The Social Porcupine

I'll admit it, I'm the stereotypical bossy older sister. And having ten younger siblings has only made me great at it. "Jerushah. Bring me some water." "What's the magic word?" "Now," I reply with snark. "No, that's not." Nevertheless, she laughs. As do I. After that I use this " smart" reply a lot. Now it's kinda old, but it's still one of my favorite words (among acceptable, stupid idiots, and beyond ) despite how mean some people may think it is. Source But this post isn't about that sort of now.  You know how people have a word for the year? Well, I've never done that before, but now that this year is nearly over I realize I sort of have had a word for this year. That word has been NOW. And I don't mean as a substitute for the word please. I mean in every day life, how I live. In previous years I've always had something to work forward . Things in the past were alwa...

Girls hiking in their skirts with their guns = exercised feminine rights  I used to hate hiking. But then I used to hate a lot of things. I had been wanting to see Alexa's baby (Alexa is the girl on the far left) and I hadn't actually yet met Keziah (the third girl to the right). I really needed a break from writing and cleaning, and for me that means hanging out with friends. But I don't really like shopping (spending money is stressful, y'all) and I like to be active. So I decided to kill three birds with a stone — I planned a girls' hike up near where Alexa and Keziah lived so I could meet Alexa's baby and meet Keziah. Best "mutli-tasking" idea I've ever had! We had a fabulous Sabbath ( most of us keep Saturday sabbath ) of hiking, fellowship, and fun! When I finally went home I was refreshed and inspired. Great conversations had happened. We encouraged each other, discussed what was on our hearts, and grew. It's hard to expla...

People can be really difficult. Especially when you thought they loved you and they ignore you, hurt you, or betray you. Sometimes those you once thought you loved or could love do something outright hateful or worse.  And then you are left with the realization, " This person doesn't love me." "Did they ever love me?" Truth is spoken to us through others around us. We soon realize that this person is not a friend. In fact, some will tell us they are toxic. And soon enough we will recognize this truth when our tears finally meet up with our brains. And we are left with decisions. The world is full of advice of what to do with toxic people. Pinterest is jammed full of "inspirational self-love methods". All four of these were saved from my Pinterest board.  Before I go on, I want to take a moment to talk about Toxic People.  What exactly is a toxic person??? Toxic People:  When most people talk of toxic ...

Welcome, Jack, to Keturah's Korner! Please introduce yourself to us!     Thank you so much for having me! Well, as you can tell, my name is Jack, at least as far as my pen name goes. Jack Lewis Baillot. My real name is a mystery because I'm that sort of person. I'm an Author and do everything that title entails — like writing books, sometimes editing them, and reading every chance I get. And once in a great while marketing. How many books have you written and how many of them are published? I have written at least seventy to eighty books in my lifetime. Some will never see the light of day, most are being rewritten now that I have some idea of what I'm doing, HA!, and will hopefully be published at a sometime later date. I have published two so far, both historical fiction set in WWII but completely different from each other. Brothers-in-Arms is a 400 page length novel set in Hitler's Germany and Finding the Magic is a small novella set during the London B...

Having long hair is pretty you say? It's also hard. Plus, I'm very picky. I don't like cheap products. I don't like spending tons of money. I like things to be pretty — but not gaudy. I like simple and outstanding. I like practical — something that is easy to do and matches with most of my outfits. And so, for most of my life I hid my hair under a hat. And then for the next half of my life I braided it — for awhile I added a scarf or ribbon into that braid. But I don't always feel like looking like a home schooled nerd or gypsy. A couple years ago I discovered Lilla Rose hair clips. And have consequentially been falling in love. I currently only own four (counting the one featured in this post): two mediums, one extra small, and one mini. I love all of them. And have found amazing, simple, stunning hairstyles that fit my perfect fashion need of  business casual + excited hippie .  In this post I'd like to share a few things: A Lilla Rose give...

It's the last week of the five part WIP TAG!  And it's been so fun sharing about my NaNo novel, All The Other Girls.  Here are the other parts of the tag: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 I'm not big into aesthetics — But I'll try to make some for this post. SNIPPET ONE: “All right,” Cinderella makes room and they work together. Cinderella washes and Zilla rinses. “I love doing dishes. I imagine it helps wash off the dirt and is better than soaking in a bath of milk.” Zilla admires Cinderella’s small, soft hands. Not for the first time. No matter how many dishes Zilla may wash, her hands always remain hard and cracked . . . and large. “Maybe for you,” Zilla agrees. “But not for me.” “You just need more dishes,” Cinderella encourages. SNIPPET TWO: “Thank you —” and then she trips. Prince Dashel catches her so that she doesn’t fall. Her face smacks hard against the brass buttons on his coat. Tears sting her eyes. “Oh,” both of the prince’s arms wrap ar...

I would so love to see my books on store shelves someday. It would be amazing if I had fans that raved about my stories and ranted in ways I'd never do (because I'm very calm, for the most part). And if they did this in public. I'd be happy, even approve, of such unacceptable behavior. Call me a hypocrite, I don't care ;) Of course, my ultimate goal is to just write a story that touches others. Money and popularity are NOT the reason I write.  But dreams can go beyond goals, yes?  IF I EVER BECOME A BESTSELLING AUTHOR I WON'T . . .  . . . believe it. How could I? My stories aren't near good enough . . . are they!? Is it the glasses, or am I just bad at dramatic selfies? ;D  . . . buy a brand new sports car. Because that's just a waste of money. Practical and cheap will still work very well for me. Love my Volvo ;D  . . . quit cleaning houses. Now I might clean less. But I don't think I could ever stop completely...