New Book Release: Nugget the Space Chicken Book 3

This is a long post this month because, well, I have lots of stuff to talk about. First up and most importantly, I have a new book! 

Nugget the Space Chicken and the Mermaid Treasure of Castalar goes live on August 6. It's currently available for preorder at all your favorite online retailers. You can also find me at any of my in person events to get a signed copy or order one shipped to you from the "Buy Signed Books" tab above.

This is the third book in the Nugget the Space Chicken series. These books are aimed at kids ages 5-9.

Reports say planet Castalar would be perfect for a human colony, but a wild lightning storm upon their arrival says otherwise. Their crash landing only makes things worse.

While their parents repair the lander, Jasper and Opal take Nugget for a walk to explore a small island. They discover that they are not alone. There are aliens in the water and angry pirate birds in the sky.

Can Nugget help humans become friends with the water people by recovering their stolen treasure?

I'm on the road again...

It's one road trip after another time of year. I recently did a seven hour drive to a new comic con in Iowa, which was my longest solo drive to date. I normally try to stick around five hours or less, but every once in a while, it's good to try something new. 

This was a fairly low cost table at an event center connected to an affordable hotel, connected to a very reasonably priced parking garage. The con was very well organized. I met lots of new authors, made new vendor friends, and signed books for readers who had never heard of me before. This wasn't a chicken-friendly event so I got to spend the weekend doodling with my new tiny travel watercolor set instead of tending to a chicken friend. Enter: flat chickens. LOL

While this was a fun experience, attendance was lower than all of us would have liked. That is an issue that they will be addressing next year, and I would give this one another shot. I didn't lose money, but I can't say as I made a good profit. On the plus side, I was gifted a photo op with Star War's actors C. Andrew Nelson and Susanna Malak and I did a lot of networking.

Keeping me company on the long drives, I've listened to the second and third books in the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne and I highly recommend them. I've got the next three audio books queued up for the upcoming weekends. You can't go wrong with irreverent fantasy filled with werewolves, witches, vampires, all sorts of gods, a talking dog and a druid.

Last weekend was a three hour road trip to Grayling, MI for the Ausable River Festival. This was a fairly good two day event last year, despite it raining on Saturday. This year we had no rain and perfect temperatures and books flew off the rack! I sold 110 books in those two days. That's my new second best sales day ever. If only every weekend was like that.

This month, I'm excited to have a couple events close to home, but then I'll be headed to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for the annual trip to the Wild Blueberry Festival. This was the event that inspired Laya's Vacation. These days, I'm traveling with Laya's daughter, Lola, who has taken to shows like a pro from the time she was just a few months old.

I'm excited to have a weekend off this month and then I have five more weekends full of events before my schedule slows down to the final three of the year. One of those is a literary festival I'm helping to organize. Whew boy, it's been a lot of work building something from nothing. If it all goes well, I'm hoping year two will be slightly easier. Fingers crossed for it to be a success.

November 16 can't come soon enough. That's the first day of my resting/writing season. I have so many projects I want to work on! 

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers. 

Let's to get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group Post. This month's question is: As an author, is there something you wish you'd done differently in your writing process? 

Yep. The same thing that most of us do with our first self-published book. We publish it, thinking its fully proofread, but surprise, it's not. Nothing worse than being all proud of your new book, only to have readers report copious amounts of typos. How? How can this be? Well, it might have had something to do with the fact that we did not have have someone else proofread the book after the last round of edits. Yes, your editor may point out typos, but that's not what they're solely focusing on. Not to mention, you're making corrections, tweaking things, adding the additional details the editor is asking for. All of that is ripe for introducing new typos. 

Are books ever perfect? We can hope so, but even traditionally published books have a ninja typo or two. All we can do is have as many eyeballs on the work before it goes to print as possible to try to catch those sneaky buggers. 

The moral of this story is: You cannot be the proofreader of your book. You can take lots of steps to catch everything you can, but have an eagle-eyed grammar-gifted human make that final pass. It's worth it.  

July's Better Late Than Never Post

I just remembered I was supposed to do my IWSG post on the first Wednesday of the month but now it's Friday so let's just hop into my time machine and go back a couple of days.

To be fair, I'm coming off of nine weeks of shows and I've had all of one day off in that time so...please excuse the brain fry. 

In writing news, Nugget the Space Chicken and the Mermaid Treasure of Castalar is off to proofreading and out for interior art so that's exciting. I'm a few chapters into writing Book 4, The Broken Bots of Quintus 9 and hope to have that one out for a fall release. 

Most of my "free" time at home has been spent working out on the flower hill reclaiming project. So. Many. Weeds. There's even a 9ft tall walnut tree out there that's not supposed to be there. Guess it's been a while since I weeded that section? Oops.

