The Case of the Missing Writer

Hello, there!

Miss me?

I know, I went from being pretty prolific in my social media to being a veritable ghost!  Unfortunately, I kind of expected that when I knew I had to go back to a day job.

I mean, I’ve balanced my work life, home life, and writing life before, but it was always a delicate balance, and being a neurodivergent person, a lot of my (limited) success in that arena depended on things being stable amongst all three.

Life has been anything but stable.  For a long time.  And now that I’ve started not just a new job, but a new career, one of those three things has obviously been upended.  Plus, my home life has been out of balance for a long time, due to having to move frequently (thank you Denver Metro for having a horrific housing/rental market…)

So what does that mean for the future?  Am I back on social media starting today?

No.  :(

The New Career

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I started a new career as a technical writer!  Well, it’s actually a bit more than just that.  Officially my title is “Business Process Analyst” which I’ve learned basically translates to “Technical Writer+”.

I generally keep my job separate from social media, but given that my job involves writing, I did want to touch on it just a bit, in a very general and vague sense.

Technical writing is a very different beast from creative writing, as you might imagine.  However, I was already semi-familiar with it, because as a computer sys admin, a big part of what I did was document processes and procedures for everything I did, quite meticulously.  And I was also a bit of an outsider in doing so – sys admins generally aren’t good writers.  They generally don’t like writing.  Every job I ever worked had a dearth of documentation, and I usually spent a considerable amount of time and effort fixing that.

My bosses loved me for that.  (In fact, my current manager hired me in this new career because he remembered how diligent I was with documentation!)  People who took over after I’ve left a job loved the documentation!  It is something that’s very much needed in the technical field, and yet is so very often ignored or overlooked.

But becoming a Technical Writer, let alone a Technical Writer+ (err, I mean, a BPA), it’s a whole other bag of worms!  Because I’m not just learning how to manage my system and then writing procedures as I figure it out for myself.  I’m not even just focusing on one system.

I’m focusing on an entire program!

Things that I previously ‘let other people deal with,’ like program management, suddenly is front-and-center for me.  Policies, processes, procedures, for all aspects of a technical program, are now my business.  I have to learn it all, so that I can write about it all.

So the past two months have been a bit of an information overload.  That, more than anything, is why I’ve not been on social media.  Why I haven’t been writing, or editing, or really doing much of anything creative-writing-related.  Because when I get home, I’m exhausted.

However, there is one good thing about all of this – I’m SO much happier where I’m at, doing what I’m doing!  Before now, I went from one toxic work environment to another.  But finally, I’m in what finally feels like a good-quality work environment with coworkers who actually care (about their work AND about their coworkers).  My manager is encouraging and helpful, and I’m not frustrated every single day!

And I’m not stressing out over keeping computers operational.  Instead, it’s now my job to help enable the people responsible for keeping systems operational.  Basically, I’m more of a support person now.  And my stress levels are ever-so-grateful for that!

When Is My Next Book Coming Out?

So with my writing life being impacted so heavily by my new career, when is my next novel coming out?

Believe it or not, that’s not being impacted by this at all, not yet (and hopefully not at all).  Project Sirius 2 is still coming out this year!

Unfortunately, there’s a move coming up for us soon.  We live in a really ratty, stressful apartment complex right now, and so we’re gonna move soon.

Once that move is done, I’m gonna give myself some time to unwind and relax and live life.

So, my current plan?  Project Sirius 2 should be out this Fall.  That’s my goal.

The Awakening came out in September, but I don’t think I’ll make the one-year mark on book 2.  Instead, I’m thinking closer to the end of October.

What comes after that?  I still have to write the Sword of Dragons 5.  2 chapters are written, and that’s all.  I fully intend to use NaNoWriMo this year to make a huge dent in it, but I’d be shocked if I finished the entire novel in that single month.  Then again, I’ve shocked myself before.  And if home life gets better (IE: our new apartment is less stressful to live in), who knows, I could find myself with another major creative outpouring :)

But for 2024, only a single novel is expected to be published.  My goal for Sword of Dragons 5 is sometime in 2025.

I wish I could write more.  I wish I could do what I did in 2020 and get 4 novels written!  But as long as I have a day job and don’t make enough on writing…that’s just not possible.

Speaking of my writing career and how it’s doing!

Surging Popularity of the Sword of Dragons!

I’m pleased to report that the Sword of Dragons saga is enjoying more attention than ever before!  For the first time ever, book, eBook, and Kindle reads are consistently happening!  I mean, as consistent as can be.

Let me put it to you this way – in years past, there were times where I’d only get a single sale in a month, and then a surge of four or five, then something more middling, then nothing at all.  KENP reads came in spurts.  A single person would apparently read book 1, then 2, maybe 3, and then possibly 4.  I could almost always track when a new person found the books because there was never any evidence that more than one person was reading at the same time.

Now?  Now I’m getting multiple orders of at least book one every month, often leading to sales of the other books in the series!  Usually it’s either book 1, and then a little while later, books 2, 3, and 4 all at once, or sometimes, all 4 books at once (and at least a handful of times, The Orc War Campaigns!)  And KENP reads?  I’m often seeing every single book being read a little bit at a time every single day!  Which means at least 4 people are reading at the same time!

“Oh woopey, 4 people at the same time!  That’s not impressive.”  Oh, yes it is.  For an author who, as I said before, saw maybe one person per month reading, a sudden uptick like this, that has lasted for months, is FREAKING AMAZING!

This is the biggest step forward I’ve ever seen in my writing career!

