The Great Road Trip Audio Book Collection

Hi, gang.

First, thank you. I started this blog back in April for the A-Z challenge and figured it would be a minor miracle if I kept it through the summer. Lo and behold, here I am. There is so much yet to learn and many more mistakes to make, but if you're reading this, it means you decided to come along for the ride. So I thank you.

Second, this will be my last post before the holidays. I have a few days to get my act together before I leave and when I return, I am sequestering myself and finishing my NaNo story. I might have a blog in there somewhere, but I'll be back in business for certain after the New Year. It's okay to cry. :)

Oh! Speaking of crying (sorry, this is a TOTAL tangent), I had my first writerly moment the other day: I cried while writing a scene. 

Has that ever happened to you before? I wasn't sure if I should walk away from something that so clearly upset me, or if I should mine those tears and emotions for literary gold. I stayed in the "cry zone" for about 10 minutes before I had to end the scene. It was strange and amazing and somehow reassuring all at the same time.

Back to the holidays...

I hit the road on Thursday for an 11-hour road trip down to southern Illinois. This year's trek will be quite enjoyable with my stash of audio books. Check 'em out!

1. Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld
2. Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher
3. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
4. Feed, M.T. Anderson

Any recommendations of other amazing audio books? Please let me know as I'm always looking for more, though I prefer books that are no longer than ~7 hrs. The librarian told me Friday that the new Stephen King audio book had something like 35 discs. Seriously? Who will listen to that? Um, no thank you. 7-8 hrs is my limit before I tune out and stop caring.

And finally, for your viewing enjoyment, a young TL Conway family photo. Did anyone else's dad make you look somewhere else OTHER than the camera for family pictures? Every time I see this, I crack up. Maybe it's the matching outfits for my mom and I, or my brother's prep school casual pose, or knowing the curses my dad would mutter when he realized he (again!) set the camera too low and it cut off the top of his head. I'm not sure. But right now, I miss my dad, so I'm sharing this with you.

Happy holidays, blogging world. 

I wish you happy family memories, safe travels, and smiles. 

See you in 2012.

Writing group vs Critique group

How does your writing group work?

Okay, blogosphere. I have a question for you.

Last winter, I met with three other writers every two weeks. We met for approx two hours to discuss the writing we handed out at the previous meeting. By the end of April, we read each others NaNos and had some great conversations about things that worked vs things we found confusing.

It looks like we will meet this winter to again swap NaNo chapters (Caveat: this is purely to enjoy the stories and get used to reading and commenting. We realize they are nowhere near "final" stages.), but I have heard requests for more substance to these meetings.

One request is for dedicated writing time. Another is for someone to bring a "lesson" of sorts for each meeting. I feel the group's hunger to learn more and I absolutely applaud it.

However...

As the ad hoc "leader" of our group, I feel conflicted. Reading, sharing, and learning through experience is one thing. But preparing lessons, incorporating free writes, readings, and scene rewrites? This feels a bit much for a 2 hour group.

And the nagging question in my head that I continue to to ignore because I don't know how to deal with is: have our needs and expectations outgrown our group?

The success of last year's group was due largely in part to four people all making the same commitment. This year, one person's work schedule has dramatically changed, another has just returned from a semester abroad and likely hasn't written anything, and I feel like I'm ready to put my 2011 NaNo on the back burner so I can get to my 2010 story. But all the while, no one wants to break up the group.

Ignoring our schedules for a moment, those of you who participate in writing groups, how do you manage writing time versus critique/discussion time? Is it possible to incorporate both, or should they be two separate meetings?

I would love to hear how any of you approach writing/crit groups.

Special Thursday surprise: guest post

I know, I don't normally post on Thursdays. But, this is a special circumstance.

See, my blog mentor/guru friend, Sommer Leigh, invited me to write a guest post on editing on her blog, Tell Great Stories.

Please hop over and check it out! Look, I have cupcakes--they're even Red Velvet! (Play along; bribery always works!)

