tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81310553397944740612024-03-16T11:52:55.502-07:00The Authentic Lifeart, writing, crafts, relationships, life in general, the current news, kids, parenting, gardening, and basically in a nutshell a blog about anything. I will constantly be writing about different topics. Lots of posts on blogging, earning money online, different writing sites, and on and on... fashion, beauty, society, writing poetry, novels and much much more.https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.comBlogger443125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-73560401031731705192021-07-11T10:35:00.000-07:002021-07-11T10:35:10.911-07:00Thoughts for the Day on Embroidery and other Art and Writing<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMgjb5IHt38rNdKQ5FhhftYl5Zr4gk3FLwxsf5kIEfuahw7g8TcYShQkvj_RG3BAnOa_rAAEq2AT5VnSQejhz_wLKDS-tDWOKbLrbSqKup2DozkelR6F9dOLnqhlGZ_j8VCXS1WlabNRd/s2048/_DSC2603.NEF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMgjb5IHt38rNdKQ5FhhftYl5Zr4gk3FLwxsf5kIEfuahw7g8TcYShQkvj_RG3BAnOa_rAAEq2AT5VnSQejhz_wLKDS-tDWOKbLrbSqKup2DozkelR6F9dOLnqhlGZ_j8VCXS1WlabNRd/s320/_DSC2603.NEF" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Please forgive the long delay in writing a new post on this blog of mine. I keep forgetting that I should be posting here as well, to keep my audience of readers up to date on the blog posts. Sorry about that. Life gets busy. I have been needing to focus on not only my writing, but photography and other aspects of my art, to try to expand my opportunities in art, photography as well as writing, ceramics and other craft work. The ceramics will need to wait, due to the fact I don't have the kiln yet. Someday, I will and look forward to being able to low-fire and high-fire my ceramic sculptures and jewelry pieces. Plus learning how to glaze them. </div><div><br /></div><div>The above photo is an embroidery piece I am working on for a possible artsy garment. It's the first piece and I am not quite sure how I will add different pieces. It's not from a pattern, so I am improvising as I go. The metallic red yarn thread is lovely to work with. It's a lot of satin stitch with some other stitches incorporated. I should look through the embroidery book collection again to remind myself of the other stitches I may be using (without realizing it). </div><div><br /></div><div>The blue flower piece I have started this morning and it's almost done. I will be putting that blue flower onto a key chain. It's a very simple idea to begin with that get's worked to create a lace or tatting effect. It may be very close to tatting.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started with a not too long of a piece of macrame twine. (Jute) Created a loop and started to sew the blue wool blend yarn into that. Creating loops and sewing into the loops. A small mandrel is useful in aiding the sewing of the loops. It can be done by creating a loop around the finger also, but if a smaller loop is necessary, sometimes a mandrel for jewelry making, helps. A pencil, wooden dowel, perhaps a straw and other types of cylindrical items would work also. If you wish to do a larger project, a small size pastry dough roller can work well if you don't have any wooden mandrels or other types. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's a little time consuming, but a very beautiful effect as the looping and the stitch work progresses. Adding embellishments is very pretty also. I am not sure if I will add gold metallic thread to the blue flower, but perhaps another project.</div><div><br /></div><div>As my kids are busy with their jobs and one of them is adjusting to a new place and meeting new friends, I have been keeping myself busy with my creative work. I have kept up with the poetry, but had slowed down on the fiction writing for a while for multiple reasons. </div><div><br /></div><div>It felt great to get back into typing to a new fiction in process, recently. I really needed that and still do. I love once I start typing and editing to a work of writing, I can get wrapped up in it and work on it for hours. Then discover the late hour of night. LOL.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have a working title for that new fiction, but I may change that later. It's romantic suspense of course with added fiction on witches, etc.... </div><div><br /></div><div>I have been taking my time self-publishing new work as I have needed that to be more fine tuned than some previous work. Not that those earlier self-published works aren't as good. Many are. Any author knows that as you progress as a writer, the writing becomes more practiced and it creates a more effective piece of writing. In May, I self-published on Kindle Direct Publishing, my newest cookbook. The next book I would like to get self-published, will probably be one of my poetry books. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't write every single day. It's due to needing to expand my opportunities to have a successful financial living with my work, now that I'm not receiving alimony from my ex-husband. I've been doing a lot of photography because I would truly love to have some photography job opportunities come from that. When the time is right, I am praying that some doors open for me in that. I have always loved photography.</div><div><br /></div><div>I try to get outside almost every day to photograph in the neighborhood park and around town where I can walk to. It's a beautiful park. I miss a garden to plant flowers and vegetables in. When I least expect it, I will meet a new man and perhaps be able to have an outdoor garden to tend to. I'm patient. I love going to the neighborhood park and photographing the nature and a new thing I have been practicing is nature Videography. I'm not sure if I am ready to start selling the videography, but someday maybe doors will open with that also.</div><div><br /></div><div>Below, are two of my photos from this morning's visit to the Saint Albans Taylor Park. It's also enjoyable to find found nature objects to bring home while also doing my part to help recycle in the park. </div><div><br /></div><div>I love macro photography. I've been expanding my portfolio to have more types of photography than just the flowers and nature. Textural types of photos, etc....</div><div><br /></div><div>Thinking of textiles, I've been learning to embroider, continuing with my knitting and wanting to learn new techniques. Bobbin lace making does look difficult and eventually, I would like to see if I can try to do that better. My first try at that was quite clumsy. Ha.</div><div><br /></div><div>Over the previous two years since kicking out a boyfriend, I have been also focusing on my artwork, which had been put to the side while I was writing and self-publishing a lot more. I have been loving getting back to my artwork. I should be working on my artwork even more often. I get busy knitting and cooking also. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hot weather keeps me out of the kitchen more often. </div><div><br /></div><div>Experimenting in photography, is very much a learning experience. I think I am one of those people who is always going to want to experiment with photography and do many photos. That's just me. It's like a rapture for something. To be so in-tune with the process is so important. I think that's part of why getting outdoors to do my photography is so vital I do that. It's also good exercise and the sunshine is important.</div><div><br /></div><div>My oldest grown son who lives out west, is visiting with his girlfriend in the Fall. I am so excited to get to see him and meet his girlfriend. </div><div><br /></div><div>The sad thing, I had to give up my two cats in the Springtime, due to not being able to afford to keep them and there were issues. It made me feel good to give Ella to my daughter, Mollyanne (Molly is her nickname she likes to be called). Ella is happy and I get to see new photos of her on my daughter's Instagram sometimes. Luna I had to give away to the local Humane Society. It was horrible to have to give her up, I really did love my cats. </div><div><br /></div><div>My daughter and her boyfriend brought me there to give the cat away. I looked at Luna who was in the cat carrier, and she looked so fearful. But, I think positive and know that they must have found a nice new home for her. I had had my two cats for a long time. I should draw some artwork from some of the photography I have done of them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thinking positive is the thing to maintain. It's so easy for people to let the negatives eat away at them. I try to focus on my creative work and not let some people's hurtful digs get to me. I guess everyone is human and sometimes, there will be someone who will purposefully use their words to hurt someone. Nobody is immune to that. </div><div><br /></div><div>When someone aims mean words at someone, what usually happens if you don't allow it to show that it hurt you, it reflects back upon the ones who decided to be mean. It is what it is. Life isn't supposed to be perfect, but the important thing is to maintain a healthy well-being and to be happy with what you have in life. It's okay to want more in life, though. Sometimes needing more in life, means a healthy well-being needs to be met. That is adults needing to keep a well-rounded happiness to be even better. That supports change for a better humanity.</div><div><br /></div><div>The world is a scary place even though it is beautiful. I love to be inspired by many people. But to be unique to myself. I'm a mother trying to teach my kids many important values, even though I am not getting paid a lot for my creative work right now. I'm patient and when the time is right, those important things I need to happen in my life, will happen. </div><div><br /></div><div>A well paying job doesn't always make the person. I believe a person has to be content and happy, no matter what the circumstances in a life, are. An aura. Some say the aura needs to be of positiveness. What if the aura is a positive one and there are those who use poor judgement upon someone? That happens. How do you deal with that? </div><div><br /></div><div>I can control myself, but I cannot control the actions of anyone else. People are going to do what they're going to do. I love how signs in life can be like metaphors. Learning how to see the signs and recognize them, can be difficult to decipher sometimes. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think there is some truth in that. How one perceives the surroundings. Found objects in a park and why are they there? So many reasons for that. It's quite interesting sometimes. I come home and think about the possibilities of new fiction. Anything can inspire that. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was a little rusty writing some new poems the other evening. I managed to write a few and had to set the pad of paper aside. That happens. Not every poem can be excellent. I have poems I really love a lot and some that are not my favorites. </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, I am thinking of finishing that blue flower to add to my key chain. Oh, that other piece of string art, is going to be a sun catcher for photography purposes. A filter. I am thinking if there's really great sunlight hitting it, the shadow of the pattern can be cast upon my windowsill. I have been working on that off and on for a while. It's still not done. Beads may look pretty on it later. Maybe. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jennifer Jo Fay (Maiden name: Wagnis. There's other variations of that, I have learned)</div><div><br /></div><div>July 11, 2021</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B0o_QTEGsODk5Df3s0cmNhk6zp5RHz4kNyuk1wtK6bbFOz28XjOhTq670yqMcgNoumuZWV1YQQbYvKQiH_XcwSkBBBnELWX5dvViaHlYM4old5243yuuQVZfrdzg-gEvnCuwbHv4G77K/s2048/_DSC2605.NEF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B0o_QTEGsODk5Df3s0cmNhk6zp5RHz4kNyuk1wtK6bbFOz28XjOhTq670yqMcgNoumuZWV1YQQbYvKQiH_XcwSkBBBnELWX5dvViaHlYM4old5243yuuQVZfrdzg-gEvnCuwbHv4G77K/s320/_DSC2605.NEF" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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I think it's just the simple fact I don't because I get so busy with everything else. Also, that darn life gets in the way. Really! Seriously! Enough said.<br />
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I've published a good amount of books so far this year, putting me at 71 published books. A bunch of poetry books and two novels. I finished America's Favorite Lottery Winner: Poetess (the sequel to the first one) and published that one in early spring. I loved the plot of that one. It had one of my characters writing poetry. I love when I can incorporate that into a novel.<br />
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The other novel I published just about a month ago, was Iris the Diarist. It's a novel about young college student, Iris, who gets sucked into the lair of a ruthless killer. Add a bit of romance and there you have romantic suspense.<br />
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So, about updating websites. You really need to do it once in a while. Do you ever have the websites that you haven't gone to in a really long time and when you go back into it, you see an old bio that's so out of date, hardly any info (links) so people can find you on your other links? I mean, seriously, it's time to go into all your sites and start fixing things.<br />
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Makes for a better website, page, etc...<br />
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I had gone into a majority of mine changing things around. I mean, my Zazzle site had the old town I lived in for the store. Old information about me, so it all needed to be changed.<br />
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You basically want people (potential buyers and readers) to find you on all your sites. It's all about boosting your presence. Eventually, they find you and they may indeed like you. Love what you do and want to support. Maybe.<br />
