*~*Houston Author Event – Author Spotlight Day 2: J. Sterling & TWO Giveaways*~*

I was super excited to be asked by Emily of Lalone Marketing to take part in an ‘Author Speed Dating’ event right before the signing. Basically, each blogger that participated would get 5 minutes to talk to all 10 authors – hello! Yes, please! I was so excited because I’ve done interviews before but never in person – this was both amazing and scary at the same time, but it was an absolutely wonderful experience.

So, each day for the next two weeks, I’ll be spotlighting one of the authors that I got to sit down and chat with last Saturday – in case you missed it, yesterday was S.C. Stephens and up next is…J. Sterling.  J was actually one of the first authors that I contacted…I messaged her on GoodReads and honestly, I wrote her 2 minutes after finishing The Perfect Game, I’m surprised it even made sense because I was in such a haze of love for Jack and Cassie.  She was so incredibly sweet and just the fact that she took the time out to write me back at all really meant a lot.  She was a blast to talk to and absolutely hilarious.

 

We asked last week on our Facebook page for some questions for the authors – so I tried to incorporate as many of them as I could into the interview…I added the name of whoever ‘asked’ the question! Now…let’s get to the interview… 🙂

Lisa:      We asked our followers to give us some questions – so I’ll start with those, what are some of your favorite books that you’ve read? (question from Kristen Kocher)

J.:     I just read Play by Kylie Scott, have you read it?

Lisa:   No, I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard it’s amazing.

J.:     That book was so fucking funny!  It was hilarious!  I laughed so much in that book, I would just sit there, laughing.  I’m on the treadmill, cracking up.  It was so good – I highly recommend it!  That was great and then I just read Left Drowning by Jessica Park – that was amazing!  I loved it!  And I just read Hate Me by Jillian Dodd and that was great too

Lisa:    Is there anything in any of your books that you would change if you were given the chance? (question from Kristen Kocher)

J.:     No.

Lisa:   If you weren’t a writer what other profession would you be working in? (question from Deborah Favorito)

J.:     I would be working still in the entertainment industry…doing something in that capacity.  That’s what I did my whole life before writing.

Lisa:    How long from concept to completion of your first book? (question from Tanya Gaunt)

J.:     Oh God, my first book?  Like a year.

Lisa:   Oh wow

J.:     I mean forever – right?  Took me forever to write it and then I didn’t know what I was doing – oh and then I was quiering agents and trying to get it published – and that books was so bad!    So yeah…it took a while.  I’ve sped things up since then!

Lisa:   Were you writing and working at the same time?

J.:     Nope – I got fired!  And I just started writing right away.

Lisa:    What is your go-to snack food when writing? (question from Nicole Montgomery)

J.:     Go to snack food when writing – currently?  Because these change – because I get completely obsessed, so when I wrote the first book I was obsessed with Trader Joe’s Ginger Things and that’s what I would eat every day.  So right now, my go to snack food is…what am I obsessed with?  I’m seriously disgusting – like I’m a pig with food and I am so gross…like I HAVE to have this!  Oh I’ve been obsessively eating macaroons from this cupcake store.

Lisa:   OMG Macaroons are so good!

J.:     They’re so good –and every month they switch flavors!

Lisa:   Oh my gosh!

J.:     It’s exciting – see it’s always something bad.  It’s always like a bad junk food that I’m obsessed with eating.  I’m also obsessed with eating this taboli salad at Safeway and I buy it all the time and its so good – and I’d like to think that that’s good for you, but it’s probably not!  Which is why I like it so much!

Lisa:    Which of your characters will you always hold a certain soft spot for?  (question from Andie Lea)

J.:     Oh Jack…Jack Carter

Lisa:   Good Choice

J.:     Hands down

Lisa:    Which character can you relate to the most?    (question from Andie Lea)

J.:     Cassie…she’s so me.

