ROW80 | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, May 19, 2013

Not much to report on my ROW80 goals this week – in fact, I did not complete any of them. I could blame it on having three birthday dinners to attend, a band concert, and continued work on planning the graduation party, but really, those are nothing when we also had a houseguest this week. And not just any guest, either, but a Norse god…

Yes, the THOR TOUR has arrived in Dayton!

I was a little worried last week when Thor failed to appear in Wapakoneta, about fifty miles or so up I-75 from Dayton. But it was shortly thereafter that we had some really snarled-up traffic on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We never found out why (we seldom do), but that night, Thor arrived at my house on schedule, asking about the aliens that are supposedly stashed away there in Hangar 18.

“No, you can’t go to the base,” I told him when he asked. “They don’t care if you’re the god of Thunder. No ID, no entry. Besides, there is no Hangar 18. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” I then offered to take him to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

“What is this ‘United States Air Force?'” Thor asked.

When I explained, he seemed to approve at first. “Ah, warfare. This I understand. But… metal flying machines?”

I tried to explain to Thor about aircraft, but he wasn’t buying it. “I have no need of giant flying machines. I smite my enemies with my mighty Mjollnir!”

I was losing this battle. Then my daughter came in and saved the day. “Cool! Thor’s here! Are you going to take him to Carillon Historical Park?”

“I don’t know…” If he wasn’t interested in metal flying machines for warfare, I doubted he’d be interested in the world’s first practical airplane, with wings of wood and cloth.

My daughter had an idea. “It’s a lot scarier than the Air Force Museum, even if it is supposed to be haunted.”

Then she told me her idea, and I agreed. “That would try the intestinal fortitude of even a Norse god!”

Thor, always one to take on a challenge, agreed. “I should like to go to this ‘HIGH SCHOOL…'”

The students escorted Thor around as befitted a Norse god, on the back of a giant bumblebee.

Thor did not understand band. “What is this… flute? What is the purpose of blowing into it to make sounds? It would make a much better weapon, methinks.”

He took to Chemistry like, uh, oil to water. “I shall smite them with this pipet!”

Some of the students were rather taken aback at the appearance of a Norse god in class.

…while others exhibited the proper appreciation of a god: “Thor? I LOVE Thor!”

Thor tried his hand at painting.

He didn’t care much for English class: “These books are inferior. They are all in English!”

He wasn’t so sure about German, either, but enjoyed the attentions of the ladies.

Thor was completely stymied regarding Calculus, so he punched a student in the face. The boy didn’t seem to mind.

Thor even tried his hand at teaching, and learned that some things–such as commanding the attention of a classroom full of seniors on their last week of school–are beyond the abilities of even a Norse god.

Then it was play time. “It’s your last day, or your last year of school, so let’s pretend we’re going back to our first year,” one teacher described what was otherwise known as Kindergarten Day.

“This is not usual High School activity?” Thor asked when presented with shaving cream. “Uh, no,” the students told him. “Just have fun.” Thor thinks he might have seen one of the Hangar 18 aliens…

Thor left, parting a sea of shaving cream. “I think I shall leave High School to the young mortals henceforth!”

To see where Thor’s been, and where he might show up next, check out the THOR WORLD TOUR page on Debra Kristi’s blog!

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

Quick ROW80 update: Not much to report. I did not get any work done on my revisions, and two out of three workouts done. This week, the plan is to get back into a routine: four workouts, and get through the markup phase of the revisions.

What about you? Do you find your goals pushed aside by things like birthdays and houseguests? Can you imagine hosting a Norse god in HIGH SCHOOL??? I’d love to hear from you! And I hope Thor’s adventures will be a bit less fearsome wherever he’s headed next. 😀

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, May 12, 2013

MC900444732 It’s what we learn, as writers, that we should be putting into our stories: all the battles, the falling-in-love, the sexytimes, the tension; none of the teeth-brushing. In my case, it’s Life: the Good Stuff that’s keeping me from meeting my ROW80 goals, or in the case of next week, demanding that I once again set the bar low.

I’m talking things like end-of-year school programs, concerts, senior recognition programs, and planning a graduation party. We had each of those last week, and more this week. In addition, this week is Birthday Week: me, my husband, and my sister-in-law all have birthdays this week, plus today is Mothers’ Day. So a lot of life-interference, as far as the writing goes, but no complaints here, as it’s all good.

