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The Writers’ Platform-Building Campaign Rides Again!

I’m so excited to take part in Rachael Harrie’s 4th Writers’ Platform-Building Campaign! I joined up last August for the 3rd round, and had an absolute blast discovering new bloggers and writers. If you want to sign up for Round 4, fill out this form, add your name to the list of campaigners, and don’t forget to follow #writecampaign on Twitter.

First, a little about me. I’m originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but I’ve spent almost 3 years living in Santa Barbara, CA and working my way through a PhD program in sociology. I’m doing the big-time juggling act, balancing coursework, research, and teaching with writing, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My Kindle is my inanimate lover, I am obsessed with Byronic heroes, and I drink more tea than is probably healthy… but it’s all good, right? 😉

I’ve been writing for fun since I was a kid, but I decided to tackle writing as a career almost a year ago. At the moment, I’m trying to wrap up the first draft of TELL ME NO LIES, a steampunk murder-mystery set in 1890s San Francisco, and work through PATH TO THE PEACOCK throne, a fantasy novel I started during NaNoWriMo 2011. You can see my works in-progress, along with a couple of excerpts, here.

I also try to blog a couple of times a week, though depending on how much grading I have to do, that can change. 😉 In the weeks to come, expect to see some flash fiction, major fan-girling for Hugh Jackman, and some life reflections (these seem to be connected with turning 25). I’ll also be posting regular updates for A Round of Words in 80 Days, “the writing challenge that knows you have a life” (a writing community/challenge that I highly recommend).

You can find me around the interwebz on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook (feel free to friend me or subscribe to my public updates, whichever you prefer). I also post writing inspirations to Tumblr and Pinterest.

I look forward to connecting with old and new friends, and getting to know all of you.

-Lena

ROW80: The First Check-in of 2012

January 7, 2012 / Lena Corazon / 52 Comments

It’s my first check-in post of 2012! I’m at the end of my month-long winter vacation, and preparing to head back to school on Tuesday. I’m reluctant to leave my parents’ house — I’ve had a wonderful break, and I hate saying goodbye to them — but I am trying to remember that I have slightly over six months remaining in Santa Barbara, and then I will be back here for at least another year, if not two.

The last week has been a bit of a muddle in terms of tackling goals; I imagine that once classes start up, it will be easier to maintain a normal schedule. Here’s what I’ve managed to get done in the meantime:

Writing: Nothing new here, though I finally received my copy of THE BARBARY COAST, Herbert Asbury‘s 1933 “informal history of the San Francisco underworld” (Asbury is also the author of THE GANGS OF NEW YORK, which Martin Scorsese adapted into film). I’m excited to read through the book, as it’s much-needed research for my steampunk tale, TELL ME NO LIES.

Day Job: I had promised my advisor that I would have a complete draft of my thesis to her around December 15th, but between family, the holidays, friends, and getting sick last week, I fell behind in my work. I am happy to report, however, that I am roughly 2-3 paragraphs away from completing the dratted project. There are still holes that will need to be filled in before I defend the final version, but for the moment it is mostly done. It is just over 25k, which is about 75 pages long, and while I can’t help but glare at it (this is what happens when one has been dragging along the same project like a ball and chain for over 3 years), deep down I have an inkling that it is not altogether terrible work… and might actually be rather good.

Social Time: Ironically, this is the one area where I have excelled this week. On Monday my friends and I went out for a sing-along showing of West Side Story, followed by cocktails and sushi. I’ve seen one of my other friends twice this week for study parties/marathons of Big Bang Theory, my new favorite television show. And my mom and I have gone out a few times for shopping and eating out.

Social Media: I fell behind here — no new blog posts besides Monday’s ROW80/Inspirations post, and not much by way of blog-hopping, except for the ROWers I was able to visit on Monday and Tuesday. This is another area I’m hoping will improve once I get back to school and fall into a routine.

Exercise: Another place for lots and lots of improvement. I haven’t gotten any exercise this week (my mom is currently yelling at me to get a move-on, so I really need to take her advice), but tomorrow I will hopefully pull it together and get started.

