The Next Big Thing (Week 26)

My awesome friend, DB Graves, has tagged me with this meme where I get to go on an on and on about my WIP (uhm, sorry?) BUT! Then I get to tag some other awesome peeps and you get to go read about their WIPS! (much better, right?) And if you click on the link above, you get to read what she posted about her (believe me, awesome) paranormal WIP last week.

Ready?

1. What is the working title of your book?

• You and I ... it used to go by Mini Sock Boy (or MSB) on this blog, but while working on a Bollywood flash mob scene, I pulled up some of my favorite music, including tracks from Hum Tum ("You and I.") The name just seemed to fit so well and the movie's theme of true love never quite remaining unrequited really resonated with some plot points. Now I have a little in-joke with the title :)

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

• Anyone remember The Tale of the Mini Socks? Well, I was telling this story to someone and she said it might make a fun book. I had a problem, though- I was a paranormal/fantasy writer through and through... and I couldn't see how I could translate that little piece of life into an entire book-length story. But the idea rattled around in my brain, mixed with every awkward moment I ever had in high school, and out came book- and knitting- obsessed Phoebe, whose entire world is a giant YA novel waiting to happen.

3. What Genre does your book fall under?

• Contemporary (GASP!!!)

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

• This one is hard. I tend to keep my descriptions fairly ambiguous for most of my characters because I want the reader to insert her/his own casting. Grace, for example, is described as having "strawberry blonde hair" and while I've seen caucasian actresses who would fit her character, I also saw a picture the other day of a Korean actress with bleached hair who would fit her as well. Em might have a Greek name (Ephemie) but her dark curls and dark eyes can fit into any number of cultures. But... let's try casting the two MCs:
• Phoebe Martins: In my head, Phoebe is at least half Brazilian and part Portuguese, with grey eyes and a complexion that tans easily. Martins is a common last name in both Portugal and Brazil and her extended family lives in Massachusetts, which has a strong Portuguese and Brazillian community. (hi, background info that never makes it into the story :) !!!)
• So, I actually chose a Portuguese actress who, in a perfect world, would play Phoebe: Mafalda Tavares, back when she was on Morangos com Açucar: 



Her hair is that perfect wurly-ness for Feebs!
Image credit: http://fasmafaldatavares.blogspot.com/






And this is totally Phoebe post-Grace makeover. She wears her hair curled most of the last 2/3rds of the story
Image credit: The actress' facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=180912171970128

 Phoebe also has an older sister, so who better to play Trixie than the other talented Tavares sibling, Cátia:






Their age difference is so perfect and Cátia is also adorable. Who better to play her college-aged fashion-fairy godmother sister?
Image credit: Fas da Catia e da Mafalda Tavares 

• Dev Andrews (last name still in flux): Dev's parents hail from Mumbai, so I'm thinking:
 A younger Shahid Kapoor *swoon*:

C'mon. Wouldn't you want him to serenade you?
Image Credit: Bollywood Pictures Online: http://www.bollywoodpicturesonline.com/shahid_kapoor_01.htm

 And he's just so adorable ("That's All I Really Wanna Do", from Teri Meri Kahaani):

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

• When book-geek Phoebe finds out the hottest guy in the clarinet section is crushing on her, she turns to her fictional idols for advice.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

• I'm still on the traditional publishing bandwagon *crosses fingers* and I'll just keep writing in hopes that someday I get picked up. Nothing against self-pub, it's just not for me right now.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

• I'm usually a fast first-drafter. This one has been slower than usual because of a lot of things that went on in my life (and lots of buisness lunch meetings, which cut into my lunch writing time.) I was already playing around with the two main characters back in February, was outlining March for a plot, voice and pacing came in late April thanks to the SCBWI Poconos retreat, and I really started around July. It will be finished either the end of this month or early December. I miss my 3 month draft binges!

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

• Probably Anna and the French Kiss, Smart Girls Get What They Want, and Anne of Green Gables (yup, rocking it old-school with contemporary)

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

• I'd like to thank mini sock boy, who gave me the catalyst for Phoebe's absolutely miserable situation. Mwahaha. Other inspirations: Every single YA author on the planet, 6th grade camp, Concert band/Wind Ensemble, and the Pine Barrens.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

• This is the book for any girl who has had book boyfriends, who can read and walk at the same time, who dresses like the fictional character du jour, and wishes she was the MC with the hot love interest. Translation: This is an ode to book geeks everywhere.

