Resolution Update: November

My goals for this year began as:

• Graduate from college. (Accomplished)
• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college. (Accomplished)
• Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona. (Accomplished)
• Hug my daughter every day. (In Progress)
• Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube. (Accomplished!)

As I continue through the year, my evolving list of goals reads:

• Hug my daughter every day. (Still in Progress, with modifications)
• Support my daughter as she takes her turn at college. (Accomplished)
• Finish editing The Siege of Kwennjurat and get it published. (Accomplished)
• Reformat all ebooks so they look better. (Accomplished)

The hugs were temporarily stopped during October, as we realized we were passing the flu back and forth. Now that we're recovered enough to consider ourselves no longer contagious, they have resumed.

Happily, The Siege of Kwennjurat was released on October 24th. Of course, if you read my blog, you already know this, because I've talked about nothing else all month. I've been working in this world for sixteen years, and was rather happy to be done with it at last. During most of that time, I have had a hand drawn and colored map of the Ten Kingdoms hanging above my desk. Even though the book was available for sale slightly before the 24th, I had decided to take the map down on the 24th, as a private celebration of the completion of my work in that world, and a symbol to myself that goals can be accomplished, even when they take a long time to materialize.

On the 22nd, I had a dream. Book ideas often come to me through dreams, and the vivid scenes that are the seed for the novel usually remains largely unchanged through the writing process. In this dream, I saw two people meeting in a shadowy place, and speaking in low tones. I recognized one of them immediately as a character from Kwennjurat. From their conversation, I soon realized that the other person had been mentioned in the books, but didn't have a large role. I had thought the second person was dead. They are not dead. I have left my map up. Research and plotting is already underway. There will, apparently, be a third book in the Kwennjurat Chronicles, even though most of the action in the third book will not be in the Ten Kingdoms. Hang on to your hats, this is going to be an interesting ride!

I have two trailers up on YouTube, and ideas are coming for other video projects including but not limited to book trailers. My video camera had other ideas. It apparently decided it didn't have any further interest in living, so further forays into video are temporarily delayed until I see enough books to replace the video camera -- or find the money someplace else.

I always have more than one book project under construction, and at any given time they're in different stages of being written, edited, and prepared for publication. Right now, I have a romantic novella that hopefully will be out around thanksgiving. It's a Christmas themed story, so if it misses its deadline it will have to wait a full year. Because of its length, I plan to release it in ebook only, and for at least the first several months, it will be in Amazon's lending program, which means Kindle only. The title is A Gigolo for Christmas. Yes, you heard right, A M Jenner is writing a book with the word "gigolo" in the title. You'll have to get the book and read it to see if my standards have actually slipped. I've also got a short story collection that hopefully will be out around the first of the year named Bits and Bites. By the end of next year, I hope to have the suspense novel Just a Name, and the fantasy Mind Touch published as well, so there's lots of good news and new books in the pipeline for my devoted fans -- all ten of you. (That's a joke - I hope I have more than ten fans.)

On the handcrafting front, I hauled out my daughter's knitting looms and started a shawl, but that project got derailed because of the dollhouse project I'm involved in. It began as an idea to make a miniature bookshop to use as a set for photo shoots for my website, but has evolved into simply a project to build a miniature bookshop dollhouse with a flat above the shop. Each of the floors has been constructed. My mom is planning on finishing and furnishing the flat, and I'm working on the bookshop. So far, I have built the stairs to go upstairs with, laid down hardwood flooring, painted, and polished it, painted the walls in the office at the back of the shop, and I'm working on creating the wainscoting for the front of the shop. I'm not going to post any pictures until it's finished, though. I'm making it on a budget in half-scale, which means I get to make the doors and windows and everything else completely by hand, because purchasing dollhouse things in half-scale is beyond my budget. Plus, it's fun to figure out how to create it and make it look good when my construction materials are mostly found items already in my craft supplies.

I only finished reading seven books this month, but my page total is 4367. 

~Marie

Update on Goals

My goals for this year began as: 

• Graduate from college. (Accomplished)
• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
• Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona. (Accomplished)
• Hug my daughter every day.
• Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube. (Accomplished!)

As I continue through the year, my evolving list of goals reads:

• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to so since I started college.
• Hug my daughter every day.
• Support my daughter as she takes her turn at college.
• Finish editing The Siege of Kwennjurat and get it published.

My new manuscript, Crown of Tears was finished on August 25, a personal speed-writing record for me.

Our hugs have increased to multiple hugs per day, and let me tell you, my daughter gives really good hugs. On the school front, I check with her every day about her homework, asking about her assignments and following up to make sure she is turning them in on time.

I've finished the major rewrites on The Siege of Kwennjurat, and it is now being copy edited. I'm pleased to announce that it will be released on October 24th.

