Top Ten Tuesday: Words/Topics That Make Me Not Pick Up a Book

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Eeeek. This is going to be very hard for me, since I always like to try new books. So I'm going to copy the brilliant Emma from Bookworm/Future Author and do a half-and-half. 5 terms that turn me away from books and 5 terms that draw me in! And for once, I'm on time!!

 

Words/topics that make me not pick up a book:

 

1. Horror. I simply cannot read horror, the same way I can't watch horror shows. I'm definitely not the kind of person who enjoys, you know, macabre and all that.

 

2. Graphic novel. I can't read them. At all. Now this is different from picture books--those I can read (not that I read a lot of picture books anymore haha). But those manga novels...I don't know, sometimes I just get completely and utterly confused.

 

3. Romance. This is very important, I don't mean that I dislike books with romance. In fact some of my favorite series have romance: Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson. But a book that is completely centered on romance? Not really my thing.

 

4. Murder Mystery. Ahem, this might qualify as horror, but I can't stand murder mysteries. Not because they're bad--I mean, I know that Agatha Christie writes terrific books. The reason I dislike murder mysteries are they make me scared. I know, I know, I'm a huge coward--but after I read murder mysteries I get all jumpy.

 

5. Poetry. This is kind of a grey area. I get easily bored by poetry, see. I mean, sometimes when a verse or two of poetry is inserted cleverly into a book (like at the beginning of a chapter), it's actually very compelling. But reading continuous long pages of poetry....I just can't get into it.

 

Words/topics that make me pick up a book:

 

1. Magic. Any magic. From Egyptian mythology to Harry Potter wizardry to demon hunting. I love reading books with magic, or supernatural/paranormal elements. Zombies are a huge exception. I dislike zombie books. But I love reading about wizards/witches, or fairies, or mermaids, or... I could go on and on.

 

2. Fairy tale or fairy tale retelling. I absolutely love fairy tales. Grimm, Andersen, you name it. And when it comes to fairy tale retellings, even though I sometimes don't like them, I always have to pick up retellings. Authors like Marissa Meyer do fantastic jobs of fairy tale retellings. I also love books where people go into a fairy-tale land, such as The Sisters Grimm.

 

3. Gymnastics. As a gymnast, I love reading books that show the "insider's view" to a competitive gymnast's life. I absolutely have to pick up gymnastics books--it's just like ingrained in my brain.

 

4. Books. I love books. I immediately am intrigued by books about books. (or book clubs, or bookworms). A book about publishing a book. A book about writing a book. A book about a book club. A book about reading books. Books, books, books!

 

5. Historical fiction with princesses. I love reading books about princesses who lived in earlier eras. Like a fake diary of young Cleopatra, or the fake life of a princess who lived during, say, the Crusades. Princesses are always an intriguing part of literature, combined with fascinating history...love it.

 

--Audrey

 

 



 

Teaser Tuesdays: July 16th

I'm late.
I know.
I keep missing these Tuesday things.
But lately I have been extremely busy with gymnastics--I'm flying to a competition in Kentucky next week! Also, Blogger is still being mean about my China pictures. But those posts are coming very soon, I promise!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Okay, so I am currently reading Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.

My teaser:

A few minutes later Pinocchio jumped out of bed quite well; for you must know that wooden marionettes have the privilege of being ill very seldom and of getting well very quickly.

Note: I will be reviewing Pinocchio soon! You have to read it. If you've only seen the cheerful singing wooden puppet it the Disney animation, you don't know Pinocchio at all. Disney completely changed his story. The original Pinocchio is so amazing, so thoughtful, almost sinister... I'll save it for the review, but trust me.

--Audrey

Synopses of My Writing Works

So about a month ago, I posted about my current writing works, which you can visit here.
And here are the synopses/summaries of them! Now, I'm not sure if any of these works are ones I might want to edit and polish up for possible publishing later in my life... But even so, I'm worried about plagiarism since I have no legal rights over my writing... So these might be a little vague. Sorry about that!


Paper Thin:
All she's ever wanted is to be thin. To be skinny. Just like her sister. Bella's mom is obsessed with her being the valedictorian. Bella's dad is in the hospital with a brain aneurysm. Bella's older sister is going to Harvard, and she doesn't care about her little sister anymore. It seems like Bella can't control anything in her life--except her eating. No one can force her to eat.



Aerial:
Five teenagers. Four events. Balance beam. Uneven bars. Vault. Floor.

Narrated by five aspiring teenagers, Aerial is all about the struggle and intensity that competitive artistic gymnasts endure.



Fade Out:
Paige used to be in total control of her life. She was a successful actress, had happily married parents, an adoring boyfriend, and everything else she could possibly want. One year, one divorce, one move, one breakup, and one hundred snobby wannabe tweens later, Paige's life is falling apart. Her spotlight is fading out.


So, those are my currently-writing pieces! Now for my currently-editing:

Catnlyst:
The title has absolutely nothing to do with the story at all, by the way.
Mayda was an ordinary wizard.
Gemma was an ordinary teenager.
Mayda wants to graduate magic training and become a full-time wizard of the Royal Court.
Gemma wants to graduate high school and major in her passion, journalism.
But fate has other ideas...
Three prophecies. Two girls. One adventure that changes everything.



A Day in the Life:
Naya Duncan is a competitive all-star cheerleader.
Eric Clarkson is on the school football team.
Naya thinks football is one of the dumbest sports in existence, what with all the shoving and pushing.
Eric thinks cheerleading is a stupid girls' hobby that requires little athletic ability.
But when a nosy fairy-in-training pokes around their lives, Naya and Eric both discover that they were wrong. A day in the life of someone is one thing. But to be stuck in someone's body ...is another.




