Where the Magic Happens

I surely hope you weren’t thinking of something else when you read that title. If so, get your mind out of the gutter! Why would I be talking about that? Ha. Just kidding. I actually don’t like this title because I’ve seen it so many times for the exact post I’m writing. But I couldn’t think of anything catchy as I sat in my chair to write. So you’re stuck with it. Just deal.

So if you haven’t figured it out yet, the topic of this post will be to discuss my personal writing space. Get it now, “Where the magic happens?” Yeah. I hope so. Even though there hasn’t been much magic happening lately. I see so many writers on here talking about writing this many words and that many, and I’m just like, “Where’s the TV? I need my shows.” Oh man, that sounds so bad. But it’s so true. Agents of Shield and The Following and Ink Master and Nashville are all so great. Stop it. Don’t look at me like that. I love writing. But I love TV. Let’s call it research. I’m researching the writing of the writers for those shows. YEP!

Okay. Now let’s get serious again.

As you can see, I definitely didn’t try to clean up before snapping the photo. No point in giving you guys a fake-ish picture, right? Right. Before I go into detail as to what exactly we have here, let me first tell you what I mean by magic. This is where I write every chapter of my second book. This is where all current and future editing will be done on said book. This is where every blog post is written. This is also where pointless internet surfing takes place. Eh. I’m not perfect.

So, what do we have here? First, there’s my UHD diploma! Seriously, no matter where I write or live or whatever in the future, I’m quite certain that I’ll always have this bad boy staring me back in the face as I write. I used to have this space in another room and it was hanging up on the wall, but I haven’t gotten around to hanging it up a second time. I kinda like it where it is. Two quick fun facts before I continue: I ran to the door when I knew the postal man was delivering this. He told me congratulations. Second, on my actual graduation day almost a year ago now I didn’t cry until I we were all eating at a restaurant and I started reading all the cards I got. And it was those ugly bawling kinda tears. They were all laughing. And crying. A bunch of people laughing and crying. That sounds odd. Moving on.

Then we have a lamp there. He gives me light. Ha.

Then we have two notebooks. The one on the left actually has all my blog post ideas. I just did a quick count. There are 29 of them on there now. I’ve written 17 already.  So if you ever think I don’t take my blogging seriously, think again. The other notebook on the right is my tally from my shelfie post from a week ago. It took so long to figure out all the series and authors and standalones I had. I went from memory even though some of the books on the shelf have been there since as early as 2008. That’s a lifetime ago. I was a sophomore in high school!

You see that little black box just to the right of the laptop? That would be my college class ring. I love that thing. It’s actually the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made myself. It’s 10k gold, if you’re wondering. And it’s so shiny. And HUGE. Seriously, I hate wearing watches or rings or anything, but this thing is giant. I don’t even wear it. I don’t wear it to work because my hands get dirty while I’m there and obviously I don’t need it at the gym. So it just sits here. It’s okay.

Then we have three books on the desk. London Bridges by James Patterson, which you’ll recall was my most recent read. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. I need to read this. And then that red one would be my own. That was the copy I read when I was preparing my manuscript for the ABNA competition. I think it’s a little dusty.

Finally, we have my laptop. I keep telling myself that I’m going to buy a new one, but obviously I haven’t. I bought this when I was a junior in high school. This guy is really bulky and runs on Windows Vista, I think. I’ve never had a major issue with it and it’ll always be my baby because I wrote my first book on it! Whenever I do get a new one I’ll probably keep this one and store it forever. I’m a little sentimental.

So there you have it. My writing space. No fancy writing setups. No picturesque window to look out. Not much of anything except for what I need. So tell me about yours! If you’re describing it you better be vivid. Cause you’re supposed to be a writer, right? Or, if you want to be even more awesome than everyone else, tweet me a picture! I don’t think you can put pictures in comments on here. I don’t think. Click here to go to my Twitter profile. Hey, while you’re at it you can go ahead and follow your favorite blogger on that Twitter thing.

