(Note: This band is not always squeaky-clean. I've done my best to only select songs that are, and those that aren't, I've marked as such.)

rock anthem//hook from "Tom's Diner" // gladiator music video// makes you want to fight// definitely overused by me as an alarm clock song//write aggressive fast scenes//battle cry

also overused as an alarm//makes me wanna be a pyromaniac lol//villain song//main theme of my series' main villain//singing in the car//accurate depiction of authors

wanderlust// that feeling of driving past a city in the dark staring at the lights as you ride by// nostalgia growing in your throat// music video with llamas// overall hope// "the last blues we're ever gonna have" 

the absolute band classic// upbeat// aggressive undertones but mostly exciting honestly// a different kind of breakup song// JUST DANCE// not dance dance though

nostalgia again// the dark side of FOB// tears probably// Foxes' section is my absolute favorite and I love to belt it ("I'LL WATCH YOUR FACE AS I TAKE IT ALL AWAY")// I'd rather have tomorrow honestly than go back to yesterday

(Language warning for this one unless you get the clean version which I recommend) 

the anthem for little wannabe emo kids like me//so punk my word// I'll stop wearing black when they make a darker color// I quote this one to my parents constantly and I think they get worried about me

anthem for people who JUST DON'T FIT IN// I go against the tide but I sure don't mind if you see it// could also be about activism because as long as they're thinking about what we've said we've done our job// probably a main theme for Kariana Winslet one of my characters

cry tears of agony// oh my gosh this song// BABY COME HOME// I have no words all I can say is that I absolutely love this song and it's the literal best

Yeah all my favorite songs are from the same album// but THIS SONG Y'ALL// THIS SONG// this is the theme song for my most favorite and precious little baby Rishatta// cry out into the rain// ARGH// I can't tell you all how much I adore this song// no words really

it's a breakup song// I actually identify with all the sentiments of this song personally// I cry okay// stupid rock band making me cry all the time// but the Fourth of July is a very emotional time for me// and this song reminds me of that// so good

HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON'T//M A  N   I    A

The Phoenix//Save Rock and Roll

Young and Menace//M A  N   I    A

Thnks fr th Mmrs//Infinity on High

I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off/Infinity on High

Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of this Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued//From Under the Cork Tree

Dance, Dance//From Under the Cork Tree

Do you like FOB? If not, what are you doing with your life?! (just kidding...) Who is your favorite rock band? Favorite FOB song? Chat with me in the comments! 

SMOL LIST OF THINGS TO LOVE IN THIS SHORT STORY/NOVELLA COLLECTION

• LEEEEITH. I'm not even sorry. He's just the best. <3
• KAYLEIGH. I was on the fence about this gal in the fourth book of the series, just because she was new and it felt like she was taking away the spotlight from my actual loves. But now I really love her. She's such a great female character--strong, a warrior, willing to dress up as a man to sneak to battle and getting herself made the first female Captain of the Guar. But she also loves to sew and is a good cook and has a house she loves and wants kids. Like...the balance! It's impeccable!
• The Blade Marshals were so incredible and I loved them.
• The setting! I've always felt the world of Acktar in terms of trade, neighbors, government, etc., isn't as well-developed as it could be, but these stories fix all of that. This is a big, sprawling, epic world, and I love it.
• BABIES! *shrieks*
• Michelle got a storyline and I appreciated that because I've felt bad for her from the beginning.
• So much grace and forgiveness and healing and overcoming of PTSD 
• I just really like these stories k

• Ummm, where were my beloved Faythe girls?! Brandi and Renna were here, yeah, but nowhere NEAR enough. I get that some characters have to move over to make room for others, but other than a couple of the earlier stories, Brandi was barely present here, and Renna didn't do a whole lot either. Here's hoping for more of the two of them later. *crosses fingers*
• I'm not really a fan of Martyn? Sorry *hides in a hole* I mean, I kind of liked him in Deliver, but in the end, he's just not my favorite. I like Leith's story a whole lot more. Please don't kill me...
• The idea of my little precious children being old enough to be married and have kids was...weird. Because they're my children. And I can't think of them as being old for some reason. I dunno why :P 
• Nothing else? 

