Here I am! But just to communicate a good news and a bad news!

Let's start from the good news, I want you to forgive me!

Tatan! I'm back after a whole year as a mum! I've become a mum on the 22nd of last December to a very cute baby I called Maya!

That leads us to the bad news! I couldn't follow all my blogs and deal with all I had to do during pregnancy, I believe now is out of question!

The only thing I can update now is my twitter, I've even deleted facebook! Ah, if you want to follow me I'm @Franny'sWorld or my alter ego @LiquoriceGirl. I'm desperately trying to go ahead with my stories and my fantasy world!

However, in order to do that, I decided I can follow only one platform and I've chosen wordpress, so if you want to follow me, you can do it here! I hope I'd be able to write again in a while, because I miss it! I hope it's just a matter of organization!!!!

Take care!

After Paddy’s day

I know it was two weeks ago, but, to be honest, I don’t really know when I’ll recover from that. I worked six days, five of which we saw numbers of visitors going over 5 thousands….yes, you get it right!

The climax of the week reached on the 18^th when we welcomed 6.500 people.

The result of all this was a Franny really, really, really tired, who would have killed for a hug (I don’t know, this happen when I’m tired!) and who had a great idea to dream, guess what? a huge queue of customers on the 6^th day night! I was dreaming about this endless queue, and I was waving my arm to tell people to go in a certain direction, and when I opened my eyes I saw my arm still moving…I hope it’s not bad as it seems, otherwise I won’t survive trough the summer!

Plus at the moment I’m at home sick and I cannot speak! I really think this is due to the hot breeze from the entrance that day!!! Aaaaaaaargh!

Said that, I feel to share with you a couple of interesting things I learned during those busy days:

-According to a customer the best city in California is San Francisco. He was from there but that doesn’t count!

-In case of emergency you learn to know better people who work with you…even who have your same shoe size! Whatever they say I’m a teamwork person!

-Being a human kiosk is funnier that I thought! I was giving ticket in exchange of reference numbers and I was immerged in paper!

-Receiving hugs when you’re knackered is without price! I’ve always loved hugs, they make you feel better, but I suppose they’re mandatory in these cases! They should put as routine after a day so busy!

-The busiest is the place the number of stupid/rude/impolite people raises….actually I already knew that! I don’t know why and nobody knows! It’s just to confirm!

- I have nice…hum…trousers. That was told me by a guy, I suppose the stag! He was dressed in a lady outfit, giant pink curled wig and giant red rimmed sunglasses. Actually I hope he dressed himself alone! I was so tired that I just said “Wow, nice dress!”. Hence the answer!

-I could confirm that Dutch have the most weird glass frames. I love them, I’ll use some of them for my stories sooner or later!

-It doesn’t matter how many times you see something and how tired you are, there are a few things that are just funny. So I’ll share with you:

It seems that one of the biggest problem people have is with the machine where you can buy tickets with credit card. You go there and you see two buttons on the touch screen: Collect Ticket and Buy ticket. I suppose that now you tell me “Ok, that’s not difficult!”. What I can say to you is that:

a- Loads of people just press Collect ticket and try to enter their credit card number in the line for the reference number!

b- Loads of them, just swipe the card without even choose one of the two options!

Once you manage to press Buy ticket, you should choose what you want and then swipe your card. Unfortunately the majority of people just stay there and keep swiping the card as they think that the computer sooner or later would read their mind!

Then you get your ticket and you go, skipping the queue, straight into the tour!

Now, leaving on the side all the people that apparently prefer queuing for a good half an hour instead doing that and leaving on the side also those ones that try to swipe the card into the door with access the staff lockers, or the ones who try to swipe it on the image of the touch screen, I’ll tell you the scene who won that day!

A man (not telling you where he was from because, really, who knows me and the job, already guessed right!) was sent to buy his tickets on the kiosk. He was between the last two machines, one with the two buttons, Buy and Collect and the other one with just Collect. Of course he was trying to buy on the one saying just Collect.

Me –Can I help you?

Customer- It doesn’t work!

Me- Yes, this is just to collect tickets! You…

Customer- It doesn’t work!

Me- Did you book on line?

Customer-….

Me- So let’s try the other one!

Customer -(tried to swipe his card without pressing what he needed)

Me- Why don’t we choose something first?

Customer- (looked at me, completely lost)

Me- Ok.. (I pressed Buy for him. I was really worried for his little son looking lost. Maybe it was a family matter!) what do you want to buy?

Customer- Two!

Me-Ok, so one adult and one child, right?

Customer-…

Me-Ok… Now you swipe your card….

After this I sent them inside, but believe me, I was so tired that my effort to not laugh in his face was really hard!

But now it’s over….oh no, summer ahead! Poor Franny!

Talk to you soon!

Only for my master- short story

And after a long time, I’m going to post the newest short story I have “Only for my master”.

I wrote it a while ago for a blog game. The game was on the Italian platform Libero, but I wrote the original in English first. Usually these games require a a certain length or a certain number of words but I knew I was going to chop it down. I usually write a lot more!

So you judge it! It is as usual in “Short Stories”

Happy reading!

Update n°7

As I mentioned in my last update, I’ve started at the beginning of February a 10 weeks children’s fiction course run by Jane Mitchell.

