Tag Archives: Blogging

BlogMash: Strong Daughters, Reading & NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

While I’m off traveling once more (to Oregon for a visit with my mother, this time), I’ve collected some cool stuff for you to read until I manage the next installment of our Irish adventure: *** We can teach our kids to be strong and stand up for themselves, but what about when they’re facing an authority figure?  Here’s Carissa Rogers on raising strong daughters. *** Myndi Shafer shares a heartbreaking post about the repercussions of calling someone fat.  And we should all shut up and quit asking women when their is due unless they’ve announced it publicly. *** Jenny Lussier sheds some insight on where she would be without books and reading.  What would your life look like? *** For a follow-on, Pragmatic Mom (aka Mia Wenjen) has some great tips for encouraging kids to read. *** If you’re a writer considering plotting vs. flying by the seat of … Continue reading →

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Putting on My Professional Writer’s Hat

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

This spring, as friends realized I was in my final semester, I was bombarded with “What are you going to do with your degree?” And with an English degree in particular, it’s a perpetual question, especially for the younger generation who have to justify why they aren’t majoring in something that leads directly to a particular career. (Although sitting nicely in our rows of black caps and gowns, watching Master’s candidates receive their hoods, three of us writing friends pondered a worse question: “What do you do with a Philosophy degree?”) My answer is always “Write, of course!” But I’ve been writing for 30 years, writing seriously for the last 15. What’s different now? I like to say I’ll be putting on my professional writer’s hat. Not just write when I feel like it, or write a little each day, or work on a short story to submit, or write … Continue reading →

Posted in Writer's Life, WRITING | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

There’s Sunshine on My Blog Today!

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Jennifer Jensen

I was wowed last week by author and blogger extraordinaire Suzanne Stengl when she passed the Sunshine Award on to me.  Well, to ten of us, but who’s counting? So yes, in the midst of Midwest clouds and thunderstorms, the sun also shining! The rules of the Sunshine Award are: •    Include the award’s logo in a post on your blog. •    Link to the person who nominated you. •    Answer the 10 questions below. •    Pass the award on to ten (or however many you want) “Sunshine inspiring” bloggers. Ooh – does that mean I inspire sunshine? Cool! Here are the questions, along with as many answers as I’m able to come up with: Favorite Color:  I used to say “blue” automatically, but it seems to have morphed to purple.  Or red.  I’m wearing a lot of those these days (although I’ve got a few years to go before … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Misc | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

RSS and Me – Technological Alzheimer’s

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Jennifer Jensen

Thanks to Amy Andrews, my new tutor/blogging guru over at Blogging with Amy, I’m finally getting around to adding an RSS feed.  Blog readers need convenience, right?  Yeah, I know.  I’m not only slow, I’m almost a technological dinosaur.  (And if there are any other technological dinosaurs out there, here’s a visual description of what an RSS feed does.) Since you read RSS-fed blogs in a “reader,” I decided to open a Google Reader account.  To my amazement … drumroll … I already have one! Not only slow, but forgetful! So then I click on Amy’s link to Feedburner.  It takes me to Google Feedburner, and guess what again? It seems I’m already set up! Not only am I already set up, but I have one subscriber.  One.  Pitiful, until I remember that my blog doesn’t even have a little RSS button, which is why I started this whole adventure … Continue reading →

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Literary Citizenship – Pay It Forward

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Jennifer Jensen

What is literary citizenship? How do you promote it, and are you a good literary citizen? Some of my shower thoughts (best time for thinking, right?) kept tumbling around and then mixed with Cathy Day’s talk about literary citizenship at the 2012 Midwest Writers Workshop. Cathy, author of The Circus in Winter and Comeback Season, said that being a good literary citizen is being part of, and promoting, a literary community: reading, writing, and all that goes with it.  She suggested a few things we could do to build that community, and, as writers, build relationships that will benefit our own careers in the process: Talk about books with LIVE people (in person, as opposed to not-dead). Write notes to authors when we enjoy their books. Be interested in others.  She quoted Dale Carnegie: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in them, than in two … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, READING, WRITING | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments