author | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, January 17, 2016

I ran across an interesting blog post last week about a website called Brain.fm, a tool that’s supposed to help us focus.

Like many writers, this is help I need, as when I sit down to write, I’m as susceptible as anyone to OOOOOH SQUIRREL! and thinking about things like how the gerbil cages really need cleaned, or how I haven’t yet done the daily challenges in Microsoft Solitaire. So anything that can help me focus without icky side effects? I’m so there!

Image via Morguefile.com

Brain.fm offers seven free sessions, so I jumped right in that night, selecting the “Intense Focus” option. They tell you to wear headphones or earbuds, and then you get a half hour or more (you can pick your session length) of what’s basically electronic ambient music that mostly fades into the background, but blocks out other noises, like my gerbils’ wheels, the bubbling of the aquarium filter, or the TV in the next room. I was especially intrigued by the comments on the above-linked blog post, where several people tried it and found it really helped them, even one who admitted to being skeptical.

I gave it five tries, plus one at my day job, where I also have trouble focusing (probably because the projects I’m currently working on are just not that interesting). So did Brain.fm work for me?

Uhhhh, maybe.

It did block out other noise effectively. And since I like electronic music to begin with, was decent listening. But I still wanted to do things like go pet the gerbils, or see what my husband was watching in the next room. If I had more free sessions, I would give it more of a chance, but it didn’t work well enough for me to pay $6.99 for a month, or $47.88 for a year.

I mentioned this to my daughter, who was home yesterday. She hadn’t heard of Brain.fm, but she uses a competitive site, mynoise.net. So I tried that one out.

The sounds on the sites seem fairly similar, with the main difference being that Brain.fm’s music includes percussion, while those I’ve tried so far on My Noise did not. There are a bajillion different settings on My Noise, too, so I spent much of my writing time last night fiddling with it. I did find some sounds I liked, and it had about the same effect as Brain.fm – and a one-time donation of as little as $5.00 unlocks all the advanced features. So I tried those out too.

I’ve only tried My Noise once, so not enough to decide how well it works. I’ll update you when I do!

What I’ve been Reading: Still working on the same novel as last week. It’s long, and I don’t get much time to read, but it’s very good. I’ll talk about it next week.

ROW80 Update: My goal last week was to finish the next scene in my WIP. I wrote probably half of it before I realized I was padding because I was not in the mood to write what comes next. So I skipped to the next scene, and got it about half done, too, so I’ll consider that a win. I also completed the writing workshop, and the instructor said I totally nailed the assignment with my scene from the Blizzard of 1950. So another win! My goal this week is to finish both, which should be doable as this week should not be as busy as the last one.

What about you–have you ever tried focusing aids like Brain.fm or mynoise.net? Did it help? Or if you haven’t tried them, does it sound interesting? These aren’t just for writers, but anyone who wants help focusing, relaxing or even to get to sleep. How are you doing with whatever goals you might have, whether writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

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

by Jennette, January 10, 2016

There’s no shortage of blog posts and articles on writers’ block at any time, but there seem to be a lot of them now, with the new year. I’m one of those who doesn’t believe in writers’ block as a thing in and of itself, but I experienced a bit of block myself this week, when it came time to do the assignment for the writing workshop I’m currently taking.

Last week’s assignment I pretty much put off to the last minute, and wound up dashing off something I didn’t really find interesting, that I suspected wasn’t very good. The instructor called me on it (though nicely), which I totally expected.

This week’s assignment was a challenging one, and I put it off too.

I was blocked on it, and when I took a minute to think about it, I realized it was because I didn’t want to throw out more crap and get called on it again. But what that really was, was good old fear.

I believe that’s what’s behind most of what we call writers’ block. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of getting bad reviews, if we publish. Fear of rejection, if we’re sending materials to agents or publishing houses. Fear of… I don’t know. It’s kind of irrational when I think about it. As this very instructor has said in other workshops, what is there really to fear? It’s not like an agent, editor, or reader is going to hunt us down and shoot us for writing something not so good. If we send something to an editor or agent and it’s no good, it’s not like they’ll remember it–or the writer. Or if we self-publish, neither will readers, if they read it at all. And I have zero illusions that the instructor for my workshop remembers anything that students send in for these short, 200-400 word assignments. That’s just silly.

