Tag Archives: military

New Book Release – Sharing Stories on Our Autism Journey


June is a great month. It official marks summer break from school, as well as the first day of Summer. It is also my birth month, which is why I decided to publish The Road I’ve Traveled on my birthday.

The Road I’ve Traveled is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Its official release date will be on the 19th of June.

I absolutely love the cover. The anchor represents my time in the Navy. The color blue represents my love of the ocean, as well as autism awareness.

The Road Ive Traveled

The Road I’ve Traveled is a compilation of poems and short stories Jennifer wrote during moments of her life where she felt the need to get it all out. She writes about being in the Navy during the tragedies of 9/11, having to deploy to New York where she and her shipmates stayed in New York’s harbor for three weeks, guarding the coastline in hopes of preventing any further attacks.

She writes about loss, love, heartbreak, family. You can see the fondness she had for her grandfather as she includes a heartfelt eulogy she had written moments after his passing.

She also writes about being a single mom, as well as a mom to a child who is on the autism spectrum. The journey they have endured together has been bumpy, but they continue to plow through life, learning about autism and sensory processing disorder as they go.

You can find all of my books, recently published and upcoming, under my name and my pen name, posted on my website: www.twistedcrowpress.com/books
Or, you can find them on Amazon:
For all books published under my name, Jennifer N. Adams on Amazon, click here.
For all books published under my pen name, J. Raven Wilde on Amazon, click here.

Drinking Coffee and Writing to Jimmy Buffett


breakfast and writing

Being an author with ADD is quite hard. I can’t focus on just one writing project. I talked to a few co-worker’s about a few of my writing projects that I was working on and they asked me how was it that I didn’t get them mixed up? I told them that it’s like my brain has many web browsers open and that I’m unable to shut all but one off.

It’s true, though, I do have anywhere from two to four writing projects going. For some, that’s bad, but for others, it’s just the way we are. In a way, I can finish two or more writing projects at the same time.

Last year, I set a goal for myself, publish 6 titles a year for 5 years. Last summer, I switched jobs and found myself having quite a lot of time, so it was easy to use up that time to write, to focus on every one of my writing projects that I had going. I would drop my daughter off at school and head home and write until it was time to pick her up. Before I knew it, I had written three novellas, two non-fiction books, and a short story.

I ended up publishing that short story and one of my novellas last year, as well as a novel that my editor had sent back to me earlier in the year. The other two novellas that I had finished, I had published earlier this year. As for those two non-fiction books, they are set to be published this summer.

Now, the thing about having so much time on my hands and having ADD is that I find myself wanting to play video games or watch Netflix. It wasn’t too hard to find myself losing my discipline. Though I would work on my writing projects, the word count wasn’t nearly as much as it used to be.

It was time to change it up. With my laptop and notebook in my bag, I stopped by my local coffee shop, ordered a breakfast sandwich and a coffee, and then plopped myself into one of their comfy chairs and started writing. It didn’t take me long to come up with over 1100 words. I know that isn’t enough to some, but it’s a start. I also didn’t stay but a few hours.

Since yesterday went so well, I found myself repeating the process; sitting at my local coffee shop with my laptop opened to one of my works-in-progress. Today’s music is much different as it was yesterday.  As I sat down, I plugged in my earbuds, hoping to find something on Youtube that I could write to. The coffee shop owner tells Alexa to shuffle Jimmy Buffett and Cheeseburger In Paradise immediately rings out through the speakers. I didn’t bother with my earbuds and Youtube as I found myself singing along to Jimmy Buffett, while my fingers clicked across the keyboard on my laptop.

Something about listening to Jimmy Buffett helps fuel the creative juices in so many ways for me. Maybe it’s that I wish I was on the beach somewhere instead of being landlocked. With Jimmy Buffett playing, I could picture myself sitting at one of my favorite places that I frequented when I lived near the beach years ago, writing as if I was living my dream; sitting on the beach, writing full-time.

Whatever helps, right?

What inspires you? What fuels your creativity?

Interested in checking out one of my books? Visit my webpage: www.twistedcrowpress.com

 

OWPC: Sun


This week’s ‘One Word Photo Challenge‘ is, Sun.

Yesterday, I attended an Archaeology lecture in Little Rock, held at the Whit Stephens Conservation building by the River Market. A large group of us, mainly college students and professors, meet up before the lecture at one of the restaurants located around the River Market, then walk over to where the lecture is being held. As usual, I arrived earlier than everyone else (an hour early) so, I decided to venture out towards the river. It was a beautiful, sunny day and it was actually warm, considering the last few days we’ve had were rainy and cold.

The city had fixed up a couple of the train bridges, making them usable again, but for pedestrians; one of the train bridges was built in 1884, the other one was a few years later. There’s a jogging trail situated along the river, as well as a playground, splash pad, and pavilions. There’s also an amphitheater, which is used for outdoor concerts; I once attended a John Fogerty concert there.

Along the jogging trail you will notice many sculptures here and there. Most of them are donated pieces, but a couple of them are a representation of Arkansas’ history. One pavilion included Arkansas’ entire history, including the early settlers and those who came through Arkansas, such as De Soto and other notable Spaniards, as well as notable Frenchmen.

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WPC: Early bird – On Deployment Morning Shots


This week’s photo challenge, Early Bird.

Experience the morning light…

I found some deployment pictures of the sunrise from my collection of my 2002 deployment with the Navy. Enjoy!

Crete at DawnLighthouse 1Egypt Sunrise in SuezSuez Escorts 2MVC-014SMVC-031S

WPC: Early Bird – Veterans Memorial’s


This week’s photo challenge is, Early Bird.

