S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 2

Listen to Washing Statue Wanderlust on Spoken!

It's been fun getting my stories onto Spoken and sharing them with the wider world. This month, you all are getting Washing Statue Wanderlust. I had forgotten about the whole arc of this story (not surprising since I don't remember what I had for lunch yesterday)! So it was fun to listen to this again.

Have you heard of Spoken? They are an AI audio platform that makes it easy for authors to get their stories out to listeners, and the quality is GOOD. Excellent, even. Just last week, Danica and I interviewed them for the Brave New Bookshelf. So if you'd like to learn more about them, go listen to that podcast.

And yes, just like Rice Cooker Revenge, this story has a new cover as well! All the stories in this series have new covers and I will reveal them as I put them on Spoken for you all to listen to.

Listen to Washing Statue Wanderlust on Spoken

Go check it out now! People are already listening and loving it.

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Breaking Free from Writing Routines

In the last three years, I've written several books, and here's the thing that struck me recently — none of them came into existence the same way. I was just telling my friend Natasha this and it occurred to me that this feels significant because I used to be that writer who followed the same rigid process for every single book.

My old method was practically carved in stone: fire up a new Scrivener project, brainstorm a bit, map out the main story beats and act structures, and dive in. Simple, reliable, and completely predictable. I'd write and hope what emerged somewhat matched my initial vision.

Then AI entered the chat (literally), and everything changed.

Suddenly, I found myself experimenting with different approaches to writing. Sometimes I'd use AI to help me outline, other times I'd pants my way through with AI as a brainstorming partner. I wrote entire books in bite-sized chunks through chat interfaces, and eventually, I discovered how to create entire workflows around AI assistance.

My journey started with Sudowrite, but I didn't stop there. I've test-driven pretty much every major chat platform out there, played around with Notion's AI capabilities, explored Ulysses, taken Raptor Write for a spin, and experimented with Plotdrive. Each platform offered something different, and each book I wrote using these tools emerged in its own unique way.

This flexibility didn't come naturally to me. As writers, we often fall into comfortable patterns. We become those people who can only write in coffee shops, or need specific music playing, or can only use one particular app. I've seen what this kind of rigidity does to writers. It becomes a crutch, a limitation disguised as a requirement.

If the “muse” doesn’t come, you still have a book to write. See the problem?

Breaking free from these self-imposed constraints has been challenging. I've had to embrace failure as part of the process. Some experiments didn't work out. Some approaches led to dead ends. But here's the thing: each failure taught me something valuable about my writing process and about myself as a writer.

The publishing landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, and being adaptable isn't just about staying current. It's about survival. The writers who will thrive in this new era aren't necessarily the ones with the most talent or the best ideas, but those who can adapt and evolve their craft alongside the technology.

I'm not suggesting everyone needs to jump on every new AI tool or writing platform that comes along. But I am advocating for maintaining an open mind and a willingness to experiment. Maybe that new tool or approach you're skeptical about could be the key to unlocking your next great story? You won’t know unless you give it a try.

The most valuable lesson I've learned through all of this is that writing is never a static thing. It's a living, breathing craft that grows and changes with us. The moment we stop evolving as writers is the moment we start falling behind.

So here I am, still experimenting, still learning, and still occasionally failing. But I'm also writing more efficiently, more creatively, and with more flexibility than ever before. And in today's rapidly changing publishing landscape, that adaptability might just be the most valuable skill a writer can possess.

The post Breaking Free from Writing Routines appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

I Broke the Comments on My Website and Here’s How I Got Here…

Me, this afternoon…

“I'm going to work on an N8N workflow for my blog so that whenever I post something, it'll update Facebook, Instagram, and all those other places. I have that Make.com scenario working to do this, but meh. I really want to figure this out in N8N. Then I can use it for the Future Fiction Academy website too. It can't be that hard! I'm a smart woman. I've got this. Let's do it!”

You can already see where this is going…

“Okay, supposedly in order to get this WordPress credential set-up, I need to turn on Application passwords in my WordPress. Oh, Wordfence says that's a no-go. I need to turn that off. Okay, I've turned that off, got an Application Password. Let's go!”

Adds password to N8N and hits ‘Connect.' Nope.

“Well, shit. N8N is returning an error. I don't get it. Rest API is working. This might have something to do with me turning off my XML-RPC a while back due to spammers. Yep, that must be it.”

Returns to website…

“Huh. Why aren't comments working? How did this happen? What's wrong with Disqus? It's showing as disconnected. Let's reconnect it, then? Great.” grumble grumble. “Nothing I'm doing is making Disqus work. I've updated the API keys, Rest API is working. Wait. That endpoint isn't working.”

