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

Welcome to Jon's Author Diary for the week ending July 7, 2019.

This week has been characterised by getting first drafts done. I complete the first drafts of Cleric of the Wasteland, the Black Death trilogy, and Black Death: London.

Black Death: London

Now, I’m not quite sure what Black Death: London will end up being. It could work as a standalone novella, my co-author could write his own point of view story around it, or I could write another point of view character and turn it into a standalone novel—I’ve got far too many ideas for this one!

Black Death: London is an apocalyptic story about a politician who uses the outbreak of a deadly plague to move up the political ranks. It’s probably the most satirical thing I’ve ever written, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the insanity of the story…I know what they say about laughing at your own jokes.

 The main character is a scheming egomaniac who will stop at nothing—and I mean nothing—to get just a little bit more power. I used to work as a political reporter and also worked as press coordinator for a shadow minister, so it’s definitely one of those ‘write what you know’ situations. 

The Hermit

On Thursday, I released The Hermit, which is episode nine of The Ravenglass Chronicles. I didn’t think until I set the date for release that July 4 is a holiday in the States. I think it celebrates that time Will Smith punched an alien…I might be wrong. You can check that out HERE.

Blind Reset

I’ve just finished doing an edit of the first quarter of my follow-up to my gamelit novel/story about coming to terms with going blind, Blind Gambit, titled Blind Reset. If you have been following my work for a while, you’ll know that I abandoned Blind Reset a year ago. I didn’t think the story was working and I made the decision to give it up as a bad job.

I hate abandoning projects, and this has hung over me for the past year. So, a few weeks ago, I dug out what I had written so far and revisited the outline. I made a few tweaks and I’m now excited about the story again.

I think I made the decision to abandon Blind Reset at a time when I was dealing with depression, so it feels good to resurrect this project and throw up a middle finger to depression’s hold on me.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to focus primarily on getting a first draft done. So, wish me luck.

My thinking is that when I come to the end of The Ravenglass Chronicles next year, I want to be in a position where I have no lingering projects. I can start on something new and focus all of my attention on one thing.

If you enjoy reading these newsletters, my Author Diary podcast goes into more detail and is probably a bit more stream-of-consciousness than these posts. Got to joncronshaw.libsyn.com or find Jon Cronshaw’s Author Diary on iTunes, Stitcher, or through your favourite podcast app.

  Yours,

Jon

Welcome to my author diary for the week ending June 30, 2019.

I’ve had another productive week. I’ve continued getting up at 5am in order to get a few extra hours work done before everyone else in the house wakes up

I wrote the first draft of Justice, which is book 11 in The Ravenglass Chronicles. I also got book 9 The Hermit from the editor and has received a final proofread. It’s now formatted and ready to go, so it’ll be available on July 4.

I’ve just finished re-drafting book three of the Black Death series and added ten more scenes to book two. It’s a bit of weird experience having to write a novel’s worth of material over the trilogy, but I’ve managed to inject a lot of darkness and action into the story.

It’s finally starting to feel like it's coming together. We have a solid draft of books one and two, and next week I’m going to add ten more scenes to book three.

Because I am a few weeks ahead with my schedule for The Ravenglass Chronicles, I’m going to focus on finishing my first draft of Cleric of the Wasteland. I’ve got three weeks until the six-weeks summer break, so I’m determined to get this done…finally. I mean, I’ve only been working on it for a year and a half.

I’m in the process of rewriting the first three novels in my Wasteland series into past tense and bringing out the emotional impact of the stories, so I’ll probably re-release the whole series once book 4 is ready.

I’ve also been looking over Blind Reset. This is the follow-up to Blind Gambit I abandoned last year. I’ve decided to give it another go as soon as I’m done overhauling the Wasteland novels. It seems my reservations about the story were unfounded and I’ve concluded that you shouldn’t make important decisions while depressed. 

I want to get done with all the lingering projects, so when I finish The Ravenglass Chronicles next year, I’ll be in a position where I can focus on one project at a time.

Finally, we had a fun discussion on the Sci-Fi Roundtable podcast with post-apocalyptic author Darran Handshaw about engineering after the apocalypse. Visit: sfrtpodcast.libsyn.com to listen, or find us on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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

Visit 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 June 9, 2019.

