Just Jen

Be sure to keep an eye out on my blog next Friday, April 15 (which, btw, isn’t tax day this year…you get a few extra days this time.) Traci Bell will be blogging about her new book, Entangled, which was released on April 1. But this is no joke! She’ll be talking about her writing journey, and of course her new book. So be sure to check back…I’m very excited to have my first ever guest blogger. Thanks for this opportunity Traci!

I’ve had some new ideas recently that I’m working on. I won’t go into details yet because they may or may not pan out. My writing is still otherwise stalled…work has been crazy, and it leaves me mentally exhausted by the time I get home, so I’m taking it easy in my downtime.

I am going to yoga 2-3 times a week. I’m aiming for even more. I want to do it every day, whether it be in class or at home so I can get strong and super flexible. I’ve been going not quite 3 months now and already notice a big change in my flexibility (I can touch my toes!) and strength, especially in my shoulders. Even if I didn’t, the calm I feel after each class would be well worth the time.

Be sure to stop by on April 15. I’m having a guest post from author Traci Bell. She’ll be talking about her new book, Entangled, which comes out today, as well as a bit about her writing journey. I’m excited for this opportunity. Thanks Traci!

The Office of Letters and Light wrote a blog post about writing huts, and that got me thinking about what mine would look like, so I decided to follow suit and do my own post about this.

I love the sound of waves, so I’d like my hut to be on the beach somewhere. Not the sunny Florida type beach. I’m not a fun-in-the-sun beach bum. San Francisco would be just about perfect. I fell in love with the Sutro Bath Ruins when I was there many years ago. It’s on the ocean, but there are also cliffs, which will feed my affinity for rocks. Garden of the Gods in southern Illinois is one of my absolute favorite places ever. I spent 4 days there last fall, camping, reading, writing, and relaxing. I can’t wait for the weather to hold long enough for me to make at least a day trip down there again, if not a weekend camping trip. But I digress.

Sure, building a writing hut at the Sutro Bath Ruins probably isn’t realistic…but that’s not the point of this exercise. This is all about dreaming up my perfect place.

So, what will my hut look like? I think a very miniature version of a medieval castle would be pretty cool. It would have to have enough room for my dogs to run around in, but doesn’t have to be huge. One large room would be plenty of space. I’d have my desk, of course, and a bookshelf for my reference books and printouts of my novels. A small stand for my printer, plus extra ink and paper, will be next to my desk. I will also need a sound system. Speakers hooked up to my Macbook would be ideal, so I can easily listen to my own music collection, or stream music from Rhapsody or last.fm.

There will be no phone and no TV. And now that I think about it, I like Laurell K. Hamilton’s setup of having 2 computer desks, and 2 computers. One has access to the internet, and the other doesn’t. So I’d have those on opposite sides of the room. The one with internet access would be connected to the printer.

Moving away from the castle motif, I’d have lots of windows to let the sunlight in. I’d also need a “wetbar” of sorts. Not for alcohol, just for water, and my coffee maker and teapot. An electric kettle would serve for making tea. A mini fridge would store fruit and veggies for snacking on, as well as a few 8 ounce cans of Coke for when I really need a major caffeine boost. (I’ve mostly cut soda out of my diet, but nothing gives me that boost like Coke – not an entire pot of coffee or tea, so sometimes I do still drink a bit of soda.)

I’d also have a big, plush, comfy arm chair with an attached ottoman for reading breaks. Inspirational artwork would hang on the walls. Add a few dog beds, and my writing hut would be complete. The inside set up isn’t too terribly different from my current office. The teapot, coffeemaker, and fridge are downstairs, as is the plush chair, and I only have 1 desk/computer, but other than that, it’s all here. There isn’t much I’d change about my current setup.

It seems a lot of people have a ritual they perform before they start writing. I don’t mean chanting and dancing around naked (well, maybe some people do, I don’t know.) But things like, lighting a special candle, making sure your notebook and special pen are in the right place, things like that.

I don’t have much of a ritual. Usually I’ll get something to drink – coffee or tea, and a glass of water – to keep close by. But not always. And that’s about it. Depending on what I’m working on, I might make sure I have my notebook and pen handy, as I sometimes make notes when I’m not at my computer. But that’s not always a necessity. I try to keep things simple.

I’ve read theories that if you have some sort of small ritual that you do every time you sit down to write, it could help to put you in the writing mindset. You know, Pavlov’s dog and all that. Lighting a scented candle (the same scent every time.) Turning on specific music. I’ve thought about testing this theory, but what would I do? I do have a scented candle on my desk (currently it’s Christmas Cupcake by Yankee Candle. It’s always Yankee, and usually some version of vanilla.) But I don’t always write at my desk. Sometimes I write at someone in my writing group’s house. Sometimes at St. Louis Bread Company (or Panera, for those of you outside St. Louis.) Some other local coffee house. Rarely Starbucks. I don’t think they’d be happy with me lighting a candle…something about fire safety regulations. So that’s out of the picture.