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The writing world can be ruthless, as we have soooooo many writers publishing everyday. We all know it's so hard to get found if you aren't someone like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. Just saying. Demographics and sheer luck plays a part in that. That's a sad fact.<br />
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For the past month, I've been posting snippets of my work on my face book author page, Twitter and Instagram. I figure, it helps to get people to have a feel for my work and get to know my style. That's important. Many readers will not invest even .99 cents on your work if they do not know you as a writer and like what you write. No matter how small amount of money that is, they simply do not want to fork it over to read your work unless something really jumps out at them.<br />
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You obviously have to sell them your soul, right? Yeah!<br />
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I went into Zazzle and changed banners too, added pictures to my Face book page story. Every little bit, helps you get found a little better.<br />
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I'm not a great marketer for sure, but I do know a bit about getting my presence known.<br />
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I've found that sometimes promoting on Face book helps make sales and other times it doesn't. It all depends on who is looking on any given time.<br />
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Sometimes, you have to commit yourself to making your pages, websites, etc. stand out. Keep maintaining them on a regular basis and eventually, maybe MAYBE, they'll come to you.<br />
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You also have to believe in yourself, know you have a great product and OWN it. And believe in God. That always helps. Simply believe that you can have good things if you try hard enough and know that if it didn't happen, then it wasn't meant to be.<br />
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Another thing: Be happy with what you have. Even in the face of all the stresses that come your way. No life is perfect. God knows that.<br />
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Keep on writing. Keep trying.<br />
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Well, I'm going offline for a bit to finish knitting a pair of fingerless mitts to add to my Etsy shop. I have added a few new items as of yesterday.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted July 29,2018<br />
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www.amazon.com/author/jenniferjofay<br />
www.etsy.com/shop/jfaypaperdolls<br />
www.ravelry.com/jfay1995 (My knitting patterns for sale)<br />
www.zazzle.com/fancyphotography (my photography on cool products)<br />
www.zazzle.com/fancypaperdolls<br />
www.facebook.com/pipedreams1 (My author page)<br />
www.facebook.com/jfaypaperdolls (My etsy page)<br />
www.twitter.com/jfay1995<br />
www.instagram.com/jfay1995<br />
www.pinterest.com/jfay1995<br />
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I took this picture one day this summer near my kids neighborhood pool. I love the Queen Anne's Lace. My mother did too.<br />
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There was this pale yellow butterfly nearby as I was taking the picture. Something about nature is just so beautiful. You know? We should try to be more aware of the beauty that surrounds us, for often, it goes unnoticed.<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-42951690440233075742017-08-11T06:26:00.000-07:002017-08-11T09:06:56.657-07:00Author's Bus Depot Face book GroupI recently joined a new Face book group called Author's Bus Depot group. It was started in July and right now, the group is growing. We are around 70-80 members now, but need more. The more the merrier.<br />
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If you have a book you want to promote and want to have fun meeting other writers at the same time, this is the group for you. It is a lot of fun participating in this group.<br />
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The object of the group is to help each other promote our books. What better way to get your book out there faster. Let's face it, we all keep trying to promote in the FB groups and sometimes our book gets lost in the shuffle of so many writers promoting their books. One would have to scroll down far to find one of ours.<br />
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Unless you start promoting your book several times on the FB page, and then you're considered borderline spamming. I wonder about that sometimes when I'm promoting different books. They are not the same book, but still, am I considered spamming?<br />
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So, you join Author's Bus Depot and participate in one of the bus rides to get started and figure out how it works.<br />
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Each member picks a time for the bus ride. Say, 4pm eastern time, 6am est. time or the late night 11pm.<br />
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Whoever can do one of those times or a different time, comments 'I'm in.' etc....<br />
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Lately the bus rides try to limit it to 5-8 people due to the famous Face book police.<br />
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These are the best bus rides where you can sit in your rocking chair to do it.<br />
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Then, the leader of the bus ride (the driver), will give you instructions in a message chat (close to the time of take off). He/she will start off giving you one of the banners to put on your FB page or timeline. It's usually a cool picture with the words (support an indie writer, etc...). You download it so you have it ready to post to your page when it's time for your turn to post.<br />
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The leader usually starts the ride by posting on his/her timeline first. Then under the banner picture you post the details of your book you want to promote. You get to put your book first on your page under the banner. Then all the other participants post their book under yours.<br />
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Don't forget to like each person's book as they're posting. Likes are awesome and makes the post look even better.<br />
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Your book promotion:<br />
Title:<br />
Author:<br />
Genre:<br />
Description:<br />
Link:<br />
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Note: On the link, you may want to shorten it if you want. It's optional. A good place to shorten links is www.tinyurl.com Or another one is Bookfinder.com I think this one is right. I'm trying to remember from yesterday's chat.<br />
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That's what you will be posting in the comments section under everyone's banner.<br />
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So, next, after the leader has his/her turn, the leader will pick the next person to have a turn. Then everyone jumps to their page and posts on their posts. And you friend each other in the process and get to meet new people.<br />
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Sometimes we get hoppers/hitchhikers who want to join in the fun. Which is fine as long as they share the banner on their page too. Sometimes, they can be late for the bus ride. It happens.<br />
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Usually the bus ride chat starts about a half hour before take off so if anyone new has questions, moments to chat about what we're eating, music we're listening to, etc....<br />
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The shares are great. These particular posts on my FB page have become the most popular posts on my page with sometimes over 200 views.<br />
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Some of the members have been getting over 40 shares to these posts.<br />
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We leave the chat open for a few days so when each of us gets shares, we let each other know. Then, we need to go post our book info under those new shares, as when someone shares the post, they only are sharing the banner picture.<br />
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So, potentially we can get lots of views to these posts. More views to our books and potentially more sales.<br />
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More than several authors including me have seen sales generating after doing these posts. It's really cool.<br />
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But, anyway, the more members we have in the group, the more potential we have to reach a wider audience for our hard writing work.<br />
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Come join us. Join in the fun.<br />
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https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=authors%20bus%20depot<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted August 2017<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-41695774950257405392017-06-14T05:03:00.002-07:002017-06-14T05:03:50.045-07:00Go For It: Just WriteDon't push off what you can get done today. Write, write, write. Sometimes we hold off on things as we're not sure how we want to proceed next.<br />
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I've had days where I really want to write something, but I can't seem to put the pen to paper and just do it. That's the problem. Not making ourselves write. It's that hesitation which causes us to dilly dally.<br />
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That's when I knit. Yesterday seemed to be a knitting day. I think it was partly to blame on the weather. I hate the heat and humidity. I didn't want to do a whole lot besides running errands. I needed groceries and a trip to the store is always fun.<br />
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I sat outside my building yesterday and it was actually cooler outside than in my fourth floor apartment. Heat rises. I sat out there with a container of fresh strawberries and blueberries. Not that I (being diabetic) should be eating those, but they're the good sugar. And I knitted a strap to a water bottle holder. I've been making those lately.<br />
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I knew I had to type my hand written chapters into the book, Loving Her Until Infinity (erotica version), but I didn't feel like it. Didn't feel like typing in my hot apartment. Yet.<br />
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Other days, I can write or type for hours and get a lot done. I like when I can do that. Like this last week, was for the majority, spent writing and typing up poems. Over the last few weeks, I've published two poetry books. Flowers for Mom and other poems and Here's to You, Sylvia Plath and other poems. I was on a role and now I'm at a loss for words of poetry.<br />
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I've got two new poems to add to a new book, but I'm not thrilled with one of them. Time to pull out my paper word pieces from one of the writer's toolboxes. This one is an Edward Cullen pouch. About three years ago, when I was dating a different guy (who liked to write poetry), I was into creating words on paper. I had the magnetic words too, but wanted to make my own in cursive writing.<br />
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The boyfriend turned out to be an alcoholic and I couldn't handle that, so we broke up after a month of dating. Plus, he was homeless and wanted to move right in.<br />
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I'm dating a nice guy now. He was a widower who lives in my building. A really nice guy.<br />
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I ended up later on, typing up the chapters I had written. Pushed the novel to 108 pages. It's getting good. I think today, I want to write more. It's a matter of going for it and doing it without thinking it's going to be a floppy mess of words. Don't look at your writing with criticism yet. Save that for the editing.<br />
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Just write. If you don't think you have the time, find the time. Even if you feel you've been drained of your energy, worked a long day and don't feel motivated. Surprise yourself. You may be able to get in a good hours worth of writing to progress things along.<br />
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If you allow yourself an hour or more a day, you would be surprised how it will add up if you keep at it.<br />
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Lately, I like my boyfriend and I get up early, so it seems I have extra hours in a day to get things done. Although, at the same rate, if I've gotten up at 5 am, I'm often tired by 9 pm. I also like staying up to 11 pm. One time, around the holidays, my boyfriend stayed up all night and ended up he was up for about 48 hours. I don't see how he could do it. He was on vacation for one thing.<br />
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I need my beauty sleep.<br />
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Monday night, my train back home after seeing the kids, was delayed until 10:30 pm. I ended up pulling out a book from the library book sale. I read half of it and finished it yesterday morning. Julie and Romeo Get Lucky, by Jeanne Ray. What an awesome book! There were a few spots I came close to laughing in the train station. The part about Romeo's mother cracked me up. And the 8 year old gambler had me laughing.<br />
