The Monday Mix (18)

The Monday Mix basically gives me the opportunity to share with all of you the links I loved online from weeks past. This includes everything from great reviews, articles about writing, inspiring posts and perhaps other things too. I've always valued the opportunity to share the great things I've read or seen, and this is my way to share the love with all the bloggers, authors + pubs out there!

The past two weeks have been much colder than I'm comfortable with, but I've been fortunate to be indoors for much of it. Apart from little outings with my NYC family and visits to New Jersey, I've been applying for jobs and reading and watching Once Upon a Time (and I'm on the current season!). I have a few jobs prospects that I'm particularly excited about, so I really hope that I'm going to get a call back from one of them!

LINKS TO CHECK OUT

1. Chachic drew my attention to this splendid post by one of my favorite fantasy writers, Tamora Pierce. She writes about suspension of disbelief -- and her thoughts allow me to understand what it is I love so much about her books.

2. I've got a weakness for shopping. I'm not only referring to books, but also to shoes. Rachel shared her tips for buying boots, and I love them. (I'm also kind of coveting the booties in her post!)

3. Magan's beautiful thoughts on foster care and parenthood (as inspired by How to Love) are well worth a read. I've been in complete awe over how she and Dustyn have been adjusting to having a foster daughter, and now a baby on the way, and I hope you all send her your love and support.

4. Have you ever considered getting a co-blogger after starting out as a solo blogger? Jamie shares her thoughts on the rise of co-bloggers, and I must say I agree with a lot of her thoughts.

5. Marissa Meyer shares tips for writing lots of words. Timely for NaNoWriMo, don't you guys think? I feel like I should be taking some of her advice... as I've written way less than I originally wanted to.

6. I usually have trouble with my beginnings for stories. Jodi Meadows highlights some of the most common problems with beginnings, and it's given me fresh perspective on how to approach mine.

7. I'm obsessed with Brittany's swoony snark post featuring all the swoony, snarky boys from books she's read. I've met Thorne, Sturmhond and Jason, but it looks like I must meet the others too.

8. This week's TTT involved making recommendations, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites. I always trust Racquel and Sharon when it comes to romance recommendations. Jamie compiled a list of contemporary titles to recommend to Sarah Dessen fans.

9. I'm loving this advice about the agent search from one of my favorites Diana Peterfreund. It's practical, straight to the point and so true. I'll definitely be keeping it in mind!

10. Susan Dennard shares a trick - a question, really - to unstick your plots. I love Susan, and her writing advice always feels spot on to me.

11. I really like reading Amanda's posts about how to improve your blog. Here's one about SEO!

12. I'm obsessed with all these lovely quotes about love shared by the team at Epic Reads. They make me swoon, sigh and want to read (or re-read) these books!

13. Gayle Forman is a writer who I really respect and whose books I love. Her thoughts on endings are really concise and well-expressed, and I liked her post a lot. While I wasn't enamored with Divergent's ending, I actually really respect that it ended the way it did.

14. This incredibly touching essay by Matt de la Pena made me smile. You should certainly take the time to read it!

15. Erin Bowman shared some simple advice in about "killing your darlings" over on Pub Crawl.  I love reading that blog for the engaging, simple way they share their thoughts and tips on writing, and this post is no exception.

16. If you're in the market for a new tablet and interested in the Surface 2, check out Cassie's review. It seems like a pretty nifty device, and I must say that Cassie makes a convincing argument in its favor!

RECAP OF MY POSTS

Two weeks ago, I reviewed Allegiant and Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always, and The F-It List. I also got a bit personal, talking about death and Typhoon Haiyan.

Last week, I had the privilege of co-hosting the Black Dagger Brotherhood Party with my friends Rachel & Kelly. I wrote about why I loved the BDB vampires, mini-reviews of books 1-3, mini-reviews of books 4-6, shared 5 favorite quotes, mini-reviews of books 7-9 and my favorite heroines. 

I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I did! Now it's YOUR turn - are there any posts (on your blog or other blogs) from last week that I missed out on? Please feel free to share links in the comments and I'll try to check them out.