First lines to a novel or a short story

What would be your first lines to a novel or a short story?  Usually you want to snag your readers on your first line.  And basically the first paragraph should intrigue a reader to stay and wait for more to come.  You really want to engage your reader.

If the first lines are not going to do it, then chances are they will not want to read the rest of the book.  The first page should really try to capture the idea of where the novel or short story is travelling to.  I have often put down a book after I have read the first five to ten pages.  If it doesn't hold my interest, and I don't want to learn more, I drop the book and it ends up being donated to the library or Goodwill.

Here are some cliche first lines:

It was a dark and stormy night.......

Once upon a time........

There once was a girl.......

A long time ago......

Far, far away.....

Well, that's about all myself and my ex could think about for cliche first lines.  I guess go to all kinds of kids books to find more cliches.

Feel free to comment with cliche first lines you can think of and maybe you will jog my memory.

And of course a cliche last line would be:

And they lived happily ever after.

Classic.

Us writers really need to think up more creative first lines to our novels.  It needs to really grasp our reader and the audience selected for our novels.  Their attention must be collected.  We need to describe our main character right off the bat.  And you usually want some type of mystery about where the story might lead. 

But you don't want to reveal all in the first page.  But you want to entice them to want to know more about your heroine or hero.  Describe your heroine and perhaps something she is feeling.  Like my main character, Evangelean in my first novel I wrote.

Evangelean was a woman experiencing all kinds of changes in her marriage this year.  She felt like her ragdoll and was cast upon the floor to shatter into tiny shards of ceramic.  Her heart was also in bits and pieces.

I don't think I actually wrote it that way, but that is just an example.  Then, the readers suddenly want to know more about what her marriage was like.  Did something tragic happen to make her life a mess?  Who is Evangelean?

It is good to have questions for your readers, but you also don't want to have too many questions.  Sometimes a reader will get really annoyed if there are too many questions on every page of a novel.  I learned this after my local editor evaluated my first novel, Lustful Evangelean.  I had lots of questions on each page.  And sometimes she would write, too many questions.  Or we lose respect for Evangelean and the other characters when certain things happen.

You always have to think about your main characters.  Flesh them out.  Don't write a novel with just the skeleton of a novel.  You really need to make your characters stand out.  Let the reader know in depth about who your main characters are.  In order to do this, you really need to get to know who your characters yourself.  If you don't get to understand them, nobody else will.

And most always, you want your characters to learn something and change in the course of the book.  They should come away at the end of the story a changed person, or something changes in their lives and they understand where their life is taking a new direction to.  They must always over come something.  And many times there is an obstacle (villian, jealous female, male, or other mean character) that gets in their way of happiness.

But your first lines should give a hint at something that is going to happen, already happened or some sort of mystery that the reader wants to know more about.

And you should keep giving them clues along the way.  Especially in a mystery novel.  But you don't want them to figure things out too soon.  They shouldn't know who the murderer is right away.  Make them stray and try to decipher it.

Although in one of my recent mystery novels, I have decided to let them know a little way into it that the murderer is a female who can't get pregnant.  But they won't know exactly who it is.  I kind of decided I wanted to give this away, so they could understand the thinking behind the murderer.  And then they can either choose to sympathise with the murderer or still be sickened.  That novel is still in the works.  Red Ribbons, the sequel to my published Black Roses mystery.

I went with Authorhouse and self published.  Spent way too much money and my royalties sucked.

Next time around I am going with CreateSpace.  I have heard they are cheaper.  And it is worth the money just to get published and have some copies for my kids.

And then of course, your novel needs to have a beginning, middle and ending.  And all the way through, you want to make sure that your writings are excellent and up to par.  Always be a good editor too.  That part is also half the fun.

It is always a good idea to read through your novel after and keep editing it.  Novels always have room for improvement.  Some novelists edit their novels at least ten to twenty times or more before they are absolutely finished.  Some times in doing this you also have the right to change the course of your novel.  Maybe the very beginning will change, and you choose to start your novel in a different place that you first did. 

Maybe different things happen to the characters as the novel gets changed.  Maybe there is a different character that wasn't in it during your first draft.  Maybe someone died in the newer edition, but it hadn't happened in the first draft.

Editing also makes for better writing.  Most writers learn to be good editors.  They have a big desire to improve their craft.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 18, 2012

The rain poured down and made her fizzled and her life was drenched and ruined.  But her black cat was as happy and as dry as could be, same as her husband.  Happy as a lark.

Perhaps a beginning for something.

Sometimes you can get something from an image.  Have you ever tried to write something by looking at a picture, artwork or a photograph?



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

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

Does Your Blog Have a Junk Drawer?

Does your blog have a junk drawer?  Most blogs probably do have one.  We all know that we can't write perfect blog posts every single time.  There is probably a hidden drawer where some of our posts go.

Maybe some of our blog posts get deleted.  Do some of our posts end up remaining as drafts?  The ones that we feel that shouldn't be aired and are considered trash writing.  Do we have days when maybe we repeat ourselves?  We probably do.

We don't stop to think that maybe we have said something before, but in different words. 

Okay, we have a junk drawer.  By all means, don't throw it out.  You can still use the stuff in your junk drawer.  Just try to hold onto it.  Maybe there is a valuable phrase in there somewhere and you want to pull it out and use it in a new post.

Maybe something just is begging to get written again in a different way.  We just need to see past the old crap that we kind of wish we could throw out.  But we save it out of sentimental reasons.

And if you must throw out the stuff in your junk drawer, sift through it first.  If you find things you like, write them down in a notebook and keep them nearby.  And then you are safe to throw out the stuff that you don't care about.

About a month ago, I went through a whole bunch of hand written pages.  I had all these extra writings on my Lustful Evangelean novel.  They were lots of extra pages where I wrote down extra scenes that didn't get put into my novel.  My novel changed a lot since the first draft and some of this hand written writing was stuff from the original draft. 

I didn't care to keep them, as I had the newer versions of the novel and wanted to just keep the newest stuff. 

So, novelists also have a junk drawer.  Any writer tends to have a junk drawer.  Sometimes it is good to weed out the old junk and decide which pieces are still of importance.

It's the same as cleaning up all the clutter.  We sure do feel better when we can clean the clutter from our lives and then have a fresh look on life.  It's very liberating to clean out.  Give things to Goodwill, sell stuff on Ebay, but get it out of your house.

