What COULD she be thinking? (Big Dreams Blog Update #13)

Happy All Hallow’s Eve!

And since it’s Hallowe’en and all scary things love this season, I’ll share a scary confession: loooooong before I started this blog the idea of journal-ing for a potential public scared the crap out of me!

Anything that exposed me in a creative way was a no-no.

I would hand in art projects back in high school and never pick them up because I wanted to avoid the teacher’s comments.

So this extends WAY past the blogsphere.

Sit me in front of SAW (with a barf bag…and maybe a blindfold) and I could probably weather off the fear. But there’s something about sharing a piece of you that is so much scarier, especially when it’s 50/50 between positive and negative reaction.

I’ve even had dreams where I’ve had some of my favourite authors—I won’t mention names!—all gathered in one signing and reading my debut book aloud…and ripping it to shreds.

I don’t have a debut. Yet. And I don’t imagine this will ever happen…at least in the context of a signing.

Of course this is also an Update Day post and as being a part of the Big Dreams/Do You Have a Goal? blog hop I post a monthly summary update on my own crazy dream to hit one million words of completed writing projects.

Dreamed up by Misha Gericke and Beth Fred the Do You Have a Goal? blog hop features 18 of us crazy people each with a big dream to reach, so make sure to check out and cheer on the wackiness!

I started this blog because I stumbled on Misha and Beth’s blog hop. I thought the idea was nuts and frightening considering the levels of embarrassment if I joined the group and then totally failed at reaching my goal. And…it seemed scary sharing my dream. Throwing myself out there to complete strangers and expecting some sort of understanding and camaraderie from them—just a little too much for me at the time.

And then I actually read the goals—I think there were 6 bloggers on the list then.
As I read through the goals I kept shaking my head, screwing my eyes and calculating the fraction of a possibility that any of these people would reach their goals.

So I did the sanest thing:

I joined.

And I haven’t looked back yet. Sure at times I post and I have no clue if I’m going to commit to the writing and/or reading I’ve set myself up for—but it’s fun. Fun to reach inside my head and share and let consequences go to the wind…

I mean I know it’s Hallowe’en and we strictly save all scares for this day—but I did A LOT of scary things this year.

I joined a writing contest and finished my first synopsis from that.

I shared my work with two authors and got critiques.

And I posted my work right here and there.

Also I’m learning that it gets less and less scary as time goes on and I share more and more. Like I do more of these posts and it feels like second nature.

For this Hallowe’en I’m going to have to find a scary movie…

*sigh*

Why not?

Now to the actual updating!

 I haven’t written in 66 days—ugh. It kinda just hit me earlier today. I started school and slipped into the black hole of readings and coursework.

I’ve not re-surfaced just yet…but I decided that this non-writing thing has to stop.

I’m starting to realize writing should be happening every day.

100 words is very realistic. I should be hitting at least 100 words.

Still to engage in some self-butt kicking I’ve joined NaNoWriMo. And I want to hit the 50K mark. And because I’m waffling on an idea I am going to publish my idea here so I can be held to it, and I’ll do this by blogging weekly on my progress.
(I also give you permission to stalk check on my progress here!)

To organize said weekly post I will frame them around Chris Baty’s No Plot?No Problem! The second part of his book is structured to follow along the four week of NaNo with tips, advice and rah-rah pep talks from past NaNo winners. (Here's one today from NYT-bestseller Kami Garcia.)

Stay tuned for those and hopefully my November Update will detail my “winning”! (What could I be thinking, you say? I know. I'm thinking the same thing.)

Not writing? I find you can still put your creative energies elsewhere.

Creative as heck.

 Moustaches are also game.

Movember lovin'.

See you at the mental/emotional finish line folks.

BOOK REVIEW (35): Ghost House (Ghost House Saga #1)

BOOK REVIEW:
Ghost House

All right! Was not expecting to do a review this month actually because I’m still hovering over my non-existent plot for NaNo…and the last thing I want is the distraction of a book.

A good book.

Said good book is Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto. It is the first of a trilogy YA paranormal romance—actually described more to be a “gothic romance”, but I wouldn’t call it that really. (But I’ll get to that.)

First I felt this book is perfect given the season—what with Halloween two days away. AND I don’t believe I’ve read a ghost romance before. I mean I know I actually liked Just Like Heaven and I’m seriously a stickler about my rom-coms.

