Stress and Writing

Posted on October 5, 2019 by K.M Jenkins

Wow it is hard to believe it’s another month already. Let alone the fact that it is my birthday month. Yeah this girl is an October baby. My birthday actually falls on Oct. 20th, just a 11 miss of Halloween. Did I mention that Halloween is my favorite holiday of all time.

You will have to forgive me on my typos and grammar issues this time around. I am at my job writing this post without the aide of my trust prowritersaide software. This last month has had a long of changes for this girl. If you haven’t figure it out then let me spell it out. Yeah, this stay-at-home mom got a job. It is just part-time for now, not sure when I will get up the nerve to go full time. If things work out though I am hoping to work a day job part-time and make the rest of my money I need from writing itself.

You’re probably tired of me drowning on about everyday stuff. So, lets get down to my writing. It has been dwindling down to nothing lately. I accomplished getting “A Forbidden Friendship” out this last month and got 1k written in the next story. But with everything going on I haven’t found time to write as much as I would like too. I’m hoping to get the final story of my Tales of Ferres series down before the end of the month. It is just up in the air for now with my schedule and the kids being ornerier than hell.

Just recently I signed up for an anthology for Historical Fantasy. I was thinking of doing a story around Pearl Harbor and Supernatural beings. I don’t know what the story is going to be about yet but I have till February to get it written. It isn’t that back since it is only suppose to be a 10k story. So, wish me luck.

Do you like my ramblings when I do my monthly update or are there specific things you would like me to address? Let me know in the comments below.

Projects, a New Job, and Hassles

Posted on September 5, 2019 by K.M Jenkins

September just started and I am going crazy with trying to keep up with everything. To help make things even worse, I start a part-time job yesterday. The job is pretty easy to do, but the training is so boring. I wanted to kill myself yesterday—the clock just moved so slow. Either than that it was nice to get away from the screaming kids for a few hours. I plan to only work short hours during the week and every other weekend. Still that takes a lot of time away from design projects and my writing.

Things have been going slowly on the writing front. I started writing the final story in my Tales of Ferrês series. I got about 1k into it then found myself stuck for over two weeks. Nothing I did made me want to finish it. So, the day before yesterday I decided to re-write the entire story from scratch. This seemed to do the trick because I could make some headway into it finally. I am hoping if time permits I will complete half of it tomorrow since I have the day off. But, that depends on if the boys let me work on the computer or not. They have been getting pretty naughty lately, so that leaves that up in the air.

If I don’t get the story to where I want it tomorrow I gave myself two weeks to write it. Then will come the fun part—editing. Right now my editor is in her busy time with her other job. So, it will be a work in process to get this one done on time. I am thinking of having it release at the end of October. Then release the bundle book in November. I will be glad when this project is done and out of the way. I am excited about getting started on my other books for next year.

**Cough…Cough** Changing the subject, I have been working on a 30 step process to writing a novel, created by Renee Scattergood. It is taking longer than I thought to get through all the steps so I can get to the writing part. I did this process with my WIP, ‘Gargoyle Sighted’. This is the book I have been releasing by the chapter each month to my Dragon Ryder VIP Members. Since this process is changing a lot, this month I will miss the deadline and double up in November. I plan to write this entire series before I start on my next book series. Hoping this process works to kick out series faster.

If you can’t tell my month will be busy with the addition of having a normal day job. So wish me luck and hopefully next month I will have good news for everyone on my writing projects.

Till next time.

~K.M. Jenkins

Flipped, Flopped, and a New Path

Posted on August 5, 2019 by K.M Jenkins

Okay this year needs to slow down. It seems like every time I turn around it’s a new month. How am I supposed to get anything done with time going by so fast? Let alone finish my goals for each month. But, anyway enough whining around your probably wondering what I have been up too?

This last month I decided once again to change my writing schedule and release dates around. Next year I won’t have as many book series starting up like I originally planned. I decided to focus on the main ones and get those out along with a few minor projects in the mix.

What series will I be working on?

The main series I will start publishing in the new year will be my Demonic Embrace series. I still plan to release the prequel book, Path to Redemption sometime this late winter. Then I plan to work on this series for the next year and a half. Along with this project I will work on my Vortex Series. This series won’t get released till after I release the final chapter to my Dragon Ryder VIP Readers members. They get a new chapter each month so book 1 will come out after I release the last chapter to them. I am thinking book 1 should be out in 2021 by the latest. If it takes too long, I will release over one chapter at a time to my members.

Along with these projects I still plan to do my horror story collection and might throw in another short story collection from the world of Tarzinëa. This will depend a lot on my time management skills. I do know one thing I will release the stories together in book format next time around. Tales of Ferrês is taking far too long to get out, and it is pricey doing a cover for each individual story.

Last month I don’t remember if I told you I took part in Camp NaNoWriMo. My goal was supposed to be 20k, I ended up only around 5k. I really did a bad job this last month hitting my goals. The boys and their 2-year-old mood swings were a major obstacle. I had to figure out ways to write, and it wasn’t working all too well. I’m hoping to get back on track this next month. I have several projects I need to get done before the end of August and I hope I can get them done.

What are your goals for August? What kind of obstacles do you think you’ll face in getting them done? I know I have plenty that come to my mind just thinking about it. I hope everyone has a wonderful August. I’ll let you know what is new or accomplished next month.

