Category: Writing

Posted in Life, Writing

What Would Your Life Be Like Without Music?

Posted on by jennrae

I am listening to music as I write this. I often use music to write. Sometimes it sets a mood or inspires an idea or even can inspire me to go in a completely different direction. I like shuffling playlists. I enjoy the randomness.

Without music, life would be a lot quieter. My son is in a hard rock/metal/grunge band. So, there are guitar picks and instruments all over the place. So, I suppose I would have more space. I think life would be a lot more dull.

Maybe I would replace it with painting or some other artistic outlet. Maybe I would read more. Right now I am in the middle of so many books. I have like the reading equivalent of ADHD. Maybe I would finish writing a novel and have it be good. I don’t know though, because music is so integral to my process. I can’t imagine how I would do it. Or who I would be for that matter.

People who don’t like any music at all are kind of odd. I guess they have other hobbies. Maybe I would be into Anime. But then there is music in that. Maybe I would be more into color. That is the only thing that makes sense.

I would have to replace it with something else that affects mood. Maybe I’d have more pets. They are positive for mood, although one of my cats doesn’t like me to get any writing or recording done whatsoever. I couldn’t imagine having more like her and getting anything done. I like to listen to music when I clean the house too.

And it makes longer car rides enjoyable. If I still resembled me, I suppose I would go further into my head and just think internal musings and thoughts a lot more. When I rode public transit before I had earbuds I would take a book and sometimes just daydream out the window. I got some good short story ideas that way actually.

Eavesdropping on the other passengers and hearing snippets of their lives and how they interacted. I was like an alien studying earthlings and how they work. I was the type and still am if I am being honest, to put up high walls with most people. I don’t let many in, and it takes me a while to trust people. It is partly my personality, and partly from some not so great past experiences.

Posted in Life, Writing

What Brings You Peace?

Posted on by jennrae

I am thinking peace of mind. I do not have the power to enact peace on earth, and I have too much peace and quiet these days to want more of that. Sometimes reading a good book, or even a nice nap will bring me momentary peace. Meditation can do wonders as well. Sometimes music can bring me peace.

Lavender oil is very calming and peaceful. I have a ceramic stone I will put drops on for the cats if I know someone is coming over or something major is going on. Fireworks were particularly stressful recently for them.

Sometimes day dreaming can be soothing if I am able to do it, and can bring me peace. Or writing; it can be peaceful. Sometimes the timed writings where you don’t stop and think and correct things are the best for that because there is no pressure to fix anything. It just is.

I feel like I need some more internal peace. I get stressed over financial things easily and tend to want to put my head in the sand even though I know that isn’t helpful or even good idea.

Sometimes a good hearty meal or time with family or loved ones can bring me peace of mind. Just knowing there are people that care about you and think about you can be an amazing feeling. It is easy to overlook or forget this.

It is easy to take people for granted for always being there, until one day they aren’t. And then I am plagued with questions like why didn’t I visit more, or why did I let the minutiae of life get in the way of telling or showing someone I care? And now it is too late. I put off visiting and now I’ll never get to.

How many dear friends have I allowed to drift away because I just stopped reaching out? One is too many, and I have a terrible habit of getting lost in the grind. And, then when I need a shoulder to cry on, everyone has moved on and the dust has settled on all the memories and all I have left is peace and quiet. The kind of peace that I do not need more of.

Posted in Life, Writing

Describe One Habit That Brings You Joy

Posted on by jennrae

The obvious answer would be writing, but if that were true I would have a lot more done. I have a love hate thing with writing. While I am doing it in the moment it is the best feeling in the world. Getting me there is like the most difficult thing.

Once I am doing it, I am great, but getting there is difficult. I can’t explain why this is, it just is. I will put it off, and distract myself with a million other things all the while knowing I would feel better if I did some writing today. Even a timed write can brighten my mood. So, I don’t understand my reluctance or resistance that I feel before actually sitting down and writing.

I suppose it is related to my feelings of inadequacy. That my writing is terrible, or that the environment isn’t set up just so, or the mood is a little off. Or I just am not feeling what I am currently writing. I will find a way to make it not work or not worthwhile.

