Charlie, Charlie, are you here?

Hello Kittens!

As most of you know, I'm a giant horror fan. If you don't know that, I really need to work on this whole brand thing. Anyway, another thing I love is advanced movie screenings. When you mix the two together, you have one happy Jenna.

Last night, the two came together fantastically and I went and saw the advanced screening of THE GALLOWS. This name sound familiar from the "Charlie, Charlie, are you here?" viral video that went around a month or so ago. If you STILL don't know what I'm talking about, here is the trailer!

The evening started off with a little giveaway. Pro Tip: Always know a few little bits of trivia about the movie you're going to see. Most of the answers are in the trailer :) I won myself this sweet swag pack!

I LOVE the t-shirt!

Now, let us get to the goods. 

20 years after a tragic accident, a high school drama class is about to present the play that started it all...THE GALLOWS. 

Only they don't get to the play part. The night before the play is set to open, the star (Reese), his jock best buddy (Ryan) and his cheerleader girlfriend (Kassidy), break into the theater to destroy the set. Though this may seem like a dick move (and it kind of is) they have honorable intentions at heart. Reese is a miserable actor but unfortunately he's starring aside his crush, Pfeifer, the girl who brought the show back to life in the first place. Rather than bomb on opening night, Reese and his friends think Pfeifer will handle a broken set better than a bad show.

A few broken trees and a partially deconstructed hangman set (the Gallows, I guess) later, they hear a loud bang. Pfeifer shows up and is super upset that Reese would even consider damaging the set. While Reese chases after his sobbing lady love, Kassidy and Ryan soon discover they're locked in the school...and they're not alone.

Dun Dunn Dunnnnnn.

The rest of the movie is spent following the teens around as they taunt, and then flee, Charlie, our noose-wielding ghost.

While THE GALLOWS (TG) does nothing too original to earn it's shrieks, it earns them none the less. Whenever that white noise kicks in (ie: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY), you just know something scary is about to happen. A fair number of scenes had the camera staring into the dark, where sometimes a hangman's mask-wearing ghost lurked with his constantly-creaking noose. 

There's a tricky little twist at the end that I didn't see coming until it was thrown right in my face...and I'm usually pretty good at twists.

You will like (perhaps love) this flick if you: Are a horror buff in general, were even remotely involved with theater in high school,  or are afraid of hanging / the dark / heights. 

You won't like it if you: Are sick of found footage movies or get nauseous easily. 

Since I don't have a legit rating system, I"ll give this one a very solid 3.5/ 5.

Will you check out THE GALLOWS this weekend??

<3

It's Movie Time with Jenna!

Ello lovelies!


So life has been crazy. If you follow me on twitter (and if you don't, you should. I'm funny. Sometimes), you know that I recently had a baby! I'm going to do a big old post about my wonderful little peanut, Jasper, but here is a little snapshot.

I know all parents think their kid is the freaking cutest, but come on. Look at that little man. Ugh. Brb. I need to go kiss his tiny face.

*Smooch break*

Okay, I'm back. So even though I've been crazy busy, I've managed to fit in a few writing days. I'm working on a YA horror my agent and I brainstormed up one afternoon before the wee one made his appearance. Part of my drafting process is immersing myself in the genre - books, music, movies, etc. Needless to say, my 3 am feedings have gotten pretty freaky.

I thought it be fun to share some of the sweet movies I've seen...just in case you're a fellow horror buff :)

The first is IT FOLLOWS. Gah, this one was incredible. It is this muted, chill movie  some parts are so intense it's hard to watch without constantly looking over your shoulder. I love how it had no specific time era - it was a mash of the 70s to present day. Also, I really like the clam shell e-reader...if anyone is in the mood to invent something.

If you like horror comedies, then TUSK is for you. This one takes place in the motherland (Canada, obvs) and stars one of my faves, Justin Long. Haley Joel Osment is also in it. When I saw THE SIXTH SENSE for the first time, I stayed up reading my children's bible until 6 am.

