Booktube-a-thon TBR 2015

Dates August 3rd-9th
Booktube-a-thon channel http://youtube.com/booktubeathon

Challenges:

1. Read a book with blue on the cover

2. Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name 

3. Read someone else's favourite book

4. Read the last book you acquired 

5. Finish a book without letting go of it

6. Read a book you really want to read

7. Read seven books

TBR:

How To Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski (Challenges 1, 4 & 6)

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (Challenge 2)

Goth Girl by Chris Riddell (Challenge 3)

Little Mermaids and Ugly Ducklings by Hans Christian Anderson (Challenge 5)

And finally to read a total of seven book I will be attempting to read;

Carrie by Stephen King

Tinder by Sally Gardner

If I Stay by Gayle Foreman

Book Review - The Imaginary by A.F Harrold, Illustrated by Emily Gravett

The premise of this book revolves around a girl named Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger. They play together in Amanda's back garden which is a den for adventures of all varieties. Nobody other than Amanda can see Rudger and nobody else believes he even exists. Amanda and Rudger live very happily together until Mr Bunting knocks on their front door.

Mr Bunting is a mysterious man with his own imginary friend (which is rather strange for adults as they are supposed to forget this sort of thing as they get older). We find out rather quickly just how evil Mr Bunting really is. He eats imaginary friends and he is after Rudger.

I really enjoyed this story which shows in that I read it in one night.

Highlights

• The power cut - This scene gave me chills with Amanda's eerie game of hide and seek. Mr Bunting's imaginary friend was a very creepy character with her long dark hair, pale face and soulless dark eyes. The part where she only appeared when the lightening flashed was so scary!
• The talking cat = awesome
• The library filled with imaginary friends which included gnomes, ragdolls, dinosaurs and teddy bears.

The characters were wonderful in this story. Amanda was a little selfish at times which didn't put Rudger in the best situations when she refused to listen to his warnings about Mr Bunting. Rudger on the other hands was very brave and was able to escape from some pretty scary situations with a little help from an imaginary girl named Emily and a talking cat with two different coloured eyes.

It had heartbreak, adventure and humour.

This book reminded me of a Tim Burton film and Neil Gaiman's book Coraline, which I also love.

I gave this book 5/5 stars.

Reading Slump

I never used to understand the term ‘Reading Slump’. In fact I had never actually heard of it until I started watching book reviews on YouTube. But unfortunately a few times this year so far I have found myself in a few slumps.

I need to find that one amazing book that will get me out of it. I need a book cure. But which to choose.

These are some options that I have collected;

-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (This will be a re-read. But its one of my favourite books)

- Opal Plumstead by Jacqueline Wilson

-Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

- In The Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken (Finishing off one of my on going series)

- Half Bad by Sally Green

- The Brides Of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

- Longbourn by Jo Baker

Jellyfish - New Mistake #MusicMonday

The Replacements Teaser Quote

'Fish Eye' Artist - http://napper5565.deviantart.com/art/Fish-Eye-527414424?q=gallery%3ANapper5565%2F1052856&qo=42

The Pierces - You'll Be Mine

Mood Board

Promises of a second draft

I’ve recently finished the first draft of my new young adult novel. This is a huge accomplishment but the panicking feeling that comes with having to read all the mistakes and plot holes has been at the back of my mind.

A second draft can be a daunting task when you first start to edit your book and a whole lot of red ink will adorn my first try, a lot of things will be cut and sentences will be crossed out angrily. When I first started I found myself getting lost in my own story, I had forgotten a lot of what I had written at the beginning of the story and discovered my ideas for plot and characters had changed slightly as the story had progressed over the 6 or so months of me writing. Rather than panicking over this I decided to look on it as a good thing. My characters had developed and become different people than I had written them at the beginning. This is what every writer and every reader wants. A progressing and developing book one that is not stagnant and flat.

Having hand written my entire first draft on paper I am now beginning the gruelling task of typing my work up for the second draft. At around 20,000 words in I have begun to love my story more and more and have high hopes for my third and fourth drafts.

Ghost Town inspiration board

Pinterest has become my new addiction. On my profile I have pins for pretty pictures from some of my favourite topics. This ranges from Disney to Final Fantasy to my favourite books.

When building my characters in my story I like to visualize what they and the world I am building will look like. A picture paints a thousand words and Pinterest helps me reach that in my word count.

Below is a link to my inspiration board for my first novel “The Misfits of Ghost Town”

https://www.pinterest.com/veritytownshend/ghost-town-inspiration/

The Misfits of Ghost Town on Kindle Unlimited

If you are signed up to Amazon Kindle Unlimited why not take a chance and read my debut novel for free!

The Misfits of Ghost Town http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0...

A ghostly book filled with magic and adventure that will take you on a hauntingly awesome journey.

Happy Reading :)

Verity

The Misfits Of Ghost Town

I am very proud to introduce my ghostly new book ‘The Misfits Of Ghost Town’ which is now available on Kindle ebooks.

