Preorders and (Amazing) Purchases

          Bleh, failure after failure... All my fault. February has hit fully, which means painful tendonitis flare-ups and an intense desire to read, forever. Still, lazy doesn't mean I get off scott-free. I have been reading a whole hell of a lot, mainly in preparation for next month and the release of a new book by my one of my favourite authors. Buying that book may have led to me going a bit insane with the books, though... Let me regale you. 

          When Anne Bishop first released Written in Red, an urban fantasy in a not-earth setting, I held off getting it until Christmas of that year and even then, it was not the book I was most excited about. I had a lot of amazing books that year, but Written in Red was one of my favourites. Every year since then, she's released another one, with the final book being released this March, finally. Even after so long, I have been excited as hell for this novel. I've been reading the entire series again, just to make sure that I'm 100% caught up on the entire story before the last one comes out on the 7th. 

          That wasn't the end, though. I found other items that made me drool in anticipation. Spice & Wolf had mentioned an upcoming release last November of a Collectors Edition with all 17 of the past books in it. I was super excited for it, even if the price tag of nearly $200 depressed me. Anyways, as I assume you've figured out by then, I found out that it was being released on February 28th. I couldn't resist, even with the price tag and knowing that I already own all 17 books in physical copies. 

          I received that book today. 

           It's amazing. The book is huge, a near-perfect square. The writing inside is reddish and every drawing of the series has been made larger for this set. The quality is incredible I am so excited. I will probably never read it, sure I would cry if I damaged it. Take a look at my pictures. What do you think of it?

          I am so pleased with my purchase, you have no idea. I have convinced my husband that it needs a velvet-lined stand to display it in. 

          I also found out that Isuna Hasekura has written another book for the Spice & Wolf series that will be focusing on Holo and Lawrence's daughter. Apparently, he's handing over Holo's crown to her, and a full book of her and Cole's adventures will be coming out later this year, or early next... at any rate, I ordered that as well, though I think it won't be releasing until May this year. 

          Then I found out that Patricia Briggs is releasing books as well this month.... I should rise again to continue writing soon, but for today, and for the next week or so, assume that I'll be writing. 

          What about you? With so many books being released right now, are there any that you're super excited about? Let me know in the comments below.

Plotting away...

Alright! I am back and writing again. My arm is still hurting a bit... it seems that the fall managed to exacerbate my tendinitis, which had been reasonably good until then. However, with time all things heal... and get even better! I had time to finish reading over that section and have a plethora of idea to throw in to change the part that my editor suggested cutting. Don't get me wrong, quite a bit of it will still be cut, but a lot will be added as well, including an entire section with Skylla that wasn't in before. It will take a bit of work to do, but that doesn't scare me; I wrote a book. If work scared me, I'd never have begun all this in the first place.

However, my tendinitis is still here, which does mean I'm taking it a bit slower than I would like right now. I'm starting off with a regime of a minimum of 250 words a day. If I'm on a roll at that point, I can continue writing to my heart's content, but if I'm hurting I can stop, knowing I've done my work for the day. So far, its working well. I'm hoping to have a few chapters done of it sooner.

I'm also considering sharing my first couple of chapters on here... if that's something you think you'd like, let me know in the comments below.

Lastly, I can share some exciting news with you all! I finally got my professional pictures taken. It will take me a few weeks to get my pictures back, but when I do, I will have a headshot ready and waiting for my novels as well as a fun picture for things like Facebook and maybe even Twitter. I can't wait to show them off! Keep an eye out for those coming soon!

Super Short Update

          It has been too long. Sorry for that. I got caught by another minor cold followed by a slip on the ice that drove posting here out of my mind. I'm nearly all better now... the slip took out my hand for a few days, but its working now, even if its still hurting when I type too much. I've been drawing a bit and doing a lot of reading. I have gotten a bit of editing done, and gotten my new photos taken, so I should have those to show you soon.

          So, yeah, just a super short update to let you know why I haven't been posting. Since my hand is still hurting a bit if I use it too much, I'll go back and rest, hopefully coming back with a full post later in the week.

Goodreads Reading Challenge

          Every year since I've found out about it, I have taken part in it. Last year, I only just made my goal of 100 books and so this year, I finally decided to lower it. Instead of 100 books, I'll be going for 75. It's an easy goal, it will keep me reading and, most importantly, I should be able to avoid feeling super stressed out about it. Last year, and just a little bit the prior year making that goal of 100 books stressed me out. It isn't good for my writing, or me in general, to get that stressed out over such a little thing. Especially since it isn't a competition. My goal is not to wow people with how many books I read each year. Those that will be wowed, would be as wowed by me reading 20 books as they would be by my reading 100.

          Having said all that, I have read 7 books to date this year (available here if you want to see which books they are). I have four books on the go in my to be read pile now and you can check out what those are, right here.

          Another thing I'm doing this year is to try and be creative in more ways. To that end, I'm working on drawing more this year. If you want to follow my work, you can check out my drawings here. The ones I'm working on now will all be going into my scrap file, since they're just scrap work, essentially. I used to work on my art a lot more often, but once I started writing, it went to the backburner and recently, I don't draw much at all. Because of that, my pictures aren't really very good yet. However, I am working with an app that gets you to draw something each day, so I can only hope my work will improve as time goes on. Right now, I only have one drawing up and one inking practice sheet, but it should be interesting later on.

