Ramblings of a Drifting Mind: news

Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Book Ratings

Putting a star classification on a book has always been incredibly difficult for me. I want to be honest and give you all an easy way to see what I thought, but I can't do it any more. It's too hard on me and makes me feel like a judgmental asshat; so, from now on I am removing the star ratings from my reviews. But I'll try to come up with something else, some other kind of description for you all... maybe a 'one-word-description' type of thing. Anyway, star ratings are no more because, frankly, I don't even like rating thigns on Goodreads but feel compelled to tell people where that book stands with me.

*Sigh*

Oh well. Also, I will probably be removing ratings from former posts just to keep things consistent.

In related news, review of Bad Taste in Boys coming Monday!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Umm, So, Yea

I'm alive. I swear. I'm just kind of in a tizzy right now. Let me explain:

I came back from NY. I tried to get a job. Finally got offered a position as a part-time Circulation Assistant at the main branch of the public library. I signed on. During the interview process and waiting period, I began to look at grad school. On Tuesday I did my training at the library in preparation for starting next week. The day after my training I spoke with the main advisor for the program I was looking at. She told me I could either start this fall or wait until next summer. I could not stand the thought of waiting.

Cue frazzled me into calling and emailing everyone about enrolling in classes. By the way, classes start in about a month.

Did I mention the frazzled flailing? There was quite a bit of it. The flailing has subsided a bit now.

Anywho, that's what's up with me. I just got a job at the library and now I'm trying to get into grad school. Oh, right, I'm going back to get licensed to teach English for those of you who were wondering. Woot for lots of hardcore education classes!

How are your summers going?

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Move That Wasn't

Warning: This is going to be a long post.

As you all know, I left for New York on Thursday to move into a nice apartment and begin my journey to become a literary agent. After roughly 1400 miles, 23 hours, 8 states, and 1 hotel room, my mom and I arrived in New York. We got a whirlwind tour of the house and met the landlords. Everything was great. It was a nice apartment in a good neighborhood. I couldn't have asked for more. We unloaded all of my stuff (which was a lot of crap) and then we set out to the nearest Target for groceries and last minute supplies so that I could survive for a bit on my own. My mother was going to leave in the morning. As it turned out, we didn't get to bed until after 11 PM, and she was entirely too exhausted to leave in the morning. I am so glad she didn't.

Saturday when we finally got up, we decided to walk around the neighborhood a little and head into Manhattan so Mom could see Central Park before she left. At this point, I was looking at New York from an entirely different perspective. Previously, I had been a tourist. I had looked at the metro and all the people and the tall buildings as something I found interesting. Surely, I thought, I could live here. It's different, but I can handle it. Walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn and looking at it as if it were my life now was a completely different experience, and it was one that changed everything for me. I THOUGHT I could live in New York, especially out in Brooklyn where there are actual houses and the neighborhood is not so different than what I'm used to. I THOUGHT I could deal with being surrounded by so many people constantly while feeling completely isolated. I THOUGHT I was made of tougher stuff.

I was wrong.

New York, New York!

Today is my last day in Arkansas. Bright and early tomorrow morning my mom and I are getting up, hopping in the car, and driving to New York. We won't get there until Friday (we'll stop somewhere tomorrow night to sleep). And on July 1st, I will move into my new apartment.

I have job/internship prospects. I have some money. I have all of my unread books and my TV (but none of my DVDs--you can only fit so much in a tiny car). Life is good.

And soon, SOON, I will return, my friends. I will blog about bookish things and, HOPEFULLY, writing and revisions and editing type things. I will post reviews again. And believe me, I have plenty to review. We will have good times again, dearest readers. We will discuss books and articles about books (I'm looking at you WSJ) and what makes books good and how to do things well. I'm not sure if I'm being intentionally vague or not, but there will be THINGS, and you will like them.

In the mean time, the Oxford comma (aka the serial comma) is apparently no longer recognized as legit. I for one have no intentions of giving it up. So here's to the serial comma, may it never (or at least in my time) go out of style or fall out of use.

And for those of you who will be getting an early start on the weekend, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!! Enjoy yourselves, and stay out of trouble. ;)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Life, the Universe, and Everything

42
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Just kidding. And if you have no idea what that was about, you clearly haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and should go check it out from your local library.

Now then, if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I signed a lease for a place in Brooklyn. I leave for New York next Thursday and move in to my new room July 1st. I am excited. I am also slightly terrified. Brooklyn is 1400 miles away from my hometown, meaning I will be at least that far away from my mother and just as far away (and in some cases even more so) from my closest friends. My life is about to get quite a bit more complicated. On a brighter note, I'll be living here:

The landlords live on the first floor. The 4 bedroom apt that I will be sharing starts on the 2nd, and I will be on the 3rd floor.

