Hello again,
This spare time which is appearing with my holidays is such a blessing. It's allowing me the time to finally do what I want to do and not just what the school wants me to do. Today I wrote over 2000 words for my latest project and had I been still in school, that most likely would not have happened.
I thought I would share the prologue that I wrote today and see what people think about it. It gives a small insight as to what this next project of mine is about. All I can tell you at this point is: pirates and space. I will allow for your imagination to conjure up whatever thoughts those two words together bring to mind. Maybe a parrot with its head in a fish bowl thing?
Before anyone chooses to begin reading it--yes, I am aware that it probably still needs some work. This is still sort of rough. It has been written out on paper, then typed up onto the computer and then re-read again. But as always, there can still be some mistakes.
You can find the link to the prologue linked below :) Just copy and paste the link into a browser and you should be all set to read it :)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8tP-bcW3PLVSnJodzd4c1VlbHc/view?usp=sharing
Thanks to anyone who reads it. I don't mind if nobody reads it at all but thought I would just put it out there and see what happens. Your advice or thoughts would be much appreciated. :)
~Maddie xx
Saturday 19 September 2015
Friday 11 September 2015
Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races
Heyyy,
So this will be my first book review on my blog. I have reviewed many books on my Goodreads page, which is here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8686975-pasomaddie
But never on this page. So I thought I would explore my thoughts in more detail on here.
The last book I read was The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. This book is about a girl and a guy who both live on this small island called Thisby. Every November, a dangerous horse race takes place. But these aren't normal horses. These are horses which the sea has created and spat out onto the beach. These horses are dangerous and don't eat grass like normal horses. They eat meat. When Puck Connolly, the main female protagonist, sees her future turning in a direction she never imagined, she enters the race which she never wanted to race in. Sean Kendrick *swoons* is the male protagonist of this story. With the story split into two perspectives, one per paragraph, we get to see the different sides of the story at personal levels. Maggie Stiefvater effectively captures the two perspectives without causing for them both to sound like the same person.
I loved this book. When I first picked it up, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had read a few of Maggie Stiefvater's books before - only her Shiver series - and they had been... all right. Look at that, sort of two book reviews in one. Anyways, I hadn't been the biggest fan of them. I mean, I liked them, but I didn't love them.
The Scorpio Races though.... Wow!
This book was definitely not something that I had read before, and is something that I can never imagine myself reading again. It was a really unique idea and the first sentence: 'It is the first day of November, and so, today, someone will die," = instantly captured.
I wish there was more to the story, even though I know with the way it ended there probably isn't a whole lot more that you could do. But you only got to see the beginning of Sean and Puck's relationship and never really got to see where it went afterwards. And what happens with Corr? And with Sean's job at the Malvern yard? What about Mr Holly? Does he end up staying in Thisby, or does he go back to America? It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he did remain in Thisby. There are still so many questions that I want to be answered.
The characters are great. Puck was all right, she wasn't too much of a whiny protagonist, which was good, and Sean... well, Sean was Sean and I liked Sean. I liked him a lot. Mr Holly became one of my favourite characters along with Sean. Mr Holly just had this fatherly quality to him and was just genuinely nice. As always with most stories, you get the bad people - bad as in villains, not necessarily bad as in just annoying characters - like Mutt and Mr Malvern.
Overall, I think I would give this book a 4.5/5 stars out of 5. I loved this book, I loved the characters, and I loved the originality of it.
If you haven't read it yet, then I highly recommend you go seek it out from a library or a book store and get your hands on it.
~Maddie xx
So this will be my first book review on my blog. I have reviewed many books on my Goodreads page, which is here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8686975-pasomaddie
But never on this page. So I thought I would explore my thoughts in more detail on here.
The last book I read was The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. This book is about a girl and a guy who both live on this small island called Thisby. Every November, a dangerous horse race takes place. But these aren't normal horses. These are horses which the sea has created and spat out onto the beach. These horses are dangerous and don't eat grass like normal horses. They eat meat. When Puck Connolly, the main female protagonist, sees her future turning in a direction she never imagined, she enters the race which she never wanted to race in. Sean Kendrick *swoons* is the male protagonist of this story. With the story split into two perspectives, one per paragraph, we get to see the different sides of the story at personal levels. Maggie Stiefvater effectively captures the two perspectives without causing for them both to sound like the same person.
