Nothing like sliding in at the last moment to keep your blog from dying after six months hibernation….
//READING//
The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud
I was a latecomer to Lockwood & Co., so I got to read ALL FIVE THIS YEAR. This series rocketed to one of my favs, and I’m already dying to re-read them all again. I feel like an acolyte for the Gospel of Stroud, fervently pressing copies into strangers’ hands on street corners. If you haven’t read them yet, you’re in for a treat.
Tumble & Blue by Cassie Beasley
As a swoony fan of CIRCUS MIRANDUS, I was over the moon to discover Cassie Beasley had a second book coming out this year, and then I got to meet her at the Mississippi Book Festival and she autographed my copy of TUMBLE & BLUE. And guess what… I loved it even *more* than CM. It offers everything I adore in fiction: strong southern voice, cursed families, and wannabe heroes (plus a snarky, golden alligator!). Hands down, pure magic.
First Class Murder by Robin Stevens
If you wish Agatha Christie had written middle-grade novels, then look no further. While FIRST CLASS MURDER has been out for several years in the UK, it released in the US only this year and is my favorite of the series so far. It’s a delightful homage to MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, and the case and secondary characters were particularly good. I can’t wait to pick up JOLLY FOUL PLAY in April!
//WRITING//
The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass
This book takes the cake, the plate, and all the utensils because it is a-mazing. Maass’s insights into what makes us love a good book are spot-on, and his exercises are helpful in applying these principles to writing. It’s engaging, not-repetitive, and just the right length for a wide-scope without drowning you in information. In short, best craft book I read last year, and I can’t wait to re-read it soon.
Pacemaker
Do you love the stress of NaNoWriMo and miss the adrenaline rush of obsessing over charts and graphs? Never fear, Pacemaker is here to fulfill all your staying-on-target needs! Unlike that one crazy month of the year, Pacemaker can be set to whatever pace you want. You can set it to take certain days off, different goals for different days, or randomize a daily goal if you like masochistic surprises.
Scrivener 3
I waffled over whether or not to upgrade to Scrivener 3 (which at $25 seemed like a hefty upgrade), and at first glance most of the changes seem cosmetic––smooth, rounded edges and muted tones. But there a couple new features that really excite me, one of which is “Linguistic Focus” (highlighted in the lovely blurred pane). This option allows you to highlight a certain part of speech within a selection (nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, etc.) or even DIRECT SPEECH. I’m dying to revise something now (and how often do we feel like saying that? ;)). Special mention to the expanded writing progress report, which now shows *daily* progress (woot woot), and to the simplified compiler (hallelujah).
//SAVING TIME//
Be Focused
I picked up the (free) Be Focused timer after reading about the Pomodoro technique, 
and it helped me more than anything else in adjusting to this new, wonderful, writing-with-a-baby life in which I have to write for concentrated bursts like my life depends on it or nothing gets done. The idea is you work for ~25 minutes with 5 minute breaks between. There are lots of options for timers (or you could set them yourself on your own timer), but I like that this one sits just where I can see it above my writing window but isn’t a distraction.
Be Focused: simple, unobtrusive, and free.
(Did I mention it’s free?)
BUT IF THAT’S NOT ENOUGH….
Forest
I’m really torn over this app. It’s highly effective and I really enjoy it, but the principle still seems ridiculous. For those of us who need an extra incentive to stay off our phones for extended periods of time, Forest acts as a guilt-inducing guardian of the screen. Set a timer for how long you want to focus, plant a seed, and if the app stays open for the allotted time, voila! You have a tree. Fill up your garden each day and pat yourself on the back for being so focused…or kill the app and kill your plant-in-progress and stare at its withered branches all day.
Like I said. Guilt-inducing. But effective. (And $2.99). Very helpful when I’m trying to read while expecting an email. 😛
Grammarly
Finally, a GRAMMAR & SPELLING-CHECKER THAT ACTUALLY WORKS. This baby catches [almost] everything. I use the browser plug-in, and it checks it all: fb posts, tweets, and blog posts (like this one, which would have been riddled with spelling and grammar errors that my caffeine-high brain didn’t notice). I use the free version on my desktop too, but I hear that the premium upgrade can even be plugged into Scrivener…
Get behind me, Satan.
//WASTING TIME//
Reigns
I read The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill after it won the Newberry though it languished in my TBR pile for far too long (thanks, library-holds-all-coming-available-at-once!). But while reading, all I could think was, “DUH it won.” It is breath-taking, heart-wrenching, and swoon-worthy.
I didn’t purposefully pair these two books to be read at the same time, but Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein and Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman complement each other nicely. Both stories center around book-centric puzzle games, and I would recommend them to anyone who likes to work out problems within the text as they read.
I saw reviews comparing Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach and cynically thought it wasn’t possible…but now I think that wasn’t high enough praise. (I would add Mary Poppins to that list of comps.)
