NiNoCon: An Online Writer's Conference

Today is the day! It's NiNoCon!

Wait... Did you just say, "What's NiNoCon?" Well, then, let me tell you, NiNoCon is

Ninja Novel Conference ~ an online writers conference for the daring, the dedicated, the ninja writer!

Is that me? Maybe.

Is that you? Why not?!

You lose nothing by just going to check it out. Head to the writer's dojo and spend the day there. My mantra for these things is: If you learn just ONE THING then it's worth it. And I think that's sure to happen.

I really, really hope to get there as much as possible today, but I did not plan ahead! I'll be checking in, perhaps we'll virtually bump into each other... See you there!

Soul Music

"There's no music," she says pulling the covers over her head.

"Well, let's put your radio on, then." Her iHome has been playing since the day we got it for her. She wakes to it, plays it after school and falls asleep to it. My little girl loves her music.

"Not that music," she muffles from under her comforter. "Please turn it off Mama."

I notice tears in her eyes. I climb over to lay beside her, "What music, then?"

"The music from Daddy. The music on the inside."

I've read books and remained active in the Church, but these moments are hollow. I want to cry with her, but she doesn't want to cry now. Right now, my baby wants music.

"Don't I give you music? ...and your sisters?"

"Yes, Mama, but it's not loud enough. Daddy's music was louder. Will he ever come home from Heaven?"

Pull your heart back together.
                                             Find your strength.
                                                                           Your child needs you.

"No, Baby, but he misses you. I know the Church says Heaven is always happy, but sometimes the people in Heaven get sad."

"That's not what Father Joe said," note to self: kick Father's ass on Sunday.

"Well, he's wrong," as I talk I feel her start to unwind, "I know because of the rain."

"The rain?"

"Yep. Rain means someone in Heaven is crying," as I talk, I wonder, Why can't this be true? "Sometimes they're happy tears --"

She looks at me and smiles, rolling her eyes, "Like you do sometimes when you watch those boring movies?"

I laugh, "Yes, like that. Some rain is like that, but sometime, like when a Daddy misses his ladies, the tears are sad."

"I hope Daddy's not sad a lot of the time."

"I know and I know he's hoping that you're not sad, too," we both sit quietly for a moment, then, "So... Should we get up now?"

"Not yet..."

"OK."

The room stays quiet. I'm filling with the warmth of hope for our family. I could lay here all day, maybe she could too, but then

I 

hear

the 

music.

"Mama?" she whispers, "Do you hear it?"

"I can't believe it... I do."

"Mama," she leaps out of bed crossing to her window,  "I think Daddy is crying happy tears this time."


 
This post was written in response to a Red Writing Hood Prompt about music from the Write On Edge blog. Here's this week's prompt:

Show us in 400 words or less how your character reacts to a piece of music. It can advance a story line or provide a character sketch–or both! 

My January 2012 in Review: Books

You may or may not have noticed the challenge button I have on the sidebar of my blog from goodreads. It's my 2012 reading challenge. If you haven't seen that, then perhaps you've been keeping up with my ROW80 check-ins where I discuss this challenge. Either way, if you have not, here it is:

I will read 52 books in the year 2012.

This is doable. All I have to do is read at least one book per week, or four books per month. Well, January ended and I was already behind! I only read three books. No worries, though. I've got a whole year ahead of me. Right now I just want to tell you about those three books!

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

I was introduced to this book thanks to the good people at the WriteOnEdge blog. This was the second selection for the online reading discussion ReadOnEdge after we read Stephen King's On Writing. I must say Lamott's book was an excellent choice.

As I am endeavoring to take the leap into the writing word it is important to get sage advice from those who have been through the ringer a couple of times. While King discussed the idea of rejection and his own experiences with it, I don't think he captured the emotional tumult that one goes through during the process of writing as vividly as Lamott did. Reading that the feelings of insecurity I am having now seem to be a natural part of the game was strangely comforting.

Along with anecdotes from a writer's insecure mind were some incredible pieces of advice. So many of them so simple one has to wonder why the thought of them has been so elusive. A perfect example of this is the story behind the title of the book. Lamott reflects upon her brother, ten years old at the time, waiting until the last moment to do a report he had months to do. He was besides himself, this project was on multiple types of birds and was overwhelmed. Their father (also a writer) walked in the kitchen to find his son distraught over his enormous project. The father calms him by saying he needs to just take the report "bird by bird." Lamott, a writing teacher, tells her students this story year after year so that they too understand that their manuscripts can not be written en masse, but rather piece by piece, or "bird by bird."

