Tag: a writer’s update

End Of The Year: 2016 Wrap Up Post

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Another year comes to a close. 2016 threw quite a few punches my way that I wasn’t expecting, both professionally and personally. Some of the good, like my dotsons Willow & Chase, and some not so great.

 

Me, Tay with Willow & Chase

My sister and I with Willow & Chase on Christmas 2016 ^_^

As it were, like many other people, I’ll be teetering into 2017 with one eye open and not with a complete full-stop attitude. While I did not check off as many book goals or writing goal that I originally planned to this year, I am very happy with what I have accomplished.

DIversity Reading Challenges Banner Stiched 2016 for blog posts
Hard to say how I did with these two. I originally pledged a  4th Shelf: 19-24 books level on my post here,  with a list of 10 subsidiaries books with specific guidelines.  I was only able to read 5 categories out of those 10.  These are just a few of those:
diverse-two diversity-one

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A Writer’s Update: A Month Away (Give Or Take Several Days)

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Hiya,

So, I had decided to take some time off, sort of speak for the month of November to rethink a few things, make some outlines, make a few lists and just a general plan for the next few months now that I’m not in the safe, cozy and familiar isolation that was my solitude.

I think it would be tactful to go without mentioning though that the break was much needed in the sense that I was sort of grappling with that reoccurring feeling of being spun around in this uncreative void. This break was not only on my blog, but it was also on all of my social media platforms, and it even included a slight step back from interacting with a few of my friends on occasion because I felt so incredibly and embarrassingly lazy.

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A Blogger Update: Wow, It’s Been A Looong Time

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Hey There:

So, I’ve moved a lot in the past six and a half years, but none of those experiences were enough to prepare me for last month’s move. 😐 Not only did I have to pack and split up all of my stuff for two different destinations (and make multiple trips over the course of three days). Not to mention settling in with a new dog whose internal setting seems to be permanently notched at crazy and wild. Whatsmore, following the move, I unfortunately was put in a position where I simply didn’t have the space or time to sit down and enjoy the books I put aside and planned to read for August.

I was so stressed and upset that I didn’t have time to read that when I was finally able to sit down and dive into the stack my stack of books, I found that I really only wanted to immediately get started with certain ones. It was in that moment that I realized it was time to stop doing the #2016TBRpile reading challenge and the #2016audiobookchallenge. While I enjoyed finally getting to that large stack of books that have been just sitting on my shelf, not all of the books were making me particularly giddy or excited to get through them.

Not like the books I’ve read for the tours I’ve been apart of or the books authors have actually reached out to me with and asked for a review.  And reading should be fun. It is fun! Reading the material and books that only I want to was the main reason I began book blogging in the first place and I’d like to get back to that feeling of excitement and thrill of sharing great stories and authors with all you lovely people ^–^.

Of the books I’ve read/started that I’ve enjoyed and had so much fun getting into in August were:

Not Your Sidekick by CB Lee (upcoming tour book)

Does My Head Look Big In This? by: Randa Abdel Fattah

True Colors Of Betrayal by: JC Kang ( Book #3 of Daughter of The Dragon Throne) Even though I’m only over the half way mark with it, I think this might be my favorite of the series. It’s soo good.

The Salarian Desert Series by: J. A. McLachlan

The Yard by: Aliyyah Eniath (upcoming tour book)

Just to name a few. I’ve also read a few kids books with my cousin now that school has started back up, but I don’t really think that they count for this particular list. 🙂

All in all,  Willow and I are finally feeling more settled and I’m already starting to feel like my natural, reader self ^__^ Let the wave of book reviews commence!

Thanks so much for reading and sticking around with me.

Until the next post (very soon),

Gia.

A Writer’s Update: Concerts, Book Reviews, New Stories & Birthdays! Oh, My!

Hiya,

Did the post title grab your attention?? Good. ^__^ So this is just a quick update post. There will be a massive amount of reviews going live in the next few weeks, due to a backlog of notes that took a while to type up. Also because of a few book promos scheduled for this month on top of a few things that will keep me away from my computer for a little while.

