We all had to begin somewhere. We started blogging and decide that we love it. Have any of you been blogging for a while, accumulated lots of posts and then over a period of time look back and think that we should start doing some editing?
I know I have. I went in and did some editing to spruce up my blog. I know I can still go back and fine tune some older posts. I also was editing some things that maybe I shouldn't have written. Do you ever write something, and then think that maybe you should be deleting some of it?
Some of us write some posts when we are actively venting about an issue and then we start to think, that I probably shouldn't have written something. But usually at the time, we're venting and we want to hear other peoples input into something. And then, we don't stop to think that maybe someone we know might not like us writing some things.
Even though some of it is very trivial, we still have to stop and think about how the other person would feel. I think we do this repeatedly sometimes all over the world. We're all human and don't always realize that maybe we shouldn't have written something, said something or did something. There's always going to be something we say or do sometimes that another person doesn't like.
Same goes for relationships. I guess I've been on a relationship kick lately. Well, no relationship is perfect. Every relationship has some issues from time to time. Hey, I have some days where I don't like something little that he has said or done, and I'm sure it is the same way for him. All men and women get annoyed by the little things sometimes.
But it takes two responsible adults to work out issues in a constructive way. I'm glad I can do that with mine. Verses me being alone in my apartment building last night, to get the unpleasant opportunity to listen to my upstairs neighbors having a knockdown fight about who knows what. I heard money come up at one point.
Isn't that a big issue!! It seems like money always can be a big thing in the middle of a fight. Classic.
Instead of little things like dishes in the sink or finding a man's socks all over the floor. Or ever remember the classic movie, Parent Trap with Maureen O'Hara where she hangs her wet nylons over the shower to dry and what's his face doesn't like it? I love both Parent Trap Movies. But Hayley Mills is classic.
Anyway, I don't like a big fight. Usually if I find myself in an arguement, I like to calmly work it out without both parties getting ticked off.
So anyway, onto more fun stuff. Yes, do clean up the blog from time to time. It will make it look better. Go back and read your posts once in a while to make sure that it all should be there and that nothing needs to be omitted. You don't want someone to get hard feelings.
I do write about my kids and their names are in my posts, because they are my kids. I try not to use too many of their pictures. I usually opt for a really old picture that doesn't look like them now. But recently I did put my daughter in a post in hopes of winning an ipad from a contest. I don't think I won as I would have heard.
I got my short story into the writing contest a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure if they posted the winners yet. I probably wouldn't enter too many of those. Usually your small fee disappears and you don't end up winning. But sometimes it's worth a try as you never know.
And now for some really fun stuff. Last night I ended up staying at my kids house later. Mollyanne was down cellar watching Stephen King's classic 1980's Christine movie and she wanted me to come down and watch it with her. I heard that and grabbed my knitting and made a bee line for the cellar. I hadn't seen that one in years! So I went down and watched it with her. My ex came down and handed us some banana smoothies and we watched tv with our smoothies and our glass of water.
I'm working on trying to change my diet. I've cut back on my coffee (one cup) and am trying to drink lots of water. Baby steps. I'm not really big, but the stomach makes me look like I'm pregnant. So I've got to start walking. We walked all the way down the steep path to the pool yesterday, and coming back I was out of breath. Which tells me I need to do it more often.
And I'm trying to find natural ways to get a better nights sleep. Well, maybe that should be another post.
So, we're watching Christine and I'm doing my knitted bracelets. I was working on one with pretty ribbon yarn. I got laughing through some of the parts with the guy's angry mother. My ex and I used to poke fun at some of the old movies and imitate the characters. That was always fun to do. Still is.
So, as we're watching it, I was telling Mollyanne and Sean about the other movie, Cujo. Remember the one about the big rabid dog and the mother and son trapped in the car? Classic. Didn't seem to thrill Sean. Ha ha. He was busy playing some new games he got for the computer. So at one point, I went over to check out one he was playing. I forget the name of it, but it was one where he's walking around the woods with a flashlight and someone is following him. This man with no face, that when he gets close enough to him, the man grabs him and his game ends. Looked kind of creepy and would be a game that would freak me out.
I remember playing that Indiana Jones game for the PS2 and it would freak me out. I liked playing it, but when I would fall into the water with the alligators it made me panic. Sean and his little friend used to get the biggest kick out of watching me play it years ago. I still have the game in case I ever want to play it. I've got a PS2 player at my apartment. It's not in use right now, but maybe it will get hooked up when I someday get grandchildren.
I forgot how evil that Christine was. Mollyanne asked me a few times why the car was killing people and I was telling her that it was an evil possessed car and it was possessing the owner too.
Well, the movie ended and then up Next: Cujo!!! Oh, how I wanted to stay and watch that one, but it was getting late and I had to get home. Tonight is my night to sleep over. So, in a little bit, I'm going to go mail my Ebay packages and check out a few yardsales. And later today, the kids are going to see the new Spiderman movie as part of my son, Jake's birthday treat. I might go and use up my free movie coupon from giving blood. I treated Jake to a free pint of ice cream yesterday. As I gave blood again. And my movie ticket has been collecting dust for a few months. I was going to use it for the new Snow White and the Huntsman movie, but I'm just going to wait for it to come out on DVD as I would probably end up buying that one.
