NaNoWriMo Week Two - Wrap Up

So we're halfway through November, and that means 25,000 words and hopefully the midpoint of your novel's plot. If you missed the wrap up for my first week, you can see how well I did here. If you somehow have stumbled upon this post and you have no idea what NaNoWriMo is, you should check out that post, and maybe the website as well. Here's how I did in the second week of NaNoWriMo.

Day Eight
Words Written: 2,057
Word Goal (total): 13,336
Total Word Count: 17,374

Day Nine
Words Written: 2,213
Word Goal (total): 15,00
Total Word Count: 19,587

Day Ten
Words Written: 0
Word Goal (total): 16,670
Total Word Count: 19,587

Day Eleven
Words Written: 3,537
Word Goal (total): 18,337
Total Word Count: 23,124

Day Twelve
Words Written: 0
Word Goal (total): 20,000
Total Word Count: 23,124

Day Thirteen
Words Written: 1,007
Word Goal (total): 21,671
Total Word Count: 24,131

Day Fourteen
Words Written: 413
Word Goal (total): 23,338
Total Word Count: 24,562

Day Fifteen
Words Written: 5,818
Word Goal (total): 25,000
Total Word Count: 30,380

This week had some pretty average moments, and a few really amazing moments. Currently, I'm 5,000 words over the word count goal, which I'm very happy with. I hope that your NaNoWriMo is going splendidly and you're reaching your own personal goals.

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NaNoWriMo 2014 - Week One Wrap Up

A week ago now, I embarked on a journey that has so far, been really amazing:

NaNoWriMo 2014

If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, you can visit their website or you can check out my announcement post about it. But I'm fairly sure that all you know something about the month of which thousands of people write novels (and if you didn't, that's a brief synopsis). If you want to see some more detailed information about how I've gone each day, then you should head over here and watch my daily vlogs, which I'll continue to do for the rest of November. This post is the wrap up for my first week of NaNoWriMo. 

Day One 

Word Count: 0

Daily Goal (total): 1,666

Total Words: 0

Day Two

Word Count: 2,404

Daily Goal (total): 3,333

Total Words: 

Day Three

Word Count: 4,363

Daily Goal (total): 5,000

Total Words: 6,855

Day Four

Word Count: 2,372

Daily Goal (total): 6,666

Total Words: 9,227

Day Five

Word Count: 2,981

Daily Goal (total): 8,333

Total Words: 12,208

Day Six

Word Count: 1,139

Daily Goal (total): 10,002

Total Words: 13,347

Day Seven

Word Count: 1,970

Daily Goal (total): 11,669

Total Words: 15,317

So far, NaNoWriMo has been an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I've done as well as I have so far. I'm really happy with my results, and I'm still really ahead which has made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable. If you're doing NaNoWriMo this year, add me as a writing buddy!!! I hope all of your word counts have gone well so far. Good luck and happy writing. 

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NaNoWriMo 2014 - Announcement

As you can probably tell from the title, I have an important announcement to make today...

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year! 

I'm sure that most of you know what NaNoWriMo is, but if you don't, here's a brief summary. For the month of November, you try and write a 50,000 word novel. Yep, that's right. A novel. In 30 days. It sounds crazy, but so many people all over the world participate each year, and in 2014, I'm going to be one of those people. If you're interested in this super crazy idea, there's a link at the end of this post. 

So for obvious reasons, I'm not going to be sticking to my usual posting schedule during the month of November. Instead, I'll be making one post a week (every Friday) all about the progress I've made during that week. If you're not interested in NaNoWriMo, then I'm sorry, and things will go back to normal from the start of December. 

I'm not going to be giving you any details about my idea, because I don't like to do that. But I will be giving you updates about my word count and those kinds of things. I'm also going to be daily vlogging on my YouTube channel, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, there's a link at the end of this video like always. 

Let me know if you're participating in NaNoWriMo, and you can add me as a writing buddy here. Good luck to everyone who's participating!! 

You can find out more about NaNoWriMo here. 

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You can add me as a friend of Goodreads here.

You can subscribe to me on YouTube here.

Dewey's 24 Hour ReadAThon - Wrap Up!!

