Hey, all! Exams are OVER, I am FREE, and I am going home TOMORROW. I am terribly excited.
Now, since I haven't posted anything in at least a week and a half, I give you Caitlin's Random Exam Tidbits.
1. Black tea + soymilk = interesting. Chai tea + soymilk > black tea + soymilk. Black tea + small amount of soymilk = quite tolerable, actually.
2. When I'm tired and feeling a bit incoherent and don't feel like thinking in full sentences, I tend to put things into mathematical equation format. Which makes NO sense, thinking of how much I absolutely despise math with every fiber of my being.
3. Midterms week is not a good time to keep track of your diet and attempt to figure out whether or not you're getting enough nutrients.
4. Dining hall workers are actually terribly nice, and quite helpful. Did you know that we get peppers from Israel?
5. In order to do my biology project, I had to attempt to track where my food came from (hence the Israeli peppers comment). My findings: the Nature Valley and Kashi websites were dreadfully unhelpful, but the Yorkshire and Tazo websites were so helpful it's insane. This, I think, says something about the nature of tea.
6. I already knew this, but it never ceases to astound me that I can get the most utterly random songs stuck in my head and they just refuse to leave. This week's repeated playlist mostly involved the BBC Pride and Prejudice soundtrack and, randomly, As Long As You're Mine from Wicked. Noooo idea where that one came from.
7. Whenever you say "as soon as exams are over, I'm going to sit outside in this glorious sunshine and just read a book," you are condemning the day that exams are over to be overcast, windy, and threatening rain.
8. Watching two feet of snow disappear during a week of 40-50 degree weather is quite fun. Walking in it? Not so much.
9. The Early Christian period in art history was from the 3rd to the 5th centuries AD. The Romanesque period was not until the 11th-12th centuries. So... what happened in between?
10. Best way to win Italian Pictionary - drawing bunny slippers.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
*blither*
I apologize for not posting anything since last Teaser Tuesday... and I doubt that I'll be posting a teaser tomorrow. My excuse for not posting before now is that from Wednesday morning till Saturday afternoon, there was no internet in my dorm. Cue one very unhappy Caitlin. And my excuse for not posting tomorrow (or the rest of this week, probably) is that looming thing called midterms week hanging over my head at present. I only have one actual midterm exam, but I have projects galore.
Speaking of which, I should go do them.
Ciao.
Speaking of which, I should go do them.
Ciao.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Teaser Tuesday: Aw the Cute
Since A Bridge to War is currently sitting about waiting for me to poke it with a (historical) stick (with the help of lovely betas, the ever awesome Jaece having been added to that fantastic group!) and since A Tangled Web is currently on temporary hiatus - at least until a) I figure out what I need to do to the dialogue in order to fix it and/or b) my characters attack me and force me to write it whether I like it or not - I suspect most of my teasers in the coming weeks will be from Letters to Oliver, because that WiP is shiny and new and hasn't got any problems yet. :)
So, without further ado, I give you Emily!
----------------------------------------------
*snipped*
So, without further ado, I give you Emily!
----------------------------------------------
*snipped*
Sunday, February 28, 2010
A Discussion on Being a Hermit
Writers are a famously solitary bunch. Ever since Lord Byron, there has sort of been the stereotype of the brooding reclusive genius. And most writers I know (including myself) have at least some of those anti-social tendencies. Not all of us are up on the level of Emily Dickinson or J. D. Salinger, but writing simply isn't a social thing. It's very private, and oftentimes working on a project feels a little bit like Dr. Frankenstein in his laboratory - it's super secret, sometimes quite sensitive (especially in the case of bad first-draft style spazzes) and always MINE MINE MINE. The casual peek over the shoulder, no matter how well-intentioned, never goes well. "Whatcha doin'?" becomes a despised question. And so writers (and, I am willing to bet, artists, as my illustration major best friend is ten times the hermit I am and I am probably the only person capable of pulling her out of her house for any length of time... so we can spend time holed up in my room instead) hide in corners of dorm rooms and sit huddled protectively over laptop keyboards, diligently typing away.
