Author: elizabethannebritton

Preptober

PREPTOBER 2022: What’s Your Story?

elizabethannebritton

Preptober is here, and NanoWrimo is right around the corner. Which means if you haven’t already started, it’s time to start thinking about your story.

You might already know exactly what you want to write. You may be picking between different story ideas. Or you could have absolutely no clue what you’re going to write. No matter where you are in getting your story idea, it’s time to sit down and start planning.

Clueless?

Begin by making a list of all of the things you love. These things need to be what gets you passionate about life. For example, I am completely obsessed with romance dramas, my border collie Scout, and all things decorating. What excites you might be completely different from what excites me. So go ahead and write out about ten things you love.

Seriously. Break out your pen and paper and get to writing that list of what you love, because what you love is usually what you’re going to enjoy writing about. And trust me, when you write every day for a few hours, you’ll need to write about something you absolutely love.

Once you have that list ready, go ahead and pick anywhere from three to nine things from that list and see what sparks your interest the most. Narrow it down to just one of the ideas that you have written out, set a timer for about ten minutes and begin to journal. Journaling can help you explore the idea and allow the creative juices to flow. Use writing prompts to help you get started like these ones here.

If you get bored with what you’re writing about, time to scrap that idea and start on another. Now is the time to be picky and selective––not when you’re halfway through NanoWrimo and realizing that you don’t actually want to write your story.

Picking Between Two Brilliant Ideas?

I’m currently writing a long fiction series set in a fantasy world and I actually fell under this category. I have about six books that will be in this series, and I’m currently editing the first book in the series. Because I have five more books to write, I wasn’t sure which one I needed to write and was stuck for a few days. In the end, I decided that I needed to write the next book in the series as opposed to jumping around the series and figuring things out as I go along.

If you’re in a similar place (between a rock and a hard place) and choosing between two or three book ideas, I recommend the following:

  • Pick whichever book makes the most sense for where you are in your writing journey. For me, that was continuing my series in chronological order. For you, that may be choosing your science fiction idea over your nonfiction biography. Just pick whatever makes the most logical sense.
  • Pick whichever one will give you the most fire in the month of November. Again, you have to write 50,000 words in the month of November. You do not want to burn out. Figure out what keeps your fire going and pick that one.
  • Still torn? Play eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Really. Go for it. If you’re truly stuck between great stories in your mind and really can’t choose, pick one at random and stick with it.

Already Know What You’re Going to Write for NanoWrimo?

Great! You’re ahead of the game. Start writing down some key points that you’d like to highlight, brainstorm a bit about your characters and the circumstances they’ll go through, and have some fun daydreaming.

Conclusion

No matter where you are in getting your story idea together, know that Preptober is supposed to be a fun time where you get your creative juices flowing and set your NanoWrimo experience up for success.

Uncategorized

Book Review: “The Fastest Way to Fall” by Denise Williams

elizabethannebritton

Summary

Trigger Warning: Mentions of Eating Disorders

Britta Colby is a writer who works for a lifestyle website part-time. She is assigned to write about her perspective and experience regarding a new fitness app called “FitMi” which includes personal coaching. Seeing this as a huge opportunity to prove her worth at work and get on board for a full-time position, she takes on the challenge.

Wes Lawson, CEO of the FitMi Fitness app, finds himself dealing with a lot of personal problems which leave him feeling alone and dissatisfied with where he is at. Deciding to focus on what he enjoys most, he gets back to coaching.

Surprise, surprise: Britta is his first new client and they hit it off immediately. Messaging through the app professionally becomes personal quickly when they start working out in-person together. And if you thought the sparks flying were hard to control online, just wait until you see how things get hot offline.

Despite the fact that Wes is really not supposed to meet with his clients in person and Britta’s writer credibility will be totally trashed if the lifestyle site she works for finds out she’s pretty much dating the CEO of the app she’s supposed to be reviewing––neither can keep away from the other.

Spoilers for “The Fastest Way to Fall” ahead. Watch out and take care.

My Thoughts

What I Loved

I absolutely adored the take on body positivity in this book. As people set their new year resolutions and work towards a healthier version of themselves this year, this book reminds readers to focus on loving themselves first and foremost. So often we find flaws with our bodies in the mirror when we’re getting ready for the day, and we forget that the body we see in the mirror is the very body that allows us to breathe, get up, get moving and accomplish everything we set our minds to.

I felt like Williams made such a bold move with her willingness to tackle tough issues like dealing with someone’s rejection of how we look and venturing into eating disorder territory. She did not shy away from the hardships those struggling to get a healthy lifestyle face, and I really appreciated the honesty and the rawness of it.

