Thanks so much to Juni from the Write to Wrestle blog for this wonderful guest interview where she allowed me to talk about writing…
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Movie review – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
I’m one of those persons that always thought “The Lord of the Rings” films were destined to be the best film-series ever. I still remember my attendance to the movie theater would be repeated several times with the objective to absorb as much as possible from this fantastic trilogy. I couldn’t get enough of it, all the Epic Fantasy in the story was so appealing that I guess many people got as obsessed with it as me. Then the Hobbit came.
I was expecting the first movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to be memorable, and the whole J.R.R. Tolkien fan base would resuscitate, Peter Jackson (the director) would be again the ultimate God, and that saving money for visiting New Zealand – the land that had seen the filming – was imperative again. But the first Hobbit move was just meeh… I don´t have other proper word. So much expectation but something was not working well with this first delivery of the Hobbit.
Image source: official propiety of New Line Cinema and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
The biggest fan I know of The Lord of the Rings, must be my mother, and she felt asleep during the first Hobbit, she was, of course, disappointed. Then, a year later came The Desolation of Smug. Now we were talking again of something that was worthy of Peter Jackson and the legacy of J.R.R.Tolkien. The movie was indeed much better than the first one (Maybe it was because we got to see Legolas, our favorite Elf, or something else, but it felt better).
Then last week, came The Battle of the Five Armies, and I was blown away. This was certainly a worthy heir of the Lord of the Rings (even though, the story is a predecessor of the others). First of all, my mother didn’t fall asleep (a good parameter of what movies work and which ones don’t). Then, there were those special moments that reminded me a lot of the Lord of the Rings, those where you felt your heart leap, butterflies in your belly, your mouth hanging open, wide smiles, extraordinary connection to the characters (which includes loud screams from my person when they are in danger), suffering, excitement, relief, everything. That’s what the Lord of the Rings was all about and we got to feel it again in this third delivery of the Hobbit. Peter Jackson, you nailed it again.
Image source: official propiety of New Line Cinema and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
If you were one of those who got disappointed by the first Hobbit movie, then gave up on the second one, and even didn’t realize about this third one. Go to see it, trust me, you’ll live the magic again.
And you, are you a fan of the Lord of the Rings, did you see any of the Hobbit movies?
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Book review – The Art of Racing in the Rain
A couple of months ago, when I started writing, I decided to do a little research on Points of View (POV). You see, when you write, the easiest Point of View to write in, is First Person (any other writers out there that find the opposite, would love to hear it in the comments). First person POV is comfortable; you identify much better with your main character, you are in his/her head, thoughts, feelings, and writing comes easier. HOWEVER, it’s not always the best, it´s limiting. You have to be careful how to handle other scenes where your character is not present (which is difficult). So of course I started to write in Third Person POV, but that’s not the topic of this post.
When I was doing the research, I found a group post discussing this topic and a comment from someone recommending “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein (sorry I can’t remember who commented this, if you’re out there reading this post, please let me know it was you who posted the comment to thank you). The comment suggested that you could also use something original as the POV of a dog; yes you read that well, a dog! which I found hilarious. Being an animal lover, I´ve always been interested in knowing what was going on in my dog’s head whenever she had her puppy eyes directed to me. So I immediately added the suggested book “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein to my Amazon shopping cart, and one month and a half later (yes, it takes that long to reach my country) the book was in my hands.
Dana, my dog, getting interested in the story
Enzo, the character of this book is brilliant. He’s complex, he has many ideas of his own, and has a deep perspective about life in general. And of course, similar to his owner, the dog is all about racing cars. He’s become an expert due to the hours exposed to watching TV races with his owner. The story is beautiful, full of ups, downs, and real ordinary life situations, but what is most appealing is Enzo’s insights about everything that happens around him. I won’t give up any spoilers in here of course, but the scene with the Zebra for those ones that have read the book is hilarious. Of course this book is also sentimental, and lots of tears are expected (yes, I´m one of those that suddenly bursts into crying while holding a book; actually I´m very expressive when I read a book, for instance, if the scene is funny, I’m the weird person sitting next to you laughing out loud in the doctor’s waiting room or any other public place.)
The art of writing books is related to how you engage readers to your characters, how believable and appealing they are. I’ve never imagined a dog would create such a big connection. I loved this book, even if you’re not into racing cars – a topic Enzo is an expert on – you’ll still enjoy the story deeply. I would definitely recommend this book.
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The quirky/cheesy/comfy workspace of a person aspiring to be a writer…
Last week I came across WeWork, a very interesting co-working company, and I was inspired to write a post to share a little bit more about my workspace (the one where I do the creative stuff, not the gray & white boring one from my full time job. When are companies going to realize how much the workspace “look and feel” influence people’s effectiveness and inspiration?)
