S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 120

RICE COOKER REVENGE Is Free Through February 12!

Quick blog post today to let you know that RICE COOKER REVENGE is free on Amazon through Friday, February 12! I decided to make it free to celebrate upcoming Valentine’s Day and a Facebook hop going on right now. So, first download RICE COOKER REVENGE if you don’t have it already.

On Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
Don’t have a Kindle? Learn about my ePub Exchange Program.

And then hop on over to Facebook and participate in the Page Curl Publishing Valentine’s Day Hop! Want to win a signed paperback copy of SUMMER HAIKUS plus some other cool Japanese items?

Drop by my Facebook page and participate in Pagecurl.net’s Valentine’s Day Hop! All you have to do to enter is to comment on the FB post about your favorite dessert. I’ll be choosing winners on February 17th and you could be one of them! (US Residents only!)

>>VISIT MY FACEBOOK PAGE TO ENTER!!<<

Good luck!

Sunday Update – February 7, 2016

I think you can always tell when I’m knee deep in writing a book because the blog will go untouched for a whole week at a time. Lol. But this week I did share my first brain hacking tip for dictation and I think that’s a tip that hadn’t made the rounds yet. Other than that, I’ve been working really hard on edits to the first cozy mystery in my series, so I have been super busy around here.

The most notable thing outside of working was the fact that all our snow melted this week and then we had one awesome day where I could see my lawn, then it snowed again. ARGH! I was pissed. Then my husband and I did our taxes and it turned out that I made a profit of $300 this year. Yay. I asked him if he needed anything else from me, i.e. more receipts, a spreadsheet, etc. and he said, “Sell more books so the government doesn’t think this is a hobby.” Okay then. I’ll do that? Lol. I told him I would try my best.

I also started participating in #authorlifemonth, a month of author photos on Instagram, so some of them will show up in these Sunday Updates through the end of February.

What else happened this week?

I showed off some of my LuLaRoe leggings this week! This is my new obsession along with Jamberry. I actually hope to be done with my revisions today and put on new Jams on Monday or Tuesday. It’s been a long time since I had time to put them on!

The snow melted and then came back. BOO!

I showed off the transition from old to new covers in this #authorlifemonth image. Notice anything new? Yep! FACE TIME has a new cover and that’s been going live both here on the site and across Amazon this weekend. There’ll be a new post about it this week.

And I got a new apron to protect my clothes while I cook and clean. I love that it has big pockets so I can keep my iPhone in it while I work!

And that’s it for now! There’ll be a few posts on the blog this week, so watch out for those! See you later!

Dictation Brain Hacks: Tip #1

As I’ve said in previous posts, I’m really in love with dictation right now. Like IN LOVE, DEEEEEP ABIDING LOVE. Lol. And I haven’t even scratched the surface of it yet. So far, I’m only dictating at home in front of my computer, where I can see my words come up on the screen as I say them. There are other authors doing amazing things with dictation, like going on walks outside and dictating into their phones or dictaphones and getting five thousand words in a short amount of time. Mind blowing stuff.

But since I’m a beginner, I thought I’d share what I’m learning along the way, so my progression becomes evident once I start looking back at my blog posts.

Dictation is all about hacking your brain. Brain hacking is one of my favorite topics. On the Writing Excuses podcast, Howard Taylor often talks about how he hacks his brain to improve his writing process (read the transcripts for some great ideas!) I find his insights fascinating! One example is, when switching projects mid-day, keep your brain dedicated to the new task by changing your writing location. If you write on the right side of the table for your mystery novel in the morning, then write at the left side for your romance novel in the evening. It’s a great idea, and I find that changing my location, from the kitchen table to the treadmill desk does help me concentrate on the work at hand.

Now that you understand what I mean by brain hacking…

Here’s my brain hack tip #1 for dictation.

Read your own work aloud with your microphone on, to Dragon, including punctuation. Get into the rhythm of your own work, from your brain to your mouth. We all have a particular style as authors, a way in which we string together nouns, verbs, articles, conjunctions, etc. that leads to a flavor that’s all our own. Typing that style is not the same as speaking that style, though, at least for beginner-level dictation. You may find that when you start dictation, your storytelling goes all over the place, and that can either lead to your signature style changing (which is not a horrible thing, but could throw off readers) or you giving up because you can’t get it the same.

