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Showing posts from June, 2010

RTW -- June's Best Book

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Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's topic: What was the best book you read in June? There's no contest this month. It's Paper Towns by John Green of course! I loved everything about this book and it's really stuck with me even after I've closed the book and set it aside on my bookshelves. I'm definitely going to get Looking for Alaska or Will Grayson, Will Grayson (or both) the next time I go to the library/bookstore. Overall score: 10/10 for pure awesome. My formal review/fangirling is here

Paper Towns Review

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I had an amazing and crazy weekend. It was like a rollercoaster and not in a good way. Having an awesome day so far today though. =D The new Doctor Who was epic genius. Made of win. The only bad part is now I have to wait until Christmas for a new one. Also, USA lost to Ghana and is out of the World Cup. I missed the game, but I heard all about it. =( This isn't so much a review as it is fangirling over Paper Towns and John Green. Paper Towns by John Green Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Speigelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life -- dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge -- he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues -- and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees

When it Happens Review

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I couldn't really divide spoilers from non-spoilers so there is a tiny spoiler at the end of the fourth paragraph of the review. When It Happens by Susane Colasanti Seniors in high school, Sara and Tobey couldn't be more different. She wants to get into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara's other goal is to find true love, so when popular Dave asks her out, she's thrilled. But Tobey always creeps into her thoughts. Lucky for Sara, one of Tobey's goals is also to make her fall in love with him. I'm still kind of on the fence about this book. I love the alternating points of view between the characters, but there were certain bits that I wished I could see from the other character's point of view (usually it was something I wanted to hear from Tobey and heard from Sara instead). Another thing about the changes between narrator is some scenes were repeated. First we'd hear about it from Tobey and then we'd hear about it f

RTW -- Character FML

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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! We interrupt this regularly scheduled RTW for a special news bulletin! USA WON THEIR GAME AGAINST ALGERIA!!!!! (Yes, I realize I'm late. I was gone all morning, missed the game, and didn't find out about it I got back at four.) It was tied up 0-0 until the 91st minute when USA scored the incredible game-winning goal. Which means we won Group C and it's the first time we've won our group since 1930!!!!!!!!! *fireworks* We shall return now to our regularly scheduled programming. I wasn't going to do this week's RTW. But then I read everyone's entries and then I started getting ideas and I couldn't not do it. So here I am. Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's question: If your favorite c

Week in Short

OMG WE SURVIVED THE WEEK AND WE'RE ALMOST THERE TOMORROW'S THE DAY!!! (If this is the first time this week you've been here (Hi! by the way), six days ago was part one of Doctor Who's series finale. Part two is tomorrow. I. Can't. Wait.) Yesterday was a heart attack-filled afternoon for me as my laptop decided to die. Three times. It's apparently decided that summer is too hot for it because it overheats on an hourly basis. So I'm working on keeping it cool and functional until we can get it to to get the fans fixed. Must Read: Pitching to agents Enjoy being unpublished now Offer of representation Q&A News: The Lost Hero cover has been released! Don't you just want to steal it and take it home? =D No? Okay, that's just me then. Still, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Also, there's a link to where you can read the first two chapters. Which seriously made me want the rest of it. GAH I hate cliffhangers so much. Official movie syn

I got an award? Really?

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OMG. My weekend. Was "meh" overall except for the one hour of epic fabulousness that was the new Doctor Who. It was made of epic win. I couldn't stop shaking for like an hour afterward and I still haven't stopped thinking about it. Five days until the Big Bang (series finale)! In the meantime I'm watching all of series five again in search of clues to what will happen in the finale. Also, today is the first official day of summer. So happy summer solstice! Anyway...This award was passed on to me by Rebecca . *blushes* Thanks!! Isn't it shiny? So according to the rules (guidelines) I have to... 1) Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. [Check!] 2) Share 7 things about yourself. 3) Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...) [Define recently. ] 4) Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award. So...seven thi

The Secret to Writing Sprees

OMG. FIRST TRAILER for Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released last night!!! It came out at 3 a.m. (EST) and I was going to stay up and watch it, but I only made it to one. Seeing it now, I almost wish I'd stayed up! It's EPIC. This movie is going to awesome. Monday I wrote over 12,000 words in one day, breaking my previous record of 11,310 words. Thanks everyone for their support during that day and for the congratulations afterward! Today, I'm going to share the secret of how I did it. Tips for Word-Filled Writing Sprees It's a marathon, not a sprint. The first thing to remember is that a long day of writing is more of a marathon, less of a sprint. It's a time to settle in with your characters and let the words spill out on the page as they may. The words may not even be good and you definitely won't like all of them. But that's okay. The important thing is to not burn out in the first hour and call it a day. (Unless you're only planning to write for

RTW -- The Beginning of This Long Journey Called Writing

Today is...um...Wednesday. Yes? Yes. Summer has the tendency to make the days bleed together until you barely remember whether or not you've had lunch yet or what month it is, let alone the day of the week. But anyway, it is indeed Wednesday which means it's time for another awesome topic by the wonderful people over at YAHighway. [Hop over there and read everyone else's posts on the topic and get a sneak peek at next week's. I seriously can't wait. There are going to be some hilariously epic posts next week.] This week's topic: When/why did you start writing? There's actually two stories for this one. I actually have no clue when I started writing. I assume my journey started the day they taught me how to hold a pencil. Slowly, like all little kids, I learned to write. And write I did. I started to write short stories and the starts to random novels. All these stories had two major things in common: they were short and they included horses, unicorns, or a f

