RTW: Across December

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What's the best book you read in December?


I did a lot of writing this month (finished my draft of Crow's Rest, yay!) so I didn't do much reading. I did find a few steamy romance ebooks for free that fell under a "guilty pleasures" heading, but I only read one YA book in December. We actually started it on audio in November on a real-life road trip but didn't get to finish it. Bought a hardcopy with my Amazon gift card so I could find out how it ends:

Across the Universe by Beth Revis has popped up on others' RTWs in the past, but I'm glad I waited to read it. The third book in the trilogy comes out this month, so I won't have a horribly long wait to see what happens! Of course, I need to find time to read the second one before the 15th.

Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

RTW: Best Book of November '12

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What's the best book you read in November?

I've been reading in fits and starts this month--we've had guys working on xeriscaping our yard, and after a few disasters while they were unsupervised I surrendered to the fact that I wasn't getting much writing done this month. But that meant I got to read, yay!

My pick for best book is

I actually won this in a giveaway but had been wanting to read it for some time, probably because I'd seen it on other RTWs. It has a thought-provoking concept: everyone in this world is born with two souls, and one will gradually dominate as the other withers away. Except for the main character, Eva, who is trapped with her other half, Addie, controlling their body while she waits for a chance to live again. I recommended it to my niece last weekend, and too bad she lives too far to borrow my copy!

I also wanted to mention that I signed up for alerts from Hundred Zeros, a blog listing free e-books. Along with their huge catalog, you can get a daily email with new additions--some of which are only free that day. There is the usual mixture of great books and "you get what you pay for" stinkers, but I wanted to mention one that I particularly enjoyed

There's some great banter between the MC and her ghostly companion, plus the promise of the rest of the trilogy being just as good. Only the first in the series is free (but the other two are reasonably priced) and I love it when authors do this so we can get a taste of the series. The majority of the time, I'm hooked and go on to read the other books. I'll be doing that with this one! My only pet peeve is that the MC is one of those beautiful girls who doesn't think she's beautiful--but there is some context here, as she doesn't fit in very well with the social circles she travels in as a medium.

Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

RTW: Flickering Flames in Fall

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: October!! It is SO fall! How does your writing (place, time, inspiration, etc) change with the seasons?

 

 I'll answer the place part of the prompt with a photo:

This is where I write longhand and edit year-round, but in the fall we light the pilot for the massive propane heat stove just out of frame. It makes the room so cozy, and during power outages it's our only source of heat. So on those evenings, we play board games by light of the oil lamp and the flickering flames

Sigh. This year we've had record highs for September, but it's finally supposed to drop below 90 tomorrow.

 

Oh, yeah, we're supposed to tie this back into writing, aren't we? Well, one of the things I've noticed about the change to cooler weather is that I incorporate comfort foods into my books more. In the summer, my characters end up in situations where they can eat ice cream and sip lemonade, but once I'm in my fleece writing uniform it's all about the stews, crusty bread, pies, and pasties.

And rainy days are absolutely writing days! Except when they're reading days, of course. What about you? Does your routine change with the seasons?

 

Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

RTW: Best Books of September 2012

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What was the best book you read in September?

 I read a few books this month, but the winner is the sequel to my July pick, Girl of Fire and Thorns:

 Definitely one of those sequels that holds up to the first, if not taking it one better. (The other book I felt like that about was Demonglass, the sequel to Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins). Crown of Embers has just enough familiar fantasy elements to make it feel cozy, but it also has such wonderful worldbuilding and characters that it treads new ground.

And I wanted to give a shoutout to a few other books I enjoyed this month:

 I picked this up at a library booksale because it looked like it might be a good comp title for my first book. It is, but it's also just a great book, with eccentric characters and awkward situations abounding.

And the other one is by a local author, Keli Gwyn:

I have a little bit of bias, obviously, because it mentions so many of our local historical landmarks. But truthfully, I was mainly buying this in support and ended up loving it. There is some great banter between the main character and the love interest, and despite this being a "clean" romance, there is plenty of tension. This is one you can recommend as a fun, historical romance without worrying if your grandma will be shocked by the content. (Mine wouldn't have been. She got a red lace thong for her 75th birthday)

So that's what I've been reading!

Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

RTW: Best Book(s) of July 2012

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What was the best book you read in July?

I don't even fight the singular "book" any longer! I'm just going to post however many I want, since I don't do actual reviews and these posts serve as a way to rec (and find) new reads. Writing was a little lighter this month as I surged through my WIP. I've already mentioned one book, Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt, and that would otherwise top the list. So here are my other picks:

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.
Did anyone else pick up a bunch of those $2.99 ebooks that Harper put on sale? I got about four, and this was one that sounded interesting but wasn't really on my radar. But I loved the worldbuilding, the theme of a girl finding her strengths, and the characters.

The next on is Hourglass by Myra McEntire

This one I knew about because the cover is so gorgeous, so I finally got around to reading it. Some sizzling romance, damaged characters, strange goings-on--what's not to love?

Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

RTW: Best Book of June 2012

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What was the best book you read in June? 
  
I think I've missed the last few of these best book roundups, so I'd be tempted to post a bunch of titles. But I'll show some restraint and post one in each category.

First up, is middle grade, with a title that's not releasing until October:

I got a sneak peek at Behind the Bookcase for my birthday, and it was one of the best presents yet! This is exactly the kind of book I would have liked as a kid: secret passages (emphasis on the secrets), a mysterious cat, and spooky details. Enter to win your own ARC here through July 3.

And for young adult, I have to go with:

Lots of reveals in this one, so I don't want to say too much about it. In fact, picking it as a best book is enough, and I'll leave it at that!

And lastly, an adult title:

This latest title in the Parasol Protectorate series came out in March, but I didn't get around to reading it until May. I was a little wary that the series would start to go downhill (like so many have *coughSookiecough*) but I think that this title is one of the best-plotted for the series yet. Lots of fun dialogue and situations, and a great story arc.


So those are my picks this time around--what about you? Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments if you played along with Road Trip Wednesday. Don't forget to go to the YA Highway post and read all the answers!

RTW: Memories and Memoirs

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: NAME THIS LIFE: What would your memoir be called?

I was glad to see that other RTWers had a hard time with this one--I've never really thought about if I would ever write a memoir, let alone what it would be called. And I only had about ten minutes for this post before I was due to run out the door, so I kept coming up with stupid ones like "Teched By an Angel" or ripoffs of songs and song titles like "I Get Knocked Down But I Get Up Again" or "The Banana Boat Song".

So I think this space could be better used instead to bring attention to two obscure books:



In case you can't read that full title, it's Horseback Honeymoon: The Vanishing Old West of 1907 Through the Eyes of Two Young Artists in Love Isn't that a great title? Newlyweds Ella and Quincy Scott set out from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington on horseback during the waning days of horses as a main form of transportation. I believe it's out of print, but I would highly recommend checking your library for it.

The other book is still available through the University of Nebraska's Bison Books line:



I read this book in my 20s and was so blown away by the voice and events that I wanted to do a novelization of it (I don't even remember why I thought it needed changing, except that I was a professional storyteller at the time and was very practiced at reinterpreting stories). But in one of my first writing lessons, once I studied the book I discovered there was very little to improve on--it was best left to its natural state and in the author's own voice. This book is a great portrait of a young girl's experience of the Dust Bowl and wider events, and another must-read.

What about you? Have a title in mind for your memoir, or a good biography, diary, autobiography or memoir to recommend? Don't forget to go to the comments on the YA Highway RTW post to see everyone else's answers!

RTW: Best Book of February

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What was the best book you read in February?

My task is made easier this time around by the puny number of books I read this month. For good reason, though--I was reading some books on writing craft and working on outlining my WIP, Crow's Rest. So the best book I read was the fourth in the Flavia De Luce series:




If you haven't read the series, how could you resist this description from the Flavia website:

"Flavia de Luce has a passion for poisons.

Picture an ancient country house somewhere in England. The year is 1950.

