FLYLēF turns 2!

And the baby of my darling Lonna named FLYLēF just turned 2! To celebrate, an amazing group of bloggers and I have planned posts for you to enjoy, all centered around the theme…

FRIENDSHIP

Please make sure to visit them, and perhaps make a new friend along the way.

 FRIENDSHIP 

I am delighted when I learned the theme of Lonna’s anniversary blog tour is about friendship. Why? Because I value friendships a lot. 

In as much as I want to think, I am not so good in making friends, but I am good in maintaining them. I have kept some friends from my elementary, high school and college days. I can also say I am still friends with my co-workers from my two previous jobs. And I intend to keep them.

I know there is strength in living alone. In doing things on your own, but I find it comforting to have souls to share, experience and learn with. 

My upcoming book, Between My Bleeding Lines, is a product of friendship. If not for the great writers here whom I become friends with, I would never be the writer that I am today. I would never be able to be brave and be courageous and write my own book. Got to give some shout out for them:

• Dear PJ of Priceless Joy
• My friend Mandi of Mandibelle16
• Brother Christopher of CLCouch123
• Love Sarah of Hearstring Eulogies
• Dear Jade of Jade M. Wong
• Dear Melinda Kucsera of In Media Res
• Dearie Maria of Doodles and Scribbles
• Sister Leandra (Shadeau/Stella/Azure) of Leandra Knott Poetry
• Hun Mah of Mah Writes

Between My Bleeding Lines and this blog exists because of them my faraway best friends.  That I think is enough proof of how valuable friendships are for me. 

 TESTIMONIAL  

And of course, Lonna is part of the WordPress community who showered me with love and fueled me to write and write some more. 

I remember seeing her blog for the first time and falling in love with her graphics and her book reviews. She writes so well that she can make you run to a bookstore and go check out a book. She balances the good and the not so good part of the book in between beautifully crafted yet truthful lines. 

But aside from that, I adore her bubbly personality and kind heart. ❤ She never fails to make me smile and warm my heart. Cheers, darling, for more years! ❤ 

  TOUR SCHEDULE  

❖ May 15th – Bookfever: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 15th – A Reader Writer: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 16th – Milky Way of Books: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 16th – Lisa Loves Literature: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 20th – A Kernel of Nonsense: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 21th – SUSANLOVESBOOKS: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 23th – fallxnrobins: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 27th – Utopia State of Mind: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 28th – Book Briefs: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ May 30th – Foxes & Fairy Tales: Spotlight / Giveaway

❖ June 1st – The Caramel Files: Spotlight / Giveaway

  ABOUT FLYLēF  

Lonna Yen the creative mind behind FLYLēF (pronounced like flyleaf) who enjoys reading late into the night to satisfy her insatiable addiction to mostly young adult and adult novels: romance (contemporary and historical), fantasy, and paranormal (especially vampires). She believes in the magic of spellbinding words coming together to build breathtaking worlds in our minds’ eyes. Happiness is just a book away, find it at FLYLēF.

Lonna also the host of FLYTIP and Book of Choice Giveaway Hop, and co-host of The Comment Challenge.

Between My Bleeding Lines Now LIVE in Amazon!

My baby is here! Between My Bleeding Lines is now available in Amazon and Createspace! Please see the following links:

• https://www.createspace.com/7023994
• http://www.amazon.com/dp/1544810997
• http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1544810997
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1544810997
• http://www.amazon.de/dp/1544810997
• http://www.amazon.es/dp/1544810997
• http://www.amazon.fr/dp/1544810997
• http://www.amazon.it/dp/1544810997

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Between My Bleeding Lines is a collection of 100 free verse poems about love, loss, and finding yourself in the process.

The art of loving, the pain of losing, and the beauty of healing are shown in the book’s three chapters: For Granted, Forgotten and Forbearer.

 

COVER REVEAL: Between My Bleeding Lines

Meet my first baby, the book I reared for nine months, my very own Between My Bleeding Lines.

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Between My Bleeding Lines is a collection of 100 free verse poems about love, loss, and finding yourself in the process.