What is a blog tour without a giveaway, right? 

(This blog tour is actually connected to the Ilyon Chronicles blog tour and is a joint thingy. I haven't read all the Ilyon Chronicles books and so am not participating in that part of the tour, but that series is included in this giveaway and thus shows up. xD It's also a clean Christian fantasy series, and it's pretty good, from the first two books I've read. ;))

Share in the excitement of the release and enter to win a full signed set of the Ilyon Chronicles and The Blades of Acktar!  (Giveaway is open to US residents only. Cannot be shipped internationally.)
Be sure to stop by each of the character chats (links in the blog tour schedule) for additional giveaways throughout the tour!

And to find the entire blog tour schedule and those elusive character chats, click here!

Have you read the Blades of Acktar? Are you going to? (You better.) What's your favorite fantasy series or story with assassins? Chat with me, lovelies! 

Questions

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?

The weird thing is that the characters of Watched--Mel, Lucas, Bryce, and their familes--all started out as side characters in the Pentegreen series. I might argue that my weird brain had Mel as more of a protagonist than Esma in the original incarnation of that series. *is confused* But one day while walking through Washington DC I started thinking....what if some of my characters ended up here, but in the future? 

This is where Watched came from--some of the Pentegreens lifted out of their own story and deposited in dystopian Washington DC. 

Okay, this blurb is atrocious...but here ya go. 

I love writing the grunginess of the city, the darkness and murkiness and the nightlife. This is the suburbs of DC--they've never been to the downtown/Mall within the story itself, at least not yet--and the kids spend most of their time either at school or out at night, which is a ton of fun. The aesthetic of this story is also neon purple lighting, which is probably going to play a pretty crucial role in the story later on (and needs to be brought out slightly more--this is a first draft that will NEVER see the light of day xD) 

Shy//reserved//has seen too much//tears//redhead with temper//cries//desperate prayers in the dead of night//weary sleep//no homework//hanging on by a thread//haunted

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

The main antagonist of this story is all the people who are out to take the Christians down. The government, the terrorists they're fighting a war against, the people of America who hate them. Everyone anywhere could be a villain for this story, and that knowledge haunts Mel.

But then there's also a kid named Mitch who bullies all the Christians at their school. Bully is a light word. He's a literal monster and makes all of them, especially Mel and her friend Bryce, as miserable as he humanly can. I really, really don't like him.

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

Not writing fantasy for a little while! :/

Seriously, though, as I mentioned in the last post about this book...I'm just so grateful to have had a brief break to really focus on writing something that wasn't Pentegreens! xD They're my sweet precious children and I love them, but I needed  a break from them, I really did.

7. Is this going to be a series? Standalone? Something else?

Trilogy, probably. For a while I thought it was going to be a trilogy but then didn't know what I was going to have to do to get it to that point. Then this incarnation of it gave me several huge subplots that I can run with for at least two more books, and that excites me. Finding the actual plot of my stories is super fun and I appreciate it more than I can say.

8. Are you plotting? Pantsing? Plansting?

Pantsing. Hardcore pantsing. I have a couple of ideas about where this story is going, but when I've been writing it I've been sitting down to just vomit words and ideas onto the page. (That was graphic, I'm sorry xD) I need to have some vague ideas of where I'm going but...pantsing is my true love.

Technically, I'm pantsing the Pentegreens too, but that story is basically just transferring the epic in my head to paper. So there's a difference there :P

9. Name a few things that makes this story unique.

-Christian dystopian
-It's pretty dark
-Purple neon lighting!
-Sibling relationships of all sorts
-Friends
-A jock who's also a nerd

10. Share a fun “extra” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

Here's the story playlist:

(language warning on the song "What Would You Do") (also I bet you can't tell which album is the aesthetic of this entire story)

And the Pinterest board: (click to find the rest of the board:)

I hope you enjoyed this post, and learning a little more about my crazy WIP that will probably never see the light of day! How did your NaNo go? Are you amazed that I pulled off the victory I did? (Heaven knows I am.) Chat with me in the comments! 

