J.R. Pearse Nelson's Blog, page 16

Welcome to NAmazing Adventures!

Hi! I'm J.R. Pearse Nelson and I'd love to welcome you to my stop on the NAmazing Adventures blog hop! This is a fun adventure-style hop -- I've never been a part of anything like it before, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. More than 60 new adult authors are participating and there will be multiple winners of prize packs including ARCs, signed books, gift cards and swag. I hope you join in the fun! You can go to NA Alley to read the complete instructions and start from the beginning. And now let's get this journey on the road -- you have a lot of books to meet! :)

I'm featuring my debut new adult fantasy novel, Queen Witch, the first installment of my Foulweather Twins series. Enjoy the hop, and good luck with those prizes!



Queen Witch Foulweather Twins, Book One
Stubborn and suspicious are two qualities that don’t go over well in the Queen family…
Where does my story truly begin? Maybe with the birth of twins to a soon-dead witch. Or possibly with the name bestowed on me by the Lady, the immortal we serve. She called me Sage, and my sister Wren. The Foulweather twins. As I choose to see it, my story begins when I first participated in the course of my life. When I started making my own decisions, despite everything I’d been taught. Forced recluse with a secret life? That’s me.
Sage Brighton is a young woman of incredible power, but she doesn’t decide how that power is used, or anything else about her life. As a witch of the Queen family, and a twin, Sage will serve the Lady all her days. The immortal has plans for Sage and her twin Wren. They are to be her Hands, her enforcers in the mortal, modern world. But first Sage must survive her training, learn to control her sociopathic sister without getting maimed in the process, and all the while try to keep something of her life for her own.

***

Got that jotted down in your quest scroll?Great, because you’ll need it for the quiz at the end of this quest! And remember, you must complete ALL SIX quizzes to be eligible for a prize pack.

Thanks for stopping by!

And now, dash on dear readers, to the next author in this quest! Meet genre-bending fantasy author Jill Archer! 

Sunday Update: Squashing My Goals, at Least for This Week

My goal for the summer isn't very high, because I've been feeling more burned out than I like. Being an indie author is a marathon and not a sprint, and I need to live that philosophy, not just talk it. So, I have a goal of 2,000 words of new fiction each week. That assumes at least four days writing at 500 words a day. Totally achievable without adding stress. I write that much just to blow off steam…
…As evidenced by my word count this week. Almost 4,000 words of new fiction, in total.
Monday - 550
Thursday - 2,100
Saturday - 1,200
I worked on two projects this week, getting back into the writing groove on my novel in progress, Chaos Calling, and adding to a fairy tale side project. I'll make sure to get in 2,000 fresh words at least on Chaos Calling in the coming week. I'm getting eager to finish that first draft.
I'm also revising a novella this summer, and I made great progress there this week, editing seven chapters instead of my goal of five.
My final goal is to read fiction every day, even if it's just for ten minutes. I made this goal most days of the week.
Best wishes for making your goals in the coming week!

Indie Life: Into the Wilderness!!

Welcome to Indie Life! This is a chance for indie authors to post about being an independent author, find each other, offer support, encouragement, news, helpful hints. We're posting the second Wednesday of every month. To join us, go here.

I have an admission to make. I'm not the most social of people. I know many other writers are in the same boat; a certain amount of introversion is in the job description. Yet our world is constantly moving, beeping, churning around us.

In addition to forms of social interaction faced by previous generations, we're now inundated with constant updates and inane chatter. And being an independent author, or author entrepreneur as some call it, can add to the pressure to appear extroverted and join in the online social heyday at every opportunity. I constantly get the message that retreating to my own mind, the source of my creativity and joy without which I would never be able to write books, is the wrong way to go.

It can be really hard to strike the balance between a social presence -- on the web and in the world -- and getting the time you need to unplug. I've been trying to find the line for several months now, feeling on the edge of burnout, but still pushing myself. I'm the type who will keep on chugging long after I should rest and recharge, because I can see the goals I want to accomplish stacked up ahead of me. That focus on production doesn't prevent my mental and emotional state from eventually going awry if I don't also choose to nurture myself.

