It's Almost Here!

 

Are you getting ready?  Threatening Skye is coming even sooner than you expected.  Perhaps even this week!  Follow along for the big announcement and be the first to read this new adventure.  For now, here's the Amazon Blurb to tease you even more.  

When Skye left 1927 to go back to the year 1907, she discovered she was not as happy to be home as she had first thought she would be, because leaving the future meant she had to leave behind a handsome stranger named Remington Hart.  She felt his presence and saw him in her dreams every night, but knowing he was unattainable because he was from another decade, she forced herself to go on with her life.  Chastising herself for always longing for adventure, she convinced herself to be satisfied with where she was at the moment and enjoy the life she had.  To ease her brother's worries for her safety, she promised to put the thrill of time traveling out of her mind.

As she began dating the charismatic Irishman, MacDonald O'Hara, she found she was often comparing him to the man of her dreams.  Even when it became apparent there was no spark between them, she continued to see Mac, while always longing for Rem.  Little did she know, Rem was a time traveler, too, and he had been sent to 1927 to find her and take her back to 2051, which according to the government was her proper time and place.  Rem was working for the State in The Red Guard, and it was his sworn duty to fulfill his assignment and find all absconders.  He had no choice; he was obligated to bring her and her entire family back.

Completely unaware of the threat that is about to descend upon her, her brother, and their parents, Skye Kent Kestler goes about her daily routine as she continues the search for the ancestors on her family tree.  Longing to know about her past, she continues to dig into the mystery of Lilian DeLuca, her three times great-grandmother, a flapper from the nineteen twenties.  Will Skye be able to follow the trail that leads to unanswered questions about her family, or will she be captured before she has a chance?  What other threats lie around the corner for the unaware time-traveler?  Is there something to fear from MacDonald O’Hara, also?

Book Two, Threatening Skye, in the series Branches of Time, is a spin-off of the loved, Amazon bestselling series, A Slip in Time.  Follow along as a new branch of the family emerges, bringing with it new trials and tribulations.

It's a Blue Moon

 This month, on Wednesday August 30, 2023, there will be a Blue Moon.  I've always loved that term as  my mother used it often when she would say something only happens 'Once in a Blue Moon.'  And one of my favorite songs is Blue Moon, a melancholy love song..  

If you're unfamiliar with the term, it means there will be a second full moon in the same month and as it happens that is only a few days away.  But this moon is special because it is also a Supermoon, meaning it is the closest to the Earth that it has been all year.  So look to the skies on Wednesday for a spectacular view of the moon, and say hello to the 'Old Man' for me.  In the meantime, catch up on your reading of  A Slip in Time and so you can move on to the spin-off,  Branches in Time, because book 2 Threatening Skye is coming soon. I can't wait for you to read it!

If you were one of the lucky ones who happened to fall in love under a Blue Moon, send me your story.  I'd love to read it. Who knows?  It might make it into one of my books!

Don't forget to follow this blog so you can keep up with my news and giveaways.

Day Trips for Research

 One of the best parts of writing books about my home state is doing research. My husband and I took a three-day trip around The Traverse City area, then north and back down to Ludington. We had been to many of the small towns before but it has been years. I was shocked to see how much building up had occurred. Those sleepy towns are now filled with big gorgeous houses on bluffs which overlook the Grand Traverse Bay (both arms) and Lake Michigan. Most of our trip was wet as it rained off and on throughout the entire time. It was often difficult to drive with the windshield wipers constantly going back and forth. But we were not daunted one bit; we continued on until we found quaint out of the way places to eat. We stopped to walk in the downtown shopping districts, between raindrops, admiring the local artisans' work. I have to say I was quite restrained as I wanted to buy everything I saw. And of course we had to buy fudge, because how can you ever go Up North, as we say here, without buying fudge?

One of the best lunches we had was in downtown Frankfort at a place called L'Chayim Delicatessen. I had the best Pita filled sandwich I ever had in my life there. In Harbor Springs we stumbled across a cute little Mexican restaurant off the beaten path called Rodrigo's, probably known only to the locals. It was very small and busy but the food was great!

And how could we leave the area without some wine tasting? Besides it was a great escape from the rain. We stopped at Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City and had a glass of wine high up on the deck which overlooked their acres of grapes. Such a beautiful spot, and the wine was fabulous.

Overall, I picked up some great ideas for the next book or two which was the whole point in going and also to heal from my grief of losing my beloved dog, Teddy. I can't wait to get started on the next book the minute Threatening Skye is published. So far early reviews are great! I'm thrilled as this one was not easy to write. It's coming to you very soon now. I'll make a big announcement here the moment it hits the stands! So stick around.

YES!!

 Why YES?  Because I finished Threatening Skye, re-read it myself, and it is now in the hands of my alpha reader.  And so far he LOVES it, and believe me, he can be tough. 

While he is reading, I am tweaking some things plus adding the dedication and updating the character list, which I always place at the back of the book so as not to give anything away. This list is helpful to my readers, as the names of people in my stories are continuous from previous books and so it can get quite lengthy. It also helps me, as I have to refer to it to make sure I keep my people in the right decade and year.  Time travel is quite tricky. 