We seem to hold onto things for sentimental reasons.  Sometimes we think that we might still be able to use something.  So it sits on a shelf untouched for another year.  Some items we just tend to have for decoration and we hold onto things because they are pretty.

I have special tea cups that used to be my Mom's, Nana's and Grammy's.  I don't use them very much, but they used to be their stuff, so it is sentimental.  Some things we would just get shot dead (literally) if we were to get rid of them.  I have a large vanity from my Nana that I would catch holy hell if I ever got rid of it.  It's a three way mirror with a place to sit and drawers on each side and it has a matching chair.  I would never get rid of those.  And when I am dead, my girls can fight over it.

There is one little drawer on the top that I can't get open.  The knob is gone and it is stuck.  I should try sliding a knife at the back of it and see if I can pry it loose.  I would be curious as to what is inside.  Ooh... a little mystery to solve.  Fun.  Fun.  Fun.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 18, 2012

A rag doll I decided to sell on Ebay, but she didn't go.  I'm ending up keeping her.  She was this pretty $25 ragdoll I got at this elderly woman's house.  Her little shop was a really cute little place.  It was about five or six years ago.

I was driving on this long dirt road that leads to the Chapin Apple Orchard.  All my kids have had field trips there in the fall.  Anyway, it was end of summer and I saw a yardsale sign and drove up.  She had a lot of junk in the yard for the actual yardsale.  But then to the side of her house, I discovered a tiny little shop.

When I walked inside, I felt as if I had walked into a little piece of heaven.  This elderly lady had all kinds of handmade crafts for sale, and then she had several tiny rooms full of antiques for sale.  I saw the rag doll and knew I could afford to get her.  The woman also had three or four Raggeddy Ann dolls and some larger dolls that might have been Revlon.  It was a really neat little shop, that was kind of out of the way.  But maybe she was popular.

This last summer, as I drove down the dirt road, I tried to remember where she was, but I couldn't find anything.  Then, I kind of had another thought.  She could have passed away and the shop no longer exists.

http://authspot.com/poetry/what-defines-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://authspot.com/poetry/broken-poetry-musings-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://authspot.com/poetry/ripped-rose-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/


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

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

What is your most prized possession?

What is your most prized possession?  Is it your doll collection or another collection?  Or would your most prized possession by your family or your children?

I recently read through the most recent issue of Vanity Fair.  It had George Clooney, Matt Damon and Daniel Craig on the cover.  Matt Damon's most prized possession was his wife and his little girls.

But I got a little surprised by Daniel Craig's most prized possession.  His penis!  Go figure, he's one of them nitty gritty James Bond characters.  Perhaps a womanizer.  Yes, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it is his penis.  I wonder if he puts it on a pedestal.

For me, my most prized possession would be my children.  They are my number one.  When you are a mother, your children are the most treasured thing that you live for.  They are a prized possession, but more than that, they are priceless.

You almost can't really possess them.  They are your's for many years, but as they become older, you can't really possess them.  They have minds of their own.  And as they grow up, they become their own person and they are the ones that will control their lives.

But they have your love forever.  You will always be their mom or dad.  Nothing can take that away. 

Some people think that their most prized possessions are material things.  Don't get me wrong, we all love material things.  But when we die, we can't bring any of them with us.  All the material things are gone when we are dead.  They usually get passed on to someone else, but their importance after you are dead sometimes disappears out the door.

My most prized possessions would also be memories.  Those you can bring with you.  Perhaps in the rooms that we dwell in after we are dead, we can relive our memories forever.

Maybe another truly wonderful possession would be love.  Love conquers all.  Love is something you can't really hold.  It is the warmth of love that you can feel.  And yes, love can come with you when you die.  Love helps you to have to power to die.

Don't take your prized possessions for granted.  Make sure you know that it is probably the most important thing that you have.

Maybe a most prized possession isn't even a person.  Maybe your most prized possession is kindness or honesty.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 16, 2012



http://webupon.com/blogging/blogging-for-fun-and-profit/



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

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

Is Earning From Blogging Like a Mirage in a Desert?

Have you decided to try your hand at blogging with the idea in the back of your mind thinking that you will earn a lot of money on your blog?  Don't we all have that desire to see our blogs earn us a lot of passive income?  And then we begin to blog our hearts out and then suddenly we still see nothing.

It's becoming like we are walking in the middle of the vast desert and then we see a mirage that is a big dollar sign from google adsense saying that we have earned a lot of money.  Ka-ching!  We rush through the hot, hot sand and arrive at the lake like mirage and when we have reached it, the dollar sign is gone and there is nothing waiting for us.

It is suddenly nice to see more readers anyway, when you begin to be more active with your blogs.  That is nice.  Sometimes we wish that more readers would comment.  We love the feedback and love to hear their response to our posts.  So if anybody would like to respond, I will gladly accept any comments.  Thank-you.

In the last few days, I have been doing some searching on blogs by others and trying to find some titles that I would like to use on my blogs.  I'm going to try keeping a journal of ideas for this.  And will see if I can write in it daily, so I will have it to refer to.

I have subscribed to some blogging newsletters from some blogging sites.  Hopefully they will have some good ideas for blogging.  Hopefully something will get triggered.

But, seriously Blogging sometimes does seem like a mirage.  You figure that there are millions of us that are attempting to blog and find that we get lost in the shuffle.  Perhaps we don't have the best blog title for our blog.  But if we keep attempting to arrive daily to write our stuff, we can keep it up and accumulate our readership.  The ones who want to come back for more.

Blogging could also kind of be considered a drug.  Blogging is an addiction that we can't seem to get enough of and it is much better than our cup of coffee.  Blogging is just plain old good fun.  So I would encourage people to keep doing it anyway.  Do it for the love of blogging.  And if you are passionate about it, take your blogging seriously, and faithfully come back to it, just maybe, and I mean maybe, you will find your mirage to hold some truth.

A desert doesn't last forever.  Sometimes we do reach the end and find the forest.  Which is also vast.  But my favorite is when you come to the ocean and can feel the gentle crash of the waves hit your feet.  And all the little grains of sand get washed away with the tiny shells.

And what is your gem of the day?  Finding something that didn't exist before?  Arriving to your blog and finding something there waiting for you?  A new topic that is going to excite you to no end?  Words that are waiting for your fingers to type them out?

