Life Update and 2016 Reading Challenges!

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blogger, Copper Gauntlet, Magnus Chase, personal, reading challenges, Six of Crows, Star Wars, winter by Marissa Meyer

I’m back! I missed everyone! I wasn’t able to take my computer with me this year and I got sick.

Look how much my sister’s dog Sebastian has grown!

He’s so sweet! Whenever I coughed he’d come and cuddle me!

I hope y’all (I was in the South) had a Merry Christmas! Mine was wonderful! I got a new Kindle and three books! I also saw the new Star Wars movie, which was amazing!

I finally started a bookstagram account and I’m loving it!

#bookandcurrency tag! I collect foreign coins, so I matched the country the book is set in to the currency! Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Czech Republic) Die For Me (France) Harry Potter (UK) Stormdancer (Japan)

A post shared by Molly Mortensen (@wovenmagicbooks) on Nov 27, 2015 at 3:15pm PST

 

Last year I failed at my Goodreads Challenge and only read 68 out of 100 books. So naturally I set it for 100 again! (Third times the charm?) I’ve also decided to join a couple of challenges.

I made my own Challenge too! I borrowed (stole) some random ones from various challenges that I liked! I NEED to read more books I already own!

Did you make any resolutions/ challenges? How was your Christmas? Get any good books? Have you seen the new Star Wars movie? 

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Happy New Year! and 2014 in books

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book haul, mini schnauzer, personal crap, pie charts, puppy, vacation

I’m back~! Technically I got back Thursday, at one am… I missed you guys!! *Hugs computer*

I originally planned to post and comment from SC, but there just wasn’t time. (I blame my sister who can never sit still)

How were your holidays? Mine were nice. We had beautiful weather and could take puppy for walks to the beach! It was so weird (in a good way) to have a warm Christmas.

My Christmas haul:

I also might have placed my first order from Book Outlet. 16 books for $40 including shipping, how could I resist?

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2014 IN BOOKS (and pie charts)

Okay I know it’s silly, but I wanted to see how many books of each and stuff that I read last year, so I made pie charts. (I realize this post screams that I’ve had too much time on my hands.)

 Blog Posts

Stars

Where I got My Books

I’d never heard of an arc before let alone read one, but this year I discovered Netgalley. 🙂

Kinds of Books I read

Of my 36 Science Fiction reads 23 were dystopians. I also read 4 fairy tale retellings & 3 short stories (which I might have counted towards my 100) and 2 short story collections.

Books read by Publish Date

Sabriel was the only book I read published before 2004.

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How were your Holidays? Get any good books? Where did you get most of the books you read last year?

What Kind of Books Do I Like to Read?

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author, book, book weaknesses, books, books I can't resist, characters, dystopian, fantasy, favorite kinds of books, fiction, novel, read, reader, science fiction, scifi, writer, YA, young adult

I finally got my ratings and review policy page made! I wanted one for seven months, but I’m a great procrastinator. This got me thinking about what books I do and don’t like and which books I have a weakness for.

If you like this post and want to copy me please do. Post your link below and I’ll link back to you. Then we can all discover new blogs. 🙂

I usually only read books that are fantasy or science fiction. (I’m trying to expand my reading, but it hasn’t worked.) But I like almost all kinds of scifi and fantasy. I used to like scifi more, but now I love fantasy the best.

Some books just have scifi and fantasy in them. If it’s more important to the main character to get with a guy than save the world I consider the book a romance.

Mystery is a great addition to scifi and fantasy though. (like the Dresden Files)

I love books with:

Magic and super powers!

Humor, witty and sarcastic characters. (I like non humorous books too, but humor is always a plus.)

I don’t like books which have: (aka I have a lot of pet peeves)

Lots of sex scenes. I’ll read a good book even if it has sex scenes in it, (Game of Thrones, True Blood.) I can just skip over them, but books described as steamy are not for me.

Books that have heartwarming, or inspiring in their descriptions, I like to be entertained not moved. Same with books that are all downer, the kind where I know I’m going to cry. I like books that make me happy.

I don’t read books with rape scenes! I will NOT read them. I also like to know ahead of time if there is an attempted rape. How far it got and what happens afterwards also matters.

Whiny, weak, annoying heroines, I’d sooner read about a perfect character than a damsel in distress.

Books where the characters fight with one another throughout the entire book. I don’t mind banter, but fighting gets old fast.

Books that preach at me. Sometimes it’s ignorable, (Sword of Truth) but usually it’s just annoying.

I can’t resist a book where the main character is secretly a monster, an alien, a robot, a fairy, or something. I love the whole secret identity thing and when it’s revealed to their friends who/what they really are. Bonus points if they’re one of the few good ones and most of their kind are evil. It’s my weakness, I know. I don’t care how silly the book is either as long as there’s a good revelation I love it!

