Why Self-Publishing Was My Best Decision

It's the weekend! *confetti* Welcome back, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking about self publishing and why it was my best decision ever. I know not everyone wants to self publish, but for me, it was the only way forward. Hard stop. So, let's not waste a ton of time up here and just get to it.

Wait! I forgot to say: Be SURE you're around next week. I have a super-awesome surprise for you all that has to do with AI and audio. :)

Now, let's dive in. Grab your cup of Jo and get comfy.

There are a ton of things to navigate in the Indie world like cattiness, theft, and scams, but those all take a back seat to the benefits (at least, they do for me). 

I mean, I write because I have to. If I didn't, I'd go stark-raving mad. There are all these voices in my head that tell me this and that. I can only shut them up by creating (this goes for art, too).

When I'm down or stressed, I take out my frustrations either on the keyboard or the canvas. I'm sure a lot of you are the same way.

Because it's an outlet, it can't become something I have to do. If I went with a traditional publisher, I'd have deadlines and people telling me what my cover should look like. Or even telling me how I can and can't format a book.

I did mention I'm also Type A? Oh, no? I am. Judging by the very detailed list of help topics on this blog, you probably knew already.

That Type A has a lot to do with why I can't go trad. I need control without deadlines. When I do have a deadline, I lock up, unable to do anything at all. If someone tells me my cover has to be such-and-such way, I get jittery and nervous because I rarely like designs other than my own.

I get to blog about whatever I choose, and I don't have someone telling me which book signings I can attend. If I screw up, I only have myself to answer to. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Being an Indie is freeing. I get to write what I want when I want. Who wouldn't want that?

Not to mention the royalties are all mine. I don't have to give a publisher $0.99 out of every dollar I make. I get the whole $0.35 when I sell a $1 book. Win. I also don't have to pay back any signing bonus. Win.

Now, I'm not pooing on trad authors. If they can do that, more power to them. Anyone who can see a deadline and hit it is amazing to me. Anyone who can navigate the world we live in without getting cancelled and dropped by their publisher because of something they write? Impressive.

In other words, I made the best decision for me when I went Indie. That doesn't mean it's the best decision for everyone. After all, it's expensive to do what we do.

Which are you? Why did you go that route? Share! I'd love to discuss it. :)

I hope you got something out of this post! Be SURE to come back for the fun next week.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

My Favorite Ways to Connect with Readers

Happy Monday, y'all! What a weekend! I had a fantastic time at Authors Rock Roanoke in Virginia, and it got me thinking about readers and how I like to connect with them. Sit back, grab your coffee and a cozy blanket, and let's get right into it, shall we?

Let's start with my least favorite way to connect and go from there. I don't prefer to message with anyone. Ever. It takes too much of my time, and I always end up leaving people on read. Folks end up with hurt feelings or assume I'm not interested. My truth is: I'm just too damned busy to have my phone in my face all day. If you have my number and message me, it's a crapshoot to know if I'll answer. Usually, I do, but it takes a while sometimes. So, don't message me. hahaha

Second least favorite is via social media. I do like to connect with people this way, but it's so difficult to keep up with every single channel, and like I said above, I'm really bad at responding. Sometimes I don't get the notification, and sometimes I just space out and forget. Don't let this stop you from hitting me up with a comment, but remember it may take me time to respond. If I ever missed something from you, I'm sorry! I'm booked out for days with my day job.

Last on the leasts list is email, but I do prefer that over either of the other two. I'll respond from there for sure, and we can have long conversations!!

Second favorite is running into people in the wild. Not at an author conference, but when someone recognizes me out and about and stops me to say hello. This rarely happens, because I'm more well known in author circles than reader circles (because of this blog), but I really love it when it does. Makes me feel kinda famous. :)

My favorite way to connect with a reader has to be in person. I really enjoy sitting down with them and shooting the shit. We can reach a deeper level of connection when we talk about our hobbies outside the book world. 

For example: I love to paint and create art, and I adore riding horses (I used to be an instructor). 

One of those things, you probably know from following me here for so long, but the other one, you probably didn't know before today. I've also had a ton of different jobs in my lifetime, so if you ever see me out and about, ask me about them! I'd love to chat. Maybe we've done similar things and have war stories to share.

This is why I most prefer to meet people in person. I can't ask you to buy my book because my brain doesn't work that way, but I can talk about nearly everything else. :)

So, hit me up. I love it!

Question: How do YOU like to connect with readers?