Besides the Halloween spirit—haha! Get it, cuz we’re reading about ghosts—Adornetto managed to draw me in and tbh I sometimes felt like Chloe. Sometimes. Like there was a movie reel going on in my head. She definitely captured the setting and mood for her ghostly tale.

And since I’m kinda heading there let’s jump back to why I don’t think this should be categorized as a gothic romance. This will also explain what I liked and disliked about the book.

(WARNING: There might be spoilers. I tend to avoid spoilers, and I believe that I’ve generally done a good job with my other reviews. But just in case, here’s your warning.)

*

**

***

****

*****

******

*****

****

***

**

*

1. Virginal maiden heroine: our heroine is…well, tbh I don’t know if she’s a virgin. But she isn’t “pure” or “naïve”. In fact I loved that Adornetto played at a bit of a role reversal where the hero Alexander, or “Alex” is trapped in his own language bubble/speech bubble. A lot of 21^st century speech goes over his head and he often doesn’t understand Chloe’s 21^st mannerism. So if anything he’s innocent.

Case in point à (Alex looks at a picture on Chloe’s cell with her help. And it’s not the new-fangled technology that fascinates him…or disturbs him. You pick.)

“Good God.” His eyes widened. “Why do you carry images of harlots on your person?” I was glad Sam and Natalie weren’t around to hear that—they’d kick his ghostly butt.

(Sam and Natalie are her friends.)

“They’re my friends,” I told him. “That’s what girls look like in the twenty-first century.”

“But why would you choose to associate with such people?” he persisted.

I didn’t think my message was getting through. “They’re not prostitutes,” I said emphatically. “They’re ordinary middle-class girls living on the West Coast.”

Alex averted his eyes. ‘In that case, I do not approve.”

(Tough.)

2. There is no corrupt clergy, stupid servant—or any of the other archetypes listed in the Wikipedia search for Gothic romance elements. (Yup. I did use Wikipedia, but I also have studied a bit of gothic literature in a horror lit. class. So yeah…more like a brush up really.) For instance, we are led to believe Alex has made a sacrifice for Chloe when he disappears from her for good…but I couldn’t help but ask myself while reading from that point on: is it really a sacrifice? At the point where he made this first decision I don’t believe it was; nevertheless, keep reading and I do feel there’s a point where Alex does make a sacrifice. One that is left open-ended BTW because of a—WARNING!!!!—cliffy ending to this first installment.

3. The setting is off a bit. I know I said Adornetto created a hauntingly beautiful image with her foggy, rainy landscape, or book scape. But the thing with gothic romance is that the setting becomes a character of its own. I think the only way I can explain this is to point you all to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. There is beautiful description of the house, and there is evocative narrative of the goings-on—present and past—in the house, yet it didn’t feel like the Grange Hall could stand all on its own.

So I enjoyed Chloe’s snark, I loved Joe, I loved the story with our antagonist Isobel and Alex, and I especially liked the dialogue…sometimes. Sometimes it got super cheesy. And sometimes people did over-the-top, crazy things—like *ahem*jumpinthewayoffallingchandeliers*ahem*. There was also a little bit more male presence than young females, and I guess it’s understandable given the remoteness of the setting. But when Chloe does meet girls her age she isn’t exactly open to them, or caring of their presence. She’s very nonchalant and one-tracked mind when it comes to Alex, and freakishly, freakishly obsessed with him and their oddball love.

I mean the author finds a way to work around the whole ghost thing when intimacy came a callin’ and there’s even a teasing erotic lilt to one scene between Chloe and Alex.

Chloe is also super weak in the beginning—classic damsel in distress. She even calls out for Alex.

But read on. The story actually redeems itself in surprising ways, so don’t let the whole “eff-ghost-romances” thing get in your way.

OR the unappealing cover stop you from picking this one up. Here is an alternative cover--maybe the UK version? Lucky Brits.--to tantalize you.

And at least read it for the ending and the potential book 2, Ghost Hour, holds.

Hint: Alex is back. And the location is sunny California. Not exactly the grey, damp world of Grange Hall.

My verdict:

✮✮✮.5

(3.5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (34): No Plot? No Problem!

BOOK REVIEW:

No Plot? No Problem!
(PART ONE)

So I may have decided to enter the NaNo run this year.

Okay, I did. I decided to enter. I’ve even created a novel right here.

