Author: Jennifer Wilber

Current Projects

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I meant to update this blog at least twice a week, but I didn’t have a chance to write a second blog post last week. I’ve been busy with my AmeriCorps position and working on my own projects. I did have a little COVID scare this past week after being exposed while working at our mobile food pantry, but I luckily tested negative. I was able to get my COVID booster shot already since I work at a childcare/education facility, so I should be fine.

I’m still working on my “Black Cats are Good Luck” children’s picture book. I have the text finished for the most part and I’m working on illustrations now, then I’ll work on designing the book for print and digital formats.

I also just decided I want to rewrite my old story Ferdinand and the Dinosaurs as a middle grade book. I wrote the original version when I was right out of high school and didn’t really have a good grasp on what audience I was writing for (I’ve moved the story around between different places over the years, but you can currently find it on Letterpile if you’re interested. I’ll admit, it isn’t great in its original version). I’m changing the main character to a young girl named Dinah, and making the story more appropriate for the middle grade age group. This story is going to need A LOT of work, but I think the basic story I was trying to tell will work a lot better for younger readers. The dinosaur companion character is going to be able to talk in the new version, because I just want to have a talking animal, and its more fun if the main character’s new friend can actually hold a conversation.

I also have some rough ideas for short stories set in the world of Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village. I’ll most likely publish any of those I end up writing on Letterpile.

In a few weeks, it will be time for NaNoWriMo, so I’ll be setting my other projects aside and churning out a rough draft for a new novel starting November 1st. I still don’t know what I’m going to write, but I have a few very rough ideas floating around in my head.

Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

My YA fantasy novel Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village is now available as a Kindle eBook and in paperback. This book is a short, fun, Halloween-themed novel for young teens and tweens featuring a bisexual protagonist. I essentially set out to write a book I needed when I was that age, but that didn’t exist.

Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village
Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village by Jennifer Wilber

Autumn was in grave danger. This magical world was no fairy tale after all, and no prince, nor princess, nor knight-in-shining-armor was coming to her rescue.
Autumn is an average sixteen-year-old girl who loves fall and pumpkin spice lattes. Autumn never imagined that magic could exist until she finds herself transported to a village inhabited by pumpkin spirits after getting lost in the woods with her best friend, Summer, the night before Halloween.
Once she arrives at the Spiced Pumpkin Village, Autumn meets a pumpkin spirit girl named Curpepa and they fall for each other almost instantly. The pumpkin spirits mistake Autumn for one of their own and insist she stay in their village until All Hallows’ Eve is over, as the veil between the spirit world and the human world is weakest during this time of year and humans pose a great threat to the inhabitants of the spirit world.
Eventually, Autumn’s charade is discovered, putting her and Summer in great danger.
Along the way in her adventure, Autumn learns self-acceptance and the true meaning of friendship.

~35,000 words

Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village Update

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I’ve been working on revising and polishing my rewrite of Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village this week. I’m trying out the free version of AutoCrit and a free trial of ProWritingAid to help with my editing and revising. I’d say ProWritingAid is more helpful to me so far because it gives better suggestions for how I can improve my writing (not that it’s perfect by any means, but it doesn’t twist your arm and force you to implement its suggestions. Human sensibilities will always outweigh robotic AI, at least for creative pursuits like writing.) I will probably end up purchasing the lifetime license for ProWritingAid, though I may wait until next tax year unless there is a really good Black Friday sale.

Some changes I made from my original version of this story include:

  • Making the protagonist a teenager instead of a college student so that she is more relatable to 12-16 year olds.
  • Making Autumn be out as bi instead of her sexuality being a big secret. I’ve gotten so tired of the sexuality-as-the-big-secret trope since writing the original version of this story. Give me more stories where it isn’t a big deal, and LGBT+ characters have worries other than being “outted.” In the original version, Autumn was only interested in girls, but I wanted to have some bi representation, especially a bi character that is kind of awkward and kind of shy about relationships. Bi characters are too often represented as… uh… the opposite of that.
  • Added a new character, and more scenes where we get to know the side characters better.

I’m hoping to publish this book on KDP before Halloween. I’m taking a few days to step away from my manuscript, wait for some reader feedback to come in, then I’ll reread it a few more times to see what further changes I need to make.

