Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!
Writing and critiquing: This week has been soooooo productive on both front! I´ve been really getting into Jaime´s story and I am enjoying critiquing every word. I´ll have to write a post about this critiquing business because it´s also a learning process and a getting-to-know the other writer better. Thanks to critiquing Jaime´s chapters, I also worked quite a bit on my own WiP. While in terms of word counts, I didn´t write as much as last week, I feel that my chapters are getting much stronger. So yep. Productive week 😀
Reading: I am still reading LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green. It´s a bit of a slow read for me but this has several reasons: (1) I don´t want it to end; (2) I am reading this book as a reader and as a writer, thinking about the words´ choice and the dialogue. There are many other books that I didn´t want to let go of but with this one, it´s like I´m in the story without being in while still being in. Ok and since this didn´t make sense at all and I´m not yet done with the book which I am really really enjoying, you now know what Jaime has to deal with when it comes to the comments I make inside her WiP 😀
Randomness: My parents celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary. Yep, it´s amazing. They´re amazing. Through all the ups and downs that may come during 38 years, they´re still a team and I am thankful for them! Since my dad would have a cow if I post a picture of him on my blog – or maybe not, maybe it´s just on Facebook, I´ll have to check this 😀 – I found a picture which shows them together but doesn´t show them.
Papa et Maman looking in the same direction
So, tell me what made you smile this week?
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Thank you again so much Kat for this award! I am now going to be able to showcase some of my past posts which can fit the seven provided headlines.
Let me tell you something, it´s really not that easy but it´s fun to look back 😀 I have been blogging since September 10th, 2011, so not a year yet but keeping this blog updated is really amazing. Not only did I meet wonderful people, I am also having a blast with it!
Most Beautiful Piece
This one is beautiful to my heart because this is the post with which I shared a few pictures of my wedding.
If I am looking at the one which received the most comments (almost 100! well counting my replies I think but still :D) , it would be the flash fiction I did for the Campaigner Challenge. It was also the first flash fiction I ever wrote.
I was overwhelmed by the positive response and by the amount of comments this one post received. This is the one where I reveal my first name and no longer go by “commutinggirl” only.
I really enjoyed writing this piece but it was published before I had a lot lot of followers…And I do still ask myself the same question from times to times…
When one thinks about artists in the spotlight, very rarely will the word “writer” come up. And sure, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and others do not grace the pages of US Weekly or People Magazine every week. TV channels may not discuss their latest book at length like they may do with the latest performance of whatever actor…but writers like any other artists put their souls out there.
They come from within, from our wonderful critique partners, our great beta-readers. Then, from agents, possible editors and then from the readers themselves.
After reading this post by Shannon (if you haven´t read it, you definitely take a look :D, I´ll wait) and a comment by Christa on my post from last week, it hit me both as a writer and as a reader: Not everyone will like my work. Not everyone likes the books I could not put down. Of course we know it but there is a moment where it seems to become more real.
And then, I remembered that old saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”…readers bring their own baggage, past and taste to the books they read just like writers laugh or cry words on paper.
Getting published is really putting yourself out there, in the big big, sometimes scary world. There is no “Dealing with reviews for dummies”.
I checked one of my favorite books on Goodreads.com, The Ripening Seed by Colette and it has quite a bit of bad reviews. At the beginning I got a bit distracted thinking how is it possible? Can´t people see the art? The beauty of her words? The cynical look at the bourgeoisie world while still going through the motions of growing up? There are also great reviews of this story but usually the eye has a tendency to focus on the negative. But all the negative reviews of the world will not take away the feeling of awe I had while reading my mother´s copy of this book as a teenager or the flutters in my heart as I reread it years later. What should matter to me the most is how I felt about something.
As writers, we owe it to ourselves to go the extra-step, the scary step in our writing (like I mentioned in my Monday post last week) but then we´re standing out there naked. And let´s face it, being naked in front of possibly millions of people reading your words is SCARY. So, I think we also need to protect ourselves once our words are out there. We need to have a safe place we can go to and need to know that yes we may be awkward in dealing with all this but what is important is that at the end of the day, we remember that we had the courage to go in the big scary world, that some did love our words and that, sometimes as a reader and as a writer, it is ok to just do that:
….as long as we walk with our heads high the next day and continue to be happy with our tastes as readers and proud of our words as writers.
Oh and if I ever get published and start freaking out, can someone remind me of this post? 😀
Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this!
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Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!
