Jennifer Johnson's Blog

Year End

Well this was a year. A crap-tastic year. I don’t want to get into the personal stuff, but as far as the writing goes…

At the last minute, I decided to do NaNoWriMo, working on ParaPol. And for two weeks, I was on fire. I wasn’t just keeping up, I was ahead. Then I got violently sick with a 24-hour bug and I lost my momentum and my fire and my will to write. I managed a few more thousand words, but needless to say, I didn’t hit the 50k.

But, bright side: I did write 35,576 words that I wouldn...

Hi There

That feeling when you write for the first time in almost a year.

And then that feeling when you wait for confirmation that it was a fluke, and you won’t be writing again any time soon.

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign up for her free newsletter to pass the time.

Announcing: Fictional President!

Tired of the political quagmire that is 2016? Me too! That’s why I decided to polish and publish a short story I wrote back in college: “Fictional President.”

In this short story, America has elected their next President — and he’s the main character of the popular political drama, Pennsylvania Avenue. (I’ve made lots of jokes this year about wishing I could just vote for President Bartlet from West Wing. But this is why that probably wouldn’t work out so well…)

Buy on Amazon!

Oh, and her...

My Theme Song This Past Week

I discovered Against the Current a while ago (thanks, Pandora!) and now that things seem to be turning around, their song Comeback Kid resonates on a whole new level. Especially this part:

You got this subtle kind of way about you that pulls me under but I won’t drown.
It’s gonna take a whole lot more than that to ever bring me down.

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign u...

My early birthday present to me…

…putting aside these guys for a while…

…and diving into my paranormal police procedural.

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign up for her free newsletter to pass the time.

Try Everything…When Writing a Novel

Try Everything is the most accurate song about writing that I have ever heard. Especially this part of the chorus that defines revision:
I won’t give up, no I won’t give in
Until I reach the end and then I’ll start again.

And if you haven’t seen Zootopia yet, you should go do that.

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign up for her free newsletter to pass the time.

Color Me Impressed

When your character says something awesome.

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign up for her free newsletter to pass the time.

Novel Soundtrack: Narrator

If you’refar enough along on my bi-weekly emails, you’ll know that I have a crap novel soundtrack for Narrator. If you’reeveryone else? I have a crap novel soundtrack for Narrator. Seriously, it’s three songs from Swan Lake. Over and over and over…

Or at least, it was.

Now I’ve found actually relevant songs thanks to Bea Miller! So it’s…you know…threedifferentsongs over and over and over…

But here’s the best one. As in I think there are only two or three lines that don’t actually fit. First v...

Words on a Train

Actual words written this morning. Not notes. Not dialogue-only. Actual words.

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign up for her free newsletter to pass the time.

It Is and Is Not Calder

When I realized that my main character is basically Schrödinger’s cat on a large scale.

(Andhere’s a bonus, thanks Exploding Kittens.)

Jennifer A. Johnson is a newly published fantasy writer thanks to The Adventure of Creation anthology. She's still revising her first novel, but you can sign up for her free newsletter to pass the time.