Eventually, I feel like running away, straight into the wilderness!! I have lots of wilderness to choose from (good ol' Oregon), starting about twenty minutes from my door. I could be out there, on my own, for months without seeing a soul…Wait. No. I couldn't do that. I have no survival skills.

Still, my fantasies take me that direction rather often. And that means I should go there. At least figuratively. I need to allow time to recharge, and it's funny how hard it is to force myself to take the time. Silly, eh?

How about you? Do you know when it's time to unplug, or do you have to force yourself to make time for you? And do you consider yourself an introvert, or an extrovert?

This post is partly inspired by a TED talk I love, featuring Susan Cain. It's titled The Power of Introverts. Take a few minutes to watch it if this post has resonated with you.


A quote from Susan Cain:
"Solitude matters. For some people, it is the air that they breathe. In fact, we've known for centuries about the transcendent power of solitude. It's only recently that we've begun to forget it. If you look at world religions, you will find seekers  -- Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad -- that go off, by themselves, into the wilderness where they have revelations that they bring back to the community….No wilderness, no revelations."

Thanks for listening, fellow indies. Let me know what you think in the comments, and remember, this is a blog hop! On to the next author!

Sunday Update: Much Work and a Little Play

I hope everyone's had a suitably relaxing series of sun-soaked days at this point, full of BBQs, fireworks and toe-tickling sandy beaches.

I think many people took some time off of work this week…I didn't. I'm smack between two major releases for a survey I coordinate at the day job, and worked my tail off last week to meet a bunch of deadlines. On top of that, I had a stomach bug that added a special element to checking off items from my endless to-do list.

The 4th was fun -- spontaneous BBQ at my parents' house, complete with early fireworks and sparklers for our pack of girls (between our two families, my brother and I have five girls, four of them ranging in age from two to five, and a 14 year old). It was fun watching my brother and hubby organize fireworks and show off for the kids. Then we went home and tucked our exhausted kids into bed, closed the windows tight, and went outside with a beer to watch the neighborhood go crazy from our front lawn.

In terms of my writing to-do list…I didn't show up like I need to last week. I'll do better in the coming week. Here are my goals:


1) Write 2,000 words per week of new fiction.2) Revise Descent (Children of the Sidhe book four) and hand off to editor. Addition to this goal: Revise five chapters per week on paper, until I reach The End.3) Read fiction every day, even if it's just for ten minutes.
Last week, I only accomplished goal #3. I did plenty of reading, finishing up Cherie Reich's Foxwich Chronicles. :)
How are you doing with your summertime goals, writing or otherwise? 

Cherie Reich's Foxwick Chronicles for INDIEpendence Day!

Thanks can be delivered to the Indelibles for organizing this blog hop celebrating independent and small-press authors.

I'm eager to share an author I've been consuming voraciously in recent days. Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction author I met through the monthly Indie Life blog hop. She had just released a new book, and once I downloaded it, my iPhone somehow melded with my hand and I couldn't put it down. :)

One thing I love about Cherie's work with the Foxwick Chronicles is that she's approaching the same fantasy world through many viewpoints, but she's not trying to cram them all into the same story. She uses their unique perspectives to highlight turning points in her fantasy kingdom. You can start anywhere in the collection, because while they're related, all of the stories stand alone. I began with Men of Foxwick because it had just been released. I've since purchased A to Z Flashes of Foxwick (ahem…and read half of it), and Women of Foxwick. From the description I know I'll run into some familiar characters in Women of Foxwick.

Cherie was kind enough to provide me with the following information on her Foxwick Chronicles. I recommend this collection for fantasy readers.