Despite the busyness, last week didn’t turn out too bad:

Writing: partial – complete research for short story & and do initial read-through – I researched, and got about 1/3 of the way through the read-through.
Fitness: partial – 5 workouts – got 3 in.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

I also got graduation announcements out, and got the brochure for my new-business-owner relative completed and off to the printer. So not a bad week at all, despite the lack of green above.

We have a family get-together today, and another one evening later this week. There’s a band concert another evening this week. We also need to have a family meeting to pin down the rest of the details for the grad party, so I’m setting the bar even lower this week:

Writing: complete initial read-through and mark-up for revision
Fitness: 3 workouts

What about you? How do you manage to keep going on your normal activities when life’s crazy all around you? Even when it’s a good-crazy? I’d love to hear from you (and could use the tips)!

by Jennette, May 5, 2013

I’m coming up on making another one of my major goals for ROW80, and it’s time to ask myself a basic question that I think is important to ask every now and then: What have I learned?

The first draft of my short story is done. The story itself isn’t; it still needs revision, but close enough. So what have I learned?

I don’t need to outline a short story. I did last summer when I wrote “Time’s Holiday.” Not only did the outlining seem to take forever, but the story took much longer to write than it should have. So this time, I got an idea and started writing. I worried that the ending wouldn’t come to me and that I’d wind up with a hundred pages of drivel with none in sight. (I have tried to write a novel without an outline, and that’s exactly what happened – only I had six hundred pages of drivel with no ending in sight. I did have fun, though.) But this time, the process worked, and the story’s ending came to me right before I needed it.
1500 words/week (or 300/day, five days a week), won’t get anything done very quickly, but it will keep things moving forward. I can up this pace – the 2500/week is not unreasonable, and from NaNoWriMo, I know I can do 12,000 words/week. Need to keep working on this after I get the story revisions taken care of.
It doesn’t take long to write 300 or 500 words. Even without an outline, I can get 300 words out in 10-20 minutes.
We don’t need big chunks of time to write – a bunch of little ones will get the job done – see above.
It’s helpful to do some basic research and make some basic decisions up front. I’ve decided to change the setting of my story, so I don’t have to deal with getting the main character from one place to another (which would mess with other things). But the new setting requires research, and that’s going to be the bulk of my revisions. Getting this right up front would have been helpful, and greatly reduced the time needed in revision, but oh well. OTOH, I know better than to do more than minimal research up front. That may work for some people, but for me, it ends up being an excuse to procrastinate getting started writing. I prefer to do most of it after the first draft is written, so I have specific things I can look up.

So a lot of learning, and overall, a good week. Here are the details:

Design flyer for relative’s small business – Done!
Writing: finish short story – Done!
Fitness: 5 workouts – partial – got four in

This week, I’m going to keep it simple. I have some boring business stuff on my Weekly Status Report to do, but don’t really want to list that here. I also have stuff going on this coming weekend. So we’ll just stick with:

Writing: complete research for short story & and do initial read-through
Fitness: 5 workouts

What about you? Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, or whether or not you write, how are you doing with your spring goals? What have they taught you lately? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 28, 2013

Two out of three isn’t bad, although this is yet another week where I totally could have accomplished all three goals if I would have just kicked myself into gear on the writing and gotten it done. I did give it priority over the brochure design, but instead of working on that project when I didn’t feel like writing, I just goofed off more.

The good news is I got my 2500 words in, and I did finally kick myself into high gear, by using an old friend: the timer.

My friend, the timer

I’ve also been following Dean Wesley Smith’s progress as he chronicles ghost-writing a novel in ten days. Writers, this is very worth checking out, to see how a seasoned pro does it! He takes plenty of breaks, and does lots of other stuff too – but when he writes, he sits in the chair, gets the words down, and doesn’t slack. This evening, I had another 800 words to reach my weekly goal of a measly 2500 words (Mr. Smith writes over 7k/day), so I told myself, if he writes 1000 words in an hour, I should at least be able to get these 800 words in about the same amount of time (I’ve also timed myself before, so I know I can). I also remembered what Flylady says: “You can do anything for fifteen minutes.” Well, I made it a little easier and set the timer for ten minutes. (I use the Windows 7 Widget, in case anyone’s curious.)

When it went off, my first thought was that I’d set it for one minute instead. But then I looked at what I’d written, and I’d gotten over 200 words down! So yes, I did get those last 800 down in less than an hour.

