S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 14

Talking About Using AI Tools To Help Authors With Disabilities And Health Issues

I'm on The Creative Penn podcast today talking about how AI tools are useful for writers with disabilities and health issues. This is a topic that is really close to my heart, as I came to AI tools in my author career because of long covid. Even today, I still suffer from periodic brain fog, short term memory issues, and chronic pain from long-term insomnia, covid, and breaking my leg a few years ago.

If you want to hear me talk about my history and then how I use these tools, you can listen to this podcast and get to know me better! This podcast is available via most podcast apps, but you can also access it via Joanna's website at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/11/how-ai-tools-are-useful-for-writers-with-disabilities-and-health-issues-with-s-j-pajonas/.

I hope you all find it helpful and informative!

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Sunday Update – August 6, 2023

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Last year, I shut down my blog for all of July and August, and now I remember why! The summer is busy around these parts. It's even busier now that I have a new job and I'm doing a lot more than just writing.

This week we've been at the beach house and we've done something almost every day. There have been a lot of walks, dips in the pool, a trip to the beach, boardwalk, Barbie, and plenty of meals together. I taught my Future Fiction Academy classes from here on both Tuesday and Thursday, and I've been writing and reading. I have no complaints about any of it except that my current computer is SO SLOW. Omg, trying to run Zoom and Chrome and Descript and everything else I need to teach on this computer is like pulling teeth! When I first got this computer, I didn't know I would be doing such heavy work on it. This Macbook Air cannot handle the load, so we finally ordered me a new computer. Yay! It'll arrive after I've returned home in about 10 days. I'm super excited for that.

In writing news, I've been working on a pen name book that is almost complete. I thought it was going to be a 40k, 20 chapter book. But it's actually going to be 26k and 12 chapters. This way it'll hit the 90-minute reads category on Amazon. It's something new I'm trying, but then again, pretty much everything I've been doing is new lately, so why not really go out on a limb? I love a good experiment. Does anyone here read shorter books? I've been fascinated with this other part of the market! As soon as this book is done, it's back to my S. J. Pajonas and Steph Gennaro books.

We went out to see the sunset on the bay the other night. It was really pretty.

Dips in the pool and reading in the hammock. I didn't get to do a lot of either, but some was enough.

We made it out to the boardwalk one night! It wasn't too crowded and we had a great time.

Such great colors around here! I've been enjoying seeing all the things in bloom on my walks.

So much Lulu!! It was her birthday on Friday! She's 4 years old now. We got her a cookie from a local dog store in Stone Harbor and she LOVED IT. We went to Stone Harbor to see Barbie (again for me and the oldest).

And finally, the beach and not too crowded either! And my desk setup here at the beach house. I have a second monitor here with my web cam. It's a nice setup.

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy.

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August 2023 Goals

We're at the beach house for most of August, yay! And I'm still working, so let's get to the goals.

What happened with July's Goals?

Back to writing my fantasy romance and my cozy mystery. I did not get to 70% on either of these books because I started another book instead. I see a pattern here! I really need to buckle down and get stuff written and finished.

Compile two courses for FFA. After a lot of thought and discussion with the other FFA team members, we have decided to put off evergreen course material because the landscape of AI changes way too quickly. This task has been scrapped for now.

Keep teaching and live-writing with FFA. I have been teaching and loving it!

Back on the Peloton! I'm back on the Peloton 3 days per week, working hard, and increasing my fitness.

Return to the beach house. My husband returned to the beach house earlier than I did, but we're all here now and things are going well.

Keep going with Duolingo, reading, knitting, and TV. I've kept up with Duolingo and some TV, but that's about it. I barely have time for knitting and reading.

August Goals

Finish at least one book. There. That's my goal for this month. I don't care which book I finish, but I should finish at least one of them! Come on, Stephanie. Just get it done.

Keep teaching and live-writing with FFA. I have all my labs assigned for the month. Now I just need to get them done each time.

Stick with the Peloton. I'm planning on riding as I have been until September and then I'll consider joining a challenge or I may do a previous challenge on my own.

Enjoy the beach house. We'll be here until mid to late August and I want to enjoy this place as much as I can. That includes going down to the beach whenever I can.

Keep going with Duolingo, reading, knitting, and TV. The usual here.

That's it for this month! Have a great August everyone!

