ROW80 | Jennette Marie Powell

by Jennette, March 24, 2013

I did not accomplish any of my goals this week, although I came close on the dress.

I am still sick. What’s worse, I discovered I’m not really sick.

I started taking a new (to me) medication for my migraines a month ago. This was not without a bit of trepidation, because the list of potential side effects from this stuff is about three miles long. But I figured it was worth a try.

It’s worked great on my headaches; it’s even zapped my muscle-tension neck pain. I was feeling great until I came down with this nasty cold about two weeks ago. But I was looking up something about the medication the other day, and saw one side effect I hadn’t noticed before: “flu-like symptoms.”

Are you freakin’ kidding me? Hmm, what a choice: headaches, or being sick all the time??? Not to mention, I have plenty to do at the day job too, and my family has been more than patient at home. They are truly a blessing. But forget doing anything creative, like writing.

This medication is definitely not for me, so I am talking to the doctor about going off it (it’s one of those you can’t just stop taking). So I hope to be back in the game by the next round of ROW80.

What about you – have you had any unexpected slowdowns forced on you lately? If you’re doing ROW80, how did you do you your goals? Will you be back in April?

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, March 17, 2013

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

More than once, my high-school age daughter has been stressing over a test, and I’ve told her about the time I thought I was totally unprepared for a final in college.

I was a freshman, and studying for a Political Science exam. It was late at night, I was drinking a wine cooler (because my roommate had thoughtfully obtained it for me, having a fake ID), and I was tired. I finished the wine cooler, realized I wasn’t retaining anything I was reading, and finally said heck with it, I’m going to bed.

When I went to take the exam the following morning, it wasn’t that hard.

When my grades arrived in the mail the following week, I had an A.

I gave a presentation on formatting ebooks to my RWA chapter yesterday. I didn’t put the slideshow together until the night before. Now I know some of you reading this are thinking, so? Well, that’s not my usual M.O. I do not wait until the last minute any more. For me, that way lies madness. But this past week, I’ve had a cold that’s been kicking my butt, and it’s been all I could do to go to work and finish my writing workshop exercises. So I completed the presentation Friday night, but I didn’t feel it was that good. I kept thinking I needed to add some material about print books, but I just couldn’t muster up the energy to do it.

On Saturday, I gave the presentation, and it went very well! I think I talked more than I coughed. Several people there coughed almost as much as I did, so the group was very understanding. My chapter mates asked some excellent questions, and the presentation took just the right amount of time. No need to fill in with the print stuff.

Sometimes our subconscious knows we’re prepared, even when we think we’re not.

In the case of ROW80, however, I didn’t need my subconscious to tell me how I fared. I know I missed one of my goals, but that’s OK. Here’s how it went:

Finish assignment for online writing workshop – Done!
Finish hand-sewing for prom dress in steps 1-8 – No.
List ten more things that could happen in the new book – Done!
Finish presentation plans and handouts for RWA chapter presentation, and PRESENT it on Saturday – Done!

Well, three out of four isn’t bad, especially being not 100% health-wise. The bad news there is, the ladies in my RWA chapter who’ve had what sounds like the same thing, say it took three weeks to really shake. So I’m going to not worry about workouts for now. I also need to really get working on the dress.

Review first half of writing workshop
Finish hand-sewing for prom dress, and work through step 16
Write another 1000 words on one story started in workshop

Getting that presentation out of the way is a big relief, but more importantly, giving it was FUN! What about you – What about you? Whether or not you’re doing the ROW, how are your plans going? And more importantly, are you having FUN with them?

by Jennette, March 10, 2013

There’s a lot to be said for asking the right question. As I discussed last week, “How bad do you want it” might be motivating to some, but only served to make me feel like I was never doing enough, and that perhaps a better question was “Am I having fun?”

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

I really think that we put too much pressure on ourselves, and that those expectations come from no one else. I’m going to talk about this more tomorrow, so come back. I am not someone who has fun working under pressure. But if there’s not so much pressure, it can be fun.

