Jennie Marts's Blog
June 30, 2014
Writers Retreats to Beat Writers Block
Being stuck on your current WIP is no fun! Especially if you are on a deadline. It’s even worse if you are a ‘fly-by-the-seat-of-your-Pantser’ and you’re waiting for the story to come to you and your characters voices are deafeningly silent in your ears.
A favorite trick of mine is to set up my own mini-writing-retreat. For me, all a writing retreat needs is a notebook, a purple pen, a Snickers bar, a bag a Cheetos, two Diet Cokes and a quiet place to write. Sometimes I bring my laptop, but that makes it hard because then I get Cheetos-dust on the keyboard.
Changing the place you write and your writing medium are great ways to change-up and often ‘charge-up’ your writing energy. Take a break from your laptop and your desk and change your surroundings. Get a new perspective with a new landscape. Take a blanket and go to a park. Enjoy the breeze as you sit in the grass and write a description of the town where your story is.
Take your laptop to a coffeeshop and get caffeinated and rejuvenated. Pick an interesting person in the coffeeshop to write a quick character sketch on, then find a way to add them into your story. Or write a detailed description of your favorite fun coffee and pastry, then have a character in your book eat or drink the same thing.
Visit a local landmark in your town, sit on a bench and watch tourists mill around. Find a way to add a landmark into the town where your story is. Have your character go on a field trip to it and come up with something that changes them while they are there. Maybe they learn something about the history of their town or find a clue to a long-lost ancestry. Maybe they bump into another character there, or witness a murder, or overhear a robbery plot, or fall in love. I write romantic/comedy/mysteries so my character would probably find a way to do all of those things in the space of an afternoon.
Take an hour retreat and go get a frozen yogurt or an ice cream cone. Sit at a table and write about the taste, the texture, how you feel when you eating the ice cream and then use that in a scene. Even if you don’t use it in a scene—hey, you still got to have ice cream, so I consider that a win-win!
Having a writer’s retreat is simply taking a mental and sometimes physical break from the ordinary way that you write. It’s putting yourself in a different frame of mind, and often a different locale. It can be as quick and easy as taking a break and doing a menial task that lets your mind wander while keeping your body busy doing something else, like taking the dog for a walk or running a sink full of warm sudsy water and hand-washing the dishes. Or, it can be as elaborate as taking a weekend away, and holing up in a hotel with no internet and carryout pizza.
Whatever you do, know that you are not alone and writer’s block is often fleeting. It’s like being in that conversation where you can’t think of that ‘one’ word that would describe it perfectly, as if the word had just vanished from your brain, then on the way home you stop your car to fill up with gas and the word magically pops into your head as you insert your debit card.
Because writing is like that. It is often magical and wonderful and terrifying and terrible. It can make you feel ten feet tall and as small and insignificant as a slug. But those words, those stories are inside of us, just waiting for the right moment to pour free. So grab a pen and some Cheetos and hang on. And just enjoy the ride.
#
Jennie Marts loves to make readers laugh as she weaves stories filled with love, friendship and intrigue. She’s the Kindle Bestselling author of a romantic comedy/mystery series. Follow the Page Turners book club as they search for romance and clues in Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body, Easy Like Sunday Mourning, and the recently released Just Another Maniac Monday. Reviewers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and full of great characters that are “endearing and relatable.”
She writes from the mountains of Colorado where she lives with her husband, two sons, a parakeet, a golden retriever named Cooper and her latest edition, a Sheltie puppy named Maggie.
Jennie is addicted to Diet Coke and adores Cheetos. She loves playing volleyball and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes or friends.
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books , or Twitter at @JennieMarts.
Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and subscribe to her newsletter for the latest on new releases and to find out the current happenings with the Pleasant Valley Page Turners.
A favorite trick of mine is to set up my own mini-writing-retreat. For me, all a writing retreat needs is a notebook, a purple pen, a Snickers bar, a bag a Cheetos, two Diet Cokes and a quiet place to write. Sometimes I bring my laptop, but that makes it hard because then I get Cheetos-dust on the keyboard.