Writing: I reached 13000 words in ONE, TWO, THREE (my YA contemporary WiP) and I am happy to report that my main character is getting a very short break this chapter (yay!) but one of her new friends is in big trouble. I am loving this story and I am very happy that I pushed forward even if picking up after my holidays was a tad difficult because it´s really moving along. Plus I got feedback from Jaime and it will definitely help me tighten up future chapters as well (so again YAY!) And, she sent me more chapters to look at and I am super excited about it!
Reading: This week, I finished THE SELECTION and I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I am really anticipating the sequel. Here´s what I wrote about it on Goodreads:
America Singer´s story is one which pulled me in from the beginning…Maybe I wanted to know more about the world it was taking place in but overall, I really loved that story. I have a thing for books which make me love ALL characters and this one did. I loved her sister, her brother…I enjoyed getting to know some of the other girls…And there are the boys. Yes, boys 😀 The love triangle is so very nicely done that I am not sure which one I prefer!Already looking forward to Book number 2!
And on a total unrelated reading note, I now own all books from Karen Rose. See, Karen (I don´t think she knows I am calling her by her first name :D) is my little guilty pleasure reading. Her books are considered Romantic Suspense and they´re scary, sexy and steamy.
I completed my collection this week and that definitely made me smile 😀
Blogging awards: I have received several awards this week (and one during my honeymoon). So huge thanks to Kat from My Writing Journey for the 7×7 link award, to Carissa Taylor for The Sunshine Award and to Heather from Adventures in Writer land for Create-spiration blog award. You ladies are all so kind! It warms up my heart to know that you enjoy my blog so Merci! Danke! Thank you! 😀
Cover reveals: There were a lot of amazing cover reveals this week but in case you haven´t seen, here´s the cover of TAKEN by Erin Bowman and DUALED by Elsie Chapman (for the summary of the books, just click on the cover, don´t they sound amazing? :D)
Randomness: Ok, I had an OMG moment this week I have to share with you when I noticed in my stats someone from Random House came on my blog. I know maybe one of my regular readers may work there but in my dreams, it was an editor who stumbled into my blog, loved it and is about to give me a call 😀 One can dream, right?
So, tell me what made you smile this week?
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It made me think at all the time writers need to show courage to be true to their stories…
Sometimes it is about writing in a way which scares us a little because we´re not sure we can. It seems too powerful, too out-there, too crazy, too elaborated, simply too much for our ability but we take our chances.
Sometimes we reach a place in our writing which is painful but we power through.
Sometimes we know we´re breaking the so-called writing rules but we go for it.
Sometimes we wonder if we will ever succeed but we keep on writing.
When the writing gets tough, it may just mean we have to overcome our fear, whatever it is. We´re all courageous in our writing one way or another and we should remember it.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. (Mark Twain)
Tell me, what is one scary moment you had to overcome in your writing journey?
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Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!
This was my first week at work after more than 3 weeks away, after our wonderful honeymoon and while I was happy to be back and to see my colleagues, I am tired 😀
Looking back at the past 7 days, quite a lot made me smile, so here is a little recap:
Reading: I almost read all the books which were on my Spring Reading List (I´ll do a recap soon). This week, I read two wonderful stories: IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT (both by Gayle Forman). The way they were written inspired me to work even harder on my WiP. I read the second one in the train and yep, trying to fight the tears. Again. If you haven’t read them, you should!
Writing: On Monday, I reread my YA Contemporary romance WiP and I surprised by myself: I really like it 😀 but then I froze: where is the story going? That’s when I decided that I needed to get my creativity going before sitting my butt in the train and powering through on it. Enters Christa and her fantastic idea to compile flash fiction with the theme “This one time at band camp” stories. And I wrote it in two days. And I loved it. But then I froze again: what if I got everything wrong (grammar, feelings…) and I turned to Jaime for help. Have I said before that Jaime is amazing? And that if you get a CP like her you’re one lucky writer? 😀 So yep, I am ready to send it off to Christa…
Jogging: I decided to take up jogging again. I need a way to burn stress…I started this week and while I can’t run that far yet, the feeling after I was done was one of calmness and happiness…All those happy hormones, you know 😀 Plus I get to jog by the Rhine so it’s pretty cool (and with my hubby if he’s patient enough to let me run with him)
Last but not least…the view from the train as I was coming back from work yesterday. I was tired, the train was late which made me a bit cranky (I know if hubby is reading this, he is rolling his eyes: yes, I was only a bit cranky :D) but as always, looking outside of the train window while getting closer to where I live, made me smile and feel more serene (for a little while at least :D)
So, tell me what made you smile this week?
