Posted on by susannevalenti · 24 Comments

Why you should take a writing break every now and then! 📚📝

So you may or may not have missed me recently 😳 and I’ve missed you guys too! I decided to take a little break from writing my books because my brain was getting overloaded and somehow that extended into my blog too 😁 but it’s a new month and my writing flow is back in force so here I am with a little post about why I believe taking a break can be important…

1. Brain overload. Sometimes you can get too close to your story, your characters, your world and rather than helping it actually makes it harder to see everything! You become so bogged down in the details that it’s hard to make the big decisions. 

  

2. Internal autocorrect. This is an odd one but I find that if I proofread my work again and again in a short period of time, my brain starts to autocorrect the errors meaning that I don’t pick them out! The work is so familiar to me that I don’t notice minor typos or missing words because my brain autocorrects when I read them 😲 (this meme isn’t really right but it was so funny I had to use it)

  
3. My TBR. This is actually my favourite reason to have a writing break because I can spend that time reading! My TBR is out of control and this month I managed to read the first 3 Game of Thrones books 😍

  

4. You can actually read it like a fan when you go back! One of my favourite parts of writing is when I do a read through and have forgotten something I’ve written! And especially if I love it when I read it!! I’m the biggest fan girl going and there’s nothing better than being a fan of your own work 😆

  

5. Sometimes not thinking about your work helps you come up with the best ideas. I find that parts I may have found clunky to read will suddenly be easy to resolve when I found them impossible to fix before. Plot holes are  filled, characters are fleshed out, bad guys have made their moves and everything suddenly just falls togetherness!

  

So there you have it – I’m back with a bang and I’m on a crazy writing splurge 🎉 let me know if any of this works for you too or if you find anything else that helps ☺️xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 5 Comments

Tomorrow my book is out… Let’s party

  
This is an invitation to all of you to attend my book launch party tomorrow!

Throughout the day I’ll be online to chat with you all about the book and anything else you’d like to discuss! There will be extracts and character profiles going up throughout the day here on my blog and over at the event on my Facebook page too so come on over and join me ☺️ here

I’ll also be hosting a competition to win an advanced e-copy of the first novella in the series.

  
So are you in? 😊xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 32 Comments

Goodreads friends!

This is just a quick post because I would like to have all of you as goodreads friends! 

  
It’s just hard to find people who are the right kind of book crazy with no starting point and I am a bit late to the goodreads party…

  
I don’t think it’s weird to ask right? 😳 I just love getting recommendations for new books and discussing them with people who enjoy them as much as I do…

  
I have lots of wonderful friends but just not that many who are book crazy like me and even those who are haven’t always read what I have and sometimes you really really need to vent or cry or explode with excitement 😭😂😲

  
And if I find something new I want to tell you all about it! 

  

So if that sounds like the way you like doing things too then please be my friend on goodreads and like my Facebook page!! ☺️☺️xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 18 Comments

Why lighthearted parts of books are so important 😂

I love the drive, drama, passion and mission that make books and characters so great but I always enjoy reading those parts of the story that just emphasise the fun side of our favourite characters. This is a post about some of the lighthearted things which make these stories even better and make me fall in love with the characters a little bit more… *contains mild spoilers for some very popular series*

1. Zip lining in Divergent

  

It was the moment where I really felt that Tris truly became Dauntless and lived up to the name in the best possible way! I would love to do this too 🙈☺️

2. Magnus’ party in City of Bones

  

I loved his party and bits of it had me laughing to myself and wishing I got invited to things like that (I’d avoid the drinks though) 🍹

3.  The baseball game in Twilight

 This was so much fun until it all went to hell! I loved finding out things that the Cullens did with their vampire powers which were purely for the fun of being immortal and better than everyone else at everything! ⚾️

4. Quidditch in Harry Potter

  

