#then like Third and Fourth is continuing with edits for the YA novel and doing tone edits for the MG one

[lordsardine]

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[theguildedtypewriter]

Writing Update

Hello All!

I'm going to try to make a habit of these so that you all know what's going on with the series and my writing in general. That way, you won't be missing out on exciting news or follower requests.

What's Going On

So many updates on the Newborn City Front. In fact, let's make a list for easy viewing.

Affinity for Pain got a new cover! That's right, she's updated and looking gorgeous. I've also started working on the rest of the covers for the series, because of course, I couldn't stop myself. You can see it here.

Burn the Bone will be looking for Delta Readers! Yes, a new term I've come up with just now for this fourth round of beta reading that the second book in the NBC series will be going through. You can learn more about BTB and if you'd like to be a Delta here.

Calling Evil Forth has words on the page! After a long spell of writer's block, the third novel actually has words and paragraphs and even a few pages! Hurray!

Newborn City has Merch! Patreon has updated its merch offerings and I've included these in several tiers. It's images of Hope, Ciaran, and Red that I drew myself. Show your support and get cool stuff! It's a win-win. You can check it out here.

I'm writing for CBR! That's right. Ya girl is writing for Comic Book Resource. I'm doing movies and gaming, with an emphasis on Dungeons & Dragons. So my fellow nerds out there I'd be so honored if you checked out the stuff by me, Rachel Johnson.

What I Want for the Future

Here are my goals for the coming year:

I want to grow my Patreon- I'd love to see some real traction with my account so that I can start creating custom writing pieces for people. I love the idea of creating my own little writing community that exchanges ideas, get to see my work first, and is rewarded with short pieces written just for them based on their unique ideas.

Get Affinity for Pain self-published- Yup. I'm taking matters into my own hands and releasing this bitch to the world! I'm going to begin the process of getting final copy edits, choosing a publishing format, and launching my book. Hopefully, if everything goes smoothly (when does that happen?), I'll have it out by my birthday, October 21st.

Move Burn the Bone through Delta reading- By the end of the year, I'd like to get BTB through its last stage of readers so that it's ready to be published once AFP has been out for a year.

Finish a first draft of Calling Evil Forth- Yes, I must finish getting the words on the page and actually complete the story so that the series can continue.

I'm very excited about the year ahead and am determined to have a good one despite everything, especially my terrible luck. I hope all my followers stay involved with me here and I'd love to see some of you over on Patreon. There's cool stuff happening at every tier so no matter which one you choose, you'll be happy.

That's all for now folks!

[brynwrites]

I was just wondering if you had any advice for a new writer? More on how to approach writing a book or anything you wish someone had told you, thanks!

THE BASICS OF NOVEL WRITING

First off, you have to know these two things:

Your first draft of your first book will be terrible.

All your favorite authors of all time wrote a terrible first draft of their first book too. Probably a terrible second and third draft, maybe even a terrible second and third book.

This is okay. It can make writing hard sometimes, but the point of writing is not to whip out a masterpiece the first time you type: it’s to have fun exploring new settings, watching new characters grow, and being the first person to ever experience this story–your story–progress!

So, where do we begin?

Know thine story.(or ya know… to don’t.)

Before you tackle any kind of project that will take months, even years, of work you want to first decide what you’re actually doing. In the case of writing, we outline. (Or sometimes, we deliberately choose not to online, but only after we thought about outlining and maybe tried it out a little.)

There’s no wrong way to outline. Every writer does it differently, and therefore there’s about a million different methods. You can instantly find a ton of them using google, and these are a bunch of my own personal outlining tips.

The things you should know by the end of your outline include:

Setting. Where does your story take place? What does this place feel like? (If it were being filmed as a movie, what would the color palate look like?)

Worldbuilding. If you’re using a real place, how much research have you done? If you’re creating the setting from scratch, in which ways is it like our real world and in which ways is it not? (You don’t need to know everything about your world building going into a project, but it’s good to keep track of what you haven’t figured out yet, so you don’t get to the end of the rough draft and realize that everything you made up along the way contradicts itself.)

Main Characters. Who are they and what do they want? What beliefs or flaws are keeping them from getting what they want, or driving them to want something which hurts them? What’s the first trait someone notices about them? (Check out this nifty character creation sheet for some simple development questions!)

Plot. Now, plot sounds scary to a lot of writers, but a plot is just the accumulation of your other story aspects put at odds with each other. Your characters will make choices trying to get what they want, and those choices will effect the rest of the world, which in turn comes to bite the characters in the butt and force them to make more choices until eventually they get what they want, for better or worse. That’s the basis of a plot: it’s everything standing between your character and the rest of their life. (If you don’t have any semblance of a plot, check out these nifty tricks.)

Genre. Specifically, why are you telling this story in the genre you chose? How do the themes and tropes of the genre work with your story? What would the story look like in another genre?

Optional: The Beginning. If you come to the blank page of death without knowing exactly where you’re starting it can be incredibly daunting. Check out my tips on writing the first act for more help.

However you chose to outline, (and whether you chose to outline at all), the most important thing to know going into a story is what will produce the central conflicts?

Conflict drives a story. 

Conflict between characters and other characters.

Conflict between characters and the obstacles to their desires.

Conflict between characters and their own flaws and beliefs.

Even if you have no idea where your story will go or how it will end, as long as you start out your story with a conflict that’s difficult to resolve, you’ll always be on the right track!

