Me – Page 6

The fun (aka craziness) starts!

It’s November 1st.

The day National Novel Writing Month starts.

Are you ready?

I am.

This is my first year doing NaNo. Here is my profile, if you want to be my writing buddy or check out what I am writing.

Why I am doing NaNo, you may ask.

Well, like my friend Jani Grey posted on her blog, I work much better under pressure and knowing I have to finish the month with 50k words or I’ll be a loser is a challenge, especially with so many writers I know participating in it.

I’m very excited.

My writing buddies feature is filling up nicely and I joined a “local” group of Brazilian writers, so I feel good about this, about writing with my friends and having fun and supporting each other. I’m in love with the writing community.

I know many people, and famous authors and uber agents, look down upon NaNoWriMo. Some authors says every month should be treated as November is and some agents says their query inbox fills up with crap during December. And I believe them. There are a lot of people out there who has no sense or no notion about how to write and what to write … they think it’s only putting words on paper and it’s done. But not every writer is like that. They shouldn’t judge all based on a few. More important, they shouldn’t express this kind of opinion publicly.

However, I think NaNoWriMo is a nice way of rushing through your first draft. First draft needs to be rushed. It’s when all your ideas and inspiration are at. If you don’t rush through it, you’ll loose interest and objectivity.

What is better than knowing Anna and the French Kiss and Water for Elephants were first drafted during NaNo? It gives us hope.

I know my first drafts aren’t crap. They may need some revision, but they are never crap. Yes, of course, that’s because I have learned a lot about craft during the years. I bet that if I took NaNo when I first started writing, my novel then would be crap … but it isn’t now.

NaNoToons … more can be found here. Too funny!

More important, I’m doing it for fun.

So … let the fun begin!

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, Blogging, Contests, Me, My writing

ROW80 Check-in Wed 10/26

I have news …

My manuscript, Destiny Gift, the one which has 2 fulls out, was selected as one of the 5 finalists in the Show Me The Spark contest organized by the Heartland Romance Authors! Woot!

A feature of the contest is that they send you the MS back after they’ve chosen the finalists with many comments done by the judges … they give you a week to go through it and revise your work. At the end of the week (this upcoming Sunday) I have to send my MS back to them or they will use the un-revised version for the finals. And, on December 23rd, they will announce the winner ;)

So, this week, I’ll pause my writing schedule to work on my Destiny Gift manuscript until I feel it’s good enough to send it back.

Recap of goals:

Write at least 2k words from Mon to Fri, when I’m not editing (Sat and Sun are reserved for family!)
Finish the MS I’m writing (for now, I call it Attitude) (*)
Edit Attitude (*)
Outline a novel for NaNoWriMo (called Energy)
Participate on NaNoWriMo
Read 2 books every 3 weeks
Blog at least once per week (besides the #ROW80 check-ins)
Comment on #ROW80 friends’ blogs

The ones marked with a (*) are completed.

About my leg/foot/knee thing. I did the Electroneumyography test last Friday and the cyst behind my knee is the one compressing my nerves. So the foot specialist said he wants to try solving this without surgery, just by taking some specific vitamins, but he would talk with his colleague, a knee specialist and he would call me and let me know what the other doctor said.

On Monday, the foot specialist called saying that, accordingly to the knee specialist, most of cyst cases need to be dealt with surgery. So, he asked a MRI of my knee to see what exactly is going on around the cyst … then I’ll have to see the knee specialist and determine what we’ll do …

Now, I’m trying to schedule a MRI, but it seems it won’t happen before the end of next week … oh, the joys of waiting …

Anyway, I’ll let you all informed about this, but let’s move on to what really matters: my goals.

Networking

All done … this is hard NOT to meet …

Reading

Since last Wednesday, I finished Dark Lover by JR Ward and Angel’s Desire by Rosalie Lario. I also finished How To Write Page Turning Scenes by Holly Lisle and No Plot? No Problem by Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo. Note: the last 3 books are short, more like novella length.

Last night I began The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong.

Writing

Monday: Worked on the plot of Energy (needed time to process all the judges’ comments on Destiny Gift) and read craft books.

Tuesday: read on craft and worked on revising Destiny Gift (not as easy I would like it to be—the judges had very different opinions and Idk what to do with myself lol).

Wednesday: doing both … working on plot for Energy and revising Destiny Gift.

As check-in goes, I’m thinking about two possibilities: 1) I’ll skip Sunday check-ins unless I have worked during the weekend, which doesn’t happen often … so my week for ROW80 would run from Thu to Wed … or 2) I’ll do like Raelyn said she does on a previous post: I’ll skip Wednesday check-ins and schedule my Sunday check-in on Friday nights. So my week would run from Sat to Fri. Let’s see … I’ll keep you all informed.

