My Battle With Misophonia

It's been a while since I've gotten more personal and deep with you guys, so to change things up this month I decided that it's about time I told you something pretty big. Something that has impacted my life in a not-so-great way and how I'm learning to deal with it on a daily basis. I suffer from a rare medical condition called misophonia. Many of you out there probably have no idea what that is OR don't believe that it's a legitimate condition when it is very much so for myself and many others. But what exactly is misophonia, and how does it affect my everyday life? If you read on, I will do my best to explain it to you.

What is misophonia?
Misophonia is the shorter and more common name for a condition known medically as Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome, or S4. Basically this means that those who suffer from it will be "triggered" by very common, everyday noises in an extremely negative way. The easiest way to explain it to someone who isn't very sciency (like myself) is that something is wonky with the wiring in the brain of a misophonic, and it causes them to interpret certain sounds in a bad way, even if there is absolutely no reason for it (which is mostly often the case). Anger, fear, anxiety, and panic are just some examples of the negative feelings the misophonic's brain will produce upon hearing a trigger sound. Common trigger sounds include chewing, tapping, clicking, mouth sounds, repetitive noises, breathing, etc. Very common noises that can be heard on a day-to-day basis, which only makes being an individual who suffers from this condition worse, as there is no escape from it unless you completely stay away from people.

How does it affect people generally?
The severity of the reaction depends upon the individual, but it can range from very minimal discomfort to using physical violence against the source of the trigger sound, be it person or inanimate object. Some people are simply bothered by the noise and seek to get away, while others go into a panic attack and their fight or flight response kicks in, thus the physical violence mentioned earlier. Here is a chart of the different levels (10) of misophonia:

How does it affect me, personally?
When I was growing up I would be triggered by certain noises and react violently to them, which often got me in trouble with my parents and sometimes even with my brother. I didn't actually have a name to put to this condition until about two years ago. You cannot imagine the relief I felt when I found out that I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE who suffers from this. All those years of feeling like I was just being picky, or overreacting to certain situations - all of it was because of a legitimate problem. I just didn't know it at the time.

In the past couple of years I've learned a lot more about what it means to have this condition in this day and age, and various coping mechanisms that others use to get through their lives relatively peacefully. It's impossible to have a perfect day when you live with misophonia, but thanks to online support groups and forums, I've learned a lot about how it affects me personally and how I personally can deal with my specific triggers.

If you'll refer to the chart above, you may be surprised to learn that I am a Level 9 misophonic. My primary trigger is gum chewing (just writing it down makes my heart beat faster), but I have a handful of others that include but are not limited to chewing, mouth noises, clicking, and repetitive sounds. It is impossible for me to get through even one day without being severely triggered. Every day I will talk to someone who is chewing gum as they're speaking (why the heck people feel the need to chew gum - or anything - with their mouth open, I DO NOT know). And even if I get away with not dealing with that specific trigger, I will have to deal with my family members who eat loudly and sometimes chew their food with their mouths open. (Which, again, I do not know why.) I will go to the kitchen to grab something and I'll hear my brother using the computer mouse in the living room, which triggers me as well. 9/10 times I will be physically shaking by the time I get back to the sanctuary that is my room, even if I'm only out there for a few seconds.

When I'm triggered my heart rate spikes, I get extremely tense, and when dealing with people I try to get the encounter over with as quickly as possible so I can get the heck out of there. This may seem like I'm being rude or anti-social, but it's the only way to avoid a breakdown. When exposed to a trigger noise for a prolonged period I will start to become antsy, I'll feel sick, anxiety will kick in, and then I will be in the midst of a full-blown panic attack and crying like a child because someone is chewing gum as they're talking to me. I simply cannot be exposed to those kinds of sounds for very long. It will literally cause me to have a mental breakdown on the spot because my brain is interpreting these sounds as a bad thing and I feel like I cannot get away.

