...THE END!!!

Oh, hey guys :)

That's right, I, Rachel Bean, have finally returned to my blog, after only a.... holycrapitsbeenawhole MONTH! .....Um, yeah, so I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't the smartest idea to start this whole blogging thing during high school...

Anyway, after a long, homework and stressed filled month, I have finally found time to write a post!!!! Hurray! And speaking of fantastic moments, stop by Jeigh's blog to enter her awesome giveaway! (And trust me, the prizes are AMAZING).

Now, back to writing.

Sadly, Google just didn't have the right picture, so we'll have to do without....(shame, Google, shame)

Okay, so recently I read a very good book. I will not tell you the name of the book, because I am about to giveaway the ending ( I know, I'm just so considerate, aren't I). Anyway, so in the book, basically the  main character (a girl) can see bits and pieces of the future. And around the middle of the book, she finds out that she had a younger brother who was kidnapped as a baby (around ten years ago), and whose corpse was found a couple weeks after the incident. So then shes all depressed about her lost brother, until, oh hey, the police come and tell them that he might actually be alive. So then they start searching for her lost brother, but then she suddenly sees a moment in the future where she and her boyfriend are searching for her brother, and her boyfriend gets shot and dies. So now she really wants to find her brother, but is worried that by doing so, she will also lead her beloved boyfriend to his death. So yeah, she's stressed.

But then one day the police come and tell them that they found the people who kidnapped her brother(and who run an illegal adoption center), and that they crooks are cooperating, and that they can probably find her brother. And then that night she goes into her mothers bedroom, where her mom's basically freaking out and says, "Don't worry.", because at that exact moment she had a vision of a future Christmas when her brother comes home. THE END.

(Oh, and then there's a short epilogue where she talks about how she is confident she can save her boyfriend and change the future (even though its only worked one out of two times....)).

Okay, so NOW, its the end.

....Well? Feels a little.... abrupt, huh? Honestly, I had NO CLUE it was the end of the book till I turned the page and read, "Epilogue". And when  I read that, I just sat there and stared at it for a couple seconds (no joke), not comprehending that the book was actually over.

Moral of the story?

 Don't do that to your readers. Throughout the whole novel, I was getting drawn into the MC's problems; feeling her pain, sorrow, happiness, etc. And then after I get sooooo absorbed into the story...it ends. Just like that. Leaving me with nothing but a freakin' SENTENCE to resolve half a story's worth of mystery, and anxiety, and sadness, and I think your getting the point here.

If your going to get your reader emotionally invested in the conflict, then you need them to be emotionally invested in the resolution too. If they're going to get all beat up over the fact your MC has a lost baby brother, then you better make sure that they get all hyped up when you finally bring him home. Because if they're not, they'll feel like they were left hanging ( and NOT in the good(but terrible), cliff-hanger way). And if there's anything that can make or break a book, it's the ending.


Question time! So have you ever read a book were the ending just.....was a let down? Kinda left you hanging, or maybe even confused? Share below!

Second Campaigner Challenge! Woot-woot!

Took me awhile, but I've finally some up with an entry to the second of Rachael Harrie's Campaigner Challenges! This one was definitely harder than the first, but I think I managed :)

I had to use the words lacuna, oscitate (which, according to Word and Blogspot, is not a word), synchronicity, and miasma, ( plus imago in the title).

And for even more fun, I had to reference a mirror, and keep it at exactly 200 words! AND, I wrote it in second person, a personal first. So, without further ado, here you go :)

Everlasting Imago

The room smells like cigar smoke. I hated the miasmas from your cigars while I was here. I miss them now.

Those months with you had been the happiest of my life, but they hadn’t meant much to you, had they? You were just waiting for the day when I was gone, and it would be yours.

That day apparently hadn’t come soon enough. Still now I wonder how I hadn’t seen it coming. Shouldn’t I have doubted the synchronicity of it all? From our random meetings, to how perfect you seemed to me? But I hadn’t. That was the point.

Your oscitation as you wake brings me back to the present.  I follow you to the bathroom, closing the gap between us, but you’re just as unreachable as ever.  I was prepared for your oblivion of my presence, yet still I long to reach for you, to call your name. But the dead cannot talk to the living.

