misslucyjane | Recent Entries

GetYourWordsOut: Year Eighteen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net

GetYourWordsOut: Year Sixteen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net

So many things to catch up on. To whit:

Derek (2nd brother) and I have moved to Murray. Yes, we finally sold the house. We moved on Saturday, with much help from siblings and while there’s still a lot to do in the apartment (a lot) I’ve mostly been setting up my bedroom and writing space, and exploring the neighborhood — as in finding scribbler-friendly coffee shops.
The new apartment is about 20 minutes away from my sisters, Julie to the south and Stephanie to the north. I honestly couldn’t ask for anything better. (Well, aside being in walking distance …)
In my last update jobwise, I’d been fired thanks to not recovering from COVID fast enough. About a month later I applied for and was offered a data analyst role with Tesla, which you’ve already seen if you follow me on LinkedIn. However, I am no longer working for Tesla as of last week.
Part 1: the car
- I had drama with my car in July: the electrical system failed while I was on the freeway, driving home from work. Fortunately I was able to get a jump through my insurance’s roadside assistance, and then took it to the dealership to get the electrical system fixed.
- WELL. Something happened there or soon after, I couldn’t say when, wherein my front driver-side tired was only affixed to the car by one lug nut. This lug nut broke as I was on the freeway, driving home from work. WHAT ARE THE FUCKING ODDS. This time I had to have the car towed to the dealership, which was closed, of course, as it was almost 9:00 PM by the time we got there. The next morning the dealership towed the car to the nearest collision repair shop, as the tire had damaged the wheel well (look, I don’t know cars, I tend to refer to everything about them as a “thingy”) and the driver-side door; then the dealership had to wait for my insurance company’s assessor to come out and give an estimate.
- Yadda yadda yadda, my car ended up being in the shop for five weeks before it was safe to drive again. Fortunately my insurance has me on a $100 deductible, which was easy enough to pay, and I finally got my car back a week ago.
- EXCEPT as I was driving up to work that morning, the electrical light switched on again.
- Insert that gif of Stitch running his hand over his face here.
Part 2: my health
- My health has really gone downhill over the last two years. Things like lowered immunity, arthritis in my knees and hands, constant brain fog — things that aren’t life-threatening but add up to making life really … more difficult than necessary.
- My first week at Tesla, they kept the open-office space where my team and I were at about 65 degrees or so. (Pretty damn cold, no matter what the measuring system.) I was bad enough that Thursday morning I asked if I could go home because I had a fever, I was sneezing and coughing like crazy, and my hands were like ice. They let me go home, but the situation didn’t improve any and I got sick again about every other week.
- My department had a pretty strict attendance policy, largely due, according to my manager, to being new in the company structure and TPTB were keeping a pretty close eye on it, including attendance.
- So after about 5 weeks, between my health and the car drama, I had used up my little PTO they gave us in the beginning, and had accrued the amount of attendance points they allowed for a year.
Part 3: the move
- After being on the market since about June or July, I forget which, the house finally sold, and the new owners wanted us out in 15 days.
- Despite help from all my sibs, selling or giving away most of the furniture, giving away or throwing away most of the books and Tchotchkes and what-have-you, there still was a lot to pack. This was mostly my fault, but in my defense last winter I was too depressed to function most of the time, and I found out last month that on top of everything else, I also have untreated ADHD. (Stephanie was the one to finally push me to look into this: she said when she read the charts of ADHD symptoms, she saw things I do, like impulse spending, putting things off until the last minutes, etc. It’s a thought I’ve had myself a few times, but then told myself I just needed to be more disciplined. Ha, no, it is actually because of brain weasels. Or an underdeveloped cerebellum.)
- I was out of the house for 10 hours or more every day, thanks to the 45-90 minute commute each way. I did take public transit for about a week before my insurance company could arrange a rental for me, which meant a 2 hour 15 minute commute each way — three hours if I missed the earlier bus.
- All of which left me exhausted and brain-dead, and not up to doing much more than watching Youtube until I fell asleep.
Part 4: I was just embarrassed to be working for Elon Musk. I don’t think I need to go into details here: we all know what kind of man he is. (I do find it funny, though, that in all of the onboarding documents he’s usually referred to just as “Elon.” No need to elaborate.)

