Star Wars Books that Changed My Life

May 4, 2017May 4, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

May the 4th be with you!

This year, in order to celebrate ‘Star Wars Day’, I’m going to share with you some of my own history with what I consider to be one of the best fantastical worlds ever! As a child, I remember watching the Star Wars Movies every chance I got. My favourite was Return of the Jedi (it is now Empire Strikes Back), and I borrowed it every chance I got on VHS from my public library. I borrowed it so many times that my father banned me from borrowing it for six months! I was crushed.

I always dreamed of new Star Wars movies, but they never arrived in my childhood. Instead, I turned to the books. By the time I turned 10, there was an entire Star Wars Universe waiting to be explored on the page. I began with Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn, and read everything I could get my hands on. I still have some of these books, as I’ve never been able to part with them.

One of my favs was the Young Jedi Knights Series, by Kevin J. Anderson with Robecca Moesta. This series was about Leia and Han’s twins, Jaina and Jacen. I wanted to be them, go to school with them, learn how to be a Jedi Knight too. So I consumed these books with a vengeance. I credit the strong character of Jaina and her mechanical aptitude for my own interest in science and my the much later degree in Engineering that I received in 2004. I was disappointed with Disney when they kaiboshed everything that was Star Wars, making it legend, and coming up with their own cannon. But there are a lot of similarities between Rey and Jaina, and after I watched Star Wars, The Force Awakens, I found I could accept this new story and love Rey as I loved Jaina (to me, they are really the same girl by a different name. I’m positive that Rey belongs to Leia and Han, and that Kylo Ren is her long-lost twin brother, just like in the books).

Another of my favorite characters from the book world, Mara Jade, in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire series, and pictured fighting Luke, above, is also now legend. Mara Jade was an apprentice to the Emperor, and takes it upon herself to battle Luke. But Mara Jade isn’t all bad, and she’s also my favorite Sith ever.

While my Star Wars book collection is not what it once was, I still treasure it, and it is still growing. With the Disney takeover, more material is being released now than ever. I’ve previously blogged about reading some of the new comic books, and I’ve also finished the first book in Chuck Wendig’s new Trilogy, beginning with Aftermath, about the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. When it comes to my love of Science Fiction and space travel, Star Wars will always have a very large place in my heart. So happy May the 4th, and may the Force be with you.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen it yet, or if you just want to watch it again because it is May 4th, be sure to check out The Last Jedi Trailer below.

JEH

Blogging · books · Covers · Self-Publishing · Writing Goals · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Under Jupiter Now On Kindle Scout

April 30, 2017May 1, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

It’s there! It’s up and shining in the spotlight. Head on over here to check it out, or click on the link on the right, and read the prologue, the first chapter, and take a sneak peek into chapter two. Under Jupiter will be up on Kindle Scout until May 30th, so you can go back and view it again anytime, or share it with a friend. Don’t forgot to nominate the book for a change to get a free copy if the ebook if it’s chosen by Kindle Press!

Screen Shot 2017-04-30 at 3.45.27 PM — Kindle Scout View

Blogging · Writing Goals

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #23

April 26, 2017April 26, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I’ve given and update on my writing goals! I started this massive goal in September, with a huge kick start thanks to the 3-Day Novel Writing Contest. But this past month has been so crazy with preparing Under Jupiter for submission to Kindle Scout that I’ve fallen pretty far behind in my goal. Here’s a look at my tracking sheet for the past couple of weeks:

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As you can see, I’m over 12,000 words behind! The good news is that I’m finishing up Under Jupiter over the next 3-4 days, and then I can get back to drafting for a while. I’m looking forward to some new projects. The last stages of rewriting and editing are all consuming for me. I don’t like to be taken away from the story, or distracted, since it pulls from my ability to concentrate on the continuity of the story. The closer I get to finishing, the more consumed I become.

But I still took time last weekend to go on a mini-road trip to the most creepy, crooked wood I’ve seen. We drove up to The Crooked Bush, Saskatchewan. Here are a couple pictures, which don’t do it justice by far.

It’s great fodder for a future story. I’ll have to see if anything comes of it.

JEH

Blogging · Self-Publishing · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Under Jupiter Plans For World Domination (on attempting Kindle Scout)

April 18, 2017April 18, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

Okay, maybe that title is a bit extreme, but I like it! I’m working away through the fourth or so revision of Under Jupiter, and making pretty good progress. But once it’s ready, I’m not going to release it right away, as I did with the Black Depths titles. Instead, I’m going to try Kindle Scout.

