JB Lynn

Hijinks, Hilarity and Heart

novelist

New book, new preorder, new release

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To say I’m keeping busy is an understatement.

Today I’m starting on the first draft of book 30 in the Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series. I love my job!

Maggie, not so much.

Have you seen the trouble she got into in The Hitwoman Pays a Debt that came out last month?

She gets in even MORE trouble in next month’s release The Hitwoman Plays Courier.

No good deed goes unpunished.

When Maggie Lee helps an old man who’s fallen, she ends up working as a courier for his well-to-do son.

Proud of herself for landing a legitimate job that doesn’t involve a windowless office, Maggie ignores red flags and the concerns of God that all may not be what it seems. She’s too busy traversing the landmines of literacy involving a certain mobster’s grandson and juggling the two men who both want more from their relationships with her.

Maggie’s already stressed out when things go wrong, really wrong, with a delivery. A man’s dead and the police know about her involvement with him.

With the help of her pets and the two men vying for her affections, Maggie must figure out what the heck is going on…or God may be lost forever.

Available for preorder

Coffee, People, Books

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I write a lot of books.

I also drink a lot of coffee, as evidenced by the fact I’ve received this shirt, not once, but twice since March.

(For the record, I like more than three people…but I won’t give an actual number.)

Right now I’m drinking my coffee and playing the part of a hermit because I’m completing the edits for Something Old, Something New which is coming out next month AND I’m finishing writing Cursed Chicks 4 which should be a July release. (I haven’t finished the book’s blurb yet, so it’s not up for preorder yet.)

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER

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.

The Name Game — Day 2 of 101 Days of Effort

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Writing skill I do not possess: Remembering names

I’ve only written a few chapters of The Hitwoman Owes a Favor and I’ve already called a new character by three different names. (Pity my editors who have to put up with me.)

As an aside: I wrote ALL of One Woman’s Junk, the first in the Psychic Consignment Mystery series with TWO of the main characters having completely different names than in the published version.

Besides my issue with names, the manuscript is coming along. Today I added 3326 words.(goal for the day was 3200 so yay! win!)

I edited yesterday’s work today and here was my favorite line:

“Bickering is a kind of foreplay for us.”

Looking forward — Day 1 of 101 Days of Effort

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What does the future hold for Maggie Lee?

That’s a subject that dominates the beginning of THE HITWOMAN OWES A FAVOR (book number 25 in the Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series).

Yesterday I started my 101 Days of Effort project. I took it as a good omen that there was a pretty sunrise to start the day.

Hopefully it bodes well for the future of Hitwoman 25.

I got off to a good start by adding 3408 words to the manuscript. (The goal was to add 3200 words.) Only 100 more days to go…

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?

Happy Boss’s Day!

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Who makes these holidays up?

I’m my own boss and people often ask me what that’s like. It’s great! Working for myself means I have a lot more control about what I do and how my days play out.

And it’s terrible, lol. My boss can be overzealous. (Have you SEEN my goals for the last quarter of this year?)

But the GREAT moments beat out the terrible ones….most days. 😉

The Cursed Chicks experiment

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I’ve been posting chapters of ONE FLEW OVER THE RAVEN’S NEST (the first in my new Cursed Chicks series) as I write them. Well, technically it’s not AS I write them. I write them, send them to an absolutely wonderful reader to point out any typos she spots, clean them up and THEN post them.

I decided to do this as my way of helping those contending with the Covid-19 debacle. (I can’t tell you how much the comments and notes I’ve received from readers have meant to me. I’m so glad that my silly little story has offered you a few minutes to escape from reality.)

This has been an interesting experiment on a couple of fronts. First, it feels like flying without a net. If I make a mistake story-wise I can’t go back and fix it in edits. My poor choices are already out there. No take-backs!

Second, this book was scheduled to come out AFTER the release of THE HITWOMAN AND THE EXORCISM which will be out on May 28th. RV, the main character in Raven’s Nest plays a major role in the Hitwoman book and I keep writing things that reference that role…but then I have to delete them because I’m trying to avoid spoilers.

Third, there’s a lot of pressure to crank out these chapters. But they’re not the only thing I’m working on. In addition to the prep work for the release of Exoricism, I’m writing Hitwoman 25 (and another passion project) not to mention all of the other things that go into being self-employed. Plus, just like everyone else, there are days when I get overwhelmed by our virus-ridden new world. According to my Fitbit, I haven’t had a night of “GOOD” sleep since March 7th…and that seems pretty accurate. Hmmmm…maybe I should write a new story about a character who goes to ridiculous extremes to get a decent night’s sleep. What do you think?

Maggie Lee will do anything to protect her family…including participating in an exorcism.

When her niece is threatened by an evil spirit, Maggie and her menagerie (with the help of friends Armani and RV) must find a missing skull and rob a graveyard. As if that isn’t enough, they must also go on a quest to collect a list of magical ingredients (including pumpkin spice coffee, because everyone knows that’s some magical stuff right there). 

God is being snarkier than usual, as Maggie also contends with the demands of a mob boss, the fallout of a killing, and an offer of a job that could be her most dangerous yet.

Will she figure out a way to exorcise the evil spirit to save her beloved niece Katie or will the cursed cloud Maggie’s always lived under finally get the best of her?

Have you preordered your copy yet?

Week 5 of 2020 recap

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Smudge and I both had a stomach bug over the weekend. We’re both on the mend and she gave me quite the chuckle when I caught her in the laundry basket. That’s what I get for putting it down and answering the phone instead of taking it straight to the washer, lol.

I’m gearing up for the release of GENTLY USED, STILL WORKS. That means there’s a bunch of administrative work to do (which isn’t my favorite kind of work). That said, I can’t wait for everyone to read the second Psychic Consignment Mystery. And I’m happy to report that like ONE WOMAN’S JUNK it will be available in print on Amazon.

I’m also working on the story edits for the next book in that series AND the manuscript for Hitwoman 23….cuz I’m a busy writer like that.

I’ve also started a two month class. I LOVE LEARNING STUFF!!!! Once I’ve finished it, I’ll be telling you all about it.

Today I learned that I really like a salad dressing made with greek yogurt, freshly squeezed orange juice, orange zest, and grated ginger with a salad of arugula, poached salmon, and orange sections. I know the picture is terrible, but it tasted good!

Have you learned anything good recently? Or eaten anything good? 😉