Tag: Social Networking

Share The Love

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Love Heart

Image by Pink Poppy Photography via Flickr

{This post is part of a continuing feature on my blog. It represents what I love most about Twitter: sharing great content, no matter the source. I love promoting good books I’ve discovered, passing along great advice I’ve heard, and recognizing awesome people I’ve met. So, I’ve translated that love to my blog, and simply called this feature “Share The Love.”}

I traveled around the blogosphere this past week and loved these posts:

I played on twitter and loved these tweets:

http://twitter.com/#!/feedmespeed/status/125057348304764928

http://twitter.com/#!/Zen_Moments/status/125364469953085440

http://twitter.com/#!/Mak_pk/status/126002948118552576

http://twitter.com/#!/emmofittipaldi/status/125704199261536256

(The news of Dan Wheldon’s death was heartbreaking. Prayers go out to his family.)

I borrowed these books from the library, and would love to read them before they’re due back:

  • The Death Cure, by James Dashner
  • Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins
  • The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau
  • The People of Sparks, by Jeanne DuPrau

Speaking of books, I’ve had two books on my to-read list for quite sometime: XVI by Julia Karr and The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell. Coincidentally, the two authors were speaking at a local library this past Monday.

Unfortunately, I was late driving in from my pay the bills job, so I didn’t catch ALL of what they said, BUT, the part that I caught was a fun and interactive Q&A filled with anecdotes about their books, publishing journey, and writing process.

Love the energetic hand gestures! I can't speak if my hands are still!

I really enjoyed the story about the cover model for XVI tweeting Julia and letting her know that the photo was a self-portrait she took when she was 16.

Telling the story about the cover model

And, of course, I got to buy their books and get them signed! Here is Julia, signing my copy of XVI. Notice the ARC of Truth sitting next to her?? All the teens there feasted on the cover and back copy!

"Seek the Truth!"

Smile!

I LOVED this pretty gold marker that Saundra used to sign…

Shiny ink! me likey!

…AND, I loved jibber-jabbering with her all sugarnated (that’s a word)! 😀

Saundra: "Let's do duck faces!"

Thank you ladies for an entertaining end to a seemingly never-ending work day!

*hugs and (duck) kisses*

😀

So Tell Me: Do YOU have any LOVES to share from this past week?

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Share The Love

6 Comments
Love Heart

Image by Pink Poppy Photography via Flickr

I wanted to start a new feature on my blog that I can do on a regular basis, but couldn’t find one that I felt I could commit to. Then, I thought about what I loved most about blogging and Twitter, and realized that I enjoyed sharing, no matter what it was. I love promoting good books I’ve discovered, passing along great advice I’ve heard, and recognizing awesome people I’ve met. So, I’ve simply called this feature “Share The Love,” and will post it on Sundays, hopefully every week.

I traveled around the blogosphere this past week and loved these posts:

I played on twitter and loved these tweets:

http://twitter.com/#!/2morrowknight/status/92384666618834944
http://twitter.com/#!/Zen_Moments/status/92304354039697408
http://twitter.com/#!/Lord_Voldemort7/status/92220320618004480
http://twitter.com/#!/LauraJMoss/status/91334383839092736

(Yeah, with Laura’s tweet, it’s safe to say you “had to be there” to understand it) 😉
I borrowed these books from the library, and would love to read them before they’re due back:

  • The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan
  • Eon, by Allison Goodman
  • Among the Hidden, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • Black Hole Sun, David Macinnis Gill

I listened to my Snow Patrol station on Pandora Radio. Run started playing, and I fell in love with Snow Patrol, and my WIP2, all over again.

So Tell Me: Do YOU have any LOVES to share from this past week?

Why I Write

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Hands

When I was really focused on my fitness goals, I put up pictures of my version of an “ideal body” to give me the visual I needed to continue on my fitness path. I also internalized motivational quotes and used a lot of focusing techniques to keep me driven to reach my goals. Though ripped abs and ever increasing weights are not the central focus in my life, I still have an awesome graphic of a strong woman doing squats as my computer’s desktop image. It comes complete with this statement: “A firm behind like mine comes from the old school leg exercises–deadlift, squat, and lunge.” (For the curious, I stumbled on the pic at Jen Grasso’s Renegade Fitness website here.) I keep this image up to remind me that I have reached my goals before, and to use that success to fuel the success in other areas of my life.

So far, this action plan is working. I am writing and learning more about the process and myself each and every day. However, there are times when I’m just plain tired. Tired of life, or being my own personal cheerleader, whatever. And, though I parallel my writing journey to my fitness journey a LOT, the one thing that doesn’t quite fit is the “pay off” that comes from doing something even when I don’t want to do it.

For example, when I don’t want to train for whatever reason, I could always coax myself to do something which inevitably snowballs into a really good training session. The pay off was, once I started moving I physically felt better (yay endorphins!). Plus, I got great feedback visually because week after week, the result of the constant training was a stronger, more svelte figure. Easy straightforward science.

On the other hand, writing isn’t quite so straightforward. Sure, I can go off of pure word/page counts. And, I do kinda feel like the god of my own universe when stuff starts working and flowing. But, those times that aren’t quite working…when consecutive writing sessions aren’t adding to the story at all despite growing word counts…I begin to feel like…what’s the point?

Why show up?

That’s the feeling that I started with today. Though I was on fire to write yesterday, a long day (which stretched into 5:30AM this morning) turned my writing mindset for today from “on fire” to “blah.”

http://twitter.com/#!/lizakane/status/70872609486671872

Thankfully, a few of my darling NerdSquad members were on Twitter, and gave this little pep talk:

http://twitter.com/#!/AnnieLCechini/status/70873419503239169
http://twitter.com/#!/AnnieLCechini/status/70873538491461633
http://twitter.com/#!/AnnieLCechini/status/70873729231618048
http://twitter.com/#!/AnnieLCechini/status/70874014679179264
http://twitter.com/#!/AnnieLCechini/status/70874179137830913

And of course, I reminded myself of what Margaret Atwood tweeted at me a few months ago:

http://twitter.com/#!/MargaretAtwood/status/33273959608745984

On a usual day, I absolutely love the challenge of working through my WIP, either ripping it apart or adding scenes or both. But sometimes, there are days when I’m tempted more than usual to stop progressing. Days that I forget that dreaming up worlds and using words to paint a picture of them is the goal in itself. That I don’t need approval or permission to write; that even if I stop writing, I would invariably return to it (and curse the misspent time of my writing hiatus).

On those days, I’m so grateful to those who walk this path with me to remind me of why I write, and gain strength and encouragement from that.

“When you can’t run, you crawl. And when you can’t crawl, when you can’t do that…you find someone to carry you.”

The Message, Firefly