Jules Jones's Blog, page 20

hello trees, hello sky

Yes, that means I have a migraine aura and have taken some codeine. Aren't you lucky I'm still sufficiently in contact with reality to be able to make some effort at proof-reading this post? Anyway, this means tonight's word count will be whatever I can write in my little dead tree notebook before I fall over. That may or may not include a review of Writing Faster FTW by LA Witt of the many pseuds. It is good advice, and it is written entertainingly, and even though I already know all the advice in it, I read it all the way through today and found it well worth the £1.26 I paid for it last night.

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/297263.html, where it has received comments.

July PicoWrimo report, week 4

Yes! I have finished a first draft! This is a porn short idea that's been rattling around in my head for at least a couple of years, and seemed like a good thing for doing my 200 words a day for PicoWrimo when my hands were so knackered I had to use Dragon to write more than a sentence. I can't write novel-length with Dragon, but I can scribble notes for a Plot What Plot short. So a chunk of dialogue and some outline went down, and I've been writing bits of it as and when for the last couple of weeks. It also turns out to be useful for when I've stalled on the novel and need to let the confabulator grind away in the background for a bit. So I've now got 6800 words of smut, and some concepts for another couple of stories about these characters (my original idea was to try writing one of those short story series that then get bundled as an omnibus on Smashwords and Kindle self-pub).

As previously noted, damn thing's also sprouted a plot for the series arc while I wasn't looking. I did *not* need another novel WIP.

Daily count report:
20 - 241 WIP
21 – 308 smut
22 – 435 smut
23 – 131 WIP (plus a book review, not yet posted)
24 – 351 smut
25 – 836 smut
26 – 790 smut

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/297175.html, where it has received comments.

flash sale of Loose Id titles at ARe

All Loose Id titles, including mine are in a one day sale at All Romance eBooks - 25% off 12:01 AM US Central July 23rd - 11:59 PM US Central July 23rd.

Loose Id titles
my books

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/296935.html, where it has received comments.

Short story on 100% discount

I am a nitwit and forgot to mention that I've put "One Size Fits All" into the Smashwords promotional sale. When you get to the page, it's still listed as full price, but there's a 100% discount coupon code (SW100) you put in at checkout. Yes, this means you have to have a Smashwords account. No, they don't spam you, and you can read about a third of the story before you have to put it in your shopping trolley. There are lots of other books in the promotion, which runs until 31 July.

One Size Fits All

Hugh's everything that Gavin could ask for in a lover. Everything, apart from his taste in underwear. Nothing wrong with the underwear, you understand, but that's the problem. It's boring. So Gavin decides to have a rummage through Hugh's underwear, just in case there's anything more interesting tucked away. And what he finds is so interesting that he tries it out for size...

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/296691.html, where it has received comments.

July Picowrimo week 3

Still writing every day, although not always on the same project, which makes it hard to keep track. I'm plugging away at the erotic romance WIP (the baronetcy one), but as light relief I thought I'd pick up an idea I had a while back for a porn short story series.

The idea here was to have a second pseudonym to experiment with self-published strokefic shorts, of the sort that get sold on Smashwords and Amazon as short series with another story released every so often and then bundled together in a bargain bundle. Reasons for doing this include seeing how it works, it's fun, to prove to my editor at Loose Id that I can so write a short story and *keep* it short, needing a break from the WIP, and sometimes because Weird Shit turns up in my head and the only way to make it go away is put it in someone else's head. The reason for doing it last week is that my hands were sore from too much typing, and while I can't use Dragon for writing a novel, I can manage to dictate at least rough notes for Plot What Plot short stories, and often chunks of rough draft. Smashwords is running a promo at the moment which would make it useful to throw together a couple of short strokefics and get them up there before the end of July, which makes a handy target for Pico. I wouldn't need the second one to be complete, just enough of a draft to be confident about making it available for pre-order.

Of course, last night some plot sneaked in while I wasn't looking, and this morning I had an idea which made this planned four-pack of shorts a 13 part series, with a Plot. Not much of a plot, I grant you, but definite Plot. Or at least Story Arc. So this morning's word count quota turned out to be 500 words of outline written over breakfast.

