Banned Book Week

Instead of writing a blog post of my writing process, I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about banned books.

(Next Week will be a Writing Post *pinky swear*)

I’m going to be honest… when I was growing up I never realized books were banned. It wasn’t till recently that I actually became aware of this. I started to read at a young age, well maybe actually listening to stories. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t like books. I remember when I lived with my dad, my grandma took me to the town library to get my library card. I was so excited that I could read. I spent hours just sitting in the chairs they had there, reading.

Kinda like Matilda.

I think the first series I ever read was The Animorphs. I devoured those books. Then I moved on to The Cat Who series. Mind you I was in at least 5^th grade when I started to read these books. Sometimes I got hung up on the adult language, or didn’t quite understand some reference, but that didn’t keep me from reading them. I’m pretty sure I read at least five of them. That was a lot considering how much thicker they were compared to the other books I was reading.

Then as I got older, I continued to read. I spent all my money to buy books. I probably had well over 500 books read before I even got into high school.

I read even more now. If I have the time, I can finish a book a day. I don’t always read. I wish I had the time and money to read more books, but I don’t. (I’ve tried the library, but it’s just not the same. I have to own the books. I LOVE to reread.)

Now that I’m older, I’m appalled that books could be banned because certain people don’t like them.

In my opinion, if you don’t like it, don’t read it. Let other people experience these books. They might mean something to them where someone else has closed their mind off to the book. Looking at the list of banned book, I can say I’ve pretty much read all of them. And not once have I ever been bothered by anything written in the book.

Let me see which of these books I’ve read.

Twilight

Harry Potter

1984

Brave New World

The Bluest Eye

Of Mice and Men

The Hunger Games

The Golden Compass

The Lord of the Rings

The Catcher in the Rye

They Diary of Anne Frank

To Kill a Mockingbird

Speak

Ttyl

Frankenstein

The Giver

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

Bridge to Terabithia

The Face on the Milk Carton

Goosebumps

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gilly Hopkins

James and the Giant Peach

A Light in the Attic

My Brother Sam is Dead

The Outsiders

I honestly can’t believe these have been banned or challenged. Every single one of these books I’ve devoured. Most of them I have reread (more than once, if not more.) A lot of my favorites are on here too.

As a reader, and lover of these (and all books) I’m not sure what I would be like if I hadn’t read these books.

Speak was one of the important one. No I was never sexually assaulted, but from reading this book, it told me that I should never have to suffer like she did. I wasn’t going to let my attacker keep punishing me.

I’m also lucky that my parents let me read what ever I wanted. I know there were a few books they should’ve been aware of, and probably not let me read so young. But because I had to grow up and take part in keeping my family together, these books made me become more responsible.

Books should never be taken away from whole groups of people, just because one person doesn’t agree with them. It has the ability to stifle another person’s ability to grow, change, and become aware of something they were never experienced with (even if the setting and circumstances aren’t always probable.) These characters are real to the reader and their problems sometimes hit closer to home than we’d like to admit.

My Hunger Games Book Review

So it seems like I'm doing an extra post this week. I wasn't planning on writing any book reviews since I'm doing Writing Wednesday, but since I read this series this week, and it's been all I've been able to think about, I just needed to get it written down.

So here it is. My review of all three Hunger Games books. It might be a little spoilery.

***

Let me just say that I finished the series in three days. Yes that’s one book a day, but I just couldn’t put them down. It was hard to go to sleep after finishing each book because I wanted, no, I needed to see what was going to happen next. It’s very rare for me to sit down and read an entire series like this. Yes, I happen to be a very avid reader, and I can read rather quickly. But for a book to hold my attention that much is a feat. There’s only been several series to do this to me.

With The Hunger Games, I was really uninterested in reading the book. The cover really didn’t do anything for me. I hate to admit that I’m the type of person that judges a book by its cover. If it doesn’t pull my eyes to it on the shelf, more than likely I won’t read it unless someone puts it in my hand. After several people telling me I needed to read these books, I finally caved. And I was not disappointed. Although the first book took me a while to get into it. It was until the third chapter that I was totally in love with the story and I knew all my time would consumed by reading the series until I was done.

I was amazed by how Suzanne Collins was able to build this dystopian world, and slightly shocked that it was so gruesome. I couldn’t imagine having to be a participant in these games. I probably would’ve been the first to die, unlike Katniss. At least with her, she knew she had to stay alive to protect her family and then Peeta.

The love triangle that everyone talks about really didn’t hit me at all. To me, Gale could’ve been replaced by anyone, young or old, or even another girl. He just felt like a big brother. The relationship between Katniss and Peeta was what kept the story moving for me. I liked how Katniss didn’t even realize she was in love with him and she couldn’t separate how she was feeling from how she was acting. I just wish it hadn’t taken her so long. Peeta is one of my favorite characters of all time. Yeah I know that sounds cheesy, but with him I could see why he was making the decisions he was making. He wasn’t just a character doing what the author was telling him to do. He was almost like a real person.

