Épisodes

  • Episode 239: Frozen Pizza Review Roundup
    Feb 17 2025
    In this week's episode, I discuss eating frozen pizza after a decade-long hiatus, and rate my favorite brands and styles of frozen pizza. 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 239 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February the 14th, 2025 and today we are rating the different brands of frozen pizza I tried over the last several months. I know that is an odd topic for a writing podcast, but it's my podcast and I like frozen pizza, so we're going to talk about frozen pizza this week. Before we do that, we will have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the eBooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store. That is all nine ebooks and this coupon code will get you 25% off any of them. That is DRAGONBOOK25. We'll have the links and the coupon code in the show notes. Someone pointed out that I've only been giving away coupon codes for audiobooks instead of ebooks, which is a fair argument, so that's why we're doing this. The coupon code will be valid through March 7th, 2025. So if you need a new series to read for spring, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 67,000 words into Ghost in the Assembly, which puts me on Chapter 13 of 21. I think this book will be in the Hundred Thousand Words Club, maybe a little less, maybe a little more, we'll see. I'm still hoping to have it out in March, if all goes well. My secondary project right now is Shield of Battle, the fifth of six books in The Shield War series, and I'm 5,000 words into that. Once Ghost in the Assembly is complete, it will be full speed ahead on Shield of Battle. In audiobook news, recording for Orc-Hoard (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) and recording for Cloak of Dragonfire (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) are both done and those should be showing up on audiobook stores soon. They haven't quite gotten through processing yet, but it is close. In regards to Cloak Mage and Half-Elven Thief, I am planning to work on those in the second half of 2025 once Ghost Armor and The Shield War are done, since there are only two books left in Shield War and I'm just about through the fourth book of six for the Ghost Armor series, that won't be too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects and let's move on now to Question of the Week. 00:02:22 Question of the Week Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what is your favorite kind of frozen pizza? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for this question is that it's the topic of the episode, so here are the answers we got from people. Justin says: We do the Walmart Great Value rising crust frozen pizzas at my house. I add eight ounces of shredded cheese and sprinkle Italian herb mix on top. I've found that's a good idea myself. If you buy some of the cheaper frozen pizzas, you can add extra pepperoni, oregano, or whatever you want to it and that will enhance the flavor. John says: Trader Joe's. They have an Italian-made margherita that's quite good. Scott says: Red Baron Classic Crust, either Supreme or Four Meats. MW says: The one they sell in my country, brand name Dr. Oetker Ristorante with salami, mozzarella cheese, and green pesto. I often top it up with some goat’s cheese. Doug says: Digiorno’s Supreme. Juana says: Half pepperoni, half Canadian Bacon. Brooks says: Depends on the mood. We typically don't eat frozen pizza. If we do, it's usually Digiorno’s, although when I'm craving something junk food-ish and pizza at the same time, I will totally go for Totino’s. Plus the story behind that brand and how it revolutionized the frozen pizza business in general is amazing. Brandy says: I don't have a full size oven at the moment, so Totino's is my favorite because I like cheese pizza and it fits in my toaster oven. Otherwise, I make my own. Gary says: Generally a smaller local brand-they seem to be a little fresher with higher quality ingredients than larger brands. Parker says: Totino's, hands down-my favorite junk food. JT says: I either eat 7-Eleven pizzas or eat Totino's. Otherwise, my pizzas are almost as fresh as the day Adam and Eve were introduced to the concept in Eden. For myself, my answer will be the main topic of this episode, which we're going to get to right now. 00:04:15 Main Topic: Winter 2024/2025 Frozen Pizza Roundup I used to joke that if I lived long enough and could afford to retire, I wanted to start a YouTube channel that consisted entirely of different reviews of frozen pizza. The idea came from the sitcom Community. I always enjoyed the show since it's about a community college. I used to work in higher ed, so I could definitely relate to most of the ...
