JB Lynn

Hijinks, Hilarity and Heart

JB Lynn

The Hitwoman and the Teddy Bear

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I’m gearing up for the release of The Hitwoman and the Teddy Bear on April 30th. Can you believe this is book 26 in the Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series?!?!

Have you preordered your copy yet?

Maggie Lee has done some really questionable things, but she’s never stooped so low as to steal a child’s toy.

There’s a first time for everything.

Of course, there’s a good reason for what she’s doing, but you already guessed that.

Just like you know things won’t go smoothly for Maggie and the menagerie.

(And yes, God will have something to say about that.)

Plus, I’m getting closer to finishing Something Old, Something New, book four in the Psychic Consignment Mystery series.

And I MAY have started Cursed Chicks Club 4.

My work life is almost as crazy as Maggie’s, lol.

New Covers for the Magical Adventures!

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What do you get when you combine a witch who doesn’t know her own power, a possessed cat and a dragon, all traveling in an RV caravan trying to break a curse?

Chaos and Adventure! Love and Laughter!

Follow Ravena and her friends as they try to right the world of wrongs, one magical moment at a time.

I’ve got new covers for the Cursed Chicks series! Aren’t they pretty? (I also changed the title of the first book. One Flew Over the Raven’s Nest is now Once Cursed, Twice Shy.)

A week in this writer’s life…Thursday

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Today was blessedly focused.

Sometimes I get tired from working on so many projects simultaneously. Today I gave almost all of my attention to the story edits of The Hitwoman Owes a Favor.

I’m so pleased with how this latest Maggie adventure has turned out!

I had to do a little work regarding covers for other books and some admin work (you know I abhor admin work, lol) but overall it was a very focused, very productive day. Yay!

A week in this writer’s life…Tuesday

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Worked through the rest of the story edits for The Hitwoman Owes a Favor. This was the third pass. I start with fixing the easy things, then the progressively more involved/difficult ones as I work through the manuscript each time. I think Favor needs one or two more passes.

Worked with cover artist to choose the images for the next two Hitwoman series (books 26 and 27).  This is a different artist than the one I worked with yesterday because the covers are for unrelated projects. Eager to see how they turn out.

Wrote my daily word count goal of my secret project.

Did horrible, soul-crushing Admin work. (rewarded myself with a walk and a promise to myself I could take a picture of the moon later)

It’s important to reward yourself! Here’s tonight’s moon shot!

Ooooh! Yay! Received the first look of the new Psychic Consignment Mystery cover. (more about that book soon!)  And just so you know, this is from a third artist, lol.

Inspired by the cover, I worked on the short version of the blurb for PCM4. 

Then, because I was in blurb-mood, I rewrote the one for Hitwoman 26.

And because I was on a blurb roll, I wrote one for the secret project

Then I contacted the cover artist for the secret project (same one as yesterday) with the specifications of the job she’s doing for me next week.

(Sometimes things just snowball, lol.)

Received the Hitwoman 26 cover. Still needs a little work so another email sent.

Hit my word count goal for Hitwoman 26. Yay!

Sketched out what to write tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s To Do list.

Blogged.

A Week in this Writer’s Life…Monday

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Someone asked me what a writer’s week is like. Usually they ask about our days, so I figured I’d keep a running log to show what a writer does over the course of a week.

Posted on IG. Smudge did not want to get off my lap so I could get to work this morning.

Eventually I got to work:

Communicated with Virtual Assistant (also known as She Who Keeps Me Relatively Sane — SWKMRS) about changes/corrections to website, updating back matter of books, what’s on tap for the next couple of months.

Felt swamped by overwhelm about how much I have to accomplish over the next couple of months. Considered curling into a ball and pulling the blankets over my head. Thanked SWKMRS for the acknowledgement and mini pep talk.  I CAN DO THIS.

Dealt with a cover artist about a couple of things. (Cool things but can’t reveal them yet.)

Checked out a new marketing resource recommended by a reader. (Put it on my running To Do list to get to eventually.)

Wrote until I reached my word count goal for my secret project. (I’ll tell you about that next month.)

Reread the letter from my story editor regarding The Hitwoman Owes a Favor. (It’s 10.5 pages long.) 

