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Year End Finale of 2015 and Goals of 2016

Last year I wrote out a small recap of my year and made some goals; I like the tradition and I liked looking back at what I wrote, so here's my 2015 recap, and 2016 goals!

2015 was a whirlwind of life, and bookish events. Between finding and moving into a new apartment, getting a new job, going to book events, meeting awesome people at said book events, revising my manuscript, querying, and GETTING AN AGENT! This year has been...wow... Just wow.

Total Books Read in 2015:
I had made a very modest goal of reading 25 books in 2015 because I knew I needed to crack down on writing and revising and querying. But there are just too many good books out and I had to read them!

Top Ten Books I read in 2015 (In no Particular order):
The Winner's Crime By Marie Rutkoski
Hidden Huntress By Daniel Jensen
Death Marked By Leah Cypess
Their Fractured Light By Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Drift & Dagger By Kendall Kuper
Six of Crows By Leigh Bardugo
The Orphan Queen By Jodi Meadows
An Ember in the Ashes By Sabaa Tahir
End of Days By Susan Ee
The Weight of Feathers By Ann-Marie McLemore

Accomplishments of 2015:
-I completed revisions, and queried my MS
-Moved into a new apartment
-Got a new job
-Did a bit of painting, and my workplace even has a staff show, so I could display mine!
-Started going to the gym/eating better

Now...Goals for 2016!
-Complete self and beta revisions on MS and send to agent
-Complete a new MS
-Keep up going to the gym/eating healthy
-Read 25 books (Again, a modest amount because revisions and writing)
-Do more art
-Go to more bookish events (Starting with ALAMW 2016! )
-Blog More/ be more social
-Finish co-writing Of Smoke and Stardust on Wattpad with Soumi.(This was a last year goal, but didn't get to it. whomp whomp)

Goals that aren't in my control (but a girl can dream!):
Get a publishing deal! :P

Posted by Ellie at 10:47 AM 4 comments: Labels: accomplishments, Agent, books, goals, New years, recap, year end
 Posted by Ellie at 9:28 AM 4 comments: 


The Boston Teen Author Festival 


Mackenzi Lee's Launch Party! 

Posted by Ellie at 12:50 PM No comments: 


Ladies Living Dangerously Book Signing 


The Writer's Voice: Query and first 250

Yay! So excited to get into The Writers Voice! Below is my Query and First 250 of my YA Fantasy, The Wicked and the Dark!


Sixteen-year-old Caetlin Lovelell and her family are carefree socialites by day and ruthless tunnel guardians by night.

The luxurious city of Dorme is filled with lavish parties, sumptuous banquets, sprawling mansions, and is under constant attack from shadeu—flesh-eating shadow monsters that lurk in the tunnels below their city. It’s a steep price to pay, even to live in the city that promises wealth and prosperity to all its residents.

When the shadeu start to come out during the day and work together to kill off guardian leaders, something that wasn’t thought possible, the guardians of Dorme aren’t prepared. The Lovelells’ major rule is: If it doesn’t happen in their territory, it’s not their problem. But then Caetlin’s brother goes missing, and Caetlin and her sisters will do whatever it takes to find him, even if it means breaking all their rules and allying with the potentially dangerous (and attractive) lone guard to do it.

THE WICKED AND THE DARK is a 70,000 word YA Fantasy, with a diverse cast, and series potential. It will appeal to fans of kick-ass heroines and hidden identities such as Jodi Meadow's The Orphan Queen Duology and Leah Cypess’s Death Sworn Duology.



Caetlin steadied her furiously beating heart as she rounded each corner, bracing herself for what would be there. It wasn’t like she wanted to find a body, but Jax had been missing after his patrol for far too long—even for him.

A frown tugged at Caetlin’s mouth. Something was definitely wrong. Jax liked to play tricks on his sisters, and she didn’t want to jump to conclusions and scare Eloise and Peony, only to have their brother pop up later. But his pranks didn’t typically run this long, and he would never do anything that would leave their patrons unguarded…

Jax wasn’t just their older brother—he was their leader, the family’s first born, the strongest of them all. Caetlin refused to believe he could have been killed by a Shadeu or a rival guard.
"Damn you, Jax." Caetlin growled into the tunnel's dark crevices, the words muffled behind her face mask.