Usually I put on music before I start writing. Most often I start a writing session with Emilie Autumn’s “Unlaced” album because it is so high energy, yet instrumental. But sometimes I start with something else. Sometimes I write to silence, as I am now. (Unless you count the sound of my dogs playing.)

Basically, I don’t want to be tied to something I absolutely HAVE to do before writing. It’s bad enough that if I’m at home, I can’t concentrate if the apartment is messy. Heaven forbid my desk be cluttered (this rarely happens.) I do have to have a clear desk before I can write. But again, if I’m somewhere else, this isn’t an issue. So, I guess I’ll leave this theory untested.

What about you – do you have any writing rituals?

When I posted about possibly writing about more than just writing here, Kate asked:

Is your art for me (the reader) or is it for you (the writer)?

I appreciate that you write for me, but I think you should write for yourself. If writing about something different makes you happy, do it. Let your interests determine what kind of audience you get. Don’t let your audience determine how you write.

This made me think – who do I write for? There is no doubt who my fiction is written for – me. I write it because I love to write, and because I love the stories. Yes, I hope to be published someday, but as I’ve said in the past, even if I am never published, I will continue to write. I will not change what I write for a particular audience, or to make it more marketable, or any other reason other than I want to write it.

But what about this blog? Who do I write this for? It’s gone through several formats, even platforms. I started on Blogger, updating as I felt like it. Sometimes I updated frequently, others I didn’t. Last year I moved over here to WordPress, and set a very specific posting schedule: Mix-It Monday, Writing Wednesday, Furry Friday, and Sum-Up Sunday. I stuck with that for about 2 months, then decided to focus simply on writing, and set my posting days as Tuesday and Friday, as well as keeping Sum-Up Sunday. The Sunday posts faded away, and in recent months I haven’t posted much of anything, on any schedule.

So back to the question. Who do I write this for? As I said in a previous post, I enjoy interacting with you, my readers. So in part, I do write for you. But since I’ve thought about it, I also write for myself. I write this blog because it’s an easy way to write a short, complete piece on a regular basis. And it’s a way to track my progress in writing, for myself. It is a writing journal, of sorts. I write about my accomplishments, and my disappointments and difficulties. It’s a way to not just track, but examine, my progress. In blogging about my writing, I think it lets me get just a little bit of distance to contemplate what I’m doing in a slightly more detached manner.

Is that an answer? I write this blog both for myself, and for my readers. Yep, I think that’s an answer.

I also think I will add a few posts here and there about non-writing endeavors. I’ll be playing with the format/posting schedule again as I do so. I think I’ll stick with writing-related posts on Tuesdays and Fridays, and post non-writing related things on other days. That way if you decide you like the writing posts, but not the other stuff, you can easily ignore those posts.

Sure, that may change. But that’s what I’m going to aim for at present. This blog, like myself, is a work in progress.

This isn’t about writing, or even me, but I wanted to give a shout-out to one of my favorite bloggers, Silly Grrl, who is an awesome aerialist on top of blogger and fabulous web designer. Check out the amazing video from her first paid performance. WOW!! Someday I will do this too. As I’ve said, this year, regular yoga. Next year, aerial lessons will begin.

My writing-related work has been going slowly, as you might have guessed from my lack of posting the entire month of February. OK, it’s downright non-existent. I’ve been reading a lot, but have done no work on How to Think Sideways (until this past weekend when I started trying to catch up), have done nothing on Phase 3 of The Secret Project, and have barely even thought about revisions for Divided. Which leaves me with nothing to post about on a writing-related blog. So I’ve been thinking about changing the format.

I’ve played around with a somewhat health-related blog, where I’ve sporadically posted about what I’m doing to be healthier, both physically and mentally. I talk about yoga there, my ambition of learning aerial yoga, what I eat and how it affects my energy levels and overall well-being…things like that. I’m thinking of bringing all that over here, and making this a more general purpose blog about me, not just my writing. But I’m not sure.

So I’m going to ask you. Would you like to read about more than just my writing? Or would you like to see this stay focused on writing? I’m hoping to get back on track with my goals very soon, and when that happens I’ll get back to posting more about writing. I read a handful of wide-variety-topic blogs, and really enjoy reading about more than just one aspect of the author’s life. And I enjoy blogging, I enjoy hearing from everyone who comments, so want to keep this going, even when the writing is going slowly, or has come to a screeching halt. But this blog is for you (I mean, if you aren’t reading it, then why am I writing it?), so what would you like to read about?

