My Blog

365 NEW Days, and the Counting Begins

by Ninagracia, posted in Opinion Writing, Writing

Perhaps, we are still feeling exhausted after those endless preparations for Christmas, then New Year has just begun.

Just imagine a tree shedding off its old leaves and flowers, day after day, until the last leaf fell on the ground on December 31. With great anticipation, only one minute before the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. we welcome the new day and the new year.

Just imagine too, how we watched that leaf fell on the ground. And the much-awaited desire to see new foliage comes out as soon as the clock ticks to signify a new day.

Just imagine too, what is playing in our heads while watching that new leaf comes out from that tree. We feel the excitement of what the foliage will look like this time and the flowers it will bring us, or perhaps fear of the unknown, for nothing is certain anymore in this world.

Whatever the new year has brought us, we have 365 NEW days to re-start and begin all over again. It is like peeling off old or dead skin to allow the new and fresh coat to grow. While to other people, the new year is to continue what they have started.

Some of us make resolutions every new year promising to accomplish a personal goal or do something to improve one’s life.

Other people set up unrealistic goals with a list of Dos and Don’ts. It seems that they are sincerely following their guidelines from morn till night and changes have been made for themselves.

However, slight mistakes are unavoidable. One of the resolutions is beginning to miss. . . two. . . then three . . . and so on until the whole list is omitted. Afterwards, they feel sorry for what happened. They even find them funny objects of amusement, yet everything is wasted – the time and the effort used.

On the other hand, some devotedly fulfilled their missions. Still, it then takes time and patience to be successful in undertaking these goals.

Listed resolutions are not needed unless we have the so-called faith in determining and knowing ourselves our capacity to understand right from wrong. In other words, “self-study” is necessary for better living.

No matter what we are aiming to achieve in our life for this new year, determination and commitment to our goals would take us there.

If we aim every day to change something small in ourselves for personal growth, perhaps it would be accessible and achievable.

Remember, there are only 24 hours in a day, a small chunk to consider compared to 365 days to battle with, tirelessly which seems no end.

Change something in yourself, whatever comes to your mind, one bite size at a time would make us feel better and more accomplished than you would ever imagine.

Aiming for a change? Try it piece by piece, one chunk at a time. They are easier to swallow and more achievable.

Before you knew it, you would be looking at the mirror to a new YOU, and that would be the fresh flower that would be coming out of that old tree.

Happy New Year.

Pavlova, the Guinea Pig

by Ninagracia, posted in Books, Children's Books, Featured post

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is finally here. After weeks of preparations, most of our time was consumed to buying so many gifts for friends and family.

Decorating your home and planning that great Christmas party is not easy. Before you knew it, the BIG DAY is already here.

After all these big fusses, what you want is throw yourself on the couch to rest your aching feet. 

You waited for so long for that holiday break from your busy schedules at work and family. Let us not forget too, that you have been dreaming that long and uninterrupted sleep-in for so many days.

Well, Christmas has its way of making us happy like the music we hear, the gifts we received, and the food we eat.

We are always getting spoilt with so many delicious foods, especially desserts, and excuses for skipping dessert is not welcome this time of the year. No one wants to be on a diet on Christmas!

So, who likes Pavlova, anyone?

No, not that kind of pavlova.

But,

This kind of Pavlova, our little guinea pig with fluffy brown fur. He wears a white crest on top of his head like a crown. . .

He can’t resist the sweet smell and the bright colour of strawberries



So, he stole some strawberries from the pavlova (the dessert)

PAVLOVA is my upcoming project for young children.

I still have no idea how the story about Pavlova will turn out, but I will update everyone on the progress of this book. I am sure it’s not going to be hard to come up with a story because he is such a cheeky little thing.

Alongside with my contemporary romance novel, Thinner than Water, this book is for people like us who still believe that love is a beautiful piece of art.

The story is packed with drama, intrigue, and struggles to beat the odds. It is still a work in progress, but you’re all welcome to have a peek on the development of this book.

For the meantime, let’s have pavlova. Yes, the dessert!

Merry Christmas.

Meet the Characters in “Gracie…Shhh!”

by Ninagracia, posted in Books, Children's Books, Featured post

Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you may want to take a break from all these Christmas poetry and letters you’ve been trying to write for your loved ones to be featured here on “Get Creative With Me”.

For the meantime, why not grab a cup of coffee and take a sip and allow me to introduce to you my characters in my Children’s Book, “Gracie…Shhh!”

If you haven’t read the book section of my site yet, I introduced the three main characters.

DONALD, GRACIE, AND MAKENA

Here’s an excerpt from that book. Gracie has some opinions of her own about Makena and Donald.