The art of loving, the pain of losing, and the beauty of healing are shown in the book’s three chapters: For Granted, Forgotten and Forbearer.

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I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the ever kind Sarah Doughty for creating this beautiful book cover. Book cover plays an important role and the art you did here is a great help. I cannot thank you enough, love. ❤

The beautiful painting is by Tsukiko Kiyumidzu.

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Between My Bleeding Lines will be available in Amazon, Createspace and Amazon partner bookstores starting next week. I will be sharing the links soon!

I would love to know what you think about this cover? 🙂 Please share!

TITLE REVEAL: Between My Bleeding Lines (My Debut Poetry Book!)

And this is it, beautiful souls! 🙂 Revealing the title of my debut poetry book:
Between My Bleeding Lines.
❤

Will be available on May 2017!

Cover reveal soon! 🙂

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Have a blessed week, everyone! ❤

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Background Music: Breathe Again by Sara Bareilles
No Copyright infringement intended.

READS: The Writer’s Guide to Poetry

For the nth time, I said for me, “writing is like breathing with words”. But as I read more and more and write more and more, I realize there is so much learning to do to be able to “breathe” better.

As Stephen King said in his awesome book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

Confession time: Since November, I have not finished a single book after finishing 60 from January to October 2016. I am on a reading block but I have not stopped reading poetry. I read some works of Maya Angelou, Charles Bukowski, Emily Dickinson and I promise myself I will read more.

Because I want to grow in this word-made field of poetry. I want to write better. I want to breathe better.

Then recently, I received an email about this awesome poetry guide titled The Writer’s Guide to Poetry by Signature, Knopf and Penguin Random House.

In it you’ll find:

• Insights from 11 award-winning poets.
• Advice on how to overcome imposter syndrome.
• 3 classic poems illustrated by artist Nathan Gelgud.
• Anne Lamott on the devils of perfectionism.
• Important tips on “telling it slant.”
• And more.

I will be reading this book this Lenten Break and if you want to get your copy visit here.

Happy reading and writing, my darlings! ❤

April Coffee Date

Hello, my darlings! 🙂 I just figured that the last coffee date I posted was last November. (ugh).

I so missed doing this, so please grab a chair. 🙂 I prepared a cuppa coffee, tea, or beer (if you want. :D)

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CALM MARCH

Finally, after epic roller coaster monthssssss, March has been so kind to me. 🙂 I was able to write for my two favorite prompts:

•  dVerse Poets Pub
• Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers

I was also able to join several tags (which I loooved a lot! :D) I miss doing Three Line Tales though. 😦

HOPEFULLY KINDER APRIL

With the summer kicking off, I am hoping April will be as kind or even kinder to me! 😀 Because I want to continue with dVerse and FFfAW plus, I signed up to NaPoWrimo! (Except the weekend prompts because I am mostly offline on weekends. :()

BOOK UPDATE

Finally, I plan to do the TITLE REVEAL of my upcoming debut book this month. 🙂 (It’s been months since I started with this project and I am excited to share this with you, guys! <3)

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It’s your turn! What are your writing/blogging/anything plans for April! Will you join NaPo, too? 😀

 

The Rule of Eleven (aka The Blue Sky Tag) Part 2

After answering the 11 witty questions via The Rule of Eleven (aka The Blue Sky Tag) from Jade her blog, my dear NJ joined in the fun and answered my questions! 😀 And to keep the getting-to-know-you posts, I will answer NJ’s questions too!

So…

1. What is your name and the name of your blog? Why did you choose it as your blog name?

I am Rosemarie Gonzales of A Reading Writer. My author name is R.C. Gonzales. My friends here fondly call me Rosey or Rosema or Rosemarie. (any will do :D)

A Reading Writer is a result of a random thought that struck me when I was thinking of a blog name. I do not want to try hard, thus, I resort to a simple phrase that constitutes my prominent interests, reading and writing.

