Thoughts from the Suitcase: Things I Want to Do This Year But Know I Probably Won't Achieve

It's a new year. Almost. (Heh heh.) I'm ready to make goals for this year. All blogging goals. I'll keep track of my accomplishments throughout the year. (Hopefully.)

1) Get to 100 followers for my blog

2) Get to 350 followers on Twitter

3) Create a Twitter chat

4) Do a inter-blogger feature

5) Improve NetGalley stats

6) 2,000 views a moth

7) MORE GIVEAWAYS 

8) And, of course, more events. (And part of this: Create my Bookish Eventravaganza blog.)

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The Roses Will Rise

The Rose Society

Author: Marie Lu

Goodreads/ Amazon

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all.

Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her.

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?

City of Roses

1) A devastatingly gorgeous town of magic and murder and mayhem and mischief. With a girl descending into madness. She strives to gain revenge and creates a small band of warriors that are loyal to her prospect of money to help her gain her crown.

"I'm stunned. Completely and utterly stunned. Adelina's descent into madness continues, but she's found new allies and new enemies. I loved her returning illusions and their ultimate effect on her. She really goes through a lot during this book. I would react like her. (Or so.) Her reaction is drastic but mildly understandable. The different powers revealed were quite amazing. Magiano and Sergio. I really liked the two of them. Very interesting people and both motivated by money. I wanted to know their backstories. Why did they become who they were? I wanted to know.

"The one thing that stunned me the most was the ending. It was amazing. Emotional and dramatic. It was really intriguing. It showed how far Adelina had fallen."

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Why I've Totally Not Edited (Aka Excuses): Beautiful Books Three

Another episode of the Beautiful Books link-up with Cait and Sky!

And this is where I prove that I'm an awful writer. 

1) On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), how did the book turn out? Did anything defy your expectations?

Haha. I didn't finish my novel. Haha. Procrastination! I still have like...four chapters left. Haha. It's awful, though. A negative infinity. It's so awful. There is boring repetition and whatnot. And I have lots of inconsistencies. Plus, I'm moving onto MAIM. I'm not good at finishing projects...

See? I'm totally good at faking laughter. 2) Comparative title time: what published books, movies, or TV shows are like your book? (Ex: Inkheart meets X-Men.)

Uh...no clue. I hate comparing different things... 

Maybe Paper Town's Margo Roth Spiegelman meets...ugh. This is too hard...

3) Do you enjoy working with deadlines and pressure (aka NaNoWriMo)? Or do you prefer to write-as-you’re-inspired?

Deadlines because I'd say I'd write but never write. Procrastination team!

4) How do you go about editing? Give us an insight into your editing process.

I don't typically edit. Haha. I didn't edit my first NaNo. My dad did. And I never worked on my second NaNo. And FSF was edited by the chapter. (But then I dropped that project too!)

5) What aspect of your story needs the most work?

All of it. No, I'm being serious. All of it.

6) What aspect of your story did you love the most?

I'm not sure. I kinda hate all of it. But I kinda like the family and whatnot. I have some awesome mother and daughter moments. Might have to cut them, though.

7) Give us a brief run down on your main characters and how you think they turned out. Do you think they'll need changes in edits?

 Trixie is still interesting. Still reckless. But gets more reckless. McLaugan and Faith both get really fed up with Trixie. Really fed up. Like they want to kill her fed up. Or leave her. I might have to add Trixie's symptoms and her relationship with Faith more. That's what I think. After I finish, of course. Might do that over winter break.

Plus, editing changes EVERYTHING.

8) What are your plans for this novel once you finish editing? More edits? Finding beta readers? Querying? Self-publishing? Hiding it in a dark hole forever?

Hiding in a dark hole probably. Haha. It's not good. I might put it on Wattpad. Dunno. But publishing won't happen. It sucks. I'd rather have Ravensoul or MAIM or my time travel story published

9) Share a favourite snippet!

Uhm. I'm supposed to have a favorite? Um...

10) What are your writing goals and plans for 2016?

