New Year, New Challenges. Are You Up For It?

     2010 is over. Rather than dwelling on the past, we shall start anew. Hello, I’m Leslie and this is Reading, Writing, and Chocolate. Before, Reading Writing and Chocolate was just me blabbing about what I read, what I write and the chocolate I regretted eating. Well not anymore. From now on Reading, Writing and Chocolate is going to be about US.
     Like a mentioned a few post ago, this will a challenge blog. Each month I will give out reading and writing challenges for you and I to fulfill. Before I unveil the first challenge I have two things. First who’s actually reading this? Seriously I want to know if you are up to the challenge. So just leave a comment at the end of this post saying you read the post and you want in. Sweet.
     Second, in 2009 my New Year’s resolution was to read 100 books by the end of the year. I did it and I was so proud of myself. The next year I wanted to do it again…I failed. So this year it will be a year-long challenge 100 book before New Year’s Day 2012. Are you up for it? If you can’t do 100 than pick a reasonable number and try to reach your goal. At the end of each month I will attach a list what books I read that month to the end of my challenge round up post. You could say what you read in the comments of that post as well to keep me updated on your progress. Included in the 100 books, I plan to read:

The Hunger Games Series

3 Sarah Dessen novels
All seven Harry Potter Books before the last movie

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Eyre

     That is my personal challenge in because I’ve been avoided these books for too long (except for Harry Potter that’s for fun.)
     I will also be taking my hand in book reviews. That is where you come in, I will pick one suggested book from you guys each month and do a review on it. YA only and it has to be fairly new. Twelve months, twelve book reviews. Yep I have my work cut out for me. Leave your suggestions in the comments.
     Finally January’s challenge! Forget what I said about dwelling in the past. The past is the inspiration for our first challenge. Pick a book from your past and read it. Simple really. It could be a classic, an old novel you haven’t picked up in a long time or even a childhood favorite (no picture books.) This challenge is more of a commitment challenge can we take the time out of our busy lives and read something from our past. Take the time to think why you liked the book, where you got it and fond memories. That is my challenge to you. Are you up to it?


Happy Reading!

Christmas Time is here.

Merry Christmas!

New Ideas

This December has been crazy with finals and stuff a so I wanted to take a quick second to tell you that I’m back and next year there might be some changes. I’ve realized the blog has been all about me lately and that’s not very nice. I had the realization a long time ago that I wasn’t a book blogger and that I’m not qualified to give writing advice. So I’m thinking this could be a challenge blog. I’m still working out the kinks but I’m thinking each month or two I’ll challenge you and myself to read or write something with a theme in mind and at the end of the month we’ll report back to my blog (or yours if you want) to see how we did. I don’t know, what do you think? Tell me your suggestions in the comments.


Happy Reading!

PS: There will still be chocolate in the blog. Don’t worry.

C.A. Marshall's Free edit contest

Hey guys
Agent intern and Freelance Editor C.A. Marshall is giving away a free manuscript edit. Check it out here. http://networkedblogs.com/bg3CK

Happy Reading!

Break

I know I haven't been present for a while and I'm sorry. I still need to adjust to college life. With that I will be taking a break from all of my social sites. I might still do a teaser Tuesday fro nanowrimo but there will be no initial though put into the post just the teaser. I'm really sorry to all my readers. I just need to relax and focus on school.
Happy Reading!

What's New?

What's new?
Well Nanowrimo is approaching and I am pumped. Last year I started out strong, but ended up not finishing due to my high school's production of Pippin. So this year I am determined to win. For those of you who don't know what Nanowrimo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. That's right, a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Sweet.
I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'll even do a teaser Tuesday. Wouldn't that be nice?
In chocolate news, I have rediscovered my love of chocolate milk. Mmmm. I know it's bad but what kind of sweet treat is your guilty pleasure?
Happy Reading!
PS: if you are interested in finding out more about Nanowrimo click here

Banned Books

Ugh so college life is totally getting in the way of my blogging/writing stuff. But I promised a banned book post and you’re going to get it.


I was thirteen when I first heard of the musical Wicked. I was obsessed with it but I never saw the show. I told my mom about it and she said she’ll buy tickets for Christmas. I don’t remember every detail, but I remember buying the book. I read about fifty pages and decided to I start flipping through the pages and looked at the pictures before each section. All of a sudden I see a naked shadow and I started freaking out. So I turned to the next couple of pages and saw a SEX SCENE. I was freaking out. I was thirteen and I didn’t know what sex really was, but I knew it was in that book and I was too young to read the book. So I went to my basement and put the book in a box. I still wanted to see the show so I didn’t tell my mother.

Weeks later my mom and I were carpooling with my teammate and her mom to a volleyball game. We were talking about musicals or something in the car and mom brought up Wicked. She told her I was reading the book and how I wanted to see the show. My teammate’s mother went crazy. She told my mother how she couldn’t finish it because it was like pornography. Once again I was thirteen and didn’t know what to say but the truth. I told her that I knew about the sex scenes and how I put the book away until I was old enough to read it. Needless to say I didn't get to see the musical.

When it comes to censorship I believe that the reader’s maturity it the only obstacle. I think it’s up to the reader to decide if the content of the novel is too extreme for them. I PUT DOWN THE BOOK. It was my decision to stop reading, not my mothers, not my librarian, ME. I don’t think people should tell kids that they are too immature to read books with racy content. And if someone told me that I couldn’t read something because I’m too young I would read it anyway.

When Harry Potter got popular my parents told me and my brother we weren’t allowed to read it because of the witchcraft. I understood, I lived in a strong Christian household and Harry Potter was not very Christian. One Christmas my Aunt bought the first four books for my brother. My parents were worried but they told us we could read them. So after my brother read them I got had my turn to read them and let me tell you I LOVED THEM. However not once did I question my Christian faith because of what I read. I actually fell in love with reading after reading them.

That’s my little rant on banned books. I wrote an article for my high school newspaper earlier this year about book banning. My editor and adviser were worried that I would be bias in my article, so obviously I proved them wrong and won Best Feature Article at the end of the year. My article took on both sides of book banning and I interviewed some pretty powerful people in the school corporation. You can find it here.

I know Banned Books Week is over, but I felt like I needed to add my two-sense.

Happy reading!