Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall has been on my TBR shelf for a while.  I honestly don't remember when or why I first bought it, but I opened it to discover that it was a signed copy.  I love signed books, so it was a very cool surprise.

Book: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins


Summary: After getting kicked out of yet another school for exposing her magical abilities, Sophie gets sentenced to Hecate Hall--a sort of reform school for witches, fey, and shifters.  But students are dying--their blood completely drained from their bodies.  Is the killer Sophie's vampire roommate, like everyone seems to think, or something even more sinister?


Characters: Sophie is a little naive and she totally deserves being sentenced to Hecate.  She is reckless and irresponsible, but in a hopelessly charming way.  If it weren't for everything else going on at Hecate, I would say that it is the safest place for her.  She did grow as the book went on and even though she is occasionally ridiculous (who isn't?), she never annoyed me.

I also love all of the other side characters.  I loved Archer, even though he was dating the school's mean girl who had almost no redeeming qualities.  I have to believe that there is a darker, more sinister reason behind it and wow--the twist with him at the end made me love him.  It wasn't supposed to, but those sorts of guys are my kryptonite... I don't want to spoil the fun for you.

Jenna is Sophie's vampire roommate and she is obsessed with pink and hilarious.  The mean girls are your typical mean girls, just with scary super witch powers.  Sophie's parents, while not being major players in the story, are still interesting characters.  Sophie's mom is hilarious and I enjoyed watching Sophie navigate the relationship with the father she's never met face to face.

Plot/Pacing:  I did not expect this book to be so funny.  From the running commentary on what's going on around Sophie, to the witty banter, to more physical humor, I was constantly laughing.  The plot moves along quickly and weaves together a big mystery with monsters and evil and a smaller story about a girl at a new school who has a hard time making friends and has never met her father.  My biggest complaint is that the end felt rather abrupt.  However, I still want to know what happens in the next book.


Moments I Loved:  Makeouts with Archer and the big twist that I won't spoil.  Also, Sophie's time in self defense class, while torture for her, was hilarious for me.  Her teacher wanted to use her to demonstrate a move and Sophie kicks her in the chest instead of going along with the demonstration.

WTF Moments:  The mean girls tell Sophie that if she gets in trouble with the mean defense teacher to compliment her tattoos.  Did anyone NOT see that turning out badly?  Great scene, though.

Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges:  336 pages toward the 15,000 page challenge and Mt. TBR. Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.

Hex Hall gets a FakeSteph rating of...

How To Find Me At BEA

If you've missed it (where have you been?), I'll be attending Book Expo America this year.  I'm super excited and, if you're going, I want to meet you.  This is your guide to finding me.  If you have a guide on finding you, please link it in the comments for me!

Where I'll be:
This is where I plan on being.  There is so much more I want to do, but I'm reasonably sure that I will be at these places at these times.

Monday: 
BEA Bloggers Conference--It's going to be awesome.
1:45 - I'm planning on choosing the Critical Reviews session.
3:00 - I haven't picked a session yet.
Closing session--The Bloggess!  And you'll be sorry if you don't pick her, too!

Tuesday:
10:30AM - Shannon Messenger signs Keeper of the Lost Cities at Booth 8.
1:00 PM - Gretchen McNeil signs Ten... didn't see a table or booth listed.
3:00 PM - Maggie Stiefavater signs The Raven Boys... didn't see a table or booth for this one either.
3-5pm - The Apocolypsies.  It's going to be rad.

Wednesday:
8-9:30AM - Random House Power Reader Breakfast.
12:30 PM - Maureen Johnson signs The Name of the Star at Booth 4.
1:00 PM - Booth 3339 is hosting THREE amazing writers: Bethany Griffin signs Masque of Red Death, Elizabeth Norris signs Unraveling, Veronica Roth signs Insurgent.
3:00 PM - Libba Bray signs The Diviners in Booth 3632.

Thursday
10:00 AM - Jeff Hirsch signs Magisterium at Booth 14.
11:00 AM - Writing Strong Female Characters in Middle Grade Books at the Uptown Stage.
12:00 AM - Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff (I believe... fingers crossed) sign The Curiosities at Booth 2357.

I'll be around until Sunday morning for those of you local to New York.

