie Davenport   Release Date: 11/25/14 Swoon Romance Summary from Goodreads: When Elizabeth Ashton escapes her damaging city life and finds herself in the remote town of Hemlock Veils, Oregon, she is smitten by its quaint mystery; but the surrounding forest holds an enchantment she didn’t think existed, and worse, a most terrifying monster. The town claims it vicious and evil, but Elizabeth suspects something is amiss. Even with its enormous, hairy frame, gruesome claws, and knifelike teeth, the monster’s eyes spe...

Thank you, Adam Dreece , for tagging me in this "Ten Things You Don't Know About Me" blog tour (he totally made it up, but whatever). Yes, I was supposed to have this up yesterday for #MondayBlogs . But I'm a writer, which translates to Procrastinator.  I try explaining to my "in real life" friends and family the reason I love twitter so much, but it's hard to put into words the feeling you get from a large community of like-minded people and writers. I consider my twitter community a second family, really--people who are "in real life." It's where I can be myself and these people understand me. And they're awesome. Adam is one of those people. One of those awesome-yet-quirky-and-oh-so-hilarious-and-witty pals. He's also the author of the YA steampunk series, The Yellow Hoods . Check him out on twitter , too. He's the one wearing a steampunk monocle. Can't miss it. Monocle. So...Ten things you don't know about ...

Over the past few years or more, I've had a refreshing view on pain. Something shifted, and now it seems for me that a common theme emerges when dealing with pain of any kind: embrace it. Or, as my natural labor childbirth book put it, "Become one with the pain." It may sound all new age or like a bunch of bologna, but I've learned that statement couldn't be more true. Whether it's becoming one with the pain in your body, in order for you and the pain to work together at healing or giving birth to a child, or becoming one with the sorrow of rejection that we, as writers, face almost daily, it is the same. Yes, I compared a writer's rejection to childbirth, because...well, duh. As a culture--and correct me if I'm wrong, but especially for men--we are taught and conditioned to tough things out. Shove away the pain. Fight it. Deny it exists, even. We see it all the time, in parents who scold their children for crying, who tell them to ...

I usually hear an internal chorus of crickets in my head when trying to think of a decent blog post topic. Hence, the long break between every post. But this time, I got tagged by the beautiful and talented Kele (Katherine) Lampe in the Writing Process Blog Tour! In addition to being an Iconoclast and unrepentant Geek, Katherine Lampe is a sometime musician, DJ, and author of the Paranormal Caitlin Ross series , which details the adventures of a witch in rural Colorado and beyond. She studied at the University of Michigan with Ken Mikolowski, and at Naropa University with Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. Her fiction has won the Detroit News Gold Key for short story and the Boulder Daily camera award for horror, and she is a book reviewer for Witches and Pagans magazine. The daughter of an English teacher and a self-professed heretic masquerading as a Presbyterian minister, she is interested in the individual’s relationship with the divine. Her work explores the interaction o...

For the first time, I got asked to write a guest post. Go check it out over at Aria Glazki's blog! And give her a follow. http://ariaglazki.blogspot.com/2014/04/finding-agent-jennie-davenport.html?m=1

Well, it happened. The first huge step in realizing my dream has come true. I am now represented by Beth Campbell of BookEnds, LLC. *screams, dances in imaginary confetti to the tune of "We Are the Champions"* And before I get to how it happened, here's an interesting side-note: BookEnds was the first agency that ever caught my eye years ago, when I first decided I wanted to make a career out of writing. Back when I decided to look into the business of getting an agent, back when I had no idea how it all worked, I came across the BookEnds blog. No joke, between this and the Nelson Literary Agency blog, I learned every single thing there is to know about the publishing and agenting world. Everything . I owe my passion for it to this blog. Unfortunately, they stopped doing posts because of time constraints, but they keep the blog public for anyone to reference. Because of this immediate love for them, and in researching their agents and agency, they were my dream agenc...

My old bio, in the summer of 2013, before I got picked up by an agent: I'm a stay-at-home mom with three beautiful, blond boys (see my other blog,  Fond of Blond , which is actually pretty out-dated), and in my need to make something of myself and become more than just my children's mother, I decided, six years ago, to turn my love of writing and words into a daytime hobby. Eventually, that hobby became a need to create. It became a passion, a part of me. It became  much  more than a hobby. I love any well-written TV show, movie, or book, whether it makes me laugh, cry, moved, or pissed off. I love anything that inspires true human emotion, and some of my favorites in the way of television are  Dexter, Breaking Bad, the Walking Dead, Homeland , and  the Newsroom , just to name a few (and I can't not mention the more campy, fun-loving obsessions, like  True Blood  and  Once Upon a Time ). In movies, I have far too many to name, but I love any...