Zeinab Alayan's Blog, page 13

A little self-promotion never hurt anyone.

Self published authors are usually pretty much on their own when it comes to promoting their work, so when the opportunity comes along, naturally we will snag it! I’ve been lucky recently to have some people interested in me and my work, and they certainly do deserve a mention here.

First there’s Carrie Slager, who not only gave Puppet Parade a lovely 4.5 star review, but also took the time to interview me and host a giveaway on her site! If you would like to win one of two free copies of the...

A Family Portrait

Growing up in a family that loves to take pictures, you learn how to avoid all the camera flashes and take cover as soon as someone whips out their camera. I have albums filled with baby pictures, and I enjoy flipping through them, pushing my cuteness under my mother’s nose and learning the story behind each one.However, these pictures gradually became less frequent as I grew older until they stopped altogether with the occasional obligatory passport photos or graduation pics.

You’re always cu...

I think I’ve got a bad case of NaNopathy.

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, then you should probably know – or already know – that possible side effects may occur. Sure, NaNo is pretty fun, but there’s a dark side to it too that Wrimos usually neglect to mention in order to suck more people in. Well… maybe not so dramatic, haha.

First up we have the Writing’s On The Brain syndrome, where you will think about your novel all the time. You may be at work and feel the urge to write, so you open the document and sneak in a few words whe...

NaNoWriMo in 3.. 2.. 1!

It’s almost time for the most anticipated NaNoWriMo. Midnight is less than 20 minutes away for me, and I’m getting a liiiitle bit antsy here. I’ve done everything I need to do, finished all my chores, drank my coffee, got my chocolate ready, got my blank Word document open, my fingers poised, thinking about my first line… waitaminute. Do I have a first line? Oh god I do NOT have a first line.

I suppose that’s what I get for being a pantser. Unlike many people I know, I’ve done very little plan...

On being mean to fictional characters.

Death, accidents, suicide, heartaches, disasters… fictional characters have seen it all. A single fictional character may go through all sorts of horrible things in one book, and I think that that’s okay as long as it serves the story. In a recent discussion with my fiancé, I said that I don’t mind hurting my characters if it moves the plot along. After all, it’s just a story. It’s not like I’m harming a real person by the words I write, so I don’t feel bad.

I think it’s important to maintain...

I feel stranded without internet!

I wouldn’t say that I’m addicted to the internet, but it’s pretty darn important to me. I need it for my work, to talk to my fiancé (I’m in a long distance relationship), to check up on book-related things, to keep in touch with my friends, to read posts by people I follow… I’m fine with taking some time off to rest and relax, but I really don’t like it when I’m forced to stay away for a few days.

On Thursday I went on a trip with my family to the countryside where they do not have internet an...

WordPress is the new Facebook (at least to me).

(Source: Smash Pixels)

I think I’m coming to realise that WordPress feels more or less like a wordier and more interesting version of Facebook, but with less drama and more people who know their grammar. On WordPress you can have mutual friends, you can read status updates in the form of blog posts, you can like a post and comment on it (but unfortunately you can’t edit or delete it yet – those typos will always haunt me), and you can make friends by following blogs.

In a way, one’s blogging wo...

I am intimidated by huge blocks of text.

Whenever I go book shopping, I like to flip through the pages for a bit, see if I like the writing style, read an excerpt here and there, check the size of the font (this is highly important!) aaaand check if the author has a tendency to write huge blocks of text.

I have quite a short attention span. Whether it’s work or writing or chores, I can’t focus too long on one thing. Books need to be gripping or else I’m lost. I recently picked up Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell based upon a recommendat...

Birthdays should be official holidays! [and a giveaway]

For the last three years my birthday was during the weekend or otherwise on a day where I didn’t have school/work, but today it’s on a Tuesday, which generally sucks, but I’m going to look on the bright side and be thankful that it’s not a Monday and that I’m back to even numbers in terms of age. Yay!

Apart from work, today was pretty nice. I got paid, I went out for cake and books (I got Looking for Alaska by John Green; One Day by David Nicholls; and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell) with my fr...

Food won’t magically appear if you open the fridge.

I’m sure you experience this feeling at least once a day. Even though you know for certain that there’s nothing in the fridge, you still open it in the hopes that between the last time you opened it (five minutes ago) and now, something will have appeared in there. In a way, that’s kinda similar to when you open a blank document repeatedly, hoping that words will come out, even though you know you completely lack inspiration.

I don’t have anything in my fridge right now, and I don’t feel like...