Jenyfer Matthews

Every day, several times a day I check my email. And lately, there’s been this MetLife banner ad across the top. Maybe you’ve seen it. The text is: “If we tie the knot… If she’s eating for two…”

Okay, sure, life insurance is a good idea and there are worse ads that could be displayed across the top of my computer screen. But this particular ad uses images of Snoopy and Woodstock to illustrate its text. Am I the only one who is a little weirded out by the thought of Snoopy and Woodstock shacking up and starting a family???

Not sure where the time has gone but Halloween has really sneaked up on me this year - I haven’t even put out all of my decorations yet! Or had the chance to wear my collection of spooky earrings.

I do have one new item that I’ll be sporting for the festivities this year. Check out what I made myself yesterday morning. My best friend called it “voodoo chic”, a description I find quite apt. I don’t normally make clothes for myself - why bother when I can find things on sale for less than I would spend on fabric? - but these skulls really tickled my fancy. I may even wear them outside of Halloween!

In case you are curious, I have also been keeping
up with my writing goals and have been making good progress on my WIP. So, even though I have several errands to run today, I wrote so much in the last two days I can afford to take a day off if it turns out that way. I can always make up for it tomorrow and I suspect I will - I already know which scene is coming up next.

Just got this review for ONE CRAZY SUMMER:

One Crazy Summer is a light-hearted romantic romp. [...] Jenyfer Matthews’ description of the Mexican beach, with its wicker chairs and breathtaking views did sound like heaven on Earth. One Crazy Summer is highly entertaining, a great fast read for anytime you feel like being pulled into the summer fun!

Reviewed by: Carly
4/5
Fallen Angels Reviews

Just about the time the weather starts to improve in Cairo and you think you might want to open the windows and let in a little fresh air, the farmers out in the Nile Delta start to burn their rice chaff. The air quality in Cairo is bad on a good day and the smoke that comes from the farmers doesn’t help anything. It leaves the air hazy and acrid. My husband and daughter get congested and my own eyes burn.

I’ve become accustomed to line drying my clothes in my years in the Middle East and in fact prefer it now. When the weather is warm or it’s breezy, things will dry in a matter of a few hours. But it’s not much fun to go out to collect the clothes and find them sprinkled with particles of ash and soot.

Some mornings it is so hazy that it looks like fog. During the day, the smell isn’t as noticeable so I try to pretend it isn’t an issue and open the windows anyway. But the air is still dirty. And with each breeze, every surface in the house is coated with grime. I have to clean our dining table before AND after our evening meals. Our white dishrags turn black with the muck. We won’t talk about the floor - or the bottoms of our feet.

Keeping the windows shut doesn’t help anyway - the windows are so warped and badly sealed that the dust and grime just comes in through the gaps. I washed my off-white sheers this weekend, streaked with black where the dirt blows in through the cracks.

At night, when the air is still and the humidity settles in, the smell of smoke permeates the air - and our apartment. With all the cautions of the hazards of secondary smoke that I’ve heard over the years, I can’t help but wonder what affect this is having on my health and the health of my children.

Still, the good things about living in Egypt still outweigh the bad. It is still pomegranate season - of which I’m taking full advantage. And there are still lovely sights such as this in the neighborhood :

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this is called a Silk Tree. Lovely, isn’t it?

Some days writing comes more easily than others. You have to have the ideas of course – what happens next, and then what, and then what… You have to have the discipline to sit down and try to write in words what is so vivid in your mind. And you have to try not to let the business aspect of the process become too distracting.

And it is distracting. Not only whether or not readers will like the story you’ve told in the end but whether or not it will sell in the first place. Publishers are always looking for something “new” and “hot” but of course not *too* far outside the box. There are writers who start trends and then ride the wave. Other writers are able to take advantage of trends and write stories for current popular markets. Timing is really everything though. It takes time to write a story, time to get it to the attention of a publisher and yet more time for that publisher to get a story out into the marketplace. As an author, by the time that you identify a popular trend you might actually be interested in writing in, the market could well be glutted and that trend on the way out.

I am much too slow a writer to try and take advantage of any of the hot trends in publishing. My only hope is that the trends that interest me become more classic over time so I have a chance to catch up.

I saw a thread on a forum I frequent where someone remarked that sales of straight contemporary romance were down – they aren’t as popular as they used to be. I was in a funk most of the day after reading that since straight contemporary is what I tend to write. And yet, I can only write the stories and characters that come into my head. I just have to keep my head down and hope that what I write is compelling enough to make the grade at the end of the day. Contemporary romance is the little black dress of the genre – it never goes out of style (right??)

My instinct is to just stick my head in the sand but of course I can’t really do that.

Instead I will just continue to write what pleases me and hope that someday it will please everyone else as well. Still making progress on my WIP. Starting a new section so now it’s time to do some research. There are worse ways to spend your time than researching Athens…

About me!

