Friday Snippet #44

June 21, 2013June 21, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a literary snippet every friday, photomanipulated picture of a window ovelooking Umbria countryside, small excerpt from a NA paranormal novel4 Comments

Gray outside. Gaia is in the hands of the editor once again. It took me a long time to implement his corrections and add my changes. Hopefully, this second time around it will go faster. Meanwhile, I’m working on Elios. A nightmare. I must rewrite the whole 90k words. The first 80 pages are mostly inner monologue. Although there’s a good reason for that—Elios is an Observer—the story can’t stand on its own the way it is written now. I don’t look forward to the task ahead.

From Gaia (still a working title):

It was Wednesday afternoon, and Sara was checking the weather to see if we could finally go for a hike somewhere nearby. I was trying to focus on something on TV while Pallino had decided to sleep on my lap.

“Spending a few days away from Seattle is going to help you reconnect with the rest of the world,” Sara said.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s been proven that open air is beneficial for the health of the gray matter. In your case, there isn’t a lot left to save, but still.”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and I jumped, surprised because we weren’t expecting any of our friends. Pallino woke up, irritated by my lack of manners.

Sara went to see who it was when I felt it. I felt him.

I knew exactly who was behind that door before she reached the other room. I sat down on the first chair I found because I couldn’t stand up, couldn’t breathe. I just wanted to scream.

Elios had come back.

Friday Snippet #42

May 17, 2013May 17, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a little bit of nonsense, a small excerpt from a novel every friday, inspirational drawing, small scifi novel excerpt4 Comments

Not a lot to recap since my three thousand years stint in the alternate universe I went to a few days ago. I can only add what I think happened to my radio host, author Frank Smith, who keeps quiet about the whole thing. He declared having screamed at unanimated objects for four minutes. That’s my answer to him:

“Frank, although we didn’t take the same portal, I’m pretty sure I saw you waving at me at least in two different occasions. The first, if I remember correctly–it was a long time ago– it was in the occasion of my coronation as Empress Monica the First of Moon and Mars. I didn’t mention this detail earlier because I like to keep it real and humble. Anyway, I think you were among the delegation from Ganimedes. I could be mistaken. The second, I had a glimpse of you at the inauguration of the Transoceanic Railroad on Jupiter. Quite the crowd gathered for that occasion. You were accompanied by an attractive Venusian and quite interested in her gills. Although not excusable that could explain why you didn’t notice when the first bomb exploded. Since we finished our interview, I surmised everything went fine on your side.”

And now, my snippet. From, Green Glass and High Tide, Jules and Lucia are having lunch together in one of the Rotunda Restaurants just outside the megalopolis:

They settled on the cushions and played with the music selection while waiting for their food. Two servos arrived from who knows where and deposited the artfully arranged plates on the windowsill, took Lucia’s credit number by asking her to look into the robotic eye they all sported on their trunk, and finally left.

“I’d like to move back here,” Lucia commented, while having a second helping of her crème de cassiope.

“Don’t… say that. You know this is temporary.” Jules dropped her spoon and looked at Lucia with pleading eyes.

“It could be permanent.”

“Hell is going to break loose as soon as I start my investigation.” Jules pinched the arch of her nose.

Lucia thought that Jules looked more and more like their father. Even in the way they expressed anxiety, they moved their hands in the exact same gestures. “I can help you with that.”

“I think is better if you leave as soon as you can… so that the aftermath doesn’t reach you.”

“Nonsense, I’m not going to abandon ship.”

“Listen to me, Lucia. I love having you around, but, have you considered that maybe I will have to run away…?” Jules’s comlink chimed harmoniously and she made an I-told-you-so face. “And hell is going to break loose in three… two… one—she raised one finger to shush Lucia—Rizieri’s here. Yes, I’ll wait for him. Thanks.” Jules tapped gently her earlobe to close the call. “I’ve been assigned to a cleric. This is the beginning of the end.”

Lucia touched her sister’s arm. “May the Truth prevails… as father would say.”

“Forever and ever,” Jules finished the formulaic prayer with a sigh.

My Fourth Radio Interview and the solved case of the Mysterious Blackout

May 15, 2013May 15, 2013 Monica La Portaa little bit of humor, blog talk radio, indie author interview on radio, journal jabber interview, just writing for the fun of it, nonsense, the reason why klingon was added to bing translator, what really happened during the four minutes radio blackout5 Comments