What is Kindle Scout? you ask. Good question. Kindle Scout is Amazon’s on-going “competition”, where you mostly compete against yourself. Under Jupiter will be up for a 30 day compaign. During which readers can review the blurb, and the first 5,000 words of the book (around 3 chapters). Then, you can nominate the book, and if I ‘win’, (if Amazon selects to publish Under Jupiter with Kindle Press), then you get a free copy of the ebook.

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I want to try this to do something different. I think it will be a fun way to let more people know about Under Jupiter, and a good way to share part of the book. I’ll let you know when Under Jupiter is up, but until then, here’s a link to the Kindle Scout website in case you want to check out other books that are currently up for nomination.

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/

JEH

Blogging · Writing Goals

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #22

April 1, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

It was an awful week. I let my birthday distract me from my main goal and used it for all sorts of excuses. I didn’t write nearly as much as I should have, which means I’m around 7,000 words behind my goal. When there is such a big word count at stake, it is so easy to fall behind—and also fairly easy to catch up. All I have to do is write, just a little bit more than my 1,000 words per day, and I’ll be back on target in (hopefully) a month. I’ll be moving from focusing on Under Jupiter rewrites to drafting soon, which will also help with that goal.

You can see from the chart below that I wasn’t very habitual this week. I had a lot of extra curricular events because of my birthday. Including a paint night where I made this picture. It’s pretty nice, don’t you think? I’m going to put it in my office. It will be good inspiration for a fantasy novel I hope to return to writing soon.

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I’m hoping I can spend a lot of time this weekend attempting to catch up on words. But first I want to catch up on this blog. I have a couple reviews planned for this week, and also the Under Jupiter cover reveal, so be sure to check back!

JEH

Blogging · Covers · I love books · Photos · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Books In Strange Places

March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

I have that wonderful spring feeling again! Yesterday it was 7 above, things were melting, and I went out for a walk in weather was finally incapable of freezing me to death in hours. I had books on my mind (of course), and thought, you know, that my upcoming reads would probably like to get some fresh air too, so I decided to do a little book photo shoot for your enjoyment. Featured books are ones I’m currently reading or am hoping to get to soon. But, of course, there’s never enough time for reading.

FullSizeRender (4) — My current “On the Go” Read, What Light by Jay Asher

FullSizeRender (5) — Air Awakens by Elise Kova

Hiding the Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir

JEH

Blogging · Self-Publishing · Writing Goals

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #21

March 11, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

Okay, this week wasn’t as good as last week. The main reason for that is I wrote nothing one day because I was too addicted to reading The Girl on the Train. I consciously made this choice, but I’m still wondering if that makes it okay or not. I did write more the next day to make up for it, as you can see on the chart. I made it to the gym twice, and I also made it out to writing group for a weekly writing session, where I got a lot of work done on Under Jupiter. I also found a new favourite tea collection which is currently fuelling my writing session.

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From the chart, you can also see that I did better this week at concentrating on Under Jupiter. I’m working on it at the moment, actually, but am taking a quick break to write this blog that I was supposed to write yesterday. Oops! Ah well, I have some more interesting blogs coming up for you next week, including more book discussions and fabulous pictures. Like this picture of the candle and pretty books sitting beside me on my desk.

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This coming week, I’m expecting to see a high word count. Mostly because I need to push to finish Under Jupiter, and a couple other projects I’d like to self-pub soon, because I love them and I’m excited to share them, and I’m also kind of addicted to self-publishing. Yes, you heard that right.

Alright, time to get back to the real work. I hope you had a good week, and I’ll chat soon.

JEH

Blogging · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Choosing Your Next Great Read

March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

Last Friday I spent all day absorbed in a book. it was so good that I just could not put it down. I mean, I did have to actually put it down now and again, but i picked it up immediately as soon as I was able. That book was The Girl on the Train. I loved it, but I’m not going to review it on here, because it is out of the norm for what I do review. What I am going to talk about is how to choose your next great read after having an epic-ly good time reading something else. Or rather, how I choose my next great read. Especially on a snow-bound weekend.

Every reader is familiar with that post-good-book lull. The, ‘that was fun but now what’ blues. I find they always leave me floundering. How do I choose my next book? I have an easier time choosing my next read after finishing something okay or so-so. I have a really easy time choosing my next read after reading something I didn’t particularly enjoy (because anything seems entertaining after that). But after reading a really great book…. SIGH… I flounder.