So of course this wasn’t a whimsical decision. Nooooo way. I learned my lesson back in 2012 after jumping in on NaNo thinking I could write.

Maybe I could have actually completed my novel that month two years ago, but then maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here having had any reason to start this blog. These posts are might to document my writing journey off-and-on, but this last year I only recently realized it’s just probably something I need to do. It’s become a great place to publically announce goals and then fiercely do everything to reach them and avoid THE INTERNET SHAME. (‘Cuz real life isn’t that shaming apparently.)

But I decided to enter NaNo and before I made my decision I hashed out some hard questions and then hashed out some even harder answers. Like, why did I fail in 2012? And what motivated me to avoid attempting it in 2013?

Well I didn’t like the answers because they presented realities, such as it was plain cowardice that drove me to quit that first day in 2012 and never try in 2013. Also plotting!

Ah-ha! I’ve already mentioned—or hinted at—my dislike for plotting. Actually it’s not even mere liking or disliking, it’s a problem of fearing to plot. As if I might completely destroy my passion for the story when I find gaping holes of plot, bitter clichés and deus-ex machina prancing through my idea.

And that’s how I ‘pantsed’ both versions of Bad-Blooded Billionaire.

I don’t want to do this for NaNo. I need to plot. Lest I risk being driven insane by my internal editor…because she has a knack to do things like that…

So I did what any sane writer would do, I got myself some outside resource to help approach plotting. Because, hello!, how does one plot?

Should I write pages and pages—almost a novel worth of outlining, or should I just…well, just what?

Enter NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty’s No Plot? No Problem!

And I can say with total confidence that this book is a really great resource tool. Albeit designed specifically for NaNo, the tips he gives can be used by any writer at the start of the first draft.

And although I really loved reading it—at least the first part (the second part is on lockdown for now because Baty set it up for readers to use the book to follow along with each week of actual NaNoing)…still I found I disagreed with some points based off of my own writing style/preferences. Style and preferences I found only after finishing two MSS.

No Plot? No Problem! has a lot of point form notes that are placed alongside advice and experiences noted from NaNo winners interviewed by Baty. Here’s a sample of this advice, and by on opinions on it:

Don’t wait for inspiration to strike at a particular day. Don’t set deadlines to publish, set a deadline to write—a reasonable one. If you decide to use NaNo to kick start a novel then great! So as long as your plan is to stick it through to the end, it could take several years. But also understand that the perfect novel doesn’t = a certain amount of time. Some stories will probably seem to write themselves, where as other require you to edit/revise until you’re sure you killed the story.

Writing trajectory after two novels does not agree with Chris Baty’s perspective. And since both of these two finished MSS of mine were novel months, I think I can safely presume I’ll have an uphill journey. The first week (particularly those first few days) will be the hardest. Why? Because I tend to wig out over words—I’m also unused to the addition of responsibility. Like an extra ball has been thrown into the loop and I have to make sure the other—very few!—balls I’m juggling don’t fall.

Plot WILL come. It will. Unlike the Second Coming which is…well, still on hold, plot is sure to come. Something will happen as you write, even if you have no clue what you’re doing in the start. If you keep at it you’ll find your characters’ separate motivations/goals will conflict with each other = BOOM! You have internal/emotional conflict. But perhaps external conflict if that character actually is a body of judges in a kyriarchy government and they’re all targeting you, trying to flush your Robin Hood organization out.

I wouldn’t call writing a “low-stress” hobby or career—anyone who has written a book, regardless of its being a month-long adventure or not would probably tell you that they had at least one point of really high levels of stress. I would amend this to calling writing a ‘high-stress, but higher reward’ hobby/career.

One of those rewards is writing for the sake of writing—that the writing will…take over. Even if you choose never to write a novel again after a NaNo run…or a NaNo jump start to a novel that might take you a more time to finish, as Baty puts it writing your “own manuscript, [he] also found [himself[ able to appreciate [his] favorite books on a different level”.

The first part of the two parts in the how-to text is split into four chapters covering topics like snacking/meals during the month-long writing retreat, generating music lists for your WIP, brief researching tips, plotting and pre-writing that doesn’t overwhelm the story, writing in groups and the use of negative and positive reinforcement—I really like the idea of betting with others over word sprints—and all in order to avoid being the “one day” novelist for…well, one day more.

