S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 18
February 1, 2023
February 2023 Goals
January flew by! Time to get moving on February.
What happened with January's Goals?Write the next Amagi Series book. My original plan was to take six weeks to write this book. And I think I'm going to come in around seven to eight weeks. Still, a very decent pace. I'm continuing to write after taking a few mental health days to mourn my uncle.
Keep going with Facebook Ads. I was going great with FB ads until I decided to put all of my books into Kindle Unlimited. They are all turned off now.
Spend more time on AI art. I made a few things in AI art this month, but I've mostly been concentrating on writing.
Schedule my social media calendar for first quarter 2023. No. I decided to go month to month with this.
Stay on top of my Duolingo Italian, start Portuguese, and keep up Lingo Deer Japanese. I have stayed on top of Duolingo Italian and Portuguese. Japanese, not as much.
Continue with my fitness goals. My fitness is going fine, but I've been in a lot of hip pain lately. So I am taking every Tuesday as a rest day.
Reading, TV, and knitting. I haven't been reading as much as I like, but there's been some TV and knitting.
February GoalsFinish A Surprise Favor, the next Amagi Series book. I should be able to finish this book in February. My original goal was to finish before we left for vacation around mid month. But that's not going to happen, I don't think. I've been taking time off writing to do website work and mourn my uncle.
Build a website for my new coaching business. I am starting an AI Fiction Coaching business, helping authors individually integrate AI tools into their workflows. I have the domain and everything. I just need to set up the website and calendar booking system. I'm hoping to have that done before my vacation.
Keep going with Facebook Ads. As soon as the books go into KU, I will restart ads with some optimized text and images. I plan on doing ads for each of my series.
Get my books off the random international sites and into Kindle Unlimited. I am waiting on Kobo to delist my books from a bunch of their partner stores in Mexico and Canada. Ugh. I have to tell you, this process is slow and painful. If I ever give up on Kindle Unlimited, I may not go back to Kobo unless I can opt-out of these stores. Some of the stores have books that I delisted FIVE YEARS AGO. WTF?
Setup my social media posts for the month. Pretty self-explanatory. I schedule them with a few tools and then I check on them every Sunday.
Stay on top of my Duolingo Italian, start Portuguese, and keep up Lingo Deer Japanese. Keep going. I need to do the Japanese at least once per week.
Continue with my fitness goals. Ride Monday, Wednesday, sometimes Friday, and Saturday. Walk Thursday, sometimes Friday, and Sunday. Rest on Tuesday with just one dog walk around the block. That's the plan and I'm sticking to it.
Reading, TV, and knitting. The usual, and I plan to read a lot on vacation.
That's it for this month! Have a great February everyone!
The post February 2023 Goals appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
January 31, 2023
TV Chat #21 – What I Watched in January 2023
Plus two things I forgot to put on last year's post!
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
| January 12, 2023 (United States)
7.9
Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House was a fantastic show. It was quiet, subdued, and sometimes nothing happened at all, but it was compelling nonetheless. I loved all the little Japanese insights and of course the food! The last episode made me cry like a baby. Lol. It was so sweet and beautiful.
Glass Onion
| December 23, 2022 (United States)
7.2
Director: Writer: Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
Glass Onion (A Knives Out movie) was pretty fun. There were a lot of things I wasn't expecting and I didn't guess the killer ahead of time. I loved all the drama, even if some of it was convoluted. All around, a lot of fun. We watched this one with the kids.
Top Gun: Maverick
| May 27, 2022 (United States)
8.3
Director: Writer: , , Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
Top Gun: Maverick was one we passed on in the theater and we finally got around to watching this month. I thought it was really fun. I think my husband liked it less, but he LOVED the original movie. Things I liked about this: the woman in the flight group was just as competent as the men and there was no hint of sexual misconduct or even a lack of talent because she was a woman (yes, I pay attention to this stuff because I know what it's like for women in the military), the “enemy” was never identified (they did a great job of making them a nationality), the romance was great without being too sappy. All in all, a solid job of a movie.