I love it and it makes me feel better with all these things that are going on around me. I’m not in a happy mood lately for a series of problems but writing is my personal lifejacket so I’ll grab it and I won’t let it go! I don’t want even to think about what I could do without writing.

Let’s talk about the course! During the first lesson we introduced ourselves and then Jane explained how the course works. All the most important novel topics will be touched and ideally by the end of the course we should have a 5 chapter’s book draft. This is amazing! If this comes true I’ll have three drafts in my computer, one of them finished at least!

The story is about my fantasy world, Sonrisa, once again, but it is set many years before the event of the first book I wrote took place. I don’t say anything more for the moment!

We had homework to do for the following lesson: we had to jot down the writing project and also read a book. I didn’t think I could read a book in one week. Ok, it wasn’t The Lord of the Rings (something that I’m still reading…yes I’m still at the first book since last year…I won’t say it defeated me though! At least so far!) but fairy long: House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones. She’s the English queen of fantasy, full stop and I’m not going to spoil a single word out of the book, you just have to read it! I wish I’ll have such fantasy and ability sooner or later!

I feel proud anyway I managed to reach the goal although at least a couple of people in the group read two or even three books. This is something it’s not likely to happen until I’ll retire! Or until I’ll be a writer able to live of my writing!

The second lesson, we had last week, was about characters. Nice challenge I’d say. The small exercise we did in class was about finding a coat owned by our character and telling five objects we find inside it, in order to describe who he/she is without give any other information. The homework was describing our character eating something, using only food, tools and custom. I’d never tried to think in this way. And, believe me, it was harder than just describe your character in the “standard way”!

I suppose that the rule “show don’t tell” is a bit clearer in my head, but still difficult to apply.

To add some notions more I read chapters about character from Fantasy and Science Fiction by Philip Athans. The odd and nice thing was discovering I was doing some of the right things without knowing I was doing them! Although I know I need a lot of hard work to do I feel good for the find.

Another nice thing about last week. I was home sick, I then decided to follow my partner’s advice and stay in bed at least for one day. At the end of the afternoon I finished to read one whole book. Nothing big, fantasy book for young adults, but still I remember that I was in high school the last time I did that! I felt good!

Finally on Tuesday I went to the third lesson. We touched the setting and its influence on the character. How the character perceive the setting according to his/her emotions. As homework we have to write about the perception of the same environment by a character in two opposite situations! That will be fun!

I love Jane’s style of teaching. Every time I attend a different course I learn something more and something different. I just feel awkward at times, because I’m the only non-English speaker but this is the path I’ve chosen so I have to live with it and give my best!!!

Talk to you soon!

New Pirates

Why have people always hated pirates?

Because they were dirty. Because they were criminals. Because they were violent. For all that, they were told dangerous for the society.

And yes, for a certain point of view they were all this. Well, they were all of this, but not only!

I know that probably you wouldn’t believe me because everybody who knows me a bit more is aware of my love towards those mythical scurvy dogs and the golden age of piracy. But this is not the moment or the place where I’ll try to explain my fondness! I’ll do in one of the next posts.

What I’m here to say is that piracy is not gone! It still exists in the world, in our everyday life. And don’t tell me “Oh, yes, what a news! We all know that! We all read the newspapers!” because I’m not going to talk to you about the facts happening in the Middle East or that kind of stuff!

I’m going to speak about those pirates that live among us and that usually are thought cool by the most.

They are not even true pirates, they are more like privateers. They’re allowed to behave like that by the established power.

For those who don’t know anything about the privateers let me explain. They were basically pirates, like the others. So they robbed, killed, destroyed villages, raped and kidnapped, all for the vile money! BUT (because it is a big but!) they were allowed to do that by the governors and trough them by the king himself who, to be honest, sit on his throne in Europe hardly knew what happened in the new world for sure. They paid the governor a percentage out of the booty or slaves to ensure their freedom in action.

Can you imagine whom I’m talking about? No, no it’s not the politician….they actually are included in the category, it’s obvious. What I’m talking about it’s something you don’t think immediately at: the management class (let’s be honest, you cannot define them otherwise) in every big company.

The biggest is the company the worse and more violent are the pirates.

I’m saying that because they behave like them, kidnapping our neurons, destroying and robbing our brains and raping our way to be.

But there is a huge difference between these new pirates and the legendary ones. And you mind, I want neither you agree with me nor that you think I totally justify the old ones.

But the matter that counts is that the old pirates and maybe the privateers as well had a moral code. Yes you heard correctly!

Although they were immoral for the most they had a code and most importantly they respected the code between them, no matter the grade you were wearing or your race or your credo. They were really the same for the code.

Apparently you have the same thing among the new pirates, but this is exactly what I hate with all my heart: appearance!

They eat each other no matter what. And everywhere is the same because what it counts is the money….but no rules, no rules in sharing the booty…nothing!

And now just do answer: which one do you think is worse?!

Talk to you soon

PS. I was editing this post when I watched this video by mistake. I think it could fit the cause.

Those are pirates too, but the worse kind. They seek kids and prevent them to think with their heads from such a young age. This is just disgusting.

But, you see, it’s not just Christians…after the last post you might thing I’m sticking on them. Here it is another nice one! (for the few who didn’t got it, the last bit was ironic!)

Zeitgeist: moving forward

As I promised you recently I’m going to link you the video Zeitgeist: moving forward.

Before I do so I want just to point out a thing.

