Just wanted to say hi!

I'm still alive. My poor blog is a little dusty, but I still want it to stay alive too.

I've been participating in NaNo every year (or just writing each November, in the wake of NaNo's demise). I intend to do the same this coming November as well, however I have lately been using the month to revise existing works that need editing. So I'll probably do that again.

The trick will be choosing which story to revise. There are so many!

How is everyone going? Is the writer blogiverse around here still going strong?

NaNoWriMo 2022

 

Oops. I finally got here, better late than never right?

I did participate in NaNoWriMo this year (still going of course). I hit 50k already, but will keep going for the rest of the month and hopefully beyond.

The difference this year is that I participated in NaNo as a rebel - rewriting/revising a novel that was already mostly finished many years ago.

With advice from my excellent critique partner, I devised a beat sheet in the days beforehand and then got to work on November 1. I've revised the beat sheet a few times as problems cropped up - thankfully none too major.

I was a bit distracted leading up to November, because I got the sad news late in October that my high school best friend had passed away. Because of certain factors, her funeral has not happened yet - it's next week on Tuesday. So it's been quite a wait for her family as well as all of us, her friends left behind.

Anyway ... that's been on my mind since I got the news. But NaNo has been quite a nice distraction as well.

I had a week off this week which was very nice, although I'd like at least two more! Thankfully the holiday season isn't far away, and so I'll get more time off then.

In between then and now, there is a lot of stuff that needs doing at work, so no doubt I'll be exhausted again by the time the holidays roll around.

I have not been feeling particularly creative this year, due to work being full-on as usual, and my "second full time job" the animal rescue still being busy as well). But I'm glad I managed to make myself do NaNo, as it feels good to have at least achieved something creative this year.

My hope is that I'll be able to focus mostly on revising existing books into the future.

I hope everyone out there is doing well. I wish that I was still heavily involved in this wonderful writer community, but alas other stuff in life has taken over. Maybe someday I'll get back to posting here more. I might try to make that a priority.

Back for NaNoWriMo 2021

 

Wowee! I managed to make it back here for another blog post in another year. How good am I?

It's been another year of slight mayhem, partly because of COVID-19 still being a thing, and also because of work craziness still being a thing. I'm still involved in the cat rescue which is as crazy as ever as well, especially when you mostly have three people running the show and most of those three are burned out perpetually!

I have a headache right now, but that's not important. What's important is that it's November, woohoo, and I'm writing for NaNo again! Last year, one of the novels I had on my to-maybe-do list was titled HOME. Well, that's the one I'm writing this year - I didn't start on it last year at all, as I was busy enough with the other two projects I'd set myself.

I'm at 7,533 words after completing Day 3's writing, and I am just taking it easy. I only just got to over the daily word count today, and I could easily have kept going but decided to stop for the night.

I must say, I still have the same old problem I have struggled with for years - not doing enough editing, while I keep writing new stories. But at least the new ones have a decent structure behind them, meaning that in theory, when I do get to editing it shouldn't be TOO messy. Of course, that doesn't stop me getting stuck in revisions when one particular chapter proves a little too pesky for me to know how to fix.

 

Really though, the main thing that got in my way this last year and a half was:

 

1. COVID-19

2. Work being cray cray!

 

Even now, as we head for the end of the year, we are still having new projects flung at us at work, so there's really no rest for the wicked. Let's just say I can't wait for my holidays! (I have a week off next week, and three weeks off over Christmas)

Anyway ... Is anyone else out there participating in NaNo? If so, good luck and I'd love to hear about your project! If not, I hope you're having success with whatever you're working on right now!

I'm a NaNo winner for 2020

 

Tis official - I am a NaNo winner for 2020!

This has been a pretty good year NaNo-wise. I first finished one of my unfinished projects, a novella that is part of my SUNDOWN series and one that has been hanging around for years.

Next, I moved back into another unfinished project (FOLLOW) which I had been struggling with somewhat, having neared the 'saggy middle'. I got over that hurdle and moved into calmer waters, so the writing went well.

