S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 135

3:15 Sun Moon Lake Milk Tea

It’s the first review of something from my Asian Grocery Store! Yay! For today’s post, I have chosen something simple, as a way of easing myself into this new blog category. I’m always fascinated with the massive variety of teas at this grocery store. They have a whole aisle devoted to just tea. Since tea is all I drink for caffeine, I decided to pick up something new this time around.

3:15 Brand, Sun Moon Lake Milk Tea

This particular package jumped out at me. How can I resist “Sun Moon Lake Milk Tea”? I had to know what it tastes like. Would it be The Sun and The Moon all in one dreamy tea? Let’s find out.

First, I like the fact that the bigger bag had individual servings of the tea in foil packets. I can easily throw this in my work bag and take it with me for writing on the go.

Here are a few things to know about this tea:

1) It’s black tea AND oolong tea, so you need to like both to drink it.

2) It also contains non-dairy creamer and sugar, so if you don’t like either of those, this isn’t for you.

The instructions say to either let it steep for a short amount of time for more milky and less strong tea or to let it steep longer for more tea.

The tea bags are pretty big and come out in a whiff of non-dairy cream powder.

I let mine steep for at least five minutes because I like TEA (aka I like strong tea, never weak. It needs to be like a hammer over the head.)

VERDICT: I like this tea a lot even though I generally do not drink a lot of oolong tea. I really should drink more oolong because it’s a nice change of pace from the Assam and Earl Grey I usually drink. The milky flavor was good and the sweetness was not too sweet. I’m trying to cut back on sugar so I won’t drink this often but it’s good with a snack in the afternoon.

RATING: I give this 8 out of 10 stars. I like it and will drink it all. Will I buy it again? Maybe. I saw other flavors of this brand of tea, so I might want to try them next time.

Book Chat #10

So I recently finished listening to READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline, and I can highly recommend it. I loved the story. It was very creative and fun especially with all the references to 80s and 90s pop culture. I laughed out loud several times reliving my childhood in this crazy tale of virtual world easter egg hunting. Where else are you going to find references to Miss Pacman, 80s pop music, TV shows, and movies in one book? It was really brilliant.

The audiobook was narrated by Wil Wheaton who was absolutely perfect for this book. This is the second time I have listened to a book narrated by him (the first being LOCK IN by John Scalzi) and I’m sure I will look for other books narrated by Mr. Wheaton in the future. He has the perfect voice for audiobooks. I just love him.

I was beta reading while I was listening to this audiobook so I hadn’t started anything on my Kindle. I have since picked up a popular scifi book and that’s going well. I’ll be back to talk about that when I’m finished. I also started a new audiobook and I went geek with this one and chose a Star Wars book to listen to, SPECTER OF THE PAST by Timothy Zahn. I recently re-read all the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy books so I wanted to listen to this next (I read these 20 years ago). So far they are really fun to listen to. More of the dramatic style with different voices for the characters and sound effects in the background.

What are listening to or reading right now?

The Illaran Culture from BOUND TO YOU

For today’s guest post, A.R. DeClerk has stopped by to talk about her upcoming science-fiction romance novel, BOUND TO YOU.

• • • •

When Jackson Baine and Anatolia Bernardi first come to the deserted planet labeled V-097 they have one goal. Find out why nearly one hundred people on a terraforming crew disappeared. Verify the safety of the planet, and turn it into an oasis for Ferrell Terraforming Inc. What Jacks and Lia discover is that the ancient city buried under the dirt on V-097 is still inhabited by the ghosts of the people who once lived there.

Who were the Illaran people, and what happened to them?

Illara was a planet much like Earth. It was covered in fields of green grass and forests of tall trees. Cities teeming with life and prosperity sprung up and for thousands of years there was peace. The Illarans traded with the Ritarians, the people who inhabited the next closest planet at this far edge of the December Quadrant. They had a peaceful relationship, and life was good for the Illarans. At the end of a great era of scientific discovery it became clear to the Illaran leadership that their energy resources were dwindling. A dark time was approaching the highly civilized peoples of Illara. Scientist went to work to try to discover some new and sustainable way to keep their people alive. A miracle appeared in the sky. A wormhole, glittering with beautiful color on the horizon. Fascinated the scientists discovered that the wormhole emitted an energy that was both boundless and clean. A cry went out over the surface of the planet, A NEW FORM OF ENERGY HAD BEEN DISCOVERED!

