Jennifer M. Zeiger's Blog, page 16

Stowaway – Act as Crew

Hello amazing readers =)

Welcome back for the second post in the Stowaway adventure. If you’re interested in reading part one, you can find it here.

Or here’s a quick recap: You stowed away on a pirate ship to reach a city where you can get work. A storm, however, forces you out of your hiding spot and into a barrel of potatoes. Now the cook’s chopping up vegetables for a stew and you’re going to be found. Readers voted to act like a new member of the crew.

Let’s see what happens.

Stowaway – Act as Crew

You cradle a small potato in your hands and take a deep breath before bursting out of the barrel.

The cook spins at the sound of the lid clattering against the floor.

“Rat!” you shout, jumping out of the barrel and racing for the companionway with the small potato clutched close like you’re fighting to keep a small rodent from escaping.

For such a large man, the cook moves faster than expected. He shifts in your way and you jump, throwing the potato so it smacks against the wall and disappears in amongst the swinging hammocks.

“I lost it!” you say, trying to race after the “rat.”

A large hand grasps your shoulder. “You shirking y’r duties?”

“Um, no,” you say. “Saw a rat when I came lookin’ below for water to take topside. Crew’ll be thirsty fightin’ this storm.”

He eyes you for an uncomfortable moment, taking in your cut off trousers and bare feet, then your tattered shirt and disheveled hair. Living on the streets looking for work has left you less than presentable, but then, few of the pirates look much better.

He grunts, a suspicious look in his eye. “Wesley’s got the water fer the crew, as is his job. Capt’n promised me a galley hand. Guess he forgot to mention he found one. Go grab some carrots.”

Do you…

Get the Carrots?

or

Insist you’re needed topside?

Thanks for stopping by this week! Leave your vote in the comments below and next Thursday we’ll return to continue the adventure.

Blessings,

Jennifer

(If you enjoy these adventures, check out my newest adventure book, Discarded Dragons!)

The Wave

I grew up riding on the back of my dad’s motorcycle. Besides the obvious wind in the face exhilaration, one of the things I’ve always loved about it is “The Wave.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re on an Indian, Harley, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, or something else, if it’s safe to do so, riders for the most part wave at each other in passing.

I know nothing about the rider going the other way and he or she knows nothing about me, but in that brief moment, we enjoy a connection over our mutual love of riding.

I was thus pleasantly surprised when I learned to sail recently that boaters do the same thing! Just like with riding, it doesn’t matter what kind of craft you’re on, if you’re passing by and it’s safe to do so, you wave, and a moment of connection is shared. I love it.

Do you know of any other activities that do this?

Blessings,

Jennifer

Stowaway

Welcome to a brand new adventure story!

Two weeks ago we finished the Jockey Trouble Adventure. If you’re interested, you can read it here.

Otherwise, let’s jump in and see how the seas are treating us =)

Stowaway

The wooden ship creaks as the heightening waves rock it fore and aft. Panic threatens your stomach as the men, old crew and new alike, shout to be heard over the thundering ocean. It’s going to be a mighty storm and your hiding place under the cabin sole in the bilge might flood in the next few hours.

It’s only supposed to be a day’s journey to Albina, where you hope to find work, but with the storm, your time on the pirate’s ship could be a lot longer. Already your clothes are soaked with sea water that sloshes in the bottom of the ship, so you’ll have to be careful not to leave a trail when you move, but you have to move and soon. And somehow find a spot the pirates won’t find.

They’re unlikely to cook during the storm, you figure, so you decide to aim for the partially empty barrel of potatoes strapped to the wall of the galley. You press the cabin sole upward and peek out. There’s no movement below deck except from the erratic swinging of hammocks. Slipping out into the open, you stumble when the ship heaves and there’s a crack of thunder. You catch yourself on a water barrel and it tilts under your weight. It happens that it wasn’t sealed properly and water splashes out from under the lid, leaving large splotches of water everywhere from your clothing and the barrel.

Guess that works.

You scurry over to the galley. A few tugs at the potato barrel lid—which was sealed properly—and it opens. You climb inside just as voices approach through the companionway.