So get busy and find that mirage of yours.  I will keep searching for mine.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 15, 2012

Someone shared this on my igoogle page.  A very pretty picture.  Perhaps she is looking for her mirage.

http://notecook.com/main-course/pasta/lasagna-recipe/
http://webupon.com/blogging/how-to-write-effective-blogs-2/
http://authspot.com/poetry/when-the-time-is-right-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/



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

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

How to Write a really Neat Blog

Okay, you want to write a really awesome blog?  First you probably should read some other peoples blogs to find out what people are writing about.  But then it always is a good idea to keep reading other blogs of interest.  You are exercising your brain by reading things. 

Sometimes we need to do this in order to get creative ourselves.  Imagine if we never read anything of anybody's work.  We probably would become quite boring and would always be running out of ideas.

You don't ever want to have your blog feeling like that really old slipper that is on it's last legs.  A blog that is the same all the time, doesn't really get anywhere.

When you decide to buckle down and start writing your blog, first you should think of a really catchy title to your blog.  I'm not sure if I have an absolutely catchy title for this blog, but I am now creating catchy and popular titles for my posts that probably is getting my blog to survive.

You know how we talk about body language and what attracts us to someone?  Well, the same thing can be said about our blogs.  The body language from your blog is either going to gain you readers or push them away.  Your object is to get more readers coming to your blog.

I'm suddenly thinking my http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/
might be popular.  Suddenly I've seen 265 views yesterday and 119 today.  Well, today, I suddenly decided to try writing four posts on my mommie blog and i think I must have hit upon something.  I'm thinking I must have come up with a popular title that people are flocking to. 

So I am thinking I should be active on that one and also push the limits of this one too.  And if i wanted, I could try to come up with a title for a third blog that could potentially get a bunch of readers.  I am really surprised with all the readers in the last few days to this blog.  I am a little baffled.

Unbelievable.

And when you decide to actually write your blogs, you need to make sure it is quality writing that you are churning out.  Don't write junk.  No intelligent person wants to read junk.  That is usually the stuff that looks like it wasn't spell checked and there are lots of errors all over the place.

You don't want to write like an imbeccile who doesn't know about the english language.  You aren't from a foreign country and you certainly aren't brought up by the grandmother who lives in the sticks and has the sagging boobs and always drinks her moonshine.  What's that old movie?  Sooner?  The one with Lee Remick where she takes the dirty little girl from her uncaring grandmother and tries to make her a really good girl.  She has that pet bird that dies in the movie.

Start writing all kinds of ideas down that would be good for blog posts.  Go to different sites and search for some cool titles that might benefit you in your writing success.

Always read about writing blogs.  Soak in all you can about writing blogs.  Anything can spark your imagination about a cool blog title for your blog.

Keep active.  The more active you are, the more action that your blog is going to get.  This blog has been doing pretty well lately too, but not as fast as that.  I've gotten the most of 29 to 35 views to this blog in one day.  But there must be something about my mommy blog that is gaining some action.

Keep up all the good work and constantly try to polish up your writing.  Read some writing books.  Those are good to read too.  As you might also be wanting to write your novel.  Books on the craft are especially important to read.  A good one that I liked was one written by Janet Evanovich or something.  It was humorous and also informative at the same time. Have you ever read one of those Stephanie Plum mysteries of hers?  They are good.

Think like an author of fiction too when you are blogging.  Kind of pretend that you are blogging your novel and you are gaining your audience.  The craft of writing a novel is also about gathering your audience.  You want people to come read your fiction, right?  Treat your writing posts as if you were writing fiction and you want to publish it locally.  You ultimately want readers and action.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 14, 2012

I got laughing about this picture today.  Someone put it on my igoogle page.  It got me cracking up.  I also find it disgusting that Snooki thinks that kitty litter makes a great facial scrub.  Yuck.  Number one, it's for cats, not for humans.  But maybe she doesn't know how to fill in those word jumbles that tell a site that you are human.  Maybe she is an alien in disguise.

http://authspot.com/poetry/cinderella-syndrome-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/




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

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

What Happens When We Don't Fit Society's Mold?

Okay, what really does happen when we don't fit society's mold?  There are millions of us women and men that don't fit the mold.

And what is the mold supposed to be anyway?  I mean who are we expected to be like?

I'm one of many women who like to look at the fashion magazines and the People and Star Magazines, but it makes me sick looking at some of those stick thin figures.  I mean are we really going to look like them?  And would we really want to?

Who desires to be wafer thin and anorexic?  Not too many realistic women want to become anorexic, so why do we have all these models in the magazines looking like there is nothing to them?  They are skin and bones and no meat to them.

But of course for years and years we have been longing to look like some of these models.  We long for their expensive and if we can't afford them, we look for a cheaper knockoff of the look.  All these magazines show us the look for less.

Who would love to wear what Kirsten Dunst wears?  Or who would long for that dress that Kirsten Stewart wore.  The short red dress with the safety pins all over it.  Who would love to dress like Lady Gaga?  Not me.  Although maybe there are a few of her dresses that would look nice.  She can keep all the wigs and those mile high shoes.  She might as well be on stilts.  Has she been on stilts yet?  I'm not sure.

And now all these older models like Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks and some of the others would be considered plus size.

So, according to all the fashion magazines, we do not even attempt to fit the mold.  For years we have been longing to be beautiful and gorgeous like all those models.

They really aren't the best role models for us.  They are pushing these younger teenage girls to think that it is okay to starve themselves.  It's great to be ANOREXIC!  Yeah!  Go for being light as a feather.  Puke your heart out and wind up in the hospital and dead.  All because you wanted to look like the stick figures in the magazine.

I got disgusted with one of those recent bikini pictures of LeAnn Rhimes.  Who wants to see all those bones?  I mean, that's at least what I thought I was seeing.  I think I would rather see her covered up in a turtleneck and long pants after that.

So, truth be told, we do not fit society's mold.  Many of us are even lucky if we can say we can fit into an 8.  The more realistic goal is that we can fit into a 10 or a 12.  Especially if you are a mother of multiple children like me.  I still have the stomach after four kids and I have had women think I was pregnant. 

Millions of us are a little on the chunky side, some of us overweight.  We can't help it if we can't fit into a size 8 or ever a size 6 or a size 4.

Who out there wants to be a size 2?  Not me.  I'd rather have some meat on my bones.