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    18 min
  • Episode 238: Winter 2024/2025 Movie Roundup
    Feb 10 2025
    In this week's episode, I take a look at the movies and streaming shows I watched in winter 2024/2025, and share my opinions on them. I also take a look at my ebook advertising results from January 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Half-Orc Paladin, Book #3 in the Half-Elven Thief series, (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store: PALADIN50 The coupon code is valid through February 28, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the bad February weather, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 238 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 7, 2025 and today we are discussing the movies and streaming shows I watched in Winter 2024 and 2025. Before that, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing projects, Question of the Week, and my ad results from January 2025. First, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Half-Orc Paladin, Book Three in the Half-Elven Thief Series (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is PALADIN50. This coupon code will be valid through February the 28th, 2025, so if you need a new audiobook to get you through the bad February weather, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. As I mentioned last week, Shield of Deception is now out and you can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords and my Payhip store. It is doing quite well. Thank you all for that. I hope you enjoy the book and I've been hearing good things about it from people who read it. Now that Shield of Deception is done, my main project is now Ghost in the Assembly and I am 36,000 words into it as of this recording, which puts me almost on Chapter 8 of 21. So I'm about one third of the way through the rough draft, give or take. If all goes well. I'm hoping that book will be out in March. My secondary project is Shield of Battle, which is the sequel to Shield of Deception and I am about 2,000 words into that. I'm also 50,000 words into what will be the third and final Stealth and Spells book, Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest. It was originally named Reactant, but I decided to change the name to Final Quest because that sounds better and if all goes well, that will probably be out in the middle of the year, give or take. In audiobook news, Cloak of Masks (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is now out at all audio stores, including Audible, so you can listen to that there. Work is almost done on Cloak of Dragonfire. It's being proof-listened to as I record this and hopefully that should be out before too much longer. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects. 00:02:19 Question of the Week Next up is Question of the Week, which is intended to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's topic, which ties into our main topic: what was the favorite movie you saw in 2024? No wrong answers, obviously (including “I hate everything I saw in 2024”). We have a few responses for this. JD says: It was either Transformers One or Deadpool and Wolverine. Mary says: I didn't see any movies in 2024. Doug says: Dune was one of the books I read in the ‘70s. Like your books, I never got enough back then. I was buying Hardcovers. I still have six of them. I have seen the two versions of the books. Can't wait to see this version of the books. I have seen the first movies. Hope to see more. David says: Godzilla versus Kong was pretty much the only one from last year I saw. I just bought Gladiator 2 but haven't watched it yet. Davette says: I enjoyed both Dune 2 and The Fall Guy and Inside Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine. My favorite was Wicked, mainly because I've been waiting on that movie for years. Bonnie says: I haven't seen any movies or watched TV in years. For myself, I think it would be a tie for my favorite movie of 2024 for between Dune 2 and The Fall Guy. The two Dune movies, for all the stuff they changed from the book, are probably the most faithful adaptation it was possible to make with that very dense and very weird book. I thought The Fall Guy was just hilarious and I had no idea it was based on TV series from the ‘80s until I read up about it on the Internet after I saw the movie. It was interesting that we didn't have very many responses to this question the week and of those responses, one third of them was “I didn't see any movies in 2024.” So if the movie industry is wondering why it's in so much trouble, I think we might have just found the answer here in that nobody wants to go to see movies in the theater anymore. 00:04:09 Ad Results for January 2025 Now onto our next topic, how my ads performed in January 2025. Now as usual for my books in January, I used...