I am back at the writing desk after last week's half-term holiday and have been experimenting with a new schedule for my work. So instead of just focusing on one project at a time, I now work on a project that needs editing in the mornings and write first drafts and outlines during the afternoon.

I’ll track how much I do over the next six weeks to see if this is working, or whether it is slowing me down.

Writing

During the mornings this week, I worked on redrafting The Hermit, episode nine of The Ravenglass Chronicles.

In the afternoons, I worked on Cleric of the Wasteland, book 4 in the Wasteland series and have just reached the midpoint of the story. As I started work on this 18 months ago, I think it’s about time that I get this book finished!

I'm hoping that with this new way of working, I can have a solid first draft of Cleric of the Wasteland complete by the end of July.

Blind Reset?

When the fourth Wasteland book is complete, there’s a distinct possibility that I will write the follow-up to Blind Gambit. I abandoned the sequel a year ago, and revisiting it I’ve realised I wasn’t in the right headspace to make a judgement. Looking at it with a bit of distance, I can see the scenes I’ve written are solid and the outline is good.

If you’ve read Blind Gambit, you’ll know that it set half in a virtual world and half in the real world. The real world scenes were challenging to write because they are about a teenage boy coming to terms with going bling—something I have to deal with, so it’s very personal, very raw. I have half of the real-world scenes written for book 2, so it’s just a case of adding a few scenes a week to finish the story.

Book club read

I’ve started reading The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. This is an epic fantasy classic that I have not read before and has been on my TBR pile for years. We’re reading it as our June read in The Arcane Book Club Facebook group, so that force my hand. I’m only a couple of chapters into the audiobook and I’m already hooked.

Ancient Egypt

I’ve been on a bit of an ancient Egypt binge this week and watched a few documentaries and listened to several podcasts on the subject. I’m currently watching one on Netflix called The Pyramid Code. The first episode was great. It showed how many of the pyramids were lined up to the precession of the zodiac and arranged to reflect the solstices.

The second episode unfortunately went to the pseudo-science route, bringing in ‘subtle energies’ and magic. One of the contributors talked about the existence of light ‘orbs’ within the pyramids, suggesting untapped energy that scientists can’t explain. They can. I used to do photography. What they refer to as orbs are simply the camera’s flash bouncing off dust motes, creating the illusion of a light orb. The subject is fascinating enough as it without adding in woo.

Support my work

I continue to add content to my Patreon page—I’ve posted stories, articles, and audio, many of which are free to access, so please do check those out and support me for $1 per month at patreon.com/joncronshawauthor.

Yours,

Jon

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending June 2, 2019.

This week was the half-term holidays, so my wife and son have been at home. We visited my family in the Midlands, so it was great to catch up with my siblings.

On the car journey, we listened to How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. It was a lot of fun and vastly different to the movies. I think the only things they kept from the films were the setting and the character names. It was narrated by David Tennant, so that was a bonus. 

In terms of actually writing, I made some slight tweaks to Finish Your First Novel after receiving feedback from beta readers. It’s now with the editor, so I’ll have some review copies over the next month or so if anyone is interested.

Next week, I’m going to carry on with my second draft of The Hermit, book 9 of The Ravenglass Chronicles, and hopefully get that to my alpha readers by June 14 for feedback.

I read a fascinating book this week called Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock. I recently heard an interview with him on the Joe Rogan podcast. The book outlines the possibility of an advanced lost civilisation. The only trouble with books like this is that they send my imagine racing, and I know I need to focus on my Ravenglass Chronicles series!

This weekend was the Morecambe Steampunk Festival. This was a great excuse for me to get out the house, check out some awesome cosplay, inventive contraptions, and drink beer.

Welcome to Jon's Author Diary for the week ending May 26, 2019.

I carried on writing my non-fiction books. I sent Finish Your First Novel off to my beta readers to get some feedback and finished the second draft of the main body of Podcasting for Authors.

The next step in that book is to write the appendices because the main section is principles on preparing a podcast and how to source and conduct interviews, etc. The appendices are going to be more technical walk-through guides on how to record, edit, upload, and promote a podcast. So when inevitable does happen and something like a podcast host updates its system, I’ll be able to go into the appendix pages and make those necessary changes without affecting the main body of the text.

Next week is the half term holiday, so I will only be doing about an hour a day as I plan on spending time with my wife and son.