But if I can get sucked into the moment, then it is pure bliss. If I can get in the rhythm then there really is nothing else like it. When I am typing or writing it all seems inspired by the muses. It is only when I go back and look at it that I am like this is all nonsense crapola.

I have suffered from the perfectionist curse all my life, of nothing being good enough, so I just can’t do it at all. It is something I am fighting with still. On one level I know it is ridiculous and stupid. Doing anything is better than nothing. A half good project is better than a blank page. But, my brain isn’t run on pure logic. I am not an AI. So, the fact that I know this, but am still stuck by it, is part of the human experience that is being me.

Writing does bring me joy, so does listening to music, and driving my car with the window rolled down and feeling the wind blow my hair. Even if it is just for a moment before it gets annoying having my hair in my face. Little moments bring me joy all the time. When someone notices that I try to do my best or takes the time to complement my work even if it is mundane and boring. I do try to put thought and care into everything I do.

It is rare but sometimes people notice. Sometimes just going for a walk on a nice day enjoying the sunshine is enough to bring me joy, or having a conversation after watching a movie.

Sometimes just waking up in the morning and stretching and feeling all warm and cozy. Before you have to actually get up, that brief moment where things just seem fine and nothing has happened yet and you haven’t yet looked at the news on your phone. Just that warm feeling of waking up in a warm bed. I love that feeling.

Posted in Life, Writing

What Are Your Daily Habits?

Posted on by jennrae

Well, there are the boring ones, getting out of bed, brushing my teeth, brewing a pot of coffee if I have the day off. If I work I just use a Keurig pod and take a cup to go. I started taking a liquid vitamin to see if it helps with my hair. It appears to be working. My hair is amazing today. Of course, I brush my hair. I use a Waterpik flosser on my teeth.

I sometimes shower in the morning but I am more likely to shower in the evening before bed. I have to feed my Cat KitKat treats in her Kong ball before I go to work. She looks like a tiny kitten but is actually five years old. I feed them a can of meat around lunchtime which for me is eleven-ish most of the time, unless I am working out of town, in which case I can’t go home for lunch.

I also feed them a can of meat in the evening around 7pm. I usually make a sandwich for my lunch and brew another cup of coffee if I am going to work.

In the evening I either cook dinner or get something quick depending on the situation. Mondays are especially hectic, as my son is still in Scouts, and he sometimes has other commitments to his band, or football or now his own work since he is old enough.

Brush and floss teeth before bed, after a shower, brush my hair again. I brush my hair around lunch time too before going back to work, it can get frizzy, especially if it is humid.

At least once a week I go for a walk. Typically I go to the gym Tuesday through Friday for about an hour. I sometimes skip Friday. I’d say, I go Fri only half the time if I am being honest.

I also try to put moisturizer on my face in the morning, I have pm stuff I use if I shower at night. I try to post a video or post a blog at least once a day, although I have been failing the poor blog.

I want to get back to writing daily but I haven’t been the best at that. Working out of town threw my routine off and It is hard to get back to it.

I usually watch something in the evening that I end up recording a video on. Definitely on the weekends. I need to schedule something fun, or different.

I have plans to rearrange my room to make it feel more cozy. If I have a good place to write I think I would write more. If I am being honest, I probably read garbage on my phone way too much. If I wasted less time, I could get a lot more done.

Daily writing prompt
What are your daily habits?
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Posted in Fiction, Life, Writing

List 3 Books That Have Had An Impact On You..Why?

Posted on by jennrae

To choose only three makes this a challenge. I would probably have to go with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis for the first one. A teacher read it aloud to us in the fifth grade I believe and I think it was the first fantasy book I was exposed to unless you count television where I had seen cartoons of The Hobbit and The Last Unicorn. And a cartoon of The Swan Princess that made me fall in love with Tchaikovsky. I haven’t been able to find this cartoon, there is a newer version that isn’t it, but this one had a haunting melody of Swan Lake, which also reminds me of The Last Unicorn, it wouldn’t surprise me if my mind didn’t combine the two to create a cartoon that never existed, because my memories as a child were very fluid and were rarely accurate. I seemed to live in a fantasy most of the time so telling what was real and what wasn’t is hard for me.

