What I WAS BORN to do ~

For the past six years I have been preparing for this moment. I have been in training. I have been in the trenches. It has been a real life boot camp in every sense of the word through out all of my day-to-day experiences.

Finally, I have arrived to a point where I am being called to take the next step! A step towards completion!

I have been blessed with working on amazing projects: Afrolatinos: The Untaught Story, completing my memoir~ Finding Your Force: AJourney to Love, and my play I WAS BORN.

Rejection is the word I am meditating on today!

Fear of rejection is the very thing that has often paralyzed me. It has kept me from going after the very thing I want. Over the past few years I have received my share of rejection letters so when you receive the opposite sometimes it can be hard to believe. When you receive that acceptance letter your life changes. You come to understand … rephrase… I come to understand that perhaps those things that I believed I wanted for myself weren’t for my highest and greatest good. That what is meant for me will be mine. My destiny!

All that is meant for me… always arrives right on time!

Before leaving for Cuba I decided that this would be the year that I completed my historical fiction novel: The Daughters of the Revolution (which I have been working on since October, 2006).

I decided that I would no longer wait to sit with the characters from my novel and allow them to finish telling me their stories.

So, before my trip I decided that I would try for a writing residency at the University of California, Berkeley.

My intention was NOT to “want it” badly!

My intention was to “GO FOR IT and GET IT” and work hard once I received it!

When I didn’t hear back by the date they said they would notify all applicants I was sure I wasn’t selected.

My trip to Cuba was an amazing experience. I traveled to Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, and Habana. I connected with a community of intellectuals. Even the most humble people were incredibly well versed on all subjects: human rights, homophobia, education, health care, politics, music, art and literature. My trip to Cuba was filled with so much beauty ~ truly a spiritual experience!

Once the trip ended it was back to real life…

And there it was… sitting in my inbox an email regarding my application.

I have received these kinds of emails before, “Thank you for your submission, we received countless applications and after careful consideration we regret that we are unable to offer you a space…try again next year!”

NOT THIS TIME!

This time it felt different. This time I took a deep breath and hit open email…

Then I read:

 

“I am pleased to inform you that you have been ACCEPTED!!!!!!”

I have been accepted. Not only does this mean that I have been offered a space, but that a panel decided that my story is one that is important! I cannot express how incredibly joy-filled, grateful, humbled and excited I am all at the same time.

This is my moment~

This the place~

This is where the story the DOTR takes form in a completely different way… with focused intention, direction and determination.

I am so grateful to the NYC Latina Writers Group for being the space that I founded and which FOUND me. It was the safe space where I conceived this novel and this is the year my baby will be born!

This is the story I WAS BORN to write! I have always known this!

We are ALL called to do something spectacular with our lives.

I was called to write!

I was born to write!

I am here to serve and I have always understood the great responsibility that comes with that!

I was called to serve through my writing… to serve stories of women with so much beauty, power and strength.

I was called to give birth to stories that would change history and the stories we pass down to our children. And I am calling YOU to help me get there!

In order for me to secure my space at VONA I must pay a $100 deposit by TODAY, May 16^th (which I do not have).

In addition to the deposit, I am having a fundraiser to come up with the total cost of attending the writing workshop. The cost for the VONA Writing Workshop is $1350.00, as well as my airfare, which is an additional $500.

I must raise $1,950.00 by June 6^th. I am calling out to the universe and my community to help me get there.

Daughters of the Revolution ~ Donation levels:

$500 ~ Valencia: (2) one-on-one writing sessions – total of four hours, in addition to all of the below. (Transportation must be provided)

$250 ~ Natalia: (1) one-on-one writing sessions – total of four hours, in addition to all of the below. (Transportation must be provided)

$100 ~ Elena: Skype call with author~ in addition to all of the below.

$ 50 ~  Xiomara: Signed copy of Finding Your Force a Journey to Love ~ in addition to all of the below.

$ 25 ~  Lucrecia: hand written note from author ~ in addition to all of the below.

$ 10 ~  Lupe: PDF Version of Finding Your Force a Journey to Love ~ in addition to below.

$ 1 ~    Ofelia: your name included in the acknowledgements of published novel Daughters of the Revolution.

Help Alicia get to VONA 2012~

If you’ve read my work or seen me perform you understand how passionate I am about writing. You understand how important this is to me. You understand that ALL that I write is a gift given to me that is to be shared with the world. Please spread the word far and wide and help me get to VONA.

With so much LOVE, PEACE and GRATITUDE!

Alicia

Who are the Daughters of the Revolution? THEY ARE THE WOMEN YOU NEVER SEE COMING!