Wednesday Randomness: What Motivates Me

Happy Wednesday! 

Today, we're talking about what motivates us. Fairly broad topic, actually, but I decided I'd talk about what motivates me as far as writing is concerned. So here we go... What motivates me to write. 

Surrrounding myself by people who are supportive and understanding. 
There's a reason I listed this one first. It's SO important. I'm incredibly lucky in who I share my life with. My husband is pretty awesome--for many reasons, not the least of which is he is so supportive when it comes to my writing and my career. I'd be in a bad, bad place without him, let me tell you. 

Friends, certainly fall under this, as well. I have some pretty amazing friends. Talking with them--whether on IM, via email or the phone, or in person--is motivating. And none of them are afraid of giving me a kick in the ass when needed (which I'm ashamed to say is all too often)

Conferences and Retreat
Conferences are so much fun. Getting to connect with readers and other authors. Seeing friends, making new ones. There is something about the energy at conferences... Even though I come home exhausted, I'm pumped up too. I'm ready to sit town and WRITE. It's awesome. 

Retreat!!! I'm talking about the fabulous retreat I take every year to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with an amazing bunch of ladies. 

A weeks spent on Lake Superior, great company lots of wine, and WRITING. This year, I wrote over 15K words while there... and we did plenty of other things as well. Being there is so motivating and I get so much done. And like with conferences, I come home just as motivated to KEEP writing. 

Accountability

Some of this is just to myself, but let's face it, when you have to answer to someone else...that's strong motivation, yeah? While writing my last book, I found sending chapters to friends--Bronwyn and Kris and Gwen--kept me honest and on track. Nothing like getting an email or IM saying, hey, where's the next chapter? :-D 

Readers
There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like having a reader emailing or tweeting me saying they liked one of my books and/or asking when the next one comes out. That defintiely gets the fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. :) 

Rewards
Yeah, it's totally self-bribery, no doubt about it. But it works. I make deals with myself. Write for an hour or write 1K words, then I can play on Tumblr and gaze at pics like this...

Come on...THAT'S motivating, yeah? 

Or I can read (usually a filthy fanfic or something) for a half hour or so. But I set a timer so that when my time is up, I get back to writing, working towards the reward. :-D 

And that's it. That's how I'm motivated to keep plugging away and getting the words on the page. Make sure to head on over and see what motivates the other ladies. 

Bronwyn Green

Gwendolyn Cease

Jenny Trout

Kellie St. James

Kris Norris

Leigh Jones

Until next week...
Hugs, 
~J

Wednesday Randomness: If I Had a Superpower...

Happy Wednesday, friends! 

Today's topic is, if I could choose a superpower, what would it be and why. 

After the last couple weeks of craziness (well, life was crazy before then but...), it was easy to choose what superpower I'd like. I want to be able to be able to STOP TIME. 

As in, stop time but *I* can still move while everything and everyone else is frozen. I could get stuff done then, right? Add desperately needed time to my day and get more done. 

I would use this power for good, I promise. I would never EVER abuse my power. 

Shut up, Arthur/Bradley! I would use it for GOOD - so good Merlin/Colin would approve and be impressed with my awesomeness and give me looks like this...

Yeah, any excuse to put pics of these cuties...I'll take it. Don't tell me, you're surprised. ;-)

Anyhoo, that's it from me. Nothing mind-blowing; I just want MORE TIME. 

So get yourselves over to the other ladies' blogs and see what superpower they would choose. :) 

Bronwyn Green

Gwendolyn Cease

Jenny Trout
Kellie St. James

Kris Norris

Leigh Jones

Until next week!

Hugs,

~J

Wednesday Randomness: If I Had a Million Dollars....

Happy Wednesday, friends. :) This week's topic: The First Five Things I'd Buy If I Won A Million Dollars. Well, what a topic. LOL

I'm afraid my list is going to be BORING, but here it is.

