Author: Sara

NaNoWriMo 2014: About My Novel and Where I Write!

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Welcome to NaNoWriMo 2014!

I’m so happy its finally this month. While I’m a writer 365 days a year, I like NaNo because it gives me the motivation to stop procrastinating on Tumblr or Netflix and sit down and write my novel. It gets my butt in gear basically.

So I’m really happy its here and I’m really excited to be participating today.

For those of you that don’t know much about NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month), you can refer to my kickoff post for the month here :) I’ll be talking about my novel, my progress, writing in general and more all month long and I have a special post coming November 8th filled with writing advice from some seriously amazing YA authors.

So let’s jump in then, shall we?

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NaNoWriMo 2014 is Here!

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Hello everyone!

It is that time again, pilule time for NaNoWriMo!

Now, nurse for those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Its held every November, where a ton of aspiring authors (and published authors too!) challenge themselves to write a 50,000 word novel in just one month.

I discovered this for the first time last year. I know, I’m behind in the times. However…there are things I like about this and things that I don’t. I don’t believe in writing an entire novel in one month…its just not my thing. I also think 50K words for a novel, either YA or adult, is just not enough. But I love that it brings all these writers together, motivating and inspiring each other. I love that everyone holds each other accountable.

So last year, I created my own sort of challenge. I challenged myself to write 45K of a novel that I had already started, The Reawakened. It was already at about 20K when I started NaNo, so I had a solid backing for that. I wanted to focus on writing, yes, but developing the story, the characters, focusing on becoming a better writer that month, not just spitting out all those words. Fast forward a year later and that novel became The Awakened, the first in a duology, the novel that I’ve been editing for about six months and been querying for a couple months as well. You guys may know it well because I talk about it so much.

Now its my sophomore year of NaNoWriMo. I was hesitant to participate because I’ve been slumpy in my reading habits and I’m been unable to write but I’ve been motivated. I need to get over this overemotional, miserableness that has been me the past couple months. So I’m ready for this, and what better to snap me back into the life of writing than NaNoWriMo.

So I invite you guys on my journey!

It is going to be great. There will be a few posts a week and you guys can watch my journey as I tackle my new novel.

Now, my novel for NaNoWriMo is untitled…which will have a fun part in the posts on the blog. I was going to work on the sequel to The Awakened but I decided my focus for that world is editing and querying. Instead I decided to jump into my untitled young adult/new adult contemporary romance baseball novel. Its going to be great, and I’ve only written…500 words for it.

So here are my goals!

1. Write 40K words of this untitled novel. 50 would be great but 40 is my goal :) I will consider myself a winner if I write 40

2. Come up with a title. No, really. And you guys can help ;)

3. Develop, develop, develop. Develop my characters, my story, my fictional setting, etc.

Don’t forget you can join in on the fun, and check out the official website here.

Here is the plan on the blog, where you can follow my NaNoWriMo journey!

November 1st: About My Novel and Where I Write!

November 4th: Meeting the Main Characters of my Novel: Evie, Lucy, Jesse, Alex, and Connor

November 6th: Let’s Talk About Setting: Macon, California

November 8th: Actual Writing Advice from Actual Authors

November 11th: Character Interviews

November 13th: Treating Writing Like a Job

November 15th: Its the Halfway Point! Update, Struggles/Successes!

November 18th: The Inspiration Behind The Untitled Novel

November 20th: Character Playlists

November 22nd: Free Write: Lucy and Evie Celebrate Thanksgiving

November 27th: Meeting my Characters in Artwork

November 29th: My Sophomore Experience with NaNoWriMo

November 30th: Excerpt from my Novel…So Far

*       *       *       *       *       *

Happy Writing!

Vlog: What A Nerd Girl Says: An Update

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Hello everyone.

Today, erectile I have a vlog for you. I have prided myself in the fact that I don’t hold back. I am a blogger of books and writing and all things nerd girl but I’ve never held back on the person that I am. I”m open and honest because I think of each and every single one of you as my friends and I know that some of you have noticed that this blog has been a lot…slower than it used to be.

I wanted to write an entire thing but I realized I’d ramble so I did a vlog. Where I basically proceeded to ramble. But I wanted to fill you in, drug and I felt like a vlog was more personal.

