Blog | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, April 1, 2012

Cool post title, huh? Unfortunately, it’s totally… well, check the date. 😀

That’s about the extent of my joking. But it’s also the start of a new round of ROW80, the “writing challenge that knows you have a life,” and that’s no foolin’. This round ends June 21, and here’s what I’d like to accomplish by then:

Release Time’s Fugitive, in both ebook and print
Complete Holly Lisle’s How to Write a Series workshop
Bonus: Any planning/outlining of new book, beyond workshop exercises
Release Hangar 18: Legacy – OR – release Times Two (Time’s Enemy/Time’s Fugitive box set) as an ebook
Bonus: Both of the above
Three interval workouts and two shorter workouts each week
Track exercise and consumption each week

I received edits on Time’s Fugitive from my copy editor last Wednesday, and I expect to finish them today. So then it’s a matter of proofreading, formatting, and publishing! I’m planning to get that done this week, so look for an announcement soon.

My third goal is an “OR” because it’s dependent on others. Hangar 18 is out with beta readers right now, some of whom are new, so I don’t know when I’ll get that back. One thing I learned last ROW, is to be sure and build flexibility into our goals, especially when they hinge on others.

How about you? I’d love to hear from you! What kind of goals are you setting for this round of ROW80 – or if you’re not a writer, or not doing the ROW, for this spring?

by Jennette, March 29, 2012

Today I have a special treat on my blog! Cynthia Woolf writes western historical romance and science fiction romance – cool combo, huh? I recently read the first in her science fiction romance series, Centauri Dawn, and really enjoyed it! If you always wished there were more romance in Star Trek, then you really should check these books out. I know I’ll be reading the rest of the series, and I want to give her historicals a read too.

JMP: Cynthia, how long have you been writing? How many books did you write before publishing?

CW: I’ve been writing seriously to publish since 1990. I had finished 2 books when I decided to publish them on my own. The first one I published was actually the second one I finished.

JMP: Have you been published by a big publisher? Small press/epub? Independently? Please share your publishing experience.

CW: I published my books independently. I couldn’t find a traditional publisher who wanted my books, so indie publishing was the only way that my work would ever see the light of day. I’ve been very, very lucky in that my books are being well received. I’m always surprised that others like my work. 🙂

JMP: I know the feeling! I love how indie publishing has opened up opportunities for sooo many wonderful books that didn’t fit the NY mold. Yet, some indie writers are still looking for that elusive contract. Now that you’ve tasted the control and flexibility that comes with indie publishing, are you still pursuing a traditional publishing contract, or perhaps an agent?

CW: I am not pursuing a traditional publishing contract. I’ve already made more than I would with an advance from a traditional publisher and my books will be out there forever, earning me money and making people happy.

JMP: That’s awesome! And inspiring for those of us still working to build readership. Especially the part about “earning money and making people happy.” I love it! Tell us about your current or upcoming release.

CW: My current release is TAME A WILD WIND. It is the second in my western romance series set in southwestern Colorado in the late 1800’s. It is the story of a widow with two children who meets a widower looking for resolution.

JMP: Sounds like a good read! Do you read or write series books? What do you love or not love about series?

CW: I do write my books in series and I like to read series. The reason for both is that I love to revisit old characters and see what they are doing now.

JMP: Me too. Tell us about a really fantastic novel you’ve read recently?

CW: I just finished While You Were Dead by CJ Snyder. Excellent romantic suspense novel. She keeps you on the edge during the whole book and I never saw the villain coming. Great book.

JMP: I downloaded that when it was free. I’m looking forward to reading it! Does your significant other read your books? What about your parents? Your kids?

CW: My husband does read my books but not until they are finished and he doesn’t want to know anything about them before hand. Not even the blurb. The first one he read, Centauri Dawn, he loved and he doesn’t read romance. It was very gratifying.

My extended family also reads my books, Some love them and some (the older relatives) think there is too much sex in them. LOL

JMP: LOL, I can relate to the latter! And now for the authors that are reading: what are some things you did to build your readership? What’s worked? What didn’t?

