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

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

Musings of the Week – New Book’s Performance, Reading Old Works

Hello, there!

Today’s post will be a bit of a different format – I didn’t have any one topic long enough to count as its own post, and no real conclusions to make, just some musings.  So without further ado…

The Awakening’s Performance

It’s been almost a week since The Awakening debuted, so how has it measured up?

Strangely enough, kinda good, but also not terribly great.

The amount of pre-orders for The Awakening was about half of the pre-orders I’d received for Legacy, but considering what happened post-release with Legacy, I wasn’t surprised, and didn’t look at that as an indicator.

Legacy kicked off a new series just like The Awakening, and I heavily marketed Legacy pre-release.  Between beta reader feedback and the pre-order numbers, I was flying high on release day!

Unfortunately, that high lasted mere days.  The very first rating that came in for it was a 2-star.  Followed  by another 2-star.  It was…a depressing time.

But what about The Awakening?  Well I’m happy to say that on Amazon, there’s a 4-star and a 5-star rating, with a glowing 5-star review!  On Goodreads, it’s also received a 4-star rating and review!  So that’s a good start!  Better still, for a short time, The Awakening jumped up to be in the top 100,000 kindle books in the entire Kindle store!  That might not sound good, but considering it had already backpedaled to 3,000,000 pre-release (Only one person pre-ordered the Kindle edition, compared to the numerous print pre-orders), that jump from 3,000,000 to under 100,000 was significant!  It also hit under the top 100 for Teen and Young Adult LGBTQ+ Fiction for a short time!

All in all, compared to anything I’ve written and published before, a very strong start!

Unfortunately, I had hoped for more reviews.  That was explicitly why I’d sent out Advanced Reader Copies, to have numerous reviews up-front and get the ball rolling on positive marketing.  Unfortunately, one of two things is happening – either almost none of those readers are leaving reviews, or Amazon is blocking them.  So far, only two Advanced Readers actually have reviews posted.

But that is apparently one of the greatest struggles for independently published authors.

And let me tell you, I have noticed a definite difference.  When Rise of the Forgotten hit 30 ratings, mostly 5-star, suddenly more readers were coming to the table, and within a month, it went from 30 to 33 ratings, after years and years of barely getting any.

So yes, dear readers, ratings, and especially reviews, make a huge difference.  If you want to support your favorite author beyond just buying their books, the easiest and best thing you can do is write a review :)

The Pain Of Reading Old Works

I think I’ve already mentioned it, but whenever I get ready to write another book in a series, I go back and re-read all of the previous books.  That way I’m in the right mindset, and I’m more familiar with what came before.

Artwork by Vuk Kostic

The time has come to write the next Sword of Dragons novel!  That means going back and re-reading Rise of the Forgotten.

Except something has changed, in me….

The last time I read Rise, I still liked it.  I still felt like it was a strong story, fairly well-written, if a little rough around the edges.  And given the ongoing positive ratings it receives, there’s definitely other readers out there who feel the same way.

But this time…I’m struggling with it.  I feel like there’s way too much exposition, and sometimes that exposition is a little repetitive.  I have to force myself to read thoroughly, to not skip parts.

What’s changed?

For starters, this happens to every writer.  I read or heard once about someone meeting Jim Butcher and telling him they’d just read his first Dresden Files novel, and he lamented them having to read his early works, and encouraged that reader to get to more recent Dresden Files novels.  (I still very much enjoy Storm Front, but Butcher’s writing definitely gets better with each novel!)

Seriously, it happens to us all.  Or at least…it should.  Because like all art, hell, like all careers, you can always get better.  The moment you stop believing that, the moment you stop trying to learn more, or grow, or ‘get better,’ is the moment you doom yourself.

With all of that in mind, I’m actually encouraged by this feeling of distaste towards my first published novel.  It means I’ve grown as a writer, and am still growing.  I haven’t become stagnant.

There’s another bonus to this effort: I can see what I did wrong, and ensure I don’t repeat those mistakes in my next novel.

In any case, that’s all I have for you today, dear readers!

Wait, you’re eager for updates on my next novel?

