The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘Writing’

I tried to review movies here on The KariAnnAlysis, but was watching way more movies than I could review. Recently I recorded Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story.  JK Rowling is one of those authors that I would love to get inside of her head and see what goes on and where her stories come from. This movie gave me a little insight and answered a few questions I had about the amazing author.

The movie follows Joanne from the time she is a little girl until her movie for Harry Potter premieres. It shows her ups, her downs and everything in between and how Harry Potter was born.

If you don’t know all of this and want to be surprised when you watch the movie, quit reading now! I am going ot talk about a few parts and don’t want to be the spoil sport for you!

If you are an inspiring author, you need to watch this movie. That’s it. Plain and simple. Joanne knew from day one that she wanted to be an author. She tried to go to college for writing, but didn’t get in and ended up with odd jobs throughout her life. She got the idea of Harry Potter when she fell asleep on the train one day. And just like that, BAM!, magic was born! Joanne was married, had a baby and then her life changed. She up and left her husband and one day got the nerve to show her sister her writing and finally got serious about it. Oh and did I mention that while she wrote Harry Potter, Rowling was on welfare? She went from being so poor that she needed help raising her baby, to being worth $1B. How about that?

I always like to see how other writers do their work. Joanne had a box full of notes, pages, chapters just strewn about. I couldn’t do that. I am very OCD and a perfectionist. I always think that I can take notes here and there and write down ideas on napkins and random sheets of paper, but I just can’t. I read twitter feeds of authors who do this and kind of admire them for not being so uptight. I do all of my writing on my laptop. I always save it to my desktop and to my little flash drive. I have a little red notebook that I keep track of everything in. It had all of my notes for my books, ideas and the days that I write and how many words I get in. But it is very organized and if it gets out of order, I have to get a new notebook and transfer. I need help, anyone agree? Maybe one day I will have that idea that just comes to me and the different parts come, like they did with Joanne and Harry, and I won’t be able to help it. Fingers crossed!

One of the things that I loved about this movie was that I learned that Joanne didn’t just write Harry Potter overnight and it become  a success. It took her a few years to get it all down and get that box of hers organized. It’s been over a year since I’ve started writing. I have completed a YA novel and am in the Kari-edit stage of the second one in the series. I have also started a love story, but am not sure where it’s going to go. I loved it when I started it, but am now losing steam. I feel like I have a few ideas that are swimming around in my head and here pretty soon, one of them is going to take me by storm. I hope it happens sooner rather than later. I need a great idea for NaNoWriMo.

One of the things I disliked about this story was, and I don’t know if it’s really the case, Joanne only sent Harry Potter to two agents before it was picked up. Granted Harry Potter is a work of genius, and spectacular compared to my little YA murder-mystery, but still, TWO agents? C’mon! It looked so easy. I have sent requests out to nearly two dozen agents and ZILCH! I understand Joanne’s book came at a time where children’s books were still a budding genre and now everyone has a YA book, but STILL!

And although I felt a tad inadequate about my writing compared to miss JK Rowling, like I’m sure most authors do, this movie inspired me. She wasn’t some little rich girl who had an “in” and took advantage of it. She started with an empty box and filled it with her ideas that formed to be Harry Potter. She worked her way from rock bottom to the top of the literary world.

Have you seen this movie? If so, did you find it as inspirational as I did??

I love my blog, I really do. It’s like my little own piece of venting paradise. I can write whatever I want, whenever I want. So what is my problem? I am not being a good blogger.

My blog was born on MySpace, then grew on to Blogger, then to Wordpress, then I got my own little domain. I started the blog because I fell in love with Jane Eyre. I wanted to scream it to the world and let everyone know how I felt, not that they would care. My blog became a book blog naturally, because I love and know books and love to talk about them. And what a better place to do it than on the Internet? I can talk/write and if you don’t want to hear it or read it, you can click away and not hurt my feelings by rolling your eyes at me or blatantly ignoring my chatting.

