TWO Giveaways & InsomniaDare Report!

Elsie, Ellen and I did a super fun Insomnia-Dare promotion last week. We were joined by a few other awesome writers/readers/bloggers (Bridget, Gillian, Octavia, Kierra, etc - thank you!) We talked trash until our sentences were barely coherent... and we had so much fun!

We stayed up until at least 4am and reported in hourly on some basic details:

* number of yawns 

     steadily increased hourly across the board *gasp*

* words written (or other things accomplished)

     steadily decreased hourly across the board. The last hour was truly pathetic

* number of caffeinated beverages consumed

     another increase...although it was less effective than you might expect

* $ amount donated to The Swear Jar

     Also increased the more tired we got. Shocking, no? We ended up with a nice donation for the JDRF which is great. Some of the participants also donated (Thank you, Gillian!) so not sure how much the total raised was, but every cent helps. 

In case you missed it in my Friday post, you can click here to see the result of my sleep-deprived vlogging with no microphone.

Silent movies are totally coming back into style...you just wait. 

We planned to do a giveaway during the InsomniaDare, but we decided to wait and do it here instead.

Leave a comment below on anything Dare - Silent Movie - Insomnia related, and you'll be entered to:

Win a signed ARC of Insomnia and a signed copy of Dualed!

For those listed above that participated in the InsomniaDare with us, you each get a bonus 5 entries for your participation and general awesomeness. We'll select a random winner and announce it in our post on Friday!

And for the SECOND Giveaway: don't forget to pre-order Insomnia and enter my NookHD giveaway!

Pre-order from any of these sites:

B&N ~ Amazon ~ IndieBound ~ BAM ~ The Book Depository

**It is absolutely acceptable to enter one giveaway and not the other, we don't care, we just like to give our stuff to other people. It's a sickness...really. **

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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J.R. Johansson loves reading, playing board games and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time. She is a YA thriller author published with Flux and FSG/Macmillan. She's represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Her debut novel, INSOMNIA, is due to be released in June 10, 2013. You can find her on twitter, goodreads, her website, or her personal blog.

J.R. Johansson Takes A Dare!

Some of you may have heard about my InsomniaDare I did with Elsie and Ellen last week. We'll be posting about that on Tuesday, but as part of it, I recorded all these little video clips to put into fun vlogs later...then realized that my microphone was broken.

Yeah...

So, I did the only logical thing and made it into a Silent Movie. Because that's what any normal person would do...or not.

But hey, I'm okay with not being normal.

Anyway, here it is...




So yeah...I had fun. You can probably tell... ;-)

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J.R. Johansson loves reading, playing board games and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time. She is a YA thriller author published with Flux and FSG/Macmillan. She's represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Her debut novel, INSOMNIA, is due to be released in June 10, 2013. You can find her on twitter, goodreads, her website, or her personal blog.

INSOMNIA cover reveal

We are thrilled to share our latest Thirteener cover, INSOMNIA by J. R. Johansson!

Is that cover just killer? It gives us goosebumps just looking at it. We Thirteeners love the shattered eye and the blood-red lettering. It captures the exact way we feel when we've been up three nights straight revising and haven't had coffee yet...okay, maybe not quite the same :)

Here's the book description:

It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?

J.R. is doing a giveaway of an ARC & Prize Pack over on YA Books Central. Click here to go enter!


And a little more about J.R.:

J.R. JOHANSSON has a B.S. degree in public relations and a background in marketing. She credits her abnormal psychology minor with inspiring many of her characters. When she's not writing, she loves reading, playing board games, and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time. She has two young sons and a wonderful husband. In fact, other than her cat, Cleo, she's nearly drowning in testosterone. J.R. lives in a valley between majestic mountains and a beautiful lake where the sun shines over 300 days per year. If you want to know more about J.R., you can follow her on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, or check out her website.

J.R. Johansson Takes the Truth!

Since you just saw me act out a scene using the contents of my pantry as the characters in a vlog from last week. I have officially reached my monthly vlog embarrassment ratio and thus... *drumroll please*

I am taking a truth!

The truth I chose was given by the awesome Robin Weeks. She asked me, "What was the most embarrassing newbie mistake you made (we all make them) back when you were first starting out and didn't know anything?"

Sadly, this was a hard question for me because the possible answers are many. After much debate, I settled on my very first query.

And when I say query, I use the term VERY loosely. I'll just post it here and you can see for yourself the numerous mistakes I made. I'll post my color commentary in red so you can see just how mortified I am about this now.

