Jkurtzwriter's Blog

Some days are hard to write. Some days the creative juices are flowing, and other days I can hardly read, let alone think. For the past few days, I've been struggling to end Chapter 9. I even started writing Chapter 10 and got stumped there too. Finally finished 9 tonight, and it was nothing close to what I had planned. Hey, if you're just writing along, and happen to, inadvertently, write a cliffhanger, that means STOP to a writer! LOL!!! Below is another teaser- part of a scene from a different chapter. Disclaimer- Everything I share on this blog is subject to, and probably will, change. Chapter 8 Mysterious Ways   Scene 35 Now, here is the truth about Ben Jackson. Karl had treated him like a slave, and ultimately, chained him up in the basement of the original Crawford house. He was no longer homeless, but this was no home sweet home. Ben spent a fortnight in that basement, living in his own feces and choking down lumpy oatmeal, if Karl remembered to feed him that day. Th...

  Hey there blogger, it is a beautiful day and one full of anticipation. We are going to meet a kitten at her foster home, with hopes of bringing her home! Coincidentally, Dawn wants to name her Hope.   In my last blog I said that I would provide updates if my blog got some views. I was excited to see that I had received a few, so I guess the ball's in my court now. Here's an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Mysterious Ways that was inspired by this logo on a hoodie that my boss gave us for Christmas.     Scene 7 from  Chapter 2 - The World On Time           Ethan let himself through the typical gate of the chain-link fence and jogged fifty feet or so to the front door, just like he had done a hundred times before. He knew that this customer owned two adult pit bulls, but they seemed nice and he had even pet them a time or two (in the presence of the owner of course). Not to mention, they were kept inside during the day, so Ethan, though ...

 It has been quite a while since my last blog entry. Since I am the only one reading my blog, I guess it doesn't really matter. A lot has happened since June 8. My wife Dawn and me were displaced from our home on June 17 due to a fire that jumped from our neighbors home to ours. Our 1-1/2 year old indoor cat Xani was displaced also, and we have yet to reunite with her.  Our families, friends, and co-workers have been a godsend! We were able to stay with my parents in their beautiful new home while we figured things out and we were very fortunate to find a new home on the same street! We believe Xani is hanging out around the neighborhood and will smell us out and come to her new home. Dawn and I have continued working our jobs through all this, and somehow, I've still found time to write. The first draft of Mysterious Ways is about one-third complete. I've written 25,000 words, on 89 pages, over 8 chapters. I have kept to my original plot, mostly, though I've added char...

 What does this road lead to? A peaceful lake? An abandoned cottage? A dead body? Hmmm?

 I can't believe it's already June! Damn. Well, I've still been trying to write every day, in some form or another. I've accomplished that, just not writing on the actual manuscript. There's so many apps for writing these days, it's ridiculous! Spending a lot of time playing around with those. Only the free ones of course. So, I have been working on the novel, just in the planning.  I've changed the title and the name of the town three times (I'm sure there'll be more). The antagonist (bad guy) is on his 5th name. Not to mention, I've rewrote the whole first chapter a few times. Oh well, at least I'm writing, and most of it I will include in the book, just not the first chapter. And, I can't blame writer's block. Oh I've had it. Every other day. But when I do, I just start developing characters, or research, or brainstorm. This project is keeping me pretty busy, I'll say that. Thanks for reading! I'll try improving this pa...

 Thank God it's Friday! Well, my Friday. What a great week though! My folks treated the wife and I to Olive Garden for Dawn's birthday! Happy 35th babe! (Shhhh....e's 48). Shhhh. It is always a fun time with the parents! Dawn got embarrassed when the whole place sang Happy Birthday to her. And, just before that, a grandma was screaming for a doctor because her grandbaby was choking! Seriously! All I could think of was the Dumb and Dumber scene at the diner!!! LOL!  So that was exciting. AND... Our Colorado Avalanche brought us one step closer to Lord Stanley's Cup by defeating the St. Louis Blues in 5 games! The Avs swept Nashville in the first round, and then lost their first game of the second round at Ball Arena (home) to the Blues! I started to worry, but my son Collin said not to worry. And he was right, it was only our first loss in this year's tournament. Then, somehow, the series wound up 3-2 Av's. St. Louis could only think of that Dumb and Dumber scene...

Such a funny word- blog . Any suggestions on its origination? It does kind of fit what we're doing here, Blogging .... Well, I was back to work today, at the job that actually pays me. I hope to make money with my writing someday, but that's not why I write. I've loved to write since I was a kid. I'd get a kick out of seeing the 50 page animal encyclopedia I did when I was like 7! Hope you're having a great day! I'm going to work on my book now.