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    27 min
  • Episode 237: 5 Tips For Outlining Your Novel
    Feb 3 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at five tips for outlining your novel. I also take a look at audiobook sales for 2024. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Wizard-Thief, Book #2 in the Half-Elven Thief series, (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store: WIZARD50 The coupon code is valid through February 21, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 237 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is January 31st, 2025, and today we're discussing five tips for outlining your novel. Before we get to that, we will have Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing projects, Question of the Week, and then a look at how my audiobooks performed in 2024. First up, Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Wizard Thief, Book Number Two in the Half-Eleven Thief series (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is WIZARD50. Both the coupon code and the link to the store will be in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code will be valid through February the 21st, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook to get you through the February doldrums, we have got you covered. And now an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. I am very, very, very pleased to report that Shield of Deception, the fourth book in The Shield War series, is done. As soon as I am finished recording this episode, I'm going to start publishing it at all the stores. So by the time this episode goes live, you should be able to get it at your favorite ebook store. I'm very pleased this is done because I think this is the longest book I have written in the last four years, which of course I picked to do over the Christmas holiday and was in the process of switching over to a new desktop computer. Great planning on my part, but the book is done and hopefully you should be able to enjoy it soon at your favorite ebook store. Now that Shield of Deception is done, my next project will be Ghost in the Assembly and I'm pleased to report I'm 20,000 words into that. So I'm hopefully on track to have that come out sometime in March. My secondary project is also going to be Shield of Battle, the fifth book in the Shield War series, and hopefully that will be in April, if all goes well. In audiobook news, Cloak of Masks is now finally available at all audiobook stores: Audible, Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Chirp, and all the others. A reminder that you can also get Ghost Armor Omnibus One, the combination of the first three Ghost Armor books (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy), at Audible, Apple, and Amazon. 00:02:15 Question of the Week Now it's time for Question of the Week, which is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's topic: do you watch the special features on the DVD when you watch a movie? I'm talking about the making of and the director and cast and crew interviews and so forth. Not all DVDs have them of course, but some do. We have a few responses to this question. Justin says: It depends on the movie. The special features in Monty Python and the Holy Grail Special Edition are a must-see in my opinion. John says: I watched all the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition extras. Really great material. I know I've watched others, but I can't recall offhand. Definitely the gold standard. Tom says: My general pattern is to watch the trailer, then the movie, then the deleted scenes. Sometimes I'll watch parts of the special features if their name caches my eye, not often though. James says: With On-Demand through my cable provider, I just watch the movies. Being part of the PC Master Race, I've never had a gaming console to play DVDs on. I haven't bought a DVD in ages. I used to belong to Redbox, but they're not even in business anymore. Elizabeth says: Sometimes, or play in another language with English subtitles. Brandy says: Sometimes. I watched The Lord of the Rings special features and enjoyed it. I also watch historical extras or look them up. Bonnie says: I think I may have once? I usually just watch the movie, haven't watched anything in ages, though. Juana says: Yes. After the feature things are interesting! Tracy says: I do. For myself, the inspiration for this question was that I couldn't think of anything to watch, so I was watching the special features on The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions box set, which a few people have already mentioned. I really think those are the gold standard for DVD special features. Not too many special features have middle aged literature professors discussing the origins of the book that inspired the movie. There's like six discs worth of special features in the Extended Edition Lord of the Rings DVDs, and if you watch all of them, it's really a very...
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    20 min
  • Episode 236: 5 Ways To Market With Short Stories
    Jan 27 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at five ways to use short stories to market your books. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Half-Elven Thief, Book #1 in the Half-Elven Thief series, (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store: HALF50 The coupon code is valid through February 14, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the January/February doldrums, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 236 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is January the 24th, 2025. Today we are discussing how to use short stories for marketing. Before we get into that, we'll start with Coupon of the Week. I have an update on my current writing projects and then do Question of the Week. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Half-Elven Thief, Book One in the Half-Elven Thief series, (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store. That code is HALF50. You can find the link and the coupon code in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code will be valid through February the 14th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the January/February doldrums, we have got you covered. Now on to an update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 56% of the way through the first round of edits on Shield of Deception. I am still hoping to have the book out early in February, if all goes well. Once that is out, my main project will be Ghost in the Assembly. I am 16,000 words into that. So that is good news there. In audiobook news, as I mentioned in the previous show, the audiobook of Ghost Armor Omnibus One (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) has come out and you can get that at Audible, Apple, and Amazon. Cloak of Masks should be coming soon and a recording for Cloak of Dragonfire is almost done, so we should have some more audiobook news coming pretty soon. 00:01:45 Question of the Week Now onto Question of the Week, which is designed for an enjoyable discussion of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite kind of Italian food? No wrong answers, obviously, including not liking Italian food. We had quite a few responses on that. Justin says: Ah yes, pizza, the food of company team building exercises and RPG tabletop sessions. You can't go wrong with pizza. Another dish I adore would be Italian sausage and peppers with penne pasta. It goes together quickly, tastes great, and is easy to clean up afterwards. Alas, I can no longer partake- the green and red pepper has given me gas worse than any bean dish. Mary says: Ravioli! The right brands, because the cheese mixes vary. I like a number, but not all. Surabhi says: Pizza wins, without a doubt! Juana says: Pizza hits all the notes. Denny says: I love North American pizza. Italian pizza is its own thing and not something I enjoy. I've eaten very little actual Italian food, but generally I do enjoy pasta. John says: Definitely lasagna. There is a little place in Southern California where the chef makes a deconstructed lasagna that is out of this world. I have to admit, I didn't know there was such a thing as deconstructed lasagna. Jenny says: Fettuccine Alfredo and Chicken Parmesan are so good, but I love getting some of both so I get the red and white sauces blended and with tasty cheesy chicken. Brooks says: While I love a lot of Italian dishes, I really like a type of lasagna that is cream based versus marinara based. Usually it's considered a veggie type lasagna. It just adds a different twist. Basically alfredo meets lasagna. Olaf says: Any kind of pasta (linguini, tortiglioni, rigatoni, farfalle) or gnocchi with a slow cooked bolognaise. My self-made pizza, then of course lasagna and all kinds of pasta with salsicce and let not forget tiramisu and a latte macchiato. James says: It's funny what we call “foreign food.”” Your Taco Bell style taco originated in Texas. What Americans consider Chinese food originated in San Francisco and pizza as we know it originated in New York City. Bonnie says: Chicken parm and my husband's lasagna. A different John says: I love a really good risotto, specifically with porcini mushrooms and pancetta. Also the truffle pasta I had in Rome about 10 years ago, but the best pasta I had was rabbit ragout with handmade pappardelle (which I'm pretty sure I didn't say correctly) at a restaurant here in California. My family loves my homemade spaghetti with meatballs. My granddaughter's favorite is actually spaghetti with clams. Gary says: Almost anything with pesto. Andrew says: Cannoli. James says: Only reason I know this is because of the Food Network, but a true pizza (Italians in Italy don't have pizza) order in Italy doesn't sound appetizing to me. I want a supreme with everything but anchovies on it. While pizza, as we know it is...
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    19 min
  • Episode 235: 5 Reasons To Buy Direct From Authors
    Jan 20 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at five reasons to buy direct from authors through platforms such as Shopify and Payhip. We also take a look at my choice of computing platforms for 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Tombs, Book #3 in the Ghost Armor series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: TOMBS50 The coupon code is valid through February 7, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for next week's cold weather, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 235 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is January the 17th, 2025 and today we are discussing the advantages of buying direct from the author. I will also share an update on what I've done for my writing computers this year and we also have Coupon of the Week, Question of the Week, and an update on my current writing projects. So let's get right to it. Let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code is for the audiobook of Ghost in the Tombs, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. That is Book Three of the Ghost Armor series, and this coupon will get you 50% off the audiobook at my Payhip store: TOMBS50. This coupon code will be valid through February 7, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for next week's cold weather, we have got you covered. Now let's share an update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 116,000 words into Shield of Deception, which puts me on chapter 28 of 31. So I'm hoping before too much longer I will be able to be done with the rough draft, which I think I'm hoping I'm going to be able to finish it on Monday the 20th if all goes well, but we'll see how things work out. I think it's going to end up being around 125,000 words, which will make it the longest book in the Shield War series and probably the longest book I've written since the end of my Dragontiarna series back in 2021. I kind of wanted a break from really long, complex epic fantasy, but I had my break. I'm rested and now we're doing it again. I'm also 13,000 words into Ghost in the Tombs, which will be the fourth book in the Ghost Armor series, and I'm hoping to have that out in March and Shield Deception out in February. In audiobook news, Cloak of Masks is entirely done and working its way through processing. As I mentioned last week, it should be up on a couple of the stores like Google Play, Kobo, and Chirp, though it is not up on Audible yet. On Audible, though, is Ghost Armor Omnibus One (again narrated by Hollis McCarthy). That is an omnibus bundle of the first three books in the Ghost Armor series. That is available in audio at Audible, Amazon, and Apple. If you're on Audible, it is 31 hours of listening for just one credit, which in my opinion is a pretty good deal. That is where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:02:32 Question of the Week Now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended for enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite Mexican dish? No wrong answers, including not enjoying Mexican food. A little bit about semantics. I'm aware that Mexican food is a very broad