CW: I tweet like a mad woman, every 3 – 4 hours about my books. I’ll tweet about other things in between and I retweet for anyone who retweets me. I figure that’s the best thank you I can give someone is to tweet about their books. I also facebook. And I blog. I’ve found these to be the most effective for expanding my readership. The things that I’ve paid for tend to be the least effective. It may just be me, but so far I haven’t seen any increase in sales for the paid advertising that I’ve done.

JMP: That’s encouraging! Especially for us who are also working to build a blog readership as well. But most of all, I love reading about success! Thanks so much for being here, Cynthia!

You can find out more about Cynthia and her books at her website: www.cynthiawoolf.com.

Tame a Wild Wind is available at Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and AllRomance Ebooks.

So what about you? Do you like a little romance mixed in with your science fiction? Or a little science fiction mixed in with your romance? Or if you prefer something more real-world, do you like historical settings or contemporary?

Got a question for Cynthia? Anyone who comments will be entered into a drawing for a free copy of her latest release, Tame a Wild Wind. I’ll do the drawing between 6PM and midnight (EDT) on Friday using random.org, and either Cynthia or I will email the winner, so speak up to win!

UPDATE: The winner of Tame a Wild Wind is Coleen Patrick! Coleen, Cynthia will email you your prize! Thanks for all your comments, everyone!

by Jennette, March 26, 2012

This past Saturday evening, 28 of us gathered to take a tasty trip back in time. Not like the people in my books, but figuratively: we were the participants and guests at Carillon Historical Park‘s Tavern Dinner that night.

Our hosts – three ladies and two men – already looked the part in their historical clothing, as they outlined our destination, and why they’d chosen that particular year: 1830. You see, the Miami and Erie Canal had been completed through Dayton the prior year, bringing with it much greater accessibility to supplies from the east, including goodies like sugar and flour. This allowed them to offer much greater variety in the food that could be prepared for a historically-accurate, end-of-winter feast.

The canal also drastically reduced the cost of such goods. A shipment that would have cost $125 to bring to Dayton via horse-drawn wagon or stagecoach, cost only $25 to bring out on the canal. Bring on the food, right?

Most of our meal was cooked here! Cabbage soup and sausage stew are in the kettles. Our hostess checks the oven.

Not quite! After the introduction, we all got a little hands-on experience in preparing some of the evening’s meal. Our group went first to the summer kitchen, where our hosts had been busy since that morning, putting on the cabbage soup appetizer, the main dish stew, and getting the ingredients ready for dessert. They’d baked bread in the stone oven a few days earlier, just as would have been done in 1830. But what’s bread without butter? That still needed to be done, so we all tried our hand at churning. Not a hard job at all, but one that would get tedious if it had to be done all at once, by one person, for it takes about a half hour of steady work. While we churned, our hostess answered questions about the food preparations, and explained how the fire had been going all day, and the soup and stew put on around 2 pm that afternoon. Ever think it takes too long to preheat the oven? This one takes a couple hours! But we’d have cookies by the time dinner was done.

Implements for tea and coffee preparation

Our next stop was the William Morris house, an authentic, preserved historical home which, like the summer kitchen, had been trucked to the park from Centerville, about 10 miles away. There, our hostess described how coffee and tea was shipped in, and the latter roasted and ground. The coffee mill was difficult to crank – luckily, enough had been already ground that we weren’t dependent on what we could do!

After that, we stopped outside the tavern to learn about the musket that might have been used to kill the night’s meal, had we actually been in 1830. Since the group before us jammed the musket, we got to see how the term “flash in the pan” originated, when the musket didn’t create enough force to fire the bullet, but the gunpowder burnt prematurely.

Finally, we headed inside Newcom’s Tavern, Dayton’s oldest building, for dinner.

It's Historically Delicious!

As dusk descended, it certainly felt like a trip back in time to eat in the old, log building by candle light. And the food was wonderful! We started out with bread that was baked in the summer kitchen with the butter we’d churned, and cabbage soup, which was much tastier than it sounds, thanks to its beef broth base and herb seasonings.

The main dish was the sausage stew, which was a mild, savory sausage in a tomato paste base, served with locally-grown rice. The sides were a thick bean-and-corn dish, and apples and onions, which were baked in a crockery pot and dutch oven piled under ash in the summer kitchen’s fireplace. Apples and onions sounds like a strange combination, but it was really good. We also had roasted diced potatoes, with onions, carrots, and turnips.

