Let's Shalla Blog

Friday

We Love You Michael!

To the Genius, the Icon, the King of Pop...

I just have to take some time to honor Michael Jackson.

Yesterday, as soon as I heard that Michael Jackson was taken to the hospital, I immediately lit a candle for him.
I thought he'd be fine, I thought it was a heart attack--people have recovered from those... Then, I learned that it was cardiac arrest... okay, isn't that a heart attack? No, that means his heart has stopped.
I was glued to the TV, praying, sending him loving thoughts...

Michael Jackson...

1983, Philippines. I've heard his song being played on the radio over and over, I think it was Beat It... Michael Jackson, the singer's name is Michael Jackson, everyone loved his songs, everyone knew his name. Music Videos were so new... VH1 on TV was playing every afternoon and that one day, I stumbled upon it for the first time. That's when I saw him for the first time, Michael Jackson, the singer from America and he did not have white skin. As a little Filipino girl, it shook me to learn this... I didn't even know there was such a thing... it was so new to me.

Michael Jackson, he transcended color barriers, cultural barriers... what can I say, the man is legendary, the ultimate artist, the greatest entertainer of all time, the... I woke up this morning, turned on the TV, hoping it was all a bad dream, a publicity stunt, please... When I learned how to sing last year, the first song I worked on learning was Michael Jackson's Ben. When I set my goals, I shot for the stars, the best of the best--to be able to sing like Michael... I can't believe it... I can't believe it...

I love you Michael, you're always with us through your music... your magic lives on...

Five of Jackson's solo albums – "Off the Wall," "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous" and "HIStory," all with Epic Records, a Sony Music label – are among the top-sellers of all time. During his extraordinary career, he sold an estimated 750 million records worldwide, released 13 No.1 singles and became one of a handful of artists to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Guinness Book of World Records recognized Jackson as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time and "Thriller" as the Biggest Selling Album of All Time. Jackson won 13 Grammy Awards and received the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award.

*read more

Labels: We Love You Michael Jackson

Sunday

SHALLA: Happy 4th of July

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Hello writers, Shalla here :)

I'm still in Germany in my German immersion course, having a wonderful time.

I hope you're having a great summer!

Writing Contests

Memoir (and)’s 6th Contest Prize: $500.00. Entry fee: $0.00. Deadline: 08-15-2009.

WRITING CONTEST WEBSITE

Heart Poetry Award Prize: $500.00. Entry fee: $10.00. Deadline: 06-30-2009.

WRITING CONTEST WEBSITE

Submit insightful, immersing, pictorial moments, unpublished modern free verse or prose poem. Awards $500 prize. $10 covers 3 poems, reserves your copy of Fall/Winter 2009 issue. Winner & Honorable Mentions published Fall/Winter 2009 issue of HEART.

2010 Bellevue Literary Review Prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry Prize: $1,000.00. Entry fee: $15.00. Deadline: 08-01-2009.WRITING CONTEST WEBSITE

BLR Prize awards outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. First prize is $1000 (in each genre) and publication in the Spring 2010 issue of the BLR. Prose limited to 5000 words. Up to 3 poems (maximum 5 pages). Submissions that exceed these limits will be disqualified. Deadline August 1, 2009. Winners will be announced by December 31, 2009.

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Labels: SHALLA: Happy 4th of July

Saturday

SHALLA: A Summer Note

Hello Writers!

Have you read...

How to Get Your Novel Published Now
By Shalla DeGuzman, eHow Member

*read more

http://www.ehow.com/how_4822163_novel-published-now.html

And do you remember Alex Cristo?

Yeah, Mr. Austria.

We interviewed him for SHALLA Magazine...

SHALLA MINGLES with Mr. Fitness, Alex Cristo
“Writers: Get Fit!”
by Shalla DeGuzman

Well, UPDATE, here are some of the latest pictures of Alex...

Plus, Alex Cristo sent a note:

PS: when you need a model for the cover for your books, don't forget me!!!!

Hey Alex, of course not, you're the best! You'll steam up any Harlequin cover, anytime!

Which leads me to my little summer note...

SHALLA's

A SUMMER NOTE

I finally finished my first novel... yes, I could have finished it a lot sooner. Instead, I used it to figure out how to write a novel, how to slow down a scene, how to speed it up, etc. It also helped me figure out what I like to write. I vacillated from writing something cutesy and sweet like a Chick Lit, to something literary with a lot more drama... oy! In the end, I figured out, I don't really like Drama. I don't feel like feeling sad... maybe it's only temporary... but the next novel I'm writing will probably be romance... We'll see.

For now, I need a break from writing. I've read too many books, wrote too many pages too fast, too much editing and revising, I need a break. Not to mention, our beloved, cute, beautiful doggie, Pancho, just passed from the big C a few days ago. Remember Pancho, our lab-akita mix with a beautiful smile who wore a Santa costume last Christmas? It was so fast, it happened all too fast, too soon, too fast... So, I have to get away, get my mind off.

