hard work and no play

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
- Thomas Jefferson

The end of February, and this is only my second post. Tsk, tsk!!

But I have my reasons. One has been the immense amount of work that has been on my plate and the other has been that it feels like I was sick or recovering from being sick for most of the month. First I got sick for about a week, then I got better, and then I got sick for about two more weeks with something that resembled the flu and the plague all in one. It's been exhausting. And the funny thing, in a way, is that I probably got sick for an extended period of time due to a lack of sleep and overexertion. Ironic, indeed.

When I was trying not to be sick, I was writing, writing, and more writing. For starters, I completed two more articles for the Health Media Group, featuring two speakers that will be giving lectures at the NAVEL Expo in May. I have also been attending writing group meetings every week My featured submission and sample of my novel is due in two weeks. For me, when I've been unnecessarily putting something off - cough, like continuing my book, cough - I find it helps when there is a deadline imposed by someone other than yourself. People will be counting on me to have a submission in two weeks...so I better have it. There there is some more freelance writing happening, and I have been commissioned to write two Long Island family-related articles (due in one week). And lastly, work has begun on the medical, autobiographical book I am co-authoring. A chunk of a chapter is due by Tuesday.

In terms of competitions, I find out how I did in my latest short story competition in a few weeks. As for new challenges, I am going to submit a poem to the Utmost Christian Poetry Contest. I was fortunate enough to have had the deadline for it extended until next Saturday, as opposed to today. Right now all of the poem that I'd like to submit is all in my head, so I'll have to work on getting it on paper in the next few days.

What about non-writing activities? Yeah, been doing them, too. I finished off Chines New Year lion dance shows with Alex back at the start of February. Not sure what that is? Check out his blog post about our kung fu academy's school show. Of course, I've been playing tennis every week. I've also been going to more acting auditions in the city. No big break yet, but every audition has gone very well, with some great reactions from the directors in the room. I'm also taking two graduate classes a week at the City University Graduate Center.

Oh, and let's not forget The Vigilant Monkey =) The magazine still isn't up, but we're taking a little bit of time to make sure the programming is done right. In the meantime, look for a VM blog to be up within the next two weeks, featuring articles, writers, comics, and the like.

And that's the update of the work I've been up to, in the midst of, been occupied with, etc.

Stay tuned...posts to come galore in March

coming soon - a new melissanavia.com!!

If you think that something small cannot make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.
- Anonymous

A lot of you already know, but my website is being redesigned by the awesome guys at digitalsoul designs. In the meantime, they've put up a holding page. It might not seem like a huge deal, but it is to me =)

So check it out -

www.melissanavia.com