goals | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, July 20, 2014

Om-nom-nom… Must. Eat. Every. Molecule!

Isis got to get ice cream again on Monday. It wasn’t Dog’s Nite Out–that’s only once a month–but we were out of ice cream and no one remembered to put it on the store list. Everyone wanted some that night, so we went to the ice cream shop. Of course we took Isis! When we ordered, the woman asked, “Do you want a doggie cup?” Of course we did! Even though it wasn’t free that day. Isis agreed; there wasn’t a molecule left in that cup by the time she finished.

Not a lot went on between then and the weekend. I didn’t feel like I got much writing done either, but when I totaled up my word count, it was over 2,000 words. I did not finish my scene, but not bad. More on that below.

Then yesterday, I had to change banks for one of my small business accounts. My bank decided it was time to change their account offerings “to better serve their business customers.” Yeah, right. Translation: offer some extra services most businesses don’t need, and impose a bunch of fees on smaller accounts. The balance to avoid the fees was ridiculously high, so it was time for a change, this time to my local credit union. Don’t know why I didn’t do this years ago–this credit union is close to my house, enough that my husband used to walk our dogs through their parking lot every day. The ladies who worked the drive-thru window got to know him and would give the dogs treats, even though we weren’t even members there! Credit unions are nonprofit organizations, and as such, better suited for smaller accounts. So hopefully I won’t have to make another change for a long time.

I did manage to get a good bit of writing done after that, then went to dinner at a nearby sports bar/restaurant, where a neighbor was playing music. We go to this restaurant all the time, and the food is excellent. But last night, it wasn’t super-busy, yet they managed to screw up my order three times! First, my meal came without my side dish–homemade potato chips. They said they were out and making fresh. Okay, no problem. But the chips still hadn’t come by the time I finished my burger (which was super yummy, btw). Turns out another server had taken them. Then they finally brought them out–with cheese on them! Uh, that’s not what I ordered. At that point, I was wondering if the universe was trying to tell me something LOL. As in, I really Did. Not. Need. Those chips. Which I didn’t. But they’re sooooo good, and I really wanted them. I finally got them about twenty minutes after that. They were indeed sooooo good–and my meal was free. Am I going back? We’ve been to this place enough times to know that last night’s experience was not the norm. The food was still fantastic, and it always is, so yes! We’ll go back.

What I read this week: I finished my friend’s book that I started last week. I will admit this was one of those that took me a little while to get into at first, probably because there were so many point-of-view characters, but by the end, I was really tapping the pages. Not giving any more details since it’s going on submission for a big publishing deal. Here’s hoping it gets one!

ROW80 update: My goal was to complete a scene this week. I did not do that, so not quite a win, but when I went back and looked over my wordcount, I’d written over 2,000 words. This is also the climactic scene in the book, and these are IMO the hardest to write. So even though I didn’t finish the scene, it still feels like a win. I also wanted to go back and get notes down for half of the online workshop I just finished. Didn’t get that either. So that’s what’s on tap for this week, get the notes for the workshop, finish this challenging scene, and at least get started on the next, final scene.

What about you–do you give your pets people food treats? Ever gone to a restaurant where you’ve gotten bad service, but you’ll still go back? Have fees driven you to change banks? If you’re participating in ROW80, or just have goals, writing-related or otherwise, how are you doing on them? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

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

by Jennette, July 13, 2014

Yes, I’ve been asked that before, plenty of times. Mostly by people who’ve known my husband a long time, when they find out I’m his wife. And I’m sure that someone, somewhere, thinks he’s insane by marrying me. And then there’s the fact that, as a fiction writer, I do hear voices in my head…

But what the title’s referring to is yesterday’s RWA chapter meeting. That was yesterday, with an excellent program on mental illnesses by author and psychology teacher Sandy James. She mostly focused on a few that writers often get wrong, like schizophrenia, and the difference between psychopaths and sociopaths (the former are excellent actors and hard to pick out, while with the latter, people can quickly tell there’s something “off”). Even though I have a really good book on this topic, The Writers’ Guide to Psychology, Sandy covered these topics in more depth and answered tons of good questions from the chapter. And as always, it was fun to see writer friends and talk writing.

