S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 102
March 7, 2017
Teaser Tuesday – Go Down Fighting
It’s Teaser Tuesday time for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP! When I started this series, Mei was trying to figure her life out. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was doing. Now that we’re at the third book, she finally has some success she’s willing to fight for to keep. What she wants and what she gets, though, are two totally separate things.
THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP is now available! Get caught up with Mei and her hometown of Chikata, or start the series with THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE and see how it all started.
Now Available!
Buy The Daydreamer Detective Opens A Tea Shop
Available on iBooks, Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and more!
(You’ll be able to choose your bookstore on the following page, if you have not chosen a default Books2Read store already.)
The post Teaser Tuesday – Go Down Fighting appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
March 5, 2017
Sunday Update – March 5, 2017
It’s March, people! Daylight Saving Time starts next weekend, and spring is on its way. So no complaints from me about the weather except for it’s like 15ºF outside right now. 
March 2, 2017
Teaser Thursday – Typhoon Amanda
It’s time for teaser images for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP! First up, when Typhoon Amanda finally enters Mei’s life, she causing mayhem and destruction, and poor Mei is left dealing with the clean-up. I remember writing this and thinking of the imagery of dealing with natural disasters, and I’ve decided it’ll be a significant part of the next book of the series! Hopefully that little tease will hold you over until the next book is available.
THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP is now available! Get caught up with Mei and her hometown of Chikata, or start the series with THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE and see how it all started.
Now Available!
Buy The Daydreamer Detective Opens A Tea Shop
Available on iBooks, Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and more!
(You’ll be able to choose your bookstore on the following page, if you have not chosen a default Books2Read store already.)
The post Teaser Thursday – Typhoon Amanda appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
March 1, 2017
March 2017 Goals
We’re cruising into March and into spring! This makes me super happy.
What Happened With February’s Goals?
Finish the edits on THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP and publish. Done! It’s out there. It’s got reviews. It’s… kinda selling.
Start two brand new books. I pushed this to March because reading through Hikoboshi 1, making changes to that, and getting THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP published was a lot of work.
Convert all my book links on my website. Done. I moved everything over to Books2Read, got affiliate accounts with the major vendors, and now use them for all my book linking.
Keep walking. I made excellent progress on my goal of Walking 1000 Miles in 2017! I need to walk an average of 2.8 miles per day to keep my goal. In January, I walked 105.2 miles for an average of 3.39 miles per day. In February, I walked 93.7 miles for an average of 3.346 miles per day. I should have walked 165 miles so far to stay on my goal. I’ve actually walked 198.9 miles!
More reading and audiobooks. I did do some reading but I listened to more audiobooks.
More knitting. Haven’t touched my knitting.
Business Goals For March
Start two brand new books. This is happening this month! I’m in the last 10k of editing Hikoboshi 1, and I expect that by Monday, I’ll be writing again!
Promote THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP. I have teaser images for this book and Facebook and AMS ads to do for it.
Learn more about MailPoet. I’ve switched over some of my newsletter duties to MailPoet, a WordPress plugin. I need to learn more about what it can do, because I’d like to switch over at least half my list to it by summer.
Format all the Kami No Sekai stories with Vellum. I’ve formatted almost everything with Vellum so far. These short stories are the last to get the treatment.
Personal Goals For March
More walking. I’m loving my walking goals! It’s a lot of fun and good for me. Gotta keep it up.
More audiobooks. I’m conserving my reading time for my work and for beta reading my critique partner’s work. This month, I’d like to listen to at least 3 audiobooks.
Get through all the personal stuff this month. I’ve got Girl Scout camp and my baby turns 10 this month. It’s a lot to do!
The post March 2017 Goals appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
February 28, 2017
Book Chat #30 – Mythological Modern Japan, An Unwelcome Quest, Plus Military Sci-fi!
Guys, I fear my actual reading of books may be at an end! Lol. That’s totally an exaggeration, but I feel like the only sitting and reading time I have is for my own books/writing or beta reading other people’s work. Sigh. I’m so so SO glad audiobooks exist! Maybe I just need to save my actual book reading for the summer by the pool.
I’m changing up the format of Book Chat a little to just talk about what I read, not what I’m reading, and I plan to do one at the end of every month. So let’s go!