The energy, called Verhagnis, was piped to every home and into every building through a planet-wide energy circuit. Life returned to normal for the Illarans as all their worries about the future drained away. No one noticed that occasionally a husband would murder his wife. A mother her children. Some incidents of madness were to be expected in a large population, after all. Then, a wave of violence erupted. The evidence was undeniable as one common thread emerged. The sick would eat the victims. Doctors rushed to assure the public that nothing was amiss. Some contaminant or another was discovered and the evidence of what was really happening was swept away by bureaucracy. As small towns were quarantined, the largest cities began to report similar incidents. Crazed individuals were reduced to an animalistic state, murdering and killing their families and strangers alike.

As with any uncontrolled pandemic, all hell broke loose. The government holed up in the capital city as all around them madness and panic ensued. A family of scientists began to realize that the new energy they’d pumped in from the wormhole was the cause of the illness. They fled the city for tunnels underneath, building a giant lab to find some way to combat the virus that turned their people into monsters. Above them on the surface the Ritarians tried to aid their friends the Illarans, only to be turned away or savaged themselves. As the Illaran people turned tribal and vicious, the Ritarians feared for their own people if the virus should ever escape Illara.

The family spent two years in the lab as the people on the surface grew increasingly unstable. At last they sent out a signal to the Ritarians, a possible solution had been found. Unfortunately, the Ritarians’ reply was this: any who are immune will be taken. The rest will burn. As the family rushed to escape, the Ritarians dropped a tectonic bomb on Illara, destabilizing the planet’s crust and erasing all evidence of the Illaran people forever.

Well, not forever. Thirteen thousand years later Ferrell Terraforming Inc purchased Illara, now called V-097, and sent Jacks Baine and Lia Bernardi to investigate the disappearance of its terraforming crew. But V-097 isn’t empty. Verhagnis isn’t dead. And the Illarans? They’re not gone either.

About the Book

BOUND TO YOU by A.R. DeClerck

Genre: Science Fiction Romance

Release Date: April 24, 2015

Jackson Baine was a man with a gift, and he had no trouble selling it to the highest bidder. His newest job was for one of the biggest terraforming companies in the universe, and the money he stood to make would be enough to buy retirement for him and his crew on any planet in any galaxy they chose. His problem? Ferrell Terraforming Inc. has assigned him a company liaison, whose primary goal is to make his life a living hell. His only option is to agree to take her on, or he loses the contract. And that’s not his only problem. Lia Bernardi is smart, beautiful and just enough trouble to turn his head like no other woman ever has. Their attraction is a distraction he cannot afford.

Anatolia Bernardi wants to climb the corporate ladder, get out from under her irritating boss, and finally impress her overbearing father. All she has to do is turn one dead, empty planet into an oasis. The only way she can accomplish that is with the help of Jacks Baine. The man gets under her skin, and threatens to break down every wall she’s placed between herself and the world.

On the surface of an empty planet, far to the edge of the December Quadrant, Jacks and Lia will have to come to terms with their attraction. Sometimes the dead aren’t forgotten, and they have secrets to tell. Only one thing is certain: the past never really goes away.

BOUND TO YOU will release APRIL 24th but is now available for pre-order:

About the Author

AR DeClerck is a wife, mother and dialysis technician from the Quad Cities, IL. She spends her days helping people live with kidney disease, and her nights writing novels. She grew up in the mountains of Western NC, and she’s an avid reader, reviewer and facebooker. She writes about romance in many sub-genres including sci-fi, steampunk and mythical romances.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authoramydeclerck

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ARDeClerck

Blog: http://www.amyreadsandwrites.blogspot.com

FORGED IN FIRE is her first sci-fi romance novel:

My Scrivener Toolbar

This is probably an odd post, but I’ve always told other authors what I put in my Scrivener toolbar to save time, and frequently I get a lot of blank looks. “You can change the toolbar?”