Is there a cure?
Currently there is no cure for misophonia, but there are ways those who suffer from it can cope. Coping mechanisms vary from person to person, but thanks to the online support groups and forums I've been part of, I've learned a few tricks that have helped me get through situations I would have had to opt out of otherwise.

What coping mechanisms do you use?
My go-to coping mechanism is earplugs. Simple devices, but to the misophonic, they work wonders. I carry two sets of earplugs around with me everywhere I go and have one on standby just in case. One set is in my purse and the other is for use around the house. I've used earplugs in theaters (not because the movie is too loud but to block out the eating noises of the people around me), planetariums, and even in my own home. I sometimes sleep with them. They have been my saving grace when it comes to my everyday life. I remember the first time I used them to go see a movie with my college roommate and I left the theater almost crying with joy because I was able to sit through the whole thing without hearing a single chewing noise to trigger and distract me.

Besides earplugs, though, the only other coping mechanism I have is to stay away from people. I know it sounds horrible and anti-social, but it's honestly the best thing I can do for myself when it comes to having this condition. People don't understand that this is an actual medical condition; most just see it as giving people an excuse to be rude. I cannot tell you how much I hate seeing and hearing people say that this condition does not exist. Swap places with me for a day - me, a Level 9 misophonic - and then tell me it doesn't exist. I dare you.


I hope that I've enlightened you somewhat, and that perhaps you've learned a bit more about me after reading this post. I know not many people I see on a daily basis read this blog, but if you are one of those people, I'm going to take this opportunity to BEG you to PLEASE try to remember what you've learned here and take it seriously. If you happen across me one day and you're chewing gum, either take it out while you talk to me or try not to be offended if it seems like I'm trying to get away from you. I never mean it personally; I'm only try to save the both of us from the very real possibility of a mental breakdown.

And to those who are reading this generally: please, be considerate of others around you. Even if you don't know any misophonics in your lives there are many people who are annoyed by common mouth sounds, such as chewing gum or lip smacking. Be observant, be considerate. Take people's requests seriously. You never know if you're interacting with a misophonic person who is too afraid to speak up for themselves and ask you to stop whatever trigger noise you're causing. I've been that person. It sucks a lot.

I suffer from a rare medical condition called misophonia. It is very real. It is NOT an excuse for me to be rude, it is NOT an excuse for me to be by myself most of the time. It has impacted my life in a very negative way, and I am done being quiet about it. This is a part of me. Please respect that.

Thank you.

My First Audiobook (May Book Wrap-Up)

Yes, you read the title right! Anyone who knows me and my reading habits well knows that I've always preferred physical books to ebooks or audiobooks. I prefer to feel the weight of the book in my hand, read the story myself - not have someone else read it to me. So what changed my mind? Read on to find out!

Writing
I did very little work on Follow the Raven this month. I am kind of upset with myself, but at the same time, I don't feel too ashamed because I did write 10k of it last month during Camp NaNo. I'll pick up the slack in June and then write another 10k in July's Camp. It will happen!

"Everything Changes" has been going really well over on Wattpad! The story is booming, and the plot is really starting to pick up now. People are just as excited about my writing Sonic fanfiction again as I am. It's been a fun journey this month, especially. My current stats are 1,653 reads; 169 votes; and 37 comments.

Reading
I'm proud to announce that I completed my goal of reading at least three TBR books this month, in addition to the one library book I began reading at the end of April. I feel like I've mostly come out of my mid-takedown crisis and am back on the straight and narrow way, so to speak. I'm also on schedule to begin my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough next month, but we'll talk about that in a minute. First, for the books I read in May:

• The One by Kiera Cass
• Made For You by Melissa Marr
• Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
• The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Last month I read the first two books of The Selection series by Kiera Cass, which were both fantastic and unputdownable (except for that one time...). You can read about my thoughts on those here first if you so desire. Suffice it to say that The One was at once a heartbreaking, unforseeable, and completely perfect wrap-up. Holy flip, that ending, though...but I won't spoil anything here. I loved, loved, loved all three books so much, and would totally read them again. I intend to read the twenty-something-years-later duology soon - maybe later this year.