That's why I'm saying good bye to you, just for a little while...

Pancho, come back soon!

we love you!

Alex, if you're reading this--I'm going to Germany to learn to speak German fluently once and for all!

So, Auf Wiedersehen, just for a little while and Hallo Deutschland!

Have a wonderful summer everybody!

I love you all!!!

Shalla

***

From eHarlequin, check out the latest Top 10 More Raining Men list:

1. Billionaire Extraordinaire by Leanne Banks

2. The Man Most Likely by Cindi Myers

3. Billionaire Doctor, Ordinary Nurse by Carol Marinelli

4. Kissing the Man Next Door by Devon Vaughn Archer

5. Captive of the Beast by Lisa Renee Jones

6. Night Rescuer by Cindy Dees

7. Her Cattleman Boss by Barbara Hannay

8. Italian Tycoon, Secret Son by Lucy Gordon

9. The Sicilian Boss's Mistress by Penny Jordan

10. Desert Ice Daddy by Dana Marton

Still looking for the perfect guy?

Check out eHarlequin's It's Raining Men sale before it's over and get $10 worth of FREE books! Shop now.

Labels: http://shalladeguzman.com/whoisshalla.php

SHALLA: SHALLA Magazine Screenwriting Contest

Nice to see you again!

Have you read our spring 2009 issue of SHALLA Magazine yet?

Come meet the very talented writers and poets we've discovered...

The Sea by Christian Ward

Moth by Christian Ward

Shadows by C.P.Stewart

Writing Butterflies on the Wall by Zachary Kluckman

A small bird has flown into my chest by Linda Albert

In Passing by James Keane

PICKING UP OLD VIETNAMESE WOMAN FROM DIALYSIS
by David Allen Bright

in Perspective by Nabina Das
Departure by Anthony Kendrick

responsorium by Christopher Mulrooney

***

The 2009 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards

Now in its sixth anniversary year, the stakes are higher than ever. This year over $50,000 in Cash and Prizes to winning screenwriters are presented– including a $25,000 Grand Prize – as well as Gold, Silver and Bronze Prizes in ten different genre categories.

Do you want to get your script into the hands of Hollywood professionals who can truly help advance your career?

FINAL ENTRY DEADLINE:
Friday, May 15th
Submit your script today!

The Categories
The Prizes
The Rules
Judging Procedure
How To Enter
FAQ’s

$$$

Jokes about Writing

A visitor to a certain college paused to admire the new Hemingway Hall that had been built on campus.

"It's a pleasure to see a building named for Ernest Hemingway," he said.

"Actually," said his guide, "it's named for Joshua Hemingway. "No relation."

"The visitor was astonished. "Was Joshua Hemingway a writer, also?"

"Yes, indeed," said his guide. "He wrote a check."

*read more

Have you joined us on Myspace yet?

Know about--

“The Current State and Future of the Publishing Business”

SHALLA CHATS with NY Times Bestselling author, Bob Mayer

*read more

Please visit us at:

http://www.shalladeguzman.com/

http://www.shalladeguzman.com/books/smartauthorstoolkit/contents.php

Labels: SHALLA Magazine Screenwriting Contest

Wednesday

SHALLA: WRITER’S BLOCK IS ONLY IN THE MIND—DUH! by Harry W Carpenter, author of The Genie Within

Hi writers,

Need help for your writer's block? Ever tried positive thinking? Meditation? Hypnosis?

Well, here's a book that combines practical ways to manifest your heart's desires--such as getting over writer's block. Get that novel finished. Make your book successful--all using the power of your mind.

A Let's Shalla Blog EXCLUSIVE

The author of the book, The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind—How It Works and How to Use It, Harry W Carpenter has written an article exclusively for all our SHALLA Blogs to help you overcome writer's block.

A Note from Shalla:

A way to get to your alpha or theta state is to relax your mind using meditation. Several free meditations you can listen to (I always use these) can be found at: http://www.shalladeguzman.com/getmuse.php

And try one, Shalla, has written herself called, Requesting Extra Energy to Write.

Read the meditation for Requesting Extra Energy to Write.
Read it, making sure to imagine what it says and feel the words.

***

WRITER’S BLOCK IS ONLY IN THE MIND—DUH!

by Harry W Carpenter

“Wow! That’s impressive,” I said to my wife. We were at the annual fair in Del Mar, California watching a stage hypnotist. He had eighteen volunteers on stage and was making them do things they would not normally want to, nor could do. One of the volunteers was a young man named Bill. The hypnotist suggested that Bill had just returned from a trip to the planet Xenon. Would he tell the audience about his trip? Without hesitation, Bill started to describe his trip and the Xenonians that he met. He told the story as if he had actually been there. The hypnotist had to stop him or he would have gone on all night.

Most of us would find it hard to stand in front of 500 people and make up a story about something we knew nothing about. And, moreover, tell this made-up story as if we experienced it, when we knew it was fantasy. I don’t know Bill, but I would bet my house he could not have made up that story spontaneously and told it so vividly and fluidly if he was not hypnotized.