What I read…
This one had a very slow start and she didn’t even meet the other main character until the 30% mark. I think, if I hadn’t been into all the Japanese mythological elements, it would’ve been a hard sell. But I did love all the quiet moments and the adventure! I recommend this one if you love Japan, the stories of their mythological creatures, and an interesting take on destiny.
What I listened to…
AN UNWELCOME QUEST by Scott Meyer
I actually listened to this one in January but forgot to include it! It was one of the ones I rushed to listen to before I canceled my KU membership. It was funny and quirky, just like the other books in the series. The story made me laugh out loud while emptying the dishwasher. Lol. Such great narration! Luke Daniels has become a favorite narrator at this point. I want to listen to more by him.
This was so, so good, and so heart-breaking too. I loved that we got to see all of the characters from Alice in Wonderland before they were the way they were. The Madhatter before he was mad. The White Rabbit. The tiny king. And especially Catherine before she became the Queen of Hearts. The narration on this was PERFECTION. Rebecca Soler is a master of voices! She did them all so perfectly, and in the way you would hear them from the Disney movie too. I was so charmed. I listened to this one feverishly, setting aside podcasts so I could concentrate on this alone. It was marvelous. Marissa Meyer strikes again! She’s becoming one of my favorite YA authors. I can’t wait for my kids to read her books someday.
I’m making it a point to read all the successful authors in sci-fi and Daniel Arenson is right at the top. Military sci-fi has become enormously popular over the last two years, indies filling in the gaps traditional publishing has left behind. I’m friends with Daniel on FB and his posts are so inspiring and thought-provoking. I knew I’d have to read his books! This series is a steal if you buy the ebook and get the audio via WhisperSync which I’ve been doing. The story is quite thrilling and brutal at the same time, aliens like giant centipedes called The Scum have torn Earth to pieces and we follow Marco through this basic training in the military. I loved all the characters that surrounded him. My favorite was Boris, who couldn’t help but compare everything to Russia. Lol. I did laugh out loud listening as I walked through the park. The narrator had the Russian accent down pat. Hahahaha. Anyway, the ending was heart-breaking but realistic. The setting was rough too. I felt like I was at boot camp, sweating and suffering! But I knew what I was in for when I decided to pick up the series. I’ve read John Scalzi’s OLD MAN’S WAR books and this was somewhat similar. Not for the faint of heart! But my heart is made of coal anyway, so I loved it. 
February 27, 2017
THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP Is Now Available!
I’m pleased to announce that the third book in my Miso Cozy Mysteries series, THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP, is now available! I really enjoyed writing this book, even though the last third of the book was torture to get through. Lol. I remember that even I wasn’t sure who the killer was until I got to the end! So hopefully you won’t know who it is either. 
February 26, 2017
Sunday Update – February 26, 2017
I’m sorry I haven’t been as present around the blog as I usually am. This week was hellish for me, and though I wanted to come here and post something fun and positive during the week, I just couldn’t do it. You see, I have a new book out tomorrow (blog post tomorrow about it!) and per usual, I had a fight with Amazon over it. It was almost enough to make me give up this whole shindig.
In the past 3 years and 5 months, I’ve been an author, I’ve published 10 books and 5 short stories. Every Single Release, there’s been a problem with Amazon. I can’t help but think, it must be me, right? Other authors don’t have these kinds of problems. In fact, I hear from authors all the time, “I’ve never had a problem with Amazon. I wonder why you do?” Uh-huh. I WONDER WHY TOO! Because it’s dehumanizing and demoralizing the way they treat me, and I’ve had enough of it. I could go through and catalog all my problems for you (they had issues with my series name, my subtitles, they linked up the wrong books, they published my book and said it was “unavailable” [TWICE], etc etc) but just thinking about everything I’ve been through makes me want to bang my head against the table. Sigh.
What I really hate is that they don’t listen. This past week when they determined that I needed to take my subtitles “A Miso Cozy Mystery” off all my cozy mystery books or they would shut down my KDP account, I tried to talk to them about it. I was following all the rules. I wasn’t keyword stuffing. “Miso Cozy” is a play on “Me so cozy” which I thought was obvious but probably not to some customer service person in India. It was on the cover (stipulated by THEIR rules). Nope. They didn’t care. “We’re sorry, but we can’t provide further information at this time,” is the reply I got basically saying, “Don’t bother emailing us again because we don’t care.” I had to spend time going through and deleting it out and republishing.
