S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 43

Get These First In Series SFR and PNR Books For Free! – Promo

If you’re looking to start a new series, I have a great promotion for you. All of these books are available widely (meaning, on more retailers than just Amazon). Now is a great time to start a series for free! Hop on by and check it out.

Check out this First In Series Free promo!

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

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October 2020 Goals

I have no idea where September went! None! I can’t believe it’s the beginning of October…

What Happened With September’s Goals?

Start my kids on remote learning and not kill anyone. My kids are learning and everyone is still alive. Huzzah!! I consider that the biggest win of all.

Finish my Skylar novella. Done! I’m so proud of myself for writing this novella. I really needed the win because I know the next book I write will be over twice as long and tough. I feel good about this book and I’m sure of what I need to accomplish in edits.

New covers for the Hikoboshi Series. These are done and I LOVE THEM. I still need to finish editing FUKUSHA MODEL EIGHT, which I’m working on now. Then I can update these books!

Update my website. This is done as you can see here. I have put the finishing touches on it in the last few days including speeding up its load time and minifying everything. I have a CDN coming too to make load times quicker for people overseas.

Finish with freelance work. Yes, this is effectively done. We have one last thing to do but it’s minor and it requires gathering more information. I will be billing my client soon.

Schedule posts for my pen name. I have scheduled posts through the beginning of November.

Close out my Move Rings every day on my Apple Watch. Done!

Audiobooks, reading, and knitting. I’ve been doing all of these. Reading, audiobooks, AND knitting!

October’s Goals

Finish reading and editing FUKUSHA MODEL EIGHT. I’m a quarter of the way through right now. I should be done sometime next week.

Relaunch the Hikoboshi Series with new covers. I’m going to do a massive push and get these out onto all the retailers and then I’ll do a cover reveal here.

Start writing Book 4 of the Hikoboshi Series. I will start writing this book in October and then I hope to finish it for NaNoWriMo in November!

Close out my Move Rings every day on my Apple Watch. I’ve got a streak going! And my Peloton is due to show up this month. Woo!

Send out a newsletter to my pen name’s meager list. There are only like 30 people on that list, but they deserve a newsletter! I will send one soon, in the first two weeks of the month.

Audiobooks, reading, and knitting. I plan on starting a second knitting project so that I always have something to work on that’s easy. My current knit is great, but it has tough sections. I need an easier one for when my brain is melting.

Have a great October everyone! Stay home and stay safe!

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Two Giveaways To Enter!

I’m currently participating in these two giveaways you might be interested in. You can either win a Kindle e-reader or a Kindle Unlimited subscription by following authors on BookBub and other social media sites. Hop on by and enter today!

Win a Kindle e-Reader

Win a Kindle Unlimited Subscription

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Sunday Update – September 27, 2020

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 week felt like two hundred years. I texted my cousin on Friday with “LONGEST WEEK EVER” and that was pretty much the same response I got from her. Maybe it’s because we are all thoroughly back to school but still virtual? I don’t know about y’all but virtual school is three times harder than normal school, on both the kids and the parents. My kids just want to be at school with their friends and off their screens. We, the parents, want our kids at school so we can get other stuff done that we can’t always do with them around. So instead, those errands get crowbarred into the evenings when we would normally be relaxing. Hence, the exhaustion we all feel.

This week we just tried to get stuff done and not get behind. I finally finished writing the Skylar novella, and I got both reading and knitting done. Otherwise, I pushed errands into every available slot of time I could find. I managed to go to Whole Foods on Friday for groceries only because I gave up doing any kind of work that day and “took the day off.” It wasn’t a day off. It was long with tons of stuff I had to do.

Otherwise, it was a typical week. And nothing too earth-shattering happened. We’re taking this all day-by-day around here. It’s the best we can do.

Lulu loves being near her humans, even when I’m helping the smaller child with her homework.

I moved all my shawls into an under-bed storage container when previously I had them all in a smaller box next to my bed. I have room for more now!

Speaking of knits, I am making progress with this shawl and it’s also my first ever brioche knit project.

The husband asked me to pick up some papaya and I found the motherlode at Whole Foods.

We attended our first ever field hockey game Friday night. Both of my kids are playing field hockey this year so we have a lot of games to go to since they’re not on the same team.

And I finished writing that Skylar novella. Now to crack open FUKUSHA MODEL EIGHT and start reading!

