Blogger Break for the Week

No buddy worry, I'm not sick, but for the next week I probably won't be blogging much because my finals are the 7th and 8th of June, so therefore I need to not procrastinate( like I did last time which was not all that brilliant), so I do not fail. 


Anyway, I wrote 3 pages yesterday when I was supposed to be getting ready for a family gathering, and my book is officially entered the stage of: I am going to write this, and I know where it is heading. I love his stage.


By by blogging, only for the week,
Swimmer

Wannabe Writers

Wannabe writers is hosted by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-published! (click here for more details)


Where I am in the writing process: Alternating between writing the beginning and filling out more details in the plot line. I am keeping up with the challenge, but right now I don't have enough time to blog about it... sorry. 


My current problem: Right now I am outlining so any tips on keeping everything organized would be great!


Question of the week: Do you recommend finishing (and polishing) a novel, even if you know the story would never be strong enough for publication?  To finish just for the sake of finishing or to focus your energies on a better project?  


My answer: Of course, even if it doesn't have publishing potential it can get better or have a plot line in it that could be used in later better book. Example: I had tree plot lines going in my head. I totally dropped one, then took all the characters and settings from one of the plot lines, and from the last story idea I took the entire plot line from the other. Also, it is just good to finish.

Happiness

Last night I was sitting in front of a big bulletin board that housed my pathetic plot line. My plotting technique is writing down what happens on a sticky note than placing in in order on the bulletin board so, I can move things around and look at what needs to be done. Then as I was sitting, yelling at myself for being the worst plotter ever, and a totally brilliant idea came to me and, I had already had this idea about two years ago so, I had the plot, and everything worked out. Except two years ago I didn't have any good characters to complete it, now I have great characters and a great plot line. So, i am totally happy right now!!


Anyway, if you missed it I'm going to have an author interview so, if you have any questions just comment!

Book Review: Spells

Title: Spells

Series:Wings

Author(s): Aprilynne Pike

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Harper Teen 

Pages: 368

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 

Summary: Six months have passed since Laurel saved 
the gateway to the faerie realm of 

Avalon. Now she must spend her summer there, 
honing her skills as a Fall faerie. But her 

human family and friends are still in mortal danger--and the gateway to Avalon is more 

compromised than ever. 

When it comes time to protect those she loves, will she depend on David, her human 

boyfriend, for help? Or will she turn to Tamani, the electrifying faerie with whom her

connection is undeniable?

My Thoughts: Some people can just write, like crazy. Aprilynne Pike would be one of those people. Spells is the hands down best book I have ever read. It passes the Harry Potter Series, Twilight, and everything else. I always loved Wings and when I got Spells for my birthday I was so exited, and for the right reason. This book was creative, unique, and fun. The other really great thing about this is that it was just as great if not better than Wings. 

The plot was twisted and unexpected, the character's were lovable and realistic, and even though it was 3rd person I really felt like Laurel's pain was real. There is nothing more I can say about this book except that it deserves every good adjective in the thesaurus.

One more thing is I am definitely Team Tam!

Overall Rating: 5/5

One word/phrase sum up: Amazingly awesome!!!! 

Wannabe Writers

Wannabe Writers is hosted by Sarah at Confessions of the Un- published. Click here for more information. 


Where I am in the writing process: Starting a new story idea I am very exited about.


My current problem: Right now I am writing from the middle but, i still have to decide whether it should be a very big book, or the second novel to a different book.


Question this week: How to start a story.  I've never been very good a writing hooks.  Any suggestions?  How did you start your story?  (Dialogue, description, action, etc.)

My Answer: Well I am having the same issue so, I want to hear everybody else's response because I am starting right now to. The only advice I have is start the story quickly, and don't write a long intro before jumping into the book's actual plot line.

Book Review: Marked

Title: Marked
Series: The House of Nights
Author(s): P.C. Cast, and Kristen Cast
Genre: Paranormal Vampire Fantasy!
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 306
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge

Summary:  The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.  In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire--that is, if she makes it through the Change.  Not all of those who are chosen do.  It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling.  She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.  But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers.  When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.


My Thoughts:  This book took a new twist on vampires. I had never really thought of them like that. In the book vampires did not hide and for some reason that made everything much more realistic. I also liked that they were not talking about blood all the time(*cough* breaking dawn*cough*)The plot line was interesting, and I loved it but, I do agree that it did have some unneeded inappropriate content. 

This books characters were very diverse and fun. I loved the "twins" and Stevie Ray was very funny. Damien, Eric, and Heath were also very believable but, at the same time fun, and crazy. Aphrodite was written as the mean girl who was very annoying, and she definitely was!

Overall this was an amazing awesome book which was very different, in a good way, and I will definitely be picking up the next book in this amazing series!
Overall Rating: 5/5

One word/phrase sum up: Fantastic!

Book Review: Does My Head Look Big in This?

Title: Does my Head Look Big in This?
Series: Not that I know of
Author(s):  Randa Abdel-Fattah
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Pages: 368
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge

Summary:  Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.
Can she handle the taunts of "towel head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs. 
My Thoughts:  This is the type of book I enjoyed but not loved.  There was nothing wrong with it but it just seemed a little happy. What I mean by that is that there was no real badness and everything went according to plan. The characters were totally lovable and were the highlight of the story. I don't have many other thoughts on this book except that it was good enough to read but not good enough to re-read.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

One word/phrase sum up: Decent

Wannabe Writers

Wannabe Writers is hosted by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-published.

