Holy Crap! A New Review!

A new review of Jolene, You’re Not a Monster showed up today and it made my day!

“5.0 out of 5 starsGood Book…Read it!

By Dianne_Avid Reader on February 1, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I am so happy I read this book. The subject matter is not what I would normally read, but I did this time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommend this book even if you think science fiction is not your thing. The story is science fiction and much more. The main character, Jolene was created by scientists in a lab.When she is outside the confines of the lab, she attempts to perform the mission for which she was created. Outside the lab Jolene has thoughts, feelings, and observations. The author writes tastefully and speaks truth describing Jolene’s first sexual experience, love, trust, conflict, and problem solving requirements. I am excited this author integrated science fiction and humanity into a great story.”

Since Jolene came out about a month ago, I admit I’ve been flagging and a little depressed. I don’t have a marketing team and getting readers’ attention is harder than I expected. I blogged years ago on Blogit. It’s a closed, pay blogging site that pays out to the bloggers based on clicks. In order to make money writers turned into tabloid writers. After a couple of years of it and making very little money to show for my effort, I quit and was burned out on blogging.

It wasn’t until Jolene came out that I started up another blog. I should have been doing this all along, so Jolene would have had a bigger audience. Or I should have gone the John Scalzi route and put Jolene on my blog for free.

Should have, would have, could have. The above review reminds me that Jolene is a great character in a great book. I must have patience and keep writing. I have to trust myself, my writing and Jolene.

Thanks Dianne_Avid Reader for giving me a boost!

Help, please!

My book club is reading Jolene, You’re Not a Monster, my latest book, in April. I’ve got to come up with some discussion questions. Here’s what I got so far. Can anyone think of anything else? I promise there are no spoilers for those of you that haven’t finished reading Jolene, yet.

1. Did the book grabbed you right away for did it take a while to get into it.
2. Was Jolene ever too much? Did she ever become the monster?
3. How do you think Jolene changed throughout the book?
4. What about Reese? What are your thoughts on him? Where would you like to see him go from here?
5. What made the villain the bad guy? What made him understandable?
6. What about Jeremy? What were your thoughts on him?
7. Did you find the plot predictable or what surprised you?
8. Why do you think Kacy Jey chose this format, with Jolene’s thoughts in italics? Did it work for you?
9. Did you like the writer’s style? Would you read more by Kacy Jey?
10. What main ideas or themes does the Kacy Jey explore? What symbols did the she use to support the main theme.
11. Was there a certain passage or scene that will stay with you or changed the way you see something in life?
12. Is the ending satisfying? Would you want to read a sequel? What would you like to see in the sequel?
13. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask?

 

Is that enough? What else would be good to ask? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Misspellings and Wrong words

 

I made a post this morning about marketing and in the very first sentence I wrote, “I’m new to this marking thing.” What I meant to type was marketing, and this isn’t the first time I’ve made such embarrassing mistakes.

I used to decorate t-shirts for my sons as they were growing up. Some came out really cool, cool enough that they still wear them as adults. One was a joke, with the front reading, “Are you waiting for something funny.” The back was supposed to read, “Keep waiting.” What it ended up saying was, “Keep waitinging.” I didn’t catch the mistake. My middle son, who received the gift did and loved that it embarrassed me. We’d go out to dinner, he’d wear it. We’d go to relatives or friends’ houses, he’d wear it.

I read over everything I type a few times before hitting the publish button and yet, I still miss some errors, like, “I’m new to this marking thing.”

Maybe the universe is trying to teach me to stop being embarrassed by these little mistakes and find only the humor in them. Then maybe I could write comedy. That would rock, but until then, I’m still waitinging for my blush to go away.