Tuesday, December 6, 2011

My Lyric Book Update and More...

I have finally reached the 100 mark for my third lyric book. One hundred lyrics have been written and it is now time to look over the entire manuscript for typos and for any changes I need to make to any of the lyrics. After that I am ready to publish my book. I still have to figure out what my book cover will be (mainly front image) and that is not the easiest thing to decide. But all in all I am closer to publishing my book and I am very excited about that.

I have also been playing around more with putting poetry on images and creating images from existing ones. I love the way things are turning out. Now there is more to add to my portfolio :)


I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Books and Such

I am getting closer to nearing 100 lyrics for my third book of lyrics Melodies of the Heart. Making great progress. That is not to say I will stop at 100 lyrics. I might have more than that in the book. My goal was to have at least 100 and I will reach that number with flying colors. 

I finished writing my novel and thought it needed just some light editing. People that have read my novel gave positive feedback. They loved and enjoyed it. I was very happy to hear that. Now, I come to find that I am telling the novel rather than showing it, and that I have to do lots of editing to turn the telling into showing. Not very happy to hear that. I have not heard of this telling and showing business until now. I hope I can pull this off. I really want to publish the novel in a hardbound book...

I haven't been writing as much poetry this year as I have in the previous years. Maybe it's because when I sat down to write a poem I ended up writing a lyric instead. Have to get more into poetry writing... Poetry is what started it all for me... I will never give it up!!!!!!!!

I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Great Loss & Strange Turn of Events

My maternal grandmother passed away in 1997. August 23rd would have been her birthday. This year on August 23rd I posted on Twitter "Today would have been grandma Zhenya's birthday... You are in my thoughts and in my heart always! RIP."

The next day I received a phone call letting me know that my paternal grandmother (who just turned 86 on August 1st) was found dead in her bed; she had died in her sleep. This news greatly shocked me. No one expected this to happen so soon.

Knowing that my paternal grandmother was no longer with us left me in an emotional turmoil. I couldn't believe she was gone. It felt surreal, especially since I felt her presence around me the whole time - at the funeral home, at the cemetery, and at the dinner later.

As I stood in the cemetery watching my paternal grandmother's casket being lowered into the ground, my eyes looked to the right and I noticed that I was standing next to my maternal grandfather's grave. He had passed away in December of 2010 and was buried in the same cemetery. This made it even harder for me, even more emotional. I also felt strange and slightly freaked out.

Why was this happening?  First, I paid respect to my maternal grandmother on Twitter on the 23rd and the next day my paternal grandmother turned up dead. Then, as my paternal grandmother was getting buried I noticed that I was standing next to my deceased maternal grandfather's grave. Was it merely a coincidence? Or what is something else entirely? Whatever the case, whatever the explanation, it freaked me out a bit.

Three grandparents are no longer with us. They will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. One grandparent still remains among us - my paternal grandfather. I hope he lives to be over 100 years old. Also, I hope there won't be any more funerals to attend any time soon. Two funerals in less than a year is plenty.


I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Bringing a Novel to Life...


I've always dreamed of writing a novel someday. And hopefully even publishing it at some point. Well, after many months of writing and months of hiatus in between the novel is finished. Finally!

I've let some people read my novel and I got positive feedback from them, which of course is great. I am very happy that the feedback was positive. That's a good sign.

Of course I just can't publish the novel as it is. I need to edit it. I've actually been editing here and there in the past months. Now it's time to get serious and really do a full edit.

I have to say that editing a novel is even harder than writing it. It's not that easy to know what exactly to add to the novel, what to take out of it, what to alter. Sure would be nice if someone were to edit the entire the thing for me but then it wouldn't be my novel. I am the one that has to do the editing.

Getting some help though would sure be nice. I've asked a few people to guide me. I hope that with their help I will finally be able to put an end to this editing and get my novel out there for people to enjoy. That is my final goal.

I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Lucid Dreaming - a Dream That Unfolded in My Mind

On July 9th, 2011 I attended a Shamanic lucid dreaming class with Robert Moss at the New York Open Center. In one of the exercises as my eyes were closed and the lecturer was drumming this dream unfolded in my mind.
_________________________________________

I am a little kid in the woods. I am wearing a green/white puffy dress. There big trees surround me and leaves crunch under my feet. As I wander around the woods I come across a beautiful brown mushroom with red polka dots. It starts growing before my eyes, getting bigger and bigger. In turn I am getting smaller and smaller…

A door appears in the mushroom stem and opens up, beckoning me to enter. I hesitate to go inside for fear of what will happen to me once I am there. I stand in one spot, frozen, and keep replaying the same scene in my head. I am making my way toward the mushroom and entering through its door. Each time I go through the door I am back at square one again, away from the mushroom making my way toward it. This goes on for a while and then I finally find my feet moving closer to the mushroom… I am moving very slowly, not in any rush to go inside.

As I near the mushroom, I see a white cat chasing a mouse in circles. I stand there mesmerized by the scene of the cat and mouse and begin to smile. Then I hear the door swing back and forth. That brings me out of my trance and I finally make my way through the door.

Once inside, I find myself falling. I am falling a long way down and end up crashing into the river. There is a waterfall nearby. My grandfather’s face is visible behind it and I hear him telling me to beware.

The waterfall and the river disappear now and I find myself on land with a giant rock wall. It opens up as I near it and I find myself blocked by another wall. Again, it opens as I approach it. There seem to be endless walls like it, opening one after the other to let me through. Once all the walls open, I end up in a cave-like room with gold coins raining down from the sky. They turn to snow as they touch me on the way down and land on the ground. I start to feel like I am now surrounded by mountains in the winter and I begin to shiver.