And over this last week, I have had to fight for my computer with Julia. She likes playing Free Realms and Feral Heart, and for some reason it won't work on her computer so she uses mine. So I'm thinking maybe Santa will give her a new computer at Christmas time. She has my old beat up computer.
So, I arrived here a little before 6AM so I could quietly take control of my laptop before she got up to tend to my Ebay stuff and other things. I listed close to 25 or more things yesterday and had auctions that were ending. So she kind of knows that I need it at certain times.
And I hadn't blogged in a few days and need to get back into it. I've been letting her have the laptop for a while during the day and have been working on the bracelets. I'm starting to make some sets too. Bracelet, necklace and little looped earrings. Later, I will need to find my earring attachments and perhaps some of my charms and later see how I can sew in seed beads and other beads. I might decide to wait on that part until end of summer or when they start school and I can quietly do that while they are gone.
And I took a few minutes this morning to cut up some magazine strips and roll them up on a knitting needle to make paper beads. Right now they look like it's just a rolled up magazine bead. I think I will have to modge podge it and later paint it and glaze. I think this will also be a project for the fall time. I don't want to pull out my good acrylic paints in front of the girls. Same with the idea of painting designs on rocks. I want to wait for later for some things.
So, I have got to get going for now. Maybe I will attempt another post later today. And maybe some more editing at some point.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 14, 2012
Happy Birthday to my Sister!! I sent her this cute old fashioned card with two little girls putting curlers in each other's hair. Classic. We used to bobby pin our hair. Gone are the times for that! But I still have my bobby pins.
I spent over an hour the night before my wedding day bobby pinning my hair for the big day. So it ended up being awesome spiral curls.
My pile of finished bracelets and other's that need to be done. I still have to felt these and I've got another finished pile some where. The purple underneath is a pretty sweater I found at the yard sales last week and I'm not going to part with it. It could be a nice background material for photography and I think it borderline fits me.
Not that I want to see winter yet, but decided to drink out of this mug today. And there's more piles of yarn. I love having lots of different colors to choose from.
Here is the first jewelry set. The little ones are the earrings that I later need to find the jewelry hardware for. It's stashed away with all my jewelry supplies.
The pretty ribbon jewelry sets that need to be finished. The earrings for these ones are going to be more like a loop style.
More with the pretty ribbons.
Here's my cabled bracelets. They are a little thicker. It's kind of hard to see the cabled pattern in this picture, but it's quite pretty. And simple to do.
Here are some of the bracelets or headbands I need to sew together. These ones are made from that T-shirt yarn. And I've got a few of my circles for the sewn up yo yo's. I haven't worked on those for a while and am planning to sew up another yo yo pincushion later today.
The t shirt yarn is easy to do. All you do is get an old t shirt and fold it sideways and cut your thin strips across, leaving an uncut part on the folded side. You don't cut all the way across. Do this all the way up the shirt to about where the arms start. Then you open up what you cut up and cut the beginning strip. Then it's just a matter of cutting it as you follow the string. When you are done, go through and stretch out the strips a little bit, so that it gets stretched out and thinner. Then roll into a ball and you have your t shirt yarn.
art, 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.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A Woman Needs to be Kissed Often
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Women need to be kissed. And often. And I don't just mean a peck on the cheek. We want the french kissing. It makes the sex more passionate when a woman gets kissed during it. We like to be kissed and to be shown the love.
Men should show us that they mean it. How can a man just not want to kiss a woman? Are our lips tainted or something? Come on!!!
Here's a little list of what women want: You know all you men are always trying to figure out what we want. Well, I'm going to tell you. These are a bunch of things that you should know by now.
We like the little things.
We love to be kissed.
Give us lots of french kissing. We're not going to accept the one or two kisses when we leave for a little bit at the end of the visit. Let's face it, those two kisses are hardly a peck on the lips. We want lots of kissing. We won't accept no kissing in a relationship.
We like it when you put down the toilet seat.
We love to get roses or any type of bouquet of flowers once in a while.
We love a nice little love note to wake up to sometimes.
We love hearing you tell us that you love us.
We don't like to have any fights or quarrels.
We love the simple acts of kindness.
We don't like being snapped at.
We love it when you support what we love to do.
We love it when you will stand by us through the good times and the bad.
We love just being with you.
We love to hold hands.
We love spending time with each other.
We love it when you accept us for who we are and not expect us to do everything your way.
We love it when we can kiss and make up.
We just love everything about being together.
And we love it when you treat us to dinner and a movie sometimes. Never just stop doing that.
As a couple, everyone needs to get out and do things. You can't just stop doing anything. It's not healthy.
So, those are some things about what we want. And of course you know that we love to shop too. Women are born to shop. That's a given. Women just can't get enough of pretty things.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Getting into Routines and a Chicken Soup Recipe
My chicken soup
Mollyanne's hot dog she fixed this afternoon.
