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Thoughts from Jennifer Cloud www.JenniferCloud.com

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Author Jennifer Cloud

Jennifer Cloud


Last Updated: 11/18/2009

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Gender: Female
Age: 37
Sign: Scorpio

State: Missouri
Country: US
Signup Date: 8/16/2006

Blog Archive
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September 3, 2009 - Thursday 
Yesterday my contract with Drollerie ended.  I chose not to renew it.  The owner is very nice.  Overall it wasn't a horrible experience.  She did want to rewrite Restless Shadows in the same format as a formula romance after loving it in its current form and publishing it electronically.  That's what killed my desire to be one of their authors.  Being in print wasn't worth the change.  They do have great artwork though.  

As far as I know Sweet Jane and Unleashing Darkness are still out on submissions with Elizabeth Pomada.  My fingers have grown cramped from being crossed for so long.  Still...I hope for something good.

I've joined a blog group.  My day is Monday.  I'll post more on that later.

I have only one current release on my little site.  I've been afraid to submit to many epubs given the bad experiences I've had.  I've also discovered several file sharing sites and unsafe sites getting my free release Crying Blood.  That worries me.  I don't want someone downloading from a strange site and getting a virus.

I have a new site set up for my little horror style novellas.  I'll go into more of that later.

I start a new job on the eleventh.  I'm not looking forward to it.  I've done that job.  I know how it goes and I hated it.  It's the best thing for my family though.  NOw I have to work to make it into something positive.

From the Shadows is going well.  Slow but I've been very busy.  I still haven't decided what to do about the work sitting on my PC.  I should do something soon.  Maybe this weekend I'll query for those novels.

Have a great day.
4:59 PM 
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August 29, 2009 - Saturday 
A new dryer was delivered yesterday.  The landlord decided the old one would be too expensive to fix.  I had bought laundry bags to dry a few items that couldn't hang dry.  I must've left them in the old dryer because I found them outside on the sidewalk along with some clothes.  The new dryer is in place so I guess everything turned out fine.

I'm still waiting to hear from some agents.  I'm also starting to get warnings about the epub I signed with.  The complaints are the standard type for a small press. The rumors consist of horrible editors and super low sales.  I guess I'll see for myself. 

My old agent has changed her site.  Her focus seems to be on the conference she organizes.  I don't really blame her.  Publishing is a hard business.  Although she is still repping two of my books.

Well that's about it for me.  Oh, I am considering a job change.  Money is too tight where I'm at.  Something has to change soon.

Have a great weekend  everyone.
5:39 PM 
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August 22, 2009 - Saturday 
I received an offer from a nice epub for one of my novellas.  I sent it under my maiden name.  It's more on the horror side of things so I thought it best to separate the work with a different name.  I'll give more info when I get a release date.

I withdrew a horror query, from a tiny, new epub.  Keep in mind that it was only the query and not a cancelled contract or anything.  A month later I received a rather unfriendly response.  I must've hurt their feelings.  Not sure.  Glad I didn't do business with them.

My kids are back in school.  So far, they love it.  These schools are much better than those in Florida.

I'm trying to decide what to do with some of my novel sized work.  I have a few novels that are just sitting on my PC.  They're not out on submission or anything.  As for those on submisison, it's summer.  I doubt I'll hear anything until fall.

I guess I should get to work on my story before I have to go to work.  Have a great weekend.
2:06 PM 
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August 17, 2009 - Monday 
I found this item a few minutes ago.  While I understand what this agent is saying, I believe this is the problem with the publishing industry.  Unless someone already made a buck off it, they don't want to risk it with you.  

"...nothing deserves publication unless it fits a ready market and someone can make money by publishing it."  Here's a little more.  "What’s even more disconcerting is that many who query WMLA have no idea what they’ve written, have no platform on which to build a writing career..."  Taken from the Wylie-Merrick blog.

That's it kiddies.  Give them your rehashed Gump stories, give them a predictable romance, give them another coded conspiracy, give them another vampire, or another hard ass woman who can destroy everything while getting laid.  Give them something already on the shelf earning money.

I think all this brings us back to ebooks.  There the original can take flight.  If it fails, so be it. 
2:50 PM 
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August 17, 2009 - Monday 
Humans are messy, twisted creatures who display one face while holding a completely different set of truths in themselves. I suppose, in the end, we are nothing more than the equivalent of ants except we want to be remembered. All of us, in our own way, wants something left behind of ourselves when we pass from this world. For me it's my writing. I want my stories to live on after me. My children should only have the burden of their lives, not mine, not my mistakes or cruel ambitions. My work, that's what I want after I've left this world. I want someone to laugh and cry and be afraid and all because of the words I put on the page. Those words can handle my triumphs and my failures if only I could make them live on after me.

2:35 PM 
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August 13, 2009 - Thursday 
We are renting an apartment.  Unfortunately the complex where we live doesn't believe in maintenance.  They can't make the sink stop dripping.  The toilet wouldn't shut off and they wouldn't come to fix it.  We had to shut off the valve at the base.  After 4 days my husband went out to buy the part and fix it himself.  The one time the maintenance man came to fix an electrical outlet, he complained about his job the entire time.  I can live with all this but now our dryer is broken.  The landlord put in some kind of used dryer before we moved in.  Whoever refurbished this thing didn't know what they were doing.  The tub that tumbles cut through the edge of the dryer which makes the clothes catch.  My daughter's brand new school clothes were damaged and now we can't dry anything because the clothes become either torn or greasy.  I've rigged a clothes line in the bathroom.  

