In Which Kaylee Describes Her Awesome Week

Soooo, some pretty cool stuff happened to me the past two weeks. First is that I purchased a plane ticket for South Padre. I haven't been on a plane since I was in the forth grade, so this is going to be quite an experience for me. Luckily the flight is only about an hour and a half. I'm very excited to see my cousin soon. Though I only get a few days with her, it's going to be awesome. And hopefully, by next summer, I can make my way out there again. Then we can go out to bars, and have a real Padre experience.

Second, I got my writing mojo back. I'm actually writing again -sparsely- and it feels so good. I get excited to write these posts, and I write them early because I want to get it all out. This feeling, and energy for writing is so good. I hope it decides to stay for a while.

Third, I read two books in about a week and a half! I'd been nibbling my way through Remembrance (by Meg Cabot, http://www.megcabot.com/) and was under halfway through, when all of a sudden on Monday I started chomping at it. By Tuesday I was over halfway done, and then at 5 AM, early on Wednesday morning, I finished the book, tears forming in my eyes. By lunch that day, I was nearly halfway through another book. I didn't get much time for reading on Thursday or Friday, but between the hours of 12 AM and 3 AM on Saturday morning, I finished Howl's Moving Castle (by Diana Wynne Jones, it's also a Studio Ghibli anime). It was my second time reading this book, and god did I pick up on things a lot more clearly. I'd love to do a thorough analysis and critic of the book. I might start it later this week and post it on the blog.

Fourth, the most important.... Two of my famous people actually noticed me. I tweeted out after I finished Remembrance about how great it was, and Meg Cabot, the real one, actually liked my tweet. Not only that, but she also followed me! (I'm sure it's publicists or whatever, but let me DREAM.)

And then early this morning (it's currently 3:30 AM), I took a picture of a poster my friends found and tweeted out to Toby Turner (better known as Tobuscus on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Tobuscus) and he liked it! I know it was actually him and not a publicist because he's not famous enough yet to need someone to monitor his social media. And that makes it even cooler!

While those things may seem small, they make me incredibly happy. It was such an experience to realize that people you consider to be rock stars and celebrities actually took the time to notice you for ten seconds. I felt so good, and that's what matters.

Y'all have a great day.
Kaylee

This Week We Discuss Books.

I've tried over a hundred times to write a blog post, but nothing would come to me. It was like the energy to create just didn't exist for a while. But, while my writing has been on the fritz, my reading and photographing muses have been singing. At Christmastime, I started rereading one of my favorite book series of all time: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, by the all-powerful Libba Bray.

http://libbabray.com/

This would be the first time I've read these books again, since I was in seventh grade. That's nearly seven years! It took me from Christmas until this past weekend to finish the first one, which is only 400 pages long! I imagine it took so long for several reasons: I got bored (hard for me to admit), I had school and sorority, and I was busy being with my boyfriend. Luckily, I did finish the damned thing and moved onto the sequel (600 pages), Saturday. I finished that this morning and then proceeded to grab the last book off my shelf (800 pages).

It's also very interesting that I'm reading this (my favorite book series) at the beginning of the semester, because last fall, I reread my second favorite book series, by a talented Mrs. Rosemary Clement-Moore (https://readrosemary.wordpress.com/). Who I actually have met! Almost all of the books that I own by her (which is nearly all the YA books she's published) are signed (in person!) copies.

Both of these women writers, Bray and Clement-Moore, are my role models. They're beautiful, strong, courageous, and they write in such a fashion and in such lines that I wish to be the main character. Not to give spoilers, but both series revolve around a young girl who has just discovered powers inside herself that she's not sure how to control. In Bray's trilogy, Gemma is a young girl (just turned 16) who was raised in Victorian era British-ruled India, but pretty soon in the book is moved to England for school. Clement-Moore's books detail a slightly older girl named Maggie who attends a present day high school. Both girls must battle demons, while facing rocky friendships, growing up, and finding out who they truly are (and romancing hot guys).

I love these books with all my heart. If posting this gets anyone out there interested in either the authors or the books, great! I would feel more than accomplished at getting these authors' names out there and these wonderful books noticed. Read them! Follow them! Live the lives of two young girls just trying to make their way through this cruel and craggy world. I love books, y'all!

That's it, rant over.
Kaylee

PS- I got a job!