Half the year is gone…

Posted on July 5, 2019 by K.M Jenkins

Hard to believe the 4th of July was just yesterday. I spent the day with the kids over at my sister’s house. Her and her husband were doing an all day barbecue for the family and some close friends. The boys got to jump in the kitty pool and scream their heads off with my youngest niece, Hope. They had a blast. I would have to say my favorite part about the day, as everyone would expect, were the fireworks. It is always fun looking up into the sky and watching the lights dance among the stars. What did you do for the 4th? Do you even celebrate this wonderful holiday? Share your comments below. Now for my writing update. I finished Bonds of Betrayal and got the promotional page up on Facebook for release day. You can check it out here. I have a large line-up of YA, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction authors to do takeovers all day long. They will talk about their own books and there will most likely have giveaways for free books and swag. Check out the page here. Besides Bonds of Betrayal, I finished writing the next story, A Forbidden Friendship. I got that sent over to my editor Allison just last week. When I wasn’t working on the Tales of Ferrês series, I was writing in my Vortex Series book, Gargoyle Sighted. I managed to get another two chapters written and sent over to Allison so that is a good headway to start. I was looking back at my writing the last few months and can’t believe I wrote over 30k. It’s hard to believe what you can accomplish when you set your mind to something.

GOALS FOR JULY

It time for the second Camp NaNoWriMo of the year. Once again I have a 20k word goal to reach before the final day of the month. What am I going to work on? The first project is to write, A Powerful Rivalry, story #10 in my Tales of Ferrês series. Then I plan to write a few more chapters probably around 2 or 3 in Gargoyle Sighted. After that the plan is to work on the bonus story for the bundle book and do rewrites in several of my published Tales of Ferrês stories. The last project is to write several blog posts for you all to enjoy over the next several months. Sounds like a lot to work on but it will be doable. Wish me luck and look forward to seeing you next month. ~K.M.

#WIP Monday – NaNo Project Updates

Posted on November 12, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

It’s another Monday and you know what that means :). It means it’s time for another WIP update and role call on my goals for the month. Below you will see the list of goals for the month with a break down of what I have accomplished so far.

My writing goals for November are as followed:

Write Story #4 ~ The Assassin’s Prophecy (Will be up for Pre-Order this week)
Write Story #5 ~ Nightmare of Ferrês (Being Edited)
Write Story #6 ~ The Wrath of SnowFire (Writing)
Write Anthology Piece ~ Path to Redemption, Demonic Embrace Prequel ~ Word Limit: 15-20k, Deadline: January 2019.
Start Writing Demonic Embrace Book 1 ~ Escape to Worcester
Get Story #5 & 6’s Covers Done (Finished #5)
~~Make New Release graphic for Story #3 ~ Bonds of Friendship~~
Make pre-order, teasers and new release graphics for Story #4 & 5 (Finished #4)

NANO UPDATE

The second week of NaNo started. I started off working on The Assassin’s Prophecy and finished it within the first 3 days. Then wrote Nightmare of Ferrês on the 4th day. I ended up taking a few days to do design work after this and started working on The Wrath of SnowFire yesterday.

This is my first attempt at doing NaNo in November. I have done camp NaNo in the past with success. At this time my word count is sitting at 12,411. I am hoping after a few more days I can hit 20k by the end of the week. But, you will have to wait till next Monday to find out if I make this word count goal.

WHAT EVENTS & PROMOS STILL HAPPENING!

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Page Reaper Book Blog Take-Over Event!
November 15th, 2018

K.M. Jenkins will be co-hosting Friday November 15th at 8pm CST.

Join the fun here!

FREE EBOOK EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER! GET ACCESS TO OVER 100 AUTHOR FANTASY/SCI-FI READS!!!

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SIGN-UP TODAY!

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#IWSG Writing with Life Interruptions!

Posted on November 5, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

Today is the first Wednesday of the month and that means I will be featuring my Insecure Writers Support Group blog post. If you haven’t heard of this group before, it is a support group for authors. It is a special place where writers can share their fears, doubts, and concerns, along with triumphs, as they journey down the path to publication. Check out the links at the bottom of this post if you have something to share, or need companionship from fellow authors to keep you writing.

The month of October was a wild ride. I had several exciting and scary things happen throughout the month. The first big change for the month was taking part in a handful of Facebook Takeover events. Did none of these events before. The first was the hardest, and the rest were easy.
Since doing my first online event I have had a spike in newsletter subscribers, increased my sales for permafree and paid ebooks. My street team has grown since the last post along with several things.
My goal for the month was to get at least 300 to 400 subs signed up. I crushed it and now pushing 650 total. I had over 400 downloads of my free and paid ebooks. In September I made over $1.50 in royalties. This month it was $3.41. The increase isn’t much money but for me seeing a tiny increase means everything. It means that people are enjoying my books and wanting more.
Besides my goals for the month and events something else happened. I wasn’t looking to get published through a publisher, it kind of happened. I was trying to find anthologies to take part in over the next few years to broaden my range when I stumbled into a chat with Vanessa Ross and several other publishers. Several individuals were asking them questions when I jumped in. Vanessa and I talked and after sending samples I am now a signed author.
I am now being published through Vanessa Ross’ publishing company, Triple Goddess Publishing. The wonderful thing is I still get creative rights and full control over everything. Bonds of Friendship is being published indie right now and everything else is through Triple Goddess. Overall, the month was wonderful, frightful and spectacular on so many levels. Now NaNo has started and I have five projects to get written.