This week’s assignment was to write about someone in a blizzard. It helped that we had our first, real snow of the winter last night (one that’s pretty but didn’t stick to the roads, my favorite kind!). That led me to think of some cool Ohio history–something that interests me–so I wrote about a girl in the Blizzard of 1950 and sent it off. And yes, once I got going, it was fun to write, getting all those historical details in without coming out and writing a dateline. Here’s hoping that will show through for the instructor, because I’d like to think I’m learning something in that workshop. 🙂

What I’ve been reading: Still working on the same novel as last week, so I’ll discuss after I finish.

ROW80 Update: Here are last week’s goals, and how I did.

Finish two more scenes on the novella – Done
Complete last week’s assignment for the workshop- Done
Watch the workshop lesson videos for next week – Done
BONUS: Start the following scene in the novella – Done

Yes, really! I met all of them, even the bonus. It helped that I finally kicked the last of the crud last weekend, and have been feeling better this week (two weeks is an improvement over last time I got this sick, so my supplements must be helping :)).

So this week’s goals are:

Finish the next scene in the novella
Watch the workshop lesson videos for next week
BONUS: Start the following scene in the novella.

These look less than last week, but I expect the scene to be a long one, and I have plans all day Saturday, so taking that into consideration. Luckily, it’s the last week for the workshop, so no assignment.

What about you–have you had to fight through fear lately, whether writing or something else? Did the fear turn out to be something silly, and what did you do? How are you doing with whatever goals you have so far this new year, whether writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, January 3, 2016

I’ve been away from the blog for a while, between holidays and fighting off the crud. Seems like everyone around here has had it: something between a bad cold and a mild flu. My husband and daughter kicked it in three days; it’s taken me a couple of weeks (thanks to Adrenal Fatigue). But I’m feeling better now, just in time to go back to work. Not how I wanted to spend the five days off I’d planned plus holidays, but I am grateful I was able to take the time away from the office, plus three more days.

Christmas itself was fine, other than me and my parents all being sick. We ate Christmas dinner at my house off of paper plates, so no one had to do dishes. That helped a lot. And everyone got gifts they wanted. New Year’s was a laid back evening with friends at my house.

One thing I did a lot of during my sick time was read. I read two unpublished nonfiction books by friends, one of which was pretty rough-draft, but both of which held my attention. I read several published books, too.

What I’ve been reading: I finished the other four stories in the Spirits of the Season box set. One wasn’t really my thing, but good enough to finish, and the others were really enjoyable, especially Bandit’s Hollow, by Diane J. Reed. (It was time travel; of course I enjoyed it!). I also read Dean Wesley Smith’s Smith’s Monthly #14. For those who aren’t familiar with Smith, he puts out a monthly magazine that is 100% his original fiction. Each issue includes four or five short stories, a couple of poems, one or two segments of serialized novels, and one complete novel. So each one is a lot of reading, and they are always entertaining. He’s due to release Issue #25–I’m only a year behind. 😀

And now it’s time for goals. In some ways, New Year’s Day seems like a silly holiday–we’re just celebrating turning over the calendar–but that’s also a perfect time to assess, reassess, and set new goals with a clean slate (which is worth celebrating). Like most writers I know, I did not get as much done as I wanted, but I still got a respectable amount of stuff done. I finished and released a new novel in my Saturn Society world, set up a Readers Group newsletter, and actually did a little promotion, something I’ve avoided thus far (and my sales have shown it). I also began a new novella related to that latest release, which brings me to this quarter’s goals–or ROW80, Round 1.

