Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Call for Blogfest-ers

Attention all Blogfest-ers! It's time to come out of hibernation!

I'm looking for more participants for my blogfest, being held on February 13th. Right here!

Please follow THIS LINK to return to the sign up page for the fest. Tell everyone you know (or don't know). I'm looking for at least 15 players.

So, does your hook have what it takes? Sign up and find out on February 13th.

Prize includes a $15 Amazon gift card. Yes, that's a bribe.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Find the link to the Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest here. We still need participants.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Book Two in The Hunger Games trilogy
Published September 1, 2009
ISBN-10: 0439023491
ISBN-13: 978-0439023498


Review: 5/5

Cross reviewed on Goodreads.

SPOILER ALERT: All spoilers have been blocked out.

The Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, named the Quarter Quell, have begun. The "Girl On Fire" returns. The new arena and its traps are far more deadly. Will Katniss make it out alive?

That has been my question since I finished The Hunger Games. What is in store for her? She played the Capitol for fools and now, she is reaping all of the consequences slowly. Painfully. But none more so when she learns the secret of the Quarter Quell: the victors will return to the arena. Because she defied the Capitol in such a manner, Katniss and Peeta both return to the arena with victors from past Games. Their ages vary, their states of mind and well-being questionable at best, but it makes them no less deadly.

When it all begins, I had it set in my mind that Catching Fire would close with some major event in the arena. After all, they don't enter the arena until 150 pages before the end of the book. It was logical. Right? Nope. I was SO WRONG.

Right now, if you're itching to highlight the spoiler and you haven't read the series, I urge you to NOT. Give yourself the pleasure of reading it on your own. For those of you have read the series, please, enjoy my reaction:

HOLY SHIT! OH MY GOD. SUZANNE COLLINS, I REVERE YOU!

The remaining victors, whose alliances still hold, are sprung from the arena in a final attempt to overthrow the Capitol. It has been the plan all along. When Katniss wakes, she learns the horrible truth. Panem is in various states of revolution and the worse of it all: District 12 is no more. It has been bombed; wiped out of existence. Just like the mysterious District 13. What will happen next?

I can't even begin to guess. As you can tell, I'm eager to start Mockingjay.

That is all.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest: Sign Up Link

Here contains the sign up link for my 2nd "Annual" Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest.

The date of the blogfest HAS CHANGED. I completely forgot that I was assisting the Authoress, who hosts the Baker's Dozen Agent series.

The prize of the blogfest will be a $15 Amazon gift card. I'd like to think everyone has switched over to a Kindle (because it's what all the cool kids are doing...), but the gift card should sate any reader's addiction.

You can receive up to 3 points for the blogfest. Here's how:

1 point -- Sign up and participate. Please make sure the link to your blog is accurate. We don't like broken links that send us in to the Blogger Beyond.

1 point -- Share the blogfest badge and/or post about the blogfest. Please place all links to posts and tweets in a comment at the bottom of this page.

1 point -- Follow my blog. I trust you, so this is a given point. Aren't I sweet?

All points will be randomized into a number generator at the close of the blogfest.

To refresh from the previous post, here is the criteria to submit:

Date: February 13, 2012
Where: In My Write Mind blog, and your own
Objective: Post your 500-1000 word hook and critique other hooks posted by participants

Suggestive topics to consider when critiquing:
  • Does the character have a personality I can fall into easily? This includes any dialogue exchanged.
  • Is the world around them set up to compliment the character as they're introduced?
  • Are there secondary characters to assist with the hook?
  • Lastly, would I read more?

Finally, your sign up link. I hope to see many of you here on February 13, 2012!

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Announcing: 2nd "Annual" Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest

This isn't really an annual blogfest, thus the quotations around it. I completely forgot to host it in 2011. I'm getting back on board for 2012, and this will be the first big event for the blog.

The goal of the first Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest was to post your first 500-1000 words of your manuscript in progress. It could be draft one, having just come off the press, or be well under peer or personal revisions. Whatever the status, we want to see it.

The suggested guidelines we used to judge entries last time was the following:

  • Does the character have a personality I can fall into easily? This includes any dialogue exchanged.
  • Is the world around them set up to compliment the character as they're introduced?
  • Are there secondary characters to assist with the hook?
  • Lastly, would I read more?
 
So, all that said, here are the details of the blogfest:

Date: February 10, 2012
Where: In My Write Mind blog, and your own
Objective: Post your 500-1000 word hook and critique other hooks posted by participants

A point system will be developed, like most blogfests use for advertising the event, and a prize will be announced closer to the date. So, I know I haven't been around lately, but if you still follow In My Write Mind in your reader and still love blogfests, join us for the 2nd "Annual" Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

Monday, January 2, 2012

Now Reading: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Book Two in The Hunger Games trilogy
Published September 1, 2009
ISBN-10: 0439023491
ISBN-13: 978-0439023498


SPOILER ALERT: For those who haven't read The Hunger Games, I've blocked out bits here that would give big things away.

So, I haven't just started reading Catching Fire, but rather just got to posting it on the blog. I'm just getting into part 2, titled The Quell, which means we're getting into the Games again. What I'm absolutely loving about Catching Fire thus far is it is all about the repercussions Katniss is facing since she won the seventy-fifth Hunger Games.

I knew it would never just be that. Not in Panem. Here I find out that because of her little trick in the finale of the Games, which led her and Peeta to both win for District 12, all the districts are in an uproar. It's never been done. Never been thought possible. Now, there's rebellion and hope. President Snow won't let that happen, however.

Because of Katniss's display in the arena, I'm guessing she'll be the tribute pulled for the Quarter Quell Games, which is a series of the Hunger Games that only occurs every twenty-five years. Because it only occurs during these times, the stakes are raised and the dangers are increased. Will the "Girl on Fire" survive a more deadly version of the Hunger Games? I'm eager to find out.

Review of Catching Fire to follow.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP