Jen FitzGerald's Blog, page 22

Hello There! *waves*

I've been meaning to post. I've been wanting to post.

But then I sit down to do so and my mind draws a blank. At least for a blog topic, because the reality is...I have a lot swirling around in my brain.

Christmas. Writing. Thanksgiving. 2022 in general. Planning for 2022. Writing. Hockey. Family.

And many combinations there-of. As well as things as mundane as what I'm making for dinner tonight and what our food plans are for the Thanksgiving weekend. Not to mention other personal things that you don't share on the Internet. :0)

Hope you're all well. Hope you're all prepped for Thanksgiving.

We're having lasagna, garlic bread and salad. I'm thinking I need to make pupcakes... we haven't had them for a while.

Sadly, I haven't see my Sonshine in a while, and it's going to be a while longer before I do.

The Brown-Eyed Girl and her Soulmate are staying in CO for the holidays, so it'll be a while before I see them too.

 

DD of course is my hockey partner in crime, and we spend plenty of time together. One of my favorite memories of time shared with her--that still happens and will probably continue to happen--is when we're in the car together (usually driving to or from a hockey game, but also road trips) and listening to music, and a song comes on that we both know and love or is just fun and we both start signing. Last week, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas cycled through my shuffled playlist, of off we went.

I treasure those times with this daughter. 

I'm thankful that I continue to have those times with this daughter who is very tender-hearted, but keeps that side of herself under wraps.

Have a great weekend. Catch you on Monday. I'll brainstorm some ideas and come up with a topic.

 

Thank You, Veterans...

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Charles M. Province

* * * * *

A personal shout out to the Veterans I know:

Dan FitzGerald, Timothy FitzGerald, Charles Spicer, Sharon Spicer

Al Cilley, Lynn Reinke, Charlene Simser

I am grateful.

Keeping Busy...Being Productive

 

Along with my chore chart, which is for personal accomplishments (mostly), I have a to-do list that sits on my desk at work... The same tasks are on it from day to day and then there's another list of things that appear at certain times of the month...

Anyway, the point of this is to say...I broke down a few tasks to very specific details...

For example, I'm creating a series guide for a writer friend of mine. And rather than just saying I'm going to work on it everyday, I've specified that I'll read through fifteen pages each day. It's a measurable thing and I know when I'm done and can move on to another task.

It's been soooo helpful. I'm planning to break as many things down to a doable/measurable amount. The challenge will be figuring out all the things I need to do this for and then finding the time to break them down. But maybe one thing at a time eh?? Measurable! That means I need a list. Another list. Or to find the one I probably started somewhere...

Hope you all had a lovely weekend... I'm almost done with the Christmas shopping. I just need some ideas for my father-in-law, and I'll be done. Then I can sit back and enjoy the season.

The weather has been lovely as it usually is this time of year...and it's good to be alive.

Take care. Catch you later.

It's Beginning to Look A Little Like Christmas...

 

I got my Christmas funding and I started ordering presents...here they are trickling in. :0)

No, the tree isn't up yet, but it may end up getting put up sooner rather than later just because...well... The wrapped presents will need somewhere to be, won't they?

* * * * *

The fam went to see Dune yesterday. DH has been a fan of the franchise since way back. DD just wanted to see it. I played the Dune 2000 PC game for many, many years and wish they'd upgrade the programming to be compatible with current technology. Maybe the success of the film will spur someone into action on the project. (Not that I need the distraction of a video game!).

* * * * *

One of my goals / plans for the next year or two is to learn more about advertising and promotion. And I got invited to a free webinar about using Goodreads...which was quite informative. I've spent several days over the last week getting all my Goodreads ducks in order.

In doing so, I found that seven (!) of my books had been associated with the profile of another Jen Fitzgerald (no capital G!)-- But I was able to reach out to the Goodreads "librarian" group and someone there got everything corrected.

Now to get my upcoming release added. For some reason, Goodreads won't accept the AISN as correct... Might need to reach out to those librarians again. Once the new book is in their system, I'm toying with the idea of a giveaway. It'll cost a bit of money, but the book will get a lot of exposure and hopefully a lot of sales up front as a result...