It should have been A Reading Writer Who Sings, because I am a singer as well, but I thought that would be too long. I choose the article ‘A’ instead of the ‘The’ as I am not a ‘The’ yet. 😀

2. What, according to you, is your best quality? Why is it so?

For me…. *thinking*… I think it will be my being kind? I always get the comment that I am sweet but for me, I am just kind. There are too much hate and sadness on earth so I want to stay kind as much as possible. 🙂

3. Choose a movie that describes you and tell us how?

Tough question. HAHA. Hmm… I would pick Still Alice. It is an empowering story about a woman with Alzheimer’s and the main message is to make each moment count. And that is what I am trying to do. 🙂 (P.S. This is based on a novel by Lisa Genova and it is a great read, guys! :))

4. What’s your favourite dessert? And why?

Cheesecake!!!! Because I looove cheese and I loooove cakes and when you combine them we’ll get, tadah! Cheesecake! 😀

5. Are you a forest or a beach person? What is it about your choice that you like?

Beach! There is something calming about the cerulean sky and the deep sea. The way the waves hugs the shore. The way the birds sing. The way the sun sets as if it is being eaten by the sea…. (there. :D)

6. If you were born as a tree, which tree would you pick? And why?

I want to be a wisteria because it bloooooooms and ages beautifully. ❤

7. If today was your last day, name one person you’d like to say something to? What would you tell him/her?

I would like to say I love you and thank you to my parents. 🙂

8. Which is your favourite childhood game?

It would be………….. scrabble! 😀

9. If you could be an inanimate object, which would you pick? And why?

I want to be a pen! Because it’s a weapon that cannot kill but can breathe life back!

10. What is your favourite mode of travel?

Buses! It is where I do most of my writings. 🙂 (I wrote about it here.) 🙂

11. Who is your 3AM person? And why?

For now it is myself. But someday, *with dreamy eyes* I hope to share my 3AMs and beyond while ceaselessly sharing thoughts and banters with that someone. (Where are you? I’m waiting…)

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That’s all for now.

Please participate if you want. 😉

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Note: Photo and gifs are not mine.

The Rule of Eleven (aka The Blue Sky Tag)

And my darling Jade of the ever-lovely blog named after her tagged me recently with The Rule of Eleven (aka The Blue Sky Tag). And because I consider her one of my bestest far-away-friends, I treat her tag as a friendship card which I have no choice by to accept and comply. (super smiling emoji because I am kidding. :D)

So here are my answer to her 11 witty questions:

1. Pick one of your scars. What’s the story behind it?

I have an invisible scar on my chin which is only visible when I do some weird facial expressions. 😀 I am an “accident prone” kid (and teen and adult. Some things doesn’t change, I think) and the scar is a result of a bad fall when I was in third grade.

I was walking and then tripped on someone’s foot and the first part that hit the rough ground was my chin. (YEP.) I cried like mad for hours (because I am darn afraid of blood and yeah, it’s painful!) and my teacher was compelled to call my mom for rescue. 😀

2. What is the most random thing you’ve ever watched on TV?

The latest random thing I’ve watched was the CNN documentary about Melania Trump. (DISCLAIMER: I am not a fan of his husband. ;))

3. How did you meet your best friend?

I met my sisters/best friends when I was in college. We were classmates in all subjects and we got along so well because (1) we love to eat; (2) we don’t know how to dress up; (3) we don’t know how to put up make-up and (4) those three are still us until now. 😀

4. If you were to go to the movies by yourself, what movie would you watch?

I would watch a cute chick flick because I have never ever watched a horror movie. If I would watch one alone no one would know I am dead. 😀

5. If you could pick any celebrity, dead or alive, to play you in a movie, who would you pick?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I want to be Anne Hathaway. Because eep. She is gorgeous inside out! (Plastic surgery will be part of the package? HAHA)

6. Where is your favorite place to go on a weekday afternoon when you have no plans or obligations?

I stay under a tree near my aunt’s home with a verdant green view made of swaying grasses and floating pond water lilies.