 Now for the tags. I want to tag each and every one of you because I'm dying to hear more about your WIPs, but since the list would go on forever, I'm only tagging two people based on theme:

In keeping with the Portuguese/Brazilian theme, I'm tagging Rebecca Carvalho
And
In keeping with the New Jersey theme, I'd like to tag Jaybird over at The Bird's Nest

Can't wait to see what you two ladies post next week!

On Being a Wintergirl

I've been bouncing this topic around for a while now. I owe you posts from the SCBWIPA Poconos retreat-- next up are Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful Revision and Keynote speeches. But, before I go into those posts, I really, really wanted to share this with you.

I cried when I met Laurie Halse Anderson. I thought I wouldn't, but I did, as I told her how she got into my head when writing Wintergirls and how much I wished younger me had read that book. Since this is a really tough (and physical) topic, I felt that a video would be the best way to get my story across:

I talk for approximately nine-ish minutes about disordered eating and body image, and read aloud from a few passages in Wintergirls that really fit exactly how I thought through the "over 800 calories a day are bad" time in my life. You definitely don't have to watch the video! And I'll be back with sparkles and happiness in my next post.

But in a world where teenage girls have to fight and petition magazines not to photoshop models and where unrealistic expectations about appearance are placed on both genders by a media machine churning out "perfect" image after "perfect" image, our stories need to come out.

Wintergirls is a good start.

I Blame the Romance Writers

While revising D, I realized that I needed another kissing scene to round out the story.  Not rounding out through the kissing part itself, but through the events for which the kiss is a catalyst (and not that! Get your minds out of the gutter, people!)

Now, y'all know by know that I feel incredibly awkward while writing kissy scenes. While everyone else on #1K1hr or during other writing blitzes would get excited-- "Yes! I finally got to the kissing!", I dreaded them. But this round of revs, I found myself grinning while editing one of the kisses... and was actually looking forward to the new kissy scene.

I blame my romance writing friends. (And YA! YA writerly people who love the kissy scene writing almost as much as I love glitter. And you know how much I love glitter.) *Oscar the Grouch Look* Why for you do that to me? I was happy with the whole begrudging kissy-scene writer label. Now? Now I still feel goofy... but I enjoy it a whole lot more.

Plus, now I definitely need a boyfriend. Because it would be so much better to practice with him. So much better than making weird, vague hand gestures while driving or in the apartment or (worse of all) in my cubicle during lunch hour to make sure my descriptions of hand and arm and head positions in kissy scenes are physically possible/make sense.

It's All Your Fault.

Thank you :)

Tense Enough Yet? (Another SCBWI Poconos Post)

Almost one month later and I'm finally, finally writing up the third "wrap up, what I learned" post from the SCBWI PA Poconos conference. Not the last-- I still have two more workshops and two/three more keynotes to go! I'll eventually post it all-- until then, y'all will have to be patient with me.


(I'm sorry things have been slow on this blog-- between long work hours, physical therapy sessions for my knee and family obligations, my free time is limited and blogging is low on the totem pole. I still love all of you, though!)

Look! A Mountain Laurel! Did that distract you from my foot-dragging blogginess?
(Pic taken in our yard in South Jersey-- I ♡ mountain laurels)

I'm really excited to write about tension today-- since the weekend ended up becoming all about character building for me, I love the tools that were given to us in this workshop. They promise to make my characters' stories interesting.
These notes are from "The Tension Headache", the workshop taught by Sara Sargent, Assistant Editor of YA and MG at Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Children's Books (Follow her on Twitter here.) Like in my character workshop post, I'm not going to write everything I noted down-- I don't think it's fair to transcript someone's entire talk (which is basically what my notes ended up becoming due to all of the wonderful information that Sara gave us!!!), but I will write up the points that resonated most with me:

This quote was underlined in my notebook: "Your novel thrives on drama and tension."-- Drama may stink in everyday life (unless you're a drama queen and love that stuff), but a book without drama is... boring. And a boring book doesn't get picked up by readers (or agents. or editors.)

Sara then went on to describe the different types of dramatic tension that can be present in a novel. There are four ways in which we can torture our characters (My comments in purple, starting with "Mwahahaha"):

• Romantic tension (Please! The "will they, won't they" thing is eeevil, but the fireworks when the characters finally get together are awesome. But maybe that's just me and I like eeeevil *whistles innocently*)
• Environmental tension-(My MS really depends on this and romantic tension, so I listened HARD here)
• World building tension: (Since I'm currently reading Insurgent, I have to pop in here and say that Veronica Roth did a masterful job with world building tension in her books. I cannot wait for book 3!)
• Big ideas: tension revolving around concepts of love, freedom, etc. Sara's example here was 13 Reasons Why. (I think Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and Wintergirls fit in perfectly under this type, as well.)

