Scheduled to Get Back on Track

This weekend, I have a conference to go to.  After I return from that, I will be getting this blog back on track.  At one point, I had a blog schedule, but it was something every day.

There’s nothing wrong with blogging every day, but it was a bit much for me at that point.  I will re-evaluate and decide if I am going to stay with an every-day format or go with something different.

In the meantime, I’ve been writing and querying.  Have you? 

There’s been a little change around here, too.  In a moment of senility, I put my picture here.  It will probably stay, but we’ll see.

Filed under: writing , blogging, conference, Jen Nipps, jennipps, schedule, write, writing

Sorry

I tried to get the Monday Poetry Train post up last night, but for some reason, WordPress wasn’t working with me. Instead of trying to do it today when I’m snowed under with day-job stuff, I’ll just wait until next week and hopefully have it worked out then.

Filed under: poetry train, writing

Sunday Status Report

Minimum 3 queries a week.
Week One:
4/2: Submitted two queries in reply to Craigslist ads.  Also submitted a query for Confessions of a Fat Chick to Ashley Grayson Literary Agency.
4/3:  Submitted a query to an ad from Backpage.com and one for a FabJobs guide.
Week Two:
4/7: Printed and mailed a query in response to an ad on Online-Writing-Jobs.com
4/8: Sent query in reply to a Craigslist ad wanting website reviewers.
Week Three:
4/14: Sent a query in reply to an ad for medical/lifestyle writers on Craigslist
4/15: Sent one application and three replies to ads to Article Insider, Cragislist, and 2Work-at-Home.com.
4/16: Sent a query in response to an ad for an essay editor on Craigslist.
4/17: Sent a query in response to an ad on Craigslist for writing wine-related articles.
4/18: Sent a query in response to an ad looking for an editor on Craigslist.

Maintain blog schedules as posted on Confessions of a Fat Chick and The Idea Pocket.
Week One: Nothing
Week Two: Nothing
Week Three:
4/14: “Makeup: Lipstick” on Confessions of a Fat Chick and “Exercise: Commercial” on The Idea Pocket.
4/16: “Weight a Minute: Side-Effects” on Confessions of a Fat Chick

Minimum two posts a week on Creatif.
Week One:
4/1: Theresa Chaze, Guest Blogger
4/2:  That Meme Thing
4/3:  Scissortail Creative Writing Festival
4/6: Sunday Status Report
Week Two:
4/7: Monday Poetry Train
Week Three:
4/14: Guest Blogger Charlotte Barnes
4/16: JK Rowling Lawsuit
4/20: Sunday Status Report

Build and activate The Idea Pocket website. 
Week One:
4/5: Activated e-mail address and upgraded to IE 7 to use provider tools.
Week Two:
4:13: www.theideapocket.com is live, though it still needs some work as not all areas are fleshed out.
Week Three:
4/16: Added info to the About and Links pages.
4:19: The Idea Pocket and KNOWS pages have information added.  Also started a forum at http://creativetips.ning.com to go with the website.

Prepare and preesent first two speeches in Toastmasters.
Week One:
4/2: First draft of the first speech is written.
4/6: Bio written and sent to Toastmaster.
Week Two: 
4/7: Presented Ice Breaker speech: “The Hats I Wear”
Week Three:
4/15: Determined topic of second speech.
4/19: Began outline for second speech

Filed under: writing , Craigslist, Creative TIPs, Jen Nipps, jennipps, KNOWS, ning, query, reply, The Idea Pocket, write, writer, writing

JK Rowling Lawsuit

Have you heard about this*?

Personally, I don’t know why people think they can take a writer’s work — any writer’s work, not just well-known ones — and present it as their own.  True, the guy in the story claimed to be putting a Harry Potter encyclopedia together, but…HELLO?????

I won’t say much more because I don’t want to turn this into a soap-box.  I intended only to bring it to your attention if you hadn’t already seen or heard about it.

What’s your take on it?

