viernes, 16 de enero de 2015

First learning of 2015

Hello kind readers!  I come to you today with an announcement:  I’ve decided to turn Clarity Found into a full business webpage instead of a blog, hence my sudden disconnection from the other blogs… it’s been a bit of work, and it will take some time, but I will have it open and running soon, and it will all be worth it.  Also, every blog will undergo a bit of editing, and this one will undergo a major reconstruction.  Yes, this is me advertising for myself, because we all need to start creating our success somehow, don’t we?

But before I change a few things around here, I want to say how grateful I am to have had this amazing outlet for healing and bringing balance into my life, and how grateful I am to have had your support throughout this amazing journey!  Among the alterations I will make, all the entries that have to do with healing (energetic/ritualistic/writing) will be edited to go into Clarity Found, and all the ones that have to do with literature will be edited to go into Inkwells and Daydreams.  I will leave bits and pieces of them in here, with links into the other pages.

Truth be told, I feel like I went into a Me me me me me rampage that 1) helped me break loose from a few annoying thought patterns and habits, and 2) if I leave them here and not use them for whatever healing they were put into my life, for my benefit and that of others, my energy will drain and this tool will become useless again…  Everything has to do with the flow!  And energy and knowledge must flow so that healing becomes real in every aspect!

I’m happy to say that during these first few weeks of 2015 (in which I’ve also turned 33, what a symbolic number!), many things have gotten organized in my head, including how to overcome the blockages and fears that were still keeping me frozen (even in my overdue happiness).  So it’s not all been in vain, even though a lot of that rambling had to do with vanity, hehe.  Sorry, couldn’t help myself (nor did I want to).

But it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t also share another thing I’ve learned in this period of 180° life-changes!  It’s true what they say: when you speak too much and fall into the “please right here right now” sort of wishful talking with people, even those who you think know you better might misunderstand the true intention behind your almost desperate attempt to make something happen, and they might also misunderstand why you’re actually glad things didn’t happen that way at all!  I would say, trust that the Universe will always know what’s best for you, and how, when it doesn’t give you something, it’s because something else a thousand times better is coming your way… I’d been saying this for a really long time, although perhaps I wasn’t saying it in the right words… So, my advice as well: don’t talk too much, or a) you might be misunderstood, b) your energy might drain from letting it loose too soon or to the wrong people, or c) it might create more stagnation for you because either of the previous points or because now you’ll shrink in fear from the pressure…  The drainage I mentioned above started sometime around Christmas, but luckily I caught it now and can do something about it, and that’s why I’ll make the mentioned changes.

OK, this is getting a bit sad and serious… let me see, do I have anything good to say about this subject?  Why yes, I do: you can also turn things around for yourself if that situation ever does happen!  You can talk to the Universe, always and forever…  Whatever name you give it, whatever God you pray to, whatever form of Energy you connect to when you need to, He/She/It will always hear you, and there is never a time too late to ask for help and get you in the right track… There is no shame in admitting you manifested wrong, and your guides are always by your side to make sure you’re back on track when you’re ready again.

As for me, there will be many ways I will keep telling my story (snippets of it are already in some of my writings), and because the Universe has let me known that everything I’ve been open about here can be used for further healing of myself and others (as I’ve also been open in saying before), I will keep using my writing to that effect, and I invite each one of you to do the same, or to look for your own system of release for healing…  And learn to connect so it is beneficial to you and everyone it touches.  And on that happy note I go for now, because I have an online business to open and my writer’s blog to update, and I will gladly invite you all to check them out when the time comes :)

Well, one more thing: I will keep writing from my happiness.  I discovered a while back that it’s not true that a writer has to be all sad and broody to come up with interesting things to tell, so I’ll remain in my uplifted state and feel proud of all the blessings I have, of the love I found and of my abilities as a writer and healer, so there will be no change about that in this blog!

Cheers to all and keep coming back to see the changes I’m talking about and the new stuff that I’ve got planned for 2015… and of course every other learning I come across as the year goes by!  Those will be shared every single time!