Like the Penny & Sparrow concert I’m going to this Friday at World Café!! 🙂 I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS SHOW, GUYS. Just a few words aren’t enough to convey how ecstatic I am about this show. I absolutely love them <3. I’ll be sure to post pictures on me instagram for everyone to see, so if you aren’t following me yet, I suggest you hop to it 😀

Back to the topic at hand, since my birthday is at the beginning of May, I will try to have my Reading Challenge update post up as soon as possible, but since I’m not sure if I will be surprised with anything by the fam, I can’t say that anything is set in stone.

I also wanted to mention that a few days ago, inspiration struck for a new mini-flash fiction series (YAY!) and I’ve been inspired to write new material for my Protector series as well (DOUBLE YAY!).

Unlike the Protector series, this new one is a five-part serial drama titled, Balloons with a handful (4-5) main characters who will be between the ages of 7-13 years old. I plan on using Medium for this series as well but I might switch it up and have parts of them posted here as well. At the moment, I’m still just working on the story structure.

Balloons will have bits of a few different genres, paranormal, thriller, comedy and drama, so stay tuned guys and stay classy. ^__^

P.S. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out my latest review post for That Thing Between Eli & Gwen. It was such a great book :-).

Thanks so much for reading!

Until next time,

Gia.

 

A Writer's Update

A Writer’s Update – Long Time, No Write

Hello Readers,

I must admit that I did not imagine getting back to my posts or my Writer Updates would take quite this long. I was unfortunately recovering from an accident back in June and before I knew it I was drowning work projects and just trying to catch up with myself at one point.

Really bummed that I was not able to complete and upload my final Orphan Black episode review when it aired :-/ I still have my notes however and I will complete that series of reviews. The same goes for my Daredevil reviews. If it weren’t for buffer, I don’t even think my tweets would have stayed so current.

In case you do not remember, I did a post like forever ago about not letting the outside world steal you away from your Writers’ Realm and boy was I not only snatched away, I was deflected; still trying to figure out the direction I should be heading in next.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have quite a few books to throw myself into over the summer and they’ve been great at guiding me towards a new re-charged and motivated mode. So, that’s the reason for the new review addition to the site, also who doesn’t enjoy a good book review or recommendation every once and a while, amiright? 😉

My taste for a good solid book floats all over the board, so expect a wide range in material with the book reviews.

In addition, I have a number of new pieces for my Protector Series that need to be edited and dressed up a bit with specific banners/covers for each story. So, expect to see more of that soon.

As you will see below, I will try to promote & share interesting webisodes, cool music, or pieces of art that I come across for you guys as a bout of inspiration boost. I believe it’s important that we always laugh, love, think, learn and inspire one another in life. And sharing–as they say–is caring ^__^.  And I am happy that I’ve been fortunate enough to come across a few good things to share lately 🙂

Last, but certainly not least on my list of updates, is I will be introducing a Character Study portion to my site in late Autumn/ Early Winter. This addition will not be limited to shows and characters in the US only. I intend for it to be worldwide, as to introduce and spread the word about memorable and unique characters and shows that deserve a bit of attention.

This weekend’s promote & share is a Comedy Web Series written by Paul Carganilla, Jared White, & Stephen Young titled Winners.

Short synopsis of the show: It’s a group of ‘artists’ who lived together with their manager in his house trying to make it in Hollywood.

More info can be found on their Facebook page & the show’s website here. If you like it too, then please go and check it out. I’ve watched these episodes a zillion times ^__^.

NOTE: I do not know these people at all, I just enjoy their work and this is strictly an appreciation post from fan.

And, without further ramblings, I give you Winners 🙂

Thanks for reading & Happy Saturday. Until next time,

Gia.

