Wait, don’t click away yet! This is a really good genuine tip, I promise! Without this tip you won’t be able to accomplish the #1 writing rule.
I’m not saying ‘limit yourself’ as in ‘limit your imagination’ or ‘limit how good your are/can be’.
No.
I mean – Limit Yourself.
Give yourself a SET TIME.
A certain amount of pages.
A minimum (and maximum!) daily word count.
Set. A. Limit. (you can make it the sky if you want!)
Trust me, with this tip you will be able to achieve the #1 writing rule of WRITE EVERY DAY.
Cause, let’s face it – writing every day sounds easy enough (you know, even getting a few words down on the page is good work), but what about when we’re reeeeeally tired? Or, we’ve got too much laundry to do? Or the ideas just aren’t coming?
Well, if you LIMIT YOURSELF – telling yourself that you’ll only write for 20 minutes a day, or 1 page a day, or 500 words a day – then suddenly, that daunting task of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) becomes a doable feat.
Even is you only write for 5 minutes, or a single sentence, that’s something and it keeps the momentum going so that when the muse strikes – it will strike a lot sooner and more often if you’ve kept up the daily habit.
Also though – limit yourself on stopping after reaching your maximum word count, page number, time limit. You’ll get a lot more done if you write a little something every day then if you burn out in one intense night (just like with working out, eating right, praying daily or any other habit).
So – let’s make it a HABIT and remember – WRITE DAILY – LIMIT YO’ SELF! 😉
Crown of Coral and Pearl is a young adult novel about twin sisters and their tangled destinies. There’s Zadie, the twin who wants nothing more then to stay in her hometown and marry the boy that she loves, but whose beauty has predestined her as the bride of the mother kingdoms crown prince. Then there’s Nor, the twin who has dreamed her whole life about something more then just working and settling down, who’s unfortunate scar has shackled her to her hometown for good.
Desperate times call for desperate measure and the twins hatch a plan to Parent Trap the whole thing – and swap places!
Unfortunately, the tale is far from smooth sailing. Zadie’s actions have caused the parents of the boy she loves to deem her unsuitable for him. And Nor has discovered that not only is the crown prince’s brother far more lovable, but the crown prince himself is downright murderous!
With the tides turned against them, will these two sisters ever have a happy ending?
I had such a fun time with this book!!
And I’m about to give out some SPOILERS, so if you want to avoid those – then just scroll to the end, subscribe to my blog and then get yo’self to a bookstore to buy your own copy of Crown of Coral and Pearl!
First off, I loved the concept of an ocean city. Like, a literal, on the ocean, in the middle of the water, floating city! As a desperate ocean girl myself it had me going, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Secondly, I am such a huge fan of anything knights and ladies and castles – so all in all, the setting was a total *chef’s kiss*!
I am so excited to read the sequel, but before I do, I’ve got to share my thoughts.
So, here’s what I wanted to happen, what I thought was going to happen, and what I’m sure is going to happen.
Firstly, what I wanted to happen – I wanted there to be MORE TALIN!!! There were plenty of swoonworthy moments between Talin and Nor, and I just wanted there to be a liiiiiitle bit more. For example, I wished that Talin would’ve physically fought Ceren (multiple times) over Nor. I know, I know, there was the whole diplomatic situation going on and he was trying to avoid execution, of either himself or Nor, but still I would’ve liked to see a bit more chivalry out of him.
Secondly, I was so sure for a hot minute there that Ebb’s brother, the one that she was so hush hush about, was going to turn out to be Ceren. It would’ve made sense! And then, that would’ve meant that Ceren’s spy was Ebb. That the one person that Nor felt pretty confident was innocent, simple, and on her side was actually the worst one of the bunch. Ultimately, I’m glad that Ebb wasn’t a traitor, but it would’ve been such a ‘duh, duh, dun!’ moment!
And lastly, Ceren is most DEFINITELY alive!! There’s no way that he’s dead. He had just told us how Nor’s blood had finally made him healthy, and over the course of the whole book, we’d gotten to learn about how it was the exposure to the blood coral that had given Nor her own extraordinary healing abilities, so, there was no way that the blood coral would kill him. That, and she left before confirming that he was dead. It’s the classic murder rule – no body, no death, that b’ is still alive. Only one chapter later it is revealed that another character who was presumed dead, with no body, is in fact alive. So yeah, Ceren is totally alive!
Ranking systems are hard for me because, I want to give everybody and everything 10 out of 10 every time! But, I’m going to try to be accurate and serious for a moment, so… All in all I give this book 4.7 pearls out of 5!
Good job @mararaewrites! I can’t wait to read more of your work! 🙂
The Host by Stephenie Meyer is quite possibly my favorite novel ever!
I really struggle with that question “What’s your favorite book?” But if you forced me to give an answer, then it would be a hard tie between The Host and Jane Eyre (with all of the LOTR books, The Harry Potter series, The Narnia Chronicles, the Twilight Saga, Escape to Witch Mountain and soooooo many others tied right along with them!!!).
I think in the end the only sensible thing to do would be to Fahrenheit 451 the situation and memorize all of my favorite books! Starting with Jane Eyre and The Host.
Originally pitched as ‘An alien story for people who don’t like alien stories’ The Host is Invasion of the Body Snatchers CONTINUED, or, A Day in the Life of Wanda (no not that Wanda!)
Not that one either!
Wanda, or Wanderer, is the body snatching alien that has taken over the body of our main human Melanie. Melanie, or Mel, is one of the last surviving humans, who’d been living rough on the run with her baby brother Jamie and her apocalyptic lover Jared, till they got separated and Mel ended up captured.
After Wanda was implanted Melanie was supposed to go away – but she didn’t.
2 souls, 1 body and a family that they now BOTH love – is a happy ending even possible?
Not to spoil anything but – YES! Yes a happy ending is possible!
Now, I want to share my fancast with you! I know there’s a movie, but the movie really could’ve been better imo (sorry Fickle Fish). This book needs/deserves to be done in show format, anywhere from 6 to 24 hours dedicated to it’s telling. (BTW Fickle Fish if you want/need someone to write the scripts for a show for you I WILL I WILL I WILL!!)
Anyways, my dream cast would include:
Melanie Stryder played by Lindsey Morgan (I mean, wouldn’t Raven by PERFECT!!??)
Or Alycia Debnam Carey (Lexa also has that fierce but soft attitude to play both Mel and Wanda)
Jared Howe played by Jensen Ackles (I know he’s in his 40s now, but this is my dream cast dammit! JENSEN IS PERFECT FOR JARED!!!)
Ian O’Shea played (this is the hardest one to cast for me cause he’s my FAVORITE! So, we’re gonna try to find someone that looks like he could be twins with my Kyle fancast) either John Krasinski
Or (because he’s got those baby blues…) Tom Hiddleston
Kyle O’Shea played by Jeremy Renner (once I had this thought there’s been no going back for me, Jeremy IS Kyle!)
And Finally Wanderer aka Wanda in the body of Pet played by Lucy Hale (with her blonde hair she’s perfect for pet!!!)
So, that’s it! What do you think??
The Host gets all the thumbs that I have in my possession way way up!!
If you haven’t read it yet, please give it a go! And if you don’t like it – well, then maybe you just don’t deserve to get what you want! (IT Crowd reference 😉 )
BTW, here’s the song that sold me on Jeremy Renner as Kyle. I feel like the show would need to have a soundtrack like this!! 100%!!!
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