There are so many snippets of advice, so much writers can learn from reading this. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in writing at any level.


Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins

I have had this audiobook for years. I bought it back in 2009 when I was first diagnosed with IIH and couldn't read anything, not even a computer screen. I had just finished The Hunger Games and I wanted to see where this Collins woman came from. I don't know if it was the narrator. I don't know if it was that I was so sick at the time. I don't know if it was because I was always laying down when I listened to it. All I do know is I literally could not stay awake in this book. When I saw it still in my iPhone in January I decided I would give it another shot, but only play it when I was wide awake.

Well, that was the trick! I really loved the book. I was listening to it like crazy just to know what happened next. I couldn't help but make comparisons to The Hunger Games while listening, but otherwise it was a book all its own. Suzanne Collins seems to have a real knack for creating worlds that run on different rules (Panem in The Hunger Games and the Underworld in Gregor). While the Underworld's rules are not as shocking as Panem's in THG, the setting is.

Taking place completely underground, this book takes a young boy, Gregor, and his little sister Booth to a place they had never dreamed of. There are larger than life creatures and characters, a prophecy and a mission to save a father. The book is filled with adventure, action and just the right touch of "icky" that I believe it would be especially appealing to a young male audience.

Although this book is the first in a six book series, the story itself contains enough closure to be a one-shot read if you so desire. However, I can tell you I'll be back! I'm too fascinated by the Underworld and the fascinating cast of characters I left there.


Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

The third book I read in January was one of my Christmas gifts. I asked for it because I read Ellen's first book, My Point... And I Do Have One back in 1995, and I seriously thought it was one of the funniest things in print. I bought it because Ellen amused me, but the book had me wiping the laughter tears out of my eyes. My friend and I can still quote excerpts from the book.

Also, Ellen's stand up has the same affect on me. Pure, unbridled joy brought on by hilarity. My husband knows, any time it is on, he can flip over to it, I can recite the jokes along with the show and still be laughing. My husband and I often pull out some of the Ellen jokes whenever apropos.

So I'm an Ellen fan. I was really looking forward to the book. Maybe I raised my expectations too high. Maybe I'm not as easily amused anymore... who knows.

The book was funny, but not hilarious. It was more of a memoir with a twist. It was a stream of monologues from the Ellen show all wrapped up together. Do I recommend the book? Absolutely. It is a fun, quick read and I still love Ellen for her messages of positivity and living in happiness. She is my idol in this way and in her silliness (when my students would tell me I reminded them of Ellen I would secretly dance in my heart for the greatest compliment paid, second only to, "Thank you, Miss."). She explains why she left American Idol, she discusses her pride in her show and being the spokeswoman for CoverGirl, her love of her wife and family, and she even included coloring pages for your kids (I thought that was pretty great)! There are some seriously funny parts, I suppose I just wanted more.

Want To Get Your Own?

If you suddenly feel so inclined to purchase one (or more) of these books, and you were planning on doing it through Amazon.com, I would be extremely grateful if you followed one of the links below to do so. By following these links, rather than going to Amazon directly, Amazon will pay me a commission at no extra cost to you. It's just one small way you can show your support for the Rivera Runs Through It blog. Thanks!

ROW80 Wednesday Check-In 2/1

Today marks one week since I first learned about the ROW80, or A Round of Words in 80 Days Challenge. It's also time, believe it or not, for my second check-in! I decided on Sunday that I would do "Quickie" Check-Ins on the Sundays and give you a more specific picture of what is going on with my challenge on Wednesdays. So here we go...

These are my goals as I defined them last week, and what I have done to accomplish them so far:

Writing:

• Write three hours per day Mon-Fri. I am extremely happy to say that I have accomplished this so far. There is one issue I have with my accomplishment, however. When I wrote this goal, in my mind I had imagined this to mean three hours devoted to my creative writing only. This week I have spent some of that time writing for Rivera Runs Through It (not a bad thing!). I am trying to schedule some posts ahead since I have signed up for a writing workshop for this month (more about that later). NEW GOAL: Write three hours per day Mon-Fri in addition to writing for blog.
• Become an active member of a writing group. Most of the writing I have accomplished above has been during #wordmongering sessions on twitter with my online writing peeps ( Morgan, Tui, Julie, Chasing Joy, and Susan). This has been awesome and while I have been able to connect with each of them via Twitter, I would like to become a little more active and interact with each of their blogs in the coming weeks.NEW GOAL: Become more involved with my online writing group's multiple platforms.

