Finding Balance

                I must start by saying that I am not an expert on balance in any way.  I stumble quite often since my life and its many adventures are not linear but a convoluted entanglement of commitments, experiences and desires.  Even with this blog entry, it has taken me weeks to be able to sit and type this.

                I am a full time, high school, intensive reading teacher.  I also sponsor two clubs, Key Club International and SHAPE.  Both clubs focus on giving back to the community through service, and one of them requires several hours a week of my time.  I teach an extra class, giving up my planning period, so that I may earn more money.  On top of all of that, I am also the chairperson of the reading department (who just happens to also do the job of the reading coach).  From the time I get to work at 6:45 am to the time that I leave work, usually around 4:30pm or 5:50pm, I am nonstop.

                I am also a full-time, happily divorced mom.  My son is with his father every other weekend, but I have him the majority of the time.  I am blessed with the most amazing little man.  He is kind, thoughtful, smart, silly, and an all-around amazing human being.  He’s also seven years old and requires a lot of my time.  He's an A/B student who is always striving to get straight As, so we spend time together on his homework each night. He’s extremely athletic; he plays soccer in the winter, baseball in the fall and spring, and swimming in the summer.  Usually, those take up 3-4 nights each week during the season.  So, even at home, I am nonstop.

                Exercising is also extremely important to me.  Several years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  I was extremely lethargic, sometimes to the point that raising my arm felt like it took too much energy.  I had to make several lifestyle changes and take energy supplements, and I did.  I lost forty pounds and started to feel normal again.  It’s a struggle, though, because there are peaks and valleys, and when the valleys come, it’s quite difficult to find the energy to do anything productive. Fitting time to exercise into my already crazy schedule is not easy, either.  I wish I could say I was successful at it, but the truth is that I just don’t make it sometimes.

                I LOVE to read!  I’m a huge fan of paranormal stories.  I enjoy reading both young adult and adult.  I love series sets because I get to lose myself in their worlds longer than a stand-alone story.  Finding time to read is always a struggle.  I read while I’m using the stationary bike or the elliptical at the gym.  I read while I’m waiting for an appointment.  I’ll try to read when my son is reading for half an hour each day at home, but sometimes I just need to get dinner ready.  I read in the summer mostly, when I’m not working crazy hours every day.

                So, when do I find time to write?  (insert chuckle here)  My phone has become my friend.  When inspiration hits, I use the notepad on my phone to write out my thoughts.  Usually, that happens at the gym or at a red light or in the shower (thanks goodness for waterproof cases).  I carry a journal with me at work and jot down dialogue in the rare, spare moments that I’m given.  I type after my son has fallen asleep or on the weekends in which I don’t have him, after all of the usual errands are done.  Sometimes, my brain is just too fried to type, and I just accept that my muse needs a break. (Don’t worry, fans, I’m about 70% finished with writing The One Enlightened, book two of The Chronicles of the Diasodz).

                Still, with all of that being said, I consider myself among the very blessed in this world.  I have a family that loves me , supports me, and encourages me to pursue my dream.  I have a son who is the absolute joy of my life.  I have special friends who embrace me with their positive energy and allow me to bask in their beauty and their love.  I have a job that I am passionate about, where I can inspire reluctant readers to take a chance on losing themselves in a story.  I have been given an imagination that creates characters so vividly in my mind that I am able to share their lives with the rest of the world.

                So, how do I find balance?  I breathe.  ;-)  I schedule my life meticulously.  I remember what is important in life – my son, my family, my health, my livelihood, and my friends.  I embrace my passions and find moments to enjoy them.  I surround myself with a happy bubble and continuously work to strengthen its barriers.  I remember that every day is temporary, and I am given a new opportunity the next morning to start all over again.  I am not that person up on a high wire who tries to juggle seven oddly shaped objects without falling to her death.  I am the girl, sitting on a cushion, in front of a 1000-piece puzzle, finding a way to make all of the pieces fit, one by one.  And I’m happy.

Autographed Copies Are Coming!