Society's mold is asking us all to be wafer thin, eat a strict diet probably based on salads and not much more, we're to dress like the models and we are supposed to have sex appeal that is going to attract a Prince Charming that is all pecks, biceps and the perfect physique.  Okay, now what man really fits that mold?  Is prince charming supposed to look like the male models in the magazines?  Probably not. 

Because most men do not fit the mold either.

And are we all supposed to have these made up faces called make-up masks?  Who can actually say they have make-up on every single day?  Who primps and preps for hours to gain herself a man?  I guess that would be all the single ladies.  Many of us women who are married or have boyfriends don't always even think to put the make up on.  I don't. 
I do like to do my nails every week.  I do keep up on that.  That's just kind of fun to pick and choose your nail polish and do a little painting of your nails.  I like to paint my nails different colors and then add different color glitter nail polish or all that new Crackle nail polish.

I do possess make-up, all the eye shadow, mascara, eye liner, blush and foundation, but I usually forget to use it.  Once in a great while I make myself use it.  But it's not my daily ritual.

So I would be safe to say that I do not fit society's mold, but I do look really good for having four children.  But I can't seem to shake off the stomach.

How many women try really hard to fit society's mold?  I mean, how many women really strive to look like the stick figures.  I mean, maybe in today's world they are skinnier than Twiggy.  She was skinny in the eyes of her society, but today's young woman wants to waste away to nothing so that she can fit into Audrey Hepburn's little black dress.

How many women out there want to fit into a little black dress?  Millions probably.  They all know that their men would love to see them in a little black dress.  Actually, in reality, men would rather see them in their Birthday Suit.  Just put a bow and some glad wrap around you and you are all set to go.  Wouldn't you rather be like Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes? 

She seems to be the figure of many of us women.  Or Queen Latifah.  She is bigger and she is beautiful.  And to be factual, her inner beauty is radiant.

I think to all of us that don't fit society's mold, we should stop trying to fit in.  Wouldn't you rather be yourself and have your radiant beauty?  I'd rather be a little bigger and have my inner beauty shine through.  After all what did our mothers used to say to us?  Physical beauty is skin deep by what shines through is your inner beauty.  Inner beauty is what you are all about.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 14, 2012

Our inner beauty is always a flower in bloom.  I usually take pictures of this older couples flowers in the summer time and met the elderly couple who live there.  One day his wife came home as I was there and he said,  "Here is my favorite flower.  She's always in bloom."  A wonderful thing to say about his wife.

http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo-school-memories/
http://www.blogher.com/how-create-cool-titles-your-blog/
http://authspot.com/poetry/pearls-of-wisdom-a-poem-by-jennifer-jo-fay/
http://quazen.com/recreation/collecting/how-to-make-a-yo-yo-quilt/
http://notecook.com/bread/eat-twinkies-while-you-can/
http://writinghood.com/writing/overcoming-writers-block-5/
http://socyberty.com/advice/how-to-find-your-inner-voice/


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

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

How do you Deal with Difficult People?

There are many difficult people out there.  People that want to wreak havoc with you and cause you a pain in your side.  How do you deal with them?  Some of them you can easily dismiss and get on with your life, but there are some of them that just can't be shoved under the carpet.

Some of them are people that you meet maybe once in a brief encounter that probably infuriates you.  Perhaps it is the clerk behind the counter at a local store that is giving you grief.  Say it is about a return or something and you would like your money back.

Like say software.  Most places won't refund you your money if you have opened up the software.  They might think that you have activated it and it will no longer work for someone else.

Today the person who had ticked me off is the girl who keeps requesting her refund for the vintage Tammy doll that she won on ebay.  Well, in other posts I have said that she will not return the doll, so I have told her that she needs to return the doll in order to get a full refund.  She must have opened a case against me tonight, so I responded once again that if she wants a refund she needs to return the doll.  Then ebay walked me through the steps to get her to return the doll.  I finished and ebay said that they were going to send her a notice to return the doll and I will issue her a full refund (which to my benefit, doesn't include return shipping).  Ebay said that she will have 10 days to do it and if she can't, then the case will be closed and in my favor.

And if she tries to give me negative feedback, they will retract it and give her a warning for extortion.

I kind of hope she waits too long and then she will be out of luck.  She sent me another email tonight that there were supposed other things also wrong with the doll.  One arm thicker than the other, hair missing from her head.  In my mind there was nothing wrong with the doll.  This is just a classic case of a person trying to find all kinds of things to knit pick about the doll.

If she sends me more nasty emails, I am just going to not respond to her and let ebay deal with her.

She will be a pain in my side for just a little while longer and then that's it.

But what about the long term people that are difficult to deal with?  How do you handle them?  Some of them might be your co workers and you just have to deal with them and put on a polite and friendly face even though you find them a pain in your rump.  You have to work with them every day, and you don't want to make a bad situation worse.  You don't want something to escalate and get out of control.

Or what if the person is a family member?  That is even worse, because sometimes we open our mouths to stress our opinion and they retaliate against you.  Hey, it happens.  Then sometimes it falls upon you to correct the problem that has compounded. 

In this type of situation, it is best to try to resolve it and make things better, even if you have to sacrifice your needs and wishes first.  You are talking about a family member and you don't want to cause a grudge and friction that can shatter the family.

Try to get them to sit down with you and work out the problem.  Sometimes you might need a third party present to be a mediator and a neutral party.  Someone who can offer constructive criticism.

After all, we don't want to have to deal with difficult people for our whole lives.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 13, 2012

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

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

What inspires you to Write

What inspires you to write?  Do you love to write poetry?  Fiction?  Romance, true crime or mysteries?  Or would you rather write prose or short stories?  Or memoirs or journal writing.  Nonfiction.

It's all good.  Where do you get your ideas?  Do you search the Internet for ideas to come to you?  Do you read books and get inspired?  Or maybe something from real life inspires you.  Maybe a news story gets you writing about something and then perhaps it sparks a novel.  Our ideas come from all over the place.

Maybe your writing gets inspired by a picture.  Sometimes poets like to do this.  Have you ever just taken a picture that you find fascinating and then write a poem about it?  We used to analyze photos in photography.  We were taught to be able to describe the whole concept of each image.  We would talk about one photograph for a good ten to fifteen minutes.

Usually you discuss what is in the foreground, the background and everything in between.  What is the feeling of the photograph?  It must move you in someway.  What emotion to it make you feel?  Is it sad, happy, melancholy, angry, or scary?  What is the contrast?  What is happening in the photograph?  Can you create a novel from it?  Perhaps a short story and definitely a poem.

