Fired Up Friday

Fired Up Friday is a meme I started a while back where I post random bits of things that have inspired me that week. It could be a picture, line from a song, quote... anything as long as it proved to be inspiration for me.

This week it will be all photographs. We got a new camera last week and I had to test it out! I told you all that cemeteries are a big inspiration for me, so that's where I decided to spend the day. My grandfather was big into genealogy and often had my sister and I in tow when he went to cemeteries to look for a particular headstone. At least I got it honest! I couldn't pick just five photos (per my usual FuF postings), I'm going to post as many as I want. Deal with it. :p

The first cemetery I went to was OLD. Had headstones dating back to the 1800s. Some headstones didn't have any inscription on them at all, which was kind of sad to me.







This picture is particularly sad to me. His headstone reads "Gone, but not forgotten." He died in 1911, and I'm sure he has been forgotten to time now. :(



And this picture was one of my favorites that I took all day. It's the inspiration for what I'm going to work on after I finish my Historical. It says, "Death wings triumphant o'er mankind, Hope cheers the soul eternal bliss to find."




Next up is cemetery number two. It's a newer cemetery so not a lot of older stuff. I mostly took photos of things people put beside their loved one's graveside.











So those are the things that have inspired me this week. What do you think? What inspired YOU this week? Please discuss in the comments! And Happy Friday one and all!

Winner!!

Hi, guys! Sorry it's taken me a few days to decide and post the winner of my latest contest. I've finally decided, and the winner is...

Brodie! I'm going to use her suggestion of Stephanie, A History. I love it! Brodie I have sent you an email requesting your mailing info, so you have 48 hours to respond. Thanks so much to everyone for their awesome entries. I had a hard time deciding!

Contest on Heidi's Blog

Heidi Kling (author of Sea)is having an awesome giveaway on her blog! Go check it out and enter to win a copy of Everlasting by Annie Frazier.

Guest blogpost with Jen Bigheart: Young Adult Roundtable with Suzanne Collins

My friend Jen from I Read Banned Books had the opportunity to attend a panel that featured Suzanne Collins, author of Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay (as well as the Gregor series). I have to admit I was a little jealous. Jen is using her blog strictly for school related things at the moment, so she's doing a guest blogpost here! *muppet arms* Everyone, say hello to Jen! *applauds*






Suzanne Collins, April 16, 2010 - Texas Library Association annual conference - San Antonio, TX

Young Adult Roundtable Presents:

I was lucky enough to secure a front row seat for Suzanne’s author panel. In order to achieve this feat, I arrived over an hour early to the ballroom. Not surprisingly, I was not the first to arrive and claim a seat (or 5). Although the room was huge, every seat was filled within the hour. Suzanne took the stage quietly, setting her notes on the podium. A swarm of people (librarians, moms, children of all ages - both male and female) came to the stage for a quick picture. Suzanne was kind enough to grab a copy of the hunger games and pose on bended knee. The flashes were reminiscent of a red carpet event in Hollywood. She posed for roughly ten minutes; pointing to her gold mockingjay necklace and asking quick questions. One lady asked, “Do you feel like a rock star?” Suzanne answered, “yes!”. She stayed in position until a representative asked that we take a seat so Suzanne could begin her presentation. We all followed suit and took our seats.






After a few kind words from a Texas Library Association Young Adult Roundtable committee member, Suzanne took the stage to hoots, hollers, and a huge round of applause. She was very humble, thanked her audience and began. Suzanne began with a slide show of her upbringing and her early career.

Suzanne began as a playwright then spent 19 years in children’s television. She has written for LITTLE BEAR, CLARISA EXPLAINS IT ALL, OSWALD, and THE MYSTERY FILES OF SHELBY WOO. During this time, she met James Proimos who basically talked her into trying her hand at writing books. Her first endeavor with publishing was THE OVERLAND CHRONICLES. This set of 5 books were always classified “first and foremost, a war story”. Themes deal with rescuing a POW, biological warfare, and finally the necessity of military intelligence of winning a war. At this point, Suzanne backtracks into her fascination with conflict and war.

