Hello My Write Queeners,

The first week of December is filled with many poetry treats! First up is a feature on The Body Narratives. In collaboration with The Digging Deep, Facing Self course, The Body Narratives presents a week filled with poetry from incredible women. I was asked to be a part of this wonderful week. I am extremely honored and I am having a mini dance party in my head all day to celebrate my post, which came out today, December 4. 

In addition to that, I am performing as one of the featured acts for the River of Honey's cabaret showcase on Friday, December 6th. This show happens every first Friday of the month. The theme for their last show of the year is Offerings. This is definitely going to be a new exciting, but scary experience. Come out and support the show if you can!

Finally, I have another mini e-book for you...and I mean mini! When You Down A Margarita is a series of haiku (about 24 in total, I think.) about my experience of falling for a woman during college (If you didn't know this about me, now you know. If you got a problem, you know what to do - we don't tolerate any intolerance here!). 

I previously published this on Smashwords, but now with my Creative Book Builder app, I wanted to give it a little facelift. To download it, head over to my "Store" page.

That's it for now my loves. I have a couple of blog posts coming up soon. Be on the look out!

Hello Write Queeners!

Yes, you are reading it right. An e-book! In a decision to self-publish my work, I decided to start with a little experiment titled Beloved. The reason I call Beloved a mobile e-book is because everything was written on my phone AND the e-book was created on an app via my iPhone. The app is called Creative Book Builder by Tiger Ng, who not only has this wonderful little app, but a few more that help you create interactive e-books on the go! I do promise that you will get a review of these apps within the week.

Beloved is an e-chapbook of poems and musings about opening, swimming through, and drowning in floodgates. This is a mobile e-book creation and experience that was complied between the condensation of Summer and the chill of Fall. It's FREE for a short period of time (or indefinitely...still deciding!). You can also pay-as-you-wish, where the funds would be used to put out Late Night Feelings, Home Sweet Home, Sweltering Sugar and other projects. Beloved is available in .EPUB and .MOBI formats (i.e. iBooks and Kindle) and a special edition web app for the iPhone and iPad.  

Be on the look out for a post on the Late Night Feelings blog about the process of creating Beloved.

Don't you just love the cover? The photo I used for the cover is by my wonderfully talented best friend and business partner, Alshawn Rushing. He is the Head of Photography and co-founder of EAT Media. If you want to use his awesome skills, head over to EAT Media's website or check him out on his website NerosisMuse Photography.

Look out for an update on the link to the web app. Still working on getting that up!

Don't forget to subscribe to the blog so you can receive updates like this and more!

This is the most recent anthology I was published in...five poems! A little section just for me! I feel so blessed. I finally received my copy of the book after someone I know kept it hostage from me. Though there is a reason for that if you glance at the next picture.

My lovely boyfriend decided that I should receive a little praise along with the book. I nearly cried on the train when I found the card and read it. Look at it...there's even a typewriter on the front of the card! This almost was better than the book (almost...very few things beat publishing). Even though it's just my boyfriend, this kind of acknowledgement makes me feel like I am doing something right. Also makes me feel downright special.

The first anthology was a challenge for me. It was a theme-based contest. Writing my piece brought me back to my experimental days. It was also the first longer piece that has been published in an anthology. The fact that Lady Chaos Press has given me the opportunity to do this twice is a blessing. It's amazing to know that people have the opportunity to be exposed to my work when they purchase these books. Thank you so much Lady Chaos Press! Check out the press my loves.

In between all of that, I took an online writing course over the summer. The class put together this amazing and powerful e-book anthology, available for free. I have two pieces in it, one being very special to me. But I'll just let you read about it if you click on this awesome lady's name: Caits Meissner. This also gives you a chance to explore the blog if you are a first time reader (or one who needs to catch up!).

Even my best friend threw me and these ladies some praise on his site, NerosisMuse.com. I was so touched when I saw that post. Once again, it was my best friend, but knowing that my crew was paying attention shows that bring brave and making moves to improve and showcase my writing is the path I need to be on now. 

It's one thing to work hard. It's another to gain some accomplishments. Knowing that you have people behind you and willing to tell the world or go out of their way to give you a bit of praise is a warm glowing feeling I can't describe (which means I must work harder because a writer should be able to!). Don't fuss when they want to, just let them. It's okay to be celebrated.

Most importantly, take the time to acknowledge and celebrate yourself. It's okay to give yourself praise once in a blue. You work hard. When you have something to show for it, darn right you better have a mini dance party and say YAY! 