“Who slopped water everywhere?”

You shrink, hoping the spilled water is enough to hide your trail.

“It’s coming down in sheets,” says another voice. “It’d be easier to ask who didn’t slope water.”

Pressing an eye to the lose slats of the barrel, you spy two men, one lean and angry looking—the captain—and one large enough that he barely fits in the narrow companionway.

The captain growls, and then says, “It’s no time to be in the galley.”

You happen to agree but the large man shakes his head. “I can’t help topside and the men’ll be starving after fightin’ this gale. I’ll just have a nice stew ready to cook when they’s done.” He raises his hands as the captain opens his mouth to protest further. “Now, now. I knows, no fire ‘till we’re steady, but I’s handy with a knife and can do the chopping.”

The captain growls again and stalks away, expertly navigating the rolling ship.

Stew?! Now?!

The cook’ll be coming for potatoes soon. His back’s turned but sneaking out of the barrel’s a huge risk. Maybe you can slide out and tuck yourself behind it and the carrot barrel.

The mountainous cook shuffles around, whistling. The only other option you can think of is acting like one of the new crew. It’s dicey too but there’s a small chance that the cook hasn’t met everyone on the ship yet.

Do you…

Sneak Out?

Or

Act like Crew?

Thanks for stopping by this week. Leave your vote in the comments below and next Thursday we’ll return to continue the adventure.

Blessings,

Jennifer

(If you enjoy these adventures, check out my newest adventure book, Discarded Dragons, that published this month!)

The Learning Curve

As I get older, it seems harder and harder to convince myself to agree to anything that even remotely looks like formal education. If it’s got a test or book learning of any kind, my brain cringes. And yet, I greatly admire those who are older and seek to learn new things with a thirsty vengeance that never says, “I know it all already.” Perhaps because they are older, they value the learning with a depth no teenager can match.

[image error]Sailboat heeled over

Anyway, I try to keep this in mind so that when my husband comes to me with a new learning opportunity—and he inevitably will because he’s an insatiable learner—I can push past the “ugh, classroom” reaction and say “yes” to experiences I will never regret.

The most recent of these opportunities came in the form of a sailing class. Now keep in mind I’ve attempted a number of boat scenes in my writing and I knew actual experience on a boat would trump anything I could read in a book.

My husband came to me and asked, “What do you think about a sailing course instead of a beach vacation this year?”

He’s usually a great salesman but somehow I think he missed the mark on that one.

Anyway, in spite of that rough start, he convinced me. So this last July we spent seven days living and learning on a 43’ sail boat. And there are so many cool, strange, and wonderful things I learned that I look forward to sharing with you. Boating, and sailing in particular, is a whole world unto itself.

Green Navigational Buoy

To wrap up today, I’ll pick one thing that encouraged me about the world at large. There are right-of-way rules just like what we find when driving but imagine, these right-of-way rules encompass all nations that touch the ocean and some that don’t but have large waterways. Admittedly, there are two systems depending on where you’re at in the world, but at one point in time, those rules were agreed upon by dozens of nations and are used for barges, speed boats, sail boats—you name it—today.

How cool is that?!

Blessings,

Jennifer

Debuting Discarded Dragons at Power Comicon

I told readers that I’d start a new pirate adventure today. I’m sorry . I should have looked at my “masterplan,” also known as my schedule, before I said that.

I promise, next week will start the stowaway pirate adventure.

This week, I’m going to have a geek out moment that involves comic conventions and Discarded Dragons. 

Behind the table hanging banner

As many of you  know, I’d never done a convention before this year. I’d had a lot of people mention them, but the closest one I knew of when we lived in Washington state was in Seattle, which was about 4-5 hours away. Now that we’re in South Carolina, I can practically throw a book and hit a convention, or a fair, or a craft show, or… There are so many events to choose from that it’s crazy and crazy cool.

Anyway, earlier in the year I attended a couple conventions and one of the best of them for me was Power Comicon in Florence, SC. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this is the first year they’ve run two conventions and their September date is the bigger event.

