Perfect Chemistry

I loved this book.  Which is why I am sad that this post has to be a short one (I'll spare you the details--they're not that interesting).  Perfect Chemistry has been on my radar for a while, but I kept putting off reading it.  But with the Hogwarts Challenge's first mini challenge, I had the opportunity to move it up my to-do list.

It's a love story between perfect-on-the-outside, rich, white Brittney and her new chemistry partner, the terrifying Latino gang member Alex.  The dialog was quick and witty, the tension was there, and I love forbidden romance.  The story was helped along by the classic "bet I can get into that girls pants even though she won't give me the time of day", but it never felt forced or cliche.

The characters were whole and fun and tough.  I was touched by the way Brittney cared for her disabled older sister and Alex tried to keep his younger brothers away from gang life, but it never got sappy, because, like I said, the characters were tough.  Both Brittney and Alex are holding their families together and have taken care of themselves most of their lives.  Their romance is sweet because for both of them -- the sexually experienced Alex and the virgin Brittney -- it is the first time that they have let anyone see who they really are.

I couldn't put it down.  It's one of many reasons I am behind on my current draft.  I am definitely looking forward to the Rules of Attraction, which promises more of the same, but with Alex's younger brother.  And the covers for both books and Chain Reaction are some of my favorites.  Really hot covers

Perfect Chemistry counts toward the Perfect Mini-Challenge for the Hogwart's Challenge, the library challenge, the 100+ challenge and the Where Am I Reading Challenge for Illinois.  Track my progress on my Challenges 2011 page.

Witch Ball

Witch Ball is the third book in the Seer series.  It follows Sabine as she tries to hide her psychic powers from her friends and boyfriend while trying to prevent her own death, which is predicted by a witch ball at the student fair.

Like the other books, this one is fun.  It's a little over dramatic at times, but that is why I enjoy it so much.  That being said, this was my least favorite of the series.  Yes, there was some cute romantic tension, but I didn't feel like I got enough answers in this book.

What made me most uncomfortable was something that happened very close to the beginning of the book.  The main character, Sabine, helps a minor character to admit and deal with the sexual abuse from her now-dead father. I love books that hit hard topics, that are heartbreaking and real, but in Witch Ball it seemed out of place.  Being introduced, it felt out of the blue, and being resolved so quickly made me wonder why it was in there in the first place.  

I'll probably take some time off before continuing this series.  I've got so many good books that I've bought recently, quite a few out from the library, and a number of titles I'm dying to read from netgalley.  This series is still one of my top picks for the late night, early morning hours of the upcoming readathon (so excited!).

Webcomic: Questionable Content

This week I want to point you towards Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques.  Before you click that link, I should probably mention that this is the internet and there is language and sex in that comic (but not nudity).  For the most part the language isn't gratuitous, but when it is, it is done intentionally for humor.  If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then QC is a great world to get sucked into.

QC follows the lives of a handful of twenty-something indie kids.  The characters are crazy, but still seem real and I'm totally invested in their lives.  I have characters that I'm rooting for to get (back) together and I check back every day (Monday through Friday) for just a little bit more of the story.

If you go back and read from the beginning you'll also be able to see Jacques develop as an artist and a storyteller, which is interesting if you're into that sort of thing.

Revolution

This is what I love about book blogs: I am constantly convinced to try books I would normally pass up.  Revolution is a great example of this.  The cover is perfect, but not the kind that would make me buy the book and the story isn't one I would choose to read.  A girl in Paris reading a diary?  Pass.  But it kept showing up in my reader with people gushing about how great it is and I finally had to give in and see for myself (those are the links I could find quickly).

I was sucked in on page one, immediately in tune with Andi's pain and grief and sucked in by the music, even though I couldn't hear it.  The characters were smart and funny, but also lost and in pain.  They were so real that I was able to lose myself in the story starting in the first chapter.

Much of the story takes part in the diary of a girl Alex who lived in Paris during the French Revolution.  I didn't expect to enjoy these parts--I hate being pulled back and forth between two different stories in the same book--but I was just as drawn to Alex's story as Andi is.  The tension waiting for more of Andi's story and then waiting for more of Alex's story worked perfectly for me.

To be fair, the ending was set up, but it still jarred me out of the story.  Once I settled back in (along with Andi who is equally taken by surprise so maybe this works well) I enjoyed the conclusion of the book and Andi's finally being able to deal with her grief.  The last chapter made me cry even if it seemed like the parts of Andi's life that weren't directly related to the main plot were resolved too easily.