Get out and experience the morning light…

Veteran's Memorial at MacArthur Museum in Little Rock

Veterans Memorial at MacArthur Museum in Little Rock

Veteran's Memorial at MacArthur Museum in Little Rock

Veterans Memorial at MacArthur Museum in Little Rock

DP: 32 Flavors


Naples Noodle Headbeer barCookieslicoriceRaw Fish AnyoneKoper Dinner

Daily Prompt for 32 Flavors; Vanilla, Chocolate, or something else entirely.

When I joined the Navy in 2000, I had unknowingly become an anthropologist. Little did I know, that 10 years later, I would set out to go to college to become one, an anthropologist. An anthropologist studies humans and their origins, race, culture, societies, development, and a list of other things. There are 4 fields in Anthropology – Cultural, Physical, Linguistic, Archaeology.

Most of those in the military, especially the Navy, are unaware of their involvement as an anthropologist or that they are in a way more than diplomatic ambassadors, but they are also anthropologist. They travel to foreign countries as part of their duties, eat food from another country, talk to someone in their home country, shop in another country, walk around on soil that is foreign to them; it is all about submerging themselves into another person’s culture or society. I’m like a sponge, I love to soak it all in.

Before we pulled into port, we would have an idea of the things that we could see and do. A group of people are sent out before we pulled into port to find things that would be entertaining. Plus, they would locate the areas that weren’t safe for us and let us know. They would have tours set up and ready for us, names of a few places we could visit, and names of the shopping plazas nearby, as well as passing out a few maps of the city we were pulling into, and most importantly, they would bring bankers on board so we could exchange our currency.

The first thing some of us would look for once we got on dry land is food. It isn’t unusual to find a McD’s in most of the places we pull into and since some personnel are accustomed and habited to eating there, that’s the first place, and sometimes the only place that they’ll head to for sustenance. I actually look for something local, as I’m not bothered in trying new food. I especially looked forward to touring Italy and eating oven baked pizza and home made pasta. I even had the pleasure of eating tiramisu while I was in Italy, to which I loved immensely. Next thing I had to try was Italian coffee, then gelato.

I believed I spoiled myself, that when I came back home to the states, it was something that I searched for. Olive Garden was as close as I could get to Italian food, but I had some trouble finding Greek food, unless I traveled out of my way.

There were a few things that I tried overseas that I didn’t like; camel meat is on the top of my list to never try again, Greek burgers aren’t anything like American burgers, and I’m not sure what kind of burger meat I ate in Portugal. I’ve heard that camel is an acquired taste, or that the person who served it didn’t cook it right. To put it in the daily prompt’s words, it was definitely “something else entirely”.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Wall


For more of this week’s photo challenge, wall, check out The Daily Post.

Below are pictures from my 2001 Navy deployment, on the USS George Washington CVN73. The locations are in the description of the picture. It starts in Crete, then Portugal, onto Naples, then to Rome.

For more of my deployment pictures that I have shared on my blog, click here.

Enjoy!

Churchcastle_pathsMVC-012SMVC-022Scols romecolsfloorsist.chapstpetesstpetes2

This Week’s Photo Challenge: Orange


This week’s photo challenge is, orange; anything to do with the color orange. Orange just happens to be my favorite color. It’s bright, colorful, and is cheerful.

Below are a few pictures from my 2001 Navy Deployment, as well as a few pictures from the past few months around here in Arkansas.

Enjoy!

Church in NaplesCrete sunset

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Symmetry


This weeks photo challenge is symmetry.

Symmetry comes from a Greek word meaning to ‘come together’. The definition of symmetry is, pleasingly proportionate; the quality of made up parts that are similar to one another around an axis or that are opposite of one another.

More photos from my navy deployment. Enjoy!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMVC-011FSwinging Bridge to cross SuezDefense Pyramid in SuezSuez CanalSuez Canal 3Tight SqueezecathredalInside Lisbon mallGhost Ship in LisbonLisbon ArchwaysMVC-008S1OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAColiseum Hallwaywaterfall in rome

Good-bye, Flu!


 

I’m not a fan of head colds. I don’t think anyone is. I’m especially not fond of the flu either. I’m particularly not a fan of any kind of sickness that my daughter gets. Even though my daughter and I got our flu shots, we weren’t protected against the strand that was going around after the flu shot mixture was sent out to the medical facilities. At first I was the one that had caught the flu. I thought it was just a normal cold – stuffiness and congestion, but I also had the chills to go along with it. I went to the VA in hopes of getting some nasal decongestant. Yet after running through my reasons for being there the nurse decided to swab my throat and nose for the flu, as a precaution. Then I had to dawn a lovely mask that had everyone staring at me as if I grew a third eye.

I didn’t have time to sit and wait for the results, so I decided to pick up my mini me and head home. For those that aren’t familiar with how the VA runs, a trip to the ER or making a doctor’s appointment is an all day adventure, without the fun of course. I didn’t step two feet in the door before the phone began ringing – test results are back, I have the flu.

Ugh!

Now to get my dad to pick up the meds for me as I wasn’t up to driving back to Little Rock…I started feeling a little more worse-for-wear, though I didn’t start the day feeling that great to begin with.

What’s worse is that if I had a sniffle of any kind, I couldn’t go into work. But I didn’t just have a sniffle, I had the flu. Quite upsetting as I love my job, working with the large primates at the zoo. Plus, I had to miss my classes, which was going to put me behind, especially if I miss lectures. After a week of feeling the utmost crappiest I’ve ever felt, my daughter comes down with the flu. After a phone call to her doctor, a trip to the ER, and several days in bed, she’s finally feeling much better.

With all that said, I’m playing catch up with schoolwork, all the while praying my grams doesn’t get the flu next.