Journal of a Tired Indie Writer ~ Pt. 1

 

Journal of a Tired Indie Writer ~ Pt. 1

Welcome to my black hole website/blog/rant sessions, you must be new here. Don't worry, so am I.

These ''journal of a tired indie writer'' blog posts are going to be just some of the kinds of posts I put out. They're going to be a kind of venting with coffee session for me, but advice and tips for others that are at any stage of any kind of writing.

They also will be humiliating for me because I'm not going to sugarcoat or hide any of it.

I have always been big on honesty so these blog posts/journal entries will be full of all kinds of embarrassing mistakes I make at all points of the writing process, but hopefully they can help encourage other writers or just make someone laugh today.

 

Welcome to my chaos as an author and my coffee ramble-- toast! *lifts mug for lonely cheer*

 

                                                            ☕️☕️☕️

 

 The Actual Writing & The Procrastinating

11:14pm | A Saturday we're not naming

 

    Ironically for a person that likes honesty so much, it's very hard to be so honest to myself. Last night I told myself firmly I would wake up early to write and have plenty of time before going to work at my full-time job later the next day.

Journal, yours truly, is an idiot that lied to herself.

I did wake up early technically.

Only to take one look at the time and dive back under the cover (it was only 5:45 am at this point, and is nothing considering I'm usually a morning person), convincing my sleep-loving brain that I would only sleep for twenty more minutes or so.

I did not get up twenty minutes later, journal.

And now, as I type this up once I've gotten back home after a long shift at work (with my blessed Garfield mug of coffee).... I've decided to just start being brutally honest with myself about my horrible writing and procrastinating habits.

 

☕ *Pause to sip coffee*

 

I have made a bullet list below just for me and you journal, pls pls don't share 👀:

 

• You will NOT wake up early to write, while in the past you've done this maybe a total of three times successfully, your a lazy panda that doesn't like to move from the warm soft cocoon you sleep in. You're a night owl, so deal with it and adjust. 

 

•  You are not a writer that makes plans and goals well and can stick to them. You don't even average your time actually writing very well....ooh look another character board we can make on Pinterest!!

 

• Progress-wise....you actually end up just stress-crying as you rush to get everything done last minute because you procrastinated so much. That's it. That's your process.

 

• You will *not* remember that crucial idea or plot line when you get out of the shower or when you wake up in the morning, get out now- and WRITE THAT **** DOWN!!

 

• If you ever try to write without coffee again, you will know what torture truly is.

 

• And finally, stop trying to make all the characters and plot lines do what you want and fit how you planned. It's a draft that lets everything flow as you write it- you can go back in the next draft and make sure everything goes right with an outline, but that's not for right now.

 

• You idiot, you already knew all this.
  

 

*quietly sobbing into a mug of coffee*

    And to think if I'd been so honest with myself about my writing habits and procrastinating...maybe....no. Not even then. Those nights crying on the kitchen floor surrounded by half-eaten twinkies and discarded pieces of paper definitely would've still happened. (I glance to my left at the draft, sticky notes, and twinkie remains in the kitchen.)

Pugsley & Noel stare-down

 Yeah.... let's pause here for now journal dear, I'll be back to tell you more of my disasters and mistakes soon!!

Lot of love!!
NoelW

Loving Rosenfeld by Leighann Hart | Coffee & Cigarettes...

                              

                Goodreads |  Amazon | Author's Website

 

   The Blurb:    It's four minutes to closing time at The Roast, and all Peter Rosenfeld wants is a steaming cappuccino as he rushes off to an assignment. But they've closed early.

So, he does what any level-headed, mature adult would do: pounds on the windows and demands his caffeine fix.
 He boycotts the shop upon their refusal to serve him, but returns weeks later and meets Ryleigh, the gorgeous new barista who bore witness to his childish outburst. And while Peter's initial interest only lies in her cappuccino-making skills, her wit and charm soon have him reeling—but she’s young. Too young. A freshman in college.
Or so she says.
Ryleigh has him convinced of it until an article runs in his newspaper and reveals her not so innocent lie: she's a senior in high school.
Her age, and the ghost of a failed relationship, give him sufficient reason to shy away from their peculiar but undeniably budding involvement.
Despite knowing she's moving out of state for college in the fall, Ryleigh is insistent on having him in her life. As that deadline approaches, Peter questions everything he believes—and what it would mean to go against it.

                                ~            ~            ~            ~

This wasn't the typical romance book I tend to pick up, but um excuse me-- coffee shop romance?? I'm there.
I am usually super duper picky with my romance, alright? I like it served a certain way (no instant love) and I also have to be in the mood to read most of the tropes or honestly a book that doesn't have dragons or wizards at all.
It's gotta lot to carry for me.

However, when I AM in a romance novel mood I have certain keywords that will have me pick the book up in an instant and ''coffee shop romance'' is definitely at the top of the list!


