Writer Revealed

Bookshelf Snooping - Karin Eider

2012-02-13T20:49:00.000Z

1. Your childhood favorite

My first love was a book of fairy tales in y grandmother's house. It was written in old German font and beautifully illustrated. Unfortunately it got lost or somebody else grabbed it when my grandmother died. I should remember to keep an eye open at flea markets and antique book shops!

As young girl then I was obsessed by the Hanni & Nanni series written by Enid Blyton.

2. Your current favorite

It's rather difficult to chose one under your children, isn't it? *sigh* But if I really have to it would be The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. I've recently read the whole series again, just because of the German release of the latest book. Of course, I've already read the English version, I can't wait such long!

3. Your top five authors

In no particular order: J.R. Ward, Alexandre Dumas, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King ... can I really just name five?!?

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

I've just opened the door to Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series ... where I always ask myself to which book I literally want to find a door to get in there in person.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

My first impulse was to say 'None!', but then just the other day I saw an announcement for an upcoming movie ... to my shame and as passionate lover of Lord Of The Rings (both, book and movie), I have to admit, that I've never read The Hobbit - I only know the audio book. That doesn't count as read, right?

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

Again I'd love to say 'None!' ... but that's only half of the truth. I fancy books that look good in my book shelves. That for I've bought many of my favorites a second time, when a beautiful box set or special edition was released, e.g. Dan Brown's special illustrated edition of Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code or the box set of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

7. Book you’re a champion for

There are so many books I love for different reasons and for exactly those reasons I would recommend or defeat them:

· The Stand by Stephen King: Published in 1978, the possibility, that fiction becomes reality has never been more current and frightening.

· The Count Of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas: No other book has ever portrait revenge in such a complex manner.

· The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer: A series, that satisfies the desire of my teenage-girl-heart.

· The Perfume by Patrick Sueskind: The world of smells preserved between pages. Wonderful.

· The Silent Miaow by Paul Gallico, Felidae by Akif Pirincci, Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter: Must-reads for every cat owner.

· Anne Franks Diary: A simple must read.

· Die Goldhaendlerin (The Gold Merchant) & Die Wanderhure (The Wandering Whore) by Iny Lorentz: Strong heroines conquer their way in the Middle Ages.

· Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen: In that particular case, I'm not sure, if I like the book or the movie (the version with Keira Kneightley) more?

· I'm Off Then: My Journey Along the Camino de Santiago by Hape Kerkeling: Funny, entertaining and 'a cognition of the day' at the end of every chapter.

· The Physician by Noah Gordon & The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: The Middle Ages have never been described more colorful and alive and thrilling.

· The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: What else should I say than 'One book to rule them all'!

· Ramses series by Christian Jacq: Satisfies my desire for ancient Egypt.

· Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: With every new release I admired her immense imagination and her ability to lay out secret hints more and more.

· The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward: Vampire warrior have never been sexier.

· And many others named in this questionnaire or waiting in my book shelves...

8. Book that changed your life

I wouldn't say changed ... I mean, it's quite a big impact for such a small word. But there's a book that made me think a lot, about life, fate and coincidence, possibilities and lost chances, me and my personality: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

Unbelievable, but true, there are a few books in my shelves, I have read only once and they just wait for another turn: Ulldart series by Markus Heitz, The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson and The Swarm by Frank Schaetzing.

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Actually, there's no particular book. When I feel for a special book, I read it!

11. Favorite line from a book

"All that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

I'm not sure, if it's from the book or the movie, anyway it's from Lord Of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Find more about my thoughts on reading, writing and Art Journaling over at my blog Nofretiris Dream Of Writing.

Bookshelf Snooping - Wayne Kernochan

2012-02-09T06:00:00.000Z

1. Your childhood favourite
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

2. Your current favourite
Wally Lamb and Aldous Huxley were tied until Wally friended me on Face Book

3. Your top five authors
Aldous Huxey, Wally Lamb, C.S. Lewis, Sylvia Plath and Maya Angelou

4. Book(s) you’re reading now
None

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read
Once, I said I read the Quran cover to cover, but I skimmed it

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover
None

7. Book you’re a champion for
I don't understand the question
8. Book that changed your life
The Outsiders started me writing. I'll go with that one

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time
I know this much is True

10. Book you turn to for comfort
Elements of Style

11. Favourite line from a book
"Dear Jesse, as the moon lingers a moment over the bitterroots, before its descent into the invisible, my mind is filled with song. I find I am humming softly; not to the music, but something else; some place else; a place remembered; a field of grass where no one seemed to have been; except a deer; and the memory is strengthened by the feeling of you, dancing in my awkward arms."

Norman Maclean. I forget the book's name. It was a series of short stories that inspired the movie A River Runs Through it

Bookshelf Snooping - Heidi Sutherlin

2012-02-06T06:00:00.000Z

1. Your Childhood Favourite
Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series.

2. Your Current Favourite
Nora Roberts' Sign of Seven trilogy.

3. Your Top Five Authors
Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz/Jayne Castle/Amanda Quick (her pen names), Marion Zimmer Bradley, Christine Feehan, Linda Lael Miller

4. Book(s) you are reading now
Lisa Jackson SHIVER

5. Book(s) you've pretended to read
I've never pretended to read one. Was tempted in college a time or two.

6. Book(s) you've bought for the cover
Oddly, I've never bought a book for the cover. Hmm. Weird.

7. Book(s) you're a champion for
SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser. It's not a happy or easy read, but it's an important piece of early American fiction. It was written during a time of self discovery in literature and was one of the precursors to contemporary fiction as we know it today. There are other more interesting novels from that period, but SISTER CARRIE is a powerful example of the impact of portraying life as it is, even when it's painful to watch. No happy endings there. A close second to this would be WHAT MAISEY KNEW by Henry James. He wrote this before Dreiser wrote SISTER CARRIE, but it is another Early American novel in the literary realism genre that was instrumental in grounding literature and paving the way for contemporary fiction. Okay...stepping away from the soap box slowly.

8. Book that changed your life

A THOUSAND WORDS FOR STRANGER by Julie E. Czerneda. In short the main character has part of her memory blocked. While she learns who she is all over again, she realizes in the end when her memory is restored that she's had the opportunity to grow as a person in ways she would not have without her memory loss. The lesson? That nobody is cemented into the path that they are on, that you can truly be whatever you set your mind to and that relying on "your nature" as an excuse is not necessary. There's a lot of hope in that.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

The entire Darkover Series by Marion Zimmer Bradley (can you sense a pattern here...?)

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Nora Roberts' Three Sisters Island trilogy.

11. Favourite line from a book

"Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too
Went for a ride in a flying shoe." - Shel Silverstein, WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS

Thanks! This has been interesting. I've learned a bit about myself doing this. What a lovely exercise.

Bookshelf Snooping - Joanne Hall

2012-02-02T06:00:00.001Z

1. Your childhood favourite

It’s not very fashionable to admit now, but I was really into Enid Blyton. All her adventure series (though not the Secret Seven, they annoyed me), but the Famous Five, the Five Find Outers, the “Castle of Adventure” series. Ok, I realise now they were essentially all the same plot and she was churning them out like MacDonalds make hamburgers, but I was about seven and I liked the idea of kids going off and doing Stuff without the intervention of parents. Also, I lived in the country, so it was easy to take a packet of sandwiches and disappear for the day and have adventures of my own without my parents worrying too much. This was the early eighties, I guess it was a different world then...

2. Your current favourite

I’m going through an heroic fantasy phase – I say going through, but really I’ve always liked heroic fantasy, and the books that are coming out now seem more gritty and real. It’s also nice to see female characters playing a bigger role in modern heroic fantasy, I went back over a few David Gemmell books recently and it was alarming to me that I’d never noticed how the women were generally relegated to a washing / cooking/ healing role. I’m loving “Song of Ice and Fire” (who isn’t!), and Joe Abercrombie, and I recently bought “Wolfsangel” by M D Lachlan which looks great, so I’m looking forward to that. And for light relief between all the slaughter I’m re-reading Lloyd Anthony’s “Chronicles of Prydain”, which I haven’t read since I was about ten. They’re remarkably grown-up in their tone, and they’re making me want to go back to that classic British fantasy that came out in the 60’s, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner. So I might read some more of that next!

3. Your top five authors

My top five of anything is subject to change without notice. My top five authors this week are Isaac Asimov, David Gemmell, Joseph Conrad, Neil Gaiman and Diana Wynne Jones. Ask me next week and it’ll be someone different.

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

I’m currently reading “P J Harvey – Siren Rising” by James Blandford. It didn’t start off too promisingly; it falls into the trap of a lot of unauthorised music biographies of speculation laced with “facts” grabbed off Wikipedia and old quotes from the music press. It got more interesting when he started talking about the late 80’s Bristol music scene and began to sound like he had done some proper research. It’s one of those books that could go either way.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

I have pretended to read books, to sound clever *hangs head and mumbles* That was when I was in college and I had no confidence. I’m happy to say that I’ve now read most of the books I’ve pretended to read in the past, and most of them were books I wanted to get around to reading! Can’t think of many titles, but “Lipstick Traces” by Greil Marcus was one of them, and I still haven’t read that. It is on my wish list though!

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

I’ve never bought a book just for the cover. If the cover’s good I’ll look at the blurb. It’s a combination of good blurb and good cover, a decent blurb can make up for a bad cover, but it doesn’t work the other way round! I remember picking up my first Terry Pratchett (“Wyrd Sisters”) because I’d never seen a cover like that – this was when Josh Kirby was still doing them, I think I was about fourteen – but I bought it because the blurb made me laugh. Then my mum borrowed it because the blurb made her laugh...

7. Book you’re a champion for

At the moment, I’m championing Stephanie Burgis’s wonderful Kat Stephenson Regency fantasies. They’re like Jane Austen meets Dianna Wynne Jones, and I can’t wait to see how the series pans out. I’m buying them for my goddaughter in the hope that she too will grow up and want to cut off all her hair and run away to be a highwayman. If she does, I’ll know I’ve done something right!

8. Book that changed your life

“Dragonflight” by Anne McCaffrey. A friend lent it to me when I was twelve (I say lent, I never gave it back). It made me want to ride dragons, and, more importantly, it made me want to write about dragons, and it opened up a whole previously unexplored genre to me. I blame “Dragonflight” for, yeah, pretty much everything...

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

“The Robots of Dawn” by Isacc Asimov. I think it might be the only book that I finished and felt so sad that it was over that I went straight back to the beginning and read it through again. That’s a rare feeling, and it’s impossible to recapture on a second / third / fifteenth reading.

10. Book you turn to for comfort

“Winne the Pooh” and “The House at Pooh Corner”. I still have the same copies I had when I was four, which are hardbacks, though they lost their covers years ago. It’s like reading a hug.

11. Favourite line from a book

“When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere” – Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Such a succinct, smart way of saying “Oh dear, the end of the world just happened, and you missed it.” Even now, when I’m wandering down the street and it’s a Wednesday that looks a lot like an early Sunday morning, I get a little unnerved...

Bookshelf Snooping - Emily Gee

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000Z

1. Your childhood favourite
Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books and her boarding school stories, and the Biggles books by Capt W.E. Johns. I still have all my old copies – boxes of them – and reread them from time to time because I love them so much!

2. Your current favourite
Most of my favourites have been favourites for years, like The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones, and Faro’s Daughter by Georgette Heyer, and A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, and Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie.

3. Your top five authors
Georgette Heyer (Regency and Georgian novels)
Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan series)
Jennifer Crusie
Diana Wynne Jones (Chrestomanci books)
My father, Maurice Gee

4. Book(s) you’re reading now
I’m rereading a number of Georgette Heyer’s regencies. Also have just started A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read
I can’t think of one. I used to read every book I started, even if I didn’t like it; now I stop reading if a book doesn’t grab me.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

7. Book you’re a champion for
Welcome To Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. I keep telling my friends to read it, but not everyone gets the humour and loves it as much as I do.

8. Book that changed your life
The Naughtiest Girl In The School, by Enid Blyton. I was given this at age 7. Until then reading had been a chore, but once I read this book I was hooked and became a voracious reader!

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold and Welcome To Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. Both are fabulous – clever and funny and just plain brilliant.

10. Book you turn to for comfort
Anything by my favourite authors.

11. Favourite line from a book
I absolutely love the final lines of The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer:

‘Charles!’ uttered Sophy, shocked. ‘You cannot love me!’
Mr Rivenhall pulled the door to behind them, and in a very rough fashion jerked her into his arms, and kissed her. ‘I don’t: I dislike you excessively!’

(If you haven’t read The Grand Sophy, read it – it’s fabulous fun!)

Bookshelf Snooping - Michela D'Orlando

2012-01-25T06:00:00.001Z

1. Your childhood favourite
Fairy tales! I still complain about the fact that books for grown-ups don’t have illustrations. The ugly duckling is still my favourite classic fairy tale. Later on, to be honest there was never enough action in books for kids. I liked fights and strong heroines, but all that was available to me as a kid in elementary school were the various Pollyannas and Little Women and I didn’t like those stories at all. But at around 12 I fell in love with Homer, Virgil’s Aeneid and the epic poems of the Renaissance. My favourite reads were all about Greek mythology, legends and heroes.

2. Your current favourite
I really like the wave of gritty heroic/epic fantasy out there, so Clash of Kings by George RR Martin, Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie and The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan are among my current favourites. Aside from fantasy, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.

3. Your top five authors
I tend to have favourite books more than favourite authors and, except for the first two in the list, they change from time to time, but I’ll try:

Homer
Stephen King
Chuck Palahniuk
Joe Abercrombie
Richard Morgan

I want to add some ladies there... so many authors I haven’t read yet, or haven’t read enough and I plan to fill the gap as fast as I can!

4. Book(s) you’re reading now
I’m always reading at least four books at a time, usually more.
At the moment:

Catching Fire, Book 2 in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, on your very welcome recommendation.

Roma Victrix by Russell Whitfield. I have a thing for warrior women, and this novel is about a female gladiator.

Legend by David Gemmell. For when I win the award...

Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston. Pulp-noire, and pulp is fun.

Last but not least, A Feast For Crows by George RR Martin.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read
None since I’ve finished school a long time ago. In school, Pollyanna and Little Women for sure, and Verne’s Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. As any ten year old, I perfectly knew that the centre of the Earth couldn’t look like that. A very bad case of suspension of disbelief not working at all.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover
I can’t think of any. I get more lured by the story on the back cover and by the tags. I’ll admit, tag your book ‘gritty and bloody violent’ and I’m very likely to at least pick it up and check it out. I do love covers, though. There are so many beautiful ones out there, but I just like them as a form of art in itself. I buy the book only if I’m interested in the story.

