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Dec.29,2011Wanna win an AUTOGRAPHED copy of Ellen Degeneres‘s Seriously, I’m Kidding and Jane Lynch’s Happy Accidents? Click on this link.
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Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makararating sa paroroonan -
“One who doesn’t learn from his past, cannot hope to succeed in the future.”
– an old Filipino proverb
It’s my last post for the 2011 and before I start writing down my goals/resolutions for the New Year, I’d like to look back at all the writing milestones I’ve passed, all the goals I’ve achieved, and all the lessons I’ve learned.
February 26, 2011
I joined a 5K run for the first time—and survived.
At the 5K Run
March 2, 2011
My two best friends knew I had finished the 8th draft of my MG book and helped me celebrate by taking me to Union Cattle, and—giving me an advanced birthday present of a netbook!
Enjoying my new netbook
April 16, 2011
I attended Writer’s Day for the first time ever. I got to listen to awesome speakers such as editor Margaret Miller and authors Susan Patron, Bruce Coville, Rachel Cohn and Tony Johnston.
As an added bonus, I won 2nd place in the Writer’s Day contest for my middle grade novel Urth.
April 21, 2011
Every year since I discovered it, I try to attend the Renaissance Fair. It’s a great place to hang out with friends and a great source of ideas & inspiration for my fantasy novels. This year was no different. I had my usual fill of turkey leg and enjoyed exploring the dusty grounds with my friends.
Enjoying the turkey leg at the Renfair
April 23, 2011
Author Aura Imbarus met with our writing group and talked to us about writing, publishing and her memoir, Out of the Transylvania Night. It was a great session and we learned a lot from our talk with Aura.
TCBW with Aura Imbarus
April 26, 2011.
I celebrated another birthday. A milestone indeed.
Birthday cake
April 30, 2011
This year’s LA Festival of Books was at the USC Grounds. I went with good friends Lissa and Lena. I attended an awesome fantasy panel comprised of authors Megan Whalen, Rick Yancey, and one of my favorite authors Jonathan Stroud.
LA Festival of Books YA Fantasy panel
I also got to meet fave fantasy authors Garth Nix and Sean Williams, who signed my copy of Troubletwisters.
With Sean Williams and Garth Nix
May 2, 2011
IWOSC’s organized a great agents panel and I got to listen to Jennifer Rofe, Ashley & Carolyn Grayson, Taylor Martindale, Paul Levine, Greg Gertmenian & entertainment lawyer Ivan Hoffman.
May 4, 2011 – May 13, 2011
I had the trip of a lifetime with bestfriend Maiko. Tanks to the generosity of my aunt JD—who shared some of her Wheel of Fortune winnings – I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream to explore England and see Stonehenge up close.
Maiko and I at Stonehenge
June 9, 2011
I met Amazing Race contestant, travel photographer/ blogger and author Deborah Cloyed.
With Deborah Cloyed
June 18, 2011
I made some awesome new writer friends at the first ever LA Kidlit Drink Night at Pink Tacos.
June 28, 2011
I attended the Screenwriting panel at Barnes & Noble, Santa Monica and made some great author connections. I love Pamela Jaye Smith’s writing books and was excited to finally meet her in person. I was also very grateful to have met Scriptwriting consultant and author Kathie Fong Yoneda.
With Pamela Jaye Smith & Kathie Fong Yoneda
July 6, 2011
Author DJ Machale, is one of my favorite fantasy authors and I was happy to get the chance to see him again at the Cerritos Library Authors Faire.
With DJ Machale
August 5 – 7, 2011
The SCBWI Summer Conference was one of the highlights of this year. It was SCBWI’s 40th anniversary and they put great effort into making it one of their most memorable conferences yet.
I learned so many different things, made new friends—
With B.L. Sauder, Sophia Chang & Melanie Abed
And got starstruck when I met incredibly awesome authors Laurie Hals Andersen, Libba Bray, Deborah Halverson, Gary Paulsen, Norton Juster and Richard Peck.
With author Libba Bray
With author Norton Juster
with Laurie Hals Anderson
with Deborah Halverson
With Gary Paulsen
With Richard Peck
August 20, 2011
After taking my belt test for my martial arts class on July 9th, I got my orange belt certificate.
Gettin
Getting my orange belt
August 24, 2011
Scriptwriting consultant and authors Kathie Fong Yoneda and Pamela Jaye Smith showered our writing group with writing tips and shared their knowledge on the industry.
August 21, 2011
I flew up to the Bay area to spend the day with some old schoolmates. We ate, reminisced about our high school days, ate and I bought a whole bunch of books from Borders’ store closing sale.
With High School friends
August 26-28, 2011
For our best friend Lena’s birthday, we went to Catalina Island.
At Catalina Island with friends
It was my first time in Catalina, and my first time Kayaking too.
Kayaking for the first time
I took my first ever blogging break in the month of August to do my own version of nanowrimo. I finished an entire first draft of my new YA in four weeks—just in time to attend the Working Writer’s Retreat.
September 9 – 11, 2011
I attended the Working Writer’s Retreat for the second time. I met some incredible people and received great feedback for my YA.
Here, too, wonderful Regional Advisers Lee and Sarah asked me to join SCBWI-LA Board as the Contest Coordinator. Naturally, I said yes!
September 18, 2011
I was ecstatic to receive a personal invitation from Newberry winner and one of my favorite authors, Susan Patron to attend her book launch. She launched the 3rd book in her Lucky Series at the Skylight Bookstore in L.A.
with Newbery winner Susan Patron
October 2011
October was booksigning month for me. I dragged whoever I could drag (usually Lena or Maiko) to attend various booksigning events with me.
October 2nd – Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan
October 4th, Ellen Degeneres
Ellen Degeneres
October 16th, Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch
October 23rd – Gretchen McNeil, Elise Allen, Stasia Kehoe, & Allen Zadoff
Gretchen McNeil, Elise Allen, Stasia Kehoe, & Allen Zadoff
October 22, 2011
The Torrance Children’s Book Writers, had our first ever officers meeting. We made some great plans for the future and even got to design our group’s logo.
I also managed to sneak in some time to attend the Kidlit Halloween Party to see some of my SCBWI friends.
With author Kristen Kittscher
October 23, 2011
I attended my first ever SCBWI Board meeting and loved it.
November 2011
November was a month for traveling and touring. Maiko, Lena and I toured our city of Los Angeles since I was using it as a setting for my new YA book. So far we’ve seen the Flower District, Jewelry District, Fashion District, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, El Pueblo, Silver Lake & Echo Park area.
Pershing Square
The three of us also traveled to New Orleans to attend our friend Cesar’s wedding.
French Quarter, New Orleans
November 12, 2011
This was the first time our second scribe (aka vice president) Lucy Ravitch headed one of our writing group’s sessions. I was happy to be in the background for once, assisting Lucy as she lectured on writing picture books.
Picture Book Bootcamp with Lucy
December 2, 2011
Together with Maiko, Lena, Lissa and Kristen, I attended Marie Lu’s Legend book launch at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore.
With Marie Lu
December 3, 2011
I had fun with friends at SCBWI-LA’s holiday party at the Wellesbourne.
December 10, 2011
The Torrance Children’s Book Writers had our first ever holiday party. Here we launched our new name and logo.
Torrance Children’s Book Writers soon to be Children’s Book Writers of Los Angeles
I end the year with gratitude and humble amazement. I am grateful for all the things I’ve accomplished, lessons I’ve learned, the wonderful people I’ve met and all the amazing experiences I’ve had this year.
Thank you 2011!
Hello, 2012!
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