Jon Cronshaw's Author Diary: The Real Life of a Legally Blind Fantasy Author

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending February 9, 2020.

I write this in a lot of pain because on Thursday I went to hospital and had my shoulder scanned and pumped full of steroids. It’s as if someone has come down on it with a brick.

I have a heat pack and some ibuprofen gel, so hopefully it should settle down over the next few days and I can start work on the physio exercises.

Temperance is out!

Temperance, episode 14 of The Ravenglass Chronicles has just gone live and I’ve already started work on book 15, The Devil. Click HERE to order your copy.

I’m really enjoying using the tarot cards as inspiration with this series—it's given me some great story ideas that I never would have considered on my own.

I was revisiting the tower card to start brainstorming ideas for book 16, and it couldn’t be more perfect. I’m over 70 percent through the story and each card brings new excitement, energy, and surprises.

I just need to work out what I should do after The Ravenglass Chronicles is complete…assassin series, anyone?

Twitter update

I finished reading the book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of my relationship with social media.

I decided I was long overdue to close my Twitter account. I started using Twitter in 2009, so it's something I've used for over a decade. It was a great platform when I worked as a reporter, but for the last couple of years it’s become a toxic cesspool of tribalism, anger, and people looking to ruin the lives of others to score political points. I don’t need that crap in my life.

I had to weigh up what I was actually getting from the platform and realised I was only staying on Twitter because I occasionally get messages from readers. I figured that if readers want to get in touch, they would find a way.

Closing it feels like a small weight has been lifted.

Groundhog Day

Last weekend, I appeared on the latest episode of the Now You’ve Seen It podcast to talk about Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray movie from the 90s. I’d never seen it before and I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

The podcast was a lot of fun to record and many laughs were had by all.

You can find Now You’ve Seen It wherever you get your podcasts.

The Good Place

I watched the finale of The Good Place this week. If you’ve not seen it, it’s a Netflix comedy series set in the afterlife. It’s produced by the same people who did things like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Recreation.

The writing is tremendous and manages to create the perfect balance between comedy and an exploration of what it means to be a good person. The final episode fully encapsulated that, and I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t bring a tear to my eye.

I can't remember the last time I watched a show with such a perfect ending (maybe Breaking Bad did). I think back to shows I loved like Battlestar Galactica and Lost, which didn’t have satisfying finales, and am thankful the writers of The Good Place delivered an amazing finale.

And Janet might be one of my favourite characters in anything…except Sam Vimes.

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending February 2, 2020—that 02 02 2020!

I finished my third draft of Temperance this week, which is book 14 of The Ravenglass Chronicles. That’s now with a couple of early readers to get some feedback before it goes to the editor. This one was particularly challenging to write as it’s the most mystical/psychedelic thing I’ve ever written. It answers many questions about seers’ dreams…but raises some more about what Kat needs to do next.

I’ve started bringing together my plans for book 15, The Devil. I don’t want to give too much away, because it will spoil Temperance, but let’s just say the stakes get raised another notch…

Next week, I have a hospital appointment about an ongoing shoulder issue. The doctor wants to do some scans and inject me with steroids. I think my posture is causing the issues, probably because of spending most of my adult life working at computers.

I recently invested in a standing desk, so I'm sure that will help in the long-term, but in the meantime I’ve been doing physio exercises.

I hope that they don't need to do surgery, but that has been suggested. My rotator cuff and right shoulder blade are in a bit of a mess. My bad shoulder seems to stick out a weird angle as compared to the left. 

I read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson this week, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  What I love about astronomy and taking a cosmic perspective is that kicks you out of your ego and makes you remember how insignificant we all are in the grand scheme of the universe. The petty events of day-to-day life don't really matter in the scale of history and the universe.

That's a liberating thought.

Anything that gets away from worrying about the ins and outs on the latest events in the news cycle can only be a good thing.

Finally, I wanted to announce that I’m closing my Patreon page, effective immediately. I’d like to thank everyone who supported my work on the platform. If you’re a subscriber, I’ve made sure that you won’t be charged for February.

It was a difficult decision, but I want to focus primarily on producing the best stories I can, and creating regular content for Patreon was becoming too much of a time-sap. I hope you understand.

If you want to support my work, the most helpful thing you can do is leave amazing reviews on Amazon.

Take care,

Jon

Visit https://www.subscribepage.com/ravenglass to join the VIP mailing list. You will receive free stories and be first to know about new releases.

Visit https://www.subscribepage.com/ravenglass to join the VIP mailing list. You will receive free stories and be first to know about new releases.

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending January 12, 2020.

I returned to the writing desk on Monday and started getting up at 5am again to meditate and exercise before writing. Because of taking time off for Christmas and New Year, my sleep pattern shifted by about three-four hours.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were solid writing days…Thursday sucked.

I felt completely wiped-out. I’m not sure if it was the sleep pattern change catching up with me or whether it was SAD rearing its ugly head again, but I only managed to write 1,000 words (I usually do 5,000+). This was on the day I heard that Brandon Sanderson wrote 19,000 words in one day to finish the next book in the Stormlight Archive (I cannot wait to read that!)

I’ve been working on the first draft of Temperance, book 14 of The Ravenglass Chronicles, in the mornings, and on the second draft of Blind Reset (the follow-up to Blind Gambit) in the afternoons.

This new way of doing things has been working well for me (except on Thursday). Based on the way the stories are progressing, I should have Temperance ready for the editor in two weeks and Blind Reset by Easter.

Social media blackout

Throughout December, I decided to take a break from social media.

I went off Facebook and Twitter for forty days.

I’ve decided that Twitter showcases the worst of what humanity has to offer, so I won’t be going back on there again.

As for Facebook, I’ve installed a plug-in for Chrome which replaces the newsfeed with an inspirational quote (it’s called Newsfeed Eradicator). This means I can do the tasks I need to do on Facebook and get out without getting distracted. Perfect!

I’ve also decided to keep my phone free of social media and notifications. I have to admit that at first I found myself absently picking up my phone to check Facebook. But that stopped after a few days.

I realised I need social media to work for me, not for me to be compelled to use it without much conscious thought.

I’m definitely going to do more social media blackouts in the future…I’m sure my sanity will thank me.  

Guilty pleasures

I got into a show on Netflix over the holidays called Ancient Aliens. I don’t subscribe to the whole ancient astronaut theory, but I am interested in ancient civilisations.

This show features amazing footage of megalithic structures, pyramids, underwater cities, etc. It’s a case of not throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Plus, the leaps in logic from “here’s a funny-looking rock” to “this is definitely evidence of ancient alien technology” is always entertaining.

Podcasting

Over the Christmas break, I posted a review of 2019, my favourite reads of 2019, and an outline of my 2020 goals on my author diary podcast feed.

In the latest episode, I talk about what I did over Christmas and New Year, how I plan to beat SAD next winter, my thoughts on The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, and my experience watching Groundhog Day for the first time… Visit: joncronshaw.libsyn.com to listen now or subscribe to Jon Cronshaw’s Author Diary on you podcast app of choice.

If you have any questions you’d like me to answer on the podcast, hit reply now.

Take care,

Jon

Visit https://www.subscribepage.com/ravenglass to join the VIP mailing list. You will receive free stories and be first to know about new releases.

Visit https://www.subscribepage.com/ravenglass to join the VIP mailing list. You will receive free stories and be first to know about new releases.

Visit https://www.subscribepage.com/ravenglass to join the VIP mailing list. You will receive free stories and be first to know about new releases.

Visit https://www.subscribepage.com/ravenglass to join the VIP mailing list. You will receive free stories and be first to know about new releases.

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Website. joncronshaw.com

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