Now, to the writing.

For the first draft of your first book, I’m going to suggest this controversial tip: Ignore all the writing advice.

The learning stage of your writing journey (aka the first three books you write) will be a mess of picking up and throwing out advice, and you’ll have plenty of time to do that once you start revising your rough draft, but for now the most important thing is finishing your first novel. 

Write your story exactly how you want to and damn the advice.

Some important things to do though:

Decide how many words or pages you want to write a week and try to continuously hit that. (But start out small! Your writing heroes might be churning out a novel in a month, but a thousand words a week can be an good and ambitious goal during your first novel!) The key is to build a habit. 

Find someone to motivate you! This can be another writer friend but it can also be a non-writer friend you’re comfortable talking about your writing with. Tell this person what you’re doing and how much work you want to put in each week and let them be your cheerleader.

Don’t get feedback yet. If you do have a writer friend cheering you on, it might be temping to send them your work asking for their opinion, but negative feedback tends to demotivate and make you question yourself. If you’re letting people read your first rough drafts, ask them just to be motivational right now, and then save their critique for when you’re ready to edit!  

Don’t even get feedback from yourself. It’s very tempting to stop every three paragraphs and wonder if you could have written them better a different way. And the truth is, you probably could, BUT imagine how much better future writer you (who has finished the whole manuscript and has far more skill than current you) will fix those paragraphs up?! Current you has barely any more skill than the you who wrote those paragraphs last week, so let your future far more skilled self handle it.

Don’t be afraid to change your story and process as you go. If you go into your story believing something specific about it, but you come up with something you like better as you write, you’re allowed to change it. You’re allowed to write it out of order. You’re also allowed to write another story beside (or instead of) the one you set out to write.

Above all: KEEP WRITING. Writing can be tough (even for the best and most skilled of writers) when you stop writing and start thinking, because thinking often leads to doubting and fearing. Just put one word after the next and let your future self worry about whether those words sound good together.

You can find more of my advice about the rough drafting stage here!

So, you have a novel... now what?

Now comes the revision stage. (And yes, you will have to revise. Some writers have to do more revisions than others, but nearly every author worth their salt will have at done at least three drafts of a story before sending it out into the world.)

Just like outlining, there are many ways of revising and each writer has to do what works best for them. Some people rewrite the entire book from scratch. Some take elaborate notes and then rework pieces at a time. Some just dive in and change whatever they don’t like as they read. Here’s an in-depth look at what I do when I edit my rough drafts.

For your first novel, I’d suggest one of two ways:

Rewrite it all. This is a good method if you either changed your story a lot while your wrote or you didn’t have a thorough outline so your resulting story ended up having huge holes. Rewriting is never a waste. Your pacing, dialog, even your prose, will all come out better when you rewrite the same story over.

Re-outline it all. This is a good method if you don’t think you need to rewrite but you don’t know where to begin editing. Read through the story and track everything that happens and then compare it to standard character arcs, three act structures, and so forth. The goal is to figure out how your story compares to the ideal simplistic stories in your genre and then tweak your story to make it closer to the ideal.*

*In no way do you have to stick with traditional or simplistic structures for all your writing, but if you don’t know how and why the traditions work, it’s very hard to produce a great story that defies them.

Once you’ve done some editing yourself, you want to find another writer (or three, or five) who’s of a similar skill set as you and get their feedback. They’ll be able to pick out issues you didn’t notice.

The final thing you’ll have to deal with in the editing process is your prose. Most writers have terrible prose for the first 50k to 100k words they write. Beginning writers who’ve already written short stories or role played or wrote a lot as youngsters tend to have an advantage in this. The thing to always keep in mind is that it’s okay if your first book’s prose is awful. 

You’ll have improved your prose just by writing it, and you’ll have a better grasp on story as well. This book doesn’t define who you are as a writer. If you really love the story, you can chose to rework it further to clean it up, or you can use what you learned through it to write another book that’s cleaner from the get-go. 

THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN STARTING OUT

1. First books almost never get published. 

A lot of us resist this, because our first books are good, dammit, we worked very hard to make them that way! But the quality of the book isn’t always the thing that holds it back; often the first book we write ends up pretty similar to the more poorly written published fiction, but it wasn’t written with knowledge of the publishing industry and the market. 

And that’s okay! It’s okay to write a lovely book that you put aside so you can publish your second or third or fourth book instead. That first story is still wonderful and it still helped you immensely.

2. Not everyone will like even the best story you ever write. (And even if it’s a literary masterpiece some of them will quote literary flaws as the reason they don’t like it!)

It’s common knowledge that everyone has different tastes in literature and one person might dislike a story another person loves. What’s talked about less often, is that the people who dislike a story based on taste, will often pinpoint specific literary aspects they believe were done poorly. They’ll say the characters are bad, and the plot had too many holes, or the prose was clunky. And they’ll probably believe what they say, and find evidence to back it up.

And that’s okay! As long as the majority of your target audience isn’t finding these things a problem, then you’re in the clear as a writer. Not every reader’s critique is valid and not every piece of feedback is worth listening to, even if it has the lingo of a legit critique.

3. You have to be reading in order to write well. Or, more specifically: If you aren’t reading books, you won’t write as well as you can.

It’s easy to assume that just because we read a lot of books growing up and know how stories work that we can write good ones. And in some ways, that can be true. We can write good stories without reading good stories—but we can’t write great ones.