I've hit 50k, and will keep going for the rest of November (and beyond, I assume). I'd love to get this story finished as well.

I'm a little sad that I didn't get to start my new project (titled HOME), but maybe I can do my very first Camp NaNoWriMo next year and work on that story for that.

My critique partner has also had a great NaNo, and has already hit 50k as well. So we're both pretty happy with how we've gone, and no doubt we'll be helping each other in the critiquing department with what we've written sometime in the near future.

How is your writing going? I hope you're having some successes too, even if you don't do NaNoWriMo!

A FOLLOW playlist: https://www.last.fm/user/earthcrossing/playlists/11908723

Has it really been a year already?? Gosh! [NaNoWriMo 2020]

Hello all. I can't believe it's been a year since I last updated this blog. Admittedly it has been one hell of a crazy year, and not just because of the whole COVID-19 situation.

 

Here at home, I have been involved in a huge project at work which has taken up a lot of my time and concentration. As a result, my creative work has really taken a side seat and I've missed it so much. Only in the last month or so did I get back to doing some writing (mostly revision of an existing work), but for the most part it's been a quite creatively 'barren' year.

But of course I'm back to writing for NaNoWriMo 2020! No matter what situation I'm in, I just can't ever seem to miss this event.

I've got three projects I'm working on, and two of them have already been started. I'm hoping to finish at least one during NaNo this year, but time will tell. The third project is a brand new one which has been largely plotted out so should be good to go, but I'd rather finish these lingering stories first.

I hope all of you are doing really well! I haven't forgotten you, trust me - it's just been one of those years. Actually, no, it's not been like any other year that any of us have personally experienced. I'm sure you all understand.

I'm NaNoing this year too

I just wanted to quickly update to say that I am indeed participating in NaNoWriMo this year.

The new site has taken a lot of getting used to, and I know that many users are grappling with the extreme bugginess of the site. Clearly it wasn't quite ready to go at launch time on November 1st, but sometimes you get lucky and find workarounds that work for you.

One of the biggest problems people are facing is the inability to use the default type of word count updating method - the "total words" option. For me, adding words written during each session is working, but it doesn't work for everyone. And for me, adding my overall word count total does NOT work. It looks like it's updated, but when you refresh and go back to it, the word count has reverted to the old count.

I count myself lucky to only have that problem, where other people are having what sounds like an infuriating issue with their projects being deleted / disappearing over and over again. They've had to add it back repeatedly, and some seem just about ready to give up.

I'm hoping that many of these teething issues will be resolved soon, but it seems like the NaNo team is very short-staffed, and they're dealing with what looks like thousands of complaints. So it can't be a fun time for them right now!

As for my actual writing? I am working on adding words to pre-existing projects. The main project is one that I had to do some corrections for before November 1st, because I had previously stalled at a certain point of the book. I had to revise my plan for how the story was going, as it just didn't seem to be working. So that was done before November began, and while it was a little slow getting back into the story, I feel like it's flowing nicely now. These are my first projects where I'm writing to a beat sheet, and I'm hoping that when I get to the revision stage, I'll find myself with far less of a mess than I have in the past (in my pantsing days). Time will tell!

I went to a kick-off party which was a lot of fun, and I'll go to the November 30th Write Night for my region too. All in all, I just love NaNo and always get sucked into doing it, even in those years when I'm not sure I should.

Is anyone else doing NaNo too?

Point Book re-reads - 2019

This year I am continuing with my goal of re-reading titles in my vast collection of pre-teen Point books that were super popular when I was in primary school. The purpose of re-reading these books is:

1. To love how extremely late-80s/early-90s the books are now, in hindsight
2. To laugh at the ridiculousness at some of the plots/descriptions/etc
3. To bask in nostalgia
4. To remember what the heck those books were actually about.

So far this year, I've re-read these two:

My Secret Admirer (Carol Ellis)

General thoughts:
I actually didn't remember much about this one, except I had a vague recollection of the cliff area (the Rimrocks). This book wasn't too bad, but wasn't one of my favourites either.

