Moonless Nights

If I had to explain this year in one quote, it would be: "After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are more hills to climb." -Nelson Mandela. We lost Nelson Mandela this year, great loss; but he left behind a lot of powerful memories and wisdom. I choose this quote because I learned a great lesson, See, this year I completed one of my biggest goals and I found myself wondering, now what? Only to figure out that there are more goals to complete, more hills to climb. You find yourself at the top and once again you slide back to the bottom and begin climbing again. I don't want to say goodbye to 2013 without recognizing that I've had big changes in my life and how lucky I have been this year as I continue to grow and continue to learn new things about myself and about life. At 23, I'm still trying to find the place where I truly belong. I'm learning how valuable the little things in life are and how significant it is to surround myself with the ri...

Merry Christmas Christmas doesn't have to be so complicated, right? Every year I try to have a "normal" Christmas and every year I somehow fail. But I do take the time to thank God for all the good things we receive. There is a lot of things to be thankful for and  it's not just one or two days in the year. I hope that everyone enjoys their Christmas much more than I did.

While researching the family history I came upon this, I think shortly after I gave up my search. Chapter 1: CONCEPTION (Based on a true story) Conception may be alive now in days or may not, I really didn't ask. What I do know is that he has or had a very dark secret from his past. It all started one early morning, it was a day to celebrate a Saint, either St. Ana or St. Barbara.  Tito woke up early to buy coffee and sugar in a small store down the street. This wasn't your regular store though, you don't walk in and grab what you want. In these stores you ask for things behind the counter and there is someone who gives it to you after you pay. That's beside the point,it was a regular morning people in the street, kids without shoes playing on the sidewalk, and the sun as always high up in the sky.  Tito came out of the store and walked up the block back to his humble home. Conception was married to Olga, whose name would later on become histo...

I don't think some people realize how wonderful they are. I met a wonderful woman today where I work. I was so touched by how wonderful she is and the sacrifice that she is making for her children. When I told her "You are a wonderful person" and "It's not everyone that sacrifices themselves like that", she said thank you and mumbled that nobody tells her such things. A part of me (being that I'm so sensitive) got teary and wanted to cry. When I see wonderful people it warms my heart and makes me feel like there is still hope in this world and not everything is bad. I think we tend to focus so much on the negativity and we don't think about the wonderful people and the wonderful opportunities that we are given just by living one more day. And I'm glad that there are people like her in this world who go out there every day and work hard to change the lives of others. I'm really thankful that I got to meet someone like her. I probably won'...

It happened that… She was a troubled young lady trapped in a world of pain, depression and loneliness. He was her mentor, her doctor, her shoulder, her friend and one of the few who knew about her ordeal. “Is there a connection between your dreams and your reality?” She was sitting on an arm chair across from him, hugging her legs with her arms and resting her head on her knees. Her eyes we close but she was listening attentively. He was sitting near her on his black leather seat looking at the pictures she had drawn for him. They were images of her dreams, her talent in art allowed him to get an idea of the things she feared the most. “I don’t think there is a connection.” Her voice was soft but low, almost impossible to hear. He had been working on this case for about three years now and it had become part of his life. His connection with this strange girl was unexplainable but real. His nights were now filled with discomfort, worries, and nightmares. Was this an obses...

This is one of the many short stories I wrote years ago, they are all in one book and are part of a broken story I was trying to write. The Key The sky had a beautiful line of pink, blue, yellow, and purple as the sun disappeared in the horizon. I remember I was sitting in rooftop of the house when I heard his voice for the first time. It was as if time had stopped. The wind was no longer blowing, the sun was no longer setting, and I was no longer breathing. The bird that once flew by me was standing in mid air. I reached up to it and gasped when my finger touched its wings. “There is a world…” He began to say. “…A world that everyone fears but fears none. It’s a world filled with death, war, and pain. It’s a world that no one knows exist but it’s a world that many people would never forget. It’s the easiest place to get into and the hardest one to come out of. It’s a world where all your strengths must be shown and your weaknesses destroyed. In this world you’ll meet people...