1. Pay off our house - Obvious reasons. And I don't want a new house. I like my house just fine, thank you, but not having that monthly mortgage payment...THAT would be delightful. 
2. Pay off hubby's and my student loans - Again obvious reasons. The amount we owe in student loans is ridiculous, and I KNOW our situation is not unique. 
3. Help the kids with college expenses - Because. :)
4. Buy a vacation home in the UP on Lake Superior - The UP will always be "home" to me. I miss it more than I can possibly express. I'm lucky that I get to visit often - including the fabulous retreat I'm a part of each year. But it's always been a dream of mine to have a place of our own up there. On the big lake. Where we could go any time we wanted. 
   
5. I don't know about the final one. I guess I'd want to buy the hubs something he really wanted. Or maybe a trip for the two of us - something we'd both like. We end up doing a lot of traveling separately, so it'd be nice to go somewehre just the two of us to spend some quality time together. 

I know it's not super exciting, though if it were to ever happen, it'd be super exciting to ME. But that's what I'd do. 

What would the others do with that kinda cash? Go find out!

Bronwyn Green

Gwendolyn Cease

Jenny Trout

Kris Norris

Leigh Jones

Until next week! 

Hugs

~J

Wednesday Randomness: To Write, I Need...

Happy, happy Wednesday! This week, the ladies and I are talking about what we *need* to write.

So, there are the basics, yeah? And that is really just two things for me.

1. Something to write on - Computer or even a notebook and pen. 
2. Some kind of caffeinated beverage. And yes, this is a NEED at this point in my life. 

I'm easy, okay? 

Now, there are things I prefer to have when I write and that make it a much more productive process. Those would include: 

1. My comfy chair and ottoman. But I can write pretty much anywhere. On a couch, at the table, on a bed, on the floor, in a box, with a fox...
2. A quiet, calming, relaxed atmosphere. I couldn't even type that without laughing because that would be fabulous but hasn't happened around this gal for like seventeen years. And there is no signs of that changing anytime soon. So I settle instead for...
3. Music via earbuds to drown out the chaos that is the Jarman household. I have playlists now that fit the mood of the books I'm currently working on.
4. Access to friends - by phone, email, texting, IMing. I don't care how but I need to be able to touch base with my buddies. Either to help me through a freakout (I wish I could say they are a rare occurance, but...), help me through an issue with the book, or just to talk and give me a much-needed break. And I am here to return that favor for them any time they need it. 
5. Internet - Of course I could write without it, but I don't want to and it would make things so much more difficult. Having information at my fingertips...love. Of course, it can also get me into trouble.

Hello, distracting Merthur fanfic....

And that does it. :) 

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Wednesday ladies need to write. :) 

Bronwyn Green

Gwendolyn Cease

Jenny Trout

Kellie St. James

Kris Norris

Until next week!

Hugs, 

~J

Wednesday Randomness: A Few of My Favorite Things: MOVIES

Happy Wednesday! It's the first Wednesday of the month so that brings up to another "A Few of My Favorite Things" post. This month we are doing movies.

I have TONS of movies I love and it's actually a constant changing list, so I'm going to limit myself to a handful I watch again and again.

Pride and Prejudice - the A& E version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Now I enjoy other adaptations, quite a bit actually, but this is my overall favorite. I love Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. And I think this version better reflects the book than others I've seen.

A Royal Affair - I watched this on Jenny Trout's recommendation. When I finally got to it, Jenny was NOT online. That didn't stop me, friends, from having an entire conversation with her while I watched this...this...wonderfully beautiful film. She came home to like 20+ IMs from me as I reacted to the movie. There is copious amounts of costume porn (le sigh) and, OMG, the dance scene between Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen!) and the Queen...

I can't even adequately describe it. The tension, the gorgeousness of it... *deep breath* I could watch that alone again and again. And have. :D

Mists of Avalon - One of my all time favorite Arthurian movies. Honestly, I don't know what to say about this. There's just so much. I'll just say I love the character of Morgaine in this. My heart breaks for her but her love for her brother, Arthur, and how strong she is...beautiful. I will readily admit, though, I want to smack Guinevere a lot during this movie.

Constantine - I just caught this the other night while I happened to be on IM with Kris Norris. I know she'll approve its inclusion on this list. (Keanu, eh, Norris?) I don't have a ton to say about this, other than I love to watch this again and again. Good vs evil, angels and demons, a wee bit of sexual tension...What's not to love?

