#WritersLife: Finishing the first draft of NaNoWriMo 2015 novel

 

#WritersLife, where I talk writing in real life.

I am so excited to announce I finished the (complete) first draft of my NaNoWriMo 2015 novel!

#WritersLife: YA Sci-Fi and un-education

It's #WritersLife, where I talk writing in real life.

NaNoWriMo 2015 ended, and I made it in on Nov. 30th. I don't think I've ever cut it that close. I closed the contest at 50,132 words, but I'm still finishing. It's currently at 55,800 words and I expect to finish in the next 10,000. 

But I've said that before.

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 2

 

Happy NaNoWriMo 2015!

It is Day 2 of NaNoWriMo 2015, and things are looking better after a very slow start yesterday. It took me five hours of work (and some procrastinating on Facebook and Twitter) to get 2,313 words on the page. All last week I would write about 800-1,000 words in a thirty minute session. Beginnings either take me an hour to sprint through, or weeks to trudge through.

#WritersLife: Book Marketing and NaNo 2015 Prep

#WritersLife, where I talk writing in real life. 

I have some awesome news to discuss and also some terror as we approach the dreaded First of November!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Countdown!

 

It's hard to believe that in 26 days, I will be sitting down to eagerly write the beginning of an extraordinary and exhilarating story.

And in about 28 days, I'll probably be freaking out about my word count. It happens.

NaNoWriMo has been crucial for my writing because I am forced to start and end something. Most of us would be confident in starting a story because we get this gorgeous image or understandable character or hilarious dialogue and we just need to write it down right this second! And then we realize one conversation can't hold a novel and we abandon it.

I completed the 50K words in 2012 and 2014, and I reached 17K in 2013 (let's just not talk about that year, shall we?). This year, I'm doing something I've never done: I'm outlining and planning.

#WritersLife: Ways to Improve Creative Writing Programs

#WritersLife, where I talk writing in real life.

After much scheming with some of my dear writer friends this past week (Eric the Great and Donna the Magnificent), I realized that there is so much I still don't know about the publishing world. Not just the marketing and agent aspects, but also the author's life. I want to know more about revision, beta readers, critique partners, querying, and the writing community, and I wish all this information had been available during my college years.

It wouldn't take any of you long to stalk this website to see where I studied, but I'll save you the trouble and tell you. I attended UT El Paso, and below are the lists of things I wish I could have learned and would change today about its Undergraduate Creative Writing Program.

Piloting Conversations That Concern Mindless Deaths (A Story)

Approaching a large city, a pilot and co-pilot struggle to keep control of their plane. A wing is rendered unresponsive after a massive collection of geese intercept the flight path and are sucked into the fans. The pilot radios for help, but communication is down.

“We’re dropping too fast for the brakes to stop us, and the wheels will crack under the impact,” the pilot said. “There’s over a thousand people in that stadium. Most of them aren’t going to survive this blast if we don’t get control back.”

“There’s more than a thousand people,” the co-pilot said.

#WritersLife: Query Process Update and Slow Bloggers

#WritersLife. Let's talk writing in real life.

I finally started my querying process for my YA Contemporary piece currently titled A Second Chance. I sent it in to three agents: Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins Agency, Erin Harris of Folio Inc., and Kim Lionetti of Book Ends Literary Agency.

It was completely nerve-wracking when I sent these off on June 26, 2015, but I received much love on Twitter from other writers because let’s face it: the writing community is golden and wonderful and I am so glad I’m in this industry.

American Teenagers are Desensitized and it’s Breaking Us

In March 2013, a young man stood up in my journalism class and politely stopped our instructor from lecturing to inform her, and all of us, that a bomb threat had been made to our campus and that we were all required to leave immediately to safer ground.

I pulled out my phone and sure enough the text message I had ignored said the same thing. I gathered my bags and clung to one of my friends as our professor told us to be safe. My friend and I left the building into a swarm of slow-walking students heading to the dorms. I called my roommate and she and I walked downtown to do some window-shopping.

We later heard that students who had parked in the garage spent more than 3 hours trying to get out. There was a student directing traffic because the police couldn’t get there in time. We all joked that if there really was a bomber, it would have been wise to plant it at the garage because everyone would rather wait on campus for it to blow before leaving their precious cars.

#WritersLife: Paid Internships and Why They are Awesome

#WritersLife. Let's talk writing in real life.

I recently made some changes and moved 600 miles from my alma mater back to my hometown. It was bittersweet, but very much necessary. Within two days of being back, I had an interview and a job offer. Look at me, being all productive! Seriously though, I'm going to talk about paid internships (which this job is) and give a few reasons why more student writers need to look into them.

How I Lost my Connection to Dystopian Novels

How I lost my connection to dystopian novels isn't something that I thought I could pinpoint to a specific time frame or event. However, months after the aftermath of my personal apocalypse, I realize there is probably a reason I clung to dystopian novels so desperately last year and now feel as though I can and want to read other genres.


A dystopia is a world where hope is needed to survive, and I needed hope to survive. Okay, maybe not survive physically like in the wilderness with bears, mountain lions, and geese (those geese omg!), but survive emotionally. Reading Divergent, Delirium, and Legend (not to mention the dozens of others I hoarded) taught me that I needed to keep my hope alive until things got better.

