Put perspective in its place

Posted on May 23, 2016 by janelleevans

Our perspective taints every situation, affecting how we process people and events. Is that person in the corner at a party stuck-up or shy? Can you see how your initial perspective would influence your reaction? If you feel they’re stuck-up you would avoid them, if shy, you’d probably make a more concerted effort to include. Yet, neither might be the real reason they are in the corner—maybe they’re coming down with a cold, and not feeling well.

Having a perspective is neither good nor bad, it just is. It’s an innate part of our makeup that is influenced greatly by our experiences, so don’t bother wasting time trying to get rid of it. Instead, learn to accept that your initial reaction to a person or situation might be wrong, so don’t cling to it. The difference between a smile and a smirk might be all in your head.

Posted in Things I wish I would have known when I was 15. | Leave a comment

Mmm…the Jeep scene in Rory’s Choice: Consequences

Posted on May 16, 2016 by janelleevans

As a writer I’ve been told more than once it’s best to write what you know, so many of the scenes in the Rory’s Choice novels come from events that actually happened to me in my teenage years.

One of my favorite ones in book two, Rory Choice: Consequences, is the scene where Jake lets Rory drive his Jeep.

“You can drive a clutch, right?”

Not really is what she should have said, but I hadn’t said that either years ago when the young man I’d been crushing on for months asked me if I wanted to drive his Mustang. Though the boy never did come to see me as anything more than a friend, he did let me drive his Mustang enough times that I learned how to drive a manual transmission without killing it at every stop. Sadly, it took many, MANY driving lessons for me to accomplish that. I can still see his gritted smiles through all the hurks and jerks I did to his beloved Mustang with fondness. I love that memory so much it was wonderful to discover I had a reason to use it in Rory’s story.

 

 

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Bring on the branding irons!

Posted on May 9, 2016 by janelleevans

Over the weekend, my family headed to the in-law’s ranch for the yearly branding of the calves. When my children were younger they hated this event. They cried and hid in the trucks, or cowered outside the corral. Boy, how that has changed over the years. Now they’re so excited it’s pretty much all they talked about for the entire week, which is a good thing. Branding calves can be an unpredictable business, so the more hands out there helping the better, though I am starting to wonder if maybe they like branding a little too much. People in the stores were starting to look at us weird at their reminiscing stories of flying poop and the wafting smell of burnt hides in the morning. 🙂

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Re-dos: Things I wish I would have known when I was fifteen.

Posted on May 2, 2016 by janelleevans

My children just love me when I say, “re-do.”

Piano practice: “Re-do that song.”

Chores: “I don’t think so, come and re-do your bedrooms.”

Homework: “Ugh, I can hardly read this! You’re gonna re-do it.”

I know why they moan and groan, I do it too when there’s things I have to re-do, like having to move our family again in a little over a month. I’ve re-done it so many times in the past that you’d think I’ve have the utility companies on speed dial.

As I’ve been considering this re-do for the past week I’ve come to realize it’s more than just a list of things to barrel through for the second, third, no fifth… You know what? I’ve lost count. Not that that’s the point. Re-dos are also opportunities—opportunities to change our behavior. Maybe even make fewer mistakes than the last time. Though I don’t know if I’ll ever completely quell the groan that comes from me and my children at the word re-do, it really can be a gift, if we don’t squandered it on a bad attitude. The next time you find yourself facing one of lives many re-dos, remember that.

Posted in Things I wish I would have known when I was 15. | Leave a comment

Lessons learned

Posted on April 25, 2016 by janelleevans

In the wake of losing some final drafts of my novels, the process of rewriting has taught me several lessons. One, writing the story exactly as it was is not a feasible expectation. Two, letting go of that expectation is paramount if the creative juices are ever going to flow again. And three, a completely different ending is not always such a bad thing. I like the ending of the third novel of Rory’s Choice even more now. I still can’t believe I didn’t think of it in the first place. Does that mean I’ll let my children destroy other novel files in the future? Heaven’s no! The stress of all of this has just about killed me. I back up in triplicate now.

Posted in Author's Notes | 1 Comment

Ugh, words!