She suggested that we list out all of the plot points in our stories-- if we see a weakness, editors and readers will, too. The stakes need to be sufficiently high for the tension to be believable.

A lot of this talk really made me think a lot about how to tighten my writing. As someone who can be prone to LM Montgomery-esque purple prose (God, I love that woman, but I also know that I'm no LMM. She was able to get away with long paragraphs of description,) keeping the story moving is always foremost in my brain when I'm plotting and editing. This workshop also is helping me figure out how to drive the plot and interest in the still plotting, still outlining contemporary in my head (yup. Back to Phoebe's story. Always. Because contemporary doesn't have magic or surreal elements to make things easier-- at least, for me.) I like workshops that make me ask questions and that inspire me at the same time.

I'm not sure if these were Sara's exact words or a paraphrase in my notebook, but either way, they're the perfect way to sum up the entire workshop (and end this blog post):

"Up the stakes, threaten your character. Make everything matter. Never be safe."

Next SCBWI PA Poconos installment: How Laurie Halse Anderson made me cry. Sneak peek: "A loving God would not give you the passion to create without giving you the seeds to create. You need to nurture those seeds."

More SCBWI Poconos- Building Character

So many things happened after the SCBWI PA Poconos conference to delay blogging about my experience, but I still wanted to cover my "what I learneds." Meaning: I'll be sporadically posting about the conference over the next few days or weeks. The added benefit of time and distance means that, if the message stuck, it really, truly resonated with me.

I'm going through all of the workshops and events based on mood, in no particular order. Today, I'm in the mood to talk about: Character!

(Confession: when I first signed up for the conference, I had a major brain fail and, instead of signing up for "It's all About the Characters," I signed up for "Getting into Character." Luckily, the awesome conference organizers *THANK YOU, Francesca!* were able to fix this for me. Otherwise, I'd be blogging about doodling character stick-figures in my notebook for two days. Whew!)

The 2012 SCBWI Poconos conference will always be about character for me. My own character as a person/writer  (in the personal sense of the word) as well as bringing out and understanding my characters' voices (in the fictional sense.) I was exposed to character-building moments from breakfast to dinner, in peer critiques and workshops. A lof of this was covered in my first conference post and will probably be covered again in a wrap-up post. Until then, this post is all about...

It's All About the Characters-- Stacy Cantor-Abrams (Entangled Publishing)

The workshop started out with Stacy Cantor-Abrams listing some facts about a girl named "Stacy."  These Stacy-facts were basics that didn't leave much of an impression. We didn't feel a real connection to this Stacy. Then, she told us some more information about "Stacy"-- funny stories, tidbits about her life, emotionally impacting details... and suddenly, we had a "connection" to "Stacy" (BTW, those stories? All true!) She used this exercise to show us how fleshing out a character can help the reader become emotionally invested in him or her. Details and background make a character real to the reader.

From that example, she went on to tell us about what strong characters mean to her, as an editor. Two main points stuck out to me:

1. Teen readers really want to relate to the characters in your novel. Characters are not extraordinary, it's the plot that should be extraordinary.

2. But...sometimes, the character doesn't feel special enough. She'll pass on the MS if she doesn't feel a connection to the main character.

So... how do we DO that connection/special-but-not-too-special thing?

Stacy pulled out a copy of Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein:

*TOTAL aside here... I had seen a few "Waiting on Wednesdays" about this book and between that and  following Stacy's twitter feed's tweets with the most awesome ugly prom dress moments at RT to promote the book... well... I was kind-of dying to get my hands on this book. A girl gets locked in prison on her prom night? Awesome! I had to keep from jumping up and down about the fact that we were going to have her read from an early copy... and restrained myself from begging for a prom dress prison moment. And, no, this has nothing to do with any of my inner geek/mildly gothy/loner girl anti-promness. Not at all :) ANYway...

She read... 3?... excerpts from Pretty Amy, stopping after each excerpt to explain why the scene did a good job of fleshing out Amy's character. She talked about how Lisa Burstein had written backstories about the character relationships-- some that made it into the book, some that didn't, and even how Lisa wrote short bits to audition different types of pets for Amy before deciding on a bird (BTW, I so want to read those, though I do love, love, love her bird.)

