Let's talk about how Camp NaNoWriMo went.

Perhaps more accurately, let's talk about how it didn't go.

After receiving last month's Owlcrate box, I decided to try out something new: Uppercase. Like Owlcrate, Uppercase includes a newly released YA book, along with some other goodies. There is no strict theme from month-to-month, something that I actually may prefer - there is a wider range of items available each month without being tied to a certain idea. I knew that the April box (err... bag) was going to include something Harry Potter-related so I thought that I might as well give it a shot. I'm so glad I did.

The past few weeks of reading (seriously, how is April already half over) had their ups and their downs, but, really, they were pretty average.

For the final post in my Opening Week Takeover, I am joining forces with one of my best friends: Kaytlen from Bases Loaded Banter. Follow her and check out her blog and you won't regret it, I promise. Anyways, for this last post, we are doing some fun scenarios where we talk about the expectation of them versus the reality of them. I'm bringing you four negative realities, while Kaytlen will be focusing more on positive realities.

You can find her half of this collab here (some of my favorite scenarios are in that one)!

Before first pitch on this afternoon's home opener, I wanted to share with everyone some of my favorite baseball feelings. This list isn't comprehensive, of course, and I wanted to try to avoid some of the more general feelings - the feeling when the Tigers win, the feeling when our bullpen blows it. Below the cut, you'll find 5 feelings that are, hopefully, understandable and provocative of being at a baseball game (or just watching one on TV) - in no particular order.

The season has begun. Emphatically. The first two games of the Tigers' 2016 campaign took place in Miami, Florida. Sure, there were no fears of being rained out or snowed out but, as all of us fans found out, we had a lot more things to be worried about. Each of these two games featured great starting pitching (on the Detroit side) followed by not-so-great bullpen work (again, mostly on the Detroit side). Read on for more specific details and reactions.

If someone told me that they have never imagined what Hogwarts house random people would be in, I would say they were lying. If I told you that I have never imagined what Hogwarts house random baseball players would be in, I would be lying. Under the cut, I do just that for 8 of MLB's big names.

Do you ever wonder what your favorite players would be reading if they had all the time in the world? Yeah, me too. Under the cut, you will find me picking out what I think 6 of the Detroit Tigers would claim as their favorite book.

This is going to be short and sweet. Lately, I have kind of been neglecting the "balks" side of this blog. The past month has been nothing but spring training and, let's be honest, that can be kind of boring to write about. Now that the regular season is getting ready to start again, I knew that I had to reignite my baseball posts. I had a few ideas bouncing around in my head and, instead of scattering them through the month, I decided to dedicate an entire week here on Books and Balks to baseball. It's the Opening Week Takeover!

Meaningful games start tonight, which is why I am posting this introduction today. I have five other posts going up throughout the following week, some focused on the Detroit Tigers, some dealing with baseball at large. I don't want to reveal what exactly these posts will be, but I think they will be a lot of fun. Additionally, the last post of the takeover will be a collaboration with one of my best friends, Kaytlen, who has her own blog that you can find here. She will be putting up a second collab between the two of us, as well.

If you come for the books, don't fret! There will be two posts that combine my love for fiction with my love for the sport.

Watch out for the first post coming either tomorrow or Tuesday and, finally, let's play ball!

Ah, April. The time of the year when, in Michigan, the temperature can fluctuate between relatively-Spring-like temperatures and an annoyingly cold reminder of winter. April is also the month of NaNoWriMo's (National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as November) Spring Camp session and it snuck up on me like a cat stalking its prey. I was going to be prepared, I told myself. I had a schedule, a plan. I would have an outline finished, I would have locations and minor character details and I would be ready. That's not what happened.