Category: IRL

Happily ever after is just the beginning (my engagement story)

Posted July 10, 2019 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, IRL / 0 Comments

Dear internet,

Was there any doubt that when this moment in my life came, I’d want to shout it from the rooftops?

The short version: I got engaged last weekend!

For those of you who like proposal stories, ours is simple, but perfect in my eyes.

Last Tuesday, we got another vizsla puppy, Carson, adding to our little Dog Mom and Dog Dad family. Carson has a big brother in our 1 year-old vizsla, Cooper. We then spent the rest of the week up at Zach’s family cabin in North Georgia and drove back Sunday.

We unloaded the car and the pups. A little tired and still in my traveling clothes, I asked Zach how he felt about pizza and Stranger Things Season 3 for dinner. He was on board! Part of why I love him–I need a pro-pizza man.

But first, he said, he had to get a little work done.

So, he took Carson into his office with him under the pretense of seeing how well the new pup would behave while work was being done.

While I played with Cooper in the living room, he “worked” away.

But he finished this “work” very quickly.

He walked out with Carson in his arms, knelt in front of me, and said: “Cooper and Carson have something to ask you.”

The ring was affixed to Carson’s collar.

Of course, I said yes. I love that the special moment was just us and our pups.

Afterward, we sent a photo to his parents (who were also on the road home from Georgia, but left much later than we did).

I asked my parents to come over to have pizza and meet their new grandpup. When they arrived, we told them in person.

Everyone else followed after–I sent pictures out with the text message “Have I introduced you all to my FIANCE?!”

I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful weirdo.

P.S. This is already the best year of my life. But if you want to help make it even better, please pre-order Rogue Skies to help me achieve my dream of becoming a USA Today Bestselling Author! It’s just $0.99 for 25 sci-fi and fantasy books!

Amazon | Nook | Apple Books | Other retailers

Translations, Narrations, and Progress, Oh My!

Posted July 28, 2017 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, IRL / 0 Comments

Hello, friends!

I didn’t want another several months to go by without updating you on life and books and work and such.

SO. What have I been up to?

Writing Things:

  • Progress on Lady Pirates is slow… but it’s progress nonetheless! I’m doing my best to puzzle out the plot with the aid of a 5-subject notebook, and I’m sharing teasers from said progress over on Instagram:

  • I’ve also been doing a lot of research for this book… on everything from what pirates ate, to their officer rankings, to historical lady pirates like Anne Bonny

Book Things:

  • Translations of Threats of Sky and Sea are officially in the works! Look out for a Spanish edition first and an Italian translation after that. Other translations (hopefully!) to come!

Audiobook Things:

  • I’m finally wrapping up production in the next couple of weeks on the fabulous Elodie Nowodazkij’s One, Two, Three. It’s taken me a while to get this out after doing the narration of prequel One Dream Only (between bouts with depression and simply not having recording time/space), but I’m very excited that listeners will be able to see what happens to Elodie’s tortured ballerina Nata, who is fighting like hell after an accident that took both her father and (possibly) her ability to ever dance again.

  • Also wrapping very soon: production on S. Usher Evans’s Alliances (Book #2 in the Razia series). You may have noticed that I narrated Book 1, Double Life, and I’ve so enjoyed reuniting with Lyssa and other familiar characters in Evans’s sci-fi piracy world and I think listeners will love it as well!

Look out for both of these on Audible soon!

Life Things:

  • I visited my second state of the year! In a happy coincidence, I visited Wisconsin for some 4th of July fun the same weekend that my best friend since childhood moved to the state. We managed to meet up for an all-too-brief lunch, during which I got to meet her new baby.

  • I’ve also taken in a few more concert, theatre, and sporting events, like:
    • Pitbull/Enrique Iglesias
    • Miami Marlins baseball games
    • Dierks Bentley
    • Finding Neverland
    • Cirque du Soleil: Ovo

I’m in a good place these days and looking forward to seeing what else the year has to offer! What are you looking forward to?

Rip Van Winkle-ing

Posted December 28, 2015 by Jennifer Ellision in Author business, blog, IRL / 1 Comment

Rip Van Winkle-ing

You guys. What year is it? What day?

Just kidding, I know all of that, but with the activity around the past couple of weeks, I’ve barely used the internet. I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle, waking up after twenty years.