Link to Amazon kindle store where you can purchase my book
The Misfits Of Ghost Town

Happy Reading :)

Verity x

Keeping motivated

When doing any kind of activity/work related task you must always keep motivated. Whether it comes to revising for an exam, learning a new language or learning to draw.

Some people are naturally motivated and find it easy to learn new things and keep it up.I on the other hand need to push myself day after day to keep myself motivated.

I like timetables, word counts and making endless lists. When revising for exams when I was studying I needed to plan months ahead all of the things I needed to do, otherwise I never stuck to it.

Now when I’m writing which is a much more fun task than revising for a maths or science exam I still need things that keep me going on those stressful or stagnant days when I don’t feel like writing.

These include:

Daily word counts – I have recently set myself a daily word count of 1000 words a day and if I cannot manage that, if I am busy or don’t have any current ideas I make sure to do at least 500. Now I have started to see my story grow and grow with each passing day. I find myself wanting to write more as my stories always seem to be on my mind, and as of today I have hit the 30,000 word mark which makes me feel so proud.

Music – This is a big influence on my writing in general. Music is like films playing in your head. When you listen to your favourite songs you find yourself imagining what the singer is describing. This is the same with writing. When you play scenes over and over in your head it opens you to new ideas. Let other peoples art inspire you.

Television/film – Now when I watch television I like to keep notes on several pointers:

-          How characters speak to one another (whether in hate, friendship or love)
-          How characters look at on another
-          How quickly stories progress
-          Their tone of voice or how they move
-     All this fuels your writing, giving you new ideas on how people behave

Notepads – I keep notepads everywhere with me. In my bags, on the coffee or bedside table. If I am ever feeling inspired I like to note down all my ideas immediately. Not all of them are always good, but it just shows you how much you think about your writing, letting you know that it is always on your mind.

Imaging your end goal – Whether I am picturing how my book will look or how well I am hoping it will sell. All of this fuels your ambition and determination. It’s like if you wanted to be a rock star, what better motivation than imagining yourself on stage playing to thousands of people. Even if in this moment in time you are only playing air guitar in front of the mirror. For now I and others may be sat in front of computers typing and typing until you can.t type anymore, but one day we will get there and it will be worth it.

If you wish for something enough and you have the power and talent to make it happen GO FOR IT!

Friday Inspiration

Thought I would share pictures I have found that are inspiring my writing, courtesy of pinterest
:)

When I grow up?

When I was younger I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. The question that plagues people for most of their lives. I had plenty of ideas which included:

-Teacher: I enjoyed sitting at my desk in my room with my homemade registers of classes and ticking off imaginary correct and in correct answers in my mum’s magazines.

-Vet: My practice included and ironing board for an operating table. Stuffed toys for patients which I would wrap up in tissue paper (which served as homemade bandages)

-Actress – Despite being quite a shy child I enrolled in a drama group which took place every Saturday. In which I starred in a few small plays.

-Rock Star – Me my sister and my cousin always dreamed we would form our own girl band in the style of the awesome fictional group Josie and the pussycats, after watching the film a million times.

But as it turns out I never ended up following these career paths. One thing that has stayed constant in my life is my love of reading. This has grew and grew over the years and through discovering book tube and book blogging for both authors and readers I have become inspired to tell my own stories.

I love getting lost in a book, immersing myself in imaginary worlds from Harry Potter to Alice in Wonderland. I have a list of all the fictional places I would love to visit which are:

-Hogwarts (I mean who doesn’t want to learn to play Quidditch and take a potions class with Professor Snape)

-Wonderland (To meet the Cheshire cat and go to the mad hatter’s tea party)

-Abarat (Where each island is a different time of the day. Amazing)

-Westeros (Though I better watch my back)

-The Divergent World (Meet Four and train to become dauntless)

-Middle Earth (To meet Frodo and the gang)

I think I have always known I wanted to be a writer, since I was younger I loved to imagine adventures that I could go on and would write them all down to visit whenever I wanted. It just seems like the perfect path for me. 

I have read all the horror stories on how hard it is to get your book to readers through agents and publishers. I therefore am excited to publish my own stories through independent publishing. This is both an exciting and terrifying journey which requires me to become a writer and an editor.

But this is the path I want to take and I can’t wait to start my journey.

Writing Inspiration

I love listening to music when I'm writing and today both the video and the lyrics of this song are inspiring scenes in my post apocalyptic world.

New blog and new books

Hello blogging world,

I have set up this blog to share my passion for both reading books and beginning my own writing journey.

I have many stories swimming around in my head and therefore have to have a notepad and pen close to hand, where most people keep a smartphone. I am hoping to reach many readers who care to listen to my stories of adventure, magic and mystery.

I am currently editing my spooky childrens book which includes halloween and misfit ghosts. The cover is currently being designed and I am very excited to share it with readers. In the next few months I will be adding links to the finished book and I hope people of all ages will enjoy it.

At present I am writing my second book entitled "The Replacements" the first book in my post apocalyptic du ology or maybe a trilogy depending on where the story takes me.

I shall now end my post here, short and sweet as they say.

Happy reading.