Writers' Chasm

I managed to read 50 books this year, but I wanted to make a top ten list of my favorites. These are not all books that came out this year, they're just books that I happened to read this year. Here they are in no particular order: Gone by Lisa McMann The incredible conclusion to Lisa McMann's Wake series. This book was everything I hoped for and more. I roared through it in a single afternoon because there was no way I was putting it down, even for a second. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's an incredible book, filled to the brim with beautiful prose. I felt like I was right there with the characters in Nazi Germany. I read it nine months ago and it's still haunting me and I'm not sure if it'll ever stop. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson This book made me laugh, made me cry, gave me goosebumps, and made me open my eyes. The style is unusual but it works perfectly. The writing is so beautiful and lyric...

Time for my second annual Year in Short post! I can't believe 2010's over already... It seems like just yesterday we were debating on whether to call it Twenty-Ten or Two Thousand and Ten. News that rocked the publishing world: Amazon offered Bookscan access to authors The controversy that is James Frey's book factory Nathan Bransford left publishing as an agent Speak Loudly was born when Laurie Halse Anderson's book, Speak, was challenged Moonrat left Editorial Ass The first ever WriteOnCon took place Inspirational: Comparison doesn't work Writing through the doubt Understanding the imposter in us all 5 articles on perseverance Defeating your inner critic part 1 and part 2 So you want to be a riter? Courage in the face of fell circumstances When you should quit writing Don't you dare give up Going from good to great Writing: Unleash your creative genius through dreams References and dating your manuscript It's all about the details 5 strange ways for deali...

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 is the best book you read in December? I was a horrible person when it came to reading this month. I actually only finished one book and it's not the one below. I'm still determined to finish this one before the end of the month. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan So far it's pretty great. It's the first book in Riordan's new Heroes of Olympus series. It contains some of my favorite characters from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series but it's not really a sequel, more like a companion series. You don't have to read Percy Jackson to read these, but I'd suggest it.

Today I wanted to look back at my resolutions for 2010 that I posted almost a year ago and set my resolutions for 2011. :) 2010 Resolutions 1. Read 100 books in a year. This one didn't happen. About halfway through the year I dropped my goal to 75 and then 50. I did end up making my revised goal to read 50 books, however. 2. Query Destiny and Jump. Destiny was trunked pending a complete rewrite, but Jump was queried briefly. 3. Clean my room. I did start on this one, but my room hasn't managed to stay clean. Dang it. 4. Start riding again. I did take one riding lesson before we found out I have scoliosis and my lessons were put on hold until we don't have to go to the chiropractor as often anymore. 2011 Resolutions I was going to make resolutions like "Query burning bridges" or "Read 75 books" or "try new things" but instead I'm going to make a continuation of my senior year resolution. Because I think 2010's results stand as evidence t...

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! I can't believe this is the last week of 2010. Time travels so fast. I saw the Christmas episode of Doctor Who over the weekend. It. Was. Awesome. I had no idea how much I missed watching new episodes until I saw it. Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why ? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the tr...

This is a revised reprint originally posted on February 19, 2010. I've been thinking about the e-book revolution a lot lately with Christmas coming up. There's a chance that my future might include a shiny Nook. Last year I was determined not to be taken in by the e-book craze. This year...I'm plotting the ownership of my own e-reader. I love print boks and I don't know how I could live without them, but then there's just something appealing about having a cute little e-book reader with all the things I'm reading on it. But I'm not going to talk about the advantages of a Kindle over a print book or how Kindles are ruining the publishing industry today. Mostly because I'm not even close to being qualified to do that and there are hundreds of posts out there dealing with those very subjects and more by people that are. No, today I'm going to talk about the things that you just can't get with a Kindle. 1. Think back to the time you were ...

The love interests of the MC are often the favorite character of a female reader. I know I have love interests that I'd love to meet, that I root for every step of the way. But love interests are a tricky thing and there's a couple odd trends for LIs in YA literature lately. Trend #1: Whole New Level of "Bad Boy" Stalking is NOT okay. It is not sweet or romantic, it's CREEPY. It's not okay for someone to constantly follow you around. It's not okay for someone to sneak into your house if you're not home and especially when you are. That's called trespassing and it's illegal. We invented restraining orders for that kind of thing. I don't understand the sudden rush of love interests that have a desire to kill, whether it's the MC or someone she's never met. It's NOT okay to date someone that wants to kill you. So what is it with the sudden rush of LIs that have that murderous urge and yet the MC falls in love with them a...