November 2014 Wrap Up

Wow, I feel like I haven't done a wrap up in so long... ANYWAY, I decided to structure my wrap ups, hauls, and monthly TBR differently. I'm just going to mash them together into one big wrap up thing with other things as well... I know it must sound confusing because I'm terrible at explaining things (always have been), but I think it'll make more sense if I just got started.

Books Read
I had a really bad reading month... I only read three books.

I reread The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins for Across Blogs which is a thing I am doing with Sarah from YA Bookaholic which I'm sure that discussion will be up soon. 

I also read Into the Wild by John Krakauer for English class and this was also the only book I read this month. It was okay, not completely awesome. I think I was more interested in Chris McCandless and the people he met and his journey than all of the stuff that was in the book. If you haven't heard of Chris McCandless, I think you should definitely look his story up because some parts of his story did touch me emotionally and the book was very impactful in some parts. 

Posts This Month

Considering this month was #BookBlogWriMo and I posted everyday, which I am pretty proud of myself about, I have posted a lot. I also posted things regarding a read-a-thon that will be in this post later and updates on my NaNoWriMo trial run. I lost. Even with my small goal of 30,000 words meaning 1,000 words per day. I am ashamed and still working on my novel. Anyway, let's link these posts! I also got a Twitter this month... YAY!!! @booking_awesome

#BookBlogWriMo Wrap Up

It's the End of 2014 Read-A-Thon

Events

There were not any events I, like, physically went to, but I did participate in some things...

- #BookBlogWriMo (Was a blast)

- Mini NaNoWriMo (I failed)

-The 'It's the End of 2014' Read-A-Thon got up and off the ground and we started some cool things

Next Month...

I will be participating in the read-a-thon mentioned above, so I will not be listing a TBR until the read-a-thon. Until then, I will be reading the Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michele Hodkin for the December Across Blogs and I actually started reading it today and am hooked so...

I hope you guys like this format because it was easier to do, everything is all in one place for you guys, and I get to add blog news and stuff like that! I will see you guys soon with another post!

Mini NaNoWriMo Update #4 (I'm sorry it's been three days)

I forgot to mention last update, that even though I didn't have that much progress with my words, I did start an outline which I didn't have. So, yeah... OKAY!! NaNoWriMo has been decent. I'm still behind though. The thing is, if I don't reach my goal, I don't think I'll call it a loss.

WORD COUNT: 9, 819

CURRENT NUMBER OF CHAPTERS: Six

PAGE COUNT: 36

WHAT'S GOING ON??????? The family is watching the news.

EXCERPT:
"Not only for things simple as a swing, but for the bigger things as well.  Alex was the one that always kept us together, not matter how far apart we were."

STORY THING REVEAL TIME!!!!!!
It's got zombies.... but that's not all

AND I STILL DON'T HAVE A TITLE. Granted, I actually haven't been thinking of one. I have a possibility, but I don't think it's that good. Please let me know how your NaNoWriMo experience is going and I will post again tomorrow!

Mini NaNoWriMo 2014 Update #3

I know I didn't post this yesterday. I'm sorry I just... didn't for some reason. I think I only posted my #BookBlogWriMo because I remembered right before my first class. NaNoWriMo has been doing good. I'm way behind on what my words should be. I should be around 12,500 words, but I'm not there.

Current Word Count: 8, 388

Current Number of Chapters: Five, I just started Chapter Five, so it's actually only the chapter title

Page Count: 31

What's going on right now?........... The main character just went to sleep.

Excerpt: “'Come on, everyone. Let’s all go to bed.” Dad said.

      “But, Dad—“

      “Let’s go.” No one else protested and we all went upstairs and into bed. I couldn't help but imagine how our little storm could take so many lives."

Story Element Reveal Time!!!!!!!

Everything hits the fan in Chapter 7.

And no, I still don't have a title. I just can't think of one and it's seriously making me mad at myself. Please let me know int he comments how your NaNoWriMo is going because I would really like to know. I love supporting other writers.... Speaking of which, my friend are having a NaNoWriMo meeting tomorrow and we are going to help each other with our novels, so I'm hoping I get tons of work done.

Mini NaNoWriMo 2014 Update #2

Well, NaNoWriMo has been doing... okay. I wrote all day Sunday and I literally wrote nothing Sunday because I had so much homework and I've barely written anything today because of school. At least I don't have school tomorrow... but I have tons of homework.

Current Word Count: 6,798 (Since I have to write 1,000 words to reach my word goal, I at least made up for Sunday and a quarter of today).

Current Number of Chapters: 3 (Yes, I finally ending the eternity that was Chapter Two)

Page Count: 24

What's going on right now.... I CAN'T TELL YOU!!!

Excerpt: “What’s up?” He asked.

      “I just needed someone to talk to someone because I’m kind of in a bad mood.”

      “What did that idiot do to you?”

      “What idiot?”

      “I don’t know, but whoever made you sad was an idiot.” I laughed.  I know it wasn't that funny, but I had to laugh.  The only other option was to cry. 

Story Element Reveal Time!!!

The main character has three siblings, Bri (the oldest), Campbell (still older than our protagonist), and Charlie (he is only 7 years old).