Between the car drama, the health drama, and the moving drama, last week I was lying awake, trying to figure out how to do everything that I needed to do, and I decided, Something’s got to give before I crack, and that something is the Tesla job. I emailed a resignation letter to my team lead and department manager. They were pretty nice about it: we’re sorry to see you go, hope the best for you, the usual.

Of course, this means I’m back to job hunting, but check this: This week I’ve had three different recruiters or hiring managers reach out to me, two about freelance projects and one for a full-time position. The two freelance projects would be part-time contract work, but I’d rather be doing that and have time to concentrate on building my writing career than working on-site again. I have a Zoom interview with one of them later today, and I’m supposed to hear from the on-site job today about whether they want to make me an offer. The third one, I should know if they want to make me an offer by Friday.

And if I can concentrate on winning Nanowrimo this year, that would be amazing.

Edit No. 1: I forgot to add that the electrical light (or battery light, more accurately) turned off the next day and hasn't turned on again in my many drives from Provo to Murray.

Edit No. 2: GUESS WHO JUST ACCEPTED A JOB AS A FREELANCE PROOFREADER? THIS GUY! MISSLUCYJANE!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Starbucks
Current Music: For You, Johnny Cash & Dave Matthews

The COVID: Survived my self-isolation days but I've still got a cough, to the point that my sister Julie said on Saturday, "I hear congestion." At least it's a productive cough? Dry coughs are terrible. My voice is still a wreck.
Sisters! Both were here this weekend to help us donate and throw away a lot of stuff. The main rooms are cleared of furniture: Derek listed a bunch of stuff on Facebook Marketplace two weeks ago and all of it sold, including the piano. Most of it went to a family who had just moved here from Tonga and had very little furniture, so they took the dining room set, the china cabinet (and most of the dishes), the piano, the living room couch, and I'm not sure what else.
Anyway, yes, sisters! It was so nice. I couldn't contribute much thanks to my lungs still being a mess, and they kept telling, "Go rest, go rest." So I rested a lot.
We also had two families come to view the house this Saturday, an older couple and a young family. There are a lot of kids in the neighborhood, so I think the family would do well here.
The job was understanding only to a point, so I'm unemployed again. Whee.
BUT! Draft2Digital bought Smashwords (or merged with Smashwords, I forget) and so D2D users can sell through Smashwords's July sale, and I've sold 68 books in the last 3 days. EEE!
Here's my link: misslucyjane on Smashwords
This has also convinced me to adjust my July goal somewhat, to get more of the TP books edited so I can republish them while the sale's still on.
So, can I actually make a living through my books? Or at least get a side income stream going? Here's hoping!

Current Mood: bouncy

I got a job!

...and then I got COVID.

( the tl;dr )

This means not much writing has happened this month, especially not the 24-hour novel challenge I wanted to participate in. It's an Instagram-Twitter-based group ("group" is very loose here, it's more like "people who follow the same hashtags") that does this challenge once a year. I learned about it from one of the writers I follow on Youtube, and I was really looking forward it to until everything went skattywampus. Sigh. Maybe next year.

I am planning to do Camp Nanowrimo in July, though. Let me know your ID if you want to be buddies. I'm misslucyjane there, too.

Let's see... oh yes, speaking of Twitter, I've deleted the apps from my mobile devices. I'll be crossposting to it when I can but not reading it anymore, not as long as Musk owns it. This means I'm posting to Tumblr more yay! And I'll try to post here more often too, though you've heard me say that before ;).

Current Mood: good
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Turns your lights on // Everlast and Carlos Santana

Still haven't found a full-time or part-time job, though I have been hired by a small writing software company to write blog articles for them at $75 a pop; and I was accepted by a captioning company, though I haven't actually *cough* done any work for them yet. Getting into a working mind space has been hard, yo. I've still got a big list of things I want to accomplish before April and Camp Nanowrimo, and mostly I've been spending my days playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons and doomscrolling. (And looking at my Shopify stats with despair. Oof.)

( This got long, and a bit ranty. )

In sum, I'm not doing great. Somedays I feel like Zoë is the only reason I'm still sane.

Something I meant to mention and forgot: after my intake interview with NDR, the agent said, "Something good is coming for you. I can feel it." I'd like to believe him.

Current Mood: drained

Guess who just signed their first freelance copywriting contract?

THIS GAL!

I also got accepted for another freelancing gig this morning, this one for close-captioning videos.

I'd kind of given up o both of these but, what do you know, they want to hire me.

