J A Darkling

I am attending my first book fair and I learned a lot. It was great seeing 19 other authors doing what they do and watch as people walked through and interacted with them.

Parts One and Two of Under the Sunflowers are now online. Part Three goes up by next week.

I’m sharing the full novel early so I can focus on direct marketing and writing a new novel.

Read it free (no strings attached) at jadarkling.com and if you enjoy it, please share with others.

I hit the 20k words today on my new book. That’s 1/4 of the way there.

I’m writing 2000 words/day. It’s above the pace of my first book and quality is higher. This makes sense considering I worked on at least seven drafts on my first book.

I have 11 books I want to write before I die. Some are meant to reach readers now and be commercially viable. Others, less so. I want to earn the following and the freedom to follow my voice wherever it leads.

I want to be my version of Jeff VanderMeer.

Chapters Five and Six are up, which means Part One of Under the Sunflowers is now live.

The setup is done. The action begins.

If you've been waiting for a reason to dive in, this is it.

Start here:

jadarkling.com/table-of-con...

I’m 4 days in and 28 pages into writing my second novel. I don’t talk about my ideas until first draft is done and I have a dozen more ideas I want to write before I die.

But today I thought of a solid non-fiction subject that can form a bridge between drafts. Maybe a different magic in a bottle.

I poured 1,000 hours into this novel and site to reach readers.

Here is how I reckon with the inevitable disappointment of relying on the people you love to be your fans and the hope of finding strangers who care about what you do.

Action requires action. Don't let social media be the pressure release valve for a cause you care deeply about.

Two more chapters of Under The Sunflowers are up. Chapter 4 is short but a favorite. Next week’s update kicks the story into gear. I added two posts, one personal, one about the marketing challenge of writing for upper middle grade.

I also added a parental guidance callout.
jadarkling.com

As a teen I wrote two letters to comic books and one of them was during his early run of Hulk. He personally wrote me back on a postcard sized mailer, and I was a dedicated fan ever since. His runs never disappointed.

Standing under the speaker stack at Thalia Hall, listening to Matt Berninger hypnotize the audience with his deep vocals and half-staggered gait, cleared away all my worries.

Pilsen never disappoints—with its murals, warmth, surprising quiet and cat-inhabited blocks.

I absolutely don’t know what I’m doing and I’m learning as I go along.

Writing a book and editing it into something I am comfortable presenting is easy compared to what it takes to get someone to read it.

Each step I finish illuminates another three that need to be started.

Website launch: jadarkling.com
My novel Under the Sunflowers is free. Lakota vs. vampires, upper MG, clean, finished.
I make $0. Readers are encouraged to donate directly to 3 Lakota charities.
2 chapters every Saturday. Goal: $8K raised, 100 dedicated readers. Please share.
Mobile or PC.

To dissuade anyone from thinking I’m too normal, these are my cats. One is very orange and the other has squeezed herself between the screen and sliding glass door on purpose. And I’m proud of both of them.

In one week, I’ll debut my website and the first chapters of Under the Sunflowers. It’s a project years in the making, tied to a cause close to my heart. I hope you’ll stop by, read a little, and see how this story connects to something bigger. Stay tuned.

The results of my Saturday bookstore run.