So now it's time for us to have a mini dance party!

YAY!

I hope to be able to have more mini dance parties soon. 

Take care my lovely readers! Celebrate yourselves!



P.S. I have an official mailing list now. Don't forget to subscribe here to get updates from the blog and more!

Also, don't forget to check out my fundraiser for publishing my own books. Every little bit counts! Even just sharing so please pass this along to all of your friends.

Hello Write Queeners,

I am starting a new section of the blog called The Write Recommendations. This is where I'll recommend my favorite books, music, websites and more.

I have two websites that I would like to start off with.

The first one is World Liberty TV, an online TV network that covers events, conferences, and trade shows, plus reviews products. Their website was under hiatus for a bit while they were redesigning it, but now they are back and better than ever. Honestly I also recommend them not only for their great content, but because I am a copy editor, blogger, and book reviewer for them. So a little bias with this recommendation, but if you want to check out videos that showcase the world with a multicultural understanding, I highly recommend it! 

The next website I would like you guys to check out is Organic Melinda. I cannot write an intro that does Melinda Gonzalez justice, so I am going to take it right from her about page:

Now I am not a super health person. I eat a lot of things that aren't good for me. But as a part of trying to make my life a little healthier, I like to see my options. I connected with Melinda through a writing course that I also highly recommend. I started to read her blog and found out a lot about eating organically. Which is why I pre-order her new cookbook, coming out on September 4, 2013. It's called L.I.V².E. (Latin Inspired Vegan & Vegetarian Eats) Local & Organic Recipes to Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle. This book also features a recipe from a lovely young lady who has also taught me a few things through her own page, Miss Priscilla Deleon (the stuff she makes is food porn, just from looking at it, I swear).

As a Latina woman, I appreciate that there are recipes out there that cater to healthier eating without losing Latin flavor. I'm certainly glad that Melinda is using her knowledge to educate not only people within the culture, but anyone who enjoys food from Latin culture. Definitely puts a spin to Vegan/Vegetarian living. But hey, check out her site and order the book to find out for yourself. 

So you actually got two websites, a book, a couple of Facebook pages and a course that you can go and inquire more about. You'll always get a little more than what you bargained for when you check out a Write Recommendation.

Think The Write Recommendations is a good addition to the site? Leave a comment and let me know!

Dear Ms. Sanchez,

...or may I call you Sonia? I hope that you will call me Christina, if we shall ever have the pleasure to communicate. 

I have long admired you quietly, but thought it time to take the risk and reach out to share.  

I have heard your name for years among the greats. As a foolish, unwise lover of poetry, I did not always pay attention. One day, I was wandering in a bookstore and I saw your name. Attached to your name was the title of a book called Morning Haiku. Knowing that most haiku I have read lacked something I found in my own love of haiku, I proceeded with caution. 

I flipped to the middle of the book. And I was blown.

For the first time in my life, I saw part of myself reflected in a living, breathing writer. Most writers who I admire are no longer on this earth. Have you read Clarice Lispector's Stream of Life? That explains a core I am still trying to scribe everyday. Anais Nin's House of Incest? Scary and beautiful language. Similar thoughts without the whole incest aspect. But I digress. This is about you. 

...and what I have found in you, your writing. Your haiku. I was once told by a fellow writer that he did not care for my short pieces of writing. With this in mind, I've been scared to turn to the simplest form of thought. I thought to myself Who writes haiku these days, especially the way I write it, what I write about? Then I found Morning Haiku.

Your book taught me it was okay to be myself. I am a love poet. A haiku poet. Sometimes I am long and drawn out, but most of the time, I am flashes of light.

I turn to Morning Haiku when I need to be breathless, to study form and format for my own book of haiku, to share with a man who I may want to look into my soul.

Your words are water, sin, light, cupcakes, and kisses. I can dip into your writing and find a prayer to life every time. 
 
Before I was able to buy the book, I would make trips through train and bus to the bookstore and read random pages from it. Afraid to fall in love with something I could not have, I did not read it cover to cover. 

The day I was finally able to purchase a copy, I read the introduction, haikuography as I was slowly making my way to the register, and knew exactly what you were talking about:

from the moment i opened that book, and read the first haiku, i slid down onto the floor and cried, and was changed. i had found me.

I stopped for a moment and did just that.

Thank you for being the epitome of greatness.