It's done!! The past 24 hours (32, by the time this goes live) have been completely hectic, and I'm now very, very tired. I will be uploading a video where I talk in more detail about my readathon experience, but in the meantime, you can all read a quick review about the books I read here. Also, if you want to find out more about any of these books, click the book title to visit their Goodreads pages (I know, I'm a technology whiz).

MAUS - The Complete Volumes by Art Spiegelelman
I'm not going to talk about these separately because I read them right after each other, with only a few hours sleep in between. This was my first experience with a graphic novel, and it was a good one. The story was told in a way that really suited the content, and I was really engaged in the narrative. I'm so glad that I read this story, and it's sticking in my mind still, which is always a good sign! I would really recommend this graphic novel to everyone, because it deals with really important historical content and themes.


Slaugherhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
I picked this book up for the weekend because it was really short (only 175 pages) so I knew I would easily be able to get through it in the 24 hours. It did take me a lot longer than I thought it would, because the content of this book is somewhat strange... But I loved this story and it contained so many amazing quotes that I couldn't help but highlight. It's hard to tell you what genre this book is in, and I can only describe it as a mixture between dystopian, science fiction and historical fiction, as well as a reflective piece about a character's life... If that sounds like your kind of book, then for sure read this.


Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
I only read 51 pages of this before the 10pm cut off, but I really love it so far. The world is so interesting and I'm very invested in the story at the moment. I'll be sure to post a full non-spoiler review on my blog when I finish it, and if I have anything somewhat interesting (and spoilerly) to say about it then I might post a video as well.

Make sure you all let me know how your readathon went if you participated. As always, happy reading!!

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Dewey's 24 Hour ReadAThon!!

First of all, I know! It's Thursday and I'm posting something. Don't worry, a review will be up tomorrow like usual... This is just a little something extra, because the Dewey's 24 Hour ReadAThon is happening this weekend!!!

If you've never participated in this readathon before (don't worry, neither have I), then you can find out more information here. But basically, it starts on the 18th of October and finishes 24 hours later on the 19th, and in that time you just read as many books as you can. Depending on where you live, your starting time on the 18th will be different, so you can check out a list of different start times here.

If you're interested in seeing my TBR list for the 24 hours, you can watch me talk about it in this video:

I'll also be doing a little week-long readathon that follows immediately on from this one, that is being hosted by Cat from Little Book Owl. This isn't anything official, just something that she's doing for fun and I decided to join in too. If you want to see the video where she talks about it or to see her TBR list, click here. 

If you're interested in participating in Dewey's readathon, then you can sign up here. If you're participating in the readathon, make sure you keep an eye on my YouTube channel and my Twitter for my reading updates, and if you're going to keep readathoning after the 24 hours with Cat, then make sure you watch her video and let her know in the comments. 

 Happy Reading!!

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Book Buying Bans

**A note on my notes: These are my opinions only.**

I'm currently on a book-buying ban, and I hate it. But I also think it's necessary, and here's why.

Recently, I cleaned out my bookshelves. Mainly because I was running out of room and I had a whole pile of books on my desk that just didn't fit on my shelves, but also because I felt a bit overwhelmed. I had so many books that I hadn't read and the thought of having to get through them all made me feel pretty stressed. So I decided to clean them out and I now have one and a half completely blank shelves.

In total, I got rid of over sixty books. A lot of them I had read, but if I didn't love it or didn't think I'd read it again, I decided to get rid of it. A lot of the books, however, were books that I haven't read and now probably never will. In saying that though, I still have over thirty books that I haven't read. Thirty+ books probably doesn't even seem like that much to a lot of you, and I know so many book fanatics have wayyyyyyyy more books on their TBR pile, but I'm still placing myself on a book buying ban.

The reason is, I don't want to ever have to feel stressed about all the books that I haven't read yet. I don't want it to overwhelm me and I don't want it to get so far where I'm put off reading. The ultimate goal here is to read every single book I currently own so that eventually, the only books I haven't read will be the ones that I just bought from the bookstore that very day.

Obviously, that's going to take some time; it's taken me nine months of this year to get through 38 books. And my TBR list is going to continue to grow, because I'm not banning book buying completely. If I was to do that, I would fail and feel terrible about it. So my goal is to read three books from the list of books that I already own before I buy a new one. This list only includes books that I kept from when I cleaned out my bookshelves, so if I buy a new book and read it instantly, that book doesn't count towards the three I have to read. This way, my TBR list hopefully won't grow much larger than it currently is and I can slowly get through it.

