Be an Ink Slinger for a day CONTEST!!! Last day!

This is the final day of our Be An Inkslinger for a Day contest. Here's a recap of how to play along:

5 DAILY WINNERS

We will each post on our regular day with a random question of our choosing. To enter, you must be a follower and comment on the post once with your answer. Each of us will choose a winner from our post days and individually critique for that person. Query, first chapter or synopsis- one of us will give them the Inkslinger treatment.

1 WEEKLY WINNER

At the end of the week, we’ll tally up all the followers/commenters from the 5 weekly posts and randomly select one Grand Prize Winner. The winner can submit a query, first chapter or synopsis for review, and all 5 of us will critique for him/her. 

Okay guys and gals! Free eyes for your WIP's...let's have at it.

We all have those books that blow us away. We read them again and again and we still can't get enough of them. I know for me, it's not one book it's a series: Harry Potter. What is that book for you? Can you pinpoint what it is that has you coming back for more? Let me know down below.

Don't comment here! Go here! 

Before you go, go here too for a chance to win stuff from my giveaway!

Cake Decorating=Revision

About a year and a half ago, my super-awesome aunt asked me if I wanted to take cake decorating classes with her. I said sure, because I really wanted to know how they could make something look so wonderful without using Elmer's glue and duct tape. Just so you know, it was one of the best decisions of my life. I LOVED it. It was amazing. Go here to find out more about how you can take the lessons locally from certified instructors. A picture of one of my cakes is below:


It has room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. (After all, what doesn't have room for improvement?)

Why am I telling you this? Because, I had this thought as I was thinking about revisions. I was actually trying to think of a way to describe revisions so that when I got really tired of it, I'd have something to pull me back up again. Then it hit me.

CAKE

Okay, technically, I was not hit with a piece cake, but I was hit with a great analogy. Cake decorating is to revision, as The Brady Bunch is to query letters.  

Here's the idea:

Cake Decorating:                      Revision:

1. Make and bake the cake.                          1. Write the first draft.

2. Wait for it to cool.                                     2. Let it sit so you can get some perspective.

3. Carve the cake.                                         3. Cut up your WiP through editing.

4. Cover with crumb layer icing.                   4. Rewrite bits that don't work.

5. Roll out fondant and fit to cake.               5. Review all the new bits and make sure they gel with old.

6. Decorate to your heart's content.             6. Polish, and more polish, and oh, more polish.

7. Present it to the birthday person.            7. Send it to your last reader for approval of agent sending.

8. Enjoy.                                                       8. Get an agent. 

So, if your WiP is a cake, which part of the process are you in? Let me know in the comments! 

Don't forget to stop by here for a chance to win the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, among other things, from me, and here for a chance to win 5 critiques of your first chapter, synopsis, query letter, or excerpt. 

Library Literature: Reveal and Snippit

Hello all! I know I haven't done a Library Literature in a while so I thought I'd give you a reminder of what it is. (If you remember feel free to move on down the post) Since I received a job at the library, I find I have more time to read more stuff :) Which is totally awesome. I can actually read about a book a week. So I'm doing a weekly book review every Wednesday. I'll give you a 15 word snippet of the book I'm currently reading and a reveal of my final thoughts from the book the week before. Simple, fun, and educational, right?

Book up for Reveal: Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Snippet:

Girl who wants freedom. Light: gone forevermore. Ocean, hope of what could be...or not.

Snippet Rating: Thumbs sideways. At the time I was conflicted. I thought the quality of writing was superb, but the topic for me didn't grab me by the throat. It actually kind of made me sad. 

Reveal:

Thumbs down. I'm sorry to all who loved this story, but for me, I just couldn't get into it enough, though through no fault of the author. The writing was awesome! The topic of zombies just wasn't for me. If I was giving this a normal review, I'd probably classify it in the A BOOK category. See here for my scale. I would absolutely recommend it to zombie lovers everywhere based on the quality of the writing, but if you're not really into that...I'd check out something else. 