(actually, isn’t that the purpose of this entire blog??)

Fresh off the presses, check out an interview I did with
Night Owl Romance.

I cook because I have to. I enjoy eating tasty, healthy meals but I don’t always enjoy being the creator of said meals. I do it from necessity. If not me, who? Because I’m hyper-organized but also looking for the easy way out, I usually try to come up with three nice meals a week. The other days are covered by leftovers, take out, and a few in-a-pinch sort of meals (burritos and pizza in our house)

I’ve done my three nice meals this week (Thai inspired peanut sauce pasta, stir fry green beans with garlic sauce, and cheese and broccoli quesadillas if you are curious) and I’m happy to say that tonight is leftover night. Tomorrow we do Chinese take-out (it’s a Thursday night tradition) I’m going to try and get hubby to cook one night over the weekend so I won’t have to actually come up with anything of my own creation until Sunday if I play my cards right.

Nope, not in the mood to cook.

I am however in the mood to bake - carrot cake to be exact. I went out this morning for bread and came back with carrots and cream cheese too. It’s really the only thing that could tempt me into kitchen right now.

Just so you know, I have been writing and am happy to report that I’m keeping up with my own personal goals, modest though they are. Can’t complain about that.

My children ask from time to time why it is that we have chosen not to have a car here in Egypt. To say that the driving is crazy is inadequate. I have trouble describing the lawlessness which personifies driving habits of the locals.

I recently found this description of driving in Cairo at the turn of the last century in “The Leisure of an Egyptian Official” by Lord Edward Cecil:

His driving is peculiar. We start off at a gallop before I am well in the cab, and I sit down suddenly. This is painful, but I am used to it. We whirl around the first corner, and miss and old man who is strolling down the road, apparently with the intention of committing suicide, by a fraction of an inch. The driver yells out the whole time various remarks to the other occupants of the street who are getting, or who he thinks may get, in his way. “O my father, mind thy feet. Thy feet, my brother. To thy right, beloved. O son of all that is vile, and father of unmentionable things, where are you going?” They an torrent of abuse which is absolutely unreproducible. The language of he barrack-room in the old days was pure and mild compared with ordinary chaff of the streets here.

All this time we are galloping and missing people and vehicles by the narrowest of margins. It looks like a series of the most unparalleled flukes, but it is really due to the cleverness of the horses, who are as quick on their feet as cats, and just manage to avoid each thing in turn. It is lucky that they are so gifted, because no one keeps the rule of the road; all pedestrians walk in the roadway, usually on the wrong side, and are either engaged in conversation or are so blind as to not be able to see the carriage until it is close upon them. The shouts of the driver have less effect than one might expect from their loudness and substance, because all the other drivers are shouting at the same time.

Replace the horses with automobiles and add in the cacophony of honking and you get the idea. And yet, we are in the minority - just about everyone we know has a car - which, in a city of approximately 20 million (give or take), is part of the problem! Having recently witnessed a police truck hit a passenger car, inspect the damage and then drive away from the scene I am not convinced to change my mind on the matter.

Besides, walking is good for you – so long as you can avoid the drivers….

(Sorry, it’s a weak joke, but I couldn’t help myself!)

November is National Novel Writing Month. The purpose? To encourage writers to just sit down and write - a challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. Here’s a bit from their website:

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

It sounds good - and fun. But 50,000 words is a lot for a slow poke like me. I did the math and it’s doable - only 1,666 words a day. But when I adjust for weekends and holidays in November I’d have to write closer to 2,500 words a day to make 50,000 words in a month and I can already tell you that’s not going to happen!

As for quantity over quality - that’s almost tougher for me to swallow. One of the reasons I write so slowly is because I write carefully as I go along. I finish slower, but my edits are much faster!

Still, I’d like to do something. My youngest started attending school for a full day starting this week - which means I have seven hours to myself during the day. Now, not all of that can be spent writing since I do have other things demanding my time and attention, but it does mean that I have fewer excuses not to be more productive. So while I’m not going to formally sign up for the NaNo challenge, I’m announcing my commitment to the idea here. I pledge to you that I will do my utmost to use my time well and write as much as is possible in the next month.

Cross my heart.

This morning I had a nice chat with the shopkeeper from whom I bought my husband’s birthday present, the canopic jar. During the course of our conversation he said, “Excuse me, but I must tell you, you need to eat more. You are too thin. I don’t like to say it, but you almost look a little bit ill.”

I can’t deny it. I am thin. Just luck of the gene pool - and life without a car. I walk a lot. Living on the fourth floor doesn’t hurt either. By American standards I am just right for my height. Apparently by Egyptian standards I’m wasting away. This is perhaps why I don’t rate nearly the level of harassment in the street that other women I know speak of (the silver lining!).

Today the vegetable man gave me a tray of cookies that his wife made. I thought he was being so generous because I am a loyal customer and he likes me. But maybe he is on a campaign to fatten me up…