But then I stopped, and I looked at it again. 

And it hit me: I don't want to be the cynic.

At my workplace, I am hands-down the optimist, which is weird because I'm also a grouchy, angsty, whiny complainer who can grouse just as loudly as anyone else in there. But while my coworkers tend to be all grumpy all the time, I can usually find a bright side to things. At home, though, that attitude vanishes from me, and I'm left with only my cynicism.

Sometimes, I'm okay with that. I like to laugh, and I like to be sarcastic, and I like to be angsty. But there's too much about life that's beautiful to do that too much. God made his world full of beauty and truth and hope.

Our world is full of darkness. Bombs go off, women die in childbirth, wars are fought, kids are stolen off the street, people verbally rip each other to shreds...and that barely scratches the surface of everything that's wrong with Planet Earth. It would be so easy to be cynical, to let the darkness around us overcome us just like everyone else in the world. But we're called to something else. 

"You are the light of the world," Jesus says. "A city on a hill cannot be hidden." 

And that's you. That's me. That's all of us who are His. We are the light of the world! We're called to shine our lanterns into the dark. We don't take our candle and put it under a basket--what would be the purpose of that? No, we hold the light up high and let everyone see it. 

I strive to take this attitude in my writing and have for years. My books may be very, very dark. They may feature real horror situations within my alternate history and dystopia. The fantasy may contain torture and death. The protagonists mess up and make mistakes that affect everyone around them; my stories are full of real PTSD and depression. 

But we are also called to light. And hope. 

And so I always want to leave my readers with a sense that no matter how great the darkness, the light will overcome. The darkness of my stories is great--because my hope is that you will see as a result the still greater light. In my Pentegreen series, Esma endures hardship that makes me cry as I write it. But that's why, in the end (*spoiler alert*), she will triumph. I will never write a story with a tragic ending. You might see me kill off half my characters--my protagonist isn't usually immune to this, although I've never killed one of them (at least so far). But there will be victory over the darkness. 

That's why I write big, epic, sprawling stories--because the greater the scope, the greater the stakes, and the more hope and victory there is in the end. These are the stories I strive to give the world, and it's the kind of story I want my life to write. 

God calls me to be his light. And even though with man it may be impossible for me to show only hope and not succumb to darkness, with God, all things are possible. 

I'm going to seek to live a life of hope and light. Will you join me, friends? 

Hey, people! Today I return to you with Part 2 of the Know the Novel linkup! However, there's a twist on this post: I'm not blogging about the Pentegreens like I said I would be in the last Know the Novel linkup post. *winks* No, this post and even my NaNo novel are not related to Esma, Rishatta, Bernathel, or any of the other Pentegreen characters. I changed my mind last minute about my novel. 

Now, I'm writing my Dystopian futuristic Christian novel, Watched.

[all pics in this post are from Pinterest, and all rights to their owners and original creators. I own none of them.]

Since y'all don't know much about Watched, here's a synopsis, and I'll also give you some ideas of the characters. More details will come in the end-of-NaNo post when I tell you ALLLLLL about the main characters and setting from this novel. 

Surprisingly enough, it's the romance.

See, I've written plenty of other books with romance in the past. However, in the Pentegreen series, the romance is either on the back burner or so chock-full of spoilers that no one knows how it goes except me and my best friend. :P (and no, you're not going to get spoilers. Sorry-not-sorry.) But in this book, for some reason, the romance has ended up being the main focus, which I wasn't exactly planning but which is still fun. My hero is the first attempt at a "heart throb" character I've ever written, and Mel, my main character, is just such a feisty and irritable character than I can't help loving her. They don't get along very well at the moment, but...they're getting there. They're working on it. *looks up and whistles innocently* 

It's changed so much since the last draft that it's barely recognizable as the same story. 