The second book would have to be Dragonriders of Pern my Anne McCaffery. I got it in the library when I ran out of Margaret Henry horse books to read, I loved Misty of Chincoteague, so that would have been my first foray into science fiction. Following that I would go on to discover Andre Norton and Ursula K LeGuin, and eventually, Jack Vance and a whole bunch of amazing writers.

The third book I am going to go with Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, because it made me feel like I could read anything, it was the unabridged edition. It was a very thick volume, and ignited a love for classical literature and a fortitude to read to the end no matter the size of the book. It also taught me what not to do, because there are spots where it is difficult for a modern reader, and I know what doesn’t work and what does. Even great writers can make mistakes.

This was a tough call, because a lot of books have influenced me greatly. Jack Vance’s Lyonesse, George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones, Ursula K LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which I read also in the fifth grade and did a book report on, Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, my love for Arthurian legends, and Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. Cj Cherryh’s Cyteen. And many, many more. I could keep going.

I used to peruse thrift stores for old sci-fi fantasy books, anything with Del Rey, or Ballantine, or DAW, or Fawcett, or Tor. I had old editions of the Lord of the Rings from the 60s, a copy of 1984 from the 50s and Dune by Frank Herbert from the 70s. All of these are gone because I couldn’t go through my books when I moved and had to get rid of them in a hurry.

I still have my 60s copy of the Silmarillion because it was in my purse at the time. But that is it. I feel the loss everyday, wish I could have planned more and panicked less. But the past is the past, and I have the memories and can find the stories easily enough.

Daily writing prompt
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
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Posted in Life, Writing

What’s a Job You Would Like to Do for Just One Day?

Posted on by jennrae

That’s hard to say for me because most jobs I would like to do, I would want more than one day. I suppose it would be interesting to be a magazine editor for a day. I wouldn’t get stressed out by deadlines or worry about messing anything up because I wouldn’t be around for the fallout but the process and how it works would be interesting to me.

Same with a newspaper editor or a publisher. Although being an indie publisher sounds like fun to me, I wouldn’t know how to get it up and running.

I always wanted to run my own bookstore, when I retire someday, assuming I get to retire, maybe I will. I just can’t see myself sitting around doing nothing. I like books, and movies, and would like to continue to be around them forever.

I am interested in the cultural discourse they provide. I also like to notice how things change over time. I like the history of it, and I like to see how technology alters it.

I guess being a film history professor would be fun for a day as well, as long as I don’t have to grade papers. I enjoy deep diving on things that some may not care about.

I like seeing the differences between the 1960 Magnificent 7 and the 2016 one, or even Seven Samurai which both are based on. I like watching all these Nicolas Cage movies, and writing short stories about what if situations that may or may not happen. I enjoy this sort of thing and like to think about how it works, why it works, and who it is aimed at.

I also would love being a product tester. I am one anyway, just not being paid for it. I am one of those people that has to try the Blackberry Dr Pepper. Doesn’t matter if someone tells me it is awful, I have to try it. Summer sausage Pringles, yep, gotta try it. PB and J Reese’s cups, yep, gotta try it. I am a sucker for that sort of thing. Not sure I would want to do it all the time, but one day would be fun.

Daily writing prompt
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?
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Posted in Life, Writing

Where Do You See Yourself in 10 Years?

Posted on by jennrae

Ten years is a long time. I have almost been at my job for nine years in June. I guess I will be close to retirement. I would like to be a published author by then, and be a part of a creative community. I would also like to be financially in a good position where I could travel and experience more of the world.

I would like to be in a place where I wouldn’t have to worry or fret over things. My kid will be done with college most likely and off having adventures. I would like to be in a good place enjoying my life writing and wandering.

I hope to be where I am but more polished, more advanced. More writing and more fun.

I’d like to have someone in my life to do said adventures with, ideally. But I won’t settle for just anyone. Either way, I plan on living life and having few to no regrets. The future is bright as long as I work on improving things now.

Daily writing prompt
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
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Posted in Fiction, Life, Writing

What Job Would I Do For Free?

Posted on by jennrae

Well, I think writing I do do for free, but do I consider it a job? It is more of a past time at the moment, if something becomes a job it tends not to be fun anymore. In my experience anyhow. I am also a wannabee film critic for free. It is also not a job but something I do for fun. Technically, it costs me money because I will buy a DVD just to have the ability to compare it to another.

