Emily Rachelle Writes

Week Sixteen: Headband Upcycle Apologies, my dear readers, but I can't seem to find the place I first saw this project.  So we'll skip The Pin and The Link and go straight to The Test, because this project is so fun and easy I have to share it anyway!

Stop by the OneWord365 blog to read my official guest post: how to keep your word alive! {via} Dreams take patience.  I can't expect to achieve all my dreams and goals in one year.  I have to decide what's most important to me, and then I have to organize my time to accomplish that.  Sometimes I have to set aside a dream or desire of mine in order to help with another's dream, too.

Guess what?  We have guests!  Please join me in welcoming Stephanie Morrill and Jill Williamson of the Go Teen Writers blog! UPDATE: Scroll down to the Rafflecopter at the end of this post for a chance to win an ecopy of the new Go Teen Writers book! The publishing business is so quirky, it can feel impossible to learn all the rules and etiquette. With our book Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft Into a Published Book , we wanted to pass along what we’ve learned in our years of pursuing writing. Here are five mistakes each of us made early in our career:

As you read this, I'm currently on a bus full of kids on the way home from my first ever college visit in Florida!  Woo-hoo!  But that means I didn't get to write a Pinterest Report post this week.  :(  Instead of leaving my lovely readers with a simple 'on hiatus' message, this time I thought you'd enjoy reading a post I rediscovered this week that reminds me a lot of my word this year. I couldn’t even pinpoint why I was grip-the-steering-wheel angry, frustrated, anxious. All I knew was that my heart was broken. Not by a boy. Not by a bad grade. Not by anything identifiable. Just…Sky gray with hovering clouds. Stress of a semester rolling toward the end. Sense of accomplishment from graduating community college combined with head-whirling nervousness of looking ahead to university. I felt as if I could drive on into the unknown, toward the last exit I’d never before followed home. So many dreams coming true this year. Graduating with my associate’s degr...

This writers' blog hop simply asks ten questions about your current story, and then you tag five other writer-blogger friends to participate next week. :)  Arlette over at Living Life Bright tagged me.  I wasn't sure whether I should talk about Sixteen , since it's releasing this year; Beila and the Griffin , which I recently finished the first draft of; or Kaimalie and the Mermaid , the story I'm doing outlines and notes for right now.  I decided that I should probably be talking about Sixteen , what with it being my up-and-coming novella. :)  I can always talk about Beila or Kaimalie when it's closer to their big days! 1: What is the working title of your book? When I first started writing Sixteen, it didn't have a title.  Later, when I was editing and trying to write a query letter for it, I chose Sweet Seventeenth , as the ending of the story surrounds the main character's seventeenth birthday.  But then I realized that the whole story is about Nikk...

Princesses Don't Get Fat by Aya Ling A fairy tale romance with a plus-sized heroine and plenty of dessert! Amazon Page GoodReads Page LibraryThing Page Author Website Amazon Summary: Princess Valeria of Amaranta is fat, but she doesn’t care. All she wants is to eat a lot and lead an idle life. When it is apparent that she cannot get a husband, her mother decides to send her to the Royal Riviera Academy of Fighting Arts. For a chubby princess who has never picked up a sword, life at the Academy is akin to torture. Worst of all, the food is terrible. When Valeria decides to improve Riviera cuisine by sneaking into the palace kitchens and giving orders, little does she know that the crown prince would take interest in her kitchen excursions. As they spend more time together, Valeria must decide whether she should become thin and attractive, or stay in the kitchens and remain fat. My Thoughts:

Some of my lovely readers may have noticed that I've made some changes to my book blogging routine - what programs I'm using, how I set up my reviews, etc.  So I decided to go back to a post I wrote as a still-very-new blogger and give it a facelift.  I hadn't realized how outdated some of it was!  So today, rather than a Pinterest project, I bring you the new-and-improved Book Blogging 101: The All-Inclusive Guide! Also, if any of you have book blogging questions, I'm open to creating a sequel - Book Blogging 101: The Q&A Edition!   Just send off an email or chime in at the comments below. Book Blogging 101: The All-Inclusive Guide

Ten simple steps to your next favorite family film! 1. Pick a fairy tale.  You may immediately think of those centered around princesses and/or love stories, but considering the Arabian Nights tale that Aladdin was based on, it's not actually necessary for a princess or love story to be the key point.  All you really need is either (a) a girl who is or can be made into a main character, or (b) such a boy who does not have a significant other in the story.  Some that I've found: The Princess and the Pea , Brother and Sister (love that one!), The Twelve Dancing Princesses , The Canary Prince , Maid Maleen (I've read an amazing adaptation of this one), The Silent Princess  (really cool one), The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin , Thumbelina , The Young Gardener , Catherine and Her Destiny , The Six Swans (another favorite of mine).

Nobody's Secret  by Michaela MacColl A novel of intrigue and romance Amazon Page GoodReads Page LibraryThing Page Author Website Amazon Summary: One day, fifteen-year-old Emily Dickinson meets a mysterious, handsome young man. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to know who she or her family is. And even more surprisingly, he playfully refuses to divulge his name. Emily enjoys her secret flirtation with Mr. "Nobody" until he turns up dead in her family's pond. She's stricken with guilt. Only Emily can discover who this enigmatic stranger was before he's condemned to be buried in an anonymous grave. Her investigation takes her deep into town secrets, blossoming romance, and deadly danger. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, this novel celebrates Emily Dickinson's intellect and spunk in a page-turner of a book that will excite fans of mystery, romance, and poetry alike. My Thoughts:

I'm so sorry, my lovely readers!  I ran a giveaway for volume one of the Christy Miller series... and then forgot all about it!  Well today I'm here to remedy that! And our winner is... *Drumroll* Cindy Jones! Congratulations, Cindy!  I'll be in touch about mailing the book to you. :) As for my other readers, I really do plan to review the book, but I have some other reviews that I need to complete first.  Thanks for being so patient with scatterbrained little me!

Week Fifteen: Curling Wand Tutorial {all photos linked to source} The Pin: how to use a clipless curling wand

The brown-eyed boy and family came for a week-long visit that, due to their van troubles and my hospital stay and ensuing surgery, was stretched into a month.  No complaints from this girl, except maybe the whole needles-and-tubes bit of the hospital/surgery....  Anyway, I didn't end up with any photos of my younger two brothers or his brother, so know that there are actually four kids per family and three just happen to be unrepresented here.

Broken Wings by Shannon Dittemore Angels with wings of blade.  Demons with renewed sight.  And a girl who has never been more broken. Amazon Page GoodReads Page LibraryThing Page Author Website My Review of Book One Amazon Summary: Brielle sees the world as it really is: a place where the Celestial exists side by side with human reality. But in the aftermath of a supernatural showdown, her life begins to crumble. Her boyfriend, Jake, is keeping something from her—something important. Her overprotective father has started drinking again. And he’s dating a much younger woman who makes Brielle’s skin crawl. Haunting nightmares invade Brielle’s sleep, and flashes of Celestial vision keep her off kilter. What she doesn’t know is that she’s been targeted. The Prince of Darkness himself has heard of the boy with healing in his hands and of the girl who sees through the Terrestrial Veil. Brielle has no choice. She knows evil forces are converging and will soon rain thei...

Sorry, due to a definitely-not-planned stay in a hospital (heart condition but nothing to worry about), this week The Pinterest Report is on hiatus.  Stay tuned for next week's project! In the meantime, I'm guesting on the OneWord365 blog this week on How to Keep Your Word Alive .  Go check it out! :)