But, like I said, we are not all J. D. Salinger. The writers I know are not of the type to run away to a cabin in the woods and never speak to anyone ever again. The internet seems to have basically put a stop to that, and when it comes to talking about writing (especially with other writers) we are quite the chatty bunch. (One only needs to check out the Teens Writing for Teens thread at AW to know that!)
And I'm in college. It would be basically impossible for me to completely shut myself away, not if I want to a) not fail and b) not starve. And roommates make total solitude a bit difficult too. But that's a good thing. It gives me some semblance of social activity without forcing me to poke my nose into more typical college pursuits (ie crazy weird parties) than laundry-and-movie nights.
So I think what I am (and what most writers in this day and age probably are) is a hermit with friends. Like this guy.
(Anyone with knowledge of how to imbed YouTube videos into a blogpost, please enlighten me.)
Anyway, yeah. So, we're a little odd. You would be too, if you had characters jabbering at you all day to stop doing sensible things like talking to people and start writing, for goodness' sake.
Which reminds me, I should go deal with the real reason for today's self-imposed hermitude: homework.
But, like I said, we are not all J. D. Salinger. The writers I know are not of the type to run away to a cabin in the woods and never speak to anyone ever again. The internet seems to have basically put a stop to that, and when it comes to talking about writing (especially with other writers) we are quite the chatty bunch. (One only needs to check out the Teens Writing for Teens thread at AW to know that!)
And I'm in college. It would be basically impossible for me to completely shut myself away, not if I want to a) not fail and b) not starve. And roommates make total solitude a bit difficult too. But that's a good thing. It gives me some semblance of social activity without forcing me to poke my nose into more typical college pursuits (ie crazy weird parties) than laundry-and-movie nights.
So I think what I am (and what most writers in this day and age probably are) is a hermit with friends. Like this guy.
(Anyone with knowledge of how to imbed YouTube videos into a blogpost, please enlighten me.)
Anyway, yeah. So, we're a little odd. You would be too, if you had characters jabbering at you all day to stop doing sensible things like talking to people and start writing, for goodness' sake.
Which reminds me, I should go deal with the real reason for today's self-imposed hermitude: homework.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Blog Awards!
It is snowing like crazy outside. Ithaca almost never cancels classes because of snow, but I am sincerely hoping they will so I can crawl back into bed and try and sleep off this blasted cold. *snuffle* There's about forty minutes till my next class, so there's still hope.
And let's see if I can do this right while my brain is clogged with cold-ness.
The fantastic Bailey Clement gave me the Creative Writer Award!
Which apparently means I have to say ten things that brighten my day. They are as follows:
1. Writing. It might be cliched at this point, but there is a reason I do it all the time. It can be infuriating, but when all is well there are few things better than churning out a few pages of good writing.
2. Tea. I live off tea. I love tea. Best beverage on the planet, hands down.
3. Chocolate is up there too.
4. Email. Especially email from my family or my high school friends. That really cheers me up no matter what.
5. Even better than email is REAL mail! It is just so exciting. One of the joys of college. :)
6. Not having any homework. Because that means I can do fun things instead!
7. Singing. It might sound silly, but if I'm feeling really miserable singing to myself really does help.
8. Really good books. I wish I had more time to read them.
9. Doctor Who. I hate TV, but I LOVE that show! I am SOOOO excited for series 5. But I miss David Tennant already. :(
10. Laundry-and-movie nights. My roommates and I are cool and we do laundry on Friday or Saturday nights and watch a movie while waiting for the washer and/or dryer. Oftentimes these movies involve Colin Firth. Which is always fun.
Right. So there's that.
Then, the also awesome Kody Keplinger gave me the Sunshine Award! (Since we're both Ithacans, we need all the extra sunshine we can get!)
