Jessica McCarty, Author

  Fall is here, friends!🍂🧣🥾 It's my favorite time of year. And between the hot summer and the opening of my next book (it's giving Gilmore Girls ), there's extra reason to be grateful. Yes, you heard that right, I'm working on a new book!😍I'm slow-rolling into this one for multiple reasons, one being that I can't seem to settle on a genre and therefore am existing in a I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing!?! bubble. Reason two is time. Three, I'm working with an outline, which requires more effort for me than simply pantsing the project. I've heard it said that your process changes and every book requires something different. Let me tell you, it's true! Reading . . . This month I read Are We There Yet? by Savannah Scott and Kiss Me Now by Melanie Jacobson. I love a good romcom, but sometimes I feel like I need a little more . . . heft(🤔). Kiss Me Now  definitely brought that in a sweet, funny, enemies-to-lovers story with characters that are also...

Something I've wanted to do for a while is share my favorite YouTube channels. But every time I considered doing it as a post on social media, I would get overwhelmed and set the idea aside. What better way to give it the attention it deserves and shift back into author mode than to post it here? Also, typing everything out on my phone sounded absolutely horrendous. And for those of you who are curious, I plan to start drafting next week.😉 As I type this, aesthetic photos look down upon me from my bulletin board and a blue binder containing character sheets, scene ideas, & town places sits to my left. I have dubbed my little town "Kirkley."🩷 Side note: A number of these YouTubers have books, so be sure to check those out as well! Bernadette Banner : If you're a fan of fashion history, hand sewing, and corsetry, this is the place for you! Charlie Follows : I really enjoyed the yoga teacher I was following online before Charlie, but I wasn't a huge fan of the ...

Champion's Sword releases July 16! The ebook is up for preorder. Paperbacks can be ordered on the publication date. Available on Amazon! It's both exciting and bittersweet to get the conclusion of this story into your hands. I've walked in the world of the Woodland elves for several years now. It feels a little strange to be letting these characters go. But I'm excited to dive into another story and new characters. In other news, A Desperate Love  has finished its journey with my publisher and, for the time being, will be out of print. I have the option to self-publish and am seriously considering doing so. Stay tuned for details! Reading . . . On a whim, I picked up Be More Unicorn  by Joanna Gray. I also read Some Like It Scot  by Pepper Basham. My feelings about this book? I think Larry the Cucumber summed it up best. "I laughed. I cried. It moved me, Bob." Touching, funny, heartwarming. I highly recommend and can't wait for Pepper's next book, espe...

 I'm roughly seventy percent of the way through this final pass of Champion's Sword ! Some chapters are taking a bit longer than others. But I'm confident I'll get through it all in the next week or two. The majority of formatting is finished. And I was so excited to add an "Also by Jessica McCarty" page to the beginning of the book.😭💖I still need to write the blurb. I like to wait until I've read the book for the final time before tackling that. That way I've got the story in its entirety fresh in my mind. There's just no easy way to condense a three-hundred-page book into three paragraphs. After that is cover design. Lastly, uploading and publishing! I'll be sure to keep you all posted. A cover reveal and publication date should be coming soon! Reading . . . This month, I read the last book in the Hawthorne Brothers series ( How to Kiss a Movie Star , Jenny Proctor). I'm really sad to be done with this series. They're just good clea...

  Guys, I have three chapters left! Theoretically, I should be able to tackle these last chapters next week. I will say, though, that I've learned things often take me longer than I expect, and chapter fifty-one is a behemoth . Seriously, it's double the size of a lot of my chapters. After I've finished with edits, I'll read through the entire book to check everything one final time (and fix em dashes in the first half😐) before moving on to formatting, cover design, and publication. Yay! Reading . . . This month, I read So That Happened  by Katie Bailey (Donovan Family, Bk. 1), a grumpy-sunshine romcom that was super cute. And I finally returned to the Hawthorne Brothers series (Jenny Proctor) and read How to Kiss Your Grumpy Boss  (Bk. 2) and How to Kiss Your Enemy (Bk. 3). Somehow, I unintentionally picked three workplace romances . . . and movie star ones for my upcoming blog🙈, with the exception of Beg, Borrow, or Steal by the amazing Sarah Adams. I'll be repe...

 Happy spring, friends!🌞🌱 We've had a lot of rain here in the Hoosier state. It's getting warmer, and things are greening up. I can't wait for sunny days when I can go for walks and start working on my garden. This year, I'm planning to try my hand at container gardening. My garden plot is pretty small to start with. I like things that are straightforward and practical. So, this seems like it might be a good fit. And less weeding! Which is good, because I'm continuing to work through final tweaks for Champion's Sword . I should be done by the end of April. Then I'll move on to formatting, followed by one final read to check for commas and such. I'm looking forward to refilling my creative well and returning to drafting after so long in editing land.😉 Reading . . . This month, I re-read Spells for Forgetting  by Adrienne Young. And I finally got my hands on Ignite  by Kara Swanson. If you've read Champion's Key , you'll understand why this ...