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2019 Writing and Reading Recap

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Hello, people of the Blogosphere! I very obviously did not stick to my 2019 goal of blogging regularly or even at all, and i am not making that a goal for 2020 because college and adulting ate my life, and when I’m not doing either of those things, I usually want to be writing books instead of blog posts. however, I have returned to the internet after almost a year of silence for my annual recap of writing goals and favorite books of the year. I do genuinely hope to post more in 2020 because exciting writerly things may be happening in the upcoming year, but no promises!

Let’s start with a recap of my 2019 writing goals…

◦Finish editing Scarred Flawless: I’m calling this one a partial win! I said in my last recap post that Scarred Flawless had a lot of major developmental problems pertaining to world building because the geography of fictional worlds is one of life’s great mysteries, and maps are hard. Well, the developmental edits are DONE as of a few hours ago!!!! I think the whole thing is logical and coherent now, or at least it will be once I finish the line edits and eradicate all the strange sentences I created at 3 AM.

◦Start drafting Fractured Faith: This did not happen. I don’t even have Fractured Faith fully outlined, but it’s fine. Fractured Faith is the sequel to Scarred Flawless, and Scarred Flawless was my priority for 2019, so I am perfectly happy with what I did accomplish in regards to that series.

◦Start outlining Scarred Flawless Book 3: This sort of happened? I have a few index cards for it at least. Again, this is fine though because at least I mostly met my goal for the first book in the series.

◦Finish outlining Unmarked: That didn’t happen either because I started working on a new book, (Indie Blue), instead of Unmarked. I am quite happy with this arrangement though because i feel like I could sit down and draft Indie Blue right now whereas Unmarked still needs a lot of outlining and research before it’s ready to be drafted.

2020 Writing Goals:

I am only giving myself two major writing goals for 2020 because I am taking Creative Writing I in school this semester, and I’m not sure how much or what kind of writing that is going to require. My two goals are:

◦Finish line edits for Scarred Flawless and get it in the hands of beta readers

◦Finish the zero draft of Indie Blue

2019 Reading Recap:

I read 60 new books in 2019 and failed to review all of them because book review formatting is hard and adulting/school/Scarred Flawless took priority over that. So… here is a list of my top ten favorite books of 2019 with links to Goodreads instead of my own reviews!

1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. The people weren’t kidding when they said this one was graphic and intense, but man was it good! Yet another work of literary genius from Leigh bardugo!

2. Call Down the Hawk by Maggie stiefvater. This one was my 20th birthday present to myself. It was well worth the audible credit. I don’t have anything more to say about it other than Maggie Stiefvater created another literary masterpiece, and I want to reread it now.

  1. The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. This is an absolutely fantastic sequel to The Poppy War.

  2. Sadie by Courtney Summers. This is not my usual genre, but I absolutely loved this book! It is dark, and suspenseful, and it has a very unique writing style.

  3. Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan. This one has people who can talk to gods, and creepy mages, and it is amazing.

  4. How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow. This is the only book that made me cry in 2019. Kathleen Glasgow is really good at making me cry, but her writing is fabulous, and I will read everything she writes.

  5. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. To be quite honest, I really don’t remember much about this book because I read it whilst curled up in bed with a sinus infection trying to drown out my roommates with the audio book, but I gave it 5 stars, so it must have been fabulous!

  6. Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus. I will read everything Karen McManus writes because her first two books have both been 5 star reads for me.

  7. The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. This was a stunning conclusion to Holly Black’s “Folk of the Air” trilogy.

  8. King of Fools by Amanda Foody. This was an excellent sequel to Ace of Shades. Amanda Foody did not disappoint.

2020 Reading Goals

My only reading goal for 2020 is to finish 75 new books. I’m not starting any other kind of reading challenges because I definitely will not stick to them. Feel free to leave some of your 2019 favorites or 2020 books you’re anticipating in the comments though, and I’ll add them to my terrifyingly long TBR! Also, if you’re a writer, let me know what you accomplished this year and what you hope to accomplish in 2020.

