Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

Light at the End of the Tunnel

By Leave a Comment

In a few weeks, we’ll be moving from Oklahoma and returning to Louisiana.  I’m trying to finish a requested manuscript to submit to Harlequin’s Love Inspired line before we pull out of here. Once we get home, there will be many distractions until we “settle in” and get into the Louisiana mindset.

I’m looking forward to being back, even though Oklahoma has been a great adventure. We’ve made a lot of friends, found a wonderful church and I’ll miss meeting my friend Janie at the Mustang Library several times a month for a writing day.

Every move we’ve made, I’ve faced readjustment and a new writing schedule. I know that my writing always suffers until I acclimate. This time could be a little different: hubby is going to retire and I’m facing permanence.

We often say, “Nothing lasts forever” or “This, too, shall pass” or “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”  That’s the thing—there’s always been a light at the end of the tunnel for us if we didn’t like a place.

The word permanence makes me uneasy. Same 0’ same 0’ scares me. A routine life sounds both appealing and boring. Okay, we’re facing another adventure, but will we like it?

Do you have any tips? Share a writing schedule with me.  If you were/are retired and wake up in the same place every day with no demands made on your life, what would you do?

Deadly Storms in Oklahoma

By Leave a Comment

By now, you’re all watching the horrific results from the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma yesterday. From watching my Channel 9 weather app on my iPhone, the area had two days of tornados. Thankfully, I was in Louisiana, enjoying our monthly visit and celebrating our daughter’s 30th birthday–early.

Yesterday (Monday) we traveled back to Yukon. We always travel Highway 69 out of NE Texas to Gainesville and get on I-35 toward OKC. A couple of months ago, a friend told us about a ‘short-cut’ turning off I-35 on Hwy. 9 and heading toward Newcastle so that we don’t have to drive through Norman or OKC. Traffic is always terrible so we’ve enjoyed trekking the back roads.

When we came through yesterday, we knew Oklahoma was expecting more horrible weather. Once we got through Ardmore, I turned on my weather app and we listened and saw the tornado hit Moore. We came through Paul’s Valley not long BEFORE a tornado was sighted there too. We drove through Newcastle AFTER the tornado hit there.

Living in Oklahoma has been a blessing in many ways: I have many writer friends. We have a wonderful church. It’s also been terrifying–especially when you read about its history of tornados, and see what happened in Moore yesterday.

Homes and businesses were destroyed. Schools were hit. Children died. How does one ever recover from losing a child in such a horrific manner?

If you’d like to help people in Moore, Oklahoma, you can text the word FOOD to 32333.  A ten dollar donation will be sent to help the victims and that ten dollars will be added to your cell phone bill. If you’d rather not do that, then pray. That’s the best thing you can do for the people who have lost loved ones and everything they own.

As I write this, it’s hailing here–thundering and getting dark. We’re expecting storms all this week. 
All prayers welcome.

O is for Oklahoma

By Leave a Comment

A year ago we moved to Oklahoma. Sure doesn’t feel like we’ve been here that long—until we make the 10-hour trek to Louisiana… or have to huddle in a closet because the tornado alert is squealing. Today, we’re expecting horrific storms. Yeah, I’m scared!

Other than that, Oklahoma is an interesting place to live. Lots of history and writers are plentiful. Sometimes I regret not being a better history student so I can enjoy (and retain) everything I see and read in the museums.  I tend to get overwhelmed. To me, history is a lot like math. The dots have to be connected. There are so many pieces … how can one ever have the whole story?

