Jessica Verday's Blog

So this is the blog post that I've been contemplating for a long time. A long, long time. And I can't believe that the time has finally come. It's here. It's now. I'm nervous, of course, to write this post, because I'm sure some of you will be upset. (And I hate that!) But things have to change for us to grow, and as someone who hates change of any kind, I've been working on trying to learn to embrace this fact instead of loathing it.

The time has come for the AbbeysHollow.com website to shut down, and for my main author site, JessicaVerday.com, to get a face lift.

For the last two years or so, I've loved giving my readers a chance to experience a bit of Abbey's world via her perfumes with the Abbey's Hollow website. In fact, when I first started writing THE HOLLOW way back in 2006, I knew that somehow I wanted to bring Abbey's shop to life in my own way. I'm really, really proud of the fact that I had that opportunity and that I had so many fans and readers show me that they enjoyed that 'slice of life' too. Thank you, all of you who have visited the site. I truly appreciate it.

That said, with the trilogy drawing to a close this year, I knew that I'd have some decisions to make regarding whether or not I'd keep the site going. My schedule was the deciding factor. This was both a bad thing and a good thing. The bad part of it is that at the end of 2011 the Abbey's Hollow website will be shut down for good. I'm not ordering anything more to re-stock, so whatever is left is left until it's all completely sold out. (As of now, the only thing totally sold out are the 4-Leaf clover necklaces. But I am down to 6 Astrid necklaces, and 6 Legend of Sleepy Hollow necklaces. There won't be any more once they are all sold.)

The good part of this is that it means I'll have time to concentrate on writing more books. I'm sad to close down the website, but ultimately, my job as an author is to write. So that's what I'm going to concentrate on. More writing time for me = more books for you. So win/win, right?

The other change happening at the end of the year will be my JessicaVerday.com author site. I've received so many compliments on the design, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty sad that it has to change. But the new site will be sleeker and focused more on all my books instead of tied to just one series. So if you haven't had the chance to explore all the little nooks and crannies of my current site, go check it out! I hope you love the new site (albeit in a different way) just as much as the old one.

Change is hard. And tough. And complicated. But it's also worth it. Here's to a bright and shiny and NEW 2012!

I've been getting a ton of email lately asking if I'm going to be doing any signings near (insert name of town/city/country here) anytime soon, and I'm always disappointed to have to say no. My schedule is completely booked from now until next summer with actual writing deadlines, so unfortunately, that means no time for travel.

But I hate, hate, hate to disappoint you guys, so I've come up with a TEMPORARY solution. Since I have boxes and boxes of author copies sitting here that are currently taking up way too much space on my bookshelves, and you guys want signed copies, I'm going to use my AbbeysHollow.com website to make it happen. Signed hardcover copies are now available via the site. Just go there, type in who you want the book signed to, click BUY and you're good to go.

The caveat? I'm only doing this until the end of December (or until I run out of copies). So if you want 'em as Christmas gifts, go get 'em now.

The other question I get asked a lot is if I have any more R.U.H.s? t-shirts. Remember those? I gave some away in 2009 and in 2010, black with white writing?
Well, guess what I just found packed away in a storage container... Yup. Some more shirts. So I'm throwing them up there too. Same caveat goes though. These are the ABSOLUTE LAST OF THE LAST. As of now, the sizes I have left are:
3 Small5 Medium3 Large4 Extra Large
But when they're gone, they're gone. (And I double checked - there really are NO more left). So if you want one, go grab one.

T-shirts Here Signed Books Here

Want to win a copy of ENTHRALLED and THE FIRST TIME? Of course you do! I have two ARCs (Advanced Readers Copies) of ENTHRALLED to give away and two copies of the eBook THE FIRST TIME (for your Kindle or NOOK) to give away. If you win, you'll receive one copy of each book so that you can read both of my short stories about Jane, the supernatural badass hunter.

The copies of ENTHRALLED are from my own personal collection and I think they're pretty cool because not only are ARCs sort of a collector's item, but certain things have changed since they went on to become the real books you see on the shelf. Like Melissa Marr's title for her Wicked Lovely short story. (It's totally different in the ARC. Betcha didn't know that!)

