Juliana Haygert

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Categories: Me, Writer Retreat

Some changes …

EXCITING NEWS:

Last week Magan Vernon, Susan Kaye Quinn and Leigh T. Moore had a writer retreat where they live, which is very far from here. I was really jealous. Excited for them, but jealous ;)

I always wanted to go on a retreat. So, I questioned on twitter and found out a few of my writer-twitter-friends who live close by! We (Ghenet, Cristina and Ginger – and maybe Gina) won’t start with a weekend away (but I’ll try to convince them of that some day!) For now, I invited them to spend a whole day together at a Panera or Starbucks, just writing. And they said yes!

I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED! You can be sure there will be tons of pics of our meet up!

By the way, if you live in CT and want to meet with us, let me know! We’ll be happy to have you come along ;)

 

NOT SO GOOD NEWS:

You may have noticed I haven’t posted my ROW80 update and the Author Spotlight from the last 2 weeks, I haven’t participated in any bloghop, and I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t answered to any comments on this blog for a couple of weeks.

It’s just been so overwhelming lately. There are days I feel like I can’t keep up.

So for now, I’m taking a blogging break. That doesn’t mean I won’t have a few posts up every now and then—this week, there are two cover reveals, and a giveaway some authors and I are organizing. Then the week after that I’m participating a New Adult bloghop, and the other week I have three blog tour stops. So you see, the blog isn’t going anywhere, I just won’t have a schedule anymore. I’ll post as it comes, as ideas for posts strikes me, as I see an opening to participate in more bloghops, as people contact me about having a guest post/interview here.

Same goes for the ROW80 sprints at 2pm EST … I’m trying to turn the internet off during the day (I literally turn off the wireless/modem) so I can be more productive, and going to the sprints means that I have to turn the internet back on so I can check on twitter with the other ladies during sprint. Well, that sometimes leads to check emails, FB, blogs, etc. I don’t want to stay away from the sprints all the time, because I like those ladies too much, but I won’t be there everyday anymore.

About the Author Spotlight: it stopped because I’m tired of running after authors. I’ve contacted several, they seemed eager to do it, then didn’t send me back the interview. Or, some sent me the interview back, but nothing more. Like, I had to go after blurbs, bio, pics, buy links – and some authors have more than just a couple of books out and selling them in several websites. Do you know how many precious hours did I lose going after all the info? Well, I’m not doing it anymore. My blog is open for everyone and if you want to host your cover reveal, your blog tour, or whatever, you’re welcome! But please, send me ALL THE INFO or I won’t post it.

 

Well, that’s it peeps. I’m off to write.

Have a good one!

Cheers,

Categories: Challenges, Me, My writing

My 2013 Plan

Last year, I had a post called My 2012 Plan, inspired by my friend, Jani Grey (here’s her 2012 post, and her 2013 post). It involved mostly writerly things, but also a few personal WANTS.

Why wants, not resolutions? Because I can’t resolve to have an agent this year, can I? Unfortunately, that’s involve more than just old plain me. So, stating what I want, means that I’ll work toward it, but it isn’t certain I’ll obtain it.

Since my WANTS worked quite well in 2012, I decided to write down My 2013 Plan:

1. Read at least 60 books. Last year I read 77 books, but I had more *free* time. Now I’m under contract and getting two books ready for querying or self-pubbing, so I’m kinda busy and might not be able to read as much as I would like. (I kinda envy those people who read 200+ books per year. But I can only think that’s all they do …)

2. Go to at least one conference. I signed up for the Boston Author Event (March 16th), and I’m thinking about attending BEA since it’s right in my corner (I do live 1.5 hours from NYC), and I’m also considering RWA. Let’s see …

3. Write more. And by that I mean: finishing what I start more than last year. I started tons of projects last year, wrote them to 5k, 10k, 15k, sometimes even to 20k, then gave up, either because I lost interest or because I new shiny idea popped up and became more interesting. My total 2012 word count is probably pretty high, but if I look at how many projects hit the end, then it seems ridiculous.

4. Find at least one more reliable CP. And maybe a beta-reader or two. Preferably someone who enjoys the same genres I do.

5. Write reviews on Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles for the books I read and enjoy. Now that I have a book out, I see how important reviews are.