When you sit down at your desk or kitchen table to write, do you start writing immediately? Do you create a story or a scene and write it down in detail without hesitating and agonizing? If you do, then you never have “writer’s block.” Lucky you! But if you have occasions when nothing comes to mind and you can’t get started on the story, then you’ve had writer’s block.

Is there much difference between Bill’s experience and when you have writer’s block? The difference is huge. When you have writer’s block, you are limiting yourself by only using your conscious mind, and at that, only a tiny portion of it. Bill, on the other hand, used over 90 percent of his mind. He used his subconscious mind—his fertile, imaginative, creative mind.

Your conscious mind is critical, judgmental, and carping. That’s the part of you that interrupts your writing and says, “This stinks,” “I can’t write about that,” “I just can’t think of a thing to write today,” on and on.

Your mind also inhibits you with false beliefs. In your early, formative years, you were told thousands of times things like, “No, you can’t do that,” “No, don’t do that,” “No, that’s too hard,” “No, no ,no, don’t you ever learn?” These responses are suggestions (just as if they came from a hypnotist) that go into your subconscious mind. Thus, you are hypnotized to believe you are limited and, worse, you are unconscious of these negative beliefs.

The epitome of a false belief is the story of Roger Banister. Runners, coaches, and trainers were hypnotized to believe running a mile under 4 minutes was not humanly possible. Race times asymptotically approached 4 minutes but no runner could break through this mental barrier. Not until Roger, who “knew” he could do it, did it. Within months other runners broke the barrier. Those runners could not break 4 minutes until someone showed them that their belief in limitation was false.

When your writing is blocked, do you “try” harder? Do you find that the harder you try, the more blocked you become? Trying harder is fighting against an absolute law of the mind. You can’t win.

So, how do you beat writer’s block? Instead of writing with your conscious mind, open up and tap into your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is the part of you that is imaginative and creative.

How do you tap into your subconscious mind? This may sound too easy, but it works. Just relax and talk to yourself. Affirm that you have the ability to write and that the story or poem is already written. Too simple? That’s Mother Nature’s way: the best way, is almost always the simplest way.

When relaxed, you slip into an altered state of mind. That’s the key to being creative—going into the alpha or, much better, the theta state. Dali, the abstract painter of weird landscapes, used to go into theta before starting a new canvas. That is how he got his visions of melting time and distorted figures, concepts foreign to the logical, linear-thinking conscious mind. It is simple to learn to go into these states. And it is invaluable if you want to be creative and write from the heart.

If you want more detail and more powerful methods of using your subconscious mind, get a copy of a book that many readers say is the best book written on the subject (Some of these reviews are posted on www.Amazon.com , and www.thegeniewithin.net) The book is, The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind—How It Works and How to Use It, by Harry W Carpenter. Oh! That’s me. How shameless to brag about my book. I couldn’t help it. It came from my subconscious.

Labels: Harry W Carpenter, The Genie Within

Transcript of our Q&A with Writer/Producer and Script Analyst Peter Myers

Like to read the Transcript of our

Q&A with Writer/Producer and Script Analyst Peter Myers?

Get his expertise for FREE or here's a list of his services:

Dear Writers,

It's been a pleasure to answer your question in this Q and A.

Let me know if you need any further help in the area of scripts.

You can always contact me at peterdavidmyers@gmail.com.

My services are:

Analysis---2-3 page synopses $75.00

---10-20 page treatments $150.00

---full scripts $250.00

Consulting is $50.00/hour charged against a retainer fee.

subjects for consulting: How do I get representation formy writing? How do I get started in screenwriting?How do I meet producers, directors and stars? etc.

Testimonials from my screenwriter clients can be viewed at:

www.storylink.com/profile/peterdavidmyers

Happy writing!

Best,

Peter Myers

*read more

You can read our FREE transcript at

http://shallabuzz.blogspot.com/2009/03/transcript-of-our-q-with-writerproducer.html

Labels: How to Format a ScreenplayTranscript of our QandA with Writer/Producer and Script Analyst Peter Myers

Friday

Q&A with Black Rose Writing Publisher Reagan Rothe

You’re invited!

Join Us!

Q&A with Black Rose Writing Publisher Reagan Rothe

Who is Reagan Rothe?

Reagan Rothe is a small-scale successful author and the creator of Black Rose Writing.

Black Rose Writing is an independent publishing house that doesn't guarantee endless money spent on promotion or false hopes, we work with our authors and develop a personal relationship. Owned by Reagan Rothe, a small-scale successful author, we have the experience from the author's view, knowing the trials and tribulations. We understand the rejection, frustration, and stress marketing and promoting a novel can be. We will do whatever we can within budget for our authors, as they reach success, so do we.

We are a Print-on-demand publishing house. We are currently seeking most genre fiction and either war, how-to, or biography non-fiction. Reagan Rothe is the author of Dreams and Baseball, Give Wings to My Triumph, and the Misanthropy series.

For more: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/index.html