Jennette Marie Powell | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, November 10, 2013

I have had one of those weeks where I’ve forgotten everything, it seems. I forgot two people’s birthdays–one of my best friends’ from college, and a relative who’s also a writing friend. (Still need to contact the relative… 😳 ) I forgot about Election Day, until Mr. Goodwrench reminded me of it the night before. Luckily, there wasn’t much on our ballot, so I read up on the items at work and stopped by the thankfully-deserted polls on the way home. I would have forgotten a get-together with former and current coworkers if one of them hadn’t texted me earlier that day. I would have forgotten to pick up my Market Day food order, if the coworker who runs it hadn’t mentioned it, and I hadn’t entered a reminder in my smartphone (thank you, Cozi!).

But one thing I haven’t forgotten is my writing. NaNoWriMo has gone well so far, though it’s been a push at times (and isn’t it supposed to be?). Maybe my brain’s so full of fictional people and events that they’re taking over the real world stuff? Or is it just the fact that I’m getting close to “a certain age?” Enquiring minds, you know…

Luckily, I did not forget my ROW80 check-in either, so here it is:

12,000 words on WIP – Done!
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page for family member’s web site – Partial–this ended up being more extensive than I thought, but I made good progress.
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – Partial (I got 3x in)

Since those are working for me, but still challenging, I”ll stick with the same goals this week. Oh, and add one more: A book cover design. This is for someone who’s not only a good friend, but also my Ideal Reader, so it’s a must. It’s also going to be a fun project, and she’s given me some excellent direction, so I’m looking forward to working on it.

What about you–do you find yourself forgetting things when one becomes more dominant in your life, or do you think it’s just age? If you’re doing ROW80 and/or NaNoWriMo, how are you doing? If you’re not, do you have other goals you’re working on, and how are those going? 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, November 3, 2013

My mom has been working on some massive decluttering for the past few years. Some of it is her stuff, but most came from her mother, who passed away a few years ago and had the classic depression-era “collector” mentality. Mom has some health issues, so it’s been slow going at times, but when she’s able, she works on one pile of stuff at a time. Eventually, a pile gets cleared, then a stack, then a whole corner of a room.

She’s still working on it, and it may take a while, but baby steps really do get the job done.

The same goes for our writing, as many of us embark on NaNoWriMo starting this week. For the uninitiated, that’s National Novel Writing Month, a challenge in which the goal is to write 50,000 words–the equivalent of a short novel–in one month. I’ve done it–and won–twice. But it sounds daunting if you’re not a writer, or if you’ve never done it. And indeed, it’s a lot, and it takes dedication. But so does decluttering something like what my mom’s working on, and the same approach can work to getting through a big goal like NaNoWriMo.

Just write a sentence. Then the next. And the next. And the next thing you know, you’ll have a paragraph. A page. A scene. A chapter.

Baby steps really do get the job done.

To that end, I break my NaNoWriMo goal down into weekly goals, as part of my ROW80 goals. This week’s goals were:

4500 words on WIP – close! I got 4,000. I’m happy with that.
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – I got the lessons done, will do the homework today (it’s due tonight).
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site – No
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – No

Looks like I need to get back into that baby step mentality for the website and fitness. We’ll work on that this week:

12,000 words on WIP
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short

What about you? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo and/or ROW80, how are you doing? If not, are you working on some other goal? Have you tried the baby step approach? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 27, 2013

Scaling down my fitness goals this week totally worked for me! I’m still dealing with some lingering health issues–again, nothing major, just enough that I don’t feel up to much of a workout. But telling myself “just five or ten minutes” did the trick, and I was able to do just that! It’s true, you really can do anything for five or ten minutes.

I also did well in getting the middle of my book mapped out, and feel good about the direction it’s going. I did a lot of research reading, which leads me to this week’s My Town Monday Fun Fact:

My Town Monday Fun Fact: Dayton’s First Jail

Newcom’s Tavern today, in Carillon Historical Park

The first substantial building constructed in early Dayton was Newcom’s Tavern, built in 1798-99. The two-story log cabin was unique at the time, the first in the budding town to use mortar as log chinking. In addition to being the general gathering place for the small community, Newcom’s was also the sheriffs’s office, courthouse, church, school, and general store. Its proprietor, George Newcom, served as the county Sheriff until 1809.

But the town didn’t have a real jail until December of 1804, when a sturdy log structure featuring iron-barred windows was completed. And while there were only a couple dozen families living in Dayton (if that), there were enough people there that disagreements happened, and someone occasionally decided to solve a dispute with his fists, or by taking it upon himself to collect payment in the form of livestock, etc. Natives also lived in the area, and while they adhered to the 1795 Treaty of Greenville and no longer attacked settlers, they occasionally helped themselves to someone’s chickens.

