What Are You Reading in 2017?

This week, I had planned to share a list of books I read and loved in 2016. One small problem: there were too many. Seriously. I could not narrow them down to a manageable list. I couldn't even pick a Top 10, much less a Top 5. I'm still trying to catch up with listing/ reviewing them all on Goodreads!

This is literally my favorite problem to have.

Instead, I'm going to share my list of books I can't wait to read in 2017!

Love Fortunes And Other Disasters

You know the old saying "You can't judge a book by its cover?" Maybe you shouldn't, but you can definitely decide you want to pick up a book based on its cover! I saw this adorable book on Instagram, read the description, and decided I had to read it.

Here's the book's synopsis:

Love is real in the town of Grimbaud and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Dupree's have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita's famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It's a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love. Fortunately, Fallon isn't the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian.
 

Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita's tyranny and fall in love?

Love Fortunes and Other Disasters

By Kimberly Karalius

Stardust

This was recommended to me on Amazon based on other books I've bought. That's no surprise when you read the description: this sounds like a fun Southern fiction novel with quirky characters, new beginnings, and a spunky protagonist. What's not to love?

From the book description:

Shortly after burying her unfaithful husband, Georgia Peyton unexpectedly inherits the derelict Stardust motel from a distant relative. Despite doubts from the community and the aunt who raised her, she is determined to breathe new life into it. But the guests who arrive aren't what Georgia expects: Her gin-loving mother-in-law; her dead husband's mistress; an attractive but down-on-his-luck drifter who's tired of the endless road; and an aging Vaudeville entertainer with a disturbing link to Georgia's past.

Can Georgia find the courage to forgive those who've betrayed her, the grace to shelter those who need her, and the moxy to face the future? And will her dream of a new life under the flickering neon of the STARDUST ever come true?

Stardust: A Novel

By Carla Stewart

The Magnolia Story

I love watching the Fixer-Upper show on HGTV. Chip and Joanna Gaines seem like a really sweet couple and they have an amazing ability to create homes that are just right for their clients. I can't wait to read more about how they got started!

From the book synopsis:

Are you ready to see your fixer upper?

These famous words are now synonymous with the dynamic husband-and-wife team Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s Fixer Upper. As this question fills the airwaves with anticipation, their legions of fans continue to multiply and ask a different series of questions, like—Who are these people? What’s the secret to their success? And is Chip actually that funny in real life? By renovating homes in Waco, Texas, and changing lives in such a winsome and engaging way, Chip and Joanna have become more than just the stars of Fixer Upper, they have become America’s new best friends.

The Magnolia Story is the first book from Chip and Joanna, offering their fans a detailed look at their life together. From the very first renovation project they ever tackled together, to the project that nearly cost them everything; from the childhood memories that shaped them, to the twists and turns that led them to the life they share on the farm today.

The Magnolia Story

By Chip Gaines, Joanna Gaines, Mark Dagostino

The Sun Is Also A Star

I saw people posting about this book on Instagram and decided I had to add it to my to-read list! I'm always up for a good love story, so I was hooked as soon as I read the synopsis.

From the book description:

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

The Sun Is Also a Star

By Nicola Yoon

The Five Warriors

Remember my interview with Angela J. Ford? Her love for books is infectious! Plus, she's a great writer: everything from her tweets to her blog posts to her online course is well-written and engaging. It's no surprise that I'm eager to read the book she wrote! Bonus: The Five Warriors is the first in a series. I love starting a good book knowing that there's going to be more to follow!

From the synopsis:

What if...

your best friend started a rebellion in the middle of a war?
your lover awakened a deep evil and helped it grow?
your people were too cowardly to face a battle?
you stole an ancient power source?
you gambled with the fate of the world?

Join five powerful warriors each with a unique ability and magical weapons. Their quest is to discover where the transformed creatures are coming from and put a stop to it.

Along the way they run into treacherous immortals, sea monsters, powerful beasts of the air and talking animals.

Each has their own reasoning for joining the quest, but one carries a deadly secret which just might be the destruction of them all.

The Five Warriors (The Four Worlds Series) (Volume 1)

By Angela J. Ford

What books are you planning to read in 2017? Want to recommend a book to add to my to-be-read pile? Leave a comment and let me know!

*Note: the links in this post are affiliates. All opinions expressed in my blog are my own--including why I can't wait to read all of these books in the new year! Using affiliate links helps me stay well-stocked in fine-point Sharpies, post-it notes, coffee and other writing essentials.

5 Fun Visual Blogs for Creative Minds

I spend almost all of my downtime reading and writing. No complaints here--I could happily spend my entire life in the "word world!" However, since I'm trying to grow and change as a writer, stretching my creative side is a big part of my day. I almost always leave my alternate creative time with new inspiration.

