Jennifer Lyon
Monday, November 28th, 2016
Weekend Roundup

Anyone else eat too much?? Or was it just me? I’m still eating too much. But Thanksgiving was wonderful. Special K cooked her first ever T-Day dinner and it turned out awesome. We had four dogs there with us:

dog-cookie-smart-cookie

This is Smart Cookie waiting for the party to start.

dog-corky-after-thanksgiving

This is Corky after a big meal and too much playing.

dog-max

This is Max looking for me. He hung out with me most of Thanksgiving, and after I left, he missed me :-)

dog-jett-on-thanksgiving

This is Jett waiting to go to the party! He was so excited to play with his cousins, Cookie, Corky and Max. They had a blast together. FYI, Jett is getting huge!

The only downside is Wizard’s back (he has a severely herniated disc). It’s been a rough few days for him but he just keeps dealing with it the best he can. Friday we had plans to go to lunch with friends visiting from out-of-state. Wizard was going to power through that for me (it’s more my friends) but I finally strongly suggested he stay home. Surprisingly, he agreed (which is why I know he hurt more than he was admitting) and he slept for a few hours. My friend’s husband ended up doing the same thing–so just us girls got together and had fun. It was great to see her and made me wish all over again she still lived here. Although we keep in touch all the time online which I’m thankful for.

By last night, Wizard was feeling better. All the rest has dialed his pain back to a more tolerable level.

I worked a lot this weekend too. I’m going through my usual chapter one struggle on Savaged Vows and planning my release schedule for 2017. I’m going to finally re-released two of my favorite books. One is You Give Love A Good Name, which is a novella from the Sun, Sand and Sex Anthology I was in. Out of all my books, that one was the most fun to write! And the other book is Sex on the Beach Book Club. So I’m getting those ready around frantically working on Savaged Vows. It’s going to be an exciting year if I can stay on track!

So how was your Thanksgiving and your weekend?

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving!

vector illustration of Happy Thanksgiving wallpaper background

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. I’m taking the rest of the week off from the blog and will be back Monday, November 28th. Stay safe and have a great weekend!

Monday, November 21st, 2016
Weekend Roundup

Yep there was a weekend, and I took most of it off from writing. That part was awesome! I even had time to read a whole book :-)

So Friday my editor got back to me on the synopsis for books two and three in the Savaged Trilogy, and she was overall pleased with them. She only found four issue, three of them easily fixable, and one to think about at the end of the last book. Now I’m so glad I took the time to plot these two books out in synopsis format! It’s going to really help me write them.

Saturday I decided to tackle some clothes shopping. I have two words for that idea Epic Fail. I spent hours coming a mall and an outlet center and just couldn’t find anything, or if I did find something, then they didn’t have my size. But I got home in the afternoon, finished up a little bit of work, dived into reading a book, and soon I no longer cared about my failed shopping attempt.

Sunday we went to an early Thanksgiving at Wizard’s brother’s house and had a great time visiting with family.

How was your weekend?

 

Friday, November 18th, 2016
Happy Friday and Random Stuff

Is it possible that Thanksgiving is actually next week??? How did this happen? I don’t want to go Christmas shopping, someone save me!

Okay so I’m going to talk about the randomness of my week:

  1. At dinner last night I mentioned to Wizard that I had a chocolate craving…and that was as far as I got. The rest of that sentence was supposed to be, “…and I might bake something to take to a Thanksgiving celebration we’re going to this weekend.” But I never got that far before Wizard stated unequivocally that he’d go to the store after dinner and buy me chocolate. Which he did. So…YAY WIZARD! Once I’m finished writing this blog, I’m eating some chocolate :-)
  2. I sent off the synopsis for the next two books to my editor yesterday morning. I’m excited and can’t wait to hear her feedback. And she’ll most definitely have feedback–her job is to find any plot holes or potential problem. Her feedback will only make this series stronger.
  3. I’m working on a marketing plan for the Savaged Trilogy right now. The first book is finished and in copy editing so it’s the perfect time to plan.  Right now, the probable release dates are June, July and August in 2017.
  4. And while we’re talking about this, I wanted to touch on something. Book sales are down. The e-book bubble has burst, something that isn’t a surprise to a lot of us who understand how economics works. Basically the market is saturated, and unfortunately, some of the product out there isn’t the best quality creating an unreliable reading experience for a lot of readers. I know I DNF (Did Not Finish) WAY more books than I ever used to. So what do I do as a professional author who knows I won’t make the same ROI (Return On Investment) that I did just a few years ago? Do I cut production costs? NO! NO! and NO! Absolutely not, particularly when it comes to creating a quality product. QUALITY MATTERS MORE THAN EVER. I honestly care about and respect my readers, and want them to be able to trust me. That means I am adding even more editing costs into my budget with an additional rounds of development and copy editing. I do that to make sure that when I put a book out, it’s the absolute best I can do. This won’t take me back to sales in 2013, but it will create (I believe) a trust with my readers that matters more than ever.
  5. I hope you all have a Happy Friday and a Great Weekend!
Wednesday, November 16th, 2016
Wednesday Worthy

