{IMPORTANT NOTICE #2} please read (in your blogger feed) if you haven't already

**you'll have to read this in your blogger feed without clicking on it**

Hey friends! I recently moved my blog over to Wordpress. I am having some difficulties transferring the RSS feed (all you public followers), so if you could pop over to my new URL (audreycaylin.com) and give me an email follow, I would appreciate it! I am going to keep these notices going through the end of this month, >>then my blog will not be linked to this anymore<<

Thank you for being so awesome and following me on this journey  <33  *hands you a cup of unending gratitude*

{IMPORTANT NOTICE} please read

I'm not sure if you guys can open this, but hi! **I recently moved my blog over to Wordpress. The switch was successful, but I'm having some difficulties redirecting the RSS feed -- all you public followers. I have a post up on the blog right now explaining that, and I'm working to find a way to fix this.
*Thank you all for reading <3

{WRITERS AND AUTUMN} 7 reasons why we're the perfect match

source

  HAPPY AUTUMN *throws leaves in the air* I’m sorry, my summer-loving friends, but the season of falling leaves, nippy winds, and delicious scents has finally arrived!

It has come to my attention during my near-year of blogging that a lot of writers say autumn is their favorite season, myself including. So today, in honor of the first day of fall, I’m revealing the seven reasons why writers and autumn are often the perfect match. (if you’re a writer who does not like autumn, don’t worry—this post is for amusement ;)

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{INTERVIEW WITH RILEY ALINE}

Today I’m doing an interview swap with the wonderful Riley Aline! I’m interviewing her here, and she’s interviewing me over on her blog. You can check it out HERE.

 Riley is an awesome writer friend of mine who recently published her first book. She has the most AMAZING Instagram account ever, and I’ve flailed with her about characters and other writerly stuff (like K.M. Weiland’s podcasts) many times.

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{DREAMS AND CALLINGS PART 2} surrender

 

Surrender has always perplexed me. I mean, how do you just…stop fighting. Stop trying. Give up—willingly. It’s like one of those trust test things, where you’re blind folded and have to fall back into someone.

I like to pull lessons out of things that happen in my life. And for the past month, I’ve been thinking: what have I learned from changing WIPs? What…what was God trying to teach me there? (a necessary thing to figure out if I was going to write a post on it ;)

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{SUMMER WRAP-UP} i'm back + photo dump

HELLO I'M BACK *waves*

I missed you all so much last month! But I did have a blast with my family and just being out and about and living. Taking a blogging break every once in a while is needed :)

Anyway, a TON has happened since I was last blogging, so I'm going to kick off my fall blogging  with a recap of the summer + a billion photos.
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{REALM MAKERS 2017 HIGHLIGHTS} + internet hiatus

thank you Keturah and Tracy for being in my header graphic ;)

I'M BACK.

You may have heard that I went to Realm Makers 2017 last weekend. I can honestly say that it was a major turning point, a giant stepping stone in my writing journey.

Right now I can't quite figure out what to say in this post. I mean, what happened at the conference was so much that I can't put it into a single post that is a length anyone would dare read on a Saturday morning. I tried journaling about it earlier, but missed so much. I'm...speechless. What it was like. What I learned. Just.... *mind explosion*

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{THE BLOOD RACE} blog tour

Today I'm taking part in another blog tour, and I'm so excited to share this book with you guys! Not only is it AMAZING, but it's authored by Kate Emmons from The Goodness Revolt!

I'm doing an interview with her here today, and... the book is out. Like, literally came out TODAY.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. xD Here's a peek at The Blood Race.

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{THE CORONATION} blog tour

all graphics from Livy

Hey guys! Today I'm taking part in a blog tour (in case I didn't say that in the title ;)

Livy Jarmusch recently published her book, The Coronation, and I received a free ARC in exchange for a review! Thus here I am reviewing this lovely book as part of Livy's blog tour! :D

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{CAMP NANO VLOG} i ramble about writing

if you know where I am bc of all the pictures, shhh don't say ;)

HEY LOOK I DID MY FIRST VLOG. O.O

On the first of the month, I opened up a survey for you to ask ALL the questions about my writing, and I answered them in the video below.