net and like all such definitions is prone to a substantial bit of haziness. Mexican cuisine is not the same as Tex-Mex, which is not the same as Puerto Rican cuisine, which is not the same as Guatemalan cuisine and so on. And the various regions of Mexico itself all have their own distinct culinary traditions. But this is true of all cuisines. By Mexican food, I mean Mexican food as it is generally defined in the United States, which tends to be an assemblage of various foods from the American Southwest, Mexico, and Latin America. And as you might expect, we had numerous responses. Our first response is from Justin who says: We have taco night here once a week or so, but no actual tacos are used. A pan of seasoned crumbled hamburger meat along with standard toppings is available for folks to make what they want. That generally becomes beef and cheese burritos and taco salad (regular bowl, corn chips added as desired). Hollis (who narrates the Ghost and Cloak audiobooks as we as mentioned) says: Quesadillas. Taste decadent but can pack in healthy spinach and peppers and whole wheat tortillas with decadent meat and cheese. Juana says: burritos, loaded! Tracy says: chicken and guacamole with roasted veggies. Becca says: Chile en nogada, basically a meat stuffed grilled chili. I have had it with chicken and beef, usually comes with pomegranate or other fruit containing sauce. John says: Three barbacoa tacos with cilantro, onion and the green salsa and three beef fajita tacos the same way. With large horchata from a sketchy food truck usually found in front of the local tire shop. I have to say some of the best Mexican food I've had has come from somewhat sketchy food trucks ...
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    23 min
  • Episode 234: Writer Development
    Jan 13 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at why it is good for writers to read outside their genre, and consider how writers develop with experience. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Veils, Book #2 in the Ghost Armor Series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: VEILS50 The coupon code is valid through January 31, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the January weather, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 234 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is January the 10th, 2025. I have just finished shoveling some snow and today we are going to discuss how writers develop. Before we get to our main topic, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update my current writing projects, and then Question of the Week. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Veils, book number two in the Ghost Armor series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy), on my Payhip store. That coupon code is VEILS50 and that is VEILS50. The coupon code and the link will be in the show notes. The coupon code is valid through January 31st, 2025, so if you need a new audiobook for the chilly January weather, we have got you covered. Now let's take a look at where I'm at with my current ebook writing and audiobook projects. As of this recording, I am 82,000 words into Shield of Deception, which puts me on chapter 19 of 31. As I've said before, this is going to be a long one. I think the rough draft is going to end up around 110 to 115,000 words long. We'll see when I get there. I was hoping to have it out in January, but now I am definitely planning that it's going to slip until February just because it's so long. My secondary project is Ghost in the Tombs and I am now 10,000 words into that, I'm pleased to say, and that should be out in March. I'm also 37,000 words into Stealth and Spells Online: Reactant, but that won't be out until this summer. In audiobook news, recording and proofing is done for Cloak of Masks, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. If all goes well, that should be out on all the audiobook stories before too much longer. And in fact, I think it's already shown up on Chirp and Kobo and few of the other ones, but it's not up on Audible or Apple yet. Hollis has now started work on Cloak of Dragonfire, so that will be the next audiobook out once Cloak of Masks comes out. Leanne Woodward is working on Orc-Hoard, which would be the fourth book in the Rivah Half-Elven series and hopefully that should be out sometime in February, if all goes well. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:02:19 Question of the Week Now let's move on to Question of the Week. It's time for Question of the Week, which is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what game are you playing in 2025 so far? No wrong answers obviously, including not playing games at all. The inspiration for this question was of course the fact that 2025 is a new year. Surabhi says: I've never been much of a gamer myself. The farthest I got was playing Subway surfers on my phone, but apart from that, I don't really get an appeal to play. Some video games are more complex and thoughtful and they can even prompt new writing ideas. It's something that's been on my mind for a while as an aspiring author and I think I give some games a try just in case they give me plot or vibe ideas. Wondering what you think about that. That is in fact an interesting thought and one I've thought about before, and I will probably go into that in future blog posts and podcast episodes, just not on Question of the Week. Michael says: I have been continuing my long play through Horizon Forbidden West (which is epic), also dipped into Path of Exile 2, which makes my brain hurt with all the character build options. Ioana says: Does Words of Wonders on my phone count? Yes. Yes, it does. A different Michael says: I've been playing Final Fantasy 14 for the last 11 years. It's a great game, but I am taking a break. At the moment, I am playing the newest version of 7 Days to Die on PlayStation 5. Now that it has been upgraded to the latest version available on PC, it's an awesome game. It has its glitches, but that's okay. I enjoy it. Juana says: PlayStation 5 Diablo 2 Reforged. Adeline says: Still playing Overwatch on the PC but also branched into a virtual jigsaw puzzle. On the phone, it's mostly word/puzzle games, Word Collect, Blockudoku, Sudoku, Traffic Escape, and Cryptogram. Scott says: I'm playing my second play through of the new Dragon Age. Indiana Jones is next or another run of Dragon Age. Becca says: Right now, the yearly replay of the Mass Effect series. Cole says: I've been playing Civilization 6 and New World: Aeternum. Both I've played in the past...
