Outread Aubrey! Challenge discussion

I finally finished Crosswind! A great book, but with a few faults. :) My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Goodness, this is terrible. I haven't finished anything in April yet. I have been very busy, and every spare minute I'm trying to get writing done, and to conquer a behemoth of a chapter (if anyone has a few minutes, I am desperate for opinions on how to fix the poor thing!) I wrote it a year ago and the wrestling match has reached a critical stage.
Hopefully soon I can finish reading a book again! (Soon as in tomorrow!)

This is the week. This is the week we see how well Aubrey balances two, really-should-do-three, writing projects and reading...

My sympathies, Hannah! What book are you working on?

Are you making any progress on your "books I need to read to decide if I'll keep" pile, Jon? I haven't even started on my boxes. :P

Hooray! *showers Shadow in cupcakes and goes to read review*

I'm reading The Last Heir by Shannon McDermontt. Its really good so far.

That title sounds familiar... Let us know what you think of it when you're all done, Mikayla!

Okay Aubrey, I will! It might sound familiar because its a home school Author book.

I've finished... one book this month. *facepalm* Well, I finally got this Tolkien biography finished... not that it was very long... 160-ish pages. :P

@Faith: It's called 'Mythmaker'; I don't remember who the author is... if you go to my Outread Aubrey shelf, it should be there. :) And I want to read a collection of his letters someday... when I have the time. XD

I haven't been reading hardly anything at all either. I've just been so busy between having a new job, and a cow, and trying to keep up with writing: I might have a chance at Camp Nano after all!

Definitely read City of Thousand Dolls. I have it but havent' read it yet due to my ability to bring home too many library books.

Well, over the past week or so I read A Tenderfoot Bride: Tales from an Old Ranch by Clarice Richards, then read and reviewed They Came to Bagdad by Agatha Christie and the very fun The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart. Next up I'm going to be reading High Lonesome by Louis L'Amour.

Katie wrote: "I haven't been reading hardly anything at all either. I've just been so busy between having a new job, and a cow, and trying to keep up with writing: I might have a chance at Camp Nano after all!"

Oh, you're doing Camp Nano? I tried doing the full NaNo in November and failed miserably. I wrote 15K on the first one I tried, but halfway through the month the characters went berserk. The last week I wrote 20K on a new, wild attempt to make something work. I should have just been a rule breaker and worked on my real WIP, the one I'm currently wrestling with, because I wrote 15K in that while trying not to. Altogether it would have worked if it hadn't been on three different things!

Aubrey wrote: "This is the week. This is the week we see how well Aubrey balances two, really-should-do-three, writing projects and reading...

My sympathies, Hannah! What book are you working on?

Are you maki..."

I'm working on a historical fiction book. All the proper details are there in the pesky chapter, which is the story of a youngish woman learning for the first time about her family history. But there are way too many facts for the digestion of the average reader. My writing group agreed when I joked that I must have been trying to overdose my readers on family history! That's what I get for trying to concede to modern storytelling and "chop out every unnecessary word! From now on I ought to unashamedly ignore public opinion and write novels every bit as long as I good and well please to! ;)

Guess City of a Thousand Dolls is the winner. :D

Ooh, Katie must well me about her Camp NaNo ventures in chat later!

I hardly consider it a "miserable failure" if you wrote that many words in one month, irregardless of how many projects it was on, Hannah! You should definitely try again, though. I think there's another Camp NaNo later in the year... July, maybe?

Yay for HF! Actually, I've heard the advice that first drafts should be "long and strong"--after you have a framework, then you trim it back. So you may try that. :)

You've been doing good, Elisabeth! :D

Finished High Lonesome yesterday; now going to be starting Kate Fennigate by Booth Tarkington—a later book of his; hoping it's as good as his early ones.

Camp Nano is actually pretty rule free. You can set your own goals,write whatever you want, etc. I don't think I'm going to make it this month though; I've barely started on it and keep getting distracted by other things.

And I'm still not reading. Spent two days in WV without Internet and didn't read either book I brought with me.

Good work, Elisabeth!

Last week I was a failure. My work hours doubled and I was acclimating a new cat to the house... This week I must balance it with everything else!

At least I'm not alone at doing less reading! Actually, I've finished three this week, but haven't even had time to rate them. :( I've only finished one of my new books; usually I've read three in the first two days, so it's very unusual for me. And my laptop appears to have died... So the writing that I was trying to edit is stuck on the hard drive until my dad gets home and can load it onto the other computer.
I'll be travelling to Tx in about three weeks, so I should get some reading done then.
~Hannah

So Hannah, where in the perfect state are you going to be travelling to?

Currently reading By Darkness Hid. Before that I read Captives and The Trouble with Skye.

Ooh, Captives looks interesting! I think I have a copy of By Darkness Hid on my Kindle... at any rate I do plan to read that series sometime.

Ack! *sends cupcakes of condolences to Hannah* It's still good that you've finished a few books, though. :)

I am going to read a manga today if it kills me. It will help me get back into the swing. Also this volume is overdue at the library, lol.

Aubrey wrote: "Ooh, Captives looks interesting! I think I have a copy of By Darkness Hid on my Kindle... at any rate I do plan to read that series sometime."