7. What’s your favorite cheesy pick-up line? (Come onnn, I can’t be the only one who likes cheesy pick-up lines!)

Er. -_- HAHAHA. I would pick the pick-up line I wrote:

8. Have you ever danced in the rain?

I did! And sing and dance actually. 😀 😀 😀 (quite a performer. HAHA)

9. You are designing your perfect pizza. What would it be?

Cheese. Meat. Cheese. Meat. and some more cheeeeese! 😀 (yep. A mouse. :D)

10. If you had to be named after a city, state, or country, what would your new name be?

Nami (for Nami Island in South Korea) because it is my dream destination and Nami is also a Japanese word which means divine. (am i? HAHA)

11. Pick a fellow blogger. Describe that person in 5 words.

Of course I’d pick you, Jade! ❤ and here are my 5 words:

She’s definitely beautiful, inside out!

There you go! 😀

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So instead of tagging anyone, I would like to spread this fun tag to ALL of you! And here are my 11 questions:

1. Describe yourself in ONE word.

2. When and why did you start blogging?

3. Is there a person that you look up to? Who is it and why?

4. What’s the perfect pair for a book, is it coffee or tea?

5. Aside from blogging, name one activity that you truly enjoy.

6.  In your bucket list (or if you will have one), what country/place will be on your top spot?

7. Do you have a phobia? What is it?

8. What’s the weirdest wish/hope that you have secretly said?

9. What is your favorite season and why?

10. What is that one book that touched you in a very special way?

11. What’s your favorite song lyric? Why?

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I would love to know more about youuuu, guys! ❤

Note: Photo and gifs are not mine. 😉

Please Vote for my Piece :)

Hi everyone!!!

I would like to ask you a big big favor! I joined an Instagram contest hosted by @words_with_queens and @words_with_kings. The prize is that your entry poem will be included in their upcoming book title Crown Anthologies Vol. 1.

The 10 poem with the highest votes will get published. 🙂 So I would like to ask for your help to please vote for my piece here.

The link should look like this (and this is my entry poem too):

I hope you can help me, darlings! ❤

Thank you!

Rosey

FlyTip: Introduce Yourself (plus Instagram Giveaway)

 

Updated photo because I am “adulting” at 25. 😀

 

Hello my lovelies!!!

Oh how I miss writing my thoughts and sharing them with you. I am joining FlyTip a feature hosted by my darling Lonna of FlyLef. And the first task is to…

FLYTIP: Introduce yourself! || Tell the world about you and your awesome blog!

It has been sooo long when I updated my about page but it is mostly the same!

I am a millenial. A Journalism graduate from the Philippines. I aspire to be a news writer of a prestigious national daily newspaper someday. (though this part might be changing a bit….)

I was a Content Writer in an e-commerce website and a writer in a local newspaper in my province when I started this blog.

Now, I am a PR Writer in a Public Relations firm. I am now, indeed, a WRITER.  (Update: I am now a PR Associate.)

This blog is a leap of courage towards a better writing career that I dream of having someday.

THE BLOG’s NAME:

A Reading Writer is a result of a random thought that struck me when I was thinking of a blog name.

I do not want to try hard, thus, I resort to a simple phrase that constitutes my prominent interests, reading and writing.

It should have been A Reading Writer Who Sings because I am a singer as well, but I thought that would be too long.

I choose the article ‘A’ instead of the ‘The’ as I am not a ‘The’ yet.

THE FORCE:

It took me a lot of years to finally leap towards the ‘blogosphere’. And there is really a ‘force’ that somehow pushed me to dive! That is this quote from Maya Angelou that I cited in my very first post titled Agony.

But of course… after more than two years of blogging and one year of creative writing, there are some awesome UPDATES which include:

• I am now back doing dVerse prompts and Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. 🙂 (Trying to sneak in some time as much as possible because I miss you.)
• My debut book I have been talking about last year is done with the final edits. Now… I am working on the cover (which is a challenge. -_-)
• I am now on Instagram @areadingwriter (and I confess I am mooore active there now because it is more mobile-friendly. :()
• And speaking of Instagram.. I am currently hosting a giveaway there. (mechanics are found below)

• … and the chapbook’s cover is…

So there! 😀 Till my next update guys! Much love! ❤