Entries by Alina Popescu

A novel about trying again, even after several failures

I always thought most people are not properly equipped to deal with failures in their love lives. We grow up with fairy tales, we watch romantic comedies and other types of movies and series that show us we all find our soul mate sooner or later. The books that become extremely popular show us the same path – love so pure and so powerful it can deal with any obstacle. And also, after a heart break, real love is lurking just around the corner. Ex husbands that cheated always come back begging for forgiveness. Those who have been betrayed just invest more in their new relationship, without looking back at the shadow from their past, back to reclaim their status.

Even I avoid dramas as often as I can. But is that wise? I do believe there are right partners and wrong partners. Good timings and bad timings. Weakness and strength. And if you try hard enough and with the right person, you can and will be happy for a long, long time. I don’t necessarily believe in ever afters, but I hope it is possible.

Relationships are hard. And sometimes a failure is followed by others. Sometimes, just when you build up the courage to put your faith and trust in someone, you’re crushed again. And what then? What happens when each time you climb out of the abyss, you are thrown back again? Do you give up? Or do you dust yourself up and try again?

In what relationships are concerned, this is what my novel deals with: trying again when life and love just don’t go your way. It’s rarely easy, it’s even less often baggage-free, but unless you decide to be alone forever, it’s what you have to deal with on a daily basis.

People, men and women alike, but mostly women, need to learn that sometimes, after doing their best, there’s nothing left to do but leave, that it’s not about assigning fault, it’s about figuring out what works and what not. How to figure what works is the toughest part – but basically it entails nothing in the range of rocket science thinking. One just needs to know what they need in order to be happy, what they are willing to give to make others happy and if all this matches the needs, willingness and desires of their partner. Of course, it’s all very easy when you don’t count hormones, chemistry and all the other mambo-jumbo our brains and bodies throw at us…

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NaNoWriMo, a lesson in writing and how to approach it

WritingThis year, in an effort to make myself write the story going wild in my head, I joined NaNoWriMo. As it sometimes happens, despite my enthusiasm and my willingness to write about 2000 words each day, I got only a little over 14,000 words written throughout November. Luck was not really on my side, although my muse was, and I found myself wanting to write and unable to. Client work, personal issues that got me into an emotional roller coaster, everything that wasn’t supposed to happen, did so.

But the truth is that although I wished to use NaNoWriMo to write 50,000 words, that was just a dream. I could tell client work will pile over me in November, but I had a different expectation – get the story started, write a nice chunck of it, see what needs tweaking in story line and characters, and then keep on going. I did keep on going, although at a slow rate, but I managed to create a habit that will get me to the end of my novel. Read more…

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Reading list June-July

Reading is a big part of my writing experience. I get inspired, I learn and I thoroughly enjoy it as a way to spend my free time. Sometimes deciding what to read next might be an issue, so for those of you in need of inspiration and to keep track of books I’ve read, here are the books of the past two months.

Mircea Cartarescu – Frumoasele Straine (Beautiful Strangers). For my Romanian readers that don’t have the book, here’s a PDF version from the publishing house.

Raymond E. Feist – Magician

Naomi Novik – His Majesty’s Dragon

Charlaine Harris – Grave Surprise, An Ice Cold Grave and Grave Secret, or novels 2, 3 and 4 of the Harper Connely series.

Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – first book in the Millennium Trilogy

This month I am aiming for more than 3-4 books a month. Will let you know how it goes. What are you reading these days?

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The Writer and the “Published Book” Myth

Most writers I know, of which I know myself best, are still occasionally or permanently haunted by the myth of the “Published Book”. We sometimes tend not to see ourselves as “real” writers and instead give us names such as “wannabe” writer unless we have published a book. And it’s often not any book, but the book, the one we picture ourselves selling into thousands of copies. And if we’re really dreamy, also see ourselves signing the book deal. With a certain pen, not a cheap one, one that is precious to us. We type a lot, but we still fantasize about the touch of the pen on the paper when we sing those deals, the first one for the book, the second one for the movie.

Why we fear to call ourselves writers escapes me. Maybe we think that once we do so, we need to live up to the name of our profession. And I believe we are not really sure how to achieve that. What we get from not considering ourselves “real” writers? We look down on ourselves, we drop books because we believe them not to be very good, we see this part of what we are as a hobby, a pass-time and not the real deal. Read more…

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Novel Update – The Final Storyline

The worst thing a wannabe writer can do is to keep changing the story. I have been doing that for a while. I kept twisting and turning Alexa’s life around as mine did and never could get to a point where the novel was as I liked it. A few weeks ago, I got a smashing idea and weeks later I still believe it is doable. Therefor I decided to lock this storyline and keep writing, no more changes. I have to believe in it first, so that other people can believe in it later, when it’s written.

The story will have three parts. Depending on how it develops, it will be three different books or a novel with three parts… For now, the general idea is that there will be three separate books. And I will start writing right in the middle! There is a Romanian saying about starting in the middle and a comparison with hens that are in the habit to jump in the middle of any pile of anything, from food to dirt, but I will ignore it for now.

So here is the main sketch I’m working on: Read more…

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