Wednesday Words: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas


It's time for another installment of Wednesday Words, where I share with you a piece of what I'm reading! I'm very excited about this book. I pre-ordered it, and then watched as it was released, and my book hadn't shipped yet. When it finally did and arrived in 1 day, here was my reaction:



I was super excited. If you don't know anything about this book, you've been living under a rock. Just google Angie Thomas, and you'll get at least one interview. You can also follow her on Twitter at @acthomasbooks. This book remains #1 on the NY Times Best Seller List for YA Hardcovers for the third week in a row! I really hope we can throw up a 4 when the new list comes out.

A little bit about the premise, Starr, a young black girl who lives in the hood but goes to a predominately white prep school witnesses the murder of her childhood friend by a cop. So much inspired Angie to write this, and it's a very important narrative today. I spent most of Monday reading it while my manager wasn't around, so I've actually read further than I usually have. I need to brace myself for more, because I know this book will only get deeper as I go.

That said, let's see what I shall share today! Random.org chose page 305 of 464, so I hope there are no spoilers.

*reads the first couple of lines, laughs*

I'm thinking, please don't let him sing. Please. But there's this familiar boomp . . . boomp, boomp, boomp.

"Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down," Chris raps.

This is funny for so many reasons.

Have you picked this book up yet? You need to.

Fast Five Friday: Express Yourself Edition





Okay, well hopefully this isn't too confusing. Happy Friday! It's the 4th Friday of the month, and this is the time I have set aside to answer the questions provided by the Cover Girls, Dani and Jax. As there are five weeks in March, I have 5 Express Yourself questions to answer, so I'm going to do them in Fast Five form.


And away we go!



Feb 27 - Mar 3  Queso/nacho cheese, guacamole or salsa?  Um, all three, thanks!


Mar 6 - 10  Share some photos of your writing space. Oh crap, I don't have one!

Mar 13 - 17  Name a late-great someone you wish you could have met. Selena

Mar 20 - 24  What's your favorite type of sandwich? A burger. Does that count?

Mar 27 - 31  What was the last show you watched? Legion on FX




Answer these if you like! It's always fun to see what others have to say.


Have a good weekend!





Tuesday Tales: Constellation Stories



Happy Tuesday!


It is the third week of the month, and that means it is time for Tuesday Tales, where I set aside time for character takeovers, short stories, and the like. This is a fun one, because it deals with a little of the world building of Teorre in my manuscript Fractured Princess. I love astronomy and constellations, and in my previous rewrite, I was able to incorporate some of that love into my story. I also wanted to somehow show the constellations, so I used Google to see if there was a constellation creator, and lo and behold, there's an entire website dedicated to MIT projects. So, I chose Constellation Creator by mandostop1, who provided a non-cartoonish and easy to use to program. Below are two constellations and their mythology stories, as Ghuli* tells Andyrsn.

The Dove's Tail

[This is also a basis for one of Teorre's origin stories.] “Well, before any of our races lived on Teorre, there were doves. They used to fly all about the mountains and trees and stopped only to sleep. One day, when a dove decided he was hungry, he swooped low to nibble from a mysterious white cherry tree. He had never seen a tree like it, and he wanted to see how the cherries tasted. They were so sour on his tongue that he fainted right where he was. When he awoke, he realized his legs had these strange, flat things at the end where his dove’s feet should have been. His talons were short and soft, and there were five on each of these new feet. In fact, he realized his legs were longer. His wings had molted, and these long, gangly limbs were in their place. His beak had become soft as well, and when he tried to call for help, his voice was deep and alien to him. “He needed to see what he looked like, and he knew a lake was near, so he ran to it, jumping and flapping his arms the entire way, hoping he could still fly. When he reached the lake and looked inside, all that was left of his dove self were the feathers on his back and his tail. He was the first person of Teorre. Teorre’s Energy became the first scholar by writing him in the stars there.”

The Fox and Falcon

A baby fox, stranded by its mother, was wandering aimlessly in the woods, starving and crying for help. A mother falcon who had just lost her own young, came upon the fox and took him under her wing, and she raised him as her own.”


My favorite constellation is Orion. Do you have one?






*This post occurred before I changed Ghuli's name to Jonnie*

Wednesday Words: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler



Middle of the mornin' to ya!

The 2nd Wednesday of the month is the day I've set aside to share with you what I am currently reading!

I forgot to schedule this post, and it's mostly because I'm currently struggling through this book. I read Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower many years ago, and I was underwhelmed by it. Because I usually love her writing, I decided to finally pick up Parable of the Talents, a continuation of the story told by Lauren Oya Olamina (the mc from Sower) and her daughter later on. I will say, it's a very timely read, with many parallels to what is currently happening in the country. Other than that, there's a good chance I won't finish this book, but I'll keep trying.

Also, the Kindle cover is gorgeous.


There are 394 pages in the Kindle edition. Random.org has chosen page 192, so let's see what we find there.

"May?"
No answer. She couldn't talk, but she would have made a noise to let us know she was there.

I'm only 70 pages away from this, and things are calm where I am. Now I have to keep reading to see what happened!

What are you reading this week?

IWSG: I've Spent the Month Doing A Major Revision

Brought to us by Alex. J Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group
It is already another month. Happy Ash Wednesday to those who celebrate!



With the new month comes another Insecure Writer's Support Group blog meeting! Hello. :) This is a safe place for us writers to come together and vent our insecurities to others who are doing the same thing. Visit our Master Ninja, Alex Cavanaugh sensei, and the group's websites to join in with us!


Life update: I started a new blog that's more like a diary for my regular life. If you're interested in it, poke by to see me at Confessions of a Girlchild.

Writing update:
Way back in October when I got flooded with agent/editor likes during DVPit on Twitter, the amazing Jodi Meadows offered to look at my first few pages for me. We started talking, and I ended up being a sensitivity reader for her next book, Before She Ignites, and she also offered to look at my complete manuscript in the new year.

And boy, did she! For the first time, I received in depth, line-by-line feedback and an edit letter that laid out the plot points of where my manuscript was falling flat. If you have followed me, you know I've had a hard time getting CPs, and when I did, they didn't even stick long enough to finish reading the book for one reason or another. So with every revision, I've had to rely on myself, which was frustrating. I put my all into looking over the work of others, so when it's not reciprocated with the same dedication, I always feel like it's something I've done, or that my writing is just THAT bad that they can't even finish it. I also feel bad for being frustrated because at least 3 of the people whom I had handed my manuscript to had personal problems they had to deal with, and I don't want to judge their coping abilities based on my own (2016 was garbage), but I'm a "push through when you have responsibilities to other people" kind of person. So, it's been hard.

That said, I spent many hours looking at Jodi's notes, reading, revising, deleting, adding, just making Fractured Princess something that will hopefully make some agent finally send me an offer. I finally have pitches and queries worthy of "I want to see more," and now I hope the manuscript is also up to snuff. Wish me luck.

The question for the month:
Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?

Yes. I tried to revamp a story I wrote in my childhood, based on X-Men. I couldn't really develop a plot for it, and it was a lot of backstory, so I don't know if I'll pick it up again. It might get absorbed into another story idea I have. We'll see.


See you soon!