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Showing posts from May, 2011

A Mishap & Mayhem Giveaway!

Books with Bite is hosting a giveway and I hope that everyone will stop by and enter!

Kung Fu - Breathing

To study Kung Fu you have to understand that breathing is a very important part of it. You might think, "of course I know breathing is important. I do it everyday." With proper breathing techniques your martial arts skill will be amazing.

Hauntings in my City

As a travel enthusiast I love to learn about the history of the places that I visit. Sometimes that history includes the local hauntings and other lore's. There is one local place in my city that is extremely haunted. Its a basque restaurant and many have reported apparitions. One was reported by the cook at the restaurant. He was busy preparing for the day when out of the corner of his eye he thought stood the manager, it wasn't. When he turned to speak to who he thought was the manager he found a woman who he had never seen before standing in the doorway, for seconds and then gone. At this same restaurant a friend of mine had her own experience. We were all seated at our table when my friend felt a brush of wind run by her shoulder, she ignored it, thinking it was the waitress, she felt the wind again this time followed by a tap on her shoulder. She turned and looked startled. We all asked her about it and she said, 'Where did the waitress go?' We checked the area f

Kung Fu - Weapons

This week I returned to my Kung Fu training. I had taken several months off to focus on my writing. Working both on Mishap & Mayhem and The Zombie Story . But now I am ready to refocus and return to something else that I really enjoy doing. I have to say that working on weapons training is something else. In the Zombie Story, swords are a main part of the story. They are used against the Zombies and the other creatures. The style is not as impressive as I am studying, but as all stories it should evolve to that level. After all, Orlando is just starting out, I think it might be a bit premature for him to be an expert swordsman. Learning how to use this as a weapon comes differently to everyone. Some are naturals, where after a few quick lessons they look like pros. Others will take longer as they try to figure out the footwork. But once you have it down it becomes an extension of your arm and of who you are and you carry yourself a little taller because you know that your hard

Najera

My cousin graduates today and is officially a Doctor. Doctor Najera. I am so proud of her accomplishments. It was a long road but one well worth the journey! For those of you that have read Mishap & Mayhem you may have wondered about the last name of Grasiella and Tatiana. Najera. It's an old family name from the northern part of Spain. And yes Grasiella and Tatiana are Latina. I decided a long time ago that my stories would always include Latinos and Latinas, this was important to me because I have not found a lot of YA novels that have a main character with Latin origins. I have so many ideas and stories that I think I can bring to life, and share a bit about a culture that has gone unnoticed.

Warehouse One

I recently talked about San Pedro and how I was shown this place called warehouse one which is reportedly haunted. Well I went back to San Pedro today to pick something up at Ports O'call and I made a quick stop at warehouse one. But this time I took some pictures and I thought I would share them. These are the tunnels where the trains were kept. And there you have it. Warehouse One. Now if its haunted I can not say. But its definitely not a place I would want to visit at night.

The Zombie Story ... The Chronicles of Orlando

This May, another series begins:     The Zombie Story Now at a Amazon & Smashwords  & Amazon UK Unfolding on the streets of Los Angeles is a new breed of monster... Orlando, fresh from the mid west, arrives at his new high school on his Harley Davidson.  All he wants is to make it through the day, and begin his training as a  Zombie Hunter. But someone had different plans for him. The Zombie Story is the first novella in a young adult series.

L.A. Times Festival of Books!

Sunday May 1st, I was at the L.A. Times Festival of Books and had an absolutely great time. I met a lot of fun and interesting people and sold some books which is always wonderful! I also met a lot of young aspiring writers and I hope I was helpful to them. I was at the "Glaws" booth...Glaws stands for the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. The other writers at the booth were extremely helpful and I'm so glad that I am part of such a great group of writers! In other news.... The Zombie Story will be released next week!