#IWSG – GOALS FOR 2016

Hello all! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

Click the Image to Join!

It’s time for another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG.

My hero, the amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this group and it has become a safe haven if you are an insecure writer.

Click the image if you would like to be a part of the #IWSG family. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.

The awesome co-hosts for the February 3 posting of the IWSG will be Allison Gammons, Tamara Narayan,  Rachel Pattison,  Ann V. Friend  and yours truly!! 🙂

Please take a moment to thank the co-hosts for all their hard work this month. 

I can’t believe January has come and gone and we’re in February already. I usually set goals for the year in January, with a mid-year goal check, and year-end final analysis. I’m starting late this year because the past couple of months have been difficult on a personal level. You can read more about it on my other blog My Miracle Life.

Keeping it short and simple, here are my most important goals for 2016:

1. Continue writing and submitting stories to contests.
2. Get back to blogging my regularly scheduled blog posts (which was going so well until everything went haywire)
3. Dedicate time for guest bloggers
4. Continue working on my long neglected WIP

What are your goals for this year? Did you accomplish everything you planned to last year? Are you trying anything new or out of your comfort zone? 

 

 

 

 

A-Z Challenge – HALL of FAME for GREAT AMERICANS

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H is today’s A-Z Challenge letter. Here is another landmark and area of interest that I knew nothing about until I started this challenge. I’m going to make it a point to visit the next time I go to the Bronx.  The things I’ve missed out on. Sheesh! My borough has a Hall of Fame for Great Americans on the campus of Bronx Community College. It used to be part of NYU’s University Heights campus, but because the University was in severe financial distress, they sold it to CUNY in 1973.

Jump Around!

Click on the image to visit the site directly, take a virtual online tour, or browse some photos in their gallery.

Technically, the Hall isn’t a hall; it’s a 630 foot outdoor gallery that half-encircles the college’s library and displays 38 bronze sculptured busts of famous and influential people from our past.

 

Take a sec to visit our awesome Co-host, Lisa!

When you have a minute, make sure to visit Lisa’s other hard-working Live Wires and click on the image to visit our fantastic co-host too. 😀

Rhonda Albom– Bob R. Milne–Tamera Narayan–Doreen McGettigan–Stephanie Faris–Heather McCubbin–

Did you know that the following people were born in the Bronx?

1. Hirsch, Judd – Actor
2. Higgins-Clark, Mary – Writer
3. Heckerling, Amy – Writer
4. Hughes, Frank John – Actor
5. Harris, Jonathan – Actor

Are there any hidden gems in your hometown that you just recently  found out about? Do you know any of  the people I’ve mentioned above? What’s your theme for this challenge, if you haven’t already told me?

 

A-Z Challenge 2015 – A is for AWAY WE GO!!

Hey all! This is my first venture into the A-Z Challenge, so you’ll have to forgive me as I stumble along this month. 🙂  Arlee Bird started this challenge at Tossing it Out, and it’s been around since about 2007.

I entered this challenge for one reason: Tina Downey. She was a dear blogger friend who we lost last August, far too young. She was great at lifting my spirits whenever I was having a rough time and I still miss her dearly. Her family has memorialized her blog, Life is Good and I visit it when I can.

Click to sign-up!

I originally planned to do a theme on the history of the Bronx since that’s where I was raised, but life has its way of throwing curves. I’m keeping it theme-less for now, although I’ll throw in some tidbits about the Bronx since I’d already started doing research.

It’ll be the challenge, but if I can get through it unscathed, I will be one happy camper! 🙂

I’m one of Lisa’s Live Wires for new co-host Lisa Buie-Collard. You can also find her blog here. I’m thrilled to be working with these amazing bloggers and writers as my Minion cohorts:

Rhonda Albom –   Bob R. Milne –   Tamera Narayan –   Doreen McGettigan –   Stephanie Faris –   Heather McCubbin –   Randi Lee –

Oh, and A also stands for Arthur Avenue, which happens to be in Da Bronx, not far from where my BFF and Comadre, Julie used to live. It’s part of Bronx’s Little Italy.

That’s it for today! See you tomorrow!

 

 

 

Insecure Writers Support Group – Aug., 2014-Quotes

Hello writers! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

Click the Image to Join!

Another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG. My hero, Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this amazing group and it’s become THE PLACE to go if you are an insecure writer. Click the image if you would like to be a part of this phenomenal group. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

I’m thrilled to be co-hosting this month’s meeting again. Make sure to visit my other co-hosts:

Sarah Foster, Joylene Nowell Butler, and Rhonda Albom!

I’m keeping it short and offering some famous quotes on inspiration and motivation when it comes to writing. I hope it helps!

“The objective of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story …to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all.” ~ Stephen King

“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.” ~ William Faulkner

“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” ~ Ray Bradbury

“If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who will listen to me? You are a human being with a unique story to tell. You have every right.” ~ Richard Rhodes

“It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” ~ Robert Benchley

What’s inspired or motivated you this past month?

 

 

#IWSG -Let’s Talk Motivation & Determination

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Good morning fellow bloggers, writers, novelists, journalists, screenwriters, and all other writers I have the pleasure of sharing membership with in this élite group.

Today is Wednesday, April 2, 2014, the first Wednesday of the month. We know what that means, don’t we? It’s time for a meeting of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, which was founded by the AMAZING Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

“Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!” (IWSG website)

I was extremely lucky to find this group soon after starting my blogging journey just over thirteen months ago. I love this group more than I can ever express. The past few months had been very difficult for me personally. I was just getting back into my blogging groove after a hiatus of about two months, to deal with some medical issues (thankfully resolved), when I was hit with the loss of two people close to me within two days of each other, only three weeks ago. I posted about it here. Any other time it might have been enough to make me take another break to spend more time grieving, but I was far too angry; I still am.

If anything, I have the motivation and determination to continue moving forward. When I checked the IWSG website while I was in Puerto Rico saying my final goodbyes to my dear friend Petie when I read that Ninja Captain had chosen me to be one of the co-hosts for the April meeting. I cried. Talk about motivation and determination? I am so honored that Alex felt confident enough to trust me enough to be a co-host for this very special group. I am going to do my very best to make him and all my fellow members proud.

Please take a moment to visit my other awesome co-hosts this month:

Hart Johnson
Chemist Ken
Candilynn Fite
Terri Rochenski
Clare Dugmore 

That’s all I have; time to handle responsibilities!  😀  Be determined and motivated to best earlier ‘high scores’ when it comes to number of comments on fellow IWSG member blogs. It is a blog hop, after all! Have fun!

Give Elizabeth Seckman’s Blog a look-see if you get a chance. Her post today was amazing. There are many more and if the bloggers will give me permission, I’d like to link them to my post here. 😀

Also Check out this post by Christine Rains; definitely worth reading.