I have been blogging for, geesh, three years now I think. I have had a lot of phases and trends, which is a constant in my life. I have been on meme kicks including Wordless Wednesday, Teaser Tuesday, In My Mailbox aka On My Bookshelf, etc. etc. etc. And I have been all over the place with posting book reviews from on time and often, to few and far between. There are times, like now, when I have a list of posts I need to work on, but they are just sitting there, gathering dust and losing steam.

I don’t want to say I am in slump, because I have the content, I just need to get it out there. So it’s a slump of sorts, I guess.

So what am I babbling on about today? I need to be a better blogger. If I want people to stop by and read, I need to give them a reason to do so. I need to be a stickler about getting my content on here and I need to be diligent about posting topics people will want to read about.

Yes, I have been busy lately, with work and life in general, but I need to quit making excuses.

I am asking for a little help from you, my readers, while I am working on getting back on top of my blogging game. I am asking you to be patient with me. I need to not only fine tune what I know and what I am good at, I also need to find out what I want my blog to say about me. A lot has changed in my life since I have started blogging. I am moving up the ladder at work, gaining more responsibilities daily, I am married, and even though I know I am in no way old, I am not getting any youner. I need to decide where I want my blog to go from here. I want to keep it based on books, but I want it to be more.

I have a few ideas up my sleeve on how to make this happen, but please stick with me as I am figuring it out.

I also want some advice. How do you keep up with your blogging game? As you grow as a person and blogger, how do you move forward and make changes to fit your personality and your life without making a complete overhaul? Do you have a blogging schedule? Do you do posts daily? Or take a day and knock out a whole week’s worth?

I am going to be positive here and hope on lots of responses and give you all a pre-Thank You for your help!

Since I have started this blog, I’ve become so much more than a reader. My passion for books has grown immensely but so has my passion for writing. And through both of my passions, I have met tons of new friends. One of those friends, Dana Kaye at Kaye Publicity has been sending me great books for a couple of years now.

And now, she has also introduced me to a whole new world and a bunch of new friends. It’s called Book Country. At first when Dana told me about this site, I was swamped with work, just getting back from vacation and not really sure if I wanted to join another online community. But once I finally got to sit down, sign up and check it out, I’m hooked!

Like with any other online family, you sign up and tell everyone a little about yourself. Since this is a bookish website, you get to share your favorite authors, books and what kind of reading and writing you like. Right up my alley!

So, I’m sure you’re asking “What is so great about this site? What makes it different?” I have heard of a few online resources to help with writing and actually signed up for one to help me with my query, but this one is completely different from any I have seen.

Some of the things you can do on this site is “Read and Review”. Under this tab, you can search genres and find books that authors have uploaded to read and review.

You can “Write”, which is why we are all here in the first place right? You can upload your book, or what you have done of it and people can read and help you with it. That’s the thing I am looking forward to the most. I have been done with my book for a few months now, but still have not let anyone lay eyes on it. It makes me nervous. I am afraid of what people I know will say about it. For some reason, I don’t care what strangers say, only the people I know. So, I’m getting involved with a whole new community of strangers to help me out.

You can also start discussions and get to know writers who like the same genres that you do.

I am an Internet junkie. I stalk on Facebook all the time and have to get in my daily spins on Bejeweled, I am a Twitaholic, with more than 13,000 tweets under my belt, I have a handful of fashion websites I check on a daily basis, not to mention scouring the real estate websites, waiting for the perfect house to come along. And I’m always up for a good Google search to prove a point. I honestly didn’t feel like I had any more time to give to another site, but even after a few minutes of looking Book Country over, I’m really excited to get uploaded and get going.

I’ve learned, in the short time since I’ve started writing, much like with a child, it takes a village. My husband is my rock and very supportive of my writing. He keeps telling me to keep trying and keep sending out my letters and keep writing. But this business can be cold and lonely and the more buddies you make, the warmer you will be. I have great su[ort from my writing group and am looking for much more on this website!