What about you? What kind of books can’t you resist?

My Father’s Favorite Books

I’m sorry I haven’t been online much. On August 26th my father passed away. I’d like to celebrate his life and since this is a book blog I’m featuring his favorite books today.

Harry Potter

Dad’s favorite books are by far Harry Potter. He had them all on audio CD and we’d listen to them every car ride. I have the movies memorized because we own them all and every time they’d come on TV we’d watch them and talk about how they changed them from the books.

Harry’s always lived a normal if sad life with his aunt and uncle, until one day he gets a letter addressed to him. His uncle tries to run from the letters but then a giant of a man shows up and tells Harry that he’s a wizard and he’s going to a magical school called Hogwarts.

 

The Hobbit

Dad’s favorite book when I was a little kid was the Hobbit and he liked the new movies too. He’d always talk about the dragon scene.

Hobbits live in nice little holes in the ground and live uneventful lives tending their gardens and eating good food. Bilbo was the same until a wizard visits and marks his door. Next thing Bilbo knows a dozen dwarves arrive at his house thinking he’s a burglar that they need to join them on an adventure. Surprising everyone including himself, Bilbo joins them on their quest to reclaim their mines from a fire breathing dragon.

 

 

Travels with Charley

He’d always talk about Steinbeck and what a fantastic writer he was. He loved the way Steinbeck described the characters, so you could picture them exactly. How many people use the phrase he was a Lenny? His favorite book of Steinbeck’s was Travels with Charley. Steinbeck was afraid he was losing touch with the common man so he bought a trailer and traveled the country with his poodle Charley. Dad always loved talking with people and learning their stories and that’s what Steinbeck did in this book.

 

 

 

How have you all been? What books do your parents read?

If I did this post for my mom or my sister it would take me days to feature all their favorite books, but my dad had a few favorites that he would read again and again. (Or listen to.)

My wonderful vacation and my horrible week back

I haven’t done a personal update in a while, because not much has happened in my life and I’d hate to be thought of as boring. Can I have boring back? The last couple of weeks certainly haven’t been boring. I’d like boring back.

Last week was wonderful. I went to visit my sister in South Carolina. We spent a couple of days at the pool and I actually managed not to get burnt. We found shark’s teeth and went out to eat at these amazing restaurants. We took my sister and her roommate out to eat and bonded making fun of sis. (I don’t mean we were being mean to her. My family jokes around, all in good fun. Everyone was cracking up.)

I got to see a movie in the theater for the first time in a while. We were down to the planet of the apes or Lucy and picked Lucy. It was good for the first half, but then it got really weird. It was still fun though.

It was 99 degrees the day before we left. It’s so humid down there. The humidity made my hair grow so much it got checked by airport security. You know you’re having a big hair day when…

Unfortunately this week has been busy in a terrible way. My father wound up in the hospital. His health’s never been good, but it’s worse now. Heart failure and kidney failure, they’re putting him on dialysis.

With all this going on I’ve just wanted something brainless to read while we’re waiting, so I picked up the other Skulduggery Pleasant books. I’m writing up another set of mini reviews for that and I read Sabriel on vacation, but I don’t know when I’ll get it posted. It might be a few days before I get my reviews up and I wanted to explain why. Thanks for listening.

What makes me download a book and what makes me turn away?

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book, books, cover, description, ebook, editing, fiction, free, genre, kindle, literature, novel, read, reader, reviews, stories, story, write, writer, writing

With so many titles out there, I have to be selective about what I download. (and resist the temptation of so many free books) These are the criteria that I use when browsing on Amazon.

Cover & Genre– I have to admit that when I’m in a bookstore the first thing to catch my attention is the shiny cover. When it comes to a Kindle book, (especially if it’s free) I look at the genre first. However, a bad cover is still a turn off. If it looks too homemade, (like a copy and paste Microsoft paint job) I worry about the quality of the book. The cover also has to match the genre. If the book is classified as paranormal, but the cover looks like a romance (usually a muscled shirtless man) I assume the main theme of the book is actually romance.

Description– The description is the most important. It not only tells what the book’s about, but tells how the author writes. When the book has a good hook or an interesting sounding plot I’ll download it even if there aren’t any reviews. (or if it is about a good monster, I can’t resist such books. We all have our guilty pleasures.) If the book is free, I’ll keep reading as long as the description makes sense and is well written. (Sadly some aren’t.) If it is filled with strange names or I can’t follow it, I figure I won’t be able to follow the book either and I move on. I also don’t like it when the author has to tell me how good the book is instead of telling me about the book, (or when authors say how beautiful and smart the characters are) but that’s just me.

