Did a different show tonight.
Oh, yes, yes, I did record a 5 a Day With Jay, but I also met with a good friend of mine, Jack Mangan for metalasylum.net (you can watch it here)
We spent an hour talking about metal songs that ran the decades and covered nearly every genre of metal. I had so much fun.
On the writing front, I’m still getting things ready for the May 5th release. I’m no longer anxious/scared/petrified. I’m excited. I’m eager to get the books and short stories rolling out. I’ll be doing a podcast interview next Monday with one of my writers group friends. I’ll also start reaching out to other podcasters and see about getting out there and doing more interviews.
I also need to update my Amazon author profile. I went from a guy that was randomly publishing books to a “What ever happened to?” author. I was never 100% satisfied with the books I put out and now that I’ve done a thorough cleaning and editing of the books, I’m much happier with the state their in. I’ve always loved the stories and I’m more excited than ever to get the out to people.
As always, I’m glad you’re here with me. This next year is going to go by so fast. I’m glad I started blogging again so I can chronicle the steps along the way.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/eucuc2
We are One Month Away!
I can’t believe that we’re almost there. One more month and I’ll start dropping content. I’ve got all the edits done. I’ve got the schedule redone. It’s about to happen. I’ve had this master plan inside my head for a few years now, but I’ve been apprehensive to pull the trigger and do it.
I was quite stressed about doing a book a month. Yes, I’m confident I could have kept up that schedule for a good-length of time, but I’m also confident that at some point, I would have a life roll and my production would grind to a halt causing me to stop altogether.
I don’t want that.
To keep my books rolling out, I’ve got a backlog and now I’ve got a schedule and a plan. I’m getting all the wheels greased and getting ready to push this thing down the hill. It’s hard to explain how excited I am to do this.
As I get ready to launch, I’m still watching courses, reading blogs, watching videos, on the next steps I need to make once I get books out there. Mostly, I want to get books and stories released before I worry about things like advertising. I do plan to do that, but it’s not something I’ll be doing in the next six months or so. We’ll see how the plan goes and how things change.
That said, I’m glad you here with me for the ride as I chronicle my journey. It’s going to be interesting even if I fail.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0112-eualbf
Hoppy Easter
I hope you are well and had a wonderful Easter Sunday.
Here’s a picture of a bee.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Godzilla Vs Kong: Why don’t people love this movie?
I’ve seen number of reviews with a multitude of complaints about Godzilla vs Kong. It’s getting panned and, honestly, I don’t understand why.
What I mean is, if you’ve seen the previous movies, you know it’s not high-brow entertainment. It isn’t doing more than it intends to do. On top of that, there are still many nods to the original material. and previously established story lines. I was happy they even kept the same actors from the previous movies (Godzilla: King of Monsters and Kong: Skull Island).
That said, there wasn’t much of a plot in any of these movies. There’s a simple set up, one-dimensional characters, and we’re off to the races. Lots of fighting, TON of destruction, and you’ve got a movie. It’s, to be, brilliant in its simplicity.
For me, this movie is much like watching Pacific Rim. I can turn off my brain for a couple of hours and enjoy the ride. I am not expecting much and this movie did more than I thought it would. It was silly good fun that made me remember just how terrible the Godzilla movies were from when I was a kid, yet they kept things simple and went for incredible graphics.
I’m not sure what others were expecting from this movie to cause them to get unhappy with it, but I think it’s getting a bad rap. This isn’t a movie like Avatar which promised so much and was little more than Pilgrims vs Indians where the Indians win (and for me, failed hard at plot by trying to be more than it was). It’s a fun film that keeps the franchise going and I’m hoping for more movies like this in the future.
What did you think? Let me know.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Going wide and slowing down.
The past couple of days has allowed me to do a lot of thinking away from the computer. Some changes and all of it good. I think.
First off, I’m going to slow down the planned release schedule. The more I look at the schedule I’ve laid out for myself, a release a week for 12-18 months, looks incredible on paper. It really does. I’d be excited to hold to that schedule.
That said, I don’t think it’s tenable. I think I’d get started and fall flat on my face because I’m trying to run too far too fast. There’s no hurry. There’s no rush. I have a limited audience (and if you can’t wait, let me know and I’ll send you books now!). With that limited audience, there’s no one banging down my door for the next release.
On top of that, I still have a family and a day job to content with. If I burn the candles at both ends, I’ll burn out quickly and this won’t be fun any more. I don’t want writing to be painful and beat me down. I want it to be fun. If that means I need to slow down and not pump out content at breakneck speed, so be it.
For writing, I would still like to get a book every 2 months done and on top of that, get 2 short stories per month written. This will keep me filled with backlog and should something happen that breaks my writing stride, I’ll still have a backlog to content with and keep content flowing without interruption.