I learned new things about ebook formatting from my friend Green Tortuga, and am now in the processing of reformatting my ebooks to make them look better. Now that I've learned how to put pictures into ebooks, expect to find maps in the fantasy books after the reformatting is complete.

I also learned something from my new friend Paul Carroll, author of Balor Reborn. He taught me how to make video trailers for my books, and I started in with a trailer for Tanella's Flight. Earlier this year I had decided I wasn't going to be able to get to that this year, but things worked out otherwise. This shows me that what "they" say about goals is true. If you write it down and read it often, a way will be opened up for it to become accomplished, even when you don't know how it is going to happen. The trailer for Tanella's Flight can be seen here. You cal also view it below.

I'm still 3/4 of the way through knitting the same pair of socks. I haven't knit more than a couple of rows all month. However, I did begin work on another project that got put off because of school. Some two years ago I was involved in a quilt block swap with 11 online friends. We each made twelve blocks, sent them to a central location to be sorted, and received back twelve unique blocks, one from each friend. During August I embroidered each friend's name on her quilt block, and over this weekend I designed a reversible quilt, cut and sewed the back of the quilt, and have machine-quilted half the blocks. I also sewed two pillow cases from extra material that matched the back of the quilt. I expect to finish up the project in the next two or three days, and I promise to post pictures when I'm done.

I've read 33 books containing 3340 pages for pleasure reading this month. No, I'm not just reading short, 100-word books; some of the Mark Twain "books" on my nook are only a very few pages, but since they have a separate title page and a separate entry in the table of contents, I count them as a "book", even though they are sometimes only two pages long. I've also been reading 300-400 page novels, in fact, I re-read The Hobbit and all three of The Lord of The Rings during August.

~Marie

My Life

I'm not sure whether blogging about my goals for the year have made me stick to them any better, but things are definitely happening for me.
My goals for this year began as:

• Graduate from college. (Accomplished)
• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
• Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona. (Accomplished)
• Hug my daughter every day.
• Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube. (Deferred Indefinitely)

As I continue through the year, my goals now read:

• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to so since I started college.
• Hug my daughter every day.
• Finish editing The Siege of Kwennjurat and get it published.
• Support my daughter as she takes her turn at college.

The new manuscript, Crown of Tears, was started this morning. As I like to write over my outline, the combined word count for the outline and manuscript already exceeds 2,000 words. My office is hung with ten maps for Crown of Tears, and one for The Siege of Kwennjurat. My daughter says it looks like a copy of "National Geographic" blew up. She wants to edge all my maps with yellow.

The daily hugs have gone a long way to defusing tension between my teen daughter and myself. I'm about two-thirds of the way through The Siege of Kwennjurat, and still plan to release it this fall. 

My sweet daughter starts school in about three weeks. We're going shopping for textbooks and school supplies next week.

I'm 3/4 of the way through knitting a pair of socks. My arthritis is now moving into my hands and wrists, making it more difficult for me to write and do my handcrafting. This is a very sad thing for me. I've ordered dictation software to handle the writing challenge, but I'm still looking for an app that will create hand-knit items for me. I don't think I'm going to find one. In July I read 25 books, for 4696 pages. In May 2011 I started the complete works of Mark Twain, which is about 6,500 pages and includes his essays and letters as well as all of his works of fiction. I just passed the 5,000 page mark, and am getting excited about finishing up. It's been a fascinating ride, and I now understand why people say the man is so funny.

~Marie

June Resolution Update

Welcome to June! In Arizona June means triple digit temperatures, excessive heat warnings,and generally high pressure. The humidity is still low enough to be comfortable, and this year the hurricane season hasn't really ramped up yet (though it has started), so my back is loving the weather and I'm starting to feel a lot better. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, what's the connection between hurricane season and weather in an inland state like Arizona? Pacific hurricanes, and some Gulf ones that strike Mexico, pour humidity into Arizona, so they do affect our weather. More importantly to me on a personal level, the arthritis in my back is so well developed that I'm affected by strong hurricanes up to a thousand miles from Phoenix, as well as really strong winter storms clear up in northern Idaho. So a quiet start to hurricane season means less pain for me, more energy, and a lot more productivity.

My resolutions for this year are to:

• Graduate from college.
• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
• Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona.
• Hug my daughter every day.
• Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube.

How am I doing?

I graduated! May 11 was the commencement ceremony, and I'd show off my pictures of my cap and gown with the yellow Phi Theta Kappa stole and tassel and the blue cord of highest distinction, except that those pictures all show my face, and I have a thing about putting my face on the Internet. May 15 I got an email from the college saying they'd checked my grades (all A's!), and all of my requirements were met, and my degree was posted. I can now put the letters AGS after my name. They also said they'd be mailing the paper diplomas out "starting in the first week of June", so I expect to get it soon so I can frame it and hang it on the wall of my office.