Poems are filled with emotion.  Many times they are simply based on emotions.  It's conveying our thoughts of the moment and we try to freeze our thoughts into a moment in time.  Then publish it so we can have people read it and be left to go on with the emotions that it brought to them.

Sometimes sad poems are fun to write.  You want to make those poems as sad as possible.

Write things that people can relate to. 

Short stories can sometimes lead to a novel. 

Everyone could potentially have a novel inside them.  The depths of our creativity is quite immense.  Sometimes authors find it hard to come up with a lengthy novel.  Some days we just can't seem to find the words to write down.  We can't fathom 50,000 words a day.  That just seems like a lot to shake out of us each day, but some authors can do it.  It just comes naturally.

Journal writing is a lot of fun.  It is sometimes fun just to write a short one or two pages each day and just let it collect and accumulate.

Sometimes we get inspired by other people's writings.  That is why it is always good to keep reading all the time.  My mother used to tell me to always read.  She must have felt that it was important to grow as a writer and an artist.

She never was really creative in the arts herself, but she did possess the wisdom.  I remember countless days at the kitchen table when she and I would have conversations on art.  Sometimes we would disagree on something and it would spark a serious conversation.  Although she wasn't always creative, she always was very supportive of everything I did.

Once, a few months before she died she said, "You're going to do all kinds of amazing things."  She was right. 

We have the capapility to do all kinds of amazing things.

Well, need to call it quits tonight.  Going to go home and get engrossed in my new People magazines and watch my newest Netflix movie that came in the mail.

And relax with my cats.  They've missed me.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 10, 2012

One of the pages to my Evangelean paper doll set.  This set has six pages.


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

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

How to Manage Your Busy Life

We all seem to have busy lives.  Things just seem to get hectic and it's a constant juggling to keep up with the schedule.

Your kids often make your days hectic.  It is nice once they are in school, so you can have some quiet time.  But even then, we seem to be able to fill up the time no problem.  We all have agendas that can very often get crazy.

Then, when they come home, sometimes you are whisking them off to soccer practice, girl scouts, cub scouts or ballet.  Or any other activity that requires you to get them ready to go to their activities.  You are always in a hurry as you want to get them there on time.

And then there are the tearing the hair out moments when they won't get ready like you want them to.  I remember this when my girls did ballet one day a week after school.  They would come home from school, come in and get their snacks and want to chill out and watch tv. 

I usually would give them a few minutes and then get them going.  Sometimes it was like tearing an arm or leg off.  They just didn't want to get into their ballet outfits and were dragging their heels.  It used to bug the hell out of me, and I just wanted to get them all in the car to go.  I usually had to drag their brother, Jake with us too.  He wasn't able to stay home by himself.  We were always the last ones there and sometimes they ended up being ten minutes late.

Lets face it, our lives just get so busy and out of control.  How quickly our agendas get filled up and then we often wonder where the time went.  It is so chaotic.  Kids definitely give you gray hairs.  That's no old wives tale.  Thats the modern woman's tale.

Today, part of my morning was spent sleeping in.  That was my agenda.  I needed extra beauty sleep today.  Then usually when we wake up, we need that strong cup of coffee to set us in motion.

Then I faced a long drive back to my kids house and my apartment.  I took them to my apartment this evening as a woman wanted my free armoire.  We dragged it out and then she didn't think it was going to fit in her car, so I asked her to help me drag it to the street.  Someone is going to take it away.  It's a cute piece of furniture and maybe someone will be able to build some new drawers for the bottom.  I bet it will be gone within a matter of a few days.

It was one of those JC Penney armoires that you have to put together.  I put it together myself and I don't think I ended up putting the drawers together just right, as they both eventually broke.  And you could never open up the bottom drawer.  It kind of got stuck underneath the top one. 

It feels good to get rid of furniture that you don't need.  Now the only things I wish to get rid of eventually is my entertainment center and my couch and my mattress.  But right now I am using them.  If I eventually move, I won't need them.

When I got back to the kids house today, I had to spend time packaging my ebay items that needed to get shipped out.  I made sure I used a good amount of bubble wrap on some of the breakable stuff.  I will be surprised if they actually break as I put a good amount of bubble wrap on them.  If something does break, from now on I am going to ask them to send me a picture of the broken product.  Who knows if things really break.  Sometimes people try hard to get something for nothing.

I brought some of my dolls back to my house this evening.  I've decided they are too expensive to list, seeing as most bidders just want something that is cheap and I'm not willing to let some of them go for practically nothing, when I probably spent well over $100 for them.  Not worth it.  I don't need to get rid of them that bad.  I put my $300 Armand Marseille Floradora doll back in my curio cabinet.

Some days, doesn't it seem like the errands never end?  And then, we sometimes have to make a bunch of phone calls?  They have to get done.

I think the trick of managing our busy lives is a big juggling act.  We just need to balance everything out.  And if we don't get to it one day, we need to make it top priority the next.  Things need to get done.  Bills need to be paid.

Maybe you have to take the tv in for repairs, or you have to call the plumber to fix your toilet.  We used to have to do that years ago.  Our son, Jake used to watch that Flushed Away movie, and then he would go into the bathroom and flush a few of his toys down the toilet.  Then we would get a plugged up toilet.

One year, a cloth diaper plugged up a toilet.  It got flushed down by accident.

Needless to say, I think we threw out that movie.  He did this two times that I can recall and we had to call the plumber both times.

And you always need to make a trip or two to the grocery store each week.  We're always running out of food.  And don't you hate it when you get there, you get everything but the one or two things that you forgot to get.  Maybe that's your third trip to the grocery store.

And Valentines Day is coming up so sometimes we find ourselves doing some early shopping for it.  I did that today for at least a few of my kids.  I bought stuff for the three younger ones.  I'm not getting my oldest one chocolate this year.  I got them all chocolate last year and then I found my son's bar in the falltime.  Still good, so I ate it and shared it with the girls.  My daughter, Mollyanne got angry with me saying that it was Sean's.  And I had to tell her that he wouldn't care if we ate it.  We simply couldn't let it go to waste.

Homework and chores tend to also take up a lot of time.  Chores are never ending.  The dishes always pile up and so does the laundry.  Before you know it, you're looking at a big heap of dirty laundry that needs to be cleaned.  Some people let it pile up for well over a week, and then I imagine they are doing laundry for the whole day and then some.

