Blog | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, July 6, 2014

I haven’t blogged in a couple of weeks, mainly because I’ve been lazy, but ROW80 starts back up on July 7th, so it’s time to get back in gear.

The writing has been progressing, and I’ve been taking an online workshop as well, so that’s good. I also got an accountability buddy, a writing friend who’ll keep me honest and give me a virtual kick in the pants if I’m being lazy–and for whom I’ll do the same if necessary.

I got confirmation of why I’ve been so tired the past six months or so: I have adrenal fatigue. I went to a hormone therapy clinic, and they did a round of testing, which revealed that I have very low cortisol levels. Cortisol gets a bad rap as it’s the stress hormone, but it’s also one we need a certain amount of in order to function. Normally, cortisol is supposed to spike a couple hours after we rise in the morning, gradually tapering off throughout the day. My tests revealed that mine barely goes up at all. Adrenal fatigue is curable, but there’s no quick treatment. All we can do is minimize stress (which I’ve already done), eat healthy (working on it), and take supplements, and get adequate sleep. I have some new supplements recommended by the clinic, but the latter can be a challenge, as one symptom of adrenal fatigue is insomnia! Supplements can help that, too, so hopefully things will be looking up there in a few weeks.

We had a great Fourth of July. The Fourth is probably my favorite holiday–not only because I’m a patriotic American, but also because I don’t have to cook, clean, or shop, and… fireworks! We went to some friends’ big party on the third with an impressive catered dinner and fireworks display. On the Fourth, we went to my brother’s, where we grilled out and let off fireworks of our own. Both were equally fun. We took Isis, who was less than thrilled at the fireworks. She did a bit better the second night, as we were able to just leave her in my brother’s house, where she watched out the patio door with a very concerned expression the whole time.

What I read this week: I finally finished Sacrifice: the First Book of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. This is epic fantasy, and befitting of the term epic, was long, complex, and with many point-of-view characters. It was originally published in the mid-90s, but I hadn’t read this series before, and really enjoyed it once I got into it and got to know some of the characters well enough. That took a while, because there were so many different points-of-view, but was worth it. Even so, the story and worldbuilding were interesting and entertaining enough to pull me in. If you’re looking for something to read after Game of Thrones (or rather, the Song of Fire and Ice series), give this one a try. I doubt you’ll be disappointed, and better yet, all seven of the series are out and available. I’ll definitely be picking up the next in the series.

And now for ROW80: My accountability buddy and I decided that for now, my goal is to write a scene per week. I have three more scenes to complete this book, provided none of them are actually two or more scenes in disguise (that happens sometimes). The 7th marks the beginning of ROW80 Round 3, and I hope to finish this book by the end of Round 3, but since that depends on other people (beta readers, editors), I’m just going to shoot for first draft, initial revision, cover, and cover copy. For this week, the goal is to finish one scene, plus the assignment for my workshop (which incidentally, is about cover copy and other types of sales pitch type stuff).

Of course, I have to include a fun puppy picture!

How can anyone resist this face?

What about you? If you’re in the U.S., did you do anything fun for the Fourth? (Or the first, for our Canadian friends?) Do you like long, epic fantasy novels? Could you resist that puppy face? If you’re participating in ROW80, or have some semi-long-term project goals, what are they? Please share–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 17, 2014

You get a new motorcycle, right? No? You mean life hasn’t handed you a guardrail lately? Or ever? Yeah, me either, at least not literally. I guess that’s a good thing!

But a few weeks ago, that’s exactly what happened to my husband. He was riding his motorcycle to Washington D.C., a trip he makes every year around this time. He still isn’t sure, but figures he must’ve hit an oil slick or something, because he went around a curve just outside of southeast Ohio, and the bike’s back wheel slid out from under him. He jumped off just in time to avoid being pinned against the guardrail.

