Jessica Samuels's Blog, page 21

Behind the Scenes!

An idea came to me this morning, and I loved it so much I had to do it since it was so good. It all started with me wanting to write my journey of writing Fang and Fur of Love every step of the way from idea to published piece to everything in between. It’s something I want to do for readers, and I definitely want to make it into a paperback I love it so much. It’s something I’ve never seen done, and it’s better to show then tell anyway. I don’t know how long it’s going to take though since it’s a big project. I can do a few short ones for the books already out. I plan on doing a long one for Fur and Fang of Love. I got excited about it too since it actually seemed like a fun idea. I wanted to make a fun behind the scenes book for readers to read. It’s going to be interesting to see how it turns out. It will go over everything from how I got the idea, the research I used for it which included hours of watching reality television. (Part of the reason why I love writing.) It’s a huge thing for me too since it has never been done before. I can even include maps in the book like of the house, and even character sheets. I think it will be helpful for writers too, and they can see how other writers write their books. It’s not going to be easy though, and you can totally see how hard it is to decide if you want to go on this path or not. For me it’s something I want to do for a very long time. I even got a separate notebook for everything, and it’s going to be a fun ride. Until next time,
Wolfdreamer25

New Ideas Abound….

The one good thing about publishing yourself is the ability of control. I know I’ve been bad lately over finishing projects I start them and stop them just as quickly. There is no deadline by a publisher, and sometimes it rocks since I can decide what I want to write, and when I want to finish it. The thing that has been going through my head lately is to write a few non fiction books, and one will be about my experiences working retail. I can write about what to expect, how to not treat people, the ways you can piss off a cashier, and even tell people some real life stories about what actually happened to me. There are a few complaints I’ve dealt with in the past 4 years. Not many since I try to be nice when I can. I’ve made the most screw ups the first year of retail. I didn’t know what to expect and I learned as I go. It’s something I want to do because not many people starting know what to expect, and it will be a fun guide too.  I also wanted to make a guide on self-publishing like I did and how I got my publisher too. I’m still learning though, and it was a fun process. You never realize how much work something is until you experience it yourself there are also a ton of books out there on it. I’ve read a lot and I will definitely review the best ones on my blog. I also have a ton of writing books to read, and I learn something new each time I read one. Reading books like that is good for the mind since it keeps you going. I’ve learned the importance of networking and how word of mouth happens. People are really more likely to buy your book if they know you. Networking with other authors works as well, and it helps if you have a team so they can guide you through the process. I’ve been on this road for 5 years, and I’m still learning more as I go along. 
Until next time,

Wolfdreamer25

If You Want Good Service be a Good Customer:

