Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

2010-09-09

Why are so many obsessed with being skinny?

I was listening to the radio this morning and Kelly Ripa was on talking, and when the DJ asked her what she does to maintain her weight, she rattled off about 3 to 4 different regimes. While I think it is great to be healthy, I draw the line at looking like a little skinny rat. Then I asked myself this question: is there something fundamentally wrong with actually looking like a woman with curves?

All I see everyday are ads aimed at making me feel bad for having hips or having soft body parts. I used to have real bad self-esteem issues. I still do up to a point, but I also realized that I like looking and feeling like a woman, and not someone else’s idea of what a woman should look like. I want to get healthy hence the trail walking I am trying to do on the weekends. But I refuse to diet anymore. All it does is make a person irritable and hungry.

Looking and feeling like a woman is ok. I know this from personal experience. I did a drastic diet and lost the weight and for a bit I thought I was happy. I was small, and skinny, all I ever wanted. But I was not healthy. I had even more issues with being “skinny.” And like most people who lose weight, I too gained it back. But in the gaining, I was actually happier because I had some of my womanly parts back. I can tell you this I do not ever want to be that skinny ever again.

But on the flip side, some women are genetically slim or skinny. That is fine, but to be obsessed with trying to look like a skinny person, then that is where I draw the line. I mean that is like wanting to be tall but genetically your short. Just some things in life you have to let go.

In the end, I am glad that I am a woman with curves. Being healthy, well that is the goal, not weight loss, even though it will occur, I know it won’t lead to the skinny rat I became. Curves rule!
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2010-09-07

Five Things I Want to do Before I Die

I saw this prompt for a blog topic, and while at first reading I thought it sounded a bit macabre, after thinking about it for a bit, I realize that it is more a goal-oriented prompt. So after thinking long and hard here is my list of things I want to do:
1. Travel. I want to travel more, actually go to Europe and explore places that I’ve only seen or read about in books and television.
2. Write. I have the imagination. I have the tools. I want to see my pen name on a book. Procrastination and self-doubt are my mental enemies.
3. Graduate from college. I love to learn and doing this is a personal goal of mine: to walk with a cap and gown, with my family cheering me on. I missed out on my high school one.
4. Win the lottery. Especially before I get to old to really have a use for the money.
5. Sing in a band as well as finally learn to play my guitar that is sitting in the trunk of my car.
This is my bucket list so to speak. I really want to do things that I missed out by becoming a parent at a young age. Do I regret my choices? Hell no! But I also know that there are experiences I’ve missed out and while I know it is ok, I definitely want to try now that my kids are older. I am ready to live a little so to speak.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5465-Erotica-and-Romance-Books-Examiner Enjoy erotic/romance book reviews? Receive email alerts when new reviews are available. Just click on the "subscribe" button on the link above.
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2010-09-05

Blackberry Love

I just realized that I have never talked about the love of my life. Nope not my kids. They have a different kind of love from me. That love is called "I gotta love 'em no matter what". No this would be my Blackberry Curve. It is in the most fantabolous color, purple, which is my favorite color.

Blackberry-Love

I got the phone in February of this year. It is my first smart phone and I absolutely love it! I'd consider an iPhone, but I hate AT&T so opted for this one on sprint. I have never looked back! I must say that smart phones are awesome and are seriously fun to play with. Oh yeah and of course you can talk on them. But I have to say that for me social networking is probably the reason I got the phone. I am happy and I will never look at a standard cell phone again.
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2010-09-02

Abandoned Beach

Writing is a good way to sometimes deal with the bull shit in your life. Well I got it and sometimes it sticks to me like glue, where I find it hard to get it off. So writing it out helps to alleviate the stickiness. I sometimes write in metaphors. And this post is my art therapy so to speak. I am posting another one of my pics (I will prolly do this all month, just to show off my mad skills). This one I titled Abandoned Beach.

Abandoned-beach-filter

I added a nice filter in photoshop, which makes, I think, my pictures pop. I took this while walking on the Torry Pines Trail, in La Jolla. This was the beginning of a 2 hour walk. Hurt like a bitch, but the payoff are awesome pictures of a beautiful Southern California coastline.

Here is what the photo looked before I photoshopped it:

Abandoned-beach

Enjoy!

http://www.examiner.com/x-5465-Erotica-and-Romance-Books-Examiner Enjoy erotic/romance book reviews? Receive email alerts when new reviews are available. Just click on the "subscribe" button on the link above.
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2010-09-01

It starts with...

