My Year in Review – 2012

It’s the motto.

2012, what can I say about you.  It was the year I ended my first semester of college and began my second.  It was also the year of the summer during which I created this wonderful blog, my professional website, my tumblr, my twitter, yada, yada, yada, but most importantly 2012 was the year I claimed the title of writer and actually began to write.

Now, I have always written things, especially when I was younger, but it wasn’t until this year (this summer to be exact) that I actually began to write consistently (or somewhat) and write not just in journals but blog posts, short stories, poetry, and most of all novels.

My 2012 year has included many ups and many, many downs but honestly, I can’t change a thing because it’s almost over and I’m very proud of the things I have accomplished.

So…2013, wow, 2013…two more years until I graduate college and enter “the real world” (but honestly, that’s a lie…I’m a writer, when do I ever fully live in reality???).

So, once again 2013, what shall you hold for me?

–Well, I don’t exactly know now do I?  But I do know this, for 2013 and beyond I vow to focus more on Just Writing and less on the business side of things.  I, unlike many writers (or so I’ve heard), love the business side of things.  I consider myself to be great at networking (of any kind), marketing, selling, and so forth but in order for me to accomplish my dream, become a published author and see my book in bookstores, I must focus more on writing and less on marketing.

It’s going to be a challenge, yes, but it will be worth it, and I know if I can do this…well, with all the projects I’m working on, ideas buzzing around in my head, I’ll have a literary agent by the end of 2013 and well on my way to my dreamland.

I also want to focus more on my academics and learning how and when to balance my professional life with being a student.

Best of luck to all of you and your endevours…enjoy the new year!!! 🙂

How has 2012 treated you, what do you want to accomplish in 2013…what do you need to do first in order to accomplish your dreams?

Whimsically Yours,

PnC

Five Things I Know At 27

It might sound selfish but it’s true “focus on yourself first” You can’t help others or at least shouldn’t before helping yourself 🙂

Whimsically Yours

Good Afternoon Readers!

I hope everyone is enjoying the winter, whether it is nice and sunny or rather cold & snowy (like it her, in Texas *gasp*).  So as many of you may remember I mentioned in the post before last, Endings and Beginnings, that I started a new writing project.  Well, today is the day that I finally reveal that new project to you…enjoy!

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Title: WHIMSICALLY YOURS 

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blurb: 

I think I’ve always been a writer.  Me, writing started as a way to share my feelings with the world.   As a child no one is really listening and well, I wanted to be heard.  ~Cassie

For most, freshman year in high school is a challenge, a time to begin figuring out who you are and what you want to do in your life.  But for fourteen-year-old Cassie, who has just gone through being the pawn in a brutal divorce and custody battle, freshman year is a time to start over.  

But Cassie doesn’t want to start over nor does she want to write in this “silly journal” her therapist gave her to “chronicle everything, as a way to help [her]  heal,  “whatever that means”.  

WHIMSICALLY YOURS is Cassie’s first-hand account of her freshman year: punching the 9th grade Queen Bee in the face, making a new friend, dealing with her mother’s remarriage, spending the night in the hospital as a result of alcohol poisoning  and ultimately forging for herself the person she wants to be.

—

So that’s the project and two interesting things about it are 1) it’s semi-autobiographical and 2) it scares me to write it, which is why I know I not only have to write but am meant to.  To quote Cherríe Moraga, “write from the point where you’re getting afraid”.

On my website I have Cassie’s first journal entry.  I’ve outlined the entire story, and I have about 1/5 of it finished.  I aim to have the manuscript finished before I go back to school (around January 25-6th).  As of now, other than saying semi-autobiographical YA Contemporary Fantasy, I guess to put you in the right state of mind it’s similar to Go Ask Alice (yet not as depressing & not even close to as much drug abuse), The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

What are new/current projects you’re excited for?  How do you know if an idea is the right one to pursue/write about?

Whimsically Yours,

PnC

Be Prepared

Be prepared???

I learned that lesson when I was six from watching The Lion King…right?

Well, I guess not because my unpreparedness has landed me (haha) stuck at Boston Logan Airport waiting for my golden ticket/fairy godmother to get me home.