Listen to their words carefully and mostly try to understand that racism, hatred and ignorance don’t bring us anywhere.

We should know what is right and what is wrong, we should stop to hate each other and we should stop with all these differences and mostly we should love our planet most.

As Jacque Fresco says: “This shit’s got to go!”

ZMF

Update n°6

Here we are again for a new update.

I wrote my January issue telling you what I wanted to do and now I think it’s right telling you what I managed to do so far. I know January hasn’t finished yet but I also say that it’s better start from the very beginning. In this way I’ll also keep track of my personal improvement.

What I’ve done so far was drawing again the map of Sonrisa with A.’s help. Now, it’s tidier but still it’s full of stuff. I think that, when I’ll end up with the main project, I’ll have a couple of spare ideas to write about! After all it’s an entire world I’m building up, so I suppose there will be loads of stories to tell!

I drew in 10 sheets of paper the races that live in my world and they’re attached on the wall in the kitchen (believe it or not, my partner hasn’t killed me yet!) so I have a general idea of the whole and it’s easier for me pick up a race and invent new characters.

Also that helps me with a top secret project I’ve started, still set in Sonrisa, but detached from the main one. I cannot speak about that right now but I will sooner or later!

I also gathered a few encyclopaedias about history, geography and other topics, but I’ll tell you about them little by little.

The one I’m studying for the moment is human geography. I started history of the world and crimes against humanity too, but I think it’s better I concentrate on one per time. I knew already I needed time, so no rush, Franny!!! (Ah ah ah…Franny’s brain’s laughing!)

What I’m not doing and I hoped I could improve a bit it’s reading. I’ve finished a couple of books I dragged with me from 2010 and also I’ve started a new one, a fantasy, although I still have some unfinished waiting on the bedside table!

What I haven’t started again is writing seriously after the NaNoWriMo effort! I’m lost among the planning of the world, the planning for the main project, blogging and writing the top secret thing… there is no time left for my good old routine. Or so it seems!

I suppose that once I’ll finish planning at least I’d be able to resume the morning pleasure. Let’s hope for February!

Also in February I’ll start a new 10 weeks writing course at the Irish Writers’ Centre. I hope I can go a step forward in my planning and writing. I’ll keep you updated on that too, no worries!

On the top of it I keep working full time and I’m more tired than ever, but I’ll go on. Until my body will decided to stop me in one of its genus way, like a cold or something alike, I’ll go ahead!

For the moment that’s that!

Talk to you soon.

Our world

We should love our world.

Sunday I went to the worldwide release of this documentary: Zeitgeist moving forward. It was amazing. I agree 100% with what they say and I hope that sooner or later everybody will understand that we need to change.

I’ll tell you when the whole documentary will be available on-line. It should be in a few days.

If you’re interested, there are two documentaries preceding this one. Zeitgeist.

And then the Zeitgeist Addendum

If you want to understand more about the Venus Project then I suggest you to watch Future by design.

And this is the website.

As you may notice I didn’t explain anything about that. Firstly because the immages are clear enough and secondly because I don’t want to influence anybody with my point of view. I think you can understand alone!

2011

Here we are again, on my good old blog. A new year started, the holidays are finished, my guests are back to Italy and the house is quiet again. I kind miss the mess to be honest!

Usually, at the beginning of the year, I do a list with all the things that I want to do, all the aims of the year.

However a recent happening caught my attention forcing me to complain with you right from the beginning. I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way!

A part from the high number of unlucky things that are happening to me for some unknown reason, the recent happening I’m referring to is the end of the world.

No really, it’s the end of the world!

Do you remember the prophecy told by Mayan calendar? They forecasted that the end of the world will be in 2012. There is a film also and I’ve even found a literary competition on the matter. Everybody seems to get ready for the event!

But a genius, one engineer now member of one of the million Christian churches existing in the world, says that the end of the world is this year indeed. Now if you surf on the web there are so many different dates about this, but certainly the one the most of them agree on is the 21^st of May, which for them will be the Judgment Day.

A few days ago I was in work and literally a pamphlet rolled in through the door. I thought it was about a museum I hadn’t seen yet, but when I opened it the title read “21^st May 2011….Judgment Day!”. I laughed immediately, really people believes it?

My knowledge on the matter is really limited, I admit that, but I couldn’t help to read the paper and think about a couple of comments.

First, it seems that they want to get more people for the Church just scaring them, they count of the people’s fright of the death. I quote “As you read this pamphlet, please carefully consider the verses quoted from the Bible, for they are the Word of God, and as such, posses absolute power and authority. Our only salvation is through the reading of the Word of God”. Now the question is: how can loads of people believe in such prehistoric book? Something that was put together during a council of human beings choosing what they preferred most? It is something to brainwash people, that’s it. But still there are a millions of people of the world who believe in it.

And just to scare a bit more at the end they reinforce the idea repeating “As you read this pamphlet, please carefully consider the verses quoted from the Bible, for they are the Word of God, and as such, posses absolute power and authority” …again, do they know that something called science does exist? I wonder what they do when they feel sick…go to the church or to the doctor? That’s tough!

Secondly, they say that now the words are clear and they can read it properly. What does it mean? Was it written in a different language before? Did you read for once in hangover? A Book is not alive or better, it is, but not in the way they think…something that is written before it will be written after still…it doesn’t change the words, in particular if you say that it is written clearly!

