Category: news

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news

First post of 2014: what you can expect from my blog

This is what you get when you use a cookie dough tube. (Photo circa 2005)
This is what you get when you use a cookie dough tube. (Photo circa 2005)

How’s everyone faring so far in this next revolution around the Sun? Thirteen days in, and I feel like I have learned a lot already in my day-to-day experiences. This past weekend was especially a learning lesson (well, two combined): I know I must overcome this hurdle I have encountered. In due time.

So, since this is a new year, I would like to incorporate more themed posts throughout the week. Last year, I left off with posts highlighting local businesses; I plan to continue this on Mondays so I can honor each of the local businesses for their unique offerings. On Wednesdays, I will keep my posts to personal updates, thoughts, etc. Since I am currently getting my novel reviewed by my wonderful friend, Shonell Bacon, I may also include updates on that novel (I aim to publish it this year). On Fridays, to exercise my creative writing muscles, I will include short stories to give the work week a bit of flavor at the end.

Anyway, that’s how things will be on my blog this year. Help me stay accountable on this!

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NaNoWriMo news Work in Progress

Mid-Month Announcements: Progress on the Podcast, but…NaNo?

A Wintry Tokyo Road, 2004.

It’s already mid-July. Why does time seem to fly by so quickly? So, just to update you all on my progress I mentioned two weeks ago:

  • My International MBA has been pretty smooth sailing for the time being. Episode 5 today! Also, definitely helps that I’ve received more material from DU since the beginning of the month, so there’s much more to report on. Please visit & tune in when you can 🙂
  • Camp NaNoWriMo novel is…going slowly. But surely. The past two weeks have been a little dramatic in the real world, and just so much info coming my way for school. Well, I’m still interested in my novel. Just gotta pound out the words. Aiming for 70k words this time. According to Rachelle Gardner (literary agent), fiction word counts average 80K – 100K.
  • This coming Tuesday, will begin featuring my short stories in audio form. I tried to read my first story, “Tight Jeans“, as a test run but it sounds too awkward to be read out loud (well, at least by me). That may be a sign for me to go back and revise this story, which was written three years ago (my, I was so young back then, ha).

Hoping there will be more progress revealed by the beginning of August. Hope all has been well in your world, everyone!

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NaNoWriMo news Work in Progress

Announcements: Podcast, Audio Stories, Camp NaNoWriMo

Flying over the Rocky Mountains

Exciting news this weekend:

  • My podcast is now LIVE: My International MBA . Please tune in via my new blog/podcast as I chronicle my journey through graduate school. SPREAD THE WORD! I’ll be posting links via my Facebook Page and on Twitter.
  • Coming soon: all my currently-published short stories (on Scribd) will also be in audio format. Why not listen to a short story by yours truly while you ride the train to work/school?
  • Instead of doing NaNoWriMo in November this year (or maybe, in addition to?), I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo for the month of July. Already, I am over 2,000 words in to my new novel. It is quite a hoot of a novel already.

So there you have it: my progress in writing/promoting/etc. More news coming along in this exciting month of July!

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Internet NaNoWriMo news Work in Progress

NaNoWriMo: Day 4 & Other Thoughts

So all the NaNoWriMo world is upset over what Salon.com’s Laura Miller had said about the month’s endeavor. There’s already enough commentary out there about why NaNoWriMo is great, so all I’ll say is this: just goes to prove that, again and again, people are afraid of what they do not know. They would rather bash it, dismiss it, etc. rather than open their eyes and minds to educating themselves about unfamiliar topics. We can say this about anything that’s been happening in the world: the story of the mothers denouncing one mother’s child for dressing as a woman for Halloween; my landlord last year for blasting and blaming my brother and me about a problem in our apartment that she was unfamiliar with; and so forth. What we need more of these days is just open minds and education. Get out of that comfort zone. Really learn and try to empathize.

But enough about that. Seems like I really hit the pavement running on Monday, but the past couple of days my word count has been more or less just barely going over the daily target of 1,667 words. I also find that I can type out a lot of words nonstop in only 10-minute increments; tried for 20 minutes straight today but I could not focus that long. Hmm. Will have to work on that.

The dreaded second week of the month-long endeavor is coming, but I am prepared. My novel so far is actually not as pieced together as the first two years, but that is okay. I know that I just need to get myself writing longer works again since in this past year I have focused more on short fiction. I continue to put off my editing/revising of my completed first drafts, but I know I will get to them soon.

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life news

Life’s Many Mysterious Moments

Well, yesterday I received some unexpectedly good news: after over a year of embarking on MBA applications, I finally got the answer I needed. I had given up last month when I did not fare well on the GMAT once again; figured that it was a sign that business school was not meant to be in my life plans.

Boy was I wrong for giving up so quickly.

So this time next year, I’ll be back in school. My friends have known about my wish for this past year, and one of them did say to me, “Your wish came true.” After all that has happened this past year, it all has paid off with this great piece of news.

Just goes to show that life always seems to work out in a strange convoluted way for me. But, despite all of that happening, things always work out somehow. Life is never a straight path to what I seek; it’s always roundabout, but that’s what makes the whole journey worth it.

So now, the countdown begins.