Book reviews and other exciting news...

I'm a poet and I didn't know it! Hahaha...ahem....

Moving on...

I think it's time I started blogging a bit more regularly - I always mean to post about some topic or other, but then I end up forgetting/procrastinating/falling asleep instead. So, I am very excited to announce that from now on, I will be posting regular book reviews! I'm aiming to post these up every Friday - with the exception of this week, which I'll be posting up today instead...

Just a couple of things to mention about my reviews - please bear with me while I get the hang of it - I'll probably ramble on for a while until I get into a rhythm and realise what's important and what's not! Also, I'll be rating my reviews out of 5 cupcakes instead of 5 stars - simply because I love cake and I'm desperate to find a legitimate way to incorporate it into this blog ;). Also, while I won't be sticking to a definite category of books (because I do love to read most genres), there probably will be more YA reviews on here than any others, simply because that's what I love to read :). But I am open to any and all suggestions, so please let me know if you think there's an amazing book I should check out!

In other news - this isn't that exciting (sorry, I lied in the title - BUT IT GOT YOUR ATTENTION DIDN'T IT! HAHAHA! Ahem...) but I'm going to be updating this blog over the next couple of weeks - my WIPs have changed completely since I last wrote that page, and I'm currently looking around for different backgrounds etc, just to make my blog look a bit more interesting :).

I'm also toying with the idea of bringing back my author interviews...if I can remember how to get into my Authonomy account that is! But if you can think of anyone you think I should interview/if you're an author and you wanna be featured, please just drop me an email :)!

So that's all for today! Have a great weekend, folks!

March IWSG: But is there any substance...?

Guys, just going to apologise now if this post is a little short/rushed!

Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG)! On the first Wednesday of every month, authors from across the world/interweb post up their fears and insecurities about their writing, and we all provide support/tea/cake/virtual hugs to encourage all your lovely authors to keep writing.

IWSG was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can check out his blog here) and there's now an official IWSG website, which is full of helpful tips, tricks and encouraging posts – you can check out that awesome site here.

So this month I'm focusing on my actual plot line – I'm currently halfway through writing a proper detailed synopsis for my NaNoWriMo novel (which I'm praying will turn into my first actual real novel) and something struck me as I began to flesh out each scene: do I have enough substance in my story?

I'm pretty sure I know who my characters are, what their motives are, where it's going to be set etc, but as I wrote out each scene, I began to wonder which of my scenes were essential to the story (which I'm hoping will be all of them) and which ones were 'filler'.

I hate the thought that 75% of my book might be made up of those awful, stilted dialogue scenes, or scenes that describe in minute detail of how my MC got up, stared out the window, made breakfast, ate breakfast, put on her socks, had a completely random argument with her parent(s), brushed her hair exactly 100 times, put on her shoes, picked up her bag, stared soulfully at her reflection in the mirror (enter convenient description of MC's physical appearance here) before finally running out of the house and catching the bus to school. Or something along those lines. You get the picture.

Are there some scenes you should leave in so the reader gets a bit of a background of your MC, or should every scene have a specific purpose? I personally prefer the latter option – but I'm just hoping that my opinion on what's essential to the storyline doesn't differ too much to my reader's!

So that's it for now! Hopefully I'll get a chance to blog more often this month – there's a couple of book reviews I'd love to write up for you guys to read :).

Until next time - happy writing!

Just a quick note...

Just wanted to apologise, guys, for my IWSG post not posting yesterday - I thought I'd try to be clever and write it a couple of days in advance and then schedule it to post itself on Wednesday, thinking I could then kick back and relax with a big mug of tea, knowing that for once, I'd managed to write my post on time....

But alas, it was not to be.

I don't know what happened but for some reason technology hates me, so I've had to post my IWSG message today instead.

That'll teach me to try and be clever.

Anywho, on a different note - I had a brainwave about my novel while I was in the car on the way to work this morning (why does this happen the moment I can't physically find/get to a pen?!) - so my plan for tonight is to quickly scribble it down tonight before I forget and try to do some more work on my WIP before the inspiration deserts me completely.

Hope everyone else's Thursday has been good - only one more day til the weekend, folks! We're almost there!

Xx

IWSG: Will it ever happen?!

Happy belated New Year!

And Happy Chinese New Year to everyone too! I wish you all a fantastic year of the Horse :) (which is my Chinese sign too!).

I can't believe it's February already - between adjusting to life back home, moving house and starting a new job, I really don't know where the time has gone!

Anyway, enough rambling! Here's a quick overview of the Insecure Writers' Support Group, for those of you who are new (a warm welcome to you by the way :)!) - every first Wednesday of the month, writers from all over the blogosphere confess what's been troubling them in their writing over the past month. IWSG was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can check out his blog here!), and you can check out the official IWSG website here!

