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A Chicago area girl born and bred, I've lived in Mississippi, Montana, Michigan, and...ten years in the wilds of northeastern Indiana, where I fought the noble fight as a book editor. Now, I'm back in Illinois once more...for good. (At least I intend to make it that way!)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Unique Invitation of the Day...

...comes from a man named Thomas who does a religious journal in IRELAND.

Yep. You heard that right.

I took one look at some of the stuff and said, "OMW, these people actually know what the frack they're doing."
...and he wants me to contribute something.

(Gulp)

I do have a couple of thoughts. Now, to get them organized and write something up for the lovely man.
Which will probably lead to writing MORE for the lovely man.
And all he can pay me in is prayers. (!)

Ya don't suppose HE wants anything about Tebowing...?
Nah, I'm thinkin' probably not.
(LOL!)
Janny

It's Called GENUFLECTING, People.

This "Tebowing" stuff simply will not go away, will it?

Heard a story this morning on Christian radio that there's a site now up where people are posting pictures of themselves "Tebowing." Seems there's a good-natured sort of competition going to find the most unique places to do it in...

Yeah. And then Christians wonder why nonbelievers think we're IDIOTS.

You know what the most grating part of all of this is?
That as Catholics, many of us have been genuflecting--yanno, going down on one knee in honor of God?--for CENTURIES.

Yanno us Catholics. We're the ones who practice "empty ritual" and "dead liturgy." 
Yeah. No faith in God in OUR place. Just ask almost any evangelical Protestant. They'll tell you all about it.
(Which is amazing, considering most of them who'll tell you what you believe have never been within 50 YARDS of the inside of a Catholic church.)
But now, some cute football player chooses to draw attention to himself for making a spectacle out of "worshipping" God on the football field...and he's a wonderful Christian witness.
Ohhhhh....kay.

Seems that mebbe a little 'splanation is in order here.

You see, when you GENUFLECT (which is what going down on one knee IS, Tim...sorry to bust your anti-Catholic bubble with the proper terminology)...the idea is, you're doing it in the presence of the LORD.

Yes. The Real Presence. Remember that?
The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ...PHYSICALLY PRESENT in the Catholic church tabernacle.
THAT's why you genuflect, Tim. Because there's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords present.

Now, you don't have that in your Protestant church. You may have a lot of other wonderful, gooey, warm, fuzzy things...
but one thing you DON'T have is the Real Presence.
EVER.
And you certainly don't have it on the football field, unless some priest is there incognito with the Sacrament exalted in the end zone.
(Which is doubtful, to say the least.)

So what, pray tell, ARE you genuflecting to on the football field?
The crowd?
The goalpost?
The TV cameras?

Yes, I know that "God is everywhere." But bowing on one knee to "everywhere" isn't what we're talking about here. We're talking about a specific gesture of reverence that was brought to you not by Tim Tebow and his tradition or his personal faith...but by something many people "Tebowing" consider to be "less than" what they're doing...
...when in reality, what they're doing is the "less than" part. And it will ALWAYS be "less than," until and unless they get into the Real Presence and do it right.

The sad part is, most people who are blindly following this mass-glorification of Tim Tebow don't even realize that much.
And he has never once bothered to correct them or tell them to stop it.
Which means, at its heart, none of this is--in the end--about GOD at all.

So, sorry, folks. No matter whether you like it or not, or believe it or not...it's GENUFLECTING that you're doing.
It's CATHOLIC.
And it's about damn time you learned what it's SUPPOSED to be for. Which is not for self-glorification, by the way. Just so we're clear.

But, hey, all is not lost. Jesus even talked about things like this. Said you already had your reward. Ain't that great? And it must be true. You, after all, have a picture of yourself genuflecting online...to PROVE how much you love God!

Yeah.
Can someone PLEASE make this stop?

Janny

Monday, March 19, 2012

Now That My Brackets Are Busted...

