Janet B. Taylor's Blog

Hey ya’ll!

First…a plethora of smooches to Bridget and Kristin for having me on their phenomenal Bookstagram Tour!!!

Aaaanddd.. Because I love you guys and you are SOO amazing…I thought I’d give you a special treat….a peek inside ‘SPARKS OF LIGHT’!

In this chapter, (Ch. 5) Hope, Collum, Phoebe, Doug, Mac and Moira are all waaaay up in the mountains at the “Highland Games.” The guys are looking all manly in their kilts and Hope, who hasn’t seen or heard from Bran in nearly two months, is missing him really bad!! Enter Doug and Phoebe and their little devious minds…and just GUESS who “happens” to  show up.

This scene begins right after Hope firsts spots Bran…..

Enjoy!

Download [373.83 KB]

Hey ya’!!ll

A long time ago, I promised to only contact you when I had some really cool news, and OH BOY, do I!!

First of all, the gorgeous hardbacks for Book II of “INTO THE DIM” have arrived!! WOOO!

Say hello to “SPARKS OF LIGHT,”coming August 1st, 2017!!! (For Pre-Orders, Click HERE!)

I am in awe of the job Houghton Mifflin has done on this incredible cover (omg, that embossed title!) And the book itself is gold-marbled, just like DIM is marbled in silver!

My second bit of news is that I am starting to schedule all Author Appearances for the school year, 2017-2018!!!

 

If you are interested in having me for an author appearance at your school….or if you know of any teachers or librarians who might be looking for a fun and informative visit for their school, please CLICK HERE FOR AUTHOR VISIT INFO!

I also do writing workshops for kids or adults.   If you are interested, please comment, fill in the contact form below, and/or email me at Janet@JanetBTaylor.com for details on an author visit to your school or organization.

Name: *

Email Address: *


Subject: *


Message: *

Or contact me on Twitter Instagram or Facebook, I’d love to hear from you!

Hi ya’ll!

Thank you soo much for signing up for my website news!!

You may remember, a while back I mentioned that you won’t hear from me unless I have some really cool news to share.

Weeellll…..

I am thrilled to announce that we have a new cover for Book II of #IntoTheDim!!

Please allow me introduce you to:

SPARKS OF LIGHT!!!

SPARKS OF LIGHT

by Janet B. Taylor
Release date: August 1, 2017
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780544609570

About the Book

‘SPARKS OF LIGHT’—–For the first time in her life, Hope Walton has friends, a (maybe) boyfriend, and she’s a Viator, a member of a long line of time-traveling ancestors. When the Viators learn of a plot to steal a dangerous device from the inventor Nikola Tesla, only a race into the past can save the natural timeline from utter destruction. Navigating the often-treacherous glitterati of 1895 New York City, Hope and her crew discover that among high society, the Gilded Age is as deadly as it is beautiful.

In this sequel to the dazzling time-travel adventure, ‘Into the Dim’, sacrifice takes on a whole new meaning as Hope and Bran struggle to determine where—or when–they truly belong.

AND….if you’re interested in getting a copy of the ARC for #SparksOfLight when it becomes available….click below for the awesome #giveaway over at the fabulous

Young Adult Books Central website!! 

And cause I’m so, SO grateful to all of you, we are also releasing the brand-spanking new cover for the paperback of #IntoTheDim!!!

What do you think of it, and the cover for Sparks of Light??

Hey ya’ll!

So, as I promised, you won’t hear from me often, only when I have super-cool news to share. (Psst. I do!)

INTO THE DIM LAUNCH PARTY!!!!!!!!

We finally have all the details settled for the IntoTheDim Launch Party! And IT….is gonna be EPIC, you guys! It all takes place at the Little Rock, AR Barnes & Noble, Sat. March 12th from 2-4pm!!!!!

NOT only will there be tons of goodies like:

 Snacks
Swag
Scottish Games
FREE Medieval Hair Braiding
Book signing and (short, I promise) author talk
Drawings for fabulous prizes like Nonius Stone necklaces and FREE signed copies of Into The Dim, etc…

We are also honored to announce four special GUESTS STARS!

That’s right, folks! Appearing for one-night (well, day)-only: the stars of Into The Dim…. HOPE, BRAN, PHOEBE & COLLUM will be in attendance at Barnes & Noble, wandering around the store, costumed and IN CHARACTER to answer all your #IntoTheDim questions!

