Creating Bucket Lists

We've all heard everyone and the kid next door say they have or want to create a bucket list?  Why is it so important to have a bucket list?  We all have things we would like to do before we die.

Where do you keep your bucket list if you have one?  Is it written in a little notebook or is it tacked to one of those bulletin boards you keep in the kitchen?

My Mom used to have a bucket list of the movies she or my Dad wanted to watch at some point.  It usually got checkmarked or crossed off once she saw them.  And a few remained and she never saw those ones.

Are there things you always wanted to do and never done them in your whole life?  And you feel strongly you would like to attempt to try it at least once before you die?  Go ahead and write it on your bucket list and when you can find the time, do it.  But don't put it off and then it ends up never getting done.

For me, it may be something like horseback riding or my more wilder idea once was getting to ride on a dolphin.  I'm definitely not the one who would put skydiving or bungee jumping on my bucket list.  I'm no thrill seeker!

Sometimes the bucket list could be as simple as learning how to do a craft or hobby and you want to sign up for that certain class that's going to teach you how to do it.  And you know it's only going to cost a mere $30 or something to sign yourself up.

Are you just waiting to do it, because you don't think you have the time in your busy schedule to do it?  Make the time.  Carve it out and work around your schedule to fit it in.  Make your agendas flexible to fit in the things on your bucket list.

You want to successfully say you crossed them off because you completed the things on your dream list.

Do it.

Jennifer Fay

Copyrighted March 30, 2013

Kim Kardashian Bullied

Well, this one was new for me.  I haven't been really up on all the Kardashian's in a while to even know she was pregnant.  But she is and the baby is due in July.

I guess there have been recent bullying about how fat she is.  Good lord, she's pregnant.  Preggers!!  She's got a baby in there and she's not ultra skinny like she was.  Well, except for the big butt that always got mentioned in the tabloids.  You know, Kim's supposed asset.

Not everyone wants a big butt.  I know I wouldn't.  But, hey after kids lord knows what happens to the woman's body!  I know mine and millions of women's bodies changed across the world after we have kids.

And when a woman carries a baby inside her womb, you can bet she will look fat.  But it's not fat!  It's a real life baby in there.  True, some women do eat too much when they are pregnant just because they are with child and they are eating for two.

Some of them do get fatter than the doctors would want them to get.  And every woman has a different body type.  Some women are larger by nature and can't help it if they look even fatter when pregnant.

And for some women, after they have the baby go right back to normal looking either just as they were before kids or even skinnier.  Woman have a hard time dealing with the weight after being pregnant and many are out there doing weight diets, walking running until there is nothing left to their body practically.

I think some women overdo it to extreme.  Yes, you want to be back to your normal weight again, however, you do not need to be anorexic like many of these actresses tend to look like.  

Some men would rather have more weight on a woman.  Not to extreme, but women with some meat to them.

Most of your men will not want you to get so skinny that you start to look like the toothpick in their mouth!  Just saying.  Nobody wants a rail.  You get that when you get old and need support!  Well, not everyone.  Just poking fun that when we get older we need that cane!

Your man does not want a cane just yet.

Kim Kardashian is not fat, and she will most likely not be a cane either!  Well, you never know!

Jennifer Jo. Fay

Copyrighted March 28, 2013

Be Your Best Friend with Your Main Character

You definitely want to be the best friend to your main character.  Actually all of them you do, but some of them like in real life may or may not be your favorites.  However, when you are writing your novels, all your characters should be treated likewise.

You should know them inside out, almost as if they were you and you knew exactly what they are going to say or do next.

Especially your main characters.  The heroine and the hero.  Or whoever your important role players are in your novel.  You want to be able to flesh them out as if you knew every thing that would happen next.

Create lists if that works for you what their dislikes and likes are.  Their fears, hopes and dreams.  How you want them to change through out the novel.

Get to know your characters, know what they would do.  Map out what they need to do and make sure it's going to be right for every scene.  Know also when your character may get out of line and you need to change something.

It's funny, you can start them out saying a certain thing and then you want to change their manner of speaking.  I had to do this with some of the kids in my novel trilogy, The Glorious Money Tree.  I started out with them saying certain words the way a younger child might not say something exactly right and then later on, I didn't want them to sound silly because they are supposed to be eleven.

Up until recently, I also had them being ten, but then changed it so they are older as in the next book I would like to have them being closer to teens and changing their way of thinking.  You definitely want your characters to change.