Posted on April 18, 2016 by janelleevans

As a writer I know firsthand how tricky words can be.

shutter/ shudder

pedal/ petal

Both examples sound the same but each word means something completely different. A shutter is a window dressing or means to close something up, while a shudder means to tremble. A pedal is a part on a bike, while petal is a part on a flower.

This week my daughter stumbled onto another one of those tricky words that had me laughing.

While taking her back to school from an orthodontic appointment we passed the Catholic Church with its many outlying buildings. She saw the many signs like Parish parking, Parish Community Center, and Parish school and became upset.

“Mom, what’s with the death theme around here?”

It was such an out-of-the-blue odd question I had no idea what she meant, she then proceeded to point to the signs. “Death parking, death school—that’s kind of morbid don’t you think?”

I burst out laughing. “That version of parish doesn’t mean death. It means a congregation or local group of people. P-E-R-I-S-H is how you spell the perish that means to die or dwindle.”

“Oh.” She slumped back embarrassed.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I reached over and patted her shoulder. “Mommy’s made that same mistake more than once in my novels.” I shook my fist. “Darn English language!”

Then we both laughed.

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Starting over

Posted on April 11, 2016 by janelleevans

From the ashes of my broken computer (Yes I know it’s cliche, but the loss of my computer just about killed me) I’m working on reconstructing the third book for the Rory’s Choice series from older versions in other locations. I originally finished these novels more than five years ago. My writing was so different back then it sometimes feels like I’m dealing with someone else’s work. This new version won’t be the exact copy of what my first finished product had been, but I’m determined to find the Rory-flavor the last book in the series deserves. The Rory’s choice books are my origin—where it all began for me as a writer. I want to leave the reader with the same joyful wonder I felt as I finished it all those years ago.

The upside to all of this I was able to recover two novels in their completed format from outside sources. One of them has a contract hanging over it pages, so that was a very good thing.

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It was Armageddon at the Evans house

Posted on April 4, 2016 by janelleevans

It’s ridiculous that I have to peck this blog post out on a tablet, but my computer became the casualty of a fight between my two youngest children this week.

I can still hear the resounding crash that sent me flying from my bedroom. There stood my two children with their mouths covered in shock with my all-in-one computer laying on the floor between them–ruined beyond repair. 

Oh you better believe I cried. All my novels, short stories,picture book ideas were on that computer, and like a foolish ninny, I’d erased my backup thumb drive so my high school son, who never tells me anything until it’s nearly time for school, could use it for some school project the week before.

Once the tears subsided, and that took a couple of hours, I realized I might be able to piece back my life through my beta readers. I owe my beta readers so much already. Most of them have been with me from the beginning.  I appreciate them even more. Even after all these years they still had every email I’d sent them. My world will keep on spinning after all. Now as for my children…I’m still devising a punishment worthy of their crime.

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I like ’em bad

Posted on March 28, 2016 by janelleevans

I’m not sure if this makes me a terrible person, but I find it fun to write mean people. Robbi in the Rory Choice series was my first, but I’ve written many since. They say whatever they want with no regard for the feelings of others. Their lack of a feelings-filter creates opportunities to have them say and do almost anything, which makes it creatively freeing for me. My ideas can get outlandishly cruel pretty quickly, so I lean on my beta readers when deciding when I’ve gone too far. If two or more of them come back with a “how could you” on their lips the first thing I look at is dialing back the mean—but not too much. Protagonists are only as good as their counterpart antagonists. So I say heap on the bad and see how much my protagonists can take. It makes the ending of my novels that much more satisfying when the protagonists finally wins.

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The only thing constant in life is change

Posted on March 21, 2016 by janelleevans

Being creative doesn’t mean I like chaos. In fact, nothing kills my ability to create faster than chaos. So I go to great lengths trying to avoid it. Now if only “the hubby” would stop thwarting me in my quest for a chaos-free atmosphere. Accepting a job in another state definitely ramps up the chaos around here. You’d think I’d be used to moving by now. We seem to do it every three to four years, but changes like these come with so much un-surety it’s hard to keep chaos at bay. Maybe it’s time for me to find a way to embrace the chaos. We spend far too much time together for us to be enemies anymore. 🙂

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