It was just one of those freaky things that could happen to anyone. My husband is a very skilled and experienced rider–he even did if for a job for a while (funeral escort), in all kinds of weather and conditions, so he knows what he’s doing. His ankle was twisted up quite a bit and he suspected he had some cracked ribs, but he and his friend managed to extricate the bike from the guardrail, tie up the broken trim and lights, and…

He rode the rest of the way to Washington. And three days later, rode back home, over 700 miles. When he (finally) went to the doctor, they x-rayed him and said he had three broken ribs.

Despite the bike being perfectly rideable, the insurance company totaled it, so that day, he ordered a new one. A 2014 Ultra Limited–exactly what he wanted–had just come off the truck at his dealership. He picked it up last week.

Most people thought he was nuts. (Okay, this is not unusual.) Mostly, for riding all the way to DC and back with broken ribs. A few were surprised he bought a new motorcycle again so fast. But no one who knows him well is.

The bike is Harley’s top of the line model, and is of course very nice–cushy, smooth ride, and has everything you could want on it. We’ve been enjoying it a lot already!

Our daughter got a job. This might not sound like a big deal, but…she’s 18. And has no work experience except for a couple of months working in the dining hall on campus this past school year. So, the job market being what it is for that age group, she’s put in at least three dozen applications since February for a summer job. Not one nibble. Not even from the restaurant in our neighborhood, the owner of which is friends with my husband. He liked that she had experience as a cashier (one of her dining hall duties), but didn’t have any openings.

Until last week. He called her on Sunday and asked her to start the next day.

We got another new storm door–this time for the front door. And–wait for it–yes, my husband installed it! After messing with the back door all weekend (it seemed), he decided the front storm door needed replacing too, and did just that. This time, he measured correctly, and it only took about three hours. It looks really nice, too!

On Saturday, my husband and some friends threw a spontaneous crab-boil. We’d never done this before, but it turned out to be quite easy (especially for me, since he did it all 😀 ) and lots of fun! DH looked it up and found this recipe, bought the shrimp, potatoes, and sausage, and friends contributed crab legs, corn, and beer. It was delicious! Our daughter, who loves to cook and bake, made this amazing red wine velvet cake. Yes, you can taste the wine–there’s 2-1/2 cups of wine in it! (She has the cookbook linked from the blog, which is for a three-layer cake). The wine enhances the chocolate! The Mascarpone icing was awesome, too– the perfect topper to a perfect meal and a great time with friends. Best of all, there was very little cleanup.

What I read this week: Still working on the fantasy novel (it’s a long one), and still laughing at last week’s comment by Coleen Patrick linking “fantasy novel” with a nonfiction book for women and “the men who want to know what’s going on with (women).” LOL!

As for my ROW80 update, well, I missed Sunday, so that’s why I’m posting today. I did meet my writing goal, but spent the day at my brother’s with family to celebrate Father’s Day and my mom’s birthday, which is tomorrow (Wednesday)! Happy birthday, Mom!

Oh, for this coming week, going to shoot for 2,000 words, plus homework for the online writing workshop I’m currently taking.

And for this week’s puppy picture, Isis in her latest napping spot:

Napping in shower

That’s a 36″ shower stall, so that gives you an idea of how big she’s getting. She went to the vet for a checkup this week, and already weighs over 30 pounds!

So, can you believe my husband took on installing another storm door? Ever had a crab boil, or red wine velvet cake? What do you do when life hands you a guardrail? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, June 8, 2014

We’ve all been there–somehow, a project that was supposed to be easy, turns out to be not so much. For us this week, that project came in the form of what we now refer to as the storm door from hell.

We needed a new storm door for a good couple of years now. Twenty years of Rottweilers banging on our back door had taken a toll on the one that came with the house, and it was literally falling apart. So my husband ordered a new one. It didn’t occur to him to ask me how to measure for it (in my previous life as a graphic artist, I designed advertising and related materials for the home improvement industry). It apparently didn’t occur to the salesman from whom he ordered the door to ask either, even though DH mentioned that he’d never done this before. The salesman assured my husband that it would be easy to install, and should only take a couple hours.