6. Spend less time on Social Media. So I can write more. That is crucial if I want to accomplish the next goal.

7. Publish at least 2 books, besides the novella that comes out in Feb. I have one novel which is with 2 publishers at the moment. If they reject it, I’ll self-pub it (which was the original plan, anyway). Then I’m working on another one. Still not sure if I’ll query or self-pub that one.

8. Continue researching about what is best for me and my writing: to self-pub, to continue with a small press, or to query agents. Or maybe the three of them?

9. Participate on all rounds of ROW80.

10. Keep going to the gym, lose  5 or 6 pounds and keep them off! (This one didn’t quite work last year. Yes, I became addicted to the gym, but I didn’t lose anything yet).

11. Eat healthier. Well, I don’t eat much fruits and vegetables, so I’m trying to add them to my diet. And more fiber and vitamins … Now, don’t think I’ll completely change my diet. I won’t. I don’t want to. I just want to make it a little better, otherwise all those hours at the gym won’t count for much.

12. Be more present. Accordingly to my hubby and daughter, I’m a super mom and wife, but, if you’re a writer like me, you know we space out sometimes (aka=all the time) and, when on the heat of the story, we kinda ignore them to write down all the words. I want to be able to separate my writing time and my family time. I’ll try to leave all the words and everything related to this business for when they are not at home (work and school), and give them my full attention when they are home. Again, if you’re a writer, you know how hard this is. But I truly love them with all my heart and soul, and for that they deserve better from me.

Doable, uh? I hope so.

 

I saw on a few friends’ blogs (Alex, Katy, Elodie and Ghenet) about The Word of the Year. I like this idea. One word to summarize the coming year. My Word of the Year is: LOVE. Yes, just that. Love my family, love my friends, love my life, love my work, love all the words, write for love, love the writing community, love reading, love exercising, love feeling good, love living. Just … LOVE!

 

How about you? What are your WANTS for 2013? And what’s your Word of the Year?

Cheers,

JH signature_small

Categories: Me, My writing

Maybe I Shouldn’t Apologize, But I Can’t Help It

Most of you know English is my Second Language. It’s my preferred language.

I came to live in the USA back in 2004 and I knew English very well, but not nearly as well as I know now. Of course, practice and going through college here and speaking with other English speakers made (and still makes) my English better and better.

I’m proud of being bilingual, but it’s a pain in the @$$ sometimes. For one, I’m getting worse with Portuguese. I keep forgetting words when talking to my family, and Portuguese went through a huge orthographic change a couple of years ago, while I was already living in the US, so I didn’t follow the change, not completely. And second, my English will never be perfect. I know this. In ten years—and I’ll have several books out by then I hope ;)—my English won’t be perfect still. I try to comfort myself saying that it’s impossible even for an American to know all words in the English language.

So sometimes it feels like I’m losing Portuguese and not gaining any English …

After all, what triggered this post, you may ask. Well, I just participated of a few contests and online critiques and people always commented about some preposition problems (oh, I hate prepositions! They are evil!) and awkward phrasing. People have no idea English is my second language when they comment like that, and, obviously, they are going to critique what they see. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate people showing me where my mistakes are. (you can read my short story here or here by the way and see the mistakes for yourself).

I know this, but honestly, I don’t know how to fix. I don’t even spot these “errors”, not alone at least. That’s why, a couple of times, I paid freelance editors for line-edits and copy-edits, because they can fix those “errors” … but, they are expensive, and, if I pay them for every draft I write, I’m gonna have to sell my house. Can you imagine? I finish a draft, then hire an editor. Then, along the way, the opening changes or something in the middle changes, or a subplot is cut or enhanced … and I have to send it back to the editor to do their magic again.

Other thing about freelance editors is that some of them have a full schedule. Right now, the ones I like to work with are scheduling for December/January … so, besides having a lot of money, you have to have time … to wait.

So, what am I to do?

Not enter contests because I’m ashamed of not having a perfect English? If I do that, then I have to stop writing on my blog and my group blog, NA Alley, because I’m sure that all my posts have awkward phrasing and a few grammar errors. I can’t help it. I can’t SEE them … Sorry my NA Sisters for making errors on our beautiful blog.

And I should stop tweeting too. Since tweewing is “automatic” and spontaneous, I just write what comes to mind and only after it’s posted and way down my feed I realized there was a typo, or a concordance error, or a wrong preposition. Ugh!

