Guest Author: Jennifer Sights (+Contest)

I am excited to welcome author Jennifer Sights, who has released her first novel, Divided.

During a routine case, private investigator Elena Ronen meets and falls in love with Vittorio Santini, member of a secret coven, and a kiss awakens her dormant magical powers. Because Elena wields an extremely powerful form of magic, she struggles to convince her enemies she has no desire to take over the coven. When loyalties are questioned, and Elena can no longer tell friend from foe, she must prove she wants nothing more than to live her life quietly. When this wish falls on deaf ears, Elena and Vittorio must work together to defeat their enemies as they try to save their love, their lives, and the lives of those they care about.

Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away an ecopy of Divided.

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Divided: From Idea to Publication

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jennifer Sights. I live in St. Louis, MO, with my husband and three dogs. I won’t go into details here though, that’s all on my website. (www.jennifersights.com) What I really want to tell you about today is how I wrote my debut novel, Divided.

More years ago than I can remember, I had a dream one night about a girl who somehow became part of a coven of witches. There was something about a stolen computer that she was supposed to be investigating, and a bunch of other fuzzy details I don’t quite remember anymore. I knew it would someday make a great story, but I didn’t know what the story really was, so I let it float around my head for several years.

Cue November 1, 2009. I decided to attempt National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for the first time. I also decided to use the story that had been percolating in my brain for several years to make this attempt. I sat down with nothing more than, “A young detective goes undercover to investigate a cult,” as the idea, and let my fingers find their way over the keyboard. I didn’t know anything about this young detective, or why she was investigating this cult. But the main character, Elena, quickly found her way onto the screen. As the first few chapters came out, the larger picture of the story started to develop. I knew who she was going to investigate, and how she was going to get to him. This was going pretty well.

Then I got to the chapter where Elena was supposed to meet her target. From nowhere, this mysterious Italian named Vittorio jumped onto the screen, somewhere from the depths of my subconscious. I hadn’t planned him, hadn’t been thinking of any character even remotely like him. But there he was, and he hijacked the entire story. No matter, I just kept on writing.

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I had that complete by November 16. Divided was one of those hot novels during which the author frequently forgets to eat and do much of anything other than write. I don’t know how many meals I missed that month, and how many words I might have snuck in on short breaks at my day job. By November 30, I had 87,000 words. By December 1, the rough draft was complete at 90,000 words.

Divided has gone though countless revisions since then. Elena changed from a detective to a private investigator. The reason she was investigating the cult/coven changed entirely. But the base was there, and Divided has now finally seen the light of day. After 4 years of working on it, I’ve sent it out into the world, to entertain. I spent some time querying agents, attempting to go with the traditional publishing route. But the more research I did, the more I became convinced independent publishing was the route for me. I’m so happy I made that decision. I get to keep control of the entire process, including the timeline.

So without further ado, here’s the short synopsis for Divided. I hope you’ll give the book a read. The sequel, Ravaged, is due out in September (date TBD.) If you like it, let me know. Leaving reviews on Amazon is the most helpful thing you can do for a new author (or any author for that matter!)

During a routine case, private investigator Elena Ronen meets and falls in love with Vittorio Santini, member of a secret coven, and a kiss awakens her dormant magical powers. Because Elena wields an extremely powerful form of magic, she struggles to convince her enemies she has no desire to take over the coven. When loyalties are questioned, and Elena can no longer tell friend from foe, she must prove she wants nothing more than to live her life quietly. When this wish falls on deaf ears, Elena and Vittorio must work together to defeat their enemies as they try to save their love, their lives, and the lives of those they care about.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post! It means so much to me.

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Meet Jennifer Sights!

Jennifer Sights has been writing since she was a kid, but veered off track for college and a more traditional office job. She has worked in a predominantly male field for thirteen years, and now enjoys writing strong, female characters who aren’t afraid to stand up to the men with whom they are associated.

Jennifer lives in St. Louis, MO, with her husband, John, and their three dogs, Tiberius, Emmy, and Cookie. When she isn’t writing or reading she loves hiking, riding her motorcycle, traveling, and volunteering at the local animal shelter. She loves to hear from readers. You can find her at www.jennifersights.com.

Contact Info
Website: website
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter

Want to purchase Jennifer’s novels?
Divided

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Contest Time!

Thank you Jennifer for taking the time to stop by Literary Escapism!

Jennifer is giving away an ecopy of Divided. To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: Has any character ever gotten stuck in your mind, and if so, what was it about that character that stuck around?  Remember, you must answer the question in order to be entered.

Even though I’m not giving the additional entries any more, you can still help support the author by sharing their article, and this contest, on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere you can. After all, the more people who are aware of this fabulous author ensures we get more fabulous stories.

The winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.

The contest will stay open until July 15th at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from this snazzy plug-in that I have.