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I hadn't read a book in a bit and it was good to get back to reading. Need to build up the writer's toolbox. Not that I can remember all the phrases I liked in the book, but I'm sure a few will jump out at me sometime. She describes Audrey Hepburn's neck like a willow branch at one point. I liked that metaphor.<br />
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I've got to sew up a few of my water bottle holders I finished and list one or two on Etsy.<br />
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I was floored when I sold two poetry books on Amazon in the space of two days. That was cool. Now I'm patiently waiting again.<br />
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Someone bought Flowers for Mom and other poems. I finally got another book review. Someone gave me a review for that.<br />
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Well, I should go if I'm going to go for it and write, write, write. The day is young and seems cooler. Maybe that should motivate me.<br />
<br />
Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
<br />
Copyrighted June 2017<br />
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There's my water bottle holder. This was last week at the farmer's market. I didn't sell anything. It's been three weeks since I sold anything. I think the people mostly want the food vendors items. The grapes were good.</div>
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This is the photo I used for the cover for the newest poetry book. I picked a picture of Sylvia Plath to draw from so it can go with the first poem in the book. The butterflies were really fun to make. I should make more of those. My favorite is the green one. I've got to figure out Amazon's cover creator a little better. Sometimes my whole photo doesn't get in, except for one of the ones I can choose from.<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-88915597818469119112017-06-08T07:43:00.001-07:002017-06-08T07:43:49.083-07:00What's in Your Writer's Toolbox?I do believe every writer should have a writer's toolbox of some sort. What are writer's without one?<br />
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I think a large part of our writer's toolbox comes from reading the works of other writers. Every time we sit down and read a book from start to finish, we are building our toolbox. It doesn't mean we remember everything we've read, but we store information in our brains for when we go to write our own stuff.<br />
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Are you the type of writer who likes to highlight or underline words or phrases in the books you read? Some people do this. My book by Sylvia Plath arrived in the mail yesterday. Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams. When I opened it up, I noticed someone had written inside on the first page.<br />
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I will never let you go unread. What a terrible fate that would be. This was one.<br />
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"The greatest enemy to creativity is self-doubt." Sylvia Plath.<br />
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There were also other writings inside by someone. And when I opened to one page where she had written about a storm, there were several small sticky note cut outs about what the person thought of the essay.<br />
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I am awed by Sylvia Plath's descriptions in the first two stories I have read so far. Mothers. And Ocean 1212-W I really liked reading this one. The descriptions are so vivid in my mind and I'm finding her work fascinating.<br />
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I've ordered The Bell Jar once again. I gave it away the first time as I couldn't bring myself to read it. I'm going to make myself read it. Last week, I wrote a poem based on Sylvia Plath. It ended up being four pages long and was the longest poem I have written. It's going to be the first poem in my newest poetry book I am working on.<br />
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There should be lots of other things in your writer's toolbox. I started creating one this last week. On an excursion to Family Dollar with my boyfriend, I discovered a cool mason jar just for this idea. I got it home and started writing ideas on a steno pad and began rolling them up and tossing them in the jar.<br />
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Note: When cutting my writing prompts off the paper, I cut towards me. A bad habit that stuck with me since early childhood. Everyone thinks it is funny.<br />
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I brought the jar to the library on the night I visited with my kids. Mollyanne and Julia had fun reading some of them.<br />
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Write anything that comes to mind and toss it in a jar, a box or anything else you want to put them in.<br />
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I also have one for poetry that is all kinds of words cut up on small art paper. Then, I can pull out seven or eight words and create a poem from it.<br />
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Some people like those magnetic words. I have that and use it once in a while. <br />
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Come back to your writer's box any time you want. Maybe you have a day when writer's block has set in. Go to the toolbox, fish out an idea and start writing.<br />
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Keep reading and building your toolbox so you have more to work with. Whenever you come across a word you don't know, look it up.<br />
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A writer's toolbox should also possess a thesaurus and a dictionary. Reference books are great. Also, build your collection of books on writing. It's all essential to being a writer.<br />
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Now write.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
<br />
Copyrighted June 2017<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-89435665086857699512017-05-30T04:13:00.001-07:002017-05-30T04:13:34.478-07:00When should You Publish?I don't think there should be a deadline to publishing. The book is done when you think it is ready. Not when someone else thinks it is ready.<br />
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Of course there are deadlines when other people set them for you. That cannot be escaped. If that's the case, then you better get it done in due time. Don't delay when you know you will be panicking when your deadline is fast approaching.<br />
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In most cases, we want the book to be perfect, without flaws. So, we push the publishing date as far out as we can possibly set it.<br />
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There is no set time frame for publishing though if you are going at your own pace. The most important thing is to make sure your book is to your liking. Edit, edit, and edit more until you think it looks flawless.<br />
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Keep in mind, no book is flaw free. All books could stand to be edited in some way or other.<br />
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Some people can publish a book within a two week time frame, a month, several months or more like a year or longer. In some cases, ten years or more to write that one book.<br />
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Then, on the other hand, there is the occasional writer who claims he can write thirty books in a month. You have to question how he or she can do that. They may tell you Dragon Naturally Speaking software. But still. 30 books? Seriously?<br />
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I can sometimes publish several poetry books within a few months time frame, and then longer for a novel. I seem like it takes me more like 2 to 3 months or longer to write a novel. And I've had some novels that have taken me several years to write. Like The Glorious Money Trilogy: Book One. That one book took forever. Although, I did take serious breaks from that and knitted and other stuff.<br />
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It just depends. I keep thinking how quick could I write a book if I wrote longer each day. Or if I wrote instead of knitting. Who knows.<br />
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Publish when you think it is ready. You will know as your instincts should remind you it is done. Go for it.<br />
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Don't wait for other people to tell you it isn't done yet. Publish it.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted May 2017<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-2726025845975000412017-05-29T07:19:00.001-07:002017-05-29T07:19:16.227-07:00Stick to Your Plans: WriteHere we are on Memorial Day weekend and what will we do? Try to write. Don't stop writing just because it's the holiday weekend. Of course you will need to shuffle agendas around as we can't escape the weekend and all the fun it brings.<br />
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Last Saturday was a wash at the farmer's market. I was hoping to sell something but didn't. I guess I can't complain as I sold a pair of striped fingerless mitts on my Etsy shop, so I sold somewhere. Maybe the next weekend will be better. It probably takes time for them to figure out who I am and that I am going to be at the farmer's market all season.<br />
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I did manage to write 18 poems while at the market in the morning. I've got to type them today.<br />
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My kids are having a day at their grandparents probably today. I'm home alone as my boyfriend is working.<br />
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My treats are next to me. Mesquite kettle chips, a small bottle of blush wine and my cup of coffee. I already ate the whipped cream and pudding treat. And am saving the broccoli salad for when I visit my kids in a few days.<br />
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The day was definitely nice to write at the farmer's market. After not selling anything, my boyfriend and I watched Fantastic Beasts. Awesome movie. I spent the rest of the weekend knitting up five dishcloths and I'm working at finishing a scrunchy.<br />
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I'm going to make myself write today. We do have to stick to our goals and write when we can. Putting it aside can make us grumpy if we don't get to it.<br />
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I have also been wanting to add some new products to my Etsy Shop so will do that today as well. And I've got rhubarb that's going to go bad soon, so I'm making jam today. I'm wondering what lavender sugar would do to it. Hmmm..... I may be adding a new recipe to the latest cookbook!<br />
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I'm looking at a granny smith apple that needs to be sliced and munched on. I've got to have something healthy to go with the not so healthy stuff.<br />
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Maybe I need to put on some Rod Stewart music to be inspired to write. I was able to also finish a chapter the other day and I need to type that in.<br />
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The day is still young and there is plenty of time to write and knit. My game plan for writing is different every day. I woke up later this morning due to some weird dreams and then listening to someone blaring their TV at 7am. It was so loud I could actually know what was going on in their TV show.<br />
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Got up and turned on my TV loud enough to not hear their's. Today Show. Sometimes I can't start my day without the Today Show. I've got complete silence now. Sometimes I love the silence. Except for the fact someone is playing a radio now. I live in the downtown so I'm going to hear noises from outside. Makes for an interesting day I suppose.<br />
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I should make myself stay up late tonight and write. I haven't written in the middle of the night for a while. I've been getting tired and done at 9pm or a little later. I do occasionally like staying up to 11pm or later. I've also been known to wake up later on and get up and do something. I stayed up knitting one night.<br />
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Some people enjoy writing in the wee hours in the morning or late at night when everyone else is sleeping. Perhaps that is when some of your best work comes.<br />
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Anyway, write something before this holiday weekend is done.<br />
<br />
Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted May 2017<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-5449205858180352622017-05-26T09:44:00.001-07:002017-05-26T09:44:12.612-07:00Where do Ideas come from?Just where do you get your ideas anyway? Sometimes people will ask you where you get your ideas. I've often said I get them from my head. But that's not always the case.<br />
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Ideas stem from anything. It could be you flip open a magazine and there it is. Or maybe one's own experiences are fodder for your writings. It's like that old saying, "I'm a writer. Anything you say or do can be used in a novel."<br />
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I broke down and bought that cup from Etsy last holiday season. I think I shall need to have some hibiscus tea in it later today. I took a liking to the tea in late Fall. I was not a fan of rose-hips and jasmine tea. I bought some dried rose buds for tea and wasn't crazy over that. Hence, they're getting used in photography instead. Why throw out when something is useful?<br />
