Goodreads Readers Choice Awards 2017

*As Angie Thomas’, The Hate U Give, won two of the reader’s choice categories (congrats Angie!), information given here is listed for the runner up novel

Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction:

A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J. Maas

You can read more about A Court of Wings and Ruin on Goodreads

Runner Up: Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare

Buy A Court of Wings and Ruin on Amazon

Buy Lord of Shadows on Amazon

Best Middle Grade & Children’s:

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Rick Riordan

You can read more about Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard on Goodreads

Runner Up: The Trials of Apollo, Rick Riordan

Buy Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard on Amazon

Buy The Trials of Apollo on Amazon

Best Picture Books:

We’re All Wonders, R.J. Palacio

You can read more about We’re All Wonders on Goodreads

Runner Up: Malala’s Magic Pencil, Malala Yousafzai

Buy We’re All Wonders on Amazon

Buy Malala’s Magic Pencil on Amazon

Congratulations to all the winners, runners up, and everyone who had a book featured in the Goodreads Readers Choice Contest for 2017!

All the pictures included in this post came from Goodreads. Make sure you check out the books on this list and if you’ve read any of them let me know what ones you think are worth the read!

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NaNoWriMo: Halfway Point!

November 16, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

We’re half way through NaNoWriMo! How are you all doing so far?

I’m doing something a little different for NaNo this year. I’m not working on a new novel, I’m using this month to finally finish rewriting Brave Young Boys.

So far it’s not working so well.

I sort of went through a period (basically the whole month of October) in which I hardly did any writing. I wanted to write, but at the same time I just didn’t feel like it. Do you ever have those times?

Then I recently started a new job which has given me less time to write (hence why I’ve been so absent lately), but I’m definitely feeling more like I want to write so it’s sort of balancing itself out.

I’m getting caught up on reviews, fanfiction, blog posts, and am working on NaNoWriMo!

I’m determined to finish this novel by the end of this year, preferably, by the end of this month.

Let me know how you’re doing with NaNoWriMo so far!

Are you struggling? Pulling ahead?

Do you have periods where you feel like writing, but also don’t feel like writing?

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Featured Author: Elisabetta Dami

September 17, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

Elisabetta Dami was born in Italy in 1958.

At the age of eighteen, Dami started working as a proofreader for Dami Editore, the publishing house owned and started by her family.

She has a wide collection of works, but her most popular (and my favourites of hers) is her Geronimo Stilton series.

The first book was published in the year 2000 and are targeted at children six to twelve years old. Since being published over 100 million copies have been sold all over the world in many different languages.

Dami has written over 100 books.

I love the Geronimo Stilton books. I remember being in elementary school and I had the same teacher for two years and she used to read us these books every day.

I don’t remember everything about them, it was a long time ago and I’ve read a lot of other books since then, but I do remember looking forward to that time in the day when she’d grab one of the books and sit at the front of room.

I think part of the appeal was that she never asked one of us to read it she would always just do it herself which definitely made it more enjoyable as she could pronounce everything.

These books are great for children of all ages, not just the age group they’re aimed at. I’d definitely recommend these for anyone with kids, whether you’re a parent, a siblings, a babysitter, or ever a summer camp councillor.

I guarantee the kids you know will enjoy these books.

Have you read any Geronimo Stilton?

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#TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

August 9, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

Last week writers all over the internet took to Twitter to share their hardships as writers by using the hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter. These are 24 of those tweets that perfectly sum up things you shouldn’t say to a writer.

“Have you been published in real life or like just on the internet?” – @anne_theriault

“We can’t pay you but the exposure might be good.” – @BillCorbett

“Do you actually make money doing that, or do you also have a real job?” – @jesskristie

“I downloaded your books from one of those torrent sites. Those sites are great, you never have to pay for a book.” – @Cassandra_Carr

“‘You’re a writer? Oh, I have a GREAT book idea!’ (And then proceed to tell us your entire life story.) – @colleenhoover

“You’re a writer? But I’ve never heard of you…” – @cristela9

“‘Can you help me with this? It’s not like you’re doing anything important.’ Yea, I’m not WORKING or anything…” – @dkparsonswriter

