Summary of Cinder

Review

I did it!! I finished writing the first draft of my novel Cursed which I began writing way back in November 2015. To celebrate, I thought I'd share a little more about my novel with you by doing a recap of all my #WIPjoy tweets during June from Twitter. #WIPjoy is a series of month long daily prompts provided by Bethany A. Jennings (@simmeringmind) in which she encourages writers to share bits and pieces of their current WIP (work in progress).

Full disclosure: There were some days when I totally forgot to respond to the prompt and days I intentionally skipped because they didn't fit with my novel. Also, these are tweets (which are limited to 146 characters) so there may be text speak and abbreviations occasionally.

Day 1 Prompt: Tell us about your WIP!
YA Fantasy. Protagonist is a witch accused of casting killing curses. She must team up with a rival to catch the real killer.

Day 2 Prompt: Introduce your protagonist's awesomeness!
My protagonist, Cyndra, is a teenage witch who specializes in sleeping curses. She's cynical and has to learn to trust others.

Day 5 Prompt: The character you relate most to and why.
Felix. We'd both do anything for our family. I'd be unlucky enough to be turned into a raven too:)

Day 6 Prompt: A character who shares a flaw with you.
Cyndra and I can both be moody. We fall into slumps where we don't want to interact w/others.

Day 9 Prompt: Which character/s would you want to be roommates with?
I'd pick Jeanette as my roommate. She gives great advice and would make sure I don't kill off my plants like I usually do.

Day 10 Prompt: Share a line that makes you want to hug a character.
"If I don't use this sphinx feather to find my mother, I may never be able to find her."

Day 12 Prompt: Share a chapter beginning that you love.
Cyndra stood over her cauldron, a small pipette filled with a clear liquid held delicately with her pointer finger and thumb.

Day 13 Prompt: How do you want readers to view your protagonist at the beginning?–at the end?
Main character starts out morally gray. By the end, she has to make a firm decision on what type of person she wants to be.

Day 14 Prompt: Share a line where a character tries something new.
She lay down on the simple straw pallet and pretended to sleep while she secretly plotted how to escape her new prison.

Day 15 Prompt: What grabs you about your premise?
The MC makes and sells curses for a living. Also, she's a reluctant heroine.

Day 16 Prompt: What sticks with you about the ending?
I haven't written it yet, but what I have planned brings everything full circle.

Day 17 Prompt: At the end, how has your protagonist made you proud?
Yes, I am proud of my protagonist. Though she makes a lot of questionable decisions, she always comes through when it counts.

Day 18 Prompt: Share a chapter ending line that you love.
"Once I have the money to pay the rent I owe, I'll change you back into a human."

Day 20 Prompt: Share a line that mentions food.
Cyndra spent the next four hours devouring most of the cardamom crescents as she planned her assault on Gideon's home.

Day 22 Prompt: Share a line about smell.
They were alive but unconscious. A faint smell of poppy laced the air.

Day 23 Prompt: Is this a kissing book? :)
So far, I've kept the kissing to a minimum.

Day 24 Prompt: Tell us something your character would hate for us to know about them (mwuhaha!)
Cyndra would hate for you to know that she does care about people. She's so used to being on her own that she pushes away.

Day 28 Prompt: What do you want your future cover to look like? If you already have one, share it!
Maybe something a little like this?

Day 29 Prompt: What's the best thing people can say to you about this WIP?
I loved it and I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read your next one!

Day 30 Prompt: What are you planning for your next WIP after this one?
YA Fantasy. MC is a shapeshifter who has to hide her shifting abilities in order to train to become the next Vizier.

Hogwarts Houses: Do They Create Division or Unity?

Division

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.

Unity

The Unifying Power of Hogwarts Houses in the Real World

Let's Chat! (because I could seriously talk about all things Harry Potter all day)

Summary of The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Review 

The Monster Goddess Book Club is run by Tash at The Bookie Monsters and The Book Goddess.

Summary of Thief of Lies

Review

This is a writing post for all of my fellow writers. As many of you know, it can be tough finding time to write, especially if you have a full time job. We all lead busy lives, and sometimes it's just easier to say, "I'll write tomorrow because I don't have time to today." I have said or thought this more times than I care to count. As a full time English teacher, I often only have time to write on the weekends in between grading papers.



