Emily H. Bates's Blog, page 10

Writhing and Reveling

I’m on the third Anne book now, Anne of the Island. Last night, while I was staying up way too late reading it, I ran across the funniest scene that rang all too true with me as a writer.

For the next fortnight Ann writhed or reveled, according to mood, in her literary pursuits. Now she would be jubilant over a brilliant idea, now despairing because some contrary character would not behave properly. Diana could not understand this.

“Make them do as you want them to,” she said.

“I can’t,” mour...

We’re all still awesome.

I discovered this post from like six months ago sitting in my drafts folder, and you know what? I’m glad it didn’t get published back then, because if it had, I couldn’t rediscover it now, when I need this lesson I learned, loved, and promptly forgot. Here’s to being awesome!

***

I’ve been outlining outlining outlining my brains out. I’m fitting together the puzzle pieces of a from-scratch five-book series and hashing out details. I’m balancing age-appropriateness with excitement with side pl...

The new picture

Last December, my first novel was published. Demon’s Heart had a beautiful cover, a legit publisher, and all my words stacked up so neat and pretty inside of it. It was in Barnes and Noble, people!

It was a big deal. This had only been my life’s dream since fifth grade. I certainly had never imagined that it would happen by the time I was twenty-four.

That whole year was kind of an upheaval for me. When I signed the contract back in March 2014, I was still a brand-new mom without the slightes...

Anne’s beauty

The sun went away this weekend, and so did the power, for a while. I love autumn, but I wasn’t ready for it to come storming in the last week of August, blowing down trees and power lines all over. It’s supposed to rain all week, which means a driveway full of soggy pine needles that are going to get tracked all over the house.

But it also means that the grass is going to green up again, the fires will hopefully die down, the leaves are going to change, and one happy little toddler is going t...

Getting your book fix

I read like I breathe. I keep a book in my bag at all times. More often than not, I’m at the library two or three times a week. I’ve even relented and started keeping a few ebooks on my phone in case I’m caught without a book somewhere.

So you would think, right, that on long car trips or while I’m watching Scout at the park, audiobooks would be the thing to do. My husband loves audiobooks. My friends love audiobooks. Convenient book fix.

I can’t stand audiobooks.

It takes about twenty to for...

A tremulous fusion

So once upon a time, I picked up this book called The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer. Because seriously–that title. How could I resist?

There was a point where I almost put it down, because I have a low threshold of tolerance for swearing, and it was riding a little too close to the threshold. But the thingis, Hattemer has a gift for imparting beautiful, hard-hitting truths in the frank and unpolished but still somehow eloquent tone of a teenager who is trying desperately...

Something new

I’ve been contemplating doing something new on Mondays for a while. Writing prompts are fun, but I’m getting less response on them, and I like changing things up now and again.

Since I’m on a quote high after my three-day challenge, Mondays are now Quote Day! After all, you can never have too many good quotes.

I may have mentioned before that I teach piano, when I’m not scribbling stories or chasing down my little monkey. Since I was young, I’ve had a great respect and appreciation for the po...

Day 3, Quote 3

My final quote is sort of a nested quote. I first discovered it in Wonder by RJ Palacio, but the quote comes originally from JM Barrie:

“Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?” (JM Barrie, The Little White Bird)

Friends, let’s all make this a new rule of our own lives. As dear Helen Burns says (yes, I’m cheating and including two quotes), “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre...

Day 2, Quote 2

Next quote! This one comes from one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES. Yes, that just got all-capped and bolded. I am shouting it from the rooftops. I can’t count how many times I’ve read A Wrinkle in Time, and I’m captivated every time. I have four pages of quotes from this book, but there is one that I have used over and over and over in my life.

It comes as Meg, Calvin, and Mr. Murry are fighting the power of IT, and Meg begins to recite the Declaration of Independence . . .

“We hold these truths t...

Day 1, Quote 1

Guys, I love book quotes. I have a folder devoted to my favorite quotes from books I’ve read, and I reference it often. So I was practically giddy when PhantomWriter143 tagged me into the quote challenge I’ve seen floating around lately. The real challenge is that I want to just barf all of my quotes into a post, but I have to narrow it down to three–one a day for three days. And then I get to tag one other lucky blogger each day to participate as well. Thanks for the challenge, friend!

Today...