* * * * *

My chart's working well enough. I'm not completely on track, but I'm getting there. I completed an office chore every day last week, but that's about the only thing I did 100% on. I missed one day of writing, which is fine, really. I needed a little extra sleep, which I don't skimp on anymore. Everything else had two or more misses for various reasons, but each week will show improvement.

Anyway...hope you had a lovely weekend. Weather was gorgeous here in North Texas.

Catch you later in the week.

Getting back on track...

It's time for me to utilize the chart / sticker method again.

As you can see, I have a bit of work to do. There is a task listed for each of those rows, even the one without any stickers in it. Some of these tasks are a bit of a cheat. I'd accomplish them even without the reward of a sticker, but it's helpful to have a show of success in some areas to encourage success in others. It's also a challenge to myself to strive for a better and better percentage.

I knew it would take a week or two. (More likely three. lol) Some things are easier to integrate into the routine than others. Not to mention, I had quite a few carb-laden food stuffs left over from my trip that I'm working to consume. So getting back to better eating habits is taking longer. Of course, the canned goods will last a while, so there's no real rush to eat them. And I could give them away in a canned food drive if one comes along. But the leftover Hershey's Kisses (they were sprinkled across my display tables at the con) have got to get eaten.

I'm trying to get into the daily habit of chores at the office. A few do happen and they're on the list, but adding a few more to get rewarded and solidify the habit.

I haven't instituted a reward yet, but the accomplishments are partly their own reward, but we'll see how it goes.

One of those line items is getting back on the food plan. My weight is back where it should be, but now it's a matter of trimming off the inches I gained. Meaning a KETO intensive for a week or two. :0)

Hope you're all well. Have a super weekend.

What a Home Opener!!

You know what that means...

Dallas Stars Hockey is back and the Stars pulled off a win.

It was super game and the boys did us proud.

Being back at the AAC with a full-capacity crowd was mostly awesome. :0) Awesome because, of course, the crowd yelling "Stars" as one during the National Anthem is amazing. The sound of the goal horn and the cheering of the fans is music to our ears. Just feeling the excitement of the crowd and the all-encompassing reverberation of the whole crowd yelling "Dallas" "Stars" "Dallas" "Stars" after a goal is a unique experience.

It lacked a bit of awesome because we lost the elbow room from when social distancing was in place. But it's time to re-build normalcy. And this was a super start.

They added a new thing, at least for the home opener, but I'm hoping it sticks around--three long sheets of fabric acting as a projection screen:

Of course, we're sat on the wrong side of this one... For most images, it doesn't matter, but it does for the logo!

For opening night they handed out battery powered glow bracelets:

Mostly they glowed green or white, but during the National Anthem, they glowed red and blue.

Normally, I'm all in on just enjoying an experience. I grew up before cell phones, and I don't take a lot of pictures...but...if you're so inclined to get an inkling of what it's like at the AAC, I perfectly-timed hitting record to catch the game winning goal and the resultant crowd response.

It looks as though we have a new group of fellow season ticket holders on our little area and one guy is going to get really annoying really fast. But we'll see how often our paths cross. Not often I hope.

Anyway...

Be Loud. Wear Green. and..

 GO STARS!!!

GRL 2021...

My first author lounge setup...
The author signing setup...

Aaaand...GRL is now in the rear-view mirror.

Overall, the experience was a good one. Between my two author lounges and the book signing, I talked to a lot of people and was able to get a good dozen people to download book one of the Ten Rigs series which is always free.

My roommate and I are friends outside of the conference through fandom/fanfic for the BBC's Robin Hood. She did invite me to attend the con in the first place, back in 2017. It was in Denver that year.

As I've mentioned numerous times, I was reassigned from a storyteller panel to a general author Q&A panel due to life circumstances of two of our original panel members....

