Florida

I've been here for 15 days and it has been a blessing on multiple levels.

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
~Helen Keller

I'm writing a series of teen books.

The Marines are reading my novel

I got an email that some Marines are enjoying my novel. So while Marines are enjoying my first novel I'm working on a the sequel and a couple of non-related novels about Latinos. When I was at the local bookstore ayer I realized that most of the novels about/targeted for Latinos are about kids in gangs or girls slutting it up in _______ (Inser major city here). I was totally disapointed. What I'd like to see is fiction along the lines of Meloday Carlson written for Latino teenagers. My former boss thinks that the problem is that Latinos don't read. I think the real problem is that there isn't diversity of Latinos within the stories written for Latinos. I know a lot of my former clients got sick of reading about marinalized people and immigrant stories. They wanted to read stories about interesting, diverse, successful Latinos. So we'll see.

On the Road Again

I'M MOVING TO SOUTH FLORIDA! This Northy Philly girl is changing it up a little! I've kicked the day job, become a single girl again, and I've decided to go on a road trip to my new abode in South Florida. I've even decided to change up my writing settings. Instead of writing about characters in Lehigh Valley PA I'll be writing about characters living in South Florida. I'm excited for the much needed change. Have you ever enbarked on such a grand adventure?

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
1.) A sequel to my first novel
2.) A fun series about 4 Latinas in their senior year of high school, and possibly 1st years of college.

WHAT I'M READING:
1.) 1 Corinthians
2.) Max Ride series by James Paterson.

WHAT YOU CAN PRAY FOR ME:
1.) That the BIG MOVE goes smoothly.

WHATS ON MY iPOD:
1.) Ojala que pudiera borrarte.

MY NEW BOOK IS OUT: THE RED ENVELOPE

So since I havent written in this blog since before I moved out, back when all of the family sadness was going on, I doubt if any readers are still subscribed.

If you are though, check this out! My book (the one I has such a time with and commented about on this blog) is written!!!

it is available at the Christian Book distributers, at Barnes and Noble and at Wine Press Publisher's website!!!!

La Cosa es que...

Dear Reader,

So I loved reading Only Uni by Camy Tang again this week. If you haven't read it, fight your way over to amazon.com and buy it! It's simply lovely. I love it because it shows the real struggles of a Christian woman in a world that pulls against her every step of the way.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:

1.) I recorded a bunch of scene on my voice memo on my iphone for my new book. For now, I'm calling it Pues, No but we'll see what title it ends up with in a year. I've named the four main characters: Vicky, Carmela, Maruja and Ariel.
2.) "The Red Envelope" is making me pull my hair out but at least I'm working on it. The thing is, everyone in the town still wants to blame the hippy for the murder, but she's not guilty, (or is she?)
3.) I keep cutting out pictures for my historical novel.

WHAT I'M READING:
1.) She's All That (Spa Girls #1) by Kristin Billerbeck.

WHAT YOU CAN PRAY FOR ME:
1.) That our house sells.

WHAT'S ON MY iPOD:
1.) Now it Moves by Salvador.

Warrior Child

Dear Reader,

I know over the course of the last year this blog has under gone a number of changes, from mediocre book reviews, to letting you pick what books I read to weeks of non-posting. All I can say is that I'm happy that you've stopped by my corner of the web once again, or for the first time.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
1.)I'm going to be trying to finish editing my first book "The Red Envelope" this week.
2.)I am also hoping to have more outlined for my Christian Chica Lit book. I call it that but its not ghetto or stupid like a lot of books targeted towards Hispanics are. Its about four Hispanic girls in their mid 20s who just want to have fun and live a good life.
3.) I'm also working on an historical novel centered around a family leaving Spain for Florida during the Napoleonic Wars. I love this era of history, but I'm having trouble actually writing it. I've had two false starts already.

WHAT I'M READING:
1.) Only Uni by Camy Tang. I read it last year, but I still love it so I'm reading it again.
2.) Spa Girls No. 1 by Kristin Billerbeck. It is supposed to arrive this week, and I'm super excited.

WHAT YOU CAN PRAY FOR:
1.) That our house sells.

WHAT'S ON MY IPOD:
1.) Warrior Child by Tal&Acacia.