7. Book you’re a champion for
If I have to pick one, that’d be the Iliad. If more than one I’ll add The Hobbit and, for more recent fiction, Fight Club.

8. Book that changed your life
Not a novel, but Nietzsche’s works that I read as a teenager. I didn’t embrace any one philosophy, but those readings really got me thinking and all that thinking set in motion some major changes in my life. As fiction goes, I’d say The Crystal Cave from Mary Stewart because it was the first epic fantasy book I read and I found it as exciting and intense as my beloved epic poems. It was about the Arthurian legend, told from Merlin’s point of view. It had swords, fights and magic and it marked the beginning of my love for fantasy books.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time
The Hobbit

10. Book you turn to for comfort
Any novel that sets off my imagination, since escapism has always been my solace. But when I need comfort because it’s hard to write, I turn to On Writing by Stephen King.

11. Favourite line from a book
I have too many, lines stick in my head a lot!
OK, just two:

In Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, after beating a handsome guy’s face to a pulp, the narrator says: “I was in a mood to destroy something beautiful.”

And in A Clash Of Kings by George RR Martin, Jamie Lannister has one of my favourite lines ever. When told the world is a bad place because of men like him, he says: “There are no men like me. There’s only me.”

Thanks Dolly for having me, your blog rocks!

Bookshelf Snooping - Mike Shevdon

2012-01-23T06:00:00.012Z

1. Your childhood favourite

I know this isn't very politically correct, but for me the Enid Blyton Mysteries were a big part of my childhood reading. I had no connection with the characters - they were from another age - but that didn't matter. The freedoms they enjoyed and the adventures they experienced were everything. Nowadays they seem dated and culturally challenged, but at the time I devoured them. An early lesson - you can forgive much for a good story.

2. Your current favourite

Joe Abercrombie: The Blade Itself.

I chose this book for a specific reason. I fell out of love with Fantasy. It had been a long affair and we had been through a lot together, but the relationship had become stale and repetitive and had nothing new to offer. It culminated with Robert Jordan's: Wheel of Time. Here was a Fantasy epic which had no perceivable end or even a plot. It had characters I cared about which I ceased to care about. It was the end.

Then I was on holiday in Greece and I'd read all the books I'd taken with me. I went to the hotel book exchange and swapped one of my books for one of the ones that had been left. It was The Blade Itself. I had no expectation that I would finish it, but most of the other books were in German. Two days later I had finished it and immediately got my son to read it. My love of Fantasy was alive and well, thanks to Joe.

3. Your top five authors

Neil Gaiman - Anything, but the Sandman series is an all-time favourite

Barbara Hambly - The Time of the Dark, the Rainbow Abyss, and many others

Alan Moore - Watchmen, V for Vendetta, etc.

Robert Crais - Start with The Monkey's Raincoat

Janet Evanovich - Any Stephanie Plum, beginning with One for the Money

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

Idries Shah: Darkest England - A re-read of the classic analysis of English Culture

Windows Server 2008, Administrator's Pocket Guide - Work related

Sizzling Sixteen, Janet Evanovich - Light read

Houses of Parliament, Pitkin Guide - Research

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

Dickens. Seen and heard the play, watched the TV, never read the books.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

Keepers of the Kingdom, The Ancient Offices of Britain - for Mark Cator's cover photograph of the Queen's Remembrancer.

7. Book you’re a champion for

The Master and Margarita: Mikhail Bulgakov. The devil comes to Moscow during the Communist era, but no-one believes in him. What ensues is a multi-layered tapestry threaded through an urban fantasy, a critique of the soviet system, a potentially blasphemous account of the meeting between Pontius Pilate and Christ, vampires, witches and a host of other things. Every time I read it I discover something new.

8. Book that changed your life

Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere, Adele Westbrook and Oscar Ratti

I began studying Aikido in 1982, and bought a number of books to try and enhance and explain what was being taught. This book, with Oscar Ratti's black ink illustrations of Aikido movements, brought alive for me what the techniques meant, and continued to enlighten me right through to black belt. It's a book worth reading even if you have no knowledge of martial arts. Its philosophy and depth of understanding set it apart from any other.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

Ursula le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

When I'd read The Hobbit and all of C S Lewis' Narnia books, I looked around for something to follow them. I bought and read everything I could find that was fantasy. I went through Anne McCaffrey, Stephen Donaldson, and a host of other authors. I enjoyed them all, but they didn't satisfy, they only fed the hunger. I branched out into SF, finding much to like but still not finding anything to satisfy.

Then I found A Wizard of Earthsea. Ursula le Guin wrote with such a simple transparent style, lucid and open, but with a wealth of meaning. It's still one of my all time favorite books. I bought Changing Planes recently and found myself wanting to read this book all over again.

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Barbara Hambly is an American author and medieval historian. She has written many books, all of them good, but my favourite is a trilogy called The Time of the Dark. It's a classic fantasy tale of a couple of young Americans who get accidentally transported to another world where the society is under threat from an invasion of strange creatures from below ground. The creatures are one of the best and most convincing depictions of a non-human creature in genre fiction, and utterly convincing. You should read them for that alone.

The reason I read and re-read this book is because the story is totally immersive. I can almost feel numbing cold on the road with the refugees, almost taste the woodsmoke on the air. I can hear the chittering of the Dark as they slide silently between the trees. Wonderful writing, fabulous characters and a plot that delivers even when you know the twists and turns are coming.

11. Favourite line from a book

There are so many, but this is a particular favourite:

“She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.” ― Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely

Books Read 2012

2012-01-21T18:48:00.003Z

As per this post, this year I am hoping to read 100 books. I started doing this challenge on the blog since July 2009, and I love it. Now that I see how enlightening it is to keep track of books I read, I can't believe I didn't do it before. So, this is where I will list the books I read this year. Feel free to share comments about any of the books here, or what you are reading.

01. So Many Books, So Little Time - Sara Nelson - 14/01
02. Art of Forgetting (critique copy) - Joanne Hall - 21/01

Bookshelf Snooping - Kaitlyn K. Hall

2012-01-16T06:00:00.003Z

1. Your childhood favouriteThe Little House on the Prairie series

2. Your current favouriteThe Wheel of Time series

3. Your top five authorsRobert Jordan, Terry Pratchett, Laurell K. Hamilton, Laurie Halse Anderson, Edgar Allen Poe

4. Book(s) you’re reading nowBetsy the Vampire Queen, A Grim Pact, From Where I Sit: Making my way with cerebral palsy

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to readPretty much every required HS reading assignment I pretended to read, BS'd my way thru the work, then read later on on my own time and at my own pace. I pretty much did it to spite my teachers. I have issues with authority...

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the coverI can honestly say that I don't think I've ever done that. I've bought new copies of books I've read or owned because they redid the cover art or and/or binding style, but I've never bought a book I've never read simply because I liked the cover.

7. Book you’re a champion forI get defensive about any books that go under fire. But the one I've gotten most riled up about has been The DaVinci Code. I love the book. It has amazing detail and thoughts, but IT IS A WORK OF FICTION. FICTION, people!!!

8. Book that changed your life3 of them. An Unquiet Mind, Speak, and The Book of Mormon.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first timeSpeak and An Unquiet Mind. Most definitely.

10. Book you turn to for comfortProbably my scriptures. Or Speak. Sometimes both.

Bookshelf Snooping - Brooklyn Ann

2012-01-12T06:00:00.001Z

1. Your childhood favourite
The Bunnicula books

2. Your current favourite
IT by Stephen King (I've read it 11 times so far.)

3. Your top five authors
Oooh, that's a tough one. Only five? ::sigh:: Stephen King, Eloisa James, Virginia Henley, JR Ward, and Alexandra Ripley

4. Book(s) you’re reading now
11-22-63 and a friend's fantasy novel that's freakin' awesome.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read
Pretended? Besides the time a school photographer made me pose with an embarrassingly babyish book when I was 9, I've never "Pretended" to read a book. Either I keep reading or put it down.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover
DESERT HEAT by Jamie De Bree, TIME OF THE TWINS by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and anything with a cat on it.

7. Book you’re a champion for
PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follet. I think it's one of the greatest novels ever written.

8. Book that changed your life
THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time
THE LONG WALK by Richard Bachman.

10.Book you turn to for comfort
All of Judith McNaught's regency romances.

11. Favourite line from a book
Okay I gotta do a serious one and a funny one: Serious: "I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice." THE COLOR PURPLE Funny: "The best part of you ran down your father's leg." IT

Word Count Goal for 2012

2012-01-11T06:00:00.001Z

I love word counts. Maybe because they look so neat and tidy on my spreadsheet, or maybe because they show visible progress on WIP. Maybe, also because they make it easier to set writing goals.

Stories should not be driven by word count, of course. It is the story that matters, but for most of us regular folks, we need something to make us sit and write regularly and consistently enough to get that story out. For me, it's word count goals.

For 2012, I've decided to try an annual word count goal challenge. I'm hoping to write 250,000 words by 31st of December.

The only condition is that this word count must be towards Book Projects. So blog posts, planning and outlining books, emails, letters, poetry - none of that counts. Just book projects. Reason for that is simple: I want to be a published author of books - so putting words towards that is what's going to achieve it. Not just words by themselves.

I am not going to obsess over daily goals, or even monthly goals. I am going to focus on my books, and hopefully, that will get me there, because some writing periods are more intense than others. Still, 250K seems plausible. If you are interested, you can follow my progress through the word count progress bar at the right.

What about you? How do you feel about word counts? Will you / do you have any word count goals for this year?

Bookshelf Snooping - Juliet E. McKenna

2012-01-10T06:00:00.002Z

Before I start, I should warn you that I find picking favourites in books pretty much impossible – in that if you ask me these same questions in a month’s time, you’re likely to get an entirely different set of answers, depending on mood, recollection, my current reading, work in progress and so on.

1. Your childhood favourite

Rosemary Sutcliffe – Warrior Scarlet

2. Your current favourite

Michael Connelly – The Fifth Witness – but only because this is the most recent by one of my favourite writers. As soon as one of the others has a new book out, chances are that’ll top the list.

3. Your top five authors

Kate Elliott, Val McDermid, Ellis Peters, Charles Stross, Kelley Armstrong, Joanne Harris, Robert Crais – oh, wait, I need to stop now, don’t I?

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

The Redeemed, M.R. Hall

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

A couple of self-published efforts forced onto me which I don’t propose to identify. I skimmed first and last chapters, which proved beyond all doubt why no agent or editor had taken them.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

I don’t honestly think there is one. A cover might get me to pick a book up but if the first page doesn’t grab me, it goes back on the shelf.

7. Book you’re a champion for

Farthing, Jo Walton.

8. Book that changed your life

The Horse & His Boy; the first Narnia book I read for myself, opening up vast worlds of imagination for me.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

The Lord of the Rings.

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Pretty much anything by Terry Pratchett (who should be on that top five list as well)

11. Favourite line from a book

'You're wizards!' she screamed. 'Bloody well wizz! ' Eskarina Smith in ‘Equal Rites’. (Since that last answer has me thinking ‘Discworld’ Ask that one again and there’ll be a different answer every time.)

Bookshelf Snooping - Gareth L Powell

2012-01-09T06:00:00.004Z

1. Your childhood favourite

I had many favourite books as a child. I was very fond of the Dragonfall 5 books by Brian Earnshaw, the Biggles books by Cpt WE Johns, Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Robert Heinlein, and Larry Niven's Ringworld Engineers. I also read 2000AD whenever I could, and I still have the 1979 2000AD annual on my bookshelves. However, the book I remember with most fondness is a book aimed at younger readers. The Bears Who Stayed Indoors by Susanna Gretz and Alison Sage, first published in 1971, is the story of four bears and their dog who, when forced by rain to stay indoors, play at being astronauts. As a young child (I'm thinking around 4 years old), I absolutely adored it. A quick search of Amazon shows that the book is still in print, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone with a little would-be astronaut in their life.

2. Your current favourite

I have a different favourite book every week; but my all-time favourite will always be On The Road by Jack Kerouac. It's a vast, sprawling epic and a masterpiece of compelling narration, and I still rate it as my number one favourite book of all time. Every time I read it I see something new, and I'm struck again by the rhythm and poetry of the language, and the immediacy of Kerouac's descriptions. When he writes about sleeping on a hot car roof in the sticky jungle, and the soft rain of bugs falling on his skin, you're right there with him. I think Kerouac's a very misunderstood writer. People get caught up with the beatnik craziness, and they miss the sadness at the heart of the book: the unspeakable, inescapable loneliness of the American night.

3. Your top five authors

> Ernest Hemingway
> William Gibson
> M. John Harrison
> JG Ballard
> Philip K. Dick

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

I tend to read several books at once, and am currently in the midst of Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith, Gonzo by Jan Wenner and Corey Seymour, and Player One by Douglas Coupland.

5. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

I was fascinated by the covers to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. The first, Red Mars, showed spacesuited figures in a lifeless landscape of canyons and rock; the second, Green Mars, depicted an airship flying over the same terrain, except now there was snow in the valley and green shoots between the boulders; and the final cover had a coastal town, pine trees and a schooner sailing a blue inlet at the foot of a red mountain. The transformation was startling, and promised an epic tale unfolding over time - which I'm glad to say the books within delivered.

6. Book that changed your life

I think the book that most shaped my development as a writer has to be William Gibson's Burning Chrome. Until I read it, I was still immersed in the old school fiction of Niven, Clarke and Heinlein, with its unshakeable faith in a rational, technological and largely American future. Gibson showed me something else. His stories felt more immediate and real. They were gritty and dangerous, but the lowlife grifters that peopled them were more believeable than the traditional "scientist as hero" types I had been used to, and the stories were written in a hardboiled, pared-down argot that wasted not one word. It was a revelation and a masterclass all rolled into one.

7. Book you most want to read again for the first time

I loved Douglas Coupland's Generation X. I read it at university, in my early twenties, and it was like a postcard from the other side of the world saying: "Don't despair. We are here, and we understand how you feel." The three main characters shared the same aimless, post-cynical weltanschauung that I saw in the faces of my friends. It seemed to be the first book I'd ever read about *us*. I'd love to read it again for the first time, to feel that thrill of recognition; but also, now I am in my forties, I'm sure it would also have a new nostalgic element that just wasn't yet there two decades ago.

