tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74431574129482478362024-02-20T05:24:09.932-05:00Read Sam, Read!A girl who loves to read and write.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-46233399766525486122016-11-11T13:13:00.000-05:002016-11-11T13:13:01.507-05:00It's been four years.The last time I wrote in this blog, I was still in college. I was trying to get my first book published, and my interest in YA books was waning. A lot of things have changed since that time in my life, but one thing is for certain: I never enjoyed having an Internet presence like I did with this blog.<br /><br />That's why I intend to bring Read Sam, Read! back from the dead. Not as a YA book blog, but as a blog about my life as a writer and about the books I read now. I've learned a lot in my craft that I would love to share with the world and I'm currently trying to get a novel published (I have a partial manuscript out to an agent right now, so wish me luck on that!), and I'm excited to be able to. I never thought I'd come back to this blog, but here I am.<br /><br />Expect reviews, writing tips, and vignettes about this writer's life to come.<br /><br />Welcome back!<br /><br />-SamUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-2117870725761215432012-03-18T20:12:00.001-04:002012-03-18T20:12:46.385-04:00Worrywart, or: This Story Has a Point, I PromiseWhen I was a child, I was terrified of sleep.<div>
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It is a widely-accepted fact that most kids are afraid of the 'monsters' that lurk underneath their bed or inside of their closets. There are whole movies based around this premise, around the cliche of the diligent father who goes to pains to show his child that are, in fact, no monsters. </div>
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But it wasn't monsters that scared me--it was all of the scenarios my brain came up with while I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. Perhaps the downside of having a vivid imagination is that I can't turn it off, especially not during those agonizingly slow moments before sleep takes over. </div>
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For a brief period, I was obsessed with the notion that I was going to die. It hit me harder than it probably did other children, the realization that my life was one day going to end. And from the moment I realized it, my brain has been making up reasons why it is going to happen <i>now</i>. So in those moments before sleep, all I could think about was how it could happen. I could have a heart attack. Someone could break through the window over my bed and kill me. I could spontaneously combust. I had cancer and no one realized it and it was just going to kill me, one day.</div>
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Obviously, none of those things happened, and eventually my brain got so tired of worrying about these scenarios that I learned to ignore that tiny voice inside of me long enough to go the fuck to sleep. </div>
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I shared this anecdote because I have a confession. I am a chronic worrywart.</div>
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It started then and soon exploded to life with larger, more pressing issues: getting all of my homework done with as little effort as possible, trying to get the cute guy I like to notice me and embarrassing myself in the process, wondering whether or not I'd ever be able to escape my father or if there was not point, and always always always, <i>am I a bad writer?</i></div>
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And now, in college, it's even worse. There's this small clenching that perpetually occupies my abdomen, a ball of worry whose apparent purpose is to ALWAYS STRESS ME OUT.</div>
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So, if you want to know a reason that I have not written in this blog in a while, it's because the idea of getting job and being professional and finishing college and being an adult is really bad without adding the stress of blog posts as well. My stomach clenches a little bit more just thinking about all the followers I had and how little I post anymore.</div>
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I guess: my life has gotten away from being about books.</div>
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Books were always a way for me to get away from myself, to go visit other worlds that I could almost make, because holy hell, I'm a writer too! But college has put me in the mind-set of NOW, of HERE, because there's so many things I feel I should be doing that I'm not. I'm not going to lie: I have time to have a blog.</div>
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But I also want a life.</div>
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So, this is not saying I'm quitting blogging or even going on a hiatus. This is saying that I'm going to post when I want, but I'm releasing myself of the responsibility of it. </div>
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So, don't expect a lot of updates. And if there are updates, that might be more personal than about books.</div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-39072505648710398022012-02-01T11:55:00.001-05:002012-02-01T11:55:04.170-05:00Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327880382l/11870085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327880382l/11870085.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<b>Title:</b> The Fault in Our Stars<br />
<b>Author:</b> John Green<br />
<b>Page Count:</b> 318<br />
<b>Date Published:</b> January 10th, 2012<br />
<b>Summary:</b> <i>Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. </i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
</i><br />
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<b>Review:</b> I've read two book this year. I've been lazy. But anyways:<br />
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<br />
I received TFiOS a few weeks ago, when it first came out, and promptly dropped everything to read it. I LOVE John Green--I am an avid Vlogbrothers fan and I adore his previous works. I had a slight problem in the beginning of the book, because I couldn't help reading it in his voice, but that stopped about halfway through. Still, it was weird.<br />