That is so important in every novel, as we all know change is so important and the importance of a novel is one, to tell a story and next there has to be change that happens and a solution to conflict, love triangles and turmoil. 

And you want to really define your characters as well as you can because they are your creation, not someone else's.

Also, a novel is a reinvented story.  We all know that there is always going to be some of us in each and every novel.  We cannot help but pull from real life experiences.  A true novelist that makes it real and tangible, writes what they know, but reinvents the storyline because after all, a novel is fiction.

So, yes, my fiction novels have a part of me in it, but to the audience reading it, would never know what is real and what is fiction.  But, sure, family that reads it would obviously know parts from real life.

But in any fiction strangers reading a fiction novel never know all the real things added.  Look at Steven King, Nora Roberts or anyone.  All of them as novelists will honestly tell you, "Yes, we put some real life things in there as well, but we wrote in also a different way that it is also different than what happens in real life."

Like, I know that I would never be like any of my characters and go kill someone.  Think about it!  Or my first Black Roses mystery of course had strippers in it and gay people which for a fact I am not either one and never would be. 

But in a novel, we as novelists get to live vicariously and invent any darn thing we want because it is fiction.

Just make sure if you are thinking of a person in real life, make sure you use different names, different hair colors, etc.....  you don't want to get in trouble.

Jennifer Jo. Fay

Copyrighted March 28, 2013

Whoever or whatever your main character is, strive to know everything about them so you know what the hell you are writing about.

Barbara Walters is Retiring

Barbara Walters is finally retiring after many, many years of giving us her prime time shows to watch year after year.  She has been an amazing person bringing us these in depth views into the lives of many of the rich and famous and other important people we have followed for decades.

I always remember her best for those prime time shows when she would always get the celebrities being interviewed crying at one point.  It seemed her fortee to get someone to open up about the things that the viewing audience really wanted to know about.

I believe that is what made her prime time specials all the more personal and kept people viewing.  When I was younger, I think her show came on later on in the evening and it ended up being past my bedtime, but I could still hear it being viewed as my mom would be out there watching it, and probably crying as well.  There had to be a box of kleenex nearby I am sure.

Later on, we got to watch with her, and yes, she was crying and then covering up her face when we started to laugh because she was weeping.

Barbara Walters made people all over the world cry and it opened up to the world who these celebrities were realy made of.  

Because of her, millions of viewers felt that they could relate with the celebrities, get to know more of who they were, what made them tick.  Because along with us, Barbara wanted to know.  She wanted to make sure she did everything in her power to make her prime time specials a tremendous hit.  And that they were.

I know I never watched them all, but one of the ones I remember was one on Patrick Swayzee, who was one of my Mom's favorite actors.  She even had a poster of him.  And Barbara had my Mom and me in full attention as we learned about his life.

While watching her show, we would learn about the things the celebrities most enjoy when they are not making movies, like Julia Roberts likes to knit as well as many other actresses.  It's a hobby among them as well as all of us.

We find out some celebrities like to write poetry, like Keeanu Reeves and Katie Couric and others have written children's books.

  

Barbara Walters has definitely kept our interest for many, many years and now this is her time to pursue something new and just as exciting which she would like to do.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 28, 2013

Are you a morning, noon or Night Writer?

Are you a Morning, Noon or Night type of Writer?

What time of day do you seem to function the best?  We all have different times when we function the best.  Do you work best when you first wake up in the morning?  Or do you need to get a little extra beauty sleep in there before you can do all you need to do?  Or do you need to spend your mornings working on other things and you can work the best on your novels in the afternoon?

Not everyone can be a morning person.  Some people just can’t seem to get a grasp on what needs to be written until a little later on in the day while others really love being night owls and can be up all night working on their time invested novel. 

And then there is that time when you are almost to completion and being up all night with lots of coffee in hand or nearby to help us stay awake as we finish our well thought out novels.

Maybe you are a young mother trying to set out to finish a novel and you just don’t have the time to do it until the kids get to bed or during their naps.  This used to be when the kids were little when I was just starting to write my first novel.  I had to type up the majority of it when they were either napping or later on when they had gone to bed.

 

And yes, I had nights when I couldn’t stop writing and kept going into the wee hours.  Some people just love to work when everyone is sleeping.  It’s quiet.

And others really like to do it when they wake up bright and early with the birds and you can get just as much accomplished.

