Blog | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, July 8, 2015

Once again, I’m a day late and… never mind. Let’s just say last weekend was a busy one with the holiday and all, and I didn’t realize until almost midnight that I hadn’t yet put up my blog. And it was the start of Row80 Round 3! But now that the round has begun, I should be good with my usual routine.

I took the week before off, since there was no ROW80 to report to, and also because there wasn’t much to report.

It is exhausting to be so beautiful!

But the following week–at least the weekend–plenty was going on. For starters, Isis got another Goddess Treatment on Wednesday. When I got home from work, she was crashed on the couch! Such an ordeal, LOL!

We went to some friends’ house for a party on Friday night. These friends really go all out, with fantastic, catered food and major fireworks. We took Isis last year, and the fireworks didn’t bother her, so we figured she’d be fine this year, too.

WRONG. Of course, the fireworks started while DH was off talking to someone on the other side of the house, and Isis freaked! And of course, I was holding her leash, trying to keep her from running.

That wasn’t happening, and I ended up playing George Jetson until one of our friends joined me, right as Isis dragged me through a flowerbed.

I felt like Isis in the photo above by the time my husband got there to calm her and take over.

But otherwise, the party was fun.

We went to my brother’s on the actual holiday, where we had our typical (with him) very late cookout, then more fireworks. This time, we left Isis in the house. When we went to look for her, she was on my brother’s bed, in the farthest corner from where we were setting off fireworks! DH brought her outside, and she actually started to get acclimated to them by the time we left. Then again, our fireworks were nowhere near as big or loud as our friends’ the night before.

The main thing I’ve been working on lately is to get my newsletter signup system in place. Yes, I have one! A few of you may have even signed up for it, eons ago, and have yet to receive a newsletter. That will soon change. If you’re not already on the list, sign up and get a free ebook of “Time’s Holiday,” my Saturn Society short story prequel. If you’re already on the list and haven’t read “Holiday,” just let me know and I’ll be glad to send it to you.

What I read this week: Son of the Moonless Night by C.D. Hersh. This is the third book in their Turning Stone series, which features a very different take on shapeshifters. Also an excellent follow-up to the first two, as well as a great lead-in for a fourth book, which I am looking very forward to!

ROW80 Update: It’s time to set goals for Round 3! Most of mine are stuff that didn’t get done last round. But even so, I still accomplished a decent bit. So let’s hope for more of that here. This is what I plan to do:

Work with my publisher to get Time’s Enemy made free for promotional purposes.
Make changes suggested by my beta readers that I agree with on my upcoming release, and submit it to my publisher (it’s already contracted, so no worries about acceptance).
Make changes suggested by my editor, and approve for publication!
Dig back in to my next Saturn Society novel that’s about half finished, revise the outline, and complete the first draft.
Send out newsletter once a month (maybe twice if I have major news).

Not ambitious at all, huh? 🙂 Actually, this stuff should be quite doable if I don’t get sick, have a family member injured, or anything like that.

This week, I am helping my publisher get my existing Saturn Society books reformatted (so they’re prettier and work better on a variety of devices), and re-published at the various retailers. I also want to review my beta readers’ comments on my upcoming work, and start revisions on that.

What about you–if you’re in the U.S., did you have a fun Fourth of July (Or July First, if you’re in Canada)? If you’re participating in ROW80, what are some of your goals for this round? And even if you don’t do ROW80, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have, writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

by Jennette, June 24, 2015

Catching up now, because I didn’t blog on Sunday. Did you miss me? (No, don’t answer that, LOL.)

Lots going on. Of course, there were Fathers Day festivities, held at my house. The traveling daughter called too, which is always good! We also celebrated my mom’s birthday, which was last week. We tend to combine birthday and holiday celebrations in my family: mine and my husband’s go with Mothers Day, my mom’s goes with Fathers Day, my brother and my daughter’s go together, and my dad’s goes with Labor Day. Thanksgiving used to also be to celebrate my Grandpa Powell’s birthday, which sometimes fell on Thanksgiving, and my other grandpa’s was often combined with my dad’s and Labor Day. Only my grandmas had birthdays that weren’t near a holiday or anyone else’s. I like combining them; it’s easier on the person hosting the celebration, and also fun!