Earlier in the week, it was Dog’s Nite Out–a monthly promo event one at an ice cream shop in our area. If you take your dog, they give you a free single-scoop cup of vanilla with a dog biscuit on it. They must rake it in on these, because the place is usually packed on Dog’s Nite! Even at 4 months old, Isis did great–she’s friendly to people, especially kids, and calm and well-mannered around other dogs, too. Unfortunately, I was busy watching dogs (especially Isis) and eating my own ice cream, and did not get photos. I’ll rectify that next time.

What I read this week: I’m currently reading an unpublished book by a friend. My friend’s currently shopping it to traditional publishers, so I can’t share the title and don’t want to say much about it, other than it’s very well written, and the fictitious city in it is so well-developed, it’s like another character in the story and hard to believe it’s not real.

ROW80 Update: My own writing is going fairly well. I got my scene written for the week, at about 2800 words. I also finished the last assignment of my online workshop. So, goal met, and same writing goal for this week. For the online workshop, I need to go back and re-watch the videos and take notes. My goal there is to do that for the first half of the workshop, which is about three hours’ worth.

And this week’s puppy picture features my daughter. And yes, Isis is due for a bath…

“She smells like a dog!”
There might be a reason for that…

What about you–ever been to a Dog’s Nite Out, or similar event? Did you know the difference between a psychopath and sociopath? (I wasn’t clear on it before our program.) If you’re participating in ROW80, or just have goals, whether writing or otherwise, how are you doing with them? Is it obvious when your pets need a bath? LOL Please share, I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, June 8, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

byebye

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

by Jennette, June 1, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Jennette, April 27, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Jennette, April 20, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

puppy

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

by Jennette, March 16, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Jennette, March 9, 2014

Twice a year it happens, and throws off my day–no, several, if not a whole week–every time. My friend Jim Winter complains about it at least once, usually twice a year. This year, he calls it “Winter’s Final Screw You,” and has at other times referred to it as the “crappiest time of the year” and his “least favorite time of year.”

I have to admit, I agree. It’s basically jet-lag without going anywhere, and the older I get, the more it throws me off. Some people think it’s cool to get that extra hour in the fall (usually when they are at a bar at a Halloween party), but for me, it usually is just taken up in adjustment time. Or at the very least, an extra hour to sleep in without feeling like so much of a slug. But then the days that are already getting short seem that much shorter when sunset comes an hour earlier.

The springtime spring forward is even worse. I have enough trouble getting to sleep at night that I can’t just go to bed an hour earlier and get anything out of it. But I still have to get up an hour earlier the next day.

Of the two, I hate the switch to Standard Time in the winter more, because of that whole short day getting shorter thing. Even the government has figured out that it’s not such a good thing–we use more energy when daylight fades sooner, which is why we fall back later now than we did a few years ago, and spring forward sooner. Daylight Savings Time really does save.

OTOH, it is that much harder to get up early when it’s still dark, and the switch to Standard Time means I have to do that for only about a month. Also, I don’t like the idea of kids having to walk to school or wait for the bus in the dark any more than most parents do, so minimizing that is a good thing.

Jim’s post says there’s a movement afoot to abolish time change. I can’t say I’d be sad if that happened. Given the above, I’m not sure if that’s a solution. Neither way gives me any extra hours in the day–which is what I’d really like.

Which brings me around to my ROW80 update. I don’t know where the week went, but not much of it went to writing. I only got about 1500 words written, when I wanted to get 3500. I did get the website done, which was partially spurred by the fact that last week, I said, “this time for sure!” So that’s a win. Fitness was again, halfway there. But with the website done, I do get to move on to something else this week, which is a good thing. 🙂 Also, because my friend has been more than patient with me and I’m glad to finally have it taken care of for her. I might have a few more tweaks to do after she looks it over, but otherwise, I’m moving on to the next thing on the list. Here goes for this week:

3500 new words
Tie up any loose ends on website and format print book for friend
Fitness 3-4x

What about you–do you like time change, or do you think we should just abolish it altogether? Which one do you find harder to deal with, fall back or spring forward? And whether or not you’re a writer or participating in ROW80, how did you do on whatever goals you had this week? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, February 16, 2014

I did not make any of my goals this week. I could blame it on a lot of things–unexpected happenings, more commitments than usual, poor planning, not feeling well, but despite all of that I could have still met the goals. But still, it wasn’t a bad week.

