The 10 Best Books Read in 2021

Hello everyone!

In 2021, I read 685 books. At the beginning of 2022, I thought back over all the books I’d read the previous year and realized that there were a few that stood out.

In the video below, I share my top ten books that I read in 2021 and why I loved them.

Top Ten Books

1. Planet Earth Is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos
2. The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte
3. Fall Is Not Easy by Marty Kelley
4. One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi
5. While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat by Amy Reichert, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger
6. Mama Seeton’s Whistle by Jerry Spinelli, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
7. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
9. The Very Last Leaf by Stef Wade, illustrated by Jennifer Davison
10. If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy Newbold, illustrated by Greg Newbold

Happy reading!

Katie

P.S.

For more themed book recommendations and activities, visit my post library.

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Honest Goal Assessment

Hello everyone!

As a writer, and as a person in general, it is important to self-evaluate to see what we are doing well and where we need to improve.  One way I do this is by setting goals and then reviewing them to see how well I met them.

This year, I had three writing related goals:

1. Complete the re-write of The Four Crystals.
2. Write at least the first book in my chapter book mystery series.
3. Read 50 books.

When I created my goals for 2019, I thought they were achievable.  And, for the most part, they were.

Goal #3: I’ve read or listened to over 70 books.

Goal #2: I got Book 1 of my chapter book mystery series to a polished state and completed a rough draft of Book 2.

Goal #1: Although I made progress, I will not complete the re-write of The Four Crystals this year.

Meeting two out of three goals is not bad, and I have to remind myself of that, but my failure to complete my number one goal bothered me.  When I reflected over why I had failed to achieve what seemed like a perfectly reasonable goal at the beginning of 2019, I came up with the following list of reasons I had not succeeded.

1. I was in a musical during the summer, and between my day job and rehearsals, I did not have time to write.
2. Instead of treating the re-write like the creation of a new rough draft, I attempted to create a first draft, which is a little more polished and takes more time to write.  (My definition of a rough draft is the same as Allison K. Williams’ vomit draft, and my first draft is a hybrid between her story and character drafts.  See “Optimal Editing.”)
3. I am part of two writer’s groups and teach a weekly German class, so some of my free time is devoted to participating in and preparing for those activities.

Once I gave myself that reality check, I had to decide what to do with my discoveries so that I would meet my future goals.

1. Summer Musical: I enjoy acting.  Theater has been a big part of my life, but at this stage, writing has become more important to me than performing.  I decided that unless a local theater was putting on one of my dream shows, I would take a break from acting until at least autumn 2020.
2. Rough Draft versus First Draft: Although writing a first draft instead of a rough draft would not be time efficient for a new project, it is the right choice for The Four Crystals.  I have a very clear idea of what I want the story to be, and I need to see whether or not my vision for the book is working.  A rough draft would not help me to determine that, but a first draft would.  I need to adjust my timeline for the re-write.
3. Writer’s Groups and Teaching: Being involved in writer’s groups exposes me to genres I would not choose to read on my own, which benefits me as a writer.  The feedback I get from the groups is beneficial and helps me to hone my craft.  At this point, I think that staying active in both groups is the right choice.  As for teaching, I made a commitment for the 2019-20 school year, but come 2020-21, I need to consider if offering a weekly language class is in the best interest of my writing career.

What I took away from my goal evaluation is that I still have room for improvement when it comes to time management and that I need to be even more selective when committing to different activities.  At least my 2019 goals were more realistic than the ones I set for 2018.  I am learning and improving!

As 2019 comes to a close, I highly encourage you to look over your own goals for 2019 and determined what worked, what didn’t, and why.  Then, apply what you learned when creating your 2020 goals.

Happy writing!

Katie

Seven Books that Shaped Who I Am

Hello everyone!

The other day I had a conversation with sci-fi and fantasy author Olivia Berrier about the seven books that have had the greatest impact on us.  I was able to come up with two lists of seven books: seven that shaped who I am as a writer and seven that influenced who I am as a person.

Your challenge is to come up with a list of the seven books that have had the greatest impact on you.  Think about how and why they influenced you.  Then, send each author a short message letting them know what their book meant to you.  You will make their day!

To help you get started, I have included my list of the seven books that helped shape who I am as a writer.  (I cheated a little – If the series as a whole influenced me rather than a specific book from the series, I listed the title of the series.)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Waredrobe by C.S. Lewis – This was the first story I ever fangirled over.  It established my love for allegories and fantasy worlds.

The Seven Sleepers Series by Gilbert Morris – It built upon the foundation Narnia had laid.  My love of allegories and fantasy worlds was solidified.

