Category: Writing

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.

Posted in Life, Writing

List Five Things You Do For Fun.

Posted on by jennrae

I enjoy drawing. I have a cartoony style that is unique and unpolished. I have used it to create portraits for characters in the past. But it is mostly just fun doodles. I’d like to try my hand at painting, I used to paint years ago.

I write short stories or character studies for fun. I like to write short fiction. It is fun to wrap up the story quickly. Short timed writes are especially fun because there is no pressure for it to be perfect.

I also listen to music for fun. It is also fun to see live music. I think music is the secret to changing a bad mood to a good mood. I can change my energy based on what I am listening to. And live shows are especially fun because it is like you are one with the crowd. It is a different kind of energy.

I also like to get out of town and see new things, find new experiences. Sometimes we will pick a place to explore and see what’s there. Get to know a different place. We found a virtual arcade that way and go carts, drive in theaters too. It is kind of cool to research a place for fun things to do that isn’t typically a tourist spot. You can find some fun shopping areas too with unique finds. And I enjoy bargain hunting and finding treasure.

I also like to walk or hike for fun, or just be out in nature. Camping is awesome for getting away and recharging the soul. We hiked to the lighthouse one year which is five miles one way. Walking in sand that is also cold and rocky with the sun on your back was a unique experience, but the tour of the lighthouse was well worth it. I need to do that again. It has been awhile.

Obviously I enjoy movies and books of course, and going to the theater or even the local playhouse is also very fun for me.

Daily writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
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Posted in Life, Writing

Where Can You Reduce Clutter In Your Life?

Posted on by jennrae

If we are talking physical clutter, I am bad at keeping manuals and paperwork. I think I have had is known as a junk drawer just filled with various manuals of different gadgets and doodads. I also, as I am sure most of you know, have a plethora of DVDs and books. The DVDs I store in binders, although I need to buy more as my collection has outpaced my current ones.

I also have a 200 disc cd changer that I got when I was a teen, still works and holds my cd collection inside it, with folders telling me what disc is where, although I need to go through and reorganize it. I also tend to put the mail down on a desk or table and I don’t get to it right away.

I have a couple magazine subscriptions but I am getting better at letting them go into the recycling. If I really need a recipe I can always find it on the internet, so there is less reason to keep those.

If we are talking mental clutter, yes, I do worry about stuff I cannot control, although I am getting better at letting that stuff go too. You can only do so much, and I just don’t want to use my energy on things that I cannot solve.

Meditation and trying to clear my mind is something I want to do daily or at least every other day. It is so freeing to just let yourself be even if it is only for five or ten minutes. If you don’t do this, you should start. It is like setting aside time just for you. It is very calming and I can usually get more done afterwards.

I do need to reorganize my writing space so it is more inviting and gives me the right mood. I did have a eureka moment at the gym which I did jot down. I do not know if this idea is a new novel, or a new short story, but it will be something, that I do know.

Daily writing prompt
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
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Posted in Life, Writing

What’s Your Dream Job?

Posted on by jennrae

My dream job would be to get paid for my writing and to make enough to not need another job. Something that allows me to have the time and money to travel and experience things without worrying excessively about money.

I would be my own boss and make my own schedule. It would be nice to be able to be creative from morning until night. Of course, things are always less fun once it becomes work.

It ceases to be fun when the stakes are higher. I do think I would be better suited to that type of work due to my introspective nature than the customer service work I currently do.

My current work can be draining and I have to pretend to be more sociable than I usually want to be. I come home exhausted mentally from all the interactions, most of which are the trivial “hey, how are you doing”, type of things.

I would be worried that I need to improve my self discipline in order to make that work as I am used to having a set schedule that is made for me. It would be worth it though. Just to be my own master and to do what I love doing.

Daily writing prompt
What’s your dream job?
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Posted in Life, Writing

What is Your Mission?

Posted on by jennrae

My mission in life is to leave things better than I found them, and to hopefully make people smile or at least think about things a little deeper, a little more perhaps. I guess my mission would be to write and have my writings leave a mark on someone somewhere.

To be read, like Jules Verne, or Edgar Allen Poe long after I am gone from this world would be amazing. It is a form of immortality in a way. I don’t want to be famous, per se, I just want my ideas to live on, in some capacity. Even if it is just a family heirloom of a book that my family passes down, or if somehow I influence someone who becomes more successful than I.

Just to know I have done something worthy, even if it is just for me. That I didn’t just work myself to death day in and day out doing the same thing over and over and over. I guess I want to gain and pass on knowledge to others, and hopefully things get better in the future and people are brought together and are less hostile to other viewpoints.

I want to foster discussion and discourse, I want to encourage thinking and thoughts, outside of the obvious. I guess, ultimately I want to become the best version of me that I can be.

Daily writing prompt
What is your mission?
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Posted in Life, Writing

What Could You Do Differently?

Posted on by jennrae

That is hard to answer. I could do a lot of things differently. How I approach my writing, my web page, or even people I meet on the street. I usually skip breakfast, I can get ready for work pretty quickly. I am not one of those girls who primp for hours in front of a mirror. I can get ready in like fifteen minutes. And, be out the door. I don’t like to keep people waiting, and I like to be on time. I am a punctual person.

It does mean that I usually have coffee for breakfast, but then my lunch is kind of early. I have lunch when some eat breakfast. Late breakfast, but still early lunch. I have been going to the gym consistently, but I could probably add or vary my routine.

I plan on cutting down on my sugar intake, just still have a lot of garbage from the holidays laying around. Once, that is gone, I am planning on it staying gone.

I could be more organized. My room and my life is sort of chaotic at the moment. I could use more structure. I plan on structuring my time in order to be a bit more efficient.

I need to plan a new story and it just won’t happen if I don’t set aside a time slot for it. I am also trying to focus more on what I all ready have, instead of pining for what I don’t.

I need to be more grateful for the abundance that is all ready here. I need to get this writing gig off the ground so I can get away from a work environment that is at times hostile and not always good for my mental health.

But, I can’t wait for someone to step in and save me. I have to save myself. I have to try harder, and do more. More efficiency and better time management are definitely something to work on. Healthier habits will have healthier outcomes. I need to knuckle down and do the hard work. I need to do this for me.

Daily writing prompt
What could you do differently?
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