Reading: 

• Read at least one hour per day I honestly don't know how I've done with this. I don't time myself when reading, so this was a silly way for me to write this goal. I know there are some days I definitely didn't reach an hour and other days where I exceeded it. On average, I think I definitely read at least one hour per day. However, this goal needs to be rewritten if I am to truly hold myself accountable. NEW GOAL: [This terrifies me...] Complete at least one book per week.
• Complete goodreads 2012 challenge of 52 books this year This goal and my new goal above are now in sync with each other. When I originally wrote my goals I had completed no books in the year 2012. As of this morning I have finished FOUR. I am well on my way to completing this challenge especially if I stick to the new goal above. NO NEW GOAL NEEDED.

Spreading Out/Getting Published:

• Start claiming and completing assignments from the Yahoo Contributor's Network of which I am a part. (Although I have yet to submit a single piece of work!!) I am most proud of making headway here. If you click the Yahoo link you will see my profile which now has two pieces of content published by me. They have not received a ton of traffic, but I still don't know how the Yahoo world works, so hopefully they will soon. I am particularly proud of my short story fairy tale called "The Peanut in the Woods" so if you get a chance I'd love to hear what you think of it! NEW GOAL: Continue claiming and completing assignments from the Yahoo! Contributor's Network
• Enter at least one writing contest per month. Unfortunately, I failed for January on this one. Although, technically, I am waiting to hear about two contests I entered earlier that had January deadlines - does that count? OK, no. Of course not. I put all focus on Yahoo! and forgot about this. GOAL MISSED: try again!
• Send at least one piece to a literary magazine per month. Oh dear... who wrote this goal? I don't remember this one at all. I blame Yahoo! for this one as well. OK, OK! I know what I need to do this week! GOAL MISSED: try again!

One goal I would like to add after watching this earlier today:


Well, it is co-inspired by that and the hike I went on with my dogs yesterday... the one where I came home and felt like sleeping for the next month straight because I was so exhausted (I still hurt).

NEW GOAL: Walk 10 miles per week.

This is a lot less than what I used to do, but I'm not sure my body is even up to that yet, so we shall see. If ten miles is a cake walk, I'll up it next week. And if it is, pathetically, still out of my reach, then I will adjust it where needed.

So, that's it for now. On Monday I will be starting a month-long online writing workshop that I am extremely excited about (you should check it out). I can't wait to learn a ton, and I'll be ready to readjust all my goals to fit around my education!

Here are the other brave souls on this journey with me, be sure to show your support! (I'm the 24th link!):

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The following post is taken directly from my hand-printed Reader's Journal. I will be sharing these reflections each week on the Rivera Runs Through It blog. The date at the end of each post is the date of the original writing, which is typically the date I completed the book. The reflections are short, but represent my initial reactions to a book, a brief summary of the book or the questions it raised for me at the time. I hope you enjoy this segment in my blog and feel free to comment on what you read here.





The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
A uniquely told story from the perspective of a murdered girl, Suzie, from Heaven. Suzie's violent rape, murder and disappearance turn her family upside down and sends her town into insecurity. As Suzie watches and occasionally interacts with those left on Earth, her killer walks away, her mother has an affair, leaves the family and her little sister grows up to enjoy a womanhood Suzie will never see. While it would seem that Suzie's wish would be to have her killer caught and her remains found, Sebold reminds us that the most important things in life (and, I guess, in death) are love and family.

Dated: 01/05/03

When I read this book I remember having to tell my husband (then boyfriend) every detail of everything I was reading. I loved the book so much I just needed to share it and could simply could not wait for him to read it after me. Needless to say, since I told him everything, he had no need to ever read the book, but I at least felt as thought the experience was shared.
Have you ever had this type of experience where you could not wait for someone else to read in order to share the experience? If so, what book was it and who did you spoil the book for?
If not, how have you mastered the art of not spoiling things?!