A Blank Canvas

I've been starring at the computer for a few minutes now. Blank.

Maybe I should shut it down, and go eat. I'm on a diet. Urgh.

For a second I wondered if I shouldn't wait a few days before writing another post. Nah. There's so much information stored in my head. New and old. There must be something I can share today.

I'll give it a try: I read two middle grade books this week.
The first was "The Year of the Book" by Andrea Cheng. The importance of kindness and friendship, the love for books, and the Chinese culture are delicately sewn together into this lovely story. I truly enjoyed reading this book. I was so happy that my ten year old read it and, most importantly liked it too. I hope the message sticks with him.
The second was "One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate, but I'll leave that for tomorrow as my seven year old insists on using this computer right now! Have I mentioned my laptop died?

To be continued...

Let's try again.

I'm back after six long months. Has it really been that long? Yeah. I had to do some finger counting to be sure. Time flies. *sigh*

As you might have guessed I had to postpone the deadline for finishing my manuscript a few times. I could say five, but in fact I simply didn't think about time limit. I just went with the flow. So what was I up to, one might ask.

I'm happy to answer that.

I finally finished my manuscript on March 31st. No deadline, remember? I guess I spent so much time stressing it had to be done by the end of the month that it really did. I'm happy with it. I enjoyed writing it, and now I must think about several things: the next one, hence it's a series; researching the agents for my query, and writing it; catching up with my reading; and most importantly being sure that my MS is polished enough to be submitted. I love what I wrote, and I can't wait to put on paper what comes next.
"It's all up here." She said with a slight tap to her forehead. What's been bothering me is that I'm not sure that my MS stands alone, and that might be a problem for an unpublished, unknown writer. *sigh* I've decided to sleep on it for a few days.

I had lot's of friends and family visiting between November and February. Makes me wonder if I should open a Bed and Breakfast. Loved having them over, but unfortunately the writing didn't benefit from it.
Then came the Holidays. Did I ever mention Christmas is my favorite one? Gotta love the spirit, the decorations, the sounds, and the smells. Funny thing about that. About two weeks ago I was cooking, by thee time I was done my whole house smelled like fish, faster than fast I sprayed a holiday themed air freshener all over the place. Something with cinnamon and apples and caramel. It was bizarre. The same smell I love in December made me feel in the twilight zone in March. Does this make sense? Am I weird? Well that air freshener is now living inside the Xmas boxes where it belongs. So, I was saying... oh, yes. Do not enjoy the shopping. Last year I did really well as most of it was done by the first week of December, and online. Kids were happy, so was I, and we were all able to enjoy the good stuff. Sadly we couldn't avoid traffic. Urgh.

The year 2014 is here. Has been for... 99 days. Oh, Bummer! It would be a lot cooler if I was writing this post tomorrow. LOL. What can I say?

Happy New Year!

So far 2014 has been good to me. I've kept busy with family, writing, reading, dancing, and all the errands of a stay-at-home mom. Yeah, I definitely have my hands full, and you know what? That's just swell! ;)

Happy October!

It's been three weeks since my last post... I'm obviously not fully committed to being a blogger.
It's not because I don't find it fun, I do. I was enjoying sharing my thoughts about whatever came to mind, but I need it to be part of my routine. If I leave it for later, for tomorrow, it will probably always became that thing that I'm supposed to do tomorrow, and in that case tomorrow will never come.
 
Which makes me think of "Les Miserables", don't you just love it?
 
Anyway, the days that followed my last post were super busy...

Aren't they always? One might ask. Yes, they are.

They were different busy. Good busy. I had friends visiting, a new niece/godchild arrived, my husband took a couple of days off, which meant I had to go to the movies on a weekday (!), and then there was writer's block.
I feel like a bona fide writer when I say that.
 
"I was terribly afflicted with writer's block." I said leaning back in my chaise lounge, nonchalantly placing the back of my hand against my forehead. I'm such a drama queen! (For the record I don't own a chaise lounge) LOL

It’s amazing how it happens.

Always the same way.

I’ll be in super writing mode, working steadily, consistently, inspired, focused and having some great ideas. Like I am now, like I was for the first two weeks of September.

Then, say, I need to run errands, go to the grocery store, visit my sweet newborn niece, attend a couple of meetings, host a luncheon, go to the movies  (What? I had to!), I get a cold, maybe save the world, okay the latter didn’t happen yet, but everything else did.

So I’m not able to write for a day or two. BAM! It hits me.  

What happens then? I. Can't. Work.