What’s the source?  Well, it started with a marketing boon.  I finally found a video (click here to see it) that explained the Amazon advertising algorithm, and how to navigate it, in a way that I could understand (previous videos or help documents just didn’t click in my ADHD brain).  So I changed how I managed my ads, and within the first month of that change, I started seeing surges in new readership!

Following that, only a month later, I drastically had to (once again) reduce my advertising budget, killing off all advertising for some titles (Project Sirius :( ) so that I could keep the momentum going for Sword of Dragons.  But it’s still paying off, and in fact I’m seeing momentum building for Sword of Dragons despite not changing how much I’m spending on ads!

Another part of it – with the surge of new readers has come more ratings, and largely good ratings!  (Plus a new, glowing review on Amazon for Rise of the Forgotten!)  I think as my ratings numbers increase, and RotF stays above the 4-stars mark (which it so far has easily done), I might continue to see this momentum building!

In short, it’s a really, really good sign :D  And once things settle with my new career, I intend to take what I learned for advertising with Sword of Dragons, and apply it to Project Sirius to try to get interest in that series going, especially after book 2 comes out!

How You Can Help

I am immensely grateful for each and every one of you who reads my novels!  I know there’s been a slight uptick in new readers to this blog, too, and I’m so glad you’re here!  I hope you’re willing to show me some patience over the coming months as my life undergoes various changes – that’s the first way you can help (showing patience with me) ;)

The other way?  The biggest way you can help?  Please leave ratings for any of my books that you’ve read on Amazon, as well as anywhere else you’re willing to leave a rating on!

Better still, on top of those ratings, please leave a written review!  Something as simple as “I liked it” or “I thought it was okay” is good, but if you have the time and want to go into a little bit more detail, you’d be helping not just me, but you’d be helping future readers decide if they want to give my book a chance!

In fact, that’s one of the best things about reviews – you’re not just helping the author, you’re helping your fellow readers find the right books for them (by steering those with similar taste in the right direction!)

Beyond that, you can like, comment on, and share my social media posts, like this one!

Thank you for reading! :)
-Jon Wasik

Burning Skies Now Available in Audibook!

Hello, there!

I’m excited to announce that the next audiobook for the Sword of Dragons saga, Burning Skies, is now available!  Currently only available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes, keep checking other vendors as the audiobook goes wide!

Click Here for Amazon

Click Here for Audible

Taking A Break From Audiobook Recording

As I’d mentioned in my previous article, I’m stepping back from Audiobook recording for the next few months.  The place we currently live in is not conducive to recording quality audio, and it’s getting worse and worse.  On top of that, I’ve just started a new job, a new career, and as does happen often with new careers (I think?), I’m exhausted every day after work as I try to learn everything.

But that doesn’t mean I’m done – I will record the rest of the Sword of Dragons saga, including book 5 when it’s done, as well as the Chronicles of the Sentinels trilogy!

Thanks for reading (and listening!) and keep checking back for more updates!

Thanks,
-Jon Wasik

Life Update – Audiobook Finished, Back to the Grind

Hey everyone!

I know it’s been a while since I wrote a blog on here, and I’m so sorry for that.  I’ve been trying to ‘keep up with’ posting on Instagram and Facebook, and being the introvert that I am, that…pretty much is all the energy I have, when it comes to social media.

And I’m honestly not sure it’s worth it.

Instagram is no longer a photo app – it’s all about the videos.  Scratch that, it’s all about the reels, which are limited to a minute and a half.  Recording any meaningful content in that short amount of time?  Not easy.  And I had to take something like 30 to 60 takes each time, trying to get it right while compressing the topic to 90 seconds.

I think I might give up on that.  While my initial foray into reels proved promising, with new followers and a couple of comments, it quickly died out, and is stagnant.  Again.

I guess I just suck with social media.  *shrug*

Burning Skies Audiobook Coming Soon!

It’s…been a battle.  I intended to record one audiobook per month once I was furloughed from my day job.  I succeeded with Rise of the Forgotten!  Then I got sick for the month of November with a throat thing.  Started recording in December, made pretty good progress, buuuut….grew increasingly frustrated with the noise in my neighborhood getting worse and worse.

And, well, things just kept getting delayed.  I finally, finally finished recording Burning Skies in January, and started editing.  Editing took a lot longer, because the noise I mentioned in my neighborhood?  It meant that I had to re-record a bunch of sections.

But finally, as of last week, editing is finished!  And I spent the first half of this week listening to Burning Skies “in the wild” to see how an average listener might listen to it.  I found some minor things, about 6 chapters needed breaths removed throughout that somehow wasn’t audible during my editing phase, and a couple of lines needed re-recording, but all in all, I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Especially Nuuldan, the dark dragon?  Oooh.  I channeled Sam Witwer’s version of Darth Maul when I recorded those lines, and they came out sooooo good!  I can’t wait for you all to hear it!

Yesterday, I uploaded all of the files to ACX, and submitted for approval!  So, assuming no quality issues are detected by the ACX techs, Burning Skies should show up on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes in the next 2 weeks!

So despite the setbacks, I battled through, and completed my second Audiobook!

Now…what’s next?

Wellllllllllll….

Assessing The Situation and Adapting

So after all of the delays with Burning Skies, I knew I was running up against a wall, time-wise.  My furlough only allowed me 3 months of paid-for insurance by my employer, and unemployment only allowed a little more than that.  My plan had been to record Rise, then Burning, then start auditioning for jobs to actually get paid for my voice work.

That last part was originally supposed to start in December.

When I hadn’t finished recording Burning Skies until January, I knew my original plan was in big, big trouble.