You can guess where this is going. Yup, DH got the hinge frame in, the door hung, and… it was too wide. He’d ordered a 32″ door, and we needed a 30″ one. Worse, it was a special order door, so there was no returning it, even if he hadn’t already drilled holes to mount it. He’d also chosen a very nice, top-of-the-line, most likely to be Rottweiler-resistant one, so it cost a bit too much to just toss or give away (or sell cheaply). The other thing is, when my husband decides to do something, he is nothing if not determined…

We ended up going back to the store for lumber, and bolting another frame onto the exterior of the existing one–fortunately, there was room inside the brick edge. There’s a gap around it, but it’s on the back of the house that few ever see.

But we weren’t done yet. Even after we got the frame right (this took several tries), that door fought us every step of the way, it seemed. My husband had to go buy a larger drill bit to install the handle, and even after that, the handle didn’t go on right. There was a big gap at the bottom of the door, and the expander was barely large enough (this had been the case with the old door, too). Because of the way we’d had to frame the door, my husband had to chisel out sections of the old door’s frame to install the brackets for the closers.

But finally, we got it in there, and it is a nice door.

What I read this week: I’m Too Young for This by Suzanne Sommers. Here’s the description from Amazon: Why Wait to Feel Good Again? If you’re in your thirties or forties, your body is changing, and so are your moods, sleep, health, and weight. Tired of being at the mercy of your hormones? Armed with the knowledge in this book, you don’t have to be. Perimenopause can be enjoyable if you know what to do. I’m Too Young for This! details how you can get your body and mind back on track, safely and without drugs.

I’ve read a few similar books, and this is definitely worth looking into (and I am). This book is written in conversational, easy-to-understand language, with a bit of humor too. Recommended for any woman in this age group or older, or the men who want to know what’s going on with them!

I am also reading a fantasy novel, but didn’t finish it, so will blog about it when I do.

ROW80 Update: Writing went well this week. I kept up with my workshop, figured out my ending, and wrote 1700 words. Still not a lot, word-count-wise, but exceeded my goal, so that’s a win! This week, I want to do the same, preferably more, but I don’t want to push it just yet.

And now for the obligatory puppy picture, because you can never have too much cute:

byebye

What about you–what have you taken on that should have been easy, but wasn’t? Have you read any good books lately? Do you think Isis is ready to get her driver’s license? If you’re participating in ROW80 or set your own weekly goals, how are you doing with them? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, June 1, 2014

I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I’ve skipped a few weeks here on the blog. Mainly, I didn’t have anything much to report on the writing front, and just didn’t feel like it. I’ve read many times and in many places that to draw readers to our blogs, we need to have a catchy title, and content that either makes them laugh or ponder or at least is highly entertaining, and lately, I just don’t have that in me.

Actually, I just don’t have that in me most of the time when it comes to the blog. Not that I don’t like blogging–hey, I’ve been at it for three years this time–but I believe we have a limited capacity for coming up with witty, clever and insightful, and mine is pretty low. What little there is, I try to put into my fiction.

I gave it some thought, and came to a realization: as much as I like the blogs that make some keen observation on life, or point out something that could become a problem (a recent topic has been the over-proliferation of political correctness), I also enjoy blogs like Kait Nolan’s and Stacy McKitrick’s, where they write about what’s been going on in their life the past week, what they’ve been reading, and what they’ve struggled with to get to the writing–or the great bursts of productivity they’ve had. It gives readers a glimpse of who they are, and shows us that writers are just ordinary people like everyone else who have to deal with broken pipes and sick pets and take fun vacations and read. So, lacking anything witty or insightful at the moment, I’ll go with the ordinary for my past three weeks.

