Vegetarian

So about a month ago, I made a very important decision.

I no longer feel the need to support the cruel killing of animals, and so I've become a vegetarian. It's not only better for the animals, but it's also better for the environment and my health personally.

I feel like I have more energy, actually. It's a wonderful feelings, and I cook my own meals every night, too. Many time I make them from scratch, coming up with recipes off the top of my head. Tonight I made myself some soup, and even my siblings admitted that it was really good. PLUS, I have leftovers!!

One of my favorite things? Italian food. I'm Italian, and so I embrace my heritage with an open mind - and an empty stomach. We Italians are known for our good cooking, and I'm extremely proud of that!

Though I'm not really a cook, I intend to get better. This is wonderful practice! I can make lots of vegetarian-friendly Italian dishes, such as pasta with sauce and mushrooms. add in some garlic, and you're good to go!

One of the sites I go to a lot for inspiration, is PETA, and I've found lots of great resources, articles, and recipes from there.

peta.org

Because, you know: The only difference between our animal companions and the animals we eat for food are how we treat them.

Whereas I'm not going to make my life goal speaking out for animals, I think that being vegetarian is enough for me. I'm not participating in the cruelty, and whereas I feel that I can blog about it and talk to people who ask, I don't want to make the friends and family I have feel guilty about something that they are choosing for themselves.
It's a personal choice, and I've made mine. I respect others, and I hope I'm extended the same courtesy.


Love to all, including the animals,

Elle~

Decisions...

So, I've been in the process of obtaining an agent for a while now. Publishers have also expressed some interest, though my book isn't even completely done, but I've declined everyone.

Do you know why?

Of course not. That's why I'm writing this post!

I've decided to be an indie author. I want to be in control of the designing, creating, and publishing process, plus I don't want to sign over any rights to my novel. I want to earn more percentage profit than I would if I went with a traditional publisher, and honestly - I'm not expecting my book to be a huge hit.

Why? Because I'm not writing a book to get famous. I'm not writing a book to make money. Those things are nice, but honestly I'm writing my novel because it's what I do. It's what I love, and what inspires and drives me. I've always been better with a pen (or a keyboard) than I have with my words verbally, and so it's all just how I express myself and where I escape to. I write because I'm a writer/I'm a writer because I write. Simple? Not as much as you think.

Writing is hard. There are so many excuses for distractions, so many different ways you can obtain procrastination, and so much OTHER things to do or that you find to do as soon as you think, "I need to get to writing."

So, I mostly write longhand, honestly. The internet (mostly Facebook, though!) is SO distracting, and I find myself having other windows open instead of my novel. So I write whenever and where ever I can, and this constitutes during school-time. Yes, there are many times I barely pay attention in class because of this ( but no worries! I'm an "a" student! ) I'm the girl in the back of the class, pretending to pay attention or write notes when honestly I'm scribbling down every little thought that crosses my brain novel-wise.

So, anyways, I've decided to take charge and be an indie author. I'm going to publish locally, online, and through a self-publisher where people can have my novel shipped to them. I'm so excited that I'm closer to being done, and ultimately closer to having a copy of it in print! I promise you that I will carry it everywhere I go, because I will be absolutely in love with the book-copy of my novel. Hurray!

So, that's the end of my discussion for now. Later on I'll include more information about my novel, online publishing, and how I'm obtaining copyright permissions from poets and/or the copyright holders of certain poems, because I'm including snippets at the beginning of every chapter.

I reached the 200 page mark today! Yes, my novel is semi-already-formatted, so these are novel-sized pages I'm talking about. 200 of them! 52,000 words!!!!

Man, I have a lot more to go...

Forever and always,
Elle~

Vote On a Quote!

You can also go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kristen-Camino-Writer/161583870567763

and become a fan on my page of Facebook there! Please do so!

I'm doing a ceiling tile for my English class, and my teacher has asked me to paint on it and include a quote from the novel I'm almost done writing! However, choosing a quote is a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, seeing as I'm a bit biased with my novel and can't find just one good quote to sum it up. So, I know that barely any of you have read this, so I'm asking you to vote on a quote for me. Comment, send me a message, post on my wall, post on this group's wall - whatever - just please give me some feedback! 

This novel is Ya-Ya (Young adult written by young adult), and though it can be read by either gender, it is mainly directed at females. It's a contemporary fantasy and has romance in it (as any good novel does ;) ), so even though you may not know what my novel is about, these quotes may help you further understand.