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION

How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing?

The question is optional, so I think with my long post already I will leave it to you. Tell me your response to this question. If you don’t write then tell me how books have sparked your creativity throughout your life.

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

A fantastic resource site and support group for writers and authors. Features weekly guests and tips, a monthly blogfest gathering, a Facebook group, a book club, and thousands of links – all to benefit writers! #IWSG

Website / Facebook Group / Twitter / Book Club
Reedsy Discount / Past Issues

Co-hosts this month are Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Ann V. Friend, JQ Rose, and Elizabeth Seckman! Please stop by their blogs to show your support.

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#WIP Monday – NaNo Takeover

Posted on November 5, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

Its been a few weeks since my last #WIP Monday post. Sorry about this been a hectic few weeks. I have been writing, designing, and working on several projects along with participating in several online author events. This has taken a toll on my blogging time for my posts. However, things are starting to get under control.

Due to it being a new month I will provide my goals from last month and share how I measured up. Then will follow up with my new goals for November.

My Goals for October:

Publish “Bonds of Friendship” story #3 in the Tales of Ferrês series. Included with this is the following:
1. Finish designing the book cover (Done)
2. Finish writing the story (Done)
3. Edit it and get it up for Pre-Order once the cover is done (Done)
4. Get Promo graphics made (Done)
Get the rough done for The Celestial One episode one. (Changed back to Book Format)
Work on Tarzinëa’s outline and world building (Didn’t Touch)
Write the next story in the Tales of Ferrês series – this would be #4 (Finished ~ being edited)
Don’t go nuts with all the promos and events going on :). (Made it through alive)

The only items on the list for October I didn’t get to was numbers 2 & 3. Bonds of Friendship is officially done. It had to be pushed back to Nov. 9th for release due to the holiday. Didn’t want to take away from family time for myself or my editor.

Story number four, The Assassin’s Prophecy is done. I finished writing it yesterday Nov. 4th. It was my first item on my list for NaNo. Now I am working on story five, Nightmare of Ferrês. I put in over 2k on this story this morning alone. This story will be done either today or tomorrow morning. Depends on if I get quiet time at all today for writing.

My writing goals for November are as followed:

Write Story #4 ~ The Assassin’s Prophecy (Being Edited)
Write Story #5 ~ Nightmare of Ferrês (Currently Writing)
Write Story #6 ~ The Wrath of SnowFire (Not Started)
Write Anthology Piece ~ Path to Redemption, Demonic Embrace Prequel ~ Word Limit: 15-20k, Deadline: January 2019.
Start Writing Demonic Embrace Book 1 ~ Escape to Worcester
Get Story #5 & 6’s Covers Done
Make New Release graphic for Story #3 ~ Bonds of Friendship
Make pre-order, teasers and new release graphics for Story #4 & 5

I could probably go on and on with a list of things I want to get done in November. However I think this will be a good start. With NaNo I am hoping to get most of these writing projects done. Then if I clear them out of the way I can work on Tarzinëa like I’ve been wanting to do.

WHAT’S NEW

I have a long list of knew items I can go into in this post. However, I am going to try to focus on the important items below. The top random knew items that come to mind are: the word counters in my footer widgets, my rebranding for my newsletter, and my new books coming out.

The biggest item of news is this girl has been signed up Triple Goddess Publishing. I’ll be with them for the next five years under contract and will be doing several anthologies with them, along with my own books. This transition has to do with me being quiet on my blog lately. But, hey now I am back in the game and ready to get the party started again.

Below you will find my upcoming events and promos I have my books signed up under. Check them out and have fun.

WHAT EVENTS & PROMOS STILL HAPPENING!

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UNBOUND Take-Over Event
November 4-5, 2018

K.M. Jenkins is co-hosting Monday
November 5, at 4pm CST.

Join the fun here!

Rebekah Dodson’s
Audiobook Release Part!
November 10th & 11th, 2018

K.M. Jenkins will be co-hosting Sunday November 11th at 2pm CST.

Join the fun here!

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Page Reaper Book Blog Take-Over Event!
November 15th, 2018

K.M. Jenkins will be co-hosting Friday November 15th at 8pm CST.

Join the fun here!

FREE EBOOK EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER! GET ACCESS TO OVER 100 AUTHOR FANTASY/SCI-FI READS!!!

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If you don’t want to miss any post updates, you can sign-up to your right to have my posts sent to your Inbox.

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#WIP Monday – Changes to the System

Posted on October 15, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

This month has been hectic so far and once again another Monday has come. If you didn’t notice last week I missed my Monday post. Sad to say I have been sick all week along with my boy Zeek. He is running around like nothing is wrong but Friday I broke down and went to urgent care. Found out I had an ear infection; good news they gave me awesome drugs. Still took all weekend and still feel somewhat like crap, but able to think enough to get things done.

Now I have been struggling with writing due to being sick. I got Bonds of Friendship up on pre-order today to go out in my newsletter. If you remember my goals I posted at the beginning of the month I have put a slight dent in them if you forgot here they are again. Let’s see how I’m measuring up with half the month almost gone, shall we?