Palm, meet face.

Yes, the Scrivener Toolbar is customizable. Look at all the things you can put on it (in order to get this screen, all you have to do is right-click on the toolbar itself and choose “Customize Toolbar”)

There are lots of options here and depending on what you use often, you’ll want to stick those things in your toolbar.

Let me show you what’s on mine!

There’s a good reason for everything on my Toolbar, but let me highlight a few of the most important items.

Compile: I compile a lot to ebook format, but I also use the Compile feature to designate groups of files for word count targets, especially in my short stories where I have many short stories per project but only want to do word counts per story, not for the entire project.

Back Up Now & Back Up To…: The two most important buttons on the toolbar. Every time I’m done writing for the session, I click Back Up Now to make a zipped backup file to my hard drive (these are named with the date and you can change and play with this in the preferences), and then I click Back Up To… to make a separate back up file and save it to my Google Drive. When I back up to my thumb drive, I copy over new backups I’ve made from all these sessions. Plus these are all saved in Time Capsule. Having the buttons right on my toolbar means I never forget to make backups.

Project Replace: Can’t tell you how many times I’ve changed a character’s name or spelled something wrong in an entire manuscript. This gives me easy access to fix it.

Text Stats: This is mainly just interesting to me. I click and take a look a few times per project.

Targets: I cannot live without this now. By setting word count targets (goals) and having Scrivener show these to me, I keep on track.

Toggle Ruler: I now keep the ruler on at all times to watch my tabs, indents, and margins which all come into play when I compile.

Dictionary: Highlight a word and click on the Dictionary icon. Scrivener will launch the OS X dictionary. There’s also a thesaurus that’s helpful but I usually use thesaurus.com.

Snapshot: I use this feature a lot when I start revisions. When I come to a scene, I take a snapshot first, then edit. I can then compare the snapshot of that scene to my edits (see varying word counts or what I added or subtracted) and I can also revert back if I need to.

Format Bar: For when I want to get rid of or find the format bar.

Group Mode: This is helpful when I want to look at word counts for chapters or long stretches of work. Group a bunch of scenes together and then use the Text Stats on them.

Now that you’ve seen what’s on mine, you should be able to adjust yours as well!

What is your favorite button on the toolbar?

Sunday Update – March 8, 2015

Gotta make this quick since I suddenly have a sick child on my hands She just puked out of nowhere and is now miserable.

This week was very scattered at home. My mind wandered quite a bit and I had trouble getting words down or getting anything done at all, really. It was the full moon on Friday and that had me quite introspective and flighty. And instead of it being a full moon where I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was so tired! Even so, my bed has become very uncomfortable lately. My hips hurt and I have trouble sleeping on my side. So I’m on the hunt for a new mattress and bought some mattress toppers to help in the meantime.

And despite everything, the sickness, weather, and full moon, I can feel Spring right around the corner, and I’m getting work done. I’ve set deadlines for the next few months! It’s exciting to see life progressing!

Let’s look at some photos from the week…

Got through Monday and was treated to a nice drink at the end of it.

We got more snow. Ugh. I’m done with winter BUT it looks like the weather will be warmer this week and maybe some of this snow will melt!

Played some games with the kids when the snow was falling.

Got a fancy keyboard cover for my Air. I like it a lot and am getting used to typing with it. I want to protect this keyboard as best I can.

Sunday Writing Check-in!

I think I’m going to have to change the format of this. Lol. I downloaded a new word tracking spreadsheet and put all my data into it. One of the fields asks for a word count goal for the year and I put in 300,000. I’m not writing every day like I hoped I would be because I’m editing and working on my website too. If I want to make my goal, I need to write 893 words per day. I suppose I’ll catch up when I have another novel or short story to write. In the meantime, I’m just going to use this space to update on my overall progress on everything.