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    15 min
  • Episode 233: Anatomy of a 10,000 Word Writing Day
    Jan 6 2025
    In this week's episode, I take a look at what goes into writing 10,000 words of a rough draft in a single day. Coupon of the Week returns! This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Serpent, Book #1 in the Ghost Armor series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: SERPENT50 The coupon code is valid through January 24, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the new year, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 233 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is January 3, 2025, making this the first episode of 2025, and we are a quarter of the way through the 21st Century. Today we are looking into what goes into a 10,000 word writing day and how I managed to do ten 10,000 writing word days in 2024. We’ll also do Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing projects, and Question of the Week. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. As you might remember from last year, I did do Coupon of the Week for the blog last year, but I sort of fell off doing it in June and never got back around to it. But the new year is time for new endeavors, so we're doing Coupon of the Week again (hopefully in a more organized and sustainable way this time). So this week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Serpent, Book One in the Ghost Armor series, as excellent narrated by Hollis McCarthy at my Payhip store. The coupon code is SERPENT50, and that is SERPENT50 (all in caps). Again, that is SERPENT50. The coupon code is valid through January 24th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the new year, we've got you covered. The coupon code and the store link will be in the show notes below. So that is this week's Coupon of the Week. Now let's move on to my current writing projects. Every year for the past couple of years, I've published a short collection with all the short stories I published in the previous year, and I'm pleased to report that 2024: The complete Short Stories is available now and you can get it for $0.99 USD at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play Apple Books, Payhip, and Smashwords. It's only going to be 99 cents for the month of January, so now would be a good time to get that. I'm surprised how many people buy the anthology because I give away the short stories for free with all my newsletters throughout the year, but people have told me it's more convenient to have one bundle of the short stories that they just get for $0.99. So that's what we're going to do. You can get that for $0.99 through January 31st. In writing progress, I am now currently 50,000 words into Shield of Deception, which puts me on chapter 12 of 31. So I think I'm between 35 and 40% of the way through the rough draft. It depends on how long the book's going to end up being, but I think it's going to be around 110 to 120,000 words. I'm also about 7,000 words into Ghost in the Assembly, and if all goes well, I'm hoping Shield of Deception will come out this month and Ghost in the Assembly will come out in February, but that may slip by a month because as I said, Shield of Deception is going to be a very long book. In audiobook news, proofing is underway for Cloak of Masks, so I'm confident that will be out in January and that is excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. Leanne Woodward is currently recording Orc-Hoard, the fourth book in the Rivah Half-Elven series. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:03:06 Question of the Week Now let's do Question of the Week, which is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: do you make New Year's Resolutions? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for the question was the fact that I posted this on New Year's Day. I had a few responses to this. Mary says: No, I did do a few things getting cleaned up on the day and switched the calendars at midnight. Bob says: Never have. I feel it's best to resolve problems as they occur. Cheryl says: Not anymore. I never kept them, so I gave up making them. Gary says: Not resolutions per se. It is a good time though, to take stock and evaluate whether I'm doing the things I should be doing to get where I would like to be. Tracy says: Nope, roll the dice and go! LOL. Jean says: I'm just good with making it through the year. Still intact, LOL. I can't argue with that. Venus says: The last resolution I made, many years ago, was to never make another New Year's Resolution. For myself, no, I don't really do New Year's Resolutions. I suppose my writing goals for 2025 might qualify, but I have enough books that I essentially own a small publisher now, so it's just sensible to make good business goals for the year. In my personal life, if I need to make some kind of change, I try to do it at once. The most successful personal changes I've made throughout my life ...