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I loved this book but that isn't to say I didn't find some things a bit... off. Sometimes the prose was sparse where it shouldn't have been or Green's overuse of the word 'this' instead of 'the'. And I agree with a review I just read: this was a John Green Book. And like Sarah Dessen Books, the formula of an incredibly smart/witty character + shitty life thing happening to them + typical John Green humor. No one really talks like his characters do, but it's still fun to entertain the notion.<br />
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On one hand, I don't like books to be formulaic like that. I want something new, something that is pushing the limits with writing. And I felt like TFiOS didn't push any limits. In fact, the writing was not as good as in any of his previous books, because it seems like his editor got lazy.<br />
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But none of this makes sense because I gave this book five stars.<br />
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I feel an obligation to any book that I have to put down because it has hit me so directly. I cried for the entire last third of TFiOS. And not just like, cute little quiet crying. I pretty much used half a tissue box.<br />
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And when I finished it, I felt like a piece of myself had been ripped out.<br />
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So none of those things really matter to me as a person. As a reader, sure. But I can ignore them because this book has taken a peice of me with it.<br />
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<b>Rating: 5/5</b> stars<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-32440791672858089902011-12-31T09:00:00.000-05:002011-12-31T09:00:07.896-05:00New Year's Resolutions:It's almost that time again, folks. This year has gone by so quickly, way quicker than last year did--probably because I had more fun! My first year and a half of college, already over with. I honestly can't believe that. And so many cool things happened this year: I got to meet Meg Cabot and Maggie Stiefvater and Libba Bray, I finished The Shape that Breaks, I got on the Dean's list, I got (and quit/lost) two jobs, and I wrote almost 3 full novels. I didn't read quite as much this year, but that's okay. I'll get back on the bandwagon in 2012.<br />
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Anyway, I wanted to share some of my New Year's Resolutions! Not all of them have to do with writing or reading, but just things I want to get done this year.<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li>Finish editing TSTB and get an agent! </li>
<li>Read 100 books.</li>
<li>Write a fantasy novel (and finish it).</li>
<li>Don't eat any fried food. (This one is gonna be the toughest. It's a challenge!)</li>
<li>Run a whole heck of a lot, swim a whole heck of a lot, and basically be a super in-shape person.</li>
<li>Get straight A's both semesters.</li>
<li>Figure out if I'm going to NY this summer and if I am, make all the necessary arrangements for that.</li>
<li>Get a job! </li>
</ul>
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I think that's about it! Pretty lofty goals, but I can do it. I believe in myself. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-34443950061562835112011-12-27T17:28:00.000-05:002011-12-27T17:28:58.879-05:00Finishing a NovelI'm gonna tell you all a little story.<br />
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When I was fourteen, I was absolutely obsessed with the idea that my first love would be my only and that he would come save me from my mundane life and take me on some epic adventure. I wrote because that was the only way I could get close to it while I waited. Until I really fell in love, that is. And it was beautiful and awesome and invigorating, but an adventure it was not.<br />
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During this period, I started working on a novel that I called 'Golden Eyes' about a girl who's abusive ex dumps her and she falls in love with a boy with golden eyes. The first incarnation of The Shape that Breaks is nothing like it ended up being and though I've finished drafts before this one, none of them were really where I wanted to take the story. The last draft I finished before my break-up with my ex and it didn't feel quite right, the ending. It wasn't what I'd been aiming at.<br />
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And then, last year, my ex and I broke up and I threw all of my energy into the newest incarnation of The Shape that Breaks, the one where the ending reflects every single action that happens in the book. And here I am, a year and a month later, done with this draft. The last written draft, I'm confident. I can feel it in me: this book is done. I need to edit and edit and edit, but all the tough stuff, the whole slog, is done.<br />
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When I finished, I felt so strange. I kept stopping myself and thinking that I should be writing and then realizing that I was DONE. Then I'd start to cry or hyperventilate a little bit. I've given this book five years of my life and it is such a part of me that being done feels like a betrayal. Like I'm leaving behind one of my friends.<br />
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What's really going to hit me is tomorrow, when I go pick up the bound draft at OfficeMax. I've never seen the entire novel printed out, words on a physical page. I'm probably going to cry in the middle of OfficeMax, like some kind of weirdo.<br />
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This was total word vomit. But I wanted to let the world know: I've finished The Shape that Breaks.<br />
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And as soon as I'm done editing, I'm going to start the querying process again. This is so exciting. I'm really confident in this draft.<br />
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Wish me luck, guys!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-3026204073530669682011-12-20T08:00:00.000-05:002011-12-20T08:00:11.723-05:00Review: The One that I Want by Jennifer Echols<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318457926l/11765175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318457926l/11765175.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It kind of bugs me that the guy doesn't look Japanese.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Title:</b> The One That I Want<br />
<b>Author:</b> Jennifer Echols<br />
<b>Page Count:</b> 256 pages<br />
<b>Release Date:</b> Dec. 6th, 2011<br />
<b>Summary</b>: <i>Gemma can’t believe her luck when the star football player starts flirting with her. Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma’s heartbroken.
Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max’s friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can’t help thinking that Max likes her back—it’s just too bad he’s already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend’s boyfriend?</i><br />
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<b>My Thoughts: </b>First things first, I may be a little biased because I have not read a Jennifer Echols book that I didn't like. There's something about the way she writes sexual tension that makes <i>you</i> feel that goosebumps and the butterflies. Any book of hers is a good escape from singledom, especially if you like your fictional men to be stubborn and domineering, but in the sexiest way possible.<br />
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When I read the summary for this book, though, I have to admit that I was hesitant. It felt kind of shallow and I wasn't sure if I would live it, especially the whole 'mix-up' plot that I hate so much in most books and movies. But once I started it, I kind of fell in love with the main characters, as is usually the case with Echols' books. Gemma is flawed and kind of a bitch to her 'best' friend, but she's also so determined and smart and witty--she is most definitely NOT a weak character at all. And her attraction to Max is so relatable it kind of hurts your heart to read about it.<br />
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Max: I was about in love with this guy. I need to meet a Max in real life, stat.<br />
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The kissing scenes were, as always, swoonworthy. And the resolution to the plot was awesomeawesomeawesome--everything happened just the way I wanted it to, plus there were a ton of moments where I had to book down to squeal.<br />
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I read this book in two sittings over two days (during finals week, when I should've been studying), and I absolutely loved it. I would recommend it to anyone else who has liked Jennifer Echols' books.<br />
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<b>Overall Rating</b>: 5/5 starsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-56502028151613620432011-12-19T17:37:00.003-05:002011-12-19T17:37:42.200-05:00The Lazy Life of a College Student on Winter Break<b>10pm: </b>Fall asleep watching Psych on Netflix.<br />
<b>6am: </b>Wake up confused and disoriented and realize you fell asleep at ten last night and that's why you're waking up when it's still dark out, like some crazy person who is motivated or something. Try to convince yourself to get out of bed and exercise or something, but instead go on your computer and find out that Kim Jong-Il is dead and browse Reddit reading about it.<br />
<b>6:45am: </b>Decide that being awake this early is a lot lamer than you expected. Go back to sleep.<br />
<b>11:47am</b>: Wake up again and finally get up to get coffee and cereal. Decide that the most productive thing you will do today is go to the pool.<br />
<b>2pm: </b>Go to the pool. It's windy and in the 70s outside because you live in Florida, but it's still just warm enough to where swimming is nice. Do breaststroke for one lap and pretend that's a workout, then go into the hot tub and read a Jennifer Echols book on your Nook.<br />
<b>3pm</b>: Go home. Go on Tumblr.<br />
<b>5pm: </b>Realize how little you've gotten done. Decide to write for the rest of the night.<br />
<b>5:30pm</b>: Write a blog post instead.<br />
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My first day of freedom and I feel as if I've botched it. I meant to wake up at a decent time and write, then maybe go running. I wrote one sentence of TSTB today. It's been super productive.<br />
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<b>How's everyone else's break going so far?</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-89587722738116813092011-12-12T14:59:00.001-05:002011-12-12T14:59:30.695-05:00Finals WeekCollege is awesome. It's the time when people are finding themselves and are constantly evolving, beginning to resemble their more mature, adult selves. And while I may go to a school known more for its parties than its programs, it was still super easy for me to find people that I connected with, even if I'm not into the whole 'party every single day of my life, you only live once, time to get black-out drunk' scene.<br />
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But there comes a time, at the end of the semester, where everyone starts to get a little crazy. People at the library are either on such a high dosage of Adderall that nothing but the apocalypse could tear them from their studying or they are browsing Facebook with their study guide open in the background, hoping to absorb the knowledge through some kind of Internet osmosis. Last year during this time, when it was cold and windy and gray and most of campus was running on less than three hours of sleep from a combination of papers and projects and finals, I got really sick. I got a scalp infection that did <i>something</i> to my brain, so I had a debilitating migraine for a week straight. I went to the emergency room three times, where they put me on higher and higher doses of painkillers, and still it didn't go away. My mom was so worried about me she demanded I come home, so I took the bus back for the entire 10 hour drive, sitting next to a newly-released prison inmate with his only belongings in a tiny mesh bag and snores so loud I couldn't fall asleep, even with all of the painkillers.<br />
