Another A to Z Challenge is over.

I changed course like I explained in this post but I love how writing challenges always provide me with a base for a longer story and this last A to Z confirmed what I already knew:

Novels may be bigger but bigger is not always better.

Novellas are my “thing”.

I said “novellas”, not “telenovelas”, though I like them too.

With a novella, a story can be told more quickly and it’s a great way to decide if I want to convert a story into a lengthier piece.

And in these days of busy, busy, and more busy, readers seem to want quickie reads.

Novella, novel or a book the size of an old telephone book. What’s your preference?

M xoxo

“Sometimes we have to make three left turns, instead of one right, to find our way.” – Tricia Huffman

I’ve had quite a few stops and starts with my dream of becoming a published writer.

Besides the obstacles I’ve placed in my own way, life has taken me on detours and played some dirty tricks.  Only recently have I realized that if I keep my eye on the prize and make the decision to pick myself up, dust myself off and keep moving towards my goal, I’ll get to where I want to be.

No, I’ll get to where I need to be.

It’s a waste of time thinking about where I could have been if I had gotten out of my own way a long time ago.

Maybe my outlook has improved because I’m revisiting my  “live your life now” theme of my novella. Maybe it’s because my edits are going really well (I’ve put myself on a “schedule”). Or maybe it’s because I no longer have a fear of the boogeyman I thought was waiting to jump out at me from behind the scary self-editing process curtain ( I gifted myself a few online courses for Christmas and they demystified everything)…

Whatever the reason, I’m feeling totally light and positive about my editing progress and writing in general.

It’s like I’m attracting a bunch of good writing stuff – pieces of the puzzle I need to know are “finding” me instead of me chasing after them.

When I couldn’t figure out how to use YWriter and Scrivener after NaNoWriMo, Pressbooks fell into my lap when I was focused on something else. When I wanted to find one great resource about marketing, Seth Godin‘s name popped up in a podcast I was listening to. And when I wanted to find authors in my genre who know how to balance their blog, book, and newsletter content, I stumbled across three great ones (outside of my genre) within the same week.

The universe is helping me because I’m helping myself and not allowing myself to get discouraged anymore.

I’m seeing that if it weren’t for my “left turns”, I don’t think that I would have gotten to this point in my writing journey. Maybe I needed all the twists in the road to make me more optimistic than I have ever been been about my writing. And maybe I needed the discouraging naysayers in my past for me to fully understand that writing is all about me, my passion and my outlet.

I’m still writing.

I’m still here.

And writing is a part of my life that will never disappear.

It’s never too late to chase your dreams as long as you start today and keep moving forward, right?

What dream do you need to start chasing again? If you’d like to share, feel free to drop it in the comments.

M xoxo

Stripping down my blog into more of a “writer’s platform” has been relatively easy.

If you poke around, you’ll see that lots of my fiction and posts unrelated to “writing” are gone.

Slowly but surely, more posts will vanish as I post more about my writing side and progress updates.

If you are new here or if you aren’t sure about the type of fiction I love to write, I have updated my About page to reflect my focus and still have quick stories posted under the Fiction Sampler menu.

If what I shared on my About page resonates with you or if you enjoyed the Fiction Sampler, feel free to sign up for my monthly newsletter where I share more of my “personal” side – what makes me tick as a writer, a woman, a woman of color all rolled up into one. The newsletter gives the background to my stories, the themes they speak to and which ones relate to true-to-life experiences. And as an added bonus, I’ll give sneak peeks of excerpts of WIPs.

In short, I’m all about contemporary fiction, women’s fiction and romance. I didn’t think it was in me but I’ve somehow tumbled deeper into the romance writing vortex. Maybe with all the craziness in the world these days every time I turn on any kind of media, incorporating more sweet, sexy an romance into my work is a great escape. But if you already know me, you know that my kind of romance involves twists and lots of them – I just can’t resist them.

So, if your reading preferences involve historical romance, heroes with Fabio-like hair or millionaire men with secret babies, gritty urban fiction, or 21 year old virgins being initiated into BDSM, I’m definitely not your girl.

Outside of this space, I’m working on my monthly newsletter content and making big strides in editing my first A to Z Challenge story into a novella. I FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY found a self-publishing software program that I can wrap my head around without getting a migraine.

Though more of my time will be spent outside of this blog space, I hope to continue deepening my connection with you as readers interested in my stories and as fellow writers on their own self-publishing paths.

Bisous,

M xoxo

Time doesn’t heal all wounds.

Time just allows you the opportunity to learn how to deal with them.

I reposted “Ripple Effect” from 2017 because I believe that it fits into “current events” that I will not delve into here.

But I will ask questions to which I do not have the answers…

Why is it so difficult for some people to understand that keeping quiet about traumatic experiences does not mean that the events never happened or that they were a figment of someone’s imagination?

At what point in time does someone’s truth become a lie simply because they did not disclose their experience soon after it initially happened? Is it one week, one month or one year? Maybe five years or ten years?

And tell me, why is it hard for some to comprehend that sometimes keeping silent is the only way to avoid being re-victimized with:

‘Well, what were you wearing?”

‘Why were you there in the first place?’

‘Why did you let it happen?’

‘If it was really that bad, why didn’t you say something before?’

It shouldn’t be a struggle to understand that sometimes keeping quiet is a choice – a choice between two evils, neither of which has a statute of limitations on the soul.

You can read my “Ripple Effect” here.

M

 

 

“What kind of garbage is this?”

When I was 15, I made the mistake of sharing a short story I had written for my high school English class with someone close to me and those were the exact words that stuck to me like glue.

The pride I felt about the story I had written disappeared like a puff of smoke in the wind. I was completely embarrassed and simply wanted the floor to open and swallow me up. That was the day that I learned to never share my writing with anyone unless it was for an assignment or my own personal and creative enjoyment.

The me back then wasn’t able to brush it off or formulate a witty response to counter that negativity. I simply took the hit and allowed my feelings to get hurt. I never even thought about taking the grade I got for that assignment and shoving it into that person’s face because I allowed that negativity to steal the joy from me:

Of course, the me of years later would have reacted A LOT differently with that person.

Though the me of today would have a laundry list of slick yet bitchy comebacks, I wouldn’t even bother wasting any of them such negativity and neither should you.

If you love to write and/or blog, who cares what others think about it?

It doesn’t matter who thinks your writing or your blog is read-worthy.

It doesn’t matter if you only write or blog sporadically.

It doesn’t even matter if someone leaves a negative comment on your space.

Forget the haters.

What matters is that YOU are enjoying your writing and/or blogging.

And that is truly the only thing that really matters.

Bisous,

M