I have a great-great grandmother buried in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Here’s the only picture I have of her. She’s the older woman. I figure the younger is a granddaughter but I’m just guessing. Would you say gr-gr-grandma is Native American from this picture? According to records, she was born in Tennessee in 1842.
Supposedly, Hannah Minerva Guinn married my gr-gr grandfather John McGinty in 1872 in Conway, Arkansas. Their son, Robert Jefferson McGinty, my gr-grandfather, lived in North Louisiana until his murder. My grandfather (at left) was five-years-old when his dad was killed by a man named Joe Mathews. My grandfather told me he could remember seeing his dad’s body stretched out on Mathews’ porch. That’s something for a child to remember all his life.
There were two stories about the death of R.J.  One was that he was playing around with the man’s wife. That seems unlikely because two of R.J.’s sons were with him and witnessed his death. I have the court transcript with their statements. The second story is that he was stealing chickens. Actually, Mr. Mathews owed my gr-grandfather money and since the guy couldn’t or wouldn’t pay, he told R.J. to take the chickens as payment. R.J. and his boys were there to collect.

During all this, Hannah Minerva Guinn lived in Arkansas and was married to a man named Watkins by then.  She was 63 and he was 59. Two grandsons lived with them. Mr. Watkins died at age 70 and Hannah ended up in Guthrie, Oklahoma where she is buried.

I suspect Hannah Minerva Guinn McGinty Watkins moved to Oklahoma to live with a daughter or granddaughter, but see what I mean about the many pieces that make her story whole. Oh, how I wish I could know the details! What kind of life did Hannah have? Why can’t I find her grave or any record of her in Oklahoma? Do I have other family members roaming around this state? Of course, I do! Even on my dad’s side of the family. Above is a diagram of Native American migration. You can click on it to make it larger. Fascinating, isn’t it? And sad.

Do you write history? How do you approach it? Any desire to set a novel in Oklahoma or research the state? I encourage you to spend time here if you have the opportunity. It’s a wonderful place to explore.

Oh yeah… if you’re looking for a great writer’s conference we have one going on next month. Check it out at Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc.

 

Post Thanksgiving

By Leave a Comment

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Things have been hectic at my house. My laptop has been on life-support so I’ve been using hubby’s. I haven’t wanted to do too much surfing with his.

My step-son came in from Denver with his fiance’ (dressed in black) and our daughter (in green) came in from Lafayette. Since I was already in Lake Charles because of the BWG conference, hubby came in from Yukon. Then like a whirl wind, we all went our separate ways. Yesterday hubby and I drove the 10 hours back to OK in two separate cars. Not fun.

I think I’m too old for hectic!

I’ll post more later. Just wanted everyone to know I’m still kicking and wondering about your Thanksgiving, your NaNoWrMo, your latest writing project.

Let me hear from you.

Natural Disasters and Other Depressing Happenings

By Leave a Comment

When I look around at what’s happening in the world, I could dig a hole and crawl inside, pull the dirt in on me. So easy to get discouraged when I fill my head with election lies, natural disasters, needless deaths, the Benghazi scandal, man-made disasters, thoughts of hurting people and of course, what I consider stupid laws.

Oklahoma’s open-carry law went into effect today. I don’t understand it. We buy the local newspapers. We know what’s going on around here. Honestly, I can’t imagine going into a restaurant and sharing lunch with a bunch of gun-toting citizens that don’t have the same values, up-bringing, life concerns that I have. How do I know they won’t get angry at their waiter and start shooting? I don’t! And frankly, I don’t have that much hope and faith in my fellow man. No offense.

The world is certainly changing. Since I have a tendency to hole up within the safety of my own four walls with laptop in hand, most of what I see on TV and read in the papers reinforces my hermit-like behavior. Unfortunately … my computer crashed. I’ve borrowed hubby’s laptop for the time being. Mine won’t go to its computer doctor until next week when I head back to Louisiana for a conference. (In case you’re wondering, I did find a repair shop here in Yukon but the guy said he’d have to mail it off if he couldn’t fix it. Not an option. Do it all or do none.)

Yesterday, I pecked out the beginnings of a new story on my cell phone. Tedious typing! I had such high hopes for NaNoWrMo this year. {{sigh}} Do I dare attempt it?

I know some of you must have good news to share–nothing like this downer of a post, so let me hear from you. Have you sold a book? A short story? Learned something at a conference worth sharing? Let’s hear it!

