Hello everyone,
Exciting news!
I know, I know - fell off the blogging sphere for a bit. Only publicly, actually. I've been working on transferring everything over to WordPress.
I debated a long time about the switch. Blogger has been incredible, and it's certainly more popular in some ways. But I've been working a lot with WordPress for work, and to be honest, I like it more. Plus, one day I hope to have an actual website, not just a blog, so I'd be switching to WordPress then anyway. Plus, my WordPress blog, KSLewis.WordPress.com, is my author name, which I think is a little more advantageous, if not quite as fun, ^_~.
I figure the jump might not be too confusing because, all things considered, Adjective Not a Noun is a fairly young blog, but I understand if this is annoying.
No worries, I've still got all of you in my GoogleReader. I'll try to be less of a reading-ninja about things - reading posts and sneaking away before commenting.
So check out the revamped blog on WordPress if you like, ^_^.
In other news - I've been working hard on editing KNIGHT, and I've completed it to the point where I've started querying! In celebration, I've started working on its sequel, DAMSEL! I've got my other W.i.Ps on the back-burner, and I'm prepping for NaNo.
Hope everything is going well with you!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
WWW Wednesday #2
WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by @shouldbereading. To join in all you have to do is answer the three following questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish?
- What do you think you'll read next?
Since I'm reading more this seemed like a lovely meme to follow. Below are my answers. Feel free to leave comments below, or link to your own WWW Wednesday post. I'm always looking for more awesome book suggestions.
What I Recently Finished:
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| Image from GoodReads.com |
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| Image from GoodReads.com |
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| Image from GoodReads.com |
I've been reading up a storm. Where to start...
First off, if I had to recommend only one, it'd be Five Flavors of Dumb hands down. A really heartwarming story with an ending that rocked - literally! I loved the characters, loved the music, I just all around enjoyed it.
Lure advertised itself as a group of bad ghost hunters doing their ghost hunting thing - which they do for maybe 10 pages out of 300, haha. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, because it was a quick read and for the most part I liked Sam and Shells. That said, this is really a book for people who just want to watch 20-somethings get drunk (all the time) and hit on cute guys and gals (all the time) and have lots of sex. Not really want I wanted.
The Perfect Husband - the next book in my quest to find a good FBI investigative series. A little better than Kava's A Perfect Evil, but ultimately I found myself queasy about the main romance. Also, I realize that the cops and detectives can't be too good or the killer won't be able to do a lot, but I found the killer's skill level to be a little too much for me - it made everyone else just seem incompetent. I hate when I feel like no one but the main characters are allowed to do things/be competent. Also, a couple of the deaths by the killer seemed really needless. It's the first in the Quincy series (Quincy is a minor character in this one), and I will be continuing. I read book 4 way back, and I remember really liking it, so I think the books will get better.
What I Think I'll Read Next:
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| Image from GoodReads.com |
I think I'll switch things up a bit and read a little non-fiction soon. Something different before jumping back into the next fiction book. Since I consider my current w.i.p a YA book, I'm hoping this will help me shake off some of the snags I've found myself tangled in. If nothing else, it can't hurt.
What I'm Reading Now:
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| Image from GoodReads.com |
Game On, by Kyra Lennon
BLURB FROM GOODREADS:
"After swapping her small town life to work for one of the top soccer teams in the U.S, Leah Walker thought she could finally leave the ghosts of her past behind. However, when she meets serial womanizer, Radleigh McCoy, the memories of her old life come swarming back, and she is forced to ask herself whether she has really changed at all."
I'm about 1/2 way through this one.
I have to admit - I'm not digging the two main characters. I don't think you're supposed to like Radleigh, seeing as he's a very physically arrogant playboy. And Leah, though "spunky," seems to have a more shallow strength than I was expecting. Leah's past (which we learn) may be feeding this, but it really doesn't make me feel any sympathy towards her for her actions. Maybe by the end her character will grow to the point I thought she'd be at the beginning. These two send me into mini-rages, haha.
That said, I love the secondary characters! Honestly, they're what's keeping me going. I don't think Lennon's introduced a single side character I haven't smiled at. The main plot is starting to unfold and I want to see how it wraps up. The writing itself is smooth and flowing, and I like the overall soccer setting.
The ending may make up for what I've found to be a frustrating start. I also can't wait to read the section where Leah's family comes to visit! Seriously, love the secondary characters. She should give them all their own books, haha.
And that's my reading update! I'm looking forward to checking out yours!
Monday, July 30, 2012
The Big Bad & Writing Snags
I've hit a snag in my current w.i.p.
