Blog Tour: Last Call by Jennifer Schmidt Guest Post and Giveaway

Hey people, I'm here on another great tour! If you guys would just refresh your memory, you'd remember that I posted a review of this book a couple weeks ago! I'm so happy to say that we have the very gracious author of Last Call today on my blog. I'm gonna stop rambling and let Ms Jennifer Schmidt take it from here...

I felt like I was about to jump out of an airplane without a parachute. Mind you, jumping out of a plane with a parachute isn’t something I would do either. Okay, I’m contemplating it for my 30^th birthday, but I have a little over three years to build my courage for that one. Courage is hiding at the mere thought of it at the moment.

Standing on the edge, free falling into the wide open space below me is how I felt when I decided to suck up my anxiety and doubt and enter a contest for a publishing contract. I never actually thought I had a hope in hell of winning; I was just doing it to basically shut everyone up around me that pushed me to do it.

Imagine my surprise when Last Call won TWCS Publishing House 2010 Best Romance entry. I think my jaw actually hit the floor. And then I was screaming - my children didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at my emotional outburst. I won a PUBLISHING CONTRACT! The excitement last about three minutes and then anxiety snuck up on me again.

Wait. I won a publishing contract. A. Publishing. Contract. Holy crap this meant I was going to have a book! A real freaking book with pages and my name on the cover and author biographies and…people were going to read it.

Cue panic attack number one. I was terrified. I suddenly realized my work, with my real name on and not just a faux pen name, was going to be out there for anyone to get their hands on. Did I want to publish? Hell, yes. It had been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember. Did I want people to know I wrote it? Not a chance. Hmmm do you see the potential problem I faced?

Yes, I know you’re thinking, Jennifer, yes you could have hid behind a pen name and no one would have been the wiser. True. But no, not true. My family, the family that pushed me to do this, can’t keep anything to themselves (sorry, I love you all but it’s true) and they would have told the world it was me anyway.  A pen name would not have saved me.

People reading my book and knowing it was me was the problem I had. That was the cause of my anxiety and panic attacks even before I signed the contract. What if I sucked? What if everyone thought it was amateur crap? I had written things before and posted them online but I didn’t care then because no one knew it was me. This… Wow, this was something bigger. Much bigger. Was I ready for it?

I honestly don’t remember how long I held onto the contract before I sent it back signed. It could have been hours, days, weeks, months. Okay, it wasn’t months I know that, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t weeks, and I know it was longer than a few hours. I didn’t sign it right away, fear held me back. Until one very bossy, very pushy man threatened to kick my ass if I didn’t do it. So I did.

I cannot even explain all the emotions I was feeling as I signed my very first book contract. I was scared, nervous, obviously anxious, excited and extremely nauseous. But swallowing all that fear and going for it was also very empowering. I did this. I wrote a book a publisher wanted.  What a rush that was! And it has been so amazing so far.

Yes, I still feel nervous and everything else. (You should have seen me on PUB Day when Last Call was released I was shaking!) And I obviously still care what people think about my books because let’s face it, the readers are the sellers. Sure it would be awesome to sell a bunch of books, have everyone love it, tell their friends and before you know it I’m a hit. Realistic? Probably not. A fantastic dream to have? Definitely.  But I’ve also come to realize that I’m doing this for me, because it’s been something I’ve wanted to do since I learned to read. And at 26, to be able to say I accomplished my biggest goal, well that’s priceless. 

And now we all know how Last Call was published! Congratulations Ms. Jennifer Schmidt! Your book definitely deserves to be published. And it is really nice getting to know more about you. I hope to read more from you!

Author: Jennifer Schmidt

Category: Romance

Publication date: Sep 29, 2011

Pages: 234

ISBN (paper): 978-1-61213-064-4

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-61213-065-1

You can read my review for this book in here!

Last Call

More About the Author:

Jennifer Schmidt wrote her first novel at the age of 15. Six hundred hand written pages later it was put away and forgotten about. It wasn’t until she found an online writing community that she took the first step and, hiding behind a penname posted her work. After some persuasion from family and friends, Jennifer shed the penname and entered the 2010 TWCS Original Fiction Contest and won for best romance. 

After moving and living in a couple of different cities around the Country, Jennifer came back home to Ashern, Manitoba where she lives with her two young sons, Hayden and Nicholas.

Where to buy:

The Writer's Coffee Shop (paperback & eBook) http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/publishinghouse/books/detail/41

Amazon US
  http://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-ebook/dp/B005QQ3QX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318801970&sr=8-1

Amazon UK
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Call-ebook/dp/B005QQ3QX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318802006&sr=8-1

Amazon DE
http://www.amazon.de/Last-Call-ebook/dp/B005QQ3QX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318802037&sr=8-1

Amazon FR
http://www.amazon.fr/Last-Call-ebook/dp/B005QQ3QX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318802062&sr=8-1


Follow this Tour:

Oct. 18 Review, Interview, and Giveaway at She Who Blogs Behind the Rows

Oct. 19 Guest Post and Giveway at Tyra's Book Addiction 

Oct. 20 Guest Post and Giveaway at Journey with Books

Oct. 21 Guest Post and Giveaway at Books, Biscuits and Tea 

Oct. 24 Review, Guest Post and Giveaway at Book Briefs

Oct. 25 DOUBLE THE FUN!!

 Review, Interview, and Giveaway at What's Beyond Forks?

Review and Interview at Clever Copywriting

Oct. 26 Guest Post and Giveaway at Love of Books

Oct. 27 DOUBLE THE FUN!!

 Guest Post and Giveaway at The Bo0ki3 

Review, Guest Post, Interview, and Giveaway at SOS Aloha

Oct. 28 Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway at I Loves to Read