Blog Archives
This is a new experience.
I’m not opposed to new experiences. I’ve done a lot of things in my life. Most of them fun. Not everything ends up as expected. Some times things go horribly awry.
One change I made this year, with regards to my writing and publishing, was to get on a schedule and stick to that schedule. Write the books, put the books out. See what happens. If you’ve been following for some time, you know I set a goal back in May when all this began. I wanted to make $100 from my writing in 6 months.
Organically.
That means doing nothing more than my regular social media I’ve been doing all along. Nothing. Write the books, put the books out on a schedule, release it, tell everyone, write the next one. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I won’t lie. I never thought I’d get anywhere close to that. Though I’ve been sticking to the schedule, I had started to lose hope that we’d ever get there. I wasn’t going to let the failure get to me. I mean, we’re only 4 months in. There are 2 more months to hit that goal, right?
So here we are, in August. Nearly at the end of the month. I dropped Almost-Super Heroes this week. As I’d mentioned, I started reading the copy and was 4 chapters in before I had to stop myself. I feel that this is some of my better writing and I’m having a blast with all the characters across all the series. GRPC3 is coming along nicely and I can’t wait to drop this one.
What does all this have to do with new experiences?
I’ve dropped 2nd books in a series before. I’ve given away a lot of books with the hopes people will pick up the next in the series. I’ve been on podcasts talking about my work and tried to get people to read my stuff. Since January 2011 through March 2020, I’d made a grand total of $420 across all my books. Really, I didn’t think I’d ever crest much more with my writing. I didn’t think it’d happen.
So far this month, with the release of ASH2, I’ve sold 10 titles. Yes, I know this is very small, but with ASH2, I’ve sold 3 copies this week and 5 copies of ASH1. On top of that, I have 1000 page reads in Kindle Unlimited (KU).
For those that make a living with their writing, yes, this is small potatoes. Not much to talk about. For some, this happens hour over hour every day of the year. For me, this is a whole new experience. I’m seeing read through! I’m seeing an uptick. I’m seeing sales and reads.
Sure, it’s happened sporadically before. I’ve always known what my failings were. I wasn’t consistent. Since March, I have a slow, steady uptick in my sales. I’ve released work on a schedule. It appears to be working. Since March, I’ve made $65.
Again, yes, I get that this is not a large amount. But remember my goal. $100 in 6 months. We’re 4 months in and I’m two-thirds of the way there. Before this week, I wasn’t even half-way. Like I said, I’d pretty much given up on that initial goal of $100 in 6 months. I didn’t think it’d happen. Though I’d given up on hitting that mark, I didn’t stop putting work out. That’s what’s burned me in the past.
This week has filled me with excitement. Last night I sat down and scheduled 6 of the next 9 short stories that will be coming out every other week. I began formatting Murdockian Tales volume 1. I’ll get getting that one ready to drop soon. That’ll collect the first 9 short stories. My Favorite Daughter did a great job on the next set of book covers.
Coming into this week, I was feeling a bit deflated. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure if all this was worth it. Seeing this bump? I can say I feel renewed and energized. I can’t wait to see what happens over the next two months.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Almost-Super Heroes book 2: Flight!

I was going to tell a little story today, but since I’m a complete goofball, I had forgotten to upload ASH2: Flight. Yes, yes, the summer got away from me and though I meant for this book to release tomorrow, I needed to get it uploaded and Amazon wouldn’t let me do a pre-order for a short time and, surprise! It went live sometime last night.
That said, I’m excited to report that people noticed as I’ve already sold 2 copies and someone also picked up ASH1: Escape. This is totally unexpected. I mean, yeah, I’ve been hopeful that people would organically discover that I have new books appear, but so far, I’ve had to push and push and push to get one or two sales.
That said, no, I’m not ready to start advertising yet. I want to have more book under my belt and keep the flow going before I do that. I will, eventually, begin to advertise, but I don’t feel right now.