Immediately after, there is a list “Timing of important event in history”. I’m sure that other dates were important in that period, but it seems that only a few of them are taken into consideration. Why? Because after only one page, the dates are used to make a calculation according to which the date of the judgement day is given. Not only, they also give us the date of the end of the world which is on October 21^st. It’s like you’re scheduling the appointment with the doctor in a way! 21^st of May, the Judgment, check. The 21^st of October, the End, check. Just consider that they reached this conclusion using the Hebrew calendar or so they say…what? In hundreds of years did nobody think to this solution? Again, I think they want just to put panic amidst the people, a real Deus ex machina!

The more I read into the pages the more I felt angry. The things I was thought when I was younger are all lies. I thought he was the God of benevolence and he was fair and good and loved his creatures.

Here they talk about someone who’ll destroy what he’s done to kill us all if we don’t like his principles. It’s like a parent who kills his child because he or she misbehaved… Where is the love? Where is the mercy? Also I quote again “He is giving us advanced warning to what He is about to do”… From May to October five months of terrible things will happen. So, He loves his creature, give us the warning, because he love us…right, BUT if we don’t do what He “says” he’ll made us suffer in the most unimaginable ways…where the hell is the mercy? It seems more sadist. Mercy would be:

“Stay with me?”

“No”

“Instant death then” and puff, we don’t even realize it!

Than it is written that people will rise from their graves. The good one are ascending while the bad are staying here and wondering around like zombies.

Well, if all the people who don’t believe in Him are zombies, in China they’ll be packed! So it says the pamphlet “Death will be everywhere”…no seriously…Mr. Romero, do we want to do something about that? Let’s do that, come on!

After all the quoting there is a web site address. There is no way to speak with other people and exchange opinion as far I could see. It’s a website full of things to download.

But as they say “Read the Bible with your family (especially your children) and along with your reading, pray for mercy”….that’s the perfect example of brainwash and early recruitment!

I’ll leave you now, from the next time the posts will be again the usual standard, I hope.

I just want to say a last thing. 2011 is the year of the rabbit, and it is supposed to bring lucky….well, if the year keeps going like this, I’m going to get that damn rabbit and cook it!

Lists before Christmas

As I promised to a friend of mine, this post will be full of lists and bullet points. I should put a new tag like “Lists” or something like that, as lately I’m prone to do that anyway!

I’m happy when I meet new people, and to be honest, since I’ve started to write and, in particular, I’ve started to write in English, the quantity and the quality of people I’ve met improved and I’m so happy for this! I’ve never thought I could be happy and satisfied so much by something else other than meeting my partner!

Among my new friends there is Estrella Azul, a very nice and sweet blogger who writes a very interesting and (very often) useful blog. The following lists are ideas coming from her. I think this could be a light and nice way to leave you for a couple of week’s holiday!

The first one is the more recent, it’s about something you believe in. Ten bullet point. I’m not sure it will make any sense at all, as I always have doubts about everything.

Ten things I believe:

1. Friendship is the most important thing you have. Friends are your personal treasure so it is right to give all yourself in the relationships.

2. Love exists. There are many forms of love; it could be friendship, it could be passion, it could be staying together with another person, it could be family.

3. Talking with people is useful (although lately the facts are proving me wrong!). All the relationships, anyway, suffer if it’s only one of the people involved to do his or her best. If you are in any kind of relationship you should give yourself 100%.

4. At least four people in the world love me very much no matter what. I’m sure my boyfriend and my two little sisters and my brother panda love me like I love them.

5. Everybody has a good side (I know that the experience is going against me on this too but I still think that!). It’s almost impossible that a person is completely evil. Although I’ve met so far lots of people that behaved towards me like serial killers, they maybe had feed a puppy in the street at least once in their life.

6. You don’t need to be perfect or be exactly like the others to be appreciated and accepted by people. You have to be yourself no matter what (although this could be easier said than done!). One day someone will love you for what you are.

7. You don’t need to follow the flock! You can be the black sheep and be lovely anyway!

8. Animals are more human than human beings themselves. Penguins are lovely and have a sense of group and community. Wolves and eagles are faithful and loyal and dogs are just full of love. I’ve just mentioned my favourites but I’m sure there are more examples. And to all the people who treat badly their animals, train them to fight or abandon them when the “puppy magic” is gone, I’d like to say “You’re the real animals!”

9. There are good and bad people everywhere in the world. It doesn’t matter the race, the sex, the religion, the education. We all should stop with the stupid racism.

10. Money and religions are the ruin of the world. We should love each other even if a religion doesn’t tell us so. We should help each other even if we’re not gaining anything. Only in this way we could hope to begin a nice revolution, which will change the world in better.

The following list comes from Estrella’s blog again. It was a game following the “Creative writer blogger award” she gave to me. Thanks so much, Estrella, even if it’s so in late! Now, I’m going to list my six outrageous lies and one outrageous truth like the game requests, even if I’m not passing on (just a matter of time, really!).

Her creepy version would be my Christmas version, considering I’m doing it now:

1. Santa called me yesterday telling me that he needs some help during the 24^th night due to his age.

2. I’ve decorated a 20 feet high tree in my back garden.

3. I have a new pet now, a penguin puppy I’ve called Peppy

4. I’m preparing a Christmas dinner for 30 people.

5. The snowman I did the other day is alive now and he’s tiding up the house for me as a Christmas present.

6. I’ve sent a seal as present to my little nephew.

7. I’m going to use fairy powder in the Christmas cake, so it would be a happy day!

You find the one outrageous truth among these 7 sentences!