But I can’t expect to be forgiven. I don’t expect to be forgiven. I mean, what the agents I send my manuscripts to care if I’m ESL? They want perfect grammar (or almost perfect) and beautiful writing. They won’t pat my head and consider me with a different eye/mind because I’m an ESL. And I really don’t expect them too, don’t want them to. That would make me feel worse, as if they were selecting me for pity.

Still, I have to say, I’m sorry. I wish English was my first language and that I had studied it all my life. I wish my grammar was perfect and that none of my phrases were awkward.

Moments like these, reading the comments on contests and critiques, make me want to give up writing. Not of writing in English, because honestly, I can’t imagine writing in Portuguese (and let’s not talk about the industry, because books in Brazil is a whole different thing). I’ve been writing in English since 2008. The ideas come and flower in my mind in English. I dream in English, I think in English. Though I make mistakes, English is my official language. And because I make mistakes, the idea of giving up of writing crossed my mind. Though I assure you it’s nothing serious, because I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t write. I don’t want to do anything else.

Sorry about the long rant. I’m not expecting pats on the head or compassion or whatever. I just … I needed to take this off my chest, because it was really bringing me down and I was tired of feeling blue because of it.

And to finish this, I want you guys to know I’m taking yet another grammar workshop that started last Thursday.

Cheers,

JH signature_small

Categories: Me, My writing, WIP

On Being Productive

Or trying to be productive.

Alright, I decided, back in mid May, but then I had many guest posts and other events schedules until now, that I’m going to severely cut my “online” hours.

I will shut down twitter during late morning and the afternoons (maybe I’ll only come online from 1 to 4pm for twitter writing sprints with JuNoWriMo during June), I’ll also close the web browser (Facebook, goodreads, blogs, google reader) and not answer to any email during that time.

May was an insanely busy month on my blog, with interviews and blogfests and cover reveals and other news. In 31 days I had 26 posts up—that never happened before and it was too much to keep up. My plan is to reduce the amount of posts. I’m not sure how many per week yet, but I’m thinking about 2 regular features and then some extras if big news need to be reported (and that doesn’t mean my news only. I like to celebrate my friends’ news too!). Not that June won’t be busy with JuNoWriMo and all, but at least I don’t think I’ll be blogging as often as May.

Why these drastic measures?

Many reasons, the main one being that I want to write more.

In May, when I came up with this decision, I talked to a good friend who is a reader, not a writer, and beta-reads my work. We talk a lot about books and market and such and she told me that in 2010, when I didn’t think much about publishing, when I wasn’t as much online as I am now, was the year that I produced the most. I wrote 4 novels that year and started 2, going up to 40k in each. Three of those novels I finished were over 100k words (yeah, I know, major cutting to be done there). Then, in 2011, when I was already in twitter and becoming member of everything I could and befriending any fellow writer on the same path as I was/am, I produced much less. I wrote 2 novels, 2 novellas and 1 novelette. Yes, I started many too, but, if you add the total word count of each year, 2010 is way ahead …

Back in 2010, I also didn’t know much about the craft and wrote what I love, the way I wanted it to be. Sure, in 2011 my writing improved a lot with all the workshops I took and craft books I read, but I also became more worried about what editors and agents want and don’t want, and that influenced what I was writing. I started many things I wasn’t really in the mood to write.

In 2012, all hell broke loose when I find out I was moving back to the US in January. Things only settled down again mid April, when we were already in the US and our new home already livable. Then last week I had a couple of days that were a mess when my daughter’s preschool decided to just close without any notice and because of that I’m way behind on JuNoWriMo and CampNaNo.

I love the writing community and twitter can get pretty distracting with all the contests and pitching talking and the supporting and cheering up thing. Also, I stalk follow lots of agents and editors and most of them tweet about the industry and some other insider things, which is very informative. But that can be distracting, like I mentioned before, and the 15 minutes I plan to spend there, easily become 2 hours …

You see, I’m fortune enough to be able to write full time (or close to full time). To me, writing is my job, and I gotta make the most of it. I need to learn to be more productive. And that starts by shutting of the internet and writing. You know what they say, that you’ll learn how to write and improve writing and, if you’re a self-publisher, the best way to promote yourself is to write a good book, then another good book, then another good book—I’m not a self-publisher, but the principle is the same. And how would I do that? By gluing my butt in my chair, shutting off the internet, not answering the phone unless it’s an emergency (you have no idea how many precious hours I lost because family called to chat during my writing time, and I just can’t be rude or firm enough to tell them I can’t), and just write!

Another thing I need to focus: write what I want to, what excites me, not what editors and agents want … I have so many ideas I love, I need to focus on them. Certainly, writing something that enthusiasm me will make me more productive. When you’re loving a scene, don’t you keep on writing, even if you’re late for something or should be in bed already? I want that feeling again.

As a way to encourage me, I decided to post these “thoughts” here on the blog, so my friends will know if I’m not being as productive as I want to be, and I’ll feel ashamed for it and work harder.

So, if you see me online late mornings or afternoons (other than sprinting times), shoo me off!

Cheers,

Categories: Blog Hop, Me

Alphabet Survey!

Today, for the A-Z challenge, Kate Upperman posted an Alphabet Survey she found on Just Everyday Me while searching for recipes online.

She welcomed everyone to post the survey on their blogs and then paste the link on to her comments.

Since I love blog hops of any kind, here it is:

A is for age: Twenty-eight. I can’t believe I’ll be thirty by the end of next year.

B is for breakfast today: Coffee and milk and french croissants.

C is for currently craving: Chocolate, but that’s something I crave all the time.

D is for dinner tonight: Not sure yet. I decide what to cook a few minutes before starting lol

E is for favorite type of exercise: Love, love, love Pilates, though it’s too expensive. I think I’ll go back to BodyPump, BodyFlow and BodyCombat.

F is for an irrational fear: Being attacked by a crazy stranger, pinned down against my will and … yeah, you get the picture. I think I would rather die.

G is for gross food: Any food dripping with oil. Ewww. I love me some french fries, but please, it has be very dry and crunchy.

H is for hometown: Porto Alegre in Brazil. It was not where I was born, but it’s where I moved for college and where I met my husband. It was also where we were living before moving back to the US.

I is for something important: “My family, for sure. I love my husband and daughter more than anything.” <—- Those are Katy’s words but I could use them here ;)

J is for current favorite jam: Don’t like any jam as in jelly. For jam as in music, almost anything.

K is for kids: My daughter, the most beautiful and lovely little girl out there. She’ll be five in May. I also have a niece who is 9 months older than my daughter and she looks just like me. Love her to pieces!

L is for current location: Honda dealer, waiting for my my car’s oil change.

M is for the most recent way you spent money: Just paid for my daughter’s karate lessons.

N is for something you need: More time and patience.

O is for occupation: “Wife, mama, aspiring author.” <— Again, Katy’s words that apply to me too ;)

P is for pet peeve: Lack of respect.

Q is for a quote: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. —  Eleanor Roosevelt 

R is for random fact about you: I was a ballerina and pretty good at dancing. Nowadays, every time I dance on parties, clubs, whatever (regular dancing, not performance dancing, of course), I hear lots of compliments ;) *blushes* I confess I like hearing those compliments, though.

S is for favorite healthy snack: Strawberry … covered in chocolate, ha! Unfortunately, I don’t eat too healthy …

T is for favorite treat: Chocolate.

U is for something that makes you unique: Again, I could use Katy’s words here. (Though, instead of nine years, I’ve been married for eight). But, for a different thing, I’m very, very independent. I moved out of my parents house (and town) when I was 16yo.

V is for favorite vegetable: None.

W is for today’s workout: None =(

X is for X-rays you’ve had: Feet, ankles, knees—I rupture two ligaments in 2009. And ultrasounds when pregnant. Oh, and the last one was from my teeth.

Y is for yesterday’s highlight: A nice email of someone enthusiastic about my manuscript.

Z is for your time zone: Eastern.

 

Participate on the Alphabet Survey by blogging about your answers. Leave your link on the comments and I’ll drop by. Don’t forget to visit Katy too!

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, Me

I’m here! And #ROW80 round 2!

Here I am!

Did you miss me, or you didn’t even notice I was gone?

Well, I didn’t totally disappear. When I could, I logged in Twitter and visited blogs, but now things will be better. Because I’M FINALLY IN THE US! Yes! I moved back to the US! I arrived last Monday, March 26th!

So, as you might imagine, things are a little bit crazy yet, and I’m not online as much as I used to. But hopefully, things will settle down soon and I’ll go back to writing full time.

Even though I was gone from the online universe, I wasn’t out of the writing/publishing world. Actually, I have some pretty great things brewing behind the curtains. I just can’t tell you about it yet.

However, I can tell you that I signed up for A ROUND OF WORDS IN 80 DAYS (ROW80) again and it starts today!

 

 

From the website:

What Is ROW80?

A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life.

We are all different and we all have different demands on our time.  Why should we all have the same goal?  The simple answer is that we shouldn’t.  If you want to be a writer, then you have to be able to roll with the punches and adapt to your changing circumstances.  If that means changing your goals when your life blows up, so be it.  ROW80 is the challenge that champions the marriage of writing and real life.

 

This is the third round I’m participating. Last round, though, I had to drop off early because of the big move. I should be able to stick through the whole round, though it’ll have a slow start, and I hope it’ll have the same outcome than the first time I participated.

Goals:

  • Organize my new home and my new schedule.
  • Participate on Crafting the Sensual Novella Workshop from April 9th to May 6th.
  • Finish revising my novel, DESTINY GIFT.
  • Start a new novel and get as far as I can with it.
  • Read 5 books each month (year total = 60).
  • Social network: blog at least once a week (not counting #ROW80 checkins), comment on blogs every other day, and tweet a little everyday.
  • Once my life is normal again (or almost), find a gym and exercise 3 times per week.

Not necessarily in this order.

Check-in posts are due Wednesday and Sundays, but I’ll probably only check-in on Sundays for the whole week.

My check-ins will be posted on this blog, under the #ROW80 category, which makes it easy to find them.

 

Did you like it? Want to sign up too? Click here to do so!

Good luck to us! Let’s have fun!

Categories: Me, My life, My writing

The reason I’ve been MIA lately …

Hey guys!

Perhaps you didn’t notice I’ve been MIA because I try to show up on twitter every now and then, but I do feel like I’m missing out on everything lately.

Most of you know I’m Brazilian, that I lived in the US from 2004 to 2009, came back to Brazil, and now I’m moving back to the US.

And that’s all I’ve been doing lately. Packing and organizing everything for our move in one week!.

If you guys ever moved before, you know how much work it involves. But now imagine moving to a different country!

Oh, God, I can’t even start listing all the things I’ve been doing … selling cars, looking for new temporary apartment, packing bags that will go with us on the flight, packing things that will go later through cargo, trying to sell the things we don’t want to take with us, visiting all kinds of doctors and our dentists (who knows how long it’ll take till we find a nice doctor we trust, or someone recommends), visiting family and close friends who live in other cities, planning on how to keep our Brazilian house closed but clean while we are away (we plan on selling it only after we have our greencards in hand), looking for school for our daughter, coming up with a plan of action for the first week (example: look/find new apartment, enroll kid on school, buy new cars, buy the stuff a house needs to function right away—plates, glasses, sofa, bed, TV, garbage can, cleaning supply, food, etc), get my EAD then my SSN …

And much, much more …

The worst part: I’m not writing. For over 30 days now, I’m not writing.

I’ve tried writing a few nights when things are calmer, but it’s useless. The writers out there know that, after a vacation, it’s hard to get back to writing and the first days are not that productive … well, these calmer nights weren’t productive at all.

I didn’t stop writing down the stuff that my mind brings to me, as plot twists and ideas for new novels, but there is no way I can just sit down and type for hours. No way. And it saddens me. It frustrates me. I feel like a part of me is missing. I think I’m even crankier than usual since I stopped writing.

But I need to just let it go, since I know I won’t be writing for the next 20-30 days … that’s a fact and the faster I accept it, the better I’ll live with it.

Anyway, my flight to the US is scheduled for March 26th (in one week!). Hopefully, by April 15th everything will be settled down and I’ll be writing again. Hopefully.

And then, oh my, I’ll be writing. Non-stop.

My goal for this year is to write at least 4 novels (and revise them).  Even with the 2-month-break I’m taking because of the move, I’ll do everything I can to meet that goal.

Now you know why I’ve been quiet on the blogsphere and on the twitterverse. Sorry.

I’ll see you guys soon ;)

Cheers,