26 posts in 30 days is a bit of a feat (even though I did it last year), and doing that on top of my daily photo and small stone challenge (not to mention all the work related stuff) – phew. Who says I take on too much?

It all started well; I was on leave for the first week so managed to get a full week’s posts scheduled for 9am (often they posted before I was even up!). I had also pretty much noted down what I wanted to write about for each letter. Having a theme this year (of my Work In Progress) I think made things a lot easier and also gave me the motivation to keep going.
But then I went back to work – sometimes I still managed to get a little ahead and schedule for the morning but a few times the posts ended up hastily written and posted just before midnight. One embarrassing day, despite pushing back the scheduled template it posted itself empty – whoops.

The first week with my posts written I managed to do my commenting duties commenting on 5+ blogs a day but this slipped too (sorry). I read some excellent blogs and most of us seemed to reciprocate and visit back. A few I returned to for repeat visits and I’ve ‘followed’ through Blogger/Wordpress/Twitter many to return to when my energy returns. I did give up on commenting on some (I hate captcha – can’t read it) and although I’m following some on Blogger I don’t have a Blogger blog and consequentially I don’t really see them. The WordPress bloggers fared better mainly because I can get an e-mail of their blog post (which I do see).

I definitely seemed to gain a few followers – thanks guys – hope you are happy with slightly less posting now and I also feel like I engaged more with the people who were already following me (whether it was via the blog, twitter or facebook).

I’d like to give a shout out to a couple of my real life besties who were also taking part - Stacey and Jay  (I always read their posts) and Catherine for commenting (although she wasn’t taking part this year wrote a fantastic A to Z of crafting last year).  Also I’d like to thank Emma Maree  for commenting on lots of my posts – she’s a lovely fellow writer I ‘met’ on Nicola Morgan’s blog just before the challenge started.

My funniest moment was meeting fellow AtoZer J.C.Martin – for some reason we both seemed to think that each other was in America even though we both live in the South of England. Her A to Z of Crime Fiction will be a useful reference source for my WIP (so thanks).

There was a plethora of subjects to enjoy – lots on Writing, Travel, Life in general, films, books, Buffy, Death. Something to suit everyone really. I’m not going to list all of the blogs I enjoyed but if you decide to check out any of my posts please do visit those who left me comments – they were all fantastic. You can also find the full list of participants here and those of us reflecting are linking up here. A big shout out to the organisers too – thanks for an exhilarating April.

Finally, I did learn more about my WIP – I have received some really useful feedback and it generally just got me thinking again. Now I just need to get some energy back and start writing it again. I’ll think about whether I’m going to take part in the challenge again next year though if I can get ahead in March I probably will.

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I own a signed copy of this book bought via the lovely Jen Campbell herself.

I’d been following Jen on Twitter for a while so had seen a few of her examples of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops as well as having read her 100 Poems challenge book.

This neat hardback/dust jacketed collection is presented in three sections. Tales from the Edinburgh Bookshop (where Jen used to work), Tales from Ripping Yarns (where Jen currently works so be sensible visiting people) and Weird Things Customers Say in Other Bookshops (examples sent to Jen from booksellers from around the world). The book is also littered with entertaining illustrations by Greg from the Brothers McLeod (oddly I’d met his brother at a Scriptwriting festival a couple of weeks before receiving my copy – small world).

My reactions whilst reading were mainly either laughing out loud or groaning. It really does make you worry about people (and their general levels of attention and brain engagement). I really liked the examples where the ‘booksellers’ added in a witty reply but I thought on the whole they were very very restrained and professional (well done – I’d like to see what you wanted to say in reply though ;o)).

My top ‘Weird Thing’ was the customer who wondered why they didn’t invent computers faster just to make writers’ lives easier. Bless.

This is what I’d call a Coffee Table book – one to leave out for friends to read whilst you are making them a hot drink or pouring out the wine and then for you to share your favourites and groan and giggle together.

View all my reviews

I would recommend the need for a nice physical copy which you could buy from Amazon (sponsored link) if you fancy a chuckle.

I have done bad things. I can’t take them back, and they are part of who I am.

As part of Team Abnegation UK (a book blogger challenge), I was treated to an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) of Insurgent – thanks HarperCollins. I only received my copy on Wednesday but being selfless (as the abnegation are) I still made it a priority to read the book so that I could review it for you today. In the process I managed to cross another thing off my Bucket List.

