A much needed Holiday...

Over the next two weeks my blog posts here will be very erratic, but I will still try to post an update every once in a while, as I am going on holiday over to Japan. For this trip I'm planning on doing research for my novel Shinigami Eyes (yes, that's my justification for taking the trip), so there will be lots of pictures.

Even when overseas I don't think I'll be able to disconnect myself completely, so I'll probably post a status update every now and again, and when I get back I will set my resolution of being a consistent blogger and interactive blogger into motion.

I'll see everyone when I get back :D

2013 Reading Challenges

Last year I managed to succeed in my reading goal mainly due to the reading challenges I challenged myself in, and I found plenty of good challenges out there. This year, I've decided to take up the challenge again. Here are the challenges I'm going to be tackling throughout the year:

The challenge is to read 12 debut authors in the year, and at the moment my list is as follows:

1. Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
2. Broken by A.E. Rought
3. Insomnia by J.R. Johansson
4. The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell
5. Pantomime by Laura Lam
6. My Sister's Reaper by Dorothy Dreyer
7. Altered by Jennifer Rush
8. The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett
9. Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans
10. Echo by Alicia Wright Brewster
11. The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door by  Karen Finneyfrock
12. Lawless by Jeffrey Salane

This challenge is to read 10 sophomores (second in the series or second novel published in 2013). Some of the books I plan to read include:

1. Pretty Sly by Elisa Ludwig
2. Fragments by Dan Wells
3. The Elite by Kiera Cass
4. Vortex by Julie Cross
5. Everbound by Brodi Ashton

The challenge is to read books from my TBR list (and I have a LOT of books waiting to be read). This year I'm aiming for the level Sweet Kiss (21-30 books). Some of those books I plan to read include:

1. Torment by Lauren Kate
2. Specials by Scott Westerfield
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
5. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
6. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
7. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
8. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
9. I'd Tell you I'd Love you but then I'd have to Kill you by Ally Carter
10. Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

This challenge is all about reading audio books (which I absolutely love and devour), so I'm going all out and selecting the goal of Married (25+ audio books). Some of those books I've already got on my list to listen to include:

1. Altered by Jennifer Rush
2. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
3. Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
4. Endlessly by Kiersten White
5. Revived by Cat Patrick

Last year I definitely outdid myself, reading 10 more books than the previous year, reading a total of 70. This year my goal is 75, so I'm aiming for the goal Getting my Heart Rate up (1-5 books more).

Yay!!! So, that's my reading goals for this year. What reading challenges, if any, are you going to be participating in?

2013: Making Goals!!!

I never used to make resolutions for the new year. I think the main reason behind this was that I knew I would never keep them, so I thought "why bother?"

But... they do help. Resolutions are just like any goals. They actually do help motivate you throughout the year. Yeah, you might make the whole "I promise to exercise more" or "I'll lose that weight" promise and some day I'll probably keep those resolutions. The resolutions I find that I keep the most do revolve around reading and writing (hey, I read 70 books, finished editing 1 ms and wrote 1 draft last year).

So, what am I going to do this year? This year include polishing up Shinigami Eyes and finishing at least 2 of the WiP's that I have lying around at home (seriously, I have way too many half-started novels just lying around here). I have another goal that I'm working towards, but I'm keeping that one a secret ("Ssshhhh, I'm not going to tell") until it is near completion :D

As for reading, I seem to read more books when I'm trying to complete reading challenges. So, this year I'm challenging myself on Goodreads to read 75 books (hey, I read 70 books last year so it's not impossible, right) and stay tuned for a later post where I decide which challenges I will tackle this year.

So, do you have any goals for this year? Anything to do with reading or writing? Or do you plan to exercise more or eat healthy (yeah, that should be my goal)? 

2012 Round-up

Wow, I can't believe another year has passed and we have survived (we have even survived the Apocalypse that was supposed to have happened 8 days ago) and a lot of things have happened this year.

This year I made a major relocation to a small country town from a big coastal suburb and began a new career (and survived the first year as a teacher), and the year has definitely been filled with a lot of ups and downs that made it very difficult to battle this year (including a very sad tragedy that occurred to the school community), but as they say it's how you handle the obstacles and find a way to overcome them that makes you grow stronger... so I guess I have definitely grown stronger this year.

So, on to the round-up:

This year I participated in 4 reading challenges and, to my surprise, I succeeded in all 4:

1. 2012 Debut Author Reading Challenge: 13 out of 11
2. 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge: I said I would read between 11-20 and I read 23
3. 2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 66 out of 50+
4. 2012 Outdo Yourself Challenge: My aim was to read between 52-57 books this year and I read 70

Okay, that's the first time I have succeeded in all of my reading challenges, and to make it an even better year, I set myself two goals for the year:

1. Finish the final draft of Shadow Embraced
2. Finish first draft of a new manuscript

and I actually achieved both of those goals (even though the new manuscript was not the one I had thought it would be). My finished manuscript was my NanoWriMo manuscript, which I was excited to finish writing because it was as if the story actually wrote itself. Now I can't wait to get over to Japan and finish off the research to add to some more of the descriptions for the next draft.