“‘That’s nice. But some of us have to work for a living.'” – @deangloster

“You’re still working on _______? Shouldn’t you be done by now? – @donalynbooks

“‘I want to be a writer. Can you suggest a plot for my story?'” – @IamAlytoony

“Oh, you’re not published? So, you’re not a real writer.” – @hungryjourno

“Would you mind if I borrowed your laptop?” – @realhughfraser

“You write for children? Is that because you aren’t smart enough to write for adults?” – @Jacquibwriter

“I just read a book really similar to yours…” – @JarridWilson

“Person: So, where can I read your work?
Me: It hasn’t been published yet.
Person: Oh you’re THAT kind of writer.”
– @savranly

“It must be lovely working from home. You can combine your writing with housework and childcare.” – @Joannechocolat

“I’m worried you’ll die before your series gets finished.” – @scalzi

“You’re lucky you don’t have to work.” – @LaurenDeStefano

“A journalist? Wow. You don’t look like a journalist.” – @laurenonizzle

“You aren’t one of those ‘self-published’ authors, are you?” – @LaurieBoris

“They pay you money for that?” – @MadelineAshby

“Poetry books don’t exactly become national best sellers.” – @RachelKennedy88

“I thought you were dead.” – @se4realhinton

“Told a teen I write YA. She hadn’t heard of me. Said, ‘It would have been so cool if you were Suzanne Collins!'” – @sarahdessen

These are only 24 of the amazing tweets in this tag. I highly recommend going and checking it out, especially if you’re a writer. It’s definitely one of the most relatable things I’ve read online.

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Blogging For One Year!

July 16, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

One year. I’ve had this blog for one year. That’s crazy! It does not feel like one year.

So many amazing things have happened and I’m hoping there are many more amazing things to come. I have a lot of plans for this blog in the upcoming year and a few changes I want to try out.

First, I’m going to be buying my domain name. The plan was for me to buy it this morning and then by the time this post went up it would be the first post with my official domain name. However, as I was going through the process of buying it there were some extra fees and some more info that I hadn’t been aware of before.

It’s actually pretty stressful, but I’m trying not to concentrate on it too much and just enjoy the fact that I’ve been blogging for one year! So, buying my domain will definitely be happening (hopefully today!), just not quite when I was hoping it to.

Another change that will be made is to my Thursday posts. Previously, Thursdays meant I would be posting a Poem of the Week. However, this just wasn’t exciting to me. With everything else, I get excited when I post, but it wasn’t the same for weekly poems.

I am not eliminating it entirely though! Instead, I will be posting a Poem of the Month on the first Thursday of every month. Thursdays will become my random monthly post day. Starting in August, Thursdays will include: Poem of the Month, Top Ten Lists, Featured Authors, and things like that. I’m hoping to make each of these a monthly thing.

Another possible change that might be coming at some point is the possibility of me incorporating Youtube into this. I’ve wanted to make Youtube videos for ages and while it probably won’t be happening any time soon, I wanted to get your opinions on this.

So, I think that’s all the changes that will be made. Everything else will be staying the same as I’ve been enjoying and I think you have too (at least I hope so)!

Thank you so much for an amazing year! I have 213 followers on this blog which is 213 more than I was ever expecting so thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I hope you’ll stick with me for this next year that will hopefully be even better than this first one!

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Camp NaNoWriMo Week One!

April 5, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

It’s the end of Camp NaNoWriMo week one and I have done so much of nothing! Literally nothing… Well, that’s not entirely true. I opened the document. Does that count as working? Can I give myself a sticker?

Honestly, if this were regular NaNo in November I’d probably be freaking out by now. However, for Camp NaNo I’m not writing a brand new 50,000 word novel. What I’m doing is trying to finish my rewrite of BYB. So, I’m not freaking out about not having anything done, I’m more frustrated at the fact that I haven’t got anything done.

Now that’s not to say I haven’t been writing. I’ve been working a lot (and I mean, a lot) on blog posts and fanfiction and stuff for Buzzfeed and other things that need doing. However, on top of those things, I will be spending the next three weeks working on finally getting my rewrite done.

How are all of you doing on Camp NaNo so far?