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Because of that, I have not had to endure the Winter Final Fever until this year. And for once in my life, I'm actually on top of things. I've been studying for my Nutrition final since Friday morning (it's on Thursday at 7:30am, urgh), and I think I know most of the material. I have (unfortunately) completely stopped reading/writing until this is over, but I'm done on Thursday, so hurrah!<br />
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In the meantime, I'm kind of going insane from the amount of caffeine I've consumed today. My roommates and I stopped at Panera on the way home from this organic food store called New Leaf Market, so I'm halfway through my second cup of coffee. But I've studied a bunch, yay!<br />
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Other college students: <b>how are you coping with finals/finals week? </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-2519883934295081852011-12-11T16:56:00.001-05:002011-12-11T17:06:54.457-05:00NaNoWriMo = FailureI called it, folks. I failed NaNo before the halfway point because life got the best of me. Hanging out with friends and doing delinquent college things overtook my life last month, plus all the preparation for finals with papers and projects. I'm glad I opted out of it before my life got too hectic, because I had a buttload of projects due last month.<br />
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Anywho, other things going on in my life:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Tara from <a href="http://hobbitsies.net/wordpress/">Hobbitsies</a> was in my American Lit. class that just ended a few days ago, so we bonded over books and blogging and BEA and probably other b-things. She gave me a copy of Blood Red Road by Moira Young, so look for a review of that as soon as I finish, probably near the end of this month.</li>
<li>I finished a short story that I'd been working on for a couple of weeks last night, called <i>A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing</i>, although the title is subject to change because I hate that title. I'm pretty proud of my use of prose in it, so I think I might submit it to a couple of literary magazines and see if it get's accepted. After revising it a bit more, I think. It could be a bit tighter/more coherent.</li>
<li>It's finals week. I've mostly been fine about my classes, aside from Nutrition, which I'm studying like a mad person for. That has been stressing me out.</li>
</ul>
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Otherwise, my life is pretty unexciting. I may post from retrospective reviews of books I really liked and maybe another vlog when I go home for break, because I'm way too self-conscious to record myself acting like a fool while my roommates are in the room. If not the full return of me, at least it's a partial return.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-25817083088012855362011-11-06T14:00:00.000-05:002011-11-06T14:00:02.907-05:00Blogging NaNoWriMo: Day Six<b>Current Word Count: </b>8,641<br />
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</b><br />
I am not writing right now. I am playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 and trying to beat Icy Adventures. I'm pretty much a professional writer. I'll be published pretty soon at this rate, I think. Maybe I can write my own guide on how to beat this game (that's probably about ten years old now) and then sell it online and make millions.<br />
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Well. Anyways.<br />
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Somehow, last night, I managed to get ahead, even with watching The Fellowship of the Ring and Batman Begins and Nichijou and Le Chevalier D'Eon. My characters are much different than I expected them to be, acting different than I'd planned out in my head. Indy is supremely messed up when it comes to caring about people and Luke is a humongous jerk. I was thinking a lot about plot last night because, well, I don't really have one, and I'm pretty sure I know where this is going. I just can't make Indy and Luke care about each other for a long time into the narrative. They hate each other. It has to be so subtle that you don't even notice when they stop hating each other.<br />
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It's kind of nice to be blogging again. I missed this whole community as well as constantly being on Twitter and talking to people. So, after this month, I'll try to be more regular about blogging. I've missed all you guys!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-27209747751917639012011-11-06T01:52:00.000-05:002011-11-06T01:52:03.383-05:00Blogging NaNoWriMo: Day Five<b>Current Word Count:</b> 8,370<br />
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I was behind all day and it was freaking me out. Last night, I stayed over my friends' house and watched The Blair Witch Project and wrote way too little, so I made myself drink coffee and write when I got up from my four-hour nap today. Now it is almost two am and I am still awake, sitting at the same friends' dining room table, listening to them watch Batman Begins while I realized that I am finally ahead on my word counter. Even though it is technically not Day Five any longer.<br />
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I feel like I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I was so stressed about being behind, but today was a thankfully productive Saturday. I'm not sure how tomorrow is going to be, but we shall see!<br />
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On a completely different note, I made cupcakes for my best friend, Lauren's, birthday. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting. They were absolutely delicious and by delicious I mean I ate five. Five is apparently an auspicious number for me: day five of NaNo and I am finally ahead and five cupcakes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-3247960546223126072011-11-04T17:43:00.001-04:002011-11-04T17:44:20.077-04:00Blogging NaNoWriMo: Days Three and Four<b>Current Word Count:</b> 5,112<br />
