S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 114

How Not To Give A F*ck – Meditation

In this continuing series, I will show you how not to give a fuck about your book rejections, bad reviews, and disappointing sales. Please see the table of contents at the bottom of this post for more in this series.

I love meditation. Just when I’m about to rip the couch to shreds because Scrivener refuses to compile a book the way I tell it to or scream because I got a one-star review out of nowhere, I take a moment to count to ten. Really. I stop everything, close my eyes, and count to ten, preferably out loud so other people know not to approach me. I know it’s cliche, but it works, and it’s the simplest form of meditation there is. Closing your eyes and cutting yourself off from the moment, shutting down the screaming in your head, is your first step towards meditation. It’s just the beginning. When you’re on the edge and ready to either cry or whip out a sword and chop heads off, meditation is your friend.

There are a lot of scientific and holistic benefits to meditation. It’s not just for authors about to lose their cool! If you just Google “health benefits of meditation” you’ll find hundreds of reasons why it’s good for you. This article on WebMD cites such benefits as lowered blood pressure, a healthier immune system, and stress reduction, all of which we need to conquer that next revision or that next sales promotion. I have found that meditating in the evening before bed helps me sleep better. Sometimes I meditate in the afternoon in lieu of a nap. I use it to recharge my batteries and prepare for the evening when I will, doubtless, do more work and juggle my kids’ homework and dinner all at the same time. (Did I say being a self-published author is stressful? Hmmm. Well, it is.)

I have a few suggestions on how to meditate:

1) Close out all the things causing you stress – Turn off Scrivener or Word or whatever you use to write. Close the Goodreads tab. Quit your mail program. Set your phone to silent. And walk away. Yep. Walk away. Don’t try to compile again. Don’t look at the reviewer’s profile to determine how crazy they may or may not be. Don’t return that hate email. Just walk away. If you can step outside and get a breath of fresh air, that’s even better. By putting some distance between you and the thing that makes you want to rage or cry, you’re giving your body the space it needs to calm down and meditate. It’s the first step in every part of this series, actually, so pay attention!

2) Choose your preferred method of meditation and get to it – If you can’t meditate because you have kids swarming around your feet, choose another calming activity like coloring with them. If you can’t meditate because you’re at work, head to the bathroom and sit in the stall for three minutes. If you can meditate, do it right away. I have a few iPhone apps (I’m sure they make them for every device) I like from Andrew Johnson I can listen to if I have 20 minutes and time for a nap (because they put me to sleep every time). If I don’t have that time, I watch Bob Ross painting videos on YouTube. No joke. Something about his hair and the sound of his voice and those landscapes puts me in a good mood every time. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself.

3) Have a snack or a shower – Anger and then meditation always lower my blood sugar. A snack will put me in a better place to tackle my next task. If I’m still a bit hot under the collar, I take a shower. Not only does the shower put me at a distance from the thing irritating me, it also has a calming effect on all the senses due to the steam, the sound of the shower, the monotony of the shower stall, etc. I spend a lot of time in there either winning arguments with people in my head or I get great ideas! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fixed a plot hole in a book with a good shower. Not only is the shower a great place to meditate, it’s a great place to return to square one. I, usually, come out feeling better about the world.

4) Don’t go back to the activity that caused the breakdown when you’re done – Once you’ve cleansed yourself (either by meditation or shower or both), move on. If the problem was task related, ask for help or Google before tackling it again. If the problem was someone else’s opinion of your work, tell them SILENTLY IN YOUR BRAIN to go fuck themselves and don’t give them your time or energy again. Don’t say that out loud or you’ll be in a whole heap of trouble. Keep those thoughts to yourself.

Do you like to meditate? Has it helped you to not give a fuck? Please tell us in the comments!
Table of Contents for the How Not To Give A F*ck About Your Book Rejections, Bad Reviews, and Disappointing Sales Series

Introduction
Meditation

Expect a new post in this series every Friday!

