Tag: writing

Update from Jen

Hey all!

It’s me, your neighborhood not-so-friendly Jen! I figured I haven’t done a more personal blog recently, so I thought it was time to update you guys! Cause you guys are the best readers ever.

So, some exciting things. I’ve been working a lot. I work at a little store called The British Pedlar. We sell imported British food, candy, and gifts. I like it. I get to work on WatL stuff all day and eat yummy candy. I’m slowly but surely trying everything. My favorite is the Mr. Kipling Mini Battenbergs. They’re soooo good! They are little squares of sponge cake with apricot filling wrapped in marzipan covered in sugar. I wasn’t sure I would like them, now I’m addicted. I also really liked the Cadbury Twirls. If anyone in our readerverse has tried the Cadbury Flake bar, this is basically a Flake covered in more chocolate. For those who don’t know what a Flake is, it’s a very crumbly chocolate bar. It’s really good. You should try it. Anyway, work is fun.

I love being able to work on my MacBook Pro. I feel like a real writer! I’ve got it all loaded up with awesome programs such as Calibre (see my review of that awesome program here), Word, Kindle, and iBooks. I also have Adobe Creative Cloud, which has Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and others. My new desktop iMac also has these programs, as I use them so often. I do all of the Quotes of the Week in Photoshop using images marked “for non-commercial use with modification” on Google Images. I love playing around with Photoshop. I added the text to our story “Uncovering the Phantom” in Photoshop.

Oh! Speaking of “Uncovering the Phantom!” The cover is finally finished. I had been looking through Google Images for the perfect picture and I stumbled on this one Etsy seller who had these amazing pictures of women in Victorian dresses that she made. I consulted with K. Leigh and Cym to see if they liked the photos, then immediately messaged the seller. She said that we could use her image, even modified, as long as we give credit. So, next came the task of finding someone to edit it. I had asked some friends to do it, but they got too busy to finish. So I asked my fiance James if he could edit it, and boy does it look nice! I can’t wait for you guys to see it, but it’ll probably be after the fourth part of the story since it pertains to a plot twist.

Now, we hope to publish the first part of the story soon. I have just finished writing the next part of the story, which contains the twist. We really hope you like what we’ve done with our Round Robin writing. It’s interesting to do since you never know what the other writers are going to do with what you’ve written. We have done it a little bit differently, as we have done a slight outline so that we know where the story was going. However, all of the details are all Round Robin-ed. You guys should like it. If you’re a Phantom fan, you should love it.

One thing that I am excited about is coming up on the 23rd-25th. It’s called Pensacon, which is the shortened version of Pensacola Comicon. The past two years I have volunteered as a Celebrity Handler, which is the most awesome job ever. Basically, I get to sit with a celebrity for the entire time I am working. I take the money from the customers and take photographs of the celeb with the customer. I got put on this team because I cannot stand for a long period of time due to my knee problems, but I absolutely love it! The first year I got to sit with Maximiliano Hernandez, who played Agent Jasper Sitwell in the Marvel-verse. He was awesome and insisted on signing everything I had for nothing. He was so incredibly nice. The second year I wanted to sit with Sean Maher, who played Simon Tam on Firefly/Serenity. However, since he was only going to be there two days and I volunteered for 3, they asked who else I would like to sit with. I threw out Sylvester McCoy, figuring that he was taken but it didn’t hurt to try. I was lucky and they sat me with him. If you’re not familiar with him, he played the 7th Doctor on “Doctor Who.” I was worried because he didn’t seem to want to be there, but it turned out he was just jet lagged and he turned out to be the sweetest man! He signed a picture for me for nothing. This year I’m crossing my fingers to sit with Dacre Stoker. Now, that name may sound familiar because he’s the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, who wrote “Dracula.” Yes, that Dracula. As an English/Writing Arts graduate, I have a deep need to sit and talk with this man. Not only because of his relatives but because he, too, has written his own Dracula novel, titled “Dracula the Un-Dead.” So yeah, here’s hoping. Cross your fingers for me!

Now that I’ve rambled on for what seems like forever, I suppose I should stop. Keep a lookout for the first installment of “Uncovering the Phantom,” as that should be up soon!