To compensate and not fall into a depressed spiral, I've just been chugging through books like boxes of Yoo-hoo (can you tell what I'm craving?). I took a mental break this weekend to re-charge, and get the next couple of books I want to read in order, and during that time I had a pow-wow with my muses about writing Leonard Kaine (LK).
I had hit a similar snag when getting into the meat of the writing for Wandering Shadow (WS). Ultimately, despite loving the characters, I decided I wasn't ready yet to write Wandering Shadow and I must need to work on something else. Hence LK.
But now I've hit the same snags - love the characters, love the world, can't seem to motivate myself to write what they're going through.
On one level, I think it's that I'm impatient. Leonard Kaine is essentially an origin story, and I want the intros to be over and done with and all the characters to be just out doing their thing. Not possible.
This is what hit me with WS.
But I also thing, with LK, it's the Big Bad. The villain. I know that he's there, and that Len and friends beat him up, but that's it.
What's the Big Bad's backstory? What's his motivations? What little hints can I drop about him along the way? And most importantly, what's his name?
It's strange. With my first two novels, I didn't need mega specifics to get me through. It was enough to have a line of big scenes to work towards. All the minor (or even not so minor) other details unrolled themselves for me as I walked towards those check-points. Sure, sometimes it was annoying, and I was impatient, and sometimes I missed a deadline or two while I worked out a particular snag, but I felt compelled to work through those because they were illuminating and awesome and they introduced things I hadn't even realized yet.
I need this for LK. I need to recapture that compelling feeling that this isn't just another book and I'm hoping learning more about Mr. Big Bad will help... this is Leonard Kaine, one of my books, filled with my characters, and it will rock if I let it. Pep-talk over. Time to write.
To compensate and not fall into a depressed spiral, I've just been chugging through books like boxes of Yoo-hoo (can you tell what I'm craving?). I took a mental break this weekend to re-charge, and get the next couple of books I want to read in order, and during that time I had a pow-wow with my muses about writing Leonard Kaine (LK).
I had hit a similar snag when getting into the meat of the writing for Wandering Shadow (WS). Ultimately, despite loving the characters, I decided I wasn't ready yet to write Wandering Shadow and I must need to work on something else. Hence LK.
But now I've hit the same snags - love the characters, love the world, can't seem to motivate myself to write what they're going through.
On one level, I think it's that I'm impatient. Leonard Kaine is essentially an origin story, and I want the intros to be over and done with and all the characters to be just out doing their thing. Not possible.
This is what hit me with WS.
But I also thing, with LK, it's the Big Bad. The villain. I know that he's there, and that Len and friends beat him up, but that's it.
What's the Big Bad's backstory? What's his motivations? What little hints can I drop about him along the way? And most importantly, what's his name?
It's strange. With my first two novels, I didn't need mega specifics to get me through. It was enough to have a line of big scenes to work towards. All the minor (or even not so minor) other details unrolled themselves for me as I walked towards those check-points. Sure, sometimes it was annoying, and I was impatient, and sometimes I missed a deadline or two while I worked out a particular snag, but I felt compelled to work through those because they were illuminating and awesome and they introduced things I hadn't even realized yet.
I need this for LK. I need to recapture that compelling feeling that this isn't just another book and I'm hoping learning more about Mr. Big Bad will help... this is Leonard Kaine, one of my books, filled with my characters, and it will rock if I let it. Pep-talk over. Time to write.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
WWW Wednesday #1
WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by @shouldbereading. To join in all you have to do is answer the three following questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish?
- What do you think you'll read next?
Since I'm reading more this seemed like a lovely meme to follow. Below are my answers. Feel free to leave comments below, or link to your own WWW Wednesday post. I'm always looking for more awesome book suggestions.
What I Recently Finished:
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| Photo from Amazon. |
Insurgent, by Veronica Roth
(Book #2 in the Divergent trilogy)
BLURB FROM AMAZON:
"One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love."
Loved it! It was an action-packed, tense sequel to Roth's first book, Divergent. I don't want to give away too many spoilers... Tris has a lot of new problems to deal with, and some old. Her relationship issues felt very real, and unforced. And the ending leaves me agonized that I'll have to wait a year or two for Book 3.
What I'm Reading Now:
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| Photo from Amazon. |
A Perfect Evil, by Alex Kava
(Book #1 in the Maggie O'Dell series)
BLURB FROM AMAZON:
"The brutal murders of three young boys paralyze the citizens of Platte City, Nebraska. What's worse is the grim realization that the man recently executed for the crimes was a copycat. When Sheriff Nick Morrelli is called to the scene of another grisly murder, it becomes clear that the real predator is still at large, waiting to kill again."