Well. I have MAIM a video game story in the works. It'll be the project I work on during the winter break (maybe.) It's really cool. I actually really like it. You might too. And the MC is pretty cool. And I get to write an asshole character Shenadoah Russ. It'll be fun. And then there's my I-think-it'll-be-my-2016-NaNo. It's about this guy who is an assistant to the guy who improved time travel. (It was there. But it was expensive and icky and ugly.) Kinda an eccentric Doctor-type inventor. It's actually a murder mystery. Can't wait for that. I do adore the MC Ziri this shy but smart guy. And...Ravensoul. It's my pride and joy.  It's always in the works. It's gone through major changes from when I originally thought it almost two or so years ago. It's always there. I'm not sure how it'll go now. Not sure I'll write it soon. But it's there. I'm always working on it. I also have other story ideas. And in case you're wondering, titles mean a lot to me. MAIM was a complete coincident. But now the MAIM series will all have titles that spell out words that are related to death and whatnots. Like I'm thinking MURDER and MORTEM. Stuff like that. You'll get it later on. Who knows? That actually might be my NaNo, and FSF (a fangirl finding love) might be what I work on before NaNo starts. Or I might just edit Trixie's story until then. Writing is never linear for me. It's fluid. I do what I want when I want. And back to titles, my Trixie story seems all cutesy, but it really isn't. I like duping you to think one way. Well, it's ruined now. But still!

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Countdown to the End of the World...I Mean the End of the Blogger Positivity Project

 

Welcome to my (a tad late) recap of the Blogger Positivity Project! Yay? Definitely yay.

Five Brief Tips:

The blogging community is great. You'll be supported no matter what.

Authors are totally awesome potatoes and should be thanked more.

Who you are is amazing. Even if you're sarcastic and cynical. Like me. You're still cool.

Books are amazing. And you'll find that one book that is totally yours. I mean...other people will read it. But it's yours.

We totally need to write different discussion topics. Totally. 

Four Things I Enjoyed:

Meeting new people: I loved meeting these new people. I'm not someone who meets a lot of new people. I'm quite shy. So yeah. Admittedly, I didn't get to meet a lot of the other bloggers. School is stressful, you know. But I did meet some people. Some. 

Getting to write these awesome topics: I enjoyed writing these topics. I got to say things that I might not have said by myself. Plus...my letter...I loved writing that.

Seeing other posts: I love seeing other people's posts. It was really cool to see their thoughts.

Getting all happy because of the kind comments: This is so self absorbed, but all these comments made my day. I got a little happy each time I saw a new comment. Like...'OHMYGOD. YOUCOMMENTED. THANKYOU.' 

Three Favorite BPC Posts:

Erin at the Hardcover Lover made a great post about the things the blogging world should know. And I totally agree.

Christine at Aerou Wishless did this pretty cool post about Goodreads. Okay. Confession time. I'm not a big fan of Goodreads these days. I used to use it a lot but not now. But this post reminded me of the good times.

Alex at All Alex Reads wrote this wonderful and heartfelt post to JK Rowling. The feels. Just the feels.

Two Bloggers That Inspired Me:

Jess: Okay. I kinda love Jess. She has a gorgeous blog design. And she's all sweet and kind. Ugh. How do you describe people? 

Jillian: I just...how did she make this wonderful event? This girl has chops. And she's always so amazing. Brownie points because she did this blog hop. She makes pretty awesome posts. Yeah. Skills. 

One Inspirational Bookish Quote:

And here's a mini recap of what I posted! 
My awkward intro
What I want the blogging community to talk about
Dear Mackenzie Bishop
5 bloggers I want to collab with 

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Stay With Me For 'Every Last Word'

Every Last Word

Author: Tamara Ireland Stone

Goodreads / Amazon

If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. 

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

City of Words

A story about poetry and love and OCD and a loss of control. Has romance. Has an adorable guitar player and a group of Mean and Popular Girls. A narrator you'll feel for. Amazing poetry. Amazing friendships and relationships.