 

An author creates the story, but those who help edit and revise are the ones who make the story perfect! My first (ever!) signed copies will be in the hands of these special people:

Pura (my amazing mother)

Kristy (my gifted sister/writer)

Liz (my best friend)

Rob (my #1 fan even before it was published)

Patty (my extremely gifted teen writer/editor)

Armando (my friend and colleague)

Claire Robinson (Goodreads Beta Reader)

Jeni Hamilton (Goodreads Beta Reader)

Lin White (Goodreads Beta Reader)

Lisa Weir (Goodreads Beta Reader)

Tatiana Villa (Cover Designer)

Once these wonderful people receive their signed copies, I will then have a few giveaways for my beautiful and incredible fans! So, check back here or on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/YvetteMCalleiro). 

Print Version is Now Available!

For those of you who absolutely need to feel the book's cover between your fingertips and smell the crispness of the pages, the print version of The One Discovered is now available on Amazon.com.  Feel free to tell your friends that the Diasodz's story is now theirs for the taking! After reading the book, please do me a huge favor and leave an honest review on the site so that other readers may discover Sofia's story.  As a new author, I depend on you, my fans, to share your love of the story with others.  Thank you so much for your support, and happy reading! ;-)

Once Upon a Time...

Every story has a beginning. Yet when I first encountered the Diasodz, it was in a dream. The scene that I saw would take place at the end of book one.  The characters and the story line did not come to me in chronological order, so I had to take some time to see the whole picture before I could begin writing.  As the characters began to speak to me, I found my beginning for book one.  It's the start of Sofia's story, but it isn't the beginning of the Diasodz's world. So, I thought I'd give those of you who are following me an introduction to how the Diasodz came to be. In book two (The One Enlightened), you will learn a lot about the hows and the whys of the Diasodz's predicament, so I won't give away everything just yet! ;-)

In the beginning, there was God....  Yes, I wanted to start from there. Whether you are spiritual or not, the creation of a species must start with a creator.  Call him Allah, God, Budda, Zeus, a chemical reaction...whatever you want, but creation happened.  So, my story starts with the fact that there was a God AND a Goddess.  There were angels and arch-angels.  In my world, the God and Goddess were equal, but the Goddess was most revered by all, including God.

When God created humans, he created them as equals, but Adam held Eve to be more valuable, as God did with the Goddess.  Lucifer was not content with the hierarchy that was set up and wanted change.  He schemed and connived until he had many angels who agreed with him.  Unfortunately for Lucifer, he fell in love with a female angel.  Because of his own superiority complex, he thought she would follow him anywhere.  When he finally confronted God about becoming the dominate gender, the love of his life stood on the God and Goddess' side.

In his anger, Lucifer couldn't think clearly.  He wanted to hurt her the way she had hurt him, and in doing so, he brought pain and suffering to humans.  Lucifer was cast out of the heavens along with the angels who stood by his side.  He vowed vengeance and promised that God's precious creation would never find peace. In the aftermath, an arch-angel asked the Goddess to protect the humans, and She created the Diasodz for that purpose.

By Her wishes, the Diasodz would live the first eighteen years of their lives as humans so that they could truly understand the struggles of those in which they were bound to protect.  Around their eighteenth birthday, they would experience a "death day." Their body's human life force and human characteristics would "die" and their spirit would transform into that of a Diasodz, a being with supernatural abilities to heal and protect humans from the evils created by Lucifer.

Yet, as with humans, the Diasodz were given free will.  Many Diasodz became influenced by Lucifer to join his entourage of evil over time.  As a race, the Diasodz made choices that caused the Goddess to turn away from her creation, and their powers have been fading ever since. And so we come to Sofia's story, where she must find who she really is and whether she can discover it in her heart and soul to save the Diasodz from fading forever...

Book Release - 01/30/14!

I am beyond excited to announce that my very first novel, The One Discovered (Chronicles of the Diasodz), is available for you to read. It is so fitting that today, the day of a second new moon, is its release date since the symbol of this novel is the new moon. It is also my grandfather's birthday, and I can think of no better way of honoring him than by making this dream a reality on his day. 

So, here are the links to download my novel if you'd like to read it:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I4L2Q40  (Amazon limits who can offer their book for free, so it's $0.99 on their site.)

OR

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/402145 (Here, the book is FREE!!! :-D  You can download mobi, epub, or even pdf if you want.)

Download it. Read it. Write a review (please). And share it with all of your friends and family.  

The print version is coming soon to Amazon so look for it if you love the feel of the book in your hands.

