Intergalactic Book Tag (August Book Wrap-Up)

It's kind of ironic that I chose this month for the Intergalactic Book Tag because I'm on a serious Ratchet and Clank kick right now.

Writing

I don't have much to report on writing for this month. Going on vacation both helped and hindered my creative spirit. Lots of ideas, few written down. While I never actually posted another chapter on Wattpad in August, I did write one and plan to post it this Friday. However my fanbase has somewhat exploded this month. I've gotten a lot of new readers. My current stats for "Worlds Collide" are 3,350 reads; 247 votes; and 113 comments. (Wattpad has updated their website again, which infuriates me. I don't understand why they feel the need to change everything every few months.)

Also, NaNoWriMo prep season officially starts tomorrow! The theme for this year is SPACE! How cool is that? :D

I have no idea what I'm going to write this November yet, but I have had a couple of ideas. I believe this year will be the hardest I've attempted because I'll be working full-time. But then again, I managed the past two years as a full-time student, and there will be no homework this time around. Hmm...we shall see! Either way, I'm really excited!

Reading

I did not do very much reading at all this month either (most of that is due to my being on vacation and then job-hunting when I got back), but I did a couple of books read.

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan
• Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

I am also currently rereading Lock and Mori by Heather W. Petty. Book Two comes out in December. (I don't count it as part of my wrap-up because I've already read it once this year, and Goodreads doesn't count the same book twice in one year, either.)

The Kite Runner took me on the biggest emotional roller-coaster a book has offered me in a long time! It was extremely slow at first, but about 80 pages in you get hit with a brick of "holy crap this just got real serious." After that you get to suffer through another 50-70 pages of "I wish the protagonist would die, he's so awful." Eventually, however, you emerge into the downhill fall of sad, depressing, tragic, heartbreaking, and "this book is eating my very soul." I cried. Several times. This is the first time in five years that a book has driven me to tears. Everything about The Kite Runner was so dark and unfair, but the message it offered was outstanding. Make sure you're in decent mental condition before reading this novel. It will tear you APART. (It's a good thing I went on vacation immediately after finishing it. I wouldn't have been able to read another book for days anyway.)

Quick backstory on why I chose to read Mutant Message Down Under. I'm currently participating in a reading challenge my former college put out just before the end of last school year, which consists of twelve books to be read by the end of 2016. You can choose the books you read as long as they follow along a certain prompt or category. For example, "A book about a culture you are unfamiliar with." Well, thanks to my many worldly college classes and own personal studies, I can honestly say I know at least a little bit about a lot of different cultures all over the world. The only place I could think that I absolutely knew nothing about was Australia. Thus the search for a book about Australian culture began, and I ended up with Mutant Message. The book itself did not have almost any dialogue due to the language barrier between the main character and the Aboriginal tribe she was traveling with, but despite this I found the narrative to be very engaging. Once I started I couldn't seem to stop. It was a very interesting and enlightening read. And now I can say I know a little bit about Aboriginal culture!

I'm in the middle of Of Metal and Wishes as of this blog post, but so far I can say that it is really, really unique and interesting. Phantom of the Opera meets Steampunk, and things just got a whole lot darker. I have just over 70 pages left in this one.

The Intergalactic Book Tag

1) Space: Name a book that is out of this world (that takes place in a world different from our own.)

• I read a lot of books that take place in worlds different from ours, since I primarily read fantasy. So for this answer I decided to go with the last book I read that took place somewhere other than Earth, and that was Winterspell by Claire Legrand. Only about 10% of Winterspell takes place on Earth; the rest of it takes place in a world called Cane, which is filled with darkness and magic. (I gave it five stars, by the way - since I had not yet finished it as of my last wrap-up.)

2) Black Hole: Name a book that completely sucked you in.

• The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. I was so excited to read this book after I discovered it thanks to the release of the movie HOME. Once I started, I simply could not put it down. The characters were charming and the plot was complex. I couldn't wait to see how it ended, so I read it as quickly as I could (considering I was going through a tragedy with a friend at the time). I hadn't even finished the library copy I was reading when I decided to buy it from Barnes and Noble. I loved it! Then I read the sequel, Smek for President, and finished it in just a couple of days. Both of these books sucked me in from the first word on the first page. They were so much fun to read.

3) Lightspeed: Name a book you are anticipating so much that you wish you could travel at lightspeed to get to it.