Book up for Snippet:

Title: Graceling

Author: Kristin Cashore 

Currently on page: 244

Snippet:

Girl with mad skills. Boy...curious. Connection=Perfection. Bigger world at stake, learning to change.

Rating: 

Thumbs UP! I am really loving this tale. The author is weaving it all so perfectly. The characters have flaws, they are real, they are changing...I think anyway. There's so much to this book it makes my mind feel like a dried up sponge. I CAN NOT WAIT to finish. Literally, my super-awesome-sidekick-roomie had to take it away from me so I wouldn't read it when I was supposed to be writing. I could gush all day about this book. As long as the ending holds out, I think this might be one for THE BOOKS shelf...I know, not since Hunger Games book1 and Harry Potter before that, has a book made it to that shelf. See here if you're confused. 

What about you? Have you read either of these or plan to? Did I crush you when I gave my reveal for The Forest of Hands and Teeth? (I'm sorry if I did) Let me know in the comments!


Oh, and if you want part of your WiP or your query letter to have the chance to be reviewed by 5 pairs of eyes, then head over to the Ink Slingers and comment on the question of the day. AND don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY! Go here to comment, because that's just how easy it is to get a chance to win 1 of 6 awesome prizes! :)

Bethany kicks some Universe Butt

Many of you probably remember when I realized on October 7th that I had about 7, sort of 8, days to finish my manuscript without being so behind by head would be facing the wrong direction. Panic. That is what I felt my friends. PANIC. How could I possibly finish something that would normally take me at least a month to do? Well, this is the story behind my story. (Sorry it's kind of long, I promise it's flooded with fun.) (Also don't forget to enter for a chance to win 5 critiques for your manuscript here at the Ink Slingers' Blog and go here for a chance to win some giveaway specials in my Blogiversary Giveaway. :)

The clock reads at just past ten in the evening. The window is black with the night and the only source of light is coming from a highlighter pink lamp that would only be normal if my dorm room was the scene of the next Pink Panther movie. What can I say? It was cheap. *shrug* I sit with my laptop on my lap, a slight warmth coming from it warming me from the spastic dorm air conditioner, which should have been taken out thirty years ago when one could have called it ancient, now we refer to it as the dino-shiver-saurus.
"What exactly is this universe thing?" My most-awesome-sidekick-roommate asks, referencing a comment I made about writers and their deals with the universe.
"Oh," I answer. "It's basically just a motivator. If the universe carves a path so to speak, and allows fated moments that help you finish your novel by a certain day, then in exchange you'll do something a little crazy. It's best if it's something that you kinda-sorta-but-maybe-don't-really-want-to-do."
"Why don't you have one?" (Oh, most-awesome-sidekick-roomie how you do crack me up)
"Because I'm not good with self-made deadlines, something always happens." I shrug and open facebook, yet another distraction from what I should be doing....writing.
"Well, I think you should do one."
I chuckled. "Really? I don't know." The more I think about it though, the better the idea sounds and before I know it the following words spout from my lips. "You're right. I know what's going on, I can definitely finish by January 1, 2010." (Ha. Ha. Ha. <---This is me laughing at my naive former self. Have you not learned past Bethany? Have you not?         Apparently not.)
"What happens when you finish?" My most-awesome-sidekick-roomie asks.
"Hmm." I ponder. "I'll dye a stipe of my hair blue."
Her eyes grew wide. "Blue?" (Note to family members or people who know my family: This is between me and the blogsphere and the Universe. Continue reading to see how this agreement was rearranged. Don't worry Mom and Dad I'm going to war against it...just keep reading...just keep reading, reading, reading...)
"I always wanted to do something like that and why not? I mean, I'm only going to be young once and well, knowing me, do you really think I'd be the mom with the blue hair?"
Most-awesome-sidekick-roomie laughed. "I see your point."
"Okay. It's official. I'm going to have my book finished, ready to send out to agents by January 1, 2010." I announce it aloud making it official, promptly closing facebook without a second glance. I open my WiP document.
*two weeks later*
"This is driving me INSANE!" I say a bit louder than I should have. "I have NO time to do anything. It's ten-thirty already and I don't even want to stop and eat supper 'cause that means more time spent doing this stupid----beeeeeeeeep------homework."
"Long day?"
"You could say that." I rant and go through about a dozen things that went wrong with my day. "All I want to do is sit and write, is that so hard?"
"No????"
"No. It shouldn't be but I can't." I plop on my bed and prompty opened a document to begin yet another homework assignment.
"Why not?" Most-awesome-sidekick-roomie asks as she goes through her own stack of homework.
"Because I have so much homework to do." I whine. "It's like...it's like--" I stop myself as the truth comes to me. The universe has it out to get me.  I repeat what I've discovered.
My most-awesome-sidekick-roomie chuckles. "Really? That seems a little crazy."
"I'm allowed to be a little crazy, I'm a writer."
She smiles and shakes her head.
"Fine Universe!" I shout at the ceiling. "You think this is funny? I thought we had a deal. I thought in return for working hard on my WiP and turning some of my hair blue you would set up Fate to help me along. This is WRONG Universe. Consider me at war with you!"
"Wow. I don't even know what to say."
Thank heavens my roomie is a reasonable person who knows that even though sometimes I'm a little crazy I am actually not completely out of my wits. "Eat it Universe." I said. "Eat it! And guess what? I'm only dyeing a stripe in my hair if I don't make it, HA!"
"Oh, boy."
*Flash forward to October 7, 2010*
"Oh, crap.Oh, holy crap. I'm utterly screwed."
"What?" Most-awesome-sidekick-roomie asks, she knows from my tone something is devastatingly wrong.
"One week." I gasp, my throat decided to take a siesta while I panic. It was probably scared that I'd start yelling at the ceiling again...I don't blame it.
"Huh?"
"I have one week, and kinda one day, to write at least 30,000 words. I've gotten nowhere in two weeks. I completely forgot. How could I do that? How could I forget about my war with the Universe?" I start pacing and then stop. "I didn't forget, the Universe...Oh nice play!" I yell at the ceiling because apparently that's where the Universe lives. "Nice. I see what you're doing. It's not going to work. You may have put me two weeks behind but I will get done writing this draft on time!"
And so chaos erupted and I wrote faster than I knew I could write. I hit part of my goal. I got about 40,000 words in 8 days, but my manuscript isn't done. ...

