Month: February 2017

Hi Everyone,

I’m busy writing, cozy at my desk, with my notes all over the place, things to munch and a cup of tea, working on my new book. I’ll get back to the blog when I can! Bellow is the first look into the novel Unveiled Secrets.

One

” The apartment still wore my mother’s scent, a combination of lemon and clay. Her room remained intact—the same silk curtains hanging at windows, books about molding clay lying open on the floor and pictures on her desk gathering slight traces of dust. I picked up a photo from the nightstand. I was twenty-one, and my mother and I were in Egypt, visiting the pyramids. That was fourteen years ago. My mother, Gabriela, looked youthful with her hair in a ponytail and her skin tanned from the daily exposure to the Egyptian sun. After that trip, we had never been able to put our schedules in agreement and, after constant failures, we decided that it would be best not to make plans together. That was the reason the trip to Egypt was ever so special.

Since her sudden death—five months ago, I often came into her room to breathe in the fragrance lingering in the things she had touched. There was still unfinished work in Gabriela’s studio. Her apron was still on the back of a chair, three unopened cans with clay lay on shelves along with prints for orders she would never finish. Her funeral was short and painful. Clair, her best friend, helped me scatter her ashes across the Black Lake during a freezing February afternoon. She hugged me tightly and told me to come and visit her in Vigo Bay. I promised Clair that I would do so on my first vacation. But then life happened in between—and Denis Fraga.

Why didn’t Gabriela tell me my parents’ story when she had the chance? What terrifying secret did she keep from me? When I asked her about it, she said, “Leila, the answers you seek are in the diary.”

The only thing I knew for sure was that she had adopted me when I was five. I just assumed that my biological parents were dead. It made complete sense to think they were dead. If they were dead, then I understood the reason behind my adoption. Gabriela didn’t confirm or deny, and I dropped the issue after many unsuccessful attempts. For the first time in thirty-five years, I was on the verge of finding out the truth, and the thought was exciting.”

Love,

Carmen Monica

Tomorrow is just another chapter in your life. It can bring good news or bad ones. You can meet good people or bad ones. It is within your power to discern among the good and the bad and make a selection. Right or wrong is just a matter of interpretation. Whatever it may be right for someone, it may be a mistake for another.

It is almost spring, and as always I like cleaning up. This winter has been an exciting journey, and the long cold months of shivering are finally replaced by the warm days. The plans I made and the goals I set a long time ago turned out just the way I envisioned them, and once more I am more than happy to say that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I walked blind for so long that today I wonder how did I do it? Where did I find the power to smile every day and pretend I don’t see the truth even when it stared right at me? And my thoughts return to the people surrounding me for all this time, my family, my friends and my colleagues. Thank you for giving me a reason to smile every day. You are my heart and soul, and the reason for my happiness. Our paths will intersect one day again, and it will be a glorious moment.

Love,

Carmen Monica

When I worry about the loved ones, I become more focus and get clarity about what is important. Living is important. Every day is a gift and one more chance to get it right.  There are many types of worries, but the ones about the money tease me. Money takes the joy of living and follows me around like a menacing shadow. When I worry about the money, I dread the days and agonize at night, and without thinking, I throw away precious hours. I cease to live and merely exist.

One day, I realized that I have the power to change my lifestyle. You can do it too. You have to find that special something that brings contentment into your heart and work on it at least one hour every day. For example, I love to write. There is nothing more captivating than playing with words, arranging them into scenes and creating chapters in a book. I try to write at least two hours every day. Some days, if I am drained, I read so I can learn from the ones more experienced. Each day is an opportunity to improve.

I realized that the simpler I make my life, the happier I become. There is no scarcity of things to make you happy and life worth living. All you must do is find them.

Love,

Carmen Monica