"I started to cry when I began to read this. I don't know why. I loved that Tamara Ireland Stone wrote about OCD. I feel like people make OCD into a cleaning thing when it isn't always true. It's about impulses more likely. (Not that I know the exact details.) I have a love of studying the mental disorders. It's kinda why I want to be a psychologist. Personal reasons actually. Not important here, though.

"If my school had a Poet's Corner, I'd be set. You know what, I'll make it. It's decided. I love Sam. Her poetry is meaningful. Poetry is just pouring your thoughts onto a page. It's therapeutic. And Caroline? I loved her shirts. Can someone please make shirts like Caroline's? I want them all! And the romance. It wasn't bad. A little rushed. I was lost at why they would want to date since there wasn't history or chemistry. But The Guy really changed Sam. And that's what I thought was good about him. And the friendships. I loved that. The MaP Girls(Mean and Popular Girls) annoyed me. I don't think I've ever met MaPs before. Seriously. And I'm in high school for goodness sake. And the things Sam's mom did for her? Best. Fictional. Mom. Ever. Overall, a thumbs up."

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Thoughts from the suitcase: Scams and spam: what #booksfortrade has ended up becoming

You may or may not know about #booksfortrade on Twitter.
Here's a little about it for the people who don't know:
You post a picture of the books you're wanting to trade. People then will check the hashtag and show you the books they want to trade. You exchange information and send out your book(s). And you get a book in return.
People trade ARCs and hardcovers and paperbacks and book swag.

This is the hashtag now: spam, spam, spam, more spam, scam, scam, more scams, and people who actually want to trade. There are people who post about their book release or something not related to trading.
Honestly, I'm fed up with it. (But realize that I only did maybe four trades. I jumped in late.)
And I think this hashtag is amazing. I love to trade books. It's nice. You trade books to get books. I think that's great. You get books you want that you might not have access to. That's great.
But this hashtag now has an overwhelming amount of spam and scams. (Ooh. That rhymes.) Now, people are also making ARCs seem like gold. (Aka they want two paperbacks for an ARC or something like that.) Those are some reasons why I stopped trading. (That and a mishap with USPS... It wasn't the other trader's fault. It was the mail carrier's. It lost both our mails.)
And there are also people who genuinely want to trade. I feel so sorry for those people who want to trade. They are getting so much spam in the hashtag that it's hard to find the books and all.

Do I have any ideas on how to turn this around? No.
I've seen this happen before on Instagram with the roleplayers there. It started out innocent with people who had stories and characters they created with their sweat and blood. When I left, #roleplay was awful with people seeking incest roleplays and creating multiple cancer characters. It was a flood of these roleplayers who didn't seem to fit what I had seen before. Mind you, this happened only within a year or so. If I checked the hashtag now, I imagine things would have gotten worse.
So do I have any ideas on turning things around? No, but I do want a new place to trade books freely, without spam. I know scams are hard to get rid of, but I wish there was a scam-free place.

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5 Bloggers (I Would Like To) Work With

Today, I get the decision of choosing bloggers I'd like to work with. 
My reaction:

Thanks, sassy cat. Your words are wisdom. But seriously. I was doubtful of this. Did I HAVE to choose this prompt. Nope. Did I do it anyways? Yep. 

So here we go.

And know that anyone in my introductory post was NO put on this list. But I'd love to collaborate with ALL of those bloggers too. (Even though Mish dear would just be done with me and give me Sydney to pet gently. Wait. She wouldn't do that. Oh never mind..) 

The Social Potato Team (Aka All of Them)

I couldn't simply choose one potato. They're all amazing. (And highly delicious when baked. I'm kidding. That's called cannibalism. Wait. Am I allowed to talk about this on a blog? I dunno... Let me consult The Great Blogger List of Things You Can and Cannot Do. Oh...erm...let's see...ugh...never mind.) 

"Why, Oh High and Mighty Wren?" (Yeah, I went there. Deal with it.) Because these guys are creative and classy and insert-complimentary-word-that-starts-with-c-here. And...honestly? I love their work. They're funny and honest. They have amazing prints. (Which my iPad refuses to allow. So I have anime wallpapers instead. Curse you, iPad 4. Grr...) 

And also they are very nice people. 