A writer who really wants to improve their craft should try to read a book a month, or more if possible. If you have limited time, you can read shorter books, listen to audiobooks, or quit any book that doesn’t immediately hold your interest. But do read. Read, read, read, read.

4. If you can’t write a blurb, the problem is in your story.

Maybe this is a little harsh; there’s a lot of skill required to writing blurbs and it does take practice! But whether you have a concise story with characters whose goals and resulting conflicts weave seamlessly into the setting and create an easily describable plot with specific, emotional stakes and hard character choices will be very clear when it comes time to write those down as a 200 word blurb.

It’s so essential to blurb writing to have a tense, well paced, nicely woven story, that writing the blurb while you work on the story’s rough draft can actually help you produce a better story!

5. Sometimes the best stories are not the epic masterpieces but the ones you’d want to whiz through despite its many flaws.

And these stories are worth writing. Don’t feel the least bit bad for choosing to write the book you’d want to read as a ‘guilty pleasure.’

And on that note, if you’re still reading this, go check out my guilty pleasure book Our Bloody Pearl to support my ability to answer asks (and also get a swell read about a sassy, disabled siren and a soft, freckly pirate.)

[courtneyranes-blog]

Hey hey people! I’m really excited about todays blog! So I’m sure you saw a few days ago Stephanie Meyers, aka the queen who gave us Twilight, is releasing another book for the twilight series and it comes out in August!! I am so super excited, I already preordered my copy and I can’t wait!! Anyway the whole point to talking about that was to bring up todays blog theme and its, my favorite Young Adult (YA) books!!! Most of these books are ones I read in high school that I still love to go back and read today. Also they are in no particular order!

The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

Since we already started talking about this I might as well continue! So I love all of these books and the movies but my favorite book from the series that I’ve read multiple and have made notes in is the OG, Twilight! The book is sooooo much better than the movie, not that I don’t love the movie because I 100% do, but they just left so many amazing scenes front the book out of the movie! Especially my favorite one when Bella has to prick her finger for a dna test in school and ends up fainting and having to go to the nurses office and Edwards sees Mike taking her and decides to literally sweep Bella off her feet and carry her there *swoon*. I’m getting carried away, anyway, the Twilight series will forever hold a special place in my heart because its the first book series I ever read! P.S. I’m Team Edward!!

2. The Summer I Turned Pretty Series by Jenny Han

You might recognize the author for this series! She also wrote the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series, which will also be on this list, but before that series came my favorite coming of age teen girl romance novels! The first book, The Summer I Turned Pretty, came out in 2010 followed by two more books; It’s Not Summer Without You and We’ll Always Have Summer. These books are why I believe I’m so picky when it comes to guys and had really high expectations for summer vacation in High School. I mean this girl never thought of herself as pretty, as we all did back then, but had a huge crush on a boy she’s known basically her whole and when not only he starts giving her attention she’s not used to but his brother does as well, well she has no idea how to handle it or what to do! Will she fall for the sweet boy she’s always secretly loved or the bad boy who has secretly loved her? I guess you’ll just have to read them to find out! Also if I’m not mistaken, I think I recently heard a rumor that The Summer I Turned Pretty is being turned into a movie, which would be awesome!!

3. When It Happens by Susane Colasanti

This book, even though it came out in 2006, I didn’t discover it until my freshman year of high school and it honestly was my holy grail in high school. It’s all about first times with so many different things while going through high school, hence the title, and its just simply a great read! I think I’ve read it maybe 10 times in my lifetime and I would still read it over and over again. This is definitely a book I would love to experience again for the first time.

4. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

I mean, who didn’t think these would make the list? I seriously believe these books are a right of passage for every pre-teen/teenager, boy or girl, out there! The Hunger Games came out when I was a freshman in High School and let me tell you, the hype was REAL! And very well deserved! These books are so good and I’ve read all three a few time through and actually just rewatched all the movies as well and since I hadn’t seen them in a hot minute it felt like I was watching them again for the first time! I don’t know if it’s because I’m older now since I first watched them but I feel like I was a lot more emotional watching them again a few months ago then I was when I saw them for the first time in theaters a few years ago! With the book to movie adaptation I think they did a really good job! And there is a fourth book coming on this month on the 19th called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which I’m pretty sure is supposed to be a prequel to the original Hunger Games book. I may or may not have pre-ordered my copy for this book as well and I can’t wait! I really hope it gets a lot of hype again to where they make it into a movie!!

5. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series by Jenny Han

My last but not least favorite YA book/series is of course To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (TATBILB) If you have not read these books but have seen the Netflix movies, what are you doing with your life? Yeah the movies are super good and Noah Centineo is very yummy but the books are amazing!! But also I honestly can’t wait for the last movie because they have done a really good job so far with the other two movies! Funny story about TATBILB is I actually didn’t read these books until December 2017 I believe and when I really like a book I google to see if its being turned into a movie or tv series because, why not?! Anyway I just happened to get very lucky for this one because when I googled it they just happened to announce that it was indeed being turned into a Netflix original movie and to tell you I was obsessed when I found out was an understatement, just ask my friends. These books, and movies, are so well done and perfect for a high school romance read! Now I’ll be patiently waiting for the third movie while wearing my Team Peter Kavinsky crew everyday that I got from My Oh My Supply Co.