Other artists let me know that it’s worth checking out. So of course I had to sign up to attend again. Not only is the September date better known, but Discarded Dragons published this month. It’s perfect timing. So I get to debut the new adventure book at a venue I already like.

I’m also learning small presentation things. As a writer, I want the books to shine, to be what draws people to my table. However, comic conventions are very art heavy. People love looking at the artwork and because of this, their eyes are up, not looking at the tables but at the dozens of pieces of artwork hanging behind many artist’s setups. (Myself included. I loved wandering the artist tables!)

Zeiger Adventure Publishing Table Banner

After finding this out, my husband and I started brainstorming. We came up with a couple banner ideas to help draw people’s eyes. The banners came in late last week. EEEK! Check ’em out! Esther’s artwork for Discarded Dragons worked beautifully to help highlight the books!

Anyway, thanks for “listening” to my ramblings. If you’ve never attended a convention and you enjoy any sort of comic culture, you might check one out. I’ve seen everything from Star Wars, to Disney Princesses, to Bat Man, to David Bowie and that’s just mentioning the costumes, not the artwork.

Blessings,

Jennifer

Power Comicon

Show Date: September 25, 2021

Location: Florence Center 3300 W Radio Dr. Florence, SC 29501

The Birds

Growing up, I knew my grandmother loved birds. She’d make a pheesh, pheesh, pheeshing noise that would get whatever birds were near to look her way. This was cool, but I never understood her fascination with them in the first place.

Jump to years later and I find out that my dad has the same fascination. He’ll see a new bird on the feeders he’s placed around the back yard and grab his binoculars to see what kind of beak it has or what the coloring on its belly looks like. He’ll listen, trying to categorize whether a bird’s call is a wherrring or a chick-a-dee-dee-dee or a trilling. Then he’ll open his nifty guide book and try to match all his observations to a bird.

From spending time with him, I now know a male cardinal’s brilliant red coloring or a hairy wood pecker’s whirring that oddly sounds similar to its pecking on a tree. I find myself eyeing a brown bird with a black beak in order to tell him about it later so we can discover what kind it is. (Brown cow bird. Dad knew this one without even looking it up.) They’re all so beautiful and different.

And I wonder, did I not understand my grandmother’s fascination because one bird was just like another to me and I didn’t know how she was able to figure out new birds? Did I miss out simply because I didn’t ask her questions? What else would I find interesting if I took the time to understand how something works?

Blessings,

Jennifer

(My most recent multi-ending adventure book, Discarded Dragons, published this month. Check it out here on the site or on Amazon!)

Jockey Trouble – Jump Off the Train

Hello Amazing Readers!

It’s time for the last post in the Jockey Trouble Adventure. If you missed part one, two, or three, you can read them or here’s a quick recap:

You and your metal horse, Coaster, were on the train heading to a race, but when you reached your destination and started unloading Coaster, a mouse spooked him and he knocked you out of the car. Then, while you were retrieving an item from beneath the platform, the train started moving again with your horse still on it. Readers decided to jump onto the moving train so as not to lose Coaster.

But when you jumped on, you found a man inside the railcar with Coaster, trying to steal him.

Readers voted to fight the man, but when you attacked, you found he was actually an automaton like Coaster. Coaster kicked him and shut off his systems but it sounds like the automaton is working to restart itself. Readers voted to jump off the train to get away.

Let’s see how this goes!

Jockey Trouble – Jump Off the Train

“Right,” you say to Coaster as the railcar rocks on the tracks and the automaton man’s body twitches like the motion threatens to wake him, “easier to jump.”

Coaster snorts and backs up. There’s not a lot of space above him in the car but with your small size, you gauge it’s just enough. Sliding up over his back, you hug yourself tight to his neck and keep your knees in tight, repositioning the whip you took from the man so it hangs freely from your hip.

Watching the rolling hills pass the open door, you sidestep Coaster so he has a solid step before jumping.

“Time to go.” You give the horse’s side a firm tap with your heel and Coaster takes a step back, then one, two forward, and you brace for the jump from the car. Coaster jerks to a stop and whinnies in anger.

You look to see the automaton man has a hand around Coaster’s fetlock.

