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. We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.    This week’s topic:  What was the best book you read in July?   Reading-wise, July got off to a great start and finished with a not-so-great ending. I read four books, all of them within the first two weeks. I enjoyed all four of them but none of the really stood out to me, which makes picking one for this post a little difficult.  I'm going to have to go with...    When I bought this book, it was on sale at a Books a Million. I remembered it from a new release post the year before, when the cover caught my eye. I p...

I'm the kind of person where, if a movie is being made out of a young adult book (I don't really do this with adult books, simply because there are so many movies made out of them that I want to see that I don't have the time or the money), then I have to read the book before I see the movie. Ironically, because of this, there are more movies that I dislike in terms of the book than movies I like. There are some movies that I think complement the book well ( Hunger Games, for instance) and some movies that I have problems with but still love ( Harry Potter ) and some movies that are so different from the book I just barely consider them connected ( The Lightning Thief ). And then there are the movies I can't stand to watch because it's like they took a wood chipper to the book and then tried to fill it with sawdust. Why do I do this to myself? Why do I read a book before going to see the movie if I know that it could potentially ruin the movie for me? Well, t...

This is my last Monday Updates post. As of next Monday, I'm going to start up my college tips weekly blog on Mondays, since it's almost the school year.  Song of the Week: Here's to Us by Halestorm How's Life? Well, there are only two days left in July and I'm still trying to figure out where the rest of my summer went. Seriously, it can't almost be August, can it? How's TV?  Watched the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Friday. There was a point in the middle where I wanted to just stop because I didn't want the series to end. It was a fantastic finale, definitely one of my favorites. Now I'm trying to decide which on my long list should I watch next. Silver Linings Playbook is an amazing movie. I already knew Jennifer Lawrence was a fantastic actress but she still managed to surprise me. Taken 2 isn't nearly as good as the first one, but it's a decent movie overall.  How's Reading? Books read: 0 I'm no...

This is the second and final part of a short story that I started posting last week.  Part 1   The clock in the living room told me that if I hurried, I could still make it to work on time. Mark was standing in the kitchen, a pair of wine glasses in front of him. “Thank you for your help,” I said. “I should really be getting to work. My boss will have my ass if I’m late again.” “One drink?” He offered me one of the wine glasses. I could be five minutes late, right? I accepted the glass and he filled it with red wine. I took a sip and smiled at the taste on my tongue. “So, Ms. Amy.” Mark smiled at me and I took another sip to keep from smiling back. “You asked me if I had anyone in my life. What about you?” “I’m not married if that’s what you’re asking.” I wrapped both hands around the glass to keep my fingers from wandering back to the ring. “That’s a very beautiful ring.” He came around from the other side of the counter and took my hand, raising it up for a ...

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay  In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret... In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds. Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe. As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.  O...

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. We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.  Next week’s topic:  In this month's Bookmobile selection--OVER YOU by Amy Reed--the main character and her best friend try to escape their problems with a summer trip to Nebraska.  If you could escape somewhere (anywhere!) for the summer, where would it be? There are a lot of places I'd escape for the summer. I'm seriously considering saving up for a road trip the summer after my senior year of college (which will hopefully also be the summer before grad school). I've never been farther west than Wisconsin and I'd love to see...

Some people work better in complete silence. They have to be alone with their thoughts and their work in order to concentrate. Others do better with some sort of background noise. For me, it varies on my mood, the work, and the noise. Where I go and what I listen to while I write depends on those factors. Quiet This one is really rare for me. I don't work well in a completely silent environment, it's too easy for my brain to wander off. It's most likely when my brain is really loud and I'm working on something that requires a lot of focus, like reading for class. That's when I find a nice, quiet spot to work. There can't be a lot of distractions, but there does need to be a little natural noise. Natural bustle This is why I like to write in coffee shops or semi-public areas. There's a natural buzz of noise that allows me to focus. Plus if I get stuck, there's more to look around at that might spark an idea. One of my new favorite websites for w...