 
 I will say that while I did like the two leads, I was a little put off by the age-gap. BUT it's literally an age-gap romance, so I'm in no way using that to mark down against the book.


It delivers that and is no doubt going to be a favorite read for those that enjoy that trope. I'm not the biggest fan of that specific trope but that's personal opinion.


Aside from the age-gap, Peter Rosenfeld was my favorite piece of this story-- it's funny how much I'm like him to the point where a friend was laughing with me and saying ''I was reading, and all I could picture was you!''. 
Brutally honest, addicted to coffee, and great music taste- yep loved him! (Personally I believe my music taste my be just slightly better though.)



 

The story and plot developed nicely and I rather enjoyed the ride. The story is meant to continue and be a duet, and I can't wait to see what Hart does with the sequel! *cue heart eyes*

 Hart has now made sure that I'm constantly craving a good cappuccino now with this book. In fact, I ended up finishing it at a Starbucks with a caramel cappuccino in hand haha!





                                    [My Rating:  ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️]

 
 
Have you heard of this author or this book?? If you've read it, what were your thoughts??
Do you enjoy coffee shop romances too, or any other tropes?



Please share your own rambles below!!

Happy coffee sips!
NoelW

Romanov by Nadine Brandes | An Anastasia Retelling

 

 Title: Romanov

Author: Nadine Brandes

Genre: YA | Magic | historical fiction | Retelling

    [Synopsis: The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are to either release the spell and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.]

I adore retellings and was so excited to finally pick this read up! It's already so hard to find a good ''Anastasia Retelling'' so it had been on my list as soon as I'd heard about it.

 While I enjoyed the story I do have some mixed feelings overall, so the only way to truly describe this book for me was to do a list of pros and cons.

Pros: 

- A unique retelling, the world building and history was very intruiging and welldone.

- The magical parts were really cool but I wished to know more about it.

- The romance progressed at a pace that I really enjoyed and liked to watch!

- The side characters were some of my favorites and I really missed them by the time I finished the book- I wished there was more to the story just so I could read more about them!

- I did like that the message was clear and well shown throughout the story.

Cons:

- Uhm, I can't spoil for this but the love interest and his actions at a certain point were eh...wow. Like, I get it. But... if it was me I would've done killed the dude.

- I wanted more. Like I love how it ended and all and the story development, but crud y'all I want another book!! I felt like this was a setup for a duology so I kept thinking there'd be another book... now, realizing that it's one standalone novel I wish there had been a bit more for me. 

- REALLY. THAT'S WHERE IT ENDS?!?! *curses and swig of coffee*

Yep, that's...that about covers it. 

I did enjoy reading it, and I was frustrated about somethings but the author still handled it well and I do recommend it. It's not a forever favorite for me, but I know several people that adore it all the way. 

So give it a try and let me know you're thoughts!

 Have you read Romanov? What were your thoughts? Do you have any Anastasia retellings you could recommend me?? PLEASE???

I'm not begging I swear...

My rating:

Hope y'all have a lovely day lovelies!! <3

NoelW

 

Pug Puppies, current reads & watch list!

     Last Sunday evening Wednesday (my mother's female pug) had a litter of 6 puppies! Now to catch everyone up on the same page, this is what my family's pug situation looks like....

My parents (also my neighbors) have two black pugs, the girl is Wednesday and the boy is pugsley.

My older brother that is renting from me has his own pug that's the oldest, Biscuit. She used to be mine before I went away to college. Once I moved away and couldn't take her with me I had to give her to my brother those few years ago.

Now, I get to have my pick of the litter to get myself a pug! It's been a while since I had my own to look after and I miss having my own furr baby <3. But we'll see!

Having my hands full with Wednesday's puppies (they're starting to stand up and walk!!), I'm finding a bit more time to sit and catch up on shows and discover new books to read- something I've very much  missed. 

Care for a peek at my currents? 

Currently Reading~

 

  I've been in the mood for consuming werewolf reads, so The King's Mate by Harlie May is just one I've been sinking my teeth into this past month ;)

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay is one I've been meaning to read for (I kid you not) three or four years now *grimace of shame*...what's bad is it's literally a book that screams me and is right up my alley! A sci-fi fairytale retelling?? What would I not love about that?!?!

 

Currently Watching~

    Currently I've been bingeing a few different shows, I've finished watching Loki (my favorite show in a long time to watch, it was AMAZING!!)

And a friend has convinced me to give the anime One piece another shot, so trying to get through that... it's good or at least interesting, but I don't know if it's just the knowledge that it's such a long show with still no ending...but I find it so hard to actually get in to for me *shrug & sip of coffee*.

 

Looking forward to updating you lovelies about the puppies, and more!

What are you guys reading or watching these days?

Have a lovely day & season my friends!!

~NoelW