I am very picky about the books I read, and it’s hard to find anything that doesn’t either piss me off or bore me. That might just be a product of having been an Indie Author, honing her craft for 30 years, or maybe it’s just me being too damn critical. But I never had problems in my younger years. Like say, my twenties and before. But then, I didn’t write my first book until I was 26. So maybe it really is that being an author affects my ability to enjoy reading other authors that aren’t top-notch. Garbage in, …Continue reading →
The argument begins like this… “When you write intricate plots, you always have to change things and rewrite and it’s hard to just write that story straight through.” “Not for me,” says the irritating pantser who goes from start to finish. You’ve probably guessed I’m not a pantser, but a planner. While I do allow creative things to take over, and do embrace that happy accident that solves a plotting problem, I am, at the heart of it all, a technical writer. I’m also whole-brain, and often my right brain and left brain are embroiled in hand-to-hand combat. While those …Continue reading →
here’s a warning to all other Indie authors. Be aware that Google Docs might create this issue with your manuscript as well. I won’t be using that again.
I want a new category on Amazon that more accurately reflects the changes afoot in our ideation of a woman’s place in the world. In order to do this, I feel I have to branch out in my writing and create stories in genres that are typically male-dominated. Women need in a voice in those, too. Thus, I will be adding this new tag to all my books. I call it #FemFic. I hope all of you in the Twitterverse will use it, too–help get it going. IF it can gain traction, i will petition Amazon to include it in …Continue reading →
One quarter to one third of the way through a novel, I sometimes hit this dead spot. I’m not sure where the story is going. For instance, this happened with Building Character (Book 2 of the Northwoods Trilogy). Instead of a linear progression from one scene to the next I had a beginning and an end, but there was this entire middle part missing. I wondered how I was going to fill it in. There didn’t seem to be much room for story there. One character was in transit to the location of the other characters and I wondered how I …Continue reading →
The Girls in the Band is doing very well in the charts! Thank you, readers! Here’s the FB live video I did on 19Sept2017 TOPIC: sex in lesbian fiction, menopause as it pertains to readers and writers, an erotica project, and many other things. You could call it live STEAMing, I suppose. LOL. Friend me on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/jaebaeli
Don’t say anything. Don’t make a comment. It will make you look bad. That’s the usual advice in the publishing industry when someone posts a caustic review of your book, under the assumption that this is about some type of insecurity on the part of a writer. This is not insecurity. It is frustration, and in this case, it’s also outrage. In fact, historically, authors are expected to keep their mouth shut about these things, but I am a proponent of the adage Silence equals Death. This advice to stay mum strikes me as the same mentality that got that Orange Nightmare in the Oval …Continue reading →
I’ve always believed that every ill in our society falls under one or more of three categories: Greed, Ignorance or Zealotry. I was faced with an example of one or more of these while updating my author page on Goodreads. I came across a negative review, quite by accident, of one of my earlier books. Against my better judgment, I read it, and was horrified. The reviewer, obviously, did not like my book, and that’s fine, in and of itself, but this reviewer made statements that were patently false. She claimed the character in my book was “helping a pedophile.” …Continue reading →
Melissa and I did our first Facebook Live Stream on the 16th. Here it is. SUBJECTS: Hillary’s new book, my new releases, Melissa’s book projects, calling the cops last night because someone shot at our house.
Since my surgery at the end of May, I have had to accommodate my recovery, while still getting my work done. The whole thing has made me feel old and decrepit. Our bedroom is now in the living room because it was just easier to put everything in one room. Especially after we realized the landlords weren’t going to cut down the dead trees and falling limbs just outside our wall of windows in the bedroom. We didn’t feel safe there, so the living room became our new bedroom. Only recently, could I sit in a desk chair as I …Continue reading →
I posted a promo that I’m working on book 4 in the Rain Falls series, and got this response from one of my readers: Cindy Compton YES!!! then maybe a cross-pollination book 2? Pretty peaz… 😜 Kelli Jae Baeli yes there will be another Cross-Pollination book. After i decide which characters. any suggestions? Cindy Compton Sorry I missed this…I thought about that with C-P1, how on earth do you decide which characters to involve in weaving several stories into one captivating tale and still do them all justice without the storyline suffering. But you’re a pro at this, so you always manage to pull …Continue reading →
I fear I must be a special needs child…er…adult… After my military injuries, I was told I’d never walk again. I went from a wheelchair to a scooter, to forearm crutches. Now, I’m walking just fine…except when I’m not. It took years to get myself back on my feet. Now, I have certain limitations that I have always tried to address with clever ergonomic solutions–physical, and otherwise. Ergonomics is not just about efficiency, it’s about comfort. While I always streamline and arrange my workspace to address ease of use, I also must be comfortable, physically. Problem is, my spine doesn’t …Continue reading →
Shame on me. I haven’t posted a blog in a long time. SO much going on with us lately. Dealing with sudden health issues happening all at once, burned out, exhausted, feeling ill all the time, I was certainly not inspired to write. So I decided to take a 6-month sabbatical. It turned into 8 months when I found out in the middle of it I needed major surgery. So, I had to face my #2 biggest fear, (surgery) and I’ve been recovering from a full abdominal hysterectomy, and after almost 8 weeks, I’m still having some issues, which I …Continue reading →