One character that I love and have always loved has been proving himself unnecessary and may end up cut from the final draft unless I can find some better use for him *cries* 

I'm barely writing half the words I'd expected to be writing

The characters are taking this plot places I had no clue it was going to go

Overall, yeah. My novel is surprising me like crazy. Everything about it is a surprise. 

Go figure. 

I'm LOVING my characters. 

I have a 100% supportive and loving girl-girl friendship going on in this book, where Mel and her best friend Jeannie get along, hang out whenever they can, pray together, watch the news together, and may or may not be involved in covert work together. Don't get me wrong, I try to have girl-girl friendships in all my books, but in the Pentegreen series we'll just say that Esma and Kariana's relationship is...tumultuous, to say the least. xD 

Then there's all the sibling relationships. Mel  has a little brother named Win and an older sister named Opal, both some of the more distinctive characters I've created if I do say so myself, and they all get along like real siblings and alternate between death threats and crying in each other's arms and I love them all. My precious bbys. 

My favorite character? Well. As I mentioned above, it's been nice to write from the POV of someone not named Esma, and Mel is also writing from first-person, present-tense, which I haven't done in decades probably, so that's super fun. But I'm also loving Lucas, because the Hot Boy. xD (And Jeannie's pretty great too. I'm a sucker for Manic Pixie Dream Girls, as well as optimist characters, and Jeannie is both.) 

5.  If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?

I'd probably become Mel, because she's the fearful and uncertain one who has to contend right up front with the darkness out to get her. I try to make her faith struggles and her life reflect struggles I've had in mine. 

Even so, she's more fearless than I am. So...I'd probably be way more paranoid even then my poor sweet Mel. 

Here is my first line: 

For some, running late might be an inconvenience, little more. Some people are allergic to running late, not wanting to offend people. Others are more lenient and show up late to everything— work, school, family meals, dates, and everything else. I’m not one of those people, and I’m also not merely allergic to running late.
No, for me running late could be deadly.

And let's see if I can find a couple more snippets (I'll be posting a wrap-up post before too long featuring all the snippets, but I'll try and find a couple others now ;))

“Excuse me, babe, is this seat taken?”
I don’t look up. It’s a guy’s voice, one I don’t recognize. He’s probably not talking to me anyway— no guy in their right mind would call me “babe.”
“Hey.” A finger taps my shoulder. “The seat next to you. Is. It. Taken.”
I lift my head up slowly, swiping at my red and swollen eyes as I look. I blink several times, glance away, and look back, just to make sure I’m not dreaming.
It’s a new boy.

And this one: 

Fifty years ago they said there would soon be flying cars, vehicles that could lift you up into the air and fly you around with just the touch of a button. Like airplanes, but owned privately. Only they never invented them. The Third World War and the Depression of 2035 took care of that. Any money America had went in the toilet, and we had to declare bankruptcy as a nation. Not even private companies had enough to live off of, and the corporations that exist now are completely different than the old ones.

Except for KFC. Dad says KFC will never die.

The world-building, probably: There's been a lot of development as I go along, and that makes it difficult for me to determine exactly how my story will go. There's also the fact that I'm pantsing this book. It's been a while since I've straight-out pantsed a novel (yes, I have some idea of where I'm going and what I'm doing, but I haven't done it in a while). And yeah, that feels good...but it's also somewhat stressful xD 

The fact that I've gotten through the first 15k of a totally pantsed novel! The fact that I've written 15k at all! I'm so proud that, even with my insane schedule, I've pulled this off. It's been incredible. :D 

9. Be honest, have you killed any characters off yet?

There is no normal writing day. Everything is death and decay and writing frantically at 10:30 at night after work and trying to multitask writing, homework, and watching Doctor Who. I'm doing my best, y'all. I blast my Spotify as loud as I can, sit at my desk, and bang out as many words as I can before I simply can't stay awake anymore. Usually that's about 1,000 words. I know--I'm pathetic xD 

So that's that! I hope you enjoyed this little look at my current WIP, as welll as the glimpse at what NaNoWriMo looks like for me this year xD How's your NaNo going? Are you more successful word-wise than me? Talk to me in the comments! 