My Goals for October:

Publish “Bonds of Friendship” story #3 in the Tales of Ferrês series. Included with this is the following:
1. ~~Finish designing the book cover~~ (Done)
2. Finish writing the story (Still Working On)
3. Edit it and get it up for Pre-Order once the cover is done (Half Done)
4. Get Promo graphics made
Get the rough done for The Celestial One episode one.
Work on Tarzinëa’s outline and world building
Write the next story in the Tales of Ferrês series – this would be #4
Don’t go nuts with all the promos and events going on :). (Still is a big possibility)

WHAT’S NEW

Things have changed drastically over the last two weeks. I minimized my projects with my flash fiction tales. Instead of doing four a month I now am only doing two. On the first of each month I will feature one on my blog and I will feature the other on the 25th as a special VIP Reader benefit. I have discontinued this benefit on my Patreon page, sorry but I changed things up. Now if you are wondering it means that I will now send out two newsletters a month. However, the 25th will just be a story with some added items at the bottom and the 15th send out will be my ramblings.

Another big item that changed is my banners across my social media and my newsletter sites. I plan on doing an update with banners on my website soon. Overall, that is the only items that are new you didn’t know about.

Till next week I leave you with these awesome promos and insights into events still going on this month.

WHAT EVENTS & PROMOS STILL HAPPENING!

(Book Funnel Newsletter Promo Event featuring 120+ authors of Sci-fi, Fantasy & Horror. Starts Oct. 1st and ends Oct. 31st, my story “An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention” is featured in this promo.)

(Book Cave Newsletter Promo Event featuring 30+ authors of Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror & any books that have creatures that go bump in the night. Starts Oct. 5th and ends Nov. 5th, my story “A Father’s Protection” is featured in this promo.)

(Art of the Arcane Newsletter Promo Event featuring 40+ authors that have books with mythical races, monsters & worlds. This one starts Oct. 15th and ends Oct. 29th, my story “An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention” is featured in this promo.)

(On Oct. 19th I will be featuring Stephanie Ayers here on my blog in an in-depth interview, along with several excerpts from “The 13: Tales of Macabre.” In addition there will be a special sneak peek into her WIP “Elven Games”.)

RAT CITY DESOLATE RELEASE DAY ~ TAKE-OVER EVENT!
(Signed up for this last minute and hope you will come and join in the fun. It is a 3 day event starting on Thursday Oct. 18 – Saturday Oct. 20. I will be guest hosting on Friday Oct 19th at 8pm CST.)

(Halloween FREE Book Party! Come join us over on FB to get FREE books, participate in giveaways and following along with guest author hosts. Event starts Oct. 26th and ends Oct. 28th.)

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#IWSG Writing with Life Interruptions!

Posted on October 3, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

This is my second post for my #IWSG monthly feature and a lot has changed since my last post. If you haven’t been following my weekly updates on my #WIP Monday posts, I’ll give a small update.

Last months post I was just getting my feet wet with writing again. Since then I have published two short stories and working on my third in my Tales of Ferrês series. I worked on Demonic Embrace my PNR serial series. And, I have been writing posts right and left for my blog.

I got more involved in the author community and joined several Facebook takeover events. I found several resources that built my newsletter from 1 follower to close to 200 in under half a month. The goal is to aim for 300 followers this month and once I hit 500, then I will look into weeding out those that aren’t active. The only reason I am doing this is because once I hit 1k subscribers I have to pay and if I will pay for my newsletter, then I would rather keep active followers on the mailing list.

My other big news is that with taking part and getting my name out there I had a few book sales. Not enough to do much with but each sale made me jump for joy. Then I receive my first review on Amazon and on a few other sites. Honestly, with reviews I don’t care if you hate my story or if you found issues, any feedback would be great and helps me learn.

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION

How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?

This question is optional and since I have already rambled on for a long period, I will keep my answer short and sweet. Major life events have been a big obstacle for me with having twins, having a design business, and writing. They have pulled me three ways and usually I have been getting things done.

However, I have a new addition to my plate of obstacles, I now am babysitting my youngest niece. She is a ball of energy and knows how to make a mess. She is a big help though with the boys and love having her around. So, even if babysitting means I have to stay up till two in the morning getting things done I will do it. Just means two hours of less sleep but who needs sleep, right? 🙂

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Co-hosts this month are Dolorah @ Book Lover, Christopher D. Votey, Tanya Miranda, and Chemist Ken! Please stop by their blogs to show your support.

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#WIP Monday – Changes to the System

Posted on October 1, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

The journey with my WIPs don’t seem to go the way I plan them. I keep making weekly goals and realize that it might be best to do a different set-up for how I do my goals. This is why I’m switching my weekly goals to monthly goals. Hoping this will help me get more accomplished and feel less like a failure when life gets in the way.

This change will start today Oct. 1st and I will still do weekly posts to keep you in the loop on things that are new or writing I have accomplished. Hoping this helps get things going more and shortens my posts each week. The first #WIP Monday post of each month I will update you all on promos and events happening for that month. I will have that information below for October.