I finished Phase 2 of the secret project a lot sooner than I thought I would. I’m thankful for this, as it gives me more time to work on other projects, such as editing Divided and catching up on How to Think Sideways.

I completed Lesson 6, though I still have to do the exercises for Lesson 5. I also printed out Lesson 7 to start reading through this week…there’s a lot to that one! So I’m slowly catching up. Another week or two and I’ll be back on track.

The past 2 weeks I’ve learned that it’s very beneficial for me to set aside Sundays to do nothing but work on writing. And by “do nothing” I mean don’t make any plans to do anything with anyone. I’m not writing all day long, but a good chunk of it. So I’m going to try to keep my Sundays open as much as possible. And it’s good for me to refresh by just staying home in my jammies all day and relaxing. I knew this, but had forgotten just how good it is recently with wedding planning.

Though today I took my bike out for a ride. It was almost 40 degrees, so I bundled up in a ton of layers, and discovered that I am able to ride comfortably in 40 degree weather. The only hitch was I’ve misplaced my heavy winter gloves, so was stuck with my lightweight summer gloves. That forced me to cut the ride shorter than I would have liked, but my fingers were going numb. So I’ll be paying a visit to my shop this week to order some new winter gloves, as well as a grip guard to block the wind from my hands to provide even more protection. Now that I know it’s possible for me to wear enough layers to be comfortable when it’s 40 degrees, I’ll be able to get more ride time in before spring. This makes me very happy.

The last couple of weeks since my last post have seen me firmly in the grip of The Winter Blahs. It’s been cold and snowy and gross outside. I hate cold weather and snow. Yes, snow is pretty when it’s falling, and immediately after, but then it gets all slushy and dirty, and I just want it to melt. We’ve had 2 decent snow storms in the past 2 weeks, with another inch or so falling today.

I was also on an antibiotic that made my stomach upset, which made it hard to concentrate on anything. I guess I’m a bit of a baby about upset tummies. And I haven’t been sleeping well for reasons unknown.

Combine those 2 factors with a hard push of wedding planning, which is really quite tiring, and writing has taken the back-back burner. But today, I stayed home and promised myself I wouldn’t leave the house. I worked on Phase 2 of the secret project, did the critique for my online critique group, and worked on Lesson 5 of How to Think Sideways. I still need to do the exercises from Lessons 4 and 5 though. I now have Lesson 8 waiting for me, and will get Lesson 9 this Wednesday. I’m hoping to catch up a little this week, depending on what the exercises are, and have told myself I must take a break from wedding planning so I can get back on track with my writing goals. Really, the only big things left to plan/reserve are flowers and the cake. There will be a lot of little things to plan, but as far as stuff that must be reserved/ordered in advance, I’m doing pretty well, and know I can afford to take a break from the planning. But the way my mind works, I just want to be done. I don’t want to have to worry about little things from now for the next 9 months. Though from what everyone tells me, there will always be little things, no matter what.

Because of the techniques I’m learning in How to Think Sideways, I’m debating if I should push back my goal of finishing my revisions on Divided, and therefor also my goal of finishing writing Ravaged. I know there are parts that need a lot more development, and I think these techniques will help me a lot. However, it will also take longer than just basic revisions of show, don’t tell, not overusing the word “I,” and fixing the talking heads syndrome. I have a bit of time to decide what I want to do. First I have to finish Phase 2 of the secret project before I get back to editing Divided.

I completed phase 1 of the Secret Project. My first goal of the year reached, several weeks ahead of deadline too! Now I will start an intense round of edits for Divided.

My Muse didn’t give me 3 full ideas for the How to Think Sideways exercise, but I got 1 full idea, 1 idea with everything except the ending, and 1 partial idea. The partial is kind of vague. A situation popped up in my head, but a story surrounding it isn’t clear. But I think that’s pretty good for someone not in close communication with her Muse. I’ll probably try to do the exercise again later and see what happens a month or two down the road.

Last night I started reading Lesson 4 of HTTS. I’ll be getting lesson 7 this week, so I’m a bit behind, but I’m going to try to catch up this week and weekend.

That’s about all the writing updates I have right now. I started doing yoga, had the first class Saturday and went tonight, signed up for an unlimited 6 week pass. I love it! It’s a good workout, and both times so far I’ve felt so wonderful after leaving class, relaxed and confident and feeling like I can take on the world. That feeling makes me very happy…that confidence will help get me through my goals for the year.