Let’s just say I’m in the process of getting Project Sirius book 2 out to first-round beta readers ;)

Thanks for reading!
-Jon Wasik

10 Year Anniversary – Completing the First Sword of Dragons Novel

Hello, there!

Cover by Christian Michael

This month marks the 10 year anniversary for when I finished writing what would become my first published novel, The Sword of Dragons (later rebranded as Rise of the Forgotten, The Sword of Dragons book 1)!

While the novel wouldn’t see publication for a further 2 years, it still was a remarkable accomplishment!  Since then, a lot has happened, and a lot has changed.  One of the more notable changes is how I write novels today compared to how I wrote them back then.

I once wrote about my method for developing and writing novels, but I think the time has come to revisit that, and discuss how that has changed.

Back Then – Planning Every Chapter

Ask any novelist about plotters vs pansters, and they’ll probably probably state which they are, why, and maybe what they think about the other type of writer.

Back in 2013, I was through-and-through a plotter.  I developed chapter-by-chapter outlines for every novel I wrote, starting with the Sword of Dragons book 1.

I’d start with an idea for a story, write those ideas down, and start to develop a plot.  Once I felt I had enough ideas and themes figured out, I’d write down what I called the “general plot progression,” telling a basic version of the story from beginning to end.

Once that was done, I’d then go back, and start writing the basics of what would happen in each and every chapter, going into as much or as little detail as I felt was necessary to remind myself what should happen in each chapter.

After that, I’d begin writing the actual manuscript.  I’d usually have two word documents up on my screen, the chapter I was writing, and the chapter-by-chapter outline, so I could constantly refer back to my notes.  I generally tried to stick with my notes, and was really just ‘filling in the details’ as I wrote.  Sometimes new ideas would come to me, and I’d go a little off course, but I didn’t want to stray too far.  I didn’t want to have to re-develop the rest of the story.

How had I come up with this method?  In a way, it stemmed from how I developed my old fan fiction, Star Trek Dragon.  Starting around season 3, I had a general idea for the entire series, and a more specific idea for the season.  To help ensure there were no plot holes or ‘wasteful’ filler episodes, I plotted each episode out, ensuring that every episode contributed to the overall story.

This served my very well for developing a series.  When the first iteration of the Sword of Dragons failed to impress anyone, and I decided to rewrite it from scratch, I adopted this process.  Aside from a horrific 4-year writer’s block about 1/3rd of the way into book 1, it kept me on-task, and helped me write the story you all know today.

Because of how successful I perceived that method to be, I kept it up.  I developed Burning Skies with the same method, kept the momentum going, and then continued with Secrets of the Cronal.  Back when I wrote the first version of Legacy, Chronicles of the Sentinels book 1, I likewise wrote a chapter-by-chapter outline.

I felt like this method worked very well for me.  There were only a few times where it didn’t, like in Burning Skies when I added about 4 new chapters that I hadn’t originally planned while I wrote it, but all in all, it worked!

Except…

There was one problem.  And the first time it ever reared its ugly head was when I wrote Secrets of the Cronal.  I had a very solid plan for how things would go in it, including at the end when Reis was meant to betray Cardin and the others and steal the Sword of Dragons.

If you’ve read Secrets of the Cronal, you’ll know that didn’t actually happen.

It was the first time where a character so viscerally refused my plans for them.  This wasn’t who Reis was.  The actions I planned for him were so against his character that it broke the story.  And because so much of the plot I’d developed, chapter-by-chapter, depended on this happening, when I got to that point and realized it couldn’t happen…writing came to a full-on stop.  I not only had to re-write that chapter, but I had to figure out how the rest of the novel would play out, not to mention the rest of the series.

I felt shackled by the plan I had come up with.  So, finally, I said, “Hell with it,” and I threw the rest of the plan out the window, and I just ‘went with it.’  I wrote whatever came out.

Later, going through revisions and proofreads, I had a lot of cleanup and adjustment to do.  Secrets of the Cronal had one of the longest production and post-production times for any of my novels back then.

