*pokes head in*
Wow, hello, anyone that may be reading this! Long time no see! *tips hat*
I can’t believe so long has gone by since I last blogged. My last post was totally book centered, since it was an end of year wrap up post. I honestly forgot I had a blog. Woops! Bad blogger. But today I’m back with one of my traditional blogs broken up into sections.
What order did these things go in again?
What I’m Reading
So I just started THE HANDMAID’S TALE since it’s such an acclaimed and well-loved novel. I’ve wanted to read it for some time, so I’m finally doing it. Plus, I’ve heard from basically everyone with each day we’re getting closer and closer to living in that reality. And Hulu’s adaptation of it is coming out soon, but I don’t actually have a Hulu subscription. Maybe if I love the book I’ll have to get one. I read about 50 pages today, and the writing is beautiful, and I like the slow build up of the world building.
But some stuff I have read since I last saw you and loved include:
Firstly, STRANGE THE DREAMER by Laini Taylor. Ohmygosh!!!! This is my favorite book of all time. It’s so goddamn beautiful and painful and phenomenal. It’s everything a book should be. And it’s so good and I can’t talk about it because it’s too perfect. just, please everyone read this book! EVERYONE. I’ve since thrown it at three of my friends, and I’m trying to convince literally anyone I can. It’s such a gorgeous important book.
I feel bad cause any book I talk about now just won’t get the same level of swooning.
Two YA contemporaries that just came out I really loved were ALEX, APPROXIMATELY and UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED. They’re both so wonderful. ALEX, APPROXIMATELY is so much fun and suuuuper swoony, while UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED is like, love in book form? I don’t know, they’re just amazing and magical. Please, please definitely read them!
An ARC I’m super excited I read was THE SONG OF THE CURRENT. It’s basically a watery, piratey book I’ve been waiting for! I love Caroline, the MC, and the whole rich world building and mythology. Plus, there’s a great romance, which is always a plus. And there’s really cool parent/child dynamics, which made the novel even more interesting. You’ve gotta check it out when it comes out in June! It’s a great fantasy.
Damn, Goodreads is down so I can’t look at what else I’ve read over the last 4 months. Booooo 😦 I guess I just gotta rely on memory.
Okay, lightning round!
-The Summer Palace, the Captive Prince trilogy epilogue. Holy crap Damen and Laurent are so PURE. They make my heart happy.
-A Conjuring of Light. OH MY GOD. What a satisfying, amazing ending to the Shades of Magic trilogy. I had all the feels. Completely devoured it.
-The Hate U Give. Like the rest of the universe. Amazing voice, characters, world building! Must read for the entire universe.
-ohgodohgodgoodreadswhyareyoudownnow
-A Crown of Wishes. So beautiful! Read. Book. Good. Yes.
-What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good for Nothing Artist and Her Pussy. Graphic memoir about a Japanese artist arrested for feminist pussy art. Morbidly funny and 99999% feminist.
-Done Dirt Cheap. Boundary pushing YA!
What I Will Be Reading Soon! 😉
A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN
holy crap my heart is ready and not ready and asdfghjkl
ALWAYS AND FOREVER, LARA JEAN
which ship makes it out alive?? what if no ship makes it out alive? But either way more Song sisters!!!
THE NAMES THEY GAVE US
look Emery Lord is ahhhhmazing, and I love summer camp books, and EACH of her books have made me cry. so I’m looking for a 4-peat.
What I’m Doing
Was that even a section? I can’t remember.
Besides the usual “omg CLASS and work” answer, I was recently at The Museum at FIT. I adore that place. They always have exciting exhibits, and they’re free, so there’s really no excuse for not popping over for a visit. I saw their exhibit Black Fashion Designers and Paris Refashioned, which was clothes from the 1950s and 1960s.
Black Fashion Designers [SWOOOOON]
Paris Refashioned 😀
I also saw the live action Beauty and the Beast last month. I loved it soooo much. I even saw it twice on opening day, one with bestie and second with my parents. I can’t wait until it comes out on dvd and I can watch it over and over again. I thought they fleshed out the story really well. It made everything feel bigger.
I also saw Anastasia on Broadway. Oh my heart.
Concerts! I saw Twenty-One Pilots in January, and Bastille in March. So good. I just love them. They have such good music. And they put on great shows.
I turned 22 recently! That was weird.
Book events wise, I saw Angie Thomas when she was here on tour for THUG. That was such a great event, one of the best I’ve been to. It was so insightful, but also equal parts fun and serious. Anyone that has a chance to go listen to see her speak and get their book signed most definitely should
Bookish swag wise, omg I’ve become obsessed with candles. My favorites so far have been from The Melting Library. The Night Court candle and Fireheart candle just smell soooooo good, and I love the artwork on the jars too. I was lucky enough to order the ACOMAF sampler today, so I’m so excited to finally get the smell the Inner Circle 😀
Oh, I was also selected as a Pitch Wars 2017 YA mentor!!! 🙂 I’m so excited to do all the pitch wars things. ❤
What I’m Thinking About
Ummm… I mean… current events are pretty scary.
Also thinking about ACOWAR. Like, basically all the time I’m like “omg ACOWAR.” We’re finally under the two week mark, okay. Things are happening!
What I’m Netflixing ha new category going rogue over here
I have been watching PARENTHOOD in my bid to find something similar to Gilmore Girls. I’m on season 3 and it’s not like Gilmore Girls lol. I just want another show about two women living their lives in a light hearted and entertaining way.
I do want to watch The Get Down. I just need to clear some time to start it.
Also, I still listen to the song It’s the Count from the first episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events constantly. Like, all the time. That song just makes me offensively happy.
What I’m Writing
I recently unstuck myself from the hole I’d written myself into. This project is codenamed #ConcertBook. I’d been feeling really unhappy with where the MS was, and carting around this negative feeling for weeks. I was tired whenever I opened the doc and just didn’t want to work on it. So the other day I was fed up and wanted to get to the bottom of the issue.
So the night my determination kicked in, I started thinking about what was giving me problems. It was my characters! So I started combing for writerly articles by authors I admire. I reread Maggie Stiefvater’s post about characters and then found Susan Dennard’s post about writing 3D characters.
The next morning I went to Starbucks, got some chai, and started thinking. I had a fresh notebook and started jotting down notes about my main character. And I was looking for a reason she wasn’t doing something. Then I hit on one. I thought about not doing it for a nanosecond, and then remembered Susan saying not to be afraid to go to those emotional places. It felt right. It felt right and it added the emotional kick the manuscript had been lacking. So I ran with it, and I haven’t looked back since. It’s been mental. I wrote 13k in 2 days, and I’m in love with my book again. I see its potential.
So don’t give up, guys! No matter where you are in the process, if you’re struggling with something, you can push through and fix the problem. Your story needs you. Don’t give up on it. Do the work. The ‘I fixed my book’ feeling is actually the best in the universe.
And on that note,
Take care of yourselves and be kind,
I’ll try to write soon ;),
Mic ❤
