Author: byjehunter

I'm the author of the Black Depths and Artifacts of Avalum series. I'm also a reader and I love posting young adult book reviews and blogging about everything related to books. In the morning, I can be found drinking coffee and wishing it was still dark outside. In the afternoon, I'm stuck at my day job, and in the evening, I'm probably working on my latest creation.
Blogging · Writing Goals

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #22

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It was an awful week. I let my birthday distract me from my main goal and used it for all sorts of excuses. I didn’t write nearly as much as I should have, which means I’m around 7,000 words behind my goal. When there is such a big word count at stake, it is so easy to fall behind—and also fairly easy to catch up. All I have to do is write, just a little bit more than my 1,000 words per day, and I’ll be back on target in (hopefully) a month. I’ll be moving from focusing on Under Jupiter rewrites to drafting soon, which will also help with that goal.

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Getting Ready to Draft!

You can see from the chart below that I wasn’t very habitual this week. I had a lot of extra curricular events because of my birthday. Including a paint night where I made this picture. It’s pretty nice, don’t you think? I’m going to put it in my office. It will be good inspiration for a fantasy novel I hope to return to writing soon.

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I’m hoping I can spend a lot of time this weekend attempting to catch up on words. But first I want to catch up on this blog. I have a couple reviews planned for this week, and also the Under Jupiter cover reveal, so be sure to check back!

JEH

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Post-Birthday Blog

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Yesterday was my birthday and I had such a great day. I spent two hours at the book store, did a bit of writing in a coffee shop, and picked out enough new reads to keep me busy for at least a year—at least when you add them to the already waiting 60+ books on my TBR pile. Here’s a pic of all the books I grabbed, some were regular price and some were bargains:

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I painted a picture with a bunch of friends last night. One of which brought me a ridiculous amount of chocolate (you know who you are). I loved it. Thanks to everyone who came out and to everyone who wished me a happy day.

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One of the best things about yesterday was I discovered the Indigo by my house FINALLY SEPARATED THE FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION SECTIONS! Maybe Science Fiction will finally get all the love it deserves.

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I also got in some other shopping on the weekend, and picked up a few new writing items. As always, they make my heart smile. 🙂

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Tomorrow I’m hoping to post an update on my 365,000 Words in a Year goal. See you then!

JEH

book review · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

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The second book in the Young Adult Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson moves the action from a futuristic Chicago (Newcago) to a futuristic, dystopian Manhattan (New Babylon). I loved this second book and I found New Babylon (also called Babilar) to be very interesting, but part of what I loved about the first book, Steelheart, was the setting: a city that had been completely morphed into steel, and I missed that setting in Firefight. Not that I didn’t love Babilar, I just love Newcago more.

The action of the second book, Firefight, is just as fast and heart-pounding as in the first book. The stakes get higher, and we discover more about the world and Epics (the bad guys), in general.

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Like the first book, Firefight is 75% action, 20% romance, and 5% bad metaphors (which are often hilarious). That isn’t an exact breakdown, so don’t quote me on it. The main point is that this book is mostly the kind of action you would see in a Marvel movie.

Loved it.

5/5 Stars

JEH

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Book Shopping: Or Going to that Really Happy Place

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I’ve been pretty quiet for the past week. That’s because I’m gearing up for my birthday, which is tomorrow, and my trip to that really happy place: the bookstore.

There are so many different book stores, there are new ones and old ones and small ones and big ones, stores for new books and stores for old books. And they all make me so happy. There’s just something about the atmosphere. It’s like I step into a book store and am just overwhelmed by all the words and pictures and collective thoughts and I just can’t help but smile. Given no time constraints, I could browse for hours. But on average i’d say that I spend one hour opening select books and reading a few lines, searching for what captures and holds my attention. In today’s world, there is an over abundance of books (maybe…I”m not too sure about this but some people think there is such a thing as too many books), it can be very difficult to choose.

Here is my suggestion for choosing a book:

  1. Pick up the book, open it about on third the way through. This is often where it gets pretty interesting. Read it. Do you like the style? The action? The dialogue? If it doesn’t make you want to read more, put it back and continue browsing.
  2. A recommendation made to you by someone you know who has similar taste in books (but doesn’t actually eat them).

