Summer vacation began yesterday at 12:10 pm, when the school bell rang. I know it'll be a challenge to write with two kiddos, and I wanted so badly to finish some semblance of a draft, but nope. Didn't happen much at all. Here's a look back at my May Goals and how I did:
1.) Get it together and practice my speaking skills for the May walk....will be doing a couple of live and recorded videos in the next few days. -  I managed to NOT do a single live or video in May. I practiced my speech over and over, almost threw up at the hotel from the nervousness and managed to ...speak. Here's my transcript of the speech, as well as a couple of pictures from the walk.
2.) AND I'll be going to an open mic event at a local coffee shop to get more practice at speaking in front of people. May 11th from 7 - 8:30 pm at Third Gen coffee house in The Woodlands. - I was super excited to finally meet a couple of lovely mamas with whom I've been doing the online Motherhood workshop with! AND they BOTH read their pieces!! We've decided that we should attempt to do another one of these open mics, because let me tell you, there's nothing more wonderful than having someone there who not only understand the nerves, but also felt compelled to share from the heart. Beautiful, beautiful night. *I've included pics below. 
3.) Finish chapbook #2, have it reviewed and edited before finding a home for it. I've got a few chapbook contests I have my eye on. - AMAZING NEWS AHEAD!!!
4.) Continue with research and hopefully WRITE out a first rough draft. I'm hoping to get this done before the kid gets out for summer...I don't think I'll be getting any writing done at all this summer!  - Amazing news ahead followed by a whomp whomp sound, as I absolutely did not write out a draft. 

Oh, June. I don't know what to do with you. I'll mostly be reading - A LOT. And playing with the kiddos - A LOT. However, I do need to sit down,
1.) Write, edit and submit articles for Daughters of the Deep for June - Sept (4 total posts).
2.) Continue to submit 1 poem to a press/journal. 

Look what I did!!! not your Token is out NOW!! This is the first in a collection of chapbook series that I'm doing. For this one, I've explored my identity as an immigrant, as a Filipina raising "Mexipino" babies, and as a "token" Asian.
buy links:
https://www.amazon.com/Not-your-Token-chapbook-identites-ebook/dp/B07DD4QQFH/

I read my poem, Motherhood and Labels, that was recently included in the WOMb poetry anthology. 

Have a happy start to your summer! 

It's almost May, here was my April Goals: 
1.) I'm taking part in PMDD Awareness Month by (drum roll)...... writing a poem/day! There is a fun photo challenge that will be on Instagram. - While I did participate in this challenge, I realized that some poems I wrote for me....and not up for sharing. And that's okay! When I internalized certain pieces, I grew inward and stopped writing for just a bit. It got too much and I couldn't even involve myself in the Instagram challenge....that's also okay. Realizing that it's perfectly fine to step back and take a breather is key to grounding myself. One day, I'll share my thoughts on this but only when I'm ready to share. 
2.) I mentioned in my random rambling update that I am participating in a workshop called "Excavating Motherhood in/through Art," well I'd like to begin a series over on my very very neglected blog. As soon as I have enough material to cover, I'll start linking it to this site.  - I have zero material for this BUT I began a chapbook series over motherhood and identity! I finished one chapbook and sent it to two different contests, and just about to wrap up the second volume in the series - yay! 
3.) I've got one more blog tour and review with them in April and once that's done, I'll start reviewing only poetry books (and books by Penny Reid just because).  I reviewed two poetry books this month, and working on finishing up a third, hopefully before the month ends! 
4.) I started an outline for my "Letters to Heaven Trilogy" and I'm going to start working on storyboarding the first book, "Finding your way Home." This will be a follow up/flash forward on Dylan and Lenora Evers story from "Letters to Lenora." - Still storyboarding! I wrote a few scenes and researching Army life, and how faith fits into that! I realized that for this book, I want to cover the familial and faithful side of the army life. How does that affect how we form our own tribes, our own community of fellowship. I touched on Preeclampsia in Letters to Lenora, and I want to include that in Lenora's pregnancy (hey this isn't a spoiler, ok) and how pregnancy anxiety comes into play because of her mom's traumatic birth. THIS IS A HEAVY BOOK, so I started outlining more of Ethan's Epic quest and that'll cover the gorgeous Philippines. 

I'm sucking badly on blogging about "Life after Preeclampsia," that I'm thinking of just sticking with Instagramming for now. I'll be adding a photo and poetry series of life after pree for May's Preeclampsia Awareness Month......and what the what?! I was invited to speak at the Preeclampsia Dallas Promise Walk on May 19th! Super excited and grateful for the amazing opportunity and completely humbled by all the survivors I get to meet. 