Thanks for reading and being cool. Next week, I'm planning to dive into some other things I think you might find helpful.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Tools for Marketing - Author Edition

Happy Friday, everyone! If you happen to be in the Roanoke, Virginia, area tomorrow, pop on down to the Holiday Inn Tanglewood and say HI. We'll be there from 9:30am-2pm. If you don't have a ticket, you can get one here. It's a short and sweet book signing you'll have a blast at. Okay, let's get our scoot on.

Today, we're talking about tools on the market that will help you with book promotion and give you ideas if you get stuck in your narrative. It's mostly about the promotional side though. :) Grab your coffee or tea and let's get right into it!

There are a number of social media aggregators on the market that will help you schedule posts on your socials way in advance. All of them are different and give you different socials and options. We'll start with these, and I'll go over FOUR of them. There are others, but many want you to get a demo before you get a price or a trial run, and others not listed are astronomically priced. :)

For the sake of apples to apples, we'll assume each user has 10 channels they'd like to connect and one user.

Buffer

This is the only one of the four listed here that has a free option. 3 social accounts at no charge, 10 scheduled posts, and 1 user. If you're not running a company, this isn't a terrible value. From here, though, the price increases dramatically. For $60 a year, you get ONE channel. Each channel after that costs you an extra $5 per month. At our base of 10 channels, that's $600 a year with only ONE user. This can add up fast.

It does have a visual calendar where you can drag and drop your posts around, making it easy to fix when you screw up and schedule the right thing on the wrong day.

SocialPilot

7 channels are included in the base plan with one user. You have a content library where you can put things you use often like hashtag collections, images, videos, etc. You can add custom fields once you get to the premium level. This base plan will cost you $30 a month or $306 per year. 

There are no analytics on the base plan. If you want 11 channels (the closest to Buffer with 10), it'll cost you $50 monthly or $510 per year. Still better than 10 channels for $600. This 11-channel plan also lets you have up to 3 users.

Again, you have a calendar with days where you can drag and drop.

Loomly

This one is kinda funky on the pricing. There's a basic plan that's free, and you get the same as Buffer (1 user and 3 channels), but you can't see the other plan unless you email them for a quote. I hate doing this. Just be upfront with your pricing, please. Sheesh. It does have some cool features I've been playing with like instant post creation when your blog feed pushes RSS. Then it asks if it can post it. You can also see everything in one place like the others, and you can set posting times ahead.

Updating: I found out. It's $384 for two users and 10 social accounts, but there are a lot of things you don't get like analytics.

Hootsuite

This is one we all know and love but can't afford. They aren't for the casual user. Their basic plan is pro and starts at $99 per month. I know. For that $99, you get 1 user, 10 socials, suggested times for posting, and "so much more." At $1200 a year, I better get a gold sink with that. It used to be free, and then it went to like $5 per month. Pretty sure I have a post about it around the blog somewhere.

Now on to tools that won't cost you an arm and a leg for images or other fodder.

Adobe Express

This sweet nugget is free for the basics, and it includes a LOT of stuff. Here's the link if you'd like to see for yourself. If you're in the market for a lot more included stuff, it's $100 a year for one person. Worth it. No more buying stock photos. YAY!

Chat GPT

Be pissed if you wanna be, but this program can save you a TON of time coming up with social media share texts--yes, even on the FREE version. You tell it what channels you're pushing to, and it'll get all happy with the emoji and verbiage. Then you just copy and paste. I feel like it's not taking a job from someone else in this case; it's helping save YOU time. Be specific, and tell it if there's a specific hashtag you want it to use. You'll be cranking out content in no time.

It can also help you get unstuck if you're stuck by giving you ideas about what's coming next in your book. This isn't using AI to write; it's more like chatting with a friend and brainstorming ideas. Try it out! It gave me a wonderful idea for a twist in my newest serial killer novel (coming soon), and I'm sure it'll have you thinking outside the box in no time.

So, there they are! These tools will save you time, and for an author, time is everything. Get back every second you can.

I hope you enjoyed this post! If there are any tools you'd like me to mention in posts like these, let me know in the comments below. Yes, you'll need a Google account, but that helps me control SPAM and trolls. :)

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

5 Tools I Couldn't Publish Without

HUMP DAY! Just two days until the weekend. Wooooo! Welcome back to the blog, y'all! Today, we'll be talking about tools. You know, those things that help you along the way? These will be specifically for Indie authors, though any author could use them, I suppose. Trad pubbers don't really need the help though. Anywaaaaay, enough rambling!

Grab your coffee and a cozy blanket, and let's get right into it.

Number one on my list is Microsoft Word. There. I said it. I use this program to write all my stuff. Not only is it an awesome word editor, but when my computer crashed, it kept my most recent file. #MadLove for Word. I tried other writing tools (looking at you, Scrivener), and when the program died, so did 14k words. Never again. Ever. Ugh.

