This past week on FYFA (and in my life):
I hope those of you in the US enjoyed Thanksgiving. We had a nice holiday at home—my mom and dad were here, but since my mom is pretty much always here, it barely felt like company. Makes for a relaxed holiday.
I’ve been working steadily away on my NaNo novel and am pretty much right on track, despite not getting much writing done on Thanksgiving. Even though I didn’t get many words in that day, I feel like I made a major breakthrough with my main character that day. I had been struggling with whether or not to leave in the fact that she’d lost a hand (because I felt like it was being added as an afterthought and I wasn’t doing it justice), but I got some inspiration via some amazing paraclimbers—people with “diffabilities” (as the paraclimbing champion likes to call them—instead of disabilities) who compete in rock climbing. My book takes place in the Colorado Rockies, and I had in my head that Charlie was a nature girl, but watching videos of those climbers gave me the inspiration to take her passion up a notch. That idea led to me really feeling like I had a better handle on Charlie as a character in general, and I’m excited about her again! I’ll have to go back and make some edits to what I’ve already done, but it’s totally worth it.
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog this past week:
Unfortunately, between NaNo and the holiday, I didn’t get much blogging done. Of course, I did take the time out to totally update my Bloglovin’ feed … So, yeah, I was definitely prioritizing my time this week. Or procrastinating. Yeah, I think that might have been it.
BUT I did finally post a discussion!
- Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi: A Disturbingly Dark Middle Grade Read
- When It Might Be Time to Change Your Blog Name… Let’s Discuss!
Next week on FYFA:
- November Wrap-Up Round Up
- When in Rome by CJ Duggan: Review
- Rosemarked by Livia Blackburne: Review
- December Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway
Latest FYFA Giveaway Winners!!:
- None this week!
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Here are the birthdays and blogoversaries this week! I hope you’ll go wish these bloggers well on their special days! Make sure you check out the calendar to see what you might have just missed or what’s coming up. (If you want to be added to the calendar, you can always fill out the birthday/blogoversary form.)
- November 26th – Heather @ Based on a True Story‘s Birthday
- November 26th – JC’s Book Haven‘s Blogoversary
- November 27th – Bregje @ Books are Stories‘ Birthday
- November 30th – Ikram Reads a Lot‘s Blogoversary
- December 2nd – Samantha @ The Book Disciple‘s Birthday
For Review:
I received The Girl and the Grove on NetGalley from Flux and When in Rome from Hachette Australia!
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
- Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight shares her Side Character Fight to the Death
- Book Briefs shares a bunch of bookish Black Friday sales—most of them are still going on!
- Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books shares the absolute fear that overtakes us when it’s time to edit a WIP
- Cait @ Paper Fury asks Are Tropes Always Bad?
- If you’re in the Manhattan area, Inkitt is hosting a free event with Gayle Forman on November 30th. She will be giving a presentation about her top tips for writers, doing a Q&A, and signing books.
Pre-Order Deals:
Listed in order of release date. Any new deals that I just added to the list this week will be denoted with a *** so you can easily find them!
Please note: Almost all pre-order giveaways run “while supplies last,” so I can’t guarantee that they’ll be open until the date listed. Pre-0rder early for your best chance to get all the goodies!
