The Goat says...?

The lovely Cherie tagged me in this crazy meme...although I can't blame her for it's wackiness!  She just passed it along.  So here goes....

1.  Are you a HOT rutabaga? 

At first I was going to say no, but after thinking about it…HECK YES!  Cause then I don’t have to eat said rutabaga, cause you know, that would be cannibalism and we won’t even go there.

2.  When was the last time you ate lion meat? 

Way back in the day, I think it was a Wednesday.

3.  Upload a heartwarming picture that makes you smile.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my son.  He's three and a half , so I don't mind posting it.  He looks nothing like this now.  And he moves a lot more.  A.  Lot!  He's currently learning how to ride a skateboard, squishing his toes along the way.

4.  What songs would be playing when you go back in time to beat the crap out of someone, and who, may I ask, would be this someone unfortunate enough to be in your time traveling dimensional line? 

I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin and oh, I have a few people in mind.  They shall remain nameless.

5.  Name one habit you want to change in yourself because it makes people plot your demise. 

That I have OCD tendencies.  Espicially when playing cards or board games.  My cards, game pieces, whatever, HAVE to be lined up perfectly and in some type of order (shape, size, denomination).  It annoys people, mainly my family.

6.  How many goats, stacked atop one another like Yertle's Turtles, would it take to reach the moon? 

88,888…I like the number 8, so...yeah...

7.  Describe the people who tagged you in obscure Latin words. 

Comicus-she makes me laugh.

8.  Where da muffin top at? 

Panera Bread…they are called muffies.  Chocolate chip and pumpkin are awesome!

9.  Do you have nicknames? 

Of course…Mandie is one of them!

10.  What the fudge were you thinking as you were doing this? 

These goat ladies are ca-ray-zie!

Now, tag as many people as you want. (Oh, yeah, time for me to pass on the craziness.)

1. Anna

2. Melanie

3. Cheyanne

4. Heather

5. Jamie

Pick a funky nickname for #1 – Anna Banana

Write a rhyme for #2 - Melanie committed a felony...not really, but she can be silly.

Leave a lovey-dovey message for #3:  Thought you could use a little craziness to brighten your day!

Where would #4 hide in the event of an apocalypse? The beach on a boat, cause zombies can't swim (this is a zombie apocalypse, right?  Well, now it is).

#5 dreams about... Disney!  ;0)

Post-Apocalyptic/ Dystopian Challenge

I'm joining in the fun of the Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian Challenge!  The challenge is to read 15 Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian books between June 27th 2011 and June 27th 2012.  The challenge was started by Books Ahoy  It's my first book challenge (well, aside from the one I set for myself on good reads).

I can’t even begin to tell you how super excited I am to post this.  My good twitter/blogging/writer buddy Mel posted about this challenge yesterday and I thought it was the neatest thing!  Then I kind of got sad.  When I first saw this I was so excited, then I read the dates.  REALLY?!  I JUST finished reading six dystopians - Wither, Divergent, Across the Universe, Delirium, Enclave, Possession - in April and May.  How am I supposed to come up with 15 more? Then it hit me...ALL THOSE BOOKS ARE GOING TO HAVE SEQUELS!  I quickly went to work checking to see when those sequels were going to be released.  All but one, maybe two (Possession companion book is out June 2012 so it's cutting it close and Outpost, the sequel to Enclave, isn't out until September 2012) will be out in time!  So there are four.  

I also have Blood Red Road and the Uglies Series (four total) that I have yet to read.  So I'm up to 9.  I've wanted to read Matched, but since Crossed is out in November I've been putting it off.  Eleven!  I started racking my brain and realized Shatter Me is out this fall also!  Twelve! 

This is where I got stuck.  I googled dystopian books (because what else is there to do) and wiki had a list!  It never even crossed my mind to add zombie books!  There's a few I've had on my to-be read pile.  On the wiki list was Hollowland (which I own) and The Forrest of Hands and Teeth series (which I've wanted to read)!  That puts me up to sixteen, seventeen if Possession companion is out in time (My full list below, not sure what order I'll read in though, this is just done by what I own, what's out, and then in order of release)! 

I can't wait to get started on this challenge.  I have a few books lined up to read first, plus some crit's to do, oh, and writing, but after that it's on!