Also, in non-Camp NaNo news, I changed my second blog! It was jcarsonrants and it is now jcarsonreviews because I discovered I much prefer reviewing episodes of things I watch as opposed to what the blog was originally going to be for
Also, I’m on Buzzfeed now. I think I might have mentioned this before or I linked to a post on Buzzfeed or something, I don’t know. But yes, various forms of social media have officially taken over my life and I apologize if I have mentioned this before, but I’m really excited. Some of the stuff I’m posting there will be on this blog as well, but a lot of it will only be posted there. So if you want to check that out I’ve put the link below.

Good luck to everyone on their second week of Camp NaNo and on anything else you’re doing this month!

Happy Easter!

Or, if you don’t celebrate Easter, happy Sunday!

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Camp NaNoWriMo Day One & April Updates

April 1, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

It is day one of Camp NaNoWriMo! How many of you are doing Camp NaNo this month?

Camp NaNo is basically the same thing as NaNoWriMo in November, except that the goal isn’t to write a brand new, 50,000 word novel. The goal is to set your own word goal and work on whatever project you want.

I will be taking this month to work on finally finishing my redraft of Brave Young Boys which has been getting pushed to the back burner a lot lately. So this month Brave Young Boys is my main focus and it won’t be getting pushed anywhere except hopefully into a willing publishers hands.

And this brings me to my April Updates. I won’t be posting a book review today or on the fifteenth.

I spent majority of March working to get everything done that I needed to before April first arrived and for the most part I got everything done. The two days I would normally be posting book reviews on are my two busiest days of the month so I won’t be doing those, but everything else will be going ahead as planned and book reviews will return in May!

Good luck to my fellow Camp NaNoWriMo participants! What projects are you working on?

Happy April!

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Six Years of Fanfiction!

February 16, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

So I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I am an avid fanfiction writer. I love fanfiction. Well, today marks exactly six years since I joined fanfiction.net. Six years since I took up the screen name: OwenHarpersGirl. In that time (as of 11:59 last night) I have:

84 Stories
275,007 Words
982 Reviews
448,819 Views
1,512 Story Favourites
1,013 Story Alerts
149 Author Favourites
157 Author Alerts
Included in 12 Communities
Have left 119 Signed Reviews
Read in 158 Countries

To celebrate six years, I updated every ongoing multi-chapter story I have posted so far, as well as uploading three new things.

But why is fanfiction so important to me? Well, before discovering fanfiction, writing was something I had always done for fun. It was a hobby. And when I say always, I mean always. I found some old notebooks from when I was four to six that I had written in and they contained stories I had made up about Pokemon and Digimon characters.

OwenHarpersGirl is like a second name to me now. It’s the name I use on all three writing websites I’m a part of (ff.net, AO3, and Wattpad) as well as my deviantart, NaNoWriMo, and tumblr. It was even the name on my Twitter and Pinterest up until I created this site. While at first it was a name I created because of my favourite character in a tv program, now it’s literally become like a part of who I am.

Writing fanfiction has changed my life. I never thought six years ago, when I first signed up, that I would have almost 100 stories with readers in 158 different countries! I have made so many amazing friends and learned so many new things through fanfiction and it’s crazy to think that my life could be totally different right now if I hadn’t signed up that day.

A big thank you to anyone who has ever read any of my fanfiction and I look forward to many more years of fanfiction writing.

If you haven’t you can check them out by scrolling up and clicking on my Fanfiction Page.

Do any of you write fanfiction? Why or why not?

Find me on Fanfiction | Find me on AO3 | Follow me on Wattpad

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Goodreads Readers Choice Awards 2014

January 11, 2015 by jcarsonwrites

How many of you use Goodreads? As both a writer and a lover of books, I find myself on Goodreads quite frequently. Users can create lists of books (Books Read, Books You Want to Read, etc.), write reviews on books, and discuss books with others (sometimes even the authors!)

Starting in 2009, Goodreads launched their Readers Choice Awards. Here’s 20 categories and people are able to nominate, and eventually vote on, their favourite books. Here are the winners of 2014!