ROW80 Goals for Round 1: I am going to keep these simple, though I have several other goals not directly related to my writing–things I’m doing for Mythical Press, some website development and related learning, and so on. A lot of writers whose blogs I’ve read want to focus more on writing this year, and I count myself with them. I do want to keep doing promotion, but hope to spend less time on it now that some aspects of it are now setup and running (my newsletter and sign-up process, for example). I also want to keep learning, both craft and business. So here are my writing goals:

Finish 1 craft workshop (I’m currently about halfway through it), and practice what I’m learning there.
Finish the current novella in progress, and get it to beta readers, and if they turn it around in time, turn it in to my publisher.
Review what I’ve already done on Saturn Society Book 3, and sketch out (outline) the second half of the book.

And here are this week’s goals:

Finish two more scenes on the novella
Complete last week’s assignment for the workshop (due tonight)
Watch the workshop lesson videos for next week
BONUS: Start the following scene in the novella.

What about you–how were your holidays? I hope you and your family stayed well, or if you had the crud, that you’re getting better! How did your 2015 goals turn out? And whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, what kind of goals are you working on now? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, December 13, 2015

I thought about titling this post “Hacking the Holidays,” but that sounds really bad and doesn’t give the impression I want. Some people may not be familiar with the term “hacking” as meaning finding ways to be more efficient, rather than a synonym for chopping, or some other form of destruction.

And yes, I’m always looking for ways to reduce stress and make more time for doing the things I want to do. That’s especially important around the holidays, when we have a bunch of stuff added to our to-do list and may have stress resulting from too many obligations, some of which we may not want to do. I’m lucky not to have that any more, but my time, and especially my energy, are stretched to begin with, so anything to help get through the extra to-dos is good. Because what’s important during the holidays isn’t getting all the things done, it’s spending time with loved ones and doing the FUN things.

I wrote a post about how to simplify some of those to-dos last year, for those looking for some help, though this may be a little late. This year, I’ve added to it.

Probably the first thing to do is pin down what, exactly, causes you the most stress for the holidays. Is it a gathering with people whose company you don’t enjoy? See if you can get out of it! Or at least, come up with an excuse to put in an appearance, then leave when you can.

As noted in the above post, Christmas cards are my bane. I know people who don’t send them at all, even though they do celebrate. As tempting as that may be, it’s not an option for me, because I send cards to people I like, some of whom I don’t otherwise keep in touch with very much. The cards at least push me to do that once a year. Also, I do like getting a few!

So I started buying photo cards from Shutterfly. It may be more money, but my husband likes us to send something unique, and this is so much easier than designing them myself. It was also a relatively uneventful year (in a very good way), so there wasn’t a lot to write about in the annual letter that goes with the cards. So I made it a top ten list instead. Easy! Then this year, I took it a step further: I paid for pre-addressed envelopes with my Shutterfly order. I know at least one of my readers is cringing right now! 😡 But, she had another good idea: a pre-lighted Christmas tree.

I have not put my tree up yet. That will happen this week, when my daughter gets home from college (finals were actually over on Friday, but she’s staying a couple extra days to decompress and see friends). When I do put the tree up, untangling and hanging the lights is definitely a pain. I would get one of those pre-lighted trees in a flash if I could find a slim one with colored lights. But there aren’t any to be found at all around here, so… untangle lights it is. Maybe next year!

Once-a-month cooking is also a big time-saver, and no more so than this time of year. We’re just about to finish off the meals we froze on Halloween, so we’re due for another cook day, probably this weekend. It takes a lot of time on that day, but wow is it great to have real, home-cooked food for pretty much no effort for the next 4-6 weeks!

Of course, my favorite holiday stress-buster involves shopping. I do not love to shop. I hate crowds, and the time it takes to find just the right thing. But online? Yes! Bigger selection, no crowds, no traffic, and I can do it at 1 AM if I want, from the safety of my own home. I have done ALL of my shopping online this year!