Setting back your dreams until they never happen for a tomorrow that will never come not only drains you of energy, but I believe one of the things writers all share in common is the need to want to write a story? Whether that story comes fully to us, or in separate chunks that gather like pieces of a Frankenstein monster: write now and not tomorrow.

Okay, maybe not now, but if you already started the novel use NaNo to finish! Use the community, donate to the site and always above all, have fun.

I'll be going in-depth with PART TWO of the post for this review. And, yes, I'm planning another writing series during the 30-day fiasco. I'll be doing weekly write-ins because I went to take away the experience of community and I'll do a chapter-by-chapter of the second part. I haven't touched the chapters for each week, and I'm taking Baty's word that the advice in there will get me through the hump...

I'll share what I can and hopefully we'll all cross whatever finish line we set out to cross, whether that's 50K in a month or 100K or maybe just adding and finishing up a novel you've already started.

It's all about quantity in November, not necessarily quality.

EDIT: I just realized that I didn't give this a rating. Given that this is one-half of the review--i didn't finish reading the book--I'll leave it for an overall rating once I'm done NaNoWriMo. (You know, if I actually compete.)

BOOK REVIEW (33): Changing Constantinou's Game

BOOK REVIEW:

Changing Constantinou's Game

Changing Constantinou’s Game—a title with a name I actually can spell! I was surprised, although I don’t think I’m pronouncing the hero’s Grecian last name correctly. Well it can’t always go both ways, right?

So this is the fourth novel of Jennifer Hayward. (In other words I caught up to her releases! Yay me! I’ve always wanted to follow an author I like and be able to have read all of their published titles. Right now Ms. Hayward is that only author. :D)

Okay, now really to the review.

We have yet another sexy couple who work…really well together. (Double yay for chemistry!)

Isabel “Izzie” and Alexios “Alex” are not exactly like fire and ice though. They’re way more alike than most couples I’ve read. The only big difference is that Alex is supa-rich and Izzie isn’t. Oh and I guess Alex is a tall, cool drink of Greek on a hot summer Manhattan day and Izzie…isn’t.

The body issues touched briefly on in this book are really concentrated all in the beginning…like that first chapter because unlike most books I’ve read Izzie and Alex are not drawn together by a sham of a convenient relationship to do a slew of things, usually the most common character motivation being a quick need for money, protection of some sort and/or throwing a lifejacket for a floundering reputation.

I repeat: there is NO contractual obligation binding these two people together. The glue is all sexual tension.

Do I hear a triple ‘yay!’???

I also liked that not ever dropped thread from the past was neatly wound up. I already mentioned Izzie and Alex are WAY more alike, and one of those similarities they share is an insecurity that stems from a crap relationship with one of their parents which then prompts the theme of trust-building issues that riddle their relationship.

Neither of these pasts is fully, neatly tucked in at the end. For instance I don’t imagine Alex’s father is going to get an invite to a wedding anytime soon.

And that’s realistic.

Or as realistic as it gets during some points—which brings me to why I’m not going to give this a full-star rating.

I didn’t really like how Alex handled Izzie. I get that he went through so much, and there was this huge plausible reasoning that was entirely rational for his behaviour…yet at the same time it felt rehashed.

His anger at the media no longer seemed like a genuine concern. And Izzie kinda just took his bullshit reactions. Like so many times he yells at her, totally freaks out on her and she’s not in the wrong. And, okay, Alex acknowledges that…but as he says in the book and which I totally was hoping Izzie might throw back at hime: “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”.

She kept running back to him and in any other situation where she didn’t’ have a really cool boss and a great work environment, she’d probably have been fired.

Essentially when this couple gets hot—welllllll *ahem* they get hot. But sometimes it felt rushed.

I should also probably forewarn about pacing. This book moves like Kat Cantrell’s Marriage with Benefits. The timeline I think works out over 8 months, and it makes sense because the book really captures the early relationship of Izzie and Alex and its ups and downs—totally normal given Alex’s billionaire status and Izzie’s larger-than-life experiences.

And although they weren’t my favourite book couple of the year, I would still rank Izzie and Alexios as part of my top…well, actually I don’t know how many romances I’ve read but they’re up there. Trust me…actually don’t trust me. Go read the book for yourself and if you have time to spare a comment, let me know what you think of Changing Constantinou’s Game.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮.5

(4.5 stars)