UNTIL NOW! (I finished last night)

Yes, I'm about a week late, and YES that means I'm more behind and, yes, it kinda-sorta means the Universe won that battle BUT, it also means that I am more than ever determined not to fall short of my goal. I may not follow my self-made schedule, but I durned as heck will finish. And when I start saying durned as heck, the Universe better know how serious I am. 

I'm coming after your Universe and your little pal, Fate! Don't mess with this Farm Girl! She can kick some butt and yours is up next!*

*No actual abuse or but-kicking to be done to anyone at anytime. No actual person is involved here. 

Want your stuff critiqued by 5 people?

That's right! I said 5 people! Over at the Ink Slingers' blog we are having a contest in celebration of Halloween and the month of October. Basically, you get to be an Ink Slinger for a day! So what's it about? The details are here and below:

5 DAILY WINNERS (1 winner per day)

We each post on our regular day. My day is Friday, so if you specifically would like me to be your critique person comment on my day for sure! You can also comment on each of the other days to win a critique by the person who posted that post. All you have to do is answer their question. Which, by the way, is just for fun and totally for laughs. At the end of the day the person who posted will choose a random person from the people who commented and let them know that he/she has won a critique! We will critique a query, first chapter, excerpt, or synopsis. 

1 WEEKLY WINNER

At the end of this week, we’ll tally up all the followers/commenters from all 5 posts and randomly select one Grand Prize Winner. The winner can submit a query, first chapter, excerpt, or synopsis for review, and all 5 of us will critique for him/her. 

Sounds awesome right?! What could be better than having 5 YA ASPIRING authors critique your stuff? Trust me, these ladies are invaluable. You'll be thanking yourself when you win* :) Also, you can write whatever you want, it doesn't have to be YA and we will critique it. 