I also loved the support between both Britta and Wes that went both ways. Britta was able to be there for Wes during his family problems and Wes was encouraging Britta during her moments of rejection and self doubt. I always like to see an ebb and flow––give and take between the romantic leads. It’s way more realistic that way if they are both able to contribute to the relationship rather than one person fulfilling their every need and never needing anything in return.

What I Didn’t Love

This is definitely more on me than anything else, but I did not enjoy the lack of professionalism in both Wes and Britta. They both risked (and eventually lost or gave up) their steady paying jobs just to be with one another. Despite neither job actually fulfilling their needs, I felt like it was a huge sign of immaturity for both of them to be entangled in such a messy love. I understand that the story called for the tension of forbidden love, but messy workplace romances have always made me extremely uncomfortable as a reader.

I also really disliked Britta’s judgement of her coworkers at the lifestyle website she worked for. There’s a scene in the beginning of the book where Britta brings in donuts to work and starts criticizing everyone in her head for not taking part in eating the donuts when the head boss arrives. It’s moments like these where I feel that Britta is too harsh of a judge of other people and she’s also too hard on herself at times. It is so important that we practice kindness towards one another and towards ourselves and try not to judge others for whether they do or do not eat the donut during an office meeting.

I definitely did not love that Britta eventually lost her job for a man. It was a choice she made to be in a relationship with the CEO of FitMi (the app she was reviewing), and as an adult she had to face the consequences. I just really hated the lack of professionalism displayed by the characters to the point where she was fired from her job. I’m glad it all worked out in the end (Wes offered her a job as a writer for FitMi), but it left me feeling a bit dissatisfied with the ending.

In Conclusion

I loved this book! It was such a fun read and reminds readers to enjoy both health and love. Strongly recommend reading if you yourself are on a health journey, enjoy running (there’s a 10K in the end!), or just are looking for a cute romantic read. It does bring up eating disordered behavior and tackles other tough issues like addiction, so readers beware if you’re triggered by those kinds of books.

Overall, I give it a 7/10. I enjoyed the read and you should definitely pick up a copy.

Uncategorized

#Goals: Ringing in the New Year

elizabethannebritton

New year, new me. Or rather: new year, new resolutions. There’s something thrilling about writing out your goals for the new year on December 31st, the night before 2022 arrives. The joy of new year resolutions is that you can hone in on what you want to achieve and figure out how you’re going to get there.

Regardless of the time of year, it is so important to have goals. Without them, you could lose out on all of your wildest fantasies and give up on living your ultimate dream life. And that would just suck. Really suck. Because you’re awesome and you deserve to live your best life.

At least that’s what my daily affirmations tell me.

So here are some of my goals for the new year:

  • Write for 1 hour every day (my novel isn’t going to write itself)
  • Publish my first book in 2022
  • Complete NanoWrimo 2022
  • Read 4 books per month
  • Write 1 book review blog post per week (because this site needs some obvious love and attention. It’s been neglected for far too long.)
  • Start my YouTube channel up (Liz, don’t be camera shy. They’re gonna love you.)
  • Buy my dream home (complete with a huge backyard where my dog can run free, big bathtub for bubble baths, and hopefully near a body of water of some sort. A girl can dream.)
  • Start up my freelance writing business

Those are a lot of goals and I know I have so much more on the horizon to work towards. But cheers to starting this year off strong! Leave a comment below and let me know what your goals for the new year are.

Self-Help

Book Review: You are a Bad*ss

elizabethannebritton

Book Summary

You are a Bad*ss is a self-help book for those who are looking to improve their lives and be their best selves. In this book, Jen Sincero (world-traveling success coach) shares her own experiences, offers up real advice, and provides simple exercises to help you change your views.

The book consists of 27 chapters, broken up into five sections covering:

  • How You Got This Way
  • How to Embrace Your Inner Bad*ss
  • How to Tap into the Motherlode
  • How to Get Over Your B.S. Already
  • How to Kick Some *ss

By the end of You Are a Bad*ss, you’ll learn the tools you need to embrace who you are and how you can cultivate your potential to kick some *ss.

My Thoughts

I’ve recently been reading a lot of self-help books about goal setting and moving past fear to create a more meaningful life for yourself. This book is a pretty quick read with less than 260 pages and a quippy author that carries you through to the end.

My favorite part of the book had to be the end of some of the chapters with a note saying, “Love Yourself.” Each chapter that had it was followed with an action or a phrase you needed to show yourself you love yourself. I found it was such a positive way to end those specific chapters.

Surprisingly, the chapter that resonated with me the most is chapter 24: Money, Your New Best Friend. Sincero directly challenges the notion of disliking needing money––something that I didn’t even realize I was doing. I mean, if you think about everything that we as a society consume, a general notion is that the rich are bad and the poor are good. Look at Robinhood.