I finished a second short story! Then I copy edited my first short story which I hope to publish on Mar 20. I start copy edits on RECLAIMED this week and I have other website related things to do as well. Busy week ahead.

What To Expect This Week On The Blog

Tuesday: My Scrivener Toolbar

Wednesday: Guest Post from Amy Riddle Declerck

Thursday: Bookchat

Friday: A new Review From My Asian Grocery Store

EXCLUSIVE! RECLAIMED, Book 4 of the Nogiku Series, Blurb & Excerpt – SFR Brigade Showcase

Welcome new and old readers and all those cruising through from the SFR Brigade Showcase! (Please click through and see everyone participating today!)

Wooo hoooo! I’m excited to announce the title of Book 4 of the Nogiku Series is RECLAIMED. Maybe you saw that coming, maybe you did not. Lol. But it’s all set and I am nervous as all get-out to be revealing this today. Want the blurb? You got it.

On the road and gaining ground against Fujiwara, Sanaa and her team find the local population hesitant to accept them. Charm and bribes can only get the colonists so far, and no matter what Sanaa does, she is not welcomed amongst the men and women of Yūsei. When Sanaa is denied help again, she reaches out to a Northern clan, the Odas, and bargains for a secret technology that will give her an incredible advantage but comes at a steep price.

Being on the road means leaving Yamato undefended, though, and when enemies strike, they leave everything in chaos. With Sanaa and Jiro sacrificing all their time and effort to keeping their home secure, they both must give up nearly everything to save the colonization, their future together, and reclaim Yūsei for its people.

Family lines collide, secrets are finally spoken, and the freedom of Yūsei is in the hands of one woman determined to find equality and justice for everyone on the planet.

RECLAIMED, Book FOUR of the Nogiku Series, is the FINAL book in a captivating post-apocalyptic romance series that harnesses the cultures and traditions of Japan and sweeps them into the future between Earth and a faraway land.

Is that exciting or what? Eeeee! Okay. I have this book on Goodreads now if you want to queue it up.

Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25071042-reclaimed

Pre-orders should be available for all platforms within the next few weeks! And guess what? Newsletter subscribers already got the cover in their inbox! If you’re not subscribed to my newsletter, you’re missing out. Subscribe now and you’ll get news before anyone else.

I’ll reveal the cover for everyone else when I have pre-orders up, so I’ll be sure to let you know when they’re available.

In the meantime, I also have this exclusive excerpt for you. Hopefully, it’s been edited enough for everyone’s tastes Here is Sanaa getting a lesson in kyūdō, Japanese archery.

“Watch me,” Arata instructs, taking the bow from my hands and grabbing an arrow from a pile at our feet. “Left hand on the grip. Right hand clutches the arrow in the bowstring. Arrow rests on the right side of the bowstring, on the outside.” He holds the bow and arrow at arm’s length in front of him, the target off in the distance to his left side. “Bring the bow up high, making sure you have torque on the bow and the arrow, pull back and bring down to eye level at the same time.” He aims out along the length of the arrow, holding for just a moment before releasing the arrow. In a blink, the arrow lands on the target.

“Shin-zen-bi. Truth, goodness, beauty. It’s not about how you aim or how strong you are. If you keep the three foci of truth, goodness, and beauty, in your mind and heart, you will always hit the target.”

“Shin-zen-bi,” I repeat, under my breath. Truth, goodness, beauty. Gods, I have none of those. I lied to Jiro and didn’t confide in him when I was too sick to eat. I was selfish and got Hiro’s parents killed — definitely not goodness. And beauty? I would never call myself or my actions beautiful, not in a million years.

“I can feel your skepticism,” Arata says, laughing and handing me a shooting glove. “Here. I’ll help you put it on.” While he wraps my hand in the long straps of the two finger and thumb glove, he repeats, “Shin. Zen. Bi. The strength in drawing the bow comes from starting high and opening your arms. Think of the truth of the arrow finding its target, a straight line. Every shot you make comes closer to the truth. Goodness is not an act of kindness, but more a way of peace. And you will find, with time, beauty in the way the bow bends, the arrow flies, and the greatness and honor of the ritual.”