And I should get the rest of my books edited this month and up on the new store (have I mentioned my new store?) before Camp Nanowrimo begins. I might even achieve some of these other goals that have been burbling around if I can stay focused and keep the bad days to a minimum. February was actually pretty good on that front.

I've been hoping to cobble together a decent income with freelancing jobs. It might actually work.

Current Mood: relieved

I've gone independent! After a lot of contemplation, I've decided to republish my previously-published LGBTQ+ romances as an indie author. I've also decided to embrace my longtime internet handle as my new pseudonym, so all books old and new will be published under the author name MissLucyJane.

Previously-published books will be available starting at midnight, March 1, 2023, exclusively at misslucyjanebooks.com. Visit misslucyjane.com for progress updates, serials, fanfiction, and links to my other platforms. Subscribe to my newsletter, support me on Patreon, or support me on Ko-Fi for behind-the-scenes, coupon codes, polls, and more!

Current Mood: happy

I've submitted Fidele to the North Street Book prize.

EEP.

Winners are announced next year.

EEP.

I also decided to just go with MissLucyJane as a pen name, mainly because it's already my handle everywhere, I've bought the domains and registered the DBA, and I've already changed the covers of all my books and the publisher logo.

Second-guessing myself is the worst, but I'm trying to be confident instead.

EEP.

Current Mood: hopeful

I'll sum up -- first pen name was too common, my real name is way too common, and my preferred variation of my real name is also too common.

I need a pen name that stands out. My example, though I don't really care for his writing, is T. Coraghessen Boyle: an Irish mouthful you're not going to find ten times over on Amazon. I actually had a name I thought was unique: Gaynor Gray, Gaynor being another Cornish variation on Jennifer (which is a Cornish version of Guenivere to begin with), and gray being like brown, a blend of colors. Only there's another author whose name is Gaynor Gray. So that eliminates that option.

Earlier this week I was like, "Screw it, I'm Misslucyjane everywhere, let's lean into that," but now I'm thinking that's maybe not the best idea? Or maybe it is? Ugh.

Here's what I did this morning:
* See if there are other Cornish variations of Jennifer
* Go to nameberry.com and look up Jennifer
* Find many names that have the same "feel" as well as many other Cornish names that I like
* Remember Jennifer means "white wave" so maybe I could use Ocean or Wave? Or rather Wavie, which is a name I heard as a girl and always liked
* Write down a list of Cornish names I think are cool
* Narrow it down to:

Ocean Gray (which feels like a pun)
Wavie Gray (which I like a lot but also makes me think of Wavy Gravy)
Endellion Gray: has more of the T. Coraghessen Boyle feel than any other name I've considered

(Other suggestions from nameberry.com: Gentry, Genesis, Caja, Elowen, Gwennol, Rowenna, Zenna.)

I've already checked and nobody is using any of those three names. What do you think?

EDIT: Or... J. Endellion Brown.

Yeah. I kind of like that.

Current Mood: curious

Fidele did not make it to the quarterfinals. Le sigh. I'm still going to enter it into the North Street Book Prize, and just see what happens.

The job search continues, though with not much enthusiasm. I just need something to pay my bills while I get the writing career back up and running -- which is proving difficult still, since I have about as much creativity as a deflated balloon right now. And don't even get me started on the scams...

I'm having a lot of anxiety dreams. They wake me up with a racing heartbeat, which is not fun at all. I don't see the doctor about it until April, though. I think we need to up my dosage.

Something good: last fall I took an online course called Publish and Thrive, put on by a writer name Sarra Cannon about how to build an indie author career. She's been doing it for over 10 years and is pretty successful -- not Stephen King successful, but who else is aside from him? -- and she's really encouraging and supportive. But the last class was about when Mom was dying so I didn't put my full heart into it. Sarra's only doing one session of P&T this year; alumni have access to future courses, so I'm taking it again for free. She's doing some lectures in podcast form, which I prefer to video, and listening to the first episode left me more pumped up and motivated than I've felt for a long time.

(I still feel like I can't write anymore, though. That kind of sux.)

Current Mood: moody

This week has been discouraging in every way.

The interview I had last week when they said they'd "definitely" be in touch? Not a word. I didn't expect to get ghosted by this company but here we are.

Three different people asked me on Tuesday for times and days that would be good for me to have video interviews, so I sent them all a range of times and dates. Not a single one got back to me.

A writing service I was so excited to sign up with hasn't had any available jobs for weeks.

