I got this idea from the amazingly wonderful Jessica from Thoughts at One in the Morning. Every Thursday, I’ll be posting an update on my reading, writing, what’s going on at the blog, and anything else I think should be mentioned.
Hi guys! I hope you're all having a great first week of September. Mine's been really good so far. On Sunday I went with my mum, sister-in-law, and 2-year-old nephew Logan to the local rose garden and we spent about two hours wandering around, taking pictures, and enjoying the beautiful day. The roses were gorgeous, and I took...wait for it...368 pics lol. I'm obsessed with macro shots of flowers, so as you can imagine, I was in heaven! I haven't uploaded any of those pics anywhere yet because I want to add my photography watermark to them, but I have a little sample for you below. ;-) Yesterday I went out for lunch with my mum and two family friends who I've known forever. We went to the Chinese buffet (YUM), and then to the native reserve for a little drive and to check out a store there. It was a lot of fun. Also, this week I started Susannah Conway's Unravelling e-course. I wanted to take the course the minute I read about it on Susannah's blog, so I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of it. I can't talk about the assignments or anything, but I'll be talking a bit about the things I'm learning on my other blog, as well as posting more photos.
Ok, onto bookish and bloggish things!
READING:
Since last week, I finished So Damn Lucky by Deborah Coonts, and I also started and finished My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. You guys. MLND was freaking amazing. I've read so many amazing YA contemps lately, and each one becomes my new favourite. If you haven't read it, you need to.
I started reading Once by Anna Carey, and Cicada by Belle Whittington.I have a ton of library books out right now, so I'm trying to get through these quickly but I haven't had a whole lot of reading time lately.
ON THE BLOG:
I reviewed Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock, and gave it four stars for it's terrific character and world building.
I shared the top ten books on my fall TBR list. What are you reading this fall?
I started a new feature this week called Music Monday. I came up with it last Thursday when I decided to add a section in my Update Thursday for music, but I felt the post was cluttered with one extra thing. I'd love for more people to participate, so please check it out and mark it down for Mondays!
I begged and pleaded for votes in the Top 25 Indie Authors list. Please consider voting for me (Marie Landry, Blue Sky Days)!
I posted the sign-ups for the second annual Spooktacular Paranormal Reading Challenge! If you're looking for something fun to do in October and you love paranormal books (or fantasy or urban fantasy or sci-fi), check it out and consider signing up. It was a lot of fun last year, and there's a chance to win a prize at the end!
I participated in the Labor Day Read-a-thon and read 545 pages (my goal was 500).
WRITING
I haven't done any actual writing, but I did send out book #2 to my beta readers - eep! I'm excited and nervous, and felt totally sick to my stomach after I sent it. My alpha reader read it in three days and loved it, so that was a good sign, but now I'm really anxious to see what my betas think. I really miss writing, and I think I might start on revisions for book #3 soon because I know it's going to involve quite a bit of writing.
In other writing-related news, I think I might have found the image for the cover of book #2 last night! I searched a different stock photo site than I usually search, and found the image within five minutes (after spending hours searching the other site - gah). I played around with it and I'm actually kind of in love with the possibilities...I'm going to make a mock cover in the next couple of days, send it to a few friends to get their opinion, and then plan a cover reveal. If you're interested in helping me out with a cover reveal, please let me know so I can mark you down.
That's it for me! What's new with you? What have you been reading and blogging about lately? What's going on in your life?
