Graceling by Kristin Cashore

As this is Cashore's first published novel, I am truly impressed. I bought it on a whim - I wasn't sure about the purchase, but when I read Tamora Pierce's recommendation on the back I was convinced. I guess those jacket-quotes work after all.

I think what I really liked about this novel is that it's got a similar feel to the type of novel I'm wanting to write. And I liked that the main character, Katsa, thought it was of the utmost importance that all women know how to defend themselves rather than rely on the men in their lives. Even though Katsa was independent, Cashore didn't go so far as to have her reject everyone - at one point in the novel Katsa needed to be defended also. I think that went along with some of the theme of the novel - no man (or woman) is an island. Even though Katsa was the perfect killer, she still needed the protection of others from time to time.

:(

Okay, so I had an entire post written, then a bunch of stuff happened, and now I'm writing my post all over again. But I'm too lazy to re-do the whole thing, so let me just summarize for you:



My dad made me feel guilty about being flaky (not on purpose of course).



I started Bible study again.

Caught up in Felicity

No, I'm not watching that ridiculous college drama that was on the WB back when it still was the WB - it's worse than that. I'm watching Felicity, a dramatization of a Dear America book...or maybe an American Girl story, I'm not really sure.

Anyway, what I'm really trying to do is generate ideas for 2YN. I broke down and bought the book, and I'm working on the first week. I need to write an idea for my novel in a single sentence. So I'm off now to find inspiration.

Time to brainstorm

So as I've mentioned already, I'm taking the 2YN class in January, and I already have a bit of an idea of what I want to write my book about. But Lazette specifically said on her post that we should come to this class without any developed characters or worlds. Well myself, I've been working on a world with Holly Lisle's Create A Culture and Create A Language clinics. I haven't gotten very far in, but what is that my pre-concieved idea of what my world will be like is going to affect my brainstorming when the class starts. Perhaps it would be better for me to start completely fresh, so that I can come up with the BEST ideas, and not just regurgitate ideas that I've been chewing on for weeks...

I think I'm going to try and put my previous world from my mind so that everything will be from scratch come January 1st.

Impatient

Every day I check the 2YN post for an update, but nada so far. A LOT of people are signing up though, and from some of the posts I've read, it seems like there will be a limit on the amount of people that can join. I'm glad I signed up already. It's kind of weird because I'd seen stuff about the FM community on Holly Lisle's site before, but for some reason the other day I just got such an urge to visit Forward Motion.

Serendipitous it would seem.

A Trashy Novel

So, in an effort to feel better about becoming a Novelist, I have decided to write an absolutely horrible novel, in which I will use ridiculous sounding character names, thin plots, and lots of unnecessary description.

Hopefully this exercise will get all that bad noveling out of my system so the real work can begin.

The Crisis

I am having a mid life crisis.

As I am only 19 years old, this is a sad fact.

Through various standardized tests and high school English papers, I have discerned that I am quite an excellent writer – enter crisis.

I am in college and I have no clue what to do with myself. Should I spend a year or two exploring major options? Should I pick a good sounding one and just stick with it? Is my major really that important?

There are no easy answers to the questions for me. So I thought to myself, “Why don’t I see if I can make it as a writer?” This little epiphany came just a week or two before NaNoWriMo – the perfect opportunity to test my noveling skills!

Alas. . . I wrote but 15,000 words. At first I moped about, depressed that I could not hack out 50,000 words in a month. But after a week or two of consolation, I decided that the battle was not over. Even if it takes two years, I shall complete a novel!

So here I am, with my new dilemma – what is important enough to me that I can write a whole novel about it?