How Not To Give A F*ck About Your Book Rejections, Bad Reviews, and Disappointing Sales

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entire series uses the word “fuck” in many ways. If you can’t read the word fuck without complaining about it, please move on. It’s not often that I swear on this blog, but for this series, it’s necessary. “Not giving a shit,” “not giving a flying frog,” “not giving a hoot,” etc. do not convey the same meaning as “not giving a fuck.” Such is the nature of language.

Hi! And welcome to being an author in the 21st century. I’m your host, S. J. Pajonas, and I’m just like you. I’m a new author in the age of self-publishing. I have a few fiction books under my belt already, but I’m just at the beginning of my journey and career. How do I know I’m just like you? Because you’re here today. You come here because you’re a secure and best-selling author (or maybe you are and you don’t think you are? That’s imposter syndrome, my friends! I can help with that too). You’re here because you’ve published, or are about to publish, a book, and you’ve seen the lack of sales, the bad reviews, and the rejections, and you’re wondering how to cope with them all. That’s me, too. Don’t worry. You’re not alone.

And that’s one thing you always have to tell yourself. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. In this business, it’s easy to struggle alone. As authors, we work alone most of the time, unless you count your characters as coworkers (I do sometimes), and that alone time can bring you down if you have no one to sympathize with. Many of us do this online with fellow authors through Facebook, message boards, or Twitter, or maybe we have an in-person critique group we attend once a week or month. Regardless, it’s not the same amount of time most people get in an office with coworkers they see every day. Just remember, though, you are not alone.

What are you going to learn from this blog series? You’re not going to learn how to be a best seller. You’re not going to learn how to market your book successfully. You’re not even going to learn how to write the book you’ll fail at (let’s save that for all the other writing craft books out there). If you can learn anything from me, you’re going to learn how to just not give a fuck about anything but your writing. Your writing is where all the fucks will go. Anything else, doesn’t deserve them. Your fucks are sacred, and they should be held to your chest like a straight of aces at a poker table.

But whatever you do, you’re not going to take this series too seriously, okay? I’m here to show you how I deal, and you can take it or leave it. You can think this is all complete bullshit, or you can maybe try a few things and see how they work for you. These ideas have helped me, and I tend not to give a fuck about a good long list of things when it comes to publishing, so I suspect they’re working. Fingers crossed!

Throughout this series, I’m going to give you pointers on keeping those fucks and not giving them away. I would love it if you chimed in in the comments and shared with us your techniques. Also, if you try any of my suggestions, please come back and tell us how it went! It’s my intention to grow this series over the course of the next 12 to 14 weeks, so I can point other despairing authors here and give them a shoulder to cry on, brush it off, and keep going with an arsenal of techniques in their back pocket.

I know it’s rough out there. You are one of a million other authors trying to get noticed, and within a short span of time, it’s either do or die. It used to be that you could publish a book a year or less, and everything would be fine. But now the stakes are higher if you want to succeed. I have news for you. The odds are NOT in your favor to be the next hot ticket, the next New York Times Best Seller right out of the gate. Your book is awesome, and you are awesome, but the market is crazy, and publishing a book is like a drop in the ocean now.

So now that you know the truth, let’s learn how not to give a fuck.

Let’s start with the physical things…

Table of Contents for the How Not To Give A F*ck About Your Book Rejections, Bad Reviews, and Disappointing Sales Series

Introduction
Meditation

Expect a new post in this series every Friday!

Why Did You Switch To A Different Genre With THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE?

In my last newsletter, I asked for people to hit reply and ask me anything. I would post answers to their questions here on the blog and back in the next newsletter as well. Aren’t subscribed to my newsletter? You can sign-up here!

• • • •

Diane asks me, “Why did you switch to a different genre with THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE?”

Great question, Diane! I often ask myself this very same question all the time. Lol. The prevailing opinions about self-published authors is that we should stick to one genre and build our audience there if we want to make money at being an author. “Make money” in my books would be over $1000 per month, which isn’t even minimum wage. Still, making $1000 per month is nothing to sneeze at. I make about that much PER YEAR, so that’s a goal for me to get to. Anyway, getting back to the question, every self-publishing expert will tell you that building an audience in your genre is necessary to having a long, money-making career as an indie author. They also say that if you want to write in more than one genre, you should get a pen name for the other genres so as not to confuse your readers.

