This blog has moved!

I can see now that the last post I ever wrote had something to do with a work of chick lit that I had started then. Now, a year later, after a few false but well-meaning starts, the first draft of that work is finally complete–and available!

Check out www.LivinginCyn.com if you wish to follow my words — and sign up at LivinginCyn.com/List if you wish to receive freebies (usually in the form of original, written content)!

If you’re more of an Active Participant online:

• ask to join my Facebook group called, Write Your Next Chapter, which is a place for brainstorming ways to design your life.
• or follow me on Twitter @cynthiatluna
• or Instagram @livingincyn

With that, I have decided, to take a more professional route and build my own self-hosted blog to talk: writing, crafting, and manifesting your dreams. In short, the same things I used to write here.

Getting Real With Self

As some of you know, I am working on a novel. Fiction. There are bits and pieces scattered nearly everywhere, as this is a story I have been carrying around with me for a long time.

Over the  years, I have attended writing seminars and talks, and one thing most of the authors have said is “determine your genre”.

And I would bite on to my pencil and scrunch my nose, thinking, “I don’t know what section of the book store I would go to, to read this story that I’m telling.”

Mind you, all the while, I was fully aware that my story wasn’t so unique that there wasn’t a section in the book store for a piece of fiction — I just was not quite ready to admit that my writing was not haute literature. My story is chicklit.

So there it is. I have said it.

Effectively Procrastinating: Baking Powder Kugelhopf

I have to force myself to write in another 15-minute increment, otherwise, I really will never, ever right in this blog of mine.

Because of all the things I have on my plate, sometimes I have to add yet another thing to really tip things over. The latest project I have adopted is working on a fiction piece. It is something I actually have found is easier for me to work on offline, so I don’t get distracted by all the things I absolutely must research and find and buy and check up on.

Yesterday, I didn’t exactly follow my own advice. I kept starting and starting again — every time getting distracted by something in the house that needs work. I did everything else except write, actually. Laundry, another load of laundry, and then a cake. I did the latter while singing the alto range of a piece I am working on with the local choir.

One of the sentences I wrote, reminded me of my late grandmother, so I decided to research the recipe for this cake. As it turns out, most Kugelhopfs are made with yeast — much like a brioche. I was not really in the mood to messing with a yeast-based recipe, because they can get a little complicated, so I called my mother.

Oma’s Baking Powder Kugelhopf

“Hey, do you have Oma’s Gugelupf recipe?”

“Yes…”

“Well, because I want to bake a cake,” I continued, feeling like I needed to whip up an excuse for not writing.

“… Yeah, sure, I’m looking for it right now,” she said, a bit distracted, rifling through her recipe book. My mom stashes her handwritten recipes inside recipe books — and uses only the handwritten notes, not the actual recipes published in the books. It’s an interesting filing system that I have yet to understand. “Here it is.”

“Thanks, because I have been looking online and all the recipes call for yeast, and I just can’t remember Oma’s having yeast.”

“Oh, no, hers was always the Baking Powder variety. It’s faster and easier to bake, but it’s not as heavy as a pound cake, for example.”

So, I went ahead and baked a cake, which has turned out to be my breakfast today.

And, yes, I am really supposed to be writing in my work of fiction, but here I am — writing, just not quite what I wished to be working on.

Manifesting Big Things…

So, I have about 12 minutes to write this post, so bear with me as I don’t apologize for taking so long to write a post. 😉

Lately, I have been working with my husband to set up a small restaurant in our new hometown here in Switzerland. Given that I have a day job, helping him becomes the work that I do in my “free” time. During other stolen moments in the day, I get to read.

Last summer, I stumbled upon a book called, “Ask and it is Given” by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Briefly put, Esther is a channel for “Abraham”, which if I remember correctly is an angel collective that provides tips to humans about manifesting things. At the core, I believe their message is really more about manifesting happiness and living up to the creative force bestowed upon us by the creative source that we are.

I didn’t actually get to reading the book until a few months later — sometime in November last year. Since then, I have been playing some of the games that Abraham advises for raising people’s “attraction” abilities.

Long story, short, I am (or we are) getting pretty darn good at this. So far, we have managed to attract pretty expensive kitchen equipment for my husband’s soon-to-be restaurant. Much of it has been offered to us for very cheap — or even at no cost! You might be thinking skeptically, that some of those gifts were given by friends who wish to help. On the contrary, these items have come from near strangers and in the most peculiar, yet simple ways! Our needs have been very specific and the universe’s response has also been delightfully accurate — and sometimes, even, in anticipation of what we were looking for!

A recent, and striking example of the law of attraction at work is our acquisition of a “salad refrigerator”. It’s basically, a horizontal refrigerator, with a stainless-steel work surface on top. It’s a two-fer and excellent for a professional, working kitchen. These things usually start at a “new” cost in the ballpark of $1,200 (and in Switzerland around CHF 1,500). We got it for a whopping doughnut. We just had to pay for a couple of movers to lift it and move it, which we managed to seamlessly coordinate with the pick-up and delivery of some other furniture we purchased a couple days prior. So, the refrigerator is plugged in, and working like a charm!

All that to say that we managed to manifest a pretty large piece of equipment for the restaurant, all by considering the words of Abraham.

Every time it’s happened, my husband and I have acknowledged and appreciated. And we have also taken a minute’s time to “celebrate” — to say, “hey, how about that? Exactly what we needed! Thank you, multiverse!”

Working with time…

It’s already February.

Last year, on this date, I created a mini desktop shrine to remind myself to think consciously. photo by Cyn, property of livingincyn.wordpress.com. (c) 2014

Last time I took the time to write on this blog, we were in December. I had been walking around with some big ideas of where I would like to take this blog and I took the first step — and then got caught in the whirlwind of the “holiday season”.

During that time, I did continue to write — just not through this medium. In any case, the dream lives on — the rhythm of the beat is perhaps a bit slower than I had initially imaged. Such is life.

Some of you who know me, are aware that I have a number of projects I am working on — in addition to the obligations to fulfill. My life isn’t much different than yours. Where you might have children, or pets, who need your devoted attention, I have students, co-workers, and writing projects, which deserve quality time.

All this to say, that I do live a life that is very much aware of advancing time.

So, again, here we are in February, and I am taking another “first step” with this blog, by adding a post.

It is something I have to do, because I wrote a manifesto for myself for 2014. Some people adopt resolutions, others adopt an “amoeba management” approach (where a person “manages” the different images/roles he or she portrays in life), this year, I decided to write a manifesto. The word resonated with me because I had visions of a deep thinker/writer hand-writing what she envisions for her future and where she sees herself in that future.

The manifesto has been written a few times, and edited and re-drafted and edited. And it still doesn’t exist as a final, written document, declaring what 2014 is supposed to look like for me. Briefly stated, I want to do a heck of a lot more focused manifesting for myself. One way I will do that is by not working against time, but by actually working with time.

This blog post is an example. Rather than think, “Gosh, it’s been X weeks since I have written a blog post, what am I going to post today?” and then put it off until the next idea comes up. I will just set my timer for 30 minutes, write and — well, post whatever comes up in that time.

… Times, up.