Changing the place you write and your writing medium are great ways to change-up and often ‘charge-up’ your writing energy. Take a break from your laptop and your desk and change your surroundings. Get a new perspective with a new landscape. Take a blanket and go to a park. Enjoy the breeze as you sit in the grass and write a description of the town where your story is.
Take your laptop to a coffeeshop and get caffeinated and rejuvenated. Pick an interesting person in the coffeeshop to write a quick character sketch on, then find a way to add them into your story. Or write a detailed description of your favorite fun coffee and pastry, then have a character in your book eat or drink the same thing.
Visit a local landmark in your town, sit on a bench and watch tourists mill around. Find a way to add a landmark into the town where your story is. Have your character go on a field trip to it and come up with something that changes them while they are there. Maybe they learn something about the history of their town or find a clue to a long-lost ancestry. Maybe they bump into another character there, or witness a murder, or overhear a robbery plot, or fall in love. I write romantic/comedy/mysteries so my character would probably find a way to do all of those things in the space of an afternoon.
Take an hour retreat and go get a frozen yogurt or an ice cream cone. Sit at a table and write about the taste, the texture, how you feel when you eating the ice cream and then use that in a scene. Even if you don’t use it in a scene—hey, you still got to have ice cream, so I consider that a win-win!
Having a writer’s retreat is simply taking a mental and sometimes physical break from the ordinary way that you write. It’s putting yourself in a different frame of mind, and often a different locale. It can be as quick and easy as taking a break and doing a menial task that lets your mind wander while keeping your body busy doing something else, like taking the dog for a walk or running a sink full of warm sudsy water and hand-washing the dishes. Or, it can be as elaborate as taking a weekend away, and holing up in a hotel with no internet and carryout pizza.
Whatever you do, know that you are not alone and writer’s block is often fleeting. It’s like being in that conversation where you can’t think of that ‘one’ word that would describe it perfectly, as if the word had just vanished from your brain, then on the way home you stop your car to fill up with gas and the word magically pops into your head as you insert your debit card.
Because writing is like that. It is often magical and wonderful and terrifying and terrible. It can make you feel ten feet tall and as small and insignificant as a slug. But those words, those stories are inside of us, just waiting for the right moment to pour free. So grab a pen and some Cheetos and hang on. And just enjoy the ride.
#
Jennie Marts loves to make readers laugh as she weaves stories filled with love, friendship and intrigue. She’s the Kindle Bestselling author of a romantic comedy/mystery series. Follow the Page Turners book club as they search for romance and clues in Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body, Easy Like Sunday Mourning, and the recently released Just Another Maniac Monday. Reviewers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and full of great characters that are “endearing and relatable.”
She writes from the mountains of Colorado where she lives with her husband, two sons, a parakeet, a golden retriever named Cooper and her latest edition, a Sheltie puppy named Maggie.
Jennie is addicted to Diet Coke and adores Cheetos. She loves playing volleyball and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes or friends.
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books , or Twitter at @JennieMarts.
Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and subscribe to her newsletter for the latest on new releases and to find out the current happenings with the Pleasant Valley Page Turners.
July 11, 2013
Eavesdrop on an Interview with Jake
Jennie Marts Blog
Hi, my name is Jennie Marts and I am excited to share a little bit with you about my recently released romantic comedy, Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body. My story features an ordinary school teacher named Sunny Vale whose well-meaning friends decide to help her find her Mr. Right.
Sunny considers herself a dog-loving, romance-reading, homebody. But her life goes from dull to deadly when her book club fires her from her own love life and sets her up on six blind dates- one of whom might be with a murderer. More trouble arrives in the dead of night, in the form of Jake Landon, a mysterious stranger, who breaks into her neighbor’s house and possibly her heart. But Jake is packing more than a loaded gun in his well-fitting Levi’s. He brings an arsenal of secrets and plenty of heat to Sunny’s ho-hum summer.
Jake Landon finds himself caught up in the capers of the sexy blonde in the house next door. But he has his own agenda which doesn’t involve playing hero to a curvy second-grade teacher and babysitting her panty-puking puppy. He's got other problems like fiery explosions, a missing person...and a parade of jerks Sunny insists on dating.