This was a fun blog post and a fun little photoshoot I did as well! I really like doing these kinds of blogs where I share my favorite things! Make sure you like this post and maybe even comment below if you’ve read any of these books! And Subscribe so you never miss a post!

For next Tuesdays blog I’m going to let you guys decide the topic, so in the comments below please let me know whether you’d like to see a blog about my Morning Routine (Quarantine Edition) or a blog about my Favorite Eyeshadow Pallets. Whatever one gets the most votes between the comments on here and the poll I have up on my Instagram story will be my blog post for Tuesday! Thank you so much for reading and as always...

Positive Vibes. Positive Mind✌🏻

[dangerouslycleverbooks]

MARCH WRAP UP???

Hi everyone!

So I decided that Saturdays will be the day of posts. Posts in other days than Saturday will be more random and probably shorter. I do realize that it’s the middle of the month of April and that everyone kind of forgot about March, but I’m about to post my March wrap up anyway.

Because in March I’ve read 9 books I will try to write it as short as I can. It’s not a lot, but I’m not disappointed, because as I said before there are 8 books I need to read per month (because of my reading challange for 2018). Not only I wasn’t disapointed by the number of the books, but also the contents; from all of 9 books I’ve enjoyed every single one, some more, some less, but there is no book I’ve give less than 3*.

The first book I’ve read in March was Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo. I’ve enjoyed these stories. I wish I had this book when I was younger. It’s inspiring and really well written. Most important it’s not only “book for children”, it’s something that we all can learn something from. Not only young girls and what’s most people haven’t noticed; not only girls. While I get a lot of women that were mention in book are not a really good examples to be followed for good girls, the book is not about being GOOD. It’s for a rebel girls for goodness sake! The book is about powerful and influential women, which sometimes doesn’t go along with being “the good girl”.

The next book was Before I Let Go written by Marieke Nijkamp. Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return. Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger. Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter… Though I haven’t gave this book 5* it’s still one of my favorite storie I have ever read! I love the concept, getting to know characters, the wat Marieke wrote this book, not unnecessary the style. I don’t want to say too much because I’m afraid I could destroy you the reading experience.

Another book, or should I say graphic novel, is The Mortal Instruments; The Graphic Novel Vol I. Hanging out with her best friend, Simon, is just about the most exciting thing in Clary’s life…that is, until she realizes there are people only she can see. But when her mother disappears and a monster attacks her, Clary has to embrace a world that she never even knew existed–a world full of vampires, werewolves, demons, and those who fight for the humans, Shadowhunters. I love the idea of the graphic novel for The Mortal Instruments because the first books from the series aren’t really good for older teens and adults. They could easily skip the first three books by reading the graphic version of them! For now, there is only the first half of City of Bones (the first book from TMI series) but there will be more! And hopefully we will get them at least to City of Glass. I recommend buying this edition not only for people who are a bit too grown for the way CoB was writte, but for everyone. It’s fun, the illustrations are really good and also there is one scene that was missing from the original book!

The fourth book from March wrap up is Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levensellet. Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship. More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King. It’s really typical YA novel and from the synopsys you can clearly say it is cheesy, but I really enjoyed my time reading this. I hope the next book (because it is a duology, and  I haven’t gave you the name of the sequel for a reason; it’s pretty spoilering). Maybe I liked it because the book is about pirates and sea adventures, and I’m all about it! I don’t have problems with light books (and this was definitely one) I also don’t have any stipulations with it. But I do have some thoughts starting with „this could be better if…”. I wasn’t the big fan of a romance in it, but I believe that Levenseller will make it up with another books!

The next two books are my rereads and the first one is Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them… I’ve reread this book because I am taking part in rereading Clare’s books before Queen Of Air And Darkness release. I have to admit when I first read Clockwork Angel I wasn’t a big fan of it, especially the love trangle. During the reading this book this month I focus on London and the case they were into, I’ve tried to ignore the love affairs and I have to say, I was really pleased with it. I’m not saying that I’m madly in love with Infernal Devieces and it’s not my favorite series by Cassandra, but it definitely jump on higher place.

My second reread is the first book of my favorite duology of all times (which are basically on the same place as Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab), and that is Six of Crows by Leigh Berdugo. Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone… A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first. If you still wonder about buying this book… don’t wonder, just buy it! If you already read The Grisha trilogy, buy Six of Crows asap! Or if you’re not really interesting in reading The Grisha, just jump right into it! I am really mad at myslef for ignoring Six of Crows because of the hype, but it really is worth it, at least for me. There is no words that can describe my love for this book. The first time I’ve read this book in January of 2018 and I immediately had to jump into the second book! I’ve finished SoC at 9 AM and right after this I went to local book store and bought Crooked Kingdom! Still it wasn’t enough so I ended up wanting to reread both books! First time I focused only on the story and the task they had to do, which basically made me miss a lot of really important things in relation between characters. Probably with the third reread (which will probably happen in the next 4 months) I will find something else. Six of Crows is connected to The Grisha trilogy and some people says it’s not necessary to know it before reading duology. I do believe it is better to read Grisha first because there you have the whole magic system and most important thing of this world is in it. Plus Six of Crows happened after The Grisha series which basically means you might find some spoilers, not big one, but still spoilers. I personally read Six of Crows first, but if I could I would definitely start with The Grisha series.

