NaNoWriMo 2013: I WON!

Hey Everyone!

I officially won NaNoWriMo and it was my first one. I have no idea if I will ever do it again, but one thing is for sure: I finished my first full length novel. Of course, there is a lot of things to be edited, but it's to be expected since it is a NaNoWriMo novel.

I have huge hopes for this and I'm sure all of you are equally as excited for your own pieces of writing. This one was a huge step forward in a direction I've wanted to go for a long time, I just didn't have the inspiration to write a whole novel.

I want to thank everyone on twitter who I followed and followed me back. The people who also spent countless hours doing word sprints with me. I thank you all because without you guys, I wouldn't have finished this book ever.

My outline for the next year looks like this:
December/January: Draft 2
February-April: Draft 3
May/June: Draft 4
July/August: Draft 5
September: Final touches
October: Begin Querying

That is my timeline, I'll update you guys as the months go by, but I hope you all update me as well on your own writing project. Oh, and I made a mock cover for my book (which I have renamed to Strong).

Until Next Time,

Wrap-Up: November 2013

Hey Everyone!

So today I am presenting you with  my very first Wrap-Up post! I wanted to do this since I see people on YouTube all the time, but I unfortunately don't do the whole BookTube thing. It's awkward considering I live in a dorm room with a roommate!

So if you have anything you want to say about any of the books below, feel free to comment on them!

 

Thoughts On: Where We Are by One Direction

Hey Everyone!

Since today is the release of Midnight Memories, One Direction's third studio album, I thought I would do a review of their book that came out back at the end of August. I held off for today!

The book was penned by Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson, all of the X Factor made band put together by Simon Cowell in 2010. This is their second book next to Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction.

The book is separated into five different chapters all penned by each of the boys. They were clearly written by the boys since each of them seem to have a very different speaking style and reflect on their own thoughts. I know this seems weird and biased as I am a fan, but you could see their personalities in the writing.

From what I can tell, the best writers of the group are Zayn and Harry due to the fact that they seem to be the best developed and from the last book, I could tell this as well. Liam most likely had plenty of editing to his as his spelling is absolutely atrocious on Twitter!

This is a book for any fan! You really get to know the boys in this book and I think it's so interesting to see what it's like to be the five of them. They have achieved so much in the past three, almost four, years that it might seem hard to comprehend how much success they have had. I normally don't read band books, but I couldn't help but pick this book up as I love the boys and am so proud of how far they have come.

Many people seem to misjudge them because of what they appear to be to the public eye, but there is so much to each of them. Everything they do, they do for their fans. They are so gracious for every one of their fans. Heck, they even did an eight hour live stream on YouTube for the fans. I see them lasting a long time.

Their new album is filled with a lot of eighties types of beats. It's a good album, definitely their best yet. I'll post a song at the bottom for you to listen to. One of my favorites which is only available on the deluxe edition of Midnight Memories.

Click here to go to the amazon page for Midnight Memories

Click here for the Where We Are Book

Click Here to Preorder This Is Us their Movie

WWW Wednesday (20 November)

Hey Everyone!

I am doing another meme from Should Be Reading, I hope you enjoy!

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading Angelfall by Susan Ee

What did you recently finish reading?
I finished Fallen by Lauren Kate.

What do you think you'll read next?
Probably World After by Susan Ee or a book I was asked to review. I'm weighing my options

Until Next Time,

Teaser Tuesdays #1

Currently Reading

Hey Everyone!

I am taking part in the Teaser Tuesday meme posted by MizB of Should Be Reading and the whole point of this week is to choose two sentences of a book you're reading and put in two sentences that give away no spoilers from a random page of the book.

The book I chose was Angelfall by Susan Ee. I chose to read this book because the second book came out today and I bought both in a bundle. I received this one yesterday, so what better way than read it and the sequel back to back.

"I clench my fists, digging my nails into my skin to help me focus. No time to feel sorry for myself." Angelfall by Susan Ee p. 134.

 Until Next Time,

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 3

Hey Everyone!

It's that time of week again where I update you on my NaNoWriMo novel!