National Novel Writing Month is what I'm focused on right now.  I wanted to share a picture I made of my notes for this year as I'm here writing trying to finish this novel.

Love the fall it's just beautiful.  I give credit to S Joseph for taking some of these pretty pictures I selected to put on the blog.

This is a small excerpt of how my novel is looking for Nanowrimo 2013 right now. I'm working slow on it because I have so much on my mind. I don't want to confuse myself. Hopefully tomorrow I write a couple of thousand words and catch up! 1989 Still with the bloody golden dagger in her hand she dragged her feet to the exit backstage. The crowd had disappeared, slowly they had exited the palace smiling because they had seen one of the most wonderful plays; the death of their own Quee n. CHAPTER ONE “The first of many nights wondering why I’m alive.” I never had a secured home. After my parents died in a car accident in 1972, I lived with my grandmother until her death six years later. After that, I was left alone at the age of eight.  The following years I found myself stealing to eat and clothe myself. It wasn’t until I was 15 that I met Anastasia outside the movie theater. She was with her daughter  and it was quite frightening for her as I came from b...

Did you know that while I was sleeping I told my mom I was being bullied by my "best friends"? Yeah, I was keeping all this anger, fear and sadness inside and I didn't want to tell her because I didn't want her to know that she was right. And if you are wondering why I even remember this is because bullying has really become a common topic everywhere. I watched the movie"Cyberbully" and it reminded me so much of what I experienced. It breaks my heart every time I watch the news and I hear about young girls and boys as young as 9 committing suicide because they were being harassed at school by other kids. I know the feeling, I have been there and I can as crazy as it sounds understand why the first thing that comes to mind is to die. You just feel trapped in a dark room and  everyone is just looking down at you and pointing fingers; it's a nightmare! And just like in the movie, don't look too far because many times is the people we refer to as "f...

I came upon this article in Paulo Coelho's blog and I wanted to share it. I want to use this as a guide when I'm writing and for those of you who write as well, these are great tips! On Confidence: You cannot sell your next book by underrating your book that was just published. Be proud of what you have. On Trust: Trust your reader, don’t try to describe things. Give a hint and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination. On Expertise: You cannot take something out of nothing. When you write a book, use your experience. On Critics: some writers want to please their peers, they want to be “recognized”. This shows insecurity and nothing else, please forget about this. You should care to share your soul and not to please other writers. On Notetaking: If you want to capture ideas, you are lost. You are going to be detached from emotions and forget to live your life. You will be an observer and not a human being living his or her life. Forget taking no...

I don't have a title for this one. It was inspired on something I watched on TV. I just wanted to write it out and see how it came out. Chapter One I watched him from a distance as he kneeled in front of his father’s grave, his mother close by watching in tears. I put my hands in my jacket and walked inside the house. The day couldn’t get any worse but I didn’t want to stand around just in case it did. I locked myself in the room. I looked at the picture sitting on my nightstand and I couldn’t believe Jones was dead. He had been like a father to me. After my mother Elizabeth had past away, I was alone in this world. Jones was my Godfather and didn’t think about it twice before welcoming me into his home. There was a knock on the door. “Alex,are you okay?” It was his son Matthew he and I had gotten really close the last couple of months. We were great friends. I opened the door and he walked in all dressed in black with his hair tied back. His brown eyes were sa...

The Best Writings Exist Because of Pain When I read, there is nothing I enjoy more than traveling through the pages of my book.  As any sensitive female I always want to read a happy ending. I want a love story, I want drama, I want mystery, but most of all I want my happy ending. I always say: "The world has a sad ending, why read a sad ending when you're trying to get away from that?" A few semesters ago, I commented to Professor Gutierrez who is a writer, that I do not like to read stories with sad endings. He said: "The best stories are written by authors in pain." It's true, I thought. It was a Spanish literature class and the bibliographies we read of some authors for the most part talked about how difficult life had been for these men and women; They had used writing as their therapy to get away from their troubled life How could I expect a happy ending? I make my own. Graham Greene once said: “ Writing is a form o...