Candlelight dinner in the tavern

After dinner, we were in for yet another treat. A trio of illusionists who said they’d just ridden in on the stagecoach from Cincinnati performed a few magic tricks and card tricks for us and got more than a few laughs. We capped off the evening with dessert – stewed pears, with the sugar cookies that had just been baked in the summer kitchen. All in all, a fantastic meal!

Have you ever eaten a historic dinner, prepared by historically-accurate means? What do you think of the menu – does it sound like something you’d like to try? Have you ever churned butter or fired a musket?

by Jennette, March 22, 2012

Last week, someone from the bank called. My husband talked to the lady and asked what the call was in regards to, but she had to talk to me.

Well, that made it weirder. You see, we have a joint account. But I also have a business account that’s just me, and two accounts for my RWA chapter, of which I’m the treasurer.

Let me ask you, when you get an “important” message from your bank telling you to call them as soon as possible, what do you think? Nothing good, right?

Yeah, me too. So it was with some trepidation that I called the woman the next day.

And… they wanted to tell me about their new combo debit/credit card.

I told the woman “Put me on your do not call list and don’t ever call me again for something like that!” I then informed her that if I got another sales call (or similar), I’d take my business elsewhere – all of it.

Was that harsh? Believe me, I was using restraint (because I knew she was just doing her job). Thing is, the last time I got an “important” message from the bank was about six years ago. They were calling to tell me that one of my accounts was overdrawn by several thousand dollars.

What???

After an initial (and I’m proud to say, internal) panic, I realized that it wasn’t my personal account, but the RWA chapter’s. And regardless of which account it was, I knew I hadn’t written that much in checks. “There must be some fraudulent activity on the account,” I told the woman.

Indeed there was. Some shady “company” in Belgium had charged each of the chapter’s three debit cards, overdrawing the account with the third withdrawal.

It took awhile, but the bank took care of it. They opened a new account and replaced the amount we’d had stolen so we could continue to pay our bills. I continued to get calls from their phone center drones reminding me that my account was still overdrawn, which prompted me to call the head office each time and remind them that I was waiting for them to “investigate” the fraud charges, but it all ended up working out. I’m thankful that was all the hackers got, and that it was resolved in a few weeks.

Oh, and I cancelled the debit cards immediately, both the chapter’s and my personal one. They were nice to have, but the chapter doesn’t need them. We just write checks, and if we absolutely have to have a card, one of the officers uses a personal credit card, and I reimburse quickly.

What about you? I’d love to hear from you! Have you ever been the victim of identity theft? What do you think about the bank calling to offer you services? Do you think I was a little harsh to the woman? Or would you have already broken up with your bank?

by Jennette, March 21, 2012

Quick ROW80 update, since I don’t normally do mid-week updates, but today ends the round.

My primary goal was to release Time’s Fugitive.

That didn’t happen. But it’s close! Here’s the breakdown:

Finish revision of Time’s Fugitive – Done
Send to beta readers – Done
Make changes based on beta reads – Done
Send to editor – Done
Prepare front matter, back matter, product description, and everything else needed before release – Done
Format book – nope
Develop marketing plan (preferably before release, but probably after) – Mostly done
Release Time’s Fugitive – no, but soon!

So what hit the wall? Well, some of those goals were dependent on other people: my beta readers and copy editor. My revisions also took a little longer than I expected, so that set me behind by about three weeks. Then the beta readers also needed more time than I expected – this is a looooong book. So it’s now with my editor. The good news is, she says she’s not finding much! So look for Time’s Fugitive soon!

The next round of ROW80 starts April 2. I’m definitely in! How about you? How did you do this ROW? Will you be joining us for Round 2?

by Jennette, March 19, 2012

Around here, there are two things you can count on in March: basketball fanaticism, and crazy weather.

We’ve had record-busting temperatures here since last Wednesday, where we’ve broken into the upper 70’s each day. Previous records have been 71-73 degrees. Then there have been years where the temperature never stayed above freezing for the whole day. 1997 and 2004 were cold in mid-March, with lows in the teens and twenties.