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Personally, I love Allison and everything she writes, so if you haven't read anything by her yet, what are you doing with your life? Go read A Royal Masquerade right now! 

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For example, my potential work Watched began life as part of the Pentegreen series. Mel, the protagonist of that story, was one of Esma's younger friends originally; Bryce, Mel's best friend, was the brother of Esma's boyfriend. And various other characters were also originally kids in the Pentegreen series. 

But then we visited the city of Washington D.C. and I thought, for some reason...what if there was a futuristic version of America that, for some reason, starred my characters? It was a silly idea, I knew, but...I liked it. So I rolled with it.

And Mel, Bryce, Lucas, and their friends and family stayed in a futuristic DC, while Esma, Rishatta, Martin, and the other characters of the Pentegreen series moved back to the fantasy world of Sildalone.

This gives me a singularly odd creative process. When people ask me where I get my ideas, I typically have to shrug and point to the side of my head, because the characters really do spring up fully formed, and the back of my mind usually does the rest. It's a strange thing, really, but I do appreciate it to some extent.

Because it means I don't have to take full responsibility for the wild ideas I have. *shrugs*

This is the main reason I classify myself as a "plantser." I need a strong cast of characters and a firm idea of where the story is going and how these characters are going to play off one another, but I don't really use an outline. I've done some outlining in the past, but the amuisng thing is that they always end up being more of "character maps" than anything.

As I went into editing the second book in the Pentegreen series, I tried to make an outline with all my plot threads, only to realize that each thing I'd thought was a plot thread was actually just a character's arc/storyline.

So it looked something like this:

(Sorry it's sideways, I could not fix that for the LIFE of me xD)

Coming up to the two latter books of this series, this becomes even more important, because I essentially have six main characters. Each of them is important, each has their own POV, and I need to keep track of where each of their plot threads are going. But...it's sort of impossible for me to write it down in a nice orderly fashion. And thus, all the work of figuring out how my characters drive the story (or just sit numb in the middle of the story and let it spin around them)

This post was a bit more of a ramble than I was expecting, and also kind of a brain-dump, but it was also really fun! I hope you enjoyed what ended up being a weird look at my weird brain. At some point I might be interested in writing a post about how I actually write a book (at least the first draft, lol). If you'd like to see that post, let me know in the comments!

Are you a character-driven author, a plot-driven author, or something else? When you try to translate your outline to paper does it fall apart in your face? Chat with me in the comments! 

This linkup is brought to you by Christine Smith, who is only one of the sweetest and most wonderful bloggers on the internet. I highly suggest you go check out her blog...after you read mine, of course. 

This linkup is basically just an excuse for me to rant more about my Pentegreen series, because I have no other WIPs right now. However, this time you get to hear about the THIRD book! Wahoo! (Aka the book that is the BANE of my EXISTENCE.) 

Questions: Here we go! 

1. What inspired the idea for this novel?

Well, I put my characters through a TON of crud in book 2 of my series, The General's Children, where there was death and torture and destruction and fire and wrath and exploding buildings and games of cat and mouse and...yeah. Basically, book 2 was a mess, and its ending very much changed the game for my protagonist, Esma, and her friends. For a while I was thinking about giving them very little time to recover from this, but since a large part of this book goes into keeping emotions and reactions realistic, I realized...there was no way these kids were going to be back on their feet in time. They needed a break. So this is where that happens: my book 3 where there is currently no plot for half my characters, and the other half are off being a train wreck by themselves. 