Dear Kristin Nelson, (<--undoubtedly the best part of the email, unless your name is Kristin Nelson)

Hello! (*sigh* at least I was enthusiastic) My name is Jenn and I'm considering writing a book. (Yep. You read that right -- considering) I've never done much writing, but I'm a fast learner and I have faith that I can figure it out. (OH! I have faith! Well, I should've led with that. It's a game changer) I'm sure you hear this kind of thing all the time because from your website, I see that you're a literary agent. (...apparently I just read her title and quickly closed the browser. Otherwise I would've learned that SENDING THIS WAS A BAD IDEA) You seem like you might be the perfect person to help me with this! (Please, kill me now)

Is there any particular place you'd recommend starting when learning to write? (*head desk*) How does the publishing industry work exactly? Do I hire an agent and then start writing? Or is that backward? (There's really nothing to do but shake my head and laugh at this point)

Anyway, as you can see, I have many questions! Let me know if you'd prefer talking on the phone and we can schedule a call. (Yes! And then we shall have tea with the Mad Hatter, but bring a jacket because HELL has frozen over!)

Thanks so much!

Jenn (<--second best part, unless your name is Jenn, in which case you may weep a little)

Seriously. Reading this now, I want to grab newbie-writer-me and shake some sense into her. Good thing more-experienced-writer-me has a sense of humor or there would be some kind of time-travel violence going on. 

Now that we've all had a good laugh at my expense, here is my point. Did I make mistakes here? I think we can all agree - YES! Did it ruin my chances in the future? No. In fact, I think writing queries and pitches has become a strength of mine. 

I think there's really only one thing left to say:

I'm so sorry, Kristin Nelson. :)

Edit per requests in comments: Kristin did actually respond. Recommended a few writing technique books and gave me the links on how (and when) to query from her blog. Seriously...the woman is a saint. 

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J.R. Johansson loves reading, playing board games and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time. She is a YA thriller author represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Her debut novel, INSOMNIA, is due to be released in Spring 2013 with Flux. You can find her on twitter, goodreads, her website, or her personal blog.  

Jenn R. Johansson Takes The Dare

When I played truth or dare as a teenager, I usually picked truths because I was afraid of what they'd make me do...

I should've remembered that before choosing this dare.

Anyway, I picked a dare from Tiana Smith (whom I still consider to be a sweetheart even if this vlog makes statements to the contrary). Her dare was: Record yourself reading an excerpt from your novel in a ridiculous accent.

Oh, yes... I did.

Thanks for the fun dare, Tiana! Since this is my first time playing, you get to choose a prize. A $13 giftcard or a young adult book from my secret stash! E-mail me at fridaythethirteeners[at]gmail[dot]com and let me know which you'd prefer.

Thanks again for joining in on the fun! Come back this Friday, June 15th for a post by the uber cool Erin Bowman!

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J.R. Johansson loves reading, playing board games and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time. She is a YA thriller author represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Her debut novel, INSOMNIA, is due to be released in Spring 2013 with Flux. You can find her on twitter, goodreads, her website, or her personal blog.  

Introducing our next mystery author!!

It is my extreme pleasure to introduce our fifth mystery author to the blog. She is a dear friend of mine and all around cool person. (I may be a bit biased but I don't think so.)

Jenn R Johansson!!!!! Yay!!

J.R. Johansson (Jenn) has two amazing sons and a wonderful husband who keep her busy and happy.  In fact, other than her cat, she is pretty much drowning in testosterone. They live in a valley between huge mountains and a beautiful lake where the sun shines more than 300 days per year. She loves writing, playing board games, and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time.


Welcome, Jenn. We're so excited to have you. Not only because we think you're great, but because your book is amazing too! And I know, because I've read it. INSOMNIA will be published through Flux in the spring of 2013. It's creepy and twisty and awesome! Trust me, you're going to love it! Here's a blurb so you can get excited for it:

Sixteen-year-old Parker spends every night trapped in the dreams of 
the last person he made eye contact with, and it’s killing him. He 
misses soccer practice, falls asleep at the wheel, and his mom thinks 
he has a drug problem. His exhaustion from never reaching the deeper 
levels of sleep is getting worse every day, and he knows his time is 
running out. Until he meets Mia. 

Mia’s dreams are the first Parker’s encountered where he can finally 
get real sleep. A good night of rest after so long is addictive. He 
has to have it. But getting it means he must follow Mia and find a way 
to make eye contact every day. Mia is increasingly freaked out, even 
turning Parker’s best friends against him. To make matters worse, Mia 
starts to receive threatening e-mails, and her wonderful dreams become 
scenes of a horror movie—and Parker is cast as the villain. He must 
discover who is truly tormenting her, and clear his name, before she 
turns him in for a crime he hasn’t committed–or worse, the true 
stalker makes good on his threats to end her dreams forever. 

Doesn't that sound amazing? So now is the time where we torture the newest member. Leave your especially torturous dares here for Jenn. :) Because we want to see her squirm. And stay tuned, her completion of the selected truth/dare will be posted next Tuesday! But don't forget to check back this Friday because Elsie will be tackling a truth or dare.