If you're thinking you need to restrict yourself with a book-buying ban, then I have some tips for you:

1. Go through your books and get rid of the ones you don't want to read any more. 
2. Write an actual list of all the books you have to read and put it somewhere where you can see it easily to encourage you to actually read the books on it.
3. Don't completely ban yourself unless you have a will of steel (which you probably don't, because otherwise you wouldn't be in this situation). 
4. Get a library card and when you feel like buying a book, go there instead of the bookstore. 
5. If you buy a book, who cares! Just read it. 

Happy Reading!!

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Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins - Review

First of all, I'm sorry that I didn't post anything on Monday, and I'm sorry there haven't been any YouTube videos up lately... I've just been super busy with university and I had some other stuff going on so I just needed to take a break. But hopefully, within the next couple of weeks I'll be back on track.

**A note on my notes: This review is spoiler free.**

"There are some people in life that you can't get over."

Lola and the Boy Next Door is the first of two companion novels to Anna and the French Kiss, which I posted a review for here. The story follows Lola, a budding fashion designer who likes to express herself through her outrageous clothes. Lola thinks her life is pretty good: she has a hot boyfriend, a great bestfriend and an amazing job at the movie theatre. Things are going well, that is, until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, move back in next door. Lola finds herself flooded with old feelings that she has to deal with before her perfect world comes crashing down around her.

The Good
Like Anna and the French Kiss, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The plot moves fairly quickly and is pretty engaging, making the novel very easy to read. The characters were extremely unique, and I had never read anything like them before. I loved how Lola was a fashion designer and this made her a more interesting character. Cricket was the perfect love interest and I enjoyed his little quirks. I think Calliope was an interesting character as well. Lola's dads (yes, plural) were also great characters. I also loved the small appearances of Anna and her boyfriend.

The Bad
I didn't enjoy this story as much as Anna and the French Kiss; however, that has nothing to do with the actual book, I just personally connected with Anna more than I did with Lola. The only problem I had with this book is that it's very predictable, but that just comes with reading a Stephanie Perkins novel - you're not reading it for the surprises, you're reading it because you know exactly what's going to happen.

The Recommendation
If you're looking for a cute and easy read, then you will enjoy Lola and the Boy Next Door. If you haven't read Anna and the French Kiss, then I would suggest you do actually read that one first; it just makes seeing Anna in this book more satisfying.

You can find out more about Lola and the Boy Next Door here. 

You can find out more about Anna and the French Kiss here. 

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Update Time

Hey everyone!

I don't have a post planned for today, and I haven't had any time to work on anything worthwhile. So, instead of creative a mediocre post, I've decided to just give you all a quick update. I don't really have anything to update you on though, so don't expect any exciting news.

If you've been following my blog for the past month of so, then you'll probably know that I make YouTube videos now, and you can subscribe to my channel here.On my channel I upload Top Five Wednesday videos on Wednesdays, and I upload another video on Friday/Saturday that can be about anything. I'm still working things out with that and I'm still in the testing phase with things such as lighting and editing etc., so don't expect incredible videos at the moment (and probably ever, really!).

I'm still trying to read 50 books this year, and according to Goodreads, I'm still two books behind schedule. Whoops. I've just been really busy at the moment, so I haven't devoted much of my time to reading anything, which is okay because I don't want to force myself to read when I don't want to. At the moment, I'm reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and I'm really enjoying it so far.

Uni is really hectic at the moment, and I'm pretty swamped with all the work that I have to do. In saying that though, I'm still really enjoying what I'm studying so I don't really mind all the work. I will be happy when the year is over, however, and I no longer have to stress about meeting deadlines!

That's all the semi-interesting things that are happening in my life at the moment. If I was a cooler person, then my life updates would be better, so I'm sorry for that. I'll be back on Friday with another review, but I'm not sure what book yet. On Wednesday, I'll be posting another T5W video that's all about my favourite worlds, so keep your eyes peeled for that! Happy Reading!!

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BookTube Announcement

With the BookTubeAThon ending last week, I've found myself reflecting a lot about the goals I have for this blog. I created this blog so that I could share my love of books and reading with like-minded people and it's really allowed me to connect with those people, which is great. However, I now am wishing to share this love with a bit of a larger audience. Enter BookTube.

