June Recap

This month has been unexpectedly busy. But it's been good - I've read a few books, made some progress with my writing, gotten some financial mumbo-jumbo sorted out for starting college in August, and finished a Bible study on secrets. I'm feeling good about my productivity.
Also, it was announced this month that my primary online writing group, Go Teen Writers, is shutting down the Facebook group. I was pretty shocked about that - I've been part of it for over a year and it made me realize that there are other people out their who understand what it is like to love writing. I've gotten so many laughs and picked up on so much inspiration from that group - I'll be really sad to see it go. Thankfully several groups were started up independently by several members, so I've joined a few of those hoping to fill up the void.
Anyway, here is the recap of what's been going on around here in June.

Blog Happenings

I want to start by saying that for the last couple months, my post "Why Character Chats Are Awesome" has been a huge success. It's all over Pinterest and has over 1,500 views to date. Most of my other posts have been lucky to hit 100. But my first post this month, "Blurring the Lines: What Are Anti-Heroes and Anti-Villains?" has become my most popular post now - it is spreading on Pinterest and has even been linked to on what appears to be a popular tumblr blog. Which is awesome so thank you, everyone.
Also this month:

• I gave you all some information about my villain Tempe, and posted an interview containing answers to your wonderful questions.
• I gave relationship advice with "9 1/2 Ways to Get to Know Your Characters."
• The Beautiful People of the month was focused on parents in honor of Father's Day! I did it character interview style, with both Ace and Mara!
• I shared two methods that helped me get over some plotting and chronology problems in my WIP.
• I got to fangirl just a little by sharing six excellently done characters in the different character categories I covered in my three-part series of the past two months.

Books!

This month I read six novels:

• Resistance by Jaye. L. Knight
• Golden Son by Pierce Brown
• The King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight
• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson
• (links above to Goodreads)

I reviewed Legend, Words of Radiance, Resistance, and Golden Son in one post, The King's Scrolls and Challenger Deep in a second, Cinder in a third, and By Darkness Hid in a fourth (links to my reviews). 

And I added a few books to my bookshelf this month as well.

• The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten (I couldn't find it in my library but I really want to read it so I had to buy it)
• The King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight (had to order online)
• Lament by Maggie Stiefvater (thrift shop - I've never read anything by this author and I hear she's good, so I thought I'd give it a try)
• The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (thrift shop buy - I've read the series but have none of the books, so this can start my collection).

Also, I pre-ordered the e-book (don't particularly enjoy that format, but I had to in this case) Half Blood by Jaye L. Knight for the kindle app on my phone, so I can read that in July. Can't wait!
My favorite book of the month was probably Challenger Deep, with By Darkness Hid and Resistance tied for second. My least favorite? None of the books were bad, but The King's Scrolls took last place because of the lack of feeling it left me with.

Writing

While it's been a light reading month, I've been working heavily in Shadows and Light. I finished plotting Ace's character arc, and then I worked on getting it all matched up with Mara's . . . and that was giving me a headache. But I got all my plot points onto sticky notes and covered a decent portion of wall with them so that I could see it all together. Something about handwriting got me brainstorming ways to work around the problems I created for myself, so I actually managed to get it sorted out in time for July Camp NaNoWriMo . . . oh yeah, I signed up for that.
In addition to that, I've worked out the kinks in my chronology and decided to add a subtly allegorical theme to Shadows and Light, mostly in the Mage League, which I will probably rename. I'm going to be working out the details of that as I write, I think.
Also, not sure if this counts or not, but I spent some time drawing Tempe  this month, which was fun and gave me just the image I want of her. I also finally got to see Tempe and Mara side-by-side, which is incredible. I would not want to see that pair strolling down the street.

Both drawings by Annika Smith.

Related to no project, I found this on Pinterest and really want to write a high fantasy novel with a race of pointy-eared people in it. I even went so far as to create my first race of people based on this photo, complete with a little 2-page race profile. It doesn't have a story-home, though, and honestly I don't need another WIP . . . yet. Maybe I'll get to use it some day. 

Other Internet Happenings

• K.M. Weiland gave some advice on what to do with very long manuscipts on her incredible blog (definitely take a few hours to look around it)
• She also talked about how to craft excellent antagonists (and there was a little portion which spoke about the different kinds of villains seen in different genres of fiction, which I found immensely interesting)
• An article on the Popular Science website poked just a few minor holes in the "humans will live on Mars in a few years" balloon. Here are some issues you need to think about, sci-fi writers.
• Katie Grace @ A Writer's Faith shared a very helpful list of ways to boost your word count for all NaNo-ing - I think I'll be using it this month!

Favorite Pins of the Month

Ahhhhh the plot bunnies.

So creepy . . . I want an excuse to write a scene in this setting.

What Is to Come

• Aimee Meester @ To the Barricade! asked me to guest post for her in July! I'm so excited.
• In return, she is guest-posting July 14th here, so be around for that.
• I'm going to do a few posts on different cliches around here, so keep an eye out for those.
• Don't be surprised if my Friday posts stop appearing once or twice during the upcoming month - if you wonder what I'm doing, I'll be furiously trying to achieve my word count goal for Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm also not certain how much reading I'll actually get done, so we'll see about Sunday Book Reviews. Don't worry, I've got the Tuesday posts covered (mostly).
• It was requested that I share pictures of my cats. I shall do this on a Friday post sometime this month, so be prepared for cuteness.
• I also have a more rant-style post coming up, called "The Problem with Too Many Books." Don't worry, I'm still an avid book fan - and I think you'll all relate on this one.

