Indefinite Hiatus

As you can probably tell, I haven't been blogging much this year. This is for two reasons. I'm quite busy with revising the novel I hope to query late this year/early next year. Secondly, I've lost my passion for blogging. I lost it awhile ago, if I'm to be honest, but I kept hoping it would come back.

It hasn't.

So, rather than give up on this whole endeavor, or have visitors come to my blog and see old posts as the first one listed, I figured it was time to give up the ghost. I'm going to stop blogging for now. I don't want to shut the blog down, because I do think that I'll come back to eventually, but not for the foreseeable future.

I'll still be around on Twitter, Goodreads, and Tumblr if you want to say hi. I also hope now that I won't be worrying about my own blog, I'll have time to comment more on yours.

Have a great summer, everyone!

The Start of Something Good

A big reason I haven't been blogging as much is because since December, I've been consumed by a project. It's the book that I wrote in two weeks (at 75k then, almost 90k now), and I LOVE IT. When the idea came to me, I let it percolate for two days before deciding to give into it. When I did, I didn't look back until it was finished.

I spent about two months editing and making this book better. I've loved every single book I've written (and for the record, that's seven) even the bad ones, but this one felt different. I was consumed with it when I was writing it, and I hoped that my first readers would feel the same.

My  husband is my first reader, so when I printed out the book and gave it to him to read, I was nervous. What if this good feeling was for naught? What if he hated it or thought it was my worst book ever? I needed him to think this book was good.

And you know what? He did. He told me he thought stylistically it was my best yet, but then as he started getting to the bones of the story, he found ways to help me make things better, and he even called me one day and told me he'd been thinking about my novel all day and how to fix an issue I was working on.

This is all great, and I'm glad I'm not married to someone, who lack for a better term, won't blow smoke up my ass.  So, I fixed the things my husband found, and sent the first chapters to my critique partner, Kelly, who had been excited to read this book ever since I told her about it. I sent her my first three chapters and tried not to think much about it.

When she sent me her notes back, they were similar to my husband's. She loved it! Of course, like my husband, she found issues, but she told me it was my best book yet, and couldn't wait to read more. During our weekly gchat session, she tried to get me to tell her bits and bobs of the storyline, and I couldn't help but smile to myself.

Did Kelly and my husband love my previous book, a quiet, issue based contemporary YA? Yep. But this book, they both think, has something. The kind of quality that pulls you in and won't let you go. I knew this book had it while I was writing it, but hearing your first readers say the same thing is such a great first step.

I was going to query my contemporary YA, but I've decided to hold off until this book is finished. If only convincing potential agents and editors would be so easy! ;)

Have you had one idea that stood apart from others? Is it the book you're querying, or queried?

Favorite Things: March

It's hard to believe another month has gone by! Here were my favorite things this month.


Books:

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

I'd heard good things about this book through the blogosphere, so when I found it at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up. I love a good road trip story, and I think this was one of my favorites. I loved the added extras, such as Roger's playlists (he has awesome taste in music) and Amy's notes and photos. This is a definite must-read if you haven't already!

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crawley

When I saw this book in the new release section at the library, I snatched it up right away. I knew I was going to love Lucy, a girl who is convinced she loves Shadow, a Banksy-esque graffiti artist who's painted beautiful scenes all over the city.

The story is fast paced, and the the characters believable. This is one of the best novels I've read in awhile!

Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters

I first came upon Stuart because of the television movie based on the book, staring my two favorite actors, Tom Hardy & Benedict Cumberbatch. Since I loved the film so much, I got the book out of the library.

It's not always an easy book to read, as Stuart's life was full of pain, abuse and mental illness, but it was also quite funny. I really enjoyed it.

The Fault In Our Stars-John Green

I am generally wary of over-hyped books, just because I've been burned so many times. TFIOS was on my radar, but it was a book I told myself I'd get to at some point.  I talked to my mom a couple months ago and she told me that I needed to read this ASAP, I jumped behind thirty people at the library and got on the waiting list.

I'm happy to say that this is one over-hyped book that lives up to the hype. If you haven't already read it, grab it right now. It's funny, heart-felt and will make even the hardest heart sob by the end.

Cinder-Marissa Meyer

This was another book that had umpteen people on the list at the library before I could read it, but again, it lived up to the hype. I loved the world Ms. Meyer created, and I adored Cinder. I can't wait to read the next book in this quartet.








Non-bookish things

If you follow me on Twitter (if you don't, please do! I try to follow back most writers) you already know that I'm a nail polish nut. I've always been, but I fell out of the habit for a few years. Thanks to Pinterest, I'm back into it again. When I'm not writing or reading, I'm messing about with nail art.  I made my first foray into scotch tape nail art (go here if you want to know more) and I've moved on to more complex designs. 

