What Does Your Rating Scale Say About You?

By: Amira K.
Musings, , , , , , , , 6 Comments on What Does Your Rating Scale Say About You?

So I finally figured out a way to properly define book ratings so that they make sense to me, and (hopefully) will make sense to my readers. I’ve always struggled with the traditional five-star rating system, because there’s so much room for misinterpretation. For instance, if someone rates something four stars, does that mean it…

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The 5 Best Writing Tips I’ve Ever Received

By: Amira K.
Musings, , , , , 13 Comments on The 5 Best Writing Tips I’ve Ever Received

First I want to take a minute to say THANK YOU to everyone who commented on my last post or followed my blog after I wrote the post ‘The 5 Worst Writing Tips I’ve Ever Received.’ It was really thrilling to have so many people engaged in the conversation, and I hope we can keep…

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The 5 Worst Writing Tips I’ve Ever Received

By: Amira K.
Musings, , , , , 40 Comments on The 5 Worst Writing Tips I’ve Ever Received

As someone who tries to write very consciously and deliberately, I like to pay attention to writing tips from agents, publishers, and other authors. I also got a fair few back in English classes when I was a young’un in high school. I’ve seen some pretty awful writing tips in my day, and I wanted…

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Why IS Dystopian Fiction So Great?

By: Amira K.
Musings, , , , , , , 19 Comments on Why IS Dystopian Fiction So Great?

The estimable Jamey Stegmaier emailed me the other day after I posted my last book review and asked me a very interesting question. What is it, he asked, that you like so much about dystopian fiction? The question really got me thinking.  After all, I’m working on a book with strong dystopian elements, and I’ve read a whole…

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Book Review: “Disconnect” by Imran Siddiq

By: Amira K.
Book Review, , , , , , , , , , 10 Comments on Book Review: “Disconnect” by Imran Siddiq

I’ve been going on a bit of a YA reading spree lately, but I’ve been fairly disappointed by the fact that so many of the protagonists in this genre are female. I have nothing against female protagonists, but the imbalance in the genre is overwhelming. Where are the books for boys? Where are the coming-of-age…

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The Life of a Young Writer (Through The Many Faces of Jennifer Lawrence)

By: Amira K.
Musings, , , , 5 Comments on The Life of a Young Writer (Through The Many Faces of Jennifer Lawrence)

In honor of Jennifer Lawrence’s win at the Oscars on Sunday (which only served to redouble my blossoming love for her) I decided to make use of her acting talents and multifarious faces to express some of the trials and tribulations of being an aspiring novelist. WHEN I FINISH A DAY OF EDITING WHEN AN…

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Book Review: NEXUS by Ramez Naam

By: Amira K.
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The tagline for the book NEXUS, published by the Angry Robot imprint of Osprey, is “Mankind Gets An Upgrade”, but frankly, I don’t think that does the book justice. Lots of books are about “upgrading” humans, whether through genetic modifications, android additions, or drugs (as is Nexus). The tagline is technically correct: the basic premise of NEXUS…

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How Jack Learned To Read

By: Amira K.
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I have had the good fortune of conversing with a very interesting fellow over on Goodreads. This fellow (who requested anonymity, we’ll call him Jack) was kind enough to talk to me about how he got into reading at a much later age than most do, and how important books have become to him. I…

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This Is What Obsession Feels Like

By: Amira K.
Musings, , , , , 5 Comments on This Is What Obsession Feels Like

Obsession [uh b-sesh–uh n] (noun) 1. The domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, desire, image, etc. What was the last thing you were obsessed with? Something so gripping that you just couldn’t get it out of your mind, that your waking and dreaming moments were defined almost exclusively by that one thing? Maybe…

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Book Review: “Shatter Me” by Tahereh Mafi

By: Amira K.
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I finally did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I bought the first book in Tahereh Mafi’s new series, SHATTER ME, which was released in November of 2011 by Harper/Harper Collins. Her second book, UNRAVEL ME, was just released on Feb. 5, which made me think, “Oh, how easy it will…

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