And I still don't have a title!!!! So, that's been Mini NaNoWriMo so far! Please let me know how you all are doing on your word count and if my little excerpt was terrible. I will have another update for you in two days!

Mini NaNoWriMo 2014 Update #1

Hello! Mini NaNoWriMo starts today! I kind of started Mini NaNoWriMo because I have school all throughout November, so I don't want to commit to 50,000 words and then be let down when I don't reach my goal. So, my goal is 30,000 words, but really, I just want to write as many words as I can and I can add to a story that I've all ready started. So, to start of Mini NaNoWriMo, I will give you some information on my novel!

Current Word Count: 4,528

Current Number of Chapters: 2

Page Count: 16

Premise: There's zombies and people with super powers. I know it sounds weird, and it is. An illness happened, it killed some people, turning them into zombies, it gave some of the survivors super powers, and there are some survivors who were not affected at all.

Excerpt: "I crawl on to the mattress and sigh.  Though the mattress feels like cardboard and I never would have been able to fall asleep on something like this before, I welcome the familiarity of a life that I would give anything to have back.  A life of safety and family and no weird former humans around every corner waiting to tear me apart limb by limb.  A nice, soft, warm, bed. I think of that life and the life I have now as sleep drags me into a dreamy abyss and I finally let the tears fall.  I've lost that life and I know that I will never get it back.  I've lost so many people that will never come back. I’m alone now.  All alone."

And no, I do not have a title yet, because I can't think of one and it's driving me crazy. I just can't think of one good enough. I kicked of this Mini NaNoWriMo with two pieces of left over Halloween candy, so I'm ready to go!

Read-A-Lot-A-Thon Update #3

I read nearly 65 pages today. It's looking like 60-70 pages is my norm my school days because I've had classes all week, but I've barely had any homework, so that makes for extra reading time. If only I would stop going on the internet and stop watching television. If you are participating, make sure to leave in the comments how many pages you've read today. It's not too late to join in on the party. Just leave your name and where you will be participating from in the comments. Read-A-Lot-A-Thon ends Tuesday!

Read-A-Lot-A-Thon Update #2

I read about 60 pages yesterday. Not too bad, but I do have a lot I need to get read, so I need to step it up and my teachers need to stop giving me homework. Let me know in the comments how much you read yesterday if you are participating. And remember, it's not too late to join, just put your name and the place you will be participating from in the comments to join in in all the fun!

Read-A-Lot-A-Thon Update #1

For the first day of the Read-A-Lot-A-Thon I read a little over 50 pages! I know it's not too good, not too bad considering I was at school all day... like I am today. This weekend, though, I am going to power through seven books (Okay, maybe that's too much)! If any of you are participating, it's not too late to join, just enter yourself in the comments with your name and the place you are participating from. If you have already joined, let me know your progress!

Update

Construction didn't take as long as I thought it would. Maybe it's because instead of writing one of the two papers I have due on Monday, I reorganized my blog instead... maybe. Anyway, it is finished and I really want to know what you all think of the new organizational ways of Booking Awesome. To see the updates, go check out the Review, Book Miscellaneous, and Discussions pages!

More Construction

I just wanted to let all of you know that Booking Awesome will be having a little construction in the next couple weeks. Really, it's just a reorganization, especially with the Book Miscellaneous, Review, and Discussions pages. I want to make it easier for all of you to find things because I know the current organizational system makes that difficult. So, I apologize if one day you are just browsing around the blog and something weird happens. I've really been inspired by other blogs to change the way mine looks and is organized, so thank you book blogging community! Have a wonderful day and, of course, happy reading.
      -Jayne

New Series! Spotlight Saturday #1!

I come to you with a new series! I just got the idea and decided to do it! Basically, Spotlight Saturday is thing where most Saturdays I will push one of my favorite books into the spotlight so that you all can read it and enjoy it and talk to me about so that I am not alone and that I might not have done a review of because I haven't read it recently. I hinted to one of my Goodreads friends, Alma from Diary of a Book Lover (it was a terrible hint and she probably didn't know that it was indeed, a hint. I'm bad at hints) that was going to start this and what book it was going to begin with! So, let's get this thing started!

THE FIRST SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY IS................................................................

THE DARKEST MINDS BY ALEXANDRA BRACKEN

(Throws confetti in celebration)

I LOVE THIS BOOK WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN! The characters are amazing, my #1 book crush is the love interest in this book, so that says something. I love super powers which is a big part of this book and it's so dark and wonderful and funny (I know the words "dark" and "funny" don't belong in the same sentence, but they are so deal with it). Just go read it NOW!!!

On her tenth birthday, Ruby wakes up with terrifying powers, much like other kids around the country, that know one understands. The only problem is, she is one of the dangerous ones. Now, six years later, Ruby escapes from a "rehabilitation" camp that holds kids like hers to keep the rest of the population safe from their dangerous abilities. Ruby escapes to help the Children's League, a group banded together to assist children in this new and terrifying world, but isn't exactly what they seem. But when Ruby meets Liam, Chubs, and Suzume, escapees from their own camp, her plans change. 