So why would I switch? Let me tell you, this was a hard decision to make. I saw how I was doing with the Nogiku Series (it only makes me $30/month on a good month) and I wondered if I just was never going to find an audience in scifi. It was totally possible that I never would, the signs pointed to NO, so I had to think hard about where to take my career next. I didn’t want to juggle more than one pen name, so I decided against that (this was probably a mistake). I love writing mysteries (the Nogiku Series is a mystery at heart) and I loved the cozy mystery genre because I’m generally an upbeat writer who likes Happily Ever Afters. Cozy mysteries would be a good fit for me. I went for it and published my first on March 31st!

I’m right at the beginning of this journey! My first cozy mystery book is out and the second one is due to come out on July 7. It has garnered some great reviews and people seem to be enjoying it. Is it selling? No, it isn’t. Is it finding its audience? Not right now. But I feel I need at least three books out to tell for sure, so I’m not giving up yet. Plus there are sales and blog tours and much much more in the future to help gain the exposure my books need. Publishing is a hard business and overnight success is just not real for most of us. What mattered to me was finding the right path for me. Every decision I have made puts me closer to my goal!

Ultimately, the thing I’ve learned in this process is what I enjoy writing! I enjoy writing cozy mysteries and science fiction, so for the foreseeable future, I will concentrate on both. I’ve decided that if I do write outside of these genres again, I will do it under a pen name (which I’ll tell you about eventually if I do it).

So that’s why I switched! And I will soldier on, keep going until I have nothing left in me to give, which I hope is when I’m 90 or more.

June 2016 Goals

Since I seem to be a very goal-oriented person, and I’ve been floundering the past few months (struggling with depression and lack of motivation), I’ve decided that each month I’ll come here to the blog and set some goals! I want to set both business and personal goals each month and then do a wrap-up at the end to see how I did. I can then roll goals I didn’t achieve over into the next month or modify or delete them.

Business Goals

I need to write the novella that’ll be published in December. I actually have a basic outline for this through the first act and a possible title. It’s a novella for a shared-world project that I’m participating in with a lot of other authors. I’m excited about this, BUT I have also learned that I may not be very good at these group projects unless I have a book or story already written.

Launch The Nogiku Series with a new look-and-feel. I have the covers for all the Nogiku books! They just arrived in my inbox this morning. So, I must recompile all the books with the new covers, get the new covers to Lola, and change over all the images on this website for it. Due Date: June 21 (Cover reveal)

Blog ahead. I would like to have all of June and July blogged ahead by June 15th.

THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE BRAVES THE WINTER Teasers. These all need to be done by June 6th. First Teaser Tuesday is June 7th.

THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE BRAVES THE WINTER Blog Posts. There will be a blog tour for Daydreamer 2. I need to have blog posts written for it. Due Date: June 26

Other articles. I owe two articles to a friend for a newsletter. Due Date: June 3

Personal Goals

Exercise every day. Whether I go for a walk in the park, walk and work on the treadmill, or go to the gym, I need to exercise every day.

Stay positive. This is the hardest one. I have a new book launch coming up and a million other things happening. I need to stay positive even if it looks like things are failing. I need to follow my own advice and not give a fuck about some things.

Read a whole book. That was not written by me and also is not a beta read. I don’t read for pleasure enough. THIS HAS TO CHANGE.

Okay! As you can see I have a lot to do in June! Plus the kids finish up in school and summer camp starts. But this also means that my days at the pool increase! And even though I go there to relax, I often bring my computer to get work done. I can hit all of these goals! LET’S DO THIS!

Top 10 Places To Visit In Asia

I’m really in love with Asia, which will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me or has read my books. Japan is my first love, and I have traveled there, studied their culture and language, and now written three books in a series that’s Japan-inspired. But other parts of Asia are interesting to me too, and I’m dying to travel to most of the places in this list. Parts of FACE TIME take place in Seoul, Korea, and I hope that’s my next stop in East Asia someday. Laura spent a good deal of time in Thailand in her early twenties, and I think I’m actually jealous of her! Yes, it really is possible to be jealous of your own characters.

