S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 133

Get FACE TIME for only 99¢… or FREE!

Today, tomorrow, and the following day (APRIL 10, 11, and 12th), FACE TIME is on sale with a whole ton of other great books for only 99¢. If you haven’t read this book yet, you’ll love it. It’s a contemporary romance about two people who meet unexpectedly, have a fabulous first date, and then are separated by 7000 miles the next day. Modern, funny, and sweet, FACE TIME hits all the right notes for a love in the digital age story.

But guess what? I’ve decided to give away this book (in ePub, Kindle Mobi, and PDF) to my newsletter subscribers! So you have two choices.

1) You can either buy the book now for 99¢, get a great story, and support an independent author like me…

1a) And purchase any one of these other awesome books from other great authors!

Check out the 99¢ Book Blast!

2) Or you can join my mailing list and get FACE TIME FOR FREE

And I get the chance to send you information on all types of great deals and books I’m writing in the future. FACE TIME is regularly priced at $3.99, so either way, you get a great deal today.

Hope you have a great weekend with lots of books to read!

Book Chat #12

I just finished listening to another John Scalzi novel, REDSHIRTS: A NOVEL WITH THREE CODAS narrated by Wil Wheaton. Interestingly enough, I had purchased this for Kindle on sale some time last year, but then Audible had a huge sale too a few weeks ago and I got the audio version to listen to instead. Why? Because Wil Wheaton, of course! As both a writer, a scifi reader, and a Trekkie, I felt this novel hit all my sweet spots. It was funny and perfectly derivative in a way that made me happy. I can see why it won the Hugo award. It was well-deserved. I listened to this mostly while working around the house and at the gym. I’ll admit that I laughed out loud several times and scared people around me

Next up in audiobooks? I’m not sure. But I know of one I’m going to try and I’ll certainly pipe up if I’m loving it!

I’m currently proofreading RECLAIMED before it makes it to my real proofreaders, and as such, I had to pull myself away from Susan Kaye Quinn’s FIRST DAUGHTER! I bought this book in a fit of desperation, I’ll admit it. I started and abandoned several books on my Kindle before giving up and just buying something I KNEW I wanted to read. This is the last book of the series and I loved the first two books, so I figured it was a safe bet. I’m about 40% through and can’t wait to pick it up again once my proofreading is complete. By the way, if you haven’t read this series yet, you should! The first is only 99¢.

Somewhere along the line it became harder and harder for me to read stories without dissecting them or getting caught by the author’s voice or the story’s lack of momentum. I’m glad there are still many books out there that can keep me satisfied as a reader!

My Top 10 Wind-Down Drinks

It’s Top Ten Tuesday!

And this one comes to you from my friend, Tracy’s, suggestion. I asked, “I need a top ten post for tomorrow. What should I write about?” And this is what she came up with! A lot of you know that I like my evening drinks. I like to wind-down on the couch and have something tasty to drink while watching TV or even write. “Write drunk. Edit sober,” is a well-known phrase around these parts

So here are my top 10 favorite drinks, in no particular order. I’ll include links to recipes if I can find them.

1) White Wine

I’m picky about white wine because I only started drinking it about 8 to 9 years ago, just before I became pregnant with my first-born daughter. I like Fume Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc (only from California), un-oaked Chardonnay, and Gruner Ventliner (which is Austrian and amazing if you can find it). Nothing sweet. Sweet wine is gross. I like my white wine crisp and grassy with hints of citrus.

2) Red Wine

I like Cabernet Sauvignon, pretty much all Italian wines, and I will drink plain old table red wine if it’s available. My lovely grandfather pickled himself on Carlo Rossi jug wine so it’s stuff I’m used to because I’ve been drinking reds for over 15 years.

3) Gin and Tonic

I’m going to surprise you! I’m totally fine with Beefeater Gin. It is my go-to gin for G&Ts. My general recipe is 3oz of gin, one bottle of Q Tonic (only 45 calories!), and lime. If it’s late winter, sub in some blood orange for lime. It’s delicious.

4) Gin and “Juice”

Laid back… It’s not really “juice” but another favorite is 3oz of gin and a Peach Izze with lime. That particular drink is responsible for the extra 5lbs on my midsection from this winter.

5) Da Bronx Cocktail

Now we’re getting into the “oh my god the kids were nightmares and my plots are all effed up and I NEED A DRINK” put-me-on-my-ass territory. I actually plugged this drink into My Fitness Pal and it costs me a grand total of 289 calories per drink, so I gotta really want it. It’s good though. Forget Manhattans. I’m all about Da Bronx.

