Jon Cronshaw's Author Diary - The Real Life of an Indie Author | Writing | Publishing | Disability

Order The Ravenglass Chronicles books 1-11 boxset HERE.

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending September 8, 2019.

I’ve had a difficult but productive week. I started working on my first draft of The Hanged Man, which is episode 12 of The Ravenglass Chronicles.

I’ve written the first four scenes, but it has been slow going. I think I need to revisit my outline and make it is strong as I can. It’s not there yet.

I broke away from the story and focused instead on a new non-fiction book for authors called The Stoic Writer, which is about how Roman stoicism can help authors with their mindset.

I managed to write the first and second draft over the week, and have sent it to beta readers. 

It was a fun book to write, and I think it was the palate cleanser I needed.

Next week is my dad’s funeral. I’m not looking forward to that and I wonder whether the looming prospect of that is what is causing the resistance on the fiction.

And in the week following the funeral, we’re having a new kitchen fitted, so the house is going to be noisy and in disarray. I’m going to use this time to focus on editing. Hopefully, I’ll have a first draft of The Hanged Man to re-write. Failing that, I have plenty of other projects to complete.

Justice

Anyone who has pre-ordered Justice, book 11 of The Ravenglass Chronicles, will no doubt have received an email from Amazon saying the release date has been brought forward to September 12.

Click HERE to pre-order.

Check out this selection of novellas

If you can’t get enough serialised fantasy novellas, please check out the following promo featuring a bunch of authors write serials. Visit: http://www.fantasykindlebooks.com/novellas.html

Podcasting

Finally, on the latest episode of the Sci-Fi Roundtable, author Dr Wesley Britton joined us to talk about blind authors and characters.

He has the same condition as me (retinitis pigmentosa), but he’s much further along with the condition as I am.

It was cool to have a conversation about the experience of dealing with visual impairment and how there is no reason why it should stop anyone being an author.

Plus, last week, Shane Thomas read an excerpt from my novel, Blind Gambit.

Please search for Sci-Fi Roundtable wherever you get your podcasts or check out the podcast feed at sfrtpodcast.libsyn.com.

Take care,

Jon

Welcome to Jon’s Author Diary for the week ending September 1, 2019…yes, September.

I’ve had a productive week. If you’ve been receiving my newsletters for a while, you now that I've been telling myself not to start new projects until I clear the backlog of ongoing projects.

Well, I failed that this week.

I’ve been working on a new prequel for The Ravenglass Chronicles. It’s set about nine months before the events of The Magician, and gives some more insight into Kat’s life and how she first met Hans. I have a first draft complete and will be working on a second draft over the next week or so.

Those of you who on my Patreon page will get a first look at this as I post the unedited chapters as soon as the second draft is ready. The rest of you will have to wait! But, fear not, it’s going to be a freebie to say thank you for supporting my work.

The prequel will be called…

*drumroll*

The Fool.

“Wait! Didn’t you already release The Fool?”

Yes. The story I originally released under the title The Fool is now combined with The Magician. Amazon would not let me have a book 0 (The Fool is card 0 in the tarot) linked to a series. This meant readers missing out on the first episode of the series.

So, The Fool as a title was unpublished and there will be a new version.

I’m not going to make this available on Amazon, only to my newsletter subscribers. So, look out for the new version of The Fool coming at some point in the near future. 

Black Death update

I have now compiled the Black Death series into three novels. It is now with my co-author, Lynn, so it's out of my hands for a while. I hope that it will get done in the not-too-distant future.

TOOL has a new album!

I was excited this week to see that one of my favourite bands TOOL released a new album for the first time in 13 years.

And it did not disappoint.

It is a great album. This will probably sound pretentious, but TOOL’s doesn’t write ‘songs’—they are more like musical experiences, hypnotic stories that take you on strange journeys.

The Wasteland series re-write

I continue to post chapters from the new, improved version of Wizard of the Wasteland every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on my Patreon page.

I’m about twenty percent through reworking Knight of the Wasteland—I forgot just how much I loved writing this story. As soon as I’m done posting chapters from Wizard, I’ll go straight onto this. 

And, of course, I’m posting these in addition to short stories, podcasts, and exclusive articles.

You can access all of these for as little as $1 per month. Please visit: patreon.com/joncronshawauthor.

Assassin novels

I’m currently on a bit of grimdark fantasy assassin kick. I’ve recently read Andy Peloquin’s Darkblade Assassin and have moved onto Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.

Do you have a favourite assassin novel or series you think I should read?

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending August 25, 2019.

This week has been a bit of a mixed bag. A virus knocked me back for a couple of days, so this gave me chance to read a big chunk of Anthony Ryan's Blood Songs, book one in his Raven Shadow series.

It’s a grimdark epic fantasy set in military order, so it ticks a lot of boxes for me. I’m about two –thirds through, and it’s a great story so far.

I managed to finish the third draft of Justice, which is book 11 of The Ravenglass Chronicles.