As you brush your teeth only your reflection appears in the mirror, a testament of the lacuna between us. Now it is my turn to wait. To wait until the day you join me, and we can be together again. Forever.

...........

Well, what do you think? Stop be here to vote, I'm number 181. Thanks :)

I'm Back!

Tada! Fear not, for the Beaner lives! But you wouldn't know it from looking at my blogging life....


Any who, so remember how I once said I'd post reviews about books? And how I haven't for like a couple months? Well, I blame high school for taking away my time to read, but still it's about time I actually do just that. And so I will! Hurray! And the book is....

What Happened to Goodbye, by Sarah Dessen!


Another town. Another school. Another Mclean. Ever since her parents' bitter divorce, Mclean and her father have been fleeing their unhappy past. And Mclean's become a pro at reinventing herself with each move. But in Lakeview, Mclean finds herself putting down roots and making friends---in part, thanks to Dave, the most real person Mclean's ever met. Dave just may be falling in love with her, but can he see the person she really is? Does Mclean herself know?


Okay, well first off, let me just say it was a pain to find that synopsis. There was about ten different ones to choose from, and none of them were the one on the book that I had read ( as in, none of them were my favorite). But I think that one will do.


Now, back to the book. I loved it! It was one of those books that once I've finished make me walk around the rest of the day with a big goofy grin on my face (and convince my mom I've finally lost it...). It was funny, cute, touching, inspiring, and just plain awesome.


And it was sad, too. Mclean's relationship with her mom was completely destroyed by the divorce. They had once been so close, but ever since the divorce, Mclean's been trying to avoid her mom. She's annoyed with how she's always trying too hard to talk to her, and won't give her some space. Every time I thought about what they had lost, I just about wanted to cry. But it also made me a lot more grateful for the relationship I have with my mom, and the fact that she's still in my life.


Other than that though, I absolutely loved the book. Dave just about made me laugh every time he did opened his mouth, and I loved his and Mclean's sense of humor. So basically, all in all, I loved the book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary YA :)

************

And guess what! The fabulous F.E. Sewell has given my a blog award! Hurray! Haha, but don't worry, this one doesn't require any more random facts.

So here are the rules!

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 4 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog or sending them a tweet.
3. Post the award on your blog.

So here are the lucky four!

1. Kate Swenson @ http://kate-swenson.blogspot.com/

2. Angela Orlowski-Peart @ http://cheeriosandpearlsstories.blogspot.com/

3.Claire Lachance @ http://clairelachance.blogspot.com/

4. Charlotte @ http://charlotte-on-the-web.blogspot.com/

Congratulations guys! :D

You Could Say I'm Having A Good Day..... But that Would be an Understatment

Reasons Why Today is Amazing:

1. It's Saturday. Which means three things: Sleeping in, no school, and more sleeping in.

2. I actually get to use the computer (read my previous post to see what I'm talking about).

3. I was tagged (again, the previous post)

4. And finally: I've been interviewed!! Yes, I, Rachel Bean have been interviewed (!!!!). Now before I start my freak out, let me just say BIG thanks to the wonderful Michelle Merrill for helping me reach another HUGE milestone in my blogging life!!! You can read the wonderful, amazing, life- changing interview, here.

5. And look! There's actually a fifth thing too!!! I know, today's just wonderful, isn't it? And the fifth thing is: I got two more awards!!! TWO!! These things keep getting more exciting every time!!

Okay, so this time I've gotten these little bundles of pure awesomeness from Jessica Therrien at Imagination to Publication! Big thanks to Jessica! (and isn't her blog just gorgeous!!)

Oh gosh, and for The Versatile Blogger award, guess what I get to do again! More random facts!! It's getting harder and harder to find semi-interesting facts about myself, but the good thing about random facts is that...well, they can be random. So bring it on.