Okay, so great, you’re stuck in an airport…your point is???  

Okay, okay I know, it’s completely my fault.  I love getting to the airport with just enough time to go through security (and maybe grab something from Starbucks) before boarding that way I’m not forced to wait forever.  

And the past few times, I’ve done quite well, barely making it onto the plane or having just enough time to grab a drink before boarding.  But this time my plan backfired and so here I am, on one of  the busiest travel days of the year, stuck in Boston Logan Airport (I fell like this could be some kind of reverse Home Alone…titled In the Airport…alone (haha, clever aren’t I)).  

So the moral of this sad, sad tale is to be prepared.  See in life, as writers, as creators, as students, what have you, we must be prepared because you never know what life might throw your way.  For instance, if something goes wrong and you’re prepared then you are that much better to handle the situation but if you’re unprepared, well, not only are your probably very frantic but that situation might just throw you off your feet.

Take the querying process for example:

When you’re querying you probably already know it’s going to be a long process but what if you query too early, before your manuscript is truly ready, well then you’re not prepared and you’re limiting your manuscript’s publishing potential.

Or what if your manuscript really is ready to query but you, not being prepared, just query random literary agents, maybe some that don’t even represent your manuscript’s genre (maybe you’re querying them because you heard/know they’re good agents with a lot of sales).  The point being you can ruin/limit your potential just by not being prepared.

This industry is tough and so is life, so unlike me, make sure your work on being prepared that way you can achieve everything you want and more.  And as for me, well…I plan on having a jolly old time sitting here, people watching and stuff.  Maybe I’ll find some writing inspiration.  But one thing is for you, I will definitely be adding “be prepared”  not only to my 2013 goal list but to my end of the 2012 year goal list as well.

How do you prepare yourself for life’s ups and downs???

(enjoy!)

Whimsically Yours,

PnC

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway of E.R. Arroyo’s YA Dystopia, Sovereign!

–Patrice

Endings and Beginnings

Today is the end, well almost nearly the end, of the first semester of my Sophomore year in college.  And, it feels great!  Why?  Because I know every ending is really just a new beginning sad thing is it can often take a whole semester to learn/remember that.

But honestly, aside from all the downs it has been a great semester for in this one semester I have increased my blog following to almost 500 followers from probably around 100 (if not less) as well as completed and started querying one manuscript and started several others.

However, as you may or may not know, I’ve been having quite the writer’s block lately but with a little help, I’ve figured out the source.

You see when you have a book that you pour your all into, the one you think is THE one.  And you face rejection in relation with that book, it effects you, even if you don’t think it does.  And well I, while I had no problem starting new projects, I couldn’t/haven’t been able to finish them because, even though I didn’t realize it, I kept comparing them to the feeling I felt when I was writing BLOOD OF ISIS.  And well, to be honest, that same feeling wasn’t there.

And now, well, let’s just say I have a new project, one that I love just as much, if not/probably more than BLOOD OF ISIS.  But this time, I’m ready, I know it’s going to be a long road but I also know that this one is the one I’m meant to write, plus I’m getting help from my genius (see the previous link) so that I’m not in this alone.  

For now, I’m calling it Whimsically Yours, a semi-autobiographical story, it’s different from what I usually write…just what I need, and well that’s about all I’m sharing for now.  It’s funny because as hard as I tried during NaNoWriMo to write about 1,700 words a day, I couldn’t.  Now I write about 1,500 words a day without even thinking about it.  I just started it but by then end of this week i should be at/near the 15,000 word mark so how about, if I get there I will post a working blurb of ze project!

As for the other things in my life, well, they are clearing up for as my father once said to me, “Tomorrow is a new day and the sun will rise, the real question is whether or not you will rise with it?”  So I urge you to give yourself one final push to end the year strong but don’t worry about pushing yourself too much because sometimes what we really need is a break.  And remember, regardless of how this year, month, week, day ends…tomorrow will be a new day and a new beginning 🙂

How has your year been, what goals do you have for the end of the year???

Whimsically Yours,

PnC