Braveheart - I'm not a huge Mel Gibson fan, but I love this movie. I know it's not even historically accurate, but I don't care. I'm just entertained by it. Again and again. And I named one of my kids after Catherine McCormick's character, Murron, because I liked the way it sounded. Though I changed the spelling a bit. :) 

Lord of the Rings trilogy (that counts as one, right? :D) - No shocker that I like the movies as these are some of my favorite books. I'm fairly certain this is going to show up on Gwen's list. She has mad love for Viggo/Aragorn. And I appreciate that...AND HIM. But for some reason, I go against all my usual preferences and find myself totally digging to Legolas. 

I don't know what it is. I don't usually go for blonds (and I do think Orlando Bloom is fine when when he is not rocking the long blond wig). Apparently this fictional dude and Bradley James are the exception to my rule. 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - OMG, the love I have for this movie knows no bounds. Just watch it, if you've never seen it. Watch it again, if you've seen it before. 

And I'm going to leave it there. Because I'm cracking the hell up over the Holy Grail quotes and I think I'm going to go watch the movie again. :-D

I can't wait to see the other ladies' lists.  I *know* Labyrinth will be on Bron's list... I've just witnessed her horror that I've never seen it. I don't know why... It's on my Netflix queue/list and has been for some time, but I've just never watched. She is now plotting to rectify this grievous offense on my part. :) 

Bronwyn Green

Gwendolyn Cease

Kellie St. James

Kris Norris

Tess Grant

Until next week!
Hugs

~J

Wednesday Randomness: GO AWAY, STRESS!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone. This week's topic - Stress and How We Cope With It - is quite apropros considering the week I'm having. Nothing horrible, just lots of stress (some of it good stress). 

So what do I do to cope with it... Well, I'll be the first to admit not all my coping mechanisms are healthy. That said, here we go...

Smoking - This is the non-healthy way. I've been desperately trying to quit the horrible habit I was stupid enough to start. I do pretty well...then the stress hits and all my good intentions/work goes out the window as I go outside to light up. It soothes me and calms me down. I get to walk about from what is stressing me out, even if it's for the short time it takes to smoke a cigarette. So I'm always on the lookout for healthier ways to cope that can replace this one. 

Mindless TV Watching - For the last few months, watching Hannibal on Friday nights with Bron on IM (Because I couldn't do it alone, people! Too much) was a huge stress reliever. Odd, that, considering how tense I was while waiting to see what would happen each episode. But yeah, watching an episode or two (or six) of a show - like Merlin, Hannibal, Game of Thrones, Primeval, Supernatural... - is a definitely way to decompress and I don't have to THINK. It's totally shallow of me, but come on, how can I stress when gazing at these lovelies...

Talking with Friends - I am so freaking lucky. I have a circle of friends who are amazing and who help me through the really hard times. I don't know what I would do without them, without the knowledge that I can ping them on IM or dial their number, and they'll be there. 

Listening to Nature Sounds and/or Guided Meditation  - I don't do this one often enough because it totally works when I do. Listening to waves or a thunderstorm or doing a guided meditation...I find it more relaxing and ultimately better than a nap. I end up more calm and able to then do what I need to. 

Retreat - I do a retreat with a group of awesome ladies every year. In the UP of Michigan on Lake Superior. It's crazy how one week out of the year can affect my day to day life. Like, right now, I'm counting down the days. It's getting me through the really tough ones, knowing that soon, I'll be hanging with my girls, drinking some wine, writing a whole lot, and laughing until my face hurts. 

And look, the view alone is relaxing. 

And that's it from me this week. Be sure to check out what the other ladies do to kick out stress. I know I will be...always looking for ideas on that front. 

Bronwyn Green
Jenny Trout
Kellie St. James
Kris Norris
Leigh Jones
Tess Grant

Until next week!
Hugs
~J

Wednesday Randomness: My Dream Yard

Happy Wednesday, everyone! This week's topic is Dream Yards.