Okay, move your cursor up to my Book Section, and click Children’s. Come on, it’s not that hard. It’s a good exercise for your aching finger, you know (ha! Ha!)

I understand if you’re feeling tired. Christmas shopping is taking up all our energies lately. So, let me take you there. Come on, let’s go.

Get Creative With Me: Simple Thanks

by Ninagracia, posted in Personal Pieces, Poetry

The Christmas carols we hear, the colourful decorations on the shops, the gifts, foods, and Christmas trees, mean only one thing: Christmas has arrived once again.

Christmas is the best time of the year to reach out to families and friends and let them know that we always think of them. No matter how far or near we are, a simple “thank you” could bring happiness into each other’s lives.

“Get Creative With Me”. This is an invitation from my Facebook Page to join me in celebrating Christmas by posting your original poetry or letter to friends and families, or to someone you love.

Here’s one from Nathan: A thank you message…

To Angela

  • Thank you for making me special-the things you do, the words you say, and the love you gave me.
  • Thank you for making allowances when I did not show my better side.
  • Thank you for showing me you care.
  • Thank you for your patience and the comfort of knowing you will always be there for me.
  • Thank you for putting everything down to be with me.
  • Thank you for letting me be ME.
  • Thank you for taking the time to prepare a lovely dinner for me.
  • Thank you for believing in my dreams.
  • I appreciate you so much for being truthful.
  • Your laughter is so contagious. Thank you for showing  me that life can be fun too.
  • Thank you for going to the dance with me and tried not to laugh at me when I struggle with my steps.

But most of all . . .

  • Thank you for loving me.  I’m so grateful I have you in my life.

Love, Nathan

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Get Creative With Me: Christmas Thoughts

by Ninagracia, posted in Personal Pieces, Poetry

We all get reminded that Christmas is just around the corner. There are galore of colourful Christmas decorations in the shopping centres. We hear carols on the radio, which prompt us to sing along occasionally with those old favourite Christmas songs. The television has non-stop advertisements of gifts for the young and the old, and there are countless recipes for the coming festivity. Let us not forget too, that there are numerous requests for a charitable donation.

As soon as December slides in, we feel the change in the air, somewhat cooler in some countries, and warmer in other countries. Just like the weather, people change too when Christmas is near. We feel obligated, or nevertheless, encouraged to be good and kind to others, and most of all, to give to those who are in need. In other words, be generous.

So, why wait for December to be good and kind to other people. It looks like that this is the only time of the year where we can fit kindness and generosity into that small gap in our lives for those who need help the most. What about the other eleven months of the year? What do we do with those?

A few days ago, I invited everyone on my Facebook page to join me and celebrate Christmas by sending in Christmas poetry or letters.  Dedicate your original creation and extend good wishes and that special feeling to family and friends, or to someone you love.

So, let me start this first. I wrote my poem many years ago, and I want to share this with you.

To all the victims of the bush fire across Australia, let’s give each other a gift of hope.

Christmas Thoughts

Christmas brings
a special feeling
that bonds friends and family
to a heartstrings.

Our good wishes
that is warm and true
bring days of happiness
and take away the blues.

Together we’ll make a wish
for the coming year
in the hope that God
would bless us all.

We’ll be friends
and truthful to ourselves
and give each other
the time we deserve.

Ninagracia

A Gift of Poetry Blissful Wishes

by Ninagracia, posted in Personal Pieces, Poetry

JOYCE

We give each other a gift of hope when times are tough, and it’s a comfort to know that you would always be there to bring happiness into our lives.
To a beautiful, kind and loving sister, we cherish everything about you. Your beautiful smile always saves the day. You filled all the empty spaces in our lives, and on this special day in your life, wear that great big smile on your face, because we’re here to tell you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY sister!

 

My Favourite Chapter

by Ninagracia, posted in Books, Children's Books, Featured post

“Those with vivid imaginations still believed that I could do anything beyond the gates of fairyland. No matter what I say, they all have concluded that I have the power to do anything or change anything if I wanted to.”

                                                          Excerpt from “Gracie…Shhh!”  

You can read it all in Chapter 7. Yes, it’s Chapter 7, my favourite chapter. I wasn’t sure how I would write this chapter and at the same time, give everyone the pleasure of reading and enjoying the story.

Who would believe that magic still exists in today’s world? No one. Certainly not me. Oh well, maybe sometimes. Those children in Gracie’s school believe that there is magic, and Gracie was the lucky one to receive the magical power.  If that isn’t enough to drive Gracie to the edge, imagine what she did. It will surprise everyone.

I surely enjoyed writing it, so I hope you will enjoy reading it. Here’s a little peek of what’s in Chapter 7. All the rest of the story will soon be available for everyone to read. Not long to go. Promise!