It's been a long time since I studied the French Revolution and now I want to read more about it.  This book made history come alive.  I will definitely be checking out A Northern Light, because the author impressed me!

Rosebush

This will be a short post because I just didn't love Rosebush and I have an intense writing session to get to (wohoo).  The concept was what initially made me want to read this book.  A girl wakes up in the hospital, paralyzed and with no memory of the hit and run that sent her there.  Now she has to piece together her night to figure out if she really was the unfortunate victim of a hit and run or if someone is trying to kill her.

It was written well, but it seemed like it was trying way too hard to be a more literary Gossip Girl and the subject matter just didn't lend itself well to that style.  Structurally, I can't think of a better way to tell this particular story, but it still didn't work for me.  Most of the story occurs in flashback and much of it felt like a flashback within a flashback.  It also seemed like an attempt to get away with telling a story with no character growth, since most of the character development occurs in the short passages taking place in the present and that happens so quickly that I can't believe it is a lasting change.

I also couldn't connect to the characters.  The ones I liked were pretty cliche.  The ones I didn't like I didn't really care about at all.  There were too many people dying, too many people turning out to be psychos, and halfway through the story part of me wished that Jane had died in the Rosebush.  I like unlikeable characters, but Jane was also stupid and had self-esteem so low that it didn't exist.

One thing that I did like was Jane's relationship with her boyfriend David.  He is emotionally abusive and I felt it was an accurate portrayal of those types of relationships.  I didn't buy the resolution of that relationship, but it was the only part of the story that I could relate to.

New Monday Topic: Webcomis

Recently, I've been thinking about a film theory class I took in college.  One of my papers was on the writings of early film scholars who had to defend film as legitimate art.  Every time we discover a new medium, artists have to provide the same arguments.  I remember in my paper that I pointed out how today, video game creators are trying to prove that they are a legitimate art form.  I used Grand Theft Auto as an example.  Yes, it's fun, yes it's pretty violet, but it's also a great societal commentary--both the game itself and our reaction to it.

The internet creates the same kinds of problems.  Is blogging a legitimate way to get your views out there?  Or does your opinion only matter if you are a review columnist for the New York Times?  If you're a graphic artist creating stunning websites are you any less brilliant than the graphic artist creating billboards?  And do the vlogbrothers deserve less credit than House or Lost?  Honestly, I prefer Philip DeFranco to the Daily Show.

Lately, graphic novels have come to be accepted as legitimate books instead of just comic books for kids.  (And why wouldn't they be?  How AWESOME does The Umbrella Academy look?)  And I think webcomics are next in line to battle for "legitimacy".  I love webcomics and so I wanted to highlight a few over the next couple weeks.

Unshelved is a webcomic about a library that follows the librarians and patrons.  It's a great place to start if webcomics aren't usually your thing, because they love books as much as you do.

I love watching the librarians interact with bad patrons...

Used with permission.

...and they've got some great library tips:

Used with permission.

Besides their regular posts, Unshelved has book reviews (Book Club) and great comics (and merch) for banned books week every year.

Writing: Blake Snyder's Board Method, Part 2

Last week I wrote about how I am trying the board method. I  felt like I accomplished several drafts in one because the method allows me to trace all story lines and characters and see it all laid out.  The first week of December I was sick and my writing was slow (as was my reading) because of it.  This week I had no excuse, but still... so.... slow.

I can't help but think that this method just isn't for me.  Writing this draft is like pulling teeth.  I don't feel connected to my characters and I'm worried that is going to come out to readers.  It's a rewrite, but it's so different (like I said it feels like I jumped a few drafts), and I'm worried that it's not better, just different.

My favorite part of writing is knowing where the story is going but figuring out how to get there.  I've done that already and now I'm only left with work.  This is probably why my other idea has been stuck on a board for eight months.

My only saving grace is that I made a pact with a friend.  We both were lacking motivation this month, so come February 1st we will both have completed drafts.  Awesome drafts.  And there is nothing that motivates me more than failing when someone else has not.  Especially a friend.

The Eternal Ones

I wasn't originally planning on reading The Eternal Ones.  It sounded interesting enough, but reincarnation isn't really my thing and there are so many good dystopians that I'm dying to get to.  I sat down to read it with low expectations and was blown away.