Picture a girl who lives there with her most eccentric family. Her name is Flavia de Luce--and she's almost eleven.

Picture a long-abandoned Victorian chemistry lab; no one ever goes there but Flavia.

Put them all together and you'll have a deliciously original approach to detective fiction."

How could that not be intriguing???

And here's a trailer for all four books:



Happy reading, and I'll see you all on the road!

This Could Be the Future: No Blog Post Today

Websites and blogs all over the internet are going dark today to protest two bills that would greatly restrict content and freedom on the internet. Since I usually participate in YA Highway's blogfest, Road Trip Wednesday, I thought it was only fair to link to their info on the subject.

Felt compelled to add this from the Oatmeal:

RTW: Soul Retreat

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: Describe your dream writing retreat. Where would you go? Who and what would you bring?

Wait, for a writing retreat, the idea is to go somewhere? But I wouldn't have my books, my kitties, my cozy rooms, my garden, the dusting, my gym bag full of stuff to be washed, the fox scat to scoop up again--oooooh, now I get the concept.

So far, I've never been able to do much writing away from home. Maybe a little poetry experimentation, but not any real work. Because, when we're in those gorgeous places away from home, we're on vacation! And although that means I'm squirreling away all these nuggets of experience into my memory, I rarely put pen to paper while we're traveling.

But if I had to choose, could I put one of these in my garden?



Okay, okay, if I was pried away from my homebase, I'd settle for one of these:



It's big enough for a small writing commune, but still with the potential for coziness! This next one looks like it'd be a little warmer in summer (for those of you who don't know, the California coast, as picture above, is pretty much socked in by fog and clouds for the summer months):



What about you? Where would your dream writing retreat take you? Don't forget to go to the comments on the YA Highway RTW post to see everyone else's answers!

RTW: All My New Favorites

YA Highway often does a "best book you read" for the last Road Trip Wednesday each month, and a lot of us have trouble picking just one title!

So for today's blogfest, they want us to list our "Top Five Favorite Books of 2011" Yay, we get five whole books to list! Many of these titles will be familiar to other road trippers, because they were recommended by me or other participants in posts throughout the year. And I'm a visual person, so I'm including all the covers.

In no particular order (confession: because I couldn't decide how to rank them), here are my Top 5 Favorite YA Books of 2011






I do have a warning included for Scorpio Races in a previous post here.





So what are your top 5? Do you have any recommendations to add to my reading list for next year?

RTW: Where Do You Get Your Fix?

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: Where do you buy most of your books? No one is judging! (hey, YAH, is this a secret book marketing poll?)

I've found all sorts of places to support my book habit, which started back when my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I worked in a glorious huge independent bookstore. Now our bookshelves line just about every available wall.

We give books as Christmas and birthday gifts, so our favorite fix is the book sales put on by the Sacramento Friends of the Library and the Sac SPCA. I have a dresser drawer that is constantly filled with books for all ages, and whenever an occasion comes up I just burrow into the pile and select some favorites. Many of the books have library markings, but I've also picked up wonderful gift books that don't look like they were even cracked open.

We also have a marvelous book-warren called The Bookery in Placerville, and they are total enablers since we can bring in books to trade for more books. How great is that?

Since our local Borders closed, there aren't any new book shops (though Bookery can order things) within a doable radius. So I admittedly have been buying mostly through our Amazon Prime account, with some supplementary orders from B&N. And, I've been buying a lot more e-books and getting both print and e-books from the library. Anything to make sure this bibliophile gets her fix!


What about you? Have any great book-buying opportunities where you are? Don't forget to go to the comments on the YA Highway RTW post to see everyone else's answers!

RTW: I Can See Shangri-La from Here!

(Graphic from the YA Highway site)
Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: How far would you go to get published? We writers can form quite an attachment to our characters and stories. But we also know publishing is a business, and sometimes to make it in said business--to really build a career from it--we have to bend a bit. How far would you go to break into the publishing world?