...and my Wolverines suddenly forgot how to play basketball when it counted...
I'm not heavily into the NCAA at this point. I'll no doubt get back in it if there's a "Cinderella" team of some sort everyone's loving up one side and down the other.
And it is wonderful that Duke is out of the mix. (Yesssss!)

But what am I gonna spend my time on now?
Can it be...possibly...
...talking about writing more?
(Gasp!)

Presently, I don't have much writing to talk about. Because I'm so busy working for other people.

Making their writing sing.
Yep, it's paying work, and that I sure need.
But it's not getting my novels written.

The best I can do tonight is talk out some of my ideas behind the wheel of a car, as I drive to and from getting to sing for the best damn choral conductor in Indiana, if not the best damn choral conductor I've ever worked with...period.

The jury's out on that.
The jury's not out on how I can s-q-u-e-e-z-e some "novel writing" around all these assignments.
Which are wonderful.

But which are taking my every waking hour. Or darn close to it.
And energy, to boot. (!)

Ideas, anybody?
Janny

Saturday, March 10, 2012

"They're Playin' Bas-ket-baaaalllll..." (redux)

NOTE: This is a repeat of a blog entry from three years ago...a moment of semi-inspired madness that I still get a kick out of every March. For those of you who missed in the first time, enjoy!   Brackets, anyone?

==========
...and it came to pass, in the gray days of March, that the Lord looked down on his American people and said:

"Hey, word up, there's nothin' happenin' down there. This is neither spring, nor winter, neither hot nor cold. It is not good to have man living in these doldrums of halfway between.

"So let us shaketh things up a bit. Let us maketh of March a special time, that shall be henceforth known as 'Madness.'* At this time, men shall procure a roundball, made of leather, filled with the breath of the wind, and shall bring it to a 94-foot hardwood court. There, they shall string cotton beneath a wide orange cylinder of metal, one at each end of the court, at a height of ten feet from the floor. And groups of men shall band together, and shall make it a mission to launch the roundball through the cylinder, so that it makes a special music through the cotton cords. And yea, verily, when the roundball passeth through the cotton net, there shall be rejoicing and great jubilation in many lands. 

"They shall do this in the city; they shall do this in the country. they shall do this in the small town, in the places time forgot. They shall do this in the Ivy League and in the Midwest Athletic Conference, on the Atlantic coast and in the heartlands; in the Mountain West and the Pacific lowlands; and the people shall behold it and marvel.

"And let us make this an annual feast, a time when small men can dream big dreams. Let us celebrate and rejoice, and make merry, when the Big Dancing begins. And let March be forever blessed with this glorious festival of team colors and cheerleaders, slammin' and jammin', 'diaper dandies' and buzzer-beaters...to bring joy and craziness to all my people."

And God saw it...and it was very good. (And it still is!)

Let there be Roundball!!!!!!!

Janny

(*Yes, we are aware that the IHSA claims that Illinois High School Basketball was the original "March Madness," and we have no doubt whatsoever that this is true, as we can remember this term from way before it was used for the NCAA Tournament. We have merely exercised a little poetic license here, and trust that the reader will be accommodating.)

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Yanno Those "Expectations" I Talked About Earlier?

...We met them. In spades!

We kicked musical BUTT last night in Fort Wayne, and I believe we did, in fact, do this guy proud. 
There is nothing better than singing a concert that goes well. I don't touch ground for hours afterward...if not days. This is one of those times.
Thank you, Dr. Mitchell--you are the BEST.

Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris...
Amen!
Janny

Monday, February 27, 2012

Slammed!

I do intend to get back into blogging daily, or at least every other day or so, on this site.
Really.
Truly.
But right now? I have enough jobs to do that if there were two of me, we'd just...about...cover it. :-P


More in a bit!
Janny

Monday, February 20, 2012

In Praise of Expectations

I came of age in an era in which things like this--named "the Gestalt prayer"--were actually considered profound:

I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.
If not, it can't be helped.


