I loved it. If I were to characterize each, one would be a sleek wood nymph with an open, highland palace and the other a woodland queen with a fortress of majestic grand firs and snowy foliage.

When I moved to South Carolina, I yet again found a forest completely different from what I knew. The woods there were a hoary crone draped in Spanish moss and weaving spiders’ webs. 

Now in Germany, I’m waiting until I visit the Black Forest to really decide on what I think but from what I’ve seen, it’s unique as well. 

What I didn’t expect, but should have, was how different the Alps are compared to the Rockies. 

I grew up in the Rockies. They’re massive and tall and you don’t have to go very high to find the vegetation around them growing thin. The air is thin, the growing things are thin, the mountains are sprawling and heavy with granite boulders. The view from the top shows that sprawl under a robin’s egg blue sky. You might be able to see a handful of other peaks that boast shoulders as broad. 

The Alps, however, don’t rise as high. I’d never considered what this might do to change the landscape. There’s greenery all over the lower slopes of the Alps. Thus, why you get the sheep herds grazing and the super picturesque mountain and rolling field pictures. That picture, though, is deceptive for what you’ll find from the top! We visited the Zugspitze, the tallest mountain in Germany, and stood on its viewing platform. From there, we could see dozens of knife-edged peaks jutting into the sky.

If I were to characterize the two, one would be a troll with a heavy stone club. He’s broad shouldered, tall, and boasts craggy teeth but he doesn’t tend to bring his friends close. The other would be a sneaky bandit goblin with sharpened knifes. He hides in flowing green robes until he’s ready to show you his true colors and then, when you truly see him, you realize he brought all his knife-wielding friends along too. 

(I could have gone more majestic with both of these, but troll and goblin are fun, so I’ll roll with it!)

And now I want to write these characters into a story like I did with Na’rina and her Colorado Aspen grove! Hmmm , writing ideas are rolling. 

Blessings,

The post The Mountains Have Personalities appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

Every time the season changes, my approach to writing shifts along with it. I used to fight it, wanting to harness the high-energy, super thrilled me that loved the spring sunshine. I wanted to capture that energy. Maybe I could bottle it and drink small sips through the winter to sustain me. Yet, I’d wrestle trying to maintain focus while dealing with a muzzy brain, viewing the shift as a detriment when my bottled energy was long gone. 

I’m not sure when I started approaching the changing seasons as a boon instead of a detriment but, at some point, I realized that I needed the change. It’s healthy for my brain to be high energy for a while, and then settle into a more relaxed, drink-a cup-of-tea, state. And the shift, if I don’t fight it, actually helps my writing. 

I can crank out a lot more words during the sunshine. It’s great for getting a story on the page but it’s like skipping a stone across a pond. It might travel far but it won’t go deep. I can dig much deeper while the rain is falling and the mood strikes me. I’ll explore the pain in a scene by focusing on the lonely cup of coffee or the wonder in a drop of dew on a leaf and a tiny footprint on the flagstones. I slow down enough for the rich details.  

How about you? Does the change in seasons cause a noticeable shift in your moods? Does fall help you slow down a bit? 

Blessings,

The post Writing Mood appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

Little images lodge in my brain like bees and, at this point, I almost have too many bees to pick from!

Just like living in Washington or South Carolina influenced details about trees and hurricanes, Germany is sneaking into all sorts of things as I craft Hidden Mythics III. The trick now is to keep the bees from overwhelming the story because there are soooo many things that would be fun to add. 

The Fae Court, in particular, may be taking shape based off of certain palaces I’ve seen since being here. A hall of mirrors. A grand balcony. Frost covering the stone railing. Little details that I’m really excited to sprinkle in while Na’rina marvels and worries at seeing frozen rose bushes and Icarus holds in irritation because the mirrors might not be benign. 

Last month I talked about my weird half editing/half writing as I blend what I wrote in 2025 into what I’m writing this year. I have only a couple more scenes like this and then it’ll be entirely new material as I move forward. Excitement adds a tingle to my fingertips. This is when the story really starts taking shape. I’m over 50K words in and lot of the groundwork has been laid. Now I get to play! 

