Jennifer Morash

When you lack a sense that a majority of the world has, things are bound to be a bit different. Different doesn't always mean bad, though. Sometimes it does. I wouldn't be telling the truth if I tried to tell you that it's all sunshine and roses with no struggles. But it isn't true that it's all awful, either. I don't often get asked outright what it's like to be blind. However, I do get asked questions that approach it indirectly. "How do you use a computer?" "You've got a smart phone with a touch screen, how does that work?" "Is it hard to get around?" I think it's because it's easier to ask me about a specific than to just baldly ask "What is it like?" It's hard. But it can also be easy. It's frustrating. But it can also be rewarding. It's limiting. But it can also be freeing. I'm going to try to tackle this whole question of what it's like, but just like those who ask me questions, I

Planning a trip to Disney World is fraught with all sorts of decisions. Length of stay, where to stay, to park hop or not. One question that I encounter over and over again in the various Disney advice groups I'm in - and trust me, it's a lot of groups - is this: is the Disney Dining Plan worth it? The answer is... complicated. But I'm going to do my best to answer it by looking at a few areas. Pure economic worth, budgetting worth, convenience and emotional worth. First, though, a few definitions. Quick service dining is what Disney calls fast food eateries. It isn't all burgers, fries and hotdogs, though. Some Quick Service  places are fancy, some are varied, some are exotic. Table service is your basic sit-down restaurant. The sort where waitstaff take your orders and bring your food. Buffets also fall into this category. Signature dining is high-end table service. It's expensive, and it's usually worth it, too. You might be surprised at the quality of s

Before we begin, I'm going to be using a specific story as an example throughout this blog post. That story is 'A Home For Christmas', and you can find it here: https://jennifermorash.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-home-for-christmas-short-story.html So, I've talked before about how I write when an idea occurs to me out of the blue. But what about when I sit down to write a story without first getting the inspiration? The process is quite different, or at least it was for me. First is the premise. Well, technically the decision comes first, but that is pretty self-explanitory, so we'll just take it as given. Now, premise and plot aren't the same thing. The plot is the story, the premise is the seed of the idea. I wanted to write a Christmas story, but I didn't want to write another version of a story we'd all read before. That ruled out Santa, elves, reindeer, angels, wise men, lost children, sentient toys/snowmen/nut sundering implements and all the rest. I

Welcome to the twenties. It's going to take me a long time to get used to saying that after a lifetime of associating "the twenties" with the 1920's. Still, here we are, in a year that still sounds like the date in a scifi story. It's a new year, and a new decade. Now, I don't really do New Year's resolutions. After all, if something is worth doing, it's worth starting when the idea occurs to me, rather than at a specific calendar date. But this does seem like a good time to assess my goals. It will come to no surprise to anyone that they largely revolve around writing. It isn't that I'm not invested in my massage therapy career, it's just that I'm quite happy with where I am in that spot. Still, keep reading and it might just show up. In the short term are my two novels in progress. I want to finish the first draft of my second novel, and that is my first priority. I'm not setting any sort of time frame for this, though I expec