Another year has blown straight on by. Does anyone else feel like they’re careening toward the grave? Just me? I’ll call my doctor.
Last year, I made some resolutions. Let’s see if I kept them:
1. I did knit the 4th Doctor’s scarf. It took me eight months, but I managed to finish the scarf in the car on the way to Authors After Dark in Charlotte. It turned out fantastic:
2. I spent more time doing fun stuff. In addition to knitting, I actually slowed down to read non-work related books, play World of Warcraft, spend way too much time on Tumblr, and, most excitingly (is that a word?) for me, I started learning how to draw. Here are some of my favorite pictures this year:
3. I stopped worrying about whether or not my house was spotlessly clean. I kind of fudged a little on this one by hiring a cleaning lady once a week, but I’m not kicking myself over the clutter and the utter nightmare of ripped up dog toys on the floor as much as I was before.
4. Wear a bikini.
So, there you have it. I, Jenny Trout, achieved my New Year’s resolutions.
Now, with 2015 upon us, I have a whole new set of resolutions.
1. Write another goddamn vampire novel. For personal reasons, I don’t do much talking about about my pre-Jenny Trout work, but my career started with a series of vampire novels. My plate is pretty full with two series right now (and the addition of a third barreling down on me), but I desperately want to write some vampire YA. Mostly because if there’s a genre that’s losing steam, I want to be sure to jump on the tail end of it and make absolutely no money. But what I lack in business sense, I make up for in passion and dedication, and right now my heart is telling me that I want to return to some vampires. By the end of 2015, I want to either have completed, or actively begun work on, a YA vampire novel.
2. Run the Mackinac 8 Mile. I got lazy and stopped doing something that made me happy. I’m going to start again, and I want to celebrate my return to running in 2015 by racing around the beautiful shores of Mackinac Island.
3. Draw a tattoo for myself. This year, I’ve gotten tattoos that other people have drawn. I’d like to get a tattoo that I drew. I don’t know what it will be of, or even if I have the skill to pull it off, but I’m going to keep practicing until I get it right.
4. Legally change my name to Jenny Trout. Do you have any idea how liberating it’s going to be to go from eighteen letters to ten letters? My name will finally fit on forms. I might even change my middle name, too. If anybody has any good ideas, let me know. Maybe we’ll have a vote on it or some shit.
I’m only making three this year, because I have a busy schedule with three books to complete and tons of travel in 2015, but let’s see how it goes!
So…is there a backstory to that penis picture, or “just because” 😉
My art is complex and bears many meanings.
Also, lol penis.
Saw a South Park re-run recently. You know when scientists grew an ear on the back of a mouse? In the show, they grew a penis on the back of the mouse, and it escaped the lab and ran around town. In one scene, it sang (the mouse, not the penis) at the moon, and your art totally reminded me of that 😉
Jenny LASER Trout !! ((Or maybe Jenny Danger Trout?? Velociraptor??))
Cmon, you know you want to haha…
Oh God, yes. Velociraptor! That’s it.
If you are going to change your name, you might consider a tribute to Anthony Head in your name- like Jenny Head Trout (SO many possibilities with THAT one), or Jenny “Anthony Head” Trout. I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a name in parentheses. Of course, that doesn’t fit on forms very well…
Middle name ideas:
Absinthe
Rainbow
Didgeridoo
Voldemort
Depp
Papyrus
of the Valley
Jenny
Jenny The Trout
I am forever jealous of the simplicity of your resolutions. ;_;
I’ve basically separated my resolutions into “Goals” and “Behaviors,” and I’ve been working on changing some behaviors so I can accomplish my goals, one of the big ones being finishing what I’ve started. Since I finished one of the stories of my Warcraft fanfic *shamelesscough*Twelve Women of Azeroth by Astrid Myrna on both fanfiction.net and AO3*shamelesscough* and the first of the three stories I’ve written for the kid I babysit, I’m feeling much more motivated and less self-loathing than I did earlier this year.
Your coloring and drawing are spectacular, especially in the third picture! She’s so cute that I want to hang her on my wall. <3
Tickles. Jenny Tickles Trout. N
Tickles. Jenny Tickles Trout. Not enough folk tickle trout these days – might be a dying art…….