And with this I’m just wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Let’s hope that the 2011 will be a year full of (good) news and also ideas and writing!

I’ll see you on these pages at the beginning of January with many posts and much more!

Talk to you soon!

January Issue

I’ve just bought the January issue of the two writing magazines I follow and I’ve decided to write my January issue too! I’m going to tell you what is coming next or at least what I’ll try to write or do in the year to come.

What did convince me that this was the right thing to do? And why does the following plan seem to be right?

1. After the concentrate month of November, all the ideas and projects piled up in a corner of my brain, fell down on the floor and now they’re all confused on the ground. I hope that doing that would help to tidy up at least a bit.

2. I’ve found on the web a very nice blog, Gamberi Fantasy. It’s a really good and useful blog, but just if you’re Italian speaker! This blogger, tells you in a simple, direct (sometimes rather offensive way, but it’s effective!) what she thinks about fantasy in general. Gamberetta, the webmaster, has a really bad opinion about Italian fantasy. She tells us also some tips about writing, quoting manuals and underlining the most frequent errors in the books she reviews. They’re really accurate and you can learn a lot. The most important thing that got my attention is: do your research. Usually I do, but I have to admit not so accurately! Also I don’t want that someone could think such things about my stuff which is really important to me, so I’ll try to do my best!

3. I want to be the kind of reader I saw once on the plane. He was next to me and started immediately to read after he took his place. He finished the book during the landing, he put it away and started a new one. When the crew opened the doors he was still reading. Queuing to exit he was still reading. He put away the volume when he reached the stairs. That’s the kind of reader I want to be. Let’s admit that, I suck as reader at the moment!

The three points I’ve just told you were the triggers that helped me to plan what I’m writing next, what I’m doing from January.

First of all, for the few of you who were following “Arilla”, I’m going to upload the last chapters.

I’ll try to translate then “Captain’s log” and put on the blog the journal entries one by one. “Captain’s log” is my Italian book about pirates, but as Arilla isn’t ready yet to pitch an editor, although the story is a bit more complex and better structured than “Arilla”.

What I want to concentrate on next year will be:

1. Sonrisa. So I’ll write everything concerning the main books. I realized that the project is too wide to try to write single books. Everything should be studied from the beginning till the end, and that’s what I have to do.

2. Research. Before I try to pitch an editor I need to complete some parts of my fantasy world, but in order to do so I need to study the geography and the history and the folklore at an acceptable level. Once I’ll finish that it would be maybe possible that some parts of the story will change. You’ll follow the researches though.

3. Read. Everything from writing manual to fantasy book and young adults’ books. Basically books that I need to write better. You’ll be updated on those too.

So what you’ll see here on the blog will be mainly the update of the researching job I’m doing. Maybe I’ll post some short stories here and there, chiefly written for blog games and competitions; or else I’ll try to fill the “Sonrisa” page with a surprise for you!

Also you’ll have a few “nonsense” posts, to have a glimpse of my strange life.

For the moment that’s it.

Talk to you soon.

Post-Nano and Post-TGIO

What the NaNoWriMo experience left me other than personal satisfaction, useful contacts, a second unfinished manuscript and a kilo more?

A very nice and pleasant memory.

Last Sunday (yes, I know this post is late…a lot…but that’s that at the moment, I’m afraid!) I had my first TGIO lunch.

Some of the NaNos from Dublin area met in Yamamori, one of the Japanese restaurants, to celebrate the end of the past tiring month.

After a brief taste of the atmosphere I had last time (the only one actually) I went to a meet-up, I had a pleasant full immersion in what is a place I was looking for.

Being at the table with other ten people or so who love the very same thing I love, who follow me fully in my questions, ideas and considerations, is without prize.

I felt that I was in the right place and that it’s in this kind of environment that I want to be in the years to come, that’s why I have to improve, concentrate and work hard. The enthusiasm showed by those people is exciting and you just want to stay with them.

Special mention to our little NaNo! Seven years old, pure fantasy and great ability. This little one was able to beat the limit of 4,000 words, which is amazing at that age! Plus, a mention to her mother and her family. I maybe sound repetitive and also a bit weird. But is suffered so much when I was the same age and I felt alone looking around me and trying to understand why nobody noticed anything special and ending up to believe that I was wrong.

But now, I’m again on this way! I think it’s the right one and I’m not going back or stop anymore!

Now it’s my turn!

Thanks to all of you NaNo fellows! I’m happy and pleased that you’re out there!

Books and lists!

You know? I was wondering what to write next and here is the idea! Thanks Dap Dap!

Now this is a note I was tagged on Facebook! The note says that BBC confirms that the majority of people have read only 6 out of the hundred books there are in the following list. Then the note says to put in bold the ones you’ve fully read and in cursive the ones you’ve started to read…at a first sight I had problems because I thought I sucked in this field. There are some of this book that I’ve read at least twice if not four or five times, like “Promessi sposi” or “Il nome della rosa”!