National Novel Writing Month

November is one of my favorite months of the year. Its the anniversary of when my grandparents came to this country, its the anniversary of when a lot of my family became believers, its Thanksgiving, its one of my sister's birthday, and its National Novel Writing month.





I heard about this a number of years ago, and try and participate everyyear. I'm not to great with getting 50,000 words in in one month, but it's great practice. Anyway, my piece this year is that historical fiction thing I've been meaning to try and write for years. I made a collage to help me get a handle on all of my ideas, so there it is. I hope I actually finish it!

Additionally, here is a prayer written by the Patron Saint of journalists and writers:

"Lord, I am Yours, and I must belong to no one but You.
My soul is Yours, and must live only by You.
My will is Yours, and must love only for You.
I must love You as my first cause, since I am from You.
I must love You as my end and rest, since I am for You.
I must love You more than my own being, since my being subsists by You.
I must love You more than myself, since I am all Yours and all in You. Amen."
-Prayer of St Francis De Sales

Everyday Life

So I'm sitting here after work and I am watching "The Wedding Singer." It has been on TV twice since I've come to stay here. All I have to say is I can't believe Billy Idol is in this movie! I always forget what other songs he has done.

Speaking of good stories, I like the story of Ruth. I led an indepth Bible study on the book of Ruth about two years ago. Do you know much about Ruth? Ruth was a Moabite. The Moabites are the descendants of Lot and one of his daughters (Lot was Abraham's nephew).

The Bible in my classroom at work upsets me because its introduction is so clearly written by a stone-cold scholar! The man (surely it is a man) says in the introduction to the book, "The peaceful story of Ruth comes between two violent books of the Bible." I didn't read much further than that to be honest because I disagree! Peaceful book?? How can you say that? Ruth married as a teenager, bore no children, and ten years later was widowed. Which means that she if she married at the usual age (between 12 and 18) then she would be a widow during her 20s! That cannot be a peaceful story! That is tragic!" It reminds me of a Bible version of P.S. I Love You. She spent ten of her "best" years with one guy and now society is telling her she's past her expiration date.

It seems God has wanted me to hear about Ruth and Naomi and how they stuck to God during the hard times. I'm not really sure why, as I'm pretty happy right at this moment, but--get this--when I left Philly I was bummed that I would be missing out on the summer sermon series of Ruth. So then I come to Bethany and BAM! they are just starting the sermon series on Ruth. Then in my devotional, the theme for July is "God in everyday life". So my question goes out to you bloggers, where do you see God intervining in your every day life?

Day of Babyfingers

So I am living with my Uncle, Aunt, their baby, my maternal Grandfather and maternal Grandmother for the summer (not the ones from the last blog entry). All in one house. I am working as the Art Instructor at a school Monday thru Thursday. I am enjoying it a lot. I'm actually surprised.

Most of all, there is my baby cousin. She is 1 year and one month and I wish I had a recent photo to put up but I don't.

Anyway so tonight at dinner she pinched me! Hard! Her little baby fingers are so sharp and she gives the teeny-est, tiny-est pinches that hurt super bad.

And did I mention her baby kisses? She gives these weird open mouthed kisses that are more like being licked by a puppy than really getting a little kiss. It will be a cute embarrassing story for her future first boyfriend-when she's 30.

In other news, I am only 30 pages away from completing my mystery novel. Let's all raise a cheer! It's weird though. I'm kind of scared that when I give the 2nd half of the revised copy the small publisher won't think its good. And if he does, and we work to get it published, what if I can't write another good story? This novel was fun to write, but it was hard work too. And what's more is that the next novel I want to write is a historical mystery. I've been wanting to write one for a while but it just won't work out right. Tell me, dear reader, do you ever wonder what it's like to see your goal only footsteps away? Do you hesitate or do you bull rush it?

Day of Typewriter!

So, I e-mail the 1st half of my mystery manuscript to a certain publisher for him to take a look at. With any luck, I will be published next year.

Thinking about this while straightening my hair this morning made me think of the beginning of my writing asperations.

I first wanted to become a writer in Miss. Murphy's second grade class. My first ever story was about my cat Rainbow.

After this I wrote stories about my school in a black and white composition book. I changed all the names of course (I knew about libel at a young age somehow) and they all pretty much ended in some one being converted to Christianity in a way that John Wesley would die for.