Not a single Shadeu, the flesh eaters that lived below ground, or opposing cabal member had been spotted the whole time she’d been on watch. It wasn't rare, but it wasn’t common either. There were nights when she had killed ten Shadeu in a single section, and other nights when there were none in any sectors—at least ones under the Three Bells, her cabal's, protection.

Still; her instincts were going crazy and her heart refused to stop pumping a frantic rhythm against her ribs. The air felt electrified with lurking eyes, watching her as she crept through the stone underground corridors.

Posted by Ellie at 9:40 AM 18 comments: Labels: First 250, Query, The Writers Voice, writing


Cover Reveal and First 2 Chapters Launch for OF SMOKE AND STARDUST (On Wattpad)

Today is a big day for me and my CP-and-co-author Soumi Roy :D

If you've checked out my 'writing' page, you might have seen this YA Space opera listed there.
And perhaps you were maybe curious about it.....

WELL, be curious no more! For we're going to be posting it up on Wattpad! Exciting!!! We've been keeping an eye on Wattpad and it's growth and we think it's the perfect place for a collab like ours :)

First off,  here's the summary :

✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧
While investigating missing teens across the galaxy, Lieutenant Alya Nayer and her Galaxy Hawks crew get word of an illegal fighting arena. They head out to investigate, but what they find is far worse than prohibited boxing matches.

Parker has spent the last two years in a prison that forces the inmates to fight against each other -- not for freedom, but for the entertainment of the rich. When the Hawks show up asking questions, he sees an opportunity to escape and to find his missing brother.

When Alya and Parker have to team up, and work together, personalities clash, and sparks arise.

Does it sound exciting? I hope so!!

And now... without further ado....... BAM!!! Isn't it beautiful???
Click the image to go to the Wattpad Page, add it to your read-list and read the FIRST TWO CHAPTERS! I actually designed the cover myself and I'm really proud of it! Put that degree to use! Ha!

We'll be posting one chapter, bi-weekly, on Wednesdays until it's done!

We're so excited to be sharing this story, and we really hope you like reading it as much as we like writing it!

Posted by Ellie at 9:00 AM 4 comments: Labels: cover, Cover reveal, Of smoke and stardust, wattpad, writing


Year End Finale 2014 and Goals of 2015

I figured I'd do a year end wrap up and a list of Goals for 2014!

Total Books read in 2014:
53  I reached and exceeded my Goodreads goal of 50! Hurraay

Top Ten  Books of 2014:
In no particular order
-The Winner's Curse By: Marie Rutkoski
-Gate of Thread and Stone By: Lori M Lee
-Stolen Songbird By: Danielle L Jensen
-Death Sworn By Leah Cypess
-Avalon By Mindee Arnett
-Blue Lily, Lily Blue By: Maggie Stiefvater
-This Shattered World By: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
-The Forever Song By: Julie Kagawa
-Ruin and Rising By: Leigh Bardugo
-Cress By: Marissa Meyer

Writing in 2014:
-I queried  MS (The Bound and the Cursed) before shelving it for now
-Completed and revised another MS(Tunnels of Darkness)!

Now for Goals of 2015!

-Get MS back from Betas, revise and revise again and then Query (I would put 'get an agent and a publishing deal,' but those are out of my control, so not proper goals, but dreams, and hopes :P )
-Write a new book, or re-write The Bound and the Cursed
-Complete Of Space and Stardust with my CP and Co-Author
-Read 50 books
-Do more art things

What I would LIKE to do, if I can, but is not a goal:
-Blog more
-Try out booktubing/vlogging

And that's it! Not too much, but I think it's doable.  It'll be fun to look back and see how I did next year :P

Posted by Ellie at 5:31 PM 2 comments: Labels: 2014, 2015, books, favorites, goals, read, wrap-up, writing, year end
 
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