Jenny had a case of insta-love with David, but then he didn't really show up much in the whole story. Still, I was oddly convinced by their love. Ha.

I liked that every guy Jenny knew was a suspect - it wasn't one of those lame stories where the stupid heroine suspects everybody except the one that she should suspect. That said, Jenny was pretty stupid, for a number of reasons which I listed in my GoodReads review.

The 'Aww' factor:

Things that made me go 'aww' tended to be things that related to the sheer 80s/90s-ness of the story.

Dean and his "computer print-out", the telephone booth being a lifeline, everyone calling around on their house phones (no mobiles, no social media), Jenny's fashion wins (white shorts and a rainbow-striped shirt; later there's a washed out denim jacket).

Oh, and the VCR!! "Let's watch a tape." The mere fact that the telephone with its "built-in answering machine" was something fancy at the time.

I am still alive in 2019!

Sharing some of my art, because I feel like some graphics
are needed.

Well, hello there!

Ummm, so yeah. It's been ages since I last posted! I'm probably going to be saying that for every future blog post I do, until I someday get back into the swing of posting regularly. I'm not sure when/if that will happen, but I still have a big soft spot for this blogging community so I hope it does.

I think one thing that's affected my blogging here is that I'm in touch with a lot of bloggers I met here via other means - on Facebook or Instagram namely. I'm also not really writing or editing at the moment. Things are very busy (again) with the cat rescue, and it's that time of year again when we have to prepare our financial documents for the annual audit. So that's taking a lot of focus.

I have many story ideas churning away in the back of my head, but really do want to concentrate on editing what I already have. The same old problem that I'm always tackling!

On the music front, my bandmate is already working on new songs for the next Woody's A Girl album, and he has asked me to send through songs that I'd like us to work on as well. I'm still working on narrowing down the list, but one problem I've run into is that some songs are missing tabs - I never recorded the tabs at the time I originally wrote/recorded the demo versions of the songs. So that's a slight spanner in the works. Still, I have enough of a list to send through to him as it is.

Elsewhere, I'm still a part of the little critique group, and comment on other members' shared excerpts when they're posted, etc. But I haven't posted anything new myself in quite some time.

Another thing that I'm getting off to a slow start with this year is my GoodReads Reading Challenge. I'm something like 7 books behind schedule, partly because I read some really tedious books that took ages to get through. I'm hoping to get some good reading time in to catch up. And speaking of reading, I'm part of a workplace book club that meets every 6 weeks or so (I think). We've already read one book, and we're currently reading the second. So I'll be checking out books I probably wouldn't usually as a result of that.

Anyway, I'm hoping that once the cat rescue stuff calms down again, I'll have more time for my creative pursuits. I do miss it when I'm not able to really get stuck in, so it's not like I'm not motivated.

I hope you are all doing well out there. Let me know what you've been up to!

NaNoWriMo 2018 plans (and plotting)

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote here! I thought I should check in because NaNoWriMo 2018 is coming up, and I do have a plan for what I'll be writing.

I have a new adult romance mostly planned out (temp title = FOLLOW), with a little way to go. I'm quite enjoying this whole planning thing, which I never thought I would back in the old days.

I've also been writing another novel (CLAUDIA AND DL) after planning the story out down to great detail, putting said plan into a custom beat sheet that combines a lot of different 'beat theories', and then starting to write. The writing has been flowing nicely for the most part, though I've had a few moments where I've stopped and given myself a little break, e.g. during chapters that didn't seem to flow quite as easily.

As usual I'm writing more words than expected/planned, but my bloated chapters will be honed later, during edits.

All of the above is helped by the great (albeit small) critique group I'm a part of. I think we have really helped each other in the last year or so. It's nice to be enjoying a moment of strong creativity, which is also partly inspired by my critique partners' own sense of inspiration too.

Are you planning on writing something for NaNoWriMo this year?

[APRIL UPDATE] The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club & GOALS

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : April 2018 ~

I missed last month's update, and this wasn't intentional but it happened and I decided to just let it go. I guess you could say I've been busy with my rescue group, with work, and with life in general, so that has sort of taken over. But I'm here this month, and I've got a book to talk about! I must say that it's not a particularly amazing book, but it's certainly the one that entertained me the most this month. That book is ... 