By reading your own work aloud, including punctuation, you’re training your brain to say the words you usually type. It doesn’t have to be read in a narrator’s voice, and you can pause to get your bearings (Dragon will wait), but you should strive to get 90% or better accuracy by enunciating and letting the words flow.

If you do this for a couple of minutes before each dictation session, it should trick your brain into dictating a smoother output and closer to your usual style. So far, this has been working for me! Try it for yourself and please tell me in the comments how it’s working for you.

Sunday Update – January 31, 2016

I almost forgot about my Sunday update! It’s been a busy morning, and I just sat down to get to work on my cozy mystery and realized I hadn’t written a post yet!

Well, it was a busy week around here too. I finished up my next Kami No Sekai Short Story and am getting it ready to publish at the beginning of March. I spent the week securing a bunch of promotional items for February and getting my tax information together. And starting yesterday, I began edits on my first cozy mystery! I want to get as much done as possible before mid-February because that’s when we go on vacation. So far, edits are going well. My writing is a little more sparse and less emotion-heavy in these books, and I like it that way. I think it lends well to the genre.

I did feel more depressed than usual this week though, mostly because I was looking at my sales numbers for last year as I was gathering my tax information, and the numbers were not that great. It led me into a bit of a downward spiral that took several days to snap out of. I’m feeling better now, though, and I hope I can go into next week more secure and less sad. I think that being back in my cozy mystery world is helping me perk up quite a bit. I do love it a lot. Plus, I’ve been concentrating on a new cover for FACE TIME and brainstorming new ideas for covers for the whole Nogiku series. I think I’ll have those ready by summer!

What else happened around here?

We began last week by digging out of a giant blizzard.

I tried out a new peanut noodle salad recipe that was quite TASTY. Lol.

I tried to focus on exercising when my mood was low. Here, I was working out and watching THE EXPANSE, which I really love. This is great scifi! I just downloaded the first book of the series from Audible and I hope to start it next.

This weekend has been sunny so I made it out of the house both days for walks around the park!

This week I hope to have a new post on Dictation Brain Hacks! Gonna be fun!

Sunday Update – January 24, 2016

Woke up this morning to about 30 inches of snow (almost a meter to all you international people) and now we have to shovel and snow blow it. I’m not looking forward to it! The Blizzard of 2016 rolled in on Friday night, it snowed all day yesterday, and stopped some time after sunset last night. God, I hate snow. I can handle winter, but snow is the absolute worst. I’d rather have rain. Clearly I live in the wrong part of the world! Lol.

This week started out with my 40th birthday, which feels like forever ago now. The birthday itself went well. Everyone was healthy and we had a nice day off because of Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I gave away a few hundred copies of MAMACHARI MATCHMAKER this week and I hope everyone loves that sweet little story. I went to the gym on both Tuesday and Friday! Plus I worked out on Wednesday morning while watching The Expanse (I’m really loving this show) and walked on the treadmill while dictating on Thursday, then walked on the treadmill yesterday while watching videos on YouTube. I’m doing good with my promise of being active 6 days a week.

This week I worked on some random things. I wrote an article on newsletter optimization for NINC (it’ll be in their newsletter!), worked on alternate covers for my cozy mystery series, and applied for ads for a SUMMER HAIKUS sale next month. I opened the last short story I wrote and worked on it yesterday and I hope to work on it more today when I get in from snow removal. Also, brainstorming started today on a new cover for FACE TIME! Hopefully I’ll have that within the next two weeks.

What else happened this week?

Birthday dinner was super delicious with a lobster tail, mushroom risotto, and kale.

I fried catfish for the first time and didn’t burn the house down!

We met with our kitchen designers and contractors on Wednesday night and got the ball rolling! Looks like they may start in March! EEEEEEEP! Super excited to get this under way. I think I’ll be doing a little video series on it. We’ll see.

I got some new leggings and they are super fun! This is one of a few pair I’ve managed to buy. Several more are coming in the mail over the next few weeks. I’m excited about adding them to my wardrobe.