I like to write at different times of the day.  Like this morning, I just felt like waking up, having my coffee and I wanted to try to finish my back of the doll sundress I am knitting.  It’s almost done.  I’ve got the top part to finish which is only an inch, bind it off, do my straps and sew it together.  And then I will have to see if it actually fits the American Girl Doll like it is supposed to or does it end up fitting a bigger baby doll.

If that’s the case, back to the drawing board to get the right size for American Girl Doll’s or else it won’t show it’s face on Etsy.  Or in my knitting book.  It has to definitely be the right size.

And shortly after that was finished, now I am at the library working on the recipe book, the knitting book and now onto typing up posts for Triond and my blog.

And at some point, I will also go back and do more editing to the novel.  I’ve got to change one or two people’s hair color for sure. 

I guess we also can be a morning person one day, afternoon the next and evening on another night if we choose to do so.   Doesn’t also depend on our moods each day.  As writers, we kind of choose our own schedules, however there are things that do need to be done, so we don’t stay away too long.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 28, 2013

Why we don't post as much some days

We all have days when we don't post as much on our blogs or on Triond.  I kind of think today for me is one of those days.  I know yesterday I must have pumped out lots of posts here and several on my blog.  http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/

Today has been a different day for me.  First of all, I decided to catch some extra day dreaming.  We all need that from time to time.  Beauty sleep is good for the soul.

Then, I got motoring, had my coffee and then headed to my local library which is one of my favorite haunts.  I learned at one point last year, J.K. Rowling always liked writing at the library.

It's a nice quiet place where you can concentrate.  So, it's where I have been all afternoon, and soon I will need to go home, call my kids and perhaps do a little knitting.  Last night, while talking to my sister, I was mentioning starting a dishcloth.  When I later talked to her that night, I had it more than half way done, that's how quick those things knit up.  I knew that Sugar & Cream yarn was begging for me to pick it up and knit happy.  So, maybe tonight I will have a new finished dishcloth to use and also it could be background for the food photography for the two recipe books. 

Anyway, when I got to the library today, I decided I didn't want to hop online at first and I was checking my documents, zip drives and passport with the trial version of Webroot.  When it runs out I'm going to get another version of it for my protection.  Anyway, I was glad to see there were really no threats.  Well, perhaps one with Instagram downloader, but nothing really bad and it got removed.  So, when I finally get a new laptop it will be easy to transfer everything.

The next thing after that, I decided to upload some pictures into the laptop and also more importantly I went into The Glorious Money Tree and edited the novel. 

That's so important to do.  It's why we sometimes don't post as many posts as we know other important things need our attention and I do eventually want to see completion to the first novel of trilogy and start thinking about how the formatting process goes when turning into an ebook for Kindle Publishing.

I pumped the novel to 179 pages from editing the first 45 pages.  It was great to be able to clean it up some more, change some things around and get it going in the right direction.

I decided to change the age of my main character and her friends from ten to eleven.  That way, they will be growing up and going into a different school, moving from their old school into Middle school.  That means I also had to rethink some of their sentences.

I also decided to write more in depth about a minor character who before had a bit part and now he will have a more prominent role in the shape of the novel.  It will of course create conflict for which the readers love to read about and to see what the outcome will be.

So, today was really focusing on that for the most part.  I think I will try to do this tomorrow too, but will try to post some more on here and the blog tomorrow.

But, there will always be certain days when we need to devote our time to previous projects, or anything else that has been lacking and we just can't shove it under the carpet.  

I guess we need to find a balance to what it is we need to do every day.  And lord, don't we know every day is a different day under the sun and something new and great can come out of it?

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 28, 2013

The yarn for the dishcloth which is nice and bright.

I reorganized my jewelry beads yesterday.  And below is the stroganoff type recipe I made a few days ago.  I need to get it in my recipe book later.

Two Golfers hear Gunshots and find Victims

Can you just imagine golfing and hearing gunshots as you are making that next swing to hit your hole in one?  Good lord.  I just went to yahoo.com to see if there would be anything I would want to write about and this one kind of caught my eye.  I couldn't help but read and it sounds quite gruesome.

I was looking yesterday to see if there was anything to write about and I got zilch.  Not today.  There was this, and Judge Judy's son, who is involved with the rape of the 12 year old girl.  Sounds like he knew the person or the personal trainer lived with him.  I didn't read too much about that one and probably wouldn't write about it, but I am choosing this one.

