Back in the 70's and 80's, when I was growing up my mother and my grandmother both watched soap operas. (Their "stories".) As a prepubescent teen these shows seemed so glamourous and exciting and decadent to me -- Beautiful people doing bad things! Sex on every free surface of the house! Evil twins! Murder plots galore! And all in the middle of the school day? Epic greatness. As I got older I started to enjoy soaps for an entirely different reason -- comedic gold. I loved how these people all walked around in their own homes fully dressed to the nines, drinking mystery liquor from lead crystal decanters and fancy schmancy highball glasses. I reveled in how they would say ridiculous things out loud that you would never say out loud in a million, zillion years without being committed or slapped in the face (which also sometimes happened, tee hee!). I waited with baited breath for them to replace an actor mid-episode with an ominous voiceover right before their first line. It was unapologetic overly dramatic drivel and I gleefully, happily embraced it for what it was-- pure escapism. It's the very same reason that we all scour the internet now for the juiciest bits of celebrity gossip, hold our collective breath waiting for a royal baby we don't really give a crap about to be born, and openly revile Miley Cyrus for acting like a classless (always nude) buffoon in the name of shameless self-promotion. It's also part of the reason we love to hate the Twilight books, made a household name out of Fifty Shades of Grey, and care more about what happens to Walter White than our actual real-live friends (who are infinitely less cool, let's be honest). We exist fully in this perfect little cocoon of ennui. Things are happening out there in the world, we know... bad, bad, horrible things (I'm talking to you Syria!), but we're just removed enough to care more about what potential good thing may be out there waiting for us around the corner, something impressive and life-altering enough to snap us out of the apathetic everyday malaise. We are not unhappy per se, but we certainly aren't jumping out of bed every morning when the alarm goes off with a shit eaten grin on our face ready to conquer the world. We aren't starving but we're still hungry. We ain't broke but we certainly ain't entirely fixed either. We have it just good enough to be desensitized to our luxuries, but not so great that we can choose not to... well...drudge. Ennui; the great equalizer of the modern middle class. The reason, I think, that a few soap operas are still clinging to life to this day. It is also exactly the reason that I write what I write. I never aspired to be Shakespeare, or Hemingway, or even a Pulitzer Prize Winner (although I would never kick the Pulitzer out of bed, if you know what I mean.). I don't aim to change the world with my thought provoking, cutting-edge political views or sad tales of woe. I just want to help people get out of their own heads and forget about reality for a bit, because that's what I want for myself. I am here too. She is me. And a little escape from the sweet, sweet ennui would be very nice right about now.
Multi-tasking 101
I'm the kind of person who multi-tasks all the time. I clean while I'm cooking, look through mail when I'm watching television, cover the stairs with things that need to go up on my way. I've always been this person. If I'm not doing three things at once, I'm wasting valuable time. I nag my husband all the time. He is incapable of pouring a drink and having a conversation with someone. His brain just doesn't work this way. I hear it's a male thing but I always hated these kind of generalizations; you know, that whole male vs female brain thing that everyone is always bitching about? Cop out! But my son has started to do it too and it worries me that this particular stereotype may just be turn out to be true. I mean, seriously! I've been over here cooking dinner for four people, while cleaning up toys, simultaneously spinning this plate on a stick and talking about what happened last night on True Blood and you can't get dressed telling me about your day? Rank amateur.
However, I have recently found that my gift for juggling mundane tasks is not entirely impervious. I can't multi-task at all when it comes to writing. There! I said it! I have a multi-tasking weakness. You see, I've found in the past year or so, I simply can not write worth a damn the same day I am refurbishing and repainting my bathroom. I can't flesh out a chapter while compiling the year five scrapbook of my son's life, and I certainly can't work on prose when my heart is at Home Goods redecorating my den. When it comes to crafting something, I'm a total man! I've got a one track creative mind.
I wonder why this is a lot now. Why my creative parts could be so wildly divergent from my everyday. They're still both me right? I'm the one behind the curtain no matter how you slice it. And still I can't change what I know to be true. Multi-tasking is my part-time gift, requiring absolutely no muse. So today I write and my bathroom lies dormant. Tomorrow I paint and my characters wait until my faux-finish masterpiece is complete. Someone call the Devil! I'm definitely going to need to bargain for more time; while also setting the table, making the bed and doing a few loads of laundry that is...
For the Soul
My son graduated from Kindergarten last week, launching us full steam ahead into summer. The last two weeks have been filled with concerts, graduations, field trips and various end of year parties. It's been a great time for my little fam and a nice change of pace from the mundane nine to three shuffle. However I find my Muse growing...impatient. I haven't written a word or accomplished a writing task in nearly a week, and it's making me slightly schizophrenic.
The truth is, it's gotten to the point in my life that I need to write. I need it like air or water or even food. Coffee! Wine! Sex! As much as I love them all, they pale in comparison to the cathartic loveliness of stringing together some words to create. It's so loud in my head right now I can barely rest. (Although I practically pass out the moment I hit the pillow at night after trying to keep up with a healthy, active six year old!) My sleep is plagued with stories longing to be told or characters fighting for attention, like teenage children or needy friends, all clamoring for a moment of my undivided time! And I miss them! God help me, I miss these pure imaginings of my subconscious, wondering all the while how Cage and Tessa are getting on, if Max is missing Eden, or if Gabriel has managed to recover fully from the sting of Bianca's rejection. I miss my beautiful creatures with all my heart and all my soul, and I long to get back to them...