The rules of which award are as follows:
1. Put the logo within your post or on your sidebar.
2. Share the love and pass the award to 12 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees inside of your post.
4. Comment on the nominees' blogs to let them know you've just given them props. :)
5. Give a shout-out to the person who nominated, and post a link to his/her blog as well.
I shall now tag people. (And I feel bad because I don't know everybody's actual name... hehe)
1. Bailey! - because she is a really good writer and a really nice person. And because she gave me an award too.
2. Ink! - because she is also an amazing person and she is a STELLAR writer.
3. Choco! - because she is super nice and super funny and asks cool questions about East Coasters. And because I'm trying to lure her to Ithaca.
4. Karla! - she is another super nice person. She is so encouraging to all of us - here's some encouragement back!
5. Para! - because she is betaing for me. She is also the Voice of Reason on the twiftie thread. She is also awesome.
6. Dys! - because she is also betaing for me. And is therefore also awesome. :)
7. Sushi! - because she is also also betaing for me. And when she comes out of lurk mode, she has fantabulous things to say.
8. HR! - because she is a lovely person and most helpful when it comes to query letters.
9. Elu! - because she is terribly nice. She invented the "I love you because you're awesome and you blog" award. Pretty much sums up how cool she is.
10. Ely! - because she is also terribly nice and has funny Legolas avatars.
11. Amna! - because she is Amnamazing; need I say more? ;P
12. Race! - because she just got an agent and always has nice things to say and is great.
*pant pant* That was a lot of tagging. Wow.
Anyway, must run to class. Bye!
And let's see if I can do this right while my brain is clogged with cold-ness.
The fantastic Bailey Clement gave me the Creative Writer Award!
Which apparently means I have to say ten things that brighten my day. They are as follows:
1. Writing. It might be cliched at this point, but there is a reason I do it all the time. It can be infuriating, but when all is well there are few things better than churning out a few pages of good writing.
2. Tea. I live off tea. I love tea. Best beverage on the planet, hands down.
3. Chocolate is up there too.
4. Email. Especially email from my family or my high school friends. That really cheers me up no matter what.
5. Even better than email is REAL mail! It is just so exciting. One of the joys of college. :)
6. Not having any homework. Because that means I can do fun things instead!
7. Singing. It might sound silly, but if I'm feeling really miserable singing to myself really does help.
8. Really good books. I wish I had more time to read them.
9. Doctor Who. I hate TV, but I LOVE that show! I am SOOOO excited for series 5. But I miss David Tennant already. :(
10. Laundry-and-movie nights. My roommates and I are cool and we do laundry on Friday or Saturday nights and watch a movie while waiting for the washer and/or dryer. Oftentimes these movies involve Colin Firth. Which is always fun.
Right. So there's that.
Then, the also awesome Kody Keplinger gave me the Sunshine Award! (Since we're both Ithacans, we need all the extra sunshine we can get!)
The rules of which award are as follows:
1. Put the logo within your post or on your sidebar.
2. Share the love and pass the award to 12 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees inside of your post.
4. Comment on the nominees' blogs to let them know you've just given them props. :)
5. Give a shout-out to the person who nominated, and post a link to his/her blog as well.
I shall now tag people. (And I feel bad because I don't know everybody's actual name... hehe)
1. Bailey! - because she is a really good writer and a really nice person. And because she gave me an award too.
2. Ink! - because she is also an amazing person and she is a STELLAR writer.
3. Choco! - because she is super nice and super funny and asks cool questions about East Coasters. And because I'm trying to lure her to Ithaca.
4. Karla! - she is another super nice person. She is so encouraging to all of us - here's some encouragement back!
5. Para! - because she is betaing for me. She is also the Voice of Reason on the twiftie thread. She is also awesome.
6. Dys! - because she is also betaing for me. And is therefore also awesome. :)
7. Sushi! - because she is also also betaing for me. And when she comes out of lurk mode, she has fantabulous things to say.