That's got to be some scary to hear gunshots nearby especially while you are playing a game of sport and it's just a lovely day out.  I heard gunshots in my apt. complex last fall, but luckily for that event nobody got hurt and later on most of the people involved with that ended up in jail, thank God!!!

But, can you imagine hearing them while playing the game and just in a whirlwind of where they came from?  You would know you heard them, and you wouldn't question yourself that you heard them.  I know I didn't. Immediately, I knew they were gunshots.  It's quite loud, like a popping noise and you can't mistake it.

Secondly, these guys probably were suddenly worried about where it came from and were they going to accidentally get into the middle of it.  They were probably looking all around the course, and searching.  If I had been them, I would have been kind of afraid to go investigating.  But, where they were men, they probably dared to go look.  I guess if it were me too, I probably would want to try and figure out where it came from and you can bet I would have my cell phone out and good and ready to call 911 in the first heartbeat.

They didn't find anyone fleeing and there were the two female victims who so far haven't been announced as to who they are and not many details as of yet.  But there will be and the world is going to want to know why, who, when and where and to get past the turmoil of yet another grisly crime in the making.

Once again, I question all evil in the world and why is it that every day we read or hear somewhere in the US or anywhere in the world there has been yet another horrible crime and someone or several decent human beings have to be buried because of these horrible people in the world.

There's only a few places all these terrible, evil, sinister people need to go and that is jail, the death sentence, not on US soil and the last place is HELL because THEY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED INTO HEAVEN.  GOD WON'T GRANT THEM ENTRANCE.  Enough said.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 27, 2013

Two more victims who will never be able to begin again which is so very sad it has to be this way.  And we ask ourselves why must people turn into angels?

What Gets Your Day Started on the Right Track?

A FB friend posted this one today and it made me laugh!  If I would be clicking this button, I don't know.  Many firefighters might show up, or the button might end up getting clicked with the knitting needle.

Then again, I would probably be the one who may only click it once because I am trying to get that last stitch in!!!

Anyway, what gets your day started on the right track?  Is it the reason because you were able to clean up your kitchen?  Get the dishes done?  Mine are still waiting for me, as I chose to leave without doing them.  But they will be waiting. Maybe later today.  There's not too much to do when it's just me, unless if I have created lots of dishes due to making a recipe for the recipe book.  I've got to get one typed in today, but then it won't be for another few days for that as I will be having leftovers!  Which means no cooking!!!

I made a stroganoff type dish yesterday.  Can hardly wait to grocery shop again.  Don't you hate it when you open up your fridge and you know that there begins to be slim pickings at least on certain items?  I do.  But, I will say that there's always something that can be made.  You know the canned food and different items that you forget are back there?

I say periodically you have to organize and shuffle things around so that you can find what you forgot you had.

That's the same thing with my yarn stash.  I probably should stay out of the yarn shop for a while, as there is way too much yarn that I have.  I technically would not need to go into a yarn shop for a long time, but it's fun to go in.  My favorite section with my local yarn shop is a little bin of their leftover felting yarns.  Usually I can find some cool colors and only pay $1 or $2 or sometimes fifty cents for a little ball.  Kind of fun.  But other times, I have gone in and looked and they have no colors there that I need.

Does your day begin with a smile?  That would always make my day brighter.  Doing a good deed for someone also makes the world and the moment just as it should.

Does your day get better if you accomplish all you set out to do?  It would me.  I love it when I can tackle all the things on my list.  Or at least get to the majority of things.  Let's face it, we can never get every thing done that we need to do.  We always manage to add more to the list of tasks.

And who has time to make a list?  Not always.  Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.  I do a mixture.  I love being organized.

This morning, I made some time to organize all my jewelry supplies.  I kind of want a better container for my beads.  I had them in baggies and now am deciding to put them in several larger containers.  That way, I can see all the colors I have and maybe sometime get some done.  I kind of set that aside for a while and a few weeks ago, I made myself make a few bracelets for my girls.  One of them got a cute one with millifiori beads and some blue skull beads.  Kind of fun.

Does your day get better towards the afternoon, or the evening?  Sometimes we can't find ourselves on the right track until we get to later on in the day.  And then we also have the days when something unexpected happens in our day and we just can't seem to function or get what we wanted done.

Never fear, as there is always tomorrow!

And then there's kids that don't come with a manual!!!! Or life that doesn't come with one either!!!