8. Book you turn to for comfort

When I want the comfort of a familiar book, I often turn to Kerouac or Coupland. Other favourites include: "e" by Matt Beaumont, which is a hilarious book for anyone who's ever worked in a large coporation, especially in marketing and PR, as I have; Nova by Samuel Delany; The Stone Canal by Ken MacLeod; Gateway by Frederik Pohl; and Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. As my reading time is usually limited, I tend to go for short books. I love long epic trilogies, such as the aforementioned Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson, but its hard to justify the time to go back and spend a couple of months re-reading them when I have so many new books clamouring for my attention.

9. Favourite line from a book

Not so much a line as a passage, I would like the final speech from Olaf Stapledon's Last And First Men read at my funeral. It's a masterful summation of human ambition and frailty, a view of mankind's place in the universe, and a calm acceptance of its eventual extinction. It begins: "Great are the stars, and man is of no account to them." and finishes, "It is very good to have been man. And so we may go forward together with laughter in our hearts, and peace, thankful for the past, and for our own courage. For we shall make after all a fair conclusion to this brief music that is man."

Bookshelf Snooping - José Kilbride

2012-01-07T06:00:00.006Z

1. Your childhood favourite
I think The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier is probably one of my favourite childhood books, a more profoundly moving piece of children's fiction I have yet to read. Based on fact, it follows the journey of the Balicki children as they journey through war-time Europe searching for their family. Brilliant.

2. Your current favourite
This is a difficult one to answer as there are so many I really do love. I think my current one, of the moment anyway, is The Crippled God by Steven Erikson, final book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. A more fitting end to such a vast, sprawling, complex, intense, humorous and detailed series you will not find. Superb stuff.

3. Your top five authors
I have so many to chose from, but if I have to…

Haruki Murakami
Steven Erikson
CJ Cherryh
Tanith Lee
China Mieville

All of them are intensely inventive, dark, humorous, with wonderfully realised characters and worlds. And for me they all explore the nature of humanity in ways that many others cannot quite match.

4. Book(s) you’re reading now
I always have some 40-odd books on the go at any one time. Current highlights are my re-reading of Gormenghast; plus EJ Newman’s From Dark Places, First among Sequels by Jasper Fforde, The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, 1Q84 by Huraki Murakami, Roman Warfare by Adrian Goldsworthy and Japan Through the Looking Glass by Alan MacFarlane.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read
I don’t think I have ever done this, as I would get caught out. There are books I have pretended NOT to have read, despite having done so. And no, I am not going to tell you what they are.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover
I buy a lot of books for their covers, particularly science-fiction and fantasy novels from the 1960s, ‘70s and early ‘80s. I have a thing for the artwork of this era, which can be inspired, awful and eyebrow raising, often all at once..

7. Book you’re a champion for
The Napoleon of Notting Hill (GK Chesterton) is one of the greatest books I have ever read, and is one I would consider a must-read by anyone and everyone. Detailing the events of a futuristic London, the elected King of England plays a grand practical joke on his nation. His humorous vision inspires a young man to believe in his idea, not realising it is a joke, and thus a cascade of events takes place. It is a book about ideas, about faith and about the corruption of both. It is a brilliant, brilliant book.

8. Book that changed your life
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein, for better and for worse. This book very much inspired my love for fantasy and science fiction (the good), which precluded reading more widely at one point (the bad). It was vast, epic and heroic, despite the odds. All despite the weird Tom Bombadil bit, which I hate. Everything else was wondrous.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Thoroughly absorbing, incredibly inventive and wonderfully detailed, this book humbled and astounded me both as a reader and a writer. I wish I could read it again for that continuing sense of awe and that wonderment when it was finished.

10. Book you turn to for comfort
Mortal World by Deborah Pope is a collection of poems that are simply sublime. I love poetry, and was profoundly impacted by this collection. Mortal World explores her Pope’s relationship with the world, her partner and her children, and it is gentle, heart-breaking, traumatic and up-lifting. It taught me much about emotion, about detailing those and the world around us with the simplicity of words. It is simply a superb collection of poems.

11. Favourite line from a book
I don’t really have one, so I am going to cheat and use the quote that China Mieville wrote in my signed copy of Embassytown:

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug.” - Kipling

Bookshelf Snooping - Jamie Debree

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001Z

1. Your childhood favourite

Hmm...that's a toss up between Trixie Belden, Sherlock Holmes and Jack London's dog/wolf stories. Loved them all.

2. Your current favourite

Wow. These are harder than I thought they'd be! I can't choose just one. The Immortal Brotherhood series by Lisa Hendrix has be waiting rather impatiently for the next one, and that's paranormal romance (viking shifters - whew!). "Night of Wolves" (fantasy) by David Dalglish recently surprised me as really being quite fabulous (I don't read much fantasy), and this time of year my top pick for literary fiction is "Comfort and Joy", a short story by Craig Lancaster (new last year). Oh! And my favorite horror read this year was/is Cupid's Maze by Mark Souza. It's another short story, but amazing (and seriously freaky!).

3. Your top five authors

Of all time? Restraining myself to fiction: Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Sir Arther Conan Doyle, Grace Livingston Hill, Issac Asimov. Well, today, anyways. I mean, there are so many....

As far as modern authors go...I suppose I'd pick: James Rollins, Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child (as a team), Michelle Davidson Argyle, Samantha Hunter & Vivian Arend.

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

"The Donzerly Light" by Ryne Douglas Pearson (seriously intriguing and kinda freaky)

"A Walk in the Snark" by Rachel Thompson (okay, but not really my thing)

"The Big Sky, By and By" by Ed Kemmick (local journalist, true stories from Montana, fascinating people)

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

Half or more of the books I was assigned in college, fiction and non-fiction. Who has the time to read, study *and* work full time? I skimmed them all, and still managed to get decent grades...

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

You're seriously going to make me admit this? Fine.

"When You Dare" by Lori Foster is one - for the cover and the trailer. Because I adore half-naked men. Well, most men, actually, but...I should really just stop there....

To redeem myself, I also bought "Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance" by Sara Poole for the cover. I still haven't read it, but I love how it looks on my nightstand...and I do want to read it eventually - sounds really good (historical thriller).

7. Book you’re a champion for

"Society of the Mind" by Eric L. Harry. It's a hardcore cyber-thriller two inches thick, but buried in the freaky AI-based plot is a lot of deep philosophizing that will just blow you away. Or it did me, anyways.

8. Book that changed your life

Well that's a tough one. Books have been quite literally shaping my life since I could read...so maybe we'll go with the McGuffy Readers, which are some of the first books I read for actual "school time" when I was home schooled at an early age. I still have them around somewhere, and they are veritable smorgasboards of literature, poetry and bits of wisdom, all bound up in unassuming volumes.

Cliche as it sounds, the Bible had a profound impact on me as well...both philosophically and as far as prose and story-telling goes.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

"Gone with the Wind", perhaps. Or "Call of the Wild" by Jack London. I often re-read cheap romance novels, but I'd love to experience those two again as if reading for the first time.

Then again, it wouldn't be the same experience now, would it? Would my adult perceptions hinder that first-time enthusiasm, I wonder?

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Hmm...I think I mostly need escape more than comfort from books. When I'm stressed or need a serious mental break, I'll mainline romance novels - preferably Harlequin Blaze, one after the other for *days* on end. I think because the core of a romance novel is hope, and the promise that everything will work out okay in the end.

11. Favourite line from a book

"Jo never, never would learn to be proper, for when he said that as they stood upon the steps, she just put both hands into his, whispering tenderly. "Not empty now," and stooping down, kissed her Friedrich under the umbrella." - Jo March, Little Women *sigh*

Thanks Dolly - this was fun!

Writer Revealed Book Awards 2011

2011-12-31T06:00:00.017Z

Writer Revealed Book Awards returns for another year. This is a completely biased list, based on the books I read in 2011, and based only on my opinion.

Best Classic

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Action/Adventure

The Six Sacred Stones - Matthew Reilly

Best Children's

Matilda - Roald Dahl

Best Comic

Nemi - Lisa Myhre

Best Crime

Fantasy in Death - J. D. Robb

Best Fantasy (Epic)

This was the hardest category this time, because I read Patrick Rothfuss, G. R. R. Martin and more of G. G. Kay. But in the end, The Wise Man's Fear did surpass them all.

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

Best Fantasy (Romantic)

The Laurentine Spy - Emily Gee

Best Fantasy (Novella/Story Collection)

Twilight's Dawn - Anne Bishop

Best Fantasy (Urban)

Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris

Best Fantasy (YA)

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer

Best Inspirational Fiction

The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho

Best Literary Essays

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman

Best Memoire

Howards End is On the Landing - Susan Hill

Best Science Fiction

Next Logical Step - Ben Bova

Best Science Fiction (YA)

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Best Writing Craft
How to Read Like a Writer - Francine Prose

Best YA
Princess Diaries: Ten Out of Ten - Meg Cabot

Bookshelf Snooping - Laura Anne Gilman

2011-12-27T06:00:00.001Z

1. Your childhood favourite
TARAN WANDERER by Lloyd Alexander

2. Your current favouriteNot really sure I have one, actually. I have many books I love, but none that last beyond the start of the next new fabulous read. The most recent, maybe was MOON OVER SOHO by Ben Abrahamson (I read the 2nd book first, my bad)

3. Your top five authors

oh, impossible. But here’re five I value highly…
Lloyd Alexander
Robin McKinley
Dorothy L Sayers
Joe Haldeman
Isaac Bashevis Singer

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

Natana Barron’s PILGRIM OF THE SKY

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

Silas Marner. I think that’s it.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

I have occasionally picked up a book for its cover, but I’ve never bought it, for that reason.

7. Book you’re a champion for

as a former editor, I can honestly say “hundreds.”

8. Book that changed your life

… um… Every book that means something to me changes my life. Sometimes even books that don’t mean anything to me, change my life. Phil Dick’s UBIK broke my brain and put it back together. So did John Irving’s GARP, for a completely different reason. And likewise everything Roger Zelazny ever wrote. And Eli Weisel’s NIGHT, and Judy Blume’s ARE YOU THERE GOD,
IT’S ME, MARGARET, and…

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

TARAN WANDERER. Or maybe THE BLUE SWORD, by Robin McKiney

10. Book you turn to for comfort

THE BLUE SOWRD and HERO AND THE CROWN (McKinley)

11. Favourite line from a book

it’s not a line, but an entire passage, from A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, by Peter Beagle, and it ends “All lights go out. So do all fires, if it’s any comfort. Love me, and look at me, and remember me, as I’ll remember you. There’s nothing more. Sit close and shut up.”

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T06:00:00.001Z

To All My Wonderful Friends

May you all have a fantastic Christmas!

All my best wishes, and love. I appreciate any and all the time you spend reading this blog.

Bookshelf Snooping - Mark Robinson

2011-12-23T06:00:00.003Z

1. Your childhood favourite
I wasn’t a big reader when I was a kid but I do have very fond memories of “The Phantom Toll Booth”

2. Your current favourite
Prey by Thomas Emson (this changes frequently)

3. Your top five authors
Neil Gaiman
Terry Prachett
Jim Butcher
John Meaney

4. Book(s) you’re reading now
Rule 34 by Charles Stross
99 Coffins by David Welington
Overclocked by Cory Doctorow

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read
None that I can think of

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover
Keeping it Real by Justina Robson
Jennifer Government by Max Barry

7. Book you’re a champion for
Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko & Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

8. Book that changed your life
It would have to the the colour of magic by Terry Prachett, it’s not of his best by a long shot but when I first read it I didn’t read much. This is the book that made me realise how much fun it is to lose yourself in a good book.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time
Another really hard question, I’ll have to say Stardust by Neil Gaiman. There are about 15 books at least that I could give as an answer

10. Book you turn to for comfort
Smoke & Mirrors By Neil Gaiman (awesome short story collection)

Bookshelf Snooping - Erica Chapman

2011-12-22T06:00:00.001Z

This is such a cool idea, Dolly! Thanks so much for inviting me to participate ;o) I adore your blog. Always have!

So, we're going to sneak into my Bookshelf... It's non-existant since I have most books on my kindle now. I know. I know. I'm a traitor. LOL. But, I LOVE my kindle!! Here's a pic of [cue disjointed voice of Gollum from LOTR] "my precious." and my kitty Zeus ;o)

1. Your childhood favourite

I loved the Babysitter's Club books (am I dating myself?) I mean, uh... Harry Potter. Yeah. No, really. It's To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

2. Your current favourite

Gah. It's a tie. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare and Divergent by Veronica Roth.

3. Your top five authors

Cassandra Clare, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

Just finished Clockwork Prince. AMAZING.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

Ha! I don't pretend. I either read it or don't. No faking it for me!

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

Divergent (so glad I did), Legend by Marie Lu, (ALSO a great decision, so great!)

7. Book you’re a champion for

To Kill a Mockingbird, I can't believe this is on the banned books list. My favorite book.

8. Book that changed your life

Again, To Kill a Mockingbird. It taught me a lot. But, I'll say Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series got me to write my first book ;o)

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. (swoon) does it get cuter than that book? I don't think so.

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Any YA contemporary romance. I LOVE Jennifer Echols. I had to read one of hers after Clockwork Prince. I was ready for some happy ;o)

11. Favourite line from a book

Oh, this is hard... Ooo! I will consult Goodreads quotes for this. It's a bit longer than a line, but it's so beautiful. It's from Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere. “Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy.”

That was fun!! I can't wait to see what everyone else's are!! SO cool!! Thanks again, Dolly!!

Have a great week, everyone!

Erica

You can find me at http://ericachapman.com

or on twitter at @ericamchapman

Bookshelf Snooping - Carol Ward

2011-12-21T06:00:00.001Z

1. Your childhood favourite

It was a book of fairy tales called Castles and Dragons. I remember a few of the stories in it, but the book itself was lost somewhere between childhood and getting married. I haunt the used bookstores and antique shops, hoping to find another copy, but so far I’ve had no luck. My second favourite would be Black Beauty – I remember my mother reading it to me chapter by chapter.

2. Your current favourite

Current favourite? That would have to be the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward – mostly ‘cause I’m reading the newest one and that makes me want to read the others again. :-)

3. Your top five authors

Charles de Lint, his writing is so lyrical and I love the way he weaves together myths and legends from different cultures into his stories.

Jamie DeBree, not just because she’s a friend, but because no matter what she throws at her heroines, they always rise to the occasion. And because no matter what genre she’s writing in, her stories are amazing.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, I ate up his books when I was a teenager – Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Pellucidar . . .