TUSK is about a fella who does a podcast focusing on viral videos, weird stories, etc. When a lead falls through, he spends the night with a gentleman who tells him an interesting tale about a walrus. The rest is...well...I'll let you see for yourself.

Finally, we have WILLOW CREEK. If you grew up anywhere even remotely woodsy, you've probably heard of the Sasquatch (Bigfoot for all you city folk ;)  The story of the possibly carnivorous biped was my go-to campfire story. I scared a lot of kids, even when I was one myself. 

Anyhoo, the story of WC is told using found footage*. It follows a Bigfoot enthusiast who is determined to check out a famous Bigfoot sighting location. With his lovely girlfriend in tow, they take off into the woods to hopefully catch a glimpse themselves. 

While the majority of WC isn't scary, the last twenty minutes  is so suspenseful my jaw ached from clenching it. If you watch it, make sure you have a pillow (or baby) to hug when they get into the tent for the night. You'll know it when it happens.

Since WC is woefully gif-less, here's the trailer. I have no idea if the trailer will actually play or not.

Well, that's a wrap on my recommendations for the day. Hopefully you'll like those flicks as much as I did.

<3

** UNFRIENDED was another awesome found footage-style movie. Though it wasn't super scary, the style was refreshing.

Good Morning, Kittens!!


As you can tell, I'm completely dreadful at keeping my blog updated. I'll do better.  Anyhow, I'm blogging today for a very awesome, super fun reason!

This lovely lady is Marci Lyn Curtis, my agency sista-from-anotha-mista. You can learn all about her just below!

Bio:

Marci Curtis grew up in Northern California, where she went to college and met an amazing guy in a military uniform. Two college-aged kids and one dachshund later, she lives in Maryland, where she laughs too loudly and eats peanut butter off spoons. Her YA contemporary debut, The One Thing, comes out September 8^th, 2015 via Disney-Hyperion. Learn more about her at Marcilyncurtis.com.

Along with her bio, I sent Marci a couple interview questions to pick from, and here are the ones she chose.

Did you ever feel like giving up? 

I know this sounds strange, but no. The story had been picking at my brain for a year-plus before I started writing it. All I wanted was to get it down on paper and out of my head. Don’t get me wrong—I had a lot of doubts about what I’d actually do with it once it was finished. But when it came right down to it, I was a closet-writer and had nothing to lose, so I just went for it. 

Even when I started subbing it out to agents, I was like, Well, what’s the worst they can do? Reject it? I was lucky enough to nab Kathleen Rushall—the most enthusiastic and dedicated agent on the planet—lucky to land with the insanely brilliant Laura Schreiber at Disney-Hyperion. 

So I guess there’s a benefit to tripping and falling into the publishing world. I didn’t know enough about how things worked to even consider giving up. And luckily, I’m still pretty clueless. ;)

What is your favorite line/bit of dialogue?

There are a few lines toward the end of the story that I believe in strongly. They’re about the messy growth that occurs after tragedy strikes, about what happens to us when we weather through heartbreak and disaster: 

What was different about me wasn’t me: it was what I noticed. What I paid attention to. After all, circumstances don’t change us. They reveal us.

Awesome answers - and I totally echo that Kathleen is the greatest agent on the planet :D

Now, without further ado, here's the blurb for THE ONE THING. (I bet you thought it was going to be the cover....Patience, grasshopper)

BLURB: 

A soaring tale of life and love, of sacrifice and renewal, and learning to see people as they really are.

Maggie Sanders might be blind, but she won't invite anyone to her pity party. Ever since losing her sight six months ago, Maggie's rebellious streak has taken on a life of its own, culminating with an elaborate school prank. Maggie called it genius. The judge called it illegal.

Now Maggie has a probation officer. But she isn't interested in rehabilitation, not when she's still mourning the loss of her professional soccer dreams, and furious at her so-called friends, who lost interest in her as soon as she could no longer lead the team to victory.