1. The week of May 11 was Birthday Week here in the Powell household. Not only was that Mother’s Day (which we actually celebrated a week later), my birthday and my husband’s birthday, which are two days apart, both fall in that week. It was also the daughter’s last week of school, which meant moving her out of her dorm and back home for the summer. We topped off the week with a family cookout to celebrate all of the above.

2. Isis has been growing like crazy, and like puppies should be, continues to be very active and playful and ornery! She was less than 10 pounds when we got her at the end of April, and now weighs well over 20. She loves to steal shoes, socks, bathroom rugs, and anything else she finds on the floor, so requires constant supervision, much like a toddler. In addition to housebreaking, we’ve been informally working on things like “sit” and “shake,” but my husband begins more intensive training this week.

3. We sold my Harley on my birthday. It was a tough decision to come to, but made the most sense, as I rode it all of three times last summer. Between my headaches, job, writing, and other responsibilities, I just don’t have time, and never could get into riding just for the hell of it (i.e., without having a destination and purpose). The Harley was also too big for me–I had to have the shocks adjusted all the way down, and wear heeled boots just to be able to flat-foot stand on it, and I was never 100% comfortable on it. It was fun for the few years I had it, but sometimes you just have to realize when something isn’t working for you and move on. We sold it to a young woman who was much taller than I, and who will hopefully enjoy it for many years.

4. I had some testing done for my fatigue to see if it’s due to hormonal imbalances, which according to a lot of stuff I’ve read, is quite common at my age. The results will take up to three weeks to get back. In the meantime, the vitamins and supplements I started a couple months ago are helping. I’m still tired most of the time, but seldom at the debilitating level I was for a while there.

5. I have made some slow progress on my novel–and yes, it’s now nudging firmly toward novel territory. More changes have occurred to me as I wind toward the end that will make it a better story–but will also make it longer. My progress mostly stalled out over these past few weeks–I’ve gotten maybe a couple thousand words down in that whole time–but today I figured out a few things that should help. Wish me luck!

What I read this week: Alienated, by Melissa Landers, who is one of my OVRWA chapter buddies. Fantastic YA sci-fi about a student exchange program that goes horribly wrong–and about young people from Earth and the other planet who have a lot of their ideas about each other challenged as friendship–and more–develops. Highly recommend!

ROW80 Update: As noted above, the writing is going slowly, but I did manage to format two ebooks for one of my copyeditors, and they came out great! So for this week, I want to get my writing back on track, get the ending planned out, and get 1,000 words down on that.

What about you–do you like “ordinary” blogs, or do you gravitate more to the witty, insightful ones? Do you find it hard to write the latter, week after week? How was your May? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, May 4, 2014

It has been a challenging week, as far as getting anything done goes. My husband pretty much runs errands or works when I don’t, so I have puppy duty. It’s fun, of course, but makes it tough to get anything done. So right now, I’m taking advantage of naptime to get this update written.

puppy sleeping

In light of the challenges, I’ve come up with a couple of things that help when times are stressful:

Be flexible, and
Have routines.

They seem contradictory but they”re actually not.

We had our family’s Easter dinner this past Sunday, rather than on Easter, a week earlier. My daughter had to work on Easter and had already planned to come home the following weekend, so we just switched it. It also meant I got a few goodies for her basket at half price. 🙂 Being flexible meant everyone was there, we were more relaxed, and we had fun.

Routines help, too. I do certain tasks on certain days, at certain times. For example, I do paperwork–personal bill paying, as well as bookkeeping for my family’s two businesses, on Monday. I set the bills aside in a letter sorter as they come in (email bills go into a specified folder), then deal with them all at once. Much more efficient than doing a little bit at a time, yet is often and regular enough the filing doesn’t pile up.

I haven’t been working out lately, but when I did, I did it right after I got home from work. Keeping to that routine helped ensure that it didn’t get lost in the shuffle of other things to do and forgotten.

Now for this week’s ROW80 update.

