Journal – Liebster Award

Liebster Award

Guess who just received her second blogging award? OK, it was actually given to me a couple of months ago, but I’ve really been looking forward to saying that. This one comes from Emily Morgan of Mama Going Solo and Emily Morgan Writes, who nominated me for the Liebster Award! Thank you so much, Emily! It’s really an honor!

The rules for this award are as follows:

  • answer 11 questions set by your nominee,
  • share 11 facts about yourself
  • write 11 new questions of your own, and
  • pass the award onto (up to) 11 other bloggers to answer your questions

So to start off, here are Emily’s questions for me:

1) What is your favorite thing to serve up a good friend for morning tea/afternoon tea?

Umm… cookies? I wouldn’t know; it’s never really come up.

2) If I gave you a $50,000 travel voucher and three weeks to spend it in, what would you do?

First, I would give you a big hug and thank you for the amazing gift! Then I would probably take that dream vacation I’ve always wanted across Europe with someone special.

3) If you could live someone else’s life for 24 hours, who would you choose?

Maybe one of my sisters. Sometimes their lives seem so much more exciting than mine!

4) If you could put someone else in your shoes for a day, who would you choose?

Probably my mom or dad, just because their lives are so much busier than mine, and they deserve a break.

5) What are you reading now, what have you just read and what are you going to read next (got three in one there!!)?

Well, that all depends on what counts…

Just read (again): Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

Just read (for the first time): The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Am reading (fiction): The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl, Book 6) by Eoin Colfer

Am reading (non-fiction): Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems (4th ed.) by Michael Begon, Colin R. Townsend and John L. Harper

Going to read next: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

6) What is your favorite period of history and why?

I love the ancient periods, but Ancient Egypt is my favorite! The civilization was incredibly advanced for its time, and so rich in culture. I couldn’t get enough of learning about the ancient egyptians in school! Of course, I find Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome fascinating as well, also for the culture.

7) What profession would you never want to attempt (I’m channelling Inside the Actor’s Studio for this one!)?

I’ve always told myself that the last career path I would ever want to pursue is Law. A good lawyer is usually cunning, manipulative and indifferent to people’s opinions. I am none of these things, which is why I’m sure I would hate having that job. I’d take being a “starving artist” over being a rich lawyer any day!

8) Which would you rather do: travel to space with Virgin Galactic, or climb Mount Everest?

Travel to space with Virgin Galactic! I love space; there was even a time in my childhood when I wanted to be an astronaut! Plus, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t make it halfway up Mount Everest.

9) Which reality TV show would you participate in?

Do documentary-style shows count? If so, then probably Mythbusters or some BBC nature documentary. Or Top Gear (UK version, of course). I don’t care how much of that show is scripted; I love those three presenters! Besides, it might be fun to be a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

Sorry, but I wouldn’t do actual reality shows.

10) What name would you give to a pet but never a kid?

I assume you mean besides the obvious pet names like Fluffy or Mittens. Well, off the top of my head, Sebastian. Good name for a cat (or a singing crab with a Jamaican accent), but I can’t see my (possible future) son pulling it off.

Oh, and Wolfgang. Too archaic for a person, but it might work for a dog. I could call him Wolf.

11) If you could go back and study any subject at all with no homework or exams, what would you study?

Japanese! I loved taking Japanese lessons in college, but I was only able to take the course for a year. I would have loved to stick with it long enough to become really proficient at it. Visiting Japan is one of my dreams; it would be great if I could understand enough of the language to get by!

Now for 11 facts about myself:

1) I’m very close with my family. I had the happiest childhood ever, and it’s been a major influence on my stories, which usually have well-rounded characters and happy endings.

2) I was once an avid fanfiction writer. I used to publish stories on FanFiction.Net, all of which were set in the worlds of video games. They were very well received, and some of my readers even suggested I pursue writing as a career. Naturally, I was way ahead of them…

3) I’m a total nerd, and proud of it. I’ve never been into fashion, I don’t care very much for the color pink, I’d rather spend a quiet evening at home than go out partying, and I was always into things that were considered “uncool” for people my age. As I like to say, I’d choose fantasy over reality any day.