The Eternal Ones follows Haven Moore, a high school senior in a religiously conservative small Tennessee town, who remembers a past life.  The town thinks she's demon possessed and she's spent her whole life trying to suppress the memories.  When she sees super-rich playboy Iain Morrow on the television, she can no longer repress them and she runs away to New York to find Iain, who she believes to be Ethan, her true love from her past life.  But she was murdered in her last life and she's not sure if it was Iain who killed her or someone else.  She has to clear up the mystery before she can settle into romantic bliss.

Although occasionally the dialog was a bit too sitcom-y for my taste (I'll just read a sit-com script if I want that, thanks) I ended up loving this book.  Even when I enjoy books, I'm not usually surprised by the endings.  I can usually see where a story is going and what it's setting up for the characters.  With The Eternal Ones I couldn't tell if Iain was good or bad or which I wanted him to be.  I couldn't figure out exactly what was going on, which was unbelievably refreshing.  Any faults the story may have had are forgiven and forgotten because it is so rare for me to be that surprised.  (That means I won't mention how, after the climax, the end was abrupt and somehow managed to both too-neatly tie up story threads while leaving us with a cliffhanger, my two least favorite ways to end a book... oops)

Having gone to a Christian College and spent years studying within a Christian framework while struggling with my own faith, I always feel I need to talk about the portrayal of Christian faith in books.  Especially when I think that some Christians will take offence.  I had to get used to the idea of reincarnation and was a little worried about the portrayal of the main church in the town.  Those Christians were hateful and prejudiced and knew nothing about God's love, but I think it was a pretty accurate portrayal of the ugliness that can sometimes occur in the church and it was balanced by the total openness of Leah's church.  At some point Leah says something along the lines of "It's not my job to limit God" and the story itself is about ultimate evil and fighting against it.  The book deals with many of the same things that I think Christianity is about--compassion, forgiveness, LOVE, and fighting evil.

The Eternal Ones counts for my Tennessee book for Where Are You Reading?, and towards my 100+ and library challenges (track my progress here).  I'm sure it counts for Harry Potter, too, but it's such a stage book that I'm not sure where to classify it.  No worries.  I'm about to beast the first mini-challenge.  Because I'm in Slytherin.  And that's what we do.  Win.

The Agency: A Spy In The House

The Agency: A Spy In the House counts as number 3 for Take A Chance Challenge (the rest of my challenges are listed at the bottom).  For that challenge, I had to choose a book off of a best of the year post from a favorite blogger.  I chose GreenBeanTeenQueen's list for 2010, which you can find here, because I always find myself either buying books or putting them on hold when I read her blog.  I chose this book because it is about a secret women's spy agency in Victorian London.  Um... awesome!

GreenBeanTeenQueen was sucked in at the first page, but I don't think the story actually started until Chapter Two, which, practically speaking, is the third chapter since there was a long prologue.  Those first two bits of story were well-written and entertaining, but I don't think I would have missed them had they been excluded.  Mostly, they set the tone of the Victorian London world (not good times for foreigners and women), and introduce us to Mary, the main character (smart, reckless, resourceful).  It would have been a perfectly good start to the book if I hadn't been thrown off by the Point of View in Chapter Four.  Up until that point I was under the impression that the book was in third person limited to Mary's point of view, but at the start of the fourth chapter I was suddenly in another character's head.  The book is actually Third Person omniscient, but mostly limited to two characters heads (much like Harry Potter which I would argue is third person omniscient, but mostly limited to Harry's perspective).  Realizing this over fifty pages into the novel was startling, but once I settled back into the story, I was fine.

That is more of an observation than a complaint.  In actuality, I loved the book (I've already requested the second book from the library).  It was incredibly well structured, the stakes were high, but what I enjoyed the most was the steady rise of tension.  A Spy in the House is a great example of how to build tension smoothly.  There was the obvious ticking clock (the case will close in three days, two days, tomorrow), but it was more than that.  The pace, while not slow in the beginning, steadily increased without drawing attention to itself or becoming overwhelming at the end.  I'll probably try to read this again so that I can pay attention to all the ways Lee did this.

I also loved the characters.  Mary, while annoying at times with her (completely true to character) risk taking, is likable and fun.  Her relationship with James Easton, the other character whose head we are allowed into, adds comic relief to offset the building tension.  They are often downright rude to each other and in the manners-obsessed setting it adds a new layer that had me giggling out loud.  Angelica, although selfish and occasionally cruel, I found to be the most interesting character.  I think it is likely she won't show up again since she is tied to the mystery of the first book and presumably we'll get a new mystery and cast of characters in the second.  That's probably the most disappointing part of finishing the first book.  All the other characters are real whether they are the bad guy, the side kick, or just some passerby unintentionally providing Mary or James with a vital clue.