Second is Adobe Photoshop. Because I went to school to learn design and how to use this beautiful program, I can use it to make covers like these:

Third on my lovely list is Adobe InDesign. Again, because I went to school, I know how to make interiors that look like these (print books only):

HINT: Click on them to see them larger.

Fourth is Jutoh. This is what I use to create my ebooks and output them in a myriad of file formats. It does PDF, Word document, and used to do .mobi before it became obsolete. I can make pretty books like this:

Fifth on the list, and because there are now SO many options, is Amazon Author Central. I also publish to Smashwords (now Draft2Digital). Author Central just gives me the ability to do everything from publishing my paperbacks to ordering them.

So, there are the five tools I couldn't publish without. Marketing is another conversation we'll get into on Friday. I have time savers I plan to share with you all. :)

What tools could you not live without?

Thank you so much for showing up and reading. I hope you got something out of this post. If not, I hope it was a lovely read either way. No, I don't create covers for other people, but I edit and typeset for IBGW because those are the things I'm willing to do. My covers are my own. :)

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What I Wish Readers Knew About Self-Published Authors

Happy Monday, and welcome back to the blog, y’all! I’m getting a little deep with the readers today, and we’ll be talking about all the things I wish y’all knew about us self-published authors. Up until very recently, and in some cases still, we were considered the red-headed stepchildren of the publishing industry. We produce crap, right? We have terrible editing and shite covers, right? Well, allow me to clear a few things up. :)

If you’re ready to hear the ramblings of a crazy person, hunker down with a doughnut and a cup of coffee, and let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Those books you see with homemade covers and bad editing are usually an example of an author that doesn’t know what they’re doing. That’s all it is. As they grow and learn to be a person in the industry, they start to understand what it takes to make a great book people want to read and will tell their friends about.

If you think the first things out of Stephen King’s fingers was the brilliance it is today, you’re mistaken. He even talks about it in his book On Writing. He says the first things you write will always be absolute shit, and you should put it in a drawer and forget about it until you’re an established author. Then pull it out and laugh about it. First drafts should lay in a drawer until you forget what you wrote so you can come back to it with fresh eyes for edits.

New writers don’t start on a level that’s Christine worthy. They start somewhere around the I-want-to-write-and-have-drive-but-don’t-understand-what-to-do-next level. Then they write, and they rush to publish (because it’s so easy now and they’re excited).

Does that mean they shouldn’t be given some grace? No. It means they need to learn how to do and be better than they were day one. I mean, I started here, and I now have over fifty books published. That first stuff wasn’t the worst, but it also wasn’t the first thing I ever wrote. Those stories will never see the light of day, and I’ll certainly never publish them. Beg all you want. You’ll never see them. Nope.

Even my first book, Yassa, wasn’t great, as I said. I was one of those beginners. I grew.

Let me tell you a little something else you may not know:

Indie authors pay from their own pockets for editing and cover design. Unlike a traditional publisher, which handles every aspect of the publishing of a book (think: audio, editing, cover, different languages, etc.), an Indie has to do all that themselves.

There’s no team of people there. It’s usually just one person footing the bill for all of the above.

Now I invite you to listen to this podcast where I talk about what we make when we sell a book. I get very deeply into the numbers. Tell me, if we make just around $0.35 for each book we sell, how long it takes us to recoup a $3,000 edit? I’ll wait.

That’s right, $8,571.5 books sold. Most readers don't want to pay more than $0.99-$1.99 for a book, so here we are.

Add in marketing tools (because no one can do all this stuff alone) and the cover, and you’re looking at an Indie needing to sell TEN THOUSAND books to BREAK EVEN.

Most just think it’s not worth it and quit. Those of us who’ve been around a while know that we need to learn to do a lot of this stuff ourselves OR get a less expensive edit, which is where a lot of those nagging errors come in.

Even if you don’t think a book is worth five stars, maybe a nicely worded note to the author along the lines of “Hey, I noticed a number of grammatical errors, but I really love your writing style, and once you get your feet under you, I’d love to read some more! Keep me on your list for new releases, please” might just go a long way. Just don’t smack it with a one-star review.

Because they’ll improve. We all do. You want to be there to see that happen, right?

If you’re an author, be sure you listen to that podcast. It’s telling.

If you’re a reader, try to keep some of this in the back of your mind as you navigate the book world. Please.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! Which author have you seen come a long way? Colleen Hoover isn’t an answer. Hahaha That woman has always been the diamond she is now. No one truly discovered her until recently though. I'm talking about an author that started in the doldrums and is now doing very well. Do you know of a breakout author (one who hit with their first book)?

