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 

I've got another new release on the horizon!

Hallelujah, it's finally October. Another 11 week spree of events is over! 

I do want to highlight the glory that was the Funky Ferndale Art Festival and my record sales of 140 books that weekend. If only all weekends were that wonderful, but hey, I'll revel in that one for a while.

My plan was to relax this month, to not do anything book sales related. But guess what? There's a local silkie chicken event and it's close to home and you know what they say, "Go where your readers are". So yep. I'll be there with my children's chicken books, dragging my 11 week spree right on into 12. #crazy

I'll also be doing a virtual interview with Canadian author J.M. Frey at a local bookstore on the 16th and signing my own books while I'm there. I am relaxing this month, really, I swear.

Oh, and formatting I9 as soon as that comes back from my proofreader so I can get it out to ARC readers. That's not technically going out to sell books though so...

Want to be an ARC reader for my upcoming space opera stand-alone novel? You can sign up for your free review copy here.

I also just sent off the last of the edits to the narrator for the audiobook of Sahmara so that will be out soon too.

Yep, crossing off projects left and right. Woohoo!

So what's ahead for the rest of the year? Three fairly big comic cons and a little local(ish) holiday art and craft show. Oh, and writing new material so I'll have a new book or three next year. So yeah, some stuff.

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers.

Now that I've made you all as tired as I feel, let's get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question.

What is your most favorite thing you've written, whether it's published or not?

I get this question ALL THE TIME when I'm out signing books. The most favorite thing I've written is Book 5 of the Narvan Series, Tears of the Tyrant. That one sucked my soul onto the pages. Writing the end of a series, man, it's hard to let go of those characters. I did my best to make every bit and piece come together, to go for the gut punches and balance them with a few good laughs, to make readers cry. 

I cried. Others have reported they cried. Mission accomplished.

That might be considered a spoiler, but really, if you've read any of the books in the series, you know I do not go easy on my characters even in a happy ending.

This revelation inevitably annoys new-to-me readers because they want the answer to be a stand alone book, or at least the first book in the series for goodness sake. Sorry folks, I'm difficult. That's my answer and I'm sticking to it.

On the road again. And again. And again

Normally September is a slow month for me in terms of book signings, a warm up for the upcoming writing months (usually Oct & Nov). Normally. This year? Yeah, not so much. I'm rolling through September with four weekends of signings. The good news is books are selling. Hooray!

Let's see, where was I since the last post? It's all a blur.

My local writing group did a joint booth at Art in the Park. Eight authors enjoyed beautiful weather and signed many books. The Marvelous Mr. Millie happily served as my flock representative. He basks in all the attention and often gets so relaxed with all the petting that he falls asleep on my table. I have to wake him up so people can take his picture. Some day, maybe he'll have his own book.

Mid August, author pal Joan H. Young and I took our annual road trip to Paradise, MI in the upper peninsula. It's a 5 hour drive for me but 6 hours when I detour to pick up Joan. Having the company for the long drive and weekend is well worth the extra hour. 

Joan writes mysteries for adults and a series for kids as well as books about her hikes on the North Country Trail. Check out her blog here.

She's also crafty and surprised me with this stuffed chicken she made. The chicken has been named Eggatha. She keeps me company on my writing chair.

What does it look like when you cram two authors' outdoor setups in one car for a road trip? It does not look like daylight inside and there's zero rear view mirror. LOL However, we did manage to fit a chicken and didn't have anything under our feet or on our laps, so we'll call it a Tetris victory. 

This was the view out the back of my booth all weekend. we were on the shores of Lake Superior. Amazingly, for the first time in three years of being at this festival, we had gorgeous weather. 

Next up was my last renaissance festival of the year in South Bend, Indiana. Peep and Dottie got all the love the first day and then Millie and Elsa switched out for day two. The chickens are very popular at this event every year and I sold out of my children's books that weekend! Thankfully, I had more books on order because my schedule is full for a month yet. 

Most recently, I did a children's book signing at Gilbert and Ivy, a small indie bookstore in Vicksburg, MI. Peep got lots of attention by sitting on the table by the window.