The series brings modern thinking to the Victorian era, which I really enjoyed.  One of the reasons I don't read a lot of older books is because I get so frustrated with the way people thought back then.  I reread Dracula about a year and a half ago and I was frustrated the entire time by the way the women thought and the way the men acted towards them.  I love strong heroines and finding one who finds strength in using stereotypes and misconceptions is charming.  The book is able to explore the bleak options a woman of the time period had without being depressing.

I'm really looking forward to the second book, The Body at the Tower, which the reviews posted on Amazon say is even better.  We'll get a new mystery, more danger, and hopefully some answers to the mystery from Mary's past.

This also counts for my 100+ challenge, my library challenge, and as Muggle Studies for the Harry Potter Challenge.  Track my progress here.

Book Trailer Monday: Wrap Up

I've been posting about book trailers on Mondays for about two months.  There are a lot more book trailers out there and there is a lot more to learn, but I got the answers I was looking for.

The three most important thing a book trailer needs:


The Hook - The point of a book trailer (I assume) is to encourage people to buy/read the book.  You just need to hook them and for that you don't need to know the intricacies of the story.  If you can sum up the whole book in a 30-60 second video then the book isn't worth reading.  A trailer is about the right length for that one moment that changes everything and a hint of all the drama/action/adventure/heartache that is to come.

Incarceron did this brilliantly:


The Tone - This sets up what kind of story the book is and after the hook is the most important aspect of a trailer.  In the above Incarceron trailer the sounds, the colors, it all adds up to this intensly creepy feeling of being watched.  It sets us up for danger and intrigue and ties us in perfectly with the tone of the book.

Another great example is The Replacement.  It's so creepy!


On the other side of the coin, I can think of at least one book where the trailer got the tone wrong and set me up for the wrong book.  I had the wrong expectations and ended up really not enjoying the book.

The Audience - This is most important with sequels and established authors.  If there is already a built in audience, the purpose of the trailer is to remind them that they love the other books and get them excited for upcoming books.

Three good examples spring to mind:

Clockwork Angel:


City of Fallen Angels:


and The Scorch Trials:


And since I've mentioned it in almost every book trailer blog I've done, I want to explain why my number one pet peeve with trailers is the overuse of voice over.  First, I think that a lot of times when voice over is used, it is because the trailer is trying to explain the story instead of just giving us the hook.  Second, and this one is more of a personal thing, I work in the film industry and interact with actors on a daily basis.  The voice over often just sounds like bad acting to me.

One noteable exception is Elixir by Hilary Duff:


I may be wrong, but I believe that is actually Duff doing the voice over.  The voice over works because she is an experienced actress who knows how to deliver lines (and half of Lizzie McGuire was voice over so she's got experience with more than just live acting).  Seeing as she wrote the book, she's also way more tied in to the character than another actor would be.  This makes a HUGE difference.

I've really enjoyed checking out all the book trailers out there.  The publishing industry is just starting to really sell books the way other products are sold and that is exciting.  If I notice new trends, I may come back to this topic, but for now, I'm moving on.

Next week starts a new topic.  It's totally different that book trailers, but I think it will be just as entertaining.

Writing: Blake Snyder's Board Method, Part 1

I've posted before about how much I love Blake Snyder's Save the Cat.  His Save the Cat Goes to the Movies makes a nice companion and I'm still only about number 80 on the waiting list at the library for Save the Cat Strikes Back, but I'm looking forward to reading it.  Save the Cat is a writing book for screenwriters (although I think there is plenty there for a novelist) and is most well known for Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet.

The beat sheet breaks down a story into beats that every story needs to hit.  If you haven't read the book, you may be wary that this is just another book preaching a formula, but I promise you it's not.  The beat sheet is about structure and making sure your story is whole.  The beats can be applied to any successful movie in any genre (that's what Save the Cat Goes to the Movies is all about).  I think there are a couple versions of the beat sheet, but the one I use has 16 beats.  The board method takes them one step further.

In the board method, you take a cork board, divide it into four rows and label them ACT ONE, ACT TWO (A), ACT TWO (B), and ACT THREE:

This is one of my two boards before I covered it in index cards.

Then you take an index card for each beat (usually a scene, sometimes a sequence), and explain briefly what the scene/sequence is about, write the emotional change that takes place, and identify the conflict.  The idea is if you can't pin point all three on one note card, then you don't know what your scene is about.  As you write your note cards, you stick them on the board where you think they should appear in your story. 

