Welcome to the carnival! Here, every Friday you will find posts about all things YA Indie for authors, readers and reviewers. Every week we will be blogging about a different aspect of Indie publishing and our own experiences. (To check out a list of future topics, click here!) Soooo….binge on all the cotton candy and popcorn you want and get set for a thrilling ride!
Main attraction today?
Me. It’s all about me.
Hi! I’m Dani. Wife to the hubs, himself a reader of all things history-related, and a mom to two rugrats, one of whom is just learning to read, and the other who gets through two pages of a touch-&-feel book before deciding he’d like to chomp on it instead. By occupation I am a wedding photographer, and by hobby an avid reader and, more recently, a book blogger. I don’t really have a pivotal moment where I can remember falling in love with losing myself in a good story, I just always have been in love with books. This might have something to do with my parent’s influence, both of whom are also readers by nature. I fell out of reading novels during college and early marriage, due to the necessity of reading things a bit more dusty, musty and probably far more educational. lol Then for my birthday two years ago, my hubs took a chance and randomly bought me “City of Bones” by Cassandra Clare.
I fell in love with that book.
Head over heels in ridiculous love.
Yeah, hubs got bonus brownie points for that one. So I have Cassie Clare and my hubs to thank for driving me back to YA literature and for the past couple years I have been eating up every YA book I can get my hands on. A year ago, I discovered the exciting world of Indie publishing. As is true with many others I’m sure, Amanda Hocking’s “My Blood Approves” was my first ever Indie novel, and I’ve never looked back. I’d say that these days I probably read about as much Indie as I do traditional publishing.
So what inspired me to start Refracted Light? Well, Goodreads, indirectly, I guess. I discovered the annual reading goal feature on there probably around March, and set myself a goal of 125 books for 2011. From January to May, I raced through book after book, and from time to time I’d write a review. Well, I found I liked taking the time to sit down and analyze my reads, it helped me think critically about them, figure out what I liked and pinpoint what I didn’t. I started doing it more often and it became a fun exercise. In a moment of over-inflated self-importance, I decided to start a book blog as a central place where I could post the reviews I write and perhaps meet other book lovers who might care what I had to say. It started off as just a fun outlet, but has morphed into something I’ve become really passionate about!
So that’s me in a nutshell.
Thanks for stopping by and make sure you visit the other blog carnies!
Remember to sign up for the July New Release Giveaway Hop & BlogFest 2011 for the chance to win some awesome books!
Dani
Nice to get to know you better, Dani! I gave my Mom that series (she’d only read my YA before then) and now she’s hooked on YA too!
I guess it’s a good starter book into YA…lol. I did get to your blog earlier and it was fun getting to know you as well! Thanks for stopping by!
Dani, I liked riding with you this week. Nice to know how you got hooked on YA:)
I absolutely agree with you about City of Bones…love it! It is great to get to know you and these other very inspiring Indie authors/bloggers!
I’ve been a bad carnie today and haven’t gotten around to all the blogs yet, but I intend to! But yes, that book is one of my all-time faves….. oh Jace…
Dani!! Your website is looking so good! You’ve got such an artsy eye!!
Thank you!
“In a moment of over-inflated self-importance” << You crack me up! And wow, 125 books in a year. Very impressive!
Cyndi
Hi Dani,
Great post! I just wanted to let you know The Guardians of Souls is my second book in the Soul Quest Trilogy. My debut novel, and the first book in the trilogy, is Soul Quest, published in February of 2011.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you better!
Smiles,
Amy