4) I love mythology. My favorite mythical creatures are the phoenix and the dragon, though I’m also interested in legends of mermaids and any creature with the body of a horse.

5) Bugs fascinate me. While most people prefer to kill large insects and spiders in their home, I like to catch them and stare at them for a while before I release them outside. Sometimes I even take pictures before letting them go.

6) I’m one of those people who believes real beauty is on the inside. In fact, one of the reasons I became a writer was so people could get to know my mind before they could get to know my face. I don’t really care what people look like or what they wear as much as I care about personality. So you can be fat, skinny, tall, short, curvy or flat; if I think you’re a good person, you will be beautiful to me.

7) I love love. Romance is one of my favorite genres, love stories melt my heart, and my biggest guilty pleasure is that I can’t get enough of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. I believe it’s a reflection of the love I grew up seeing every day; my parents are the living embodiment of “happily ever after”.

8) I’ve never had a boyfriend who wasn’t my friend first. I’ve also never had a boyfriend with whom I didn’t fall in love.

9) I love my brown eyes and dark hair, and I wouldn’t dream of trading them for any other colored features. I have nothing against light eyes and brighter hair colors, of course. I just think it’s sad when people wish they were born with different looks. That’s another reason my favorite Disney princess as a kid was Belle (after her love of reading); she showed girls that brown hair and brown eyes can be beautiful too!

10) Most of my favorite movies are animated. I’m a big fan of Pixar films, and I love watching movies from the Disney Renaissance – The Little Mermaid (1989) to Tarzan (1999) – just because they take me back to my childhood. I also watch How to Train Your Dragon every time I see it’s on TV.

11) I have “mixed blood”: half European, a quarter Asian, and a quarter South American. At the same time, I like to consider myself 100% American.

Next, here are my questions for my nominees:

1) What would you say first inspired you to become a writer?

2) If you could meet your idol face to face, what would you say to her/him?

3) If you could only watch one movie over and over during the course of a year, which movie would you choose and why?

4) What are your favorite genres to read and write in?

5) Did you ever have a crazy dream job as a kid?

6) With which character(s) in all the books you’ve read can you most identify?

7) What animal would you consider your animal spirit and why?

8) If someone at a party randomly handed you a microphone and told you to sing any song you wanted, what song would you choose?

9) Are there any books you would say changed your life, and if so, which one(s)?

10) What was your favorite subject in school?

11) If you could have three wishes granted – one for you, one for your family and one for the world – what would you wish for?

And finally, here is my list of nominees:

Jennifer M Zeiger

Vanessa Writes

Lilica’s Place

Writer B is me

Writers Challenge 2013

Inion N. Mathair

Thanks so much for inspiring, friends! And thanks again to Emily for the nomination! You’re all amazing!

Journal – Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Yes, I got another blogging award! Being my third so far (the second has yet to be posted), the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award was kindly given to me by the very sweet and inspiring Lily of Lilica’s Place. Be sure to check out her blog! She’s awesome!

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers AwardThis award is shared among female bloggers who inspire each other through their writing. It’s an honor to have been considered for this award, especially since my blog is still only a few months old! Thank you so much!

The rules for this award are:

  1. Post the logo on your blog.
  2. Thank the person who nominated you.
  3. Choose 10-12 other ladies who blog as your nominees.
  4. Post the links to the nominees’ blogs and notify each of them on their blog.

Now here are my nominees, some really amazing women in the blogosphere:

1) Best Ever Easy Recipes

2) Jennifer M Zeiger

3) Emily Morgan Writes and Mama Going Solo (both run by the same blogger)

4) Vanessa Writes

5-9) Writers Challenge 2013 (This blog is run by five awesome female writers, so I’m counting them each individually here.)

10) Lilica’s Place (I know she’s the one who sent this award to me, but since I find her so inspiring, I feel she deserves another mention. No need to accept it all over again; it’s just a friendly gesture!)

Thanks for all your inspiration, ladies! And thank you again for the nomination, Lily! You’re amazing! Thanks for reading!

News – August 19, 2013

Time for another news update! Here are a few things to look out for on my blog in the upcoming weeks.