I've been a little spoiled with my freelance articles--I've never been asked to revise them or change them. Reshoot the photos, yes, and the magazines have done some light copyediting but that's it. Pretty sweet, but it kind of established unrealistic expectations about how much revising I would be expected to do because that didn't carry over into fiction.

I lost my first "sale" of a short story when my college lit mag asked me to change the ending and I refused. I did give it some thought, but decided not to do it. Unfortunately, I didn't find out that it killed the deal until they actually released the lit mag, and mine wasn't in there (after I'd told everyone it would be, of course!). So I have no idea if I'd known that, whether it would have changed my mind. And of course, years later, I did change the ending but for different reasons. Aspects of the story changed, and that meant the ending no longer fit. (And I eventually found a home for Hornworms in Hunger Mountain)

Earlier this year while querying, I got a revise and resubmit request from an agent. When she was setting up the phone call to go over her concerns, she let me know they were "not minor". So that sent me into a panic (and I do mean a panic--how a writer's imagination can run away with her!) over what sort of changes she might request and whether I would be willing to make them. Fortunately, they were suggestions that worked for the story and made it stronger, so I was glad that I gave them a chance.

But I do know that there are aspects of my book I would not be willing to change. Usually if a character or plot device isn't working, I spend a bit of time trying to discern whether it's just not working in this form and I can write it differently, or whether it truly doesn't belong in the story at all. And when my CPs give me advice that I don't agree with, I try to examine why they would have made that suggestion. So most of the time even if I feel their suggestion was way out there, I can find the flaw in the passage that made them feel it needed something else. My fix may not be what they suggested in the end, but hopefully I will have addressed the issue.

What about you--how far are you willing to go? Don't forget to go to the comments on the YA Highway RTW post to see everyone else's answers!

RTW: Rite of Passage Reading

I missed my Monday post this week (thought I had another auto-post queued up, oops) so I was determined to jump on Road Trip Wednesday to make up for it. And lucky me, I actually had something to say on this topic! Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: In high school, teens are made to read the classics - Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Bronte, Dickens - but there are a lot of books out there never taught in schools. So if you had the power to change school curriculums, which books would you be sure high school students were required to read?

I secretly enjoyed* some of the titles on our high school reading list--in fact, I'd already read most of them. I say secretly because it irked me to no end to be forced to read a book, and then discuss it at length with other students forced to read it and therefore unlikely to contribute anything beyond what the teacher wanted to hear. But the third high school I attended (which happened to be a continuation high school) let us pick from a list of books, and it actually had science fiction titles!

As to books I consider to be required reading for teens, I have two titles that I always give to my teen nieces and nephews as a sort of rite of passage. And no surprise, they're both science fiction.



I've heard from a few charter school students that Ender's Game is on their reading list, and kudos to those teachers. This book raises so many of the big questions for teens like making decisions for yourself, coming to terms with others' expectations for your life, and living with the consequences of choosing to defy or meet those expectations. As well as more everyday, relatable topics like bullying, sibling rivalry, adults that want you to act your age and are disappointed when you actually do. All this, and a fascinating world-building and action-packed plot too.

The second book that I give to teens, especially girls, at age 16 or older would never make it onto a high school reading list because of all the graphic sex. It's not gratuitous, definitely integral to the plot, but it's graphic enough that I give a copy with a warning.



You may not be able to see it in the pic, but the full title is The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Ladies Illustrated Primer, and it truly is a formative book for young ladies. On the surface, it's got some incredible, early Steampunk imaginings (I would totally be a craftsperson for the Vickies, even with the rules) and cyberpunk elements. But it also has a thread of story throughout, with girls finding their own kind of power and honor, and therefore their own paths in life.

If you haven't read this one, put it on your own required reading list! What about you--what books did you hate reading in high school, and which ones would you substitute for the required reading list? Don't forget to go to today's YA Highway post to see what everyone else had to say.


*The exception was Steinbeck; I had this weird brain hiccup in that I loved his stories, but couldn't wade through the actual writing. The Grapes of Wrath has some truly heartbreaking elements, East of Eden has such classic story conflicts, but as a teen I just couldn't get into his writing style. I've done a little better as an adult, but Travels with Charlie and Cannery Row are the only Steinbeck books I've truly enjoyed.