In case you missed me last night, here is the link to yesterday’s Journal Jabber Show. There was a four minutes blackout, due to a storm. During that time, I was transported to a parallel universe. I lived there for three thousand years without aging a bit. I wrote fourteen different series of twenty three books each. All of them bestsellers. I learned one hundred and fifteen different languages and became proficient in fifty-eight of them. I invented ten languages. One was accepted as a common koine and taught in schools. Kids all around the world hated me with a passion. And it was okay. In the meantime I let my hair grow until I had a train eight meters long. Two maids followed me everywhere and took care of my hair. After four hundred years, I decided I didn’t need to eat anymore and stopped. It improved my skin and my productivity. I also stopped sleeping. I learned how to play the piano, but didn’t enjoy it that much and switched to viola, violin, harpsichord, and clarinet. Finally, I admitted that music wasn’t my cup of tea and pursued a career as a ventriloquist. Given all the free time I had, it wasn’t difficult to master the art. To avoid getting easily bored, I also studied medicine and cured several diseases. Collected a dozen of Nobel prizes. Among them, one for finding the cure for a virus which was also my creation. Nobody is perfect, but I almost succeeded. Then, I was sucked back here and finished the interview without missing a beat. While I was there, Klingon was added to bing translator. You’re welcome.

Prince at War: the Official Cover Reveal

May 14, 2013 Monica La Portacover, cover artist, cover reveal for prince at war, dystopian novel, forbidden love, ginecea, ginecean chronicles series, love story, matriarchal society, new release dystopian novel, priestess, prince and pax last novel, rosie and mauricio last novel, slaveryLeave a comment

I know a new cover is normally revealed before a book is published, but I tend to do things unconventionally—like supposedly stirring the coffee the other way around—my husband actually called a poll on facebook to prove I was the only one doing that. I must admit that after the results were in, I was among the few… But that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is that I published Prince at War with a temporary cover and I’m happy to show off my cover artist Alessandro Fiorini’s beautiful job with the official one. Isn’t he great at what he does?

Prince at War

May 12, 2013 Monica La Portaenslaved men, equal rights love, forbidden love, ginecean chronicles, matriarchal society, new dystopian release, prince and pax, prince at war, rosie and mauricio, the dystopian world of ginecea5 Comments

I’m happy to announce that a few minutes before midnight last night, my newest addition to The Ginecean Chronicles, Prince at War, was released into the Amazon Wild. Baby’s fine, although with a temporary cover.

Made the Top 100!

May 9, 2013 Monica La Portabig accomplishment for an indie author, indie author, indie dystopian novel reaches the top one hundred list on Amazon, the priest, top 100 dystopian books on amazon4 Comments

My little book, The Priest, has made it to the top 100 dystopian novels on Amazon. It’s sitting at #42 of the paid list. Tonight I’ll give my first lecture and I’m happy, excited, nervous, and on the verge of throwing up.

My First Lecture and a Big Announcement

May 8, 2013May 8, 2013 Monica La Portafirst lecture, indie life, lecture about indie publishing, prince at war's release6 Comments

After almost two weeks of silence, I’m back. I’ve been working on several projects at once and I had an unexpected and very pleasant visit from a childhood friend of mine. After a few busy months , I took a mental vacation and greatly enjoyed it. The weather was beautiful and the friend and I could walk for hours under the sun. Walking and chatting, my idea of a perfect time.

Back on my normal schedule now. Tomorrow night, I’ll give my first lecture, The Indie Revolution: How a Single Click Changed the Publishing Industry. I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I’ve been rehearsing the presentation for the last month and still get tongue tied every now and then. Hopefully, by 7:00 pm tomorrow, I’ll magically become an outgoing person.

Prince at War, formerly known as Prince of War, is done, as in edited and proofread done, and waiting for the formatting step. By the end of this week, it should be published. The stories of Mauricio, Rosie, Pax, and Prince have come to an end. After waiting to release this last book for so long, the aftertaste is surprisingly bitter-sweet. There will be a fourth book in the series, but it can be read independently by those three. To celebrate Prince at War’s release, The Priest will be $0.99 from today till Saturday.

Friday Snippet #40

April 19, 2013April 19, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a day without coffee, a snippet from a work in progress once a week, koi drawing, small excerpt from a ya pararnormal5 Comments

I won’t comment on the weather. It’s raining now, but I can’t remember about the rest of the week. Other than editing, and waiting for some more editing coming my way, I spent the last seven days working on the lecture. I’ve been recording myself and I have mixed feelings about my performance. I tend to eat words a lot and I haven’t been able to recite the whole speech without humming and hemming between one slide and the next. Yesterday, I stopped making any sense after the seventh try. Also, after a spell of insomnia, I decided to avoid coffee for a week and see what happens. First day of the experiment. So far, I’ve tried to put clean dishes in the fridge, ate ~~three~~ five times what I would have any other day, and I have a huge headache. Also, I took a break from writing this post to go downstairs and eat some more…

From All the Rainbow’s Colors,

My day ends as it started, with my nose against the cold window’s panel. The apartments in the building complex in front of mine are all illuminated. The lady in pink hasn’t come home yet, but there is a man I’ve never seen in her living room. He’s arranging long stemmed red roses in a tall vase. The man is so pink he’s almost red like the roses. Who knows what it feels to be that shade of pink? I have no clues.

