Josh’s Comments (group member since Jun 17, 2010)

Josh’s comments from the Q&A with Josh Lanyon group.

Johanna wrote: "Josh wrote: "Marge wrote: "Johanna wrote: "“Time, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people.”

Becoming by Michelle Obama"

The book I am currently rea..."

Oh that's wonderful. :-)

Anne wrote: "Daylight!

Now I don’t have to wait for the bus in the morning in darkness, and it is still daylight when I leave work in the afternoon. It makes all the difference!"

I feel the same. I love Daylight Savings time for this reason.

Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I just listened to Soulless. It is steampunk/urban fantasy set in Victorian London. I thought it was very entertaining with vampires, werewolves and..."

I'm looking forward to it!

Marge wrote: "Josh wrote: "This is the truth. The people who hate books have endless energy for what they didn't like.

The readers who love books--and I'm talking about sincere love-- tend, disappointingly, to..."

Hey, I'm the same. Even when I enjoy a book, what usually comes first to mind is where the book could have even better--and worse, even though I know how unhelpful it is to getting the results I want from the writer--I often feel *obliged* to go heavier on the criticisms.

Mymymble wrote: "Marge wrote: "Josh wrote: "This is the truth. The people who hate books have endless energy for what they didn't like.

The readers who love books--and I'm talking about sincere love-- tend, disap..."

To this day a certain amount of readers review in the hope of guiding the author to writing the type of books they personally like.

And I know this because once upon a time I used to do this. :-D

But it doesn't work like that, and, you're right, all that happens is a reader ends up bringing down the score of a writer they actually really enjoy.

Marge wrote: "Antonella wrote: "And before I tried to motivate only low ratings. Now I think I should write a re..."

Somewhere several years ago I read that Goodreads gives more weight to stars if a review is i..."

Amazon has created the monster of paid reviews by 1 - putting too much weight on reviews in their algorithm and 2 - putting so many restrictions on how can review.

A walk and coffee with my sister--which I am just about to prepare for. :-)

Antonella wrote: "Jordan wrote: "I need to get back into properly reviewing what I read. I’ve gotten lazy in recent years."

Me too.

And before I tried to motivate only low ratings. Now I think I should write a re..."

:-D :-D :-D

This is the truth. The people who hate books have endless energy for what they didn't like.

The readers who love books--and I'm talking about sincere love-- tend, disappointingly, to be much shorter.

Jordan wrote: "I need to get back into properly reviewing what I read. I’ve gotten lazy in recent years."

From a writer's perspective it's very difficult to get reviews in the same way I used to. It's now standard practice for authors to organize reviews through paid sites, arc teams, etc.

Which means a lot of readers are now committed to a certain amount of reviewing and don't have time for "extra" reviewing. Except the readers who hate any given book. THOSE people have boundless energy. ALWAYS. :-D

You can tell when, for example, a new book launches with 67 reviews but the book is only in the 4000s and below rankings that the reviews have been organized.

And there's nothing wrong with this--everyone is trying desperately to tap into Amazon's algorithms which do factor in reviews--specifically quantity of reviews--it's just that you can no longer judge genuine enthusiasm for a book by the number of reviews.

I spent yesterday preparing and listing a bunch of titles for preorders including Footsteps in the Dark and Mainly by Moonlight. And I've readjusted the date for Slay Ride to end of April (versus Christmas).

I really hate listing preorders because once that happens, the real stress begins. But it seems I need that right now because I'm having real trouble digging into the writing.

I know that once I settle into the writing nothing else will get done, and it's been exhilarating catching up on so many of the things I've had on my list for so long.

Jordan wrote: "This week has been terrible sleep wise. I've not gotten enough sleep. And my brain isn't working right. lol, yesterday instead of writing down my name, I wrote down the title of a book I'd just bee..."

That's me all the time now. If someone is speaking to me while I'm writing, I have a habit of writing down what they say instead of what I intended. So either my focus is getting worse or I'm become more courteous and can't tune people out as effectively as I once did.

Jordan wrote: "Josh wrote: "Mymymble wrote: "Calathea wrote: "Mymymble wrote: "Josh wrote: "Okay, I just spent the afternoon (*cough*) moving topics and folders around.

I've "archived" most of the old and no lo..."

Ha. Real life romance. ;-D

Alison wrote: "Josh wrote: "Alison wrote: "Hi EirinElli!
It's great to have you here! Welcome! I love fantasy too and my first Josh book was actually Strange Fortune. I'll add my rec to the many already put fort..."

We have a mutual admiration society going. :-D

Alison wrote: "Snow!
Lots of snow today. It's beautiful. I don't work until the afternoon, which is nice because the roads will be clear by then. A cup of tea and watching the snow fall and catching up on GR equ..."

That sounds so peaceful. :-)

1 - The super delicious cheese, artichoke and spinach casserole the SO made last night.

2 - A little bit of daylight left when we take our evening walk now

3 - Moratorium on the death penalty in California. I won't deny I have mixed feelings, but I do believe this is the right thing to do.

4 - I think I FINALLY came up with an idea for my proposal to Carina's new ADORE line.

5 - The two little vintage pirate creamers on my desk that I use for paperclips.

Alison wrote: "Hi EirinElli!
It's great to have you here! Welcome! I love fantasy too and my first Josh book was actually Strange Fortune. I'll add my rec to the many already put forth: Ginn Hale is brilliant an..."

It's always so fascinating to me when the spec fiction books are someone's intro to my work.

Jordan wrote: "I also want to echo the other sentiments, Josh, and say that I LOVE the new banner! It's beautiful!"

Thank you!!

Mymymble wrote: "Calathea wrote: "Mymymble wrote: "Josh wrote: "Okay, I just spent the afternoon (*cough*) moving topics and folders around.

I've "archived" most of the old and no longer active conversations as w..."

I love food and I love cooking (even if the SO does most of it around here). Those are things I associate since childhood with love and nurturing and well-being, so it's natural they find a way into my work.

I did have a reader angry (as in telling me in ALL CAPS) that I should NEVER put cooking in my books because, according to her, my cooking times were WRONG.

I had to remind her that A - take it up with Blue Apron because it was their recipe--which I had cooked the night before, and B - I'm not writing cook books and the cooking in my stories is just there for a bit of color and scene-building and characterization. These scenes are not intended to be read as step-by-step instructions--nor is ANY scene actually occuring in real time. I mean, in real life there would be tons of waiting for timers to go off or for people to get out of the bathroom.

Antonella wrote: "Good news from the US:

SURVEY: Majorities In All States And Across All Demo Groups Support LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation"

Yes. Right? The majority of Americans (by a LOT) support background checks and sane and simple gun safety laws too. Which is why it's SO INFURIATING that a stuck-in-a-time-warp minority are largely in control.

Jordan wrote: "A coworker shared this with me and I thought I would share it with you guys too. This is a list of ambient sound mixers with sounds to read or write to like a cat purring, train tracks, cafe noise,..."

Oh I love these!