Maria's Journal

Family/Friends, As another year is upon us, I want to wish us all much prosperity and happiness. I hope that 2012 marks a successful year for all our endeavors. Stay safe!

Family and friends - I have finally published my site www.mywritingden.net . This is the culmination of almost three years worth of work, I'm happy and nervous all in one. This will be the start of my professional writing career! Maria :-)

It was a cold winter day when my family arrived at JFK Airport on December 14, 1979. We were finally here...here to start our new life in the United States of America. I have many fonds memories of my early childhood days growing up in Chile and although I do long to visit my birthplace again, I am thankful to live here. In becoming an adult I realized that my parents had a vision for my siblings and I, they wanted us to have the best possible chances at a prosperous future. America has many faults and flaws, we are far from a perfect. And if there are other places doing things better than we are then we may want to learn from them, tweak our own shortcomings. All in all though, I am happy to be here and happy to be an American. To the next thirty-two years! Maria

I'm ecstatic to announce that my Writer's site ( www.mywritingden.net ) will be 'live' tomorrow. I am SO thrilled! If you recall, it was approximately two years ago that I initiated this blog. At the time, I had also instituted my Book Club. It was then that I made a commitment to write as often as possible, my dedication will soon bear fruit... I estimate that early 2012 will be quite busy for me as I will be working on a couple of short story submissions along with another major project. On February 14, 2012, Arizona will be celebrating its centennial, this is an exciting historical milestone. As a result of Arizona's induction to statehood several cities within Arizona followed suit to incorporate shorlty thereafter. I have been approached by a local community agency to work on a project that will document the founding of the City of Chandler as an official city in Arizona. I appreciate you visiting and taking the time to read my blogs. It certainly has helped to...

Hello! Happy to report that today I submitted my first excerpt to an online agency, the manuscript is named Nikki. Hurray for ME! I am thrilled and nervous all in one. In line with getting my name out there in front of the masses, I've also reached out to a local author who's agreed to give me research work for experience , no compensation just yet , I'm excited nonetheless. Second manuscript excerpt will be submitted to the editor next week; that manuscript will be called Ty . Thanks and be well!

Thank you to my daughter's last year's XMAS gift, I've been able to enjoy downloading books to my Nook. I can even download library books although they do not display correctly, probably have to adjust settings. In any case, Pamela, I'd like to inform you that in the last week I've been making much more use of the Nook and will continue to do so to support the very medium that I plan to publish in. Happy Monday folks!

I'm excited to report that I will soon be submitting a short story to an eBook publisher. This is my first step at taking my writing to the next level. Until now the contents of my writing have remained guarded. The reason? I write romance, steamy romance at that. It really surprises me that in this day and age, people are still uncomfortable when I disclose this. Like I told my BC (book club) there's a definite market for my writing, there's a market for smut. Judging by the sucessfull careers of women like Jackie Collins, Nora Roberts and Suzanne Brockmann I know that I can make this work. I just need to refine my craft and the only way to do that is by continuing to write and read of course. By the way, the BC is reading Echo Park by Michael Connelly, FBI thriller of sorts. Not quite the page turner, but certainly interesting. That's all for now...until next time folks!