RTW: Crazy Love

Hey everyone! I'm back! Or at least I am for the span of this post. You see, I've been expectedly busy with writing my thesis and with other final semester type things related to being a senior, and I honestly haven't had time to blog. Sad, I know. I wish it wasn't so.

But since it is, I felt it was high time I came back for an RTW and explained my seemingly utter departure from the blogging world. So there y'all have it. I explained myself.

Now for the fun stuff!

Welcome to our 169th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic: What's the craziest thing you've done for love, or what's your favorite book/movie moment of someone doing crazy things for love?

It really depends on how you define crazy. Are we talking actual insane actions, like Jack freezing to death in the water even though there was room on that piece of wreckage? Or are we talking momentary flashes of insanity that lead us to sing outside the house of the one we love at three o'clock in the morning (likely while also intoxicated)?

Obviously I've never had a truly insane moment because I'm still alive, and I'm not sure I ever will. And after watching the Carnival cruise ship flounder around in Mobile Bay last week and hearing about all the unsanitary things those poor people had to endure, I don't think I'll be in Jack's position any time soon, i.e. no boats for this girl.

However, I feel like I must be slightly crazy when it comes to the Boyfriend. I'm not sure how many of you know that I love Skyrim, but I do. I love it. I also happen to love Boyfriend. But when you put Boyfriend and Skyrim together, that's when my crazy comes out.

I can't stand to watch him play. It's excruciating. He doesn't play right. And by right, I suppose I mean the way I play. (Which is RIGHT.)

I have to restrain myself from screaming. Sometimes I forget and try to tell him what to do, and then he does the complete opposite because he knows it drives me crazy.

If you're wondering where the crazy love part comes in, don't worry, I'm getting there.

He loves to play Skyrim even though he's not any good.

And because I'm such an amazing girlfriend, I let him play Skyrim more than I do. It's torture. But I endure it.

I have a video that shows this strange dynamic, but I'm not sure if I should post it. I want to, because it's funny. But he isn't used to being on the Internet. Oh well. I know! I'll transcribe it! I'm brilliant.

Video of Boyfriend Being Terrible at Skyrim:

Scene: His house in Falkreath

BF: Wait a minute, if you plant one, you get more than one back, right?

Me: *heavy sigh*

BF: *laugh*

Me: You get however many...is in the plant. It could be one, it could be more than one.

BF: *laugh* *funny face*

Me: Just plant something and find out.

BF: I did.

Me: Well, good. Yes, that's a stable.

BF: I want a horse in it.

Me: You have to buy a horse!

BF: I don't wanna buy 'em!

Me: Just--you've got a lot of gold! Just buy it!

BF: *dumb laugh* I don't have that much...

Me: You have enough.          (He has 16,000 gold at that point.)

BF: What about pigs and animals?

Me: You can buy a cow or some chickens from Lydia. Go do that.

BF: Chickens! I can't hear you! *laughs*

Me: Just, just buy some stuff from Lydia!

BF: Oooohh! Bench!!

Me: Here's an idea. Here's an idea.

BF: I'm sitting on a bench!

Me: Here's an idea: why don't you just get Lydia to decorate your whole house for you?

BF: Bench, bench!

Me: It would make our relationship so much easier.

BF: I was sitting on a bench...

Me: Oh my god...


Well, if that isn't crazy behavior for love, I don't know what love or crazy is. And if that's the case, I'm insane and should be locked up away from society. Immediately.

Until next time...

RTW: Lovely Things

Welcome to our 144th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic is: 

(Inspired by Stephanie Perkins' post on Natalie Whipple's blog) 

What is your novel's "Love List"?

A love list, according to Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss, is a list of things, which can be ideas or concrete objects, that make you love your WIP. I've never thought about making lists like this before, but since I really like making lists writing this post was fun (my favorite kind of lists are the grocery kind). 

Explosions. In the sky. Over my house. 

Off the top of my head, here are a few of the things on my love list for a little WIP of mine that I like to call "Super Duper."

1. Ireland

2. Spanish moss

3. red hair

4. super powers

5. blue-eyed boy

6. sarcasm

7. a green man

8. betrayal

9. growth

10. explosions

11. more explosions

12. yummy food

13. mind control

14. the elements

15. family

As you can see, I like my novels to be a bit more combustible than most. So what are y'all's love lists?

Until next time...

RTW: Best Book of October

Welcome to our 102nd Road Trip Wednesday!


Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link -- or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments. 


This week's topic: What was the best book you read in October?


Happily and oddly enough, October has been a very fruitful reading month for me. I don't know how it came to happen that I've read so much since it seems like October has been the busiest month of my entire life, but I like to think that the book fairies know I need to read to stay afloat and they took pity on me. So, with that all in mind, I have a rather large selection to pick from this month, but thankfully there has been one book in particular that stood out, so the decision wasn't too stressful.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is absolutely gorgeous. I was lucky enough to actually get to meet her at an event in my hometown a few weeks ago, and she is such a sweet person. Here is a little background on the novel, in case you haven't heard of it, and if that's the case, I'd be surprised since it's quite popular at the moment. I really can't say it any better than the jacket sleeve and Goodreads.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. 

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. 

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

While reading this, I fell in love not only with the characters, but also with the circus itself. It's a living, breathing entity that easily captured my imagination. I only wish that I could be a part of Le Cirque des Rêves.

The Night Circus isn't a YA novel, but it isn't entirely an adult book either. It's something that I would put in a category with the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings, if only because of the rare illusive quality I'm trying and failing to describe. I suppose y'all will just have to read it to find out for yourselves.