Harriet the Spy - Books that made me love reading challenge

When I was younger...
I think I read the book after I had seen the movie.  I think seeing the movie first really altered my perception of the characters. While I loved the movie as a kid, and I loved book, I actually disliked the book this time around.

My perception of Harriet has changed a lot. I used to think she was curious and fun loving, this time around was very different.


Now...
Harriet's voice sounds a lot older than she is, which I give her credit for. But is her snarky attitude that is pretty poor.  She claims to want to learn everything, but she is unwilling to put herself in someone else's shoes.  She thinks she has all the answers and tends to put other people down.  Because of this, she has some major realizations and has to grow up fast when everyone turns against her.  Though, Harriet's story is still kind of fun and interesting.

Why I loved this book...
This book made me want to journal.  While I didn't really want to be a spy, I wanted to people watch and observe.  I wanted to be the fly on the wall when I was in public places, overhearing private conversations when I could.  But not breaking and entering, or anything to that extreme.

This book had a huge impact on my life.  I find it interesting that Harriet's voice no longer resonates with me.  Some of the things she says are a little too young.  And yes, it is a kid's book so maybe that's why I find her a little stuck up now.

For anyone that wants to read this, I do highly recommend it for younger readers. And I still love the movie, which I watched after the book.

Kingdom of Obsession

I haven't posted excerpts in awhile - heck, I haven't posted much of anything.

Camp NaNoWriMo kept me busy last month, and this month?  Well, I really have no excuse other than:  DOTA 2.  And more DOTA 2.  We also got an adorable new kitten named GERTY (and two points goes to the first person who can tell me where we got that name from).  That makes five cats.

It was never our intention to adopt him, but him and Munster (our 2 year old) get along so well, we eventually had to cave.  Oh, that and he's flipping adorable.

But it is time that I post an excerpt.  Nina Pelletier does weekly writing prompts (sometimes more than once a week).  I always try to use them to create new, better excerpts for my novels.  This is one for Kingdom of Obsession.  It's a first line prompt that begins with the first line from Fifty Shades of Grey.  Which, I still haven't read yet - has anyone else?  I'd love to know some fellow writers/readers opinions on it!

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I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror. Nine years. I blinked slowly. My hair was the same, a little more wily and unkempt than usually, but that was attributed to nine years in bed. My eyes were the same, the same aging crow’s feet that just started to pucker when I forced a smile onto my lips. My lips were less pale than before, probably because I hadn’t used as much makeup. I twisted them to the side, almost expecting the reflection to move in the opposite direction.

I had tumbled through a rabbit hole.

This didn’t happen in real life.

My knuckles turned white with the pressure I applied to the corners of the sink. Except it did. I’m living proof. I closed my eyes. I’d wake up in a second. I’d wake up and my mother would be dead again, my husband would be wrapped clumsily in the comforter besides me, and my son will be in the other room. I’ll wake up in California, sun shining through the lush trees of our house.

I opened my eyes. My reflection gazed back at me, green eyes locked on mine. The corner of my right eye twitched.

My mouth opened, and I started laughing. The guttural sound pounded through my throat, escaping my mouth in hysterical heaves. Someone’s knuckles brushed against the door. The laughter bounced off the walls, reverberating my core, filling me with utter hatred for the rest of the world.

My spine tingled, my whole brain swelled in my head and I almost lost control of my body. My limbs slowly went numb against the realization. Gone. Gone was the life I knew, and all I had left was the bitter prickling that trembled in the back of my neck, separating myself from my body. I wasn’t here, but my reflection told me I was. This was me, here, now.

It was a lie.

My reflection stopped laughed and instead screamed. The noise was so sudden and so fierce that I winced at the sound of my own voice. I found control of my right arm, just long enough to thrust it into the mirror, distorting my face into tiny pieces and reflections.

At least I now resembled how I felt.

These broken pieces, they had to fit back together somehow. They had to still be alive. Nine years couldn’t have been a dream. People don’t dream for nine years. The pounding on the door got louder, nurses and doctors, the lot of them were working to open the lock. I didn’t let them have the pleasure of seeing me like this. I unlocked the door and pushed it outward. Everyone gazed at me, eyes locked on mine as my fingers dripped blood onto the floor.

My dead mother  My mother gasped.

My ex-best friend My best friend swallowed.

The nurse stood ready with another needle.

“I’m getting them back.” I marched across the room and sat at the edge of the bed. The nurse and doctor exchanged a look, very prepared for my insanity, but not for this. I was calm, cool, collected, at least that’s what I told myself. “I don’t care what any of you say, it wasn’t just a dream. Dreams don’t last that long.”

Holy Giveaway

For those of you that don't follow YA Highway, you probably should for no other reason that sometimes they have awesome (incredible) giveaways.  But YA Highway also has awesome book recommendations.

Giveaway here!

Seriously, check it out - there's so many incredible books to be had!

Poppy by Avi - Books that made me love reading challenge

For some reason, when I was younger, I adored the idea of mice doing battle so much so that I bought almost the entirety of Brian Jacques series without even reading a single one of them. I'm a book hoarder, sue me.

But I think that love all stemmed from Poppy.

When I was younger... I loved how a timid little field mouse could do such a grandiose task.  It made me feel empowered, and I think it made me respect animals a lot more.  She fought for her life and won, she kept on going even when it looked bleak, even when she thought she was going to die.  Poppy was a fighter, and I hugely respected her courage.

Now...  since I have grown to love and respect owls, it is a bit of a bitter sweet ending.  While the owl is completely manipulative, and is a good villain, he is also just trying to survive.  The easiest way for him to do that?  To insight fear into the field mice.  This was an interesting one to read over again.

It's funny, when I was younger, I used to record myself reading and play it back.  The purpose?  To understand how I sounded to other people.  I actually really hated my voice - and for the most part, still do.  I also had a lot of issues with reading out loud.  I would trip over my words in class, and I read Poppy to try to get better at that.

I don't think it was very successful, but hey, it was still fun.

On writing 9,000 words in a day

I know people have done this before, because people have written short length novels over the course of the 3-day novel challenge.

But let me be (probably not) the first to say that it's a lot of work.

Surprisingly, I got done a little over 3,000 words in an hour, so I can see where other people could accomplish a novel in a weekend.  But me?  I'm burned out.

When I get inside my character's head - really inside their head - and I'm writing from a hugely emotional standpoint (this whole novella has been one emotional trigger after another), I get my own gut wrenched.  I just spend the last thousand words sobbing as I brought my character to his emotional conclusions.  His resolve and the decisions that he has made for himself brought me to my own tears, as I know how I would feel if I were in the same situation.

And that's the thing:  It's every emotion at once.

Now that the 9,094 words are out of the way, I feel exhausted.  Not mentally, no, my brain can continue to pump out words for days.  But I'm emotionally hollowed out, my character burrowed a hole into my brain and I no longer have the emotional capacity for even myself.

Does anyone else get this emotionally invested in their characters?  I find that when I do cry, the words flow more genuinely onto the page, with true emotions and feelings.  The negative, well, I already said that.  It takes a lot of work.

I don't ever want to hear anyone say that writing is not a real job.

Oh - and now I have a fancy new Camp NaNoWriMo badge to show off in the corner.  Yay accomplishing goals!