Random Stuff |

Infrequently Amusing

March 6, 2013 by Jamie

In terms of objects that can be balanced on my dog’s head, pizza is easy. Round things and hats prove more difficult. Last year I photographed my poor dog with pretty much everything I could think of balanced on his head, and last week I created a photo book of my favorites from the year. The book arrived in the mail Saturday, and it gave me a ridiculous amount of pleasure to hold in my hands the finished project–the result […]

Categories: Creativity, Random Stuff • Tags: artist routines, creative process, creativity, instagram, writer, writing, writing life, writing routine

RWA 2012 Conference Highlights

August 2, 2012 by Jamie

The Romance Writers of America 2012 conference took place in Anaheim, California this year, right down the street from Disneyland, which I swore I wouldn’t visit but did anyway for my birthday (and had a ridiculously good time). I had no expectations for this conference, which is perhaps why it is one of the best I’ve attended. I was sort of sad to miss the always-fabulous Harlequin party Friday night (because said visit to Disneyland with the family turned into […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Industry, Random Stuff, Romance Novels • Tags: boomerang bride, disneyland, Harlequin, industry, publishing industry, rita award, robyn carr, romance, romance authors, Romance Novel, romance novels, Romance Writers of America, RWA, simone elkeles, stephanie laurens, writer, writers conference

A Whole New Look

July 3, 2012 by Jamie

I just updated the look of my website. You like? I’ve been meaning to do it for, oh, let’s see…a number of years. I know, I know, I still need to update my books page and all that other tedious stuff, but this is a huge improvement. Look over there in the left column. All my books are finally here! Yippee.

Categories: Random Stuff • Tags: books, updates, website

Instagram Addict

April 9, 2012 by Jamie

I was doing so well for a while there, and then my day job intervened, and all of a sudden it’s a ghost town around here. Also, in my not-so-spare time, I’ve become obsessed with Instagram. If you have an iphone, and/or you’re already an Instragram user, you can look me up as Jamie Kain (my married name), or inthecityoftrees (my Instagram user name). Not familiar with Instagram yet? It’s sort of like Twitter meets Facebook meets Photography 101, but […]

Categories: Procrastination, Random Stuff • Tags: blogging, instagram, photography

Bearing Fruit

February 21, 2012 by Jamie

A year and a half ago, we bought our first home. In the yard are a fig tree and an orange tree, which I thought were very cool bonuses. I’d never lived with fruit trees before, and I soon learned the pleasure of walking out into the yard and finding breakfast. Because someone had the wisdom 20 or more years ago to plant these trees, I get to enjoy their fruit now. We have since bought a few more fruit […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Creativity, Random Stuff • Tags: creative process, writing, writing life

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Too Much Noise

February 8, 2012 by Jamie

My head hurts. I’ve been working too much. There’s a lot of noise in my life, and I always struggle to tune out enough of it to hear what I have to say as a writer. Being a writer means being quiet and listening. A lot. It means sitting still and pondering. Or taking long walks and pondering. Preferably both. Do you have enough quiet time in your life to hear your story speaking to you?

Categories: Advice for Writers, Creativity, Random Stuff • Tags: creative process, noise, quiet, writing

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The Warrior’s Perspective

February 4, 2012 by Jamie

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” ― Carlos Castaneda If you pursue any kind of creative passion seriously, you will encounter difficult times. The trick is to see the lesson in the adversity. What does it have to teach you about your art? Plenty, if you pay attention.

Categories: Advice for Writers, Creativity, Quote of the Day, Random Stuff • Tags: adversity, carlos castaneda, creative passion

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Writers’ Routines

January 30, 2012 by Jamie

This blog is a compilation of the daily routines of famous writers and artists. It makes for fascinating reading for those of us who care about such things. Check it out to see whose routine you most closely identify with and/or whose you can learn the most from: http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/ (Definitely smart to avoid the narcotics a few famous artists found so essential to their routines (until they crashed and burned).) What struck me immediately about the list is how many […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Random Stuff • Tags: artist routines, time to write, writing, writing routine

Listening In

September 13, 2011 by Jamie

Are you an eavesdropper? I am. I can’t help but tune in to the conversations around me. It’s part of being a writer to take everything in, to notice, to study human behavior. I have a bad habit of becoming more tuned in to the conversation at the next table than I am to the one at my own–if, of course, the one at the next table is more interesting. Among the many fascinating snippets of conversation I’ve overheard, I […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Random Stuff, Reading

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Category Archives: Random Stuff

Infrequently Amusing

RWA 2012 Conference Highlights

A Whole New Look

Instagram Addict

Bearing Fruit

Too Much Noise

The Warrior’s Perspective

Writers’ Routines

Listening In