Sigh. I love Arata and his calm yet happy demeanor. He has turned into a good ally for my heroine.

Thanks for dropping by! I hope I gave you a little something to be excited about.

Full Moon Report – March, 2015

It’s time for the full moon in Virgo! A Mutable (meaning “changeable”) Earth sign. During this time, we can expect to pay better attention to details. Criticality, analysis, diligence, rigor, practicality are supreme, so if you’re already a critical-thinker, you may find this time overloads you. Be careful you don’t slip into OCD type behaviors!

If you have trouble with critical-thinking, you’ll find yourself pickier during this time, wanting to keep things lined-up and clean. Yes, clean. Cleanliness is a Virgo trait (or orderliness) so now is a good time to start spring cleaning or even do a body cleanse, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and just be cleaner about your everyday life. The end of winter is coming so think positive about coming to a centering spot in your life.

This would not be a good time to gain advice from a superior as they will pick apart your work until you cry. Hide it away for another week at least. If you’re in the creative arts like me, you may want to delay any critiques or reviews for a bit Unless you want super detailed analyses of everything. In that case, jump on this event now! This is a good time for proofreaders and editors.

When the full moon astrological sign lines up with your element (Air, Fire, Earth, Water), you’ll find it harder to sleep. I’m a Capricorn (Earth) and Virgo is also an Earth sign, so I expect late nights and plenty of bleary-eyed mornings. When the full moon astrological sign lines up with your Sun sign, expect all your traits to be magnified by 100! If you’re a Virgo, go easy during this time. The lack of sleep and nit-picky behavior is bound to drive your mate bonkers.

Good luck everyone! Lol. I’m going to go eat a salad and hide away for a few days…

2 Things Every Author Should Do On Facebook

So I ran across this issue this week and thought that I would blog about it. I was looking at an upcoming Facebook party for one of my favorite authors. In the description, she listed all the other authors that would be participating and I saw someone I was really excited about! An author I hear great things about and even own one of her books. I clicked on her name and it took me to her personal profile.

THIS IS THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS THAT HAPPENED…

1) I want to get to know this author! But I’m not a friend of hers, I’m a potential fan, so I’m not going to friend her. That would be presumptuous of me especially since we only have two or three friends in common. So I’ll “Follow” her…

2) Oops, she doesn’t have the Follow feature turned on Bummer. It looks like she posts some things Public and I would have loved to see them. Oh well, I’ll Like her Page instead…

3) Well, I suppose I could search for her Page but it would have been awesome if she had just listed her Page in her “Work” area so I could click and Like right away.

Guess what? I never searched because I got called away from my computer and I forgot about the whole thing until I decided to write this post.

This author just lost me as a fan and potentially lost a lot of other people too.

What can you do to prevent this and retain potential fans?

If you post a lot of things to your personal FB profile “Public”, then you should turn on Following. Not everyone is going to try and friend you. They may be a little shy and worried you’ll just deny them. If you turn on following, it gives them the option of getting your Public posts in their newsfeed.

Learn more about Facebook Following here

Also if you do this, turn on commenting to “Everybody” so they can comment and share. And if you’re really savvy, alter your cover image to reflect that you’d love for people to follow you. You can see this in action on my Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/spajonas/

If you don’t want to allow following, you should AT LEAST put your FB Page as your place of business in the work section. This way people can click over to your Page and like and follow it. This is especially important if you do Facebook parties and use your profile, not your Page. People may see you’re hosting at a party and click through to your profile. They know you’re an author but not how to like your Page or even if you have one! It should be RIGHT THERE in the left hand column under work. Just stating you’re an author isn’t enough.

To change this, click on the Edit arrow in the left side About section. On the following page, click on “Add a Workplace” and search for the name of your Page. Add it as a workplace and make sure to say you currently work there.