As a writer I’m aware I don’t read a lot and that I have to work on it….ah, ah, ah work on it!!!! That’s nice….if only I had time…

Now, considering that I’m paranoid enough to feel the more stupid on the world’s surface and to ignore my inner voice that is telling me “Hey do you know that you’ve read loads of books that aren’t even listed in this list?!!”, I’ve decided to divide this list in Books I’ve read once, more than once, started and then the rest….Oh boy I really suck!!!!

I could ask myself which are the criteria used to form this list too…but I still suck!!! There are a lot of classics I’ve never read…even if I wish I could…damn spare time!

Listen, I’ll leave you with the list, free to paste copy and giving me a lesson how it should be a normal reader, and then I go to bury somewhere, maybe with a couple of volumes…..

Original List:

1. Pride and predjudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of The rings – JRR Tolkien
3. The Prophet- Kahlil Gibran
4. Harry Potter – JK Rowling
5. Se questo è un uomo – Primo Levi
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. 1984 – George Orwell
9. I Promessi Sposi – Alessandro Manzoni
10. La Divina Commedia – Dante Alighieri
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Lessico Familiare – Natalia Ginzburg
13. Comma 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Shakespeare’s complete works
15. Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini – Giorgio Bassani
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Il Nome della Rosa – Umberto Eco
18. Il Gattopardo – Tommasi di Lampedusa
19. The Trial – Franz Kafka
20. Elective Affinities – Goethe
21. Gone with the wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Odyssey – Omero
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. The Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Cuore – Edmondo de Amicis
36. La Coscienza di Zeno – Italo Svevo
37. The kite runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Il Mandolino del Capitano Corelli – Louis De Berniere
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. Da Vinci Code– Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. Il Barone Rampante – Italo Calvino
45. Gli Indifferenti – Alberto Moravia
46. Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
47. I Malavoglia – Giovanni Verga
48. Il Fu Mattia Pascal – Luigi Pirandello
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli – Carlo Levi
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
53. Don Quixote de la Mancha – Cervantes
54. The Sorrows of Young Werther – J. W. Goethe
55. Pinocchio – Collodi
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. Siddharta – Hermann Hesse
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
60. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. Jules Maigret – George Simenon
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
67. La luna e i Falò – Cesare Pavese
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Buddenbroock – Thomas Mann
77. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
83. The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The red and the black – Stendhal
89. Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. All Quiet on the Western Front – Remarque
95. Un Uomo – Oriana Fallaci
96. The Catcher in the Rye – Salinger
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo

Book I’ve read once

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. Odyssey – Omero
3. Emma – Jane Austen
4. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
5. I Malavoglia – Giovanni Verga
6. Il Fu Mattia Pascal – Luigi Pirandello
7. Il Conte di Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
8. The picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
9. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
10. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

Book I’ve read more than once

1. Harry Potter – JK Rowling
2. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
3. I Promessi Sposi – Alessandro Manzoni
4. Il Nome della Rosa – Umberto Eco
5. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
6. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
7. La Coscienza di Zeno – Italo Svevo
8. Il Barone Rampante – Italo Calvino
9. Dracula – Bram Stoker
10. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
11. The Little Prince– Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Book I’ve started

1. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
2. Se questo è un uomo – Primo Levi
3. La Divina Commedia – Dante Alighieri
4. Shakespeare’ complete work
5. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
6. Da Vinci Code– Dan Brown
7. Ulysses – James Joyce
8. Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

The rest

1. The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran
2. The Bible
3. 1984 – George Orwell
4. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
5. Lessico Familiare – Natalia Ginzburg
6. Comma 22 – Joseph Heller
7. Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini – Giorgio Bassani
8. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
9. Il Gattopardo – Tommasi di Lampedusa
10. The trial – Franz Kafka
11. Elective Affinities – Goethe
12. Gone with the wind – Margaret Mitchell
13. Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
14. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
15. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
16. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
17. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
18. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
19. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
20. The Chronicle of Narnia – CS Lewis
21. Cuore – Edmondo de Amicis
22. The kite runner – Khaled Hosseini
23. Il Mandolino del Capitano Corelli – Louis De Berniere
24. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
25. Animal farm – George Orwell
26. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
27. Gli Indifferenti – Alberto Moravia
28. Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
29. The lord of flies – William Golding
30. Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli – Carlo Levi
31. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
32. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
33. Don Quixote de la Mancha – Cervantes
34. The Sorrows of Young Werther – J. W. Goethe
35. Pinocchio – Collodi
36. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
37. Siddharta – Hermann Hesse
38. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
39. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time– Mark Haddon
40. Love in the time of Colera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
41. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
42. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
43. Jules Maigret – George Simenon
44. The lovely bones – Alice Sebold
45. On the road – Jack Kerouac
46. La luna e i Falò – Cesare Pavese
47. Bridget Jones’ diary – Helen Fielding
48. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
49. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
50. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
51. Three Men in a boat – Jerome K. Jerome
52. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
53. The Buddenbroock – Thomas Mann
54. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
55. Germinal – Emile Zola
56. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
57. Possession – AS Byatt
58. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
59. The purple colour– Alice Walker
60. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
61. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
62. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
63. The red and the black – Stendhal
64. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
65. All quiet on the western front – Remarque
66. Un Uomo – Oriana Fallaci
67. The Catcher in the Rye – Salinger
68. The three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
69. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

And the winner is....