My List for the challenge:

Blood Red Road – Moira Young – Own

Uglies – Scott Westerfeld – Own

Pretties – Scott Westerfeld – Own

Specials – Scott Westerfeld – Own

Extras – Scott Westerfeld – Own

Hollowland – Amanda Hocking – Own

The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan – Out Now

The Dead-Tossed Waves – Carrie Ryan – Out Now

The Dark and Hollow Places – Carrie Ryan – Out Now

Matched – Ally Condie – Out Now

Crossed – Ally Condie – November 1 2011

Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi – November 15 2011

A Million Suns – Beth Revis – January 2011

Fever – Lauren DeStefano – February 2011

Pandemonium – Lauren Oliver – March 2011

Insurgent – Veronica Roth – May 2011

Possession Companion – Elana Johnson – June 2011

*Release dates were found on goodreads so don't quote me on them

Tune In Tuesday {1}

Tune In Tuesday is a fun weekly post hosted by Ginger at GReads.  It's a great way to see what kind of music other people are loving.  I’ve seen these around and just had to join in the fun.

There's this song going around and it's crazy popular and I finally broke down and bought it on iTunes last night.  I’m not going to lie; I wasn't a fan of this song when it first came out.  I know crazy, right?  Apparently everyone on the planet loved it but me. 

Why didn't I love it?  Because it's one of those crazy songs that gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out for days on end!  Now I don’t listen to the radio much, when I do it’s usually a rock station, but my husband would sing parts of this song around the house and it would just get stuck in my head!  It would make me so mad because I’m going around singing two lines to a song I don't even know.  That's annoying!

So why did I break down and get the song that I only know two lines to from lack of radio listening yet it keeps getting stuck in my head?  Well, I was watching a show and one of the characters was listening to it on her *insert whatever musical playing device she was listening to here* while walking and she was listening to it loudly and I was listening to it loudly too and I was all like “wow I do like this song!”  Just seeing the power it had on the character, the way it transformed her, I wanted that.  I wanted to be the girl power walking to the song down the road.  It also gave me ideas and motivation for my current WIP.  I love songs that are motivational!

Without further ado I give you "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele

I started this blog for writing purposes so I’m going to try to post songs that inspire my writing.  And if I come up short, well I’ll just post songs I’m really loving at the moment!

P.S. Kudos to anyone who can guess what show I was watching!

TGIF {1}

TGIF is a fun post created by Ginger at GReads.  It’s to recap what you’ve posted about through the week and then Ginger asks a fun question.  I enjoy reading Katelyn's so much I had to find out how to join.

This is my first attempt, so I hope I’m doing it right!

Blogger Confession:  What's the last book you could not finish?  (or had a hard time finishing?)

There have only been 3 books that I've had a hard time finishing or wanting to finish and none of them have been YA!  Go figure. 

The first was Revolutionary Road.  I struggled getting into the book and ended up watching the movie when I was about half way through.  Knowing how the movie ended I could not finish the book.  I gave it away. 

The second was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It took for. Ever! to read through that book.  Once I got 3/4 of the way in it picked up and became interesting but it was just so long in the beginning.  I have yet to read the second in the series.  I'm not saying I won't, just not right now.

The last book I read and struggled finishing was "Red Riding Hood".  I haven't seen the movie, but in my opinion they should have left well enough alone and not ventured into book format.  I'm a firm believer in reading a book before watching the movie, it blew up in my face.  One lazy Sunday I decided to give it a whirl, hoping to finish it that day.  Lucky me it didn't take long at all to read.  Why?  Because I skimmed.  After a few chapters of confusing point of view and an absurd amount of over abundance descriptions—yeah, like that—I stuck to dialogue and skimming.  I just could not make myself read it word for word.  Then you get to the end.  Except, it's not the end.  You have to go online to read the last chapter!  It took me a month before I went online to read the ending.  I just didn't care enough how it ended to rush right over.  I read it and that was that.

The only book I would recommend of these three is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but with a huge disclaimer saying it's tough to get into.  

Back at it...

Just over a month ago I posted that I had scrapped my current WIP story line to revamp it.  I am not currently back up in my word count to where I was before I erased it.  And it feels good.  The story flows more smoothly, has more dynamics, it's just overall better!  No other way to say it.  I like it!

I've got the first eight chapters out with my crit partner and a few friends getting all the feedback I can.  While they are reading it over I'm continuing with the story.  I'm moving along quickly, which means lots of late nights since I work an 8-5 job Monday-Friday and have a little one to take care of.  Happy to say I'm slowly training myself to run on less sleep.  It's rough because I gave up drinking caffeine back in early March so when I get really tired I have to resort to other measures...like cranking up the music and dancing around the room.  I have to say it's all worth it!

I can't tell you how excited I am to finish this WIP!

It feel so good to be back.....