Average temperatures in the Dayton area in mid-March hover around a high in the upper 40s, and lows in the upper 20s. In the space of a week, we can go from snowstorms to sunbathing weather. Planning ahead? LOL. At any time, any kind of weather can happen!

So why on earth would anyone plan a wedding in March? I can answer that question because eighteen years ago today, I married my own romance hero. 😀

March: a great day for a white wedding!

We got engaged the prior May, on the day between our birthdays (mine is May 15th, his is the 17th). But we already knew it was happening before that, and I actually had bought my wedding dress about a month earlier. I don’t normally recommend this route, but this particular dress was the perfect dress, and it was half-off in a closeout sale – no trivial savings! And it was long-sleeve. So a summer wedding was out. Sure, we could have gone downtown and gotten married any time (this would have been fine with my husband), but after being a bridesmaid seven times, I wanted the big t0-do like my friends had – which means planning in advance. And if you’re going for one of the more popular months, reception halls, churches, and service providers often book more than a year out. Besides, I never like being part of the crowd, and had no interest in the quintessential June wedding that might conflict with someone else’s, or where our guests were likely to already have wedding fatigue.

January was out – plan something like that around here, and you’re asking for a blizzard. February’s iffy too. So March it was. We chose the 19th because the reception hall we wanted and the church both had the day available. We knew we were taking a risk – anything from snowstorm to sunbathing weather! But the luck o’ the Irish held an extra two days for us: we got the latter. And thank goodness for that, because we were able to get the maximum enjoyment from our very special wedding “limo” – a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, that my husband and his best man had spent the past year restoring for our special day. And yes, we still have it!

Want the rest of the story? Go download How I Met My Husband: The Real-life Love Stories of 25 Romance Authors and check out my entry, “Looking for Mr. Goodwrench.” It’s free on Smashwords, and will soon be available on other outlets. I designed the cover. 🙂

How’s March been treating you? I’d love to hear from you! Got any March news or history to share? Has the weather in your area been unseasonably warm this March? Or are you holed up watching basketball and haven’t noticed? 🙂

Weather facts from Weather Underground
Wedding photo ©1994 by Ron Perry

by Jennette, March 18, 2012

Another good week! And that was with adding a task I hadn’t planned for – but it’s all good!

A few weeks ago, my friend Michele Stegman put out a call for guest posts on her blog. She wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day by spending the month of February featuring the real-life stories of how romance writers met their real-life heroes.

So I wrote up my story, sent it to her, and pretty much forgot about it until the day she’d scheduled my story to post. Oh, I went to her blog and commented some of the others stories – there are some good ones! – and tweeted a few, but that’s about it.

A couple weeks ago, she asked me if I’d like to be in an anthology – not a new story (thank goodness, since short stories are something I haven’t really mastered!) but my real-life story, “Looking for Mr. Goodwrench.” It turns out her husband had read some of the stories, and suggested she collect them into an ebook.

Thus was born How I Met My Husband: The Real-life Love Stories of 25 Romance Authors. I designed a cover and helped Michele with some of the formatting, and guess what – I have a new release on my virtual bookshelf! It’s free on Smashwords, and $0.99 on Amazon (although you can download the Kindle format on Smashwords). We expect it to be available on Barnesandnoble.com, iTunes, Sony, Diesel, and Kobo ebookstores soon. These are fun stories that you can read in a few minutes – great while you’re waiting in line somewhere! And there’s an excerpt of each author’s latest release. Did I mention it’s free? So if this sounds like something you like, go to Smashwords, download your free copy, and read how I met my own, personal Mr. Goodwrench.

With my graphic design background, I’m super picky about formatting and of course, the cover art, so this did take me some time. But I still managed to get my ROW80 goals accomplished, because I’d left them flexible, and allowed room for surprises!