8. HR! - because she is a lovely person and most helpful when it comes to query letters.
9. Elu! - because she is terribly nice. She invented the "I love you because you're awesome and you blog" award. Pretty much sums up how cool she is.
10. Ely! - because she is also terribly nice and has funny Legolas avatars.
11. Amna! - because she is Amnamazing; need I say more? ;P
12. Race! - because she just got an agent and always has nice things to say and is great.
*pant pant* That was a lot of tagging. Wow.
Anyway, must run to class. Bye!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Teaser + Announcements
Hey guys! It is way too early, but there it is.
So, before I post my teaser, a few quick ramblings.
One: I was nominated for two blog awards! One by the brilliant Kody Keplinger and one by the lovely Bailey Clement. They are some of the nicest people ever, and there shall be more about that next blog post.
Two: After two very encouraging full-manuscript rejections based upon the same thing (anachronistic dialogue) I am taking a (BRIEF) pause from the query-go-round in order to fix that. That way I can send the agents an even shinier manuscript which they shall love. :D And so, thanks a million to Sushi, Para, and Dys, for taking on my monster of a manuscript for betaing. You guys rock.
And so, without further ado, here is Ginny, Emily's younger sister, discussing a rather unpleasant girl who has just come to town, and their younger brother's burgeoning magical abilities (which tend to run towards the explosive):
--------------------------------------------------
*snipped*
So, before I post my teaser, a few quick ramblings.
One: I was nominated for two blog awards! One by the brilliant Kody Keplinger and one by the lovely Bailey Clement. They are some of the nicest people ever, and there shall be more about that next blog post.
Two: After two very encouraging full-manuscript rejections based upon the same thing (anachronistic dialogue) I am taking a (BRIEF) pause from the query-go-round in order to fix that. That way I can send the agents an even shinier manuscript which they shall love. :D And so, thanks a million to Sushi, Para, and Dys, for taking on my monster of a manuscript for betaing. You guys rock.
And so, without further ado, here is Ginny, Emily's younger sister, discussing a rather unpleasant girl who has just come to town, and their younger brother's burgeoning magical abilities (which tend to run towards the explosive):
--------------------------------------------------
*snipped*
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Five YA Books That Deserve More Fan Squealing
(This post brought to you by my desire to work out how posting photos on this thing works.) (Added later: it seems I have failed at this. Anybody know how to make it work? Besides adding just the one big picture at the top, I mean.) (Added later than later: the new question becomes how do I put images in that are SMALL???)
We all know about the books (generally series of books, actually) which garner a whole lot of attention. And with attention comes fangirl (and fanboy, I suppose, but when it comes to the kind of obsessing I'm talking about it seems girls are better at that) squealing. Examples include the amazingly obvious like Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson, anything by Tamora Pierce, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
But there are also lots of books that sort of pass under the radar even though they are really good. Books that cause you to force the entire world to read them because they haven't yet and that is a sin. There are books out there that NEED MORE FANS, goshdarnit.
And so, without further ado, five books that need people to squeal about them RIGHTNOW.
(A note: outside of my immediate group of high school friends, I don't know a lot of people who read YA. So these might be terribly obvious and I just don't know it. In that case, just think of this as a plug for awesome books and leave it at that.)
1. The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill: Basically no one I know has ever heard of these books, and it is hugely upsetting. The book pits the Icemark (ie Scandinavia) and its young but fierce queen Thirrin against the Polypontian Empire (ie the Roman empire). It takes the chosen-one, underdog-country-beating-up-evil-empire thing and shines it up and reminds us why stories like that are so good. The writing is absolutely stellar. However, I suggest you pretend the third book does not exist. While the first book is the epitome of brilliance and the second book is quite possibly exponentially more brilliant, the third book is a) absolutely unnecessary and b) extraordinarily disappointing.
2. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray: This one is probably the most mainstream on the list, but I still feel these books don't get the level of recognition they deserve for such sheer wondrousness. It combines a wonderful character with wonderful voice (this is the first first-person-present pov I could deal with. There's a reason for that: these books are stellar) and Victorian England and magic. Plus book three WILL make you cry. So there.
