Wahoo, it's NaNoWriMo time! (nearly)

The most exciting thing about NaNoWriMo 2013 so far is what I just found on their site moments ago - awesome 2013 graphics, which I shall scatter throughout this blog post.

I particularly love the 1980s videogame-style ones. :)

Are you participating in NaNo '13? I am, and my username remains the same as it has always been - yoghurtelf. There's actually no reason at all for me to have that username, since even back in 2002 when I first "enrolled" in NaNo, I wasn't a huge fan of yoghurt. I can say that I'm a fan of elves, but I haven't read any books with elves for well over a decade now (I used to be all about the fantasy, but I've branched out a lot since then). Let's just say that I love Terry Brooks's Shannara series, though I have yet to read any of Lord of the Rings (I did read The Hobbit as both a kid and an adult, and I loved it every time).

Anyway, dairy and me don't mix too well, but I am still overly fond of my NaNo name, and so I plan to keep it forever.

This year for NaNo, I'm writing a YA contemporary with "darkish" themes. I wrote the same sort of book this June for BuNoWriMo, and this was the other idea I was throwing around. It was either that, or this, and since I wrote that back then, I'm writing this now. Well, not now, but in November.

Will I see you guys typing away madly (or scribbling, as some people still prefer to do) during November?

P.S. If you're a long-term participant in NaNo and think this idea is cool, vote for it!! It appears to be leading the charge and the more votes it gets, the more quickly it should be implemented. Yay!

Yup, I'm a NaNo nerd. And proud.

The Favourite Book Challenge Blogfest!

It's that time and here I am to talk about 5 of my favourite books. Let me tell you it wasn't easy to narrow it down from my original shortlist of 20, and those last few on the end were agonising to have to chop! Also, this may look like a weird list to most of you out there, but what can I say - I've got my reasons. And I guess I'm meant to share them with you, right?

So without further ado, these are the requirements of the Blogfest:

1. Pick your top five favorite books

2. Between Jun 20 and 22, write one line of what each book is about and then write one line of why you liked it. Think of it like a twitter pitch for other people’s work. Semi-colons are cheating, but you can use them anyway.

3. Go to other blogs and discuss the books.
4. If you do not keep a blog, put your challenge in the comments on the day of the event. - Teralyn Rose Pilgrim

1. Firestorm: The Zagor Chronicles (Book 1) - Livingstone, Ian & Sargent, Carl

A young wizard is destined to become the "top gal"
on the magical island of Sanctuary, after killing off
lots of evil demons and stuff; good thing she's got a sexy warrior
and some other cool friends to help her in her quest!
I loved this book (and the rest in the 4-book series) because
I fell in love with the characters and because my little mind
would NOT let the ending lie, so I just had to make believe that
two of my favourite characters did NOT get killed off...

2. Twilight Eyes - Koontz, Dean

Slim McKenzie was born with "the twilight eyes",
as his grandmother called them, meaning that he can see
that some ordinary-looking people have "goblins" living inside them;
he runs away from home after a traumatic incident which
alienates him from his family, and meets a bunch of new friends
including a stunning but troubled woman with dark secrets of her own.
I loved this book to absolute bits because of the awesome
concept of the "goblins" and Slim's gift,
and also because I totally ADORE the characters
(this book really felt to me like it could've been the start of a series...
and I still lament the fact that it wasn't).

3. Jane Eyre - Brontë, Charlotte

Jane Eyre grows up to be a governess in the home of brooding
Mr. Rochester, and falls in love with him only to find out he's got
a pesky secret that stands in the way of their unlikely love!!
I loved this book 'cause a) Jane wasn't a complete dolt who
sold her integrity down the river for a dude and b)
it all worked out in the end, awwww and c) Mr. Rochestor = yummo.

4. The Sword of Shannara - Brooks, Terry *

Shea and his brother (whose name I can't remember. Gahhh, the shame!)
leave home on a quest and what an epic quest it is too
(I know, that was a crap 'pitch'...hehe).
What I love about this book (and much of the Shannara series too)
is the absolute epic-ness of it, and the fact that I really do
love the characters (so sue me).

5. Pride and Prejudice - Austen, Jane

Elizabeth Bennett is known for being headstrong,
but it turns out she's pretty prejudiced too,
against the sexiest man in the history of literature
(wait, did I say that aloud? and am I thinking only of Colin Firth here...?).
Yeah, basically I loved this book because it was funny
AND I love how it ends, and I damn well love Mr. Darcy dammit.