Summer Book Club!

Wow you guys. I have seriously been slacking on the blogging lately. But between work and school and all the fun things life throws at you in between, sometimes these finer pleasures can be neglected. HOWEVER, I have formed a plan to keep us engaged throughout the summer and that is to bring back one of my favorite features I have ever brought to my blog and that is...the online book club!

So far, we have read These Broken Stars as chosen by my readers and The Maze Runner as chosen by me. This time around I want YOU to suggest books from which I will choose our book for this summer. Ideally, I would like to have our book picked out by the end of the June ,so keep the suggestions coming until then!

Just like with the two previous endeavors, I will also select two willing bloggers to share their reviews with me to be posted on my blog whenever the post goes up, probably in August. Yet this venture won't be much fun without participants so my charge to you is that if you are interested in partaking in the blogging or even if you would just like to read along, share this event to your blog!

I can't wait to get back into the groove of things and to unite once more under our common love of literature. :) I am open to any suggestions so feel free to comment below or email me at: karolineott2014@gmail.com if you are interested in blogging with me! Happy summer and happy reading, guys!

Query Letter Help!

Hey you guys! So, I'm making the common although still terrifying step of preparing a query letter for my latest project! I know that I have read many of your query letters and that we all have a little bit of exposure now so if you don't mind, perhaps ya'll could take a little look at some of the samples I have below and give me your thoughts! I have two different summaries below, each for my latest novel, A Season in Summerton. Thank you so much for your feedback, and don't forget to comment below. :)

"Sofie King isn’t like the other girls. Brazen and ambitious, Sofie has always been too busy cracking jokes and pursuing her dreams to take notice of the men around her. That all changes however, when seemingly perfect Charles Turner moves to Summerton and attracts the attention of every surrounding available female, including Sofie. As she opens a new chapter in her life, Sofie is faced with the decision of preserving old friendships or chasing after the one who has claimed her affections unlike any other. Through death, new relationships and old mistakes, Sofie King makes the journey from childhood into adulthood along side her brother, old friends and her new-found love interest."

Aaaaaaand,

"18 year old Sofie King has always been too busy cracking jokes and pursuing her dreams to take any notice of the men around her. That all changes when Mr. Charles Turner arrives in the small town of Summerton, in all his good looks and good graces. But Charles is everything desirable and not all at all the sort of fellow who would ever glance twice at a silly and unconventional girl like Sofie. Between death, heartache and laughter along the way, Sofie King must learn to navigate the waters of affection while maintaining old friendships and forming new ones."

Written by: Karoline Kingley

Happy blogging, friends!

Something I Said

This is something I wrote about words a long time ago. I thought I would share it with you, to see how many writers would agree with me. 

     Words are more than just a means of communication. Words can finalize, enact, initiate, create, provoke and astound. Though both the spoken and the written word is in itself an art form, it can perhaps better than all the others, describe and do justice to its fellow creations. Love and laughter are induced first by the workings of the tongue, while hate and betrayal are never certain without a few scribblings or sayings. It’s one of the rare things that every human can understand, yet it goes without saying that not everyone fully appreciates its power. 

     Music, art and dance, many marvel at, yet so few speak those languages and converse with it themselves. Like a child receiving their first piano lesson or dance shoes, everyone to an elementary extent at least, knows some of the majesty of language. For those who take an interest in something else, they only know they cannot exceed without either the written or spoken word. They consider it as essential as a bodily limb or daily victuals, often taking it equally for granted.

      Yet for the wordsmith and the writer, words are ravenously sought after as a means and gift to express themselves by the medium which they first learned. Be it to relieve an unspoken struggle or to gift to the world a story, thought or victory which would be so much sweeter shared. Words are immortal. The need for them will both literally and artistically always required. The meaning behind a piece of music or a well-crafted sculpture can easily be forgotten or warped by sad interpretation without word to confirm, deny or explain.

      And it goes beyond necessity.

      Emotions are guided by them, and the greatest moments and milestones could not occur without them. Of course, a well-executed action, laugh or look might more effectively convey, yet those mere deeds mean nothing without prior speech. Words woo the woman and affirm the man. They make a hazy thing certain, destroy what is already crumbling and complete a hope which was once mere. Spoken, written or signed, words acknowledge beauty, verbally spit upon wrong and sometimes cry better than tears.

     Words are life. To go without would be to perish. With them, the blind see, the deaf hear and the mute communicate. For the average man or woman, they are a nice necessity. And for the artist, they are a gift to humanity. Words preserve moments that deserve to be remembered, voice the things we feel and make a picture.

      Words are wonderful, you see. But more than that, they have power. A power that cannot be casual, and that is why the wordsmith cannot lightly employ them. For with words, one can wreak more calamity than what is imaginable and with words, we can breathe life into the dying and remember the dead. 

Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments below! :)