I think my writing got muddled for a while after I spent a couple years reading Sandra Cisneros and Julia Alveraz. I thought hispanic writing ought to look a certain way, so I tried to immitate it. This is also around the time my father found this 1932 Corona typewriter and gave it to me for my 10 birthday. I wrote 4 pretty amazing stories about Maria, Jesus and Theresa living in Spanish Harlem. These are the only stories I like from this era of my writing. And yes, Maria and Jesus are Mary and Jesus. They make a special appearance and convert Theresa's family. I swear some times I should have been a Catholic.

Next up comes stories filled with teen angst. I think its because when I was 12 and 1/2 my grandfather died and then there were all kinds of family drama. My writing reflects that in an amplified way. Characters were being pushed down stairs, disowned, abandoned in diners full of wilting flowers... Actually, I wrote a pretty good stage play from all this. I used The Godfather as a template but the story is entirely my own. Its about a man who marries the wrong woman. Very dramatic.

After this my stories died down a bit, and I spent almost all of college writing poetry. I wrote one story, OK two, but my heart wasn't in them. Then I got into mysteries. Enough said.

Days of being Hospitable

I was awakened this morning by the cries of a 17yr old boy who is mentally disabled. My mom does therapeutic foster care, and as I still live at home, sometimes this is how I am awakened. Sometimes the children she takes in have anger issues, abandonment issues, mental issues, medical issues, and sometimes none or all of these problems. My parents began this vocation when I was in first grade. After giving birth to my sister and I; Mom, (with Dad's full support) decided to open her home to others, citing James 1:27 as her reasoning. It goes like this: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I love that Dad and Mom do this. Because of their faith in Jesus Christ, and the love of children God placed in Mom and Dad's hearts, they have taken in 8 girls and just as many boys over the last 16 years. Usually each child lives with us for two years, and either age out of the system, go to live with their relatives, or (in the worst of cases) go to a residential facility. In my life, this has taught me how to be hospitable, selfless, considerate, and patient. Most certainly patient.

My father keeps telling my mother to tell me stories of what she has learned about child-rearing from each kid, and for me to transcribe this into a book of memoirs. He says that it will be a best-seller and will encourage other Americans to be courageous and to open their homes to wards of the state. I smile and think, that is not the type of writing I am used to, but I know it will help other therapeutic foster parents to be encouraged and to keep up the good work. So, when my mom is really, I have a pen and paper at the ready!

I love what my parents do. There are rare moments though when I don't always feel comfortable living at such an open home. The biggest problem I've had over the years has been with boyfriends. These guys either have a problem with my desire to write for a living or my desire to have a big family. These guys are the ones who want a secluded 3 bdrm house with 1.5 kids and a dog, while I know I want 5 kids (mine or the state's, it makes no difference) and a hospitable house. I don't know if any guys at the local pub, or even the church will want so many kids, especially if some of the gang are not from their loins. But I think I'll keep praying. Only God knows what the future holds. ;)

A Day of Chuckles

So chapter 3 is done!

It took multiple hours, and a couple of read-throughs, but its great. The tension between the 2 ex-best friends is going well. The reader is finding out a little bit about why they hate each other, but not everything. I finally created minor character-growing problems for the men in the novel too. And like all small towns I’ve ever been too, it seems like everyone who’s married is related to everyone else in town and new people are looked upon as outsiders. I think it’s a little heavy on the dialogue, but it was necessary to the story, so it works.

So I am working on chapter 4 this week and I am not sure where to go. I have a letter from the past, 2 scared children, a pastor in the hospital, another one on the way and a ticked off fiancé. Some how I have to bring all of these characters together for the murder scene in chapter 5.

Anyway in other news: Aggie and I went to Transformed last night. We are used to going to a church that answers the pastor when he asks questions, one where people are encouraged/allowed to say “amen” when they feel the need. So it was funny last night when the decent looking announcer/jock guy was giving the announcements (and Aggie and I were commenting). I didn't think anyone could hear us, but then I think we actually made him nervous. At one point he was going on about how there is going to be this new relationship-focused Bible study on Thursdays, and I groaned, rolled my eyes and leaned my head on my sister’s shoulder. (I am sick of Christian dating books) He actually looked at us and said, “No! It’s not that bad. . .” We are trying not to be such vocal parishioners, but we aren’t doing so well with that. God made us loud, our parents made us opinionated.

