Come write at Wikinut

Another great writing site to earn some money would be Wikinut.  That is where I have been for a little bit this morning.  I think in the hard times we are in without jobs and the foreclosures that are happening to people, we are really facing hard times.

I quit my job at Marshalls a little over a month ago.  They were cutting me back to five hours a week on their Sundays since January, so I finally decided that it wasn't worth it.  Luckily, I have alimony right now to get me by.  Yet, some people without jobs, don't have any income coming in and are perhaps forced to get something that they aren't going to be happy in or care for.  They have to make their ends meet.

And also, jobs are hard to come by right now.  Too many people applying and they only need a few people and have their pick and choice over perhaps fifty to one hundred applications.  There will only be a small handful of lucky applicants there.

Welcome to the hard knocks job pool.  We're drowning in it.

Welcome to the world of online writing.  I am truly going to try to make an income from it.  Along with pushing my paper doll website and also creating a little side income with selling things on Ebay.  I have been away from writing for a day or so.  I was listing more things on ebay yesterday, and then last night while back at my appartment, I found more that thirty to fifty more things to sell.

I am deciding to part with some of my doll collection.  I am weeding out some and am going to settle for some nice pictures of them instead.  And the nice thing, getting rid of lots of stuff on ebay, creates more space in my apartment.  It really echoes now.  And when I moved into my little apartment, I was that girl you see on tv with tons of stuff and no room to walk.  And I still had some furniture in a small trailer and things at my kids house. 

I learned to sure live with a lot less.  Goodwill probably easily got 100 bags of stuff over the course of me getting rid of things.  I had several yardsales to get rid of stuff including furniture.  For free!  I needed to be able to move my stuff around.  I literally had a path to get to each room and I couldn't even get into my studio.

Less is more.

Now, back to writing at wikinut.  It seems like a nice place to write your stuff.  I've heard that the earnings are a little better there than at Triond.  However, I do like Triond too.  You want to not have all your eggs in one basket.  Try different writing sites and see which one works better for you.

Triond's setup is very simple.  Pick your title, a brief summary, then your body of work, category, tags and pick a picture of their choosing.  Very simple.  The only thing I don't like is you can't upload one of your pictures.  You are limited to your choice, and then it doesn't often show up on your published page.  They tend to pick something else.  I might email them asking about that.  I pick a rose or something with hearts and then when I social bookmark it, some picture of a car on a road shows up that has nothing to do with the article.

It usually is published right away.  Once you are established writing there, they seem to publish your stuff after five or ten minutes.  It's usually not very long.  Sometimes it is a few seconds after you publish.

Wikinut takes a little longer to get it published.  Maybe their moderators are better at looking at stuff, so it takes a little bit more time.

Although, I was surprised as I submitted the first one today, it was approved within five or ten minutes.  It usually would take a few hours or more.  Maybe they get a little more lenient as you further yourself writing for them.  Because after a little bit of time getting established with them, they come to know that you are a good writer and submit original content that isn't anywhere else.  You get in trouble if you have duplicate stuff somewhere else.  Especially with Hubpages.  Although you can publish the same things at Triond and Wikinut to try to earn more revenue with your stuff.  I might send some of my Triond poetry over there.

Wikinut's platform for publishing is relatively simple too.  Pick your categories, titles, tags, summaries, notes to the moderator if you have any.  They like to have you write a note to them that your stuff is original and not somewhere else on the internet, or if it is also at Triond let them know.  That also speeds up the publishing of your articles.
You write the body of your work, then choose a picture that you can upload.  If it is someone elses picture you need to put in where it is from.

Then publish, simple as that.

The one difference from Wikinut and Triond that is different from Wizzley is that when you write something at Wizzley it will not let you publish until you have written enough in your body of work.  I find it hard when writing a poem.  You get your poem finished and then you get the message that you have to add more to it.

Then after, I usually find myself writing a summary about the poem and other stuff.  But I like some of the design effects that you can choose from at Wizzley.  Not too many sites let you pick the color of your pages and different patterns.  That is fun.

Helium is an article writing sites, that seems to be based on assignments and titles that are already picked for you and you can choose which ones you want to write an article about. 

I think the more that you write, your earnings are a little better.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 30, 2011

Don't we all wish we could be successful like Martha Stewart.  I am a Martha Stewart wannabee.  Not that I want to come up with my own bedsheets and tv show and all the extra stuff.  But I always admired her creativity and love her magazine.

Here's my three articles on wikinut this morning.

http://nut.bz/1zl0xz_o/
Vintage Dolls on Ebay
http://nut.bz/16q0vi4y/  Calling All Paperdoll Collectors  if this doesn't work try:  http://nut.bz16g0vi4y/ so
sometimes the letters are hard to read
http://nut.bz/wnodwzk7/ 
How to be a Good Mother


If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Watching the old Santa Claus is coming to town, Rankin Bass special.  We already watched the Twas the Night Before Christmas cartoon this afternoon.
The Burgermeister!
I always loved this Santa Claus special.  Maybe it had something to do with the romance with a young Mrs. Claus.
And peril.  Even in these Christmas specials there is peril.  In a Jack Frost Rankin Bass, there was an evil man who captured Jack's love interest.  Jack good lord was human for a little bit and was called Jack Snip and posed as a tailor.  And then there was a love triangle where a handsome knight came in and stole his love interest away from him.  And of course Jack Frost decided to turn back into himself.

I missed Nester the Long Earred Donkey.

It seemed like one year when my kids were little, we must have watched all the Rankin Bass christmas specials.  There were quite a lot of them.

I'm leaving for my house soon, and am going to find my Its a Wonderful Life movie and watch Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.  It's one of my all time favorites.  I love the old classics.

There's nothing like an old black and white movie.  I grew up on them.

Still watching  the Santa Claus special.  Wow!  Mrs. Claus was a singer!  I forgot that song and all the psychedelic stuff in the background.  There was definitely a 70's style that got forced into that special.