Now, no offense to all Fritz Perls, who thought this thing up...but it's a crock.
It's always been a crock.
And somewhere in our soul of souls, I think everyone knows that it is.

Please understand...I'm not saying that we need to live our lives through, or for, others.
I'm not saying that others' demands need to stifle our own lives.
But we don't live our lives "by chance," either...not if we ever expect to do anything of consequence with them.
And the same goes for expectations.

There are two schools of thought on expectations.

One is, the unrealistic "attachment" view--the one that causes children untold anguish as they try to grow up and do "the family business" even though they hate it...or they try to become the children their parents "actually want" instead of the children they truly are...or they try to do any one of a number of things to earn someone's love, when love isn't supposed to be "earned" at all.

This is wrong on several levels--not the least of which is that without individual, personal autonomy, life is meaningless.

(That's why God gave us that pesky free will, incidentally. Because obedience to Him that was commanded, or willed, or manipulated, wouldn't be real obedience or love at all; it would simply be coercion.)

But equally unrealistic is the "detachment" view taught by so many New Age Western and old-age Eastern philosophies: the idea that you really have nothing that is "your own" on this earth. That you really have no "right" to expect anything of life...or of anyone else. That you are happiest, and you bring the most happiness, when you really expect nothing. You leave others completely free to be, or do, anything they like; you accept and embrace it all, it all rolls off your back and leaves your inner core pretty much untouched, and thus you sail through life serenely, and...

Needless to say, this doesn't work either. And it's not because we're not "evolved" enough yet to make it work...but because that's simply not the way human beings are wired.
Not if they're conscious and slugging it out in the trenches.

And I thank God that He wired us that way.

Because life is much, MUCH richer when one is expected to do great things.

I have that experience right now in my musical life.

I've spent a life in music. It's gratifying to realize that and say that out loud--because for a long time, I didn't believe or understand that that's exactly what I've done.

For a long time, I considered myself a failure at being a musician. I was a "talented amateur" who was well-trained, who occasionally was paid for a gig...but I wasn't full-time paid for it, I wasn't supporting my family with it, and I wasn't walking around with infinite letters behind my name and dignities all over the place connected with it. I never got my Master's, much less the doctorate I thought I was going to get.

Yet I still loved to sing. (Which was what I really loved about music in the first place.)
So I sang all the time, but most of the time I sang for free, in places where hardly anyone came to see or hear us, and sang music even my own family was hard put to understand. Needless to say, many times, I felt like a wannabe. A failure. Someone who never achieved what she was "gifted" to do.

Now, however, I know that's not true.

That has changed over the past two years, because a director has come into my life who has high, high expectations--and works harder than any of us to equip us to live up to them.

I haven't had that combination of a director who demands, who expects, and who will not let you get away with anything but your best--and makes the experience exhilarating--in a long, long time.
And I love it.

I love the meticulous care. The detail work. The repetition until it's as right as we can make it.
But the biggest blessing of all?

This man's approach, and his care for us as singers--not just as "chorus members" in a volunteer, community chorus, but as singers--is giving my voice a new lease on life as well.

This is no small thing.

I'm going to be 60 years old this August...and I'm still singing clear, and strong, and high. :-)
I cannot thank my voice teacher enough for the foundation that enables me to do this--but I also have to admit I've fallen into some bad habits. When you don't have regular voice lessons, it's easy to do so.
And when you're not treated as a real musician every step of the way...but only as an amateur, so much of the time...it's easy to forget that you are something more, and fail to give yourself permission to be so.

Under this director, I'm not only expected to be a musician...I'm permitted to be one.
A real one.
And I'm not a failure.
All because someone who is a brilliant musician himself--possibly the best musician I've ever had the pleasure of working with--expects me to succeed.

The power of expectation, in my case, gives me more than "obligation."
The power of expectation, in cases like this, gives you back gifts you already had...but you forgot you had. Or neglected to remind yourself that you had--until someone says, "Tap into this. I expect you to be this good. I know you can be."