1. Tokyo, Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo) – This would be my first choice in East Asia even though I’ve already been there. Tokyo is so big, so dense, that you could live there your entire life and still only see a fraction of it. It may feel very foreign or it may feel like a second home. Tokyo is polarizing city. Go to Tokyo for the clean and orderly sidewalks and public transportation, the technology, the food, and the absolute in crazy and weird. Where else will you be able to go to a cat cafe or a cafe where you can sleep next to someone for the night (no touching)? http://www.tofugu.com/2012/10/05/japans-weird-themed-cafes/

2. Bangkok, Thailand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok) – I’ve been to Bangkok, and it is an amazing city. It’s definitely not as clean or orderly as Japan, but Thailand has a lot going for it. The Buddhist culture is peaceful and easy to get along with (as long as they’re not in the middle of an uprising). The King of Thailand is benevolent. The food is incredible, and, if you love summer, it’s always hot there. Go to Bangkok for the edge-of-your-seat tuk tuk rides, the giant golden reclining Buddha, the easy access to Southern Thailand and its beaches. Also, your US dollars will go far in Thailand. It’s possible to live cheaply and comfortably there for a long time on very little cash.

3. Seoul, South Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul) – Just across the water from Japan is Korea, so if you visit one, it’s easy to visit the other. Seoul is another huge metropolis which grew after it hosted the Olympics in 1988 and the FIFA World Cup in 2002. It is also clean and orderly and the public transportation is easy to use. Seoul is one of those cities that blends old and new really well. Ancient temples stand next to office buildings, and there’s always something going on worth watching or visiting. Go to Seoul for the kimchi, the coffee, the soju, and the possibility of being a background extra in a K-drama. Ha! You know you want to.

4. Macau, China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau) – Macau is actually in a Special Administrative Region of China like Hong Kong, and I really want to go to Hong Kong as well, but Macau draws my attention because of the gambling. Supposedly it’s bigger than Vegas, and I’m totally intrigued by gambling overseas. The food here is a mix of Chinese and Portuguese, and then there’s also a distinct Macanese cuisines as well. Go to Macau for the unique mix of consumerism, Old World China, baccarat, and clash of cultures.

5. Kyoto, Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto) – If you want more of the Old World Japan then Kyoto is a better bet than Tokyo. Time has come to a standstill in many areas of Kyoto. This is the city where you can see geisha (known as geiko) walking in the streets to and from parties, ancient Japanese temples and castles, Noh plays and festivals. If you can make it here during hanami season to view the cherry blossoms, you’re in for a treat. Go to Kyoto for a ten-course traditional kaiseki meal, a party with a geisha, and stay in a ryokan. You won’t regret it.

6. Taipei, Taiwan, China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei) – Taipei seems like a fun city, full of fast-moving people and Chinese tradition. It’s well known for its temples, festivals, and food, shopping, and easy public transportation. Go to Taipei for the excellent seafood, the Chinese New Year celebrations, and the hour-long hair washing boutiques. It’s supposedly better than a massage.

7. Beijing, China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing) – I suppose if you visit one place in China, this should be it. As the capital of PRC, it holds a lot of treasures including access to the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. Beijing is further to the north in China, so if you don’t like cold weather, you shouldn’t travel in winter. Go to Beijing for the Peking Opera, the chance to stare at Qing Dynasty treasures, and the Beijing Zoo Panda House for pandas!

8. Hanoi, Vietnam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanoi) – I’m dying to visit Vietnam. Modern Hanoi is colorful and chaotic, and filled with easy things to see and do. We did fight a war there in recent memory, but tourists are still welcome in the country. Vietnam still feels like a closed book to me. My cousin went there a few years ago with his wife who’s Vietnamese, and he was charmed by the people, the food, and architecture of temples and what wasn’t bombed into the ground. Go to Hanoi for the history, the pho and bahn mi, and the chance to ride a scooter with thousands of others through the streets at breakneck speed.

