Author: JC Henry

This isn't my first time at the rodeo. Well, actually I have never been to a rodeo. I'm an east coast girl. I write fiction and I want to post it here. In between, there will be essays on other subjects of interests. This is what I tell you all, I'm a mother, a daughter, a feminist, a Christian all these things allow me to write.

Updates November 01-15

Hello,

Thank you for the likes, follows and comments. I truly appreciate it.

This is the official announcement. I am participating in Nanowrimo. I have scrapped the 15,000 words of Star Crossed and will start again with Star Crossed II.  It is a romance between a celebrity changing careers in the entertainment industry and a former celebrity turned artist. Don’t feel bad for those 15,000 words they will show up in the story in another fashion one way or another. It was a difficult decision, but necessary so that I can complete this manuscript. During the days leading up to Nanowrimo, I listened to writing podcasts or watched writing courses on Skill Share. They have been helpful. I especially like Savannah Gilbo, blog post and article on the 6 obligatory scenes in a romance. She has written an obligatory scenes article for every genre. I have focused on the romance.

I have also watched preptober videos on YT by Sarra Canon. She has two channels, Heart Breathings and Sarra Canon. What I learned from her was time management. Sarra Canon has written about 25 YA books. She has a detailed preptober worksheets and suggested how to use them effectively. That can help the busy life-filled writer complete the goals they need to for a better life.

Following some of her suggestion will help me maintain this blog and continue with the goals that I am trying to achieve for the new year.

So that is where I am for the moment. I know in the past I have written about other stories. I might mention some of them in the future.

Reading news, I started to listen to the Forgotten Empires series by Jeffe Kennedy. I started to listen to her podcast First cup of Coffee, last year as a suggestion from L. Penelope. Jeffe Kennedy writes fantasy romance and romantic fantasy, they sound the same but there can be a slight difference. She is also the current president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). She has a lot going on but still finds time to talk about craft and the publishing industry on her podcast. I have not found everything she talks about helpful for me, but I believe it can help other writers on various levels.   The Forgotten Empires series included the Orchid Throne, the Fiery Crown, and the Promised Queen. I think the series can go under the label of romantic fantasy because there is so much happening in that world, besides the female lead and male lead falling in love. The stakes are high in that series but is also has a bittersweet feel to it because so much as gone wrong before. I paused on listening because of Sabbath and to participate in the Nano – live streams over the weekend.

Everyone is getting giddy about November. I don’t feel that way. I am determined to win this year. I have dabbled with this idea for a long time. I want to be in another mode next year when it comes to this story. 

In fear of becoming redundant, I am closing here. I hope this entry finds you doing well.   Go! Writers! Go!

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Short reviews and sundry

A good part of today is that this post was published. It means I am consistent. Something will be posted here, every Wednesday and alternate Mondays.

This is supposed to be a review post. I am going to try to give brief thoughts on a few things I have watched.

I saw the Hulu original series, Only Murders in the Building, starring Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. It was a fun cozy mystery, with a clever cliffhanger. It ensured that we audiences would want a second season.

The next series I watched till the end was Titans on HBOMax. I have never done a deep dive on the show, like read articles about what the showrunner, directors, or writers have to say about the show. I will say they take a lot of potential and do things I didn’t expect. The paths they are taking with the characters and their story arcs are interesting. I used to be more upset because I have since changed my mind on the subject. DC corporate gives the okay to everything the Titans creators put in the stream. The actors do what is in the script. Why am I cringing about someone else’s intellectual property, when I have IP and characters of my own?

The books I’ve read are Vows in Name Only and Secrets of a One Night Stand: A pregnant by the billionaire romance both books are by Naima Simone. The books are from Harlequin and part of the Billionaires of Boston Series. Book 3 is titled the Perfect Fake Date, it will be released at the end of December. When I started to have trouble with the romance story that I am writing. I watched some YT videos on writing. I took a few classes on writing romance offered on Skillshare. Then I started to read or listen to contemporary romances. They have helped me put my work in perspective. There are some things in the manuscript I need to clarify and some things will have to be changed in the revisions. Overall it was a good thing that I took time to read these books and listen to others.

Those are some of the things I have been watching or reading. In the future, I will write about some brief thoughts on some anime and K-dramas. I hope the week has been good so far and continued to get better.

End.

Place Holder 03

Not sure this was stated or if it was implied in previous posts, but place holders will be posted until the new year. Sometime in December the new line up will be explained, however if you have read any of my previous earlier in the year or before, you can guess. The difference will be in the posting.

I hope everyone who is reading this post is doing well. The next update post will be November 1st. The official first day of NaNoWriMo. The Discord and other social media spots will be a blaze with writers of every level, writing or talking about not writing. There will be posts, vlogs and podcasts episodes about participating in this event and not participating. You all my few readers will know where I stand on November 1st.

Until them I am making hard choices. How do you get yourself out of the habit of procrastination? That has been my dilemma for a while, now. My worst fear is the New Year and nothing has changed. I won’t have anything prepared to post. I will be writing an apology essay again. If that happened I might close down this blog for a couple of months. I can’t say forever. Most of my best times in life is when I am writing. I have been looking at elements of short story writing. While listening to author podcast, I heard of the article in the NY Times Who is the Bad Art Friend? It is written by Robert Kolker. I don’t want to explain the whole thing but it is interesting. The article is about narcissism, plagiarism, bad friendships, lawsuits, and the literary writing community. It is a lot. I will say that the article attempted to be as objective as possible. But no matter how you looked at it, you will take a side. This article had many a writing community all a flutter for most of October. I think it came out when I was in Florida. I didn’t know anything until last week. I wrote this comment on a YouTube video about the article and the case. It seems like one person thought they were friends and the other person didn’t feel that way. Mostly because I don’t think real friends act that way with each other, even when they use aspects of their friends’ lives for inspiration. It all comes down to a matter of kindness and none of these adult people knew how to do that.

This week is going to be a busy week and I have a list of thing that have to be done before November 1st. I can no longer avoid them. I thought I had more to write but I am closing here. The Dalai Lama has a quote I like to paraphrase – Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. Please like and subscribe thank you in advance.

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