Blog | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, January 19, 2020

…because I couldn’t think of a better title. This has been another uneventful week, aside from a lot of rain earlier in the week (and hoping those up north in the really bad stuff are staying safe!). Of course for me, rain means migraines, as my trigger seems to be falling barometric pressure. I’m thankful the rain let up midweek and was brief yesterday, so I felt better since then.

Almost every morning, my husband and I walk our dogs down the ridge line that bisects our property. Earlier this week (when it wasn’t raining), I saw that we already have daffodils coming up (there are a bunch of wild ones on our property). It’s normal for this area, though maybe on the early side even here, with the mild winter we’ve had. Still, seems remarkable to me because they don’t appear until a good month later in Ohio! Ohio is not a bad place, but we really love it here.

What I’ve Been Reading

I picked up a nonfiction book from the library on exercise and health, but soon realized it was written for people who don’t have my migraine and fatigue issues, so I stopped reading it. I’m also still reading the last fantasy novel in the big, box set I bought last summer, and really enjoying it. This one pulled me in right from page one, while most of the others took a chapter or two for me to get into. I want to take WMG’s”How to Study” online workshop to learn how to go back through this book and see how the author did it.

What I’ve Been Writing

My writing goal this week was to write 400 words a day, five days, for a total of just over 2,000 words. I met that, so yay! It was a bit of a challenge earlier in the week, and one day I got less than 300 words, but made up for that the other four days, so a win! Since it was a challenge, I want to ramp up slowly, so this week, I’m shooting for 450/day, for five days, and a total of 2250 words.

I did not quite meet my learning goal, as it turned out I had three more videos in the Week 3 lessons, not just one. I did complete those and the assignment, and got about halfway through the week 4 videos. My goal this week is to complete Week 4, with a bonus to begin the Week 5 videos. Before doing the bonus, I also need to do my monthly reading/learning about copyright. In any case, I’m ahead of schedule on my workshops, as my goal is to do two of these 6-week courses this Round.

What about you–how has your week been? Any signs of spring yet where you are? And how have you been doing on whatever goals you may be working on, whether writing or otherwise? I’d love to hear from you–please share in the comments!

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, January 12, 2020

And yes, it’s been an uneventful week around here–just doing the day job, writing, and living life between the two (as in fixing dinner, cleanup, that sort of thing). Yesterday a bad storm rolled through, which for me = migraine, so not much of anything got done then, but yay me! I’d already met my goals. And that’s so much easier to do when there’s not much else going on.

*My dog Skeet finds uneventful days a good opportunity to make herself comfortable on the day bed in my office.*

What I’ve Been Reading

I finished another novel in the fantasy box set (I swear I’m almost done–I started this thing back in August!). I enjoyed this one, too. I don’t like to talk about books I don’t like, because in the case of the one in the box set, it was just not to my taste, but because of it, I don’t want to name the set. But I do expect I’ll be buying more fantasy this year, because most of these books are part of series.

What I’ve Been Writing

As noted above, I met my goals this week! After not hitting my writing goals in so long, doing so twice in a row is really exciting. My writing goal was to write 375 words/day, at least five days. I did write five days, and exceeded the word count for a total of a little over 2200 words. Part of me wants to ramp up to 500 words/day (and I exceeded that one day), but it was also a bit of a push so I’m going to go for 400/day this week, again shooting for five days and a total of 2000 words.

I also met my learning goal of completing week 2 videos and assignment for the WMG Publishing “Teams in Fiction” online workshop, and I went on to week 3. I’ve done all but one video (there are five), so I’m going to set a goal to complete that and the assignment, and do the week 4 videos this week, with a bonus goal to complete the week 4 assignment as well.