And it got me thinking – maybe plotting every single chapter wasn’t the best way to go.  It kept me from letting the story evolve in the direction it needed to.

Then, in 2019, everything changed.

Neither Plotter nor Pantser – The Hybrid Approach

In 2019, I had an idea to revive Legacy, and it involved a complete re-write.  At the time, I’d been reading the Dresden Files, and I liked the approach Jim Butcher used – a single character’s point of view, rather than a myriad.  I had been thinking of how to make Chris Tatsu a more interesting character, and the story overall more interesting, and then it came to me – it needed to be a more personal story for Chris, and the single POV would facilitate that.

I also knew that some of my original plot ideas wouldn’t work with this new, limited POV, plus some of the plot elements just…didn’t make sense or weren’t interesting.

Fresh off of writing Secrets of the Cronal, I decided that instead of going back to the drawing board, so-to-speak, and writing down a new chapter-by-chapter outline, I’d just…wing it.  And Let the story go in whatever direction it needed.  Sure, this might introduce inconsistencies and errors, but those could be cleaned up and corrected in editing and revision.

With that freedom, I flew through the first draft!  I was so enthusiastic about it that I couldn’t stop writing!  When pandemic hit and my day job came to a virtual stand-still, this only made it easier, and before I knew it, Legacy was completed.

I capitalized on that, and after developing the basic plot for book 2, I wrote Retribution, and then once again, after spending some time developing the plot for book 3, I wrote Champions without a chapter outline.

I’d never written so much, so quickly, and I was proud of the work I’d created!  I was so happy with this new method of half-plotting (IE developing the general story) and then half-pantsing (writing the story without outlines, letting it take me wherever it needed to go) that I adopted the exact same method for writing Advent Darkness.

Now, those of you who don’t like Chronicles of the Sentinels might point to that series as an example of why this new, hybrid method is a mistake.  However, Advent Darkness has been lauded as my best-written work so far, and kicked off a resurgence in popularity for the Sword of Dragons saga!  So, while I still don’t really understand the relative failure of Sentinels, clearly Advent Darkness is proof that this method works, and works damn well.

It’s how I wrote The Awakening, as well.  I’ve shared The Awakening with more beta readers than any previous novel, and responses to it have been highly encouraging!

Of course, how a story is written obviously isn’t the only reason for a story’s success or failure.  But I do feel like this method helps me develop and write better stories.

The Future – Will I Change What I’m Doing?

As a writer, I’m going to continue to evolve and change.  Any writer worth their salt should.  To say, “I’ve found my method, I’m never changing it,” makes you unable to adapt to a changing world and to changing stories.

For now, this method very much suits me, and at this point, I’ve written more novels in this method than the plotter method.  But who knows what might happen tomorrow.

All I can promise is that I won’t stop writing.  :)

Thanks for reading!
-Jon Wasik

Sword of Dragons 5 – Not The Final Story

Hello, there!

I spent some time a few days ago chatting with my friend Nick about the next book in the Sword of Dragons saga, bouncing thoughts and ideas back and forth, and came to the conclusion that there just is absolutely no way to tell the story that needs to be told in just one more novel.

There’s too much that needs to happen to wrap up not just the main story, but for all of the character stories and subplots that have built up over the past 8 years.  And as I’ve begun developing the plot of ‘what needs to happen, in what order, and how,’ I’ve come to realize that even more sub plots would develop that would take an entire novel (IE: book 5) to setup and resolve.

So, as of this week, I’ve decided that the Sword of Dragons saga will be at least six novels.  And without having meant to, I’ve in a way set it up to be two interlinked trilogies!

Which brings up the question of – what will book 5 be about?

Avoiding the Middle Story Syndrome

I’ve written about it before in passing when talking about the Chronicles of the Sentinels trilogy – too often in trilogies, the middle story serves as little more than filler.  It helps get a story from the beginning to the end without being its own complete tale.

