jpagaduan.com

Practice

My parents are musicians, as are most of their siblings and many of my cousins. I’ve had my share of music lessons as well, from both my parents. And one of the things my dad used to tell me is, “how do you get into Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.” As a result, I spent…

January 6, 2023
World-building

A lot of my writing process is fast and loose. I create what I need to get started right away and fill in the rest as I go. I need something of a structure in order to start, but it’s nothing rigid or complex because things tend to change as I go. Figuring out how…

December 30, 2022
Learning to Outline

The bulk of “The Guardians of Gaia” (the series that “Savior of the Damned” kicks off) has been written or outlined, and so I’m taking a break. It still has a ton of work that needs doing, but mostly it’s all there and I’m happy with the results. It’s been making me think of outlines, however,…

December 23, 2022
The Hardest Part

I think the hardest part of an extensive project, like a novel, is remembering how you got from A to Z when it comes to starting a new one. At least, it is for me. I’ve written, to date, five novels and multiple novellas, as well as many short stories, and the hardest part is…

December 16, 2022
Suffering and Art

No, you don’t need to suffer to produce art. That’s a misconception plenty of people have, and it’s a dangerous one. It prevents people from getting help, for one thing. But is it even true to begin with? I’m mentally ill. I’m mentally ill because I had a traumatic childhood, and as both a teenager…

December 2, 2022
Word Counts

My daily goal is 2000 words. A lot of the time I can make it, or even surpass it, but sometimes I fall short. Maybe my mental health isn’t the greatest that day. Maybe one of my chronic illnesses is acting up. Maybe my focus isn’t what it could be (and caffeine can only help…

November 25, 2022
NaNoWriMo

I am doing NaNoWriMo this year. For those that don’t know, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days (November 1st to November 30th). I am doing awfully, if one were to keep score. But I’m not, and I don’t think most do, so I’m…

November 18, 2022
Ideas

Where do ideas come from? It’s a question people ask authors all the time, and for the most part, we don’t know. We might be able to say what we were doing when the idea came, but the reality is they kind of arise out of nothingness, the way intrusive thoughts do. So, what is…

November 4, 2022
Weaponizing Grammar

I’ll link the post where I talk about why it’s classist, ableist, racist, and rude to correct grammar because I’m here to expand on that topic. I covered those points well enough, but I just had someone report a spelling error in my book and I’m here to talk about why you should either ignore those…

October 28, 2022
Pushing Through

Being chronically ill means I’m not afforded the ability to rest when I don’t feel well, because I always don’t feel well. Something is always bothering me, and as a result, I’ve had to learn to function when others would take a moment, day, or week to rest. Part of it is because if I…

October 21, 2022