Suzanne was a military brat. Her father was in the United States Air Force serving in Vietnam. At the age of twelve she realized that she thought of war more than the average teenage girl. For her 12th birthday, her family took her to the site of Napoleon’s defeat. She explains that it wasn’t the “true” site of his defeat, but chosen because of the massive hill. Today, a statue of a lion stands at the top of the hill. This hill is comprised entirely of soldier’s helmets and the surrounding soil. Suzanne goes on to share stories of her and her father’s talks of war. In 2003, just before our country entered war yet again, her father died. The first OVERLANDER book was published in the same year.

Years later, Suzanne was channel surging late at night. She was flipping back and forth between a reality television show where young people were completing for money and coverage of the war in Iraq. She explains, “…after a while, the lines began to blur.” This was the birth of THE HUNGER GAMES.

She laughingly said that in the beginning she thought of THE HUNGER GAMES as an. “….almost human cloning gone bad…”, and a comedy. The audience chuckled and she joined in. She goes on to explain that furthering the idea for THE HUNGER GAMES came in 3 parts; 1 her father’s experience in the military, 2 Greek mythology of Theseus, and 3 Spartacus. Suzanne appreciated how ruthless the gladiators were. She explained that the OVERLANDER series covered Greek mythology so she turned to the gladiators. The ‘sport’ of watching men (usually slaves) compete for their life was fascinating. She goes on to give a brief description of the arena during ****

Suzanne ended her discussion by reading the last few pages of CATCHING FIRE. The entire room was on the edge of her seat and perfectly silent. Most (not all believe it or not) knew how the story would end - in a “shameless cliffhanger”, but hearing Gale say, “There is no District 12” from Suzanne was (for me) a dream come true.

Q&A: (paraphrasing)

Preface by saying there was no moderator on the floor during this time. Almost all questions were asked by young adults.

Where did you come up with the names for the characters in THE HUNGER GAMES series?

Wanted to pick traditional Roman names and add a little more to “jazz it up”. Rue is an acient flower that fit her agricultural district. Thresh was taken from the word threshing - a process before a harvest.

What was your favorite part to write in THE HUNGER GAMES?

Definitely the climax

What was your favorite book as a teenager?

She listed 3 - LORD OF THE FLIES , 1984 and A WRINKLE IN TIME

If were a District, which one would we be in?

Definitely the Capitol! We know where our next meal is coming from and we are spoiled. We have free speech and much too privileged.

Where did you come up with the Mockingjay?

My dad used to whistle and birds would answer him back. I needed something the Capital forgot about and wasn’t paying attention to. (like Katniss)

Do you get recognized?

No, my children get recognized before me. People don’t come up to me and a café and say anything. “And I’m ok with that!”

Have you considered writing a prequel to THE HUNGER GAMES?

“I haven’t ruled it out”, but I am busy with editing for Mockingjay. There are definitely no plans right now.

When will THE HUNGER GAMES movie come out?

I have seen a few scripts pass by my desk and it still needs a lot of work. If everything goes to plan, they could possibly start filming in by the end of the year OR “it could all fall apart tomorrow.”

Which book is your favorite book?

(speaking @ HG), I look at each book as a 1-act play that make 1 tale.



Jen thank you so much for your post! I wish I would have been able to attend the panel, but thanks to your lovely note-taking skills it's like I was there! I learned some interesting tidbits about Miss Collins. I had no idea she wrote for Clarissa Explains it All. That was one of my favorite shows growing up. Jen you are welcome to stop by again anytime! :)

Texas Library Conference 2010

I found out late last week that the Texas Library Conference was this week in San Antonio (which is about an hour and a half from me). I was bummed because registration was expensive since it was last minute, and I didn't think I'd be able to get off work in time. However, I WAS able to secure days off of work and buy an exhibit hall passes were only $20, so of to San Antonio I went!

Thursday

Thursday I met up with Cait (fellow writer and Austin SCBWI member) and we carpooled to San Antonio. We got registered and made our way to the exhibit hall. It was a pretty big venue and a bit overwhelming so we spent a couple of hours soaking it all in. I met up with other Austin writers PJ Hoover, Kari Holt, Emily Anderson, and Jo Whittimore shortly there after.



I knew I wanted to meet Sarah Ockler, author of Twenty Boy Summer, who was signing that morning. I had no idea she had a new book coming out later this year, and she was signing ARC's! I didn't think to get my picture with her because I was still soaking everything in. I can't wait to read Fixing Delilah Hannaford, Sarah!