I am part of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) which is a way to get people such as myself to try and write and post daily. They even offer up themes and topics to help. This month's theme is Art. I thought I show off some of my photography skills (not really, still very much an amateur) to get this month's theme started.

Here is the pic:

San Diego love

This pic was taken on a walk near Sea World (that would be in San Diego). Before I photoshopped it, this pic in the background also shows USD (University of San Diego). I actually added a texture, which gives it a "painted" look. This in a nutshell is my art.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5465-Erotica-and-Romance-Books-Examiner Enjoy erotic/romance book reviews? Receive email alerts when new reviews are available. Just click on the "subscribe" button on the link above.
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2010-01-01

Writing Challenges

As a writer I am always looking at ways to get motivated to write. Well today I found an interesting site that I think is going to help part of my 2010 goal. It is called http://sixsentences.blogspot.com/ where people submit a story in only six sentences. This is both hard and rewarding and I am excited to add my own writings to this interesting blog. It is micro stories that pack a punch and I am definitely excited by the prospect. So if you are looking for a challenge then you should try this site!

I will be submitting my own writings as they take anything. I will showcase both my erotic and memoir type writing to this blog. Also you should check out the intense and interesting writing on the site. Very good writing in such a short format.
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2009-12-20

I need a swift kick in the patootie!


I miss writing. I am reading but not writing. I miss it and I do not know why as I kicked major butt las month for nanowrimo! Maybe I burned out? But I don't think so because I have many stories to tell I am just not writing or putting pen to paper.

I think my problem is I have a fear that my stuff is no good, which is just wrong on my part. I am even slacking on the blogging which is my second love. I think I need to just write like I am doing now and stop sweating the small stuff.

I also moved my laptop to a different location and I think this is another reason for the slacking. It is in my room versus my living room at my computer desk.

The long and short of it is I need to get back on the saddle and write. I am most happy when I am putting my thoughts out there for the world to see and keeping them bottled up only gives me a headache.

So some short term goals for the rest of 2009? Start the writing again everyday whether it is the blog or my story in progress. I have the ideas now it is time to start cooking with them. No more excuses. I am ready to see my writing published. Seriously. I've got one short story done and I am in the middle of editing, and as I stated earlier another in progress. I can do this.

And since I apparently am not the only one who feels this way I saw this post after I wrote the above and had to seriously smile! I follow "A Newbie's Guide to Publishing" and this list is why:

Newbie Writer Resolutions
  • I will start/finish the damn book
  • I will always have at least three stories on submission, while working on a fourth
  • I will attend at least one writer's conference, and introduce myself to agents, editors, and other writers
  • I will subscribe to the magazines I submit to
  • I will join a critique group. If one doesn't exist, I will start one at the local bookstore or library
  • I will finish every story I start
  • I will listen to criticism
  • I will create/update my website
  • I will master the query process and search for an agent
  • I'll quit procrastinating in the form of research, outlines, synopses, taking classes, reading how-to books, talking about writing, and actually write something
  • I will refuse to get discouraged, because I know JA Konrath wrote 9 novels, received almost 500 rejections, and penned over 1 million words before he sold a thing--and I'm a lot more talented than that guy
It seriously tickled me because most of the others are ones I do struggle with! This list was compiled in 2006 and as 2010 approaches I see that these things apparently never change! So to say I am inspired is not a small thing! This blog post and list is just what I needed to get that swift kick in the butt! =D
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2009-11-25

Day 25 NaNoWriMo update – Book excerpt

Hi all! Thanks to those who still manage stumble onto my blog! I have been so busy with getting this novel written and done by 11/30/09! I am behind in my other projects like book reviews, but I am chugging along quite nicely with this! I am about 10k away from goal! So with that said I decided to add an excerpt here for ya’ll to read! I could set it up, but I decided not too. Please enjoy! And comments are welcome! (FYI-this is a first draft w/out editing lol.)