The first thing I would say is that you really need to read Divergent if you haven’t already – you can find my review of it here. And you can buy it on the sponsored link below:

But, if you have already read Divergent and haven’t got time to read it again before Insurgent (I didn’t but wish I had) – the lovely lady herself has been kind enough to provide a summary of what happened in the first book here.

I’m afraid I’m going to find it really hard to review without some spoilers for Divergent if not Insurgent. I’ll try really hard not to give away everything but if you prefer not to read the review it is contained within the stars below.

***

Insurgent picks up exactly where Divergent left off with Tris and Four/Tobias and ‘whoever else was with them’ on a train on their way to the Amity compound and the action is pretty much non stop from then though there is food and sleep mentioned ;o).
In Divergent we only really got to meet three of the five factions – Abnegation (the selfless) where Tris was raised, Dauntless (the brave) where she transfers to and Erudite (the intelligent) where her brother Caleb transfers to. They are also the faction responsible for the devastation at the end of Divergent.
In Insurgent we get to visit the headquarters of all factions and find out more about Amity (the peaceful) and Candor (the honest) in the process. We also find out that the factionless are more organised than they have clearly been given credit for.

Tris is dealing with the repercussions of what she did during the Erudite controlled Dauntless simulations as well as what happened to her parents and old and current faction members. I think it is more evident to us in this book than the last that she is only 16. She is impatient and impulsive but also inquisitive and she shows her Abnegation roots by her numerous acts of selflessness. It’s unfortunate that these acts usually see others placed in danger too. Tris and Four do not have a love triangle to contend with but they also do not have a smooth ride as a couple and both keep secrets that threaten their relationship.

Divergence is seen as a massive threat by the Erudite and, not content with trying to wipe out Abnegation, they try to determine a way to control or eliminate the Divergent. We find out that Divergence is more rife than we first thought and that means something for the future of society as Tris knows it. She knows her parents wanted to let everyone know the truth and Tris doesn’t want their deaths to have been in vain. Now I had kind of guessed what the truth might be but that didn’t spoil the big reveal for me (and I got a little confused at one thing – hence the recommendation to re-read Divergent if you can or have a better memory than me).

I’m really looking forward to seeing that truth open up a whole new avenue for exploration in the as yet unnamed trilogy concluder.

As with Divergent I have selected a few of my favourite quotes to illustrate some of the themes/images that stood out for me with a little explanation why.

His breaths, my breaths, his body, my body, we are so close there is no difference.

As I mentioned in my X post there are some slightly raunchy scenes in Insurgent where Tris and Four get a little bit steamy. For Tris these moments with Tobias are her escape from the collapse of society around her and this line represents that perfectly. She never lets herself escape completely though and Tobias remains the perfect gentleman.

…even more difficult to justify my feelings with no evidence except my intuition.
    So I agree. But I do not change my mind.

Often quotes jump out at me because they may resonate with my life outside the book. To me this demonstrates the difficulties many of us face with a lack of acceptance of certain forms of knowledge. That thoughts and feelings and intuition are still not as accepted as what we can see or add up. Tris has no idea what the ‘truth’ may be but she ‘knows’ that it needs to be set free.

Don’t tell me you’re going to eat a mashed-potato sandwich

This made me giggle – Tris asks this almost indignantly of another character but it just made me crave a mash potato sandwich. I’ve not had one for a good few years now.  

Blood is a strange color. It’s darker than you expect it to be.

Obviously this comes at a point when Tris has already seen more than her fill of blood but to me it acknowledges her humanity. Death doesn’t become easier for her to accept just more of a reality.   

I don’t stare back – I refuse to stare back.
    I stare back.

Just love the contradiction in this. When we really try to stop ourselves we just can’t help giving in to what we are resisting.  

I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity.

I’ve been someone who has battled crying all my life, crying when I am sad, angry or sometimes with relief (A-Level results) or in pure fear (The Woman in Black). I am coming to terms with the fact that this is necessary for me, even though it sometimes makes others uncomfortable. I even have times when I haven’t cried for a when I feel an overwhelming need for a good blub. I love how Veronica through Tris justifies the necessity of this act for me.

I think they’re going to force us to eat lots of cake and then take an unreasonably long nap.