Gluten free cookies for Jake. Gramma made them and brought them over this morning along with another good looking dessert in the fridge.
My hodge podge of things next to me today. Soup and coffee, bracelets to knit and sew together and my live scribe pen etc...
How did everyone's Fourth of July holiday go? Mine went well and yesterday I arrived back to the kids house from my week of camping. The week away from the kids was great. I love my children, but it was nice to have a quiet week away from them too. They camped too, but in a different campground. My kids and their dad went camping with my daughter's friend and her family.
It was kind of hard to get back into the swing of things. I didn't blog much as I was away. We did go back to my boyfriend's house for a little bit, so I was able to get one post in.
I yardsaled on the way back to the kids house yesterday and spent a while listing some new items on ebay. That seemed to take a while. And I tried on some outfits that I am keeping. I got one pretty red tank top with a big velvet roses pattern. It fits me and also would make a great background for some still life photography. Same with this pretty purple crocheted sweater. I'm keeping it because of the pattern and it seems like it might fit me. And I found two comfortable running pants and some tops that look nice on me, and the rest got listed.
Last night, I got fiddling with my new Live scribe pen, just trying to figure it out. I tried recording and wrote a few words on my notebook that goes with it. I didn't fiddle around with it too much as I didn't have the computer with me. I watched one of my Netflix movies, The Reef. Its a movie about a group of people that are trapped in the ocean after their boat capsizes. Then they have to choose to swim towards land with a great white shark in the area. I had to close my eyes on some scenes. I like shark movies yet I panic when I see them.
I am glad I have never been in that situation. Although, once when I was swimming in the ocean I thought I saw a fin pop out of the water about 30 feet away from me. The fin was gray with a little bit of white and black and then it disappeared and I didn't see it again. To this day, I don't know what it was.
When I got back to the apartment, I fed my cats and turned on the sink water for their drip. It got turned off while I was gone. The girl who owns the apartment buildings posted a note about a month ago about our buildings water doubling. We don't pay for water. It kind of ticked me off as I pretty much only use the water to give my cats their drip. I mostly am at my kids house and other places, so I don't use much water. Yet, since that notice, I have noticed some nights when I come home that my drip of water in the kitchen sink has been turned off.
I talked to my boyfriend about it. He told me to put some tape on my door to see if someone is coming into my apartment. It would have to be her as she has a key probably. My landlord would never come in unannounced. I left my water on a good drip today, so if I find it turned off tonight when I get home, I am going to be calling her up to confront her if she was coming in and turning off my water. If she has, I am going to tell her if she does it again, I am going to call the cops on her. In my mind, that's an invasion of privacy and she shouldn't be allowing herself to come in. I don't care if she's in charge of the water bill, it doesn't give her the right to just walzt into my apartment when I am not there.
I'm not 100% sure it's her yet, but I'm going to find out. And then I am going to let her have a piece of my mind. As far as I am concerned, I should be able to use some water too, just like the rest of the tenants.
So, anyway, besides that, this morning I got the Smartpen activated on the computer and we could see some of the stuff. It recorded my voice last night and a few of the sentences I wrote. Then this morning Mollyanne was playing with it and we uploaded the audio and her drawing. Pretty cool. I haven't really played around yet with getting words in typed up mode. I'll fiddle with that later.
Mailed my packages this morning and picked up some of those bic pencils at the store and some scraps of wool yarn at the yarn shop. They sell in a few bins small balls of wool yarn. So I picked out some colors and will make more bracelets.
I still have to sew up all the bracelets I made over the vacation. I've got about 20 to sew up. Some are cabled patterns and also made with a silk yarn and ribbon yarn. I've got to have one of those stitch counters going for the cabled patterns. Sometimes, I get knitting and I forget what row I left off on or which side I need to flip the cable needle to. And if I do it wrong, the pattern is different.
I finished one of Julia's leggings and later this week need to start the other leg. It came out cute.
I'm thinking I am going to do some more drawings soon. It's been a while since I have done it. And I'm thinking of drawing a few of my vintage dolls. I've got some from the 50's of the pretty hard plastic dolls and wouldn't get rid of them. I want to do a few drawings from some of the dolls. That's why I got some new pencils.
So the recipe is:
Creamy Chicken Soup
Chicken breasts or tenders.
Bag of frozen carrots
Leftover soup base from one of those Chicken Broccoli Lipton Dinner mixes
I saved a few noodles from that too.
salt and pepper
lemon pepper spice
1 tbsp lemon juice
olive oil
1 can mushrooms
2-3 good handfuls of ditaloni or some small noodle
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cheddar cheese soup
2 cans filled with milk
3 tbsps of parmesean cheese
I started by cutting up my chicken and frying it with the salt & pepper, lemon juice, mushrooms and some of the soup base.
Then I transferred it to a larger pot and tossed in the rest and cooked it. It came out good.
You could also add sharp cheddar cheese if you want.
Like I need soup on a hot day, but it's what I will be eating this week. I cooked my Lipton dinner last night and saw all the soup base leftover, so figured I would be making my chicken soup next.
