paper planes back home – Page 3 – Tara Tries To Write

The Paper Plane Tour Has Begun!

October 26, 2015 No Comments

Word of warning: I am struggling with an annoying headache as I write this. Possible incoherence ahead.
Oh who am I kidding? I could be incoherent without this headache.

My very first blog tour for Paper Planes Back Home officially began last Saturday (October 24), and I’m having mixed feelings about it. For one, the reviewers have so far been very generous (thank you so much!), which makes me even more excited and anxious to read the rest. Secondly, I did this interview with author Chi Rodriguez yesterday, and one of her questions reminded me of a certain second-hand sadness I thought I’d forgotten. I know I have another Q&A coming up but I’m not sure how that’d go . . . so I’m just going to brace myself for it. And the rest of the reviews the book will be getting by the end of the week, of course.

When I started writing Paper Planes Back Home in 2013, it never occurred to me that it’d go this far. This meaning making it available on Amazon, getting it printed in pretty paperback, and asking people to read it in exchange of an honest review. I didn’t think then that I was ready for something like this, and I can’t say that’s changed either. I can’t confidently say “I’m ready!” to receive praise or criticism for the work I’ve done, but went through with it anyway because I wanted to learn how to be.

Because aside from the technical aspect of writing, I also wanted to learn how to accept the bad with the good, and to see my work through another person’s perspective. Writing fiction is something I’ve wanted to do (and have been doing) for a long time, and now that I’m finding more opportunities, more targeted readership, it makes me want to hone my craft even more. It’s a journey to self-improvement, and for the enjoyment of readers who are now looking forward to getting their hands on my future work.

Personal, Writing

My Paper Planes are touring!

September 11, 2015 No Comments

One year ago, I never would have though blog tours were a thing, but now I’m having my very own blog tour! How cool is that?

The Bookish Diaries is hosting a blog tour for my debut novel Paper Planes Back Home, and it is happening on October 24-30, 2015! Sign-ups are now open, and I’d like to humbly invite you to come join the tour by clicking THIS LINK. I am still putting together something wonderful and worthwhile as giveaways to lucky participants and bloggers who will be joining in, so maybe we can announce something because the actual tour commences.

Hope you can give this ride a try, and thank you very much in advance! <3

Paper Planes Back Home is a new adult urban fantasy with a dash of contemporary romance set in New York City. It tells the story of two coma patients who find themselves in some sort of limbo where paper planes are currency for how much you are loved and remembered by people “back home.”

Available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Buqo.

Photos

Sweet dreams are made of these.

July 30, 2015 No Comments

Instagram will load in the frontend.

Fact: I have the most awesome friends. No, seriously. I may not be very well off (there’s a running joke in our office right now how we belong to borderline SEC D before payday, and it’s kind of true) but I have friends who are always there to y’know, make me look forward to every day, like my #ClingyGirls. ^_^

Last week, my friend Chi came to my house and delivered a bundle of these–my first-ever digitally published eBook, Paper Planes Back Home–IN PRINT! Of course she’d already told me that she was going to give me these as a gift, but I was still surprised when she arrived and gave these to me. I WAS SHAKING! It was such a surreal feeling to actually hold the book in my hands, like . . . WOAH, is this really happening?

Personal, Writing

Pique your Pinterest

February 6, 2015 No Comments

I’m a rather visual person. I watch pictures, artwork, films and shows and easily get inspired by what I see. (I also take a lot of inspiration from music, but that’s a story for another day.) If you’ve read my previous post, you’d know what I mean about drawing inspiration from something that stuns me visually, but there’s also something else, something new I tried doing while writing and trying to finish my most recent full-length story.

Yeap, you guessed it… it’s got something to do with Pinterest.

Personal, Projects, Writing

A Journey On Paper Planes

February 5, 2015 No Comments

It’s an awesome thing when dreams come true, isn’t it? If you had told me a few years back that I’d be able to publish a certain piece of fiction as an ebook with very minimal fuss, I’d have told you to “get out of here.” Anyone who’s lived as long as (or longer than) I have would know that getting something published is no joke. You’d have to go through certain processes and channels to even get your work considered, and that required a lot of time, money and effort. Of course, not a lot of young people could afford to expend that much, so we make do with the next best thing and publish our work on free space online such as forums and blogs.

These days, however, it has become very easy for aspiring writers to publish their work and get it recognized by reputable platforms such. For rather inexperienced writers like myself, this is a really amazing development, and I have personally embarked on this journey only a week ago when I published my first ebook, Paper Planes Back Home, on Amazon and Smashwords.

Honestly speaking, I am a newbie about all this, and everything’s still so overwhelming to me. Time and again I have experienced seeing my pseudonyms on forums, blogs, and content-sharing sites like Wattpad, but there is nothing quite like seeing your name displayed beside your book on Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or the Apple Store. It’s pretty surreal. I admit I have spent a considerable amount of time just staring at my book’s pages and feeling so thrilled. I finally did it. Sure, I might not sell a lot of books, but goddamn, I finally have something up there with my name on it, and that’s just completely awesome.