Recipe:

2.00 oz, 100% Juice Orange Juice

3.00 oz, Gin

0.50 oz, Sweet Vermouth

0.50 oz, Extra Dry Vermouth

6) An Aviation

Ever have a Chowards Violet Mint? If you love those things as I do, you’ll love this drink. If you think Violets taste like ass, you’ll want to pass on this. But I love this drink. It is strong. It is different. It will set me right when all things are wrong. Here’s a good recipe. Yes, you need Creme De Violette which is hard to come by. My husband has to get this stuff in a special place in Jersey City. But like I said, if you love those violet candies and gin, this should be your drink of choice. Also, now that I’m in the straight-up cocktails (this and the previous cocktail, Da Bronx), it’s time to switch to the better gin. No Beefeater here. We move up to the Tanqueray 10 or Bombay Sapphire here.

7) Daiquiri, Up

No, no, no. Not some frozen frou-frou drink that comes out of a machine. No. A true daiquiri, not on ice. I like it Up in a martini glass. Rum, lime juice, simple syrup, cherry.

8) Mai Tai

My husband has really been into the Tiki drinks so rum is big around here as evidenced by number 7. This is an authentic Mai Tai rum drink. This drink has bite and always takes me FOREVER to drink it so it can last all evening.

9) Gin Gimlet

When I want something really LIME, I go for this drink. I’m sure it has a full-day’s supply of Vitamin C so it’s HEALTHY! YEAH! Here’s a recipe. I shockingly do not have a photo of this one on Instagram. I must remedy this immediately.

10) Sake

I like a lot of different kinds of sake and I tend to drink a lot of this when I have it in the house so I don’t stock it as regularly as gin or rum. I wrote a great article on sake if you want to try it out. In general, I buy what I can find, usually ginjo or daigingo level variety. Junmai is fine on occasion, too. I tend to buy the better brands and levels so I drink it cold from an old-fashioned sized glass. Sometimes I get out the sake cups but not always

So, as you can see, beer didn’t even make my top 10! Wow. I do like beer but I tend to drink Japanese beer more than any of the domestic makers and I don’t really like craft brews because they tend to be too hoppy.

Now that you think I’m a total drunk, please share your favorite drinks in the comments!

Sunday Update – April 5, 2015

Not much of an update today because it’s Easter Sunday here and I am feasting upon brunch at my in-laws. Mmmm! Bagels, smoked salmon, shrimp, wine, tea, and dessert.

So have a great rest of the weekend and I’ll see you this week!

REVEALED To Become A Novella

I haven’t written a blog post for a Saturday in a long time! But I ran out of time this week, and I only like to post once per day now So now that the Nogiku Series is coming to a close, I thought about what I wanted to do with REVEALED. Right now, Parts 1, 2, and 3 are all available online for free. They are collectively the first 14 chapters of a novel I had planned as an extra to the Nogiku Series quartet of books. I wrote it during NaNoWriMo of 2012 and got 65k done during that time! But it wasn’t complete, so I thought they may be a good free entry point into the series.

Now that REVEALED has been out for some time, and I gathered data from clicks readers made from the back of the ebooks, I decided they are NOT a good entry point to the series. The obvious entry point is Book 1 (REMOVED), and the people who love the series go on to read the short stories. REVEALED is really only for those that are already reading in this world.

So I’ve made a decision. REVEALED Parts 1, 2, and 3 are coming down from all the vendors on APRIL 15th (or thereabouts since this kind of thing isn’t exact). I will be taking these, adding additional content and more chapters, and will release it as a supplemental novella later on in 2015, maybe November.

For those that have read the short stories, I plan on the first 14 chapters of the novella being the same as the short stories, so you’ll be able to skip ahead easily.

Thanks for your understanding in this. I don’t like the idea of pulling something off the market, but I feel like the novella format will better suit this story and since the short stories were free to begin with, this is not a huge change to make.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Full Moon Report – April 2015

Well, lookie here. I’ve actually been doing full moon reports now for a whole year! Because when I saw that Saturday’s full moon is going to be in Libra, I thought, “Hey, that sounds familiar!” And indeed it is because the full moon was in Libra last year in April as well, but we had a solar eclipse at the same time.

So, let’s re-hash what we have to look forward to in the next couple of days. Libra is an Air sign, so expect plenty of BRILLIANT, AWESOME, AMAZING ideas in the days ahead. Lol. With their head in the clouds, Air signs are the more intellectual of the all the signs. Libra, though, especially strives for balance (the scales in the sign being your clue) so you’ll be striving for harmony, tact, justice, and good relationships the next few days. And being that Libras love all the PRETTY, you’ll be distracted by SHINY THINGS during the time. If you want to spend money, now is the time to do it, and be sure to splurge on something nice

On the other side of the coin, try not to be too picky. Vanity can be a turn-off and too much of it may put you on other people’s nerves. Be gracious! Working to balance other people’s lives is just as important as balancing your own.

