In Which I Talk Books (part one)

So I read about 80 books last year, and each year I like to do a post of my top 5 or so favorite books. Not that I haven't read more than 5 amazing books, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.


Last year, though, I read a ton of 2016 arcs. So I'm splitting this post into two: one post today about my favorite books of 2015 that are already out, and one post next week about my favorite 2016 debut arcs that I've read (and that's also not all that accurate because there are plenty of 2016 debuts I haven't had a chance yet, so this list is subject to change)


But anyway, here my top 5 non-2016-debut books I read last year (in no particular order)




Glory O'Brien's History of the Future - A.S. King

I'm a big A.S. King fan, so I was super excited to read this book. And it did not disappoint. About a girl (Glory) who drinks a mummified bat (yep) and then is able to see the futures of any individual people she comes across. Which is disconcerting enough until she starts to see a pattern of a future world war coming her way.
Glory's story is fantastic, but even if there was no Glory, the secondary story about the world war is also amazing. I read this book in one sitting. I could not put it down




The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

I absolutely LOVE Scorpio Races, so when I'd been hearing good things about this series, it didn't take much persuasion for me to pick it up. And since I was behind, 3 of the 4 books in the series were already out!
This series is hard to explain but it's about a girl who lives with her card reading, hippie psychic mother and aunsts and the 4 prep-school boys she befriends when she has a premonition about the death of one of them. There's an overall mystery across all three books, the supposed death of Gansey, and whether or not they'll be able to find the body of a celtic king, but each book also has it's own mysteries that are solved or not. I can't wait to read the last book in a few weeks.




Bone Gap - Laura Ruby

Caveat - I know Laura, she was one of my advisors for my MFA. But even if I didn't know her, or work with her, I would still love this book so much. It fully deserves it Printz award and I still wish it had won the National Book award, but that's neither here nor there.
Bone gap is about two brothers and a beautiful polish girl who comes to stay with them. But when she disappears, and the youngest brother is the only witness to her supposed kidnapping,  no one believes him because he can't describe the man who took her.
So he has to find her on his own. And along the way there are magical horses, and bees and honey, and ugly girls who are actually beautiful and beautiful girls who are kind and so much magic. Everyone should read this book. I can't wait to read it again when I have time.




Bird Box - Josh Malerman

This was a book that came my way via my sister, who got it via a co-worker who thought she'd like it. And then my mom read it. And my brother. And most of my writing group. And everyone loved it as much as I did.
Bird Box is a horror novel, about monsters (or something) that have appeared in the world. And anyone who looks at them go mad and kill everyone around them and then themselves. The story fouces on a single woman and has two timelines, the story of how everything starts, and a story of 5-6 years later, of what it's like having to live in a house, and never, ever, open your eyes outside.
It's so creepy, and the pacing is rapid fast so you cannot put it down. Highly recommend if you like creepy horror with mysteries that may or may not be solved.




Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic - David Quammen

I read a bit of non-fiction last year, and I look forward to reading more this year. This NF book not only beat out all the others, it beat out a lot of the fiction I read as well.
Spillover is an account of zoonotic diseases that led to pandemics (or could have had things gone differently) From Ebola, to Hanta to Aids, it's a fantastic accounting of the diseases that have come before, and a look at what we positively face us in the future. It's frightening and fascinating. Would recommend for people who like the movies Outbreak and Contagion or The Hot Zone




What were some of your favorite books you read last year?

Friday Fun

Here we are, the first Friday in March. And yes, I'm a dog and time has little meaning for me (time is a made up human concept anyway, sooooo) but it was so warm last week, and so much of our snow melt, that now I can't wait for Spring.

Is that Spring over there?

But until it gets here, we'll have to settle for Friday Fun.

LET'S GO!

Insecure Writer's Support Group

I know I kind of say this every month, but I really mean it today: I cannot believe that we're already into March.

It still feels like March is a month away. What happened to February?

Anyway, it's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time for IWSG

Today's co-hosts are Lauren Hennessy,Lisa Buie-Collard, Lidy, Christine Rains, and Mary Aalgaard!

Every month I sit here and ponder what it is I'm feeling insecure about. And, I mean, there are insecurities that come and go. But generally, I sit here and kind of shrug. There's not much there. Or at least not much I want to write about (because sometimes I'm feeling insecure, but I know it's dumb and for stupid reasons that have no basis in logic or reality. And on those days I don't want to write about them because it will just sound whiny and junk)

So yeah, which makes me realize that though I sometimes have insecurities, in general I am not an insecure writer.

And, yes, it helps that there has been validation. There's the agent. The book deal. All those things that many writers dream of.

But, honestly, even before that stuff, there wasn't a lot of insecurity. I've always had confidence in myself and writing. Maybe it's because I've had a lot of support over the years. Maybe it's because I had a bit of an ego about it (earned or unearned, who knows)(and, just realize, every time I wrote "because" in this blog post, I spelled it wrong)

Honestly, it's a nice place to be. I wish more people could be here, too.

Just believing in yourself and writing. Knowing that when you do feel insecure, recognizing that everyone does, sometimes, and that it will pass.


Also, today, I'm over at Crystal Collier's blog and there maaaaay be a chance to win a copy of ASSASSIN'S HEART if you want to check it out

In Which I Make 2016 Goals

Before we get into this post, how exciting is it that it's Leap Year today?