Now, I probably shouldn’t be negative, but there are more ways I have for NOT choosing a book:

  1. By Smell.
  2. By On-line Reviews and Star Ratings (there are sooooo many fake reviews out there – more on this later), unless you know they come for a credible source.
  3. By Cover.
  4. By Taste (see above).

Tomorrow, this is what I’ll be doing. Weighing my selections and spending my book shopping savings wisely. I can’t wait.

JEH

 

book review · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Mitosis by Brandon Sanderson

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In case you missed it, I posted a review of the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Reckoners Series, Steelheart, last Saturday. I picked up Book 2, Firefight, and began reading but kept coming across this mention of a battle with Mitosis, which sounded familiar, so I checked, and sure enough, Mitosis is a standalone story that falls between Steelheart and Firefight.

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Mitosis was fairly short and I finished reading it in under an hour. It was a good piece of action between the two main novels. I wouldn’t say it’s a must read. I think one could just go from Steelheart to Firefight and not feel like they’re missing much, but it did add a nice bit of backstory during the passage of time between Steelheart and Firefight, which is a few months.

If you’re a Sanderson fan, or just need to read every piece of lore in a universe, then you probably won’t want to skip Mitosis.

4/5 Stars

JEH

Writing Goals

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #22

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It’s been almost two weeks since I updated. During that time I’ve been working fairly diligently on two of my main projects, Under Jupiter and MF. And tonight I passed 200,000 words!!!!!

PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Obviously this nice round number feels pretty big. I started this goal in September of 2016, and a lot of time has passes since then, and obviously I’ve written a lot of words. But sometimes I wonder just where all of those words have gone, because I feel like I have so many unfinished projects that I must still be an undergrad. Seriously. It feels like it is taking forever to finish things. I think part of that is the fact that I’m often working on more than one book at a time. Like right now I’m doing rewrites of Under Jupiter and doing a first draft of MF. Also, I have about an hour a day (if I’m lucky) to get all my words and rewriting in. And that’s if I’m not so tired that I just pass out the moment the house is quiet. I do wish that I would have been tracking daily the project I was working on, that would really help me understand where all the words have gone.

But I made it! Deep breath. To Two Hundred Thousand Words. Which means I can totally do this. I can totally do this. And come September. I will have finished things. And they will be wonderful.

JEH

 

book review · I love books · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

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Young Adult Book Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

I’m going to admit that this post might be a little biased because I’m a big Brandon Sanderson fan. I love his epic fantasy, both the Mistborn Trilogy and the Stormlight Saga, but this was the first Young Adult work I’d read by him. This is actually his first young adult series, though he has also published some middle grade stuff that I haven’t read yet. But I’m such a big fan that I plan on reading all if it at some point in time.

About a year ago, I read the prologue for Steelheart and felt a little blah about it, and I put the book down for a good while. I finally picked it up again last week, and began on Chapter One, since I’d already read the prologue a long time ago (though I had forgotten a few details). Beginning from Chapter One, I fell right into the book and loved it, which left me wondering if it really needed the prologue. I mean, the prologue was alright but… Well, maybe it’s just me. Did you read the prologue? Did you like it?

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Anyway, moving on. The main character in Steelheart is 18 year-old David, a regular human in a world that’s been invaded by comic-book type bad guys. I loved that. There are no Supermen or Batmen, just bad guys. And the regular folk have to figure out how to take them out. Needless to say this book is full of action. It is also full of that smart, witty humour I love.

“I was like the guy who had brought the spoiled shrimp cocktail to the party, causing everyone to throw up for a week straight.” Yep, our main character David is really bad at metaphors, which I found to be really entertaining.

Like I said, I might be a bit biased, but I give this book 5/5 Stars.

JEH

Blogging · Covers · I love books · Photos · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

Books In Strange Places

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I have that wonderful spring feeling again! Yesterday it was 7 above, things were melting, and I went out for a walk in weather was finally incapable of freezing me to death in hours. I had books on my mind (of course), and thought, you know, that my upcoming reads would probably like to get some fresh air too, so I decided to do a little book photo shoot for  your enjoyment. Featured books are ones I’m currently reading or am hoping to get to soon. But, of course, there’s never enough time for reading.

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My current “On the Go” Read, What Light by Jay Asher
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Air Awakens by Elise Kova
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Hiding the Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
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A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir
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Reading On The Go, From Great Heights
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A Reader’s Self-Portrait

JEH