Then I started looking into how much I could expect to get paid as a voice actor going through ACX, without an agent, without a director or producer or editor, with me doing all of it.

So here’s the thing.  Audiobook narrators, and voice actors in general, don’t get paid for however long it takes them to do the job.  We get paid for a product.  We get paid Per Finished Hour of audio, or PFH.

Let’s say it takes me an hour to record a segment.  That’s an hour of audio, right?  Not necessarily, and especially not as a beginner.  I make mistakes.  I have to re-record.  I’ve learned that, in order to keep my flow on a story, when I mess up, I just immediately re-do that line or wherever a good break is to edit later.  Sometimes that’s only a little bit, and sometimes I mess up a lot.

Then, later, I have to go back and listen to and edit that hour.  Editing involves cutting, adjusting, and generally takes 1.5x as long to do, at least for me (dunno if I’m missing some trick of the trade…)  So that hour recording actually took 2.5 hours of my time to polish, and I may end up actually only having 50 minutes of a final product.  Maybe more, maybe less.

As a beginner, as a nobody on the ACX platform, I could probably expect the lower end of pay for jobs, which is a range of $50 to $100 PFH.

Now, let’s do some math, yeah?  I know, I hate math, too.

Rise of the Forgotten came out to about 10 hours finished.  At the low end, that would mean $500, at the high end, $1000.

In theory, that should have taken me 25 hours to finish, with the 2.5x math, right?  Less than a week, in theory.

It took me longer.  A lot longer.  It basically took me a month from beginning to end.  Now granted, throughout that month, my voice started weak and I couldn’t record for 8 hours a day, so that’s probably why.  Some days I could only do one or two chapters at most, my voice was still recovering from previous days of recording for 6 or more hours.  That’s part of it, your vocal chords are a muscle that need to be strengthened over time.  By the time I finished recording RotF, I was doing pretty good!

But it basically took me a month to finish.

Sooooo…if this was for someone else’s project?  That’s $500-$1000/month.  Before taxes, not  counting medical insurance or anything.  That’s it.

That is not enough to live off of, even in a dual-income home.  Not even close.

So that has led to a…difficult decision.

Back to the Grind – Day Job

After figuring all of that out in January, and knowing that my medical and unemployment benefits were about to run out, I knew I had no choice – I had to go back to a day job.

I really, really didn’t want to.

And I’m so, so incredibly frustrated!!!!  Of course my body decided to get a new illness in the middle of all of this!  Of course I then had to re-build up my vocal chords afterwards and take longer than I should have to record Burning Skies!  Of course everything had to fight me every single step of the way!

At least, that’s been my thoughts lately.  I’m not happy about how it all played out.  This…this was supposed to be my chance.  This was supposed to be how I was able to become a full-time creative.  I didn’t expect to get rich, I didn’t want to get rich, I just wanted a sustainable income!

Maybe, someday, I still can.  It’ll be easier with ‘professional’ gigs, where I have an agent and a producer and I record my work, send it off for someone else to edit, and then move on to the next project.  Maybe, but that’ll mean trying to get an agent to represent me, just for starters.  That’s a big if.

But for now, I have to take care of myself and my family.  I have to make sure we don’t end up on the streets.  And let’s face it, with practically zero social safety nets in the U.S., that’d be a scary prospect.

So I started applying for jobs on indeed.  Sys Admin jobs.  It literally made me nauseous when I first started looking – I not only didn’t want to go back to a 9-5 job, I really didn’t want to go back to the immensely stressful Sys Admin career, where employers increasingly take advantage of employees, adding more and more work and hours without any added pay.

At one point, I started wondering about trying to find other jobs.  Maybe as a proofreader or copy editor.  I started looking at those jobs, and felt like I had a leg up on those, since my Bachelor’s degree was in English.  But a lot of it was ‘gig’ work or temporary contracts, not a reliable source of income at all.

Then I thought…what about technical writing?  I started looking into that.  It looked…promising.  I’d take a definite pay cut, tech writers aren’t paid nearly as much as sys admins, but it was more than I was getting from unemployment by a significant amount, and we’d already proven that, if we had to, we could make that work!  So, why not go for it?

I posted on my private Facebook about thinking about going tech writing as a career, not really thinking anything about it.  But then, that same day, an old co-worker called me up and said he was a manager on a program in dire need of a proper documentation program, and he knew and liked my work in that regard (I’ve always built up the documentation programs for any job I was a sys admin at), and he wanted to hire me!

A few weeks later, and here I am, about to start not just a new day job, but a new career!

I’m excited.  I’m terrified.  I’m anxious.  I’m all over the board about it!  But one thing is for sure – I’ll be glad to have a steady paycheck again.

For more than one reason.

What’s Next?

Remember how I was saying that my neighborhood was getting worse and worse with noise?  Well, honestly, worse and worse in general.  This apartment complex is utter shit, the management company that took over after we moved in is horrible (Seriously, second time Greystar has taken over an apartment while we lived there and turned it to shit!  How are they surviving as a company??)

So with a steady paycheck again, we’re gonna move to a better apartment/neighborhood.  One that doesn’t stress us out, and one that won’t interfere with my ability to record audio.

Until then?  No more recording.  It’s too frustrating.

But once I’m settled into my day job and get a new daily routine going, I will continue writing and publishing novels.  The Sword of Dragons needs book 5, and Project Sirius book 2 needs to come out this year!

I don’t plan on publishing Sirius 2 until after we move, though.

I’m going to probably pull back from Instagram – it’s just not worth the effort I put into my videos, I get no engagement.