Even though I loved this series, and had a problem putting it down, there were a few things that I didn’t like. One was how weak Katniss turned out to be at the end of Catching Fire and all throughout Mockingjay. The strong, fighting character that I saw in The Hunger Games was completely gone. Instead she was replaced by someone who was living in the nightmares of what the Arena did to her. Now don’t get me wrong, I completely understand how she cracked under all the horrors she went through. I just wish she would’ve kept that strength up, and kept fighting for what she believed in instead of letting everyone else make those decisions for her. I know she probably couldn’t really have done much, but I felt like there was no fight left in her. Just the desperate need to make sure she could get Peeta home safe. That’s all she wanted was to make sure he was safe. I hate to admit that was really the one reason I kept reading. I needed to make sure he didn’t get hurt.

Mockingjay was by far the hardest read I’ve ever had. I was a book I loved to hate, I guess. As much as I wanted to keep reading and get to the ending, I also wanted to put the book down. But like Katniss, I needed to make sure Peeta was all right. If I didn’t have such a strong liking to his character, it would’ve taken me longer to finish the book. There just wasn’t much action. Just a lot of back-story, a lot of talking, and a lot of walking around aimlessly hiding from all her problems.

This Katniss was a completely different Katniss from the first book. To me this was a problem. She wasn’t the heroine anymore, not like she should’ve been. She wasn’t the girl on fire; she was just the female protagonist. And that makes me sad.

As much as I really truly did love this series, the third book killed it for me. I should’ve stopped reading right after Catching Fire. The first two books were amazing. It’s just the last one that’s been eating me from inside and depresses me. I do understand why Collins wrote the story the way she did; I just wish she kept Katniss strong.

I highly recommend reading these books. The story, the plot, the characters, and the description are overwhelming beautiful, even if they are disturbing. So if you haven’t read it, you better read it!

I do have a question. How do you feel about how Katniss developed as a character? Am I the only one who sees her as being weak? I’d love it if you leave me some comments!

(Also, I can’t wait till March for the movie. I am totally fan-girling right now!! I think my hubby is going to kill me now that I have a new book to movie series to follow! Hehehe)

Writing Wednesday

Today I'm starting my weekly blog post.

Yay me!

It's going to be about my writing (obviously). But today isn't going to be in depth at all. Actually it's just going to be a quick summary or what I do. More like an introduction to who I am as a writer than my actual process.

And I'm going to use pictures!! Exciting, right?

When I first have an idea, I always write it down. It doesn't matter whether it's on a piece of paper, in my cellphone, a napkin, or a whiteboard, I just need to make sure I get it down before I forget it.

Then when I work on one idea, I hand-wrie everything; usually on a yellow, legal-sized notepad or in a composition notebook. (The composition notebook is usually easier to carry around when I'm not at home and it fits nicely in my purse and none of the pages are going to get destroyed.) I just can't write any other way. If I try to use the computer, I get really distracted and nothing ever gets written. So I avoid the computer until it's time for the long process of typing everything up.

Then it’s time for getting everything typed up. I use Scrivener now that I’ve bought the program. Before I used Word and I would separate each chapter into it’s own file. But with Scrivener, I can actually keep everything in one place, which is really convenient. Here's an example of how I used Word. As well as how I use Scrivener.

I know that what author’s listen to while they write, is a huge topic. So it’s my turn to jump in with mine. I’m fifty-fifty with the whole music thing. When I’m writing the first draft, I tend to like quietness so I can concentrate on the words I’m writing. Sometimes I can listen to soundtrack music, sometimes even the TV is on in the background (but that’s rare). Then when I type everything up, it’s a mix between soundtrack and regular music. The thing with music with lyrics is I get caught up in singing along and sometimes those words get typed up. So generally its just music, no words.

(It’s always the soundtracks for the Twilight movies too!)

Then I move on to Edits. Lucky me because I’m in the middle of it now! I print the whole novel out, whole punch it, and put it in a binder. It’s so much easier this way for me. It’s printed single-sided. I know it’s a waste of paper, but I use the backside for notes I need to make or to rewrite things I’m not happy with. So really it’s not as bad as it seems.

I use a whiteboard to keep track of what I need to get done. Between this novel, the *cough* short stories I write and publish as eBooks, and getting ready for NaNoWriMo (which I’m so excited for!).

I always have a cup of tea and whatever books I’m in the middle of reading (or rereading). Right now I’m rereading the entire Sweep Series by Cate Tiernan. It’s just my favorite. Acutally, it’s the whole reason I really started to be a writer. Then there’s Mockingjay. I actually haven’t started to read it yet, but I finished The Hunger Games on Monday and Catching Fire last night and I’m completely obsessed with the series.

I also have a special treat I like working with and that is…

I LOVE Sour Skittles!!

And then there are my fuzzy creatures!

Pepper and Fender usually sleep up here when I'm in my office, or they're running around playing, which is so much fun to watch.

Then Daisy usually sleeps on me, or the back of my chair is the dog isn’t in the room.