Have a great week everyone! Stay healthy and stay safe.

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Writing Update – September 24, 2020

It’s been a while since I dedicated a full blog post to my writing! Not everyone reads the Monthly Goals or Sunday Updates, so if you’re here to find out what I’m writing, this is the post for you. Lol.

Yesterday, I finished up the first draft of a prequel novella for Skylar’s Series! The series is tentatively titled the Amagi Series. This novella I wrote is intended as a #0 prequel, and it will be in the Summon the Stars anthology publishing next year. Summon the Stars is an anthology I’m co-editing with my friend and all-around rockstar, Carysa Locke. It features strong heroines in space/sci-fi and each will have a romantic storyline as well. Skylar’s novella seemed to be the perfect fit.

Originally, I thought I would write a Vivian novella for this anthology, but I decided against it after writing the first chapter. I realized it would give away pretty much everything that happened in the Flyght Series! Uh, not the best strategic choice. I do plan to write that novella sometime next year and offer it for sale and possibly free to my subscribers. We shall see.

Anyway, the first draft of AN UNFORGIVING DESERT is done! It’s just under 32k right now and I feel like it’s missing about 2-3k, which will come in revisions when I fix all the broken storylines I introduced. Oops. But it’s okay. I love revisions, and I will make it shine there!

So, what’s next? I’m so glad you asked! Up next is the Hikoboshi Series! Yes! I have not forgotten about these books. I recently re-read CRASH LAND ON KURAI and gave it a few edits, mostly to highlight Yumi’s thoughts and feelings for Rin. Then I read and lightly edited CHAOS IN KADOMA WARD, which gave me some good ideas for continuing on with the series. Starting on Saturday, I will be reading and making edits to FUKUSHA MODEL EIGHT! Then this whole series will be launched with new covers! I have the new covers for these first three books and THEY ARE AWESOME. I’m so excited to show them off.

Once I’m done reading FUKUSHA MODEL EIGHT, I will jump straight into writing Book 4. It has a tentative title of THE RISE OF SHIROI NAMI, so let’s see if that sticks! My plan is to write another three books in this series. Yes, THREE. I want six in total, which I think I can do. I’ve been brainstorming ideas of how to move forward with the story, and I think it’s going to be fun to write. I’d like to write Book 4 this fall and launch it this coming winter (early 2021). Then I’d like to write Book 5 right away so I keep the momentum going. I plan to then take a break to write the first two books in Skylar’s series, and then come back to write the last book in the Hikoboshi Series. My plan is to be totally done with Hikoboshi by mid-2022.

So, as you can see, I have a lot of writing ahead of me. If things go well, I’ll be writing and publishing at least 3 books per year for the next two years, and then hopefully even more after that! (I do plan on continuing with my cozy mysteries too, but I have put that off until late 2021 when I will re-assess the market for those.) If things end up like 2020, then hopefully I’ll still be writing, and we’ll see how the publishing part goes. If the whole world goes up in flames, I’ll be saluting you from my computer while I down a vat of wine and sob quietly in a corner.

2018 and 2019 were turning points for me. I decided to do fewer ads and concentrate more on writing what I love and publishing on my terms. This is now the new world in which I’m living in with my new branding and better division of labor. I hope you’ll be around to see all that’s to come! If I missed anything you wanted an update on, leave a comment, and I’ll try to answer you as soon as possible.

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Book Chat #62 – Erin Hayes and Rysa Walker

I’ve been reading and listening to audiobooks a whole bunch lately! And these two reads were both delightful.

THE ROGUE’S GALAXY by Erin Hayes

I remember picking this one up via a Bookbub Featured Deal, and then I got to know Erin Hayes through Facebook! She also submitted to an anthology I’m co-editing, and I really loved what she submitted, so I knew I had to read this book. THE ROGUE’S GALAXY was lot of fun. I didn’t know what to expect going in, so I was completely surprised by all the twists and turns of the narrative. I love the first person present style (my favorite to write in) and following only Clementine’s point of view. The dangerous mission they get sent on threw off all the warning bells for me, but I knew they HAD to take the job. What they got, though, was a whole load of trouble. Things I enjoyed about the story included the differences between people who worked for corporations and those who did not, Clementine’s crush that leads to a little heartbreak, and the way the core crew stuck together. I will definitely be reading the rest in this series!

