Book(s) Review: "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay"

I had wanted to do separate reviews for the second and third book for the Hunger Games trilogy, but I simply couldn't pause in my reading long enough to do so.  There will be spoilers in the below, so be advised.

Outlining for the Pantser, Pantsing for the Outliner: Planning just enough and winging it sufficiently so you don’t get stuck during NaNoWriMo

This is a copy of an article that posted to the Fictionista Workshop today. Take a look for more information on the NaNoWriMo project on their website.

Meet an Author Monday Blog Hop

Here's how it works:

READERS:
Follow as many authors as you like. Just follow the Linky list and hop from author to author. The idea is to find as many "new to you" authors as you can, and hopefully some great new reading material as well. Leave a comment as you hop from blog to blog! We'd love to chat with you!


AUTHORS:


Follow the Meet an author Monday host (Cali Cheer Mom) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list.
You will need to enter your name and blog url into the Linky tool.
Grab our super cute button and place it in a post. (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) If you don't create a post for the hop, your readers won't have a place to comment, and the hop will stop with you. So create a post, paste in the Linky code and start hopping!
The purpose of the hop is to meet "new to you" authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself!
If you'd like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog ( Please do!) just follow the link and grab the code.

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Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links...

Book Trailer; NaNoWriMo; Goodreads; Facing the Public

I've had a lot going on this week, and instead of make a bunch of miniposts, I decided to save it all up for today:

Unofficial Book Trailer of 12.21.12 released

With the release of 12.21.12 less than three months off, I've finalized work on the unofficial trailer. This may or may not be used as the official trailer, as I know Omnific has also been working on how they want to advertise the book.  Anyways, here it is, for whomever would like to see it. :)



Don't stop writing until you see the dotting of the I's. Or until December 1st, whichever comes first.

November is nearly upon us, and for many of us that means it's NaNoWriMo time, or National Novel Writing Month. The challenge: write a 50,000 word novel (or 50,000 words towards a novel) during the month of November. Are you up to the challenge? *Shivers.* Am I?

This year, I'm happy to announce that I'll be working with the Fictionista Workshop to form a writing and support group. We'll be giving advice, pep talks, unofficial online writing sessions, helpful articles on planning and preparing, and a guide on what do to afterward.  Interesting in hitting NaNoWriMo with us? Drop me a line! Or sign up for the Fictionista Workshop Forums, where much of our communication will be based.

You can now find me on Goodreads!

You can now find my author profile on Goodreads, an interactive website for readers and writers.

Facing the public. Finally.

After much pushing and cajoling, a crack team of friends/relatives got me over my catagelophobia, and I finally had a press photo taken. This may be the only one ever. I'll not creep you out by reposting it here, but you find it in the About Me section of the blog. You've been warned, and I take no responsibility for damage done to your eyes or cracked monitors.

Book Review: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

It's rare that I find a YA book that I consider a literary classic. The last one was Harry Potter. Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games," for me, merits that distinction.

Firstly, yes, I know I'm a little behind on discovering this gem. I had heard of it for sometime, and always the feedback was good. Why I hesitated, and why it's effected me so much, is because first in all things, I am mother. Since I ventured on that path more than fourteen years ago, I've developed an inability to read or watch any media in which the suffering of children is vividly told. I didn't think I'd be able to handle HG, as the protagonist is just a teenager. But I discovered that, while Katniss Everdeen is small in years, she is beyond reproach with wisdom, cunning and intelligence. Katniss' tragic state of existence, shared with the members of her family and town, don't allow her to exist in a bubble of extended adolescence the way so many other fictional characters of this genre do. She is raw, fully aware of the inhumanity and deprivation she suffers, and an active and fervent participant in shielding her younger sister, Prim, from suffering the consequences of their reality as much as is proper and possible. Upon her father's death and her mother's self-removal of spirit from their lives, it is Katniss whom becomes the soter familias. She hunts, trades, even pokes her mother into caring and living again, to some extent. She keeps them going, and in doing so, earns the respect of the city and love of her sibling.

The Hunger Games themselves are a punishment inflicted by the Capitol, the ruling seat of Panem, the post-apocalyptic country that exists in place of the USA sometime in the distant future. When one of the cities of Panem revolts against the Capitol's iron-fisted rule, the consequence is taken out on the remaining twelve cities by which an annual tribute requires two children, ages 12-18, to be offered to the Hunger Games. The male and female representatives of each city are pitted against the others in a battle to the death from which only one may emerge victorious. In the annual drawing in Katniss' city, District 12, Prim is selected as the annual female tribute. Katniss sacrifices herself,taking her sister's place, and changing her destined path and Panem forever.

I have not done extensive research on the author or yet read the rest of the series. As a student of history, I am intrigued by the author's use of a similar punishment as given to Carthage by the Romans following the second Punic War. I even see parallels between Katniss and her father and Hannibal Barca, the hero of Carthage, and his father. This parallel made the book all the more an engaging read for a history lover like me.

Highly recommended, and highly enjoyed