2. Share a blurb! 

Well, I'm lazy, so I'll just grab the one from my other post about this novel: 

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite things about the setting? 

Most of this story takes place in my storyworld Sildalone's northernmost nation, Venaria, and more particularly in the wild rugged part of the country. There's mountains, forests, and since it's wintertime, lots and lots of snow. 

A huge part of not just this novel but the whole series in general is the contrast between warm and cold. Describing the cold and chill and snow is lots of fun, but it is a challenge to come up with different ways to describe it over and over, especially on the third book that has that as a theme. (Thankfully, I feel like the fourth one might deal with that topic slightly less...which is good xD) The rugged wild beauty of Venaria is my favorite part of this setting, as is using it as metaphors for what my characters are going through...mwahahaha. 

4. Tell us about your protagonist. 

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

There's a LOT of baddies in this book (probably the most of any book in the series). The main one Esma contends with is probably the elements. Snow, cold, blizzards, a lack of shelter and nowhere to hide...a HUGE part of the story.

Although there's also plenty of human bad guys. A couple of the ones from the previous books are still hanging around, and in this book, Lord Dauthang, the big big baddie of the whole series, is actually active as well. Then there's lots and lots of assassins, and my five main characters all end up being each other's own worst enemies...

6. What excites you the most about this novel? 

Really getting to spend time around my characters, and the challenge of forcing them all to get over themselves when the whole world is crashing down around them. 

7. Is this going to be a series? Standalone? Something else?
Series! As you all surely know at this point ;) Definitely four books, and I have an idea for a prequel novel and a sequel novella (as well as a plethora of short stories) that could go with it. 

8. Are you plotting? Pantsing? Plantsing?
I have an idea of a lot of the stuff that needs to happen in this book, and I know how the next book is going to go and what needs to happen in this book for the next one to work properly...but at the moment I dunno. Mostly pantsing, because what's happening is constantly surprising everyone, including me. 

9. Name a few things that make this story unique. 

My characters? The fact that they're vaguely realistic? Honestly I don't even know, haha. I love that a certain romance between two of my character is actually sort of happening now, and that's kind of encouraging. 

10. Share a fun “extra” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

Well, I made Esma a Pinterest board: HERE

And I've found two more songs for two more character relationships in these books (I do everything by characters--I'm so character-driven it's ridiculous):

I Don't Know Why by Imagine Dragons

A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

The second linkup today is by Liv K. Fisher, also one of the sweetest bloggers I know! This linkup was about a particular character, and since I rant about Esma a lot, I thought maybe I'd try someone different this time. A lot of these questions were huge spoilers for the two characters I most wanted to do, so I went with my personal favorite character instead: 

Captain Derek Ternarnthien

Language of Worlds

1. What does your character fear the most? 

In the end, Derek's worst fear would be to wake up and find out that there was no hope left anywhere in the world. He can find the bright side in most situations and he's a firm otimist and believer that things will always work out, and he's always been in control of the situation. 

2.) How would they handle it if they were to face their fear?

About the Author: 

Nicki has been writing since she was eleven years old. She published her first book A Week of Werewolves, Faeries, and Fancy Dresses at the age of fifteen, one year after she finished writing it. She enjoys reading, writing, swimming when she can, and fan-girling (in other words: obsessing over other peoples' stories almost as much as her own). She also enjoys watching TV, her favorite movies and TV shows include: Doctor Who, Avengers, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Nicki currently resides in Ohio with her family of eight and two dogs, Rylie and Zoey. She is now working on the next books in the My Time in Amar series- when she's not distracted by other stories (both hers and others'). You can contact her at http://pausefortales.blogspot.com

Nicki: Dang it, I was totally going to say reading. Um... I'm going to have to say watching TV, because I love movies almost as much as books. I also enjoy coloring but that's more of an off and on kind of hobby.

NC: Considering I had to Google it to even figure out what it was I would say probably nay... but I'm a big enough fangirl that I'm tempted now. I am severely tempted.