So May Goals:
1.) Get it together and practice my speaking skills for the May walk....will be doing a couple of live and recorded videos in the next few days.
2.) AND I'll be going to an open mic event at a local coffee shop to get more practice at speaking in front of people. May 11th from 7 - 8:30 pm at Third Gen coffee house in The Woodlands. 
3.) Finish chapbook #2, have it reviewed and edited before finding a home for it. I've got a few chapbook contests I have my eye on.
4.) Continue with research and hopefully WRITE out a first rough draft. I'm hoping to get this done before the kid gets out for summer...I don't think I'll be getting any writing done at all this summer! 

What about you, friend? What are you working on next? Did you make your April goals? Are you looking forward to a fresh new month??
​Keep going! Keep at it at it! 

As an indie author, social media is huge. We're constantly making sure we're engaging, we're tweeting our books, our poems, and following back people....it's EXHAUSTING! I did a small thing and deleted all social media apps (except for Instagram) off of my phone. I am addicted to social media, and even if I'm not a constant poster, I'll scroll through my feed to make sure I didn't miss anything. Pre-kiddos, I'd say this wasn't such a big deal, but with children who constantly watch you, I needed to be more mindful of how I spent my time with them. I didn't want to be glued to my phone all day, and by that same token, didn't want them to grow up thinking that it's normal. We turn off our television and don't answer calls/text messages when we sit down to eat as a family. Sure, we can have some screen time, but family time takes priority.
My mental health is also a priority and seeing a feed full of political divisions made me more anxious, more grumpy and less "fun." 

soooo what does this mean for April?
APRIL is PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) Awareness Month AND it's also National Poetry Month.
1.) I'm taking part in PMDD Awareness Month by (drum roll)...... writing a poem/day! There is a fun photo challenge that will be on Instagram. *FUN FACT: yours truly is a volunteer social media assistant for the Gia Allemand Foundation, which provides education, resource and support for those affected by PMDD. I'll be pulling double duty, and posting some fun photo challenges for you to do AND pairing my own twist by using the challenge as my poetry prompts. "Should" be fun. Care to join me? Follow on instagram.com/leilatualla
2.) I mentioned in my random rambling update that I am participating in a workshop called "Excavating Motherhood in/through Art," well I'd like to begin a series over on my very very neglected blog. As soon as I have enough material to cover, I'll start linking it to this site. 
3.) I was saddened to hear that the Christian publicity compay I take part in as a reviewer is dissolving. I've got one more blog tour and review with them in April and once that's done, I'll start reviewing only poetry books (and books by Penny Reid just because). It's time consuming to read and review, as it takes time away from my own kiddos but 
4.) I started an outline for my "Letters to Heaven Trilogy" and I'm going to start working on storyboarding the first book, "Finding your way Home." This will be a follow up/flash forward on Dylan and Lenora Evers story from "Letters to Lenora." 
Whew! April is going to be such a busy month!
How are you doing with your writing, friend?

Five days into the new year, how's it going, friends? I just submitted my first poetry piece to Poetica - it was a call about motherhood, and let me tell you, I have a few things I still need to get off my chest - ha! I'm taking part in two different blog tours, both with reviews this month. So even though I set up my Goodreads challenge for 25 books this year, I'm ready to hit the ground running. I don't have goals this month, just to continue to write poetry daily and continue to read what I can. If you're on Instagram, follow me @leilatualla for a daily dose of poems! 

Happy reading, have fun writing and let's make this our best year yet! ​

Well, I "only" had two November goals and I failed them both. *sigh. 
November:
1.) NaNoWriMo - 100 poems for my the Token Asian writes poetry collection. - ummm I wrote 10? 
2.) be inspired and read poetry! I'll be reading through the poetry books that I bought and reviewing the authors that have inspired and supported me. - I'm down to three poetry books, so yay?! 

I don't have a whole lot of things going on as far as writing goals this month. I will continue to read as much as I can and review those that I already have. Excited for next year, though! I enjoyed reading up on new authors and reviewing. I've been fortunate to have 2 different contributing blogger experiences that I'm thinking about taking 2018 into a freelance writing work. Who knows. But as we wind down for the year, I am thankful for you all who have kept up with me and my writing journey. 
Stay on the course. 
Keep writing. 
Stop dreaming and start striving. ​