On Blogging

So I sort of abandoned this blog. I had so many plans for it, so many ideas for posts and things I wanted to discuss, but naturally that plan kind of fell through. Now here I am, blowing the dust that has collected on this blog away and rolling out my first post in months. I've decides again that I want to give blogging a try. I'm not going to continually force myself to post, nor am I going to ignore this blog. Posts are going to become more regular, especially in the coming months. I'm going to attempt to do daily (more maybe weekly) updates on my progress during NaNoWriMo this year, as well as posting book reviews and musings about writing or my life in general. I don't want this blog to stay dead anymore - I want to blog, really badly at that, so let's see what comes of this.

Bout of Books 10 Read-a-thon!

Hello, readers of my fair blog. I really keep meaning to get on a more regular blogging schedule, but life has been so hectic lately that I haven't been able to. So my brain today was like, "Gee, Meg, let's make your life even more hectic by joining the Bout of Books 10 Read-a-thon!" That is why I am here now, typing as quickly as I could possibly manage so I can get back to reading.

I am a wonderful decision maker.

So, what is Bout of Books 10, you may be asking yourself? See this blurb:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I have a lot of books that I have been meaning to read lately - most importantly my reread of the Mortal Instruments series in preparation for City of Heavenly Fire - so I hope this read-a-thon will get me back on track!

See you at the end of the week for an update about how my reading went.

Heading Off to Camp (NaNoWriMo)!

Today I made the crazy decision to jump into Camp NaNoWriMo.

I had not previously planned on doing so, but for some strange reason when day one of camp started yesterday I was feeling incredibly nostalgic. I missed the vibe I got around NaNo season in November, the feeling of actually wanting to write words and having fun doing so. Also, I missed the way my mind came alive after gulping down a large mug of coffee right before I'd write my words for the day. So today, I sit at my computer, starting the first chapter for my novel.

It's not even a new idea, either - it's a rewrite for the novel that won me my first ever NaNo back in 2012. This novel means a lot to me, plus I think it has a lot of potential to go places, and I guess my mind finally realized that I need to get back to work on it.

I don't know what's going to happen this time around. I've never done Camp before, and even though I lowered my word goal to 25k, will I be able to hit that goal? Will I ever finish the rewrite of this novel? Will I quit halfway through? 

I need to stop talking like that or I'll never get anything done.

I'm going to try to document my camp journey on this blog. Probably not daily, but maybe once or twice a week. I'm hoping I get some good writing out of this. 

Good luck to any fellow campers! GET THOSE WORDS WRITTEN!!

Book Review - Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

 

Hello there! So I'm working on getting back to blogging because I miss it terribly - I figured why not jump back into things with a book review!

 

So Obsidian is a book that has had a lot of buzz about it the past few months. Like seriously, every booktuber that I watch on YouTube had been reading/loving it. So naturally, for Christmas, I asked dear ol' Santa Claus to leave me this series under the tree, which he did - except for one of the books. If you've guessed it, it was this one. And now a quick story about my struggle to read this book.

 

My mother informed me that Santa "hadn't been able to get the first book in the Lux series because it was on back order". It wasn't like I was going to be able to read the rest of the series without this one, so I was willing to patiently wait. So I did. For, like, 3 months. So over the weekend I went to Barnes and Noble to ask about where the hell my book was, and they looked it up and told me PHYSICAL COPIES WERE NOT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE. AT ALL. And I even checked freaking Amazon at this point but the cheapest one I could buy was like $69, so I said no to that. Like I said in a previous post, I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately so I figured this would be the book to get me out of it. I wanted this book so badly that desire was practically burning through my veins. Cursing the universe for not having physical copies of Obsidian anywhere (which was odd because you can get the rest of the series???? Like what even???), I caved and bought it on my Kindle to read.

 

(Not that I don't love my Kindle - I just like having physical copies of books.)

 

Now for the actual review! This book was fun. I loved reading the dialogue between Daemon and Katy, Dee was adorable, and the whole concept of Luxen was fascinating. I knew this before I jumped into the book, but there were SO MANY Twilight parallels. So basically, this book is like Twilight's hotter, funnier, and more exciting sister. I thought the writing was clear and concise, if not a bit repetitive at times. The story was interesting and I was annoyed when it just ended. Like, I wanted more!

 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you're hesitant to pick this up because it's been compared to Twilight, please please PLEASE listen to me and read it! You'll enjoy yourself as you fall into the story and wish that Daemon was calling you Kitten instead of Katy. I'm picking up Onyx immediately and a review for that will probably come soon as well!!