The Foxwick Chronicles

A to Z Flashes of Foxwick
A Fantasy Flash Fiction Collection
In honor of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, A to Z Flashes of Foxwick​ gives a glimpse to the characters, magical creatures, and lands in the fantasy world of the Kingdom of Foxwick.
A young dragon befriends a dragon seer. A phoenix bursts into flames in mid-flight. A man must choose between his simple life and one of fame. A queen will find her heart turned into ice and many more!
Women of Foxwick  A Fantasy Short Story Collection
Follow five women from Foxwick in this five-story fantasy collection.
A bard will lose her head, if she doesn't find the correct notes. A dragon seer must decide whether to betray her dragons or her fair kingdom. An assassin will journey to the Shadowlands to destroy Death. Twins are selected for the Mage Game, and a princess will journey to Valdale in search of the sorceress who can save Foxwick.
Short Stories in this Collection: Lady Bard, Dragon Seer, Lady Death, Mage Game, and Magic Seeker
Men of Foxwick
A Fantasy Short Story Collection
Men of Foxwickfeatures five short stories involving men from Foxwick.
A blind teen seeks a place in the kingdom. A dragon seer journeys to Wintermill to spy on the queen. A sword master's worst fear comes true when he fails to protect the royal family. A king falls in love with an herb witch, but will she feel the same way? A hunter will rise to the challenge to hunt down a man-eating monster.
Short stories in this collection: Blind Scribe, Dragon Spy, Sword Master, Courting Magic, and Monster Hunter
About the Author: A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her ebooks include the horror series Nightmare, a space fantasy trilogy titled Gravity, and a fantasy series The Foxwick Chronicles. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms.
Her debut YA Epic Fantasy novel Reborn, book one in The Fate Challenges, will be released on May 23, 2014.
For more information about Cherie Reich, please visit her website (http://cheriereich.webs.com) and her blog (http://cheriereich.blogspot.com).

Round of Words Goals Post -- Summer 2013

I've been participating in the Round of Words in 80 Days writing challenge for two full years now. A couple of weeks back I was considering taking the summer off of ROW, but I couldn't quite get to that decision. As I thought it through, I realized I'd be a lot less productive if I took the summer off of ROW80 -- what I'd essentially be doing is taking the summer off from accountability, and possibly from writing in general.

I'll admit I'm feeling a little lost lately in all of my writing goals. It's a matter of balancing enough writing productivity with still being the person I want to be in other areas of my life. I know I need to take it easy on goals for the summer. I also won't be attempting to check in every Wednesday and Sunday…I'm just feeling too quiet for that, and I need to respect my me space.

To that end, here are my goals for this summer:

1) Write 2,000 words per week of new fiction.
2) Revise Descent (Children of the Sidhe book four) and hand off to editor.
3) Read fiction every day, even if it's just for ten minutes.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other people are working on this summer. Have at it, and best of luck with your goals! Remember to get out and enjoy the season, too! :)

Two Freebies! Tribute and Vessel are FREE on Amazon Today!

This is a great opportunity to pick up the first two novellas in my Children of the Sidhe series for FREE! The third book, Flight, was just released this week. If you haven't read my sexy fae-filled paranormal romance series, here's your chance for a smokin' deal!


Tribute

Vessel

New Release Fun!

Hi there! It's an exciting week around here with the release of Flight, the third Children of the Sidhe novella. The first two books in the series are FREE for your Kindle for the next three days. You can find them here: Tribute and Vessel.

Also, Amy Jones was kind enough to host me for an interview today on her blog. Fun times!

New Release: Flight is Available on Amazon Now!

This teaser says June 26th, but Flight is live on Amazon now! :) (Yes, again showing my new addiction to picmonkey.com.)
Flight
Nathan Jeffries doesn’t entirely understand his affinity for hawks, until he finds he can shift into one. Fae blood is to blame for his good looks and luck with the ladies – but now that luck has turned. Nathan is on an Otherworld assassin’s hit list, and the only person stepping forward to help him just may be playing for the other side in the Sidhe Blood Wars.
Tessa Anndrais isn’t sure where she stands. When Abarta – the assassin – threatens to reveal a family secret, she’s determined to protect her own. She’s never approved of thinning Sidhe blood by mixing with humans. Yet she finds herself watching Nathan, the half-human son of the Lord of the Skies, with enough approval to keep her warm all through the night.
Children of the Sidhe
The Sidhe dwindle. Slow to breed and quick to war, the ages have worn away their numbers. An old enemy threatens Otherworld, fearsome in numbers and in newfound magic. The Sidhe’s unloved part-human children strewn about the mortal world are suddenly their greatest source of hope. 
An excerpt from Flight can be found here.
All of my Children of the Sidhe novellas are priced at $0.99 right now! I'm making no promises about how long I'll stay at fire sale prices, but at this time, you can pick up all three books for a total of $2.97. :)
Visit my Amazon author page to grab 'em.