I do a bunch of google searches…

“Maybe this is all because I turned on Application Passwords back 10 steps ago. I'll go turn that back off and see if it helps.”

It does not.

“Sigh. I've wasted all my precious time on this. I'm not going to figure this out anytime soon. Hey, how about I just turn off Disqus and use the native commenting system? Oh wait. I don't have all the comments from the last several years synched? Let's do that first.”

Bombs my website. Has to reboot Apache.

“For fucks' sake. Okay, forget about bringing over the comments. Just… whatever. I don't need them and I can go get them later.” turns off Disqus. “Why isn't the comment form showing up?”

Spends 30 minutes looking at posts, pages, turning on comments, turning them off, troubleshooting the website…

“It's my theme. My theme is hiding comments now.”

Goes through every option in my theme to figure out if they got turned off. Nope. Comments SHOULD be on.

“Comments are not on. And what was I supposed to be doing? Yeah. Working.”

I GIVE UP.

Maybe someday I'll want to figure this out. Or maybe someday they will magically come back. I don't know. I don't care right now.

… and everyone wonders why I'm so stressed out. Because this shit happens almost every day.

I'd ask for you to comment and let me know about your stress reduction techniques BUT I CANNOT BECAUSE SOMEONE (ME) FUCKED UP THE COMMENTS ON MY SITE.

As you were.

The post I Broke the Comments on My Website and Here’s How I Got Here… appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Listen to Rice Cooker Revenge on Spoken!

I did a lot of soul searching while I was in New Orleans. I thought a lot about what I love about my job and what I don't. I really love making my stories come to life, both on the page and off the page, but I don't like making videos. I thought I would love it! I love watching TV and movies, and I'm a former screenwriter. But alas, the process of making videos is an absolute chore.

But I love audio, and I think that's where I need to concentrate my powers.

Have you heard of Spoken? They are an AI audio platform that makes it easy for authors to get their stories out to listeners, and the quality is GOOD. Excellent, even. I met the team that runs Spoken last year at the Author Nation conference and we spent more time together in New Orleans. I think they have something really special here. They care about quality and delivering a fantastic and easy-to-listen-to product to readers. I'm really impressed with them and what they're doing, so I decided to put one of my short stories on Spoken!

And yes, Rice Cooker Revenge has a new cover! Actually, all the stories in this series have new covers and I will reveal them as I put them on Spoken for you all to listen to.

Listen to Rice Cooker Revenge on Spoken

Go check it out now! People are already listening and loving it.

This will not be the end of my journey with audio! And I have plans to bring you even more of my audio for free. Stay tuned!

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Learning About What I Want to Create

As many of you know, I’m a knitter. Around 2002/2003, I took up knitting as a way to express myself and my creative side. I was following a few Japan bloggers at the time, and one of them, my friend Kat, was a knitter, and I thought, “Hey, that’s something I could do, too.”

Over the years since, I have knitted a lot of items. I have knitted blankets, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, sweaters, socks, leg warmers, shawls… A huge variety of things. And I learned along the way which items I enjoyed knitting and which ones I would wear after I was done. After more than a decade of knitting, I settled on blankets and shawls as my go-to knits of choice. They are practical and fun, with varying shapes, patterns, colors, and techniques, and they don’t have to fit me (looking at you, sweaters I will no longer be able to wear) or be a certain size. I can be free to choose what I like, enjoy the process, and then relish in the final product.

Now, let’s turn to writing. It also took me a while to settle on the kinds of stories I like to tell and the ways in which I tell them. There were times when I thought I would write contemporary romance or thrillers, but they never panned out. My brain always goes back to science fiction or mysteries (with a healthy dose of romance).

Before I became a novelist, I was writing screenplays, and I thought that my future was in Hollywood, writing for TV or film. I even hoped I’d be a director someday. So, for this year, I thought, why not double-down on all the new video tools that have come out so that you can finally get your chance at creating the movies in your head?

You know what I realized by late January? I don’t actually like making videos. I don’t like recording videos. I don’t like being on video. I do it for teaching on zoom or for other methods of communicating, but that’s it. I stopped doing the One Second Everyday videos because remembering to do them every day was difficult and I always put off making the videos until the very last moment. I just don’t enjoy it.

The things I love making are my books, audio versions of my books, and images to go along with my books. But I don’t love video. Sigh. This will teach me to not make big commitments before understanding and knowing what I’m getting myself into.

This is all to say that I’m still working on finishing up The Blender’s Bargain on YouTube. It’s a slow process because I’m not enjoying the work at all. It’s a struggle to get through it. I enjoyed the writing and editing. I even enjoy the audio editing. Then I have to make images, put them in the video in an interesting way, export it, upload it, etc. Sigh. I’m getting to it. I promise. I’m just really slow.