What I’ve been reading: Since I’ve been less stressed over holiday stuff, I’m all into holiday cheer with my reading. That started with Heaven Painted as a Christmas Gift, the novel from Dean Wesley Smith’s Smith’s Monthly #13. This is the second Ghost of a Chance book, where ghost agents help save the world. I love this series, and this one was a very different sort of Christmas story, where it was up to the ghosts to find out why people weren’t believing in Christmas spirit any more, and what to do about it before it destroyed the world. Yet despite the stakes, it was a fun, light read. Highly recommended!

I then started reading Spirits of the Season, a box set that includes novellas from a couple of my writer friends, Athena Grayson and Diane J. Reed. Athena’s story is fantastic–it takes place in the late 60’s, in Japan, and talk about being transported to a different (and fascinating) place and time! I haven’t read Diane’s yet, but the other three, while more conventional, have been very enjoyable. You can’t beat the price: eight books for $0.99, or FREE if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber.

ROW80 update: Writing has gone slowly this week, as I’ve been spending more time shopping and other holiday stuff. But I still managed to get a couple thousand words out, and did the same last week. So my goal this week is to finish the scene I’m working on, which is a long, pivotal one. Ideally, I’d get another done too, but between decorating and cooking, that’s unlikely. I can try, though!

What about you–if you celebrate, how are your holiday preparations coming along? Do you find the holidays stressful, or do you have any tips to share to make them less so? Read any holiday stories lately, or if not, what are your favorites? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, November 29, 2015

Efficiency–that’s something most of us need now more than ever, with the holidays approaching fast, and that many more things to do, while none of the usual things to do go away. These past two weeks, I’ve been working on developing more focus while writing, so I can get more written in less time.

I’ve also been doing some website work–not for me, but for one of the Mythical Press editors and cover artists. Her sites were old, and slow, the latter for several reasons. One was that it was hosted on an old server, so a server move was in order. This is something that should be easy, but I’ve done several of these recently (including this site), and it always ends up being a big job. My client’s sites were also using old themes, which needed to be rewritten from the ground up (these are custom themes that she liked, so we didn’t want something new). They were also not mobile-friendly, so I added code to make them fit well and display quickly on mobile screens. And finally, we decided that she should have a separate site for her independent cover design business, so that’s now in progress.

If that sounds like a lot of work, it’s because it was. But the thing is, I enjoy doing this stuff (so much more fun than the ones for my day job!). So I didn’t mind spending my time doing this.

I’ve also been working toward more efficiency in my writing time. Often, I have trouble staying focused on the writing while I’m there. (Like a lot of writers, I have “OOOH SHINY!” syndrome.) Having a separate writing computer helps–a lot–but recently it’s still been a challenge. So I took what seems like a counter-intuitive step: I’m spending less time there now. Last week I spend only 15 minutes/day writing, and to my surprise, I got as many words done as I’d been getting spending 2-3 times that much time. This past week, I bumped it up to 20 minutes, and stayed the course. I think knowing that I have a limited amount of time makes me buckle down and do the writing. Next week, I’m going back to 25 minutes–the classic Pomodoro method time–so we’ll see how that goes.

What I read last week: Hallowed, by Monica Leonelle. I figured since I read a lot of her craft and business books, I might as well see what her fiction’s like, and this book was free, so what was there to lose? This YA contemporary fantasy was great! The only bad part was that it ended on a cliffhanger, and the rest of the series isn’t currently available. I believe it was at one time, but she’s reworking them, I seem to remember reading somewhere.

I also read Break Writer’s Block Now by Jerrold Mundis. I don’t have writer’s block–in fact, one of the book’s main points is that there is no such thing–but I was hoping for some tips on staying focused. This is where I got the idea to spend only 15 minutes/day writing, then work up to more time. So it was very worthwhile!

This past week, I read the short stories and serial segments in Smith’s Monthly #13, by Dean Wesley Smith. I’m only a year behind on these now. 😀 As always, they were fun and entertaining.

ROW80 Update: I’m now about halfway through drafting my novella, thanks in large part to the tip in Break Writer’s Block Now. With the holidays and all the extra stuff to do that they entail, I don’t expect to speed up by much, so my goal is to complete at least one more scene, ideally, two.

