Things are taking a bit longer to get done today than I would have hoped. I edited something short that I'd written quite a while ago, and I started editing the much longer Hunger Games fanfiction that's a companion to the one I'm currently posting. That's helped me feel really productive. I'm even done with most of my homework, yet I keep looking at my to do list and seeing I still have a done to do today. I want to do more editing for one thing.
Luckily it's Friday, so I can work on whatever I need to as late as I want. It helps me feel better about taking a break to watch the new episode of Korra. However, I know One Direction's new album leaked today and the fandom is freaking out all over Twitter and Tumblr. I feel really disconnected from all of that happening because I've only seen glimpses of whatever's happening while I've been working on everything. I'll have all weekend to get into that though. I've already done the majority of my homework for the weekend, so that's worth it.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books by Harold Underdown
Published: May 6th, 2008Publisher: Alpha
Read from October 22nd to November 1st, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Honest and precise, everything about writing for children there is to know.'Jane Yolen, authorHere is the comprehensive guide to writing, publishing, and selling for an ever-expanding and always exciting children's market, now in a new and updated third edition. - Includes new chapters on self-publishing and on "how to choose a how-to", plus revision and updates throughout.- Offers practical advice on getting started and on dealing with out-of-print books.- Covers picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, middle-grade and young novels, and common formats and genres.- Reveals what happens inside a children's publishing company, and provides guidance in working with an editor. - Sample cover and query letters, manuscript format, glossary, and recommended resources in an extensive appendix.- Plus information on agents, contracts, copyright, marketing and more.
Review:
This book covers just about everything you could want to know about publishing children's books and also provides plenty of other resources if you want to learn more. It's clear that the author really knows what he's talking about as he's knows the industry well. If you're looking for a good book on the publishing side of writing children's books, I would highly recommend this book.
Life Post: Writing Time and Possible New Blog
A lot of things have happened the past twenty-four hours or so. And by that I mean that I've decided to try and do a few things, but most of them are things I don't want to talk about on here because I'm still trying to sort it all out. For one thing, I'm going to try and start getting more writing time in. I guess it could be considered in honor of NaNoWriMo this month even though I'm not participating. I've hardly had time to write since this semester started, and I want to change that. I've written 2500+ words today. The only downside is I still have homework to do as well as a grocery shopping trip with my sister. My writing time may make me even more frazzled than normal, but I think I prefer that to not getting anything done. We'll see how I feel in a few days. Maybe I'll keep it up and maybe I won't. I'm so close to finishing this first draft and have been for such a long time that it's ridiculous though.
The other biggest thing I've decided is that I'm going to create another blog. This one's not going anywhere. I'm going to have two. Some types of posts that I've written here are going to stay here while I start writing others types of posts over there instead. I still have to actually create the blog, and I also haven't entirely worked out where the line is between them. Some kinds of posts I know for sure, but there are others where I'm not entirely sure which one they'd be a better fit for. I'm still working it all out. My plan right now is to actually go about creating the blog tomorrow though, and I'm hoping that will help me make all of the decisions about that. Maybe I'll fall through and just keep this blog, but I think I can keep up with it. I've had this blog for more than five years now (wow), and it's still going. Plus, I wouldn't really plan to write more than I do now. Posts would just go up on either blog depending. We'll see.
I have a lot of other things to do today, so I have to wrap this up. I just really wanted to get all of that out there now. Actually saying I'm going to do these things is motivation to actually do them. Now it's embarrassing if I don't go through with it, but I don't know when I'll start talking about what the other blog is. I have to get it set up and everything of course, but I also want to really have plans down over the exact difference between that blog and this one. We'll see. I don't even have a name or URL idea for it yet, so that's my biggest concern to start with.
The other biggest thing I've decided is that I'm going to create another blog. This one's not going anywhere. I'm going to have two. Some types of posts that I've written here are going to stay here while I start writing others types of posts over there instead. I still have to actually create the blog, and I also haven't entirely worked out where the line is between them. Some kinds of posts I know for sure, but there are others where I'm not entirely sure which one they'd be a better fit for. I'm still working it all out. My plan right now is to actually go about creating the blog tomorrow though, and I'm hoping that will help me make all of the decisions about that. Maybe I'll fall through and just keep this blog, but I think I can keep up with it. I've had this blog for more than five years now (wow), and it's still going. Plus, I wouldn't really plan to write more than I do now. Posts would just go up on either blog depending. We'll see.