In the next apartment, a family of five, mother, dad, and three small kids, is preparing for the usual reading time ritual before bed. Every night, the father tucks the kids in their tiny beds, and read a tale from the same old, battered book. He must know every word of that book by heart. He smiles, always. The man is lucky, because he’s not cursed like me. He doesn’t see that his youngest child has the same green shade of his mom, but his orange comes from a family friend, who visits the house a lot. And so the dad is happy.

I am forced to know. Since it started, two years ago, people’s feelings are no secret to me. And what it makes this whole situation even worse is that I can’t do without colors. Literally. I hate them, and I can’t survive without them.

Friday Snippet #39

April 12, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a small excerpt from a novel once a week, a small excerpt from a YA paranormal novel, cover artist, editing, proofreading, walking4 Comments

Almost at the end of our annual staycation. It has been a great week. I sent Gaia (working title) to Redadept Publishing and it should come back with notes and changes in fourteen days. The editing of Prince f War is almost done. Amy and I are working on the final touches before sending the document to the proofreader. My cover artist, Alessandro Fiorini, is playing around with Prince’s cover and I’ve just to decide which color and texture I like best. My talented and very patient husband helped me with a presentation about indie publishing. I was asked to give a lecture on the subject on May 9th, at the Bellevue Art Museum. He made my text pretty by adding animation, graphics, and other neat stuff I didn’t even know existed. Now, I must memorize the speech and time myself. Despite capricious weather, this week, I walked a staggering twenty miles around my green neighborhood. According to endomondo, the app I’m using to track my walking habits, I burned almost 2k calories and I was outside for a total of nine hours. Too bad today is pouring down like there’s no tomorrow.

From the YA paranormal, All the Rainbow’s Colors:

“Milla? What are you doing, there, all alone?” Giorgia is calling me from the stairs outside our classroom.

Since the Scholastic Authorities have decided that opening a transit directly inside a classroom creates distraction, duh, every school in the City has adopted the external staircases. Architecture gone wrong, if you ask me.

“I like eating alone,” I answer, while climbing the steps two at a time.

The rest of the day drags to the point I contemplate to slip into a coma. If I only knew how. Instead of taking the transit with Rachel, I go home walking. It’s colder, and it’s silver-raining harder than before, but I don’t mind. When I get home, I’m silver, from head to toe.

In the kitchen, I prepare a snack I will never eat. I’ve become quite the accomplished actress. Nobody has discovered me, yet. In two years I haven’t lost weight, and my pale complexion is all the rage.

I put the sandwich I made on the nightstand, and I go take a shower in my bathroom. After, I look at myself in the mirror, and I’m satisfied by my green. It’s a shade too dark, but it will do, for now. I should’ve looked for a bigger animal, the effects would’ve lasted longer, but I don’t want to complain.

*In case you’d like to take a look at my didlr gallery.

Friday Snippet #38

April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a small excerpt from a YA paranormal novel, a snippet from a novel every friday, finished writing, indie writers stories, painting of Mount Ranier, the indie life2 Comments

Late in the day, but here I am. Rainy and cold Friday. Today, I couldn’t go out for my usual walk for a very good reason. After four years in the making, I finally finished writing my New Adult novel. Not sure if it is soft scifi or paranormal, there’s an alien but neither science nor vampires involved in the story. Also, I haven’t decided on the title yet. It has been Her Book for a while, but it will probably become Gaia or The Book of Gaia. In other and equally exciting news, my editor sent me the final six chapters of Prince of War. I’m mentally exhausted, my eyes see snow flakes when I look at the screen, but I’m happy. Looking forward to the weekend.

From All the Rainbow’s Colors:

A squirrel jumps from brunch to brunch on the tree in front of my bench. Even the squirrel is pink. Can you believe it? This color is starting to annoy me, big time. I give a brief glance right, then left. Nobody is around. I outstretch my hand toward the tree, and I point my fingers at the squirrel. I shake. I’ve waited too long. I do my best to steady my fingers.

The squirrel stops on the highest branch, he looks dizzy. I finally manage to aim at the small pink cloud, and ever so slowly the color dims, until it becomes a pale shadow of the tint it was. I feel immediately better, the incoming headache retreats, the blue is now a beautiful dark green. The squirrel seems to wake up from a nap, and runs away.

I feel bad. Every single time. After. I can’t not eat. I tried. I won’t ever be black again. Never again. It happened only once, at the beginning, when I didn’t know, yet, how to stop the hunger’s pain. Since then I’m careful. I never let myself go beyond the darkest blue. There are times when I can’t stop. Once, only once, I didn’t stop before the color disappeared.