Rocking Around the Holidays with RockStarLit.com Authors
Hi everyone – welcome to our very first Rocking Around the Holidays. From now until December 23rd, we’re giving you the inside scoop and behind the scenes info on Rock Star Authors.
AND…
To celebrate the holiday season there’s a HUGE contest to go along with it – which includes 2 iPad Minis, signed books by all of the authors, gift cards galore and much, much more!
Behind the Scenes with Jillian Neal
When we finally figured out that we spent approximately 5 combined hours a year in our dining room and that I work approximately 60 hours a week, we ousted the dining table and that hideous china cabinet, circa 1972, that we’d inherited from Great Aunt Sue and turned the room into my office.
Always an avid reader, I knew that I wanted to fill my office with two things, books and words! I stocked the bookshelves with my very favorite works of literature. Everything from Kerouac to Rowling sit there, reticent, on my shelves reminding me that entire worlds reside between the covers of books. My favorite childhood novels stand proudly beside Colette, Austen, Bronte, and Chopin. I grew up with books. They raised me.
If you asked me what I absolutely cannot be without while I’m writing, I would immediately answer -- coffee! But, if I were being truthful, I do my best writing surrounded by words. I hung them on the walls, placed them on the shelves, and set them on my desk. My favorite quotes reside there with my favorite books, all containing the most magical entities on this planet – words!
Since I am a dealer of words in the Romantic genre, I needed my office to contain a few things that lend themselves to sexier thoughts. Candles, music, rose quartz crystals, and an entire chest full of my very favorite Romance novels all ground me in my love of love.
To me, my office is a place for my mind to play. It is the place where I’m granted the extreme privilege and honor of being able to bring my characters to life and to tell you their stories. My office pays homage to my craft. Writing is such a magical thing, and I honestly cannot believe that I am lucky enough to get to call myself a storyteller, a novelist, a writer.
A Look Inside Jillian’s Office
Holiday Cheer with Jillian Neal
Silly Holiday Tradition- I honestly do not know how this got started. I always prepare a huge Thanksgiving feast for our extended families. I love doing all of the cooking and selecting the perfect bird for our meal, and my boys always name our turkey! Our Thanksgiving turkeys don’t get just any name. No, they are always named after a character on… The Brady Bunch! We’ve always loved watching the Bradys and for some reason that’s where they get the names. Last year, we ate “Alice.” The year before that it was “Cousin Oliver,” and this year, we consumed “Brady” due to the large size of this year’s turkey. .
Favorite Holiday Cocktail-
Champagne is always my favorite drink, no matter the occasion. Last year at my husband’s company Christmas party, they served a mixed champagne drink with cranberry juice that was outstanding.
Do You Prefer a Snowy or Tropical Holiday?
Oh my goodness, I hate snow! I am a warm weather girl. My dream is to celebrate Christmas, at some point, in Hawaii where we can build a sandman on the beach instead of a snowman!
Favorite Holiday Movie
I would be hard-pressed to choose between “A Christmas Story” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I love them both! I’m also a huge “A Charlie Brown Christmas” fan.
Traditional Holiday Experience That I Don’t Understand
I have to tell you I really do not get the “Elf on the Shelf” deal. Thankfully, my boys were a little too old for it when it got really popular. I don’t understand it. Why are parents willingly agreeing to move the thing every night between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is the busiest time of any parent’s year? And why on earth would you make “elf messes” that you then have to clean up? And the thing is kind of creepy looking. I think it would wig me out to have it up around my house staring at me through the holiday season.
Follow Along with Rocking the Holidays tomorrow, December 7th where author Amber Lin will be featured on the sites listed below, plus there will be ways to enter the contest daily!
About Jillian Neal
Jillian Neal is a Romance writer with a passion for passion who pens strong, character driven novels, told from the male perspective. Her guys aren’t afraid to let us inside their minds or inside their bedrooms. They’re hot on the trail of a sinister criminal organization when they’re not burning up the bed sheets.
She’s a self-proclaimed ‘Southern girl with a sassy mouth.’ Her coffee addiction is barely legal, and she’s most often running around with her hair and her pen on fire! She's full of smarts, sass, and sizzle and that's a lot to get into barely five feet of girl with her head always in the clouds.
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