2016 Wrap Up/2017 Goals

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 6 Comments

To continue with the theme of scatter-brained posts, I had goals for 2016 to wrap up, but I don’t have them anymore. They were on my MacBook which had to be wiped because of a malware invasion, and apparently the file wasn’t in Dropbox… The fact that I don’t remember most of them is probably a good indication that I failed at most of them, but here’s what I do remember!

  1. I did NOT win my Goodreads challenge, and Goodreads feels the need to remind me of that fact every time I open the app…
  2. I won NaNoWriMo for the second year running!
  3. I finished the first draft of my first novel! insert terrified emoji here It’s a total complete mess, but I finished the thing!
  4. I learned lots of programming stuff that I am not going to get into here because you most likely don’t care, and I don’t wanna explain it… Ok so really that wasn’t an official goal for 2016 until two weeks ago, but I made it my goal over Christmas break, and I accomplished it, so I’m counting it!
  5. Added together, all the writing projects I’ve completed in 2016 total up to 111911 words! I’m pretty sure my goal was 100000, so I’m proud of that!

Goals for 2017:

  1. By June 1st, I hope to have my novel ready for beta readers. If it could be by March 1st, that would be fantastic, but school is probably going to crush that dream.
  2. I’m setting my Goodreads challenge for 30 books because I’m 90% sure I can meet that!
  3. I am going to attempt the A to Z reading challenge, which means I have to read a book starting with each letter of the alphabet. If you know of books starting with R, Q, X, Y, or Z, please leave them in the comments! Those are the only ones I haven’t found yet…
  4. For NaNoWriMo this year, I’m planning to write the second book in this series I have started. We’ll see if that actually happens because I may still be trying to sort out this mess of a thing I’m calling a novel if the unthinkable happens and I epically fail at my first goal.
  5. This is the thing that I really need to do, but don’t wanna do. I’m in the middle of learning Swift and Python, (which are both programming languages), and I have a ton of notes for both all over my phone, iPad, laptop, and two notebooks, and they’re gonna have to be combined and organized before I get much further into this. I was planning to do this over Christmas break, but I just added to the mess instead because I’m a nerd like that!

I feel like I should list my upcoming posts here, but I still have all those that got caught in drafts, and honestly the next couple posts are gonna be embarrassingly late stories for Short Story Society. How did you do on your 2016 goals, (writing or otherwise?) Got anything cool planned for this year? Are you planning to join The HP Writing Cup? Let’s chat in comments!

The Harry Potter Writing Cup — Rules & Announcements

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 7 Comments

So I’m gonna be a rebel and announce a writing contest instead of screaming happy New Year like everybody else in the Blogosphere! Remember this post that I wrote forever ago? This is the follow up for that with the somewhat more finalized rules. Just keep reading if you wanna have some fun and start 2017 off with some good writing…

  1. Every word written during the month of January counts as a point for your Harry Potter house. You can write literally anything you want as long as it’s creative. Even blog posts can count if you wanna get a jump on scheduling posts! And if you’re like me, and you have a giant mess of a thing you’re calling a novel to edit, you can go by NaNoWriMo rules and count each hour of editing as 1000 words!
  2. You need to be following me, Trisha, Megan, and Tanya on our blogs to see important updates.
  3. Make sure you follow the challenge account on Twitter @HPWritingCup so you can join the chats and share your progress.
  4. We’ll host weekly tweet chats about writing and give opportunities for bonus points. Right now the chats will be held on January 7, 14, 21, and 28, (those are all Saturdays), at 9 AM CST. You can join us with #HPWritingCup to share your progress and talk about writerly things.
  5. You must be nice to each other! I don’t think I have to say this since we writers are mostly peaceful creatures, but I’ll put it out there anyway… This challenge is open to anyone and everyone who wants to have fun writing. If you are caught criticizing someone, I will Avada Kedavra you, (aka find the block button and use it!)

The main goal here is to have fun and kickoff 2017 with lots of writing. There really aren’t many rules. We’re not the word police, so this is a stress free writing zone! Let’s ring in the new year by writing all the words!!!

