Author: Alexandra Alessandri

Teller of tales. 🇨🇴🇺🇸 Children's Author. Poet. Educator. Next: The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía (‘23) & Lupita's Hurricane Palomitas (‘24). Rep: Deborah Warren @EastWestLit
Blog, Photography, Ramblings

Peeking in…

Alexandra Alessandri

I’ve been quite MIA here, I know. It’s been a whirlwind of a month, but a great one! From my son’s preschool graduation, to an amazing SCBWI conference, to staring an online YA Class with Mandy Hubbard, to getting accepted into Lynn Hightower’s Novel IV class at UCLA Extension, to a week in Orlando. Add to that summer classes ending and prepping for the new term that starts Mon (all during vacation), and you have a recipe for craziness. But I’ll come back soon, and I may just elaborate more on some of the above.

Oh! And I added my Twitter feed on here in case you want to follow me! I update that a little more lately. Something about bite-sized messages I can do from my phone makes it easier to update. 🙂

In the meantime, I’m sharing this pic from our trip. Hubby is getting into photography. He takes the camera everywhere and is always taking pictures of everything, especially nature and architecture (and he’s pretty good!). So for Father’s Day, I signed him up for a Nature Photography class. He was super excited! Anyway, on one of the afternoons after my conference, we took a walk. We were staying at Disney’s Yacht Club and the walk consisted of making the loop through the Boardwalk, where my son begged and begged for a disposable camera. He also loves taking pictures! We got him one and he spent the rest of the walk stopping with hubby to take pictures. In this one, two bunnies were in the grass and it was such a cute shot of them both, father and son, both with cameras in their hands.

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Blog, Writing

Writing away

Alexandra Alessandri

It’s funny how all feels right in the world when I can get a few hours of straight writing time. It’s like all else–the aches and pains, the frustrations, the everyday nuances like crappy traffic, the responsibilities–just melts away and instead I’m suspended in my world, with my characters. I imagine it’s like meditation.

I wrote a new scene today and revised two chapters, which I’ll be reading at my critique group tonight. The electricity of seeing this project take shape is amazing. It’s better than any jolt of caffeine could give me and better than any tipsiness alcohol can give. It’s pure and light and giddy. It’s what I hold onto on the moments of despair and self-doubt. It’s what sustains me.

Blog, Health

Bye, Bye, Gallbladder

Alexandra Alessandri

I had surgery on Monday to have my gallbladder removed. I’d been having “issues” with it for quite some time, and this past December, I found out why: it was functioning abnormally. It wasn’t the one, large stone I had in it. It just wasn’t working. And I was paying for it mostly with pain and nausea. No matter how bland I ate, the pain and nausea were constant. Every day. For hours sometimes. It wasn’t fun.

I scheduled the surgery for May 14 since I didn’t want to take time during a regular semester. Turns out, my uncle also had surgery the same day, to repair a hernia. So Monday became a family event. My mom was a bundle of nerves, repeating the same story over and over again. I wasn’t too nervous. Ironically, the thing that had me the most nervous was the idea of having a foley catheter put in. Forget surgery. Forget removal of an organ. Forget the anesthesia. Nope. It was the foley catheter. The nurse laughed when I asked about it, but thankfully, it wasn’t necessary. For some reason, that really freaks me out.

The last time (and the only time) I’ve had surgery, was when I was 9. My appendix ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery, twice. I don’t remember much about that surgery, only that I had recently been to the beach and gotten burned so much that, during recovery, my skin peeled off. And I remember I had my favorite PJ, a teal-and-white colored gown with some ruffles on the bottom and a pink bow towards the top. I think it made me feel like a princess; that’s why I liked it. I don’t remember the pre-op or post-op. Just my peeling skin and my princess PJ.

Since then, I’d only had an endoscopy once, ten years ago, and that was outpatient. No big deal.

This time, I was more aware of what was going on. I wasn’t nervous; I just wanted to be knocked out already and get it over with. It was done laprasopically, with a robot, and I really only have one incision (in the belly button) and another tiny puncture. They glue it now so there are no stitches or bandages.

I had to wait, though. Initially, I was scheduled for 8:30 AM. Then it got moved to 1, then 1:30 by the preceding Friday. I got to the hospital on time, got into the pre-op area on time, only to be told, once I was ready with my IVs and all, that we’d have to wait yet another hour. I read to pass the time (I started reading Amanda Hocking’s Trylle trilogy), while my husband sat next to me and my mother tended to my uncle. Crazy day.