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Look all around you and there's ideas brewing everywhere. Sometimes we need to be nudged for ideas. Also, by reading we discover new ideas. All writers need to be reading as well. By reading, you are filling up your toolbox with added knowledge.<br />
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I for one should also read more. I don't do it enough as I've got so many other things on my plate and when I'm not knitting, I'd rather be writing my own stuff than reading. But I should make myself read more.<br />
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Conversations can be great sources for writing. Ever just sit in a coffee shop or any other place and just quietly listen to passersby? You never know where something will jump out at you. It could just be a phrase or two that sparks something.<br />
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We all watch the news. It too can be a great source for writing. Perhaps it's an issue you want to write about and find it leads you down to a great piece of writing. Who knows.<br />
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But the large part of how we incorporate it into a story must come from our heads. You can't obviously use someone else's writing. Plagiarism. However, fan fiction is different. I've never done it, but if my girls ever wanted to try it, I would encourage them to try it. Role playing and extending upon a work of fiction already out there. And I've heard it's good practice for someone who wants to learn how to write better with something already there.<br />
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Your kids can be great fodder for stuff. Learn a thing or two from them and perhaps your next novel shall be written.<br />
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Or perhaps it is the visual arts that would entice you to write. I've tried that sometimes, writing a poem from looking at an image. Sometimes the results have been kind of cool.<br />
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Whatever you do, don't spill your ideas to the world. You've got to have your secrets about what you write about. And do realize once it's in published book form it is out there for the public. But do wait until you have a completed manuscript. Do spill to your friends or colleagues if you want advice upon what you have written. Sometimes that is necessary.<br />
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I guess just be open to anything and when the moment jumps at you, write it down before you lose it. Perhaps have a recorder or something to jot it down until you can get to your laptop.<br />
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I love having a pad of paper ready at the helm to start writing if I need to get down something. It's a start. Sometimes, I have eighteen or more hand written pages that later need to be typed.<br />
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Other times, I like to be typing on my keyboard. Like now. I'm click happy coming out with words as they form on the page.<br />
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Just typing what's in my head. <br />
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Also, anything that happens to you is all fodder for writing. You can certainly use any of your experiences. Write what you know.<br />
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Research. Research can feed our brains to write.<br />
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Whatever you do, just write. It doesn't matter where our ideas come from as long as we're inspired.<br />
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So find your inspiration.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted May 2017<br />
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Perhaps you need a candle to help inspire you. Set the mood for your inspiration. I do believe the surroundings are key to enabling our creativity. Although it really doesn't matter where you write as long as you write. The picture below is my window set up. This changes when I'm in the mood for something different. <br />
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That little doll with the black skirt I won one year when I sent paper doll drawings into Doll Reader. Plus I got my drawings into the issue. She was a Riley doll by Helen Kish.<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-45827645670257007442017-05-26T09:07:00.001-07:002017-05-26T09:07:25.160-07:00What to Do when you have writer's blockLet's face it we all get writer's block sometimes. Perhaps it's only been a few days or more like months since one has written anything. Maybe it's just that you feel you are slightly rusty.<br />
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I tried to write something more to a chapter a few days ago and found I could only get a paragraph in. I had to open up my document and refresh my memory of my last chapter I had written to Loving Her Until Infinity (erotica version).<br />
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Yet, still I couldn't find myself writing very much. Felt I was at a loss for words that day. I'm hoping I'm able to write more to that today.<br />
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Sometimes when we get writer's block, the best thing to do is to write. Maybe nothing will come but there always seems to be something in what we surprise ourselves we are able to write.<br />
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I know for most of us, when we do get an attack of writer's block, we want to do everything but write. In my case, I resort to knitting. It's therapeutic and while I'm knitting I am thinking of writing. While I'm dreaming, I'm thinking of writing.<br />
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Everything but write. Today, it seems I am only writing here. I guess it's refreshing myself with blogging. Hadn't done it in a long time and realized how much I miss it. Even though I'm not earning from Google Adsense. My blog was disabled quite a few years ago. I've asked them to reinstate it today. Not sure if they will, but it's a stab in the dark.<br />
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Overcoming writer's block is like a stab in the dark. You have to retreat into the unknown to find out if there is anything there. If you don't try, you will not know what you have inside you to begin with. Everyone has something even if it's only a draft of low caliber. You've got to write in order to get better.<br />
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If you must, go get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee before setting down to write your heart out. Don't delay yourself too long or you won't do it. Like me yesterday. I delayed and did everything but write.<br />
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I hate it when I don't. I keep thinking to myself I could have written ten to twenty pages to something. And because I waited, the novel also waits. But it is there for when I come back to reconnect myself with what I wanted to say.<br />
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Stay away if you must. Sometimes we need a break from it. I break by knitting. Do what you must to find your much needed release.<br />
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There is always a hole in writer's block where the vessel pours out upon a new blank page. Do what is necessary.<br />
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Here's my retreat. Whenever I don't feel like writing, I knit or putter around on some other craft project. This was a pair of legwarmers and I think I have to change them to knitting cases as they didn't want to go over my right foot. It fit over my left but struggled with my right. I think it's the yarn I was using as another type of yarn I used to make these fits better. <br />
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These scrunchies were fun to make. And time consuming. Plus my bracelets in there.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay</div>
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Copyrighted May 2017</div>
<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-28411685440003351062017-05-26T07:46:00.001-07:002017-05-26T07:46:38.419-07:00Have a Little PatiencePatience is such a hard thing to learn sometimes. We all can lose our patience sometimes. Including myself. I'm not immune to it.<br />
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Today, my boyfriend is trying to learn how to use his new phone. He wants to transfer all his contacts, photos and text from his old phone to his new one. He's got texts from his daughter and his wife who passed away that is priceless.<br />
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This morning it was telling him he needed a gmail account and a google account. I helped him set up a google and gmail account yet he was getting frustrated as it wasn't registering on his new phone. We went and updated his new phone into his google and hopefully that works.<br />
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He didn't know how to get to settings so I helped him with that and helped him get onto my internet and now he's calming down and seems to be feeling better about it. But he was frustrated for a bit and seemed to lose his patience.<br />
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It's so important to have patience with anything. The possibilities of anything causing us to lose patience is endless. If you don't possess patience, you need to quickly learn how to have some. It will get you much further in life if you can manage your patience for things.<br />
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Just like me this morning as well. I had gone to the post office as I made a sale yesterday with Etsy and discovered it this morning. I had sold a pair of finger-less mitts. I was so excited. I brought my camera as you never know when there is going to be an image to snap.<br />
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The Travelled Cup in my town had a fuchsia plant hanging. On the way back from the post office, I stopped to take a few pictures of me by a tall shrub of white flowers. Then closer to my apartment in the park were lilacs in bloom.<br />
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I arrived in the back to chat with a neighbor who was waiting for her taxi. After chatting, I went upstairs. I discovered my debit card wasn't in my pocket. Panicking, I went back downstairs and traced my steps and sure enough there it was on the edge of the sidewalk next to where I had been standing. Lucky.<br />
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Patience is key to everything sometimes. If you get so bent out of shape, frustrated and on the verge of yelling it's going to do you no good. Stop, think about what you need to do next as there's always a solution to whatever it may be.<br />
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Tomorrow always comes so there will be a way to resolve issues. No matter how big or small things always work out somehow. It may not always be what we wanted. It may not come in a way you expected, but there is always change to make something better.<br />
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Patience is a virtue. My mom used to say this to me as a young girl and I've always stuck by it. I have a lot of patience sometimes and other times it does wear thin. We're all human and we make mistakes.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted May 2017https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-90751539367507792592017-05-26T05:38:00.001-07:002017-05-26T05:38:18.356-07:00Keep Writing! Don't StopGood advice! Keep writing! I'm going to make myself write more today. I don't have a set routine for writing. It just happens when it happens.<br />
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I hate the days when you start off the day thinking you will write a lot and then it ends up you did everything but write.<br />
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Yesterday was one of those days. I thought I would write, kept telling myself I still had hours in the day to write and instead I finished knitting a headband for the farmer's market, started another one with finger weight yarn and I snacked on potato chips, ate cheesecake I made for my boyfriend's birthday and I cooked supper.<br />
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Not to mention surfing the web on my iPod. Or rather, surfing E bay. Birthday shopping for my girls and fun little make up treats. I put on red lipstick for the first time in years and my boyfriend got a kick out of that.<br />
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I bought the red Revlon lipstick for part of the cover for my newest novel. Just thoughts in the works on that as of now. And after I put it on, I forgot to twist the lipstick down and screwed up the top of the lipstick slightly. I think I can touch it up, but it's not a perfect formed lipstick now. Darn. I'm thinking of dragging the lipstick across part of an antique mirror for part of the cover. Not sure.<br />
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So yesterday, no writing got done. The hours dwindled, we watched American Beauty. I hadn't seen that in years. Definitely not worth watching again, but we did. He gets the movies from the library and doesn't know what I have seen.<br />
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He brought back Million Dollar Baby last week and that was really good. Sad but good.<br />
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I kept thinking I would put the iPod down, grab that notebook (steno book) that was beside me on my card table I will actually be breaking down tonight for the farmer's market. The weather looks like it's going to be good in my town tomorrow. Yay. Praying for no wind like last week. My fingers were so cold that day, I was determined to grab one of my fingerless mitts but I didn't.<br />