——-

*If for any reason, you don’t see the link in “this,” here’s the entire link: http://www.nytimes.com:80/2008/04/16/nyregion/16potter.html.

Filed under: writing , encyclopedia, Harry Potter, Jen Nipps, jennipps, JK Rowling, lawsuit, plagiarism, write, writer, writing

Guest Blogger: Charlotte Barnes

(Jen Note: Today we will not have the Monday Poetry Train.  Instead, poet/writer Charlotte Barnes is our guest blogger talking about her book, The Masfield Lighthouse Cats.)

 I wrote The Mansfield Lighthouse Cats because I was compelled to capture feelings and scenarios—human moments—on paper. It contains many poems for many moods. You can pick it up when you’re sad, happy, introspective, irritated, whatever—there’s a poem that will speak to you.

I wanted the collection to have a wide appeal. Most specifically, though, I wanted to complete a collection that would appeal to those who haven’t read poetry in a long time. I want them to feel the joy of poetry.
    
In a bigger sense, I write because I am driven to answer the question, “How great can I be?” By that I mean, “How much of my potential can I fulfill? How much service can I provide?” The drive to answer that question gets me through the tough times of rejection letters, disappointments, and setbacks. As I say in a poem I finished recently, “I simply must know how great can I be and how far can I go?”

Click the image below for more information.

(If the image link does not work, go to www.charlottebarnesonline.com.)

Filed under: writing , cats, Charlotte Barnes, Jen Nipps, jennipps, poems, poet, poetry, The Mansfield Lighthouse Cats, write, writing

Sunday Status Report

April 2008

Minimum 3 queries a week.
Week One:
4/2: Submitted two queries in reply to Craigslist ads.  Also submitted a query for Confessions of a Fat Chick to Ashley Grayson Literary Agency.
4/3:  Submitted a query to an ad from Backpage.com and one for a FabJobs guide.
Week Two:
4/7: Printed and mailed a query in response to an ad on Online-Writing-Jobs.com
4/8: Sent query in reply to a Craigslist ad wanting website reviewers.
Week Three:
4/14: Sent a query in reply to an ad for medical/lifestyle writers on Craigslist

Maintain blog schedules as posted on Confessions of a Fat Chick and The Idea Pocket.
Week One: Nothing
Week Two: Nothing
Week Three:
4/14: “Makeup: Lipstick” on Confessions of a Fat Chick and “Exercise: Commercial” on The Idea Pocket.

Minimum two posts a week on Creatif.
Week One:
4/1: Theresa Chaze, Guest Blogger
4/2:  That Meme Thing
4/3:  Scissortail Creative Writing Festival
4/6: Sunday Status Report
Week Two:
4/7: Monday Poetry Train
Week Three:
4/14: Guest Blogger Charlotte Barnes

Build and activate The Idea Pocket website. 
Week One:
4/5: Activated e-mail address and upgraded to IE 7 to use provider tools.
Week Two:
4:13: www.theideapocket.com is live, though it still needs some work as not all areas are fleshed out.

Prepare and preesent first two speeches in Toastmasters.
Week One:
4/2: First draft of the first speech is written.
4/6: Bio written and sent to Toastmaster.
Week Two: 
4/7: Presented Ice Breaker speech: “The Hats I Wear”

Filed under: writing

Monday Poetry Train

Paris, April 1998

“Pardonnez-moi, monsieur,” I say.
We’re in France and lost our way.
He nods and smiles.  “Just continue.”
There we see it: Our lost venue.

Somber umbrellas block the rain.
We walk on, our joy plain.
Napoleon is buried where?
L’Hotel des Invalides, over there.

At Notre Dame, gargoyles
Climb the spire; clouds roil
Overhead, turning dark.
Nothing spoils our spring lark.

We don’t rest.  On the move,
Our next stop: The Louvre.
The Venus de Milo
And the Mona Lisa smiles so.