9. Manila, Philippines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila) – I don’t know much about the Philippines but I hear it’s awesome there. The capital city of Manila is rich with museums, gorgeous Catholic churches, and a fine array of cuisine from all neighboring regions from China, Thailand, and Malaysia. Watch the sunset on the bay from a rooftop restaurant and then hit the clubs in Makati for dancing and drinking all night long. Go to Manila for the Filipino home cooking at Cafe Juanito, halo-halo, and the Marikina Shoe Museum dedicated to all of Imelda Marcos’s shoes. Yes, a shoe museum.

10. Singapore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore) – Singapore is its own city-state (as my husband says, like the Vatican) and it’s situated on the Malay peninsula. I know Singapore gets a bad rap for its harsh laws, but I have known people to live there and it’s quite a pleasant and happy place to live. There’s hardly any crime, the streets and surrounding area are clean, the people are hospitable, and the food is amazing. They have these large food courts full of delicious Asian meals (meat, noodles, rice, seafood, you name it). Singapore has plenty of sights to see and lots of religious festivals each year to witness. Go to Singapore for the Merlion, the fish head curry, and the extremely hot climate (if that’s your thing.)

Want to get on a plane now? Tell us where you’d go!

FACE TIME is currently on sale for 99¢! Purchase this modern long-distance romance today for a steal!

Taking The Weekend Off!

Hi everyone! We’re coming up on a three-day weekend here in the States, Memorial Day weekend, and the relaxation begins today for us. Since we had a blessed lack of snow days this past winter, the school district gave my kids an extra day off for the holiday. We began this four-day weekend by sleeping in and having breakfast together as a family. So nice!

So, no posts this weekend and no Sunday Update either. I’ll be back on Tuesday with one more post for FACE TIME! And then June rolls around.

In the meantime, if you haven’t entered the contest I have going for a giant Scifi Romance Paperback Giveaway, enter now! This one ends soon!

ENTER THIS SCIFI ROMANCE PAPERBACK GIVEAWAY!

What else happened this week?

Now that we have space in the new kitchen, I was able to get out my favorite garage sale find, my 25th Anniversary Disney Animators glass collection!

Our new couch from IKEA came on Tuesday, and of course, it had to be put together.

And the peonies are in bloom outside! So pretty and they smell lovely too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Top 10 Yoga Poses

I love yoga and practice it every now and then, but not nearly as much as Laura does in FACE TIME. She’s a woman that likes to stay active. If she’s in the gym, sweating and working hard, she doesn’t have to think about the fact that she’s been single for over two years and her mother is living with her. Yoga is her escape. She does it every day, and she’s quite advanced. Here are my top ten favorite yoga poses starting with the most basic and moving to poses that I hope to accomplish myself one day.

1. Child’s Pose – a resting pose and the one I desperately want to get into when I’m dying in the middle of a class!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C4l%C4sana

2. Downward Dog – a resting pose but still requires a lot of concentration. Move your butt up, heels down, and melt your chest to the mat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adho_Mukha_%C5%9Av%C4n%C4sana

3. High plank and low plank – High and low plank are the core of a vinyasa flow and great for your abdomen. I can’t tell you, though, how many people I see do low plank (chaturanga dhandasana) incorrectly. You really have to float forward over your hands and come straight down with your arms at your side. Many people just try to come down into a regular low pushup. The arms need to be bent at 90 degrees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catura%E1%B9ga_Da%E1%B9%E1%B8%8D%C4sana

4. Lizard – I love a good hip-opener because mine have been painful since having children. Lizard pose is my favorite. I can’t get my forearms all the way to the floor (see the link) so I rest them on blocks and roll my foot out to the side. Ahhhh.

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2753

5. Pigeon and Mermaid – Another hip-opener, one-legged king pigeon pose brings a lot of relief to my aching hips. From this pose, you can advance on to Mermaid, which I have yet to get to! I can reach back and grab my foot, but I can’t get it into the crook of my arm nor reach over my head with the other hand. Maybe someday. This link will show you a warm-up and then advance to Pigeon and Mermaid.

