Writing – Kelly Jensen

2021: Stay True

January 4, 2021Leave a comment

Last year, I picked a simple theme to govern the months of 2020: Less is More. Did I know what we’d be facing? Nope. But my mindset of doing less served me well over the months we’ve spent in isolation.

This year, I’m picking an equally simple theme: Stay True.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.
Michell Obama

I spent a lot of energy last year, especially toward the end of summer, trying to pin down what I wanted with regards to my writing career. My goal this year is to not only stay true to what I want, but remember why I want it.

Continue reading →

The Things They Don’t Tell You

December 11, 2020December 11, 2020Leave a comment

As far as I know, there is no definitive manual on how to be an author. There are hundreds of books about the craft of writing and dozens of places to go for advice on how to write a good query letter and synopsis. You can take a course on everything from nailing that first line to marketing your backlist. But there are still surprises. There are aspects of being an author that you’ll only figure out after you’ve been doing it for a while.

It’s like raising a kid. You’ve heard a rumor you might be up at three in the morning cleaning pink vomit off the carpet on the stairs, but you didn’t think it’d happen until it does. There wasn’t really supposed to be pink vomit, was there? Not when no one had eaten anything pink.

This is my list of things I sort of (definitely) wish someone had told me.

Continue reading →

Let’s Connect is available for preorder!

August 18, 2020August 18, 2020Leave a comment

I wrote Let’s Connect for my newsletter subscribers. They’re an awesome bunch who keep opening emails from me, even when all I have to share is how much writing I haven’t been doing. I wanted to give them something new to read, something fun. So I decided to write a serial about the dating adventures of a 50-year-old book shop owner.

As an experiment, I’d call it a success. The response from my newsletter audience and reader group folks was super positive–and that was almost the best part. A weekly affirmation that, yes, I’ve still got what it takes to write something fun and coherent. With much of our lives being devoted to or deferred by the pandemic, it was lovely to be able to deliver and receive something light and fun.

It seemed only right that I make Let’s Connect available in a single edition for everyone else!

Continue reading →

LGTBQ+ Representation in Romance

June 1, 2020Leave a comment

This past Saturday, I participated in a panel on LGTBQ+ representation in romance with eight other authors. Join me, Jenn Burke, Nathan Burgoine, Sheri Lyn, Kristine Cayne, Adriana Herrera, J. Leigh Bailey, GB Gordon, and Keira Andrews as we discuss why we write queer romance, what we’d like to see more of in terms of representation, whether we like coming out stories, where we’d like our genre to go, and what our favorite books are!

This panel was a part of the Ottawa Romance Writers, Romancing the Capital online convention (2020). While you’re there, take a look at the many other great videos and panels devoted to all aspects of the romance genre.

Kelly’s Keepers

May 27, 2020May 27, 2020Leave a comment

Two years late is better than never, right? I finally have a reader group and I’m inviting you to join the fun!

Kelly’s Keepers

Kelly’s Keepers is a private group on Facebook, meaning while the group is visible to the public, the content is not. We can talk about anything in there. Well, almost anything.

What I’d like to talk about is books. Mine, yours, everyone else’s. But I’d also like to get to know my readers better. I enjoy interacting with readers on my personal timeline (and on Twitter), and the replies I get to my newsletters, but have long wanted a dedicated space where we could just hang out and talk about stuff that’s not necessarily related to my being an author.

So, expect gaming talk. Pictures of hiking trails (once they’re open again), only the new recipe successes (we’ll save the failures for Pinterest), and gardening. Or me complaining about having to mow again.

We’ll also have the book talk I mentioned earlier, and I’ll be posting more regular teasers from my WIPs. There will be giveaways, because we all love giveaways. And, right now, Keepers will get access to my new serial, Let’s Connect, a couple of days before newsletter subscribers.

Interested? I’d love to see you there.