Jennifer Lane Books Blog

Ho hey, it's MAY! My favorite season of summer is upon us, and I can't wait to swim in the sunshine and absorb vitamin D. Just yesterday, Dancing Lemur Press released the latest IWSG anthology, Masquerade: Oddly Suited . I'm delighted to join nine authors penning short stories. Check out all of the blogs to read blurbs and learn more about these diverse, engaging characters! L.G. Keltner  https://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/ Jennifer Lane  http://jenniferlanebooks.blogspot.com Deborah Solice  https://thefabulistdotblog.wordpress.com/ CD Gallant-King  http://www.cdgallantking.ca/ Elizabeth Mueller  https://elizabethmueller.blogspot.com/ Chelsea Marie Ballard  https://www.facebook.com/masqueradeoddlysuited Carrie-Anne Brownian  http://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com Myles Christensen  www.myleschristensen.com Anstice Brown  https://dustingthesoul.com Angela Brown  http://publishness.blogspot.com/ Thanks to Al...

Welcome to September's Insecure Writer's Support Group. Join us at Alex Cavanaugh's BLOG . This month's question... How do you find time to write in your busy day? My answer? I don't. I don't write on the weekdays because my psychologist job takes too much out of me. Today I trained a new employee followed by seven straight psychotherapy clients, and combined with a workout, I barely have the energy to write a blog post, much less a book chapter! But the weekends are another matter. I try to write a 4,000-word chapter each weekend. Therefore it takes me about 8 months to complete a novel. Some weekends I devote to other fun and enriching activities like travel. Since I finished my latest novel SPIKED (Blocked #3) in late July, I've been chilling on the weekends. It's been low-key but also a tad boring. I'm jonesing to start writing a new project soon. If you'd like to share a release post for Spiked on 10-1-16, please email me a...

Feeling insecure? Need support? Join us for the Insecure Writers Support Group, created by Alex Cavanaugh   and co-hosted by   Julie Flanders,   Murees Dupé,   Dolorah at Book Lover,   Christine Rains,  and  Heather Gardner!   If you're like me, sometimes the negative voices get you down. Here's a helpful post  for writing: Five Negative Voices and How to Shush Them. A more positive voice: I love writing--I really do! Let me specify, though, that I love FICTION writing. The past two weeks I've slaved over writing a psychology book chapter for a textbook, and it was hell . No wonder I gravitate more toward therapy than research. One small consolation is that writing five fiction novels has improved my academic writing, too. I'm almost done with my sixth book ACED (Blocked #2), yahoo!  76000 / 80000 words. 95% done with Aced! I'm hoping for a November or December release, depending on the editing timeli...

Time for August's Insecure Writer's Support Group. Writers, learn more HERE and join us. Hey, everyone. I’m Jennifer Lane, psychologist/author (psycho author). I do therapy on the weekdays and write on the weekends, and I can’t decide which is more fun. Character growth is essential in any story, and I often help my characters develop through psychotherapy. Finding the balance between authentic therapy and engaging storytelling can be tricky. Here are some tips: 1) Empathy. Otherwise known as validation or good listening, empathy is reflecting the speaker’s emotion. It’s a key therapy skill, regardless of the therapist’s theoretical orientation. Here are some examples of empathy: Client: “What’s the point?” Therapist: “You’re feeling hopeless.” Client: “He’s such an ass!” Therapist: “You’re really angry at him.” Sounds simple, right? It’s not. A lot of times we want to give advice or solve problems, when all people need is validation. Empathic li...

Woo hoo, I love summer. Time for June's Insecure Writers Support Group, hosted by Alex Cavanaugh .  Alex's awesome co-hosts for the June 3 posting of the IWSG are  M. Pax, Tracy Jo, Patricia Lynne, Rachna Chhabria, Feather Stone , and Randi Lee ! Writers, join us HERE .  There are so many cool aspects about writing, but one of my favorites is learning something new. I just wrote a chapter in my work-in-progress Aced where the hero attends confession with a priest. I like to write moments when my characters grow and challenge dysfunctional behaviors. Typically this involves throwing my characters into therapy. But Aced's hero Alejandro is a Catholic Latino good boy, and I wanted to try a new space for healing and development outside the therapy office. Although I attended Notre Dame for grad school, I'm not Catholic, and I've never experienced confession myself. Luckily, my critique partner is Catholic, and she provided a helpful link explaining ...

