A.E. Jones's Blog, page 10

Winter With the Wolf Brothers

If you’ve been following my blog lately, you know that I’m reading the first five books in my paranormal wedding planner series before I start writing the final book. It’s been an interesting exercise so far. To read the books in less than a month when it took me years to write them gives me a different perspective on the characters.

Now that it’s January, I’ve put away my Santa and Frosty hats, and pulled out one of my serious winter hats. And somehow (not sure how) the tiara ended up on it…

As you can see from the picture, I finished TO HAVE AND TO HOWL and FOR BETTER OR FOR WOLF – both of my wolf brother books – this past week. And oh are these brothers a handful. They might look identical, but they are so, so different. And I paired them up with women who aren’t afraid to speak their minds – hee, hee!

Now I’ve got one more book to read before I sit down and start writing the last story. I’ll let you know how it goes with Giz’s story very soon…

Time To Clean House

At the end of every year I spend time cleaning out my house. I call it “the purge”. I go through closets, and cupboards, and nooks and crannies to get rid of things that I really don’t need anymore. And when I’m done, I have such a sense of accomplishment as it prepares me for the new year.

This can also be a part of my writing too. I can clean up the cobwebs in my literary attic and prepare for the new year of writing to come.

But this philosophy can extend to far more than extra closet space or more words on the page. I also need to look inside myself and purge the out-dated, preconceived ideas of the world and the people who live in it. To learn about the world through others people’s experiences, not just my own. The side benefit is it can make me a better writer, but more importantly, it can make me a better person and that is what I’m striving for.

Holiday Homestretch

December 23rd is here which means we are heading toward the end of the month which also means it’s the homestretch for the holidays. Thank goodness. A couple weeks ago, I shared with you my holiday theme this year and even though I have also been posting ornaments from my writer tree on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, I just realized I didn’t show you my big tree this year.

It’s all about – you guessed it – snowmen! Check it out.

And in honor of Frosty being front and center this year, I also donned my top hat with a tiara (of course) as I continue to reread my wedding planner series. I just finished FROM THIS FAE FORWARD. Still loving the banter between the hero and heroine in that book!! Time for my tortured couple – Jack and Julia in TO HAVE AND TO HOWL.

And of course, I will be spending quality time with my amazing family this week.

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

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Time for a Reread

December is a hard time for me to stay in the writer zone. It could be preparation for the holidays, or it could be that I need a break. Either way, I allow myself to relax the last few weeks of the year so that I can kick it into writer gear again in January.

So what have I been up to, you might ask?

Well, it’s hard to believe that in January I will start writing the sixth and final book in my paranormal wedding planner series. To help get myself in that spirit, I decided to start from the beginning. Which meant rereading the series.

Yes, authors reread their books. Or at least this author does.

So I picked up IN SICKNESS AND IN ELF this weekend and read it cover to cover. (Did I mention I’m a fast reader?)

It can be a bit strange to pick up a book you wrote again. Since I wrote SICKNESS, I have written seven novels and three short stories. So in some regards it was reading it with a fresh mindset. I still like the world I built and some of the crazy scenes I had when it came to the paranormal weddings, but I also see how I’ve grown as a writer from when I wrote this first book. And as most writers do, I think about the things I could have done to make it that much better.

It’s a great chance to look at my writing and also replay the world in my head to help me prepare for McHenry’s story, but before I do that, I’m still rereading! Now I’m on to FROM THIS FAE FORWARD, book two. I can’t wait to see if I still have a crush on Charlie, my hero in that story. I’ll have to get back to you on that!

Kickbutt Writer Princess Comes to Life!

For those of you have been following me, you know that when I release books, I take a picture with my newest release and my tiara. Why? Because it represents my kickbutt writer princess persona.

So I thought it would be cool to have Melissa Stevens, my amazingly talented cover artist, create me as – you guessed it – a kickbutt princess. Tonight is the great unveiling of the creation. I call it a cartoon, she calls it a chibi (I guess I am showing my age with that), but I think it’s pretty darn amazing.

I even had her include boy cat and girl cat (how could I not?).

What do you think?

In celebration, I have updated my website with the cartoon (chibi) as well.

Hee, hee! Check it out!#PNR

 

Holiday Distractions for this Writer

Time is flying my friends. I swear, I was just wearing my Halloween costume and now Thanksgiving has come and gone. And I try really hard to enjoy my turkey and gravy before I let the speeding train known as the Christmas Holiday Season take over.

