Hi all;

Sorry I haven’t blogged for a while. Life continues and I thought I’d drop in a note just to catch up.

First of all, I’m working hard to get my next book out by Christmas. It’s the first book in a new YA series and I’m quite excited by the premise. I’ve actually had the first few chapters sitting on my hard drive for a long time, but I got back into it and rekindled my passion for the story and the characters. So there’s that. Also, the third book in the Titan’s Legacy series will be out in January, mid-month (ish). It’s also going quite well and Justin McLeod and company are going to be quite busy in this one, I promise you.

I’ve also been laid up for three bloody days by a miserable cold that just won’t go away. There’s not much worse than being at the mercy of a dry-hacking, nose-blowing, body-aching cold, especially when you’re trying to make a deadline. Stupid viruses.

So that’s about it for now. I’m working on a cover design for the next book, and the one after that, and that’s a bit crazy too. But it’s a good crazy, so that’s okay. Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I’ll try to write again soon. Oh, and I’m still in the thinking stages of a video, but I’ll get to it when I can, if I find the nerve! Take care.

J.J.

Hey all;

Just wanted to do an update post of sorts, mainly because I’m torn several different ways in my writing at the moment. You see, my first two novels have done quite well and the feedback has been lovely, so naturally I want to keep up the pace so that my readers are happy. That’s important to me and should be important to any published author. Yes, I know…writers write for themselves first, because if you aren’t happy with what you are writing, then why are you writing in the first place?

But I want those who read my books to enjoy the experience. Whether people get frustrated by the events in a book or not, if they are enjoying the journey then they will carry on, trusting the author to lead them safely home. So naturally I want to get the third book of my series out and in the hands (or e readers) of my readers in a timely manner. And there’s the rub.

You see, along with the Titan’s Legacy series I have, over the past several years, been fleshing out the stories in two other series; one is YA fantasy and another is more in the horror/fantasy genre. Both are loads of fun to write, both will, I hope, please readers and both are now poking their noses into my current series by taking time away from writing that and putting more time into writing them. And this is because I want to please my readers by presenting them with some stories that I think they will quite enjoy. And it’s frustrating.

Let me clarify that it isn’t the readers who are causing my frustration. Rather, it’s my ridiculous need to please people, which I personally don’t think is a bad thing, which makes me want to finish all three books ASAP. Well, good luck with that! There are only so many hours in the day and I (believe it or not) actually have a life as well. So I’m torn really. I’m determined to get the third book in the Titan’s Legacy series out either just before or just after Christmas. But I’m equally firm on my plan to get the first of one of my other series out in that same time frame as well. Oh man. So that’s why the title of this post is what it is. I want my readers to be happy and it makes me happy to make them happy (does that even make sense?) and so I’m going fast and furious trying to get things sorted out and done.

I will admit that I love a challenge and this whole situation has been challenging to say the least. So there’s that. And as the Canadian winter sets in, I tend to hibernate and write even more because I don’t do any winter sports. (I watch hockey but that hardly counts.)

Anyway, this has rambled a bit but I wanted to keep you all in the loop and also vent a bit so there it is. Hope everyone is well and I’ll post again soon.

J.J.