Happy reading! And thank you from the core of my soul for your support. :-)

Cover Reveal

As promised, here is my first novel's cover reveal! :-)  I am still on track to publish it at the end of the month! Feel free to spread the word to your friends and family. I'm excited about sharing this story with the world! A huge thanks goes to Tatiana Villa for her patience and brilliance in creating this design, to Rene Pimentel for using his photographic eye to catch things in the editing process that I couldn't, and to my friends (Patty P., Liz A., Pura D., Bina C., Rob M., and Kristy M.) for enduring my constant picking of their brains.  I am in love with this cover! <3

It Began with a Dream...

What better way to share with you this journey that I'm on than to begin at the beginning.  I am an avid reader and have been since as far back as I can remember. As a child, I used to love writing, but I stopped writing as I grew older and life became more cumbersome. About five years ago, I rediscovered my love for writing, and my life has been a whirlwind of enjoyment ever since!

I woke up one morning from a dream that was so intense and so vivid that I was emotionally distraught.  I can't really share the dream with you without giving away a major event in my first book, but I will tell you that it involved a girl whose life was forever altered by a tragic event, and she was being forced to make a choice in that very emotional moment.  I woke up before she made the choice (which was extremely irritating).  I felt her angst, her pain, and her utter turmoil.  I lay in bed processing it all and then ran to my office to write it all down (I now keep a journal by my bed for such moments). I just wrote the dream. Nothing more. It was just that powerful that it had to be given life.

At the time, I was co-teaching with a dear friend, Armando. I was also heavily absorbed in PC and Kristen Cast's world in their House of Night series as well as Cassandra Claire's Mortal Instrument series.  Armando loved to share with me tidbits of Wicca and history as I spoke to him about the novels that I read.  I fell in love with many aspects of Wicca, and somehow my dream kept coming to the forefront of my thoughts.  I finally accepted that this dream was an untold story that needed to be shared, and I would pull my favorite ideas from books new and old to create their story.  After all, all stories are ideas that were born from somewhere!

What came first was what they looked like. I could still picture them from the dream. I'm old-school and had to write it all out in a journal first.  Their physical characteristics, their personalities, their power(s)...all of that came easily.  Their names, on the other hand, took a while.  I even had the background story lined up before their names were known to me!  It was that background story which allowed the characters to whisper to me what their names would be: Sofia, Rafe, Angel, and Ar'ch (pronounced ar-rick). I shouldn't have favorites, but I can't help it. Ar'ch is definitely my favorite!  It's not a common name (actually, it's never been used as a name).  But it's perfect and it's his, and it fits the story line perfectly!

Once I finally allowed myself to listen to my characters' voices, the whole story wrote itself (well, the basics were at least born).  Still, there was a lot of research that I had to do. Anyone who knows me knows that my absolutely worst subject is History, but I wanted to loosely base the back story on a few historical events.  Granted, I've had to "slightly alter" those events to incorporate my Diasodz, but it was important to me that it would make sense if it were real. I also researched Wicca and nature's elements and their properties.  I'm sure that there will be naysayers who can point out that one thing or another isn't authentic, but - hey - it's MY world! :-P  I want it to be as realistic as possible, but I can't help it if the Diasodz have their own ideas on what is real and what isn't.

The journey of writing The One Discovered was so fulfilling, and I knew I had to share this world with others. I tried going the traditional route.  Apparently, they weren't too interested in my query letter.  My family and the few friends I shared it with kept encouraging me to publish it.  One friend in particular, Rob, has become my first true fan! He's more into sci-fi and super heroes than paranormal, but he became hooked with my characters and their story.  His eagerness to know more and his passion about my story kept me going at many times throughout this journey.  He has a way of saying something or asking me a question which then causes a whole new character or story line to be created. In fact, because of Rob, one of the characters from book one was saved. I had plans on killing her off, but he told me that he thought she was awesome. The very next night, that character told me off (hehe) and a whole story line for her was created! So, if you also fall in love with Mel, you can thank Rob for saving her! ;-)

I have finally decided to self-publish. I am in unknown territory here.  Self-publishing, blogging, creating a web site, having a Facebook author page, and connecting through Twitter.... It's overwhelming, nerve-wrecking, and exciting all at the same time!  There will be at least four books in the series (most likely, it will be five) whether I sell ten books or ten million.  I hope you'll stick around to fall in love with my Diasodz and the journey they must endure to save us mere humans from a life not worth living...