That afternoon I had a few author signings lined up that I wanted to go to. First was Tera Lynn Childs, author of Oh.My.Gods, Goddess Bootcamp, and Forget My Fins, who was signing ARCs of Forget my Fins at the Harper-Collins booth. I've been following Tera for a while now so it was great to meet her! Sadly I forgot to get my picture taken with her. Bummer! Next time, Tera. ;)

I met up with my friend Jen and we saw Lisa Schroeder, author of I Heart You, You Heart me, It's Raining Cupcakes, and a few other titles. She was so nice and super fun to talk to!



I was so excited to meet Maureen Johnson (Suite Scarlett, Scarlett Fever, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, plus a few more). She was one of the first authors I started following on Twitter. I didn't "get" Twitter for a while, but after following her I "got" it. I was so embarrassed because I accidentally brought Love is Hell instead of Vacations from Hell for her to sign. *face palm* Rookie mistake. She signed it anyway for me, under Scott Westerfeld's name. Ha! I decided last minute to bring her a gift, and the gift I happened to choose was a pair of Squirrel Underpants. Yes, you read that right. Squirrel. Underpants. (Who wants to see a naked squirrel??)



I'm sure many other things happened on Thursday so if I left you out of my Thursday discussion I am SO SORRY. My brain is mush and I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast at this point.

Friday
Friday I knew would be an epic day, and it indeed was. Suzanne Collins (author of The Hunger Games series) was going to be there that morning, but due to her carpal tunnel syndrome she was only signing 200 books. The rules were one book per person and no personalization. I knew this was going to be in-freaking-sane. I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM and was on the road to San Antonio by 5:00 AM. I was driving by myself so I stopped and got a Red Bull (probably should have gotten a dozen). Luckily I found a loud rock station that didn't have a morning show OR commercials, so I didn't go to sleep at the wheel or anything. I arrived in San Antonio around 6:30, parked, and went into the convention center. I asked four different people where the Suzanne Collins line was. Each said they didn't know, and pointed me in the direction of someone else higher on the food chain than them. I finally got to the upper management portion of the food chain and they said there was no actual line, that people were just going to line up at all of the three doors to the exhibit hall. They were handing out wrist bands to the first 200 people that made it to the author area located inside the exhibit hall. I think it would have made more sense to have a designated line and hand out wrist bands there until they were gone, but alas they didn't ask me. At one point a Scholastic rep came by and his only advice was, "Run."

I was complaining tweeting about it while in line and Jackson Pearce told me,

"Don't you dare be afraid to throw elbows!"

Myra McEntire said,

"You can dooo eeet! You're a writer. You're tough. You're ROCKY, and Suzanne Collins is the EYE of the TIGER. GO!"

Both made me laugh and I was in dire need of laughter at this point.

The older woman behind me kept pushing me and trying to butt in front of me. I was 4th in our line, making her 5th, so it's not like she would be gaining a whole lot from it. And since she was older she obviously wasn't going to be able to run to keep up with the young grasshoppers. I'm not sure what her deal was. At one point she told me,

"I'm not trying to butt you, I just want to crowd the line a bit."

Seriously? Let it be known she is also quoted as saying,

"Scholastic makes me so mad, they're so stupid. I don't even LIKE their books!!!"

Um... then WHY are you here at 7:30 AM for an author signing by one of THEIR authors?

The doors open at 9:00 sharp, and everyone from all three entrances takes off. I'm sprinting down the exhibit hall with a backpack full of books for authors to sign that day. We're running and the girl in front of me drops her iPhone and says, "Oh no! My phone!" and KEEPS GOING. I stopped to pick up her phone for her and as I was stooping realized, "OMG, this is how people get trampled." I probably lost about 40ish places in line from picking up her phone, but I didn't want some random person to get it or step on it. Long story short, I got my wristband so all was well. Another lesson learned her is that I'm not in as good of shape as I thought I was. Will have to work on this.

