blog – Page 2 – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

My Weekly Update – Writing, Written & Writers

Published on May 27, 2012June 11, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

Writing

It is 5 days until the beginning of JuNoWriMo. For those of you living under a rock, JuNoWriMo is a month long writing challenge. I will be writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That is about 1,667 word per day.

If you are interested in seeing how I progress through this month long madness, I will document my progress after completing the daily writing goals. I foresee a lot of 11:55 pm updates in my near future. Check it out under the Sydney Aaliyah Writes Page on my site. My To Do List is up now. I have a busy few days coming up.

I also plan to keep my blog up to date, but JuNoWriMo is my first priority this month. Bear with me.

Written

I wrote a short scary story for Writer Wednesday Blog Hop and received an overwhelming amount of requests (6 people) for me to continue the story. I am not one to disappoint my fans, so check in on Wednesday and see what happen when Sarah (I decided to give her a name) pushes #2.

I would like to thank the following for their comments:

“Wonderful imagery.” – Cerece

“I want to know what happens next!” – Selena

“Great story, your main character was really relatable.” – Carrie Sorenson

You are all awesome. Thanks so much for the feedback.

Writers who Support Writers (New Followers)

Thank you to my new followers. I hope you are enjoying being inside my brain:

Blog Love

Check out the rest of the Blog Love list.

This Weeks Schedule

Monday – Wine Auction

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop

Friday – First day of JuNoWriMo

Sunday – My Weekly Update

Kreativ Blogger Award

Published on May 21, 2012May 22, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle9 Comments

I received an award on Friday from Carissa Taylor. Thank you so much Carissa. I am honored and humbled by your support. Also, I am super jealous of Carissa because she currently lives in one of my dream cities; Sydney, Australia.

7 Nominations:

10 Questions:

1. What is your favorite song? I don’t like what is your favorite questions if I am required to pick only one. My brain doesn’t work like that. I could pick one in every genre or one by the top 50 of my favorite artist. But, to pick one is just unfair.

-Dangerously in Love 2 – Beyonce

-When Will I See you Smile Again – Bell Biv DeVoe

-Precious Things – Tori Amos

-Walk Like a Man – Tim McGraw

-Empire State of Mind – Jay Z

2. What is your favorite dessert? Anything w/Chocolate and Peanut Butter

3. What ticks you off? Inconsistency and Negativity

4. What do you do when you’re upset? I get really quiet and then think about it for a day. Then I bring it up to that person with clear facts and examples to show them how and why they upset me.

5. Which is/was your favorite pet? My dog Peyton. He was named after Peyton Manning. He is a toy rat terrier. The cutes thing with allergies which I think is hilarious. He actually has to take 1/2 a Benadryl every day. He has been living with my two aunts since I moved to China.
6. Which do you prefer, black or white? Black is beautiful
7.What is your biggest fear? Snakes and failing to live the life I am supposed to live
8. What is your attitude mostly? Most of the time I have a positive upbeat attitude.
9.What is perfection? Sleeping in until noon and still having 12 hours of sun light left. Also, a good book and a hot bath
10. What is your guilty pleasure? Reality TV; no matter if it is a competition or just a camera following drunk people around. I watch it all.

10 Random Facts

I love Apple products and currently have my iPhone, iPad 3, Mac Air and Mac Book Pro sitting on my desk all on.
I collect coffee mugs from every place I have visited and use them for my daily cup of coffee habit.
I try and quit drinking coffee every month, it only last for a week.
I know over 100 words in mandarin and my favorite word is dui. It means yes or correct.
I saw Matt Damon in a play in London a few years ago and have been a huge fan every since. I sat in the front row and he spent most of the play in his boxer shorts. He really is that cute in person.
I meet Michael Jordan once at a celebrity golf tournament. The person who introduced us told him I was in law school. He said, “Oh yeah, you go to George Washington University.” I said, “Yep.” – I actually went to Georgetown.
If your name is short for something, I prefer to call you by your full name. Mike – Michael, Jackie – Jacqueline, Lynn – Lynnette, Alex – Alexander
I love sparkling water and drink it at most every meal.
There are shows on TV here in China that I would never have watched in America, but now I just love them. Sons of Guns and Deadliest Catch are two of my favorite.
I pay a driver once a week to go to town and pick me up a pepperoni pizza from Papa Johns. After Chinese food all week, it is so good.

My Weekly Update – A Story, An Attack & Accolades

Published on May 20, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

I hope everyone had a great week. I sure did.

A Story

I wrote a little 500 word story for the Writer Wednesday Blog Hop and received some great feedback. It just warmed my heart to have people I respect compliment my writing. Makes me believe I might be doing something right. Two comments I wanted to share with you all because they are still making me smile:

“A fictional character has just stolen my heart.” – by the greatness that is Tameri Etherton

“Good voice.” – by Randy Lindsay

Thanks to you both for making my week.

I have something a little scary planned for next week.

An Attack

Ok. Not really an attack, but I did get into a two comment debate with the movie reviewer at Love Your Movies. He has a really great blog on movies and the movie industry. I really love the way he describes a movie from a personal perspective.

Apparently he did not agree with my opinions in my post on The Greatness of Peter Berg and Battleship The Movie. My word choice of “innovative” to describe Peter Berg as a director particular struck a cord with him. A few other points were exchanged as well. You can read for yourself, but I did stop the debate with the “Ok, I get it. I just don’t agree. You have your opinions. That is why you have your own blog,” statement. Whether he is still following me or not, I am not sure.