I don’t remember much after they said we were ready. I think I was dreaming. It was a dark, still sleep but I think I was still dreaming, though of what I can’t be sure because right when I realized I was dreaming, I came to, with the realization that a tube was being removed from my mouth. And I started having a panic attack. Panic/anxiety attacks are bad enough when you’re awake: the heat, pressure, the lack of air, the unrelenting beating of the heart against the chest. It’s like drowning and trying to break the surface, to get air, to breathe, to live. Imagine that, but still sedated, unable to move, arms and eyes unresponsive. Aware of what’s going on (like I have a tube shoved down my throat) but unable to react. It was horrible. In retrospect, it looks like the anesthesia wore off too soon, something I’m going to have to remember for any future surgeries (though, God willing, I won’t have any more).

Recovery in the post-op room was slow and painful. I felt neglected, in and out of consciousness, and vaguely aware of the gnawing pain in my throat (from the tube) and in my belly. I couldn’t speak to ask for medicine, and for a while, I was alone, the nurse attending other patients. I remember shadows and shards of those three hours.

But recovery since has been going well. I stayed overnight in the hospital. I kept liquids and food down, didn’t throw up, and began walking fairly quickly. I was released the next morning with a prescription for Percocet that wasn’t working for me. I’m weird like that. Drugs that work for others have absolutely no effect on me. The pain would get worse, actually. It’s frustrating, especially when I’d tell the nurses and they didn’t believe me, like I was just looking for stronger painkillers, looking for an addiction. Even when I stressed that I didn’t need something stronger, I needed a different type of medicine, they didn’t believe me. So I came home and took ibuprofen, 800 mg, and it’s been working.

Though I don’t like having surgery, there are a few perks that come with it:

1) no more pain and nausea and frustrations with eating

2) I’ve lost 5 pounds since the surgery

3) I can rest, and I spend most of the day in peace and quiet while my son’s at school. Hours of time just for me, to rest, read, catch up on Glee, grade and, most importantly, write.

But seriously, I hope to never have to do this again.

Blog, Writing

The Hunger Games Movie

Alexandra Alessandri

I finally made it out to see The Hunger Games movie. Finally. After a great morning writing, I ate lunch quickly, let the doggies out, and headed to the theater.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to react. My students were split: some loved it, others hated it. There didn’t seem to be too much middle ground. The reviews online were similar. I know in the past, I’m usually not very happy with movies based on books because directors take too many liberties with the raw material (the book) and they tend to change things that didn’t need to be changed and they cheapen relationships between the characters. Instead of the deep threads that form between characters in a book, movies tend to show these superficially, or not at all. This was the case with the Harry Potter and Twilight films. However, I recognize that the more distance between the last reading of the book and the watching of the film, the less frustrating the changes are.

So, excited and nervous, I paid for my ticket and made my way into a mostly empty theater (only three of us), right as the film started. I warn you, there will be spoilers, so, if you haven’t read the books, or seen the movie, and don’t want it spoiled, then stop reading NOW.

Let me start with what I didn’t like.

  1. I had a problem with some of the casting before I ever watched the movie, but watching it brought it front and center. I didn’t like Haymitch, Cinna, Peeta, and Effie. They just didn’t mesh with what I envisioned and they didn’t exactly act like the characters in the book, either, especially Haymitch and Cinna.
  2. We didn’t get into Katniss’ head, so, those who didn’t read the books would have no idea what she was thinking. It wasn’t immediately obvious by her actions/expressions.
  3. The shaking of the camera in the beginning drove me nuts. It made me dizzy. I hate it when they do that in films.
  4. They cut so much out of the train ride, and changed others. I kept shaking my head. What happened to Haymitch being surprised with “Did I actually get a pair of fighters this year”? Only Katniss wields a knife. Peeta doesn’t do anything. The relationship between the three is different, and not good different.
  5. In the chariot rides (in the book), Katniss and Peeta were instructed to hold hands. In the movie, Peeta initiates this. I had a problem with this because it places more weight on Peeta’s role in snubbing the Capitol.
  6. Speaking of, Haymitch does NOT like Katniss in the books (though he tries to keep her alive). But in the movie, he likes her and cares for her (with the occasional slip back into his book-part). I didn’t care for it.
  7. The tracker-jacker scene–no, no, no! That many tracker-jackers buzzing about would’ve killed her. They’re TRACKER-jackers. They track those who harm them. They were buzzing outside and saw her. They’d have swarmed her. (And yes, that’s not how it happened in the book).
  8. The detonation of the careers’ food pack: another no, no, no! First of all, they all should’ve gone. Second of all, the explosion hurt Katniss’ ear! This is something that makes its way into book 2. It’s important! But no, the explosion does nothing to her except disorient her a little. Argh!
  9. No sleep syrup when they were in the cave! What’s up with that?! I was really looking forward to their time in the cave, the stories (like Prim’s goat), and her tricking him. There was a huge connection in the cave (in the book) and it was glazed over.
  10. The final scene with the mutts and Cato didn’t work for me, either. One, it gave Cato more importance than needed. Two, Peeta didn’t get hurt (hello, he’s supposed to almost lose his life, and he loses his leg!). Incidentally, the actor that played Cato is who I thought should’ve played Peeta. That’s how I imagined Peeta.
  11. Since Peeta wasn’t near his death-bed when they “won,” there was no Katniss frantically pounding on the glass doors while doctors tried to save Peeta’s life. It’s a shame; that would’ve been a great shot.
  12. The ending was rushed and the depth of Peeta’s hurt isn’t explored. He just asks, “What now?” and she just replies, “I don’t know.” Really? REALLY? Sigh. Peeta was devastated. Hurt. Not so in the movie.

But I did like the movie overall. Here’s what worked for me:

  1. I liked the beginning. I think the image of the Seam, the Hob, and District 12 was very nicely done.
  2. I also liked how Gale and Katniss’ relationship was established. Though I was initially annoyed that she knew things that early on, like about Avoxes, and that a hovercraft appeared, I thought it was good because it set up the story. We’ll need to know this later.
  3. The start is a little different from the book, but I think it was well done, even with the changes. The relationship between mom, Katniss and Prim is established and they got it.
  4. I didn’t mind too much about the pin and that there was no Madge. I think it was tastefully incorporated, and it took on a different meaning as it became a token between sisters.
  5. The sign-in procedure isn’t in the book, but it adds another layer to the story, a good layer. It reinforces the horror of the Games.
  6. The reaping was beautifully done. The lining up, the music, the solemn mood–it built up the tension so that when Prim’s name is called and Katniss volunteers, it’s heart-breaking.
  7. The stark contrast of the Capitol versus the Districts was also captured nicely. The eccentric, colorful Capitol comes alive and we’re left with a visible, tangible difference that Collins shows us.
  8. I really liked that we’re given an outside look into the other Districts (e.g. the uprising in 11), into President Snow, into Seneca Crane’s role as Gamemaker, and into the entertainment value of Caesar Flickerman. One of the downfalls of 1st person narration is that we’re only privy to the narrator’s thoughts and actions. The film moved past that and gave us a more omniscient narration. It worked well.
  9. I loved the costumes, Girl on Fire.
  10. I liked how the training room was portrayed, how we were introduced into the characters, even the nameless ones.
  11. Rue–I loved Rue! She was one of the best castings in the movie.
  12. Some other good castings: Katniss, Prim, President Snow, Gale.
  13. I didn’t mind that they didn’t show Katniss trying to find water (it was too easy, but that was minor in the scope of it all), and I think they did the fire scene nicely.
  14. Peeta’s “camouflage” into the side of the river was spectacular! They did a really good job with that.
  15. I liked the scene in the cave (with the exceptions noted above). It was more direct than the book, and there was less ambiguity from Katniss.
  16. The berries scene was also nicely done.

I know I missed things. There was only so many notes I could tap into my phone. Overall, I liked the movie. It’s one of the better adaptations, though it could have been better on several counts. I’m looking forward to see what “they” come up with for Catching Fire.

