What I read in 2011

We are getting to the end of the year, with the holidays coming up how can you miss that, starting to see people ask about your best read of 2011. So, I looked over what I read this year (made so easy by goodread and it yearly reading challenge).

Looking over the list, I have read some amazing books this past year and a few that were not as good.
Some of the Highlights are:

The First Assistant and Second Assistant: by Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare: Both reviews are below
Catching Alice: Clare Naylor: Review below
The Finishing Touches and Swept Off Her Feet: Hester Browne
Hollywood Ending: Lucie Simone: Review below
The Opposite of Me and Skipping a Beat: Sarah Pekkanen Reviews at Opposite of Me and Skipping a Beat

Chick lit Blog tour lead me to some great books too:
High Heels And Slippers!: Ella Slayne: Review below
The Last Page: Lacy Camey: Review below
Dollars to Donuts and Breaking Even: Kathleen Kole: Review below and Breaking Even over at my Livejournal Blog
Just One Click: Amanda Strong: Review below

These are just some of the highlights. There are so many other great books that I was able to read this year. I am set to read 40 books this year, that I have recorded this year. As I keep growing and writing review on my reads.

What are some of your top reads from 2011?

Thoughts on Nanowrimo and it being over

November is over, we are coming to end of the first week  of time outside of November. Why is this important? Because November was Nanowrimo or national novel writing month. Where all over the world people join together to challenge themselves to write 50,000 in a month. 

This is my third year of joining that challenge and my third win. This year is different though. The first year, I was going through some stuff in my personal life and did it to show that I could do the writing. I finished on Thanksgiving and was happy with what I wrote and did some editing on it, but ended up distracted and haven't gone back to it. Last year, I wanted to do it again to show it wasn't a fluke that I had succeeded once and just wanted to write something for myself. That is what I did wrote something for myself and then was done with it. I again finished early, with my real life getting in the way, but I plan that and did the words for myself. 

This year. This year I wasn't sure I was going to even really do it till the middle of October and I really did give myself permission to fail. If I didn't get the word count in that was going to be ok with me. I had a week of vacation out of town scheduled and knew that I wouldn't be able to write everyday. And I was right, I wasn't able to write ever day, but I did get my words in. Here is the new thing that I haven't felt in the past. I really do want to edit and keep working on my Nano manuscript this year. I have gone back to it a few times already.

For some reason I just feel very ready for it this year, like I have finally written something I can share with others. It is not the next great american novel by any means and might not even be something I would print. But, it is something I may share with my friends and family and for that I am proud of. 

Nanowrimo is an amazing experience and I hope to do it again and encourage all who want to write to keep working on their writing.