The world we live in is really discouraging sometimes especially when you work retail. I’m not saying where I work, but I do work as a sales associate. This was my first job working with the public, and after working it for four years with no opportunity to move up you get discouraged easily. I love the people I work with in my area, and I do love some of the shorter shifts since people are easier to deal with in small amounts. It can really get to me though when I’m trying to be nice to a customer and all they are giving me is yelling and bitching in return. That is the part I hate about the job. I love fixing watches and putting batteries in, even putting up clothes and freight is fun. Zoning isn’t too bad either since it’s just straightening up clothes. Cashiering in the main registers can be a pain since I’m treated like crap when everything goes wrong. Somehow it is all my fault even though all I do is ring it up. If something is mislabeled it’s my fault too. Meanwhile, we are so short handed we worked like dogs, and people wonder why we have bad attitudes when serving them. Already overworked and it doesn’t help when you act like an asshole toward us when it’s not our faults…I don’t control the prices in the system. It’s not my fault if it rings up a different price in another department. Just because I work at that place doesn’t mean I know where every item is, and if I try to help you don’t get mad if I can’t tell you the exact place where it is. If I work in a department then I’ll only be familiar with items in that area, and not others. By the way I hate people who talk on the phone while I’m serving them it’s rude and disrespectful. Finish your conversation then talk to me. I don’t need to hear your business either. I also don’t need to hear your entire life story because I really could care less about it. Return policy is the policy and I’m not breaking it since I don’t want to get fired for someone I don’t know. I’m also tired of being blamed of things going wrong with the register. I have no control over it either so stop acting like I do. I’m also tired of getting talked down to like I’m stupid because of where I work.  I graduated high school, got an associates, and I’m getting a Bachelors so I can get out of retail. I’m trying to better myself, and even write novels on the side. It will be a full time job the more I write and publish. Stop repeating my name a few times like we are best friends when you don’t know me. One customer kept saying my name so much I almost asked her to stop. Also stop acting like you’ve never used a debit card before, and getting me to help you with it. You should know by now how to use a card. Wait your turn, and don’t be rude to ask me a quick question especially when you know I’m with someone else. It can be applied to all retail stores, and I’m not the only one who feels this way. The people who work retail will totally understand what I’m saying. I’m even working on a few stories that involved working in a retail store since it still amazes me the way people behave there. Retail associates try to smile and say hi. There are ones who are nice and smile back, but a lot of the time they ignore you. They also have a bad habit of saying item and then not even treating the associate like a person. Be nice and say hi then item. Don’t just say item and that’s it cause it makes you look like an asshole. Different stores carry different items, and no items are not all the same. I’ve seen it before different stores have different brands and prices. If you get mad and say, “Well if you wont break policy for me I’ll go to your competitor.” Then go no one is stopping you. In fact the company doesn’t need your business especially if you act like an asshole. All in all, just act like a nice human being. Treat retail workers with respect and be understanding. Don’t yell at them over things they have no control over, and above all try to be a decent human being. They are trying the best they can especially when half of the time they are shorthanded and doing the best they can to give you the best customer service possible.  
In other news I’m going to school in a few weeks and it led me to only working three days a week. I’m happy about it since it means I can get more writing done. I’m going to school Tues-Thurs. Monday is a free day. I’m going to try to finish #AngelWitch in the next few months. My problem is I’m focusing on too many projects at once not good. I won't finish anything doing that. 
Until next time, 
Wolfdreamer25


Ps. If you have worked retail or working retail let me know what you think of it. I might make more posts like this. If I missed anything just say so in the comments below. I hope you enjoyed the article I wrote. I really don’t mind the job, and I was just talking about some of the things that made me mad about it. 

Looking back on 2015….

I know I did a post about my 2016 goals, but I never talked about the events of this year. It’s been a wild ride for me since I broke off a relationship in February to someone who I thought I would last a while with. Not the case since he tried to cheat on me, and lied about everything. I could not trust him at all after it happened because I would be wondering what else he is lying to me about, and who else he is talking to. Not something I want to do, and I started dating someone else since March 7th. It will be a year come March 2016 that we have been dating. Longer then anyone else. I have to say I’m more happier now then I was in the last since I actually see him. It was also the time I went to Disney for Spring Break, and I loved every minute of it. I’ve also had not one but two paperbacks out, and I got my first contract with a publishing house. Not many people have that opportunity, and I’m thankful that I did. It’s been a wild ride, and I hope to publish more in the coming year. I now got my gpa up to a 2.5 which is a great start to the new year. By the end of it I will have most of my classes done, and I will graduate Spring 2017. I hope my life will only get better, and I’ll end up leaving my retail job to write full time. It might not happen, but a girl can dream….
Write on,

Wolfdreamer25

Part 2 of my Novel Writing Posts: To Outline or not to Outline? Novel Planning….