A few months ago I tried this method with a screenplay idea that I had been kicking around for a while.  I thought that I had it all figured out and that boarding it would be an easy exercise to get me acquainted with the method.  I didn't realize until I stuck the cards onto the board that I was wrong:

Look how easy it is to see exactly where my plot holes are!

The board method allowed me to see the piece as a whole as I examined individual scenes.  I don't have a picture of the finished board, but it is all ready to go.  It's one of the projects that I am going to prioritize this year.

But for now, I'm working on a screenplay rewrite.  My structure was terrible in the first draft (although not as terrible as some of the screenplays I've read), because I kept changing my mind as I wrote, and also I was drunk the entire time I was writing.  I'm not sure why I had so much trouble getting the words on the page, but I did, which is why I used the vodka to loosen me up.  Not something I recommend for an entire project.

When I got my notes back, I was a little overwhelmed.  There were so many (necessary) changes that would affect the piece as a whole that it blew my mind as I tried to fit the pieces together.  That's when I remembered the board method.  I tried it with the rewrite and was able to see exactly how things fit together. I used colored pins to mark different character arcs and realized that what I thought was a well developed character (she seems so real in my head) was little more than a pretty face on paper.

Stacks of note cards that eventually were taken off the board.

It took me a month to piece everything together, but I think (hope) that the method saved me at least one draft (probably more).  I was able to take each problem one at a time on a board instead of in new drafts.

The final board..

Now as I'm writing, I feel like I'm several steps ahead.  But I'm also worried.  I just wrote what should be page 12, but it is on page 17.  I think it is just the awkward warm up stage that my beginnings always are.  Once I get a look at the end, I should be able to go back and tighten up the beginning.  I'll keep you updated on how the rest of my experiment with this method works out.

I hope it's obvious, but this post is just brushing the surface of the board method and Save the Cat!  The book is a lot more in depth and it is probably the best book on writing I've ever read.

Book Blogger Hop 1/7-1/10/2011

This is my first time participating in the Book Blogger hop, but it pops up in my reader quite a bit and this week I could no longer resist.  I liked the question too much.

"What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?"

I'm sure I've been influenced by a lot of books, but there are two that stick out in my mind as really shaping the way I perceive the world, love, and relationships.

I read Gone With the Wind in 8th grade because I loved the Accelerated Reader program at my school's library and the book was a ton of points.  I haven't read it since, but what's stuck with me is that life is never certain.  Things can always get worse, people can die (I mean, come on, both twins), and the best laid plans can go astray.  Nothing is for sure except your own resiliency.  There are also the ideas that love for loves sake can never work out and we don't know what we really want.

The Great Gatsby, which I read for the first time (and definitely not the last), in 10th grade, had similar ideas about life and love that reiterated how I approach the world.  Love didn't do anyone any good in that book, and Gatsby changed his fortunes, but it didn't make him happy or even save him.

Kind of depressing books to influence my life now that I think about it, but I think they are the two defining books that have influenced what books I am drawn too and what kinds of stories I write myself.

Plain Kate

This post catches me up as the last book I read in 2010 and next week I start fresh for 2011.  I'm already behind, because I got sick (and unlike most people, I can't read when I'm sick... I'm the worst sick person ever--a total whiner!).  Since I'm so behind, this is going to be a quick post.

Plain Kate is not the sort of book I would have picked up off the cover, or even off the back copy.  It's thanks to the internet and all the blog reviews and tweets that I read this book.  The author is a poet so I expected the book (even with all the rave reviews I had read) to be either beautifully written to make up for a weak story or beautifully written in that overdone way that I can't stand.  It was neither.  It was a quick read, but engaging both in the way the words sounded strung together and in the story they told.

The story follows Plain Kate, orphaned pretty early in the story, who is living on the streets and surviving mainly due to her amazing carving abilities.  She is tricked into trading her shadow for a talking cat (among other things).  She is forced to flee her village, who want to burn her as a witch, and it sets her on a quest to get back her shadow.

That summary of the basic conflict does not do this book justice.  It's complicated and layered but easy to read.  It made me cry in the first chapter and I'm not usually a crier until I'm invested, which means it sucked me in right away.  The characters were real and whole and flawed.  The story was well-paced with plenty of twists and heartbreak (my favorite!).  And I didn't find the talking cat annoying.  In fact, I rather loved him.