But the main reason I didn’t blog last week was because I moved my website to a different server. I was working on the site last Thursday night and started having problems getting pages to come up, etc. to the point that I called GoDaddy tech support. Calling ANY tech support is usually a last resort for me, as it seems to always involve long hold times, then a long conversation with a tier-1 support person reading from a script, talking to me like I’m a clueless user, and asking me to do things I’ve already tried. I was pleasantly surprised with GoDaddy’s tech support. They picked up right away on the fact that I’m a programmer and not clueless, and took care of the immediate problem–then informed me that one likely cause for the slowness was the fact that my site, set up in 2008 (!) was on an “ancient” server (his words). He offered to set up a hosting plan on a newer, faster server for me, and credited me for the unused prepaid time on the old one, and got me a new customer deal for another year of hosting which came out to be about half price.

There were a few hitches in making the move, and a few more calls to tech support, but it’s done, and this is now running on the newer server. Google likes faster (not to mention everyone else), so that’s a good thing. I had my writers group meeting on Saturday and did a lot of venting (which I really needed to do). I felt much better after that, plus it’s always fun to see my writer friends!

Much better than Hand Under Blanket, it’s Foot Under Couch Cushion!

Isis has been naughty this week, too. She has chewed up THREE TV remotes, two in one sitting! Unfortunately, DH was too angry to think to get a dog-shaming photo. She is now not allowed to roam the house when DH and I are gone or asleep, and has to go back into her crate. Although I do wonder if perhaps she’s trying to tell DH he watches too much TV? 😀

What I read this week: still haven’t finished the current novel, though I am enjoying it! I’ll report on that next week.

ROW80 Update: This week–Thursday, actually–wraps up ROW80, Round 2. I am continuing to get my newsletter goodies and promo stuff in place, though I really didn’t accomplish much due to the website move. I still have another website to move, for another business, so plan on getting that done later this week, now that I’ve (I hope) discovered all the gotchas involved. I also want to resume the marketing stuff that got interrupted by the aforementioned gotchas.

As for Round 2, my primary goal was to get my WIP finished, revised, and off to the beta readers. That was DONE about three weeks ago–and three of the four readers have returned it to me. So far, the feedback was just what I was looking for. No worries on the fourth, because I’m still working on this promo stuff, and want to get that done before digging into edits. But so far, so good. I didn’t get everything done I would have liked, but I did get the most important thing, and made a lot of progress otherwise.

What about you–did you have a nice Fathers Day? Does your family combine celebrations like mine does? What do you think about that? Do you think Isis was trying to tell my husband something? And how are you doing on whatever goals you set, whether writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, June 14, 2015

This week went a bit more slowly than last, as far as getting things done. It’s been a bad one for headaches, and also the second week of the month, which is the busiest in terms of bookkeeping work for my husband’s business. Although, when I look over what I did get done, it’s more than I thought.

I was hoping to finish decluttering in the kitchen; that didn’t happen. I did get three more cabinets done, leaving two to go, plus the drawers. I also did the freezer last Sunday. So that’s something. It actually wasn’t bad, except one of the door drawers’ bottom was covered in a greenish-purple Popsicle sludge LOL. Didn’t even know that was there–it’s been a long time since we’ve bought Popsicles! But it’s done now, and great to be able to find stuff!

Isis had more play dates, too, but no new photos.

What I read this week: Huntress of the Star Empire, Episode 12 by Athena Grayson. Wow, what a fantastic finale to the series! Full of surprises, and some I’d guessed, though there were also plenty of questions still unanswered. This has been such an awesome read, one of the best I’ve read this year (if not longer). I’m honored to have been the cover designer for these. I’m so looking forward to the next season!