This probably won't be a cohesive picture of what I want my yard to look like. It's more a hodgepodge of things I'd like in a yard--they don't necessarily go *together*. LOL

I would love a place to entertain outdoors like this. I adore the fireplace and grill/kitchen area. 

Or this, guys, THIS...

I'm yearning for an outdoor oven ....It should totally happen.

A water feature scores high on my list. I would love to have something like this in my yard. To be able to sit outside, listen to the water as I read, wrote, or just lazed about. 

I would love the knowlege, time and patience to have a good vegetable garden in my yard. I *do* grow some veggies, but nothing big. I am quite infactuated with the idea of growing my own produce, but thus far, I haven't had the time to make this happen. I really should work on that. 

AN HERB GARDEN! I want it so badly. I love to use fresh herbs and growing them would be fabulous. 

And what yard would be complete without...

...a hammock to relax in. Perfect for curling up with a book or for a nice nap in the breeze. 

And I sure would like to find these in my backyard... 

What? Norris wants pretties in posts...and they're all outside! And it's MY dream yard. I want them in my dream yard. :D 

Make sure you go check out what the other ladies want in their dream yards

Bronwyn Green

Gwendolyn Cease

Jenny Trout

Kelly St. James

Kris Norris

Leigh Jones

Until next week!

Hugs, 

~J

Wednesday Randomness: These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Books

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

This week is the start of a new regular feature for our little Wednesday blogging group - "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things".  The first Wednesday of every month we are going to post about our favorite things. This month is BOOKS. :) 

What did I get myself into with this one? I loooooove books, so writing a list of my favorites...I will have to limit myself. LOL I'm seriously just took a look at the bookshelf and chose the ones that have been there for so long and read so many times that you can barely read the spines. LOL So here goes nothing. 

The first two are series I read as a child and read with my kids and hold a special place in my heart. 

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I read these like crazy when I was younger and loved reading them with my kids when they were little. Living in Minnesota, we've been to Walnut Grove, Plum Creek, and Pepin, Wisconsin to visit the places from the books and all that fun stuff. We went through several copies and read them until they were falling apart. 

The Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery

I know there are more books in the series, and they were read, but these were the three that were read the most...and over and over again. 

Next is another series. 

The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

I started reading Harry Potter when my oldest was in 1st grade, because he wanted to read it. I wanted to what level it was (he was an early reader but still) and it was appropriate. Some may say it wasn't appropriate to let him read it, but I totally did. I was swept into the series as much as he was and we had many wonderful conversations about it. 

Parent-child bonding through books is the best. :-D

JRR Tolkien's books were my first taste of fantasy, and I was swept away. I could go on and on, really, but let's just leave it at I looooooove these books. 

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

I love Austen. Have since high school when I was forced to read Emma. I thought it was going to be awful and was proven wrong. But, out of all of her works, Pride and Prejudice is my favorite. I still pull it off the shelf to read often. I will see every adaptation of it on film and TV. I read sequels people write (some are okay, some just painful to read), or modern retelling of the story. My love knows no bounds when it comes to Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.

As a romance reader, I cut my teeth on the books of Jude Devereaux, LaVyrle Spencer, and Julie Garwood. I will admit, I don't read many historicals anymore, but these books (not just the ones pictured below, but all the books from these authors)... I still have them lined on my shelf and will pull them out. Comfort reads, like visiting old friends.

And that is where I'm going to leave it, folks. I could go on...and on...and on, but let's face it, none of us have time for that, do we? And I have a book to finish writing. (Do you hear the whip cracking? Because it is, and it stings!) 

What are your favorite books? Which ones pull you back again and again? 

Don't forget to go and check out the other ladies' favorites!

Bronwyn Green
Gwendolyn Cease
Jenny Trout
Kellie St. James
Kris Norris
Leigh Jones
Tess Grant

Until next week!
Hugs, 
~J

Wednesday Randomness: You Couldn't Pay Me To...

Happy Wednesday! This week's topic is "You Couldn't Pay Me To..."