Fiction:

Landline, Rainbow Rowell

Runner Up: Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty

Buy Landline on Amazon

Buy Big Little Lies on Amazon

Mystery/Thriller:

Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King

Runner Up: The Silkworm, Robert Galbraith

Buy Mr. Mercedes on Amazon

Buy The Silkworm on Amazon

Historical Fiction:

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr

Runner Up: The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd

Buy All the Light We Cannot See on Amazon

Buy The Invention of Wings on Amazon

Fantasy:

The Book of Life, Deborah Harkness

Runner Up: Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson

Buy The Book of Life on Amazon

Buy Words of Radiance on Amazon

Romance:

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, Diana Gabaldon

Runner Up: Maybe Someday, Colleen Hoover

Buy Written in My Own Heart’s Blood on Amazon

Buy Maybe Someday on Amazon

Science Fiction:

The Martian, Andy Weir

Runner Up: Lock In, John Scalzi

Buy The Martian on Amazon

Buy Lock In on Amazon

Horror:

Prince Lestat, Anne Rice

Runner Up: The Girl With All the Gifts, M.R. Carey

Buy Prince Lestat on Amazon

Buy The Girl With All the Gifts on Amazon

Humour:

Yes Please, Amy Poehler

Runner Up: Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, Neil Patrick Harris

Buy Yes Please on Amazon

Buy Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography on Amazon

Nonfiction:

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories, Marina Keegan

Runner Up: What If?, Randall Munroe

Buy The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories on Amazon

Buy What If? on Amazon

Memoir/Autobiography:

This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl, Esther Earl, Lori Earl, and Wayne Earl

Runner Up: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, Cary Elwes, Joe Layden, Rob Reiner

Buy This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl on Amazon

Buy As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride on Amazon

History and Biography:

The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, Helen Rappaport

Runner Up: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War, Karen Abbott

Buy The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra on Amazon

Buy Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War on Amazon

Business Books:

#GIRLBOSS, Sophia Amoruso

Runner Up: Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt

Buy #GIRLBOSS on Amazon

Buy Think Like a Freak on Amazon

Food and Cookbooks:

Make it Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten

Runner Up: My Paris Kitchen, David Lebovitz

Buy Make it Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook on Amazon

Buy My Paris Kitchen on Amazon

Graphic Novels and Comics:

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind, Zack Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Fabi Moon

Runner Up: Saga, Volume 3, Brian K. Vaughan

Buy Serenity: Leaves on the Wind on Amazon

Buy Saga, Volume 3 on Amazon

Poetry:

Lullabies, Land Leav

Runner Up: Poisoned Apples, Christine Heppermann

Buy Lullabies on Amazon

Buy Poisoned Apples on Amazon

Debut Goodreads Authors:

Red Rising, Piece Brown

Runner Up: Cruel Beauty, Rosamund Hodge

Buy Red Rising on Amazon

Buy Cruel Beauty on Amazon

Young Adult Fiction:

We Were Liars, E. Lockhard

Runner Up: Isla and the Happily Ever After, Stephanie Perkins

Buy We Were Liars on Amazon

Buy Isla and the Happily Ever After on Amazon

Young Adult Fantasy:

City of Heavenly Fire, Cassandra Clare

Runner Up: Hollow City, Ransom Riggs

Buy City of Heavenly Fire on Amazon

Buy Hollow City on Amazon

Middle Grade and Children’s:

The Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan

Runner Up: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, Jeff Kinney

Buy The Blood of Olympus on Amazon

Buy Diary of Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul on Amazon

Picture Books:

The Pigeon Needs a Bath!, Mo Willems

Runner Up: The Book with No Pictures, B.J. Novak

Buy The Pigeon Needs a Bath! on Amazon

Buy The Book with No Pictures on Amazon

Find me on Goodreads

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2014 in review

December 31, 2014 by jcarsonwrites

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,200 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 37 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

J. Carson Writes

Tag Archives: novel

Goodreads Readers Choice Awards 2017

NaNoWriMo: Halfway Point!

Featured Author: Elisabetta Dami

#TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

Blogging For One Year!

Camp NaNoWriMo Week One!

Camp NaNoWriMo Day One & April Updates

Six Years of Fanfiction!

Goodreads Readers Choice Awards 2014

2014 in review

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