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Welp, Day Four and I am stuck.<br />
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I don't know how I didn't expect it. I had no plot. I had two character who hated each other and a zombie apocalypse. I have an ending and two or three scenes in between. But now I don't know how to connect any of those things into something that makes sense.<br />
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Here's the thing: I love it when two characters start out hating each other. But it's never done well enough for me. In most books, they become love interests, but I think that, if you really dislike someone, even if you can come to accept them as a person eventually, I don't feel like you can ever REALLY fall in love with them. And nemesis relationships are never raw enough. When they start out becoming friends, it can't be some pitiful insults hurled--there needs to be tangible dislike. It's never tangible enough for me.<br />
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That's why I wanted to work with Indy and Luke. They hate each other with a passion. But that's making them a tad unpalatable to me. Indy just seems like a bitch because we don't know why she hates Luke so much and Luke just seems like the innocent bystander who gets punched in the face. That's why I'm stuck. That's why I got stuck last night, along with sleeping over my best friends' house and watching Disney songs on Youtube, plus the stress of having to turn in a project today that I'd barely started last night. I have the rest of today to catch up, though, until I go back over to hang with my friends. I need to get to 6666. I will. I will.<br />
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Or I'll just read <i>House of Leaves </i>and dick around.<br />
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To paraphrase Mindy Kaling: Writing is 90% dicking around and 10% getting things done.<br />
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<b>Current Mood:</b> Blah.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-12125634173648855772011-11-02T19:26:00.000-04:002011-11-02T19:26:32.713-04:00Blogging NaNoWriMo: Day Two<b>Current Word Count: </b>3,887<br />
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I finished <i>Her Fearful Symmetry </i>last night, during the time I should've been writing. (I had a massive headache, so that was my excuse not to write. But I can still read. Even though it makes my head hurt worse.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266681566l/6404538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266681566l/6404538.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
I was not a happy camper.<br />
<br />
Lemme give you all a one-sentence summary of this book: Twins are weird and ghosts are evil. There we go. I've spared you from having to read this book that was a disappointing follow-up to <i>The Time-Traveler's Wife</i>, which was awesome and great and made me cry. This book did not. This book made me want to throw things across the room. I can't rant sufficiently without spoilers, so I won't rant here, other than to say: skip this if you want to be satisfied. If you really loved TTW, give it a try, perhaps. But it just wasn't for me.<br />
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Whoa, way to be a Debbie Downer. As far as writing goes, today has not been productive. I've written about 800 words, but I'm still fairly ahead. I'm already wanting to give up. I think that's a sign that things are going well, when I want to give up.<br />
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This is the first year I am going by the seat of my pants. And it's kind of awful and awesome, at the same time.<br />
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Tomorrow: I'll introduce you guys to my characters.<br />
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<b>Mood, thus far:</b> Annoyed at everything.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-72335022872860685912011-11-01T14:33:00.000-04:002011-11-01T14:33:24.576-04:00Blogging NaNoWriMo: Day One<b>Word Count:</b> 2,878<br />
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I am breaking my radio silence to bring you this, my dear neglected readers: I am not writing YA for NaNoWriMo this year. I know, I know. It's a shock to your delicate systems, already hurt by my lack of posts for months and months. However: <i>The Symmetry of Grace</i> still contains a teenage protagonist. It also contains zombies. And it is literary fiction. We'll see how this goes.<br />
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I went to a meet-up last night with people at my university and ate a bunch of Warheads while I tried to bang out my daily quota before going to bed. We sat in the breezeway of the dorm I lived in last year and I was disappointed by the lack of coffee. So now I'm in the library, where I've been for two hours, dawdling and drinking a delicious (though now-cold) coffee.<br />
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Anywho, here was the announcement I promised:<b> I am going to try to blog every day of November</b>, even on dear Thanksgiving and the days before and after I will be traveling home and back to school. It is going to be rambly. I may do a book review or two, but they'll most likely be on the classics we're reading in my Lit. class or the weird books I'm reading for leisure (right now, it's Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenaksdjasegger. Next up, House of Leaves!)<br />
