Blog Hop – Page 4

RTW: Inspiring me …

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic:

When you need creative inspiration, where do you go?

Wow, it’s been three months since I last participated on RTW. I can’t believe it has been that long. Well, I can’t promise I’ll be here every Wednesday from now on, but I’ll try to ;)

Okay, on to the question.

I don’t really have a physical place I go to, especially since I just moved to Connecticut and I’m still figuring the place out ;)

1. Reading. Of course, it’s the most inspiring thing ever to me, be it a CP’s manuscript or a good book on my TBR list. I just can’t live without reading as much as I can’t live without writing.

2. Songs. Especially music videos on YouTube ;) I’m one of those people who does everything, and I mean everything, with music on the background. I have about two dozens of playlists reflecting the moods of my scenes and some are separate by WIP, so, if I’m writing, you bet I’m also listening to music.

3. Movies/TV Series. I like to watch things that are “similar” to what I’m writing so I can see what NOT to do. Not because the movies or tv shows are bad, not, they are usually good, but I don’t want to copy them, even if without meaning to.

4. Pinterest. It’s so fun to create storyboards and check everyone’s pictures and add more and more to my Inspiration board ;)

5. History. I haven’t had a history class or read a history book in ages, but I love history. Especially Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Norse and Chinese. It’s so fun and invigorating to learn how they lived, what they wore, their hobbies, their legends! Oh, Egyptian gods and their “powers” … I have a WIP in that line ;) I have a BA in art studio, but always said that I’ll get a degree in history someday, just because I like it so much.

Sometimes, I also talk about my stories to my husband and one of my best friends, though they have some valid ideas and suggestions, they don’t understand a thing about writing and end up mixing up a few things. But that’s okay. The intention is what counts ;)

Now I want to know about YOU. How do you get your creative juices flowing?

Cheers,

Categories: Blog Hop, Things I like

First Loves Blogfest

First Loves Blogfest hosted by awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh – on May 14, post your first loves – first movie, first song/band, first book, and first person. Four loves, one blogfest!

First movie: Labyrinth – it scared the hell out of me, but I couldn’t get enough of it.

Then, as a teenager, it was Titanic …

First song/band: When I was a teenager, it was Backstreet Boys. I was crazy about them. Had many of their shows in VHS lol

But, when I was a kid, around 6 or 8, I think, I was crazy about Jordy!

First book: No Greater Love by Danielle Steel. It was the first romance I read (I was 8 or 9). I got it from my mother, who had (and still has) many books by Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts and Sidney Sheldon. Of course, I read many children books before, but after reading this one, my book obsession started …

First person: I remember having a “boyfriend” when I was around 8. We used to hold hands and walk home from school (3 blocks away, and we were neighbors). I encountered him again years later on another city and we talked and laughed a lot. Then, there was another guy when I was 15. Bah, did he treat me badly! He was a professional womanizer LOL But I always thought that he could change. I don’t think that was love either, I think that was some kind of teenager obsession. Then, I met my husband at 17. He was 22 and said I love you first (2 months dating). I said it 4 months later, when I was sure that what I was feeling was love. He was the first (and only) guy/man to whom I said I love you. I hope I’ll be able to say the previous sentence when I’m 60 or 70 or 80 ;)

It’s your turn. Share your first loves with us!

Cheers,

PS: I’m not sure I’ll have time to visit everyone’s blog today, but I’ll try. If I don’t visit yours today, I’ll tomorrow! Thanks!

Categories: Blog Hop, WIP

Dust It Off Bloghop – Learning

Welcome to the Dust It Off Bloghop!

This hop is hosted by Theresa Paolo and Cortney Pearson during three days: May 3rd, 5th and 7th!

The first day, May 3rd: Post a 1-2 sentence pitch about the shelved WIP. You can see my post here (and the pics I have in it!).

The second day, May 5th: Post your favorite excerpt (300-350 words). You can find it here (and the soundtrack!).

Today, the third day, May 7th: Post what you learned from this WIP. You become a stronger, more rounded writer which each manuscript and we want to know what this particular work taught you.

I chose SANDS OF HOPE for this hop. It was the very first novel I wrote when I decided to get serious about writing, and I learnt a lot while and after writing it.

I learned a lot … like I said before, it was my first serious manuscript, but I had no notion of craft.

What did I do wrong?

First, I began with huge amounts of backstory. I told the girl’s whole life in the first 10 pages LOL Then, I would describe too much and in the wrong moment. Whenever my characters walked into a new room, I would stop and describe everything. EVERYTHING. I was even meticulous about the size of the damn room hihi I also described every time she changed her clothes .. and was meticulous about that too. And I repeated the color of eyes and hair of almost everyone very often.