Native American offenders were locked up in the corncrib behind Newcom’s until they were brought to trial (which was a much speedier process back then than today). But white offenders were lowered into Newcom’s well! (It was dry; Newcom must’ve dug another one). Today, “the hole” refers to being in solitary confinement, a practice decried by some prisoners’ rights advocates. Imagine what they would have thought of Dayton’s first jail!

So now back to my ROW80 Goals. Last week’s were:

Finish sketching out/outlining middle of WIP – Done!
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site – No
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – Done!

I didn’t get to the web site, so that stays on the list for this week. Things are going to change a little bit too, because I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, and that starts November 1! Yes, I’m planning to get that 50,000 words written this month. I’ve done it twice before, so I know I can, even though it’s ambitious. I’m not even shoving other stuff off to do it–it really doesn’t take that long to get the words written, once you sit down and do it. I am, however, going to stick to the shorter workouts, though I’ll spend longer times on the treadmill if/when I feel up to it. So here are this week’s goals:

4500 words on WIP
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short

What about you–if you’re a writer, are you, or have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? (If you are, I’d love to be your buddy – I’m jennettemariepowell over there.) If you’re not a writer, or not doing NaNo, have you taken on any super-ambitious goals lately with something else? Can you imagine being jailed by being tossed into a well? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 20, 2013

The best thing about ROW80, the writing challenge that knows you have a life, is the fact that we’re encouraged to be flexible. That’s good, because a couple of my goals are already presenting challenges for me.

One of those is fitness. I try to do a good half-hour interval workout on my treadmill three times a week, plus a shorter workout of weight-bearing exercises a couple times between them. It doesn’t sound like much, but it works for me and I can tell a difference when I keep up with it. But lately, I’ve had some health issues – nothing major, just enough that I don’t feel up to doing that half-hour on the treadmill, or doing push-ups, etc. So it’s time to cut back. Lately, I’ve read that three ten-minute sessions is just as good or better than one half-hour long one anyway. Even five minutes is better than nothing, so I’m going to try doing something–anything–for those four workout sessions this week.

I’ve also had some challenges with the writing, as in I’ve been doing more procrastinating than writing (or even outlining). I know that procrastination is usually a symptom of something else. Sometimes it can happen because we don’t physically feel well, but it often happens when we don’t have the proper tools, information, or preparation to do a job. In my case, I need to do some more research. So I’m going to leave my goal the same there, but focus more on the research, which I already started on last week. Which leads me to something interesting I learned:

Daniel C. Cooper (1773-1818) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Town Monday Fun Fact: The Man Who Saved Dayton

In 1787, John Cleves Symmes claimed the land between the Great and Little Miami rivers without waiting for approval from Congress. The first settlers moved into the area in 1796, only to learn two years later they might have no legal right to the land they’d paid for and worked to clear and build on. In 1799, congress set a price of $2.00 an acre–$1.17 more than they’d paid. Many didn’t have the cash, and left. Most of the rest would have, until Daniel C. Cooper, one of the original surveyors, bought the land that included the town–around 3,000 acres–for the government’s asking price, then sold it to the settlers for whatever they could afford, offering payment plans to many. He also gave the town land for churches, the courthouse, jail and other civic buildings, a park, marketplaces, and a graveyard. The park is still called Cooper Park today, and is includes the main branch of the Dayton Metro Library.

So now back to my ROW80 Goals. Last week’s were:

Finish sketching out/outlining first quarter of WIP – No
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of product listing page and individual product page for web site – Done!
Fitness 4 times – No

This week, I’m going to keep the same list, but with “fitness” referring to smaller workouts if necessary and the outlining focusing on research. For the website, it’s time to develop the Shopping Cart page.

What about you–whether or not you’re doing ROW80, have you needed to adjust your goals or expectations lately? Do you have trouble with procrastination–and if so, do you know why? Have you learned anything interesting about your hometown lately? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 13, 2013

It’s been said many times (including by me) that we don’t find time to write (or do whatever it is that we want to do), we make time. But how can we make time when so often, our days are so full?

One way is to eliminate activities that don’t contribute to the things that are important to us, and when faced with a particular activity, ask whether–and how much–it does contribute. I might ask myself, does this enhance a relationship? Am I learning something? Is it getting my novel written, or giving me a new/more practiced skill I can use in my day job? If not, I think of how I can eliminate that task, or at least reduce the amount of time I spend there. You can guess where housework falls on that continuum. 😀 Same with much of what’s on TV, or playing level after level of computer games. But taking a break to play Candy Crush for five minutes can be some much-needed downtime. So if you’re trying to eke out a few more minutes here and there for something that’s important to you, see where you can eliminate time spent on something that’s not!

