S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 96

Sunday Update – September 10, 2017

The US made it through Hurricane Harvey, albeit, very battered and still recovering. And now I’m watching the news from Florida going through Hurricane Irma. My brother and his family live in Tampa, and they evacuated yesterday. Boy am I glad. Tampa is being whooped right now. We won’t know how badly until tomorrow. Everyone, stay strong and safe!

This was our week when the kids went back to school and my schedule changed again.

Monday, it was Labor Day here in the States, and the last day at the pool. Thankfully it was a beautiful day and we spent it in and out of the sun, in and out of the pool. We enjoyed the day thoroughly.

On Tuesday, we had the day off but my husband went back to work. The kids and I stayed home for most of the morning, had friends over in the afternoon, prepped for school, picked up the CSA veggies, and went to bed early.

Wednesday was the first day of school! And I went back to my usual in-school sleep schedule of sleeping from 11pm to 4am, then tossing and turning until 6am. Which sucks. But I can’t seem to shake it during the school year. It was raining on the first day of school, but my oldest daughter walked with her BFF to school on her own. *sniff* My baby is getting so big! Then I got my youngest off to her first day of school. I then had a busy day of my own with a chiropractor and acupuncture. In the afternoon, we had tennis and then treated ourselves to fish tacos for dinner!

On Thursday, another day of school and I had the freedom to go to Panera and hang out with my buddy, Amy Evans. It was good to see her again and catch up on what’s going on in our lives.

On Friday, I had errands to run while the kids were at school then we went to an eye doctor appointment after school. We even tried to go shoe shopping for my youngest but, did you know, almost no stores carry kids’ shoes anymore? We went to Macy’s, DSW, and JC Penney’s. No kids shoes. I give up and I’m going back to shopping online.

Saturday was a bit of a struggle. After sleeping poorly all week and then worrying about my family in Florida, I was having trouble motivating to do anything. The kids had piano lessons and then my husband had his guitar lessons. I just tried to stay busy but relaxed.

I did write both yesterday and today! I’m back to getting down words on Daydreamer 4. I think at this point, I’ll only do one draft of this book because I’ve gone back and re-read it twice now and made notes about little tweaks I need to do to make the plot work. So I’m going to finish this draft, make those changes, and set it up for copy edits. I put in over 2k on it yesterday and close to 1300 words today. I hope to write all week!

What else happened this week?

On the last day at the pool, I did plenty of reading… and I wore a sweater. Yes, a sweater.

I love getting fresh potatoes in our CSA share!

The girls are doing tennis again and it’s nice to be back at the courts.

I treated myself to a new Lesportsac purse.

I’m back on the horse! Writing feels good.

The last tomato in the greenhouse!

Coming up this week on the blog: my fourth anniversary as a published author!

The post Sunday Update – September 10, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

An Interview With S. J. Pajonas On The It’s A Mystery Podcast!

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the US and Canada! I have a little treat for the blog today. I was recently interviewed by Alexandra Amor on the IT’S A MYSTERY PODCAST and the episode went live today! In the interview, I talk a little about how I came to be a Japanophile, how I worked Japan in my writing and subsequent novels, all about Mei Yamagawa, the heroine of THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE, and my trips to Japan.

Here’s more about the podcast…

» Listen or read the transcript via Alexandra Amor’s website

» Listen via Apple’s Podcasts

» Listen via Stitcher

Or you can watch via the Youtube video!

I hope you enjoy the interview and that you have an awesome week!

The post An Interview With S. J. Pajonas On The It’s A Mystery Podcast! appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Sunday Update – September 3, 2017

It’s a new month! If you missed my Monthly Goals for September, you’ll want to go back a post and take a look at it. One thing you’ll notice is that I did not include “Update the entire website” on the list of monthly goals for September. Lol. Maybe that’s because I like to delude and lie to myself about such things.

So you’ll see that the website here is a little different. I’ve been thinking about a redesign for a while. There were a few things I wanted out of a redesign: (1) faster load times, (2) fewer custom images, (3) a simpler design, (4) better searching, (5) switch to Smart URLs for all my links, and (6) make all my books pages look and act the same so they can be landing pages for newsletters and FB ads.

I think I’ve accomplished that with this redesign. The site loads much faster due to a streamlined template and fewer images on the page. Those slideshows were slick, but they caused the page to hang when loading, and now I don’t have to make custom images for them any longer. The blog format is nice too now, with bigger images where it counts. And though I liked the simplicity of Books2Read links for all my books, I had heard from other people that they didn’t always work for those outside the US. The new buttons should perform much better for you all.