What about you–have you discovered a way to be more efficient with anything recently? If not, what would you like to do more of in less time? Whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing with any goals you may be working toward? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, November 15, 2015

Skipped blogging last week, because when I went to post, found that an update had hosed my newsletter signup. So I spent the time I’d set for blogging, fixing that instead.

I did make progress on the WIP, however. It helped that not much else has been going on. And yesterday, I met with my writers group–actually, there were just two of us–but that’s always fun and invigorating for the writing. I came home and finished a scene and fixed some inconsistencies in another. More on that in a few.

What happened to My Town Monday? On another note, Karen McFarland, one of my online writing friends, left a comment on my last blog asking about My Town Monday, a feature I used to do where I shared cool bits of Dayton history. She said she always enjoyed these posts (thank you, Karen!) and was I going to do any more?

The main reason haven’t done one in a long time is they take a lot of time and energy I no longer have. Time to research, find photos I can legally use, and a lot more time to write. Also, they were part of a blog hop, where several writers blogged about something cool–whether historical or contemporary–about their hometown. It was fun to go visit other participating bloggers, but that died out a couple years ago. I still love local history, so who knows, I may post another some time. Just no specific plans right now.

What I read last week: Crushed, by Laura Kirwan. Normally, I space series books out more, partly because I like variety, and partly because I want to draw out the enjoyment when it’s one I really like. I read the first book of this series, City of Eldrich, a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. I couldn’t wait that long to dig into this one, and it lived up to the first! The bad thing now is that I have to wait for the third, and she doesn’t have a newsletter, nor does her blog have an RSS feed or email signup. So I followed her on Amazon, hoping they’ll send me an update when she releases the next book. Can’t wait!

Smiths-Monthly-Cover-12-web This past week, I read the short stories and serial episodes in Smith’s Monthly #12, by Dean Wesley Smith. There is sometimes one short in these that just isn’t my thing, and yes, there was one I skipped here, but the rest were entertaining as always.

ROW80 Update: As noted above, I’m finally moving forward on my novella. But it took some more analysis, and last week I found the real problem: there wasn’t enough conflict. Oh, the process I was trying didn’t help either, but this was the main issue. The couple were both into each other, and there wasn’t enough keeping them apart, which made for a boring book. And if it’s boring me, it’ll certainly bore my readers. So I started over, with some conflicts hinted at in one of the related novels, that I’d pretty much glossed over in my initial version of this one. A couple scenes from the original were still applicable with minor changes, so I kept those, and wrote three new scenes. Moving along much better now! My goal for this week is to keep up that level of progress.

What about you–have you ever thought one thing was stopping you from moving ahead on a project, only to find it was really something else? Have you read any good books lately? And whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing on whatever goals you may have? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, November 1, 2015

I spent all day yesterday cooking. No, I was not having a party–or even dinner guests. I was preparing a month’s worth of meals ahead of time.

I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo this month, but once-a-month cooking would be ideal for those who are, and have to either prepare meals themselves, or subsist on junk for a month. I got into it because cooking is the last thing I want to do when I come home from work at night, and DH and I have been eating out way too often. Last month, I tried a “mini” menu by onceamonthmeals.com. This was 2 meals each of five recipes, intended to be made all at once, then frozen. It was a lot of work but worth it. It was so nice to just take something out of the freezer the night before, then come home and just heat it up and throw together a couple of side dishes! And they were very good.

So I subscribed, and yesterday, I went all in with a full menu. Or, I should say, over the past few days. DH did a marathon grocery-shopping trip Wednesday (a chore I despise that he doesn’t mind doing), I chopped and prepped Friday night, and did the cooking all day Saturday. I only ended up making 12 of the 15 recipes. One I’d planned to leave out, as it was a breakfast meal we wouldn’t eat. One of the others I missed an ingredient, so will pick that up and finish tomorrow. The other needed half of a beef roast–I goofed up and used the whole thing on another meal, but that ended up being a good thing because the meal I made is an easy heat-up on serving day, while the one I missed would have taken more effort (and been relegated to weekends). The meal I unintentionally doubled was French-dip sandwiches, part of which I left unfrozen so we could eat it now. It turns out this is something DH loves, and already gave it a big thumbs-up!