My Town Monday Fun Fact

Wright Flyer III Even though I’m posting this on Sunday, many people don’t read until Monday, so I figured why not keep up the My Town Monday Fun Fact? Here’s this week’s: Many people think that the only mobile National Historic Landmark is the San Francisco Cable Cars. Not true! There are others, and one of those is right here in Dayton. It’s the Wright Flyer III, the world’s first practical airplane. Built by Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1905, it’s the first Flyer that could turn, make circles, and fly in the more variable winds we have here in Ohio. And even though it’s a National Historic Landmark, and part of the National Park System, you can see it today: it’s housed at Dayton’s Carillon Historical Park, which is operated by Dayton History, and unaffected by the government shutdown.

ROW80 Goals Update

My goals for this past week were:

Finish sketching out/outlining first quarter of WIP – Done!
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of product listing page and individual product page for web site – Partial
Fitness 4 times – No

I am going to keep those same goals this week, and try to outline/sketch out the second quarter of the WIP.

What about you – do you sometimes struggle to find–I mean, make–time for the things that are important to you? Which activities would you like to eliminate? Did you know the Wright Flyer III is a mobile National Historic Landmark? How are you doing on your goals, whatever they may be? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, October 7, 2013

It’s time to ROW again! And that means it’s time for new writing goals. But first, it occurred to me that a lot of people might not know what ROW80 is, and I write this assuming everyone does know. ROW80 stands for “A Round of Words in 80 Days” and is “the writing challenge that knows you have a life.” What this means, is that unlike other well-known writing challenges like National Novel Writing Month for example, ROW80 is not a one-size-fits-all goal. It’s whatever goal(s) the participant wants to set. The goals don’t need to be words written–they can be revision, planning, promotion… anything! Some participants throw other life goals in as well, like fitness, home organizing, or spending time with family. It’s also perfectly acceptable–encouraged, even–to change our goals as needed. Every Sunday and Wednesday, we post links at the ROW80 Blog and go to each others’ blogs to offer encouragement and support. But even this is flexible–many participants check in only once a week (I just do Sundays), and others only when they have something to report. So if you’re a writer and would like to get in on a great goals group that’s flexible enough to work for your goals, why not check it out?

ROW80 participants have different ways of defining and measuring goals, too. Most will define a set of goals for the whole 80 day Round and just measure progress toward those, but some of us break it down further. I do week-by-week goals. Here are mine for the overall Round:

I want to have my Work-in-Progress completely outlined by the end of October, preferably sooner.
I’m going to do NaNoWriMo, and I want to get 50,000 more words written on my WIP by the end of November.
I’m also taking an online workshop on Promotions that goes for six weeks, and I plan to keep up with that and all the associated homework.
I’m going easy in December, because I usually don’t get much done then, but I’d like to get an additional 10,000 words on the WIP.
In non-writing goals, I’m adding a product catalog to my family member’s website, so I want to get that done, too.
I also want to keep up with fitness activity each week.

My goals for this week:

Finish sketching out/outlining first quarter of WIP
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop, which begins tomorrow
Refine layout of product listing page and individual product page for web site
Fitness 4 times

Productivity Tip

Something I found that helped immensely in my book planning was timed writing. This will be obvious to some, and it’s something I’ve done before, but I’d forgotten how effective it was. Simply set a timer for as little as five minutes (I’m doing ten minutes) and just write notes. It doesn’t matter what it is, just write. This frees us up from perfectionism and worrying about getting it “just right.” When the timer goes off, stop. Congratulate yourself for getting it done, then go do something else. If you feel like it, do another session later, but no beating yourself up if you don’t! Do sessions of the amount of time you picked for at least a week before increasing the time–and then, increase only by five minutes per week. This has pulled out some great stuff for the scenes I’m sketching out, and I now have a much more interesting beginning planned for my WIP.

Fun My Town Monday Fact

Dayton has its own Walk of Fame! It’s located on the near West Side, right in front of the restored Wright Bros. Cycle Shop, which is part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park. There are over a hundred people recognized there–inventors (of course!), authors, artists, entertainers, business people, educators, musicians, athletes, and others who contributed to society. There’s a great Flickr gallery of it here.

