I have received several blog awards in the past weeks 😀 Thank you so very much, it always brightens my day and put a big smile on my face. Eve gave me the Sunshine Award, Carrie sent me the Kreativ Blogger Award, mywithershins sent me the Versatile Blogger Award and moosenoose gave me the Liebster Award.
You should definitely check their blogs out if you don’t already do so; they always make me think or smile… Carrie, mywithershins and Juliana also passed on the Lucky 7 meme to me. Now, I get to share a little piece of my writing with you.
Here is what I need to do:
Go to page 77 of your current manuscript or work in progress
Go to line 7
Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs as they are written. No cheating!
Tag 7 authors and let them know.
This little snippet comes from the manuscript I am currently revising entitled PLAYING WITH FIRE.
“Hello.” I mumble and yawn loudly, not trying to sound lady-like. I’m not interested in him after all. Nope. Not at all.
“Good morning Sleeping Beauty.”
I turn to the clock. It’s 10am.
“You do know that more than half of the people our age sleep until 12 on Sunday. Or, haven’t you gotten the memo? When did you first call anyways?”
“9am.”
Hope you enjoyed Erin and Aleksi’s little chat…well its beginning at least 😀 Keep in mind it’s still a draft…
Oh and if you want to do the Lucky 7, tag – you’re it!
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If you have not entered my “I love reading” giveaway, you can still do it :-): You can win 2 books (up to a total of $30): one for you and one for a teenager or a child or a baby you want to share your love of books with.The giveaway is open to all countries that The Book Depository ships to. Just fill out the entry form by Friday March 16th.
Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.
This week´s topic: In honor of the release of Kirsten’s WANDERLOVE yesterday–which is amazing, by the way; get yourselves to a bookstore if you haven’t!–we bring you a travel-themed RTW prompt today! If you could wander anywhere in the world, where would it be, and why?
If you´re planning on reading WANDERLOVE soon, you should join in Tracey´s wonderful YA Book Club as it is the pick for March 😀
Now, onto the question…where would I go?
A castle about 25 minutes away from my small village
First I would not go alone, I´d take my hubby with me 🙂
We would go to my “home” in France. It is pretty. It´s a small village an hour north from Paris, it does have beautiful landmarks around it (see example above) but the reason why I would wander there is simple: we´d spend time with my family, have coffee at my grandmother´s, have breakfast with my parents, go to the movies with my sisters and brother-in-law, spend time with my niece and nephew…see my aunts, give a call to my friends…maybe even pass by my old High school to go visit the teacher who influenced my love for languages.
We would also wander back to the US, again to visit our dear friends…
Now, if we´re talking about a place I´d like to visit: Italy…I´d like to see for Tuscany, Rome, Pompeii…
Tuscany - Sunset (thank you Microsoft Clip)
Where would YOU go? 🙂
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I had the chance of connecting with the very talented S.M. Boyce on Twitter and as she announced her Hidden World Blog Tour, I immediately raised my hand (or sent her a message :D).
First let me introduce you to her book:
Lichgates (Summary from Goodreads): The Grimoire turns its own pages and can answer any question asked of it, and Kara Magari is its next target. She has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she stumbles across the old book while hiking a hidden trail. Once she opens it, she’s thrown into Ourea: a beautiful world full of terrifying things that all want the Grimoire’s secrets. Everyone in this new world is trying to find her, and most want to control her. Braeden Drakonin grew up in Ourea, and all he’s ever known of life is lying. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. He has one question to ask the book – one question that can fix everything in his broken life – and he’s not letting Kara out of his sight until he gets an answer. There’s no escaping Ourea. There’s no going back now.
Then we have a special message coming directly from S.M. Boyce:
And S.M. has been kind enough to answer the questions I sent her. It is the FIRST interview I publish on this blog (and I really enjoyed it so probably not the last :D)
When and where did you have the first idea for LICHGATES?