What about you–do you like uneventful weeks, or do you find them boring? Do you read box sets? And if so, do you go on to buy other books in a series if you like the one in the set? How are you doing with whatever goals you’ve had, whether writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments—I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, January 5, 2020

This has been a nice, low-key week, very welcome after the busyness of the holidays. DH and I went to see the new Star Wars movie yesterday. It was a fitting ending to the series, though with Disney owning the franchise now, I’m sure there will be more.

For New Year’s Eve, my husband and I thought about going to downtown Knoxville for their party and ball-drop on Market Square, but decided to just stay home. That was fine with me, as I’m not fond of crowds or cold.

I’ve also been writing (TL;DR: I exceeded my goals!) and going through an online workshop, WMG Publishing’s Teams in Fiction.

What I’ve Been Reading

I finished another novel in the fantasy boxed set. It was full of fantasy cliches (like the young boy predestined to be “the one”) but also had some creative worldbuilding and I enjoyed it. Since there are a couple books in the set I didn’t like, I’m not naming it.

2020 Goals

I also figured out what I want to do with my writing this year:

Writing and Publishing:

Finish the current WIP
Complete edits on last year’s WIP and get it to the publisher

Learning/Business:

Complete two WMG workshops per quarter
Keep up blog streak every Sunday
Read/learn something about copyright once a month
Keep track of books read, including business and other nonfiction, and those not finished
Revamp website (it’s sooooo 2011!)

BONUS (Stretch goals)

Any additional WMG workshops
Edit the current WIP and turn it in to my publisher

What I’ve Been Writing

My goal this past week was to write at least four days, and at least 250 words/day (ramping up slowly). I wrote six days, for a total of just over 1700 words. Yeah, I’ve written that much or more in a day before, but this is really good for me, considering the past couple of years.

This week, I want to continue the slow ramp-up, and write at least 375 words, at least five days.

Goals for ROW80 Round 1:

Current WIP – 36000 words (8000 in Jan, 12000 in Feb, 16000 in March)
WMG Workshops – Teams in Fiction, and Secondary Plotlines
3x learn about copyright (once a month)
Blog every week

What about you–what are your goals for this year? How did you do on last year’s goals? (Let’s not talk about mine!) What did you do on New Year’s Eve/Day, if anything? I’d love to hear from you–please share in the comments, or join the ROW80 group on Facebook!

by Jennette, December 29, 2019

Not much writing happening this week, between the holidays and hosting family and friends. We decided “new state, new traditions,” and started by inviting neighbors over for a drop-in open house on Christmas Eve. While we kept the menu fairly simple–a few appetizers, snacks, and cupcakes–there was still plenty to do to prepare, plus we needed to wrap gifts. And wow, what weather! We wrapped gifts outside on our deck! Can’t say I ever did that in Ohio, though we hear it was unseasonably warm there too.

We had no idea if many (any?) would come to our Christmas Eve drop-in, as a lot of people are busy that night with family, but over a dozen people showed up on Tuesday night, and we had a great fun just hanging out and getting to know our neighbors a little better. Our daughter and her partner arrived that evening too.

They love coming to our new place in Tennessee, which makes us feel really good. On Christmas, after we opened a few gifts (we kept that simple, too), we did a little hiking on the property, and DH taught our daughter’s partner how to drive the tractor and let her bush-hog, which she thoroughly enjoyed! Christmas dinner was simple as well as delicious–our usual traditional ham and twice-baked potatoes, with green beans and biscuits.

We spent the next few days with them, trying out a couple of new-to-us restaurants and a local brewery, which made for a fun and relaxed few days. On Friday night, more friends from Ohio came in, and we made use of our secondary guest space in my office. Our daughter and partner took off the next morning, and we spent the day doing some shopping and sightseeing with our friends.

We drove out to Douglas Dam, where one of our friends took this fantastic photo.

The weather has been amazingly warm and nice all week. Our friends left this morning, so DH and I went for a motorcycle ride, just doing a little exploring in our part of the county. It seems crazy to be able to do such a thing in December!