Made For You. I don't know if I can accurately put into words exactly how I feel about this book. I finished it a week ago and I'm still thinking about how crazy and messed-up it was. It is definitely worthy of its genre - mystery thriller - but man, this book was really disturbing and terrifying in its own way. This is one of the best YA thrillers I've read in a long time. Definitely recommended.

This month I listened to the audiobook version of Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. I can't even really tell you what it was that suddenly inspired me to want to listen to an audiobook at all - let alone this one. All I know is that I was nearing the end of my then-current read and wondering what I felt like reading next from my TBR pile. The title that kept popping into my head was Rebel of the Sands. But at the same time I was like, "Do I really want to read that one?" So I started my usual process of re-reading the summary and whatnot to get reacquainted with the book. Except this time instead of picking it up to read the first few lines and see if I was feeling it, I suddenly found myself searching for the audiobook and listening to a sample of it. Whatever it was that spurred me to find the audiobook, I ended up really liking the narrator for the story, so I went ahead and made the decision to listen to the whole book that way. And guys...I have not made such a fantastic decision in a long time.

The narrator for this book - Soneela Nankani - was such a perfect choice. Rebel of the Sands is told from the first person POV of a character named Amani, who is a girl, poor, and orphaned in a land where all three are disregarded as useless. Nankani does such a spectacular job of portraying the character that Hamilton created - everything from the pitch of her voice to its lilt. No one else could have portrayed Amani as well as Sonella Nankani does. The narrator also does a good job of distinguishing other characters' voices without trying too hard to really sound like something she's not, such as a male or a child. It's kind of hard to explain, but she does it very well. I can always tell which character is speaking when it's not Amani herself. Major props for that.

Beyond the narration, though, the story itself is spectacular. Alwyn Hamilton won Best Debut Goodreads Author in 2016 with her book Rebel of the Sands, and rightfully so! It is a story that is unique, captivating, and unpredictable. I never know where the story is going to take me next, and I love that because it's so hard to find books in the YA genre nowadays where I can't predict at least one thing about how it might go. I love Amani's character, her strangled relationship with Jin, and the story of how the two get swept up into a revolution without meaning to. I fully intend to listen to its sequel, Traitor to the Throne, as soon as I can. (Soneela Nankani narrates that one as well. Yes!)

Now for the most exciting part of all (for me, at least) - my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough begins as of June 1! Finally! I cannot express how excited I am to finally read the entire series from beginning to end. I've read each of the first three books at least once before when I was in high school, but the high school, college, and public libraries would never get books four and beyond (for reasons I know now that I've been working in a library for nine months). Now, after having slowly bought the rest of the series for myself book by book, I can finally find out what happens to Mr. Pleasant after the end of book three. *fangirl squeal* I'm so, so hyped for this!

And with that said, I'm off to the awesome world of Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain! Expect to see mostly books from this series in my next few wrap-ups! :D

The Elusive Naermyth

As you may or may not know, I have been an active member of Goodreads since January 2015. If you're unfamiliar with Goodreads, it's essentially a way to keep up with the latest novels of your preferred genre, connect with friends to see what they're reading, discuss books with others, etc. It's awesome, and I update it almost daily. (If you click on any of the links in my book wrap-ups they take you to the respective book's Goodreads page, just fyi.) Goodreads will also recommend books to you based on what you've recently read, what you're currently reading, what you've liked in the past, and so on. (I have a bad habit of reading about those books and then adding them to my WTR, which is way out of control at this point.)

Well, back in July 2016 Goodreads recommended to me a book called Naermyth by Karen Francisco. It didn't have many ratings or reviews, but the synopsis was really intriguing and unique, so I went ahead and added it. After that I kind of left it for a while, as I do with most books I add to my WTR.

