Author Archives: Jennifer Shirk

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her upcoming sweet romance: WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH releasing December 5, 2016.

Writing Out of My Comfort Zone

  By | | , , ,
3 Comments

photoHI, all! Jennifer here.

This month on the HSG blog, we’re talking travel and settings.

Settings in my romance books usually revolve around two places I love and know well: the Jersey shore and the Boston area.

I can’t help it. There is a certain amount of comfort level there.  But maybe I’m too comfortable. Maybe I’m even in a bit of a –gasp—rut.

photo (2)Well, my recent trip has totally inspired me to take my next book into a completely different location: MONTANA.

I just love that area. It’s so lovely and totally different from the fast-paced lifestyle of the east coast.

Here are a few tidbits I experienced there:

1) I traveled through two towns (about 20 miles apart) and still couldn’t find an ice cream parlor.  (what the?)

2) It’s common to travel from town to town and have ZERO cell phone service. (scary)

3) There’s no sushi in or around Helena, the capital of Montana (hint, hint)

4) It was kind of hard to eat vegetarian. All I really wanted was a nice big salad. No. But plenty of hamburgers and steak and fried chicken (sigh)

5) There were a lot of biker bars (fun)

6) No chance of frizzy humidity hair head (booh-yah!)

Needless to say, I can really play these experiences up and have some fun with my heroine. It’s about time I take travel experiences and apply them to my writing.

 

What about you? If you’re a writer, have you been stuck in a setting rut? What setting are you dying to put your characters in?

Have you ever been to Montana?

**DON’T FORGET** The blog swag this month is a FREE digital copy of the winner’s choice from the new Decadent Tease Imprint courtesy of Clarissa Yip! Comment on any post in August to be entered to win.

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her upcoming sweet romance: WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH releasing December 5, 2016.

Summer Schedules

  By | | , , , ,
13 Comments

 

dreamstimefree_102201Summer is my favorite season, but as much as I love it, my writing does go down because I’m constantly running kids to the beach or camps or trying to adjust to NOT having a schedule.  But this summer I’m on a mission to finish my manuscript and have it subbed by the end of July (Or early August)

*cough cough*

Anyhew, this self-imposed deadline has forced me to do a few things differently in order to meet my goal.

Here’s what has helped me:

1) I get up earlier. Having a new puppy has certainly helped with that respect, but I found it’s a GREAT time to get some needed editing or writing done while the kiddo is sleeping in.

2) I exercise more. What? Yes, this actually has given me more energy and my mind seems to be in better focus in the early morning.

3) I cut my blogging schedule. As much as I enjoy reading and writing blogs, that is A LOT of time to use that I don’t have until the fall. And guess what? I still have my bloggy friends and my sales have not been affected.

4) I cut my Facebook time. Yes, I like Facebook and I like all my Facebook friends. But I check in ONCE a day for 5 minutes and then I’m out of there. And guess what? My FB friends still like me and my sales have not been affected.

5) When I have two or three hours of time to work on my writing—I ONLY work on my writing. Yes, I’m tempted to throw in a load of laundry or just quickly empty the dishwasher, but those little things add up to BIG time eaters. I do them AFTER I’ve worked on my writing.

6) I’m reading less. Is that a good thing? Well, for me, summer is usually my reading time, but since I’m writing, something has to be sacrificed. Not that I’m not reading at all, just not reading as much or as fast.

That’s my summer schedule and I’m sticking to it. So far, it’s been working out great. 🙂

 

How about you? Does you writing schedule change in the summer? How do you keep on track?

Don’t forget, every comment this month is entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card AND a FREE digital copy of Nina Croft‘s July release from Entangled, Losing Control.)

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her upcoming sweet romance: WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH releasing December 5, 2016.

Wedding Reads

  By | | , ,
6 Comments

file000353140187Happy June!

I love that we here at the Heart-Shaped Glasses blog picked “weddings” as this month’s theme.