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 27, 2013

It's Time to Spring Clean

It’s time to Spring Clean

March is just a few days shy of being done and we will be well into Spring time.  It’s officially spring but at first it didn’t feel like it.  With the cold days still around it was still feeling like Winter.  Alas, it was very nice to begin to see some very sunny days, a clear sign warmer weather is on it’s way.

And now begins the time when we start to look at our surroundings and know it also means it is time to Spring clean.  In with the new and out with the old.  For some of us, this means cleaning up the yard, getting the remainder of the unraked leaves gone, and preparing the gardens for a new Spring glory.

Don’t you just love getting out in the garden to uncover what has been dormant all winter and now it is developing into a tiny new plant to make a lovely appearance later in the season.  I don’t have a garden now, but had a huge one at my kids house.  Now, it’s technically not mine anymore as my ex’s new live in girlfriend will claim it.  She will have lots of weeds to tend to which I won’t miss.  I will miss my Magnolia trees and my Mom’s lilac trees I grew from the shuts from her big lilac tree. 

But someday, I will get a new place where I can have a garden and I can start fresh without all the extra weeds I accidentally planted in the old garden.  I don’t envy her that, but she will also have a lovely garden that I tended to for years.  Her little girl will also enjoy it.  The only thing I am going to ask my kids to do is to later on cut some of the mint from the garden so I can dry some.

Also with outdoor springtime work comes the trimming of overgrown trees and bushes.  You know the ones that venture towards the sidewalk and cause people to have to walk around them.

That’s the outdoor stuff.  The indoor cleaning is never ending.  There’s the clutter one has to clean up and discard.  This can either be easy or an ordeal.  But you do have to start somewhere.  Pick a room to start with and slowly tackle the different sections. 

Like with clothing, spend a few hours trying on your things.  Whatever doesn’t fit or you haven’t touched in a very long time should probably go into the pile to leave the premises.  It’s easy to hang onto outfits though when you think you may wear it sometime.  But if it’s just being unused toss it.

Look around your house for anything that doesn’t get used, doesn’t serve a purpose and just add it to the pile.  Think though before you get rid of something just in case it can get used at some point, it may be a good idea to hold onto certain things. 

Certain items have sentimental value, you know the tea cups that were passed down from generations and some knick knacks, things that were given to you by special people.

Those things you may not be able to replenish should you get rid of things.

Although nowadays there is Ebay where you can find just about anything under the sun.  And thinking of Ebay and Goodwill, those are two good places to get rid of your unwanted items.  If you just want to get rid of things quickly and don’t care if you don’t get any money for things, Goodwill is an excellent place to bring things.  I have done this many times.

Also, if you want to make some money on your discarded stuff, selling it on Ebay or having a yardsale is a very good option.

No matter what, you will feel very relieved when the house is free of some of the clutter that tends to build up over time.  Each year we buy, collect, find things to add to it.  And our needs change over the years.  What we loved years ago, may not officially be needed now.

We go through phases of what we are doing and some of it just gets left in a corner to take up unwanted space.

Like furniture for instance.  Haven’t we all at one time or another had a piece of furniture we would love to get rid of so we have space for something else?  Yes.  It’s easy to put things on the side of the road in the springtime and most always someone takes it away for you in a heartbeat. 

One person’s trash is another’s gold!  I can hardly wait for yard sale season to begin.  I’m contemplating getting rid of an old wicker chair which has seen better days and looking for someone to toss out some sort of bookshelf so I can put extra dishes on it and recipe books and use the top for photography needs.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 27, 2013

How Often Do You Write your Posts?

How often do you write your posts?

Do you have some days when you are a miss hotpants hormone woman and your keyboard is on fire?  Or are you Mr. Jones who feels like there’s nothing at all to write about?  It’s just nuts when we can’t find ourselves writing anything.  Or anything we think is good enough to send out to Mrs. Clamity or Mr. Tony Balonie.  And then you can either see or feel his or her wrath beating down on you just waiting for you to come up with something good.

Or perhaps there’s nobody waiting and breathing behind your back, which is usually the case and you just can’t think of another word to write.  This is the woman who is sitting on the couch doing everything but work on that novel or post.  Whatever it is, the piece of writing you know is lingering, practically dying over there hoping you will come back to it and add something brand new and relevant to the piece.