As usual, expect sleepless nights if you are a Libra or an Air sign (Aquarius and Gemini too). I will be hitting the Benadryl this weekend for sure

The Story Behind WASHING STATUE WANDERLUST

It’s funny sometimes how stories come to me. Sometimes, I am deliberately brainstorming ideas and doing my best to come up with stories and plot twists. Other times, I am watching or doing something and it sparks an idea!

This time, the story for WASHING STATUE WANDERLUST came to me while watching an NHK World program called “Tokyo Eye.” This particular program focuses on Tokyo and all the wonderful things Tokyo can offer to people. Each week they concentrate on a new area of Tokyo and show off all the little nooks, cafes, shops, or attractions of that area.

This year’s Tokyo Eye programs have been really interesting because the show has focused on the embassies in Tokyo and what these ambassadors and embassy staff like about Tokyo and Japan, what they enjoy doing or seeing, and how Tokyo relates back to their home countries. It’s especially amazing to see these people and their families speaking three or four different languages and mastering the Japanese etiquette as well!

So I was watching this particular episode on Uruguay and Mexico, and I really fell in love with the wife of the Uruguayan ambassador, Monica. She is so joyous and happy! I watched as she took me to her favorite places in Tokyo and one of them was Sugamo which is next to a famous shopping street dubbed “The Old Ladies’ Harajuku.” Lol. In Sugamo is a famous temple, Koganji, where people go to wash a Buddhist statue, Arai Kannon (Jizō Bodhisattva), which is supposed to cure them of their ailments.

(If you fast-forward to 9:25 you can see her at the statue). Learn more about Sugamo and Koganji temple.

I wondered about this statue and how it felt about being washed day after day. Didn’t it have ideas of what it would like to do, instead of being washed day in and day out? That was how this story was born! I thought, maybe this statue would like to travel and see the world! So, I made up a little past about the statue and gave it a keening sense of wanderlust. It wants to travel, but where will it go? And how is it going to convince Yuki, a young woman who visits the statue often, to take it somewhere?

You’ll find out in the next Kami No Sekai short story, WASHING STATUE WANDERLUST! It’s available on pre-order now at Amazon for only 99¢ and available on Kindle Unlimited.

April Fools For Love Sci-Fi Romance Giveaway!

SFRStation.com is running a HUGE sci-fi romance reading giveaway throughout the month of April. Check out these prizes!!

Each winner will have their choice of a gift card for either Nook, Kindle, All Romance or iBooks, plus they will win great eBooks from participating Sci-Fi Romance authors.

You know who are fools in love? Sanaa and Jiro, for sure. They have definitely turned a blind-eye to other’s distaste of their relationship and soldiered on no matter who or what got in their way. But they also know how to have fun with their family and friends, foolish playing around and trying to be as normal as possible.

I ran into this wonderful deleted scene that I had taken out of RELEASED and thought it would be perfect for today! I promise it gives away no plot elements. It’s just a fun and foolish hot summer day in Nishikyō.

The second week of August is the hottest that Nishikyō has ever seen. Temps outside the domes rise to 40ºC degrees. Underneath, it’s in the high thirties, and we all swelter inside our homes that can’t seem to get below thirty-five. Rolling blackouts plunge the city into darkness so the new Chief Administrator, Robert Starr, shuts down several large buildings and gives everyone but essential staff and electrical workers a day off. Crews work through the day and night to replace electrical substations and get everyone back in business.

To pass the time, the residents of our building hold a block party in the street, and it’s the most fun I’ve had in weeks because everyone is home for once. Oyama and Lucy grill vegetables and mock fish while the neighborhood kids kick a soccer ball around. Lucy calls in a favor to a friend of hers in Ku 4 and a beer delivery brightens our afternoon. We all sip on large cups while cheering the kids from one end of the street to the other. We call them over every ten minutes and make them drink water while standing over the vents pumping cooler air up into the streets.

I strip down to shorts and a tank top and lazily sit in a chair next to Beni, Usagi, Miko, Yoichi, and Jiro. Even Mariko comes out in a tank top, shorts, and flip-flops to have a beer with Sakai and Lucy. It’s nice to see her happy and laughing again. Kentaro and Kevin come by, but Kevin is called away after only thirty minutes. Kids in the city are falling ill due to dehydration, and he has to rush into work to help.