That took up three days of my time, then this weekend, they linked up the paperback of the third book in my series to the first book’s ebook version, therefore screwing over any idea I had of having reviews up before release day. I cried yesterday, and I don’t cry often over this stuff. I usually take a deep breath and move on. But this was it. I’d reached my limit.
That’s not to say that I haven’t had problems at other vendors. I had problems two years ago with Apple denying my short stories over and over, but once I fixed those problems, I never had another one. I had problems getting paid from Kobo. I had problems with Google Play because they didn’t let me know I hadn’t filled in a form to get paid. I had problems with Barnes & Noble too in which they messed up my entire series and I had to switch to Draft2Digital to get it fixed. But those have all been one-off problems. Amazon is a problem with EVERY SINGLE BOOK, and then to top it off, I had a disastrous time in KU too.
Sorry, I didn’t mean for this Sunday Update to be a rant, but it did take up enough of my week. Besides dealing with Amazon, I also got other things ready for my book launch, worked on wrangling my newsletter problems, walked outside three times because it was SO NICE OUT, went to the chiropractor, and edited Hikoboshi 1. So it was really busy! Today, I’ll be editing more of Hikoboshi 1, working out a timeline for that story because I keep getting lost on what’s happening, and working on teaser images for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP.
So much to do. So little time.
What else happened this week?
I got out in the fresh air, saw turtles all lined up on a log, and enjoyed walking to and from school to get the kids.
Having lunch outside in the sun is THE BEST.
When dealing with Amazon, many drinks are needed. If I need a new kidney, I’m blaming them.
And I hit my expected word count for Hikoboshi 1. I knew this book needed some details going into revisions so I set my goals to hit 85k for it. Just before entering the third act of the book, I met the goal! Everything from here on out is gravy.
February 20, 2017
All That Glitters By Tracy Krimmer Cover Reveal
It’s not often that I do cover reveals on my blog, but this one is for a new romance to publish this year from my good friend and critique partner, Tracy Krimmer. I adore her work, and I have this book to-read on my Kindle. I hope to start it soon so I can give feedback in a timely manner *cough cough* I hope to be timely. Lol. If you find this book interesting, be sure to follow her on her blog or sign up for her mailing list!
• • • •
Today is the cover reveal for All That Glitters by Tracy Krimmer. This cover reveal is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The cover is designed by K Creative Designs.
[image error]All That Glitters (Songs of the Heart #1)
By Tracy Krimmer
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction
Age category: Adult
Release Date: summer 2017
Blurb:
Country-music star, Dory Walker, never wanted to come back to the small town of Sycamore Bay. But after her fairy-tale life is flipped upside down, and her marriage becomes a casualty, she has no choice.
Harris Malone is a man with few commitments. He keeps a low profile most days while he cares for his young daughter and helps run his dad’s hardware store.
But when he and Dory run into each other at the local gas station, all either can think about is the searing kiss they shared many years ago.
Can a woman who only wants to rekindle her career and a man who enjoys a no-strings attached lifestyle find everlasting love?
You can find All That Glitters on Goodreads
About the Author:
Tracy’s love of writing began at nine years old. She wrote stories about aliens at school, machines that did homework for you, and penguins. Now she pens books and short stories about romance. She loves to read a great book, whether it be romance or science fiction, or any genre in between, or pop popcorn and catch up on her favorite TV shows or movies. She’s been known to crush a candy or two as well. Her loves include fitness, reading, coffee, dogs, and naps (not in that order), and her dislikes are blue cheese, cold weather, and burpees.
You can find and contact Tracy here:
– Website
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Goodreads
– Amazon
– Instagram
– Newsletter
The post All That Glitters By Tracy Krimmer Cover Reveal appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
February 19, 2017
Sunday Update – February 19, 2017
Quick update this week as I’M ON VACATION. Not a huge vacation by any means. We’re in Pennsylvania, enjoying two nights away from home. It was easy to get here and the kids are having fun, which is all that matters.
This week I spent either editing and walking or preparing for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP to publish. The date is set! It’ll be available on February 27! I thought I would go for the 24th, but I didn’t like that it was a Friday. I have pre-orders set up on all the vendors but Amazon, and I hope to be done with all of them by Wednesday.
Otherwise, this week, there were days when I had to run errands or grocery shop or whatever instead of working, but all in all, I kept busy at editing and thinking really hard about what I’ll write next, which I hope to start by March 1.