Anne McCaffrey, do I really need a reason? Just read one of her books.

Holly Lisle, because not only is she a fabulous author in a variety of genres, she really does “pay it forward” with her fabulous web site full of writing advice.

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

Lover Unleashed, by J.R. Ward

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly

Tempest (rereading), by Jamie DeBree

Into the Unknown (non-fiction), Reader’s Digest Books

Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. I always hated books we were forced to read in English and for some reason I really couldn’t get into this one. I read the first chapter, the last chapter, and watched one of the movie versions to get through the test.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

If you mean for the illustration on the cover, then just one. It was Demon In the Mirror, by Andrew J. Offutt and Richard Lyon, and I bought it for the Boris Vallejo cover. It turned out to be a pretty good book too. :-)

7. Book you’re a champion for

Wuthering Heights, by Charlotte Bronte. It always amazes me, the number of people who don’t like this book. It was one of only two books I was assigned to read in high school that I actually liked.

8. Book that changed your life

There’s two of them really. The first is the Kadin, by Bertrice Small. Back when I started reading romance novels (as a teenager) there were two kinds: Harlequins, which were set either in England or Australia and whose heroines were either nurses or secretaries, or bodice rippers, which were pretty much “woman gets kidnapped by hero and forced into sex until she realized he's her true love.” In the Kadin, the girl does get kidnapped in the beginning, but she doesn’t remain a victim. She turns things around and deals with her situation on her own terms. And when she escapes, she returns to her home and actually makes something of her life. This was a big revelation for me, and changed the way I viewed romance (in books).

The second is Moonheart, by Charles de Lint. This was the first urban fantasy I ever read. Up until this point I had no idea you could cross genres. Reading a fantasy in a contemporary setting was a real eye-opener for me and opened a whole world of possibilities for my own writing.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

10. Book you turn to for comfort

The Woodwife, by Terry Windling. I don’t know what it is about this book . . .

11. Favourite line from a book

I honesty can’t think of a favourite line. Every time I try, my mind goes blank. :-)

TBR Pile Reading Challenge

2011-12-20T06:00:00.003Z

The only kind of shopping I really like these days is book shopping (and handbags, but only when I'm travelling), and as a result, piles of books in my house have increased to scary proportions. Since I keep all my books, that means they all get to stay in one, cosy, happy, crammed place.

So I've set myself a challenge to read at least 100 print books from my TBR pile before I buy any more books. (well this is not written in stone, because I might have to buy some books, otherwise I really could suffer from withdrawal symptoms). As the intention is to make sure I read volumes I have, the rule is one book = one volume. So for example, an omnibus edition with three books, only counts as one for this purpose. Since I do love keeping my book lists, I will keep my TBR Pile Reading Challenge list somewhere too, so you can see what print books I'm reading.

How big are your TBR piles? Do they get out of control? And when they do, what do you do about it?

WR Recommends - Must Read Crime

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000Z

Fantasy in Death – J. D. Robb
Buckingham Palace Gardens – Anne Perry
Poirot Stories – Agatha Christie
Miss Marple Stories – Agatha Christie
Tommy and Tuppence Stories – Agatha Christie
Sherlock Holmes Stories – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Stephenie Plum Series – Janet Evanovich

5 Reasons Why You Should Comment On Blogs

2011-12-17T06:00:00.003Z

I remember, when I first started reading blogs I used to read a lot of them, and comment on a few. Then as I got more into blogging community, began to appreciate the work and effort people put into their blogs, I stated leaving more and more comments. But eventually, it came to a stage where I simply didn't have time for reading that many blogs if I wanted to do anything else (like writing), so now, I read far fewer blogs every day. But for all the ones I read, I try to leave a comment as often as possible.

Here is why:

It says that you found the content helpful / interesting / amusing enough to take a minute and leave a comment
It encourages discussions amongst others who comment and also between the blog writer and the readers
It shows new visitors to the blog that some people do read the blog and leave a comment, which might encourage them to do the same
Everyone feels good about being appreciated. In blogging world, comments are an easy way of showing this appreciation of the content someone's providing
It's a give and take thing. If you leave a comment on someone else's blog, it encourages the other person to leave one on yours.

Bookshelf Snooping - Nik Perring

2011-12-16T06:00:00.001Z

Your childhood favourite

I remember really loving Mossflower, by Brain Jacques.

Your current favourite

There really are so many, it’s impossible to pick one. I recently read Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ for the first time and I loved that so, for now, that’s what I’ll go with.

Your top five authors

Again, SUCH a difficult question to answer as there really are so many. But the first five who come to mind, I think, would be:

Aimee Bender

Etgar Keret

Kurt Vonnegut

Michael Kimball

and Kafka.

Book(s) you’re reading now

At the moment I’m reading a book ‘Naïve. Super’ by the Norwegian, Erland Loe. I’m finding that a lot of the books I enjoy the most are translated, and I’m not sure translators receive quite as much credit as they deserve. So: Nice one, translators, from this writer!

Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

I don’t think I’ve ever lied, saying I’ve read something I’ve not. Knowing me it’d be to the person who was an expert on whichever book I said and I’d get found out straight away. I wish I’d read more Dickens though, and more of the classics. But I haven’t, and there’s not much I can do about that as there’s so much other stuff I want to read first.

Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

I think I actually only did this for the first time the other day, and that was for ‘Naïve, Super’. We all know we can’t judge a book by its cover, but a good one does help. (Link for the cover: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Naive-Super-Erlend-Loe/dp/1841956724/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323529968&sr=1-1)

Book you’re a champion for

I’ve been banging on about Aimee Bender’s books for a few years now, and I can’t see me stopping just yet! They’re magical. They’re brilliant. I think, and this is only my opinion, that she’s the best writer out there at the moment. So I’d heartily recommend ANY of hers. And probably Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, too, because that is a genuine masterpiece. As is Michael Kimball’s ‘Dear Everybody’.

I’m a champion of mine as well, of course.

Book that changed your life

‘Willful Creatures’ by Aimee Bender. It showed me that I could write the kind of things I wanted to write, and also the standards I’d have to aim for. And without my professional hat on, I think the stories in it are about as perfect as you’ll find.

Book you most want to read again for the first time

Probably ‘Willful Creatures’ again, for the magic. Or Frankenstein, maybe.

Book you turn to for comfort

I don’t tend to re-read books, so the ones I do, for whatever reason, I think makes them exceptional. Again, anything by Aimee Bender. Anything by Etgar Keret. There’s a passage in ‘Dear Everybody’ that’ll make me cry, nine times out of ten, whenever I go back to to read it. It’s on page 236 of the hardback, and it’s about dividing the memories of a relationship once it’s over between the two people who were in it. It’s stunning.

Favourite line from a book

So it goes.

Nik Perring is a writer, author, and editor from the UK. He writes, mostly, short stories. The stories he’s written have been widely published, in the UK and abroad, in print and on-line. They’ve been collected in the book ‘Not So Perfect’ (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-So-Perfect-Nik-Perring/dp/1906894078/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2)(Roast Books, 2010), read at events, printed on fliers and used, with one of Dave Eggers’, as essential material on a creative writing course in the US.

‘Freaks!, (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freaks-Caroline-Smailes/dp/0007442890/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1) an illustrated collection of short stories, co-written with Caroline Smailes, will be published by The Friday Project (HarperCollins) in April 2012.

His online home is here: nikperring.com

Bookshelf Snooping - Adam Slade

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000Z

Many thanks to Adam Slade for divulging information about his bookshelf. You can find him at his blog Editing Hat.

1. Your childhood favourite

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett. I started reading the Pratchetts at 12 or 13, and I'm still buying them whenever a new one is released. The man is a genius.

2. Your current favourite

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett! Seriously, that book doesn't get old. My favourite of the year, though, would be Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Such incredible characters.

3. Your top five authors

Terry Pratchett, Joe Abercrombie, Jim Butcher, RA Salvatore (for his Drizzt series), and Scott Lynch (the Gentleman Bastards series). If it was top six, I'd include Stephen King, for his Dark Tower series, but since I don't read horror I don't like most of his stuff.

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

I'm currently reading Ketchup is a Vegetable by Robin O'Bryant, after being bullied into it by a friend. I'm glad they did. It's a non-fiction series of humorous essays about motherhood and parenting. Normally I don't read anything like it, but now Robin has me wanting to expand my horizons a little.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read

None. I don't pretend I've read something, and I'm honest if I don't like something. This has garnered me some funny looks (I couldn't stand Pride and Prejudice, and I'm not about to pretend otherwise), but I read for me, not for other people.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

None. My books are always stored spine out, so there's no point. Anyway, it's the words that matter! :-)

7. Book you’re a champion for

Any written by a friend. It's hard getting out there in the publishing industry, so I'm always willing to throw up a post/review/interview to help.

8. Book that changed your life

I've honestly never read a book that changed my life. For one thing, I almost exclusively read fantasy, so it's more escapist than mind-altering. The closest has been Joe Abercrombie's First Law books, which changed the way I write.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time

The entire Discworld series. I'd love to rediscover them as an adult, and see if my opinions changed.

10. Book you turn to for comfort

Anything by a favourite author. That said, I don't reread something until a fair amount of time has passed (years). I dislike remembering plot points before they happen.

11. Favourite line from a book

I have a terrible memory for specific lines, and only two stick in my mind. "YES" from Reaper Man (it's said by a god, and Pratchett used a font the size of a paperback page for effect), and "I just have to wait for Jean to get here," from The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is used in a flashback then again later on in a crucial scene. VERY well done. :-)

2012 Annual Reading Challenge

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000Z

It's that time of the year, my friends. I invite you, once again, to join in the annual reading challenge. 2011 was super successful for me, as I not only surpassed my 80 books target, but went over 110 books. So for 2012, I'm going to aim for 100 books.

100 books - 1 year. That sounds a lot, but when I think about all the hundreds of thousands of book I want to read, it's nothing really. Yet, one must remain realistic.

What about you? How many books are you going to aim for? Don't forget to leave your links for your challenge, so I can follow your progress to. My "Books Read" list for 2012 will be available on this blog.

Happy Reading!

WR Recommends - Must Read Inspirational Fiction

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001Z

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
For One More Day – Mitch Albom
Eleven Minutes – Paulo Coelho
The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho

2012 - The Ecletic Reader Challenge

2011-12-11T11:54:00.003Z

As regular readers of this blog may already know, I LOVE reading challenges. Usually I create my own, because I don't like being dictated by others as to what I should read.

But this time, I'm joining Shelleyrae's Eclectic Reader Challenge, which is right up my street. The goal is to read at least one book in the following 12 genres.

1. Literary Fiction
2. Crime/Mystery Fiction
3. Romantic Fiction
4. Historical Fiction
5. Young Adult
~~6. Fantasy~~
7. Science Fiction
~~8. Non Fiction~~
9. Horror
10. Thriller / Suspense
11. Classic
12. Your favourite genre

For "Your favourite genre" I just take it to mean a genre that's not included in the list. While I read all of the other genres, reading Horror will be out of my usual choice. So that's something.

You can read more about the challenge at the link above, so come and join if you wish.

WR Recommends - Must Read Memoires

2011-12-08T21:57:00.000Z

84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
The Diary of A Young Girl – Anne Frank
A Writer’s Diary – Virginia Woolf
Nella Last’s War – Nella Last
Night – Elie Wiesel
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – Benjamin Franklin
The Upanishads - Eknath Easwaran

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Progress Report

2011-11-19T21:39:00.000Z

This year NaNoWriMo has been quite frenzy free, except for the first day where the frenzy of starting is almost a ritual. Usually, I try to finish my whole draft or at least as much as possible during NaNo, but this year I don't mind if I do only 50K. So while there have been some unproductive days, on the whole, I have made a steady progress. It's a good thing in a way, because while I'm doing NaNo, I am also continuing with other things going on in my life. On the flip side, it doesn't really feel like a challenge. But on a more positive note, I am making progress, and that's the important thing. It is in fact a positive thing because if I can write 50K easily enough in November, I can do it whenever I am writing a first draft.

So current word count is 37167. I plan to have 50K done by 27th of November, and unless things go drastically wrong from here, I don't see an issue. But I look forward to finishing this draft in December.

What about you? How is your NaNoWriMo going? How are you finding it? Challenging, fun, despairing?

WIP 2 First Draft & NaNoWriMo Insanity

2011-10-30T21:14:00.000Z

This afternoon I finished the first draft of WIP 2. It's a second a book in the series, and I started writing it because I wanted to develop my world further, and explore the characters further, which incidentally helped with editing the first book. However, it means that I'm currently in no hurry to edit this book, because until the first book is sold (working on the damn query letter) there is no need to worry about the second one.

But the purpose behind dedicating the whole weekend to finishing this book (wrote just over 10K, and now the draft is finished at 94K+) was to be free for NaNoWriMo. I considered not doing NaNoWriMo this year, because I had this book to finish, plus I'm working on submission package for the first book, day job is nightmare busy and life continues...but I simply can't resist the pull of NaNoWriMo, and now that this book is finished, I feel like I have to give it a try.

So it's one day to figure out which book I will work on for NaNoWriMo, hopefully have at least a skeleton outline, and then in a day's time begins a whole month's insanity. Well, actually 28 days, because on 29th of November I'm going on a holiday for some winter sunshine.

What about you? How is your writing coming along? Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? Do you know what you will be working on?

BristolCon 2011 - A Great Event

2011-10-23T20:52:00.000+01:00

I'm still recovering from yesterday's BristolCon. A whole day full of fun, excitement, intelligent (and sometimes weird) conversation, and a whole lot of books.

Official start time was 9, so I was there at 8:30 of course. Advantage of that is that I didn't have to queue up to get my name tag. Managed to catch up with some nice people I met last year, and met some new people as well. Jo (the supremely efficient chairperson for BristolCon) was already a busy-bee, as was Meg - providing panellists with their schedules, setting up books for sale etc. I was on three panels this year. It was good schedule for me, first 9, second at 10, third at 11 - all 50 minutes long, with 10 minutes break in-between. But that meant that after 12, I was free to be a visitor and sit into everyone else's panels. Being on panels was good fun (at least for me), despite some nervousness that comes from being a newbie. But I have to say - my fellow panellists (mostly writers, some artists) are the most wonderful and supportive people you could ever meet. Our audience was great too, and the whole thing went smoothly, and we all had a good laugh, especially in the Battle of the Books panel. Paul Cornell and John Meaney were excellent champions for their chosen books - though I still think Paul has some audience hypnosis power.