I thought this was going to be an easy topic, but it's not! Every time I thought about something, I would think Well, if it was enough money... LOL 

But I pushed forward. :-) So here is my "You Couldn't Pay Me To..." list. 

1) Sky Diving - Never ever ever going to jump out of a plane. Even the thuoght of it makes my entire body tense up horribly. I'll lump bungee cord jumping with this one or pretty much anything that involves falling to earth at high speeds. Or falling to earth in general. I have a fear of heights. I suffered through a roller coaster ride for my youngest when he first tried one. That's as far as I'll go with that though. Everything else? Nuh uh.

2) Eat Live Bugs. I would never make it on a reality show that made you do this. I nearly lost my lunch when, on Food Network, they were talking about Casu Marzu - a delicacy in Sardinia, Italy and somewhere in France, I believe. What is it? It's maggot-y cheese, people. LIVE FREAKING MAGGOTS. I just can't even... *gag* If you are ultra curious about this, follow this link. Meanwhile, I'll be brushing my teeth because I puked in my mouth a little at the thought. 

3) Have anything to do with poisonous spiders. Oh hell, any spider. And I know, spiders are all around, blah blah blah. Well, if they are seen, they are dead. D. E. A. D....DEAD! I can't imagine living in some of the places that have the huge ones as big as your hand and stuff. I would die. Seriously, just drop dead. I wouldn't be able to live. 

4) Kill Someone. Would I kill someone to defend myself or someone I love? Oh yes. But just for money. Nope. (I feel like this is too simple of a thing to put, but it's true.)

5) Cheat on My Husband. What can I say, I love the crazy man. No amount of money would ever push me to do that. 

And that's all I can come up with right now. I'm sure I'll think of a blue million things once these posts go live. LOL

Go on and see what the other girls wouldn't do no matter what the payout...

Bronwyn Green
Gwendolyn Cease
Jenny Trout
Kellie St. James
Kris Norris

Until next week!
Hugs
~J

Wednesday Randomness: Behind the Scenes of My Latest Project

Happy Wednesday!

Please welcome the final addition to our little Wednesday blogging group - Gwendolyn Cease. I've known Gwen forEVAH, and she is seriously the best. I'm so happy she's jumping in to blog with us. :-) Welcome aboard, Gwen. MWAH.

Now, on to today's topic - Behind the Scenes of My Latest Project.

What I'm working on now is my contribution to the NA anthology - If Ever I Would Leave You - with Bronwyn and Jenny. It's a collection of contemporary Arthurian-inspired stories. My story is called The Deepest Cut. 

I'm not going to share the cover art or the blurb right now. That's coming soon! :)  And I'll break briefly here for a shameles plug. We're looking for people to host a cover reveal with optional giveaway on their blogs in May. If you're interested in joining in, we've got three dates to chose from, and we'd absolutely love any help we could get in spreading the word about this book. Click here to fill out the form. 

*ahem* Now, back to the behind the scenes peek....

So, if I'm not sharing the cover art and blurb yet, what am I am I going to share? Plenty, I promise. 

How the project came to be - Well, I had this kernel of an idea. It all started with the heroine, Anna. It is one of the rare times (for me, anyway) that a character popped almost completely formed in my head. Where she was going, what her story was, took me a bit longer to figure out. I knew it had to do with King Arthur, Merlin, and Knights of the Round Table and all of that. But how? Wasn't too sure. I knew it wasn't going to be historical. I really don't do those, but would it be a contemporary twist, a fantasy set in another world, or something different? 

Well, I finally decided it was definitely going to be contemporary and started to get a more solid idea of what I wanted to do with it, playing with the idea of Arthur and the rest returning when there was great need.  One day, I was talking with Bron and shared the idea with her. She was the one who said, that's an NA story right there, sister. And when I thought about it, I realized she was right (as she usually is). The conversation continued and we started talking about an Arthurian-inspired story she had been working on. We both had been talking about moving into self-publishing and, long story short, we thought it'd be a grand idea to do this together - write our contemporary Arthurian stories and release them together. 

THEN, we were talking later about how we do Merlin Club with Jen and wouldn't it be cool if the three of us Merlin Clubbers did this. So we asked Jen if she was interested and she said sure. LOL 

And that, my friends, is how If Ever I Would Leave You was born. 