TIME’S DIVIDE by Rysa Walker

“We have all the time in the world.” People, if you love time travel novels and series, then you need to read the Chronos Series. Personally, I find so much of time travel to be confusing as hell. But this series kept me engaged and excited the whole time. The end of this one got me all choked up! I held back tears during my walk! Kate, the main protagonist of the series, didn’t always make the best choices, but she was real, and she tried her hardest at all times. I 100% loved her. This series also included some great romance and plenty of splinter storylines to make many more series to come. Rysa Walker is an incredible author. I will be reading more of her work into the future… or maybe the past? I’m not sure if those Chronos medallions are real or not. Could be Rysa is using them to continually go back and write even more fantastic novels. Whatever it is, I doubt she’ll tell us!

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Sunday Update – September 20, 2020

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.

It was our first week of virtual distance learning school here! And despite some grievances from my youngest daughter, I think it went pretty well. The youngest is just getting used to the new schedule and the work expected of her. I think within a week or two she’ll be fine. On two separate days, I took the kids to the school for an outdoors meet-and-greet to see their teachers and get their textbooks. I think this next week will go by fast.

This week I worked on more of my novella. It’s been slow going, honestly, because I’m pantsing this and feeling my way through the story. When it’s done, it’ll still need A LOT of work, and that’s fine. I know what I need to do. But this is good practice for writing the next Hikoboshi book and for starting Skylar’s series right after. It’s been hard to write these past few months, which is why I concentrated on all the web design and programming work I had to do. But it’s September, and it’s time to buckle down and get back to work, even if the pandemic is nowhere near over.

This week I also finished a book I was reading, got more walking in, and scheduled posts for my pen name. Sumo has started again and we’re watching every day. I baked bread. I played with Lulu. I took the kids to field hockey. I ran errands. I got grocery delivery. The usual stuff now! We also celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday with champagne, caviar, and lobster pasta!

There was a lot of cooking and baking around here. I had an awesome egg and tortilla sandwich this week. I made some sweet cinnamon almond flour biscuits that are low in carbs. They make great afternoon snacks! I’m baking bread again too!

The kids went back to virtual school.

Lulu continues to snuggle in and then be funny too. Like, why would you lie on the floor and then lay your head on the bed? Lol.

I bought a Danish Dough Whisk for making breads and other baked items.

I dyed my daughter’s hair purple! I used Extreme Purple from Overtone for this.

And finally, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday with plenty of good food and wine. My husband made lobster marinara and I made the bread for the side dish. We had shrimp cocktail and caviar for appetizers.

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy.

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THE FLYGHT SERIES BOX SET Is Now Available!

I’m pleased as punch to announce that there is now a FLYGHT SERIES BOX SET available! This box set contains Books 1-3 for only $9.99 ($2 savings!) I love offering box sets to readers. Box sets give me the opportunity to reach a new audience of box set readers and still offer some savings to people who have held off on buying the series. Plus, I love the cover! It’s another stunner from my awesome cover designer, Najla Qamber.

Purchase the FLYGHT SERIES BOX SET

Pick up the FLYGHT SERIES BOX SET today on all the major store fronts!

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Book Chat #61 – Mary Robinette Kowal and Veronica Rossi

It’s time for some Book Chat! After the Summer of SFR was over, I still had some great sci-fi (with some romance) to read and enjoy.

Please note that with the updates to my website, I have decided to just use Books2Read links for all my Book Chats and Author features from now on. Only my own books will have individual buttons per store. I will also be using the ebook covers for everything now, even if I listened in audio. So many places do not provide high resolution versions of the audiobook cover, so ebook covers are going to have to do! I will indicate next to each how I consumed the story.

Let’s get to the books!

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THE RELENTLESS MOON by Mary Robinette Kowal (ebook)

I loved the whole Lady Astronaut Series, so when I saw THE RELENTLESS MOON come out, I snatched it up in a pre-order. I didn’t even look at the blurb because I knew I would want it and love it. This tale does not disappoint, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Nicole was such an interesting protagonist for this story. She’s strong, she’s a pilot, and she knows what she wants. But she also struggles with being the wife of a prominent politician and her own demons. When you throw all of that onto the moon base that’s being sabotaged daily, then it becomes a very verdant ground for a good story. There were plenty of times reading this when I did not want to put down the book. I set aside time to read, even when I should have been doing other things. *cough*writing*cough* The ending gives us a glimpse into the future of the protagonist, Elma, from the first two books, so that was an added bonus. All in all, this is one of my favorite series! I highly recommend them all.

