amazon · Audible · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · NaNoWriMo

NanoWinner 2023

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I completed the NaNoWriMo 2023 Challenge a day early! But I am not finished with the novel. I succeeded in meeting the fifty thousand-word minimum, but there is still a lot to do.

My takeaway from completing the challenge: First of all, I have been a member of NaNoWriMo since 2012. I have started it but never got anywhere. This year I officially registered for the challenge, (it has been on my bucket list of things to do at least since 2012)

Dedicating time to write every day and write enough to keep up with the daily word goals had developed into a habit. And when I am writing I am writing more, faster. Remember it too almost two years to the day to complete Emergence Ascended from starting it after Emergence Collective and that is a little over sixty-thousand words. So to do comparatively the same in thirty days blows my own mind.

It is changing my writing ‘style’. I was a ‘pantser’ as they call it, I write by the seat of my pants, making up the story as I go, typically. But For Yellow man I did write an outline, cast of characters, notes and fair about of research before starting it. So The value of the outline for me has increased substantially. Honestly I never wrote outlines because I am lazy. I will use outlines on future books, (Oh the bigfoot story is probably next FYI)

So, what now? Now, I am going to keep working on Yellow Man and finish it. I dread the editing phase that is coming. One of the reasons why it takes me a long time to get the story on paper is that I tend to edit as I go. During NanoWrimo, I didn’t. I ignored types, wrong words, grammar and punctuation to get complete the challenge, but now I have a nightmare to clean up. I am also taking the weekend off from writing, and prepare to start recording Emergence Ascended again. I have some projects that I set aside during NaNoWriMo that I desperatly need to attend to, Laser engraving projects for myself and a couple clients (Custom laser engraving stuff) Check out my etsy site to see what I am talking about.

All in all I am proud of accomplishing NaNoWriMo, (I get to call myself a novelist now) And I am glad os the skills that NanoWrimo has taught me. If I can do it, YOU definitely can, so I expect to see you next year!

amazon · Emergence Ascended · Horror · NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo:Final countdown

Joe HallettLeave a comment

NaNoWriMo 2023 is on the last four days! I kept up on the word count this weekend, and I am currently (as I write this) 42554 words. I did just under 5000 yesterday and around 2000 on Saturday. Thursday the 23rd was an American Holiday, which put me in a bind to keep up, and I was already behind and still am. The good thing is that I have less than 8000 words to finish. 2000 a day is doable, so I have high hopes of completing the challenge.

How is the actual story going? Yellow Man, my ghost story is turning out pretty good. I am on track with the elements I wanted to get into the story. It is nowhere near finished I will be writing on it after NaNoWriMo for certain, but it’s getting there. Not that I have really established my writing style or found my voice as they say since I am new to writing, NaNoWriMo has upended my comfort zone. I have no idea how the pacing is (A personal struggle), are there long drawn out boring parts, did I slip in that nugget of info to keep you guessing? I who knows, I do know that writing at this pace there is going to be a lot to fix, and the editing is nightmarish and I don’t even want to think about that now.

Oh Yeah, just a reminder, I do have a new book out, Emergence Ascended is out on Kindle. Be sure to get you copy! I look forward to seeing your ratings and reading those reviews!

amazon · Author · Emergence Ascended

5 star rating for Emergence Ascended!

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Thank you, random person, for the 5-star rating! My first rating on Amazon was 5 stars, which made my day; I had not expected one so soon since it hadn’t even been released for a week. Coincidently, I recently commented on a fellow blogger’s post (MichaelbChikondi, check out her vampire stories; they are really good.) about ratings and reviews and their importance to indie writers. They help keep us on the radar of Amazon’s rankings.

Emergence Ascended current rankings.

Thank you again, random person! Share in the joy of giving and make someones day! I mean mine, by picking up your copy of Emergence Ascended and leaving a rating and review.

Audible · Emergence Ascended · NaNoWriMo

Writing status: Legendary

Joe Hallett5 Comments

My fingers actually hurt. I had started the weekend already desperately behind on my word count for NaNoWriMo. Saturday was filled with publishing Emergence Ascended (click to buy 😉 ) putting me farther behind. I planned on today for the big push to catch up. Today was the most I have ever written in a single session. My fingers hurt, and my eyes feel like they are bleeding. Feels so good.

5390 words logged in today. I am still behind, though, but not so far that it is impossible to catch up. I am feeling confident that I am actually going to complete NaNoWriMo.

amazon · Author · Emergence Ascended

Emergence Ascended is live

Joe HallettLeave a comment

The Kindle edition is now available! The paperback is pending review and should be live in the next 72 hours! I look forward to hearing what you think! Buy my book, rate it, and review it! Your ratings and reviews help me get noticed on Amazon rankings and build a following. Who knows, I might be your next favorite author!

amazon · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective

Cover reveal!

Joe Hallett4 Comments

Here it is, the cover of Emergence Ascended!