50/50 Challenge: This is actually a goal that I forgot to include during my first ROW80 post. I’m taking on the 50/50 Challenge, where participants pledge to read 50 books and watch 50 films during 2012. I haven’t watched any new movies yet (except for maybe half of Contagion, which was okay, but not nearly as good as Outbreak), but my reading has shot through the roof in the last week, thanks to my brand-new Kindle. My progress can be found on my shiny new 50/50 Challenge Page.

I’ve read a total of 8 books since 2012 started, including Diane Capri’s wonderful CARLY’S CONSPIRACY (a must-read for anyone who enjoys murder mysteries and lady sleuths), Shelly Adina’s steampunk novel LADY OF DEVICES (I’m currently reading the sequel, HER OWN DEVICES and loving it), and Suzanne Collins‘s HUNGER GAMES trilogy. I am narrowly resisting the urge to write in caps about how obsessed I am with THE HUNGER GAMES, and Katniss, and Peeta (swoon), but suffice it to say that I have not been this taken with a series since I read Karen Marie Moning’s FEVER books last fall.

Next up on the TBR list is the 2nd-4th books in Diana Gabaldon’s LORD JOHN series (the spin-off from the OUTLANDER books), followed by a few novels by my WANA friends: AGAIN by Diana Murdock, DRAWING FREE by Elena Aitken, and ELEMENTAL MAGIC by Angela Wallace.

-oOo-

There’s definitely room for improvement, but in my defense, I am slowly easing my way into this round of ROW80 (thank goodness we have 80 days!). How’s everyone else doing so far?

ROW80: The Party’s Here!

October 5, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 22 Comments

I’ve been having so much fun dancing to ABBA, drinking pina coladas and nomming on cupcakes and jalapeno poppers and pizza that I almost forgot to write my mid-week ROW80 check-in post! So here I am, reporting in on the progress I’ve made on my goals so far. Feel free to munch on some cake while you read on.

Oh, and have a mimosa, too. Fresh berries have been added in for garnish. 😀

Mimosas, anyone?

I wanted to thank everyone for all the awesome comments on my first post, though I had to laugh at all the comments about how organized I am! I have to admit, trying to become an organized person has been the quest of my life. I was always the kid who forgot her homework in her desk, or at home, or lost it in her backpack. And I was always the kid who was chronically late to class (though this was more my mom’s fault that mine), who managed to lose pens and pencils and shoes and toys…

So the whole “let’s get organized” quest (can we make that a song and sing it to the beat of “Let’s Get Physical” by Olivia Newton-John?) is a little scary for me, and something I’ve been trying to attempt for a long, long time.

Thus far, my attempt at following a schedule has been fairly successful. My classes are all in the morning, and after a few months of staying up till roughly 3 or 4 am, and not getting up till 11 am, adjusting has proven a bit difficult (but not impossible).

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that when my alarm goes off each morning, I need to launch myself out of bed and not look back. I tried this Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday mornings, and ended up jazzed, energized, and super energetic for the rest of the day. Tuesday I decided to just lay in bed for a couple of hours and blogsurf, and yiiiiikes… I dragged the entire day.

Anyway, here are the concrete accomplishments this week:

Thesis-izing: Progressing a bit slowly here. I got in roughly 30 minutes yesterday, but ended up taking a nap because I was so low on energy. I’ve actually been feeling a little down about my work and its importance, but after seeing Prof. Melissa Harris-Perry speak at my campus last night, I had a sudden resurgence of excitement about my work and the direction it might take for the dissertation. For the record, MHP is an amazing public intellectual, an inspirational black feminist, and a dynamic speaker, and I got her autograph and a picture with her. Seriously, I’m still giddy over this.

Work on WIPs: I’ve been doing a little outlining and brainstorming for NaNo, which is proving interesting. I think the project I’ll be tackling is actually going to end up being written in the 1st person, so I’m trying to get into that mode by reading some of my favorite 1st person novels (Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart series). I’ve also been trying to write this new story that hit me the other day, but words are proving difficult to come by. I’m hoping that wears off over the next few days.