My expectations were for a book geared to younger readers, but this book was dark (just the way I like books).  People die in rather horrific ways, people hurt each other, even people who once loved each other.  It explores hate and hope, love and forgiveness.  There is quite a bit of hate crime.  Kate can take care of herself, but she is lonely.  She needs to be with people and you can't be with other people without getting hurt.  But still it's worth it.  She has to trust and love and forgive.  This is what made the book so vivid--all of Kate's relationships, even minor ones, were complicated and bittersweet.  Everyone she loved hurt her at some point, and she hurt them.

I love almost everything I read and people always tell me that I call everything my "favorite", but still, I'm going to say that Plain Kate is one of the best books I read in 2010.  But this post doesn't come close to doing it justice, so I'm moving on to 2011.

I Can't Say No!

Why, yes... I did join two more challenges.  Keep track of my (lack of) progress here.

Take A Chance Challenge hosted by Life...With Books will be a fun way for me to read books I normally wouldn't pick up.  I'm looking forward to it.

Hogwarts Reading Challenge is a way for me to finally go to Hogwarts!  Check it out.  You join a house, compete for the house cup by reading the Harry Potter Books (25 points), Harry related books (15 points), and books for all of Harry's classes (1 point each).  Gonna be great!

I got Gryffindor.  How cliche.  I wanted to be Slytherin or Ravenclaw.

Challenges and Updates

I have joined two more challenges.  This brings me up to 5 and I'm starting to get nervous.  I haven't even read one book yet this year and tomorrow will be a post on the last book I read in 2010.  Luckily, the challenges all seem to work together.  You can track my progress here.

New are the Library Challenge and the 100+ Challenge.

I feel a little guilty about joining the Library Challenge, because I take a LOT of books out of the library.  I buy a lot too, but I tend to read the library books first because they have a due date.  It might be more of a challenge for me to read the books that have been on my shelf for over a year.  Maybe I'll host that here next year.  But I love my library and I'm looking forward to this challenge even if I'm not doing anything different but tracking how I'm getting books.

Thinking about how many library books I read made me start thinking about why I buy books at all when I have access to them and they are free.  Besides the fact that I love physical books as much as I love reading (and I love my kindle because it is a library that fits in my purse).

These are the reasons why I buy books:

1. I'm in a book store and the cover and/or title blows me away.  Usually I'm in the book store because someone gave me a gift card, but I'll buy even if I'm spending cash.  This is how I first picked up The Gallagher Girls series.  Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy was an outstanding cover and a clever title.  I was hooked and immediately bought the first book: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You.  Since my mom was with me, she bought me the second one.  I'm a huge Ally Carter fan now.

2. Someone blogs about a book, I check it out on Amazon.  If the cover is amazing I can't resist that one-click button.  Mostly this happens with books where an ARC is reviewed.  That's how I pick up most of my online purchases: Matched, The Duff, and probably half my 2010 orders.

3. I'm addicted to a series and I have to have the book the day it comes out.  Example: City of Fallen Angels.  Can. Not. Wait.

4. The book is amazing.  This one is the one that gets me in trouble.  If a book is amazing, I buy it.  Then I tell people about it.  Then I lend them my copy so that they have to read it because it is that good.  Then they don't return it.  Then I buy it again.  Or I move across the country and it's cheaper and easier to buy new copies of Harry Potter.

I request books at the library when:

1. Someone blogs about a book that's out, I check it out on Amazon and it is either ridiculously expensive or doesn't have a waiting list at the library.

2. Amazon keeps telling me I'll like a book and I'm not sure I trust their automated system.

And this doesn't even take into consideration why I buy e-books as opposed to a physical book at the bookstore or the library.  Maybe another day.  Happy reading!

Matched

I had this on pre-order and even though I had too many library books out and promised myself I would only bring my Kindle on my holiday travels, Matched called to me with it's beautiful cover and glowing blog reviews and enticing premise.  Matched is a dystopian young adult novel that follows Cassia as she discovers that the safety the Society has provided her has also left her trapped in a metaphorical bubble.

What is so powerful is that the story seems more subtle than other books in this genre.  Usually the inciting incident sends the main character on a powerful journey, and this happens in Matched.  But Cassia isn't Tally setting off on a hover board or Katniss volunteering for the games.  Cassia's journey involves falling in love for the first time in a society where people don't fall in love because they are handed perfect matches.  It involves her learning to choose and her slowly understanding that what the society gives her isn't a fair exchange for her freedom.  It was exciting in the quiet of the woods as Cassia learned to write.  The horror at what is being done in the name of good is also more subtle.  The rational argument for killing people at age 80 is repulsive in a way that hit me deeper than Katniss fighting for her life ever did.

