A.E. Jones's Blog, page 42

Why am I Celebrating that January is Finally Here?

Today was my last day off from my day job and I am heading back to work after the official end to the holidays. And while January used to depress me, it is now a good time of year for me. Or should I say for my muse?

I am not a winter outdoor enthusiast. There is no donning of skis or skates for me. I do not enjoy the snow and frigid temperatures, but they serve a purpose. They force me to sit in my seat and tell my character’s stories. And after all the hoopla of covers and selling and blogs and marketing and well, you get the idea, ultimately the writer’s job is to write.

So I am working on Kyle and the team’s next saga. Because I want to know what happens and from what I have seen from your comments and reviews, YOU want to know what happens too, right?

At times we all have to dig inside ourselves to resurrect our purpose. I don’t want to be a hamster on a wheel and that is what I am without purpose. I have found that I need to move forward.�� Writing makes me move forward.

So as I turn up my furnace, pull on my fuzzy slippers, and make a cup of hot tea, I settle in front of my keyboard with my muse and my cat Dillon. It gets a little crowded sometimes but it’s worth it in the end!

 

 

 

 

New Year State of Mind

With only a couple of days until the 31st, I have flipped into what I call my “new year state of mind”. What do I mean? Well I think of the New Year as my time to hit the refresh button. So I get rid of the ‘old’, and I mean that literally. I clean my house, including going through my refrigerator, pantry, closets, garage, etc and clean out what I don’t need anymore.

Because it’s time to let in the new. New emotions, new thoughts, new ways of doing things. Just like the food in my pantry that has grown stale from not eating it quick enough, ideas can grow stale too.

So as a writer I have to embrace new ideas and learn how to better express myself in my stories. To grow so that my readers enjoy my books. Stale is NOT the word I want associated with my characters or plots. It is never too late to learn as a writer. Never too late to try something new. Never too late to let go of the old and move forward.

As we head into 2015, I hope that we all can look forward to a year filled with possibilities. We just have to remember that possibilities become realities if we work to make them so.

Here’s to whatever you hope for coming true next year!

 

A Gift for Me

Holidays…you are memorable and tiring at the same time. Fun and yet stressful too. So with these mixed-message days upon us, I decided to give myself a gift this year. It might not seem too exciting of a gift, but it is a gift nonetheless. I am giving myself the gift of a couple of days off. Now, you might wonder what I mean by that. Let me explain…

When I am not working my day job I am either writing or preparing my books to be published. So to some extent I am working three jobs. This year I have not taken a break. Not really. A day here and there, but never multiple days in a row. So I’ve decided that I am going to give myself a break this week. Take some days off and NOT stress over the things I do for my jobs.

Make no mistake, my writing and publishing are jobs. The are jobs I enjoy, but they are jobs and sometimes you need to step away from that work to come back fresh. And I need to be fresh for all I have planned for 2015. Hee, hee!

And if I decide to write this week, it will be because I want to, not because I am trying to meet word counts. I am giving my psyche a reboot, so that I can give you all some new stories and characters in the New Year.

So I wish you all joy and peace this week. Take a few minutes for yourself as well. It will be worth it, I promise.

 

 

Plans are Meant to Change

As the holidays descend upon us and we prepare for a new year, there are a lot of things I want to get done. And since I am a bit of an overachiever (who, me?) I have a tight timeline to check these items off my list. So tonight when I got home and sat down in front of my computer, the last thing I was expecting was for my internet to stop working (insert expletive here). A call to my internet provider and troubleshooting through the phone concluded that my router had died (insert worse expletive here). So I hopped into my car, went to the store, came home, and set up my spanking-new router which is now allowing me to post my weekly blog.

This is a drawn-out way of getting my point across. I’m a writer, so you do realize I’m going to tell a story in order to make a point, right?

The point is that you have to be willing to roll with the punches. I think that is an important thing to remember at this time of year. Not everything is going to work exactly like you want it to and you have to be willing to change. This is especially true as an author and as an indie publisher. What you think might work, doesn’t. Or maybe it used to work six months ago, but doesn’t work now. Being willing to try new things and grow as a writer makes the odds of success increase in your (my) favor.

So next year besides releasing a new series, I will also look at new ways to communicate with you, my followers. And when I get some of these ideas solidified, you will be the first to know.

In the meantime, remember that lists change, people change, writers change, readers change…heck everything changes. So don’t stress over change. Roll with the punches.

 

So what HAVE you been doing?

Hello all! Time for my weekly blog. I have been a little quite lately and thought I would bring you up to speed on what I’m doing. Curious minds and all that ;)

As you already know, I released Shifter Wars, the third book in my Mind Sweeper Series on November 17th and then did a blog tour with some fun posts and interviews in November. So you may think that since then I have been relaxing, huh? Not really.

