Day 1: +3563
Current WC: 3563

Day 2: +0000
Current WC: 5524

Day 3: +0000
Current WC: 5524

Day 4: +0169
Current WC: 5693

Day 5: +0000
Current WC: 5693

Day 6: +0300
Current WC: 5923

Day 7: +2232
Current WC: 8155

Average words per day: 1165
At this rate I would finish on: December 13th
Words needed per day to finish on time: 1819

So, as you can see, I’m a bit behind… I had hoped to have a good first couple of days and get ahead, since I’ll be away towards the end of the month and won’t be able to write.  While I did manage to get ahead over the first two days, I then didn’t really write for the next 4 which totally lost my buffer!  I’m trying to catch up, but I’ve definitely got to the point where I’m struggling without a plan – I’m totally pantsing it this year which I’m discovering might not be for me!  I’ve got a busy week this week between work, several gym plans and a few family ones, but then the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to find time to write around normal life so I’m just going to have to try and fit everything in!  I’d really like to try and get caught up by the end of week 2, but that means writing an average of 2168 words per day, and I still have no idea where my story is going next, so it could be a real challenge! We’ll see if I’m up to it I guess 😉

If you’re taking part too, how are you getting on?

Two years ago I signed up for The Fantasy Project – a 10 year reading challenge all about catching up on fantasy books. Based on a list of 813 fantasy books, you select 101 and try to read them in a ten year period! You can also include up to 26 of personal choice that weren’t on the original list.  For more about the challenge, see here.

The challenge is ideal for me because Fantasy is my favourite genre but I so often end up reading new releases/review copies instead, and because fantasy novels tend to be longer they’re harder to just knock out in a day too!  I’ve updated my list below with current progress.

Read between September 2014 and September 2015:

1. Armstrong, Kelley – Broken
2. Frost, Jeaniene – Halfway to the Grave
3. Gaiman, Neil – American Gods
4. Harkness, Deborah – The Book of Life
5. Maas, Sarah J., – Queen of Shadows
6. Nix, Garth – Clariel
7. Rothfuss, Patrick – The Name of the Wind
8. Rothfuss, Patrick – The Wise Man’s Fear
9. Snyder, Maria V., – Shadow Study

Total read: 23/101 (22.7%)

Additions to the list:

• Abercrombie, Joe – The Blade Itself
• Bardugo, Leigh – Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising
• Butcher, Jim – Storm Front
• Hobb, Robin – The Fitz & The Fool #3
• Jordan, Robert – The Wheel of Time 2-10
• Lynch, Scott – The Lies of Locke Lamora
• Rothfuss, Patrick – The Name of the Wind #3
• Sanderson, Brandon – Mistborn 2-4
• Taylor, Laini – Days of Blood and Starlight & Dreams of Gods and Monsters

As you can tell, a lot of the additions are sequels – I really want to have less unfinished series on the go (especially series where I’ve only read the first book!) so I’ve tried to round out some of the series on my list.  The non-sequels are just things I’ve heard great things about and wanted to add in so I don’t forget about them.

Removed from the list:

In order to add in some sequels, I obviously had to cut a few things – a lot of these were urban or paranormal which I’m just less keen on generally.  I also deliberately reduced some of my 26 personal choices since I was running short on those!

• Armstrong, Kelley – Omens
• Briggs, Patricia – Mercy Thompson 1-3
• Carson, Rae – The Girl of Fire and Thorns (probably the one most likely to make it back onto the list in future!)
• Carter, Aimee – The Goddess Test
• Clarke, Cassandra Rose – The Assassin’s Curse
• De la Cruz, Melissa – Blue Bloods 1&2
• Frost, Jeaniene – One foot in the grave
• Harrison, Thea – Dragon Bound
• McKinley, Robin – Sunshine, Beauty and The Blue Sword
• Mead, Rachelle – Vampire Academy & Succubus Blues
• Moning, Karen Marie – Fever 1&2
• Schoon, Christian – Zenn Scarlett
• Ward, JR – Dark Lover