Or maybe you are just Harry Canary who has decided to take a break and go on that well deserved skiing trip and all the kiddies are at Ma and Pa Kettles for the weekend so you can squeeze in some quiet time and perhaps some well deserved r & r.  We all need that from time to time.  When the well is dry, come up for air and wait it out.

There will be time again while you sit on your reserves and think about what it is that you want to do next.

Are some days better than others when you can easily pump out three to ten posts and you feel that you have done well for the day?  And perhaps other days when you decide that just a few posts will do quite nicely?  We all as writers have a different agenda that works well for us and maybe not as well for others.

Listen to your gut and decide what schedule is going to be right for you.  Today, I have been writing a little bit more for the posts as I haven’t done it in a while and am kind of catching up.  This I know won’t happen every day, as there will of course be other days when I need to focus on my novel trilogy, the recipe books, the knitting book and the knitting of course.  And then the Ebay thing. 

It’s all a balancing act on what needs to be done for you.  The main thing is to focus, be dedicated about the things you are doing.  Believe in them and it will all work out.  Nothing ends up disappearing.  Unless you haven’t saved your work, saved it to a zip drive of some sort and your laptop croaks on you.  Which is why after I am done these posts this evening, I will save, and save to my picture keeper as well.  Because my laptop has told me it may go to another pasture at any given time.  But, so far it is doing right by me and hanging in there.

A nice pretty new laptop is someday in the forecast, but still not for another few more months to go.  Time will tell on that one.

Do you also just have days when you don’t want to write?  I know it happens to me.  I’ve got those days when I just want to sit and knit, eat popcorn and watch a good movie.  My latest favorite show is The Walking Dead.  I’ve been hearing a bunch of my FB friends raving about it, my sister loves it and my kids also love it.  I finally decided to start renting the old ones with Netflix and it gives my kids and I a fun topic to talk about. 

And Mollyanne, my soon to be twelve year old has spilled the beans about some important highlights!  Namely, the little girl in it, Sophia!  And yet, I was still surprised by the outcome!

And the outcome of our posts can only happen by the will of us, our minds, our fingers, the keyboard and the creativity that comes out of the force to keep going.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 25, 2013

Is this you when you have stayed away from the novels way too long?  Slowly dying literally because you've neglected the writing?

Here's the beginning of my knitted skirt or sundress for the American Girl Doll.  At first I thought it was going to be way too wide, but I think it's going to look okay.  I need to make two.  I keep forgetting the skirt part is supposed to be bigger.

The fair isle pattern seems easier done on the stockinette stitch or on the straight needles.  I will try different techniques.

My Mom's pillow.  After my Mother died, one of her close friends made a pillow for my siblings and myself out of some of her outfits.  I love the floral blue in the middle.  One year at a yardsale I came across a homemade dress with that pattern and I cut it up for my quilts I made for myself, my sister and my sister n law.  My mom's lace from her wedding dress went into the quilts as well.

Are you a Sticky Note, Index Card or Electronic Kind of Novelist?

Are you a Sticky Note, Index Card or Electronic Kind of Novelist?

What kinds of ways do you find works for you when writing your novels?  Most of us novelists need a guideline, outline or skeleton to coincide with our novel in progress.  Many of us feel lost if we don’t have some sort of charting to refer to.

I find that all of it works for me at different times.  I have days when I would like to just get it into my notebook on my HTC tablet and other days when a handwritten notebook works well.  The drawback with the HTC tablet or another kind of electronic device is that you have to charge it up periodically and perhaps when your moment at hand to write down notes is when your tablet is in the red or orange and you will have to wait to get it charged up to full speed.

I’ve often enjoyed Evernote, which is connected to my laptop and my HTC. 

But sometimes, I would rather be old fashioned and write notes into a cheap grocery store notebook of some sort.

I’ve often resorted to index cards.  At different times of my novel writing days, I have jotted interesting things down on index cards to later use in something.  That is a fun thing to have perhaps a box filled with index cards full of ideas of any sort.  It can be utilized as a box full of thoughts for possible prompts and perhaps by using that method you will discover your next novel of choice.

Also, the clustering idea has been put into use by many writers.  I learned this technique once years ago in a woman’s writing class.  My instructor was filled with really neat ideas.

I don’t use the clustering method recently, but I have in the past for one of my novels, that has never been finished.  Well, I kind of finished handwriting it and I got it typed and it’s on an old zip drive, but I know that one needs lots of editing as it is one of the early novels I wrote years ago.  Called Gracie Bee Mollyockett.

