this is kind of an end of the year thing

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

And I now have that song from Annie stuck in my head.

2012 is only a day away, and since this blog is about books 'n things I thought I'd talk about my favorite book of 2011 and most anticipated book for 2012.

This one didn't come out in 2011, but I did read it for the first time this year. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It was one of those rare books that just completely took me away. I remember spotting it in B&N back in 2008 when it first came out. I picked it up, looked at it... then put it back on the shelf and moved on. Seriously. What on Earth was I thinking? (funny, I did the same thing with Twilight in 2005 and look what came of that series. I think I have some kind of internal sensor for future bestsellers or something. ;) maybe, maybe.)

The book I'm most looking forward to in 2012 is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I'm a huge JG fan and so stoked for TFiOS. You know what's awesome about this book? All the preordered copies will be signed (by hand, by John himself). How cool is that? John Green takes forever to write a book but everything he does write is so amazing and heartfelt I think I can forgive the fact that I'll have to wait another five years for his next novel. Really, really excited for this book.

What's the best book (or books) you've read this year?
Which book(s) are you most excited for in 2012?

Let me know in the comments.

See you all next year!

- k.

*dusts off blog*

yikes, it's been too long. sorry, guys.

I'm still working on the first draft of my WIP and it's slooowly coming to an end. I think I have a few thousand words to go, then onward to the second draft! This is basically my reason for not blogging. That, and I've had no idea what to talk about.

man, this blogging thing is difficult.

NaNo / 2

We're over halfway through NaNo. How's everyone doing so far?

 

I feel stuck, which isn't much of a surprise. this usually happens when I hit the halfway mark of a novel. it's like every word I manage to write has been ripped from my head, then splattered onto the page. it's not pretty.

 

so! if anyone else is having this problem here are some things that might help (they help me, at least):

 

1. The most obvious: keep writing. you'll eventually pass that sagging middle and get to the fun stuff. (you can go back and fix the middle after you finish writing the story, so don't worry about that)
2. Skip to the fun stuff. sometimes when I hit a part of the novel I can't seem to slog through, I'll skip it and go to a scene I've been eager to write.
3. Really, this is part B of #2: skip to the end and write. this helps when I get intimidated by the word count. I think: I've already written 30k, how am I supposed to get 30,000 more words out of this thing?? Well, when I've written 10k of the end I have less to write overall, which makes finishing the story seem a little more bearable. (of course, I'll have to go back and fix all the continuity problems that arise when I do inevitably write the middle... but let's not think about that.)
4. Have a clear idea of where the story is headed. think about a scene before you begin writing it. know what's going to happen.
5. Take the story one scene at a time. whenever I start to look at the big picture, that's when I either freeze up or rush through to the end. and when I rush, I skip a lot of the meat of the story.

 

remember: you'll finish. if you keep writing, you will finish. I promise.

 

just some ideas. hopefully they help!

anyone have any other tips?

 

- k.

ideas and dreams and things

So the other night I was in bed, trying to fall asleep, and I was writing a query letter in my head for the novel I'm currently working on (so so super excited about this WIP! like, I can't even explain), and I was coming up with these wonderful, catchy phrases that I knew, absolutely knew, would catch an agent's attention. Seriously, the stuff I was coming up with, whew! it would blow these agents away like a category five hurricane (okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little... it would probably be a category 4).

And then--curse my sudden tiredness!--I fell asleep.
And of course when I woke up the next morning I couldn't remember a thing.

I don't even know how many times this has happened to me. whether it be while writing a query or a scene in my head, or coming up with the Next Great Novel Idea. What makes it truly frustrating is that I know I've forgotten. It's like my mind is taunting me, withholding this vital info that could make. my. novel. awesome. Do you hear that, brain??

But just as there have been times where I've fallen asleep, there have been times where I've forced myself to get up and then easily churned out a couple thousand words of my novel. words that were so full of emotion and beauty I'm surprised I wrote them.

It seems I get my best ideas when I'm just about to fall asleep (or sometimes when I'm just waking up). I guess my mind is still in dream world, overflowing with creativity, but coherent enough to think of semi-plausible ideas.

Anyone else get their best ideas when they're falling asleep/sleeping/waking up?

((on a more random note: so I'm sitting here watching TV and a commercial comes up on ABC Family for their Harry Potter five day weekend event... and, uh, when did Wednesday, Thursday and Friday become part of the weekend? but whatevs, I love these HP weekends :)
also: late Sunday afternoon I glanced out the window and saw it was already dark outside. got very confused. thought "wow, it sure got dark all of a sudden!" then I remembered daylight saving time had ended and that was why. this realization completely threw off my whole day... which, admittedly, was already over.))

- k.

a NaNoWriMo haiku

Happy first day of NaNoWriMo!!!
hope you guys are off to a great start! to celebrate, I've written a little something:

November writers
They frantically tell stories
Until December

yes. yes, that is one spectacular haiku, isn't it? if anyone has their own NaNoWriMo haiku, please share in the comments!

- k.


p.s. I'm posting this at 1:11 on 11/1/11... does that mean it's lucky or something? :)

Happy Halloween!

Anyone doing anything exciting today/tonight (besides getting ready for NaNoWriMo ;) )?

I usually make plans to eat a ton of candy and snacks and watch some brilliant horror movies... but of course that never seems to work out.

Because, either:
I can't find any good scary movies.

or (the most common and usually the real reason):
I get distracted by the shinyshiny internet.

oh, internet, you! you'll be the death of me :)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

- k.

it's creeping closer...!

No, not Halloween (but oh how I miss trick-or-treating! I'll have to buy several bags of candy for myself because, I mean, who doesn't secretly do that??).

NaNoWriMo is almost upon us. I'm assuming approximately 99.654% of the people (or robots? cyborgs?) reading this already know what NaNoWriMo is. But if you're part of that 00.346%, fear not! NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and occurs in November. For the entire month crazy-pants people attempt to write a novel (or at least 50,000 words). Pretty straightforward, no?

Last year was the first time I participated and I have to say, it was so insane and so much fun! I'm so glad I did it. Here's why: it actually got me to finish a novel. For the first time. I had had several in the works, but before NaNoWriMo I hadn't ever completed a MS (and by completed I only mean the first/rough draft). Now, almost a year later, I've finished one... two... three... four?? I think? novels. Not all of them I went on to revise and polish, but still, that's around 200,000 words I've written since last year -- 200,000 words that have made me a better writer.

NaNoWriMo jump-started my desire to write, and to write a lot. I found out I was capable of completing something, and writing a couple thousand words a day became almost second nature -- really, it made the 500 words I previously struggled to get to every couple days seem like nothing.

If you haven't tried NaNoWriMo, I strongly recommend giving it a shot.

For those of you who have, what's your fave thing about it?

Mine? Probably the all-nighters I pulled, as well as seeing the progression of other writers' novels. Their steadily increasing word counts motivated me to keep writing, writing, writing.

Hmm... now I'm craving Kit Kats.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

- k.