Hi. This is my first entry, and I’m not even sure how to tell people about it, so maybe I’ll be the only one to read it, but you’ve got to begin somewhere, right.
Start anywhere and don’t stop. – Richard Marcus
Anyway, this live journal is going to be primarily about what I’m reading. I am a writer, it’s true, and sometimes I will pontificate on how what I’m reading affects me as a writer, but for the most part, I just want to post about some of the wonderful stuff I come across.
Generally this journal will be about Young Adult fiction. Occasionally I read a Middle Grade novel, and once in a while an adult novel or some nonfiction, but mostly I read YA. About eighteen months ago, in an effort to improve my writing (which it did tremendously, but I’ll talk about that later), I began to read seriously. I have read upwards of 250 books, of which about ninety percent of them were YA.
I believe in speaking well of others, so this will not be a bunch of book reviews where I take books apart or rip into others’ works. Instead, I will talk about books I like, love, or change my way of thinking. Books that introduce me to new thought processes, language, setting, anything that catches my attention. If I don’t like a book, I won’t write about it because truly, who am I to judge? It is more than a do-gooder life, worries about professional repercussions or the need to be liked, but about the desire to spread joy rather than tear down someone or their work.
If a book really bugs me for a particular reason, I might talk about it in general terms. For example, I just read a book that ended fine, but I found myself rewriting the ending over and over because it seemed as if the author was so intent on being “true” that they missed “writing a satisfying ending”. I’m not talking about a happy ending, just a satisfying ending. I might write about something like that, but not mention the book’s title.
If any of this interests anyone, well, here it is. If not, there are lots of great journals to read out there. Once I figure out how it all works, I will add things and try to make it more interesting visually as well. I hope that if you’re here reading this that you’ll come back while I experiment and discover what this is all about.
cheers,
Joelle
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