And then she handed out a sheet of writing prompts. We were supposed to pick one prompt and put our character into that scene, free of the constraints of the plot of our stories. The idea was to learn more about our characters and how they would react to (sometimes outlandish) different situations. The person whose little bit of writing she liked the most would get that advanced copy of Pretty Amy.

I kind-of wanted that book. Like, grabby-five year-old want for that book. I really LOVE motivation.

Book-hungry, I picked "Your character falls in love at first sight" and set to work on a mini Phoebe-story. Feebs' personality and traits are still in their early stages for me. Right now, her character can very easily become a caricature or (worse) blah if I don't get her voice right, and playing with her like this really seemed to help me learn a little bit more about her. Writing that scene was fun and magical. I'm not exaggerating when I say I was grinning most of the time.

At the end of the fifteen or so minutes, not only did I end up with a scene that may slide nicely into my nebulous semi-plotted mini- sock-boy story (a bit more plotted thanks to tips from Sara Sargeant's Tension Headache workshop), but I also won the book! *throws glitter and confetti into the air* Considering how awesome some of the other pieces read aloud were-- we laughed and clapped and some felt so emotionally, wonderfully immediate-- I'm happy that Feebs made an impression.

*Issy dances around with her copy of Pretty Amy, does a twirl* It definitely lived up to my hopes. I was nothing like Amy when I was a teen and couldn't really relate to her situation, but I still cared about her. That's what makes a book great for me.*throws more glitter*

I'm glad that I was able to squeeze into this workshop. The lessons are still resonating with me weeks later. Since the conference, I've carved out "stress-free" writing times in the morning before work. Sometimes I edit or "really" write, but other times I play and learn about my characters. As emphasized by almost everyone in every workshop, just writing and working on the craft of writing-- including character development-- is necessary. (And it's just plain fun!)

Next installment for my SCBWI Poconos posts: Let's talk Tension!

Walking Inside Fairytales

About a month ago, I blogged to give y'all a glimpse into the images and places that inspired The Desired. Today, I want to tell you about the legends and magic that surround one of the images-- the stone tombs on my great uncle's property.

In the middle of the woods, you can stumble right into the tombs if you're not looking

As I mentioned in my last post, these early medieval tombs littered the landscape...until practical farmers broke them up to use the stone for buildings and walls (and get it out of their way! What's a tomb doing in the middle of perfectly good farm- or wood- land, anyway, right?) The few tombs that survived did so out of luck, geography, superstition, or a sense of historical preservation.

But... an entire blog post about a tomb wouldn't have the same impact without a legend, a guardian, and a locale, right?

Let's start with locale: the foothills of the Serra da Estrela (Star Mountains), the hilly terrain filled with giant granite boulders, ferns, foxglove, blackberry brambles, briers, oak, and (a new transplant) eucalyptus. Twilight brings a fog that rolls over the land, concentrating over forgotten wells that litter the landscape. No city lights-- no lights at all-- exist to fade out the Milky Way that stretches across the sky. The stars are a touchable distance. And this tomb sits in a clearing, undisturbed by people or time.

And now, the guardian and the legend.

There are stories all over Portugal and the Galicia region of Spain that talk about the Moura Encantada, an enchanted maiden who guards castles and lakes and treasures. She can guard the mundane of this world or could be guarding the frontiers of fairyland (the Mourama.) Her tales stretch back from pre-history.

Even though some legends make her a Moorish princess, the name "Moura" doesn't come from "Moor"... but rather from the Latin word for death or the Celtic word for spirit.

She can seduce you, trap you, reward you. But only if you know how to help or free her.

And the tomb? Depending on who you ask, it's her bed (a cama da moura) or where she kneads her bread (a masseira.)

She is legend, woven into the very stone and walls of the land. She is in the songs and the soul of the place. Stories from the Beira region mountains also speak of witches, werewolves, and ghosts that wander the land in addition to these mouras. Is it any wonder that this place is so inspiring?

Side note: The name of my uncle's property where the tomb shown above is located and the name of another property that has been in my own family for centuries is Vale da Maceira, which is pronounced a lot like like "Masseira." "Valley of the Masseira." Interesting...