I was telling my friend Jen the iPhone story and a girl overheard us and said, "Oh that was nice of you" or something like that. I saw this girl later in the day and she was RETELLING MY STORY to people. Except in her version she was running behind me and I fell picking up the phone and got stepped on. I think she said I was kicked and broke my leg or something, too. Seriously. This is how rumors get started, people! Don't make things up! (Unless it's for literary purposes, of course.) I started to correct her story and embarrass her in front of her friends, but the thought going down in history as the lady who got stepped on and kicked at a conference for librarians was more appealing.

The Suzanne was be signing from 10:00-12:00 and since I was guaranteed an autograph with the wristband, I wanted to see what other authors were signing. I made my way around the exhibit hall and found Joy Preble signing copies of Dreaming of Anastasia at the Follett booth. She was SO sweet. Loved her!


I left Joy to make my way back over to the author area and met Mary Pearson who was signing The Adoration of Jenna Fox and The Miles Between. I've been following Mary on Twitter for a long time and totally fan-girled out when I met her. I should probably be embarrassed. Mary it was SO GREAT to finally meet you.





Shannon Hale was next. I brought Princess Academy and Goose Girl from home, and bought River Secrets and Rapunzel's Revenge there to have her sign. She is SO CUTE.


Then I had the pleasure of meeting Kathleen Duley. She was amazing to talk to! We talked about writing and she gave me some advice on places to go for research. Sadly, I forgot to get my picture taken with her. :(

Next was the Holy Grail of current YA books: Suzanne Collins. Her signing was pretty fast and I didn't get to talk to her much, but I did thank her for coming and was able to get a picture with her! She signed my copy of Hunger Games, so I'm not really sure whose Catching Fire she is posing with for the picture. Ha!



While I haven't read 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I've heard great things about it. I had Jay sign my copy of and pose for a quick photo. He was super nice. I can't wait to read his book! He also said he was working on something a little more romance-y. :)



My last author signing for TLA was Maureen Johnson. You may be saying, "Hey, you already met her!" I met her at Thursday's Scholastic signing. They didn't have 13 Little Blue Envelopes or Girl at Sea available because that's Harper Collins. So Maureen signed both of those for me and also signed MY JAR. For those of you who follow Maureen on Twitter, you'll understand. And if you don't understand, follow Maureen on Twitter. I really don't know where to start in explaining this to you. She said she had never signed a jar before! Here is a photo of Maureen and me with The Jar.



All in all, I had a fantastic time. My only real complaint was the way the Suzanne Collins wristbands were handled, but I got my book signed so I'm not complaining too loudly. Considering the exhibit hall pass was $20 and I had a coupon so I got in free, it was so worth the trip to San Antonoio. I got over 80 books! It's in Austin next year and I'm already counting down the days!




Now some random advice for those going to TLA next year:

*Don't try and wear cute shoes. Just don't. Wear your old, nasty, comfy tennis shoes.

*Bring a backpack plus a few totes. Seriously. My backpack was a lifesaver.

*Make sure to bring some sort of pain reliever because I promise you will be in pain.

*Ask for things. Whether it's a current book or an ARC, ask for it. The answer may be no, but most of the time it's yes!

*Talk to the people at the smaller publishing booths. They may not have books to give you, but it's good to network and they're all super nice.

*Pay the $6 to rent a box for the day. You put all your stuff in a box and they hold it for you. Best $6 I spent all day.


Edited to add: A few people have asked me to list specifically what ARC's I got, so here you go!

The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees
Free Will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci
Take Me There by Carolee Dean
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
Mistwood by Leah Cypress
Starfish by James Crowley
The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa M. Klein
Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan
Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Baby Sitter's Club, The Summer Before by Ann M. Martin
Spells by Aprilynne Pike
The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
Brilliant by Rachel Vail
Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
Fixing Delilah Hannaford by Sarah Okler
Rules to Rock By by Josh Rarrar
Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards
The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien
The Karma Club by Jessica Brody
Linger by Maggie Stiefvaer
The Shadows, Books of Elsewhere #1 by Jacqueline West
The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood and The Duchess of Morhumberland
Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala
Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper
Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
The Wide Awake Princess by E.D. Baker
Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
The Owl Keeper by Christine Brodien-Jones
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Pegasus by Robin McKinley
Crossing Over by Anna Kendall
Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John
Somebody Everybody Listens To by Suzanne Supplee
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Blood Feud by Alyxandra Harvey
Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
Good Behavior by Nathan L. Henry
Halo by Alexandra Adorentto
You by Charles Benoit

Double Standards

I grew up in Small Town, Mississippi where everybody knows everybody and the "good ole boys club" system has been in place for generations. If you happen to be lucky enough to be apart of said club, expect some very special treatment. If you aren't in the club, expect a life of misery. Case in point, my favorite high school teacher, Mr. Reed Walters.