How are my ROW80 friends doing? Wishing you all luck and accomplishments!

Here you can check the other participants. Go cheer for them too!

Have a great rest of week!

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, Blogging, Me, My writing

No ROW80 check-in today!

Exactly what the tittle says.

I don’t have much to report, cause Thursday was my only “writing” day after the Wed check-in.

Friday I went out and about (exams and doctor) and weekend is for family.

But I’m doing well with my goals … I blogged, I twitteted, I commented on other blogs, I read, I worked on the plot for my new MS …

Also, as I don’t work on writing during weekends, I’m debating about skipping Sundays check-ins … perhaps only do Sunday check-in when, for some odd reason, I end up writing during the weekend (which happened about 2 weeks ago).

Well, let’s see.

Have a good one guys =)

Categories: #ROW80, Blogging, Me, My writing

ROW80 Check-in Wed 10/19

So, I’ve changed my goals for round 4 of ROW80 a little.

My goals (updated 10/18):

Write at least 2k words from Mon to Fri, when I’m not editing/revising (Sat and Sun are reserved for family!)
Finish the MS I’m writing (for now, I call it Attitude)
Edit Attitude
Outline a novel for NaNoWriMo
Participate on NaNoWriMo
Read 2 books every 3 weeks
Blog at least once per week (besides the #ROW80 check-ins)
Comment on #ROW80 friends’ blogs

Not necessarily in that order =P

As you guys may have noticed, I took exercising out of the list.

Well, since I may have to go through surgery soon, and then I’ll need to recover from it (which means no walking for a couple of weeks), I doubt I’ll be able to go back to the gym this year yet.

But I promise to keep you all updated about that situation.

For example: on Fri I’ll do an exam specific for nerves and then I’ll go see my doctor. He will confirm if my pain is generated by the cyst behind my knee and if I have to take it out or not. I’ll post my next check-in Sunday night, and I’ll let you guys know what happened on Fri.

On with the rest …

Blogging:

This is going well. By the end of the week, I’ll have 4 posts up.

Commenting on other blogs is going well too. I commented on many, many blogs today.

And let’s not talk about twitter … I’m online almost 24-7 lol

Reading:

I finished Touch by Jus Accardo on Sunday. It was really good. Bad e-book formatting, but the story was pretty good.

I’ve began reading Dark Lover by JR Ward on Monday. I like it so far.

Writing:

As you guys know, I finished the first draft of ATTITUDE last week.

So now I’ve printed it and I’m revising it, so not much writing here, other than making notes of possible twists and ideas to enrich the plot and outline of my next MS. I’m not sure it ends up being 2k words per day (I like to outline/plan on paper, then I type it on a file so I won’t lose it), but on my updated goals’ list I mentioned no writing when editing/revising.

Monday: I wasn’t home, though I took my printed ATTITUDE and worked on it a little.

Tuesday: worked on ATTITUDE and daydreamed with my other MSs’ plots lol

Wednesday: finished revising ATTITUDE. I’m thinking about sending it off to my freelance editor for a professional critique this week yet. And, at night, if I don’t watch a movie with my hubby, I’ll work on outlines ;)

Anyway, now I’ll dive in my new MS. The next step is getting its plot outline in shape so I can start writing soon (maybe I’ll wait for NaNo to write it, then I’ll work on more plots and outlines for other MSs to keep me busy).

So far, so good.

And you guys? All is well? I do hope so!

To check my fellow ROWers’ progress, you can click here.

Cheers,

Categories: Blogging, Me, My writing, RTW

RTW: What’s your numero-uno reason for writing?

This is the first time I’m participating on the YA Highway‘s Road Trip Wednesday.

From their blog:

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.

Today’s prompt is:

What’s your numero-uno reason for writing?

Well, I could give many, many answers to this question.

I could use quotes …

“I write to empty my mind and to fill my heart” ― Paulo Coelho

“That’s why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. You can’t control life, at least you can control your version.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” ― Flannery O’Connor

“I write only because
There is a voice within me
That will not be still” ― Sylvia Plath

“Why am I compelled to write?… Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it. I write because life does not appease my appetites and anger… To become more intimate with myself and you. To discover myself, to preserve myself, to make myself, to achieve self-autonomy. To dispell the myths that I am a mad prophet or a poor suffering soul. To convince myself that I am worthy and that what I have to say is not a pile of shit… Finally I write because I’m scared of writing, but I’m more scared of not writing.” ― Gloria E. Anzaldúa

All these quotes could explain why I write, but the last one is the truer of them all.

I love, love writing for the sake of writing. I also love the aspect of living a different life, of experience new things I would never be able to experience in my real-life, much like an actor does when shooting a movie.

I can be who I want, go to where I want, do what I want … it’s freeing.

The same applies to reading, I guess. I become someone else for a short period of time, and I like that.