I didn't know that women are supposed to trap men in marriage on Leap Year. I should best get going

I think this is my first Leap Year post, even though my blog is over 6 years old. Anyway, it's not actually a big deal, just kind of a little bonus.

Also, it means, that it's still February so I'm not making my goal for the year ridiculously late. Like in March or something.
No. It's February. It's fine.

So, last week I talked about my 2015 goals and how I did, so now it's time to lay out some 2016 goals. Let's get to it.

In no particular order:

1. Read 100 books. I didn't make this goal last year, but I'm going to try it again this year. We'll see how it goes.

2. Finish my MG fantasy. This means both finish the draft and fully revise it.

3. Revise my YA fantasy. Draft is done, but it needs some work, which I'm excited to get to.

4. Teach a class. It can be anywhere on anything.

5. Teach a query writing workshop. This was a goal last year, too, but things just kept coming up. So we'll see how it goes this year.

6. Put the house up for sale. We'd really like to move this year. We'll see how it goes.

And that's pretty much it!

How about you? What are some of your goals for the year?

Friday Fun

Here we are, ape-friends. Another Friday, which means another weekend!

One day, the sun will return

And which also means, another day of laughs!

In Which I Look Over Last Year's Goals

So, like I do every year, I make goals and then when a new year comes around, I look back and see how well I did.

There's no weight or anything behind them. I'm not sad if I didn't meet a few goals, and I'm not, like, ridiculously happy if I do meet them. I just like keeping track of things. It's fun.

So here are my 2015 goals and the results:

1. Write not one, but TWO novels! *GASP*. Yes, this is a pretty big goal to reach for. BUT, I think it's doable. One, because I have to write book 2 for HarperTeen in the next few months here. And 2, because I'm going to be working on a MG fantasy for school. The kicker is whether I'll be able to actually write all of that MG fantasy, but I guess that's what we'll find out.

Failed. I mean, don't get me wrong. It was close. I wrote all of book 2 and I wrote half of the MG fantasy. But then things got in the way. Mostly the ASSASSIN'S HEART launch and all that jazz. But, I will be working on the MG fantasy now, and hope to have it done by the end of spring.

2. Read 100 books. Yes I read 140 books last year, but I also had my MFA reading list I was completing and a lot of those books were picture books and graphic novels or shorter kidlit. Now that I'm done with the reading list, will I be able to still hit 100? (I can tell you that the year has started out slowly, anyway)

Failed. I gave it a good shot, but, like with the novels above, things got in the way. I did read a fair few books, though. 71 to be specific. And that's not too shabby.

3. Buy a standing desk. You know, the kind that you can transform into standing or sitting. I've been thinking about one for awhile, and then a few months ago I was like "what am I waiting for?" I sit too much during the day, so hopefully this will help. Also I can take my current desk, which is very nice and sturdy, and give it to twin so we can throw out her computer desk (which is the old rickety desk that also used to be mine) But the standing desks are not cheap. And it's not easy to switch out furniture in our office

Met! Of course, it's not like it's really hard to, you know, buy something. But there you go. I bought it. I put it together. Moved some things around and I love it. I stand at least 2 hours a day.

4. At least partially re-do the upstairs bathroom. Our medicine cabinet has the lights for the bathroom and room for four bulbs. But it's old, and every time a bulb burns out, we're either unable to get the bulb out, get a new bulb in, or if we do, it no longer works. Of the 4 original lights that work, we are done to one. As soon as that bulb burns out, well, it's time to get a new medicine cabinet and light fixture. And if we're going to do that we might as well get a new vanity to match, etc. We should also reeeeeally do a new, updated floor, but that's a bigger commitment that involves tile and I dunno if it's something we really want to commit to at this point.

Met! This one was a huge met, too. Because we didn't just partially re-do it. We redid the whole thing. The only part that is still the same is the shower/bathtub. Everything else is new. And we tiled for the first time.

5. Try really hard to teach a query writing workshop for my MFA. This is a bit of a cheap goal because it's kind of out of my hands since I'm not in charge of scheduling. All I can do is keep expressing my interest to the powers that be and hope they put me on. (On the plus side, it seems likely it'll happen at some point, but we'll see. You never know how scheduling can go)

Failed. This really was out of my hands. I put in a request for two residencies to teach a workshop but it didn't happen. And I put in a pitch to do a workshop at a small local conference and that didn't happen either. *sad trombone* But I am going to put in another request to teach it at Alumni Weekend this summer, so we'll see how that goes.

So there you go! How was your year?

In Which I Had An ASSASSIN'S HEART Launch Party!

So a few weekends ago I had my very first launch party and it was AWESOME!

So many people came. Over 100. It was standing room only, which is a lot, but luckily enough the launch party was held at a ballroom at school, and it had the space.

Addendum Books hosted the party and sold books and they did awesome!

*photo by addendum

*photo by addendum

My mom brought a cake (which was Delicious (I actually didn't eat any at the party, but did get to eat a lot of leftover cake the next week)

*photo by addendum

We also had a mask decorating station, which went over really well.

*photo by addendum

*photo by addendum

I did a short reading, then a Q&A (and no one asked any weird questions!) and then signed books.

*photo by addendum

Line for book signing!

The whole evening is actually a bit of a blur, but it was great and I was so happy to see so many friends and family there.