“The trees in the forest around me were oblivious to their sad deaths, their apparel in a runway blanketing the floor. I could feel a chill in my chest - a hollow, empty feeling that meant that I would soon shed my skin. It was a sensation I looked forward to in a way, yet also dreaded. I didn’t want to give up my legs, my fingers, or my dull human senses. I felt that when I lose those, I lost my true self.” – Brooke

“Sometimes I felt like I was in love with the wrong skin; the wrong form; the wrong me. Which form allows me to escape the most? I asked myself.” – Brooke

“I felt a pang when I realized that I didn’t belong anywhere. There would never be one complete me. As a wolf, human boiled under my fur; as a human, wolf hid beneath my skin.
I must be destined for loneliness.” – Brooke


“That’s when I saw him, up on stage. Intrepid fingers plucking his bass guitar, and as he anchored the beat it was as if his music anchored my heart, laying out my pulse. I watched him and how he skillfully grooved, the way he poured himself into his music, and yet I also noticed how his eyes never met anyone’s in the audience. I was fascinated, watching as he glanced around the room.
But his eyes met mine then, and for the first time in my life I felt vulnerable.” – Brooke


“She pushed the hair out of her face and leaned forward, gripping her coffee mug tightly. I wanted to do something - to tuck her hair behind her ear, to touch her collarbone that was so prominent above her shirt, or to just reach over and take a hold of her hand. Instead, I gripped my hands together to keep them from doing anything, because I didn’t know how she would react. I focused on her eyes, holding me prisoner and luring me in with their gold flecks and their guarded expression.” – David

“ I woke up to my wolf’s howl, and it tore at me, seeming to rouse my own inner wolf. His voice rose in a crescendo, clinging onto the agonized notes, and then more voices quickly joined until the entirety of the pack sounded as if they were calling to me right outside my window. I listened to the chorus until it ended, just as sadly as it had started, and I knew that it was meant for me - the missing wolf. I later managed to slip back into a restless sleep, but I dreamt no more that night.” - Brooke

““Don’t leave me,” I panicked.
I didn’t open my eyes, but I tried to breathe deeply, calming myself down after my embarrassing outburst. I felt someone sit down next to me, and I smelled Max and the wolf in him.
“I have to go,” Max said sadly. “I feel it.”
“I know,” I breathed. “I feel it too.” It was clinging to his skin.
“I’ll always be your wolf though. I’ll never change. When I’m in that body, I’m still myself. I’m still Max. Still yours.”
“I know,” I whispered again.
He sighed and leaned forward to kiss my forehead, his lips lingering on my skin, and I knew then that it was our last goodbye for the Winter.
At least we got to have one.
I started slipping away, and then he slipped away too, out the door and into his wolf, then beyond the trees and into the forest. ” - Brooke


“”Let’s go out to breakfast,” I said, and she rolled off of me and out of bed so gracefully that it made me want to pull her back to me. But I decided to let her go.” – David


“I held him as he pulled me to him, holding us close together. I felt like the world was going too slow and we were trapped in the middle of a time pause, caught in this beautiful forest with the trees surrounding us, watching us.
And I felt then that the wolves were quietly watching, too.” - Brooke
  ““Can’t you stay with me?” he asked me hopefully.
“No, but won’t you stay with me?” I was starting to shake, and goose bumps were rising on my arms even though my body felt like it was burning up.
“Always.” He promised.
And I groaned then, the wolf in me escaping.” - Brooke
  “But at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to sleep. Selfish. And I blamed the monster.” – Brooke



“He darted away again, leaving me alone with only my thoughts and memories of a girl I was not.” – Brooke
“As I ran towards the forest, headed towards the wolves with my feet lightly skimming over the floor, it was as if I could feel Winter chasing me with her icy fingers. She was reaching out to me, enticing me with her snow and her cold beauty, but my heart beat warmly inside of my chest in response.” - Brooke


“She first was a girl who shifted into wolf - then a wolf who shifted back into my girl.
She was beautiful in both forms. As a human, she had long, wavy, dark brown hair; green eyes flecked with gold; high cheekbones and a tan complexion; a slender, soft figure; and a white, breathtaking smile despite the coffee that lingered constantly on her breath. The smell was dark and sexy in a way - it reminded me of writers and poets; musicians and complex thinkers - and I loved it, even though I didn’t drink coffee myself. As a wolf, she kept her green eyes and her delicate, slender figure, but her fur was snow-white, pure and spotless. She had such a wild, untamed feeling to her that I was both fascinated and frightened of her at the same time. But yet I wanted nothing more than to protect her. It was an instinct of mine that I didn’t understand.” – David


“She opened her eyes and they met mine, and I knew then that she was something otherworldly.
Not “otherworldly” as in alien, but “otherworldly” as in special and extraordinary, exceptional and eccentric, weird and wonderful, amazing and yet so bizarre. I felt as if this girl could travel past Andromeda, past the nebulas, the elliptical galaxies, the nimbuses and all of the stars. The universe was hers to explore, and I was lucky that she wanted to explore it with me.
She’d told me so, though she didn’t have to with her lips.” – David


“The cause, the thing that is causing this to occur in us wolves, causing us to die,” Iblis continued, “is ourselves. Our humanity.”” – David


“And as I fell asleep in his embrace, and as he held me together, the two untamable parts of me that were wolf and girl, I had never felt more in love.
But I had also never felt more at war.” – Brooke


“I couldn’t do anything except pull her to my chest. I hoped she understood that my arms were her sanctuary, and my heart was her home.” – David


“I didn’t say anything, instead taking a seat at a chair across from him. He didn’t acknowledge me, his eyes seeming to look right through me as if I was nothing more to him that dust.
That’s all we humans really are though – dust.
But did I really believe that? What determined life? I knew for certain that the beautiful girl upstairs was much more than dust, even if that dust was stardust. She was radiant. She had a soul.Did I? Did everybody?
Dust.” – David