On Reading, Reviews, And Rereading Twilight.

First, I'm excited to finally be able to write a blog post on here that has something to do with reading and writing. I love writing about spirituality but I want there to be a balance, and I think that GOD is helping me to find that balance so I can write about both on here.
I wrote a couple of reviews which were first published on THE ESCAPISM PROJECT but I decided I can share on here, too, for my readers who enjoy reading and for some reason aren't yet following Escapism. From now on, when I read a book I'll be sharing my reviews on both blogs. If you're an Escapist blogger, feel free to do the same yourself.
I finished 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES and a review is a little bit overdue. I'll get to that ASAP. I also have to review BEASTLY, which I finished last night.

There are some books I've gotten recently that I'm going to read soon and review. I'm excited about all of them. There are titles from both genres, YA and Religion. A couple of books I'm rereading; others I'm discovering for the very first time. Here's a list of what I've got so far in the area of YA books, the volumes that I know I'm going to read: (Books in italics are ones I'm rereading; books in bold are new ones I've never read before. I'm not reading them in any particular order either, and this list may change with books appearing and disappearing, and there is no deadline.)

• Sing Me To Sleep by Angela Morrison
• Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• Shine by Lauren Myracle
• The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
• The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
• A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
• Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
• The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
• Wings by Aprilynne Pike
• Spells by Aprilynne Pike
• Illusions by Aprilynne Pike
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
• Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

WAIT WAIT WAIT---YOU DON'T MEAN? HUH? TWILIGHT? THAT'S GOTTA BE A TYPO. That's probably what you're thinking. But you read correctly: I've decided to reread Twilight. It's been at least two years since I've read it last and I'm curious to see how my opinion on these books would differ now from how they were back then. I'm not saying I plan to read and love them, but I'm going to look at them with a critic's eye--or at least try to, because everyone knows I'm not a very good critic. Chances are I might throw aside Breaking Dawn before I finish it because I remember that book only for negative things. But I want to try it. It's just something I feel I have to do. I talk about how I dislike that series all the time but feel stupid doing it when I barely remember any of it, so I'm going to read it again in order to either change my mind or back up my claims.

Here are books about religion that I'm going to read, most of which I've never finished because though I love the subject I just can't skim them:

• Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly
• Jesus Of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
• The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge and Brent Curtis
• Spiritual Warfare For Every Christian by Dean Sherman
• Lord, Have Mercy by Scott Hahn

And, this is a 6-book boxed set on world religions that I got forever ago:

• Judaism by Alan Unterman
• Catholicism by George Brantl
• Protestantism by J. Leslie Dunstan
• Islam by John A. Williams
• Hinduism by Louis Renou
• Buddhism by Richard A. Gard

Some other books I have that are neither YA nor Religion:

• Tomorrow We Die by Shawn Grady
• The Prince Of Tides by Pat Conroy
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Classic novels:

• The Prince And The Pauper by Mark Twain
• The Hunchback Of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo

Historical novels:

• The Diary of Anne Frank

I will, of course, keep you updated on any changes--additions, etc.--to this list. But so far this is what I've got and hopefully I can read them all by the end of the year.

I'm still open to suggestions and would love to hear what you think would be good books to read. I will put up my book reviews for Kissed by an Angel and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tomorrow.

Hugs!

In Which Mariella Talks About Redesigning Blogs And Possibly Taking Down The Wishing Well For Editing.

I've redesigned my blog layout again because it was a little too crowded before. Too many widgets. Too much info on the front page. Now, I'm going to create different pages for each important part of my life. I've found that web design is fun and relaxing--but it does take a lot of time. Not only do I have to spend time designing the graphics and then redesigning them again, but I have to change the rest of the blog to match the picture. Once it's done, though, it's definitely worth the work and the time I put into it. 
I just wish it was that easy to get back all the followers that I left behind on the old blogs that I 'abandoned,' so to speak. Nobody really seems to pay attention to this blog, and no matter how much I push it on people--no matter how much I talk about it on facebook and make it clear that it's really important to me--well, I guess nobody can see it. Anyway, now that my moment of self-pity is over...I would like to ask that if you're a friend, or a former follower, or a person interested in my blog...and you happen to stumble in here...maybe you can follow it? Please? Then I wouldn't feel so lonely... :D
That subject aside, I think I'm going to take down all but 10k of The Wishing Well while I edit it. I got a lot of valuable critique during the time it was up, but from now on I'll be consulting about it mostly with a close team of friends and readers. That is, if I don't take down the book altogether. Nobody seems to be reading it now that it's got its review, and it's just floating around in inkpop cyberspace and taking up picklists that could now be going to someone who really needs it, given the changes in how the system works. I'm not totally sure yet, but I'll pray about it, and if I decide on yes, most of the book--if not all--will be down by August. So if you've wanted to read it for a while, now is the best time to start; I'm letting you know, just in case. ♥
I'm up way too late because of web design. So I think I'll go do my devotionals and try to get some sleep. Lately, sleep is something that seems to be avoiding me. It's just so hard to turn off my imagination and get a good night's rest. (Or rather, in my case, a good morning's rest.) It comes with being a writer, I suppose.
Also, I've been trying to promote The Escapism Project like crazy. This blog is like, really important to me. So on second thought, if you have to choose between my blog and Escapism to follow, choose Escapism. I just think it's going to go really far and I'm putting a lot of my hopes and efforts into this project. Now would be a good time to thank my contributors for the millionth time for all the help and for being in this with me. You guys are awesome.
With that, I am off. HUGS!

In which Mariella's mom gets her an iPhone.