“And then what? Do you honestly think that they will help us?”
I looked to who spoke and saw that it was a young human male. I saw red, just because I was a bit pissy. I probably needed some blood, but that would not help if I vamped out on the humans. Sometimes having a demon inside sucked super hard!
“I have no idea if it will work, but quite frankly I do not give a shit! We need the help. And we need their tech. They are more advanced than both of people.”
I looked at him until he turned his head. Great I was showing dominance like a damn animal. I have not been this thirsty since I first woke. While the Nasarii needed the blood, they did not crave it like I did. They actually created a blood substitute in pill form with the help of the humans sympathetic to our plight, but with my demon essence well mine was a craving and a need.
Most days I can ignore the craving, but ever since we allowed the humans in our inner circle there were times I would go all predator. I did try the pill supplement, and while it helped it never really stopped the need. I know what I needed but I was reluctant. I needed a blood donor or more appropriate a blood slave. I could be sustained with a Nasarii, but what I really wanted was a human male. Siona knew what I was going through as I confessed it to her. I even told Jasen who of course was ready to let me suck from him, but I was not ready to go there yet.
I hated this weakness but I knew I could not go too long with out the real deal. I think it was the predator in me.
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2009-11-15

Day 14 NaNoWriMo Update


I am proud to say that I am at the halfway mark with my novel. I am at a little over 25k words. I am excited because this is the most writing I've done on a single project and it feels good!

There were a couple of days there were I wrote but my word counts for the days were less than 200 words. I could have been disappointed, but I realized that from day 1 I was always over a bit by my daily goal of 1667 words so writing the small amount did not hurt me. It also made me realized that no matter what I was still writing.

That has been my biggest hurdle. I never complete a writing project because I let things like life intrude. So far I am realizing I can do this writing gig, if I put it in my head to write. I am also finding it easy to bust out anywhere from 7 to 9 pages a day. Before that would have been a serious struggle.

They say it takes 3 weeks, 21 days to form a habit. This is one habit I want to keep. Seriously. I enjoy writing, and this has been a dream of mine since 1989 when I graduated high school. Well one marriage, one divorce, 2 kids later I am finally realizing my dream and it is all thanks to National Novel Writing Monthly!
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2009-11-12

Writing Contest at Night Owl Romance! Please vote for me!


Hi all! I am very serious about this writing gig, and I entered a contest! Woo Hoo! Please, please go over and check out my entry here. I am #18 and my lovely bit of writing is called "The Vampire's Kiss"

You must be over 18 to be on the site as it a romance/erotic book site. So mine is romance but not vulgar, well no vulgar words that is, lol.

So here are the details of the contest. Come on girls/guys I am counting on your VOTE!

Kiss Scene: Under The Mistletoe Writing Contest at Night Owl Romance.
I have entry #18 in this contest called “The Vampire’s Kiss.” So please vote as this is a first for me!

Voting is from November 12th - 30th, 2009

First Place Prize: $50 cash by check or $70 NOR Promotion Credit
Second Place Prize: $30 cash by check or $50 NOR Promotion Credit
Third Place Prize: $20 cash by check or $30 NOR Promotion Credit

It is really easy to vote. 1 entry per person, nothing to sign up for like so many other sites. Just read the story, and if you like it (I sure hope so!!!) vote for me! I would love to know that my writing rocks.

If you like please promote me on your own page, and when and if you have something you're promoting I will be more than happy to give you a shout out on my own blog!! =D Just let me know!
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2009-11-08

Day 7 NaNoWriMo Update


Hi all! Can I just say that NaNoWriMo has taken over my life! SERIOUSLY! I am writing about 2k words a day, and to add to my writing workload I also decided to try my hand at a submission for a publisher, so I've written a story that I finished today. It is supposed to be limited to 5k and I am over it, by 500 words so I will be editing it. I am quite proud of myself. In the last 7 days I wrote over 20k words, though I am not counting the short story into my total word count as it is something I started already, and per the rules of nanowrimo, you can't do that. But regardless, this is something I want to do. Anyhoo I decided to try my hand at making a book cover for my nanowrimo book witch is slightly futuristic/sci-fi and I used one of my photos I took of the night sky, and changed the color a bit. I kinda like it, but I am not graphic artist and I do not have photo shop, but something that came with my computer. So enjoy this awesome book cover with my pen name if I ever do become a published author. (not really, but I felt the need to show off a bit lol)
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2009-10-31

NaNoWriMo is upon me!


Hey all! I've been getting myself prepared for what is going to be a fantabolous adventure! I am going to participate in writing 50k words with in 30 days. It is a lot of words but I am up for it! I've been practicing with this blog by attempting to write every single day! Not always, but with NaNoWriMo I have to write a min of 1667 words a day, so I do not have the time to slack off. For those who don't know what this awesome thing is about, well click here for more info!

As I do have a writing diary of sorts I will be updating my ups and downs of trying to complete a novel in 30 days! If you want to read about it follow me here!