Jennifer Jo Fay

December 24, 2011

Marla Mermaid Paperdolls set

jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net


http://www.jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net/blog/2011/12/24/Santa-Tracker.aspx?trackback=1/


If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Winter Solstice 2012 End of the World?

Okay, I wasn't aware that this was coming.  The end of the world?  Haven't people been talking about this for many years?

I was on my computer a few days ago and my sixteen year old son came home from school.  We started chatting.  Then he said, "Mom, the end of the world is coming next year."
I laughed and then went on to talk about Y2K and how everyone thought that the computers were going to stop and people would lose everything.  So people went in and did backups for nothing.

He went on to say that "Really, Mom, the world is going to end next year.  The scientists have been saying it, and it's going to happen on Winter Solstice of next year.  The sun is going to change."
I still laughed.
"Laugh it up, Mom.  It's going to happen.  It's just a matter of when."
Then he told me that he and his friends are going to get some guns, sit on the roof and blow away all the aliens and zombies.  Here I'm thinking, "Good Luck with that."  Kids are funny.

But all joking aside, it is a serious thing.  As I was talking to my boyfriend about it, he told me that it states in the bible that the world is going to burn up.  All I can say is I hope it is quick.

Another writer published an article about the newest Pirates of the Carribean movie #5 that is set to be filmed and out in 2013.  She stated if the end of the world doesn't happen.  So, people are thinking about it.

And we all are aware that it is supposed to happen someday.  We just don't know when.  Already our world's climate is changing.  We can all see and feel the effects of that.  The world is changing.  We rely heavily on the internet for our jobs and everything.  We need our cars to get around town, to our jobs, family, travel to other states to see some.

Okay, now what if the world did burn up?  What if things changed, but we are left alive to fend for ourselves?  Maybe we should start preparing ourselves.  One way us artists and writers should start thinking is preparing backups of all our stuff that we keep on the computer.  Maybe we should be printing things out that we care about, so that we have a hard copy of things that aren't on the computer.  It's probably a good thing to do from time to time anyway, just incase things happen.  Say your computer crashes, for one thing.
Back-ups are good.

Some people never do a back up and when something happens, they suddenly don't have anything and are crying because it is all gone down the perpetual drain.  It's in the sewer and you're not getting it back.

And what if the end of the world really happens?  We should be prepared for it.  Maybe we're all destined to die.  Who knows.  Honestly, I hope it never happens in our life time.  They expected it to happen this last summer and we're still here.

And what if we don't die?  How will we fend for ourselves?  What if we lose all electricity?  No more computers, phones, no working cars, no jobs, because suddenly nobody will have any money for stuff and money will be something of the past.

And what if all that went away, and we are far away from our loved ones?  You know what we will be doing?  We will be walking everywhere to see if our family members are still alive.  That could take a long time.  Look on the bright side, we will shed our pounds for sure.  But then, maybe our food will disappear.

Maybe it might be a good idea to start stocking up for a rainy day, just in case things get crazy and people start panicking.  And you know if there is a panick, people will be taking all their money out of the bank.  Who knows what would happen if there was a worldwide panic.  I don't think I would want to know what would happen.  Death for sure.

What if some places burn up and we are left homeless.  All the things that we possess could be gone and we have just our memories. 

Maybe we should really concentrating on doing all that we want to set out to do.  Don't put it off for tomorrow or the distant future.  What if the future isn't in our cards?  What if we are going to no longer exist?  We should make every moment count, as if it was our last day.  And then if we get lucky and the world's end is lightyears away, then we still have everything that we could want in life. 

Those are nice thoughts.  So let's pray that Winter Solstice 2012 isn't going to be it.  When you think of it, it isn't a lot of time left, if it really is the case.

And that means that people all over the world, young and old, married, dating, babies, etc.. will all meet the end whether we like it or not.

My daughter the other day said, "I would be the youngest in my family to die."

I told her I hope it never happens.

Jennifer Jo Fay

December 24, 2011 

If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Making Agendas and Following Through

What defines an agenda for you?  Hopefully it is a list of the things you want to accomplish each day.  We all seem to want to have an agenda that we can stick to and make sure we follow through with our plans for each day.

What are your plans?  Do you set a flawless schedule for yourself or do you get delayed with your agendas?  Do you write a list out on paper or do you just have your important agenda in your mind and rely on your memory of what you need to set out to do?

Of course right now all our agendas seem to revolve around Christmas and the fact that tomorrow it will be here.  We are almost half way through today.  Many of us will probably be on the road soon to go visit family and friends and enjoy a night of festivities.  Snacks, spending quality time together and creating memories for years to come.

Well, I had an agenda yesterday.  I had written out and published about six recipes on Triond and was ready in the evening to go into Blogger and my paper doll blog and create some new posts.  That was my agenda for last night, until my nine year old daughter came in with her own agenda and took control of my computer.  Her's is on the fritz and she can't always get on the internet with hers.

She was funny.  She even told me she had an agenda.  Yes, even children have agendas that they try to follow through with.  Her's was to create webkinz videos and to go on you tube.  Ha ha.

So, last night, I ended up just quietly cutting up some paper doll sets and my other daughter and I finished watching Christmas Vacation and then the live action Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  My favorite part of that movie is when they flashback to him as a baby and he takes a bite out of the Santa plate and then the other part when he is making his gift for Martha.  Jim Carrey can be a bit too much sometimes.

So, we come up with our agendas.  Do the laundry, wash the dishes, make the meals, call people, get our Christmas Cards sent out, finish wrapping, bake all our dishes for the upcoming day, take care of the kids, play monitor to anxious kids who can't wait one more day for Santa to arrive.  Make sure everything is picked up, vaccumn, mail out packages if we still have things to go out in the mail.  Last minute shopping, trips to the grocery store.  (Some of us forget what we need and have to go back to get more food items)

And those stores are packed now.  I went to the grocery store several times yesterday and later on it was jam packed with people.  There are those last minute shoppers.  I never liked to shop on the last day.  Not my style.  A lot of men do the last minute shopping.  But there are also many people who just keep putting it off and don't want to do it.