All the little crumbs I’ve laid into the story start to lead somewhere. The material I had from last year helped boost my September word count. So I suspect October will be a little less impressive (plus we have family visiting for a couple of weeks.) However, the new stuff should be really exciting to write, so that may also encourage me write longer each day. We’ll see! 

Blessings,

The post HMIII September Writing Update appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

Watch your thoughts, they become your words.

Watch your words, they become your actions.

Watch your actions, they become your habits.

Watch your habits, they become your character.

Watch your character, it becomes your Destiny.”

-Frank Outlaw (Maybe? Several people are credited with saying it.)

During college, I had this written on a piece of paper and taped above my desk. I’m starting to think that maybe I should write it out and tape it up again because the truth in it is still as relevant today as it was then. 

Recently, when our car troubles started, I found myself blaming the situation for my bad mood and for not keeping my writing schedule. I kept going to bed frustrated that I’d spent all day playing shuffle the cars to get either Squeak or Laylana to the shop for repairs. Remembering this quote gave me pause.

I was letting the situation drive both my thoughts and my actions. It was a humbling realization. I was giving the situation the power to decide whether I was content.

Yet, we humans have this amazing capacity to own such situations with our thoughts. I didn’t have to hand over the keys to my writing or my contentment to random car issues. Even writing for five minutes at the end of the day would have been enough to keep moving forward. 

Maybe some days even five minutes isn’t an option. That too is okay. I still have the power to decide how it affects me. The situation doesn’t get to decide that I’m frustrated. It doesn’t get to own all my time. I can accept that we’re having frustrating car issues and still enjoy dinner with my husband and go to bed with a smile.

Past experience tells me that owning my thoughts like this isn’t easy, especially after allowing the situation to drive me down ugly roads for a while. But it also tells me that it’s possible. I just don’t get to be lazy with my thinking anymore.

Anyway, I’m rambling now, so I’ll kick my pondering soap box back in the corner and leave it at that. I just needed a reminder that I do, in fact, have a choice about how I think. And I thought I’d share because I doubt I’m the only one who finds situations driving your thoughts down roads you don’t want.

Thankfully, we have a choice

Blessings

The post Watching My Thoughts appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

One day my home room teacher has a great idea. She’s got a problem student who needs some coaching, so she places the guy next to me and says I’m now his tutor. Panic sets in. I can barely read and she wants me to tutor one of the cool guys? It’s a dreadful idea. Like ice cream on the face humiliating. 

But I’m also terribly shy. The idea of speaking up is just as terrifying as tutoring. 

Next thing I know, she’s passing out the day’s quiz. On our answer sheets we’re supposed to write the number of the quiz and the word “quiz.” That should be easy, but my brain does that thing when you stare at something long enough, it doesn’t look right. So, I try adding an -e on the end of the word. 

It’s at this point that the kid I’m supposed to be tutoring glances over and sees what I’ve written. He adds an -e to his paper as well. 

I immediately know that it’s spelled wrong. But then, I’m still shy, so I let it ride and we both turn in our quizzes with the first word misspelled. 

He never trusted me after that, and my teacher soon moved our seats again. 

***

Sometime later, my sister’s boyfriend hands me a book he’s excited to share. He doesn’t know that I can’t read it and I’m still too terribly shy to speak up. Plus, he’s cool. Like I tag-along-as-a-third-wheel-any-chance-I-get kind of cool. So, I take the book home. (We’ve since debated if the book was Eye of the World by Robert Jordan or one of David Edding’s books. You’d think I’d remember such an important detail, but I read them so close together that the timeline has blurred.)

Anyway, I take the book home and attempt to read it. 

It’s fantasy. It’s really long. It somehow starts to paint pictures in my head. 

There’s a condition called aphantasia where a person can only conceptualize an object, person, or scene. For instance, they can’t actually see an apple in their mind, but they can conceptualize that it’s round and red.

I am not one of those people, and this was when I found that out. I’m not Hyperphantasia either. I don’t have photographic memory and faces tend to give me issues. But describe a scene to me and I’ll fill in vast details. 

For the first time in my life, the words on the page disappeared and I was seeing the forests and the swords, the fancy dresses and the castles. 