So come on down! Just follow the haunting strains of the actual, world-renowned BAGPIPER!!!!!

And if you live too far away to attend, follow us on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook as we LIVE-tweet all the goings on at #IntoTheDimLaunch

 

My wonderful publishers have created a GORGEOUS new site where you can read up on all things DIM-related. You can learn a bit more about Hope and the gang, see which events I’ll be appearing at this spring, and even read the first few chapters for FREE! Simply click on the #IntoTheDim image below and poof! You’re there!

 

Thank you all so much for entering the #INTOTHEDIM ARC + SWAG GIVEAWAY!!!

It just means the world to me that you want to hear upcoming news about INTO THE DIM, *wipes away tears* which will be out March 1st!! That seems like a long time, I know, but….it’s only a little over THREE MONTHS!

And now…without further ado…. The #Winner of the #INTOTHEDIM ARC + SWAG GIVEAWAY IS……….

Jessica Reid!!!

CONGRATULATIONS, Jessica!!!!

I will be sending you an #ARC of Into The Dim, and a wicked cool #Swag package!

 

BTW–I used Random Name Picker, and entered all those who subscribed to the email list, and everyone who commented as well, so it would be good and fair!!

(And remember, you won’t hear from me often. Only when I have BIG news, or…maybe a little bit later on…another {ahem} giveaway… *tries to waggle eyebrows like Tyrion* *fails*)

Once again, I just want to say how very, very grateful I am that you guys care about my little book.

I love you all!! 

 

Woke up this morning feeling an urge to #Giveaway an ARC + SWAG pack for:
INTO THE DIM!

1st PRIZE: ARC of INTO THE DIM + SWAG!!
2nd PRIZE: AWESOME SWAG PACK!!

I thought to myself:”Hmm, why not ask folks to subscribe to your sad, lonely little newsletter and have a drawing for the ARC and/or some of your cool Swag at the same time??”

Dude, I’m a TERRIBLE blogger. My poor little website is soo neglected, she–(Oh yeah, my website is a girl, btw)–anyway…She needs some company!

So, if you feel like subscribing to my newsletter (Little box on Right side of page), I solemnly swear to send it out VERY RARELY, and only if I  have really BIG news!! AND you’ll be entered to win the INTO THE DIM giveaway!!! 

INTERNATIONAL is A-OK!! 
Giveaway ends at midnight on 11/20/2015 and WINNERS will be announced at noon on 11/22!!

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Food for thought?

Comment below for an extra entry by answering this question…..

Who would win in a face-off queen contest between Cersei Lannister & Eleanor of Aquitaine???

 

 

 

***YA ONLY PLEASE!!!***

I am so psyched to be a Pitch Wars mentor for the very first time! This is especially poignant for me, because in 2013, my fabulous Mentor, Heather Webb, and I “won” Pitch Wars. Here is our story!

I believe Pitch Wars is the best writing contest out there. It’s a chance to get your work in front of some of the best agents in the business. Along the way, you’ll meet amazing writing people who–if you’re lucky–will end up as some of the best friends you’ll ever have! And remember…this is YOUR chance to introduce your baby to the world!!!

Why pick me, you ask? For 3 GREAT reasons… You see, there is no   me . There is only   WE . 

That’s right! I am one-third of a 3-person team of “Sweet 16″ mentors!! And all three of us will debut on March 1st, 2016!! 

Heretofore known as #TeamMarch1st, may I present:

Click on Image to visit Kathryn’s PitchWars bio

Kathryn Purdie (BURNING GLASS, Harper Collins)

 

Click on image to visit Shannon’s PitchWars bio

Shannon Parker (THE GIRL WHO FELL, Simon Pulse)

 

See Janet’s bio below

and me, Janet B. Taylor (INTO THE DIM, HMHKids)

We are a three-person team of mentor love. We will love you up, polish you till you’re shiny as a {something clever here} and send you off to that agent round happy and confident!

What we’re looking for?? (YA Only!! See specifics below!)

First and foremost, we want a manuscript that takes us away from this world to places we’ve never been. We see enough of this world every single day. We want to disappear into your characters’ lives. To visualize your new world, this different place, through their eyes.