So, in the future, you can expect from me: audiobooks (via a podcast), posts on my blog with images that go with my books, and more stories. My YouTube channel will continue to house other random things once I’m done posting The Blender’s Bargain.

The post Learning About What I Want to Create appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Where You Can Find Me and My Work Online in 2025

I’ve been quiet here on the blog for a while because I’ve been super busy behind the scenes. Let’s get to all of the stuff I’ve been working on.

I left Kindle Unlimited…

And I published all of my books on Kobo, Google Play, Eleven Reader, and Direct. I still have my books for sale on Amazon. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to be done with Kindle Unlimited. There were so many things that I wanted to do with my books, and I couldn’t due to the Amazon KU exclusivity clause. So I decided it was worth it to pull all of my books and leave.

If you are an Apple Books or Nook reader, please buy my books via my Direct store and they will be delivered via Bookfunnel to you and your device. I will not be returning to either of these stores directly until Apple stops making authors post their personal information on every book listing (rude) and Barnes & Noble starts selling to other markets than the US (they won’t).

Every book listing on my website has all the information you need to find my books on the stores I’m available.

That ElevenLabs Reader App is new!

My books are now available directly in their app for listening. ElevenLabs has some of the most realistic sounding AI voices in the business and listening to books in their app is really easy! If you want to listen to any of my books in their app right now, you can! Just click on the ElevenLabs Reader button on any of my books on my website.

That's a screenshot from the app. Look! I'm there! I think you'll love listening to my books here. It's a great compromise from traditional audiobooks.

I published Winta’s Perfect Pair!

Coming in hot from Pets in Space 9, Winta's Perfect Pair is now available as a standalone novella! It's available on Amazon, Kobo, Google Play, Direct, and ElevenLabs Reader!

You can find out more about this novella over on its page on my website.

I’m currently at the Writer MBA conference…

And I’m having a great time! But coming here involved a lot of preparation. I’m here as part of the Future Fiction Academy and I’m helping authors understand their options for using AI in their process. Before I left, I had to design and print fliers for authors to take, get other work done that I wouldn’t be able to do during the conference, get my kids and household ready for me to be gone, and then stress about traveling.

Traveling has been much more stressful for me the last few years. I’m not sure why but I think it has to do with being almost in my 50s now (fear of flying seeing as the odds are less and less in my favor as I get older, etc). Either way, this year will probably be my last year for author conferences. I think I’d like to scale back my author traveling to just writer retreats and meeting up with my business partners.

But I’ll talk more about the conference when I return!

The conference is in New Orleans…

And I’m going to enjoy myself while I’m here. I walked to the French Quarter this morning to stretch my legs and get gluten free crepes. We’ve been going out to dinner and enjoying the city. Overall, I really like New Orleans, but I’ve never been here in the summer. I’m sure it’s hot and humid in the summer! Maybe someday I’ll be back to check it out then.

So that’s all that’s going on with me now! I’ll return to my usual routine back home on Sunday.

Hope you're all doing well!

The post Where You Can Find Me and My Work Online in 2025 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

The Blender’s Bargain Chapters 7, 8, and 9 are Up on YouTube!

Surprise! I skipped last week so that I could bring you three chapters at once today. I'm hoping to do the same in two weeks, another three chapters.

Continuing with the story, Archie and Garrick figure out what to do about their magical, enchanted appliances over dinner at Garrick's. But the evening gets a little hairy when more magic descends on Stellura.

I use tools like Midjourney, OpenAI's Text-to-Speech, Suno, Canva, Topaz Photo AI, and Kling to produce the images, audio, music, and videos that you see here.

It does take a lot of work to bring you something as simple-looking as this. You can find out more on my Patreon. http://patreon.com/spajonas

Once I manage to monetize my YouTube channel, Patreon will be the only place to get my work ad-free. I'll also post about how I made these videos and the tools I'm using on Patreon, so please come support me and my work there too, if you can.

You can watch this episode right here or head on over to YouTube to watch! Don't forget to like and subscribe to my YouTube channel to find out whenever I publish there, too.

The post The Blender’s Bargain Chapters 7, 8, and 9 are Up on YouTube! appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Sometimes Quitting is the Smart Move

At the beginning of 2025, like many others, I set ambitious goals for myself. Hell, I do it every year! And this year was going to be no exception. Think big! Go for the gold! So, one of those goals was to significantly expand my presence on YouTube, with a commitment to weekly video content. I’ve done other weekly content before. Surely, I could do this.

The plan seemed solid: leverage AI tools to streamline the video creation process, build my audience, and establish myself more firmly in the content creation space.

However, not everything was as bright and easy as it seemed. As we approach the end of February, I've had to face a difficult reality. And despite my enthusiasm and the potential I saw in this project, I've come to recognize that it's time to make a strategic retreat.

