Angie Lofthouse's Blog, page 20

The Hidden Sun--A Review

A faraway kingdom
A beautiful princess
A courageous hero
A ruthless villain
An impossible choice
The Hidden Sun by J. Lloyd Morgan, 2nd edition is a fun medieval adventure, with plenty of intrigue, action, secrets, heroes and romance. This is actually my second time to read and review this book. I reviewed the first edition a little over a year ago. You can read that here. Since then, The Hidden Sun was picked up by my publisher, Walnut Springs, and issued in a shiny new edition, newly edited, with a new cover.
So, what do I think of the second edition? Same great story, wonderful new package! In my first review, my main complaint was a large number of typos that I found distracted me from the story. That issue has been resolved, and without those distractions, I found the story even more fun to read this time around.
I love the way Morgan uses symbolism in the book. His characters are well-developed and easy to love and root for. I found I really cared about what happened to them and to their beloved kingdom of Bariwon. But the story itself is not the only thing to love about this book. I had fun noticing (on my second time through), Morgan's skillful naming of characters and places. Can you guess the secret of Bariwon and it's seven districts (Erd, Grenoa, Lewyol, Regne, Lebu, Donigi, and Teviol)? Not to mention such events as the Mortentaun and Shoginoc.
The Hidden Sun is full of surprises. It's also a good, clean read with no objectionable content. Just the sort of thing I'm looking for!
Check out J. Lloyd Morgan's website for more about the book and purchasing information. I always like to give books for Christmas, and this one would make a great gift.
*Please note: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher to review.

On My Way!

Well, I did it. In spite of being on vacation and all, I achieved my goal for last week and got to page 185, so I am on track to hit my target and reach page 200 by the end of this week. (Or by next Monday, you know, if I still need extra time.)

It's amazing to me how setting a firm goal and having a strong desire to achieve it can be so motivating. For the past couple of weeks, I had been floundering, trying to write with no ideas coming to me, wondering if this stupid book was any good at all. Then, I made up my mind. I public declared my intentions, and suddenly the ideas started flowing. I got excited about the book again. Making a commitment like that was really quite liberating.

That is the power of goals. Do you find your goals do the same for you?

Biting the Bullet

I am sad to admit that I squandered away the first half of October, getting almost no writing done. (I have various excuses for this, but they are just that--excuses.) So now I'm buckling down. I'm biting the bullet. I am here to publicly declare my goal for the remainder of October.


I will write 25 pages by the end of the month to get to page 200 in my novel.
This is totally doable if I just put my mind to it and start making writing the top priority again. I've been a little lax this month.

I know this is nothing compared to those of you who are planning for NaNoWriMo next month, but for me it's a legitimate stretch.

Do you have any goals you're working on currently? Let me know. I'd love to cheer you on!

Three Stars, Anyone?

I've seen a lot of authors bemoaning three star ratings on Goodreads lately, as if it were a bad thing. And I'm thinking, what? I thought three stars was a good rating. I routinely give three stars to books that I like, because that's what it says when you hover over three stars:

[image error] I like it. 
So, if I've offended any of my author friends with a three star rating, please rest assured I mean it as a positive review. Three stars is kind of my default rating. I don't bother rating (or even finishing) books I don't like. Four stars go to books that have something special about them that I especially like. Five stars are reserved for books destined to be my all-time favorites. Ender's Game, Lord of the Rings ... you understand.


It's so hard to boil down how you feel about a book into a number between 1 and 5. That's why I don't particularly like Goodreads, actually.

What do you think? What kind of books do you give three or four or five stars to? Would you be offended with a three star rating?

Take Yourself Seriously

When I was young and first starting out, I read some great advice in a writing book. (Sorry, I don't remember which one.) It was this:

Take yourself seriously as a writer. Tell people you are a writer. As long as you are writing, you ARE a writer. 

I took that advice to heart. I told people I was a writer. I told myself I was a writer. I worked on stuff with the hope of publishing it. I didn't try to hide it. I forced some pretty awful early stories on kind friends and family members who continued to encourage me. (You know who you are.) I made a commitment to myself that I was going to do this. I made it a priority over less important activities. I learned and practiced. I submitted and got rejected and kept submitting. Heck, getting rejected just added credibility to the fact that I was a writer. It was nine years before I got a word published, but I considered myself a writer the entire time. And, no, I didn't use the word "aspiring." I don't really like that word. Well, in this context anyway.

I still have to take myself seriously as a writer every day. I still have to commit to myself to keep going. I'm so glad that I took that advice all those years ago. If I hadn't, I probably would have quit a long time ago.

So, my advice to you is the same.

Take yourself seriously!  You are a writer.
But, you know, don't take yourself too seriously. ;)

What Readers Don't Care About

Genre. 
Seriously. I talk to people who like to read, but aren't writers about stuff like dystopian, thriller, steampunk, paranormal romance and all I get back are blank stares. What are you even talking about?

I asked a question on my Facebook page about which speculative fiction genres people liked best. I listed all sorts of stuff like space opera, epic fantasy, hard science fiction, etc. No one answered.

I wondered if it hadn't shown up in the newsfeed or something. My son pointed out that he didn't understand the question, or the answers (and he's a pretty smart guy). Oh. Hadn't thought of that.

Sure, people understand the big categories romance, mystery, historical, science fiction, etc. But they don't really care about the labels we writers are so anxious to give our work. They just want to read the books they like to read. At least that's been my experience.

