It's a little tinier than I expected ...
The post is really image-heavy, so I'm putting it under a cut.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Small Drawstring Bag
Mom suggested I make everyone's Christmas presents this year, so I'm going to try it! Today I made a little bag using this "fabric gift pouch" tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar. I tweaked the directions slightly as I went along, so I'm going to show how I made it. (It's still very close to the original.) The bag took me about 2 hours overall, but a lot of that is from hand-sewing.
The post is really image-heavy, so I'm putting it under a cut.
The post is really image-heavy, so I'm putting it under a cut.
Monday, December 8, 2014
NaNo 2014 Results
I said I'd make a couple posts during November regarding NaNo and I never did ... Anyway! I managed to win NaNo for the second time this year, and I'm super proud of myself (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑ It was a little iffy at times because I had a lot less motivation than I did last year, but I pushed through!
I stayed pretty on-point this year, compared to last year's super mad dash.
I wanted to focus more on the second part of the story this year, since I'd done the first part last time, but there are still a lot of holes I have to fill in from last year and I didn't have a very stable canon to work with. However, I did go through and write in some missing scenes from last year's when I got stuck, so I was at least productive. I'm expecting not to finish writing this part until after graduation because it's based on the characters' senior year, which I'm still in the process of experiencing myself.
But the good news from all of this is that I finally feel ready to start getting feedback on the first part of the story! I printed out the first chapter for a friend to read, and I'm hoping to give it to another friend once I get it back. Hopefully this will be even more motivation to finish up the story, if they're waiting on me to get everything together to keep reading.
One of these days I'll finally make a post about the story I'm writing. I feel like that would make it easier to talk about rather than having to be kind of vague like this ...
TL;DR I won NaNo again and I'm getting closer to having a completely finished story I can share with the world! So that's exciting.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Books I've Read -- November
This was a super slow month, mostly because of NaNo, I think. I have a bunch of new books for December, though, so I'm really hoping to get through those a lot faster!
Tides by Betsy Cornwell, finished 11/6. Tides is actually a really good book about selkies -- I can't say that I've read any books about mermaids / sirens / selkies before, so it was really nice to be able to read it. I really loved the depth of the characters, and the worldbuilding seemed pretty solid. I think the biggest thing I have to say is that it's slightly insta-love, but even then both Noah and Mara are kind of cautious at first. It's definitely more character-driven than plot-driven, and I really liked that. The ending is kind of open, but there's apparently a sequel book coming, so I'm looking forward to reading that even if it focuses more on Mara's pod than anything else.
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, finished 11/13. So in re-reading my review for City of Ashes, I think I can safely say that at least some of the unresolved / unexplained issues were covered. That said, I think City of Glass was easier for me to read because I asked my friend for spoilers. It wasn't as frustrating to read. (Also, it kept me occupied at the MVA when I went to get my driver's permit.) I really like the way it ended, though, as if it was only just a trilogy, so I'm still kind of torn on whether I'll keep reading. I feel like the next books will just drag things out longer than they need to be -- and that's kind of how it seems from skimming some of the reviews on Goodreads. Overall, I don't really think the characters in general are all that realistic or believable, but I think they were a little better in City of Glass than what I remember from the first two books.
Prophecy by Ellen Oh, finished 11/18. Prophecy is an okay book. I actually don't have much to say about it either way other than that the narration seemed a little Middle Grade-ish. And that I kept confusing a lot of the character's names, but that's mostly just because I'm not used to Korean names. It's not a bad book; it just wasn't all that captivating. (A lot of the reviews on Goodreads say it's a classic example of "telling over showing" and tropes, so keep that in mind.)
The Hangman's Revolution by Eoin Colfer, finished 11/25. This was radically different from The Reluctant Assassin, I think, but it was just as good. The worldbuilding for the Box Empire (or whatever it's called) seemed pretty legit. I think the biggest issue I had was trying to keep the two Thundercats straight, since for some reason I never seemed to match the names to the characters. That's just an issue on my part, though. I really love the type of action-adventure-science that always seems to come with the Artemis Fowl and the WARP books, and I kind of wish I knew for certain if there's a third book in the series. I don't know what the plot would be, but I would really like to at least know what happens after the end of The Hangman's Revolution.
Tides by Betsy Cornwell, finished 11/6. Tides is actually a really good book about selkies -- I can't say that I've read any books about mermaids / sirens / selkies before, so it was really nice to be able to read it. I really loved the depth of the characters, and the worldbuilding seemed pretty solid. I think the biggest thing I have to say is that it's slightly insta-love, but even then both Noah and Mara are kind of cautious at first. It's definitely more character-driven than plot-driven, and I really liked that. The ending is kind of open, but there's apparently a sequel book coming, so I'm looking forward to reading that even if it focuses more on Mara's pod than anything else.
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, finished 11/13. So in re-reading my review for City of Ashes, I think I can safely say that at least some of the unresolved / unexplained issues were covered. That said, I think City of Glass was easier for me to read because I asked my friend for spoilers. It wasn't as frustrating to read. (Also, it kept me occupied at the MVA when I went to get my driver's permit.) I really like the way it ended, though, as if it was only just a trilogy, so I'm still kind of torn on whether I'll keep reading. I feel like the next books will just drag things out longer than they need to be -- and that's kind of how it seems from skimming some of the reviews on Goodreads. Overall, I don't really think the characters in general are all that realistic or believable, but I think they were a little better in City of Glass than what I remember from the first two books.
Prophecy by Ellen Oh, finished 11/18. Prophecy is an okay book. I actually don't have much to say about it either way other than that the narration seemed a little Middle Grade-ish. And that I kept confusing a lot of the character's names, but that's mostly just because I'm not used to Korean names. It's not a bad book; it just wasn't all that captivating. (A lot of the reviews on Goodreads say it's a classic example of "telling over showing" and tropes, so keep that in mind.)
The Hangman's Revolution by Eoin Colfer, finished 11/25. This was radically different from The Reluctant Assassin, I think, but it was just as good. The worldbuilding for the Box Empire (or whatever it's called) seemed pretty legit. I think the biggest issue I had was trying to keep the two Thundercats straight, since for some reason I never seemed to match the names to the characters. That's just an issue on my part, though. I really love the type of action-adventure-science that always seems to come with the Artemis Fowl and the WARP books, and I kind of wish I knew for certain if there's a third book in the series. I don't know what the plot would be, but I would really like to at least know what happens after the end of The Hangman's Revolution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)