Now that you have the stuff to write a novel time to get to business. The next step is planning a story if you are an outliner. They can help you out if you get stuck. On the other hand it can help you with knowing where you are going with your story. I’m at the outline phase with some of my novels, and I do have some chapters written. The outline will help with character story, and plotting events that you want to happen. You can use it to get from point A to point B.  It can also hinder you especially when your story takes a different turn and it’s not the outline. It can happen especially when the story is strong enough to the point where it takes over your head. I know I’ve used some notes, and some of them happen when I write the actual draft. You can also use a bullet list to outline your story of events that happen, events you want to happen, and even beyond that book. I use notes more then a rigid outline since it works for me more then a straight up document. I also have them in several different notebooks since I write on the go which is not recommended. It’s not easy to keep track of them either. I do recommend keeping them all in one place. You can even keep separate notebooks for different aspects of your story if you want to plan the story world. You can have a separate one for characters, events in a certain book, world events, and the possibilities are endless. You can have certain aspects of your story on separate documents too. There are various character sheets to help you write down the basic stats for your character. I’ve filled out these before and it helped me come up with their story, and the events that will happen next. It’s a toss up since I love to outline and write a general page of what will happen in the story, and on the other it can change too depending on the story. It also depends on the novel since short stories and novellas really don’t need an outline. The longer novels do. There are even various books out there that have worksheets you can fill out to help you outline your novel. Writer’s Digest has a ton of information on using worksheets to outline your novel, and even Amazon has a ton of books that will help with it as well. It can also reduce the amount of time you spend writing and it will give you a clear idea of where you are headed next. As a way of outlining your story you can summarize it instead of using bullet points to hit the major events in you novel. You can use a map to outline by going chapter versus chapter. Free writing is also another way to help. Also once you outline and get on a roll it will be easy to outline the entire novel from start to finish. It can be hard though so you might want to break it down into chapters to make it easier on you. 
All in all, whether you want to outline or not, it can help you with not getting stuck during the novel writing process. My last advice is do what makes you comfortable and above all have fun! This is just a rough draft, and not the final copy. 
Until next time,

Wolfdreamer25  

Updates, WIP Updates, and 2015 Look backs!

I’m on my break for school until January 19th, and I got my 2.5 which means I’m now taking my upper level Mass Communications classes. This will be exciting and I’m going to school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The classes are: Reporting For Print And Web, Graphics For Journalism, Intro To Broadcast Writing, and Audio & Video Journalism. They will be interesting to take, and it means I’m 3 semesters away from graduating which will be Spring 2017. I’m happy to finally be done with school soon. The Killer Contract Agency is out and I have a book trailer out for it. It’s been a long journey, and in the mean time I have some projects I will be working on since I have time off to kill. A Witchy Beginning will be worked on as well as AngelWitch, and I have some ideas for Fang and Fur of Love too. It’s good to have time off sometimes since I need to stop stressing about school. I was worried for the longest time that I was going to be behind, but I’m not. I’m only working the weekends which will be good for my mind. I can’t handle not having enough time to study for school. I figured I would give myself more time to study, and I will be a full time student and writer. These classes also means I can make my writing better as well as my Youtube videos. I’ve already planned out some of the other videos I want to do.  2015 is coming to a close leaving me to ponder where I’m headed next. I want to publish and write more novels too. I also want to find a way to write full time instead of working retail by the end of next year. I’m sick of not dedicating enough time to my writing too. I know what I want to do the rest of my life, and it’s not sitting behind a counter while people stare and laugh at me. I want it to be the year for me to make a living writing. I have a plan to release more novels, and write more. I’ll make it a daily habit. I plan on self-publishing and working with a publisher.  AngelWitch word count is 15,162. I still have more to go on that, but half way done since I have to make the angel witch ceremony after she has lunch with her dad, the last few weeks at work scenes, and the one where Zack is defeated. There will be romance in it, and it’s a new adult paranormal romance too. I love writing it, and it allows me to explore the angel realm. I hope to finish it this year. Then it needs editing and beta reading before a final polish then done. I still can’t decide on if I want to make it a series or not, and I want to write all three Scarlet books and publish them myself. It’s going to be my year, and I can’t wait to put it all into practice.
Until next time,