Singing for my Subs: My Entry for "The Writer's Voice"

For those of you who stopped by this morning when I was lucky enough to make it into the first submission window for the Writer's Voice, I'm so glad that you weren't scared off by my "plop it and go" post. Thursdays are bad for me. Very, very bad! But I managed to squeak into the first submission window right before a video conference at work (shh... don't tell my manager!)

For those of you who have NO IDEA what I'm talking about:

"'The Writer’s Voice' is a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Brenda Drake of Brenda Drake Writes, Monica B.W. of Love YA, and Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.). We’re basing it on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four of us will serve as coaches and select projects for our teams based on their queries and first pages." (BTW, if you're not reading these blogs... shame on you!)

My Disney-esque singing to a pumpkin moment.
The closest thing you'll get to me singing on this blog.

Hopefully, my plot summary (aka, intro- and closing-less query) and my first 250 words are enough to woo me a writing (not skating) coach for The Desired! And please help to cheer me on in this blogfest!

I Haven't Had Chocolate for Fourty Days...

... and I have a ton of edits that involve butt-in-chair action, PLUS I'm working on critiques for the Poconos conference in late April...

Yes, those are more Cadbury Creme Eggs in the background

... this could be bad.

(Happy Easter, Passover, Spring festivals, long weekend...)

Let's Hear it For the Boys!

Back on New Years Day, my baby sister and brother-in-law announced that they were pregnant.  And about a month ago, they had a "gender reveal" during my BIL's birthday party.

It's a boy!

To be honest, when I first heard about pregnancy I picured myself as the aunt of a little girl, doing little girl things, hanging out with her as the cool aunt when she's a teen. Maybe even if I was published by then, being the cool author aunt who wrote stuff that she would love.

But when we bit into the cake balls that my brother-in-law had made for the occasion, the cake inside was blue.*

One of my mom's "little boys"

Suddenly, I thought... "Oh. Boy. A boy. What am I, glittery, sparkly, ballet-dancing and figure skating me, supposed to do with a boy? How am I supposed to be that cool aunt now?" (My practical, girl power voice is screaming right now, "But if the baby was a girl, she might not like traditionally girly things, either! Kids are kids, and even boys can like sparkle." But that still didn't stop me from seeing my dreams of introducing a niece to her first MAC makeup counter float away.)

But, now? I'm excited. I'm looking at little hockey shirts and imagining taking a little brown haired, brown or hazel -eyed munchkin onto the ice. Playing ball with him. Watching him grow up into the awesome young man I know he'll be.

Plus, I love writing the male voice, like Jer and Dev. In about fifteen years, I'll have a beta reader who can totally kick my butt when I'm being inaccurate.


*They didn't have time between the ultrasound and the party to have a cake professionally made, so my sister left the room while my brother in law got the news... and he made chocolate covered cake balls that night so that the gender was a surprise for my sister, too. My BIL is awesome.

Lucky 7

I was tagged for the Lucky Seven Meme by the lovely (and fellow New Jerseyan) Jaybird. (Edited a week later to add: And the amazing, social-director of all things writerly, Kimberly Sabatini!) Which means that I have to do something that has rules. Eep. Sorry, blog-reading people.

And those rules?

1) Go to page 77 of your current MS
2) Go to line 7
3) Copy down the next 7 lines as they're written--no cheating
4) Tag 7 other writers
5) Let them know
When I was originally tagged for this meme, I still hadn't hit 77 (double-spaced) pages on my current MG WIP, so I went to my YA (which is a WIP until I get published or trunk it, right?!?) and hunted down my lucky seven.

From my YA WIP, The Desired.  Sara is speaking with her grandmother in this scene:

...need, and bring this country… or their country… back to greatness. Some even say that Nostradamus’ writings predict his return.”

“When he comes back, they should kick his ass for being such a moron.”

“Sara!” she exclaimed, surprised at my language. I swear, she almost dropped her crochet off of the edge of the balcony.

I shrugged unapologetically. “Well, they should. What idiot does what this guy did? I get the whole ‘thrill’ of going to war and stuff, but that was just plain stupid.


But, thanks in part to Change, Write, Now and a burst of creativity, I actually made a lot of progress in my current WIP. So, I'm also posting my seven from my MG WIP, The Rapunzel Curse (yes, it has a name that doesn't involve letters! I hit my plot goal this afternoon and feel comfortable letting it be more than "TRC." My WIPs need to grow into their names... otherwise, I just feel goofy. Yes, I'm very weird that way.) In this scene, well... it's pretty self-explanatory:

“Yes, Autumn.” Ms. Laurie gave her an exasperated look. “Really, does anyone read fairy tales anymore?”