Chapter 7

Abracadabra

 . . . . . . So much weird stuff was going on in our school. I was continually being called Fairy Godmother. The older boys called me Cherub Babe. Gosh, that was new. The younger children called me Elfie. Some of them tend to stare, and some don’t even blink. They love touching me too, like rubbing their hands on my arm hoping to get some of my power. Most of the time, I tried my very best to stay calm and not get upset, but our playground was beginning to turn into a circus ground.

That’s it, no more. It is time to put an end to their craziness. It must stop, and I mean now. I was determined to do it because everything was becoming unrealistic and getting completely out of control. It’s time to set the record straight.

But first, I should have some fun first.  I will show everyone my magical power.

I was so determined and fired up to put an end to all those crazy stuff, so I dashed at the playground where everybody grouped themselves. The wind was cold and fresh on my face, but it didn’t stop me from doing what I must do that day. Some patches of dark clouds were moving closer to each other, followed by the brief sizzling noise of lightning, but the playground was packed.

“Hey Gracie,” Makena called out waving her hands. “We’re here.”

I went straight to her. My face was crumpled, and my lips pressed together.

“What’s the matter Gracie, you look angry?”

I gave her a sharp look. Then, I purposely pointed my pencil to her and uttered some magic words, “Naughty-ish-tian mitoto!”

For a moment, I saw Makena’s face completely confused. Then, I waved my pencil in the air and yelled out, “Ta-dah!”

BOOOOM…!!

Something just happened. I lost my balance, and I was frightened for a moment. It was unexpected. I thought a bomb just went off, but it was a sharp, loud rumble of thunder, and I was taken wholly by surprise.

“Are you kidding me?” Makena blasted at me. “Did you just do that?”

“I think she just did, Mak. She just threw a magic spell on you,” seconded Donald.

I turned to Donald, and with a fierce look, I spoke, pointing my pencil to him. “Am I talking to you Ducky?”

“What’s with you, Gracie?”

I yelled, “Answer me!” waving my pencil in the air. But to my surprise, a flash of lightning just bolted out from nowhere, flashing across the sky.

“Whoa! Chill out, Gracie!” Donald took a couple of steps backward, shaken and scared.

Suddenly, a showcase of lightning flashing from different directions began to appear in the sky. The wind howled, shaking those leaves struggling to hold on from its bough. Everyone was astonished, surprised, bewildered, dumbfounded. Call it whatever you want, but all eyes were on me.

Remember that naughty boy who liked playing pranks on everyone? Well, I marched directly towards him. My face was still crumpled, and I fixed my eyes into him. And with a whisk of my magic pencil pointed at him, I spoke with a loud voice, “You are going to stop playing tricks on everyone!” Then, I yelled, “Understood?”

BOOOM…!!

Thunder roared up in the sky again. Poor boy, fear overtook him. He nodded his head and then he ran off so fast away from me. He almost tripped on the ground.

Wild events were beginning to take place when a teacher came out to the playground telling everyone to go back inside because the weather was getting worse. I panicked. I thought I got busted for doing those pranks. So, as I turned, I accidentally pointed my pencil to her. Unfortunately, a strong gust of wind blew towards her direction. Her skirt went right up to her face. That was unexpected, and it blew my mind too. I wasn’t sure if she was shocked about what I did to her. But all I could see on her face were traces of embarrassment, more than likely because we all saw what she was wearing underneath.

The Struggles of Being a New Author (The First Time is Never Easy)

by Ninagracia, posted in Writing, Writing Advice

Read! Read! Read! Sounds familiar? I went through this at the early stage of my writing journey. It is good advice, especially for an emerging author like me.

I dread long readings. It makes me tired, sleepy and hungry. If there were ways, I would skip the “reading part” and go on writing. I have a long list of excuses not to read, but at the end of the day, I still need to open some books to read and learn. It is not mandatory or a requirement to become an author, but it would surely help us to be a good one.

And so, I read. I burnt both sides of the candle, as the saying goes, reading from early morning till the sun comes up. The books on my bed almost became my pillows, and trust me; it does hurt, you know. I flipped through the pages of some of the books written by those great and famous authors and read one or two pages to find out what made them stand out from the others. By morning, I still couldn’t make up my mind how to begin my story. I have a good story to tell. It was all there in my head but putting words to paper was a real challenge. All I want was to write and express my thoughts and put my imaginations into play, and then see what happens next.

Read! Read! Read! It was not so entertaining to hear this at the back of your head. It is good advice, but I couldn’t figure out where it fits into my writing dilemma. So, I reread more books. Occasionally, I made some excuses not to read. I borrowed at the library all kinds of books and read them all. As I said before, those books are not as good as my old pillows.

