Magdalyn Ann ○ Author • Photographer • Waitress

Each of Us A Desert – Mark Oshiro (E-Book) The Poppy War – R.F. Kuang (Hardcover) The Sea of Monsters – Rick Riordan (Audiobook)

I don’t even have to say it, do I?

It’s been one hell of a year so far and uh… anything resembling normal has gone straight out the window.

But some updates are in order, I guess.

In January, I started a new job–outside of retail. A proper office job and everything. I miss the library more with every day, but this one at least gets the bills paid and puts food on our table. And,…

Looking Back on 2019

Welp.

It’s been a heck of a long time since my last blog. And a lot has happened since then.

Unfortunately, I’ve left my job as children’s librarian assistant. Which was frankly, one of the saddest things I’d ever done. I miss my gremlins and the staff so much.

But, on the bright side, it was because I’ve moved. I’ve left my good ol’ Jersey Shore for the shores of a great lake and some…

Writing Update: Summer Daze

Har-de-har. Daze. Days. I’m a goshdang master of words y’all.

It’s been a little while. I’ve been focusing a lot of my energy on Booked All Night lately, as well as my job. I’ve since gotten a permanent position at a children’s department in a different branch, so it’s been kind of fun. The gremlins, I mean, children, are always a bundle of fun. My co-workers make it a wild ride.

I’ve put…

It’s been a rough start to the year, y’all. I’m doing my damnedest to keep chugging along, but some days are worse than others and those days don’t tend to see much good. With spring here and warmer days coming, maybe I’ll be able to leave the house more often and get some work done.

I need to set some goals, something to strive for.

I want to hit 50k, at the very least, in my YA Queer Elven…

Well, it’s been a while.

I’ve never claimed to be good at this whole “blogging” thing. I tend to spend most of my time over at Twitter I’m not writing or reading. I tend to let the blog go on the backburner for a while. As I’ve clearly proved time and time again.

I just don’t have the things to fill out an extensive blog. Most of my book reviews go up at Booked All Night and few things filter…

Children of Blood and Bone ★★★★☆½

I’ve been waiting for Children of Blood and Bone from the second it was announced. It’s popped up every so often in my Twitter feed and every single time, my hype for it grew. Maybe my hype overshot the book, but I loved this amazing story–pacing issues aside. Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper…

I initially requested Granted by John David Anderson because my good friend JM Tuckerman loved the cute opening chapter. I didn’t think I’d fall in love with this book as hard as I did. From the author of beloved novels Ms. Bixby’s Last Dayand Posted comes a hilarious, heartfelt, and unforgettable novel about a fairy-in-training. Everyone who wishes upon a star, or a candle, or a penny thrown…

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my writing life. So let’s go! I recently submitted my second packet work to my mentor. It’s my final semester and I’m writing my thesis now. It’s a lot to think about, and the added pressure that this project is going to define me as I get my MFA is just an extra dollop of stress and anxiety on top of my usual anxiety. I want to present my best…

Let me just say, The Belles made me so damn hungry. Hungry for snacks and hungry for more story. It was SO. DAMN. GOOD. Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they…

I sort of missed yesterday’s log. We spent most of the day after workshop in the library doing some work. I plotted out the new parts of my thesis and I have a lot of things to do, but I have a new motivation for this story now. I got some great news this morning and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. That, and we got an earlier flight that gets us home a little sooner and…

We’ve mostly had the day to ourselves today. There was the option to go on the Tahoe Excursion to go into the city and do some ice skating and such. We decided to hole up in a classroom in the library and get some work done. It’s always nice to help other bounce ideas around for their work and getting the chance to work on my own things without the feeling of being rushed because I only have a…

If the morning starts with freaking out your roommate cause of your meditation, can it really get any better than that? No, not really. It’s been a rough one. I hit my wall early today and things have not been going great. There’s so much to do that I run out of spoons by lunch time and I feel terrible for not being able to attend some readings. But I’ve burnt myself out before and I can’t really…