P.S. Inspired by greatness and attached with offering & love:

Woman

i.

shy smile
tugs the hearts
of my lovers
 
ii.
curves dragging
eyes from door
to edges of seats

iii. 
caramel sticky
skin wished
for cupped hands
 
iv.
laughter of bells
down to earth
bangle adorned wrists

v. 
ease of lips
etch-a-sketched
in hearts instantly
 

vi.
warm fleshed out
rib cages heave
in tune to banter

vii.
coiled lock
& finger around
the base of your neck
 
viii.
balmy, loose
air of her comfortably
leans into your frame

ix.
i can see why she's perfection. i can nearly love her too...
if it wasn't for you.


Always,


Christina

---

This course is making me braver everyday. I would have never written something like this and then actually send it. I wanted to show you guys what I said. I like to share sometimes, sue me. 

Here's to digging deep and facing myself in more ways than one.

Happy fourth of July Write Queeners!


What can I say about the month of June? What has happened? A bunch of disappointment and confusion! I have received rejections from every direction.

From a job that I really wanted to my manuscript, rejection was the theme of June.

But I am okay.

Why? Honestly, I don't know. 

I cried. I silently screamed why. I went through all of the motions of rejection. But I still feel okay and I'm willing to go on (with my work of course, don't think so dramatically!).  If this was a year ago, I would have stopped or beat myself up for months. 

I sit here and wonder why I am so cool, calm, and collected as a whole to such a high amount of rejections in one month. I'm used to getting rejections with my writing, but this was one after another. Most of these were paid submissions too, so it should seem like I threw money away. Yet, I felt only an ache after reading each one. 

And the job? A web editor for my favorite nationally recognized literary magazine (not naming names because of visibility reasons). My absolute dream job. Waited for a month to hear something, anything. I checked my e-mail obsessively throughout the day, I kept checking my phone for a missed call or voicemail. I kept picturing my life as though I had the job already. It sparked in me a motivation I have not felt in a while. 

Then one day, while I was sitting at work, I checked my e-mail. 

In my inbox was an e-mail from the editor of the magazine, an e-mail that has a fifty percent of being generated, saying that they have found their candidate for the job and wishing me good luck with my job search and writing. I sat at my desk at work, trying not to cry. Of course that wasn't working so I quickly darted to the bathroom to let out a good cry. 

I realized while I was sitting in there that I cried for two reasons. One was because I was hurt, but the second reason was odd: I felt relief.

Then I realized that relief came from finding out and learning that while maybe I was qualified, I still had to go through other things before I was given such a gift.

Rejection isn't just about not being good enough. The best of the best have all been rejected at one point or another. Rejection is also a way of the higher powers that be telling you that maybe you aren't ready yet. It would be amazing if every time we went for something that it would be ours instantly. But how would we appreciate that victory? Would we even put in work to get it? I think that we would have a lot of cocky people who would create equally cocky work if it was that way. 

I'll take my hurt and humble and continue to grow until the right opportunity comes along and we are ready for each other.

So reject me! Something better is coming my way anyway.

In other news, I just turned 27 two days ago. I think it's going to be magical age so world, look out for me!

In the meantime, check out the Late Night Feelings blog about my chapbook publishing adventures. I finished my second manuscript, Home Sweet Home this past month. Let's see what happens!

Hello my Write Queen readers,

Another month has passed with new writing adventures!

I've had the chance to write a couple of posts on my latest book publishing adventures. It felt good to blog. I really have to make it a regular thing no matter what's going on.

Actually I will have to make it a regular thing because I am helping out World Liberty TV as a copy editor and contributing blogger starting this month. World Liberty TV, a division of Humanitarians of The World, Inc. promotes the news and events of entertainment and culture happening around the US, especially events in New York. Based in Elmhurst, Queens, World Liberty TV aims to be one of the top news channels online. 

I was an intern for their Liberty News Online Network site once upon a time. I am delighted that they asked me to help out with such an important role. I look forward to seeing where this goes. Definitely breaks the monotony of the 9 to 5 life.

Speaking of the 9 to 5 life - this month, my writing skills were showcased in a big way. A promotional piece that I designed and edited for my department made its debut throughout the company this past week. Since its for internal use only, I cannot show the piece but I can show a picture of the announcement.

The last thing I want to mention is the fact that I applied to my dream job at my favorite magazine this month. Just in case they are looking into my stuff, I will not be mentioning the name.