Agendas often are packed with ideas and thoughts.  We as writers and artists, set out with agendas of all the things we want to create.  Some of us device a list and try to make sure that we try our best to meet our goals.  Agendas should stick to the things that are important and that they need to get done.  Put the minor things to the back, and maybe eventually they will get done.  Lord knows we want to try to get everything done that needs to be fulfilled, but it is almost impossible to do it all in one day.

A written agenda is often good, as you can go back and cross it off and consider it done.  Agendas also always include the things that we don't want to do, but they have to get done.  Pay the bills, call the plumber, get your car inspected.  We don't want to get stopped by the cops and get a ticket for not having an inspected car.  Pay your parking tickets, over due library fees, and on and on and on.  Those things need to get taken car of as they won't magically disappear on us.  These things are usually on the top of the agenda.
We don't want late fees on our credit card statements.  That's no fun. 

Don't we all wish that Santa and his elves could make all that disappear.  And that money grows on trees.  Oh, wait that's my The Glorious Money Tree novel in the works.  Which should also be part of my agenda of things to get done.  I need to write the next chapters of my new novels.

Poetry.  I want to write more poetry.  I want to publish some things on some new writing sites that I haven't done anything on yet.  What to do?  What to do?  What to do?  Sometimes it is good to concentrate on one site at a time and then hop to another and spend some time on each site.  Try not to get in over your head and think you are going to write at all of these places all at once.  It usually can't be done.

Although, some of these people have invested in that software Dragon Naturally Speaking.  I'm not sure if I would want to invest in it.  Although perhaps many professional bloggers have invested in them.  I've heard stories of them loving the software.  Supposedly it allows you to speak your words and it automatically types everything up for you fast.  I can see why it might be a useful tool.

My only thoughts that might be a drawback to investing in the product.  What if you have small kids in the room and they get talking too.  Maybe it types what they say too.  And also, what if you make mistakes, you still have to go back in and fix things.

Some writers, like myself, would rather just type really fast and see the words appear on the screen.  We have the words in our heads and our brains tell us to set our fingers in motion and connect to the keyboard and start clicking away our thoughts

I used to write my daily agenda down, and would cross things off.  In the last five or six years, I have just been one of those people that just does it.  Writing down your agenda takes time.  It's an agenda that you automatically know you have to do.  But for some people it helps to have a written agenda, in case they forget something.  Everyone sets their own agenda and has their own way of following through on things.

So horray for agendas.  What if nobody set an agenda for themselves?  We would all lost and our days would maybe be filled with doubt and wandering minds.  Maybe some scatter brains.  OMG!  Can't have that!

So set your agendas, stick to them, make sure it gets done, and then follow a new agenda each day.


Jennifer Jo Fay

December 24, 2011

One of my drawings on black paper with those gel pens.  I love flowers and creating flower patterns.  One of my agendas is setting about creating my new paperdolls.  Yet, I'm still just talking about it and haven't done it yet.  Procrastinating!

jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net

Patiently waiting on the website.

Good things come to those who wait.  I hope.


If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

How Do you Hold Someone's Interest and Keep them Coming Back for More?

How do we hold someone's interest?  We love to write, but the key is holding someone's interest and keep them coming back for more.  We want to wet their whistle, tempt them and make sure that they stay and read.

After all, we have worked hard at writing what we love to do.  We want to be able to peak the reader's interest and hold them here by a magnetic force that propells them to stay and wait for more good things to come.  Everyone wants good things.  Don't we all.

I have suddenly learned with Blogger that the more posts you write each day, the more chances that you are going to gain new readers.  Also, it is good to try to follow other bloggers that have the same interests as you.  They say you can go into your profile and click on one of your interests and a list of fellow bloggers will come up who like the same things.

I also discovered a few days ago, while collecting some images from Google Images, that if you click on the link with the picture, some of the blogs will come up.  Other Bloggers on blogspot.com  I was clicking on some of the gothic dolls and found some cool blogs that I think I will go into and perhaps follow them.

So, how do you hold your readers interest?  Well, you want to write about interesting things and maybe help someone learn about something.  You should learn to write effectively.  Write often.  Mix it up.  Add a recipe, write some poetry.  Intoxicate them with the power of your words.  If you are a great writer, and possess the knowledge of things that make good writing, you will gain good followers.

You really do need to know about social bookmarking and gain your followers.  I don't bookmark at a lot of places, but some of my favorites are facebook, twitter, digg, igoogle, myspace, bebo, yahoo groups, and perhaps a few other places.  Pingler has a fairly inexpensive service that will ping your stuff every three days.  I'm not sure how effective that is.  But it's only five bucks a month for their most basic package.
 
Traffup and You Like Hits are too sites to gain some followers quickly.  I'm waiting for my invite to pinterest.  I'd like to try that too.

Make sure your spelling is up to par.  Nobody wants to read a blog that has all kinds of mistakes in it.  Definitely include a picture or two.  It beefs up the asthetics.  People love to view pictures.  So if you are a good photographer, here is your place to showcase some of your stuff.  I love photography.  I try to use my images for the most part.  Although sometimes I like to go to google images for some cool pictures.   Although, you do have to watch out on the fact that some of the images have low pixels and some sites won't let you use them.  Hubpages is one of the sites that won't accept them.  Wizzley might be another or Wikinut.  I'm new on those two sites and haven't yet had a bad image, but it could happen.

Don't make your posts so long, that your reader gets bored and wants to fly to some other more exciting destination on the web.  Or maybe he or she will just want to turn off the computer and have mad, passionate sex and loving.  Well said.  Everybody probably wants to do that, huh?  Loves Sweetest Temptation should be the cover of every person's love life.

How to make sure that your readers want to continue coming back for more?  How about make your posts different every time.  Different topics.  Yes, you can write about many things if you can set your mind to it.  It is possible, triscuit.