Have a good weekend everyone, and thank you once again for keeping me going!  Cheers!

viernes, 9 de enero de 2015

Favourite authors birthday list... :D

Soooo, because I'm hurring to deliver my writings on my own goal-set thinghy that I did last week, the voice in my head told me to do this list today, hehe... I will use it for my literary purposes, including a birthday section on Inkwells and Daydreams, but maybe just now that the year is begining, one of my lovely readers might want to know some of these birthdays and do a bit of a celebration of their own, so everybody wins...
As far as you know me, btw, since Fforde and Murakami are coming up (and I share my birthday with Murakami, who knew?), I will deliver a couple surprises back here on Sunday and Monday, so come back and check them out ;)

Incredible authors who guided me thorugh my growth, words, and daydreams!  I hope they inspire you as much as they've done me, and that this information is useful to you:
 
JRR Tolkien January 3

Jasper Fforde January 11

Haruki Murakami January 12

Lewis Carroll January 27

Charles Dickens February 7

Gabriel García Márquez March 6

Douglas Adams March 11

Octavio Paz March 31

Charlotte Brontë April 21

William Shakespeare April 23

JM Barrie May 9

 Alfonso Reyes May 17

Arthur Conan Doyle May 22

Salman Rushdie Jun 19

Dan Brown June 22

George Orwell June 25

Alice Munro July 10

Alexandre Dumas July 22

Emily Brontë July 30

JK Rowling July 31

Jorge Luis Borges August 24

Agatha Christie September 15

F. Scott Fitzgerald September 24

Carlos Ruiz Zafón September 25

Miguel de Cervantes September 29

Oscar Wilde October 16

Michael Ende November 12

Louisa May Alcott November 29

Jane Austen December 16

Augusto Monterroso December 21

Benjamín Tena Antillón December 31

sábado, 3 de enero de 2015

Blessings and Resolutions


First things first: Tolkien’s Day! Whoo-hoo!  Today is Master Tolkien’s birthday, everybody, and as such, because I always like to do something symbolic on this day, I’ve opted to post today instead of yesterday… That being said, off we go:

Because I am already switching the Top-X Books-of-the-year lists to Inkwells and Daydreams, I won’t post my Top-20 Books of 2014 here, as I’d planned originally…  well, I won’t post it there, either, but instead a Top-15!  Turns out, because of the “low” number of books read (only 40 this year, egad!), I have to make do with a shorter list this time around…  Oh well, let this be a lesson for me to try to keep up with myself during this year and every other one from now on…

So, because I want to begin this year afresh, I want to hug every blessing I’ve had as of late, and then make a huge scary step that will have me pumping myself up so I can actually make my projects happen!  The hugging of the blessings will consist in enumerating everything that’s been valuable and gratifying, of course.  The huge scary step will consist of me posting out in the open my 2015 resolutions!  Hehe, they’re basically my work plan so I can keep myself in check and know that there’s people watching me now and I’ll have to keep up to my writing dates!  I’ve tried something similar previously, and it sort of worked, so now I want to experiment this way.  It’s very Julie Powell, I know, but hey, I’m drawing inspiration from her, and I need the pressure!

First of all, the hugs to my lovely blessings:

·         I’ve found the love of my life, a man who not only fulfills my every need but also offers me new adventures, creative challenges and things to learn about.  A man who knows the importance of healing, growing and evolving and who is always ready to lend a hand to anybody who needs it for those same ends.  A man who’s honest and kind and nerdy, and that’s hot! (Ten points for anyone who knows the source of that one, another ten for whomever gets the pun, and thirteen for Stephen Cole, who is surely laughing at this and knowing that I mean it even through the joke, and because regardless of what’s being said online, he would be the perfect 13).

·         I finished Wideawake and sent it to an agent… hooray!  Not that I’ve had any luck yet, but that’s the first scary step that any writer always has to take, and it’s a blessing that I found the courage to do it.

·         I have two books on Amazon Kindle, and that’s not a bad number so far…

·         I have so many good memories to share, from so many places of England and Mexico, as well as many other places of the world; some might be shared through stories, others maybe verbally at gatherings, but they’ve all been blessed with joy and harmony.

