Catfairy Journal

Camp NaNoWriMo (Almost a Success…)

August 2, 2018

I have been a little bit incognito from my blog lately because I was working on my novel for Camp NaNoWriMo and I finally completed it for the month of July! For those of you that don’t know about Camp NaNoWriMo it’s basically a virtual writing competition that goes on in the months of April and July. You join other writers in the competition as well and you join with other writers. What is extra cute about it is that you get to join a little virtual writing cabin and you just post/track your goal and discuss your writing with one another! This competition really keeps me focused, accountable, excited about writing, and I just love the community aspect of it!

If you read my last post, my goal was to achieve 10,000 words by July 31st! And I am happy to confirm that I almost achieved 10,000 words!

Ok, so I officially reached 10,000 words by 12:30 midnight on August 1st but by 11:59 I reached 9,677 words! 323 freaking words away!!! I was literally typing like a mad woman!

(Insert typing cat gif here)

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Right around 11:20, I began to get a bit of writer’s block and originally promised myself that I would write the novel in sequential order but that didn’t happen when I was 40 minutes away from reaching my goal! And my hands were about to fall off around that time so I had to motivate myself somehow! So I decided to just write in scenes that I really wanted to write and was excited to get into. I am writing a magical realism/romance YA novel with a few kissy scenes that I wanted to write in so I delved into those lovie kissy scenes with wild abandon and just went for it!

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Now, of course, I am nowhere near done with the novel! A typical novel is about 50,000 words and I am not sure what my goal word count will be but I am definitely shooting for 50,000 words for now! Just like any first draft of a novel, there is a lot of editing for me to do! Most of this novel is just cringy and I have so much work to do on it but I am so glad I achieved this goal and intend to go back to where I left off in my outlines. My goal is to work on this novel every day even if it is for ten minutes! That’s my advice to you guys! Nothing is perfect and timing definitely isn’t perfect! I always envision the perfect writing scenario where I am your typical pretentious writer stereotype somewhere in Starbucks but that is just not the way adulting works, unfortunately! If you can spare ten minutes to work on your novel instead of scrolling through Instagram stories then your making progress! My goal is to complete the full first draft of the novel by the end of the year. I know that the NaNoWriMo challenge is going to help me achieve this challenge but ideally it would be amazing if I can actually get to the second draft of the novel before the end of the year! I am going to push myself as far as I can go with it but I refuse to beat myself up if I don’t get to that second draft! Life/adulting responsibilities will always get in the way and anything good takes time! I want to personally thank you guys for motivating me to push towards this goal and I will continue to update my novel progress!

Did you participate in Camp NaNoWriMo?! How did you do? Did you reach your goal? Let me know in the comments below!

Writing Wednesday (The dreaded outline…)

July 25, 2018

Writing Wednesday is created by my blogging buddy and old college friend Erica @ By Her Shelf!

My last post was about the writing challenge Camp NaNoWriMo and since I joined the challenge extremely late, I have a whole load of writing ahead of me! Last weekend I went on a short excursion on a couples trip and now my word challenge is going to be more challenging than ever before! Currently, I have about 3431 words and I still need about 6561 words left if I am going to meet my 10,000-word goal…

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Currently what is holding me back from meeting my daily writing challenge is outlining. Back in my early 20’s, I was more of a pantser than a planner when it comes to writing. Since I am now adultish I have changed to outlining because I am someone that could frequently overlook the details in my writing. Outlining is a surefire method to get my facts straight and properly plan what is coming up next in my story.

I was introduced to the prospect of outlining in a fiction workshop that I took a few summers ago and I found out that there were so many different types of outlining. At the time, I found the prospect of outlining extremely overwhelming because of all the options available to me. The options that were introduced to me were INSANE! There was the snowflake method, index card method, and there are technological outline tools like Scrivener which you have to pay for. (This poor teacher needs to save her pennies for the summer!) In the beginning, I began to outline in a very simple manner by just writing in the setting, characters, and problem/solution.

When I read the writing memoir The Thorn Necklace by my favorite author in the entire universe Francesca Lia Block, outlining became a less daunting task. I wrote a review of The Thorn Necklace here. FLB is my ultimate hero when it comes to writing and her level of writing success is what I want to achieve for my life. I may be just a bit biased about my love of FLB and how highly I place her opinions about the writing process but I feel that her outlining encompasses everything that you want to include in a novel. The book is based on 12 questions to help you figure out your goals and it adds depth/dimension to the story. The questions focus on character, setting, style, protagonists, antagonists, and the theme. There are so many writing exercises to chose from and amazing examples from classic novels! This writing memoir has been an outlining savior for me!

Since I am not planning any future vacations for the month of July, I know that if I focus and pull a few all-nighters that I could meet and conquer this goal!

Now I want to know what is your writing process?! Are you a pantser or a planner?! Let me know in the comments below! (If you’re a pantser I am very jelly of you!)

