about
can I live by my pen?
San Diego. whimsical. adventure. stand up comedy. jane austen. nature. writing. movies. photography. white russians. gin & tonic. disneyland. snowboarding. disc golf. hiking. john leguizamo. sarcasm. riddles. story telling. adorable. insight. evolution. your face.

This is where I talk about anything, and everything...along with my trials and tribulations with trying to become a published author. Don't worry, I won't quit my day job...even though I would like to.



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Friday, November 9, 2012
Just something I made for my story, Emotionally Compromised... posted at 1:49 PM

This is a tagline image i made for my story Emotionally Compromised. Click here to check it out!
What do you think of it?

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Thursday, November 8, 2012
Just something personal posted at 3:20 PM

View from the Prudential Center. Skyline of Boston, Massachusetts 
(taken with my iphone)
I live in San Diego, California. And for being such a great city, I have lived here most of my life, and after a recent trip to the East Coast, to Boston Massachusetts,  I have realized that I think I want to end up there. The history, the feeling I got when I was there --it all seemed to feel right. How can I not love a city with so much history? That is why I decided to set my current book there. It seemed to fit anyways, but in reality its because I adore Boston, I really do. Now please take stroll with me through the Ha'va'd Ya'd....
Click here to check out my book set in the wonderful city of Boston.

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words. lots of words. posted at 2:53 PM

Things are going surprisingly well in the writing world. I keep waiting to hit that writing wall but it has not yet come, and I don't want it to! I have had some stumbles though. Sometimes it can be hard having the plot all figured out and connecting it all. I don't want to call it 'filler' because it makes it seem unimportant, which I don't like. It is all important, well, to me it is anyways. In a way, the 'filler' is kind of my favorite bit --Bee-tee--dubs, lets not call it 'filler', lets call it 'fiber' because THAT is what it really is. It is the woven dynamics of each character, of each moment...its oh so much more. Yea, I like that: Fiber. I feel clever. 
The story seems to be doing really well on wattpad. It has over 3,000 reads and I could not be happier. Though, all those secret readers are driving me MAD. Please vote, that is all i ask. I want my story to do well and even if you don't comment, showing your support would be great.
Wait, who am I talking to? You, the reader? No one actually reads my mumbo-jumbo.
Anyways, cathartic release aside, I love how my story is coming along and I hope to finish it at the end of the year. Lets hope :) 


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Friday, November 2, 2012
Writing, Writing, Writing... posted at 10:37 AM

writing in more ways than one! I have been neglecting this blog only because I can't seem to stop writing my story! Its a wonderful feeling actually. Whats so nice about this is that this is the first story that I actually have a beginning, middle, and end! This is the most I have ever written. I have 16 chapters currently posted on Wattpad, and readers have been kind. It is currently in the top #200 for non-teen fiction and it seems like the number of reads I get in a day keep growing and growing --I am a happy camper. 
I really think this story is coming together and I can't wait to write it all down. Even though I have always enjoyed writing, I have never been as excited about a project as I have been for this one. 
If you would like to read my story Emotionally Compromised, please click here :)




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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
pouty face posted at 11:47 PM

I was really amped about posting my new chapter tonight, but worried its getting too detailed. I am streamlining a few conflicts, while weaving around different enviornments. I just want a cohesive ground work with lots of different angles. Kind of how J.K. Rowling did with the harry potter series (I know, real realistic comparison...not); she had all this relevant extenuous details that really built an understanding for a characters overall  life expericen. I want that sort of feeling with my story. Maybe those are just strangely high hopes for a young writer...ANYWAYS, I posted my chapter and no one has really been giving it a gander. Granted, I didn't post it all over the 'share my story' club, but I did get in contact with a few of my most loyal readers. Maybe they have lives, unlike you. Oh, that could be possible too. eek. Damn you subconscious.
I just want my heavy, deatiled chapter to get some buzz so I can finally write some stuff I can sink my teeth into...like attempted murders, chases, guns and kidnapping, oh yes!
For now I am just going to sit here and pout like child waiting people to take a peek at my newest chapter.
Curious about my newest chapter (10) Losing Control? Click Here.