My Goals for October:

Publish “Bonds of Friendship” story #3 in the Tales of Ferrês series. Included with this is the following:
1. Finish designing the book cover
2. Finish writing the story
3. Edit it and get it up for Pre-Order once the cover is done
4. Get Promo graphics made
Get the rough done for The Celestial One episode one.
Work on Tarzinëa’s outline and world building
Write the next story in the Tales of Ferrês series – this would be #4
Don’t go nuts with all the promos and events going on :).

MY OCTOBER EVENTS & PROMOS!

MEGAHALLOWEENGIVEAWAY_2018_PROMOIMAGE
(Book Cave Newsletter Promo Event featuring 30+ authors of Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror & any books that have creatures that go bump in the night. Starts Oct. 5th and ends Nov. 5th, my story “A Father’s Protection” is featured in this promo.)

SHERRI-LYNN MAREAN BLOG TOUR
~ October 12, 2018 ~

I will be featuring Author Sherri-Lynn Marean on my blog as part of her blog tour hosted by Art of the Arcane. Stop by to check out this awesome author and her featured book, Casstiel.

(Come join this four day FB event celebrating Stephanie Ayers’ “The 13: Tales of Illusory” Birthday! There will be guest author hosts throughout the four days and chances to enter giveaways to get free stuff! I’m a guest host on Oct. 13th at 4pm to 5pm CST.)

AOTA_MRMWGIVEAWAY_2018_PROMOIMAGE
(Art of the Arcane Newsletter Promo Event featuring 40+ authors that have books with mythical races, monsters & worlds. This one starts Oct. 15th and ends Oct. 29th, my story “An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention” is featured in this promo.)

(Halloween FREE Book Party! Come join us over on FB to get FREE books, participate in giveaways and following along with guest author hosts. Event starts Oct. 26th and ends Oct. 28th.)

If you can’t tell my month is going to be a busy one. I plan to keep updating my blog with the events as they grow closer. The plan is to try for events and promos for each month in the future. I do have spots in November for author spotlights here on my blog so if you are looking for some free promotion hit me up. Till next week happy writing and reading all! 🙂

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This fan-focused newsletter answers YOUR questions about the author’s life and characters, shares progress on current projects, lists upcoming events, news, and more.

On special occasions characters from K.M. Jenkins’ works will drop in and take over this newsletter.

#WIP Monday – A New Release, Author Event, & Just Plain Bleh

Posted on September 24, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

It was another week of crazy around this house. I had things going on all fronts last week between family, author events, and trying to find time to write. Did I get anything done last week towards my goals… not really!

The week started off good but with a new release I found myself distracted. I had to get my monthly newsletter out to subscribers and do another one for the AOTA event. It didn’t mesh well, ended up with 4 emails going out in a week due to my automation system, set-up for new sign-ups. I went into my newsletter automation and restructured the duration between each email sent. Think the spacing is better and will work out towards not causing this issue again, she prays hopefully :). If it comes down to it when I take part in events outside my usual newsletter schedule I will shut down the automation and kick it back on after it is all over.

The new release of An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention went good, at least for a short story. Right now my goals aren’t fully on sales yet, I’m just trying to find my audience. Since I had the new release, I didn’t finish my edits for the next flash fiction tale scheduled for the 20th to my Patreon page. Ended up rescheduling the post for tomorrow and still have to finish the editing.

If you haven’t joined my street team, Gods Among Men you should. Last week I posted some interesting excerpts from my two published short stories: A Father’s Protection and An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention, with awesome graphics. Another awesome post I did was a part of my Tuesday Legend/Myths of Tarzinëa, the topic was kyres. Did an in-depth background on how these shape-shifters were born and why. Also, included information on their abilities and overall powers. You can click here to join my street team and get awesome insights into my WIP.

As for my writing pretty much what I stated above is about what I got done so far. This is why once again I will drag over the same writing goals for next week. Pray that this time I can get things going, top priority will be to push out Karigan and Silvashi’s story to get it over to Allison for editing. If I want to keep on a monthly schedule with the short stories, I don’t have a choice in this matter. I have a rough idea of what I want for the next story in the series, so I might try to rough that out, too.

Goals for last week, the prior week and now next week:

Work on Tarzinëa’s Timeline.
Write another chapter for Episode One in The Celestial One season.
Edit my flash fiction tales and get them scheduled up to November.
Write up Karigan and Silvashi’s story for the next installment in the Tales of Ferrês series.

WHAT’S NEW!

This week I have a few items that are new. One you already know about since it is my new release, An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention. The other top item to address is A Father’s Protection it is now a permafree story at all digital retailers except Amazon. I’m still working on Amazon to get it switched over.

The next thing that has changed is my mailing list sign-up. Before I used to offer A Father’s Protection free to new subscribers. Now you can get An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention free now for signing up.

The last new items on the list for the week are my promo materials I created this morning for my Facebook Takeover event on author Tyffani Clark’s Facebook page. This event is why I am so late with my post for this week. Spent my entire morning and several hours of my afternoon working on posting, commenting, and snooping around. You can thank this event for my new Goodreads author page. I wasn’t planning on setting one up but now I did because I wanted to enter a giveaway. Yes, even I want to win free books :).

So, it was an off week with trying to do hundreds of things at once. I didn’t succeed in my writing goals but kept up with my commitments. Heres to a another week and hoping for the best.