Mike Shevdon did a session on Archery. It was informative and fun, and it could've given Legolas some tips about archery. Another fun session which included Joanne Hall and Paul Cornell on the panel was G.R.R.M Is Not Your Bitch! The sentence made famous by Neil Gaiman's blog post was now an event at BristolCon.

For the first time at BristolCon, we had two parallel streams of programmes. It went wonderfully, though often many of us were left wishing we could be in two places at once because all the events were fantastic. Last year was fun, but I just feel like this year we did so much more. Dealer's room was full of wonderful books and authors. In the afternoon, two book launches which included Gareth Powell's book "Recollection" that received a fantastic review in The Guardian.

Keith, the founder of a popular writing software Scrivener was there as well, explaining further details about the software, and answering questions about upcoming Windows version. Cheryl Morgan was a fabulous moderator on the Battle of the Books panel. I attended KaffeeKlatsch with John Meaney and we learned not only about his writing prowess, but amazing Yoda Powers. KaffeeKlatsches gave a good opportunity to have decent conversation with writers you really wanted to spend more time with.

I'd intended to leave early, as soon as all the workshops finished but I was having so much fun that I decided to stay till the end. Just as well because the quiz was fun, and thanks to supreme knowledge of Philip Reeves and Iain our team (Minion + 5) actually came second. The said minion provided me much amusement.

By the time it ended, I realised I'd missed the last train home. However, wonderful Jo Hall and her friends came to rescue, and gave me a lift home. Good thing too, because by that time I was totally knackered.

So all in all, a wonderful day, spent in wonderful company.

And for those of you who can be in Bristol area next year, 2012 BristolCon is scheduled on 20th of October. I can't wait!

10 Things I Love About Paper Books

2011-10-21T23:11:00.000+01:00

E-books are all very well (I love my kindle), but for those who think they are the SAME as paper books, here are 10 things, paper books give me, which e-books don't.

I love to see the creases and crinkles that a book gets when it's been everywhere with me for days, and sometimes weeks.
I love to look at beautiful cover arts, feel its "skin", enjoy the artistry of it.
I love it that I can find my most favourites books, just by the feel of them without having to look, because I know so well how they feel in my hands, and how their covers feel.
I love seeing piles and piles of books in my house. There are plenty of things that can be thrown out or shoved into boxes. Books deserve to be seen. Looking at my collection is like looking at art-work meant personally for me.
I love it that my books grow old with me. Their pages yellow, sometimes dust gathers, they have their smell. Just like people.
I love it that they are all different - sizes, shapes, fonts, formats, colours. They are as varied as characters in them. Again, just like people.
I love it that all the hard work gone into writing, publishing, marketing these books results in a tangible product that I can hold in my hands.
I love it that books - like people - make a first impression. And I don't mind it when they prove me wrong for judging them by their cover.
I love to see a nice, tidy pile of books in a series that look almost same, but slightly different. Just like the characters and stories who change, without losing their essence.
I love it that when I look at these piles and piles of books, instead of useless junk in my house, I feel good about what I've spent my money on, and the cosiness and comfortable feeling it brings to my home.

Classics Reading Challenge

2011-10-20T16:00:00.000+01:00

There are many classics I want to read, but a list of all of them might get a bit overwhelming. So I'm starting with eleven.

Sons and Lovers - D. H. Lawrence
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
Magnetism - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Diary of a Nobody - George & Weeden Grossmith
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad
Carry on Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Rob Roy - Sir Walter Scott
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Reading Challenge Page

2011-10-19T21:34:00.000+01:00

The more observant amongst you may have already noticed that this blog has a second page now. "Reading Challenges."

I love making book lists, and my reading lists change quite often, but there are certain books that I always meant to read, or certain genres that I want to devote more time to. And that's where reading challenges come in.

I already have two live reading challenges - Annual Reading Challenge, which is actually complete for this year, because I met my target of 80 books, and Fantasy Reading Challenge, in which I shall read 103 fantasy books.

But I will add some more, though bit smaller (I'm thinking maximum 11 books in each challenge) to give me a continuous reading challenge of some sort, and you know how good it feels to cross things off the list!

So few more reading challenges will come up...but meanwhile, feel free to share updates on your reading challenges, or join in with mine. And let's all celebrate our love of books!

NaNoWriMo 2011

2011-10-09T11:37:00.000+01:00

NaNoWriMo2011 is just around the corner. If you don't know what that is - check out the website. But basically, it's a writing marathon where we all gather together and write 50K in the month of November. 50K is what you have to write to get the winner badge from NaNoWriMo. But the spirit of the whole thing is about writing. As much as you can. Go into the creative mode, follow the story, and just write.

My first NaNo was in 2009, and since then I look forward to it every year. Yes, I can and do write all year around, but there is just something much more exciting about participating in this epic event. I guess it must be similar to people who participate in running marathons, even though they can run just as much by themselves.

So if you haven't tried NaNoWriMo, give it a go. And if you are a veteran, come and say hi. My user ID there is Lost Wanderer.

Dreaded Synopsis & Query

2011-09-18T12:14:00.000+01:00

It's amazing how perspective changes. When one begins to write a book, finishing it is a big concern, making sure there are no plot holes, that characters are appealing etc. Then comes the editing mountain. Making the story as best as it could possibly be - and suddenly, writing feels so much easier. And now, as I attempt to write a synopsis and a query letter, both writing and editing seem walk in the park by comparison. Not literally of course - because those things are still difficult. But whittling down the essence of the story in a query paragraph, or two pages of synopsis - wow, that's taking difficult to a whole new level. Especially because summarising anything is not my strong suit, as my husband finds out every time he asks me what movie or a book is about.

But I'm plodding on. Personally, I'm finding writing a synopsis far more difficult than writing a query letter. What about you? How do you feel about writing synopsis and queries? How do you approach it?

A Writer's Notebook - Lesson Learned

2011-09-02T16:01:00.000+01:00

Today, I'm taking some time to clear some papers. They pile up, and breed like rabbits somehow, and since my attention span to clear them is very low, I don't get far. Anyway, as I was going through all these papers, amongst receipts and print-outs, there are piles of notes, brainstorms, scene fragments, character notes etc.

It made me realise that it was totally inefficient to write these on notepads or scraps of paper, because it makes them all that much harder to organise, which means chances of me finding it when I need it are quite small. I do keep a writing journal, but I usually use A4 notepads for random brainstorm that may or may not go anywhere, only because journals are more expensive, so it feels like "waste" to write anything in them. However, I've come to realise that I do look A LOT MORE at my writing journals. I flip back and forth, consider ideas I have jot down, and that sparks a trail of thought that leads somewhere else, or makes me realise that I have already thought of something.

So from now on....no notepads and scraps of papers except in emergency. It's all going in writing journal, staying in one place, and making the whole organisation far better. I hope.

How do you maintain your scraps of notes and pieces of information? Are you super-organised, or thrive in chaos? Or in-between and hope for the best?

WR Recommends - Must Read Urban Fantasy

2011-08-30T14:27:00.000+01:00

It's always tricky to place some books into certain genres - so for this, I am following a guideline that if a book is set in our world and if the characters are humans from Earth, at least partially, then it's Urban Fantasy.

Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Sookie Stackhouse - Charlaine Harris
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony
Kate Daniels Series - Ilona Andrews
Ysabel - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Courts of the Feyre - Mike Shevdon
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Kate Daniels Series - Ilona Andrews

Two New Blogs

2011-08-25T20:09:00.000+01:00

Hello Peeps!

A little advertisement is in order...

I have two new blogs.

Four Hour Body - A Vegetarian Experiment
Is to record my experiment with slow-carb diet based on Tim Ferris' book "Four Hour Body" plus general comments about weight loss, fitness, healthy eating. Hoping this to be a record for striving for a long-term healthier habits.

Language Dabbler
This is a blog to record my love of languages, and attempts to learn new ones. Methods, madness, resources, facts and fun....anything to do with any languages.

If you have interests in either of those areas, I hope to see you at my new homes too.

Word Count Going Up - AFTER EDITING

2011-08-23T21:59:00.000+01:00

You know how when you edit, you are supposed to cut words? Well, I trimmed A LOT. Yet, after this version of editing, my word count has gone up from 94119 to 94574. Not a big change no - but it's much bigger change when you consider that the original draft was about 89000 words.

However, I know exactly why this has happened, so no panic necessary. My first drafts, and especially my speedy first draft (this was for NaNo) are always sparse. Description especially is usually quite lacking in these drafts, so that had to be amended. On top of that though I deleted several scenes, I also ended up adding a few, so overall, the numbers make sense.

What about you? When you edit - which way does your word count travel?

WR Recommends - Must Read Science Fiction

2011-08-08T07:00:00.001+01:00

Please read this post to understand why these particular books are selected.

Ten Must Read Science Fiction

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Journey Into Space - Toby Litt
Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Dancers at the End of Time - Michael Moorcock
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Tau Zero - Poul Anderson

WIP 2 - Nearly 40% Done

2011-08-03T22:13:00.000+01:00

Ever since I started with regular daily goals on WIP2, I've been sailing through the writing. It was never actually an issue about writing itself, but without clear goals, I always ended up focusing on editing or worrying about it. So now, with minimum daily word count to write, it's been fun.

What's interesting about this is that I've gone back to almost seat-of-the-pants writing. I know, I raved about outlining with the previous book. And the fact is, I would ideally like to have a complete outline. But with this one, outline thing just wasn't working out. I knew key points of the plot, but that's about it. So I decided what the hell...let's get started. And at least so far, I don't find myself floundering. It's nice to know the end point, but it's also good to have the freedom to let imagination run wild. Of course it will only be after the end of first draft I will find out if it works out or if there are plot holes to fill. But so far, like I said, I'm really enjoying it.

Now I'm just getting it impatient, because I want to finish the first draft already, and run with the story. But that will be done before end of October, so not too long.

How about you? How are your projects coming along?

Update...about Bloody Time!

2011-07-27T19:37:00.000+01:00

Yes, I have been horribly remiss in blogging lately. It's been one of those things that constantly nags me, and makes me feel guilty, but still doesn't rank high enough on the list to get around to it. But while I feel guilty, because I really would like to blog regularly, I'm satisfied with how I have been spending my time.

That brings me to progress...

Editing is going well. I wish I was faster at it, but it's one of those things where I don't yet have a perfect method, so it's trial and error, and my attention span isn't fabulous page after page.

Writing on the other hand is right on target. Since end of June, I started off with a target of 3500 words per week. Manageable target, while continuing with editing. From Mid-July I increased that target to 4700 words per week, and have met it every week. That brings WIP2 to 28K as of today. I'm hoping to finish first draft of WIP2 by end of October, and meanwhile hopefully, get WIP1 into submission state.

Fitness routine has gone out of the window. I seem incapable of being able to focus on writing/editing + fitness at the same time. Well, it is bit tricky with timing too...but hopefully, might get back into it.

So that's where I have been spending my time, folks. Of course it would be better if dayjob wasn't sucking up majority of time, but oh well!

How is your writing progress coming along?

WR Recommends - Must Read Fantasy

2011-07-08T19:53:00.000+01:00

It's only appropriate that I begin this series with Fantasy, since that's what I am writing at the moment. Please read this post to understand why these particular books are selected.

Ten Must Read Fantasy

Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Blood Jewels Trilogy - Anne Bishop
The Sundering Duology - Jacqueline Carey
The Sevenwaters Trilogy - Juliet Marillier
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Black Magician Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
Magician - Raymond E. Feist
Kingkiller Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb
The Empire Series - Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

Books Read in June

2011-06-30T19:00:00.000+01:00

June's been crazy in terms of reading where I have been reading A LOT of different books, hence finished less. I have been all over the place, between Kindle and Paperbooks, but enojying it.

1. Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay - 04/06/11
2. Notes on Writing Weird Fiction - H. P. Lovecraft - 08/06/11
3. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss - 17/06/11
4. Next Logical Step - Ben Bova - 22/06/11
5. Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury - 26/06/11
6. How to Write a Great Query Letter - Noah Lukeman - 30/06/11

Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever

2011-06-29T06:00:00.001+01:00

New Series - WR Recommends

2011-06-27T11:50:00.000+01:00

Hi Folks,

You know I love doing series on this blog. This one is different - there will be no guest posts in this series - at least not in this original version. I might modify and invite people bit later on.

Summer's here, and while many of us read pretty much the same all year around, a lot of people have more reading time in the summer, so it's a perfect time to do this. In this series, I will recommend up to 10 books in various genres. These are in my opinion "MUST READ" in these genres.

These lists will be based on simple rules:

I have personally read these books
I put these books in "totally amazing" category. I had to narrow it down, because otherwise my recommendations would be endless.

Disclaimer: I'm sure there will be books I will miss out (pretty hard to remember them all), but that happens.

I would of course love it if you guys join in, in the comments, with the books you recommend, and if you have read any on my lists, and what do you think of them!

All About Editing - Emily Gee

2011-06-24T06:00:00.002+01:00

I first came across Emily's book in a random browsing session on Amazon, but since then I have bought all her fantasy books, and absolutely love them, so today's post is all the more exciting for me.

Here is Emily's post:

Do you love editing, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle?
I wouldn't say that I *adore* editing, Dolly, but I do enjoy it. There's a lot of satisfaction in tinkering with paragraphs and sentences--moving them around, cutting a bit here, adding a bit there--until they read the best they possibly can. (Can you tell I'm a word geek? )

Do you edit as you go? Or do you start only after the first draft?
I edit as I go. For my latest book, I tried not to edit at all during the first draft (i.e. the Fast Draft method), in the hope that it would help me write faster, but the end result was that I was much slower! It took many, many more passes through the book to pull it all together and to get some spark on the pages. So I've gone back to editing as I write. Yes, the first draft takes longer, but on the flip side, it's pretty polished and doesn't need a huge amount of editing.

Any tips you've learned from your experience? Different methods work for different people. Some writers swear by the Fast Draft method (i.e. don't edit at all while writing the first draft), others (like me) work best by editing as they go. My advice would be to experiment. Discover what works best for you. Don't stick with one method just because other people have said it's the best one!

My only editing tip would be to print out your work. You see so much more when you're holding the pages in your hands than you ever do when you're reading on screen. Yes, it uses more paper and ink, but the end result is a much better book!

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-06-19T11:46:00.000+01:00

This is a way over-due post, but doesn't mean I don't appreciate the award. Thank you so much to two lovely ladies, who both gave me these award on their blogs. Diane and Karin. They both followed slightly different rules for passing on the award, so I'm just going to go for the middle ground.