The first idea for Lichgates came almost a decade ago in my aunt’s basement, when my brothers and I were making little wands and spell casters and other fun things out of clay. I actually still have them, somewhere! These toys sparked a constant daydream about what creatures would use them, and that daydream snowballed into 7 years of development and world building — and, ultimately, the complete removal of the original spell casters from the series. Haha. But, as the old writing adage goes, you need to be able to “kill your darling passages” to write successfully.
The Grimoire Trilogy has been a long while in the making, and I’ve put every ounce of creativity I could spare into making it the best it can be. I really hope you enjoy it.
One sentence of your book which you’d like to share with us:
This one is really hard for me to answer. I hope you know that! One of the hardest from this entire blog tour! Ultimately, though, I have to say I’d go with this one:
“Kara thought of Twin and Adele and Garrett and Braeden and wondered how many of the few people she still had left in the world would survive, since she didn’t quite have the best track record with that sort of thing.”
What are you the most proud of when it comes to your writing?
I think we writers are inherently self-depreciating. It keeps us modest and constantly striving to improve, so it’s hard for me to be proud of anything more than having a published book. That is an incredible, surreal, tear-jerking feeling.
I guess if I had to pick any one thing, I’d say I’m fairly good at describing the world around the characters. I’ve had many readers compliment my world-building description, and I love immersing myself in the ‘where’. You can check out a few of these reviews here and here .
Your most embarrassing writing moment was…
Contradicting myself in one of my first drafts of Lichgates. You know how you can get so into a story that you can’t see beyond the words on the page? I don’t remember the details, but the first reader draft had someone saying they would never do something one sentence…and then they did that without a second thought later on in the book. Oops! I turned red when my beta readers pointed it out, but that’s why we have writing circles!
Where do you usually write?
I live on the edge of a nature preserve, so I tucked my desk in a corner where I can look out the window. It’s beautiful! And when the wind gets going, there are all sorts of crazy noises. It’s both tense and beautiful. I love my writing spot.
One piece of advice for writers:
Write for yourself.
You are putting your name on this story, and it ultimately reflects what you think is artistic and beautiful. If you write for others and always bend yourself around others’ input, you will lose the story you originally wrote. It will lose its meaning. So write what makes you happy. You will never be able to please everyone else, so it’s crucial that you are happy with what you put out there.
Imagine you can go back in time and have a face-to-face with teenie S.M. Boyce: what advice would you give her? (yes I’m all about giving advice today :-))
I would probably tell myself to invest in Google. Short of that, I’d sit back and sigh deeply as I watched myself do stupid things. The mistakes I made make me who I am today, and I’m better off for them. It would be hard to watch, but I know it’s for the better that nothing in my past change. Except maybe a nice investment in Google. Money, I’d like. Haha!
For those who would like to snag their own copy of Lichgates, you can go to any of these sites:
And as S.M. Boyce explained, she prepared a treat for you 😀 By clicking on the Rafflecopter image, you will access the giveaway for an e-book copy of Lichgates or a set of Grimoire Book Swag…
And of course you can win a Grand Prize – including Amazon gift cards, signed books… – on her blog (just click the banner below).
Thanks again for stopping by, S.M. Boyce :D!
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Yay! It´s time again for Happy Friday! Oh, if you have not entered my “I love reading” GIVEAWAY, you still can :-), just click here for more info. Looking forward to knowing what made YOU smile this week!
Happy dance for Kerri: Kerri has an agent! 😀 Her post is inspirational and encouraging and a wonderful reminder of why perseverance is important. Thanks Kerri for being such a great example!