The good news: I did manage to open the book file and do some writing five times this week to meet my goal. The bad news: I only wrote about a paragraph each time. I started formatting the ebook but did not finish.

I signed up for an online writing workshop to try and kick back into gear there. Spending money on something like that tends to motivate me, so we’ll see how that works. In addition, I’m going to shoot for writing 300 words in the WIP, three times this week. I also want to get the ebook formatted.

What about you–do you have routines for certain tasks that help keep the stress away? Has flexibility helped you lately? Got any more stress reduction tips? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 27, 2014

I did not get much writing done this week. But I think I have a good excuse:

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Her name is Isis. She’s 7-1/2 weeks old, and she came home Thursday. Believe it or not, these pictures do not do her justice! It’s like having a live episode of Too Cute in our house, on continuous loop. The best thing is, our house once again feels like a home, after two months of being dogless. We had to put both of our babies down recently. In December, we learned our younger dog had advanced stage bone cancer. Our other dog was pushing 14 and broke her hip while out walking a couple months later). So our house has felt very empty for the past couple of months.

Now, I’m remembering how much constant supervision puppies this age require! Turn your head for a second, and she’s chewing something she shouldn’t, or pottying (even though we just had her outside). Good thing puppies also sleep a lot, and thank goodness for chew toys, too! Now if only she’d sleep more at night–it’s like having a baby in the house! She actually stayed in her crate for three hours this morning, which is a big improvement over the last two nights. So we’re making progress. My husband and I didn’t get much sleep the first two nights, but last night wasn’t bad.

I might’ve gotten a few hundred words written this past week. I did complete the website move, though, and the client was very happy to be able to cancel a hosting plan she no longer needed, and apply the unused money from that to renew her domain name.

Here’s hoping this week will be better. I’m still tired, but it’s not the debilitating level it was before, so maybe my supplements are helping. So my main goals are:

Open the file and write what I can five times this week (I only did it twice this past week)
Format a friend’s ebook (this is one of those barter jobs, and she’s been very patient!)

What about you–is there such a thing as too much cuteness? Have you dealt with any distractions lately? Got any puppy-sitting tips for me? Other pet stories are welcome, too, whether they’re your pets or someone else’s. Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 20, 2014

In continuing to deal with fatigue, I kept my goals for this round of ROW80 simple.

The main purpose here is to continue to sleep better at night by keeping my stress level down. My day job is not stressful, nor is my family, so that leaves writing as my main source of stress–the constant feeling of never doing enough, and there always being more to do, on top of other home responsibilities I have on the evenings and weekends. Getting the stress under control inevitably meant changing my thinking and slowing down–not something I wanted to do, but my health is leaving me no choice.

To this end, I kept my weekly goals simple, too, and enacted two tips that have helped a great deal:

Keep the to-do list small: No more than one thing on it per weekday evening, and no more than three or four things (depending on if they’re little/quickie tasks) on a weekend day.
As for the writing, just open the file and write what I am comfortable with. Do not add writing to to the to-do list, as that makes it feel like more of a chore than something I want to do. Just do it when I want to and am able.

These two things helped a lot. I have not been getting the kind of sleep I was on vacation, but I have still been sleeping much better than before I went on vacation, so I consider that a win. I am still tired, but starting to have days that aren’t as bad.

I managed to get 1800 words written, too. Which doesn’t sound like much considering that in the past, I’ve written that much in one evening, but right now, it’s good. I am also in the process of moving a WordPress website for one of my beta readers/editors, and doing just a little of that at a time. So all is good, and I’m going to stick to the same plan for this week, especially since we are getting a new puppy on Thursday! I’ll blog about that more next week (plus more photos!), but here’s one from when we went to see and pick them out this past week–or I should say, this little girl picked us out:

puppy

What about you–do you have, or have you had, something in your life that’s supposed to good and fun, but is stressing you out? What did you do about it, and what have you found that helps? Do you have any exciting changes coming up? Please share–I’d love to hear from you! Also, Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

by Jennette, April 13, 2014

So last week, I mentioned that I’ve been dealing with a lot of fatigue, and this has impacted how much writing (and other stuff) I get done. Catching a nasty cold that’s been going around added to it (that’s better now, thanks), but it had been building for several months.

