How to be a Chingona in 10 Easy Steps

by Sandra Cisneros as interpreted by

Zulmara

Here is my list from the wonderful talk that Sandra gave us at the Coca-Cola ADELANTE Tour. Sandra had the ideas, but this is my own interpretation of her inspiration, I am sure many of us took many different things from that day, depending on where we are at!!!

·         Live for your own approval

·         Time is your most valuable gift

·         Cover your own Power...

·         Find true humility

·         Keep your word

·         Address your pain

·         Be one with your actions—your only true possessions are your actions

·         Seek forgiveness

·         Live in the present moment

·         Go back to a scene of trauma—Depression has a purpose—use it to go to the light

·         Listen to your body...when you are sick, your body is telling you something

·         Get out of the way of the light

·         Research your history...create your 10x10

·         Create rituals

·         Discover the sacred

·         Wear something that empowers you

Call your ancestors...

· 

Gems from Sandra Cisneros at the Coca-Cola Tour ADELANTE!!

Mi ano de renacimiento

Honor your own way of being

!!!!YEAH!!!! (hold hands and pray)

Multiple spirits...makes you feel more connected

Poetics in space...I did not have that house, I had my house, My House on Mango Street

How do I transform my anger into light? My darkness into light?

Start wherever you are, and go to wherever it takes you

Keep writing, keep dancing, keep singing, keep painting from the seed...and let it grow and you will be reborn

If you don’t transform your inner you into light, you will wallow in darkness

Speak our truth...

Write a poem...write a sermon...write a book...write a fairy tale...

Come from your real voice...Your pajama voice...your inner voice

Flood yourself with joy...flood yourself with light

Tell your story...with joy, laughter, and tears!!!

https://www.facebook.com/CocaColaTourAdelante?ref=pb

Roots and Wings!!!

Coca-Cola Tour ADELANTE

Quips and Quotes and anything notes

We do it for our children

We do it for our families

We will become...

                A national voice...about our shared values

                Our voices will be heard...we will be the experts on Nightline, CNN, Fox News,

We are starting a movement

We would all be rich if we bought from each other

Let’s begin the conversation

The chosen ones are the ones who choose

Come to be nourished...then to give from your overflow

Your jewels

Your riches

Your causes...your values what you believe in

I tell my own truth

This is my path...and I am going to follow my own path...in the formation of my Latina identity...

Continue the Artist's Way Journey!

Continue the Artist's Way Journey!

For anyone who has been inspired by Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way, there is so much to be gained and so much to be learned by following her advice with morning pages, Artist’s dates and all the rest. However, what do you do when morning pages, Artist’s Dates, exploratory essays, inspirational readings are not doing it and your muse is silent? How do you juggle everyday responsibilities and still live the writerly life you yearn for? The life that allows you to create, be who are, explore the inner you and what makes you tick? How do you stay focused with so many distractions?

Well the answers vary for every author. I find that my muse likes down time. Time when I am not in the zone creating, no plugged in, no thinking about all that I have to do, and being physically active. I think the mind/body connection is very strong for me. I have found that taking time for exercise—be it a walk at the beach, a bike ride in the city, or a hike in the mountains is just what my muse needs to show up and be present. Of course, chocolate and wine go a long way as well.

How do you pamper or jump start your silent muse?


Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante

Zulmara

Is your Muse blissed, blessed, pissed, or dissed?

Is your Muse blissed, blessed, pissed, or dissed?

I am not sure who first coined these terms for writing. I have it in my notes that it was The Four Energies of Writing: What's Your Fuel?, May 21, 2008, by Bill O'Hanlong; however, I have not been able to find the original reference. With that said, I wanted to discuss how the mood of your muse can influence your writing energy and help you get in the ZONE. Being blissed, blessed, pissed, or dissed influences your writing energy and creates what many writers see as the “NEED” to write, or being in the ZONE where nothing can stop us. All four of these energies will create beautiful and wonderful art and many artists will move in and out of these moods and it can be seen in the shape their work takes.