Well, that’s all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Why Rats Make Awesome Pets and Why You Shouldn't Get One

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to the blog. :) If it's your first time visiting me, super welcome, and I hope you stick around. It's easy to subscribe; look to the right. So! Why are we all here today? Rats. We're gonna talk about those little fluffballs that steal our hearts then leave us, and I'll tell you why you shouldn't get one.

Ready? Grab a cup of coffee and get cozy, because we're diving right on in.

Rats, specifically fancy rats (not wild like their cousins), as pets were first bred for color variety by two men named Jack Black and Jimmy Shaw in the Victorian Era. Up until then, rats were wild and dangerous, and many people viewed them as pests. They were also used in betting arenas, but I don't like to think about the fates that befell those cuties. Very sad.

How can you tell the difference between a wildie and a dom? Basically, you look at color and ears. While some domesticated rats still have top ears, a large majority of them have what are known as dumbo ears (ears lower on the head, like Agnus--the rat in the picture here). Wild rats are usually brown, and dom rats are generally any other color (but can still be brown).

Rats are intelligent, have been known to show empathy, grieve, can be litter trained, and are more than willing to be trained for the right treat (or any treat, really). A lot of people call them pocket puppies because they behave a lot like dogs. All these traits come together to make rats one of the best ever pets.

At one time, I had five, and I'm peppering their photos in as we go here. Mine were all females because I love the mischief they get into and how much energy they have. I got Agnus because I'd had a rat when I was younger, and she was my bestie. Her name was Baby, and we ran all over town together. She adored sitting on my shoulder and just hanging out. I didn't know at the time you need more than one for that rat to have a full life, and I didn't know rats couldn't be kept in tanks because there's not enough ventilation. Boy, did I make some errors in the beginning I had to undo quickly. haha. ha. Ugh.

For starters, you need at least three rats for a proper hierarchy to form (this is one reason you shouldn't get one--you should get MANY). I had Agnus for two weeks before I traipsed out and picked up Gemini (shown on the right here--LOOK at her EARRRRS). Man, did we ever bond. They were trained to come to me when I called them and jump in a bag-type carrier when they were ready to go back to their cage and have breakfast freshies (fruit and veg, and the occasional meaty treat).

Gemini started chasing my bestie Aggie around and biting Agnus's tail. Solution? Get another rat.

Here's the rub: You can't introduce just one rat when the other two are six months older like that. You have to get at least two more rats so they have same age, same sex company. You do not want to mix males and females. Baby rats are cute, but these critters multiply at an alarming rate. So, I got three girls (Shelia on the left here, Ethel on the right down below, and Betty on the left a little lower) in case one passed away for some reason.

They all lived. They were quarantined in a separate cage for two weeks then introduced to my other two girls via what's known as the carrier method. So, I had FIVE rats. I decided to give them the best lives I could, got them the biggest, best enclosure I could, and built them a nice playpen around it so I could just open the door and give them time in the out.

Rats need at least an hour of active time outside their cage daily so they can run and stretch their legs to ward off Hind Leg Degeneration or HLD. We had a lovely routine, and I never had an issue getting them back in the cage after they'd been out. Food is a wonderful motivator. hahaha

While I did have five rats, Aggie was my heart rat and the one I was most closely bonded with. If you haven't figured it out yet, she was the only one I really wanted. All the others were literally for her.

Another reason you shouldn't get a rat is because they'll die and break your heart. Aggie lived almost two years, which is the standard, but Gemma died first. After that, they dropped like flies. It's so hard to have them, love them, and lose them so quickly. Both of those girls died in my arms, and the others... Well, they went on their own.

One thing to remember about rats is that they only live about two years, so they're in your life for a flash, but you're in theirs forever. Whatever you can do for yours (if you get some) while they're on this earth is something they'll have their whole lives. My girls loved puzzle toys with treats in them, and they adored their rat tree (huge cat tree, but we don't talk about those here).

You also may not want to get a rat if you have other pets. Rats should never be around other pets, and cats should never be in the room with rats. It only takes seconds for an accident to occur, and I've seen some pretty messed up cats because the rat got scared and attacked. Same goes for dogs. Rats have enormous teeth that can cut through tendon and muscle like butter.

They need enrichment daily through either pea fishing (that's what Betty is doing up there) or some other kind of puzzle to make them work to get their food. They don't want pellets fed to them in a bowl; wild rats have to hunt and forage, and their counterparts need that stimulation. Besides, would you want bland cardboard fed to you in a bowl? No. Yuck.