The Reality Check

Here's what I've learned about knowing when to quit:

Time is a finite resource: Hoo boy, do I know this. And when my working day is every day from 7:30AM to 9PM, there’s not much time left. Managing five different professional commitments already stretches my capacity thin.Energy allocation matters: Creating quality content requires more than just time — it demands creative energy and focus. When I only get 4-5 hours of sleep per night, focus is hard to come by.Numbers don't lie: The current growth metrics don't justify the intensive investment of resources. I think people are not willing to commit to the story I’m telling one chapter at a time. The successful YouTubers making content are publishing the whole book at once.Burnout is a real risk: Pushing too hard on too many fronts is a recipe for exhaustion. I’ve burned out one other time in my life about 10 years ago, and I never want to do that again.The Decision-Making Process

Making the decision to quit something isn't easy, especially when you've publicly committed to it. However, there are several key things that helped me recognize it was time to step back:

When the cost (in time, energy, and resources) consistently outweighs the benefits.When you find yourself constantly struggling to meet your own deadlines.When the project starts affecting your performance in other important areas.When the stress of maintaining the commitment overshadows the joy of creation.Reframing “Quitting” as “Strategic Pivoting”

I love a good reframing! It's important to note that this isn't about giving up entirely. Instead, I'm making a strategic decision to scale back to a more manageable commitment: one full story per quarter. This approach allows me to:

Maintain my presence in the space without burning out.Focus on quality over quantity.Better balance my various professional commitments.Create content that truly reflects my best work.

I think I’m better prepared for this scaling back, but I’m also willing to reevaluate it by summer.

The Takeaway

Sometimes, quitting isn't about failure. It's about wisdom. It's about recognizing when a current approach isn't serving your larger goals and having the courage to adjust course. I’ve done this so many times in my career that I’m surprised I’ve accomplished anything! But I always do.

By scaling back my YouTube commitment to quarterly content, I'm not abandoning my goals; I'm approaching them in a more sustainable way.

Remember: It's better to excel at a few things than to perform adequately at many. This decision allows me to continue growing as both a content creator and AI expert, but at a pace that better serves my overall professional journey.

So, What are the New Goals?I will get the rest of The Blender’s Bargain up for YouTube before the end of Q1. It might be all in one video.I will continue my Patreon, offering my work there ad-free and still post about using AI for my fiction at least once per month.

Thanks for listening!

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Vivian Decides What To Do Next…

Okay, change of plans.

I return to my room, and instead of rage or sadness coming over me, I find something inside my heart I didn’t know I had. Pure, unadulterated coldness crawls out of my center infecting everything it comes across. When it hits my brain, I take a deep, cleansing breath, allowing myself to bask in the evil I feel. I am calculating. I am ruthless. I will prevail.

I’ve always been a kind and caring person. I watched out for my family and the farm. I took the time to understand the needs of my employees and their families. I put other’s wants above my own.

That’s over for now. Now, I have to think of myself.

I throw open my wardrobe door and pull out my bag. Where are those business cards?

We have two things we need to do in the next week, as far as I’m concerned, and they need to be done fast. First off, we need an influx of cash. I have to pay off our bills from space dock and fuel us up for the journey back to Ossun.

No, I’m not going home.

Because second of all, we have to find Tomu. He was last seen at Ossun’s Orbital Station One? Well, that’s where I’m going. I’m smart. I can put two and two together. Tomu is on the run, and not just from his family or from me. He’s on the run from someone else he stole from too. Those men who came looking for him are on his trail. I need to beat them to Tomu. Even if my fucking brother has spent every last credit he stole from us, I won’t rest until he’s back home, has apologized to our family, and then goes to jail for a very long time.

Get First Flyght and start your adventure with Vivian and the crew of the Amagi!

Borrow or Purchase First Flyght Now!

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The Blender’s Bargain Chapter 6 is Up on YouTube!

Chapter 6 introduces another magician…

Garrick's mundane morning spirals into chaos as he discovers a magician trapped inside the staff toaster.

I use tools like Midjourney, OpenAI's Text-to-Speech, Suno, Canva, Topaz Photo AI, and Kling to produce the images, audio, music, and videos that you see here.

It does take a lot of work to bring you something as simple-looking as this. You can find out more on my Patreon. http://patreon.com/spajonas

Once I manage to monetize my YouTube channel, Patreon will be the only place to get my work ad-free. I'll also post about how I made these videos and the tools I'm using on Patreon, so please come support me and my work there too, if you can.

You can watch this episode right here or head on over to YouTube to watch! Don't forget to like and subscribe to my YouTube channel to find out whenever I publish there, too.

The post The Blender’s Bargain Chapter 6 is Up on YouTube! appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.