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini – The Inheritance Cycle showed me how to explore different belief systems in a fictional setting and introduced me to the idea that magic can have rules.  From a technical standpoint, I learned a trick for minimizing use of the auxiliary verb “had” when relating something that had happened before the story began.  (This only applies to books that are narrated in the past tense.)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – This book was my introduction to first-person narration.  It is my favorite go-to example for how to set your reader firmly in a world without having an info dump and for what information to include in the first chapter of a novel.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson – This book showed me that children’s books can cover difficult, real-life situations which young people sadly face but society often considers too mature to discuss with children.

Main Street Series by Ann M. Martin – This series showed me how to grow characters over the course of several books.  It also demonstrated how to write about real-life, too-mature-to-discuss-with-children situations in a tasteful way.

A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy – This series showed me how to structure a chapter book mystery series.

Happy writing!

Katie

How to Grow from Past Mistakes

Hello everyone!

So, I have been reviewing my writing goals for 2018.  At the beginning of the year, my plan was to take my novel The Four Crystals from a rough draft to a polished draft by the end of the year.  I had a plan to accomplish the daunting task (breaking the editing process into weekly segments and tracking my progress); however, I made a few mistakes.

The first one was thinking I could take a rough draft to a polished draft in one edit.  It took longer to edit the first fourth of the novel than I had been anticipating.  Then, I realized that due to all the changes I had made to the first fourth of the book and all of the plot changes I was planning on making to the remaining three-fourths, it would be quicker to re-write the remainder of the book than it would be to edit it.

My second mistake, which I technically made years ago when I started writing The Four Crystals, was not reading a variety of fantasy books before I started writing one.  Up until this year, I didn’t understand that there is a difference between fantasy and fairy tales.  After all, they both have magic, fairies, elves, dwarves, and quests.  Some of my writer friends kindly alerted me to the fact that The Four Crystals, which I wrote to be a fantasy novel, read more like a fairy tale – probably because I have read so many fairy tales and fairy tale spinoffs.  Once I learned that there was a difference, I started reading fantasy novels to get a feel for what beats I would need in my novel.  I also needed to figure out which fantasy clichés I had accidentally put in my novel.  (The wise old mage working with the know-nothing teenage boy might have been one of them.)

Things I have learned from this year’s mistakes:

1. Read a minimum of five books in the genre you want to write before you start writing (ten is more advisable).
2. Do multiple edits and focus on one thing per edit (e.g. characters, plot, dialogue, etc.).
3. Set a goal, but if everything falls apart, DON’T GIVE UP! Learn from your mistakes, regroup, and try again.  (The failure rate for people who give up is 100%.  I will not be one of them.)

My goals for 2019 are to complete a new draft of The Four Crystals and to write at least the first book in the mystery chapter book series I started brainstorming and researching during the second half of 2018.  (Don’t worry, I already read over 20 mystery chapter books to make sure I understood the genre.)

Happy writing and happy New Year!

Katie

P.S.

I would like to shout out a special thank you to the two people who most supported and encouraged me after I discovered that I needed to do a major re-write to The Four Crystals: my brother and creative consultant, Gregory, and my friend and author, Olivia Berrier.  I don’t know what I’d do without the two of you!

Author Events: School Visits, Library Presentations, and Book Signings

Hello everyone!

So, once you’ve publish your book, you’re job is done, right?  Wrong!  Now more than ever, authors have to market their books.  A great marketing strategy is to book live events like school visits, library presentations, and book signings.

These sorts of interactions can by scary for authors, especially for the ones who hate public speaking or are introverts.  The following articles have tips for how to have positive author events.  I hope they help!

Tips for Authors:

“Organization & Preparation Tips” by Garr Reynolds

“How to Host a Successful Book Signing” by WestBow Press

Tips for Schools:

“7 Tips for the Perfect Author Visit” by Brad Herzog  (Authors, consider creating an event packet to give to give to schools, libraries, and other event locations to help stir up excitement for your visit – see point 4.  Trust me, as someone who’s acted since I was five, an engaged audience is way more fun than an apathetic one.)

Tips for Libraries:

“Publicity, programming and promotion – Arrange an author visit” by the Association for Library Service to Children

Happy writing and good luck marketing!

Katie

How to Succeed at Writing: Working through Frustration

Hello everyone and happy Presidents’ Day!

While working towards my 2018 goal of editing my novel The Four Crystals from beginning to end, I hit a snag in completing my weekly goal.  Apparently chapters 3-5 heard me say I was going to edit one chapter a week and conspired to detain me longer than that.  If they weren’t essential to the plot, I’d show them who was boss and cut them.

Needless to say, feeling stuck is very frustrating.  It’s made me question why I torture myself with writing when there are other things I enjoy that require less effort.  When I get depressed with my own writing journey, I find inspiration from reading about what established writers do.

Below are a few articles which recently helped me.  I hope they also inspire you to keep writing.

In case you don’t have time to read them, here’s a quick summary: 1. Find a writing space, 2. create a writing routine, and 3. make yourself do it.  (They say it much more elegantly than I just did.)

