My Summer To-Be-Read List and a Very Important Event

*slides into figurative room* Heyyy, everybody. *awkward laugh* Uh, how've things been?

Yeah, I know. I've been pretty bad about posting lately (lately being since I created this blog. *shakes head*). But, I have books! And Super Important News about a Very Important Event that is happening in 9 days!!!! And since I know you guys are eagerly awaiting such awesome news, I'll cut the introduction/apology bit of this post and get to it. :3

The Selection Trilogy, Kiera Cass 

Via

Blurb (from GoodReads):

"For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. 

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.  

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined."

First of all, let's talk covers. "Don't judge a book by its cover"? Hahaha, forget about that. Judge these covers, because they are beautiful.
Anyways...
I read The Selection last fall, and remember being very interested in the story. At the time, I was technically supposed to be reading LOTR (a looooong story for another time), so I didn't read the second one. This summer, I intend to read the entire trilogy and fangirl for the rest of time.

The Blood Of Kings Trilogy, Jill Williamson

Via

Confession time: I already read these. *insert loud gasps*  To be fair, I read them at the beginning of summer, so they still qualify as 'Summer TBR list" material. :P
Since I've read them, though, I can guarantee that they are wonderful. I absolutely loved the dual POVs of Vrell and Achan, the plot twists, the story world...everything. I highly recommend these. :)

Blurb (from GoodReads):

"Given the chance to train as a squire, kitchen servant Achan Cham hopes to pull himself out of his pitiful life and become a Kingsguard Knight. When Achan's owner learns of his training, he forces Achan to spar with the Crown Prince--more of a death sentence than an honor. Meanwhile, strange voices in Achan's head cause him to fear he's going mad. While escorting the prince to a council presentation, their convoy is attacked. Achan is wounded and arrested, but escapes from prison--only to discover a secret about himself he never believed possible."

The Gallagher Girls,  Ally Carter

Via

Blurb (from GoodReads):

"Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?"

Last summer, I read the Heist Society (great series, by the way) by Ally Carter. Art thieves, foreign settings, and a spunky teen protaginist? Definitely my kind of story. I loved reading about Kat and the "family business" and the trouble that often ensues because of it.
Along the same lines, the Gallagher Girls series focuses on Cammie Morgan, a spy-in-training at the Gallagher Academy. I can't wait to get started on these!!!

I'm sure that after I read all of these, I'll have to find some other reading material, but for now, this is all I've got. :) I hope to review these after I've read them.

*dramatic music* And now...it's time.....for....the Big News.
About a Big Event, known as....

Via

What is Summer Workshop?
It's a week-long teen writer's workshop. It's critique groups and fangirling/boying. and writing sessions from published authors, literary agents, and publishers.
It's my first time going, and I am beyond excited.
And it's 9 days away.
*screams*
You can find out more about Summer Workshop here. I'm sure that after I get back, there will be a rambling post about SW, and a lot of pictures, and a lot of crying gifs.

So, until Summer Workshop withdrawals kick in,

2 Chapters In

About 3 weeks ago, I finished chapter 2 of my book.
But wait, isn't this post called 2 chapters in? Is this late or something?
Not exactly.
See, I finished 2 chapters of a book that wasn't too terribly deep. Oh, it had meaning and symbolism and all that jazz, but honestly, I didn't even care about my characters.
I had let my mom read what I had so far, and the next morning at breakfast, I tentatively asked her about it. It went a little something like this:
Me: *munching on waffles* So, uh, did you finish reading it last night?
Mom: I did.
Me: Oh. Did you...like it?
Mom:Yes. But I didn't care about her brother being kidnapped. And her reaction was stilted.
Me: *melts into a puddle of tears and waffles*

Okay, maybe not exactly like that. But the point still stands; I didn't care about my characters, not really, and apparently, neither did my reader.
(Gee, how'd ya figure that one out, genius?)
So, 2 chapters in, what have I learned?
I need to care.
I need to have meaning.
And most of all, I need to write from my heart rather than my mind.