Current list:

★  – books I own
* – personal choices
✔ (2013/14) – book read & year

Abe, Shana – The Smoke Thief
Abercrombie, Joe – The Blade Itself
Albin, Gennifer – Altered *
Amstrong, Kelley – The Awakening
Andrews, Ilona – Magic Bites
Andrews, Ilona – Magic Burns
Andrews, Ilona – Magic Strikes
Armstrong, Kelley – The Reckoning
Armstrong, Kelley – The Summoning   ★
Armstrong, Kelly – Broken  ★ ✔(2014/15)
Armstrong, Kelly – Frostbitten
Armstrong, Kelly – Living With The Dead
Armstrong, Kelly – No Humans Involved
Armstrong, Kelly – Personal Demon
Armstrong, Kelly – Spell Bound
Armstrong, Kelly – Thirteen
Armstrong, Kelly – Waking The Witch
Atwood, Margaret – The Handmaid’s Tale  ★
Bardugo, Leigh – Ruin and Rising *
Bardugo, Leigh – Shadow and Bone *
Bardugo, Leigh – Siege & Storm *
Bishop, Anne – Daughter Of The Blood
Bray, Libba – A Great & Terribly Beauty
Brett, Peter V – The Daylight War
Brett, Peter V – The Desert Spear ★
Brett, Peter V – The Painted Man/The Warded Man   ★
Butcher, Jim – Storm Front ★
Caine, Rachel – Glass Houses   ★
Canavan, Trudi – The Ambassador’s Mission * ★
Card, Orson Scott – Ender’s Game ✔(2013/14)
Cashore, Kristin – Fire ★  ✔ (2013/14)
Cashore, Kristin – Graceling ★  ✔ (2013/14)
Cass, Kiera – The Siren
Clare, Cassandra – City Of Heavenly Fire ★  ✔ (2013/14)
Clarke, Susanna – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell   ★
Eddings, David – The Domes Of Fire   ★
Eddings, David – The Hidden City   ★
Eddings, David – The Shining Ones   ★
Feist, Raymond E – Magician
Frost, Jeaniene – Halfway To The Grave ✔ (2014/15)
Gaiman, Neil – American Gods   ★ ✔(2014/15)
Gaiman, Neil – Stardust
Gaiman, Neil – The Ocean At The End Of The Lane * ★
Goldman, William – The Princess Bride
Goodkind, Terry – Soul Of The Fire
Goodman, Alison – Eon *
Harkness, Deborah – A Discovery Of Witches *   ★ ✔(2013/14)
Harkness, Deborah – The Book of Life ✔(2014/15)
Hobb, Robin – Fool’s Errand ★ ✔(2013/14)
Hobb, Robin – Fool’s Fate ★ ✔(2013/14)
Hobb, Robin – Fool’s Assassin * ★ ✔(2013/14)
Hobb, Robin – Fool’s Assassin 2 * ★
Hobb, Robin – The Fitz & The Fool #3
Hobb, Robin – The Golden Fool ★ ✔(2013/14)
Howard, A.G. – Unhinged * ★ ✔(2013/14)
Johanson, Erika – The Queen of the Tearling * ★ ✔(2013/14)
Jordan, Robert – A Crown of Swords
Jordan, Robert – Crossroads of Twilight
Jordan, Robert – Lord of Chaos
Jordan, Robert – The Dragon Reborn
Jordan, Robert – The Eye Of The World
Jordan, Robert – The Fires of heaven
Jordan, Robert – The Great Hunt
Jordan, Robert – The Path of Daggers
Jordan, Robert – The Shadow Rising
Jordan, Robert – Winter’s heart
Kerr, Katharine – Daggerspell
Lawrence, Mark – Prince of Fools 2 *
Lawrence, Mark – Prince Of Thorns *   ★ ✔(2013/14)
Lynch, Scott – The Lies of Locke Lamora
Maas, Sarah J. – Heir of Fire * ✔(2013/14)
Maas, Sarah J. – Queen of Shadows *
Martin, George Rr – A Dream Of Spring
Martin, George Rr – The Winds Of Winter
Nix, Garth – Clariel ★ ✔(2014/15)
Oh, Ellen – Prophecy *
Paolini, Christopher – Inheritance   ★
Rhodes, Morgan – Falling Kingdoms *
Riordan, Rick – The Battle Of The Labyrinth   ★
Riordan, Rick – The Last Olympian   ★
Riordan, Rick – The Titan’s Curse   ★
Rothfuss, Patrick – The Name of the Wind #3
Rothfuss, Patrick – The Name Of The Wind ★✔ (2014/15)
Rothfuss, Patrick – The Wise Man’s Fear ✔(2014/15)
Sanderson, Brandon – The Alloy of Law
Sanderson, Brandon – The Final Empire
Sanderson, Brandon – The Hero of Ages
Sanderson, Brandon – The Well of Ascension
Snyder, Maria V. – Shadow Study * ★ ✔(2014/15)
Snyder, Maria V. – Taste Of Darkness * ★ ✔(2013/14)
Stoker, Bram – Dracula
Taylor, Laini – Daughter Of Smoke And Bone *
Taylor, Laini – Days of Blood and Starlight *
Taylor, Laini – Dreams of Gods and Monsters *
Vincent, Rachel – Stray ★
Weeks, Brent – Beyond The Shadows
Weeks, Brent – Shadows Edge
Weeks, Brent – The Way Of Shadows
Weis Margaret & Hickman Tracey – Dragons Of The Dwarven Depths *
Williams, Mazarkis – The Emperor’s Knife
Williams, Tad – The Dragonbone Chair