And I show off the signature Jenn made me for the first time! You'll find it at the bottom of this blog post. It's really pretty. I love the umbrella and the butterflies.
I don't know if anyone really cares, but since it's my blog I'll say it anyway: I've been really feeling awful because of a cough that came with allergies and brought along with it an asthma attack. So I've been dealing with that cough for a few days now, and though it's getting better (thanks to my amazing mom who takes such care of me and she's the absolute best! ♥) it's still an annoying cough. I had to go to the doctor because I couldn't breathe well and my heart was beating way too fast. So yeah, that was a very long day. I came back breathing and feeling better, but still with a cough that's way annoying.
I've had a rough past two days because of this cough. I can barely talk--my voice is really hoarse. I know, I know...at least I can talk. And one good thing is that I can stay around in my pajamas and just finish up a bunch of things. I've made a lot of progress on arranging the ESCAPISM blog. I had a ton of help from friends and contributors who gave me ideas, their bios, and Syd made me a banner. I can't wait till tomorrow, when I can make the introductory blog post. I've been planning this since May and it's exciting to finally see it coming together and shaping up to resemble the masterpiece it's meant to be. If you guys still want to participate, we're always hiring for contributors, and all you have to do right now is let me know.
Also, my mom is so amazing that she got me an iPhone. The kind with all the apps. And I can listen to Pandora radio on it. And store pictures. And it makes chatting really epic. And I can listen to iTunes music on it. My mom is the best. I can't begin to describe how lucky I am to have her; I don't know what I'd do without her. She's my best friend and always will be.
So, from now on you'll probably be talking to me or texting me via an iPhone. I'll check my blogs on the iPhone. It's all iPhone.
I'm all hi-tech now. I've got the nookColor, which is a totally epic eBook reader and I love. It's got a big screen and it's easier to type blog posts in than perhaps an iPhone would be. Then there's the iPhone that's both phone and iPod at once. (Yes, I'm totally having a bragging moment here.) The nookColor has a pink rubber cover on it, and the iPod has a blue one. I'll get pictures!
Also, I thought I'd share with you guys my reading list for the rest of the summer. Here they are, and I might check them off in the sidebar as I go: (Some of them are really complicated to read, so wish me luck with that!)

1. Kissed by an Angel
2. The Essential Works of Christian Mysticism
3. Teresa of Avila
4. Go Ask Alice
5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter
6. The Reformation
7. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
8. Lord, Have Mercy
9. The Disreputable History of Frankie London-Banks
10. I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist
11. The Summer I Turned Pretty
12. Augustine
13. Beastly
14. The Prince of Tides
15. The Forgotten Garden

And more that I don't have around me at this immediate moment but definitely need to get read.

LATER...

I've added some tabs to my blog, as well, so it resembles more of a website. I don't know, I'm just having a lot of fun with this. I hope you enjoy sifting through here because this blog is going to my my attempt at being more personal than ever. The I LOVE... page is where I brag about people. Literally. I just feel called to tell people about the great things I have in my life, and the people I love, so I'm organizing all those posts into a page.

It didn't work out trying to get more followers by blogging as a professional blogger. Now I'm going to try and get more followers by being me, because I'm the only one who can. And I'm me for a reason. So here's my blog.

Thanks for coming and happy July! (I started this blog post on June and finished it on July. ^^)

Escape.

I'm rescuing this post from my old blog because I like it and it's going to help with The Escapism Project:

It had been so long since I read any stories which really sucked me in. I am so used to creating worlds of my own that I try to become a part of, that I’m impressed when someone else does it. When I read a book that contains more than empty romances and super characters. What I love most are books that leave enough space to allow their readers inside, so they can become a part of it in their imagination. A story so big that it welcomes us in. we become new protagonists and can help save the world.

http://weheartit.com/entry/9308466

Lately, there aren’t many stories that do this. I really think it should be a goal in writing a book. As important as grammar, plot, characters…it is all a dry effort if the readers can’t come in.

And by that, I mean more than just ‘come in’—the kind where you sort of get in but can only stand there, because there’s no room for you to walk about and help solve the mystery, have talks with the characters, and feel like you’re in danger. Sure there are a lot of stories around where you feel as if you were ‘standing there watching everything before your very eyes.’ But to me, that’s not as fun as being a part of the story. How many authors care to make room for their readers among the cast of their stories? How many realize that this does the story so much good?

We all know the close friendship that develops between a story and its author. It’s so amazing, an adventure that we wish could go on forever. How great would it be if we could offer the same escape to our readers—one of more depth than can be achieved by just reading?

What if, instead of just writing stories, we could create dedicate ourselves to writing entire worlds?

It would require more care in our craft. We would have to layer every book element so delicately. It would take so long before we would be satisfied with our worlds. This will not be easy—but it would be so worth it. Readers love stories like that most of all. I sure know it’s worth a try.

I want to try and create a world like that, using Living Breathing Words Escapism. By this I do not mean the blog, but the words I use to write my novels. Are your words dead, or are they Living and Breathing?

I’m not saying that my words are wonderful and I have some superhuman talent that works just like a portal and drops people off in different worlds. I am saying that I plan to work harder so that they eventually do. I dream of someday being able to ask my readers, “What were you doing during the story? Did you have a happy ending? Are you going to do it again?”

Not only will the readers have the satisfaction of having felt like this world was their home, but I as the writer will be proud to know that my story really got somewhere. It came alive, and there’s still people whose hearts reside within the pages of my book.

I really think we should all try it. Don’t we all want our stories to come alive?