Category Archives: self-portrait

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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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3 May, 2025

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self-portrait, storyteller, writing

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Now on Facebook and BlueSky!

Blelo evwebody! (I love Tiny Chef.)

Just wanted to drop a note and let you know I know have an official author Facebook page, and an official BlueSky page, JCDKerwin. The FB url right now is a bit wonky; I’m trying to figure things out.

For now, this is the link for my FB: https://www.facebook.com/share/15e6ZvTxV1/

The FB page is JCD Kerwin.

My BlueSky account is @jcdkerwin.bsky.social

I hope you’ll join me in my adventures! ☺️

-J

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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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29 April, 2020

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determination, fiction, self-portrait, storyteller, writing

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Spring in My Step

Albany-Bench-1

Hello everybody! It’s springtime here in NY!

I have been gone for quite a few months. Just work and things. Kinda haven’t felt the very best in terms of being confident about my writing, either.

It seems now is a perfect time to write, read, and talk about writing with what’s going on in the world. How are you all doing with COVID-19 and being isolated? M and I have been doing well; we are watching lots of old movies and going for walks. I thought this would be a great time for me to break my writer’s block, but I haven’t done that as of yet, and we’re starting week 7. I have been reading, though, which I’m happy about.

I used to have my nose stuck in a book all the time growing up. I kinda stopped reading as I got older. Now I’ve gotten back into it. I’m glad. I love reading. I’ve gone through 4 or 5 books so far. Right now, I’m currently reading Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. It’s a mystery thriller. I’m liking mysteries right now.

I was scrolling through Facebook last week and I came across a competition that the Writer’s Digest is holding. It is the Writers Digest Self-Published Book Awards. I caught it just in time; the deadline for submitting work is May 1. It’s an expensive entry fee, but I talked to M and we decided I should go for it! So I sent in The Underground Dogs. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m hoping for honorable mention!

Speaking of The Underground Dogs, sales have been okay. It seems they’ve slowed down. I thought they might pick up due to everyone being stuck at home. I might have to change my ad strategy. It’s a double-edged sword; I hate having to pay for ads because it gets expensive, but it’s the only way to get people to find my book on Amazon. So far, 12 people have reviewed it and I have a 4.5 star rating. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I encourage you to go get it. Its dystopian fascist themes are reminiscent of what’s going on in today’s world. It has some thrills and humor, too. I am sure you’d all enjoy it!

I also discovered people are rating and talking about The Underground Dogs on goodreads. I had no idea! It has a 4.33 rating on there! And there are 8 people who are currently reading it or want to read it. How amazing is that? It made my day! I feel somewhat ignorant and naive I completely overlooked goodreads. It seems like readers very much like that site to talk about and rate books. I will have to make an author profile over there. If you have a goodreads account and have read The Underground Dogs, please consider rating and reviewing it there! I’d be very appreciative.

So, because of those things (Writer’s Digest competition and ratings), I feel more motivated to work on my novels and start writing again. My psych and M have been telling me to “just do it” and write something. It is much easier said than done, of course. I am really going to try though. I have set myself a somewhat lofty goal: I want to self-publish (with Amazon) 4 more books before I am 40. Without telling you how old I am, know this is doable, but ambitious. BUT! This also means I have to move my butt, stop feeling sorry for myself, and actually WRITE! I am hoping to do so ASAP.

I am also thinking about adding a section to my website here about self-publishing. I am thinking of putting together some FAQs and How To’s. There is so much information out there and I figured out a lot of stuff for myself. I think I’ll put together tips and tricks in one spot to help others that have no idea where to go.

Well, that’s what is going on with me. Let me know what you all have been up to!

-JCDK

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13 November, 2019

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fiction, prose, self-portrait, storyteller, writing

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Failure

writer-depressed

So it’s NANOWRIMO…. Every year I have the best intention to write every day and complete a lot of writing work. And every year I fail horribly.

I tried really hard this year but as each day went by, this giant wall just hit me. I can’t write. I haven’t been able to write for a long time. It seems like it’s been this way since I finished The Underground Dogs.

I thought I broke the block the other day when I came up with a new plot for one of the novels I have going on. It doesn’t seem like it, though. I still can’t seem to write anything of the story.

I can’t seem to write anything at all.

I don’t know why, really. I think some of it is that I feel disappointed that The Underground Dogs isn’t selling as much as I hoped it would, so I have this feeling of “What’s the point of writing anything if no one is going to read it?” Another part of me just always thinks my stuff is crap, and then yet another part of me is so let down at the fact I’m a tiny drop in an ocean of other “writers” trying to get their words out there. (I wonder how many of them are really storytellers though?)

I just don’t know what to do. I just hope I can force myself to sit down and write something soon. It’s making me very sad and I think it’s just making my depression worse and worse…..