This photo is of the fire hydrant that sits on our property. It’s almost covered! We survived the Blizzard of 2016 with a Japanese salmon hot pot and now we have to go shovel snow. Brrr. I’m not looking forward to it.

If I don’t make it back inside, send out the National Guard for me! Lol. See you later this week.

From My Desk To Yours: The Treadmill Desk

Keeping healthy as an author is tough. We’re required to sit for long period of time and type, edit, and promote, all on our computer. Hands out in front, wrists bent, shoulders slumped, neck in one position for a long time — just thinking about it makes my back and neck ache. There’s probably nothing worse for us, yet this is what we have to do, right?

Just this past year, I decided that if I was going to be writing as much as I had planned, I needed to do something about my health. My hands and shoulders were in constant pain and even though I was walking and going to the gym, it still wasn’t enough exercise. So, I did two things, the first of which was purchase a treadmill and make a treadmill desk (the second is dictation which I’ll write about again in another post soon).

A couple of other authors I know have been thinking about either purchasing a dedicated treadmill desk or turning their treadmill into a treadmill desk. There are some pros and cons to both of these approaches.

Dedicated Treadmill Desks

There are a few of these on the market. They have a special motor in it that’s designed to go at the slow pace of working and walking. It’s not bulky and has the desk already built into it. PRO: You buy it, put it together, BOOM you have your desk. CON: You can only use it for slow walking. No running.

Make Your Own Treadmill Desks

You already have a treadmill or you want a full treadmill because you also plan to run on it (or in my case, my husband runs on it). PRO: It has multiple functions, and if you already own one, then you’re saving money! CON: You have to make your own desk and it’s also possible you may burn out the motor at some point by walking slowly on it too much.

What I Did

So I went with the make your own option because my husband wanted to run on the treadmill too. We actually got reimbursed for some of the treadmill through our health insurance (crazy, right?), purchased it from Amazon, and put it together in one day over a weekend. I did all the research and decided on the LifeSpan 1200i Folding Treadmill. It has everything we wanted plus some good reviews, especially reviews that said it was easy to put together, which it was.

Once I had that going and set up, I went to IKEA, bought a shelving unit, and proceeded to jimmy up a desk. In the end, I also used an iCraze Adjustable Vented Laptop Table to put my computer up on the treadmill where I could see it. Then I purchased a wireless keyboard for my Mac, created a desk space with a shelf and yoga mat, and done!

I made this video so you can see how it’s all put together.

I mainly use my treadmill desk for dictation. I walk and dictate my books at the same time, getting exercise while giving my hands a rest. I love it! I wrote almost my whole last book this way and it was a great thing for my hands. I’ll come back in the next few weeks and talk about just dictation because I feel it’s so important! Really, if you can add dictation to your arsenal of weapons, you’ll be set for a lifetime of writing, and writing quickly too! 10k writing days will be easier and more common. Every author wants that!

Okay, if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them in the comments. If comments close on this in the future, you can use the link to the contact form at the top of the page. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

It’s My Birthday! So Have This For Free…

OH MY GOD I’M 40 YEARS OLD!! How the heck did that happen?

I’m happy to report that this year everyone in my household is well for my birthday. Last year, my husband was struck down over my birthday weekend with a horrible stomach virus and we did nothing. This year, though, we got lucky! On Saturday, we went out for a fancy dinner at a restaurant that has a beautiful view of the city, then we went out for drinks before heading home. It was nice to get out and have a babysitter.

Today, the kids have the day off from school since it’s MLK Day, and we’re going to take it easy.

In honor of my birthday, I’m giving away MAMACHARI MATCHMAKER for the next 5 days! (January 18-22) You can download it from Amazon and enjoy this sweet, short story for free! It’s my way of saying thanks for sticking around and continuing to read my stuff. I appreciate every single one of you. And now I’m off to enjoy my birthday!

On Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
Don’t have a Kindle? Learn about my ePub Exchange Program.