YES I ACTUALLY TALKED. #introvertaccomplishments

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{DREAMS AND CALLINGS} the best is yet to come

 This time last year, I was still a ballet dancer. I haven't talked about it much in a long while, but I'm suddenly remembering where I was July 2016: dancing literally 24/7 and aiming for a career as a professional dancer.

I wrote a more in-depth post on this in December, but, long story short, I got injured and had to stop dancing. And -- trust me -- when you stop doing something that you'd been doing nonstop for a long time, it feels really weird/horrible = rough months and moments of feeling utterly lost.

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i'm so behind on tags {TAG MASH-UP}

 
Tags. Yes. Haha... *clears throat*  May was a month of tags, and since I'm still relatively new to blogging, I didn't account for switching my regular posts with tags. Now I have an overload of tags that are getting old. I still plan to do some, but in the meantime, I smashed a few together. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to do them, but I've learned my lesson. :P Thus, this tag mash-up.

So get ready for me to answer a bunch of random questions from the Sunshine Blogger tag, and the Bookish Book Lover tag, and the Liebster Award tag :D

(I fit in about 18 questions)

1. What's one random thing about you that few people know?

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{JUNE WRAP-UP} + makeover & vlog ideas

 (aka... I haven't done this since April, have I?)

HOW IS IT SUMMER?!?!? I have creepily vivid memories of this time last year, so it doesn't seem right that summer 2017 is already here :P

So how did I kick off my summer?
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#RebelliousWriting {AFRAID TO TURN THE PAGE}

pic from pinterest

You've probably seen this thing called Rebellious Writing going around blogsphere lately. It was started by Gray as a rebellion against all the horrible stuff in the YA genre these days. This movement is making me do the happy dance, because I believe clean YA is really, really important.

Books are amazing. Stories are powerful. I rambled on about that a few weeks ago. But while stories can be powerful in amazing ways by inspiring us to do good, they can also do the opposite. Imagine if all the glorious power stories have was used for the other extreme.

Ouch. That looks dark. That looks gritty. That looks dangerous.

And that is what's happening to YA books today.

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{WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE GETTING WORSE} let's talk perfectionism

picture from pinterest

To be completely honest, I've been cringing over this very phrase for the past month:

what if I'm getting worse?

 In April, I wrote the second novel in my trilogy, Outcast. I can honestly believe that I was having a really good streak when writing that book. I can go back and read it and, for the first time, feel happy with my writing, knowing that it is good. It's not all good, obviously, but it's not all bad, and when you get to that point, you feel like you're flying. I think we all have one bit of writing -- even if it's only a sentence -- which we feel is at least decent enough.

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LET'S DO SUMMER {BUCKET LIST + TBR}

 
IT'S SUMMER.

Okay, so not literally, since it's not the 21st yet, but I consider it summer whenever school is out, which is June, so...

It's summer. I'm leaving it at that xD

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{STORIES ARE POWERFUL}

just ignore the fact that none of my pictures ever have anything to do with the actual post :P

Stories change us.

As readers of them, we're effected by what happens to the characters, the struggles and trials they go through. Most of us don't sit down to read a novel expecting to learn something; we're looking for enjoyment.

Or, as C.S. Lewis quotes:

We read to know we are not alone

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{C U R R E N T L Y} (aka: abbriviated May wrap-up)

(updated 5/29 I'm a bit under the weather, so this post is going to count as my wrap-up. I'll be back on Saturday though! <3)

Just because I'm dead tired this week and have never done a post like this but have always wanted to.... I give you a snippet of my life ;)

Currently....