Dystopian is huge right now, but this is the first novel I've read where the main character is a "have" and not a "have not".  It seemed to me a very fresh take on the genre (I'd be very interested in more books that take this perspective!).  But more than that, the book just seems so perfectly balanced.  I was never bored, but yet I barely noticed the way the story moved.  It took me from one place to the next and seemed so effortless (I know it wasn't).

The characters were all well developed, most importantly the two love interests.  We meet Xander on the very first page and I instantly fell in love with him.  I thought "This is the one who Cassia will end up with.  I love him already".  I didn't think another character could worm his way in, but I ended up falling in love with Ky right along with Cassia, and loving Xander from the very beginning kept me emotionally tied in to Cassia (I love the bittersweet).

I also loved the way poetry weaved its way through the narrative.  People think I'm weird sometimes for being blown away by words, songs, and ideas, but they're powerful in this story.  There are so many good things to say about this novel, that I will leave it with I loved it and it's totally living up to the hype.  I'm excited for the sequel, Crossed, coming out November 2011... so far away.

As a parting thought, check out Ally's blog.  I've been following it for a few months (since the buzz about Matched started) and it's one of my favorites.  This is my favorite post so far.  Or stay here a while longer and leave me a comment.  Tell me: What novels have you read that live up to their hype?

Preparation for Rejection

I've been told I'm not good at taking criticism.  Granted, the person who told me this has a habit of phrasing things in a way that is downright hurtful.  English isn't his first language, so I'm not sure he alway understands the message his words imply as well as what they actually mean.  I like to think I'm good at taking rejection.  At least on the surface.  Underneath, I know I am absolutely terrible at it.  Which is why being told I'm bad at taking criticism upsets me.  I'd like to think I have a good poker face.

Since querying is one of my goals for this year, I've decided to prepare myself for rejection.  Whenever I do my holiday shopping, I always buy myself presents as well.  This year, I'm not letting myself have them.  I'm wrapping them up and putting them in the closet until I need them to cheer me up.  Now I have a reason to almost look forward to getting rejected.

Goodbye 2010... Hello 2011--You Will Be My Year

This blog was on and off for about a year and half, then a few months ago I started taking it seriously and it's been one of my favorite things of 2010.  This blog has allowed me the space to explore my writing, my goals, my reading and to connect with people with similar interests.  I've stumbled across books that I would otherwise never have heard of and been encouraged by stories of others in the trenches working on their novels and querying agents.  The time and space I've spent reflecting  in this blog on what I've read--books for fun, books for craft, other people's work--and what I've written--both screenplays and novels--has allowed me to grow more than anything else, because I am being intentional with my reading and my writing.  So, here is to 2011 and all my hopes for my reading, writing, and blogging.

First, I want to look back at 2010.
Favorite reads of 2010: Heist Society, Clockwork Angel, Geektastic, Wicked Lovely, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book of Bunny Suicides, When You Are Engulfed In Flames, Airhead
Most surprising favorites read in 2010: Schooling, One for the Money
Favorite Writing Books read in 2010: The First Five Pages, On Writing

2010 Goals
I wrote a list of goals back in January (not on the blog) and then revisited a few months ago here.  Now, I want to look to see what goals I actually met this year.

1. Finish a specific Family Comedy Screenplay (COMPLETED) -- It is probably the best first draft I've ever written and I'm currently working on the rewrite.  I need to be finished with it by the middle of January.
2. Finish a specific teen comedy screenplay (NOT COMPLETED) -- This project took a lot of time and effort and the first draft is rubbish.  Trying to figure out how to fix it took a lot more time and effort until it got to the point where I was just spinning my wheels.  Deciding to leave it be with the knowledge that I may never come back to it... difficult, but necessary.
3. Finish a third screenplay that I hadn't yet come up with when I wrote the list (COMPLETED) -- wrote the first draft and the rewrite.

4. Finish the draft of my YA novel (COMPLETED) -- AND I rewrote thing in October.
5. Finish the draft of my MG/YA fantasy novel (NOT COMPLETED) -- But it's in the running for being finished in 2011.  I ran into some problems while I was writing it.  Usually I know the character arcs and a few key plot points and pants the rest.  But in a fantasy I realized I couldn't do that.  I had to decide whether it was MG or YA (probably young YA), and I had to world-build better.  I wasn't ready for this project, so I had to put it on the back burner.  And in the back of my mind I kept coming up with solutions.  I now know enough to really sit down and plot the thing out the way I should have in the beginning.  It's something I'm really hoping to be able to get to in 2011.  But then again, I love all my ideas and it's not like they ever stop popping into my head.