And now the book that I did enjoy but not that much… and everybody seems to love it… and after years of trying reading it I finally finished it. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone or if you prefer The Sorcerer’s Stone by none other but J.K. Rowling. Everybody probably knows what this book is about so I won’t write about it. And to be clear I love the world of HP, I love the films, I love the story, I love characters… it’s just, the book (THE FIRST BOOK) was not for me. I dislike the first movie from the series as well so maybe it’s just how it is. And maybe because I wasn’t growing with the books or that they are written for kids… I didn’t get it.  The only thing I liked about this book was the exploring the world all over again. More details about it etc. For me the worst part of the book (and I do get why it was shown this way, but it still was really pissing me off) is the hate towards Slytherin. That everybody in this house have to be evil. Like they are the worst. (I also might be a bit offended because it’s my Hogwart house).  But I will continue the series becuase after all I didn’t hate the book. It was okay, just not something I am madly in love with… or at love at all. I hope the next books will be better, I’m especially excited about The Half Blood Prince which is my favorite part when it comes to movies. I hope to love this series just as everybody else so much! Let’s hope I will.

Let’s move on to two the best books of March, and the first one is… Strange the Dreamer by Taylor Laini. I am so suprised that I loved this book so much. The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep and when a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors who proposed an expedition … to someone else. Because I’m writing full review about this book, I am not gonna write here much. I really do love Lazlo and the storie following his person, and not only his! I am really happy I did buy Strange the Dreamer and I cannot wait to hear more stories from Laini because she’s an amazing author!

And finally probably best of the best reads of this year is A Conjuring of Light by one and only, amazing V.E. Schwab. I absolutely adore Shades of Magic trilogy, it stole my heart with the first sentence! Because A Conjuring of Light is the third book in a series I won’t write anything about it, except the fact that it did broke my heart and left me empty, and yet the ending was so satisfying and beautiful that I cannot complain, but I do need more. And I heard we will get the stories set five years after the Shades of Magic, but we will see what will happen! For now, I will just highly recommend you this trilogy.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little wrap up and that people won’t jump on me becuase of Harry Potter… we all should respect each others opinion, I mean, everybody has a right to have one (..right?). But that’s it for much, thanks to anyone who read this and let me know down in a comments what was your reads of the month of march and what was your favorite? 🙂

[haleyfury]

I’m following up on my desire to continue blog series with my second bookish news update. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really enjoying taking to bookstagram and  Twitter to stay up-to-date on book and author news. For a variety of reasons unfortunately, many spring and summer release dates have been pushed to Fall 2020. I’ve seen a few tweets here and there explaining so, but from what I’ve gathered to put shortly, much of this has to do with sales and everyone’s lack of access to bookstores and libraries right now. While I have some exciting bookish and exciting news to also share, I’ll be first discussing the books on my radar whose release dates have been pushed back. I unfortunately think a few more titles are likely to get pushed back, so I may do another update in a future bookish news roundup.

Release Date Changes

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon | New Release Date: July 14,2020

Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Today Tonight Tomorrow has been moved from June 16 to July 14. Another very much anticipated release of mine, I’m so excited to dive into this one and fortunately have a review copy that I plan on picking up ASAP.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon | New Release Date: July 21,2020

Sandhya Menon’s 10 Things I Hate About Pinky was originally scheduled for June 30, but will now release on July 21. I’m glad that there’s only a few weeks difference because this one is one of my most anticipated 2020 releases! I think I may need a There’s Something About Sweetie reread or three beforehand.

More than Maybe & You’d Be Mine (paperback) by Erin Hahn | New Release Date: July 21,2020

Erin Hahn’s More Than Maybe was originally scheduled for May 12, but will now release on July 21. The paperback edition of her debut, You’d Be Mine, will also release on July 21. I also fortunately have an ARC of More than Maybe, but I know so many readers have been highly anticipating this one as well.

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles| New Release Date: August 25,2020

Where Dreams Descend will now debut on August 25. I originally wasn’t planning on adding this to my TBR…. but then I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and am ready for any book with comparisons to that show with Moulin Rogue and The Night Circus.

Shine by Jessica Jung| New Release Date: September 29,2020

Jessica Jung’s debut novel that is loosely based on the author’s life as a K-pop star will now be released on September 29. With comparisons to Crazy Rich Asians, Gossip Girl, and Jenny Han, I can’t wait to pick this one up!

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett | New Release Date: November 10

Jenn Bennett’s Chasing Lucky is one of the most pushed back release dates I’ve unfortunately seen, moving from May 5 to now November 10. Having read and loved Chasing Lucky for review in February, I’m obviously bummed that everyone won’t be able to read the book for a few more months, but trust me, it’s completely worth the wait.! I’m considering to write more blog posts around the book in the next few months – Chasing Lucky inspired baking recipe anyone?

New Book Announcements

More Jenn Bennett Books – With the announcement of Chasing Lucky’s new fall release date, Jenn Bennett also announced that she signed a contract with her publisher for more books! There will be more details to follow, but I’m so excited to read what I think will be more YA contemporary romance from one of my all-time favorite authors.

Briar U #4 by Elle Kennedy – Last week, Elle Kennedy officially announced that there will be a fourth book in the Briar U series, entitled The Dare. I had been really hoping that there would be another book in this Off-Campus spin-off series. Slight sidenote that both Off-Campus and Briar U are the PERFECT series to binge-read right now. I can now finally read the third book in the series, The Play, without having to worry about not having another book in the series. The Dare is currently scheduled to release on June 16, 2020.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren – There aren’t too many details just yet, but Christina Lauren’s next novel will be In a Holidaze, currently set for October 2020!

