Myles Graham
Writer sharing his thoughts and his short stories!
TBR List 2019!
Welcome back everyone! Last year I set a personal record and read the most books I’ve ever read. A whopping 11 books! I know an astronomical number. So, This year I set a goal to up my game to 20 books. I though it would be a cool idea to come up with the reading list and come back to it at the end of the year and see how I did!
So, here it is:
- Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (read)
- King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (read)
- Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (read)
- Coldfall Woods by Steven Savile (reading)
- The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien
- The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien
- The Return of The King by J.R.R Tolkien
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ( I’ve surprisingly have never read!!! If you wanna read about why click here.)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
- Halo: Smoke and Shadows by Kelly Gay
- Abomination by Gary Whitta
- Dead or Alive by Blackwood
- World of Warcraft: Wolfheart by Richard A Knaak
- Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Aaaaand there it is, My list of books to read this year. I won’t say it is concrete because a lot of times I just don’t “feel” like reading particular things. I will try and write reviews on the books I read or do a full series review. Sounds good to you? Then follow along! Any suggestions? Like books I shouldn’t read? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!
Book Review: Prince of Thorns
Hey, everyone! I have officially read my first book (In January!) of the year. and what better way to celebrate it than by reviewing it!
So, here we go! the book I read in January was Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. This is not the first book I have read by Mark Lawrence but this was his debut novel as an author. I found Mark Lawrence by strolling through the book store and ultimately not wanting to leave until I bought a new book. I had no idea what I wanted to buy or even what I was in the mood to read. So, I strolled through the fantasy section. I picked up Prince of Fools and loved the cover. (yes I always judge books by there covers :p)
After reading the synopsis I immediately thought “I am going to love this book the main character seems like a douche!” Ultimately I did love the book, as well as the other two in the series. at this point in time, I would even say the Red Queens war is my favorite book series and as a by-product Mark Lawrence my favorite author.
After reading the series and expressing my deep love for it, I was gifted the Prince of Thorns. which ended up sitting on my bookshelf for about a year. “why?” you might ask. Well, because I was scared I would love that book as much as I loved the other ones but I didn’t have the sequels for me to immediately drown myself with. So, alas it went unread.
For christmas I was given the sequels! Hallelujah! So, I allowed my self to read away! I will try not to give to much away but, just in case you haven’t read the books or hate spoilers. This is my disclaimer. THERE MAY BE SPOILERS or they may not be……… read on at your own risk.
The story follows a young prince by the name of Honorous Jorg Ancarth. For a boy of fourteen he is very mature.( more so than I am at 28) He’s smart, serious and driven by revenge. He ran away when he was only ten and has been roaming the lands with a group of misfits. they go from town to town pillaging.
Jorg left the castle for one reason. to kill the man that killed his mother and brother. He feels that his father should be more angry and wanting blood but he just sits in his castle. So, Jorg puts matters into his own hands.
I’m not going to lie for about half the book I hated Jorg. He was way more serious than the other prince I had previously read about(prince of fools) I have never been fond of stories about children as I don’t find them particularly believable. Especially when that child is more mature, smarter and all around more put together than I am at double his age.
Throughout the book though you are peppered with his past and the reasons he is the way he is. To get to a black berry you need to get around the thorns. and Jorg has more thorns than your typical black berry bush.
This book is definitely not suitable for younger audiences as there are some very suggestive scenes and at times he can get really dark. I was going to list off all the things I disliked about this book but somehow they all turned into likes. I Don’t care for his so called “Road brothers” they are characters I just don’t care about. well there was once but of course they killed him.
I was going to go more in depth about the book. but I like people to read for themselves. I don’t like giving to much away. If your are a fan of fantasy, especially Dark Fantasy you will love this book. If I were to give this book a rating out of 5 swords I would give it a 4.5. Its not as good of a book as prince of fools in my opinion but its still a damn good book. Jorg is a character you hate in front of your friends but love alone!
Thanks For Reading! If you like this kind of review make sure to give it a like and let me know in the comments!
The Meaning of Life
The meaning of life is a topic many, if not most people have discussed. As time moves forward the meaning always changes. There is no Definitive answer to, “what is the meaning of life?” and that troubles a lot of people.
“The god that we created plans our destiny, Because life without meaning is our sworn, enemy!”-Beast in Black
People make up stories and will continue to make them so that there is meaning to their life. Now, what I am getting at is, what if life had no meaning? How does that make you feel? would your life change drastically? Would it change at all?
The beautiful thing about humans is our quest for answers and the beautiful thing about the universe is its abundance of secrets! its like we were made for each other! We dedicate countless lives unraveling its secrets. Some things have been studied for hundreds of years and still, there is no concrete answer.
Our drive for knowledge and better lives have made us who we are, but why does everything need a meaning? what if you chose the meaning of life? what if you created your destiny and it wasn’t created for you? What if the universe always existed and there was no beginning of time? what if every religions real message was that you were God?
Camp NaNoWriMo Conclusion
Hey again! Welcome back. Camp NaNo has come and gone. Another attempt at rushing words from my head to computer has left me with some thoughts about my writing process. So, lets get in to it.
This was only the second time I have participated in any form of NaNoWriMo. The first being last april’s Camp NaNo. Last year managed 11,000 words before I fizzled out. This year I only managed 6000. Quite a difference which I find funny because arguably I’m more passionate about this story. So, what happened why so little words?