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Sunday Update – July 30, 2023

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

My Sunday Update is late today because we drove down to the beach house! Yay! We'll be here for the majority of August. As soon as I'm done with this post I'm going to go on a brief walk around the neighborhood, put on my bathing suit, and go in the pool. I'm happy to be reunited with my husband and Lulu. I missed my dog, y'all. She's so great. She's lying next to me now as I write this, and she keeps looking up at me to make sure I'm still here. Love her.

We had another super busy week. My youngest daughter went to sleep-away field hockey camp at a local university Mon-Thurs. So for several days, it was just me and my oldest at home. Quiet! And I got a lot of work done.

On Monday, the oldest and I went to see the Barbie movie. I gotta say that I LOVED IT. We're going to go see it again this week. It was so so great, and I really didn't expect it to be. It blew me away with its wit and charm and truth. Who knew the Barbie movie would be so deep?

On Tuesday, we returned to the same local university that my youngest was at so my oldest could get a college tour! It was really hot and exhausting, but I'm glad we did it. She really likes the place. I have a feeling she'll decide to go local for college and live at home. I taught a class in the afternoon and talked to my fellow Future Fiction Academy instructors in the evening.

Wednesday was a chill day at home with only one errand. I got a lot of work done.

Thursday, I did a podcast interview in the morning, got the youngest from camp, and taught a class in the afternoon. That was a busy busy day.

Friday, I ran a bunch of errands with the girls including checking out the new bookstore in town, getting my oldest's eyeglasses adjusted, a trip to Five Below (love that place), a stop at the vet to get meds for Lulu, and Starbucks.

Saturday, I got my haircut, folded a lot of laundry and packed for the beach house.

In writing news, I am working on lots of things. I'm still working on my cozy mystery, my fantasy romance, AND a pen name project where I experiment with all the AI tools and see what works and what doesn't so I can teach my students. I'm still writing fairly traditionally with a little AI help for my regular S. J. Pajonas and Steph Gennaro names. I figure a subgenre pen name is the best place to do any major experimentation, just so I can see how it all works. I love a good experiment.

Here are all the photos of Lulu that my husband sent me in the past week. Lol.

From the college tour and the field hockey clinic drop off.

At the Barbie movie! Blurry but we made it.

And we checked out the cute new bookstore in town! I love it already. It's quiet, cool, and swanky in there.

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy.

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Sunday Update – July 23, 2023

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Okay, I think it's time for me to admit that I don't have a lot of spare time lately. I keep thinking that I can get everything done, and I just can't. My clean clothes have been sitting on the dining room table for a week. I haven't cooked in ages. I barely even think about this blog unless it's Sunday! And I'm glad for the Sunday Updates because I would not update here at all without them.

This last week was super busy, as you can probably guess. I taught classes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I worked HOURS on pre-writing work, which I'll get to more in a bit. I deflected more bullshit on Facebook than I usually do regarding AI. I booked my trip to Vegas for the 20BooksTo50K conference. I did numerous Zoom meetings. I went to see my kid in Beauty & the Beast at her summer music program. I ran errands and went grocery shopping. It was literally non-stop. I was even on zoom until 11PM one night working.

Yes, I am using AI to help me write, and let me give some more details here. I'm a long-time pantser of my books. I have always struggled with pre-planning or outlining a book ahead of time because I usually don't get good ideas until I'm “in the moment” or even in the second draft. Now, I'm using AI to help me pants my outline! I get it to suggest a good structure for a novel that I want to write, and then we work together, like partners, to brainstorm what happens in each section of the book. When it comes time to write the chapters, I give the AI my writing style guide (this is something I've been working on for months now) and have it write me a short first draft of the chapter. I then go in and flesh it all out, add details, change dialogue and style, and end up with a chapter that's pretty much all me.

Is this faster? For me, it is. For others, this would be slower. Why is it faster for me? I often walk away from a blank page. I hate first drafts and would rather do the second draft any day, so with a first draft done with AI, I stay in the seat and keep working when I would normally give up. Also, with this method, I am less likely to write myself into a corner that I have to go back and fix. I think of the AI as my collaborative junior writer and this is the method I've been teaching my students.

I'm writing three books this summer. They all require lots of work and planning, and I'm knee deep in all three. Combined with teaching, this is why I'm so pressed for time every day. I'm really glad for these Sunday Updates that keep me in touch with you all!

I only took two photos this week…

My husband left on Saturday to go to the beach house with Lulu. We'll be following him there next weekend because my youngest has a camp this week and my oldest will probably be doing driving lessons. I miss my little hip warmer.