Deciding What to Read Next

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If you’ve read my What I’m Reading page then you likely read a little about how I decide on what to read next. I have something of a process that I’ve followed now for at least the past two years. Here’s what I take into account before picking my next read:

• The last five authors I’ve read are off-limits. For example, I just read a James Patterson novel so I won’t be reading another one of his for a little while. I never read authors or series back-to-back. I think I might enjoy the books less if I did that.

• The last five series are off-limits. This is pretty obvious from the first point. But I do have one series that is written by several authors so this would apply to that particular series and no others because the author point would apply to series written by the same author.

• The time the book has spent on the to-be-read shelf. I have to admit that I have some books that have remained on the shelf for years. It’s not necessarily a knock on the author or the book, I just always make up an excuse to pass it over. For instance, I have a Tess Gerritsen novel that I purchased at the recommendation of a friend of mine all the way back in 2012. I think. I’ve had it on the shelf since then because I honestly don’t think I’ll like it. This is why you shouldn’t take recommendations from non-book people! But sometimes I’ll say to myself, “Hey. This book has been waiting to be read for a long time. Let me just read the thing and get it over with.”

• The length of the book. Yes, I take this into consideration, unfortunately. It’d be hard not to. I currently have three books on the to-be-read shelf over 500 pages. Um. No. One of which is part of a series I’ve read before. The other two are the first in their respective series, which is one more reason not to read them!

• The author/series. This is separate from the first two points because I’ll likely not put off a series or author who I know I enjoy reading. But authors I don’t know may get less preferential treatment. Just happens.

So, all in all the most important things I take into account as I’m deciding which book to read next are the first two points. As long as I haven’t read a specific author or series within my last five books then they’re fair game. If you’re wondering, I currently have 14 books that I’d be able to read that meet the first two requirements. But of course, I’m not actually considering that many.

Tell me how you decide on which book to read next. I’m quite certain you’ll have a different philosophy from me. Let’s hear it!

Books You MUST Read

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I’m sure you’ll recall that last week I wrote about several books that I would never read under any circumstances. If not, you can read that post here. Immediately after writing that post I thought it only fair that I write the opposite post. So now you guys get a few books that you absolutely positively must read. Ready? Off we go.

1. The Diary of a Young Girl

I was lying in bed trying to come up with a short list of books to include on this list and this one was a given. It took about eight seconds for me to come up with it. Any person over the age of probably 12 who has studied any bit of world history knows something about the story of Anne Frank. I learned about it in high school and I’d already known a bit about it before. The thing is that when you’re being taught about the happenings of her family in the middle of a curriculum that is already overloaded with information you get to spend so little time on specific topics. Which is why her diary is a must read. You get EVERYTHING. From her. Fear. Hope. Depression. Happiness. Everything. You should have read this by now. I wrote a post about this book as part of my journey to read the Amazon 100 books list that you can read here.

2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

This needs little to no explanation. My reasoning for naming the first in the series is because I’d never recommend reading any series from a middle book, and especially not one as great as this. I’ve also written a post about this book for the same reason as Anne Frank that can be read here.

3. Dracula

This was another easy pick for me. I surely hope you’ve read it by now because this is definitely one of my favorite books that I somehow don’t own! But seriously, when I think vampire I think Dracula. When I think evil I think Dracula. When I think monster or man vs monster I think of this book. It makes no difference that it was published over a hundred years ago. This is one of those books that will remain for all time. At least I hope so.

4. The Hunger Games

You didn’t think I would write a post like this and leave my favorite series ever out of it, did you? No. I couldn’t do that. Honestly, I like Catching Fire just a bit more than the first in the trilogy but again, I can’t recommend that you begin a series with the middle book. That’s crazy. I stated in my post about my favorite series that Suzanne Collins had me crying within the first chapter of the first book of her series. The rest of the book was just as well written, paced, and truly fantastic as that opening chapter. If you don’t want to read this, fine, leave my slice of the blogging world. Leave now!

5. Divided Within

Did you catch what I did there? That’s MY book! Ha. No, I don’t think my book is anywhere near any of these others. BUT I would love for you guys to read it. It’s my baby. I’ll stop short of demanding that you buy it as soon as you read this post because, quite frankly, I’m not that worried about it at this point. If you’d like to read it thennnnn please go ahead. If not, I still like you. Okay, I like you a little less now. Can’t be helped.