In the background, Noah was still struggling against the laces.  “What if I need to go to the bathroom?”

“You should have thought of that before you climbed a tower.”

Autumn ignored them both, her new idea filling her with energy. She ran for the window, gathering hair and throwing it as she came close. Her hair arced through the air, its weight carrying it over the windowsill and down to the ground. “Wint, start climbing. Quick!”

And now, my seven.  Wait. It's Sunday night (I'm lazy, yes. I. am) and a lot of bloggers I know have been hit by the meme, as well. soooooooooooo, I'm giving you two. But you'll love these two. Trusssst meeeeee:

DB Graves at Wait... What? Back in February, she shared a small character development backstory. She'll blow. you. away. Seriously.
Sage at Like Fireflies on the Brain OMG. Read her Teaser Tuesdays for her WIP, Taylor Made. You will fall in luuuuurve.

And, taking a page from The Feather and The Rose, those remaining five tags can come from all of y'all in the comments!

Who Are The People in Your Neighborhood...

"... the people that you meet each day?" (Sorry, couldn't help it. And if you grew up in the US and possibly some other countries and don't get the reference, I'm taking away your childhood card.)

"We're each living out our own epic movies, and everyone else around us is a supporting character." 

I've heard variations of this for years now, and can't help but love this description of life.  Usually, it then goes on to say something along the lines of how we have main cast surrounding us (the people who, in some way or another, interact with us on a regular basis), the guest characters, and the extras.  They color our world, giving depth and meaning, comedy and drama and (sometimes) horror to our "movie."

Take my apartment complex, for example. Until I get the heck out of this place, I'm constantly forced to interact with my neighbors... even if I don't want them in my film. They're the extras that color my night and morning. They give me stories to tell and bring out facets of my personality (usually high doses of tolerance and barely contained annoyance) that might not come out through the rest of my day.

There's the creepy woman across the complex who hits on guys who are old enough to be her son. The lady next door who will trap me into one hour conversations about her bathroom. The old woman who wanders aimlessly about the complex, talking to herself. The guy who thinks everyone hates him and constantly tells anyone who would listen. The "drug addict" who (apparently, according to nosy neighbor) has no furniture. Old guy across the hall who keeps jumping out in his boxers to ask me a question when I try to go to work in the morning (I soooo can't unsee that. Heaven, help me.)

The yentas who kept hoping to set me up with grumpy dog walking guy.

I usually try not to put people I know into stories, but these just might make it into a MS or two someday. I just have to find a way to capture all of that particular brand of crazy.

Good books, books that I love, have a diverse and well defined "cast," just like in real life. Underwear neighbor might be incredibly annoying to me, but he's a part of my story (for now.)  Whether I want them in my life or not. My consolation- they're perfect fodder for my own characters' supporting cast.

So... who are the people in your neighborhood? And do you use them as "inspiration"?

Wanderlust and Wanderlove

YA Highway posted a Road Trip Wednesday this week that hits a topic near and dear to my heart...

Travel.

If you could wander anywhere in the world, where would it be, and why?

 If you haven't figured it out from this blog, I love to travel and fall in love so easily with places and people and food (oh, the foods!) My dad is still a little bit disappointed that I never tried to break into travel writing beyond my trip blog.  But the fact is... traveling inspires me. Travel writing doesn't.

For this RTW, I ran over to my planner and pulled out two post-it notes that I keep stuck to my front cover. On those post-its are lists that are constantly evolving:

The Top Ten Places that I want to visit*-- in no particular order:
*That I haven't already visited

1. Greece
2. Egypt
3. Morocco
4. China (during dumpling season... I just want to wander in the cold from dumpling house to dumpling house until they have to roll me back onto a plane)
5. Japan
6. Toronto, Canada (specific, eh? But TO and I have a long history of things happening-- like SARS-- that kept me from visiting. I WILL visit the CN tower one of these days!)
7. The Catskills or Adirondack mountains in the fall/winter (visit meaning: stay at least overnight, since I've been to both on day trips.)
8. Luxembourg
9. Austria.  I blame "The Sound of Music" for this choice.
10. Chile

and...