Isis waits not-so-patiently for her walk while Daddy is in the hot tub

Isis waits not-so-patiently for her walk while Daddy sits in the hot tub

I will admit that, between my fatigue and the fact I’m not used to being on my feet all day, cooking day was exhausting. But as much as we enjoyed the mini menu, it will be worth it. The main thing I like about this is that it’s really efficient–grouping the shopping, prep, and cooking all up to make it take less time total. It’s kind of like when I’m fixing bugs in a software project, it’s much more efficient to fix a bunch at once than one here, one there, etc.

It’s also time-change day, when we gain an hour to switch to Standard Time. I hate Standard Time. I don’t like getting up in the dark (makes it that much harder), but I hate even more that it gets dark as soon as I get home from work. Bleh. I also hate the adjustment–it seems the older I get, the longer it takes me to adjust, although the springtime set-back is much worse. As you can see at the left, Isis is unconcerned with time change. 😀

What I read this week: This has been a slow week, both for writing and reading. I’m really enjoying the novel I’m reading, but am only about halfway through it, so I’ll write about it next week.

ROW80 update: I got a couple scenes drafted last week, and another couple this week. Not the kind of progress I want to make, but this book seems to be going more slowly, mainly because the process I used turned out not to work very well for me. But I want to write this one, so keeping at it. So shooting for three scenes this week.

What about you–have you found a way to make a task more efficient? Do you like the idea of cooking a lot at once, or do you like to spread it out, like my daughter does? How well do you adjust to the time change? How are you doing on whatever goals you may have lately? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 18, 2015

Dealing with stress–or whenever possible, reducing it–is a big part of my life as someone with Adrenal Fatigue. It’s one of the main causes–when our adrenal glands become too overworked due to stress, they stop functioning optimally, leaving us tired all the time for no reason. Even people who don’t have Adrenal Fatigue will often find themselves tired after a day of putting out more fires than usual.

Even Isis gets stressed out, though no one knows why!

Stress, and the fatigue it can bring on, is often a reason we don’t accomplish as much as we’d like. But these past couple of weeks, I’ve found the opposite to be true as well: not being able to get things done can make us stressed.

This became apparent to me in my day job recently. Normally, I like my job, but lately it’s become a real drag to the point that I almost dreaded going to the office. It’s not the workplace–I’m blessed to work with and for nice people, in a comfortable environment. But for weeks, I was stuck on both of the software development projects I’m working on. On one, I was stumped by a particularly tough bug fix. On the other, I was having problems with the software I needed to use not working properly. Then, last week I had a breakthrough on the bug fix. It’s still not done, but I’ve been making progress, whereas before, I was getting nowhere. And then I was finally able to get some tech support from the product vendor of the problematic software. With help, I got that working and have been moving along on that project.

Since then, my fatigue has been better (for the most part–I still have tired days, and am not as energetic as I was before A.F.). I realized it was because I was no longer stressed about my job. And that stress hadn’t come from worry that my inability to get anything done would have consequences–my supervisors on both projects were well aware of my problems and understood–but it was the simple fact that I was stuck and not moving forward.

We humans feel much better when we get stuff done, and have that sense of accomplishment. So having something on my to-do list that I know I’ll be able to check off is now an important part of my stress reduction plan.

Of course I always find time to read! That’s a big stress reducer too.

What I read this week: Smith’s Monthly #11, including the novel The High Edge by Dean Wesley Smith. I am now a year behind in these LOL. He writes them faster than I read! Well, he does because I read other things, too. As always, this one had some enjoyable short stories in it, plus a novel set in his Seeder’s Universe, which features a post-apocalyptic earth and the spacefaring humans who are trying to save and help what’s left of Earth’s population. Enjoyable, easy read and good for that stress reduction!