That will be my neighborhood in about 10 days. Did I mention how excited I am? Because I am. So. EXCITED.

On the 30th, my mom and I will start driving to NY in her tiny little Scion. It will be stuffed with as many of my worldly possessions as we can possibly fit. I will probably be forced to leave behind quite a few of my books and DVDs, at least for a little while. BUT, I have an apartment. I have apartment-mates.

I am also still unemployed. I suspect I might be working at Target to pay the bills, but I'm not giving up on getting into publishing. Not in the slightest. I believe (and I will keep telling myself this) that the only reason I don't have a job lined up is because I still have an Arkansas zip-code and there are lots of other applicants who do not have that problem. Here's to hoping living in the state where I'm applying for jobs will make a difference.

So that's what's up with me. At some point I'll stop freaking out enough to get you guys some reviews, and since I recently read 13 books in about 11 days, I've got plenty of material. Of course, I'm thinking I'll probably review the entire Sookie Stackhouse series as a single entity rather than review each individual book since I read them back to back. But yea...

How is everyone's summer going? I don't really celebrate Father's Day, but I hope you all had a lovely weekend with the men in your lives.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Ramblings, Updates, and Other News

It's been a month. Literally. My apologies for the long delay. First, there were end of the year projects and papers and tests. Then, there were those hideous things we call finals. In the midst of all of that I was working a the library while simultaneously trying to find both work and an apartment in NYC. And after that... Well, after that I graduated. I now have a B.A. in English, and the world doesn't feel any different. However, I do have a few new pictures.

Trying to get to my seat before commencement.

Diploma. I has one.

Me with my gorgeous little sisters. Marie, left, and Autumn, right.

Alright. So that's a short look at my college graduation. Good times. I have yet to receive my actual diploma in the mail yet, but I have a pretty holder for it when it does come in.... Anyway, I wanted to include a picture with my sisters because Marie is actually graduating high school tonight! EXCITING! I'm incredibly happy about this, as I would not have been able to make it to her graduation if my own hadn't come a week before hers. YAY good universe karma! Autumn still has another year to go, which means she had better pick a college soon. :) (Marie decided to go to my Alma Mater. I never thought that could make me happy haha.)

In other news, I have been applying for jobs and searching for an apartment. You'll know more when I do. Promise. Also, might I just add that preparing for a cross-country move is hard. I don't even know how I'm going to get most of my stuff up there. Crazy. Umm. Yea. that's where I'm at now. Upacking, repacking, packing more things, rearranging things. It's awesome.

How have you been? What are you up to? Did you miss me as much as I missed you? :P

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Shiny New Project and TSA

I did it. I finished the third draft of The Sandman's Apprentice. It is now in the trusted hands of other insanely awesome writers. Hopefully, it will not require extensive revisions, but it may. It may.

In the mean time, I have begun work on what I have dubbed Shiny New Project. About a month or so ago, this boy popped into my head. I don't know where he came from. I didn't know his name or anything about him. I just knew he had a story, and he wanted me to tell it. And this is how he came to me:

"I was ten when the world ended. Well, sort of. My sister Laney was thirteen. She'd remember it better than me, but she never even made it to fifteen. She wasn't the only one."

That little guy had me. He did. but I'd promised myself I wasn't going to work on anything else until TSA was out for crits. And I didn't. So TSA got shipped to my lovelies, and Shiny New Idea became Shiny New Project. I wrote the first chapter (a whole whopping 3 pages) the first night without knowing anything more than those four sentences. Now I know a whole lot more.

This new book is some odd version of a post-apocalyptic/dystopian, and I say odd because the world has literally just ended, and the whole point of the book is the formation of the dystopian society/-ies. It's gonna be so much fun. No supernatural abilities. No paranormal creatures. Just people. Living in a futuristic world that's fallen to pieces around them.

EXCITING.

So, what're all of you fine people up to as of late?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

RIP Diana Wynne Jones

I've been trying to find the right words since I heard about it, and I still don't know what to say.

I read The Darklord of Derkholm when I was little, and it stuck with me. I loved it. And years later I discovered the film adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle. Let me tell you, it was the best thing since sliced bread. When I finally read the book, I was blown away. Imagine my reaction when I made the connection that two of my favorite books were written by the same author. (In my defense, I'd forgotten who wrote Darklord and was too lazy to look it up for the longest time, not that that's much of a defense, but still.)