He knows we can be this good.
He knows we can even surprise him, and exceed his own estimations--because we did it last spring. :-)
An immense amount of external expectation has also been placed on his shoulders, and  a great deal of "reputation" is riding on our next performance.
It's important.
It matters.
We're expected to do well...and we need to live up to that expectation.

I can't wait to do this guy proud.

How can that kind of expectation possibly be a bad thing?
Answer? It's not.
Because being expected to be somebody and to do something of value is way, way better than "if by chance..." any day of the week.

Gestalt if you want to.
I'd rather be expected to be great.
That is living up to the autonomy God gave you...and cashing every bit of the body, mind, and spirit checkbook you've been given.

That's singing.
That's living.
That's being blessed.

And that's what's really profound...and beautiful.

Thoughts?
Janny

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Five-Star Review!

VOICE OF INNOCENCE got its first five-star review on Amazon! Woot!
Of course, that "first" means I expect MORE of the same. (mwah hah haaahhhh)
More later when I've got more than three moments to breathe...

Janny

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

There Are Ads, and Then, There Are...

...really fun, really GOOD ads.
You know who I want to write ads for? Farmers Insurance.
Seriously.
"We are Farmers! Bom-da-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom."
(What's not to love?)

We all see a lot of incredibly stupid ads that want to be funny.
For instance, whoever thought up the "Caveman" bit for GEICO...needs to find a better line of work. That thing wasn't funny from the get-go, and it hasn't gotten any better.

But the Farmers ads?
Just the delivery of the lines makes 'em work, that's true. But the giant ball of lint? And the blowtorch?
And the line, "...where agents' minds are cultivated like a plump butternut squash."
And my all-time favorite...
(in a slide show)
"That's meat loaf, sir."
(next slide shows the artist Meat Loaf.)
"That's STILL Meat Loaf."


They're clever, even slapstick (an element that curiously works) without being dirty, suggestive, crude, or cruel. Which makes them already better than 99% of what's out there. But they're really, truly FUNNY to boot--and you remember the sponsor at the end of the ad, which is the whole point, after all.

Honorable mention? The new ads from Direct TV. I will never, ever in this lifetime get a satellite dish...but I do have to admit, the "grandson with a dog collar" and the "anger issues" and all...those ain't bad.

Farmers still wins, though.  So if the agency that does Farmers Insurance is looking for a new writer...I can do that job. And have a ball doing it.

"Bom-da-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom!"

Monday, January 30, 2012

To Friend...Or To Unfriend? That Is the Question!

With great social networking freedom comes great responsibility...right?
Hmmm.
Maybe not so much. :-)

A thought on social networking today, who's a friend...and who gets to stay one.

We're all told we need to Be In As Many Places As Possible nowadays. Only problem is, it doesn't really work that way. In truth, we can all only devote so many hours in a day to "networking" of various kinds. (Unless we are vampires and never sleep, in which case we already have our own glittery network, I'm thinkin'.) Anyhow, I'm already active on Facebook, this blog has been going for years, and for business purposes, I've kept an oar in LinkedIn as well. Long ago, however, I trashed my Twitter account, as well as cleaning out a whole raft of Facebook "friends."

Some people would say that by doing that, I'm being a fool. I think not.
But how do you decide if you might need to pull the plug? Who gets to stay...and who has to go?

Well, first things first. If someone's comments or general posts are making you nervous in any way, unfriend 'em. Doesn't matter if you've known them for 40 years; people can change. Mental states can alter. Emotional stuff can make people do weird things. You may have known this person years ago in grade school, but in grade school he or she may not have discovered alcohol yet. :-) If this person is receptive to a private message discussing this problem, and if you can bring the subject up without feeling threatened, by all means do it...but overall, it's probably best to drop them quietly, without fanfare, and don't look back.