My kids are being really quiet.  Hard to believe.  These are the few days before Christmas, when little minds get frustrated that Christmas won't come so quickly.  Twenty four hours in a day can sometimes go by so slow.  Keep them active and involved in something.  My girls love to make Webkinz videos.  They've been making their own paperdolls. 

My youngest daughter wanted me to sell some of her paperdolls on Ebay.  I told her they probably wouldn't sell while she is little.  Although I did tell her I will take some pictures of her paperdolls and I will include them in some of my Blogger posts.  Maybe that should be part of my agenda tomorrow.

There's a thought.  Agendas.  How do we set them and follow through with all that we want to set out to do?  Stay tuned for another day.

My youngest daughter as a paperdoll.  Julia paperdoll set.    jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net

I finished watermarking the site last weekend and now am waiting for my first sales.

Jennifer Jo Fay

December 22, 2011



If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Merry Christmas and all the excitement

It is Thursday evening and we are two full days away from Christmas.  It is almost here.  And what usually happens?  It comes and goes as fast as possible.  And then the day is done and we look forward towards the new year.  I'm sitting at my kids house looking at a fully lit tree with all the ornaments on it.
We have yet to see the snow.  Due to Global Warming.  I think we are going to get a little bit of snow before Christmas, so maybe there will be a white christmas after all.

Yesterday, my oldest son, who is a teenager was telling me about the end of the world.  He told me it is going to happen next year at winter solstice.  Something about the change in the sun or something.  I kind of laughed it off and he looked at me and laughed.  He said it really was going to happen.  I told him about Y2K and that ended up not happening.

He and his friends plan on getting guns and sitting on the roof of the house and plan on blowing away the aliens and zombies.  Ha ha.  Teenagers get funnier all the time.  They become independent but really try to pull your leg.

I finished wrapping my presents a few days ago.  It was much better than a few years ago when it would take me several hours to wrap all the presents.  I used to go overboard.  It is definitely easy to do when you start shopping in January.  And then there were definitely years when we wanted to spoil our kids.

I haven't gone over board with cooking and baking yet.  I did make peppermint bark last week.  That was fun and easy.  I'm thinking this week a day or so before Christmas I am going to make those Cornflake Wreaths and maybe some biscotti and some maple dishes.  We have a huge container of VT maple syrup so I think I am going to hunt down some maple recipes.

I should probably make up a last minute grocery shopping list.  I have been savoring some recipes today as I have been thumbing through my archives.  Of course we can only do so much at once.  We surely don't want to end up throwing it all out in a few weeks.

I don't think I am going to need to cook a dinner as I see a big ham in my kids fridge.  Being divorced has it's perks.  It means you don't always have to get a big festive dinner ready if someone else looks like they have already done it.  I might make some mashed potatoes though.  I've got half a bag sitting in my kitchen, so I might as well do it up and make some gravy to go with the ham.  And a green bean casserole is always a great compliment side dish to all that menagery. 

My kids are going to be so excited for Santa to come.  The oldest, of course doesn't believe in Santa any more, but my other three still believe.  My girls probably will find out in a year or so that he isn't real.  Maybe they are already questioning it if other kids are talking and blabbing about it in school.  And my down syndrome fourteen year old son of course still believes.  It might take him a while to figure that one out.

There's already some of their presents under the tree and my presents to them have to wait until I get there.  We already made our trip to Maine earlier this month to visit their cousins and exchange gifts.

My kids usually get to open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Sometimes it is something like pajamas.  Boring.  They would rather have the toys.

My teenage son is getting a new desktop computer from his dad, so he will be happy.  They have been borrowing each others computers.  We all have done our share of that within the last months when my pc was broken, my daughters was broken, and now my other daughter's pc has been on the fritz, but now it seems to be working okay.  Yay.

I have missed out on watching Its a Wonderful Life.  I haven't seen it on tv yet.  Of course I am forgetting I have a dvd copy of it.  I guess I should pull it out tonight.  Or force my kids to watch it tomorrow.  Ha ha.  My girls would probably be bored to tears.  I love the old fashioned movies.  That is definitely a classic.

We've got Irene on the news tonight.  It really made a mess to our state and there still is a lot of roads and houses that need to be repaired.  It has devastated lots of people.  What a mess.  When I first went down to visit my boyfriend after the mess, I got to a road in Middlebury and had to turn around and find a different way in.  Some schools were closed for a while, and parents didn't want their kids travelling over risky wrecked roads to get to schools.  It became a danger to kids, so they didn't go to school.

Audra Paperdoll set.   jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net

I loved drawing this one.  The most recent paperdolls that I have done, I really love to get into the details in the background.  It probably would make someone not want to cut it up, as the whole page is gorgeous.

I've been busy writing and publishing some new recipes today and over last weekend I went into my zazzle site and fixed up my stores and added some new products.

http://www.zazzle.com/fancyphotography/
http://www.zazzle.com/fancypaperdolls/
http://nut.bz/2jjxudt9/
http://nut.bz/d8bx0ft7/
http://authspot.com/poetry/love-you-baby-a-music-lyric-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://authspot.com/poetry-beautiful-bird-and-handsome-fish-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://nut.bz/3y5ypop/
http://notecook.com/desserts/ice-cream/homemade-strawberry-ice-cream-recipe/
http://authspot.com/poetry/love-is-the-little-things-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://gomestic.com/cooking/creme-de-menthe-peppermint-bark-recipe/
http://authspot.com/poetry/keep-on-plugging-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://authspot.com/poetry/love-the-world-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://notecook.com/desserts/fruits/sweet-and-sour-zucchini-pickles-recipe/
http://notecook.com/desserts/cakes/lemon-mousse-recipe/
http://notecook.com/drinks/blueberry-strawberry-smoothie-recipe/
http://notecook.com/soup/asparagus-soup-recipe/
http://notecook.com/bread/pear-and-ginger-muffins-recipe/
http://gomestic.com/cooking/peasant-soup-recipe/
http://notecook.com/desserts/fruits/mustard-cauliflower-pickle-recipe/
http://notecook.com/desserts/fruits/pickled-beets-recipe/
http://quazen.com/shopping/maple-scones-recipe/
http://gomestic.com/cooking/homemade-mustard-recipe/
http://quazen.com/shopping/maple-cream-sauce-recipe/
http://notecook.com/breakfast/chunky-apple-oatmeal-pancakes-recipe/

I got pretty busy today on the recipes and some of the others were done over last weekend.