The new-manuscript writing is still scheduled for November, but I've been toying with the idea of also doing Camp NaNoWriMo in August. If a plot idea strikes me. Or a character starts bugging me. Right now the only characters bugging me are in things in editing stages. The Moms Place is still on schedule to be published by the end of June, and I'm also working on The Siege of Kwennjurat, hoping to get it finished and published sometime this fall.

We're getting excited about the trip to southern California at the end of this month and sneaking into the first part of July. (If my resolution blog post is a little late or early next month, it's because I'm crossing off resolutions.)

The daily hugging is doing wonders for relationships and attitudes.

And the book trailer project has been officially put off until next year. I have too many other things going on right now to work on that.

In other news, Anne has a new desk in her office, and we're working on reclaiming the room from the boxes and boxes of "to-be-filed" stuff. Filing has become my summer project, and I'm making good progress on it. I'm still working on the manually striped socks, and have got the first one past the heel, and am working toward the toe. I'm only making slow progress on the socks because I'm pretty tired out every evening. The being tired is from working hard to get myself to the point where I can walk around Disneyland without slowing Anne and Jenna down. Although I will be taking my walker to Disneyland with me, for a while I thought I'd be taking my wheelchair. Friday I was set out from the house to do errands. (I had to go to the bank, the library, the Wal-Mart supercenter for computer parts, Barnes & Noble, the hair salon, and the Wal-Mart neighborhood store for milk on the way home.) The best part of my day is that I didn't use my chair or my walker, and, for the first time in I don't remember how long, I was able to complete all my errands before running out of energy and giving up halfway through. I know that sounds pretty pathetic, but for me it was a major triumph. In May I read 30 books with a total of 4441 pages.

~Marie

May Resolution Update

How does the saying go? Just when you think it’s safe to go back in the water…or something like that. The implication being that at the moment you think everything is going smoothly, “life happens”, and everything turns upside down on you. Maybe I’m just living in a snow-globe or something.

During April I received an invitation to audition to be the student speaker at our commencement ceremony May 11. I was absolutely floored to be included in this small group. I discovered that I was competing against some 20 other people for this honor. I turned in a written copy of my proposed speech, and was not chosen as one of three finalists, which was disappointing at the time, although I compared it to getting a rejection letter from a publisher. They didn’t say my speech was bad, just that it “wasn’t what they were looking for”.

Not being chosen to speak turned out to be a very good thing for me personally, though, because my arthritis, which has been steadily getting worse over the last year, gave off a huge burst of pain. In the past when this happened, I just do a lot of resting for about a week, and I’m back in usable condition, but it’s not possible to do that sort of resting when you have homework, and research projects due, and classes five days a week.

This month, it’s my turn to disrupt the entire family, as I have had to get my wonderful daughter to carry my books for me, and push me around the campus in my wheelchair. My mom has had to take sack lunches to work, since daughter and I have to use our one car to get me to and from school. Dad has to be home without anyone to help him, which is a problem as he is either in his own wheelchair or in bed.

I’m eagerly counting down the days (10, as I write this!) until graduation so I can rest, get rid of the bulk of this pain, and let the rest of the family get back to normal. Whatever normal is.

My resolutions for this year are to:

·         Graduate from college.
·         Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
·         Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona.
·         Hug my daughter every day.
·         Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube.

How am I doing?

I graduate May 11. I will be graduating with highest honors, and get to wear a beautiful blue cord around my neck to show off my grades. It looks like I will be getting an A in each of my remaining classes, which would make my grades nearly perfect. In four semesters, I’ve only had one B. Not bad for a returning student. When I started this whole college thing, I was worried about keeping up with the younger students, both socially and academically. I strongly advocate to anyone of my age who is thinking about going back to school not to let this fear stop you. You’ll find that your life experiences far outweigh their recent and supposedly un-rusty math skills.

Writing the manuscript is still on hold until November's NaNoWriMo.

Savings continues for the gas and grocery money for our vacation, and a new swimming suit has been purchased for the dear daughter. Mine is still in good condition, because I don’t wear it as often.

I am hugging my daughter every day, especially after she pushes me up hills and over big bumps in the sidewalk that very few on campus realize are there.

The book trailers are on hold indefinitely. Several more urgent long-term projects have reared their ugly heads including a room full of filing that must be done, the cataloging of my library’s new arrivals, meaning all the books purchased in the last five years, the in-depth study and mastery of several new computer programs, and the healing and rebuilding of the last two years wear and tear on my body are of much higher priority. Perhaps next year I will learn book trailers and the production of audiobooks.

I'm still doing pretty good on my resolutions, especially with the changing circumstances which we all call “life”.