After writing up a new guideline for my novel, I am going to try sticky notes.  It’s kind of a fun thing to just jot down some notes, then later take them into where they need to go and add them into your novel.  And of course there’s always room for elaborating.  I’m not sure what I am going to do with my sticky notes after I am done with them.  I was thinking of putting each session into a Ziploc baggy but I’m not sure I want to do that, but I want to file them in some order as the novel goes,  May-be little envelopes instead with the date I wrote them and then it can be filed with the guidebook.

Maybe I will check mark it to let myself know it got written in.  I did this editing with the sticky notes yesterday and rewrote the first chapter a little bit.  I had wanted to give more descriptions to certain characters, and I wanted to get Heather’s dad in the novel early on, as before that he gets talked about but never entered the novel.  Now he’s in it.

I guess everyone has their own way of creating notes and guidebooks, etc that works for them.  Some people like mapping and a very in depth outline when working on novels. 

Not everyone can do this though, sit down and write a very detailed outline of how the novel is going to be.  I’m the kind that sort of writes as I go.  I follow the road as it leads me down an unknown path of where the novel wants to take me.

And then, other novelists want to know exactly what is going to happen every step of the way.  To each his own.

But I will say having a guideline and keeping notes really helps as I go along.  And I had to do this in case my laptop dies.  I need a hard copy of the information.

Ideally it is probably a good idea to print out your novel as you go along, at least once, so that you have a hard copy of the novel to edit from too.  Some novelists like to print the whole thing out, so that they can put sticky notes on top of each printed page.  I may do this in the future.  But I think I would need to make sure my printer will print the text well.  It’s a finicky printer.  My photography prints out great while the text pages kind of get faded.  But that could just be due to the ink running out.

Anyhow, have fun creating little notes of any sort.  It’s all good.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 24, 2013

Sticky notes are kind of fun.  If you don't always feel like writing a lot, this can be a quick fix and get you where you need to go.

I think I have also used clustering for poetry.

I always love writing on a large size index card too.  I was doing this a lot earlier in the year.

It's always good to have these handy little notebooks on hand to use for anything and you never know when you are going to get a call from somewhere and you need to jot down an address or phone number.  Love, love, love these.  

I just always love having old fashioned paper products around as you aren't always near the laptop and sometimes we are in our cars waiting in traffic and thank god we have our paper on hand.  And most of us at one time or another have had to resort to writing on a napkin.

I need to do this later today.  I may even get a chapter in!  Or if I don't it's because I turned into Chicks With Sticks for today and am going to work on another shrug.  Actually right now, I am working on a dress for an American Girl doll.  I'm on the skirt part and I am very much questioning the size of the skirt.  It seems way too large, yet I am working on the right size needles for the project.

And these are awesome too.  I've used the little Ever Note journals and other little journals off and on.  

Cool new Knitting Fun

I know I wasn't going to blog too much right now, but this is going to be harmless to me.  I'm getting excited about knitting along with the novel writing.  I have made some progress with the trilogy a little bit.  At least I got my handwritten chapters in and I finally made myself finish up the more detailed guideline in case the laptop quits on me, I will have some the important info so I can continue writing by hand until the day I can get a new laptop.

Hoping that is by end of summer at the latest.  Pumped the first book of trilogy up to 171 pages.  Going kind of slow.

But the one reason for that is the knitting!!!  I've been busy working on some new projects and am thinking of things that may sell really well.  And my designs will also go in the knitting book which I plan to publish.

The recipe book Soups, Pasta and (I'm changing the last part and it won't be crackers.)  Figured this as there's going to be an ice cream recipe in it too.  I've got about 16-17 recipes in it so far.  That one is fun as I  am doing different color fonts with it.

The knitting ideas are shrugs for women and girls.  I finished one that is my size and have it listed on Ebay.  But, I am now also leaning towards Etsy for the knitting.  I might do much better with the knitting than the paper dolls there.  Paper dolls are a specialized thing whereas knitting is functional and wearable.  And I am looking at possibly making some $$ sooner while the novels take a lot longer to finish and you don't see any $$ until after you publish.

My sister n law said that I could probably make some good money with knitting.  I have a friend who does really well at the craft shows with her felted hats, purses, mittens and other items.  So, I'm foreseeing at least a few craft shows to start at the fall time season.