I'd love to say that I make regular time to actually do extra creative projects but honestly--I have deadlines to meet. Thanks to the Internet, I can easily take a few minutes to enjoy other people's artistic forays. These are five visual blogs I especially love to visit. Some are collaborative, some are quirky, and some are thought-provoking. All of them are a great way to find inspiration and take a fun, creative break!

1. Things Organized Neatly

Just like it says. Every photograph submitted to this blog is beautiful and (for you perfectionists out there) incredibly satisfying.

2. Design Cloud

This is a fun collective of designs from around the world. It's divided into plenty of subgroups, including typography, sculpture, graphic design, and illustrations. Lots of fun to peruse if you're feeling a little creative block!

3. Plenty of Colour

This design blog is a visual treat of gorgeous, colorful images. What I really enjoy about this blog is that you can filter the images according to a color range (I usually pick "blue, turquoise, cobalt...") and enjoy!

4. Creative Roots

This is a collection of visual art from around the world, from architecture to graphic design. At the top, you can filter the results by continent and country--such a cool way to get a glimpse of another culture!

5. Where They Create

I'm always incredibly curious about other people's home offices and studios. Most of us will say that we draw at the kitchen table or type on our laptops in the living room...and for most of us that might be true! I like to imagine otherwise, and for this, Where They Create is a great blog to peruse. Photographer Paul Barbera photographs artists and other creatives in their workspaces, and let me tell you, some of those spaces are pretty incredible!

What are some of your favorite creative blogs? Leave a comment and let me know!

So It Begins...{again}

I've mentioned before that my current work-in-progress centers (loosely) on the concept of time travel. The main characters are given the chance of a lifetime: to go back in time and undo the crime that changed their lives.

I think I know how my characters feel. The process of writing this story makes me feel like I'm doing a bit of time-travelling myself!

When I first started writing this story (back in 2011...) it was one book. When I went back and tried my hand at writing it again, I realized that it should really be three books: a trilogy that explored three distinct time periods in my characters' lives. Despite my better judgment, I blasted through drafting all three books this year. I needed to really go through a rough draft of each book in order to get a sense of how the characters thought and felt about each twist and turn.

So that's what I did in 2016. I just wrote. No stopping to re-read, edit, or tinker with character development. Now that I've reached the end of Book 3, there's only one thing to do: go back and start re-reading Book 1.

Let me tell you, it’s rough. There are abandoned characters dangling over plot holes, loose threads flapping in the breeze, and a veritable highway of run-on sentences. It’s a mess out there. I'm plowing through it slowly but steadily, correcting and rewriting as I go.

This is the messy part of writing, but it's a hopeful kind of mess. With the end in sight, I have a pretty good idea of how the characters talk and act at each point in the story. I’m hoping (but not holding my breath) that I’ll reach my goal of publishing the trilogy in 2017.

I just have to keep working through it...as many times as it takes.

NaNoWriMo Recap

This November, I committed to the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge: writing 50,000 words during the month of November. I knew it was going to be intense. I knew (or hoped) it would help me kick off the last book in the trilogy I'm working on. What I didn't realize was how helpful the process would be! Here's a recap of the whole crazy experience:

Before NaNoWriMo

I prepped for the challenge by completing the steps of Shaunta Grimes' Plotting Workshop. This is also the process I used when I was plotting Book 2. I can't recommend this workshop enough! Usually, I don't like to plot out a story before I start writing. I feel like it ruins the fun of discovering where the story will end up. The Plotting Workshop showed me a way to plan out my story that didn't ruin the fun at all! By the time November 1 rolled around, I had a plot board, character sketches, and setting research all ready to go.

During NaNoWriMo

I write well under pressure. Just in case writing 50,000 words in 30 days doesn't seem like enough pressure, check out this graph of my daily word count. The closer the deadline loomed, the more words I wrote per day!

See the last week there? At least 10,000 of those words were powered by caramel macchiatos. I regret nothing.

One major benefit of writing during NaNoWriMo was the online support. For example, when I saw I had 10,000 words to go in the last week of the challenge, I also knew I wasn't the only one. Several other writers on Instagram and Twitter were in the same boat. We encouraged each other and we all made our goals!

After NaNoWriMo

Aside from attempting to step down my caffeine intake, I haven't done much of anything since November 30. I haven't done any editing--in fact, I haven't opened up the Word document again. I know that a draft I wrote that quickly wouldn't be my best work, and that's okay. I feel great that I have a first draft done. When I'm ready, it'll be there, ready to expand and edit.

Would I attempt NaNoWriMo again?

I can't believe I'm even typing this, but--yes. I absolutely would do this again. NaNoWriMo is a great way to hammer out a first draft. I was able to let go of the idea that I had to write well--I just had to write.

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo this year? How was your experience?