When Maggie first meets Ben, she thinks she can add crazy to her list of problems. But the precocious ten-year-old isn't a hallucination. Maggie can actually see him. She immediately befriends the kid, desperate for any chance to see again.

It turns out Ben's older brother is Mason Milton, the ridiculously hot lead singer of Maggie's new favorite band. Music is the first thing that has made Maggie feel alive since losing her sight. But when she learns the real reason she can see Ben, Maggie must find the courage to face a once-unimaginable future...before she loses everything she has grown to love.

!!!!!!

Now, I'm lucky enough to have already started reading this, but once I saw the cover, I had overwhelming feelings of:

Okay, for reals now, here is the cover for Marci Lyn Curtis' YA contemporary, THE ONE THING.

ISN'T THAT BEAUTIFUL?!  I love the color scheme and font. The pink just jumps out at you and Marci's name looks FANTASTIC...it was born to be on covers :)

Now I'm sure you're wondering how you can add this beauty to your TBR lists and follow Marci, so here you go.

Website: http://marcilyncurtis.com/ 

Goodreads): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18369372-the-one-thing

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Marci_Curtis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcilyncurtis

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marcilyncurtis/the-one-thing/

If you're interested in a giveaway (and who isn't?), you can head here and enter!

http://marcilyncurtis.com/updates/ 

Happy Cover Reveal, Marci!!

777 Challenge

Good Morning, lovelies!


It's 777 Challenge time! As most of you know, the 777 challenge is one writer challenging another (or however many you'd like) to post seven lines of text, seven lines down, on the seventh page of a work in progress. 

I was tagged via facebook/gchat/DM/all the ways Rachel Simon (hi!) and I chat, so I'm tagging Amber Mauldin!

I'm going to do THE BONE TREE, since it's the best representation of where my head is at right now, and because I love it SO much.  It's a contemporary MG with a healthy dash of horror and a few sprinkles of adventure. I'd give you some comp titles, but they always make me feel dreadfully inadequate.

So, without further ado, here are 7 random lines.

(from pinterest)

Roman continues. “Yup. Anyways, Samuel spent night after night at Mary’s grave, crying and begging God to show him his wife.”

“Did God answer his prayers?” I try to remember my old Sunday school classes. I know people rose from the dead all the time, but I can’t remember if they roamed graveyards after or not.

“Someone did, but I don’t think it was God.” Roman walks in a slow circle around the tree. “On the fourth day Samuel found his wife, still dressed in the white gown she was married in, and later buried, in. Samuel scooped her up, but she was made of icy mist and nothing more."



Have a fabulous weekend <3

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love the fall. I love the colours, the crisp pumpkin everything-tinged air, and chunky sweaters.  But most of all, I love the movies. Here are a few of my favourite Halloween flicks, in gif form, naturally.

Since I'm Canadian, we have two super fab holidays in October; Thanksgiving AND Halloween. I know, turkey and candy in one month?? It's pretty awesome. 

Anyways, since October is the perfect month for spookiness, I thought I'd share a wee bit of fun news! THE MIDNIGHT SOCIETY, a fun new horror blog, held a flash fiction contest. All you had to do was write a story, 700 words or under, that has to do with a mailbox.

They announced the winners of the contest yesterday, and I won :D Check out this sweet badge I got.

I'm going to include my entry below, because if your phone is like mine, it takes forever to open new windows, but I really hope you'll go check out the other creepy entries. 

http://midnightsocietytales.com/2014/10/05/top-scare-flash-fiction-october/

Here's my entry to the contest. Since I'm know to be a little long-winded, I clocked in just under the 700 mark at 682.  Enjoy :)

An hour ago, I was tucked in bed and dreaming. Now I’m standing barefoot in a dark field. I knew this was going to happen. I am, after all, a legacy.

Mom has been grooming me for this sorority since I started my freshman year. Now the wait is over. All that stands in my way it tonight.

I’m surrounded by my fellow pledges and my future sorority sisters. The sisters hold flickering candles. The pledges and I blend into the blackness.

