Tag Archives: reading

FANGIRL FRIDAY: Read All About It

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Not to be confused with the show I watched as a kid, “Read All About It,” which, I believe they need to bring back beyond the world of YouTube. I’m not asking for a reboot. I want all the camp and outdated special effects of the original show. I know there are people out there who pine for the shows of yesteryear, fromage, and all.

Apologies for the brief nostalgic detour. Today’s post is about reading for more than just pleasure or edification. I learned of a new reading challenge that is right up my alley in the “two birds, one stone” department.

Over the last few months, I’ve been using the Reedsy blog and their YouTube channel as writing resources. A few days ago, I received an email announcing their inaugural reading challenge and had a look. Clearly, there are many parts of the Reedsy umbrella I have yet to discover.

Speaking of, they host the reading challenge on the aptly named Reedsy Discovery platform. Since I’m already doing a reading challenge, I could have shrugged this one off, but it intrigued me to learn that they’re working together with Room to Read, a non-profit organization aimed at helping children in need develop literary skills through structured reading habits.

I rated the books I’ve read, so far, in the Goodreads challenge, but I’d put off the actual reviews and said I’d get around to them when my schedule let up. With this challenge, however, for every review I post on Discovery during the month of June, Reedsy will donate $5 to the charity, up to $10K USD. The email didn’t specify if that’s for the entire challenge or per person, but since I don’t think I could review close to 2000 books this month (unless I somehow go through every book I’ve ever read in my life!?) it’s probably the overall cap.

Considering how many people are already part of the Reedsy community, somehow, I already know that we can reach the $10K goal. I think it’s a great way to read up a storm for my benefit, while helping other people, too.

If you haven’t started a reading challenge yet, or even if you just read for fun, consider posting your reviews to help this charity. I’ll do more research into the Discovery platform and will share what I’ve learned about it in an upcoming post. Until then, I’m going to continue reading, with the extra motivation being my participation in contributing to a worthy cause.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

FRIDAY FX: BETA Look it Over

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A beta reader can help you polish your manuscript and get you that much closer to seeing your brain child on a bookshelf. It’s great to have multiple beta readers because reading, as an art form, is subjective, and you’d want to cover all your bases to spot and correct every typo and wonky phrase.

It’s such a common occurrence to miss the teeniest details, such as a missing comma, writing to instead of too (or vice versa) when you’ve read and reread your work dozens of times. Beta readers can also help offer suggestions for all the times you repeated a word or phrase. They can also help you tighten up your sentences and clear up any concepts that get lost in translation.

Fresh eyes will allow others to let you know what you’ve missed and also provide insight on readability from their perspective. It’s essential to know if what you want to share with your audience effectively and accurately reaches them as intended.

This month I resumed my beta reader duties and I already have a few beta reading requests lined up for next month. Aside from building a powerful network of fellow writers, it’s also given me an opportunity to read with a writer’s mindset. Taking a break from my work to read someone else’s has allowed my brain to reset and to be more receptive to seeing where to improve aspects of their story that I might not notice right away in my manuscript.

With any skill, practice is important in order to improve and expand your knowledge base. While helping others with their writing, I’m also helping my own. You see the patterns that work and those to avoid. Reciprocity is wonderful. Everyone improves their skill set and is closer to their publication goals.

Do you like to beta read for others? What have you learned from your beta readers? I know they’re invaluable as they are essentially my focus group for a potential audience and it’s always a good thing to have your story double and triple checked so that you’re putting your best work forward and showcasing your talent in the best way possible.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

FANGIRL FRIDAY: Whatcha Readin’?

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I love to read. It’s shocking how little I read throughout the first lockdown, but that’s another story altogether. My earliest memories of the joys of reading were how these tomes served as portals to other worlds. Some slightly different from our own, while others were far beyond our expectations. That was the beauty and power of a good book. You could be everywhere at once, learn new things, travel to the farthest reaches of existence. Reading expanded my imagination and immersing myself in these worlds at such a young age set the foundation of my desire to become a writer.

I’d previously mentioned how Goodreads is a wonderful community for book lovers to come together to discuss and recommend a wide variety of books to each other. When I went to update my Goodreads account for that post, I saw I was late to the party for a 2021 Reading Challenge. I braved the storm and entered with a more modest number and challenged myself to read 30 books this year. Some have set one book a week, or more. Kudos to them. I’m just getting back into the groove of reading for pleasure and wanted to set a realistic goal for myself. Turns out, I’d already read five books over the last couple months, so I’m well underway. When I get the chance, I will share those book reviews both here and on my Goodreads account.

I have three books currently on deck. As with the others, they’re all MG or YA books because I’ve been reading in the genres I’m writing. Yes, I write across genres, but these are the stories that my current WIP tackles. I will hopefully expand to other genres this summer.

In the lovely Twitterverse, I stumbled across this awesome author’s thread with a slew of Asian books (author and/or characters) that they’ve read and recommended. You know how they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Well, these covers were certainly enticing, and I now have a small army of books to add to my endless TBR pile. I’m excited to tuck in.