Jennifer Jo Fay

December 22, 2011


If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Post Office Shipping Rates have Increased!

I went to the post office to gather my boxes and priority envelopes for mailing out my ebay packages for people today.  Boy, was I in for a shock about the new higher rates.  For a small flat rate box it is $5.95
Medium is $10.95 and Large is $14.95.  Good lord.  It was a shocker.  I wasn't expecting it to be that high.
Years ago when I mailed things for ebay buyers the rates were so much cheaper.
I might even want to rethink my rates for my paperdolls.  Although that would be a little cheaper, as they aren't that heavy and they are small and easy to mail.
I got alot of boxes and envelopes and some craft paper for wrapping a few of the books to go standard shipping.  That's the only thing I don't like about ebay.  For books and dvds ebay won't allow you to go past a certain price for shipping.  Yet, if someone wants it priority shipping it is obviously going to be more and some books are heavy and cost more to ship.  So I think Ebay should fix that.
I got back and hopped onto the computer and immediately went into ebay and revised all my shipping rates.  I would have lost out a lot of money if I hadn't realized the new shipping rates.  Then, I would have practically mailed out some things for practically nothing and wouldn't have gained anything for it, except that the item is out of my house.
People have been going in and definitely viewing a lot of my stuff and a bunch of them are watching some of them.  I'm going to go take pictures of my stuff before it goes.  I want some nice close up digital pictures of some of my stuff.
After I get done writing this blog, I want to start listing my paper doll sets on Amazon and see if I can sell some from there.  That seems to be a little like Ebay.  If it sells, you get an email about payment and then you package your product for shipping.  And of course Amazon gets a cut.
Pretty cool.  It's worth a shot.  I was on Etsy earlier this year for the paper dolls, but didn't seem to have much luck.  I got people following them, but nobody bought.  Maybe I was doing something wrong.  I hear that lots of crafters have good luck with Etsy.  Maybe I will try again with just a few of them.  Who knows.
I would just like things to take off.
I definitely have a unique product.  Yet, it is a targeted niche for women and girls.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Can hardly wait for my auctions to be done.

I'm also getting ready to do some more paper dolls.  I have been away from drawing for a while, due to my writing passions, but really do need to take some time for that too.

If only there were more hours in a day!  Don't we all wish!

December 15, 2011

My BunBun and Olga paperdoll set.  This was the first set I created after winning the Paper Doll contest in Doll Reader Magazine about ten years ago.  I won a Riley doll created by Helen Kish and got my paper doll creations for her doll in the magazine issue.  It was awesome and sparked my creativity.  Her dolls are expensive.  I got approached by the magazine after to have some of my paper dolls in their magazine each month.  I was excited about that thought, so I submitted new stuff at the time.  Unfortunately, they also had a regular paper doll artist that got to have her stuff in each issue and they couldn't go with both of us.  At the time, I also befriended the girl that was in charge of that, and I sent her a copy of my first romance novel that I had finished. 


If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Sell Your stuff on Ebay

For the last few days I have been busy listing things on Ebay.  It is a great place to list something that you don't want and it is collecting dust at your house.
I used to sell stuff on Ebay many years ago when my kids were little.  I would go to yardsales and collect stuff to sell.  I would also look around my house for things that I didn't really care for and I would take digital pictures of them and upload them and list them.  I used to collect recipe books and different types of books at yardsales and would list them on Ebay.
I found it hard sometimes, as it would take me a while to get them all listed and would take time out of my day while the kids were little.  They would usually get impatient with me and would want my attention.  I had to list them in spurts.
I usually would get people bidding on certain things.  It's fun to see them jump fast.  Usually at the end, is when people start bidding.  They usually watch the items for a few days before bidding, as they don't want it to go really high.  but when they want the item really bad, it does get higher in the end.
Ebay used to take a small cut from us even if the item doesn't sell.
So, now I have been listing stuff again.  The process is a little easier now.  You click on sell your item.  They allow you up to 100 items a month in the beginning.  Once you become an established seller, your options increase.
Then, you type in what you want to sell and they give you some possible categories you can list it under.  You can do one or two.  If you do more than one, there are extra fees.  Then you get directed to the page where you will put in all your information, title, brand, size, color, used or new, then the detailed section for all the info that they need to know. 
You upload one picture for free.  If you want to put an extra one it is .15 cents fee.  It's good sometimes if you have a more expensive item and you want to put several pictures to give more detail.
If it's a doll, you will want several pictures.  Sometimes a picture of the back where all the written details are given is good to have a picture of.
One of my items is a wedgewood woodland dish that is vintage.
Vintage stuff does pretty well, as ebay is one of the few places where you can find the vintage stuff that you are looking for.  They sell just about anything under the sun.  You name it, it is there.
It's easy to get signed up to sell.  You just need an ebay account and a paypal address.  You go in and fill a few things out and then you are ready to start.
It's so easy.  Once you have things listed, you can track them, answer questions if anyone has a question about something.  Then you wait for the auction to end.  Usually it is seven days.  You can also offer buy it now option.  I did that for my Armand Marseille Floradora doll.  She was really expensive.  I put a starter price for $275 and then a buy it now price at $325.
You also need to set a shipping price that the buyer has to pay.  That way you don't actually pay for the shipping.  It comes out of their pocket.
Then when the auctions are done, they email you all the info, what auction, the final price, the address where it needs to be shipped to and info that they have sent you paypal payment.  You can choose to leave it in your paypal address to use for other purchases on ebay or somewhere else, or you can have them transfer it to your savings or checking account.
It's so easy.
I've got 100 things listed.  I usually set a starter price that I would be happy with for each item in case the price doesn't go higher. 
I've been looking at some of my kids outfits that don't fit them anymore.  Name brands are good.  Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place, etc...
Women's clothing, Betsy Johnson, Victoria Secret, Gap, etc....  Papillon.  I had a lovely Louisa May Alcott reproduction blouse that is from Papillon that I listed.  I only wore it once or twice and it's sitting in my drawer being dormant.
Books, camera stuff, dishes, vintage stuff etc...  you name it, try to sell it.
You can also go in and see what is trending in Ebay to decide what you would like to sell.
Yardsales are great, as you can find things that are inexpensive and then try to make some money selling them.
My boyfriend's neighbor does pretty well with it and is always bringing packages to the post office.  It doesn't take too long to package things up.  You can get free boxes of all sizes at the post office to send priority mail.  Packaging is very important.  Especially if it is something breakable.  Bubble wrap, newspaper, packaging peanuts etc,,  should be used to make sure things don't break.  You don't want anyone upset that their product broke in transit and then they get their money back and you are out your money and a product.  It's broken so it gets sent to the trash.
Once the auction is final, they have about three days to get the money to you or at least to respond and tell you what they are going to do.
It's a great way to make extra money and maybe pay your smaller bills.  I suppose you could even make a full time job out of it.
You can go on and create a store for your handmade products.  I might consider this option for my paper dolls and hand made soaps and lip balms.

