Archive for September, 2011

September 29th, 2011

The Supportive Boomerang

by Nina

Good supporters will lift you up; have your back, stand up for you, and root for you to succeed. They will be on the sidelines pushing you to race faster and harder until you win. They’ll encourage you to dig deeper and do better. They will be upset and disappointed if you fail. They’ll encourage you to dust yourself off, pick yourself, and fight until you reach the finish line. They’ll remind you of where you came from and who you are. They believe in you that much. Now that’s good support.

It’s wonderful to have supporters. It makes you feel alive and relevant, important even. Sometimes these supporters will be family members, friends, or strangers. Whoever they are in your life, don’t ever let them go. They will be with you for the long haul.

Do you have this kind of support? If not, ask yourself, do you give this kind of support to others? Now ask yourself how you do that.

Do you ask your supporters how they’re doing and are genuinely interested in the answer? Do you follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and whatever the hottest social networking site is at the moment? Do you ask them how their WIP is going? Do you read and comment on their blogs? Do you buy your supporters books, artwork, literary journals, and magazines? Do you believe they do good work? Do you spread the word about them on your blog? If you do, bravo! You are a great supporter. If not, well, you may have some work to do. I know I do.

In the meantime, be supportive to others, build them up, and teach them what you know because the truth is you get what you give. Things in life tend to have a boomerang effect.

Doesn’t matter who you are, everybody needs and wants support. There is room for everybody to be successful.

I owe my supporters a huge thank you, so THANK YOU! You know who you are and you are all golden.

My new motto is to be as supportive as I can to others.

When was the last time you thanked somebody for their support?

I want to give  special thanks to Tegan Pratt for supplying these awesome images for my blog. As always, these images do not belong to me, so please do not use them without her permission. To view more of her work, please visit: http://trpratt.com.

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CategoryConnecting, Motivation, Supportive | Comment9 Comments »

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September 22nd, 2011

Second Campaigner Challenge

by Nina

It’s time for the second campaigner challenge via Rachael Harrie’s blog.

Here are the rules:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, but the blog post should include the word “imago” in the title and also include the following words: miasma, lacuna, oscitate, and synchronicity. For an added challenge (to be included in the word count) make reference to a mirror. For a greater challenge, make your post exactly 200 words.

Here is mine:

Her Imago

A gasp of air, a beating heart, and a flushed face; these are the signs of a broken girl.

She crashed onto the floor. There was a buzzing in her head followed by silence.

They met when she was a child. She’d known him her whole life. The lacuna between them was immense and uncomfortable. Most days she would dream about the father she wanted, but today all she could focus on was the floor needing a good scrub; a hands and knees job.

She tried to ignore the past, but the miasma was too much now. It was time to go.

There were rules she had in order to keep herself sane: a sharp focus on logarithms, the latest Hollywood gossip, and exercise. They always calmed her down.

Her bedroom was a prison. She looked in the mirror and oscitated. The phone rang. It was her mother asking her to move back in. The synchronicity of events amazed her.

Tomorrow she would leave. In a few years, she would be out of her house too and under her own rule.

She crawled into bed and fell asleep counting down the days towards freedom.

Thanks for reading!

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CategoryCampaign, Connecting, Fun, Writing | Comment41 Comments »

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September 16th, 2011

When Books Trump Magazines: One Woman’s Quest to Read Everything & Other Stuff

by Nina

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I used to be one of those writers that never found the time to read books. No, it’s true. I would write, revise, write, revise, and wonder why my stories weren’t turning out quite how I wanted them to. I soon realized that it was because I never read books! Books do more than entertain, they teach.

Not to worry though, I’m reading again and making up for lost time. My goal this year is to read at least forty books and I’m more than halfway through. Next year, my goal will be eighty. As I’m trying to reach my novel reading goal, I’ve noticed that I’ve been neglecting one of my favorite pastimes – reading magazines. That used to be my thing. I used to be all about magazines. I still am, but my time has recently been occupied by reading novels, articles, and blogs. This is in addition to re-writing and revising my short stories and novel while spending time with my family.

What’s a writer to do? I’m not so sure. I was thinking that I could dedicate one big block of time once a week to reading magazines, but I’ll have to test that out.

What’s on the roster?

1. The New Yorker
2. National Geographic Traveler
3. Prevention Magazine
4. Writer’s Digest
5. Chicago Magazine
6. Good Housekeeping
7. Entertainment Weekly

And I’m thinking of subscribing to The Technology Review. That’s a lot for me to read considering that some of these magazines come in weekly. When do you fit in time to read your glossies?