CLEAN, SHARP, ENGAGING writing, with a fantastic voice. Everything depends on the writing. If we get a query that makes us go… “Woaw!”  Dude…you are SO in. Just make sure that your pages match the hard, careful work you’ve done on your query! We mentors have ALL experienced that ourselves, in the beginning. And we can tell you from experience…you want to make sure your last chapter is as clean as the first. 


As most of the other Mentors have no doubt mentioned…VOICE, VOICE, VOICE! You can teach grammar, structure, plotting, pacing, scene building, etc. Voice is all you. Knock us on our butts with your unique voice. Pull us in and keep us there. That’s what we look for when buying books, don’t you? 


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Alternate History (seeing a theme here?) Janet is a MAJOR Anglophile and history nerd.) And um…TIME TRAVEL…hello!! Think: Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, Pierce Brown, Michael Buckley, Renee Ahdieh, Kerstin Gier, Rysa Walker, Robin LaFevers. 


***We will only consider VERY specific YA Contemp. Fresh and diverse. Chant with us: Fresh & Diverse, Fresh & Diverse! (One more for good measure: Fresh & Diverse!) Our preference is YA fantasy/SciFi so if you pitch us your Contemp we need the writing & voice to transport us to an evocative setting with the dearest of dear characters. Our dream Contemp. would have a main character who’s all heart. She needs to be fun, cool, well-liked, she may even be popular. She helps people. She is kind and loyal. The fact that she might be overweight has no bearing on the story whatsoever. THAT would catch our interest SO fast. We want a girl who is satisfied with her life just the way SHE IS. We need so much more of that in fiction! For gritty, dark, realistic Contemporary you’d do better to pitch some of the other phenomenal Mentors who are looking for exactly that type of story.




OMG–We LOVE funny! Make us laugh. And if you make us cry, as well? THAT is a gold star for you!


Last thought, We promise…Anything set in or around a castle??? We are SO your girls!

Janet’s Bio is below!!

Visit Kathryn’s bio HERE!

Visit Shannon’s bio HERE!

Again now, why would I want to submit to YOU, Janet?

That’s a great question. When there are SO many other, more experienced mentors, why submit to me? Well….For one, I’ve sat where you’re sitting right now. I’ve BEEN there, baby. You want it so bad you can taste it, yeah? Well, I felt the very same way.

I came up through the ranks. No MFA from an Ivy League Uni here, though I have SO much respect for those folks who battled it out to get those advanced degrees!! Instead, I’m just one of those working girls who stood up one day and said, “I think I’m going to write a book.” And guess what? I did. Now, that one was a terrible, terrible book. But afterward, I began to study. To hone my craft. To study those who know way, WAY more about this than I ever will.  I was also fortunate enough to work with so many amazing authors who taught me a million things. I’ve now worked with many other authors, helping polish and edit their work!

Thanks to Pitch Wars 2013, I signed with my dream agent, rock-star Mollie Glick. (And umm…she’s also an agent-judge sooo… just sayin’).  We worked on (grueling, back-breaking) edits for a good long while. Then–in Oct of 2014–we went out on submission. In a little over two weeks, we went to auction, landing a two-book deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for my YA Adventure/Time Travel series!!

Book one–INTO THE DIM–debuts March 1st, 2016. (Pardon me, gotta squee here for JUST a sec…) K..I’m back.

Yep. It’s a cliche, I know. But today, after my daily gawp at the new tweaks on my book cover, with its lovely snowy self, I started jonesing hard for winter. So–naturally–I took it to Pinterest, and happened upon this photo.

You just went “ahhhhh” didn’t you? I know I did.

This is the Christmas Market in Rothenburg Germany. I’ve been to Rothenburg, though it was fall. It is a gorgeous, perfectly-preserved walled, medieval town. (Obviously, I fell in total and complete love.)But OHHH how magical and wondrous it would be to visit at Christmas. I’ve put that on my bucket list…#6 European Christmas Market Tour.

After seeing this…I started deeply resenting hot. Like…VIOLENT HATRED for anything heat-related.

Of course, there is ‘good’ hot and ‘bad’ hot.