Fast-forward to about a half a year later. I don't remember exactly what it was that made me remember I'd added this book to my list; I think maybe when I was doing my end-of-year Goodreads cleanup I came across it in my WTR and was like "oh, yeah" and clicked on it again. This time I took a closer look at it as part of my cleanup process, and that's when I began to learn interesting things about it. Its setting was the Philippines. That's really different for a dystopian book nowadays - most of them take place in America or Europe. The story is essentially about all the creatures and monsters of legend turning out to actually exist and coming back to destroy the world and endanger the human population. Really different for a dystopian.

Then I noticed again that there weren't a lot of reviews on it. I began scrolling through the ones that were available and learned that many of them were written by Philippine people. I also saw in the questions section that someone had asked where you could buy the book online, because they couldn't find it anywhere.

Now that really intrigued me.

I began to do some digging of my own, clicking on all the links that Goodreads provides in terms of where to buy it, which libraries nearest you have it, etc. In a quest that ended up taking me about two months, I discovered that this book was not available for purchase online anywhere except for one site that was basically a Philippine Amazon. The thing about that? They did not ship internationally. It was Philippines only. This book was impossible to purchase unless you lived in its home country.

By now, obviously, I was becoming obsessed with being able to read it. The thrill of the chase was really hyping it up for me. So in one last ditch effort to see if I could get my hands on it, I clicked on the Libraries tab on the book's page. As it turns out, there are only three libraries across the entire United States that have a copy of Naermyth. Two of them are universities, and the third is the Library of Congress.

At this point it was early February of this year. If you don't know, I work at my local library at the circulation desk. One night when I went to work I sent an email to our Inter-Library Loans specialist asking if it was possible to request items that were out of state. (I'd already gotten a couple of in-state books through ILL in the time I'd worked there.) I told her there was a book I was trying to get my hands on that was being extremely elusive, but from what I'd researched it looked like there was a copy in the Library of Congress. When I went back to work the following evening, I'd gotten a reply. It was possible.

I went ahead and sent her the details, giving her the name of the book, the author, and how I'd learned which libraries in the country had it. She said she'd see what she could do. About a month went by and I hadn't heard anything more about it, so I sent her a follow-up email, to which she replied saying she'd already sent a request for the book to the Library of Congress but hadn't gotten a response. She told me she'd try again. About a week later she informed me that they'd given her the go-ahead to get the book from them, and on April 12, Naermyth was in my hands.

When you request a book from out of state like I did, many times the libraries have extra fees you need to pay or certain lending policies you have to follow. The awesome thing about getting Naermyth was that the library still only fined me the standard ILL fee of $2, but the catch was that it was an in-library use only item. Meaning I could not take it out of the library; I had to read it there. Good thing that's where I work!

Slowly, over the course of the past month, I read Naermyth while on shift whenever I had the opportunity. Sometimes we'd get slammed and I wouldn't get any reading done; other times it would be utterly dead and I'd get 30 pages read in one shift. The sprints varied and it took a while, but the point is, I was finally able to read the elusive Naermyth.

So now that you know the story of how I got it and how long it took to read it, let me tell you what I thought of it.

The first thing I noticed once I began was the writing itself. It read very much like many self-published books, meaning it was pretty poorly written and held no evidence of ever having been edited - by the author or anyone else. This kept up throughout the entire book. Some passages were worse than others; I noticed consistent tense changes (sometimes even in the same sentence) and misspellings. Weird word choices were also present, along with a lot of Philippine terminology that I didn't understand. The author relied very heavily on her readers being familiar with specifically Philippine monsters (which is fair, considering it is a self-published novel in that country). There were many passages that could have used more description and a lot of names I needed to keep up with, half of which weren't even important or only appeared once in the book. The author also used some cliches and overused plot devices while trying to portray them as being unexpected. Overall, there were just a lot of things wrong with the presentation of the story. An editor would have been extremely helpful in this area.