I loved this book. When I first picked it up, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had read a few of Maggie Stiefvater's books before - only her Shiver series - and they had been... all right. Look at that, sort of two book reviews in one. Anyways, I hadn't been the biggest fan of them. I mean, I liked them, but I didn't love them.
The Scorpio Races though.... Wow!
This book was definitely not something that I had read before, and is something that I can never imagine myself reading again. It was a really unique idea and the first sentence: 'It is the first day of November, and so, today, someone will die," = instantly captured.
I wish there was more to the story, even though I know with the way it ended there probably isn't a whole lot more that you could do. But you only got to see the beginning of Sean and Puck's relationship and never really got to see where it went afterwards. And what happens with Corr? And with Sean's job at the Malvern yard? What about Mr Holly? Does he end up staying in Thisby, or does he go back to America? It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he did remain in Thisby. There are still so many questions that I want to be answered.
The characters are great. Puck was all right, she wasn't too much of a whiny protagonist, which was good, and Sean... well, Sean was Sean and I liked Sean. I liked him a lot. Mr Holly became one of my favourite characters along with Sean. Mr Holly just had this fatherly quality to him and was just genuinely nice. As always with most stories, you get the bad people - bad as in villains, not necessarily bad as in just annoying characters - like Mutt and Mr Malvern.
Overall, I think I would give this book a 4.5/5 stars out of 5. I loved this book, I loved the characters, and I loved the originality of it.
If you haven't read it yet, then I highly recommend you go seek it out from a library or a book store and get your hands on it.
~Maddie xx
Brisbane Writers Festival and New Friends
Hey guys,
Last Saturday was the 5th of September, 2015 and this meant that it was Brisbane Writers Festival time! I had been eagerly awaiting this day for weeks, maybe even months, mostly because my all time favourite author was going to be making an appearance. Cassandra Clare had arrived in Brisbane!!! *Squeals with delight*
After a stressful week of dreaded QCS exams and despite having even more exams the following week, I felt like I could afford to spare a single day of my study filled weekend to go see my favourite author. So off I went, driving in to town with my bright yellow 'loser' L plates on the car and hoped to meet Li Cunxin (author of Mao's Last Dancer) to get my book signed. But unfortunately I don't think he was signing. So I scurried (thanks for the word, Brett) across the Victoria Bridge to what was the Love YA session. This session ran all afternoon with various authors giving speeches ranging from the importance of human characters right through to publishing pathways. After having waited around to see Li Cunxin, who I never ended up seeing anyway, I arrived late at the first session of Love YA.
First up, it was Christine Bongers, Deb Fitzpatrick and Daniel Herborn. While I arrived late to their talk, I still found their chat rather interesting. I am now finding I want to read all of their books, as I have never read any of theirs. This is dangerous! I really do not need to extend my TBR pile any further!! But the deed is done! These authors discussed love, relationships and the feature of ordinary humans in their creations. It seemed that they had all written about their own experiences and I find that this makes a book very relatable for the reader. That gives me even more incentive to read their books.
Next was John Marsden. This session I didn't see much of as about two weeks ago, I joined a group on Facebook called Aussie YA Bloggers & Readers. While I had known that some of them were going to be at BWF, I had no idea whether I would find any and meet them in real life. However, at the end of the first session, I did. I met Brett, Jeann and Maureen, and later on Meleika. These people were all so lovely and I found myself fitting with them straight away. It was like I had found my people! For an introvert such as myself, I was surprised to find that I had absolutely no problem talking to them and developing a friendship with them. I went to lunch with Brett, Jeann and Maureen before heading back up to the John Marsden presentation just so I could get my book signed.
David Burton, Eliza Henry Jones and Kristina Shultz spoke next and they talked about the various pathways to publishing. This I found to be one of the most interesting topics of the day as someday I wish to be published.
Finally it became the moment I had been waiting for. Cassandra Clare and Holly Black!! It was so good to hear them talk. They were hilarious and had the whole room laughing the entire time. There were so many people dressed up as shadowhunters, runes included, that I almost felt a little bit left out! I felt sort of bad for Holly Black as Cassie got most of the questions from the crowd. I guess not as many people have read Holly's books as they have Cassie's. I confess... I am one of those people. I have never read a Holly Black book. I've just hoarded them. While I got a book signed by Holly, I had to pretend that I had read her books. She asked me a question about it too and I just about died.