 If Writing Doesn't Hurt You, You're Doing It Wrong.

I'd heard a lot of quotes along those lines, and I'd sit back and think, Oh, it hurt outlining. It hurts my brain to write. It hurts my hands to type that much, etc, etc. Hahaha. No.

Writing is something incredible--there are people who, one day, have an idea and instead of forgetting about it or saying, Oh, that's neat, they sit down, and plot and develop and write and intake an unhealthy amount of caffeine, and they create something beautiful. Out of their own minds, out of their hearts. It's a tiny part of their soul that they're pushing out tentatively into the world to be devoured by critics and fans alike. 

Source

And somehow, even though I knew this, I still thought I could scrape by with only being partially-invested in said beautiful thing. It's a wonder I've gotten as far in writing and, I dunno, being a person as I have, if I've been thinking those things. 

In my story, my main character's (Emmaus) younger brother is taken by Dark Servants as a hostage-type situation. Think blackmail.

And yet, there were no scenes with Charley (the younger brother) before he was kidnapped, really, not even a mention of him. Somehow, I expected that the fact that 'Omg he's my little brother I luv him soooo much' would be enough to create emotion in the reader when he was taken.

Again, how have I gotten this far?

So I copied and pasted the entire of my chapter 2 and what I had written on chapter 3 into a blank document (labeled as "Chapters 2 and 3 (discarded-ish)"), and revamped my first 3 chapters. 

It frustrated me. I had worked so hard, I had spent so long typing away and putting those words down, and now they were gone. It wasn't that I was angry at my mom for pointing out that my story was flawed. No, it was the fact that I knew what she was talking about, and I had known for quite a while, and now, I had to deal with it. 

It's not been fun, I can tell you that. It's hard. Most days, when I start writing, I delete roughly the last 100 words of what I had written yesterday, and rewrite it.  But I know my story will be so much better for it, so it's okay. I'll fight through it.

Later,

Emma.

A Post about Emmaus St. Johns

This is Emmaus.

She's not a real person, first of all. No, she's only real to me, and to future readers of my novel. And she's been begging for some attention lately, so without further ado, and interview with Emmaus.

Who are you?

You already told them that, you dork.

That wasn't nice. 

Don't care.

What's the most important thing in your life?

My brother, which YOU already knew because you THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE HIM KIDNAPPED BY DARK SERVANTS. 

Why?

He's all I have left, besides my mom. And she's...she's not the same as she used to be. Not since my dad died. 

Best friend? 

Tarynne, obviously. But next to her, Elijah. We've been in school together since we both started, and I remember him, his sister, and I would play in the alley between our apartment buildings. We'd pretend we were fighting bad guys and save the day.

Who do you hate the most?

You.

Hahaha. Very funny. Seriously, though?

*sigh* The Dark One. He's torn my life apart, and he's done the same to countless others.

Why do you care so much about defeating him?

Besides what I said above? He's...he's evil. He crafted a war that destroyed half of our world and has killed hundreds of people all for the sake of protecting himself and his power. He has the world in the palm of his hand and no one knows it. Nobody knows they're being lied to and tortured. I have to stop him.

Why You Need To Be Reading Jennifer E. Smith

I'm back from the dead with good news, guys.
Jennifer E. Smith has a new book coming out soon.
This is big news.
Why?
About a year ago, I came across a book on Goodreads called "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight". Long story short, it's a story about a girl named Hadley who meets a boy named Oliver in an airport and they fall in love on a flight from New York to London.
It's one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it.
I read all of her other books (The Comeback Season, You Are Here, This is what Happy Looks Like) last summer and into the fall, and I have been patiently waiting for another.
The next one is called The Geography of You and Me (link to the Goodreads listing), and I am so excited for it I'm starting to bounce off the walls.
So why am I so excited about her new book?

• She takes stories that would normally be cliched (Really? They fall in love in one day? Pssshhh. I'm not buying it...) and makes them so unexpected and beautiful that you're left smiling and wanting more. Some of her books are very bittersweet, and some are...well, some are fluff. But it's good fluff. The best fluff to ever fluff.
• Her characters are amazing. Ryan in The Comeback Season is a great example of this. From page one you feel like you actually know Ryan, and Nick, and all the other characters. They're so incredibly real. 
  