I’m probably going to delete my Patreon.  Absolutely no one seems to give a shit about it or has any interest in supporting me through that platform, so no sense keeping it online.

But overall, for the next few months, I’m going to focus on two things – moving, and mental/emotional health.

I’ve worked for employers who don’t give two shits about me for too long.  I’m hopeful that this new job won’t be like that (the manager’s a pretty cool guy!), but either way, I’m going to focus more on taking care of me, and being healthy and better.

I have no doubt that this new year is going to be full of even more change.

I’ll try to be better about keeping you all in the loop here.  After all, this blog is a better avenue for that – I’m a writer!  Writing is what I do best :)

Assuming anyone is still around reading this, and assuming anyone has read all the way to the bottom of this rather long post, thank you for your support and patience!

Until next time!
-Jon Wasik

Juggling Different Creative Efforts

Hello, there!

Welcome to 2024!  Let’s hope it’s a better year than the previous four!

I thought I’d kick things off by just letting you all know what I’m working on these days, and where I’m at with them.  So let’s dive in, starting with my next audiobook!

Burning Skies Audiobook Coming Soon

Earlier this week, I finished recording Burning Skies!  That doesn’t mean it’s ready to go, not by a long shot, but it is a huge milestone!

What’s next?  Well, editing primarily.  Throughout the process of recording, I occasionally took days off from voice work and did editing, so I’m not starting from scratch on it, but I do still have about 3/4’s of the book audio files to edit, so it’s still a long ways to go!

I also know for a fact that there are some dialogue sections I’ll need to re-record.  Especially for the crystalline entities known as the Navitas – I started off voicing them one way in one chapter, and then later changed my mind and voiced them different, so I’ll need to re-record those earlier dialogue sections.  Not a huge deal, and shouldn’t slow me down much.

After that, I’ll need to ‘listen to it in the wild,’ taking the MP3 files and listening to them while driving, exercising, etc, to see how it sounds and if anything needs additional work.

Project Sirius Book 2 Will Be Out This Year

I finished writing Project Sirius Book 2 (title still undecided) last year, so the hardest part is already done ;)  Today, taking a break from, well, everything else, I started another round of proofreading on it.

Once that’s finished, I’m hoping to start working on the publication package.  I’m…well, sad that I haven’t gotten further feedback from beta readers.  But I can’t wait forever, so I’m going to move forward on this one.

Right now, due to the whole job furlough situation, I can’t afford to engage the cover artist, but that situation will probably be resolved soonish.  (More on that further down.)

I already know what I want for the cover, and should be able to communicate it very easily to the artist, so I expect work on the cover to go fast :)

The Sword of Dragons Book 5 Stalled

Unfortunately, writing book 5 of the Sword of Dragons has…stalled.

And I can’t really point to just one reason for it.  Part of it is…struggling with stress and anxiety, so creativity is hard to come by.  (That whole job furlough thing.)  Also, due to the delays to audiobook recording, I focused heavily on that lately, and that left little time for any other creative efforts.

Will I start it up again soon?  That’s the plan!  Though it’s a bit frustrating, because I really want to write Project Sirius Book 3!!!!!

Anything Else On The Side?  Why, Yes!

Long-time readers of this blog know – I’m a gamer.  It’s one of the ways I decompress.  But when I game, I often find myself playing survival games that allow building structures, ships, etc.  I’ve loved building starships on Starfield, for instance!

But a big project that I’ve collaborated with my wife and my best friend on is getting closer to completion, and I’m excited to share it with folks soon!  In the video game 7 Days to Die, we’ve recreated the Raccoon City Police Station from Resident Evil 2 Remake!  It’s taken months, and there’s still a lot of work to be done on it, but most of that now is detail work :D

Back To Work?

Speaking of my job furlough earlier, I’ve reluctantly acknowledged that, for now, I cannot yet make a living off of voice acting.  As a beginner, the most I could expect is maybe $1k/month, depending on the projects I could get outside of recording my own books (and those pay considerably less ;) ).

That’s not enough, by a long shot, to live off of.  Hence why I always intended to try to segue into it part-time at first.  As does happen frequently in my life, those plans are always shoved aside.

So I’m going to start actively looking for a new day job.

I don’t really have a choice.

My novels are selling better than ever, but still fall far short of ever becoming sustainable, my voice acting isn’t even close yet either, and there has been zero interest in my Patreon :(

What does that mean for creative stuff?  It means the output frequency is going to drastically decline.  Who knows when I’ll finish writing my next novel.  Who knows when I’ll finish my next audiobook.

I’m back to square one.

But I gotta do what I’ve gotta do to survive.

On the bright side, I acknowledge that a lot of my resistance to day job work has been toxic managers or work environments at the last couple jobs I’ve worked.  So I’m going to try to be a bit more discerning with whom I apply to and accept a job from.  I recall from past experiences that I absolutely loved I.T. work when I was with companies and had coworkers that I loved!

True, I might not have a choice at first, I might have to take whatever comes my way right away.  But I’ll definitely try for better.

Anywho, that’s all I’ve got for today.  Thanks for reading!  And if you feel like helping out a poor, starving writer/voice actor, tell your friends and family about my work, like my posts, subscribe anywhere you can, and especially to my Patreon page!

-Jon Wasik

…And Then There Was 2023.

I thought 2020 was crazy.

Then I thought 2021 was bad.

2022 was all, “Hold my beer.”

And then there was 2023.

Long-time readers of this blog will recognize that beginning.  Except for the 2023 part, that’s how I started the annual “Looking Back, Looking Forward” blog last year.