For right now, I have the paperdoll website pretty much finished.  I went in earlier this week and last and got all my paypal buttons in place.  That way it makes it easy for someone to buy the doll sets now.

http://www.jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net/ 

So seriously think about cleaning up the clutter in your house and sell it to make some profit.  I have been a goodwill girl for a long time.  For the past two and a half years goodwill has received a lot of my stuff.  Now, I am going to sell on ebay instead, and goodwill will only get the things that I can't end up selling.

This is my expensive Armand Marseille Floradora doll that I am selling.  I still have two more floradora dolls that I am keeping.  I like their faces better.  This one has a pretty face too, but I am willing to part with one.  I'm going to make sure I take a bunch of pictures of her before she gets packaged up.

I already have lots of people viewing and watching my auctions, so when they will be done, I imagine I will be busy packaging things for a little bit.  Out of 100 items, some are sure to sell.

jennifer Jo Fay

December 14, 2011



If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Cousins Getting Together around the Holidays

The holidays are the time when you get together with your family and friends.  Some people you don't see all year. It is great to see them and to talk on the phone with other family members.  Sometimes I would rather call someone than to send a card.  I actually like to get to hear their voices on the phone and get laughing with them.

Well, here in Maine and all my kids and their cousins are having a good time.  They have been quiet for a while in the girl's bedroom and us adults had a quiet time to visit with each other.  My father watched my siblings and I hop on the internet.  It was like coffee break at the island table for us.  And my father said, "It's all greek to me."
My computer was being really slow, so I ended up watching a video of my brother boxing in his basement.  Punch.  Punch. Punch.  We watched a few videos on you tube of my cousin's son.  He committed suicide last month and had been a marine.  It is such a shame.  He was a beautiful person.  There was one video when he was a kid and the music in the background was Johnny Cash's song, Fulsom Prison.  I love that song.  It was really neat to look back on his childhood pictures, as that was the image we remembered about him.  We knew him when he was little. 

It was sad to see his grown up pictures in the marines.  You really don't stop to think how hard it is over there for them.  They are forced into war and battle, partly because they want to be there to fight for our country and also because they signed up and are forced into it, even though maybe they want to change their minds for fear of being killed.

They have got to know though that they are signing up for death upon themselves when they enlist.  Many do come home in body bags.  But it is the honor that they leave behind.

So, it was sad to see the videos around this holiday season.  I would hope to never have to feel that pain of seeing my children die because they wanted to end it.  They don't realize that people are going to be so upset and angry with them when they choose their fate.

On a lighter note, our children are having fun playing with their cousins.  It is a special time.  They always have a good time, and often the nightly curfew gets to be later than usual.  They've all watched the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer special and are now getting the bedrooms set up for bedtime.

My niece and I painted our nails this afternoon.  I pulled out all my nailpolish and we had a fun time picking out our colors.

Now, my sister and I are quietly playing on the computers.  She is playing mahjong tile games and I am writing this blog.  I love to play mahjong tile games too.  It's a really fun matching game, with lightning speed.  Fun to see it all disappear and beat your high score or time.

We've all had our share of yummy supper and sinful ice cream.

I ended up wrapping my nephews present and my oldest daughter was ready to go in and tell him what it was.  I hope she didn't spoil the surprise for him.  It was a present that my son got one year and he never even unwrapped it so it is still practically brand new.

Better to send a gift like that to someone that is actually going to open it and play with it.  It's a good way to recycle gifts.

One visit, the cousins were all playing in their bedroom and one kept locking the door so the other sister couldn't come in.  She got surprised when her dad got his drill and took away her doorknob for the duration of that visit.  She got so upset that her door knob was gone and she wanted it back.  Hence, the moral of that story, she won't be locking the door again.

Kids do really funny things.


Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 10, 2011

Our family get togethers are priceless.

It's so important to let your kids get to know their cousins.  We were always involved with all of our cousins when we were growing up.  They were a big part of our lives.  It's too bad when some kids never get the priviledge to get to know their cousins.  When they live further away it is harder, but not impossible.




If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Social Bookmarking Tips and other thoughts

Social Bookmarking can sometimes be exhausting.  I have been doing it for a little while.  I started out doing it on facebook and twitter.  These are usually the first two places people go to social bookmark.  I think one important rule on facebook is not to post your new blogs posts, or any article more than once.  Your family and friends will like to see it once, but won't want to be bombarded with repeated posts.

They are your family and friends and should stay that way.  You don't want to start ticking someone off.  As it is if you are sending them lots of articles, they probably won't be able to catch up as it is.  And they probably will never read them all.  But, seeing as they are your loved ones and friends, you don't want to force things on them.  They will read things if they are interested.