Social Media, Writing & Proofing & Tornadoes!

By Leave a Comment

I’m dragging my feet when it comes to blogging. Sorry. I’ve just completed a great class on Social Media for the Writer taught by  Cindy Carroll. On Cindy’s website bio, she says the only thing she knows is banking and bartending. She’s wrong about that. She knows social media and the ins and outs of it. And she has so much patience; she’d make a great kindergarten teacher! I’ve taken a couple of social media classes and this is the B.E.S.T. best. Cindy didn’t give up on any of us. She worked with us until we “got it.” I highly recommend her to anyone who doesn’t have a handle on how to set up FB pages, Google+, or any of the other sites.

I’m not 100% certain I’ve done any of it right, but I have her fantastic lessons printed and I’ll be reviewing them over and over and over again. In the meantime, if you hang out on FB, then go to my Jessica Roach Ferguson page and LIKE me. It’s a little bare, but eventually, it’ll come together. I hope.

Also, follow me on twitter @jessyferguson and bring me into your circle of friends on Google+. I’m also on LinkedIn under one of those names.

Didn’t I tell you I’d be turning over a new leaf in Oklahoma. Reinventing my writer-self.
I’m almost finished with my novella.

I’m proofing a wonderful 400 page novel for a good friend who plans to go POD and eBook with it. I’ll be tooting her horn for her when the time comes.

I read and offered some suggestions on a great short story for another friend about a mountain climber. How in the world she came up with such an idea is amazing to me. I guess my mind just doesn’t think like that. Her characters seem so real, so sad, so alive, so emotionally tortured! I’m SO impressed!

On top of all of this, we’re still dodging tornados: look at the pics I took last night. We went to the closet only once. We heard hail pummel the TV station while our weatherman talked. He’s holding hail in his hot little hands! And he’s promised MORE tonight.

Writing At The Library

By Leave a Comment

I’m working on a novella for a specific market. In my mind the book is about ten chapters, 2500 words in each, for a total of something like 25,000 words. Last week I wrote 740 words. That doesn’t count all those blog posts for the A to Z Challenge.

The smartest thing I did before sitting down to write was to list all my characters and their part in the story, then create a detailed synopsis.  Then I broke down my synopsis into a detailed chapter by chapter outline. Granted, I know my story better than I’ve known any story. Don’t ask why  because I have no idea. This story just excites me. My heroine popped into my head with real experiences and the story grew out of her.

Yesterday, I met my friend Janie at the Mustang Library. We were there from 9:30 until almost 3:00 and I churned out 3,677 words. We skipped lunch. And while my stomach howled, I wrote and wrote and wrote.

A lot of writers (called pantsers) don’t believe in outlines but I do so much better with them. Having one doesn’t mean I’m locked in. I feel like an outline gives me freedom to write. With my ‘map’ in front of me I can get to the treasure– the finished manuscript.

I don’t expect to churn out that many words every day. In fact, today I feel a little brain dead and very drowsy.

How many words do you consistently write a day? Do you ever feel mentally exhausted if you over do it? Do you work with an outline–vague or detailed–to get you to the end of your project?

T is for Tornado

By Leave a Comment

In the past, any time I thought of Oklahoma, I’d think of tornados. I wondered how people could live in the state when, according to the news, it seemed like tornados popped up out of the blue and from every direction. I never dreamed one day we’d be living here.

Since mid-March, we’ve only been in the closet once. Hubby had to rouse me awake because I didn’t hear the alarm warning go off at 2:30 a.m. Once in the closet (for only seconds) I realized we didn’t have any of the supplies we need in there: pillows, flashlights, a weather radio,snacks. Snacks? I’m still not sure what one takes to a closet to wait out a tornado.

We’ve had several tornado threats since we’ve been here. On April 14, 2012, an EF-3 tornado struck Woodward, Oklahoma causing 6 deaths. Approximately 150 miles away from us. We watched it in action thanks to the local news and storm chasers. I say we watched it in action but not really. We knew it was going to happen because storm teams gave us up to date, minute by minute plays. It’s frightening to hear/watch them. It’s like witnessing something horrific happening but being totally helpless to do anything about it.

