Phoenix (take2) & competition

On Friday I worked out that I’ve bought 32 books this month… O_O
As of tomorrow it’ll be 33.

I buy books, show tickets pretty much most things in even numbers, there are a few exceptions. Such as 13*, 21, 33 and basically anything ending in a 5. I will round 5 up to 6 though – go figure. It’s a somewhat annoying and expensive habit of mine.

Writing-wise I’ve reached an interesting time…

I haven’t written as much and I’m behind on my ROW80 targets (truth be told they’ve sort of gone out the window) yet while the quantity of words is lower, the actual quality is better then ever before so I won’t beat myself up about it.

I plan on writing another chapter today and putting the other pieces in the right before order. My main target for ROW80 was to finish the first draft of part one. I think I’m still on track for that.

I’ve told you my annoying habit (I think my shyness with strangers annoys my family more) so it’s time to confess the rest.

• one secret: Twirling in rainbows on a cold dark stage. Which was being let into a theatre and trying on the costumes, exploring backstage and dancing on the actual stage in costume.
• one interesting quirk: I really truly have no rhythm. I can see it. If I watch people dance/clap I can tell you if they are wrong but when it comes to doing it myself I can’t. Marieke is the perfect witness to this, we’ve seen a few** shows and I have to copy her in order to clap to the beat. If I don’t copy I go wrong.
• one of your best character traits: I am a very loyal friend and will do pretty much anything in the world for the people I love.
• one of your favourite things in the whole world: This one was hard, I included loads in the poem. That I live by the sea, the whole ghost and moving wall paragraph is one of the trips I took with Marieke. (One of our friends was playing a ghost in the musical Secret Garden and he had to move the scenery as part of the role – we might have teased him a bit ) Journey to Atlantis is a ride in Sea World, or it was went I went for my 21st birthday and having the entire cast of Dancing with the Stars wonder into the hotel bar in Philadelphia is another…

The lie?

I’ll get to that in a moment, going back to my habit and the slightly obscene number of books purchases (work bonuses are dangerous). I have been reading like crazy to keep up (14 1/2 for this month) and two of my favourite reads were: Cracked Up To Be & Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers.

So I’m going to give away Some Girls Are because I think it’s just that tiny little bit better then Cracked Up To Be.

To enter leave me a comment and you get extra entries for following me on Twitter, subscribing and if you guessed the lie you get another 2.

I lied when I said I’d been trapped behind iron bars. I’ve had plenty of chances with all the historical places I’ve visited. I’ve managed to avoid it so far. Not so lucky with ghosts though…

The competition closes on the 12 March 2011 and they winners will be announced on the 14 March 2011. It’s internal providing the Book Depository delivers to your country, you can check their list here.

Good luck!

 

*lucky in our family
** ok, LOADS

Christmas Spirits

I came back from Edinburgh yesterday.

We were only there for 2 days but I loved it. Marieke* and I went to see The Secret Garden which was wonderful. Apart from that there were writing conferences and of course book shopping. We found a road which was basically just charity shops and by the time we reached the end we were packhorse’s. We also visited Mary King’s Close, which is truly fascinating and scary. The mulled wine at the end was greatly appreciated.

As it’s really and truly Christmas season and I’m going to be doing a bit of a giveaway so please come back this Thursday to learn all about it!

I want to say thank you for my lovely comments on the blogfest entry, I really appreciate it and I promise to post more from Quarantined in 2011!

* yep that one

New members of the family…

Book family that is.

I arrived back yesterday and so far jet lag seems to be going ok. I’m don’t feel that spaced out. My head is on creative overload at the moment, which is mainly due to visiting wonderland.*

But if there is a bookstore** near me I am guaranteed to sniff it out, even if we need a cab** to get there. Well we needed a cab for one very large Borders which I happily got lost in. As my companion is a not a bookaddict like me I controlled myself, sorta… after 3 shops (including airport) I came home with the below:

• ice – sarah beth durst
• dark reflections – kai meyer
• crown of crystal flame – c l wilson
• hearts blood – juliet marillier
• intertwined – gena showalter
• incarceron – catherine fisher
• firelight – sophie jordan
• halo – alexandra adornetto
• the kidnapping of christina hattimore – joan lowery nixon
• perfect chemistry – simone elkeles
• maximum ride (saving the world and other extreme sports) – james patterson
• paranormalcy – kiersten white
• zoombies vs. unicorns – various
• radiance – alyson noel
• twenty boy summer – sarah ockler
• luna – julie anne peters
• the anatomy of wings – karen foxlee

These are not in any order and I have no idea which one to start with? Suggestions? (The only one I can’t start is Maximum Ride as I need to read the previous one first) Good job I build more bookcases eh?