Now that it's summer, I'll have more time for writing and more time for trying out different writing habits. One of my unofficial summer goals is to develop writing habits that I can maintain not only during the summer but also throughout the school year. To that end, I've decided to try some different On the Go writing apps.

On the Go writing apps allow you to write without being stuck behind a computer all day. This means that you can get more writing done than you normally would. You can write  (if you're not driving) or dictate your writing during your morning commute, while you do the dishes, walk the dog, fold laundry, etc. Basically, any time that you could be listening to an audiobook, you also could be using an On the Go writing app to record or transcribe your thoughts.

From the research I've done into On the Go writing apps, there seem to be three different types.
1. Writing/Note taking
2. Voice to Text
3. Voice Recording


Notes
My iPhone came with a Notes app already installed. It's easy to use, though I'm still faster typing on a computer than I am using a tiny keyboard on my phone. A nice feature of Notes is that you can create folders to store your different writings based on category.

Google Docs
Because I use Google Docs to create a lot of my teaching documents, I also downloaded Google Docs to my phone (free). Though I haven't written many stories using Google Docs, I may use it more now that I can use it on the go. Google Docs also works great for collaboration, so if you ever want to work with beta readers, critique partners, or co-author something with another writer, it might be handy to have Google Docs on your phone, tablet, etc. I haven't tested out the collaboration features yet on my phone, but if it's the same as using it on the computer, it should be fairly intuitive to use.

Wattpad
The last writing/note taking app I have on my phone is the Wattpad app (free). If you're unfamiliar with Wattpad, it's a writing website where writers can upload their work for readers around the world to read for free. So far, I've only published one short story on Wattpad, but I plan to publish longer works as I finish writing and editing them. Wattpad is a great place to meet other writers and readers and to get feedback on your work.


I'm sure there are plenty of voice to text apps available to download to your phone. However, the only one I've tried is Dragon Diction (free). You may have noticed by now that I'm only including free apps in this post, and that's because I know most writers and readers spend much of their paychecks on buying books.



Dragon Diction
I've heard from countless people that when it comes to using Dragon Diction, you need to take the time to train your dragon (which sounds totally cool in a fantasy context).



Training your dragon, when it comes to Dragon Dictation, means you have to let your dragon get used to your voice and the words you use. In addition to training your dragon, I've found that you also need to train yourself on how to use your dragon. For example, you need to train yourself to say punctuation where you want it to appear in the text.

Here is an example of how I talk to my dragon.

Me: Quote Why would I go to Atteris question mark They'll throw me in jail the moment I get there period It is just a ploy to get me to surrender without a fight period quote

Here is what my dragon typed after listening to my dictation.

Dragon: "Why would I go to address? They'll throw me in jail the moment I get there. It is just a ploy to get me to surrender without a fight."

As you can see, my dragon didn't recognize the word "Atteris" and so changed it to the word "address." Atteris is not a word in the English language. It's a name of a city in my story. Because I write a lot of fantasy, I think my dragon is going to have a hard time getting names of people and places correct. The main character of that same story has the name "Cyndra" and my dragon keeps changing it to "Sandra." One way that I've found to get around this problem is to spell out the name. It gets a little annoying to spell it out every single time though.

In addition to saying punctuation, I've found you also need to say "new paragraph" whenever you want your dragon to, you guessed it, start a new paragraph.

I've only played around with my dragon a little bit since getting it. I tried taking it on a walk yesterday (I love the image of trying to take an actual dragon on a walk, he he) but found that the combination of the wind and my movement caused my dragon to miss entire sentences I said. What I ended up with was a garbled mess. I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to take my dragon on walks because I think it's important to exercise and what better way to exercise than to write while you exercise?

Though I won't be taking my dragon on walks, I think I'll still use my dragon when I'm away from my computer and want to write. The nice part of voice to text means you don't have to fiddle around with typing on tiny keyboards. A possible downside of using voice to text apps is that people around you will be able to hear what you're saying and you may get some strange looks. At least when you're typing, people don't know that you're killing off characters in horribly gruesome ways. Also, a lot of people don't like their first drafts to be read by other people (or quite frankly to let them see the light of day) so they might not like letting other people, especially strangers, hear them composing their fist drafts.