• Lock and Mori: Mind Games by Heather W. Petty. Back in February I came upon Lock and Mori and fell in love with the concept even before I started reading. I plowed through it, loving the characters and story despite the fact that it really wasn't a Sherlock story as it was advertised. (You can read my thoughts on that here.) As soon as I finished I looked to see if there would be more books, and there will be! Book Two is set to release on December 6th, and I can't wait to read it! The last line of the first book was the greatest last line ever. I was hooked from the word go, and I wish I could travel at lightspeed to get to Mind Games!

4) Nebula: Name a book with a beautiful cover.

• Originally I was going to say A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray for this one, but then I remembered I showed this one off last month for Instagram in the Social Media Book Tag, so I have since changed my answer to show off another gorgeous book cover: A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Look at it! It's so awesome! (The book was a masterpiece, by the way. Absolutely astounding.)

5) Multiverse: Name a companion or spinoff series you love.

• When I was in early high school, I loved Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey saga. I can't believe it didn't get more recognition than it did. So when she released a companion trilogy titled Call of the Forgotten, of course I went to read it. I loved it just as much as the original saga - it was different, but still kept the essence of the first four books, and I loved that. (I have yet to read the last book in the trilogy, but I fully intend to!)

6) Gravity: Name your favorite romantic pairing that seems to have a gravitational pull to each other.

• I'm using the same books for two answers in a row, but I don't care. My favorite romantic pairing is Meghan and Ash from Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey saga. Oh my goodness, I fell in love with these two so hard, so fast. To this day they are my OTP in the book world.

7) The Big Bang: Name the book that got you started on reading.

• I can't pinpoint just one book that got me started - I've been reading since before I knew words.

8) Asteroid: Name a short story or novella that you love.

• I literally cannot think of anything for this answer. I don't read short stories or novellas, really. I read novels. Lots of them.

9) Galaxy: Name a book with multiple POV's.

• A Daring Sacrifice by Jody Hedlund is told from the alternating perspectives of Lady Juliana and Lord Collin. Now, I have to admit something here: I strongly dislike multiple-POV books unless they are done really, really well. I much prefer to form a strong attachment with just one character and root for him or her, rather than having to split my attention and loyalties between more than one protagonist. One example of a multiple-POV book that was done well is Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. It was told mostly from the alternating perspectives of Simon and Baz, who had the same goal while having their different opinions about how to reach said goal. They worked together throughout the book, so when they split up to do different tasks it was nice to be able to keep up with it all without pages of filling each other in. Carry On also included the POVs of a select few other characters, which I didn't really like, but overall it was put together really well. So basically, I won't absolutely refuse to read a multiple-POV book; I just don't prefer them.

10) Spaceship: Name a book title that would be a great name for a spaceship.

• Oh my goodness, how I've struggled with this one. Since I can't decide, I'll just say that it would probably come down to one of these three: The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, or Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman.

And that finishes off my summer of book tags! Starting next month I'll be going back to regular book wrap-ups. Hope you enjoyed learning a little more about my favorite reads and bookish opinions! See you next time!

Defending Myself

There are some things I need to say.

A couple of weeks ago I told my family and friends that I am taking a year off of school. I was met with some negative feedback, as was expected, but what astounds me is the amount of negativity I've been and am still receiving. I've heard various comments, such as "if you take a year off you'll never go back" or "it's your own fault for not getting a job this summer" or "you're going to forget everything you've learned."

I prepared myself to hear such comments when I first announced it. I knew my family and friends would not be overly excited at first, and I accepted that it was not what we all thought was going to happen, so it would be difficult to adjust. It was difficult for me to adjust, at first. But more on that in a minute.

The reason I'm writing this blog post is to put in writing my thoughts on the matter. Why I made the decision, and my response to the incredible amount of negativity I've been experiencing over the past couple of weeks.

When I graduated from Sheridan College this past May, the thought of not immediately going to a university was not on my mind at all. I had every intention of going to MSUB this fall and start working towards my Bachelor's degree, which was - and still is - my end goal in terms of education. I was on the university's site all the time, looking at courses and planning and daydreaming about going to a new school and all that kind of stuff. In June I visited the campus for the first time, met my advisor, and got my schedule set up. I was all good to go.