I had to stop working with the equation that wanting/having money = greedy scumbag. And I had to get a freakin’ plan.

Sincero, Jen (2013). You are a Bad*ss. Running Press.

She is absolutely right. Wanting or having money does not mean that you are automatically a villain in a book or a movie.

I hadn’t even realized I had been limiting my own earning potential by writing off other avenues of income because of that fear of being labeled as selfish. I had limited myself to the belief that only my 9-5 job would provide me sufficient income and that any more earnings would be a detriment to my moral well-being.

After reading this book, I am more consciously working on growing my wealth and manifesting money in new and exciting ways.

In Conclusion

Overall, I give this self-help book an 8/10 rating. It was pretty repetitive at times but the overall message was clear: get over your fears and start living your life.

Uncategorized

Top 5 NanoWrimo 2021 Prep Tips

elizabethannebritton

NaNoWrimo is right around the corner. Are you ready for it? In this blog post, I’ll take you through prep tips to help you succeed.

But first…

What is NanoWrimo?

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a writing challenge that occurs every year throughout the month of November. The goal is to write 50,000 words by November 30th––the minimum length a novel can be.

Ideally, you’re aiming for 1,667 words per day. Consistency is key throughout NanoWrimo and participants need to pace themselves in order to avoid burnout.

That sounds insane. Why bother with NanoWrimo?

You’re 100% right. It does sound insane. And it is a little insane. Writing 50,000 words in a single month might seem impossible, but if there’s a book that you’ve been wanting to write, this is the perfect jumpstart to get you to your goal.

Now, onto the tips!

Tip 1: Figure Out What You Want to Write About

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

There is nothing worse than staring at a blank page and having no clue what you are going to write about. Jot down a few ideas that you can cling to––interested in adventure lit? Go ahead and write your very own adventure story. Love romance? Set the page on fire with passionate characters.

Write something that you are interested in yourself so that you know you’ll keep coming back for more––and hopefully, your future readers will too!

Tip 2: Make an Outline

An outline doesn’t have to be detailed or down to each and every scene, but it does need to be a map of sorts for you to follow to your final destination. Some people choose to create a chapter-by-chapter outline while others (such as myself) like to figure out the main points of the plot and just go for it from there.

Whatever form of outline you choose, make sure it’s right for you and your writing needs.

Tip 3: Choose Your Characters

Just like Super Smash Brothers, you need to choose your characters. Is your lead going to be the strong, silent type? Or are they going to be a chatterbox who has low self esteem and finds themselves in the end of the story? Who is your villain going to be? Are they horribly misunderstood and redeem themselves in the end by sacrificing themselves for the greater good?

Pick characters that can help carry your story. Get to know them closely, like you’ve been friends for a very long time. They need to be real to you in order to be real to your readers.

Tip 4: Plan Your Time Wisely

Photo by Jordan Benton on Pexels.com

I work a full-time job. And I have a husband and a loving but needy border collie who wants to play all day. Throw in normal adult responsibilities, obligations, and duties––and you’re looking at a pretty busy schedule. There are going to be many of you who are like me: swamped with other obligations. You might be looking at NaNoWrimo this year and thinking to yourself, “How in the world am I going to squeeze any time out for this?”

Carving out time and blocking out your calendar for the time that you need to write is key. Look at your normal, everyday schedule. Where are an extra fifteen minutes here and there that you can spare to write your novel?

I plan on writing in the mornings before my day gets completely crazy and I’m pulled to do other things. I can easily sacrifice an hour of sleep (even though I don’t want to) to get this done. It’s just a matter of making sure my alarm is far away from the bed to force myself out from under the covers.

If you find that the morning works for you too, then great! Go ahead and drag yourself out of bed in the morning to get your word count done for the day. If you’re a night owl, feel free to stay up late with some candles to set the mood while you go off into your novel’s world.

Tip 5: Just Write the Darn Thing

Your first draft is going to be crap. Your first draft is always going to be crap. So just write the darn thing. Get the first draft out of the way, ignore the typos, and just keep writing throughout the month of November.

For more tips and tricks, check out this blog post.

romance

“The Jane Austen Book Club” Romance Book Review

elizabethannebritton

Five women and one man create a Jane Austen book club where they pour over her works. During the six months it takes to read all of Austen’s books, each of the club members faces challenges and excitement in their day-to-day lives. Marriages are put to the test, love affairs take flight, and love happens. In this book, Karen Joy Fowler takes her readers into the world of these six people and shows the ups and downs of modern relationships.