Lately, part of the problem has been that I do not sleep well at night.

I don’t know why–I don’t lead a particularly stressful life. My day job is not stressful. I do work I like, and work with and for nice people who never demand anything unreasonable (I have in past jobs, so believe me, I appreciate this). I don’t have any problems at home, and my family is all well, for the most part.

Actually, I have always been a light sleeper. I’ve never been able to take naps unless I’m sick or have an exceptionally bad migraine. I got kicked out of preschool because I wouldn’t take a nap (hey, I wasn’t sleepy–and what three-year-old wants to lie there and stare at the ceiling?). But lately it’s been a lot worse.

Our hotel in Puerto Rico had a guard cat!

So when we went to Puerto Rico a couple weeks ago, I was really, really hoping I’d finally get more than 3-4 hours of sleep at night.

It worked. Our hotel room had a wonderful bed–firm, but not hard–and boy, did I sleep. We had a great time otherwise too–did some sightseeing, but also plenty of relaxing. The weather was wonderful–mid-eighties with constant breezes and not humid, and our hotel had lovely little terraces all over–plenty of places to relax and take it easy outside in both sun and shade.

I think what really worked for me though, was getting away from the to-do list, email, worrying about writing, and all the minutiae of everyday life for a while. I did not check email while we were away, even though I could have. I took my netbook, but without expectations of writing (and got some done on the plane!). I did not get on any social media (still haven’t, other than blogs). And I’ve continued to sleep better since returning home. I’m still tired all the time, but it doesn’t seem quite as bad.

So what am I doing to try and maintain that vacation mindset? Here’s what seems to be working for me:

Limit the to-do list to one thing on weekday evenings, two or three things on the weekend.
If the item on the list absolutely must be done that day, do it, but otherwise, if I am too tired, don’t worry about it.
Don’t worry about workouts for now. Once I kick this fatigue, I can get back into a routine.
Write when and if I feel like it. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t espouse this, as it’s not professional or a good way to actually, you know, finish something, but I think pressuring myself was part of my insomnia problem. I can get back into a routine once I deal with the fatigue.
Get off the computer one hour before bedtime (I tried this before vacation and it didn’t seem to help, but it’s not hurting, so….)
Take multivitamins and supplements to make sure nutritional requirements are being met. I’ve been reading up on this, and my doctor of course approved.

It has been years since we went on a real vacation like this. My husband and I decided not to wait so long for the next one. And no, a “staycation” (I hate that word) is not the same–you still have all the stuff that needs doing at home, staring you in the face. There is something about getting away–it needn’t be a big expensive trip, but IMO you do need to get far enough away from work and home and all the stuff that needs attending to there to get into the vacation mindset of not worrying about it. And for heaven’s sake, don’t take work with you unless it’s fun work (like writing) and you don’t pressure yourself to actually do it unless you truly want to.

Which brings up an important point. I see this in people at work–you know, there is always someone who never takes time off, who is always there, often putting in extra time. Some companies will let them do this, but others will make them take time off after a certain amount of time has passed/vacation time accrued. That’s because good managers know that even though someone might love their job and not feel like they’re courting burnout, everyone needs to occasionally take a break. While I did take my vacation time from my day job, I’d been spending it at home, doing stuff there, and it had been almost three years since I got away at all. I think that finally caught up with me. It’s not all that’s behind my fatigue, but it’s definitely part of it.

And as promised last week, here are a few more photos from Puerto Rico:

We toured the Bacardi distillery, where you can get this commemorative photo.

We went into the rain forest one day to see the world’s largest radio telescope. You may recognize it from James Bond!

The beach was about a block from our hotel.

