Janet Ortegon's Page

...why I quit writing that damned book. I hauled it out yesterday and read it over, especially the last three or four chapters. I got to the end of Chapter 19, and that's all I had written back when I was working on it regularly. As I read it again, I realized I had absolutely no idea where to go from there. I guess I thought that letting it sit and percolate for, oh, three years would be a good thing. HA! I actually want to work on it again and I'm just clueless. Looking back on when I was writ… Continue

Well, tomorrow I stop being a full-time reporter and become a nearly-full-time videographer. My newspaper has a lively and growing Web presence, and tomorrow I'll start doing a daily online newscast spotlighting what's coming up in the paper. It's a great opportunity for me to learn how to do something new, increase my marketability and break out of a really well established rut. On the other hand, it's a whole lot of stress on top of the overflowing portion I've already got. What I'm hoping wil… Continue

I tried yesterday to find the books that my friends on Crimespace have written. At the library, of course -- I have neither the budget nor the space to justify buying every book I want to read. What I discovered was that in this case, I'll have to buck up and buy if I want to read such things as "Death Will get You Sober" and "The Sex Club." With titles like that, why wouldn't I? So that'll be my next project.

Well, not project exactly. Buying books I seriously want to read isn't a project. Pro… Continue

Well, I've been a member of Crimespace for, oh, about 12 hours and silly as this sounds I am very excited to have the chance to get to know other writers and find inspiration for the things I want to write. As I peruse the lists of books all the members here have written, my reading list is growing and I'm more excited about writing fiction than I have been in a very long time.

So please say hello when you get the chance, help me keep the bubble of inspiration from popping!