I’m still working on a few of the books pages but the majority of them are done. I’ll finish up tonight!

Looking back on the week, we had a chill time.

Monday, we slept in and then went to the pool in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, we took it easy, picked up our weekly CSA veggies, and hung out around the house.

Wednesday was busy with middle school band orientation, lunch out together, acupuncture, and then haircuts for both my kids.

Thursday, we had hoped to go to the pool and we did for a short time, but then the weather got bad and we came home early.

Friday, my husband had off so we were busy again. I had a haircut appointment in the morning, he went golfing, and then I took the kids grocery shopping in the afternoon.

Saturday, I started updating my website. The kids had piano lessons, we practiced riding bikes, and then we hung out with our neighbors until the weather turned bad on us.

Today, I have worked on and off all day! And I still have more work to do…

What else happened this week?

I received a lovely gift from a fellow author friend. I’m so excited that her second book will be out soon!

The kids got haircuts this week and they were much needed.

My essential oils collection is getting out of control.

This display at Whole Foods cracks me up.

This was a tasty concoction.

And there’s been a lot of website work the past few days!

I hope you all have an awesome week!

The post Sunday Update – September 3, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

September 2017 Goals

August was a slow month with not much going on, especially compared to last year when I was traveling in Japan! We spent a lot of time off and relaxing. No complaints from me on that! Let’s see how I did with my goals.

What Happened With August’s Goals?

Edit Hikoboshi 2. Done! Finished this and sent it off to my beta readers. One of them already got back to me! Thank you, Germaine! Lol. This was a tough edit. I ended up writing at least 15k of new material for it, and I had a lot of things to weave in. But it’s done for now and I’m able to move on.

Keep writing 500 words a day on Daydreamer 4. This absolutely DID NOT happen. Sigh. I found my brain was preoccupied with Hikoboshi 2 pretty much every day. Even after I was done with edits! Oh well. I set goals but I don’t always meet them.

Walking, reading, knitting, and enjoying summer. There was walking this month. There was some reading (mostly non-fiction). There was some knitting! And I definitely enjoyed what little of summer was presented to me. I have to say that August weather here sucks. I want it to be hot. I want to go to the pool every day. But that did not happen this August. I actually wore a sweater today. Major thumbs down.

Let’s look at the Runkeeper stats for the year.

I’m now at 714.5 miles for the year so far, and I’m at 71% of my goal. It’s been 243 days of this year so far. Multiply that by 2.74 (the minimum I need per day to hit my goal) and the total is approximately 665.82 miles. I’m more than 48 miles past that. I’m doing great with this goal!

As for the month, I surpassed the needed 84.94 just barely by walking 86.8 miles. Not bad for taking a few days off.

A Look Back at August

Business Goals For September

Finish Daydreamer 4. Time to pull on my big girl undies and finish off this book. The kids go back to school and I get my days back. So in order to facilitate this, I have compiled the book as it stands and sent it to my kindle to read. I’m going to refresh my memory on the story over the weekend and pick it up on Monday (even though it’s a holiday). I need about 35k-40k written on it.

Personal Goals For September

Walking, reading, knitting, and not freaking out.The usual, except for the added “not freaking out.” Why? I have a kid entering a new school, with new school times, more homework, and I don’t do well with changes to my routine. It all makes me very anxious. Hopefully by the second week, we’ll be settled in and we’ll both be okay.

Enjoy your September everyone!

The post September 2017 Goals appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Sunday Update – August 27, 2017

Wow. August is almost over, and now our week off is over too. Kinda hard to believe.

Sunday Update – August 20, 2017

This Sunday Update is a day late and I have no real good excuse for it except being busy yesterday. Lol. Which I guess is excuse enough!

But it’s okay. We had a very laid back week and nothing much happened. There was pool. There was outside time. There were a few days of rain. Every day I got up and exercised right away and I kept my work time for mostly just work. I revised Hikoboshi 2 and finished my edits yesterday. My kids finished up their pottery camp and we got to see everything they made.

So let’s go straight to the photos.

The couch and I were best friends this week.

My husband makes the best drinks.

Loved seeing all the pottery drying outside each day of the week.

Shuffleboard at the pool is always a good time!

Project Runway, my guilty pleasure TV show, is back on!

Here’s what the girls made at pottery camp.

