Saturday, June 3, 2017

May Wrap-up


May is here! May is here! May- What? ... May is already over? ... But that can't be true. It- it just started! Right? ... No? *crosses arms* Well that went by fast! And here we thought February came and went quickly. Let's see if I managed to get anything done this month. *rifles through a small stack of papers* Mm, nuttin'. What? Oh you want to know what that big stack of paper in the trash is? I'll tell you what happened, but you may want to sit down...



Writing

You may remember I said in my last wrap up that I was going to work on the second draft of Strangers. My plan was to have that all ready to give to my alpha readers by June 1st. The month started out great... and then it started going downhill. Yeah, as I was writing the second draft, I kept finding more and more problems. It's horrible guys! I have plot holes, things that just don't make sense, and I don't feel like my characters change enough throughout the story. But it wasn't until the last week of May that I realized that I'm going to have to rewrite my whole. novel. 

At first, I was like, "Well, isn't this just fantastic." :P But it's okay now! I actually don't think I'll mind having to rewrite it, because just yesterday, I got some really great ideas that I think will make the whole story better and more exciting. :D (Half of them came to me while I was on a walk. Go figure.) More than likely, I'll keep some of the more important scenes. I know that I will be keeping my prologue though. For sure.

I have no idea how long it will take me to do this rewrite, but I'm hoping to have it ready for alpha readers by... actually, I just had a great idea! I'll have it finished by the end of October, so that they can be reading it while I'm doing NaNoWriMo in November. I know, that's quite a while from now, but summer is my busiest time of the year. Now that we have that all sorted out...

Reading

Dare by Tricia Mingerink        Deny by Tricia Mingerink        Defy by Tricia Mingerink        Destroy by Tricia Mingerink                                                                                                                 
Deliver by Tricia Mingerink        Resistance by Jaye L. Knight        The King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight        Andora's Folly by Abigayle Claire                                                                                       
Deal by Tricia Mingerink


I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty happy with the amount of reading I was able to get done this month. :) This is twice as much as April. I had planned on reading more, but the week I was on vacation, I did like no reading. Destroy and Andora's Folly are novellas. Andora's Folly was actually a beta read, and it's soo good. All of you need to read it when it's gets released on July 29th! Deal (that link under the rest of the books) was a short story, but it still counted towards my reading goal on Goodreads. The other six books weren't exactly short though. Those ranged from roughly 340-450 pages.

Trying to choose a favorite is really hard, because all but two of these got five stars. The other two got 4. Well, technically, 3.5 stars, but if you paid any attention in math, you'll know that .5 always rounds up, never down. Thus, 4 stars. So, my favorite was probably Deliver, and my least favorite was either Resistance or The King's Scrolls. I can't decide.

Blogging

My posts for May:
The Liebster Award

My Firsts!

Homeschooling- Part 3

The Sunshine Blogger Tag


Other bloggers' posts that you should check out:

Audrey's post- Why Every Writer Should Be A Beta Reader The reasons she gives are really good. 

Jonathan's post- 5 FAQs the Writers/Bloggers Get and How to Answer Them Without Panicking This is really funny, and I found it helpful.

Marrok's post- Let's Talk: Protagonist He describes four kinds of protagonists perfectly

Other

So May wasn't quite a busy as I thought it was going to be. But it was still crazy. I went on vacation, and if you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw some pictures. That was a lot of fun. I got to see some family and friends that I only get to see when I go down there. 

Aand... I got my license!! :D I'm so happy, and now it's done so I don't have to worry about it anymore. But get this, guys. I sent in my driving hours with a note asking them not to schedule my road test for the time that I would be on vacation (yes, I gave them the dates). Finally, I got the date, and you know what? They scheduled it for the day that I was leaving to go on vacation. The audacity! So we called them to reschedule and got it for the very next day. 

I was actually really surprised that I passed. You know how people are always like, "I hate parallel parking! It's soo hard!" Well, I can parallel park better than I can like regular park. Isn't that weird? What I mean by "regular parking" is when you gotta do that 90 degree turn... yeah, I'm not the best at that. :P By anyway, that's my May! :)


So how was your May? Anything exciting happen? What do you think of the changes I made to my blog?

14 comments:

  1. Cool wrap up! isn't it funny how going for a walk can do that? I hope the re-working of your novel goes well!
    Congrats on getting you're license! sounds like a ton of fun happened to you this month.
    By the way I really like the change! the teal color looks great as well as your new banner!

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    1. Thanks Marrok! It is really weird how it happens like that. When the ideas came to me, I was like, "Well, I really wish I had a pen and paper right now..." Thanks! I'm actually kinda excited. :)

      Thank you! Yeah, I guess a lot of fun stuff did happen. :D Yay, thank you! I'm glad you like it! :)

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  2. AAHHH I LOVE THE COLORS. Any shade of blue I ADORE.

    I hope rewrites on your novel go well! They're definitely tough, but it's cool to experiment with new ideas to make the novel better :D

    <3
    audrey caylin

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    1. Thank you so much Audrey! :D

      Thanks! I've gotten more ideas since, and I'm looking forward to this rewrite. I think it'll be a lot of fun. :)

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  3. Love the new blog look!!

    Cool highlights!! I'm in the middle of reading Andora's Folly and I'm loving it!!

    Driving?? That's awesome!! Only 3 more years for me!!! xD

    - Lilly Shyree (alillyingodsgarden.blogspot.com)

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    1. Thanks Lilly! I'm glad you like it. :)

      Ah! Isn't it just a great story? I loved it so much! :D

      Thank you! Ohh, those three years will go fast and before you know it, you'll be driving too. ;)

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  4. Isn't it great when you're on a walk and all the ideas just come flooding in? I need to go on more walks, my inspiration is running dry lately! sooobusyyyytho

    Where did you go for vacation? Congratulations on getting your license! Isn't it a great feeling to have that intimidating part of life over and done with? XD Enjoy your newfound freedom!

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    1. Oh, yes! :D I just need to figure out some way of remembering them. :P I could probably use my phone, since I have it with me anyway. Haha, yeah, I know what you mean. ;)

      I went to Pennsylvania! I love it down there. <3 Thank you! It is. I'm so glad that I got that over with. :P Yes! Fly, be free! Or should that be "drive"...?

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  5. May has been such a fun month for all of us!

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  6. Great recap, Karyssa!! :D EEEPPS, all the lovely book covers are just...like... <3 <3 I'm so glad you enjoyed The Blades of Acktar! I love those.
    Congrats on getting your license!

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    1. Thank you, Faith! I know, aren't they beautiful? Ahh, me too! One of my favorite series now, for sure! <3

      Thank you! :)

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  7. WHAT YOU READ ALL THE BLADES OF ACKTAR THIS MONTH?? *high fives* That feels super fast to me because I read them as they released, so patience was required. xD

    ALSO CONGRATULATIONS, I just got my license also haha. And thanks for linking back to my post! :D

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    1. Yeah I did!! :D They were soo good! Haha, yeah one of the benefits of taking so long to read the books is that you get to read them one after another. XD

      Thank you! Oh cool! I think you might have gotten yours before me though. :P You're welcome! :)

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