NC: Okay, wow, you are cruel. Yeesh, this is so hard right now. I love all of my male characters for different reasons, Easton is so sweet and kind and generous, Dante is a sarcastic cinnamon roll, and out of my male characters Cedric is the most like me in a cute little anti-hero way- but I'm going to have to go with Dirk, who is a character that I have yet to finish the story of, but he's always been my favorite. And I long ago decided that if I could bring any of my characters to life and marry them, it would be him.

NC: I would probably save it the best I can, cracking it out to buy the occasional soundtrack or book that I want, but the majority would probably go toward publishing expenses: book covers, actually hiring a professional editor, marketing... etc.

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I'M BACK PEOPLES! And now it's time to throw the confetti and start cheering. (Honestly, I'm sure none of you really thought about me that much while I was gone...but suffice it to say I was thinking of you all and I've missed you!) 

"How much reading did you get done?" I'm sure you're all wondering. "How much writing? How much editing? How much schoolwork? You've still got straight A's, right?"

Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Let's have a chat about hiatus (having taken one successfully, I can now claim to be an expert). I'll share some tips with you, as well as some things I learned (don't worry, only one of them will be precalculus-related) and some things NOT to do. 

1. THE INTERNET WILL SURVIVE WITHOUT YOU. 

Crazy, I know! But the even crazier part is: IT'S TRUUUUUEEEEE. Leaving your Instagram account for a month doesn't mean Instagram will spontaneously combust (although it may be running super slow when you come back and make you question why you came off your hiatus in the first place because this is wasting even more time than it normally would). Everyone you know could take a hiatus at the same time, and guess what? THE INTERNET WOULD STILL SURVIVE. It's like a desert cactus. You can't get rid of it. 

(Although I believe those die after a while? Maybe not the best comparison, but we've established already that I am the queen of parentheses, not the queen of similes.) 

But anyway, the point is this. You can leave the internet alone. It probably won't even notice you're gone, if we're all being totally 100% honest. 

Which leads me to the next point: 

2. YOU WILL SURVIVE WITHOUT THE INTERNET.

You'll probably have more time! You'll probably be freer! Your brain will feel like it's on detox! It'll be hard for the first couple days but then, oh glorious then, you'll be alright. And it will be amazing. You're not gonna die. I promise. 

3. YOU PROBABLY DON'T NEED THE INTERNET AS MUCH AS YOU THINK YOU DO.

Now, if you make your actual living through social media, I can understand why this step might not be true. But for the rest of us, who are on social media to expand our reach or even just for fun, it's not that big a deal to take a step back. It really isn't! Take a break. Your readers will understand, and you'll feel better for it. Freedom is a great thing.

4. WHEN YOU JOKE ABOUT BEING ADDICTED TO THE INTERNET? YOU'RE ACTUALLY ADDICTED.

Go cold turkey! Cut it down and weed it out! You don't have to TOTALLY leave the internet, but you do have an addiction to social media and you are going to feel those withdrawals/cravings in the first few days you're gone. Plan for that. Be ready for it. Do other things when you would normally reach for your phone. Condition yourself to not need the internet anymore. Breaking a habit/addiction can be tough, but you can do it. If I can, and I am the least self-controlled person alive, you DEFINITELY can.

5. DO SOMETHING ELSE WITH THE TIME YOU WOULD NORMALLY SPEND ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HAVE A PLAN!

For me, this meant homework. Hours and hours of it. School started in earnest for me this September, so I used the time I would normally be spending on FaceBook and Instagram and Goodreads to get into the wonderful world of tests, assignments, late night paper submissions, and piano practice. I also work a job, which while nice for money burns up about 24+ hours of my time a week, so it's been interesting trying to balance that with everything else.

My hope had been that the time I wasn't spending on social media would give me the time to finish my book, but I didn't have anywhere near that kind of time. I was able to finish beta reading for a friend, but that was...about it. So. Oh well :P

CONCLUSION