J.R. Murdock

Hey Crew,

Shortest post tonight. Got my words in, saw Bohemian Rhapsody (wonderful movie). More tomorrow.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Short post tonight. I was doing a bunch of reading and watching videos on marketing today. I did get most of my word goal in. Many more will happen tomorrow.

I’m fascinated by what some people consider marketing and it seems many have the same, dull advice. Blog. Post on FaceBook. Tweet. Post on Instagram. Start a Youtube Channel.

<sigh>

That doesn’t work for everyone. Yes, I know it takes time to build an audience and I’m not seeking a magic bullet. I don’t mind doing the work. I really don’t. I’d prefer to see better advice instead of the same old rehash.

I did find some and in the coming days, I’ll share. The best one I’ve found so far was getting people other than your family and friends to buy from Amazon to help drive user analytics. That piqued my curiosity and I’ll be digging into that one much more. If there’s something I’m good with, it’s numbers and analyzing data (it’s kind of what I do for my job these days).

I also need to get around to some of the 20BooksTo50K seminars. I have links to a few of the videos and I’ll be watching those very soon. Was excited to see that Dean Smith and Kris Rusch were both speakers at the Vegas conference. I know several people in attendance and I’ll be interested to see what they bring back from that.

One of the biggest holes with me getting my writing out there has been lackluster sales. When I get a review, it’s always positive, even from folks I don’t know. I love that. I wish I could get them into the hands of more people.

When My Favorite Daughter and I sit down and rebrand me and my books, I’ll be hitting the ground running and trying to get some traction. I know I’ll be spending money to prime the pump and from what I’ve been reading, a little investment will have a little return. A slightly larger investment could potentially have a significantly larger return. I’ll be posting how things go.

For now, I’m off to bed. Hopefully, sleep will come as my head is full of ideas, targets, trajectories, and the like.

And, of course, The Crew of the SS Acid Rat are always in my head. 🙂

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Another long day. I had planned to get a bit caught up on my NaNoWriMo words, and slipped a little further behind. Hey, that happens. I know I’ll get caught up. I’m only a couple thousand words behind and that’s just a couple of more hours I’ll need to spend in the chair. When I get on a roll, I can do it.

Why do I know I can do this? I love these characters. I’m having fun getting back into their heads. I’m so glad I dropped the beginning and started over. When I do sit and write and knock out 1000 words, it doesn’t feel forced, I don’t feel stressed. I’m enjoying myself. I’m escaping from the day-2-day. If I weren’t having fun, I don’t think I’d keep coming back to writing.

Writing is only one part of what I’m doing. I need to get to publishing. I know that. I pester My Favorite Daughter regularly. I want to get these books out and I’m only lacking covers. Sure, I could do it myself, but I know what she will do I’ll be much happier with. I’ll have a consistent theme across all the series, and each series will stand apart from the others. It’s going to be great. I just need to be patient. Close my eyes, take a deep breath and be patient.

Yeah, it’s not easy. 🙂

That said, one of the many (MANY) blogs I read is Kris Rusch’s blog. This week she talks about Writing What You Love. I suggest you take a look.

https://kriswrites.com/2018/11/07/business-musings-getting-to-the-stories-you-love/

It’s something I have struggled with at times. What would I write if I weren’t writing something I enjoy writing? Honestly, I can’t imagine writing something I wasn’t having a good time writing. I’ve seen authors write to market. Some do well. But…they’re nothing writing something they’re passionate about. I guess, for me, writing and telling my stories was never about the money.

Sure, I’d love to have a hit novel and be able to write full time. Who knows, if I actually get my act together, that could happen. What would I do with sudden success?

LEARN!

I’d learn everything I could to maintain that success or at the very least, protect my income and reinvest it in myself. I’d learn business. I’d learn more about what authors do to tell better stories and get interest. I’d learn more about marketing my novels.

Speaking of which…

There’s a FaceBook group I’m a member of. 20 Books to $50K. I’ve only lightly read in there. I know I need to delve deeper. They’re having an event in Vegas this weekend and live streaming many of the seminars. If you’re interested, I suggest you take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/781495321956934/

I haven’t watched any of the content, but a few authors I know are there and highly recommend what they’re seeing. I’ll be checking it out.

For now, it’s late, I’m tired (you know the drill).

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Much better day today. Had I been in the chair more than I was, I would have gotten more than 1000 words written, but given how little time I spent actually writing, I’ll take those 1000 words. Darn election coverage.

Yes, this puts me behind on my NaNoWriMo goal and my November goal in general. I will have good days coming up. That much I know. At least I’m keeping the streak alive with getting words down every day, no excuses. Writers write. That’s #1. I’ll work on the rest of Heinlein’s rules in the coming months.