A lot of people complain about the smell of rats (but they REEK, Jo!), but I found if you clean the litter box twice a week, the cage every two weeks, and have an air purifier nearby, you'll never smell them. Not ever. 

They can also be goofy and funny. They each have their own little personality, and it's fun getting to know them. If you want a rat as a pet, please seek out an actual breeder who breeds for temperament and health rather than coat color or ear type. You'll thank me later.

So, the reasons to have rats as pets far outweigh the downsides. They're a lot of work, which makes them totally unsuitable for small children to manage alone, and they're expensive if they have to go to the doctor (Agnus, I'm looking at you), but they give so much love and affection in return. Plus, they fit in your pocket, which is pretty cool.

Here are some fun pictures of Aggie and Gemma to brighten your day. What's better than rats in hats?

I hope you all enjoyed this post and learned a thing or three, and I hope to see you again!

Have you ever owned a rat? What did you love most about them? Interested in getting some and have questions? Ask me. I'm an open book.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How My Writing Has Evolved Over Time

Welcome back, good people of the blogosphere, and happy Monday. We're going to have a beautiful week, so prepare yourselves! Today, we'll be taking a look at some of my earliest writing (both here on the blog and in my first novel, which coincide, weirdly) and see just how cringe we can make the experience (for me, obviously). This should be a riot. I haven't visited my early blog posts for a long time. haha

If you're ready to get going and laugh alongside me, grab some coffee and settle in. Here we go!

My first-ever blog post can be found here. This was back when I didn't understand what the hell a blog was or how to run one. I literally thought I could write a gabillion posts on one book. Boy, how naive was I?

Bold as I am, my dumbass posted a snippet from my book, and when I read it now, I want to slap myself silly. Let's just grab the first paragraph and have a looksee.

*********

He screamed, louder this time, as Temujin cut off another one of his fingers. I involuntarily flexed my own in response to the act. I had never seen a man fight like my friend had last night. It was like something other than his own mind was working his muscles, causing him to strike and slash like a harbinger of death. It made me appreciate that I had made a friend of him and not an enemy. When he began to peel back the man’s skin from his body, I almost vomited. I took a few steps away and turned my head.

*********

While this isn't terrible, it's not great, either. How would I write this today? Let's just see...

*********

He screamed again, louder than the first time, as Temujin removed another one of the man's fingers with the swift strike of a blade. 

I involuntarily clenched my fists. I'd never seen a man fight like Temujin had last night. It was as though he was possessed, a demon from Hell working his muscles, causing him to strike and slash like a harbinger of death. It made me glad I'd made a friend of him and not an enemy. When he began to peel the man’s skin back from his body, I took a few steps away and turned my head, nausea roiling. 

*********

This is how I'd revise. New character, new paragraph, and staying in one tense (first-person past). While Jamuka is the person from whom we're getting the story in the prologue, it's still about the other man. Not a bad opening line for a book though.

Now, let's go back and take a peek at my first advice blog. You can find it here. It's not exactly advice, but it is book-world news about closing bookstores.

All I can think of as I read my rambling diatribe is the sad loss of contractions. You'd think, someone who writes like I do now would've been into contractions from the start. Nope. I suppose I loved writing everything out formally. *vomit* It also sounds so transactional. Like, who the frack did I think I was? Zero humility. Though I still have very lofty opinions of myself, they're much more focused than they were back then. hahaha

Okay, those two were from 2012 (I've been around a while), so let's jump forward to 2014. Check this one out. We're talking about fun writing exercises, and I seem to have adopted my style for a greeting by then. I also have become far more comfortable with my readers, and even went above and beyond by making printable things for y'all.

Gonna jump forward to 2016 and see how we fare now. Surprisingly, I found a post where I talked about my MS diagnoses. Didn't think I'd done that before. Don't I look stupid? LOL! You can see it here, and you'll notice I was putting a lot of images in my posts back then. Scroll down to the comments section, and if those don't make you tear up... Yeah, you don't have a heart. 

I also noticed a BUNCH of my 2016 posts were cover reveals and new releases. How freaking dull am I? Jeesh.

Okay, now we'll go to 2018 and see where I was...

44 posts that year compared to 71 the year before and hundreds the years before that. You could literally see me slowing down. *cries in my coffee* I even remember the troll who caused me to halt the blog. Boy, was that frustrating. I got nasty comments telling me how I wasn't doing enough... I wrote a whole post about it. Well, to hell with them. I was doing what I could at the time. Ugh. Don't sign up for that newsletter!! It's dead and gone. Also to be resurrected sometime in the future!