Here’s the quick rundown of this week’s progress:

Design flyer for relative’s small business – started, but not much done
Writing: 2,500 words – Done!
Fitness: 4 workouts – Done! Actually, I went one better and did five. Back to my old routine!

So this week, the goals remain pretty much the same, except that the story will be done in less than 2500 words.

Design flyer for relative’s small business
Writing: finish short story
Fitness: 5 workouts

What about you – do you have trouble with procrastination sometimes? What do you do to get over it? Please share – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 21, 2013

dress front The prom dress is FINISHED, along with the petticoat!

This is a huge accomplishment. My daughter picked out the pattern, and we bought the fabric in January. We started cutting in February (some fabric had to be ordered online), and I’ve done a bit each week since, although I had a couple of slow weeks when I was sick in March. Her boyfriend’s prom is next weekend, and hers is the week following (they go to different schools), so the timing is perfect.

Making this dress took a lot of time, and took me away from my other work (writing)–and it was totally worth it. Even though she arrived home for a school function pretty late last night, and was ready to go to bed, my daughter couldn’t wait to try the dress on. Seeing her face when she wore it for the first time with everything complete was what made it totally worthwhile to put my own dream work on speed: slow while helping her achieve her dream.

My relative with the startup business was really excited with his website, too. They’d had a setback earlier that week, that really bummed him out, and he told me seeing the website gave him and his partners renewed motivation. Another totally-worth-it!

So here’s the recap:

Dress: make the petticoat, hem and finish the dress – DONE.
Writing: 2,500 more words on short story – Partial – got about 1700 words written.
Fitness: 4 short workouts – DONE.

So the dress is done. I’ll let my daughter do the celebrating next weekend!

On the writing front, I didn’t quite reach my goal, and truth be known, that was because I spent too much time goofing off playing computer games on the weeknights. I also have a feeling this short story is going to turn into a novella, but not sure yet so we’ll see. Anyway, here’s my plan for the week:

Design flyer for relative’s small business
Writing: 2,500 words
Fitness: 4 workouts

How about you? Have you knocked out any major goals so far this year? Have you put your goals on hold or on speed-slow to help others reach their goals? And was it worth it? 🙂 I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 17, 2013

I read an interesting post yesterday by Kristen Lamb about Twitter, and how auto-scheduled tweets bit Kim Kardashian in the tush on Monday afternoon. My blog automatically tweets when a new post goes up, and this just revealed another landmine in social media.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I really, really, don’t like Twitter.

For those not in the know (yes, I have some blog readers who might have heard of Twitter, but don’t know much about it), Twitter is a way to say something online in 140-character-or less bits to whoever’s chosen to follow you, or has a search on a word in your tweet. It’s supposed to be a great way to meet people online, but the fact is, it just hasn’t worked that way for me. I mean, anyone who’s read my books – or even this blog – knows that brevity is not my strong point.

When I do get on Twitter, I tend to hang out with people I already know from other places, just like I do in real life. That is, if anyone’s online by the time I get there. Twitter seems to be a busier place earlier in the day, while I’m at work. While I can access Twitter to some extent at the office, I’m supposed to be, you know, doing work.

And the other thing is Twitter is sort of like a cocktail party – not one of my favorite activities, either. You just jump in and talk to someone – something I am also really not good at.

That’s what’s funny about social media. Facebook, Twitter, et al are supposed to be a big boon for introverted people in that we don’t have to be face-to-face in a big, energy-draining sea of people. And some introverts really shine on social media. But I’ve found that I’m the same person online as I am in real life, and I tend to stay on the sidelines. I prefer to listen (or lurk) rather than talk.

Because of this, I do schedule tweets – or I used to. I write most of my blog posts when I have time, usually the night before they post, but sometimes a few days before. My blog is set up to automatically tweet when I have a new post up. This might have been OK when I was trying to use Twitter more and chat with people, but I just haven’t been doing that lately. So now that there’s one more reason not to be on it at all, it’s too tempting to just ditch it altogether. I probably won’t, but I’m really not sure how much use Twitter is to me in any case.

ROW80 is going better, fortunately. I’ve gone back and forth on whether I need to hem the prom dress first, or make the petticoat first. My daughter decided for me: hem first. That is DONE, and it was no small task, as big around as that skirt is–and it’s in two layers! All that remains is the petticoat. And yes, there will be pictures. 😀 I also wrote 700 words on my short story – not much out of 2500, but I tend to do the bulk of my writing in the later half of the week. Got one workout in too.