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On special occasions characters from K.M. Jenkins’ works will drop in and take over this newsletter.

#WIP Monday – It’s Been Crazy!!!

Posted on September 17, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

Last week was hectic. I found myself split several directions between family, writing, and designing covers. Overall, I got a lot done last week just not much with my writing. These were my goals last week:

Work on Tarzinëa’s Timeline.
Write another chapter for Episode One in The Celestial One season.
Edit my flash fiction tales and get them scheduled up to November.
Write up Karigan and Silvashi’s story for the next installment in the Tales of Ferrês series.
Send out my first newsletter and start thinking about what I will do for my upcoming online events.

Each week I do a post in my Street Team featuring a myth or legend from my world Tarzinëa, last week I did it on the Elven Goddess, Salza. I thought doing these posts would take away from my writing time, however it helps more than I want to admit. These posts give me a reason to write and work on my world building. At least then I know some kind of work is being done.

Last week I struggled with writing. It seemed my brain was more in designer mode. This isn’t that bad since I pushed out six pre-made covers and got a good sale from one. Overall, I wish I spent more time writing but when I am trying to do everything myself it gets complicated.

Been trying to get noticed more in the writing community, so I’ve been signing up for events, newsletter swaps and taking part in groups. Then trying to figure out Instagram is another can of worms. I set my Instagram up for my design business so far, but I plan to set one up eventually for my author platform. Just another social platform to take up more of my time. It will be nice to work towards being able to hire a PA to do this all.

I am changing up my schedule, used to have Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for writing. Then the other days were for designing with the weekends being family time. I realized I have free time more during the weekend so I will switch my days around. Mondays will be my day for social media posting, setting up blog posts, and planning out my newsletters/content for events. Then Tuesdays, Thursdays and anytime on the weekends will be for writing. The other days I will work on designing covers or working them into my schedule when more clients sign up for services.

When it comes for next weeks goals, I think I will stick with the same ones from last week with a few changes. My goals for next we are:

Work on Tarzinëa’s Timeline.
Write another chapter for Episode One in The Celestial One season.
Edit my flash fiction tales and get them scheduled up to November.
Write up Karigan and Silvashi’s story for the next installment in the Tales of Ferrês series.

WHAT’S NEW!

I believe this week I have little new besides getting my first newsletter sent out to my subscribers. If you’re not signed up for my newsletter, you can check it out here. You can sign up here to get my short story, A Father’s Protection free.

There was an update to my FREE PROMOTION’S page. I switched up how I do things with my forms to make it easier for authors to sign-up for my Friday Author Spotlights. You’ll have the choice between four types of spotlight features: Basic Author Spotlight, Guest Post Spotlight, Author Interview and Character Interview. If you are interested, you can check out more details here.

Plan to add a new feature to my site hoping to get myself reading more. The idea is to list my to-read list of books and when I mark them off the list, I will post a review on my blog and several other locations. Right now I am growing my list and have it getting longer. I enjoy fantasy and pretty much any sub-category genre within it. If you want to make suggestions add your suggestions below.

Hopefully, things will go better next week with my writing till next time :). Happy reading and writing ya’ll.

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Get an inside look into the writings of Speculative Fiction author K.M. Jenkins.

This fan-focused newsletter answers YOUR questions about the author’s life and characters, shares progress on current projects, lists upcoming events, news, and more.

On special occasions characters from K.M. Jenkins’ works will drop in and take over this newsletter.

#WIP Monday – Diamond in the Rough

Posted on September 10, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

Last week I made several writing goals and life officially sucked this last week. I will explain more in a second. These were my goals last week:

Finish writing Tarzinëa’s timeline. (This one’s going to be hard because I am stuck on a war background. I can’t decide if I want the enemy to be a dragon that wants to destroy humanity or a sorcerer that takes command of the armies of darkness.
Start rewriting Book 1’s outline for Tarzinëa.
I need to write up a book blurb for “An Elf, A Dragon, and a God’s Intervention,” then get that up on pre-order.
The Celestial One – I am going to aim to write another chapter in the serial.
Need to start thinking about the next story to be featured in the Tales of Ferrês series. (Been playing with the idea of going back to Queen Karigan’s time and share how she met Silvashi. You don’t know him yet but he is the King of Dragons the only silver dragon to ever exist.)

This last week I was all over the place. I got nothing done, between babysitting my youngest niece and having two teething babies; I’m lucky I didn’t go nuts. The only one I accomplished on the list above was #3.

I spent last night and this morning writing up the synopsis for An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention. This story was a royal pain in the a**, however with the help of a fellow author friend I got it done. Now I can tell you that is up for Pre-Order and scheduled for release on September 20.

Now I can either drone on about my unfulfilling week or I can just jump to my next weeks writing goals and wipe my hands clean. I think the second choice is the best option, don’t you?

My next weeks writing goals:

Work on Tarzinëa’s Timeline.
Write another chapter for Episode One in The Celestial One season.
Edit my flash fiction tales and get them scheduled up to November.
Write up Karigan and Silvashi’s story for the next installment in the Tales of Ferrês series.
Send out my first newsletter and start thinking about what I will do for my upcoming online events.

I am hoping to have a better week this time around. It is still up in the air with Zeek having teething issues every day. Wish me luck :).