Gosh, how terrible I was …

I love the story, the twists, the characters and their motivations, but, well, the writing was poor and too long … since I described EVERYTHING and went into detailed backstory for at least two characters, the first draft of the manuscript ended up at 155,000 words! Seriously!

Oh, and I told the story in multiple POVs (at least I didn’t switched them mid-scene), but the thing is, it’s Egypt, so it was historical and the word choice had to be careful and I wasn’t careful. I wrote as if Sethi and the others lived in our modern world, talking casually. You can check that again on the excerpt posted two days ago. Since I’m still not comfortable writing historical, if I ever re-write this story, I’ll focus on Shannon’s POV only. I guess that will be good for Sethi’s mysteriousness, and, well, we all love a mysterious guy ;)

Well, I’m never repeating those errors again!

My second manuscript was already much, much better, but I knew I still had much to learn. In fact, I guess I’ll never stop learning, even if someday I do get published … I also noticed my English gets better and better from manuscript to manuscript ;)

(sorry, no pics or videos today!)

How about you? What have you learned from your old manuscripts?

…………………………………………………

On another note, I’m talking about writing and publishing New Adult at the NA Alley blog today. It’s quite interesting, you should check it out!

Cheers,

Categories: Blog Hop, WIP

Dust It Off Bloghop – Excerpt

Welcome to the Dust It Off Bloghop!

This hop is hosted by Theresa Paolo and Cortney Pearson during three days: May 3rd, 5th and 7th!

The first day, May 3rd: Post a 1-2 sentence pitch about the shelved WIP. You can see my post here (and the pics I have in it!).

Today, the second day, May 5th: Post your favorite excerpt (300-350 words).

I chose SANDS OF HOPE for this hop. It was the very first novel I wrote when I decided to get serious about writing, and I learnt a lot while and after writing it.

The pitch can be found at my Projects page and on the previous post.

And now for the excerpt … Please, keep in mind that English isn’t my first language and that I wasn’t as good at it as I am today. Also, I was a rookie. You’ll see lots of mistakes and things we’re not supposed to do lol

Anyway, it’s from Sethi’s POV:

We remained in the arms of each other while I could still hear the clashing of swords in my back. I was certain the four Medjai and Anhur had the rest of our enemies under control.

Turning my attention to Chloe and Ryan, I stepped away from Shannon and went to thank them for bringing help for us.

But it all changed when Shannon’s feelings altered. She was watching the fight two steps behind me and, within a second, she was terrorized again. Being reeled by her feeling, I turned around and saw whatever was terrifying her. One of the Assyrian men, who was badly hurt, was getting ready to throw the sharp pointed banner-like-spear on her and nobody seemed to have noticed it but her and, now, me.

Besides Shannon’s thoughts of dying, despair took over me. In shock, I looked from the spear to Shannon and could not believe in what was going to happen. Putting my mind to work, I prayed for the gods to make me as fast as a hunting cat or a flying falcon and ran for it.

“We were supposed to bring her alive!” I heard another Assyrian yelling.

I placed my body in front of Shannon’s just in time and, closing my eyes, waited for the end.

I heard everyone around me gasping as the spear should have pierced me.

A few seconds later, I realized the end had not come. Behind me, I could feel Shannon’s hand on my bare back, just where the spear should have pierced through me.

I opened my eyes again and saw everyone gawking at me, even the Assyrian who had thrown the spear. The Medjai and the remaining two enemies were not fighting anymore. They were just staring at me with huge eyes and open mouths.

And that’s when I saw it. The spear was floating just in front of me, with its sharp point standing about half an inch from my chest, right across Shannon’s warm palm. Then I felt it. The power running from her hand, across my chest, to the hovering spear. Shannon had stopped it. Shannon had stopped the spear!

I talk about the bad things of this excerpt on the next blog hop post, in two days. Stay tuned!

While writing it, I remember listening to these two songs often:

I’m aware that, if I decide to invest my time in this WIP, I’ll have to fully rewrite it, but I hope you liked it even so ;)

Cheers,

Categories: Blog Hop, WIP

Dust It Off Bloghop – Pitch

Welcome to the Dust It Off Bloghop!

This hop is hosted by Theresa Paolo and Cortney Pearson during three days: May 3rd, 5th and 7th!

I think there’s still time to sign up!

Today, the first day, May 3rd: Post a 1-2 sentence pitch about the shelved WIP.

I chose SANDS OF HOPE for this hop. It was the very first novel I wrote when I decided to get serious about writing, and I learnt a lot while and after writing it. Oh, it’s New Adult, of course.

The pitch can be found at my Projects page, but here it is:

Shannon goes back in time to Ancient Egypt where she finds out her presence is expected—kind of. There, she will have to face the power of a curse, the bitterness of a pharaoh, the obsession of his son, and the rage of a Medjai Warrior.