This is a great time to point out the milestone we’ve hit here. This book marks the half-way mark of the story arc we’re in. Confused? Yeah, me too.
We have 2 V&A Shipping books, 2 GRPC books, and now 2 ASH books. That’s 6 books in this entire storyline that will move into a military sci-fi series. All of these 4 series will have 4 books. I’m still thinking about how I need to alert readers that all these books tie together.
My initial plan is to put the 1st chapter of the next book to read at the end of each book. This will give a little bonus content as well as pointing the reader in the right direction. Yes, a person could read each series individually before moving on to the next series. There may be minor spoilers.
I feel I’m rambling, because this isn’t the post I intended to write today. This was supposed to be tomorrow’s post. If you made it this far, check out the latest. I started re-reading it and had to stop myself…4 chapters in LoL. This book is fun and I feel my writing is getting better with each book. Please, tell me if I’m wrong.
Monday Update: Stay on target. Stay on target!
63,190 words.
So far for this month, I’ve written 63,190 words.
I…no, seriously. I’m astonished. I was a touch behind, but now…I’m a tiny bit ahead. I’ll be doing my words in a little bit. I don’t want to lose that tiny bit. I’d like to stay on target.
Never did I think I’d maintain this pace for half the month. Now with ten writing days left, it looks like I might actually make it. Another 30,000 words and I’ll do it. I’m not sure what to say. I guess we’ll see where I land.
As I said from the start of this challenge, I’d be happy to hit half my goal. That would have been 44,000 words. I’m already past that so I’m excited! Like… very excited! Currently, I’m 100,000 words ahead of my annual goal. I think I’m going to leave that goal of 438,000 for 2017 in the dust. In fact, I’m already looking at 2018. I’ll be bumping up that goal to 2000 words a day and see where that takes me. It’s very likely I’ll come close to that goal this year, but we’ll wait and find out. I’ve a couple more challenge months I’ve set aside, so we’ll see where that takes all this.
I’m also thrilled that I’m knee-deep into Almost-Super Heroes 2. I’m so excited that I decided to do a little timelining on when these books will drop. As I said in the last post, I’m looking at a 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year plan. As it stands, here’s what I’ll be dropping for the rest of the year.
July 1st, 2017 – Golden West 3: Showdown
September 1st, 2017 – Giant Robot Planetary Competition 2: Villain
November 1st, 2017 – Almost-Super Heroes 1: Escape
Yes, I’ve already plotted out 2018 releases as well. All of this will lead up to the Military Sci-Fi trilogy I have planned with the 4th book in V&A Shipping, GRPC, and Almost-Super Heroes all tying in.
In total this entire story arc will take place across 15 books. Yes, a massive undertaking. That’s a lot of books. A lot of teams. A lot of moving parts. To be honest, at this stage in my writing, I’m finally ready to take it all on. I can’t wait to start dropping books over the next two years to see what happens.
All of this wouldn’t be possible if I hadn’t challenged myself to see what was actually possible. I’ve had a few of you following along and thank you for your encouragement. It means a lot to me. I’ve cleared away many roadblocks and mental challenges that I’ve had. Those prevented me from really allowing myself to move forward with this.
I’ve got a lot of words to write and I’m going out tonight (Yes, I still have a life beyond writing) so I’m off to make words happen.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Monday Update: Gloom, despair, and agony on me ooooOOohhh.
Two weeks ago I set out to write 3000 words per day until May. How’d I do? Well, if you’re following along at home, you know I didn’t succeed the first week. How’d I fare the second week? Worse. Dang nab it.
The first week I knocked out 17,118 words. The second week I only managed 15,205. So my hope was to hit 42,000 words over 14 days and I only managed 32,323. I hang my head in shame and disgrace.
Pfft, who am I kidding? 32,000 words in two weeks? I’ll take that. Sure, I missed my goal, but I also spent a lot of time with the family doing family stuff and sometimes, that happens. Yes, I still wrote every day, but when you don’t get a chance to start writing until very late at night, makes it tough to get those 3,000 words out.
