All posts filed under: Writing

Life after 50K

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Before I get caught up in the December festivities, let me take this moment to celebrate the month that was. November. To most, it’s that time of the year to play catch-up—with the work and personal goals they haven’t quite achieved yet, with the pre-Christmas-rush shopping, with their friends and family before everyone gets busy with the holidays. To aspiring authors, it means only one thing: NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month, aka the month of uninhibited word vomiting, of ignoring the backspace key, of backing up documents to the point of paranoia, and of shamelessly indulging in excessive amounts of coffee, chocolate, and junk food (that is, unless you’ve got GERD like I do). This was my third time to join NaNo, my third time to win it, and my third time to not finish my novel in thirty days. The first time, I came in without a plot, simply armed with an idea that I thought was totally brilliant. I wrote the required 1,667 words a day when I could and made up for what I …

Things I learned from 8 best-selling YA authors

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In honor of it being midway through NaNoWriMo, I thought it was the perfect time to write about one of my favorite parts of my freelancing gig—interviewing published authors. It’s been a long-time dream of mine to publish my own novel, and nothing inspires me quite like talking to people who have done it, and done it well. More than celebrities, it’s authors who bring out the fangirl in me. It’s always such a pleasure to meet them and realize that they aren’t just extremely smart and well-spoken, they’re also down-to-earth and, well, awesome. Like I said, total fangirl. Thanks to National Book Store and Hitlist.ph, I’ve been able to meet several authors whom I never would’ve dreamed of being in the same room with, let along talking to one-on-one. I’ve picked up some great insights from them, and I thought I’d share them with you all. I hope you find these interesting and useful too, and if you’d like, you can click on the links to each of my articles to check out the full interviews. Enjoy! …

50K or bust!

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Hello, #NaNoWriMo2014! I’ve got my outline, character guides, and setting pegs locked down—I’ve never prepped so much for NaNo before! Hoping they’ll serve me well this month. I’m trying reverse NaNo this time around, ’cause I’m sure things’ll get busier in the next couple of weeks. Now that I’ve publicly committed to my goal, let the typing commence. Caleigh and Jason, I’m ready for you lovelies. Here’s to a month of frenzied writing! Are you in?

Signs and Second Chances

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Because I didn’t want to break my recent blogging streak (and because I haven’t posted any of my fiction stuff in a while), here’s a short story I wrote for my creative writing class two years ago. It’s loosely based on my NaNoWriMo 2012 novel–which I haven’t finished to this day, LOL. This was actually my initial draft, but I preferred it over the final work I submitted. The photo was taken during our stopover in Heidelberg back in 2009. We only stayed for a few hours, but I fell in love with the picturesque German city all the same. *Disclaimer: This is completely a work of fiction. * * * An hour from now, she’d think it had been serendipity that brought her there. But in that exact moment, it was the sign that called to her. Rather, it was the inscription on the sign. Six letters in the old German typeface painstakingly carved into a slab of weathered wood. Kaffee. The sign hung from a simple wrought iron rod protruding from the shop front, as did those of other establishments crowding the …

A long time coming

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SO, that was probably my longest hiatus from WordPress thus far. In the four months I’ve been AWOL, I: suffered a wisdom tooth extraction — and consequently, lost five pounds. started contributing articles to a local website, Kristn.com (check out my latest article about my trip to Siem Reap) got a part-time gig editing — guess what? — thesis and dissertation abstracts (I. KNOW.) traveled to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore — where I managed to watch The Killers perform at the SG Grand Prix (for cheap!) underwent testing for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome — which turned out to be negative (thank God!!!) joined and won NaNoWriMo 2013, continuing with the same plot I used last year (and still haven’t finished -_-) was beset by freaking GERD again — and still am, at this moment :(( finished the first draft and initial edit of my first manuscript. FINALLY! I won’t go into those in detail, even though my multiple trips to medical practitioners could fill an entire post. Suffice it to say that I pray 2014 will be …

To Making It to the Finish Line

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Last January first, I promised myself that this would be the year that I’ll finish and submit my first novel. You see, I’m pretty good about starting new things…it’s the part about finishing them that I can’t seem to get a hang of. I can’t count the number of notebooks and diaries I have that are half-full of ramblings and chapters of different stories that have since then been left unresolved. The finishing part also applies to the actual notebooks themselves–sometimes I get tired of a specific notebook and switch to another one even when there are still a lot of clean pages remaining. I know. Deplorable. Thankfully, I’ve switched to Evernote since getting a smartphone so there’s no need to waste any more paper. Anyway, the reason for this post is that I now have four–FOUR!–unfinished novels sitting pretty in my laptop. The first of the bunch, the story of Matty and Ty, was the one I started last NaNoWriMo and was what I was supposed to finish this year. Then I joined this …

The Awakening

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Yikes, I’ve totally been neglecting my blog! Was busy with the final requirements for my classes, then I had to cram several articles for work plus Act One of this novella I’m writing for an informal class. I’ve got quite a few things to post–including my quarter-life updates–but for now, I’d like to share something I wrote for my group’s creative writing folio. It’s a pretty rough draft, and yes, I know that there are holes in the story. I’ll get to editing it sometime soon (hopefully). Anyway, here it is. Funnily enough, our folio’s theme suits my blog pretty well. Can you guess what it is? 🙂 *      *      *      *      * She awoke to the soft touch of lips upon lips, as fleeting as the perch of a butterfly on a rose and nearly as sweet. Her eyes blinked open, and she was instantly assaulted by light so bright, she thought her retinas would burn. Instinctively, her hands flew to her face to provide some …

Mental Block, meet Random Ramblings

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I’m noticing a trend here. I seem to find myself writing here whenever I reach a roadblock in my SEO writing attempts — which happens way too often than I’m comfortable with. Who knew it would be so hard to write a couple of articles given specific keywords? It’s even harder because the subject matters aren’t exactly in my wheelhouse. Heehee, that was the first time I’ve used that phrase; I keep hearing it on shows like American Idol and The Voice. It’s a pretty tingly expression…and I probably didn’t make any sense right there. Anyway, I’ve been trying to stimulate my writing juices in different ways: munching on the forbidden-but-oh-so-tempting Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion chips; jumping/running on our ancient trampoline; disturbing our husky, Coffee, as he sleeps peacefully in my parents’ room; even flailing and gyrating in my seat to the tune of Harlem Shake. Yeah, not a nice visual, LOL. After nearly a month of this SEO gig, I’ve boned up on things that I never before thought to research about, and …

In The Club

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I had my First “Real” Clubbing experience last Saturday. I know. What a first to experience at nearly twenty-five years of age, right? It’s not on my 25 for 2013 list. It’s definitely been on my bucket list for years, though — along with being soused (given my GERD, the latter probably won’t happen). Initially, I thought about writing about my experience, but where’s the interest in that? I’m sure most people have had multiple crazy bar/club experiences, so who’d like to read about mine? Then, while I was washing out the stink of smoke from my hair, Cyn popped up in my head. I’d never met her before, and I don’t know her backstory or what her happy ending will be. But this scene came alive so vividly in my mind that I just had to write it down. Heck, it’s not everyday that I get bouts of inspiration like that. So here it is: the first piece of fiction that I’m actually putting out there for people to read. Take note that all …