NaNoWriMo Winner!

NaNo-2015-Winner-Banner

So I made it. Should have gotten to 50,000 a few days earlier than the 21, but I’m still on track to make close to 75K by month’s end, assuming I’m able to keep things up during the holiday this week.

There’s no way the draft will be complete then, though. This’ll be a 100K word draft that I’ll probably end up trimming down when I revise.

Harold chuckled. “I don’t think Jackson needs to come along. I doubt he’ll have very much imput on a photograph.”

Jackson clenched his teeth but said nothing.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Dan said. “I think Jackson has a lot to offer.”

“And we should put him on the float design committee?” Harold guffawed, and his compatriots joined in.

Despite his best efforts to stop it, Jackson felt his face heat.

“He’s blind, son.”

“That doesn’t mean he can’t see,” Dan said in a tone Jackson couldn’t discern.

Still, the characters are coming together and I’m really excited about this book. Thanks to everyone who read the excerpt and gave me your feedback! I appreciate it!

My goal is to have a 100% complete first draft by the end of the year at the very latest.

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NaNoWriMo 2015

NaNoWriMo

Hey, everyone! (Waves) Sorry I haven’t been active on here. Still not relief from the headache, though I’m holding out hope that the botox will still work or acupuncture will at at the very least… I’m trying my best to keep writing as much as I can, which is why I challenged myself to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this year.

For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a bunch of people who all try to complete a 50,000 word novel in a month. Those of you who’ve read UnConventional or In/Exhale know that 50,000 words is barely half a story for me, so I set myself that even more challenging goal of getting a complete 75,000 word draft done by the end of November.

So far I’m definitely on task to make it to about 75K by Nov 30, but the way the story is moving I’m not sure that’ll be a complete draft. So far it’s feeling a little like UnConventional in that it’s falling into three parts, perhaps of about 30K each, which would leave the draft at about 90K. (UnConventional is about 100K.)

Anyway, the only way to write at this kind of pace, especially with my headache limiting my productivity, is to write fast and dirty without really looking back. But I wanted to share a little about this project with you all for those of you who are interested. Continue reading

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In/Exhale Season 3 – Posting Here After All

So I know I said in my last post that I wouldn’t be posting In/Exhale Season 3 here anymore because it was just too long to play well with wordpress. Well, I finally found a way to embed the documents directly from Google Docs into the blog. This means that you’ll be able to read an entire day without having a million pages to click through.

The only disadvantage of this format is the font size. I don’t think there’s any way for me to make it larger, and I apologize for that. I’ll of course be posting new episodes every Tuesday morning on the story blog, as always, but if you’d prefer to read them here and have a day all in one piece instead of broken up into several individual episodes, you now have that choice. (Note: the embedder doesn’t seem to function properly on cell phones. Sorry!)

I’ve updated the two pre-existing chapters here with the new embed format, and I’ll be posting the rest (up to February 1, 2001) soon. Once Feb 2 is finished posting on the blog, it’ll also go up.

Chapter 1: Flashback: May 19, 1994

Chapter 2: January 26, 2001

I’ve also updated the In/Exhale page here on my site to make it easier to find the latest part of S3, whether you prefer to read it on the story blog, or here.

Thanks to those of you who have sent your support via comments here, on the story blog, or via social media. I really appreciate it. It helps me get through some of the worst days, and motivates me to push through the pain when I can. 🙂

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Where’s Chie?

Hey, everyone. So I know I haven’t posted here in a long time. And I’m sorry for that, but the honest truth is I haven’t been able to do much of anything lately.

Remember when I posted about my headache problems? Well, it turns out what I have is something called a New Chronic Daily Headache, which is a fancy way of saying a headache that comes out of no where and never goes away. It’s basically a migraine 24/7, 365, and I’ve had it since January. Continue reading

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In/Exhale: S3 – January 26, 2001

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Sex Scene Championship – Vote For Me!

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Hey, everyone! I’ve entered a sex scene competition with one of the sex scenes from In/Exhale! I’d appreciate it if you could vote for me!

How to vote for me:

1. Go to http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-sscenec2015-chie-aleman-chiealeman-vs-heather-long-hvlong/

2. Read the excerpt (if you want!) then scroll all the way down until you get to the VOTING part.

3. There will be a box that says “Prizes…” and has a login option (either with facebook or email). Login.

4. Then it will say “Which scene is hotter” in a drop-down menu. Choose my name (Chie Alemán) and then you’re done!

5. If you want, you can then share via facebook or twitter.

Thanks for your support!

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If I Had Wings Review

if_i_had_wings_xlgTitle: If I Had Wings

Director: Allan Harmon

Year Released: 2013

Available on Netflix (US)?: Yes

Final Verdict: Watch

If I Had Wings is far from the first movie to feature a blind character, and it isn’t the first to feature a blind teen boy. In fact, the trio of the two boys and the girl reminded me a little of the Brazilian film Love is Blind, although Alex (Richard Harmon, The 100), the blind teen in this film, isn’t gay. With the sports theme of this film, I was worried it would fall into a lot of the tropes of the genre, and probably would end up being pure inspiration porn.

However, I was immensely surprised to find that If I Had Wings actually portrays blindness realistically and is pretty disability-positive. Continue reading

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Disability in Kidlit

disabilityinkidlit

I’m an adult fiction writer, because that’s how I think and what I prefer to read, but I recently stumbled across a blog that specializes in reviewing middle-age and YA literature that features characters with disabilities. It’s a fantastic site, and one I felt I should give a shout-out to here on the blog for those of you interested in YA or children’s books. Continue reading

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In/Exhale: S3 – Flashback: May 19, 1994

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In/Exhale: Season Three – Posting Weekly Here!

So traditionally, I’ve always posted the weekly episodes of In/Exhale on a story blog, and not here. However, I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’m going to begin posting the third season here as well, starting Tuesday.

My plan is that new episodes will post first on the story blog, and then here the following week. So, starting Tuesday, episode two will go live on the story blog while episode one is posted here. It gives people who follow that blog the first chance to read the story, but also enables those who would prefer to read it here, on my blog, the opportunity to do so without having to wait for the ebook at the end of the season.

I do encourage you to comment, whether here or there, and I hope you’ll enjoy the upcoming season.

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