Now, I do have some other works--dormant works--but I won't do those synopses, since those ideas aren't exactly complete. I might post parts of these stories on my blog...maybe.

--Audrey

Awesome M and M Cookies Recipe

Note: this was written a few months ago, I think in April...but I just now got around to finishing it. 
Here's a cookie recipe to start off my day! Well, it's in the afternoon in the USA, but it's around 5 AM for me! Coming back home on July 11!! :)

I've never been much of a baker, even though I love eating baked goods (though I'm not technically supposed to). And I usually don't have time, what  with school and gymnastics... But still, I really enjoy baking, and here is a recipe for fabulous M and M cookies that requires only regular baking ingredients, M and M's, and (optional) Jell-O vanilla pudding mix! Now, the pudding mix is optional, but it does wonders to the texture, shape, and taste, so it's highly recommended.

All pictures and the recipe are not mine! Full credit goes to Jenny from Picky Palate
Click on the picture, it will lead you to the original recipe! :)



Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons Instant vanilla pudding mix

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1-1 1/2 cups M and M’s

(if desired, you can use mini chocolate chips and mini M and M's, they're so cute!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper. (note: I used a greased cookie sheet and it turned out fine, but it's better to use a liner or parchment paper)
2. In a large mixing bowl cream your butter and sugars until well combined. Add your egg and vanilla, mixing to combine. Add your flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine. Add chocolate chips and M and M’s, stirring to combine.
3. With a medium cookie scoop, place dough 1 inch apart from each other. Leave the dough in balls, do not press flat. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Enjoy!

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

And here is the baking process in picture form:

Butter and sugar :)

Some egg and vanilla....

Dry ingredients!

Vanilla pudding mix. Seriously, you have to use this!

Give the ingredients a good mix! But only until just combined, you don't want to overmix! :)

Delicious.

Colorful candies :)

Best dough ever.

IMPORTANT: Leave your dough like this! Do NOT flatten it out!

Perfection. Enjoy!

--Audrey

The Eleven Questions Tag

I found this tag on the fantastic Seana's fantastic blog. And she is completely correct, this looks suspiciously like a Liebster Award. It is almost exactly the same....suspicious. And I was not technically nominated...but whatever.

 

Rules

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their site.

2. Post 11 random things about yourself.

3. Answer 11 questions from the person who tagged you.

4. Ask the people you tag 11 questions. 

5. Nominate 11 other blogs.

 

1. Thank you Seana! :)

 

 

Now for my 11 facts....

1. I'm currently in China.

2. It's my first Independence Day not in the US.

3. It's my first time in China.

4. I'm having a blast.

5. Except it's really humid and I am so sticky right now.

6. I just ate this delicious pastry. It was sort of like a little pie crust with this scrumptious gelatin-y egg custard-colored...ah, you know, I do not know how to describe it. A photo:

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

7. I'm going to go right now and get another one.

8. I just ate a second custard pastry thingy.

9. I really don't know what to call that pastry.

10. Actually, I do, it's called a pastry.

11. I totally cheated on these 11 facts.

 

Questions Left For Me:

1. JOHNNY DE-- I mean, uh, that's not a question! For you, what makes a good question?

The question should be interesting and thought-provoking... I really don't know.

 

2. Are you a writer? If so, what is the longest work you have ever finished? (Don't make me jealous.)
I am a writer, as probably evident by the title of my blog. Um, the longest work I've ever finished. As in I successfully wrote the ending? (I HATE endings. I have a writing-post-in-progress about endings). Uh, my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel. 51,312 words. Maybe 80 Word Doc pages?

 

3. Do you get jealous easily?
Oh yes. Very easily. But I should mention that usually my jealousy is very mild and goes away very quickly. Like when my friend bought The Mortal Instruments series, I was jealous. But like an hour later I already forgot about it. But my jealousy of Gabby Douglas's gymnastics shall never fade. Ever.

 

4. What is one thing you dislike about your personality?
Um, I do get jealous easily. Which isn't very good. But, to answer the question properly... I dislike the fact that I overthink things that aren't necessarily very important, and I start almost obsessing over it, and I get distracted.

 

5. What is one thing you like about your looks?
My eyes. They're big and green and remind me of Harry Potter.

 

6. Do you like the set-up/layout of your bedroom?
Sure. I have everything out of the way so I have plenty of room to stretch and warm up in my bedroom. Also, there's a lot of wall space, since I have this collage of gymnastics and book pictures that I am constantly adding to.

 

7. As you type this, what would you rather be doing?
Gymnastics. My god, I miss my home gym. Practicing in China is just not the same.

 

8. Fears?
Serial killers, murderers, terrorists, muggers, other dangerous criminals, bombs, guns, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, other dangerous natural disasters, blind dismounts off the balance beam, one-and-a-half twists off the vault, other very hard gymnastics tricks....

 

9. What are some words that you only recently learned how to pronounce?
Too many Chinese words to name.

 

10. Have you ever been in love?
Nope.

11. Are you disappointed that this 11th question is really no 11th question at all?
It's still a question... So no, not disappointed.

 

Now, I don't want to put up all the links to eleven other blogs and then go visit all of them and comment, so whoever wants to do this tag, feel free! And if you are, then just do the questions that I found on Seana's blog, which she found on someone named Emily's blog!

 

Blogger is being very mean with format and photos, so I might have to postpone all of my China posts until I get back to the US!

--Audrey