Author: Laura

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Good Times

We’re approaching the tail end of January.  And when things come to an end we become very reflective. Sometimes, without realizing it.

I have to start out with saying how proud I am of myself. A vain statement, but for the struggle I’ve endured the past year, these last two months have really brightened my life. I am happy and on my way to the success I have always strived for. I’ve been working hard but I enjoy it. I celebrated my recent accomplishments by buying my dream laptop. My old laptop died right after Hurricane Sandy (or Tropical Storm). I used my sisters laptop up until now. It feels great to have my own personal machine to get things done.

I’m finally reaching a point in my life where everything is coming together. I can plan for big things now and that is already a nice sentiment to look forward to.

Here is hoping everyone  finds the success they have worked hard for and searched for. It can be a long or short road, bumpy or smooth. The important part is to just keep going.

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I won NaNo!

All November I had been blathering on about NaNoWriMo, so if you’re reading this you’re likely to know the gist of it as well.

I validated my novel around 6 p.m. local time on November 30, 2013. NaNo was one of the most thrilling, stressful, and fulfilling ventures I have ever undertaken.

Some further obstacles I faced while writing to reach the 50,000 minimum were going away for a week in November to Phoenix. It was a whole week of not writing, not thinking about the story, and alas, when I came back home just a few days shy of Thanksgiving I had no motivation to write/ ideas to propel my story. I was at about 35k for the word amount around Thanksgiving, and there was such a crunch to reach the deadline. It was exhilarating.

Since it has been almost a month since the end of NaNo, I have been quite busy. I started a new job and have been training and trying to balance everything else in my life with it, so I haven’t spent any time writing or editing. I hope to give myself some extra time and come January pick it up again. I would love to start trying to get a book deal or self-publish in the spring time.

This past month has also been exhausting for the major fan in me. My beloved Doctor Who series had their 50th Anniversary special last month, and last night, on Christmas, I saw my Eleventh doctor depart from the show to welcome in the new Doctor played by Peter Capaldi. I will not get too into it but Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor, so it was very hard for me to watch him go. The sadness in his eyes as he said his last lines were incredibly tough and I definitely spent my Christmas night sobbing into my pillow and squeezing my cat. I will miss you incredibly so, Matt Smith.

Also, the new Sherlock season starts next month and we were graced with a mini episode. It definitely has me excited. I’m talking about the Sherlock series on the BBC. Gosh, I’m such an anglophile.

In addition I saw the movie Frozen last month and thought it was truly magical. I love the direction Disney went with it. The music was a glorious mix of classic Disney tunes and Broadway ballads.

I also went to an advanced screening of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug a few weeks ago. It was PHENOMENAL. Yes, the book purist will definitely have problems with it, but I love the story Peter Jackson has added to the classic book. I do not believe he tainted it.

So there we go, a big write-up right before the New Year.

I hope everyone has been having a lovely holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and will have a joyous, prosperous, and most importantly healthy New Year!!

 

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So far, so good!

Well it looks like my first NaNoWriMo is going swimmingly. I just reached 35k. Remember the goal to reach by November 30th is 50k.

I charged through today writing six thousand words. Tomorrow (technically today but it is only a little after midnight) is a busy day for me. So I won’t have much time to write.

Sunday I might actually be leaving for Arizona to visit my brother, his gf, and their pets! I hope my travel plans work out! My brother moved out of there about six years ago for college and he’s anchored down there. I’ve never been there.

That’s why I blitzed out 6k today! I need to be ahead of writing. I may print out the last few pages of my story and bring a notebook to add on a bit, but I don’t know if I can fit it in my carry-on.

Perhaps I’ll get a little more down tomorrow night before I leave on Sunday morning. If you do not hear from me all week it is because I am enjoying the beautiful 80 degree Phoenix weather. Oh yeah, be jealous! It will be nice to revel in the warmth while in New York we are teetering on 40/50 degree days, and very chilly nights!

 

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Still excited….

I’m still excited over NaNoWriMo, so I decided I just need to share my Facebook photo/cover photo. This is on my personal account. If you’d like to follow me, please follow on my professional public page, Laura T. Cerrone.

 

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Look how glorious this is! I have a crown! And the infamous British wartime motivational saying fine-tuned to feed the needs of a NaNoWriMo-er (that is getting to be a doozy typing out constantly, haha).

 

And now, back to the story!!

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NaNoWriMo!

nanobanner

NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month] is changing my life. I expected it to be hard, exhausting, and consuming; and it has definitely lived up to those descriptions. But, for me, it is also cleansing and a journey of discovery. With a week under the belt I have over 21,000 words and my expected date of completion is November 19 currently.

 

On Thursday I churned out 6,000 words alone, my best to date. The task drained me and yesterday I reached a minimum. The important thing is that I wrote. And I am continuing to write.

The most interesting part is my personal interaction with the characters I’ve created. They surprise me. We have discussions and arguments about their lives. I can see a reflection of me in each of them, even the antagonist (which isn’t a person but more of the ideology of society).