I started a shrug earlier this week.  Finished it yesterday and started it the day before, for my daughter, Julia. It came out really sweet and is partly Fair Isle.  Now I am working on a different one for my other daughter, Mollyanne.  I started it this morning and it will probably be done by tomorrow.  Then on to ones to sell for other little girls and women and of course a few to make for me.

Fast knitter.

I also had some fun yesterday taking pictures of my cats with some tape measures and trying to take some pictures of different things for possible inclusion into the novels and the other books.  I'm thinking I'm going to have fun with collage for the covers of the knitting book and the recipe book.

And at some point I will need to make some illustrations too.

I recently discovered the Play Store for cool apps for my tablet and installed a bunch of free photo apps which I'm having fun with.

I got one of my daughters emails and have been having some fun sending some of the cat pictures.  She misses my Luna and Ella.  My HTC tablet got some really cool cat photos.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to have some cat photosessions with my yarn.  I'm thinking some pictures of them will look nice in my knitting book.  Cats and yarn go well together.

Well, not too much more for today.  Just getting excited to put some shrugs on ebay and etsy.  And I'm thinking I will promote a few of the really pretty ones on Etsy to get the ball rolling on that.  Maybe the Fair Isle ones.

Okay, really ready to go.  I want to finish Mollyanne's shrug and get another chapter on the trilogy.  And I was thinking of some funny things for a novel I have just barely started.

I got thinking of italian mafia names and the other day I really got laughing on one I came up with.  Scarpacanoli!  Let's just say the worst canoli cake ever!!!!!   Ha ha ha ha.

Bye for now.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted March 22, 2013


the etsy shop:

http://jfaypaperdolls.etsy.com/   I think this is it.  There's a few of my paperdolls and knitting markers right now and hopefully in a few weeks I can get in some new knitting shrugs and scarfs and headbands in there and start seeing what might happen with the knitting items.

 This is the one I made for me.  I started from a pattern and made it my own adding extra designs.  I think any knitter needs to constantly look at different designs from resources as you need to know what the needles and the size something should start as in order to fit right.  Like you know no shrug is ever going to be 200 stitches or a very small amount.
By reading and understanding patterns by others is how we learn to construct something.  You don't want to end up with something that's going to be drastically wrong.

The first shrug I tried to make would fit this category.  The sleeves were just fine but the back of the shrug was way too wide and the thing kind of collapsed in the back like one of those tops that droop and show your backline!  I'm keeping it, but it will not make any appearance in ebay, etsy or a craft show that's for sure.

Ella and Luna.  This would probably be a good time to throw some balls of yarn in for pictures of them.  The tape measures was tricky as they were on the go and it was hard to get them to look at the camera.  But it was what it was.

This is an old heart I got at a yard sale.  I'm trying to get some beginning ideas for one of the illustrations or photos in The Glorious Money Tree trilogy.  There's a rhinestone heart that is in the novel in the beginning and I'm thinking an illustration of it would be nice.  Not sure if it would make it in the cover yet.  Was kind of thinking I may at some point draw on this, or make some illustrations.  Or I may have to find a pretty rhinestone heart at some point to use for it.  And make it pink.

Who knows.

A few new mannequins.  The longer one I am going to keep as is I think, but I want to paint the smaller one.

A doll sweater I made a few years ago.  Neck is sort of big, but I was trying to make it fit my Blythe dolls.  Am going to make some new doll outfits soon too and follow some patterns to begin with and then go off on my own designs.

The guideline for the trilogy and notes.  I'm trying a new kind of fun thing with the guideline book.  Post it notes.  Anybody ever use post it notes, index cards?  I met a fellow writer last month and he was talking about mapping is how he goes for his science fiction book.  No romantic inclinations there, but it was a nice chat with another writer.

It's really neat when we meet people who are into the same kind of thing and we can go on and on on the topics.

My cornflake chicken that went into a soup recipe.  It came out neat.  Had to be careful not to fry it too long as the cornflakes got a little dark.  Let's just say I was picking out the black pieces long before any pictures got taken.  

My lovely red necklace that I don't wear a lot now.  Should but don't.  This one loves to make the neck green.  Must be the type of metal.  My mom's old Oil of Olay jar.  I love to just open it up sometimes and it has her smell.  Comforting.

my knitting needles.  May try some other photos with knitting supplies for the knitting book or the cover.  Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.

A close up of my bobble design on the shrug.