I have a lot of other things to do today, so I have to wrap this up. I just really wanted to get all of that out there now. Actually saying I'm going to do these things is motivation to actually do them. Now it's embarrassing if I don't go through with it, but I don't know when I'll start talking about what the other blog is. I have to get it set up and everything of course, but I also want to really have plans down over the exact difference between that blog and this one. We'll see. I don't even have a name or URL idea for it yet, so that's my biggest concern to start with.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Life Post: A Great Monday
This will probably be a very short post because I only have ten minutes before I have to be out the door to my next class, but wow, it's been a nice Monday. It's probably too early to say that though, and I might be jinxing myself.
As much as I hate that the time change means the sun sets earlier, it's definitely nice that I can now walk to class in the morning in the sunlight as opposed to the dark. It helps me feel like I'm not up at a ridiculously early hour, and I honestly think that is the main reason behind why I feel so much more awake than normal this morning. Starbucks also has their holiday drinks out though, and I tried one for the first time that is officially the best Starbucks drink I've ever had. That's helping too.
I still have two classes left as well as homework and all of that, so there's plenty of time for the typical Monday feelings to set in, but so far I'm doing pretty good. I wouldn't mind it getting a little warmer later on today, but what can you do? I'm going to have to deal with that now that it's November.
As much as I hate that the time change means the sun sets earlier, it's definitely nice that I can now walk to class in the morning in the sunlight as opposed to the dark. It helps me feel like I'm not up at a ridiculously early hour, and I honestly think that is the main reason behind why I feel so much more awake than normal this morning. Starbucks also has their holiday drinks out though, and I tried one for the first time that is officially the best Starbucks drink I've ever had. That's helping too.
I still have two classes left as well as homework and all of that, so there's plenty of time for the typical Monday feelings to set in, but so far I'm doing pretty good. I wouldn't mind it getting a little warmer later on today, but what can you do? I'm going to have to deal with that now that it's November.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Legend of Korra Review: Book 4 Episode 5: "Enemy at the Gates"
I reviewed episode four on my Youtube channel, and I forgot to post the video here like I have been trying to do. Whoops. Anyway, here are my thoughts on episode five.
I'm glad that Bolin has finally realized that Kuvira's crazy. He was amazing in this episode. I think him and Varrick were the highlight. I never thought I'd say that about Varrick, but I quite enjoyed him in this episode. I've mostly found him amusing in the past, but I wasn't overly concerned with anything about him really. I like his line about suddenly being concerned for others though, and I'm hoping he continues to develop into a better person while I'm sure he'll stay very comedic.
Speaking of Varrick, I should bring up Zhu Lee as well. I'm pretty sure we heard her talk more in this episode than possibly every other episode combined. I liked it. It's nice for her to get a bit of development, and I'm actually really happy with her decision to go with Kuvira because it actually makes her character interesting. I'm actually pretty sure she's going to double cross Kuvira somehow, but I'm not entirely sure of that. Maybe she was telling the truth. We really don't know enough about her to know for sure one way or the other, but that just makes her decision all that more interesting to me.
Back to Bolin, he was so, so amazing! I think this is the first time we've really gotten to see him bend so far this season, and it's so awesome to watch him lava bend. I love seeing it mixed in with the rest of his earth bending. The fight scenes in this episode were just all around amazing. I never would have thought Avatar fight scenes with those robot suit things would look as cool as they did, but the second the fight started I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open in amazement. I was just watching the fight play out because, as weird as this sounds, it was such a beautifully animated scene. It was probably my favorite of the episode.
