Category: Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing · Writing Goals · Writing Prompts

How To Write Like A Caffeine Fueled Jackrabbit Without Losing Your Mind

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In my previous post, I described my September New Year goal of writing 365,000 words in a year (or 4-6 books). I’m going to accomplish this goal by writing 1,000 words of fiction a day (no, these blog posts do not count), which will take me approximately 30 minutes a day (excepting those days which I struggle and must wrestle with the mud covered monster called Writer’s Block). As I’m sure I will have some days where writing 1,000 words will feel impossible, I will need days when I can pound out 5K or even 10K (the 10K is likely to be saved for vacation or my favourite month, NaNoWriMo (also known as November)).

So, on those days when you really need to write 10K words—or for the entire month of NaNoWriMo—here are some tips to fuel my creativity, increase my word count, and Write Like A Caffeine Fueled JackRabbit Without Losing My Mind:

  1. Find a really comfortable chair (I do mean chair, not upright bed, there is a difference).
favourite-chair
Be Careful, This Chair is as Cozy as it Looks

2. Decide upon your drink of choice and keep it near by. I find a slightly caffainated tea works the best, since it doesn’t cause my hands to shake when I drink it pot after pot.

My Favourite Cream of Earl Grey Tea
Raw Coffee Beans

3. Write the first sentence of 8-10 scenes you want to finish that day.

4. Buy an amazingly cute kitchen timer that you can’t resist playing with. Set it for 5, 10, or 30 minutes, and do nothing else until it buzzes.

(Associate Link)

5. Pick your favorite motivational song, when you start dropping off, play it loudly, dance about for five minutes, and envision yourself hiking to the top of that insurmountable mountain of 10 thousand words (it only FEELS insurmountable).

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6. When your self-doubt success sucker shows up, close your eyes tight and say “I CAN DO THIS” five times loudly. Soon, you will see that Self-Doubt Success Sucker pushed right back into the ground (inevitably, he will pop up again, so be sure to repeat this step whenever necessary).

7. Keep easy to fix food nearby for a quick fuel-up.

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8. Find a buddy to check in with, be it a fellow writer, a friend, the NaNoWriMo Forums or the Twitter Universe. Be accountable to someone.

9. Think about the worst job you’ve ever had, picture yourself going back there. If that isn’t motivation to finish doing something you love, I don’t what is.

10. Pick a reward for when you reach your goal, and don’t allow yourself to have/do it until you’ve accomplished what you need to. Whether it’s a new journal, a pretty photo from Stockphoto that you want to use for your cover art, going for a run or out for a drink, hold off until you’ve accomplished your “work” for the day.

Need a Relaxation Device for your Office? Reward yourself once you’ve finished your goal. (associate link)

11. Once you reach your goal, stop. Everyone deserves a break. Especially you. By getting some rest in between mad-dash sessions, you’re much more likely to do it again the next day.

Good luck with your writing goals! Whether it be the next book in your fabulous serious or 2016 NaNoWriMo. Do you have any other tips you would like to share?

JEH

Covers · I love books · Self-Publishing · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Black Depths Book 4 Is Now Here

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I had such a busy weekend preparing Doomed Seas for Release today! I’m so excited for this. Doomed Seas is Caesar’s story, and is kind of a jumping off point for Black Depths Series, which means, if you haven’t yet read the other books, it doesn’t matter. You can start right here (at least I think so, but maybe I’m wrong since I’m so ingrained in this world). I love the cover, I love my pirates, and I just love writing and self-publishing, since it means I’ve been able to control the Black Depths world from start to finish.

Now Reformatted!

Doomed Seas is currently up on Smashwords and Amazon, and as soon as Smashwords finishing the checks, it should be up on Kobo, Nook, and iBooks. I’ve made Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch (Black Depths Book 1) permanently free on Smashwords, Kobo, Nook, and iBooks. It isn’t free on Kindle yet, as I’m not allowed to set that, and I need someone to report they found a lower price elsewhere, so if any of you lovely readers feels like doing me a favour, I would greatly appreciate it.