This is a bit of a cheat, since I actually finished this last night. But I haven't started anything new yet. I enjoyed the book, but I sometimes felt the level of description was overused. It also jumps between many POVs - but they all say (more-or-less) the same things about one another. The plot was engaging, especially further in when more starts happening. I'm in no rush to read the sequel.
What I Think I'll Read Next:
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| Photo from Amazon. |
Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John
BLURB FROM AMAZON:
"Piper is a seventeen-year-old high school senior, and she's just been challenged to get her school's super-popular rock band, Dumb, a paying gig. The catch? Piper is deaf. Can she manage a band with five wildly different musicians, nurture a budding romance, and discover her own inner rock star, though she can't hear Dumb's music?"
I'm on a contemporary kick. I'll probably be jumping back and forth between FBI thriller types, and YA types. I've heard great things about the book, and the blurb really has me hooked. It helps that I've got a character in my WiP who's in a band, so this will also be good research. ^_^
And that's my reading update! I'm looking forward to checking out yours!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Busy Apparently Doesn't Include Blogging
Long time, no post.
Sometimes I go in and out of phases in my writing. High productivity for a couple of months, and then a huge crash. The crash, unfortunately, tries to last forever. I think, at its worse, I went a year without writing a single word, which I justified by being mega busy and in college at the time.
Well, I'm no longer in college and I shouldn't be justifying that sort of thing anyway.
So, for the month and a half while I was in NJ, I didn't write much. Maybe about 4000 words, which is just sad. I read quite a bit, which was fun and useful, but visiting NJ means high-stress, and I'm still working on managing that too. Thankfully, I have been doing a much better job combatting the crash since I've gotten back home. I've been fairly steady with my newest project - a YA comedic ghost-hunting romp - and hammering out a query for my second novel, KNIGHT.
The query writing it touch-and-go. It's on about stage ten or eleven now, at least three weeks of major obsession, haha, and I think it's finally getting close to completion. The synopsis needs some touch-up, but it's stronger than any versions of my query so far, and I'm hoping to have edits on the actual novel complete by the end of August. Basically, I want to be hunting for an agent starting September. *Fingers crossed*
Maybe I'll do a query update post, and show then and now. Any helpful critiques would be appreciated.
Another thing I've been working on is a cover update for my self-published novel, THE ETERNAL QUEEN. I really like the cover I was able to produce for EQ (you can see it on the sidebar). But I do think it could be better. Now, wiser to the ways of book cover production (and still a little too poor to immediately seek out an actual design professional - design is sometimes a part of my job, but I wouldn't call myself an artist), I've been having... fun... testing out new ideas.
Maybe fun isn't the right word.
It's been an... experience.
So, that's my news for the past few weeks. I've also heard very exciting news from all the bloggers I follow. I generally read them all in my Google Reader, which isn't really conducive to commenting (oops). At the very least, though late to the game (ho-hum, word choice ^_~), I know Kyra Lennon's book GAME ON (#1) has hit the digital shelves. I'm looking forward to checking it out - I love soccer and have been craving some contemporary YA. Seems like a perfect fit, ^_^.
Sometimes I go in and out of phases in my writing. High productivity for a couple of months, and then a huge crash. The crash, unfortunately, tries to last forever. I think, at its worse, I went a year without writing a single word, which I justified by being mega busy and in college at the time.
Well, I'm no longer in college and I shouldn't be justifying that sort of thing anyway.
So, for the month and a half while I was in NJ, I didn't write much. Maybe about 4000 words, which is just sad. I read quite a bit, which was fun and useful, but visiting NJ means high-stress, and I'm still working on managing that too. Thankfully, I have been doing a much better job combatting the crash since I've gotten back home. I've been fairly steady with my newest project - a YA comedic ghost-hunting romp - and hammering out a query for my second novel, KNIGHT.
The query writing it touch-and-go. It's on about stage ten or eleven now, at least three weeks of major obsession, haha, and I think it's finally getting close to completion. The synopsis needs some touch-up, but it's stronger than any versions of my query so far, and I'm hoping to have edits on the actual novel complete by the end of August. Basically, I want to be hunting for an agent starting September. *Fingers crossed*
Maybe I'll do a query update post, and show then and now. Any helpful critiques would be appreciated.