As far as I’m concerned, 3K Per Day ‘Til May was a rousing success. For the entire month of April, I managed 66,321 words for an average of 2211 words per day. I finished Almost-Super Heroes (title subject to change cuz I had a brilliant idea) and I got knee deep into Golden West 3: Showdown (sitting at nearly 43,000 words). It was an exciting month and I’m looking forward to May.
One of the things I learned in the 3K challenge is that I really needed to stretch to hit that word count on a daily basis. Out of the 14 days, I hit that target 8 days. Yes, I missed the target 6 of those days, and most of the time it was all my fault. I’m the king of procrastination. I know this and it’s something I need to work on. The news won’t change from hour to hour, therefore I don’t need to watch 3-4 hours of news while I’m doing things about the house. In fact, I shouldn’t because it eats into your brain. It caused me to lose focus. Other days work did the eating and I didn’t want to look at a computer screen for one more minute. So I didn’t. Until late. Then I chose to sit up trying to hit my target.
With all that said, yes, I feel my 3K per day challenge was a huge success. I got a lot of words done. I stretched my limits. Spread my wings. And, though I didn’t fall out of the nest, I didn’t soar as high as I’d hoped.
So what’s next? I’m glad you asked.
Next is my next challenge and you might have guessed, it’s very similar to the challenge that just passed. 3K per day ’til May was a warm-up to the main event. That’s right. 3K Per Day in May! I will attempt to write 3000 words a day for an entire month.
What? Has Jay lost his mind? Is he nuts? A job, A family, and writing 3000 words a day? Where does he find the time?
For me, it’s about small sacrifices. Taking advantage of those little slices of time to write and to write as quickly as possible during that time. I’ve got a lot of books in my head demanding to be let out, so it’s time to turn the crank and get them out.
Speaking of which, I’m off to go make words happen. If you need some motivation, follow along with me! I’d love to see how you’re doing. Set your own challenge and post here. Let me cheer you on. It doesn’t have to be writing related, could be art related (a sketch a day in May), could be poetry, painting, basket weaving, anything. Let me know, post it here, and go for it! Let’s push each other to do more.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Monday Update: Progress is Progressing
Hey Howdy Hey and welcome to another Monday. I hope everything is going wonderful for you.
So I decided Monday seemed like the best day to post an update. Why? Well, because it’s the start of the week for most and it’s a good stepping off point. Let’s see where I’m at and where I want to be.
When last we spoke, I’d finished GRPC2 the day before. That meant jumping into a new book. I didn’t jump into a ‘new’ book so much as jumped into a book I’d already started. That, for me, is even more difficult. What happened before? Where was I going with all this? What little secrets did I want to reveal? What foreshadowing did I do?
Let me say this here and now. Writing faster means I don’t lose track of those things. When it took me months to write a book, I would lose track of a little item and would forget why I’d dropped it in. Writing faster means I can drop a hint, and a dozen chapters later, I can get the payoff. Since it’s only a few days away (and not two or three months). I’m liking that.
So, I jumped back into Almost-Super Heroes after being away from the story for nearly three years! This book, in a way, will tie into the V&A Shipping universe. Giant Robot Planetary Competition is also in the V&A Shipping universe. I plan on tying all these books together. Without meaning to, Billy Barbarian is also in that universe, but won’t be directly involved with the current storyline I’m weaving through all the other titles. I will say no more on this, ever! You’ll have to read and follow along with the books to know what I’m up to. No spoilers to you!
Back to Almost-Super Heroes. The week started out…bumpy. I chose to go back and re-read/edit the first 40,000 words I’d already written. As I said, it’d been over three years. I knew where I was going overall and how it tied into the major story arc across all the titles. So over four days with cuts and additions, I only had a net gain of 3300 words, BUT I knew everything that was going on. I was able to get back into the character’s heads. It all started to click once more. All those ‘candy bar’ scenes were still in my mind and waiting to jump onto the page.