HERE'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO:
1. LInk back to the person who gave you the award (done!!)
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award on to other Versatile Bloggers
4. Let those Bloggers know that they have got this award

Seven Things About Me

No matter how fast I read, I always wish I was a faster reader (while keeping quality of course)
I don't feel at all bad about saying that between books and people, most of the time I prefer books
I'm glad I picked up a habit of journaling regularly relatively early in life, though I still regret that it wasn't early enough
I don't like to read or write in the garden, no matter what the weather. I would much rather sit indoors
I love computers (including work laptop, now I have four of my own)
I like spicy food
If hermit was still a profession, I would be so tempted to join it

Award Goes To:
1. Jamie Debree who truly is a versatile blogger
2. Kirsty at Overflowing Library
3. Carol at Random Writing

Fantasy Reading Challenge

2011-06-02T19:32:00.009+01:00

There are so many books I want to read that even a lifetime doesn't seem enough, so instead of following generic lists, for my favourite genre, I'm starting a challenge to read 103 fantasy books that I haven't read yet. There is no deadline for this, so if you like reading Fantasy, I invite you to join in. Read as many as you can - or even just a handful that appeal to you.

If you've read some of these, or are joining in the challenge, leave comments as you progress, and we can exchange thoughts. If you think others might enjoy this, please blog/twitter/facebook about it with the link. The more the merrier!!

P.S. - I've included following books in the challenge simply because I already have these books. There are many more I want to read, but figured, let's focus on what I've already bought.

103 FANTASY BOOKS TO READ

~~Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay~~
The Darkest Road - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Wandering Fire - Guy Gavriel Kay
Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay
~~The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss~~
~~The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss~~
Dragonfilght - Anne McCaffrey
Dragonquest - Anne McCaffrey
The White Dragon - Anne McCaffrey
Mistborn: The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn: The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson
~~Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians - Brandon Sanderson~~
The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
Beyond the Shadows - Brent Weeks
Shadow's Edge - Brent Weeks
The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks
The Black Prism - Brent Weeks
~~A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin~~
~~A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin~~
~~A Storm of Swords - George R. R. Martin~~
~~A Feast for Crows - George R. R. Martin~~
The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson
Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson
House of Chains - Steven Erikson
Midnight Tides - Steven Erikson
The Bonehunters - Steven Erikson
Reaper's Gale - Steven Erikson
Toll the Hounds - Steven Erikson
Dust of Dreams - Steven Erikson
The Crippled God - Steven Erikson
Ship of Magic - Robin Hobb
Mad Ship - Robin Hobb
Ship of Destiny - Robin Hobb
Fool's Errand - Robin Hobb
Golden Fool - Robin Hobb
Fool's Fate - Robin Hobb
The Warded Man - Peter V. Brett
The Desert Spear - Peter V. Brett
The First Betrayal - Patricia Bray
The Sea Change - Patricia Bray
The Final Sacrifice - Patricia Bray
Cygnet - Patricia A. McKillip
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Replay - Ken Grimwood
Blade of Fortriu - Juliet Marillier
The Dark Mirror - Juliet Marillier
The Well of Shades - Juliet Marillier
Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie
The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie
The Sentinel Mage - Emily Gee
The Jewel in the Skull - Michael Moorcock
The Mad God's Amuel - Michael Moorcock
The Sword of the Dawn - Michael Moorcock
The Runestaff - Michael Moorcock
Lover Eternal - J R Ward
Lover Awakened - J R Ward
Lover Revealed - J R Ward
Lover Unbound - J R Ward
Lover Enshrined - J R Ward
Lover Avenged - J R Ward
Lover Mine - J R Ward
Lover Unleashed - J R Ward
~~Moon Called - Patricia Briggs~~
Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs
Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs
Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs
River Marked - Patricia Briggs
White Night - Jim Butcher
Summer Knight - Jim Butcher
~~Side Jobs - Jim Butcher~~
Small Favor - Jim Butcher
Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher
~~Grave Peril - Jim Butcher~~
Death Masks - Jim Butcher
Dead Beat - Jim Butcher
Blood Rites - Jim Butcher
Changes - Jim Butcher
Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher
Academ's Fury - Jim Butcher
Cursor's Fury - Jim Butcher
Captain's Fury - Jim Butcher
Princep's Fury - Jim Butcher
First Lord's Fury - Jim Butcher
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan
A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan
The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan
Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan
Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan
The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

Books Read in May

2011-06-01T19:50:00.000+01:00

This year is going pretty well in terms of reading. I've no doubt that I'm going to kick-ass of my 80 books target, since I've finished 49 books by end of May. But it's been fun, and since my reading list is endless....I still feel that I am not fast enough. But practice makes perfect :-))

Sixty-One Nails - Mike Shevdon - 01/05
First book in the Courts of the Feyre series. I really enjoyed it. C. E. Murphy blurbed it as a Neverwhere for grown-ups, and I agree. It's different from a lot of my usual fantasy because the hero is a middle-aged, divorced, single parent - hence, your everyday man - who rises to his newly discovered Feyre heritage.
Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer - 07/05
The latest in Artemis Fowl series - and again, loved it. Artemis Fowl is my favourite young hero (yes, even more than Harry Potter - because while I love Harry Potter series more, I would much rather prefer Artemis' company than Harry's).
Dead in the Family - Charlaine Harris - 08/05
The latest in Sookie Stackhouse. Another series I enjoy. But "Dead to the World" still remains my favourite book in the series so far.
Wicked Appetite - Janet Evanovich - 10/05
I have enjoyed Stephanie Plum series by Evanovich, so I thought I would try something else by her. This is slightly fantasyish - in that it has magic, but not too much. I liked reading it, but didn't find it as laugh-out-loud funny as Stephanie Plum. So in terms of review, I would read more in this series, but not necessarily run out to buy when it comes out.
Matilda - Roald Dahl - 12/05
I admit to a great shame here - until now I've never read any Roald Dahl. But then blame that to my foreign upbringing. There weren't Roald Dahl books around where I was growing up. So Matilda has been on my reading list, ever since I saw the movie Matilda (which I love). And I really enjoyed this book. Dahl's writing is FANTASTIC. I loved it so much, I had to read another book by him.
The Twits - Roald Dahl - 15/05
Love the insults in this book. Hilarious. Though didn't like the story so much - certainly not as much as Matilda.
Dark Lover - J. R. Ward - 20/05
Since a lot of people rave about Black Dagger Brotherhood books, I thought I would give this a go. So a mixed review about this - I liked the story, and I liked the characters - but not the writing. Especially not the dialogue. It was just too...well...wrong. Every guy speaks the same - and it doesn't match their history. But characters are compelling enough that I will read more books in this series, and hope that it improves over time, as it happens a lot since all new authors have stuff to learn after their first book.
First Five Pages - Noah Lukeman - 21/05
Interesting book about first five pages, and the kind of things that might make an agent or an editor stop reading your book.
The Road to Bedlam - Mike Shevdon - 28/05
May for me, began and ended with Mike Shevdon. This is the second book in Courts of the Feyre series, and again very good. Especially last third of this book was very good, in terms of plotting and pacing, and I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen next.

A New Story

2011-05-28T21:08:00.000+01:00

Nope....not a novel. I am still sticking to decision of finishing edits on this book. They are going, well slow. But that's mostly due to day job. I'm much busier in day job now, longer hours, hardly any break time etc. so that has impact on my evenings too. But edits are going. There is progress, so I am glad about that.

Anyway, this new story....well, it's a short story.

Now the more attention-paying people amongst you might remember that I am not really a short story person. I like some, but not a lot. I have written some, but not a lot. And they are certainly not my focus. But I just wanted to write something, and it's sort of related to my novel, because it's set in the same world - though during much earlier time in the world's history. This is just to flex some writing muscle really.

The plan is to have a writing frenzy of sorts for the first draft, which I want to be around 10K to 15K. And I want to finish the first draft in a matter of days, or at the most a week - which with the bank holiday weekend is possible.

So time to get writing. Cheer me on folks....I will put up a word counter on the side.

Yearly Goals - Useful or Unnecessary Stress?

2011-05-24T19:51:00.000+01:00

As we are now in the middle of the year, and not having reviewed my yearly goals for over a month, I have come to a conclusion - most of those goals don't matter.

Okay, so there are things on there that I would like to get done / accomplish. And yes, I would still like to do those, but in my current life-style, I simply can't find time for all those goals. So was I giving myself unnecessary stress earlier in the year, trying to fit it all in? Yes, and no.

Goals are good, but what's even more important is that how good your goals are to your future plans. Unfortunately, if you are like me, your future plans include a lot of accomplishments and a feeling that I must do it all now. So I try to fit in as much as I think I can. And when I count number of hours, it seems almost possible. Of course what I fail to consider are the human limitations - like I might be too tired after a busy, stressful day at a day job to be productive every evening. Or that I might actually *HORROR* end up having some social obligation. My goals are good based on a number of hours available in the day, but not so good when I consider other limitations.

There are also too many of them. Okay, so a lot of things need to get done, and it does seem rather easy in January to think that surely I can do all of these in a year. But then I blink, and oh boy, it's nearly June. How the hell did that happen? But it happens. Every year. While I don't claim to be productive all the time, or indeed make the best use of my time, I do tend to underestimate how ordinary life gets in the way of goals.

But goals are still important...so at least for the rest of this year, instead of worrying about my big list...I am only going to worry about couple of things on there, and just focus on that. Rest will either take care of itself, or there is always next year.

What about you? How are your 2011 goals going? Do you have a long list that you are now daunted by? Or are you ticking everything off? Do you underestimate the time you have?

All About Editing - Lorraine Mace

2011-05-20T07:00:00.001+01:00

Do you love editing, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle?

I hate the thought of it, but love the process. Before I get started it always seems as if I have a mountain to climb and I put it off as long as I can. Once I get going I love it and can never understand why I didn’t just get down to it straight away.

I am a serious underwriter, so the editing process allows me to put in all the settings I tend to miss out in my rush to get the story down. That’s also when I fix the dialogue and characterisation. I look on it as a chance to turn dross into gold – that’s the idea, anyway.

I’ve recently rewritten a crime novel and added 7,000 words to the original draft, most of it to the ending because it was too abrupt.

I suppose, for over writers the editing process would allow them to remove the surplus and make the writing leaner. I’ve never had that problem, so can’t be sure. If I tried to trim my work, I’d end up with chapter headings, a synopsis, and not much else.

Do you edit as you go? Or do you start only after the first draft?

I used to edit as I went along, but found I’d get too hung up on making the opening chapters perfect and never actually finish a book. Now I get the first draft down before even thinking about any serious editing. Having said that, what I do is read through whatever was written the day before and fix any glaring errors. Reading only the previous day’s work also helps me get back into the story without being sucked into trying to perfect the writing from page one.

Do you have a definite method for editing? If so, would you like to share something from it?

I print out my ms – always. I find that editing directly on screen means I miss too many errors that leap out at me on the printed page.

Once I’ve got the ms in hard copy, I hide away from everyone, put on some soft music and disconnect the phone. Then I go through the ms with a red pen (literally). I scratch out, add in, and make notes and diagrams all over the place. Then, when I’ve scribbled over the entire ms, I go to the computer and work through the edits page by page. I add in sections, move others, whatever needs to be done, by referring to the hard copy, which sometimes has so much red ink I can barely see the type underneath.

Any tips you've learned from your experience?

Yes, when you think you’ve nailed it, print out another copy and go through the entire process all over again – and again. The first edit is just putting the flesh on the bones – all subsequent edits are the ones that will turn a manuscript into a novel.

Anything else you would like to add - pet peeves, things that make you want to pull your hair out (editing related), joys and wonders of the process?

Yes, I want to tear my hair out when I’ve realised mid-edit that the plot hole I thought I’d be able to get away with has turned into a massive crater. I’ve learned the hard way to listen to the nagging voice in my head that whispers: this won’t work!

Lorraine Mace, a Writers Bureau tutor, is humour columnist for both Writing Magazine (UK) and Connexions (France). She is also deputy editor of Words with JAM and a competition judge for Writers’ Forum. She has written for magazines and newspapers in the UK, the USA, Australia, France and the Republic of Ireland.

Author of the Writers Bureau course, Marketing Your Book and co-author of The Writer’s ABC Checklist (Accent Press), Lorraine is leading a residential course in France.

Lorraine Mace: www.lorrainemace.com

Flash 500 Fiction and Humour Verse Competitions: www.flash500.com

Blog: http://thewritersabcchecklist.blogspot.com

Writing for Magazines Course details: http://thewritersabcchecklist.blogspot.com/2011/03/residential-writing-course.html

All About Editing - Nancy Haddock

2011-05-13T07:00:00.000+01:00

Do you love editing, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle?

I adore editing! I especially love finding cliches I've used and twisting them into phrases that are more vivid and/or fun. To search for and re-weave dropped or dangling story threads can be a bear, but it's also exciting to make a story as tight as I can in the moment.

Do you edit as you go? Or do you start only after the first draft?

I do some editing as I write, but try not to over-revise early on. I can kill my creativity if I listen to my internal editor because nothing makes her happy! :) Normally I write 5 to 10 or more pages, print them, and then edit on hard copy.

Do you have a definite method for editing? If so, would you like to share something from it?

I've never thought about having a definite method, but working from hard copy is an absolute must for me. I have to find and get into the flow of the characters and story in the first few pages, then be sure the flow carries through the first few chapters. Flow is a feeling beyond than the words themselves. Once I'm riding the wave, I edit mainly for picky stuff - typos, grammar, awkward sentences, etc. If I can quickly rework a cliche or another element, I do, but I don't let myself get bogged in daily editing.

Any tips you've learned from your experience?

I have a critique partner who is marvelous about pounding me to add emotion, so I've learned to layer in more emotion in first drafts. I've also learned to trust my process, no matter that it may sound haphazard to others. Writers know what we should look for in editing, but it make take multiple passes to sharpen each element - without over-editing! And, yes, errors do slip by us. We're human.

Anything else you would like to add - pet peeves, things that make you want to pull your hair out (editing related), joys and wonders of the process?

I'm laughing because I've caught myself reading a sentence and thinking, "What the heck was I trying to say here?" It's not that the passage sounds frou-frou "writerly." It's that the passage doesn't communicate. Ack! On the flip side, the process of layering elements like emotion and mood-setting can be magical. I love it when that happens!

Thanks for the opportunity to share with you and your readers, Dolly!