I did come across this beauty of a post while I was digging. It's still how I write today and how I'm able to crank out thousands of words in just a few hours. Go enjoy it because I seem to have honed my blog voice by then.

I've gotten awfully wordy today! I hope you had a good laugh and were riveted to the page long enough to get down here. I'm excited about what Wednesday will bring, and I hope to see you all back here for that. This was fun and cathartic. :)

That's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON! <----this has stayed with this blog since day one. *happy tear*

Jo

Navigating Big Life Changes

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking about something that's hitting me hard right now, and that's Big Life Changes. Not only am I moving for the first time in over ten years, but I've also gone back to a previous job that's very demanding on my writer self. How the hell am I managing to also come back here and blog?

Well, that's the topic for today's post, silly. This is how I'm feeling about everything I have going on:

I know I can get wordy up here, but not today, gosh darn it. Get cozy and get scrolling!

Let's start by getting a rundown of things considered to be Big Life Changes. 

• Death of a loved one
• Changing careers or major career shifts
• Marriage or divorce
• Having children or becoming an empty-nester
• Major illness, injury, or health diagnosis
• Retirement or planning for retirement
• Starting or ending a significant relationship
• Financial gain or loss (bankruptcy, inheritance, winning money, job loss)
• Returning to school or significant educational pursuit
• Relocating to a new city, state, or country (separate from moving houses locally)
• Launching a new business or creative venture
• Significant milestone birthdays (turning 40, 50, 60, etc.)
• Becoming a caretaker for someone ill or elderly
• Pets passing away or adopting new pets
• Significant personal accomplishments (publishing a major work, reaching a personal goal)
• Spiritual or philosophical transformations

I don't know about you, but I'm going through a number of those right now:

• Relocating to a new state
• Becoming an empty nester
• Major career shift
• Pets passing away
• And I'm always struggling with my illness, so... Yeah...

It's a lot, but scheduling and planning helps a ton. One thing you have to keep in mind as you go through these things is carving out time for yourself. If you get sick or worn out, you won't have the energy to keep up with anything else. It's imperative you take care of you.

Steps I take to take to navigate huge task dumps:

• Talking it out over coffee with a friend
• Breaking tasks into smaller pieces so I can easily get my head around them
• Sorting and planning, realistically, time to do each task
• Writing everything out in a planner with time slots
• Using a timer to ensure I stick to the plan and wrapping up super quickly when it goes off

These not only save my sanity, but they allow me to accomplish things in smaller pieces so I get both a sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment. Checking things off a list feels SO GOOD, doesn't it? Not only that, but I make sure to work in time for friends, family, and my own leisure pursuits (y'all know about the new Hunger Games book--enough said).

If I sit down and try to do everything at once, it all becomes a jumbled mess in front of me, but by breaking it down and scheduling it, everything suddenly has a time and a reason. It's much easier to accomplish little things than big ones.

My other job is rather demanding right now because I'm trying to clean up and get my team on a new path. Researching tools that will help us do our job was a big part of that, and properly utilizing the tools we already had, and are paying for, required a lot of up-front work. It was overwhelming, but I took a stand-back-and-examine approach, and I think I have our priorities sorted. That was a huge step. It's frustrating to see tools that aren't being used, but we've gotten our bull by the horns now.

Revitalizing this blog is a huge personal goal of mine, and because I'm unapologetic about what I post or if I miss a day, I feel like that turns a lot of people off. However, I refuse to change that about myself. If I can't do it, I can't do it, but I hope you all know I give it my level best. It's important to me, so I make it as much of a priority as I can. :)

Bear with me through the changes. We'll find our footing. I promise you.

What kind of Big Life Changes are you dealing with right now? Any advice to add?

I hope you all took something away from this post and enjoyed the read. Unsure what the next post will be about, but we'll get through it together! I hope. hahaha

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Passive vs Active Work and Why Each Matters

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Welcome back. I know things have been kind of all over the place this month, but hey, you're not here for normal. If you wanted that, there are a ton of other blogs out there that'll deliver. Ha! One thing you won't get here are pre-written blog posts created by anyone, or thing, other than me. Despite my interest in AI and what it can offer writers, I prefer to tickle the keys and bring you my winning personality. :)

All that being said, today, we're diving into the differences between active and passive work and why you should be doing both. Why do they matter? Are they really both important?

There's only one way to find out! Let's stop wasting time up here and dive on in, shall we? Get that coffee, get comfortable, and get to scrolling.

Passive Work - This is most easily defined as learning. On a more complex level, you can call it a dabble (practice), gaining education, thinking about what you need to do, or setting up preparation to complete a task. Now, let's break those down.