Lisa:    What do you think is the most difficult…beginning or ending a storyline?  (question from Andie Lea)

J.:     I guess getting started – well..no it’s all that stuff in the middle, where it’s like things  are not necessarily crazily happening where I feel like it’s boring writing it, so I’m like shit!  Please don’t be boring reading it – but like you do get  bored writing certain parts – like cause things are…there’s not always  action happening constantly.   No the endings always great, right?

Lisa:    How often are you thinking and jotting notes down about the characters and storyline that come into your head?  (question from Andie Lea)

J.:     Oh for always – constantly, my brain never shuts off.  I’m constantly…that’s the hardest part, you can’t stop.

Lisa:   You can’t turn it off.  If you could sit down face to face with one of your characters, who would you choose?  (question from Andie Lea)

J.:    Oh god, well I can sit down face to face with the real Jack Carter and I did just see him not that long ago.  OMG!  So Drake!  Duh!  Because  Walker Rose is based off of Drake!  So I would like to sit down with Drake on his face, face to face.

Lisa:    Who decides who and what goes on your covers?  (question from Lorie Glowania)

J.:    Oh…if I don’t photograph it, I search for people that in my mind fit my characters, and then I send it to my cover designer and she is AMAZING!  Clearly I have a style – that I like.

Lisa:   Yes you do, but it’s good because you have a unique identifier

J.:    It was not intentional – I’m just like wow….I really like – I could not believe when I got Seeing Stars in print how much it resembles the other books and I was like Fuck!  I clearly like the same…this style.

Lisa:     What genres do you enjoy reading?  (question from Cynthia Mae)

J.:    New Adult for sure – but the real new adult, not the fake erotica coined as new adult.  Or what people are pretending is new adult with some 40-year-old characters as new adult, that shit is not new adult.  Real new adult.

Lisa:    Where is your favorite place to write?  (question from Cynthia Mae)

J.:    I have an office now!  So in my office, I have like a little lounge chair that is weird and crooked, so I have to sit on it a certain way or else like the cushion goes crazy so I’m like – I have pillows propped underneath me.  I love my office  – it’s so pretty.

Lisa:   Nice

J.:    And tiny.  And crowded.

Lisa:    What was your original inspiration to start writing?  (question from Rachel Talavera)

J.:    Like twelve years ago.

Lisa:   Oh wow

J.:    And it never left my brain.

Lisa:   That’s good

Then we went on a tangent about how cold it was in that room – it was cold as balls for the record – but it was hot as fuck when we originally got there!)

Lisa:    What are the top 3 things on your bucket list? (question from Kimberly Talbot)

J.:    Oh god…okay, go back to the UK.  Travel…it’s a lot of travel – I have to see Italy before I die, or I will haunt it in my sleep.  Umm…I have not made the NYT, I want to make the NYT.

Lisa:   Really?   I can’t believe that – that’s shocking to me.

J.:    Don’t.  I’ll just cry.

(Then I made a reference to an earlier conversation about how she was told at a Barnes and Noble in California that under no circumstances were her books in any of the B&N’s in northern CA.  Nice!)

 

Have you read all of J. Sterling’s fantastic books?

 

The Perfect Game Series

Add The Perfect Game to your GoodReads  ♦  Add The Game Changer to your GoodReads  ♦  Add The Sweetest Game to your GoodReads

Seeing Stars (first book in the Celebrity Series)

Add Seeing Stars to your GoodReads

Chance Encounters (Standalone)

Add Chance Encounters to your GoodReads

In Dreams (first book in The Dream series – YA novel)

Add In Dreams to your GoodReads

 

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I got fired from my last job.
It’s true.

I know you’re sitting there thinking, “Jenn, how could anyone in their  right mind fire someone as amazing and awesome as you are???” And i’d love  to give you a good reason, but the truth is… being This! Awesome! is  clearly very scary to other less awesome people.  🙂

So I said screw them and started writing my first book. And you know what I realized? Writing books that mean something to me is a million times better than working my ass off for someone who doesn’t really care about anything other than the bottom line.

My soul feels more satisfied.
My heart, more full.

So thank you for reading, loving and recommending the stories I write.
I think you’re awesome- and not only am I not scared of other awesome people, I want them on my team!