Social Media: I’m a little behind on visiting everyone’s blogs, but hopefully I’ll catch up by the weekend. I have to say, though, that I have been having way too much connecting with all my ROW80 peeps today. 😀

Exercise: I worked out Sunday and Monday mornings, and I’m hoping to get some time in on my glider tonight, so I’m on schedule to meet my goal of working out 4-5 days this week.

And there we have it! I’m hoping that all my energy and excitement for tackling goals and responsibilities and whatnot continues throughout the end of the week. In the meantime, I offer a few more party pics…

Cupcakes for all!

And we can’t forget the mixed drinks. What’s a party without something cold and tasty in a martini glass?

Finally, I will be rocking my giant 80s hair for all of you as I prance around in my favorite sparkle shoes and froufy dress and dance to the party playlist. Be sure to swing by the other ROW80 partiers and wish them well!

#ROW80: Round 4 Goals

October 3, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 35 Comments

It’s here, it’s here! A Round of Words in 80 Days, Round 4, is here!

ROW 80, of course, is none other than the awesome writing challenge that knows you have a life. It’s flexible, because it allows us to pick our own manageable goals, and there’s no penalty for having to switch goals up midway through.

As many of you know, I participated in Round 3 and had an absolutely amazing time. Publicly posting my goals, as well as progress updates, really gave me the boost I needed to tackle my various WIPs. I’m proud to say that I accomplished a lot, and I wouldn’t have done it without the support and encouragement of the friends that I’ve made.

I want to carry on the discipline that I’ve started to build into Round 4. I have a lot going on in the next few months, and so I’m hoping to use my goals as a way to help me focus on what needs to get done. This time around, I’ve decided to tackle weekly goals, and instead of targeting a specific word count, I’m trying to estimate a certain number of hours that I’ll spend on each goal. I think this will be a bit more flexible, and a little easier for me to complete.

The Goals!

Write, edit, and polish the MA thesis. I have roughly 8-10 hours per week set aside to tackle this project, which is at the top of my priority list for this round.

Write, edit, and develop WIPs. I have another 8-10 hours per week scheduled to deal with my fiction-writing, though I may have adjust the number of hours as we go. For the month of October, my writing time will consist of outlining, plotting, and planning my November NaNo project. I’ll also be editing TELL ME NO LIES, my August CampNaNo story, and toying with an idea for a novella that popped into my head yesterday (not sure how far this third project will go, but there is an outline, and a cast of characters, and an interesting set of problems at stake, so we’ll see). Once November rolls around, I’ll be in full-scale NaNo mode, and my writing time will most likely be consumed with trying to reach my 1667+ words per day.

Tinker with author platform/social media stuff. I’ve made the decision to hold off on declaring a set number of weekly blog posts for the moment, beyond ROW80 check-ins, that is. I’ve just started Kristen Lamb’s “Blogging to Build Your Brand” class (and there are a number of ROW-ers in the mix as well!), which will last through November. The course assignments will help me to further refine my goals and topics for my blog.

Exercise 4-5 times each week. I started making some progress with this goal towards the very end of Round 3, and I’m determined to keep up my momentum during Round 4.

I have a fancy-schmancy schedule that I’ve made myself to help me stay on track, and I’m utilizing Google calendar’s task list so that I remember everything that needs to get done. I’ll also be trying out some techniques to help me stay focused (there are a few that I found here that are really going to come in handy, I think).

I’ve peeked at the linky list to see who’s signed up for this round, and there are almost 100 people listed! I’m super excited to get to know all the new participants, and to catch up with my old friends… and I’m even more excited to party with everyone on Wednesday for our “Rock the ROW” Twitter party! We’ve got loads to celebrate, so I hope that everyone who (1) participated in the last round, (2) jumped in for this round, or (3) just wants to check out our awesomeness swings by. There will be bubbly drinks and dancing for all! 😉

The details:

Theme: “Rock the Row”
However you want to work that in is great. I leave it to your outrageously creative imagination!
Date: October 5th, 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM ET in the U.S.
This also happens to be the first day of check-in so there should be a ton of ROW80 fun happening around the blogosphere.
Party will be held at the #ROW80 hashtag.
Fire up your Tweet Deck or HootSuite and let’s get jiggy with it.
Photo Competition:
You can start now…we won’t tell. Start digging for or taking photos that reflect the theme. We’ll do our best to gather them and decide on the best to spotlight in a post at the ROW80 blog. One the readers vote, the 1st place winner gets a copy of Kait Nolan’s latest book, Red, in e-book format!!
Friendly Blog Competition
We will also post a mash-up of favorite ROCK THE ROW posts at the Row80 blog.