In the face of fear what is the best course of action – laugh. Tris lies to a Candor born Dauntless and comes out with my idea of heaven.

***

Over the week the rest of my team will be reviewing the book on their respective blogs – you can find a list of them on this post here.

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You can buy Insurgent on the sponsored link below (I’m still going to be buying the Kindle version despite my ARC):

Or just admire my copy of the book from the day it arrived. I strongly suggest reading it though.

Finally in honour of today my 366 Photo (incidentally 1/3 of the way through the challenge) represents the grey stones of Abnegation.

I’d really love to hear what you thought of Insurgent in the comments – as a consequence readers please be aware the comments may contain spoilers.

In honour of Abnegation I’d also like you you tell me what selfless acts you’ve performed recently. Mine usually revolve around letting people out in front of me in the car or helping people with their IT related difficulties.

Happy Reading!

(Post 26 on my WIP)

Off to the land of sleep and dreams
I fly on a horse with feathered wings
I sigh as the journey for today is done
Look forward to another yet to come

It’s here – the last letter post of April’s A to Z Challenge 2012. There will one more post - a reflection post on May 7th.

I started this challenge when I had a week’s leave from work and got ahead with scheduled posts – and then I went back to work and ended up losing out on sleep to write and stay on target (and keep up with everything else I needed to). Unfortunately because I really couldn’t give up on sleep all together (funny that!) I had to let go of commenting on as many blogs as I managed to do to start with. This was a shame because I did find some excellent posts and people to connect with. Hopefully the list will remain so I can continue exploring at a more leisurely pace.

Now, as we all know, but often forget, sleep is a very important occupation. One I love. As a night owl I think I produce my best work at night and then I prefer to sleep in later in the day – but often day to day jobs are not conducive to this pattern of living. One of my wishes for the post A-Z lull is to catch up on sleep and try and work on developing a better sleep routine (any hints and tips on doing this welcome).

In my book Jane has a number of dreams which I see as being her subconscious guiding her to consider what is important. This is because during waking hours she often isn’t that aware of what it is she does want, just managing to deal with the day to day routine of life.

I used to spend lots of time daydreaming but am finding that is happening less as my head gets filled with other things. Now writing these posts about my WIP have been all well and good but they haven’t been writing my WIP. Nicola Morgan wrote a post last week about Writer’s Block that I really empathised with. As a result I am going to try and banish some stuff, get some sleep, start daydreaming again and hopefully come back to Training Time feeling refreshed and ready to finish that full first draft.

Happy snoozing fellow A-Zers – look forward to catching up on your reflections. Other than sleep what do you plan to catch up on now the challenge is over?

(Post 25 on my WIP)

To be ‘successful’ writers need readers and I’m hoping that means you.

As readers I believe we are jointly responsible for creating the story, we filter it through our own personal lens and analyse the work through our own experience. A book will be read in a different way by everyone who reads it and in a different way again on repeat readings.

I think I have learnt an important lesson for me and I think that is that I would prefer to share my work when it is more complete – where I have at least a complete outline and a fuller understanding of my characters if not a full first draft. I find I can get easily confused if too many filters are used and find it hard to back track to the original view. That is not to say the views of others aren’t or won’t be important – I think I would just be able to be clearer about what can be re-filtered and what I want/need to stay raw.

What I’d like to know today though is all about you and your reading habits – feel free to tell me anything but I’m particularly interested in the following questions (feel free to answer as many or as few as you like):
Where do you like a story to start?
What traits do you look for in a main character?
What do you look for in an ending?
If a series is planned do you like cliffhangers or prefer each book to be rounded off?
Where do you read?
E or paper or both?
Binger or snacker? (i.e. Do you prefer to read books as quickly as possible, sometimes in one go or one chapter at a time, making the ‘flavour last’)
Do you read books more than once? Why? What happens in a repeat reading?
To you what makes a good book?

I look forward to reading all about you and eventually I’d really love to be able to give you my interpretation of Training Time for you to filter in your way.

(Post 24 on my WIP)

Just read what could be considered a raunchy scene in Insurgent (full review on 1st May, when I’ve finished it and when we are allowed to release our reviews in celebration of the publication day of Veronica Roth’s follow up to Divergent).

Also one of my beta readers commented on how I’d introduced Jane, representing her as promiscuous, and whether that was appropriate in Young Adult fiction.