I also talked about how every year seems to have been worse than the previous year.  This year is no exception.  Maybe not the worst, but if not, then it was a damned-tough contender.

And I’ll be honest, I’m scared of 2024.  If every year just keeps getting worse…what will come of 2024?

But.  And this is a big but.  There was some really good stuff that came of 2023, too.  I’ve always been taught to take the bad with the good, so for this first part, I’ll try to ensure I include both :)

NO SURGERIES!!!

That’s right, for the first time in three years, 2023 was a year of no surgeries!!!!  Err, for me, anyway.  Beck (my wife) was a different story, but we’ll get to that in a bit.  My hips, both of them, have been doing fairly well this year!  And though I’ll never be 100% again with them, and they did cause some minor issues during my first vacation in years, they’re both better than they’ve been in a very, very long time.

Vacation?  Why yes, I finally had a vacation!  But that’s skipping ahead a bit.  Hey, I’m ADHD, I’m allowed to jump around a bit on you ;)  For the moment, however, as much as I’d love to say I had no hospital visits this year…

The Most Pain I Have Ever Experienced In My Life

Okay, at least at this point in my life, I have no enemies.  But if I did have enemies, I would never, ever wish the pain…of kidney stones upon them.

Because I experienced my first one this year, and oh my freaking goodness, I hope I never, ever experience it again.  One night in March, I suddenly woke up in intense back pain.  At first, I thought I’d twinged a muscle, and thought, “Ah, just gotta get through to morning to see a chiropractor.”  But the pain got worse.  And worse.  And worse.

I was having to walk around, move around, ibuprofen did nothing to help, and it just kept getting worse.  I started to fear something like a burst appendix or something.  So finally, at about 2:30AM or so, my wife took me to the ER.  Around that time, we began to suspect my symptoms were more indicative of a kidney stone, and as I was checking into the ER, barely coherent through the pain, they concurred and got me into CT right away to verify.  This was also the first time in my life (yes, including post-surgery recovery) when I was in so much pain that I got sick.

That was the first time in my life that I’ve ever been on morphine, and what a strange feeling that was, but I was soooooo grateful for the pain to go away.

In any case, the stone was small enough that I didn’t need surgery, buuuuut that meant going home and enduring pain until the stone passed.  It took nearly a week.  Which meant a week off of work.  A week I didn’t really have to spare.

This was on top of soooo much else going on in life.  This was after a year of post-op recovery, strep throat after strep throat, COVID….basically, I was exhausted.  And when I finally passed the stone and went back to work…I broke down.

And I took a few weeks off of work.  Unpaid.  Just to get some me time, some real and true rest.  Because why would I ever be given enough PTO to stay home sick, let alone recover from burnout?  Oh right, we live in the United States where employees get the shaft, especially non-Union employees….

Yeah.  I’m a bit bitter about it.  And it only gets worse, but again…Spoilers.

Voice Acting Advanced Class

One of the better experiences this year was that I was able to take an Advanced Voice Over class, and at the end, I got to do some acting for an industry professional!  The class and that final experience went very well, and I went away from the class feeling very good about my future as a voice actor!

And Then More Work Shenanigans…

I’ve wanted to go part-time for my day-job for some time and focus more on voice acting and writing, and after that advanced class, I was ready to ask my day-job for just that.  I’m a computer sys admin (Windows-based) and I’d gotten all of my systems to a point to where I could safely and comfortably reduce my hours…or so I thought.

I won’t go into many details, but suffice it to say, work decided to…change things up a lot.  And then do a reorg and put me under a…difficult manager.  So that put everything in that regard on pause.

Allergy Shots and New Book Release!

On the positive side, I released the first book in a new series in 2023, Project Sirius!  The Awakening by itself, and the series in general, is something I’m very proud of and very excited to share with the world!  It’s not all good things…I’ve come to realize, starting with The Awakening, thaaaat despite getting plenty of people to read advanced reader copies (a first for me), getting them all to follow through on leaving reviews on release day is…a challenge.  And relying on others to help me out is futile.  But at least two folks did, and I’ve come to realize that I have at least three vocally-dedicated fans :)  So that makes me happy!

And I started allergy shots this year!  I knew I needed to do something, because in voice over class, it was negatively affecting my performances sometimes, even with antihistamines, so I decided to take the plunge.  Besides which, we want to adopt a kitty someday :)

Several months later now, and I’m responding well!  I’m not yet ready to pet cats, per-se, but I can be in the same house as one now without having to take antihistamines!  So that’s progress!

DISNEYLAND!

After having to put it off over and over and over again, we decided early in 2023 that we were going to Disney with out best friends from Cali!  Originally we planned on Disney World, but we had to scale back a bit for obvious reasons (see shit year 2023 above).  Still, we made it!  In August and September, we headed down to the Los Angeles area, spent three days in Disneyland with our friends, and several more days in SoCal enjoying ourselves (and getting a LOT of steps in on our step counters!)

Among the awesome surprises our friends gave us was a stay at an actual Disneyland resort, The Grand Californian, as well as an appointment to build our own lightsabers in the Star Wars land, Galaxy’s Edge!

Speaking of….Galaxy’s Edge was such an incredible experience!  It was our first time seeing that, and as a life-long nerd and Star Wars fan, it was a dream come true!  It was a sorely-needed positive in a dreary and difficult year!  I’ll treasure those memories forever, and I can’t wait to see the one in Disney World next :D  (Just…you know, no idea when we’ll be able to make it.)