Blog, Health, Ramblings, Writing

Random Monday

Alexandra Alessandri

1. I received Veronica Roth’s book Insurgent wirelessly into my phone on May 1st. I was going to wait, really, I was, but I couldn’t. I started reading at 5ish in the morning and, by the evening, I had finished the book. I had read the first book in her trilogy, Divergent, last year and was hooked on her story. It is similar to The Hunger Games in several ways, but, as much as I hate to admit it because I loved The Hunger Games, Divergent was better I think. So when I received Insurgent, I was hooked. Much of what I liked in the first book was there (the characters, the plot line, the world, the factions, and of course, the love story), but there was more action, the characters were developed further, and secrets were revealed. Now I have to wait until she finishes book 3, which I think is rumored to come out some time at the end of next year. *gasp* I have to wait a whole year! I’ve never gotten hooked on a book so early on. The HP series was almost all out when I started reading them, and The Hunger Games trilogy was also all out when I first read book 1. This will be very interesting indeed.

2. I submitted my writing sample and application for the Novel Writing IV course at UCLA Writer’s Extension Program with Lynn Hightower. I am super excited and psyched about taking that class as I’m hoping it will get me closer to my end goal: completing a polished draft of my novel by the end of the summer. Now I wait (have I mentioned how much I dislike waiting…?) and cross my fingers. I should hear back some time around June 14 whether or not I got in.

3. I also submitted the first chapter of my novel for a manuscript consultation at the SCBWI Florida Summer Workshop 2012 this June. I’m scheduled for the Novel workshops and have requested a manuscript consultation. I’m hoping to take away as much, if not more, as I did this past January at the Miami Conference. I’m nervous and excited about this. I’ve had manuscript consultations before (twice on my memoir and twice with great feedback), but this will be the first YA manuscript consultation.

4. I’m listening to an audio book: Sarah Dessen’s Along for the Ride, a contemporary YA novel. I know audio books aren’t knew, but it’s the first time I’ve ever listened to one! It was weird at first. I didn’t like listening to the book. But after a while, I got into it. I’m in chapter 5, I think. I’ve downloaded it to my iPhone so I can take it with me to waiting rooms and such.

5. Next Monday, I’m having my gallbladder removed. I’m a little nervous but more anxious to start feeling better. I’m tired of the nausea and pain and the inability to freaking eat. It’s gotten to the point where even the bland stuff I don’t tolerate. So while I’m not keen on losing yet another body part (lost my appendix when I was 9), I am looking forward to feeling better. It should be a quick and easy surgery and I hear the recovery time is minimal (barring any complications, of course). I’m also looking forward to some R&R and being pampered.

Blog, Writing

Anticipation

Alexandra Alessandri

I feel the anticipation building, stretching through my insides. Tomorrow, I can begin to write, really write. Winter term is done. Grades were submitted, graduation attended. Summer online classes are ready to go. So tomorrow, after I drop off my son at school and after my doctor’s appointment, I get to park myself in my office and just write for several hours straight. No interruptions. Heaven.

I’ve been waiting for this moment all year.

Vaguely, I wonder if Isabel Allende feels this same kind of anticipation as she prepares to start writing a new book on January 8. All the ideas and inspirations boiling down to one starting date, when the gates open and it can all rush out.

It’s like the anticipation a child feels, counting down the days for the BIG trip to Disney.

Or the anticipation a high school senior feels as prom and graduation get near.

Granted, I’m not starting a new book. It’s really not that big a deal except that I’m going to get to write. A lot. More than one or two hours straight, more than one or two days in a row. Without interruption. And not at night, when the weariness of the day weighs me down. In broad daylight, well rested. That’s a HUGE deal!

I’ve been keeping up, revising scenes, organizing chapters, developing characters and story some more. I have a few new nuggets of this world I’m building that I want to explore (though some have evaporated because I didn’t write them down in time–talk about frustrating!) It’s just, well, they’re a lot of starts and stops. I work best when I can warm up and keep writing and starting tomorrow, I’m going to get that chance.

So cheers: here’s to a great month of writing!

Blog

My Amazingly Talented Cousin–Check her out!

Alexandra Alessandri

If you like music (and really, who doesn’t?) you have to check out my beautiful and amazingly, crazingly talented cousin, Natalie Duque.  She’s a singer-songwriter with a soulful voice that stays with you well after the song’s ended. Last year, she released the EP “Show and Tell” and her new EP “Shine Your Light” is now streaming at her website www.natalieduque.com. The new songs will be available in iTunes soon and I can’t wait to purchase them and add them to my project playlist (because, of course I have a playlist of songs that inspire me!!) My favorite in the new EP? I think it’s “So Close,” though the other two, “When I Fall” and “Pieces” are just as awesome!