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Friday, October 19, 2012
Keep calm, and be a Jane Austen heroine. posted at 1:36 AM

so after getting over my wattpad promo stress I decided to do the one thing I am there to do. I decided to write and I accomplished a whole chapter, edited, and posted! (click here to check out Chapter 8 - Good Morning). I feel better now. I think I need to cool it from the promo stuff for awhile and let the word get out via others for now. It will give me times to refocus, and be on my way to finish this story. I am not even half way done yet, but I am excited for the possibilities.

Ended up confessing to my mom earlier today about my writing and divulged my whole story in an embarrassingly passionate manner (silly me) and she was...surprisingly impressed. Go figure. She even said she was proud of me. --Is that all it took mom? Ha. Regardless, she thinks I have an amazing idea on my hands. Now if I can just transfer those brain waves to paper...uhh, I mean Microsoft word.

Update on manuscript:
Page Count: 106
Word Count: 21,993

Not bad.

Its 1:33AM I should be dreaming.

Now Good night, I leave you with the wonderful words of my (secret) (ok, maybe not so secret) (predictable) idol Jane Austen:


“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
—Jane Austen, in a letter to her sister, Cassandra



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Thursday, October 18, 2012
Tough Gig. posted at 8:25 PM

sometimes posting on Wattpad and blows. I mean, I love it when i get honest (adult) readers but most of the time I think they run a little young. Its tough getting/gaining an audience. I want more reads and more feedback so I can become a better writer. When you read people's stories and comment its hard to have them return the favor. Sometimes that "dog-eat-dog-world" mentality is even relevant in the online writing world. Everyone wants their stuff read; everyone wants to be noticed. I know I am not alone in that one. I just want consistency, thats all. haha.

ALSO...My first chapter is 7 pages, and the readers think that its too long. Don't we read real books anymore? To be honest, in the finished product the first chapter will be a combination of the first two that are posted on wattpad. Its weird to have a fear of editing your first chapter by breaking up paragraphs because you are worried it will add page length. Woe is the life of a wattpad writer. ugh.

Ok, I am done ranting.

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posted at 8:14 PM


Emotionally Compromised
Please check out my story!

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The Epiphany. posted at 7:37 PM

So this is the beginning. The beginning of what, you might ask? --well, I am not so sure yet. I just know that for the first time in a long while I finally have a complete idea. Its a powerful thing, really. Well, it can be when you realize what you have on your hands; this intangible thing; this idea, because you realize it is so much more than a mere whim of a thought.

I have been writing off and on for years. Granted, I am no grandma, so when I say "years" I would say since I was about 16 (maybe even 15). And now I am 24. I have written a TONS of stories. I must embarrassingly admit that at that tender age of 15 my writing (and online reading) mainly consisted of fan fictions --we all have to start somewhere. I would say that at 18 I really started to delve into creative writing. Creating fictional realities (oxymoron?), and elaborate characters with intriguing conflicts. They weren't the best, but they were definitely a start. I see that now as I look back on them that, that was me growing as a writer.

I started lots, and lots of stories. "Started" being the operative word here. I had all these amazingly brilliant story ideas (well, I thought they were brilliant, of course) but I never finished a gosh darn one. I would make it half way with tons of readers/fans and then stop. Did I mention, being a kid of the generation of information, that the internet allowed me to explode my creative juices to the public of the interweb? I even managed my own creative writing message board one Southern California summer; spending days at the beach, and then writing until the wee hours of the morn. Creating this internet author identity. Regardless, I only allowed my self half baked ideas. Meaning, I never followed through. Lets not get into how that seems to be my life's problem. Life always caught up with me and I usually would lose interest or just get too busy, wasting all of my brains hard earned energy dreaming up these ideas. But in retrospect it was all a learning curve. I grew as a writer with every half "idea".