How to Recognize me:
I smile.  A LOT.  And laugh even more.  I won't be dressed as fancy as I am in my profile picture.  This was at my sister's wedding, but I'll probably be this happy at BEA, too.

I spent my haircut budget on books (twice over), so my hair is going to be really long at BEA.

Just your average impromptu photo shoot at
Sheetz while filling the gas tank.  No... I'm not 15.
I just get bored and the phone has a camera.

And if you see someone posing with a statue... it's probably me.

How will I recognize you at BEA?

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that combines lists and books.  This week's topic is... Top Ten Books Written In The Past 10 Years That I Hope People Are Still Reading In 30 Years.  You knew The Scorpio Races would be on here.  I'll have reviews for Where Things Come Back and My Life Next Door up soon.  The rest are obvious choices.  As always, covers link to GoodReads.

    

    

  

  

I can't wait to see all of your lists.

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

I won this book in Erin Bowman's Giveaway.  This is what she said in her original post:

I bought it, took it home, read it in under an hour, and experienced the euphoria I had reading the original blog post all over again. I wanted to jump up and shout, “Yes! This! Exactly this!”
This book is a little piece of genius and I think that Every. Single. Person. leading a creative life ought to read it. Or at least flip through a couple pages.

Book: Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon

Summary: Steal Like An Artist is an illustrated list of 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative....Uh, the title is pretty self explanatory.  If you want more, check out the author's blog post about it.

My thoughts:  It's hard to put into words why I connected with this book so much.  It just had some great ideas, written simplistically.  One of the moments that really resonated with me was point two- "Don't wait until you know who you are to get started."  Often this is just an excuse not to start, but as Kleon points out, being creative is the best way to discover who you are.

For those of you who may be concerned by the title, this book is NOT advocating plagiarism and clearly defines plagiarism versus stealing like an artist.  If you are pursuing a creative life (and, really, to be human is to be creative) then this book is worth your time.

Steal Like An Artist Receives a FakeSteph rating of...

Sundays In Bed With... Taken By Storm

Sundays in bed with is hosted by Kate at Midnight Book Girl.  Today, I am at a(nother) baby shower for my sister.  If I weren't, I'd be in bed with this...

I've been waiting so long to read this.  My brother has already finished it and I'm looking forward to talking to him about it when I finish.  These are hands down my favorite werewolf stories and I am so glad Monday is a holiday so I can stay up all night reading.

I'm Sleeping With Your Book Boyfriend: Odd Thomas

Book: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Book Boyfriend: Odd Thomas (yes, his real birth certificate first-name is Odd)

What does he look like?
I'm going with Anton Yelchin.  Yes, I totally cheated by looking the cast up on IMDB.

Original Review by: Kate at Midnight Book Girl

From her Top Ten Favorite Characters: okay, ya'll knew my Odd one would have to be on here. I just love him, I love how moral he is, and how funny he is and really just everything about him. I can honestly say he's my favorite character of all time.

My thoughts: I really wanted to love Odd, because I really love Kate and I know how much she loves him.  Also, she really loves serial killers and I'm a little worried that my not liking Odd will cause her to snap and I really, really like not being the victim of a serial killer.

However, I just didn't love Odd.  I like smart guys and Odd was a little too simple for my taste and completely unambitious.  I don't need a guy who wants to take over the world, but I'd like him to want and hope for something.  Odd was indeed moral, but I wondered if he used his morals to run away from what he was afraid of (and no matter what he said, he was afraid of his supernatural gift).

I also didn't like how he let his girlfriend, Stormy, push him around and thought they were soulmates, even though they read like angsty 14-year olds.  There's nothing wrong with Odd, we just had no chemistry.  I tend to like jerks, and no, that hasn't worked out for me.

Is he a keeper?  I'm sorry, but you can have him back.  (Please don't kill me.)  Although, I'll probably give him another shot down the road, in case it was just a bad time for me to be reading this book.

Whose book boyfriend are you sleeping with?

Book Blogger Hop and TGIF at GReads

It's Friday and I am still way too far behind on my Google Reader.  I'm sorry if I missed something awesome on your blog (leave a link in the comments!), but I'm trying my best.  This coming week, I'll be spending a lot of time planning and getting ready for BEA.  I AM SO EXCITED!  If you are going to be there and we haven't talked about meeting up... we should! 