Freeing the whip, you snap it down, where it snakes around the automaton’s neck. You don’t expect to choke him, but when you give the whip a hard tug, he lets go of Coaster to free himself.

Coaster takes the opportunity and jumps. The whip wrenches out of your hand and you slide precariously sideways before grabbing tight to Coaster’s harness. The train car disappears from beneath you and you’re in open air.

With a heave, you haul yourself back into the saddle just as Coaster hits the ground and stumbles. The impact travels through his body and into your bones. You’re still processing the shock when Coaster straightens and shakes himself.

The metal horse grunts, sounding satisfied, and takes off running. A look back reveals the automaton man leaning out of the train car but not following.

***

Coaster rests his head over your shoulder, absorbing warmth from your body, as you read the morning paper.

“There’s been a rash of horse thefts,” you tell him. “Many of the horses stolen were supposed to race in the Madon like us. Guess we got lucky.”

Coaster snorts.

“Yeah, I know,” you say. “We’ll move on down the road and find a new race.”

The End

Thank you for joining the Jockey Trouble Adventure! So far these shorter posts are working so I can keep writing on the Hidden Mythics II rough draft, so next week, we’ll see a brand new adventure where you’re a stow-a-way on a pirate ship. Hope to see you there!

Blessings,

Jennifer

(If you enjoy these adventures, check out my newest adventure book, Discarded Dragons, that published this month!)

Forest is too Generic a Term!

I grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The forests there are beautiful, sprawling things with spruce and pine and aspens. When it warms up, the dry heat makes the pine sap fragrant, like a candle but way better.

So at one point in time, I’m not sure when it was, when I was reading a critique about someone’s writing, I was confused by the critique. The person stated that he hated scenes where a person is running through the forest, trying to escape something. His argument was that forests have too much undergrowth for this to work. There’s too much to hack at or get tangled in.

In Colorado, the forests have a ton of open space. Yes, there’s undergrowth, but it’s junipers and aspen sprouts and other bushes. Running through the forest is completely feasible there.

It wasn’t until I moved to Washington and got to explore the state’s gorgeous evergreen forests that I realized how different forests can be. Forest is a very generic term, and depending on your exposure, you might be imagining a very different environment.

Washington’s forests are full of grand furs, pines, douglas furs, sitka spruces and so much more. There’s a temperate rainforest in the state where moss grows thick on things and the trees grow to massive heights. The forest smells like damp wood and evergreen needles. I began to understand, a little, where the critique was coming from. But running through the forest there was still feasible, just a bit more difficult.

Then I moved to South Carolina. Umm, let’s just say things grow so fast down here you can almost see it happening. We cut down a few black walnut trees this last spring and they’re trying to regrow already. Their sprouts are past my waist and the giant limb we trimmed off another oak looks like it’s got a pompom growing out the stump now.

When you head out into the forest here, it’s not just the trees that are growing everywhere. Some say the kudzu vine is trying to eat the south. It might kinda be true, but it’s not the only vine growing down here. (Poison ivy anyone?). Besides the pines – if you haven’t noticed, pines are everywhere in the US – and the oaks and maples and walnuts and mimosas and crepe myrtle trees, there are ferns and vines and bushes and…let’s just say not only would it be hard to run through these forests, you might not want to because there are definitely things that bite back.

Again, the forests here smell different too. There’s so much humidity that everything’s damp. Add to that the swamps and you get the moldering, musty smell of things decomposing, or the earthy scent of disturbed earth and vegetation. Or when the trees are flowering, the heady perfume of mimosas or magnolias. I now understand.

In a much briefer experience, I went four wheeling in a forest in Minnesota once too. You could walk five steps, look back, and have no idea where you came from.

I love these differences and I honestly can’t say if I have a favorite kind of forest. But all of these are great fodder for scene building. For those of you who have read Quaking Soul, you now know where a great deal of my scenes came from.

Blessings,

Jennifer

(My most recent multi-ending adventure book, Discarded Dragons, published this month. Check it out here on the site or on Amazon!)

Jockey Trouble – Fight the Man

Hello Amazing Readers!