ROW80 Update: This is the last full week of Round 2. I did get that third book formatted, but not until today, so it doesn’t quite count. And I did not get any of the mailing list stuff done. But still progress, so that’s good. This week, I want to finish the website and mailing list stuff. When it’s ready, I’ll announce it here first!

What about you–ever have one of those weeks where things just don’t get done? Or one where you feel like you didn’t accomplish much, but when you really think about it, you did? Read anything good lately? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, June 7, 2015

Isis and friend get some human greetings

I’m happy to report that last week’s pattern of getting stuff done has continued (and no funerals).

I’m continuing to declutter one cabinet or cupboard in the kitchen each evening, and am making progress there. Yesterday, I cleaned out the refrigerator, which hadn’t been done is waaaaaaay too long. Not going to say how much, because my mother reads this blog. 🙂 That took a good bit longer than fifteen minutes, and now, I know some of my writer friends are thinking, I must be trying to avoid writing, or just “why???” Actually, I’m not trying to avoid writing; I’d rather work on that. But it was getting to the point where I was afraid my daughter would call a HAZMAT crew when she returns from Germany in a few weeks, so I cleaned it. (She mentioned that when she was home for spring break–back in March.) The good part? It’s like having a new refrigerator! DH said now when he opens it, he wonders, “is this OUR refrigerator?” then opens the freezer, and thinks, “yep.” That’s today’s decluttering task, and should take a lot less time, since there should be no spilled gunk to clean.

Isis had some more play dates–in fact, her friend is over now, as I write this:

This is the typical speed of a doggy play date

I did some book covers this week, one for Athena Grayson’s Huntress of the Star Empire series, this time a bundle of the first three novellas. The second cover was for another writer friend whose small press publisher went out of business, and who kindly gave its authors their rights back. I’ll show the cover here when she releases the book, as it’s currently not available at all.

What I read this week: Unleash the Moon by Zoe Winters, and Huntress of the Star Empire, Episode 11 by Athena Grayson. I picked up Unleash the Moon when I ran out of Huntress episodes, then had to finish Into the Savage Country, which I discussed last week, because it was a library book. Finally, this week I got back to Unleash and finished it. As with all of Zoe Winter’s books, it was an enjoyable read, although this book felt a little anticlimactic after Forbidden, the prior book in the series. Still good, and still worthwhile, this book is the conclusion of her Preternaturals series.

Huntress just keeps cranking up, leading to the next, and last book in the serial. In this episode, the intense action of Episode 10 lets up, as the Huntress begins to come to grips with who she really is.

ROW80 Update: My goal last week was to get the prequel short story in my series reformatted (my publisher wants to upgrade the interior look of their older ebooks, and I do this for them as a contractor), and get it and the first book to my publisher. Did that, so this week’s definitely a win! So this week, my plans are to reformat the next one and get it to the publisher, with some additional mailing list setup stuff as a bonus.

What about you–how has your week been? Have you read any good books lately? Do you ever stop reading one book, then come back to it after finishing another, and if so, why? How are you doing on whatever goals you might have, whether writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, May 31, 2015

Aside from one evening, this week has been an uneventful, yet busy one. I’ve had a little more energy lately in the evenings, so I’m trying to get back into a habit of decluttering, starting with the kitchen. The clutter finally got bad enough that I decided I’m tired of living in CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome*), so it’s time I did something about it.

I started with the countertops, which had become a dumping ground for STUFF (“Something That Undermines Family Fun*) we were being too lazy to just put away. And as FlyLady suggests, I gave the sink a good cleaning and am also working on a habit of making sure it’s clean before I got to bed each night. Wow, did those two things make a difference! Even DH is now putting things away, because he likes it tidy, too. And it’s so much easier to fix a meal in a kitchen that’s not full of clutter!