Want to know how your profile looks to others who come by? On your profile page, go to the “•••” button to the right of “View Activity Log” and click “View As…” It will show you what’s visible to the Public.

I hope this helps and brings you many followers and likes!

Writing Update – March 2, 2015

I wanted to pop onto the blog and give you all an update as to what’s going on with my writing. At this point, I haven’t published anything since August (but there was a box set I was in in September), and that’s a long time to go in this market without publishing anything new. The problem was that the holidays came up on me pretty quick and I was working hard on Nogiku Book 4 so I couldn’t put any more energy into publishing until that was done. Then I got struck with the idea for another novel to write and I wrote that instead of publishing anything because it was the holidays and everything is slow then anyway.

But I have good news! At this rate, I think I’ll be publishing something every month until late fall! A short story this month and next, then hopefully Nogiku Book 4 in late May (come back on Friday for the title, blurb, and exclusive excerpt!) In June and July, I hope to have two more short stories, and then the full novella version of REVEALED in August (this will replace the free short stories now online.) I plan on another short story in September, and then hopefully my next novel (the one I just finished writing in January) in October. Then, I’m not sure. Hopefully more short stories, and I do plan to take off December because of the holidays.

Later this spring, I’d like to write the next Love in the Digital Age book as I finally have great ideas for that story and want to get going on it before I lose momentum. It requires a lot more brainstorming, but I usually come up with ideas during the writing process and after I’m done with the first draft. I’m looking forward to this one!

Here’s something new I’m going to try. At the end of Nogiku Book 4, I’m asking people to give me opinions on next books within that world. What would they rather have? Books that continue on past the end of the Nogiku Series? Or books set back in Nishikyō, possibly a Mark Sakai prequel? Even if I don’t receive any votes on either, I’m prepared to write either. Plus I have ideas for other books set in the same universe on other planets.

So that’s what’s going on in my writing world! I’m excited that I have a plan in front of me for the rest of the year. Time to get crackin’!

Sunday Update – March 1, 2015

I MADE IT TO MARCH ALIVE!!

This is always how I feel in March. OMG I made it through February alive. Lol. Why is February so long yet it is the shortest month of the year? What black magic is cast on February to make it so unbearable? I’m not sure and thankfully it’s behind me now. But, of course, as I type this, fresh snow is falling outside. Again. I’m so sick of snow. I was telling my husband at lunch today that I could totally handle winter if it just didn’t snow. I could handle the cold, but the snow has got to go. Sigh.

This week I started a new short story and sent out the one I finished to readers. I’ve received great feedback on that short story so I expect it to be up for sale by the end of the month! I’m writing the next short story in the series right now.

What else did we do this week?

I was struggling with getting off the couch and being motivated. I wish winter didn’t affect me so badly, but I’m glad the end is in sight.

I picked back up with my evening audiobook habit. It’s nice to be listening to something fun (I’ll update on this as soon as I’m finished with it!)

I took some time to knit which I haven’t done in a while. I need to remember to take time for myself when I need it.

My husband let me take the afternoon off yesterday and I spent it in bed with the heated mattress pad, popcorn, tea, a nap, and my audiobook.

Yeah, it looks like I needed a break this week. That’s what the last week in February usually looks like

Sunday Word Count Check-in!

Expected Word Count (Feb 28): 88,500

Total Word Count (Feb 21): 77,679

I made some changes to the way I track words and gave up using Google Docs this week. My spreadsheets kept doing weird things and I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. So I’m playing around with those and I’ll talk about how they work for me later. I got little writing done this past week as I eased myself into a new short story. Now that I’m at the half way point, I’m pretty sure I can finish it up quickly.

What To Expect This Week

I have posts planned for this week you’ll want to come back for!

Monday: Writing Update. All I’ve been working on and what I’ll be publishing this year.

Tuesday: 2 Things Every Author Should Do On Facebook

Wednesday: Full Moon Report

Late Thursday/Friday: Nogiku Book 4 Title Reveal, Blurb Reveal, and Exclusive Excerpt as part of the SFR Brigade Showcase!