Tango

For the past few weeks, Michael and I's date nights have consisted of sushi (we have a problem, we know), but we decided to go back to trying new things. This past friday Michael took me to Tango's near downtown Seattle for Spanish Tapas! It was oh so good, and we'll definitely make a trip back. They have a great menu, excellent service, and a neat ambiance.

Boquerone Toasts

Albondigas

Wild Mushrooms

Calamares

Cana de Oveja

Pastel de Limon

 My favorite plate was the Calamares! Best ones I've had in Seattle so far.

A genuinely happy Michael!

After Tango,  I took Michael to watch Godzilla. He loves anything with big giant monsters so we watched in 3D. Needless to say, he loved it.

Putting the Pressure on M2

So for a long while, I didn't want anyone to read M2, until it was fleshed out and nearly there, hoping I could impress my beta readers.

But you know what? I really need help. I need feedback for some guidance. Almost done with my workshop course, I realized that I needed more fresh eyes to spot the gaping holes of my manuscript, and also to put pressure on me to finish the last third of my rewrites.

So I'm letting go of my ego and calling in my beta readers for reinforcement. I just sent them the first third of M2 and I'm kind of holding my breath.

I always perceived writing to be a lonesome endeavor, and it is for the majority part of it, but I realized now that it's a collaborative effort to improve my writing by listening and learning from others. Not to mention it's the support and encouragement from others that keep me going.

Like a writing group where I can discuss whatever I want, which has led to some great writing blogger friends, and a class full of YA enthusiasts who get why I truy love YA so much. Not to mention friends and family, who continue to believe in me, even when I hardly believe in myself.

These are things I should always keep in mind when writing, but rarely do, so as I reminder to myself, I wrote this blog post.

Hopefully with the pressure, I can squeeze a diamond out of M2.

How I feel about my WIP

 This stare probably says it all. Slightly narrowed eyes with an eyebrow arched as I look at my WIP wondering how I fell so in love with it only to become so sick of it...

Okay so not really. This picture was just me goofing off as my boyfriend Michael snapped a picture of me last weekend while we attended his brother-in-law's graduation, but I felt like it was appropriate to my topic: my feelings about my WIP.

It's been awhile since I've written a 'personal' blog post. Lately, I've kinda just posted about my current reads. I'm a binge reader when writing gets tough as you can tell. In a way when I read books I really enjoy and get lost in, it usually inspires me to get writing again having my cause in mind: to get others lost in my story.

However in the past month, I've dropped the ball on M2. Two thirds done of my third draft, but somehow I lost my fuel and I'm stranded on a road, passing the time reading books in hopes that someone will drive by and help with refueling.

I suppose that's what my YA workshop class is for... and I think it's getting me there. Luckily, I have an awesome critique partner who really has an eye for editing and is sharp to spot the little holes in my story. So maybe with all the collective notes from the end of class, it'll be enough to fuel me up to continue the long, long, journey.

Currently though, M2 is like that amazing song I've put on repeat, listening to it over and over, until I know all the words, but the one I eventually get sick of so I change the station on my radio everytime it comes on. In the end I hope with enough space and time, it'll become the song I'm fond of, always bringing me back to a memory relived everytime I hear it.

But for now, Blaire's expression will suffice in conveying my emotions.

I'm also currently a part of an online writer's group where we meet online and discuss 'writing topics' and I conveyed my feelings to them. They had great ideas for me to make it through my hurdle: get lost on a tangent that can lead to another project, just take a break, push yourself, and just words of encouragment that really help.

So, if you are in a similar place as I in your WIP, I hope this post was a somewhat source of comfort to show that you are not alone.

Best of luck to you and your writing endeavors!

Book Review: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

I rated it 5 out of 5 stars.

 

Overview: Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

Review: I really love it when I catch on to a series where I don't have to wait for the next installment! Why, you ask? Because it allows me to binge read in bed all day long! I love lazy reading days. That's what I did on Sunday. I finished the second installement of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy.

Let me just say, sequels kind of scare me, just because sequels have always been kind of a let down (except the second installment in the Hunger Games, I thought that was the best in the series), but Taylor seriously does not disappoint! I will say that Days of Blood & Starlight is definitely darker, more grim, filled with pain, and man I just f e e l for Karou, you know? You just keep thinking, things can't get any worse, but they do, and you're just clutching this story in your hands holding your breath, just hoping and waiting things will get better.

But of course, they don't.
Which just makes you read on.

Taylor does a good job with tension in her books and the second installment is an excellent example of it. Her talent with characterization is very impressive. Each character is unique and brings something to the story that really makes it come to life.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I rated it 5 out of 5 so just read it, kay? If you love YA fantasy/paranormal with a tragic romance, than this one's for you.

Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I rated it 5 out of 5 stars.

Overview: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Review: So remember how I said I was reading this book on this week's RTW post? Well, I literally just finished it like 5 minutes ago during my lunch break, and you can bet your hiney that I'm going to buy the second installment of the series after I post this.

First off, the writing was absolutely amazing and the world-building was just fantastic! It sucked me in right away and I was catapulted into this world figuring out my way just like the main character. The narrative structure was also unique. I didn't feel like the flashbacks were flashbacks, but a parallel story-I was entranced by both.

This story definitely takes everything you think you know about myth, lore, love, and hope and just revamps it in a way that suprises you, but you get completely. It's like Romeo and Juliet as angels and demons, but the demons aren't really demons, and the lore is just so refreshing, and oh my gosh, the characters.

It was a grand time reading it, well except when I came to the ending and my jaw just completely dropped (I guess you gotta readi it to get what I mean).

Laini Taylor, you kind of broke my heart.

RTW: What are you reading right now?

In response to YA Highway's question, I am currently reading Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Just one fourth in, I have a feeling that I'm going to love it. My YA Workshop critique partner suggested the book to me after reading a few chapters of my manuscript. She thought that I would appreciate Taylor's writing style, since it is somewhat similar to my own. Ha! I can only hope I can do as well as Taylor. Her writing is phenomenal! Not to mention her world building!

Can't wait to finish it. Book review to follow!

What are you currently reading? Post your answer on your blog/social media.

My blog is not dead!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last post, for that I apologize. I just haven't felt quite like myself. Ever go through that? Ever feel like that?

May has been b u s y. It's the busy season at work, which means after I get off I'm pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day. Too wiped out to post, too wiped out to read, and just too wiped out to write.

Which is bad, because May is the start to my YA Workshop classes! A month has gone by without me being remotely involved in my story. I feel a major disconnection, but it's okay. I think I need time away from it and just to get feedback before I dive back in (or at least, that's what I'm telling myself). Overall, this workshop has been quite a different experience compared to my collegiate workshop courses. Still undecided on my opinion of it, though it's interesting to read other people's work; it makes me feel not so alone in my endeavor.

Also, mother's day was yesterday: Cyber love to all the mother's out there! My first time being away from my mother this year :/ so if you're lucky enough to be close to your mom, don't take each day for granted.

The sun is also back in Seattle, so maybe once I soak in some more vitamin D, I'll start feeling like little old California me.

I hope this post cleared up that I am in fact alive, and that my blog is not dead! To make up for my lack of posting, I threw in a Blaire photo. Happy Monday! More posts to come!