In being blissed and blessed we are in the positive zone for writing. Our life is good, seems to be clicking along and we want to share that with the world through our words, our art, our paintings, our music, our sculptures. In a blissful state, the muse is happy and passionate about our topic, our character, our way of looking at the world and just needs to share it with the world. In a blissful stat our passions take over and we are drawn to our craft to share our joys.

When we are blessed we are sharing with the world our abundance or our blessings. We know that God is in her heaven and all is right in the world. At times, this follows a specifically harrowing experience, at other times it is followed by survival, the courage of others, or the deep caring of the human spirit. It feels like our muse has been moved by the spirit and been blessed and has a need to share with the world all the that is good and abundant in life.

At other times, our muse is spurred by the negative energies: pissed or dissed. Again, these are two very powerful energies that will stimulate our writing and get us in the ZONE of creativity. When we are pissed there is something that has angered us to the point of creating. If we do not get it out, we will explode and our art is reflective. When the muse is pissed the writing is passionate, strong, forceful, and full of angry energy. It is not bad, but if we did not let this anger out, we would be in danger of high blood pressure, a stroke, or a heart attack. The anger has to be released and some of the best creating comes from this state.

When we are dissed, we have also been disrespected and our sense of self-righteousness stands up and says ENOUGH!! And we have to create it out. We create from the fire in the belly to right a wrong. It could be something that happened directly to us to something that happened to a loved one, or we may be spurred by the political climate. Whatever the impetus for the art in this stage, we have a need to right a wrong on a personal, social, or global level and our muse will not rest until we have said our piece.

What mood is your muse in for the upcoming NaNo? Are you blessed, blissed, pissed or dissed and how will that influence your final project?

Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante!!!
Zulmara

Living the Writerly Life

Living the Writerly Life

The success of NaNo for me was living the writerly life with wild abandon, juicy pens, thirsty paper, and lots of inspiration. I suggest all Wrimos connect with other Wrimos. No one knows what you are going through, except other Wrimos and no one can connect with you and what you are doing, except other Wrimos. Once I met up with the other Wrimos, I knew I had found my group. From our first meeting in the park to our wonderful Build a Muse then let’s have lunch at the Storybook Café in Disney’s California Adventure to our Midnight write-ins at DCA, we had a blast. We were all writing in different genres, we all had different ideas, but we were all writing our hearts and souls during the month of November and having a great time. I loved meeting my group and spending the month of November living the Writerly Life and being totally tuned into my writing. This is what I imagine a full time writer’s life to be...going on artist’s dates, connecting with other writers, sharing time to write, and just being together to offer support and encouragement.


As your month progresses, I hope you look on the site and see what the Community Liaison has planned for your area and find some Wrimos to connect with.

Leave a comment here or Like my FB page for a chance to win a Writer's Tote at the end of the month.


Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante


Zulmara

NaNo and Scriveners--a Perfect Team

Hola mis amigos,

A few years back my son wrote a Harry Potter Fan Fic.  It is about 12 chapters and very well done.  It was never pulled into a book format, but this year my niece finished all the HP books and my sister thought that it would be nice for her to read his story, so I thought…what a great win/win.  I will use Scriveners to pull his chapters into a book format and I learn the program and see if it fits my needs.  I went to the Scriveners site and downloaded the free 30 day trial of Scriveners to see if it would meet my needs, and boy, was I impressed. 

The organizational structure, the flexibility, the ease of use, and the tutorial are soooo wonderful.  It will not write your novel for you, but it will help you organize your research, organize your plot ideas, keep track of your characters characteristics, help you with timelines, and just plain keeping the story straight.  I am not one who likes to learn new programs, but this one…is a keeper.  If you have a Mac or a PC and are looking for a way to organize your novel, check them out free for 30 days. Scriveners seems like the perfect binder for organizing thoughts, poems, songs, plots, and quotes. 

Of course the moleskin books are still the BEST for the pesky thoughts that hit you in the middle of nowhere, when you least expect it.  I will be sharing my journey of plot, characters, scene, dialogue, and noveling here…so stay tuned.

If you have another program that you use that you just love, please let me know.  I do love Scriveners, but am open to looking at others if they are easy to use.

Remember to post a comment here or on my FB page for a chance to win a Writers Tote full of goodies!!!

Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante!!!

Zulmara