*Riiiiing* Oh no, I'm late!

*THIS IS POST NUMBER 3 OF THE CONTEST. DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, THE CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL 10PM PST  TODAY.  THANK YOU, AND KEEP GUESSING!*

 

(Original is here)

We've all been late. Alright, maybe not all of us. As few as there may be, those perfectly time-aware people do exist. But... most of us aren't one of those people.

What do we do when we're running late? Falling behind? Not keeping up with our schedule?

Let's say you're in a race. The gun shot rings out, and all of the participants spring into a sprint. Run, run, arms back and forth, back and forth. Legs pushing hard. One lap around, and... you're behind. You had planned on finishing in first place, but it looks like Bob beat you to it. Only two laps left. Now, you have two options:

Keep running at the same pace, OR...

Run faster.

If you continue at the same pace, you'll fall further and further behind. Maybe not even finish in second place. And you'll be worn-out and telling yourself that it's too late, and there isn't any plausible way for you to climb back to the top.

But if you run faster, work harder, push yourself more than you usually do, more than anyone else in the race does, then you will speed up. You will catch up. And then, eventually, you'll win.

Sounds easy, right? Eh, not really. It's one thing to keep that thought in mind, but completely another to actually carry out the plan. After all, who wants to run faster when you're already panting every molecule of oxygen in you out? I wish there was a formula for this, but there isn't. In fact, by proclaiming you're "behind schedule" and "can't catch up", you are actually naming an excuse for.... you guessed it. Procrastination.

What to do? Besides the ways you can help avoid procrastination (which you can find by clicking on the link above or going to the Advice Column page), I suggest that you let in others.

Here's what I mean: When you're in a race, you have friends and family members cheering you on. Those encouragements motivate you to run faster, harder. Same thing with writing. When you are falling behind on schedule, you have to let your friends encourage you to go on. Remember when Mary said that she wanted to read your manuscript so badly, but you weren't--aren't--finished yet? Let her excitement motivate you to finish it. Also, go to your worst enemy--the one that will say "Wow, I'd be surprised if you did finish it". There goes your instinct of competition (same as in a race) and hopefully, you'll be outraged enough to finish your manuscript just for the sake of shoving it in your enemy's face.

And... that's it! If you ever fall behind on schedule and feel discouraged again (which is completely understandable and normal), feel free to check back on this post and get the motivation you need to keep up in the race.

What do you do when running late?

So much for praise

*THIS IS POST NUMBER 2 OF THE CONTEST. DUE TO A BLOGGER MALFUNCTION, THE CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 10PM PST TODAY*



Paranormalcy
By: Kiersten White

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

-Summary from Goodreads

The hardest part of being a book reviewer is to review a book that you didn't like, written by an author you love. And I'm not trying to be mean, I don't want to be mean. But I will be honest.

*Disclaimer: An author is NOT he/her's book. I absolutely love Kiersten White as a person. She is funny and awesome, but that, sadly, does not make me like the book. Also, this is entirely my opinion. The majority of readers thoroughly enjoyed this book. Therefore, because I am part of the minority, please do not judge this book based solely on my review.*

As you can already tell, this won't be a positive review. So many people gushed about this book that it had been at the top of my TBR pile for months and months. Finally, I got a chance to get it, and on a whim I bought both Paranormalcy AND Supernaturally.

Not the best idea.

Paranormalcy was just not my cup of tea. I had high expectations for it based on the hype it was receiving and the author's creativeness, but this book just made me want to throw it at someone. Never good. Evie's voice was irritating. A lot of times she just sounds plain immature, and I'd be thinking, "She's sixteen?" Also, there were a lot of out-of-norm word choices that jumped out at me and gave me a major headache. There were a lot of "I'd probably better go...." Probably better? Seriously? This phrase was used so much that I cringed every time I saw it. At first I had resisted the urge to shut the book by telling myself that it was just Evie's immature voice. But, no. Turns out Lend says it, too. I just couldn't stand it. Also, there were a lot of sentences starting with "Still, I----" And while still can--should--be used, overusing it in a TEEN dialogue is just unbearable. I had to practically drag myself through the book because I had already bought it. It would have been much more comforting if the sentence structure had been switched up from time to time to "I still----".

You might think I'm just over thinking the small stuff. But while there were small, irritating spots, there were also problems I definitely had with the overall "whatever, o-kay? Puh-leese" type of voice. There were major overall arc problems that I found very unbelievable. Evie and Lend basically are instantly in love. Maybe as friends at first, but it didn't take very long for that to transition into something more. And it was so unbelievable. Trust me, I love Lend. He's so sweet, I think he's the only reason I survived through the book. But... Evie and Lend are basically only together because: 1) Evie thinks Lend is hot, 2) Lend thinks Evie is hot, 3) They both are humans with a special skill, 4) Neither had been in a relationship before. Goodness sakes, and not to mention the side characters that were very two-dimensional, the people who get mentioned once and never mentioned again, some scenes that were completely unnecessary and dragged on the plot...

It saddens me that this particular review would be the one for the contest, but please do remember my disclaimer. On a brighter note, the cover is gorgeous! And 99.9% of the book's readers like it! Congrats, Kiersten! Also, this book had some funny dialogue lines, which definitely make great quotes.

Do try this book, because it could very well be a different experience for you. And keep guessing, everyone!

Apologize

Hey everyone! I hope this works...

So, I know you're all wondering how come I didn't post any new contest posts yet. The answer is...

Blogger wasn't working.

I kept trying to post, but then a white page with the words "Bad Request" would show up. So, because of that, I'm extending the contest time to 10PM PST tomorrow! 

Thank you all so much for understanding, and keep putting in guesses!