R.L. Stine's Point books were a staple of my childhood/tween years, and I still enjoy re-reading them today. As an adult woman it's interesting to read back and realise how un-pc certain aspects of these books are through the viewpoint of today's lens. This book, for e.g., features a teen girl getting both scared and a little excited when she's surrounded by menacing dudes in heavy metal t-shirts.

Still, despite the awkward moments like the one described above, I found a lot to love about this re-read. One of the things I loved most was the description of the garishly 90s clothing the characters wore. Examples:

• The dudes in Def Leppard shirts paying to get their white "high tops" polished
• Jerry's tie-dyed jean cut-offs and a black-and-white striped crew-neck pullover (wuhhh?)
• Karen's short pink skirt over black bicycle tights and a white midriff top, and of course her rollerskates (date with Jerry!)
• Jerry's white tennis shorts and a shiny blue, sleeveless t-shirt
• Vince's faded cutoffs and no shirt (hey, Vince? You had me at your metal shirt from earlier in the book!)
• Ann-Marie's Day-Glo green bikini

There was a lot else to like, too, such as these favourite moments of mine:

• The jellyfish. Oh man, that amused me!

• The part where we get the imagery in the narrative that matches the book's front cover. Noice!

• The fact that certain expectations of characters' natures get turned on their head in the end

• This quote which is a thought from Karen after she finds a note from Ann-Marie on the fridge, held by a magnet: "How did people ever communicate before refrigerator magnets? she thought." Keep in mind this was before mobile phones were a general fact of life.

• The phrase: "... bombed off to the hospital."

And my personal favourite quote from the entire book, which made me burst out laughing:

"She could hear the wet suit ripping, a frightening sound,

like a lobster being torn apart."

So this re-read was quite a bizarre experience for me. For one, I didn't really remember much about the book at all - I'm not 100% convinced I ever read it in the old days, but then I think I must have. For another, it was extremely dated, but in a delightfully amusing way.

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"It's the ultimate beach party in California. And Karen, who's just broken up with her boyfriend, is going to enjoy every minute of it--especially having two new guys who like her. But the party takes a nasty turn when Karen realizes someone is out to spoil the fun by getting rid of her."

Currently (re-)Reading:

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Currently Reading:

Alice Will (Dreams of Chaos, #1) by Ashley Chappell

~ Do You Have Goals? : April 2018 ~

Each month, a group of bloggers report on what goals they have been working to achieve in the last month. A while ago now we set longish-term goals (and they were meant to be big goals, so we could feel bold and daring!) and each month we're tracking our progress towards achieving those goals. Check out the Do You Have Goals? blog for a list of participants, and feel free to join our hop if you want to have some extra motivation for achieving your goals. :)

This month's updates on my own creative goals:

• EDITS/WRITING - Things have really slowed down for me lately, as mentioned above - rescue chaos is getting in the way of my story plotting/editing/etc. But I've still got thoughts churning away in my head, and I'm eager to get stuck in as soon as I can. My little critique group is my main lifeline to this at the moment.
• Music - It's all completed from my end, in terms of vocals and final thoughts, but apparently my bandmate's computer just died, so not sure if that affects our project's outcome or not. ;) 

And that's about it for now. How are you doing with your goals/projects/etc?

[FEB UPDATE] The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club & GOALS

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : Feb 2018 ~

Wow, here it is! My first post for 2018. I've done a lot of reading so far this year, largely because while I was overseas I was sick practically the entire time, so on those days when I did a lot of lazing around I took to reading. And reading. And reading. Anyway, for February this is the book I enjoyed the most, keeping in mind that I didn't rate any of my reads 5 stars during January or February.