Could Sunny’s Mr. Right be right under her nose? Even though Jake is gorgeous, likes her dog, and has abs she can crack an egg on, can she really go out with him if he’s just murdered her next door neighbor?
Today, I am sharing with you a little inside scoop not available in the book. Let's take a peek into the small town of Pleasant Valley, CO, where Janice Tuttlebaum, local reporter has just cornered Jake in the coffeeshop. The whole town is talking about Walter's disappearance and this handsome stranger who has moved into Walter's home. Nobody's nosier than Janice, except maybe Edna, Sunny's 80-year-old neighbor, friend and fellow book club member. Edna has been suspicious of Jake from the start, ever since she saw him sneaking around the night of the -- but I'm giving too much away.
I think Janice is trying to interview Jake now. She certainly has her chair pulled close enough to his to smell his aftershave or sneak a bite of his danish. Let's listen in.....
“This is Janice Tuttlebaum from the Pleasant Valley Times,” she says into a small handheld recorder. She also has a steno pad on the table and is scribbling notes whiles she talks. “I am here today interviewing Jake Landon, the witness who reported our local townsmen, Walter Mead, missing. Jake, what do you know about Mr. Mead's disappearance?”
Jake sighs and folds his newspaper in half. “Not much. I expected him to be here when I arrived in town. It's been several weeks and we really have no idea what happened to him.” He takes a sip of his coffee, then turns the questions to Janice. “How well do you know Walter? What can you tell me about him?”
“Well, he was just the sweetest old man. He fixed my front gate last summer and wouldn't let me pay him a thing. He said his only payment was to have me bake him one of my cherry pies. My pies are prize winning at the county fair every summer. I mean, er.....I will be conducting this interview, Mr. Landon.” Flustered by the attention of this handsome rogue, Janice pats her chest and tries to take back control of the interview. “Exactly what is your relationship with Walter, er...Mr. Mead?”
Jake gives her a mischievous grin. “I'd rather talk about this cherry pie of yours....”
A bell tinkles as the front door opens, and in walks Edna, fanning herself from the summer heat. "Whoo-ee, it's hotter than two rats -- What are you doing here, Mr. Froofroo Coffee? Do you think you have enough whipped cream on that drink?”
Another sigh escapes Jake. “I ran into Ms. Tuttlebaum here while I was getting my coffee, and she asked to interview me for the local paper.”
“Why are you sitting so close together?” Edna asks, as she squeezes a chair in between them. Fluffing her hair, she turns to Janice. “Now, let me tell you, I have been neighbors with Walter for almost twenty years, and I am telling you, I suspect foul play. You work for the paper, what are you doing to find Walter?”
“Well, we...uh...we certainly would cooperate or try to help....wait a minute....doesn't anyone understand I am the reporter here. I ask the questions.”
“Geez, touchy.” Edna turns to Jake. “What did you do to make her mad?”
“Nothing! I don’t even know her. I was just sitting here drinking my coffee, trying to read the paper...”
“Why is she all grouchy then?” Edna asks in a not-so-subtle whisper.
Janice huffs. “I am most certainly not grouchy. Now if you will excuse us, I was trying to conduct an interview, Ms......?”
“Allen. That's with two L's.” Edna looks pointedly at her steno pad, and gives her a conspiratorial wink. “In case you want to quote me.”
The bell tinkles again and Sunny marches in, eyes scanning the store for her neighbor. “Edna, what is taking so long? I've been in the car for 10 minutes...... Oh, hi, Jake. What are you doing here?”
“Evidently NOT drinking coffee, OR reading the paper. I think I'll just take my coffee to go. Bye, Sunny.” Jake nods his goodbye at the women. “See you around. Edna. Nice to meet you, Janice.”
Janice and Sunny watch him walk out the door, both obviously appreciating the view.
Edna taps on the reporter's notebook. “Alright Janice, now we can get down to the real story. If you two could peel your eyes off the man's bum for a minute, I am telling you this guy, Jake, is the real trouble. We don't know where he came from or what he does. I think he's dangerous.”
Sunny scoffs. “Oh Edna, you are always exaggerating! Don't start rumors.”