I suppose I do both of these for free, or at a cost because I pay for the website. The hope is someday I will get my act together and publish something and I will have a promotion network set up for it, and it will pay for itself. I am not looking to get rich, I just want to do something I enjoy and am passionate about. Movies and books are just two of the more obvious things.

It is a beautiful day here today, and I am writing from a coffee shop just to get out of the house and out of my own head a bit. I need a break from myself.

I am going to see Metropolis later and am excited to do that in a room of other like minded people. I will record a video on that experience later. I am behind uploading them. I have a ton of videos that need to live somewhere.

I have been putting them on twitter just because I have a bigger audience on there and they seem to upload faster. But I am getting disenchanted with the site lately. It is hard to get into social media after the program limits your reach and flags you for being a bot.

Plus, Elon is a constant presence there, and you can’t ignore him either. So, that has made me seriously consider Youtube. But I am such an amateur compared to the people on there. Not sure I can compete there, and I hate starting over from scratch. That is the quandary folks. Start over, or dig in. Not sure what the best option is. I suppose I could do both.

Daily writing prompt
What job would you do for free?
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Posted in Life, Writing

You’re Writing Your Autobiography. What’s Your Opening Sentence?

Posted on by jennrae

I enjoyed looking at the glass and all the little plastic bubbles with tiny toys inside. Some were stickers, some those sticky hands that came in fluorescent colors, and some were tiny erasers. I knew they needed a coin to insert in order to get one of the bubbles. But, I wasn’t sure how to ask for a coin, or whether it was a good idea to ask for one. I studied all the different little things, thinking about asking my Mom for a quarter.

And then, I looked around, and my Mom, the shopping cart, and my brothers were gone. I was alone. By the front door of the store. I felt myself panic a little. I was scared. But I wasn’t scared of being alone.

I was scared I would be in big trouble. I knew I couldn’t ask for a quarter now. She would be mad at me. I did something wrong. I looked at the bubbles and somehow everyone disappeared. It would be only later that I would realize that I remembered it differently.

My mom tells it that I ran off in the store, of course, she was upset, and panicked and wouldn’t let anyone leave until I was found. Some old man brought me to the register, and I didn’t say a word.

I remember just getting distracted and staying by the entrance. It was my family that wandered off from me, leaving me behind. I do not know what really happened.

Unfortunately, I liked to tell tall tales and my relationship with reality was sketchy at best back then. I also told everyone I lived in the White House. My house was white, so to me it was true.

I thought if I said something, I could make it happen. I also thought I could understand animals. Ants especially. Ants were my friends and cabbage moths. I even didn’t mind spiders. I would learn to fear them later like so many other things.

Daily writing prompt
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
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Posted in Life, Writing

Do You Believe In Destiny Or Fate?

Posted on by jennrae

I went from not really thinking about it at all, to being cynical and jaded and thinking “Is this All There is?”, back to thinking yes, there is something behind it all after all. Currently, yes, I do believe in fate or destiny. I think things happen for a reason even if we don’t understand that reason, and there does seem to be a point to it all. There have been times where I thought I should be dead now, but something intervened, somehow it wasn’t my time.

If you had told me I would still be here in my mid forties to me in my twenties, I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought I would die young, not sure how, or why, but I just didn’t feel like I belonged in this world. I never felt like I fit into any particular mold. I had trouble relating to people or making close friendships. I had trust issues that have only gotten worse.

So, why would I believe in destiny or fate now? If you asked me a few months ago I probably would have told you I don’t. But, sometimes things, or dominoes fall a certain way and change your view or thought process. And, that happened to me in November. I can’t fully explain it, not without sounding insane, but I will say, much like the butterfly effect, little things lead to bigger things, and alter one’s life path. However much I try to choose or do down a different path, I am always brought back to a certain place. I do not know the future. But, I do know what I should be doing.

There is a reason I say I am a writer, and not a published author. I am not a published author, although I would like to be someday. The good thing about that is it is a pathway that isn’t limited by age or looks, but ideas. I have ideas, I just need to follow through and put them down. I do believe I have a destiny, and I do believe there is a point to all this. I don’t claim to know it, or understand it, but I know it is there. I know where my path is supposed to lead if I can get out of my own way.