What is everyone reading these days? Do you have a particular medium of choice? E-reader, tablet, laptop, traditional hardbound or paperback? Because of storage limitations, I’ve been resorting to digital reading, courtesy of my local library. Remember those magical places? However, there’s something to be said about the tactile experience while reading an actual book. My dream home includes a vast library with those rolling ladders to reach the higher shelves–and yes, there will be shelves a-plenty. (I went online to search for an appropriate picture to illustrate my exact specifications and naturally, I went down an architectural and interior design rabbit hole that went on for much longer than intended.)

Where do you like to read? Do you have a particular spot in the house? Outside the house? Garden, park bench, beneath your favorite tree? Now that the weather is letting up, I look forward to getting out more to explore new places where I can sit quietly and, you know, explore new places through the pages of a book.

Happy reading!

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

FRIDAY FX: Make Your Presence Known

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Social media has never been more impactful than it has in the past few years. The world has come together to discuss, debate, and challenge many social issues. It has given us a sense of community and inclusion in a time when a global pandemic is keeping us apart.

There are so many formats in social media that it’s easy to get lost, but, if you find methods that work for you as a writer, social media is a solid way to get your name out there. This website currently houses my blog, but I’ll be reworking the site to accommodate any of my published works and future related writing projects. I have an Author Page on Facebook, and I also created an Instagram account. On Facebook, I’ve joined groups that allow users to join as a Page versus personal account, and I also cross post whenever there’s something new on the blog here. I intend to use Instagram for book promotion and other writing-related posts that are more visual. For now, it’s on standby.

As mentioned previously, I’ve joined writing communities via Facebook where we share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback to fellow writers. Goodreads helps me track the books I’ve read, want to read, and what other people I follow recommend. The To Be Read Pile never dwindles. Other writing based websites offer events, webinars, courses and various opportunities to interact with like-minded individuals.

Recently, however, I’ve re-entered the wonderful world of Twitter. While Facebook requires a different type of involvement, for direct interaction with people in the industry, I’m most active on Twitter, at the moment. It’s more than just liking or retweeting a someone’s tweet. There are great opportunities to engage in some seriously infotaining dialogue with people from around the world. You can build connections, find beta readers or critique partners, and learn what it is literary agents are looking for, so you know whom to query when the time comes.

At present, I don’t have any intention of using a pseudonym or nom de plume for my books, regardless if they’re for kids or adults. My name is my brand. I mentioned in the last post how it’s important to think of my writing as a business. There needs to be consistency across all platforms. While there’s been a change in readership directly on the blog in the last month or so, I’ve seen an increase of people engaging with the blogs via other platform links found on Facebook and Twitter, for example.

I’m still uncertain if there’s a problem with WordPress or if people just shifted their interests and aren’t connecting with my posts of late. While that could be the case, I need to remind myself that my writing will not reach everyone or please everyone. That doesn’t mean that I should stop with the blog or completely change the type of content I’m writing about. I’ve maintained a solid blogging schedule since November of last year and given The Life and Times of Tonette dela Luna in, say, the last five years, at least, this is an amazing feat.

I’m gonna keep on keepin’ on and if you enjoy the content, I’m glad. And I thank you for reading along on the journey. If you’d like to connect with me on social media, I would love to know what compels you as a writer, reader, and/or lover of the arts. What are your favorite platforms? Are there others not mentioned that you’d recommend to a writer? There are a few others that I’m still trying to establish (and navigate), such as Discord, tumblr, and Reddit, but for now, you can find me at:

Facebook Author Page: Tonette dela Luna

Twitter: @tonettedelaluna

Goodreads: Tonette dela Luna

Instagram: @tonettedelaluna

… and of course, I’m here every week and will continue to share the ups, downs, lefts, and rights of my writing journey, putting it out into the ether and making my presence known.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY: FIVE BY FIVE

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It’s the fifth day of the fifth month. How’s it going in your corner of the interwebs? When life hands you lemons, make chocolate chip cookies, because why not? April ended and May began with some moderate setbacks. But I’m hoping to get back on track this week.

I’ve got a whole new list of submissions to work out, some critique partner work coming up, as well as a beta read, and I plan on continuing to revise my MG Fantasy manuscript. Then I’ll do some genre reading on the side, so, you know, I’ll have a steady flow of words coming at me, at all times.

I haven’t considered doing simultaneous submissions, as yet. I wonder if I should submit it, as is, or see if I can tweak it, in case something came to me after the other submission? Have you ever done that before? Which story outcome would you prefer to use, in such a case? Or would you submit identical pieces to multiple publications and see who bites?

Other submissions seem like they’re not my jam, but I’ve noted the theme and filed them away in a story prompt folder. Who knows, incorporating multiple ideas might work for a different submission and you’ll have a masterpiece on your hands. I stand by the practice of never deleting previous drafts. You never know if you can repurpose something discarded from an earlier draft into a greater story.

Besides all this, because of elevated stress levels affecting my health, I’ve taken more active measures at self-care, this month, even if it means, I step away from the keyboard to recharge, refuel, and reassess the situation to see how best to proceed before I burn out. I’m walking more, thanks to the nicer weather. Masks (yes, double layer), and socially distant. I will continue this once I get vaccinated, as well. We all have to do our part. Reading for leisure is also high on my list of relaxation methods, as well as streaming shows I’ve fallen behind on, or discovering new ones that will thrill, inspire, and awe.

Life’s been overwhelming, both health and work wise, but I’m chugging along, rolling with the punches, adjusting where necessary, and everything is five by five.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.