So going back to my true workspace, I must refer to my home, more specifically my bedroom. I don’t have a desk in my bedroom to work on; I mainly lay down on my bed with a bunch of pillows behind me. Do I like working this way? I love it! I spend eight hours in my full time job working on a desk to arrive home and sit again at a desk? No way! All I want to do when I arrive home is to throw myself on the bed, get comfy, cosy, and start writing the fun stuff.
So how would I describe this inspiring/comfy place? As a total reflection of myself. I don’t believe in rules for combining colors or patterns, I just do it the way I like it, so yes, as you can see in the pictures, there’s brilliant red combined with lime green curtains, so much for learning how to nail the right palette of colors right?
As you may notice, I love beanbags, they are perfect for relaxing, and whenever I’m not writing on my bed, I just let myself be in the beanbags.
Now, decoration wise? I just put everything I like. I love art, I love vintage, comics, pop art, everything, so there’s a little bit of these things everywhere.
I love books, and that’s of course how I got into writing in first place. My dream place would be to have to book shelves from corner to corner.
I also like objects with quotes that remind me of what I want to do with my life, so that’s why I got a couple of quirky gadgets to remind me this, even advice quotes from the good Winston Churchill.
And I may not be the flower pink girl type, but my cheesy part allows me to keep these little ones.
Anyway, for many people out there, this bedroom/workspace may seem some kind of store with too much going on, to many objects everywhere, not the ideal representative of a minimalist decoration magazine of course. But I feel good here, I feel cosy, and surrounded by the things I love and get inspired by. This is how I get into the mood of writing every evening, and after all, it’s all about that, isn’t it?
And you how is your workspace? do you think it’s important to have a workspace that relates to your personality?
P.S. If you notice the British theme somewhere, it’s because of the good memories I have from the times I visited the UK.
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Guest Post: Juni Desireé – fellow blogger and writer
When you enter the blogging world, not only you start communicating with the people that follow your blog, but also you start following other blogs you start connecting with. In my blogger journey I had the chance to meet many wonderful people whose blogs I love to read, one of those persons is Juni Desireé, a wonderful blogger and writer who has always struck me with her honest words and her openness to the world. She writes from her heart and she’s very passionate for everything she sets her mind into. I totally recommend following her blogs and checking out this interview for her future projects.Could you introduce yourself?My name is Juni Desireé (aka JD). My blog is called JD on a Page (http://jdonapage.wordpress.com). It’s a blog where I share my stories and the lessons I learn, in the hope that it offers something good to people. I also have a writing blog called Write to Wrestle (https://awrestlingwriter.wordpress.com).I’m currently studying a Master of Writing and Literature and I’m working on a book about what I’ve learnt this year when I moved from Victoria to Queensland.I love dogs! Everyone should have a dog; they make life better. And my favourite food is fish and chips with tartare sauce.
How did you start writing?My first memory of writing is when I was in my first year of primary school. We had to write a diary each week. I loved it and have been writing ever since. I started journal writing when I was eleven when my mum bought me a journal. -
Guest Post: Scarlett Van Dijk – A Writing Journey: Past, Present, and Future –
Hello everyone. Carla Doria kindly asked me to hop over to her blog and let you know a little about myself and my writing. So, to start off, my name is Scarlett Van Dijk and I am a young Australian writer who writes mostly novels but also dabbles in short stories and poetry. I like to dance, train in martial arts, read, go to the movies, and play some multiplayer online games occasionally. My novel genre is Young Adult (YA) Fantasy with my first novel, ‘Sky Stone’, published and on sale at Amazon. I am currently working on the sequel to ‘Sky Stone’, which will be called ‘Guardian Core’.
How Did You Start Writing?
I started writing novels at the age of fourteen, beginning the journey that would become ‘Sky Stone’ at the age of fifteen. Writing, especially during these early years, gave me a release. Every teen knows the hardships of dealing with school politics and writing allowed me to escape to live in my own world.
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Winner of NaNoWriMo 2014 lets a heavy glass pot lid fall over her head…
My experience as first time participant in NaNoWriMo and my unsual way to celebrate it…
Winner of NaNoWriMo 2014 lets a heavy glass pot lid fall over her head….
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Winner of NaNoWriMo 2014 lets a heavy glass pot lid fall over her head…
Sunday I declared myself winner of NaNoWriMo 2014 and to celebrate I let a heavy glass pot lid fall over my head. No, I’m not crazy, neither eccentric, it was just an accident. Very interesting way to celebrate it though, a huge bump in the head and an ice bag over my head. So people were telling me “wow! You must be excited to have finished your writing month and must had celebrated a lot” And I just go back to my memories of the terrible pain my head was in that day. At least, I managed to write the last words before the accident, because I wouldn’t have written anything else after the glass lid decided it was good to bounce on my head. Although, a good scene of pain and suffering could have actually come up well inspired at that time.