Franny

And I’m writing here on the 2^nd of December to say that yes, I’m one of Winners of NaNoWriMo 2010. With a final count of 54,006 words I completed successfully my task this time. It was my first time, all right, but…was it the typical beginners’ luck? I don’t know but I’m happy with the result!

The book hasn’t been finished yet, the finale is still in progress but what I’ll do now it’ll be just relax for at least a month. Something that, who knows me even a bit, doesn’t believe at all! I’d say that maybe for a week I’ll try to follow the advice, for the rest I don’t know. I’ve already a list of things to do and things to write and ideas swirling in my head….but mainly I’ll try to read as more as I can, because this year wasn’t really good on that point of view.

What I also want to write in this post is a list of the people whom I want to thank for the marvellous support. To be honest I’ve always thought that saying “Wow, the support of my fan was precious” kind of sentence was stupid, but I had to change my mind. The support of friends and family was not only welcome, but more than useful.

So, here we come. Thank you very much to:

• My partner. Because he was really sweet all the month long, helping me with the moving house stuff and understanding until the last day how was important to me this challenge. I suppose that live with a writer or an artist in general is not an easy task, but he’s doing great!
• Nani, Mili and Silvi. My wonderful siblings (for choice and not biology but who cares) for their constant support and advices. They’ve always believed in me and I felt them close to me even if they live in another nation.
• Dee. I’ve never had a cheerleader before, but despite being only a jumping support, she’s been also a human dictionary at hand and a great helpful reader.
• Madame_Morphine and Elly. Two bloggers, friends of mine, met on the Libero platform, who encouraged me every step. Now actually I have a fun club as well, thanks Madame!!!!!
• Helena and Beth who helped me with words and Google search at work.
• Trish, Shay, Andy, Keith, Nick (with his “Franny do you know that all the sentence must have a sense? You know? You cannot put random words into them”), Rob, Una, Rosemarie, Anne (with her nice exclamation at the 4^th week “You look better today, but it was funnier last week to see you in that way!”) and Angelika for their support and comprehension even if I was a bit more weird than usual.
• Laura. For her constant attempt to convince me to write the same sentence in billion of different ways up to 50,000 words. It made me laugh and relax.
• Damon. He thought me how to use Twitter so I could stay in touch with other writers.
• All the Nanos, who supported me and encouraged me without criticise although I was trying to do my NaNo in another language!
• Virginia. She’s giving life to my mad thoughts, drawing beautifully my characters. I can meet them personally now and I’m so excited for it!
• Random customers. I spoke to a few of them interested enough in other than “the standard”. They gave me all, full support, and if you find this page and you recognize yourself, a grateful smile to you!

I’m probably leaving out someone, and I’m sorry for this, I’ll edit this as soon as I remember who I left behind.

NaNoWriMo was a wonderful experience who made me understand that I’m worth something anyway and there are out there lots of people who care about what I’m doing even if I think the opposite.

The only bitter note comes from my family as they didn’t give me support or understanding at all, but I have to live with it, the show must go on!

I’ll talk to you soon!

NaNoWriMo update3

No, I’m not disappeared, I was just trying to survive. To be honest I decided today to not post on the blog but I needed a break so here I am! Having a break from writing, doing what? Writing…maybe it is really an addiction!

For the curious I’ll update immediately my word count: 41,330. There are still 6 days to go and I’m over excited because at this stage I cannot stay beyond!

The moving house business is over now, but the new house, my house, is a massive mess. Fine, it can wait till the 1^st of December!

The nice thing that happened last week was that I met other NaNoWriMo participants. They are all really nice. I found out there are loads of different people out there, who love the same thing I love!

I thought I could update more often about my adventure but the level of stress was rising constantly in particular in the last few days!

I’ll use, anyway, this post to make some considerations:

1. I found out that it’s not easy bring on three things together, when one of this, is working full time or moving house or writing seriously like it was your real full time job when you don’t have time! BUT I’d do the very same again, because that showed me that I can do that if I want!

2. I realized that coffee have a strange effect on me when I’m under pressure; it is really stimulating but it doesn’t work if I’m too sleepy so the effect is more or less like a yo-yo with its eyes closed!

3. The place where I love most to write is the kitchen. I know that for the moment is the only room with furniture along with the bedroom, but I don’t care, now I have a kitchen and I’m proud of it!

4. I love to know other writers! They don’t care about the fact I’m Italian and I’m writing in English, they just sustain me, which is amazing! Thanks to all of you! If everybody would do the very same in his or her own field there would be less wars in the world!

5. I know words I didn’t know I knew… but most of all I know the meaning and I have to look on the dictionary the meaning in Italian, because I know they’re right but I don’t know how to translate them in case I have to!

Said that I’ll copy here, updated, The Other Count not the word count, like it was suggested in one of the forum thread on the website:

Number of the sheets of paper written during work: 19

Number of chocolate bars eaten: 27

Numbers of cups of infuses drunk: 54

Number of real supporters in work: 5

Number of cheerleaders in work: 1

Promise of creating my fan club if I manage to finish the NaNoWriMo successfully: 1

Well, that’s that for now. I suppose that next time I’ll update the blog I’ll know if I did it or not, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!

NaNoWriMo update2

And I’m writing on my blog one week after to tell you my progress.