I have decided that I can’t work with what I don’t have written (duh) so getting down rough first drafts via dictation is where I need to concentrate my efforts. A few months ago, I was against that idea, but I realize now after editing both THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP and Hikoboshi 1 that this is actually working out for me better than I thought it would. And as always, I’m learning to be flexible about how I write because getting the stories out there is the most important thing. So anyway, those are my thoughts on that!
The other stuff in life is going well. I think all the walking is really helping with my intermittent depression. I walked outside today in the sun and I immediately felt better. When I walk and work, I feel better. I really think walking is the key to my happiness.
What else happened this week?
My husband’s seedlings are really growing!
We had Taco Monday this week, which was a nice change of pace.
My treadmill got some TLC on Valentine’s Day. I have to clean it up and keep it lubricated because I use it so often. If I don’t do this, the motor tends to be unhappy. And my treadmill is my savior. If it broke, I’d be broke. Lol.
I worked whenever I could this week. At the tennis club and at the gymnasium while my kids were active.
This indoor waterpark we’re at is huge but also really noisy. I had to leave in order to get back my sanity.
And I finally crossed a review milestone! THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE passed 80 reviews! And the majority of them are 4- and 5-stars. I’m super happy with this. I’ve never had this many reviews on one of my books! Thanks to all who have given this book a chance. I really appreciate it!
The post Sunday Update – February 19, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
February 12, 2017
Sunday Update – February 12, 2017
As I suspected, I didn’t update on the blog this past week. It was busy every day and I knew I wouldn’t have time to update here because I was spending my time doing other things.
In business this week, I finished off edits of THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP, formatted it, sent it out to my proofreaders, worked on my MailChimp lists so that my ARC readers were all set up, and sent the Daydreamer book out to them. I decided that I’m going to do teaser images for this book, BUT I’m not going to start posting them until AFTER the book goes on sale. This way it’s first month of sales will have constant attention. I’m hoping this works to help get me on the Hot New Releases list on Amazon. We shall see.
Also this week, I set up Dragon to take my digital voice recorder and transcribe from it. It was pretty accurate after training, so I hope it works well for me going forward. I’m going to work on dictating away from my computer and all my devices, which usually turn into a huge distraction. Even watching the words come up on the screen as I say them is a huge distraction.
Once that was set up, I immediately opened my sci-fi book I wrote during NaNoWriMo and got to work on it. I’m reading through, fixing some things, adding some more, and making notes. This is the first book in a Nogiku Series spin-off called the Hikoboshi Series so from here on out it will called Codename: Hikoboshi 1. Yes, I am very creative. I hope to have my read-through done before the end of the week.
This week I also entertained the idea of doing a royalty share on my audiobooks for the Daydreamer series, but I’ve decided to shelve the idea, and the idea that I’ll ever do audiobooks. I should only do them if I can pay for the price of them upfront, and at this point, I don’t ever see that being a possibility. Remember that post about author dreams the other week? This has always been a dream of mine, finding the right narrator and hearing my books come to life. After three years and failing to make a profit for that long, it’s time for me to give up on this dream. I just don’t see being able to afford them for 5+ years. Oh well.
This week was also filled with random family and life stuff. I had to get the Girl Scouts cookie money all collected and sent off to the cookie moms. I’m glad that’s done and I handed it in on time. My husband gave me a deadline for dealing with last year’s expenses, which is good. And then it snowed on Thursday and we had a snow day where everyone was home. This meant that I didn’t make it to the gym this week, but that’s okay. I still did a lot of walking! I’m on track to meet my goal again this month even though we’re going away this next weekend.
What else happened this week?
My girls had a great month in January so we celebrated with frozen yogurt.
It was almost 60ºF on Wednesday so I went for a long 5 mile walk. It was so nice!
Then it snowed A LOT the next day. Sigh. I hate snow.
Lots of working this week, both at my computer and setting up Dragon on the PC to take transcription files.
And I worked on re-formatting both FACE TIME and SUMMER HAIKUS this week with Vellum. They’re both ready to be uploaded today!
I’m not sure what this week will bring here on the blog, I have a lot to do otherwise between writing, reading, editing, and walking, plus the usual family stuff. Plus my Friday is already booked up with a haircut in the morning and my kids have a half day. I just need to keep going and working! If I’m inspired to post anything, I’ll be back!
The post Sunday Update – February 12, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
