#RiotGrams day 22

In June, I’m partaking in a bookish Instagram challenge here on the blog. Pictures are required (because Instagram), so I’ll post a pic with some explanation or other every day. The challenge is courtesy of Bookriot. And if you’ve got Instagram and want to see what other people come up with, just check #riotgrams.

22 – Current Read

Fifteen Poems by Leonard Cohen.

“The poems don’t love us any more
they don’t want to love us
they don’t want to be poems
Do not summon us, they say
We can’t help you any longer”

from The poems don’t love us any more 

Isn’t that just the saddest thing you’ve heard?

#RiotGrams day 21

In June, I’m partaking in a bookish Instagram challenge here on the blog. Pictures are required (because Instagram), so I’ll post a pic with some explanation or other every day. The challenge is courtesy of Bookriot. And if you’ve got Instagram and want to see what other people come up with, just check #riotgrams.

21 – Animal Covers

This one was a no-brainer. There was really only one choice for today’s topic, and that’s Shy by John Inman. It’s a hilarious book, and all the animals on this cover play an important part in the book.

It’s a hilarious, insta-lovey, super-sweet story and I love every second of it. I laugh so hard I almost pee myself when I read it. I realize it’s necessary to suspend disbelief while reading it, but isn’t that the whole point of books? 🙂

It’s on the Worst Gay Book Covers list on Goodreads, but I don’t agree with that. It’s suitably ridiculous and lighthearted and I actually love it. If you haven’t read it and need a good, hearty laugh, I really recommend it.

What’s your favorite laugh-out-loud read? 🙂

Life signs and blurbs

Hi everyone. Just wanted to say that I’m alive. It feels like forever since I was here on the blog. I know it might not seem that way, considering I’ve been posting something every day (almost, with the exception for the 11th) this month, but that’s the magic of pre-written, scheduled blog posts, my friends.

In reality, I’ve been far too busy to blog, so good thing I decided to do that challenge! It all started on May 27th with the release of Find His Way Home. A new release is fabulous and fun, but also stressful and lots of work. On June 1st I wrote and scheduled almost all blog posts for the #RiotGrams challenge, and after that I’ve been writing like a fiend to finish my WIP, The Boy With Cinnamon Eyes. 

It took me thirty days to write Cinnamon, and it’s approximately 35K words. That’s a lot of writing in a short period of time.

Which is why I’m not doing any writing this week. I’m recharging my batteries and all that. And since Cinnamon is with my most trusted beta, there’s not much I can do anyway. Except for writing the blurb, of course.

I decided I’d go about that differently this time. Let’s face it: my tried and tested process of obsessing about how difficult it is to write a blurb for two weeks, try to write it and fail miserably, and then drown in anxiety for the next two weeks before finally producing anything—like I did with the Christmas story—wasn’t all that great 😀

Instead, I wrote down a bunch of words I associated with the story. Then I made those into sentences that didn’t have to be connected, just related to the story. And then I cut them up so I can play around with them. That’s what I’m doing at the moment.

I have no idea if it works yet, but it’s giving me a lot less anxiety which is great. Wish me luck! 🙂

 

#RiotGrams day 20

In June, I’m partaking in a bookish Instagram challenge here on the blog. Pictures are required (because Instagram), so I’ll post a pic with some explanation or other every day. The challenge is courtesy of Bookriot. And if you’ve got Instagram and want to see what other people come up with, just check #riotgrams.

20 – Celestial/Solstice

I prefer to watch sci-fi over reading it, but this book is awesome.

However, I hate it when a book is rereleased with the movie tie-in cover. Why oh why, do you do this, publisher people?? Look at the original cover. Sooo much better, don’t you agree?

Movie tie-in covers, yay or nay? 🙂

#RiotGrams day 19

In June, I’m partaking in a bookish Instagram challenge here on the blog. Pictures are required (because Instagram), so I’ll post a pic with some explanation or other every day. The challenge is courtesy of Bookriot. And if you’ve got Instagram and want to see what other people come up with, just check #riotgrams.

19 – Opposites

Let’s start with comparison of the first paragraphs of the books. You know which one I mean, one of the most classics openings of a book ever:

Pride and Prejudice:

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

“My dear Mr Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”

Mr Bennet replied that he had not.

—Jane Austen

versus

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.

“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is occupied again?”

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not and went about his morning business of dagger sharpening and musket polishing—for attacks by the unmentionables had grown alarmingly frequent in recent weeks.

—Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I have just one word for this: MEH.

This does not work for me at all. Maybe it’s because of the zombies—remember I told you on day two of the challenge that I’m not a fan?—or maybe it’s just because I adore the real Pride and Prejudice so much that I really don’t appreciate someone mucking around with it?

Probably a little bit of both.

But where I was all fan-girly and gushing about the Shakespeare+Star Wars mash-up on day fifteen, here I’m all…un-gushy (it’s a word!!)

I’m very, very skeptical.

How do you feel about zombies in Netherfield Park?

#RiotGrams day 18

In June, I’m partaking in a bookish Instagram challenge here on the blog. Pictures are required (because Instagram), so I’ll post a pic with some explanation or other every day. The challenge is courtesy of Bookriot. And if you’ve got Instagram and want to see what other people come up with, just check #riotgrams.

18 – Book That Made You Cry

I think I cried for forty-five minutes straight at the end of this book. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and my husband threatened to forbid me to buy more books if I was going to be that unhappy 😀

Then I cried when I watched the movie, even though I knew what was going to happen.

When I was younger I didn’t cry when I read books. I cried to everything else: movies, TV-shows, commercials, Oprah, music…anything and everything, except books. But one day in my thirties it was like someone had opened the faucet and gone are the days of not crying while reading.

I try to hide it from my husband, because he gets a kick out of teasing me for it. Is it a bad book? A bad, bad book? Shall I put it in the freezer? 🙂

(If you didn’t get the freezer-reference, it’s from Friends. And btw: The Shining totally belongs in the freezer 🙂 )

Are you a crier when you read?

#RiotGrams day 17

In June, I’m partaking in a bookish Instagram challenge here on the blog. Pictures are required (because Instagram), so I’ll post a pic with some explanation or other every day. The challenge is courtesy of Bookriot. And if you’ve got Instagram and want to see what other people come up with, just check #riotgrams.

17 – Get Crafty

I’m not really a crafty person, so I can’t take credit for the craftiness in the following pictures, but I’m gonna post it anyway. Otherwise there would be no post today 🙂

Here’s the thing. My very talented mother has crocheted it and she’s gotten the message that I like rainbows as you can see 🙂 My mom is amazing and she knits and crochets and makes the most awesome things. She’d knitted a mermaid blanket that she gave me for Christmas last year.

But this thing is for my tablet. Like this:

Perfect, don’t you think? This way I can read suspenseful books like Better Than Suicide without using my hands, because I need them to cover my mouth when I gasp in horror! 😀

I need to learn how to knit and crochet, because the best thing I know are the warm, fluffy socks my mom makes. And when I become a grandmother (waaaay in the future), I want to knit my grandchild things. To me, nothing says love like a well thought out, home-made gift.

So tell me; are you a crafty person? Am I the only one who doesn’t know whats up and down on those…what are they called? Knitting-thingies? (Lol, I don’t even know the name. I could google it, but I think I’ll just dazzle you with my incompetence instead 🙂 )