Cover Reveal: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Photo courtesy here

The cover reveal for Passenger, the latest from Alexandra Bracken, has arrived, and I am so happy!!

I read and reviewed Darkest Minds late last year and adored it! I haven't been able to get a hold of the second book in the series, Never Fade, but I plan on finding it for the summer. This novel has been haunting me on Twitter, and this cover is absolutely stunning.

#WritersLife: Expanding as a Blogger and Reader

#WritersLife highlights my writing career and ambitions (I promise I will find a tagline that sounds good before the next dystopian apocalypse). I've been dabbling in other areas of book reviews, and I want to spend some time on that to better explain why there haven't been as many reviews up on the site as there should be.

#WritersLife: Working as a (Creative) Writer

#WritersLife follows my escapades as a writer (duh). For this installment, I wanted to share some news about one of the businesses I work for, and for you guys to better understand it I needed to share some of my writing career past with y'all. 

Amber's Career Summary in 3, 2, 1!

Working after College

I graduated in May 2014 with my Bachelor's in Creative Writing, and I imagined I would just find some little job while I worked on my latest masterpiece before I was magically picked up and lived my life in a log cabin writing. Needless to say, I still thought life was more similar to Disney than Pixar.

I had some sense knocked into me by my good friend Eric and found some work before I graduated. Over the course of the next year, I would write copy (advertisement) for a sneaker company and a wine decor business, tutor writing to students in community college, start a blog, and intern for a literary agency reading YA/MG manuscripts.

While none of these jobs involved writing fiction, they did require my creativity and willingness to share the love of writing with others. In fact, writing things other than what I love is what has allowed me to appreciate fiction writing that much more. I'm still aiming to be a bestselling YA author, but in the meantime I'm loving the marketing and publishing aspects as well.

Now, to get to the matter at hand...

Wine Decor Business Progress!

I work for a wine decor business called Beth's Wine Designs, which was founded in October 2014. We focus on up-cycling wine bottles and various other types of alcohol bottles (which are donated and not consumed entirely by us) into beautiful art pieces for homes, offices, or celebrations. My work includes writing product descriptions and managing the social media pages. 

I am very excited to announce we just got our first reviews on Etsy and it feels AWESOME!

Aren't these the most stunning reviews you've ever seen?!

We have been on Etsy for months and have made some sales in person, but these were our first official Etsy sales. We had a squeal fest when the reviews came up. 

This is the other part of being a writer that is just as rewarding as seeing your work published. I may not be weaving stories, but my work has allowed my boss to see her work "published" in the sense of it being posted, seen, and adored by her customers. Writing has always been about bringing people together, and marketing is no exception. 

Working as a creative writer doesn't mean you're writing fiction or poetry; sometimes, it means you're working writing jobs in a way that still show off your creativity. 

Cover Reveal: Winter by Marissa Meyer

I know I'm about three weeks late on this game, but I still want to give my thoughts on the cover of the final installment of the Lunar Chronicles Series, Winter, by Marissa Meyer.

This series has been one of my all-time favorites (I have a review of Fairest here), and the covers are one of the reasons that I love to take out my copies of Cinder and Scarlet to hold them close and show them love! This cover is definitely brighter than its predecessors, and I think that's why it didn't make me as pumped as some of the other fans.

#WritersLife: Graduate School and New Projects

#WritersLife 

It's been exactly a month since my last blog post, but I had good reasons (and partial exhaustion)! I need to get back into the swing of things in terms of book reviews, but with my new internship at a literary agency it's difficult to balance as many novels as I was reading before with an additional two manuscripts a week and my current writing projects. Not only that, but I was accepted into graduate school! :D

MFA Program at Hamline University

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. You can post your blog link to her site to share your reading list as well as learn about other books you might want to add from the other bloggers.

Books Finished Last Week:

Unhinged by A.G. Howard
The Union by T.H. Hernandez
Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. You can post your blog link to her site to share your reading list as well as learn about other books you might want to add from the other bloggers.

Books Finished Last Week:
Champion by Marie Lu

Cover Reveal: Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Sara Raasch and Epic Reads has finally released the cover for the Snow Like Ashes sequel, Ice Like Fire!

IT'S PERFECT.

Raasch is turning into an author like Marissa Meyer: nothing she does can disappoint me. This cover looks stunning! I love the return of the circular design and showing us glimpses of the seasons. Not to mention I need to find out what happens after they all return to Winter! Ice Like Fire could either mean Winter invading Summer or Summer invading Winter. Either way, things look hot! (Too puny? Yeah, I thought so). And Theron! I'll soon be reunited with him! *swoon*

Okay, enough of my aimless fangirling. What do you think of the cover? Do you love it? I love it, but you knew that already. 

Also check out Epic Reads for the full scoop! 

#WritersLife: New Internship and Sold Out Tickets

#WritersLife is where I update on all my adventures in the writing/publishing world. For a detailed history, check out the About Me tab at the top of the page. Otherwise, onward to February updates!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. You can post your blog link to her site to share your reading list as well as learn about other books you might want to add from the other bloggers. 