Well, now I will be onto fixing my bracelets and working on some other stuff for a little bit. Julia wants to borrow my laptop for her Free Realms game for a little bit.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 9, 2012
I'm going to start editing some photos in Picasa that I downloaded. I had it last year and got rid of it. I didn't like that I couldn't find any of my pictures in there. Yesterday, I figured out how to save it as a jpeg and now I can see where they are. That way, I can tweek the color and crop it if I want.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Camping!!!
My boyfriend and I are camping this week with his family. We are back at his house for tonight and are heading back to spend the rest of the weekend there. It has been fun and relaxing. I've been having some time to work on my knitting. That is something that is easily done there. I even can knit well in the dark as long as there is some light. I finished two headbands and a few of the bangle bracelets.
There were two little kids that kept coming around and talking to us, so later today I had whipped up a few bangle bracelets and gave the little girl the smaller one. They were really good kids. They were adopted. It wasn't until this weekend that I had heard the term, "fresh air kids."
I had never heard of that term. Then later the kids were talking and I asked them if they were going to toast marshmallows. They got talking about smores so I told them how my daughter tried to microwave them to make her homemade smores. I didn't think nothing about that as my daughter tried it and I told the kids they would need their mother to help them with that one.
Even when I went to school there wasn't a lot of ethnic race around where I grew up. But we were told by our mother not to stare and make a big deal about it.
And now that I am a mother, it's everywhere. My kids best friends in school are different colors. It's all around us and in the mainstream. And who really cares what color skin you are. I don't care. I'm not prejudiced.
So after I gave her the colored bracelet, I told the dad that his wife can wash it and it will felt and I was asking the kids if they're having a fun summer and I told them my kids were having fun too. The little boy asked where my kids were, so I said they're camping with their dad this week.
And I am a very hands on mother who is always with her children. He will have to learn what type of mother I am and he will need to let me mother them like I always have.
So, back to camping tomorrow and I am sure when we get there, there will be kids all over the place.
I definitely do well with kids. I always have. It's just a great thing to interact with them. I love adults too, but kids are awesome. Kids just tell you like it is and they are very inquisitive. Some adults just have a special knack for kids and others don't know how to deal with them.
It doesn't mean that they don't learn. Years ago, when I was in college it was my sister who had the special knack for kids. She also worked in a day care and baby sat for kids. So the whole family just figured it was my sister that had the special talent for dealing with kids.
Then, it was me that was suddenly having four kids and learning how to raise them and be an effective parent but also their best friend that my sister once said, "Who would have figured that it would be you that would end up having four children."
And then my sister had three.
Everyone is raised different and wants to bring up a child different ways. I had my way that worked for me. And as my mother used to say, "What's right for one family may not be right for another. There is no right or wrong way to raise a child."
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 5, 2012
There's nothing like a good fire. Of course this one just looks like smoke but got rip roaring later. It was nice to just sit by the fire either at our campsite or across the way to his son's campsite. I've got to find a good marshmallow stick tomorrow when we get back to the campground. If I can toast at least three marshmallows, I will be a happy camper.
And today we were just sitting at our campsite together in the sunny section and I was knitting. I looked over and my boyfriend was asleep in his chair. It was funny. But it was just nice knitting with him quietly sitting next to me. Just the quiet moments are nice too.

We tried to jaunt out last night to see the fireworks but they got cancelled due to a thunderstorm and then we had to face all the traffic. Then riding back, it was coming down so hard. My boyfriend was worried about wires falling down. Then I said, "Aren't we safe in the car with four rubber wheels?" He said but the roof is metal. I never thought of that. And then at one point we couldn't even see in front of us.
We finally made it back to the campground and it had died down, so we ended up staying.
I brought my smaller Kodak Camera also for this trip and I've been liking some of the landscape shots I can get with it. My macro is on the bigger one, so it gets a different effect. I can see myself playing around with some of these shots on those photo editing sites. Maybe some cool filters.
Food and coffee!!!! We forgot to bring the coffee cups back to the camp so this morning we did without coffee. We won't go without for the rest of the weekend. And I think I am going to go buy some bug repellent before we get back. Last night the mosquitoes were eating me alive. Drove me nuts. I'm glad one of my cabled headbands is done as I think I will wear it at night to keep the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears.
I'm having some fun doing the simple cabled patterns. It's actually quite easy. It's just a matter of slipping the three stitches onto the cable needle and hanging in front or the back while you knit the other three stitches and then you knit the ones off the cable needle.
One headband knitted up really quick as it was with bulky yarn.
I took more pictures today. One was of tin foiled corn on the cob on the smoke pit. My boyfriend's daughter in law soaked the corn on the cob in water for two days and then they cooked it today. It took about two hours or longer for it to be ready. It was really good.
Both of our campsites have a nice amount of privacy. From their campsite it is all woods with a trail to walk on. Nice and private. Maybe tomorrow I will go investigate the trail with my cameras. Tonight we watched some chipmunks and a squirrel fighting for some breadcrumbs. My boyfriend started feeding them and I laughed and said, "Don't feed the animals!" And then he kept moving his chair and the smoke kept following him and then we all laughed and said to be careful you don't fall into the ditch.