WHAT’S NEW!

Last week I spent way too much of my time writing up an automation system for my new newsletter. This is one reason I got nothing else done. I finished this project, and it is ready for action it is just waiting for you to sign-up :). Right now all new subscribers get A Father’s Protection free, so there is a bonus.

What’s next? Hmmm… guess it would be my new page on my website. Thanks to a few groups on Facebook I am taking part in several Facebook TakeOver Events and Newsletter Swaps. This made making an event page important. You can go here to see any of my current or upcoming events, and I will include links if they are still looking for additional members.

Oh, this is big! This last week I was doing a lot of snooping around trying to find different ways to promote my works as I publish them. I found several awesome resources. On Wednesday I will do a post about my findings and how you can get free author promotion from these different places. Keep your eyes peeled for that post or **she coughs**, you can get free author promotion here on my blog :). Author spotlights get featured every Friday but they only happen if you sign-up.

The horrors of formatting and uploading just a short story is a nightmare. I took all morning submitting and re-submitting this one story because the formatting always was slightly off, but An Elf, a Dragon, and a God’s Intervention is now up for pre-order. You can pre-order your copy by this universal link, stores are still being added as Draft2Digital works on getting it submitted to all the retailers. I still need to get it up on Smashwords manually so that will be a project for tomorrow.

Today overall was a big day. I got my latest story up for pre-order and released my first patron exclusive flash fiction tale featuring Filthas Dengotta. This tale is by far more gruesome and vulgar than my others. It is adult content only and anyone under 14 should get permission from their parents beforehand. I posted an excerpt here, but to get the full tale you can sign-up to be a patron member for as little as $2 a month.

Now after writing this all out I realize I got a lot done last week. I even thought today was an unfulfilling day and now realize I got a lot done. So, there is a diamond in the rough when you look at it closer. Till next week, wish you luck writing :).

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#IWSG my Publishing Path

Posted on September 5, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

This is my first month being a part of the Insecure Writers Support Group. If you haven’t heard of this group before, it is a support group for authors. It is a special place where writers can share their fears, doubts, and concerns, along with triumphs, as they journey down the path to publication. Check out the links at the bottom of this post if you have something to share, or need companionship from fellow authors to keep you writing.

My first time with IWSG.

I have been writing off and on for several years. This last year I went quiet with my writing, due to becoming a mom for the first time. I know this isn’t a real excuse for dropping off the face of the earth for over a year. However, I didn’t just face becoming a mom one but twice at the same time. Yes, I am the mother of twin boys, and I like to say the first year was a real roller coaster ride.

I faced several difficulties during just the first six months. I had severe postpartum depression they hospitalized me twice for, and not only had one big move but two. When June rolled around, I couldn’t believe my boys were one year olds. The nice thing, though, is that they no longer rely on me for everything. This means I get freedom to get back to what I love, writing.

August began my journey back onto the road to writing. I had a system issue with my mac, so I had to do a factory reset. The software I was using for writing in was Storyist to help keep my notes and content organized, sadly I lost the software in the reset. I still have the files, I don’t want to repurchase a software I already bought once. After this I changed over to Scrivener, so August was my catch up month.

I’ve been slaving away trying to get my files switched over I had in word doc format. If that wasn’t enough work, I also did a complete overall on my website, newsletter, and social media platforms. I even re-designed my short story, “A Father’s Protection” cover, and re-published it. Now I completed those blood sucking tasks, I’m hoping now I can get to outlining and writing.

WRITING GOALS FOR SEPTEMBER:

Put the final touches on “Tarzinëa: Rise of the Vardin” book 1 in the Legacy of the Silver Ryder series outline.
Convert completed outline for “The Celestial One” book 1 in the Demonic Love series into a serial outline.
Start writing “The Celestial One” episode one.
Re-work, re-write and continue with “Tarzinëa: Rise of the Vardin”.

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION

What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?

At this time I have only a short story published and working on my next ones. I decided to self-publish a long time ago. I want to have a say in how my books end up and I would like to get to know my readers. It isn’t about getting rich off my books or becoming famous. I want to do this for the love of writing, reading books and just connecting with people who love books as much as I do.

When I was growing up, especially in high school, books were my escape. I wasn’t an outgoing person anymore. I was closed off, shy, depressed and just had issues being in big crowds of people. The way I experience life and enjoyed my days was reading. Till this day I still don’t live it down, about what my algebra teacher told my mom during a parent teacher conference. “She is a bright student and has great potential,” he began. “I wish I could get her to put those dang books down.”

That is why I want to be a writer/author. I want to have a teacher look at one of my readers’ parent and say those exact words, or something close to it. Creating a world where they feel safe and can escape is my goal. I hope as this journey continues I never forget this goal and if I do, please hit me over the head with one of my books. Trust me, I will appreciate it. 🙂

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

Website / Facebook Group / Twitter / Book Club
Reedsy Discount / Past Issues

Co-hosts this month are Toi Thomas, T. Powell Coltrin, M.J. Fifield, and Tara Tyler!Please stop by their blogs to show your support.

GET “A FATHER’S PROTECTION” FREE!

The land beyond The Forest of Ferrês belongs to the kyres mortal enemies the twin-tailed foxes. Standing on the borders DarkDeath will have to plunge into the unknown to save his adventurous pup.

