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jcd kerwin

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24 October, 2025

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determination, published, self-portrait, storyteller

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It’s Electric, Boogie Woogie

Blelo, evwebody!

It has been a busy summer into fall.

A cool thing that happened was that my science fiction crime drama, Code of Murder, won a 2025 International Impact Book Award and got the finalist medal in the Science Fiction-Suspense Category of the Global Book Awards. That was really cool. :o)

I am still trying to get my books/me out there. It is very hard. I only have 7 ratings on Code of Murder on Amazon. Marketing is very hard when you don’t have a marketing department behind you or your own publicist. But how are indie authors supposed to afford that? And then the emails you get from individual people claiming to promise to put you and your books in front of people are very sketchy and you know you’d end up paying them hundreds of dollars.

Anyway, I have a cool new website and everything. And I got a Goodreads author account, too.

So I have put myself out there in lots of places.

In a couple weekends I am doing something scary. I am going to be at my first-ever in-person author event. O_O It’s at a local library. They’re having lots of local authors come and sell their books and meet the community. I’ll have a table where I’ll be signing and selling my books, and giving away bookmarks, business cards, and some funky pens I found. :o) It is a great opportunity to get my face out there! But I am very scared and nervous. I hope I don’t chicken out. :o( M is being very supportive. He is going to come with me and help me stay strong….. I just hope I can do it!

Attempting to start some more stories, too. I hope fall will be a good writing time.

Next week is Halloween. My second favorite holiday! I’m so excited! I love October. My second favorite month (also my birth month). ^_^

Happy writing, happy reading, and happy All Hallows Eve!

-J

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jcd kerwin

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17 June, 2025

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determination, published, storyteller

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Standing in My Own Way

Blelo evwebody.

It is rainy. It is always rainy these days. It does not feel like summer.

And I am doing it again. I am starting to feel like I am not writing enough. I feel like I should be more prolific. I keep beating myself up because I haven’t gotten around to writing those short stories floating around my head, or starting those other novels.

I also feel like I haven’t been published enough to be taken seriously. I looked at my “Published Work” page and although it makes me happy, I feel like it’s “not enough.”

Of course this is all nonsense, but I just want to do this author thing full-time and pump out lots of stuff and have people all over the world read it all and love it. ❤ That would be nice.

What I should do (instead of pouting), is just sit down and write something, gahdammit! The next time I think about one of those short stories, well golly gee, I might as well start writing the damn thing. :o| Makes sense, eh?

No one’s stopping me but me, after all.

Hope summer weather comes soon.

Happy writing,
-J

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jcd kerwin

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4 April, 2025

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determination, self-portrait, storyteller, writing

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In Line with the Best?

Hello! I’m back.

And I’ve been writing furiously! Hurray!

Surprising, isn’t it? In my last post, I said I wasn’t going to think about what other people are doing anymore, and I’m not. So, I finished my space opera novella and I finished my science fiction crime drama. 🙂 I’m very pleased. Now I’m getting ready to publish them both.

I broke down and bought AutoCrit. You know, that really popular editing/critiquing/whatever software many writers use to help them with their work. I wasn’t going to pay for such a thing, but I really want my work to be the best it can be. Well, I used it’s fiction analyzer tool on both my novels and I was shocked, utterly shocked, to see that my overall “score” for both of them was in the percentile: “in line with bestseller expectations.” I was very happy and surprised. (Because I think my writing is shit, remember.) I was floored. Still, I made many edits and took many of the software’s suggestions and improved both works. I am now happy and pleased with both of them. I hope other people will like them.

I am going to move on to writing the first book in my cozy mystery series. 🙂 I also have another crime comedy book I am working on, too. That one has a vampire in it. It’s fun. 🙂 I am quite motivated to write. I am liking this feeling a lot. I am having fun again! ❤

-J

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jcd kerwin

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28 January, 2024

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determination, storyteller, writing

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BElieve In YOUrself

For the longest time (months, years even), I have struggled with my writing. I have had a hard time picking up the pen or typing on the keys. I have felt my writing is, quite frankly, utter shit.

I have constantly been comparing myself to other writers. Whether it’s not writing as prolifically as others or thinking their work is better, I just seem to have been measuring myself to everyone else. And I’ve been doing it for a long time.

I’ve also been making ridiculous, unattainable, unrealistic goals. Like, I have to write 5 books and 20 short stories, no excuses, by the time I’m 40 (which is only a few years off). Why? Because apparently that would make me a *real* writer/author. *That* would make me as successful and comparable to other authors.

You can kinda see where this makes you become miserable as a writer. The other day I realized, guess what? Somewhere along the lines here, writing stopped being fun. It started to become a chore and work. And I already write and edit for my day job so I definitely don’t want to feel that way about my personal life.

Because writing…writing is my soul. I am meant to write. I am meant to tell stories. I’ve always known it.

So when that stops being fun. Well, that’s a problem.

I told M about this and he agreed completely and said he saw this in me. So the other day I just said “F it,” and I just went for it. And I ended up writing about 3500 words to my sci-fi crime drama. And you know what? It felt amazing. I had fun. I didn’t care. I just wrote my story and I loved it.

And I still feel that way. I’m just going for it. I’m gonna write when I want to. I don’t care what so-and-so is doing or how many books and stories whoever put out, or how whatshername’s book is doing on Amazon. I’m going to write my stories.

And I’m gonna publish my stories and books when I’m good and ready and I know people will like them because I believe in them. And I believe in me.

-J