That’s because last week, I visited my best friend in Virginia. She and her fiance (who is also an friend from college), both graduated with their master’s degrees and decided to celebrate that, as well as their engagement with a party. It worked out to be something of a college reunion, and was a great time all around. While I was there, we also went to Top Golf (please build one in South Florida, powers that be) and visited a winery, which was fun despite the fact that I don’t drink wine ^_~.

VA collage

I was pretty sad to leave such good friends (and a respite from the heat!) behind, but as Christmas (which is what I celebrate) was approaching, I had to head back home, with a cold in tow, but nothing too crazy.

Izzy is doing much better, for which we’re all very grateful. My parents, the dogs, and I had a pretty quiet Christmas, but it was enjoyable nonetheless! Last year, our house was packed with 2 dogs, my parents, brother and I, my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and 3 cousins sleeping under the same roof. This year, my brother lives out in Colorado and the rest of the family couldn’t make the trip from North Carolina.

So the parents and I went to church on Christmas Eve, and then had dinner at a family friend’s. We had a relaxing Christmas morning. We opened gifts. (Some of my favorites are in the collage below). We Facetimed my brother. We went to Buca di Beppo and ate our weight in Italian deliciousness, and then came home and watched a movie. A different Christmas from what we’re used to, but a good one.

xmas collage

(Some of these photos originated as Snapchats. You can follow me as JenEllision ^_^)

And now, today, I’m getting back into the swing of things. I’ll be taking over the YA Book Lovers Winter Party at 4 PM EST. The event itself starts at 1:30, and there will be a ton of great giveaways and authors participating.

12370885_969227183168207_5463095003843620914_oScreen Shot 2015-12-28 at 11.13.05 AM

 

Other than that, I’m working on fulfilling my Patreon patron perks, and working on finishing production on an audiobook–my cold’s been fought back enough to get back to work on it, but not quite enough to put in the long hours I’d like to.

And, of course, I’m excited for Breathe In‘s release tomorrow! If you’ve pre-ordered, it will be on your Kindle shortly! And if not, feel free to jump on it! I’ll see you guys back here for a release day blog tomorrow. Consider Rip Van Winkle awake– alive and kicking. ^_~

Real Talk: On transparency, careers, and living your dream

Posted November 17, 2015 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, IRL / 0 Comments
Real Talk: On transparency, careers, and living your dream

  Transparency. It’s a hell of a thing. One scary hell of a thing. So it’s time for a little real talk when it comes to living your dream. …Or well…. living my dream. Hey. I said it was a hell of a thing. I did not say that it was a hell of a thing that I’ve done so well with lately. It used to be that I would blog about more than just news to do with my books. At the very least, I’d tell you guys what I’d been reading. But sometimes, I’d share what, in my publishing journey, was working. Or sometimes, I’d talk about what had been going on in my life. I look back through my more recent posts and it’s all exclamation points and excitement. And hey, don’t get me wrong… I am excited about those things, but they don’t exactly […]

My first school visit

My first school visit

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a high school book club, where the club read Threats of Sky and Sea this month. Equal parts nervous and elated, I left Day Job early and pulled up to a place that I don’t think I’ve been to since 2006– when I graduated from there. This was my first school visit and I tried to disregard the surrealism of the situation– along with the urge to cry out that “I DON’T EVEN GO HERE.” Not someone who is innately comfortable with attention, I was pretty dang nervous, but the informal setting quickly helped me relax. I’d estimate that about 20 students attended. We pulled together chairs in a loose circle around a table, and let the questions fly.   The school visit was off, and moving fast. A lot of questions that […]

Complicated thinkings.

Posted October 6, 2014 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, IRL / 0 Comments
Complicated thinkings.

I’m having a lot of them lately. Thoughts about motivation and perseverance. About time. And energy. About the things I love to do that engage my mind, about the social things I need to do to get outside my own head, and the things I love to do that… don’t engage my mind as much. About work– the day job and the author job. How one sometimes zaps me of energy for the other. About freedom. About traveling and new places and new things, and living somewhere new. I want to do it someday. Someday when I manage to make writing a full time gig. About change. Sometimes I feel stagnant. And then I look at the things I want to do– live somewhere totally new? Start over somewhere where I’ll have to make new friends? I’m shy. And I never […]