His methods may have been a bit unorthodox, compared to the other teachers, but I learned more in his class than any other.



When I was a sophomore, our school got destroyed by a tornado (luckily it was during spring break and no kids were there). We had nowhere to go to finish out our remaining nine weeks. Our town had just built a brand new shiny Super Wal-Mart, and the old Wal-Mart building was empty. Out of the kindness of their hearts (you can take that as sarcasm or not), the Wal-Mart corporation let us use their building for the remainder of the year.

Across the state and region we became the butt of many jokes. The students, and Mr. Walters took it all in stride. He wrote a song entitled Wal-Mart High School and it went viral throughout the area. He sold over 1300 CD's of the song to raise money for the Science Department. The song was heard on radio stations around the state and even featured on Paul Harvey. (If you'd like to hear the song, click here to view the CD, it's the second song listed.)

Mr. Walters was one of the few teachers in that high school that actually cared for the well being of his kids. I cannot begin to tell you influence the man had on me, and others I'm sure.

I could sing praises of Mr. Walters all day, but now I need to get to the meat of this post. Mr. Walters was fired a few months back for saying the word "ass" in front of a student. Yes, I agree it was wrong of him to use that language in front of a student and he's even said it was wrong and he regrets it. However, the following video is why I'm angry. This video is a series of clips of the West Jones High School football coach, Coach Pierson, in a nationally televised documentary about high school football rivalries. Just take a watch and a listen.



In the video Coach Pierson says the following:

Directly to a student, "Don't shut down, we expect a lot from you. If we weren't expecting a lot we wouldn't be riding your ass."

In general to a group of students, "We're gonna get our ass beat because we can't get locked in."

In front of students, "I'm scared I'll get a 15 yard penalty so I don't know where the hell I'm supposed to stand."

This was a nationally televised documentary. You can't tell me the school board/principals didn't watch the show and hear the language Coach Pierson uses in front of his football players. What makes that right? Why does football always get such special treatment? I was in choir all four years of high school. We got little, if any, support from the administration of the school or the school board.

The local news ran a story on this yesterday and here is a video of their newscast. I'll pick out some of the main quotes if you don't want to watch it.


School board member: "You're represented by a lawyer, aren't you?"

Mr. Walters: "Why can't we just sit man-to-man and talk?"

School board member: "Ethically I can't talk to you unless you have a lawyer."

Mr. Walters: "All I want is my last evaluation. I'll put it this way, these people are going to be heard, and I want to get my last evaluation. I'm going to sit right down here until it happens. I have been wronged, this is injustice. I've been done wrong and it's going to be righted sooner or later."

At this point Mr. Walters sits down where he is on the floor in front of the school board members. Apparently, this "disorderly" behavior makes the school board call the sheriff's office and have them send a deputy out to regain "order."

School board member: "What we're going to need to do is call the sheriff down here because we need to have order. This needs to be handled in a professional manner."

Mr. Walters: "You didn't handle my termination in a professional manner."

The deputy arrives, then leaves, and "order" is once again restored.

Mr. Walters: "These people should be heard, whether for or against me. It's the point of freedom of speech."

The board finished their meeting behind closed doors.

(Edited to add: Someone told me (random FB user, take this with a grain of salt because I honestly have no idea) that the school board member I'm quoting is actually the school board attorney. I can't find for sure one way or the other.)

Sadly, West Jones High School was never about academic excellence, it was always about athletic excellence. How many times you took the team to state was way more important than your grade point average. Students were treated differently by administration depending on whether you played sports, or were just your average kid.

Is it just my high school that has this problem? No, I doubt it. It's a problem with public schools across the country.

Apparently in the ten years Mr. Walters taught at West Jones, he either stepped on someone's toes or didn't get to know the right people. I'm outraged. He's right, this is injustice. Will anything change because of this? Will Coach Pierson lose his job? I sincerely doubt it.