A little note about this list. I only included books I’ve actually read. So I’m sure some of you guys will wonder how come none of the all-time greats are listed. That’s why. Because I haven’t read them. Remember, that’s the whole point of my tackling the Amazon list. One book that I almost included on this list was The Great Gatsby. But I read that book so long ago and so many since that I just don’t remember hardly any of it. And I haven’t read LOTR. Yet. So don’t yell at me that my list is flawed. It can always be updated.

What do you think of my little list here? Like? Dislike? Want to throw me out a window? Let me know!

15 Reasons to Read This Post!

Photo Credit: Leah’s Thoughts

You guys know that I rarely deviate from my books/writing/reading posts. Well, I’m about to. But I promise it’ll be fun. And interesting. So, unless you’re really new around this side of the blogging neighborhood then you likely saw my Liebster Award post from this past Saturday. If not, you can read it here. Anyway, I felt that my readers/followers enjoyed learning a bit more about the guy behind the blog as I listed out 15 random facts about myself. Some having to do with writing and some not. Well since I like you guys so much I figured why not just go ahead and tell y’all even more about myself? Here come 15 more random facts about me. Hope you like.

1. I may have fallen in love yesterday. She took me by surprise and now I don’t know what’s going on! It’s scary. Love is scary.

2. I have a really obnoxious laugh. Like whenever it gets out in public someone always looks at me like…what the heck are you doing? But it’s me. 🙂

3. I want to be able to travel the world someday. The Sistine Chapel. Pyramids of Giza. Stonehenge. Anywhere in Rome. Statue of Liberty. And so many more places. Someone with a lot of frequent flyer miles should loan me a few. Or all of them.

4. I cried when I got the author proof of my first book last year.

5. I come from a rather large Mexican family. Four brothers and three sisters. John. Brandon. Marc. Michael. Christina. Adrianna. Brandi. I’ve also been led to believe that there are others out there, though I’ve never met any more. Eh. We’re Mexican after all.

6. I share the exact same name as one of my brothers and my dad. It’s funny because we all go by something different. Our full name is John Raymond Guillen. My dad is Ray. My brother is John. And I’m JohnRaymond. But only family calls me that, so you guys can’t. Unless you’re the person who I may have fallen in love with yesterday. Then you can call me anything you like.

7. I have a weird double standard that I didn’t realize existed until fairly recently. When I’m around any guy friends I speak pretty vulgarly. Is that a word? But when I’m around a girl friend I won’t even say damn. And I would NEVER EVER EVER cuss at a girl. Nope. I’d hit a guy who did that in front of me.

8. I hate wearing jeans. With a passion. I have to wear them for my job but I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I wore them somewhere else. It’s cause I can’t find any that fit right. My brother and I seem to share the same problem. They’re just too tight. Probably why I never wear pants once I’m home. Or a shirt.

9. I had an iPhone 4 for more than two years and never had a single problem with it. I’ve since switched to a Samsung Galaxy S4 and the screen went out after about six months and I got a free replacement. And the replacement phone doesn’t lock when I’m not using it. But I’m not going back to Apple! I refuse.

10. I routinely cry while reading books. I’ve cried while reading my own and I always knew what was going to happen. Call me a baby.

11. I don’t talk to a single person from my high school graduating class from 2010. It’s sad. I met some great people in high school. Their loss.

12. I don’t dance. At all. My sister got married about a month ago and I didn’t dance. I wish I could. But I can’t. I have no rhythm. Or anything. I’ve vowed to make a fool of myself at my wedding and never again. You can’t change it!

13. Normal people my age (22) do what on the weekends? Party. Go out. Something other than sitting at home doing nothing. Well I sit at home and do nothing every weekend. Cause I sleep. And read. And occasionally I’ll actually get some writing done. Call me boring. I’ll call you an alcoholic. 🙂

14. I hate when people criticize me for not using my degree a year after graduating. Seriously, get out of my life. I’ll punch you.

15. I went to the gym on Halloween last year in a hot dog costume. Yes, pictures were taken. Yes, I’m more awesome than you.