‘Tortured writer,’ has a new meaning for me. It’s not just sitting at a desk, coffee or drink in hand barreling out words until one sheet of paper doesn’t become a makeshift basketball for the garbage. ‘Tortured writer’ is the emotional connection I have to my characters, to write their story with integrity, justice, continuity. For those I want to suffer, I make their suffering real, and with the hopes that the situation they are in garners the appropriate reaction of sympathy. If I’m off doing something else other than writing I’ll often have to stop to jot down a new idea or a phrase that really brings in the story to its crucial points.

The support of my friends has been fantastic. I’ve told them a bit about my story and they all have voiced their support that I can write this story. My family is a little more apprehensive, but I believe their concern is about the constant cries of back pain from me sitting at a chair all day (and night).

I can’t believe it has only been eight days in.

If I feel this much different, I wonder who I will be on December 1, when all the writing has stopped and hopefully I will have surpassed the 50,000 word minimum.

I’ll try and check in with my observations every week.

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Happy NaNo!

Good afternoon!

It is November 1st! And that means the start of National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo!

This year is the first year I’m participating, and lo and behold I’ve just written my first sentence! A breeze. Thousands more to go I’m afraid.

NaNoWriMo has participants write every day, from Nov. 1- Nov. 30 and complete 50,000 words. A novel!

So I am not going to drabble on, since my goal is to hit about 2,000 words today and I’ve got… 27.

So I’ll bid you adieu!

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The Journalism Toolbox

A funny yet cynical journalist page I follow on Facebook posted this highly useful resource list. I know about a bunch of the ones on the list but would like to share with you the completed list of media resources. I think tomorrow I will spend most of the gleaning all the good I can from these pages. This will inevitably turn into a multi-day thing, so I will be updating constantly with my new finds and my thoughts.

 

Here’s the page and if you have any others that are not listed there, please comment below!

The New Media Landscape: From VICE Media to PokiesPros

 

P.S: I am also participating in NaNoWriMo this year! If you’d like to be friends there, contact me!

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Research- What’s in a name?

I’m looking to interview people with the same name as any notable public figure. If you or someone you know shares a name with a celebrity, criminal, fictional character, or any other famous name, please do not hesitate to contact me.

My email is lauratcerrone@gmail.com.

Please help me find these people.

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Autumn

I’m writing this a few minutes before midnight while it’s still 9/22, so forgive me if I use the word ‘today’ and this is posted on 9/23.

 

I woke up early to a beautiful Sunday morning which I haven’t done in quite some time. I nibbled on cookies for breakfast and than ventured out into the sunshine. I filled up my gas tank, witnessed two car crashes, and got my first massage. It was a present from my sister for my birthday a few weeks ago and I just got around to making the appointment for today.

Since I’ve never been to a masseuse I didn’t know what proper etiquette was.  My masseuse was named Bree and after a few minutes of feeling vulnerable nearly naked in front of a stranger I came to a relaxed state. I had begun the session worrying what she was thinking about all my imperfections. But her hands were reading the knotted lines on my body. I could feel through her gentle hands a grimace. Maybe she was sad that I had all these knots and scars that could not be seen. I am young but not young in the mind. She could tell.Her hands were warm and I trusted them.

Amanda Palmer is a musician, and she recently had a TED talk. In that talk, she spoke about her time as a living statue performing on the street. When she would hand someone a flower, she connected with them. She saw them.

I think Bree read me the same way Palmer saw people. I stopped caring whether she thought I had bad skin or not. Her ultimate goal was to make me feel empowered again, physically and spiritually. She turned back the years on a mind that was beginning to wither away.

The rest of my day was nothing out of the normal. I returned home and had some lunch and then visited Barnes and Noble. I bought A Casual Vacancy and The Lovely Bones after two hours of meandering the stacks of books. I came close to buying The Gravity of Birds but I think I’ll save that for next time. There’s a pile of books that beckon me to read them already.

The next few hours I enjoyed a pumpkin spice latte and the company of a really good book, American Gods by Neil Gaiman. There’s a part in the book I just reached about the Holocaust and slave trade that really rattled me and I didn’t get too far after that. But I enjoyed the crisp fall air, the tough pages of a book, and hours to reflect on the impact the words had on my life.

After dinner I went out to get drinks with a few friends. One of my best friends just came back from a work trip in Europe. I am so proud of her accomplishments, it is so hard to be successful in our chosen career paths (she’s a photographer).

When I got home, my dad was in from work. He seemed tired but it ended up being grief. A coworker of his passed way in a car accident earlier that morning. His coworker had just got off shift and was leaving work, and not even a block away from the parking lot he was hit by a truck. My dad was very upset and started to ramble off about his coworkers wife and children. It was very heartbreaking.

For the better part of the day I felt uplifted and spirited. And even though today was generally no different from my other Sundays, it was beautiful.