There are many reasons for so few words and I will explain a few of the most impactful. Firstly, I gave my self a lot of excuses. (eg, I am too tired. I wanna play video games. I should clean.) Secondly, when I didn’t reach my daily word count I felt defeated and it snowballed into complete days without words. Lastly, the biggest reason I didn’t write much it quite like the reason for last years lack of words. The amount of words I wrote in a short time became scary. Yeah I don’t get it either.
I have come to the conclusion the I am actually scared to write a novel. I’m scared to give my everything into something when I don’t feel like I have much to give. Ultimately I feel scared to be proud of something I accomplished.
Despite all of this, Camp NaNo was an outstanding success. I wrote 6000 fuckuing words! Go me. I learned things about the point of views and which may work better for my story. Most importantly I learned that the process of writing pen to paper is by far a better method for mer to write. I don’t worry about word count too much. There is way less distractions. (damn you interwebs.) and its how I have written all of my blog posts and short stories. Stick with what works.
I learned a lot in April and I am glad for it. I don’t know if I will attempt any NaNoWriMos again but I am definitely grateful for the times that I did do it. Did you participate this year? If so how did it go? Did you crush it and hit your word count or did you learn a lot like me? Either way is a win let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!
Camp NaNoWriMo/ Writing projects.
Welcome back everyone! Today I thought I would talk about how Camp NaNoWriMo is going for me and also talk a little about the different projects I am working on.
I haven’t Participated in the NaNoWriMo that takes place in november and I am not really sure why. But I did give Camp NaNoWriMo a try last year. I aimed to hit the typical NaNo goal of 50,000 words. I only managed about 12,000 words because I just couldn’t zero in fully on one project idea.
This year my main focus has been just one idea. Its an Idea I really liked the concept of and built a world around. Now, its been a week since Camp NaNo started and I admittedly started 3 days late. Even with excuses I only sit at 3000 words. I have already run into “problems”. So, I have spent time working things out and drawing a town map just to help me navigate.
My goal this year is still set at 50,000 words. Other than needing to build pieces for myself to keep the story moving forwards, I am still finding it hard to put words down. Mostly because I hate putting down sentences that I don’t. A problem I know a lot of writers have. How to I push past the need to be perfect in my first draft??
Along with My camp project, There are 2 other projects I am working on/ want to get done by the end of the year.
The first of the 2 is a short story that goes with my camp project. It’s just a story I will be righting to figure out my magic system and flesh out my world further.
The last project is one that I will hopefully be posting to this site be for the year is done. It goes with the short story I posted last year. It’s called Lord Odious and it originated from this short story. It is written I just need to edit it and polish it up. I believe it is much longer and a much better story but you can be the judge.
So, Make sure to be on the look out for the short story and if you haven’t already read Lord Odious feel free to read and let me know what you think by clinking here.
Thanks for reading ! Let me know how you Camp NaNoWriMo is going!
Goals for 2019!
Hey everyone, Happy New Year! Congratulations on making it to 2019! It’s that time of year, where everyone is in the gym, eating vegetables and making resolutions. To my knowledge, most goals set at this time of the year usually tend to fail by February. This year though I am feeling pretty confident in myself so what the hey, lets set some goals and smash them!!
I have never really been one to set goals. Come to think of it that’s probably why I have never accomplished anything significant. My experience with goals is very and I mean VERY limited. Most of the time I write a list of goals I want to accomplish this month. Then I forget about the goals and go on with my life and at the end of the month realize I managed to complete maybe one goal and most likely that was an accident.
At this point, you are probably asking yourself “So, what’s so different this time Myles?!” Well, let me tell you. This time I am asking for help. Firstly I am asking my wife to enlist of a year of keeping me accountable. Maybe she could just tell me what to do. Act as a prison warden, whatever it takes! That might make life easier! Secondly, I am asking all of you for help! Every once in a while just ask me how my goals are going, make sure I keep posting here and most importantly that I am having fun. We could be partners you help me I help you!
So, Here are my Goals for 2019!
- Read at least 20 books! Last year I only read about 11. Let’s double that effort this year!! Follow my good reads! I have read 0 of 0 books for the 2019 Reading Challenge! What should I read next?
- Finish a First Draft! I have started many! and only one has made it past the first chapter. I seem to lose my passion for the story I created or it just never seems to be going the way I wanted it to and I lose hope. This year I just need to push past that and finish one. Then I can tweak away until its what I want it to be!
- Get into the habit of writing every day! Because I am always so focused on my stories I forget that I need to actually write in order to get better. And because I lose passion for my stories so quick I tend to not write very much! That’s going to change this year. If I have nothing to write about I am just going to write about certain events, People, places, even just describe random things. Anything to get words to paper.
- Make More blog posts than last year! Last year I averaged 1 post a month and that is just not enough! I am going to continue to post my random thoughts, maybe more book reviews with all the books I plan on reading and show you guys some of my writing!!
That is it. Those are my goals. Some are big and daunting others small. I think I am going to blow 2018 Myles out of the water and do all the things I keep putting off. I intend to make 2019 the best year of my life! What about you guys? Are you setting goals? if so what are they? Let me know in the comments! thanks for reading, Have a magical day! and year!