See you all at the #ROW80 hashtag on October 5th, and in the meantime, visit the other participants and check out their goals!

The End of Summer: A Recap

September 29, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 15 Comments

I’ve survived the first week of school, and October is looming before me, cinnamon and pumpkin-scented, filled with the promise of chilly, cozy nights and the inevitable march towards winter.

I really wish leaves on trees changed color where I live. Autumn leaves are so beautiful!

I’ve been a bit remiss when it comes to blogging, responding to comments, and making the rounds through my Google reader, but with my mom in town for a week and a half, and the various challenges related to packing, moving, and doing lots of traveling and sight-seeing, I suppose I was being a little ambitious, thinking I could maintain the approximately three million things I took on over the summer.

Certain things fell by the wayside this month: the awesome Dice Games flash fiction challenge that I had planned on tackling; visiting my fellow #writecampaigners on a regular basis; editing and rewriting TELL ME NO LIES. On the other hand, I’ve had the chance to visit with friends and family, including my mom, my younger sister, and other extended family members.

At any rate, October is almost here, and with school is full swing, I’m reevaluating everything that I have on my plate. I can’t quite give anything up; I refuse to go another semester without writing, and social media and blogging is something that nourishes me in a way that nothing else can. I’ve come to depend on the community and the connections that I’ve made over the past few months, and I don’t plan on walking away from it any time soon.

Instead, what I’ll be doing is retooling the way that I approach my various responsibilities. I’m using Google calendar to create a detailed schedule for myself, setting aside time for writing and social media, time to deal with the mountain of reading I have for class, time to work on my thesis, and time to prep for the sections that I have to teach.

I’m also rethinking how I tackle blogging. While I like the themed days I’ve been trying out over the past few weeks, I think I’m going to have to scale back a bit, at least until l can build up a decent queue of posts. Right now the pace of trying to write and edit daily is way more than I can conceivably handle, so the plan for the moment will consist of ROW80 updates, and one or two extra posts in addition. We’ll see how it goes!

In the meantime, many fun things have happened in the past weeks. To recap:

Blog Awards!

My fellow ROWer, Em, over at Loves to Read, Wants to Write, as well as Miho Li (who I know from the writecampaign), both awarded me the Versatile Blogger. Sorry for taking so long to announce and link back, you two!

I won’t bore everyone with another list of 7 random things, but I will link back to my original post of randomness.

Writing Challenges

The 2nd challenge for the Writers’ Campaign was a doozy, one that asked us to use lots of obscure words that I haven’t seen since my SAT prep days, but overall, it was pretty enjoyable.

My entry is “Imago, Shattered,” and one day if I ever have the time, I am going to expand the scene. There’s much more that happens between Robert and Tessa that I couldn’t pack into 200 words.

I also entered Jenny Hansen’s “Dirty Fighting” contest, where we had to write a 150 snippet using any of the 23 Dirty Fighting Techniques she shared on More Cowbell (I encourage everyone to check out the list. It’s a fantastic resource for building tension in your writing).

My entry, along with 2 others, were chosen for an on-screen edit by none other than the Naked Editor herself, Tiffany Lawson Inman. Tiffany took my little drabble of a tale and kicked it up fifteen notches — so. darn. awesome. Check out the original top 3 entries, as well as Tiffany’s mark-ups — I learned a ton from all of her comments.

Rock the ROW!