I actively avoided falling into that pit trap in Chronicles of the Sentinels, thinking back to the original Star Wars trilogy and how incredible The Empire Strikes Back was on its own, let alone as part of a trilogy.  Granted I think a big part of that was that Lucas probably didn’t actually envision a trilogy from the get-go (but who knows – he changes his story about what his original plans were every other day), plus the ESB director, Irvin Kershner, changed some of the story and dialogue (thank goodness), and that likely contributed to making ESB one of the best movies ever, one of the best sequels ever, and one of the best middle stories ever.

I think when you look at the story of ESB, one of the biggest reasons why it was such a powerful story is that it tells a self-contained story with a distinct beginning, middle, and end all of its own, while still contributing to the larger narrative, and leaving just enough things incomplete to bring viewers back for the final story.

That is what I need to do for the Sword of Dragons book 5.  This is perhaps one of the greatest challenges I’ve faced as a writer.  Why?  Because ever since I finished writing Secrets of the Cronal, I intended to make the Sword of Dragons only five novels (excluding The Orc War Campaigns).  Which meant that the events that were to take place after Advent Darkness were meant to be one big, final story, and that was how I was developing the plot.

Now, not only do I need to split that giant story up, but I have to make the first half its own entity, its own complete story.

There’s a lot of ways I could go about it.  But the one way I don’t want to do it is to just find a good ‘climax point’ mid-story and say “that’s where book 5 will end.”  I know some trilogies seem to do this, and it shows.  As much as I love the Matrix trilogy, you can tell that’s exactly what they did with Reloaded, and it just…wasn’t as good as it otherwise could have been.  It didn’t really stand well as its own story, and was clearly meant to serve things up for the finale in Revolutions.  Which is probably why they were released six months apart.

So, now that I’m no longer daunted by the task of fitting everything into one novel, I’m instead faced with the daunting task of…figuring out what the story for book 5 needs to be, and it is no longer “the final battle against the Darksteel Army.”

Thankfully, yesterday’s discussion helped me out a lot in that regard.

Funny enough, though…I’m going to be taking some inspiration from the third act of another trilogy.

Seeking Allies Like Commander Shepard Would

I’ll do my best not to spoil too much here for Advent Darkness, but be warned, there may be some minor spoilers ahead.

An important part of all of the books so far has been encounters with various groups, species, governments, etc.  The orcs and the Dareann Elves, for starters.  The naga and the necromancers in Burning Skies.  The Star Dragons, the Dareann Dwarves, the Navitas, Kemila’s refugees.

Every single one was intentional.  Every single one was meant to lead up to this.  And I envision Cardin and friends seeking out those groups in the 5th novel to forge an alliance against the Darksteel Army.

Unfortunately, things are never easy.  Politics are inevitable.  There will be plenty of give-and-take, and for those caught up in the series, you’ll quickly realize that not everyone I’ve mentioned is ready to be an ally with each other.

Image Source – https://magisterscorner.wordpress.com/tag/mass-effect/

Thus, as I’ve developed the next novel, I’ve been taking inspiration from Mass Effect 3.

If you’ve never played or watched someone play the Mass Effect trilogy, each game (but especially 2 and 3) revolves around the protagonist, Commander Shepard, seeking out allies to confront the antagonist of each game, and in particular the overall antagonists, the Reapers.

Mass Effect 3 took things to a galactic scale.  It wasn’t just individual allies, Shepard needed to gather entire armies.  Preferably every army in the galaxy.

But not everyone was keen on working together.  In particular, in order to gain one ally, Shepard was forced to lose another – either side with the Salarians and allow the Krogan to face a long-haul genocide, or save the Krogans and lose the support of the Salarians.  If there was a way to get them to work together with Shepard, I never found it in any of my playthroughs.

Anyway, as you might imagine, there’s gonna be some tension between potential allies in the Sword of Dragons.  After all, given what was revealed in Secrets of the Cronal, and what happened in Advent Darkness, it’s unlikely the dwarves and elves would ever work together, right?

But is it impossible?

That’s one of many questions to be answered in book 5, and thankfully, it’s all beginning to take shape.

I’m hoping that somewhere in the next few weeks, I’ll finally figure out the ‘big story,’ and can start working towards filling more details that work towards that.  Once I know what the climax of the plot should be, things move a lot faster for me.