Yay! So now you know even MORE about me! Are you ready to give me your flyer miles? Say yes. I’ll love you forever.

I usually end every post with a question of some kind. So, tell me what you thought of my randomness. Or tell me something random about yourself. Or hit Like and leave my blog. Whichever you prefer!

Listen While you…Write?

Photo Credit: Fuel Your Writing

I remember thinking of writing this post sometime ago. But then it got lost in the shuffle of other blog posts that I thought were more relevant. But now I’ve gone ahead and changed my mind. I’ve even given it the coveted Monday spot! Supposedly Mondays are the most active days on blogging sites, though my top five days in terms of views have all come on days that are not Monday. Eh. Doesn’t matter.

Anyway, you’re likely still scratching your head trying to figure out what exactly I intend to discuss in this post. The title doesn’t really tell you all you need to know. Fear not, the topic to be discussed is what you listen to as you write. I was reminded of this question when it was asked of me by another blogger who nominated me for a Liebster Award. My initial response and longest post ever can be found here.

Okay. Time for the good stuff. My answer is actually a two-part answer. First, I don’t listen to anything while I’m working on my second novel. The sounds of my house are annoying enough that I have no intention of adding to the mix with sounds of ANYTHING. Second, I always listen to music as I write my blog posts. I typically write them the night before they’re set to go online. For instance, this is Monday’s post being written at 12:45 Sunday night. What music you ask? Well if you’ve glanced at my About Me page then you know that I LOVE country music. Seriously. I don’t care that people say all they sing about are back roads, blue jeans, beer, and trucks. It’s about a thousand times better than pop music. Probably more, actually. I’m always downloading new songs. I listen to my most recent country downloads as I work on my blog posts. It’s currently 11 songs. Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, and Brett Eldredge are all represented in this batch. I honestly don’t know why there’s a difference between writing a blog post and writing a new chapter. But there is.

So there you have it, I’m either listening to the click-clacking of my fingers on the keys of my laptop while writing a new chapter or I’m jamming to some country music while writing a blog post. I want to know what YOU listen to as you write. Let’s compare, shall we?

Also, I’m going to start keeping you guys apprised of my progress to read 50 books in a single calendar year. I just finished my fifth book of the year. London Bridges (Alex Cross #10) by James Patterson.

Nominated for an Award, no Two!

Photo Credit: Out and About

I typically only post on one Saturday a month, but this is a celebration! So, sorry for two straight six post weeks. Don’t get bored of me, please. 🙂

I’ve read about SO many bloggers being nominated for this award and that award and every time I just want to punch them in the face. Cause I think I’m a pretty good blogger who writes interesting and relevant posts and I never get nominated for anything. Until now! Actually, I have to admit that I was first nominated about a month ago but my blogging schedule is planned quite a bit ahead and certain posts are scheduled for certain days so I’ve been trying to fit it in and never had a good day for it. So let’s just get on with the fun-ness, shall we?

I’d first like to thank Writer X for first nominating for me the Versatile Blogger Award. You are too kind. Second I would like to thank Erynn for nominating me for the Liebster Award. Geez, you guys. I love you both. Haha I’m only kidding. Okay, I’m not. Moving on!

Before I begin, I’m going to merge the two awards. So instead of 11 facts you’ll get 15 and I’ll nominate 11 bloggers. Time for secrets!

15 Facts about me

1. I was the youngest in my university’s graduating class last May. Something like 1,000 students. I was 21.

2. I have a crush on this girl I work with and I haven’t told a single soul. Until now. Wait, am I too old to crush on someone? Eh. Y’all are officially in the know! Shhhhh.

3. I cried during Transformers 2. Hush your mouth and don’t judge me!

4. I’ve never had a sip of alcohol in my life. I’ll be 23 at the end of the year.

5. I lost all the numbers in my phone last November and never made any attempt at getting them back. Now I have 26. I laugh every time I see it.

6. I honestly believe that baseball is man’s greatest invention.

7. I graduated from high school weighing about 110 pounds four years ago. I’m currently at about 180. Remember, bodybuilder over here.