It was magic I’d never encountered before. I loved it. 

When I finished the book, I asked my sister’s boyfriend for another to read. As I hinted before, I sped through the Wheel of Time series (what was available at the time) and all of David Eddings’ books as well. I went from a third grade reading level to post grad in a year. 

After dozens of tests to see if I was dyslexic or had some other reading disorder, it finally clicked and I still don’t know why. This might be why I never assume reading is beyond a person. Maybe they just haven’t picked up the right book yet. 

This is also why I write. I want to paint pictures, create magic, and hopefully help others read because the stories are just that interesting. 

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. Some of you might recognize this story. I’ve written about it before but, since it’s been so long, I thought I’d share it again with a slightly new part of the story. Here’s the original post.

The post Quiz -e appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

Although I could name dozens of tidbits, here’s two lessons that really stand out. 

1. Having the “Perfect” writing schedule is an illusion. Having the “Right” writing schedule for right now is possible. 

Perhaps there are people who find the “Perfect” schedule, and it consistently works for them. After reading my past posts, I must confess I am not one of those people. Time and again I’ve reworked, updated, and reorganized to figure out something that works for me. And for a time, that new schedule will run great.

But then something happens to totally upend my plans. For some reason, I’m picturing what snowboarders like to call a “yard sale.” Since this is such a strong picture in my head, I’ll run with it. 

A “yard sale” is when you catch the edge of the board and fall, and all your gear ends up scattered across the mountain slope. Your hat is half buried a dozen yards behind you, your goggles somehow ended up around your neck instead of on your face. One glove is still sliding down the snow like a runaway kitten. 

It takes time to recover. And when you start moving again, you find things don’t quiet work the same way they did when you started. 

This is my writing schedule. I’ll get down the mountain and mostly have a blast doing it, but I may have needed to recalibrate how I move midway through the run and I left my beanie behind because the effort to recover it is way more than the effort of just finding a new hat. 

I now hold any schedule with an open palm and try to have an idea of what takes priority because not everything from my to-do list may get done. Maybe the hat needs to be left behind.

2. Roll with the Punches

Life likes to toss in surprises now and then. It’d be really easy to get frustrated and beaten down because I somehow found a chunk of ice in the snow and now I’m staring at the sky. In writer words, something diverted me from a day of writing like our vehicle troubles have recently.

But I’ve found the frustration steals more from my writing than the mishaps. It doesn’t help me to dwell on the time lost. What does help is laughing at the absurdity of the overall situation, writing about it, and moving on. 

So, I didn’t get the 1,500 words written that I’d scheduled. That’s okay. It’s the accumulative over a longer period of time that matters, not the speedbumps that happen on any odd day. The trick is to keep moving.  

There’s so much more I could talk about but that would make this post reallllyyy long, so I’ll stop there. How about you? Are you able to keep a steady schedule? How do you handle mishaps that mess with your plans?

Blessings,  

The post Journal Lessons appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

I still love living here but the awe-novelty factor has dimmed.

This reminded me of some writing advice that I sometimes have to lean into. I don’t remember who coined the term, but I remember it as, “The Curse of Familiarity.” It’s basically the idea that we tend to overlook the things that feel normal to us, assuming those things won’t be interesting to others.

In writing, this looks like leaving out the detail about how the grilled zucchini turned to mush because it got left too long in the foil packet. Seems blah. But it adds texture and something concrete to the writing. I can imagine the squishy look, the slightly acidic smell, and the bitter taste of over grilled zucchini. Something so simple can bring the world to life. 

It’s good then to sit back and purposefully take in such details. For one, it helps me slow down to savor life. For two, it helps bring small details to my writing that add depth. 

Even if you’re not a writer, I encourage you to see your life through the eyes of a visitor. I might suggest looking at something other than mushy grilled zucchini but there’s just something that brings perspective and appreciation when the things around you aren’t written off because they’re familiar.

Blessings,

The post The Curse of Familiarity appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

Don’t get me wrong. The longer a person practices, the better their work becomes. However, the illusion espouses the idea that the artist no longer doubts him or herself. That we know exactly the quality we’re working at and are totally satisfied that we’re “there.” 