Of course, the cabinets and cupboards still need work–lots of it!–so I’m going through and decluttering one a day. Typically, this takes no more than fifteen mintues–FlyLady’s recommended amount of time to spend, so we don’t get burned out. I highly recommend FlyLady’s website if you want to learn to get your home under control using baby steps. I discovered her many years ago when I was laid off, and had my house looking really nice before we all slacked off and started letting clutter accumulate. I will admit it’s easier when one doesn’t have a full-time job and a second, part-time one (my writing), but it’s still doable.

Friday night was a quiet occasion. A good friend’s sister passed away, so we went to the funeral visitation. It was one of life’s sad ironies–this woman had beaten breast cancer twice by age 40, when she’d been given a low chance of surviving another year. She was 42 when she passed–from an accident on an ATV. It’s the kind of thing that really makes us think of our own mortality, especially given my husband’s two close calls last year.

Saturday morning, Isis had a play date–our next door neighbors are dog-sitting for their son, so they let his dog run around our backyard with Isis for a while. They both totally wore each other out! I did not get any pictures because every time I got my phone out, they ran around the other side of the garage, or were just moving too fast!

What I read this week: Into the Savage Country by Shannon Burke. This a bit of an aside from my usual fare, a Western/historical fiction about a young man’s adventures as a fur trapper in 1820s America. A writing friend recommended it to me, and since the hero of my upcoming book is also a fur trapper (albeit 70 years earlier, and about 700 miles east), I read it partly for the time period, and partly for the research. It started out kind of slow and episodic, but got better as it went. The characters and their relationships were complex and well-developed, and used the same inventiveness and determination that got them into trouble, to get out of it.

ROW80 Update: My goal last week was to rewrite/tweak the blurbs for all of my already-published books. I did that for one, but decided I would rather focus on one book at a time and instead worked on reformatting it (my publisher wants to upgrade the interior look of their older ebooks, and I do this for them as a contractor). That took a while, and it’s not out yet (I need to do more testing and tweaking), but so far, it looks much better. I also did some website stuff that isn’t ready to roll out yet, but will be soon. I consider it a win, and plan to continue in this vein this week. So this week, my plans are to finalize that book and get it to the publisher, then reformat another, probably the short story.

What about you–how has your week been? Have you worked on developing a new habit lately? Have you read anything outside of your usual type of books lately, and if so, how was it? How are you doing on whatever goals you might be working toward, whether writing-related or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

* Definitions for CHAOS and STUFF are FlyLady’s.

by Jennette, May 25, 2015

Isis waits patiently for playtime

We’re not supposed to work on vacation, right? Except I did–because in this case, “work” was something fun–writing!–and I didn’t go anywhere.

On Thursday, DH and I saw our daughter off to Germany, where she’s doing a study abroad for two months (Heidelberg and Berlin, if anyone’s curious). Then DH took off on his motorcycle for his annual pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., where he participates in Rolling Thunder, one of the largest rides in the U.S., to honor POWs, MIAs, and other vets.

I took Friday off of work, hence “vacation” for me, too. I took Isis for her daily walk and went out to dinner with my parents, but otherwise, I stayed home and spent time writing. I also played a lot of ball with Isis. Let me say, it’s a challenge to get editing done when a dog is dropping a ball into one’s lap every thirty seconds!

What I read this week: Still working on the novel I started the week before, but also read–wait for it!–MY upcoming release! I will post a cover reveal and tell all about it here once it gets back from my editor.

ROW80 Update: I finished my revision, and did a read-through. And it was a good thing I did, because this book was written more out-of-order than any I’ve ever written, and there were quite a few piddly little continuity errors. The more I catch before handing off to the beta readers, the better. I actually enjoyed reading my own book, which is good, since I write the books I want to read! It’s now off to the beta readers, so that’s something to celebrate. So the remainder of this ROW80 Round, I plan to focus on marketing tasks. Up this week: rewrite the product descriptions (i.e., blurbs, or back cover copy) for my existing books, as well as the upcoming book. I hope to get more done than that, but I also have a cover design to do for one of my beta readers, so any other marketing tasks will be a bonus.