As for ROW80, my goal last week was to focus on being kind to myself. I did pretty well, and even got a little writing done, so that’s a win. This week, I want to continue that, but I also want to at least touch the writing five times, without pushing myself to do a lot. Sometimes just opening the file is all it takes to get going. So we’ll see how that goes.

What about you–do you have trouble making yourself take a break? Do you pressure yourself too much? Do you ever need to just step away from the to-do list? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 7, 2014

Sheri McGathy tagged me in this fun blog hop where we post the answers to four questions about our writing. Visit Sheri’s blog to read about her current WIP, a ghost story. Thanks, Sheri!

And now, my questions and answers:

1. What are you working on?
I actually have three works in progress right now, all in the Saturn Society universe. One is the third novel of the series, Time’s Guardian. The second is Part Two of Time’s Tempest, the serialized novel that started with “The Storm” in the Love’s a Beach anthology. The third, where I’ve been concentrating most of my energies at the moment, is a long novella or short novel (it keeps growing) called Time’s Best Friend, which is an interim story about a secondary character from the novel Time’s Fugitive. Here’s the blurb as it currently stands:

During the height of WWII, a time-traveling farm woman braves the eighteenth-century Tennessee frontier to search for the explorer she loves, only to find her historic home occupied by Nazi soldiers, and her only friend a dog who just might be their spy.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Most time travel romance, particularly that from big publishers, seems to be set in medieval Scotland or England, and mostly focuses on the relationship between a modern American woman and a hunky Highlander or knight. While I’ve read and enjoyed plenty of those books, mine tend to focus as much on “what if I change something”and all its consequences as on the relationship, and take place in North America, where I find plenty of fascinating history much closer to my own backyard. No knights or lairds–my books are about ordinary people who do extraordinary things, and feature hunky American guys. 😀

3. Why do I write what I do?

Time travel, and all its possibilities, from the paradoxical to the chance to right something that went wrong, to the very real potential of making something even worse, has always fascinated me. I like to throw my characters into impossible situations and then see them scrape their way out of them.

4. How does your writing process work?
Once I’ve mulled an idea around for a bit and done a little preliminary research, I write “the sentence” that becomes the short blurb, as above. Then I write out everything I know about the story, and figure out what all could happen in the beginning, the middle, and the end, and sketch out a rough outline. (I use the notecards in WriteWay Pro for this). Then I write the rough draft from that. I deviate from the outline whenever something better occurs to me, noting changes needed in the ms as I go, along with any additional research needed. Invariably an idea occurs to me about 3/4 through the first draft that will make me change a lot in what I’ve already written, but it will make the story a lot better, so I note it, and keep writing as if I’ve already made the change until I power through to the end. Then I revise based on my notes, then hand off to the beta readers. And yes, the big change idea for this story hit me last week. 😕

Occasionally I’ll get an idea for a story and just sit down and write it. This mainly works for short stories, and was how I wrote Time’s Tempest: “The Storm.” But often when I try this, I run out of steam, and have to go back and do some planning. That’s where I’m at with part two of Tempest.

So there’s your little glimpse inside my brain. Not that exciting, I know LOL. I also get to pass this on and tag some other lucky writer whose work I’d like to know more about. And that writer is Stacy McKitrick! Stacy is buried under deadlines right now, so if she doesn’t have time to play, we understand (but hope she will)! Here’s a little bit about Stacy:

Stacy McKitrick fell in love with paranormal romance, decided to write her own in 2009 and found her passion in life. She used to work in accounting, now she spends her time with vampires, ghosts, and aliens. Born in California, she currently resides in Ohio with her husband. They have two grown children.

And now it’s time for ROW80, the second round of which starts today. I have been dealing a bit with some health issues, and this seems to be ongoing, so I’m going to make just one very, very simple goal for this round: finish Time’s Best Friend.

