EK Jonathan's Blog, page 4

Mark your calendars, STAND is almost here!

Hi all! Well, I'm happy to finally announce the release date for STAND, the final book in the FLEE trilogy. It's been a long and somewhat arduous process, but the book is completed and the editors have written back with their final feedback. As always, it's proven invaluable in helping me to deliver the best possible reading experience.

I'm excited to let you all know that STAND will be available on August 10th! That's just 6 days from now, and in the remaining time I'll be finishing the cover design, setting up the products on Amazon, and submitting the final documents for paperback printing.

At the same time, I've finally gotten around to recording an audio book for FLEE. The test reading I did a few days ago was a success, (thanks for your feedback), and I've released the second chapter on my YouTube channel. Now that I have what feels like a good grasp on the recording and editing of a reading, I'm a little more confident to say that more chapters will be released soon. I'm still not sure if I'll do this with all my books as I'd prefer to use the free time I have to create new stories, but we will have to wait and see. Perhaps, if the audio book of FLEE proves to be popular, I'll continue it for the rest of the series.

For those who've asked for the audio version on another platform such as Audible, I'm not yet certain I will go that route. I'm currently leaning towards the idea of leaving the audio recordings on YouTube. It's completely free to listen to and does not require a whole lot of work on my end (going the Audible route would require a whole other registration and validation process). However, we'll see how it goes!

A test reading of FLEE

For the last three years I’ve thrown around the idea of doing audiobooks for my novels. A lot of readers have asked for this over the years (some have poor vision, making reading difficult, others are simply too busy to sit down with a book and would rather listen on the go). I’ve always said no, because it was simply too big of an investment in time and resources.

In spite of all that, with STAND finally in the bag and about to be released, I’ve decided to do a ‘test reading’ of one of my books. This means I’ve recorded one chapter (the first chapter of FLEE) and uploaded it to my channel. Depending on its reception, I will either continue to upload chapters or not.

Going into this project, I knew that one of the most daunting aspects would be that of voice acting. While film, directing, and acting are all interests of mine, I don’t believe I have the chops to portray characters on camera, and I’m not sure I’d do much better on a solely audio format.

So, this is a test. If you enjoy this snippet, help me out by leaving a ‘thumbs up’ on the video. If you feel it’s lacking, don’t be afraid to give it a ‘thumbs down’. In a few days I’ll look at the votes and decide how to proceed. Thanks, and I hope at least some of you will enjoy! (I’ll admit, it was fun to do!)

New podcast episode is here

And it's another Paradise Home Review, enjoy!

STAND now in the proofing process

That's right! The final draft of STAND was completed yesterday afternoon and sent off to the editors, who've already begun writing back with their input. As always, their suggestions are proving invaluable (no matter how many times I comb through a manuscript I can never manage to catch all the errors).

In addition, the FLEE blogsite has been updated to prepare for the serial release for the new book, the first chapter of which will coincide with the release of the full book on Amazon.

Here's the synopsis:  

With Angelica missing and tensions rising aboard their rig, Peter Burton and the other overseers face new trials as they strive to keep the friends calm. In the Pacific, a separate Witness convoy embarks on its own journey, with many challenges just on the horizon. Meanwhile, in Namibia, the brothers and sisters are hard at work preparing the colonies while pressures from governmental authorities continue to mount…

STAND is nearly 120,000 words long, roughly fifty percent longer than the previous two books. (This is one of the reasons it took so much longer to write than the others.) Can't wait to share it!

Editing STAND is a blast

I'm about halfway through the final draft and I'm having so much fun! As I said in the last blog post, editing affords me an opportunity to read the book with a fresh set of eyes and see if all the parts are working correctly, and so far it seems to have really come together!

Of course, there are always changes needed, and I've found myself combining certain characters (if two characters can be combined into one, it's always better than littering the pages with throw-away characters that exist only for exposition's sake or to bring about some plot device). I've also come to realize that certain events or character arcs weren't properly set up in the first draft, so that's been another thing requiring some adjustment.

I've also surprised myself with certain parts of the story which have come across more humorous than I intended. In most cases, I've found, that's ok, as it provides needed levity to an intense (and occasionally dark) story. It also humanizes and grounds the characters, something which has always been one of my primary goals for the series.

So overall, I'm happy with this manuscript. I feel like it's tied up all the loose ends of the other books and brought about a satisfying conclusion to the series. I can only hope you all will have the same reaction to it!

In other news, I was shocked to find the other day that the EKJ Podcast channel on YouTube just reached 100 subscribers! The subscriber count has never been too important to me and I've never asked for subs, but I was happy to reach this milestone because it means that YouTube's custom URL feature is now enabled. This feature allows me to use a more memorable and succinct web address for the channel, and I've chosen youtube.com/c/EKJonathan as mine. (Glad there aren't any other "EK Jonathans" already on the platform!)

For the last month or so I've been tinkering with a new podcast episode, but with the completion of STAND looming on the horizon I haven't had time to put on the final touches. If all goes well, it should drop sometime within the week, so stay tuned!

Can't wait to share this new book with you all!