Despite all of these shortcomings, the story itself was actually really unique and well-paced; I ended up giving the book three stars. (It would have been four if the writing wasn't so bad.) Essentially, the plot follows a young woman named Athena who comes across a man during one of her missions who has no memories of the past five years, which is when the Naermyth (never myth) began crawling out of their hiding places and destroying the human way of life. It doesn't take long for her to learn that he is actually a Naermyth himself, and the two of them have a strange, inexpiable connection to one another. They go on a quest to uncover the mystery of who he is and why everything she's ever known is suddenly thrown into turmoil because of his arrival, and...that's basically all one should know going in.

I've read a handful of dystopian novels - enough to know that I don't really prefer the genre - but this is by far the most unique one I've read. The idea of creatures that we all thought were only myths coming back to disrupt everything is very different, and this author made it work in a fascinating way. The protagonist, Athena, is a main character that is unexpected in every sense of the word, but by the end of the novel I grew to really like her. Her journey with Dorian was a unique kind of quest, and all of the twists and turns involved throughout kept me guessing right up until the very last page. And speaking of endings, the author nailed the ending of Naermyth. It fit right along with the whole mood of the rest of the novel while still finishing on a hopeful note. All in all, despite the bad writing, the story itself was very unique and very good. It was well worth the hassle it took to get it in my hands.

I feel like if this author had gotten a good editor, Naermyth would be much bigger than it is now. Even if she'd hired a freelancer so it could still be self-published, a little fine tuning on the presentation would have made this novel stand out big time. I almost want to own a copy, because I would probably read this again. (Chances of that are slim, of course, but still. Plus it would be cool to have bragging rights.)

Now that it's all said and done, I think that the crazy chase Goodreads sent me on to read this book was well worth it in the end. Despite its being an in-library use only item, I still found the time to read and enjoy it. You can be sure I took plenty of notes, though; after all, it's not something I can just pick up and reference whenever I want to! I'll be kind of sad to send it back to the Library of Congress, but alas, its due date approaches. Naermyth, it's been fun. Thanks for introducing me to a dystopian world I'll never forget.

Swept Away (April Book Wrap-Up)

I've hit some roadblocks and shifted my goals a little bit, and this month was a little slow in terms of reading. But it was very heavily writing-focused, so I think it all evens out. If you're not caught up on the mini-crisis I went through earlier this month, click here. Otherwise, read on!

Writing
Follow the Raven went great this month! As you know I set out to write 10,000 words of the story during April's Camp NaNoWriMo, and I'm proud to say that I did exactly that. (My winner's certificate looks pretty awesome. Just saying.) The story is coming along at a nice pace; I actually just introduced one of the villains during the sprint that put me over the 10k mark. I'm excited to have more scenes with him in it in the near future. Next month I'll go back to aiming for 5k, but you can bet that come July I'm going to try and make this the first time that I win BOTH camps in the same year. For now, though, I'm going to take a well-deserved rest.

"Everything Changes" over on Wattpad really took off this month. I hit 1,000 reads and now have over 100 votes on the story. My readers are totally on board with this unique take on the Sonic Boom universe, and I'm excited to see how they feel in another month after tensions rise even higher than they are now. Some exciting stuff is coming, for sure! My current stats are 1,111 reads; 128 votes; and 23 comments.

Reading
If you read my last blog post, you're already aware that earlier this month I went through what I dubbed a "mid-takedown crisis" in which I suddenly lost all motivation to read books from my TBR because I felt like I was forcing myself to read them. I have since dealt with said crisis, but for the month of April my reading schedule went all out of whack and I read one less book than I had hoped to. The first book on this list is from my TBR. The rest are from the library.

• Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
• The Selection by Kiera Cass
• Naermyth by Karen Francisco
• The Elite by Kiera Cass

Falling Kingdoms is a book that I saw at Barnes and Noble the last time I went and I distinctly remember thinking when I picked it up that, "Maybe this is a series I could get into." If you know my reading habits at all you know I'm really not one to just get hooked on a series; I'll read the first books of several different series but nine times out of ten I won't have a desire to finish them right away. Falling Kingdoms was that one out of ten exception, just like I anticipated it might be. It's a young adult high fantasy (seriously) that I am so, so on board with. I'm actually trying to hold out for our first Montana trip of the year before I buy the second book even though I really want it now because I have other books I need to get to first. Ha! I'm also going to state for the record that my favorite character thus far is Prince Magnus. We'll see if that lasts as I (eventually) move into the other books.