At the Karla caves in Maharashtra State, India

The Top Ten Places I've been to and want to revisit (again, in no particular order):

1.  Portugal (of course): Evora, Sortelha... it's a little country, but I love every bit of it.
2.  Seville, Spain. Oh, Seville... I love, love, love wandering this city at night.
3.  New Orleans, LA: I don't drink and adore wandering this city early in the morning as it wakes up, so I'm probably an oddity when it comes to tourists in NOLA. But, it truly is beautiful, filled with the greatest music and food and atmosphere on the planet.
4.  Quebec, Canada. Duh.  QC is awesome. Even if I don't really like poutine.
5.  India.  Two weeks was just enough to make me dream of more, more, more.

Sunset over Marine Drive in Mumbai, India
(yes, that's a wrist brace. I traveled with a sprained wrist
and sinus infection. Because I'm tough!)

6.  Prince Edward Island, Canada. The "Gentle Island" captured my heart.  Anybody from there want to adopt me?  Technically, I'd qualify as a "skilled immigrant", if that would make the paperwork easier.  And I actually did pick potatoes a few times as a child...
7.  Ottawa, ON, Canada: I want to skate the Rideau Canal again and then I want to go there during the tulip festival. Oh, and if I do go back? I'm SO staying in the same hotel as I did during my last visit.
8.  Nova Scotia... aw, hell, I should just have written Canada, shouldn't I? That would have covered all 4 mentions on this list.  Uhm, I just really, really like it up there and I have the stamps on my passport to prove it.

Maybe I should put this on blog entries that need a CanCon warning?

The rocks at Peggy's Cove, NS. Don't climb on these.

9.  Nashville, TN. I went there for work and got to see so little of the city, but I'm curious to see more.
10.  France. I really miss Bordeaux and CDG airport (for a while there, I had the terminal layout during construction memorized. And the skating schedule at the ice rink in Bordeaux centre memorized, too.)

Now that you've seen my explosion of wanderlust, tell me about yours!  Where do you dream of wandering?

(ETA 16-March: If anyone wants advice on travelling, travel safety, travelling alone, even finding ways to fund travel, I TOTALLY recommend Wanderlust and Lipstick. Beth's advice is great and I've completely worn out my copies of "Wanderlust and Lipstick for Women Travelling Solo" and "...For Women Travelling to India."  A lot of her advice is common travel sense, but we don't always think of everything! The blogs on her site are also a GREAT way to fuel your wanderlust.

Also, my favorite travel guidebooks come from Lonely Planet. I've found their descriptions and recommendations to be the best and love reading their guidebooks as if they were novels.)

I've Been Tagged!

The ladies at The Feather and The Rose have tagged me!  This means that all of you get six (6) more facts about me.

Sorry!

BUT, then I get to tag other people who are so much more awesome than I am.  And, if they play, you get to learn six facts about them!  Which may actually make up for what you're about to be subjected to:

 

Late 50s, early 60s fascinator-style headband

1930s hat, so jaunty!

1.  I have a small collection of vintage hats. A few from the '30s, a lovely platter hat from the '40s (scroll down to an earlier post for that one), a perfect 1920s cloche, and a few headband-fascinator-y type of hats from the 1950s/60s-- including one with a tag that reads "East Germany"(!!!)  I love those hats, even if I don't get many chances to wear them.

1920s cloche, custom made for the original owner, whose name is embroidered on the hatband

2.  Continuing on the whole "I believe that my life is a costume drama" theme, I have a lot of dresses, many of which could possibly pass for something out of the '40s or '50s.  I look good in full skirts and fitted bodices.

3.  I have a tiny, itty bitty obsession with glitter and shimmer.  My makeup collection is frighteningly sparkly.  And Urban Decay owns my first born.

4.  (SERIOUS ALERT) I was borderline anorexic and had a form of bulemia called "exercise bulemia" for a few years in college. A good day for me was when I ate under eight hundred calories and spent a few hours at the gym with my only goal in life to get down to 135 pounds (on a 5'7" frame that won't healthily go below 140.  The only time that I hit 135 was post surgery with no muscle in my left leg.)  I honestly didn't care if my actions shaved years off of my life because, though I had practically no fat on my body, I still thought that I was huge. It took a lot of encouragement from my friends over a year to get back to a normal eating pattern again. That's part of the reason why I'm so big on promoting a positive and realistic body image for girls.

5.  My favorite summer treat is "creme d'mint" (their name& spelling) water ice from a local ice/custard stand.  No other water ice can match this one!  I'm addicted to my weekly "hit."