What I’ve Been Reading

I still managed to read a little every night before bed, even with guests. I’ve been reading through a big box set that I probably won’t discuss in detail, as I didn’t like one of the books in it. Nothing wrong with it, just not to my taste. I am enjoying the others–pretty typical sword and sorcery fantasy fare.

What I’ve Been Writing

I set a very low goal this week, given the holidays. I did not plan to write while we had guests, but I did get to it on Sunday and Monday, and met my goal. This week, I’m going to shoot for 250 words, for four days, as New Year’s comes right in the middle of the week and I don’t yet know what we’re doing for that holiday (if anything).

2019 Goal Wrapup

This pretty much sums up how well I met my admittedly crazy writing goals, given the move:

via GIPHY

I wanted to finish my current WIP. I got about 20,000 words written on it, most of which were written before the move. Heck, I’m just glad I got anything at all written since then! Here were my other goals, which I didn’t detail out in my initial goals post at the end of last year, but that I did write down elsewhere:

Finish writing Time’s Guardian – DONE
Finish writing Time’s Judgement – this is the current WIP. See GIF above.
Complete at least one WMG workshop per quarter – DONE!
Read The Copyright Handbook – Nope
Attend WMG Business Master Class in Las Vegas in October – YES!
Send out one newsletter per month until giveaway books are gone; at least one newsletter afterward in 2019 when there’s news (ideally, quarterly) – uh, I did one books giveaway and took the rest to the library. There hasn’t been any news to speak of on the writing from since, so no newsletters.
Keep track of books read, including business and other nonfiction, and those not finished – Yep. I read 35 books this year, plus TONS of blogs.

So, I guess I would consider that kind of a mixed bag, though better than I expected. I’ll take it!

ROW80 doesn’t start back up until next week, so I’ll post about my 2020 goals then.

What about you–how were your holidays, if you celebrate them? Did you stick to old traditions, or work in something new? How did you do on your 2019 goals? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you. And have a happy New Year!

by Jennette, December 22, 2019

…not even a mouse.

Oh wait, yes they are. And definitely at night.

We used to get mice at our old house in the Ohio suburbs, too, especially at this time of year when they want in from the cold. So it was no surprise that we’d get them at the new house, which is in a rural area.

But it turns out that country mice are smarter than suburban mice. At the old house, I’d use tip-traps to catch them, and they worked fabulously. We did not have our pantry food in airtight containers or anything, they’d go for the peanut butter in those traps every time.

But here, they’ll go right on past the traps conveniently on the floor and climb up the pantry shelves for the good stuff. We even tried a different type of live trap. No mice, at least not in the traps. They were continuing to enjoy our pantry, however. We bought airtight pantry containers and put everything we could in them. The mice still managed to find the few items that wouldn’t fit, moving on to my protein shake mix when nothing else was left out of a sealed container.

My husband got tired of dealing with it and bought some guillotine-style traps. These at least kill them quickly, unlike the old-fashioned kind, or <shudder> glue traps. They’re now his problem.

What I’ve Been Reading

Mice haven’t stopped me from enjoying some fiction! With all the extra to-dos that the holidays bring (though I’m not getting stressed out about it), I was in the mood for a nice light, contemporary romance. Always Remember by Sheila Seabrook fit the bill perfectly! What I really loved about this story was how the heroine was living the life someone else (her mother) wanted for her, and came to realize that what she wanted for herself wasn’t as out of reach as she thought. Recommended!

What I’ve Been Writing

<sigh> Once again, not much, even less than last week. I did get a couple of nights in, but that’s all. Just over 500 words. This WIP will never be finished at this rate. But I remind myself that it’s the holidays, will all the extra to-dos (that are worth it, for friends and family), and that we’ll soon be back to normal. So this week, getting any writing in at all will be a plus. I’d like to get two days in before our daughter and her partner arrive on Tuesday.

