It should come as no surprise to my friends and family that I've been a bit busy of late. We have added a new baby boy, Benjamin, to our family 4 months ago. He is healthy, beautiful, and perfect. He, along with his big sister, have however seriously disrupted my ability to write and think. Thank God I have a plot outline for Black Choices and character profiles! The first two chapters were written prior to Ben's arrival, but looking at them now I just want to scrap them and begin again. Of course, every time I get close to hitting that delete button someone calls "Mommy!" and I have to stop what I'm doing. Someday soon I'm going to buy earmuffs so I can't hear the whining anymore. Ha! Sales for Black consequences continue, though at almost a stand still. It's damn near impossible to be a SAHM with an infant and toddler and write too. It's a choice between losing sleep or not eating. I could stand to shed a few pounds anyway, so I'm most often not eating, or eating a super quick salad or fruit. No cooking time required and only minimum prep and clean up. Sigh! Wouldn't trade a moment though. I hear some of that whining I spoke of before. Until later peeps! Love y'all!

Black Consequences

It's official! After years of slaving over edits and rejection letters, Black Consequences will be available for download from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple in just a couple of weeks! I am, of course, totally over the moon about this.

Here's a short description for all of my friends and followers who want the 411 on the book.

What's more important, love or family? For Emily Black, the choice is clear, family wins everytime. Emily's ability to "see" what others want to keep secret isn't something she advertises at The Black Book, but when her "sees" her father's impending death she'll go through Hell to stop it. With the help of Samuel Golden, her assistant manager and secret crush, Emily makes a deal with her demon Great Grandmother for information that could lead to a cure for her dad. But, when the deal goes south, Emily is left with tough choices and suffering the consequences of her actions. Can love really conquer all, or do we just hurt those we love to get what we really want?

I sort of feel like shouting, "Today I am a WRITER!" Feels a little silly, since I've been writing my whole life, but somehow it never felt like the truth until I became published. Writing has always been my passion. Okay, along with reading voraciously, cooking and my family, writing is my passion. My friends know that I've been dying to have readers for my work, and I thank all of you who read rough snippets and held my hand through this whole process. Family is not just the people who are bound to us by blood. Family are the people you choose to let into your heart and your life because you love them and they love you, no matter what. So thank you in advance to everyone who downloads Black Consequences and tells their frinds and so on. I love you all from the bottom of my heart!

Travels in a small town

So, when last I wrote, I was musing about my new life in small town New Jersey. I feel like someone should ask me, "How small was it?" Well, no one will so I'm just going to tell you. Wildwood Crest is small enough that you can walk from bay to beach in 3 blocks in some areas. It takes about a 1/2 hour to walk the length if you stroll. There is certainly a lot more to the island, but our little slice of heaven was itty bitty!

Moving in during the height summer madness, I truly believed it would be that way all year long. After all, I'd just left the hustle and bustle of the big bad city. Why would any place be any different? Naive is an understatement! By the time Thanksgiving had passed, the town was rolling up it's figurative sidewalks and taking a deep sigh of relief that "the season" was over. I, of course, had no idea that the season was over. It was simply really nice to be able to easily find a parking spot or get my groceries in a half hour instead of an hour and a half.

Then the winter settled in and you could have seen tumble weeds rolling down our street! No one was home! The air turned bitterly cold, biting you right through 4 layers and not giving you a chance to warm up. Constant winds, which we fabulously cooling during the blistering summer heat, now threatened to tear my hat right off of my head. Ear muffs became a staple in my wardrobe, sometimes even in our apartment!

It was a VERY difficult transition. Not only was it absolutely silent at night, but sometimes it got down right creepy. There were days when the sun never even peeked out from behind winter white clouds and it seemed like the darkness and gloom would never end. Eventually, though, it did.

Right around March temperatures started to rise and with them my spirits. I'd suffered from a severe case of the winter blues and was ready for some fun in the sun. I pictured spending my mornings walking on the beach, maybe collecting a few shells. I was in for a surprise in the form of a new prospect.

My husband's teacher was leaving his position and had gotten a new one in Wichita, Kansas. I thought to myself there is absolutely no way I'm going that far away from my family and friends. I huffed and puffed and cried until my eyes swelled shut. But, in the end, it was either move right along with Rav or lose a year's worth of work and move to NYC, a place I love but can NOT LIVE IN! So, we packed up our postage stamp sized apartment and began planning our trip out to the heartland of America. Though we had made our plans and had contracts in hand, thing did not turn out to be as easy as we'd anticipated.

First thing, the movers were 2 days late in arriving to pack up our belongings. It was a huge inconvenience, but actually turned out to be a really good thing. In all of the tzurus of the move, David and I had gotten a phone call that shook me to my boots. My Mom's best friend's husband had died. This was a man who had known me me entire life. I was friendly with his daughters and thought of him as an uncle. The moving delay actually allowed us to sit shiva and mourn with his family, something I truly needed.

It was the very first time that I felt God was watching over us and making us follow His plan, in spite of our own. There have been several times since that first moment that I felt God was moving David and I according to his will and not our own. Sometimes for what seemed the better and sometimes in spite of our best efforts to better ourselves. But always, leading us to the places and people who needed us the most landing us, eventually, in New Orleans.

Welcome to Philly Girl in Nola

Welcome everyone! This is, quite obviously, my very first blog. It is dedicated to my husband, family and community, who are the reason for my (mis)adventures across the country. You may be asking yourself, self, why should I care about some crazy girl's life of moving across this great nation of ours. I have no good answer for you except to say that I could not have written any fiction stranger than where my life has taken me and how it has turned out.

At the age of 33, I have lived most of my adult life moving from state to state. There has been a tremendous learning curve that took me, 2-3 years to figure out. Which, by the way, was just enough time to get comfortable before we pulled up stakes for yet another cross country move!

I'll start at the beginning. Who is this Philly girl? Jessy P. is my name. Born and Raised in the far Northeast of Philadelphia, PA. I had always thought I would spend my life in the city I loved surrounded by friends and family. Most everyone I grew up with still lives within a 45 minute drive of our beloved Philly, but not me!

After meeting and marrying my husband (of presently 7 years) we made the first move to Wildwood, New Jersey. Admittedly, a 2 hour drive isn't far, but I wasn't remotely ready for the culture shock! I grew up in nearly suburban bliss, a mere 30 minute drive into the city, but still I thought of myself as a sophisticate. Moving to Wildwood was like moving to the other side of the moon.

First of all, the entire island, at that time, shut down between the months of December and March. When I say shut down, I mean NO ONE IT THERE!!! My husband, David, has told me stories of laying down in the middle of the main street in the middle of winter and not having to move for 10 minutes. No cars and very few people in a resort town that thrives in the summer months. I didn't believe it could possibly be that bad. I realize now that I was living in denile.

I feel that this episode deserves a deeper explaination. One that shows the positives as well as the negatives of suddenly moving from an urban metropolis to a town so small, you can walk across it in under two hours. Further details await in my next posting. I shall continue to tell one and all about how this Philly girl got to New Orleans, LA and the myriad of stops along the way. I hope to make you laugh and enlighten my readers about the similarities that exist amongst all of us throughout this great nation of ours. For now, good night and try to think of one happy moment you've had in your town today.