Adventures in Crafting with Words

I first encountered John Green the spring of 2009.  Not literally, although that would be great.  I had just graduated college and still wasn't through the young adult stage of books. I grew up on The Baby Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, and a few other serial teen books that released one new book a month (written by a ghost writer) for over a hundred months. And I could eat one of those books in a day or two.  Again, not literally. The Young Adult books as we know them now didn't come out until my senior year of high school and college. And I love them! So I spent a fair amount of time going to the library and checking out books I didn't have to pay for past updating my definitely expired library card.  (At least 5 years expired.) And there I found An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns.  Consumed one by one in a week. And I waited for more.  Finally came The Fault in Our Stars. And Hank Green's YouTube webseries like The Lizzi

It's quickly approaching and I had to pick just one project to work on.  Do I finish the second Enchanted Forest?  The third Hastings?  The College Edition of Bookworm Next Door that is taking me forever? Do I tackle one of the other five project ideas that have appeared to me? Or the non-young adult romance that has been floating around in my cluttered brain? One particular project is prodding at me, telling me to write this one.   Character names. Plot line issues.  Motivations.  Pretty much falling into place with some exceptions. This particular project has a friend prodding me as well, but that's beside the point. So... what will the NaNoWriMo2107 project be? You'll just have to wait and see. However, want to tackle a 50,000 word lightening manuscript in a month? A month with Thanksgiving in it! Know your story.  Prep. Plot. Know your characters.  The journey might change, but regardless... Be Prepared.  And most importantly... 50,000 words in 30 days

Here's another new find I ran across during Megan O'Russell's book launch party for The Tale of Bryant Adams or How I Magically Messed Up My Life in 4 Freakin Days. K.M. Robinson's Jaded (book one of the duology) left me staying up way too late reading two nights in a row.  If you knew from a young age that you were promised to marry the Leader's (Commander in this series) son AND that they were going to kill you, what would you do? If you knew from a young age you were meant to marry the leader of the rebellion's daughter AND you were trained to kill here, what would you do? Things were going according to plan.  Jade married Roan.   Then they start to get to know each other... All, up until this point, that Jade knows about Roan is that he is his father's son.  The reverse is true for what Roan knows about Jade. Then she learns he's a painter and he learns she is kind-hearted and people love her. Then they both discover t

There is just something about a socially awkward heroine... Add in the fact that she's been trained at a young age to be a jewel thief... fascinating. We start off in the middle of a musesum jewelry heist meant to help Marisol and her mother start over.  It quickly goes south when Petrov Rosinsky and his men hijack their burglary. With this book you have to have some suspension of belief. Cut to Marisol's first day at her sixth high school in three years - yup, our jewel thief is a high school junior! Before she even makes it into the school she's stopped by Nicky and graces us, Nicky, Will, and an unnamed third with her awkwardness... starting with her insta-crush on Will. Turns out he feels the same, literally pushing a guy out of a seat in front of him in their shared Pre-Cal class... all so Marisol would sit in front of him. Whatever he's feeling must be strong enough to overlook the back and forth ways that Marisol reacts around him.  Or he was just r