Wolfdreamer25 

#MREMondays Menu 4 Pork Sausage with Gravy

Welcome to another MRE Monday post, and after a hiatus I’m back. I have not been doing them lately due to school, but with winter break upon us I can get back to reviewing again. I’ve gotten some positive feedback and a few negative ones. I know that soldiers are issued these rations out on the field and only eat them if necessary.They can be issued for training events, taking a long bus ride or plane. If it’s that or starvation I would take them over dying any day. 
The contents of this MRE consist of Pork Sausage in a creamy gravy, granola with milk and blueberries. Matches, Towellette, toilet paper, sugar, coffee, salt, creamer, crackers, toaster pastry frosted brown sugar, cheese spread, beverage based lime powder, spoon, ration heater, and beverage bag.  
The actual entree was fine, but I would never eat it again. The granola with milk and blueberries were fine. I liked the crackers and the pastry more, and it’s one of those res that would make a good breakfast if you can get past the metal taste. MRES are not practical for everyday use though, and are supposed to be used when necessary. They have no choice when they eat these, and they are bad for your colon which is why they are issued to 1 or 2 per day. Not one of my favorite MRES. I loved the Brisket, BeefRoast, Beef Stew and even the Asian Strips are good. At least they have regular food in the morning and a regular dinner. They are only issued at lunch, and I know because I’m dating someone in the army. They have to go through a lot, and I admire them for being able to handle it. I would suggest you use these for camping or if you have ran out of food. 
Until next time,

Wolfdreamer25 

How to Write a Novel Part 1:

I have been writing for a while, and I have several novels under my belt at this point. I woke up this morning, and thought I should write a series of blog posts about it because I want to share my wisdom with others. I also want to have some fun with it since it’s the best job in the entire world. I never really fit in to the rest of the jobs, and forget being a doctor, lawyer, or nurse. I suck at math, and I’ve always been a writer since the first grade. I want to write about my experience with the entire process, and even write some posts about the books I’ve found on the subject of writing. I’ll even film Youtube videos about it too.
I have three days off a week till January 19th since this is the last day of the semester for me. I took my last final, and all I have left is to turn in a portfolio. I might even post some of my essays on my blog too.
This is part one and the first thing I talk about is the stuff you will need in order to even start writing a book. This is geared toward fiction by the way.1.   Your imagination: This is essential since no one wants to read a boring book, and be sure to use it to use the what if scenarios.2.   Pencil, Pen and Paper: You need something to write and type your ideas down, and if you have a pencil you can even erase things that are not working. Paper is useful too, and I first write by hand then type it up. 3.   Laptop needs a word processor or document writing software to save your work. You can also take this with you everywhere, and even useful to have while you are on a long boring trip. Laptops can be a place to type up your novel if you want to type it up instead of write it. 4.   Jump drive: If you are using a laptop then you want to back up your work in case something happens. There are free places to save it like Google Drive, ICloud, and Skydrive. Even Dropbox can work. It’s useful to have if you don’t own a personal computer or have to use a public place. 5.   A drink that includes caffeine, energy drinks, coffee, and sometimes alcohol. Whatever keeps you going to put pen to paper. Tea and soda can be used too. Just something to hydrate you while you are writing or typing. 6.   Passion: It’s not easy to write a book, and you do have to love what you are doing since it’s not easy. Believe me there are times when I wanted to say fuck it and stop. I didn’t and it’s what kept me going even in the face of rejection and everything else. 7.   A stable surface believe me you don’t want the pen or laptop flying everywhere. 8.   Snacks nothing kills the writing vibe more than being hungry. I can’t write when I’m starving either. 9.   Time: This is very important since it takes time to write a novel even if it’s ten minutes a day. If it’s something you love definitely make time for it. 10.                  Notebooks: It’s so important to use since it keeps track of everything.
These are just some of the basics, and there is more to add to it. These are just ten of the things you will need to start out with. The next time I can talk about outlining some, and even give you some ideas of what to write about.
What else would you need to write a novel?
Until next time,

Wolfdreamer25

Be Nice To Retail Workers This Holiday Season!

