Christine Smith

My Journey with Hans Christian Andersen

Post published:June 8, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:41 Comments

It’s nooot exactly a secret that I’m a huge fairy tale nerd. But confession time: I had never read all of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. Until now that is! Though I certainly loved reading fairy tales when I was little, I wouldn’t say I’ve read a broad range of them. There is so much I’ve yet to explore, and so lately I’ve been trying to remedy that! Last year I plunged into reading all the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, which is what I read most of as a child but I wasn’t sure if I had read every single…

{Book Review} Five Magic Spindles

Post published:June 1, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:24 Comments

Happy June! It is Sleeping Beauty month over on Fairy Tale Central and to celebrate I’m kicking this month off with a review of an utterly delightful Sleeping Beauty anthology. I have been following along with Rooglewood’s fairy tale anthologies ever since the first one came out. I adore these anthologies of five novellas from five different talented authors. It’s so thrilling getting so many different takes on one specific fairy tale. Shamefully, I only just recently read Five Magic Spindles. I’ve read all three other anthologies, but this one got put on the backburner for absolutely no reason at…

Genies Don’t Make Great Babysitters {A Faylinn Short Story – Part 9}

Post published:May 25, 2020
Post category:Prompts Writing
Post comments:28 Comments

At last it is time for another Faylinn short story! And I thiiink you guys are going to be pleased with this one. *grins* Let’s get to the info first. For Newcomers Each month Arielle posts a prompt on her writing blog that goes along with Fairy Tale Central’s monthly featured fairy tale. I’ve been writing short stories for it of a continuing story about a wingless fairy and banished prince, Raylinn and Finn, or “Faylinn” as is their designated ship name, and their tag along sassmaster, Zayd the genie. The Previous Stories For a while each story was…

{Book Review} Diamond by Kirsten Fichter

Post published:May 18, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:18 Comments

The third book of Kirsten Fichter’s Once Upon a Twist Tales series is heeeere! And if it’s not obvious, I’m a little bit excited. Okay, that was a lie. I AM OVER THE MOON, BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS, SCREAMING FROM THE ROOFTOPS EXCITED. But wait! There’s moooore. Not just one Rapunzel retelling is releasing but TWO. The lovely, fairy tale enthusiast Kendra E. Ardnek is also launching a new Rapunzel retelling—a short story titled Misfortune. YES. SO MANY FAIRY TALES. I need them alll, precious! Today I’m joining in on the blog tour for these exciting releases and reviewing Diamond.…

Writing Good Stories: Lessons from Stranger Things Pt. 2

Post published:May 11, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:18 Comments

I have returned with part 2 of the many writing tidbits I’ve picked up from Stranger Things! Today we’re diving into some of THE best tricks this show used to make it downright bingeworthy, and how we can make our own stories go from okay to GOOD. If you missed it, click here for part 1, where we learned things like how to make your readers fall in love with a character within the first 10 seconds of meeting them, how a simple gesture can make your reader’s heart swell, and basically a ton of other things to manipulate readers’…

Camp NaNo Wrapup {April 2020}

Post published:May 4, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:45 Comments

It is officially May! Which means Camp NaNoWriMo is *gasp* OVER. And thus today I come to you to babble all about my April Camp NaNo experience! Normally I’d be talking about how the month flew by and I can’t believe it’s already May and yadda yadda yadda. Buuuut these past two months have more felt like a year each. Seriously, February was at least half an age ago. *collapses* With that said, Camp NaNo came at the BEST time. I’ve been needing a good boost in my rewrites and, since I’m stuck at home every day on these loooong…

Writing Good Stories: Lessons from Stranger Things Pt. 1

Post published:April 27, 2020
Post category:Writing
Post comments:21 Comments

Stranger Things—you’ve probably heard of it. That Netflix show that swept the internet as rapidly as the Frozen craze. Sometimes I’m leery about overhyped shows. But this one? This one earned its hype. Why? Because the writing is just so absurdly GOOD. If you were here for my post a couple of weeks ago about Disney TV series, you’ve probably gathered I’m pretty disgruntled with TV these days. Writing has just gone so downhill lately, and it frustrates me to no end. But sometimes, sometimes, a gem rises from the garbage and it restores my hope in TV writers. And,…

In Which I Got Rejected

Post published:April 20, 2020
Post category:Encouragement
Post comments:51 Comments

Rejection—it’s something we all have to experience, especially if you’re a writer. Unfortunately, it comes with the profession. But, believe it or not, rejection can be a POSITIVE thing. Whether you’ve submitted pieces to magazines, entered writing contests, queried agents and publishers, or just gotten a bad review on your already published work—chances are, if you write, you’ve experienced some form of rejection. I think you all know I’m pursuing traditional publishing. Or shall I say, I’ve wanted to pursue traditional publishing all my life. But let’s be real, guys, the publishing industry is a scary place. The immense amount…

{Book Review} The Geppetto Codex by Kyle Robert Shultz

Post published:April 13, 2020
Post category:Reading
Post comments:13 Comments

Synopsis They've got no strings...and they want revenge. The people of the city of Vetri are turning into wooden statues... ...and Beaumont and Beasley are not on the case. Not technically, anyway. This case must fall to two of their employees, the faun Gareth Llewellyn and the dryad Sylvia Kirke. True, Gareth and Sylvia don't have a great deal of experience, but this shouldn't be too difficult. The solution to the mystery is fairly obvious, and the evil magical force at work will be no great challenge to defeat. Unless Gareth and Sylvia make a terrible mistake that puts…

TV Series on Disney+ For the Whole Family

Post published:April 6, 2020
Post category:Fangirling
Post comments:34 Comments

It’s certainly no secret that the majority of us are stuck at home right now, trying to adjust to a new normal and, possibly, trying to find some form of entertainment to keep the family occupied before we all, you know, lose our minds. I’ve been wanting to do a post like this for months, and I figured now was the perfect time! It comes at no surprise to anyone that I’m a huge Disney nerd. I’ve been watching pretty much everything Disney produces since I was a toddler—from the classic princess movies, to pretty much all the theatrical releases,…