Pardon me while I quietly chuckle in dismay. This illusion hurts more artists than you might think because it makes us feel like we’re not succeeding. It makes the doubt louder and harder to ignore. Look at all the artists who are strutting their stuff! Why haven’t I managed to get there yet? 

The reality is, we’re all still growing and learning and at no point do we have a solid, objective scale to understand the quality of our own work. If we’re aware of the illusion, it becomes easier to accept that every story, sculpture, painting, or other piece of art comes with its learning curve. Every piece stretches us. And that’s part of the beauty of being a creative. Instead of being scared of the difficulty, we can view it as a signpost that we are succeeding because we’re still creating. 

I say all of this because I’m running into an interesting dichotomy as I’m working on Hidden Mythics III. I wrote a large portion, about 40K words, last year. Now, as I’m returning to the story, I’m finding a difference in the tone and structure of my writing. The writer I was last year is no longer the writer I am now.

I’m continuing to learn and grow. 

It’s a weird new kind of half editing/half writing for me. To keep the story from sounding like it has a split personality, I’m having to blend the old with the new. Some days I find myself staring at a single word because I love how it sits in the sentence, but it’s completely wrong for the scene as a whole.  There’s a saying that writers need to kill their darlings because we often want to keep things that don’t serve the story. 

Let’s just say I have been kindly cutting out such darlings and pasting them into a separate Word document for potential later use. You never know. Maybe it’s just a way to trick my brain into accepting them leaving the story for now. 

Anyway, the new HMIII is currently sitting at just over 27K words. Even as I’m having to blend my old writing with my new, I’m constantly reminded why I love this story. I’ve missed Na’rina’s quiet resolve, Icarus’ fierce protectiveness, and El’s spunk. And in HMIII, I’m getting to add a few new view points as well and it’s being really fun!

There’s just so many darlings that want to sneak their way into the story along the way!

Blessings,

The post HMIII August Writing Update appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

Of course, that all led to a tow truck and the shop having to get parts to fix the problem. So, Squeak has been in the shop awaiting some much-needed attention, which left my husband and I with one car. This isn’t usually a problem.

Fast forward to last Thursday when the Saga continued. 

My husband agreed to host an event for his work on Friday night. This meant he agreed to smoke pulled pork. This is a whole process involving setting up the smoker with the meat the evening before, checking it periodically throughout the night, and then finishing it the next day by wrapping it in foil, for the meat to be ready by around 3 pm on Friday. Planning ahead, we woke up early Thursday and headed to the next village over where they have a fantastic butcher. 

Halfway there, our SUV pops a code telling us to stop immediately and check the hybrid drive. I have an immediate, “Oh no!” moment. We’ve had this happen once before. Now, when there’s a potential issue with the hybrid drive, the SUV all but shuts off the electric side of the engine. It’s a smart safety feature that still allows us to drive the car, but by no means does said car, named Laylana, drive well. 

Remember, this is our only car unless you consider motorcycles, which my husband can’t ride while he’s recovering from his knee surgery. So, we quickly finished our grocery run and headed to the dealer to have them look at Laylana. 

In true German fashion, they agreed to look at it but gave no promises on how long it’d take. We sat in the show room looking at shiny new cars and sipping coffee while trying to get ahold of the shop working on Squeak to see if she was fixed yet. No dice. They never answered their phone. About forty minutes later, the technician informed us that the problem is the hybrid drive’s water pump, but they can’t get to it until Monday. She’s okay-ish to drive but watch the temperature. 

Driving away with an appointment for Monday, we decided to stop by the shop with the mini. The mechanic was returning from a test drive on Squeak when we arrived. Looked promising. Test drive went well but he warned us to watch the coolant because she was bone dry when he checked it. This was odd because we’re careful to watch our vehicle’s fluids.

Anyway, Squeak now acquired, we decided to return Laylana to the dealer. Maybe they could get to her sooner than Monday. Afterwards, we headed to a gas station to fill up Squeak. (Happens to be the same gas station as when she originally died on me.) She made it there all right, but when we shut her off, the fan was running like it’s going to explode. Along with getting gas, we decided to check the coolant. We found it bone dry again. Buying coolant, we filled her up but now we were a little shy to drive her, so we headed to a row of food trucks down the road for lunch. 