This week was a little bit of a downer as I had started to "fall behind" in my eyes. In reality, I had over 8,000 words ahead of schedule, but I became so overwhelmed with school work that it was absolutely impossible for me to write every day.

I also did some word sprints with some people on twitter on Sunday morning which was nice. I am so pleased with how many of you lovely people now follow me on twitter, thank you so much. I've gained almost 100 followers since the first and that just makes me feel very blessed that I get to share a little bit of my life with you.

How are you feeling at the moment?
I am feeling wonderful, but a little tired. I seemed to have forgotten my caffeine fix at my house forty-five minutes away. I also am excited because I am getting to the climax of the story and it's just exciting because I never thought I would finish a novel like this ever in my life. I am often known for not finishing.

Did your story take any unexpected turns?
Not really, last week was more of a battle for me in that department.

How is your plot progressing?
Really well! I know it needs to slow down a lot, but that is what a second draft is for!

Favorite character to write thus far?
It's still Jameson. I am still in love with his character and his past. His personality is so interesting, but there is a lot of him I need to change in the beginning because I felt I changed him too much from when he was introduced.

He's this sort of sensitive character who is so vulnerable and that is what makes him more human than Marcus. There is so much depth between Jameson and Harry Styles helped me bring him to life. His eyes hold so much and that is kind of how I want to convey Jameson.

Anything you wish you could change?

Probably the pacing like I have said. Plus, add more descriptions, chapters, and longer chapters.

Current word count?

31,425 words :D

Until Next Time,

Bloglovin

Hey Everyone!

I just joined Bloglovin! Go ahead and follow me on there!


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I Caved...BOOK HAUL #2 FOR NOVEMBER!

Hey Everyone!

I seemed to have caved with my book ban. I had a feeling I would, though. I have no self control. If you have the same problem, I suggest you watch Marcus Butler's new video. I will put it at the end of the post for all of you to enjoy.

Anyways, after I said I was going to ban myself from buying books, I went on amazon and saw that there were two books (a series) for $10. Quite frankly, I couldn't pass that up because they were so cheap. One was a preorder as well!

So here is my list which will most likely round out my November:
Angelfall by Susan Ee
World After by Susan Ee
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn

I ordered all of them on Thursday so I haven't read any of them as they haven't come in the mail yet. I can also cross two books off of my To Buy for Christmas list to myself. The books on my list were Insurgent and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. I only have eight more to go!

Until Next Time,

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 2

Hey Everyone!

Week two has come and gone and I would like to fill you in on my week! I hope you guys are all enjoying this!

On Saturday the 9th of November, I participated in my first write-in at my local public library. I got 2,351 words written in the span of two hours. We went in and just wrote and it was fantastic. My sister came along with me, but she doesn't write so she read a book which she checked out prior to the writing session starting. Courtney ended up finishing the whole book before the two hours finished. I was shocked!

It was nice doing the write in because I never participated in NaNoWriMo before and to sit in a room of about ten people who were aiming for the same 50,000 word goal was great. It was a variety of ages and we all had our own methods of writing.

After the write in I was talking to one of my good friends, and someone I trust with my story, about something my writing club at school said (refer to the last sentence of the next paragraph). She helped me think about some things and help me figure out what to do with my story in regards to this issue.

On Wednesday the 6th, I shared the first chapter (though it wasn't the greatest) just to get to know how they liked the idea. Mind you, none of the students in the room are freshman and some are graduating. They all seemed to enjoy the story a lot and can't wait to read more. This makes me really excited about finishing it because I impressed an English major who, I believe, is graduating this year. I am just glad that they liked it, the only thing is that I have to think of a social issue to write about in regards to my dystopian world.

This week, I also got a lovely email from a woman in the UK who was interested in being a critique partner. We exchanged the first chapters of each others stories and she too gave me info on helping with developing my story. She told me what to research to help move along my story and I made a trip to the local library and checked out a few books on the topics.

How are you feeling at the moment?
I am feeling absolutely fantastic at the moment! I have been thinking about my characters nonstop and I don't think I can ever stop because they are beginning to consume me. I wouldn't have it any other way, though. My story that I am writing is something I am so passionate about that I just can't let it go.