We're having a good time. His family is very nice and laid back, which is good as that is how I am. I'm very laid back, easy going with a happy disposition. My mother was the same way and so was my Nana.
Tomorrow, I think I will take some time to write another chapter to The Glorious Money Tree fiction novel. I'm up to chapter eight here on the blog, and have hand written chapter nine. Should work on chapter ten.
I've got the Live Scribe Smart Pen coming but it didn't arrive in time for the trip. I think I am going to love it. It will be great for when I go home at night and don't want to bring home the lap top. And it seems like I would save a step instead of handwriting my chapters and then typing them out. I can just upload my writing and it's already typed. I will see if it works for me.
I do know that sometimes I tend to just start typing up my handwritten stuff and editing and really changing things around as I go.
There were two little kids that kept coming around and talking to us, so later today I had whipped up a few bangle bracelets and gave the little girl the smaller one. They were really good kids. They were adopted. It wasn't until this weekend that I had heard the term, "fresh air kids."
I had never heard of that term. Then later the kids were talking and I asked them if they were going to toast marshmallows. They got talking about smores so I told them how my daughter tried to microwave them to make her homemade smores. I didn't think nothing about that as my daughter tried it and I told the kids they would need their mother to help them with that one.
Even when I went to school there wasn't a lot of ethnic race around where I grew up. But we were told by our mother not to stare and make a big deal about it.
And now that I am a mother, it's everywhere. My kids best friends in school are different colors. It's all around us and in the mainstream. And who really cares what color skin you are. I don't care. I'm not prejudiced.
So after I gave her the colored bracelet, I told the dad that his wife can wash it and it will felt and I was asking the kids if they're having a fun summer and I told them my kids were having fun too. The little boy asked where my kids were, so I said they're camping with their dad this week.
And I am a very hands on mother who is always with her children. He will have to learn what type of mother I am and he will need to let me mother them like I always have.
So, back to camping tomorrow and I am sure when we get there, there will be kids all over the place.
I definitely do well with kids. I always have. It's just a great thing to interact with them. I love adults too, but kids are awesome. Kids just tell you like it is and they are very inquisitive. Some adults just have a special knack for kids and others don't know how to deal with them.
It doesn't mean that they don't learn. Years ago, when I was in college it was my sister who had the special knack for kids. She also worked in a day care and baby sat for kids. So the whole family just figured it was my sister that had the special talent for dealing with kids.
Then, it was me that was suddenly having four kids and learning how to raise them and be an effective parent but also their best friend that my sister once said, "Who would have figured that it would be you that would end up having four children."
And then my sister had three.
Everyone is raised different and wants to bring up a child different ways. I had my way that worked for me. And as my mother used to say, "What's right for one family may not be right for another. There is no right or wrong way to raise a child."
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 5, 2012
There's nothing like a good fire. Of course this one just looks like smoke but got rip roaring later. It was nice to just sit by the fire either at our campsite or across the way to his son's campsite. I've got to find a good marshmallow stick tomorrow when we get back to the campground. If I can toast at least three marshmallows, I will be a happy camper.
And today we were just sitting at our campsite together in the sunny section and I was knitting. I looked over and my boyfriend was asleep in his chair. It was funny. But it was just nice knitting with him quietly sitting next to me. Just the quiet moments are nice too.
We tried to jaunt out last night to see the fireworks but they got cancelled due to a thunderstorm and then we had to face all the traffic. Then riding back, it was coming down so hard. My boyfriend was worried about wires falling down. Then I said, "Aren't we safe in the car with four rubber wheels?" He said but the roof is metal. I never thought of that. And then at one point we couldn't even see in front of us.
We finally made it back to the campground and it had died down, so we ended up staying.
I brought my smaller Kodak Camera also for this trip and I've been liking some of the landscape shots I can get with it. My macro is on the bigger one, so it gets a different effect. I can see myself playing around with some of these shots on those photo editing sites. Maybe some cool filters.
Food and coffee!!!! We forgot to bring the coffee cups back to the camp so this morning we did without coffee. We won't go without for the rest of the weekend. And I think I am going to go buy some bug repellent before we get back. Last night the mosquitoes were eating me alive. Drove me nuts. I'm glad one of my cabled headbands is done as I think I will wear it at night to keep the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears.
I'm having some fun doing the simple cabled patterns. It's actually quite easy. It's just a matter of slipping the three stitches onto the cable needle and hanging in front or the back while you knit the other three stitches and then you knit the ones off the cable needle.
One headband knitted up really quick as it was with bulky yarn.
I took more pictures today. One was of tin foiled corn on the cob on the smoke pit. My boyfriend's daughter in law soaked the corn on the cob in water for two days and then they cooked it today. It took about two hours or longer for it to be ready. It was really good.
Both of our campsites have a nice amount of privacy. From their campsite it is all woods with a trail to walk on. Nice and private. Maybe tomorrow I will go investigate the trail with my cameras. Tonight we watched some chipmunks and a squirrel fighting for some breadcrumbs. My boyfriend started feeding them and I laughed and said, "Don't feed the animals!" And then he kept moving his chair and the smoke kept following him and then we all laughed and said to be careful you don't fall into the ditch.