I happen to be a June bride! In fact, my anniversary is tomorrow…

(just sayin’)

As a reader and writer, I think “weddings” make the perfect backdrop for a romance. Who doesn’t like a wedding? Neurotic brides, beautiful dresses, love, romantic proposals, jealousy, friendship, crazy families, stress—there are so many interesting facets to them.

Now, put all those things in a fiction book and you can really have a lot of fun as a writer!

My next book I plan to write will incorporate a wedding. My heroine’s mother is getting remarried—to my heroine’s ex boyfriend’s father! Needless to say, the wedding will be a perfect opportunity to bring my hero and heroine back together again (whether they like it or not) 🙂

Do you like to stories that involve weddings too?

Well, here’s a rundown of some of my favorite wedding reads:

**Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin  (one groom but the best friend has the hots for him–chick-lit)

**I Do, but I Don’t by Cara Lockwood (about the crazy mishaps of a wedding planner–chick-lit)

**Save the Date by Tamara Summers   (YA book about a girl who has four sisters planning weddings–really fun!)

**Picture Perfect by Janice Thompson (about a wedding photographer and the competition she falls for)

**The Brides Quartet Series by Nora Roberts (I especially love this one! All four books were very romantic as the characters created weddings for other people)

Ah, so much drama to be had! I hope you get to check out some of these books this month for yourself. And if you’re a writer, I hope our theme inspires your own wedding story!

Are you a June bride? Do you have a favorite fictional wedding read?

**Also, don’t forget all commenters this month have a chance of winning our $5 Amazon GC Giveaway!

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her upcoming sweet romance: WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH releasing December 5, 2016.

First Kiss: Bliss or Miss?

  By | | , ,
19 Comments

Hi, all! Jennifer here. I’m so happy thrilled to introduce fellow Entangled Pub author Robin Bielman as our guest blogger today!

Robin has a new Bliss romance out called Kissing the Maid of Honor, so be sure to check it out as well as the bottom of this post to see her fun giveaway that will be going on next week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi everyone! I am so honored and delighted to be the first guest on Through Heart Shaped Glasses! Thanks so much to Jennifer and all the HSG gals for having me here today.

First Kiss: Bliss or Miss?

Since this is a month of firsts, I thought I’d talk about The First Kiss. That moment when you lean in, ready to lock lips with that special someone for the very first time ever. Your heart is racing, your stomach is quivering, your head is spinning. You make contact and then one of two things happens: you don’t ever want to stop or you can’t stop quickly enough.

My first kiss was a big ‘ol miss.  I’d been crushing on this boy forever. He was a black belt and one of the junior instructors at my younger brother’s karate studio. I’d go all the time to watch my brother just so I could secretly stare at this too-cute boy. He was sixteen and so cool, and I was fourteen and well, not. When he called me and asked me out, I thought I’d die. (This was also my very first date, and I had no idea he’d even noticed me.) He took me to the movies and held my hand the whole time. It was nice. It was sweet. On the drive back to my house, I started to get nervous, though. I wanted to kiss him. I really wanted to kiss him. But I was worried I’d do it all wrong.

Well, he walked me to my front door and I didn’t have time to get nervous because he proceeded to immediately shove his tongue down my throat. There was nothing romantic about it. Nothing sweet. The wet, sloppy assault had me reaching for the door handle and hurrying inside. Gross! I thought. And my image of this boy was forever ruined.

We never went out again. I ditched the karate studio for tennis and homework.

In my just-released novel, KISSING THE MAID OF HONOR, a first kiss plays an important role in the story. A fun role because it stirs up conflict. And desire. Wishes, too. Do I wish my first kiss had been bliss? Hmm… I’m not sure. I mean everything happens for a reason, right? I will say future kisses were much, much better.

What about you? Was your first kiss Bliss or Miss?