This past week was also the end of the quarter for ROW80. I was still buried with the move when the round started, so I didn’t set any goals. I wrote less than 5,000 words this whole quarter. I used to write that much in a week without a problem! Of course, I also hadn’t moved house since I began writing, so maybe I’ll cut myself some slack. 😀 I’ve seen plenty of folks already stating their 2020 goals, but I’ll figure mine out next week.

What about you–have you had mice in your home? How did you handle it? Have you read anything good lately? And how are you doing on your goals, whether writing or otherwise? I love to hear from you–please share in the comments–and have a wonderful holiday!

by Jennette, December 15, 2019

My supervisor at work says this after a long training session, and I think it’s particularly appropriate this week for a lot of people. So many extra things to do and things to think about with the holidays approaching is enough in itself, but add to that the other various things in life people are dealing with, it’s sometimes hard to be creative.

In some cases, it’s a lack of time, but for me, it’s mental bandwidth. We got some major news on the business that owns the property across the street, which necessitated a neighborhood meeting, a lot of back-and-forth, and took up some mental space. Ultimately, it’s good news, probably among the best we could have hoped for: the business managers have finally come to the realization that this location isn’t suitable for something on the scale they’re planning, which has changed and grown throughout the year. We’re still skeptical, and suspect it’s as much because they haven’t been able to attain the investment they need, but we don’t really care how they spin it as it’s a positive outcome. They tell us the land will still be developed, but in accordance with the existing zoning, so we’re fine with that. It will be interesting to see what form that takes.

What I’ve Been Reading

I finally started back into some fiction this week, after finishing another non-fiction book: The Chaos Cure, by Marla Cilley, aka FlyLady. I Flylady’s plan for getting rid of clutter and keeping my house clean back in the early 2000s when I was laid off, and it helped. While a few of the habits stuck (mostly, making my bed and cleaning out the sink every day), most didn’t, though I did go through a big declutter in 2016 after we decided we were really going to move. I do still think her plan is helpful, and have slowly gotten back into it, in a modified fashion–after all, she encourages us to make her system our own. So I was interested to see what her latest book was all about.

It’s not about her plan–that’s covered in her first book, Sink Reflections. The Chaos Cure is more of a series of tips and “hacks,” many of which I was already doing. It was a quick, easy read, and written in her casual, fun style so it was worth a look. I don’t have the brain to think of them right now, but I picked up a few new things to try as well.

What I’ve Been Writing

This has been another week where I keep telling myself “any progress is good.” While I didn’t quite make my goal of writing five days and a total of 1,250 words, I did manage to get in three days for almost 1,000 words. The story is getting more and more convoluted, so that’s not helping either. But that’s part of the deal when you write time travel.

This week, I’m going to keep trying for that 250 words, five days. Luckily, I’m mostly ready for the holidays, with only stocking stuffers left to shop for and everything else due to come in this week (I do as much as possible online). It also helps that we kept the holidays simple this year, but who knows what else will come up!

How about you–do you know that “brain is full” feeling? Are you ready for the holidays, if you celebrate? 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, December 8, 2019

This didn’t feel like an eventful week, yet when I think about it, I got a lot accomplished. We finished decorating for the holidays, and took photos for the Christmas cards, which I ordered yesterday. I would have liked to have had this done way before now, but that just didn’t happen. They’ll still come in in time for people to get them before Christmas, so that’s what matters.

What I’ve Been Reading

Fiction reading has been slow, as I’ve been glomming on a blog lately: A Slob Comes Clean, by Dana K. White aka Nony the Slob. I discovered her books first, which I blogged about a couple weeks ago. When I learned she started with blogging, I had to check it out. Not only am I always looking for easier ways to manage my home, her writing is pretty darn funny.

She’s been blogging for ten years, and I went back and read from the beginning. I do this with blogs every once in a while when I find one that really draws me in, and I realized it’s reading about someone’s journey that I really enjoy. If you struggle with keeping up with your house, or just want some entertaining reading that’s also informative, I highly recommend A Slob Comes Clean!