Camp NaNoWriMo (13 days left)

July 18, 2018

Sooo…I decided to join Camp NaNoWriMo! Just now!

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And there are only 13 days left! Eeek! The month of July has been insane since I recently took a summer job and I have been going on mini vacations! But I don’t feel so guilty because my goal is 10,000 words and currently I have 3,069 words! Since I have only 13 days left, I have about 6,931 words left and if you divide that by 13 days that only comes out to about 533 words a day which is totally manageable!

My novel doesn’t have an official title yet but currently, I am calling it Project Fairy Wings! I have been working on Project Fairy Wings for the last six years on again and off again. The genre is YA and it’s a magical realism novel that is set in Miami! My goal is to finish the novel by the end of the year! This is a very personal book for me to write and I know that as long as I commit to writing a little bit every day I will finally get the first draft of this novel written!

I am going to use this blog as my accountability system to finish this novel by the end of the year and I even downloaded a countdown app! Currently, I have about 166 days left to finish the first draft of my novel! Keep me, accountable people!

This is my first time joining Camp NaNoWriMo! Last year I did the regular NaNoWriMo and that was overwhelming, to say the least! Currently, I am cabinless and if anyone would like to join my writing cabin you can find me at Catfairy! Let me know in the comments if you are currently doing Camp NaNoWriMo and if you have ever joined any writing challenges before!

Life Update (Books and Friends)

July 2, 2018

Catfairy’s Weekly Update

My last week was pretty eventful but it was a bit busy overall with errands! Earlier in the week, I hung out with my friend Aurora and she took me to a used bookstore and I stocked up on some old school books! The used bookstore is called Volume One Books and it’s a cute place that is hidden in this random shopping center and once you step into the bookstore it’s like a maze!

And the books are CHEAP! I only spent like $11 on all four of these books!

I couldn’t resist the R.L. Stine books and I am most excited about the book How to Deal because it’s my favorite Sarah Dessen book! I read the Sarah Dessen book in my late teens and I probably read it more than once! Then when I moved to college, it just got lost somewhere in my childhood home and I am so glad to have this book back in my life!

Later on, in the week my best friend from Orlando came into town and we hung out a bit! Also, I watched (Pretended to watch but really I was reading.) a lot of “futbol” with my husband who is huuuge into soccer!

The end of my week ended perfectly because I went to a Books and Books event where I got to listen to a book talk by Sabaa Tahir! Now, whenever I hear an author is coming to my local bookstore and I haven’t read their books it always throws off my TBR! I race to finish their books by audiobooking it and it’s just insane! I actually decided to stick to my original TBR this summer and I am trying to stay strong! Pray for me guys!

Regardless, I had an amazing time listening to Sabaa Tahir discuss the third installment of her Ember in the Ashes series! This woman was an absolute trip! I adored her! She was funny, nerdy, sweet, and so humble! She was doing a trivia where she was asking the audience questions about her own favorite authors and gave away prizes related to arcs and book swag! (She had the arc copy of Marie Lu’s Wildcard!)

This woman is awesomeness and yes I am super tempted to read her books like now but I am trying to pull through and stick to my TBR! Oh and hopefully I will win the Beat the Backlist Challenge which basically consists of reading the books that you had on your TBR last year!

After the Books and Books event, we hung out for a few drinks and we had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen! It was the perfect end to my Saturday!

Books I Have Read

The last two weeks I have only read two books in total! I need to pick it up since this summer I am off but it has been a busy two weeks! Of course, I finished reading Save the Date! This book warmed my soul! I know you guys are sick of hearing this but I freaking love Morgan Matson! And don’t forget I have a giveaway for a signed copy of Save the Date! Details are here.

And I listened to Girl, Wash Your Face on Audible again! I love listening to self-help books more than once! It’s always good to reread books in general but especially with self-help books, I pick up things the second time that I didn’t before. There is one part in the book where she says that you can’t do it all. She says to focus on one goal and don’t be hard on yourself for achieving it all. This message resonated with me because I pressure myself with so many goals and it’s hard to juggle them all. I didn’t pick up this message the first time and I am so glad that I listened to it a second time around!

This book is so uplifting and motivating! I love how real, honest, and how relatable of a person she is! She is struggling just as much as we are and I love that she is frank about her struggles!

Books I Reviewed…

Children of Blood and Bone was one of the hardest books for me to review but I am happy with the final product! Check out my review here.

Books I Will Review Next…

Oh dear too many! I have so many books to review it’s not even funny! But my priority is to review Save the Date and Turtles All the Way Down (Which is way overdue!)!

I am looking forward to…

I can’t wait to visit my parents in Virginia! I am going on a mini-trip to visit my parents and I look forward to hanging out with them at their fabulous pool and hanging around the quaint town of Fredericksburg, VA! Oh and I am doing a buddy read with my mom! We are going to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and you have no idea how excited I am to read this book! I have only heard amazing things!