In other news, one thing that I did this week was to start The Real Steph, a blog for everything that doesn't fit with The Fake Steph Dot Com.  The tag line is "Thoughts on Writing and Life", so check that out if you want to know more about me.  My ROW80 and Friday Links will both move from The Fake Steph to The Real Steph.

Blogging Question: How do you handle the writing of a negative review?

If I have to write a negative review, I draft it and let it sit for a while.  When I go back to it, I make sure that I'm being as objective as possible (even though book reviewing is incredibly subjective).  Instead of being emotional, I try to explain why something didn't work for me.  And I always take the time to look for something that does work for me, even if it was overwhelmed by what didn't.

I hate seeing reviews that slam a book I love and I don't want anyone to feel that I look down on them for liking a book that I don't.  Yes, some bloggers make me feel like crap for having different tastes than them.  I never want anyone who reads my blog to feel like that.  I've only written one review that I consider "snarky".  Every once in a while, I consider deleting it, but when I go back to read it, I stand by everything I said in that review.  Still... sometimes...

Show Me Your Cover: What are some of the worst book covers, but hold some of the best stories inside? Don't be embarrassed, show us your cover!

I can't come up with anything off the top of my head, so I'm going to have to go through the pictures I've uploaded to this blog and see what I come up with.  As always, covers will link to GoodReads.

I came up with more than I expected.  These I don't hate, but I LOVE all of these books and think the covers are kind of cheesy.  They probably turn off readers who would love these books.

 

 

 Anna and the French Kiss is one of my favorite books and there's nothing wrong with this cover.  It's just... the guy on it reminds me of someone who I don't like.  At all.  And every time I look at it, I think of him and feel sick.  So... this is one of the only books I have without a dust jacket.

 And my final choice... I actually love this cover.  It's cute and it fits the book, but this book is ADORABLE and FUN and I'm just not sure it will reach the right audience.  This is a book I'd kind of like everyone to read.  Because it's great. 

I'm done now.  And really excited to see everyone elses answers.

EDIT: I love Feature and Follow, but am not participating this week.  I made a decision not to fantasy cast books for many reasons, but I am looking forward to visiting the blogs that are participating.

Graphic Novel Ruse: Enter the Detective by Mark Waid

I read this in the beginning of May, when I was attempting to finish a book every day for a month.  I made it four days, one of which was because I read this graphic novel (the other three were all books half read in April).

Graphic Novel: Ruse: Enter the Detective by Mark Waid (writer), Butch Guice (Penciler), Mark Perkins (inker), and Laura DePuy (Colorist)

Summary:  Ruse follows Simon Archard, a Sherlock Holmes type detective who is way too smart for his own good and his supernatural sidekick, Emma Bishop.  Since Simon is unaware of the supernatural world, he struggles to solve the supernatural mystery surrounding Miranda Cross, an evil baroness new to their town.


Characters:  Simon is a complete jerk.  Because it is a graphic novel, he is neither unbearably abrasive nor surprisingly charming.  He's just kind of a jerk.  Miranda Cross is a sexy villainess who is totally evil, however I was never clear on what she wants or who she really is.  The graphic novel's redeeming grace, though, is the main character, Emma Bishop, who is constantly overlooked and underestimated in the story, but comes off as completely charming to the reader.


Plot/Pacing: It's a graphic novel, so it moves pretty fast.  There are six different stories in the first volume (I believe it is a collection more than an actual graphic novel) and each follows its own little mystery.  I enjoyed some better than others.  However, there is an overarching mystery that had me a little bit confused.  This is probably because there are so many story lines weaving together that I didn't get ANY answers in the first volume.  I will probably have to read volume 2 before I can effectively evaluate this series (I've ordered it, so maybe I enjoyed this more than I thought).


Moments I Loved: Simon makes Emma hide in a suit of armor which I thought was pretty hilarious.

WTF Moments: The first time Emma stopped time--I guess I didn't pay attention before I had read it, but I didn't realize that she had super powers.  On GoodReads, I commented that there were moments creepy enough to cause me to literally curse out loud, but I waited too long to write the review and can't remember these moments.  That's a win, though.