 

Rating - 4.5/5 Stars

SLUMP

I am in both a reading and writing slump. This is not a fun time for me.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I'm working on getting back on track soon. Until then, let's hope that my mind will allow me to read and write normally again.

-Meg

So Many Ideas

Let me just start this post by saying I originally wanted to make a post every day. Obviously, I did not stick to that. I'm going to try to update frequently, however, whether it be every day or every other day or once a week. I haven't decided yet. Anyway.

I'll just come out and say it - work on LE NOVEL has basically completely stopped since like Thursday. No matter how much I want to bring myself to even write a single page in that word document, I just end up staring at it until I suddenly find myself watching YouTube videos. How did I even get to YouTube in these circumstances? I'm not positively sure. But what I am sure of is that I have a new idea for a story.

This new story idea, while I won't go into much detail, is adventure-y with romance and action aspects and I seriously love it. It's only in developing/outlining stages right now, but it's consumed so much precious time that I could be using to work on LE NOVEL. It's funny, really. Whenever I first get an idea, I'm completely enamored by it until another new, shiny idea comes along. Then I want nothing to do with the first idea and everything to do with the second.

I feel like a lot of writers deal with this. Our minds are always bursting with ideas and it's hard to focus on just one. I've heard people refer to this before as "Story ADD", which I think can be an accurate way of describing it. It's why I get nothing done, because I can't focus on one idea. This both frustrates me and pleases me, because while I can't follow through with one idea my mind is always developing more.

So I've figured out that the only way to deal with this Story ADD is to push through the current work-in-progress, which right now is LE NOVEL. And at the end of the perilous journey that is writing LE NOVEL is the ultimate pot of gold, the chance to work on the new ideas that I have set aside to focus on one. It's a form of motivation and bribery that it looks like I'm going to need to continue writing. Not saying that I hate LE NOVEL - I actually really like it and think it has quite a bit of potential, but I don't have everything figured out and when I don't know where to go in a story I tend to just shove it aside and ignore it like a stubborn child. I am working on dealing with this, however. My goal is to have LE NOVEL done within the next few months, maybe (hopefully! But no promises) by April. Then I can work on revision and things and start on one of my shiny new ideas.

So many ideas! Not enough time!

That's it for today's post. It's terribly late, I should probably get to bed. Sweet dreams, anyone who reads this post.

- Meg

Word Vomit is A Good Thing

I've been working on my current writing project (which I will refer to as LE NOVEL for the time being) for about three or four days now. Well, I've technically been developing the idea since November and have tried writing the first chapter so many times it hurt, but for some reason on like Sunday everything clicked in my brain. I'm about 6,500 words in which actually amazes me because usually when I start new projects I'm completely unmotivated and really hate every word I write. This time is different.

There's something about this story where I feel like there's potential and I can really work with it. I'm always super thrilled to discover this while writing. Like, FINALLY! AN IDEA I CAN REALLY TRULY WORK WITH!! ALL THE EXCITEMENT! And there's something about this project that's really showing to me that I've improved a lot as a writer over the past three years or so because I'm accepting the fact that what I'm writing is most likely crap.

Yes, I said it. Hello, my name is Meg, and my writing is crap.

It's not easy for a lot of writers to come to terms with this fact, mainly because they expect everything they write to be super perfect on the first try. Ha. I've participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those of you who don't know) for the past three years and realized very quickly that a flawless novel is not just going to pour out of my fingertips as they zoom around my keyboard. No, a flawless novel is one that has many, many hours spent upon it, pampering it like a client at a spa. A novel must go through many stages before it is anywhere near ready for publication, but to start you need a rough draft.

Hint: They're called rough drafts for a reason.

So yes, I'm aware that what I'm writing right now is crappy and not my best. The world my story takes place in still needs a lot of developing, and I'm just adding concepts to it as they come to me. The long and tedious flashbacks need to be broken up and dispersed so I don't give too much away at once, and my characters. Oh man, my characters. There's only one character I've got a good solid hold on, while the rest are floundering in the palm of my hand. Most of what I've written so far is useless and unnecessary, but the word vomit is good. So good. Very good. Much good, very writing, perfect for Doge.

Sorry. I've been seeing waaaaay too much of that Doge meme on Tumblr.

Anyway, it's better that I get a hell of a lot of words out in the beginning so that I have more to work with when revising and editing and all that wonderful stuff that will eventually help me produce a shiny novel. I'm very excited.

Okay. I'm going to go write some more of LE NOVEL. Word vomit, here I come.