Anyway, not that Doomed Seas is done, I can focus on the final push to finish Twisted Currents, Book 5, and the last book of this section of the Black Depths Universe (though possibly not the end, as I have a few more stories I would like to write, though it may take a long time for me to get around to them). I need to wrap up Black Depths before NaNoWriMo, because this year I have a marvellous fantasy planned that I can’t wait to write. As a writer, it’s always wonderful to be able to embark on something new, and I’m really looking forward to that.

I see that there are a few new reviews up for the books since the last time I checked. I love this! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to put up a review for any or all of my books that you’ve read. I cannot say how much authors need and love and crave reviews! If I could give each of you a hug, I would!

Okay, later this afternoon I’ll finally have my review for Empire of Storms up. I finished it last week but just have no had enough time to put my thoughts together. If you haven’t read the latest in Sarah J. Maas series, you probably won’t want to read the post, even though I try not to get too spoiler-y. I just love talking about books.

JEH

Covers · Self-Publishing · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Doomed Seas Cover Blurb

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It will be out on Monday! As I have just a little bit of formatting to do. Can’t wait? Here’s the blurb to get you pumped up:

Doomed Seas

Caesar knows he’s running out of time to find his father, who’s been missing for over a year. When he discovers his own grandfather, Victor, is behind not only his father’s kidnapping, but the kidnapping of innocent Neptunians all over the globe, Caesar sets sail to find what Victor wants most. 

In the company of his best friend Markus, and ex-girlfriend Darya, the pirates begin their journey across the seas. But things aren’t always as they seem. The more Caesar discovers, the more he questions his loyalty. Then Caesar is given an important clue to the location of the treasure Victor hunts. Can he untangle the strings of desire, history, and hope in time to find the treasure, or will this hunt be his last?

And in case you missed it, here’s the cover:

doomed-seas-cover-1

Self-Publishing · Writing Goals

365K in a Year: Update #3

byjehunter3 Comments

So, it’s almost an entire month in, and I’m sure you’ve all been wondering how the crazy lady with the 365K words in a  year goal is doing. Well, I’m great. Busy. Crazy, and have just fought of a cold, but I’m great. I am totally in love with fall right now, and plan on finishing reading Empire of Storms tonight. Things are looking up!

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But I haven’t been writing my 1K words a day. Instead, I’ve been rewriting. I’ve been finding it pretty difficult to split my focus between rewriting something and writing something new, so I’ve dropped drafting for the moment. I should finish up the rewriting today, which means I’ll be getting back at drafting 1K words a day. Overall, I’m still ahead of my goal, mostly thanks to one killer weekend. I’m planning a second one of those weekends, as there are two things I would like to finish drafting and rewriting before NaNoWriMo begins in November. Both of those projects are around 40-50% drafted, so this a goal that is highly achievable, especially since I’ve planned to have more dedicated writing time in October. Come November, things are going to get more difficult as I’m picking up more hours at my day job.

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When it comes to the other 3 goals, I have to admit I’ve gotten sidetracked (worked on more than the 5 pre-determined projects), I haven’t gone to gym even once (feeling horrible), but I am checking in on a Thursday, so that has to be worth something! One thing the check-ins are doing is making me very conscious of what I’ve been doing with my writing time. Next weeks chart should look a lot different, primarily because I’ve scheduled time to write in the upcoming week. So hopefully when you check back in, you’ll see how much farther I’ve come.

Till next week,

JEH

 

Self-Publishing · Writing Goals

The 365K Words A Year Goal: Update#1 (Week 2)

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I said I would update on Wednesday. Last week I didn’t update and this week I’m doing it on Thursday. Maybe updates will move to Thursday? We’ll have to see moving forward. But the GREAT news is that I’ve been working so hard getting my 1K words a day written, that I’m up over 35K words! That’s almost 10%. I’m killin’ it. Mind you, I did the 3 day novel writing contest, which kicked my word count out of the park right off the bat, then I promptly had three 0 word count days in a row, but now I seem to be back on a steady pace. Here’s a glimpse at my tracker chart, where you can see how jumpy my days are.

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Today is going to be a minimal word count day, as I’m switching into rewriting mode as I move Doomed Seas one step closer to release. My 1,000 words are right now focused on finishing up Twisted Currents and writing another short Black Depths Novella, called Deep Heart. This fall is going to a mammoth of Black Depths Releases, and then I’m going to have a new project for you, which I will call TH,  but first it will be NaNoWriMo, and a project I’m going to call MF, for now.