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I've got to yank out one of my legwarmers as it probably won't fit a person's leg.<br />
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I decided to call it a night after 9pm after drinking a sweet tea. Peach. I love the Pure Leaf peach tea. Raspberry is good as well.<br />
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I grabbed the phone, the iPod, my camera, and the steno pad and my black fine tip marker. Thought I was going to write. Right? No. Didn't even look at my phone. No iPod. I kept thinking of hearing that person again blare her TV. Earlier in the evening one of my neighbors blared her TV so loud I could hear it coming into my living room and drowning my TV. I could hear her phone go off and part of a conversation.<br />
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I had gone down with the trash to see where it was coming from as it could have been by a nearby pub. But no. When I came up, whoever had it blaring stopped. Almost as if noticing I was peeved about it.<br />
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I didn't even look at the camera that I had taken a bunch of pictures on yesterday.<br />
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So, today, I guess I am writing. Two posts on this blog. The one I haven't written on in about a year and a half or longer. Sorry. I guess I should keep writing on this. I finally put the link to my Amazon author page next to the blog. Don't know why I hadn't done it before. Well, for the longest time, I didn't know how to copy and paste the links. Now I know how to do that as I've been promoting in the FB groups for a long time.<br />
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I'm going to make myself finish the short story I started this morning. About my dream I had.<br />
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It really doesn't matter when you write as long as you do come back to it. I have my spurts of writing for 4 to 5 hours in a day and days when I don't write but knit. It's a balancing act. If you're not in the mood, then don't write.<br />
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Although it is good to try to write each day if you can. You think you won't have anything to write about but you will. Surprise yourself.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted May 2017<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-75371060256268165472017-05-26T05:06:00.001-07:002017-05-26T05:06:33.013-07:00New AdventuresIt's been a while since I have posted on my blog. Chock that up to balancing other agenda. I've published a lot more since I posted last. I am now up to about 44 published books including novels, poetry, recipe books and two knitting books on Amazon.<br />
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I've just started doing my local farmer's market this year and sold two of my paper back novels last weekend. It was very cold and I am hoping this weekend is better. Last weekend, my umbrella fell off two times as it was so windy. The first time, it fell on top of another vendor I was talking to. I was so embarrassed and luckily she was fine.<br />
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I am currently writing a new novel, Loving Her Until Infinity (erotica version) which is about 91 pages so far. I published the mystery version which has the two main characters in it as well but is an alternate story line.<br />
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I also have a new poetry book in the works and some days just feel like writing poetry. It depends on the day as to what I do. Lately, I've been knitting a lot also as I've needed to have a lot of knitted product for the farmer's market as well as my drawings, paper dolls and the books.<br />
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I've been taking the train to visit my kids and that is working out fine. Except we have to make sure our voices aren't too loud. Meaning I can't be on the phone with my best friend. I have learned from experience I have to make my phone calls to her elsewhere. But I'm not going to not talk to my kids or knitting friends when they visit me in the library. I need to talk to my kids.<br />
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I tried my hand at Ukrainian egg dying and will continue to do that also when the mood hits. I'm Lithuanian. My boyfriend is thinking I could have Jewish in me. I wouldn't know for sure until I take a DNA test and I don't know if I want to fork over the money to do that. It's in the past, but I guess if I am curious enough, I will bite the bullet.<br />
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I've got a few recipe books in the works, one on Biscotti. Those are going slower.<br />
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I've been replenishing a few of my dolls and recently bought a new composition doll that is very pretty. I bought Crissy doll as I used to have her as a kid. I'm slowly preparing myself for grandchildren. That should be a while.<br />
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My oldest is going to be a senior in college next Fall. He would probably be the first to make me a Nana.<br />
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My youngest, Julia, has taken up embroidery and made me a number one mom embroidery for Mother's Day. My goal is to get it framed next month.<br />
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I've got two daughter birthdays coming up next month and am excited to give them some cool gifts and introduce my boyfriend to the family. <br />
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He is a neighbor whose wife passed away about a year and a half ago. We've been dating for a while.<br />
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A good laugh, he's fodder for the fiction. Like everyone needs to know, we writers can use anything you say or do. Some of the words he comes up with find their way into some of the novels.<br />
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And this morning, he's found my way into a short story that is sort of based on a dream I had this morning.<br />
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The short story book is going to take a while before I publish that. I've got only thirty pages so far and don't come up with lots of short stories.<br />
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Anyhow, that's what I've been doing in a nutshell. Still writing, publishing and knitting. And I may try my hand at embroidery too. Plus I'm going to do a little bit of patchwork quilting. I bought a few square packs already cut.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
Copyrighted May 2017https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-55011146313778484982016-04-25T12:34:00.001-07:002016-04-25T12:34:40.109-07:00The Artwork of Jennifer Jo Fay available on Amazon and Createspace<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1hqWPAL_DfY" width="480"></iframe>https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-4277374480030114842016-04-25T11:52:00.004-07:002016-04-25T11:52:59.179-07:00The Artwork of Jennifer Jo Fay on Amazon and Createspacehttp://www.amazon.com/Artwork-Jennifer-Jo-Fay-ebook/dp/B01ERS5E1K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1461603125&sr=8-2&keywords=jennifer+jo+fay<br />
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Here's the link to my newest book. The Artwork of Jennifer Jo Fay. I just published it on Amazon and Createspace today and it's live on Amazon. I imagine it should be live soon in paperback as well.<br />
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I worked on it all day yesterday and into the wee hours. I was up until 1am or longer working on the book.<br />
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I got it in my head in the morning to do it. I had been doing some drawing over the weekend and was enjoying the Maple Festival in Saint Albans, VT. I'm so fortunate to be able to step outside my building and there it is. I enjoyed Al's French Fries three days in a row. Expensive, but worth the price.<br />
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I had done three to four new drawings and woke up wanting to compile the artwork into a book. I started going through my files and uploading my pictures into my document. Began writing an introduction and soon uploaded each picture of my drawings with a little memoir to go with each one.<br />
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The book ended up being close to 240-250 pages as I finished it this morning. It's basically a retrospective of 25-30 years of drawing with stories of my life to go along with it.<br />
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I uploaded to Amazon this morning and was praying to God my pictures wouldn't be broken and they all look fine. Thank God. So I followed through and published it.<br />
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The trick I'm going to remember is when I want a photo in a document is to insert it and not touch it or tweak it. Maybe it ends up larger, but it's worth it.<br />
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I then went on to publish it in Createspace, which took a little longer. I find their process a little harder to figure out. <br />
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It is more expensive in paper back, but I suppose if I get sales, the profit would be nice. I notice Createspace makes you set a limit on it. Must be because of processing the actual printed books.<br />
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Now, I'm kind of excited to do a photography book too with my flower pictures and other stuff.<br />
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I looked and someone already bought the book in Amazon. Although the royalties aren't showing up yet, so I'm hoping it's not someone whose credit card isn't working and they didn't actually get the book.<br />
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I think I will take a break and sit outside and draw or write a chapter to Nut Queen. That's getting close to 80 pages now. Although, I was out once and it's a little chilly. I treated myself to a slice of pizza and visited a few people in their shops to chit chat about the book. <br />
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I wanted to go to the local knit shop, but my friend, Katy has her shop closed due to she put in a new sprinkler system. I haven't been knitting lately, but I like to check in with my knitting friends to see what everyone is up to.<br />
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I still have that fingerless mitt that needs the other hand done. One of these days. I guess we can't do everything all at once.<br />
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I found myself deleting a few parts of the memoir last night as I touched upon being battered. I deleted a few sentences and left one sentence that explains briefly I was battered and nothing more. I'm hoping I'm not going to regret that. I suppose I could always delete it later on and resubmit. <br />
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And one piece of artwork seemed to recall a time with horrible neighbors so i added a few brief creepy things about that time. No names of course, just creepy things that when looking at the doll with no eyes I drew brought back some of those memories. I'm leaving those in as it was a time in my life.<br />
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Thank god it's in the past. Although, some day a few of my novels may touch upon bits and pieces of it. I keep thinking of that one novel I started writing, The Price of Being a Good Samaritan and someday that book may be waiting for me to write. I know I will have to be careful with that one as it's the one that may touch upon it the most. <br />
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Yet, I would still want it to remain fiction.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted April 2016<br />
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I'm going to brave the cold for a short bit, so I can maybe get to chit chat with some of my neighbors.<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-57622656367353487362016-01-19T07:54:00.001-08:002016-01-19T07:54:03.666-08:00How To Use TwitterAre you new to Twitter and wondering how you should use it? I'm not new to it but really hadn't used Twitter in a while. I suddenly found myself going back to Twitter last week and I started posting. I think you just want to gain your presence there. <br />
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I was posting my links to my books. I had read how a lot of people post their links about four times a day and was thinking maybe it would work for me. I was starting to do that earlier last week. There was one day where I went through posting the links to all my books. I've got sixteen books roughly on Amazon so it took a little while.<br />
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And then when I was done, I went back and did it again because by the time I got back to the first book I put a link to, Twitter let me tweet it again. Then, later in the day I did this some more.<br />
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But, after talking with some other writer friends in Facebook Writer's Group, I have decided not to do that too much. Maybe I will post them once a day. A few of these friends told me that could annoy my followers and I could lose followers.<br />
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I read up on Twitter a little bit and it says you want to make your presence in the site by retweeting other peoples tweets and commenting. And you want to post tweets linking to content. <br />