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi (audiobook)

I listened to this one on the recommendation from a friend of mine when I was looking for more YA sci-fi with romance to read. What an interesting world Rossi has built here! After reading the first book, I’m still a little unsure of all the history that led people into such a divided society like this, but it felt very real and believable. The Dwellers are a section of society lives in a virtual world under domes, and then everyone else, the Savages, lives out in the open under a sky that’s “infected” by a kind-of electrical storm. I enjoyed the alternating points-of-view between Aria and Perry. It was great to see both their worlds and understand their internal motivations. They took a long time to trust each other, which was good too. I needed to see that growth and I got it! The narration of the audiobook was well done, too, and I listened to it on walks and knitting at home. I will definitely be picking up more in this series so I can find out what happens next!

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Sunday Update – September 13, 2020

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.

Today is my 7 year anniversary as a published author! Woo! I stopped celebrating this on the blog because there wasn’t much to celebrate for many years. But this year, I feel good about my accomplishments. I have finally figured out my “brand” of writing and what I want to do. I’m still not really making any money, but I recently realized that’s not something I care about. I have my indie career in alignment now. I have a catalog I’m proud of, and plenty more writing to do! I can’t complain about any of that.

The website updates are now 95% complete! There are still a few things left to do. The Hikoboshi books have not been updated yet because I recently got new covers for them and I’ll be republishing them at the end of the month. So I might as well wait for those to be updated before I update the site. I have some mobile menu weirdness going on that I need to fix, but overall, I’m done and I’m happy with the design.

For those who are interested, I’m using the Neve Pro theme from ThemeIsle with Elementor Pro to build my pages. I’m super happy with both. I’ve now used them together on 4 websites, and the experience has been rather painless. I might try to build a whole website with just Neve Pro and Gutenburg blocks next. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve heard pages built like this are super fast, but Gutenburg may not have enough integrations for me which is something I like about Elementor.

I’ve done a lot these past two weeks while the blog has been quiet. I’ve been working on my Skylar novella. I’ve been testing out a plotting tool called Plottr that I like a lot. I’ve been preparing my kids for virtual learning from home. I’ve taken them for dentist appointments and haircuts, and I’ve gone to Staples for school supplies. The bathroom renovation is complete (photos to come) and we spent hours putting everything back and away (and throwing away stuff we don’t need). We celebrated the last few days at the pool with friends and enjoyed the good weather. All in all, I have no real complaints about family life.

I have felt like I’ve been drowning in work, though. There’s been so much to do and so little time. Some days I wake up and my to-do list for the day is a mile long. I’ve noticed my executive dysfunction has been kicking in now and then, which is not something I’ve dealt with much in the last few years. Usually, I have a to-do list and I accomplish it. But now, I just want to stay in bed and not do anything. I haven’t been this overwhelmed since my kids were small. I’m trying to be gentle with myself, but it’s hard. I’m a workaholic and I don’t feel useful unless I’m working or creating.

I kept the blog chugging along with content all summer, but I expect the fall to be somewhat sparse as I work on writing and re-launching stuff. Please stick around and see what I’m up to!

After that big storm we had, lots of trees have been cut down and dealt with in the last few weeks. This one was huge! These sections of log were about 4 feet in diameter.

The deer have been around a lot. I see them almost every day now.

Evidence of Lulu’s right fuzzy lip. Only this side is extra fuzzy.

Lulu waits for the peanut butter sandwich remnants.

Me and the crew leaving the pool for one of the last times together.

There’s been good eating around here. Fresh greens for lettuce every week, tomatoes from the garden, and a spaghetti squash from the CSA that was really good.

Friday evening is martini time!

I finally made it to the pottery studio to pick up all of my work from the winter class. I hope to be back there in the winter if my kids return to school.

I read THE RELENTLESS MOON by Mary Robinette Kowal and it was FANTASTIC! I can’t wait to gush about it in a Book Chat.

I’ve been getting lots of work done outside while the weather is nice.

And finally a writing progress shot, though I’m past this now! Still, it’s worth celebrating.

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy.

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