The contest will run until 5pm EST Wednesday, 11/9/11. To enter, all you have to do is tweet, facebook, or blog one of the following messages, then come back here and leave a comment with the linkback to let me know. (DON'T forget to come back here and let me know - otherwise your entry won't be counted!)

Post one of these:

I want to read The First Time! http://amzn.to/tfBjjA #YouNeverForgetYourFirst
When was your First Time? http://amzn.to/tfBjjA #YouNeverForgetYourFirst
25 Short stories, 25 First Times  http://amzn.to/tfBjjA #WhatWasYours



Fine print:
- Two separate winners. One person cannot win all four copies.
- Enter as many times as you like, as long as the links to your tweets/posts are all different.
- Sorry international residents, this contest is for US participants only.
- Physical copy of ENTHRALLED can be signed for you, THE FIRST TIME cannot.
- If you do not leave a comment with the linkback to your tweet/blogpost, your entry will not be counted.

I've been getting a lot of questions about what I'm working on now that The Hollow Trilogy is done, what's coming up next. Although I can't say anything specific about future projects (still top secret), I DO have two new short story releases featuring a brand new character that you can get your hands on right now. 
ENTHRALLED released September 20th from HarperCollins (available in paperback) and features my short story "At the Late Night, Double Feature, Picture Show" about a normal girl named Jane. What's not so normal is that she comes from a family of supernatural hunters who all have special abilities...except Jane doesn't have any. (She's pretty badass though) Add in cannibal Girl Scouts, vampires in drag, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, an opening line like this: "The worst thing about cannibal Girl Scouts are the badges," and, well...I think this picture of Tim Curry dressed up as a Girl Scout says it all.

(Tim Curry says thank you. And: "Would you like to buy some Thin Mints?")
ENTHRALLED also features Claudia Gray, Carrie Ryan, Kami Garcia, Jackson Pearce, Rachel Vincent, Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Sarah Rees Brennan, Jeri Smith-Ready, Kimberly Derting, Ally Condie, Margaret Stohl, Mary E. Pearson, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Rachel Caine.
Buy at IndieBound Buy at Amazon Buy at B&N


THE FIRST TIME is the anthology I edited and put together featuring 25 authors who all had debut books in 2009. It released October 29th (in eBook format ONLY) and features my short story "Once Burned, Twice Shy." This story follows Jane on another hunt and involves one pissed off ghost, a 1957 Chevy Bel Air, a street race gone terribly wrong, and a charming boy named Venn who has a bad habit of tripping. 

Want to know what order to read the Jane stories in? Read "At the Late, Night Double Feature, Picture Show" first and "Once Burned, Twice Shy" second.


THE FIRST TIME also features: Kristina Springer, Stacey Jay, Leigh Brescia, Shani Petroff, Heidi R. Kling, Jennifer Brown, Cheryl Reneé Herbsman, Jon Skovron, Charity Tahmaseb, Cyn Balog, Carrie Ryan, Lara Zielin, Lauren Bjorkman, Rhonda Stapleton, Jackson Pearce, J.A. Yang, Saundra Mitchell, Sydney Salter, Kurtis Scaletta, C. Lee McKenzie, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Janet Gurtler, Teri Hall, and Jenny Moss.
Available now for only $2.99!
Buy at Amazon Buy at B&N
If you don't have a Kindle, you can still read this eBook on your phone, computer, iPad, e-reader, etc. Just grab the Amazon Kindle app .
If you prefer the Barnes & Noble Nook app, get it here .

If you've read any of the books in The Hollow trilogy then you already know that today is a special day. (And if you've read THE HIDDEN, you know that today is a *very* special day - I hope you enjoyed that scene! I enjoyed writing it!) So I'm spending today wandering through graveyards, baking snickerdoodle cookies, and mixing up some new perfume scents in honor of Abbey and Caspian. But I wanted to send a special shout out to Britta Kirk from Novel Days for her AMAZING posts celebrating all things HOLLOW. Check 'em out:


Flavors of The Hollow - Apple cider cups, and spiced hot chocolate? Yes, please!
Fragrances of The Hollow - Mmmmmm, fall!
Britta's Review of The Hollow Trilogy - Thanks, Britta!