It’s time for part three of the Jockey Trouble Adventure story. If you missed part one or two, you can read them or here’s a quick recap:

You and your metal horse, Coaster, were on the train heading to a race, but when you reached your destination and started unloading Coaster, a mouse spooked him and he knocked you out of the car. Then, while you were retrieving an item from beneath the platform, the train started moving again with your horse still on it. Readers decided to jump onto the moving train so as not to lose Coaster.

But when you jumped on, you found a man inside the railcar with Coaster, trying to steal him. You’ve decided to fight the man before he hurts Coaster anymore.

Jockey Trouble – Fight the Man

With the whip and the man’s size, you’re not sure you can take him head on, but if you surprise him, you might just have a chance.

Coaster’s backed into the front corner of the railcar now while the man paces in front of him, which puts the man near the open door as you peer in from the roof. An idea takes form in your head. It’s risky, but you’re an agile person and after thinking it over for a moment, you don’t see a better way.

Gently crawling across the roof, you position yourself directly above the large man, grip the top edge of the open door in an awkward upside down position, and wait. Just as the man turns his back again, you swing into the car, committing fully with your feet sticking out in front of you. At the last second, you let go and sail feet first into the man’s back.

It’s like hitting a rock. He barely moves and you hit the floor on your back.

But his head whips forward enough to head butt the wall, which thuds like Coaster’s hoof hitting it again. He whips around, baring his teeth in rage. It’s then that you see his teeth are made of metal and his eyes whir as they mechanically focus on you. Unlike Coaster’s red gem eyes, this automaton’s eyes narrow using tiny metal plates. You’ve never seen anything like him. Other than his teeth and eyes, he looks human. He steps forward, swinging his arm back to lash the whip at you.

And Coaster rams him solidly in the ribs, or at least where his ribs should be, and his body dents in below his arm. The automaton drops, his systems making small clicking sounds like he’s trying to restart.

You roll off your back and scamper forward, grabbing the whip out of his slack hand. Then you retreat to stand beside Coaster and the metal horse rests his steel head over your shoulder.

“What do we do now?” you ask him. Coaster grunts and stamps a hoof.

“Right,” you say, “either he needs to go or we do. Do we roll him off the train or do we jump off ourselves?”

Roll the Automaton off the Train?

Or

Jump off Yourselves?

Thank you for joining the adventure this week! Leave your vote in the comments below and we’ll return next Thursday to finish this adventure!

Until then, blessings,

Jennifer

(If you enjoy these adventures, check out my newest adventure book, Discarded Dragons, that published this week!)

On a More Personal Note

When I started blogging, I found I really enjoyed interacting with other bloggers. Unlike social media sites, complete strangers seemed to care what kinds of comments they were leaving. Their comments were aimed at starting conversations or connecting with a post and I loved that I could be talking with someone on the opposite side of the world and yet still be connecting over something as simple as how to make tea.

Partner that with my love of writing, and the idea came along to write multi-ending adventure stories that readers were encouraged to chime in on. This avoided the “click away” that would happen on longer stories posted on blogs (It’s hard to jump in the middle of someone’s novel that they’re sharing if you aren’t familiar with their writing to begin with) and still gave me the extra push to write consistently.

So for years I’ve mostly focused on adventure stories and I have a dedicated group of people who participate, which I love. But I’ve noticed something as I’ve been posting other things with the publication of Discarded Dragons. The comments I get on the adventure stories are fun, but not as personal. I miss the interaction from posts and comments that are more personal.

All this to say, I’ll still be writing adventures for my Thursday posts, but I’m going to aim for simple posts for Tuesdays. Something that shows a bit more of the me behind the writing. I’ve tossed around several ideas on what to name these posts but haven’t settled on anything yet. They’ll probably focus on life in general, on all the little things that inspire my writing to begin with. That’s It! That’s the title. All the Little Things.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I look forward to “talking” with you. Feel free to chime in here or on the adventures that post each Thursday. I love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Jennifer

(My newest multi-ending adventure book just published on the 1st. You can check it out here on the site or on Amazon.)