Same thing goes for people who irritate you. Again, sometimes these are long-time or old-time friends who've just happened to change in ways that don't jive with you anymore.  Or they're people with whom you've got a couple of things in common, but overall--meh. You're on opposite ends of the political spectrum and they insist on posting stuff that makes your blood boil. Or you're diametrically opposed in your religious views, and they can't resist poking holes in things you hold sacred. If that happens, in reality, you're not "friends" anyway; you haven't got enough in common to enjoy each other's company without hitting upon some topic that gets one of you either defensive or disgusted. Let 'em go.

Yes, I know some people LIKE to have "different" types of friends on their rosters. They claim to like having people with whom they can vigorously, and sometimes acrimoniously, debate things, with the understanding that their friendship is still intact. Or at least they SAY it is. I personally have my doubts, however, as to whether you can continually clash with someone on basic, gut-wrenching issues and yet still consider yourselves "friends." Seems to me that beyond a certain point there become too many disagreements and/or someone gets hurt...which means the friendship doesn't survive anyway.  To me, it's better to step away from the "friendship" that's more a debating society before a painful break makes it unavoidable.

Besides, call me provincial or narrow...but I find there are already tons and tons of STRANGERS willing to attack you for any stand you take on line anyway. Why you want to court this from so-called "friends" in addition to the constant potential for ambush from people you don't even know...frankly, is beyond me. Give me people with whom I share more than a surface couple of commonalities and/or an occupation. Give me people with whom I share at least part of the heart, and to me, that's a much more fitting example of a "friend" I want to keep around.

Sometimes--way more often, I suspect--the people with whom you have this kind of push-pull going are relatives, and you may feel you have no "right" to unfriend a relative. Nonsense. Of course you have the "right" to unfriend them, if they're basically doing little for you but making you want to talk to your silent computer screen and/or gnash your teeth. Dental bills are expensive, and mental health care even more so. Cut 'em loose.

If they get mad? If your action causes some kind of Major Family Explosion? Chances are it'll be a lot of storm and fury, and then it'll blow over and they'll move on to other stuff. If not, and they declare you persona non grata...well, that's not all bad. Think of all the duty visits you won't have to make anymore!

Finally, there's that wonderful (and large) category--people you don't really know, but who know people YOU know and therefore get "suggested" to you as friends. Therein lies a lot--a LOT--of waste of time and space. Not to mention infinite potential for linking up with people who become one of the previously mentioned trouble spots. Even if they're perfectly sweet folks, if you live in two different worlds that never touch...if they're constantly making inside jokes with their real friends that you neither get nor appreciate...what are they doing in your social network? They don't know who you are; you don't really know who they are...and you're not likely to meet in this lifetime and find any of that out. So do they even really belong in your virtual address book?

I'd say no. Not until or unless they come upon you and get interested in you THEMSELVES, through some other legitimate means upon which you can build some common ground. But merely both knowing a third party doesn't constitute that common ground, and in the meantime, these people you neither know nor care about can easily become folks who a) irritate you, b) post stuff that drives you nuts, or even c) start to sound threatening and/or "crazy" in ways you don't want to mess with.  In this case, as Uncle Bobby used to say, "It's better to stay out than try to get out." If you've friended too many people whose real selves you have no clue about...start culling. They won't miss you. You won't miss them. And you really won't miss the clutter and/or guilt about "maybe I should reach out to these people and find out if we actually have anything in common..."

No, you shouldn't. Let 'em go. If an eventual connection is going to happen, it'll happen whether they're already on your "friend" list or not. And when it does happen, it'll be all the sweeter for them not having cluttered your life or said something you wanted to clobber them for earlier. :-)

Sounds harsh? Sounds too narrow? Too restrictive? 
It's not. It's self-care. It's mental health care. And it's choosing not to waste time at the computer arguing with people, trying to show them the error of their ways, or having them blast you for what they perceive as the errors of YOURS. I don't know about you, but the world jangles me enough already; I don't need to solicit more of it. 