“Listen up, bitches.” Claudia, sorority president, stands on a makeshift podium. “The test is simple. At the end of the field is a mailbox. All you have to do is stick your arm inside for three minutes, and then you’re in.”

“That’s it?” A shadowed pledge asks.

“That’s it. The only catch is that you’re not allowed to scream.” Claudia scans the crowd. “Who’d like to start things off?”

I take a deep breath and step into the wavering light. “I will.”

“A legacy,” Claudia purrs. “Perfect. Come with me.”

I follow the girl into the inky depths until we stop at a rusted red and blue mailbox. It’s nothing special; it’s the kind that would stand on a busy street corner. It’s big enough for large parcels, or teeny sorority sisters. When my mom pledged, it was one of these bendy sisters that grabbed her hand and yanked it the second she slid it through the mail slot. But Mom didn’t scream and neither will I.

“I’m going to leave you alone now.” Claudia walks backward. “But I’ll be close enough to hear you yelp.”

Once I’m alone, I pull my foot back. If I can startle whoever is hiding in the lower compartment, I won’t be so scared. I let my foot fly and boot the mailbox.

Silence.

It was worth a shot.

I set the timer on my roommate’s dorky digital watch for three minutes. I clench my jaw and lift the mail slot. I slide my watch-less hand into the narrow gap and squeeze my eyes shut.

The air inside the mailbox is thick and humid. The hair on the back of my hand stands up and digs into my skin like tiny needles. I wiggle my fingers to let the hiding girl know I’m there. I nearly lose it when I graze a patch of coarse hair with the back of my hand.

Found you.

I crane my neck and look at my watch. Two minutes to go.  I nudge the girl’s head with my hand. She leans into my hand and a throaty sigh rumbles up the mailbox.

“What the hell?” I pull my hand back but the furry head follows.

Hot breath cascades over my palm. Chills erupt over my body and cover my limbs. I shiver but I don’t make a peep.

“You’re halfway there!” Claudia calls.

A warm, fleshy tongue drags across my palm. Saliva covers my hand like ooze. I flick it off and it tings against the medal siding.

They’re really going all out this year.

My timer beeps. One more minute.

Razor sharp teeth graze my thumb. I flinch and shove my hand into the corner of the mailbox. The mouth follows. The teeth trace my fingers and break the first layer of skin.

I wince but I don’t make a sound.

Canines dip into the flesh between my thumb and pointer finger. It hurts, but it’s not enough to make me fail. The tongue laps at warm beads of blood. Another sound, this one more like a growl, makes the entire mailbox vibrate.

Thirty seconds.

Finally, the monstrous head pulls back. I smile and let out a deep breath. I did it.

Suddenly, vise-like jaws clamp around my wrist and yank my entire arm through the slot. Skin pushes up my forearm like a bunched sleeve.

Whatever lurks in the mailbox smashes my arm against the side of the opening. Bone snaps. The world starts to spin. The teeth rip into the soft flesh of my bicep. Teeth gnash. It’s tongue slurps.

My watch beeps.

I scream. 

This is my Confession (I hope you sang that in Usher's velvety voice)

I have a confession to make.

Until last night, I didn't like my book.

Some of you don't even know that I have a book published. I do. It came out last year. It's a ghost story (horror novel) called SECOND HAND LACE.  I don't really talk about it. I never handed it out to reviewers or did a big give away. I never blog toured and I hardly posted about it on any sort of social media.

Why? Because I am, or at least was embarrassed about it.

Let me hit you with a little back story. SHL was the first thing I'd ever written. After query failing, I hit up a few small presses and by some miracle it sold to the lovely folks at Turquoise Morning Press. I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe that someone actually wanted my book. I told everyone and anyone who would listen about it. In the near-year it took to release, I kept writing.  I got better (as one tends to do with a lot of practice), and by the time SHL came out I had two new novels under my belt.