With that said, I will also continue to update this blog, but I may not hit it everyday, but I will try to update the stuff that just seems to find me, like any crazy story, or any wacky emails that comes my way. I also have my book review site, which I will update 2-3 times a week, as I am a fast reader.

This also means I will slow down on the Link Referreal and the Entre Cards. While I absolutely love going to other blogs, I will have to slow down, but just for the month of November. I won some more awards and I have to make sure I give out to those blogs I've come across and like and that post should being go up soon.

So as you can see I will be very busy in November, but no worries, as I am hoping to write my masterpiece! Thanks for stopping by!

Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Let's be buddies! http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/503144
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2009-10-03

Nanowrimo Anyone?


I am participating this year. 30 days. 50,000 words. I am excited and scared! I need to do 1667 words a day. I am confidant I can do it!

If you don't know, this website promotes writing. The nanowrimo means National Novel Write Month. I've seen the site before but never participated.

I am excited to try from Nov. 1 thru Nov. 30. I have no idea what story I will write, so this should be fun. Though I did put on my profile that I want to write the novel I had been working on 2005. I am still scared to try lol.

If you want, you should be my buddy! http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/503144 This is my profile.

Are you in?
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2009-09-30

1979

I am now in California. We moved when I was two months old so technically I am a Californian, minus two months. In 1975 my brother was born, and there went my only child status. Thanks bro.

I type the year and so many memories flood my mind like a tidal wave. So many things happened in this year. Where to begin? Let’s start off with the fact I was eight and in the third grade. I was in a class that the teacher was not very good or attentive. I think she hated her life. The kids in that class, I included, were absolute terrors. We sang, acted out, and were loud and opinionated. This is probably why I never became a teacher. But she got us all back. All the kids with the exception of a few got D’s and F’s.

Valley girls were all the rage. I did live in Southern California so it was pretty much the norm. I even had a dictionary which taught you how to speak like a valley girl. To this day I still say “like” a lot! I am still mad at my eight year old self for basically giving me the valley girl tongue. “Like totally gag me with a spoon” Ugh!

Aquafresh toothpaste was the brand new kid on the block. Well with the name of Acquanetta it was a lose-lose situation for me in the tease department. Kids are evil. Again this is why I never went into teaching.

For Christmas break my dad took me and my little brother back to Louisiana to visit. School was only out for two weeks but we stayed there a month. It was the first time I ever rode the Greyhound bus and as a child of eight it was fun and exciting. Not so much now.

This is also the year I was chased by a black cat all the way to my grandma’s house. I was out playing in the mud. When you’re a kid mud is so much fun. Apparently it is a necessity for those wanting to look younger by having their bodies slathered in the stuff. Go figure. Do you know that cat, which I happened to throw mud at by the way, chased me all the way with me screaming bloody murder? And when I got to her house that dang cat stayed in front of her door for like thirty minutes. It was waiting for me, no lie. Let’s just say I learned my lesson well that day.
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2009-09-29

1971

I took a creative non-fiction writing class some years back. It allowed those of us to explore our pasts, or anything/anyone we came in contact with and write about it, but in a creative fiction type way. I am really glad I took that class as it has helped me to explore the world around me differently. Now I look on each experience as my next piece to write. Enjoy!

My mom and dad had been married for a year. She was twenty-one. He was twenty-nine. They both grew up in a miniscule town (or parish as it is called) in Louisiana. Lake Arthur to be exact. My mom once told me that before her last year of school, from her elementary to 11th grade year she had been in a segregated school. She graduated 1968.

When I was born, in 1971, I was born in Jefferson Parish in Lafeyette, LA. If you read my certificate you will see two things that are wrong or at least weird to see. My name is misspelled. So far at 38, have not had a problem with securing a drivers license or state id, but I am afraid that I may have a problem when it comes to securing a passport.

But the most glaring anomaly is for race it says colored. My birth certificate is my own historical fact. Even in the 70’s people were still referred to as colored. Granted it was the south, but civil rights was alive and well, a thing of the future not the past. Personally I don’t feel anything about it. It just is. I know who I am and what I am. I am more upset over the misspelled name.

I guess my birth certificate is a metaphor of my life; stuff just happens to me. Either my own doing or I just happened to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. Sometimes, though I look back over my life and think, it started in 1971.

If you like more I might be persuaded to write more about me.
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2009-09-02

I Review Books... Anyone Hiring?




