So now that I have published a book, I feel like I am trying to merge two identities, and things might get a little confusing. So I want to have this post explain a little bit about what is going on for any new travelers to the squeaky world of Jess and Paula.

My name is Jessica Smith. I publish under a pen name of Paula Jean Ferri. The two names are interchangeable in my mind though. While I was born as Jessica, around the age of 17, I developed a new lifelong friend, who I affectionately call Paula. Her name is a little more searchable than mine is. Besides, I probably wouldn't have had anything to write about without her, so she became the author.

Feel free to wander the blog and discover a little more about Paula's antics. I am also on Medium writing as often as I can between my three outlets (books, blog and Medium). I would LOVE to hear more about you and any questions you may have. Please send an email to Paulajeanferri@gmail.com.

Last, but CERTAINLY not least... I can't thank you enough for visiting!! I LOVE that you are here and hope to see more of you! Be sure to keep up to date on my website:

paulajeanferri.com

Send Help!

This week was another crazy week at work, which meant most of the week was spent just recovering from my day to day job. 

Then I found a missing chapter in my novel. So I'm working on writing a new scene today. 

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about finishing this book on time. Especially with all of the other projects like the Kickstarter and preparing for the actual book launch. This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid when I set a deadline for the book being ready to print by December. 

Having a full time job, trying to run a household, and still try to grow my career as an author is really starting to take it's toll. I'm simply exhausted most of the time. I'm going to have to figure out how I can best balance all of the things and fast.

There was a meeting this week with a friend helping me to get things right with my Kickstarter, so there was at least a little bit of progress made this week, but right now, I'm living for the weekends to get things accomplished. 

So please send any and all prayers this week for me to have the energy and inspiration and focus to get things progressing. 

I'm Feelin' Good!

Happy Saturday friends!

While I made some good progress this week with edits (and finally sent the document to an editor- yay!), I also took a day off to completely just to relax and NOT have a strict plan to follow for maximum productivity.

I can't even tell you how good it felt. I feel like I finally have more energy and can absolutely plow through things today. And it's only Saturday! Yesterday felt so much like Saturday with all the running around I did!

Not only do I feel more rested, but I also feel like I'm figuring out my own health things, which is contributing to the energy I'm feeling. This week has been fantastic.

Even when I made a mistake at work and had to spend almost an entire day digging through old papers, I'm came out feeling like I had a great workout on my glutes, and wasn't emotionally ruffled, like I normally would have been. I can be so hard on myself when I've made a mistake, but I was just so unbothered by the whole experience.

It's only been a week on this new supplement I'm taking, but it's making a WORLD of difference. I've been taking it in conjunction with another supplement, which is about to run out, and will be the true test of how well it works. If I can use JUST this supplement and still feel this good, you can bet I'll be letting you know!

So that's my big update this week, stay tuned and there will be more fantastic updates next week!

Updated Images!

Happy Saturday friends! This week has been absolutely chaotic, but despite all the things, I managed to get some new scenes written and received the updated images for my characters. I love them!

Just look!!!

These make me so happy!

I can't even tell you how much these characters mean to me. I'm actually starting to get nervous about sharing their stories, because I want people to love them as much as I do. 

It has changed my life so much as I get to know them and have been writing this story. I'm glad that I've had the chance to go through this week and make so many good changes. There are just about 5 months left until the launch!

OH! And I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but the Paris trip is delayed...

The castle reached out and let me know that someone else wanted the entire chateau for the week I was looking at. If I wanted it, I would have to sign the lease and send a (quite large) deposit within 36 hours. And while I have had plenty of interest in the trip, I haven't had anyone pay yet, so we are going to postpone until next year.

But I figure that way people will have time to save for it and have a chance to read the book and love the characters as much as I do.

So we are still trying to figure out what the plan is for the launch party. It will involve a Reader's Escape, just maybe not something international. I will keep you posted, though.

Anyways, I'm going to get some more writing done, but I hope you have a marvelous week!

How Did This Week Even Happen?

Wow, I almost forgot to write an update today! Y'all this week has been insane. I can't believe we are already a week into March! It was spent trying to recover from getting sick last Saturday and getting back into "normal" life, which was ridiculously busy. 

Hopefully now we can have a bit more of a "normal" start to the month and keep things moving forward. Maybe. Today is already half gone and we lose an hour tomorrow, so, you know.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm starting to feel the pressure of the 5.5 months left to the book launch, especially where I have not yet started my Kickstarter campaign. 

Don't get sick, everyone, ok? Life turns into some kind of hot mess when you start feeling better. 

On the upside, I have been crazy productive today trying to do all the things. Writing done, Kickstarter updates discussed, living room cleaned, blog post up, about to send exclusive info to my email list...

Speaking of, if you aren't on there, you should be. You can do that over on my website.

Anywho, since there is so much going on, I'm going to keep it short. Maybe by next week I'll have more cohesive thoughts I can share!

Sad Week Updates

Hey there friends! This week has been kind of crazy for me. I'm writing this away from home, I am attending the funeral of a friend of mine. So there are plenty of distractions and today's post will be short. 

Sad update: I was contacted by the chateau and there is a large group wanting to book every single room the same week I want to be there. 

I had no paid guests and crickets when I asked for an update from people. I had no ability to pay the deposit required with the signing of the contract, so I bit the bullet and withdrew. Here's to hoping it can happen next year when I have some more dedicated fans of the novel and a bit more time to prepare. 

Meaning the book launch party will be moving to somewhere a bit more local. I'm not sure exactly where yet. I'll be sure to update you when I have more information, but know I'm working on still planning an amazing book launch party in August.

Since I already have the time scheduled off work, I will still do a reading retreat in connection with it. 

Again, I'll let you know when I have the info I need. But, at the same time since I'm no longer planning an international retreat, I'm feeling much better about being able to focus on actually finishing the novel since I'm behind schedule there.

So I made a whoops this week. I was all excited about some portraits I had commissioned of my characters from the novel. We had done some preliminary work and I thought I had received the final version. 

Tuns out, it was actually still a rough version. Which I learned when he sent final versions of Em and her sister. 

I had loved them before, but wow, I adore these updated versions! I don't have them all back yet, so in the meantime, here are the preliminary sketches I thought were the final versions. 

Silly me even printed them up and framed them! Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I've got to get to work on the Kickstarter!

I'm behind. I was hoping to launch that on the 25th after getting feedback from a group of authors who have run successful campaigns. So it will be more like the beginning of March. It's right around the corner, so I have to get my tail in gear!