RTW: Writing Travelogue

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic Jams and detours? Where are you going next?

My writing journey has definitely had some roadblocks and detours, but the most frustrating part is when I chug chug chug up that hill.



Finally get to the top, start to celebrate, and then realize there's another hill just beyond it. An entire mountain range with meadows dotted with flowers and gamboling critters



and impossibly sheer rock faces with jaggedy bits



But I'm close enough to see the Promised Land off in the distance



What about you? What has your writing journey looked like? Don't forget to go to today's YA Highway RTW post and follow the links in the comments to see everyone else's answer!

P.S. In case anyone was curious, these pix are all my own artwork.

RTW: Best Books of September 2011

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What was the best book you read in September?

I didn't read much this month, at least not many new books. I attempted The Dead Father's Club by Matt Haig, and despite the voice being very similar to the much-enjoyed The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, DFC didn't hold my interest.

And over our vacation, I treated myself to rereads of the last two books in the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer, in preparation for the release of the next one, The Mark of the Golden Dragon, on October 4. Yay! I predict that title will make an appearance in Best Books of October.



And these are arriving tomorrow, so I'll cover them in October also:




Yes, you might recognize The Replacement from so many RTWs last week--y'all talked me into finally reading it! So enough about what I haven't read this month, and let's get to the book I did read:



Some of you may have read the interview I did with author Karen Sandler back in May, well before the book release this month, so I was excited to finally read Tankborn. It lived up to my expectations, with a detailed world and society, and the spice of forbidden romance. Here's the short blurb: When best friends Kayla and Mishalla, genetically engineered slaves on the planet Loka, develop friendships with higher-status boys, they discover a shocking, evil plot that leads them all to begin to question the strict caste system of their world.

So did you read much this month? What was the best book you read in September? Don't forget to go to the YA Highway RTW post and follow the links in the comments to see everyone else's answer!

RTW: Cover Songs

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination through the YA Highway site and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What are your all-time favorite book covers?

As a teen, if a book cover had a horse on it, I was almost guaranteed to pick it up. This meant I read a lot of bad romance novels with artwork done by folks who were savvy to the horse factor in book-buying decisions.

Have you ever noticed just how many historical romances from the 80s have horses on them? It's a formula of cleavage (her decollatage and his pecs), tight breeches, and wildly blowing long hair (and it seems that wind-blown-hair look also appears in YA book covers.), with a horse thrown in somewhere. If not horses, unicorns would do in a pinch, and they more often appeared in SF/Fantasy.




But over time my taste in cover artwork has changed, influenced by my own experiences with painting, sketching, graphic design, and photography. I find that I like covers that are simplistic and graphic-looking




or photographic with a twist




and lush and artistic (still love some of the girls in period dresses but they are becoming overdone and it's harder to make yours stand out)




I'm not much into abstract covers. What about you--what covers have caught your eye?

RTW: Best Book(s) of August 2011

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What's the best book you've read in August?

I jumped the gun a little on this post back on August 12, where I listed some great books I'd been reading. You can follow the above link for my comments and a video, but the titles were:

White Cat, Red Glove, and The Poison Eaters by Holly Black
Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst
Zombies vs. Unicorns ed. by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

All of those are definitely recommendations (can't wait for the next Curse Workers book, Black Death) and I'll probably reread them again sometime, but the best book of the month for me was not technically YA (although it was exactly the kind of book I would have been delighted to find as a teen):



I've mentioned before that I used to work in a book store (where I met my husband, but that's another RTW) and one of our former coworkers is now a sales rep for a publisher. He and his wife (who also met while working at the same book store, but that's another another RTW)(and also, HI!, since she reads my blog) kindly send me packages of books every once in a while.