Oh, and his attempts to win over Suyin, Opal, and the rest of their family was so funny. I loved that, and I was rooting for Bolin and Opal getting back on good terms once he got a way from Kuvira. Now it looks like we'll be waiting a while for that. It'll be interesting to actually see one of these education camps though and see what happens. I'm not sure what to expect since my imagination can come up with some quite horrible stuff that I don't think Nickelodeon would allow. I guess we'll have to wait and see what exactly the camps are.
Asami's story line with her dad was also nice, although it felt a little out of place among every thing else. It was much calmer than everything else happening, which I suppose was on purpose. It just seemed like somewhat odd placement to me because it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the larger story. Sure it's some character development for Asami, and I'm all about character development. I'm just not sure how I feel about it happening right here since it felt a little off. I'm wondering if the purpose was to bring her father back into the story because he'll have some importance later on. That would make more sense I think. It's not that I didn't like those scenes. I thought they were very touching and well done. They just didn't seem to go with the rest of the episode to me.
Next episode seems like it'll be intense. I'm expecting quite a bit of fighting, and I'm wondering if we'll see Bolin in that camp. Maybe he'll escape before getting there, but I'm kind of betting on him seeing it. I'm hoping for some awesomeness from Korra. She was great in this episode, but she wasn't really a huge focus, at least in my mind. I'm looking forward to her being more central to things, but I'm also hoping for some focus on Bolin since I feel like he's going to have a pretty great story line too.
I'm glad that Bolin has finally realized that Kuvira's crazy. He was amazing in this episode. I think him and Varrick were the highlight. I never thought I'd say that about Varrick, but I quite enjoyed him in this episode. I've mostly found him amusing in the past, but I wasn't overly concerned with anything about him really. I like his line about suddenly being concerned for others though, and I'm hoping he continues to develop into a better person while I'm sure he'll stay very comedic.
Speaking of Varrick, I should bring up Zhu Lee as well. I'm pretty sure we heard her talk more in this episode than possibly every other episode combined. I liked it. It's nice for her to get a bit of development, and I'm actually really happy with her decision to go with Kuvira because it actually makes her character interesting. I'm actually pretty sure she's going to double cross Kuvira somehow, but I'm not entirely sure of that. Maybe she was telling the truth. We really don't know enough about her to know for sure one way or the other, but that just makes her decision all that more interesting to me.
Back to Bolin, he was so, so amazing! I think this is the first time we've really gotten to see him bend so far this season, and it's so awesome to watch him lava bend. I love seeing it mixed in with the rest of his earth bending. The fight scenes in this episode were just all around amazing. I never would have thought Avatar fight scenes with those robot suit things would look as cool as they did, but the second the fight started I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open in amazement. I was just watching the fight play out because, as weird as this sounds, it was such a beautifully animated scene. It was probably my favorite of the episode.
Oh, and his attempts to win over Suyin, Opal, and the rest of their family was so funny. I loved that, and I was rooting for Bolin and Opal getting back on good terms once he got a way from Kuvira. Now it looks like we'll be waiting a while for that. It'll be interesting to actually see one of these education camps though and see what happens. I'm not sure what to expect since my imagination can come up with some quite horrible stuff that I don't think Nickelodeon would allow. I guess we'll have to wait and see what exactly the camps are.
Asami's story line with her dad was also nice, although it felt a little out of place among every thing else. It was much calmer than everything else happening, which I suppose was on purpose. It just seemed like somewhat odd placement to me because it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the larger story. Sure it's some character development for Asami, and I'm all about character development. I'm just not sure how I feel about it happening right here since it felt a little off. I'm wondering if the purpose was to bring her father back into the story because he'll have some importance later on. That would make more sense I think. It's not that I didn't like those scenes. I thought they were very touching and well done. They just didn't seem to go with the rest of the episode to me.
Next episode seems like it'll be intense. I'm expecting quite a bit of fighting, and I'm wondering if we'll see Bolin in that camp. Maybe he'll escape before getting there, but I'm kind of betting on him seeing it. I'm hoping for some awesomeness from Korra. She was great in this episode, but she wasn't really a huge focus, at least in my mind. I'm looking forward to her being more central to things, but I'm also hoping for some focus on Bolin since I feel like he's going to have a pretty great story line too.
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