Break Point
| January 13, 2023 (United States)
7.4
Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
Break Point was on my list since I heard about it. I love tennis and grew up playing tennis. I've been to the US Open a few times and used to follow it pretty closely. I haven't followed it much in the last few years because of life, so I thought this might be fun to watch and get to know new players. It was really good. I was totally sucked in watching these people work hard for something they believed in. This season covered the Australian Open, French Open, and Indian Wells. I'm looking forward to Wimbledon and the US Open in next season.
Naomi Osaka
| July 16, 2021 (United States)
6.3
Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
I finished Break Point and went straight on to the Naomi Osaka documentary because Netflix knows me all too well. I thought this one was well done too. It covered a lot of her life growing up including being half Japanese. It also went into her mental health state and then ended with her activist work leading up to the US Open. I have a lot of respect for her to do so much at such a young age.
Derry Girls
Comedy | 1800min | TV Series (2018– )
8.4
Writer: Stars: , , Summary: The personal exploits of a 16-year-old girl and her family and friends during the Troubles in the early 1990s.
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
My husband and I watched the final season of Derry Girls together. There was a lot of over-acting in this season, unfortunately, but still some good funny moments. I still love Sister Michael. When she picked up the phone and said, “You may speak,” I cried from laughter. As a whole, the show was a lot of fun.
Harry & Meghan
| December 8, 2022 (United States)
4.9
Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
Royalty is pretty divisive. You either love it or hate, it seems. Harry & Meghan was good. I had no idea how bad things were for them, and seeing it all laid out with their thoughts and feelings really brought it home. I know people are angry with them for saying anything, but I applaud them for doing the series and writing the book (and yes, earning money from it. I'm totally okay with that). I'm Team Harry all the way. Today, I watched his interview with Stephen Colbert, and I found that enjoyable too. He feels a little more American every day. I think he likes it here. Fine by me.
Good Night Oppy
| November 23, 2022 (United States)
7.7
Director: Writer: , Stars: , , Summary:
Photos
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Source: imdb.com
I regret that I did not add this to last year's post. We saw Good Night Oppy in the theater in Charleston when we were there in November. It was lovely. Even the kids enjoyed it. I cried more than once OVER A MARS ROVER. It was just that good. Watch it now. I think it's on Amazon.
Last year we also saw the Minions movie in July which I forgot to mention and won't really mention now. It was funny but ultimately pretty stupid. That's okay. It doesn't need to be anything more than that.
The post TV Chat #21 – What I Watched in January 2023 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
January 29, 2023
Sunday Update – January 29, 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.
This was a super busy and unfortunately sad week for me.
First, let me pay respects to my Uncle Richard who died around 6PM on Friday. I had mentioned in a few previous Sunday Updates that I was at the hospital a lot in December and early January visiting a sick relative. My uncle got diagnosed with Stage 4 bladder cancer that just ripped through him so fast, we barely had time to comprehend how bad it was before he was gone. He was an amazing man, one of my very favorite relatives from my parents' generation. He always had a smile and a laugh.
He did things his way, the only real way for them to be done. I have so many memories of time spent with him that I hope to cherish forever, like square dancing (so random) and the fact that he knew my favorite sandwich (“PB and J without the J”) by heart. He traveled the world and met so many people who will also miss him. I'm so sad he's gone but I know his presence will live on in so many lives. His daughter, Kate, is one of my very best friends. I'm glad I was able to be there for her through this. Family means a lot to me. In the next couple of months, I'll be helping Kate clean out his house. It's the least I can do.
On Wednesday, my youngest daughter had a stomach virus with lots of puking and other stomach troubles. Ugh. What a week.
In other news, I spent most of this past week working on my website because I've made a big decision. I have decided to cease publishing my books to retailers other than Amazon. This means that as soon as my books come down from all the international retailers, I will be enrolling them in Kindle Unlimited. I know this will come as a disappointment to many readers, and I'm truly sorry about that. My income for the last ten years has literally been 75% Amazon. In the most recent 3-5 years, it has been even more Amazon. The last few months? 90% or more. Ideally, as a wide author, I had hoped to make the other retailers 50% or more to be worth all the extra hassle of uploading and advertising to them. But it never trended that way despite all the extra work I put into it. After running Facebook ads and only seeing the Amazon portion grow and the wide retailer portion shrink, I knew it was time. More to come on a blog post this week.
There has been writing, though not as much as I would like. Still, I am making a whole lot more progress than last year, and for that, I'm grateful. I hope to write more this week.