So here's my theme of the month for February: Am I ever going to have enough get-up-and-go to write my novel?!

This is a worry that constantly comes back to haunt me. Ever since I was about 15, I've known that all I want to be is an author. And ever since then, every single year without fail, I've promised myself that this will be the year that I finally do it - I finally write my novel..but guess what? The years fly by and it still hasn't materialised....

I've always had this sense that time is running out - yes, I know I'm probably a bit too young to be thinking this, but I can't help it - the thought that the years will continue to fly by in a blur, and I'll never get the chance to complete any of my novels...that thought really is unbearable to me.

But at the same time, I keep asking myself, what's stopping me? Logically, there is no real reason for me not to have completed a novel by now - I can try to justify it to myself any way I like (my life is too busy, I don't have the time, I'm a bad writer who shouldn't write a novel anyway...etc etc), but honestly, the only thing that's stopping me is a) my own insecurity that I'm not good enough and b) procrastination. But what I'm worried about is that I never will get over these fears - that I always will make up excuses for myself as to why I haven't done it yet.

If I'm completely honest - and this might sound a bit crazy/self-important, and if it does, I'm sorry, I really don't mean it sound that way - the older I get, the more I sense that something is changing about me. I kinda get the feeling that I actually can do this if I really want to...I just have to go for it. I don't know if this is something to do with the fact that last year, not only did I manage to write 40,000 words for NaNoWriMo (which, if I may say so, I'm very proud of!), I also went to China and taught English for three months (something I've wanted to do for a long time). And maybe it's the fact that I finally feel like I've accomplished something, that I'm starting to wonder if maybe, that elusive novel that's been lurking at the back of my brain for years and years, isn't that elusive after all....

Or maybe I'm just hoping that's the case. Either way, this is one of my biggest worries - that I'll never get to do what I really want to do. Maybe I just need someone to give me a good kick up the bum to get me going again!

Sorry for the rant guys! Hope all your writing endeavours are going well :) - I'm looking forward to visiting a few more blogs this month and having a nosey at what everyone else is up to :)!

December's IWSG - Is my novel worth it??

Hello lovely authors!

Where does the time go?! It seems like only yesterday I was writing November's IWSG post...I do apologise for the delay in this December post - the only excuse I can plead is that on Saturday I returned to the UK from China, which resulted in me being awake for over 24 hours and being VERY disorientated for the rest of the weekend! But I've managed to catch up on my sleep, and now I'm good to go :).

*EDIT: Have just realised that I am, in fact, a day early in posting this - my jet-lagged-addled brain thought it was the 1st of the month when IWSG posted, not the first Wednesday of the month! That's what you get when you cross eight time zones and don't sleep for a long long time...*

Here's a quick overview of the Insecure Writers' Support Group, for those of you who are new to this blog :) - every first Wednesday of the month, writers from all over the blogosphere confess what's been troubling them in their writing over the past month. IWSG was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can check out his blog here!), and you can check out the official IWSG website here!

I have one major fear that I'd like to share with you all this month - well, I actually have a bunch of smaller fears as well, but this the one that's causing me the most concern, so I'm choosing to write about this particular issue. My fear is quite a simple one: what if everyone hates what I write?

Now, I know that (apparently) a lot of authors go through this phrase of being convinced that no one will like their novels, but what I'm terrified of is that once I finished my novel (and I am determined to finish this one!) - what if people read it and think 'wow, that was pointless, why did this crazy author ever think that this story deserved to be told in the first place? I'd like the last three days of my life back please.'

I'm not only afraid that readers won't like my writing, I'm also afraid that they'll think that my story doesn't have a point, or that my characters are so boring/lifeless, their story didn't even deserve to be written in the first place.

The more I think about this, the more freaked out I get. Is my story worth telling? What story am I even trying to tell? What exactly is the message I am trying to get across to my readers? Do I even have a message? Why should anyone care what happens to my characters?! What should anyone even bother to read my novel?!

I don't know why this fear has gripped me so suddenly - possibly it's the aftermath of NaNoWriMo messing with my mind and telling me that there's no point in me even editing the manuscript I have so far, as my whole novel is worthless, or maybe it's just me once again over-thinking everything. I really am hoping it's the latter!

I guess the most I can do that this point is just to keep going with what I have so far. Most of the time, I'm still so excited by my novel idea and what I've managed to achieve during NaNoWriMo, and I think I just have to ignore that little voice of doubt in my head and keep ploughing forward. I just need to retain that spark of excitement that compelled me to begin this story in the first place - that overwhelming belief I had, that the world simply has to know about this story. I just need to figure out a way of transferring all that excitement and hope and determination onto the page, so that ultimately, my readers will love my novel as much as I do.

Until next time - happy writing, folks!