WRITING

Too. Many. Words. xD I started rewriting Found several weeks ago, armed with a hefty outline. I thought that outline was going to be a fantastic guide that would help me overcome my problem of writing too many words per scene (seriously. that's a real problem. my wordcounts are waaaay too high. I just start a scene and ramble). Unfortunately, I just kinda.... went over it. The first quarter of my book is 40,000 words \(*.*)/

I'm going to try and cut that when I get to editing xP

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Why Every Writer Should Be A Beta Reader

Beta reading -- I didn't used to think about it much before I started writing seriously. (Fact About Me: I used to be jealous of the people who got to beta read my favorite books. still am. I mean, they got to read that book for free and give their opinion on it ;)

Then, last September, when I got my flash of inspiration to start spending hours a day at a keyboard (that's how it went) I started thinking of the mysterious organism called the beta reader, the one who had all the connections to the people with the cool books in need of a new mind to critique them. Seriously. Who wouldn't want to read a book for free and give an opinion on it that the author will actually take into consideration before publication?!?

Beta-reading excitement aside, is that really the only reason why we beta read novels?

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It's A Journey

picture from pinterest

Life seems to be a lot about destinations.

You know, finish high school. Graduate college. Get married. Retire. Or, on a smaller level: finish that book, get through that school year, make it to that date. That's why people have bucket lists, I guess. So they can cross off important events in their lives that they've accomplished.

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The #VoicesofYA tag

 

Okay, so Caitlin @Quills and Coffee tagged me for this EPIC tag and OMW I'm so excited! Thank you, Caitlin!

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This Past Month: April

Just for the record, I took that picture, and I'm finally proud of myself XP

(a.k.a. when my overcommiter self finally gets punished xD)
(and that picture is really ironic because I spent the last week of the month nearly freezing to death up in the mountains. Just saying.)

Can anyone tell me where the year is going? I will seriously pay you if you can tell me. ;)

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6 MONTH BLOGVERSARY: What I've Learned From Being A Blogger

I've been blogging for six months.

That doesn't feel right. I feel like I've been doing this forever, but six months actually isn't a long time. 

To celebrate the halfway point to my one year blogversary, I've thought back on the past months and put together a post of all the things I've learned from being a blogger.

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When You Have To Wait

Just admit it: you don't like to wait. No one does. Waiting is just... waiting. And patience doesn't come easily to any flawed human (but if it does to you, please tell me your secrets in the comments).

(but don't comment on how ironic this post is, because I'm asking you guys to wait until the 22nd for my next post.)

So today, I'm going to talk about the hardest thing for writers: waiting to write. And not just procrastinating, but literally being told to wait to work on an idea.

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This Past Month: March + An Announcement

(a.k.a. #lifehappened and caught up with me)

At last! March is over! I have to say that this month went by much quicker than February, which is strange, because February was three days shorter....

Anyway.

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BLOG TOUR: Shadows of the Hersweald

Hello everyone! Welcome to a blog tour!

Shadows of the Hersweald is the novella I'm showcasing here today.  I got to read it and review it (check out my review here), and IT'S JUST SO COOL. It's a Christian fantasy fairy-tale retelling of Hansel and Gretel. And it's a novella. It takes half the time to read but is seriously just as amazing.

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To My Fellow Dreamers

Picture from Pinterest

 This has been on my mind a ton lately as I go around and read and comment on other bloggers' posts. I just keep stepping back and realizing: wow, this is incredible.

What is?

You guys. All of us. This community of teenagers and young adults writing, blogging, reaching, dreaming.

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What's Going On With My Writing?

I know I've given some little updates every now and then and wrap-ups at the end of the month, but I really wanted to do a post where I told you everything that's going on with my writing.

(well, maybe not everything. like how I want to write a first draft and edit two novels at once and how my sequel is MESS right now and i just want to scrap the whole last 25%, which is weird, because it's usually the middle 50% I like to scrap...)

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there's a pretty little legend....

It's March. For some reason, it's eighty degrees where I am. I'm peering wide-eyed into the future, trying to plan some things out, but really, we have no idea what the future is going to hold (sort of cool and sort of frustrating at times). I'm a bit  o v e r w h e l m e d  by the possibilities, all the things I want to do, all the things I need to do, and how very little time there seems to be to get everything done. You know, typical weekday afternoon thoughts.

