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“A schoolchild should be taught grammar―for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy. Having learned about the exciting mysteries of an English sentence, the child can then go forth and speak and write any damn way he pleases.”
From Writings from The New Yorker 1927-1976 by E.B. White

So if you enjoyed reading about my adventures abroad, check out my new blog. This one focuses on my journey as a writing. It will include short stories, character sketches, book reviews, and reflections on my writing process, as well as anecdotal incidents in my life as a writer. It is completely different from this blog, but I'm excited to explore a different side of myself with you!
Okay, so the link's below. I've already got a book review up, so check it out (if you really want to live on the wild side, you can follow it. I know that might be too much of a commitment for you). Enjoy!

My New Blog: Amy Finds Her Words

Book Review: The Rithmatist

"He cut off as a quiet knock echoed through the room. Fitch cocked his head, then stood. 'Now, who . . .Oh yes. The other student.'
Joel hesitated. 'It’s not…'
He trailed off as Fitch pulled open the door. Sure enough, the red-curled Melody stood outside, wear her white skirt. She’d traded her grey sweater for a short-sleeved, buttoned blouse. She was actually kind of pretty—she had nice eyes, at least.
'I'm here,' she announced with a loud voice. 'Let the flogging commence!'
Too bad she was crazy.
'Flogging?' Fitch said. 'My dear, are you well?'"

From The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Check out my review of this book on the Read Me: An Anthology blog!

Click Here

Book Review: Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

“Neel takes a sharp breath and I know exactly what it means. It means: I have waited my whole life to walk through a secret passage built into a bookshelf.”

From Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore By Robin Sloan

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

By Robin Sloan

Book Review: Shadowmagic Series

“I was so stunned I couldn’t speak. Not until we were well under way and I had gotten the knack of paddling did a blurt out, ‘You lost your hand in a sword fight?’
’I find it hard to believe,’ Mother said, ‘that you never told your son how you lost your hand.’
’Dad told me that he lost it in a lawnmower.’
’What is a lawnmower?’ She asked.
’It’s a machine that you use in the Real World to keep the grass short,’ Dad said.
‘What is wrong with sheep?’”
From Shadowmagic by John Lenahan

Check out my review of this series on the Read Me: An Anthology blog!

Click Here

Book Review: Slaughterhouse-Five

"It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?'"
From Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

"'You know — we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies. When I saw those freshly shaved faces, it was a shock. 'My God, my God — ' I said to myself, 'It's the Children's Crusade.'"
From Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

"There was a still life on Billy's bedside table-two pills, an ashtray with three lipstick-stained cigarettes in it, one cigarette still burning, and a glass of water. The water was dead. So it goes. Air was trying to get out of the dead water. Bubbles were clinging to the walls of the glass, too weak to climb out."
From Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Please forgive my excess of quotes. I couldn't help myself. It was the effect of the book on my brain that made me not want to have to choose just one quote to use.

Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty -Dance with Death 

by Kurt Vonnegut

Course: Seven Basic Plots

YA Anthology

Hey everyone!
I thought I'd let you know that my MA coursemates and I are compiling an Anthology of our Young Adult writing to be released this summer. As part of this project we are publishing a blog to spread the word about the process, the genre, and writing in general. There will be a new post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
You can even check out a short story I wrote!
I'm not bragging when I say that I'm working with a very talented, creative group of authors!

Click the following link to check it out: Read Me Anthology

If you like it, follow it! 

Book Review: The Talented Mr Ripley

“Anticipation! It occurred to him that his anticipation was more pleasant to him than the experiencing.”

From The Talented Mr. Ripley By Patricia Highsmith

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Course: Seven Basic Plots

Book Review: Sold

“In the evening, the brilliant yellow pumpkin blossoms will close, drunk on sunshine, while the milky white jasmine will open their slender throats and sip the chill Himalayan air.
At night, low hearths will send up wispy curls of smoke fragrant with a dozen dinners, and darkness will clothe the land.
Except on nights when the moon is full. On those nights, the hillside and the valley below are bathed in a magical white light, the glow of the perpetual snows that blanket the mountaintops. On those nights I lie restless in the sleeping loft, wondering what the world is like beyond my mountain home.”

From Sold By Patricia McCormick

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Course: Writing for Children and Young People

Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

"'Here's what I think,' I say and my voice is stronger and thoughts are coming, thoughts that trickle into my noise like whispers of truth. 'I think maybe everybody falls,' I say. 'I think maybe we all do. And I don't think that's the asking.'
I pull on her arms gently to make sure she's listening.
'I think the asking is whether we get back up again.'"

From The Knife of Never Letting Go By Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Course: Writing for Children and Young People

Book Review: Stoneheart

“Everything is funny from some angle, I assure you it is. It's just a matter of where you're standing.”

From Stoneheart By Charlie Fletcher

Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher

Course: Writing for Children and Young People

Book Review: Skellig

"'Sometimes we just have to accept there are things we can’t know. Why is your sister ill? Why did my father die?…Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can’t. we have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine.'"

From Skellig By David Almond

Skellig by David Almond

Course: Writing for Children and Young People

Book Review: The Bourgeois Gentleman

"M. Jordan: What a miserable song! It's sending me to sleep. Couldn't you liven it up a bit, here and there?
Music Master: Monsieur, the key and tempo must fit the sentiment expressed by the words.
M. Jordan: I learnt a good song once. Very jolly, it was. Let me see…how did it go?
Music Master: Good grief! How should I know?
M. Jordan: There was definitely a sheep in it.
Music Master: Sheep?"

From The Bourgeois Gentleman by Moliere

The Bourgeois Gentleman by Moliere

Course: Aesthetics and Modernity I: The Question Concerning Experience

Book Review: Feeling Sorry for Celia

“Dear Complete and Utter Stranger,
The first thing that I have to say is that I hate oatmeal. I really hate it. And you know what? If you like oatmeal at all? I mean even the tiniest bit? I mean, say you were lost in the Himalayas, right, and you hadn't eaten anything except a Mars Bar for about seven years, right, and you're really cold and your fingers are all dropping off, right, and you look behind this rock, and there's this bowl of oatmeal?
Say you would even think about eating the oatmeal?
Well, JUST DON'T BOTHER WRITING TO ME, OKAY?” 

From Feeling Sorry for Celia By Jaclyn Moriarty

Feeling Sorry for Celia By Jaclyn Moriarty

Course: Writing for Children and Young People