My process usually involves me writing a shitty first draft, which is where I vomit the story from brain to the page. In my second draft, I do a complete re-write, telling the story how I wish I’d told it first time around. And then my third is focused on making the writing on a sentence-level. It’s very important that my words have the right rhythm and flow.  It’s now ready for the editor. So, hopefully, I’ll get that released mid-September.

I did make the mistake of putting all my ongoing and planned future projects onto a spreadsheet to share with my editor.

Eek!

I had three first-draft novels, three novels waiting for a final redraft, two Wasteland novels needing a rewrite, three non-fiction books drafted, and eleven novellas to write. This isn’t to count the series I’ve started planning when I’ve cleared the backlog of projects.

There’s a lesson there about focusing on one thing until the end, I’m sure…

One-hundred episodes!

Next seek marks the one-hundredth episode of my Author Diary podcast. For this episode, I’d like you to email jon (at) joncronshaw.com with a question for me to answer on the podcast. It can be about anything—my work, my life, or anything to do with books, movies, writing, etc.

Patreon

I’ve been continuing to post the re-write of Wizard of the Wasteland chapter-by-chapter on Patreon. Plus, podcasts, short stories, and articles. I post new chapters on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and you can get access for $1 per month. Visit: patreon.com/joncronshawauthor.

Yours,

Jon

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Welcome to my author diary for the week ending August 12, 2019. 

Support my work at https://patreon.com/joncronshawauthor

Welcome to Jon's author diary for week ending August 4, 2019.

It’s been a slow week in terms of actual writing. I have been in holiday mode, so I've been doing dad stuff.

My mother came to stay and took a daytrip to Blackpool in scorching sunshine. I spent most of the day nipping between areas of shade and pouring bowls of water for my guide dog, Digit.

It's been difficult to keep any kind of writing routine, so I’ve been snatching moments here and there  to do small tasks, such as gathering quotes for non-fiction books and reading.

When I’m not focused on writing, my mind tends to run away with ideas. This is a blessing and a curse. I had the idea of writing a space fantasy series involving dragons…and a zombie apocalypse series…and a military fantasy series…a grimdark fantasy assassin series. I’m sure for some authors this would be wonderful, but for me they’re distractions.

I’m sitting on several books in various draft states—Cleric of the Wasteland, Blind Reset, the Black Death trilogy, Black Death: London, Justice, and three non-fiction books. Plus, I’m in the process of re-writing the first three Wasteland books! So, the last thing I need is more distractions.

I need to focus on finishing all the open projects before moving onto a new one, but it’s like my mind keeps going, ‘hey, what about this?’ I’m like a magpie drawn to shiny new things.

Patreon

I’ve posted the first four chapters of the re-written Wizard of the Wasteland onto my Patreon page. You can read the first chapter HERE for free, and get full access to exclusive short stories, audio, articles, reviews, and early releases from a dollar a month.

I’ll post a new chapter every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Visit patreon.com/joncronshawauthor to support my work. 

Black Death

I’ve been speaking to my co-author about potential release dates for the Black Death trilogy, and based on our current workloads, it looks like we’re either going to launch the series in November or next February.

The Ravenglass Chronicles

Wheel of Fortune, episode ten of The Ravenglass Chronicles went live this week. You can read the entire series through Kindle Unlimited, or each novella is 99c/99p. Click HERE to read Wheel of Fortune.

Question

Does it annoy you when authors write several genres?

Yours,

Jon

Welcome to Jon's author diary for July 29, 2019.

Last week was the 10th anniversary of my wife and me getting married. So we went to Scotland to spend a week in a log cabin enjoying wine and a hot tub.

We then went to Edinburgh, where I attended the 20books conference, and got to meet some great authors and catch up with some old friends. So my head is still spinning from that. I’m what you’d describe as an outgoing introvert—I can deal with meeting new people, but when it’s over, I just want to curl up in the dark and listen to a good audiobook.

Writing is a weird business, especially when you do it full-time, so having conversations with people who ‘get it’ was amazing. Even my closest family and friends don’t really understand what it is I do. Because write characters that connect on an emotional level with readers is more than just a hobby to me—it’s my calling.

Digit

When I went to Scotland, I decided to leave my guide dog Digit with a boarder for the week. Luckily, it was the person who’d trained Digit as a pup, so it was someone who knew Digit, which put my mind at rest.

I really missed having him to help me as using a white cane feels awkward. It was probably for the best though as I had some great discussions about books and writing at the conference which I’m sure would have all been about dogs if Digit was there.

Reading

I’ve started reading Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski, which is the first book in The Witcher series. I’m about halfway through and really enjoying the world and characters, though it does feel like a series of connected shorts rather than a fully realised novel.

Getting my son into fiction

My son turns seven in September and is starting to get into reading. He has recently read all of the How to Train Your Dragon books by Cressida Cowell (they are very different to the movies), he's read the first two in her Wizards of Once series, and has moved onto Harry Potter—I couldn't be prouder!

Wheel of Fortune

The tenth book in my Ravenglass Chronicles series comes out on Thursday, August 1. I’m not a fan of the title—it reminds me too much of the game show, but it is a tarot card in the Major Arcana, so my hands are tied.