What about you–did you do anything fun this holiday weekend? Do you consider it a vacation for you, too, when your partner goes out of town? Do you work when you’re on vacation? And if you’re a writer, do you read (and enjoy) your own books? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, May 17, 2015

Dog Shaming Short post today, because this was Birthday Week. No, I don’t celebrate mine all week long like some people do, but my birthday fell in this week, as well as my husband’s. We also celebrated Mothers’ Day late, as our daughter came home from college on Friday.

There was also a bit of Dog Shaming going on, as you can see in the photo. Isis has perfected “the pout.” She also got into the trash tonight, and chewed up a glasses case (just a cheap one), but no one thought to take a photo.

What I read this week: I started two novels. Normally I don’t read more than one fiction book at a time, but one was a library book that didn’t come in until I had already started the other. I’m not far enough through either to discuss, though.

ROW80 Update: The writing went well this week! I knew the week would be busy, between the family get-together, daughter coming home from school, and the birthdays, so I set a low goal of typing the revisions in to two chapters. I got twelve–half the book! This week will also have some busy, as the daughter leaves for her study-abroad in Germany soon, and there is shopping and other preparations to do, but I’m still hoping to get the type-in finished, and the book off to the beta readers next week. We’ll see how that goes!

What about you–how has your week been? Got any good dog-shaming stories to share? Or pics, maybe? Please share in the comments (links are ok, too!). I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, May 11, 2015

This has been a good week for the writing–enough to make up for the last, lousy week. I spent about two hours on Sunday trying out the Pomodoro method, as suggested in Write Better, Faster. One thing I liked about that book was that it also gave suggestions on applying the efficiencies therein to other aspects of writing beyond the first draft: outlining, editing, and publishing tasks like cover design and formatting.

Monday was Dog’s Nite Out at the ice cream shop. Isis was so eager for her doggy cup that she almost launched herself into the window when we went to order!

Isis orders ice cream

She also saw her Rottie friend there who we met last month:

Isis and rottie

And she made some new friends, a pair of Irish Wolfhounds, and an Ibizan (in back, in the photo below) who was also named Isis!

Isis makes new friends

What I read this week: Blind Temptation, by Stacy McKitrick. I was mostly focused on my own writing, so have not yet finished this book, but close! This is a really different vampire story in that the vampire is a girl who was turned as a teen, so that’s what she looks like, even though she’s over 300 years old. The hero is blind–a totally capable and lovable guy, and a nice change from the typical “alpha” male that typically is found in vampire books. How his sightlessness works with the romance was well-done, and effectively demonstrates the theme. It is book 3 of a series, but these each stand alone and do not need to be read in order. If you like vampire romances but enjoy something a bit different, definitely get this one! Disclaimer: this was published by my publisher–hey, they have great taste! 🙂 But I bought my copy.

ROW80 Update: My goal was to finish writing in the revisions for three chapters–I did five and finished the book! So this week’s goal is to type in the changes, and complete this draft. This coming weekend will be a busy one, so I’m hoping to get 10 chapters. That may be a bit ambitious, but with the Pomodoro method to help me stay focused, is doable, I hope!

What about you–have you ever tried, or at least heard of–the Pomodoro technique, and if so, how did it work for you? Have you made any new friends this week, in person or otherwise? What would you do if that was looking in at you through an ice cream shop window? And how are you doing on whatever goals you might be working toward, whether writing or not? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, May 3, 2015

This week has mostly been about the writing, between times of fatigue and headaches. I got a ton done last Sunday, but after that, the week started out slow (as in, nonexistent) on the writing front.

I was mad, because I had no one to blame for that except me. You see, I was playing too much Clash of Clans, figuring “oh, I’ll just go do one raid, then write.”

