Category: Online Writing

Current Projects

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I meant to update this blog at least twice a week, but I didn’t have a chance to write a second blog post last week. I’ve been busy with my AmeriCorps position and working on my own projects. I did have a little COVID scare this past week after being exposed while working at our mobile food pantry, but I luckily tested negative. I was able to get my COVID booster shot already since I work at a childcare/education facility, so I should be fine.

I’m still working on my “Black Cats are Good Luck” children’s picture book. I have the text finished for the most part and I’m working on illustrations now, then I’ll work on designing the book for print and digital formats.

I also just decided I want to rewrite my old story Ferdinand and the Dinosaurs as a middle grade book. I wrote the original version when I was right out of high school and didn’t really have a good grasp on what audience I was writing for (I’ve moved the story around between different places over the years, but you can currently find it on Letterpile if you’re interested. I’ll admit, it isn’t great in its original version). I’m changing the main character to a young girl named Dinah, and making the story more appropriate for the middle grade age group. This story is going to need A LOT of work, but I think the basic story I was trying to tell will work a lot better for younger readers. The dinosaur companion character is going to be able to talk in the new version, because I just want to have a talking animal, and its more fun if the main character’s new friend can actually hold a conversation.

I also have some rough ideas for short stories set in the world of Autumn and the Spiced Pumpkin Village. I’ll most likely publish any of those I end up writing on Letterpile.

In a few weeks, it will be time for NaNoWriMo, so I’ll be setting my other projects aside and churning out a rough draft for a new novel starting November 1st. I still don’t know what I’m going to write, but I have a few very rough ideas floating around in my head.

Stories from “Stardust and Ash” Now on Letterpile

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

All of the stories that I had originally published as an eBook called Stardust and Ash are now available to read for free on Letterpile. I have revised and edited these stories and moved them online where they can be read for free.

Stardust and Ash is a collection of seven science fiction short stories and eight poems, each tied together by a theme of tragedy, loss, and accepting our own mortality. Each story shows the darker side of the human condition. Whether planted firmly on Earth or residing in the far-flung corners of our galaxy, whether living in the present day or in the distant future, the human experience remains much the same. Though we can experience much joy in life, we also must experience much sorrow and pain. The stories in this collection illustrate the latter. Don’t expect a happily ever after from the stories collected in Stardust and Ash.

An eccentric millionaire has his body cryonically frozen when he dies, in hopes that he can be revived at some point in the future. He wakes up in the future with his consciousness transferred into the body of an android.
In the midst of an alien attack, one crew member manages to escape in an emergency escape pod, leaving behind the rest of the crew. No one comes for help, and she is stuck alone drifting through space in the escape pod for months.
In the future, Earth begins disposing of its waste via a black hole. The unthinkable happens to one garbage man while on duty.
The “Satellite” is the first manned spacecraft to be sent to Mars. Commander Martin Stone describes what he is seeing above the Cydonia region of Mars.
A man named Blake is selected to become one of the first people to colonize Mars. Though his ex-girlfriend begs him to stay, he can’t wait to leave behind a planet that has nothing to offer him.
After losing control of their craft, one of the members of a surveillance mission wakes up on an alien operating table, surrounded by strange beings. She is helpless to escape.
Two lovers spend their final moments on Earth together as they await a nuclear explosion.
A selection of poetry exploring the theme of outer space, with a flare of science fiction.

“Portfolio Filter Gallery” WP Plugin First Impression

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I just switched my portfolio on this website from “WordPress Portfolio Plugin” by puravida1976 to “Portfolio Filter Gallery” by A WP Life. There were some things that weren’t working correctly on my site since updating, and I suspected it had to do with the old plugin, which doesn’t appear to be supported any longer.

This new plugin seems to be a lot less cumbersome to use so far and it looks nicer on my site. So far, in the one day since I’ve had it, I would recommend it for any writers who are looking for a portfolio plugin for their website. This plugin was designed more for visual artists, but it works well for my needs as a writer. It lets you upload an image and link it to your article or story on another website, and you can arrange each gallery however you like.

The only thing I noticed so far that I dislike about this plugin is that it only lets you make four categories (five total if you include the default “all” tag, which doesn’t seem to be removable) on the free version. If I find that I like this plugin enough to keep it, and don’t find a better alternative, I may be forced to upgrade to the paid version eventually. I’d really rather organize my articles by topic, but I’d prefer more than four.

Where to Find Free Photos for Your Writing

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber
Typewriter by Jill Wellington on Pixabay

The internet is a very visual medium. If you write for online audiences, you know how important it is to include relevant photos or other images with your written words to fully convey your ideas to the reader. If you are publishing your writing on your own website or blog, you are responsible for all of your own content, including the images. As a writer, you are probably more interested in writing new content than in producing images to go along with it, and if you don’t have much of a budget (or any budget) for your website, it may not be possible to purchase photos or hire a photographer for your projects. Luckily there are quite a few resources available where you can find high quality, free, royalty-free photos to use alongside your blog posts, articles, and stories.

For my articles, I do try to take my own photos to go with my writing whenever possible. Lately I’ve been writing a lot of gardening articles for Dengarden, so there are a lot of places where it makes the most sense to use pictures of my own garden and plants. I’m not the best photographer, and I just use my iPhone, but it works well enough for those kinds of articles. When I don’t have my own photographs to use, however, the first place I turn to is Pixabay.

Pixabay has tons of high quality royalty-free photographs available for free. The photos on this site are free to use for any project, including commercial projects. You don’t even have to give the photographers credit, according to the Pixabay licensing agreement, though I would recommend crediting the photographers whenever possible. It’s just the right thing to do.

Another free photography website is Pexels. I don’t use this one as often as Pixabay, but it has a similar licensing agreement, so you can safely use any photo you download there for your creative projects.

Sometimes for more academic subjects, I can’t find what I need on those free photos websites, so I use Wikimedia Commons instead. When you use Wikimedia Commons, you have to be sure to check the licensing terms for each individual image, as many require attribution or aren’t allowed to be used in certain ways.

There are a few other websites I occasionally check for free images, though the ones I’ve mentioned seem to be the best that I’ve discovered so far. Do you have a favorite place to get images for your articles or blog posts? Let me know in the comments!