- Pre-order THE CHAOS OF STANDING STILL by Jessica Brody to receive a bookplate signed by the author, a “boarding pass” bookmark, a special, annotated Denver Airport Map so you can follow along with Ryn and Xander on their adventure through the airport, and a “Stranded Passenger” Bingo Card. (INT) (ends 11/27)
- Pre-order THE REBELS OF GOLD by Elise Kova to get exclusive swag. The more pre-orders that are received, the more swag will be unlocked. (ends 12/4)
- Pre-order EVER THE BRAVE by Erin Summerill to receive a 5×7 custom art print, a quote card, a temporary tattoo and signed bookmark and bookplate. (ends 12/4)
- ***Pre-order HEART ON FIRE by Amanda Bouchet to receive a limited edition poster! (ends 1/1)
- Pre-order MEET CUTE by various authors, including Jennifer L. Armentrout, Dhonielle Clayton and Katie Cotugno, to receive a set of 6 pins based on the cover! (ends 1/1)
- Pre-order YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE by Rachel Lynn Solomon to receive a bookmark, a signed bookplate with evil eye pattern, and an exclusive short story that catches up with the protagonists five years later. You’ll also be entered to win a themed prize pack. (ends 1/1)
- Pre-order THE CRUEL PRINCE by Holly Black to receive a signed bookplate, enamel pin & bookmark. (ends 1/1)
- Pre-order NICE TRY, JANE SINNER by Lianne Oelke to receive a signed bookmark, two stickers, and a chance to win much, more more. (ends 11/7)
- Pre-order UNEARTHED by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner to receive an exclusive e-short set before the events of These Broken Stars, an autographed bookplate especially designed to go in your book, and a chance to get your name the sequel to Unearthed! (ends 1/8)
- Pre-order LOVE, HATE AND OTHER FILTERS by Samira Ahmed to receive a custom button set! (Plus a signed, personalized copy and a hand-lettered art print, if you pre-order from Anderson’s) (ends 1/15)
- Pre-order IRON GOLD by Pierce Brown to receive an exclusive art print featuring the book’s characters! (ends 1/16)
- Pre-order ZENITH by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings to receive a Zenith necklace. (ends 1/16)
- ***Pre-order REIGN OF THE FALLEN by Sarah Glenn Marsh t0 receive a set of 7 beautiful character art cards, a bookmark and a signed bookplate. (ends 11/22)
- Pre-order LOLA DUTCH IS A LITTLE BIT MUCH and receive a digital package that includes: Coloring Pages, Paper Puppets, Mini Guided Learning Activities with Lola and much more! (ends 1/29)
- Pre-order REIGN THE EARTH by A.C. Gaughen to receive an exclusive map poster. (ends 1/29)
- Pre-order THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert to receive an exclusive set of 10 “tarot-inspired” character cards. (ends 1/29)
- ***Pre-Order HEART OF IRON by Ashley Poston to receive 1 of 4 (or all 4, depending on where you order from) ultra-exclusive holographic character prints and a signed bookplate. (ends 2/26)
- Pre-order THE CASE FOR JAMIE by Brittany Cavallaro to receive a signed book and exclusive Charlotte Holmes swag. (ends 3/5)
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed with this week’s posts)
- November Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – Link up your November discussions and enter to win!
- Haven by Mary Lindsey: Giveaway (& My First Impressions) – Still time to win a swag box including books (or a $15 Amazon gift card for INT winner)
- October Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway (With a Make Me Read It Twist) – Still time to enter to win a book from my Make Me Read It Giveaway list!
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
- Lots of blogs participating in the Black Friday Giveaway Book Bonanza Hop
- Head over to Night Owl Book Cafe for a chance to win a print copy of Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
- Head over to a GREAT read for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Renegades
- Head over to Lisa Loves Literature for a chance to win a Clean Teen Publishing Mystery Box
- Read It Forward is giving you the chance to win their The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor
- Head over to Book Lady’s Reviews for a chance to win a The November Girl Swag Pack
- Enter the Batman: Nightwalker ARC and Signed Wonder Woman: Warbringer Sweepstakes!
- Head over to BookCrushin’ for a chance to win season 1 of REMADE on SerialBox!
- Enter to win this month’s NOVLbox from @TheNovl!
- It’s It Starts at Midnight’s four-year blogoversary!! Tell Shannon you love her and then enter her giveaway for (and I quote) “Whatever the Hell You Want (INT)“! (See why I love her so?)
- The Bookkeeper’s Secrets is doing a year-long giveaway!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
I’m glad you a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. Sounds lovely! And yay for getting a better idea of your character. That’s awesome. I work at a community college and we close for a couple weeks around Christmas so I’d like to take that time to really get back into my book. For now, I’m just doing some brainstorming, etc.
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Okay, I’m going to hold you to that. LOL!
I don’t even know what’s going on anymore with my Bloglovin. I should get a better handle on it (AKA learn its capabilities). But, priorities, you know? 😉 That’s great that you made a breakthrough with your MC.
Every once in a while I go crazy and try to get my Bloglovin’ feed all organized. It doesn’t last for long, of course.
