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Building Elemastra
Nano Update: As of the day I am writing this, we are more than halfway through Nanowrimo. The clock is ticking, Thanksgiving is approaching, and that means that the finish line is almost here. How has my writing gone? Well…not as expected. I thought it would only take 2 days to reread my manuscript, another 2 days to review the plot and that I would be writing within 5-6 days of Nanowrimo. Add in a last-minute road trip and general procrastination, and I didn’t finish even reading the manuscript until 5 days into the month. Then I took a week to review the plot and read Save the…
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To Nano or Not to Nano
To Nano or Not to Nano That is the question we ask ourselves all through October. And it’s a tough question. Do we have time? Do we have a story calling our name? Will winning give us the boost in confidence we need to move forward? Or will losing be the straw that breaks our fragile ego and sends us into a hopeless spiral? To help you answer this question, or at the very least give you even more to ponder, I’m going to be sharing today about my experiences with NANOWRIMO so far. So sit back, relax and let me tell you about a long time ago in…
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The Pros and Cons of NANOWRIMO
Image Courtesy of National Novel Writing Month Gentle people, it’s that time again. We are deep into ‘Preptober,’ when writers the world over are gearing up for the most magical time of year: National Novel Writing Month. Never heard of it you say? Well, you can recognize it by its sweet symphony: the wailing and gnashing of teeth from those haunted spirits of writers stuck in eternal writers block and the triumphant cackling of the novelists who managed their daily word count–and only had to sacrifice their sanity to achieve it. But in all seriousness, Nanowrimo (pronounced Nah-No-Wry-Moh not Nah-No-Wree-Mo apparently) is an exciting time when people try to write…
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A Work in Progress
One of the difficulties of being a writer is that there is such a long time before the piece you’re working on is ‘done.’ When is a story ready? When has it been told? Does it have enough emotion, enough action? Does it make sense to others? There are a thousand questions a writer considers while drafting and revising. But the primary one that teases their mind as they revise is…is it done? I think many writers will tell you that there is no magic moment when a manuscript is ‘finished.’ Looking back on any previously published work, they will see things they wish they had done differently, gaps…
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Where I’m Going
Now that I’ve told you–briefly–what I’ve been up to the last two years, let me talk to you about where I’m going. The truth is–I have no idea. It’s terrifying. I have a direction. I have a goal. But I certainly don’t have a map. No GPS directions, no ability to check if I’m on the right path. I only have my heading and the ability to take it one step at a time. Here is what I do know. I have tried every job under the sun and none of them felt like they fit. I’ve come to accept this. It’s probable that, despite the fiction that we were…
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Where I’ve Been
A blog where I reveal where I've been for the last two years.
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Book Review: The Infernal Devices Trilogy
The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare The Clockwork Angel The Infernal Devices Book 1 Tessa Gray moves to London to be with her brother after her aunt dies. Upon her arrival, however, she is swiftly kidnapped by the Dark Sisters. Once in their power, she is forced to practice a magic she did not even know she possessed, in preparation to meet the Magister. One night, a chatty young man rescues her and introduces her to the world of Shadowhunters and Downworlders. With the help of the Shadowhunters, Tessa continues to look for her brother in exchange for helping them investigate the Pandemonium Club, of which the Dark Sisters had…
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Book Review: Ninth House
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo 4 Stars Summary: Ninth House is the story of Alex Stern and her introduction to life as the intern of a mysterious secret society on Yale’s campus. As ‘Dante,’ Alex must monitor the rituals of the 8 other secret houses at Yale. These rituals are bizarre, secret, and frequently dangerous. There’s just one problem. Her mentor, the ‘Virgil’ of her order, has gone missing and no one is certain how to get him back. Nor did he have a chance to teach her everything she needed to know to keep these houses in line. The murder of a girl on campus ends up drawing Alex…
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Book Review: Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning
Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff A Short Review This was actually a reread for me. I read this about a year or two ago and it instantly sent me down the rabbit hole of Space Operas. My previous familiarity with the genre had been limited to the TV show “Firefly” and the Video Game series “Mass Effect”, both of which I have a deep fan-girling love for. This book opened up a whole new world for me because it never occurred to me that this could be a literary genre as well! I ended up reading 15+ books in this genre, probably right in a row. What…
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Book Review: Chain of Gold
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare Spoiler-Free Review Chain of God is a wonderful read. It reminded me why and just how much I loved Cassandra Clare’s world when I first dove in over a decade ago. For fans of Cassandra Clare there is tons of her delicious relationship tension. Imagine claps between each of those words. Who likes who and who does that person like, and oh goodness are any of them going to get a happily ever after or is it just going to be a big mess? Imagine that against a backdrop of angels and demons, monsters and mundanes, with war and chaos brewing just beyond the…