Flight Teaser -- Yes, There's a Bird on It

Okay, so there are actually several birds on this teaser for Flight, the novella that will be out June 26th. That's because there are several birds IN Flight. Of course. I bet you guessed that, but figured I'd spell it out as sometimes book titles are about as related to the content of the book as a frog to a sea star. Just sayin'. 

(And if you don't get the "there's a bird on it" reference, check out this segment from the show Portlandia. Yes, I'm from Portland. And yes, I think that show is funny, except when they go way too far…and that's still entertaining.)


Excerpt:Nathan Jeffries was not a morning person. As he stirred his first cup of coffee in a window-side booth at the Red Hen Diner, his dark sunglasses were the only thing saving him from the harsh light of day. He took a sip of his heavily creamed and sugared brew, and sighed in relief. The. Best. Coffee. Ever.Taking a break from work to write his thesis back home in Laurens, South Carolina, at his mother’s old house, had seemed like a good idea at the time. He hadn’t realized how much his schedule kept him on track when he was working. Without that anchor, he got lost in the minutia, and hours – hell, days – seemed to fly by in a rush as he avoided work on the very project that had drawn him back here.His thesis on the differences in breeding habits between subspecies of hawks in North America had seemed like a good fit for his rural South Carolina roots. Growing up he’d seen many a hawk soaring over open land, and diving for their prey. They’d always struck him as noble. He loved the way they rode the air currents, with minimal movement. They just soared.For some reason he had trouble finding his bearings since he returned. Maybe it was because the work that drew him to his hometown this time was so opposite of the reason he’d lived here last. His mother’s battle with colon cancer had pulled him back to town for almost a year before she died. He’d itched for campus the entire time, feeling constrained by the small town and the slow pace of life while caring for his ailing mother.Right after her death he put everything but the furniture in storage and signed over management of the property to a local company. He moved out, and re-enrolled in graduate school. He thought he would mourn better on his own terms, but he still wouldn’t say he was over her death.Since returning, he’d been going through his mother’s things and setting them straight after his two-year break from the reality of her death. She was never coming back, and now he had to decide what to do with all of her things, not to mention the house itself. The housekeeping didn’t help either. Apartments definitely didn’t take this much work. And despite the fact he’d had a property management company checking up on the place and renting it out when they could, the long-term vacancy had left a lot of repairs waiting for him. It was peaceful to pick up his tools and set to work on something tangible, something that showed him results at the end of a hard day and left his muscles aching from effort instead of tedious deskwork.Nathan hated deskwork. He was a wildlife biologist because he loved the wild. He was drawn to the outdoors, to doing, to feeling with his own two hands and knowing the world with his own senses. So on the thesis end of things, he’d already wasted nearly a month of his six-month break.Nathan took another swallow of his coffee, and thought of his desk at home, covered with books all run through with sticky notes and highlighters. Then he looked down at the worn satchel he carried with him. He was drafting his thesis in longhand, because he hated being stuck at the computer. This way he could carry his work with him and jot down the next line or a new train of thought as they occurred to him. This morning he just didn’t feel up to it. He itched for activity, and the woodland trail he’d often hiked as a kid sprang to mind. Maybe observation of the subject of his thesis would turn his mood around.Nathan bought a sandwich before he left the coffee shop, and walked back home. He grabbed just a few more things. His camera and extra batteries, a water bottle, and a Gerber knife multi-tool. He drove the ten minutes to Laurens County Park and walked a quarter-mile over the grassy fields before he chose a spot close to a copse of oaks and beeches.He sank to the ground and pulled his notebook out, hoping inspiration would strike. The early December day was partly cloudy and almost sixty degrees, much warmer than he’d grown used to for this time of year. He’d left the house in a dark gray Henley, worn