[headdesk]

Why does my muse do this to me?

Anyway, the detailed word count since I sent the Nice Tie sequel to my editor:

9- 231 smut, 10- 180 smut, 11- 782 smut, 12- not recorded, 13- 436 WIP, 14- 960 smut (including approx 200 from 12th) , 15- 240 smut, 16-398 WIP , 17- 474 WIP & 195 smut, 18- 162 WIP & 1739 smut, 19- 502 smut outline.

After yesterday's binge, it may be back to Dragon for a few days...

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/296287.html, where it has received comments.

PicoWrimo progress

I have, as usual, been taking part in PicoWrimo, for values of "taking part in" that include being too busy getting in my 200 words a day to participate in the comm itself most days. I've been even worse than usual this time round because the day job is well and truly eating my brain, to the point where I dropped my "hope to reach" target to 200 words a day because I knew 300 wasn't realistic.

It has, however, been successful as usual in getting me to get actual words down on page. For June Pico I wrote at least 200 words a day every single day on the current novel length work-in-progress. I was all set to continue with this in July, but on the 2nd of July Loose Id posted an internal call for submissions asking for wedding sequels to gay romance novels in the catalogue which didn't already have a wedding. As occasionally happens, the first line appeared in my brain while I was on my way to work that morning and insisted that I write the rest of the story. On 8 July a 6200 word wedding story for Nice Tie went off to the beta readers, and on 9 July it went off to my editor (who is still thinking about it).

Strangely enough, my hands hurt after that. I've still managed to write something every day, but it's been using Dragon to dictate a rough outline for a short and notes for some story ideas. Dragon is extremely useful, but it's hard work for fiction, and really does change my voice, so in general I don't find it worthwhile to try to write manuscript with it if there are notes I could be writing.

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/296135.html, where it has received comments.

store credit for FAQs

MY publisher is revamping its website, including the FAQs. Bribery and corruption is involved here - to quote the blog post:

Have a question for customer service, about our submissions, contracts, editing process, author development? I’ll answer and if I use it on the new 2015 FAQs, I’ll give you $2 in Idcents.

More info at the blog: http://loosenyourid.com/well-color-me-mortified-faqs-for/

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/295691.html, where it has received comments.

#lovewins in the USA

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.

It is so ordered.

Justice Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, in what is one of the finest pieces of writing on the subject of love I have ever seen.

There has been the predictable spewing of bile from the usual suspects about how this is an attack on Christianity. It is not. I write gay romance for many reasons, but one of them is this: I consider it my duty as a Christian to make life better for my fellow men and women, and one of the ways I can do that is to use my straight privilege to place a picture of LGBTQ love in front of my fellow straights. A picture of people who are just as deserving of their Happy Ever After. Each of my books was a drop of water to help wear away a stone, and if even one of those drops helped someone see their gay neighbour as just their neighbour, I can sit content in church tomorrow knowing that I have indeed loved my neighbour as myself. And there are many, many churches who today and tomorrow and the day after and for years to come will celebrate the fact that they can now celebrate their parishioners' legal as well as spiritual commitment to one another.

The usual suspects may call themselves the voice of Christians, but they do not speak for me. Justice Kennedy speaks for me. And may his words be quoted in marriage services up and down the land.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 1:1–3)

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/295485.html, where it has received comments.

The Princess Bride - Kindle edition on sale at Amazon UK

This week's selection of deeply discounted Kindle books includes The Princess Bride for £1.69. This price is Amazon UK only - I can't see Kindle prices on other Amazons, so I've no idea whether it's also on sale on those.

Also likely to be of interest to this parish: A Rare Benedictine: The Advent Of Brother Cadfael (The Cadfael Chronicles) at £1.69.

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/295374.html, where it has received comments.

Contest: Nice Tie at The Romance Reviews

The Romance Reviews is running a Summer Party all month with lots of giveaways each day, and an ongoing contest where you can rack up points each day for a bigger prize. I've got a copy of Nice Tie up for grabs in today's giveaway - scroll down to question 13. Yes, it's a multiple-choice question, but since the answer's in the blurb for the book, it's not exactly difficult. :-)

Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/295030.html, where it has received comments.