It's DONE

After nearly a whole year of writing, I'm overjoyed to announce that the first draft of STAND is finished. As you can see from the word count chart above (I do this for all of my books), there were ups and downs in the writing process, and at times weeks or even months would go by with little progress. But since February of this year, I was able to finally lock into a sustainable pace, and continued that pace up till now.

There is nothing like the feeling of completing a first draft. It's an exhilarating mix of accomplishment, excitement, and relief: accomplishment at having finished such a formidable project, excitement at the prospect of being able to share it soon with the world, and relief for not  giving up mid-way!

And now comes the fun part–editing! It may sound strange to say that this is my favorite part, but it truly is. When I'm writing the first draft, I resist the urge to go back and read previous sections of the story. In fact, except for going back to double-check facts, I try not to look at what I've written at all. This can be a hard urge to resist, but I feel it's important to keep the writing momentum going. Editing the first draft is for me an opportunity to read the completed story for the first time–I can actually enjoy the book as a new reader would. And because, at this point, so much of the writing was done months prior, I've forgotten much of it myself. This helps me judge the beats of the story objectively; if certain character arcs aren't working or if the dialogue is clunky, this is where I'll often catch it.

Once my editing work is done, the book is formatted and sent out to my small team of editors and proofreaders. They are invaluable in catching errors, inconsistencies, and typos that I missed. Many readers have written in asking why All Things New and The Unrighteous don't feel as polished as the later books, and a lack of editors is the reason. With those first two books it was just me doing everything, but with later books I've always relied on outside sets of eyes to help proofread, and it really shows.

As I've said previously, the book will be released sometime next month, in August. So please stay tuned and enjoy your regional conventions!

Surprise podcast

So I realize that less than a week ago I said I had no plans for a new podcast episode and that was true, but today I had a bit of time and I wanted to tell a story. I think that wrapping up the latest book in the FLEE series has me feeling sentimental. (I'm not too proud to say that while writing a recent section this week, I had to take a bit of a break for some fresh air because I was getting too emotional to continue–it's hard to write a novel when you can't see the screen clearly!)

In any case, I hope you like this podcast. It's a bit shorter and there aren't many drawings, but I hope that helps to slow the pace down a bit and let things sink in for you, just as they're sinking in for me. Please enjoy.

Checking in...

Hi all, hope you're doing well! Just a little post to say that I'm still alive and kicking and things are going well. I don't currently have any podcasts episodes in production as I've been trying to put as much of my free time into finishing STAND. That said, it's proceeding as planned and is still on track for a late August release.

As that deadline nears, I'm gradually beginning to dread finally putting an end to this saga. As I mentioned in a recent podcast about developing characters, penning the final chapter in any book is always a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, finishing a novel is an exhilarating accomplishment and feels simply wonderful. On the other hand, it means saying goodbye to characters I've become close with, and it's safe to say this trilogy more than any previous book has resulted in a a cast of characters I'll truly miss being around. In spite of that, I am excited to bring this series to a conclusion and can't wait to share the finale with all of you. (And I sincerely hope it lives up to your expectations!) When I first set about writing a trilogy back in 2016 I knew I was leaping into an ambitious project, but I'm relieved to know that I stuck with it through the ups and downs and am so close to the finish line.

So, what's next? I know many of you have requested another foray into paradise territory, while others have hoped for more modern-day adventures à la The Bloom of Youth. While I'm not opposed to either idea, nothing solid in either vein is currently in the works.

What is in the works, however, is a new project I plan to announce more as soon as STAND is finished and on the shelves. What I can say is that it's something I've had on the back burner for a while now, and the pieces have finally fallen in place to proceed. It's still in its early stages of development, but what's beginning to take form is incredibly exciting to me, and I can't wait to share.

So stay tuned!

New podcast: Reviewing homes for use in paradise

The new episode is out! Hope you enjoy it, and thanks to those of you who tuned in to watch it live!

Livestream Podcast next Saturday

Hi all! So I thought I’d try something a little different with the next podcast. YouTube recently launched a “premiere” feature that allows video channels to release a new video live, which allows viewers to interact in real time with each other and the creators themselves. Seeing as my next podcast will be an interactive experience (we’ll be reviewing futuristic homes for paradise living), I thought this would be a great opportunity to test out the premiere feature. If you’re available, drop by and say hi. Of course, if you miss the premiere you can always watch the video on my channel later.

Here are the details:
Premiere time: Saturday, May 18
Sat 3:30 PM Pacific (Honolulu)
Sat 6:30 PM US West Coast (Washington, California, etc)
Sat 9:30 PM US East Coast (New York, Florida, etc)
Sun 3:30 AM UK (London)
Sun 4:30 AM West Europe (Paris, Berlin)
Sun 5:30 AM East Europe (Moscow)
Sun 9:30 AM Asia (Taipei, Beijing)
Sun 10:30 AM East Asia (Seoul, Tokyo)

You can also set a reminder by clicking the video below:

I realize not everyone who’d like to join will be available at this time (apologies if you live in Europe especially), but I think this slot is convenient for most. Hope to see you there!