There used to be clear path here to the top of the hill. 

Here's the lower half, now mostly cleaned up. 

Half of the path has been reclaimed!

What am I doing for this big July 4th holiday? As little as possible. This is my ONE weekend off before I go out for six more. So I hope to be either out weeding in the garden, or sitting in my comfy chair as much as possible. Maybe even taking a nap.

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers. 

This month's IWSG question asks if there's anything I'd like to see changed or added to the book publishing industry. Since I mostly missed the boat on that blog hop, I'm going to keep my answer short.

Less AI. In everything. Please, for of the love of all that's holy. Keep AI out of creative things, and if the software companies can quit adding AI assistants in every darn thing, I'd be a less grumpy person. Maybe. Probably. I can't hurt to try. 

Where am I this month?

I spent a good deal of May on the road or not at home, packing, unpacking, reordering, and occasionally sleeping. Writing? Not at all.

My recent campsite was on the edge of a little stream.
It was a bit chilly in the evening, but nothing a beer,
a book, and a blanket couldn't solve.

For June, I'll be a little more home-based, which will be a nice change. I have only one weekend camping at a ren faire and the rest of the month, I can enjoy my own bed. This is good news, because I need to get the interior art specs of Nugget the Space Chicken and the Mermaid Treasure of Castalar to the illustrator. I don't get laptop time when I'm camping in my car or in a tent.  Go figure.

Sewing projects are going well. 3 out of 4 are completed. It will also help to have that done so I'm not staring at the mass of fabric of unfinished projects from my writing chair. 

This is part of the green over dress / coat that I have now finished 
with detachable sleeves for all weather occasions.
And also, I got to wear my new crown

Cherry Capital Comic Con doesn't allow a chicken, so I always try to get some painting done while I'm there and have my hands free. I'll have two new chicken prints at upcoming events. 

This is a close up of
MJ the Rooster.

As if I needed more distractions, the sparkly edges of Siphon that I posted about last month have been selling well so I started making pretty edges on my other books that are romance so that they are set apart a little at in person events. This has been quite popular with readers. Yay!

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers. 

My brain is running on empty and my back has been acting up so I'm going to keep this post fairly short and get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group Question: 

Do most of your story ideas come from one place or all over the place?

Inspiration is everywhere. Nature, the news, a conversation, random thoughts, reading a book or watching TV. I wrote Siphon out of spite because I didn't like the way a type of character was written in someone else's book. I'm never ever lacking for story ideas, only the time and motivation to write them all. 

May I Catch My Breath?

Yes, I said the crazy began in March, but it really ramps up in May. I am about to embark on 9 weekends in a row. But it's not 12 like last year and that is only because I had written in all caps, bold, in red: TAKE THIS WEEKEND OFF. Otherwise, it would have been 15 in a row this year. 12 is a record I do not need to break.

However, a friend talked me into being a guest author at a book club mid-state so that's a one day road trip mid-week in the midst of all that and the now high gas prices. Gah!. Ambitious me needs to go sit in the corner and think about her choices.

With my bemoaning myself out of the way, let's get to this month's news:

First up, Siphon released on May 4 and I have some special edition shimmery gold edged copies for in person events. It's available all the usual online retailers as well as that "buy signed copies" tab at the top of this page. 

Vampires full of tragic pasts and dark secrets are delicious.

Lavina feeds off the memories of others, the more traumatic the better, but once she's fed, they're fixed: looking for redemption, good...so very vanilla. Lavina craves triple dark chocolate.

Stephanos is called to America to help his sire take over the blood-rich city of Northchester. The job, like all the others before it, is simple: kill the target, cause a little chaos, and enforce compliance with the new regime. Then he can go back home and not deal with his sire's demands for a decade or two.

When a strange woman interrupts his killing spree, all of his plans go to hell. His sire is pissed, the target isn't thankful, and everyone in Northchester is looking for him. Lavina has a safe place to hide the wanted vampire and a plan to make him last. Unfortunately, she's never been good at sticking to diets.

Events have been going well and I've been fairly successful in juggling inventory. So far. Viking Fest was quite fantastic. 100 books went to new homes that weekend and the weather was perfect. I mean, yes, it rained. It wouldn't be Viking fest without it, but it was only Friday and fairly light. The two days of sun and 70s that followed were well worth it.

Of course it's raining... But at least I have my new hood!

The fighting happens right in front of my tent, which is pretty cool.

The fire show is also right in front of my tent.

I have been sewing! So far, two of the four pieces of my new ren faire garb are mostly complete. Which is good, because I have 3 faires in the upcoming weeks and I'd like to have more clothing options on multi-day events. The plan is to have one outfit that can work for all temps by adding and removing layers. 