I have great admiration for someone who actually accomplishes not just one, but all of their stated “resolutions” for the new year! Fantastic! What an inspiration! Some of us can’t even come up with resolutions let alone carry through with them. You did good! Thank you for sharing them with me. Good luck with the new ones, but I have am sure you will make those too.
Some form of Giles? 😉
Maybe Gilé? I heartily approve either way.
How about “Jenny Joel Trout”? 😉
How can anyone change their middle name to anything other than Danger?
I must concur. If I ever changed my middle name, it would be to Danger. How could you select anything other?? “Danger is my middle name.” Classic!
I…… just realized that the top post was sticky and there has been new stuff going on underneath…..
Doh.
Last year my only resolution was to stop putting myself down around my daughters. This year my resolution is to stop putting myself down. Entirely.
Hahaha I didn’t realize it was sticky for the longest time either. I was like “Where’d she go? :(“
Same here. Doh!
Me too! I check this blog every day but I only scroll down far enough to read the first headline.
I drew my own tattoo! I only have one… for now. It’s a geometric design and I can’t draw straight lines for shit, mostly because I’m lazy, so I just drew it several times and took them all in to the shop. The tattoo artist was able to get what I was going for and make it nice and clean. My best friend also drew her own tattoo- a much bigger and more colorful piece, and it’s just gorgeous and so her.
Your pictures are super cute, Jenny! The shading on your lonely moon-penis is great.
Middle names: Tallullah, Armin, The
Re: 3
I designed my own tattoo this year! It’s great having my own art on me haha. It was a small watercolor painting I’d done a while ago that was inspired by something my mother says and for Valentines Day we both had it done! I guess one of my resolutions is to get another tattoo.
So I think the middle name should be the name of your favorite companion.
Jenny Rose Trout
Jenny Donna Trout
Jenny Martha Trout
Jenny Amy Trout doesn’t sound that awesome but what about Pond or River or Song???
😀
I’m working on a vampire novel (well, off and on) set in the village of Nashville, Michigan in the 1920’s. I don’t know if it would be considered YA or not, the main characters are all under the age of 18 except my vampire who also has POV chapters in the story, so I’m calling it Gothic for now as I don’t really know what genre to call it. Can vampire be considered a genre? Surely are enough vampire books out there to be their own genre. 🙂
I don’t know from genres, but Nashville is like, just right over there from my village.
Growing up and living there has helped with my research. 😉
You should change your middle name to Badass.
I thought Danger would be the only logical choice, but I was wrong. Badass is totally acceptable.
The 2nd picture you drew. That’s Les Nesman, yes?
Awesome!!!
“Oh, the humanity!”
Yes! I was scrolling down to say the same thing! 😀
I think it says something about me that my first reaction to seeing that you play wow (aside from ‘wow I want her battle tag’) is ‘I hope she’s somewhere in Moon Guard raising the quality of the rp there’.
AHHH, OMG, me too!
(And I try to avoid using OMG, but how else could you respond as a fellow Warcrackian?)
As a WoW player for 9 years with two accounts and my first level 100 (yay!), I was most excited to hear that Jenny plays WoW too. And I can only hope that she is a fellow Moon Guardian because really, that’s the last bastion of quality RP anymore. Sadly.
I can at least pretend that one of my fellow RPers could be Jenny in disguise. Kind of like a Where’s Waldo of roleplaying.
Oh, I actually main on Wra! And right away when I started I got recruited by an active role guild that raids and has a stringent anti – bigotry policy. (Should have gotten a lottery ticket that day.) I did take a trip to the Goldshire Inn with a friend and hoo boy. I had to start a night elf for shiggles.
As a side note Where’s Waldo in wow sounds hella.
Active rp guild with lovely people, thank you phone for doing a thing badly.
Your drawings are adorable!
I wanted to let you know that I loved your vampire novels. They are awesome and one of my favs in the genre!
I am most excited to read about the vampire book. I love. No, wait that isn’t right. I LOVE!!! That is better. I LOVE THE BLOOD TIES SERIES!!! I know you said you don’t like to talk about your pre Jenny Trout work, but that work is what drew me to you. I loved it. I can’t wait for you to come up with your version of a YA Vampire book. It has to be better then some of the stuff out there now.