Last week, I did indeed have fun, and I met most of my ROW80 goals, too! Here’s how it went:

Continue keeping up with writing workshop – Done!
Some kind of physical activity 3x – even if just for five minutes! – Done! Actually, I did four workouts, for 15-20 minutes each. Would have done a fifth, but came down with a cold toward the end of the week.
Begin sewing dress through Step 8 of instructions – mostly done. There turned out to be more hand sewing than I thought, and that is time-consuming, so didn’t quite get it all.
List ten things that could happen in the new book – they don’t have to be good ideas, just something! – Done! And it was fun. 🙂

This week, I’m going to continue taking it easy on fitness, since I’m still fighting off this cold. If I get some workouts in, I’ll consider them a bonus. I’m also going to continue taking it easy on the new book, since I am presenting a workshop on ebook formatting at my local RWA chapter this Saturday, and I need to finish the handout materials and plan the presentation for that. I’ve already watched the videos and done part of this week’s assignment for the online writing workshop, so that helps. So here are this week’s goals:

Finish assignment for online writing workshop.
Finish hand-sewing for prom dress in steps 1-8.
List ten more things that could happen in the new book.
Finish presentation plans and handouts for RWA chapter presentation, and PRESENT it on Saturday!

What about you? Whether or not you’re doing the ROW, how are your plans going? Have you had to change plans recently? And more importantly, are you having FUN with them?

by Jennette, March 3, 2013

If you are working toward a big and/or long-term goal that’s really challenging, how many times have you heard this:

How bad do you want it?

As a writer who reads a lot of writer blogs, I’ve seen this a lot.

And it never leaves me feeling good. You see, this question implies that there’s always something more we can do, that we’re never working hard enough, that if we want it badly enough and put in the effort, success will come. That question always made me feel guilty whenever I’d play computer games or watch TV. If I stayed later hanging out with friends or family than I needed to for the relationship, rather than working on my writing or promo, or something else related, that must mean I didn’t want writing success badly enough. If I’m caught waiting in line at the BMV, or the doctor’s office, or at the bank for five minutes and I’m not using that time on writing, I must be a slacker. I felt that, because my every free waking hour wasn’t spent writing, or on social media connecting with readers, or something else related to my writing career, that I must not deserve publishing success, because I “don’t want it bad(ly) enough.”

Well, I’ve had it. Enough already! Enough of the guilt trips! My butt is sore from all of the kicking, and my big-girl panties are ones I don’t want to be caught wearing if I’m in a car wreck (heaven forbid)!

I can set goals and keep them, but last week has taught me that for me, “How bad do you want it?” is not the right question. Of course I want to sell books and to keep writing, because I enjoy it. And yes, I’m willing to work for it. But you know what they say about all work and no play, and to focus on work all the time has sapped my creativity. I truly think that’s why I’ve been stuck on plotting my next book.

Taking a week off has been wonderful. What’s even better is I don’t think the new book is dead. For my writing workshop, I surprised myself when one of my assignments turned out to feature the main character from that story, and I liked it (so did my instructor). That tells me that this story still wants to be written and it still wants to be written next. It just went down a wrong path, probably due to being pushed too hard. My other workshop assignment wound up being in the Saturn Society world, and introduced a fun, new character. The best thing about doing these exercises? Neither took long, and I had fun writing them. So maybe the question we should be asking isn’t “How bad do you want it?” but “Are we having fun?”

Which brings me around to my goals. Obviously, my quarterly and yearly goals will need to change, but I’m not sure what those will be just yet. I’m also going to go lighter on the others. I started a new migraine medication last week, which is helping, but makes me tired as I’m still getting used to it. Even with that, last week wasn’t bad: I made both of my goals in that I kept up with my writing workshop, and I got all of the fabric cut for my daughter’s prom dress (THAT was no small undertaking!).

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

For this week, I’d like to:

Continue keeping up with writing workshop
Some kind of physical activity 3x – even if just for five minutes!
Begin sewing dress through Step 8 of instructions
List ten things that could happen in the new book – they don’t have to be good ideas, just something!

Taking time off from blogging helped, too. I’m not sure if I’ll get back into that this week – chances are, this is it, although I still plan to visit and comment on others’ blogs, because I enjoy that. And be assured, I appreciate every comment I get here! Either way, thanks for reading!