Diana Wynne Jones was one of the most influential and well known fantasy authors in the world, and her death is an incredible loss to us all. She did amazing things for young adult fantasy and was an inspiration to many authors. Her books were an inspiration to me.

If you have no idea who I'm talking about, if you've never read one of her books, please, go out and buy one right now. Experience the wonders of Howl's Moving Castle. See the incredible things she did with world building.

Be inspired. Be a better writer. Be amazing. Because we lost one of the greats, and she left some pretty big shoes behind to fill.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

SCBWI

Today I head to Tulsa. Bright and early tomorrow morning I get on a plane for New York. I will not be back home until Monday evening-ish. The blog will be silent until next week.

The good news: I'm going to New York again; I get to see the amazing Ginger Clark again; and I get to attend my first conference. Woot.

The bad news: I'm going to New York in the winter, where it is cold and wet (more so than it is here in Arkansas) and I will be radio silent here for a while.

See you on the flip side. : )

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Knock, Knock

*looks out at followers* Are you guys still here? I know I recently lost two of you, and that saddens me, but ya know 2 months without an update is a good reason to go.

But, I'm alive!! Really, I'm right here. I promise. And this semester is so close to being finished it's funny in one of those I'm-going-crazy kind of ways. I haven't read a book in, umm, a long time. It hurts me. I think it's been longer since I had time to read than since the last time I posted, if that tells you anything. And it's been just as bad with my writing.

HOWEVER, I totally had time to open up my 2nd draft and do a little work on The Sandman's Apprentice!!!!! So, really, guys, I'm back. Promise. I've got a few finals left, but then it's nothing but reading, writing, and doing some light working at the library. And then there's the bit of Christmas break I'm actually going home for, and then next semester, which should be a breeze compared to this one. I will never leave you again for two months. Even when I move to NY. I will find internet. I WILL talk to you all.

Anyway, all that to say that I missed you all, and I hope you don't hate me for dropping off the planet.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Update

1) The Contest of Awesome is closed. No more entries will be accepted. I will be counting everyone's entries and double checking links and will then announce the winners. If I draw your name first, you get dibs on the prize pack you want and the second name gets the other one. I know more people wanted YA than the Adult, so I might just keep them separate from now on when I have contests.

2) Thanks for participating!!! You guys are awesome and it's been fun reading everyone's comments.

3) Hello, New Followers!! Nice to see you there! Lucky for you I haven't been posting much lately, but I'm about to schedule out every last minute of my time, so updates might be a little more regular soon. :)

4) If I had something else to say I totally forgot it, so I'm just going to say thanks for spreading the word about the contest and for not leaving me flaming comments about my lack of activity. You, my friends, are wonderful.

Monday, September 27, 2010

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT

Psst. Since I've been all over the place with my updates on here, I'm actually getting on to tell you to check back later for something awesome. Because the contest I've been wanting to hold since, umm, May (?) is about to go down.

There will be multiple ways to earn entries.
There will be winners from all over the world. (Why hello, Book Depository.)

There will be multiple winners.

There will be less money in my bank account.

So tell your friends and check your watch, because I'll be back in 6+ hours with contest details and a list of prizes!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

What's this? A new post?!

Hi. My name's Amanda, and it's been about a week since my last blog post.

Okay, I don't know what that was, but it's after 2am (please excuse any and all typos and incomplete sentences/thoughts) and right now everything's kind of funny. So we'll just move on. If you follow my Twitter, and I don't know why you would but anyway, you know that I've been rather blah lately. Now as Jade has a new mantra for me (#nomoreblah), I've been forbidden from the levels of lackluster, no motivation living. Unfortunately, I still feel like I have absolutely nothing worth saying. Heck, I can't even finish a book to review these days, which by the way makes me feel horrible.

ANYWAY, I'm finished with Spanish for the summer. WOOO!!!!! Sorry, it kind of sucked the life out of me there for a bit, and by that I mean it really ticked me off almost every day. But it's all good, because it's over and my life is returning to normal and I have time again! Mind you I still have, like, 7 partials to read, so if you haven't heard back from AA and you know who that is, it's totally my fault (ignore the fact that she's been out of office for a bit).

Have I mentioned it's like 2:20am? I have sleeping problems. It sucks. So yea, umm, I swear I had a point. OH! That's right, if any of you have topics you;d like me to talk about or attempt to talk about or if any of you want to guest blog or something leave me a comment, because right now I seriously feel like I could just go on and on without saying a single thing of importance . . . but I won't.