Thinking about your task is the first thing you should do. While it does still matter, it usually comes in the form of considering what you need to complete the task, how you'll tackle the dabble, what books you'll read or videos you'll watch, and thinking about timing/making a schedule so you know when you're ready to prepare. You can also spend this time making a playlist or ordering/buying books you'll need for the education phase.

Dabbling gives you the advantage of basically trying before buying. This is where you try the skill or get used to the tools you're about to use to perform a bigger task. In the form of art, it's trying different mediums to see how they feel or react to whatever substrate you plan to use or getting the feel of different tools in your hands. In writing, it's things like blogging or journaling. Just keep in mind that practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent, so assure you're practicing with the right form in mind. Either by holding that brush just the right way or using complete sentences.

When you're passively tackling education, it's all about reading or watching someone else do what you're about to do. Taking classes to further your education in one area or another is also considered education. Lots of folks dive into this before they start to dabble. Yeah, there could be a set path, but sometimes, you dabble, educate, then do, so nothing is really set in stone. I know I started dabbling in writing when I was about twelve, and I didn't dive into the education side until much later. :) By the way, those first stories never saw the light of day. They were just mine. I shudder to think about the reviews... You also practice here because that's learning. Read, paint, do whatever until you're good at it.Something a lot of people don't know is that MailerLite has an education course where you can become certified. If you're thinking about that newsletter, go take the course and practice using their platform.

Now, with preparation, this is your woolgathering stage. You set the circumstances, get everything together that you need to perform the task, and make a plan or schedule to get things done. A lot of folks might call scheduling active work, but it's not. It's passive. 

Active Work - This is the doing. We can break it down into creating the thing; making sure others create the thing; or diving, well prepared, into that task.

When you're creating the thing (whatever it may be), you should know exactly what to do next and be well prepared to do it. You know your stuff because you spent passive time learning how to do the task(s) needed. You're familiar with the tools. All that passive work leads to the doing.

If someone else needs guidance (if you're a manager or foreman), you're the one with the skills to show them how to do it, and you can keep people on task because you have a schedule you created during your passive time.

Active work will be a small percentage of your day unless you're already well versed on the things you need to accomplish and how to get them done. Every time you're learning a new skill, you'll have more passive time in your workflow.

I've heard of some companies giving employees up to two hours a day to spend on learning so they get better at their jobs. Something to think about. When we know more, we're more productive and have to spend less time stopping to learn what we're doing when we come upon something we're not sure how to do. You know it ahead of time.

Spend the time learning how to do everything related to the tasks you know you'll be facing, and you'll be more productive and have fewer hours of downtime from having to backtrack or look something up (which is oftentimes where writers get lost in the internet). Ha!

I feel sometimes too much emphasis is put on the active side of things because that's where actual results can be seen, but passive work is equally as important, or you lose a lot of production hours. I know you know what I mean. :P

I hope this post was informative! Do you find yourself engaged in more passive or active work? How do you find the balance? Drop me a comment and let me know. :)

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How AI is Changing the Publishing Landscape

Hello, and happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we’ll be talking about how AI is changing writing and publishing for thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of authors. We’ll take a peek into how writers are using AI, and we’ll discuss what changes have happened (that I know about) through the publishing industry.

That sound good? Excellent. Get comfy, turn up the heater (those of you in the Midwest, BRRRRR!), and grab a drink. Unsure how long this will be, but it’ll be nowhere near the length of the AI trial posts I’ve been doing. :)

Authors are using AI in various different ways. Some are cranking out books by having AI write the whole thing and just clicking publish, even though many publishers now demand you to disclose if AI was used to write the book. Most writers, however, are using it as a helping tool. They don’t just plug in a prompt and get a book. They’re spending hours creating an outline, characters, worlds, and other such things, and then they get a chapter at a time they have to heavily edit. Sometimes, the AI will give them a workable chapter, and sometimes, they’re forced to redo the entire thing because they forgot something.

None of these programs are cheap to use, either. Sure, GPT costs about $20 a month, but as you saw in my previous posts, it needs a ton of rewording before it’s usable. Most good programs cost you per word.

Then why use it?

Well, it makes their writing go faster, helps them past a part where they may be stuck, or gives them ideas they may not have come up with otherwise. For some writers, that’s invaluable. We all still have the same issue though: marketing. How to get a book in front of readers who may enjoy it, right?

There’s also the folks who won’t touch a book written with AI with a ten-foot pole. I think a lot of people don’t realize nearly every word processor has some kind of AI built in now. Even MS Word has the new CoPilot AI running. Avoiding AI books is becoming as difficult as avoiding the sun in SW Florida.