New Blogging Awards

Some of you may have noticed a fancy new slideshow in my sidebar. Well, since my nomination for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Jennifer M Zeiger, I’ve received two more awards for my blog! One is the Liebster Award, for which I was nominated by Emily Morgan of Emily Morgan Writes and Mama Going Solo. The other is the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, given to me by Lily of Lilica’s Place. Thank you so much, ladies! I’m truly honored!

Liebster Award Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

I’m still working on my post for the Liebster Award, which might take at least a couple of weeks to be published. Since the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award has simpler rules to it (just passing the award on to other female bloggers you like, no questions to answer or anything), I may end up sharing that one first. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to find enough nominees for this one, as most of the blogs I’m currently following are written by women. This one is going out to the awesome ladies I’ve been meeting in the blogosphere! Thanks for all your inspiration, and be sure to look for a nomination soon!

Also, with three blogging award nominations and a writing contest win so far, I’m putting together an Awards page for my blog. So exciting to know I’m inspiring my readers! Thank you!

Word of the Week Index

With almost 20 words featured in my Word of the Week segment so far, I think it’s about time for me to add a vocabulary index to my blog. If I can manage to complete it, it’ll be on a new page attached to the Word of the Week category link under Resources in the menu bar. I’ve already installed a table plugin on my site, for easy sorting of words alphabetically or by publish date. Hopefully I can find the time to set it up soon!

Sharing the Link Love

Since I started blogging actively, I’ve been meeting quite a few interesting people with equally interesting websites. After all the inspiration and encouragement I’ve been getting from other writers, I think it’s only fair for me to give something back.

I’d love to share links to the great blogs I’ve been following, so I’m adding a new blogroll widget to my sidebar. Because I want to be fair to everyone featured among my picks, the links will always be randomized, like the quote rotator at the bottom of my site. The blogroll will display links in a different order every time the page is refreshed, so that everyone has an equal chance of being listed first (or at all, when I have more than ten links). I apologize in advance to anyone I may forget to add at first; I can be quite the scatterbrain!

This concludes another news update. Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

Journal – Sunshine Blogger Award

So last week started off with my blog’s first news update, and now today marks my first official journal post. Like the news posts, my journal won’t be a regular segment, but it’s where I’ll occasionally be sharing random thoughts that don’t quite fit into the other topics on my blog. Hope you enjoy!

Sunshine Blogger AwardA few weeks ago, talented writer and blogger Jennifer M Zeiger nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award! I was honored to receive the notice, as the award is passed between bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere. It’s wonderful to know I’ve been inspiring readers with my writing; that’s exactly what I hoped to achieve with my creative writing blog!

Now I’m supposed to share a little information about myself. Here goes…

Ten Facts About Me

1) I was born and raised in the United States, but I’ve been living in Brazil for several years now, making me fluent in both English and Portuguese.

2) I’ve been in love with creative writing since the fourth grade, and with reading since before preschool. Although I’ve wanted to be a writer since elementary school, I recently graduated from college with a Bachelor’s in Biology, and I plan to attend grad school soon to get my Master’s in Marine Biology.

3) My favorite literary genres are science fiction/fantasy, because I find it fascinating to imagine worlds that different in key aspects from ours; and romance, because I’ve always been intrigued by the theme of love.

4) Some of my greatest writing influences include the authors Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter series), Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl series) and Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon saga).

5) Five of my favorite movies are Finding Nemo, West Side Story, Forrest Gump, Beauty and the Beast and Tangled.
(Edit 7/12/13 – Oh yeah, one more favorite that I forgot to add to this list: How To Train Your Dragon!)

6) My greatest role models are my parents. They taught me almost everything I know about life and love, and they’ve been incredibly supportive of me and my writing. I feel so blessed to have been raised by such wonderful and intelligent people.

7) That “best friend” of mine whose been mentioned in a few of my blog posts? He’s also my boyfriend (and we’re in love).

8) Video games have been a major inspiration for my writing over the years, especially my fantasy stories.

9) One of the most common motifs in my writing is birds, possibly reflecting my lifelong desire to be able to fly. At least three of the novels I’m planning have strong bird references, as do a few of my short stories. Other motifs I like to throw into my writing are dragons and wolves.