·         I’ve got so many friends in the mentioned and unmentioned places of the world, and some I know in person and others I don’t, but they’re all bright little beacons that I follow when I need cheering up, serious advice, or maybe just a funky laugh!

·         I’ve got an amazing family, loving and supportive (with our highs and lows, just like most, but always there for each other) (and who are worth taking last week’s post momentarily down for; in a few weeks you will understand).

·         I’ve had the chance to come and see Alanis again (and will be forever grateful that I had the chance to say good-bye to Michigan last year, my ternurita).  Not only am I sharing her room again, but she sometimes comes back up on the bed with me, something that she didn’t do for the few months I last visited…  That’s a huge blessing for me…!

·         I have managed to keep up a blog for a year now, yay!  And have opened another two, all of which I have huge plans for…  I am officially a freelance writer, and that’s something that the disbelievers will have to get used to…  I have come this far now, and I feel proud.

·         I have three things to say about the following picture: 1) it doesn’t matter if it’s blurry, it’s still one of my favourite pictures ever taken, 2) it is the perfect image to show how far I’ve come, all I’ve become and all the blessings I’ve received, and 3) it’s a picture with a story: a past and a future, the things we choose to take with us and why, the roads we take to get to where we want and the thresholds we cross when we find ourselves in front of them… this picture is a blessing in itself!

 


And now, for the big scary step… drumroll... My resolutions for 2015 are:

1.       By the end of January I will upload Tales from the Rooftop on Amazon Kindle (yes, I mean Cuentos de la Azotea, English version!)

2.       By the end of January, as well, I will have the intro, full chapter list, cover letter, synopsis and pitch for the non-fiction book.  (Oh, I will not be posting actual titles for my non-published stuff on this entry, just so you know…  But every success I post when I see I’m managing these resolutions will contain those titles, of course!)

3.       I will take a month to copy and clean all the notes I’ve been doing during my research for my five-part saga

4.       I will take 5 months to write every segment of the first book of the saga, to have the first draft of that novel ready for editing

5.       Every month I will upload an entry of each blog weekly, whatever it takes.  My days of choice for them will be Monday for Clarity Found, Thursday for Inkwells and Daydreams, and Friday remains for That Voice in my Head, but I retain the right to change it in any given week because of eventualities or just external reasons

6.       I will translate of The Shadow Behind (that’s right people, my mission is to have both my Kindle books in English this year, so those of you who want to read La Sombra Detrás will get to at some point this year…)

7.       I’ll give myself a day each month (to be selected as they come) to relax and try to come up with a new short story for the second collection.  I won’t pressure myself with it, I’ll just do my best and if by the end of the year I have six or seven workable short stories, I will feel blessed…  If I have twelve then I will probably YouTube my happy dance, I don’t know…

8.       I’ll open and keep my YouTube channel for literary, healing and creative purposes

9.       I’ll give myself time for plenty of reading, lots of learning, Doctor Who filming, many rituals of different kinds, and to always say hi to my people through every social media and of course in person

10.   I will read at least one more book than last year (might have to do this each year till I manage to get to 52 again…  please don’t let 2013 to have been a one-time thing!)

11.   I’ll also do something symbolic on the anniversaries of all of my favourite authors

12.   I’ll be kind to myself and remember that sometimes I can only do my best, and my best shall be rewarding because it will be done with love…!

 
Anyone thinks this is too much?  That I’m putting too much on my plate?  Well my dears, this is what I’ve been doing lately, anyway…!  Let’s say that this is why I got so overwhelmingly tired over the past few months, even though I was doing other types of writing.  In any case, this is the amount of work I chose to go into, because I love it and because I can’t imagine my life without it…

So there you go…  Eek!  Now I have to make it happen…  Excuse me for a moment, I’m going to be writing for the next 347 hours, nobody disturb me please…!

Cheers, world!  And happy New Year!!

Sincerely,

Sandra Tena ≈ Writer, dreamer, healer, lover.