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It seems that so many people are using Twitter for marketing and trying to gain sales. Is Twitter really all about self promoting? It really seems that way.<br />
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I'm going there on a more regular basis now to gain my followers and kind of hope it brings me some sales to my books.<br />
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It has gained me a feature of my novel, Lolita Lob it Off (vampire trilogy) as an app on Penned. I'm hoping it's going to be free. But one of my Twitter followers contacted me about it.<br />
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Just from starting to go onto Twitter last week, I went from 464 followers to about 494 followers. That was kind of cool to see.<br />
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I retweet what I like. And some of it seems like garbage so I just scroll past that. I don't want to be retweeting about sex junk. <br />
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I will however retweet good quality tweets that have meaning to them and retweet the links that I think seem interesting.<br />
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I've been getting more notifications and some messages.<br />
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I think with Twitter and Facebook, the important thing is to just dedicate a part of your day to this and then get back to more important things.<br />
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Like WRITING!<br />
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Today, I've written three posts here. I hadn't written here in a while and now I think I should get back to writing here at least once a day if I can.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted January 2016<br />
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Twitter: jfay1995<br />
Instagram: jfay1995<br />
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Facebook page: Jennifer Jo Fay Author<br />
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I have 16 books on Amazon and an author page<br />
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Currently working on new novels, the sequel to Lolita Lob it Off, sequel to The Glorious Money Tree and a new novel, America's Favorite Lottery Winner.<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-64153647896775307762016-01-19T07:36:00.003-08:002016-01-19T07:36:53.492-08:00Funny How Life Keeps Rolling alongIt's so hard to believe we're in 2016. Last year seemed to be a busy knitting one for me with writing spurts added in there too.<br />
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My new years resolution is to not buy anymore yarn, maybe to cut back on the coffee(probably won't follow through with this one) and to write a lot more. I think this should be my year for writing!!!!<br />
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I've just got to make myself do it. I'm living off my alimony right now and know in about five years or a little less I should qualify for disability. So far, my plan is to move to Maine in about three and a half years to live with my dad as I wouldn't be able to afford my apartment. By then my kids will be older.<br />
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I got rid of my old car this last summer, gave it to Good News Garage. I had forked over tons of money last year on repairs and it still needed many more. Wasn't worth it to keep investing in it. Now I take the buses to get to my kids three days a week. It was perfect in the summer and their vacations as I am able to get a good amount of time with them then. <br />
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However, it kind of sucks when they are in school. They come home at about three and then I have to leave their house at three thirty to go catch my bus. But, I'll do it. It's better than no time at all and I've told my kids that it's the fact that I'll come to see them even if it's only ten to twenty minutes that shows them how much I love them. And I always call them days I don't see them.<br />
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Once in a while my girls get on Facebook and message me or video chat. The video chat was really neat. <br />
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My girls are in 8th grade now and next year will be in High School. Jake is 18. He is going to a different school this year for kids with disabilities. They thought he would like the atmosphere better.<br />
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Sean is in his second year of college and is finally getting into some of the archaeology classes he wanted to do. He's been dating college girl for about a year. She's getting to go to Greece for a week later this year to study abroad.<br />
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Ah, the Powerball!!! Couldn't believe it got into the billions. I actually got my first ticket for that. I had never played before. And I got a ticket for Sat. Both tickets were a wash. Nothing. I almost didn't get a ticket for this Wednesday but I broke down and spent a little of my extra bus money on one. Although I'm sure I will have much better luck writing the novel about it.<br />
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Sean actually got tickets and I suddenly realized he's old enough to play. Ha ha. <br />
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Well, I'm going to get going now. I need to get writing those novels. It would be cool if I could get to publish one next month.<br />
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I looked at my files and found old writing documents I have never written to lately. One of these days I should get to those too. I was surprised to see them and kind of forgot about them.<br />
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Isn't that the way, having all these projects and your bucket list can't seem to get them all done.<br />
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I should probably make myself pull some late nights. I've been pulling late nights lately. I treated myself to basic cable and internet back in September and am loving it.<br />
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I've got my therapist visiting my apt soon. She makes house calls!!! I'm either writing before she comes or getting myself in gear right after that. I've got the Today Show on. <br />
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Follow me on Instagram: jfay1995<br />
Same on Twitter<br />
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I'm also on Pinterest but don't check that as much. I've got a Facebook Page: Jennifer Jo Fay Author<br />
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http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jennifer+jo+fay<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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January 2016<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-11045604313575089182016-01-19T07:11:00.001-08:002016-01-19T07:11:07.683-08:00Jennifer Jo Fay books on Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jennifer+jo+fay<br />
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Well, I haven't written here in a while and maybe I should get back to writing. I keep thinking this would be a way to advertise my books. I can't complain about not selling books as I have at least sold a few books each month. But of course I would love to sell more of my books.<br />
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I've decided to bite the bullet and pay a little bit of money to do some promoting of some of my favorite books I've published. I'm going to promote Knitted Coffee Cozies, The Glorious Money Tree Trilogy (fantasy), Lolita Lob it off (vampire), and Memories of Mom, Family Recipes and Stories from a Beautiful Life with the ad campaign on Amazon. I'm doing the cheapest budget.<br />
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I'd like to see a little nudge in the right direction with these books. I chose the knitting book and the recipe book as I have off and on sold a few copies of those two. I've sold some of the poetry books and my other cookbook too. Not the novels yet.<br />
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I have gotten readers to all the books when I do free book promotions. Check out my author page as I do have them for free book promotions when Amazon lets me create a promotion.<br />
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I'm also going to promote Lolita Lob it off with Ebook Planet and The Glorious Money Tree with Booksgosocial. They will promote these for a year. The fee wasn't a lot so I'm forking over a little money to see if I can gain it back in sales. It would be really cool if I could suddenly see a lot more sales.<br />
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And a really cool thing is I'm gaining followers on Twitter and one person for Penned asked me to be featured. They're going to put Lolita Lob it Off novel link on an app. It's free as far as I know. That is really cool. <br />
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I'm really active lately on Facebook with the writer's groups and there is a wealth of information. The trouble is getting me off Facebook and starting to write. Good lord. One writer said the best way to market yourself is to come out with another book. If your readers like the new one, they're guaranteed to go buy your other ones.<br />
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So, I've got to kick start myself into some more writing. I wasn't writing for a while last year. In May I decided to put my writing down for a while and was knitting. My other passion. Over the summer I learned how to make socks and now have about 12-17 pairs. Half are for me. I was loving this Naked Sock yarn I was working with. I made a bunch of shawls too and gave one to my sister and my sister-n-law. The simple triangle pattern, stockinette stitch. <br />
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I was knitting all summer, no writing and in late September, I put the needles down and decided I needed to get writing again. I've got the sequel to Lolita Lob it Off. I was writing diligently for a good week or so. Got the novel to 110 pages roughly. Then, I went on a trip to Maine to visit my family and came back in October knitting again. <br />
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I'm not going to buy anymore yarn. I've got more than enough!!!! I was also making a bunch of fingerless mitts. I might do our local Farmer's Market this spring season to October. The fee is only $75 for the whole season. I would have to do it rain or shine every Saturday. I've got lots of knitting for it and nine copies of my books.<br />
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Last Monday, I decided once again to put the needles down and I'm going to try not to knit for a bit. Maybe I will make myself knit for a few hours out of the week on a pair of fingerless mitts. I've got one done and need to finish the second one.<br />
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Right now, I've got the sequel to Lolita Lob it off up to 130 pages and need to push that one to at least 200.<br />
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I'm starting a new novel as well called America's Favorite Lottery Winner. My FMC is going to fall in love with her bodyguard. I've got to think of some good conflict. So far it is about 41 pages so it's got a long way to go.<br />
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But, I'm thinking if I can make myself write for about four to five hours a day, maybe things will get done. It would be cool to see if I could get a novel done and ready to publish every three months. That would be a realistic goal this year if I can get my butt in gear.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted January 2016<br />
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https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-36031282885315174882015-03-23T08:45:00.001-07:002015-03-23T08:45:14.960-07:00New BeginningsDon't you love it when there are new beginnings? For me, that new beginning is a new job that I am starting tomorrow. I'm going to be working at a Simon's convenience store in their deli section. I'm a little nervous but come tomorrow morning, I am going to wake up and go.<br />
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I've got my alarm set for 6:45am and will probably sleep a few extra minutes. Then, will get up and have my ritual of eggs and orange juice. I tend to lately have eggs every morning. My doctor said she's got no problem with me eating eggs. It's probably the chips that have to go!!! Ha ha. Too bad I'm addicted to kettle chips. Salt and vinegar are too damn addicting.<br />
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Then, I will head down towards the new job. I will be commuting to it as it's closer to where my kids live. Which is now that I am thinking of also moving closer to my kids and the new job. Even if the new job doesn't end up working out, it would be nice to be closer to my kids. Ease up on the gas to get there. Seems like I'm going twenty four miles each way to get down to them. And will be the same for the job.. But it will be a full time job so I don't care.<br />
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A few weeks ago, I created an author page on FB and already I'm up to over seven hundred likes. Pretty cool. Of course, you have to update your page often in order for them all to see you. And then, does it gain more sales? I don't know. But it's fun to do. <br />
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-Jo-Fay/1077574558935112<br />
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Now that I have a new job, I will be cutting back the hours spent at the local library. I think it will just be Mondays when I am there before heading over to see my kids. Which means today, I have a lovely Subway sandwich. Yum. <br />