Book review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

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Last January, author Beth Revis's debut book, Across the Universe hit shelves. Twelve months later, yours truly finally encountered the perfect storm: no current books to finish, no NaNo deadline, no life/work/travel deadlines, and most importantly--no wait list from the library! 

I was finally able to read this book and since some of you asked for my thoughts, here you go: My very first book review!

Title/Author: Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Date Published: January 11, 2011
Pages: 398
Genre: YA science fiction/fantasy

Here's the synopsis as taken from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Okay, so let's get to business.

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1. Artwork
I have purchased books before simply on the cover design and this book gave me the same feeling. I find the cover art simply stunning. I've been trying to figure out if it's the space image, the colors used, or the two faces that make this cover really sing and I'm not sure. Maybe it's because the purple and pink colors of the cosmos remind me of my Mac's desktop picture or maybe it's because I just love space. Also, the two faces remind me a bit of Swati Avasthi's Split, another cover I really enjoyed.

2. The science
As suggested by the synopsis above, one of the main characters is placed in a cryogenic state. The book begins at this point, introducing the reader to the experience. Revis shows us Amy's mother going through the process first, followed by her father. These chapters were beautifully written and I felt they did a great job of conveying both fear and bravery.

I thought the author did a wonderful job of bringing in enough futuristic science to make the plot line plausible, but without overwhelming the readers. We learn of more advanced technology further in the story such as an inner ear communications system and a floppy-disk meets tablet meets flimsy screen kind of concoction. I'm not doing it justice, but some characters had access to a futuristic tablet which also seemed to fit nicely with the advanced technology on the ship.

Other technologies such as the screens in the Recorder Hall and the water system were also very nicely established. One of the beautiful things about this book was understanding how some of these inventions aren't that far out of our reach, for better or for worse.

3. POV
I will be very honest--at first, I didn't like the two main characters told from a first person present perspective. One character in a FPP perspective is tricky for me, but two felt too confusing at first.

HOWEVER...

When I was in a reading groove, the POVs didn't bother me. And when I finished the book, it dawned on me that this was actually a very smart decision. Revis gives her readers two characters stuck on a ship in the middle of space and does a great job of carrying the feeling of claustrophobia all the way through the book. So when I finished, I realized the POV only enhanced that panic feeling. For the reader, there really is no place to escape. You're stuck on the ship with Elder and Amy. There's no hope for freedom for anyone.

4. Understanding Godspeed
So, speaking of the ship, Godspeed is pretty amazing, but I struggled to understand the size. How was it big enough to hold approx 2,000 people AND have farming lands? Since I'm a more visual learner, I couldn't create a mental layout of the ship. It wasn't until I finished the book and was looking around on the author's website that I found a ship schematic. Duh! Why didn't I think to go to the book's page, first? I will absolutely head back to the layout (you can find it all here!) when the next book, A Million Suns comes out.

5. Few minor hiccups
I stopped to re-read only two passages for clarification. One minor example was that at one point, a character is able to bypass a locking system to enter a hatch. I thought it was strange he could do this on a ship so tightly controlled by thumbprint access, but it wasn't a big enough deal to really worry about it. I was too busy reading and flipping to the next page, eager to figure out what happened and frankly, I'd rather be excited about the next page then worry about a locking system.

6. Final thoughts
Beth Revis has done a very nice job of managing her brand. Her website and book site blend seamlessly together and they dovetail directly into the artistic themes of her books. Furthermore, the author actively interacts with her readers through her Tumblr and Twitter feeds, which makes her feel "real" (as opposed to the Mythical Magical Author I see her as in my head!).

I also really liked how the author tied up some loose ends, but left the readers with more questions. It was a nice "cliffhanger" that made me think of future ramifications on the ship based on Elder's decisions. The only downside is that I have to wait a few more weeks to read the next installment as A Million Suns isn't released until January 10, 2012.