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Flash Anthology Cover & Title Reveal!
I’m back today with more updates about my upcoming flash fiction anthology. The image above is a rough of the cover. And it has the title in it: The Test of Life: Five Short Tales. Here’s my draft of the description for it:
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Yarn Mandala & Anthology Updates
Today I want to talk about something that helps me with stress & anxiety. I call it my yarn mandala. Well, sometimes I call it a knit (or knitting) mandala. After I explain what that is, we’ll get to the updates for my all-new flash fiction anthology.
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Storytime: Summoning Spell
The Storytime Blog Hop is today! This means two things. One: I have another totally free flash fiction story for you today. And two: I have a list of a few other authors publishing their own free stories. So lots of goodies for you today!
Onward with my story.
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New Domain & Free Fiction
First things first: Jacq’s Labz is now live on its own brand new domain: JacqsLabz.com. And guess what? You’re on it right now. This is the new site on the new domain you’re reading now. The move is finally finished!
For now, the new domain looks similar to the old subdomain. There are some key differences.
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I’m on the Advent Calendar!
My flash fiction story A New Life has been accepted for the 2022 Indie Authors’ Advent Calendar!
What’s an Advent Calendar?
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New Direction: Flash Fiction
Last week I talked about how I’m taking a sabbatical from my “day job” (that was actually a night shift job) to focus on this blog, myself, and what direction to take things in. Well, I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’ve decided to focus on my creative writing. I’ve decided to start with writing some flash fiction.
What is flash fiction?
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I’m taking a break (from my day job)
To be clear: I’m not taking a break from this blog. In fact, taking a break from my day job is going to give me more time for this blog. This is going to give me time to post regularly.
Without rambling on about the details, I’ve made some changes in my life recently. I already paid in advance my share of rent for over a year. Bills too. This makes my monthly expenses low. Like crazy low. I decided to take advantage of this by also taking a break from the min wage jobs I’ve been working for years now. A sabbatical if you will. Some time to relax, figure myself & what I want out. Not to mention what to do with my time, how I want to spend my days (so to speak).
I do already have some ideas about what I’m going to do with myself during this break:
- Work on this blog, including things like getting a regular posting schedule going.
- I want to go deep with the sort of “self-therapy” I’ve been working on for a long time now (previously by listening to audiobooks by therapists while cleaning during my night shifts), and really dig deep into some of my problems that were too big to tackle while on the clock.
- Writing a sort of survival guide about working min wage jobs, detailing all my tips & tricks about money, and everything I learned going from flat broke (and functionally homeless) to having enough money to put about $20k toward a house down payment while only earning ~$25k/yr. I’ve started this project, and been enjoying it so far.
- Writing fiction, telling stories, getting them finished so I can get them out to the world. Because fiction is a big part of how I survived my abusive upbringing. I’ve been trying to write fiction since I was in middle school (I’m 34 now, so for many years), so this is nothing new. But pursuing it in a more serious manner is. Because I think I’m finally recovered enough to capable of doing so.
- I’ve thought about graphic design. Though if I go in that direction, it will be with a radically different approach than I have used in the past. Because that approach did not work for me. By which I mean being entirely myself, and not trying to be a bland cooperate drone out of fear of what other might think. This also falls into the maybe I’m recovered enough for this now bucket.
List I said last week: an owned domain is already in the works for this site. If I start writing fiction or doing design or anything like that, that new domain will be the headquarters to where you can get all the info about it. And any freebies I make, naturally.
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Planning a Move!
I don’t have the exact date just yet, but I’m going to move Jacq’s Labz (this blog) to it’s own domain. Instead of using the jacqslabz.wordpress.com subdomain the blog uses now (as of this writing that is).
Once the new domain is ready, I will make a post with a link to it. Even after the move is complete, I’m going to make sure to leave a link to the new domain. This way no one will get left behind in the move. And if anyone else finds this at the subdomain later, they’ll know when to get all the latest updates from me.
Anyway, thank you being here and have a good one!
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Stardew Sucked Me In
So I tried playing Stardew Valley, and good gravy it is like crack cocaine for me. Seriously. I probably will not be posting any updates about this game, because it just sucks me in so hard. Have you ever found a game like that? Where you like it, but in a way you like it so much (or just get so hooked) that you’re probably better just avoiding it entirely? Surely everyone has at least one game like this. Leave a comment what game/s do this for you.
I will say the villagers in Stardew are great & I love the game, but there are other things I want to spend my time on. For me, this is the kind of game that I just look up and suddenly the ENTIRE DAY is just gone. Poof.
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Skye part 2 & Sarila
I got up a part 2 for me playing Cottage Living with Skye Ashton, you can read it now: 2-BuildingSavings
(Please note: Sarila is pronounced as “Sa-reel-la” with a hard e sound)
As far as Sarila: to go with the sims 4 version of her that I made, I built a house for that part of her life. And today I’m sharing some screenshots of them in it.
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