Reviews– I usually read a positive review and a three star review before I download a book. I’ve found the three star reviewers are more honest about its flaws and lets me know if what they didn’t like is something that I won’t like either. An immediate turn off is comments mentioning poor editing or writing. I know how hard editing is and I don’t know how picky these reviewers are, but with all the books out there I don’t have time to download something that wasn’t edited.

I’ll be posting reviews here (and on Amazon and Goodreads) for all of the new books I read. While downloading all these free books I’ve realized how important reviews are to new authors. (but first I have to stop downloading them and pick one to read.)

What do you look for before you download a book?

Free books for the Kindle

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book, books, ebook, editing, fiction, free, kindle, literature, novel, read, reader, sherlock, stories, story, write, writer, writing

I’m officially a traitor (to my beloved books). I got a Kindle for Christmas.

I wanted to be able to read the free ebooks offered by new authors. (and maybe Sherlock Holmes in a less back breaking format.)

Now I have to fill it up. (Just what I needed, more books to add to my growing to-read list.) I was surprised at how many sites there are out there listing the daily free books.

My favorite site so far is http://digitalbooktoday.com/free-kindle-books/

http://www.pixelofink.com/ is one of the top sites and features daily kindle deals for popular books too. (Maze Runner today for $2)

http://ereadernewstoday.com/ is another top site. I don’t like the layout as much as the others, but it has a mailing list where you can pick which genres you’re interested in.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/ is a forum site to discuss kindle books.

http://bargainebookhunter.com/category/free/ Another good listing. It as cover art and descriptions on the site, unlike digitalbooktoday.

I’m still new to all this ebook stuff. Anyone know of any good sites that I missed?

For those of you looking to promote your free book http://onlineinternetmarketinghelp.com/23-free-sites-to-promote-your-free-kindle-books-on-amazon/ lists all the sites and links to the submission forms.

Coming next week, what makes me download a book and what makes me turn away.

New Years Resolutions

New Years Resolutions are silly things really, because they rarely ever survive until spring. I think it is better to do your best every day, do what you can, and that’s good enough.

If I made a resolution or goal for the year it would be to get Woven Magic as good as I can make it. Hopefully I’ll be able to start submitting it to agents too, but at this point finishing it seems monumentous. (Google says it’s a word, so I’m using it.)

What is your goal for the year?

Sorry this post is short, Molly is sick. Happy New Year. 🙂

Top 10 things I’ve learned about writing this year

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author, book, books, chapter, characters, editing, fantasy, fiction, ideas, learn about myself, literature, novel, personality, read, reader, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, top 10, write, writer, writing

Since I started writing again, I’ve really learned a lot. I could easily write a top 100 list, but I’ve edited it down to just the most important things. (Thanks to number 9.)

1. Writing is surprisingly easy, but editing SO isn’t.

2. Social networking is important and isn’t as hard as it looks.

3. I eventually have to stop editing and rewriting. (Still a goal at this point.)

4. My constant daydreaming is actually common among writers, along with some of my other idiosyncrasies. (I’m not alone! I have found my people.)

5. I have to learn to write down my whole story. I always forget to put all of the details I just know. (Sharing everything with the eventual reader is important…)

6. I cannot write in present tense and shouldn’t try, it messes everything up. There’s nothing wrong with past tense.

7. How to read as a writer. (And watch movies and TV.)

8. Just how important showing is for a story.

9. The importance of only including what is most important. (and to cut the rest.)

10. I truly enjoy writing. It makes me happier than anything else. (I wonder why I ever stopped? Stupid little voice in my head telling myself I wasn’t good enough.)

I’ve done so much this year with my writing. I can’t wait to find out what next year brings.

What have you learned this year about writing and yourself?

I shouldn’t have tried to force my plot ~ NaNoWriMo sample chapter next week

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Once I realized why I was having so much trouble with my plot, I was able to fix it. I was trying to force the plot to be something that it wasn’t. I’d spent a lot of time on the characters back-stories, but then their pasts didn’t impact the plot at all. So, it turns out what I thought was my plot was really just a subplot.

I hit my 50k on Wednesday, (Yay!) but I have a lot left to write before my story is finished. I know what is going to happen up to my climax now, but I still have to figure out how it’s going to end. Who’s going to be the real bad guy after all? At least I have plenty of options.

I’m glad that I attempted NaNo, because it’s taught me a lot about writing a plot.

To celebrate the end of November I’ll posting my first chapter here next week, after I’ve edited it a little. Sorry for the short post, I’ve been having a lovely Holiday weekend with my family.

How is your writing coming?