Bottom line, I say this as one who's slammed with more than enough to keep her busy: Life's too short to waste a moment of it on third-party conversations that mean nothing, endless YouTube forwards from people who clearly need a life, or folks who consistently show themselves to be schmucks (or who think YOU are one!). I don't need to spend my time on schmucks, and neither do you. Don't let anyone guilt or fear or intimidate you into keeping them around "just in case."

"Just in case" is never gonna come with some of these people, and the kindest thing you can do--both for yourself AND for them--is to click that lovely little "unfriend" button.

You'll be the lighter, and the happier, for it.

Thoughts?
Janny

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Put Weights In Your Shoes Today...

...or you'll end up in Kansas. It's that windy.
Of course, if you do end up in Kansas, say hello to Kim Vogel Sawyer for me! :-)


More to come,
Janny

Friday, January 27, 2012

And the Winners Are...

Yes, there are two of them! Even though I know I sold more than 2 books (please God!), only two of you commented here on the blog...so we've decided to award BOTH commenters a yummy chocolate prize.

So, as they say on The Price is Right, Deb Kinnard and Janka Halcinova....come on down!

(Well, okay, you don't have to "come on down" to Indiana; I'll send your chocolate to you. :-))
NOW...your only dilemma is...dark or milk? 
Let me know, and the DeBrand's Shopping Expedition will commence!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Janny

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Friday...

...is NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY!!

And speaking of chocolate...
We will announce the winners of the DE BRAND'S CHOCOLATE giveaway soon!

Stay tuned!
Janny

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Nope, Nope, and...Nope.

Every now and then, someone writes an article about how all novelists should "learn to write" by writing short stories. Some people even go so far as to say you shouldn't even consider yourself a writer until you've written and sold short stories...and that it's good preparation for novel writing. Saw another one of 'em referred to today,  by a writer who ought to know better, and figured the time has come for someone to speak the other side.

Because that entire notion is BUNK.

People, people, people. This isn't like moving up in school, okay? You don't start with short, "small" things because they're manageable, and then gradually move on to bigger things until you're finally "grown up" enough to write a novel. If that's the case, then all poets should start with haiku and publish lots of that before they think in terms of free verse or even iambic pentameter. (I knew that lovely term would come in handy some day!) But take that notion to its logical conclusion: Imagine if someone had told Shakespeare (or, for you conspiracy theorists out there, whoever-really-wrote-Shakespeare's-stuff) that.  (Of course, knowing Will, he would have had a much better comeback than "bunk," and it would have been unprintable in polite society.) Would we have some of the richest stuff in the English language today?

Probably not.  And it isn't because haiku hadn't been invented yet.

It never ceases to amaze me how this mindset continues to spread and influence young writers. There are probably writers out there who would love to do novels, who have novels burning inside them waiting to get out, but they're forcing themselves to "do their apprenticeship" and write short stories.

Chances are, they'll never get out of that apprenticeship, either. Especially if that's where they're trying to start as newbies.

Why?  


First of all, because it's much, much, MUCH harder to write "short" than it is to write long.
If you ever doubt this, try writing a bunch of those 200- to 300-word articles that content sites want so many of. There's a reason most of them are awful, and it's not just because they tend to be written  by non-English speakers; it's because it's hard to condense a decent, solid amount of information into a small package and have it work well. Skilled writers can do it. But notice that word. SKILLED. As in, not newbies.

"So what?" say the purists. "That's good training. If you can't write your story in a couple thousand words, you don't know it well enough anyway. Get the thing concise. Get it focused. Then you're ready to actually write a book the way it should be written."


There is a whole host of things wrong with that attitude, not the least of which that it's snot-nosed arrogance. But the main thing wrong with it is the second reason that "write short stories first" is bad advice:


Because short stories and novels require two entirely different skill sets and approaches.