And I tried this cake stick thing this week, something I got from my Bokksu subscription. It was okay. Not chocolate-y enough.

The post Sunday Update – August 20, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Book Chat #34 – It’s Been A Non-Fiction Summer

Well, I didn’t expect it to be such a long time between Book Chats. I haven’t updated since June! I think this is because I haven’t been reading much fiction. After THE FORGETTING, it was hard for me to get back into fiction, plus I had to re-read CRASH LAND ON KURAI and my critique partner’s new novel. Instead, I read a lot of non-fiction and listened to fiction.

What I read…

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL USING THE SNOWFLAKE METHOD by Randy Ingermanson

I gotta admit that this was weird, and I wasn’t really looking for a story about Goldilocks, and bears, and wolves when I opened this one. I really prefer it if non-fiction is, well, non-fiction. I was looking for the tips only, so I skimmed most of this to get what I needed. Will I actually use Snowflake Method? Doubtful. But I was curious enough to buy it and check it out.

HELP! MY FACEBOOK ADS SUCK: SIMPLE STEPS TO TURN THOSE ADS AROUND by Michael Cooper

This was probably the most helpful book I’ve ever read on Facebook Ads for authors. I put many of the details in this book to use for CRASH LAND ON KURAI and I feel like I had good success with them. I highly recommend this book for other authors.

MASTERING AMAZON ADS: AN AUTHOR’S GUIDE by Brian Meeks

This is another good buy for authors looking to master Amazon ads. I use a lot of the information in this book daily. Brian teaches you all the basics and then gets into the nitty gritty. Another high recommendation for other authors.

What I listened to…

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert A. Heinlein

This was my first time ever experiencing this book. And though I loved Jubal Harshaw, the whole book felt long-winded and a bit annoying at times. Maybe it was one of the first books about religion and sex, but that’s been done a million times now so it’s hard for me to experience it for the first time. I did like a lot of concepts in the book and felt it was worth the time put in to listen to a classic. Otherwise, I saw the ending coming and was disappointed with how humanity treated Valentine Michael Smith in his final hours, even if it was realistic.

TEA WITH MILK AND MURDER by H. Y. Hanna

I wanted something fun and upbeat after finishing STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND so I decided to go back to H. Y. Hanna and listen to the second book in her series. I enjoyed this one and breezed right through it. I knew who the murderer was way before the end but that didn’t stop me from liking the story and wanting to read on.

THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas

I’m actually not a big fantasy reader, but everyone loves Sarah J. Maas so I figured there had to be something good about her books. And indeed, this one captured my attention and held it all the way to the end. The plot may have meandered a little here and there, but it didn’t matter because Celaena Sardothien kept me entertained the whole time. I’m really curious as to how the rest of the series will pan out, so I used one of my Audible credits on the next book!

And that’s it! More to come in next month’s Book Chat!

Sunday Update – August 13, 2017

Sunday Update is late today for various reasons. First of all, I GOT A DAY OFF! Well, most of a day. My husband took the kids to the pool and left me home alone to enjoy the quiet. It was great. I ate lunch and watched Battlestar Galactica. I worked on Hikoboshi 2 and then I worked on this website a little bit. I made the WordPress installation more secure by doing a few tricks, and that took up some of my blogging time. Then I relaxed by listening to podcasts outside.

The rest of the week went by in flash.

Monday, my kids started their new pottery camp. I dropped them off and ran into a good friend of mine whose kids were also in the same camp! So that was nice. It was rainy that day so I treated myself to ramen for lunch and then we had a chill afternoon at home.

Tuesday was a bit nicer weather-wise. We picked up veggies after camp and then went to the pool.

Wednesday was a busy day with a chiropractor appointment and pool after camp again.

Thursday, we stayed home after camp and the kids had their music lessons and I cooked pea soup for dinner.

Friday, we were back at the pool in the afternoon, and I had a busy morning around town. I dropped the kids off, went grocery shopping, worked, and went to the acupuncturist for the first time. I’m trying to deal with all the pain I feel in my hips from sleeping.

Yesterday, I took the kids to an outdoor water park in the morning for a birthday party, had Taco Bell for lunch (for the first time in almost two years), and then hosted a playdate in the afternoon. I was desperately tired yesterday, so it was nice to have the day off today.

All week, I got on the treadmill early and got in my exercise before taking the kids to camp. I’ve been watching Killjoys on my iPad and I’m really loving it. It’s giving me great ideas for my next series! I also worked on Hikoboshi 2 all week and I’m getting close to finishing it off. I’m super enjoying the revisions!