What about you? Have you needed to take time off from writing or other goal-oriented activities? Do you feel guilty, like you must not “want it” badly enough if you don’t pursue your goals every non-day-job waking moment? What’s your right question? Please share – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, February 24, 2013

This has been a tough week for me, writing-wise. I’ve been beating on this story that I’ve been sure was the next thing I wanted to write, for over a month now, and it just won’t gel. I put in all of fifteen minutes on it last week, going through the motions of doing a couple exercises in Holly Lisle’s Create a Plot Clinic. Even that was difficult. I just don’t want to do it, and it’s time I admitted that.

Trouble is, I’m not sure why I don’t want to work on this story. Maybe I was never excited enough about it to begin with. Or maybe there’s a problem in the story itself, that I haven’t chosen the right main character, I’m too focused on theme (a first for me), or some other story problem I haven’t yet figured out. But I was encouraged and gratified to find the following post on women’s fiction author Anna DeStefano’s blog today:

Today, Sunday, is a blog about the very hard work of resting. As exhausting as it is to put on a show the rest of the week, a Sunday of rest can be just as challenging.

Top priorities (for writers and readers and livers of life of all variations) include discovering core truths for our resting selves such as the following:

If you were the only one in your life, what would spend your Sunday doing?

If you could do only one thing today, and there were days left to do anything else, what things would disappear off your to-do list forever?

If you couldn’t speak or spend time with another person today, what one thing would bring you the most joy and satisfaction?

If you had all the money or resources or whatever else you needed to make whatever your dream for this day of rest come true, what dream would you leave all the rest behind to achieve?

If you were free of all other expectations, if there were no consequences on your horizon tomorrow, what would you want most to have achieved by the end of this Sunday?

No matter how big or how small or how taxing your own private, personal, inner dream for this day might be, pursue it. That’s the work that the best rests are made of. It’ s a start at least, telling yourself you can have what feeds you most, no matter the nurturing everyone else in your life needs. We have to feed the inner beast every now and then, so she’s ready to take on all those outward needs I eliminated in the list above, because they’re about everyone else and not the us resting days should be about protecting.

via The Soul of the Matter: Sunday, Sunday…Rest with me, won’t you? « Anna DeStefano’s Blog.

I think this is what I need to do. Thank you, Anna, for giving me permission to step back, regroup, and relax.

As for ROW80, I still managed to make some progress:

Two plot exercises for my next book – made a half-assed attempt at one, but not much.
Fitness activity 5x – got 4 activities in
Send out press release for Time’s Enemy – Done!
Assignment for writing workshop, week 2 – Done!
Re-dye the lace for prom dress, and cut one of the four fabrics in it – Done!

This week, I’m going to step back, reevaluate, and relax. I’m also dealing with switching my migraine medications, which might make it tough to do much physical activity. I’ll still look to do my workouts, but if I’m not feeling well, I’ll give myself a break. So here are the plans:

Assignment for writing workshop, week 3 (having fun with this, so no problems there)
Cut the rest of the fabric for the prom dress
BONUS – activity and/or any progress on the new book, decisions made, etc.

What about you – do you ever need to just step back, regroup, and take it easy? What did you think of Anna DeStefano’s suggestions? If you’re participating in ROW80, how’s it going?

by Jennette, February 20, 2013

This week’s new releases look like good ones! My RWA-chapter buddy Sharon Cullen released her new historical romance last week, The Notorious Lady Anne. It’s the story of Nicholas Addison, celebrated captain of the Blackwell Shipping Fleet, who has agreed to take Mrs. Emmaline Sutherland aboard the Pride and ferry the raven-haired beauty across the Atlantic on what he imagines will be a routine trip. But when the ship is attacked by pirates, the seemingly innocent passenger is revealed to be none other than the infamous marauder Lady Anne, whose name strikes fear in the hearts of sailors everywhere—and whose seductive wiles commandeers Nicholas’s affections.

Lady Anne, a legend of the high seas, has spent the last eleven years plotting revenge against her father, the owner of Blackwell Shipping. She’s targeted the Pride in hopes of plundering its captain’s company secrets. But beneath her fierce courage and bitter determination, Anne has the delicate heart of a woman—a heart that cannot help falling for Nicholas. Now Anne must make a difficult choice: bring down Blackwell or surrender to love.