Round 4 of A Round of Words in 80 Days begins next Wednesday, October 5th. To celebrate the general awesomeness of everyone who has been involved, will be involved, or has supported those who have participated, we are throwing a full-scale, 24 hour long Twitter party. Here are the details, via Jenny Hansen:

Theme: “Rock the Row”
However you want to work that in is great. I leave it to your outrageously creative imagination!
Date: October 5th, 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM ET in the U.S.
This also happens to be the first day of check-in so there should be a ton of ROW80 fun happening around the blogosphere.
Party will be held at the #ROW80 hashtag.
Fire up your Tweet Deck or HootSuite and let’s get jiggy with it.
Photo Competition:
You can start now…we won’t tell. Start digging for or taking photos that reflect the theme. We’ll do our best to gather them and decide on the best to spotlight in a post at the ROW80 blog. One the readers vote, the 1st place winner gets a copy of Kait Nolan’s latest book, Red, in e-book format!!
Friendly Blog Competition
We will also post a mash-up of favorite ROCK THE ROW posts at the Row80 blog.

For my writing friends who haven’t jumped onto the ROW80 bandwagon, I encourage you to do so. The folks who are apart of this community are some of the most supportive I’ve ever met, and there’s nothing better than having a built-in cheerleading squad, especially as November inches closer. I credit ROW80 with helping me break out of a very long, very painful period of writer’s block, and I can’t wait for Round 4 to start. I’ve got some goals that I’m eager to share. 😀

How’s everyone doing? Are you ready for autumn, or hanging on desperately to summer? (I’m part of that latter category, in case you hadn’t noticed. :p)

Something Looks a Little Different…

September 12, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 22 Comments

If things look a little strange around Flights of Fancy, don’t worry — it’s not your imagination. I’ve done a bit of tweaking here and there to officially introduce my new pen name, Lena Corazon.

I’m utilizing WordPress’s Site Redirect service, which means that you can continue to utilize the old links for my original blog (jamilajamison.wordpress.com), but they will automatically be rerouted to the new site. The service will last for a year, so there’s not a huge rush to change up your links/RSS feeds, etc. All the same, you’ll want to update things over eventually.

If you glance over at the sidebar, you’ll notice that I’ve added some shiny new buttons linked to my other social media profiles, including an option for the very nifty Google Friend Connect and a badge for my Facebook author page. Feel free to join my ~~horde of zombie followers~~ merry band of friends, using whichever medium you most enjoy.

The process of exporting my WordPress blog to a self-hosted site has been mostly smooth. You’ll notice that my old username remains for any comments that I wrote prior to the Grand Renaming — slightly confusing and a little irritating, because I thought I could get rid of that, but whatevs. Otherwise, everything should work the way it’s supposed to function. If there are issues, leave me a comment and I’ll look into it.

Hopefully you all get used to the new name! I’ll happily answer to either Lena or Jamila, so pick whichever one you prefer. 😀

ROW80 Check-In: Chilling Out

September 7, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 16 Comments

Many, many thanks for all of the responses to my last check-in post. All of the support, advice, and hugs were most appreciated. You are all incredible!

In more blog award news, Gene Lempp and Heather over at My Demon Spirits passed the Liebster onto me, and on Monday I also received Appreciated Follower award from Marie Andrews. Both Gene and Marie have been wonderful friends over the past few months that I’ve participated in ROW80, and I’m quite grateful to them both. Heather is a new friend that I’ve made through the Writers’ Campaign, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better.

I love seeing all of these blog awards going around — it gives me a really lovely sense of community. Gene’s latest post provides an excellent discussion about the importance of blog awards, which I highly recommend checking out. In addition, Marie’s latest short story, “Iron Butterfly,” is available over at Nevermet Press, so swing by and read that as well. Finally, Heather’s delightfully creepy flash fic for our Campaign challenge is up, and you all must check it out.

I have done my best to chill out over the past few days. Not focusing on the WIP has helped me to feel a little less pressured, though I will admit that I am starting to go through withdrawal. I peeked at TELL ME NO LIES the other night, and had one of those lovely serendipitous moments where I thought, “Wow, I wrote this?” It is raw, it is unpolished, it is a bit like a diamond in the rough, but I might be able to get a decent novel out of it at some point. 😀

Here are some other things I’ve done this week:

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