And Then, Even More Work Shenanigans………

So things had settled at work enough after the mid-year shake-up that I was feeling confident about asking to go part-time again.  My immediate supervisor, who was awesome, was on-board with it, and we had come up with a plan to present it to that new manager I mentioned before.

I kid you not, only a week before I planned to do so…we had a company-wide meeting and announcement.  And I, along with many other folks, was furloughed.

Well.  Instead of part-time voice acting, why not full-time?

That was the plan after that jarring and hard day.  But life had other plans…

More Medical Fun….

After I was furloughed in the beginning of October, I decided to take a couple days to absorb this sudden, life-altering event, and then I decided to take advantage of the (albeit unpaid) break from work, and go full-time voice acting.  I recorded and edited Rise of the Forgotten in October, and by mid-November, it was available for purchase!

Buuuuut…November.  The entire month of November, I had a major issue with my throat.  We thought strep, Doctor thought strep, but all tests came back negative.  And nothing seemed to fix it.  More tests for other illnesses came back negative.

Finally, towards the end of November, my doc asked about acid reflux, and I realized then that, yeah, I had heartburn every single day, and it’s been a problem for a long time (in fact, taking all those antacids back in March is probably what strongly contributed to my kidney stones).

So I got on some meds for acid reflux, and within a few days, my throat finally started going back to normal.

But that still meant that for the entire month of November, I didn’t record anything.  I had planned to record Burning Skies in November, and then in December, start auditioning for other roles to start making an income.

Instead, I started recording Burning Skies in December.  And then…well, life.  And also, once I finished the 2-week course of meds for my stomach acid, and despite making lots of diet changes, the acid started coming back, and right before Christmas, my voice started going out again…

I have 12 chapters left to record in Burning Skies.  Maaaaaybe next week, after the new year, I’ll finally be able to finish.

But what does this mean for my future?

Beck’s Surgery

On another note, part of what’s made this year so hard, and the previous years…is the political situation in the United States.  The ultra-right-wing conservatives have been making life scary, especially for women.  And when Roe v. Wade was overturned, my wife decided that she didn’t want to risk it.

So we made appointments, and got her scheduled to ensure no one could ever get her pregnant.  Due to a family emergency with the surgeon, that appointment was delayed, but eventually we got her in and the surgery was a success!  There was a scare the next day that brought us back to the ER, but it thankfully was a false alarm, and Beck’s recovery has, thankfully, been relatively smooth.

Let me tell you, having been on the other end so frequently over the past 3 1/2 years…I never took what she went through with me for granted, but it was a scary experience seeing my wife go through that, especially when we had to run to the ER the next day.

I really really hope we have no more medical emergencies in 2024…

Speaking of 2024.

2024 – What Do I Do Now?

What do I do?

I…don’t know.

See, here’s the thing.  As a furloughed employee, I still get medical benefits, and I’m on unemployment.  But if my employer doesn’t take me back in January, I lose the insurance.  As you can tell, I can’t really go without insurance.  And buying it from the ‘marketplace’ is expensive, and, well, we don’t really have money to spare.

Do I risk it all and keep going with the voice acting, hoping I start making enough to afford independent insurance?  Or do I look for another Sys Admin job somewhere?  Or do I try to start a career in something else, knowing that, for the moment, we’re surviving on a lower income, so we could probably weather a start wage in a new career field?

The honest answer?  I don’t know.

I started a Patreon in early December hoping to get help, but, like I mentioned earlier with Project Sirius, I’m finding out that I can’t rely on anyone else to help.  Zero subscriptions to my Patreon.  No one’s interested.  No one cares.

At least, that’s how it feels.

Sooo…I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know where to go from here.  I don’t know what 2024 will hold for me.  Any plans I have are more-or-less on hold.

Project Sirius book 2 is written, but beta readers who have had it for months haven’t gotten back to me, sooo…I may just say hell with it and after another round of editing without feedback, I’ll publish it.  But that means buying new cover art.  That’s expensive when you have such a low income.

I wish I could look to 2024 optimistically, but the past 3 1/2 years have beaten that out of me, and if I’m being totally honest, that’s one of the most depressing things to come out of 2023.  I want my hope back.  I need my hope back.

I need 2024 to be the year that everything finally turns around.

I’m tired…

Launching My Patreon Page!

Hello, there!

After deliberating on it for a long, long while, and after hyper-fixating on it (yay ADHD!) for several days, I decided to create a Patreon page!  Before I get into more about why I made one (and some of this, you can read about in my Patreon’s “About” section), here’s the link to check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/JonWasik

There are currently three tiers you can subscribe to, with the lowest being just $1 per month.

Why go as low as $1 when Patreon said “at a minimum, you should do $3/month!”?  Well, because I know what it’s like to be strapped for cash.  I mean, *gestures at everything*.

But my biggest reason for this is…I want to make this work.  I want to be a full-time creative.  I want to write, I want to narrate, I want to act, I want to build worlds.

I’ve read that Patreon is only a good place to get followers if you already have followers, so maybe this is a shot in the dark and I’m doomed to fail.  But I have to try.

I’m running out of options.  And if something doesn’t change soon, then I’m just…gonna have to find another day job.  Which means more stress, less time to write, less time to narrate, less time to create content.

And I’m running out of steam.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that life hasn’t been particularly kind to my wife and I over the past 4 years.  Started in late 2019 and it just hasn’t let up.

So I’m doing what I can.  I’m a creative, so I figured Patreon would be the best place, right?  Sure I could have done something like Kofi, asked for donations, but…I hate feeling like a burden, on anyone, let alone strangers.