That’s all for today!  Thanks for reading :)
-Jon Wasik

Pushing Past Nerves – Writing The End Of A Series

This past November, I finished writing my newest novel, the first in a new YA Sci-Fi series, tentatively called Project Sirius.  While I’m still letting that story ‘steep’ a bit before I go back to do another round of proofreading and edits, it’s time to turn my attention to the next, and possibly final Sword of Dragons novel.

…Except that every time I do, my anxiety shoots through the roof.

“But why?”  Because this is the finale of the biggest story I’ve told so far.  I want to do it right.  I want to ensure every character gets their moment.  I want to wrap up all the story threads.

And that is a tall order.

Can it even be done in just one more novel?

The Great Debate In My Head – One or Two More Novels?

I’ve already been working on the next novel in the back of my mind for months, even years, and I’ve been jotting down ideas and ‘must haves’ now and again.  And as of this moment, I still haven’t decided if it will be one or two more novels.

Originally, I had planned for the Sword of Dragons saga to be six novels.  (Actually, originally originally, I’d planned 10 or more, but by the time I started writing Burning Skies, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.)  It wasn’t until I finished writing Secrets of the Cronal that I started to wonder about condensing it into five novels.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like six books would be stretching it out unnecessarily.  After all that I packed into book 3, surely books 4 and 5 could be just as packed and get the entire story out, right?

Except…

Writing Advent Darkness with a revised writing style was not just an enjoyable experience, it’s been hailed as my best book yet.  And I wrote it by making it a tighter, more focused story.  Sure, this entire saga is a broad epic telling of Halarite coming out of its shell and becoming a part of the larger Universe, and is also Cardin’s “origin story,” so-to-speak.  But narrowing in on specific characters and their experiences in the larger tale helped me tell a far more compelling story, while still moving the overall narrative along.

Cardin has really started to come into his own in Advent Darkness, honing his powers despite not exercising them as much as he should, while simultaneously finally realizing his leadership potential (quite unwillingly).

Sira’s begun to accept her new reality and new companion, and the fact that she’s becoming an entirely different person.

Kailar’s powers have peaked, but despite real effort on her part, she hasn’t overcome her greatest shortcomings, and now is paying the price (as is everyone else).

All three of these must be addressed and resolved by the end of the finale.  Plus Reis’s quest for equality amongst non-magical people.  Dalin is still rejected by the Wizards and has settled into his life with Cardin and the others, but will he always be satisfied with that?  What about Elaria’s people and the conflict on her world?

Not only should all of that be addressed, but so too should the overall story involving the Darksteel Empire.

I fear that if I try to resolve it all in just one more novel, it’ll be too much for one story.  But if I spread it out to two novels, there might be unnecessary fluff, and could make for two mediocre novels.

The easy button would be to say “well book 5 concludes the current narrative, but I don’t have to wrap up everything, because I could start a new series within the same Universe!”  But I think it would be a neater, tighter act as a writer to wrap it all up here, and then, only if there’s a compelling story that needs to be told, would I start another series within the same Universe.

So what’s the solution to all of this?

Just Keep Working

There’s no way around it – I’ll have to just push through it, and keep working on the story.  I’m almost to the point where I’ve got enough general ideas of what to do for the story, so now I should start working on what I call a ‘story progression,’ where I write down the events in the order I think they should happen within the novel.

These days, since I don’t like to do chapter-by-chapter outlines anymore (I feel like doing so stifles the story a bit), that’d be the last step to take before I actually start writing the novel.

So it’s entirely possible that within the next month, draft 1 of the manuscript will begin.

And I have a lot of fantastic inspiration to work off of, too!  Mass Effect 3 being a key influence, since I’ve had the idea of Cardin needing to assemble allies to stand up to the Darksteel Empire, and to be frank, all of the seemingly-random encounters throughout the saga has been leading to just such a story.  Hmm, maybe I should play through the Mass Effect trilogy again ;)

That’s all for today – thanks for coming along with me on this crazy journey through my head!  Until next time :)

-Jon Wasik

Looking Back At The Craziest Year, And Looking Ahead to 2023

I thought 2020 was crazy.