I would like to ask everyone to send me their good vibes, energy, prayers, whatever it may be and hope that I land an interview and the job. I have been checking my e-mail and phone constantly during the week for three weeks to see if I would hear anything. I like my job and I am grateful to have it, but who wouldn't want to get their dream job?

I just keep hoping for the chance. We'll see what I'll have to report next month ; )

Until next month - it's exactly one month today until my 27th birthday!

Hello Write Queen lovers!

I've been blogging about new manuscripts, tips for revitalizing submission opportunities and my thoughts on the print vs. e-book argument plus what self-publishing means to me.

You can check it all out on:

Or just click on the book tab!

Hello Write Queeners,

I've decided that to keep blogging for at least once a month, I will write a monthly round up of my writing life. I will do it in the first week of every month, to give myself the opportunity to experience the previous month in its entirety (you never know what could happen at 11:58 PM on the last day of the month).

During April, I participated in the 30 poems in 30 days challenge. I've been a part of the challenge for five years. I was disappointed in myself last year when I didn't finish the 2012 challenge. It became a challenge when my part time temp job became a full time temp job with the opportunity to become permanent. Sometimes survival comes before creativity, but that didn't mean that I forgave myself easily for not finishing.

I was determined to finish this year. I saw opportunity in Instagram. Sometimes I didn't have time to write eloquent 40 line poems (did I even write a 40 line poem? ::ponders::). Instagram gave me the opportunity to jazz up smaller pieces, using original or found pictures and making a haiku a stronger image. Plus it gave me a new audience to introduce my writing to. I know that I gained new followers on Instagram, though I'm still trying to determine blog readership.

It was really fun and I found that even when I was posting late, that a pile of poems were building up because I was incorporating images and taking the time to find the right image for each poem. Sometimes I found a image, but had no poem. It gave me the motivation to write more. In a seemingly visual society, I found that my writing was a little more appreciated when the majority of my work was image based. I may have to rethink my approach on writing!

Overall it was a great challenge.

In relation to the 30/30 challenge, I had a whirlwind publication opportunity! My Day Five poem has been published in an anthology called "Old Hollywood". The poem was a part of a contest by Lady Chaos Press, a fairly new press by the lovely Shannon Lynette. I submitted my poem five days before the contest ended, which was on April 5th. By April 24th, she was already announcing that the book was out! I must remember to ask her (or simply interview her on the blog - how about it Shannon?) what her secret is to putting together a book so fast is.

The final update is about the writing group I am a part of. Hosted by Erica "Rivaflowz" Buddington, this monthly Write-In is a place for female writers of all genres to come together and talk about the thing we love the most: WRITING! Coupled with yummy food that either Erica has carefully picked out or cooked herself, a group of up to 15 women take the time to talk about what we have done in our writing lives during the past month. After that, for about 45 minutes, we retreat to various corners to write, using a prompt chosen for the meeting. 

After the 45 minutes, we go around and read our pieces, offering constructive criticism to improve the pieces and to rave about what we love about it. I'm often speechless because these ladies are amazing. Their input and encouragement to my work, even when I don't like the piece, puts things into perspective. Their own pieces make me want to throw my pen away because they have written masterpieces. I am blessed to be a part of this group.

So that is my April Update! Thank you for being a part of the Write Journey.

Write Queeners,

I am stubborn. I know people who are perfectly capable of designing logos, but being the do-it-myself type of gal, I had to make one myself. Which means a couple of years without a logo. I wanted something simple, yet funky. I have a million ideas and not enough time (or expert skill, I'll admit!) to play on Photoshop. But I finally found time today! After waking up at 6AM to find myself shivering, yet sweating after a night with a terrible headache, I had to call out of work. The extra few hours of sleep did help sort out things and I had at least enough brain power to go on Photoshop (if you knew my occupation, you would see why Photoshop is considered kids play).

Well after hours of frustrating myself with my own logo and a friend's logo, I finally finished my own with the help of my boyfriend (the best cure all after feeling under the weather). Now the final result is on top of my page, but I figured that a larger version was in order:

What do you think guys? Yay or Nay? I can always make (or have someone) make another. For now, after not having one, I think this is pretty dandy. But wait, there is more! I actually made another logo! Check this out:

Eh, that's nothing crazy, but I do think it's cute. What do you think? Hmm, maybe we should do a poll! Yes...we will do a poll. Check out the contenders side by side and tell me what you think.

If you want to skip the poll, you can always leave a comment on the posts!

This sickster must get to bed, but I hope that I might get to wake up to some poll results to make my day.

Good night ya'll!