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Write From Your Heart

I know: February (and Valentine's Day) is over, so technically I should have posted this last month. However, this has been on my mind so much that I needed to write it.

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This Past Month: February

(a.k.a....stressful? too-fast? I don't know :P)

FEBRUARY IS OVER *cheers* *screams* *runs around in circles dancing wildly*

Here we go:

I sent my novel off to beta readers, so I'd call it a successful month :D I watched my baby fly through the Internet universe to unsuspecting readers on the eve of the 20th. Only once I'd sent all the emails did I sit back and realize "I just gave my novel to other people."

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What I Learned From My Alpha Reader

I recently had the experience of someone being the first to read my novel, the first to ever read my work.  In other words, I had an alpha reader. An alpha reader is the person who looks at your novel for the first time. The first set of eyes to glare at it after you. ;-) Some people have critique partners do this, or friends or family. I would suggest someone who knows you well enough to give positive but honest critique and lots of encouragement.

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You'll Never Know

You'll never know.

What am I talking about?

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My Novel: Ready For Beta Reading

Hello there! If you read my wrap-up from last month, you may have heard my novel is ready for beta reading.

What novel?

My novel. You know, the one I hardly ever talk about.

You mean the one without a synopsis? The one you said you had to rewrite a dozen times?

Yes. That one.

BUT now I'm actually going to share the synopsis and stuff....

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 4: Unveiling Your Theme

Welcome to the grande finale of Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! I'm so excited to wrap up this series with one of my all-time favorite writing topics.

theme.

A simple word, but with so much power. Let's get to it:

(Pictures from Pinterest. An epic post deserves an epic picture)

 What is theme?

When I think of the word "theme," I think of birthday parties. You know, when you were little and you'd have a "cowboy themed" birthday or a "princess themed" birthday.

According to the dictionary, theme is a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic.

Theme is the topic of your novel.

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This Past Month: January

And it suddenly occurred to me that I've only written one monthly wrap-up post so far because I started blogging late October and had an end of the year wrap-up in December.

So....

Let's wrap up this month of January.

(a.k.a. a-bit-too-quick quick-start to the new year)

(Pictures from Pinterest. To be totally honest, I was going to spam you with snowflakes, BUT THERE ARE NONE WHERE I AM URGHHH)

 Writing

Well...

...

To put it simply, that didn't quite go as I expected! XD Most of January was talking about writing and thinking about writing but not actually writing enough.

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 3: Creating Your Plot

Welcome back to Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! Now that we've taken care of those beautiful characters of yours, let's move on to the super exciting stuff:

Plot.

Let's do this:

(Pictures from Pinterest. Can we just ooh and ahh over this epic picture really quick?)

Your Story

So you have those great characters. At this point, some people ask why bother with a great plot if you have great characters? The question should be why not bother with a great plot that will make those great characters ten times greater?

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 2: Embodying Your Characters

Welcome back to my four-post series, Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! Today, I'm going to talk about embodying those lovely characters you created.

So, without further ado, let's get to it:

(Pictures from Pinterest)

 Be Your Character

So last week, I gave the idea of "being" your character for a day to get the feel for them. This week, I'm going to talk about how important that is.

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 1: Meeting Your Characters

Welcome to the first part of my new four-post series: Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! I'm super excited to do this for the next month!

As writers, we're constantly growing and learning. I want to share with you what I've learned so far in this crazy journey called writing.

So, let's do this:

(Pictures from Pinterest)

 Say Hello

 (warning: this is where you lose your right to be called 'rational.')

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A Word For the Year

  Also known as: my 2017 goals.

Also known as: this is an honest post of where I want my life to go this year.

(Pictures from Pinterest)

A Word For The Year

First of all, what in the world is a "word for the year????" If you've never heard of one of these puppies before, it's a word that you want your year to be about, something you want to pursue and focus on. Preferably, it should be abstract (courage, discovery, love, etc.), unless it absolutely must be something else because you get a specific feeling from the word (i.e. surf or bike or something *wink*)

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