It was interesting. Here's a link to my review. So far By Darkness Hid is great. I'm a little less than 300 pages in.

Just started "I Still Believe" by Jeremy Camp. Got through the prologue and started crying. This is going to be a really good book, I can feel it. But I have to hit the homework now... bye!

Jemimah wrote: "I have By Darkness Hid too, and I'm planning to read it one of these days since I haven't had a "Jill Williamson experience" yet." Both books sound interesting, indeed."

I'm going to be attending a conference in June that Jill will be speaking at, so I'm going through a lot of her books right now. ;)

Let us know if the book's that good all the way through, Siri! :D

Wow! That's awesome, Leah! O.O

I keep seeing that book crop up in those Google Play ads on YouTube... *laughs* How is it?

Got my manga read! Whew! Now I'm back in the "Reading's fun. I like reading. I want to read." mode, which helps.

A friend of mine is a big fan of The Prince. I figure I'll read it at some point, but I haven't got the energy to read a classic on politics and leadership.

Aubrey wrote: "Wow! That's awesome, Leah! O.O"

I know! I'm so excited.

I should probably read it. I love politics. (Well, sometimes, lol!)

Mikayla wrote: "So Hannah, where in the perfect state are you going to be travelling to?"

Dallas and Ft. Worth...specifically Garland/Richardson and Watauga. A whole, wonderful week! I'm trying to figure out how to budget a trip to Half Price...I'm pretty much flat broke, considering expenses coming up this summer... :)

Aubrey wrote: "Ooh, Captives looks interesting! I think I have a copy of By Darkness Hid on my Kindle... at any rate I do plan to read that series sometime.

Ack! *sends cupcakes of condolences to Hannah* It's..."

Thanks for those cupcakes...how did you know that's one of my favorite recipes?? ;)
Computer still sick...printer has the sniffles...and the family desktop is limping along slowly and crashes when I get more than four emails in one sitting! Ugh. The 20-year old laser printer is quite healthy, though! ;)
No reading or writing today. I'm about to drown in paperwork for my summer job, and the computer isn't helping!
~Hannah

Hannah wrote: "Mikayla wrote: "So Hannah, where in the perfect state are you going to be travelling to?"

Dallas and Ft. Worth...specifically Garland/Richardson and Watauga. A whole, wonderful week! I'm trying ..."

We just went up to Dallas for the weekend, we spend a lot of time there because thats where my grandparents live.

Oh, I give cupcakes to everyone whether they like it or not. I'm the cupcake queen in certain circles. ;)

Mikayla wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Mikayla wrote: "So Hannah, where in the perfect state are you going to be travelling to?"

Dallas and Ft. Worth...specifically Garland/Richardson and Watauga. A whole, wonderful wee..."

I always enjoy getting to go there! :)

Read some more manga. Need to read Pulse before it comes due, though!

*plonks in* I finished a book! *victory dance* The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost. Now I want the sequel. *flops out of victory dance into a pout* It isn't published yet. :P

*giggles mercilessly at Aussie* Congrats on finishing a book! Now go find another to finish while you wait for the sequel. B-)

I read that book! I loved it.

Fascinating. Are you going to write a longer review for your blog, Corey? Or can we cajole you into doing so?

Sweet. I shall be patient. :D

Finished and reviewed Kate Fennigate today. Next up I think I shall be reading Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson, which looks like fun.

Just finished Precisely Terminated. Here's a link to my review.

I'm trying to decide what to read next...Hope Rising, Vanya, I Dared to Call Him Father...the list is endless. Maybe I should finish the one I have started, By Darkness Hid. :P Yes, that's probably the best move.

*needs to read Precisely Terminated*

Pfft. Away with responsible reading! Read whatever strikes you. The book won't get stale or nothin' while it waits. ^_^ ;) Not that By Darkness Hid is a bad choice, by any means... :D

Haha. I actually started browsing through Hope Rising a few days ago so I'm currently curling up in bed with it instead of By Darkness Hid. I'll get to that soon though. Need to find out what happens to Achan & Vrell.

*snickers knowingly* Flipping through a book is a deadly habit, my dear.

Aubrey wrote: "*snickers knowingly* Flipping through a book is a deadly habit, my dear."

Don't I know it.

I'm notorious for doing that and either spoiling parts of the book (which I don't mind--sometimes it motivates me to find out what happens) or never actually reading the book in its entirety... like ever...

Oh, the only reason I browsed this one was because it's a book of short stories. So nothing was spoiled. And I finished it in it's entirety today, so I guess that didn't get ruined either. :P

Well, I just got "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris, "Sword in the Stars" by Wayne Thomas Batson, and "the last book in the Beyonders series by Brandon Mull.

I hope to finish all of these this month; I'm determined to at least finish "Sword in the Stars". A friend of mine who was in two hit-and-runs in the last seven months can't read without getting a seizure, so he's been unable to read.

So I'm going to read "Sword in the Stars" aloud to him over the phone. :) Thus, I'm determined to finish it at least.

What an awesome thing to do for your friend, Renna. Good luck!