REVISED (with the suggestions from comments): Twenty years old Shannon Wright goes back in time to Ancient Egypt where her presence is expected—kind of. There, she will have to face the power of a curse, the bitterness of a pharaoh, the obsession of his son, and the rage of a Medjai Warrior.

Better?

And because I love pics and drawings …

This is how I imagine Shannon to be. Image by Suzanne Van Pelt.

And this is how I imagine Sethi, the Medjai Warrior. His name is Mert Öcal, a Turkish model (btw, he is 6’4″ of pure deliciousness).

What do you think? Any suggestions to improve my pitch?

What about yours?

Cheers,

Categories: Blog Hop, Eye Candy, WIP

Oh, My Hero! Blog Hop

It’s here! The Oh, My Hero Blog Hop! hosted by my NA sisters Victoria Smith and Jaycee DeLorenzo.

I’ve picked DESTINY GIFT, the WIP I’m currently revising. It’s a New Adult Paranormal Romance.

This is the quick blurb: In a world of chaos, Nadine has visions she doesn’t understand—she believes she might be hallucinating. Until she meets the guy who haunts her visions and everything starts to change … even the world.

Let me introduce you guys to the guy who haunts Nadine’s visions … Victor Gianni:

Here’s how Victor looks like and dresses.

Victor never dresses like this (other than when alone with Nadine) but I wanted to show you guys just how Yummy he is!

(For the curious ones, the guy in the pics is a famous Brazilian model called Evandro Soldati)

Victor is 22yo, has golden hair and sea-greens eyes, and 6’2″ of pure deliciousness. He’s in medical school when the story opens … He is very quiet and distant in the beginning of the story (the real Victor. The dream Victor is all chatty and charming).

Here is the interview with the real Victor:

Q1: How would you describe yourself in one word?

Victor: Hmm, balanced.

Q2: How would you describe your heroine?

Victor: *glances to the side to see if she is out of range* Divine.

Q3: What’s your favorite pastime?

Victor: Nowadays, spend time with Nadine.

Q4: Are you a morning or a night person and why?

Victor: In my full form I don’t sleep, so it doesn’t matter.

Q5: If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?

Victor: *rolls his eyes, annoyed* Again, in my full form, I don’t need money.

Q6: If you had three wishes what would they be?

Victor: *sighs* Reverse the darkness, find my scepter, and *spies over to where Nadine is waiting, making sure she’s still out of range* make Nadine immortal so she can stay with me.

Q7: What is the first thing you notice about a woman that you find attractive?

Victor: *small smile* The eyes and what I can see through them.

Yeah, my hero is a little enigmatic and not very chatty, but my heroine can crack him ;)

How about your hero?

You can check the other participants by visiting Victoria’s blog or Jaycee’s blog and clicking the linky list on the bottom of their posts!

Cheers,

Categories: Blog Hop

Blog Me MAYbe

Through Katy Upperman’s blog, I found out about a new challenge called Blog Me MAYbe hosted by Sara McClung.

From Sara’s blog:

The purpose: To get back in the habit of blogging by following a weekly schedule for the month of May. (Or if you already post regularly, to have an easy schedule to follow without having to struggle with deciding what to blog about.)

What you DON’T have to do: Post every day and follow every blog that participates and comment on everyone’s posts every day. This isn’t a blogfest to gain followers—although maybe that will happen. And of course if you WANT to comment on everyone’s posts, feel free. :) But really the point of this is to focus mostly on our own blogs and to write posts about things we’re interested in that our followers will want to read about.

The schedule:

Mondays: May I tell you something about writing?
This can be anything writing-related. A post on craft. A post on your process. A snippet of your WIP, if you like to share. A book on craft that you want to recommend. Things you struggle with. Things you rock at. ANYTHING at all!

Tuesdays: May I tell you something about myself?
Pretty self-explanatory :) Share something about yourself that your followers might not know. Or maybe they do. It doesn’t matter–this is just so people who read your blog can get to know you a little better.

Wednesdays: May I ask something about you?
Ask your followers something about themselves.

Thursdays: May I tell you something about someone else?
Make this post about someone else. A writing friend. A critique partner. A person from history who’s fascinating. A character from a book. Anyone you want. :) Have a guest poster. Give an interview. Get creative! Just let the spotlight shine on someone else.

Fridays: May I share something funny?

Fridays = the starts of weekends! BOOYA. Reason to celebrate and laugh on it’s own–plus, who doesn’t want to see something amusing after a long week?

Again, I want to highlight that you don’t need to participate on every day of this event. Take me for example. May will be a busy month over here, with blog hops and tour stops and a blog launch (*cues drums roll*), so I’ll post whenever I can. No stress over it ;)

To sign up for this fun event, click here and find the linky list on the bottom of Sara’s post, and have fun!

Cheers,

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