Writing has been a continuous passion of mine, and I finally started to realize this as I turned 20. But I never considered it a way to live. I just knew that I could be a better writer and it being my hobby I thought I could be great at it. So I started writing again. Suddenly my half-baked ideas became incredible tales of people, relationships and complicated emotions. Writing excited me once again ---but I still never finished a damn story.

Lets fast forward to the present: I am now 24. I have been writing a variety of different stories this past year, now ready for a complete one. And all of a sudden I couldn't even think of a good story to follow through with! Oh, the irony.

Realizing my passionate hobby, I wanted nothing more then to check off one crucial thing on my bucket list: I want to publish a book! I decided to pick up an old idea a month ago about a girl heroin who is a secret government agent trying to stop the spread a biological disease, yet she finds a conflicting love interest involved within her case.

I have had another problem in this "bucket list realization" --I never shared my work with anyone close to me. To the millions of folks on the word wide web -YES, but to my friends and family? -HELL NO. I was too worried that they would think my silly stories were going to be stupid, and juvenile. I was worried they would think it was a waste of my time (because sometimes I thought so too, I would day dream about things to write and would always come to the conclusion that I should be more productive doing something else). Until one day my best friend asked me about my writing, flat out! He knew I would hide it away but always saw me writing. I told him profusely that I was embarrassed, but he persisted. I ended up telling him the summary of my story (at the time not yet a complete idea, of course) and as the words began to spill out of my mouth I started becoming passionate about the mere idea. And the more I talked about it aloud the more complete of an idea it became. Without him realizing it, it became a creative writing confessional, and long story short I ended up figuring out an ending through my ramblings --VOILA!  And after I finished, I thought he was going to give me that "Are you kidding? That's dumb" look...but he didn't. He thought it was fantastic.

And he is really most of the reason I decided to go on. I began writing more consistent chapters, piecing it all together. I began posting on this awesome writing site called wattpad. And I suddenly got this exciting feeling...I've got it...BY JOE, IVE GOT IT! --that complete, whole story!

But I am happy to say its happened folks! I have an idea, and I know it's great, and I know it can be a book. I am compiling my manuscript as a I write. Editing as I go. Hoping that as I compile soon I will be able to put a "The End" some day. I am currently (word document) 92 pages (double spaced), and over 20,000 words into my novel (eek, a novel?like a real one!).

I think I have gotten something really amazing on my hands. And its an incredible feeling to have in reference to ones writing. I want to finish this! And I will. And when I am done I will send it off to publishers! I know I can do this.

I am ready for the predictable rejections but excited for the editing process. I am just ecstatic at being able to do the ONE thing I want to do before I die. I want to be a published author.

I always worried about not being able to make it. I always remember this silly part of this movie called "Becoming Jane" (have you seen it?). Its about Jane Austen's life, played by Anne Hathaway, and in this scene she has just denied a wedding proposal and is talking to her very upset mother (very Pride & Prejudice, right?), and Jane says something like "Maybe I can live by my pen?" and her mom gets super pissed and says something like "Live by your pen!? By you pen!? Do you want to till your own damn potatoes!?" ---GETS ME EVERY TIME...because, no, I do not want to till my own proverbial potatoes. But it isn't about the money, is it? No, it is about the passion. Passion for words, and there wonderfully magical powers to create elaborate worlds, realistic fiction or fantasy. Whatever you like!? That is the beauty of it all.

So this is the beginning of my journey. I will post about publishers, my writing tribulations, and a bunch of mumbo jumbo that goes through my head. If you are a writer, I hope this teaches you that you are not alone --I am (w)right (see what I did there?) beside you and we will make it together. Write away darling, I know you can do it!

P.S. if you would like to check out my story please got to my wattpad page (link on the side) and read my story "Emotionally Compromised". I hope you agree that it is a solid idea.

Your comments, feedback and overall feedback are aways welcome here. Just don't be mean.

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