Writers' Chasm

When I finish reading a book, I have what I call a "recovery period." This is a time when I'm still mulling over the book, raving about it if it was good, trying to figure out why I didn't like it if it was bad. Sometimes I have what I call the "honeymoon period" which is when I run around raving about a book until I've had enough time to let it settle in my mind and all the things I didn't like about it start to float forward in my brain. Note: This only applies to books that I'm reading for pleasure. I don't have recovery periods for beta reads or class-assigned reading.  Factors affecting my recovery period: Stand-alone or part of a series. Books that are part of a series generally have longer recovery periods than books that are stand-alones. This is especially true of the second book in a series. This is probably due to the fact that the second book rackets up the tension and makes me want the third book next. How emotionally t...

Between classes, homework, friends, clubs, and everything else, college doesn't leave a lot of free time. And when it does, it's usually taken up by catching up on sleep. For a lot of people, college means pleasure reading is now a thing of the past. It doesn't have to be. Here are five tips on finding time to read for fun during college. 1. Find time. This is the biggest thing. Chances are if you say "I don't have time to read" it's not true. Take fifteen or twenty minutes to read before bed. If you have an hour between classes that you don't need to use for last-minute studying, find a quiet corner somewhere and read. If there's a meal that you have to eat alone, bring a book and read while you eat. 2. Prioritize free time A couple weeks ago my roommate said she wanted to read a favorite series of mine, but she didn't have time. This is the same roommate that spend four hours yesterday playing Sims 3. If you want to make time to read,...

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her. And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.  Sanctum by Sarah Fine Guards of the Shadowlands #1 "My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple." A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos's best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone...

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:  Are you doing NaNoWriMo, or have you ever? Does having a deadline inspire you? I have every intention of doing NaNo this year. I'm still trying to work out which idea I'm going to use (it's a toss-up between two right now), but I know that I want to do it. I might be insane for trying considering I have classes, clubs, friends, and the last weekend of NaNo will be the first time I'll go home this semester. The first idea is a WIP that's already at 10k. I don't really want to use that one because it's a very heart-wrenching book to write and I feel like it's one of those that shouldn't be written in a mad one-month rush. This one will probably have t...

I know I have that handy little list of sites for writing over there on the sidebar *points* but today I wanted to do a more in-depth post on great resources for writers. Absolute Write Water Cooler AW is a forum for writers that is a goldmine of information. There are subforums for every genre and format of writing as well as a place to ask questions for story research and a subforum for finding beta readers. Perhaps the greatest resource is the subforum on publishers and agents for background checks. There's also a section for sharing your work and critiquing the work of others. Emotion Thesaurus This is a thesaurus of signs of emotions. There are also thesauruses for settings, character traits, weather, colors, textures, and shapes, and symbolism. Character Therapist The character therapist takes questions from characters and answers them from a therapist's standpoint. Baby Names There are lots of baby name sites and books, but this one is my favorite. You can se...

I can't believe it's almost time to schedule classes again already. Registration for us starts at the end of the month and I'm already chomping at the bit for them to post the offered course list. Here are some tips for scheduling whether you're a freshman or scheduling for your very last semester. 1. Schedule classes according to when you work best If you're a morning person, schedule classes for the morning. If you're not at your best until after noon, avoid early morning classes. It might take you a few semesters to figure out when that is at the beginning of your college career. My goal for next semester is have class from 10 to 12 and then 1 to 3 four days a week. It gives me time to sleep in a little in the morning and then gives me most of the afternoon for homework and whatnot. 2. Make sure you take care of required classes I have a spreadsheet of classes that are required for my major, minor, and liberal arts. Yours doesn't have to be quite as...

Over time there have been characters I loved and characters I hated. And then there are the rare few that I hated for the longest time until something happened that changed everything. Warning: This post contains spoilers for Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Avatar: The Last Airbender (the TV show, of course). 1. Severus Snape -- Harry Potter Snape is by far the best example of this change of heart. For five books, he was the character I loved to hate. I hated the way he treated Harry. Then, book six came around and Snape took hate to a new level. When he killed Dumbledore, I actually ran from my room in a murderous rage and told my mom that I was going to murder Snape. And then, book seven. The memories. The revelation that Dumbledore knew he was going to die. Snape's true alliances revealed. And all of a sudden...I loved Snape. I cried for him when he died and then all over again during his memories. Now I knew why Snape had always hated Harry so much and...