"That can't be," moan the pundits among us. "Good writing is good writing. You need to start small and gain command of the language first.  You need to learn how to write short and sharp and..."

Yeah. Sure. Right. You betcha. 
NOT.

If you're a columnist, that advice is spot-on. If you write for the Web, it's even spotter-onner. But what if what's burning to come out of you is a series of sprawling, multi-generational stories about a family with several children, inlaws, outlaws, sisters, cousins, and aunts?  
No matter how skilled you are, telling that story's gonna take more than short story length. Yes, you could write some other "practice" pieces that are shorter, just to "get your feet wet." But why? Why waste your time, your creative juice, and your energy writing something just because someone told you you had to do it that way, when a story is stomping its way through your veins begging to get out?

There is no good reason to do this. No. Not one. NADA. EVER.


You need practice to become a good writer? Of course you do. So practice--but do it in the medium and the word count in which you plan to ultimately make your mark. You'll have plenty of opportunities to do so, and you will learn how to write just as well by focusing on what you love as by focusing on what you're gritting your teeth and telling yourself you have to "get through first" before you can do what you really want. In fact, you'll learn faster doing what you love, because you'll seek out guidance in how to do it properly. You'll hang with other people also wanting to learn how to be novelists. And you'll avoid the tragedy of waking up one morning discovering your writing "juice" is gone because you spent so much time becoming the writer equivalent of the best marathoner in the state...when all you really wanted to do was learn how to perfect the 400-meter hurdles.

Don't do it.

Unless you want to write short stories from day one, and you long for those short-story checks to come in, don't get trapped into thinking one length of story is a necessary prerequisite for the other. Not only is that not true; it can totally screw up your novel-writing learning curve, sometimes forever.

Which--it has to be said--may sometimes be the very point of some of these people telling you to do it in the first place: it removes competition for their novels, also sometimes forever. 
Yes, it's mean. Yes, it's underhanded. But, yes, it also happens. Don't let 'em get away with it.

Write what you want to write, and learn as you do that. If in the course of writing novels, you also discover that you'd like to try your hand at another length, there's time enough to do so. But this isn't grammar school.  You don't have to start with 100 words and "work your way up." That way lies madness, and you'll encounter enough madness in a regular writing career without volunteering for more.

Here's to telling the story in "as long as it takes."

Thoughts?
Janny




Monday, January 23, 2012

Contest Over. (Sigh.) BUT...Good News on Book Options!

Okay...some of you will be chocolate-less for awhile, because I didn't see your combox entries come in for the DeBrand's drawing. I could extend it, but...nah. Ya snoozes, ya loses. :-)
The good news, however, is that Desert Breeze books will soon be available through the Google eBookstore! 

How cool is that?
Added to that some additional venues overseas for the Christian/inspirational lines as well, and it's clear DBP is fast becoming the place to be for overseas and international sales!

Kudos to Gail Delaney for this hard work!

Janny

Saturday, January 21, 2012

...And If You Don't Know This...

You can click on the neato Desert Breeze banner on top of this blog page and go right to the catalog! :-)  So click, shop, read, enjoy...


(heh heh)
Janny 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Creative Process...Okay, Mine, Anyway

If you like insights into a writer's creative process on a novel, you might want to stop by Deb Kinnard's blog today and see our conversation about VOI. And then stick around her blog and read all the rest of it. That's an order. :-)

Seriously, stop by and enjoy. It's a pleasure to talk about the creative process, and I know it mystifies a lot of people outside the writing world. No mysteries here...just a few voices from beyond (heh heh) and a whole lot of work in between!

Thanks for reading!
Janny

Monday, January 16, 2012

Sleeping In

Not sure if this means much of anything, but...
At long last, it appears that I'm learning the art of sleeping in. Until sometimes as late as 8:00 AM.
Don't laugh...for several years, I got up between 5:30 and 5:50 AM. It just worked better for me to get to the day gig if I started my day ridiculously early.
Even for awhile once I began freelancing, I was still getting up at 6 or so.
And I kinda like that.