          Are you working on being more creative this year? Did you sign up for the Reading Challenge of 2017? Let me know in the comments! Lastly, if you want to keep your Friday evening open this week, I'll be hosting an evening of #fntwp on Twitter again. Come and join me if you want to write, talk about writing or have some questions you'd like to ask me there!

My Year in Books- 2016 Edition

          Hello, everyone! Welcome back. I have a few things I'm going to have to get working on, but I told you earlier this year that I wanted to let you know what my year in books was. So I took a picture of the Goodreads graphic and I thought you'd find it interesting as well.

         Firstly, I read 100 books in 2016! A few of them were rather short, and one was actually a children's book (still counts). It made up for at least one of my books actually being a trilogy in a single volume, I feel. That 100 books was 31,739 pages worth of reading! I was more than a little stunned when I realised that as well.

          The shortest book I read was only 36 pages long; the children's book, Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke. Offhand, if you have young children and are a bit of geek, I totally suggest this one. The writing is fun and simple for kids, but if you game, it's even better. Goblin is "hanging out his friend Skeleton" and the picture clearly shows them playing a D&D/Pathfinder type of game in one page. Another is when Goblin finds the heroes who have stolen his treasure, they have taken a buxom wench as part of the treasure. The woman herself seems quite displeased with that turn of events as well. It was entirely hilarious and worth reading.

         The longest book I read was Anne Bishop's, The Black Jewels Trilogy. The book contains the books Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows and Queen of Darkness. Pagewise the volume itself is 1,204 pages long. A great book for anyone looking for something to read. Anne Bishop books all contain a very feminist outlook, this one detailing what actually happens when women take too much of the power back and start abusing it to boot. As well, her books have been perfectly described by a friend of mine as "Violence meets Marital Bliss" which strangely works super well together.

          The most popular book I read this year, by far, was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I shared that books genius with nearly 2,250,000  other people! The least popular book I read was a manga of Overlord, Vol. 3 by Kugane Maruyama. Only 8 other people worldwide read it with me. Sort of an insane difference, isn't it?

          I learned that I tend to rate books rather highly since last year my average star rating was 3.9 and that the highest star rating all around for a novel that I read was Brandon Sanderson's Bands of Mourning which overall have a 4.46 average rating on Goodreads.

          Next week, I'll talk about this reads Reading Challenge with Goodreads (Yes, I'm doing it again, with a lower total this year). Today, I'll leave you with an apology; I forgot to mention in my last post that I had also received Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I can't wait to read it later on this year.

Finally Getting Better

          It has been a bleh couple of weeks folks. Even admitting that January/February is usually when I get my worst illnesses of the year, this one has been a doozy. I have a touch of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) or something like it; basically, I don’t do as well when the I’m not getting my preferred amount of light (I used to joke that I was obviously photosynthesizing. I get a little bit depressed, I’m a little more likely to get sick and I’m much more likely to wallow in my own depression about it. Normally by the end of March I’m champing at the bit, desperate to see green plants and bright sunlight again. Enough so that every year I take pictures of the new green buds just because they fill me with so much pleasure.

          Anyways, now that you’ve had the long story, I can say (short story) I caught the flu and it took me out for two weeks. Now I’m mostly over it, just a bit of achy muscles, a stuffed up nose, and a bit of tiredness in general left. It means that I haven’t gotten much writing or editing done in the last two weeks, though I am very glad that ‘less’ in this case doesn’t equal ‘none’. I finished editing two chapters of Hunter and have a paragraph started for a completely new chapter I’m adding to the novel. I can't wait to get even more done on it. I recently figured out an entire section to add, while quietly cutting down the storyline that my MC deals with in town.

          Speaking of my editing experience, I must say, when I first saw the changes my editor suggested I was horribly disappointed in myself. Now, I can see why she made the suggestions. Her comments really made me look at my story and decide not only what I wanted but what would make my book even more exciting for my readers. I can't wait to get even more of those changes done. 

          Lastly, I finally had a chance to get to Chapters so I can now tell you about my New Years novel. The one I chose is an awesome little fantasy called Skyborn (by David Dalglish) about twins who join their local army; using magic and mechanical wings as their weapons. It sounds interesting and I'll be starting it after I finish reading the novel I'm currently reading.

          Have any of you read any of David Dalglish's novels? What did you think of them and this one in particular? Oh, make sure you come keep an eye out for my next post where I'll be talking about what I read last year in Goodread's Reading Challenge and what my challenge for this year is!  

Unlucky

Bleh, my new year has sucked so far. I started feeling sick on the 2nd of January and the flu has not receded yet. I haven't even gotten to my local Chapters to pick up my New Years book. I'm hoping to go on Friday. I have been sick enough that I haven't even been able to read or write lately (though I have been able to listen to books. Thank the gods for Audible). Words were too much for me. I seem to be on the mend finally and I'm hoping to be back at work tomorrow and writing soon. Until then, I'll keep this as a short update and get back to resting.

Oh! I did forget to mention one other book I recieved this season in my last update. I got Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I'm really looking forward to reading this one when I get a chance; certainly before the movie comes out.

One other thing, I signed up for Goodread's 2017 Reading Challenge again. I tend to read about 100 books a year, but I found that I really had trouble reaching it last year. This year I decided to go for an easier goal of 80 novels.

Anyways I'm going back to bed in the hopes of getting back to work soon. What have you read this year? Have you signed up for the Challenge? Let me know in the comments below.