What about you – do you feel you’re the same online as in real life? If you use Twitter, are you having second thoughts about it? Do you ever schedule tweets, and now feel kind of iffy about it? Have trouble finding something worth saying that will fit into 140 characters? Please tell me I’m not alone – or tell me why I’m wrong (respectfully, please!) and how to get over my growing aversion to Twitter! And if you’re doing ROW80 (or even if you’re not), how are you doing with your goals so far this week? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 14, 2013

This is not quite the same as “set the bar low,” although that is one way we can make it easier on ourselves. What I’m talking about is expecting more of yourself than is necessary.

I finished my ROW80 goals early yesterday afternoon, and I was ready to write this post, yet I kept putting it off. Why? Because I thought I needed something more, something pithy or intriguing, or at least more interesting that just a recap of my ROW80 goals and how I did.

But I didn’t know what to write. Yes, I have my blog ideas file, but nothing on there really ties in to a quick bit of something extra for a ROW80 post.

Then I realized I’m just making things harder than they need to be. Sometimes, I have something more to say, something a little bit clever that ties into my goals over the past week. This week I don’t, so it’s just the goals.

Oh, and this brief little bit about why make things harder than we have to?

And that brings me to my ROW80 update. Keeping the bar low for my writing worked again. Here’s how last week went:

Dress: sew underskirt and hem – I didn’t hem it, because I realized it should be tried on with the petticoat, which isn’t done yet. But I’m going to consider this goal DONE.
Web design: post placeholder home page — Actually, I went ahead and designed the real site. The client loved it, and it’s up! DONE.
Writing: 1,500 more words on short story — DONE!
Fitness: 3 short workouts – DONE!

Since I no longer have a major web design project hanging over me, I’m going to bump up the writing a bit, and add one workout. Here’s the plan:

Dress: make the petticoat. Bonus: Hem and finish the dress.
Writing: 2,500 more words on short story
Fitness: 4 short workouts

What about you? Do you make things harder than they need to be? Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, did you accomplish your goals last week, and what are your plans for this week? Let me know – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 10, 2013

I’ve had a busy last couple of weeks, and so have my friends! I have a couple of cool new releases to share, but first a couple other things to note.

One, I’m being interviewed today on my friend Jim Winter’s blog about my latest release, Hangar 18: Legacy. Please stop by and ask me a question – or heck, just say hi – so Jim doesn’t feel lonely!

Two, I’ve decided it’s time to change my tagline here at jenpowell.com. Making the Mundane Magical just doesn’t seem to fit as well as I thought it would. There’s plenty of weird stuff here, but it’s not really magical. More like marching to the beat of a different drummer. Only I don’t march. I don’t dance either, except for chair-dancing. I’m sure my coworkers think I’m weird when they see me headbanging or grooving to some awesome Front Line Assembly, but they’re weird in their own ways, too. So just a little change: from here out, we’ll be Chair-dancing to a Different Beat. Sometimes in 5/4 time!

And now, we have new releases for WANA Wednesday!

First up is Forever Road by Catie Rhodes, where seeing ghosts is rough, but owing a ghost a favor flat out sucks, as main character Peri Jean says:

“My name’s Peri Jean Mace, and I’ve seen ghosts ever since I can remember. Don’t get too excited. Seeing across the veil branded me as a loony during my growing up years, and I learned to keep my yap shut about it.

Now I’m not sure I can anymore.

See, my cousin up and got herself killed the very same day I promised her a favor. Now she’s back in spirit form and determined to make me pay. If I don’t solve her murder, she’s going to haunt me forever. Talk about the debt collector from hell.

That’s not my only problem. An obnoxiously hot cop wants to arrest my best friend for the murder. My bigmouthed archenemy holds a clue to the killer’s identity. And there’s this mean—and ugly—woman who wants to beat me up.

None of this can turn out good.”

For more info and buy links, see Catie’s website.

tin_gods Also new this week is Tin Gods by Stacy Green. Tin Gods is the story of Jaymee Ballard, who, trapped by poverty and without many allies, is determined to reunite with the daughter she believes was stolen from her. But when the one person willing to help Jaymee ends up murdered in one of the historic mansions in Roselea, Mississippi, she realizes the secret of her past has come back to haunt her.

Now any hope Jaymee has of making things right rests in a man she barely knows and is afraid to trust, a man with his own demons to fight. Up against years of deception, they rush to identify the killer before the evidence–and Jaymee’s daughter–are lost.