In other news, I got two awards. One was the Liebster award from Marie of First Draft Café. Thanks Marie!

“The basic idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to showcase bloggers with less than 200 followers.” When you get the award, you keep the love going by giving it to 5 3 other bloggers (I’ve changed this to three) who have less than 200 followers.”

Here are the bloggers I’m passing the award along to:

1. Brittany of http://www.hillsandcorkscrews.com/ @Brittany1159
2. Roger Eschbacher of http://thenovelproject.blogspot.com/ @RogerEschbacher
3. Dawn M. Hamsher of http://thewritesoil.blogspot.com/ @DawnMHamsher

The other award was the Versatile Blogger award (which I’ve gotten before) from Elizabeth Varadan of Elizabeth Varadan’s Fourth Wish. Thank you!

The rules for award recipients of the Versatile Blogger award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to them.
2. Tell seven things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 1 (I’ve changed this to one) recently discovered blogs and let the blogger know.

I was recently tagged to reveal 10 random facts about myself, so I’m going to skip telling seven new things about myself. If you’re into learning 10 random things about me (and I know you are :p) you can read all about me here.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably noticed that I changed the number of bloggers to give these awards to. Why? Because even though I appreciate getting blog awards, I just don’t have the time to seek out twenty plus bloggers that don’t already have these awards. Also, I need to spend more time on my current WIP’s.

I pass this award onto the following blog owner:

1. Ashley Davis of http://www.voyagewriter.com/category/on-writing/ @ashleywrite

I wanted to leave you all with this awesome video I saw today:

Now back to my regularly scheduled novel.  :)

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CategoryUncategorized | Comment8 Comments »

September 13th, 2011

Ten Random Facts

by Nina

I got tagged by Allie Wilde to provide ten random facts about myself. Thank you Allie! So without further ado, here they are:

1. I am Polish and Puerto Rican, but I don’t speak Polish or Spanish fluently.

2. My first real rock show (without my parents) was as @ The Metro in Chicago when I was fifteen. I saw Face to Face and I’ve been addicted to music and shows ever since.

 

3. I lived in Krakow, Poland for a small period of time in my twenties. I miss hot wine in barrels and random conversations around the square.

4. I got married at The Society for Arts, a Polish gallery on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago to one of the coolest, most interesting people I have ever met.

5. I believe that Puerto Rico is paradise on earth.

6. I want to live out the rest of my days with my husband and son in Barcelona, Spain.

 

7. I sometimes have violent, end of the world dreams. When I wake up, I have to look out the window just to make sure everything is as it was the day before.

8. I am a serious coffee person. I like to drink it hot or cold at all hours of the day.

9. I haven’t eaten a hamburger in over fourteen years.


10. I can’t write unless my house is in order. It’s a focus thing.

That’s me in a nutshell. Thanks for reading. :)

I want to thank Allie for tagging me, and now I’m going tag a few fellow writers of my own.

Tag, it’s your turn to give some random facts about yourself: Kathleen Isaac aka Grillyfish, Beth Kemp, Katharina Gerlach, and T.B.McKenzie.

*Please note that with the exception of the Barcelona pic which I took, none of the other images belong to me. I have linked the images back to their original owners.

Have a great day everybody. :)

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CategoryCampaign, Chicago, Connecting, Fun, Life | Comment17 Comments »

September 6th, 2011

First Campaign Challenge Submission

by Nina

It’s Rachael Harrie’s first campaign challenge. Here are the rules: Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count. If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: “the door swung shut.” Also included in the word count. For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

Here is my entry, which is exactly 200 words btw. Check it out below:

The door swung open. She was surrounded by the most beautiful things. Rows upon rows of books with classic spines lined up against each other, standing on dark wooden bookcases affixed to the walls behind them. There were four tables in the middle which formed a perfect square and in the center, the marble bust of an unknown man. A bulbous pencil sharpener sat in the corner and on each table was an orange colored lantern, which brightened up the space on the dullest of evenings. It was the most wondrous library she had ever seen. It was the room in his house she wished she owned, but felt blessed to be invited to.

His world consisted of this newly inherited house from his mother who recently passed, of leather bound books with golden pages, of luck. She let her hand pass against the hardbacks, smooth, then lumpy until she found a thin one with a red, leather spine; The Velveteen Rabbit.

She flipped through it. The scent of old passed through her nostrils, of experience, of regret. Oh yes, she was in heaven.

“Lunch?” he called out.

As she made her way towards the exit, the door swung shut.

-

Thanks for reading!

 

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CategoryCampaign, Writing | Comment51 Comments »