Book Tour Tuesday

So, as I was thinking on what I would do for each day of the week, one thought came into my mind.  Why shouldn't I review a book each week?  Even if it isn't a newly published book, getting the recommendation is always a great start to learning about an author and what kinds of books they write.

Now, I will hopefully be able to get some authors interviewed in the future for Book Tour Tuesdays, but for now I will put up a book review, or even have guest posts for book reviews in case I'm too slow in my reading.

For this week, I have chosen to review Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Marissa Meyer Website

This book at first glance was certainly intriguing to me.  And I saw this book first on Goodreads.com before it's release as a recommended new author read for me. (Back in 2012)

I'll admit, I wasn't super excited when I started to read this story about Cinder, but as I kept going, it got better and better.  The characters were lovable and despicable.  The science fiction base of it all was fun, and even the idea of what the future of the world could be was fun to read.  And by the way, if you want to know my favorite character in the book.  Her name is Iko and she's a robot. Finally at the end, I couldn't put it down! I had to force myself to put it down a couple of times because I realized it was past midnight and I had to get up early the next day.  In the end, I had to get the next book and I've already started to read it. Scarlet is its title, and I can't wait to finish it so I can read the third book of this series which is The Lunar Chronicles.

If you want more detail into the story, I'm not going to give much away.  Although, I found out some of it to be predictable, but was still fun to read.  Hopefully you'll check it out at your local library or purchase it for your collection.  It's a great, clean read, so it's wonderful for preteen readers as well as any other Young Adult genre fan.  Also, if you like fairy tale stories, you'll like this Dystopian/science fiction version of fairy tales.

Go out there and get reading and get writing!

It's Been Too Long...Again

So, I've been inactive for this last little bit because my hubby and I took our family on a camping trip for a few days.  We had no cell service (or very little service), and it made it so that we had to talk to each other and spend time together.  Which was AWESOME!

Anyway, I've been thinking about how to organize my days of the week for the blog.  I won't be posting on Saturdays and Sundays because it's the weekend and I'm usually busy.  But I will try to have postings for Monday through Friday the best I can.  I'm a one blogger show and fitting everything in every day of the week isn't easy for me.  I'm horribly at time management, but somehow I'm going to figure it out and get into gear and do it.

Speaking of time management, that's one thing that I've seen in a lot of author blogs when they answer the question: How do you find the time to write?

Well, the answer they all give is: You just do it.  The Podcast show, Writing Excuses, talks about this too.  They call it: BIC HOK.  "Butt in Chair.  Hands on Keyboard."  Even if you don't write anything but the same word over and over again for ten minutes, you're writing.  You're getting those gears working in your brain.

It's like exercising.  You just have to do it to stay healthy and your skills will improve, and your stories will get better, and you will just feel better.  But with everything, the starting of it can be easy.  You just have to keep going through the rut time to make any progress at all.  I've seen amazing things to those who keep going when they've gone through a rut.  I am not one of those right now in my life.  I am kind of in a rut, but kind of not.  I need my exercise, both physically and intellectually in my writing.

So random thought here and it should go with what I'm talking about in finding the time to write.

I started training for a 5k about three weeks ago.  This 5k is in August.  After week 1 of training, I injured myself pretty good after my 4th training run.  It sucks.  It sucks so bad.  Because of my injury, I have lost about two weeks in my training.  I mostly go do the runs when my hubby is home so I can take the dog with me, and not have to push a stroller.  So I find the time to do the runs.  Because of my injury, I've been having to do some leg strengthening exercises and they hurt to do them, but I know if I keep going, I will get better and be able to finish training and keep on running further than a 5k run is and push past that rut and succeed.  First I need some tools though.  I will need a knee strap for both knees now, new running shoes, and if I can: new running clothes (just to make me feel good about myself and be more comfortable).  Oh, and an armband for my phone to sit in during the runs.

Writing is very similar.  I see Writer's Block, what we think of as Writer's Block, as an injury of some sort.  Maybe we burned ourselves out in researching our story instead of writing it.  Maybe we started self-criticizing ourselves for the story before it was finished, or maybe we were so excited about our story we told our closest friends, allies and family about it but some were critical of it and said it wouldn't  happen, thus lowering your self esteem in the ways of writing an actual story.

So, go start again.  Find the time to the write.  Get the right tools.  Go buy some books on writing.  Take a creative writing course.  Check out books that will be in your genre.  Check out new and upcoming authors and what is making their story a hit on the NYT bestselling list or on Amazon's bestselling list.  I have even found the researching agents and publishers when I get in a writing rut, or just don't feel like it gives me the motivation to complete it.  Find friends, allies, and family members who will support you and help you with reading your story, and will help you edit. Don't forget though, you still have a lot of editing to do when you finish that first draft.

While I figure out what each day will look like on this blog on writing.  Go out there.  Read a book.  Do a writing prompt.  Listen to a podcast on writing.  Find a writing group.  When you get the right tools you need for the exercise, you will be able to get through your rut easier, and find that your outcome will be greater than you expected it will be.

I'm Back!

It's been an incredibly hard hurdle to get back into writing.  I had my third child in October 2013.  I was even on bed rest near the end of my pregnancy because the baby just decided it would be time to come at 30 weeks instead of full-term.  Luckily I didn't have a preemie.  I also was in online school and being a mom all from the couch.  Even after having #3, I did a lot of parenting of the older two from the couch because of breastfeeding, and the fact that #3 didn't like being put down...AT ALL!

Anyway, after a few grueling semesters, being a parent, and supporting my husband through his crazy new work schedule after being promoted, and a billion new story ideas, I am diving back into writing.

Now, I saw a wonderful blog with keys to submitting a query to have your own story read by a publisher or an agent.  In it, there was one thing that stuck out in my mind that is so true these days: KNOW HOW TO USE TECHNOLOGY!  People who you want to represent you as an agent, or to publish your story want to know if you're connected with anyone out there in the cyber world.  They want to see you for you and how you are with others online because, let's face it, it's truly a techno world these days.  Some days I feel like Skynet will take over and we'll be nothing but worthless shells whose stories are left on pages for the robots to read on their own.  Then again, because of technology, there are wonderful things about it (like connecting with you), and there are things that can cause problems in actual real life relationships.

So, for now, I will leave you the link for the page I read by Sherry Ficklin about submitting your stories to be published, and I will come back later to chat!

Get out there and do some writing!

Surviving the Slush Pile by Sherry Ficklin

Blog hiatus

Sorry everyone for the extremes in my hiatus.  I started up school again in September last year and it's all online so I actually have to read the boring stuff they assign us to read or I won't learn anything.  It's all working out well though.

Also my family will grow from a family of 4 to a family of 5 in the next few months.  So we're busy getting ready for that too.

Maybe, possibly I'll be posting here again in the future, but for now, sorry again for the hiatus.  If you would like to see some amazing miracles and awesome writing advice, check out David Farland's page on Facebook.  His son had a horribly long board accident and is still recovering, but doing well.  His story is miraculous and heart stirring.  But really check it out.  They are raising money for his medical bills because let's face it, writers don't get company medical insurance policies.

Hopefully everyone is still writing or at least thinking about it.  NaNoWriMo for 2013 is coming up soon.  And even though I'll be in school and taking care of another kiddo, I might try my hand at it again.

New Ideas

Why oh why do I leave this blog to suffer?  I'm so sorry to all of you that follow it.  I wish I did write in it more but now my little baby I had last year where I thought I would get more writing done is now faster than me and getting into EVERYTHING!  Nevertheless, my mind still goes crazy with ideas and I have finally written down a little bit of the background of the story and am now working on the tiny details.  When I wrote down the idea, I realized that I had to create my own mythology with it.  Let's just say it's like a mix of the Percy Jackson series meets the Fablehaven series meets The Mortal Instruments series.  But I am busy busy with many things and I'm even hoping to start school again to get my Bachelor's degree in English this Fall!  I'm extremely excited about beginning school again (I have missed it), and then I will be able to really get something done that I want to get done.