So, there’s my pitch, now here’s a few words from my pal Dana about the site:

Writing is a solitary practice, but revision requires feedback. Most aspiring authors send their
manuscript to friends and family, others meet with a critique group, and some enroll in an MFA
program.

In April, Penguin Group (USA) launched Book Country, a website dedicated to genre fiction
readers and writers. Focused on romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery and thriller, Book
Country helps new authors hone their craft as part of a genre fiction community.

Users upload their novels (or a portion of their novels) for peer review. Book Country’s unique
genre map helps writers categorize their novels, and lets readers find books similar to ones they
love, which they then read and provide detailed critiques. Book Country brings the peer feedback
and community feel of a critique group, online.

Another key feature is discoverability. If you’re working on a novel, publishing professionals
won’t see it until you begin sending out query letters. Book Country gives agents and editors a
place to discover new talent; for this reason, many publishing professionals have already signed
up. Book Country also allows avid readers and bloggers to discover budding talent and use their
reading experience to offer helpful feedback.

As the world continues to shift online, Book Country creates a community that was once only
available in metropolitan areas. Now, genre fiction authors all over the world can come together
online to exchange feedback, engage in discussions, and have their work discovered.

Join us at www.BookCountry.com and follow us on Twitter @Book_Country

Alright friends, I hope this has been enough to persuade you to check out this awesome site and tool for writers and readers alike.

Now I want to hear from you. Have you heard of this site? Are you a member? If you’re joining after reading this, please let me know what you find that you love because we are both learning the ropes together!

Ugggghhhhh ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since I have started book blogging, I am in a slump. I cannot find a good book to read and therefore, I don’t have much to blog about.

In the past week, I have started and stopped three, yes 3 books. I haven’t put three books in the graveyard in my entire life, let alone in a week!

I normally feel a responsibility to myself not to quit things and to the author to review their book, but something’s not clicking right now. One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to read books that I want to read, but I still feel bad.

So here’s to hoping that my fourth book this week will be a winner, one that I can get into and get finished. If not, well then I may take another week off.

The only thing I have finished in the past week was the LIFE magazine of the upcoming Royal Wedding. Everything else is getting tossed to the nightstand.

Do you get into these slumps? What gets you out of them? A favorite author? Luckily I have a few of those with books on my TBR shelf.

Unfortunately, my NetGalley friends are not going to be happy that all the books I have tossed lately are from their selection. Although there is a a lot going on right now in my life, I think that because I don’t physically have the book, that’s something that is making it much easier to put away.

I know I am rambling, but this is all getting written down before I try to start another book, hopefully one that I can finally finish… befo

What would the world find if they opened up your email? Chats with your mom? Cute little notes from your husband? Links of awesome shoes from your BFF? Drafts of emails you want to send to someone but don’t have the nerve?

Well, Holly Denham starts working at a receptionist at a bank and now her emails are out in the public. You learn about her past, her present, her friends, her family and a few secrets she hopes to keep from everyone else. You can learn so much from emails!

Seriously, this entire book is written in emails, from the sender to the subject to the email itself. And that my friends is how the story is told. Amazingly, it works like a charm. It’s fun and a new way of writing. Just writing all of this out on paper probably wouldn’t have gone over very well, but in the form of an email, it’s fantastic!

I first heard about this through my pal WriteMeg! and started reading the book online. At hollysinbox.com you can read the first three months of Holly’s life. And it’s set up like a real inbox and you have to click through the emails to read them. Very creative, very cool. I read this a couple of years ago and just picked up the book after Christmas.

Now I will warn you that this book is really long. Like 600+ pages long. But since the book is in short emails, it doesn’t take as long as most 600+ page books and is a quick read, or as quick as 600 pages can be.

I give Holly’s Inbox 5 bookmarks and have the second one on my shelf waiting to be read. I just need a few shorter books between them!

ISBN: 978-1402219030
Released: June 2, 2009
Author Website
Kari got this book from Borders with one of her million gift cards