Things went from sorta-crazy busy to OMG-I'M-NEVER-GONNA-SLEEP-AGAIN!!!1111!!!!! busy over the last couple of weeks, but I haven't forgotten about my lovely readers. Lot's of good stuff coming up next week, including news about some new releases.

But for now, I'll leave you with some pretty, pretty pictures to look at. These are the things that have been eating my brain recently. What's been eating yours?

(Well, this post was scheduled last night and OF COURSE glitched!! It never showed up, so here it is... a couple of hours late!)

Today is the U.S. release day for THE HIDDEN - the last book in The Hollow Trilogy. And this book, I can honestly say, is for you my dear readers. For those of you who've faithfully followed along from the beginning, and for those of you who've joined the journey along the way. Because that's what this has been. A journey! 
This book is my answer to your questions, my letter of thanks for your support, and my hope that you'll find inspiration along the way.


I'm not sure where this journey is taking me next, but for now it's ending here. And I can't thank you enough for coming along. May you find happiness, joy, and love between these pages. You're not silly or childish for believing in any of those things. 
I do. 


DAY ONE: The Final ChapterWhen I first started thinking about this series and making my notes, the biggest question to come up, of course, was: what's going to happen at the end? I thought I had it. An ending that I liked. An ending that would be great. Everything changed though when I actually started writing the book. A couple of chapters in, and a different ending came to me. An ending that was pretty much the complete opposite of what I'd planned. So I wrote the whole book and when it came time to edit, I had to make a choice. If I went with option one everything for the rest of the series would be different. If I went with option two, everything would be even MORE different. There was no compromise. No middle ground. 


In the end, I went with the RIGHT ending. The ending that I think I knew all along was the one that felt truest to the story I was trying to tell - a story of love. 

Get THE HIDDEN at Amazon Get THE HIDDEN at BN Get THE HIDDEN at Indiebound.org

DAY TWO: The Alternate EndingTHE HAUNTED originally had an alternate ending. When I wrote it, I knew the last scene had to be big, had to have emotional impact because it would be the driving force for the final book in the series. In the original version, Abbey and Ben got into a car accident on the way back from Caspian's hometown. Caspian was grief stricken over the fact that he couldn't help Abbey, who was hurt. So why was it changed? Because ultimately, it ended up raising too many questions that didn't have anything to do with THE HIDDEN. I knew that as a result of the accident Abbey would be starting book three in the same place that she's starting now, so I decided to change it during the edits to something more personal. The image flashed into my head of Vincent lying on Abbey's bed, pretending to be Caspian while surrounded with her broken bottles of perfume, and red roses, and blood, and knew THAT was it. That was the emotional impact I wanted!
Get THE HIDDEN at Amazon Get THE HIDDEN at BN Get THE HIDDEN at Indiebound.org

DAY THREE: The Legend LivesAlthough Washington Irving was no doubt inspired by several real life locations and local people when writing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, including the tulip tree that British spy John Andre was captured under as well as Katrina Van Tassel's character, local legend has it that a headless soldier really is buried in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery. He was a mercenary, and therefore committed brutal acts, yet his saving grace was to save a child. When he lost his head the town voted to bury him in the local cemetery. It's possible that Washington Irving heard this story and a Headless Horseman really did exist!
Get THE HIDDEN at Amazon Get THE HIDDEN at BN Get THE HIDDEN at Indiebound.org

DAY FOUR: The Science FairI didn't have to look far for inspiration when I wrote the scene in THE HOLLOW that dealt with Abbey and Ben trying to figure out what science fair project to do for school. This one I took straight from real life! In seventh grade I did my science fair project based on whether or not the loss of one sense (vision) would heighten another sense (smell). Although my findings were based on short experimentation, and the answer was no, I won first place and even went on to the regional science fair. (Second place there - if I'm remembering correctly.) That's right, a bit of Ben's character was based on my inner science geek!
Get THE HIDDEN at Amazon Get THE HIDDEN at BN Get THE HIDDEN at Indiebound.org