The Kickstarter for the next two Nugget the Space Chicken books is live if you're interested in helping fund the illustrations. 

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers. 

And now onward to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question: What is the most inspiring feedback you have received from readers? 

"I loved _Title of one of my books_ What book of yours should I read next?" Is always a winner.

"I just finished The Narvan series and I cried." Me too, buddy.  Me too. Making readers feel is fantastic.

"We must have read __title of chicken book__ so many times and my kid(s) still love it."

Hearing from readers is very rewarding so never feel weird about just dropping by to say "Hey, I read this and I really liked it" even if you're not picking up another book or your fellow attendees are pulling you away so you don't buy more books. Authors greatly appreciate hearing those words even if you feel weird saying them. 

Springing Into Action

How many things can Jean do at once? We're testing the limits this month.

Did I go into this knowingly and willingly? Yep. It is a torture of my own doing because sometimes all the things just align like that.

Thing #1: Nugget the Space Chicken books 3 & 4 is on Kickstarter (pre-launch as of this post) and going live on April 7. If you'd like to help bring more adventures to my early reader sci-fi/fantasy chapter book series, please consider supporting our campaign.

Thing #2: My next book will be released on May 4. Siphon, my paranormal romance is wrapping up proofreading and then will head into formatting (that's me) and out to ARC readers.

Vampires full of tragic pasts and dark secrets are delicious.

Lavina feeds off the memories of others, the more traumatic the better, but once she’s fed, they’re fixed: looking for redemption, good…so very vanilla. Lavinia craves triple dark chocolate.

Stephanos is called to America to help his sire take over the blood-rich city of Northchester. The job, like all the others before it, is simple: kill the target, cause a little chaos, and enforce compliance with the new regime. Then he can go back home and not deal with his sire’s demands for a decade or two.

When a strange woman interrupts his killing spree, all of his plans go to hell. His sire is pissed, the target isn’t thankful, and everyone in Northchester is looking for him. Lavina has a safe place to hide the wanted vampire and a plan to make him last. Unfortunately, she’s never been good at sticking to diets.

Thing #3: Holland Lit Fest. I'm in charge of author selection and various other things for a new book festival we're launching this fall.

Thing #4: Finishing the rough draft of Nugget book 4: The Broken Bots of Quintus 9 so we can be ready for illustrations once the Kickstarter concludes #ThinkingPositive

Beyond that...all the usual things. I have four book events in April and four more in May, three of those eight will be long weekends of away from home travel. A new brood of chicks is on the way. The flower beds need lots of cleaning up and the garden will need planting soon. Zero (the current teen chick) is enjoying his/her (time will tell) first spring. What all can I get done in addition to everything else? We shall see.

I am happy to report that Penguicon 2026 was fantastic. It was great to see this convention return to it's mission of family friendly diverse programming. I met lots of great authors including David Weber (author of the Honor Harrington series) and Jim Butcher (author of the Dresden Files), sat on seven panels, attended a few more, AND managed to get some editing done. Did I stay up too late? Yes, but not because of room parties. I blame my lack of sleep on a rousing after midnight conversation with author pal Vera West, who I roped into attending the con with me.

Third Coast Author and Book Festival was also a great time and soooo many author friends were there but the festival hours were short and I was so busy signing books that I couldn't get away from my table to chat with most of them. #AuthorProblems  A few of us hung out after hours at a local brewery, but there were many faces I didn't get to see. Good thing the year is young. We'll hopefully get a chance to catch up at another event.

My road trip to Toledo Fantasticon was blessedly uneventful. The hotel was wonderfully quiet (I always use that same hotel when in Toledo for that exact reason) and Little Kay (the chicken on duty that weekend) and I got to meet lots of new and returning readers. 

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers. 

We've reached the part where I do my Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Hooray, if you've made it this far and aren't tired yet. I'm tired too. ;)  This month's question is about playlists and writing, and well, if you've been here for awhile, you know I don't listen to anything when writing. Silence is my friend. The better to hear the voices, she said.

So instead, we're going to quick chat about doing all the things at once and not going crazy. Consult the calendar. Make lists. Know your due dates and roughly how much time tasks will take. Time blocks are fantastic.

Unless I'm totally in the zone, I do better with short blocks to keep my attention on task. Fifteen minutes to half an hour works great for me. Find what works best for you. Catch up on email for fifteen minutes. Do twenty minutes of editing. Half an hour of writing. Go outside with the dog or check the chickens and get fresh air, stretch the legs. Fifteen minutes to set up a social media post or three. Got another half an hour to burn? Back to writing. You get the idea. These small goals make it so much easier to play catch up if life happens and you miss a handful one day. It's easier to accomplish lots of little things than forcing yourself to set at the computer for three hours to "get some writing work done". #ADHDproductivity