I work retail and now that the holidays are upon us the people are actually starting to get nastier. I get it you are trying to find the perfect item and we have ran out of stock therefore ruining your Holidays, and it’s all out fault for running out. Then again you could have shopped earlier instead of waiting till the last minute, or called the store before wasting your gas to drive all the way to the store to find out that we are out of it. I also get the fact that you are in a hurry, and have to be somewhere so why are you waiting in a long line when you have places to be. Shop earlier when you are not in a hurry. And stop saying that it’s free every time it does not scan. It’s an old joke and it makes you sound like an asshole. I’ve heard it so many times I hate hearing it.  If we have a small selection then I hear is this all you have? Yes, it is and no we don’t carry it anywhere else in the store. No, we don’t have it in the back at all unless we are over stocked. No, you don’t get a discount especially when you are rude. Not all of us are going to smile all the time. Why? I try to smile at every customer and then I get ignored or given dirty looks like they think they are beneath me because I work there. I even said excuse me the other day and the lady glares at me like I was in her way. Whatever. I also get mad when people give me an attitude because of the fact that I don’t know where everything in the store is especially when I don’t work in that area.  I’ve had a lady the other day look at me like an idiot because I told her the books are in electronics and she made the gesture of opening a book to explain to me you know books? She said like I didn’t read or know what one was. I’m an author I read books and I write books. That’s another thing I’m sick of since not all people who work retail are stupid, high school drop outs like some of the people who don’t work retail think they are. We are humans we have feelings. We don’t control all aspects of the register. If your card gets declined it’s not our fault it can be the banks, but don't blame us for it when we just scan items and bag it. We don’t control the prices either and we don’t know the prices of every item in stock either. A lady actually accused me of changing the price of the printer ink when I don’t work there, and then had the audacity to say I’m dishonest. Giving me a lecture when I didn’t do shit. No, I don’t know when we will get more of an item in unless I have a barcode to look it up, and even then I don’t know when it will come in since I don’t have control of it. The company send stuff and we put it up. That is it, and I’m sick of the customers getting mad if we don’t have an item that another store carries since different stores carry different products. Well, you had this item a few years ago…We don’t have it now because items changes and some items are discontinued and again something we don’t control the companies do. Well, the other store did this…then go to the other store and let them do it. Also waiting in line for a few minutes is not going to kill you, and stop getting mad when you have to wait for assistance since a lot of workers are cross trained in multiple departments which means we are assisting customers in that area. And stop interrupting other customers if you see us helping another customer it’s rude. And for the love of god don’t be on your phone while we are helping you it’s rude, and you are acting like we are not worth your time. Plus, if you talk on the phone while we are assisting you then you might miss out on something we asked you. Then you get mad about it since you were yapping on your phone instead of paying attention. Also, if the computer makes a mistake then tell us nicely, and we will correct it but don’t be rude about it.    These are just somethings I thought about. Please try to be nice and have patience. It’s busy for all of us, and we are running ragged trying to help everyone. Every person is fighting something you know nothing about. They really don’t need to be treated like dirt so you can get your way. Try to at least act like a decent human being toward the person behind the counter, and prove to them that not all customers are mean and rude.  These are just some of the things I have personally dealt with, and all opinions are my own. I might have more posts on this subject and I hope you enjoyed a look into the life of a retail worker.
Until Next Time,
Wolfdreamer25

#NaNoWriMo is over….

Unfortunately, I didn’t make the goal of getting to 50,000 words by the end of the month. It’s okay though since I was more distracted with school coming to an end and the release of my novel. There is a book blitz going on which is awesome since I’ve never had one before. I’m also on my last week of school which is awesome since it means I get 5 or 6 weeks off of school which means Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays will be free days. It’s going to be exciting since I can film more videos and make my #Booktube channel take off more. I’ve been bad with that and writing since I really need to do well in school. Once it’s over however it gives me a ton of free time to write. I’m on a roll with #AngelWitch and going to write a story with Midnight Starr which will talk about how she goes to a family reunion and then tries to bust Viper he evil ex-fiancee. It’s her then fiancée and it’s how it unravels and leads to her auditioning for Fur and Fang of Love. I really missed playing in my worlds. It kind of sucks when you let everything distract you from something you love doing. I love to write and I can’t imagine a better career for me. I plan on writing and publishing more too especially when I have more time. I plan on making a video about my book as soon as I get a copy so look for that, and there will be more #Booktube videos as I decide what tags to do and organize my books to do them. I’m definitely going to work on my room over break to organize my books to do videos on my favorite ones. It’s time for me to get my butt in gear when it comes to certain things. I hope I can do it, and that’s all for now.Until next time, Wolfdreamer25