Goals for the New Year: at InkSlingers!

It's goals/confession week at the InkSlinger's blog. Go here to check out everyone's responses or read on to check out mine :)

I must preface this with the statement that I am noctoriously BAD at keeping New Year's Resolutions. However, I think this is partially because I made a goal of what I knew I should want, rather than what actually meant something to me. This time last year I made a commitment to read the entire Narnia series by C.S. Lewis under my firm belief that you can't criticize until you've read the ENTIRE thing. Not that I was citicizing it, but everyone talks about Narnia, except for me and I felt out of the loop. So, I bought myself the HUGE master collection this summer and got to work. I finished just a few days before Christmas. My thoughts on it later. Why am I telling you this? Because it was the changing moment in what I thought a resolution should be. It's about what I've wanted to do with my life and haven't yet, not about what other people would do with my life if I was an automatronic (is that a real word?) robot that could be programed to do their will. After all this is my life and I choose how I want to live it.

Now, without further adou and blubbering, my goals for the new year:
Writing/Reading Goals:
1. Finish and begin submitting my WIP that was supposed to be finished by Jan. 1....whoops.
2. Create a list of agents (numbering at least 20) that I would like to represent my book and add to that list as each reection comes my way.
3. Begin and finish writing another book, but not in the same series as the WIP.
4. Begin book 2 of the WIP and begin making a more detailed plan of book 3. (I'm thinking of you whiteboards....you should be afraid, very afraid.)
5. Read. I'm not putting a number to this because I don't have an idea of how I can do. I know I can read at least fifty. I've read 8 in the past week and a half and read 0 the week and a half before that. My schedule's too nutsy to figure out how many I can read that would actually be a challenge. Commiting to read is more of a think about it more than I am now kinda thing.
6. Make more of a commitment to my blog. I've fallen WAY off the wagon, so far that the wagon train left me ten miles west of St. Louis and are already near Oregan. This is partially because of laptop issues, but also due to bad time management.
7. Read a book that I am not interested in. i.e. like Narnia. I didn't have much use for reading it and didn't care that much, but I gained way, WAY more than I thought was possible. So, I'm doing it again.

Family/Friends/Life Goals:
1. Call my family more often. I've seriously lagged in this dept. and there aren't really any excuses other than my life isn't that interesting. The thing is....while my life isn't, that doesn't mean that someone else's life hasn't changed for some reason and I should, as a person with feelings, care when my family members of friends have something new even though the phone works both ways.
2. Keep my desk clean so that I can actually use it. I think that says it all.
3. Get a chair cushion for my terrible desk chair in the hope that I will use it more often.
4. Do at least two things that I've wanted to do in my college town or near abouts.
5. Work really hard in my classes. I'm a good student by habit, but I can be a great student by trying. (<-- made that up by myself, aren't you proud?)

Well, that's my list. I challenge you to read, write, and make your own goals for the new year. Happy New Year!

Comfort LIFE at Ink Slingers

Click here to read what my critique partners said about this same topic at the Ink Slingers' blog!

I have comfort books for different aspects of my life. What I'm feeling changes what kind of book related comfort I want. Here's a better idea of what I mean:


Bad day at school: Give me any book with adventure and excitement. I need to escape LIFE therefore, give me another's life that is both more complicated and more exciting than my own. Before I know it I'm swimming oceans (ha, I wish), climbing mountains (yeah, right), fighting bad guys (do professors count?), freeing the prince (yeah...haven't even found him yet), and all sorts of other things that really can take my mind out of what I'm doing. As long as it's a book and it's not anything close to my life, I'm good to go.


Doubting my career choice: This doesn't really happen that often, but when it does I need research. No escape is satisfactory to me. Give me journal articles, real life stories (that pertain to my career), or anything with a statistic showing that not only are employers looking for people with my future degree, they are also paying well for someone with my degree AND I have options with my degree in the chance that there isn't a job open. I need reassurance here and only facts can give that to me.

Doubting my writing ability: Give me J.K. Rowling and her land of awesomeness. You'd think by being surrounded my so much awesome this would lower my self-confidence but funny enough, it doesn't. It reminds me of this quote that Harry said in Order of the Pheonix: (I might be a little incorrect in the wording because I'm doing this from memory and don't have my OOTP with me, but here's the jist)

"Every great witch or wizard (or author in this case) started out just where we are now. 

If they can do it why not us (me)."

This quote will kind of hover over me while I read any of her books. It gives me the va-va-voom to get up and start writing/editing/whatever again. In the end the only thing stopping me from what I want is me and my own doubts. In the end. Doubts are not worth the time or energy that they consume. Everyone has a starting point and eventually I will get to where I want to go. This is what calms and comforts me the most. 

So, now that you know what makes me take a chill pill, what books give you that needed calm down factor? I'd love any references you can give me in the comments :) Have a great weekend!

I'm Late!

For a very important date!!! What date? This date: Friday December 3, my date for my blog post on Ink Slingers. So why? Well, I kinda sorta, just....forgot?? I know, it's terrible. I could list several reasonable excuses, but I doubt you care, you're here for a book review and a book of the month you shall get. AND because I'm late, I'll do ya better. I'm doing a quick review to TWO books :) So, here it goes.

Book 1: Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture

Author: Kathryn Lasky

Snippet:

Falling. Yikes! Captured and Entranced. Friends. Wow details. Escape and Adventure. Va-va-voom, bring me more.

Recommendation:

Thumbs up. This would rate in my "good book" category. I'm entranced enough to want to read the next book and this one was really good. I think for people younger than 6th grade it would be a great read. (though on amazon, it's recommended for grades 4-8) You can really get in Soren's head and feel what he's feeling regardless that he's upchucking parts of his food and talks about growing his flight feathers. 

Here's the thing. This isn't just a story about an owl's life, it's adventure and it shows the importance of believing in something more important than just yourself. The descriptions are INCREDIBLE and the society of owls is completely believable. It sets up a great world and storyline for the rest of the books in the series. Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone regardless of age because it's good, but I'd really recommended it middle grade writers and middle grade/ young adult readers. 

Book 2: Wolves of the Beyond: Lone Wolf

Author: Kathryn Lasky

Snippet:

OMG it's adorable! Oh no! Whew, okay, he's good. There's more to this. The end?

Recommendation:

Thumbs up, like Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture, this books sets up an excellent premise for the books that follow. It's a great tale of working through adversity and not giving up because things aren't perfect or the way they're supposed to go.  The entire novel I was rooting for Faolan. It's hard not to get a connection with this young wolf when he's going through so much to just survive. You really want him to succeed and that is what keeps the pages turning. At the same time, you get the sense that he's not going to end up like his typical kind do, there's something special about him and it's only a matter of times before he starts to shine. This is what's driving me to the next books in the series. 

I'd definitely put this in my "good book" category. It was worth the read and even worth re-reading AND I kinda can't wait to read the rest of the series. I'd highly recommend this book to 5-6th graders or middle grade writers. 

So, what about you? What's your best book from November?