Did your story take any interesting turns you weren't expecting?
Yes! I have an unplanned love triangle (damn you Marcus and Jameson) and I kept going back and forth between who was eventually going to get her heart. I figured it out and it was the most magical moment when it happened. It got me all flustered when it happened! My heart was racing and everything!

How is your plot progressing?
It is going good, I am going to try and get the plot progressing and diving into some of the deeper chapters. I do feel as if I'm rushing it a little bit (romance wise), but that will eventually change when I begin the editing process in December or January.

Favorite character to write thus far?
I think at the moment it is Marcus's best friend, Jameson. There is so much to be explored through him and I feel as if I haven't fully explored who he is. Plus, he is portrayed by a beautiful boyband member. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't like writing to this face:

Yes... I really did put a photo of Harry Styles

Jameson just has this depth and secrets that even I haven't figured out yet. I chose to have Harry portray him because I feel as if they share a strong similarity in the sense that there is more than meets the eye. I used that kind of terminology when writing him in because he was this quiet character, still is, but there was a sense of mystery to him. Yeah, he's my other fictional lover at the moment. Alongside Jace Wayland that is :D

Anything you wish you could change?
Hmmm... I just think my pacing because it is going a little fast. I also think the mixed feelings of the love triangle. I need to make it less confusing for the reader.

Current word count?
25,000 and counting :D
That is half way done if you are keeping track :D

Until Next Time,

Book Haul: November 2013

Deviantart User: Kitty-Kitty-Kit-Kat

Hey Everyone!

So today I bring you yet another Book Haul! Whoo! I have one book to add to my October Book Haul, but I'll just add it to this one.

Key:
[X] Have not read
[O] Have read

My 14th book in October:
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare [O]
I loved this book so much! Click here for my full review!

MY NOVEMBER BUYS! WHOO!!! 
***Yay for Amazon taxing on purchases now!!!!!!!!! (Can you hear my sarcasm)

• Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies by Deborah Halverson- NONFICTION
  I bought this because I read this genre and I planned on writing this genre. It's kind of a good thing to get to know the genre you're buying and writing, right? It looks so cool and I can't wait to finger through it some more!
• The Shadowhunter's Codex by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis [X]
  I have not gotten the chance to read this book yet, but let me tell you, the cover is absolutely gorgeous! I flipped through some of the pages and ugh... absolutely stunning. I can imagine it inside The Mortal Instruments and I am definitely looking forward to reading it and learning even more about the Shadowhunter world and how to draw runes. This makes me happy, I hope you realize this.
• Getting Your Book Published for Dummies by Sarah Parsons Zackheim- NONFICTION
  I bought this on pure whim. I aim to get published one day and I thought I could start my homework early and start getting to know the whole business of publishing and I am sure it's going to help me out in the long run. 
• Self-Editing For Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne- NONFICTION
  I bought this book to learn how to edit my manuscript when I finish writing my manuscript and I can't wait to pick up this book and read through it when I finish my manuscript. I will definitely post a review on this book when I get to it!
• Fallen by Lauren Kate [X]
  I bought this book because in all honesty, it was a bargain on Amazon (the paperback edition). $4.71 people, four dollars and seventy-one cents. CRAZY! I have been intending to read this book for a while and since I could afford this one, I thought, hmm... might as well

Well, these are the books I bought. I have put myself on a book ban until December due to the fact I have spending ALL of my money on books. I need to buy some other things and catch up on books I have in my room that I haven't read yet.

Critique Partners and Writing

Deviantart User: Mercury-Lyn

Hey Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk to you all about Critique Partners. I'm sure some of you are like, "WHAT IS THAT?" and others are like, "Oh, yeah... those things."

Critique Partners are people who read through people's manuscripts and offer writing advice and help improve the writer's manuscript. I think this is a valuable thing to have since some of those people can help you in ways you didn't think were possible.

I myself have about four that I know I can give them my writing and they will give me their honest feedback. They are all amazing and have helped my grow as a writer and I will continue to share the stories with them for their feedback!