10) I chose the pen name J.C. Wolfe for its potential catchiness as a unisex science fiction/fantasy author’s name. I hope my readers like it as much as I do!

Paying It Forward: My Ten Nominees

  1. The Musical Blog of Brent Gnecco (His blog isn’t actually active yet, but I feel he deserves a nomination for his inspirational music.)
  2. Best Ever Easy Recipes
  3. Emily Morgan Writes
  4. Vanessa Writes
  5. Lilica’s Place
  6. Writers Challenge 2013
  7. On Becoming a Writer
  8. Sonia G Medeiros
  9. Dragons and Snails
  10. My Forex Trading Room

For those nominated, this is how it works:

  • Use the award logo in this post.
  • Link to the person who nominated you.
  • Share ten pieces of information about yourself.
  • Nominate ten fellow bloggers who “positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”.
  • Leave a comment on the nominees’ blogs to tell them about the award.

Thanks again to Jennifer for the nomination, and to the nominees for continuing to add creativity and inspiration to the blogosphere!

By the way, if you haven’t yet, you should really check out Jennifer’s blog. Her stories are awesome! Thanks for reading!

News – July 1, 2013

So this is my first news update since I started my blog, and what a way to start the segment! I’m getting productive with my writing, I have a front-row seat to witness South American history being made, and my blog was even nominated for an award after being only a few months old! How awesome is that?

In the interest of keeping things brief, here’s a quick review of what’s happening now.

Sunshine Blogger Award

Sunshine Blogger AwardTwo weeks ago, I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Jennifer M Zeiger! It’s a tremendous honor, and I’m very grateful for the recognition, especially from such a talented writer/blogger! An official blog post for the award will be up soon, after I finish sorting through the other great blogs I’ve started following for ten nominees to receive the award as well. The list isn’t complete yet, but note that if you’ve been actively following my blog and participating in the discussion, you can probably expect a notice of a nomination very soon!

Works in Progress

This probably goes without saying, but my blog is not the only project on my plate at the moment. Outside of my little corner of the Internet, I’m currently writing my first novel. Since it’s still very early in the works, however, the only information I can share for now is that it’ll be in the science fantasy genre (i.e. a mixed genre containing elements of both science fiction and fantasy). Aside from that, I’m considering compiling some short stories for publication, most likely in a self-published collection through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, but nothing is set in stone yet. I’m also actively participating in writing contests held at Writer’s Carnival, a great community where writers can share their work and review that of others in a fun and active learning environment.

Oh, and if it counts for anything, I’m also co-writing a scientific paper in the field of Marine Biology.

The Day Brazil Stood Still

Flag of BrazilI know this doesn’t have anything to do with my writing (yet, at least), but I still think it’s worth mentioning. At the time of writing this post, my current home country of Brazil is undergoing a huge movement for change (if you want to understand why, I recommend starting by watching this video). Since the beginning of June, hundreds of thousands of people in over 100 Brazilian cities have taken to the streets in a series of protests and public demonstrations against the corrupt government (most of which have been pacifistic, though the media seems to prefer showcasing the relatively rare cases of vandalism and violence).

But according to news spreading across social media, the biggest event of the movement so far has been scheduled to happen on the first of July, when the entire population will unite in a nationwide strike. The main objective? To show our politicians that the true power of a country lies with its people, and we won’t back down until we see the positive changes we’ve been needing for too long.

So if you don’t see me around the blogosphere today, chances are I’ve taken to the street to join Brazil’s largest movement in just over 20 years. If you want to support our cause, feel free to share the latest news on Facebook and Twitter. Help us #ChangeBrazil!

This concludes my blog’s first news post. Unlike the other topics, it won’t be a regular segment, but whenever I have important updates to share, I’ll be sure to include them in my Monday broadcasts. Thanks for reading!

P.S. To those of you reading my blog through WordPress, I think I’ve finally managed to solve the problem of the Jetpack Like button not loading properly in my posts. So if you had wanted to Like something on my site but were unable to see the button before, please feel free to go back and try again. Note that I had to disable a certain Javascript function to fix the button, so please let me know if you see any new problems on my blog after this. Thank you!

Pin It on Pinterest