Artwork: I don't know enough about art to tell if I should have been blown away or not, but I enjoyed that the entire story is in color.  Also, the historical element meant that there were lots of pretty dresses and I love pretty dresses, even if they aren't real.


Overall:  A supernatural Sherlock Holmes that is occasionally cliche, but still manages to have a special charm.  If you want any answers, make sure you have both volumes one and two when you start reading.

Ruse gets a FakeSteph rating of...

Belles by Jen Calonita

I won an ARC from Jen Ryland during her Freebie Friday Feature.  So thank you to, Jen (and also, I'm stealing your bookmark idea, because it's awesome!).

Book:  Belles by Jen Calonita

Summary: Since the death of her mother, Izzy has been living with her grandmother in the beach town of Haborside.  But when her grandmother's mental health deteriorates, Izzy is sent to live with an Uncle she's never met, who is a wealthy state senator.  His campaign manager spins it as a lovely rags to riches story for the press, but the new town of Emerald Cove is not welcoming and Izzy and her cousin Mira do not get along.


Characters:  This is told from the perspective of both Izzy and Mira, which is perfect, because the two perspectives help make both characters a little bit more real.  From Izzy's perspective, Mira is nothing but a spoiled mean girl who is out to get her, but through Mira's perspective we realize she is just scared about her own reputation and feels trapped by the sudden arrival of her cousin.

Most of the characters seemed real, but the mean girls were really mean and had no redeeming qualities.  The campaign manager was villainized a bit, and the Uncle seemed incredibly naive, but it is easy to understand his actions.  However, I loved the mom, Maureen, and Mira's two brothers.  Mira's love interest was sexy and charming, but Izzy's love interest, Brayden, was annoying and has a stupid name.


Plot/Pacing:  The book moves fast and I finished it quickly.  There is definitely a LOT of drama, but I found myself frustrated and depressed more often than not.  I love conflict, but I also like to giggle a lot while I read and the happy, flirty moments were few and far between here.

I mentioned this on goodreads as well, but the end felt abrupt.  It felt more like the pilot episode of a series (an east coast OC), setting up future books, than a complete story on it's own.  That is one of my biggest reading pet peeves.  I love series, I can deal with cliff hangers, but each book needs to do its own thing and have some kind of resolution at the end.  I didn't get that here.


Moments I Loved (potential spoilers):  I loved when Mira and Izzy were finally able to come together at the end.  I also love when the campaign manager is fired... totally redeemed Mira's dad... well, kind of.

WTF Moments: Savannah was CRAZY.  Seriously, she does nothing but make Izzy miserable.  I wanted to slap her and tell her to develop a hobby.  All of these rich kids and their obsession with money and status was kind of sickening.  I think that was the point, but still.


Overall:  A cool concept and a fun read if you miss The OC and love stories about mean girls.


Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges: 356 pages toward the 15,000 page challenge.  Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page (which I know, I really need to update).

EDIT: I forgot to add my rating.  Belles gets a FakeSteph rating of...



Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that combines lists and books.  This weeks topic is... Top Ten Sites that aren't book related.

10. Neatorama.  This blog highlights everything from cool things in the news to strange tumblrs and hilarious new memes.  There is also the occasional funny video.  It is the most entertaining non-book blog I follow.

9. YouTube.  There is some seriously creative content there.  My favorites: VlogBrothers (dftba), Philip De Franco, Epic Rap Battles of History, Literal Movie Trailers and Music Videos, Alex reads Twilght.


8. Tom and Lorenzo.  A fashion blog that highlights celebrity events, magazine editorials, and new trends popping up on the runway.  I especially like their Shelly O posts... all about the politics of Michelle Obama's wardrobe.  Even if you're not into fashion, their bitchery makes their site worth a read.

7. Questionable Content.  I'm a little behind, but this is as close as I get to following a soap opera.

6.  Post Secret.  This still isn't old.

5. Pinterest.  Follow me.  There is so much cool DIY stuff on this site, plus yummy recipes and funny images.  I'm sure there are people who actually use Pinterest to accomplish something, but for the most part, I just get lost and have fun.