This morning I got an email about an on-site, contract-to-hire, admin assistant position at a CPA's office that's an hour away. The pay is good but... my plans! My dreams! So I told the recruiter I wasn't interested in anything customer-facing, because after 20 years in customer service, I'm tired, yo.

And all the job listings I'm interested in are looking for "recent grads." Grr.

Current Mood: frustrated

We'll start with the bad news:
* No word from the copywriting gig or the cover-design gig. Ah well.
* I continue being sick off and on, mostly on. It's exhausting, y'all.

Then there's the good news:
* Fidele is in the quarterfinals for the Coverfly/Screencraft contest.
* This morning I interviewed to be a blog writer for software that I use for plotting, Plottr. I used some of my old GYWO articles as writing samples, which the interviewer liked. Basically, I have every reason to believe the job is mine. I'll know for sure next week. (One of their employees, the leader of their education arm, followed me on LinkedIn earlier this week. That feels like a good omen.)
* I signed up with a content-producing firm just before the holidays. The orders were pretty dead until yesterday, so now that I'm starting to feel energetic and (slightly) less out of it, I can get some work done.

Overall I'm feeling good about how this is shaping up.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Home

Whenever things start going my way, I wait for them to go wrong. Living with anxiety, folks.

But things are going my way at the moment, and that's ... exciting? I guess? Yet also cripplingly terrifying?

To wit:

I've been in communication with my first potential copywriting (ghostwriting, really) client, and hopefully will get the final word next week.

Then there's the potential cover design position for the publishing company, which I also hope to hear about next week. I've daydreamed about a graphic designer career but always figured my lack of artistic ability stood in my way, but apparently I'm judging it more harshly than it needs to be. Actual graphic designers have told me I have a good eye.

And then there's the potential of selling Fidele somewhere to make into a TV limited series. That's ... *waves hands*. Who knows. I mean, it's a thing I want, but that's why I'm hesitant to hope for it. That's why I'm hesitant to hope for any of this. No matter how many affirmations I put in my planner, it's hard to believe my life will be, you know, worthwhile.

(Anxiety and depression. Fun times.)

Anyway.

I've got three big projects for this month: finish formatting/editing/rewriting my previously-published books and upload them to my personal bookshop so I can open the shop by the 31st; finish another Barnaby Sloan story so I can publish it on Valentine's Day (I have three more stories planned in that series; two are begun, one is plotted); and get Fidele ready to submit to the North Street Book Prize. I've got trackers set up to hold myself accountable. Does anybody want to poke and prod me to report in? I'd dearly appreciate it.

Also, resolved:
* Move more every day -- walk, dance, do yoga, swim.
* Study German daily. Since I didn't get to go on the England trip I'd planned for my 50th birthday (thanks COVID!) I'm going to go to Germany for my 55th. I have a little over 3 years to save up the funds, and I want to brush up on my German while I do. (Whether I'll be able to travel then is another question, but see above about moving every day.)
* Practice ukulele every day. I need more music in my life.
* Write or do a writing-related thing 350 days of the year, as my

getyourwordsout goal. [Edit to add: Heh, it's been so long since I've used DW I forgot the simplest coding.] Yep, doing that again :D.
* Take those courses I keep buying, and do not buy any new ones until I finish the ones I've already got.
* Read actual books, not just social media.
* Pare down my stuff so that when we sell the house moving won't be ridiculously expensive.

I'm feeling energetic today and thus optimistic. We'll see if I can keep it up.

Current Mood: hopeful

Let’s be careful out there.

(Christmas was basically a reset for me: I slept for about 20 hours and not much else.)

Back in November, I applied for a proofreader job but didn't get a response. Okay, shrug and move on. Then last week I got an email from someone from the company, asking to see samples of book covers I'd designed since I mentioned it in my cover letter. (Entirely in passing, I think.) I sent over my favorite covers and explained that I made them in Canva using their available assets, and figured that would be it. I am not, Gentle Reader, a good artist or illustrator, to the point that my teachers thought I had a learning disability in elementary school.

The contact emailed me back to say another staff member would be in touch with me soon.

!!!

So maybe I'll be working as a cover designer? I mean, I do want to diversify the income streams...

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Markiplier playing Shadows over Loathing

As part of my master plan to make a living as a writer, last week I entered Fidele in a cinematic book contest held by Screencraft/Coverfly. I requested feedback on the first 25 pages.

Today I got the feedback.