My Inspiration - Just because I'm not sharing gorgeous cover art with you yet doesn't mean I'm not going to share some pretties. :) Here is how I picture some of the important characters in The Deepest Cut.

When I first started thinking of Anna and Merlin, I immediately pictured Luke and Ruby from the short-lived British show Demons. So that is how they are in my head. :) 

Anna
The lovely Holliday Grainger, who has been in Merlin (Sophia, guys!), Robin Hood, The Borgias. This is exactly how I picture Anna. 

Merlin

You guys thought I was going to put Colin Morgan, didn't you? LOL Tempting but nope. 

Christian Cooke does just fine as Merlin. :) Just to prove that, I've given you clean shaven and scruffy Merlin. Both make an appearance in the book. :) 

Arthur
Alex Pettyfer. Gorgeous British actor. He's a bit older than my Arthut but I don't care. This is what he looks like. 

Morgana
I know, I know, pretty  much every depiction on screen or Morgana/Morgaine shows her as a brunette. I just couldn't get Emily Kinney (Beth in The Walking Dead) out of my head when I thought about Morgana. So I figured, what the hell, MY Morgana is blonde. 

Lancelot
Joseph Morgan from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Isn't he pretty?

Galahad
Landon Liboiron - He was in Degrassi and Terra Nova. Cutie, and hey Kris, he's Canadian, eh? You sure grow them pretty up there. 

Mordred
Andrew Lee-Potts - Told you last week I have a wee crush on him. Well, he's who I picture for the sorcerer with questionable intentions and motives,

My Writing Process at the Moment aka How It's All Going - I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this story, this collection as a whole, stepping into self-publishing...all of it. However, it's a bit intimidating. It's a whole lot of new happening right now. And, for me, that involves a whole lot of freaking. Although, there are those who will tell you I freak out about every project. Don't listen to them. It's all lies! (Maybe.) 

But I'm pushing though and getting it done. And loving it. Though poor Bron and Jen have to put up with my frequent whining and insecurities, and I adore them for that. 

So my "process" at the moment is...write like crazy, read what I've written, feel a bit unsure if it's going to work, rewrite some things, add some stuff, reread, send to the greatest friends a girl could ever have to get some feedback, bite my nails as I wait (im)patiently for a response, second guess myself and everything I'm doing, give myself an internal pep talk (trust the characters, trust the story, trust the characters, trust the story), feel better after talking to friends...aaaaaaaaaaaand lather, rinse, repeat.

The Deepest Cut Playlist
Music is essential to me for writing (To be honest, a big reason to pop in the earbuds is to drown out the general chaos that rules this house!). A lot of times, I'll listen to instrumental music, but sometimes, I'll make a playlist that fits the book. 

Follow the link above to listen to The Deepest Cut's playlist on Spotify, but here are the songs that, right now, put me in the right frame of mind for this book. 

"C'est La Mort" - The Civil Wars
"The Beacon" - A Fine Frenzy
"Like the Dawn" - The Oh Hellos
"White Blank Page" - Mumford & Sons
"Dark Paradise" - Lana Del Rey
"Maybe" - Ingrid Michaelson
"10 AM, Gare Du Nord" - Keaton Henson
"Breath of Life" - Florence + the Machine
"Home" - Phillip Phillips
"Gone, Gone, Gone" - Phillip Phillips
"Say Something" - A Great Big World
"Somewhere Only We Know" - Keane
"Calls Me Home" - Shannon LaBrae
"Need" - Hana Pestle
"In my Place" - Coldplay
"Only You" Matthew Perryman Jones
"Arms" - Christina Perri
"Wherever You Will Go" - The Calling
"Fucking Perfect" - P!nk
"Counting Stars" - One Republic

And that's it from me. Go forth and find out what the rest of the gals are working on! 

Bronwyn Green
Gwendolyn Cease
Jenny Trout
Kellie St. James
Kris Norris
Leigh Jones
Tess Grant

Until next week!
Hugs
~J