Books, books, and more books: You may be already aware that I am limited on how many books (hardcopies or paperbacks) that I can buy a month. Since I have my kindle and since I commute, it´s more efficient to actually get e-books. However, I sometimes crave for the feeling of holding a book in my hand. Since I also read a lot (again thanks to my commute), I sometimes re-read books at night. I stopped smoking more than 6 weeks ago and saved money that way. I decided I could reward myself. My monthly reward: I got to buy myself the paper version of my favorite books which I read in January and February. They look so pretty 😀
My new project…:I am excited about my new project. In-between editing PLAYING WITH FIRE, I started working more seriously on a YA contemporary romance novel and it´s going quite well.
Reading:I read two very good books this past week: Traffickedby Kim Purcell and Getting over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald. I´ll post more about them soon 😀
Awesome weekend with the hubby: Hubby and I went to see Klitschko vs Mormeck last week. Yep. Boxing. It was amazing!
So tell me: what made YOU smile this week?
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If you have not entered my “I love reading” giveaway, you can still do it :-): You can win 2 books (up to a total of $30): one for you and one for a teenager or a child or a baby you want to share your love of books with.The giveaway is open to all countries that The Book Depository ships to. Just fill out the entry form by Friday March 16th.
Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.
This Week’s Topic
Name this life: What would your memoir be called?
I cry, I laugh, I smile, I yell. I make mistakes. I learn. I find it unfair sometimes but I’m grateful for all the hardships and all the joys because it brought me to where I am today. I love my life even if it’s not always easy. Looking back, I realize that sometimes the small decisions, the tiny steps turned out to become milestones. I don’t think I’ll write a memoir, but I do like to look back…So my title would be:
My life version of The Butterfly Effect
International life: As a child, I used to say that I would never leave home. I enjoyed the comfort of my place. Always a tad anxious, going to summer camps was not easy. My parents always pushed me. I am so grateful for them. Why? Because 10 years later, I decided it was time to see the big big world and to go to the United States. My parents once said to me: “We know we did a good job with you girls if you can leave us but are always happy to be back.” I am definitely always happy to go back home.
Funny how it works out: At the age of 11, I decided German was indeed quite an interesting language to learn. 9 years later, in the United States, I met a cocky boy who was surprised a French girl could speak German and English (yes he’s funny :-)). 19 years later, I live in Germany with a charming man I am lucky to call my husband (he’s still cocky).
Writing: My parents read to me at night. They encouraged my passion for books. My sisters read my first attempts at poetry, not mocking me but nodding along. My teachers gave me positive feedback when I was young on my imagination. My sisters, my brother-in-law and my high school friends didn’t cringe away from my drafts when I tried my hand at writing a novel. My husband trusts that I can do it. He tells me several times a week or a month or a day (depending how stressed I am). All those little moments encouraged me and are still with me today.
These are only little moments but I am just amazed by how those little moments help shape who I am today.
How would you call YOUR memoir?
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If you have not entered my “I love reading” giveaway, you can still do it :-): You can win 2 books (up to a total of $30): one for you and one for a teenager or a child or a baby you want to share your love of books with.The giveaway is open to all countries that The Book Depository ships to. Just fill out the entry form by Friday March 16th.
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet
This famous quote by Shakespeare reminds me of two things 1) he didn’t use any big words, he could have said: “woody perennial of the genus Rosa” but he didn’t, 2) reading Shakespeare for a class at the university in the US was a lot of work for me (which involved using a dictionary very often).
As I go through the process of revising, I worry much more about little details which don’t cross my mind when I write.
Most of you know that English is not my mother tongue. French is. I used to write in French. I could show feelings in French, I could create metaphors easily, I could either use simple terms or play with the so-called “big” words. Since I lived in the US for so long, studied at the university mainly in English or German and now use English pretty much all day, I cannot do this any longer.
I write in English. It comes naturally to me and I love it.
However, I sometimes wonder: is my English good enough?
(for some reason, I just experienced a Zoolander flashback)
Stephen King explained in his book On Writing (by the way, thanks again Sara for organizing a discussion on this book in April 😀 You should join if you already read it or maybe are planning on reading it):
“One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed.”
This made me feel better somehow.
Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy reading novels with big words. I know that the more I read, the more I learn. My vocabulary expands naturally but I cannot force big words into my work. It doesn’t feel right. So I will listen to Stephen King on this and promise to him (and mainly to myself) that no I will never say “John stopped long enough to perform an act of excretion” when I mean “John stopped long enough to take a shit”. (hmm yes I just used the word “shit” and yes it kind of feels weird to have that word on my blog :-)…).
Do you sometimes doubt your vocabulary or your grammar? Do you consciously use big words?
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Disclaimer: This review is based on the version of the book Pretty Crooked which I received as ARC through NetGalley. I am happy I discovered this website and I have decided to review the books I have the chance to read when I give them at least 3 stars on Goodreads. I gave Pretty Crooked 3 stars so here we go 🙂
After reading The Fault in Our Stars, I needed something which would not make me cry. Thanks to NetGalley, Pretty Crooked was waiting on my Kindle. I love Robin Hood stories so I thought this could be a match…
Summary from Goodreads: High school sophomore Willa and her artist mother move to Arizona where Willa starts attending an elite prep school after her mother finally sells some paintings, and Willa attempts to even things out by stealing from the rich students and giving to the poor ones.
I really enjoyed Willa´s voice. She was funny, witty and yes, she does steal but she does have the best intentions at heart. Honestly, I didn´t spend too much time thinking about the possible moral implications because, well, if you´ve got a story of Robin Hood, you have somebody who steals. That´s how it works.
It would be like changing the ending of a fairy tale…It reminds me of a Desperate Housewives episode when Lynette argues with another mom on Little Red Riding Hood who wanted to change the ending because the wolf is too scary.
Anyways,,,:-)
Willa is not on a big quest, she definitely has flaws and some of her actions may be questionable.
It reminded me of Mean Girls. Cady not able to stand up to their little group because she liked being in the middle of attention. Well, Willa is a little bit like her and when she wants to make it right, while still not losing her status, she turns into “Robin Hood”. Of course, there´s more to the story than Willa trying to get back at the mean rich kids, she also meets a guy at school who makes her heart beat faster. It´s a cute romance, even though he does not end up on my list of book crushes (but I have high expectations on this, I mean Etienne St-Clair from Anna and The French Kiss is hard to compete with). The issues with her mother, with whom she got along just fine before, grow stronger throughout the book and I wonder what the sequel will entail on this front.
Pretty crooked is a fun and light read.
Sometimes fun and light is exactly what I need 🙂
How about you?
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My fingers have been itching to type this post but I had to stay longer at work so it´s a bit later than usual…Ready? Here are some of the reasons why I smiled this week…
My “I love reading giveaway”: This giveaway is to celebrate my love of reading with all of you. There will be one winner (but I probably will repeat this in a few months) You can win 2 books (up to a total of $30): one for you and one for a teenager or a child or a baby you want to share your love of books with. If you’re a teenager, that’s one for you and one for a friend or somebody younger than you. The giveaway is international (open to all countries that The Book Depository ships to). Just fill out the entry form by Friday March 16th.
Revising: Two weeks ago, I sent my first chapter to Tarah…I was anxious to receive her feedback. How would I react to the possible criticism towards the words I put on paper? What did she think about it? Was it awful? Was it good? and wow, I never thought I would be so happy to see her many comments on this chapter. Tarah: again THANK YOU! She not only took the time to read it but she gave a lot of thoughts to it. She edited some and pointed out where it could actually get “tighter”. I am very grateful because I just have the feeling, that thanks to her, my story is moving forward. It´s getting better. I´m excited to dive into the story again!
Reading: I started reading Incarnate at the beginning of the week. I was not sure what to expect…but I was in for a treat. I had plenty of time while waiting at the French consulate to finally change my papers (got married in August and only getting around to it but that´s another story). I will probably do a full review soon but let me just say that Jodi managed to make me miss my piano even more. I also really enjoyed the world-building, the development and the romance. Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying Amy and Roger´s Epic Detour (thanks Jaime for pointing this book out to me some time ago :D)
So tell me what made YOU smile this week?
