Tag: Strong Women Grow Here

Writing

A Slice of A Writer’s Life

Mona Alvarado Frazier

 

I Became A Writer-Unknown Mami
I Became A Writer-Unknown Mami

To my post title I could have added:

An Unpublished Writer’s Life

But too many words for a heading.

Most writers, like 95%, have another life besides writing: kids, pets, parents, cleaning, carpooling…

It can get kinda of like ….”What’s it all about, Alfie?” 

The writing happens before the other stuff gets started, which means I write in the early morning.

I’m lucky that I only have one big kid left in the home, so I get in more writing/musing time than most moms.

And sometimes, I just don’t feel like putting my one-hour self-imposed writing requirement (FB, Twitter, email do not count).

When I get in that Alfie state I look at my most ‘pinned’ graphic over on Pinterest, under “Inspiration to Write.”

This graphic is from the very witty, Unknown Mami, Claudya Martinez. Currently, it is at 310 pins and counting.

I’ve reviewed my “Inspiration to Write” pins at least 100 times. Keeps me going.

So do the ‘goodies’ that come from my writing life: nice blog post comments, critiques that go great (no red marks, hardly, on my papers), and my ‘bestest’ yet:

THE AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD QUARTERFINALS

If I had a sound, for the above remark, it would be the booming movie premiere voice guy.

http://amzn.to/1kDIjNW Graphic by DigitalProduct
http://amzn.to/1kDIjNW Graphic by DigitalProduct

The free 17-page excerpt on my Amazon page has received two reviews, with a few more listed on my Facebook page and one on my LinkedIn page:

 

“Your excerpt is very well written and I love the figurative language you used. Lines I love: “Long narrow dirt rows with tiny roads of deep green leaves spin by in a brown arc like long legs running…I also loved the haunting quality of the narrator’s voice. ..Great title. It reminds me of Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens.” Virginia Alanis

This review didn’t just make my day, it made three days.

And another bonus, from the ABNA news,

The M2the5th Google+ Community (Mostly Multicultural Mysteries, Memoir, and Myth) will host a Twitter Interview

on Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 9 Pacific time.

I hope I can meet you on Twitter and have a good discussion on writing, inspiration, and all that ‘writerly’ stuff.

Until then, keep reading, writing, and living well.

 

Amazon Kindle, Books, Family, Inspiration, life lessons, Strong Women, Writing

Strong Women Grow Here-Free Excerpt

Mona Alvarado Frazier

 

Strong Women Grow Here-Free excerpt on amazon.com-alvaradofrazier.com
Strong Women Grow Here-Free excerpt on amazon.com-alvaradofrazier.com*

Have you ever felt like you’ve been down for so long it’s hard to take that next step.

I know most of us have had those times. So it’s the little things that keep a smile on the face, and the eyes looking forward.

And sometimes, just sometimes, something comes along that puts the pep back in that step. Something BIG.  I’ve been doubly blessed, I have two BIG things:

My brother is now recuperating fairly well after a tortuously long operation and three week hospital stay. Care taking has been a little difficult for the past month, but it’s worth seeing the tiny progress each day.  I can’t go into detail, he’d been very cross with me, even though he doesn’t read blogs.

The other bright news is that Amazon announced their Quarterfinalists in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) 2014. 

Amazon capped the entries at 10,000 for five genres. In March , they whittled the entries down to 2,000. On April 14 they pared the submissions to 500 novels.

My heart thumped like a snare drum gearing up for the big game when I found out I made it to this round.  

From now until May 23, 2014, Publishers Weekly reviews each Quarter-Finalists’ full manuscript and scores it on prose, plot, hook, etc.

Amazon customers can download the 17 page excerpt to their Kindle, or  download a free Kindle reading app for IPhone, IPad, Mac, or Android.

When you click on the banner above, it will take you to my novel page, (that’s so exciting to say!)  and you will see an image on the right hand side that looks like this:

Look for this image to download a free Kindle reading application
Look for this image to download  app

Any customer (sign up is free) can download, rate, and review excerpts and/or provide feedback to Amazon Publishing Editors about submission.

You can read the reviews for Strong Women Grow Here and a two page excerpt here.

Customer reviews are important to me and I’d love to read any constructive feedback you have on the excerpt.

Semi-Finalists are announced on or about May 23, 2014.

Those lucky enough to be a finalist receive a publishing contract and a cash advance.

Amazon then creates a poll asking customers to vote for their favorite of the finalist’s excerpt. The one with the most votes wins a larger advance and Grand Prize.

What an adventure! Thanks for reading and I do hope you will take a few seconds to read the excerpt on my YA novel, Strong Women Grow Here.

 

*The image of the woman’s hands in chains comes from an art exhibit and was untitled. The artist name is Kelley Connelly.