8. I have many celebrity crushes. Jennifer Lawrence is number one. Emma Watson. Katherine Heigl. Rachel McAdams. Kimberley Perry. Taylor Swift. Just to name a few.

9. I look up to my little brother more than I think he knows. My degree is in criminal justice. He studies petroleum engineering. He’s also the only person who can push me in the gym. And he calls me fat.

10. I LOVE tattoos. A girl with a sleeve is like heaven.

11. I LOVE girls who wear boots. It’s weird. Like it doesn’t even matter what the boots look like. Cowgirl. Hot pink. Ugly rain. Doesn’t matter.

12. I’ve named characters in my first two books after the best people I’ve ever met. I’m talking about you Nathan, Sydney, Mercedes, and Stephany.

13. My favorite country singer is Blake Shelton. If you don’t like him then I don’t like you.

14. I’m Mexican-American. Many people think Filipino upon first meeting me. It’s the eyes.

15. I’m atheist.

Now the 11 questions I’m to answer.

1. What kind of music do you like to listen to while writing, if any at all?

No music for me. I’ve listened to ocean waves before. They’re soothing and bring a sense of calm to an otherwise stressful situation. Writing.

2. What is it about writing that keeps you going, even when you’re not sure you want to continue?

I have stories that need telling. They may be bad. They may not be read by many people, but they’ll always be mine and have my name on them.

3. Who is your favourite author?

Stop it. This is nearly impossible. I’m going to say that it’s a tie between Robert B. Parker and Michael Connelly. I could have named several others.

4. What genre do you read, but swear you’ll never write?

Easy. Sci-fi. I like it okay. I have maybe nine sci-fi books. But I’m not into world building and all of that. I’ll leave that to the real writers.

5. What do you do when you tell yourself something along the lines of ‘I’ll only procrastinate a little bit longer’?

Read. Sleep. Read one of the many blogs I follow on here. Or lie in bed. I’m boring.

6. What brings you right into a writing mood, and how do you keep it that way?

I read this quickly and wondered why the heck you wanted to know what gets me in the mood. Hahaha whoops. Nothing. I just write when I have something to write. That’s about it.

7. Favourite series, and favourite stand alone?

THE HUNGER GAMES! The Hunger Games! The Hunger Games! Remember I’m in love with Jennifer Lawrence, and I love love love the books. Standalone would be Pacific Beat by T. Jefferson Parker.

8. Have you ever seriously screwed up your sleeping schedule because of a book? Was it worth it, and what were you reading?

Well first off, my sleeping schedule is already messed up. Since I graduated from college. But of course. I never mind finishing a book at three in the morning. I like it. I’m about to finish my latest book as soon as I finish typing this up. It’s a little before one in the morning now.

9. What do you do to remember those ideas you come up with when you’re not able to write?

I’m always able. I don’t work Monday-Thursday. Which means I make my trip to the gym each day and spend the rest of the time at home. I’ve tried carrying a notebook around but always ended up leaving it somewhere and never actually writing anything down. I remember. I mostly come up with blogging ideas more than book ideas. I have a notebook on my desk with like twenty ideas for blog posts.

10. Are there any books or series that you thought were great, and then the ending just ruined everything for you?

Hmm. I’ve only finished a few series because most of my favorites are long and I’m behind. I’d have to say that Mockingjay was my least favorite book of THG. And I didn’t like what happened to Prim. At all. Thank you, Katniss for what you did later. You’re my hero.

11. Why do you write?

Because I’m a writer, silly.

My nominations

1. Melissa L. Delgado

2. Jenn not Jenny

3. NaturePreserve

4. The Road Jess Traveled By

5. Coffee. Write. Repeat.

6. Meg Writes Stuff

7. kdaugh1992

8. The Sonrisa Project

9. Browneyedgirldotcom

10. Inkcouragement

11. Seihren Songs

If you haven’t checked out any or all of these blogs, then you should. Seriously, they’re all great. I had to choose from SO MANY blogs I follow and these are the ones I came up with. So, all of you are nominated for the Liebster Award! I’m supposed to have 11 questions for you but I’m sleepy. So you can answer the same questions I did. Sorry for not being prepared!