Okay. Here’s my honest opinion: I couldn’t stand this book. giphy

The book was written like an old maid was at the typewriter with some dusty parchment and typing with one finger at a time. It was as if Fowler was trying to imitate Jane Austen’s timeless narration style and completely failed in her attempt to do so.

I get it: the women of the book club are in their 30’s to 60’s and that type of writing voice is what Fowler was trying for. Someone seasoned and wise…But, quite frankly, the tone just annoyed me until no end. It was condescending, old, and outdated. Like moldy, yellowed lace from a wooden trunk in a dusty attic. Ick.

And what was with her using the words “we” and “us” all the time? None of the six people were our narrators. None of them. Instead of reading a hard copy, I listened to the audio version of the book, so when Fowler used “we” and “us,” I had to look up who, exactly, was narrating the story. Turns out, it was just her narrator’s voice.

It made me feel like one of those men in that old children’s book, “Six Foolish Fishermen.”

Essentially, the six fishermen count everyone at the end of the day to make sure everyone is safe. Well, each time they count and re-count, they forget to count themselves, so they assume there are only five people there instead of six, and therefore: someone must have drowned.

That feeling of annoyance and foolishness at the fact that they forget to count themselves is exactly how I felt every time Fowler used the words “us” or “we.” As I read, I kept thinking to myself, “Who is ‘us’ or ‘we?'” and “Am I forgetting someone in the book club?”

In addition to this poor choice of writing style, the story itself was severely lacking. Since there were six people to follow, I found it difficult to invest in any of the characters. None of them were developed properly and each was more and more dislikable as the story went on.

The question I now ask myself is this: how was this a New York Times bestseller?

Young Adult

“The Glittering Court” Young Adult Book Review

elizabethannebritton

A countess of Osfrid is torn between duty and destiny when she is presented with an opportunity to escape for the wild and untamed land called Adoria. Stealing the identity of one of her servants in order to flee from an arranged marriage, Adelaide joins the Glittering Court.

The Glittering Court is where young women of impoverished backgrounds come to transform into ladies who are eager for wealthy marriages in Adoria. Adelaide, having grown up as a countess, struggles to hide her identity from her new friends, Tamsin and Mira.

The only one who knows her true identity is Cedric Thorn, son of the owner of the Glittering Court. Things get complicated when both Cedric and Adelaide acknowledge thepexels-photo-235909 forbidden love growing between them, and a powerful governor wants Adelaide for his own. In this young adult tale of love and identity, Adelaide and Cedric fight against all odds to be together.

“The Glittering Court” is a fantastic start to a trilogy about all three of the girls we come to know and love: Adelaide, Tamsin, and Mira. The first book, “The Glittering Court” focuses entirely on Adelaide’s journey as she leaves the familiarity and comforts of high society to pretending she is an impoverished girl and working hard to get by in a world that thinks nothing of her.

The book is by Richelle Mead, author of “The Vampire Academy,” and her writing skills show in this fantasy book. She takes the reader to a new world where women are considered inferior to men and do not have a say in their own destiny. Mead creates a sense of desperation and need to escape in not only her main character, Adelaide, but the reader as well.

heart-2945406_960_720Imagine being one of the descendants of a man who helped found Osfrid, getting a strong title from being a descendant of that man, but then being unable to act alone with that title. That title brings in suitors with wealth and ability to make change in Osfrid and in Adoria. That title also brings powerlessness to Adelaide. With everyone watching her every move, Adelaide is unable to become an independent woman with her own thoughts and opinions. This is the power struggle that Adelaide faces on a regular basis. It is a juxtaposition to have such power while being completely powerless to change her own destiny until the opportunity of “The Glittering Court” presents itself.

Toward the end of the book, the writing purposefully becomes vague when referencing Tamsin and Mira’s fates. The ending relies wholly upon the reader turning to the second and third books in this trilogy to find out more specifics about characters being introduced last second in “The Glittering Court.” For this reason, the argument can be made that this book is an excellent start to the trilogy, but it is not a well-written stand alone book.

That being said, if you’re into young adult fiction series, I strongly recommend picking up a copy for yourself. The writing talent that Richelle Mead shows in the first of the trilogy is exemplary and gripping.

I fully intend to read the other two books. Keep a look out for my reviews for those books as well!

 

 

 

Uncategorized

‘Children of the Stars’ by Elizabeth A. Britton

elizabethannebritton

The lit brush burns oil on the canvas;
Ancient word breathes stories of Atlantis;
The silent stone speaks more than us all;
Mortal mysteries that hold us in thrall.

Throughout the ages, man has done and seen
Terrible and beautiful—wondrous—things.
But who are we to judge the weary hands
Of what we could never truly understand?

Source: ‘Children of the Stars’ by Elizabeth A. Britton