There is no rest for the wicked, or the writer, or the wicked writer…

This month I finished The Pursuit which is book four in the series. It is a novella about (drum roll) Jean Luc. Yes, I know my readers, you want to know why Talia and Jean Luc are not together…so we’re going to delve into that and get these two vamps talking again! That book is now off for edits and I will be polishing that up over the next month.

I am also trying to figure out my schedule for next year. Books four and five will be coming, of course. I also have a new series that I will be releasing as well. I don’t want to talk too much about that yet until I have it locked down, but it is a fun concept and I think you will enjoy it! Hee, hee.

And of course, I am going to start book five in my series. The third full length novel about Kyle and the predicaments she keeps getting herself into. Things need to be resolved…evil supes need to be stopped…key needs to be explained…

You get the idea. So stay tuned, my peeps. I will be filling you in as we go!

 

Setting as Character Guest Blog

Happy Monday! For those of you who have been reading my Mind Sweeper series, you know that they take place (for the most part) in Cleveland, Ohio. The city and suburbs play a role in my story. Since Cleveland still sometimes gets a bad rap (hello, it has been over 40 years since the river burned, folks) I thought it would be great to base my paranormal series here. And why not? Paranormal would love living here…sports (with you know who back), Rock Hall, theaters, Lake Erie, museums…well the list goes on.

So when it came time for me to write a post for Savvy Authors, I decided to write about the importance of setting in a story. It can be a powerful tool in writing. You can check out the post HERE.

Thankful Days

Hello all! It’s hard to believe it has been a week since Shifter Wars released. Since it’s Thanksgiving week here in the states, I’m thinking about all the things I’m thankful for. I thought this year I would share them with you.

I want to send out a special thanks to all of you, my followers (website, Facebook & Twitter), for an amazing year of discovery, hard-work, dedication and PUBLICATION!�� Thanks for your generous praise and support as I have shared my journey with you. I made my goal this year! Three books released with more to come next year. Wow.

I hope this has been as educational and fun for you as it’s been for me.

Thanks to my wonderful team: my editor extraordinaire, Faith; my phenomenal cover artist, Gabrielle; my proofreader, Claire; my formatter and amazing font of information, Amy; my publicity gurus Jennifer & Melanie; and my terrific teaser-creator, Nicole.

Thanks to all of the wonderful blog sites and review sites out there who have spread the news about my books.

A special shout-out to my NEORWA chapter mates who have stuck by me throughout this journey and cheered me on. And my Golden Heart sisters, the Luckies, who have been my support system as I maneuver my way through the self-publishing maze.

Thanks also to the readers of my stories – I can never forget about you! I hope you have as much fun reading about the adventures of Kyle and the gang as I do writing about them.

Finally a special thanks to my friends and family who have never doubted that I could do this. I am surrounded by people who believe in me. And that is the best gift of all.

 

 

How to Create a Shifter Hero Guest Blog

Hello all! Today I am on the The Reading Cafe with a blog about creating a shifter hero. Since my newest book, Shifter Wars, delves into the shifters, I was asked to explain a bit more about them. So I did in a total AE way. I wrote up a bit of a ‘recipe’ :)

There is also a review about Shifter Wars AND I am giving away an ecopy of the book as well. So we have a virtual potpourri of�� shifter goodness going on at The Reading Cafe. Check it out HERE

 

Shifter Wars Release Day, Part 2!

I’m back…I wasn’t fully done with my thoughts there and instead of hitting ‘save draft’, I hit Publish! Hah! Must be because the word ‘publish’ has been in my thoughts for years….

So let’s get back to it! I was talking about snow. Now I live in Ohio so snow is inevitable. But since I am nestled in my house today celebrating my release, I will not curse snow too profusely!

Today, I will blog and tweet and visit Facebook and enjoy my release. And I will write too. You guys are expecting the next books and I can’t disappoint. Kyle and her team’s story is NOT DONE YET.

So I will leave you with my newest tiara picture. Remember, for both my other releases I wore my tiara. It makes me feel like a star! Since I hadn’t yet shared a picture of my book, I thought I would give you a two for one deal!

Thanks for celebrating my release with me!

 

 

Shifter Wars Release Day!

The day has finally arrived. Shifter Wars is live! Whenever I have a release day it makes me a bit nostalgic. It was only this past January�� that I announced here on my blog that I would be self-publishing my Mind Sweeper series, and today I am releasing my third book. Wow. And you have all stuck with me through the ups and downs and discoveries of what I needed to do to make that happen. Thank you.

So you probably want to know what I am doing to celebrate my release day, right? Well, let me show you first what I woke up to today:

It looks picturesque, right? Well, snow and I have a love/hate relationship. I wish I was one of those people who skied or skated or tobogganed or roasted chestnuts, but I am not.