The managers where I work aren't bright either.  Yesterday they had be scheduled for a break at 6, to releive someone for their break at six, and to work in another section at 6.  I'm good, not that good.  I'm starting to grow disenchanted with Missouri.
3:03 PM 
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August 4, 2009 - Tuesday 
We had a house guest arrive Friday.  This person is a dear friend of my husband.  I think he's okay but I find that he has no regard for rules.  For example, when he and his girlfriend stayed with us in FL he would wake my daughters during the night.  I would tell him not to and he would say okay only to open their door and let his dog wake them again.  I should also mention that he drinks too much.  Probably the reason for his lack of good judgement.

Anyway, he arrived Friday and the little things sprung up.  I won't mention them.  The incident that really troubled me happened on Sunday.  This person was once again drinking.  By 10:00pm he was slurring his words.  He tried at this point to visit my sleeping daughters.  I told him no.  Playtime was over.  He started to ignore me then reconsidered.  We went to bed a little later.  At 11:30 I had a funny feeling so I got up to check on my daughters.  To my surprise I couldn't find our house guest.  He wasn't sleeping on the couch.  The doors were locked.  I went to my daughters' room and found him passed out drunk in the top bunk where my seven year old was alseep.  I was royally pissed.  I turned on the light.  I yelled.  He was too drunk to wake.  I went and got my husband who got the man out of my child's bed.

I was angry.  I couldn't trust this man to stay away from my daughters so I slept in my daughters' room in front of the door.  It was the only thing I could think of to keep him out.  The next morning I demanded that he leave.

Did I overreact?  Maybe.  Too many bad things can happen in that sort of situation and since I am on earth to protect my daugthers, I will do just that.  Besides, he violated several rules of my home.

1-Grown men do not climb into bed with children.  It's creepy. 
2-People do not get drunk in front of my children.  I have nothing against the moderate intake of alcohol but passing out is for stupid college students and not grown men.  Grown men shouldn't even get drunk.
3-People do not put my children in danger.

Our house guest apologized.  My husband said that he didn't even remember doing it which makes the house guest all the worse in my eyes.  Technically he probably spent more time on the bus getting here, and now returning to his state, than he spent in my home.  Perhaps he will learn something from this.


I am happy that my husband didn't fight me on this matter.  I've known too many people willing to put their children in danger over such silliness.  It doesn't even have to be over a friend.  It can be a closer relation.  I've known men forgive their wives for pulling guns, (no not me) and wives forgiving husbands for making the child's life a living hell.  All of it in the guise of "love".  That's not love.  That's being too chicken-shit to risk being alone.  I have no pity for these people.  I also have little pity for the long and terrible bus ride this man must endure.  My children come first.
2:27 PM 
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August 1, 2009 - Saturday 
Trying to get some work done but I'm finding it hard to concentrate.  I'm just under 13,000 words in Shadows and I think I understand the plot.  The mc I adore.  She's awesome.  She has bad taste in men though.  I think she's falling for the villian.  Not good but I can't tell my characters anything.

Have a nice weekend.
6:42 PM 
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July 29, 2009 - Wednesday 
An author asked me if I was going to go on a submisison binge soon.  I didn't really feel like it.  Then I realized that I'm constantly submitting work.  Hmm.  Never really thought about it.  I suppose I should give an update. 

I've been working on a new novel.  Not far in.  The working title is From The Shadows. 

I've been doing some submissions on Secret.  Too soon to have any nibbles on that one yet.  One agent responded and wanted more information but he hasn't emailed me in some time.  I think he's depressed over some of his favorite editors being fired from publishing houses.

I have lots of work just sitting on my PC.  I even heard from the artist who created the Husband's Lies cover.  She was nice enough to offer whatever publisher I went with the cover.  I haven't been submitting that one though.  I'm not sure why.  I almost feel like that story is cursed.  I had a contract on it with MGP and that company fell.  Blu Phi'er wanted it then they turned into a vanity outfit.  I have all the rights returned.  Now it just sits.  Wow, I bet I've sat on that one for a year or two.

Crows is on submissions.  Pomada is trying to sell Unleashing Darkness and Sweet Jane.  The Other is with a epub who requested the full but I haven't heard anything else from.  It's too short to be a novel but a little long for a novella.  Lady is a short story on submission.  Possessed sits because it was released with a crappy epub that never paid a dime despite it being in the top ten for horror on Fictionwise.  I have the novel back but can't do anything with it.  Sacrifice is one of those that's too long for a novella but too short for a novel.  I might look for an epub for that.  Magic Rising is on the submission circus.  Blood has been submitted to a tiny but respectable publisher.  I won't mention the ones that died in the recycle bin.

That's it for now.  I must obey my muse and get to work. 
2:50 PM 
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July 20, 2009 - Monday 
Have you ever heard of a book curse?  Here is a reference point from Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_curse


"A book curse was the most widely-employed and effective method of discouraging the thievery of manuscripts during the medieval period. The use of book curses dates back much further, to pre-Christian times, when the wrath of gods was invoked to protect books and scrolls."

It seems book curses are making their way back.  I've noticed many book thieves or pirates or p2p people complaining about torrents being pulled.  The curse part comes in when several have discovered viruses attached to working torrents.  I guess authors have found a way to fight back.  When naughty thieves believe they aren't hurting anyone, they're finding that they're hurting themselves.

Not that I support crashing hard drives or stealing books.  I really don't.  That whole two wrongs not making a right thing.  I am simply amused.  All the ISP cloaks to keep the thief from being sued won't protect them.  I hope their virus software is up to date unless they stole that too.
2:31 PM 
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