Those Summer Nights by Laura Silverman – I have so much love for Laura Silverman’s Girl Out of Water, which made me more excited to learn that she will be coming out with another YA book in 2021!

Thrilled to announce good news still exists! I’m beyond excited to work with the wonderful @kap212 again on another YA workplace romcom! THOSE SUMMER NIGHTS will be hitting shelves in 2021!

😍✨😍✨😍 pic.twitter.com/9nDoL36rfD

— Laura Silverman (@LJSilverman1) April 9, 2020

More Bookish News

Recommended for You’s Cover Change – Laura Silverman’s Recommended for You received an updated cover! I love its bookish-ness both on the cover and in its synopsis, following two teenage bookstore employee’s rivalry to sell the most books during the holidays.Recommended for You will come out on September 1,2020.

Very exciting news!! 📚😍

Recommended for You, my bookstore love/hate Jewish AF romcom, has an updated cover! Add on Goodreads here: https://t.co/c2RyPOznH8 pic.twitter.com/QTmbFotZVj

— Laura Silverman (@LJSilverman1) March 27, 2020

The Selection Is Coming to Netflix – Kiera Cass’ The Selection is being turned into a Netflix film directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour. Blame it on my recent obsession with The Bachelor and Bad on Paper podcast, but I actually ordered the first book in the series the night before the film news was announced!

What new books are you excited about? Are you looking forward to The Selection adaptation? Share in the comments!

Bookish News Round Up #2: Release Date Changes, New Books, & More I’m following up on my desire to continue blog series with my second bookish news update. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really enjoying taking to bookstagram and  Twitter to stay up-to-date on book and author news.

[swipestream]

Sensor Sweep: Gardner Fox, Manitou, Lost Race novels, Sagas of Midgard

Fiction (Gardnerfrancisfox.com): This is the first volume collected and illustrated by Kurt Brugel. The short stories collected in the volume are from Mr. Fox’s earliest (1944) to his last story published (1982). There are all types of stories being told. They range from 2 spooky/creepy (The Weirds of the Woodcarver and Rain, Rain, Go away!), 3 sword & sorcery (The Return of Dargoll, The Holding of Kolymar, and Crom and the Warlock of Sharrador), 4 cosmic adventures (Heart of Light, The Rainbow Jade, Temptress of the Time Flow and The Man Who Couldn’t Die) and 1 history lesson (Cleopatra).

    Cinema (Eldritch Paths): Hard Boiled and the Rule of Cool

I’ve been noticing a trend toward “realism” recently. I see this a lot in fantasy circles where many demand “realism” in their fantasy or complain about the lack thereof. I never understood this. If I wanted realism, I’d just go outside.

Now, I’m not necessarily against realistic fiction. I’ve read classic British novelists like George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. They’re great authors, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I’m against the idea that “realistic” fiction is somehow intrinsically better than non-realistic fiction.

  RPG (RPG Pundit): I think that after a few hundred years to consider, it might still be too soon to tell, but it’s starting to look to me like the invention of the modern novel was, in the final balance, a big mistake. And it’s hilarious to see articles being published (like this one here) suggesting that somehow modern literature is better because in pre-modern literature heroes just went and did stuff, and you didn’t get a lot of information by the author (like you would in a novel) explaining what they were feeling or how their inner monologue was going or what their motivation was.

  Fiction (Wasteland and Sky): Welcome to the third part of this mini-series covering volume 27 of the Pan Book of Horror Stories. In the first part we covered a set of odd shorts that were vaguely horror-ish but more in the vein of satire (at least, I hope so), and in the second part we went over three stories that each had their own weaknesses. Halfway through this book and I’ve started to question just how this once vaunted series had fallen so far. I keep hoping the back half will improve in quality.

  Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): Today, October 15, marks two more birthdays.  James Schmitz (1911-1981) and E. C. Tubb (1919-2010).

Schmitz wrote space opera in the 1950s and 1960s, although he sold his first story, “Greenface” to Unknown in 1943.

Most of Schmitz’s work is set in the Hub.  While there are a variety of characters, the two principle recurring characters are Telzey Amberdon, a young woman with psi powers who tends to find herself in a jam on a regular basis, and Trigger Argee, an agent for the government.

  Art (Tellers of Weird Tales): Boris Dolgov did not exist. The man who bore that name may have existed, but there never was a man in the United States with that name until 1956, too late forWeird Tales. At least that’s what public records say. Search for Boris Dolgov or Dolgoff or Dolgova or Dolkoff or any other permutation you can think of and you’re likely to come up empty . . . except for a Russian-American farmer who now lies buried in a Jewish cemetery in Washington State.

  Fiction (Locus Magazine): Does any genre of fiction ever actually become extinct? And if a genre does go extinct, does that mean that its subject matter, its core material and reason for existing, has no relevance or holds no interest any longer for a contemporary audience?

Most long-time readers can adduce a few genres that, if not extinct, have decidedly gone out of fashion. Westerns once seemed on the verge of disappearing entirely, but while they are certainly not produced in the vast numbers of yore, they do persist at some level. What about “nurse novels?” Fiction about the medical profession continues, and such novels might include nurses.