I've been watching BookTube videos for several years now, basically before BookTube was really that huge. I never really thought about it but I suppose that BookTube is the reason I created this blog. I've always wanted to make videos, I just never thought that it would be possible for me to do so. But circumstances have changed, and I've decided that I'm going to be uploading my introduction video today. 

I'll still be posting here on this blog, so if you're not interested in watching my videos you can still be updated with my reading here. Most of the time, similar contented will be uploaded on both websites so no one will miss out. 

Sorry for such a boring post, but it is Friday so I still wanted to have something up like always. If you're interested in my YouTube channel and videos, there is a link to subscribe in the Contact Me page and at the end of this post. Happy Reading!

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Reading Slumps and Updates

First of all, apologies for my sustained absence recently... I've been super busy with the other aspects of my life and my blog was not my first priority, though I wish it could have been. I'm aiming to have more regular posts up soon. In other news:

Reading slumps suck. 

If you read regularly, then you know what I'm talking about. It's that feeling when you look at your book and you have absolutely no desire to pick it up, no matter how many good things you've heard about it or how much you know you'll enjoy it. You just can't read it.

Like I said before, I've been extremely busy lately, which has meant that my reading time has been minimal. Reading too much is partly why I was even busy in the first place; I should have put my reading books down and picked my text books up weeks ago. So it got to the point where every time I started reading, I felt guilty because I should have been doing something else. Eventually, I just didn't feel like reading because it didn't give me the same sense of joy and relaxation that I wanted it to, so I just didn't read.

This went on for about three weeks, in which I only read about half of a book. It would probably have continued until I was on holidays if it wasn't for the release of City of Heavenly Fire, which I purchased a few days ago and have been reading ever since. Which brings me to my next point.

If you've been following my blog since my first post, then you would have read that this year I was aiming to read fifty books. So far this year, I've read 14 books. This puts me six books behind schedule, which is upsetting. But I have recent;y bought several new books that I am super excited to read, and I will have a lot more free time over the coming weeks, so I can easily catch up those six books. My goal is to be back on track by the end of July, which means that over the next two months, I need to read fifteen books.

I've also put my 250 movie challenge on hold for the time being. I just haven't had enough time to get through them when I needed to, and I didn't want the challenge to feel like a chore. I wanted to expose myself to some more classic movies that I have never seen before, which I already have with the few that I have watched. Over the second half of the year I hope to revisit the list and cross a few more off, but I'm happy with the progress I've made even though I know I won't get through the whole 250.

I'm aiming to have weekly posts up again shortly, so stay tuned - if you're interested...

Welcome

As a person who loves to read, write, procrastinate and scroll the endless quantity called the Internet, creating a blog seems like the perfect idea that combines all four of these pastimes into one great big adventure. As a person who is extremely lazy and unmotivated, it seems destined to fail. That's why, from the birth of this idea to the first post, a space of about two years has past. I've always thought that I won't have time to keep it updated, that I'll lose interest after a few mediocre posts or that I just won't ever want to write for it. Besides, who would ever want to read it, anyway?

But two years went by and I still couldn't shake the idea that I should somehow share my passions with others. I still wished that I had a blog, but at the same time, I wished that I'd created it years and years ago and that it was already quite popular and I was easily able to make regular posts and that all the benefits of having some sort of online presence were falling right into my lap. I wanted to have a masterpiece, but I didn't want to invest time into the hard work of setting everything up and the slow process of gaining popularity through regular above average posts and shameless self-advertising. Obviously, for all of those benefits to begin to flow my way, I had to create something that was worth someone else's attention. 

So here I am, attempting to write that initial post that is sort of an introduction but without making any promises so that if I never post anything again, no one will know that I've failed at this project because I never made a written commitment to anyone else. So I'm not going to give the standard introduction of what this blog is about and what to expect and what sorts of things I'll be writing about, partly because I don't want to give false hope, but also because I don't even know yet. In saying that, I love books, movies, YouTube, Diet Coke, roses (the flowers, not the chocolates, but I love chocolate too) and television. Some of those things are blog-worthy, and some aren't. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Let the adventure begin.