*Not every person who comments is guarenteed 

Books for Braedyn: Please HELP!

Yesterday, I visited Shelli at Market My Words and she was passing along the story of her friend's niece, Braedyn.Check out the full story here.

Braedyn is a 7-year girl from Witchita, Kansas who was just diagnosed with ALL, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She's about to go through some serious treatment and her family would love for her to have some books and crafts to help her occupy her time while she is going through this. They would like her to get a new book each week. If you would like to help out, send an email to BSturgis@metrocast.net. 

I know my heart goes out to this family. I've signed up to give what I can and I hope each of you can help them out too. Please keep them in your thoughts.

Blogiversary GIVEAWAY!

One year (and three days ago) I wrote my first blog post :) Wow, read that again and things sure have changed, hopefully for the better. I started this blog as a slightly more interactive website and ended up with something I never, ever expected. YOU! I want to thank each and every one of you for your time. You've followed, commented, and written posts that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading. I couldn't possibly tell you how much I have learned about writing, revising, blogging, agents, publication, life...the list goes on and on. So what better way to thank you than to give back? So that's what I'm going to do.

First though, I need to give a big thank you to Steph Su at Steph Su Reads. A couple weeks ago I won a giveaway at her blog and the books I won finally came in!!! Thank you! I read them this passed weekend and they were both wonderful. I'll do a review later this week. I don't know, you maybe, might have heard of the author of them....Kathryn Lasky! She's also the author of the books behind the new movie, The Guardians of Ga'hoole.  Here's what I've won:

I hope you are excited as I was about them because I'm giving them both away as a part of my blogiversay!!! 

But WAIT! That's not all!

I'm also giving away THREE one chapter critiques AND another painting or you can choose a mock cover for your Wip.

Latest painting and mock cover:

So what do you have to do? Nothing really, just follow me and comment below!

If you want to advertise for me, that's fine. I'll put in a couple extra entries for ya, one for each announcement and FIVE for an entire blog post about it. I'll also give you FIVE extra entries for EACH new person you send to my blog! Number of max entries: well that's up to you :) Just tallie up your total in the comments (feel free to add to it as you get more entries and don't worry about links, I'm going by the honor system).

This contest is open to United States residents only (sorry international folks!) And will be over in exactly two weeks on November 3rd. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions. 

Plot Structure and Scars

It's beautiful isn't it? Big swoops of energy, change, plot, surprises, and finally that moment of ah ha!. What am I talking about? That would be a plot structure.

I'm not so great at actually drawing out my plot structure. It is sooooo unlike the diagram above that I found on a random google search. Thank you google and people more talented than myself. As I was saying...Me and Structure mapping not such a happy couple. I can do the structure part, the maping gets a little crazy. That is until I was looking at this diagram, yes the one above, and WHAM! It hit me like I was the bug on the windshield of an idea. It's Harry Potter's Scar!

No, seriously, tilt your head a little and squint....YES! You see it don't you? This post could have just ended with a few little, "well now I'm inspired to do better" thoughts (which is true) but I'm willing to go another step forward and do a little map of my own, be afraid, be very afraid. So here's what I came up with:

Everything. EVERYTHING. Goes back to Harry's scar. It is the one thing that starts everything else. It IS the plot structure in a sense. Here's what I mean: (Keep in mind this is for the entire series, not just a book)

Inciting Accident: Harry's parents are killed and Harry aquires scar
Rising Action: Harry resists Lord Voldy's menions for two years and learns new, super, awesome spells
Reversal: Harry figures out not everyone is as they seem, Wormy and Padfoot Complex
Rising Action: Harry resists Lord Voldy and his minions for three more years
Reversal: Harry finds out for sure that it must be him. He is the ONLY one who can kill old Voldy.
Rising Action: Harry knows about horcruxes and works to distroy them. Finally getting all but at the cost of his life right?
Climax: WRONG. Harry is back again and fighting the Voldy who's about to go moldy!!!
Falling Action: Voldy dies and Harry moves on with life. "All is well." (<=Best three words ever written)

Get it now? All of those things goes back to the fact that Harry has a scar. Harry, not Neville or anyone else, Harry. It makes him a target, which makes him learn stuff, which makes him suspicious of others, which helps him to realize more people are on his side than he realizes, which makes him work harder to protect those people, which leads him to his mission, the killing of Voldy, finally his mostly happy ending and the final line of the books, "All is well."

