Good morning, I’m contemporary romance writer, Jennifer Hoopes. My first book, Her Cowboy’s Promise, released on 7/17/17 from Entangled Bliss. No two days as a writer are ever the same. Add in summer break with my two girls and well…
6:02am Wake up. Not voluntarily mind you, I happen to be the parent of a 4-year-old who’s bright eyed and bushy tailed every morning. I blame her father.
6:04am Coffee. Lots of it.
6:05am Ask bushy tailed child what she wants for breakfast. “Nothing”
6:06am Turn on local news and settle on couch to wake my neurons up
6:07am “I’m hungry.” “What do you want?” “Cheddar popcorn.” Readers, I gave her the popcorn.
6:10-7:20am Drink the caffeine. Scroll social media on my phone, mark urgent emails for when my brain is functioning at better capacity. Answer random questions from daughter, none of which are probably correct.
7:20am Wake up teenager for swim practice.
7:30am Do what I’m not supposed to do and read reviews. This time it didn’t backfire.
7:45am Load the girls up and drop off teen at the pool.
7:59am Trudge up to my office with coffee and a pop tart.
8:05am Check email again and respond to the most important or those I marked earlier. I save the fun ones for earned breaks.
8:20am Get lost in a rabbit hole of GIF’s for a blog post. Dimples anyone?
8:47 am 4-year-old whines her way up the stairs. The reason? Her tongue hurts. I examine the tongue, find nothing, and send her on her way. “But I love you.” My heart breaks and leads to an enthusiastic duet of ‘If You’re Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands.’
9:15am Finish two blog posts for release week. Check my to-do list and cry.
9:17am Open WIP. Stare at the words wondering how I thought being a writer actually meant writing.
9:45am Finish a sentence with a flourish. I’m killing this sprint. *checks word count, whimpers* 142 words. Seriously reconsiders my life plan.
9:47am Teen arrives home, stomps up the steps, mumbles about hard sets and goes into her room. I’ll see her again around noon where she’ll proceed to eat everything in the house with carbs.
9:50 am Back at the WIP and actually manage to hit my morning goal (note: I will hate it all tomorrow and probably delete)
10:13am Finicky cat decides it’s time for her daily love session.
10:13am three seconds later… Cat’s done as evidenced by the teeth marks in my hand.
10:20am Social media break. A few twitter likes/comments/retweets. Send my fun emails. Check to see if I forgot anything time sensitive on my To-Do list. Of course I have.
10:55am Whip out my monthly president’s message. I’ll reread it after lunch and probably discover it’s the same thing I wrote two months ago. My brain and creativity have broken up and I haven’t figure out what the correct grovel gift is.
11:00am Send emergency email to CP for thoughts. She responds and I thank my lucky stars she’s both a friend and colleague. Not to mention she’s bringing wine to conference.
11:02am Place order for SWAG for upcoming conference.
11:08am Crying echoes through the house as 4-year-old runs up the steps. I fully expect loss of limbs and a whole lot of blood based on the racket. She stops in front of me tears streaming down her face. “Sister says the cats don’t like me.” I take a deep breath, plan several ways I’ll be waking up my teenager tomorrow morning, none of which are probably legal, and hug my baby. “You’re sister’s lying, honey. The cats love you.” Okay, maybe now I’m lying, cause love might be a stretch, but still, it stops the tears. I promise her an Oreo at lunch if she lets me get a little more work in. She agrees, runs in her room, grabs a book and comes back in my office where she settles on the floor. My heart fills with joy.
11:09am She’s reading in a stage whisper, and I’m rolling my neck fighting the urge to turn around and tell her to go.
11:11am She’s done and headed back downstairs, her bag of coloring books and markers thumping behind her.
11:16am You guessed it. More requests for food. The teenager jumps in on this and wonders if I might make her something. *Silence* “Never mind” followed by grunts and grumbles which I’m sure include “she’s the favorite and you never do anything for me.”
11:30-12:30 It’s quiet. I’m writing all the words and pretending that absolute silence with a 4-year-old probably means nothing good. But I meet my daily word goal and have managed to knock off several time sensitive things from my list.
I call it a day. If I’m lucky and not exhausted, I’ll work again from about 7:30-9pm. Of course, when the school year’s in session, my days are much more productive (translation= more procrastination thrown in) and if I’m under deadline, stand back, cause no one’s eating or wearing clean clothes.
Thank you for having me here today and sharing a day in my summer writing life. Each one is different and brings its own set of challenges, but despite the joke earlier, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m humbled I get to share my stories with readers. Happy Reading!
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Her Cowboy’s Promise
By Jennifer Hoopes
Release date: July 17, 2017
Three years ago, artist Emily White’s grief and survivor’s guilt sent her to the small Wyoming town of Fly Creek. Since then, she’s kept her emotions safely tucked away—until she meets the new rancher at Sky Lake Dude Ranch. Stetson in hand, the gorgeous cowboy’s arrival in her store immediately shakes up her world.
Adam Conley is only in Fly Creek for as long as it takes to fulfill his promise to his late cousin. The small town brings up too many memories of the life he left behind years ago. He knows his task won’t be easy, but the last thing he expects is the instant attraction to the reason he’s in town. Emily is beautiful, vibrant, and completely off-limits. He’s there to keep his promise—not fall in love.
But Adam’s secret will crumble everything Emily’s life has revolved around.