• They're short, sweet, and to the point. Have you ever been reading a book (YA or not) where the author just drags on and on and on about this and that and you find yourself wanting to skip pages until something happens other than description? I have. Very, very rarely is there anything like that in her books, and when it is there...you don't really mind.
  
• They're all filled with gorgeous writing, like the quote above. Small tidbits about the world and life, read through the eyes of 16-17 year olds, surrounded by comedy and romance and happiness.

So, have I convinced you? If I have, what are you waiting for? Go find a Barnes and Noble or your library or a Books a Million and buy them all! 

or not

I mean, you don't have to.

But I think it would be a lovely decision for everyone involved.

~Emma

Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Story time before the actual review! Yay! :}

So I went and saw a double feature of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire last Thursday, and at the end, when my friends and I were just standing around waiting for the lights to come on, I heard the beginning notes of Atlas by Coldplay, which is on the Catching Fire soundtrack. And I fangirled and danced a bit and sang quietly to myself right there in the middle of the almost empty theater.

This was so me.

So I was all "OMG I MUST BUY THIS SOUNDTRACK AND LISTEN TO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL I HATE IT". Well, not really...but that was the general idea.

I finally got around to looking up the actual soundtrack on Youtube and this is the best album ever to be released in the history of everything.

In my opinion. *cough* Anywaaaaaaays...

ISN'T THIS THE BEST THING EVER?

So. The soundtrack. I'm gonna talk about it. Yeah.

I am definitely buying this, so I guess that says something in itself. 

Even songs by people I generally don't listen to (read: Mikky Ekko and Christina Aguilera) were songs I loved.  There were a lot of bands I hadn't heard of that I fell in love with, so that's good. Or bad, considering the amount of money I spend on music already...

And this is my final opinion on this soundtrack:

Precious....yessss this is my precious yess...we will buys the precious, yesss we willl....

Until next post!

--Emma

Randomness: The Importance of Lovely Backgrounds

I changed my blog a bit, got a new background, and such.

I love backgrounds.
I don't know why.
This is my desktop:

This is my  lockscreen:

What about you? Background nut like me? Or just whatever came with the computer?

-Emma

It's the Circle of Inspiration (aka never ending plot holes...)

    Disclaimer: This post is full of fandom gifs. Proceed with caution.

So. Inspiration, aka that feeling where you go from this:

 To this:

I don't know about you guys, but I generally leap up from wherever I am and find my laptop and starting writing. And I'm very excited, so I start picturing what this beautiful thing I'm creating is gonna be like when it's famous and I'm super rich and everyone knows my name. And I have a couple of movies out depicting my life story.

I've been working on this for a little while when I reach a plot whole and I don't know what to do. At all. So I sit at my computer and look like this: 

And this:

Also this:

But then I have this really good idea for a scene that's like 10 chapters later, so I leave the plot hole for now and start writing the Scene. 

My face

                                      

I look at the clock and crap it's 3 am already so I close down my laptop and go to sleep looking like this:

Flash forward and it's the next morning. I get up, get dressed (possibly), eat breakfast, and pull out the laptop to work on the next Great American Novel and I'm stoked for this, 'cause it's a great idea. Really.

I stare at the screen for a few minutes, hoping that inspiration will come. It doesn't. I look like this:

And as much as I may want it to, I just can't write anything. I don't even understand what I wrote! So I close out the document and leave it to collect virtual dust in the farthest corners of my computer. And then a while later I'm looking for something on my computer and see that story, and I open it up because it was actually a pretty cool idea (either that or I completely forgot about it and just wanna know what this weird document is).  And this is my face:

And then the cycle begins all over again...

I actually haven't done that with what I'm working on right now (yet o.O)...but other attempts at writing? I have 1000+ Word documents on my old computer to prove it to you. So, what about you guys? Tell me in the comments!

Later nerds. :)