I now have a starting place. What is my "scar"? What is it that will hook my books together? What's that thing that will hook your book together? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Update: 2,764 words left!!!

Hello! It's almost midnight so I thought I'd give you another update. Definitely not going to be able to finish by midnight, but i don't really mind, I've learned a lot in the last 8 days, A LOT!  I'll probably do an entire post later next week, but I do want to say thanks again for everyone who stopped by! I'll continue to update through the night as I finish this book TONIGHT!

UPdate: 4,610 words left!!!

For a moment, I thought I might have to pick up some pixie popcorn, but I think I might make it. It may not be by midnight, but I have a definite chance to get this done tonight!!

I'm off to write, write, write!!!!

Thanks for checking back in Shannon and Amalia!

Update: 8,608 words left

Things got really crazy today but here's what I've done, like promised.

To do: About 10,000 words
Have been done: 1,402 words

I've been struggling a bit to get the words out, but I think I've hit my stride now. I was working on a character I haven't been in the head of for a couple weeks and I kinda forgot his exact sound. He just kept sounding off. Does that ever happen to you? Let me know in the comments!

Last day of the 30,000 words, 7 days challenge!!

As of right now, I think I can finish my book in about 10,000 words. The challenge of this is actually going to be the organization, not the writing. I've got a few parts that need to be linked together and getting to all of those is going to be interesting. I will of course try. :) My plan is to post throughout the day and well into the night, my final post around 12 a.m. with my final word count. Unless I am so close to finishing that I can't stand NOT posting. Then who knows. I hope you get a chance to check back, but it's Friday and I totally understand if you don't get a chance. :)

Here's where I stand:
about 15,000 words left, could be as less as 7,000  or as much as 17,000, such is the life of a pantser.
As of right now I have: 77,548 words

I hope all of you are reaching your writing goals! Also, be sure to stop by the INK SLINGERS blog next week. We're having all kinds of festivities for the month of Halloween!!!

Holy COW and sweet CORN!

*Writing Goal Update*

Quick review for those of you just tuning in: Last week I figured out I was running late WAY late for the date I set to finish my book. Late as in I needed to write at least 30,000 words in 7 days. That, was Thursday. Today is Thursday. One week. It's over...almost.

Here's my goal: 30,000+ words
Here's what I have as of Wednesday night: 28, 909 words.

Good news the day isn't over yet and I can easily reach 30,000. I am SUPER excited about this.
More good news. The actual date I need to be completely done is FRIDAY according to my deadline, that is the 15th of October and the day I need to have my novel D.O.N.E. done.

Here's the deal: I need another 10-15,000 words to make that happen.

Can I do it?

I don't know.

Will I try?
ABSOLUTELY.

Revised goal: finish book by Friday
Words to write: ?

Have you ever set goals for yourself that are so high you really don't know if you can make it? Do you thrive with the challenge or wilt under the pressure? Do you have any ideas who came up with the phrases Holy Cow or Sweet Corn? Let me know in the comments!

Come Look at the New ME!

So I had a few hours at the library yesterday to mess around, so I decided to work on my blog and make it a bit more user friendly. (I could not write because I was stopped every two minutes or so to answer a question which is frustrating when all you want to do is finish a single sentence.) So how did I do? Do the colors work well for your eyes? Is it comfortable and easy to navigate? Do you wish I had something up and it's not there? Any recommendations? Better or worse than the way it was? Let me know  because I'd love to hear.

I will give you the stats to my 30,000 words in 7 days challenge hopefully tomorrow. I mixed up word counts so I'll be working on that, but it might take longer, this week is proving to be a busy week for school. I will let you know that I am behind by a couple thousand, but I know I can make it up easily Thursday and/or Friday as long as I keep writing the minimum tomorrow.

