Writing
My work on Follow the Raven went a lot better this month! I wrote 3,374 words out of my 5,000 word goal. It may not seem like a lot, but it's more than I had, and the story is picking up nicely. I'm excited to continue working on it during Camp NaNoWriMo in April, where I'll double my goal and try to write 10,000 more words of the story.
My new fanfic over on Wattpad has also really taken off. I've seen a major increase in the total amount of reads, votes, and comments over the past 31 days. Old fans I haven't heard from in a while are back, as well as some newer ones I've gained recently. It's crazy, but I'm really glad everyone's liking it and going along with my personal theories and creative liberties thus far. My current stats are 781 reads, 86 votes, and 16 comments. (Seriously. Do the math on this month's stats versus last month's divided by four weeks. Your mind will be blown. Mine is!)
Reading
This has been a month of ups and downs for me in terms of book reading. I'm also now three books behind my original TBR Takedown 2.0 schedule, but I'll get to that later on. Here are the books I read in March:
- The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
- Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas
- Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham
- The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
- The Story of Owen by E.K. Johnston
I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into when I began The Search for WondLa. All I knew going in was that it was a children's book (albeit a very large one) about a girl named Eva Nine who wanted to learn whether she really was the last human. The thing that really blows me away about this book is that it grabbed my attention from the very first page and simply would not let go until I'd finished the entire thing. It was always just one adventure after another in rapid succession while keeping the primary plot at the forefront at all times and it was just...amazingly well done. I grew so attached to Rovender; he is easily my favorite character. Upon finishing the book I looked to see if there were any more and came to learn that it is book one in a trilogy, which I will definitely be finishing when I get the chance. The Search for WondLa earned five stars from me.
Some Danger Involved was a book I'd had my eye on for a while and finally got around to reading in early March. It was a really unique case and really well done, and I really enjoyed it. However, in the reading of it, I came to learn a thing about myself. I love everything Sherlock Holmes. This is no secret. The original novels, the current BBC show, Lock and Mori - you name it. I love the dynamic between Holmes and Watson, the friendship they build over time, the brilliance of Sherlock himself. Everything. I never thought there could be a downside to this, until I read Some Danger Involved. Apparently I hold all detective duos to the standard of Holmes and Watson, which I know is totally unfair, but I just couldn't stop thinking about them as I read this first book in the Barker and Llewelyn series. I kept imagining Barker as a knockoff Sherlock Holmes (which he totally isn't!) and Llewelyn as an older character than he actually was. Long story short, I learned that it is possible to read a book incorrectly. That's what I did with Some Danger Involved, and I feel awful about it. Rest assured, I intend to reread it one day and remedy the situation. But for now...it is what it is, and I'm very sorry. I really did like it, though.
The Story of Owen is the book I got from my bookworm friend for Christmas. The story behind why I found it so amusing that she chose to give me this particular book is too long to explain, but suffice it to say I laughed out loud when I opened the package and was super excited to have it added to my TBR. To be honest, the synopsis of the book really doesn't tell you much about what the story is actually about, and that is the perfect way to go into The Story of Owen. I won't give anything away here because it is an experience I think all fantasy lovers should have for themselves, but I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued and I think it is possibly one of the most original dragon slayer stories of all time, ever.
Some Danger Involved was a book I'd had my eye on for a while and finally got around to reading in early March. It was a really unique case and really well done, and I really enjoyed it. However, in the reading of it, I came to learn a thing about myself. I love everything Sherlock Holmes. This is no secret. The original novels, the current BBC show, Lock and Mori - you name it. I love the dynamic between Holmes and Watson, the friendship they build over time, the brilliance of Sherlock himself. Everything. I never thought there could be a downside to this, until I read Some Danger Involved. Apparently I hold all detective duos to the standard of Holmes and Watson, which I know is totally unfair, but I just couldn't stop thinking about them as I read this first book in the Barker and Llewelyn series. I kept imagining Barker as a knockoff Sherlock Holmes (which he totally isn't!) and Llewelyn as an older character than he actually was. Long story short, I learned that it is possible to read a book incorrectly. That's what I did with Some Danger Involved, and I feel awful about it. Rest assured, I intend to reread it one day and remedy the situation. But for now...it is what it is, and I'm very sorry. I really did like it, though.
The Story of Owen is the book I got from my bookworm friend for Christmas. The story behind why I found it so amusing that she chose to give me this particular book is too long to explain, but suffice it to say I laughed out loud when I opened the package and was super excited to have it added to my TBR. To be honest, the synopsis of the book really doesn't tell you much about what the story is actually about, and that is the perfect way to go into The Story of Owen. I won't give anything away here because it is an experience I think all fantasy lovers should have for themselves, but I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued and I think it is possibly one of the most original dragon slayer stories of all time, ever.