I knew I had things going on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, which are a couple of my prime times for writing. But my husband was also out of town this week, so I’d expected to be able to make up for those earlier in the week.

That just didn’t happen. It started out being another tired week (and also headachey). Not whining, just sayin’. Thursday was a lot of fun–I participated on a panel at the library about romance novels, with writing friends Stacy McKitrick, Athena Grayson, Catherine Castle, CD Hersh, and Jessica Lemmon, which was a lot of fun. Several of us went to dinner afterward, where I met a new writing friend from my community, and that was great fun too, as hanging out with other writers always is.

I did some of the same Saturday, when I went to Cincinnati and met up with Jim Winter for a beer and a bite to eat, and more writing talk. Always a good time.

I’d still hoped to catch up on my writing after I got back, but that didn’t happen. Not sure why, just couldn’t get into it. I think I just need to skip some boring and unnecessary details and get to the next part where the bad guys come in. I have some friends from Columbus visiting today, but am off work tomorrow, so I’m going to push on that then.

Of course, due to the same things, not much got done on the website project, nor did my fitness get done. I did get some work done on the website last Sunday, and got 2700 words total on my writing throughout the week, so it wasn’t a total bust–just didn’t meet any of my goals all the way. This is one of those times where I have to remind myself that it’s a new week, and a new chance to meet your goals. Don’t try to catch up, just jump in where you are.

So next week’s goals will be the same: 3500 words on the WIP, 3-4x fitness, and finish that website project.

On another note, Love’s a Beach is now out in print! It’s available in both print and ebook at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and in ebook at iTunes and Smashwords.

What about you–do you have weeks where you just can’t get it all done, for whatever reason? What do you do to get back in the groove? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, February 9, 2014

The writing went well again this week, and like last week, it all got done in the latter half of the week.

I know some people are “binge” writers, who can go for weeks or months without writing, then fly in and write 30,000 words in a weekend. Those people amaze me. I work more of a steady pace, as my numbers and goals show. The current goal is set to encourage me to do 500 words/day, or skip a couple days and do 1000 on the weekend days, which is usually what happens.

file7631292337511 Of course, I have more time on the weekends, not having to go to the day job. But I manage to write over 1,000 words on weeknights during NaNoWriMo, and did this Thursday and Friday, too. The only why I can figure for that is that I tend to bunch other tasks into the early part of the week, namely paperwork. My husband and I own three businesses (rental properties, and my writing), so I save up all that paperwork plus any personal bill-paying throughout the week and do it all on Monday night. Sometimes I don’t get through it all, especially now that I’m also collecting tax stuff for the accountant, so that spills over into Tuesday. It is just more efficient to collect it and deal with a bunch at once, rather than handle it each day as it comes in, which I used to do.

I’d like to get some writing done those days, too, even if it’s only a couple hundred words, but it never seems to work that way. But I don’t have much paperwork piled up this week (first week of the month is always the most), so maybe it will work this time.

So here’s a recap of last week’s goals:

3500 words – Done!
Finish one web development project – Done!
Fitness 3-4x – uhhhh, maybe once.

Can’t hit ’em all, right? I did have a couple of tired days in there, and a couple of headachey ones, so the fitness just didn’t get in. But it’s a new week, right? We’ll stick with the same writing goal, since it’s working. I have another website project, and I’d like to finish that, so we’ll add it in there too. And try again on the fitness.

What about you–are you more productive toward the end or beginning of the week, or does it even out for you? Do you binge on projects, whether it’s writing or something else, or are you more of a steady-as-she-goes? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Life and Love in Four Dimensions

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