Giveaway Winners Revealed!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 1 Comment

Apologies for the extreme lateness of this post… The reason for its lateness is very lengthy, so just know that it involves a hacked wifi router, algebra, a new phone, and multiple security scans on a MacBook that are still going on as I am writing this. Just take my advice and don’t EVER download Mac Keeper! Also I a typing this on my phone with a demented bluetooth keyboard, so I am sorry in advance for any nonsense! Anyway, this post is to announce the winners of this giveaway! So without further rambling from me…
Tanya is the Winner of Scrivener, and Abby is the winner of Storyist! I don’t really wanna post the discount code here because… obvious reasons, so I’m just going to message both of you guys on twitter! 😄

Giveaway!!!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 5 Comments

Yep! You read that title right! Because I won NaNoWriMo, I have a 50% discount code for either Scrivener or Scapple and Storyist for Mac! I already have Scrivener, am unable to comprehend Scapple, and don’t really have a need for Storyist because I’m quite happy with Scrivener, so I’m gifting the codes to two of you subscribers of mine! Here’s everything you need to know:
•Since Scrivener and Scapple are made by the same company, the code can only be used for one or the other.
•You can use the Scrivener or Scapple code for either the Mac or Windows version depending on your operating system.
•The Storyist code is only for Mac users.
•There is a free trial for all of the programs available at the links above.
•You have to be following me in order to enter.
•I will pick the winner at random next Friday, which is December 9th.
•To enter, like this post, and leave me a comment saying which app you’re interested in.
•More than one comment does NOT get you an extra chance at winning. I’m only putting each name into the random name picking thingy once.

For my visually impaired friends…

I spent forever trying to figure out if this stuff was accessible before I finally bought Scrivener, so I thought I’d help y’all out by simplifying things a little. You can thank me in the comments if I even have any blind people following me! 😉
•If you’re using VoiceOver on a Mac or IOS device, Scrivener works like a charm and doesn’t even require any crazy work-arounds!!!
•If you’re on the Windows side, Scrivener will send both JAWS and NVDA into hysterics! I can’t speak for any other screen readers because I haven’t tried them, but you can download the free trial if you wanna investigate and let me know what you find out.
•Scapple appears to be totally accessible on Mac, but unless you have enough vision to appreciate drag and drop functions and understand how things are visually presented on the page, it’s probably not gonna do you much good. I messed with it long enough to decide that it technically worked with VoiceOver, but that I really wasn’t interested in trying to wrap my brain around sightling stuff enough to make the purchase.
•Storyist also appears to be completely accessible on Mac, (I’m not sure about IOS), but again it was pretty confusing because of the layout. I definitely think you could learn how to use it and find it very helpful, but it’d take some time and probably a sightling to describe the layout and explain what text boxes are for. I already had Scrivener when I downloaded the trial, so I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on it.
•In short, Scrivener is the best of the bunch if you’re totally dependent on a screenreader and want some awesome writing software!

That’s all there is to it!!! Make sure you read the rules above, and watch for the winners to be announced on December 9th! Feel free to ask me questions below if you have any, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

November 2016 Wrap-up

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 4 Comments

Hey y’all! This is the usual thing where I list all my posts from the month and then give you the list of upcoming stuff for December, but before I get into that, I WON NaNoWriMo!!!!!!!!!!! Actually I technically won it on the 28th and scheduled this, so I should get bonus points! But 50K wasn’t enough to tell my story so I’m gonna keep writing through December…

What I posted:
🔲The Playlist Shuffle Tag
🔲The Harry Potter Writing Cup
🔲Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow (spoiler free)
🔲The Fall Activities Book Tag
🔲Beautiful Books 2016: Novel Update
🔲Happy NaNoWriMo!!! (tips, tricks, panicking, and what to expect from me)

Upcoming for December:
🔲I’m gonna attempt to do Blogmas, which means I post each day for the first 25 days of December, but I’ll probably epically fail in my attempt…
🔲The Harry Potter Writing Cup is officially happening in January, and I’ll post the schedule of chats and such as soon as it’s finalized.
🔲I’m participating in Short Story Society, (go here if you want more info), so I’ll probably be posting some of my writing on here!
🔲I have Christmas break in the middle of the month, which means I CAN READ AND Write TO MY HEART’S DESIRE!!!!! Sorry to scream at you, but you just have no idea what school has been like for me this year… But reading means you get book reviews!!!
🔲I have some writing posts planned, but there are a lot of them, and I’m not gonna list them all out because I’m typing on my iPad and I’m kinda sick of it…

Did any of you whin NaNoWriMo? Are you going to be writing or editing this month? Do you have suggestions for stuff you want me to post this month? Let’s chat in comments!