I also got Cassie's signature and got to ask her a question about writing. I asked her: Aside from reading and writing more, what advice do you have for aspiring authors? I got her stumped for a little while before she finally gave me an answer. This is what she said: Write the book that you want to read. If the book you want to read doesn't exist yet, write it.
I had wished that I could go to BWF all weekend, but unfortunately, I couldn't afford to have another study-free day.
My City of Heavenly Fire book is now signed and now sits proudly on my shelf with the front page marked in black ink, and so does my Spiderwicks Chronicles book and While I Live (John Marsden). I had such a great time at the Brisbane Writers festival and already can't wait for next year. I'm already wondering which American authors are going to be making an appearance. I love the new friends that I've made and the interests I share with them. Hurry up next year!!
~Maddie xx
Last Saturday was the 5th of September, 2015 and this meant that it was Brisbane Writers Festival time! I had been eagerly awaiting this day for weeks, maybe even months, mostly because my all time favourite author was going to be making an appearance. Cassandra Clare had arrived in Brisbane!!! *Squeals with delight*
After a stressful week of dreaded QCS exams and despite having even more exams the following week, I felt like I could afford to spare a single day of my study filled weekend to go see my favourite author. So off I went, driving in to town with my bright yellow 'loser' L plates on the car and hoped to meet Li Cunxin (author of Mao's Last Dancer) to get my book signed. But unfortunately I don't think he was signing. So I scurried (thanks for the word, Brett) across the Victoria Bridge to what was the Love YA session. This session ran all afternoon with various authors giving speeches ranging from the importance of human characters right through to publishing pathways. After having waited around to see Li Cunxin, who I never ended up seeing anyway, I arrived late at the first session of Love YA.
First up, it was Christine Bongers, Deb Fitzpatrick and Daniel Herborn. While I arrived late to their talk, I still found their chat rather interesting. I am now finding I want to read all of their books, as I have never read any of theirs. This is dangerous! I really do not need to extend my TBR pile any further!! But the deed is done! These authors discussed love, relationships and the feature of ordinary humans in their creations. It seemed that they had all written about their own experiences and I find that this makes a book very relatable for the reader. That gives me even more incentive to read their books.
Next was John Marsden. This session I didn't see much of as about two weeks ago, I joined a group on Facebook called Aussie YA Bloggers & Readers. While I had known that some of them were going to be at BWF, I had no idea whether I would find any and meet them in real life. However, at the end of the first session, I did. I met Brett, Jeann and Maureen, and later on Meleika. These people were all so lovely and I found myself fitting with them straight away. It was like I had found my people! For an introvert such as myself, I was surprised to find that I had absolutely no problem talking to them and developing a friendship with them. I went to lunch with Brett, Jeann and Maureen before heading back up to the John Marsden presentation just so I could get my book signed.
David Burton, Eliza Henry Jones and Kristina Shultz spoke next and they talked about the various pathways to publishing. This I found to be one of the most interesting topics of the day as someday I wish to be published.
Finally it became the moment I had been waiting for. Cassandra Clare and Holly Black!! It was so good to hear them talk. They were hilarious and had the whole room laughing the entire time. There were so many people dressed up as shadowhunters, runes included, that I almost felt a little bit left out! I felt sort of bad for Holly Black as Cassie got most of the questions from the crowd. I guess not as many people have read Holly's books as they have Cassie's. I confess... I am one of those people. I have never read a Holly Black book. I've just hoarded them. While I got a book signed by Holly, I had to pretend that I had read her books. She asked me a question about it too and I just about died.
I also got Cassie's signature and got to ask her a question about writing. I asked her: Aside from reading and writing more, what advice do you have for aspiring authors? I got her stumped for a little while before she finally gave me an answer. This is what she said: Write the book that you want to read. If the book you want to read doesn't exist yet, write it.
I had wished that I could go to BWF all weekend, but unfortunately, I couldn't afford to have another study-free day.
My City of Heavenly Fire book is now signed and now sits proudly on my shelf with the front page marked in black ink, and so does my Spiderwicks Chronicles book and While I Live (John Marsden). I had such a great time at the Brisbane Writers festival and already can't wait for next year. I'm already wondering which American authors are going to be making an appearance. I love the new friends that I've made and the interests I share with them. Hurry up next year!!
~Maddie xx
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