So check her out. Go to her website, listen to her songs, check out her videos, Like her on FB and follow her on Twitter!

Blog, Writing

Quotes on Writing

Alexandra Alessandri

I love quotes. I like how we can tie them into what we do, or how they can serve to motivate us. Here are twenty of my favorite quotes on writing:

  1. “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”  ~Ray Bradbury
  2. “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”  ~Sylvia Plath
  3. “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”  ~Toni Morrison
  4. “Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”  ~Mark Twain
  5. “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”  ~Anton Chekhov
  6. “I love writing.  I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”  ~James Michener
  7. “Do not put statements in the negative form.
    And don’t start sentences with a conjunction.
    If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
    great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
    Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
    Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
    De-accession euphemisms.
    If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
    Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
    Last, but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.”
    ~William Safire, “Great Rules of Writing”
  8. “When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.”  ~Enrique Jardiel Poncela
  9. “The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.”  ~Agatha Christie
  10. “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”  ~Stephen King
  11. “As for my next book, I am going to hold myself from writing it till I have it impending in me:  grown heavy in my mind like a ripe pear; pendant, gravid, asking to be cut or it will fall.”  ~Virginia Woolf
  12. “Was it only by dreaming or writing that I could find out what I thought?”  ~Joan Didion
  13. “Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.”  ~Goethe
  14. “Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver
  15. “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
  16. “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
  17. “I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” ~ James Michener
  18. “The process of writing has something infinite about it. Even though it is interrupted each night, it is one single notation.” ~ Elias Canetti
  19. “Write your first draft with your heart. Re-write with your head.” ~ From the movie Finding Forrester
  20. “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” ~ Stephen King
Blog, Writing

My Writing Process

Alexandra Alessandri

If there’s one fact about writing that I make sure to stress to my students, it’s that writing is a process. There’s no way around it, and the sooner they embrace this reality, the easier their time in writing classes will be (and, hopefully, the better their work will be!) This basic tenet of writing holds true in academic and creative writing alike (heck, it holds true in any area of writing!), though for each I approach it slightly different.

But knowing this and putting it into practice are two completely different things.

When I was working on my MA thesis, I had detailed outlines, lots (and lots and lots) of 3×5 index cards, books strewn on my dining room table (where I did most of my writing), notes and scribbles from my notebooks, copies of relevant essays I’d written throughout my graduate career, and my laptop. It was a straightforward research process, but one that involved prewriting, writing and rewriting nonetheless.

Writing this novel, though, has taught me a completely different process. This one is more organic and chaotic; instead of a linear process, it’s one that’s cyclical. I’ll write a few scenes, revise them, rewrite them, organize them, separate them, write a few more scenes. Back and forth, back and forth, until I see the story moving forward. In between, I do research as needed, I write and re-write character sketches, and I look for images for inspiration. I have a writing “playlist” on my computer/phone (consisting mostly of Adele and one or two other songs) and they have come to embody my world, my story. I’ve created a creative space in one of the rooms upstairs. In that small, orange room (the walls are painted orange), I have a dry-erase board and some cork-boards containing lists of plot points, ideas, scribbles of important tidbits of my characters/world, and any other pertinent notes and inspiration. These are all over a small writing desk, which is mostly bare except for my laptop, a couple of books, and more notes. Oh yeah, and my Cricut machine from when I tried scrapbooking and such (still love that stuff, just don’t have time! Writing trumps scrapbooking any day.)

But my process doesn’t end with the written. Every day, on my commute to and from work, in between classes, in the bathroom–in other words, everywhere–I’m thinking of my characters. I’m thinking of the story and where it’s going. I’m thinking of the world I’m developing. I’m asking myself, what if? What if this happens? What if that goes down? And I’m coming up with more ideas. Or, I’ll write down notes in my phone (love that app!) and when I get home, to my writing space, I’ll sketch out those ideas some more.

And then, after I’ve written and rewritten my scenes, I share them. In my UCLA extension classes. With my critique groups. With select friends and family. And I take their suggestions and questions, and I revise some more. I used to hate revision; now, I actually like it. It’s what allows the skeleton to fill out and transform into something beautiful.

It’s a never-ending process. It’s not linear. It’s chaotic. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.