The Harry Potter Writing Cup

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 9 Comments

Hey, writerly people! If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen some discussions about the “HP Writing Cup.” Some blogger friends and I have been chatting about a little writing contest idea, and this is the official announcement that it will be happening, but the unofficial plan! So to simplify that a bit… It’s gonna happen, but we’re still working out the specifics!
I have teamed up with Trisha, Tanya, and Megan to host this fun challenge. Like I said above, I don’t have the plan/schedule set in stone yet, but here are the basics:

•We’ll pick a month, (probably January), and the challenge will run for the length of that month.
•Every word written in that month counts as a point for your Harry Potter house. (I’ll have a form up soon for you to tell us your house and some other info.)
•Any creative writing counts, (including blog posts!)
•We’ll host Twitter chats about bookish and writerly things! (Ya gotta have a Twitter account if you wanna do the really fun stuff.)
•Someone will head each house, (as of now, Trisha is heading Slytherin, Megan is heading Hufflepuff, Tanya is heading Gryffindor, and I am heading Ravenclaw.) The head of each house will host word sprints for their group, and maybe have some fun extra prompts/challenges.
•We’ll come up with ways to earn extra points so it isn’t all writing. (Suggestions welcome!)
•You need to be following all of us to see important updates if you wanna participate!
•Your input is needed! Do you have a suggestion about how to improve this? Drop me a line in the comments, or let Trisha, tanya, or Megan know on their blogs! You can also message me on Twitter @Cheyenne_writes!

Happy NaNoWriMo!!! (Tips, Tricks, Panicking, and What to Expect From Me)

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 5 Comments

Hey readers, writers, and Wrimos! It’s November 1st, aka the first day of the month long insanity known as National Novel Writing Month! Fun fact: NaNoWriMo began in 1999, which is the year I was born, and my birthday is November 18th, which means NaNoWriMo is just 18 days older than me! Look at me do math! I really hope that was right… 😂
So… Since it’s NaNoWriMo, and school has me going slightly insane already, I’m gonna have to rearrange my blogging schedule, (or lack there of), until all this calms down a bit. I’m also helping out with some assistive tech training this month, and I’m going to be traveling for doctor appointments in the near future, so here’s how this is gonna go down.

  1. I’m going to post weekly NaNo tips, (and updates on my progress assuming I get 5 minutes free.) Your NaNo tip for today is… Get WAY ahead on your word count while you’re still super excited about your idea! Trust me… You WILL be sick of your characters and story by the beginning of the third week in, and you will decide that the perfect fix to your plot problem is to drop a giant bolder on all your characters, watch them die in agony, and give them a beautiful funeral as a perfect happy ending to your story. Okay… Maybe that was a BIG exageration, but you get the picture, right??? Yes? Good!
  2. I’ve got some scheduled posts, but they’re kinda scattered randomly throughout the month because… Why would I bauther to put them in a set pattern? So expect some book reviews for books that I read like… six months ago or so.
  3. I’ll probably be doing lots of frantic word sprints, so come join me on Twitter please! I’ll either do my own or join @NaNoWordSprints, but come say hey either way @Cheyenne_writes!
  4. What posts I do write will most likely be written in the car, on my iPad, going through mountains for those doctor appointments I mentioned, so I’m sorry in advance for my typos and horrible grammar. It’ll drive me crazy when I reread things, and then I’ll end up updating everything.
  5. Wait for it… Wait for it… I HIT FIFTY FOLLOWERS!!!!!!! If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was hoping to make that by my birthday, and it actually happened! You guys are amazing, and thank you for reading all my rambling! I know you’re actually reading it because a lot of you like and comment. I like likes and comments! A lot! If you’re a Twitter friend, you also know that I had a writerly surprise planned, and that’s still gonna happen… Just not this month… It’ll probably be December because there is NO way I can keep it up this month, but school will let up a lot in December, so that should work out. Hint, hint: It’s Harry Potter related, and it involves people writing together. I would like to collaborate with a couple of bloggers for this, so drop me a line if you’re interested. Either DM me on Twitter or email me from my contact page. My only requirement is that you write and you blog!