A full review of Naermyth (along with the crazy story of how I managed to acquire a copy to read in the first place) will be coming in May.

The Selection is the book I started reading to get me out of my early April reading slump, and suffice it to say, it did its job. I tore through that book so fast and was on to The Elite before I knew it. I've only just started The One (that will be part of my May wrap-up) so I can't give any thoughts on how the main trilogy ends quite yet, but so far I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with Kiera Cass. Picking up superbly popular books in the young adult category is always a hit and miss. Sometimes you get The Hunger Games, sometimes you get Divergent. Going into The Selection I knew that it had a premise that was very similar to Princess Academy, which I read in elementary school. But Kiera Cass adds so much more to the idea of that story and creates characters that are so real and raw and relateable. 

There was a point near the end of the first book where I honestly just sat there and thought, "Wow, this author knows what she's doing!" She threw a massive wrench in just the right place and it was perfect. She also made me so, so angry at one of the characters in the second book that I actually put it down and could not pick it up again for a day or two. She's just so good at what she does. Her writing is excellent, her characters are believable, and there is a PERFECT balance of romance and tension. The Selection, in my opinion, is well worth the popularity it has received. I'm eager to see how it ends. (Stay tuned for my thoughts on that in May!)

Now that I've gotten through the worst of my mid-takedown crisis and have had a chance to rethink what I'm doing, here is the basic idea of how I want to continue plowing through my TBR from here until the end of August. Basically, I want to read at least three books from my list in May. I'm planning on starting my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough in June, and that will take me through about mid-August. After that I'm hoping to read a couple more books that same month. We'll see where I stand after all of that, but for now, that's the general idea for you to follow along with if you so desire. Interspersed with my TBR books will be a few more library books than I've allowed thus far, and that's okay. That's part of my coping mechanism because there are so many good books coming out nowadays goodness gracious.

Speaking of Skulduggery Pleasant, I am beyond happy to announce that with the exception of the book set to release in June, I now own the entire series! This is a major dream come true for me! I'm elated to finally be able to find out what happens to Mr. Pleasant after the cliffhanger ending of Book 3 that I've been dangling off of all these years. At this point all I need is Book 10 (which I was going to pre-order from Amazon) but Amazon has taken it off of their site so I now have to go hunt it down somewhere else. But fear not! It shall soon be mine as well! :D

And that's all I've got for April! It's been kind of crazy with Camp NaNo and my mini reading crisis and whatnot, but I made it! See you next month!

Mid-TBR Takedown Crisis

I'm having a mid-TBR Takedown crisis.

Last month I updated you all on how my TBR Takedown was going. I modified my reading schedule, accounted for the library books I'd be reading, talked to you about my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough, etc. Well, all that youthful optimism I had was thrown out the window by the time the first week of April was over - when I had only read 75 pages in seven days.

What happened? I was doing so well sticking to the schedule I had made for myself at that time, and I'd been making great headway on my TBR. Well...I'm not entirely sure what went wrong, to be honest. I started off great on April 1 - I read 75 pages of a book from my list and was totally ready to read 75 more the next day.

But then...I just lost motivation. I lost the drive to keep reading as well as I had, and that slump lasted six days. I wanted to read...but not the book I'd started. And not because it's something I think I'll have to DNF. Just because it was something I felt like I had to read. I guess that sitting down to re-evaluate my TBR Takedown schedule put things into perspective for me, and I realized I wouldn't have a lot of time for other reading if I wanted to finish my TBR by June, and all of that just kind of took the fun out of it for me. I suddenly felt like I wasn't reading the books on my list because I wanted to. I felt like I had to, like it was school reading all over again. Therefore I lost motivation.