But anyway, let´s stop talking about the bad part of last Sunday and talk about the best part. I did it! I finished the first manuscript of an entire novel, over 88000 words in total. When I started NaNo I was at 38000 words more or less, it took me around 3 months to write those 38K. If it wasn’t for NaNo, I wouldn’t had pop out those remaining 50K and I would have finished my novel next year.
Never have I ever (I’ve just remembered a drinking game… if you know what I mean, if not just continue reading 🙂 ) I’ve would have dreamed that when I put in my 2014 New Year’s resolution “Start writing for seriously” I would have ended up the year with a whole first manuscript for a novel. Surreal.
Image source: www.focusincgroup.com
Of course, I must point out it´s a “first” manuscript. This December will be harsh polishing and editing. One of the things that you learn with NaNo is to just let it flow; write, write and let the characters guide you through the story. No editing during November, not only because it would have caused constant deletion of words but also because there was no time. And it works, it really does. This is my first time writing a novel and believe me, I struggled very much at the beginning figuring it out how to start, how to plot the story, how to define structure, pacing, etc. Now I know that there has to be some planning at the beginning, but then if you want the story to really flow and reach its end, you just have to let it go, it works. But then of course with no editing in this “flowing” stage, a second, and even third draft have to be considered, the disadvantages of spontaneity.
But I declare myself satisfied. Never have I ever, I’ve been more consistent and persistent in doing what I want to do for the rest of my life. I proved myself that I can do it, that I can create the habit of writing every single day (including weekends and holidays). I can do it. “I’m a roller coaster that only goes up” John Green (Yeah, I’m quoting The Fault in Our Stars, but the quote felt righter than ever).
Image source: www.picgifs.com
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Struggling with a place where people don’t use Twitter…
So the book I’m reading of how to build an author platform informs me that I should use Twitter, yep that very popular social network that works everywhere but in Bolivia, and I don’t mean that you can access the site here, but that people just don’t get it and hence don’t use it.
Many people in my country use Facebook, WhatsApp, and many other social networs, plainly frequently, but Twitter is the exception, it has been left out, the poor one 🙁 . So when the author platform book said “start gathering your followers with your friends and work colleages…” I was “hello? is anybody here using Twitter?”. After some blank stares, I must have found only 3 people who used it, but never actually “USED IT” in the sense of the word, just opened the account some time ago, and that was it, they were officially in twitter.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com That left me wondering? why? but why? as I got into Twitter, started tweeting, retweeting, using hashtags, and all the things you do on Twitter, I started understanding why this platform wasn’t popular in my country.
- First, people here are not into expressing and opening to the outer world. In twitter, for example, you can post an awesome picture and, with the right followers, and hashtags, you could get “Twitter-famous” from one day to the other.
- Other social networks are more about your circle of friends, the people you know, the pictures where you recognize friends’ gatherings, families, etc. We’re still a closed society here, and there’s a lot of: who you are friends with, who do you know, etc., so everything happens among the people you know, not strangers. People here are not into making random friends from elsewhere… And yep, Twitter is mostly all about that. I mostly don’t know the people that follow me, and unless I’ve been following some famous person or a celebrity, I usually follow people that seem cool according to what they tweet, even if I don’t really don’t know them.
So I made a quick poll, among friends, I asked them “Why don’t you use Twitter? or Why do you think bolivians are not into Twitter?. These are some answers I got:
- People here are not so used to express in few words (the 140 restriction which drives me insane)
- It´s about gossip worst than Facebook
- Because I don´t see any benefit on it
- It´s enough with Facebook, why would I have Twitter?
- People here are used to personalize social networks and are more into wanting to know what their friends will say or tell. They’re not into free expression, not because it’s banned, but because it’s not motivated, and we feel inhibited. (I like this one, it comes from a friend that actually uses twitter, thanks Vanessa 🙂
So after all these reasons and opinions, I really don’t have a strong opinion about Twitter, all I know is that it’s good to have it for an author platform. So for any of you of my brilliant blog followers out there, if any of you would like to follow me on Twitter, please do so at: @carlisdm
And if you have any strong opinions of why you like or don’t like twitter, please feel free to leave your comments!!!
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11 signs that you’re an introvert
Hi, so Tuesdays I will be posting my favorite blog post of the week.
This week, I would like to invite you to read this very interesting post, specially for all that people that confuse between being introvert and shy (which is very different, I for instance, am introvert but not really shy). Check out Write to Wrestle, a wonderful blog I’ve been following for a long time from a lovely writer.