 

 

*Special note: Next week my publishing sister, Jennifer Shirk, and I are having some fun with our Bliss releases from Entangled Publishing. We’re hosting a Bliss Kiss War in honor of her book, KISSING KENDALL, and my book, KISSING THE MAID OF HONOR. We’ll be blogging, Facebooking, and giving away a $20 GC! We hope you’ll check it out!*

 

 

About KISSING THE MAID OF HONOR…KissingTheMaidofHonor_cover5 copy

Sela Sullivan is resolved to be the best maid of honor ever, even if it means tolerating the best man. Insufferable, too-handsome Luke Watters is not only the guy who humiliated her at a kissing booth in high school, but he also happens to be her best friend’s older brother. Positive he’s the same arrogant jock, Sela vows to focus on her duties and steer clear of the frustrating—and frustratingly tempting—Luke.

 

As a world-renowned extreme-sports photographer, Luke is used to undertaking life-risking adventures. But risking his heart for the beautiful Sela Sullivan, who clearly still hates him for his rejection all those years ago? He didn’t see that coming. Sela inspires a passion he’s never known, and the more time they spend together, the more he craves her. But can he prove to the maid of honor he’s become a man of honor?

BUY LINKS:

Amazon:

Barnes & Noble:

iTunes:

Kobo:

 

Robin in velvet pastel haze 620About Robin Bielman… Robin Bielman lives in Southern California with her high school sweetheart husband, two sons, and crazy-cute mini Labradoodle, Harry Dresden. When not attached to her laptop, she can almost always be found with her nose in a book. She also loves to run, hike, and dip her toes in the ocean. Writing is a dream come true, and she still pinches herself to be sure it’s real.

She is also the author of Worth the Risk and Yours At Midnight from Entangled’s Ever After line. She loves to connect with readers. Visit her online:

Website/Blog: http://robinbielman.com

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/RobinBielman

Facebook: http://facebook.com/robinbielman or http://facebook.com/robinbielmanwriter

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/robinbielman

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her upcoming sweet romance: WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH releasing December 5, 2016.

First Things First

  By | | ,
6 Comments

Hi, all, Jennifer here!

I have to admit that in my personal life I’m very sensitive to order and having everything around me just so. No, I don’t have OCD. But I have joked on many occasions that I could quite possibly be borderline. Luckily, my family has learned to deal with it.

So it stands to reason, that in my writing life I like order, too. Our theme this month at the Heart-Shaped-Glasses blog is FIRSTS, so I thought I’d share what I like to do first when starting a new book.

When an idea first comes to me, it’s really vague. For example, in my recent novella, A LITTLE BIT CUPID, I knew I wanted to write about a woman who had never been in love and I also knew I wanted Cupid to help her find Mr. Right but have her want someone entirely different.

See? We’re talking really vague.

Before I can go any further with plotting, the first thing I need are NAMES.

Believe it or not, I can write without a working title, but I NEED NAMES for my characters or they just won’t feel real to me. Without a name, it would be like writing about a cardboard cutout figure. And I just can’t get into that.

So where do I start looking?

Actually, I have a nifty little Baby Name book called Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana: What to name your baby now. It’s an awesome book and I highly recommend it (even if you’re done having children of your own). It categorizes names for you, which makes it ever so convenient, especially if you’re looking for a masculine or feminine type name or maybe a good-girl name, or a no nonsense name, etc…

Once my characters are named, I’m good to go and I can then create my character profiles and then a brief story outline. See? Very orderly. But that’s me. I’m a first things first kind of girl. 🙂

How about you? What’s the FIRST thing you like to do when beginning a new story?

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her upcoming sweet romance: WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH releasing December 5, 2016.

  • OUR LATEST BUZZ!

    The first two books in the Cupid's Cafe series release in June by Lori Sizemore and Landra Graf *** Lori Sizemore's Infamous released on December 14. *** Julie Jarnagin's Cowgirl in the Kitchen is available now. *** Bethanne Strasser LETTERS FROM HOME from Entangled Publishing is available now! *** Nina Croft's latest books, Her Fantasy Husband, a hot contemporary romance from Entangled's Brazen line, and The Order Boxed Set, a compilation of the three full length novels, plus a new novella, exclusive to the boxed set, both released in April 2016 *** Debora Dennis's holiday novella, CUPCAKES & CUPID is available.