Over the last three days of the week, I knocked out 8300 words. I keep saying, I want to average 2000 words a day during Lent. I’m not going to get upset because one of those days I cut an entire 2500 word chapter and only netted a total of 400 words. Yeah, I wrote 2900 words and I could have counted that, but I’m in an existing story. I’m going by net gain. As I said, those first days were bumpy, but the story is better for it.
Did I manage 2000 words a day last week? Nope. Total miss. I only had 1661 words per day. That’s not important. What is? That I’m still averaging over 2000 words per day for Lent overall. I was able to pound on the keyboard and still hit my words I needed to. This week I will get ahead. Why?
First, Mike Plested, you remember him? My writing partner on Jack Kane? Well, he tagged me so tonight I wrote the next chapter in Jack Kane 2. So I’ve got 2100 words down, and I’m ready to try and do the same with Almost-Super Heroes.
I’ve got a new goal and this is what I should have done for Lent because I think it would have been a true challenge.
Remember a couple weeks back when I was talking about Dean Wesley Smith and Pulp Speed writing? Well, for the rest of Lent I intend to write at Pulp Speed 1. It’s not that many more words per day (average). It’s 2750 words a day. Guess what? I already did that for 3 days without thinking about it. I’ll do it again today. I’m fairly confident I can do this for the remainder of Lent.
If I do, what’ll happen?
First, it means I’ll crush my Lent goal. If I stay on target of 2000 words per day, I’ll hit 92000 words easily. If I write at Pulp Speed 1 for the rest of Lent, I’ll hit 110000 words over those 46 days. I’ll be at 20% over my goal. Being that I’ve never (ever!) hit my Lent goal of 2000 words per day, this would be a big deal to not only hit my goal but surpass it.
Another benefit, I would be 44 days ahead of my annual goal! That means I could have 44 days of 0 word count, and still be on target. That’s huge to bank that many words. There will be time off. There will be vacations. There will be days where there aren’t enough hours to find time to sit and type. I’m taking advantage of having those days now!
What else will it mean?
First, I’ll have a second book done before Lent ends. My goal is to finish five books this year. I don’t count finishing this book as cheating because based on my goal, I would have written 4.75 books, roughly. That means getting this book done and out the door is part of that process. Rather than target partial books, I’m shooting for 5 total books completed.
If I can nudge my good friend Mike along, Jack Kane will be done very soon as well. JK2 is already 80% complete. We’re in the homestretch! I’m excited to bring this book to market. These characters are so much fun to write. Hopefully, we’ll jump right into book 3.
That means very soon, I’ll have three books done this year. Two of those would be half books, so I’m not counting 3 books I wrote, but only 2. I will need to write three more books to hit my 5 book goal.
Will I succeed? Will I fail? You know what, I could stop writing right this moment, and I would still consider this year a win. Why? I have a writing streak of 65 days. I’ve already written 128,000 words. That’s more than some professional writers I follow knock out in a year when they produce one book. Yes. I did that in 65 days.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t consider myself a pro by any stretch of the imagination. What I am doing is having a GREAT time writing fun stories I’ve wanted to write for years. Hell, for decades. I have so many books in my head that if I kept up this pace for 10 years (5 books a year for 10 years) I still wouldn’t run out of ideas and fun stories to tell.
So I’m glad you’re along for the ride. Let’s see if I can keep up Pulp Speed 1 until next Monday as a start, shall we? This should be a hoot. Check back here next week to see if I hit my numbers. I won’t cheat. I won’t fudge. I won’t do anything other than count my net gain of words and report to you next week. I fudged my numbers in the past for no good reason as I was the only one I was fooling with those numbers. No one else ever saw my spreadsheet.
If any of you are interested in the spreadsheet I use, I could look at posting a read-only version somewhere and giving it public access. Then you can all follow along 🙂
I’m off to make more words happen. Only 750 words to go for today’s goal, but I’ll try for more.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!