While working on this book, which features a teenage girl as the protagonist, I couldn’t help but remember some feedback I got on another story I wrote for a class while working on by Creative Writing degree. My story featured a teen girl, a bit younger than Autumn, who’s personality at the beginning of the story was very must what you would expect a young teen’s to be. She definitely had a lot of room to grow as the story progressed, and she had very valid reasons for acting the way she did, even if she didn’t yet have the emotional maturity to handle things the way an adult would consider appropriate.

The professor, an older man, hated my character. She was too annoying and he couldn’t sympathize with her. Of course, this story wasn’t written with old white male college professors in mind: it was for young teenage girls who were a lot like my protagonist.

I guess the point of that anecdote is that the less some stuffy old white man can relate to your protagonist, the better, especially if you are writing YA or juvenile fiction. Or really if you are writing for any audience that hasn’t historically been represented very well in fiction.

Anyway, I haven’t had as much time to dedicate to my writing this past week, and won’t again until after next June. I just started my new position with Americorps this week! I took a half-time position with Horizon Education Centers working with preschoolers. I will be doing social emotional lessons for my students, as well as other activities to help the children, families, and the community. This past week was mostly training, but I did get to help out with a food pantry for the local community on Thursday. I’ll try to blog some about my Americorps experiences throughout my service term, and I’ll likely write some articles related to my experiences as well as I think of things that may be helpful to other members or prospective members.

Well, that’s all the updates I have right now.

Dinosauring and Cat ABCs – Now Available in Paperback

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I received the proofs of the paperback version of both my comic book Dinosauring and my children’s book Cat ABCs over the weekend. I don’t know why Amazon insists on ruining the cover with the “not for resale” strip on proofs, but it won’t be there on the production copies.

Both books now available in paperback, as well as Kindle eBook. The eBooks are also currently available to read for free in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program.

I’m also currently working on rewriting my story The Spiced Pumpkin Village as a YA novel. It will be available… whenever I get it finished. I think I have the story mostly how I want it now and just need to do some revising, editing, and polishing, but we’ll see. New scenes have a way of just… happening and I’ve already had a new character just kind of show up and demand to be included. I recently discovered Autocrit, so I’m using the free version of that to help with my revisions. Its sort of useful, but I don’t know if its useful enough to pay a monthly fee for the full version.

Stories from “Stardust and Ash” Now on Letterpile

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

All of the stories that I had originally published as an eBook called Stardust and Ash are now available to read for free on Letterpile. I have revised and edited these stories and moved them online where they can be read for free.

Stardust and Ash is a collection of seven science fiction short stories and eight poems, each tied together by a theme of tragedy, loss, and accepting our own mortality. Each story shows the darker side of the human condition. Whether planted firmly on Earth or residing in the far-flung corners of our galaxy, whether living in the present day or in the distant future, the human experience remains much the same. Though we can experience much joy in life, we also must experience much sorrow and pain. The stories in this collection illustrate the latter. Don’t expect a happily ever after from the stories collected in Stardust and Ash.

An eccentric millionaire has his body cryonically frozen when he dies, in hopes that he can be revived at some point in the future. He wakes up in the future with his consciousness transferred into the body of an android.
In the midst of an alien attack, one crew member manages to escape in an emergency escape pod, leaving behind the rest of the crew. No one comes for help, and she is stuck alone drifting through space in the escape pod for months.
In the future, Earth begins disposing of its waste via a black hole. The unthinkable happens to one garbage man while on duty.
The “Satellite” is the first manned spacecraft to be sent to Mars. Commander Martin Stone describes what he is seeing above the Cydonia region of Mars.
A man named Blake is selected to become one of the first people to colonize Mars. Though his ex-girlfriend begs him to stay, he can’t wait to leave behind a planet that has nothing to offer him.
After losing control of their craft, one of the members of a surveillance mission wakes up on an alien operating table, surrounded by strange beings. She is helpless to escape.
Two lovers spend their final moments on Earth together as they await a nuclear explosion.
A selection of poetry exploring the theme of outer space, with a flare of science fiction.