The Red Pyramid Review

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I had a fantastic weekend. The Lodger (new episode of Doctor Who) was hilarious and the teaser trailer for next week's episode made me fangirl squeal for about ten minutes. Rachel Alexandra FINALLY won her first race of the year after two close misses. Zenyatta made racing history in becoming the first modern day Thoroughbred to win 17 straight unrestricted races. I may have accomplished nothing writing-wise, but overall a great weekend and I'm refreshed and ready for a nice, long writing-work week. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan Since his mother's death six years ago, Carter Kane has been living out of his suitcase, traveling the globe with his father, the brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane. But while Carter's been homeschooled, his younger sister, Sadie, has been living with their grandparents in London. Sadie has just what Carter wants -- school friends and a chance at a "normal" life. But Carter has just what Sadie longs for -- time with their

Week in Short

Yay, happy Friday everyone :) Which means not only is today WiS, it also means that the new Doctor Who is tomorrow! It's the first half of the series finale and to say I'm excited would be an understatement. My life's been revolving around the World Cup and writing lately. Except I keep missing the WC games. I completely missed Slovenia/USA this morning which did not make me at all happy. I did however see Mexico crush France. =D Songs of the Week: Crazy Town by Jason Aldean [Kind of reminds me of the publishing industry and the journey aspiring authors go through] Kiss Kiss by Holly Valance [Long story. Don't ask. I don't know why I'm addicted to it.] Must Read: How to grab an agent's attention in a query at Querytracker Maggie Stiefvater on revisions [I'm bookmarking this one] Querytracker contest follow-up by Kathleen Ortiz Contests/Giveaways: WriteOnCon vlog + info + awesome giveaway = Elana Johnson's post! Steph Su Reads summer giveaway #2 E

Rules of Attraction Review

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Sorry about all the reviews this week, but with the internet down last week I didn't have anything else to do except read. *twitches* I just watched Waters of Mars (Doctor Who). OMIGOSH. The episode was incredible, but I can't stop twitching... Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles Carlos Fuentes idolized his older brother, Alex, when he was a member of the Latino Blood. So when Alex chose to get jumped out of the gang for a change at a future with his gringa girlfriend, Brittany, Carlos felt shocked and betrayed. Even worse, Alex forced Carlos to come back from Mexico to join him on the straight and narrow path. Trouble is, Carlos just wants to keep living on the edge. And ties to his Mexican gang aren't easy to break, even hundreds of miles away in Colorado. In Boulder, Carlos has to live with one of Alex's college professors -- and he feels completely out of place. He's even more thrown by his strong feelings for the professor's daughter, Kiara, who is nothin

Week in Short

School's out for the summer WHOOO! Actually, I skipped the last two days of school so I've been out since Wednesday. Don't ask me how it feels to be a senior because I have no clue. It hasn't quite hit me yet. Random notes from this week: The Wedding Date and She's the Man are both awesome movies. I need a copy of On Writing because even though I still think Stephen King is insane, he knows writing. I have officially seen every one of the newer episodes of Doctor Who. I watched Waters of Mars and both parts of End of Time yesterday. I'm kind of sad that the excitement of watching them all for the first time is over. But there's still the new ep tomorrow! Also, I went to the bookstore today. I walked out with Murder on the Orient Express and Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie, Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, and Paper Towns by John Green. What to read first??!! Anyway...enough about what I did this week. =D

RTW: Is it working?

This Week's Topic: When do you know when a project is going to work and when it's not? The answer for this one is all over the board for me. I have at least fifteen projects in my "started and quit" file. Some of them are doomed to stay there forever. Some will be pulled out in a few weeks, months, or even years for another look. The answer to the question isn't an easy one. Because the answer is: I don't know until I know. I've quit projects less than 1k in. I've quit projects that are halfway done. At some point I just kind of laze off. I make excuses not to work on it. I make promises to try again that are never kept. For me, it's clear the a project is not going to work when it's no longer fun. When it loses it's intrigue, then it's time to put it away. That's how I know that a project just isn't working and it's time for me to give it a rest. Most of these projects are put away because the worldbuilding just isn't

City of Glass Review

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LOOK! Deathly Hallows trailer ! =D I can't wait!! It's going to be the best of them all, I know it. ** Note: All spoilers for this book will come after the warning. I cannot promise that there won't be spoilers for the first two books in the series before that. City of Ashes review [Apparently I failed to review City of Bones. I'm rather disappointed with myself over that.] City of Glass by Cassandra Clare Third book in the Mortal Instruments series To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight. As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian.

RTW - Favorite Book in May

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My internet is still out. =( I'm writing this from my grandpa's house. Mom brought me over so we could use the internet for a bit. Fingers crossed they'll come out and fix it tomorrow!! In the meantime... Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's topic: What's the best book you've read this month? City of Glass by Cassandra Clare = easily the best book I read last month. I read the last half of it in one night, staying up until after midnight Monday night because I couldn't put it down. I haven't done a formal review for it yet because of the lack of internet, so hopefully that will be up next week sometime. Fantastic conclusion to the amazing series.