Except I realized that usually turns into “just one more raid” and “huh, let’s check out the clan war” and “hmm, I wonder how he did that” and watching replays of other people’s battles. Then the next thing I know, it’s midnight.!

So I decided that writing must come first, then raiding, if at all. That worked out as long as I felt well. (This has not been a good week, but I’m thankful that today was an improvement.) And yes, I did get a couple of good writing days in throughout the week, in fact, I got to the writing computer before dinner a couple of times (that helped a lot).

What I read this week: Still not quite done with the novel (though I’m really enjoying it!), which I will wait again to go over, but I also picked up a craft book that ties in well with this week’s efforts in upping productivity: Write Better, Faster by Monica Leonelle. There were a ton of great ideas in there about how to more effectively use time tracking to gauge where you are, and where you want to be, and also went over how this author writes a first draft of each scene by going from outline to draft in four steps. So if you are a writer who’s vehemently opposed to outlining, this book will probably be a lot less useful for you than it was for me, but I think there will still be some good tips in there. I am an outliner, but I still find some useful tips in books that are geared toward not outlining. What was interesting about this book is my approach is similar to hers in that I first do a very brief outline, then I sketch in each scene before I write it in with full details. The main difference with this author is that she breaks the “sketch-in” into two steps, and sketches out the whole book at once. She also emphasizes that every author works differently, and analyzing our own process like she did will help us find what works for us, and do that. She is also a big proponent of the Pomodoro Method of focusing and keeping on task. I tried writing in 25-minute increments, and that helped me immensely.

ROW80 Update: I only wrote four days this week, but with what I did today (I counted last Sunday’s work for last week), I still managed to add over 2600 words, which would have been more since I also deleted a good bit here and there (some of the scenes I worked on were mostly revision). So I see that as a win! This week, I want to finish one short scene I broke out of another, and revise two more.

What about you–how has your week been? Do you ever find yourself having a hard time staying focused on a task? Have you found anything to help with that? And how are you doing on whatever goals you might have, whether writing or not? Please drop me a note in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 26, 2015

For lack of a better title, that’s what this past week felt like. I’ve binged on several things this week, some good, some not so good, including:

Isis on April 25, 2014

Isis cuteness–of course! And throwing the ball to her, as always. To top it off, Facebook informed my husband on Saturday that it was one year ago that we brought Isis home.

We joined Costco and binged on spending money–though less than if we’d spent it elsewhere! Especially since most of what we spent was on new tires for my Camaro.

Headaches–rainy weather always brings them on for me. 🙁

Playing Clash of Clans, because it’s fun, and easier to do with a headache than write.

Tastes like the Ohio State Fair! That would be Fire and Ice Cheescake at Frisch’s. It’s a piece of frozen cheesecake rolled in crushed cornflakes, deep fried, and drizzled with honey and chocolate. It’s right up there with deep fried Snickers and Oreos. See why one piece feels like a binge? Mmmmm….

Working on my website. Nothing to show here yet, since I work on my computer before uploading new stuff, but I did spend a good bit of time working on things to add based on the marketing workshop I signed up for last month. And I disabled the anti-spam plugin, as it was still blocking people whose comments I want! So you shouldn’t have any more problems if you try to comment, but if you do, please email me!

And yes, writing. It didn’t happen until today, but I wrote over 2,000 words to finish the scene I’ve been trying to get to for a good couple of weeks.

What I read this week: I started a novel near the beginning of the week, and I’m really enjoying it, but am less than halfway through, so I’ll discuss after I finish.

ROW80 update: I finished that scene, so I’ll call it a win! This week, I have one more new scene to write, so that’s my goal. Also want to do one more thing from my marketing tasks list.

What about you–have you binged on anything lately, good or bad? If you had the time and money, what would you like to binge on? I would love more writing days like today if I had the time! Do you think the Fire and Ice Cheesecake sounds good? How are you doing on whatever goals you might have, writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!