Jenn Gott's Blog

What I’m Writing: Hopefuls Christmas special novella
What I’m Reading: Dances by Nicole Cuffy and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
What I’m Loving: Dorfromantik!! I’m playing so much I even play it in my dreams.

Oof, this spring has been something else.

I’m not going to get into details, but April and the beginning of May were… a lot. A few very stressy situations going on, lots of anxiety messing with my concentration, boatloads of uncertainty making it impossible to plan.

It’s basically se...

Hey, friends! Just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be appearing on a panel this Saturday, March 25, as part of the Storycrafting Sessions conference on Drafting!

This is a free event held over Zoom and Discord, where we’ll be chatting with a bunch of writers and breaking down different elements of writing craft.

I’ll be part of the “Crafting a Scene with 5+ Characters” panel at 4pm Eastern time, appearing alongside Kaki Olsen, Caitlin Marceau, Neve Maslakovic, and our moderator, Mar Vinc...

What I’m Writing: Beacons 5 and 6
What I’m Reading: If, Then by Kate Hope Day (a re-read)
What I’m Loving: Steampunk music! Especially Alice Strange/Alice’s Night Circus, The Dolls of New Albion, Vagabond Opera

WIP Excerpt

It was not immodest to say that he was one of the handsomest men in the room. People had remarked on Daridon’s fine looks since he was a boy, and he’d never had difficultly finding dance partners. Besides, he had eyes; there were many fine men and women in attendance that eve...

What I’m Writing: The final Beacons books!
What I’m Reading: Destroyer by Meg Smitherman and The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
What I’m Loving: Lego City: Undercover on the Switch (I know it’s so old, but I just got it and its giving me LIFE)

Seasonal WIP Excerpt

And then, without preamble, Montfort was besieged by snow.

It swept in from the north, pummeling first the plains and then the farmers’ fields. Next came the outer slopes of the city itself, chilling winds trailing ribbons of flakes thro...

What I’m Writing: A Hopefuls holiday special
What I’m Reading: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
What I’m Loving: Still listening to Taylor Swift’s Midnights on a near-endless loop

What a month.

It started off lovely enough: the excitement in the air for NaNoWriMo, followed quickly by my birthday. Then we entered into election day, which did not end up being the complete disaster it could have, but isn’t exactly great either, and is always stressful and often prolonged. (If you’ve never had ...

If you’ve spent any time online lately, I’m sure you’ve heard about Twitter’s impending (ongoing?) collapse.

I’m not going to get into it, except to say that while I have enjoyed Twitter I am not particularly saddened by this turn of events. HOWEVER, as a result, a lot of users are hurrying to create accounts on other social media platforms. Including me!

So here’s where you can find me now, in this time of waiting to see which platforms stick:

IG: @jenngottbooks
TikTok: @jenngottbooks
Mastodon:...

Twenty years ago today, I wrote the first 2,000 words of my first NaNoWriMo novel.

I participated in NaNo from 2002-2007, and then again in 2012, as well as several personal “off-season” NaNoWriMo-inspired writing marathons. And though I don’t technically join anymore, it was such an influential part of my early writing life that it felt wrong not to mark this occasion.

So today, let’s take a look at the biggest lessons I gained from the experience—and how it continues to shape me as a writer e...

Love the Hopefuls series? Want a FREE bonus short story, seeing Amy’s POV of the first time she and Jane meet in The Private Life of Jane Maxwell? Of course you do!

Starting today, all new newsletter subscribers will automatically receive a downloadable bonus chapter. Subscribe here, and get reading within minutes!

You can stay subscribed, and get quarterly updates with all the latest news and occasional bonus goody, or you can unsubscribe from the welcome email and just enjoy the story.

(Alread...

What I’m Writing: Bonus content for Hopefuls
What I’m Reading: Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
What I’m Loving: Only Murders in the Building—just finished the second season

First up: Thank you all so, so much for all the love and support you’ve been giving the launch of Janie One More Time! Seriously, I cannot even begin to express how pleased I am to see people so excited for this third book in the Hopefuls series.

If you haven’t picked it up yet, it’s available now at nearly every one of the st...

Ever since I published my first book, I’ve made some sort of dessert to celebrate a book launch.

I usually try to make it thematically appropriate. Sometimes that’s as simple as matching the color of the cover, à la the red velvet cake I had for Fixing Fate. For Janie One More Time, I wasn’t sure what to do—until Graeme realized that the perfect answer existed right in the book: the cupcakes Marie makes in chapter 11.

The trouble is, they didn’t actually exist. Until now.

Friends, this was the...