ROW80 Update: Things are moving slowly on the novella, and I finally figured out why: I over-outlined it. As an outliner, having a plan in place to give me a story map helps me keep on task and moving forward. I tried a process outlined in Monica Leonelle’s Write Better, Faster (an excellent book, with tons of helpful info) that includes sketching in the scenes before I write, but that turned out to be too much for me. I either have to toss what I sketched out, or fill in the details, transitions, descriptions, etc. and that’s making it not as much fun. Hence, more difficult to get to the computer and more slow going once I’m there. I will push through and finish this, but will stick with my simple, one or two sentence outline per scene for the next book. This week, I only got one scene drafted. Next week, I want to shoot for at least three, preferably more.

What about you–do you find it stressful when you can’t seem to get anything done? How did you overcome that? Have you read any good books lately? And whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 12, 2015

It’s often said that writers need to get away from the writing and other hum-drum aspects of life to occasionally do something fun and “refill” the creative well. I hadn’t done anything like that in a long time, and was feeling it in my day job as well. And it’s not just writers–my husband calls this “recharging his batteries.” So this weekend, my husband and I took a long overdue getaway.

We rode on his Harley to Marietta, Ohio, which is a historic river town in southeast Ohio. The weather couldn’t have been better–we lucked out! We enjoyed a lot of lovely scenery, and stayed in the historic Lafayette Hotel. It’s supposedly haunted, but we had no problems. 🙂

We took a ghost tour that night just for fun and some history. Didn’t see any ghosts, though the tour guide tried to pass off a street light with a flag blowing in front of it as “flickering.” All the fun little historical tidbits and flavor through the tour made it worthwhile. I’m still not convinced there are ghosts, but anyone who worries that oral storytelling is dying out needs to take that tour, because our guide was a major storyteller!

The next day, we spent out on the motorcycle cruising the countryside. There are nine covered bridges in Washington County, and we saw five of them. Six were west of Marietta, scattered all over the county, and three were to the east, all off of St. Rt. 26 heading north through Wayne National Forest.

Click any of the photos to enlarge.

We started out on the west. These bridges were pretty far out, on some roads that looked like that hadn’t been paved in many decades.

The first bridge, above, was in the middle of nowhere and is no longer in use.

The second one, right, was even farther out, and the road to reach it was so bad we would have skipped it had we known. In the photo, it appears to be paved, but driving on it–especially a motorcycle–showed it to be little more than a gravel road. The bridge was in excellent repair and is still in use. However, given the roads, we decided to pass on the other bridges in the area and went over to the east side.

Travel was much better there, as it was a state route, and all three bridges were close to it. We met another motorcycle couple at the first bridge off of Route 26. I don’t know whose blanket and folding chair are lying on/against the guardrail there.

The second bridge near Route 26 was still in use

The last bridge, according to this website, had been washed away in flooding in 2004, and was rebuilt in ’06. Oddly enough, it’s no longer in use.

Something else we saw a lot of during our ride were old oil derricks. This one was right behind the last bridge near Route 26. Our ghost tour guide mentioned an oil boom. I found this an interesting bit of history, as I associate Ohio more with natural gas, but Ohio has also been a big place for oil, especially near the turn of the twentieth century. In fact, according to Wikipedia, one of the first oil wells drilled in the state was in Washington County, where we traveling. All the ones we saw were old and rusted out, clearly not in use for a long time. But on the way home, nearing Athens, we saw several that looked new–and one was active.

What I read this week: a novella that has not yet been published, so I can’t name it, but I will mention it when it is, because it was fantastic! I also put a book down because I couldn’t connect with the characters–the situation was interesting, but the characters were too perfect, too charming, and everything was going right for them so there was nothing to make me care. I read about four chapters in before I gave up on it. When I do this, I always think about why, because as a writer it’s worth learning whether it’s something not to do, or a book that’s just not to my liking. This one was technically well-written, but I think it’s a combination of both.