So it won't be long now.  It still has to make it through the beta reader test, and then it's on to publication.   I can't wait for you to read the newest installment of Branches of Time. 

Almost Done

 Once I am done writing this post, I will begin to write the last words on my newest book.  I am always a little nervous to write the ending.  Will it be good enough?  Will the book hold your interest?  And worst of all will I miss the people I just spent months inventing?  In this case this is a series so the next book will bring them back to me in full force, which is why I write a lot of series.  I hate to lose my people. I actually go into a mourning period after my book is done.

So if I'm successful, and I am able to write a conclusion I'm satisfied with, the editing process and proofreading will begin soon.  Crossing fingers. Here's hoping for a September publication for Threatening Skye!

Book Cover Reveal

 

I've been so excited to show you the book cover for my next book, Threatening Skye.  I love it.  Let me know what you think before it goes to publication this fall. I'd love your input.

Turning Point

 

I've been at a crossroads with my newest book, Threatening Skye, but yesterday, I came to a turning point.  What a good feeling that is.  I'm finally sure of where my story is going, and I'm excited to write it down, so here I am at 4:00 a.m. trying to get the thoughts out of my head and onto the manuscript.  I hope it's as good as I think it is!  Book Two of Branches of Time should be coming your way early this fall.  Keep up with me here, or follow my new Facebook page.  Be sure to follow the one with a profile picture of me in front of a patriotic quilt.

You can also catch me on Twitter @ twitter.com/janeobrienbooks 

Research

 

One of my favorite things to do before, and while I'm writing, is research. I can't imagine what it was like for authors before the Internet.  With a touch of a few keys, I can be in another world of fashion and design.  I can then describe my character's surroundings, clothing, and sense of style. I use what I see to project myself into another world, so when I write I feel as though I am actually there.

I often get asked, 'where can I see that house?'  'What city were you writing about?' 'Where are those little shops?'  Most of which are in my imagination, but not without help from visual aids such as clothing patterns and song lyrics.  I also love reading old letters as they give me a peek into another person's private life.  I have used several of my father's letters from WWII and some of my great-grandparents' love letters and musings about daily life.  I guess I'm a true time-traveler at heart.

Follow Me Here

If you've been following along with the saga of my hacking fiasco, I can only tell you that nothing has changed.  I tried to set up a new Facebook page, and it was disabled before I even got a start because the hacker grabbed that one, too.  I am done with Facebook.  This is when the age of computers is frustrating.  Facebook has no number where you can call and talk to a human, and I can't log in in order to voice my complaint because according to them I don;t exist anymore.

I won't let them get me down, SOOOO the only other option is to move on.  

You may continue to follow me here on my blog at www.authorjaneobrien.com. or on my Goodreads page for Jane O'Brien.  (Please note: there are two other Jane O'Brien's publishing, so be sure to follow the correct one.)  

You can also find me on Instagram.  I plan to be more active there.

I'm also on Twitter.

And soon I'll be on the brand new Threads, but I have a few things to do first before I'm ready to post.

Until I hear from you, I'll be writing Threatening Skye, Book 2 of Branches of Time.  Thanks for hanging on.  I'm so glad you're sticking around.

I've Been Hacked

 Yesterday may have been one of the worst days of my life.  My Facebook was hacked.  And when I say hacked, I mean they wiped out my personal account and my author account and took over by creating a new one.  I have lost nine years of work on my author page.  Someone out there in another country has full control of my author page.  If you are a follower of Jane O'Brien on Facebook, I recommend you block me.  Believe me, it's not me.

I recently thought I was hacked on a small scale, because my friends were getting messages to follow them when they already had.  You've all seen those.  So I quickly changed my password on both accounts and my profile picture, so I could identify which page was really mine.  My author page had a book cover of my newest book, Skye.  It's red so you can't miss it.  They only one you can see now, still has my face in the profile circle.  I had over 1100 followers and this one has 737.

They deleted both of my email names from Facebook's records and even my phone number.  Then they installed a two-step verification of their own.  I can see the name of the person who is using my account to mine followers names.  There's no way I can get in, and Facebook is unreachable.  I'm very disappointed in them and wonder if I should continue on.  

I immediately froze my banks accounts just in case they had access, but I don't think so.  I've been working on this for two days, and decided it's fruitless.  Nine years of work just went down the tubes.

I will rebuild, but it will take time.  So in a week or so, I will try to start a new Facebook page, and I will try to reach as many of you as possible.  I have a newsletter list and a list of people who have won contests and giveaways over the years, so that might help.  And I will plead with family and friends to share my new page.  In the meantime, protect yourself and block my page as it stands now.  Do not engage with them.  These are despicable people.  I don't understand why Facebook doesn't have a call number so you can speak to a human, but I suppose they would be overwhelmed, because according to my banker, she sees this many times a week.  They are far more sophisticated than they used to be.

Thank you for listening.  I pray this never happens to you.  I took many precautions, but I believe it may have happened when I downloaded a particular app on my phone, which I'm afraid to name here, because they might after me again.

Stay cyber safe.  But when they want to get in, they can and will.