6. Write 10 short stories (NOT COMPLETED) -- And I'm not apologizing.  I realized a little too late that writing short stories is harder for me than writing a novel.  I wasted a lot of time trying to write short stories when it's not the form my brain is best suited for.  I've grown to love reading short stories and maybe one day I'll write one I can be proud of, but for now they stress  me out.
7. Read 25 books for fun (COMPLETED) -- Way earlier than I expected and I'm not going to list them.  Just browse through the blog if you're curious.
8. Read 10 books for Craft (COMPLETED) -- How I Write, The First Five Pages, Save the Cat Goes to the Movies, Writing for Emotional Impact, On Writing, Save the Cat, Getting Started As A Free Lance Writer, Creating Short Fiction, Elements of Style, The Writer's Journey (I'm counting it even though I never technically finished it.  I only have the third part left and this thing was LONG and DRY.  Plus I've been reading lots of Agent and Writer blogs so that totally counts!  And yes, I'm counting part three next year).



And now onto 2011!
Most anticipated novels to be released: Uncommon Criminals: A Heist Society Novel by Ally Carter (will update as soon as there is an Amazon page) and City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare.    I'm excited for everything else I have on pre-order, but these two are at the next level of anticipation.  If I lived with nerdy friends I would dress up and throw a party.  I'm that excited.
Reading challenges I'll be participating in:
Read Me Baby One More Time, hosted by Midnight Book Girl
and
Show Me The Free, hosted by The Unread Reader
Check out my post on these challenges here.

And my goals for 2011 are:
Writing - Prose
1. Rewrite my first novel manuscript until it is in good enough shape to query.  I want to start querying in 2011!
2. Finish my Nano project.
3. Finish/write another novel manuscript that has been accumulating notes and characters in notebooks.  I have too many ideas and I'm dying to write them all, but if I only wrote what I wanted when I wanted I'd have even more half-finished/barely-started manuscripts and screenplays.  It's hard, but I've developed a discipline to not get distracted by every shiny new idea.

Writing - Screenplay
4. Finally get Eugene off the storyboard and onto the page.
5. Write a first draft of a yet undecided screenplay (one of several new ideas or a rewrite of something I've worked on this year).
6. Rewrite one of the above until it's ready to query agents.  I want to start querying in 2011!
I think these are reasonable writing goals for 2011.  It gives me about 2 months for each round of writing/rewriting.  This seems to be about what I need, including the reading/relaxing/thinking stage that I enjoy just before starting a new draft.  It's certainly not an easy goal for me, but it is attainable while at the same time challenging.  If I want to do Nano this year and actually set myself up for success, then I'm going to have to work ahead this year.
Reading/Blogging
7. Read 10 books on craft--either screenplay or novel. (probable contenders: The Plot Thickens, A Dash of Style, The Forrest For the Trees, Save the Cat Strikes Back, and maybe reread On Writing or The First Five Pages or the original Save the Cat).
8. Read 25 books for fun (same as last year... I'll probably hit this pretty early, but I don't want to overwhelm myself to the point where I don't even want to read).
9. Blog regularly, a minimum of three times a week.... Right now I'm averaging about 4, so I think this is an attainable goal, even when I get really busy with rewrites or first drafts.  For now, I'd like to use the following blogging schedule:
Mondays: Topics -- Something book or writing related that piques my interest enough for me to explore in a series of themed posts.  So far, I've done Harry Potter and book trailers.  In the future I may do a weekly spotlight on my writers with the most entertaining twitter presence, best web resources for writers, or review some of the games now available for the Kindle.
Wednesdays: Book -- My posts are review-like, but I don't like to call them that, because this space is a way for me to intentionally look at books in terms of craft.  What worked for me and why.  Usually, whatever I'm focusing on or thinking about in my own writing, because seeing how it works in published pieces is probably the most helpful tool I've picked up in 2010.
Fridays: Book -- Same as above.
Sundays: Writing -- Just like 2010, this will be constantly changing.  Some weeks I'll evaluate a book on writing, some weeks I'll update you on my projects/goals.  I may discuss what I'm learning as a writer or what I'm struggling with.  Nothing is out of bounds as long as it can arguably be connected to writing.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are game if I get ahead on reading (which will hopefully happen during the next readathon), or to write about a movie adaptation.  Saturdays are there when I want to participate in the Weekly Geeks or other blog challenge.

...so Happy New Year!  What are your goals for 2011?