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My oldest is camping in the North Cascades a little near Seattle, Washington. He comes back on Wednesday and so far has been out of range with his phone.<br />
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By the time I text him, I will have worked two days at the new job.<br />
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I can hardly wait to start. It's been the waiting not knowing what to expect that's been killing me. I just want to know what I'm supposed to be doing. I guess I will find out soon enough. I've got today to kill time and then tomorrow it will start. I will be working Tuesday through Sat nine to five. I'm very excited and plan to do the best that I can and hope that they will keep me. If not, I cannot help that if I've done my best. Given it my all.<br />
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The girls and I went to see Cinderella yesterday. We were going to see Insurgent and the girls changed their minds. I'm telling you, that popcorn is expensive. Couldn't believe for a small it was over five dollars. My sister asked me if I had to take a loan out on the popcorn. ha ha.<br />
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It was a cute movie and I thought Cate Blanchett did a good job of being the wicked step-mother. And it did follow Cinderella to a tee. Helena Bonham Carter played a good fairy godmother. <br />
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After the movie, I brought the girls to McDonald's to get french fries for Jake seeing as he didn't go to the movie. I got him a medium and was almost disappointed when my ex's girlfriend was going to make Jake not eat all the fries at once. Thank god he got to have them all. Kind of made me mad as it was his treat from me. <br />
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There's some strict food rules at the Fay household. The kids kind of have to obey his girlfriend and follow the rules. Very strict. Some of it is good of course, gives them structure.<br />
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I'm up to 180 pages in my vampire novel. If I feel like it, I will type up the next chapter later today. I'm thinking that on my break, I will either have a book to read a few pages or some paper to write a page to a chapter. I know I will have some extra time to kill after eating my tunafish sandwich.<br />
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And, I bet I will be eating some of their grinders or pizza too. I'm probably not going to want tunafish every day. I got some potted ham yesterday to make some ham sandwiches too. I like to add a little bit of hot dog relish to it. Yum. And I just got thinking, I shall bring some kale. My Dad has been saying we should change my middle name to Kale. Funny. <br />
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At least that should boost my iron. Plus I've heard it's very good for your eyesight. Queen of greens.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted March 2015https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-60530716918959968802015-02-25T09:06:00.003-08:002015-02-25T09:06:45.353-08:00Fresh PostI made myself come back to write. It's been a while since I have posted on my blog. Sorry. I guess life and other things tend to get in the way. Not to mention a damn webroot popup that keeps popping up on my screen. It's expired and keeps popping up as a reminder to renew. Pain in the neck as it constantly pops up and creates an annoying problem for me.<br />
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I was scrolling down Facebook the other day and found this advertisement for BoostInsider. Bloggers to earn money. Was going to try it out. I signed up and today scrolled down through the four campaigns I was given to potentially earn some money at. Wasn't thrilled with the choices and I don't think I can find myself able to write about them on my blog. Like some sort of video games? What could I possibly write about video games I know nothing about? Just don't know if I will like the site. I may try one if it seems like it's going to fit. But none of them seemed to jump out at me.<br />
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Oh well. I've been writing a lot. I published The Dolls on Amazon about three weeks ago and sold a few copies. I also had it available for a free book promotion. Right now I have a few of my poetry books available for free book promotion. It goes on for about five days. <br />
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I also published Lustful Evangelean, my first romance novel I wrote. It was available for free for a limited time and got close to seventy people getting it. My knitting book got over 300 people getting it on the free book promotion. That's a good way to build an audience.<br />
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I'm currently working on my vampire novel, Lolita Lob it Off. I'm 111 pages into it and kind of got stuck for a little bit. I'm working towards getting out of the writer's block rut. While this happens, I tend to end up reading other people's books for the weekend. And I write during the week.<br />
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It was maddening yesterday. I couldn't get into my Kindle. It's either broken or it has too many books in it and it won't let me in. Luckily I've got all my books available on my PC as well and will read them that way. It will be a little bulkier than the kindle which is a little bit of a nuisance but it will be okay. At least I can still read the books I paid for and the freebie ones.<br />
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That's probably what happened. I was downloading a whole lot of the freebie kindle books and I bet it took up a lot of my memory. Oh well. Maddening.<br />
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It's going to be a plus though as I will have my pc on hand more often and if I feel the urge, I can exit the book I'm reading and go do some writing on the book.<br />
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It took me three days last week to write a smut scene. Just wasn't into writing. I guess it happens to everyone. Nobody is immune from writer's block.<br />
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I've been visiting my kids a lot. They have a new rule they can't eat or drink in the living room. Made me sort of mad and I will still drink my coffee in there. There's something about curling up on their couch with my warm coffee that's comforting. But we make sure we don't eat anything in there. Although there is the occasional slip up. Julia likes to bring something in to eat once in a while and I'm not one to force her into another room. I know she is careful.<br />
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They also have to have time away from their laptops which is a good thing. We have a certain time when we set down the laptops and we play a board game. So far it's different versions of Monopoly. Julia won this last time. She got the expensive properties, put four houses on them and I landed on her two times. $1700 ouch!!! <br />
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Still without a job. I'm looking and I was able to have two to three interviews but nothing yet. Thank god for my alimony. <br />
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I've got a plan to move to Maine in five years to be with my dad and save on rent. I should be able to collect disability at that time when the alimony is up. And my kids will all be in college at that time. I have got to come up with a back up plan in case my dad is not alive at that point. But the way I see it is I would be able to help him stay in his home longer. And may become his caregiver at that point. The hardest part would not being able to see my kids as much, but then they would be older and on their own so I may not see them as much anyway. I worry too much about things.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted February 25, 2015https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-83049491186779677242014-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:002014-12-22T12:00:19.742-08:00Merry Christmas!Merry Christmas! It's here in just a few days. I'm going to spend the day with my kids. It should be fun. It is a fun time of year. My kids had an early Christmas with their grandparents yesterday. So today Jake has been eating mashed potato and ham leftovers. And he breaked for eating some cookies with the chocolate kisses. He ate them all and was going to go for the raspberry ones that aren't gluten free. <br />
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Devil. I enjoyed a morning visiting with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. It was fun to sit and talk with her over a cup of coffee.<br />
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I've been excited this month to see an increase in my book sales. I've sold six books this month which is the most I've ever sold in a month. It's not a ton of money of course but still it's exciting to see my books selling a little bit. I've sold several of my poetry books, a cookbook and was excited to see the first sale of The Glorious Money Tree Trilogy.<br />
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By which I should get back to writing more to the second book. I had pumped the second book up to 140 pages roughly over the summer and stopped. Over the last few months I've been pumping out the poetry books to publish. Seems like I can publish them quicker. <br />
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I only go to about 70 pages a poem a page with a photograph and then when it's ready, I publish. I've got about 7 poetry books published now. Thirteen books total published with Kindle Direct Publishing.<br />
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It's the one thing I have control over. I can publish as much as I want. I can't control it if I can't find a new job. There's just not much out there. I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do in six years when my alimony stops and if I don't have a job by then. I at that point can qualify for disability benefits and am thinking I may move to Maine to live with my Dad and help him as he gets older. <br />
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I'm a worrier. The worst thing that could happen is I become homeless, but my family say that's not an option. I feel comforted that I could stay with my Dad and help out. I've been weeding out things I don't need which feels great. <br />
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I hated to part with some of my kids baby toys and their children's books but it was time to let go of that stuff. A neighbor took it and it's going to kids who don't have much. I kept a few of their favorite toys like a wooden rattle and a musical clock and a pair of baby booties. <br />
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I took pictures of the baby booties with some silk flowers and a stuffed animal bear in a shadow box. It's going to go into my poetry book along with one of the poems. I've been taking lots of photographs to go with the poems. <br />
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I also parted with some of my barbies I had collected. I've kept my favorites in case I ever draw them. I have a few reproductions of the fifties barbies, a Tammy doll (after Sandra Dee), Princess Leia, Rose from Titanic, and of course one of Bella Swan. I will never part with the Bella Swan doll.<br />
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And I love my Ellowyne Wilde doll I have left. Even if I was ever to become homeless I would carry those two dolls with me and BunBun. I don't think I will have to worry about that though. <br />
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I wrote a few poems about that. One night a week ago I couldn't sleep and was thinking of my options in six years. I had forgotten to take my medicine and couldn't sleep. Some of it is supposed to help me sleep. So I was up and got writing. I got writing one as I was looking at my picture of Christina. The one that Andrew Wyeth painted of her out in the field looking at the home. <br />
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And I got myself some lemon zinger tea. So at 2am or 3am I was writing some poems. <br />
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I wrote a few yesterday, but also made myself knit. I hadn't knitted in a while. I've been writing the poems. I've had some days when I've written about 35 or more poems and then I get a day where I don't write much.<br />
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I hand write them first in a notebook and then type them out. I got putting some flowers on my handwriting for some pictures. I've been treating myself to roses this month and last month. Now they are all dried. They make awesome covers for the poetry books. <br />
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I was taking some pictures of the flowers in the grocery store but got reprimanded for taking pictures so can't do that anymore. Darn it, I'm forced to buy them. The girl wanted me to delete them but I didn't. Told a lie and said I would delete them. I'm sure she knew I wouldn't. <br />
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My feeling was hey, I'm buying something in the grocery store but they didn't want me taking pictures. Oh well. <br />
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I treated myself to go see Mockingjay and The Hobbit this weekend. Both were good movies. I still think I liked Lord of the Rings better and I didn't like this Hunger Games as much as the first two. I will go see the last one next year.<br />
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I know I will be seeing the new Star Wars movie next Christmas! And I've been hearing rumors there is to be Midnight Sun next year, the new Twilight movie.<br />