Sunday Update – January 17, 2016

We had a busy week around here! First up, I finished writing my second cozy mystery on Monday! I had one more scene to write and I dictated it in the morning, then finished it up in the evening. Since I started writing on October 20, I have written over 158,000 words! That’s a ton of writing. Plus, actually I’ve written more than that because I was also writing on my non-fiction book at the same time, but I never logged any of those words. I hope to get that book into Scrivener sometime today and see how many words I’ve written on it. It was great finishing up my second cozy mystery! I’m super excited about launching a new series and trying something different for me. I hope to start editing the first book by the end of January and maybe doing a cover reveal in mid-February when I plan to have a sale on SUMMER HAIKUS.

The rest of the week was just a time for me to get caught up on relaxing. I sat down on Wednesday and watched four hours of THE EXPANSE which I had saved up on the DVR. I’m super enjoying this series and I’m thinking about reading the books too. I love the political aspect and Cold War aspect to it. It’s giving me good ideas for my own scifi series I plan to start writing late this spring. I also took the time this week to sit and read, to walk slowly, and to just let my brain chill. I still did work on several other things but they’re not as taxing as writing a first draft.

I was also devastated by all the death this past week. First, David Bowie died on Monday and then Alan Rickman later in the week. I loved David Bowie and thought he was a master of music and a fabulous personality. Alan Rickman’s death hit me hard, though. I fell in love with him when I was 15 and never stopped, way before Harry Potter. It’s crazy to be attached to a famous personality for 25 years and suddenly they’re gone. It was wonderful, though, to read all the tributes to him after his death and hear what a kind and helpful person he was. I’m so glad he touched the lives of so many people in a positive way. He will be missed.

Tomorrow, I turn 40 years old. Sigh. I kinda don’t believe it. I remember being in my twenties and not believing I’d ever be 40. Isn’t that crazy how things go? I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, so I won’t dwell. Regardless, I’ll be back here tomorrow with a little gift to everyone. It’s my birthday so I’m giving something away!

What else happened this week?

Finished my 9th full-length novel!

Switched over to my new Peanuts Lesportsac bag! I’ve always loved Snoopy. He’s a tortured writer just like most of us.

Treated myself to a foxy new Jamberry manicure.

Ended the week with a giant G&T which was much needed. Not only did David Bowie and Alan Rickman die this week, but a friend of mine lost her new baby, too. Friday was filled with many tears.

So even though it was a relaxing week for me, it turned out to be quite sad. I’ll be glad to move on to this next week and hope for it to be better.

I’ll be back tomorrow! See you then!

Book Chat #22

NOTE: If you use an ad blocker, you may notice big gaps in my blog posts when I do Book Chats because that’s where the Amazon modules are for these books. These are the ONLY ads I keep on my website, and when you click to learn more about a book, I get a little (a few pennies) affiliate income from that. If you wouldn’t mind excluding my website from your ad blocker, I would appreciate it.

It’s been a little over a month since we had a Book Chat, so let’s talk about all the books and audiobooks I’ve consumed since then!

Audiobooks continue to dominate my “reading” world because I didn’t have a lot of free time while writing my own first draft. I listen to audiobooks while I clean the house and while I workout or walk outside, so they get more of a chance to entertain me.

During December, I finished OLD MAN’S WAR and THE GHOST BRIGADES by John Scalzi, both in audio format. They were totally thrilling and fun, and I enjoyed every minute of them. If you’ve always wanted to try some military scifi, I highly recommend these books. They’re witty and well-written, as all John Scalzi books are. I plan to buy the next book in the series with my next credit and listen to that sometime soon.

Then I got sucked into another really great audiobook that I’m almost done with! I’m really loving OFF TO BE THE WIZARD by Scott Meyer. I just checked on this the other day and these books are all Amazon-exclusive, in Kindle Unlimited, and published by 47North, Amazon’s imprint. Hoo boy, did they find a winner in this! I LOVE the concept of these books. It’s a scifi spin on the fantasy genre. The basic premise is that Martin, a 20-something computer nerd, finds the file that controls the universe on a server someplace. He figures out how to hack it so he can change his appearance, location, and bank account. Of course, this leads to trouble, so he also changes his place in time to go back to medieval England at the time of Merlin. Only, he’s not the only person to ever figure out this file exists! I won’t give any more away, but I highly recommend this one! Especially the audiobook, as it’s so well done, and by the same narrator as UNWIND series that I’ve been listening to as well! I recognized his voice immediately. Lol.