Currently listening to (no, not Eminem, but I did sing his song in my head as I wrote the last line): ET by Katy Perry.  I can't stop listening to this song!  I heard it for the first time (I mostly listen to a rock station, no KP) during The 9 lives of Chole King preview (don't watch the show, just saw the previews) and couldn't get it out of my head, so I downloaded it and keep listening to it over and over!  Not sick of it yet!

Writing is like...Raising a child...

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My Two Cents...

I am not a teenager or young adult, I'm 29, but I am an avid reader of young adult fiction.  And I most likely always will be.  It's what I love to read.  It's what I feel comfortable reading.  I read to escape real life for a little while.  I want it to be fun, not a chore.  I do read some books that are not YA, but they are always few and far between.  Nothing against them, I just enjoy YA more.  People laugh when I tell them what I like to read.  But what they don't understand is it's not a reading level, it's the content.  I don't want to read a full blown sex scene.  It's just not me.  I don't want to have to stop every few pages and think "what's going on?"  I read for fun.  I don't want to have to pick up a dictionary every other word.  That's too much work.  I want to sit back, get lost in a story, and enjoy it.

I'm going to say I didn't like what I read in the WSJ article about young adult books (which I'm not going to link.  It's out there to find and most of you have already read it).  I do want to give my opinion, not so much on the article, but on the topic.  Mostly on what's out there and about censorship and who should decide what's suitable or not.

I do feel the mother of the teen age daughter said a good thing.  Direct quote from the article: "she felt, 'nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving my daughter.'"  I wholeheartedly believe that parents are the only ones who should decide what their child should or should not read.  Only they know what they can handle at their age.  What's out there might not be suitable for her thirteen-year-old, but that doesn't mean it's not good for all teens or young adults.  In my opinion, yes, most of the stuff out there is not suitable for the majority of thirteen-year-olds.  I'm sure there are very few that are prepared to read it.  Every child is different in what they can and cannot handle.

For instance, my father wouldn't let me read Stephen King until I turned eighteen.  Did I disagree with this?  Heck yes I did!  I was a teenager.  All of my friends were reading it.  I even got busted hiding one under my bed that a friend lent me (no, my parents didn't search my room.  We had a dog who liked to sleep under beds.  When she got older, she grew bigger and would get stuck.  My dad was getting her out when he found it.)  Should I have been reading these books?  No.  And my father knew it (although I've never told him this).  He would tell me the books are far worse than the movies (and I'd only seen the TV edited versions) and he knew that I wouldn't handle that well.  Parents know their children.  I have yet to read a Stephen King novel because now that I'm older, I know I don't need to read them.  I know it's not a story I will enjoy or benefit from.

Now as far as the writer of the article to say there is nothing out there?  That everything is too dark?  Then people aren't looking hard enough.  B&N is a company trying to make money, just like any other.  They have to make a profit, so yes, they are going to market what sells.  That doesn't mean that's it, take it or leave it.  Look harder.  Try the children/middle-grade section.  Look at used books stores.  Order on-line.  But there is something out there for everyone to read.  If not in the current market, go back a few years.  It's there.

And to me, YA should be diverse.  It needs to be.  It needs to show that everyone is different, and that it's okay to be different.  From books about the trials of babysitting to books about torture and everything in between.  The article prompted people to voice their opinion and in doing so the hashtag #YASaves was created.  Take a look.  It will move you to tears.  It did me.  

While books were just something to keep me company growing up, they were changing lives for others.  I had never thought about it before, but after reading post after post about how a book helped someone realize they weren't alone in their problems, how they could make a change for the better, I couldn't agree more than YA Saves.  If a girl needs to read about another girl cutting to help her understand, make it available.  If a boy needs to read about a boy getting tortured for a number of reasons to realize bullying is not right, make it available.  There are countless examples I can give, but if one person thought it up long enough to put in a book, I guarantee someone else is living it.  It should be the message that counts.  The rest is just entertainment.  A way to get kids to read, make it fun and interesting.  If it takes a sparkly vampire to get teenagers reading again, why not make it available?  If it takes a group of chosen kids to fight to the death to learn about perseverance and standing up for what you believe in, why not make it available?  Kids are smart.  They know vampires don't exist.  They know we don't live in a post-apocalyptic world where killing is a sport.  They will get the message.  

In the end, I can't imaging reading books like these when I was a teen (10-16 years ago), but I would have loved to.  There just wasn't a market for them then.  

To sum it up:

Parents should be the ones to judge what their children read.  Maybe read it for themselves and talk about it.

Kids are smart.  They will figure it out the difference between what's real and what's not.  

And just because YA Saves is a trendy twitter topic, doesn't mean it's not true.