Instead, I’m asking for help, and in return, I give back with extra content.  And if magically things turn around, and a lot of people subscribe and I never have to worry about a day job again, then that leaves me time to make even more content, both for subscribers and everyone else!

More than that, it would mean less stress.  And while fear is the mindkiller, as they say in Dune, stress is the creative killer.

So if you’re willing to help a struggling writer out, with just a dollar, or 5, or 10, and you want bonus content in return, then please check out my Patreon, and sign up for whatever level you are comfortable with.

I’m also open to suggestions for making my Patreon better and more worthwhile!  So don’t be shy about voicing your thoughts and opinions, I genuinely want to hear them!

And just so you don’t have to scroll back up if I’ve convinced you to check it out, there’s that link again :)

https://www.patreon.com/JonWasik

Thanks for reading!
-Jon Wasik

First Audiobook Available! Rise of the Forgotten

Hello, there!

I am so very excited and proud to announce that my first audiobook, Rise of the Forgotten, is now available!  You can find it on the Audible and iTunes apps by searching for Jon Wasik, or you can click the link below to go straight to the Amazon store page!

Rise of the Forgotten Audibook

If you’ve been a regular reader here, you already know this, but not only is this my first novel converted into audiobook format, it’s also narrated by me!

Now, before you scoff and say, “Great, another author who thinks they can narrate their own book,” it’s more than just that.  (And for the record, some authors are fantastic at narrating their own books!)  I’ve been working towards switching careers to voice acting for quite some time now, and this first release is a culmination of practicing, of taking classes and voice lessons, and several false-starts and learning experiences.

In fact, this isn’t even my first completed audiobook that I’ve recorded!  But, well, the first one I completed was before I took lessons.  The quality of the voice acting reflects that fact very much, and I’ll be re-recording that book at a future date ;)

It’s also not the first time I started recording a Rise of the Forgotten audiobook, it’s just the first time I’ve finished and been happy with the results.  This single release represents hundreds of hours of learning, trying, learning some more, adjusting, learning even more, and then finally completing.

This particular version took me nearly a month to record, edit, and do re-recordings of a few chapters whose quality were too substandard to be recoverable.

To quote a song, “It’s been a long road, getting from there to here.”  But now I’m here, and this is just the beginning :D

What’s Next?

So, the next thing I was supposed to start over a week ago was recording Burning Skies.  I say supposed to because for the past two weeks, I’ve had a throat illness (maybe strep, maybe not, tests and diagnosis are inconclusive…)  This week, I’ve been doing my voice warmups every morning, but my throat has been very keen to tell me, “No, dumbass, I’m not ready for this yet!”  Sooooo yeah.

Artwork by Vuk Kostic

But, once I’m able, I definitely will begin recording Burning Skies in earnest.  After that?  Well, yes, I do intend to record audiobooks for all of the main-series Sword of Dragons novels (Orc War Campaigns, however, I’m not currently planning to).  I also intend to record audiobooks for the Chronicles of the Sentinels trilogy.

However, due to circumstances outside of my control (and details of which I won’t be going into,) I have several months off from work.  So I’m using this opportunity to try voice acting full-time.  Conceivably, recording my own audiobooks is a big and important step towards making that dream a reality, but unless my books suddenly get a lot more popular than they are now, that’s not sustainable.

So after Burning Skies, I’m planning to start auditioning for other, paying gigs.  Starting with audiobooks, but I’ll also be trying to find an agent willing to take me on as a client and find me roles.  As I’ve learned in class, the most common role that ‘pays the bills’ are commercials, so I’ve no doubt I’ll be doing lots of those, but I’m hoping for more audiobooks and, even more of a dream, working on projects like video games or animated shows/movies!

Those are lofty dreams, and may be a long ways off.  And honestly, if I only ever do audiobooks, if I am able to get steady work and (relatively speaking) steady income from audiobooks, I’d be super ecstatic and would happily leave the I.T. world behind.

That’s a lot of future I’ve just imagined and covered.  It’s possible that none of this will work out.  I may be going back to work as early as January, and if my voice acting is showing no promise by then, I’ll relegate it to part-time (but won’t be giving up on it).

What About Your Writing?

Well, like the blog name says, I’m a writer at heart ;)  I won’t be giving up on that.  But it is, for the moment, taking a bit of a back seat.  While I’m sick and can’t record new audio, I am writing the next Sword of Dragons book, but it’s slow work and, once my voice is good, it’ll once again take a back seat.

But you can’t keep an obsessed writer down.  I’ll finish Sword of Dragons 5.  And Project Sirius book 2 is already written, it just needs polish.  I intend to publish it sometime in 2024!

So don’t worry, there’s still plenty more to come from me, and plenty more content for this blog :)

Thanks for reading!  And as a reminder, click here to head to the audiobook page for Rise of the Forgotten :D

-Jon Wasik

When Your Story Unexpectedly Turns Dark

Sooo…yesterday I wrote that I was starting the Sword of Dragons Book 5.  And I immediately wrote a 3100 word prologue.

Today, I wrote chapter 1.  And…it took an unexpected turn.  A very grim, horrifying turn, and now, several hours later, I’m still processing what just happened.

Yeah, you read that right.  The story I’m writing took an unexpected turn and left me mortified and horrified and oh my god, the tone of book 5 just took a rather dark one O_o

Now, first, if you haven’t read up to Advent Darkness, SPOILER ALERT!

My original intent for book 5, and still is the big piece of it, is that Cardin and Sira and all of their friends need to find and gather allies to fight the Darksteel Army and prevent them from finding and/or taking the Conduit that’s hidden somewhere on Halarite.