I've had this book on my Kindle for aaaages but only just read it now. Even though it was a light-hearted kind of simple little story, I really loved it - it had me cracking up on a regular basis, and the romance was pretty steamy even with two virgins as the main characters. ;)

Emma annoyed and (totally) exasperated me sometimes, but I couldn't hold it against her when she pretty quickly realised what an idiot she was after every idiotic thing she did. Guy had a lot of patience considering he's 70k years old and definitely knew better in some instances than the 22-year-old (yep, quite the age difference, and Emma comments on this at one point too!) with far less life experience.

I'd recommend this for anyone who wants a fun, light read that includes some parts that may or may not make one gigglesnort.

Some of my fave quotes:

• It was like being trapped in a huge spinach salad.
  
• This coming from someone who'd seen it all over the course of tens of thousands of years: the rise and fall of dozens of empires, entire civilisations disappearing, some into the ocean--countless genocides and wars, the birth of gangster rap and reality television.
  Yes. Terrible, awful things.
  
  
• “Holy crap, woman! What was that?' Guy stared down at the twitching right half of the body. He was morbidly shocked and incredibly proud.
  
  She shrugged casually. 'Payback. Hell hath no fury like a Payal scorned. Can we go now?”
  
• "You're an awesome god of death and war."

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"Twenty-two-year-old Emma Keane has a secret friend. He’s powerful, mysterious, and devastatingly handsome. In her dreams, anyway.

In real life, he’s an enigma. Maybe just a teensie jealous. Definitely overbearing. He’s also a voice only she can hear.

So who or what is he? He won’t say. But if she wants to be free, to be normal, Emma will have to trek to the jungles once ruled by the Mayans and find the forgotten ruin holding the answers.

However, the ruthless deity she’s about to unknowingly unleash on the modern world, might not be so easily extracted from her life. Bottom line, he’s got enemies, and now, so does she."

Currently (re-)Reading:

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

~ Do You Have Goals? : February 2018 ~

Each month, a group of bloggers report on what goals they have been working to achieve in the last month. A while ago now we set longish-term goals (and they were meant to be big goals, so we could feel bold and daring!) and each month we're tracking our progress towards achieving those goals. Check out the Do You Have Goals? blog for a list of participants, and feel free to join our hop if you want to have some extra motivation for achieving your goals. :)

This month's updates on my own creative goals:

• EDITS/WRITING - I keep getting assaulted by new story ideas! They are more enticing than trying to untangle the messes that are the existing stories. But I have my little critique group to keep encouraging me to do the "hard" stuff as well as nurture my shiny new ideas. Currently I'm trying to figure out how my novel SUNDOWN fits into a template of accepted romance story 'beats', to help me identify what needs working on.
• NaNoWriMo '18- I know, I know, it's REALLY early to be thinking about this, but with the numerous ideas that have sprung themselves on me in recent months, I will have a big decision to make come November. Still, I'm pretty sure I know which idea I'll be running with ... at least until the next "better" idea leaps at me, anyway.
• Music - My task at the moment is to have a good listen to the final mixes my bandmate has sent me and send him back any notes. From what I've heard so far, there's one song I'm not sure I'm happy with in terms of the vocals, but I hope I'll get over that and realise it's great as is, so I don't have to do anymore recording. :P I'm hoping to have my notes back to my bandmate by this coming weekend.

And that's about it for now. How are you doing with your goals/projects/etc?

A 2017 GOALS review

~ Do You Have Goals? : December 2017 ~

As I mentioned on Friday, I'm not sure if this month's update is going ahead, since I had to schedule this one ahead of time as I'm currently travelling (happy New Year's Eve!). But even if others aren't posting, this is my end-of-year update on my goals for the year.

This is my 2017 Goals page.

Edits / Revisions / etc.
I guess my primary aim this year was to do more work on my revisions, and I did do quite a bit this year. I got back into posting on the AbsoluteWrite forums, and through those forums I found two new critique partners with whom I formed a little off-site group. On that group we're doing a lot of work on novel structure in general, as well as running story ideas by each other and keeping each other inspired.