The Notorious Lady Anne was featured in USA Today last week too! For more information and buy links, visit her website.

5-minute Love Stories Looking for a bite-sized read? Check out Five-Minute Love Stories by the Los Angeles Romance Authors, which includes “Finding Julian” by Debra Kristi. In these busy and hectic times, sometimes you just need a few minutes to relax and escape the world, written by some of the shining stars and exciting new voices in Los Angeles.

This anthology of twenty-two short stories explores the many sides of love, featuring love in the traditional sense while several stories show love in broader terms, love of family, love of a pet, and even a super-spicy love story.

For more info, see Debra Kristi’s blog or Amazon.

TroopMonkesy Children’s author Julie Hedlund celebrates the release of her debut storybook app, A Troop is a Group of Monkeys. It’s an interactive book for kids that introduces some of the fun plural nouns for animal groups (like “a pride of lions”) in a musical, rhyming story. Written by Julie Hedlund and illustrated by Pamela Baron, the app features original music by Tim McCanna, whose ditty you won’t be able to stop humming until long after the book is closed.

Each of the animal groups—a troop of monkeys, a colony of bats—comes to life on the screen and invites young readers to enjoy interactive play while reinforcing the vocabulary words on each page. The crocodiles snap their jaws, and the lions lick their paws. What do you suppose the skunks will do? More information is on Julie’s website or on the Apple iTunes store.

a-harry-situation-cover-1 We have a new release in contemporary romance, too – A Harry Situation by Kristy K. James. In this book, Harry Saunders, the new employee for C & J Construction, turned out to be a woman, and the only thing Chris Parker wanted was to fire her. In his opinion, there was no place for females in this business. But labor laws meant that she stayed, making him nothing but miserable. Until he discovers a secret she’s been keeping from everyone. A secret that brings out every protective instinct he possesses. More info is available on Kristy’s website.

Quick ROW80 update: we’ve re-dyed the lace, and it’s now lavender! I’ve also completed part one of my writing workshop assignment, and put in an hour on prewriting for my next work. Fitness is also on-track so far, with two workouts in.

On another note, something exciting is happening on Friday, Feb. 22: The Beauty of a Woman Blogfest! Sponsored by thriller author August McLaughlin, this event features dozens of bloggers all writing about what the beauty of a woman truly is. I don’t normally post on Friday, but this week, I’ll be posting my BOAW contribution on a thoughtful and important topic. So be sure to check back here then, and stop by August’s blog for links to all other blogs AND a chance to win a Kindle Fire!

What about you – do you like historical romance? How about super short stories? Have you ever heard of storybook apps? If you’re participating in ROW80 (or heck, even if you’re not!), how are you doing on your goals so far this week? Are you participating in the Beauty of a Woman blogfest, or planning to stop by and read? I hope to see you there! Let me know – I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, February 17, 2013

Last week, one of my goals was to dye the lace for my daughter’s prom dress, which we’re making. It didn’t quite turn out as planned. As in, it was supposed to be lavender…

Dying lace 2013-02-10_20-38-57_677 2013-02-16_20-04-12_432

…but it’s definitely pink. It could be because my daughter bought ivory lace, and the slight yellowish cast to the fabric combined with the purple to make pink. I don’t think it’s the dye – in the sink, it looked plenty purple! Or it could just be a fluke.

So we bought another bottle of dye, this time blue, in hopes that redyeing with that will make it lavender.

My ROW80 goals did also not quite go as planned, but I can’t blame it on not knowing what we’re doing, or picking the wrong thing to start with: I simply didn’t get everything done. But it didn’t go badly, either.

Here’s how I did:

Two hours of brainstorming/prewriting my next book – YES!
Fitness activity 5x – partial, I got 4x in
Send out press release for Time’s Enemy – no, although I did send it to a friend with a journalism background to look over; she had some good suggestions, which I made, but did not send it yet.
Assignment for writing workshop – YES!
Collect info for taxes – partial: I calculated my business mileage to write off, and scheduled our appointment with the accountant, but that’s about it. The appointment is for this Saturday, so this WILL be done by then.
Dye lace for prom dress, and cut one of the four fabrics in it – partial: the lace is dyed but needs to be redone; did not get to do any cutting.