Hope all is well with you! Let me know what's new in the comments! I love hearing from you.

Crazy Word Count Update

Can you tell I'm running out of ways to say I am updating my word count? Well, I am. Suggestions would of course be welcome. :)

Stats for yesterday:

23,656+ words left
-6,186 words written yesterday!!!!! (Did you read that part? Go back and read it again! 6,186 WORDS!
17,470 words to go!

I can do this....I can!

Just so you know (and just so I can write it out, because that makes it seem so much more real) I wrote 530 more words than I needed to! 

So goal for today:

4,000 words to write

I just want to add in one more thing. Last week was Patti's blogfest about writing as much as we thought we could in a week. Clearly I was not trying hard enough. Not that I would be willing to write so much all the time because this has seriously CONSUMED my life, but I am thinking about what this means for my future writing practices. Any comments? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Thank you and Word Count Update

I'd like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement yesterday and today! It really does help to put things in perspective. I'm still running a bit behind but I have until 6 to catch up and that is more than enough time, right? Right. I can do this. I can.

Here are the stats:

26,957+ words left

- 3,301 words written yesterday

23, 656+ words to go. 

Total scheduled to date: 8,000 words

Total actual written to date: 6,344 words

Words behind: 1,656 

Words to write today: 5,656

I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

Update

Finished 3,043 words last night. Not Good.

4,000 -  3,043 = more words to write today

  30,000+
-   3,043
26, 957+ words to go

If you're confused, see this last post.

In Which I Made a Secret Deal with the Universe and Didn't Tell You....Sorry!

Okay, this is going to be quick and short.

I made a deal with the universe, details of which I have no time for.

Why? I semi forgot my deadlines to said deal which leaves me with little time.

Why little time?

7 DAYS


30,000+ WORDS


The countdown begins. 


Needless to say, I will not be doing my usual posts, but I will be stopping in from time to time to let you know how this is going and if----NO-----when I succeed, I will be letting you all know about the deal with the universe and my schedule for said deal.

I have to go. At least 4,000 words to go before sleep tonight. Adios.

What is it, Writer? Tell me about yourself, Writer.

What is it about a good book and a warm cup of coffee that makes me just completely unwind? It's like I have no worries in the world. As long as I have a good story before me it matters not where I am or who I'm with, I just am and that's enough.

There's something completely satisfying in being enough, being content. It is these moments when my characters come to me most often, whispering thoughts into my head that have me reaching for my keyboard.

Special. That's what it is to be a writer. Not a person who writes, but a writer in every sense and meaning, both written and unwritten, of the word.

WRITER. There are so many other words that match with that one perfectly, and yet not. It's every profession and yet not an occupation at all. It is a sense of being. It does not come and go. There is no ending to it. It is with you. It is you.

Ever had a person ask you to tell them about yourself? We start with our name. Our souls start with a word, Writer.

I was talking with a friend the other day. I'm not sure who said it, but the conversation went something like, "Writers are different. Writers can't just write. We take emotions that we've felt and we stash them away, waiting for the moment when we will reach back and pull them forward. Changing and adapting what we felt, what we feel, into something that makes sense to other people."
"You take what you remember and let others see into that memory. That pain. That happiness."
"Exactly. It does not matter what we are doing or thinking at the moment that we are writing because we can throw ourselves into a different time; when we were different and when we felt different."
"You take that and run. Run with it until the reader is right there beside you. Breath for breath, willing you to take it to the next level, waiting for what is going to make a difference to the character you created and the one the reader is in love with. It's all there in the words that have come from your thoughts which have come from your emotions that have come from your life."
"That's why writers are so different. We share something with everyone that no one else does. A connection that doesn't have a name, as far as I know."
"It has a name. It's called life. You're sharing the life of a person with another person. Granted it's is a figment of your imagination. But who else can live the life of another person, simotaneously talk to another person who has lived that same person's life, and talk to the creater of the life itself?"

 Who indeed?