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2780

6. Triangle – I love this pose because it stretches both the upper and lower body, plus opens up your chest, if you’re able to lean back enough.

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/494

7. Tree – During the summer when I wear yoga shorts, I can rest my foot in the upper position against my inner thigh but when I wear pants, my foot always slips. This is a great pose for balance.

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/496

8. Crow and Side Crow (or Crane and Side Crane) – I have always heard this pose as Crow, but regardless, it’s a good intermediate arm balance to work on. I can get into Crow and hold it for a bit but I’m working on Side Crow too which requires a lot more twist in the torso than I can comfortably do right now. Someday!

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/528

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2478

9. Headstand – I like headstand the best of all the inversions because the triangle of forearms feels very supportive to me and helps me bring my head off the floor. Right now, I can only do this pose against the wall. I’m still working on the core strength I need to do this in the middle of the floor.

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/481

10. Forearm Stand and Scorpion – I have yet to get into this inversion AT ALL so it’s my goal for this year and next. It’s a lot harder than it looks because you have to look forward. Once you’re a master at this, Scorpion is next for you!

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/1711

http://blogs.yogajournal.com/challengepose/2012/10/vrischika-in-pincha-mayurasana.html

Go out and practice your yoga. Namaste!

FACE TIME is currently on sale for 99¢! Purchase this modern long-distance romance today for a steal!

My Love/Hate Relationship With New York City

I am not a native New Yorker. I didn’t grow up here. I didn’t even grow up on the East Coast. I’m originally from flat-as-a-pancake and filled-with-lakes Michigan. Not a bad place to grow up, but when I decided I wanted a real career in the media and web design business, Detroit couldn’t hold a candle to New York. I moved to New York right in the middle of the dot com boom in March of 2000. Everything was new for me then. I was twenty-four years old, single, living in Brooklyn and enjoying the kind of New York pictured in Sex and the City before 9/11.

I fell in love with the city right away. After I got my bearings, I never had any fears about walking the city in daytime or night. I went out to dinner with friends. I met my future-husband. I went to concerts, saw shows, checked out all the local hot spots. Things changed drastically after 9/11. Not only was the city crawling with police and military personnel carrying large machine guns, but the very nature of business changed. New York had always been expanding, catching bigger companies who wanted to build massive skyscrapers, and invest money in the ever-growing city. With bigger bucks, came people who wanted “better,” more expensive, and classy things.

Now I’m all for change. How can a city or a person grow and evolve without change? I’m a city girl at heart. I currently live much farther from the city than I did 16 years ago, but I don’t think I could live on a farm or in the middle of nowhere. I need that pulse of city life to keep me alive and ticking. When I travel into New York now, I brighten up by 10,000 watts. I sigh in relief. I am recharged. I walk at lightspeed down city sidewalks, dodging tourists, and waiting not on the corner for the light to change but in the street as most New Yorkers do. (I once did that in Michigan when I returned there for a visit after living in New York for several years and nearly got run over. It’s totally a New York thing.)

My old city stomping grounds is Midtown because I used to work for HBO at the corner of 6th avenue and 42nd street. (P.S. only tourists call 6th Ave “Avenue of the Americas”.) I know where the good Indian restaurants are, that the lawn at Bryant Park is cut-throat for space when it’s open, and you can avoid a lot of Times Square by taking the side streets. When I decided to write FACE TIME, I gave Laura a job at my old job. I knew she would enjoy working there, as I did, and just like everyone who worked there, it was a job like any other, as it is for Laura.

But Midtown has changed since I worked there. The last time I exited the subway at 42nd and 6th, I wasn’t met with a hole in the ground like in 2007 when I left. Now there’s this absolutely huge skyscraper there, the Bank of America building. The pasta place I used to love and get drunk at after work is closed. The old Coliseum Books is now a bank. All the familiarity of the city is skewed. I look at the Pret A Manger and Chipotle on 42nd street between 5th and 6th ave and see a different New York, the one run by money, the one lacking nostalgia and significance. I turn around and am faced with the vast NY Public Library, its marble stairs, and lions guarding the front entrance.