Janice, now all ears, flips to a new page in her steno notepad, clicks her pen several times then begins taking notes. “Now, Ms Allen, with two L's, you said. What exactly do you mean by danger?”
“Well, now I've got your attention. You might want to wipe that drool off your chin, Janice. Let me tell you about this Jake character....”
“Alright, that's enough.” Sunny says. “Sorry, we don't really know anything about the man.”
“Oh, she's just saying that because she has the hotsie-totsie's for him! If you know what I mean, Janice.” Edna winks at the reporter again, but Janice doesn’t notice as she continues to write furiously.
“What? I do not! What are you writing there?” Sunny cranes her neck to see Janice’s pad. “Quit writing! Edna, I am leaving, so if you want a ride home, you better get your hotsie-totsie out to the car! I don't even want coffee anymore!” She pulls on Edna's purse strap while Edna is making 'call me' miming motions with her hand up to her ear to Janice.
“I gotta go, Janice. But mark my words, this guy might be booty-licious, but there is trouble brewing in Pleasant Valley...”
Well, that’s a small dose of life in Pleasant Valley. For more of the antics of Sunny and her pals, the Pleasant Valley Page Turners, check out ‘Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body, available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle editions.
I am often told that Edna is a favorite character in my book, due to her fun and quirky personality. I would love it if you left a comment about a favorite character you love, in fiction or in real life, that makes you laugh just by thinking about them. Edna is a composite character made up of several older women in my life, but especially, my own grandmother, who always had me stitches.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the book.
Find Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body here: http://amzn.com/B00AQPJ924Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No BodyJennie Marts
Hi, my name is Jennie Marts and I am excited to share a little bit with you about my recently released romantic comedy, Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body. My story features an ordinary school teacher named Sunny Vale whose well-meaning friends decide to help her find her Mr. Right.
Sunny considers herself a dog-loving, romance-reading, homebody. But her life goes from dull to deadly when her book club fires her from her own love life and sets her up on six blind dates- one of whom might be with a murderer. More trouble arrives in the dead of night, in the form of Jake Landon, a mysterious stranger, who breaks into her neighbor’s house and possibly her heart. But Jake is packing more than a loaded gun in his well-fitting Levi’s. He brings an arsenal of secrets and plenty of heat to Sunny’s ho-hum summer.
Jake Landon finds himself caught up in the capers of the sexy blonde in the house next door. But he has his own agenda which doesn’t involve playing hero to a curvy second-grade teacher and babysitting her panty-puking puppy. He's got other problems like fiery explosions, a missing person...and a parade of jerks Sunny insists on dating.
Could Sunny’s Mr. Right be right under her nose? Even though Jake is gorgeous, likes her dog, and has abs she can crack an egg on, can she really go out with him if he’s just murdered her next door neighbor?
Today, I am sharing with you a little inside scoop not available in the book. Let's take a peek into the small town of Pleasant Valley, CO, where Janice Tuttlebaum, local reporter has just cornered Jake in the coffeeshop. The whole town is talking about Walter's disappearance and this handsome stranger who has moved into Walter's home. Nobody's nosier than Janice, except maybe Edna, Sunny's 80-year-old neighbor, friend and fellow book club member. Edna has been suspicious of Jake from the start, ever since she saw him sneaking around the night of the -- but I'm giving too much away.
I think Janice is trying to interview Jake now. She certainly has her chair pulled close enough to his to smell his aftershave or sneak a bite of his danish. Let's listen in.....
“This is Janice Tuttlebaum from the Pleasant Valley Times,” she says into a small handheld recorder. She also has a steno pad on the table and is scribbling notes whiles she talks. “I am here today interviewing Jake Landon, the witness who reported our local townsmen, Walter Mead, missing. Jake, what do you know about Mr. Mead's disappearance?”
Jake sighs and folds his newspaper in half. “Not much. I expected him to be here when I arrived in town. It's been several weeks and we really have no idea what happened to him.” He takes a sip of his coffee, then turns the questions to Janice. “How well do you know Walter? What can you tell me about him?”
