Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, books, Fiction, fingers, goals, grammar, humor, inspiration, Jansen Schmidt, motivation, On Common Ground, On Hallowed Ground, reading, resolutions, success, words, writers, writing, tagged candles, comfortable, crafts, desk, desk chair, fountains, gentlemen's parlor, incense, ladies parlor, music, office, office space, office supplies, parlor, parlors, private space, scents, sherry, tea, whiskey, writing space, zen on December 9, 2019| 3 Comments »
I kind of have an office now. Sort of. For the past couple of years I’ve been writing either in the kitchen or the basement, neither of which are really conducive for writing. It’s been working, but it’s not comfortable. Or pretty. Sometimes you need pretty.
Posted in authors, awards, blogging, books, Family, Fiction, goals, grammar, Jansen Schmidt, reading, romance, short story, social media, success, words, writers, writing, tagged #amwriting, #writerslife, awards, classes, cliches, computer classes, different, education, learning, membership, seminars, story tropes, tropes, unique, webinars, workshops, writing awards, writing classes, writing groups, writing organizations on October 21, 2019| 4 Comments »
As a writer I’m always challenging myself to learn new things so that I can keep things fresh in my writing. I have this fear of running out of clever new ideas or that somewhere down the road my books might end up coming out looking suspiciously like some of the other books I’d previously written. Or worse yet, like someone else’s book. This popular saying come to mind, “There are no new stories, just new ways of telling them.” I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but most people in the business of writing tend to feel that way. (more…)
Posted in blogging, cancer, Family, friends, goals, humor, inspiration, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, love, motivation, redneck, resolutions, success, writing, tagged don't give up, don't quit, drop out, faith, family, father, fathers, Goalcast, inspired, keep standing, love, On Common Ground, On Hallowed Ground, school, smart, third grade, video, wisdom, wise, wise man, Youtube on September 16, 2019| 4 Comments »
My blog today comes courtesy of YouTube (Goalcast). I didn’t have anything prepared last night so I consulted the internet for inspiration of some sort to share with you and I found this amazing video. It’s long (about 10 minutes), but so worth it. (more…)
Posted in Disney, Disney World, Disneyland, dogs, Family, Fiction, friends, goals, humor, inspiration, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, love, motivation, singing, travel, trivia, vacation, Walt Disney World, writing, tagged best friends, brave, death, Disney, emotions, friendship, Frozen, Genie, grieving, joy, life, life lessons, moods, Mowgli, Mushu, sadness, sidekicks, trivia, Walt Disney, Youtube on August 12, 2019| 7 Comments »
As you all should know by now, I’m sort of a Disney nut. I’d like to think of myself as a Disney aficionado but, whenever I attend any Disney trivia-type things I NEVER score well, so I guess that only makes me a Disney nut. But, I’m okay with that. (more…)
Posted in blogging, Disney, Disney World, Family, Fiction, friends, goals, gratitude journal, health, humor, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, social media, success, travel, vacation, Walt Disney World, writing, tagged complainers, complaining, complaints, Disney, Disney busses, Disney hotels, Facebook, parking, travel, traveling, ungrateful, whiners on May 20, 2019| 11 Comments »
I don’t like perpetual complainers. I don’t understand people who always find something to complain about. I don’t get it. Why go through life looking for the negative stuff? How depressing. How much nicer it is to see the silver lining even in the darkest places. It’s not always easy to see the positive side of things, I get that, but there is always something to be thankful for. The truth is, most of us have some challenges in our lives to deal with. But, we don’t have to harp on them. We all have good things in our lives as well. (more…)
Posted in April, authors, awards, blogging, books, Fiction, friends, goals, grammar, humor, Jansen Schmidt, reading, romance, success, words, writers, writing, tagged awards, contest, finalist, literary award, On Common Ground, please help, please vote, RONE awards, vote, vote for me, western romance, western writers, WILLA Awards, winners, winning, women writers, Women Writing the West, writing contests, writing groups on April 29, 2019| 4 Comments »
That’s right folks, I could very well be a winner in not one, but two contests. A couple of months ago, I entered my book On Common Ground in the Willa Contest. What is the Willa Contest you ask? I’ve never heard of it, you say. Well, neither had I. Here’s the blurb from the Women Writing the West (WWW) website: (more…)
Posted in Amazon.com, authors, blogging, books, Family, Fiction, goals, grammar, humor, Jansen Schmidt, reading, resolutions, short story, social media, success, writers, writing, tagged advertising, authors, books, computers, Facebook, Facebook ads, marketing, marketing plan, novel, photos, photoshop, pixels, sales, software, technology on February 11, 2019| 7 Comments »
So I’ve been spending a LOT of time lately learning how to market my book. For those of you who are not writers, let me just say that when you write “the end,” you’re only about a third of the way done with that story. Next comes rounds of editing and proofreading to get it exactly right and then comes the selling part. This is the hardest, yet most important part. After all, what good is a really good book with an amazing cover if nobody knows how to get their hands on it? (more…)
Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, Family, Fiction, friends, goals, grammar, humor, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, sports, success, words, writers, writing, tagged arm wrestling, being right, compromise, determined, doggedness, giving up, losing, never give up, puzzles, riddles, strong-willed, stubborn, stubbornness, victory, winning on February 4, 2019| 10 Comments »
I have a stubborn streak that I inherited from my father. I admit it. We’re both very strong-willed. But, being stubborn isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re stubborn for the right reasons. I’ve been known to dig my heels in for something that’s important to me, but I also know how to compromise.
Has It Been That Long?
Posted in authors, blogging, Family, Fiction, friends, goals, grammar, humor, Jansen Schmidt, social media, success, words, writers, writing, tagged analytics, blog followers, blogging, blogging anniversary, comments, first blog, followers, history, knickerbocker, new tricks, no way, patterns, technology, titles, words on November 4, 2019| 13 Comments »
While I was composing my blog for this week, I was having trouble coming up with a clever, cute, catchy title. I don’t know why because usually the title is the least of my blogging woes. But, for some reason I just could not decide on a title. So, I decided to scroll back through my previous posts and see if I could see a pattern or find an old post that I could resurrect or change the title a bit. And that’s when I found something I just couldn’t believe!
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