New writing
I did a little bit of new writing outside of November, but the main bulk of new stuff was created during NaNoWriMo when I wrote most of THE FULL CIRCLE, as well as a small number of words on JARED & JENNA and another new story called HOTEL LOBBY. In December I managed to finish off THE FULL CIRCLE and now I'm starting a not-too-in-depth read-through/edit of it. I have bigger changes I want to implement, but I think I'll give the novel a breather before hacking at it too much. It's good to get distance sometimes! Meanwhile, I'll have to pick another project to revise.

Music
I really have finished all songs for the new WAG album, and my bandmate has approved them! We're looking at a Jan/Feb release, so we'll see how that goes. I'm pretty excited about this album, and now that I'm recovering from my studies, I'm excited about my creative stuff in general! Bring on 2018!

ReadingThis year's reading goals went well, especially after I decided towards the end of this year that I was going to count re-reads in my total reads for each year. I didn't realise that you can count multiple reads on GoodReads, but now that I do, everything with my reading goals each year will change! So far I've read 50 out of the desired 40 reads, including a handful of re-reads.

So... What's the plan for 2018?

• Release new Woody's A Girl album (titled OBLIVION)

• Revise THE FULL CIRCLE

• Revise at least one other pre-existing novel (maybe SUNDOWN? I have my CP's notes to work off, and she's given me a LOT to work on)

• Compete in (and win!) NaNoWriMo 2018 (I have so many new ideas to choose from...somebody stop me!)

• Possibly participate in the A-to-Z challenge in 2018, assuming it's still running

• Re-read at least 20 books that are on my "to-re-read-and-review" GoodReads bookshelf

• Read at least 40 books in total as part of my annual GR challenge

And I guess that's a wrap for 2017! 

How did you all go with your goals this year? 

Do you have any plans in place for 2018?

[DEC UPDATE] The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : Dec 2017 ~

Firstly, I've decided to post my Goals post separately this month. I'm not even sure if that blog hop is still going ahead, but even if it's not, I'm going to talk about my goals and what I've achieved (or not achieved) this year. Secondly, I'm not actually here! I'm currently travelling so I've pre-written and scheduled this post.

Now, onto the book review part of the post! I've decided that this month I'm going to cheat and choose two books. In reality I'd probably like to choose four, but I'll stick to just book #1 of the trilogy I finished, as well as the other book that was its greatest competitor. My choices for December's books read are:

Melina Marchetta - On the Jellicoe Road

I can't believe it took me this long to read this book. Wow! I absolutely loved it. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, I found myself a bit confused about who was who in the flashback scenes. I got used to those scenes, of course, once I knew what they were, but I think it'll be a lot easier when I re-read the book (and oh yes, I will be re-reading it!).

I read Marchetta's Looking For Alibrandi back in high school days, since it was a prescribed text, and I really enjoyed it, but this one went that extra step into 'special' territory for me. Obviously Taylor is a great character, but Jonah is amazing and I love how things unfolded between the two of them. The turf wars were fun to read about, especially as the story progressed. I wonder what Taylor's forebears would have thought about how things ended up!

Pretty early on I suspected the true identify of the Hermit. What a sad story those five friends had - as if it hadn't started out badly enough for them. But their friendship was so strong and amazing to read about, and I felt like Taylor and her friends were forming their own similar posse.

Okay, enough rambling - let's summarise: I loved it, I'm so glad I finally read it, I will definitely re-read it someday, and savour every moment all over again!

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"Taylor is leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs - the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road."

Jenny Han - To All The Boys I've Loved Before

First up: IT'S GONNA BE A MOVIE ERMAGERD! Now, onward!

This book made me go 'nawwwww', so I gave it 5 stars. I guess we'll see how I feel later once the fervour has died down (ETA: now it's "later" and I still feel that way).

There's a bit of a love triangle (well, really, there are sort of two), but I may have made assumptions about what would happen and I may have been proven wrong in the long run.  The supporting characters were fantastic - I think Kitty might be amongst my faves, even though she was a total brat sometimes almost all the time. She was so matter-of-factly bitchy that you kind of had to admire it! She's definitely the most strong-minded of the sisters, and she was constantly cracking me up.

