January update

It seems as though life is going to continue to put me through the ringer. As I'm forced to question many things not so much my capabilities but what society will except. While I have gotten many topics for things to write about I haven't done much writing. Before things were tossed upside down I was loving the writing devotional that my husband got for me I look forward to things getting back on track so I can start up again. While I do that, I plan on cataloging and organizing the books that surrounds my home. Anyone who knows I'm doing this thinks I'm crazy because of the large number of books. I know I'm embarking on a large activity but if I take it one shelf at a time and know that I can always rearrange my organizational system if it doesn't work later I know it's a task I can handle.

Check in January 3rd

As the holiday season comes to an end and I begin to have some time to myself I look forward to what my reading and writing will bring. One of my goals for 2016 is to continue to incorporate writing into my daily schedule even while I student teach.  Not having a computer has made writing difficult but I'm excited to use the writers devotional that my husband got me for Christmas. I already had tons and tons of things I wanted to do and my husband gave me a book this year encouraging me not only to do those things but to continue honing my skills. I'm really feeling like writing has gone from something that I want to do but don't have support because it's not a worthwhile endeavor to something that while some people don't understand why I do it the people that matter most do and support me. Feeling like I can write and not have it be a closet activity at least for the people who matter most is the best feeling in the best motivation to keep doing what I love.  

Review of Ellen Hopkins's Traffick.

I want to start out by saying I have loved every book by Ellen Hopkins I have ever read, this book is no different. A great companion to Tricks. The characters are developed well and distinctly different enough that you don't confuse them as you bounce between character story to character story.  I appreciate the way characters who make bad choices don't come out with as happy of endings as those who make good choices do.   

Throughout my time reading this book my husband asked me what it was I liked about Ellen Hopkins. I'm going to share that reason with all of you.  People can tell kids or even adults not to do something and give them ample reasons why but it's actually experiencing the shortcomings and problems that go along with the choices that people are grappling with making that actually convince them not to do it. In many of Ellen Hopkins's books readers are put into a world where they follow characters who are making choices that we would want our youth or adults not to make. By getting to put oneself in a book with the character that's making those choices readers can play out their possible choices without actually doing any of the things that they're debating about. It let's readers interest world they've never been in but are questioning and walk away saying you know maybe math sounds interesting but I don't think I want to go down that path. They also offer an opportunity for literature therapy. It's really hard to get used to talk about sexual abuse often but through literature therapy readers could read Identical.  for example and talk about the characters and come to their own revelations with I don't actually talking about themselves which can make you or anyone uncomfortable. 

Weekly update Dec 20

My computer died so that means my writing for the time being is going to have to be old-fashioned. I have a phone and a tablet but there's difficulties that come along with typing on either of those that make long jaints of writing troublesome. For the time being I will have to focus on reading like a writer and hand writing any inspirations that come my way. I am still working on drafting my review of Ellen Hopkins's new book Traffick.  

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone I will see you next weekend. 

Weekly update December 13

I know that it's been a while since I've posted and for that I apologize. My life has been pretty crazy The last few weeks. I did however finish NaNoWriMo.  Photograph below is my calendar.  The craziness that has ensued will only give me more writing material an inspiration in the future. While I have a student teaching placement I need to put a significant amount of focus pretty much all of it into that, I would like to try and continue to write at least 300 words a day.  I found that while sometimes the word count itself got a little stressful because I was worried about when I would fit the writing in once I got going writing was relaxing.  I'm hoping that if I shorten the word count to something that I could do in one small burst I will write more than 300 words a day but be not stress myself out over hitting any particular word count.  I am also happy to report that it will not be long before I have my first book review for my blog I am about two thirds of the way done with the first book I will review here. 

  If I don't see you again before the holidays I wish you a happy holidays now.  

Weekly update

This month has been a very interesting month. As I've continued to not keep up with my daily tasks I have continued to push forward and increase my word count substantially. As my life is been in some turmoil and I've been forced to deal with what will come next I have struggled with keeping on task.  NaNoWriMo has been the only thing keeping me remotely sane.  The way I set up my rewards however I thought I was going to find a hump in the 20 to 30,000 words when in reality 30 to 40,000 has actually seemed more challenging.  I'm going to continue pushing myself and working to move forward with my career aspirations and trying to include writing more.  

November 14th update

Truthfully I've been doing a really bad job keeping up with my November tasks. Even this one I'm doing a day late.  I'm not getting down on myself however as I've been plowing through my NaNoWrMo goals.  It's certainly possible that I might have bitten off more than I could chew by trying to both establish a routine for writing that many words a day and trying to do an individualized platform challenge.  I will pick away at my tasks as I am able but as the month continues I'm going to focus on reaching my 50,000 word goal