I finished weaving the belt, and it works well. I’m now knitting a pair of manually-striped socks. In April I read 25 pleasure books, for a combined total of 3608 pages.

~Marie

Late Resolution Update

Sorry this post is late. My Dad has been in and out and in the hospital all week, which turns our whole family's lives upside-down.

My resolutions for this year are to:

·Graduate from college.
·Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
·Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona.
·Hug my daughter every day.
·Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube.

How am I doing?

I finished that 8-week class with an A, despite turning in a paper that didn't come to the conclusion which the professor had been carefully leading us toward all semester. I didn't like his conclusion, and didn't feel it was true. I refused to write a lie. Besides, if they don't want us to think for ourselves, why do they work so hard to teach us "critical thinking skills"? As of this writing, I have 34 days until graduation. I have four classes left. Two are must-pass. In one, I am currently earning a B, but I have some extra credit projects up my sleeve that I'm working on which will tip the grade-scale in my favor. In my other three classes I'm currently working on A's.

Writing the manuscript is still on hold until November's NaNoWriMo.

The hotel / park package has been booked for my out of state trip, now we're saving up our gas and food money.

I am hugging my daughter every day. Our relationship is improving greatly. The other day I was really mad at her about something, I don't remember what now, and we managed to deal with the situation with no raised voices.

The book trailers are still on hold for now. This project will very likely happen in August, unless it gets pushed to next year, which is looking likely. I am thinking that two new novels coming out before the end of the year is probably a higher priority than making trailers for existing books.

I'm still doing good on my resolutions, and have kept these longer than any I've made in the past.

I am no longer knitting the sweater. I went to the renaissance faire to get a musical instrument repaired, and received lessons in stick weaving and drop-spindle spinning. I've woven one panel of what will be a rug, and am now working on a belt, because I suddenly find the need for one. I won't be messing with spinning until A.G. In March I read 23 pleasure books, (some of them were short) for a combined total of 4658 pages. This gives me 48 books with 12,488 pages so far this year.

~Marie

Resolution Update

My resolutions for this year are to:

·Graduate from college.
·Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
·Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona.
·Hug my daughter every day.
·Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube.

How am I doing?

I'm still getting assignment grades that will lead to A's at the moment, but one of my classes is very close to sliding into B territory...every time I start to panic about that, I remind myself I need to pass these classes, not ace them. C is still a passing grade...panic averted. One class is an 8-week online class, which ends in about a week. My final paper, a 5-6 page essay, is due on Wednesday and I haven't begun the research for it yet.... This is going to be interesting, as it is one of the must-pass classes.

Writing the manuscript will have to wait until after graduation. I plan to fulfill this resolution in November as part of NaNoWriMo.

I have a sister getting married in California in June, and plan to celebrate graduation at Disneyland while I am there.

I am hugging my daughter every day...even on the day we had an argument that we both hated having. The hugs are helping.

The book trailers, like the manuscript, will have to wait until after graduation. Some days it feels like my whole life is waiting until after graduation, which I have started referring to as "A.G.".

All in all, I'm doing well; working on things in their proper order. Just as a side note, I am still working on knitting the sweater. It's a top-down raglan sweater that will have no seams when I'm finished. The rows are starting to get really long, and I am hoping that the row comes soon when I will split the arms off and just work on the body. (If you didn't understand that, it's because you've never knit one, and that's all right, I share the sweater details for my friends who do knit.) I have finished thirteen books with a collective page count of 4011 for pleasure reading this month. I have four pleasure books in progress. (One on my nightstand, one on my Nook, one on the Nook app on my phone, and one in that room of my home which my family refers to as "the reading room".)

~Marie

Resolution Update

My resolutions for this year are to:

· Graduate from college.
· Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
· Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona.
· Hug my daughter every day.
· Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube.

 

How am I doing?

I'm enrolled in the last classes I need to take in order to graduate. I'm getting grades on my assignments that will net me A's if I can keep it up. The school will take applications for graduation beginning February 1. I intend to fill out the form and submit it by the end of the week.

 

Writing the manuscript will have to wait until after graduation. I plan to fulfill this resolution in November as part of NaNoWriMo.

 

I have a sister getting married in California in June, and plan to celebrate graduation at Disneyland while I am there.

 

I am hugging my daughter every day...even though we are now passing a really bad cold back and forth. I may have to temporarily suspend this until we're no longer contagious.

 

The book trailers, like the manuscript, will have to wait until after graduation.

 

All in all, I'm doing well; working on things in their proper order. Just as a side note, I am also working on knitting a sweater, and I have finished a dozen books with a collective page count of 3819 for pleasure reading this month. I have four pleasure books in progress. (One on my nightstand, one on my Nook, one on the Nook app on my phone, and one in that room of my home which my family refers to as "the reading room".)

 

~Marie