I will, however, ask if everyone had a lovely time at WriteOnCon. Did you learn a lot, meet new people? I myself didn't get to attend much and I was completely absent from the forums (yay life!), but I LOVED all of the posts, chat recordings, and vlogs. Such a wealth of information. A huge thanks to the ladies who put it all together. If you're reading this,

THANK YOU!!!

It was a wonderful conference, and I certainly learned a lot. You all are awesome.

And now, it is 2:28 and I am finally ready for bed. Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope no one had a horrible Friday the 13th, personally it's always been a good day for me. Anyway, enjoy your weekend and, hopefully, I'll see you all again soon!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Blargh! It's Wednesday.

And that means it's time for a little WIP Wednesday! Sorry for the absence. I had to learn an entire chapter of Spanish in 2 days, and impressively enough I made my highest test grade. Anyway.

So, I'm about 7k into draft 2 of The Sandman's Apprentice. It's coming along very slowly what with all the other things I've been doing. Did I mention I read two fulls over the weekend? Well, I did. Which is why there wasn't a review up on Monday. BUT I will finish reading and Falling, fly for you all soon. Maybe tonight of I don't end up editing or reading a partial.

Either way, you guys are getting a review . . . and an INTERVIEW this week. Uh huh, that's right. Not telling you who with though, so you'll just have to show up. But I can promise you another review next week, too. And another after that. :) I'm awesome. I know. LOL just kidding.

A Non-Ranting Post

Don't worry, it's safe. I'm in a much better mood today. Thank you all for the support during my lovely online rant. Your comments made me feel like I'm a part of something here, oh that's right, an absolutely amazing writing community, that's what. So thank you all again and again. You're wonderful. :)

In other news I might have to lose a day or two on the blog, because not only do I start my online Spanish class on Monday but I'm also remote interning for a super awesome literary agent now. WOO! Bring on the slush! I think it's a good sign that I'm loving it already. I read 64 queries yesterday. So cool.

Anyway, I have a bunch more sitting in my inbox so I've gotta run, just wanted to update you guys. What's new with you?

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Teaser Tuesday

I'm back and writing again, and it feels fantastic! Today's teaser comes from the WIP aka Super Secret Novel #2. Actually, I've never called it that, but I kinda like it. I think I might call it that on here and Twitter just so I don't have to keep calling it the new WIP lol. Oh, right, the teaser.

New York: Tercer Dia

I hope my Spanish is right... lol. :)

My internet hates me, really, it does. It keeps kicking me off and not letting me back on until it's passed my usual posting times, which tends to be anywhere from the morning to early afternoon for me. (It's 11AM now for those of you not in my time zone...)

So without any more delays, I give you the touristy side of New York. Oh, and Lake Eerie, too.This is going to be a very long, very picture-filled post, just fyi.

Apologies

Due to internet shortage earlier this afternoon I was unable to get any of my posts done. *sigh* SO, tomorrow I'll finish up New York and reviews will start next week. And considering I've read 6 books in the last 2 weeks, I've got a few reviews to send your way.

Sorry for the wacky schedule and odd posting hours. If my internet cooperates tonight I should have everything running smoothly again tomorrow! : )

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

New York: Part Two

For those of you just joining, I spent a week in New York. But don't get the wrong impression, it's not like I was there just for kicks (I couldn't afford to); I was there job shadowing. (And sorry for the lateness of this post. I meant to write it earlier, but that didn't work out.)

I spent Monday and Tuesday at Curtis Brown learning all about the agenting side of publishing from the absolutely amazing Ginger Clark (but if you talk to her I said she was horrible and mean, okay?) as well as a few of the other awesome people working there. You can read that post here.

Curtis Brown is where I decided that I want to be an agent after I graduate. I've never been more sure, you know, other than that whole being a writer thing... :)

Wednesday and Thursday were spent inside Penguin, yes, you read that right, at two of the children imprints shadowing Jordan Hamessley, who was kind enough to host us despite some inner turmoil at one of the imprints.

Now, on to pictures! (I'm trying to get better at this but Blogger really doesn't like me posting pictures.)

New York Revisited

Hello Everyone! As you all know I went to New York the week before last with my good friend Katie to job shadow Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown Ltd. and Jordan Hamessley of Grosset & Dunlap/Price Stern Sloane (imprints of Penguin). We spent two days at both places, though our time at Penguin was cut short due to things beyond our control; however, what little time we did spend there was still very insightful.

New York was fantastic, and I'm more sure than ever that I want to make the move next summer after graduation to be a part of publishing. So, how about some pictures to catalog the trip? :)

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