What about you? If you’re participating in ROW80, what are your goals this Round? If you’re not, (even if you’re not a writer), do you have any goals you’re working toward? Have you ever tried the timer for writing, or anything else? (I’ve found it’s great for housework, too.) Have you ever visited a Walk of Fame? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, September 15, 2013

Has this ever happened to you: you’re talking about something to someone, or writing about something; then a few days later, you notice several other people talking or writing about the same thing – people who probably didn’t hear/read what you said/wrote?

Or if you’re a writer or know someone who is, this has probably happened to them: you/they had a great idea, maybe even started to write about it, then a book came out about the same thing. Or you/they submitted it to an agent or publisher, only to be rejected because the agent/publisher recently took on a book with the same premise?

Of course, there are no new ideas, and in fiction, it’s the execution, the voice, the twist we put on it with our own unique worldview that matters. But weirdly enough, the first scenario happened to me just last week, after I blogged about needing to prioritize my husband’s business over my own goals temporarily.

I also mentioned that I had another, heretofore unwritten goal of getting out more, and being more present “in real life” by giving priority to friends and making new ones.

On Monday, it seemed like the universe was sending me a message that yes, I was indeed on the right track by moving in this direction:

Fellow WANA writer Marcy Kennedy posted a fantastic blog about how we sometimes put off living life in the real world because we’re so focused on our other goals.
Then I read another great blog by another WANA friend Debra Kristi, who wrote about the challenges of balancing the need to develop a writer’s platform with her “in real life” fitness goals (I can sooo relate!).
And later that day, children’s author Nathan Bransford posted a blog how writing is a solitary profession, but it doesn’t need to be, if we make the effort to get out and form meaningful relationships with others.

Seems like there was another one, but I didn’t note it. But it really struck me how there really must be some sort of collective unconsciousness, when many of us think on the same lines without having discussed it prior. Kinda weird, huh?

Which brings me around to my ROW80 goals. I still had work to do for my husband’s business, but cutting my own goals down helped. I also skipped Thursday night trivia, as I knew I’d be spending time with writing friends at my RWA chapter meeting on Saturday. Here’s how it went:

Writing: 4000 words – Done!
Fitness: 4x – Done!

I’m going to stick with those same goals this week, but add in a stretch goal of an extra 1,000 words on the book.

How about you – have you noticed any freaky examples of synchronicity lately? Or have a past one to share? Whether or not you’re a writer, and whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing on whatever goals you may be working toward? Please comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, September 8, 2013

…that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking with it! And really, it’s the truth.

One of those other priorities is my husband’s job. He’s self-employed, and most of what he does is take care of the two apartment buildings we own. DH has always either been self-employed, or worked for small businesses, so has never had a 401k or anything like that. Those apartments are his retirement fund – and what’s currently paying for our daughter’s education. We were paying a real estate agent to do the basic property management for us, but recently decided we’d be better off doing this ourselves. So even though DH’s business has been established for several years, I’ve had to take on a bunch of start-up tasks – things we didn’t need when we had another company doing property management. This includes things like designing and ordering FOR RENT signs and business cards, setting up new forms, designing and placing ads, purchasing a domain name and setting up a quickie one-page website. None of this is difficult for me, as I’m a professional graphic designer, but it all takes time. And since we currently have several vacancies in one of our buildings, it needed to be done ASAP.

Then I spent a good bit of time with friends this week. Sure, I could have blown off some of those friends, but the thing is, I have some other goals that aren’t part of my stated ROW80 goals. One of those is to be more present in real life, and to make friends a priority. That doesn’t mean I’ll drop my writing any time someone wants to go out for a beer, but I do make plans with friends now (which I’d gotten out of the habit of doing), and when I do, I keep them. When someone asks me to do something social, I don’t just default to “no” (something I had gotten into the habit of doing) especially if that someone is my husband.

Yesterday, I could have finished up my ROW80 goals. Could have gotten in one more workout, done some decluttering, written that last 1500 words to hit my goal of 4,000, and maybe even tackled some estate planning. Instead, I went to Cincinnati to see longtime (as opposed to “old” :D) friend Jim Winter and shoot the breeze with him about writing. Great fun, and I made two new friends!

After I got home, DH and I went to the Italian Festival with three friends I’ve been joining for trivia once a week. This is something I’d normally shun, as I’m not fond of crowds, but the food was good, as was the company, and I managed to tolerate the rest.