 

In writing news, Nugget the Space Chicken and the Haunted Cave of Korabumba, is live for pre-order at all of your favorite online retailers and will be released into the world on September 8. And hey, that means I can now show you the cover!

i9 is still in edits. Why? See above. I've been busy. ;)

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 brings us to our regularly scheduled Insecure Writer's Support Group section of my monthly post.

This month's question is about your thoughts on using AI in your writing. 

I feel like we've covered this from a couple angles recently so I will say the only thing I've toyed with using AI for in a writing capacity is to brainstorm tag lines for the i9 blurb. There were a couple good starting points there but they needed a fair amount of tweaking to be accurate for my book and work with my blurb. 

Using it for brainstorming, eh, maybe. That's my current opinion. 

Release Day: Nugget the Space Chicken and the Dragon of Ishenor

 

It's release day for Nugget the Space Chicken and the Dragon of Ishenor! 

I had so much fun writing this book and watching my daughter's illustration sketches come to life. Now, here we are in print. Woohoo!

Jasper and Opal’s first mission with their scientist parents is to study the world of Ishenor to see if it could be a home for humans. They travel to the planet’s surface with Nugget, their pet chicken, to collect samples. Everyone has a job to do.

While their parents explore the landscape, Opal gathers plants and Jasper collects rocks. Nugget’s job is to stay out of trouble, but hunting for bugs leads her to a lost baby dragon.

Can Opal, Jasper, and Nugget get the dragon home safely before their parents return, or will they all be grounded forever?

If you'd like a preview, I did a reading of the first chapters on Indie Reads this week. It's available on Spotify and YouTube

 

You can find me and Nugget's book at the Third Coast Author and Book Fest today (March 22) in Grand Haven, MI, along with a hundred and some other authors who are taking over the downtown shops.

New release: Nugget the Space Chicken and the Dragon of Ishenor

March begins the busy times that will continue until September. Deeeeep breath and GO!

The first book in my new Nugget the Space Chicken series releases on March 22. Pre-order links are live on all the usual online locations. Book two is outlined and on my writing schedule for 2025, along with Interface. I9 is currently in the hands on beta readers, and I've been hearing good things. Hooray! I also wrapped up an editing job and the first two chapters of the Sahmara audiobook are in my inbox for approval. #somanyprojects

Nugget the Space Chicken aims to fill the early reader gap in my book catalogue, offering something fun for kids between picture books and full chapter books. Aimed at ages 6-10, this fun sci-fi  series will follow the adventures of Jasper and Opal and their pet chicken, Nugget as they explore new worlds with their parents. 

Jasper and Opal’s first mission with their scientist parents is to study the world of Ishenor to see if it could be a home for humans. They travel to the planet’s surface with Nugget, their pet chicken, to collect samples. Everyone has a job to do.

While their parents explore the landscape, Opal gathers plants and Jasper collects rocks. Nugget’s job is to stay out of trouble, but hunting for bugs leads her to a lost baby dragon.

Can Opal, Jasper, and Nugget get the dragon home safely before their parents return, or will they all be grounded forever?

Amazon / B&N / etc. and also signed copies direct from me on that handy tab above

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 ISWG Question is: If you could be anyone or anything in the world, what would it be?

I'm pretty happy with being me so other than the improvement of being me with enough $ that I don't have to worry about bills being paid every month, I'm good as is. If you'd like to help the improvement come to fruition, links to all my books are over there <-- 

Last month was my return to book signing events after the holiday hiatus. Our Michigan Author gang had a good time at the Mid-Michigan Women's Expo. 

After three long days of pitching books, most of us 
still managed to smile.

I also did a small comic con and a tiny library event with Laya.

Hanging out at my booth at the Women's Expo

Last weekend was the Mona Shores Comic Con, another small local high school event, but with lots of author and vendor friends. Next weekend, I'll be driving to Toledo, Ohio for Fantasticon, then staying closer to to home in Grand Haven, for the Third Cost Book Event, and finally, venturing over to Alma, MI for Alma Con. Busy busy!