Jonathon Mast: Author

It Never Ends

I got a new book!

Okay, yeah, that’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me. I get a lot of new books. Most of the books I purchase, though, are fiction. I dig into stories just because I love them! Some I do purchase and read specifically to grow as a writer. I want to know what’s selling, what tropes people expect, how other writers develop plots and characters.

This new book, though, is one that will hopefully help me grow as a writer. It’s Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness into Words by Joanna Penn. I backed her Kickstarter and just go the book in the mail Thursday!

I don’t know that this particular book will help me. I already take advantage of my depression whenever possible, instead of it taking advantage of me. That said, Penn is far more experienced a writer than I am. I suspect I’ll be able to learn a thing or two!

Sure, I have well over a dozen books out under my name. Sure, I’ve been told my writing is excellent. All that is good.

But I can be better.

I can always be better. I can always learn how to be a better author.

Sometimes that means I learn how to write better. This book may help me with that! Finding beta readers to club me over the head with dumb plot twists helps. Reading other writers and identifying what works and what doesn’t helps.

Sometimes I learn how to be a better author. That may mean seeing what tropes more people want to read about. Investigating how to get my books into more people’s hands. Learning how to run Amazon ads or find a new platform.

But what that means is that I must always be learning. There is always more. Always. I can be a better writer.

What do you do to grow as a writer? What do you do to find ways to learn more?

Time to Give Up?

Is it time to switch things up?

I’ve been concentrating on middle grade fiction for the past two years. I’ve got one six book series complete, and the second will be complete by the May 2024. (It’s all written; just releasing once every six weeks.) I think they’re quality products. Solid character work and plotting! The reviews I’ve received are all overwhelmingly positive.

But … Can I be honest?

They’re just not selling very well.

Yes, they’re selling! People are reading and enjoying them! But… well, we’d like to do more than just break even!

Now, we have only recently started doing advertisements, but Scholastic has an iron grip on the middle grade market. It’s incredibly hard to get good sales here. You need to sell to bother an adult and a kid.

We’re working on the marketing end of things. There is so much to learn!

Fuzzy-Brained Writing

Saw the doctor yesterday. Told him I’d been foggy for a good week. He checked my blood pressure, and… the meds are doing too well. I’ve got low blood pressure now!

So, why am I mentioning that here on a writing blog?

Look, you can’t write when you can’t think. Well, I suppose some people do. You’ve probably seen a few movies where that was clearly the case. However, I wouldn’t suggest attempting to write when you can’t think.

I did try. Learn from my error.

I’m currently working on a little side project, aimed at younger grade school kids. It’s meant to be silly and fun. It involves a good amount of slapstick and jokes that hopefully entertain adults who may be reading it with their kids.

And as I worked on it this week… it got dark.

Now, I’m totally fine with dark stories for kids. Coraline is fantastic, as is The House with a Clock in its Walls. The Giver can be very grim. (I still hold that Jonas dies at the end, though the writer weighs in herself in further books in the series.)

But this story wasn’t meant to be dark. Like I said: Silly! Fun!

So I pushed through. Right the ship! But as I kept writing… it slipped from silly and fun to, well, surreal. I still wanted it to make sense!

So I set the story aside… at least for right now. I need a brain to make the words. Brain makes words in order good!

And instead, I’ve been reading. Nothing complicated, but catching up on at least a few of my Kickstarter rewards. Trying to relax and not beat myself up for not getting work done (not the easiest thing in the world).

The plan is to get back to writing fast. But first… brain must words.

Brain must words.

The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants

…and sometimes it wants to say, “TIME TO DIE, MR. BOND!”

This week I was going to tackle a novella. Something short, sweet, and fun.

And then I ended up in the emergency room.

Tuesday morning I woke with pain in my chest and left arm. Yeah. I woke my wife and we headed to the emergency room. They sent me home several hours later with some meds and an appointment for a cardiologist, but at least at that moment I didn’t need anything else.

Wednesday I was sluggish… and ended up going back to the emergency room because of a huge blood pressure jump. Once again, after several hours, they sent me home.

ALL THE CONTENT

Every week, a new story.

For almost a year now, I’ve been telling a story a week on our TikTok Channel. Just today, I recorded the next two stories. They’re usually five parts, one part each weekday. I have a lot of fun with them, and more than a few I want to turn into full novels.

But I gotta tell you: It’s kinda hard keeping up the pace.

Every week, I generate a lot of very different content.