I also love Lara Jean's conversations with Peter, where she brings him down a peg or two without even intending to, e.g. talking about how Gen has him "whipped" as if it's a basic fact, and one that everybody accepts. He's desperate to argue the point, of course.

In some reviews I've noticed a comparison of this book to Little Women, but as I haven't read that one (gasp!) I can't comment on that angle. But I can say I bloody love this book, and the two that follow as well, and cannot wait to see the movie.

P.S. Team Peter!

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at once? 

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control."

Currently (re-)Reading:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

[NOV UPDATE] Cephalopod Book Club & Goals

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : Nov 2017 ~

It's been another month of quite a few reads, but this month I did not have any 5-star reads to choose from. I had quite a few 4-star reads, and the top two were the one I chose, and the final book in the Jessica Darling series. It was a tough choice, because I am so in love with that series, but I decided that I would choose Cassie Mae's Switched as my book of the month this month. Here's my modified GoodReads review:

Recently I went on a little Cassie Mae book buying binge, and this was one of the books I picked up for my Kindle. I wasn't sure what I would think because I didn't love the premise of a girl trying to break up her bestie's relationship - part of me thought I might detest Kayla all the way through. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed, because there was character growth and, after all, human beings aren't perfect, and I don't want to read about perfect Mary Sues anyway!

Having read many of Cassie Mae's books by now, this is probably amongst my faves. It helped that there were times when I literally burst out laughing and couldn't stop, and there was even gigglesnorting involved. So, humour? Big tick! (and they say laughter is the best medicine, sooooo...this book is healthy to read!) I loved the hero, Wesley, and as mentioned above (and as I saw mentioned in some other reviews too), I wasn't sure if I was going to think much of Kayla, but thankfully across the span of the book she learned and grew as a person. I will say that I think she was a very lucky girl to have such an understanding bestie!

All in all, this was a nice and swoonworthy story with imperfect characters who grew as people. Oh, and there were a couple of total hottie guys to drool over. What more could a (romance-loving) girl want?

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"Ever since high school, Kayla has been crazy for gorgeous football player Talon. But before she could muster the courage to tell him, he became a hot item with her beautiful BFF, Reagan. The only person who knows Kayla’s secret is Wesley, Talon’s best bud—and he’s got it bad for Reagan. Now they’re all in college together, hanging out 24/7. For Kayla, seeing the two lovebirds together is absolutely unbearable. So Kayla and Wesley hatch a plot to drive them apart before Talon has a chance to give Reagan the Christmas gift she’s been waiting for.

Soon enough, the once happy couple is fighting. Reagan suddenly can’t get enough of Wesley’s goofy sense of humor, and Talon seems to be paying more attention to Kayla than a guy who’s “only a friend” ever should. But just when everything seems to be falling into place, Kayla and Wesley accidentally spend a night together and discover a hitch in their plan they never considered: that switching partners may not lead to a perfect ending after all."

Currently Reading: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

~ Do You Have Goals? : November 2017 ~

Each month, a group of bloggers report on what goals they have been working to achieve in the last month. A while ago now we set longish-term goals (and they were meant to be big goals, so we could feel bold and daring!) and each month we're tracking our progress towards achieving those goals. Check out the Do You Have Goals? blog for a list of participants, and feel free to join our hop if you want to have some extra motivation for achieving your goals. :)

This month's updates on my own creative goals:

• EDITS IN GENERAL - No editing is being done this month, due to NaNo. Of course, they are always lurking there in the back of my mind, and I have not forgotten what awaits me after November is done! I got my last critiques back from my CP for Sundown but I am too scared to look at those yet. I'm saving it for later. ;)
• NaNoWriMo '17- I was very relieved to get my last assignment done for my studies early in November, but I was doing surprisingly well with NaNo even before that. This is one of those years where the words are flowing easily. For the most part I've been writing THE FULL CIRCLE, but at one point I started jumping around to different scenes I wanted to write, so I am now working on filling various gaps. It's still flowing well and I'm at just over 70k for that novel. I've also written about 2,600 on my other project, HOTEL LOBBY, but that one isn't my main focus.
• Music - This one is really hanging over my head and putting me under pressure all the time. I want to get it done but never seem to have the motivation on weekends, etc. I need to be in the right frame of mind to do music. That said, I hope to get recordings for two final songs done this weekend...