Will he be able to find Digger and make it out alive? The battle to protect his own will be tested when DarkDeath faces off against an old rival. Death lingering over his pup’s head will test his strengths as DarkDeath braces himself for battle.

#WIP Monday – Tarzinëa Pitfall

Posted on September 3, 2018 by K.M Jenkins

Last week I made several writing goals and even though I didn’t accomplish them all in their entirety, I am happy with my accomplishments. These were my goals last week:

Get through my #AMA event alive.
Continue transferring over Tarzinëa’s notes into Scrivener.
Work more on The Celestial One’s outline and notes.
If possible write 5k in any WIP.
Need to get the cover designed for my short story, An Elf, A Dragon, and a God’s Intervention.

My #AMA went good I ended with over 40 questions and 92 comments, if I remember right. It was an awesome interaction based interview platform that made things more personable with those submitting questions. This #AMA wasn’t all about my writing this time around but it balanced out with my design questions for my side business, KJ Magical Designs.

Overall, I had a good experience and will try doing more #AMA events again. Not sure what topic I will do next time, perhaps I will do a writing one on my WIP, Tarzinëa.

I think with this post I will go with my success stories first for my goals then do the pitfalls last. You already know how the #AMA went, so lets get the next one out of the way. The next item I accomplished was #5 on the list. I got my cover done for my next short story in the Tales of Ferrês series. I released the cover on Friday in a cover reveal post if you missed it I have it here for you to enjoy.

JENKINS_EDGI_2018_EBOOK_LR

It is an awesome cover it surprised me how easy it was to put this one together compared to “A Father’s Protection”. It was like Blake and Meisha jumped out at me in the images I used.

Since we are on the topic of specific characters, I might as well update you on Tarzinëa. My process of transferring files over into Scrivener was going well, till I realized the chaos I created within my hard drive. I spent an entire day organizing files between my design business and my writing files. It wasn’t an easy task and I am still finding things that need reorganized. I sadly only got through half my files of Tarzinëa and realized I have to do a complete rewrite of my chapters I completed already, along with world notes, timelines, and so much more. I have put writing on hold for this WIP to get things shipshape.

Now my other goals were wishful thinking. I got no real writing done this last week besides rewriting a flash fiction tale featuring King Tyler that I posted on my blog Saturday. You can check it out here. I also wrote individual pieces I featured in my street team. It is a closed group for those interested in taking part in spreading word about my WIP, publications and learning about my worlds as I create them. If you want to join, you can here. I feature legends/myths of Tarzinëa on Tuesdays and sneak peeks on Thursdays. I plan to share deleted scenes from my series, so there will be lots of fun to experience besides helping with the boring promotions. I plan to offer free copies to those interested in receiving ARCs or doing reviews in exchange.

The Celestial One, didn’t get worked on last week. As stated above I was drowning in the mess, I created by not organizing my files right the first time. I have paid the price and will now spend days fixing the mess I created.

Wish me luck with this weeks writing goals, which are:

Finish writing Tarzinëa’s timeline. (This one’s going to be hard because I am stuck on a war background. I can’t decide if I want the enemy to be a dragon that wants to destroy humanity or a sorcerer that takes command of the armies of darkness.
Start rewriting Book 1’s outline for Tarzinëa.
I need to write up a book blurb for “An Elf, A Dragon, and a God’s Intervention,” then get that up on pre-order.
The Celestial One – I am going to aim to write another chapter in the serial.
Need to start thinking about the next story to be featured in the Tales of Ferrês series. (Been playing with the idea of going back to Queen Karigan’s time and share how she met Silvashi. You don’t know him yet but he is the King of Dragons the only silver dragon to ever exist.)

WHAT’S NEW!

This week I have a new cover for my short story, “An Elf, A Dragon, and a God’s Intervention.” I already shared it above so I won’t do it again here.

The next item that is new is my author spotlights page. I changed things up and now will feature Speculative Fiction authors on Fridays. They can write within paranormal romance, fantasy and the sub-genres of fantasy to get featured on my blog. If you believe you would fit within the genre guidelines and would like a spotlight, you can sign-up here.

Either than that I have little of anything else that is new relating to my writing. So I will leave you with a howdy do and wish you an awesome week. Wish me luck mucking through the chaos of the filthy swamp of files.

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GOALS FOR JULY

NANO UPDATE

WHAT EVENTS & PROMOS STILL HAPPENING!

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THIS MONTH’S QUESTION

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

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WHAT’S NEW

WHAT EVENTS & PROMOS STILL HAPPENING!

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WHAT’S NEW

WHAT EVENTS & PROMOS STILL HAPPENING!

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THIS MONTH’S QUESTION

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

GET FREE FANTASY, HORROR & PNR EBOOKS IN THIS MULTI-AUTHOR PROMO

MY OCTOBER EVENTS & PROMOS!

SHERRI-LYNN MAREAN BLOG TOUR ~ October 12, 2018 ~

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WHAT’S NEW!

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WHAT’S NEW!

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WHAT’S NEW!

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Get A Father’s Protection Free!

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

WHAT’S NEW!

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Get A Father’s Protection Free!

SHERRI-LYNN MAREAN BLOG TOUR
~ October 12, 2018 ~