Maybe you didn't understand that conversation. Maybe it's not like that at all for you. So here's what I want. I want everyone that has a moment to leave a comment. What is it, Writer, that makes you who and what you are? Tell me about yourself, Writer. (In the comments :)

Library Literature: Reveal and Snippet

Last week I started this Library Literature post thing (go here to get more info) and for those of you who don't know, basically I'm reading a book a week and halfway through the book, or there abouts, I will post a 15 word snippet on it and give the book a thumbs up, down, or sideways. The following I post the reveal, aka what I thought of it, and a snippet to the book I'm reading this week. So, here we go:

Book up for Reveal:
Title: Beautiful Creatures
Authors: Kami Garcia and Margret Stohl
Snippet:

Dark. Yet with some light. A girl. What the heck? IT'S HER! Aww, they're talking. 

Snippet Rating: THUMBS UP! I could not wait to finish this book!

Reveal:

THUMBS still waaaaay UP!!! Loved the ending, loved the book. I just thought it was wonderful. I really can't wait to get the next in the series Beautiful Darkness which comes out in just a few days!!! This has potential to go into the THE BOOK category for me. See this post for an explanation of what THE BOOK means. I'm waiting until the sequel comes out for a final call. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would totally recommend to all. 

P.S. the MC is a boy and I love that. It's very refreshing. 

Book up for Snippet:

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Currently on page: 74

Snippet: 

Girl who wants freedom. Light: gone forevermore. Ocean, hope of what could be...or not.

Rating:

Thumbs sideways. I really like the writing quality of this book, but I'm not completely hooked on the story. It kind of makes me down and depressed because the main character does not have much choice or hope in her future. I really can't wait to see how this novel turns out though. I'm excited to find out!!!

So, what about you? Have you read anything fantastic lately? Any recommendations? Have you read the two books I mentioned? Let me know what you think in the comments!

A Look Inside My BRAIN! And my thoughts on the Hunger Games Trilogy *SPOILERS*

Okay, today's the day. What day you ask? THE DAY. The day I tell you my real live, HONEST thoughts about the Hunger Games trilogy.

But first, a look into my brain and how I rate books for myself:
THE BOOK : for this rating a book must stay firmly in my brain (and by default my heart) for a long time, it must leave me feeling:

• resolved with the story
• but still wanting more
• make me want to go out for a midnight release of the author's next book and/or go to a book signing an hour away

Examples: Harry Potter, The Giver, very few make it to this status

GOOD BOOK: a book I will everyone they should read because it is really fantastic and left me feeling:

• resolved with the story
• I will probably buy the next book by the author, but only if the back cover sounds good

Examples: East, Green Rider series, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Happily After All, Scribbler of Dreams, The Hobbit, many more make it here

A BOOK: a book I have enjoyed and would probably read again but would only recommend if that person was looking for a book on a simmilar subject or idea. Leaves me feeling:

• somewhat resolved
• kind of well, that was nice but I wish they would have...(fill in several blanks here)

Examples: Twilight series, A Rose for Melinda, some more make it here

As you might have noticed, there isn't a terrible rating for me. That's because I haven't read a book that has been absolutely terrible. There's always something that I like about a book and usually that one thing will make me read it more than once. Sometimes, I'll read it many times just to figure out how it is that the author could make that one thing stand out to me.

I'm not a hypocrite.
There are some books I have not been able to finish because they just don't "jell" with me. But, because I haven't finished them, I don't think it's fair to say they're not so hot. Why? Because I had an excellent teacher who once told me that to judge anything without first immersing yourself in it isn't only unfair, it's wrong. I really began to understand that once I realized how some books were treated because they have magic in them. How can someone judge a book when they haven't read the ENTIRE thing? They can't.

So Hunger Games Trilogy. Where does it go?

GOOD BOOK



Okay, you can start throwing the stones now.
*ouch! Geez, I didn't really mean it*
 Why?
1. The ending of the series. It was good. It was really good. But, it was just so sad. It was almost depressing for me to read how everything turned out. I felt like Katniss was just moping with how things turned out. She wasn't really content, but rather was just like "blah, I guess this is how it's going to be. I'll just exist here until the end of time." That really bugged me for some reason. I wish she could have been happier with how her life turned out. Then again, she did have several very traumatic experiences, so maybe blah is really all she can manage to express. No, I don't expect her to be all cheerleader, but I wanted something...I don't know. More.