Busier than normal day today with the day job. One of my co-workers is out so I’ve been testing/troubleshooting something he’s been working on. Since I’m fairly new to what he’s doing, it’s a steep learning curve. Combined with doing End-of-the-Year goals and finishing off some training, it’s been fun.

Helped My Favorite Daughter build a garden box for her ginger plants. They were getting constrained in the pot they were in as they like to have room to run. Picked some peppers from my pepper plants. No idea what kind they are. Some are crazy spicy, others are good and flavorful.

Spent the early morning hours with a playful puppy. Below you will find a few pictures of Koda (the teacup Yorkie) and Orea (the Lasa Apso). Tootsie, our oldest puppy at 14, is mostly blind and mostly deaf and the puppy scares her so she avoids her as much as possible. Hence, I don’t have a picture of the two of them together yet. I have found them laying next to each other a few times, but when I try to take a picture, the puppy, ever curious, will follow me.

Speaking of training, I signed up for Scott’s Bass Lessons. I figure if I’m going to toy around on the instrument, I may as well learn how to really play it. I’ve learned a number of songs already and it’ll be nice to fill in the large knowledge gaps I’ve got.

Also, along the training vein, I’ve signed up for a few of Dean Wesley Smiths online lecture series.

I might be coming up on 50 (don’t let the photo on the blog fool you, I was 35 in that picture) but I will be a life-long learner.  I don’t think I could spend my life not learning something new.

Speaking of something new, I need to go refresh my brain. 4am comes early and if the puppy stays asleep, I might knock out some early morning words and get back on track with my word goal for November.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Wow, I don’t know which is kicking my butt harder; my sinuses or the hour change. Getting dark so early is messing with my head and with my sinuses as full as they’ve ever been, I don’t need my head messed with right now. Combined with NaNoWriMo, I don’t need anything slowing my roll.

But that’s what happening. Dang it. I did get into the chair and knocked out 1000 words before I had to tap out. I took some sinus meds so my brain is getting fuzzy and I’m about to drop off into La La Land (yes, I saw the Teletubbies meme and it was hilarious for those who actually got it 🙂 ).

So, tonight is a short post to keep the streak alive and well. A good night’s rest and I should be better in the morning (I just misspelled half the words in that last sentence.)

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew!

Another NaNoWriMo day. I had thought I’d have more time in the chair today than I did given the extra hour we gained last night. Turns out I was wrong. I did, however, get 1400 words in before the day went all winky on me. And got in about 45 minutes of bass practice between what I thought would be at least two writing sessions.

With a new puppy in he house there is much to do, so we took the puppy to the vet to get her started on her shots. Hat took much longer Ha n anticipated. Getting back we had lunch and got ready to head to my faher-in-law’s o spend the day over there. Good visit as always and brought along the puppy so she could experience grass for the first time. Being that we have zero scaping, all she has here is concrete, rock, and diet to explore.

While there, both the Mrs and I started getting headaches. Turns out, a marine layer had moved i n and both of our sinuses suffered. Ugh. Been a while since I suffered from my sinuses filling up and my head throbbing.

In fact, went to bed almost as soon as we got home. I did knock out a couple hundred more words before I couldn’t take it any more. In fact, I was almost asleep when I realized I hadn’t posted yet. Perhaps I should do these first thing in the morning:-)

At any rate, off to bed to contend with my sinuses. Been so long since this happened, all he meds for sinuses have expired. If this continues tomorrow it’ll be time to buy some Sudafed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew!

Great day today. Lots going on, and I also got a lot of time in the chair. I surprised myself by watching exactly 0 hours of TV today. That’s how NaNoWriMo will need to be if I’m going to be hitting targets. More time writing, less time sitting idle.

We’re still potty training the puppy. Yes, I’ll post a cute picture soon, I promise. She is good about (mostly) using the pee pads instead of the carpet so I’m still very thankful of that. I haven’t gotten a surprise between the toes yet. For that, I’m even more thankful.

I knocked out 2500 words today in two writing sessions. I may sit and write more. Not 100% sure at this point. I’m a little tired but feel I’ve got at least another 500 words in me that want out tonight.

Had a great dinner with Jack Mangan and his family and a few other friends. Yes, THE Jack Mangan from the Jack Mangan Deadpan Podcast. It’s been gone for a while, but will never truly be forgotten.

His daughter is excited to be doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. I’m excited for her and will cheer her on every step of the way. If you’re also doing NaNoWriMo, let me know in the comments so I can cheer you on as well. I love reading about other people’s writing adventures so I’d love to hear yours!

I’m off to go make a few more words happen. BUT FIRST!