If you want one yourself, I would suggest googling "Critique Partner" on google and seeing what comes up. That is how I found one of mine!

Best of Luck!
Until Next Time,

Thoughts On: Essence by Mandi Lynn

Hey Everybody!

This is the review for self-published author, Mandi Lynn, on her debut book Essence which was published on CreateSpace in August of 2013. This book was the first self-published piece I've boughten and here is what I thought of it.

First of all, the cover was absolutely gorgeous. The girl on the cover is Mandi herself which makes it interesting. The only problem I have with the cover is the spine (and it's not that big of an issue) is the giant gap between the "e" and the "n." Obviously Lynn is not a professional editor, but if she wanted to, that is just an easy shift up.

Essence starts off talking about how Emma was technically dead at her birth with the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around her neck, but was soon revived. As the story moves along, Emma finds a stone and by picking up this stone, she was met with her unexpected death that brought her to Phantom Lagoon the place where she simply just exists.

This was a good first debut novel, but I felt that this could have used some more work. The writing was well, but it also felt a little unnatural at time with the language. When the three year old character was introduced to the reader, it felt a little odd because I didn't realize she was supposed to be three. Another thing is that Lynn had a tendency to rush through things and drag on with some things.

When I was reading through it, I did find myself skipping through pages just to keep reading and finish the book. Don't get me wrong, it was better than I expected, the story was a strong story, but I felt as if there was a whole thing missing within it. I wasn't skeptical going in, but when I started reading it, I started to realize why the literary agents began to reject her manuscript.

Lynn, like I stated previously, she started to rush things quite immensely and then jumped back in time and it left me confused. The aspect that I felt was missing was something vital in Emma's life and I didn't feel that it was the way it should have ended. I honestly wanted to know more about Eliza because I felt like she was a strong character whereas Emma felt flat.

I rated this with three cups of tea because I felt that Lynn rushed her writing a little bit by self-publishing. She should have taken the agents rejections as motivations to better her writing and work harder at it to get a fully developed story.

I do have to apologize if it seems like I was completely bashing the story, I just was giving my whole and honest opinion. I apologize if Mandi Lynn sees this and feels anything bad about it.

Until Next Time,

To Buy: Christmas Reading Books

Deviantart user tenlittlebirds

Hey Everyone!

Tis the season where Christmas is upon us and I needed to spice up my bookshelf with some lovely Christmas reads. Since I have most of December off from school (and the entirety of January), I was thinking some winter books were needed to be boughten for my mind to eat up!

So here I compiled a list of books I will be purchasing over the next few weeks to be boughten and read:

1. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
2. Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson
3. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laben
4. The Archived by Victoria Schwab
5. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
6. The Selection by Kiera Cass
7. The Elite by Kiera Cass
8. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
9. Allegiant by Veronica Roth 
10. A Song of Ice and Fire Box Set by George R.R. Martin

In total, that brings me to 13 books I want to buy. I will probably begin buying these in the next few weeks. I am excited to buy the Game of Thrones books because everyone has been raving about it. I wanted the first two on the list to be Christmas related and c'mon, who wouldn't buy some good ol' John Green?

Until Next Time,

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 1

Hey Everyone!

So this is my week 1 wrap-up for NaNoWriMo 2013! I am excited to do this weekly little thing because I have been absolutely loving the NaNoWriMo feels this year (even if it is my first time participating).

I feel like this week has been going extremely well. I am ahead of schedule and am loving the story. The story I am writing is different from anything I've ever read. I am incorporating a lot of different types of things into it. I honestly have high hopes for this story!

This story is something I've never felt a connection with before. With my previous stories if that makes more sense for you. I just feel like this one has something special about it that it wants me to keep exploring the whole world. I am just going to do a little questionnaire below to update you on my status of NaNoWriMo:

How are you feeling at the moment?
Incredibly motivated. I think that this has never happened and I've never been this far ahead this quickly. I'm already pretty far into the story and have high hopes for finishing my 50,000 words early. If I stick with my 3,000-4,000 word goal per day, I could finish in about ten days (NaNoWriMo word wise). I am hoping to finish the rest of the story by the end of the month so I can print it out and work on editing it.