That's a wrap for November. How are you doing with your goals/projects/etc?

[OCT UPDATE] Cephalopod Book Club & Goals

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : Oct Edition ~

It's been another month of quite a few reads, and it's another difficult choice between two top books this month. The honourable mention goes to The Mortal Instruments #6, because oh my gosh, I looooooved this. What a perfect ending. But shock of all horrors, this month another book wins the day, and that book is Second Helpings (Jessica Darling, #2). Yep, I know - I'm way late to this party! I'd never heard of these books until one of my critique partners put me onto them this month.

You can always tell when I adore a book because I will read it in a day or less. And in this case it was even more impressive because I was also doing homework during that time span, and watching stuff on Netflix. This is definitely a "lie on the couch and read" kind of book.

So, book #2 in the Jessica Darling series follows on from book #1's big cliffhanger, and the tension continues to build to near-unbearable levels this time around. The book's ending was so very worth the wait ... although of course the very ending leaves things open for the next book in the series (which I've heard mixed reviews about).

So what did I love about this book? Well, Jessica is hilarious - she makes me snort with laughter. The teenaged voice was so well done, but it was extra good because this is an intelligent teenager. I love the supporting cast too, with their various quirks. Each of Jessica's Clueless Crew have their own unique features that made reading all the dialogue between them a real treat. Then, of course, there's Marcus ...

He was great in book #1, but I much preferred him in book #2 where he was just too adorable - and of course, super sexy. Let's sum it up like this: *SWOOOOOOOOOOOOON* Okay, done. :) Sometimes I felt so sorry for him what with all those hoops he had to jump through. But it wasn't only Jessica's fault, since it takes two to tango (or not tango, as the case may be). And one of my very favourite aspects of this was book was "Tuttie Flutie"'s interaction with Gladdie. Gladdie, man, what a legend. The scenes at the nursing home were so wonderful.

To summarise, I'm so glad to have had this book recommended!

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can’t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica’s parents won’t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany’s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household.

With keen intelligence, sardonic wit, and ingenious comedic timing, Megan McCafferty again re-creates the tumultuous world of today’s fast-moving and sophisticated teens. Fans of Sloppy Firsts will be reunited with their favorite characters and also introduced to the fresh new faces that have entered Jess’s life, including the hot creative writing teacher at her summer college prep program and her feisty, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother Gladdie. But most of all, readers will finally have the answers to all of their burgeoning questions, and then some: Will Jessica crack under the pressure of senioritis? Will her unresolved feelings for Marcus wreak havoc on her love life? Will Hope ever come back to Pineville? Fall in love with saucy, irreverent Jessica all over again in this wonderful sequel to a book that critics and readers alike hailed as the best high school novel in years."

Currently Reading: Lola and the Boy Next Door,

Book #2 in the Anna and the French Kiss series

~ Do You Have Goals? : October Edition ~

For those who don't know, there is now a blog for this blog hop, rather than us going straight to Misha's blog. Check out the new Do You Have Goals? blog, and join our hop if you want to have some extra motivation for achieving your goals. :)

Now, some updates on my own creative goals:

• EDITS IN GENERAL - I've been doing edits here and there, including just adding notes to things for editing later. Homework has got a bit in the way of me doing much of anything for the last week or so.
• Critique Group! & NaNoWriMo '17- We are all gearing up to do NaNo this year, and all have some pretty solid plans in place. We are all pretty excited about our projects, and we're ready to cheer each other on! I just have to get my last bits of homework out of the way before I can really settle into a NaNo rhythm once November kicks off.
• Music - I have no updates. I still have not finished the last song because I forgot to do certain necessary harmonies for it, and until I do those it isn't finished. I also have to send Billy some other music files that he wants to work on, but I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and focus on getting that stuff done. Hopefully this weekend I'm going to have some spare time!

That's a wrap for October. How are you doing with your goals/projects/etc?