Summer Readin’ (YA Edition)

Reading during the summer feels more special than any other time. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that you don’t have to read for any reason other than simply because you want to, It’s nice to be able to pick up something you’ve been eyeing for a while and be able to relax and enjoy, whether it’s something light or something that keeps you on the edge of your seat, or both. Sitting in the sun with a good book and some cold brew coffee is my favorite way to spend the summer, so here is a list of some of my favorite YA books that are great for a summer read.

• The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry: This imaginative book full of magical realism and rifts in time is beautiful in so many ways; the descriptions are phenomenal, but it’s the characters you’ll really fall in love with.
• Four, Three, Two, One by Courtney Stevens: This book is a heart-wrenching story of recovering from trauma and finding the beauty and importance of friendship. A bit of a heavier read, but oh so worth it.
• Mosquitoland by David Arnold: A surprising and complex road trip story that will always have a special place in my heart. Coming-of-age meets dark humor on this wild bus trip.
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo: This fantastical book, the first of a magnificent trilogy, has some of the best world-building I’ve ever read as well as brilliant, snappy dialogue and a twisting plot that will keep you on your toes.
• Welcome to Nightvale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor: If you like weird books, this one is for you. It takes place in the town of Nightvale, the very same from the podcast if you’ve heard of it. It is spectacularly nonsensical in a way that makes perfect sense. Embrace the weird.
• Wildwood by Colin Meloy: This may be considered more of a middle-grade novel than young adult, but hey, it’s a good, fun book about a girl finding her brother who was kidnapped by a murder of crows. What’s better than that? (Plus it’s written by the lead singer of the Decemberists and the illustrations are amazing).

Stay tuned this summer for some more reading recommendations and the usual writing tips and commentary.

And I can always use more book suggestions. Comment some of your favorite summer reads below!

Click below to follow me on social media:

  

I contain multitudes

I look for certain things in poetry.  The poetry I like feels infinite, timeless, endless.  They are living, breathing poems that burn as I take them in, swallow the words in one giant gulp.  The poems  I love most are the ones that take the longest to digest, the ones where you take layer after layer off the top and there always seems to be more.  It is a different reading every time.

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” exudes these qualities, perhaps because it “contains multitudes” (or maybe just because it’s very, very long).  But nevertheless, I read it, and maybe I don’t understand all of it or know Whitman’s intent, but I can breathe it all in and feel the words in my soul.  That is what poetry is.

Poetry is when I can read words and, amongst their infinite combinations and possibilities, I can feel these letters and spaces and punctuation and blots of ink.  I can hold in my hands the words and let them transcend space and time.  They will breathe with me and move me forward.

 

Click below to follow me on social media:

  

or check out my poetry in Kentucky’s Best or America’s Best Emerging Poets:

The Magnificent Ten:

Ten books aspiring young adult authors (or any writer, really) should read.

A big part of writing is reading; not only reading your own stuff, but reading other things as well. Sitting around reading YA novels may sound like a relaxing weekend activity, but if you are paying attention at all to the plot, characters, style, or any other element of the story, re-reading your favorite YA novel can become some of the most productive work you will ever do.

Some of the books on this list fall into this category, while others have a bit more explicit writing advice, but all ten of these books have helped me with my writing somehow, whether it is inspiration, ideas for character or setting, or style influence.

So without further ado, in no particular order, ten books every YA writer should read:

1. Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott)

This book is a conglomeration of memoir and the writing advice you needed to hear.

2. Hamlet (William Shakespeare)

This well-known play is a great example of how to write a grief-stricken and angsty teen.

3. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

The classic tale of Scout and Jem in Maycomb County deals with vastly important and relevant ideas and events in a way that stays true to life, but also in such a way that a child can understand.

4. Tuck Everlasting (Natalie Babbit)

This story also deals with deep themes like love and mortality while letting the characters run the story, thus making the reader empathetic and understanding.

5. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

This book illustrates the importance of words and literature.

6. Mosquitoland (David Arnold)

I just really love this book. It is a great example of a character-driven book that also has a very engaging plot.

7. Kids of Appetite (David Arnold)

Another one of my favorite books. It shows how character relationships can develop and how these relationships can develop characters individually.

8. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

Kids of Appetite is very similar to The Outsiders in the sense of how it addresses characters and their relationships with each other.

9. A Million Junes (Emily Henry)

This is one of the best Romeo and Juliet adaptations I’ve ever read (and the only one I’ve liked at all). It is amazingly done and, hey, what young adult reader can’t go for a little Shakespeare-esque romance every once in a while?

10. A Separate Peace (John Knowles)

This book, once again, deals with deep, complicated topics (war and mortality in the case of this story) and goes through the characters’ journeys of coming to terms with the complicated world they live in.

Follow me on social media for more book recommendations 🙂

My NaNo Declaration

NanoWriMo starts in less than three days.  This is my last minute NaNo Comitment Declaration.

NaNoWriMo was my life last November and was the catalyst for my current novel-in-progress.  As NaNo comes around again this year, I keep thinking about how much it changed how I write and how I think about writing.  And I keep thinking about how much I want to do it again this year.  I quickly remind myself that my already-existing novel is well under way and so close (and yet so far away) from being finished (ish).  I cannot start a new novel.  Not now, two months away from my goal of sending a full manuscript out into the publishing world.

But then I keep thinking, there is no better way to finish my novel than how I began.

It started as a NaNoWriMo shot in the dark, so what better way to end it?  My new goal for the month of November is to edit at least 1,667 words per day.  This way, I can participate in the writing fervor of NaNo while also meeting my editing goal.  This is going to be a huge challenge for me, especially with school work being a priority, but sometimes I need that challenge to keep me going.

Here’s to NaNoWriMo and old-new beginnings.