Monday Amusements 22 and Authors for the Philippines fantasy shopping!

All the books featured in my last Bookish Brits video!

'The Girl Myth in YA Fiction (And Beyond)' is a really interesting look at the way that reviewers judge girl characters as likeable or unlikeable and how this is informed by and impacts upon the way that girl characters are written, avoiding some stereotypes only to create others. I personally love reading about girls that cross the likeable/unlikeable binary - unlikeable girls who still try to do good things, or likeable girls who decide to make decisions that benefit themselves more than others, so I really enjoyed reading this post and seeing the recommendations.

I absolutely adored reading Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies' Top Ten Favourite Reading Memories post, so much so that I'll be writing my own version in the next few weeks!

Daphne at Winged Reviews is celebrating her second blogoversary with a stupendous giveaway.

Anti-Bullying Blog Week has just begun at A Day Dreamer's World - and Bookish Brits is beginning an Anti-Bullying themed fortnight! We're also looking for a new vlogger to join the team - could it be you? (end lottery voice)

Becky of The Bookette attended a School Libraries as Learning Centres course in Portugal and wrote about the experience: Part One and Part Two. I'm not a librarian but as a lifelong library fan I enjoy thinking about the future of all kinds of libraries.

On that subject, Voices for the Library just published a great piece: Why Terry Deary has got it wrong on public libraries and e-readers (via @readingagency)

Emily of the Mira Ink blog reports from an event at Waterstone's Piccadilly, and asks Is any subject taboo in YA literature? I have to agree that the answer is no - and that it is a good thing!

My favourite review this week was BookaUhu's review of Geek Girl by Holly Smale - I'd heard a lot of good things about it but now it really must go on my Christmas list or up to the top of my library wishlist!

I'm sure you must have heard about the Authors for the Philippines auction by now - if you follow me on Twitter, I've been tweeting and retweeting on the subject several times a day! If you haven't heard, all you need to know is that it's a charity auction to benefit the victims of Typhoon Haiyan via the British Red Cross. There are a whopping 468 items currently listed!

All the items that I would bid on have soared out of my tiny aspiring-novelist's budget, so I thought I would pretend I was a richer woman and engage in a bit of fantasy shopping...

My name isn't really pop band material but I'd be seriously tempted to buy item 406, Your name as the name of a popular band in YA author Luisa Plaja’s next book, for my cousin who has just started secondary school. I don't think she's read any of Luisa's books yet but wouldn't it be awesome to discover your name in a book? If you don't fancy making your name or someone else's into a band name, you can choose a character name instead or have your name shouted by a badger.

Various agents are offering critiques, and it would be utterly amazing to have a critique from any one of them, but especially Karolina Sutton of Curtis Brown. Several other people must agree with me as the bidding is now up to £450!

Finally, I would be unable to resist the signed Veronica Rossi books, including an ARC of Into the Still Blue, or the advance proof of It Felt Like a Kiss, by Sarra Manning.

If your budget is bigger than mine, do take a look at the auction site - bidding is open on all these amazing items and many more until 8pm GMT on Wednesday 20th November 2013.

I hope you're having a great Monday!

Bookish Brits Vlog 2: My Favourite Childhood Books

This actually went up on Monday, but I've been so busy redecorating and NaNoing I haven't had time to put up a post about it!

Click here to read a post explaining more about how influential Harriet the Spy was for me.

Monday Amusements 21

I hope you've been watching all the Bookish Brits videos! 

Gender Balance in YA Award Winners since 2000 takes on the idea that female authors 'dominate' YA fiction. Another fascinating read is On Book Packagers and Literary Development Companies (via @catagator). I've known about book packaging since the first time I read an article about Alloy, but it was really interesting to read about the new literary development companies started by well-known YA authors.

I love all this jewellery inspired by books! It's part of an auction running this week and I am really tempted to bid on a couple of items! (via @cloverness)

A letter To My Fairy Bookmother. I would ask for a chair that never gets uncomfortable, perfect recall of all my favourite books (I don't want to waste time remembering my least favourite too), and for Robin McKinley to write a sequel to Sunshine, or better yet, a whole series.

I also enjoyed reading Sex, swears and… er… unicorns? at Author Allsorts (via @Yayeahyeah), which makes a very good point!

I thought that Lit Medicine: 11 Books To Save Your Ass (Or Just Your Weary Soul) was great, especially as I'm planning to make my own list of comforting or inspiring books.

Have you read any really good blog posts or articles about books this fortnight?

Bookish Brits Vlog 1: My Introduction

Ahhh! It's finally up! I hope you enjoy it!

Links to things mentioned:

Diary of a Crush Week
Ten Things I Love About The Boyfriend List
Gimble Book Holder
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

NaNoFiMo?

This is a sponsored post. I used Grammarly for proofreading this post because I really really really really really overuse the word really and am really determined to stop. Really.

Unfortunately, Grammarly cannot do a thing about my terrible handwriting.

I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time last year, but failed because I didn't have enough of a plot for that idea and really I wanted to be working on my ongoing project. So this year, I'm joining my boyfriend and becoming a 'Nano Rebel', though I'm not entirely sure I can claim that title as I've never won NaNoWriMo in the ordinary way.

Finishing the first draft of my novel is my number one creative goal for this year. If I don't manage it, I'll only have achieved number two (plan second novel) and number nine (learn to cook more meals), which were quite easily done and are not particularly pride-inducing. Also, I have been working on it, on and off, for years. It's time to get it done, edit it, and move on to new creative pastures. I don't even think I have that many words left to write on my current project, so I won't even be working towards the standard word count of 50,000. Nevertheless, my goal is to finish my first draft by the end of November. Hence, NaNoFiMo, or perhaps just NoFiMo, as two people does not a national event make. Then again, NoFiMo sounds like I'm morally opposed to modelling clay.

But why claim a connection with NaNoWriMo when I'm doing something different? It's the social aspect. Last year I mostly NaNoed alone, though I did make some notes and start a short story during the Write-In on the last day! I think this is another reason why it didn't work.

I've got into the unnatural state, at least for me, of finding it hard to allow myself the time to write. I think that taking a netbook and going to sit in a cafe or pub or bookshop with other writers and the Wi-Fi turned off will help. I want to see if being around other people who are fervently working on their novels helps me. I used to write easily and freely more days than not, and I intend to force myself back into the habit!

I'll lose some of my free time, because of the journeys into central London, but I figure I can use the journey time to read and fill my creative well.

Do you have any tips or advice for me? How do you force yourself to finish projects? Do you find endings easy or difficult to write? Does anyone else spend as much time as I do worrying that their plots are too basic?