Examples of ‘good’ hot include:

I, however, am more inclined to experience our delightful Arkansas summers in this manner:

Since, as a writer, I generally stay indoors as much as humanly possible, tending to sizzle when struck by sunlight…

The rest of my evening will consist of staring at lovely snowscapes, hoping they will follow me into my dreams.

COME ON, Winter!!!

Besides…

 

Hi guys!!

I am SO psyched (and honored) to announce my very first public ‘speaking’ appearance as a debut novelist!!

I’ll be appearing at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Writing Conference @DFWCON on July 24th-26th, at the beautiful Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Tx. Along with some of the finest new YA authors in the biz–like Julie Murphy (DUMPLIN) & Lindsay Cummings (MURDER COMPLEX) I’ll be helping out on several workshops and panels.

DFWcon is my home con. I’ve been going there as an attendee for years, and besides being a MAJOR writing conference, it’s also where I’ve made some of my best, closest writing buds. If you’re looking for a fantastic place to improve your writing skills, OR you’re ready to sign that fabulous, dream agent, THIS is the place to be! 15 amazing agents and editors will be taking pitch sessions, looking for the next new fabulous talent! (Maybe that’s YOU!!)

Check it out!!

And come join me and tons of other amazing authors, agents and industry professionals for a weekend of splendiferous writing fun!

 

There aren’t many times in a person’s life when a dream comes true.

Oh, maybe you occasionally wish for this or that to happen, and when it does you think: “Well, that’s nice, isn’t it?”

But I’m talking about the realization of an actual, honest-to-God, lifelong Dream. Come. True. 

Today, that happened to me. Today I get to present the unbelievably gorgeous cover of my book to the world. It took a lot of blood, a ton of sweat (ick) and an entire ocean of tears to get to this point in my life, and I hope you love it as much as I do!!

So…without any more of my yapping… Here it is. The official cover for INTO THE DIM! (Debuting 3/1/2016 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.)

 

Thank you so much to CJ Redwine at YABooksCentral for hosting the reveal! Visit them HERE to enter the fabulous GIVEAWAY!!

SIGHHHHHHHHH……..

The first time I saw this image, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. I think…I THINK my heart stopped beating for a bit. My husband quietly asked if perhaps I needed CPR? The way phenomenal cover artist, Michael Heath, captured MY main character and her struggle just blew my brains out my ears.

Only secrets from her past can save her future.

The “homeschooled girl” in a small town, Hope Walton’s crippling phobias don’t exactly don’t endear her to her adoptive dad’s perfectly blond, perfectly southern family. But when her mother is killed in a natural disaster thousands of miles from home, Hope’s secluded world crumbles. After an aunt she’s never met invites her to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers, who is trapped in the twelfth century during the age of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Now Hope must conquer her fears and travel back in time to rescue her mother before she’s lost for good. Along the way, she’ll discover more family secrets, and a mysterious boy who could be vital to setting her mother free . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.

Addictive and rich with historical detail, Into the Dim is an Outlander for teens, and an unlikely heroine’s story of adventure, sacrifice, and first love in a high-stakes race against time itself.

Advance Praise for INTO THE DIM

“[I]NTO THE DIM is a time-travel adventure that will leave readers breathless.  Janet Taylor has woven a story that will capture adventure seekers and romance lovers and pull them along for the ride.“— Joelle Charbonneau – New York Times Best Selling author of THE TESTING trilogy

“[J]anet B Taylor’s INTO THE DIM is one truly enjoyable read. A fast-paced, time-travel adventure with rogue Tesla science and Middle Ages history, it will make you want to jump back into the English court, after a proper round of smallpox and typhoid vaccines, of course.” —Kendare Blake, author of ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD

“[J]anet B. Taylor’s INTO THE DIM shines bright.  This debut time travel novel captures the imagination and takes the reader on a fascinating journey to 12th century England, deftly weaving historical characters like Eleanor of Aquitaine and Thomas Becket into the drama.  Rich with period detail, and an intriguing lead character, this is YA science fiction at its best.”— Rysa Walker, Bestselling author of THE CHRONOS FILES

“[S]cience, historical fantasy, time travel adventure, magic gemstones, star-crossed loves, a quest of the heart, and the constant threat of impending doom…Janet Taylor’s INTO THE DIM checks all my must-have boxes!” —Alethea Kontis, author of THE WOODCUTTER SERIES