Random Birthday Post - On Kindle, E-books etc.

2011-05-06T11:15:00.000+01:00

We will take a break from guest post series just for this Friday. It's my birthday today, so I figured, I should post something. Next week, editing series will resume.

So birthday presents ....

Thanks to Mom and Dad's generous contribution, we now have 2 kindles in the house. Both Hubby and I bought one each. (Yes, we don't really share gadgets. EVER.)

And this should come across as a surprise to many of you, who have no doubt heard me rant about e-books, and how they would never be the same as paper books for me.

Having had my kindle for about 2 days now...I can say two things:

1. e-books will never replace paper books for me.

2. I love my kindle

It may seem contradictory, but it really isn't.

I still love paper books. I have no intention of reducing my purchase of them (opened 5 books this morning as a present - okay, I cheated. I chose them. But still....). There is still something about picking up a book, each with its different feel and shape. Books and their smell. And the satisfaction of owning them. Yes. I don't get that from e-books. I have books on my kindle. But in terms of emotional value of owning those books - there isn't any. If I damage any of my paper books, I get upset. I am careful with them. I wouldn't let anyone else borrow them (unless coached heavily in how to read my books, after which lecture, most people don't want it anyway :P). But books on kindle are simply...documents. It's transferred from one place to another.

So now the second part - I love my Kindle. Yes, I absolutely do. It even has a name: Caleb.

And that's important, because so far only one of my gadgets had a name, and that's my netbook, because I completely totally love it. So Kindle getting a name means it's very high in importance. For one thing, it really isn't like reading on a computer. The screen has no glare. There is no eye-strain. It is very easy to use, easy to navigate, and easy to maintain. There are few things fusspots like me and my husband wish it could do (like allowing us to organise kindle files on the computer, rather than having to do it on kindle which takes longer, but we know we are obsessive) but on the whole, it's a great device. The storage value is considerable. Even if I take paper books with me everywhere (and I will), taking Kindle as well, immediately gives me access to a much larger library. There are also a lot of free books as well as some very cheap ones. This will become like borrowing from a library, where I might try books I wouldn't necessarily buy. So I am hoping that this will encourage me to read at least some of the books, I would otherwise ignore.

We've bought the ones with 3G. While you can't expect to be able to use the Internet with the same capacity as an actual device made for it, it is handy for a quick look up of something. It works. And once I got used to it, it's easy to navigate. Even my typing speed on Kindle has already increased after a bit of practice.

And now...the very useful bit for writer. I can transfer my personal documents to kindle. So I have transferred my WIP on there that I am editing. So I can do a read through, and add some notes etc. Of course I can do this on computer, paper etc. but this just gives me yet another format to look at, and anyone who has edited a book would know that you pick up different things when you change a format. Besides, it's really cool reading my book on there, because it looks so professional :P

So yes, I am absolutely thrilled I bought Kindle, and I totally love it. But my contribution to paper books sales shall continue as per usual.

Books Read in April

2011-04-30T07:00:00.050+01:00

April's been a good month for reading. This small holiday thrown in has certainly helped.

1. Turn Coat - Jim Butcher - 01/04

Another episode in Harry Dresden's life. I enjoyed this much more than earlier novels.

2. Globejotting: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Journals - Dave Fox - 05/04

I discovered this book from one of the comments left on my journaling blog. While I didn't learn anything I wasn't already doing, it is still handy to have a list of ideas and techniques in a handy book format. So certainly enjoyed this book, and would use it as a reference.

3. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - 08/04

This was one of those classics I had always meant to read. I am so glad I finally got to it. I now understand why Oscar Wilde's quotes are always so popular. This bloke knew how to write sarcasm, while portraying reality of a whole spectrum of human behaviour. This is now one of my favourite classic.

4. Live and Let Die - Ian Fleming - 16/04Really liked this one. I read first James Bond book a while ago, and didn't enjoy it very much. This was real fun.

5. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld - Patricia A. McKillip - 19/04

I really admire it when writers manage to pull of a fantasy story that is rich in detail, a complete story, and full of characters one cares about in a single book. For a book that is not even 500 pages long, this is an accomplishment indeed. But then McKillip is not any writer. She is a master, and it shows in every word. Because there is nothing wasted in this book.

6. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - 24/04

Another book I had always meant to read. What finally pushed me was reading Isherwood Diaries, where Chris Isherwood mentions that Aldous Huxley was writing a new book he was calling Brave New World. It's an interesting book. One of those that you could spend ages thinking about. Implications of what the world and the humanity could be like. As a story alone, it is also enjoyable. I will admit, after I read it, I haven't had much time to reflect on it. But this would be something to re-read.

7. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff - 24/04

Friendship that started and was sustained because of books. Friendship between people from two countries before the Internet. People who never met. It's a touching, fantastic book.

8. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - Helene Hanff - 26/04

This is a follow up to 84 Charing Corss Road, when Helene Hanff finally gets to visit England. A country she has always dreamt of visiting.

9. Twilight's Dawn - Anne Bishop - 29/04

Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is one of my favourite stories of all time. There have been several books after that, and each time I have enjoyed discovering something more about characters I love. In this book, it's 4 short stories which essentially conclude the series. As always, wonderful, emotional, heart-warming. The kind of stories that after I read them, I need a little time to recover before going to read something else.

All About Editing - Joanne Hall

2011-04-29T07:00:00.000+01:00

Do you love editing, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle?

That depends what stage the editing process is at! I usually write first drafts by hand, then type them up, so by the time a story on novel reaches the computer, I’m already on the second draft, and editing as I go. That’s my favourite stage of writing. It’s like the first draft is a formless lump of clay, and the second draft shapes it into something that actually resembles a real plot. There’s where all the character development and description comes in, and where the weird little tangents emerge that make writing a novel so exciting.

Once that’s done, the plot is set and all that’s left is polishing, that’s when I find editing becomes a chore. It has to be done to smooth out the rough edges, but it also means mercilessly exposing and pruning all the bits that aren’t very good, or that got skipped over because they were hard to write. It’s a real dent to the confidence to discover a paragraph that you thought was good is, in the cold light of scrutiny, complete rubbish. This is also the stage where you have to “kill your darlings” – that scene that was so much fun to write suddenly adds nothing to the plot, so out it goes!

The one stage of editing I really hate is the final copy-edits before a book goes to print. They’re time consuming, take great concentration, and by that stage I’m usually on to writing another book, and I’m so sick of reading and re-reading this one that by the time the final copy-edit is done, I never want to read it again! Also, that’s the stage where the only changes you can make are small cosmetic ones, so you’re stuck with the plot you’re so bored of reading. But it’s all worth it when you finally have a well-edited book in your hands.

Do you edit as you go? Or do you start only after the first draft?

Because I do my first draft by hand, my notebooks are full of crossings out and marginalia, usually along the lines of “THIS BIT GOES EARLIER” or “RESEARCH!” (that one crops up a lot!) As long as I’ve made a note of which bits need editing as I write them, that seems to be enough and I can fix things on the second draft. The initial writing is done very fast. I find editing as I write by hand takes my attention away from what I’m writing, so I save the bulk of the editing for the second draft. After that, unless there are any glaring problems, most of the rest of the editing is just tweaking what I already have, and cutting out the waffle. I tend to over-write, so there’s always plenty of waffle to trim!

Do you have a definite method for editing? If so, would you like to share something from it?

I’m not sure I have a “definite method”. It varies from book to book, and there are as many different ways to approach writing as there are writers, so what works for me may not work for someone else. The two things I can recommend that always work for me are not to get so hung up on getting the first page/paragraph/chapter perfect that you never get beyond that point. Get it written first, then get it right. Getting it right is what drafts are for, but you can’t edit a blank page.
The second thing is not to try and edit when you’re tired, because you will miss things. Try to come to it with, if not a fresh brain, then at least a strong cup of coffee on hand!

Any tips you've learned from your experience?

Always try and persuade a second pair of eyes to look through your writing, to pick up things you might have missed. Sometimes you can get too close to what you’re writing, but a fresh reader will be able to spot where you can make changes and make suggestions for improvements.

Anything else you would like to add - pet peeves, things that make you want to pull your hair out (editing related), joys and wonders of the process?

Pet peeve – that it doesn’t matter how many times you read through a story, or how many other people read through it, there will inevitably be a glaring
typo at the bottom of page 46 that, after it’s published and too late to do anything about it, every single reader will not only notice, but take great delight in pointing out to you!

I know some writers hate editing, but I really enjoy the process of taking a shapeless, rambling story and turning it into something I can be proud of, and something I would be willing to share with other people. It’s very exciting when a story starts to take shape and fall into place. It’s even more exciting when you get your hands on the finished, polished product!

Learn more about Joanne at her website: www.hierath.co.uk

Opening of the Novel

2011-04-25T07:00:00.003+01:00

Opening of the book is one of the most important things. First and foremost, this is what going to decide if an agent accepts your book, and later if a publisher likes it. Assuming it made through those two doors, this is what is going to convince most readers to pick up your book. Of course there are people who would give books a chance more than others, but on the whole, opening is crucial.

So we, as writers, need to make sure that the opening chapter promises good things to come. Of course then with the rest of the book we need to live up to that promise.

How easy it is for you to pick what your opening scene should be? For my current WIP, I started a first draft with a particular scene. It felt like the right scene. It had action in normal setting for the character before he gets thrown into abnormal circumstances. After the draft, I deleted the scene, and started with the second scene because I felt that beginning was too slow. Then after a while, I felt beginning was too hurried, so I added the other scene back in, changed various things, tightened it. Now, I have taken that scene out again, amended the second scene slightly. I am not sure yet if I will stick with it, because I am still in the process of editing it, and also because of deleting the first scene, other things in the story will need to be amended, as whatever was said in the first scene, now needs to be said somewhere else.

One thing I am fairly certain of is that it will be either one of these two scenes, or a mixture of both that will open my book. I don't think I will be writing something completely new to go there. But some of the questions that came up as I edit this is finding the balance of introducing character without remaining stagnant. Launching into action, without making it seem too hurried. Getting readers to meet the character, and empathise with him, without making it a leisurely stroll. There are a myriad of other details that go into consideration, but most importantly, how does it feel when I read a book that begins with that particular scene. I try to look at it from a reader's point of view. That's why I can't usually decide while I am editing - because I am too close to my writer side. But once it's done, and I do a read through, then I get more perspective.

What about you? Does your first scene always remain the one you picked originally? How easy it is for you to determine what it should be? Do you ever have doubts about it?

All About Editing - Juliet E McKenna

2011-04-22T07:00:00.000+01:00

Do you love editing, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle?

To begin with, I think we need to define our terms when we’re talking about editing. There’s line editing, which is the fine detail stuff; making sure there are no confusions between ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they’re’, checking in case you’ve used the same adjective twice in successive paragraphs, making sure attribution of dialogue is clear if ‘she’ is talking to ‘her’ and all that kind of thing.
Then there’s the structural editing, which is to say, the rewrites and revisions that are essential to turn the first draft into a finished book. Some writers do this working alone while others send their rough draft out to test readers and/or their editor and then work on refining the text on the basis of that feedback. Though a writer who does those rewrites alone will still need feedback from a fresh set of eyes to tell them what needs polishing up in a final pass. I work like that and the comments I’ve just had back from Jon Oliver at Solaris, on the draft of Dangerous Waters, may have been less than a page’s worth but every word was useful and pertinent.

Love editing or hate it? I’ve found my attitudes to both these essential processes changing over the years that I’ve been writing. Initially, detailed editorial feedback was essential at an early stage, to highlight where I was going off track. I was tremendously lucky in my first editor Tim Holman at Orbit, who taught me a great deal. Since I don’t generally need telling something twice, the amount of rewriting I had to do once he’d seen the first draft, got less and less with each book. Which isn’t to say I don’t still do a lot of rewriting between first and final drafts. It’s just that I don’t need an editor to tell me where I’m going wrong; I can spot that for myself now and generally avoid heading down a dead-end or an unnecessary diversion.

I used to find that rewriting a real trial though. Necessary but such hard work after the fun of writing the first draft. Nowadays, I want to get the first draft down as quickly as possible so I can get on to the rewarding business of those rewrites, really refining and shaping my story. Similarly, I used to find the line-editing/copyedit phase rather dispiriting. It was like getting homework back from teacher covered in red pen. Nowadays I see that as my chance to put the final gloss on the story and that’s far more satisfying.

Do you edit as you go? Or do you start only after the first draft?

I start each writing day by re-reading what I wrote the day before and as I do that, I will almost always do some line-editing as I go; cutting out repetition, clarifying descriptions or information, generally tightening things up. I do my very best to resist ripping up huge chunks and starting again because I could so easily end up just going in circles. Even when I really don’t think a chapter is working, I tell myself to leave it lying and move on. The real work starts once I’ve got that first draft completed, so I can take a step back, see the big picture and then go back in to fix the issues which I now see with the benefit of that greater distance. Trying to do major structural edits as I go would be impossible; I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

Do you have a definite method for editing? If so, would you like to share something from it?

The further I get into a first draft, the stronger the temptation to break off, go back and rewrite becomes. Because when you’re on Chapter 18, you’ll realise you can add bits to Chapter 3 foreshadowing this event. Or you realise that what you need Our Hero to do now contradicts something he or she said in Chapter 12, so that needs sorting out. To avoid doing that and getting distracted from what I’m actually writing at the moment, I make notes as I go, to remind myself what I need to look for in the rewrites phase. I refer to those notes, and add to them, when I go back and re-read that first draft in one hit. Then I’ll make a list of points to address as I revise the draft and that really helps me focus, as well as often flagging up new things I hadn’t spotted.

Any tips you've learned from your experience?

I don’t expect to get it the right first time anymore. As a journalist pal tells me every time I whinge over coffee about a chapter that’s not flowing, ‘don’t get it right, get it written.’ Once you have something to work with, you can always make it better and it’s all part of the process. Following on from that, I know there’s nothing to be gained, and a lot to be lost, by getting defensive when you’re getting feedback.

I’ve also learned to be ruthless discarding chunks of prose and even whole characters in those rewrites. Earlier this year, I binned a five thousand word chapter between the first and final drafts of Dangerous Waters, because once I’d addressed some issues with the beginning arising from a change of focus towards the end, that chapter was simply no longer needed. Worse, if I’d kept it in, it would have slowed the plot and distracted the reader from the overall narrative. So it was left behind like an oxbow lake when a river in spate cuts a new course.