I did try to find a job for the summer. It's not like I was purposely wasting time every day. I applied to several places in town, was interviewed a couple of times. But ultimately, everyone I went to rejected me. I still don't know why, as I was perfectly qualified and capable to do the jobs I was applying for. Some turned me away even though they were desperate for help. The reasoning behind all of that doesn't matter, though. What matters is that I did NOT just sit here without a job all summer on purpose. I TRIED to find something. Nothing worked out, except for one place that hired me on the spot.

My trouble there was that I worked for two days, and then my car broke down in their parking lot. My mom had to come pick me up, and when my dad went to try and get the car just a few hours later, we discovered that my boss had had it towed away because it was "in the way" of some storage containers they had outside, when in fact my car was on the opposite end of the parking lot from them. I called my boss the next morning to tell him I now had no way to get to work (because I could not borrow my parents' van every day), and he let me go because I was now unreliable. They never paid me for the two days I worked, and frankly, I don't care.

I won't go into the details of what happened next, but basically, this was the first time I started having doubts about going to school this fall. Not because of what happened at my job - that was all just annoying. What happened was I thought about just going ahead on up to Billings to try and find work there (we have family friends who were willing to give me a room), but every time I seriously started planning to do so, I got this sick feeling and would abandon the idea completely. This happened off and on from that point until about mid-July, getting steadily worse and worse as the summer went on. Meanwhile my old roommate and I talked about the possibility of us finding an apartment together in Billings so she could work and I could go to school without having to pay an extra $7,000 a year for room and board at the university. I was all gung-ho at first, but again, every time I seriously looked into it I got really uneasy and would abandon the idea completely.

Finally - and this is important, so listen up - I asked God what He wanted me to do. I asked Him for guidance and told Him I was ready to follow whatever path He had for me, even if it meant staying in this town I've been trying to get out of for eight years. I prayed and prayed for a week solid, spending a lot of time alone with Him. Eventually I heard the message loud and clear: I need to take a year off of school. And you know what? As soon as I heard Him say that, I instantly felt so much better about everything. All the stress I'd been feeling went away. I knew it was the right decision then, and I know it's the right decision now.

I knew at the beginning of July that I would be taking a year off of school, but I didn't say anything right away because I knew I needed to wait a little bit longer and pray for courage. I knew I would be met with some negativity at first, which is exactly what happened. What I wasn't expecting was the continuing negativity, and the denial that everyone seems to be in. So now that you know why I made the decision I did, I'm going to put an end to whatever you think is going on in my life right now.

First, I am not taking a year off of school because of the car trouble I've had this summer, or the fact that I couldn't find a job, or because I'm afraid of going to Billings. I am taking a year off because I need to do so for my own mental health, and because God does not want me to go anywhere yet. At the end of the day, that is the ONLY reason that matters.

Second, whether it takes me a year or two or ten, I do fully intend to get my Bachelor's degree in English. It will happen at some point in my life, so don't worry! I'm not giving up on my education, and I certainly don't mean to be completely finished with it yet. Taking a year off is not the end of the world.

Third, regardless of what you think I've been doing all summer, I've not just been sitting around and doing nothing. I'm aware that most people don't understand this, but writing is my job. One day, it will be my full-time, paid job. It doesn't matter that I'm not published yet. Writing takes work. It's not just something that happens one day. In the absence of a 9 to 5 job this summer, I have been writing. I have been working, just behind closed doors. I'm sorry if you don't understand. And as far as all that goes, I will find some sort of paid work for the year. But you don't need to worry about what jobs will be available to me either now or later in the year. God told me to stay here; He will help me find work here, too. I'm putting the matter into His hands. Why stress about something that's already taken care of? He will provide.

Finally, I am an adult. I am a 20-year-old woman. I don't know everything, but I do know how to be responsible for my own life, and I'm learning about those things I don't know how to do. From one adult to another, please stop telling me I'm making the wrong choice. Please stop telling me how to live my life. I do value your opinions and feedback, but I don't need consistent negativity. I've got this, guys! I know what I'm doing. Don't worry.

That being said, I hope that now that you know the full story we can all just accept the change and move on. I'm excited about taking a year off of school! I wasn't expecting to be in town this fall, so I'm curious to see what kinds of things will happen while I stay put for a while. I want to know what God has in store for me here. I'm excited to see where He plans to take me now and in the future. It's going to be an adventure!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.