We're having a good time. His family is very nice and laid back, which is good as that is how I am. I'm very laid back, easy going with a happy disposition. My mother was the same way and so was my Nana.
Tomorrow, I think I will take some time to write another chapter to The Glorious Money Tree fiction novel. I'm up to chapter eight here on the blog, and have hand written chapter nine. Should work on chapter ten.
I've got the Live Scribe Smart Pen coming but it didn't arrive in time for the trip. I think I am going to love it. It will be great for when I go home at night and don't want to bring home the lap top. And it seems like I would save a step instead of handwriting my chapters and then typing them out. I can just upload my writing and it's already typed. I will see if it works for me.
I do know that sometimes I tend to just start typing up my handwritten stuff and editing and really changing things around as I go.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I-Heart Photo Challenge Contest
I'm going to try out this contest. So here, I will be sharing a recent picture of my daughter for the contest as I would like to win something possibly. Normally, I don't share my kids on here, but will do it for this contest.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 3, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Write What You Know
First of all before I start writing more about what I know. Let me divide my writings for those of you that may think everything I write is based on my life experiences. When I'm blogging on a daily basis with all of you reading, I am including writings pulled from some of my life experiences. I am blogging and most of it is non fiction to you as the reader. Let's make that clear. Anonymous made a comment that everything I write is from my life experiences. So I told her that she could choose to stay and read or go find another blog that will better suit her. I write for me first and foremost. And most of the time when I am blogging to all of you, it is non fiction and it is my opinion about everything. We all have our own opinions and nobody can change it. It's up to us to change ourselves. Nobody else can do it for you.
But when I choose to post a blog of my poetry, STORY LINE STARTERS or for instance, The Glorious Money Tree novel or The Thief Who Wouldn't learn novel that I am writing or another type of Short Story like Alter Ego Meets Soul Mate, those are all fiction. Unless I tell you otherwise that some of the poetry is non fiction.
Some of my poetry is also made up. I'll let you know if it is. And I have other poems about my Mother or other things that are non fiction. I usually let you know then too.
But most of the time, I am blogging on here and it's non fiction and I'm expressing my opinion on things and telling real life stories and other stuff. So if anyone reads and gets disgusted that everything I write about is from real life experiences, maybe they should be seriously looking for another blog. I am not about to please Anonymous.
But even in fiction, we are told so many times to write about what we know. How can you write about something you know nothing of and expect to pull it off? Can you honestly tell yourself that you can make it believable? I'd never have my heroine be a doctor or lawyer as I wouldn't be able to pull it off. That's why she is most of the time a writer, artist, blogger, knitter, etc..
All of my fiction has a bit of me in it somewhere, or maybe a little bit of my mother or some other person that has touched my life. You will find that even more prominent writers pull stories from their life history too. There is just no getting around it. The author of the Stephanie Plum series has done it too. robert Ludlum and other's have done it. Baldacci? I can't quite remember which writer it was, but at least one of them was either a doctor or lawyer in real life and all their stories were heavily based on medicine, etc.... I'll remember the writer's name later or maybe one of you can jog my memory.
However, if you use yourself as a basis, you can include character flaws you might not admit to in real life, and you can base your character’s reactions to an event on how you would react in the same position. The character will be more believable because it’s based on a real person – you.
To write what you know does not mean to only write about experiences you’ve actually had or people you’ve actually met. It means to use what you know about life, nature, and humanity and use it as the foundation for your stories.
Creativity and art and writing is about defining non fiction and fiction in unique ways. Okay, so maybe you are an artist in real life and your character is one too. You can still make her so different than you. Maybe you want her to be an alcoholic or something else that you are not. As a fiction writer we can twist so many different elements into a story.
Maybe there's a base of my real life in there somewhere, but I will swear that I have never any of the conversations that happen in my stories. I invent so much stuff. Some of my characters have furniture and things I have never had. I've never had to climb down a lighthouse and escape from a killer.
Below are some things I found on the web today. All are some good hard facts that all fiction writers use to the best of our advantage.
It is true: you should write what you know, but you should also leave room in writing for the unknown, room to explore and discover new truths, ideas, and possibilities:
- Write what you feel. Use your personal, emotional experiences and share them with the reader through characters you’ve invented. Emotional truths make a piece of fiction honest and compelling.
- Write what you imagine. Let yourself explore a world of possibilities: fantastical beasts, mythical creatures, aliens, and strange, magical worlds.
- Write what you experience. Every experience you’ve had can be translated to fiction. Remember your first day of school? Tweak that experience and give it to one of your characters, even if the character is an elf or an alien.
- Write what interests you. You can write what you know after you’ve learned it. Conduct research about things that interest you and then use those things in your stories. Pull facts and ideas from history, current events, and textbooks.
- Write what matters to you. It goes without saying that your work must matter to you. Write about what moves you, stirs your passion, fills you with joy or rage. If you’re invested in your project, it will come through in your writing and it will speak to higher truths.