6.Watching me try to do hip-hop or tap can be the most comical thing on the planet.  I'm a stiff bunhead who definitely can't pop and lock or "ball-heel-change."  But I can do a mean ballet run. And no, I'll never post video on here of me trying.  It was bad enough to see my jazz teacher giggling at me as I tried to keep up with the guest instructor.

 

 

Those are my six.  Now onto the linkies (Tag, you're it!):

Mia at Literary Jam and Toast - guys, she posts with CARTOONS.  Because she's awesome that way.

Julie at The Climb-- a fellow no-kiss blogfester whose blog is just fun to read

Marnee at her Marnee Bailey-- I met Marnee during a few #1k1hr blitzes on twitter.  Even though she's romance and not YA, her blog posts sooooo apply to any aspiring writer.  And she's just plain sweet and wonderful.

For my remaining three, I refer you to my versatile blogger post :-P Because I'm lazy and enjoy those blogs.

On a totally unrelated note, I've picked up a sense of cute-blog-name envy.  Using just my name was easy, but it's not as fun as... "Get your Tutus ON!" (obvs not that one!) or similar.  If you see a poll on here sometime in the near future to help me pick something adorable, you know why.

Thank you to the Feather and the Rose ladies for this tag!

Does Versatile= Eclectic?

Derailing my usual, organized blog stream (oh, who am I kidding?  Do any two posts on this thing have anything in common?) to ascend to the virtual podium and graciously receive a Versatile blogger award from Colin D. Smith .

Oh, make a speech?  Sure!

I'd like to thank Colin, for mistakenly reading my complete and total scatterbrainness as versatility.  I'd like to thank the voices in my head...

*Gives a look of annoyance at the whispering coming from the side of the stage* Not that kind of speech?  What do you mean, tell people seven things about myself?  What kind of acceptance speech is THAT?  *heaves a huge sigh* Fine.  Buzzkill.

So, seven things about me.  Hmm.

1.  I'm a first generation Portuguese-American.  My parents immigrated to the US when they were young-- my dad when he was twelve and my mom when she was sixteen.  I'm the first generation of my family born in the US, though we've had family members coming and going from here since the eighteen hundreds.

2. My first language wasn't English.  And I wasn't accepted at a preschool because I stubbornly decided that green= "blue"  Most of my English was learned through osmosis in preschool and Sesame Street.  Now, I can speak both languages but am much, much better in English

2a. I talk in my sleep.  And, apparently, I sometimes talk in my sleep in Portuguese. (learned that in college)

3.  I'm always cold, but I love snow and figure skating.  Go Figure.

4.  Speaking of cold, I love Canada.  I have yet to meet a province or territory that I haven't loved (uh, don't send me to Nunavut in the winter to prove me wrong, okay?)  I've volunteered at two Canada Games (PEI and Nova Scotia) and am seriously contemplating a third (Sherbrooke, Quebec.)  When visiting Parliament in 2010, I actually knew who the first PM of Canada was (Sir John A. MacDonald, who LM Montgomery had met when she was young,) and got teary-eyed when NDP leader Jack Layton died this past summer.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."-- From Jack Layton's last letter to Canadians

5.  I once did a clog dance for a character part in "La Fille Mal Gardee".  I even went on my toes in my wooden clogs.  Because that's how I roll (in ballet.)

6.  I always get hungry whenever I read the first chapter or so of Dracula.  But that's because the main character describes so many wonderful meals! Chicken Paprikash--- mmm!

7.  Most people ease into the cadaver part of my job with one body, usually in a small lab situation.  My first cadaver lab had about twelve bodies, all in a bit of a mess because they had already been in use for about a week.  And I had to cross through the lab to get to the changing room while they were pulling the bodies out of the body bags.  When I reached the locker room, I sat down on a bench and dropped my head on my knees, groaning, "I can't do this.  I just can't do this."  But I pulled myself together and I haven't had a breakdown since.  I'm always surprised at how strong we are.

And now it's time for me to pass the torch onto other (much more) deserving bloggers.

J'aime (and it's not just because she's Canadian)
Wait.. What? - who kept me from talking to plants at the SCBWI conference
Madeline Martin -- you will never look at history in quite the same way again

And... though I'm supposed to give out 15, it's 11:53pm, I have a pulled/torn something in my leg, and I'm kind of falling asleep at the keyboard....so you all get three.  And you'll be happy about it.

*Grabs award and runs off with a wave, yelling "You love me, you really love me!"*