The Q&A in and of itself was fine. I never had to go first, so I could contemplate my answers for some of the more thought provoking questions, and I kept from putting my foot in my mouth. On the other hand, only a handful, and by a handful, I mean maybe 10, people were in attendance. Needless to say, I was terribly disappointed. That's not to say it was anyone's fault. I don't lay blame anywhere but on crappy societal circumstances.

GRL will not be on my radar for at least two years. Now that it's off my plate and off my mind for this year, I can devote brain power to planning 2022.

* * * * *

So what's in the forecast for the next year...?

Good question!

I'll be pondering the action items for the following:

finishing the fifth hockey bookplanning / writing the sixth hockey book
planning / writing the next Christmas bookpondering the planning / writing of two new three-book series that are little more than a few vague "what if" ideasdoubling down on learning some aspect of my craft--specifically plottingcoming up with some sort of advertising / marketing plan for my books that won't take a lot of time and won't break the bankand more...

Hope you had a super weekend. Catch you later!

A funny thing happened on the way to St. Louis...

Okay, it really happened before I left, but I didn't realize it until I was halfway there.

So I stopped for the night in Neosho, MO--roughly halfway between Fort Worth and St. Louis--and discovered when I went to take a shower, that I'd forgotten to pack underwear! What with all the duplicate lists I had, I missed this one key item of apparel. Luckily for me there was a WalMart across the highway from the hotel I stayed in, so the issue was easily rectified.

There's some very lovely countryside between here and St. Louis...the eastern part of Oklahoma is mostly cattle country as far as I could tell and I enjoyed the beauty of the Ozarks as well. The foliage had barely, and I mean barely from green to yellow, started turning, but it was so so lovely.

Here are a few images...

This was Tuesday morning..first day out. Gorgeous blue sky as you can see.

My first couple of hours on the road Wednesday morning was filled with low, low clouds and then some rain.

And then some beautiful canyon-like passages in the last couple hours before hitting the outer edges of the city.

My roommate was arriving via Amtrak and I timed my arrival to pick her up. Actually I arrived a little early because, as it happens, the Enterprise Center is right across from the Amtrak Station. :0) Despite not being a fan of the Blues by any stretch of the imagination, I am a hockey fan. I visited the fan store, because of course I did. They didn't have much that wasn't Blues specific, not even hockey pucks, which was a bit disappointing. I did end up buying a cat toy so that Karma could literally tear up the Blues.

They did have some lovely statues out front however...

And that's it for today...more about the actual conference on Monday. Have a great rest of your week.

Home Again, Home Again...

I'll be home again early this afternoon from the Gateway to the West aka St. Louis, Missouri. Had a wonderful time driving through Oklahoma and Missouri, in the city itself, and at my conference. More on all of that to come.

St. Louis is the home of the Arch (see above), the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions (who defeated my Dallas Stars on their way), toasted ravioli (see below), and boatload of history. Did you know that St. Louis was originally a French settlement?? I didn't, but I'm intrigued. I'll read up on that more later.

Had toasted ravioli at the Riverboat Cafe and it was good, fine. Tasty. Very much like a cheese stick, if you ask me, just in a different shape. :0)

 

Now that the conference is over, I can look ahead to the rest of the year and to next year in earnest. More on all of that as well.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Have a great week.

Craft Time

I'll be home sometime this afternoon and then it'll be a nice looong stretch of being home.

Thank goodness. I'm tired.

Of course, hockey season starts this week, but luckily our boys in Victory Green start the season on the road. DD and I are cutting way back on games this season. We've chosen the must-attend games (opening night (of course) favorite opposing teams, bobblehead nights, and the like) and the rest of the tickets will be listed on the secondary market. If they don't sell, we'll go.

Speaking of hockey--I'm sure you missed all my hockey talk, didn't you?--DD and I have some crafts planned.

From last year, wee have these lovely Nutcrackers...

And this year, we found gnomes(!!) while we were out and about trying to get ideas for our annual Stars ornament...

Ornament idea yet to be determined.

Recap and pictures of the conference to come. Hope you had a great week last week and here's to a good week this week.