After finishing The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, I picked up about five different novels, read a paragraph or two, flipped through the pages and debated. What did I want to read now? I already had a stack of books next to my bed, the ‘read-next’ stack, which I order and rearrange on a regular basis. In the stack was, The Invasion of the Tearling, Steelheart, Seven Dead Pirates, Jane Eyre (which has been waiting half finished for over a year now), Fate of Flames, Splintered, and What Light. So I bounced, from book to book to book attempting to find something to hold my attention.

It might have been easier to just toss a coin. But it probably wouldn’t have been as fun. I read the first chapter of Fate of Flames, and enjoyed it, but it’s an e-book, and I decided I felt like reading a paper book. I read a few pages of The Invasion of the Tearling, but discovered I needed something faster paced following The Girl on the Train. I read a little bit more of What Light, which I’ve been slowly reading on my phone whenever I’m on the move, but couldn’t commit to it fully. I continued to ignore my beautiful copy of Jane Eyre because no matter what, I always just seem to feel too tired to pick it up. Then I picked up Steelheart and was like I FOUND IT.

So, how do you choose your next great read?

JEH

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Stories and Adventure

March 4, 2017March 4, 2017 byjehunterLeave a comment

Yesterday was one of those beautifully warm spring days, so I took the kids out for a mini-adventure. It reminded me that as a writer, how important it is to never stop experiencing, even if the experience—or maybe especially if—the experience is just around the corner. I put on my white mukluks, and off we went to the gutted truck I’d been seeing from the road for months.

Not far from my house, the city is in the process of building a new dog park, which meant that in the fall they stripped out some of the natural woods to make a few walking paths. We used to go adventuring in the woods, when they were a bigger, more mysterious tangle, and never came up on the truck cab that was revealed during construction.

Adventures come in all shapes and sizes and I’ve done a lot of traveling and a lot of adventuring. Some of these adventures have made it into my writing, and others are waiting to be spun into tales, and some are just journal entries in my photo books. But there are so many adventures I’ve had that just make me who I am, that make my characters who they are, and that just make me love life. So, we had a little adventure, I love it, I covered my boots in mud, and we came home and had a snack.

Yesterday was a great day, not just because of the adventure but because I bought myself that reward I discussed in my previous post for making it to the halfway point in my writing 365,000 words in a year goal. I bought myself a copy of Carve the Mark, by Veronica Roth, which happened to be on sale at Costco. Yay, cheap books! And a sweater. Just don’t tell my husband. Wait, my husband reads this blog… too late! So, I have a new book on my shelf, which I likely won’t get around to reading for a while. It has a nice cover, but and even nicer cover if you take the wrapping off. If you haven’t done that and check it out, do. I won’t ruin the surprise by posting a picture here.

I’m just going to look at it and smile.

JEH

Blogging · Self-Publishing

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #19

February 24, 2017February 24, 2017 byjehunter1 Comment

Ah, let’s just start this post off with a nice cup of tea, shall we?

Ah, that’s better! *refreshed*

Right, well. What have I been up to lately? Writing, writing, writing. Though I still haven’t got up to my target word count. I’m almost exactly halfway through this personal challenge, and I’m feeling pretty darn good about what I have accomplished so far this year. As you can see from the table below, I’ve begun tracking which projects I’m working on when. Hopefully this will help me develop more consistency with projects, and not jump around so much. I’m supposed to be focusing on UJ, which is a rewrite, which means that somedays I have to write other things to get my 1,000. The good thing about my rewriting process is that I tend to add words. I write clean, plain first drafts, and fill things up with detail on the second go around. I started rewriting UJ at around 63,000 words, and already I’m up over 67,700 words.

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As for the gym, I know I haven’t updated that one in a while, but I have been going more regularly, usually at least two times a week. I’m still listening to audiobooks when I’m there, and I love it. I’ll have an audiobook review up this weekend.

As for my GoodReads goal, I set it for 60 books this year and I’ve so far finished 9 books, and GoodReads tells me I’m one book ahead. Yay, me! I’m also nearly finished two other books so I should be at eleven books soon.

Going back to the abbreviations above, I’m sure you’re all dying to hear the name of my new novel. Well, it’ll be here on the weekend, too. I can’t wait to reveal it.

JEH