jeans and his favorite hiking boots. No jacket necessary.The nearly naked trees made it easy to spot his hawks. He could see three from where he sat, at opposite ends of the field, scouring the grass for their next meals. As he watched, the hawk at the north took off from his perch at the top of a beech tree and rose until he was a speck, before diving back into a soar above the field. He dropped again, fast, this time to snatch some small creature from the grass with his talons. The bird retreated to the woodland to enjoy his snack.Another of the birds had disappeared while he watched the successful hunter. The third watched him from the east. No one else was around, and the day had taken on an uncharacteristic stillness. Suddenly, the hawk leaped from its branch and descended, but where a hawk should have landed, a man appeared instead.Nathan jumped back, wondering if short sleep and a house haunted by memories of his mother had driven him to hallucinations. Maybe the man had been there all along, and he was just now noticing him. There was something about his eyes, though. Something wild, and all too akin to the hawk who had just been watching him from his oak-top perch.“Nathan,” the man spoke. “I need to speak with you.”“Did that really just happen?”The wild-eyed man took him in, silent. He chose not to respond to the question, and instead said, “You have a special affinity for birds, do you not?”Nathan nodded, bewildered.“It is your nature to take to the skies, to the branch. You must join me.”“What are you talking about? Who are you?”“I am Nemglan, Lord of the Skies. Your father.”Nathan took another step back. Nemglan was tall and lean, much like Nathan, with dark blond hair and deep brown eyes – it was like looking in a mirror. “What do you mean, my father? My father died when I was a baby.”“That’s what your mother told you. The truth is – well, honestly, the truth is complicated and we don’t have time to get into it right now. Follow me.”“I’m not going to just follow you.” Was he crazy?“Nathan,” the man burst out in frustration, “Do not argue! You must run! You must join me. Now!”“I don’t know what you mean. What do you mean join you?”“You know what you saw. Do I have to speak it?” Nemglan looked over his shoulder, his features stretching in fear.Nathan felt something break in the air; it felt charged like the silent minutes before a big storm, despite the clear weather.“RUN!” Nemglan seemed to hover a few inches above the ground, and where he’d been there was suddenly a hawk, the transition too rapid for Nathan to catch, despite the fact he was looking straight at the man (or hawk) who claimed to be his father. And suddenly the hawk Nemglan swooped toward him, nipping his upper arm savagely. Nathan felt something change at the bite, at his resulting fear. He snapped, and suddenly he knew.Darkness had filled the woods beneath the canopy, as if the branches restrained it from taking over the afternoon. It stretched toward them, and an inky blackness began to seep into the field at its eastern edge.Nathan cried out. He convulsed and felt his body – change. Then he was flying, everything happening too fast, the hawk chasing at his tail, forcing him on insistently.They dove into the cover of the woodland at the other end of the field, where the darkness had not yet filled the space between trunks. Nathan’s stomach dropped as they soared between the interwoven limbs of two oaks. He hit the ground and rolled, wing over wing, colliding with the trunk of a tree and coming to rest.Nemglan appeared in front of him.Nathan couldn’t speak. He could only thrash his wings, confused that he had wings to begin with. He knew himself still for a man, yet this bird form didn’t feel wrong. He opened his beak slightly in threat. He didn’t trust this man who claimed to be his father, even though the last few minutes told him Nemglan’s claim was probably accurate.“Don’t worry. You’re through the portal. We lost him. The threat is over, for now.” Nemglan spoke softly, obviously attempting to calm him. His shoulder was dripping blood in a lazy stream; it smelled shockingly appetizing to Nathan, his senses changed and new.Nathan wasn’t sure what to think. He flapped some more and let out a “caw” that didn’t feel proper at all. When would he change back? Would he change back? He strutted, fretfully, keeping an eye on Nemglan, who stood several paces away, clutching Nathan’s bag.“I know what you need.” Nemglan’s eyes glittered in the twilit forest. “You need to feel safe. Well, we’re a long way from home, but I do know one place we could go.”
Flight will be available on Amazon June 26th, 2013!