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Nope I don’t have 100 followers (yet). It may seem like I do but really the number on the right includes my Twitter followers on top of my blog friends…
Since I did not want to wait any longer, I decided to do an “I love reading GIVEAWAY”.
I love reading. I love books. I really do. It’s a love affair which has been going on for the longest time.
It started when my parents read to me each evening before I fell asleep (Merci Papa et Maman!). It continued when I picked up books on my own. Reading Victor Hugo at the age of 8 because really who wouldn’t want to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame at that age…I did not understand everything though. I should read it again 🙂 In my teens, I fell deeper in love with all types of stories and well now, my husband put a limit to the amount of hardcovers I can buy a month…(I’m still not happy with this, Mr Chemical Engineer).
So this giveaway is to celebrate my love of reading with all of you. There will be one winner (but I probably will repeat this in a few months)
You can win 2 books (up to a total of $30): one for you and one for a teenager or a child or a baby you want to share your love of books with. If you’re a teenager, that’s one for you and one for a friend or somebody younger than you. The giveaway is international (open to all countries that The Book Depository ships to). Just fill out the entry form below by Friday March 16th.
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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.
This Week’s Topic
What was the best book you read in February?
I am going to cheat a little on this month’s Road Trip Wednesday. I read a lot of books in February (a grand total of 11 novels) and I cannot only pick one. While I am choosing more than 1, I am still narrowing it down and it’s a tough exercise 🙂
The one where we believe in hope as magic
The Daughter Of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: “Laini Taylor has a way with words, she makes magic with them and spreads hope while touching your heart (…) The story of Karou and Akiva is not just another star-crossed love story. It takes your heart, breaks it and tries to mend it as it goes. ” (for my full review, you can click here)
The one with the roller coaster of emotions
The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene which I read for Tracey’s wonderful YA Book Club: “this book is not a “sad book”. John Green did not show us mopey, he introduced us to fun, loving, funny, quirky, witty, strong, weak, flawed, lovable, smart characters. He introduced us to “people”. And that is where the magic of this book is. (…) It is a book full of emotions. It´s a roller coaster. It´s life and it´s beautiful.” (for my full review, you can click here)
The one where we realize growing up is hard to do but worth it
The Disenchantmentsby Nina LaCour which I picked up thanks to Katy’s recommendation. It´s the type of book which is at times hard to read because it pinpoints so well that difficult/exciting/scary part between staying and leaving, how to move on without losing oneself and the ones we love. I found myself really falling into the book at times while trying to pull myself away from it because it was so powerful. Hmm not sure if I make sense 🙂
The one which gave me butterflies
Forget you by Jennifer Echols which I picked up thanks to Jessica : Hot, hot and can I say: hot? This book definitely holds steamy scenes, the kind that makes you read them again because Jennifer does not write them in an obviously graphic manner but in a suggestive tone. She does that very very well! 😀 Ok now that the gushing of those scenes is out of the way, I need to tell you about how I enjoyed the characters. They´re not perfect. None of them are. Zoey does what many girls do when they want to keep control of something (I´ve done it as well) or at least give themselves the illusion of controlling: they pretend. They pretend they´re happy, they pretend they´re in love and loved in return…because sometimes it appears easier that way. Zoey does not necessarily realizes that she´s doing this even though she can be manipulative on other fronts. She grows throughout the novel and that´s what made me root for her. Plus, there is Doug and he´s quite the guy 😀
So, tell me which book was your favorite “February read”?
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You should definitely check their blogs out if you don’t already do so; they always make me think or smile… Carrie, mywithershins and Juliana also passed on the Lucky 7 meme to me. Now, I get to share a little piece of my writing with you.
Elodie Nowodazkij 