When the sun starts to go down, Sakai gets an oddly shaped cap out of the lobby of our building and screws it into the fire hydrant down the street, letting loose a sprinkler of water for everyone to run through. The kids spend the most time in the water, but it’s not long before the adults are chasing each other around and through the mist.

I find that if I get in and put my hand directly over the spray I can direct it at other people which is the most fun for me and the kids until Sakai gets a blast directly in the face. Jiro and Kentaro are next to get soaked and then they grab me and hold me over it until I’m laughing so much I can barely breathe. We come home completely sopping wet, and after the beer, laughing and heat, Jiro and I pass out before 9:00pm.

I love summer in the city.

Giveaway Time!

In honor of this event, I’m giving away 10 copies of RELEASED! This is the second book in the Nogiku Series, and the first book, REMOVED, is only 99¢ and can be found here online. It is also one of the many prizes given away during this awesome event.

To claim 1 of 10 copies of RELEASED, go to:



If the message on Instafreebie says the giveaway is over, you missed your chance, so claim your prize now!

Don’t Forget To Enter The Huge Giveaway!

Remember you can win a whole ton of books by entering this awesome giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And Please Visit The Other Blogs During This Event!

You can win more prizes and get to know new authors through the links below!

This event is sponsored by the SFR STATION –

The best source for Science Fiction Romance!

2 Reasons Why Your Blog Is Failing

Okay, this may be obvious to some people, but I still find this problem on so many blogs, and both of these are easy fixes.

1) Your comments aren’t social.

You don’t respond to comments and the comments system gives no way to respond to comments or subscribe to them. This is a huge failure in my eyes. What’s the point of commenting or even coming back to your blog if I can’t subscribe or reply to comments?

Guess what? The days of “commenting and running” are over, and your blog is a place to have a conversation. If you just want to present material and not have a conversation about it, don’t bother opening comments at all (in fact, lots of people close down comments on particular blog posts because it will spark TOO MUCH conversation, which is the other extreme of what you want).

For this reason alone, I do not advise people who are starting blogs to use Blogspot. God, I hate the Google commenting system. Sure you can reply to people, but the original poster will never know they’ve received a reply! There are no notifications!

WordPress has far better options for social commenting, and you can even choose a third-party system like Disqus, like I did. This way the conversation keeps going! Your commenters will return regularly for your insight and the insight of other people who read your blog. Changing to a social commenting system is the biggest boost you can make for your blog.

2) You have no sharing buttons.

The same blog I went to two weeks ago that didn’t have social comments, also did not have social sharing buttons. So even though I loved the article and commented on it, knowing my comment would just sit there, I couldn’t share the blog post to other people I thought would love it too. This is a HUGE mistake. If you wonder, “Why doesn’t my blog get any traffic?” it’s because no one is sharing your content. You give them no reason to because you don’t provide readers an easy way to click-and-share.

Blogspot does provide a way for sharing to be added to templates and there are dozens of plugins on WordPress to add sharing to your website. I like SumoMe’s plugin the best. It’s free and comes with sharing plus ways to grab newsletter subscribers, etc. I’ve been very pleased with it so far.

Does your blog have these issues? They are both easy fixes and will hopefully increase traffic and interaction on your website.

Sunday Update – March 29, 2015

Where did this week go? I’m sitting here thinking about what we did, and I honestly can’t remember much except for being busy. That’s probably a good thing! It means things went smoothly, and no big hiccups came to claim my time and sanity.

I did a lot of work-work. I edited 10 chapters of RECLAIMED, got blog posts up, and then worked on the pre-orders for RECLAIMED. The lovely people at Draft2Digital made it possible for me to set up pre-orders on Barnes & Noble and iBooks without needing to upload a draft file. That’s so nice and made everything easy. All Romance eBooks continues to be a joy to work with, mainly because you press the button, and your work goes live on the website, no waiting. Amazon was my biggest hold-up. Once again, they took the longest when they used to take the shortest amount of time. Don’t know what’s up with that. Anyway, if you missed the announcement, take a look at this post.

The weather continues to get more spring-like even though it is still pretty cold here (today it was barely in the 40s). We’ve been walking to school again every morning. It’s nice to be back in that habit everyday.

Long shadows in the morning.

My editing calendar fills with candy!

Art night at school was fun and filled with awesome student art, including this collection of owls.

Mangoes are in season and ON SALE! Yum. Afternoon snack.

What To Expect This Week On The Blog

Tuesday: 2 Reasons Your Blog Is Failing

Wednesday: April Fool’s! From SFR Station

Thursday: Learn More About WASHING STATUE WANDERLUST

Friday: An Announcement About REVEALED!