Until next week! Keep writing ladies!

A day of mysteries and haystacks

So yesterday while working out at the Y, I came up with the next chapter of my current story. (Yay me!) And then I proceeded to figure out which character should be my murderer. Because, as you know, in every mystery story the bad guy has to be there from the beginning. I figured out which character would do and it made my day. I just have to write it.

Why didn't I write it when I got home? Well, Aggie and I decided to give away our cats. It was a melancholy day really. And that old R&B song about "every single day. . . I'll be missing you" was playing on the radio when we got to the SPCA. It really made the day kind of literary.

Any way, back to writing. I have this white notebook I write in when I am either plotting, or thinking of new ideas and I am super excited. I just came up with a new Idea for yet another story. It came to me while sleeping. This one will not be part of the mystery series, and all I will say is that in involves liars, haystacks, and makeup. Can't wait to figure that one out huh?

And gals, I am SO looking forward to Writer's Group!

Day of starting over

Just a mini-post here. I don't really have the strength for a full on post. A lot has been going on in my life recently.

My next writing group meeting is April 23rd at 7 and if not then May 2nd. I am going to Borders tomorrow and hope to find comfort with the company of my sister and my friends.

I saw "Last House on the Left" late last night and I thought it was a good example of characterization.

In my opinion, good writing creates a world for the reader. A place of escape from the world. Jane Austen does a good job of this in all of her novels. My younger sister and I began reading "Sense and Sensibility" and we love it. Can I leave you with a quote?

"He was not an ill-desposed young man, unles to be rather cold-hearted and rather selfish is to be ill-desposed: but he was, in general, respected, for he conducted himself with propriety in the discharge of his ordinary duties." (p2 chapter1)

This is an excellent and witty example of describing a character. I only hope I may one day write as well.

Day of Snow brushed cars

First off, an addendumn to a previous post. Why I typed "and up to this point am still dating him" I in no way mean that in a negative sense. I simply wanted to be acurate when typing because I did not yet know that I would be writing weekly updates about my writing habits.

Secondly the writer's group last night was nice. We talked a great deal about setting. Even mentioning the show "Cold Case" a number of times. Aparantly it is filmed in Philly. I never knew this.

Setting makes a great deal of difference to readers, if the three other ladies in my writing group are any example of the mases. We like to read about places familiar to us, but we also like to read about interesting places. When stressed, perhap exotic places are nice. The ladies in my writing group like real towns as opposed to imagined ones, except for in cases like Twlight. That damnable series is allowed to have an invented town acording to them because its sci-fi for R.L.Stine's readers. My question now: is Stephanie Myers REALLY the new R.L.Stine?

In my own writing, I just made up a town. "Hackberry, Pa" it serves my purposes. Small population, home to a flag factory, and allows me to create a small town feel in my story. Not only that but the names of the places get to be named after my favorite composers or writers....

I think I will be working on Character-development over the next couple of weeks now that I have my setting set up.

A Day of Creation

I have decided to use this blog as an outlet for my writing complaints. My savvy sister says sites seldom disappear from the inter net for ever. You may delete them, but some kind of rug-burn equivalent remains. Any way, I have just finished reading "The Apothecary's Daughter" which reminded me of "Wives and Daughters" however I thought both were equally good. ANYWAY, that and the fact that the writing group I "fascilitate" is a week from today, brings me to my computer, panicky and a little excited.

Before I begin I just wanted to post some insperational quotes from the guys who are mandatory reading in my book, and just good novelists anyway....

The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit - for gallantry in defeat - for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally-flags of hope and of emulation.--John Steinbeck

En cada línea que escribo trato siempre, con mayor o menor fortuna, de invocar los espíritus esquivos de la poesía, y trato de dejar en cada palabra el testimonio de mi devoción por sus virtudes de adivinación, y por su permanente victoria contra los sordos poderes de la muerte.--Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.--Papa Hemingway

When a poet speaks to his own people, the voices of all the poets of other languages who have influenced him are speaking also. And at the same time he himself is speaking to younger poets of other languages, and these poets will convey something of his vision of life and something of the spirit of his people, to their own. --T.S. Eliot


Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.--C.S. Lewis

Ta-da. That my friends is that. Now I want to write chapter 2 of my present story.