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<b>Outlook for the Day:</b> Promising. This may or may not be fueled by coffee and the really cute guy sitting next to me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-68512542902466991972011-10-23T17:31:00.000-04:002011-10-23T17:31:12.500-04:00I'm not dead.I am just... hibernating.<div><br />
</div><div>And by hibernating, I mean: watching Doctor Who, trying to convince myself to write, drinking too much coffee, reading far too little, and eating far, far, far too much frozen yogurt.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The life of a college student is pretty much all about frozen yogurt. At least if you're me and my roommate, who eat it about 5 times a week. Draining my Starbucks budget, you are! </div><div><br />
</div><div>Anywho: expect some kind of revival of this blog sometime soon. If you're impatient and want to read about writing, head on over to my tumblr: <a href="http://yeahwriting.tumblr.com/">yeahwriting.tumblr.com</a>. (If you're also into Doctor Who and other nerdy pursuits, feel free to follow my personal tumblr: <a href="http://vagabond-ing.tumblr.com/">vagabond-ing.tumblr.com</a>.)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Happy trails!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-40677243316366692992011-08-03T20:09:00.000-04:002011-08-03T20:09:38.916-04:00Sorry for the silence!I've been moving for the past week-ish, so I haven't had much time to blog, since I'm doing Camp NaNo.<br />
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SPEAKING OF WHICH:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/C1i4oPXjAQg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-84306531291072182322011-07-29T17:22:00.000-04:002011-07-29T17:22:58.211-04:00Oh! Oh! I have an idea!I've been vlogging a lot this past week, so you may have heard me mention in one of them that I've decided to write a fantasy novel. I've been busy plotting it out, getting all excited for it, since it definitely seems like it'll need more than one book to be complete. I've never even tried to write a series before!<br />
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However, there's one small problem: I'm currently in the middle of another project. Several other projects, as a matter of fact. There's the more-than-half-finished TSTB rewrite, which is coming along pretty well. (Kissing scene was written the other days, lots of swoons to be had.) There's what I planned to write for NaNo, another YA romance called I KILLED FIONA WASHBURN, whose characters I am in love with. There is the not-finished rewrite of THE UNLIKELIHOOD OF NOSTALGIA. Finally, there is the disaster that is THE REAPING OF JONAH SALT, a 12k word monstrosity that was more of a fun exercise than it was ever a real, viable idea.<br />
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I find it ironic that the most oft-asked questions of authors is, "Where do you get your ideas?" The question should be, "Where <i>don't</i> we get ideas?" It's constant, this influx of ideas. From movies, to television shows, to other books, to real life, to stories on the news--that where our ideas come from. And it can get really annoying when you're in the middle of one thing and another catches your eye, like you're a bird who is trying to build her nest with as many shiny (half-baked) ideas as you can.<br />
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My advice, however: don't switch horses in the middle of the stream.<br />
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If you are in the thick of one manuscript and you want to start another one, WAIT. Wait until you've come out of the other side in the darkness that is the middle, boring part of writing, and then see how you want to do your next idea. It's so tempting to stop what you're doing for a shiny new plot and set of characters who don't have the problems of your current manuscript, but it's really hard to finish one thing if you have ADD of the brain and can't stop jumping back and forth.<br />
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<b>How do you deal with errant plot bunnies? Do you ignore them, wait, or jump right into a new story, no matter where you are in another?</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-12196625119741706552011-07-28T17:19:00.000-04:002011-07-28T17:19:00.784-04:00How to Procrastinate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3tIpwqJ0I84?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-54166088277740940172011-07-27T11:49:00.000-04:002011-07-27T11:49:29.852-04:00Have Hope, All Ye Weirdos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/EbLFhs-SIBc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Perhaps one day you will be as awesome as me! Then, the world will thank you for being strange when you were younger.<br />
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In other news: I have consumed so much coffee and consumed so little sunlight in the past few days that I am almost sure that is the reason I still have a tan. I'm turning coffee-colored.<br />