This got me thinking about audience and what is appropriate – about the ‘moral responsibility of authors’.

There has been debate about the violence in The Hunger Games and Tabitha Suzuma’s Forbidden which centres on a brother/sister incestuous relationship has massively divided opinion.

When I think about what I read when I was younger I think it helped me explore issues that I needed to understand in a non threatening way.

But as Serendipity Viv so eloquently writes – there are times when our threshold of acceptance change  – as we age, as we become parents or experience other life events.

My response to her post was (and when I say children I really mean teens):

Wow, what a brave post. I really don’t think anybody really wants to see incest, violence and other unsavoury things in YA or other fiction – I’m guessing (hoping) they were just demanding its right to be there and sadly it exists in the ‘real world’. I think you are perfectly within your rights not to read a book if you don’t want to.
I won a set of Tabitha Suzuma’s books and read Forbidden first (the only one I have read so far). Why did I pick that one? Because the reviews were outstanding, as is the book. It makes you understand how these things could happen and it broke my heart just a little.
I am speaking as a person who is not a mother but I recognise that the protective feelings that come with that are not made up, I have seen some quite unsappy friends change quite dramatically. I think you are right that parents need to be more aware of what their children are reading (and watching) and not police it or stop it but to be prepared to discuss the difficult issues that arise. I think literature is an amazing way to learn and I think we do children a disservice if we protect them too much leaving them naive and a bit vulnerable possibly. Neither do I believe we should shove it in their faces before they are ready. My copy of Forbidden does say ‘Not for younger readers’ on the back.
I think the reasons I have drawn to paranormal/fantasy are similar – it’s not real – it’s escapism. I don’t think I could read a Forbiddenesque book everyday and stay happy but sometimes we need to understand the dark side too – it’s just way too scary otherwise.
If you do decide to read it I look forward to your review.
Thanks for this very thought provoking post.

As I already mentioned in my Q is for Questions Answered post – Nicola Morgan says (in the comments on this post here) ‘NOTHING is too dark for YA! (Though it does have to be handled properly.)’

Do you agree that there is nothing too dark for YA?
For those who are parents – do you think you’d stop your younger self reading the books you did when a teenager?

(Post 23 on my WIP)

With Friday came ‘Weapons Training and History of Weapons’. Professor Rachel Harris, a leggy woman with waist length blonde hair and Sergeant Derek Adams, just the right amount of buff with short cropped hair, looked like a couple from the pages of a celebrity gossip magazine, Jane thought.

Here’s my vision of Derek and Rachel.

Now guns and weapons in general are not my sort of thing at all but I can see this needing to be an area that I need to research a lot more. I even wonder if, because I write a scene about gun training, whether it would be beneficial to try this myself – I have no idea even how I would go about arranging something like this, and being very anti-violence I’m not sure how it would make me feel.

‘I have fired an AK42, Gunman 12 and an Utiger’s.

Now here is where I wish I made better notes to myself as I write because some of the guns mentioned above, by one of my characters, are made up. I can do this if I’m setting my book in the future ;o). When Googling I found AK42 was real (I’d remembered that too), pretty sure I made up Gunman 12 and I can’t find Utiger’s so I guess I made that up too but I’ve no idea how. Randomly when I Google ‘Utiger’s gun’ it takes me to an Amazon review by Utiger of a spray gun!! If anybody actually knows Gunman 12 or Utiger’s are real please let me know because my brain has clearly forgotten.

How good at you at keeping track of how/where your ideas originate? (I will be using the notes feature in Scrivener to sort this out in future – if I remember that is).

Writers make up things all the time – do you think it’s enough to have seen lots of TV programmes/films or read other books that discuss a topic or should you talk to someone who has had an experience or even (obviously within legal, ethical, moral limits etc) experience something yourself? Clearly I can’t see myself eating a raw steak or taking drugs or doing anything illegal or violent so how do we write about these things? Personally I try and use writing at times to make sense of the world around me, particularly with things I don’t understand. But, when you publish a book how forgiving are readers? If I describe a gun scene where something happens that would never happen in real life is that going to be accepted within my story or could it make a reader put the book down? Clearly we can’t always stick to what we know but where does the responsibility to make something as accurate as possible end?

And on that note what is the strangest/most extreme thing you have done in the name of writing research?