Hi everyone! You all know what day it is–hump day! So here’s the our candidate for Wednesday Worthy. What *I* like is the mood cast by the picture, it makes me think of a troubled hero who needs his story told :-)

handsome muscular young bodybuilder showing his muscles and abs while posing shirtless

But what *I* like isn’t what counts here. It’s what *YOU* think that matters! So is he worthy?

P.S. I’m going to include here today, and occasionally over the next couple weeks, a link to something I’m very proud of. My son, daughter-in-law and her friend work so hard to make a positive difference in the world, and one of the ways they do is make Christmas Gifts for the Homeless bags, which is a gift bag of essentials for people who have so little in the way of possessions or kindness. If you would like to donate, here is the link. My family is passionate about making a difference in whatever small ways we can.

Monday, November 14th, 2016
Weekend Roundup

Wowzers, what a weekend! Which of these things actually happened to me?

  1. My credit card was used for a shopping spree by someone other than me or Wizard.
  2. One of my kids called to tell me he was rear ended on the freeway and was waiting for auto club roadside service to show up.
  3. One of my girls (Youngest Son’s fiance) texted a picture of a two-week-old French bulldog with a cleft palate that they are trying to save and I volunteered to help if they need it.

So which do you think happened?

In other news, I managed to go to my meeting Saturday. It was great to see friends, and I had the chance to answer a few question from newer authors on things like contracts. I love helping when I can because so many people have–and continue to–help me in my career. I’m passionate about educating writers, the more we know, the less likely we’ll make mistakes that will resonate throughout our careers. I also got to see about half of Lisa Kessler’s talk. She was charming, sincere and more than willing to answer any questions.

Saturday night, both Wizard and I were exhausted so we went out to dinner and I made a poor choice (tamale.) Sunday I paid for that with stomach problems, but I worked as much as I could on the final synopsis in the Savaged Trilogy, I’m close but not quite there yet. It has to be right or I’m not sending it to my editor :-)

Okay so did you all figure out which of the things above happened? If you answered ALL OF THEM, you’re right! Crazy weekend! As frustrating as all this was, we likely have the credit card thing under control, my son is okay (although I’ll double-check today to make sure–sometimes adrenaline masks pain for a awhile and it was a pretty hard hit from what I understand), and I’m truly hoping that little French bulldog makes it. I will be happy to pitch in if they need it with the little guy. It’ll make me feel great to do something positive and useful, even if I get my heart a little broken because he won’t my dog. The important thing is just doing something good out there.

How was your weekend?

 

Friday, November 11th, 2016
Happy Friday

**Sorry for the late past, apparently my internet was down when this was scheduled to post.

So it’s been a week, huh? But we made it, and I wish you all a Happy Friday, my friends!

Yesterday I had the chance to see an old high school friend whom I hadn’t seen in decades. And I wondered–will I recognize her when she walks through the door?

The answer? INSTANTLY. For some reason, that made me feel good. The connections that we form in life matter. We were both so young then and in very different place. My years before Wizard came into my life were hard, and this friend was a tremendous solace as only a true friend can be. I’m glad that my heart remembered her. We spent hours catching up and I’m sure we’ll see each other again.

Saturday I’m going to my local RWA chapter meeting. Bestselling author Lisa Kessler is speaking, I’m looking forward to that and seeing friends.

I’m working hard plotting out the rest of the Savaged Series (the first book is in copy editing). Writing his trilogy is exhilarating and scary. But that’s exactly how it should be! To writers, fear means two things, we are challenging ourselves to grow and stretch in our craft, and we are telling a story we are passionate about. Hopefully readers will feel that passion too.

What are your plans this weekend? Whatever they are, I hope you have a great weekend!

JenniferLyon.com