We have only eight days.
Walking along the Champs Elysees,
We see beggars poised as statues
Displaying human virtues.

Whirlwind of time goes fast.
Before we know it, it’s all past.
When we’re in the plane, in the air,
We know we’ll go again and don’t despair.

——–

(Take a ride on Rhian’s Poetry Train, no reservation required.)

Filed under: poetry train, writing , April, France, Jen Nipps, jennipps, Monday Poetry Train, Paris, poetry train, write, writing

Sunday Status Report

This week is dedicated to getting back on track blog-wise.  In the meantime, here’s the Sunday Status Report for the first week of April.

Minimum 3 queries a week.

4/2: Submitted two queries in reply to Craigslist ads.  Also submitted a query for Confessions of a Fat Chick to Ashley Grayson Literary Agency.
4/3:  Submitted a query to an ad from Backpage.com and one for a FabJobs guide.

Maintain blog schedules as posted on Confessions of a Fat Chick and The Idea Pocket.

Minimum two posts a week on Creatif.

4/1: Theresa Chaze, Guest Blogger
4/2:  That Meme Thing
4/3:  Scissortail Creative Writing Festival

Build and activate The Idea Pocket website. 

4/5: Activated e-mail address and upgraded to IE 7 to use provider tools.

Prepare and preesent first two speeches in Toastmasters.

4/2: First draft of the first speech is written.
4/6: Bio written and sent to Toastmaster.

Filed under: writing , Confessions of a Fat Chick, FabJob Guides, Jen Nipps, jennipps, progress, status, The Idea Pocket, writing

Scissortail Creative Writing Festival

If you are anywhere near Ada, Oklahoma, consider stopping in at the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival in the University Center at East Central University.

It starts at 1:00 today and runs until noon Saturday.  Various Oklahoma authors will be reading from their published works.  (Some were born and raised in Oklahoma but now live elsewhere and some still live in Oklahoma.)  You can hear poetry, fiction, essays, storytellers, etc. 

I can’t be there today, but I hope to be able to go to part of it tomorrow and again on Saturday.

Filed under: writing , East Central University, Jen Nipps, jennipps, Oklahoma, Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, writing

That Meme Thing

Laura at Greetings from the Pole Barn tagged me with this meme.  As part of it pertains to writing/books, I’m passing it along.  I’m also “borrowing” her definition of a meme, which is, in my opinion, a good one.

A meme is kind of like a chain letter in the blogosphere, where someone starts with a list of questions and passes it on to a list of people who have blogs and they answer them in their posts(on their own blogs, of course) and pass them on to other people. It’s fun, it’s informative, and it helps everyone market themselves by giving them exposure.

A mutual friend and writer, Sandy Lender, came up with this meme and I am passing it along. It’s all about getting away, like on spring break or on vacation, which all of us are sick to death of winter.

In honor of spring break and all things travel-oriented, here we go!

Getting Away With It

1) If you could live for a month in one world or time period from a novel you’ve read, which would you choose?

Can I say Ireland during the time period of Kiernan’s story, which I wrote and am marketing?  No?  OK, then I would have to say Marion Zimmer Bradley’s version of Avalon from The Mists of Avalon.

2) If you could be one character from a comic book or fiction series, who would it be? 

Maybe Stephanie Plum from Janet Evanovich’s numbers series.  She has more fun than I do.   

3) Where (in the real world) is your dream vacation spot?

Who would be surprised if I say Eureka Springs?    If I have to choose something else, Paris, France.

4) Name a celebrity or TV personality whom you would like to have lunch with.

Jennifer Weiner

Apparently now I have to tag five others.  This is always harder than the original meme.

Nita
Carys Weldon
Plaid Earthworm
Jenn Hollowell
Stella

Filed under: not writing , celebreity, Eureka Springs, Greetings from the Pole Barn, Janet Evanovich, Jen Nipps, Jennifer Weiner, jennipps, meme, Paris, Sandy Lender, Stephanie Plum, writing