I have recently heard that you can tweet your popular links to twitter more than once.  It sounds like some people go into twitter at peak times of the day and tweet their most popular stuff to get more followers.  I am going to start trying this with some.  It's fun to read other people's tweets.  I like to retweet the ones that make sense.

Some of people's tweets are hard to understand and seem to usually be mostly made up of links.  I think when you are posting a link it's important to also put in a title so people know what it is about.  Your link gets automatically shortened and people might not know what it is about.

Sometimes it is just fun to go into twitter and tweet your favorite sayings, some of your thoughts of the day and other stuff.  Then, the followers get to automatically know who you are before they decide to follow you. 

Digg is a neat place to social bookmark.  You do have to be careful there though and make sure you are sending lots of links to sites that you think are neat, besides your own sites.  Then, you can occasionally submit links to your stuff.   
Reddit is neat for this too, but in the short time that you submit one link to a site and then you send a second one to the same site, it won't let you do it in the space of a few minutes.  So you probably have to leave that site and come back.
I'm trying out Fark, and am not sure of what the results will be yet.  It is letting me submit a bunch of links.  That site also automatically will shut you off to submitting links to the  same site in a certain time frame.  So a little bit at a time there.

Traffup is neat.  You can submit up to ten links to your stuff and then if people retweet them, you get more points.  The more points you have, the better.  And everytime you get a follower from there, you get more points.  As long as you have points you can have a free account there.  You can buy points but I'm not sure the reason behind that.
And you can only follow about thirty people in a certain time frame, so you would have to come back an hour later and follow more people then.  It's a quicker way to get followers from Twitter.

Pingler is kind of neat.  I am going to try them out.  For about $5 a month you can submit up to 50 links to your sites and every three days pingler will automatically ping them all to a whole bunch of sites.

I signed up with Overwire, but I'm not sure if I like them.  You have to sign up to about forty to fifty social bookmarking sites and then when you submit a link to overwire, it will send your link to all fifty places all at once.  Well, as I signed up for the site, there were different package plans.  You have to pay for some.  I chose the free plan where it says that you can submit up to 300 links a month free of charge.  They lied.  I wasted a good forty five minutes there this afternoon starting out by sending out forty to fifty links.  Then when I was done, I went to check out my submission history.

Then it came up that my account was suspended for going over the limit of links.  Then I was forced to choose to upgrade myself to a paying plan.  I decided against it.  I don't want to pay to social bookmark too much if I can help it.  That's nuts.

Definitely wasted my time.  I was going to start submitting some of my links to Netlog and Tagged.  I think I am going to cancel out of at least Netlog.  I got a warning sign that Netlog isn't a safe site and someone could get access to my computer and hack into personal information.  So I think I am going to figure out how to get out of that soon.

Same with Tagged.  I have heard it has a bad history like Myspace.  I am thinking I would like to spread the word about my links just for a little bit to see if it generates anything.  I'm not sure that it will.  I have heard there are a lot of teenagers using and abusing that site, so I'm not sure of the quality of the readers there.

I really enjoy igoogle.  That is a great place to spread your word, and just plain old make friends there.  At igoogle you will find a lot of other bloggers, hubbers, triond people, squidoo, mashable, any where that people are trying to make money at their writings also keep tabs on their friends at igoogle to see what everyone is writing about.

There are hangouts in igoogle happening too.  I am guessing these are live hangouts and maybe they are video chats for a brief amount of time.  I haven't participated in one yet.  I bet it would be fun though.  You do have to watch out with igoogle though.  Once in a while someone pops up and wants to chat.  Which is okay.  But if they suddenly want to know all about you and then ask for your private email, your cell number etc.. it raises a red flag.  Be careful about giving out personal information.  You never know who you are talking about. 

Although, I will say that most people on igoogle are honest people who just want to make friends and want to learn about others and see what makes everyone tick.  Everyone has their own creative personality.

I've got some books on social bookmarking.  I should read them a little more.  Sometimes, though you can usually find what you are looking for online.  There is just so much at our fingertips.  We hold the world in our hands nowadays.

Keywords are so important.  I have really learned that you have to have very focused keywords in order to gain traffic to your site.  Good SEO is key to success.  For a while, my keywords were all over the place.  Longtail keywords are good to use a little bit too. 

Go to Google Adwords often as you will be able to type in your topic and see what good keywords pop up.  Choose the ones that look like they get the most traffic.  I'm not quite sure what your limit would be for how many keywords you can use.  I know with hubpages, if you use too many, they don't like it.  They will call it excessive keyword tags.

You can always advertise on your blogs and gain followers to your stuff.  That's probably why it might be a good idea to try blogging or writing articles, recipes, poetry fiction etc... on all kinds of different sites.  That way you probably can eventually spread your word quicker.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 9, 2011

Here is a bunch of my poems that I published on Triond today.  I started looking through some old poems that I had written in 2009 and some in 2007.  There were parts that I liked and kept in and I decided to go in and re-write a bunch of the poems.  I used to work in Marshalls fitting room and I wrote some poetry on paper towels when it was slow in there.  Then I must have later written them on paper.  I think I was having a time when I liked to write a lot of story poems.  Those are fun to write.

http://authspot.com/poetry/white-fluffy-blanket-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/fresh-inspiration-to-chop-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/loves-crimson-heart-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/rose-of-romance-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/rosie-and-lila-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/broken-china-and-shattered-hearts-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/priceless-moments-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay
http://authspot.com/poetry/mothers-winter-days-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay


More recipes to write probably next week.  I'm taking my kids to Maine for the weekend to visit with their cousins and they get to exchange their gifts.  Will bring my computer, but I'm not sure if I will get a chance to hop on.





If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Internet Connect the Dots

Internet Connect the Dots

Hey, we all loved playing connect the dots when we were little.  We learned how to add and wanted to see what the pictures were going to be.  It was sort of like creating a puzzle. 