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Also, I got to 30,000 words yesterday! Woohoo!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-40673426996517405612011-07-26T13:58:00.000-04:002011-07-26T13:58:08.406-04:00You Are Probably InsaneThis video is the product of too many cups of coffee, an Avatar marathon, and writing until my head starts to bleed.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E9iWnYx1UIU" width="425"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-31648485172352497892011-07-24T12:08:00.000-04:002011-07-24T12:08:56.555-04:00This is Teen Event!Last night was amazing! I met Maggie Stiefvater, Meg Cabot, and Libba Bray, as well as another aspiring author while standing in line to get my books signed. It was such a great night.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfpT3L04RfPo_RA9irzwBbV3T821fL_oTB1l30gXSARyAA_aeFt_F5fMoYKCy8-wcX6G555d_MfcIhopiXVVVZtwq5Lb1KLtL4KVscRe2yK7gN4hiEVmqYIWXXYzuU880Nv4M4QtIz_7g/s1600/101_2809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfpT3L04RfPo_RA9irzwBbV3T821fL_oTB1l30gXSARyAA_aeFt_F5fMoYKCy8-wcX6G555d_MfcIhopiXVVVZtwq5Lb1KLtL4KVscRe2yK7gN4hiEVmqYIWXXYzuU880Nv4M4QtIz_7g/s320/101_2809.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Maggie was so nice! She asked if I was done with Forever yet and I was like, No, I'm near the end though! </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6cPeuEGj8aTLO7DWpfx7v__Irofda5BgSaZIiPyCq2-83qiB66fGIX8lXTuFSlxIi5pGBrtXWq9mlMk86PrvIfuFFbqUonnU6ALyV2Eobxw91TzR14Jqu_ToTTWc-1Vf3IpIuGJExEc/s1600/101_2810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6cPeuEGj8aTLO7DWpfx7v__Irofda5BgSaZIiPyCq2-83qiB66fGIX8lXTuFSlxIi5pGBrtXWq9mlMk86PrvIfuFFbqUonnU6ALyV2Eobxw91TzR14Jqu_ToTTWc-1Vf3IpIuGJExEc/s320/101_2810.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I got a little fangirl-y when I went up to Meg Cabot and I completely forget everything I was gonna ask her!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6x4YD-xzWg3xd-ogixHY6pkMWHs7tSgATjhMbgja90EYbkYOgumXPqACRXkhHAGoQRS5lrMfbQ211aKnpNZGR4RKjIRd0euJGwjw4X90_JxPlYTyntCJC4U_XCSf6wJckuYGWte0wSJE/s1600/101_2811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6x4YD-xzWg3xd-ogixHY6pkMWHs7tSgATjhMbgja90EYbkYOgumXPqACRXkhHAGoQRS5lrMfbQ211aKnpNZGR4RKjIRd0euJGwjw4X90_JxPlYTyntCJC4U_XCSf6wJckuYGWte0wSJE/s320/101_2811.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Libba Bray! Ah! I bought Beauty Queens and I can't wait to read it!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2F9C2-8foT6jE6ZhG-1OYcQ1sqEM6yBIzYVnrnIygRE7EItcucC8UGAFcHFd3hF8RKA27X5QsfWQe2Z7OCeC5NQ3kGdz2LnGVDz4zrRhlzwHYpzIAvsK7yr1VB1Pe4xlEaB2JXz7JRSM/s1600/101_2806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2F9C2-8foT6jE6ZhG-1OYcQ1sqEM6yBIzYVnrnIygRE7EItcucC8UGAFcHFd3hF8RKA27X5QsfWQe2Z7OCeC5NQ3kGdz2LnGVDz4zrRhlzwHYpzIAvsK7yr1VB1Pe4xlEaB2JXz7JRSM/s320/101_2806.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9HpuyOWQkDUEB-Il6InD_UycFoTbJYDOGXEceOzlNYwMBfmSHx_TyE29zajqdMNYkoUqUCgwZZfD8yxmVezRBseUVeRj_FZgAL0-ToOz25ARQ3hqKPVNOpC9_Wqzjm6Lb0P44n15M_E/s1600/101_2807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9HpuyOWQkDUEB-Il6InD_UycFoTbJYDOGXEceOzlNYwMBfmSHx_TyE29zajqdMNYkoUqUCgwZZfD8yxmVezRBseUVeRj_FZgAL0-ToOz25ARQ3hqKPVNOpC9_Wqzjm6Lb0P44n15M_E/s320/101_2807.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-56502225367357634692011-07-20T20:32:00.001-04:002011-07-20T20:33:32.962-04:00Review: A Dance with Dragons<b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1301849720l/2782553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1301849720l/2782553.jpg" width="262" /></a></b></div><b>Title:</b> A Dance with Dragons<div><b>Author:</b> George R. R. Martin<br />
<b>Date Published:</b> July 12th, 2011<br />
<div><b>Page Count:</b> 959, if you don't include the 100 pages of appendices.<br />
<b>Summary: </b>BASICALLY, all your favorite characters who were not in AFfC are back! Dany, Tyrion, Jon, Bran, Arya (barely), Davos, along with some new and newly-not-dead ones! Dany putzes around in Mereen, trying to bring peace. Tyrion, who recently murdered his father and ex-whore-lover, travels around Essos, sometimes a slave, sometimes a mummer, always a dwarf, asking, "Where do the whores go?" incessantly. Jon is actually a good leader and saves tons of wildlings and is basically awesome, until the end, when the Night's Watch ruin everything. Bran travels way up into the North with Coldhands. Arya learns more about becoming a Faceless Man and is all-around awesome. Davos continues to be honorable. Theon somehow manages to make you like him. Jaime shows up once, with a really annoying cliffhanger ending to a chapter. Asha gets kidnapped. Victarion is a dick to everyone who ever lived and laughs at pain whilst traveling towards Dany.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Just read it. It's hard to summarize.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Review:</b> WARNING, this review will be semi-spoiler-y! I know most of you probably don't read ASOIAF and that's fine, but I don't want to spoil any future readers! So if you haven't gotten to ADwD yet or you plain haven't read any of the books, that's fine. Just don't continue to read this review. You have been duly warned.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Anywho, first reaction: WHY THE HELL WAS THIS BOOK SO LONG? </div><div><br />
</div><div>I had the feeling that this one would be packed with action, unlike its predecessor, the rambling and boring A Feast for Crows. It came on the heels of A Storm of Swords, easily my favorite book in the series, but I was not prepared for its length, where absolutely nothing happens. I expected more from ADwD, especially since it took so long to write. But nope. In the vein of AFfC, it was all set-up. Which is fine, but someone needs to get GRRM a better editor, because we do not need nearly 2,000 pages of set-up. I understand it's an epic story. But really, GRRM, you're just drowning yourself and your readers.