The last two boxes were a treasure trove of titles that I haven't quite worked my way through, including some Gene Wolfe books. Anvil of the World was nestled in there, and I can see that there was a theme going on. Kage Baker does a lot of the same kind of highly skilled character- and world-building as Wolfe, but she adds little brushstrokes of humor a la Terry Pratchett. The closest book in tone that I can think of is The Flying Sorcerers by David Gerrold and Larry Niven.

Here's the little blurb on Anvil of the World from Amazon: "The Anvil of the World is the tale of Smith and his feud-prone people, the Children of the Sun. Smith, formerly a successful assassin, is trying to retire, hoping to live an honest life in obscurity in spite of all those who have sworn to kill him. But when he agrees to be the master of a caravan from traveling from the inland city of Troon to Salesh by the sea, trouble follows.As always, Baker's approach is charmingly distinctive. Smith's adventure is certainly the only fantasy featuring a white-uniformed nurse, gourmet cuisine, one hundred and forty-four glass butterflies, and a steamboat."

This was one of those books that the entire time I was reading it, and after I finished, I kept telling my husband, "You have to read this one!", even though our tastes don't always overlap. But I also say to you, dear blog readers, "You have to read this one!"

RTW: All My Favoritest Books of June

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: (Back by popular demand!) What's the best book you've read this month?

Wait, I can only pick one?!?!? I've actually read a surprising number of books in June; surprising because I've also been doing heavy rewrites and they're usually incompatible. Either I can't turn my editor off enough to enjoy the book, or I enjoy it so much that it interferes with my character's voice (speaking of voice, check out this post from May on YA books that do an excellent job with voice).

I was going to mention Divergent by Veronica Roth, but apparently I've lost all sense of time because that came out in early May. Bought it on release date and read it in two days.




So since we didn't do a Best Book for May, I nominate that one.

For June, I'm just going to list all the books I read, since they were all good:









These Best Book RTWs are a love/hate thing for me! I love discovering all these book recs, but I hate that my to-be-read pile increases exponentially!

RTW: Plotser

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: Do you like to make a detailed plan before you start a project? Or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along?

The last few Road Trip Wednesdays, I've been posting fairly late in the day--I guess that would be pantsing. But today I made a special effort to get up early and type up my post before class (although I won't be able to tour everyone's posts until later)--plotting.

I don't see the topic until it's posted on YA Highway (didn't they used to post a "next week" headsup in the RTW posts?), however, so I have no idea what topic will be on the table, making it a pantser task. Or a hybrid plotser task. Hmm, that's pretty much how I've written things too, with a little bit of both methods sprinkled in. Not surprising since I'm a Gemini, is it?

In my first novel, I started out with a detailed outline and synopsis. It didn't necessarily include every single event and scene in the story, but there were specific scenes that were already very strong in my mind, down to snippets of dialogue and description.

This worked fairly well for the first 50 pages or so, but then my characters became developed enough to voice ideas of their own about where the story was going. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but since mostly other writers read this blog, I know you all get it!

I fought the new plot twists for a while, and then just went with it. I explored tangents, got to know new characters, indulged some research and description. And ended up with a 120,000 word monster of a book. So a lot of those tangents, research, subplots, and characters had to go, which ended up feeling like a lot of wasted effort.

By the time I started my second book, I had a few more conferences under my belt, over a year with a YA crit group, and found some strong betas, all adding to the experience I gained from writing that first book.

From the get-go, I felt like my second book was going to be so much more streamlined. I mulled subplots or scenes before I even sat down to type anything, discarding some and refining others. It was like learning music and improving your ear--I am better at "hearing" what is working.

And then an opportunity to practice my pitch and get a feel for how this story idea would be received came up on Pitch University. It felt like it was much earlier in the stage of the book writing than I would have chosen to pitch it, but I went ahead and wrestled with it and was actually fairly pleased with the results (you can see it up on my novels page above).

It helped me zero in even more on the characters and their relationships, the big conflicts, what the stakes are, etc. Pitch U has an opportunity for romance writers and YA authors to pitch later this month, so I would highly recommend that you take advantage of it!

What about you? Do you plot obsessively (in your book life, not your supervillain life if you have one) or fly by the seat of your pants?