Above all, just write what you know and you will be more believable. People will want to read it more if you have written something believable instead of something far fetched.
And above all that, write about things you love. It will show in the long run.
So, I will blog and express my opinion as much as I want. I do believe it is a free country with freedom of speech. And remember that when I am blogging, it is non fiction and I'm just exercising my voice.
And if it's going to be fiction that I post on my blog some days, I will let you know. I always do. It comes up as STORY LINE STARTERS, The Glorious Money Tree, The Thief Who Wouldn't Learn and Alter Ego Meets Soul Mate. That is what you have probably come to recognize as my fiction on this blog so far.
So, a daily blog post is going to be non fiction as always unless I tell you otherwise. I'd rather be honest than dishonest and deceitful.
And for people like Anonymous who don't seem to like reading about real life stories and my opinions, maybe you should go somewhere else, as I'm not about to change for you. With me, what you see is what you get, unless I'm writing fiction. I can have my characters do anything they want. And even if there is a bit of real life in there somewhere, the characters are not me. It's mainly just a foundation for the character to make her seem as real and convincing as possible.
An editor once told me that your novel starts out as a skeleton and then it's up to you to flesh out your characters. We have to make them as real as possible so that our readers can relate to her, or to be compelled to read more about her. Want to know her.
Look at Stephen King for instance. I know for a fact that he has pulled so many things from real life, yet he's able to twist it and make it a story about something else. He's probably used words that people have said and so many other things. And then, remember he wrote a story that was loosely based on his accident.
And also, even though I blog and tell real life stories, I'm still never going to tell you all I know. I'm not an open book, but you will get honesty with me. And I won't tell an opinion that isn't mine. I'm going to tell my opinion and how I view the world. And people can like it or lump it.
But criticism is good. Everyone can benefit and learn to grow as a writer from criticism. Yes, all the lovely comments are nice too, but wouldn't you want to know if your writing had some faults? It could be things that you could fix as a writer if you are willing to make some changes and sacrifices.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 2, 2012
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Writing Fiction and Writing What You Know
I'm going to start an argument here about writing fiction. Or maybe I'm just taking an existing argument on the phone with my sister onto a writer's issue. And I also want to let my readers know that in this post I am talking about my fiction writing I've posted on the blog, and not my daily posts. Most of my daily posts on my blog are non fiction.
Last night, I got talking with my sister on the phone about the short story I wrote about the contest. So I start out telling her it's about this woman who lives in this cape house and she's a blogger. Well after saying she was a blogger, my sister gets onto a different subject and starts saying that I am writing about myself.
And here I'm telling her, no, it's fiction. And she happened to read my first published novel. And then she's like you wrote about Mom throughout that book.
And all I could tell her was, no I didn't. First of all the mother hardly enters the book. The mother and father died in a car crash and left my main character with this nice cape house. Point A: My mom died of colon cancer. #2 my dad is still alive. #3 They didn't live in a cape house. And I think she must have read it wrong, because I hardly talked about the mother in the book. It wasn't about the mother. It was about this girl who was a stripper and had gotten herself in a heap of mess.
The only way I can relate to the main character is that I spent my money too and got in debt, but I surely wasn't a stripper like my character. Good god.
And okay, in my short story, the character is a blogger and she knits and sews like me and maybe did a few articles on a missing couple. But I surely didn't go hunt down a suspect like my character did. I never went to any lighthouse to find a missing couple and I never wrote in my blog that I was looking for a mail order husband.
So, now it brings me to some things about us fiction writers.
Haven't you ever heard about people telling you to write about what you know? All these characters in my novels aren't me. Maybe they do have some similar thoughts and stuff, but they are just a made up character with my voice speaking for them. And even if some parts really are me, I think the only people who would know it would be my family and people who know me. Or if someone has read one of my blogs and if I choose to use a snippet from that someone reading could pick up on it if they read it in one of the stories.
We write about what we know because usually it would be more believable because we know what we are talking about. I'm not about to write about something that I don't know about as I would look dumb because I wouldn't know the first thing to write about and it would come out as looking fake.
I'm thinking that maybe from now on, family shouldn't read my stuff. At least my sister and brother. They are too close to me and could cause some unwanted arguments. At the end of the phone call I told her I was going to teach her some fiction writers 101.
I have this hard thing about most of my main characters when it comes to what their job is going to be. When most fiction writers create the heroine, we all have to give her a job. I usually end up having mine either be a writer, artist, crafter, soap maker, blogger, gardener or anything that I have liked doing myself. I choose to have them be something that I am, because I know all about the subjects and I can make it sound believable, because I know what I'm talking about.
If I chose to have my characters be a doctor, lawyer, secretary or some other kind of person in the workforce, I wouldn't know the first thing about what their life is like. Unless if I did some research, but even then I could make my characters come off as unbelievable because I wouldn't know what I am talking about.
As it is, I will have to do a little research for The Glorious Money Tree as the mother comes down with breast cancer. And I don't know about it so I will have to research what her symptoms are going to be, etc....
We write about what we know. As fiction writers we are allowed to add a little bit from real life in there too without having it end up being about us.