(Or she sits on everything that I need to use!)

Usually Moose sleeps on the floor in the middle of the room, or under my feet. Some times he insists to join me on the chair. Just keep in mind that he’s a 100 pound dog!

That’s pretty much how my writing happens!

Including the distractions.

(Don’t you love my book case?)

Wednesday's Post

So I was going to do a quick post on my writing this week BUT things happened today.

Not so fun things.

I had to take my dog to the vet because his carpal pad, the extra thing by the wrist, was almost ripped off. So of course my hubby and I rushed him to our Vet for him to get fixed up. He was there most of the afternoon, but since I picked

him up I've been taking care of him.

He's got the cone of shame on.

While it looks funny on Doug from Disney's UP

It's not so funny on my poor Moose…

I almost wanna cry at how pathetic he looks, but then he walks into a wall. Which isn't really that much better because even though it makes me smile, it's pretty upsetting since he can't help it considering the anesthesia is still in his system. (Oh and his poor little paw is wrapped up too!)

If this isn't bad enough, he's gotta keep the cone on for the next SEVEN days. I don't know how we're going to make it through the week. He whimpers when he sees the cats running around chasing each other but he can't join in. (I'm just telling myself this so I don't think he's in pain, which he probably is… )

At least I'm handling it better than my hubby, who is just as pathetic as Moose. I can't blame him, but I guess I can handle it a little better.

Here's to hoping this week will fly by!! If nothing else comes up, I'll post next Wednesday. I just don't think I can handle a book review post this week.

The Next Step

So about two weeks ago I FINALLY finished revising (AKA rewriting) my entire manuscript.

Man did THAT take a long time. I still have about ten handwritten pages to type up, but I'm not to concerned about them. I still have about 100 pages to do edits to before I get to them.

Yes, edits. I've printed out the first half of the novel, three-hole punched it and have it in a binder where it's all set for edits. I've already done the first three chapters and then because of Irene I had to put a hold on it. I've been trying to clean up the yard from all the branches and leaves. It's kinda tough because it's just me and it's an acre of land. If my husband didn't get injured at work a few weeks ago it'd probably be done already, but it's not. Plus it doesn't help that it's been raining non-stop the last few days. Kinda getting old.

So anyway… edits.

I'm thinking of taking my binder out to a library or coffee shop or something so I can concentrate on them more. I get really distracted at home from the internet, my husband (who's been stuck on the couch) and my furry babies. So I'm hoping if I can get out for a few hours a day, I can get the edits done quickly. If I do two chapters a day, I'll finish in ten days and I'll have plenty of time to make them on my computer. The one thing that sucks about having no laptop.

By the end of September, my manuscript needs to be cleaned up because I'm sending it to a Critique Partner. Hopefully she'll be able to give me some good pointers, because I'd love to start querying some agents soon.

Then it'll be November and that means NaNoWriMo. I'm kinda really excited for this because I have several ideas for stories that I wanna work on. I just need to pick which one it's going to be. But if none of them work out, I know I can write the sequel.

One last thing…. I've decided that I really need to start using my blog more. Instead of showing up once a month, I'm planning on starting a weekly post. I'm thinking of either Writing Wednesday, where I'll post a short story, something that's inspired me to write, or how I actually go about my writing. If not that then I'll do a Book Review sometime over the weekend. I read plenty of books and that'll be good for me. I really don't like just showing for "HEY I know I was missing, but I'm still here posts!" This way I'll be using this more! Yay!

Almost Done

On a side note…. I really need to stop writing blog posts once a month. I mean I only have one follower (HI KT :P), but still…

In other, more EXCITING news! I have about six chapters left to revise!! OMG it feels like I've written a whole new book. Well I kinda have. Yikes. I"ll be relieved when I actually finish this draft so I can go back through it for edits. I need to start looking for Critique Partners though, since I really don't know whether anyone I know would actually read my novel the way I need them too. Hopefully I can find one soon so that while they're reading it, I can start looking for agents and write my query letter.

That makes me so nervous!

Both sending my novel out for someone to read and the fact I'm going to find an agent and maybe get my book published!!

I'm aiming to finish it by the end of August so I can get everything squared away before November. I have a few ideas I've been tossing around for this years NaNo, so I wanna get a chance to look at them before the writing begins!!

I guess that's it for now!

Till next month (maybe!) unless I can think of someway to engage myself more on here!!

Woohoo!!

Soooooo.... This afternoon I got an email from one of the sites that I published my short stories. Turns out I've I had two purchases. Woo!! I only made $5 for te two, but that pretty much pays off the money I spent to create the covers. After I jumped up and down for about five minutes, I decided to check out Amazon and Barnes & Noble. So far I've only got one hit on Amazon, with nothing on B&N (I'm thinking B&N people are prude lol).

I'm hoping that this weekend more people will be buying my stories on all three sites. Maybe someone will even write a good review about them.

Alright, I'm gonna go resume jumping in excitement!!!