Jen Anderson's Design Portfolio

Date: August 2, 2026 Location: Lake Andrew, New London, MN I didn’t know my tears would mingle with your waters. Ripples on the surface at sunrise. Memories lapping gently with your waves for the first time in fifteen years. But the ghosts aren’t haunting here – They are dancing laughing singing loving. And for the first time in fifteen years I feel like the girl who lived her summers in your…

Date: July 26, 2026 Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins Prompt: Write a piece using these words (Dawn, Ice cream, Safety, Heat, Human)   She was still hungry. Hungry enough to devour the morning. Dawn poured over the horizon like melting ice cream, all peaches and salmons and tangerines. The sun emerged from the edge of the world, a single scoop of vanilla, quickly casting everything in a hazy…

Date: June 7, 2026 (Pride Month) Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins  Prompt: Identity   Once upon a time, we walked away from each other: I only now realize it is because you had to. The place we were, where we grew up, the circle where I felt comfortable and safe… that place was not safe for you. I didn’t see that, back then. I stayed in this circle. Status quo, call it what you want. I didn’t…

Date: June 7, 2026 (Pride Month) Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins  Prompt: Identity   Once upon a time, we walked away from each other: I only now realize it is because you had to. The place we were, where we grew up, the circle where I felt comfortable and safe… that place was not safe for you. I didn’t see that, back then. I stayed in this circle. Status quo, call it what you want. I didn’t…

Date: April 19, 2026 Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins Prompt: Finding the joy in something ordinary We have not seen many warm days in April but my heart is thawing anyway. Like the ground slowly casting off its frozen armor rousing from sleep amid longer days. Roots are stirring freed from their ice shackles; Sap flows with the rhythm of the hours, minutes, seconds; Buds appear on…

Date: March 22, 2026 Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins Prompt: Write about an unexpected package Henry thought very little of the plain cardboard box that appeared on his doorstep in the early hours of the morning, until he picked it up and it growled. Not just a growl; a series of guttural yawps and snarls that sounded as though the creature they belonged to was panicking from its world rocking…

Date: December 14, 2025 Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins Prompt: Think of a famous line from a movie/book/song, take it out of the original context, and start your story with it. (I chose the last line from the song “What It Sounds Like” from KPop Demon Hunters) “When darkness meets the light, this is what it sounds like.” The thought flickered across her mind as she sat there, sightless yet…

Date: November 16, 2025 Location: Cream & Amber, Hopkins Prompt: Write a piece using these words (Healing, Coffee, Horror, Normal, Potato, Fresh, Writhe) Mornings like this were difficult. There was never enough time to cook the breakfast potatoes. On this particular morning, there wasn’t even time to brew a single fresh cup of coffee. The unholy shrieking grated on my ears as, like clockwork,…

Date: September 21, 2025 Location: Cream & Amber Prompt: Use these words in a piece (Stylish, Dragon, Rotund, Pathway, Pickles) He knew it wasn’t going to be a regular Saturday when he met the dragon in the courtyard. Just sprawled across the crumbling pathway, wings akimbo, its rotund belly emitting sounds of the sort that made him wonder whether the thing was on its way out of this life. The…

Hi everyone! I’m not going to use the cliched “Well, it’s been awhile…” opening (although, ironically I did just technically use it) but my obvious absence is glaring. I think it’s easy as writers to stretch our capacity past our limits, especially around time; it’s easy to be less intentional with one thing in your life when all of the other things have collectively monopolized your hours, and…

Edinburgh is a city of easy first impressions. My first impression of Edinburgh was of darkness. The sun sets early in November in Scotland. My second impression of Edinburgh was one of welcome, and even on some level a strange familiarity with my surroundings. We arrived at our hotel, Ceilidh-Donia, folded cozily into a Midlothian neighborhood of buildings similar in appearance, with their…

Our Journey Begins Now, But How? (or: To Plot or Not to Plot)

“A story tells us what happened, but a plot tells us why.” – E.M. Forster “But, how do you know if an ending is truly good for the characters unless you’ve traveled with them through every page?” – Shannon Hale “Plot as such is not a major ingredient in my novels… it’s often better to sail on the unconscious sea.” – Richard Adams It has taken me years to write this blog post. YEARS. Actually…

I’m Still Here.

How’s your 2020 going? I’ve picked up some new hobbies. I cannot believe it has been so long. It is less than ideal starting a blog post by having to reassure you, wonderful readers, that I – Owner of Said Blog – did not, in fact, hop a ship and sail off into the sunset, fleeing from the burden of expectations and broken dreams. That was melodramatic, I know. (And full of commas.) But it’s gotten…

Writing Them to Life (or: The Complexity of Character)

You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.

~Joss Whedon

Artist: johnhain (Pixabay)

It all begins with the faint early tingles of a story idea creeping through my brain.

When that “spark” turns out to be a fantasy/speculative fiction idea that requires extensive world-building, the work begins. Through that planning and building process, as…

Where the magic happens (with a fresh coat of zen)

This morning is the first morning I feel well enough to write, after a week of mornings where the fever caused my bones and muscles to crumble under flu aches, and I despaired wondering if I would ever be able to breathe through my nose again.

After a week of days where I was rendered barely able to move, let alone clean my house, I was well enough this morning to survey the damage, and realized…

Harnessing Inspiration in the Digital Age

Do you create inspiration boards for your works-in-progress?

Hello, friends!

I wanted to let you know about a thing I made. The thing is the product of one of my favorite “non-writing” writing activities… a fun tool I used to help craft the world of Stormriders!

Inspiration boardshave been used in the design and visual arts fields for ages. They are commonly used in those fields to shape the…