Anything else you would like to add - pet peeves, things that make you want to pull your hair out (editing related), joys and wonders of the process?

In a dozen books so far, I’ve only ever followed one piece of editorial advice and regretted it. My then editor felt really strongly that Irons in the Fire needed a prologue to help new readers into this world and to set up the events of The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution. I wasn’t convinced but he really was and since he was coming new to the world whereas I have it all at my fingertips, I agreed. Since then, I’ve read so many reviews liking the book but wondering what’s the point of that prologue...? Ah well, we live and learn, and I’ve no qualms telling people that if they don’t like prologues, they can just skip it.

I owe my regular copy editor Lisa more than I can possibly say. She’s worked on all my books one way or another and again, she’s taught me a tremendous amount. Her eye for detail and continuity is awesome, and she’s saved me from making a fool of myself a good few times. To give just one example, in The Swordsman’s Oath, there’s a duel and afterwards, Ryshad, the swordsman of the title, goes to strip down and wash himself clean of blood and sweat. Only there’s a fresh alarm, so he grabs a weapon and heads out. Lisa pointed out he didn’t actually put any trousers on first. Did I really want him naked for the rest of the chapter? Er, no, and I am so glad she caught that!

Narrowing Focus

2011-04-18T19:31:00.000+01:00

One thing more frustrating than setting goals is changing goals. Unfortunately, I am finding I need to do a lot of changing.

WIP 2 counter on the left has remained pretty static. Actually word count is quite a bit more than what it shows here, but all that is hand-written, so I don't know how much exactly. But I have decided for now, to put it on hold, and just focus on editing WIP 1.

There are two reasons for this. One because I am much busier now at my day job. Hardly a minute to sit still, so I am far more preoccupied it even when I am home. It also makes me more tired. So it does have an impact on writing. But also, more importantly, I really want to give this one-book-at-a-time thing a go, and see if it improves my focus and makes the end result better. Because my theory is, focusing on one book would mean I would be stewing over just that one story, one cast of characters, instead of spreading focus over several.

Of course there are no guarantees that I won't start writing again soon. I guess I'm just in a frustrated circle of figuring out what works for me. But for now, at least for a next month or two, this is the plan.

With editing, I can see improvements, though progress is slow. Because I am focusing on every sentence, every paragraph, changing and chopping things. But I can see it getting better, so it makes the effort worth it.

How about you? How are your projects coming along?

All About Editing - Mike Shevdon

2011-04-15T06:00:00.001+01:00

I approach editing with mixed emotions. It's a chance to get the exact nuance of meaning I want onto the page, to resolve unwanted conflicts, eliminate mistakes and polish what I've written so that it is worthy of publication. My early drafts are definitely not worthy - they're messy things with trailing threads and sticky blurry edges. Taking those and polishing them so that they shine is rewarding but also frustrating because it's a task you can never complete. There is always, always more that you could do, and deciding when to stop tinkering is part of the skill.

My interest in writing began as a critical reader, so I already knew that it wasn't a one-pass process. The idea that some elements wouldn't quite work or didn't evoke the atmosphere I wanted was already there, but even so I had a lot to learn. I learned by doing, highlighting the problems I perceived in other people's work before I started on my own. Finding other writer's issues and mistakes helped me to learn to identify my own. Even so my early edits were full of flaws.

So it's a love-hate relationship. I prevaricate before editing, but then when I get started I can't stop. I'll edit many thousands of words in a session to the exclusion of everything around me. If I'm lucky, sympathetic family members will bring tea at regular intervals.

As I said, for me it's a multi-pass process and I edit for different things in different passes. I edit as I write, partly to make sure I know where I'm going and what I've written makes sense in terms of what's happened and what's going to happen. For me writing can be like time travel - I can zip back and forth along the time-line, changing things that will have repercussions in the future or will bring into new significance things in the past. Even simple things like changing a character's name can have surprising consequences. You find new resonance, an alternate twist that sparks new insight.

So I write forward, then I edit back through what I've written when I reach a natural break. Stories are complex to me. Any person, any event, can influence the world and change what happens. Small things can snowball and before long I'm dumping whole chapters of work because they no longer fit. I keep the fragments (that's what I call them) because sometimes I can re-use pieces of things, but I've learned not to force that. If it happens, great. If not then I leave them.

I tried going for a full first draft, which some authors can do, but found that the impact of changes were too disheartening. Rewriting a chapter is not so bad. You have the foundations to work from and you know where you need to be so you can go ahead and write. If you have to scrap half a book, though, it brings you down to earth with a bump. There's a lot emotionally invested in the writing and there will be pieces you love that have to be binned. This is what is meant, perhaps, by killing your babies. It takes a surprising amount of courage and faith to write well.

By limiting the edit horizon I can work through the impact of changes as I go. I still trip over my own shoe-laces, but the fall isn't so far. Of course, I can still find the flaw in the plot many chapters later, but that's life. You just have to be philosophical and start again.
Once I have a draft, though, the game changes. Hopefully, by that time, I have a working plot and everything ties together. A full read-through comes next, and I'm looking for a number of things - characters out of voice, phrases that jar, the inevitable spelling and grammar mistakes, clichés and gotchas - pieces that don't quite work. In this pass I'll be deleting more than I'm adding, and that can be hard. It feels like I'm going backwards, but at this point less is more. It's a quick process and I can edit five thousand words at a time, so it's a few weeks work at most.

Speaking of backwards, I've also gone through chapters backwards looking for mistakes, which are easier to spot if you're not following the narrative, but that's a painful way and with practice you get better at not making mistakes in the first place. I also do automated checks - I do a word search for certain words - 'form' for instance, which I seem destined to type when I want the word 'from'. I do a consistency check for capitalisation of certain words and spelling of names and places, plus usage and style consistency checks.

Then I leave it alone for a bit and work on something else. It's very easy to get word-blind when editing - and your own mistakes are the hardest to see. An external viewpoint is good, but I'm not quite ready for beta readers at this point. It isn't polished enough and there's no point wasting a reader's time on things you can do for yourself. I step away and get some perspective.

When I get back to it I do another full read-through, this time out loud. Reading out loud is a skill in itself and one that's practiced much less in school these days, which is a shame. It engages different parts of the brain and allows you to discover things that are otherwise invisible to you. Also, if you can't read it, there's a fair chance no-one else can either. It engages rhythm, tone and timbre which are missing in a silent read-through. I'm looking for an immersive reading experience, so anything which throws the reader out of the story is challenged.

At this stage I'm still finding mistakes and non-sequiturs but I simply note them to be dealt with later and keep reading - I'm looking at the big picture, not the detail, and I'm watching myself for the emotional response, breathing and reaction. This is hard because I get drawn into the story, but then I lose perspective and have to do it again - this is good and bad. If I get drawn in then there's a good chance the reader will too, but if I lose myself then I'm not editing, I'm reading.

Once these changes have been rolled in, I ask myself if I'm happy with what I have. If not I'll go look for the thing I'm not happy with, which can be a nuance of character interpretation or a complete change of a plot-thread. I can still be making quite large changes, even at this stage, but I have to remember that once it's published I can't change anything, so it's worth getting it right. If I change anything then I need to read through again. By this time I have all the versions of all the plot threads that have been included or deleted in my head. I'm no longer seeing things and the edit process is starting to break down.

This is when I send out to beta readers. For me it's a finished work and I can't make it any better. I am expecting that they will enjoy the read, but at the same time I want them to critique. Anything that throws them out of the story, any factual error, any personal knowledge or insight - I want all of it, so it's not like reading a book for pleasure, and my beta readers know that. Their reward? Well, you 'd have to ask them that. I regard it as a personal favour to me and hopefully they get something out of it.

When the reading copies come back in I go through each one separately. I note every comment, but I don't always change things. Sometimes I place it on the concerns list - which I keep for things that aren't wrong, but might be clearer or may simply be addressed in a later comment. "I didn't understand this" can be followed four pages later by "Oh, NOW is see where you're going," which can be fine. Hanging questions can't be left hanging, though, and some quite big issues can come out at this stage hat you just didn;t see before.

Beta readers can take anything from three weeks to three months to come back. Each copy has to be worked through and then they all have to be taken as a whole. I've never scrapped a book at that point, but I suppose it is possible to have to go back to the beginning. The earlier work should mean that can't happen, but there are loads of things in the world that can't happen and then unaccountably do.

Depending how confident I feel, I may phase beta readers into two passes, one to get the early comments and ask specific questions and then a general read to get the full picture. On The Road to Bedlam I also had readers who had not read book one, so that I could check that the book worked for readers who picked up the second book first. That's a new challenge.

I do a last consistency grammar and spell-check and then it's submitted to the publisher who may request their own revisions, but assuming it's all okay (and mostly it is) it goes to copy edit, final changes and print. That can take three months on its own.

If you're thinking this takes a lot of time then you're right. It takes me more than a year to write a book. We haven't even touched on plotting, characterisation, research or any of the other aspects of writing a book, but that all has to happen too, so if you're wondering why the next book isn't on the shelves yet then you have some explanation right there. For me, though, it's part of the creative process to challenge your own work and have other people challenge it too. It means that when a book does hit the shelves I know it's the best book I could write at that moment.

Each time I go through this I learn more and develop as a writer - each time I get better. Hopefully the books get better too. If you ask me whether this is the process I'll be using in ten year's time, then the answer is that I don't know - ask me in ten years. I do know that it helps me get what I want on the page so that when my readers pick up my books they know they'll have a reading experience to remember and want more when they're finished. It's that experience that is my ultimate goal and the prize I try and keep in mind when I'm knee deep in edits and changes.

==========================

BIO

Mike Shevdon lives in Bedfordshire, England with his wife and son, where he combines his various interests of writing, cookery and technology with the study of martial arts, particularly archery.

His blend of real history and folklore was launched on an unsuspecting world with his debut novel, Sixty-One Nails, published by Angry Robot Books. It interleaves forgotten legends and faerie tales with real history and ancient rituals that are still performed at the core of the realm to this day.

A refreshingly different take on Urban Fantasy, The Courts of the Feyre is a series exploring humanity's relationship with the creatures that inspired the oldest of stories, weaving a modern faerie-tale into the fabric of reality. The sequel, The Road to Bedlam, was published in Autumn 2010, revealing more of the relationship between the everyday world and the secret world of magic and darkness beneath. Book three is in progress, with book four planned to complete the series

Mike's books are available in good bookshops around the world as well as online and as eBooks. You can visit Mike's website athttp://shevdon.com where he shares tips and insights into writing, thoughts on life, and articles about interesting bits of history and folklore. You can also find Mike on Facebook and on Twitter as @shevdon.

All About Editing - Jamie Debree

2011-04-08T07:00:00.000+01:00

Do you love editing, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle?

It kind of depends on what day you catch me. For the most part, I don’t mind line-edits, but I’m not fond of revisions. It’s too much like real work. ;-) When I’m close to finishing edits on a novel-length work, I hate them with a passion, because I’m completely sick of the whole project by then and just want it to be over so I can move on.

Do you edit as you go? Or do you start only after the first draft?

As far as storyline and plot points go, I try to edit as I go. I try to make the first draft as free of plot holes and things that might need major revisions as possible. I’ve even gone so far as to move the plot in a different direction if it’s heading for something that will require major revisions to earlier scenes. As for line editing, I have to be able to read it without cringing too badly so I do pay attention to basic spelling and grammar, but I’ll leave that at “good enough” until the draft is done and I can get some space from it, and have other eyes helping me spot problems.

Do you have a definite method for editing? If so, would you like to share something from it?

After I finish a draft, I send it out to beta readers and ask for revision notes. While I’m waiting for those to come back, I have the story on my kindle and do a read-through, making my own revision notes. Betas are welcome to send line edits too, but I’m really after big-picture stuff at that point...does the story work, did I leave any gaping holes, are the characters in need of “whatever”. Once I get those back, I go through and revise all the big picture stuff, fixing whatever line-edit level items I come across as well. Then I send it to my editor, and she marks all the nit-picky grammar/typo/technical stuff (and deletes a ton of commas), as well as any final problems with continuity or plot she sees. Then I go through again and finish the edits from that. I do a final proofread as I’m formatting the books for publication, and I send out reader copies to friends for proofreading as well.

Any tips you've learned from your experience?

It’s pretty much pointless to line-edit before revisions, in my opinion. It’s inefficient to work on prose at the sentence level if those sentences could be cut in the revision process.

I absolutely cannot edit my own work to a polished form - I need other eyes on it to catch everything I simply don’t see. There are people out there who claim to self-edit, but I wouldn’t, personally.

No matter how much you revise and edit, there will always be a mistake or two that makes it into the finished book. It doesn’t matter how you publish either - odds are very good something will be overlooked. That’s just how it is.

Anything else you would like to add - pet peeves, things that make you want to pull your hair out (editing related), joys and wonders of the process?

My biggest pet peeve is that my comma splices aren’t considered proper grammar. LOL I love the sentence structure involving comma splice (ie... “She raised her glass, then looked at him over the rim.”), and hate that I either have to take the comma out, or add an “and” to make it correct. And I rant about it every chance I get - because dang it, I want to use that structure! But I change it anyway, because the prose needs to be transparent to the reader if possible, and most readers get hung up on the lack of “and”. I do try to draft without them now, but they still slip in...a habit that is extremely hard for me to break.

My greatest joy is when I’m line editing, and I actually hit on the *perfect* wording and structure for the emotion I want to convey at that point. Most sentences are just...well...sentences, but every once in awhile there’s just that perfect turn of phrase that I can’t believe I wrote. I love that. :-)

Thanks so much for inviting me to participate, Dolly - this was fun!

A full-time webmistress by day, Jamie DeBree writes steamy, action-packed romantic suspense late into the night. She resides in Billings, MT with her husband and two over-sized lap dogs. Her latest book is Desert Heat, available at http://brazensnakebooks.com , Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For more information and to connect with her via social media or email, please visit http://jamiedebree.com.

Let's Test Our Reading Habits

2011-04-06T11:24:00.000+01:00

Today's post is about our favourite activity: Reading. I do hope it is your favourite, since most people who follow this blog are either writers or readers. It's a little game.

What are you reading at the moment? If you are like me, and reading half-a-dozen books at the same time, just pick one that you are reading now, today etc.

Share the first sentence...no title. Let's see if we recognize these books (and no googling...that would be cheating). This is an experiment to test the how widely read we are as a group ;) And more importantly, do we remember the first lines of the books we have read? Let's find out.

Here is the first line of the book I am reading:

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.