Happy New Year! I'm so excited to spend 2012 with you lovely people, and I can't wait to see what it has in store for the YA blogosphere.
I'm not one for new year's resolutions because 1. I break them 2. If you want to change your life, change it now! 3. The holidays are stressful enough, and 4. I break them, but I do love the promise of change the new year brings. In honour of that, I've made some (overdue) changes to the blog, which I'll briefly talk about. I'll also tell you what I plan to write and read in 2012, and then I'd love to hear your 2012 plans in the comments!
What's New in 2012
The Blog
The URL. This is the biggest change, and the one I'm most nervous about, because it inevitably leads to broken dreams links. The old url was briallison.blogspot.com, and the current one is bricarter.blogspot.com. If you link to my blog, you're awesome, and I'd appreciate it if you update the link. My blog should still appear in your dashboard if you follow me, and if you're noticing that's not the case, please let me know. Thank you!
The Layout. This was the fastest I've ever chosen a layout, which means it was a case of instant!love, which also means it could lead to a messy break-up. I'm not putting a ring on it yet, you know? But for now, I love it. What do you think, yay or nay?
Writing
Remember when I posted about the
crazy story in my heart, and was all, "lolz I'll need to edit it if I want it to be a
real story, get rid of the pregnancies and musical numbers, you know how it is."
Remember when I then proceeded to edit it and begin serious work on it? No? But come on, of course I did. I have a manageable story now that I still love, and the story's been so exciting to write so far. I'm reluctant to share the details, but I will say that it's the first time I've seriously tried to write from a male's point-of-a-view, which is definitely a challenge, but also refreshing to write. The plot's still a bit of a whirlwind, and I'm still getting acquainted with the characters, but hopefully I'll be able share some teasers from Arianna and Derek's story this year :)
The other big plan for 2012 is to revise Building Forts, and it's my first revision with awesome beta comments to take into consideration. I'm really excited to see what it'll become when all is said and done (before that, it'll look like me crying as I eat all the chocolate in my apartment, staring at a Word document), and I can't wait to check in with Callie and Chase again :)
Reading
Finally, these are all the 2012 releases I can't wait to read!
Wanderlove - Kirsten Hubbard
This is Not a Test - Courtney Summers
Insurgent - Veronica Roth
Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
Bittersweet - Sarah Ockler
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
Tempest - Julie Cross
Beautiful Music for Ugly Children - Kirstin-Cronn Mills
And that's not to mention all the 2011 releases I still need to read.
What are you reading and writing in 2012?
Honestly, I wouldn't go far, far away. I'd stay in Nova Scotia, but I'd head to a small cottage by the ocean. Nothing inspires me quite like the ocean does, and I don't spend near enough time there considering how close I am to it. I'd love to go at the end of August/beginning of September, when the water's colder, but not so cold that I couldn't reward myself with a swim. That would also make it the perfect get-away before school/my real life starts again.