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted at The Broke and The Bookish where they post a list idea and everyone is welcome to post the list with their own answers. This week is “Top Ten Hyped Books I’ve never Read”.  I’ve read some great books this year, but at the same time, I won’t be surprised if only a few of these make it onto the Top Ten Books of 2015 overall, because while they’re all great, they’re definitely not all new favourites!

The Ones I own

Daughter of Smoke & Bone | The Raven Boys | The Sin Eater’s Daughter | The Winner’s Curse | Code Name Verity

I ended up owning these because I’d heard SUCH great things about them…but still haven’t read any of them.

The Ones I don’t yet own

The Final Empire| Shadow & Bone | The Darkest Minds | Legend | Obsidian

The Final Empire and The Darkest Minds seem to be everywhere I look right now, so they’re probably the two I’m most excited to read, but I’ve heard brilliant things about all of these, and yet still don’t own any of them.  I’ve been debating giving one of them a go on audiobook since I have an audible credit to use up, but I couldn’t get on with The Final Empire on audio (not being able to visualise strange spellings really annoyed me!) and I’m nervous about trying one of the others now!

Which of the hyped books I’ve never read should I start with? Any you adored – or hated?!

[This is a response to Harry Potter moment of the week. If you’d like to join in, head on over to Lunar Rainbows for the full schedule of upcoming themes!]

The theme of this week’s Harry Potter Moment of the Week is ‘If you could change one thing about book 1, what would it be?’

Okay, this topic is HARD.  I mean, change one thing and you could change everything, drastically, further down the line.  I’ve picked two things, both pretty minor.

1. “there’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad that wasn’t in Slytherin.” – Hagrid

Okay, sticking up for my House here 😉 This isn’t one you notice until after Prisoner of Azkaban, when you find out about everyone thinking Sirius betrayed James & Lily, but when Hagrid says this, he’d have been under the impression Sirius, a non-Slytherin, went bad –  clear exaggeration and prejudice against the Slytherins.

2. The boa constrictor winks at Harry

A silly point, but as someone with a pet snake I can tell you they don’t have eyelids….

What would you change about the first Harry Potter book?