As for reading on my Kindle, that has only picked up in the last two weeks. I read the first book in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, DAWN, in December and was blown away by it. I decided I really needed to know what happened to humanity after being merged with the Oankali. As I predicted, humanity devolved back to almost medieval, primal ways (looting, pillaging, raping) and the people who chose to become the new generation of humanity with the Oankali have figured out how to make it work. I’m amazed at how Butler has made the aliens feel right and natural and the humans to feel, well, inhuman. She’s a skilled writer and I found everything to be very relatable. I’m almost done with the third book in the trilogy, and no matter what happens now, this series will come highly recommended from me.

I’m not sure what’s next to read but now that I have a Kindle Unlimited membership I do plan to use that as much as possible! If anything, it’s worth it for the audiobooks!

Sunday Update – January 10, 2016

I just looked at my dashboard and this is the 501st post on the blog! Wow. That’s a lot of blogging. It’s been great watching my author career grow along with this blog, and in July of this year, the blog will be 5 years old. I’ll have to remember to celebrate!

It was our first week back to sort-of normal after the holidays. Monday was the only exception to a normal week because that was the day my youngest had surgery to get the rods taken out of her arm. She got rods put in at the end of September when she fell off the monkey bars and broke her arm really badly. Now it was time for them to come out! The morning was a bit chaotic getting my oldest to school and then driving to the hospital to join my husband and youngest who were already there and prepping for surgery. I got to wear the scrubs again and take her all the way in to the operating room. They had her breathe anesthesia to go to sleep and then I left the room without crying. I was glad they put her to sleep before they put in the IV! It’s always nerve racking waiting for surgery to be over. My husband, lucky guy that he is, put in his headphones and fell asleep in the waiting room. I could barely concentrate on my book so I just drank tea and stared into space. The surgery was over quickly though, and once she was recovered, we took her home around lunch time. She then went to school the next day! What a trooper. And I’m really glad that’s done.

The rest of the week went well. I wrote every day by dictating in the mornings while my family was gone and then editing the dictation in the evenings. This is my sure-fire way to get my word count every day and not have sore fingers and hands. Just typing this blog post will probably give me issues! Lol. I really love dictating and walking on the treadmill at the same time. It’s nice to get work done while exercising! So I did that several times this week. I went to the gym, went grocery shopping, and met my friend, Amy, at Panera for a day of writing and talking. Then Friday, the weather was a bit nicer, so I went on a long walk and enjoyed a morning to myself. Ahhhh, so nice.

I am two scenes away from finishing writing the second cozy mystery! I think I have another 4000 words to write and I’m done. I can hardly believe it! I’ve worked really hard to get in my words every day and get these books written. It’ll be nice to take a short break and be done for a bit.

This coming week on the blog, I’d like to post a Book Chat and talk about new recipes I’d like to cook this month of January!

What else happened this week?

The night of my youngest’s surgery we ordered Chinese and I got this fortune, which I think is just perfect for me!

It got really cold midweek and I was forced to break out the leg warmers. This is what I hate about winter. I hate all the layers of clothing involved with getting out of the house. I want to wear one layer and go. Same with the kids. It sucks putting on two or three layers and then 2 or 3 layers on each kid before we leave the house. It takes FOREVER to get anywhere! Argh!

I got a huge gelly roll pen set with a gift certificate from my parents. These are Japanese gel pens and they’re wonderful for coloring because they don’t bleed through the paper, dry quickly, and the pens don’t skip. The flow is very consistent. I love them! And it’s re-energized my love of coloring, which had waned last year because coloring with pencils was hard on my hands. I’m trying to save my hands for writing and knitting, so coloring had to be easier. The gel pens were a good investment!

On Friday, before taking the kids to the library, I enjoyed my audiobook while sitting and knitting. That was nice, and I’m glad I’ve made a resolution to be more balanced and enjoy these things this year.

And yesterday I wore my first ever pair of LuLaRoe leggings, and I’m sold! They’re super soft and comfortable and I love this design of origami cranes even if the colors are very Christmas-y. I’m totally buying more of these.

Okay! I’ll be back this week with two more blog posts! Have a great week everyone!