So here it is: an update on my life, information pills my well being, the blog, and everything. Its not…too long so please watch and I hope you all stick around. :)

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Blog Tour and Guest Post: Erin Rhew “Things I Didn’t Know About Being a Writer” and The Outlanders Promo! + Giveaway

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I honestly didn’t think I was capable of coming up with a longer title than that, but I proved myself wrong. Whoa! I’m impressed with myself.

Now, I’m here to share some info about an author named Erin Rhew and her books, The Prophecy and The Outlanders, mostly about the second one in that sentence. The Prophecy is Erin Rhew’s first book of her Fulfillment series, and recently went through a cover change and a republishing and you can learn all about that here. Definitely check that out and then head back to learn more about Erin and the SECOND book, The Outlanders.

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Looking for Nerd Ink!

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If you’ve been following me for awhile, mind you know that I love nerd tattoos. I have a ton of them, medicine and I love discovering new ones and sharing them in the world.

I’ve done three posts about nerd ink before, cost where I showcase all different people’s nerd tattoos and I’m ready to show case yours!

Check out the three posts below to see the ones I’ve profiled in the past: 

Nerd Ink

Nerd Ink, Part Two

Let’s Talk About…Nerd Ink

Here is what I need from you: 

1. Your Name and Where You’re From

2. A Picture of Your Tattoo

3. What the Tattoo Is and What Fandom/Geekdom its from

4. When You Got It

5. Why You Chose It.

Please take the time to do this part. It just needs to be a small paragraph (or a large one, if you prefer) but please don’t send: “It was cool”, “I liked it”, “just because”…and that sort of thing. The point of this is to profile nerd tattoos and why we get them, and to sort of show people that we put a lot of thought into this :)

Where to Send It

Please send all of these to my blog email: whatanerdgirlsays at gmail dot com with “Nerd Ink Post” in the subject line! Thank you!

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Thanks guys! Hope to see your nerd tattoos soon!

Book Review: Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

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18309803Genre: 

Young Adult, thumb  Fantasy, and Paranormal

Pages: 

400

Part of a Series?:

The finale novel in the Lynburn Legacy

Release Date: 

September 23rd, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

Author Website

GoodReads Summary: 

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.

My Review:

While this review will have no spoilers for Unmade, there will be spoilers for Unspoken and Untold. Click on the titles to read spoiler free reviews of those novels. 

I have been anxiously awaiting this release for over a year now, since the release of Untold last year. I absolutely adore this series and love Sarah and the characters in these books and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book.

I was so glad when I finally did.

Sarah Rees Brennan managed to do what I think a lot of people struggle to do with finale books: she created a fantastic ending that was both happy and sad at the same time, bittersweet. She wrapped up the story, had such a great ending but managed to create loss, to break my heart. The people that we lost in the book, I felt so much, especially since I was reading this late at night and I was already fairly emotional. She makes the sacrifices necessary. She kills off a particular character (minor spoiler but really did you expect people NOT to die?) and I just lost it. I couldn’t believe that she did it. I can see why, and it was a great point in the story but it killed me. She was able to make these sacrifices that seemed so genuine to the story and yet still just broke your heart in pieces.

What I’ve always loved about Sarah is her characters. All of her characters are unique and real, and beautiful. Kami, Jared, Ash, Ten, Tomo, Jon, Lillian, Holly, Angela, Rusty, they’re all fantastic and you fall madly in love with each and every one of them because they feel so real. What I love about this book is that each one of their stories continues. Obviously we are focused mainly on Kami, Jared and the Lynburns but everyone has an important story line. You don’t forget who anyone is and I think that’s beautiful, to care about each and every single character and where they end up.

What makes me happy about this book is that it takes everything from books one and two and comes together in a beautiful and unique ending. Sarah stands out in this crowd of paranormal YA, because her stories are unique, her characters fresh, and her dialogue engaging and hilarious. I want to turn the next page without realizing that I’ve gone through 100 pages in less than an hour…She’s an addicting author to read and I am so sad that this series is over and I honestly can’t wait until I see a new book by her on the shelves.

Rating: 

5 out of 5 stars