Reading Round-Up (September)

It's been a good month for books.  Here's where I'm at:

Books read:
Reckless by Cornelia Funke
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
Spy Glass by Maria V Snyder

Reading:
Pink by Lili Wilkinson

To read: 

Flood & Fire by Emily Diamand

The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

 

I'm reviewing all of these for a couple of websites, which is great because it means I need to flex my writing skills too.  I'm particularly interested in how the sequels on my list stand up. I haven't read any of the earlier books so I'll be judging the authors on the standalone quality and mentioning this in my reviews

Make Your Own Book Cover

I've been feeling creative recently so when I came across the old post - Create Your Own Book Cover at the weekend, I decided to try a cover for myself.  As I already have a book title, I decided to side-step the word generators (although mine was 'forbid' - quite like it") and make a cover for my story =>

OK - so it's early days, but I can highly recommend Picnik.  The basic features are free and it's really easy to use.  I really liked the correction tools (which cost a bit of extra money), especially as I have a camera that produces weird little smudges occasionally - not me, honest!  The standard fonts are also pretty imaginative.  I'd love to check out home-made covers that other authors have made, but I don't often see them online.  Does anyone have any images they'd like to share?

Carry On Regardless

I'm a big fan of Maggie Stiefvater's blog and am in the process of querying so this post resonated with me this week.  Trying to get published is a mindset.  It takes strength and belief to push past the negatives.  It's also important to remember that the process is subjective. Timing, taste and mood all impact on decisions.  When I worked in publishing, I saw companies reject books that went on to become huge bestsellers - many of these didn't fit the mould, but they broke through.  Passion and determination are absolute musts in this game.

Life Takes Over

The writing's been on hold lately due to the day job.  I have a plot, characters and backstory - only the words are missing and somehow, I just can't squeeze them out after a full day at the desk. On top of this, I have my usual season-jump insomnia (seems as if everyone is having problems adjusting at the moment), which has made me feel particularly light-headed.

On the bright-side, I'm reading two great books - Linger by Maggie Stiefvater and Reckless by Cornelia Funke (supplied by Chicklish).  I'm also feeling the call of the dark so predict that my imagination will stir again very soon....