Y’all. The reader loved it. They wanted to keep reading! They said the structure was sound! They said it would make a great limited series! They said actors would love to say my words!

I just. I can’t.

Screencraft doesn’t announce the winner(s?) until January, so there’s some time to wait for the final results. Still. Ahhh. The reader loved it and I could cry from happiness.

I’m planning to also enter Fidele in a contest for indie authors called the North Street Book prize, and I feel so much more confident about it now.

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Monster Factory

I wasn't going to do fancy formatting and then I remembered this has rich text. Boorah!

Yesterday I carried off a successful Thanksgiving day dinner for myself and my brother D., including a turkey breast and pumpkin mousse pie. D's sort-of-girlfriend (it's complicated) also brought us a pecan-cheescake pie. I had a slice of each today for lunch. Mm, pie.
Yesterday I also submitted Fidele to the Screencraft Cinematic Book writing competition, after a few frantic days of editing. It still needs work. Someday I'll stop tinkering with this story, but not yet. Anyway, any booty shakes of luck you can offer, I will accept.
I'm still planning to finish Continuo book 1 this month, though the number of hours I spent playing Animal Crossing today says otherwise. Maybe I should just write the candy bar scenes now and do the connecting scenes later? Hm...
Our next-door neighbors invited us over tonight for hot chocolate and Christmas-decoration lighting. We might put up a wreath on the door. I don't feel much like Christmas, really.
This year I've been using the Rad and Happy creative planner, which is geared toward project planning. I like it, but I'm not sure I want to buy another one for next year. I'm kind of thinking of creating a digital one in Zinnia and keeping track of deadlines and all that in my regular planner, a dated Doodle planner from Amanda Rach Lee. Or I might use one of my many blank notebooks. We'll see. I'm a lot better at planning to plan than I am at actually making use of my plans.
And... that's me out, I think.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: home
Current Music: Game Grumps

Hi. It's been a while.

Yeah, Twitter, we all know what's going on. I was just starting to feel comfortable there, too -- yes, after 14 years. Oh boy.

Anyway, here's my life in bullet points, which I may elaborate on later:

Unemployed again. The company I had just started with in my last entry had multiple layoffs this year, and I was in the first group last spring. Which was actually fortunate because...
My mother started showing signs of dementia last winter, and it got really serious around July. We finally got her in to take a CAT scan, where they found multiple lesions on her brain due to metastasized cancer. Since I wasn't working, I became her full-time caregiving for the summer and into fall, until she got to the point where she couldn't walk anymore and could barely speak. Then we called in hospice care, who took care of her for the last week of her life. She passed away on October 9. (I'm doing okay. My sibs and I agreed it's weird, but none of us are prostrate with grief.)
Now I'm focusing on getting my old Torquere Press books ready for republication and still hammering away at Continuo. I don't know why this one is so hard for me to make any progress with. I keep trying...
Last year I got a cat, a little Russian Blue I've named Zoë. She's feisty and affectionate and funny, and I love her to pieces. My brother D calls her my emotional support cat, and he's not wrong.
dp-]'[
Zoë says hello. She'll jump onto my laptop keyboard when she wants my attention (which is all the time), but usually the havoc she wreaks is easy to repair.

So, that's me. How're you?

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: Home

Let us count everything beautiful thing we can see (9853 words) by misslucyjane
Chapters: 7/7
Fandom: Lucifer (TV), Constantine (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: John Constantine/Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV)
Characters: John Constantine, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: 50 reasons to have sex, Bisexual John Constantine, Bisexual Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Anal Sex, Clothing Porn, Fluff and Smut, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, canon mashup, Not Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Bottom John Constantine, Soft Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), John Constantine Needs A Hug
Series: Part 4 of Sinnerman
Summary:

Lucifer buys John a new suit. He has an ulterior motive.

John is open to the idea. Lately, he's been open to most of Lucifer's ideas. This would worry him if he weren't having such a good time.

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Recent Entries

it's that time again!

It's that time of the year again...

I’d use a song lyric, but it would only show how terminally uncool I am

Oh, me. Oh, life.

shine your lights on and fade away

March catch-up

holy schnikies

Books books books!

EEP

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Your periodic update

and down we go again, again, down we go again

the good news & the bad news

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Happy new year!

today in "that was unexpcted"

One down, one to go…

Does the word "bulletin" come from "bullet points"?

picks this journal up, dusts it off

Fic: Let us count every beautiful thing we can see