Ink Anticipation [11] - May 2013

This old feature has a new use! Ink Anticipation is now for sharing what books I am looking forward to that will be released during the following month. Clicking on a book cover will either take you to the book's Goodreads page or to my review. Don't forget to share your most anticipated releases in the comments!

May 7th

May 14th

May 21st

May 28th

T10T [6] - Top Ten Books I Liked More/Less Than Expected

From Where I'm Standing [11] - Bringing YA 2 You

I am so bad at remembering to do these! Anyway, I recently had the immense pleasure of having five awesome YA authors visit my hometown on April 9th, as we were the grand prize winners of the Bringing YA 2 You contest!

Not only was it great to get to drive a measly five minutes instead of two hours, but I was also ecstatic that every author was one I wanted to see and meet. I'd met a couple already, but that never dampens my excitement.

When I arrived (a bit late, but hey, better late than never) I grabbed a seat by my bestie Caitlyn and listened as the authors answered questions from the audience. Despite having already done an event at the school earlier that day, the place was packed with students, parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, and those YA enthusiasts who are none of the above (yep, me).

The authors present were Victoria (V.E.) Schwab, Marissa Meyer, Beth Revis, Marie Lu, and Megan Shepherd. All of them were hilarious and answered all questions as honestly and gracefully as possible. There was talk of beheading Barbie dolls from Marie, growing up in a bookstore from Megan, writing fan fiction from Marissa, drinking lots of "coffee" to get through rejections from Beth, and stuff about how Neil Gaiman is amazing from Victoria. The authors shared about the books and people that inspired them as well as some about their writing and publishing processes.

Megan Shepherd ~~~ The Madman's Daughter

I loved everything the authors had to say and though the bleachers were uncomfortable and the air was hot and humid, I had a wonderful time. After the hour long Q and A, everyone moved to the library to buy books and have them signed. I got to talk to a lot of people, some of them were teachers from my past (hi Mrs. Flatt!) and others were YA readers from Columbia (hey Elizabeth and Debbie!), and the crowd was excited and it was so much fun getting my books signed. It was almost as much fun as watching some of the students talk to the authors and take pictures. I love seeing the books and authors I enjoy reaching a new readership!

Beth Revis ~~~ Across the Universe / A Million Suns / Shades of Earth

Marissa Meyer ~~~ Cinder / Scarlet

I was also able to get a sneak peek at Victoria Schwab's next book, Vicious. It was sitting on her table and Caitlyn and I were fawning over it and Victoria let us pick it up and look through it (she's lucky we didn't try to run off with it!). Guys, it is SO AMAZING. I cannot wait to get my own copy when it comes out. I don't typically read many books geared toward adults, but just the tiny bit I got to read reminded me why Victoria Schwab is one of my favorite writers. If she wrote her own version of the phone book, I'd read it.

Victoria (V.E.) Schwab ~~~ The Near Witch / The Archived / Vicious

Caitlyn and I hung around talking with Victoria and Courtney C. Stevens, who's book will be out in ARC form in a few months, and then after we left we stood around talking in the parking lot for a while longer, mostly about Adventure Time. Such is the life of nerds.

Marie Lu ~~~ Legend / Prodigy

I hope you quirks enjoyed my event recap! Right now I'm on my way to SOKY in Bowling Green, Kentucky, so look for another FWIS (hopefully) soon! ^_^

Have you read any of the books by these authors?

What did you think?

Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!

Write Stuff [25] - Ending and Beginning...Again

Write Stuff  is based on the Wannabe Writers meme hosted by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-Published. This meme is what prompted me to start Writer Quirk, so I am thankful to Sarah for creating it.

I use this meme to talk about the ups and downs of writing, what I'm working on, and, in November, to chronicle my NaNoWriMo journey.


It was hard to believe, but I actually finished the third draft of my WIP by my deadline, which was the end of March. Part of that was due to the fact I reached the end of my story way before my target word count, which is fine, I just wasn't expecting to do that.

So now I have a new deadline for the same novel. My hope is to have my revision, the working title of which is now Unpredictable, done by the end of July. I'll be working through the first anniversary of my dad's death, so I don't know how that will impact things (badly, I'm guessing) but I'm still going to try.

And to celebrate the completion of one goal and the birth of a new one, I thought I'd share a snippet of the beginning of my novel (just to warn you, this novel has had about five different beginnings, so this is subject to change). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tidbit and let me know what you are working on and how it is going in the comments!

T10T [5] - Top Ten REWIND: Fave Authors

T10T [4] - Books I Loved Before Becoming a Blogger

Reading Challenges Update [March 2013]

Hey quirks! I've decided to split up my reading updates due to how many challenges I am participating in this year. In 2012, I was only keeping up with my Goodreads Reading Challenge and I liked how I did that one and all the stats I kept up with, but I'm going to call them something different. The new title for those updates will be "2013 Goodreads Rundown" and they will appear bimonthly.

This series of posts I'm calling Reading Challenges Update is for all the other challenges I am trying to complete. These updates will be less detailed as far as stats go because I will just be listing the individual challenges and which books fit under them that I read during the previous month.

March: 4 --- Total: 18/24

Fang by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #6)
Angel by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #7)
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (Gemma Doyle #2)
The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey #2)

March: 9 --- Total: 23/25+

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

Fang by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #6)

Angel by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #7)

Emma by Jane Austen

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (Gemma Doyle #2)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

March: 3 --- Total: 4

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

March: 1 --- Total: 3/12

M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman [Keyword: Magic]

March: 5 --- Total: 16/36

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

Emma by Jane Austen

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey #2)

March: 1 --- Total: 3/12

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey #2) [Creature: Fey]

Ink Anticipation [10] - April 2013

This old feature has a new use!
Ink Anticipation is now for sharing what books I am looking forward to that will be released during the following month. Clicking on a book cover will either take you to the book's Goodreads page or to my review. Don't forget to share your most anticipated releases in the comments!

April 2nd

April 4th

April 9th

April 16th

April 23rd

April 30th

T10T [3] - My Fictional Crushes