Happy weekend, book friends!
I hope it’s a happy one for you, at any rate. I know a lot of people out there aren’t really having a happy time of it right now.
Apologies for not showing up last week. It was my birthday week, things were slow, and I seized the opportunity to take the week off and give myself a real spring break.
This week was supposed to be back to business as usual, but of course it wasn’t because there simply is no such thing as business as usual in this present season we’re all in. I expand more on that in the podcast, in which I also talk about:
Mindset in general, how it affects our productivity, and my mindset in particular
Conspiracy theory rabbit holes, how it relates to my faith, and how it’s all inspiring my next planned series
All the reasons why I HAVEN’T been writing my novel, and what I’m planning to do to get off the struggle bus and back into a daily writing habit
How we’re doing generally, what we’ve been up to and how my paying work is going
I also mentioned my goals for next week, which are to show up to my novel for at least 15 minutes a day, and to get pre-orders set up for Dominion of the Damned Book Three: Revolution. Which, if all goes well, means you can watch for an announcement and cover reveal coming very soon.
One thing I failed to mention in the podcast is that I ended up not doing a free run on Desolation (formerly known as Dominion of the Damned) last week like I’d said I was planning to do, and I’m sorry to anyone who had their hopes up about that. I realized I only get one promo per quarter and I wanted to take more time to think about how I want to use it. I’m planning to start experimenting with paid ads soon and I need to come up with a strategy an be smart about coordinating everything. Of course, if you’re enrolled in Kindle Unlimited you can read the series as part of your subscription plan, and if you’re in Prime you can borrow both books via Prime Lending (you can also request them from your local library).
But you should know that I’m going to be temporarily pulling Desolation from KU around mid-May. This is because, for the month of June, I’m going to include it in a month-long free book giveaway that will be held at My Book Cave — so if you’ve got your heart (and book budget) set on getting to read it free, come June you’ll be able to grab it in the e-book format of your choosing. I’ll have more details as we get closer to the giveaway date.
Speaking of free (and cheap) books, the Smashwords Authors Give Back sale has been extended to the end of May, and I’m keeping all of my indie short stories and collections free for the duration of the sale.
That’s all for this week! Here’s hoping for a more productive week ahead for all of us.
Until next time,
Jean ♥
Weekly Distractions
The other day I bought two jumbo skeins of this yarn with this poncho pattern in mind. Except now I’m not sure whether I’m in more of a mood to crochet or to knit, so I still haven’t settled on a pattern.
Berkely Breathed’s been posting classic Bloom County strips from the very beginning, and I’ve been enjoying the ride on the nostalgia train. Here’s the very first ever appearance of Opus. My how he’s changed.
Covidclassics is four roommates who love art and are indefinitely quarantined. This is the most creative use of free time I’ve seen yet.
We’ve been enjoying The Chosen series on Youtube. We’re watching the replays of the livestream, including all the interviews and extras, so it’s taking us a while to get through each episode. It’s definitely a fresh take on presenting the Gospels. If you can’t handle made-up backstories for each of the disciples, additional scenes being added, or anachronistic speech, then this series probably isn’t for you.
Finally, speaking of conspiracy theories, I’ve downloaded a few eps of these podcasts to listen to over the weekend. Note that I have not listened to these podcasts yet so this is not an endorsement. But they look fun, if you’re into that sort of thing:
Supernatural with Ashley Flowers (Episode: The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund)
Conspiracy Theories (The episodes on Bohemian Grove and the Phantom Dark Age)
More like NOT writing my novel (Writing My Novel with Jean Marie Bauhaus - Episode 2)