Where I am in the writing process: Beggining the first story line I have ever been totally pasionite about. The ones before this one were more boring YA fiction books with a boring relashionship. Some authors are so good at taking ideas that I had and making them creative while I am not but, now I have an intresting fantasy story with a crazy romantuc story.

My Current Problem: I am trying to draw the main characters crazy house so I can write it better but I am not at all artistically gifted!

Question of the week: Would you be disappointed if 5 years from now you still wrote 500 words everyday and weren't published? What then?


My answer: I have never had a doubt that someday I will be published I hope it will be in less than 5 years but if it takes 10 that is okay with me. I know I will be published and I also know that doubting myself, even though I often do, is a waste of time. The thing is I have never doubted myself, I have always doubted the story line or a character and now in my current WIP I have no doubts and I know it will be published someday!

I've been tagged

Liz H. Allen at Writing Mommy has tagged me so I have to answer the following questions:

Where were you five years ago?
1. Planning my birthday party
2. Oblivious to the blogging world
3. Reading ALOT
4. Only starting swimming
5. Getting into the environment 

Where would you like to be in five years?
1. Published author

2. Still blogging

3. Fluent in French(I'm trying to learn it right now and well it is not going well.)

4. Can say I've left North America

5. Still reading, writing, and blogging more then any sane person!

What is on your To-Do list today?
1. Blog about the challenge(completed my page!)

2. Swim practice

3. Writing some more

4. Dinner(I feel like some pesto pasta!)

5.  Drawing my main character's extremely amazing house!

What snacks do you enjoy?
1. Fruit Snacks

2. Lollipops

3. Goldfish

4. Chocolate(I don't know if that counts?)

5. Popcorn

What would you do with a billion dollars?
1. Write all day

2. Give money to the American Cancer Society

3. Give money to a charity for animals

4. Buy all the books I can get my hands on

5. Take my friends and family to Europe and spend money until I am not a billionaire!

Who I am tagging(I hope you guys haven't been tagged!):

Sarah

Noelle Nolan

K

Ellie

Tara

The not so mega, Mega A-Z Challenge Reflection Post

Throughout this challenge I have progressed as a blogger, and somehow even as a person. If there is one thing I learned about this challenge it is this: BLOGGING EVER DAY IS TOTALLY NOT GOOD FOR MY SANITY but, besides that I have also gained two awards(I still need to pass those on!), forty followers, and the ability to say I have completed my first challenge! The other thing I learned is that I am the most inconsistent follower EVER. Some days I would go to every blog I follow and comment while others I would skim over and pass through. The thing I must say though, is that even though I will do this next year I should probably re-focus on my writing, and reviewing in this blog and in life because I often found myself being distracted by what letter to do that day and when I was going to post on more hectic days. 


Anyway, I want to thank Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out and to all my amazing followers for supporting me through this very challenging challenge!

In My Mailbox

Sorry... only got a couple of books because I am playing catch up with my reading pile! This meme is hosted by The Story Siren!

Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast

Love and Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I have already read The Secrets of Peaches and Peaches!

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Thanks I hope everyone else had a great mailbox!

Wannabe Writers

Wannabe Writers is hosted by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-published!


Where I am in the writing process: Planning, Tweaking, and all that fun stuff! I started the new idea that hit me earlier this week but I am still working it, I know where it is going but I need some more sub-plot lines, and LOTS OF DETAILS!


My current problem: Is there any special way to record all your ideas in an organized fashion. I  have all my ideas but right now I am just listing the order they are occurring in. Any tips, also if you have any, ANY record keeping methods of scenes, or characters tell me!


The question this week: What to do to get myself back into writing? What to do to get myself excited about an old story? (I don't want to start anything else new)


My answer: Describe place and people in a page of writing then slowly evolve those characters slowly into a story. Hopefully by then you will have a writing flow. If you need something to write about go to a cafe and choose three people siting in different areas then write a story connecting them. Let your imagination explode to find a crazy twisted sinister way they are connected.

Z is for Zone defense

Just a quick post about me, myself, and a sport I love which is basketball. I love defense and my favorite would be zone because I am a post player and love to smack the balls back into the faces of the opposing team. It is also better in the league I play because there are lots of girls who try to shoot over me(I'm 5' 10'' and they can barely reach 5'). They just don't realize until its to late that I am going to block them! But luckily for them they learn quickly that they should stay out of my zone!

Y is for Yesterday I was busy

I know this is late but I was reading yesterday so you shouldn't get mad!

Anyway I ended up completing Rules of Attraction click here to read it!

Book Review: Rules of Attraction

Title: Rules of Attraction
Series:Sequel to Perfect Chemistry
Author(s): Simone Elkeles
Genre: Fiction 
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Pages: 326
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge

Summary:  When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado . Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now.


My Thoughts:  My thoughts are still very uncertain about this book. I loved it hands down loved it! But, it seemed to speed by and not because I read it in a day but because the characters never really met. There was no chatting or changing scene in my mind. Perfect Chemistry was definitely better because of that but Rules of Attraction had its moments to.

Kiara and Carlos were much funnier and lighter than Alex and Brittany, and with the constant challenges and arguments were sometimes funnier to but, they were really missing that romantic spark that Alex and Brittany had. 

Character comparison:

• Alex was wilder and more caring than Carlos
• I liked Kiara more than Brittany 

Although I did love this book it seemed to focus on millions of sub-plots instead of the real subject.

The writing was amazing, hands down awesome!

Overall, this book is one you should read but I warn you, you might have mixed feelings about it!
Overall Rating: 5/5

One word/phrase sum up: awesome