A Writer’s Update–New Protector Series Installment Available

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Happy Tuesday, Readers,

I am super excited about the next few weeks I just feel like dancing and for so many different reasons. At the top of the list, I will be finishing up with my Masters degree. Following that, I will start working on my first Television spec script while I start work on a few book reviews. I have been fortunate enough to have a few ARC (Advance Reader Copies) copies a few books in the last two weeks:

1) Waiting for the One by L. A. Fiore

2) If I Could Turn Back Time by Beth Harbison

3) Orient by Christopher Bollen

4) Fate’s Crossing (The Black Blood Legacies Series Book 1) by J. R. Smith

5) The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

It may be crazy to think, but last Saturday, May 9th was my birthday and I kind of feel like these ARCs were gifts from the cosmos because all I asked for this year from my family was to have gift cards to buy non-school related books to added to my book shelf ^__^. Look out summer, this bookworm still lives. Moreover, with The Flash, Jane The Virgin, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Revenge (gone for good) coming to an end until the fall, I need more sources of entertainment.

I also have to create a shorter-short list for the show I plan to spec over the summer, (there are just so many -___- ) but the next installment for The Protector Series, Carmen, is now live and available to read here. Much lighter than the first installment, Bella, Carmen tells the story about a college student who catches a few classmates plotting to seek revenge on their college professor and decides to take matters into her own hands. With that being said, I hope you all have been well and that you all are enjoying the re-emerging of the sun (for those in the Northern East cost area).

So until next time, Readers, as always stay creative.

Gia

A Writer’s Update & My Experience With “Spring Cleaning” My Blog

Hello All And Happy Tuesday,^__^,

So, last week I officially re-launched the opening of the blog and the site with my Orphan Black S3 Ep1 Review and Netflix’s Daredevil Review. Today’s post, however, it the first official Writer Update since the re-opening. The Writer Updates are meant to be bi-weekly fun facts, writing projects updates and any other creative seg-ways that I happen to come across that I’d like to share with you. While in the restructure phase, I decided to create an episodic flash fiction series called “The Protector Series.“  The idea is loosely based off of a book I am working on and I thought creating a flash fiction series based off of it would be an interesting thing to do.

The series will focus on an individual, aka a protector, at set moments in their life leading up to a pivotal moment when they step into protect another individual.  These characters come from all walks of life, but each will share distinct personality traits which motivate them to defend, look after and protect other people. Some of them, as you will see, have lived through or have survived certain situations that have placed them on the path of protectors and others have not.

My goal for this series is to inspire the protectors in all of us to always stand up and step in to help those around us who need help.  The first installment titled, “Bella,” can be found here, or you can just click on the Other Work By Me page and click on my Medium profile link.  I am really excited to start blogging and reviewing again. The whole experience has truly been an eye opener for me.

And even though I have re-launched the site and blog, I am still running through a few things, and since this is a writer’s update post, I wanted to share a bit on the process.  Now, I’m a neat freak and a bit obsessive about it, but this spring cleaning occasion was unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I prepared myself (like everyone should before diving into a project) and made a list of what I thought I should keep and get rid of. I made an outline for the new site layout, and I set  an allotted amount of time aside for each task. And as with any writing engagement, I rolled up my sleeves, did some shoulder rolls and wiggled out my fingers.

But, when it comes to blog cleaning, I’ve discovered that sometime there are just things you can’t be ready for. It’s like finding cob webs you never knew existed. It hasn’t all been interesting and constructive. Some of it has been difficult and heart breaking.

“But, how can cleaning your blog be heart breaking?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked, random blog reader.”

You see, I like to use a lot of gifs for my posts. And I mean a lot, but they take up quite a bit of space. So, I’ve had to part with many gifs. :-/ As a heads up, some older posts (about half) will be lacking some gifs, and others will be completely void of them.

But then once the gifs are gone, you start to wonder “Should I just delete the post all together?” And before you know it, you have holes left and right.  So what did I decide to do? Well, I did not get up and walk away after deleting over six-hundred old posts, I’ll have you know. A-ha-ha-haa…On a serious note, I’ll keep you posted. 😉

For now, I just attempted to clean up the blog as much as I could, re-vamped the layout and the site menus. I encourage feedback for the changes/look and content from all, so please do reach out. Just a quick reminder after my spring cleaning babble, the first installment for my Protector Series is currently live and posted here.

So until next time, as always, stay creative,

Gia