1. I don't like anything orange flavored.... except for oranges.

2. I like homemade sandwiches... and that's it. I don't like sandwiches from anywhere else (even Subway).

3. When ever I see a green colored candy, I get excited and think that its sour green-apple flavored, but it usually turns out to be lime (my least favorite flavor) and then I get pretty bummed o

4. I'm still wearing my pajamas ( and it's almost 2 o'clock).

5.  I used to have a really bad habit of chewing my finger nails, but then my friend helped me get out of it by painting over my nails with clear nail polish. She said that when I bit them, it would taste gross and I would stop, but I ended up just never biting them because I was afraid of how bad it would taste.

6. Ever since then, I've kinda been curious about what clear nail polish tastes like....

7. I like pretty much blueberry-anything. Blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, blueberry bagels, and even blueberry cream cheese.

I DID IT!! Third post of random facts about myself!! And don't worry, I promise I'll get back to posting about regular things.... later.

Anyway, so now I get to pass on these little beauties to other people! Technically I should be passing it on to fifteen people, but I really need to go do my chemistry homework, so I'm just going with five. (Sorry, I still love you all! I just don't have time for you.... ;)

1. Avery at Creative Type ( she had one of the best Campaigner entries I've read so far!)
2. Laura Marcella at Wavy Lines
3. Lindy at Lindy Legends and Other Such Nonsense 
4. Jill Campbell at Outside the Lines
5. Peggy Eddleman at Will Write for Cookies

Congrats for the awards guys! For the Leibster, you just need to:
1. Show your appre­ci­a­tion to the blog­gers who gave you the award by link­ing back to them.
2. Reveal your five picks and let them know by leav­ing a com­ment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the cama­raderie of the most sup­port­ive peo­ple on the internet—other writ­ers.5. And best of all—have blog­gity fun and spread the love. 


And for The Versatile Blogger award, remember to:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass this Award to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it (unlike me.... *SHAME*)

So yup, have a good day!

I'm Kinda Missing Recess...

Hey, so guess what? Good news and bad news, which do you want first?

*waiting for reply*

...Well, I'll just give the bad news first (that way the good news kinda softens the blow).

Okay, so the bad news is that out computer is broken (*GASP*, I know, tragic, isn't it!), which means I'll only be able to get onto the internet when my dad comes home and I finally manage to drag his laptop away from my brother. So yeah, the bad news :(

Good news time! Yay, happy thoughts! Smiley faces :) :)!!! Okay, so the good news is that some one tagged me!! And apparently this is a different kind of tag than what I played in school, because people actually LIKE getting tagged, so... Woohoo!!  Yay, and big thanks to Crystal Collier for giving it to me....or should I just say for tagging me?

Anyway, so guess what this means? (And yes, I know most of you probably already know this, but I'm having fun here, okay?) I get to give you ten MORE random facts! Hurray for randomness! And I warn you, they will be pretty random, because I spent pretty much all my cool facts on my recent blog awards...well, my kinda cool facts.

1. I love Mac laptops, but prefer PC desktops. Which is kinda weird, because I practically worship the Macbook Air, but when it comes to desktops (at home), I like the PC ones... mainly just cause that's what we've always had (my Dad's trying to convince us to replace our old computer [you know, the one that broke... for the fourth time] with a Mac, but I'm being a little anti-change).

2. Incase you didn't get it from my last fact, but I'm really not into change (unless it's beds, for some reason I have no problem switching those....yeah, don't ask).

3. I teach piano lessons!

4.  I used to play soccer, but even though I loved it.... I kinda sucked. (Luckily, I knew and excepted that, so I was able to avoid humiliating myself by ever trying out for the travel or school teams).

5. I have a big family, two married siblings, and so far no nieces of nephews. (A fact which I am not all that happy of...... um, I mean the nieces and nephews part... I love my family).

6. If I could travel anywhere right now, I would go to England.

7. I have and adorable white fluffy dog named Toby who loves to cuddle and play..... and bark his head off at strangers.

8. I used to prefer the pool to the beach, but now I'm not all that sure.... (probably has something to do with the fact that I'm actually big enough to go in the waves now without getting bulldozed over...).

9. Today is Saturday.

10. One of my favorite breakfasts is my mom's homemade waffles with whipped cream (not the kind in a can, the kind where you buy the cream and whip it yourself), with either fresh strawberries of peaches. Mmmmm, so good.