And there was Beauty & the Beast Junior. It was such a great show and the kids did an amazing job! The girl who played Belle has quite the voice. She nailed all the songs.

Have a great week, everybody! Stay safe and healthy.

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Pets In Space 8 Is Now Available For Pre-Order!

Once again, I am honored and thrilled to announce that Tilli's Second Chance, the next book in the Kimura Sisters Series, will be one of the novellas featured in Pets in Space 8! I love this anthology so much. It combines my favorite genre, science fiction romance, with pets, and what's not to love about that? Plus, 10% of the pre-orders and first month of sales goes to Hero Dogs, a charity that places service dogs with veterans. I love that too.

Join the Pets in Space crew! Get it while it's hot! 

Blast off into adventure with the eighth installment of PETS IN SPACE, a dynamic anthology of 11 never-before-seen science fiction romance stories! Rocket through the multi-verses brimming with heart-pounding escapades, swoon-worthy romances, and the best pet sidekicks ever!

Each story will pull you into the far-flung corners of the cosmos with intrepid heroes and heroines you’ll want to cheer for as they fight to save their world and find their happily ever afters. You’ll adore the furry, feathered, and scaly friends who have come to help their brave human companions on their quests.

This limited-edition anthology includes novellas by some of the biggest names in science fiction romance including USA TODAY bestselling authors R.J. Blain, Susan Hayes, Honey Phillips, Skye MacKinnon, Arizona Tape, Carol Van Natta, Tana Stone, S. J. Pajonas, Carysa Locke, JC Hay, plus award-winning authors Gail Koger and Elva Birch.

The Pets in Space 8 authors continue their vital support of Hero-Dogs.org, the non-profit charity that provides trained service dogs for disabled U.S. veterans and first-responders.

Pre-Order Pets in Space 8 on Amazon

Pre-Order Pets in Space 8 on Other Stores

I'll be back again at the end of summer with more about Pets in Space 8 including a sweet illustration of the pet featured in this book and the blurb!

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Sunday Update – July 16, 2023

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Not a lot to report this week! It was super busy and I got a lot done, but alas, very little writing.

My youngest daughter turned 13 this week! So now I have two teenagers. Wow. Where is the time going? I remember when she was my little sidekick and we would do things together while her older sister was at school. Now, she has a busy social life, doing sports and musicals, and hanging out with her friends. I love her. Happy birthday, D!

This week I taught three classes for Future Fiction Academy. I taught a class on using ProWritingAid and ChatGPT to help you edit your novel, a class on Midjourney's newest features, and finally a class on using AI to help write sex scenes in romance novels. Yes, that last class was about a lot of sex. Lol. I made it work by keeping a fairly clinical tone and injecting some humor into it. It was one of my highest attending classes, of course! And the students had great questions that we got to answer in a safe environment. And this week, we learned a lot of new writing techniques using both ChatGPT and the Code Interpreter and Anthropic's Claude.

I'm still writing, but it was slow this past week as I got caught up on a lot of admin work. I made some progress on both my fantasy romance and my cozy mystery. I'm hoping to make more progress this week.

Some pretty flowers I saw on my walk. (I have no idea what they are but they are on a vine wrapped around a telephone pole.)

Happy 13th birthday to my baby!!

I was on a zoom, turned around, and saw this behind me. Lol. Staying close and skeptical!

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy!

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Sunday Update – July 9, 2023

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

I'm back! If you missed my very large post about our trip to London and Paris, then you'll want to go back and read that. There are a lot of photos in there, so be prepared! :) Anyway, since we've returned not a lot has been going on.

Monday through Wednesday were a total blur of jet lag. I think I was actually still jet lagged until Friday, but Thursday and Friday were better than the days before. We didn't really do anything for 4th of July. I actually can't remember if we did ANYTHING. Lol. The rest of the week was spent getting caught up on all the work I neglected while I was gone. I still have a bunch of admin things to do, and I suspect I'll spend most of this Sunday doing them.

Thursday I went over to my cousin's house in the afternoon to see her and my brother who's in town. Then he came over on Saturday to hang out in the afternoon, play cards with me and the family, and then stay for dinner. It was a lot of fun. We should play cards more often. Card games are really the only games I play since I don't do role playing, video games, or board games either. (I'm just not much of a gamer.)

Lulu had a good time with her sitter while we were gone. She only did a small food strike right in the middle of the stay which is a vast improvement on how she usually handles us going away. I was so happy to be reunited with her when we returned. I missed her so much.

