Weekend Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Yet another book that I didn't finish. I read fan girl and loved it, so I decided to pick this up, but I just couldn't get into it. The story is about a guy who falls in love with a girl after reading the emails she sends at work. Don't worry, he's not a creeper, he's been hired to read the emails and make sure no one is sending anything they shouldn't be. I found that I was unable to get into this book. The characters were flat and boring, the email formats were annoying. I couldn't even get far enough to see if anyone had chemistry.






Two Out Of Five Stars

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Goosebumps?

I've been thinking a lot about the old Goosebumps tv series. I used to love it as a kid, but now that I'm an adult my feelings may have changed. I have been considering re watching the series and posting a review of what my adult self thinks of the show I used to love as a child. Will I think it's silly, or will I love it as much as I did then? I know what I thought about it as a kid. I never missed an episode. I think that I actually read the books first, and I remember watching the first episode about the Haunted Mask. That has always been one of my favorite episodes. I introduced the series to my sister when she was old enough to watch them, and to give myself an excuse to still watch them. Maybe I could watch them with my sister and see if they are as great as we remember.

Casual Friday: My future plans

I post a lot about my plans as a writer, but I don't really post about my plans for myself. Right now I'm going to school for journalism. I was going for billing and coding before, but I don't really have a passion for that. I couldn't really see myself doing the same thing over and over. I need something different. Right now my job is the same thing over and over, and the days pass slowly. I'm grateful that I have a job, but I know I can do better. Journalism is something that I was drawn to. I already love writing, working for a newspaper or blog site would be great. I'm also looking into tv journalism, which means a job like the evening news. I'm not sure how I would like being on tv, but I know the job wouldn't be boring.





By the way, I made a few edits to the books page. Nothing big, just a brief synopsis.

Another update

I'm posting from my phone, so please excuse any errors. I think this thing has a mind of it's own. I was planning on posting a throwback Thursday post with pictures of me through the years and updates on what I was like at those ages, but I'm not really sure anyone would want to see/read about that. Maybe next Thursday. I just wanted to give a brief update on my upcoming book, hair of the wolf, which I had planned on releasing this month. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. I'm halfway through with the final edits and aiming for an October release, which is probably better considering the content. I'm not sure I will be able to do it with school, but I'm going to try.

Paper Perfect Characters

This weekend I was supposed to go on a date with a guy who seemed perfect on paper. If I had asked him to fill out an application to be my boyfriend he would have gotten the job. He was into art and seemed to be a nice guy, until it came time to go on the date. He wasn't there at the time he was supposed to be there, in fact, he sent me a text saying he was leaving ten minutes before he was supposed to be there. After waiting for awhile I sent him a text saying not to worry about it. He got angry and instead of rescheduling he demanded I go to him next time. He lives an hour away and I have issues driving to places I've never been. I can understand his anger, since he had already started driving toward me. Anyway, when I tried to make plans to reschedule and make actual plans he sent me a rude text saying he was busy and wasn't going to be around his phone (probably code for out with another girl, don't bother him), but if I wanted anything to do with him I would have to go to him. Before his rude text I would have had no problem going to see him, if I decided that I liked him, but we never went on that first date. I just had a picture of what I thought he was like. What does this have to do with writing? Well, he wasn't what I thought he was, and sometimes characters aren't either. People/characters are complex and have many layers (am I quoting Shrek?). In writing, just like in real life you have to peel back those layers and get to know what's underneath. When you write characters they have to come to life. They have to do things that make them reveal their layers, just like my date revealed another layer of his personality when he sent me a rude text. You have to put characters in situations where they reveal more things about themselves, the good and the bad. Readers won't keep reading a book where they can't they can't relate to the characters, that's one of the main things I see in book reviews. People talking about the characters and their actions and being driven crazy by them. The characters have to be real to the readers. Who wants to read a book they can't get lost in?

Weekend Review: Horns by Joe Hill

I admit that I didn't finish this book. I got further in this book than I thought, but I didn't finish it. After about eighty pages I stopped reading. Why did I decide to review this book if I haven't finished it? Well, I feel like I got enough of the book's overall tone. I had been wanting to check out Joe Hill's writing for a long time, and I thought I would check out his comic book first, but then I saw the trailer for the movie Horns. The book and movie are about a man named Ig who is accused of the murder and rape of his girlfriend. The story starts a year after her death when Ig wakes up with horns that make people confess their darkest desires to him. I would have kept reading the book if it had the same pacing that it had from the start. Unfortunately, the book went into flashback mode to show an old friendship/the relationship between Ig and his girlfriend. They met in the church when she was using Morse code to tell him to stop looking at her legs. I get the impression that Morse code was something big for her because the book had Morse code all over the inside. After the church scene I lost interest. I thought about picking up the book again and skipping around, but I couldn't do it. I had already been taken out of the experience I was having.



Two Out Of Five Stars

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How much of myself do I put into a character?

When I was in middle school my art teacher told the class that everyone puts a bit of themselves into their artwork. I can paint, but I can't draw, but I consider my art to be writing. While I've never based a character on myself, I do find myself using things that I've experienced to influence my characters. I might put a little of myself into them. I might give one of them a joke that I would usually tell or have one of them wear a shade of lipstick that I love. There's no one character that I've written that I think of as like me, but I can see parts of me in them. I think every writer draws from experience. I don't know if you can have a character go through something you haven't. Well, I don't think it would be believable to the readers. This is the very reason I'm looking to try new things, because I want to be the best writer that I can be.