Using a recorder to record your voice is nothing new. In fact, many writers have been recording their thoughts via tape recorders for a long time. The Voice Recorder app (free) is nice to use instead of a tape recorder because it's one less thing you have to carry. Most of us carry our phones with us everywhere so it makes sense to use a voice recording app on our phones rather than having to carry our phones and our tape recorders.

Voice Recorder
I was determined to find an On the Go writing app I could use on walks, and the Voice Recorder app I downloaded onto my phone was just what I was looking for. I took it on a walk today, and, despite the wind and the rain, it was able to pick up everything I said and didn't miss a single word (unlike Dragon Diction). So far, I've only used the voice recorder to talk through some plotting ideas for my next writing project, but I'm going to try composing while I talk as well. I love being able to record myself talking through my ideas. Then I have a record of my thought process that I can listen to later. I've heard many people suggest talking out your ideas or plotting problems with friends so they can ask you questions and you can answer them. If you don't have that option and are stuck, I think asking yourself questions and answering them while recording yourself is a good secondary option. Of course, just like with voice to text apps, people are going to think you're weird for talking to yourself. Then again, we writers are used to being called weird.



In addition to being able to talk through my ideas I also found myself more willing to consider different ideas because I spoke in a stream-of-consciousness type way of what I was thinking.

A potential downfall to voice recording yourself composing your writing out loud is that you will have to listen to what you said and type it out on your own. It's an extra step that you wouldn't have to take if you used a voice to text device.


What writing apps do you use? How do you squeeze more writing time into your day?

The Monster Goddess Book Club is run by Tash at The Bookie Monsters and The Book Goddess.

May Review: Read a book set in a different world/alternate universe

I chose Horizon by Tabitha Lord.

Summary of Horizon 

Caeli Crys isn't living--she's surviving. On the run after the genocide of her empathic people, she witnesses a spaceship crash near her hidden camp. When she feels the injured pilot suffering from miles away, she can't help but risk discovery to save his life.

Commander Derek Markham awakens stranded on an uncharted planet. His copilot is dead, his ship is in ruins, and he's only alive because a beautiful young woman is healing him with her mind.

As Derek recovers, Caeli shares the horror of her past and her fear for the future. When Derek's command ship, Horizon, sends rescue, Derek convinces Caeli to leave with him. But his world is as treacherous as hers--full of spies, interplanetary terrorist plots, and political intrigue. Soon the Horizon team is racing to defend an outlying planet from a deadly enemy, and Caeli's unique skills may just give them the edge they need to save it.

*Summary from Amazon

Review

I received Horizon as an electronic advance reader's copy from Wise Ink Creative Publishing through Netgalley way back in October. The fact that I've only now just finished reading the book should give you some indication as to my opinion of the book. Let's just say it wasn't my cup of tea. I never really made a connection with any of the characters and the structure of the story bothered me.
 
The beginning throws the reader right into the story. I feel the author, Tabitha Lord, skipped over introducing the reader to the main character's world and just started with the inciting incident. We don't get any backstory or really any information about the main character Caeli's life before Derek crash lands on her planet until about Chapter 6. Then Chapters 6-8 are all backstory. This bugged me. I felt Lord could have spread this information out more. If I hadn't decided to read this book for a book review, that two chapters of backstory may have caused me to stop reading. As a fellow writer, I know it can be tough deciding where and how much backstory to reveal. The rest of the book follows this same pattern of flashing to Caeli's past and then back to the present. I think I may have liked this book better if Lord started with Caeli's past and let the reader simultaneously experience the changes in Caeli's life which lead her to Derek. 

I was wondering how Caeli and Derek were going to communicate with each other without speaking the same language. Lord pulled a good trick by having Caeli "cheat" and take the information of how to speak Derek's language from his head. Otherwise, though, I was underwhelmed with Caeli and Derek's relationship. Caeli and Derek keep claiming that Caeli's empathic abilities make it seem as if they've known each other for their entire lives rather than only a few days. As a reader, I felt cheated out of watching their relationship grow and develop over time.

I am more of a fantasy reader than a science fiction reader, but I still expected there to be more world building in the book. For the most part, the different planets the characters visit or discuss sound a lot like Earth. The people, with the exception of the Novali and their special powers, all seem remarkably human. This was a bit of a disappointment to me. If you're going to set your story on an entirely different planet, I'd expect there to be more things that are, well, different.

All in all, I made myself finish reading this book because I promised I would review it. I didn't think it would be fair to review a book without finishing it.