Jess Michaels | “What’s in a Name?”

Well, I’m back! But this time it’s under my other name. Yes, that’s right, I’m one of those schizophrenic authors who has two names (actually three if you count my real name, which I really should since if I don’t that’s kind of scary). You already met and talked to me as Jenna Petersen earlier this month.

Jenna writes historical romances for Avon. They are Regency-set and sensual. I hope they are also highly emotional and dark. That’s what I strive for, anyway, so if you like that sort of thing… well, look me up!

But Jess… ah, Jess. She’s a whole other beast. Yes, she still writes highly emotional and dark stories, but she crosses over that sensual line and into the erotic. So if you like your love scenes a bit more adventurous and detailed, but you still want a story in there, too, Jess might be your girl. Luckily, both my names have books out in the next two months (Seduction Is Forever in October from Jenna, Everything Forbidden in November from Jess).

It’s kind of weird being two (or three) people all at once. First off, there’s the name calling. Not that kind of name calling. I mean, remembering to answer to all my names at booksignings or conferences. Sometimes I start to get so turned around that I’ll answer to anything that sounds remotely like my name (Julie, Jenny, Bess, etc). There’s also the name signing. A few weeks ago I panicked because I realized I had signed an ARC of Everything Forbidden as Jenna Petersen instead of Jess Michaels. Does that make it a collectors item?

There are advantages to having different names, though. For one thing, you get to pick your name. Which you hardly ever get to do in real life. No one waits to name their child until they have a free will. Funny how that works. Also, there is the ‘putting on’ of a name. I think my “Jenna” personality is pretty much all the best things about my real personality, but I leave the not so nice things behind. So when you meet Jenna, you get the very best of me.

The process of picking a pen name can be quite arduous. I picked Jess Michaels because it combines a portion of my real name and my husband’s name. Jenna Petersen was harder. I actually spent quite a few days sending potential names back and forth with my agent, trying to find the one that fit best. Some of the rejects were Lanie Hayes (variations of my maternal grandmothers’ maiden names), Jess Petersen (too masculine) and about twenty more that I’ve blocked out entirely. But we settled on Jenna and I have grown accustomed to it over the past few years.

So what about you? If you could pick a new name for yourself, would you do it? How would you pick it? I’ll pick one commenter to win an Advanced Reader Copy of Everything Forbidden (and I’ll try to sign it with the RIGHT name this time).

http://www.jennapetersen.com/jess.htm

Jenna Petersen | In Search of A Topic!

When the fabulous ladies of Fresh Fiction contacted me and asked if I would guest blog today, my first reaction was to be excited. We’ve all met a few times and they are, of course, lovely and fabulous and always fun to hang out with. So now I’m hanging out with them in a virtual world.

My second reaction was to freak out because I realized I had no topic. I tried to sneakily ask for a topic, but was told that I could blog about ‘anything’! Oh boy! Anything. Which means I can blog about ANYTHING and that doesn’t narrow it down at all.

So I went out in search of a topic. I went blog hopping. Yes, this was a travesty. To have to hop from interesting blog to interesting blog, reading fabulous authors’ words about a variety of topics. Yeah. Poor me, right? But as great as it was, it didn’t help me at all. A lot of authors were talking about writing, which I’m always happy to talk about (after all, I run The Passionate Pen , but Fresh Fiction is more about readers and authors coming together and I didn’t think that writing about plotting or the industry of romance would fit very well. If I’m wrong, let me know, since Jess Michaels will be blogging here later this month. And I have some ‘influence’ over her. :)

But that still leaves me in a bit of a quandary. So I thought I’d tell you a bit about my summer. It’s August already, which just blows me away. This summer has flown by the same way it used to when I was a kid between school. You remember those summers, don’t you? When you felt like before the summer was started, it was already over and you were back to school?

That’s been this summer for me. And I blame it all on Fall. You see, I have two books out this Fall. In October, I’ll have Seduction Is Forever out as Jenna Petersen. This is the final book in the Lady Spies series, so I’m extra excited and nervous about it. I have enjoyed every moment of writing this series. I started out to write something fun and exciting and I ended up falling in love with my heroines. And lusting, just a little bit, over my heroes. When that happens, it’s just one of the best things for an author. So I hope you all will enjoy the end of the series.

And if that wasn’t enough to make the next few months fly by, then in November my alter-ego, Jess Michaels, will have her very first full-length erotic historical romance, Everything Forbidden. After writing a variety of novellas since my debut “Ancient Pleasures” in Secrets, Volume 11 in 2004, this is another thing that has me jumping out of my skin with excitement and pure nerves.

Add to that travel, my birthday (which was yesterday) and getting Lasik (on Wednesday of this week) and I am plain tuckered out and wondering what I’ll do with the last fleeting days of lazy warmth and fun in the sun.

Any suggestions? And what are YOU doing for YOUR summer?

I’m giving away an advanced copy of Everything Forbidden to one lucky person who comments on the blog or asks a question today!

Jenna Petersen