I certainly wouldn't want to follow my characters down a dark alley, or into a creepy lighthouse or an under ground strip club. Have their parents die in a car crash, or have a sister get killed while riding her bike all due to a person that slept at the wheel. I wouldn't want to have insane thoughts like some of them. Think and do crazy things.
Okay, so what if they're a blogger like me or an artist or writer. So what if they like chips and pickles like me. Okay, they also like macaroni and cheese. Big deal.
And yes, maybe there's a little bit of me in my novels. Who the hell cares. At least when I die, my kids can read the novels and say, "Here's mom in here too."
Is there anything wrong in putting a little bit of me in my novels or putting a little bit of my mother in there too? It's what I know.
But it's still fiction. It's fiction as the majority of my novels are made up. I change my names, I change a lot of stuff and the majority of it did not come from real life.
And in this newest short story, the mother committed suicide and swore like a sailor before hand. My mom never did either one in real life.
And my newest character is a dumb blond and lets in a stranger all because she thinks he's sexy and he could play fireman for her. I've got brown hair and a woman's intuition. My character lacks both.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 1, 2012
Last night, I got talking with my sister on the phone about the short story I wrote about the contest. So I start out telling her it's about this woman who lives in this cape house and she's a blogger. Well after saying she was a blogger, my sister gets onto a different subject and starts saying that I am writing about myself.
And here I'm telling her, no, it's fiction. And she happened to read my first published novel. And then she's like you wrote about Mom throughout that book.
And all I could tell her was, no I didn't. First of all the mother hardly enters the book. The mother and father died in a car crash and left my main character with this nice cape house. Point A: My mom died of colon cancer. #2 my dad is still alive. #3 They didn't live in a cape house. And I think she must have read it wrong, because I hardly talked about the mother in the book. It wasn't about the mother. It was about this girl who was a stripper and had gotten herself in a heap of mess.
The only way I can relate to the main character is that I spent my money too and got in debt, but I surely wasn't a stripper like my character. Good god.
And okay, in my short story, the character is a blogger and she knits and sews like me and maybe did a few articles on a missing couple. But I surely didn't go hunt down a suspect like my character did. I never went to any lighthouse to find a missing couple and I never wrote in my blog that I was looking for a mail order husband.
So, now it brings me to some things about us fiction writers.
Haven't you ever heard about people telling you to write about what you know? All these characters in my novels aren't me. Maybe they do have some similar thoughts and stuff, but they are just a made up character with my voice speaking for them. And even if some parts really are me, I think the only people who would know it would be my family and people who know me. Or if someone has read one of my blogs and if I choose to use a snippet from that someone reading could pick up on it if they read it in one of the stories.
We write about what we know because usually it would be more believable because we know what we are talking about. I'm not about to write about something that I don't know about as I would look dumb because I wouldn't know the first thing to write about and it would come out as looking fake.
I'm thinking that maybe from now on, family shouldn't read my stuff. At least my sister and brother. They are too close to me and could cause some unwanted arguments. At the end of the phone call I told her I was going to teach her some fiction writers 101.
I have this hard thing about most of my main characters when it comes to what their job is going to be. When most fiction writers create the heroine, we all have to give her a job. I usually end up having mine either be a writer, artist, crafter, soap maker, blogger, gardener or anything that I have liked doing myself. I choose to have them be something that I am, because I know all about the subjects and I can make it sound believable, because I know what I'm talking about.
If I chose to have my characters be a doctor, lawyer, secretary or some other kind of person in the workforce, I wouldn't know the first thing about what their life is like. Unless if I did some research, but even then I could make my characters come off as unbelievable because I wouldn't know what I am talking about.
As it is, I will have to do a little research for The Glorious Money Tree as the mother comes down with breast cancer. And I don't know about it so I will have to research what her symptoms are going to be, etc....
We write about what we know. As fiction writers we are allowed to add a little bit from real life in there too without having it end up being about us.
I certainly wouldn't want to follow my characters down a dark alley, or into a creepy lighthouse or an under ground strip club. Have their parents die in a car crash, or have a sister get killed while riding her bike all due to a person that slept at the wheel. I wouldn't want to have insane thoughts like some of them. Think and do crazy things.
Okay, so what if they're a blogger like me or an artist or writer. So what if they like chips and pickles like me. Okay, they also like macaroni and cheese. Big deal.
And yes, maybe there's a little bit of me in my novels. Who the hell cares. At least when I die, my kids can read the novels and say, "Here's mom in here too."
Is there anything wrong in putting a little bit of me in my novels or putting a little bit of my mother in there too? It's what I know.
But it's still fiction. It's fiction as the majority of my novels are made up. I change my names, I change a lot of stuff and the majority of it did not come from real life.
And in this newest short story, the mother committed suicide and swore like a sailor before hand. My mom never did either one in real life.
And my newest character is a dumb blond and lets in a stranger all because she thinks he's sexy and he could play fireman for her. I've got brown hair and a woman's intuition. My character lacks both.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted July 1, 2012
Maybe one of my characters will wear Bella's pumps.
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