DOESN'T"T THAT SOUND EXCITING!!! READ IT NOW!!!

So that was the very first Spotlight Saturday. I hope you enjoyed it and if you want to do one on your own, feel free, but please link my blog or just this post to give me credit! You are all so amazing! Have a wonderful rest of your Saturday!

Blogging Things I'm Bad At

We all agree I'm not perfect, so I thought that I should tell you all of the things I'm bad at! Some of you may not agree, but I think that I'm bad at these things.

NUMBER ONE:
Posting. When I started, I wasn't too bad at the posting thing, but as time goes on and school has begun, it's really hard to post. Sometimes I just want to sit and mindlessly stare at the television because for once I want to do nothing! I know that sounds weird, but it's true. 


NUMBER TWO:
Commenting. Commenting on other blogs and commenting back on my blog. I always have something to say, but it's so hard to comment when I'm visiting blogs on my phone which is basically the only thing I use to look at other blogs!

NUMBER THREE:
Connecting with all of you! I find it difficult to contact you guys and get to know you all! I want to hear from you and know your opinions about things! Please join the Booking Awesome Book Club on Goodreads because that will make it so much easier to talk with all of you and feel free to add me as a friend, too!

NUMBER FOUR:
Tweeting. Mainly because I don't have a Twitter! I really need to get one but I haven't had time, plus I would be really bad at it at first. 

NUMBER FIVE:
Connecting with other bloggers. I have so many projects that I want to do that involves other book bloggers. Maybe I'm ambitious, I don't know, but I want to get to know other bloggers as well!

NUMBER SIX:
Originality. I am not good at coming up with my own ideas. Sure, I came up with that one tag, but it wasn't AMAZING and I had taken, like, two years to come up with. 

SO THERE IT IS!!! That is all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I will come up with more later. Thank you for reading and I will see all soon with another post (hopefully).

I'm So Sorry

I'm sorry, but I will not be able to post a Top Ten Tuesday today. I will be able to have it up tomorrow or Thursday. I have a list, but it's not complete and I can't finish it because I have tendinitis in my wrist, it's a condition where your tendons are over worked and it is very painful and it has been flaring up lately. It gets worse when I type, so I decided to put this up real quick so you wouldn't think I disappeared off the face of the Earth or something crazy. I apologize, but I will have it up in the next few days!
-Jayne

News!

I am so sorry I haven't been posting as much lately. I've been so busy with school and homework and all that boring stuff that I haven't had time for blogging, reading, or writing. To motivate myself to blog in my free time instead of staring at the television, I have decided to start something new! I will be calling it Top Ten Tuesdays! I will list my top ten things such as authors, books, heroines, etc. I hope that this will help me get back into the groove of blogging and it will guarantee that I will have at least one post up a week. Tomorrow will be the first Top Ten Tuesday and I am announcing now that it will be... (drum roll, please) Best Books! This list will be hard to compile, but I think that it will be extremely fun as well! Be on the look out for future Top Ten Tuesdays and happy reading!
-Jayne

School!

Just finished the first day of school and have had no time to read at all. It was really boring and I have a lot of paper work to do. I just wanted to let you know that school has started and I don't know how often my posts will be. I'm sorry if I'm not on here as much because of school, but I will try to get on this blog as much as I can. I just don't want it to become another homework assignment, I want it to be fun! I might do a tag soon, not quite sure yet, but I will post something soon! Have a lovely day and happy reading!
-Jayne

Update

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be starting school on Tuesday and I am not sure how much I will be reading and how much time I will have to make reviews and things like that. I will try my best to post as much as possible. I just wanted to let you know so you didn't think I died or was hospitalized or something crazy because I wasn't updating. Thank you for understanding and happy reading!
-Jayne

Update on The Giver Quartet Bind Up

You can also purchase it on Amazon for the exact same price. If you would like to head on over and get it there, just click on the link: The Giver Quartet Omnibus

Update on the Writing Page

I just updated the Writing page, so go check that out!

Under Construction

Thanks to the Little Book Club (click there for more information) discussion thread Book Blogs/ BookTube, I was able to see that I did not like the lay out of my blog, so I fixed it. Before, I had planned that all full reviews be posted on the Reviews page and comments, to avoid spoilers, be added on to the review announcement on the Home page. I wasn't a big fan of that plan to start with, but I didn't see any way around it... until I started looking at the blogs in the discussion thread. I began getting so many ideas on how to format my blog better and I am happy to say that I am completely satisfied with that aspect of my blog. Now, each review announcement has a link to the non-spoiler section and then on the Reviews page there is a link to the other half of that review so that we can discuss the book in detail and not worry about spoiling other people. I am not quite sure if I will be doing that on the other pages of the blog and I would really like your feedback on this matter. Sorry if you have been confused while BookingAwesome has been under construction because things were randomly changing, I apologize, but trust me, it was worth it! Have a wonderful day and happy reading!
          -Jayne

Currently Reading: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I am currently reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett for a class. I am only on page 8 because I haven't been in the mood for reading. I don't know what's wrong with me but I'm hoping my reading slump will be over soon because I'm kind of in a time crunch.