As soon as the SHL paperbacks came in, I freaked out. I hugged them and kissed them and built a tiny book fort. I remember sitting down and opening a copy for the first time. I remember reading it and my smile slowly slipped away.

Did I always use this many adverbs?

Why were the sentences so clunky?

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DIALOGUE TAGS??


I don't think I made it more than a few chapters in before I put it down. I haven't picked it up since.
I still smiled when people complimented me but I shrugged when countless people asked where they could get a copy. I was an ungrateful little brat because I didn't think it was good enough and if I didn't want to read it, why would anyone else?


Anyways, last week I got an e-mail from my publisher. They're switching over to a more romance focused business model and said we could talk to them about anything we thought didn't fit the new mould (my spellcheck is telling me mold isn't a word. Am I crazy?) My first thought was "Thank God. Maybe one day I can rewrite it and fix that one typo / dialogue tags, etc."

(I know what you're thinking, "What a spoiled bitch." Bear with me.)



Anyway, last night a co-worker of mine blushed adorably and said she'd read the copy of THE BONE TREE (the book of my heart) I had accidentally left saved on the work computer. She loved it. She said, and I quote, "I could actually see everything in my head. That's never happened to me before." She went on about how awesome I was and totally pumped up my tires. I thanked her but all along I was thinking, "I wish she read the revised version. It's so much better than the original. I. Am. So. Embarrassed."



Like....What the actual fuck. I just blabbed onto my agent about how much I love TBT and a week later I'm embarrassed about it because I made some minor changes? That same week I got excited about potentially pulling my book so I could rewrite it...even though I have six other things on the go. And I don't write adult anymore. And I have zero interested in self-publishing it. The train of thoughts that came after really hit me upside the head. I sat down and thought about all I had accomplished and went to bed thinking, "How dare I??"


How dare I negate the two solid years of hard work I poured into SHL. How could I forget the excitement that came with that publishing offer?? How could I dream of pulling it off the self because it isn't perfect? How could I ignore compliments about my favourite book because I changed a half a dozen sentences?? Why wasn't anything I did good enough?? And when would it be??


I always used to tell myself I felt this way about SHL because I'm a better writer now. What I didn't understand was improving doesn't mean your past work sucks. All the hard work I put into SHL doesn't mean anything less just because I have an agent or I can control my dialogue tags.

This morning, I woke up with a smile on my face. I grabbed my copy of SHL and hugged it. I'm making book marks and handing them out. I'm sending my great aunts their copies with pride.

Maybe you're like me and think the work you did last year/month/week/night isn't good enough. But it is. It is great. It is worth a read. You should be proud.



Now here's a new confession. My name is Jenna Lehne and I wrote Second Hand Lace...and you know what?

It's pretty freaking awesome.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2.0

Gather round, kittens. I have a gif-filled story for your reading pleasure.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Rachel.

When we met, Rachel had just finished a R&R for an agent. Rachel, Rachel #2 (now being called Rach for confusion purposes), and I held our breath as she hit send.

While Rachel was waiting to hear back, she starting fiddling around with a new story.

She sent Rach and I the first chapter.

We. Lost.Our.Shit

She drafted SADIE (the only thing I called it though I'm sure it had a working title) in record speed.

Rach and I squeeeeeeed for a few days, then sent back notes. After a few revision, SADIE was ready for her glorious entrance into the world. Rachel already had interest from a few agents just from posting a few pages online, so she sent those queries. When she got her first full request, we all freaked out.

And then she a few more full requests...

After a few rejections and a butt tonne of requests, RACHEL HAD "THE CALL" 

She fell in love with the agent and her ideas for Sadie. 

She notified the other agents and got a few more offers, but Agent #1 had her heart from the very beginning. Rachel called and accepted representation from.......

CARRIE HOWLAND OF DONADIO & OLSON

Congratulations, Rachel and Carrie!!! I can't wait to see the magic you two come up with. !!

And now, just because, I give you the hottest gif of Norman

Reedus...ever.