I did it! I actually was able to come up with ten more random facts! Woohoo! Now let's see who the five poor suckers are that will have to do it next ;)

1. Chantele Sedgwick at My Writing Bug
2. Ruth Josse at Ruth + Writing
3. Jessi Kirby at Jessi Kirby ( She has a book coming out in March!!)
4. Amanda Kurka at Truth, Justice, and Other Stuff
5. Carrie Butler at So, You're a Writer...


Well, that was pretty fun :) And now onto the questions! Do you prefer Mac or PC? Do you have a hard time with change? And last but not least, if there was anywhere you could travel, where would it be? Answer below! :)

A Post! (About Time....)

First off, if your one of the Campaigners, hello! My entry for the first challenge is below, if that's what your looking for :)

I figured I'd start using pictures now :)

Okay, so in case you are wondering, the above is a still from the movie The Young Victoria. It was a good movie. There was a love triangle, an assassin, family troubles, romance, drama, and even some nice character growth thrown in the mix.

But you wouldn't have known it from the back cover.

Basically, the back cover didn't do the movie justice. It was boring and bland, and left out all the details that made the movie good (and even ruined the love triangle, which I really hate when people do). In fact, from reading it, I probably would have skipped the movie if my mom had not had us watch it together.

Now onto another seemingly random and unrelated story! So I was looking around at the clips from a TV show at their site, and I noticed something: all the clips left you with more questions. ALL of them. Not one of them answered any of the questions I was dying to know, but instead just created more of them. Basically, it made me NEED to actually watch the show to find out how everything works out.

So what I'm getting at is that when your telling people about your book, tell them what goes WRONG. If there's a complicated love triangle that is one of the main subjects of the book, tell them! DON'T tell them that your main character "draws strength from their love" with one of the characters ( yes, I'm talking about Young Victoria again). 

If you've been following me for awhile, you'll remember how I've said that people in general like drama. No, we're not all drama queens, but yes, we do like it. So, as a writer marketing your book, give us what we want!

Tell us about the challenges and complications that your character must face (keeping in mind not to give anything away that happens later, of course), that way we start coming up with questions ( how do they solve that problem, who does she pick, how do they escape, etc.) that can only be answered by reading the book. 

Had the cover of The Young Victoria said less of how she was "resolved to establish her authority over those who rule in her stead" and  how she "draws strength from the love of Albert", but instead mentioned  more of her struggles with her controlling family, her restricting life-style, how she had to prove to a doubting (and even angry) country that she could lead them, her complicated love life, and how she brings her country to the brink of a disaster, then I would have been a lot more eager to see it.(Wow, was that a run-on sentence or what!) Know what I'm saying?

Okay, now to the daily question! So, have you ever watched a movie/ read a book that turned out to be a lot more than the cover implied? Was it better or worse than you expected? Answer below!

And Let the Campaigning Begin!

Wow, so the first campaign totally snuck up me! I almost missed it! For more info, go here, but basically I need to write a short story/ flash fiction with the beginning words " The door swung open" ( and ending with "The door swung shut" for more of a challenge), all in 200 words or less.

 Bring it on.

 The door swung open. As I walked down the court room aisle, I closed my eyes, trying to focus on my breathing, and not about how what I was going to do would change my life.


And Kyle's.


I squeezed my eyes tighter, attempting to stop the new tears from flowing down my cheeks. Barely two feet into the room and already I was crying; I needed to stop thinking about Kyle. Except how could I? How could I forget how easily he had manipulated me? How could I forget his face as he shot that innocent man?


How could I forget how much I had loved him?


It didn't matter, I reminded myself. This was something I had to do. Besides, I wasn't the first girl he had lied to and used. He deserved this... didn't he? 


I choked back a sob. Too bad knowing what's right didn't make it easier.


As I sat down, I forced my eyes open and tried looking brave. The door opened again as the judge entered. I stood up with the others, my eyes never leaving the door, knowing that when it closed, there would be no going back.


The door swung shut.




Well, there it is! Exactly 200 words even! Does it make sense? Sound good? Tell me what you think!

Also, you can vote for me here. I'm number 278. Thanks! :D