Tell me down in the comments below how was your week! Any fun bookish adventures?! What books are you reading?! What books will you read?!

Meeting Morgan Matson (#squeal)

June 20, 2018

Finally…

I am so happy to finally state that I have met Morgan Matson!

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Morgan Matson is one of my favorite YA contemporary authors and I have been wanting to meet her ever since I first read her books SYBG and Unexpected Everything which are one of my top reads!

I love Morgan Matson because her books make me go through the gamut of emotions from happiness, giddiness, nostalgia, and absolute sadness! When I read her books it’s like transporting myself back to high school. Her gift is her character development and she is so amazing at showing the growth the MC goes through! There are times that an author shows the character arc too quickly but Morgan Matson takes her time to develop her characters. She is the kind of author that writes the pivotal romantic scene until almost the end of the book but somehow it works into the story and it doesn’t feel like the story is dragging at all!

Save the Date

Now Morgan Matson just published her most recent book Save the Date and the story is set over a 3 day period! Morgan Matson describes it as a Father of the Bride meets Sixteen Candles which is pretty accurate! The real plus factor for me was Father of the Bride because that is my favorite wedding movie of all time!

I am currently reading Save the Date and I am amazed at how the MC Charlie Grant is slowly developing and I am very impressed that she develops this character over a 3 day period!

Miami to Decatur

So my husband, mother-in-law, and I basically drove nine hours from Miami to Decatur, GA to meet Morgan Matson! Actually correct that…they didn’t give two hoots about meeting her…my hubby was a trooper and he did this for me knowing my absolute adoration for this author!

Airbnb in Decatur

At around 7 at night, we arrived in Decatur and we settled in our lovely Airbnb! The deck was what won me over and made for some great Instagram inspired Morgan Matson pictures!

My hubby and I took a walk around the charming town of Decatur and we stopped at the lovely Children’s Bookstore Little Shop of Stories!

Not to brag, but Morgan Matson actually used this picture for her Instagram! Eeeek!

I bought my copy of Save the Date even though I already bought the Target version, Barnes and Noble version, and pre-ordered the Amazon version 6 months ago! The signing required you to purchase a copy of Save the Date at the Little Shop of Stories bookstore! But it works out because I will be doing an upcoming giveaway for a signed Save the Date!

Morgan Matson Signing is heeeerrre!

So the signing started at around 7 pm in the Decatur Library…

I met up with my friend Madalyn who I met from BookNet Fest who writes for Novel Ink! Check out her book blog it’s awesome! We had some lunch beforehand at a cute place in Decatur called Brick Store Pub and munched on some yummy pretzels and had some refreshing beer!

Everything in Decatur is walking distance so we walked over to the Decatur library and walked into a very official looking conference room in the library.

Right outside the conference room, Morgan provided us with yummy donuts from Revolution Doughnuts that unfortunately, I could barely finish due to the fact that I already stuffed myself with pretzels and beer with Madalyn!

Once we got ourselves settled in the front row, of course, my beloved Morgan Matson came in a few minutes later!

Yay!

She pitched the book and read a piece of her book at one of the many climatic parts of the book that sets off the whole story! Finally, she answered a few questions from other people and talked about the many challenges she had with writing a book over a 3 day period! Normally she is used to writing books that are set in the summer and it was a particular challenge for her to write over such a short period! But I must say that I am extremely amazed by the story development and I am almost more than halfway through the story.

After the book discussion, she immediately began to talk to us and loved my SYBG tote and even took a picture and used it in her Instagram story! (#squeal)

We stood in line for the actual signing and took a selfie in the process!

Finally when it was my turn to get my books signed! Luckily I won a notebook for traveling the farthest!

Isn’t it the cutest?! I am currently using this notebook for my book notes while I am reading Save the Date!

I don’t know what happened but as soon as I started to get my book signed by Morgan Matson it was like I turned into a mute! EEEK! The only thing I attempted to say to her is to please come to Miami to do a book signing! I wish that I told her what I loved about each book as she was signing it but oh well next time she comes to Miami (hopefully) I can tell her all these things!

Even though I was a bit quiet during the book signing she was so engaging and was so grateful that I came such a long way to meet her.

Meeting Morgan Matson was like meeting up with your old best friend from high school! She was so lovely, sweet, and can I just mention that I love her fashion sense! The jean jacket and dress combo were so on point! My friend Madalyn described her too perfectly by saying that Morgan Matson is the epitome of “summer!” Summer is just the perfect way to describe Morgan Matson when you meet her! She has no pretentious airs about being one of the most famous contemporary YA authors and is so freaking down to earth! I can’t say enough good things about her and I only wish she was my BFF!

Visiting Decatur, GA was a perfect getaway and I want to definitely come back for the Decatur Book Festival! I heard it’s one of the biggest book festivals in the country! At the end of my Decatur trip, I spent a few minutes alone reading Save the Date by the adorable deck and that was the perfect end to my trip to Decatur!