Writers' Chasm

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, 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 October? My pick for this month is a classic, Forever by Judy Blume. Though I strongly wish that I'd read this in high school, this was my first time reading it. This is a great book and I highly recommend it to everyone, especially teenagers. If you're like me and you haven't read this book yet, you definitely should.

As some of you know, I am now a college student. Last night, a lot of the people in my hall went to a bonfire. And it rained. And when they got back, they were soaked so they decided to go dance in the rain. I had spent the night in my dorm doing homework listening to them. So they came inside and said, "You should come dance in the rain with us." And I said, "Okay." There were six or seven of us (all girls) running around in the dark and the cold and the rain jumping in puddles and splashing each other and standing in the waterfalls of rain that are pouring off the roof. And then we found a particularly large puddle and one of my housemates decided to lay down in it. So she did. And then we turned it into a house initiation where we all had to lay down in it. It was cold. And wet. But so much fun. There was one guy that saw us and walked by and said, "You girls are all crazy" (we're an all-girl house). We kept trying to convince random pe...

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. Happy 100th RTW, YA Highway! This Week's Topic: What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic jams and detours? Where are you going next? My writing journey so far is the typical meandering road littered with unfinished manuscripts, forgotten ideas, and trunked novels. My most recent projects are currently on hold while I try to figure out how to revise them. I've had some great ideas recently on how to proceed, but college has kind of put everything on hold. I can't wait to start work on CT. I'm hoping for inspiration for a new work in progress soon. I've had a couple of new ideas recently but nothing that's grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the compute...

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead Is Rose's fate to kill the person she loves most? It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since Mason's death, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She has dark flashbacks in the middle of practice, can't concentrate in class, and has terrifying dreams about Lissa. But Rose has an even bigger secret .... She's in love with Dimitri. And this time, it's way more than a crush. Then Strigoi target the academy in the deadliest attack in Moroi history, and Dimitri is taken. Rose must protect Lissa at all costs, but keeping her best friend safe could mean losing Dimitri forever... I'm not quite sure what I think about this book. The action is great and the romance is smoking, but just so much happens. This is both my favorite and least favorite book of the series. On one hand, the ending is probably the most powerful so far. On the other, I can't believe ...

The first time I saw the picture of the "college triangle" (Pick two: Schoolwork, Social life, and Sleep), I laughed. I would find some way to fit in everything. How hard could it be? I've been at college for a month and I'm not laughing anymore. When I was in high school, I didn't have to study at all before tests until I started taking AP classes. I spent eight hours a day in school, went home, and sat on the computer until bed (usually about midnight or two on the weekends). "Sleeping in" meant nine, maybe ten if I had a particularly late night. Homework took a few hours at most. I was only involved in one club and I didn't really go out much. Take the complete opposite of that and you have my college life. I go to class a few hours a day, but study for so much more. I'm rarely on the computer for something unrelated to class. Progress is going to bed before midnight instead of two in the morning. If allowed, I will easily sle...