There have been a lot of outdoor walks, which make me happy.
I took a much-needed rest day on Tuesday. I think I'll do that most Tuesdays. I actually work out way too much and need to dial it back a little. My body has been hurting and I'm super tired.
Lulu had a rough week with an allergic reaction to something and then a little virus that made her puke and have some awful poops. She seems to be much better now.
My husband made dosas last Sunday and they were delicious.
And that's it for this week. Have a safe and healthy week, everyone!
The post Sunday Update – January 29, 2023 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
January 22, 2023
Sunday Update – January 22, 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.
Another blur of a week! Last Sunday, we got together with my family for Italian dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. And then Monday was a holiday so we stayed home.
Tuesday was supposed to be extra busy and it wasn't… so we went out to dinner for my birthday! I was glad my kid didn't have jazz band practice so we could do it.
Wednesday was my 47th birthday. I didn't really do much. It was more of the same same. I did eat a ton of pasta for lunch and then I took a nap as a treat to myself. Lol. We didn't go out to dinner because my youngest kid had a school concert in the evening we had to go to. We did do birthday cupcakes after, which was nice.
Thursday was more of the same. I went grocery shopping in the rain in the afternoon which was not ideal. The kids came home from school grumpy, and then the oldest kid had jazz band practice and I had to attend a mandatory band parents meeting.
Friday came and went. I worked a lot and did a podcast interview in the afternoon. Then I spoke to my friends on zoom in the evening.
Saturday was a lot of working and then an advanced writing class in the afternoon.
As you can see I've been pretty busy. I'm staying on track with my writing and I'm about 28k on the next Amagi Series book. I've been working with AI images and writing tools again and having some fun there. But there's been no time for knitting or reading. I'm a bit burned out. I hope it gets better.
I'm also in pain and that's never fun. I've been dealing with right hip pain for a few weeks. I've changed up my exercise habits to compensate and I hope that it gets better sometime soon. In the meantime, I'm just trying to bear it.
Not a lot of photos this week since I've been so busy…
New reading glasses. My other ones broke, but I keep a cache of them in the house, just for this reason.
The weather on my birthday was actually nice! It was in the 50s so I took a long walk this morning, all to myself.
Opened a bottle of Bollinger for my birthday.
The last time I got any reading done was last Monday morning before anyone else got up, on the couch with Lulu.
After dinner with my family. My cousin is on the right and my other cousin's wife is on the left. I love these ladies. They are so fun to be around.
And that's it for this week. Stay safe and healthy.
The post Sunday Update – January 22, 2023 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
January 19, 2023
Book Chat #79 – Books By Becca Syme, Brigid Kemmerer, James Scott Bell, and Mary Robinette Kowal
I haven't had a Book Chat since October! So let's go over the last books I read in 2022. It wasn't many as I was certainly swamped with writing at the time. But these four were very memorable.
Dear Writer, You Need to Quit by Becca Syme (audiobook)
Despite the title, this is not a book to convince you to stop writing. It is instead a guide on how to find the stuff you're good at and quit the other things that are stressing you out and you don't need. I found Becca Syme's “Question the Premise” slogan to be something I use quite often now when people say things like, “You HAVE to do TikTok or you're leaving money on the table” or “You should have a subscription” or whatever. Yeah, but why? Quite often, I find that I don't need to be doing things other authors are doing. I'm fine where I am. I just bought her new book about intuition which I'm sure will also speak to me since I'm a fairly intuitive person.
Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer (ebook)
This one was great. I wasn't sure what to expect in this book, but once the story got going, mostly out at sea, I was sucked in. There were a few twists I really didn't see coming either, and the ending got me. Now I really have to know what happens next. As usual, I love Brigid's writing style. It was infinitely readable and kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.
The Last Fifty Pages by James Scott Bell (audiobook)
I use a lot of James Scott Bell's techniques in crafting my stories so none of the material here was new to me. It was good to listen to an audiobook that reaffirmed what I already knew about endings, wrapping things up, and leaving the readers satisfied. I feel it's a good thing to revisit these techniques often and remember why we do things the way we do. That's a part of the writing craft that can always be improved upon.