If I get on twitter during these tornado warnings, I see people tweeting: Take Cover Now. Tornado on the ground in Norman!” or “People in Enid, take cover-twister on the ground!” It’s enough to make me want to tear my hair and shriek, “Ruuunnnnnnnn!”

In 1947, Woodward was hit hard by a tornado with devastating results. Read about it HERE.
But citizens of that small town dealt with more than the devastation of a tornado. Watch this video to see the mystery that evolved.
The case of JoanGay Croft aired on May 22, 1993. She was never found.

Living Lean in Oklahoma

By Leave a Comment

Who’s idea was it to live lean? Mine? Living without is easier said than done. The notion of sitting in lawn chairs might make for a peaceful visual, but believe me, it sounds more like leisure living than it actually is. I told you in a previous post, our plan was to travel light and buy what we needed after we got here. That’s what we’ve done.

Don’t you just love all our windows? Light cheers me!

Things seem a little higher here in this neck of the woods: Big Lots, Target and WalMart all. Goodwill is skimpy too. I haven’t found the chest of drawers we need so we’re still living out of suitcases. Nor have I found bedside tables I was certain I’d come across. Broke down and purchased a couple of little patio tables for each side of the bed–$7.00 apiece.  So far we’ve purchased a new bed –and it’s sooooooo comfortable.  Dishes–can you believe I left ours at home? I had to mix our corn bread in a small pot because we have no mixing bowls. What was I thinking?

At the beginning of the week, I was sick for my books so I purchased some cheap garage shelving to stack the few I brought. Nothing like filled bookcases to make a bare apartment look like home. Here’s what we look like before and after we purchased the futon.

I haven’t written a thing but now that I can sit comfortably with banker boxes serving as an end table, I’ll dig out my novel and get back to revising. I’m feeling anxious to write. Sight-seeing will be a weekend thing; I’ll post our discoveries about once a week.

Hope you’re all getting something accomplished. Let me know what you’re doing so I’ll feel like I’m home.

Taking Up Residence in Yukon, Oklahoma

By Leave a Comment

Even as we loaded vehicles and headed toward Yukon, Oklahoma, it seemed unreal. Just doesn’t feel right to be living and working here for a year. But, here’s a pic of hubby leading me across the southern part of Ardmore, OK so I’m not dreaming. I sort of liked Ardmore–even though we didn’t get off the Interstate. I like the mountains much better than flat land where we are. I missed snapping the best of the mountains. By the time I dug out my camera, we were past them. Ardmore is also the home of the Gene Autry Film and Music Festival.

We looked around the area on Friday evening and rented an apartment on Saturday morning. Lots of prayer went into finding a place because I did NOT want to be on the 3rd floor. Well, here were are in Building 13, ground floor. We move in Friday. The first complex we went to had a three-month waiting list. The second complex had two apartments available but both were on the third floor. God does answer prayer! Building Thirteen? No, I’m not superstitious. I’m really not!

The young apartment manager told us her grandparents used to live in Lake Charles, LA. Then when we bought our bed, the guy who sold it to us said his dad works for the same company hubby works for. I’m constantly reminded how small this world is … and how transient.

I didn’t get to the OK-RWA meeting as I’d hoped–just too much to do. Actually, I looked like a dozen kittens had taken residence in my hair and had a cat fight; yes, the wind blows constantly here. You know what they say about first impressions!  (And yes, I always wear two sets of glasses at the same time!)
The rain came yesterday around 4:00 and we’ve been watching the weather ever since. I guess that’s what they do in Oklahoma. Counties west of us had their first tornadoes last night. The hotel people told us if a tornado is sited, an alarm will sound and we’ll need to get downstairs to a designated room. Hope they have mattresses for us to crawl under. Guess I’d better get used to this sort of thing. I’m an Okie now.