Writing • Page 36

Cover reveal for my upcoming poetry collection published by Kelsay Books, out soon (official date still unclear but either October or November). Feel free to like/share/follow to support

 

Congrats!

 

Thank you!

I'm also glad to finally get back into my novel after months of halting progress. I got a job recently and I don't start til September so I've had a lot of free time to return to it.

 

anyone uh, drink while they write?

I'll sometimes sip scotch when I do lol

 

I used to do that, particularly for part of my last novel where the main character gets shitfaced. But I usually smoke weed before writing lol.

 

I can't fight the feeling that I've been dragging my feet for 5 years on the one idea I have for a novel and at some point I am going to need to stop pausing and just go through with it. It's seriously been one of my dreams since I was like 13 to write one. And the longer I sit on it, the worse I'm going to feel about it.

 

No better time to start than today! The story I'm currently working on first popped into my head in 2014. I didn't start actually writing until late 2018. I'm now on my second draft at around 180k words. You might just have to sit down and word vomit everything onto the page. Might not resemble everything you've dreamed of in your head but at least it's not just in your head anymore!

 

I am back with a new zine of creative stuff, a collaboration with my friend. Free zines if you're interested: https://buttondown.email/jordywalsh/archive/21-introducing-aviation-and-more/

 

back at it, slowly at least.

work in progress: the end of days

work in progress: morrow

 

My official book release date and a little write-up and promo art I put together is here

 

I discover threads on here so damn late.

Looks great, @OotyPa

 

awesome! I've been meaning to ask, how have you leveraged social media alongside your writing? Do you stick to Instagram? Have you waded into the dangerous wasteland known as booktok? lol

 

Don’t even have tiktok downloaded. I’d never say no to being featured though, if a popular account offered to plug my shit. As for IG, FB, Twitter (and the Twitter clones), I do what I can to build hype around my work. I use Canva for making pretty designs for promo stuff. For my first book, my friend created a book trailer for me which turned out pretty cool (even though it got low engagement). I signed up for a book blog tour when the new book releases, which is a week of reviews/features—I’ll be posting those online throughout that week. Friends sharing your posts also genuinely helps cast a wide net, IMO.

I’ve found that a lot of social media efforts are hit-or-miss, and none of it guarantees sales. But it’s good to boost yourself and spread the word however you can.

 

After fkin years of agonizing and many sleepless nights pondering over it, I've finally (I think lol) come up with a name for the fantasy novel I've been writing since 2018: Mourn Not the Mortals.

Means absolutely nothing without context and probably sounds pretentious but whatever, I like it. Runner up: Aspirant's Path, which feels way more fantasy-like, but not as cool to me. And the cool factor is what matters, right??

 

Not that you're asking for an opinion, but as someone who reads no fantasy stuff at all, "Mourn Not the Mortals" sounds badass and piques my interest. Has kind of a dark vibe that hooks me in, while "Aspirant's Path" seems more general and doesn't give me much of a sense of what the book'll be about.

 

My poetry book came out today!!! This collection means a great deal to me.

I know everyones' minds are elsewhere and social media is a mess (both reasonably so). With that said, I'd still greatly appreciate if you could show support and/or spread the word. If you'd like a copy, you can order one at the link below. If you're willing to go above and beyond, liking and sharing my posts about it on IG/Twitter would be absolutely lovely (my handle is @jonathankoven).

https://kelsaybooks.com/products/mystic-orchards

 

Finally made a profile for my writing journey, feel free to follow

Jordan Smith (@jordansmith.author) • Instagram photos and videos

 

Something strange happens emotionally after you release a book. It's happened with all three that I've had published so far. There's this irking anxiety/emptiness that comes that's hard to exactly pinpoint. It could have something to do with material stuff--sales, whether my family/friends read or enjoy it--but I feel like it's more likely the cognitive dissonance of letting such a massive personal endeavor go out into the world to be consumed (or to gather dust on a shelf). Years of craft, dedication, pursuit is now a product. "Content." Maybe it's bizarre of me to say, but there's something heartbreaking about it. Of course, I'm incredibly proud regardless of all that; I want to hold onto that feeling of achievement, but I can't help returning to that weird emptiness. Maybe I should let this push me to immerse myself in something, my WIP or something new, but right now all I want is someone to tell me that they read my work and found it beautiful, or that it makes them feel understood.

 

Anyone doing NaNoWriMo??? Much like last year, I'll just be doing edits/rewrites for my current project. I got a lot done last November, hoping for another productive month.

 

Doing something like it. A collab novel with two other writers! A story entirely new to each of us.

 

https://www.powerthesaurus.org/

Came across this yesterday and thought some of you might find it useful!

 

Oh I love a good thesaurus

 

can't write without a tab open on one lol

 

What are your favorites?

 

This one is pretty underrated lol. I use this one a lot.

Free Thesaurus | Synonyms & Antonyms