Of course, we need to care about what genre we're writing and what the audience expectations are for that genre and stuff like that. But when it comes to interacting with readers, remember what they really want is a good book.  Don't pigeonhole yourself too much. You never know who might pick up your book and decide that's the kind of thing they like to read, even if they've never read anything like it before.

And isn't that just what we're after?

Why We Have Rules (and why you should break them.)

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Haven't had a Thoreau quote for a while, and this one seemed appropriate to what I've been thinking about lately.

The Writing Rules. 
Yes, I've blogged about this before. That's okay. It's worth talking about again. I'm sure you've heard these "rules" for writing. To be verbs, adverbs, show don't tell, blah, blah, blah...

There are actually good reasons for these rules.

Avoid using "to be" verbs (is, was, etc.): Because this often indicates a passive sentence and those are, well, passive. Active is more engaging. But, really, we can't eliminate one of the most used verbs in the language now, can we?

Don't use adverbs: Because adverbs don't leave a strong impact on the reader. Unless you use them judiciously and sparingly. Then they'll have an impact.

Ditto for dialog tags other than "said."

Don't start sentences with an -ing verb: Because if you overdo it, your sentences all have the same cadence and become sing-songy. Readers will tune out. But, hey, once in a while isn't a problem.

Show, don't tell: Because telling distances the reader from the story. There are times when you need a little distance in the story. Don't show when showing would be boring or unnecessary.

This will hold true for any writing rule you've ever heard. It's important to know these rules. It's important to know why they are brought up. It's important to know when to ignore them.

We each have a unique voice.  Don't stifle yours by obsessing about the rules. Only you can decide what is right for your story. Trust yourself to know.

The Armor of Light--A Review

Before I start with the review, I want to let you know that there's a little contest going on on my Facebook page. You could win your favorite candy bar! Come check it out.

I first read Karen Hoover's The Sapphire Flute, Book one of the Wolfchild Saga, in May of last year. I loved it, and I've been anxiously awaiting the second book, The Armor of Light, ever since. This month I finally got the opportunity to read it!

Ember has been accepted into the mage academy, but not without cost. She has gained a new enemy, ancient and dark, whose entire purpose is to destroy all white magic and her along with it. After nearly losing her life in a brutal attack, DeMunth is assigned her guardian, and the keystone he wears, The Armor of Light, begins the transition that will make it a true power.

Kayla has lost most everything of importance to her—the people, the prestige, and all she fought for the past ten years. With nothing left to lose, she continues her search for the birthplace of The Sapphire Flute and the Wolfchild she believes to be its player. Her journey will take her to strange, foreign, and often dangerous places, and everything she had thought to be true will be proven wrong.

In a showdown full of betrayal and heroic loss, Ember and Kayla finally meet on the battlefield, fighting a war on two fronts—against C'Tan and her people, and the mysterious enemy bent on destroying all magic—the shadow weavers.

The story is full of power, betrayal, hope, and love. The elements of the universe are coming together, and none can know who will stand in the end.

The Armor of Light is a wonderful continuation of the exciting story in that began in The Sapphire Flute. I love both of the main characters, Ember and Kayla. They each have unique strengths and weaknesses and I could relate to both of them. The book is full of action, danger and just the right amount of romance. The exciting ending took my breath away! Now I can't wait to read the third book!

If you enjoy epic fantasy, then you'll love both The Sapphire Flute and The Armor of Light.

You can read samples of both and find ordering information on Karen E. Hoover's website. I highly recommend you check them out!

*I received a free e-book in exchange for my honest review.*

Goin' Moblie

I want to start by saying that I don't have a cell phone. Well, okay. I DO have a cell phone.A droid. But I have no phone service (and, no, I won't be getting any). It's basically a glorified pocket watch. But I can get on the internet if there is a wireless network available, and luckily at my house there is! So, I do occasionally read blogs from my phone.

I would like to suggest that if you have a blog, you enable mobile view. If you don't the blog is basically unreadable from the phone. It's super tiny. And if I enlarge it, then I have to move the page all over to read everything. Annoying.

Here's what mobile view looks like:

[image error] I wanted a sample of my blog, but this was all I could come up with. You get the idea.
Yeah, there's no sidebar, but in my opinion, it's better to have someone able to read your posts from their phone than not. If they can read you on the phone, they're much more likely to visit your blog from an actual computer than if you annoy them with an unreadable page.

To enable mobile view, just go to settings, mobile & email, and enable it. Super easy.

Your mobile readers will thank you!

The Empty Well

Holy cow! It's been a week since I last posted? How did that happen? I had it in my mind that I had posted on Wednesday last week. I didn't realize it was clear last Monday. So sorry! (That sort of shows what last week was like.)

I've been pretty much empty of blog post ideas anyway. But on the plus side, I've been chock full of great plot ideas. I think that's a pretty good trade-off.

I know there are some of you writers out there who are brimming with ideas all the time. People who have so many all at once that they can't decide what to write first.

That's great, but...it sure isn't me. Ideas tend to come to me in a slow trickle. And sometimes I have to dig pretty deep to find any at all.

Do you ever have that problem? I know there are ideas all over. Everywhere. In every conversation, in every place you go, in everyone you meet. I see them, but the vast majority just don't speak to me.

Oh, what a joy it is to find one that does. The idea that makes me sit up and go, "Yes! I can't wait to write that!" So, I'll trade off blog post ideas for story ideas any day.

What about you? Do ideas come to you in a flood or a trickle? Any tricks for getting the flow going?