But, it did get me thinking. First, what about my blog site with its flowers, love of movie quotes and all around praise and support of my fellow writing and blogging community garnered in anyone the need to debate my opinions. Especially about a movie. I am not auditioning to take over for Richard Roeper.

Second, what is appropriate when commenting on someones blog. I’m not saying I don’t like a good debate. I am a former lawyer and love to argue and can articulate and debate the merits from both sides with the best of them. But, there is also a time and place.

Finally, is there a point when you go to far. I could have come back with a scene by scene comparison of the differences between Friday Night Lights and Varsity Blue (I might still do that in a future post. Good idea.), but what purpose would it have served. Or, is it my duty to defend my point to the end of time. That isn’t really the point of why I do this.

What I have concluded is that I will welcome any and all criticism, comments and suggestions. I would prefer the criticism be about something I am trying to actually get better at, namely my writing.

I will answer any and all comments and try to stay as positive and polite as I can. After all, the tag line of my site is Happiness, Passion, Love & Faith.

Love and light to you all, dammit!

And Accolades

Thank you to my new followers. I am so happy that you have joined the scene:

Cinema Wolf – Great movie review by Colin Carman
Little Grey Box – Musing from an Australian living in London
Ink and Paper – writing advice from Kara Skinner
Horror Writer DKW – Author site for Dalton L. Fluker

-I also had a few new follower by email and some that don’t have websites. Thanks to you all as well.

Blog Love

See the full Blog Love list on Twitter!

The Weeks Schedule

Monday – Kreativ Blogger Award Duties and Tag Your It – this is a new one.

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop

Friday – Random Blog Post

Sunday – My Weekly Update

My Weekly Update – Mothers, Milestones & More

Published on May 13, 2012May 13, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle4 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day!

I wanted to wish my mother. So many women out their take on motherly roles in their every day life. I wish you all a great day as well. I hope that you have someone around to say thank you. And, if you don’t, well, thank you from me.

I haven’t been with my mother for mother’s day for 6 years, now. And, I hate it. Mother’s day is a big deal in my family and my mother is a mother to so many people. She is always taken care of, but I still feel bad that I can’t be there. “She is my mommy.”

My mother is the most brilliant women I know. She had very little formal education after high school, but she is an expert on what ever she need to be. She taught herself bookkeeping, accounting, taxes, property appraisal, and contracting. She knows everything about the NFL (the business side), the music industry, and the publishing industry. She gets along with everyone and everyone loves her. At 67 years old, she is the most capable person I know.

And she does it all with a smile. The most important lesson I learned from my mother is to just enjoy your life. Simple.

Milestones

It was a great week at SydneyAaliyah.Wordpress.com.

I had a record week of views.

I received the Versatile Blogger Award from karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com. Thanks again, Karen.

I had a very popular post about The Avenger’s Movie Quotes.

And I got a few new followers as well. Welcome:

More Blog Love

Be sure to subscribe to my Blog Love list on Twitter.

This Weeks Schedule

Monday – Post for the Monday First Loves Blogfest

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday- Post for the Wednesday Blog Hop – Need some short story practice

Friday – Random Blog Post

Sunday – My Weekly Update

Do you have any great stories about your mom that you would like to share? What was the best part of your week?

My First Blog Award – The Versatile Blogger

Published on May 8, 2012May 22, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle13 Comments

That’s me. I am so excited. This just made my month and I want to thank karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com for the honor.

This award came at the right time. I was feeling a bit torn between doing this, which I love and doing what I am paid to do. I could be happy just writing and blogging and all that entails. But then again, I have to eat, too. Receiving this award just reinforced my decision to try harder to find the balance between the two. Or, I could win the lottery or marry a rich man that’s an option, too. With that out of the way, it is time for me to fulfill my duties as a “The Versatile Blogger” award winner.

The 15 coolest blogs:

7 things you probably don’t know about me:

I have a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, but I don’t practice law. I just can’t sit in a room for 12 hours a day looking at documents unless I actually wrote them.
My favorite city in the world is London. It is the first foreign country I ever went to and 16 countries later, it is still my favorite.
I ran the Hong Kong 1/2 Marathon in 3 hours, 58 minutes and I really hate to run. But, I did finish the 1/2 marathon and crossed the finish line at the same time as the winner of the full marathon. He did start two hour after me and ran twice as far, but we finished at the same time. That’s how I like to tell the story.
I have recently decided after seeing The Avengers that the character of Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey, Jr. is in my top 5 favorite characters of all time. Other four: Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Hans Solo (Star Wars), William Thacker (Notting Hill), Maggie (the Cat) Pollitt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
I have a secret crush on Chef Michael Voltaggio, Luke Wessman (tattoo artist), Robert Downey, Jr., Ryan Gosling, and Troy Aikman. Not so much a secret anymore.
If I could live at home for a month and then in a new country for a month and alternate that for the rest of my live, I would be in bliss.
I really want to compete on So You Think You Can Dance. I am not a professional dancer, nor do I have any desire to be. I just think it would be so fun to be on that show.

Just a few more things you might already know:

I live in China
I love to sing, but can’t carry a tune
I don’t ever want to be famous
I love to travel
I love my family
I have the words Love, Happiness, Passion & Faith tattooed on my wrist to remind me how to live my life.