Last week’s results:

Review HTTS Lessons 1-5
Send Hangar 18: Legacy to beta readers
Finish budget for RWA chapter (I’m the treasurer)
Set up reader newsletter
Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
Track food intake every day (Still missed a meal or two on this one)

I marked my first goal, review Lessons 1-5 in How to Think Sideways, green, even though I technically didn’t do all of them. I actually reviewed Lesson 1 the week before, and didn’t get to Lesson 5. But I marked it green because I decided I wanted to do her How to Write a Series course before going further with the plans for a single book, because the book I want to work on next is indeed the start to a new series, and I want to do this right. I completed Lesson 1 yesterday, so I count that as being equivalent to a lesson on HTTS. What’s awesome about HTWAS? The work I do for the exercises and worksheets will be the start of planning out my book.

Next week’s plans (I can’t believe this round is over after this week!):

View videos 1-3 for Lesson 2 of How to Write a Series (yep, this is the one that has videos. They’re worth it.)
Complete worksheets for part 1 and 2 of HTWAS Lesson 2 (These are very in-depth and will take a while!)
Request two more beta readers for Hangar 18: Legacy
Write content for reader newsletter and start promoting it
Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
Track food and exercise each day

OR, if my copy editor finishes with Time’s Fugitive, put off items 1 through 4 to get that formatted and uploaded, since that was my primary objective for this ROWnd.

How did you do this week? Have you had to change plans lately regarding your goals? Are you still on target to meet your goals for this ROWnd? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, March 15, 2012

I have been wondering about the preponderence of video, in place of the written word. Today, I was taking a break at work and went to a blog I follow, and was happy to find that today, the blogger was discussing something I’d been wondering about for a long time. I read it eagerly, looking for the answer…

Only to find that the remainder of the blog – and the answer to the question – was in a video.

Well, poo. I would have to wait until I got home to find out.* Because I was at work, and without headphones to plug into my computer. I supposed I could have pulled it up on my phone (which I was listening to with Bluetooth headphones), but…

Nah. Too much trouble. And takes too long.

I am not fond of videos as a rule. Maybe this comes from the fact that I hardly ever watch TV. But that’s mostly because I don’t have time. But lately, several blogs I follow have posted a video instead of a written blog post – or at least, the “meat” of the post is in a video. And I find this unfortunate. Because at work, my usual choice is to just skip it. Even if I have headphones with me. If I’m working at my client’s location, even that isn’t an option – blogs are blocked. I read them on my phone, and while YouTube works fine on it, it’s slow (in addition to the time to watch the video). If the video is from Vimeo, that’s a total non-starter – Vimeo doesn’t work on my phone at all.

The thing is, I can read fast. But a video is the speed it is. I can’t watch it any faster than it will play, nor can I easily skim ahead to the part I want to see. With written material, I can read quickly (my usual MO), or just skim to the parts that interest me.

That’s probably why I’m not a fan of audio books either – you can’t skip the boring parts. Of course, we all try not to put those boring parts into our books in the first place. But invariably, some make it in – to any book. Of course, if enough people were interested in an audio version of my books – I’d certainly look into it! But would probably only listen to them once myself.

Even Holly Lisle uses video in some of her fantastic online fiction workshops. I watch those, but knowing I have a 20 minute video to sit through, even if it’s interesting, good stuff, makes it that much harder to get to it in the first place.

People email me videos from time to time, and of course, there are plenty of Facebook shares. I like them if they’re really, really funny, but otherwise I skip them. With dozens of emails a day and writing to do, who has time?

Several industry pundits have hypothesized that ebooks will move to an “enhanced” form, where text will be supplemented with video. If these are an alternative offering to a text, or text and picture only format, great – some people probably love them. But I sure hope they don’t replace text-only ebooks. I read because I want to read. Not to mention, a good, professional video takes some doing to produce, even a decent DIY job, and they’d undoubtedly raise the price of the book.

I get it that sometimes, something just can’t be as easily explained with text and pictures, and if it’s something I’m trying to learn, I’ll watch a video. Or if it’s really, really funny. Otherwise, please write!

* I emailed the one blog to myself through Google Reader, and watched it when I got home from work. But usually I don’t remember to do this.

In the interest of presenting both sides, here a couple videos that are so freakin’ funny I can watch them over and over. I don’t think either of these would be at all effective in text and still photos.

Cat Yodeling, anyone? LOL!

I don’t know why, but I LMAO every time I see this one:

So tell me, am I the only one who’d usually rather read than watch? Do you like audio books? What do you think the concept of enhanced ebooks – is this something you’re looking forward to, or is it pretty much a “meh” thing, like it is for me?