Angst. Frustration. I begin doubting my work, my plot, everything. That only makes it harder to go back. 

No matter how long I stare at the computer, the only thing I'm able to get done is shopping, check my e-mails, and go back to more shopping. Oh, and then I discover two things: one, this delicate crystal Lotus Flower, the other, that I absolutely cannot live without it. It lives in my house now. It is so pretty, and I'm looking at it.

I cannot distance myself from my book.
Thirty minutes (at least), is that so hard to do in a twenty-four hour day?

I hope I've learned my lesson.

... And that explains why I haven't finished my book yet. I'm getting close, but I notice that for every two steps forward I give one back. 
That being said I might not finish it by the end of this month but it's ok because when I do I'll love it. 

I hope you do too!





 

Movies, Memories, and Whatnot.

Much like one of the main characters in my book I love old movies, and by old I mean older than me. Hence I don’t consider any of the Star Wars movies old.

Not. At. All.

Anyway, when I say old, I mean black and white, or Technicolor old.

“Gone with the wind”, Audrey Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, Vivien Leigh, “Some Like it Hot”, Greta
Garbo, “Witness for the Prosecution”, Spencer Tracy and whatnot kind of old. I could go on forever.

I'll tell you that at the age of eight I missed school for a whole week to watch a Fred Astaire Marathon on TV. My mom might contest it. Ok, it might not have been a whole week, but that’s how I remember it. One of my favorites at the time was “Silk Stockings”, which in essence is the same story as in “Ninotchka”, with Greta Garbo that I also enjoyed.

I’ve mentioned before that I take dance lessons. I bet you can guess my favorite style now.

You got it. Tap. So don’t even get me started on “Singing in the Rain”. It’s entertaining, funny, romantic, surprising, has wonderful dancing and singing, and also makes you think about the transition from silent movies to “talkies”. (Much like “The Artist” which is silent, black and white, but not old at all. Needless to say I loved it.)

 

I just remembered something. When I was on 8^th grade I had the most curious collection. I collected movie stars (mostly) from the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood. It was nothing more than a list of all the movie stars I knew from that era. It’s silly, I know. But everyone wanted to add to my list. I remember my math teacher, this big guy with a low voice telling me to add Julie Christie’s name. She was Lara in “Doctor Zhivago”, but I have to confess, I don’t think I ever watched it.  (I don’t think she is part of the Golden age though.)

Quoting Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds:  “It’s great to stay up late”, but I must retreat  because “tomorrow is another day”(Scarlett O’Hara), and I’m really tired!

“Here’s looking at you, kid.” (Rick Blaine in Casablanca)

Good Night!

 

 

 

My first book

Today I’ll talk about “A Peça que Faltava”.

That’s the name of my recently, and hopefully the first published book, as you can see it’s not in English, but in Portuguese, and I bet you can also tell it is a children’s book. 

         

“The Missing Piece” could be the title in English but I have to say that the meaning gets a little lost in translation.

I won’t try to explain it now.

Anyway, this is the synopsis: The sisters, Pepe, Re and Mila are not letting the bad weather ruin their vacation at grandma’s house. With a lot of imagination and creativity, and the help of unlikely new friends, they will turn those rainy days into a big show.

I wrote it about two years ago for a literary competition, and it is loosely based on experiences from my own childhood.

My dear, and talented friend Jessica Geraldeli did a wonderful job illustrating it.

I love the cover!

Hope you like it too!

 

September Resolution

Today is September 1^st.

Wow! Two thirds of 2013 are behind us.

My “New Year’s Resolution” was to publish my book. Technically I did. It wasn’t The book I meant, but it is a story of mine, so I guess it still counts. Okay, it didn’t happen exactly as I hoped, but it did.

I self-published a tiny little book with a cute little story. Nonetheless it felt big, and I felt happy.

I felt accomplished for many reasons, not only for the book itself, but for putting myself out there. See, I’m a very private person, but now I find myself in a conflicting situation. If I want to pursue a career as a writer, a published writer, I must leave my comfort zone, and let others know about my work, and myself.

That’s the reason I’m starting this blog at this very moment.

My. First. Entry.

What to write about? I’ve been thinking about that for over a month now.

So here it is, my “September’s Resolution” for this year is to finish The book by October 1^st, and maybe lose some weight and exercise more, one can always benefit from that!

 All this talk about September reminded me of the song by Earth, Wind and Fire, and my dance class that resumes in two weeks. That was the music we were dancing to before summer break, and I loved it!

See what I just did there? I just put myself out there a little more!