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    12 min
  • Episode 232: Writing Goals For 2025
    Dec 23 2024
    In this week's episode, I take a look back at my writing goals for 2024 and see how many I met, and look ahead to my writing goals for 2025. 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 232 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is December the 20th, 2024 and today we're looking back to see if I met my writing goals for 2024 and looking ahead to see what my writing goals will be in 2025. This will also be the last episode of 2024 so I can take a few days off for Christmas and New Year's, so tune back in 2025 for some more exciting episodes. In the meantime, we'll start with an update on my current writing projects and then do Question of the Week. My main project right now is Shield of Deception, the fourth book in the Shield War series. I am at 33,000 words into it as of this recording, which if my math is right means I'm about 24% of the way through the rough draft. I’m hoping that will come out in January, but there's good chance it will slip to February because I'm think it's going to be pretty long. My secondary project right now is Ghost in the Assembly and I am 2,000 words into that and I'm hoping to have that out in February, but if Shield of Deception slips to February, then it'll probably be out in March. In audio news, recording for Cloak of Masks, the eighth Cloak Mage book, is nearly done and I expect to have some files to proof for that before much longer. That will be narrated by Hollis McCarthy. Leanne Woodward has started working on the audiobook version of Orc Hoard, so both of those should be coming along shortly in 2025. So that's where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects. 00:01:34 Question of the Week And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is designed to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite movie or TV version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for this question was I was scrolling through movies on various streaming services and of course this time of year you can watch a billion different versions of A Christmas Carol. Todd says: my personal favorite of A Christmas Carol is from 1971. This animated classic had the original Scrooge and Marley actors voice the respective characters. Another Christmas television program would also have to be Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas. It's got Frank Oz! I have to admit, I have never heard of Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas before this comment. Justin says: I would have to say the 1951 version with Alastair Sim, although the Muppets are a close second. Bonnie says: This is one of my hubby's favorite Christmas traditions. Unsure of how many different versions we have. His two are American Christmas Carol with Henry Winkler and the George C. Scott one. I like the Albert Finney musical version and the Alastair Sim one. Paul says: Yes, sentimental favorite is the George C. Scott version from 1984. I like the version with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge as well. We'll watch many versions through the season if I see them on. The Muppet version is great as well. Not a fan of the Jim Carey cartoon version. It is okay, but prefer the first three mentioned. Andrew says: The Muppet version is the best. Randy says: Another vote for Kermit here! “Light the lamp, not the rat!” Jenny says: OMG Yes, the Muppet's version! Jeremiah says: Alastair Sim version for classic and modern, the Patrick Stewart version. Catriona says: The Muppets- just iconic! Gary says: The Muppets. Tom says: Yes, A Muppet’s Christmas Carol, nothing else comes close. Becca says: Muppets Tracy says: I like the one with Patrick Stewart. For myself, I pretty much closely agree with the commenters here. I think my sentimental favorite is the George C. Scott version from 1984, since that's the one I used to watch when I was younger. Rewatching it as an adult, it's impressive how Scott doesn't even attempt a British accent. It's actually rather surprising that his version of Scrooge is actually pretty funny, with a dry wit. That said, as many of the commentators here already said, I think the best overall best version of A Christmas Carol is Muppet Christmas Carol from 1992. It works because Michael Caine plays it stone dead serious even when he is sharing the screen with a bunch of Muppets. Caine famously said that he played against the Muppets like he was playing against the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the contrast with Caine’s serious performance against the silliness of the Muppets creates a sort of alchemy that works really well. Also, The Man Who Invented Christmas from 2017, a highly fictionalized version of Charles Dickens writing a Christmas Carol, is definitely worth watching even though it takes a few, well, more than a few creative liberties with the facts. So that is it for Question of the Week ...
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    15 min