17… hmm, I prefer even numbers. Since I’m not back at work until Wednesday I’m still on holiday, can I buy an 18^th? *shines halo*

*I will explain this at a later date.

**go Americanized me

Boot Camp ½ weekly report

Ok, well it didn’t quite work out the way we planned, sadly my bestest writing buddy still had Thesis stuff to do so while she worked on that I’ve been busy revising my WIP. It’s been going well, only I’m rewriting so much that I’ve added over 10k just for part one… I haven’t finished part one yet!

On the plus side, it’s given me plenty of time to read Matched by Allyson Condie. BWB* had the ARC sitting here waiting for me. I liked it, the writing is great. I confess that I’m not dying for my own copy or needing to know what happens next. I actually like it as a stand alone.

Aren't they pretty?

Yesterday we worked on plot bunnies, by the end of it I had 9 (maybe 10) new projects on top of my current WIP… it was interesting to see how wide our genre’s stretched. While on first glance you would pick my BWB as a fantasy author and me more Paranormal YA, we’ve got Urban Fantasy, Contemporary, Dystopian, Steampunk, Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories, you name it it’s pretty much in there. I can’t wait to start.

Of course the other main feature of this week has been book shopping. My budget went pretty much out of the window, at some point I just went s#d it… but if it’s cereal for breakfast, lunch & dinner the next two weeks I don’t mind.

Below is the whole list (I might as well confess in style) of books I bought, in store and online – because if I’m in another country the books I order online don’t count. It’s my logic and I’m sticking to it *lol* – The green books are bargain bucket**

The Bride’s Farewell – Meg Rosoff

Of Bees and Mist – Erick Setiwan

The Forbidden Game – L.J. Smith

Linger – Maggie Stiefvater

The Line – Teri Hall

Prism – Faye & Aliza Kellerman

The Gardner – S.A. Bodeen

Voices of Dragons – Carrie Vaughn

Maximum Ride [The Final Warning] – James Patterson

The Runaway – Angela McAllister

Magic Under Glass – Jaclyn Dolamore

Daggerspell – Katharine Kerr

The Spinning City – Kate Forsyth

Squire – Tamora Pierce (I have to get the first 2 now )

Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta

13 Little Blue Envelopes – Maureen Johnson

The Little White Horse – Elizabeth Goudge

Sonnets and Other Poems – William Shakespeare

Fever Crumb -Philip Reeve

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan

Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins

Forbidden – Tabitha Suzuma

Brightly Woven – Alexandra Bracken

Newes from the Dead -Mary Hooper

The Sky is Everywhere – Jandy Nelson

The Mysterious Benedict Society -Trenton Lee Stewart

Looking for JJ – Anne Cassidy

No and Me – Delphine de Vigan

The Adoration of Jenna Fox – Mary E Pearson

Stardust – Neil Gaiman (long overdue!)

Living Dead Girl – Elizabeth Scott

Flyaway – Lucy Christopher

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Grace Lin

and finally, Room – Emma Donoghue

I’m not buying any more books for at least 3 months… ok I’ll try not to buy any more books for at least 3 months.

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that despite my earlier claim, Finding Sky by Joss Stirling is not on the list. I’ve decided to wait for the paperback release…

The problem I have now is how to fit them all into my already overflowing bookcases and which one to start with! Suggestions? (Don’t say Mockingjay, I still haven’t read Catching Fire… yeah I know.)

In the near future I plan on doing a blog on online bookshops under the title: Amazon MAJOR FAIL, it’s an ongoing issue that I feel the need to vent about, so tune in.

.

* bestest writing buddy

** can I just say how much I ♥ bargain buckets