Isn't life like a puzzle?  I mean we were originally told that life is like a big test and then you die.  The puzzle in life is being able to put all your pieces together to complete the picture of your life.  Can you do it?  For some of us it is hard to figure out how the images all fit together.  Some pieces are easy to figure out, but there are some of those pieces that don't really seem to fit anywhere.

Your life can sometimes be hard to solve.  Don't you ever remember getting into a rut and not know how to get out of your slump?  Our lives are like a chart, that leads us into unknown territory.  Yet, we want to jump in and see where it leads to.

Well, suddenly here we are in the world of the internet.  It is a lot like connect the dots.  Only, your puzzle is all over the world, and you are often not sure where you should go.  Go one way, and you might get an internet nightmare, and go the other path and you might discover heaven.

The links and sites are endless, and there are no boundaries.  We have only so many hours in a day to do what we want to set out to do.  And we all have to pick and choose where we are going to connect our dots. 

Well, today, I have been just creatively getting busy.  I have ended up publishing over twenty eight of my poems, recipes and fiction all over the place, except leaving two brand new sites for another day.  I haven't done anything at those places yet.  I've been hopping back and forth between Triond, Wordpress, Blogger, Wikinut and Wizzley.  It's been a crazy day and can't believe how much stuff I got done.

I guess tomorrow should partly be social bookmarking these things and spreading the word a little bit, and then maybe some more stuff to publish.  It's a happening world out there.

jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted December 7, 2011



If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Suicide Is Never The Answer

Suicide is never the answer

Dear Suicidal Loved Ones,
We know you are thinking of it. And some of you we don't. But this is a message to stay in this world that is full of beautiful people. And you are one of them. We don't know all of you, but we feel your pain. We grieve for you. We are all here to listen to you if only you will let us in. You need us. Please reach out to us and let us breathe with you. We're always beside you waiting for your reply. If you don't try to let us hear your pain, we won't know you and you could end up on the other side. An angel waiting for us to visit and stay in the rooms we will dwell in. But we're not ready to go yet, we love it here on earth. Our roots are in deep and we wish we could stay forever. But death meets us all someday. Stupid God wasn't thinking when he gave us all a curfew. What a crapper.
So stay in our world awhile.
But we know you are in pain. You're probably feeling worthless, not loving yourself and feeling upset when you think everyone is against you and hating you. People aren't hating you. They are just sometimes being mean, because it is in their nature and they don't realize they are causing pain. And if you're feeling a lot of pain, it's probably because you need a positive change in your life. Guess what? Only you can turn yourself around. It is you that got yourself there and you need to try as hard as you can to get yourself out. There are so many of you out there that give up too soon. Some do, and guess who misses them. The family and friends and everyone that knew them. And it's those people who get angry for not seeing the bomb before it devastated them. And they will be scarred forever. Do you want your family and friends to be scarred like that? Do you want your children or spouse to find you dead? Think what it will do to them.
Then, the real plan to end my life began maybe four to six years ago. I started writing my first novel two years before the plan arrived. The novel was called Lustful Evangelean. Two years later, I finished it and had a local editor edit it. She gave me the five page evaluation., Well, it needed a lot of work and there were also some really good points to it. I started to edit it.
One night, when the plan arrived, I was sitting outside in the van waiting for my oldest son's junior high dance to end. It was a rainy night, and I watched the drops hit and roll down the windshield. I felt a wave of grief come over me. I suddenly thought, what if I never published my book? I became down in the dumps that night. And for a real stupid reason. I went in to collect my son who was busy gathering with all of his friends.
Inside my mind, I was hitting my mid life crisis. The kids were older and where was I headed?
Suicidal thoughts entered my clogged up brain. I brought my son home and silently thought of death. The next night, I went out to dinner with my husband and we went to see a movie. I struggled through dinner and put up my mask. He was completely unaware. Suddenly, I felt like I could end it. What was left for me? We left the restaurant and went to see a movie that was all about death. People kept getting shot. And I sat lifelessly through that movie. Before the movie started there was a little info about Keith Ledger. I think he had already committed suicide. I thought, wow if he could, so could I.
We came home that night and I had dreams of killing myself. This was over the weekend. I had a plan. I was going to take pills on Monday while my children were in school and my son was going to arrive home in the afternoon and find me dead. I had kind of thought of drowning in my tub and slicing myself, but knew I could never do that, but I thought I might be able to take some pills. Yeah. That was what I was going to do. Then over the weekend, I took longer naps and I panicked. I knew I didn't want to do it after all. And you know what stopped me?
My children.
I didn't want to see them scarred forever. After that, I got really angry with myself for thinking those thoughts. I told my husband and he wanted me to get some help. I told my sister, brother and father. They all had things to say to me. My father said never do that. He said, "Stay in this game called life as long as you can." He had other things to say, but that's the one that has stuck in my head.
Of course, my brother said to never do that.
My sister said the same thing. Then she said, "If you ever call me and say something about that again, I'm going to have the police right at your doorstep. We want you to be here to dance with your children when they get married. I don't want to be getting dressed for your funeral."
These things stuck and I am so glad they are my family. Your family will miss you when you choose to end your life. That week following my plan, I got so angry with myself. My kids preschool teacher took a trip with me to see my doctor to discuss it. She has been like a really close friend through my mother's death, my divorce and that. She is a really important friend even though I don't see her all the time.
There are also hotlines you can call to get help, before you decide to end it.
So, just know that you are never alone and there are people who are there to reach out to you.
And recently, I have felt that there may be one of our fellow hubbers that might be thinking of it. I don't know for sure as I don't know her. But I told her that we're all here to help her as we want her to stay in our community. She want's to escape into her cave for a while. But we all have told her, to do it if she must, but to come back. And we want her to leave her hubs up, because her writing is beautiful. She is like my yellow rose, and she is a beautiful person on the inside. She is loved and should know that she is never worthless.
So any of you that are reading this and deciding that you want your young life to be done, please don't do it. Our world is a much finer place with you in it. When you choose death over life we all die a little right along with you.


SO STAY AND CHOOSE LIFE!

Jennifer JO Fay

If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/