Then I thought 2021 was bad.

2022 was all, “Hold my beer.”

By far, 2022 was one of the hardest years for me, maybe even the hardest.  I feel like I say that every year, and maybe I should stop, ’cause every time I do, it’s like the Universe is ready to say, “Oh yeah?  Watch this!”

However, I’ve learned two important lessons.  First is a self-reflection lesson: the harder life is on me, the harder I push myself to try to make it better.  The second lesson is that this is not a sustainable practice, and I pushed myself way too hard this year.

So, what all happened?  Grab a warm drink and sit back, cause this is a helluva ride.

The Year of Getting Sick

It started right at the end of 2021 – I was recovering from my third hip surgery when I got sick.  Really really sick.  I ended up in the E.R., and found out I had a very bad Strep infection.  And let me tell you, when you’ve had 3 hip surgeries, one within a few weeks, the kind of shivering I was doing when I had that first round of Strep hurt.  I went from using a cane to back on crutches because I couldn’t stop shivering and therefore my hips hurt so bad that I couldn’t stand.

That also meant I was delayed going back to work, but my short term disability already ended, soooo I used PTO (Paid Time Off) of which I’d already had to use 40 hours of at the beginning of short term disability.

Finally got back to work…only to get Strep again in late February.  Only this time, all the tests (including COVID) came back negative at first, until a more comprehensive test showed I’d somehow caught a rare variant.  So what little PTO I’d started to build up at work, gone, and then some.  I had to negotiate with my job to still get paid despite not working and not having PTO for so many days.

Aaaaaaaand then we actually did get COVID in May.  Oh and this was after Colorado and the Feds stopped paying for COVID sick leave, so yep.  Bye bye PTO again.

Between that, post-operation appointments, and physical therapy, I have been at or near zero PTO almost all year long.

Mind you, I haven’t had any sort of relaxing vacation since the beginning of pandemic.  Sooooo…that didn’t help me.

Changing Plans – Housing Market and Selling

Something else happened this year that many are watching very closely – the economy started tanking.  And that included the housing market.  When we saw the early signs of it in June, we weighed all of our options, and decided we needed to sell our house, now.  There was more to it than just the stalling economy and stalling housing market, there were a lot of reasons it made sense.  In hindsight, looking at how things are now, I’m glad we sold when we did.

But…after surgery, after 3 major illnesses, it was a hard thing.  We downsized from a house to an apartment, which was its own challenge, and getting the house ready for sale, even though we had plenty of time…it wasn’t enough time, in reality.  I had multiple days of over 20,000 steps on the docket during that time.

Coupled with our lender being a nuisance and us having to threaten legal recourse if they didn’t give us our payoff quote, it was an extremely stressful time.

And the apartment we moved into should have been a good one, I’d lived in it before and had a really good experience with it.  Wellllllll…it had been sold to another company, twice, since I last lived here, and things have gone downhill.  And within a couple months of moving in, it was sold again, and despite promises and early signs that the new owners would be better…it hasn’t been.  In fact, it’s only gotten worse.

Publishing 4 Novels in 16 Months

Remember how I mentioned pushing myself harder when life got harder?  Through all of the stuff I just mentioned, I published 4 new novels in 16 months – the entire Chronicles of the Sentinels trilogy, and the 4th Sword of Dragons novel, Advent Darkness. 

I keep meaning to write a dedicated post about “What I Learned Publishing 4 Novels in 16 Months” but long story short – it was stressful.  It drained me.  Working full time and publishing that many new books is unsustainable.

But, ultimately I am glad that I did.  I now have 8 titles published under my name, and the most recent, Advent Darkness, has not only been successful itself, but it has garnered considerable interest in the rest of the series – December is turning out to be the best-selling month of my entire writing career!  And I’ve already gotten at least one 5-star rating on the new novel!