“Mark Ellis – A Writer’s Life” by Mark Ellis

“10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers” by Robert Blake Whitehill

“Ten Ways To Succeed at Writing Without Really Trying” by Ruthy Logan Herne

Happy writing!

Katie

Audiobooks

Hello everyone and merry Christmas!

Have you ever wondered about what goes into creating an audiobook?  Did you ever question whether or how having an audio version of your book could affect its marketability?

Recently, due to the amount of driving I do, I have been listening to more books than I read.  Some audiobooks are narrated by a single reader while others have multiple readers.  Most of the time, the narrator has a pleasant voice, but one reader was so nasal that I almost stopped listening to the book before the intro had ended.  The amount of music used in an audiobook also varies from book to book.

Whether you are considering creating an audio version of your book or just want to learn more about the process, I recommend you read Libby Fisher Hellmann’s blog post, “How to Produce an Audiobook in 7 Steps.”  Hellmann gives advice to authors who want to produce their own audiobook and does a good job of outlining the process.

For a different angle on audiobook production, read “An Insider Look at an Audio Book Production Company: Meet Owner Todd Barselow!” by Donna Galanti.

I hope you learn something new and interesting from these articles.

Happy writing and merry Christmas!

Katie

 

Book Clubs: Making Them Part of Your Platform

Hello everyone!

I recently read an interview with Kathryn Craft, conducted by Donna Galanti: “Book Club Tips: Are You and Your Novel Book Club-Worthy?” I had never considered how making my book more appealing to book clubs could be a marketing strategy, but the points brought up during the interview made a lot of sense. I hope you find the interview as thought provoking as I did.

Happy writing!

Katie

Foreshadowing

Hello everyone!

Have you ever read a novel or short story and when you came to the end of it realized that the author had been hinting at the ending all along? This is effective foreshadowing.

As I have been editing my novel, The Four Crystals, I have been trying to sprinkle foreshadowing throughout the story without making the ending too obvious. It’s hard!

Below are three articles about foreshadowing and how to correctly incorporate it into your own writing.

For a quick overview of how to foreshadow, read “Narrative Elements: Foreshadowing” on Author’s Craft.

For some suggestions and examples of how to foreshadow, read  “Nine Examples of Foreshadowing in Fiction” by Harvey Chapman.

For a longer explanation of what foreshadowing is, a list of common literary methods used to foreshadow, and an exercise to help you spot bad foreshadowing (referred to in the post as “telegraphing,” but what I like to call “oversharing”), read “Foreshadowing – The Guide To Hooking Readers” by Mladen Reljanović.

The main thing to remember about foreshadowing is that it should be subtle, like the aroma of food preparing you for a big meal. Two pitfalls to avoid are oversharing and not following through on foreshadowing (this does not apply to deliberate red herrings). Oversharing is like shoving food down someone’s throat. They don’t enjoy it. Equally bad is foreshadowing something and then not following through. This is like seeing a restaurant, smelling the food cooking, and then being told the restaurant is closed for the day. You leave the restaurant dissatisfied and angry.

Happy writing and good luck foreshadowing!

Katie

 

Recommended Reading for Writers

Hello everyone and happy Father’s Day!

Due to additional job responsibilities, summer plans, and writing deadlines, I will be posting two times per month for the rest of the summer.

The more I write, the more I discover how truly essential reading is to developing one’s craft. There are two books which I believe every writer seeking publication should read and a reading strategy which, in my opinion, all writers should employ.

Book Recommendations

The first book is The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing: How to Write, Work, & Thrive on Your Own Terms by Zachary Petit. In his book, Petit offers advice on how to break into the freelance market, build a platform, write a professional query letter, conduct interviews, and more. Although his book’s target audience is freelance writers, much of his advice is valuable for those who do not wish to become a freelancer. In addition to being informative, Petit’s voice is very conversational and often humorous, causing the book to read more like a novella than a “how to” book. I highly recommend The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing to anyone who wants to write professionally.

Another valuable resource is the Writer’s Market Deluxe Edition 2017 (aka the writer’s Bible). It contains:

• Writing Related Advice (i.e. how to write a good query letter, how to build a platform, etc.)
• Lists of:
  • Literary Agents
  • Book Publishers
  • Consumer Magazines
  • Trade Journals
  • Contests and Awards

Other books which are similar in content, but geared towards specific genres are Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market 2017, Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market 2017, Poet’s Market 2017, and Guide to Literary Agents 2017.

Reading Strategy

Read in your genre. If you want to write poetry, read poetry. If your passion is science fiction, read all the science fiction you can get your hands on. Do you want to write short stories? Read short stories, especially ones printed in the publications you plan on querying.

The young adult novel I am currently editing, The Four Crystals, is an allegorical fantasy. Obvious books to read for this genre are The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I hope you find these book recommendations and the reading strategy helpful.

Happy writing!

Katie