Cooking sometimes takes up time.  Especially if we have that fancy dinner on our agenda.  And then after the kids are in bed, sometimes the agenda is still staring us in the face.  Fix me.  Clean me.  Do some dusting.

Who does dusting nowadays.  I used to do it every week and then it's the occasional thing.  We often don't want to do the extra cleaning.  But eventually it needs to be done.

How many people know that eventually they need to clean their ovens?  If you are a baker, your oven probably gets dirty quicker.

It's just a constant managing of everything.  When can we find the time?  And then, we also want to carve out time for ourselves and do something that we really enjoy.  How many put it off tomorrow?

I can't find the time.  I haven't read a book in years.  Gardening?  Who has time to do the weeding?  I can't seem to find a spare moment to do the things I want.  I'll never get back to that.  I have no time to spare.

Yes, you do.  If you really want to do the things you want to do, you can find a little time in your heaven's playtime.  Just make yourself go and do what you want to do.  And make it a daily ritual.

You've managed to balance your busy life and add a little fun to it too.  That is very important to make it fun.  Enjoy the journey of each day.  Each day has something new to offer us if we let ourselves do it.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 10, 2012

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

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

What is your Earliest Memory?

What is your earliest memory?  How far back can you remember things?  Are you the type of person that has a good memory like a hawk?  Or are you the chameleon that forgets things as soon as it happens.  The memory has begun to fade away and you forget all about it.

I am one of the people that has a memory like a hawk.  I can remember things so far back.  I have often surprised lots of people including my kids preschool teachers.  I will remember something from years ago and people will be like, "Wow.  You're good."

Once a woman came into my line while I was waiting on her at Marshalls.  Back when I was working there.  I hadn't seen her in about four or five years, yet I remembered her vividly from my writing class.  Years ago, I used to take this creative writing class but this woman instructor.  Sarah Bartlett.  You should look her up.  I'm sure she has published some of her poetry.  She wrote some incredible stuff.  One I remember about the stages of the moon and the stages of love.  It was a wonderful piece.  She was so prolific.  She's a Vermont writer.  Her class she began was called Women Writing for a Change.  I still have the bumper sticker on my car.

It was a small class of about ten women.  All from different walks of life and writing different types of things.  Some were writing journals, memoirs and other fun pieces.  Some were writing very serious stuff about things that were going on with their lives.  It was a private class where we were able to share intimate things and it never left the classroom.  We got separated into groups of three and we each had perhaps three minutes to read our stuff we brought to class that night.  We also took breaks and had tea and snacks.  Then we got back into a large group and did little read arounds.  Then we all read back some of our favorite words that we heard.  We always got to sit on nice pillows on the floor and sometimes she would have a visual set up in the middle.

In the beginning of each class she had us pass around a special stone.  When we each held the stone, we had to say our name and then something that sprang to our mind.  She then would give us a few minutes to do a fast write.  Then later we would read what we wrote.  At the end of each class, she would pass around a lit candle and at the end she would blow it out and wish us well for the rest of the week.

It was like a ritual.  It was a lot of fun and sometimes I miss it. 

But that's not my earliest memory.  How far back can a person really remember?  They often say you don't have too many memories about when you are a kid.  This is wrong.  Yes, maybe your memories of being a baby are foggy.  It is very hard to remember that far back.

I do remember sticking my feet out of the crib railings.  I guess that could be one of my earliest memories.
My mother had pictures of my sister and I sticking our feet out of the railings.  I tried to repeat this with my boys.  All my children slept in the same exact crib that I slept in.  The one with the lamb and the bunny at the end of the crib.

It did meet its day and is gone, but not the memories.

I have memories of being stuck in a portacrib for a nap.  Memories of Captain Kangaroo.  I remember him and maybe the bunny.  I've always had a fondness for bunnies.  And there was Mr. Greenjeans.  I can't remember too much about him, but I do remember his name.

I have memories of playing at Nursery School.  All I had to do was be walked across the street to our big office building for the neighborhood.  In one part people paid their rent and in a bigger section was the nursery for the neighborhood.  I remember a fair amount of kids, a little creative time and then a time where we could go back into a little room that was filled with toys.  Not that I can remember what I played with, but I remember a room filled with toys.

I remember many rooms filled with toys but that would be one of my first memories of nursery school.  I lived in a little neighborhood called Redbank in South Portland, Maine.  My parents had an apartment on the second floor of a two family apartment.  The village was full of these apartments.  Some were an upstairs and a downstairs and ours was an upstairs apartment and our neighbors lived downstairs.

The houses were originally built during the war time for the familys.  And also for the workers from the shipyard.  For years there was hardly anything around the village.  It was all woods and where the Maine Mall now resides there used to be a pig farm when my mother was growing up in the village.  My nana and grampy lived just about one street away.  We could see their house from our kitchen.  All we had to do was walk to the end of the street, through the field and we were at their house. 

My mother grew up there too.  She was born and raised and then grown up and died in Redbank village.  She lived there all her life.  Once after my father's grandmother died she and my dad were offered her house in Cape Elizabeth, two towns away.  My mother didn't want to leave her precious village.  It was the life that she loved and she didn't want to move away from her parents even though it would have only been a few towns away.

She led a simple life I think, but she was a wonderful mother.  She was my icon.  We put her on a pedestal.  My grammy always would praise her for doing a wonderful job of raising us.  She heard it every time we went over to visit our grammy.  I think she had it hard with her though sometimes.  No relationship with an inlaw is perfect. 

My grammy was from the old world and was probably a little bit judgemental.  Same with my Aunt Harriet.  They had a certain belief of the way children should be raised or any other value or trait etc and if it wasn't up to their standards it wasn't good.

You had to watch what was said around our grammy.  When we were little, we couldn't even say darn.  And good lord when we were growing up and when my mother was growing up, gay meant happy.  Today's world has really taken great leaps and bounds.

That old world kind of got buried.

But anyway, it is really great to push yourself to remember.  How many memories can you remember?

I can even remember some of my childhood dreams.

I used to hate that daisy ham that my mother used to make us eat.  One night when I was little I dreamed that I was swimming inside a daisy ham.  Of course I was really tiny.

And then another dream I remember as a small child was floating into the ocean with my nightgown on and I came across a little ship with some characters on it.  There was a black bunny resembling the black evil bunny from the Rankin Bass easter special.  And there was a little girl who wanted to be my friend.  I think she might have been Pebbles from the Flintstones.