ROW80 Update: work on the novella is going slowly. I took my computer on our trip, but got very little done. That, combined with getting very little done earlier in the week, added up to Not Much Progress. I think I got maybe 2 scenes done, if that. Aiming to make this week better, with 4-5 scenes completed.

What about you–what have you done to refill your well lately? Ever done a driving/riding tour of covered bridge country? Have you put a book down recently? And how are you doing with your goals, whatever they might be? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 4, 2015

I didn’t blog last week because ROW80 was on break, and I just didn’t feel like it. I also had not met the goals I set for myself, so needed to adjust them. More on that below.

Among other things going on these past two weeks, I’ve been experimenting with freezer meals. I’m not good (as in consistent) about meal planning, and my husband refuses to do more than a couple dinners’ worth, when he goes grocery shopping. This has led to us eating out far too often, which is not only bad for the waistline and wallet, but takes too much time! Then I read about some crockpot freezer meals here. This is nothing new; I’ve heard about them before, but cooking is one area where I am Not Creative At All, nor am I organized. Without a system in place to organize and make the process easy, it would be nothing but a big, time-wasting, chaotic mess if I tried it. But breaking it down into shopping lists and sequential instructions? I can do that!

I picked a set of four recipes from this site, but only made one of each as I wanted to be sure DH and I liked them. We ate three of them over the next couple weeks, and all were delicious! We still have the vegetable soup, but with the arrival of cool weather, that will go in this week. The author has a set of three cookbooks out, so I’m planning to get them.

After that success, I wanted more. I found this site while cruising links, so downloaded the free sample menu they offered in exchange for a newsletter signup. The sample was five recipes, each doubled to make two meals of four servings. I went for it all, which took me about four hours to prep and assemble last Saturday. One recipe actually made three meals, so we had that the following night. It was delicious! So were the other two we’ve had so far (well, to me–DH didn’t like one of them, but would with less seasoning). They provide the meal plans, recipes, shopping lists, and labels for a monthly subscription. If I decide I want more than what’s in the cookbooks from above, I’ll definitely try out a full subscription. It is SO nice to have good food with little to no prep that night, and not to have that “what’re you hungry for?” conversation all the time.

What I read the past two weeks: two novels I really enjoyed, plus a nonfiction book that was just not for me.

Last week, I read Impervious by Laura Kirwan. Of note: I found this book because the author had mentioned it in a comment on a blog I read (it was pertinent to the topic, so not blatant promo). I was intrigued about this contemporary fantasy featuring a 50-year-old heroine, so I checked it out. It was fantastic! I loved the take-no-crap heroine, plus the quirky people in her new small-town home, as well as the magical people. I will definitely get the next one!

This past week, I read The First One’s Free, by T.S. Hottle. This is the first in a new science fiction series, and as the title notes, it’s free. 😀 The author is one of my writing friends and has published crime fiction under a pen name, which is evident in this novel as well: along with superb, detailed worldbuilding, this book is full of political machinations and people whose motives are uncertain. Game of Thrones in space, anyone?

I also picked up The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. I’ve heard of this book many times, and a lot of authors find it really inspiring. I did not. It was on sale for $1.99, and I’m glad that’s all I paid for it. I found it to be full of empty platitudes and flowery feel-good stuff, and short on actual actions we can take to be more productive in our writing. It got so silly near the end that I didn’t even finish it. It may work for you; it just didn’t for me.

ROW80 Round Four starts tomorrow. To that end, it’s time to state my fourth quarter goals. My primary focus is finishing the related novella that goes along with my new release, Time’s Best Friend. I also have some work to finish up for my publisher Mythical Press, and some promo tasks. I’ve already outlined and sketched in the WIP, so now I’m working on the first draft. About 1/4 done there, I would like to draft 4-5 more scenes this week. I also have a book interior to typeset for my publisher. Next weekend is going to be a busy one for me with some family stuff, so this is going to be a stretch.

What about you–if you’re in ROW80, what are your goals this round? If not, what are some of your goals anyway, whether writing or otherwise? Have you ever tried freezer cooking? And have you read any good books lately? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

Life and Love in Four Dimensions

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