Lastly, I’m writing this late at night and it won’t publish until the morning, so you’ll be reading this as I’m at work. So if you see your name then comment so I don’t tell you about it later! Deal? Deal.

Shelfie: Finally organizing my bookshelf

This was my first ever shelfie! Okay, actually I don’t think that’s true. I know it isn’t. But lies aren’t always bad, right? Anyway, I wanted to give you guys a look at my books and what I’ve read. This is my read paperbacks shelf. Yes, I actually have another shelf dedicated to hardcovers. But it isn’t nearly as full as this one is. It’s not even close. I don’t really buy hardcovers because I’m usually a few books behind the authors who write my favorite series so I’m rarely rushing to the store on release day for a book. Well, I’ve done it maybe once, but that was because it was an author event and I had to buy the book to get my other ones signed. Besides, $24.95 is way too much for me.

By the way, I just recently put six books on this shelf that I’d read a long time ago and never got around to putting them up and I was pretty excited to see that I finally made it to the bottom shelf!

Okay, so let me tell you a little about the books.

# of Books

119

# of Authors

34

# of Series

24

# of Series Books

89

# of Standalones

30

Most Common Author

Robert B. Parker (16 books)

Most Common Series

Harry Bosch (14 books)

So that’s it. Those are all the paperbacks I have that I’ve read. As I told you, I have another shelf that holds my hardcovers and to-be-read shelves. How does my little library of books stack up against yours? Tell me, please.

To Pen Name or not to Pen Name; That is…a Dumb Question

Photo Credit: Kat Michels

This is another of those topics that I find myself reading way too many blog posts about. There are SO many questions that most writers will ask themselves at some point. I think I’ve written about several of these questions on here. Let me see. The question of whether to self publish or attempt to publish through an agent and traditional publisher. Coming up with the perfect title for the book you’ve just finished. Naming characters in your work. Whether or not to intentionally make your protagonist autobiographical. There are many more, but my point is that these are all valid issues that need to be figured out by the author.

The question of whether or not to use a pen name is not. It’s ridiculous. Seriously, who do you think you are? You haven’t done anything yet. So maybe you’ve written a book. Maybe you’ll clean it up in preparation to start sending out queries, but so what. Do you have any idea what the odds of that book ever making its way onto a store bookshelf? Yeah, I bet you didn’t. I’m getting off topic now.

I can only name a very small number of authors who I am aware use pen names. Lee Child. JK Rowling. Nora Roberts. Lee Child came up with his pen name because it would put him between crime writers Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie on bookshelves. Good idea. JK Rowling wrote a book as Robert Galbraith as something of an experiment to see if the book would make it on its own merits and not just her name. Another good idea. And Nora Roberts has written under several names because of the simple fact that she writes too many books to release under one name. I may be mistaken, but I think she’s written more than 200 books. Geez. I also know T. Jefferson Parker added the T in front of his name just because. It doesn’t stand for anything. And yes, I realize that a number of authors write in different genres under different pen names in an effort not to confuse their core readers, but again, these are established authors WITH readers. You’re no one.

The point I’m making by listing these few authors who write under pen names is that you are putting yourself in their company by thinking you should write under a pen name. No. Just stop.

Let’s say that you’re an unknown author who manages to secure a major publishing deal. They’re going to publish YOUR book. Why in the hell would you want a name on the cover besides your own? That’s a serious question I’m asking. If you have an answer I want you to write it in the comments because I don’t have one. Think about it. You’ll likely be telling every person who will give you two minutes to tell them about your book and they’ll ask the title so they can look it up. Then they’ll ask why the name is wrong. You’ll say you wrote it under a pen name. They’ll ask why and then think you’re just stupid.

If you’ve honestly asked yourself this question then tell me why and what you decided. I promise not to yell at you.

No offense was meant by this post to anyone. Please still like me. I still like you.

Books I Will NEVER Read

Photo Credit: Book Snobbery

I’m not a fan of bashing authors, but I’m not bashing authors really, I’m bashing their books. There’s a difference!

Okay, so I know most avid readers like myself have a number of books that will not ever be read for any reason. Not even if there’s a zombie apocalypse taking place and I’m the lone survivor with just the one book thrown on the floor in front of me. They are to remain off-limits forever and a day. Let me just give you the list.

