January Books Read and Wrap Up

January ended up being a decent month for me- very productive despite a few major road blocks in my personal life. Gained some friends and lost some friends this month but I'm dealing with it. The ones I gained are awesome and the ones I lost- well, part of me thinks it's really their loss so eh. =) Here's the books I read this month, in order of how they were finished and linked to their reviews:

1. Crossing The Bridge: Michael Baron (Received for review from The Story Plant)
   
2. Going Too Far: Jennifer Echols
3. Break: Hannah Moskowitz (Featured on my book forum)
   
4. Leftovers: Laura Wiess
5. Leaving Paradise: Simone Elkeles
6. Perfect Chemistry: Simone Elkeles
7. Wanderlust: Lucy Silag
8. Of All The Stupid Things: Alexandra Diaz
9. Breathless: Jessica Warman (Also featured on my book forum)
10. Cracked Up To Be: Courtney Summers
11. Some Girls Are: Courtney Summers
12. In A Heartbeat: Loretta Ellsworth (Received for review from Bloomsbury)
13. His Eyes: Renee Carter
14. Diary of a Witness: Catherine Ryan Hyde
15. The Maze Runner: James Dashner
16. Firespell: Chloe Neill

Not a bad month for me. I think 16 might be a new record for me on books and I think it's even better because I also spent so much time working on my novel in addition to this. I got 2 chapters finished on the first original work I started back in September... but finished Chapter 15 this weekend of my newest one, the idea for which just sparked at the beginning of the month. The total page count, thus far, is 179 but I already know of stuff at the beginning I am going to cut. I don't tend to do much planning, especially at the beginning- I just write and let things develop on their own. It took me to about Chapter 4 to really find addict boy's voice so I need to redo my first few chapters to fit it, but I already know how I can cut alot of that first stuff out anyhow. Total word count so far: 64,388 which is also a really, really great feeling. This kid is still going strong in me (yes, I actually talk to him sometimes because he's that persistent and zone out, totally lost in thought about his story) and I really hope I can keep this same fire going.

At this rate, I really hope to have at least my first draft finished by the end of February and start headlong on revising/rewriting/redrafting/basically overhauling. While I thought about trying to really push myself to having it done by Feb 7 to enter Amazon/Penguin's contest, I just don't think it would be great quality if I did that. There will be other contests at better times, so I'm just taking it as it comes now.

That is about it for significant updates. I've started looking for some people to beta read once I get my second draft done. My best friend, who is my main critique person for my other book, originally said she didn't want to read this one until it was redrafted but she knew I was going crazy needing to talk to someone about it so she caved. She's the only one who I've been showing it to, and my other review friend will get the full draft once it's done but I am thinking of finding 1-2 other readers as well which is probably where Facebook comes in so I can plead for help from old friends who I don't talk to much anymore but who are teachers, etc with that critical eye. Never thought I would need Facebook but there you have it.

I also finally got a Twitter this month for my blog. Unfortunately, AGoodAddiction was taken as a name (Who gives themself that name on Twitter if not for their blog? Sigh.) So I used my standard online persona of flamingo1325. So, check me out. Follow me. Love me. Updates for my blog, my forum and the random things in my head will show up on there.

Oh, and I hit 300 followers this month too which made me do a happy dance (and made Toby look at me like maybe I really have gone insane). I'm at 317 now but that's still amazing! Thank you to all of you who follow me and actually want to read my opinions and stuff. That's just... well, awesome. If you haven't yet, check out my contest to give away the first 3 books in the Percy Jackson series, in honor of the movie coming out soon. I loved that series and I bet most of you bibliophiles will too. Check back in February for another contest that I am planning as well.

I hope everyone else had a good, productive month as well and I really hope I can stay this driven in February. But now I must return to addict boy who has yet to receive some attention today and he's getting antsy. Typical male....