“Well, he was just the sweetest old man. He fixed my front gate last summer and wouldn't let me pay him a thing. He said his only payment was to have me bake him one of my cherry pies. My pies are prize winning at the county fair every summer. I mean, er.....I will be conducting this interview, Mr. Landon.” Flustered by the attention of this handsome rogue, Janice pats her chest and tries to take back control of the interview. “Exactly what is your relationship with Walter, er...Mr. Mead?”
Jake gives her a mischievous grin. “I'd rather talk about this cherry pie of yours....”
A bell tinkles as the front door opens, and in walks Edna, fanning herself from the summer heat. "Whoo-ee, it's hotter than two rats -- What are you doing here, Mr. Froofroo Coffee? Do you think you have enough whipped cream on that drink?”
Another sigh escapes Jake. “I ran into Ms. Tuttlebaum here while I was getting my coffee, and she asked to interview me for the local paper.”
“Why are you sitting so close together?” Edna asks, as she squeezes a chair in between them. Fluffing her hair, she turns to Janice. “Now, let me tell you, I have been neighbors with Walter for almost twenty years, and I am telling you, I suspect foul play. You work for the paper, what are you doing to find Walter?”
“Well, we...uh...we certainly would cooperate or try to help....wait a minute....doesn't anyone understand I am the reporter here. I ask the questions.”
“Geez, touchy.” Edna turns to Jake. “What did you do to make her mad?”
“Nothing! I don’t even know her. I was just sitting here drinking my coffee, trying to read the paper...”
“Why is she all grouchy then?” Edna asks in a not-so-subtle whisper.
Janice huffs. “I am most certainly not grouchy. Now if you will excuse us, I was trying to conduct an interview, Ms......?”
“Allen. That's with two L's.” Edna looks pointedly at her steno pad, and gives her a conspiratorial wink. “In case you want to quote me.”
The bell tinkles again and Sunny marches in, eyes scanning the store for her neighbor. “Edna, what is taking so long? I've been in the car for 10 minutes...... Oh, hi, Jake. What are you doing here?”
“Evidently NOT drinking coffee, OR reading the paper. I think I'll just take my coffee to go. Bye, Sunny.” Jake nods his goodbye at the women. “See you around. Edna. Nice to meet you, Janice.”
Janice and Sunny watch him walk out the door, both obviously appreciating the view.
Edna taps on the reporter's notebook. “Alright Janice, now we can get down to the real story. If you two could peel your eyes off the man's bum for a minute, I am telling you this guy, Jake, is the real trouble. We don't know where he came from or what he does. I think he's dangerous.”
Sunny scoffs. “Oh Edna, you are always exaggerating! Don't start rumors.”
Janice, now all ears, flips to a new page in her steno notepad, clicks her pen several times then begins taking notes. “Now, Ms Allen, with two L's, you said. What exactly do you mean by danger?”
“Well, now I've got your attention. You might want to wipe that drool off your chin, Janice. Let me tell you about this Jake character....”
“Alright, that's enough.” Sunny says. “Sorry, we don't really know anything about the man.”
“Oh, she's just saying that because she has the hotsie-totsie's for him! If you know what I mean, Janice.” Edna winks at the reporter again, but Janice doesn’t notice as she continues to write furiously.
“What? I do not! What are you writing there?” Sunny cranes her neck to see Janice’s pad. “Quit writing! Edna, I am leaving, so if you want a ride home, you better get your hotsie-totsie out to the car! I don't even want coffee anymore!” She pulls on Edna's purse strap while Edna is making 'call me' miming motions with her hand up to her ear to Janice.
“I gotta go, Janice. But mark my words, this guy might be booty-licious, but there is trouble brewing in Pleasant Valley...”
Well, that’s a small dose of life in Pleasant Valley. For more of the antics of Sunny and her pals, the Pleasant Valley Page Turners, check out ‘Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body, available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle editions.
I am often told that Edna is a favorite character in my book, due to her fun and quirky personality. I would love it if you left a comment about a favorite character you love, in fiction or in real life, that makes you laugh just by thinking about them. Edna is a composite character made up of several older women in my life, but especially, my own grandmother, who always had me stitches.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the book.
Find Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body here: http://amzn.com/B00AQPJ924Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No BodyJennie Marts