4. Don Kenn Gallary - Creepy, scary sketches on post it notes.  Amazing.

3. Twitter.  Did you really think I wasn't going to include Twitter?

2. Tumblr...  fyi...it isn't always family friendly.  You can check out my tumblr here, but be warned, I mostly reblog pokemon jokes and cupcakes.  Some of my favorite tumblrs:  maleminded, Dear Harry Potter Characters, pokeproblems, 10k notes, Things Organized Neatly, etiquette for a lady, texts from Avonlea, Telegrams from Downton.

Dear Mr. Potter, formerly Dear Harry Potter Characters

1. Polyvore.  A social media site where you can create clothing sets.  It is super fun and addicting.  It's the site I use to create my looks from books images.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: Audio Review and Signed book giveaway

I have no idea how to introduce this book.  I've been mentioning how much I love it on twitter and on the blog over the past few weeks and I am afraid that I won't be able to do it justice.  This book is seriously my favorite book that I have read this year (possibly ever).  I added it to the special stack of my favorite books that I keep next to my bed so that they are never far away.

Maggie Stiefvater signed at my local bookstore last week, so after the review will be the rafflecopter entry to win the extra signed copy.  (Also, I did a Looks From Books post on these characters this weekend.)

Book:  The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham.

Summary:  I normally write my own summaries, but this one is really hard.  Maggie Stiefvater said she explained it to her publisher as "Jurassic Park meets My Little Pony" and I'm not sure I can do much better.  So for once, I'm going with the copy from Good Reads:

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.     At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.     Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

Characters:  Characters make or break a book for me and since this is easily my favorite read of 2012, it is safe to assume that I love these characters.  I've said before that I have never wanted to be a character so bad as I want to be Puck Connolly and that is true.  She isn't sweet (neither am I), but she's brave and she loves and she hides her hurt and risks everything for what she wants.  Sean is strong and passionate.  He excels at what he does and he knows it.  He doesn't brag, but he isn't fake humble, either.  He is so wrapped up in his world that he is barely effected by the politics of life that drag most people down.

And there is romance.  Not the swoony, he's the love interest so he's a jerk in the beginning or their love will save everyone kind of romance.  But real love.  There are only a few kisses in this book, but it is the most intense relationship since Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie (at least in how obsessed with it I am).  In one scene (my favorite scene), Sean and Puck ride a horse together and it is seriously the most intense, intimate scene I have ever read.  At one point, Puck is told that to make men love her, she needs to make them feel strong, but that is not what Sean and Pucks relationship is at all.  She makes him feel weak, but they make each other stronger.  This is seriously one of my all time favorite literary couples.

Everything about this book feels real and all of the characters that surround Sean and Puck are no exception. Even if we meet them briefly, we get a sense that they have an entire life they are living. My favorite characters (besides Sean and Puck) are easily George Holly and Finn.  George Holly is a thirty-something American horse buyer who is visiting the races for horse season.  He meddles a bit (in a nice sort of way) and is friendly and fun.  I love his white shoes and the way he smiles easily.  Finn is Puck's younger brother who is a bit OCD.  Puck may say that her horse, Dove, is her best friend, but only because Finn doesn't count because he's her brother.


Plot/Pacing:  This story sucked me in from the beginning and had the perfect balance of tension and humor.  About halfway through something happened that gave the two protagonists opposing goals.  This KILLED me, because by that point all I wanted was for them to be happy together (it was right after the intense intimate scene that is my favorite in the whole book).

But the tension was more than just the question of whether the main characters would get what they want.  The author took advantage of every single opportunity to add tension.  The water horses are torn between wanting to eat you and wanting to drown you, so there is the constant danger that someone will die. (First sentence: "It's the first day of November, and so, today someone will die.")  The island is all bent out of sorts that Puck (a girl/woman!) will ride in the races.  The son of Sean's employer hates Sean so much he seeks to ruin his life.  And in all of this, there is so much unexpected laughter and so many tender moments as real people connect.

As soon as I finished listening to this book, I started it over.  I NEVER do that.  I think I enjoyed it even more the second time.  I've also got this book on kindle and in hardcover.  I've flipped through and read bits and pieces, but I'm excited to read the written version now.


Moments I Loved:  Did I mention the scene where Sean and Puck ride together and it is intimate and romantic and beautiful and lovely?  Because, even though there are so many scenes to love, I loved that one most of all.