What type of post would we do? An awesome fanfiction/fanart/whatever-those-wallpaper-things-are-called-fanpapers? mashup. It'll be totally awesome since I have no lack of writing skills. (Who am I kidding? My writing sucks. Haha.)

Jamie from Books and Ladders

Have you met Jamie? She's really cool. And totally random. But aren't we all? Hm? Admit it. I met her on Twitter, and I really admire her. Not to mention the fact that she's all about Air Awakens. That's a plus, and I haven't even read the book! 

What type of post would we do? Why am I asking this? I don't know! Maybe this awesome author promotion thing. Ooh. That'd be cool, right? Or fanfiction for Air Awakens. (After I get it, of course. Stupid library. Not having books wasn't in the contract. -waggles finger condescendingly-)

Brittany from Brittany's Book Rambles

We met on a Twitter chat. I'm not sure which. But she was all about the Grisha-verse. And through her I met Melanie. Another awesome blogger. And through the two of them, I decided to cosplay as the Darkling. One day. When I learn to sew. Or at least use the sewing machine. Haha. 

Brownie points for being related to an author. (It's The Girl From Everywhere's Heidi Heilig.) 

What type of post would we do? Probably some Grisha thing. (Ha. It sounds so passe. 'Some Grisha thing'. We'd probably be fangirling the entire time. Maybe a three-way post with Melanie too. That'd be chill.) 

Nicola from Queen of the Bookshelves

Did you know that she hosts the Fledgling Author Chat? It's true. Not that that makes her totally cool. She's cool because she's nice and funny. But also because of #FAC16. That too. 

What type of post would we do? I'm not sure again. But I love Nicola's chat. So maybe an expose on Twitter chats? Hmmm. That's a good topic actually. 

Fallon from Seeing Double in Neverland

Fallon is such a dear. She's giving me ARCs for goodness sake! And she gave me some really awesome advice. 

What type of post would we do? Probably a from more experienced blogger to newbie to newbie. Sorta a how-to slash help post. 

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Be a Fan With 'Fans of the Impossible Life'

Fans of the Impossible Life

Author: Kate Scelsa 
Goodreads / Amazon

Ten months after her recurring depression landed her in the hospital, Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting him.

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him like a backlit halo. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.

As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.
A captivating and profound debut novel, Fans of the Impossible Life is a story about complicated love and the friendships that change you forever.

City of Fans: 

An amazing city with impossibly real characters, massive amounts of diversity, an art club, running away, thrift shopping, drugs, depression, gay people, and rituals to forget. Sadly, there is a hint of instalove. Written in three PoVs (first, second, and third.) Highly unforgettable. 

"Hey, did you read 'Fans of the Impossible Life' yet? Oh man. It's amazing! The characters seem real. There's a lot of diversity. The problems they go through seem like they can happen in every day life. And some really awesome rituals." 

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Shy Girl's Guide to Being a Fangirl

Welcome to the very first post for the Shy Girl's Guide or SGG. It's so great to be able to talk about awesome things from the perspective of someone who is kinda shy. And I will be very frank with you.

Today's post is about being a fangirl. A relatively easy topic.

What does being a fangirl mean to you? Does it mean conventions? Or author visits? Or cosplay?
Whatever it means to you realize that it's different for someone else.
To me, being a fangirl means being me. I am a fangirl. I'm socially awkward and probably insane and pretty cool. That's me. Being a fangirl is part of my personality. I laugh along with characters and cry along with them too. They consume my life until I regain a slice of sanity and return to my reality. (And, sometimes, it takes a long time for what to happen.)

I am not a closeted fangirl. I don't try to hide this part of myself. I will screech and squee and gasp and collapse because of books or Welcome to Night Vale or anime.
Of course, I don't fangirl with people I know unless I trust them or we're friends. That'd be embarrassing! I do fangirl in front of strangers. The line of though is that 'we'll never see each other again, so why does it matter?'

My suggestion to pry your inner fangirl out is this:
Realize that it's a part of you. And let it rip.

Don't hide it. Flaunt it. Be proud.

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