On another note, I participated in a panel discussion of romance writers for the Dayton Metro Library on Saturday. We didn’t have a huge turnout, but more people showed up than the three I feared. The program went well, and we all had a lot of fun! So that’s something. 🙂

Here are my plans for this week:

Two plot exercises for my next book
Fitness activity 5x
Send out press release for Time’s Enemy
Assignment for writing workshop, week 2
Re-dye the lace for prom dress, and cut one of the four fabrics in it

So tell me, have you ever dyed fabric? If so, did it turn out like you expected? If not, what did you do? Have you ever sent out a press release before? Please tell me I’m not alone in being a chicken! And whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, what are your plans for this week? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, February 10, 2013

My husband played Elmer Fudd the other day. As in, he went wabbit hunting. Only unlike Elmer, my DH got Bugs Bunny — three of ’em, in fact.

Which meant someone needed to figure out what to do with them. Being the more inclined toward culinary arts of the two of us, my daughter did her best. She found plenty of rabbit recipes on the Internet, but there was just one problem: our friend Google revealed very little in the way of info on how to prepare said rabbit before cooking.

This was a learning experience that gave me new respect for my characters Tony and Violet, who wound up stuck in prehistoric times in Time’s Fugitive. Because even with the benefit of 21st-century tools such as a stove, stainless steel cookware, and utensils, getting the meat off the bones proved to be quite the challenge. As one would expect, rabbit is very lean, and there was a great deal of sinew and brittle bones to deal with to get at the meat.

We ended up going out to dinner that night. (Although I did get a bite of what little there was, and it wasn’t bad at all, sort of a cross between turkey and beef.)

Photo via Vogue Patterns

I also learned something about my limits when it comes to ROW80 and my goals: all my good intentions don’t matter if I’m tired, not feeling well, and/or just simply piled too much onto my to-do list. I’ve had one of those weeks where I’ve been tired and headachey all week, so not much has been done. Good thing it’s a new week, and a new chance to meet some more-reasonable goals!

Here’s how I did:

Two hours of brainstorming/prewriting my next book – partial I got maybe 1 hour in
Fitness activity 5x – partial, I got 4x in
One chapter’s exercises in the estate planning guide – I changed this to collect info for taxes; I got some of that done but not all
Be a good ROW80 sponsor and visit all the blogs I’m supposed to at minimum – No – I missed some that were undoubtedly entered later in the day
Write press release for Hangar 18: Legacy – I’m going to consider this one Done, even though I ended up writing it for Time’s Enemy instead; stop by tomorrow to see why!

I had also forgotten that I signed up for an online writing workshop that started Friday, so I have assignments to do for that. I’m also going to take ROW80 sponsor visits off my list, as I’m doing fairly well on those overall. Finally, the best thing about ROW80 is that we can change our goals. I need to do that now, as my daughter wants me to make the prom dress of her dreams. I love to sew, so this gives me the perfect excuse – not bad at all. 🙂 So here are this week’s goals:

Two hours of brainstorming/prewriting my next book
Fitness activity 5x
Send out press release for Time’s Enemy
Assignment for writing workshop (first week’s is easy)
Dye fabric for prom dress, and cut one of the four fabrics in it (The one color the lace didn’t come in, is, of course, the color my daughter wants: lavender. So we’re going to dye it.)

So tell me, have you ever eaten rabbit? If you’re participating in ROW80, have you needed to adjust your goals yet? And whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, what are your plans for this week? I’d love to hear from you!

by Jennette, February 4, 2013

Yesterday was that great American holiday known as Superbowl Sunday, where the NFL’s top two teams duke it out… AND we get to see the year’s best commercials! I will have to admit I didn’t watch much yesterday–too much else to do, and I didn’t really care who won–but when I do watch. it’s mostly for the commercials!

We have some good–well, depending on how you define “good”–local commercials, too. Take these car commercials for instance. The guy in the commercials is the sales manager for Dayton area dealership group, and whether or not you’re in the market for new car, if you live in Dayton and ever turn on the TV, you’ve seen them–and probably have an opinion on them. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re certainly memorable!