Thank you to Omnific Publishing for launching a BOX SET of my babies to the world! Enter the giveaway HERE . Thank you to these bloggers for celebrating the release with us: Grace at Sweet Spot Book Blog Darcia at Quiet Fury Books Autumn at Autumn Review Blog Michelle at Book Briefs Blog Sophia at Delighted Reader Blog Mandy at I Read Indie Blog Jessica Subject at Mark of the Stars Blog The CONduct Series Can Two Ex-Cons Find Love? Will the Mafia Let Them Live Long Enough to Find Out? Romantic Suspense with a Psychological Twist: Now Available in a Boxed Set! BOOK ONE – With Good Behavior: In a world gripped by organized crime, family dysfunction, and dim hopes of redemption, can true love persevere? For Sophie Taylor, a beautiful psychologist who lost everything when she violated an ethical boundary, and Grant Madsen, a handsome naval officer who sacrificed everything to protect a loved one, finding that love may carry an unbearable cost. ...

I had the pleasure of reading the ARC of Breaking Free , a YA/NA contemporary romance by SM KOZ. It's free on Amazon 8/1 and 8/2...get after it HERE . First is my review, then an interview with the author. Breaking Free by S.M. Koz My rating: 4 of 5 stars Love Blooms in Wilderness Program This New Adult romance will be released 8-1-14, and the psychological aspects of the story enticed me to read an advanced copy. Kelsie is a 17-year-old cheerleader who’s a hot mess. Her best friend died in a car accident, and Kelsie unfairly blames herself. To numb her emotional pain, she starts self-injuring. While cutting oneself is horrifying, I didn’t fully appreciate the horror until I was right there with Kelsie, feeling her pain and her disgust from taking it out on her body. To try to curb her harmful behavior, Kelsie’s father sends her to a wilderness therapy program. She is ill-prepared and ticked off, with her huge suitcase and even bigger attitude. But the counselo...

Time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, started by Alex Cavanaugh . How's it going, writers? I'm happy with the new job I started in August, and looking forward to the holidays. Since I work for a university now, I actually get Veteran's Day off work, yahoo! Do you enjoy using personal experiences in your writing? I do. For example, I like to write therapy scenes incorporating my experiences as a psychologist. I'm blessed with some hilarious friends and I like to "borrow" their dialogue now and then. When my swimming buddy Joe met my plus-sized cat, he said "That's not a cat...that's a cow ." Guess what one of my characters will say about his brother's fat cat? I'm currently writing my fifth novel, a New Adult volleyball romance titled Blocked . Although swimming was my main sport in college, I also played volleyball, and it's a blast writing about this fun sport. My teammates and I engaged in fierce euchre tournam...

Whoops! I traveled to Hilton Head Island today for a long weekend vacation with my family, so I hope it's not too late to tell you about an opportunity to win book two of The Con duct Series: Bad Behavior. Grant Madsen’s got issues. He’s still battling his Mafia family and doing everything possible to keep his loved ones safe. With the cruising season coming to an end, he has to find another job soon or he’ll rejoin his father in prison. And he’s trying to convince his rebellious teenage nephew to stay away from their criminal relatives (you can imagine how that’s going). But worst of all, Grant’s parole officer has mandated that he attend therapy. The only saving grace is that they’re couples sessions with his girlfriend, Sophie Taylor, a fellow parolee who’s struggling with a few issues of her own. Sophie desperately hopes her past with Grant’s brother won’t destroy her future with him. There’s a sleazy professor at work who revels in sexually harassin...