What I’ve Been Writing

My goal this past week was to write at least five days, 250 words/day. Well, I ended up getting slightly stuck again, and I did get unstuck (thank you, Twenty Answers!) but didn’t quite hit that goal. I did write for four days, for a total of just over 1000 words. It may not be my goal, but any progress is good, so I’m happy with that. I still have some holiday-related stuff to do (mainly shopping), so I’m going to stick with the same goal for this week (and hope I stay un-stuck!).

What about you–are you ready for the holidays, if you celebrate? How are you doing with whatever goals you might have, whether writing or otherwise? Do you like to read blogs (other than writing blogs, for you writers!)? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, December 1, 2019

Our first Thanksgiving in the new house was, as one would expect, quite different from before. For starters, it was our smallest Thanksgiving ever. Our daughter and her partner joined us, but my parents and brother weren’t able to. While it was a wonderful Thanksgiving, it didn’t seem right without them. Maybe next year!

We also had a baked turkey for the first time in close to two decades, ever since my husband discovered deep-fried turkey. In the past, he always fried turkeys for several friends in addition to ours, starting as early as 8 AM. But this year, it didn’t make much sense to buy all that oil just for ours. Our daughter is somewhat of a foodie. She baked a turkey for friends last year and wanted to do ours this year, so that’s what we did. And it was no ordinary baked turkey–hers had butter and herbs under the skin, and it turned out beyond fantastic! She says the number one trick to get a turkey that’s done on time and not dry is to not mess with it. No opening the oven door to check on it, no basting, no doing anything with it once it’s in. I’ll take her word for it!

Her partner had to work early in the morning and they didn’t get here until after three. Normally we eat by then! But this year was a late dinner, around eight. Not a problem since we often eat dinner late anyway. But by the time we were done with dinner, we were all too full (and too tired!) for the pumpkin pie I’d made.

We ate it for breakfast the next morning, and it was delicious, if I say so myself.

On Friday, we stayed around the house–that part didn’t change. My husband and our daughter’s partner got some work done on the property. I did a little cleaning, but mostly, our daughter and I took it easy.

On Saturday, we went to a Christmas tree farm and bought a real tree. My husband’s brother was allergic to them, so growing up, he never had a real tree. And the living room in our old house was too small for anything but a super-skinny fake one. We picked out a nice eight-foot tree, as high as the ceiling in our old house, then decorated. For the first time, my husband was actually excited about decorating. He didn’t have a great childhood, so has never enjoyed Christmas. But being in the new house, with the high ceiling and beams to decorate brought out his holiday spirit, and made the day really special.

What I’ve Been Reading

I read every night, but haven’t finished anything, so I’ll catch up on this next week.

What I’ve Been Writing

My easy goal for the week served me well. I got the writing in Sunday through Wednesday, then on Thursday, I made a point to do it while waiting for the kids to get here, making for five days. Win! Making a plan that took the holiday and having guests into consideration totally worked! This week, I’ll try going up to 250 words/day, for five days.

How was your Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it? Otherwise, how was your week? Did you do anything different or unusual? How are you doing on whatever goals you might have, writing or otherwise? Please share–I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

by Jennette, November 24, 2019

This was another week where it felt like I didn’t accomplish much, though I actually did. Not any significant work on the house on my part, though DH did some work on the grounds, mostly bush hogging to clear out the meadows where the deer hang out. I did do a cooking day yesterday though, so we should be good for meals pretty much through Christmas. Win!

Last week I mentioned that I needed to do the “write everything you know about your story” exercise. I did that, three times. As in, it took me three sessions to write everything I knew (and there’s still more). It helped, but didn’t, in and of itself, reveal what to write for the next scene.