And of course:

The Hunger Games movie lived up to my expectations. There were only a couple changes that I wasn't crazy about, but other than that, I loved it and want to see it again!

Review: Stephen King On Writing

I think many of us spend time reading writing "instruction" books when we're new to the craft. I've never been a fan of the "do this, not that" sort of writing manual, mainly because the writing rules are so often broken. I'm more of a fan of the more auto-biographical style writing instruction/memoir sort of book.

I only recently read Stephen King's "On Writing". I know, I know. It's sat on my shelf for years, and I just never got to it.  I loved this book because it is first and foremost, hilarious, but secondly, Mr. King explains the various writing "rules" in easy to read language.

As I was reading this book, I realized in the addition of things I still need to work on, there are a lot of things that I'm doing right.

For instance, in the section about description, he talks about how you shouldn't overly describe, and how often, when readers become bored with a book, it's because there's 5 pages of not-needed description.

When I'm reading, I hate descriptions of clothes and only use them when necessary in my own writing. I also don't need a character described to the nth degree. It kind of ruins the story for me, because I like to picture characters my own way.

If I would have read this book several years ago, I think I would have found it all to be "you need to do this, this and that" but now that I'm two years into my writing journey, it was nice to see that I am doing (at least a few things) right!

On Style

Source

I've talked before about how I've wanted to be a writer since pretty much ever. I remember sitting in my elementary school, and rolling my eyes as the teacher went over boring things like sentence subjects, conjunctions, and other grammar. I remember thinking, "I don't want to worry about all that crap, I just want to write!"

Many moons later, I still have this philosophy. It's a big reason why I stopped writing for so long, because I worried about conforming to one writing style. Could I ever remember all those pesky grammar or story telling rules? It seemed too much.

Before you roll your eyes, I do have a good grasp of grammar. I'm not as anal as my Catholic schooled mother, but I know the majority of the rules, and do try to remember them. When I'm writing my earlier drafts, I don't worry about all those little things, and fix them as I go along.

Thankfully I have a critique partner who is the opposite of me, and has a wonderful grasp of all the things that I HATE, so when I get my drafts back, there's a lot of crossed out text and notes of how I should remember to do this, not that. With her gentle prodding, I've been able to engrain those rules in me, so now I'm fixing them in my first draft.


Do you play fast and loose with grammar and style in your early drafts?

Favorite Things: February

My favorite books of the month:

Bigger Than a Breadbox-Laurel Snyder

I've heard so many good things about this middle grade novel, so when I saw it displayed in the new arrivals section at my local library, I had to snatch it up! It's an enjoyable, one sitting read with a fresh premise and an endearing protagonist. As an added bonus for me, Rebecca is from Baltimore (as am I) and there are nice references peppered in here and there.

When She Woke-Hillary Jordan

This one of those books that I think people are going to love or hate. There are hot-button issues like abortion and religion featured, so some people might not like it. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It's pretty damned depressing at times, but it's paced beautifully and I absolutely couldn't put it down. I read it in less than a day!

Neverwhere-Neil Gaiman

Since I've known who Neil Gaiman was for freaking ever, I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I'd never read one of his books until last month. I've had a couple of his novels sitting on my shelf for awhile now, but when I picked up Neverwhere I was happy to see that it was as good as I imagined his work to be. I loved this book and I can't wait to read more of his work!







Non Bookish things:

The 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre. I love the Bronte sisters in a way most ladies love Jane Austen, and I've seen several movies and television renditions of one of my favorite stories ever. But this version is just out of this world, and I'm not going to lie, it's largely due to Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester.
:huge, girly sigh:
If you're a fan of the story and haven't seen this yet, I can't recommend it enough!

Lost Girl. LOVE this show. Take a really great urban fantasy novel and turn it into a TV show and you've got Lost Girl.

 If you're a fan of the genre, I suggest checking it out on Syfy (or if you're lucky enough to be Canadian, on Showcase!)








I discovered the joy that is the Coke Freestyle Machine. You can pick your main drink, and add flavor shots. How have I lived my life previously without Diet Raspberry Coke? You can look here to see if there's a machine near you.

What were your favorite things in February?

Reading It Out Loud

Source

When I reach the "read it out loud" portion of revising, I find myself equally looking forward to it and dreading it. With my manuscripts, I usually revise one round on the computer, and then print it out and attack it with the red pen. I read it once before I print it out, then two more times before I go through the second draft.

That sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Well, it is, but I take it a chapter at a time, and I don't do all the reading at once (tried that, it did NOT work for me). I have always found mistakes that I doubt I would have had I not read out loud. So, it's kind of a pain, but it's made my work better too.

How many times do you read your manuscript out loud before you're satisfied?