Jen's Writing Journey

A few months ago, I asked you what music you listen to when you write. Lately, I’ve been watching TV and movies while I write rather than listening to music. I’ll pull out the music when I need to create a specific mood (last week I was writing a bar scene, so I drove the dogs crazy with industrial and techno), but I’m all about the words in the background.

Gilmore Girls is my favorite. The clever writing elevates my diction and helps spur me on to hit my word count goals. 30 Rock is also good. Friends is always a winner, because I know it so well that it can completely fade to the background.

I was raised on TV, so I think that is why I fall back on it when I’m writing. Plus, I gotta watch my shows, but I also gotta write. There’s nothing like a little multi-tasking to keep me sane.

• Writing Roundup, Oct. 16 Here is a handy table of contents that will help you quickly reach the topic of your choice. Let me know if you like it this way. The Business of Writing Craft Fiction Freelancing Platform The Business of Writing Book Trade Can Avoid Music Labels Digital Mistakes Publishers are scared.......
• Writing Roundup, August 28 Lots of good stuff out there as we look toward the fall. The Business of Writing How a Book Gets Published Agent Nathan Bransford gives a great, easy-to-follow description of how a book goes from finished clean copy on the author's desk to a shiny new book on the shelves.......
• The Pseudonym Debate Rears Its Ugly Head Again As I work more on building both my fiction and freelancing careers, I am becoming more enamored of the idea of using a pseudonym for my fiction. More and more of the freelancers/fiction writers I have come across use pseudonyms to keep their business and fiction separate. But, I have......
• Build Your Online Press Kit Do you have a press kit? I didn't until recently, even though, as a working journalist, I know how essential an online press kit is to the media. So, I pulled mine together and posted it today. It is a work in progress, and I intend to continue adding more......
• Make Your Schedule Work for You Most of us are juggling multiple responsibilities: day job, family, housework, et cetera. It can be hard to fit in our writing time, even when we have the best intentions. I have thought really hard about getting up two hours early to write before work, as some have suggested. I......

• How to Care For Acoustic Instruments Caring for your acoustic instruments is not difficult, but it does take a little bit of know how if you want to do it right....
• Music, Movies and Independent Films In this exclusive interview, Todd Cericola, owner of Clocktower Pictures, talks about his movie studio, about music in movies and about the independent productions world....
• The Traveler’s Notebook Traveling can be so much fun whether it is related with work or just purely leisure. People always get excited whenever they are set for...
• You might be a gamer if... You don't think of a Russian bazooka when someone says "RPG". You use game stats to describe things in a movie. (Well, Han just blew...
• Best Idea Ever Series - Part 1 - Mystery Beer I have spent my whole life in one place, so it's interesting to move to a new place and see how things are done. It...