How about you? What is your number one reason for writing? Or reading?

Cheers,

Categories: Blogging, Me, Model Monday, My writing

Model Monday #06: Dance (NSFW)

I just finished writing my novella, with a ballet background. I was a ballerina myself and I used to dance not only ballet, but any dance.

So I thought, well, dance inspired me, didn’t it? On to write a post about it!

Once more, I have a long post, but it’s long because of the many pictures and videos. Have fun with them ;)

So, don’t you think a guy who can dance is super hot?

No?

Think again:

Cory Stearns (ballet dancer with ABT)

Joaquin Cortes (flamenco dancer)

Roberto Bolle (ballet dancer with ABT)

More Roberto Bolle (yum!)

Angel Corella, Jose Manuel Carreno, Vladimir Malakhov and Ethan Stiefel (ABT dancers)

Now you are convinced, right?

A man dancing is utterly hot and sexy.

Shocker: not all are gay. In fact, most are not! Even hotter, right? lol

Take Michael Jackson, for instance. In my humble opinion, the guy was not pretty or hot on a daily basis… but put him on a stage and play a nice beat … damn, the guy became a dancing magnet!

Another example: Chris Brown had his reputation pratically ruined after hitting on Rihanna, and honestly, I’m not a fan of him, but oh, I’m a huge fan of his dancing.

Girls are also sexy when dancing.

Did you ever see any Pussycat Dolls music video? They know they sell because of their body and looks and the dance routine on their music videos was all about that, but it worked. It was hot and beautiful.

Ciara is another example. The chick can dance! Any of her music videos are amazing mostly because of the dance routine.

Any style will do.

Ballet.

Street dance.

Salsa.

Tango.

Ballet is so pretty ...

Tango is so sexy ...

Speaking of dance, we can’t escape music, since both are deeply connected.

Don’t you like musical or movies with dance themes? I love them. (a tiny list:)

*Step Up (1, 2 and 3)

*Black Swan

*Dance With Me

*Burlesque

*Moulin Rouge

*Mamma Mia

*Dirty Dancing

*Grease

How about the new Footloose? Did you watch? Planning on doing so?

I won’t go to the movie theater, but I’ll certainly watch it at home.

And, to finish this with a big gold key, I give you a very hot music video. The best part is about 3/4 into the video, so, if you want to skip the rest, go ahead. (the quality is pretty bad, but it was the only complete video of this routine that I found).

And you? What do you think about dancing? And man who can dance?
I thought so!

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, Blogging, Me, My writing

ROW80 Check-in #04 (Sun 10.16)

Welcome to the fourth ROW80 check-in!

Note: this posted was scheduled on Friday to go live on Sunday, because I’ll be out of town during the weekend with internet only on my phone, and fumbling the blog on the phone is a pain in the @$$. If things change, if I end up writing during the weekend (which is unlikely) I’ll update the post later ;)

A reminder of my goals:

Write at least 2k words from Mon to Fri (Sat and Sun are reserved for family!)
Finish the MS I’m writing (for now, I call it Attitude)
Edit Attitude
Outline a novel for NaNoWriMo
Participate on NaNoWriMo
Read one book per week
Blog at least once per week (besides the #ROW80 check-ins)
Comment on #ROW80 friends’ blogs
Exercise (I’ll define what and the frequency after my doctor gives me his okay)

Exercising:

Went Friday to the my doctor (foot specialist) with the result of my MRI.
I have cysts behind my knees (big ones) that are probably compressing my nerves and that causes the agonizing pain.
I’ll have to do another exam, more specific for nerves, to confirm it.
If the cysts are causing the pain, it’s a simple solution. Take them out with surgery and it should work. So, now I’m trying to schedule the next exam and get through this ;)
I’ll keep you all updated about it!

Blogging:

Since Wednesday, I had one more post besides this one, so I surpassed my weekly goal.

Reading:

I’m reading Touch by Jus Accardo.
I know, I know. Most people suggested JR Ward or Kelley Armstrong. I did start JR Ward, but idk, I saw how short Touch was and went to it.
Before Wednesday check-in I should have switched to JR Ward or Armstrong already.

Writing:

Wednesday: 1524 words (didn’t reach my 2k goal, but I have a good excuse: it was a holiday, family was home. They demanded some attention lol)
Thursday: 4453 words and I finished ATTITUDE! Yay!
Friday: since I finished Attitude and would spend the whole afternoon at my doctor’s, I decided to take Friday morning off. So no writing today. Which makes me sorta lost, but I think it’s okay (sometimes … ok, rarely!)
Weekend: no writing. With family ;)
But I printed ATTITUDE to start working on it next week. And I’ll also start outlining my next WIP.

How are my fellow ROWers doing?

Have great week everyone!

Cheers,

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