So like 99% of the time when Harry was playing quidditch, no one was trying to kill him… Okay maybe like 50% of the time… Or 30%… Either way he was having fun and I felt like we got to know a lot about him and his friends and teammates through it without it having to do with being the chosen one! ⚡️

5. The Hunger games when…

  

Oh right, the games part of the Hunger Games was no fun in the traditional sense of fun 😳 but the interviews were pretty great

6. And in Game of Thrones when…

  

Remember when Ned found out about Cersei’s children and then… No that was no fun… But then there was the time when Drogo and Danerys were really happy and everything was coming together and… Okay maybe not then then… But then Robb and his wife and his mother went to that wedding and weddings are always fun… Well okay nearly always… But Joffrey’s wedding, that one was definitely worth smiling over! 🐲

That’s all of the ones I can think of off the top of my head, can you think of any more? 😊 xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 13 Comments

End of bookaphobia (it’s a real thing!) 😱

You know that great feeling when you’re in the flow of a book and you love the characters and plans are starting to fall together and they’re heading on their way to take down the bad guys but suddenly you think ‘Will they all make it?’ ‘Is someone I love about to die?’. And you realise that you don’t want to carry on reading just in case but at the same time somehow it’s four am and you have to get up in the morning but you can’t possibly sleep until you know!

  
And the words ‘Just one more chapter’ are said aloud even to an empty room or an unresponsive cat

  
So you tell yourself you’ll just read a few paragraphs of the next chapter to make sure everyone’s alright but the next chapter is about a different character (and always the one you like least)

  

So you either have to give up and head for a restless sleep, read the unwanted chapter (or chapters) or (and I know this is book blaspheme) skip to the character you’re on and just make sure they’re okay!

  
But sometimes they aren’t ok! And then there’s no way you can just go to sleep without finding out if it gets better somehow

  

Ok, so everything might have slowed down but you’re in it now and there’s a good chance that the answer you’ve been looking for is on next page….

  
What? You thought it had slowed down! You thought you were safe? Whyyy why?? 😭 So now you have to read to the end just to be sure that everyone really does make it and to know how they coped with everything that went wrong

  
But when you finally read to the end and the adrenaline/terror/excitement has all been used up (and you’re satisfied or not but either way it’s really over!) at least you can get your head down and get a good night’s sleep…

  
… Oh 

☺️ xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 22 Comments

Animals in books 🐺🐷🐴🐻

I love the addition of an animal to a book especially when they further the story! This is a list of my top five animals in books and why, I’d love to know if you agree and who else you’d put on the list… 

5. Saphira- Eragon’s dragon. 

Sometimes I sit in traffic and I think ‘If I had a dragon I wouldn’t have to deal with this sh*t’ nuff said. (I’m gunna chuck Daenerys’ dragons in with this one too or it will all be me bitching about how I wanna ride a dragon)🐲

  
4. Bill the pony – The Lord of the Rings. 

Growing up my dad used to read me the works of J R R Tolkien and one question was never far from my lips. ‘Did Bill get home???? 🐴😭 but he did so that’s okay and I love him!

  
3. Ghost – Game of Thrones. 

So you’re making your way to school/work and some guy bumps into you, knocking you bag to the floor. In the real world we grumble internally, in my dreams, Ghost knocks him on his ass and scares the crap out of him while I laugh. This is Jon Snow’s reality and I want it (my own husky would be more likely to give the guy a lick). I’m counting all of the dire wolves in this but Ghost is my fave 🐺

  
2. Jacob – Twilight.

Okay so maybe he’s a person at times but when he’s wolfy he’s super wolfy and he can bring all of his pack mates to the occasion so they’ve all got your back. Oh and when he is a person he’s hot so no complaints there 😋

  
1. Hedwig- Harry Potter. 

Was there ever any doubt? Best friend, super cute, crazy intelligent, can find anyone anywhere so you can totally find out if people are lying to you aaaaand no more waiting for the mail man? Done and done 🐦

  
Let me know if you agree xoxo