So I pulled out another old trick I’d almost forgotten: Twenty Answers. In this one, you ask a question (usually, “what happens next?” or “what will this character do?”) then write twenty possibly answers, no matter how obvious, stupid, implausible, or mundane. Yep, including things like “everyone decides to just go home” or “aliens arrive and kidnap everyone.” The first few answers will usually be the obvious/mundane ones. You may be forced to write something ridiculous just to come up with those last few answers, but in between are usually a few gems. I didn’t even get to twenty yet and already see a few possibilities for the next scene. While I don’t know what will happen beyond that, I can get going again.

What I’ve Been Reading

The Fates Trilogy by Kristine Grayson. I read this earlier this summer, and what a fun read! I would consider these contemporary fantasy with some romance. In these books, the three Fates are real, and they’ve been fired from their jobs, and replaced by Zeus’ teenage daughters who have no clue what they’re doing. They must figure out how to make things right and help humans who also have special power also find love, while helping them. Highly recommended!

What I’ve Been Writing

See above. This week’s going to be busy with the holiday and houseguests, and I’m also not 100% unstuck, so I’m going to drop back to 100 words a day, for five days. I also want to finish the online workshop I started back before we moved.

What have you been up to lately? Read any good books recently? How are you doing with whatever goals you’re working on, whether writing related or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you! And if you’re in the US, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

by Jennette, November 17, 2019

No, I didn’t walk backwards into a pond (that would be cold now!). But that’s what’s been going on this week. My husband tiled our kitchen backsplash wall this week, one of many little tasks we didn’t want to pay the builder to do. I helped a little. It’s glass tile, so will be easy to clean. I’m very happy with how it turned out!

We got our first snowfall of the winter earlier this week, very early for this area! We’re not complaining, because it was still a good ten degrees warmer than Ohio (and any little bit is good), and the roads were clear. Even better, enough people stayed in that it was a very good day for me to go to the DMV to get my Tennessee driver license. Normally there is at least a two-hour wait; I got right in.

*I don’t mind snow when it’s this pretty… and only stays for a couple of days.*

We also had our first power failure last night. Luckily, my husband had just made a fire, so we were warm. The power was only out for about an hour and a half. One of the neighbors walked out to the street and found that there had been a wreck–someone took out a telephone pole, and the electric cables were in the street. Luckily there were no major injuries and the power company had everything fixed quickly. The fire kept the house warm enough that the heat didn’t even come on with the lights.

What I’ve Been Reading

How to Manage Your Home without Losing Your Mind by Dana K. White. I saw this book on another blog right before we moved. With my new house, I’d love to keep on top of keeping it reasonably clean, so this book caught my attention. It was as entertaining as it was informative, and introduced me to the concept of “slob-o-vision:” the inability to see a mess until it’s really, really, out of control (my husband totally has this LOL). If you’re looking for ideas in this area, I highly recommend this, even if you’re not really a slob. (By her definition, I’m “normal”. LOL!)

I liked that book so much, I got her other one, which I really need: Decluttering at the Speed of Life. Moving made it oh-so-obvious that we have Too Much Stuff. This book was also entertaining, and gives a bit of a different take on decluttering that I found helpful even though I have nowhere near the clutter problems she had. Also entertaining and highly recommended, especially if your challenges with keeping your home are mostly clutter-related.

Her blog, where it all started, is also entertaining and helpful.

What I’ve Been Writing

This is where the two-steps-back comes in: I’ve been kinda stuck this week, and wound up only writing one or two days. I don’t even know how many words, but it wasn’t much. The current scene has now had two false starts; it’s time to just spend a few minutes with an old technique that used to help me tons but I’d forgotten about: spend ten minutes and write everything you know about your story. I’ll try this tonight, then see how I do the rest of the week. So my goal for the week? Get unstuck and going again!

What’s new in your corner of the world this week? Did you get snow, and how was that for you? And how are you doing on whatever goals you might have, writing or otherwise? I’d love to hear from you–please share in the comments!