Author J.A. Nolan

How am I just now, as of 5 seconds ago, finding out #NationalWerewolfDay even exists?

I adore a great slow-burning, with yearning and chemistry that sparks the spicy.

What genre of work do you edit? What type of editing? Rates?

My bookshelves are bowing, all the shelves two or three rows deep. The books are the decoration.

Cold rainy day, a nice cup of tea, writing hot smut about a warrior on his knees for his woman. 😘❤️

Yes. I have a 24-step system for self-editing my work. Then I run it through Hemingway and ProWritingAid for what I might have missed. Then make last revisions and go through my system again before I send my work out. By the time another editor gets eyes on it, final proofreading is easy and quick.

Line edits.

When #editing, if your brain is tired, you *will* make mistakes.

Currently reading through a 1-page document.

My brain is trying to convince me that the word FAVORITE is spelled wrong. I know it's not, but I looked it up anyway.

Time for a water break and maybe a nap.

#AmEditing

I taught creative writing for ten years. The best writers?

They don't ever stop learning.
They don't give up because it's hard.
They don't rush to publish anything.

You've got time to make your book the best it will be.

Within the first two or three months of dating. Before you get naked together. Have that conversation with 100% transparency and honesty. Preferably sober. You should know how compatible you really are, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and sexually.

You know you're a writer when you run errands all day, thinking about how much you want to be writing, and barely remember eating dinner.

Now you're getting blurry-eyed. It's time for bed, and you refuse. You want to keep writing.

#NightWriter
#WritersLife
#WritingCommunity

#ScrivenerTip: Create a project for all your Shiny New Ideas.

Organize it all in the binder. No more hunting through all your scribbles, notebooks and files, trying to figure out where you stuck that "one thing".

Any book title, poetry line, essay, blog or project idea...dump it there.

a woman with gray hair has the words we 're willing to negotiate on her face Alt: Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) from Criminal Minds: Evolution, saying a line from the show: "We're willing to negotiate."

👩‍💻I don't #write without a book outline, but they are aspirational at best. By chapter four, my #characters stage a rebellion. Negotiations begin.

The #novel starts and ends how I plan & I'll allow them run feral through the middle and record the shenanigans.

#Booksky💙📚 #PNR🐺
#WritingCommunity🖊️

My characters usually stage a rebellion against my outline around chapter three and run amok for the rest of the book. We negotiated a truce. As long as the book mostly starts and ends how I planned, I'll record all their shenanigans through the middle.

a man standing in front of a white board with the words " it 's not looking so good " ALT: a man standing in front of a white board with the words " it 's not looking so good "

Apparently.

People tell me I'm not social enough. I try.
I'm dying out here *trying* to connect with people.

I keep finding ones who can't hold up their end of a conversation. Now, people won't use their own brain, to answer simple questions about themselves?

I don't think I'm the problem.

a woman in a denim jacket is smiling and saying i ... ALT: a woman in a denim jacket is smiling and saying i ...

Met a new human.
Cue casual chit chat.
I ask a few basic questions.
Get one-sentence responses.

Then a wall of ChatGPT text. Syntax, vocabulary, and punctuation make it obvious. He admits it.

🤯🤬

People, it was a first convo, simple question.
Some folks don't know how to think. At all.

There are over 200 books I plan to write, and I'll be thrilled if I even write 25 of them in my life. I'd rather take my time and put out one book every few years, knowing I met my own high standards. I won't put out books before they are the best I can do. My writing voice only gets stronger. 😉

This is exactly why I've kept my head down for the last few years and not published anything new. I've quietly focused on honing my craft skills and writing voice. I care more about writing quality stories than sales quantity. Readers have to *want* the next book.

I know why teachers are getting mad and giving up. I would quit, too. I once got a DM of 14 lines of text with 97 grammatical & spelling errors. I had to read it 4 times to decipher it. He couldn't spell several 3 letter words. No punctuation. This was a fully grown CEO who couldn't write an email.

Illiteracy is a big problem in this country. People need to hear the truth. Excuses and coddling won't fix it, and AI is only making it worse.

People who *can* read and write are being falsely accused of using AI, simply for using proper punctuation, a bigger vocabulary and writing with eloquence.

If you want to. I just pick 2-5 really easy things to do for the winter months. Small things that won't take much time or physical effort to complete. I feel accomplished quickly (nice dopamine hit) and it builds momentum for when spring hits and everyone naturally wants to deep clean the house.

I've never in my life, kept any New Years Resolution past the first week of January, no matter how determined I was about it. Now I understand why. Winter is for hibernation, and our brains don't like being forced to do new things when we are cold and sleepy.

This is your friendly reminder that humans are mammals and animals follow weather patterns. Winter is for extra calories, slowing down, cozy clothes and naps. Spring is when animals come alive. Spring is when your brain will focus better on rebirth, setting goals, routines and making life changes.

Me: *Staring at my writing.* "I know how to spell that. How is this a typo?"
Also Me: *Leans in closer, squints and wipes thumb on screen.* "Oh...it's just schmutz. Guess it's time to clean my laptop again."

Also, I spelled schmutz wrong 3 times before Googling it.
I need coffee.
#WritersLife

This #novel is supposed to be #politicalsatire, but we are all living it now.

I'm only 25% into this #book and there are already dozens of horrific things I bookmarked as currently happening in #America.

#Booksky
#ReadingCommumity
#Politics
#BookRecs2026
#ItsHappeningHere

I don't know who needs to hear this, but a breakthrough still requires breaking something.

I'm hyperlexic, and read the dictionary as a kid, one summer when I was 8 or 9. By the time I went back to school I'd also read the entire encyclopedia set we had. I was incredibly bored in school. This was before the internet and PC's in homes. Ugh. I feel old.

Yep. People got mad at me for using words that they clearly didn't know. I refuse to apologize for being intelligent or pretend I'm not, just to make other people more comfortable. As a little girl, I got in trouble. As a grown woman, it makes insecure men really angry.

I'm seriously considering creating some basic English grammar and creative writing courses to help students and adults become more literate. I just don't know if anyone would care enough to do all that work to put it together.