        RPG (Black Gate): It’s been awhile, and not because there’s been any shortage of Norse-themed role playing games! In this time, we’ve had the  derivative Dragon Heresy, a d6 system called Vikingr, older campaign settings such as Hellfrost and systems such as Trudvang

Chronicles, and many others. Our topic on this Odin’s Day, however, is the latest of these: Sagas of Midgard.

Honestly, I had kind of retired from investment in Viking-age rpgs. My home game hasn’t involved the Norse-specific setting for more than a year, my pocketbook doesn’t drip nine golden rings as Odin’s Draupnir does, and there isn’t much utility in owning much more, since I doubt I’d be able to wrest my gamers from my tabletop version of Fourth Age Middle-earth anytime soon.

  Fiction (James Reasoner): I always try to read some horror fiction for the Forgotten Books post closest to Halloween, and this year it’s THE MANITOU, the debut novel from prolific horror, mystery, and historical novelist Graham Masterton. This book was published in 1976 and was very successful, selling enough copies that they turned up in used bookstore overstock well into the Eighties. When I owned a used bookstore during the era, I always had multiple copies on my shelves. I never got around to reading it until now, though. (There’s also a movie adaptation from 1978 that I’ve never seen.)

        Fiction (Woelf Dietrich): Last week I blogged about accepting the Pre-Tolkien Challenge. You can read that post here. Other blogs taking part in the

challenge can be read here and here. And you can find the originating post that started this challenge here.                                    In short, I have to identify three short stories published before Lord of the Rings. That is to say, three stories published before 1954. And in my review, I have to look at the differences and/or similarities with Tolkien’s world. Today’s my first entry in this exciting challenge so let’s get started.

I grew up reading Conan stories.

    Art (Davy Crockett’s Almanac): Gallery of Famous Fantastic Mystery pulp magazine covers.

  Art (Lawrence Person): Here’s two unusual Robert E. Howard-related items I picked up off eBay relatively cheaply. I think both of these were originally freebie giveaways to promote fancy illustrated editions of Howard’s work.

        Fiction (Grave Tapping): A three-man strike force accustomed to rescuing prisoners of war in the jungles of Vietnam is stateside on a rogue mission in Los Angeles. Mark Stone, known as the MIA Hunter, is asked by an old war buddy, now a deputy chief with LAPD, to help rescue Rick Chavez from a Colombian drug cartel. Chavez is a Pulitzer award winning journalist who has been writing a series of hard and insightful articles about the drug trade in L. A. The articles have enough detail that the LAPD and the drug gangs—Crips, Bloods and their Colombian suppliers—want to know where his information is coming from.

        Fiction (Frontier Partisans): Thanks to a tip from Italian Front scout Davide Mana, I picked up the first Dark Horse Conan Omnibus for $2 on Monday. The first story is Born on a Battlefield, depicting the Cimmerian’s youth. The art is by Greg Ruth and I like it very much.

Ruth also illustrated the Ethan Hawke Apache Wars graphic novel, Indeh, which was a disappointment — but not because of the art. I liked that very much, too.

So, I started scouting out the interwebs for more of Ruth’s work and stumbled upon an intriguing trail. Ruth illustrated a series of YA novels titled The Secret Journeys of Jack London. How can I resist a tale of Jack London that involves the Wendigo? It’s on it’s way up from the Bend Library…

      Calendar (Mens Adventure Magazines): In recent years, I’ve had the pleasure of becoming friends with actress model Eva Lynd.

I started writing posts about her on this blog before I met her several years ago, when I learned that she was a favorite model of Al Rossi and Norm Eastman, two of the great artists who did illustration art for the men’s adventure magazines I collect and focus on here.

In this post, I’m happy to announce the Authorized 2019 Eva Lynd Calendar is now available.

  Sensor Sweep: Gardner Fox, Manitou, Lost Race novels, Sagas of Midgard published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[char27martin]

10 Tips for (Re)Writing a Novel

Last spring, my friend emailed to ask my secret to writing a novel. Flattered, I smiled as I read her questions and promptly responded, promising that I would divulge my “wisdom” in a blog post, per her request.

While washing dishes, folding laundry, or making supper, I considered how to approach the topic: Would I mention writing out the details for each of my central characters? Or would I note the book that really helped me get a firmer grasp on the process of understanding my characters’ motivations?

Oh, the range of possibilities was endless!

This guest post is by Jolina Petersheim . Petersheim is the bestselling author of THE DIVIDE, THE ALLIANCE, THE MIDWIFE, and THE OUTCAST, which Library Journal called “outstanding . . . fresh and inspirational” in a starred review and named one of the best books of 2013. That book also became an ECPA, CBA, and Amazon bestseller and was featured in Huffington Post’s Fall Picks, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and the Tennessean. CBA Retailers + Resources called her second book, THE MIDWIFE, “an excellent read [that] will be hard to put down,” and Booklist selected THE ALLIANCE as one of their Top 10 Inspirational Fiction Titles for 2016. Jolina’s nonfiction writing has been featured in Reader’s Digest, Writer’s Digest, and Today’s Christian Woman. She and her husband share the same unique Amish and Mennonite heritage that originated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but they now live in the mountains of Tennessee with their young daughters.

Then, that Friday, I received a very kind but thorough email from my publisher, stating that my fourth novel, The Divide, needed extensive revisions.

I didn’t know what to do after I received that email. I stared at the computer a while, and then I went outside and sat on the outdoor couch, staring over the field as my husband and two young daughters—all three of them wearing brown leather boots—checked on the raspberry plants.

