Weekly Reads and Writing #5

I just got back from an amazing books signing, this Sunday evening! I got to see Andrew Smith, Kelly Link, Cassandra Clare, and most excitedly, Holly Black. It was my first actual signing, and I was just a wee bit starstruck, to say the least. Holly Black is one of my favorite authors ever, so meeting her was so crazy!

pic from @HVYASociety on Twitter

I'm going to make an entirely different post about the experience, including a video I'm gonna put together from the event. It was a great way to end my book week!

I ended up reading 6 books, this week, even though 5 of them were short middle grade books, in preparation for the book signing I went to. All of them were amazing, and I have reviews up for them!

First, I finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, which was very very good. I finally am joining the immense fandom this series has.

I then read the entire Spiderwick Chronicles series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. It was such a beautiful, magical series, which was so much fun to read.

And lastly, I started the second book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Ashes. I'm about halfway through it, and I plan of finishing it early this week.

After the signing, I have soo many more new books that I can't wait to read! I'm just so excited to be part of the book community, and to read so many amazing stories.

Because of going to the book signing, I'm also a lot more inspired to work on my novel. Holly and Andrew both talked about how they got the ideas to write their books, and everyone discussed character naming and importance, and other writing-related things.

This past week I wrote barely anything, because I was still really grieving over the loss of my dog. However, I am so inspired and ready to start working on it more again. Especially after the signing, I'm excited to discover more about my characters, and I'm going to work hard at making them good, complex characters.

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 2,031
Total Word Count: 13,264

I may or may not write more tonight, since I did go most of the week without writing. I really would love to double my total word count by the end of this week. I'm going to be focusing a LOT more on writing and reading, and not spending so much time on the computer, in front of the TV, and playing Animal Crosing.

So while this week started off kinda sour, I'm very glad it picked up, and I'm feeling better mentally. I'm ready for what the week ahead has to offer!