May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Ladies and gentlemen, it has begun. There is dramatic, inspiring music in the background, and I am on top of the world.

Camp NaNoWriMo is a go.

Emma, Mariesa, and I had a lovely online (thank God for computers) kick-off party, and I managed to churn out about 1400 words of Fool Me Once edits in a little under two hours.

Here's a sneak peak.

Slowly, we picked out way down the stairs. Halfway to what I assumed was the bottom, if the soft glow coming from what I hoped was a replacement lantern was anything to go by, the desk slid back into place, dropping us into complete darkness—save the aforementioned light.
"That's unfortunate." Edmund muttered.
To keep from tripping, falling, and breaking my neck, I eased my way down, a hand constantly against the wall. A residue I didn't care to think about clung to my hand, seeping up between my fingers. I stepped off the final step into a puddle of something else I didn't' care to think about.

So far, I'm loving this. Since my first draft, I added a new main character (*cuddles Edmund bc reasons*), a new point of view character (*cuddles Harvey bc awesome POV*), and tons of new scenes to flesh out this rather short story.

From here on, I'm going to try and keep up posting updates for Camp NaNo, but I haven't picked a day yet; I might just go with Wednesdays. *shrug*

Well, anyways, I should probably get back to writing. I'm hoping to get a little ahead so that come finals week (*shudder*), I'm not trying to write 1k a day and study.

Anyone else having problems with conflicting schedules? Got any awesome kick-off stories? Let me know in the comments below.

Good luck! See you next week!

The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet by Stephanie Morrill

Don’t just get even. Write a novel. Ellie Sweet is a lot of things—good girl, novelist, silent adorer of the new boy at school, Palmer. But when “outcast” gets added to the list, she decides it’s time to take reality into her own hands … and tweak it as needed. In the pages of her book, she’s Lady Gabrielle, favorite of the medieval Italian court. Her once-friends are reduced to catty ladies-in-waiting, and the too-charming Palmer—who in real life never spares her a second word—gets to be nothing more than a rake wracked by unrequited love for her. She even has a perfect real-life villain in the brooding Chase, who hails from the wrong side of town. But just when she’s getting along great in her fictional world, the real one throws her a few curves. With Chase pursuing her, Palmer wanting to date her—but in secret—and the details of her manuscript going public, Ellie suddenly receives more attention than she ever really wanted. And when her former-friends discover what she’s been writing, they’re determined to teach Ellie a lesson about the severe consequences of using her pen as her sword.

So. First off. I don't usually read books like these. I'm not really big on slice-of-life romances. However, I won this book along with a few others from Stephanie Morrill at Go Teen Writers and figured I ought to read it at some point. Last summer, I'd finished all the other books I wanted to read when I remembered this one.

At first I was hesitant, because like I said just a minute ago, I didn't like these books. I almost didn't read it, after all, I was a science fiction/fantasy girl. I thought that I would most definitely not enjoy it. I was so wrong.

As a female teenage writer, I found this book ridiculously inspiring. Ellie is a wonderful character and one of those rare characters that I would love to sit down and have coffee (or in my case tea) with. Despite the fact that it's not my usual genre, there's no shortage of action or emotion that I get from other books.

I finished this book in one sitting. That is the highest form of praise I can offer. I didn't even finish most of my favorite books (and this is one of them, mind you) in one sitting.

As soon as I could, I got my hands on the second Ellie book. I remember when it came in from Amazon, I ripped open the box, grabbed the book, and ran back to my room to read.

Just like the first one, I finished it in one sitting.

Emma had finished it a few days before I had so all through the night I was sending her live updates.

I loved this one just about as much as the first one. It didn't end quite how I wanted (my poor ship ;_;), but it was still a great wrap up to a good series. 

Secretly, or I guess not-so-secretly, I'm hoping for more books about Ellie.

To wrap this whole thing up, if you are a writer, you need to read this. If you are not a writer, you still need to read this.

Thank you so much Stephanie for giving me the privilege of reading your book. I loved it!