Another thing I've been working on is a cover update for my self-published novel, THE ETERNAL QUEEN. I really like the cover I was able to produce for EQ (you can see it on the sidebar). But I do think it could be better. Now, wiser to the ways of book cover production (and still a little too poor to immediately seek out an actual design professional - design is sometimes a part of my job, but I wouldn't call myself an artist), I've been having... fun... testing out new ideas.
Maybe fun isn't the right word.
It's been an... experience.
So, that's my news for the past few weeks. I've also heard very exciting news from all the bloggers I follow. I generally read them all in my Google Reader, which isn't really conducive to commenting (oops). At the very least, though late to the game (ho-hum, word choice ^_~), I know Kyra Lennon's book GAME ON (#1) has hit the digital shelves. I'm looking forward to checking it out - I love soccer and have been craving some contemporary YA. Seems like a perfect fit, ^_^.
How long have you let yourself be unproductive? How do you combat the great writing crashes?
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Home and Regrouping
I'm back home.
I spent the first week back just relaxing and sleeping - a lot of sleeping.
My visit to family and friends in NJ for my sister's wedding was awesome, but exhausting. It's this sort of "out of my element" feeling that grows and grows and grows, and then by the time week 6 hit I was really just in a daze.
Living out of a backpack is fun for, oh, maybe a week or two, haha!
Needless to say, I've been a complete writing bum for the past four or five weeks. I like to think I made up for it by reading a lot more, and at least sort of planning out some Leonard Kaine, but that's mostly just searching for excuses.
I also totally thought I had actually posted a post about not blogging much until June, but apparently I didn't, and I never checked, so, good one for me.
So I'm going to be easing my way back into this blogging sphere, ^_^. You'll probably start to see a lot more of me after this weekend.
I spent the first week back just relaxing and sleeping - a lot of sleeping.
My visit to family and friends in NJ for my sister's wedding was awesome, but exhausting. It's this sort of "out of my element" feeling that grows and grows and grows, and then by the time week 6 hit I was really just in a daze.
Living out of a backpack is fun for, oh, maybe a week or two, haha!
Needless to say, I've been a complete writing bum for the past four or five weeks. I like to think I made up for it by reading a lot more, and at least sort of planning out some Leonard Kaine, but that's mostly just searching for excuses.
I also totally thought I had actually posted a post about not blogging much until June, but apparently I didn't, and I never checked, so, good one for me.
So I'm going to be easing my way back into this blogging sphere, ^_^. You'll probably start to see a lot more of me after this weekend.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Dust It Off Bloghop #3: Reflections
Big thank you to Theresa Paolo & Cortney Pearson. You've hosted an awesome bloghop.
Dust it Off Bloghop Notes/Dates:
May 3rd: Post a 1-2 sentence pitch about the shelved WIP. The second day, May 5th: Post your favorite excerpt (300-350 words)The third day, May 7th: Post what you learned from this WIP.
What have I learned from the
Dust-it-Off Bloghop?
Probably, the number one thing, to read instructions better. *Laughs*
I think if I had realized it would be
best to snag a W.i.P that was really old, and really not looked at
recently, I would have chosen the very first book I tried to write
(the only one that wasn't recycled into something I actually wrote
and finished – be it short story or novel). I shelved Knight for a
few months, but I always knew I'd be going back to it to edit.
Indeed, I have recently started editing it to become it's second
draft form. Ah, if this means Knight doesn't count, that's ok, it was
fun to share anyway.
Secondly, I need to get back on my
schedule. I'm letting my visit to NJ mess with me, when really, it's
more my own nerves blocking my blogging and writing.
Thirdly, man I missed Knight. It
was only shelved for two or three months, but during that time I was
trying to get through the first section of The Wandering Shadow.
Which was torture. I've never loved an idea so much and had such a
hard time writing it. Not like Knight, which I adored from beginning
to end, despite a slight rough patch the last few chapters when it
was, haha, right smack dab in the middle of another visit to NJ. (Are
you sensing a pattern? K.S. does not do well with traveling! And she
misses her apartment and boy like crazy.)
It really helped to re-read Knight, to
dive back into characters and scenes that moved fluidly and felt
energetic and connected. It really helped to talk with those
characters again, have a heart-to-heart with Erin, and start thinking
about the next in the series (though that won't start being written
until November, most likely).
And lastly, I learned that the blogging
community is awesome. They'll even post on people's blogs who are
crazy, and feather-brained, and don't read instructions clearly
enough. >.<
Thanks for stepping into Erin's world
for the past week. I can assure you, she was glad to show you around
and introduce you to her friends.
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