I got up, walked down the hill to my family, and told my husband about the email. We talked about it for a little, and then the four of us sprawled across the grass because, when it’s 70 degrees and sunny in April in Wisconsin, that’s exactly what you do.

We stared up at the clouds as the incessant, molting rooster crowed, and I thought to myself, I’d rather give birth than rewrite that novel.

Later that night, after our girls were in bed, I left the dishes in the sink, the laundry on the line, the floor unswept, and my husband and I sat on the couch and discussed the various ways I could approach the story, making the plot threads of The Divide as tight as its prequel, The Alliance.

The next morning, he watched our girls while I went to Amish greenhouses with a friend. I loaded the back of her truck with trays of fragrant perennials and annuals, and then came home, put on a floppy green hat, and tucked those plants in the dirt with my eldest daughter.

A few hours later, my husband and I went out on a date with two friends. As we sat outside, basking in the sunshine while eating pizza, we talked about our journeys and our lives, and I could suddenly see that—not only would I indeed be able to revise my novel—but this setback was an opportunity for creative growth.

That might sound strange, but it was a mercy, in a way, that the week I was about to dispense writing advice to my friend was the same week I was forced to face the fact that, even after five contracted novels, I didn’t have this whole writing gig figured out. Sometimes I still don’t, but here are a few tips that have helped me whenever I feel overwhelmed by a project:

1. Take a step back.

You know that adage, “You can’t see the forest for the trees?” Well, sometimes, when you’re too personally invested in a novel (or have just received an email suggesting you rewrite it), you can’t see the story for its flaws.

2. Get outside.

The pressure of deadlines and maintaining a social media presence forces us to spend numerous hours each day staring at our computers and smart phones. Stepping away from the screens and breathing deeply is good for our minds and souls, causing us to feel refreshed enough to eventually come back to the computer and continue where we left off. I try to start my morning with a forty-minute hike (putting my cell phone on airplane mode), and I am always so much more peaceful and focused for the day when I return.

3. Plant something.

A few years ago, a health emergency caused our family to go through a very challenging winter. After the last frost, I started pulling out old shrubbery and weeds and planting perennials around our house. There is something restorative about planting new life and watching it grow. Try it sometime.

4. Talk to your spouse.

My husband is very left-brained, whereas I am—surprise, surprise—very right-brained. He balances me so well, which is why he always reads my manuscripts before I turn them in, taking special care to make sure none of my male characters are tiptoeing or screaming, like I had them doing in The Alliance. (My husband—a mountain-man—often acts out these gaffes, which makes me laugh too hard to be mad at him.)

5. Talk to a friend.

I have been part of a book club for the past eight years, though we’ve gotten so close that we’ve stopped officially talking about books and instead spend the few hours we have together each month talking about marriage, child-rearing, and our work, laughing so hard that we have to wipe tears from our eyes. On the way home from our recent gathering, my friend happy-sighed and said, “That was better than any therapy session,” and I agreed. Writers need community, which is why social media is such a pull for isolated writers, and yet nothing beats face-to-face interaction.

6. Get a change of scenery.

As a work-at-home mom to two little girls (and soon expecting a third!), I don’t often get to leave home twice in one day. But our family was busy the whole weekend after I received the news that I needed to rewrite my novel. This was crucial in keeping me from hunkering over the computer for hours upon hours, trying to fix what went wrong. So, take a walk, go out for coffee; the problems will still need fixing when you get back, but you will be in a better state of mind to fix them.

7. Take time to study your surroundings.

For better or for worse, I am an avid people-watcher. Sometimes, I get so caught up in an internal dialogue that I forget it’s rude to stare, and my husband will gently nudge me and whisper, “You’re doing it again.” However, the benefit of people-watching is that I’ve overheard some of the most interesting conversations, which spur me on creatively. Perhaps you should grab that cup of joe and just sit in the café, people-watching for a few hours, jotting down everything that could be put in a book.

8. Be grateful.

I signed my first book contract when my firstborn daughter was twelve weeks old. Now she is five. I’ve published four books over the past five years, moved three times (twice across the country), and soon will give birth to my third daughter. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, I sometimes forget that I get paid to write novels from home. This is a dream come true! When those hard moments come (and they surely will), it’s essential to recall the work it took to reach your dreams and the memorable moments along the way.

9. Look at setbacks as an opportunity for creative growth.

We’re going to have setbacks in this life, personally and professionally, and oftentimes one will affect the other. So, how do we creatives cope when faced with such a conundrum? Well, we can cry, yell, headbutt the computer keys, blame ourselves, blame our publisher, or we can get up, dust off our ego, go outside, and talk to someone we trust.

10. Don’t give up!

If you’ve recently experienced a setback, give yourself a few days, or at least a weekend, to regain your equilibrium. It will come back, I promise, and when it does, you’ll be ready to tackle this wondrous, challenging, creative process all over again. I will be working right there beside ya, or else I’ll be outside, digging in the dirt.

The biggest literary agent database anywhere is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the most recent updated edition online at a discount.

If you’re an agent looking to update your information or an author interested in contributing to the GLA blog or the next edition of the book, contact Writer’s Digest Books Managing Editor Cris Freese at cris.freese@fwmedia.com.

    The post 10 Tips for (Re)Writing a Novel appeared first on WritersDigest.com.

from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/10-tips-rewriting-novel