Now, the horrors of AI are those books simply produced 100% by AI and are published without any kind of editing done. It makes every author using the program as a tool to help them write look like a hack. Some books, you’d never know used any kind of AI unless the author tells you. Some, are obviously AI and are obviously terrible from page one. This is why samples are so important, yeah?

Along with Amazon, Ingram Spark had some AI drama not long ago, and if I remember correctly, it had something to do with them wanting to use the content of the books submitted to create audio with AI.

Well, that’s not okay. A lot of authors I know already have an audiobook company, and I imagine the Actor’s Guild had something to say about that…

Another problem I see is the AI editors. Grammarly often corrects incorrectly, and they’ve been in hot water lately because they said they’d use the text they’re editing to train their AI. That was quite a blowback, but I’m positive there are a ton of folks out there who didn’t read the fine print and are using the program without knowing. Are they still doing it? I don’t know. Check the fine print.

That’s something you should be doing anyway if you don’t want your stuff used.

I can’t see any of these things going away anytime soon, but whomever amongst the masses still chooses to 86 any kind of AI, be absolutely sure you’re checking the ToS or ToU for whatever program you use or install.

It won’t be long until AI gets enough input to output pretty convincing books, so in time, we may have no idea what was and wasn’t AI to begin with. Book covers are already generated, and a lot of those are pretty convincing, so you can pretty much count on the content inside to catch up.

There’s no way to stop it. It will happen, but you can just keep doing what you do and keep doing it as well as you can. That’s all you can do. You can boycott, but there are people who just don’t care, and there are enough of them to make a difference. Screaming in the streets and online seems to also make no difference, but as I said, you can keep doing what you do, and there are those who’ll follow you into the depths of Hell because of your choice either way—to AI or not AI.

What do you think? Can you think of any examples? Drop me a comment below.

Well, that’s all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What

Big Words and Bigger Egos

Hello, and happy Monday, y’all!! Today, we’re discussing something, as an editor, drives me bananas: big words. We’ll take a look at when to use them, how to use them, and when to avoid them like the plague. Even the AI we’ve been discussing tends to drop in big words with no context, so this isn’t a singular issue. Unsure if that program’s developers simply told it to pepper the manuscript with big words for effect or if the papers/training material fed to it influenced it to use words most people don’t know, but it sure is annoying to have to look up every third word.

So, if you’re ready to be inundated by information, grab a cup of coffee or tea, settle in, and let’s learn some shizz.

Definition of Big Words: Things not easily understood by the majority of the population without some context clues for identification as to the meaning of the word. Words which need to be researched for understanding.

Big words are considered any singular word or multi-word phrase a common reader can’t comprehend without a dictionary or internet search. Used too often, they can turn a reader off the book or article you’ve written. Of course, there’s a time and place for everything, as you know.

When should you use big words?

When you can spare the word count to define them, you’re good, and when you’re 99% sure people will understand your meaning, a well-placed big word can enhance the narrative. For example: Gargantuan is a big word, and my pun is totally intended. Most people know what it means. Those who don’t can figure it out if you’ve used excellent context clues to help with definition.

She took a gargantuan bite of the sandwich, her mouth stretching like a python’s around the two slices of bread with all the meat and cheese I could fathom between them. How she managed to chew without choking, I’ll never know.

You get it. It’s a BIG bite. Gigantic. Ginormous. Huge. Gargantuan.

See? You got several words to relate to the one you may not have known the definition of. That’s context. Of course, the majority of people already know what the word means, so the context isn’t as needed, but it’s still helpful.

How should you use big words?

To enhance the narrative. Period. If there’s a simpler way to say something, say it that way.

When should you avoid big words like the plague?

If you’re writing for a young-adult audience, for children, or for the news (which is mass consumed), just say no. Unless you’re really, really good at context definitions, you want to use big words sparingly in these publications.

Why is this a thing which makes me nuts?

Because I read a ton. If I don’t know what a word means, there’s an excellent chance the common reader won’t know it either. We don’t need to be slapped in the face with your presumed intelligence or your overinflated ego because you believe you’re the wordsmith of legend. We simply find you arrogant and repulsive because you can’t pull your head out of your ass long enough to be on our level. If you’re writing for “smart” people, you’re not going to sell that many books; I don’t care how riveting your prose may be. As I said, it’s tiring AF to look up every third word. Yuck. DNF every time.

What books have you read that left you with the nasty aftertaste of dictionary? Did you finish?

Well, that’s all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo