Wonder-No-More Wednesday (1)

Okay, really it's just an excuse to answer some of the questions I've so recently been receiving.



Each Wednesday I will answer any questions I've received as blog comments in the past week, well, to the best of my abilities, that is. Since there's no direct-reply option on comment feed, this seems to be the most logical solution to replying to my followers' and visitors' comments and questions.

This is a brand new and original Meme created right here in The Wolf's Den!

Wonder-No-More Wednesday Rules:


1. Answer every question to the best of your ability.
No one or two-word responses. Take some time with your replies.

 2. Each question must at least be acknowledged.
If you're uncomfortable providing a truthful response,
at least thank the commenter for their curiosity.

3. If there are no questions, provide a question of your own.
What're you reading? How was your day? What'd you do this weekend?
And then, of course, respond to it.
There's no reason you can't indulge your readers' curiosity.

This Meme may be copied on your own pages, but please link it back to me and my blog.
Thank you!

Firstly, a HUGE thanks to all my new followers and your compliments on my blog's appearance. It's really great to hear that the work I've done appeals to more than just myself. Even if, at the same time, it does make me a little more self conscious about it, too.

Savannah of Books With Bite asks:

Is [Diane Duane's Young Wizards series] similar to Harry Potter?

~ Yes and no, but mostly no. Where Rowling has a wizarding world cut off from the rest of society, Duane's wizards are very very much involved with the real world. The first book takes place in the middle of Manhattan, after all.
    Where HP has a villain with minions bent on conquering the world, these wizards are fighting what could be considered a god, the creator of death itself. In that respect, there's really no "end-goal" they're pushing for over the course of the series, it's more of a book-by-book, problem-by-problem theme.
    Yes, both series have young (teenage) wizards who grow and age through each book. But instead of a year's time in HP, the YW's events/books are only a few days or maybe a couple weeks. Thus, the YW kids age much slower (allowing for more books before they're no longer 'young').
    I could draw more comparisons, but I don't want to go into too much detail for fear of spoilers. Perhaps I'll make a longer, more detailed post after I finish reading and reviewing the series. In fact, plan on it.

Emma Michaels of The Thirteenth Chime asks:

My release date [for The Thirteenth Chime] is Friday the 13th, (August this year) isn't that crazy?

~ Yes, that is a little crazy, but an awesome kind of crazy. Crazier still is the fact that the release date is the day before my birthday. Hear that, people? Sounds like there's no reason why I shouldn't get this as a birthday present!

Blodeuedd of Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell asks:

How did you come up with the name for your blog?

~ Ooh, great question! It's a long story, actually, but I'll try to slim it down as much as possible.
    I've always loved wolves, probably starting at least as far back as Balto, but possibly longer. In 2005 I joined a Harry Potter fansite under the username StormyWolf, and shortly afterward I began to role-play a character of the same name. In the years since, my character acquired some wolfish characteristics and I acquired the nickname (from some friends) of Wolfy. Now, it's been quite some time since then. That character has 'retired', and most people refer to me by the first half of the username instead of the last. Yet...the affinity toward wolves still remains.
     However, I cannot take full credit for my blog's name. When starting this blog, I was scrambling for ideas of what to call it. One friend (who knows me primarily by my moniker) suggested The Wolf's Den and I glommed onto it immediately. Not only does it take in my online identity and love for wolves, but the Den can either mean the wolf's home or, in urban terms, a study or library. Perfect for a reader or writer's blog, no?
    As I continue outlining my UrbanFantasy/Paranormal novel, I've even found myself jotting in The Wolf's Den as a location. How's that for getting a head-start on publicizing? Hehe, but we'll see how far that goes.

Lit Addicted Brit of Lit Addicted Brit asks:

Including a 'read time' is a really good idea but how do you keep track?

~ Well, when it comes to reading along with audiobooks it's actually quite easy. For the few other books I have read and reviewed on this blog thusfar, I've made my best guess. I mostly like to read books in one sitting (often at night), so it's fairly easy to keep track.
    If I ever get in a situation where I'm stopping and starting a lot, I might just have to invest in one of those timer-bookmarks! I'd have to be pretty desperate for that, though, as I NEVER use bookmarks.

Elle of Media Molly asks:

...I need to practice commenting instead of just lurking most of the time. How else can bloggers know that people enjoy what they wrote?

~ Well, I see two options. They can either develop psychic abilities and use Cerebro to search the world for what people think about their blog, OR they can follow the yellow brick road to find the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and ask him.
    ...Or maybe we should just learn to lurk less and comment more? ;D

Josette of Books Love Me! asks:

Wow, how did you keep track of how many blogs you visited?

~ Well, there were 261 blogs listed at Crazy-For-Books' page, and I visited all of them, plus one. I didn't follow/add all of them because not all of them had Google-Follower as a part of their website (WordPress or LiveJournal).

Katie of Book Love asks:

Holy cow... This is crazy! Are you still following all of these [375] blogs?!

~ Ahem...yes. Yes, I am. It took me the better part of two days to get my Google Reader to say "Zero Blogs Unread". And since starting this post, I have 39 waiting to be read.
    I have, however, moved many blogs to my "Probationary" Folder and three to my "To-Delete" Folder. In one or two weeks, I'll start un-following the blogs I'm not interested in.

Katie of Book Love also asks:

[Concerning the Young Wizards series] Just based on your review... maybe a mixture of Wizards of Waverly Place and the Magic Treehouse series?

~ Wizards of Waverly Place is very, very comedic and concerns mostly the kids learning life-lessons in and around the magic use. The YW series is very much a life-or-death adventure series with some elements of comedy relief woven through. There's not so much a "the moral of the story is..." as there is a "Wow! I wanna see magic in the world like they do! -Well, I guess I can start out by..."
    Unfortunately, I've not read the Magic Treehouse series, so I can't really make a comparison there...

As many of you know, I posted MANY questions around the blogosphere over the weekend:
Care to venture into The Wolf's Den?
And, just because I feel like it, here's the best response to my question I've yet received:

Jen from In the Closet With a Bibliophile responds:

Hey Vicki, thanks for stopping by my blog. Lately I've had the notion to venture into a wolf's den, on the hope that it might spur my link to the world of werewolf, but alas I had not been able to. So, without further adieu yours is the first so I thank you! :D I'll be following you to see what lovely wolfy things you provide.

Oh, and though you've all been so kind and haven't asked this yet, I'll go ahead and do it for you...

All my followers ask:

Yo! Where's that latest update of the Young Wizards series you promised us "Tuesday at the latest"?!

~ Heh, well, I haven't yet started the 4th book yet. I've been a little bogged down with all my following, after all.
    *dodges rotten fruit*
    Hey! Alright! I'll read it tonight!
    In fact, I'll probably have to be reading one or two books a day in order to get through #9 in time for it to go back to the library on Tuesday. Sigh.

And That's A Wrap!

Some Hopping Tips

or
The Results of My First Blogger Hop

Blogs Visited:
262

New Blogs Followed:
200+

Total Blogs Now Following:
375

Comments on My Blog:
83

New Followers:
77

That's right, I visited, commented on, and followed every blog I could.
(Blogs that did not support Google-Followers, I passed on)

I made it my personal goal to visit every single one this weekend; even stayed up way past exhaustion last night to finish.

Today, I was rewarded with over 300 posts (from Sunday and Monday) in my Google-Reader, which I diligently skimmed and read. It took me (I'm guessing) over 3 hours.

I just got back from an hour-long massage-shower to release my headache and shoulder tension.

Do NOT Do What I Did.

Have you ever gone to an all-you-can-eat buffet, filled yourself to full, then gone back one more time for dessert? Or how about gotten a gym membership and spent two hours going full-speed/full-strength?

Do you remember how it felt the next day?

Yeah, that's about what I'm feeling right now.

So here are my tips on how to safely and successfully Blog Hop:

1. Set a Realistic Goal
Pick a number you're comfortable with following and stick to it. No one is judging you on how many blogs you visit. In fact, there's no (easy) way to keep track at all. The only judge you have is yourself, and I think they'll understand your reasoning.

2. Be Sure to Leave Comments
Remember what I said about 'no way to keep track'? Well, when you visit someone's blog, be sure to leave them a comment. It doesn't have to be super fancy or detailed, but there are a couple things it should include:

A Polite Greeting
As in any correspondence, this helps break the ice and establish a connection.
"Hi there!"
"Hey ho, how's it hangin?!"
 "Caught you through the Hop!"

 Some Positive Detail You Noticed About Their Blog/Post
 An added bonus to the ice-breaker, this gives the blog owner a reason to further their connection with you. It always makes people feel good to know their hard work is being seen/read.
"I loved [insert book title] too!"
"Your banner is really ugly."
"Wow, your story is really similar to mine!"

A Tactful Link to Your Own Blog
Always leave a link. This is about establishing connections. How are we supposed to do that if you say 'hi' and disappear? However, don't be forceful about it. Provide it as an opportunity, not an obligation.
"I also review SciFi in my blog, (link)"
"Go to my blog if you ever want to see your family again: (link)"
"Hope you can hop over my way too! (link)"
"I visited you, now you visit me! It's only fair. (link)"
"Care to venture into (The Wolf's Den)?"

Now, while it's best to make each and every entry unique, if you are dealing in mass there's nothing wrong with creating a template that you can copy and paste. Especially when it comes to links—you don't want to mistype your blog-page and accidentally send them somewhere else!

3. Be Smart About Following 
Don't Expect a Follow for a Follow. 
While it's nice to think the above is some sort of unwritten rule, this can't be farther from the truth. I've seen some blogs with over 1000 followers, and you can bet that that person isn't following 1000 blogs. Well, at least not actively. They might be 'a Follower', but that's not the same as 'Following'.
I'll expand on this more below.

Don't Try to Force Followers
Ever gone into a store and been besieged by salespeople? Or have you gotten solicitors at your door? Most often your immediate reaction is "I'm not interested, GO AWAY!" Trying to force people to follow you just makes them that much more eager to say 'no'.

Follow Your Interests
If you can't stand Romance, why follow someone who only reviews Romance? You'll never actually read their posts, and that just defeats the purpose of following in the first place! It's like someone handing out all their pamphlets only to discover they've all been thrown in the trashcan around the corner. Be honest about what you'll read.

And in the same respect, don't expect people to follow your blog if it doesn't interest them.

4. Organize Your Reader
If you're like me, and you may have overshot your bounds, be smart about how you read things. Don't spend hours trying to sort through things you may not want to read... I dumped ALL Book Blogs into ONE folder, so it took forever to sort through it all.

Set Up Genre Folders
That way you can hit certain blogs when you're in the mood, or save others for another time.

Set Up a Probationary List
If you did select too many blogs to follow, put some in a folder that you can browse at your leisure to see if you really do like their writing style. Give it a couple weeks. If you can't remember liking anything of theirs in that time, it's probably best that you un-follow them.

5. Review and Make New Goals
After it's all over take into account what you did and what results you got.
How many did you visit?
How many did you like?
How many will you follow?
What was your blog's visiting rate?
DID YOU HAVE FUN?!

As for me, I visited over 200 blogs and got around 80 visits.
I had a lot of fun, but I also overexerted myself.
Next time (yes, I will do this again) I probably won't visit (or follow) every single blog I find. I'll definitely be more selective in my genres, and I'll stop when I feel like stopping.

Big thanks to Crazy-for-Books for hosting this weekend's Hop.
I hope you all enjoyed your own hopping.

Until next time...

Book Blogger Hop (1)

Okay, honestly I don't know how many of these I will be doing.
Probably not too many, as I generally browse around book blogs enough on my own and add them to my GIGANTIC LIST as I go.
But...hey, why not try something new, right?

So here goes...

Tell us your NAME and WHY YOU STARTED BLOGGING



Hey, I'm Vicki.

I started blogging because I was told it was the best way
to get my writing out there.

See, I graduated with a BA in Creative Writing in May of 2010, and after months of stagnancy and joblessness, I started wondering what was the best way to market myself. My dad and/or a friend suggested that blogging was the best way to put myself out there, start having my voice heard.

The first couple months went slowly. I only had one or two readers, so I wasn't really inspired to post much. Then I decided to start posting some book reviews. I'd done a little of that on Facebook, but, again, I didn't feel like it was getting anywhere. Here, on a blog, I felt it at least had the ability to be read.

Thus, I retooled my blog (slightly) and began posting more bookish subjects.
I've reviewed 14 books (in 6 blogs) as well as posted a couple speculations.
I mostly stick with Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, SciFi, and YA,
but I do branch out from time to time.
I've also included a post or two of my own writing!

It's been a fun trip so far, and I hope I've piqued your interest.


Feel free to post a link to your own blog in the comments,
and be sure to check out other blog-hoppers at Crazy-for-Books' blog!

In semi-related news, I'll be finishing High Wizardry either tonight or tomorrow then starting on the next book quickly after that.
So, my next review pairing should be up Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

So You Want some Deep Wizardry

In an effort both to conserve space and not spoil things, I'm going to go ahead and review the first two books of the Young Wizards series by themselves. Could you imagine how long an entry would be with 8 book reviews in it? Plus, anyone in the middle of the second book would not appreciate reading details in the third. So, without any further adieu, here're my reviews!

~So You Want to Be a Wizard~
Young Wizards
Book 1
By Diane Duane
Amazon ~ Powell's

When Nita Callahan scans along a shelf of library books, she can't help but notice one strange title. So You Want to Be a Wizard. You know, those kids reference books that tell about different professions. So You Want to Be a Pilot, an Electrician, a Doctor. But a Wizard?

It's gotta be some sort of joke. At least, that's what she tells herself when she takes it home.

But as she reads more about magic and wizardry, and after reading aloud the Wizard's Oath—

In Life's name, and for Life's sake
I say that I will use the Art for nothing
but the service of that Life.
I will guard growth and ease pain.
I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way;
and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life,
or that of the system of which it is part,
are threatened.
To these ends, in the practice of my Art,
I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life,
when it is right to do so—till Universe's end.

—Nita quickly learns just how serious this book is...

Teaser Tuesday

I know I did a Top Ten Tuesday last week,
and I might still do one later today.

But first here's a pretty spiffy idea from MizB at I Should Be Reading:


Teaser Tuesday
~ Grab your current read ~
~ Open to a random page ~
~ Share a short passage (around 2 sentences) from somewhere on that page ~
~ BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! ~
~ Share the title & author, too ~

High Wizardry
by Diane Duane

    PASSWORD?
    "Huh," she said to herself, as possibilities flickered through her head. Did Dad have the software encrypted somehow so that Nita and I can't get into it? But why? He wants us to use it. She let out a breath. Maybe it just wants an ID code for the user—there're some programs that do that. She squinted at the screen a moment, then smiled and typed in a private joke: the code name that a certain untrained farm boy used in his fighter run on the Death Star, a name that suited Dairine since she had inherited her mother's red hair. RED FIVE, she typed and hit the carriage return.
    PASSWORD RED FIVE ACCEPTED.

~Pages 48 & 49

Be sure to post or link me to your own teasers in the comments!

And go ahead and spread the word back to MizB on her post.


EDIT:
The Top Ten Tuesday theme is the tried and true
Books You'd Bring When You're Stranded on a Desert Island
I'll pass this week.