Words cannot express how proud I am of Mr. Walters for standing up for his rights, the rights of others, and what he believes in. Mr. Walters still manages to teach others even when he's no longer employed with the school system. Thank you, Mr. Walters, for being such an influence on the young people of Jones County.

Meeting John Green and David Levithan (+ CONTEST!)

It's been a crazy past few days! I've been super busy (hence why where was no WoW and FuF post last week) with work, reading, outlining my Historical (which I think I MAY have a title for!!!) and going to the dentist. Yes, the *cringe* DENTIST. In an effort to be more healthy, I decided to buy a bag of apples at the grocery store. I was eating one as a before-dinner snack last Thursday and broke my tooth on it. It didn't hurt and I didn't know until about ten minutes later when I noticed something didn't feel right. This is the THIRD TIME this particular tooth has broken. I freaked out. Big time. We've been in Austin for about two years and haven't been to a dentist yet (tisk, tisk) so I had no idea where to go. Plus it was already after 5:00 and I knew most places were closed. I called a few places on Friday and was finally able to score an appointment. I got it repaired (sans any numbing/pain medicine! Ford tough, baby!), and went on my way.

The main reason I didn't want the numbing stuff is because I was meeting John Green and David Levithan that night. I had been looking forward to this for ages and didn't want to have my picture taken and not be able to move my lips to smile. (Ha!!!) I've been a proud Nerdfighter (if you don't know, ask) for a while and it was a dream come true to meet John Green and David Levithan. I hope to be half as talented as their pinky toe-nails one day. I admire them so much both as writers and as human beings. Here are a few pictures of that night (some courtesy of my friend Jen since my camera is THE SUCK).











The contest is now closed!
Now you must be wondering what the contest portion of this blog post is all about. If you notice in the last picture I posted, I have two copies of Looking for Alaska. One of them could be YOURS! All you have to do is come up with a name for my blog. I used Stephanie's Blog as a placeholder because I couldn't think of anything cute or creative. That's where you come in!

Contest Rules:
* In the comments, give me suggestions on what you think I should name my blog. (Bonus points if you submit a banner to go with it***)

* While I'd love for you to follow my blog or Twitter, I want you to follow me because you think I'm cool, not because I give away prizes and make following a requirement. So no following is required to participate!

* You may enter as many times as you want!

* This contest is international.

* PLEASE leave your email address in your comment so I can get in touch with you. No email address = no entry! :(

* Contest will end at Midnight CST on Sunday April 25th and a winner will be announced on Monday April 26th

* If I choose you to be the winner, I will email you the good news. You will have 48 hours to respond with your address before I have to choose another winner.


Here are some random facts about me that may be helpful to you:
Avid reader and writer of YA Fiction
Animal Lover
Harry Potter nerd (Hufflepuff, baby!!!)
Born and raised in Mississippi
I love pink and purple
Have two guinea pigs (Daisy and Chloe)

Edited to add:
I don't consider myself a book reviewer, or a book blogger even. Just a person who reads and writes and likes to talk about books. So I probably won't pick a suggestion that has anything to do with book reviews. Just an FYI. :)


Good luck! You have about two weeks to think of something, so get to cracking! You could own THIS *Price as Right hands*







***You won't actually get anything for making me a banner. Other than virtual bonus points. :)

Winner!

Congratulations to Cynthia11 from A Blog About Nothing for winning our photo giveaway! Cynthia, I have emailed you so you have 48 hours to get back to me with your address. :) Congrats!

Reading Recap March

Here is my Reading Recap for the month of March:

1.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray, 480 pages

2.

Hourglass by Claudia Gray, 352 pages

3.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, 256 pages

Totals for March:
3 Books
3 Authors
1,088 pages

Year to date:
15 Books
15 Authors
4,869 pages

Basically, this month was THE SUCK. You can tell I'm working more now. :(

Fired Up Friday

I started up my Fired up Friday meme last week. Each week I'll post five things that inspire me. The following are my inspiration this week:

Almost anything Disney


Breathtaking sunsets/sunrises


Rocky beaches

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. -Walt Disney

Coldplay




What has you inspired and fired up this week?