It was all of a five-minute drive. We checked the coolant again and found it low. Ugh. Now we were really struggling because in no way, shape, or form did we want to drive Squeak with a major coolant leak. 

But first, food.

We stopped long enough for some grilled salmon and rice. Once we had sustenance to fuel our brain power, we decided to check on renting a car for a week. This was not ideal by any means, but we agreed we could swing it for a short time. After calling around to several places, it turned out the best rental option was right next door to the food truck location. 

God is sooo good! We wandered in, enjoying the AC because everything else up to this point had been in 98 degree temperatures, and rented a car. 

Believing we were over the car issues for the day, we headed to the grocery store to get the other food items for Friday. Items procured, we headed back out only to find that the back hatch of the rental wouldn’t open. And now we had food stuffs to worry about. Namely, cheese. It’s at this point that I started just shaking my head because I couldn’t make this stuff up and I’m a writer! If I put this into a book people would say it’s not believable!

Heading back to the rental place, we all attempted to open the hatch by climbing in through the trunk and pressing the safety release. No dice. They kindly rented us another car and took back the problem child. 

Now with a working rental, we took Squeak back to the shop and dropped her off for more fixing and headed home to put food away. 

All said and done, it was a four-car, eight-hour day in mostly 98-degree temperatures. And we still had to smoke meat through the night.

But hey, the cheese and our sweaty selves made it home okay! And now we’re waiting to hear from either of the repair shops to see which car will get fixed first. Fingers crossed it’ll be the SUV because my husband still can’t drive the manual mini with his knee. As the old saying goes, it never rains but it pours! And the saga continues. 

Lessons learned for writing adventures: Decisions need to be hard! There’s always another twist to the story! And unless it kills you, you will make it out okay at the end. 

Blessings,

The post The Squeak Saga Continues! appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.

One, they synthesize something that impacted each author deeply. Namely WWII. Several classics came from people who lived through WWII and who turned to a creative outlet to, in part, process what they experienced. Think Catch-22, The Hiding Place, The Catcher in the Rye, and even 1984 despite George Orwell being rejected from enlistment due to health. I think that’s part of what I’m encountering here. Two authors who let the tragedy, and subsequent profound questions, flow into their fictional worlds. 

The second aspect I think that may have influenced these books is that neither author created the stories fast. Myrer wrote Once an Eagle over about five years. That’s pretty quick for the early 60’s but it’s also a while after the war ended. I suspect that in-between period allowed for some processing beforehand. 

The Lord of the Rings was written over roughly 12 years starting in 1937. And there were some Inklings – Tolkien’s writing group – who expressed gratitude that it was published because it harnessed things they otherwise struggled to say. 

I’m not saying an author has to experience war to write a classic with amazing depth. But I am reminded that storytelling is an artform that allows us to process life on a deeper level than we’re sometimes able to put into plain words. It helps the human soul express when words feel hollow. The catch is, we have to allow ourselves the time for the soul to form the story and many of us have lost the ability to sit long enough for the soul to speak. It’s a thoughtful creature, only expressing itself when it’s given the space and the silence to be heard. 

Today’s publishing world drives authors to produce more, to write faster, to always have new things before their audience in order to stay relevant. They’re pushed toward rapid releases. Two or three books a year. Constant marketing. It’s a rush, rush, rush mindset. AI just adds another ugly element to this. I don’t want to dive into the controversy of AI right now, but this is the thing constant rush tends to smother and AI cannot replace. It’s the soft, yet often profound, expressions of the human soul. 

So, what I’m trying to take away from this is to let myself think and process deeply. Not to shy away from the difficult things such as my mother’s passing this year. But to let it wash over me and out through my fingertips in stories that communicate with other souls. To not be afraid that this takes time. Sometimes lots and lots of time. Because what comes out is lasting and might help the soul express what plain words can’t handle. 

What stories have connected deeply with you? What’s the secret sauce, do you think, to why they connect when others don’t?

Blessings,

The post In a World that Wants to Rush appeared first on Jennifer M Zeiger.