A face of a lion comes into my view. Once it sees me it opens its mouth wide and sticks out its tongue, beckoning me to enter. I enter into his open mouth and end up in the bathroom of an unknown house. I am now a teenager standing naked in the shower, the water, the color of blood, falling down on me. I scream and jump out of the shower. I run down the stairs at full speed and dash out of the house ending up in a cemetery.

I am running as fast as I can, still naked, through the cemetery and fall into a grave. Grandpa is there and I fall through him (like a ghost) back into the river. I am drowning, flailing my arms, holding on for dear life.

In the distance I see the guys, I went out with in the past, standing with girls in their embrace, smiling and kissing with passionate abandon. They start turning like a twister and go up into the air. Once in the air, they vanish as if they were never there, leaving me there to drown.

I am still in the river drowning when my best friend appears and gives me his hand. I reach for it and I am now on the shore and in the safety of his embrace. As soon as we embrace he vanishes as if he was never there to begin with.

I stand there unsure of what is going on and hear grandpa’s voice again telling to beware… Then I end up in a long hallway. Those same guys I saw before, but without their girls, are running after me with arms outstretched. They appear as old men then and I am back to being a little kid. I run for my life, away from them, and run into grandpa again.

This time grandpa is sitting on the couch in the living room. He is very still. The television is on but there is only static and noise. On the table I see a lit cigarette, its ash falling to the floor. The floor collapses beneath me and I am falling again.

Finally I stop falling and end up in a dark room that gets smaller and smaller, its walls closing in on me. I am now back to being a teenager. “Beware, beware!” someone yells. I can’t see the person but the voice sounds like grandpa’s. The red walls are so close now that I am feeling crushed. I close my eyes and scream at the top of my lungs.

When I open my eyes I find myself in a pool of blood and my eyes are blood red and hollow. I am an old lady. My body is thin and it is shaking. I stretch out my hands and fly into the night, bats surrounding me. I fly and fly and end up in the cemetery near my grandpa’s grave.

A dark red rose appears in my hand and I place it on the grass beside the monument. I lie down beside the rose and feel calm and comforted. I am still an old lady. I am wearing a sheer white gown and my white hair is falling down in waves. My eyes are now a brilliant white. I am at peace. I close my eyes and drift away. As I do I hear grandpa whisper in the wind, “You are safe now my darling.”


I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Writing and Inspiration

When it comes to writing I am always amazed by how inspiration can come to a writer unexpectedly and out of the blue... Just when you least expect it you become inspired and ideas for a song, poem, story, prose, or some other type of writing emerge. It might not even be just ideas. Actual lines may start to flow from your head forming complete pieces of writing.

A few days ago I was listening to a song by JoJo called "Too Little, Too Late". Once she started singing the chorus, mainly the phrase too little too late I stopped in my tracks and quickly opened Microsoft Word. I felt an idea for a song coming on. I paused JoJo's song so it would not distract me and began to write. In under half an hour I had a complete set of lyrics. The story they tell is intense and highly emotional. You can read it here: It's Too Late (What's Done Is Done).

I love singing these lyrics. Every time I sing the words I am enveloped by lots of emotion and sometimes find myself close to tears.

I never planned on writing a song that day. I never thought about listening to JoJo's song either. I just happened to come across it by accident while browsing YouTube. I am glad I did though because I got a new song out of it, which I am very excited about.  

Inspiration can hit you anywhere and at any time. It can hit you at the most unexpected places or at moments you never thought would inspire you. Heck, inspiration can even hit you when you are in the bathroom taking care of your business. It happened to me a number of times.

So always have a pen and paper, or some other writing instrument with you no matter where you are. You never know when inspiration will hit and what piece of writing can result from it. Always be prepared. You don't want to have those great ideas vanish into thin air...


I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A New Book of Lyrics

It was in the year of 2001 that I wrote my first song. These were just lyrics with no music to go along with them, but I came up with a way to sing the words a capella, so to me it was a song and still is. Since then I have written hundreds of lyrics (songs to me since I usually come up with a way to sing them...).

With so many lyrics under my belt I decided to publish them in a book. That's when I put together Soundtrack of My Life. Pretty much every lyric I wrote made it into the book. Of course having all the lyrics in one book couldn't be done, as there were so many of them, so I ended up splitting them up into two volumes. In turn, that gave me two books, which was even better for me... Who wouldn't want more books with their name (as the author) on it?

Soundtrack of My Life features lyrics that I have written from 2001 to 2008. The first volume contains lyrics from 2001 to part of 2004; the second volume contains lyrics from part of 2004 to 2007. I am very much proud of this two-volume book and am excited to be working on a new one.

Yes, I am putting together a new book of lyrics... It will include lyrics I've written since I published Soundtrack of My Life plus new lyrics that I am writing right now. I am not sure how many lyrics will be in the book but I will try to aim for at least 100. Finding myself with a huge amount of inspiration these past few months I should have no problem reaching the one hundred mark...

I have already come up with a title for my next book of lyrics - Melodies of the Heart. I really love this title. It is beautiful, inspirational, emotional, moving, and it seems to say a great deal...  I think people will be drawn to the title and to the book itself. I cannot wait for the finished product. I will keep you posted on the progress and on when the book will be released.

Now time to go and write more of those lyrics... :)

Have a great day!!!!!


I’m a published author… Get your hands on my books at my storefront, on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble (online) and in many other places online.