Questions I Now Want You to Answer:

1. Do you like all my book reviews of the week getting lumped into one post? Or would you prefer me to publish individual ones as soon as I write them throughout the week in addition to my other posts?

Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo? What will you be working on for it? And ooh, have you read any of the books I mentioned? Have you ever created a whole big story or piece of world building just from seeing a picture? 

By Darkness Hid

Again, I read only one book this week. I must have spent all my time writing blog posts ahead of time for July, as I'm not anticipating a whole load of time to write posts with Camp NaNoWriMo going on. I didn't even have time to write an in-depth review, so, this is quite short.

LOVED IT. Achan and Vrell were great protagonists, and unlike some books I didn't see the ultimate plot twist coming from a mile away - the foreshadowing was good. Achan was my favorite character with his penchant for trouble mixed with a sometimes unquestioning acceptance of tough events in life, which I presume came from his position as a stray. I loved the concept of bloodvoicing, which was like telepathy except with a few more limitations which made it unique. I loved the world this was set in, with Darkness and strays and all the political factions. I have many questions still, like "what makes a stray a stray?" and "what are the differences between a stray and a slave?" and "how did the Darkness come to be?" and "How many Hadars are there?!" I'm hoping I find out the answers in the next books. *runs to go find them somewhere*

Have you read this book? What did you think?

The Liebster Award

This is quite overdue, but a week or two ago Natasha Roxby @ Memoirs of a Tale Weaver nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thanks!

The rules are: 

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the questions given to you by said person.
3. Choose eleven questions of your own.
4. Nominate eleven more people!

Here are Natasha's questions:

1. Who is your favorite character from your WIP? Why?
Difficult question. For a character I'd actually like if he/she were real . . .maybe Tyv, if he'd let me get close to him, or Gabriel. They're nice. But if we're talking which-character-is-your-masterpiece I'd say Tempe or Nitri. Both of them are really complex - but Tempe scares me. So Nitri is probably my favorite, though he's a bit unhinged himself.
Boy. That was tough to figure out. xD

2. Outside of writing, is there anything that you really, passionately love doing?
I would say reading, but that is a different kind of passion. This may sound weird but, I actually really like studying. *blocks ears against shouts of disbelief* Obviously it depends on the subject, but if I find a subject I like (say literature mixed with history and biblical theology) I'll really enjoy myself.

3. What made you want to start your blog?

I wanted a place to talk about writing and stories with other people who like the same things. However, I've continued it though for the blogging community I've now become a part of.

4. What is one of your funniest childhood memories?

I don't have many. One I do remember involves hitting my younger sister on the head with a rubber Tele-tubby toy when she tried squeezing between me and the fridge instead of going around me, which would have been easier.

5. Do you have any pets? If so, what are they?
Four cats. A parakeet. Sometimes they embody Sonic's chaos monster, so can I add that to the list?

6. Is there one particular trait that most of your characters have? If so, what is that?
Strong beliefs. All of them have at least one important thing that they have extremely strong opinions about. Tyv refuses to break his word, Tempe believes that she is on a quest of justice, Ambyr believes that kindness is the way to fix the world, Gabriel believes people can choose the direction of their lives no matter what, Keir refuses to break loyalty to his country, and Nitri just believes very strongly in his own importance and independence. All of them would fight over those beliefs.

7. If you could be any type of mythological creature, what would you be?

Elf? Maybe? I'm pretty happy being a human . . .

8. You have been handed a blank check by a billionaire. What do you do with it?
I don't quite get this question. I'm going to assume a blank check means any amount of money? I'd donate a portion to my church, invest some in different programs and charities to help abused kids and kids who are starving, and I'd stash the rest away in a bank account to pay for mine and my sister's college tuition.

9. If you could live absolutely anywhere in the world, where would it be?
England, or Switzerland. They stay neutral in every war. xD

10. Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser?
I typically think of myself as a Plotter, though I do Pants every now and then on small things, like those in-between scenes that only exist to get the story from one small plot-point scene to another, and these blog posts. So maybe I am a Plantser.

11. Do you keep a journal/notebook? If so, what is it about?

Yup. I have a diary, a spiritual journal, and a writing notebook for any ideas that strike me when I'm out or writing random snippets of things to keep myself occupied when I'm bored.

My questions for the nominees:

1. What got you into writing?
2. How many projects have you written/are you working on?
3. What is some of the weirdest research you've ever done - for writing, school projects, whatever?
4. Who is your favorite fictional character ever, and why? (I know, it's a toughie).
5. I'll rip off Natasha's question and ask:  what are you passionate about apart from writing?
6. Post a link to your favorite song.
7. What is your favorite blog post of all of the ones you've ever written?
8. What do you think of as your best trait?
9. What is your favorite candy/sweet?
10. Out of all your character babies, who is your favorite? (sorry again for sort of ripping off Natasha's question - it was a good one).
11. If you could choose any author to be your writing mentor, who would you choose?

Oh goodness . . . now I have to nominate a bunch of people. I don't know that many! Oh well . . . I'll nominate whoever I can think of.

Katie Grace @ A Writer's Faith

Victoria Grace Howell @ Stori Tori's Blog

Lily @ Lily's Notes in the Margins

Morgan LeAnne @ Back to the Drawing Board

Ryder Eclipse @ You Don't Want to Be Here - Go Away

Anyone else who is interested!

So, am I truly the only one here who sometimes enjoys school? Do any of your characters have one belief they will not compromise on? Do you have any journals or notebooks? How many?