Not much writing happened while I was gone nor this past week. But this coming week, I hope to be back on the writing like crazy. I just need to figure out my new schedule. It's too hot most days to wait until 10AM to walk Lulu. I need to do it closer to 7 or 8AM. But that's usually my writing time. So, I have some things to work out there.

Oh! Before I forget! I'm on Threads, and I like it there. I'm actually using it and have started putting my photos on Instagram again because of this. I'm glad that Instagram now has Threads as a way of having text posts again. I missed the static photos with text. I will be updating my buttons on my website this coming week. I barely use Mastodon because finding people there was hard. Instagram/Threads made this super easy and suddenly I have a community there. I feel like Meta knew what the pain point was and addressed it right off the bat. Really smart.

Miss Lulu! Wanting to get up on the couch, all installed next to me on the couch, and at my brother's elbow while we played cards. She wanted to bite his leg off when he first got here, and then by the end of the evening, she was moderately cool with him being there. Lol. She even licked his elbow!

An afternoon of cards. We played Gin and then Poker (many flavors of poker). We used tiny plastic babies for betting. Lol.

This was the gin I picked up in duty free in Heathrow on the way back from London. It's pretty darned good. I've had a few martinis with it so far. The flavor is nice and smooth.

I'm exercising regularly again. The first photo is what I look like after a 10AM walk. It's way too hot for late morning walks and it was miserable. So I'm moving my walks to earlier in the mornings most days. I'm also back on the bike and doing the hard work there.

Duolingo can be savage at times.

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy!

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Our Trip to London and Paris

We're back! And instead of just dumping photos into an upcoming Sunday Update, I'm going to write up this post instead. Please be warned! This post is very image heavy… like 100+ images. Here we go!

First, we had a fantastic time on our trip! We only ran into a few problems along the way, but overall, the entire trip was enjoyable and a lot of fun. I want to go back! Surprisingly, or maybe not, I fell in love with France and would love to live there. I don't say that about a lot of the places I visit. Usually I say, “Great place to visit but wouldn't want to live here.” But Paris… Yes, I could live there.

To start, we splurged for both legs of the trip and flew business class. That definitely made things much easier. But the flight to London landed at 6AM London time, and we couldn't check in until 3PM. Time to rally! We spent the day walking around London, going to the Tate Modern Gallery, shopping and eating at Borough Market, and then lying around the lobby of the Waldorf until our room was ready. Hoo boy. I almost cried that first day from exhaustion! That Friday afternoon we took naps and then went out to dinner.

Saturday was spent walking around, shopping, exploring, and then we went to see Matilda. Sunday, we went to the National Portrait Gallery and to Fortnum & Mason for high tea.

Monday through Friday was spent in France, traveling on both ends of the week with the Eurostar train from London through the Chunnel to Paris.

Monday was all about the travel and finding our hotel in the 14th Arrondissement then having dinner. I chanced it and I had pasta and a little pizza on this night, and that was a HUGE mistake. The gluten left me with so much body pain and inflammation that I was miserable for the next two days. LESSON LEARNED. I am now gluten-free for life, as sad as that is. I don't know what happened!

Tuesday was our day to just wander Paris. We took the metro to the city center and wandered around. We took a cruise on the Seine, which was a very good idea. It was hot and there was a breeze on the boat. We got to see a lot of the monuments and the guide spoke both French and English. We ate a brasserie and felt very French. Lol. That night, we ordered pizza for the girls at the hotel and my husband and I had one of the best meals ever at a seafood restaurant called La Cagouille. We loved it so much we returned on Thursday.

Wednesday, we spent the day in Reims! Reims is known for its champagne, a bustling little downtown area, and a big Notre Dame Cathedral. We took the train out there, checked out the city, had lunch, and then walked to the Veuve Clicquot facility where we did a premier tour of the champagne caves and learned all about Veuve Clicquot. I was really inspired by Madame Clicquot's story! I didn't realize that she was a widow (veuve means widow in French) and that she basically built the whole champagne empire on her own in 1810. 1810, people! Women owning businesses back then was not a thing. We had a fantastic tour and our tour guide got her first champagne shower. Poor thing. It was an accident, and funny when we looked back on it later, but I felt so bad for her when it happened. We took the bus back, got a snack, and then took the train back to Paris where we collapsed.