This one block encapsulates everything that I love and hate about New York. In another ten years, a different set of restaurants, a different set of banks, will own those storefronts and the memories that I had of what was there before will fade a little more. The six-story building that housed my favorite pasta place will be gone, replaced by something thirty stories or more. I’ll hate everything that kind of change signifies, the growth of big business and the death of the little guy who started New York in the first place. But those big businesses will keep New York going for all the places that still mean something: Central Park, Bryant Park and the library, Carnegie Hall, The Opera at the Met, Broadway. They’re a necessary evil because for everything you love, there is something to hate.

I love the drive and energy of New York, the history, the ever-changing landscape of buildings. I hate the way it makes me question the appropriateness of progress, the way it makes things that happened last year, last month or even last week ancient history, the way it grinds people to the ground. And, in turn, I love the duality of this change. A new person grows from that one ground to a pulp. An exciting change flourishes when we forget something that happened not too long ago. Progress brings innovation and evolution.

There’s much to love and hate about any city, and cities will always be a part of my stories. I include a few in FACE TIME. Lee lives in Seoul and travels to Mumbai. Each of those cities has their own rhythm and history. Laura grew up with New York as her stomping grounds, and I was able to show her disenchantment with the changing city in the story through my own experiences. Most cities have plenty to love or hate, but experiencing both emotions attached to years of observation is what makes a city come to life.

Are you a city or country person? What do you love about your location?

FACE TIME is currently on sale for 99¢! Purchase this modern long-distance romance today for a steal!

Sunday Update – May 22, 2016

Between the full moon and planets in retrograde, I’m not surprised I stubbed my toe and bled all over the bedroom and bathroom this morning. That’s just what I expect from this time! Lol. But the good news is that the full moon is waning now and Mercury Retrograde ends tomorrow. We should be right back on track this coming week.

Lots of things happened this week. I had a regular, routine doctor checkup on Monday, hit the gym on Tuesday, and then the rest of the week was swallowed up by the end of the kitchen renovation. On Thursday, my temporary kitchen was taken down and I was without a stove and sink. So I had a salad for lunch and a bagel with peanut butter for dinner. Lol. It was a very “healthy” day. I took the kids to their annual school carnival where they ate pizza and cotton candy for dinner. I became “the best mommy on the planet” for a few hours.

Say Anything Saturday – I Still Have Fun Being A Web Developer

I realized recently that I still love my website and making websites, doing web work, and figuring out how systems work. I kinda thought that once I became an author, I would stop being a web developer. But it turns out that I do both all the time!

There is so much to being a self published author. I need a website, blog, newsletter, social media presence… And all of these things call upon my web development skills! There are lots of things I love doing: finding a new plug-in for WordPress that saves me time or is just really cool; coming up with a landing page template for newsletter subscribers; installing and tracking the Facebook ad pixel on my website; backing up and upgrading my website; redirecting traffic from old posts to new ones; etc. etc. With each new skill I learn, my love for web development grows. I keep thinking that my skills are old and invaluable, that I know nothing (much like John Snow), but I always find a way to make my skills work. I would still like to be a better PHP programmer, just like I would like to speak Japanese fluently, and yet finding the time is always hard. Maybe next year?

Recently I got really excited about the changes I made here to my website and blog. I added a plug-in that shows popular posts over on the right sidebar. I like this new feature. It brings forward posts that may be a few days old but are still popular and getting views. If you come to my site through Facebook and miss the front page, these links will help you find interesting and engaging content. I also added a related posts plug-in to the bottom of every blog post. Hopefully this will help people find content that they would be interested in should they come to my website through a Google search. I also took a few weeks, since I wasn’t writing due to kitchen construction, to go back and update old blog posts. It’s my intention to run ads to get people to those pages! I’m interested in showing visitors content they’ll appreciate.

I realize that I am in a very fortunate position to be able to do all of this without help. Many authors struggle with their website, and I try to help those I can, but often enough, things are way out of my control. I can’t reprogram someone else’s site for them because that’s just too much work. I still love being a web developer, but only for myself.