Worked on story edits for Favor through Chapter 15. (This is my 3rd pass on story edits after receiving the letter and editor’s manuscript comments.)

Sent VA a quick email about Favor marketing.

Paid cover artist. Downloaded art.

Had a small nervous breakdown about Dropbox.

Emailed VA re: covers

Wrote a couple pages of Hitwoman 26

A whole flurry of emails to VA. (Some business, some just friendly (often these revolve around food, lol).

Wrote a couple more pages of Hitwoman 26.  (Only wrote 1031 words total, not the 1500 I’d planned for.)

Wrote a page of my passion project. (This is different than my secret project.)

Sketched out what I need to write for Hitwoman 26 tomorrow.

Wrote out tomorrow’s To Do list.

Posted this blog, lol.

Best laid plans — Day 6 of 100 Days of Effort

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Anyone else start off with the best of intentions and then face-plant?

Do not adjust your screens, I failed to report in on days 4 and 5 of my effort. I’m still fighting a funk that’s made writing a challenge to say the least. I haven’t even looked at my word count for fear it will depress me.

But, I did take some cool photographs. (Yes, I know, nothing to do with writing but still a creative outlet.)

The moon at sunset
The moon 90 minutes after sunset
And I finally got a decent picture of the local blue heron

While I didn’t get much writing done, I DID complete the copy edits for 3 Times a Charm

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Family Reunions Can Be Magic…Or Murder

Ravena Valentina used to hate magic.

Not anymore. Now she uses it to protect Richie, a boy coming into his own magical powers. 

She does still hate the curse binding her to the spirit of her witchy former mother-in-law. Ravena’s searching for the perfect love song to break that, while navigating her complicated relationship with the hot magician, Sol.

But Richie’s enemies are relentless. 

Even with the help of a loyal wizard’s assistant, a sexy dragon, a wise Element and a talking goldfish, protecting the kid can be deadly. 

And things only get worse when his long-lost father shows up.

This writer’s 101 Days of Effort

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Also Known As: Just how crazy of a writer am I?

I’ve debated about whether to share this. I was worried people might find it to be obnoxious. Heck, there are days when I find myself obnoxious. But there are also days when I’m searching for inspiration. Days when I’m wondering, “How do they do that?”

On the off chance I can inspire one person, or give someone a different perspective on how to approach something, I’ve decided to share.

Earlier this year, when I was in danger of succumbing to the pandemic blues, I decided to spend the 100 days before my trip to North Carolina making a concentrated effort to get a ton done. (The much needed change of scenery being my reward.)

I like big goals that I can get excited about!

Overall the endeavor was semi-successful. And in today’s world, that’s a win. It means I did way better than I would have if I’d gotten sucked into the pandemic blues, even though I got a bit burnt out. I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to, but I still managed to do quite a bit of writing. (Though taking up stepping was a HUGE success. I’ve been told I need to have my knees replaced and I had NO PAIN despite doing a fair amount of hiking. Before stepping, my knees were bothering me just walking around.)

About three-quarters of the way through I swore I’d never take on anything so daunting again. But as soon as it was over, I realized I missed the challenge.

All the medical experts have made it clear that life is not going to get back to normal in the next 101 days, so I’ve decided to use this “downtime” as productively as I can.

This round I’ve spent more time planning what I hope to accomplish during this sustained period of effort. I also scheduled time off…something I failed to do the first time around. In fact I spent a good portion of my time away, just thinking about what I want to do based on what I did “wrong” last time.

How much planning? The bag contains all the clothes I packed for my three week retreat. In addition to bringing my computer, this is how many notebooks and ink refills I brought. (And yes, I used every notebook…my knees might not have bothered me, but there were nights when my hand hurt, lol.)

I’ll be sharing more specifics as I move forward, but my hopes for the next 101 days (through 2/28/21) are to be disciplined about my time (on work days…and to be disciplined about NOT working on non-work days) and write 210,000 words.

The 25th book in my Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series is the first project I’m writing. It’s all plotted out. I wrote the first scene. The blurb is written. I even have the cover already. Needless to say I’m excited.

I’m certainly not advocating that anyone should take on my insane kind of goals, but what could YOU do to move toward something YOU want?