Everly’s Comments (group member since Oct 14, 2011)

Everly’s comments from the Connecting Readers and Writers group.

Here it is, June. You know what that means. Time to read and write a review of an author from this group. I have an idea for this month. I have been looking through the first 100 words file and have seen some great work. How about you chose a book from there? Try to make sure it is really an indi author and not something that is traditionally published.
Happy reading!

-As a reminder, you don't have to participate every month, I know how life can get in the way. This is supposed to be fun not stressful so just participate when it works for you.
- After you buy your book, just leave a little comment on here to let us know you bought one. You do not need to say what book you bought, but you can if you want. I prefer not to, so that I feel like I can give an honest review.
- Please leave an HONEST review of the book on Amazon as well as Goodreads.
- You can read the same book as someone else, or from the same author, you read before. The whole point is to read what you like.

For those of you who have not been under a rock, you know all about the success of the runaway hit, 50 Shades of Grey. You may not agree with the subject matter, but you have to say something for the author who has never written anything before and decided to tackle a subject that no one else has talked about. What are your thoughts?

This question is for those of you who are not authors. As a reader, do you just enjoy reading for reading sake or does it ever inspire you to want to attempt your own story?

When you sit down to edit your work, do you give yourself an amount of time you need to edit before you give yourself a break, or a word count?
Since I am currently in editing hell with my first novel, I would love any other editing advice.

I always give a book 30 pages. I use to force myself to read the whole thing, if it's an indie author I still do, but for a traditionally published author, if you haven't grabbed me in 30 pages, I have 50 more books sitting behind you, just waiting to be read.

Michayla wrote: "Yes, I've been a good little reader this month... :)"

Yay! Way to go Michayla.

Ahhhh, how is it mid may already? Time flies when you are reading good books I guess. So, let's see who has been a good little reader and read an indie author this month. If you haven't, well then there is still time to read and review. I bought mine, who else bought theirs?

-As a reminder, you don't have to participate every month, I know how life can get in the way. This is supposed to be fun not stressful so just participate when it works for you.
- After you buy your book, just leave a little comment on here to let us know you bought one. You do not need to say what book you bought, but you can if you want. I prefer not to, so that I feel like I can give an honest review.
- Please leave an HONEST review of the book on Amazon as well as Goodreads.
- You can read the same book as someone else, or from the same author, you read before. The whole point is to read what you like.

If it doesn't make you read faster, does it make you buy more books?

I just heard a statistic that said people who have ereaders, read 24% more books then people who read traditional books. Do you think that is true?

What book are you currently reading and what do you think of it so far? How did you hear about it in the first place?

Procrastination is a huge problem for most writers. Here is an article about the problem. http://ellelapraim.com/when-making-a-...

What do you do as an author, to get past your procrastination tendencies?

Here is an article I wrote about why it is important to keep up on writing trends even if you don't tend to like to write what is trendy.
What are your thoughts?

http://ellelapraim.com/what-is-dystop...

Do you work with an outline for your stories? What is your experience with outlines, are they helpful or a waste of time? I wrote a blog post about it so check it out and let me know what you think!

http://ellelapraim.com/writing_outline/

Here is a great article Betsy wrote for my blog, it is all about writing non-fiction. Until I read her article it was something that scared me, what are your thoughts about trying non-fiction?
http://ellelapraim.com/writing-nonfic...

I got my book, reading away!

I can't believe it's April already. You know what that means..... time to pick the indi book you will read and review this month. (from the bookshelf on this group).

-As a reminder, you don't have to participate every month, I know how life can get in the way. This is supposed to be fun not stressful so just participate when it works for you.
- After you buy your book, just leave a little comment on here to let us know you bought one. You do not need to say what book you bought, but you can if you want. I prefer not to, so that I feel like I can give an honest review.
- Please leave an HONEST review of the book on Amazon as well as goodreads.
- You can read the same book as someone else, or from the same author, you read before. The whole point is to read what you like.

Rob wrote: "Elle, with respect....

The target audience for a movie about teens who brutally slaughter each other for the sport of the decedant masses is far larger than "Girls age 12-17 and their mothers". F..."

Interesting thoughts, thanks Rob!

Here is an article I wrote about the new cover of Glamour magazine that really bothered me. It shows the actress who plays Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) dressed provocatively. I am ok with the actress flaunting her stuff, but not when she is representing a fictional sixteen-year-old character. Please read the article and let me know what you think. Do you think I'm right or am I just getting more conservative now that I am thirty?
http://ellelapraim.com/glamours-sexua...

It is so exiting to see all the wonderful things you guys are working on. I am constantly blown away by how much talent is in this group!

Since the movie is out today and breaking box office records, I thought it might be a good time to talk about why the books were so successful. Any thoughts? I mean, there are a lot of great books out there, so what is it about this trilogy?