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I am trying to go through the pictures of my honeymoon and organize them so that I can share them (I don´t think anybody would really go through 1600 pictures). Today, I mesh it with Road Trip Wednesday (Blog carnival from YA Highway) as they asked what would be the place of our writing retreat and the people we would bring with us (yay for Colin who asked on Twitter what the topic for this week would be :D)
Cape Cod and Isaiah Jones B&B would be a great writing retreat. I´d bring my hubby along and all of you. We could rent out the B&B and have writing sessions, talk about books, have a drink or two, or simply enjoy our surroundings. Anybody in for poker too? or scrabble? And the breakfasts would just help us power through anything!
If you have a significant other, you should bring him/her too. They could hang out altogether while we do the writing thing. And everybody can also spend some alone time in their quiet, cozy room or walk on the beach. Maybe one day?
I´ve gushed about this Bed and Breakfast before. This is where Chemical Engineer and I stayed for a night in 2007 and where we decided to come back to in order to spend a few relaxing days in Cape Cod after driving around for so long.
We were not disappointed at all. Not by Sandwich, not by Cape Cod and definitely not by this wonderful Bed and Breakfast. Donnie and Katherine are not only warm and friendly, they have plenty of tips to discover the area. And the breakfasts are delicious!
Some of my favorite pictures from Cape Cod
Our favorite restaurant in Sandwich, MA
And the lovely details of Isaiah Jones Homestead Bed and Breakfast (you can click below to see a slideshow of some of the pictures I took of this charming place)
Is there one place you really love going on vacation to?
Or have you already gone on any writing retreats?
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I have a confession to make. Psssh….come closer, I don´t want everybody to hear…
I have not written a word since the plane ride to the US in May. I have not read a novel while being away either (I just read SECOND CHANCE SUMMER on Saturday though, more on this tomorrow :D) I did attend Teen Author Carnival which was truly inspiring but didn´t write.
No writing and no reading. It feels weird. My fingers want to get onto my story but it somehow seems like a mountain to climb when you have not done any exercise or have not walked in forever.
So many things to do in the next month for work and scratching my head trying to figure out how I was doing it before my holidays or how others manage 😀
But…I am looking forward to take little steps towards my goals. I read on a blog recently (I need to take notes when I do) that small goals and rewards are good when we´re writing and I tend to agree. We sometimes forget to celebrate the milestones, take into account the small steps it took us to achieve something.
So here are some of my writing goals for June:
Incorporate/reflect Jaime´s comments & suggestions into my WiP
Send one chapter to Jaime for her feedback (thanks again, I really appreciate it!)
Write at least two chapters of WiP above
Re-read PLAYING WITH FIRE (again) and set up the last schedule of revisions (I need to send this baby off to my beta readers :D)
Right before heading to NYC, I realized that the Teen Author Carnival would be taking place while we were in the city.
See, all these amazing names? I was torn because I was on my honeymoon telling my hubby how much I wanted to go there but of course knew that he would not really enjoy it…Plus we had tickets for the Daily Show right before so I knew I wouldn´t be able to listen to both sessions…And see I love The Daily Show, I´ve got the biggest crush on Jon Stewart…but the conflict, oh the conflict…I wanted to have it all and my hubby (the greatest hubby) enabled me to indeed have my cake and eat it too!
One happy hubby
Right after attending the taping of The Daily Show, we hailed a cab and went on our way to the Jefferson Market Library. There, I stood outside for the end of the “You don´t know you´re beautiful (keeping it realistic)”. And listened, laughed while taking in the crowd, the enthusiasm and the fact that I was just a few feet away from authors I admire.
Crowded room
Then, I turned to my hubby and told him that if he wanted to go have a drink while I was going to the next panel, he could. I mean I did feel bad about dragging him along…so on his way he went.
And I attended the next panel entitled “Where have you been all my life? (let´s talk boys)?”….
Hannah Moskowitz, Scott Tracey, Michelle Hodkin and Jennifer E. SmithJen Calonita and Kody KeplingerSarah Tregay (sitting next to Victoria Schwab) talking here about how she got herself red converse thanks to the cover of her book 😀
I even asked a question. Yes, I raised my hand, forgot how self-conscious I sometimes get about my French accent, tried to ignore the erratic beating of my heart…and did it 😀
I did mention before asking my question that I was French and on my honeymoon (also highlighting how cool my hubby was since he dropped me off there). I am glad I did because that´s how Rebecca recognized me (yay again!). I asked the authors about developing crushes on their own characters (not necessarily the love interest but those who suddenly become more important in their eyes and that they have issues letting go).