Scrivener Demo

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I recently downloaded the free trial of Scrivener, a popular novel writing software, in anticipation of NaNoWriMo. So far, it seems like a way easier way to organize my writing than just using folders full of Word documents. I like that it lets me easily move scenes around and quickly see where everything is in my manuscript. I haven’t tried out all the features yet, but so far I’m impressed.

I’m currently working on revising an old novella-length YA story I wrote called The Spiced Pumpkin Village using Scrivener. It’s a Halloween-themed YA LGBT+ fantasy romance. I plan on republishing it as a Kindle eBook once I finish revising and rewriting it. I’m not sure if I will have it ready to republish in time for this Halloween, but I am trying.

Cat ABCs eBook

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber
Cat ABCs by Jenny Wilber

Cat ABCs is now available as an eBook. It only took a couple hours for Amazon to review it and let it go live after I submitted the manuscript. It can be purchased for Kindle here: Cat ABCs.

I have the paperback manuscript ready as well, but I am waiting until I review a proof copy before letting the book go on sale, as I am doing with the Dinosauring book. The pdf proof looks great, but I want to make sure the physical product looks good too before I send it out in the wild.

I’ve chosen to publish my children’s books under the name Jenny Wilber to keep them separate from my regular writing, while Dinosauring is published under the pen name Jen Ný, which is the pen name I was using for everything at the time I originally created Dinosauring. As of right now, I’m going back and forth between publishing my novels under my real name (Jennifer Wilber) or Jen Ný once they are ready to publish. I’m leaning toward my real name, but I’m not sure which is better for fantasy and sci-fi. I still have plenty of time to decide, however.

Do you have different pen names you use for different genres? Does your choice make things easier for you and your readers, or more confusing? Let me know in the comments!

Dinosauring eBook

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

The Dinosauring eBook is live on Kindle! I’m trying out the KDP Select program for this book. I’m not entirely clear on how it works, especially for graphic-based books, but I have nothing to lose in trying it out. What it means for readers is that Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read the eBook for free. Check it out here: Dinosauring

I have created a paperback print version, but I am obviously going to wait until I receive the proof before putting it on sale. I’m trying out Amazon KDP’s on-demand printing. The printing cost was lower than the other printer I was considering, so I will be able to sell the book at a lower price point.

I am also almost finished creating my first children’s picture book, Cat ABCs. This book will also be available as an eBook and as a paperback.

I am publishing my books under, Nybiru Studio, LLC. I started my LLC to publish my indie game Petal Quest, then never really did much with it for a few years. I’m expanding the company to publish my books as well, and any other creative projects I decide to make in the future. I also offer writing, editing, and graphic design services for self-published authors and small businesses.

Dinosauring Book Update and Upcoming Projects

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I’ve finished the ebook edition of my Dinosauring book and submitted it to Amazon KDP. I’m just waiting for it to go through the review process and go live. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get all the pages formatted for the ebook, and make the front matter pages and cover. The print version will take a bit longer, if I decide to go that route. I’m looking into Lulu for printing, since they seem to have more options than Amazon, though their quote for what I’d have to charge per book to make any profit was a bit higher than I wanted, so I may look into other options.

While putting together my Dinosauring comic book, I was inspired to start working on children’s picture books as well. I have two ideas that I have already started writing. One I’m thinking I will illustrate with photographs. The other, I’m still going back and forth as to whether I want it to include photos or drawings.

That’s all for now. I’ll post purchasing info when the Dinosauring ebook is ready!

Dinosauring

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

While moving files to my new computer, I came across my old now defunct webcomic, Dinosauring, which ran from 2014-2015. The website where I hosted it is no longer online, but I kind of want to resurrect it in some way. I had a random idea of turning the whole run of the comic into a short graphic novel. This will be mainly a “vanity” kind of project, since I don’t think anyone found the comic funny other than my husband and I, but I still like it. I have just started converting the files to format them for a book. I am planning on publishing it as an eBook, and maybe as a print book as well.

The eBook will most likely be available through Kindle, and maybe Smashwords and their distributors at a later date. I want to look into all the options for the print edition before I decide what to do regarding that (between Amazon and Lulu so far. I want to look into other options first), since I haven’t published a print edition of a book before, nor have I publish a graphic-based eBook yet.

I know I have a lot of different projects going on right now. What’s one more?