-Jen

bram stoker, dacre stoker, doctor who, dracula, dracula the un-dead, english major, firefly, illustrator, indesign, mac, macbook pro, Marvel, max hernandez, pensacon, photoshop, round robin, round robin writing, sean maher, serenity, story, sylvester mccoy, uncovering the phantom, writing, writing art major

I have a problem. A pen and paper problem.

So this post is about two of my obsessions: pens and paper. Two of the tools of the trade for a writer. However, even though I am a writer, I have taken it to the extremes.

One day, upon browsing Facebook, I saw an ad for the new Pentel EnerGel Alloy pens. I absolutely fell in love with the powder blue one that was in the advert. I went to Walmart, where they were supposed to be, but they only had the black and silver ones. I did manage to find it on Amazon along with “sky blue” refills. I read a lot about how the ink dried so quickly that “even lefties loved it,” and boy does it write well. The total for the pen and the refills was about $25. Yes, I spent that much just for a pen.

A few days later I was looking for a specific notebook that I know I have somewhere. It’s the Five Star Flex, which is a notebook with three binder-like prongs so that you can add more paper. It essentially acts as a binder with non-metal holders. However, I couldn’t find it for the life of me. Well, I found one, but not the one I was looking for. I looked online for another one, but I couldn’t decide between 1″ or 1.5″. I looked on the Mead website to see what their purchase options were when I found that they had a 1″ with a customizable cover. As this was a notebook intended for stories for this page, I wanted to be able to switch it all out. So, I bought the customizable cover notebook for about $18. Again, yeah, I’m crazy.

I should probably talk about my problem now. I love pens. I have a drawer that is full of pens with just plain black or blue ink. I have a shoebox where I have my colorful pens. They are standing up and the box is full. I like all sorts of pens. From very fine-tipped to bold, from felt-tip to ballpoint, even to fountain and dip pens. I even have two glass dip pens. Yeah, I love pens.

I also love paper. And notebooks. I have so many notebooks with nothing in them that were all “intended for use.” My favorite notebooks are the ones made of what is called “rock paper.” It is very soft paper, rather thick, and it’s almost orgasmic to write on. However, it’s best to write it with a ballpoint pen, as gel pens don’t absorb into the paper as well as it does regular paper. I also love thicker paper. I have 20lb college-ruled filler paper that I bought at Office Depot a while ago. I had bought one ream, then when I realized how much I liked it, I went back and bought more. I removed the paper that came in the Flex notebook and filled it with my 20lb filler paper.

With the gorgeous pen and perfect notebook, it’s an ideal environment for me to write. I like to write things out by hand before typing them, especially with stories, so I needed a notebook for our stories. I think I’ve found the perfect combination.

 

To get your own EnerGel Alloy, go here.

To get your own Five Star Flex notebook, go here.

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Recovering from Mental Health Concerns

Around the holidays, many people get what’s known as “seasonal depression.” I happen to be one of those people, however, I do have bouts of depression at other times as well. I have not been mentally present/focused in any aspect of my life right now, to be honest.

I am starting to break through and get back to being the self I like to be. I know other people are struggling more than I am and I hope they can fight it and recover, but I don’t want solely talk about this because there are plenty of blogs that have more helpful insight than I do.

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Continue reading

Hi from the Admin Team!!

Hey everyone, it’s Jen! I just wanted to give you guys a little update on what we have in store for you.

If you’ve been browsing the website, you’ll see that our Phantom of the Opera story has a name: “Uncovering the Phantom”! We are currently working on the first few chapters which you will hopefully be able to read within the next few weeks. The story will be updated every other week after launch, and please don’t hesitate to comment after you read a section. We love comments!

If you’ve been following us on social media, you’ll see we’ve been updating our Quote of the Week and our reviews. We’ve got movie reviews, book reviews, electronic reviews, and more!

We hope you like the content we provide. We try to keep updated regularly and with interesting content.

We would also love to hear from you guys! Don’t be afraid to leave comments, as any and all are greatly appreciated!

-Jen

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