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (ebook)
I love mysteries and I love space, so when Mary Robinette comes out with a sci-fi mystery, I had to pick it up. There were a lot of things to love about this book. The protagonists were fun and memorable, and they had great chemistry. There was one moment in the book where I gasped and said NO out loud because I was worried about the husband, but it all turned out fine. Of course, Gimlet, the service dog, was the star of the show and what a good dog she was. YES SHE WAS. There were a few parts of the mystery I found confusing because I lost track of who some of the characters were. Most likely my fault as my brain has trouble with this often. The cocktail recipes at the top of each chapter were fun, and I laughed out loud at the Dry Gin Martini where you merely whisper the word “vermouth” over the gin and ice and call it done. Lol. Mary Robinette is an exceptional writer. I love her work.
And that's it for now! I am reading and listening to audiobooks so expect another Book Chat in the coming months!
The post Book Chat #79 – Books By Becca Syme, Brigid Kemmerer, James Scott Bell, and Mary Robinette Kowal appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.
January 15, 2023
Sunday Update – January 15, 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 don't remember much about this week. That usually means it was busy and I believe it was. 
There were a lot of after school activities for my kids, the cleaning ladies came, and Lulu went to daycare both Wednesday and Friday. I took an advanced writing class on Zoom on Tuesday that lasted over 2 hours! There was grocery shopping and Peloton riding and walking. On Fridays, I usually ride the bike in the morning, but the weather was so nice that I walked instead. It was in the 50s! Couldn't pass that up.
My husband and I are planning a trip to London and Paris for late June for the whole family! I'm really excited about this one. We were supposed to go to London in both 2020 and 2021 but didn't because of the pandemic and then inflation. But we can't just keep putting trips off. The kids are getting older and time is slipping by. We have to do these things while we can.
I wrote like the wind whenever I could. I had trouble finding the time for it on a few days because I was doing other admin work. I fixed errors in some of my Amagi books, reformatted and uploaded them, changing the price at the same time. That took up a whole afternoon. One day, I wrote over 3k on the new book. That was nice to get back on track.
Lulu loves to be lazy and then she loves to play with her hot dog. Lol.
We had a beautiful sunset the other day. So pink!
Since we're considering a trip to Champagne when we go to France, I thought I would do this 60 min Peloton scenic ride for my long Saturday ride this week. It was very pretty.
Something totally weird happened and Facebook served this post to over 22,000 people. I have no idea why. I believe it's an error, but that's what the metrics say! 
And cheers! Here's to another week!
Stay safe and healthy, my friends.
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January 10, 2023
The World of An Unforgiving Desert
One of my pastimes is playing with the AI image generator, Midjourney. And when I was reading through An Unforgiving Desert over the holidays, I decided to make images of different scenes from the book.
Get An Unforgiving Desert today!
Starting with the beginning of An Unforgiving Desert, here's the space station where Skylar is studying and testing to get her Class Three license. And the cafeteria where she and Amira eat before having a run-in with Kalvin and his buddies.
In the test ship, Skylar and Kalvin are trying to get the ship back online before they're shoved into a lifepod and sent to the Novato Desert of Sonoma.
On the move across the Novato Desert.
Skylar and Kalvin having a moment to talk and rest.
Skylar on the dunes, trying to figure out how to navigate at night.
Faced with another sandstorm.
An encounter with sand tigers.
Returning to Casa Aravena and drinking Laguna 43 on the porch.
Just to note, many of these images I had to touch up and make changes to, but a lot of them came out of Midjourney as is! It's such a cool program. I'll be doing more of these in the months to come for sure!
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January 8, 2023
Sunday Update – January 8, 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.
Happy New Year, again, everyone! I hope your first week of 2023 went well. We had a busy week around here. The kids were back in school on Tuesday and my husband was gone mid-week for a day. It was the usual with after school activities and jazz band for my oldest kid. On Friday, the oldest kid had a dentist appointment and that went well too. We found out she doesn't have wisdom teeth! She definitely doesn't have them on the bottom, and they are like 80% sure she doesn't have them on top. EVOLUTION!! She's glad she doesn't have to have them removed. I'm just really surprised.