Which brings me back to my ROW80 goals. I’m not going to worry about the decluttering or the estate planning book this week, as I need to do more work for the apartment business. The other two goals will remain the same:

Writing: 4000 words
Fitness: 4x

What about you – have you had other priorities sneak in on your ROW80 or other goals lately? Know anyone in the Dayton area who might want a clean, well-maintained, one-bedroom apartment? Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, how have you been progressing toward whatever goals you might have? Please share – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, September 1, 2013

Hangar 18: Legacy The other day, I had a really funny dream. I dreamed that the FBI kept calling me, stopping by my house, wanting to know how I found out about the aliens stashed away at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and what more did I know. Being in a dream, I was a bit slow on the uptake, but I finally figured out that they were referring to my book Hangar 18: Legacy.

“It’s fiction!” I told them. “I don’t know about any aliens on the base. I made this stuff up!” I had to be very insistent about the fact that, while I’m a software developer like the heroine in the book, the projects I work on are nowhere near as interesting as those she deals with, and even if there were aliens on the base, I’d never know. It took several more pestering phone calls, but the FBI people finally got the message. Later, they sent me cookies to apologize for bothering me. 😀 I woke up smiling.

My ROW80 goals are a sort-of smile, sort of not, as they were rather hit-and-miss. Actually, they were mostly miss, as the only one I hit was the writing, and that wasn’t until about one AM this morning. I count it as yesterday, and therefore being made, because I didn’t go to bed until after I hit the wordcount goal. Here’s the nitty-gritty:

4000 words on new ms – Yes!
4 workouts – partial – got three in.
One chapter in estate planning book – no
Spend 15 minutes decluttering – no

The novel’s now over 12,000 words, so I’m making good progress toward my overall ROW goal of 20k on the book. I’m going to keep the weekly goals the same for this week. I already got 300 words written today, so that’s a good start. I might just jump in on the estate planning book and the decluttering tomorrow, since it’s a holiday. We’ll see how that goes – plans have a tendency to change. My daughter decided to come home for the long weekend (I think mostly for the AC, LOL, which her dorm doesn’t have). I’ve enjoyed (and spent a lot of time) talking to her, catching up, and vicariously reliving the college experience. That has impacted my goals a little, but is well worth it.

What about you – I know a lot of authors get story ideas from dreams, but have you ever dreamed about a book you’ve already written (or read, if you’re not a writer)? Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have had this week? Please share – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, August 25, 2013

Confession time: I have not been very motivated this week to do much of anything. I did have a good week at the day job – I had a software release, which went well, addressed a couple of bugs quickly (which weren’t noticeable until it went into real-world use). I also had a good writing week – motivation’s not been bad there, either. But otherwise, just not happenin’.

Let’s hear it for new beginnings!

We took our daughter to college on Wednesday. Since she’s an only child, this is a big life change for my husband and me. Oh, she’ll be back for six weeks over winter break, and probably will come home for summer too – and since her boyfriend is a few months younger than her and still in high school, I suspect she’ll be back for a weekend before long, if for nothing else than to see him and do laundry. 🙂

Still, the house feels very empty. When I got home from work, I would usually go and talk to my daughter for 15-20 minutes right after I walked in the door. Now I go into her computer room and talk to the turtle (I did this before, too, but after talking to her first :)). It’s definitely weird.

Child Leaving Home is about halfway down on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, with a life-change value of 29. I can think of a lot of factors that would make this more or less stressful. It would be less of a change for those who still have other children at home. More stressful if one knew the child was going into a potentially more dangerous situation – traveling abroad, especially to a dangerous area, beginning military service (and my thanks to those who do!), or – yikes! – going to prison. The thing to note about the Life Changes scale is that both good and bad events can be stressful and throw us a curve ball.

I have it pretty good – this is what’s supposed to happen, I know my daughter will do well at school and is no doubt making plenty of new friends, and will enjoy herself. DH and I are focusing on our own interests, and on spending more time with our friends, both old and new. It will just take time for me to get settled into this “new normal.”

Here’s how my new normal has gone so far:

3000 words on new ms – Yes!
4 workouts – Partial. Got two times in on the treadmill, and probably made a dozen trips up and down three flights of stairs moving DD in to her dorm. Does that count?
One chapter in estate planning book – No
Spend 15 minutes decluttering something, anything! – Partial – I ended up going through some stuff in DD’ s computer room so I could sit on the couch next to the turtle tank, but I don’t think it was 15 minutes’ worth

I don’t have a lot of extras going on this week, and I really need to get going on those last two items, so the list will stay the same this week, except I’m going to bump the writing up:

4000 words on new ms
4 workouts
One chapter in estate planning book
Spend 15 minutes decluttering

What about you – have you had any life changes recently? I hope they were good ones! Whether good or bad, recent or otherwise, how did they affect your progress toward your goals, if any? Please share – I’d love to hear from you!

Life and Love in Four Dimensions

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