First of all, the word count at the moment amounts to 20.168, which, according to the stats on the web site, will allow me to finish in time for the 30^th of November! I hope so, therefore you just keep your fingers crossed for me…your toes and whatever is crossable!!!

Although I should be on diet the level of sugar, chocolate in particular, to taste immediately after savoury, is hugely increased. All that along with the consume of coffee, my loyal friend of university time. Seriously I’m just missing cheese flavoured chips and my sweet friend Anna and it would be the very same!

The only huge difference is that while I’m doing that I’m moving house, and for all the people who wants to know, no I’m not there yet, it’s freezing, I’m still waiting for my heating working!!! And, of course how do not consider my full time job. I hope my colleagues will excuse me if I’m a bit more weird than usual, but I’m proud to say that at least a good 60% of them are giving to me their full support!

And speaking of which exactly yesterday Dee told me that mine is now an addiction to writing! Maybe she’s right but just to have a little confirmation I had a dream last night at the end of which I saw a white wolf looking at me with his blue eyes! (Now, I don’t know if wolves have blue eyes or not, but that’s that!)

I went on the dream dictionary online once I got up and I got this explanation:

“To see a wolf in your dream, symbolizes survival, beauty, solitude, mystery, self-confidence and pride. (Well…not really!) You are able to keep your composure in a variety of social circumstances and blend into any situation with ease and grace. (I won’t say that, to be honest, I’m the clumsiest person in the world!) Negatively, the wolf represents hostility, aggression, or sneakiness. It may reflect an uncontrollable situation or an all-consuming force in your life. (Consuming force…I can count at least three, so what!?) This could point to an obsession, an addiction or something that is beyond your control. (Oh dear, I suppose Dee was right then!)

To see a white wolf in your dream (here he is!) signifies valour and victory. You have the ability to see the light even in your darkest hours. (What to say on this, I desperately hope they’re right!)”

Now, I’m aware that at least the half of you is trying to get the point of the whole business here, but you won’t because this post has no sense at all and maybe I’m really getting creasy!!!

You’re not envying my partner at all at the moment, right?!!

So happy reading and writing to all!!!

NaNoWriMo update1

I’ve just updated my word count: after three days I wrote 5303 words. Not good but not bad either. At least I’m following the stats in my profile!

I have to admit that I feel weird! Maybe because I put in stand by the other book I was working on, and maybe because this one is supposed to be the sequel of the one that is not finished yet!!

I cannot get the personality of my characters yet, and although I have the structure of the book ready I have a massive quantity of details that are coming out all together at the same time!

Let’s see what I’ll end up with! I’m happy enough that out there, there are many people mental like me! Happy days!

Following the synopsis of the book I wrote on my profile.

Solo Of Water

(Fantasy)

Alnilam is safe but another lady, a solo of water, is in a great danger. She’s chased by Black Dragon folks and she has to survive.

Alnilam and Orion, parents to be, want to find the solo of water and save her.

Cleo and Julius want to find the solo of water and kill her.

Who’ll be there first?

Talitha will be saved or condemned to death?

Thuban will be able to take care of the children and himself?

And Ursa will change for love’s sake or will surrender to the dark lady?

It’s a simple fight good V evil but who will win? Who will win the battle and who will win the war?

Do we have any hope left?

What do you think about that?

Happy reading!

NaNoWriMo

THE FOLLOWING THREE POSTS, THIS INCLUDED, ARE COPIES OF THE ONES I'VE POSTED ON THE MAIN BLOG I HAVE. FOR TECHNICAL PROBLEMS I WASN'T ABLE TO PASTE AND COPY THEM BEFORE! SORRY!

I’ve recently found out a group and a website called NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month.

At the beginning I didn’t know what this was about, but then I decided to join the group on face book. What I knew was that some people were trying to write a novel, an entire novel, in one month! What I didn’t know was that the group on face book was the top of the iceberg!

When I decided to have a look at the website I realized that there are members coming from all over the world. There are thousands of them, divided in areas, regions and cities.

It is amazing. The more I surf on internet, the more I find something new about the writing I didn’t know and I’ve never suspect existed.

I opened the account on the website, and now I’m one of the official participants.

Everything will start the 1^st of November and will end the 30^th. The challenge is to write a novel from the scratches, although some plotting is allowed before you start the actual writing. The novel had to be minimum 50,000 words, even if I saw at least one person who was aiming to the double!

I don’t even know if I’ll manage to go on the half way through but I want to try. The period of “No, I don’t want to do that”/ “It’s too difficult” / “It’s impossible” is over, now I have to do what I want to do and to try new things and to challenge myself. That’s the things I’m trying to do now, but I’ll tell you better in another post.

I have no idea what I will write about. I have loads of ideas in my head and a kind of neurons storm in my brain, but I believe I’ll do something fantasy.

I think that the best solution is jotting all my ideas on a piece of paper and then see what inspire me most.

Considering that I’m on holiday at the moment and when I’ll come back I’ll have to work and move in the new house I think that the task to write 2,000 words per day will be tough! But I’ll try to be tougher!

I also think that maybe when my colleagues tell me that I’m weird /mental/quirky, although they say it is a compliment, they’re telling a great truth!!!!

The only problem would be update regularly this blog, but I suppose that I’ll put here too my word count and some excerpts from the book as I’ll have to do on the account on the NaNoWriMo.

I already know that this will be stressful but hugely fun!

So happy week to everybody!!!