Writers' Chasm

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 June? There's no contest this month. It's Paper Towns by John Green of course! I loved everything about this book and it's really stuck with me even after I've closed the book and set it aside on my bookshelves. I'm definitely going to get Looking for Alaska or Will Grayson, Will Grayson (or both) the next time I go to the library/bookstore. Overall score: 10/10 for pure awesome. My formal review/fangirling is here

I had an amazing and crazy weekend. It was like a rollercoaster and not in a good way. Having an awesome day so far today though. =D The new Doctor Who was epic genius. Made of win. The only bad part is now I have to wait until Christmas for a new one. Also, USA lost to Ghana and is out of the World Cup. I missed the game, but I heard all about it. =( This isn't so much a review as it is fangirling over Paper Towns and John Green. Paper Towns by John Green Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Speigelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life -- dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge -- he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues -- and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees ...

I couldn't really divide spoilers from non-spoilers so there is a tiny spoiler at the end of the fourth paragraph of the review. When It Happens by Susane Colasanti Seniors in high school, Sara and Tobey couldn't be more different. She wants to get into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara's other goal is to find true love, so when popular Dave asks her out, she's thrilled. But Tobey always creeps into her thoughts. Lucky for Sara, one of Tobey's goals is also to make her fall in love with him. I'm still kind of on the fence about this book. I love the alternating points of view between the characters, but there were certain bits that I wished I could see from the other character's point of view (usually it was something I wanted to hear from Tobey and heard from Sara instead). Another thing about the changes between narrator is some scenes were repeated. First we'd hear about it from Tobey and then we'd hear about it f...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! We interrupt this regularly scheduled RTW for a special news bulletin! USA WON THEIR GAME AGAINST ALGERIA!!!!! (Yes, I realize I'm late. I was gone all morning, missed the game, and didn't find out about it I got back at four.) It was tied up 0-0 until the 91st minute when USA scored the incredible game-winning goal. Which means we won Group C and it's the first time we've won our group since 1930!!!!!!!!! *fireworks* We shall return now to our regularly scheduled programming. I wasn't going to do this week's RTW. But then I read everyone's entries and then I started getting ideas and I couldn't not do it. So here I am. 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 question: If your favorite c...

OMG WE SURVIVED THE WEEK AND WE'RE ALMOST THERE TOMORROW'S THE DAY!!! (If this is the first time this week you've been here (Hi! by the way), six days ago was part one of Doctor Who's series finale. Part two is tomorrow. I. Can't. Wait.) Yesterday was a heart attack-filled afternoon for me as my laptop decided to die. Three times. It's apparently decided that summer is too hot for it because it overheats on an hourly basis. So I'm working on keeping it cool and functional until we can get it to to get the fans fixed. Must Read: Pitching to agents Enjoy being unpublished now Offer of representation Q&A News: The Lost Hero cover has been released! Don't you just want to steal it and take it home? =D No? Okay, that's just me then. Still, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Also, there's a link to where you can read the first two chapters. Which seriously made me want the rest of it. GAH I hate cliffhangers so much. Official movie syn...

OMG. My weekend. Was "meh" overall except for the one hour of epic fabulousness that was the new Doctor Who. It was made of epic win. I couldn't stop shaking for like an hour afterward and I still haven't stopped thinking about it. Five days until the Big Bang (series finale)! In the meantime I'm watching all of series five again in search of clues to what will happen in the finale. Also, today is the first official day of summer. So happy summer solstice! Anyway...This award was passed on to me by Rebecca . *blushes* Thanks!! Isn't it shiny? So according to the rules (guidelines) I have to... 1) Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. [Check!] 2) Share 7 things about yourself. 3) Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...) [Define recently. ] 4) Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award. So...seven thi...

OMG. FIRST TRAILER for Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released last night!!! It came out at 3 a.m. (EST) and I was going to stay up and watch it, but I only made it to one. Seeing it now, I almost wish I'd stayed up! It's EPIC. This movie is going to awesome. Monday I wrote over 12,000 words in one day, breaking my previous record of 11,310 words. Thanks everyone for their support during that day and for the congratulations afterward! Today, I'm going to share the secret of how I did it. Tips for Word-Filled Writing Sprees It's a marathon, not a sprint. The first thing to remember is that a long day of writing is more of a marathon, less of a sprint. It's a time to settle in with your characters and let the words spill out on the page as they may. The words may not even be good and you definitely won't like all of them. But that's okay. The important thing is to not burn out in the first hour and call it a day. (Unless you're only planning to write for ...