Ok so that post was extremely rambling, but hopefully it was sort of coherent, and I will now sign off and return next week with a NaNo tip! Let me know in the comments how your first day of NaNo went! I’ve hit 1500, and I’m planning to make it to 1670 as soon as I publish this! Message me if you’d like more info on my project, and… I don’t actually know how to end this. Please don’t unfollow me because of this post, and remember to be bookish and stay writerly!
From Cheyenne 🙂

A Bookish Blind Date

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 8 Comments

A Blind Date with A Book
Hey Bookworms! Lara has created a fun reading challenge that basically dares you to take a chance on a random read. She has created a quiz, (consisting of five very random questions), that will determine which book you get. All of the books are free in eBook format until this Sunday, (that’s October 30th), and you just need an Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks account to get your copy. If you decide to participate, be sure to click here to see the rest of the rules and take your quiz!

My Results:

I got The Killing Game by Toni Anderson. Looking at the synopsis, this book is pretty far from the kind of thing I normally read, but it also sounds like it’s got potential to be really good! It’s contemporary, and I’m usually a hardcore fantasy lover, but I’ll go into this with an open mind. I have been branching out to contemporary more and more lately, so maybe I’ll be surprised! Plus, it has leopards!!! I love leopards!!!

Why I Write: Writing Is My Therapy!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 4 Comments

Sometimes only paper will listen to you
Hey awesome writing people! I’ve seen the #WhyIWrite floating around the NaNoWriMo circles all day on Twitter, so I thought I’d give it a go! Warning! You should probably expect lots of rambling!

writing to me is magic, power, freedom, and peace. It gives me the power to create new worlds, new people, new wars, new victories… I can cause heartbreak, sorrow, fear, love, heath, happiness, tears, or smiles with only a few sentences. I can weave stories together with only twenty-six letters and a keyboard. I can teach, guide, and sympathize with many people across the globe through the power of the written word.
With every word I write, I discover something new about myself. In some ways, every bit of my writing holds a piece of myself in it, though I may not realize that it reflects me until I reach the very end. At the end of a rough school week in which nobody adapts things into braille the way it should be done, or technology fails me, or people are just generally being stupid, I get to pick up my notebook and write all of that away. Characters may die, wars may be started between royal families, or best friends may fight, but it’s soothing because it holds my thoughts between the lines.
Writing is strength, and weakness, and fear, and courage, and peace, and power, and truth, and lies. I don’t write for fame, or fortune, or even recognition. I write because I want to tell a good story, to lose myself in the act of creation, to find something about myself that I didn’t know before. I write because words are powerful, and i love that I can preserve that power in some small form. I write because I love the feeling I get when I weave a lie of magic and mystery that holds even the tiniest bit of truth that will help someone know they are not alone in a situation. Maybe a book about “mentally ill” shamans sounds like the complete opposite of real life, but maybe someone who has the same condition will see themself in my characters and know that they, too, can be strong.
It is my goal, and my dream, to be published one day, and my hopes to have a best seller or two. If I don’t become J. K. Rolling famous, I will be fine with that. If I can get just one book into the hands of someone who will love it, I will have fulfilled my mission as a writer. All of that, is why I write.

Why do you write?
Hopefully that wasn’t too terribly rambling and made some kind of sense… I can’t imagine ever reaching a time where i’m not writing, but the reason why I love it is so abstract that it was quite difficult to put into words. I’d love to know why you write in the comments, and drop me a link if you do your own post like this! also, don’t forget to share your thoughts on Twitter with #WhyIWrite! My Twitter handle is @Cheyenne_writes if you wanna tag me… 😉
Happy reading, writing, and rambling to all you fellow writers! I will maybe have a review of The Raven King up tomorrow??? Maybe??? Assuming I don’t drown in numbers from doing Algebra and Chemistry all day! But now I’m gonna go sleep so I might actually finish that stuff and have time to post…
From Cheyenne 🙂