Books Finished Last Week:

Legend by Marie Lu

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. You can post your blog link to her site to share your reading list as well as learn about other books you might want to add from the other bloggers. 

Books Finished Last Week:

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Atlantia by Ally Condie

The Insider's Guide to Getting an Agent by Lori Perkins

Feature and Follow Friday #7

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The rules include writing a blog post in response to the Question of the Week and then following the hosts, the two featured bloggers, and anyone else in the original list you like. The goal is to gain new friends and followers, so comment on every blog post you come across. For more specific rules, check out their much more substantial posts!

Question: Where do you post your reviews besides your blogs? Where else do you post your reviews? - Via A Great Read

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. You can post your blog link to her site to share your reading list as well as learn about other books you might want to add from the other bloggers. 

Books Finished Last Week:

Graduation Day (Testing Series #3) by Joelle Charbonneau

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Feature and Follow Friday #6

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The rules include writing a blog post in response to the Question of the Week and then following the hosts, the two featured bloggers, and anyone else in the original list you like. The goal is to gain new friends and followers, so comment on every blog post you come across. For more specific rules, check out their much more substantial posts!

Question of the Week: Do you own any doubles of your books? What led to getting that second, third, or fourth copy? - Suggested via A Great Read

End of Revision Round 1 for NaNo 2014 Novel

Sure, I wrote the novel, but do you know how tough rewrites are?

FINALLY. The edits and rewrites for the first revision of my NaNoWriMo 2014 novel (titled A Second Chance as of this moment) have come to an end. Two of my three beta readers for this period have confirmed they have the manuscript in their hands and I'm waiting (impatiently) for the third to get back to me.

I have decided to not touch the novel until I get feedback from my readers, which means I can focus on my dream dystopian novel! I wanted to write it for NaNo, but I realized this kind of story needed to be written over a longer period of time. Dystopia worlds are not something that should be breezed through.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. Most bloggers have adorable original blog photos, but because I'm a newbie to the game, I'm using the image straight from Book Journey (so no photo design credit to me).

Books Finished This Week:

Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

Feature and Follow Friday #5

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The rules include writing a blog post in response to the Question of the Week and then following the hosts, the two featured bloggers, and anyone else in the original list you like. The goal is to gain new friends and followers, so comment on every blog post you come across. For more specific rules, check out their much more substantial posts!

Question of the Week: Do you have any fun collections other than books? - Suggested via Peace Love Books

Book Review: Requiem (Delirium #3)

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Summary from Goodreads:

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has transformed. The nascent rebellion that was underway in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight. After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven. Pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels.

As Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain of the Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena and Hana's points of view. They live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.


My review:
Requiem by Lauren Oliver is the shocking ending to the Delirium Trilogy. In a world where love has been cured and eradicated in the cities, Lena and her band of Invalids are on a mission to break down the barriers. Meanwhile, Hana's POV intercepts in a way I've been waiting for since Delirium. Finally, I got to see the world through Hana's eyes and it's just as bad as Lena's.

The novel was phenomenal. The switching points of view allow the reader to understand life in the Wilds and life in Portland during the start of the war. Even though I had to crawl along with Hana (her chapters felt shorter than Lena's even though they probably weren't), it provided a blindingly bright light on the evils and manipulations of the government, something we saw only briefly with Julian Fineman in Pandemonium.

The love triangle. Oh. My. It was intense. I imagined who Lena would choose and I was wrong. For the first time in quite a while, the romance was just as thrilling as the political demises and they flowed together seamlessly. Granted, the plot focuses on the idea that love is a disease, so love should have been a main plot line, but we also see love between family and friends that is pushed and strained in a way that will make you question whether love is such a great thing after all.

And Hana. Hana, how could you?! I have never felt to betrayed and then redeemed by a character since Peter in Divergent. Not only that, but Lena never annoyed me, not even once. She matured into the kind of character this series deserved, especially after all the deaths. Oh, the deaths. They're still wounding to think about.

Overall, Requiem was phenomenal (did I say that already? Too bad. Phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal!) At first, I was worried it would be too open an ending, but Oliver patched everything up in the final two pages. Two pages. I would have liked to be told something about my biggest question before then, but at least she gave me something. Read this series if you haven't. You need this in your life.

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

If you haven't read (and you need to), you can get a physical copy here or a digital copy here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog meme hosted by Book Journey. You review the list you read the week before and include the books you have plans to finish this week. Most bloggers have adorable original blog photos, but because I'm a newbie to the game, I'm using the image straight from Book Journey (so no photo design credit to me).

Books Finished This Week:

Avoidables: Series 1 (Hope's Awakening) by Rachel Medhurst

Feature and Follow Friday #4

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The rules include writing a blog post in response to the Question of the Week and then following the hosts, the two featured bloggers, and anyone else in the original list you like. The goal is to gain new friends and followers, so comment on every blog post you come across. For more specific rules, check out their much more substantial posts!

Question of the Week: What was your favorite book (or books) of 2014? - suggested via Alison Can Read