It's kind of funny how we can remember some of our dreams.  Usually the way things go, is that when we wake up we can't remember the dream.

I also remember having a dream that my grammy was alive and living in New Mexico.  This was perhaps a year after she died.  Of course when I woke up she was still dead.

I used to have the same type of dream after my mother died.  I would be dreaming that she was still alive and nothing had changed.  And then you wake up and you know that the nightmare really happened.  Death took her away.

Life isn't fair.  She's been gone ten years and this year it will be pushing eleven.  She died at 53 or 54 of colon cancer that spread to her liver.  We have always said if the doctor's hadn't left a margin, she might still be here.  She suffered for three years.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 9, 2012

Check out my paper doll website:  jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net  

I should probably head over there next and do my NaBloPoMo there.  I haven't written in my blog there yet and need to do it this year. 

Marla Mermaid paper dolls.  She is a two page set.  I should make some more mermaid ones soon.  And more fairies.  Got all kinds of thoughts with this too, but only a certain amount of time. 

We really need to balance everything out so that we can do everything that we want to do.  Hard sometimes.



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

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

Tips on Creative Photography

Do you love photography like I do?  I have been doing photography for about twenty five years.  I'm almost forty four, so I would say for half of my life I have had a strong interest in Photography.  I started out with my dad's brownie camera in the younger grades and then in junior high and high school I graduated to a disc camera.  Remember those?  The negatives came in a little tiny circle that you could view them.

Then in college I had a boyfriend who worked at a camera store.  As I was going into my first year of photography in college he persuaded me to purchase my first 35mm camera.  At the time, I kept saying no, but he was so persistent that I have a good camera for taking photographs.  He used to love Ansel Adams and would analyze his photography.  Sometimes it drove me nuts.  Well, he did get me to buy it along with filters and other accessories and a nice camera bag.  I was happily satisfied and he also got a commission off me, I'm sure.

He later on, started his own cleaning business.  He was pretty successful, seeing as he was such a good salesman.  I did end up breaking up with him of course at a later date.  He wasn't a very stable guy.  And he was always about partying and being with the guys.  And then when he got his first apartment, I would get there and he would leave all his moldy dishes for me.  It used to tick me off and I would often find myself doing his dishes for a good hour on end.

Then there was one time, where he followed me to the college library and tried to get me to take him back.  He actually forced me against the building so I couldn't go anywhere.  He was a character though.  I learned about pot from him and his friends.  I learned that I never wanted to smoke it even though everyone else was.  I guess I probably should have done it, seeing as I was breathing it in anyway.  The rooms were always full of smoke and weed.

Now back to photography.  I took two years of it and my teacher wanted me to major in it instead of painting.  But I chose painting because it was cheaper.

Tips on Creative Photography

Number one tip is to keep taking photographs.  Exercise your creative eye.  There are images all over the world just waiting to be exposed as a image frozen in time.  You need to practice it all the time. 

The beauty of digital photography is that you can keep taking pictures and you are not constantly spending money on film.  For years I used a 35mm camera.  It was the only thing I knew about.  I knew all kinds of tricks to photography.  I bought lots of filters, diffusers, different lighting equipment and I read up on tricks to learn.  I learned about vignetting and took lots of doll pictures.  I practiced with still life set ups.  I got rather good and getting my set ups.  I would buy flowers to use with the dolls. 

I used glass and vaseline and baby powder to get different effects.  I used glass vases filled with water to get a magnifying effect.

I created boxes that I cut a opening in the back and windows into the two sides of the box for filtered light.  Then I set my fabric inside and placed my doll heads inside and created my still lifes.  When doing still lives you also can get quite creative in the set up.  It's all a process.  I liked photographing my dolls and set ups as it was a quick fix while my children were sleeping.  I definitely went through my film very fast.  I don't think my ex liked that I always had lots of film to develop.  I often went through ten to thirteen rolls in a month on my kids, the dolls and the flowers.

You're looking at a regular shutterbug.

Now, I love my digital camera.  I love the fact that you can take lots of photos, delete some that you don't want and you can keep reusing your memory card.  Learn to back up your stuff in case something happens.

Try driving around town and see what catches your eye.  Decide what you want to photograph and go look for it.  Nowadays you have to be careful when photographing children.  Make sure you get the okay from the parents to do it.

Go to public events.  This is often a good way to get cool photographs of different types of things.

Keep practicing.  Try doing weddings too.  That is a good experience and you will get wonderful pictures to add to your portfolio.

Try learning how to do overlays.  Those are really neat.

Something I am slowly learning is to take photography into the photography software and working with it to get amazing results.

I can't believe what some people do with their images.  The computer technology is amazing.  I think I have just barely crossed the threshold on that one.  I'm not an expert on drawing on photographs.  Although I did amaze myself and do a good job on my cover to my first mystery novel Black Roses..  It's published on Barnes and Noble and Amazon, but my royalties absolutely sucked after putting in thousands of dollars into it and add $5000 for the basic advertising package which absolutely did nothing for me.  Never again.  Next time, I am not going with Authorhouse and instead am going to look into doing it for much cheaper with CreateSpace.  Someone told me that is really much cheaper.  It is worth it to get it in print and to have a hard copy to give to your kids.

When you are jumping into photography, I think it is so important to invest in a good camera.  I have a few of the little pocket size cameras (one Kodak and the other is one of those underwater cameras) .  But my big baby is a Nikon D90 camera.  This last year I invested in a lovely macro lense to go with it, a wide angle, a fisheye lense and I also possess a huge telephoto lense.  My son has used the telephoto and got some close up shots of the moon.  I haven't tried it yet, but should make myself do it soon.

Bring your camera practically everywhere you go.  You never know when you are going to find an image that inspires you to click and shoot. 

Try going out on a rainy day, or after the rain has come.  Especially if you are into flower photography like me.  I love driving around town finding gorgeous flowers to take photographs of.  And after a rainfall you have all those tiny beads of water left sitting on the flowers.  Makes for beautiful photography.  Macro photography is a really exciting thing to delve into.

I love it.  I also like taking photographs of mannequins.  In town where I live, there is one used clothing store that constantly puts her mannequin outside.  I have gone a bunch of times to photograph it in the different outfits and hats.  Fun.