Glad it was such a relaxing holiday, Nicole. Hooray for the progress on your novel! Whether it’s words written or just inspirations… it’s all progress. Hope you have a great week!
Inspiration is great progress!
You’ve had a busy month, glad your writing is coming along and that the holiday was relaxing.
Thanks, Kim! I’m FINALLY catching up with everything (especially comments!)
The Girl and the Grove has such a stunning cover. It is great to hear how you were able to delve into your character this way. 😀
I’m looking forward to The Girl and the Grove—I have such respect for Eric Smith.
I’m so glad to hear you had a lovely holiday and that you’re doing good with your Nano novel! The end of the month is so soon, I hope you’ll manage to make it – or at least that, by December 1st, you will be proud of what you’ve already done. It’s always so great when you manage to really figure out how you want your main character to be 🙂
I can’t wait to read The Girl and the Grove, it sounds SO good and the cover is stunning 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing my post along with so many other great posts! <3 <3
Wishing you an amazing week! xx
I did end up making my goal. Yay!
Glad you had a good Thanksgiving. Yay for doing well on your Nano book. Enjoy your new arrivals and have a great week!
Thanks, Grace!
OOh nice book haul! Some totally new to me reads there! I hope you love them!
Glad you made progress on your book/character arc! That’s great! I really, really, really need to get my butt back into gear and tweak my own book which has ashamedly been sitting untouched for far too long!
Hope you have a GREAT reading week!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
It’s easy to put your book aside and get out of the habit of writing! Get back to it!
Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving, and congrats on the NaNo progress! That’s awesome. Sounds like an excellent and very satisfying character breakthrough! Good for you. 🙂
Have a super week Nicole!
Thanks for the support, Greg! It made a big difference to have people rooting for me!
I’m glad you had a good Thanksgiving and were able to work on your NaNo project. I mostly just sat around and ate. I didn’t do anything productive at all. Have a great week!
Thanksgiving IS a time of sitting around and eating. 🙂
What a great idea to incorporate the loss of her hand through rock climbing. Your book sounds intriguing:)
I love it when inspiration hits!
I think because I avoid Black Friday sales I always find Thanksgiving quite a relaxing holiday (it helps we’re celebrating in another country too!), much more so than C. Day (though that’s my favourite). Glad you got some writing done and you had a breakthrough on your character. Sounds like it will be interesting.
I’m not big on Black Friday anymore either. I don’t mind online shopping, though.
Congratulations on your breakthrough! It always amazes me how inspiration is all around us.
Sometimes you never know when inspiration will hit!
I have a hate/hate relationship with bloglovin’. I don’t get it, and it hates me! I should spend some time with it though and figure it out. But….these books won’t read themselves!
Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving and a character breakthrough! And thanks for the Birthday shout out!
Oh no—a hate/hate relationship. How sad. 🙁
Yay for character breakthroughs! It sounds like the breakthrough you had really helped to develop your character, something which wasn’t working can now fit in properly and make this book all the better for it. I love it. It goes to show that even if you’re not writing you can still make progress with a book.
Glad you had a relaxing Thanksgiving and hope the writing continues going well with the end of the month in sight.
Yes, sometimes the best progress comes through inspiration, not through actual writing.
It’s exciting to hear that you had a breakthrough with your NaNo novel! Yay! I’m glad you’re on track too. 🙂
It was nice to finally feel like things were coming together. 🙂
glad to hear you have enjoyed the Holiday 😀 I have found that Holidays tend to slow down my reading and blogging as well, at least you enjoy time with your family.
The holidays can make blogging really tough—but I’m actually finally catching up on some things since I have a break from homeschool co-op.
Hey, congrats on your NaNo break through with your character. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving.
And thanks for the shoutout for the AoGG giveaway at Lily’s blog. 🙂
Have a good week!
You’re welcome! I’m always happy to help spread the word!
I’m so glad you figured out exactly who you wanted your character to be, that must have been the most wonderful feeling. Wishing you lots of luck writing her story!
And yay for having a wonderful and mellow Thanksgiving! Those are the best!!
Those breakthroughs are amazing!