nindogs

You know the saying. Write what you know . People do it. People don't do it. People advise it and against it. People debate about it. Well, I'm here to slide my two cents across the table to you, and tell you that what you might perceive as writing what you know isn't necessarily writing what you know. Oh, and the caption on the poster to the left? It says Anyone is a weapon if you twist them.  So, today I sat down in my Extension English I lesson to a discussion with director Adam Blaiklock, whose first feature film Caught Inside  (It's actually phenomenal. Support him and Australian film and try and catch it wherever you are if it's nearby) I saw a couple weeks ago. Its theme surrounds the concept that we don't want to take responsibility for the monsters we create . Essentially, this film is about a surfing trip off the coast of Indonesia, where the only law is set by one's skipper, and a group of Australian tourists find themselves faced with a ...

Congrats to KAYLYN WATERS, winner of THE NAME OF THE STAR by Maureen Johnson! In other news, I'm really going to try and not disappear on you guys now that I've started Year 12. Silly me went and took on three major works . You can probably expect some posts on short stories and beginnings and plotting and such, and some stuff on alluding to previous works or times or writers. Hope everything is well in your worlds. 

Many thanks to Lara over at HarperCollins for providing this review copy. The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking...

Over at YA Highway , there is a weekly meme running called Road Trip Wednesday, where a writing-or-book-related question is asked of both the road trippers and audience, the answers to which are linked in the comments. This week, RTW asks us which secondary character from a YA novel we would like to see star in a story of their very own. You know the character, sometimes set up in a fashion reflecting the author's lack of concern at whether the reader likes or dislikes them. Often the comic relief, or the bait. Or even someone that you really weren't meant  to get attached to, a plot device or background noise. So, my answer? I could talk to you about the story potential in THE HUNGER GAMES' Finnick Odair, or in Barron Sharpe, the protagonist's older brother in Holly Black's THE CURSE WORKERS series. Hell, even Adrian Ivashkov from the VAMPIRE ACADEMY books. And you know that I am all for  some Weasley love. But I have to say: These guys. The Marauders....

This is a legitimate change in a conventional title. Seriously. There are Pringles tubes with a wider girth than my mailbox, and I would like to say that my postman was not a total creeper and considered the etiquette in just placing packages atop the cube that is my mailbox instead of singing Queen continually, loudly (and tunelessly) right up below my bedroom window and placing them on my doormat. But I can't. Ergo, my books arrive on my door mat. Basically, In My Mailbox is a weekly-monthly-bimonthly-seasonal meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren , and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie . Some write on their blogs, some write on napkins , some podcast or vlog or comment or tweet I suppose. I, however, have decided that I talk far too much and so I will be vlogging mime-style and adding notes here. Now, due to the overwhelming lack of books that I have bought lately, these are all the books that I plan on doing things with that I have been neglecting. So, wit...