“And now we welcome the new year.
Full of things that have never been.”
~~Rainer Maria Rilke
Hi all,
So since JABB 559 is still in progress, I debated whether to
send a newsletter this week. But I decided to do a
brief one so I stay on schedule. Below is the list of
hopes and plans I had for JABB in *2019*. As you'll
see... not many of those panned out. So I've revised
it for this coming year.
May you enjoy the waning days of 2019 and have a blessed new
year!
God bless,
Jenni
Hopes and Plans
for JABB in 2019 2020
From 2019: 1. This year, I'm going to attempt to avoid
writing any lengthy, big issue stories in favor of writing
more but shorter character focused pieces including...
From 2020: Haha! And then "The
Messiah" happened... Here's a helpful bit of
advice: when you're trying to NOT write a super long story,
maybe don't do a sequel to the longest story you've ever
written. Better luck in 2020?
From 2019: 2. I'd love
to finally get around to writing the story about how Joshua
and Kellie made amends following Jesse's death. It's
hinted at in other stories and I think Marty figures in
somehow. But I'd really like to delve into how that went
and how Kellie went from who we saw at the end of "As It Is in
Heaven" to the largely earthbound caseworker who we see in the
Dyeland stories.
From 2020: Umm... Maybe this will happen in
2020??? This definitely still interests me a
lot. And I really didn't get to do much of anything
with either Marty or Kellie in this year's, sadly few,
stories. So here's hoping! One thing I can say:
I'm relatively sure I won't have another invasion of mice
which is what set me behind schedule on so many, many things
this past year. I still have two of those mice.
But two contained mice are much less time-consuming than
twelve "free range" mice.
From 2019: 3. Andrew
hated Halloween. That's well established. But
JenniAnn loves it. So they've managed to find a way of
celebrating in a more cute, colorful, harvest-themed sort of
way. But people can only keep aspects of themselves in
check for so long... When Violeta comes home with a copy
of Stephen King's Pet Semetary that a classmate lent
her, JenniAnn finds herself remembering the King-reading,
horror-movie-watching teenager that she once was. Andrew
has to reconsider some of his viewpoints or risk suppressing
what could be a very important aspect of his anam cara's
psyche.
From 2020: I still really want
to do this story but don't feel really confident about
my ability to read Pet Semetary in time.
So, instead, I think the impetus for the story will be
Violeta hearing about the TV series The Haunting
of Hill House (which I happened to love).
I have a feeling JenniAnn would have very much wanted
to watch it but put it off out of respect for
Andrew. But I think it's something that could
actually have a lot of meaning for them both and would
be a great education for Violeta.
From 2019:
4. So this one has some very heavy topics
but I still think it'll be quicker to write than, say, "Broken
Hallelujahs." The Friends discover in ways both
heartbreaking and encouraging that things aren't always as
they seem. When one of their own attempts suicide, the
group is left confused, shaken, and distraught.
Meanwhile, Andrew's shocked when an old friend resurfaces,
seeking aid for his protege who was among the victims of a
hate crime against indigenous peoples. Little do any of
them know that the troubled Friend and broken angel are
linked.
From 2020: Okay... so I did
actually start laying the groundwork for this
one. And if you read today's installment
of the Christmas story, it might become a little
clearer who the "troubled Friend" is even
though, at this time, the trouble hasn't
started. I did introduce Takoda, the
angelic protege, in "The Messiah" which felt a
little rocky to me but I think it makes more
sense and will be more meaningful to have him
somewhat established as opposed to springing him
as a totally new character. I think this
story has the best chance of actually happening
in 2020.
From 2019: 5. Beyond
stories, I'd really like to get the Dyeland
Character Birthdates list completely updated.
Right now it's pretty hit or miss and I need to get to a point
where that's updated every time a new character is
introduced. Which brings me to...
From 2020: This I
actually did fairly well on... now I just
need to keep it up. I have the info
for the new characters from "The Messiah"
saved. I just need to get that into
the spreadsheet. But, hey, I did get
a spreadsheet started that lists the
meanings behind all the characters'
names. I need to upload that to the
site, too.
From 2019: 6. I need to
standardize how I create new characters. As it is now, I
come up with a character and immediately thrust them into a
plot and then three stories later I want to, say, reference
their age or hair color and have no idea if I've already
established either. So I think I'll start filling out a
form like the following and will ask others to do the same if
they introduce anyone.
Full name:
Date of birth:
Physical description:
Family situation:
That will, hopefully, cut down on discrepancies and confusion
on my part. As best as possible, I'll go back and fill
that in for existing characters, too, in case anyone else
wants to take a stab at writing. Meanwhile, if anyone is
reading past stories and comes across physical descriptions of
characters, please let me know. While some are very well
established in my head, others are a blur. I'm very
clear on all characters from TBAA, of course! :-)
From 2020:
Definitely still need to do that...
What I really need to do is a whole lot of
rereading of prior stories.
From 2019: 7. Just for
fun, I'm also working on a list of characters' names, their
meanings, and origins. I hope to release that soon but
if anyone wants to peruse it first, please let me know.
Again, it's probably hit and miss with some folks' left off
accidentally.
From 2019: 8. On a
non-story note, I really, really hope this is the year I can
finish getting the Hallmark snaps off the TBAA Photo Gallery
and replaced with ones from the official DVDs. It really
put a damper on things when I discovered my screenshot program
doesn't work on this computer. I'd also really like to
redo the snaps from Seasons 2-4 which, for reasons unknown to
me now, I made really small. So... if anyone knows of a
good, reasonably priced screenshot program that works on
Windows 10, please let me know!
From 2020: I did
not do that... This laptop may be on
its way out so, hopefully, when I get a
new one, I'll be better able to do
screenshots.
From 2019: 9. I plan to
release a short story next Sunday, January 27th, in honor of
International Holocaust Remembrance Day. I wrote most of
it following my visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in
D.C. this past autumn. It mostly involves Joshua and
JenniAnn but Andrew is featured. I'll post a link on the
Updates
page next Sunday.
From 2019: 10.
Finally... I'd just really like to get the Encyclopedia,
Timeline, etc. updated with information from "Broken
Hallelujahs" on. I feel really, really behind!
From 2020: And
that also happened... but now I
need to eventually add the
information from "The Messiah" but
I'll take a few weeks' break from
it first.
And I can't say I really have any
new, big plans for 2020.
Just catching up from what I
didn't get to in 2019 will
probably take me a while!
But you never know what unforeseen
thing might spark creativity...
(Photo Credits: The photographs used
on this page are from Touched by an Angel and
owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon
Water Productions. They are not being used to seek
profit.)