Monthly Archives: May 2013

My Writing

Intro to My Writing

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Part II of my in-depth interview with myself will discuss my journey as an aspiring writer. You’ll have to wait another day or two for that to be posted. In the meantime, enjoy an excerpt from my novel “Blood of Esta.” I’ve pasted the prologue below.

 

BLOOD OF ESTA

By,

N. M. Carrara

Thirty Years Earlier

Montivi, Sansolo

Rayina Esta’s hair, once an iridescent red and black, clung to her hollow cheeks. She looked down at the newborn cradled in her wasted arms. The blue-grey light of the approaching dawn illuminated the child’s face. It was still slick with afterbirth, having been pulled from Rayina’s dying womb only a moment before. Her time on this earth was ending. The whispers of the Earth had told her so months ago. The moment the Mietmoda had succeeded in killing all other members of her race, Rayina knew she too would die. But she fought with all of her power to keep the essence of her soul inside her dying body long enough to hold her baby girl one time.  Continue reading Intro to My Writing →

Cheerleading

Top 5 Things I, as a Coach, Look for in a High School Cheerleader

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Cheerleading. Why “cheerleading” isn’t considered a word is beyond me. My spellchecker always wants to make it cheer-leading or cheerleader. I try to abide by my spellchecker as much as I can, but I just can’t on this one. I will always write it incorrectly as “cheerleading.” Make it a word already, Merriam-Webster Online.

Now that I’ve finished my rant, cheerleading is my main hobby. It consumes most of my free time. I volunteer coach, and manage, the cheer program for my town’s youth league (that would be the black and red “Jackson” logo on the left). And I’m an assistant coach at one of my town’s two high schools (see the lion head logo on the right). There was once a time when cheerleading only spanned a few months out of the year. That time no longer exists. Now I’m lucky if I get one month off. But I can’t really complain–I love this damn sport (and yes, I also incorrectly call it a sport). Cheerleading is my abusive relationship.  Continue reading Top 5 Things I, as a Coach, Look for in a High School Cheerleader →

Getting to Know ..., Random Stuff

Getting to Know … N. M. Carrara – Part I

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The “Getting to Know …” posts will be a series of interviews where I introduce you to the many characters I interact with daily. Some of the posts will be about people I work with, or have met in real life, while others will be about fictional characters I’ve created.

The first installment of “Getting to Know..” will be about the person I know better than anyone else in the world … Me. I’ll be conducting an in-depth interview with myself over the next few days, and posting it on here for all to read. Below is Part I of my interview with myself.

Nicole: Welcome, Ms. Carrara. How are you this afternoon?

N. M. Carrara: I’m well, Nicole. Thanks for asking.

N: You’re welcome. Now that we have the formalities out of the way, let’s get straight to the interview. I’ll be asking you a bunch of questions about your life, work, writing, etc… Are you okay with that?

NMC: Obviously, or I wouldn’t be here.

N: Of course. Well … let’s start at the beginning. Where were you born? Continue reading Getting to Know … N. M. Carrara – Part I →

Random Stuff

Welcome to N. M. Carrara’s New Blog

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My laptop wallpaperWelcome to my new blog. On here I’ll be posting updates and information about the three main areas of my life: Writing, The Legal Profession, and Cheerleading. An unusual trio, I know. I’m and attorney and cheerleading coach by profession (I actually get paid to coach cheerleading), and a few years back I decided to add “aspiring author” to my list of things I’d like to be when I grow up. I’m working on getting my first novel published (you’ll learn a lot more about it in later posts), and I’ll be using this blog to share my life with the five of you who happen to want to read about it.

(Fun Fact: One day I got really bored in law school and painted the picture above using MS Paint. It’s been my laptop wallpaper for almost 10 years now.)