One of my writing group has a new book out and you should totally pick up a copy. Actually, two of them do so below are two links to two books you should totally pick up.

First is IQ Malcolm:

Second is Timothy Niederriter. He’s been writing and releasing a series of novellas that you want to read! Here’s the link to the first in the series and he just dropped the latest a couple of weeks ago.

I know I need to do more to signal boost my friends and that starts today.

I’m off to make a few more words happen in VA3 and then it’s off to bed for me.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

NaNoWriMo day 2: I got my daily words for meeting NaNoWriMo down today. I need to write for a bit longer to catch up to what I missed yesterday (only 1000). I will get caught up to that point. I’ll try to get them done tonight. We shall see what happens.

The Mrs. has to work tomorrow so I’ll spend time in the chair getting words down. The last chapter was a tad slow, but I feel needed to fill in some background for those that may choose not to read Almost-Super Heroes and will need that backstory. It’s also interesting for those that may have read ASH and would like a little more detail filled in. Either way, it’s a good chapter. I’m liking the new character. She will definitely have an impact in V&A 4 as well as the Military Sci-Fi Trilogy. Not 100% sure what she’s up to thus far and I’m curious to find out.

B.T. Justice is doing things you’d expect him to be doing. His chapters almost write themselves. Now that I’m a little into the book, I’m thinking I’ll be switching to his POV more often than I normally do. I tend to flip between all the POV characters, but I may to 2 on the Acid Ratt, then a BT chapter, and back again. BT has grown far more than I ever expected and I think he deserves more of this book. Again, we’ll have to see what happens. For now, the characters are on different, but converging paths.

All this I’m working on, and my brain is already thinking about GRPC book 3. Ravi has so much story to tell.

Beyond that, I keep thinking about when I get each 4-book set complete when I’ll be putting out sets with all 4 books in them. Honestly, that’s what I think I’ll start to see some sales actually happen. Well, and also when I start pumping out the books.

My Favorite Daughter will be using my book covers as a project for her class. She needs to rebrand someone/something. Her thought was she could help me with my branding for her class project. I’m all for that idea.

It’s late, I need to get more words down before I head off to bed. Tomorrow is another day and more words will happen.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew!

Happy first day of NaNoWriMo! For those that don’t know, Nobvember is National Novel Writing Month. A month where people try to write 50,000 words in a single month. Being that I’ve passed this goal in regular writing without the challenge, I’m not officially competing, but I will be posting my progress on the blog througout the month and let you know where I’m my.

My personal goal is to get to ‘the end’ of V&A Shipping 3. I’d like to be knee deep into GRPC3 before the year is out and in order to do that, I need to hammer on the keyboard as much as possible.

So, how’d the first day go?

Not as well as I’d hoped. Only about 600 words. Tomorrow will be a better day. I had thought today would be a quiet day with plenty of time for writing. It’s interesting how, when you don’t take advatage of all those ‘few minutes’ during the day to knock out words, how an hour can disappear from you in the evening (or two, or three).

But, as I said, tomorrow is another day. NaNoWriMo is all month long and even though I’ll be playing catch up tomorrow, I know I can still make it. No more excuses. Time to get cracking.

Well, tomorrow will be time for cracking. Right now? It’s time for bed. 4am comes on quick ’round these parts.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew!

Happy Halloween! I had thought having over 1000 pieces of candy would be enough to get us through all the trick-or-treaters tonight. I was wrong by about 45 minutes.

We live in a heavily populated residential district. There’s an elementary school at the top of the hill, a middle school at the bottom of the hill, and LOTS of people know that in this area, there are many houses that decorate and hand out candy.

My Favorite Daughter had a clever and simple idea to decorate (since we were away on the weekend we would have normally decorated). In the back of one car were the scary decorations with the work ‘Trick’ hung. In the other were stuffed animals and the word ‘Treat’. In the middle, a giant pumpkin head monster holding ‘or’. In the Trick car, we put the Halloween strobe lights, in the other, colored Christmas laser lights. So each looked quite different. She did a great job. Clean up was…well, it’ll happen tomorrow, but we were able to pull down everything as quickly as it went up and stuffed it all in the back of the cars. We’ll put it all away tomorrow.

It was a great night. I’m confident it was the busiest this street has seen in a long time. Swarms of kids, lots of parents, and a few older kids who really don’t need to trick-or-treat, but hey, they were dressed up and having fun. 🙂

Needless to say, I didn’t write as many words as I handed out candy. Didn’t get much time in the writing chair. Tomorrow NaNoWriMo starts, so the time for excuses is over. Well, it’s been over for a long time, but I do intend to write as much as possible in the month of November. Let’s see what happens. 🙂

I’m off to bed for 4am will come all too soon.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!