WTF Moments:  The "Jurassic Park moment" as Maggie described it at the reading was scary and fun.  Puck and her brother, Finn, are sitting outside under a lean-to when a cappal uisce (that would be a hungry water horse) comes nosing around.  SO SCARY!!!  I could literally hear the rain and the horse's breath and feel the cold during this part.

Narrators: I usually don't review audiobooks on audible.com, but for The Scorpio Races, I did.  This is what I said about the narrators: This is hands down the best audiobook I have ever listened to. The narrators were both amazing and fit the story perfectly. They added a special magic to an already extraordinary book.

Overall:  The message in this book is that survival isn't enough.  Happiness is worth risking everything for.  But it's true happiness.  Puck and Sean know what they want and there was never any doubt in my mind that they would both be content when they got it.  I can seriously get down with the message in this book.


Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges: Read Me Baby, One More Time, because I listened to it twice. Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.

The Scorpio Races receives a FakeSteph rating of...

But I'm pretty sure it deserves a whole tube of lipstick.

If I had the money, I'd send you all a copy because I love it that much.  Unfortunately, I am not rich and I only have one copy, so enter below to win a signed hardcover copy of The Scorpio Races.  The giveaway will be open for a week and a half (and US only, sorry).  It will end at 12:01am on May 31, which is one minute into the start of Thursday.  If you win and respond by Friday at 11am, then I will send it out to you before I leave for BEA.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekend Check In

I don't want to blow up your feed, so this post will include Sundays In Bed With, The Book Blogger Hop, and Row80.  Feel free to skip to the section you're here for.  Also, I am embarrassingly behind on visiting blogs, but I plan to visit and comment like crazy next week.  Seriously, I've spent maybe 2 hours total this week on blogging, including writing my own posts, so please don't be offended if I missed your awesome posts!  Feel free to link to stuff I shouldn't miss in the comments and I'll be all over my google reader next week like we're fourteen and playing seven minutes in heaven.

Sundays in bed with is hosted by Kate at Midnight Book Girl and lets us showcase what we're currently reading, or wish we were curled up with if our schedules don't allow.  This week, I'm in the middle of several books at once, which is unusual for me.  Which is why I'm still in bed with Odd Thomas.  Other books I'm currently in bed with:

Throne of Glass is great so far, but I'm reading it on my computer.  I'd prefer to actually be in bed with it.

I'm at the very beginning of Code Name Verity but book is INTENSE!  And a seriously strong narrative voice.  Wow.  I can't wait to finish reading this... when I am alone so no one can see me sob, because I see the sobbing coming.

I picked up Where Things Come Back at the signing on Thursday.  It reminds me of John Green a little bit and I really like it so far.

How many books do you own? This can include books in your to-be-read (TBR) pile(s) and books you have already read that are on your keeper shelf.

I have no idea, but I have about 20 pages of books downloaded onto my kindle and about that many archived as well.  I am too afraid to count, but I would say probably over 500, but less than 1000, paper books.

And I know I am not nearly as bad as some book bloggers I've met.  I've gotten better at using the library and developed some self control at book stores.  Not much, but some.  There are books everywhere though.  Which is one of the reasons it's so hard to count... I'm like a bookaholic, I have books hidden everywhere.

ROW80 is a writing challenge that allows you to set your own goals.  My goals can be tracked on my 2012 Goals page and I use ROW80 check ins to keep myself accountable.

I haven't posted an update in a while, which I think means that I'm unhappy with what I've been doing.  But I'm going to update at least once a week from now on, because I need to stay accountable.  Recently, I changed from trying to write at home to only writing (first drafts) at the library on my lunch break.  I'm actually more productive in that short time frame than I am with entire days at home.  So, that's working.  Even if the drafts come about slower than I'd like.  I average about 1000 words a day by writing only on my lunch break.

At home, I'm going to focus on rewriting.  I downloaded ywriter and am going through with a manuscript that I want to rewrite one last time.  I'm breaking it into scenes and writing descriptions, assigning locations, and marking characters.  The program should be able to give me a broad view of my story, which should help when I'm trying to fix things.  I'll let you know what I think about the program when I finish rewriting.  

I have a space dedicated to rewriting and I am good about staying on task when I'm there.  My goal for this week is to get in there.