You see, this guy pops up whenever anyone mentions buying a new car… and in some of the weirdest places! It goes something like this: a husband and wife, or maybe a couple of friends, are talking and one of them mentions something like “yeah, and after this, I need to go shop for a new car.” Then this sales manager guy pops into the middle of everything (and I mean everything!) and says, “Did someone say something about BUYING A CAR??!!”

He has shown up in a ladies’ aerobics class:

…in the middle of a wedding:

…in someone’s hot tub!

…even in the delivery room! O.o

He’s shown up in the ladies’ room at a night club (in a separate stall!). He’s even shown up in bed with a husband and wife! (In the middle!) Everyone was clothed, but… ewww!

In case you’re wondering, I did not buy my Camaro from these guys, but about a year later, they bought the dealership I bought from! When we were thinking about placing an order (this was before production began), my husband said, “I don’t want that guy showing up in my hot tub!” LOL!

What about you? Would you buy a car from this guy? Do you think these commercials are funny? Creepy? Or just dumb? If you watched the Superbowl last night, which commercial was your favorite? Mine was the one for milk, with the Rock. 🙂 I’d love to hear from you!

On another note, I’m at the ROW80 blog today, talking about how to Set a Goal You Can’t Miss. Stop by and let me know what you think!

by Jennette, February 3, 2013

IT’S HERE! Well, okay, it’s on Amazon! Hangar 18: Legacy is now out, and available for purchase for Kindle, and in paperback. Here’s what it’s all about:

In July, 1947, a craft of indeterminate origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. The United States Army transported the wreckage and the bodies of several extraterrestrial beings to Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio, where they were examined, placed in storage, and forgotten. But these beings weren’t dead. Now one has awoken, and he’s angrier than hell…

Psychic Air Force officer and researcher Adam Keller is used to sensing the thoughts and emotions of others, so he keeps people at a distance. But when a desperate, telepathic voice demands rescue, dark thoughts of death threaten to overwhelm Adam. Then he meets a woman whose attraction to him—and his to her—quiets, if not silences, the voice. All he has to do is risk his heart and experience the emotions he’s long denied himself.

Skeptical programmer Lisa Stark wants nothing more than to finish the subliminal messaging software she’s worked on for over a year, a project someone wants badly enough to kill for. Then Adam discovers the voice plaguing him is an imprisoned extraterrestrial thought dead for decades. Lisa’s software is key to freeing the being and silencing the voice… if she lives to finish it.

So that’s one big ROW80 goal accomplished! If Hangar 18: Legacy sounds like your kind of book, why not hop over to Amazon and take a look? I am currently offering it exclusively through Amazon, but it will be available in other formats at other retailers this spring. I also have a few review copies still available in other formats as well, so let me know if you’d like one.

My ROW80 goals were a bit spotty this week — I always forget how time-consuming formatting and doing all the release stuff is. So that’s pretty much the extent of my ROW80 success this week, along with most of my fitness. Here are the rest of the details:

Finish formatting Hangar 18: Legacy in ebook, register copyright, send out review copies, and RELEASE IT! – Done!
One hour of brainstorming/outlining my next book, a futuristic romance – No
Fitness activity 5x – partial – got 4x in
One chapter’s exercises in the estate planning guide – No
Be a good ROW80 sponsor and visit all the blogs I’m supposed to at minimum – Done!

In my defense, I wasn’t really able to complete the estate planning stuff, because the next chapter involves things I have to ask my husband, and he was out of town all week. I also signed up for a 6-week, online writing workshop that starts next weekend, so my goals on my next WIP may change, depending on how that goes.

For this week, I’d like to:

Two hours of brainstorming/prewriting my next book
Fitness activity 5x
One chapter’s exercises in the estate planning guide
Be a good ROW80 sponsor and visit all the blogs I’m supposed to at minimum
Write press release for Hangar 18: Legacy

How are you doing on your goals this week, whether or not you’re doing ROW80? Have you accomplished any of your big goals yet this year? I’d love to hear from you – please share!