However, in order to do that and not feel like a bad-tempered lummox by 2 PM, I need to be in bed by 9.
(NOW, you can laugh.)


People have pooh-poohed the idea that I would need to be in bed by 9 to get up at 6. 
Someone once said to me, "But that's nine hours!"
I said, "Congratulations. You pass the math test."
The implication, of course, is that no adult needs nine hours of sleep. Growing children, maybe. But adults? Aw, heck, we should be able to get by on five, six max. Right? We're tough. We can't spend our time sleeping our lives away. There's work to be done!

Yeah. Right. While all the time, doctors keep telling us that over 60% of us never get enough sleep.
We qualify, in fact, as sleep-deprived. 
We need eight to nine hours a night, at least most of us do, to fully allow the body to relax, repair, and renew.
How many of us allow it to do that?

Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. It's designed to weaken judgment, defenses, and ability to think clearly. Yet millions and millions of us, every day, willingly torture ourselves this way...thinking we're functional.

We're not.


We're underperforming, we're under-achieving, and what's worse...we're under the level of being truly human and truly healthy. We get sick more easily when we don't have enough sleep. We get irritable faster when we don't have enough sleep. We fly off the handle more easily, we have less patience with people and events, we don't tolerate life's ups and downs as well, when we don't have enough sleep. Lack of sleep can break down barriers of all kinds, leading to injuries, accidents, and even depression. It's a major stressor--and yet so many of us consider it a badge of honor to do that to ourselves day after day after day.

Why?

Yes, I know. Job demands. Family demands. World demands.
But maybe...just maybe...it'd be worth it to stop demanding so much of ourselves until we get a little more rest.

Fortunately, I'm able to answer that malady with a change of lifestyle. Even if I can't get to bed at 9 PM, which I often cannot, I can at least sleep in further at the *other* end of the clock. 
Something I'm still getting used to, mind you.

I humbly submit that perhaps one of the best things the business world could do for their overall growth and prosperity would be to slice into the "work" and "face time" hours they expect employees to put in...and allow them to get home in time so that they can be decently present for a few hours before getting to bed at an equally decent hour.

The rise in productivity, I suspect, would be truly amazing.
It only remains for a forward-thinking company to dare to try it.
To let their employees get more done by "trying easier."

Many, many companies pride themselves on trying to make more "holistic" workplaces. They put in conveniences on the job site from day care to beauty salons to gyms or exercise facilities. They offer healthier foods in employee cafeterias. They provide "nap rooms" or encourage employees to walk outdoors on coffee breaks. 

But we all know in our heart of hearts that  a "nap room" at a place of business will never, ever truly make up for the lack of sleep necessitated by long commutes to a job where one's expected to put in 9 hours of face time a day, if not more.
Better to shut the nap room down and tell everyone to go home an hour or two earlier.
It'll pay off in the long run.
And in healthier, happier people overall...which is nothing to sneeze at, either.

It only takes one company to do this. When the others see the fabulous results that will come of it, they'll follow suit.  I can only wonder who'll be brave enough to "go first."

I am, here at CWC place. 
Any other freelancers game to start?

Janny

Sunday, January 15, 2012

~~~I'm So Excited...~~~

Yeah, I know, now that song will be running through our heads the rest of the day. :-)
So be it.
It's LAUNCH DAY for VOICE OF INNOCENCE!!!!!!!

Gitcherself over to Desert Breeze Publishing or Amazon.com and be the first on your block to read it!
Or even the second or third on your block...I won't care. 
Long as you read it, tell your friends, buy lots for early Valentine's Day presents...


Who, me? Overboard?


Janny

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It...

It's finally snowing!
And blowing...
And getting COLD...
And...
it'll be perfect weather to curl up with a Kindle and read a good romantic suspense!


(heh heh)

Head spinning,
Janny