After that, I plan on returning to my Ravenglass Chronicles series to get the second draft of The Hermit finished.

I’ve also started reading  Storm Front by Jim Butcher. This is the first book in his Dresden Files series and it's been recommended to me countless times over the year. I’ve never been a fan of urban fantasy, but I am enjoying this book immensely.

I watched the finale of Game of Thrones this past week and I have a theory.

*HERE BE SPOILERS*

I’m convinced that Bran is a deeply evil character—if it is even Bran at all who inhabits his body. Because of his powers and the fact that he knew where he had to be and why, I’m convinced he must have known what would happen to King’s Landing.

He could have prevented a million deaths and he didn’t.

He was and still is the three-eyed raven. And the creation of the Night King was no accident.

There is no other way around it—Bran is evil.

What do you think?

Support me at patreon.com/joncronshawauthor.

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

Hello and welcome to my Author Diary for the week ending May 12, 2019.

May 12 is my birthday. So happy birthday to me. I received a new guitar amp from my wife, so I’ll be annoying my neighbours/family with clumsy renditions of Queens of the Stone Age songs.

I had a mixed bag of a week. It was a bank holiday on Monday so that meant one less writing day and then on Tuesday and Wednesday I was feeling pretty rough. I’m getting over what was basically a chest infection, so that was fun and exciting.

Writing

I managed to complete the first draft of Wheel of Fortune, which is book ten of The Ravenglass Chronicles. I thought it was high time I named a book after one of my favourite games shows of the 90s—look out for my future books, Catchphrase and Bullseye!

Book eleven is going to be the end of the second main arc. There’s a lot of things coming together, a lot of revelations and a big game-changer at the end. It’s going to be a lot of fun to write.

Book eight, Strength, comes out tomorrow, along with the boxset of episodes five to eight. Click HERE to order.

Pikachuuuuu!

 On Friday, I went to see Detective Pikachu with my son and wife. It was a fun film filled with jokes that will no doubt wash over kids’ heads. It’s  one of those films that is a bit like Toy Story where it works for children of all ages.

Books

I finished reading The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler. I very much enjoyed that and look forward to reading more in the series.

I also started re-reading Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, which is the May read in The Arcane Book Club Facebook group.

More places to consume my fiction

My steampunk story Lord Sidebottom and the Awesome Airship Mystery was reprinted on the Science Fantasy Hub and it will be featured on next week’s Sci-Fi Roundtable podcast as an audio story, so do check that out.

Also, my first novel Wizard of the Wasteland is only 99c/99p at the moment, so grab yourself a copy HERE.

Hello, welcome to my author newsletter for the week ending May 5, 2019.

I’ve had a very productive week. I managed to finish my first draft of The Hermit, episode nine of The Ravenglass Chronicles. I'm really pleased with how that went. I think it answers a few questions and raise more.

I also finished writing the new scenes for the third Black Death novel. This was fast-paced, with a lot of drama and action. I really enjoyed getting to write a redemption story. As with all my first drafts, it’s in no fit state to read, but the story is there, and I can no build on the bones to make it palatable for human consumption.

To get me in the right frame of mind of writing in a thriller style, I read Dan Brown’s novel Angels and Demons. The pacing and action was excellent, but the story was preposterous. There more fantastical things going on than in my Ravenglass Chronicles, and my series features magic blades, talking wyverns, sentient ships, and prescient dreams. That being said, it was a fun, quick read.

I’ve also been reading The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler—now this is more to my taste! I’ve been recommended this book several times by readers who said it reminds them of my fantasy stuff. I can see where the comparisons are in terms of the writing style and the minimal level of description. It’s primarily about the characters and story, and doesn’t get bogged down in too much world-building. 

I watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones this week (I use the word ‘watch’ very loosely as I’m convinced most of this episode was filmed with the lens cap left on).

This was a tense episode with a lot to keep track of—most of all the deaths. Shit is really starting to hit the fan. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I cannot wait to see where this goes!

If you haven't done so already, please do subscribe to the Sci-Fi Roundtable podcast. Last week we had a interview with Stephanie Barr, who is an author and rocket scientist. We talked about troubleshooting in space as well as cats and dragons, so that was a lot of fun.

Over the next month, we’ve got episodes about steampunk, genetically modified humans, and engineering after the apocalypse. So, please do check those out.

Until next time, cheerio.

Jon