3. East by Edith Pattou: All right. You guys all know how much of a sap I am for any retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And since West of the Sun, East of the Moon is another version of Beauty and the Beast, and East is a retelling of THAT, well, it's an instant win in my book. Add to that an amazing premise, beautiful writing, and terribly endearing characters and there's no way you can go wrong.
4. Sorcery and Cecelia by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede: I will not write out the full titles of these books in order to save space, but they are hilarious. The wit and vivacity of these books is so perfect, as is the historical accuracy and the clever additions of magic into everyday life. Plus, it's an epistolary novel. After reading a really wonderful adult novel called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society I have devoured epistolary novels like there's no tomorrow. These books are definitely up there on the "epic epistolary" list.
5. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel: Steampunk meets brilliant characters (Matt and Kate are just SO well written) meets amazing premise meets sky pirates? Yes please! I have yet to read the third book in this series, but the second one was just as good. I love the way all the characters interact - sooo good!
So, there is my fangirl squeal for all of the books mentioned above. Please, add your own squealing about them and tell me what books I need to add to my terribly long "to be read" list.
We all know about the books (generally series of books, actually) which garner a whole lot of attention. And with attention comes fangirl (and fanboy, I suppose, but when it comes to the kind of obsessing I'm talking about it seems girls are better at that) squealing. Examples include the amazingly obvious like Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson, anything by Tamora Pierce, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
But there are also lots of books that sort of pass under the radar even though they are really good. Books that cause you to force the entire world to read them because they haven't yet and that is a sin. There are books out there that NEED MORE FANS, goshdarnit.
And so, without further ado, five books that need people to squeal about them RIGHTNOW.
(A note: outside of my immediate group of high school friends, I don't know a lot of people who read YA. So these might be terribly obvious and I just don't know it. In that case, just think of this as a plug for awesome books and leave it at that.)
1. The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill: Basically no one I know has ever heard of these books, and it is hugely upsetting. The book pits the Icemark (ie Scandinavia) and its young but fierce queen Thirrin against the Polypontian Empire (ie the Roman empire). It takes the chosen-one, underdog-country-beating-up-evil-empire thing and shines it up and reminds us why stories like that are so good. The writing is absolutely stellar. However, I suggest you pretend the third book does not exist. While the first book is the epitome of brilliance and the second book is quite possibly exponentially more brilliant, the third book is a) absolutely unnecessary and b) extraordinarily disappointing.
2. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray: This one is probably the most mainstream on the list, but I still feel these books don't get the level of recognition they deserve for such sheer wondrousness. It combines a wonderful character with wonderful voice (this is the first first-person-present pov I could deal with. There's a reason for that: these books are stellar) and Victorian England and magic. Plus book three WILL make you cry. So there.
3. East by Edith Pattou: All right. You guys all know how much of a sap I am for any retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And since West of the Sun, East of the Moon is another version of Beauty and the Beast, and East is a retelling of THAT, well, it's an instant win in my book. Add to that an amazing premise, beautiful writing, and terribly endearing characters and there's no way you can go wrong.
4. Sorcery and Cecelia by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede: I will not write out the full titles of these books in order to save space, but they are hilarious. The wit and vivacity of these books is so perfect, as is the historical accuracy and the clever additions of magic into everyday life. Plus, it's an epistolary novel. After reading a really wonderful adult novel called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society I have devoured epistolary novels like there's no tomorrow. These books are definitely up there on the "epic epistolary" list.
5. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel: Steampunk meets brilliant characters (Matt and Kate are just SO well written) meets amazing premise meets sky pirates? Yes please! I have yet to read the third book in this series, but the second one was just as good. I love the way all the characters interact - sooo good!
So, there is my fangirl squeal for all of the books mentioned above. Please, add your own squealing about them and tell me what books I need to add to my terribly long "to be read" list.
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