Photo via Microsoft Office Images

by Jennette, March 12, 2012

According to the sign, the first burial was in 1803

Yesterday saw some beautiful weather here in the Dayton area – sunny, slight breeze, about 70 degrees. A perfect day for a little motorcycle ride.

I rode off to a place hidden away in the suburbs, nestled away behind strip malls, office buildings, and neighborhoods of 1960’s ranch homes. Beavertown Cemetery is a little piece of history. Although it’s less than a quarter mile away from busy Woodman Drive, visiting there is like stepping into another world.

The cemetery was built around a little farming town in what’s now the suburb of Kettering. According to the sign, the first burial at the cemetery took place in 1803. It’s currently owned and managed by the city’s Parks Department.

Shopping centers and busy streets are just out of view

Information regarding the town and cemetery is sketchy. According to one source on daytonhistorybooks.com, the town had around 50 homes in the mid-nineteenth century. There is some more information on the Geocaching site, where it looks like someone hid a cache in 2008. According to this source, the cemetery’s two acres were donated by John Ewry, one of Beavertown’s early inhabitants.

There are two main sections of the cemetery. The one closest to the entrance is newer, and most of the grave markers date from the 1940s through the 1960s. The back section, inside the gravel drive loop, is where most of the older markers are. Many are unreadable.

The section beyond the gravel loop doesn’t appear to be part of the cemetery on Google Maps, and doesn’t contain marked graves. There’s a rumor noted on the Geocaching page that poor, black residents were buried there in the early days, but these are unsubstantiated. If there are any rumors of hauntings at Beavertown, I couldn’t find them.

What was a surprise to me is that every now and then, someone new is buried at Beavertown. I suspect these grave plots have been in families for years.

Even so, it’s a fascinating place to pick up little bits of history. One can see how much shorter the lifespans were 150 years ago, and how much bigger families were – because many didn’t survive until adulthood. Through death, we get a little glimpse of what life was like back then.

What do you think? Have you visited any historic cemeteries in your area? Do you like to wander through, and get a little snapshot of life in the past?

by Jennette, March 11, 2012

This round of ROW80 has brought more learning – never a bad thing!

I learned that I do better if I schedule tasks throughout the week, particularly big tasks that need to be broken up into smaller chunks, like read-aloud editing and type-in.

I also learned that too much scheduled stuff is an invitation to get even less done.

It’s a balancing act – schedule what needs to be, without being overwhelming.

It's a balancing act!

I think I pulled it off this week. I scheduled my workouts (which I always do), and some of my writing tasks, since I’m still in a weird, in-between place there. I didn’t get quite everything done. But overall, I’m happy with what I did.

Last week’s results:

Finish Time’s Fugitive beta reader changes and send to copy editor
Format Hangar 18: Legacy for Kindle and send to beta readers (emailed them, waiting to hear what format they want)
Collect remaining tax stuff for accountant
Read nonfiction book for research
Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
Track food intake every day (missed one day, but getting better!)

So, I am pretty much in limbo for the two current projects, writing-wise. One is with my copy editor. The other is ready for beta readers. So it’s time to – yikes! – work on something… new! To that end, I’m going to jump back into a writing course I bought a year ago, and only got through five lessons before I decided to focus on getting other work out. This is Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways.

This week’s plans:

Review HTTS Lessons 1-5
Send Hangar 18: Legacy to beta readers
Finish budget for RWA chapter (I’m the treasurer)
Set up reader newsletter
Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
Track food intake every day (keeping this one on the list, because I’m still going back and entering this stuff the following day, which means I’m probably forgetting a few things)

Last week, a few folks asked about my Weekly Status Report. I totally stole this from my day job a few years ago. It’s pretty simple. I list each active project, with a total of how many hours I spent on it the past week, what my accomplishments were, and my plans for the upcoming week. My time estimates are rough, but this still gives me a good idea of time spent – and will further my case that my writing is a serious business, should the IRS ever come calling. I’ve put an example of it here, in case you’re interested.

How did you do this week? Do you keep track of your weekly progress somewhere besides your blog?