Wasteland series and Patreon.

As you may be aware if you listen to my Author Diary podcast, I’m in the process of re-writing my Wasteland series.

I’ve just posted the first chapter of the Wizard of the Wasteland onto my Patreon page patreon.com/joncronshawauthor. The first chapter is open to anyone, and I will post a chapter on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for patrons.

I’ve overhauled the entire series, rewriting every line to tighten up the language and story, turn it from present to past tense, and give readers access to Abel’s thoughts. This has added a new subplot, which I hope will make for a deeper story. 

They are still in a draft state, but I thought it would be fun to share what I’ve done and give a bit more insight into my process.

This means as well as posting chapters from ongoing projects as I’m doing them, giving access to story months in advance, I’ll also share things like scrawled outlines and raw audio of dictated chapters if there’s interest.

I hope you’ll come and join me. I’d love to hear your feedback as I go. I want my stories to be as powerful as possible, and the best way I can do that is with your help.

Yours,

Jon

Hello, welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending July 21, 2019.

I have finished my first draft of Blind Reset! It’s taken me over a year, but I've done it. It's a good feeling to know that it’s not an abandoned project, just postponed one.

I also got Wheel of Fortune back from a proofread, so I just need to write an author's note and format it, so I’ll probably get that out in the first week of August.

I've also been carrying on my rewrite of Knight of the Wasteland, so am about 20 percent through doing that. It’s going slowly, but this one of those things I’ll keep chipping away when I don't have anything more urgent to do.

It’s really obvious revisiting the story that I’m much better at writing and telling stories than I was, so it’s been great to bring the quality up to a standard that will hopefully make for better reading experience.

There’s part me thinking that I should just leave it as a monument how I was, but I want to provide the best experience for the reader I can. I want it to be something I can be proud of in 10, 20, 30 years.

I'm on the verge of closing my Patreon page as, after six months, I have not seen any traction on the site.

I really appreciate everyone who has supported me, but this was one of those things where I have to decide whether it’s worth me spending the time working on stories and posts for less than $10 a month, and unfortunately, the answer is no. Writing books is my full-time job, so I have to focus on the areas that will pay my bills.

So, unless I suddenly get a surge that makes it worth it, I’ll be closing it over the next month or so.

 Finally, I have been posting some stories on my website at joncronshaw.com. My latest story is a dark fantasy tale called No Rehab for Wizards, so please do check that out.

Yours,

Jon

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending, July 14, 2019.

I’ve had another productive week. I’ve been working on my first draft of Blind Reset, my follow-up to Blind Gambit. I'm just about to write the final six chapters, so I should have a first draft of this book ready by the middle of next week. Consider I abandoned this book a year ago, it feels great to know I’ve nearly got the story out of my head.

Miracle mornings

I’ve continued to get up at 4.45am every morning to get the writing done. What’s surprised me is that having just a few hours of focused time where I can get into a flow state has almost tripled my production. The numbers don’t make sense, but I’m not going to complain!

I’ll admit that I’m starting to feel tired. It probably didn’t help that my son decided to wake me up at 1.30am on Tuesday morning. A few author friends of mine who have done something similar told me that the next couple of weeks are the hardest, but then getting up becomes a habit.

Because of the school summer holidays, I have three more full writing days left until September. I’m going to continue getting up early, but my writing time will only be those brief windows in the morning. This is why I’ve been so focused on getting first drafts of linger projects finished. My hope is that by the time I’ve finished writing The Ravenglass Chronicles, I’ll have no other projects to do, so I can focus on a new flagship series.

Since June 16, I have complete first drafts for:

- The Ravenglass Chronicles book 11, Justice.

- Cleric of the Wasteland, Wasteland book 4.

- Black Death: Outbreak.

- Black Death: Survival.

- Black Death: Apocalypse.

- Black Death: London.

- Podcasting for Authors.

Next week, I will add Blind Reset to this list!

Of course, I’ll have my work cut out for me in terms of re-drafting, but five of those projects have been hanging over me for a year or more. So, it’s a massive psychological boost to feel like I’m moving forward.

Reading

I read a very cool non-fiction book this week called Creative Thinking by Jonathan Firth. It was an advance copy and I think it’s set for release sometime in the next week or so.

In the book, a cognitive psychologist goes deep into how to be more creative. It was full of great tips and tricks, and I’ve been introduced to the idea of taking a ‘nappuccino’—essentially drinking a strong coffee before taking a power nap. It tried it on Friday and it worked really well.

I’d recommend to anyone who wants to boost their creativity, whether its art, music, coding, business, I think this book will be very beneficial.

Do you have any great productivity tips? Hit reply and let me know.

The Sci-Fi Roundtable.

On this week’s episode of the podcast, we had our biggest roundtable to date, with five authors, recorded over three continents, to discuss artificial intelligence and artificial life.

I think I might have been the most pessimistic about the future of AI and what how it will change what it means to be a productive person, so do check that out.

You can subscribe wherever you download podcasts, or listen at sfrtpodcast.libsyn.com.

Yours,

Jon