Weak excuses + The Writer's Book Tag

Over the last week, I disappeared off the face of the earth blogosphere.

This was not, good idea though it would have been, so I could focus on NaNo. No. It was... so I could... that is, I've been... doing...

I don't know.

I don't know why for a whole week I didn't have any time to comment on blogs, since I did not write a. single. word. on my NaNo draft either??

Here's what I know I did do:

• One morning: Spent an hour on remedial reading with a  at a local primary school
• One evening: Submitted last TAFE assessment for this year. 
• One morning: Swimming instructor for a bunch of homeschooling kids
• One weekend: Read 5 books (and a frankly embarrassing amount of fanfiction throughout the week)
• Over two days: Read a 300+ fancomic series. I have now caught up. I am displeased. 
• One evening: Watched The Battle of the Five Armies with my brother (the one I'm slowly converting to the fandom. Only he has an actual job and studies full-time, so he doesn't usually have time. He makes me feel so lazy :P)
• This morning: Got on the tractor and buried a feral pig Dad shot. 

And it doesn't feel like that's enough serious things happening to justify a word count that's gone up by zero??

...

I always knew I was a Master Procrastinator. 


Anyway, here's a book tag! Because I've been reading far more this month than anyone doing NaNo has a right to do. The Temperamental Writer (well, her ghost, at least ;) at All Things Trivial and Insignificant tagged me for the Writer's Book Tag, and I love the way it uses various elements of a writer's life as book categories.
(Kudos to Katie at The Act Diary for creating the tag!)

First Draft: A book or series you’ve never read before

There are... a lot.

Which I suppose is to be expected.

(This question would be much easier to answer if it wasn't so open??)

I'm just going to go with a few books that bloggers talk about, but I haven't read:

Allegiant (Veronica Roth) || Percy Jackson [#4-#?] (Rick Riordan) || Caraval (Stephanie Garber)

Tales of Goldstone Wood (Anne Elisabeth Stengl) || The Wingfeather Saga (Andrew Peterson)

Second Draft: A book or series you didn’t like as much the second time you read it

Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz. I read the original series, which was all very exciting and explosion-y, then a few years later read the newest book, Never Say Die. (Because surprise! The big finale wasn't the end after all!!)

Now, one of my pet peeves is when a author/publisher drags something on for too long. I believe The 39 Clues suffered TERRIBLY from this. So discovering that there would be a new series about Alex didn't enthuse me as much as it could have.



The next problem was that I read The Lost Girl of Astor Street (Stephanie Morrill) around the same time. I loved her writing, and the characters, and the conflict (and the ship, obviously. I am here for all the ships :P).

And then - and then! I went back to finish Never Say Die. And the writing was so flat. There was a heap of telling. The plot relied on huge coincidences and unlikely events. I found myself counting how many times Horowitz used a word on one page.

And my mum did the exact same thing - actually stopping in the middle of Never Say Die to read The Lost Girl of Astor Street - and had the exact same problem. (It could, I suppose, just be that we don't like the 'thriller' genre??)

So. Alex Rider. Haven't gone back to reread the series yet. I think the first books probably wouldn't be too bad? but I'm afraid of discovering that the later ones have the famous-author-is-pumping-out-books syndrome.

Final Draft: A book or series you’ve liked for a really long time

Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) and The Chronicles of Narnia (CS Lewis).

Killing Off Your Characters: A book or series that made you cry

Let's start with a bit of a disclaimer: There are lots of excellent and feelsy books out there. I've even read some of them. But I don't cry over books. Not usually. Years of reading have hardened my heart in that respect. (With movies, I do cry sometimes. But my dad - who is not usually very emotional - cries first.) (He cried a bit in Kung Fu Panda II, when Po's mum died. I love my dad so much <3 xD)

So normally, I wouldn't really have an answer to this question. But I just recently read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (warning: some content). And I think my eyes got a little bit damp. (And that's after I read the ending first. Which is a BAD IDEA, DO NOT DO.)

Plot Holes: A book or series that disappointed you

The 39 Clues. From, oh... the end of the Cahills vs. Vespers sub-series? As I mentioned above, I think these books suffered from being drawn out waaay too far. The character development - which is what I loved seeing over the first ten books - gave way to lots of explosions, chases, and other exciting things... or they should have been exciting, except the pace felt too fast and I had no reason to care.

Y'know, maybe it's just that I'm no longer in their target audience??

Writer’s Block: A book or series you never finished

Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan) - I read the first three. The first one was good, but - maybe I was rushing? - the next two just didn't grab me. I might pick the next one up sometime, if I have some free time (hahahaha), but I'm not holding my breath waiting. (I've read he has some terrible cliffhangers... some literal... later on in the series, though? Could be good?)

Feedback: A book or series you’d recommend to anyone and everyone

The Ascendence Trilogy (Jennifer Nielsen) -  I think I've mentioned this one a few times?? 



Operation Foxtrot Five (DJ Stutley) - indie-published by a Christian Australian author, this is a book about a family of four siblings who run away instead of being split up into foster homes, and the detective who's sent after them.

........

The rules: 
1. Shoutout to the blogger who tagged you
2. Use the graphic
3. Tag three people
Easy! ;)

And I tag: 
Faith @ The Florid Sword
Lila @ The Cheapskate Bibliomaniac
Cecelia @ A Looong Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away


Which of these books have you read? Do I dislike any you love? Love any you dislike? Do you get annoyed when a series is drawn out too far? ARE YOU A CRAZY GOOD PROCRASTINATOR? Chat in the comments and tell me your worst act of procrastination this NaNoWriMo! Or you could talk about books. That works too.