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Second of all, I have a problem with all of the cliffhangers. I feel like cliffhangers that resolve NOTHING are super cheap to the reader, because we have to wait such a long time to find out what happens. It's like in TV shows where the MC dies at the end of the season and you have to wait months to find out, oh, they weren't really dead. It's cheap. A good cliffhanger should resolve most of the plot while still leaving some juicy threads. GRRM's cliffhangers are all threads. Nothing was resolved. Dany continued to be annoying in Mereen, where she hooked up with Daario only AFTER getting engaged. Jon became a good leader but then was 'killed' at the end. (Quotations because I know he is not dead. I hate that GRRM brings so many people back from the dead. I thought that, after Ned and Robb, we knew people could die. But now they either don't die or are resurrected. It's annoying.) Tyrion's chapters at least contained some character development. There were only two Arya chapters, only ONE Jaime chapter in which he was kidnapped by an obviously-alive Brienne, and a small number of Bran chapters. For so many pages, we could've gotten more of their stories and he could've cut out some of the food description.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The only thing that I really loved about this book was Theon's character arc. I HATED Theon in ACoK, but I felt so bad for him as Reek and I was immensely satisfied at his final words in ADwD. Say what I will about GRRM, but he is awesome at characterization. He made me love Jaime and he made me love Theon.</div><div><br />
</div><div>If only because this is an ASOIAF book, I'll give it:</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Rating:</b> 3.5/5 stars</div><div><br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-29323243292966098092011-07-13T12:27:00.000-04:002011-07-13T12:27:19.316-04:00There's a reason for my now and future silence:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/I3n0W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i.imgur.com/I3n0W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Got this yesterday and I've been reading non-stop, as well as drinking coffee and somehow managing to write a few thousand words to the rewrite of TSTB. I also have to finish up reading an excerpt from a possible CP and write my commentary on that, so no posts or vlogs for the next week or so!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-86866578515852694272011-07-09T13:41:00.001-04:002011-07-09T13:41:46.204-04:00I Love My Laptop and LiesToday's post is going to be in two parts, just because both of these things are on my brain and I'm also procrastinating from writing TSTB. (I'm up to 18k on the rewrite--more than a quarter done! Hoping this one will top at 60k-ish.)<br />
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Anywho, part one: I really, really, really love my laptop.<br />
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Last night, I was without my beloved HP and when I got back to it an hour ago, I realized just how much I love my computer. It doesn't usually complain or freeze on me, even when I've been on it for hours at a time, and though it isn't awesome enough to play The Sims 2 for longer than ten minutes at a time, it can still handle my excessive tweets and the fourteen new documents I open when I'm trying to figure out a problem within my writing that cannot be solved. I love Google Chrome and Tumblr and Reddit and LiveJournal and Twitter and Tweetdeck and Window Media Player (not so much with Windows Movie Maker, that thing sucks). I love Microsoft Word and Q10 and my fast Internet connection (that, at the end of the month, basically stops working). I love free Wifi at Starbucks and at Panera (where I now work). I love my keyboard, even though the R and the shift key have both been sticking lately. I love the worn parts of the space bar, exactly where I always touch it.<br />
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I am incredibly grateful for my laptop.<br />
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Part Deux:<br />
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I have a problem reading books where the main conflict hinges on a huge lie by the protag. I have some social anxiety and just the thought of lying and keeping the charade up for so long gives me a really bad stomachache, so when I read books where I know the entire time that the main character is lying, I usually have to put them down. They make my anxiety meter go off the charts.<br />
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The reason I mention this is because I recently picked up <i>Bumped</i> by Megan McCafferty at the library and I stoked (I can't believe I just used that word) to start it because I'd been looking for it for awhile. I got about 100 pages in and then I stopped reading. Not because it was bad; on the contrary, I loved all the slang and the characters and everything about it was great. I just really couldn't handle the huge lie and the inevitable scene where everyone finds out about it.<br />
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I guess I just don't lie, in general. I'm bad at it because I never do it. It just freaks me out.<br />
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Does this kind of thing both anyone else?<br />
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And, an added bonus:<br />
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<b>On July 23rd, I'm going to see Maggie Stiefvater, Libba Bray, and MEG FREAKIN' CABOT in Miami! </b>I am beyond excited because I never get to go to these things; when Sarah Dessen came down here a few years ago, I almost went, but then I couldn't find a ride. My mom is being awesome enough to drive me and I am freaking out because a) I love all of them and b) MEG CABOT. THE MEG CABOT.<br />
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That is all for today. I'm done procrastinating.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7443157412948247836.post-603538853062215222011-07-05T23:59:00.001-04:002011-07-05T23:59:23.764-04:00An Homage to Writers (now in list form!)<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NJU1tr75nHw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0