TBR Takedown 2.0 Quarter Update
We are three months into 2017! That means it's time to check in on how I'm doing in my quest to take down my TBR. If you reference my first post of the year, you'll see that I had hoped to be down to 9 books by now, from the 24 I started at on January 1. I am currently at 12, which makes sense because A) when I was planning this takedown I didn't account for the library books I'd be reading and B) I did get one new book this month, despite my rule not to get any until our first trip to Montana this year, which hasn't happened yet.
BUT. All things considered, I'm at a much better place than I was at the beginning of the year, and cutting my TBR in half in the first three months is nothing to scoff at!
So now that it's been a couple of months and I have better handle on how the takedown actually works in practice, I can modify my schedule slightly. Here's how I'm planning to continue this takedown:
12 Books on TBR
April - 3 Books (9 left)
May - 5 Books (4 left)
June - Finish TBR
The reason I'm only planning to read three TBR books next month is because one of them is a GIANT of a book. 650 pages, tiny text, almost no spacing, etc. It's going to take me two weeks to get through it at a pace that I already think will be pushing it. Plus, April is planned to be a writing-heavy month because of Camp NaNo. My intention is to make May a reading-heavy month as compensation so I still finish my TBR in June like I originally hoped. (Note: The above outline is assuming I don't add any more books to my TBR in the next three months, but with a Montana trip coming up in the near future, at least one will be added, if not two. I'll keep you updated and make any necessary changes come June when I reach the halfway point.)
My rules are still in place: ONE library book per FIVE that I read from my TBR, and no buying new books outside of our trip to Montana (Skulduggery Pleasant series excluded, ref. first post).
And speaking of Skulduggery Pleasant, you may remember last month I told you I'd begun to collect the series. Well, the books began arriving at my doorstep this month, and they are gorgeous! I didn't realize how big some of the later books are - everything from book five on is at least 600 pages! Yikes! But I'm still super excited to do a mass readthrough later this year (although it's looking more like it will be a late summer / early fall activity rather than a mid-summer one like I originally planned). At this point I now own all of the books except for #6 and #10, which I'll be respectively ordering and pre-ordering next month.
There you have it! I feel great about the amount of reading I've been doing so far this year, as well as the amount of writing I've done this month. I'm off to a great start! Check back here next time to see how I fared in Camp NaNo and if I'm keeping on track with my updated TBR Takedown 2.0! See you in April!
BUT. All things considered, I'm at a much better place than I was at the beginning of the year, and cutting my TBR in half in the first three months is nothing to scoff at!
So now that it's been a couple of months and I have better handle on how the takedown actually works in practice, I can modify my schedule slightly. Here's how I'm planning to continue this takedown:
12 Books on TBR
April - 3 Books (9 left)
May - 5 Books (4 left)
June - Finish TBR
The reason I'm only planning to read three TBR books next month is because one of them is a GIANT of a book. 650 pages, tiny text, almost no spacing, etc. It's going to take me two weeks to get through it at a pace that I already think will be pushing it. Plus, April is planned to be a writing-heavy month because of Camp NaNo. My intention is to make May a reading-heavy month as compensation so I still finish my TBR in June like I originally hoped. (Note: The above outline is assuming I don't add any more books to my TBR in the next three months, but with a Montana trip coming up in the near future, at least one will be added, if not two. I'll keep you updated and make any necessary changes come June when I reach the halfway point.)
My rules are still in place: ONE library book per FIVE that I read from my TBR, and no buying new books outside of our trip to Montana (Skulduggery Pleasant series excluded, ref. first post).
And speaking of Skulduggery Pleasant, you may remember last month I told you I'd begun to collect the series. Well, the books began arriving at my doorstep this month, and they are gorgeous! I didn't realize how big some of the later books are - everything from book five on is at least 600 pages! Yikes! But I'm still super excited to do a mass readthrough later this year (although it's looking more like it will be a late summer / early fall activity rather than a mid-summer one like I originally planned). At this point I now own all of the books except for #6 and #10, which I'll be respectively ordering and pre-ordering next month.
There you have it! I feel great about the amount of reading I've been doing so far this year, as well as the amount of writing I've done this month. I'm off to a great start! Check back here next time to see how I fared in Camp NaNo and if I'm keeping on track with my updated TBR Takedown 2.0! See you in April!
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