For more info and buy links, see Stacy’s website.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

And now a quick ROW80 update: The website design was given a go, so I’m scrambling to get a home page and contact page up for them ASAP. I’ve also managed to get 600 words in on my short story, so that’s going well, and got some time in on the treadmill, too. Although yesterday,we had some fantastic weather, so I took the Harley out for a cruise instead. All in all, the week’s off to a good start!

Have you stopped by Jim Winter’s blog? What do you think of “Chair-dancing to a Different Beat?” Have you picked up Forever Road or Tin Gods yet? And if you’re doing ROW80 (or even if you’re not), how’s your week going so far? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 7, 2013

Last week, I decided to take it easy getting back into goals for ROW80 Round 2. I knew I had a lot of other commitments that would take a lot of time, and for once, remembered those and planned accordingly. I even got a couple things accomplished for the week that I didn’t include in my ROW80 goals.

This part’s done except for the hem!

It worked! Here’s how it went:

Dress: rework for fit and complete overdress portion – Done!
Web design: simple placeholder home page design – Done!
Writing: 1,500 words on short story – Done!

I can’t remember the last time I saw that! Maybe because I’ve never limited my ROW80 goals to as few as three things, and keeping them simple. I put many hours into the dress, and my daughter is thrilled. It now fits perfectly! I haven’t heard back from the family member who the web design is for, but I just did that and sent it out today. I like how it looks, so I hope he does, too. If not, reworking it will be next week’s goal.

And the writing: 1,500 words isn’t much, considering I was doing that in one evening for NaNoWriMo, but it’s a lot with this other stuff going on. I’m using what I learned in the writing workshop I took last month, and as our instructor likes to say, it’s “great fun.”

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

Since this worked well, and I still have a lot to do on the dress and website, I’m going to stick with this pattern for now. I’m going to start back into some fitness routines too, now that I’m feeling better and less tired than a week ago. So here’s the plan:

Dress: sew underskirt and hem. That will complete the dress itself, leaving only the petticoat.
Web design: post placeholder home page (depending on approval and extent of any rework needed)
Writing: 1,500 more words on short story
Fitness: 3 short workouts

Have you ever set the bar low to give yourself a better chance of meeting your goals? What do you do when you’ve consistently not met your goals? Whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, April 1, 2013

Time to post new goals! The second quarter of the year begins today (no fooling!), and with it, Round 2 of ROW80.

First of all, I’d like to thank those who’ve offered encouragement over the past few weeks! It means a lot to me, and really did help me keep going in what small measures I did. That is one of the best things about ROW80, is that there’s always someone to cheer us on when we’re doing well, and someone to commiserate when the going gets tough. I’m not a sponsor this round, but I do plan to visit plenty of ROW80 folks and give that all-important encouragement!

My writing goals kind of fizzled last round. I spend most of March sick and/or in a drugged stupor, and did well to get anything done at my day job (which I did). By the time I got home, no energy, mental or otherwise, for writing, workouts, or much of anything else.

2013-03-31_21-27-28_462 I did get a lot of progress made on the prom dress. Unfortunately, we were not able to really determine fit until I got this far, and we discovered that it’s too big. Most of this is the length of the bodice; my daughter’s short like me. This is a vintage 1950s pattern, and those didn’t have the easy places to lengthen/shorten like modern patterns do. So there’s some taking apart and redoing coming up this week. My daughter’s prom is the last weekend in April (and the following weekend too – her boyfriend goes to a different school), so I need to really get cracking on this. I also have a website design for a family member’s startup business that’s been put off due to me being sick. Therefore, I’m going to start with small writing goals, but mostly focus on the dress and website design.

Writing goals for this round are going to focus on new words. For the overall challenge, I’d like to work up to 5,000/week. I’ve done 12k/week for NaNoWriMo, so this should be easily doable for me-except for the other priorities I have going. But that’s later. For this week, let’s start simple:

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!
Dress: rework for fit and complete overdress portion (it has an underskirt and petticoats as well)
Web design: simple placeholder home page design
Writing: 1,500 words on short story

The best thing about ROW80 is we can change our goals as circumstances change, so that’s what I’ll be doing if need be. Here’s hoping I don’t have any of the kind of setbacks last month was, and hoping for the same for you! Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, what goals do you have for the next three months – or heck, for this week? I’d love to hear from you!