The answers made me laugh and made me nod and made me smile and made me wonder how lucky I was to have those wonderful writers look at me in the eyes as they were answering. Totally fan-girling the event 😀 Some pointed out how crazier you become the more books you write since you have all these voices in your head. When I mentioned this to dear Chemical Engineer, he shook his head and gave me the eyes (the ones meaning: wait, you can be even weirder? :D)
Here are some notes I jolted down while listening to the different sessions (I am not sure who said what…reminder: next time, be more careful about taking notes):
About cursing in YA novels:
“Always stay true to character…that is the most important. Teenagers can smell if someone is being fake and then it doesn´t work.”
“There is a different between ´I have a problem´ and `I have a fucking problem´”
About sex in YA novels:
“I always try to have sex scenes in my novels. But one time, it just didn´t work with the characters. I was all about having them do it and suddenly, one of them says she´s tired! So basically in my head, my story ends like this ´The End. and then they went to have sex´.”
“My editor did scrap some of the making out scenes I had…because, well, they didn´t make the plot advance, it wasn´t important for the story. I just had them making out for pages and pages. I loved writing those scenes but…”
Several authors also mention how they go about their research: Jen Calonita (Author ofBELLES) for example mentioned calling Debutantes to find out more about their experience and falling so deeply into her subject that she wanted to know ALL the details, others mentioned how they feel their research could put them on a WANTED poster. Kody Koplinger (Author of THE DUFF, SHUT OUT and MIDSUMMER´s NIGHTMARE) explained that she wrote about a character drinking a lot without having any experience herself on the matter. She thought she had it down until her editor made notes on how it really felt to be hangover…
Jennifer E. Smith (author of THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT) explained how she was happy the prologue was kept into her story though she had thought her editor would cut it. Plus, asked about writing secret love letters, she admitted she wrote at least one love letter but that it wasn´t so secret (because secret love letters are just not as efficient :D)
Jennifer E. Smith talking about her wonderful book!
So, this was one LONG post but as you can tell, it was such a great, wonderful, amazing moment to sit in the same room as those authors!
And who knows, maybe I will make it to SCBWI next Winter 😀 (really trying to make this happen…)
PS: For those of you wondering, hubby made it back to pick me up…he had quite a great time which included being hit on by two men (since he ended up in a gay bar for some reason) which totally boosted his self-esteem 😀 Oh, and he discovered a new reason to like those type of events (the ratio to girls against boys). Yes, I love my husband! 😀
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Today I am combining Blogme MAYbe (brainchild of SaraMcClung) with the First Loves Blogfest organized by Alex J. Cavanaugh.
Here are the first loves of Natalja…Natalja had a promising career as a ballet dancer until her knee decided to give up on her. Now, she´s back in New Jersey with a broken dream, a broken mother and with no idea who she is without her pointes.
Her first movie crush: She remembers a night of watching dance movies with her friends from the ballet school, laughing so hard her stomach hurt but the very first movie she loved was at a pajama party with Beverley when she was 6 years old: Cinderella from Walt Disney – Since then she has always wanted to dance the part.
Loving music: Chopin. Anything by the man. That´s what her parents used to play on the piano. That´s what she first learned with them when they let her touch the keyboard. She can remember her dad playing this particular piece with her mother waiting for him, all dressed up before a date. A broad smile, the kind she no longer has and he was looking directly at her…Lost times.
A book is more than words on paper: Again, funny how happy memories can resurface so easily if you let them…Her mother reading to her at night, reassuring her that Baba Yaga would not come after her and that Vasilisa the Beautiful was safe.
Falling in love for the first time: Natalja gave ballet her heart, her body and her soul...She wonders if she will love someone the same way, with all that passion. She’ll have to wait and see.
Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!
Reading: I am still reading LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green. It´s a bit of a slow read for me but this has several reasons: (1) I don´t want it to end; (2) I am reading this book as a reader and as a writer, thinking about the words´ choice and the dialogue. There are many other books that I didn´t want to let go of but with this one, it´s like I´m in the story without being in while still being in. Ok and since this didn´t make sense at all and I´m not yet done with the book which I am really really enjoying, you now know what Jaime has to deal with when it comes to the comments I make inside her WiP 😀
Elodie Nowodazkij 