So on the first Thursday of April, after work, I took home three different library books that I'd had my eyes on for a while for various reasons. I took them home and didn't touch them for the next 24 hours. I just let them sit there, and told myself I could read any of them I wanted and forget my TBR for a while. A couple days later I picked up The Selection by Kiera Cass and started reading. The next thing I knew I was 100 pages in, and I felt great.

Long story short, I'm now almost done with The Selection and have picked up the second book in its series to read once I'm done because I think it's safe to say that I'm hooked at this point. I've also started reading another library book at the same time...but I'll talk about that one in another post. The point is, during this mid-takedown crisis I've re-evaluated what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, the schedule I've set up for myself, and the rules and whatnot, and I've come to the current conclusion that while I should make reading my TBR books a priority, I shouldn't force myself to read them. That takes the fun out of it for me, and what's the point of going on an adventure if you're not going to have fun?

As it stands right now I haven't recreated a plan for taking down my TBR, but I do have a pretty loose structure set up that will get me through from now to the end of the summer (end of August), at which point I can take stock and set up a new Takedown if I want or perhaps try something else entirely. I'm not sure yet. Either way, it's safe to assume that I've forgone the previous setup I had as of my March wrap-up.

Pretty much my goal for right now is to finish the one TBR book I did already start this month at the very least, and then read at least two or three next month along with a couple of library books, if I so desire. In June I'll start my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough, which I'm anticipating will take me all of June and July and probably the first half of August, taking into account both BookTubeAThon 2017 and my annual, week-long family vacation. If I can finish my current TBR by the end of the year at the very least, I think I'll be satisfied. (And at the rate I'm going, this will be the first year I complete my Goodreads Reading Challenge of 50 books in a year. That would be the best!)

So...yeah. Mid-TBR Takedown crisis, everyone. It's a legit thing. Who knew? Here's to hopefully not having another one! See you next time!

The Struggle Is Real (March Book Wrap-Up)

The struggle is real, guys. It's been getting harder and harder to keep myself on track with my TBR Takedown, and to discipline myself to sit down and write 1,000 words at least once a week. But I'm proud to announce that I'm doing decently well with the former, and I'm off to a great start with the latter!

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.

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!

TMNT Tidbits #2: Season Four and Tales of the TMNT

Welcome back to TMNT Tidbits - a thing I haven't done since September 2015! In this post I'll be discussing some things that I've wanted to mention about the current TMNT series but have never had enough material for to create a full post. Note: Most of this post will talk about things relating to Season 4 and the beginnings of Tales of the TMNT, so if you're not caught up, this is your official spoiler alert!

Seth Green as Leonardo
First and foremost, I want to give a shout-out to Seth Green, who has done a wonderful job of playing Leonardo for the past two seasons of this show. If you've been following my blog for a while you'll remember that I wasn't entirely on board with the voice change at the end of Season 2, but was warming up to it after seeing the Season 3 premiere. Now that we've had full two seasons of Seth Green as Leo, I can state with authority that he did a wonderful job as the official replacement for Jason Biggs. (I still love that his voice change is a permanent reminder of the experiences he had leading up to it. That is so great.)

Fugitoid
David Tennant as the Fugitoid was one of the best things about the first half of Season 4. Much like the Doctor, future versions of this character will be hard-pressed to live up to his performance. Well done.

Mona Lisa
I was super excited for the introduction of Mona Lisa in early Season 4, as she was a character I'd been hoping would appear since I started watching the show. I even signed a petition to get the producers to consider adding her to the series - and it paid off! Mona Lisa showed up a few times in this season, and I was ecstatic every time. I loved her character and the tests she and Raph went through as a couple. (I know the "love at first sight" thing was a bit of a push and definitely trying to appease the fangirls, but I don't even care. It was awesome!) Zelda Williams did a great job as Mona Lisa and I can't wait to see more of her in Tales of the TMNT.

