Hi all,
Happy New Year! As you're reading this, my city has
possibly had a bunch of snow dumped on it... but probably
not. I'm writing this on Saturday and there's
currently not so much as a flake but different models are
saying different things so we'll see. (ETA: We got
nothing.) Regardless, I hope you're all warm and cozy
and enjoying the last couple days of the Christmas season
(though no judgment if you keep it going well through
January, especially since Orthodox Christmas lasts through
January 19th... I might be keeping the decorations up that
long myself.)
I know some of us have serious concerns about what 2025 may
bring but I, personally, also have hope. Be brave...
but not so brave that you don't lean on others as you need
to.
God loves you, now and forever.
God bless,
Jenni
Plans
for JABB for 2025
1. Writing "The Prodigal." This is the big
one. And I'm really, really hoping that I can get a good
chunk of it done yet this month because I'm on staycation from
work from January 24th through February 3rd. That being
said... I'm also puppysitting during that time so it totally
depends on how needy said puppy is. But there's also a
chance that will be minimal depending on how well-adjusted
said puppy is when my parents go on vacation. Anyway,
I'm really looking forward to this if for no other reason that
it'll allow me to write Joshua vacillating between kinda zany
to his "good is not always nice" mode which I came to really
love while writing "The Advocate." It'll also mean
getting to cover some things I wanted to before but didn't
around to like...
2. Loreena's and Roger's wedding. I kinda fell in
love with Pastor Simone and have really wanted to write her
wedding homily for them. So that will probably be their
flashback story in "The Prodigal."
3. I also want to cover Ed's and Steve's wedding but,
except for some brief descriptions, I think I'll hold on
that. I have a big Ed and Steve story planned for 2028
that will itself be a frame story and I want to cover several
points in their early marriage in that. So, instead, I
think "The Prodigal" will feature a flashback explaining how
they came to adopt their daughter, Anahera.
4. Another plot point I really want to explain the
origins of is how JenniAnn's work with redeeming demons
started and how Andrew initially responded to that.
5. With Joshua having an extended stay, I'd like to
explore how he might be involved with St. G's when they're
doing their non-JCS shows. I think they'd be extremely
careful about what roles they let him play. Villain
roles are, quite obviously, off the table as are any involving
romance. But I could see him playing dad roles like
maybe Maurice in Beauty and the Beast. Narrator
roles would generally be pretty safe. He also might stay
backstage and focus on helping Owen with the set pieces.
We'll see!
6. Apart from the stories, I'd like to do a better job
of staying on top of web site updates and keeping the main
page refreshed for the holidays/seasons. Every so often,
I hear from someone who checks in on the site so I'd like to
make it more obvious that it's still active.
7. Honestly... I need to spend some dedicated time just
organizing files. I have little snippets of scenes that
I wrote for future use in email drafts, .txt files on my
computer, cloud files, etc. I really need to just figure
out one location to keep them all or risk losing stuff.
8. This is only tangentially related to JABB but I want
to start reading more fiction and poetry again. Most of
my reading comes in the form or long-form nonfiction articles
and Audible. And those definitely count. But I've
found myself searching for words more often when writing and I
think it's because I'm spending less time taking in the
written word. I used to spend hours a day reading and
really miss it. Maybe with my major home improvement
projects mostly done, I can get back to that.
9. Almost forgot! Story-wise, I'm also looking
forward to checking in with Jamie and Gwen to see how the
latter is taking to modern life.
10. I know this will be a trying year in many ways and I
don't want to ignore that. But I do want to keep things
hopeful and optimistic around here even as we confront tough
issues. Cause we still know that God loves us.
And now, because tomorrow marks 29 years
since Andrew first appeared on our screens, I leave you
with...
TOTGA
("The One That Got Away") Day Jigsaw Puzzle
This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye
for inspiring me for 29 years with his work as Andrew.
JABB Portal
JABB TOC
JABB
693
(Photo Credits: The
photographs used on this page, other than my own,
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.)
