Use Your Genius to Feed the Hungry!! +FPP Reveal

It's been almost a year now that I've been participating in Foodie Pen Pals @TheLeanGreenBean.  I got this awesome box of goodies from Anna @AnnaDishes:

The dried mango and Justin's candy bar were my favorite things in the box.  Eva basically claimed the mango, and Garrett got a hold of the dark chocolate and cranberry bar-- so that was gone in minutes... but I did get to enjoy a bit of those two things!  (And by a bit, I mean a very, very small amount!)

Check out the box I sent to Katrice @HighHeelsandGoodMeals!

It got me thinking how *lucky* we are in America to just mail packages of food across the country to one another.  I mean, just look around us, there is food EVERYWHERE.  Granted, a lot of it is super-processed, fast-food, garbage... but, it's food nonetheless.  

Could you imagine living somewhere different?  Where free rice could mean the difference between a meal or going to bed hungry?  

I stumbled across Freerice.com -- it's a vocabulary game with a special reward-- for every answer you get right-- FreeRice donates 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme.

Taken from the site:

Freerice is a non-profit website that is owned by and supports the United Nations World Food Programme.Freerice has two goals:

• Provide education to everyone for free.

• Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

I added the above button to my sidebar-- but I'm displaying it in this post for you as well.  Head on over and put your English vocab skills to use for an amazing cause!

I Found A Manuscript!

Umm... so, I just stumbled across an interesting file on my computer...

It's only 25 pages-- but, it's a book I vaguely remember starting during my pregnancy with EVA.  She's 5 years old now...

I completely forgot about this manuscript!  It was saved in some obscure file and I accidentally clicked on it when I was looking for something totally different.

I even TITLED it, you guys!

I NEVER title anything.  I'm terrible with titles.  Dare I say, I loathe titles?

It's called The Price of Paramour... and, as you can suspect-- it's a romancey-for-the-chicks-NA.

For starting the manuscript at 21-22 years old... it's not THAT bad.  As I read, I definitely found myself feeling a bit embarrassed (ie- WHAT WAS I THINKING WITH THAT STUPID METAPHOR!?)  but-- it's really not bad.  I think I could easily finish this.

Yes, it is now *another* manuscript that I have floating around... and yes, it is kind of a trashy romance novel that I never write... but, that's kind of fun!

On a completely separate note-- The Strokes have a song available for free download on their website and it is TERRIBLE.  I want to cry.  Who listened to that song and told them, "Hey guys!  This sounds awesome!  This should totally be on your next album!"  I want to find that guy and tell him he's an asshole.

Anyhoots-- I hope my critique partners are honest enough with me to tell me if and when my writing sucks.

Honesty is a strong, admirable virtue....  And, I'll much appreciate you saving me from embarrassment!

Re-Introduce Myself

I'm participating in the:

click the photo to see other entries!

"Simply take a moment and tell us something interesting about yourself. Anything. It can be about writing. Or blogging. Or a hidden talent. Perhaps you’re in the Witness Protection Program."

We're told this doesn't have to be too long-- just a quick thaaaaang.  So, here it goes:

This is me-- Hello!

Hi!  My I'm Azia.  

I live in Southern MinneSNOWta.

It's really cold here right now and I kind of hate it.

I've been blessed to have met my soul-mate, Garrett.

We have two children.

We also have two cats.

We are currently in the process of donating and/or selling all of our belongings in order to live full time in an RV traveling across the US with our kids.

Life Rocks- I have no complaints!

isn't Garrett handsome!?

I've been blogging on this site since 2009-- but a few months ago I gutted over 500 posts and decided to use this space as a way to network with other writers.

(Basically, I was putting too much of myself "out there" for people-- and in turn being stalked.)

So, if you are wondering why there aren't too many posts on here, now you know the reason.

My good friend Sam and I are in the beginning stages of starting an online Lit-Journal/Site: I am excited to reveal it to you (and start receiving submissions from ya'll!) in the next couple of weeks!  You can find us on the Twitter: @DirtyChaiMag

We are *very* excited about this project!

Me and Sam's muddy feet.  Inspired my poem, "Yellow-painted toe nails..."

As for my personal writing attempts, I have quite a few unfinished manuscripts.  (I refuse to give an exact number, but somewhere between 10-15).  They range from YA dystopian, to NA, to mystery, and some memoir.  I've also been writing a ton of poetry lately.

My goal this year is to actually finish ONE of my books.  Send some prayers/positive vibes into the universe for me!?  Please and thank you.

Check out my About Me section for more random tidbits!

"I want to keep meeting new people, enlarging my circle of friends. I have great friends now... really good people. But I'm always ready for what comes next." -Paula Danzinger

Thrift Store

I dedicate this song to all my fellow thrift shoppers:: This is for you!

They be like “Oh that Gucci, that’s hella tight”
I’m like “Yo, that’s fifty dollars for a t-shirt”
Limited edition, let’s do some simple addition
Fifty dollars for a t-shirt, that’s just some ignorant bitch shit
I call that getting swindled and pimped, shit
I call that getting tricked by business

Insurgent by Veronica Roth-- it got better....

Welp, I did it!  I finished book two in the trilogy (book 3 is due out sometime this year) by Veronica Roth.  If you recall, I was let down by Divergent ... I left Insurgent feeling a little less bored and a bit more invested in the story.  (This post will contain spoilers and/or a few things that fans of the books might find offensive.  It is not my goal to come off that way, but I would proceed with caution.)

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One major thing I disliked about this novel, and Divergent as well, is that Roth will have us go through an entire scene with Tris and then she will see someone afterwards (like Tobias) and reiterate through dialogue what we just read.  It drove me crazy!  Do not do this-- please. I felt like I had already read a couple hundred pages, yet had read nothing-- it was THAT mundane.  I yawned.  I skimmed.  I questioned my choice to continue reading.  I "tweeted" complaints.  You get the point-- I was hating every second of it.

Why?

Well, Tobias and Tris CONSTANTLY bicker.  It's nonstop.  It's typical, high school arguments that have no real place in the story.  It's distracting!  I mean, there is a civil war going on and their insecurities with one another seems so, how should I phrase this?  It seemed so... generic/unnecessary.  I was unable to form an attachment to these characters and root for them because of it.  The types of things that they both worried about and the way they talked to one another made them both seem very shallow and unlikeable.  Immature is also another word I'd like to throw into the mix.  These are not good attributes for a hero/heroine.  I am honestly hoping one of them dies pretty quickly in the last book so I never have to read an interaction between the two of them again.  (But, crap-- I can only imagine how annoying Tris would become-- full of guilt that Tobias died-- and referring to it constantly-- so, maybe that's not the best idea either.)

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Luckily, most of the time during the second half of the book, Tris and Tobias are separated from one another.  Tris becomes a bit more endearing... and the plot isn't taken up by the insecurities of their budding romance and we learn more about why things are happening the way they are *and* there is a lot more action.  The plot thickens, people are exposed, overall-- it's much better than the the first half.

The last 3 or 4 pages of the novel is where the writing is the strongest.  Pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and some issues I had with the first book (ie- why are there factions?  What happened to the rest of the country?) are finally answered.  If it weren't for these final pages, I probably wouldn't read the final book when it's released.  But, now I will.

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I hope that this final book of Roth's is her best one yet.  I'm hoping that this book will focus more on the factions and less on the romance between Tris and Tobias.  I know that it's a trend to have a love-interest in YA novels... but I really wish this novel did not have that.

Here's to hoping!