April
I had a really hard time rooting for April this past season, mostly because of her attitude that consistently grew worse over time. I didn't mind that she became a full-on kunoichi so much as I did the fact that when she reached that status her arrogance shot through the roof. (Granted, the crystal wasn't helping that, but still.) Although "The Power Within Her" resolved the issue of her obsession with the alien crystal she obtained in space, I don't feel that it helped her grow as a character any. Perhaps we'll see more positive development from her in Tales of the TMNT. One good thing I can say about her is that she looks great with her hair down!

New Female Characters
Season 4 introduced a new primary female character in Shinigami, whom I wasn't entirely fond of initially but am kind of starting to like now that she's had a few episodes. We were also introduced to Alopex - Tiger Claw's sister, HELLO! Her introduction, while brief, added a whole new layer to her brother's character and I really appreciated that. The showdown between the two was as epic as it was dark and gruesome. I also really, really loved that Raph was given a very intentional line, saying that Alopex is cool, but she's "no Mona Lisa." I know there are Raph x Alopex shippers out there, but I always have been and always will be a die-hard Raph x Mona Lisa shipper. I was beyond happy about that line. With all of that said, I kind of have a feeling Alopex was a one-time appearance; a nod to those Turtle fans who remember her from the comics.

Casey Jones
Casey Jones has really been pushed to the sidelines recently, and I'm not digging that. He's always been a great, beat-'em-up ally for the Turtles, so the fact that April is getting more on-screen butt kicking time than he is bugs me to no end. I also am really upset that he is not paired with April. The show has been very intentional about growing her and Donnie's relationship, but not hers and Casey's. It has ALWAYS been Casey and April. Always. They got married at the end of the 2003 series. I'm just saying...Casey needs to see more battle action, and at least a little more romance. Seeing some more character development would be nice, too.

Season 4 Finale
It took a year and a half full of constant hiatuses, but we finally got the Season 4 Finale we'd all been waiting for...and it was heart-wrenching, to say the least. I have to admit I had a feeling that Splinter would go for real this time, so when it finally happened I wasn't surprised, but that doesn't mean I didn't still bawl my eyes out. The funeral scene gave me the worst kind of feels. But even though I did want the guys to get Shredder for good as well, I honestly didn't expect him to go down as easily as he did, especially with how much they've struggled even to put a scratch on him up until this point. Leo holding Shredder's head at the end was a nice nod to the 2003 series, though.

I feel like I would have enjoyed the end of the season more if it wasn't also the end of the series. You can argue that Tales of the TMNT is "Season 5" all you want, but if it has a different name, it's not part of the same series. It's a spinoff. That's how I see it. The end of TMNT left a lot of questions unanswered and loose ends to wrap up, but I'm hoping/expecting that Tales of the TMNT will be touching on a few of those issues.

New TMNT Series
Tales of the TMNT is set to premiere on March 19. It will be a 20-episode spinoff show that focuses on life and adventures after Splinter and the Shredder are gone. We'll be introduced to a new villain voiced by Mark Hamill (so excited!) as well as revisiting some old conflicts and meeting new but familiar faces. I am most looking forward to Mona Lisa visiting Earth and the introduction of USAGI YOJIMBO!! YES!! Oh my gosh when I saw that trailer I flipped out so hard you don't even know, guys! I've been hoping for him since DAY ONE and now he's finally on his way! YES!!

I'm also really hoping that Tales of the TMNT will wrap up some loose ends concerning Karai (will she de-mutate? does she ever get around to calling herself Miwa?), Casey and April (as mentioned earlier), whether Rahzar and Fishface died in that last battle (I'm guessing yes), and etc.

Another new series was announced following the end of Season 4 - Rise of the TMNT. I don't know much about this one as it is not set to premiere until 2018, but I do know that it will be 2D-animated, targeted for a younger audience, and follow the Turtles on more mystical and magical adventures beneath the streets of NYC.

That's all I've got for you this time, folks! Thanks for following my nerdy TMNT posts from the very beginning of the show back in 2012. You'll be seeing plenty more as we move into Tales of the TMNT starting this Sunday, as well as Rise of the TMNT next year. BOOYAKASHA!