This goes in line with ROW80 founder Kait Nolan’s wonderful post for today on the ROW80 blog, with an emphasis to remember to be kind to ourselves. Seriously, go read that post–even if you’re not participating in ROW80, or not even a writer, it’s worth it. Go on, I’ll wait. Back? Good. Okay, I’m grateful that depression is not what’s plaguing me–in my case, it’s more of an intense, sometimes debilitating fatigue, yet oddly, accompanied by an awful bout of insomnia. I believe the cause is the same: too much go-go-go and not enough being kind to ourselves.

I have seen my doctor, and she found one possible cause: Vitamin D deficiency. Given the winter we’ve had in most of the U.S., I can’t say I’m surprised. And yes, fatigue is one symptom thereof. I’m on high-potency prescription vitamins to get that set to rights, but my doc tells me it could be 6-8 weeks before I notice any difference. Then to top it all off, I caught either a mild flu or nasty cold a couple weeks ago, right before my DH and I were set to leave on our 20th-anniversary celebratory vacation.

Sick or no, our vacation was much-needed and wonderful (Puerto Rico). Not only was the island beautiful, sunny, and warm, I also got some fantastic sleep. Even better, I found that on an airplane is a great place to write! I’ll post some pics and blog more about that next week.

So this week I’m going focus on continuing to be kind to myself, not sweat every little thing like I’d been doing, and–I hope–continue to sleep decently at night while kicking the rest of this cold. If I get any writing done, that will be a bonus. But I had great fun writing on the plane, so I suspect I will.

What about you–do you have trouble being kind to yourself? Are you too much g0-go-go, and is it making you tired? Or do you maybe just need a vacation? What did you think of my four Q&As–did any of that surprise you? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, March 16, 2014

It always surprises me when I get comments here on the blog that say, wow, you do so much! Because I don’t feel like I do.

Sometimes the answer is “slowly.” Sometimes, the answer is, “I don’t.”

Sure, I have a full time job. I write, I design book covers and format books, I occasionally do side work in web design/development for friends and relatives. I occasionally take writing workshops. I have a family, although my daughter is now in college, so it’s just me and DH. And DH is semi-retired, so he does a lot of things like grocery shopping, cleaning (sort of), and shares in the cooking. That helps a LOT.

I didn’t always have it this good. My husband used to own another business–a bar–and that was a 70+ hours a week job, so he wan’t home much. We had a cleaning lady come in twice a week, and DH mowed the lawn and did the outside work but I did everything else in the house. When our daughter got to be older, she grew interested in cooking, so she helped with that sometimes, and when she didn’t, it was her job to clean up after dinner, unless she had tons of homework (then I did it). The writing happened slowly then, and sometimes not at all. I also wasn’t doing book covers and formatting then, either.

So that’s where “slowly” comes in. Lately, I can do one thing after dinner on weeknights, and lately I’ve tried to make that be writing. I do the other stuff on the weekends. So when I have other things going on during the weekend, the other stuff often doesn’t get done. Same with writing–if I have something else I have to do that night (paperwork, for instance), the writing usually doesn’t happen. It’s just something I’m learning to accept.

Which brings me around to this week’s ROW80 goals. I had other things going on this week, one of which was to spend an evening playing trivia with friends. Formatting the interior of a print book is a big job, if you take the time to really do it up nice, so that took up a couple of evenings, too, as I was determined to get it done this week, and knew I’d need Saturday to do the cover. So I only got 2,000 words written. Not what I wanted, but better than zero, yes? I didn’t manage to get much fitness in, either. But the print book did get done, and is now out with the client/friend for proofing and approval.

I have things going on for the weekend, so this week, I’m going to cut back a bit:

Writing: 2500 words
Fitness: 3x
Other: Print book changes as needed, make last small changes on website that was finished last week

What about you–do you sometimes have to step back and reassess your limits? If so, what did you learn? And whether or not you’re a writer and/or are doing ROW80, how did you do on whatever you wanted to accomplish this week? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!