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That will remain to be seen. I've heard they've been filming it. It's supposed to be more about Jacob and Renesmee. Although, there still is no Midnight Sun book from Stephanie Meyer. Last I knew she had been writing it a few years ago and her first draft leaked out and she stopped writing it. I'm still waiting to see what new book she comes out with.<br />
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I recently paid to read some Twilight stories from other writers. They must give Stephanie some of the proceeds from those sales. Seeing as they are based on her books. One of the books is a parody and the other is Nessie's story. I've been reading it and it's okay.<br />
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I purchased the Twilight books on my Kindle for PC as I want to read them again. And last night I treated myself to watching the first Twilight movie again. Tonight's movie? New Moon!!!!!<br />
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Yesterday, I found myself knitting up a few doll clothes. I made a skirt for one doll and a shawl or two for another one. Seeing as I don't have many kid toys left, at least I will have some barbies, dolls and doll clothing. Someday I will have grandchildren. It's just in the far off distance for now.<br />
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I should dig up my baby books of the kids with their footprints in it. They could go in some photos for the poems. Maybe that would call for some more store bought roses.<br />
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I think I am done weeding out my apt for a while. Someone got a lovely wooden bench and a nice comforter. Seeing as the baby toys were out of it, I decided to lug it outside my apt and I knew it would be gone when I got back from the kids house.<br />
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Someone's going to love my vanity someday. It will go to my kids first and if they don't want it, someone in my building will take it. It's a gorgeous antique and I know I won't be bringing furniture with me to my Dad's. Just my clothing and the things I use. He would probably get a kick out of my mannequins. Ha ha. I will make sure I bring the things I photograph. I've written some poems about the mannequins.<br />
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Well, I will part for now. I've got some poems to type up into the next poetry book. I think I left it at 27 pages so it's got a little way to go before I can get it ready to publish. Maybe within a week I can have this one ready to publish. Of course I haven't even put my photos in yet. That takes a little time to figure out where to put them. <br />
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I should photograph all my drawings sometime soon too so I can start adding them to some of the poetry books. <br />
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Another thing I should be thinking of is finishing my other books, the second book to the trilogy and some of the other novels I started. I should just make myself. I hate it though when I get a little bit of writer's block. I start to think I've got nothing to write about.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted December 22, 2014https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-34983188357690919572014-11-28T11:45:00.001-08:002014-11-28T11:45:41.284-08:00Happy ThanksgivingHope everyone had a happy thanksgiving yesterday. I did but it ended up not very fun. I had been dating someone for roughly a month, he moved in and I kicked him out then I gave him one more chance. He lost that chance last night and I kicked him out this morning. He had decided to go out drinking and I told him if he started drinking again, I would kick him out. Very short lived and he started drinking immediately.<br />
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I couldn't deal with an alcoholic and someone questioning the relationship all the time so for both reasons, he got kicked out for good today. I got sick and tired of him. Got sick and tired of him reading me all wrong. Very poor perception.<br />
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And he started lying to me. I had discovered a missing wine glass and asked him about it. At first he didn't know anything about it. Then he admitted he broke it and then later on he said he left it in the snow. Very unpredictable. <br />
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Anyway, today is better that he's out of my life. <br />
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I was excited recently that I sold three to four of my books with Kindle. That was cool to see. I've got some Countdown promotions going for all the books and was able to sell two of the cookbooks.<br />
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I've been writing lots of poetry and pumping out the poetry books. I sold two of my poetry books shortly after publishing them.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted November 28, 2014https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-28791477972613685242014-10-23T12:50:00.003-07:002014-10-23T12:50:49.616-07:00I went to work today and got bad news that I lost my job, so now it's back to the grind of looking for a new job. I was bummed and decided to get some comfort food today. Including a brownie mix that i made at the kids house. <br />
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I may just take a little time for me. Not a long time, but just time to catch a break and do a few things. Knit and write. I've got to do some more writing.<br />
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Good news was that recently I sold two of my knitting patterns on Etsy and over the last few days I sold two books on Kindle. That one was really cool to see. I had first sold Knitted Coffee Cozies earlier and told my sister n law. She said she would download it. <br />
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Today I went to look and see if my sister n law bought the same book and saw another book was purchased by someone else. It wasn't the knitting book that my sister n law said she would download. I sold The Craft of Writing. <br />
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That was cool. That means that both times the books sold, it was getting a little advertisement. Like people who bought this book bought these titles as well. I'm not sure how long it gets advertised for but I'm sure it gets a little exposure.<br />
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I should go back to the second book of the trilogy. I left it at 127 pages and got writer's block. Kind of needed to pick up where I left off and figure out what should happen next.<br />
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Anyway, I will start to apply to more jobs but just need some time.<br />
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And maybe time to watch some movies. Including Twilight saga. Not that I've seen that one enough but I can never get enough of Twilight.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted October 23, 2014https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-59719399177893183412014-09-24T11:10:00.001-07:002014-09-24T11:10:37.638-07:00Fall is hereIt's hard to believe that fall is here. Seemed like we only had a short summer. Oh well. I just came back earlier this week from a much needed trip to Maine to visit family. My nieces and nephew had a fun birthday party.<br />
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We hiked a small mountain, Bradbury Park on Saturday and later enjoyed chinese takeout. It had a steep incline and I wasn't used to hiking. I haven't been in years. But anyhoot, it was a very short hike up. Like I said, a small mountain. Our walk back was easier as it was basically a walking trail. <br />
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I haven't been writing on this blog as much now that I have my job, but I will try to write at it once in a while. <br />
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My kids have started school and my oldest has moved into the dorms out in Washington state. He's been out there for a little over a week and has already found his way around and has a big new friend group in the dorms. He's loving it and doesn't miss Vermont. Sad. I miss him. He misses us too of course but is having too much fun being on his own.<br />
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I may have to make a trip out there sometime when I can save up some money for a plane trip. Not sure when but I think I ought to do it sometime.<br />
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I've been knitting more. I finished one skirt and am starting another one. The one I am doing now will take longer to do as it's on tiny needles and the yarn is sport weight. It's a pink and camel striped one. <br />
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I had fun following my kids and my ex back from Maine. Of course we took different exits at the end and I had to keep going to mine.<br />
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I've got a sore back now as one of my daughters jumped on my back yesterday. It surprised me. <br />
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I'm liking my new job and have been there for well over a month. We had a fellow worker decide to quit on us and he didn't give any notice. But I'm hoping I get some of his hours next week. That would be cool.<br />
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It's nice here today and am not looking forward to winter. Not fun to look forward to.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted September 24, 2014https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-30781223286596161882014-08-27T11:04:00.001-07:002014-08-27T11:04:10.438-07:00I'm enjoying my new job. I've been there just about four weeks now. I probably am an old pro at the majority of it now. I am still learning where everything goes.<br />
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The thing we have to watch out for is for people stealing from the store. Why do people do this is beyond me and I think it is sad that they feel they need to steal.<br />
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It's a hot spot for stealing and we have security on so many things. I never knew until I started working here that things like razors and tide have to be security tagged. I've only been here for a little bit and already have caught a kid stealing men's cologne and several women who have walked out with something in their purse.<br />
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We can't check their purse of course but we can tell them that they are not welcome back in the store. Really sad that people resort to illegal ways of obtaining something they want or need when most people use their honesty and decency to pay with their hard earned cash.<br />
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Anyway, liking the new job and I will try to post on my blog as I can find the time.<br />
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I've been spending these last few days with my oldest child before he heads off to Washington state for college next week. It's going to be hard not missing him once he is out there. It will also be a big change for his sisters and brother not having him around as much.<br />
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But he is excited to go out west and be on his own. <br />
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I've been doing some Christmas shopping! I'm hoping to make a trip to Maine next month for my neices and nephew's birthday party and their Christmas stuff will be dropped off at that point.<br />
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I've been doing a bit of knitting. I finished a yellow scarf for Julia and am working on a red and black skirt for me and a dishcloth.<br />
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Jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted August 27, 2014<br />
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<br />https://jenniferjofaypaperdolls/blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00688804724606888311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8131055339794474061.post-69767460689975753302014-08-04T13:33:00.001-07:002014-08-04T13:33:10.530-07:00I'm not sure how often I will post here now. I've just gotten a new job and don't know how busy I will be. I'm going to be working at Family Dollar and I start on Wednesday for training. I'm so excited. I was so excited to find out I got the job last week. <br />
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It's going to be a whole new thing And I'm sure it will be fun. I'm already thinking of little things I can eat on my break. I went out and bought a bunch of oatmeal bars for break time. Dug up my little lunchbox for small stuff. <br />
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I will have to start seeing my kids on my days off and I'm thinking about starting to date again too. I will take that one slow. I will enjoy coffee dates and pizza dates.<br />
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And I've been sewing. I will still have time to do my hobbies and write when I can get a chance. I hit another writers block a few weeks ago after I got the story caught up with all the things I wanted to get into the second book. Now I have to think about where the story is headed next.<br />
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Not too much else right now. I'm cutting more circles for those yo yo's. One daughter's blanket is done. She just wanted it doll size. The other daughter wants her's bigger. And I may just have to make one for me that is larger. I've got enough circles to make several I'm sure.<br />
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jennifer Jo Fay<br />
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Copyrighted August 4, 2014<br />
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