So I am a writer of many things, from blogging, writing short short fiction, to book reviews. And I can say that I am loving all the writing. I want to make it a full time career, but at this point writing is a hobby.

The book reviews I do are probably the most fun, besides blogging, that allows me to be me in an academic way. Blogging is all about personality whereas my articles have to come from my experience as a reader of erotica and romance. Yeah I am an erotic reviewer.

Now I just don't just do books, but review sites, other blogs, and publishers. I LOVE it! Of course the research is just a bonus =D.

But the very best thing about reviewing? Is being asked to review! That is so cool. I hate to admit this, lol, but I get "author-struck". It is like star-struck only I get giddy over meeting authors either in person or online! Now shh, tell no one!

So if you're over eighteen, and want to know about a book, site, blog, or publisher you should stop by my site. You'll love it! Shameless Plug #1

San Diego Erotica and Romance Books Examiner
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2009-08-16

A new blog

Yeah I started a new blog. I didn't set out to start a new one, but this blog, Zesty Nachos, is all over the place which is fine, but I need to actually catalog/track my journey only as a writer.

So I made it real pretty and I have a goal and a story in the works. I already have the actual plot. So check it and follow for the journey and my fulfillment of a story finished and then sent off for publication.

http://writingisajourney.blogspot.com/
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2009-08-11

Writing Full Time...I Wish!

I have been writing pretty much everyday since March 2009. I finally realize that this is what I seriously love to do. I want to write more and actually get paid more for it, but short of writing that novel, I am in a bind.

I feel that something is holding me back from the longer novel length story that has been itching to get out of me, yet the short writing exercises I’ve been able to do in the last couple of weeks have been truly rewarding.

I wish I can get paid to write short articles on a much bigger scale than I do now. I get paid a penny a page view, and I average about $50 a month. Not bad, but I wish it was more, enough for me to do this on a continuous basis. Meaning full time.

One person recently stated that I should look to get into the synopsis writing business. I tried to go online to check out rates and how I can get started but I was not able to find anything concrete. I know there is a job out there like that, because there are books out there that have brief summaries on the back. I know I can do that. Hell I do that in my articles which currently number at 105 articles to date.

I guess I’ll bide my time and wait. For now I am enjoying the benefits of free books to read and the exposure that my writing is getting. I only wish more people would read this blog. I have so much to say. =D
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2009-08-07

Car Rage


I’m telling you, people in cars are evil. lol I’m in the 7-eleven parking lot near my home where I was attempting to get out of a parking space when this she-witch rolls in almost hitting my car (not really but it sounds so dramatic. Actually she and I moved at the same time). I stopped, she stopped. I finally pulled out, and this she-witch proceeds to give me the eye like it was my fault I chose that time to leave. Well I gave her the eye back and was ready to get out of the car and give her another eyeful.

That is when I realized that people, me included, think that we are straight bad-asses when we are driving. I see it all the time as well as experience it myself. Driving a car makes people reckless and sometimes fearless. I’ve had many instances where I’ve gone from 0-60 in the rage dept while driving and then afterwards I always think the same thing, what if that idiot I was mad at or cursing out had a gun?

I actually saw an incident on the freeway where two people were going at it in their cars like two knights in metal horses during a jousting competition. Well the cars stopped on the side of the road. The first car had one guy in it ready to get all bad, when the second car door opened up and out spilled four young guys and one guy had a bat. The guy in the first car saw that and took the hell off. This is why people in cars must be careful because no one knows just how crazy the other person is.

I will say this. I will try, but the next time someone cuts in front of me, I will probably get heated. What I should be doing is thinking of the other person and how I’d like to write what I’d like to do to them. That might help with my road rage. And make me a safer driver. And a better writer. Just saying.
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2009-08-06

Office Politics


I've been frustrated all week. I just need to let out some serious steam because work has been hell. My company was once a small family owned company that took care of its employees and did fun things like decorate cubicles for teammates birthdays, take off early on the day before holidays, company parties, that sort of thing. Well it got bought out by a big corporation. The problem is the small company is among other small companies and has to ask for permission small things if it is not within budget.

Why I'm frustrated is that there are not enough people in my department to answer phone calls which means that a lot of calls are coming thru but only so many people can answer it, which in turn frustrate customers who in turn frustrate people who anwer the phone! Not a happy time.

So I've been frustrated cuz there seems no end in sight. I like the company cuz some of the family members still work there and they are wonderful, yet with the small company swallowed up by the big fish it makes it hard to get out of bed. Just saying.
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