Most of you already know what I mean. A musician needs to play, an artist needs to create, a designer needs to make something beautiful. It's all the same. The creative soul simply needs. All the time. Consistently. Right now, mine misses words. What's your soul craving these days? Do tell...
Inspired by Dick & Jane
So my son has started to read. This wild phenomenon has made me feel nostalgic for my own childhood reading memories. The first book I learned to read was a Dick and Jane hardcover circa 1970something. I purchased the entire set when my son was born because I was convinced that he, like his spectacular momma, would cut his teeth on the saga of the adorable coquettish Jane and her Beaver Cleaver looking brother. Alas, I was wrong. I have been informed that my son is far too advanced for the Dick and Jane books and another parenting milestone is crushed by a six year old's tenacity. What's my point...? Oh yes, I do have one. Books defined me as a person. (Music to a certain extent as well, but I'll get into that another time). Beginning with Dick and Jane and their decidedly white bread life lessons, segueing right into those controversial Flowers in the Attic, Judy Blume's arousing vacancy, vacancy, vacancy!, and on to an adulthood of practically non-stop reading. Novels were my friends, my mentors, my instruction manuals and all my hopes and dreams rolled up in wondrous musty yellowing pages. They were, and continue to be, a part of what makes me...well... decidedly me. So, here is a brief list of some of the books that changed my life. (Not to be confused with books I love, which would take up too much of this space and your valuable time.) Feel free to tell me your own. I love it when people share the wealth.
Dick & Jane
Flowers in the Attic
Forever
Interview with the Vampire
Hamlet
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Game of Thrones
The DaVinci Code
If I know me, I'll be adding to this all day and hopefully for the rest of my life. Read a book! Support art and creativity. It's the stuff that dreams are made of!
Ratings & Hot Sauce Make the Internet Go Round
Hello friends. Hoping you all survived the St. Paddy's Day weekend with most of your brain cells still in tact. (Don't look at me like that -- you know who you are). Had the good fortune of having Page Turner (Part 2 of Incubus Rising) processed by Smashwords this weekend and the trickle down begins now to Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Apple and Kobo and all the wonderful outlets that allow people like me to get their work out there and share with the world. Still, the actual ratings on my sales are hovering at the absolute zero- to the embarrassingly low mark (thanks MOM - you're a peach). Ratings on sights like Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Goodreads are vitally important to how a work is received and I'm asking that you please, please, please go on-line and rate my work. I don't care if it's five stars (Yay!) or three (Meh.), although the higher rating is, of course, always preferable! A written review, while helpful, is not required and it takes no time at all. Think of me as that super cool iPhone case you purchased, that meme that made you laugh out loud, or that really awesome hot sauce you procured from that tiny bistro in New Orleans. I enjoyed Atomic Faceburn #2 immensely and would encourage you to give it a try! Four solid stars! Pass it on and enjoy with my blessings and a glass of milk!
There is no reason for a writer, a performer, an artist or a hot sauce to exist if there's no audience.
As always, thank you for any and all support!
And the Winner is...
Our on-line Facebook contest on what teaser should be included in my next Novella, Page Turner (Part 2 of the Incubus Rising Series) was a landslide for Devil May Care (Kick Ass Assassin, Gods and Monsters). Vampires are so yesterday. Don't despair however, I still love me a good alpha vamp and have plenty of stories in reserve there! As far as I'm concerned from Bram Stoker to Anne Rice to Stephanie Meyer, vampires will literally never, ever die!
Hoping to have Page Turner smashed up by this weekend and available on-line! My husband/business manager/tech guy/all purpose dogs body/awesomesauce dude/editor has an actual JOB that can really interfere with my pseudo-career as a writer. What a drag!
Anywho, have a glorious weekend my friends and try to pick up a good book in any event. I just got a sample of The Teleportation Accident, by Ned Beauman myself. I hear it's nerdarific and can't wait to dive in! I'll let you know...
Facebook Can be a Friend
So, spending alot of time reaching out to friends and friends of friends on Facebook. While I'm generally happy with the response, Facebook Pages are a new skill set all together and I'm still trying to get my bearings. For those of you who are in the process of reading Monogamy is Dead, Part One of the Incubus Rising, Part Two will be available sometime next week. I'm also working on Part Three as we speak, my beautiful Incubi inspring me every day. Once again, thanks for following and for the support. More to come...
New Year, New Outlook
The time has come to buckle down. Self publishing and self-editing has been a difficult road. There isn't enough time in the day and you can't always see the forest from the trees. Still, I hope you'll bear with me as I limp forward and simply enjoy these stories as they were meant to be enjoyed -- as a wonderful, stress free escape. Take some time, get a cup of coffee (or some wine if you prefer) and dive in! There's no point in writing if no one is reading.
Welcome to JenniferMancini.com
Today I start a journey that I have been really excited about for a loooong time. I've been writing for myself my entire life. In the past few years I've started to write for my friends and family. With the explosion of books like Fifty Shades I knew that it was time for me to get my stories out there. The market has changed so dramatically with the advent of computer technology and self publishing is no longer the professional pariah it was once thought of. People I come across on line and in readers groups and in my social circles simply love to escape. They want to forget about their troubles and their stresses and be transported to someplace exciting and wondrous and new. So, I invite you to come escape with me into my world of vampires and assassins and beautiful Alpha males. Because I know that's what I want to read and it's what i LOVE to write...