2. I felt like there was a lot of build up to Katniss and her entourage's goal of getting to Snow and when they got there, or rather she got there, it was like nothing happened with that. Sure there was the explosion and the death of her sister, but I didn't feel like she got what she needed. Which in my opinion was to kill Snow herself. Seriously? He dies laughing. How does that happen? I can't believe Katniss let that happen. After all of her work to kill him herself she just completely abandons her goal? That didn't mesh with me. Yes, she has just one arrow, but why didn't she just kill him in the rose garden place? I think if she would have, she would have had a different ending. Maybe she would have been a bit more...just more.

 I will totally read it all again and have already recommended it to every person I know so many times that I can no longer talk about it with a slight roll of eyes. It could be that my opinions will change after I reread the series. If it does I will probably post about that and answer the questions I pose in this post. I'm still in love with the trilogy, and it is probably as close as any book could be to my highest rating without actually being in the THE BOOK category. *shrug*

So, where does the Hunger Games fit for you? BEST SERIES EVER! Great book! Eh, okay. It didn't jell with me. Let me know in the comments!

You Wrote How Much? Blogfest!!!

Hi all! Today is the day of the You Wrote How Much? Blogfest! Go here to see all the people who are participating. Thank you Patti Nielson for hosting!

For this Blogfest, it's simple. You just keep track of how many words you write in one week and then you post it. During said week, the goal was to write as much as you could, hopefully by the end of the week you can get a real answer to the question, am I working to my potential? So how did I do?

9,270 words!!!
Not the best I've done in a week, but not too shabby. I don't think when you consider I'm working about 14 hours a week at the library, I am taking 18 credit hours, and read two books.

I've learned a valuable lesson from this blogfest: only you can determine what you can do in one week, one month, or one year. Some days will be different from others and that's okay. There can be some days that you never write a word and that's okay. For me. I have NEVER written 1,000 words a day or really held up any sort of daily writing schedule for myself and it turns out I'm doing fine without it. If I were writing on a 1,000 word schedule I might have only written 7,000 words or so and I've got 2,270 more than that.

So happy writing to all of you! How much writing did you accomplish the last week? Was it a good, not so good, or average week for you? Let me know in the comments!

Confessions of an Agriculture Lover at INK SLINGERS

So, I haven't talked about agriculture a lot recently, so I thought I'd have some fun and do it today. After all, this week is confessions week on the INK SLINGER'S blog and my confessions are MANY when it comes to ag stuff so here it goes:

1. I refer to myself as an aggie. Aggie is defined as a person who is in fact obsessed or other wise filled with an nearly unreasonable passion for activities that involve agriculture.
2. I'm currently taking two soil classes. Yes, dirt...as in misplaced soil. (Don't get any aggie started on the difference between dirt and soil. Trust me, loosing battle) The confessional part of that is that I really love it. I mean come on, it's dirt (or soil rather) simple right? No, not at all and that is what holds me spellbound, fascinated. How often do we not even consider how awesome the stuff beneath our feet is? Oh, sorry, there I go again. What can I say? Oh, right...see number 1.
3. I instantly give a novel bonus points if it mentions something to do with agriculture. i.e. Beautiful Creatures mentions Future Farmers of America. HUGE points there, HUGE. 
4.  I would much rather get my hands dirty doing something with agriculture than get a manicure. Bring on the greenhouses, horse stalls, and tractors!
5. I feel claustrophobic when I can't see green living things. Like aliens you ask??? NO, as in grass, and flowers, and trees, and *sigh* fields of land. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing about the city. I'm even living in a city right now, sort of, it small but it counts in my book. My soul just needs the country, it's where I was born and where I always want to be. 

So, now you know some more about me. How about you? Have any aggie tenancies? I'd love to hear from you! Let me know in the comments.