Secondly, I’m not going exclusive with Amazon. I’ve given this a LOT of thought. I want to maintain control over what I’m doing with my stories and where they’re released. If I go exclusive with Amazon, I wouldn’t be able to participate in a book bundle, should I get an invite. I wouldn’t be able to sell direct from my website. There are so many other reasons, but mostly, with the amount of content I’m going to put out, I want to reach the most readers possible. I don’t think Kindle Unlimited is the way to do that. Again, if you’re desperate for my books and on a limited budget, drop me a note and we’ll work something out. Heck, join my beta readers team and you’re all set.
Thirdly, My Favorite Daughter got her first full-time position with what she’s calling “her dream company”. The company is based out of Hawaii and they have an office here in San Diego. She’ll be a Jr Graphics Designer with, for a starting salary, do quite nicely with her first job.
I wouldn’t be more excited for her. She applied and interviewed for this last year. After a series of interviews, the company put all hiring on hold. She reached out to them recently and jumped back into the interview process. She signed her paperwork today and starts toward the end of the month. It’s an exciting time for sure!
Finally, an update on my reading goal for 2021. I plan to read 40 books this year. Currently I’m sitting at 7 read. With all I did this month, and very little reading, I’m not concerned that I’ll miss this target. I finished Patrick McLean’s Manligator yesterday and started Dee Dee Ramone’s autobiography today. Can’t keep a good reader down.
I’m off to relax and read a little before bed.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0111-eu4mq9
Not tonight…
Feeling a little under the weather. All edits are done, though. Next week I’ll start on blurbs and intros.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Another short post.
My arm is still a little sore from the shot, but I’m feeling far better than yesterday. I’m nearly done with the edits for GRPC1 which will only leave GRPC2. I won’t have an issue getting that done tomorrow.
Met with my writer’s group this evening. Always great talking with them and thinking things through.
One of the big things on the top of my mind is…do I go WIDE with my distribution, or drop my books on Amazon and put them into Kindle Unlimited. Each has it’s own set of rewards and drawbacks. I’m waffling and I know it.
I can’t wait to get back to putting words on the page with will happen this week when I start working on blurbs and intros to each short story. That’ll be fun.
I’m still watching the WMG courses I signed up for and this is what’s tugging at my brain when it comes to distribution. AUGH!
At any rate, I need to get some rest.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only : https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/eu0do5
Short post tonight.
As I mentioned at the end of the post yesterday, I’d gotten the 1st Moderna shot. It’s had me a little run down today, so not much happened. I’m confident tomorrow will be a much better day.
That said, I’ve still for GRPC 1&2 to apply edits to before I begin on blurbs/sales copy/ad copy. Then I want to do an intro to each short story that I’ll be publishing. I think that’ll be a nice touch and I’ve seen other authors do that as well. Should be fun.
Then I get get all the ebooks and print books formatted.
On top of all this, I decided I needed more on my plate. I guess I’m a masochist. I reached out to my co-author for the Jack Kane books. He’s been in hiding for quite a while and recently started blogging again. It was great to see him posting so…I said HEY! MIKE!
Two things Mike and I will be doing. One is starting the plotting and writing of the 3rd Jack Kane book. We always intended for this to be a series and this will keep us plugging away at that.
Secondly, will be the two of us jibber-jabbering about whatever comes to mind, recording that as a video, and I’ll drop that on the YouTube channel weekly. Something short, not more than 30 minutes. This will get the two of us talking about Jack Kane to keep that story/series moving forward, and get us some cross exposure on our work.
So, yeah, why not make myself even busier than I already am? 🙂
I’m off to get some rest.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0109-etu7jp
Still moving right along.
Little by little, I’m getting closer to my goal of publishing something new weekly. It’s scary to think how close I am to getting started. I know I’ve said this in previous posts, but I’m truly excited to begin.
My biggest hurdle in getting my writing career started has always been my inconsistency. Once I get all this scheduled, that will no longer be an issue. I’ll be able to sit back and focus on the new books I’m working on and getting those out to readers. It couldn’t be a more exciting time.
To keep you apprised of my progress, I’ve gotten one of the Almost-Super Heroes books done and I’m working on the second in that series. That leaves GRPC 1 and 2 to get done. That will lead me into GRPC book 3 which I’m already working on and getting my head back into that story.
While I’m working on that book, I plan to write 1000-2000 words per day and write 1 or 2 blurbs per day. I’m going to work through the schedule so I have the May releases ready first and I’ll be able to upload those.
I’m giving through to writing a short introduction to each short story with a brief history of that story, it’s inspiration, and if it’d been published previously. That will get a little more meat to the short stories.
There’s still a lot of work ahead of me. I’m excited to get started.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
P.S. Got my first Moderna shot and scheduled my appointment for the second. WOO WOO!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/etrk23
A day out of the house.
This morning, I had intended to edit at least one of the 4 remaining books I have left to go. The best laid plans of mice and men.
Before I could get started, the Mrs. said “Hey! Let’s do a thing” and off we went. Plants were bought, pots were bought, clothes were bought, puppies were played with, a lizard was rescued.
It was nice to get outside after spending the entire week without getting outside. Tomorrow, the cycle starts again.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
J.R. Murdock 