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TH is drafted, but needs a rewrite. That project doesn’t count toward my 365K goal. DH and the remainder of TC do, however, which makes me think that I should be pulling up about even by the end of October, just in time to surge ahead again in November.

I would love to finish this goal over my target word count. And if I stick to my 1K a day writing goal, then I’ll currently finish 20K over target. Maybe NaNo will push that even further. I don’t know. What I do know is that it feels great at the end of the day when I’ve done my words. it also feels amazing to look at that spreadsheet and see my WCs way up there. It puts a big smile on my face. And I love smiling.

How’s your writing going these days?

 

 

 

 

Self-Publishing · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Blog Tour Wrap Up and Giveaway Winners

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The blog tour for Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch ended on September 9th, and as today is the start of a new week, it seems like a great time to do the wrap up.

Thank you to all the bloggers who took the time to read and write and post about Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch. I loved seeing all the posts, and I loved reading what everyone thought of Sea-Witch. My favourite comment was a plea to not have Caesar turn into a bad guy—which is amazing since Caesar has his own book coming out in a couple weeks. Black Depths 3.5 is called Doomed Seas, and is about where Caesar is, and what he’s up to while Nessa is running around with Amynta and Teranth in Black Depths. I’ll have a blurb to post within the next week, so be sure to check back soon and see what it’s all about!

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I’ve just drawn the names of the giveaway winners and sent an email, so if you subscribed to my newsletter, make sure you check your inbox. Winners, please send me your address ASAP so I can get your copy in the mail, along with your bonus email. For anyone who didn’t win, but would like a book mark, if you send me your address, I will send you a bookmark just like the one pictured. If you haven’t had a chance to see all of the blog posts about Sea-Witch, I’ve copied the list and the links below. Happy Reading!

JEH

Blog Tour Schedule –

September 5th

Preeti’s Panorama   https://preetispanaroma.wordpress.com  Review

3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy,&,Sissy, Too!  http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.com  Promo Post

Loves Great Reads   https://lovesgreatreadsblog.wordpress.com/    Promo Post

What Is That Book About    www.whatisthatbookabout.com  Promo Post

September 6th

CBY Book Club   http://cbybookclub.blogspot.com/   Promo Post

Books,Dreams,Life    http://staceyschneller06.wordpress.com    Review

Cover2Cover    http://www.chocomeiske.com     Promo Post

September 7th

Hear Me Out!    http://shakyradunnauthor.wix.com/seerofwords#!heartheseer/z4ftd Review

fundinmental    http://www.fundinmental.com  Review

Comfort Books  www.comfortbooks.org    Promo Post

Kara the Redhead    http://karatheredhead.blogspot.com/ Promo Post

September 8th

grammy’s bookshelf   http://grammysbookshelf.blogspot.ca/   Promo Post

Happy Tails and Tales Blog     http://happytailsandtales.blogspot.com  Review

The Silver Dagger Scriptorium     http://silver-dagger-scriptorium.weebly.com/   Review

deal sharing aunt      www.dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com      Promo Post

September 9th

books are love  http://hello-booklover.tumblr.com    Review

A New Look On Books   http://anewlookonbooks.wordpress.com    Promo Post

Just Us Book Blog    http://justusbookblog.blogspot.com/    Promo Post

www.yaboundbooktours.blogspot.com.png

Blogging · Self-Publishing

A Blog Tour

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Over the past weekend I was very busy participating in the 3-Day Novel Writing contest, which was awesome. I expunged an idea that occurred to me a while back. It felt good to get it out and put me way up on my 1,000 words a day goal. I wrote 22,000 words over the weekend, so I guess now I don’t have to write until September 23rd, but that’s not the point. The point is to write 1,000 words per day until next September. I’m hoping it really is habit forming, and that the year will teach me just to get it done!

Today however, I headed out on a five hour trip for my day job (almost all writers I know have one). I kicked it off by getting a pumpkin spice latte and browsing the bookstore. I did not, however, buy any books because my shelf is overwhelmed with books right now. But I am pretty tempted to pick up Empire of Storms on ebook.


I am currently in my hotel room, ready to wind down after spending 5 hours listening to the audiobook of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor. I actually am excited for my 5 hour drive home on Thursday because of this book! I’ll post a review on the weekend.


Oh, and last but not least, Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch is on tour this week, with reviews and some guests posts. If you haven’t seen them yet, here are a few links:

https://lovesgreatreadsblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/6490/

http://www.chocomeiske.com/2016/09/06/blog-tour-tales-redheaded-sea-witch-j-e-hunter/?fdx_switcher=true

http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.ca/2016/09/tales-of-redheaded-sea-witch-black.html?m=1

What are you up to?

JEH

Blogging · Self-Publishing · Writing Goals

My September New Year Goals and Challenges

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I haven’t been a student for a long time, but September has continued to feel much more like a New Year to me than the much more celebrated date in January. Maybe it has something to do with the season change come September, or all the new school supplies I still buy (hello, notebooks!), but I just love this time of year. Fall always brings with it a new start, and this year I’ve decided to set some new goals. I’ve been talking about it for a few weeks now, and as it’s almost the end of August, I’m finally going to tell you just what it is I’m planning.

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Here’s my cat sitting on my goal book. Is he trying to deter me? I won’t let it happen!

I’ve been getting busier and busier. I’m getting ready to wrap up the Black Depths Universe (for now, at any rate), and have new drafts that need rewriting. I also have a storm of ideas in my head that need writing. This all adds up to one thing: I need to get to work!

So here’s what I’m going to do:

  1. I’m pledging to myself that I will write 1,000 words everyday, for a total of 365,000 words from September 1, 2016, to September 4th, 2016. Why September 4th, you ask? Because that will be the end of the 3-Day Novel Writing Contest 2017, which—just in case I fall behind on this massively huge goal—will give me the chance to make a mad dash to the end. But, I’m truly hoping that pledging to write a modest 1,000 words a day  will become habit, and therefore highly achievable.
  2. I will use that 365,000 words to finish 5 pre-determined projects which have been banging around my space in various stages of completion for the past couple years. I’m not coming up with anything new in the next twelve months. Or rather, I’m going to keep new ideas to simple jot-notes and very vague detailing. I’m not going to get sidetracked *firmly crosses-arms*. I’m going to stay ON TASK.
  3. I will go to the gym once a week (or run). Yeah, this has nothing to do with writing. But I’m putting it down here anyway because it’s important. And I’m only pledging once a week because I do have 1,000 words to write a day. Also, going from 0 to 1 seems like a pretty big jump, I’ll have to see how I handle it.
  4. I will check in on my blog once a week to update my goal progress (I’m shooting for Thursdays—we’ll see how that works).

Alright, those are my goals. As I’ve said, i’ll update here once a week to make sure I stay on track. If you feel crazy enough to join me in any or all of the above goals, comment on the post, and after each weekly post you can check in, too.

Next week, after a massive start doing the 2016 3-Day Novel Writing Contest, I’m going to update about one of those 5 pre-determined projects. Now, Ready, Set, Write!

JEH

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

Blogging · Nature · Self-Publishing

There’s a Disaster Waiting for Me

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I’m back. It was a long, and wonderful vacation, full of writing conferences, visiting with old friends, nature, and even a bit of fishing and dinosaurs…

Sadly, there was barely any reading, we just had too much to do. And now I’m home and there’s a disaster waiting for me to clean it up…

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I’m hoping that somewhere under all of this mess is The Shadow Hour, a great book that I’ve been trying to finish forever so I can post a review. I think I only have about twenty pages left, so I’m really hoping I can find it soon and that the mischievous house sprites that like to misplace my things haven’t lost it forever…

When the book shows up, I’ll finish it and post my review here. If I haven’t been lost in the mountain of stuff that needs putting away. Once I’m done with the reading and the cooking I’m going to begin my new year listing (I’m much more a September New Year person than I am a January New Year person). I’ve come up with a writing challenge for myself, which I will post more of here in the next week, as well as some updates regarding the Black Depths Universe. Meanwhile, I hope you’re all enjoying these last few beautiful weeks of summer. What have  you been up to?