1. Fifty Shades of anything

If you’re a fan of EL James, great. I’m not and never will be. I’ve known the very basic concept of the book for a long time now, but I just read a little of the Wikipedia page that made me want to slap someone. The first book sounds absolutely horrible. I mean, if you want to read about that stuff then partake in it yourself. Or go watch a movie. Or find a website. Do something. Don’t read about it. Makes me think you’re kind of gross. Don’t get angry at me for saying that. It’s my blog.

2. Twilight

I know Stephenie Meyer has been heavily criticized for her writing skills and the way she portrays Bella. Those are pretty much the two reasons why I won’t be reading any of the books in the series. Let me be clear, though, I would read this entire series 100 times before ever reading the first book from the above mentioned series. My reasoning for not reading these books is mostly because they don’t seem like they’d be interesting reads to me. Sure the writing may not be great and Bella isn’t the most memorable literary character of all-time, but the only book I’ve ever read about vampires was Dracula. Yes, I loved it.

3. Divergent

I think some of you may be thinking how I’m putting this series of books in with the other two. What I’ve read and heard about this series of books has mostly been that the first two books were pretty good and the last one was disappointing. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’ve read. Those have nothing to do with my decision not to read this series. There’s only one reason why I won’t read these books. It’s going to sound crazy, but oh well. I won’t read them because of all the comparisons they get to The Hunger Games. THG is my adult obsession. I LOVE those books. LOVE them. You’ll recall that I named the trilogy my favorite series ever in a previous post. Well, it’s because of the very slim off chance that I like Divergent more than THG that I won’t read them. I’m in love with Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss and Effie and Prim. I don’t want that to be overshadowed by Veronica Roth.

4. Anything written by a celebrity

I fully realize that most celebrities who ‘write’ books don’t actually write them. They have the help of a journalist or author or someone who actually writes the book for them. It’s not that I think the books are poorly written, it’s that the books are generally bad. For instance, I don’t have any interest reading about the whole rags to riches stories that so many athletes claim. It’s great that you went from food stamps when you were little to millions of dollars a year in salary, truly, BUT you won’t find me reading about it. I’m not including former presidents in this group. I think their books would be rather interesting to read. I look forward to reading George W. Bush’s book at some point. Not necessarily because I’m a supporter of his, but because his presidency was the first of my life that I actually understood a little about what was going on.

5. Anything with seductive people on the cover

I mean, come on. What’s the point? I work in a store that carries a very selective section of books. You’ll pretty much only find the major bestselling authors there. The ones I can name off the top of my head who I can recall seeing this past weekend are James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King. BUT half of the books that I don’t recognize the author names have half-naked people on the front. It’s annoying. Won’t ever be reading those books. Not a one.

This would be my reaction to reading any book on the list.

Photo Credit: BuzzFeed

Okay, so I know my list wasn’t exactly a list of particular books so much as it was a list of types of books I won’t read. But that’s it. Do you have any books that you’ll never find yourself reading? Tell me why.

In other news, I just passed 500 WordPress followers less than a month after reaching 200! You guys seriously make me happy.

A Bucket List, for Books!

Photo Credit: My Written Romance

I would first like to tell you guys that I kinda sorta almost stole this idea from another blogger. She has an Adventure List on her blog. It’s not only about books, but when I read through her list I knew that I wanted to make one of my own that had all book things. You can find the inspiration for my list on Green Tea and Peanut Butter Cups.

Okay, now you’re probably wondering what kind of list I could come up with with things only related to books. Well let me tell you, a long one. I’ve been brainstorming the last few days and I’ve come up with a list quite a bit longer than I thought I’d have. Let me tell you a little about the things you’ll find on there. I’ll talk about different literary series I want to complete. Things I want to accomplish as an author. Authors I want to meet. Things like that. The list will likely change from one day to the next as I add and accomplish certain things.

I’ll tell you one thing from the list before you go clicking on the tab.

Visit the Library of Congress in Washington DC.

I hope you enjoy it!

Click the tab at the top of the screen or here to see it.