So Your Character Has Dyslexia ... Featuring Rachel Creech

My dad actually thought I had dyslexia because I wanted to write with my left hand and for the longest time, I had trouble telling right from left (like into my twenties *headdesk*).  But I started reading when I was two, so I guess the right and left thing is just weird me. The first time I had ever heard of Dyslexia was actually on the show Arthur because George actually had it and learned that Leonardo DaVinci actually had dyslexia as well. I've always been curious about it, so I'm so happy to have Rachel shed more light on it today!  

(Images aren't mine)

Writing Lessons from Movies: The Greatest Showman

On Christmas Day I saw the Greatest Showman and it was instant love for me. I was swept away by the story and the music and was relieved to watch a film that was great clean family entertainment. I have fond memories of attending the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus as a kid, so it was a joy to see the origins of this infamous show. Ladies and gentleman, let the fangirling and lessons begin!

Warning: Spoilers

A Book Review of Winter by Marissa Meyer

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Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won't approve of her feelings for her childhood friend―the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn't as weak as Levana believes her to be and she's been undermining her stepmother's wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long. Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Book 4)
Genre: YA Science-Fiction
Publisher: Square Fish; Reprint edition (January 30, 2018)
Page Count: 832 pages

I've finished the Lunar Chronicles series! Whoo hoo! And I'm so happy I did! It's definitely one of my favorite YA series!

So Your Character is From New England ... Featuring Anna Haber @ The Story Scientist

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from Alaska ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

I had the privilege to meet Anna last year when she came down from New Hampshire to visit our mutual friend Olivia. It happened to have snowed recently and she was fascinated with Georgia red clay. I've loved reading her blog and learning about all things scientist. It's good research. ;) Thus, I'm so happy to have her on the blog to talk about her neck of the woods.

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.

(None of the Images are Mine)

So Your Character is From Another Country 50th Interview Celebration!!!

Welcome to the big 50th Interview Celebration! I started this idea two years ago and it's grown so much.  All of this is thanks for to the dozens of volunteers I've had for this project from every continent on the planet. I couldn't do this massive collaboration effort without you guys. Thanks to you this project covers a quarter of the world's countries! 

Review: The House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

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When fifteen-year-old Xander and his family move into an old, abandoned house in the middle of a dense forest outside of a small California town, they discover that not only are some of the rooms portals into other places, but that malevolent forces are at work.

Series: Dreamhouse Kings (Book 1)
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (May 6, 2008)
Page Count: 306 pages

When I was a young teen, my sister had this book on her shelf. After sneaking the reading the back cover copy, I begged her to let me read it, but my sister was stingy so she said no. Nine years later I bought the book at Realm Makers because I'm an adult now and I can buy what I want XD

So Your Character is From Alaska ... Featuring K.T. Munson @ Creating Worlds with Words

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from the West Coast United States ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.

(None of the Images are Mine)

3 Things to Note While Writing First Drafts to Make Editing Easier

It's that time of year: NaNo novel editing time. This can be a dreaded time of year because it's when you're finally looking at how messy that novel came out. XD Maybe this post is a little late, but I'm going to share with you one of my editing tricks that makes sorting out that messy first draft a little easier.

The Comp Title Challenge

A couple weeks ago I saw Tracey @ Adventure Awaits do this tag on her blog and I knew I had to steal do it! I've done a lot of comparative titles for book proposals, but now I'm doing it for fun and it could be helpful later. XD

So Your Character is From the West Coast United States ... Featuring Tatiana @ Write Owl

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from the United Arab Emirates ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

I've only been to the west coast during a layover in San Francisco, so I'm so happy to here what Tatiana has to say about this part of the country!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.

(None of the Images are Mine)

Monthly Summary: January 2018

January was an interesting month. It had a lot of ups and a lot of downs, so an interesting start to the years. XD I think it was mostly good though.

The Handwriting Challenge

Ready to see what my handwriting looks like? Sara Letourneau tagged me to do this challenge a while back. Honestly, I was a bit daunted because I've always thought my handwriting is ugly chicken scratch, but I'll let you guys decide.