Its been a long road but I can see the end! I have finished the final edits, and just received the cover art! Emergence Ascended will be published on Amazon Kindle And Paperback this weekend so stay tuned and watch for the links!

Check out and follow my Amazon Author page. While Emergence Ascended can stand on its own, you will miss out on a lot if you don’t read Emergence Collective.

Let me know what you think of the cover in the comments!

Horror · NaNoWriMo · writing

Half way there.

Joe Hallett4 Comments

Just a quick update. Well, NaNoWriMo is half over. I have fallen behind over the last week. I am 5000 words behind, but I hope to make up for lost time this weekend. I still have high hopes and good spirits about completing this challenge. I was starting to feel frustrated that I was not keeping up, but I know that you can not fail at NaNoWriMo. It’s a personal challenge, so the 20199 words I have written in the last 2 weeks are a remarkable success, in my opinion, whether I complete it or not. I looked up how many people finished NaNoWriMo with 50000 words, and I was surprised that only about 10% to 20% actually finished (According to Wikipedia). So I feel pretty damn good that I know if I push hard enough, I too can do it. (I wish I can add blog post to my word count LOL but I play fair)

Audible · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · NaNoWriMo

Audible Update: Took on too much

Joe HallettLeave a comment

As excited as I am about having my recording studio ready, I will have to wait to record. At least its not because of technical issues that are the most frustrating for me. But because this month is packed, and I don’t have enough time or mental energy to do it all.

NaNoWriMo has taken a life of its own, dominating my time. I wrote a lot in Yellow Man this weekend, but I am still a couple thousand words behind. Currently sitting on seventeen thousand words. (Which is crazy to me.) It was just bad timing to be honest. I had just finished writing Emergence Ascendedand am still working on the final edits. So to try to record Emergence Collective is too much. After NaNowriMo is over, I can cool my jets a bit and dedicate myself to that project.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo ’23 I’m still here.

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Well, it’s a little over a week into NaNoWrimo writing “Yellow man,” (I guess that name stuck.) I am still here, pluggin’ away when I can. A little here and a bit there, before work and breaks, I’ve managed to almost keep up. I am about two thousand words behind or a full day of writing. I plan on making it up this weekend, but my plans and I don’t always play well together. I hit nine thousand words yesterday; there is that. The story is progressing pretty good, I mentioned in earlier posts that I was going to approach this story in a different way, by outlining the story first. I made a character grid with the characters, traits and other behind the scenes personal information that I could draw upon when I write the characters into the story. Some things I will use and some I wont, but I feel that the characters are already fleshed out in my head. As far as the plot/storyline goes, I have been writing it in random order, random to the story progression (for reasons you will understand when you read it.) It feels a little weird and I have a lot of notes to keep me on track. All in all I feel good about the story so far.

Emergence Ascended is still in the final stages. I hope to have a book cover reveal in the next week or so and the final edit around the same time. My hope to have it published mid to late November (early December at the very latest) is still right on track so stay tuned for that!

If you like what you read here, be sure to give it a ‘Like’ and maybe comment, or just say hi! See what else I am up to by clicking on my linktree (all my links to social and other shenanigans are there)

MY linktree links CLICK ME

Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · Podcasting · spotify

Audible update: New episode

Joe Hallett3 Comments
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jF5HvOmGgt4iEVW6LbBSQ?si=38059xvbRCKAEZ4evHCmBA

If you are new and just stumbled on to my blog, you may wonder what my audible updates are… I started recording “Emergence Collective,” my first book, to release on Audible. I have received a lot of feedback about people wanting an audio version of my story; however, I am a bit too poor to afford a narrator, so like just about everything I do, I end up doing it myself. There is the fact that I have no idea what I am doing (as with most things I try). I learn as I go, grow from mistakes, and move on. What is interesting about writing, in general, is that I did not expect it to cost so much. Writing is free; I have a list of things I can not wait to get out of my head, but sharing it is a roadblock. Editors and book cover designs are expensive, something I did not anticipate when I started this journey. So I soldier on because, frankly, I can not, not write or be creative in some fashion. In the end I just hope people enjoy my stories as much as I enjoy thinking them up and writing them.

Back to the Audible thing. I have overcome some hurdles and am getting to the point where I feel that I might start producing something that will pass muster at the Audible People (ACX) and with me personally. The format is very important, and the audio quality as well; they seem to be pretty picky. As far as the narration is concerned, at least in my personal experience, not so much. I have returned audible books because I could not bear the narration. (so honestly not to worried about that, I will get better the more I do it of course.)

As far a NaNoWrimo goes, I had a busy weekend and did not keep up with my word count goal. Not all is lost, though I will try to make up some time on that. That being said, I had a successful weekend getting the recording studio (I am calling it a studio, but to be honest, that is an optimistic name) put together and getting a new episode recorded. I got some side projects in the works, like updating my etsy site. (Thanks Mom for helping with that).

Give my episode a listen, and let me know what you think. Be sure to like and comment!