Did your story take any interesting turns you weren't expecting?
Yes, romance wise. I had always planned for my character named Jameson to go for my main girl, but then I started writing this one scene and I decided that one of my other characters liked her too. Apparently Marcus just wants a girlfriend. I am not sure how I'm going to resolve the growing love triangle, but I will get there eventually.

How is your plot coming?
It's going really well considering I didn't outline or anything. I am one of those people who doesn't plan for things and just does things out on a whim. I find that if I write without a plan, I am more motivated to work on those things and go through with them than if I did plan them out. For example, my July session of Camp NaNoWriMo went uncompleted as I lost interested three days into the session.

Favorite character to write about?
I think my character Marcus is probably my favorite one to write about. He's just so interesting and I envision him having such a dark past. I also imagine him as this guy:

His name is Jamie Campbell Bower, by the way. This is a photo from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

He's just got so much depth to him and you can see in my story that he is harboring these kind of secret feelings because he takes a step back from his best friend who becomes a prominent role in the story. I know I am going to have to slow down the whole romantic things and extend the introduction chapters a little bit. 

Anything you wish you could change thus far?
No, I don't think I would change anything. Everything seems so beautiful, but I wish I could add some more descriptions to my scenery just to get more of a feel for the house these kids are living in. I guess it's also because I'm still figuring that out myself, so it will get done.

Are you planning on working these past few chapters when you finish with NaNoWriMo?

Yes, definitely. NaNoWriMo is just a tool for writers to get words on paper and I think it's incredibly helpful. I love writing and I wouldn't be participating if I didn't love it as much as I do. Everything needs editing, I don't think anyone could ever fully finish editing. Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments probably have things their authors want to change as well.

What is your current word count?

17,225 and counting :D

Until Next Time,

Thoughts On: City of Lost Souls

Hey Everyone!

So today I bring you the review for City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. I had been intending to write this for a few days, but have been putting this off as I was watching movies and doing NaNoWriMo (check the sidebar for my status).

I felt like CoLS was like 1,000X better than it's previous book. I loved how it solved the random return of Sebastian. I felt like Clary was torn about which direction she should be going in whether she should stay true to the institute or stay true to Jace. Obviously, you can probably guess which one Clary chose.

I felt that this was a very strong book in the series because it has a lot of humor and a lot of strong story points. My favorite parts of the series, one of them, was in this book between Clary and Jace. We also learn more about Jace as he was taken over by Sebastian.

The epilogue was by far my favorite part of the entire book. I was honestly expecting a marriage proposal by Jace Lightwood, but alas, we shall wait and see what the next book (191 days and 11 hours for the record). I think I am most excited to see where this last book goes. My main hope for the final book in The Mortal Instruments Series is that it is focused around Clary and Jace because, in the end, the book is about them and their undying love for each other. The book will probably have something with Sebastian who is on the run and he will most likely be killed (just being honest here).

I give this story five cups of tea because it kept on my toes and wanting more and more. I just couldn't put this book down, I finished it in about a day. I loved this book so much and will probably read anything with Cassandra Clare's name on it.

If you want to learn more about the Shadowhunter world and have read The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments I suggest you go buy the infamous Shadowhunter's Codex. It was available for purchase this past Tuesday and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the books. I will post a full review on this book when I read it and receive it. Note: don't buy the Kindle version, many of the bad reviews were from there because the fonts (the handwriting ones) were not easy to read.

Until Next Time,

Finding Books Similar to Other Ones

Hey Everyone!

So today, in the midst of writing a novel, I stumbled upon a really cool website! It is a website where you type in an author or a book title and it will spew out a list of books just like it, or similar.

The website splits it by language, story, and characters to match up the book you chose to be paired with other books of similarity. If you type in a book that is part of a series (ie The Mortal Instruments or Harry Potter) you will get the other five or six books in the series as well as their paired others.

I think it's really cool how you say you really like a specific book and with this website, you can find books similar to it. I think I will be using this website to find a good book to buy! I can't wait to utilize it once I finish reading all the other books I haven't read.

Check it out: http://booklamp.org

Until Next Time,