So now that I have sworn off cranberry sauce again for another twelve months, I pulled out my decorations and started, well, decorating. And (you guessed it) I have a theme.

I’m celebrating snowmen. Yep, you heard it here first. There is something so endearing about snowmen. They make me smile, and I’m still early enough in the season to still like snow. (All bets are off by February).

So I thought I would share my first attempt at decorating my mantle. I’m sure it won’t be my last since we just ventured into December, but you get to see it first.

And now that I’ve done some decorating, I can try to work on my writing…or at least that’s what I keep telling myself!

Adjusting my Back and my Philosophy – Author Style

Lately I’ve been having some minor back and neck pain, so I went to see a physical therapist to see how I can work on alleviating the pain. When she asked me what may be causing it, I explained that I work on a computer 8 hours a day at my day job and then come home at night and work on a computer writing my books. And she gave me the ‘well, duh’ look.

So every couple of hours I am doing exercises to make sure I help reduce the tension in my back and neck. My physical therapist has been showing me how interconnected things are in the body. That you have to introduce movement, and work on posture, and not let yourself stay in the same position for HOURS…

So a change of philosophy is in order. And I think this philosophy can be used for far more than back pain. I can apply it to my life, whether it has to do with my writing or just my way of thinking. I need to be willing to move, to rethink things, to try new ways of doing things so I don’t let ideas or stories atrophy.

And that is a big lesson to continue to work on, so join me in reworking your own ideas or way of doing things – I could use to company!

 

Binge Reading…Really

I confess, growing up I was a TV junkie. And now with cable, Prime, Netflix, etc, I could really binge on the numerous shows available. Interestingly enough, in the past few years, I have replaced my TV watching with book reading. Rabid book reading at times.

My new binge revolves around books not shows. Recently, I’ve been reading a Regency romance series and when I’m not reading that series, I’m reading a paranormal shifter romance series with lions, wolves, coyotes, and bears!

I can’t seem to get enough of either series at the moment, reading them both and grinning like a fool. I think it’s helping me rejuvenate my creativity. And as good as a TV show or movie is, there is nothing greater than our imagination. That’s why reading a book will always win out and why you hear people say over and over again that the book was better than the movie.

So I will keep reading my stories and looking for the next series to feed my reading and creativity.

I hope someday a reader will tell me my books are binge-worthy and they read them grinning like a fool. It would be the greatest of compliments!

 

Finding That Writer’s Spark Again

It’s been a busy couple months, my friends. Between working on a large project on my day job and releasing not one, but two books in my paranormal wedding planner series, I have not had any time to really start writing my next book.

And when it all comes down to it, the writing is the magical part for me. Let me rephrase that – it’s magical when it is flowing!

So how do I get that writing spark to ignite again? Brainstorming helps somewhat. Trying to think through some of what I want to have happen in the book. I am not a plotter, so I don’t outline my stories. But I do have some ideas of where I want it to go.

Since I have been struggling a bit, this weekend I decided to pull out my headset and try dictating my story for a while. It’s a different way to use my brain as part of the process and it seemed to work. Yay, team dictation!

Plus Girl Cat liked sitting on my lap instead of having to fight for space with the laptop!

So I’ll be donning my headset tonight and talking away to my laptop. We’ll see where it takes me. Hopefully further into McHenry’s story.

Before I sign off, I want to take a moment to thank both the Veterans and active duty military who have served or continue to serve. My thoughts, prayers, and thanks to you for all that you do.

Halloween Costume Time!

As promised, I am sharing my Halloween costume! This year, I decided to spend time in the Peanuts universe. And of course, Lucy was my obvious choice.

This pic shows Lucy getting ready to see patients. The skits with Lucy offering advice are some of my favorite parts of the TV shows.

There is something curmudgeonly about Lucy which makes her interesting to me. To me, good characters have multiple layers that need to be peeled back to reveal the real person underneath.

I have started working on the last book in my Wedding Planner Series which will feature McHenry, a perfect example of a blustering, grouch who has a soft inside. If only we get to see it (spoiler alert – you will!).

So now that Halloween is behind us, and my two new releases have come out, it’s time to dig into the story of my damaged demon and see where it takes me.