But now there’s going to be another, big part of book 5.  Cardin has just been dealt one of the biggest blows of his life.  (Yes, worse than anything else that has happened so far.)  I won’t say what it is, all I will say (just to reassure people) is that Sira isn’t in chapter 1, so no, she doesn’t die.

After what he’s witnessed, I feel like much of his journey will also be searching for a reason to fight.  Searching for a reason to go on.  Searching for hope.  Grim stuff, I know.

What’s crazy is…now that I’ve written this, it had to happen this way.  This wasn’t a “oh, for shock value, I’m gonna do this!”  No, that’s not how a story takes on a life of its own.  For this, I was going along, writing what I intended to write for chapter one, and then I got to a scene where the action starts.

Except, logically, what incites the action must include this shocking event that I hadn’t considered until the moment I wrote it.  And the instant I had the idea…my stomach dropped out, and a huge void opened up in my gut.  I was in shock with every passing sentence.  And it just got worse, and worse, and worse, as the implications of everything became apparent to both me and Cardin.

And what he does in response…

We all have our breaking points.

Even heroes.

Especially flawed heroes.

So.  While book 5 will, indeed, be Cardin searching for allies, he’ll also be searching within.  And coming to terms with what he did, what he learns he can do, and what to do with that, all while dealing with one of the worst traumas anyone could ever endure in a fantasy world.

*Whew*

Guess I’m not holding anything back in book 5.

-Jon Wasik

So It Begins – The Sword of Dragons Book 5

Hello, there!

First a quick update from my previous post – I am still furloughed, but as I had planned, I have been treating voice acting/audiobook narration as a full-time job, with some success!

RotF’s Audiobook Cover Art

As of last week, I finished editing of my first Audiobook, Rise of the Forgotten, and I’ve sent it into ACX!  As soon as they approve it, it’ll go live on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes!  :D

Unfortunately, last week I also came down with strep throat.  (Again.)  I’m on the mend, but my voice is still out of commission, probably for this entire week.

So what am I to do?  No way to record new audio, and no other audio to edit?

Why, write, of course!

And so today, finally, after so much development and plotting and scheming, I start writing book 5 of the Sword of Dragons saga!!!!

I have to say that I’m really glad that I decided to stick with 6 books for the saga – that gave me freedom to come up with a really good build-up novel, and if it comes out as well as I see it in my head, you all are in for a real treat :)

Obviously, I’m not gonna give any real spoilers, but I will say this – just like in Advent Darkness, book 5’s prologue won’t be the ‘traditional’ fantasy/adventure prologue, but will be from a character’s POV, and will help set up the primary conflict.  And I’ll be introducing a new character right away, one whom no one knows or has heard about, but whose name will suggest a particular relation to Kemlia of Gevron.

Speaking of whom, after re-reading the saga over the past couple months in preparation for writing book 5, I have to say that Kemila has become one of my favorite characters.  She’s so fun to write (and read!) and I’m looking forward to writing more flirtatious and sarcastic dialogue from her :)

Anywho, the more time I spend writing this, the less time I have to write book 5, so that’s all for today!  Stay tuned for the announcement of when the audiobook is available!  :D

Thanks for reading,
-Jon Wasik

Seeking Help In Hard Times

In my last article, I wrote about how my day job furloughed me, and I decided to use the time away from work to try to become a full-time voice actor/audiobook narrator.

But.

I’m still not there yet, and that means I’m not getting paid from either my job or my voice acting.  And that means I now have zero advertising budget.

What happens when you are forced to pull advertising for your product?

Zero sales.  Zero reads.  Zero interest.

For a writer, what else does that mean?  Renewed, deepened depression.

And things only got worse…

So, my wife and I are watching Big Bang Theory (stay with me, I promise this is relevant).  We’re in season 7.  And a couple days ago, we watched the episode where Penny gets an acting job on NCIS.  But when the episode debuts….her entire scene is cut.

Penny spirals into depression, having banked on this finally being her break that would lead to more acting roles.  She goes on a drunken rant to Leonard about how “I got this stupid temp waitress job until I made it, and I’m still there ten years later!   I’ve lived here for ten years, and I’ve got nothing to show for it!”

And…her words just hit me.  They resonated with me.  I never felt for her character quite as deeply as I did in that moment.

I’ve been a writer for 30 years.  I’ve been published for 8, with 9 novels on the market.  But I’ve never been profitable.  I’ve never been popular.  My books aren’t being reviewed.  I stopped advertising, and sales and Kindle Unlimited reads dropped to zero.

No one’s talking about my books.  No one’s spreading the word.

Does that mean they aren’t good enough?  Aren’t worth talking about?  I honestly don’t know anymore.

But I thought I’d ask you, dear reader, if you’d be willing to help me out, and it’ll cost you nothing.

Spread the word.  Tell others who are readers about my books.  Tell them why you like them and why you think they should read them!  And please leave reviews for them, on Amazon, Goodreads, wherever you can.

I feel like I’m being desperate here.  Maybe I am.  I just know that I feel like an utter failure as a writer, and unfortunately the only way to reverse that is for people to start talking and spreading the word.  I can’t do anything else right now.  It’s up to you.

To quote a famous princess, “you’re my only hope.”

But to try to help make it just a little easier, here’s some links you can share to help lead people to my work.

My Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jon-Wasik/author/B00X4Y6116

The Sword of Dragons (Fantasy Adventure) Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY3HJBR

Project Sirius (YA Sci-Fi) Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHPN3FLG

Chronicles of the Sentinels (Urban Fantasy) Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0981NDFG1

Thank you.