Try photographing animals.  You can get cool pictures of them too.  Once in college I took a black and white picture of two horses in a deer sanctuary.  I still have the photo somewhere.  It was kind of neat, because I managed to get one horse to stick it's tongue out portraying a dog.  Humorous.

I probably should have majored in photography, but at the time I didn't.  I would rather photograph stuff instead of doing oil paintings.

Oil paintings take months to finish.  You can't call it done after one day.  You need to keep working at it and perfecting it.  And man is it hard to get the exact colors that you need.  It has been years since I did an oil painting and I got rid of my oil paints.  Of course I suppose I could always purchase some paints again someday if I want to do it again.

But sometimes, been there done that is good enough.

I would much rather draw before I attempt to paint.  Drawing was always my strong point. 

Watercolors are also a hard thing to master.  You have to be very careful about making sure all your colors don't run.  People produce gorgeous still lifes though.  Some stuff is absolutely amazing.

If you have never heard of Janet Fish.  Google her work.  She was a great artist.  Maybe she is still living.  I'm not sure.  But I had a book of her still lifes once and they really knock your socks off with all the detail to her stuff.  I mean, she had a whole lot of loaded objects going in her works of art.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 9, 2012

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

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

How to Stick with Writing Online and Earning

Okay, here is my second post on this blog today.  I'm on a roll!  I've just been to my mommie dearest blog and nablopomoed there a short while ago.  I'm surprising myself today.  I think I must have written about seven to eight articles this morning on Helium. 

I have yet to earn on that site.  I will stick with it a little bit to see what happens.  Maybe it is because I am new there and haven't established a creative writing score yet.  Everything surely does take time. 

How do you stick with writing online to earn money?  It is really hard.  No writer will tell you that it is easy.  It takes a tremendous amount of time and patience.  What should really matter is the fact that you love to write and you need to make yourself stick with it.

Now, I'm ripped.  I was just writing here, had a lot written and something just sent me out of here.  When I just arrived back a lot of my writing disappeared.  Holy nuts!  Pain in my rump!  Literally!

Write about what you know.  If you try to write about things you don't know about, you might get someone reading your article and they are going to click away to somewhere else.  They will think, this person doesn't know what he is talking about. 

You should be making yourself write all the time, especially if you want to really make money online writing.  You need to be active.  I think that is the secret to all these writers success is that they are very active.  You also have to make sure you are writing quality stuff.

It also helps to go to yahoo trends or google trends often.  You might find things that you know about and want to write an article about it.  People really like to go and read stuff that is going to help them out in some way.  They also like a site that has very interesting writing.  You've got to learn how to hold your writers interest and wet their whistle. 

You want them to stay and read and leave with emotions.  You want them to be moved by your stuff. 
It's like writing a novel.  You need to have a beginning, middle and ending.  Your heroine and hero need to be believable.  You want your reader to really be able to relate to the characters.  You don't want them to be disgusted with the characters and think I can't believe my hero just did that.  It is so out of character for them.

Like in one romance novel I wrote once.  I had it edited by a local editor.  Well, she had highlighted and written notes on some pages.  Like, "Here we lose respect for Evangelean and Gauthier because Gauthier was shallow and Evangelean can't seem to face the fact that she knows that her husband Tom is cheating on her.  She keeps being passive and doesn't confront him.  And in another instance, I had forgotten to include that Evangelean and Tom got a babysitter for their four girls.  They both just left the house for the night without getting a babysitter.

Needless to say, I have rewritten and edited that one and I still have to come back and write it again and finish editing it.  That one has been three years in the making total and will be going on four or five years.  I'm currently wrapped up in my three new novels.  Which I have been procrastinating and need to write new chapters.  Maybe later this week.  Right now I am just concentrating on writing online and blogging every day.

I was pleasantly surprised today by my first comment on my blog.  She was glad she found my blog and will be back.  That was cool.

It's always fun when you start to get comments from people.  I like going to igoogle to social bookmark my stuff and talk to other writers.  That is a fun site and I encourage people to sign up and gain their followers.  I'm usually getting about five to seven new people following each day.

Same with Twitter.  I think I am over 200 followers now.  If you want to gain followers quicker go to YouLikeHits and Traffup.  Traffup is cool and it is free.

I'm a little disappointed with Triond but I will keep trying to write a lot there too.  I don't write a lot every day there.  There are only so many hours every day.  I guess you have to bounce around to the different writing sites where you can earn from your writing.  But it is important to keep active at the ones that you like the most.

Last month I earned 67 cents, which doesn't seem like a lot.  But then I didn't write actively every day.  Yesterday I was at 2 cents and today I jumped to 5 cents.  It just doesn't seem like a lot.  I write a good amount there, but I am wondering what would happen if I wrote ten to twenty things every day there.  It would be interesting to know what would be the result of that.

I also got really surprised a few days ago when I received an email from Hubpages.  The site where I got banned from for blogging.  Which I didn't know I was doing and when I realized it and wanted to fix things, I got canned.  Well, a few days ago, I received an email that I had reached the $50 payout.  And they wanted my new paypal address so they can send me my money.  It floored me and I wondered how I reached the payout.  I think I seemed to earn the most from there.  The last month I was there I had jumped to a little over nine dollars.  Enough to buy a thing of Dunkin Donuts coffee.  I thought I would never see the money.

And then in the end of the email they said, "Happy Hubbing."  Now that left me wondering if I can come back and write more hubs.  Probably not.  I'm waiting for their answer.

I'm not sure what other sites are out there for writing online.  The ones I know about are Triond, Wikinut, Wizzley, Hubpages, Helium, Squiddoo, Newsvine, and I think you can possibly earn on BlogHer.  There must be other sites out there though to write and earn online.  I bet I have only touched the tip of the iceberg.

So I guess the trick is to not give up.  I'm also wondering what would happened if I tried really hard to write here every day.  Perhaps there could be hope that I could become a professional blogger and earn a passive income.  I have yet to reach that goal though.  I guess I'm doing pretty good if I can suddenly pump out a few posts here today.  That would be a feat for me.

Try new things and see what happens.  Get those new beginnings kick started and force yourself to write all the time.  Perhaps the fruits will be sown.

So rule of thumb would be to stick with it and don't ever quit and give up.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 9, 2012

This was one of my porcelain doll heads.  I don't have her anymore, but I still have many pictures of her.  I used to do a lot of experimenting with photography tricks.  I loved to do vignetting and see what see through fabrics and handmade filters would do to make a really cool image.




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

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