If there was one thing I wish I would have done throughout the year, that was to have been more organised with my time, especially with blogging and writing, but I guess that's something I can work on next year.

How was everyone else's year? Did you achieve all of your resolutions? Was there anything that you wish you had achieved throughout the year?

Review: Everneath

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Synopsis (From Goodreads):   Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. 

 Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen. 

 As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen. 

 "Everneath" is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

Brodi Ashton's Everneath is a story that is loosely based off the legend of Hades and Persephone and Orpheus and Euridyce, which is exactly why I wanted to read this because I love Greek Mythology, especially the Mythology revolving around the underworld. Nikki Beckett has spent a decade in an underworld known as the Everneath, which was only 6 months on Earth. After returning home, she now has 6 months left to say the good byes she never had a chance to say before she disappeared before and also find the redemption she so desperately desires, especially with the one boy who the Everneath could never make her forget about, Jack, before the Tunnels come and claim her for the final time. The longer Nikki spends on Earth, the more of herself she gets back and the longer her bond to Jack grows, which doesn't please Cole who wants to take Nikki back to the Everneath to take over the throne in the underworld, convinced she is the key to help him achieve this. Nikki has to fight against time, and her confused feelings for Cole, to try and find a way to break all connections with the Everneath or is she fated to leave everyone she leaves all over again?

Ashton does an excellent job of making Nikki feel distant and emotionless at the start of the novel, almost draining (which was a bit hard to get into to read, but it really suited the story) and as the story progressed and the longer she remained on Earth she became more lively. This really showed how Nikki was developing throughout the story, and I love being able to see fully-fleshed out characters develop throughout the entire story. Nikki was a strong female, who knew what she was fighting for, but at times I just wanted to scream at her for the decisions she made. Some of the stupid decisions she made all revolved around a boy, which is why she is in the predicament she is in and she even admits it was her own fault, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Jack, is a strong and sweet character. He is a character who would do anything for Nikki and you can't help but feel sorry for him.  He's the exact opposite of Cole who is deceiving and slick, who always has to have the last thing to say and be around Nikki. All of these characters really makes the story interesting to read, and it's not the normal love-triangle that happens in most paranormal novels. The difference is that Nikki really doesn't want Cole to be around her, but because she has spent a decade with him in the Everneath she has some unwanted bond that connects them, and he is the one very much infatuated with her.

Aston has created an intriguing debut that is full of twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing until the end and I cannot wait until the sequel is released.

Source: audio book
2012 Debut Author Challenge: #10 of 12

2012 YA Reading Challenge: #53 of 50
2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: #2 of 11

Inner Editor vs Inner Hinderer

Okay, I have to admit that sometimes it can take me a while to hammer out the first draft and that is because I can sometimes re-write sections three or four times and still not be happy with how that section is turning out, but during NanoWriMo I was determined not to let my inner editor dictate what to include or exclude from my story (yeah, I know that  some of my characters disappeared for long portions of the story and that I didn't introduce some of those characters until they were necessary, but I'll be able to go back and fix that in the next draft).

Once I stopped my inner editor from trying to change the story after I had already wrote it, I was able to get more of the story written in less time. I'm still not finished with the first draft, but I can at least see the ending in sight and I should be finished the first draft before the end of the year and then I'll be able to add any of the scenes or do any of the changes I need to make in the second draft without worrying about whether I'll ever finish the story.

So, this got me thinking, does the inner editor hinder the story's progress during the first draft? Is it better to write the first draft before worrying about editing the story?

Finally back!!!

YAY!!!

After a long month of busy writing with NanoWriMo, finishing writing nearly 100 reports (yep, you read that right), and working through a lot of very emotional challenges both in personal and school life I am back, and this time I promise to stay back.

Okay to report, I'll give the good news. I completed Nano :D...  I didn't even think I would make it since I went an entire week without writing anything, but I reached the 50K mark right on November 30th (still nowhere near the ending of the novel, so I have a lot of work ahead of me before I even have a first draft ready).

The past month has been quite hard to focus on anything, especially writing, I've been battling some health issues and then the school suffered a tragedy (a day before my birthday so it didn't really make me feel like celebrating) through the loss of a student, which has been tough on everyone, especially since the school is only 300 students.

But, I'm feeling much better now, there's only two weeks left of school and then I have six weeks of holidays to relax and recharge my batteries (which I feel I really need). There is also a Japanese holiday to look forward to which is coming up in a month, which I really nee to have my novel finished so I know what to research when over there.

So, in concluding, I'm glad to be back. How has everyone else been?