I've been working on a ton of stuff. I spent a good number of days uploading new manuscripts and raising prices on many of my books. This week I finish that task. I also started writing the next Amagi Series book WHILE reading the previous three books. I'm almost done with my re-read and it's given me great ideas for moving forward with the series. I'm prepping for a FB ads challenge this coming week which means downloading or making images for ads, writing ad copy, and getting links set up ahead of time. I have a busy week ahead of me with work for sure. I'm also prepping for a blog post here on Tuesday. Lots going on!
This dog. I swear. She has such a huge personality in a tiny body.
I made a tofu peanut curry on Friday for dinner based on the sauce from this recipe. I uploaded this photo on Friday night to my Facebook page and it has since reached 13,000+ people and I have NO IDEA WHY. In fact, I think it must be a mistake or something. It's not even getting a ton of interaction or anything, yet FB is sending it to oodles of people. *shrugs*
I was out walking Lulu around 4PM one day when we ran across 8 deer behind this fence including a buck! See it there? Funny how the deer are the same color as the leaves.
My park on two vastly different weather days.
My youngest daughter made a yellow vanilla cake on New Year's Eve. She did a great job! We've been enjoying it all week.
Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy.
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January 4, 2023
Pricing Statement for 2023
Surprise! Every one of my books is on sale until the end of the week! It's a bit of a sneaky sale, since really I'm increasing the prices on almost all of my books for 2023. In 2022, I kept all of my books at bargain-basement prices as I worked through long covid and a lack of energy and focus for both writing and my business. In 2023, things will be different.
As you have seen from my post about my typical work day, I work many hours every day. It takes a lot of hard work to bring you all of this content, from the blog to the social media posts to the books and the bonus scenes and the newsletter exclusive stories. The books need to help pay for all of that and give me the ability to pay for things like new covers, editing, etc.
So, starting later this week, I will be raising prices on pretty much all of my books. Some of my free books will be going to 99¢. Many other books will have their prices increased to reflect the current market.
This is your warning, as my blog fans, that if you had wanted to download or read any of these books soon, you can get them now at the lower price! Run, do not walk, to your computer and click those buttons!
If you are a newsletter subscriber, congrats! You get series starters for free! You lucky kids, you.
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January 2, 2023
January 2023 Goals
It's a new year! Let's get to work!
What happened with December's Goals?Finish Ean's Rare Gift. Done! And my newsletter people have it in their hands!
Spend more time on AI art. I did play around with MidJourney more and it was a lot of fun.
Finish the audiobook for The Daydreamer Detective. Didn't happen.
Start Facebook Ads. My ads coach and I have been running ads since December 7th and they are going well!
Plan out my social media calendar for first quarter 2023. Didn't happen. I brainstormed ideas but I need to get started on scheduling.
Stay on top of my Duolingo Italian and Lingo Deer Japanese. I stayed on top of Italian but not Japanese.
Go to the beach house between Christmas and New Year's. This didn't happen. My husband went for a day without us to handle some problems there. We stayed home. It was just a better way to spend the time.
Continue with my fitness goals. I kept up with my goals all month!
Reading, TV, and knitting. Yes! I actually did all of this. 
Write the next Amagi Series book. My plan is to take six weeks to write this book. With the new tools I have, I think I can hit that goal, and maybe even less. But I'm budgeting for six weeks.
Keep going with Facebook Ads. I my ads coach and I will be branching out to other series and possibly some list building.
Spend more time on AI art. I had so much fun in December making images of An Unforgiving Desert (coming soon to the blog and social media), that I plan to do a lot more.
Schedule my social media calendar for first quarter 2023. I plan to get this all in Meta Business Manager and Buffer by the end of the week.
Stay on top of my Duolingo Italian, start Portuguese, and keep up Lingo Deer Japanese. I'm adding a new language in this year. It's my goal to make Italian and Japanese my main secondary languages, and then I'd like to do a day a week of a different language until I have learned the basics of 20 languages (a bucket list goal).
Continue with my fitness goals. I have a new routine. 30 min HIIT ride on Monday. 30 min Endurance ride on Wednesday. 20 min Low Impact ride on Friday. 60 min Endurance ride on Saturday. Walks every day as long as the weather is nice.
Reading, TV, and knitting. The usual here! I still love all of these things as my hobbies.
That's it for this month! Have a great January everyone!
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