What else happened this week?

We went out to dinner last Sunday night and my drink came in a trashcan. Lol.

Mmmmm, ramen!

I’m about 90% gray and I’m tired of dyeing it. So I’m going to start growing it out. It’s already an inch of gray from my roots!

The greenhouse is really kicking with plants!

I’ve been wearing my blue-light blocking glasses more and hoping they help with my sleep.

I got some knitting time the other night! Which is always nice.

Tried out some Japanese snacks from my monthly snack box. These were good, a yuzu and pepper blend potato sticks.

Anyway, I’m not sure what I’ll do here on the blog this week because I’m working hard on these revisions. Hope to see you around!

The post Sunday Update – August 13, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Sunday Update – August 6, 2017

Well, we’re into August now and the end of summer looms ahead. I don’t want it to end. I love summer (as most of you know) and it always goes by so quickly. I’m going to savor every day ahead of me!

This was a pretty stress free week. We spent most of it at the pool. I took the kids there on Monday after camp. Tuesday, I worked my last shift for the CSA and took the girls to the pool again in the afternoon. My husband was gone these two days so I tried to make them as easy as possible.

On Wednesday, the cleaning ladies came so I went grocery shopping and then read until it was time to get the kids from camp. Rain and thundershowers prevented us from going to the pool this day and my husband came home from his trip so we spent the evening together as a family.

Thursday we were back at the pool after camp and I took a friend’s kid along with us. It worked out really well. Friday, again, pool after camp. Yesterday, we spent the day at home because of rain and cooler weather. Today, also, no pool due to cooler temperatures.

I spent most of the week re-reading CRASH LAND ON KURAI and cementing it into my head for revisions of Hikoboshi Book 2 which I’m already cruising through. I have scaled back writing on Daydreamer 4 so I can get some revisions done, but I think this week I’m going to set a goal of 1000 words per day on Daydreamer 4 so I can stay on top of it. My kids start a different camp this week and it doesn’t start every day until 9:30am so I may do my exercising early before camp. We shall see.

What else happened this week?

I enjoyed reading CRASH LAND ON KURAI both at home and at the pool.

Mickey and I agree on this.

I administer the Dragon group on Facebook and every now and then we get someone who wants to join because they think it’s a group about dragons. Lol. Denied.

We had an awesome haul of veggies from the CSA this week!

And I finally found my name on a Coke!

Probably no other posts this week (unless I can pull together a Book Chat) as I plan to be busy both with writing and revisions… and life! Have a great week everyone!

The post Sunday Update – August 6, 2017 appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL By Tracy Krimmer Cover Reveal

As most of you know, I can’t live without my BFF and critique partner, Tracy Krimmer. Though we write in different genres, we both read recreationally the same kinds of books we each write. I flew through UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL over the weekend and gave her my glowing positive feedback. I’m looking forward to Tracy publishing this one! Here’s the cover!

Today is the cover reveal for UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL by Tracy Krimmer. This cover reveal is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours.

UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL

By Tracy Krimmer

Genre: Coming of Age/ Contemporary Romance

Age category: New Adult

Release Date: September 27, 2017

Blurb:

Nerd. Weird. Ugly. That’s me. And I don’t want it to be anymore.

Now is my time to make my mark on the world. My college roommate doesn’t make it easy. Neither does her brother, Jesse, but for completely different reasons. He makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.

Wanted. Important. Beautiful.

But we can’t be together because it isn’t real. Someone like him could never fall for someone like me. We aren’t meant to fit together.

Even if I fall apart without him.

You can find UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL on Goodreads

You can pre-order UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL here on Amazon. Will be available on Kindle Unlimited.

About the Author

Tracy’s love of writing began at nine years old. She wrote stories about aliens at school, machines that did homework for you, and penguins. Now she pens books and short stories about romance. She loves to read a great book, whether it be romance or science fiction, or any genre in between, or pop popcorn and catch up on her favorite TV shows or movies. She’s been known to crush a candy or two as well. Her loves include fitness, reading, coffee, dogs, and naps (not in that order), and her dislikes are blue cheese, cold weather, and burpees.

You can find and contact Tracy here:

– Website

– Twitter

– Facebook

– Goodreads

– Amazon

– Bookbub

– Instagram

– Newsletter

The post UGLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL By Tracy Krimmer Cover Reveal appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.