Thursday was Louvre day. Let me tell you something. The Louvre was the most tiring and confusing museum I have ever been in. It's HUGE. Absolutely massive. And there are stairs literally EVERYWHERE. I can imagine it's a nightmare for handicapped people. That day I did 20 flights of stairs and walked 8000 steps in the museum alone. Oh my god. The map was impossible to read. We couldn't find anything. The line for the Mona Lisa was long. Then we went up and down 4 flights before we found the Egypt exhibits because my youngest wanted to see the mummies.

I was BEAT after this, but we had lunch at Cafe Josephine, and it was delicious. I went back to the hotel to nap while my husband took the girls out for shopping. That evening we ordered food again for the girls and we went back to La Cagouille for dinner. It was fantastic.

Friday was spent traveling again, back to London via the Eurostar train. This was easier the second time around as we knew what to expect. We checked into the Conrad that afternoon but that didn't go as expected. The hotel was 98% booked and our two rooms were not adjoining despite asking for this over six months ago. Our hotel room was overlooking a street that was busy and noisy and got deliveries every morning (even Sunday) at 7:30AM. Not restful. By this time in the trip I was ready to go home. But we had a fancy dinner at Novokov that evening that was super enjoyable.

Saturday was spent shopping in Chelsea, taking the tube, and eating a delicious dinner at the Cinnamon Club. Overall, I really liked London. It was a cool place to be and I could see myself living there too except for the expense. Hoo boy. If you think inflation is bad where you are, it's 10 times worse there. It was more expensive than I thought it would be. But hey, we were on vacation. Spare no expense!

The plane trip home went well too. We shopped a little at Heathrow before getting on the plane. I didn't sleep on the way back, but I did rest and watch a lot of movies. Today, several days later, I'm still jet lagged, but it's getting better!

All in all, we had an amazing trip! I loved it and I'm so glad we went! I hope to travel internationally again next year, for sure.

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July 2023 Goals

I'm still traveling, and I'm writing this blog post from a lounge at the Conrad Hilton in London, so I'll keep this short!

What happened with June's Goals?

Plot out and start writing my fantasy romance series. It is happening! I did a lot of plotting and came up with the titles for the first three books of the series with ChatGPT's help. Wow. That was a roller coaster ride too! I learned a lot about epic poetry that actually bore some fruit while I was traveling in the U.K. and Paris! Funny how that happens. I started writing and I'm about 6 chapters in, but I'm trying to actually BE on vacation and not write while I'm traveling. Rest assured that once I'm home, it's full steam ahead!

Continue teaching and working with FFA. I did a lot of teaching and working before I left, and I have been trying to keep up while away.

Finish my in-person French classes. I finished French classes! They were a lot of fun and I'm glad I did them. The French came in handy while we were in Paris.

Go on vacation! I'm still on vacation!

Keep going with Duolingo, exercise, reading, knitting, and TV. Not a lot of knitting, but plenty of TV and reading. Exercise has been hit or miss. I got sick in June and had to peel back a little but I've been very busy and walking A LOT while on vacation.

July Goals

Back to writing my fantasy romance and my cozy mystery. I started both before I left on vacation. The fantasy romance has about six chapters. The cozy mystery has barely been started but it has been plotted more than the fantasy romance. I'd like to get both to the 70% mark before the end of the month.

Compile two courses for FFA. I am planning on two content marketing courses using AI for Future Fiction Academy. I've been making notes on what I want to do while I've been gone on vacation. When I return, I need to start putting them together and recording them.

Keep teaching and live-writing with FFA. I have been teaching authors how to use the AI tools in order to “pants” their stories. You don't have to be an outliner in order to use AI! Though a lot of people do find that helpful, for sure. (Just like with dictating.) So I have been concentrating on those techniques in my classes. It's been a lot of fun and I'm sure I'm helping authors with this.

Back on the Peloton! I was sick for most of June and then away with traveling. When I return, I want to knock 10 points off my FTP score, and start Power Zone training again. I would like to do more climb rides after watching some Tour de France and being inspired by the climbs there (wowsa!). But I can't do that without a good cardio base. Time to get back to it.

Return to the beach house. We have plans to be back at the beach house again in July. I miss it there, and I'm looking forward to being there again this month.

Keep going with Duolingo, reading, knitting, and TV. Once I'm back, I'd like to pick up my blanket knitting again with my daily TV time. And of course, continue with French, Italian, and Japanese on Duolingo.

That's it for this month! Have a great July everyone!

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