So while I don’t regret doing what I did, despite the hardships Chronicles of the Sentinels faced, I ultimately won’t be doing this again.  Which brings me to what the future holds (with a little more insight into what I did this year)…

2023 Plans – A New Novel, and A New Career

First and foremost, I’m sure most of you are here for one reason – you know me through my writing, so you want to know what my next book will be!

I’ve mentioned it before when I talked about NaNoWriMo 2022, and for the time being, I’m calling this new story Project Sirius.  My goal is to have the first novel published sometime in 2023, though I haven’t chosen a time frame yet.

Artwork by Samuel Nordius

Project Sirius is a brand new story, and takes me back to my roots – Science Fiction.  And since it’s a new story, in a new Universe, I’m letting it stew a good while, and I’m going to slowly roll it out to various beta readers, more than any previous novel, to try to make sure it’s a story that readers will enjoy.

I recognize that most current readers are here because you’ve read my fantasy work, so you might be thinking, “Aww, why Sci-Fi!?  Why YA Sci-Fi in particular???”  From a writing career perspective, it’s probably not a good idea.  I should stick with what I’m currently known for and build upon that audience, right?  Especially, considering the growing success and existing fan base for the Sword of Dragons, I should do more high-fantasy/adventure, right?

But alas, my interests are too varied, and let’s face it, I have ADHD.  On top of that, looooooong before I wrote the Sword of Dragons, I was writing sci-fi left and right, and not just my Star Trek fan fiction.  I love it, I love reading it, I love writing it, and I always knew I’d get back to it.

“But what about the Sword of Dragons?”

I’ve not given up on it, don’t worry.  After all, things are just getting good, right?  ;)  But there won’t be a new Sword of Dragons novel in 2023.  Book 5 is going to be a slow development, just like books 3 and 4 were.  At the earliest, you can expect book 5 in 2024, probably late 2024.

I promise it’ll be worth the wait :)

Now, what about the whole “New Career” announcement above?  Wellllll…that’s something I’ve been working on since before we sold the house…  And while it semi-relates to my writing, it is definitely more.  And I hope to eventually transition my full-time job as a computer sys admin to this…

Voice Acting and Audiobook Narration

I’ve dabbled in voice acting off and on for years.  I auditioned for a ‘fan role’ in Mass Effect: Andromeda (I didn’t get the job), and I’ve off-and-on worked on recording audibook versions of the Sword of Dragons.

But that’s changed.  I don’t remember exactly what sparked it, but sometime in 2022, I started thinking about voice acting again.  I started looking at it.  And I saw a high demand.  I saw a growing demand, especially for audiobook narration.  I saw that, especially post-pandemic, most voice over talent worked from home studios, which makes it something I could actually do without having to move to Los Angeles or New York.

Coupled with a history in voice and experience with taking direction (over 12 years of choir), I decided to take it seriously.

I’ll write a full-length post soon, in fact I may even make the announcement via video in the next couple days (because unlike writing, voice acting is something I can do video spots of on Facebook and Instagram).  But I’ve taken several big steps towards making this change a reality.

For starters, I’ve recorded a full audiobook of Legacy, but I stopped editing it about 1/3rd of the way in.  Why?  Because I started taking voice over classes, and within the first few weeks, I realized that my recording was not high enough quality.  Since then, I’ve taken two full classes, and will be taking one to two more in the Spring semester.

And knowing what I know now, I feel far more ready and capable.  So my plan is to record my own novels first, to get my voice out there, and then I’ll start auditioning for other roles.

Of course, plans change.  Plans are fluid, they have to be adaptable.  But that’s the course I’m currently set on.

A Bit More Relaxing in 2023

The other thing I plan to do in 2023?  Take it easy.  The past three years have been hard on me, and I’ve been hard on me.  My body recently told me it was time to slow down.  So I’m listening.

Full-time job.  Voice Acting.  Publishing one novel.  And working on development of the Sword of Dragons book 5.  Those are my biggest plans for 2023.

And a vacation.  A real vacation.  I’m thinking Disney World…

She is my squishy!

That’s all for now.  Whew, that was a long post!  If you read this far, kudos and thank you!

I’ll see you in 2023!
-Jon Wasik