One thing though, writing became easy afterwards. I was moving forward fast and non-stop. Five hundred words glided smoothly, then came a thousand words. My first page was starting to fill up, even though I cheated a little bit by making my margins wider and double the line spacing. Then finally, I wrote my first two thousand words. Hurray! I thought it was a great accomplishment. The only downside to this was, I noticed that I write like them, and I began to sound like them too.

I hit a roadblock. I want to achieve all those required of me to write and produce an outstanding story. I doubted myself again. So, I read. I immersed myself reading and learning a little bit here, a few more there, and everything in between. I fleshed out every word and sentences I came across in the book. I dissected the whole story, chapter by chapter as if I was looking for something. It was a challenging mental activity. What I found was “nothing”, only a great story all written with pure intention straight from the heart of the author. They were well researched, and everything stamped mark with the author’s writing style, tone and voice.

I figured out that those books I read should only serve me as guidelines and not a template. All the rest should come from me-my style of writing, tone and voice. I wouldn’t say that I have already perfected my craft, but the journey of learning new things is so rewarding. Of course, writing and reading more often is beneficial to our career. It sharpens our skills and imaginations. I am still learning, and I know that there are so much more I need to learn before I become a better author. I always peek through those books to guide me.

I believe that commitment and persistence would take me one day to where I want to be. When I started my journey, I have so many excuses not to do things. I doubted myself and my abilities that I can do anything. But, those books that I read, and those authors that I barely knew, gave me reasons to stay focus and “just keep on writing”.

What about you guys. What excuses have you made?

Why Do Writers Write

by Ninagracia, posted in Behind the Scene, Writing

The wait is over, and I am thrilled that my new website is finally here. Putting together a platform such as this is not an easy task. It may look simple, but there was so much time involved to come up to its completion. This site is my new address, and for the next coming weeks and months, I will welcome new friends and perhaps talk about our journey as an emerging writer. We could share our experiences, which could be helpful to other writers who might be going through the same struggles.

Why do we write? Some of us would probably shrug our shoulders as a quiet response to this question. It is not because we don’t have an answer to it, but merely we were caught off guard.  But the truth is, we all have something to say to one another. Whether it be an issue about a particular subject matter, or an event, a place, about an individual, even our personal experiences, prompt us to share it to everyone we know. Some people say it out loud, while others choose to write them down. No matter what it is about, we always have reasons why we write.

Regardless of what method of writing we use—a letter, poetry, an essay, or even a novel—some of us write to share information, while others write to educate us, to teach us, and others to tell stories. Whatever is behind our reason for writing, we are all storytellers in our way, and we write it in our method, style, and pacing.

To some people who don’t understand our passion, they say writing is not a job that will put food on the table, pay your mortgage, and your bills. We write to pass the time, according to them. It is a hobby to make ourselves useful instead of wasting our precious time. It’s not a job that makes you get up in the morning and work from nine to five. In other words, it is just a whim for a reason.

But for writers like us, it is not about the monetary rewards that we could gain from it. We are lucky if we get to that level in our career. It is not a money-making profession, especially for new authors. To us, it is merely our intense desire to write, to inspire our readers, and perhaps to pursue a dream.

The truth is, writing is a hard job, tedious, overwhelming and secluded. No matter what everybody says, it is something that is and will always be close to our hearts.

It is our way of communicating our intentions and expressing our feelings. It is our road map to reach other people from all four corners of the world. We tap into their imaginations, their deepest desire, and sometimes we strike tender emotional chords.

We are “Escape Artists”. We use our pen to whisk them away to where we want them to go. Our paper is their vehicle to take them to the other part of the world that only we have been before.

Our readers escape through our imaginations. They feel what we want them to explore, and they see what we saw. We planned and interfered with the events to make their adventure more exciting, reckless, and impulsive. Sometimes, we manipulate the landscape, even the weather. To make the journey more challenging, we choose the characters surrounding the events. We make them fall in love or despise each other. We allow our readers to live in awe. They laughed and cried with us, and they got outraged too.

Then, when we reached the “End”, with one flick of our fingers, we switch them back to the real world to let our readers know that their journey is over. We leave our readers amazed and sometimes captivated. And if we hear applause or a deep breath or a sigh, then, our job is done.

When we write, we leave an imprint to our readers the journey they took with us. It will forever reside in their memories how they connect to nature, when the cool breeze of the ocean touched their skin, the smell of the roses in the garden, and how deafening that thunder in the sky. Then, they would still hear our voice even after they put their book down.

I guess this is why I write.