New Year, new plans?

No, actually, I think my plans for this year are probably about the same as they were last year.  But the resolutions, they are different.

First, let's check out last year's resolutions: 

1. Intentionally exercise at least three times a week.FAIL. A lot of fail. I managed it for, oh, a couple weeks.  But then my dad came out for a visit, and that always throws my schedule off.  And then it was summer, and hot.  And then I went to visit my sister. And then my family came to stay with me. And then I wrote a novel in a month. And then my family came back again.  
2. Blog daily. FAIL.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  It was a nice idea.
3. Read lots, at least a book a week.  YES!  I'm not sure if I read a new book every single week, and I didn't actually document them very well, but I did read lots, sometimes three or more books in a week, so I think it all evened out.

And now for this year's resolutions:

1. Finish all of the movies on my shelf before buying new ones.  As of Jan 1, I had 24 unwatched movies.  As of today, I'm down to 15. 
2. Finish an old project before starting a new one.  I have 13 in-progress projects.  Well, 12, now, because I finished one yesterday.  And I'm close to finishing another tonight.  If you want to see the whole extravaganza of procrastination shaming, you can visit my crafty Tumblr at daniemakesthings.tumblr.com
3. Finish the unread books on my shelf. Current count, 67.  Plus 2 in progress.  Plus several ebooks on my phone, but I'm not counting those.
4. Finish the first draft of Frenchie and start on edits.
5. Get my office organized.  With the visit from my niece, lots of stuff moved into the office in an effort to baby-proof the house.  And then we moved rooms around so my new roommate could move in, and my craft room/spare room stuff had to relocate to my office, too.  So I've got my desk, my five bookshelves, a recliner, two boxes of still-unpacked office stuff, four boxes of still-unpacked random crap, four big Rubbermaid bins of yarn, a big box of purses, and about a dozen bags of craft projects (or projects-to-be), plus a closet full of winter coats and costumes.  This will be a long-term project.

It looks like this year is the year of finishing crap.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, actually.  I've got a bad habit of starting on new things before I finish stuff.  (Could you tell?)  

I'm pretty sure that I can make these resolutions this year.  I feel as if I should have one or two that are more challenging, but in all honesty, finishing Frenchie and starting the edits is going to be rough.  Once I realized that this story is actually one that I enjoy AND is commercially viable, it suddenly seemed scary.  Up until this point, I've either not liked the end result of what I've written, or it didn't really fit into any particular genre and was therefore not really marketable, so there's been no pressure to do anything other than write it.  But this one... once it's polished, I'm going to take a deep breath, write and polish a query letter, and start looking for an agent.  That's big.  (At least, it's big for me.)

More Reading!

Yes, I've been reading like crazy lately!  It's kind of awesome, actually.  So after I finished Making Waves by Tawna Fenske, I read the teaser at the end of the ebook.  It was for Romeo, Romeo by Robin Kaye, and the preview intrigued me, so I bought it.  Have I mentioned that this whole ebook thing is a BAD IDEA?  I mean, it's great for the writers out there, but it's not so great for me, because it's SOOOO easy to buy a book on impulse.  At least before ebooks, I had to drag my butt five minutes down the road to B&N, then browse through them all, thinking about which one I want.  I'm much more likely to take my time choosing something.  With the iBookstore, and Nook, and Kindle apps on my phone, I'm getting far too many options at my fingertips, especially in the middle of the night!

Anyway.

I bought Romeo, Romeo on a whim, after reading the teaser.  And I enjoyed it.  It was a light read, and I found myself zipping through it.  The problem was the central conflict - I honestly can't think of any woman I know who would put up with a guy hiding his identity from her, especially if she knew that he was doing it.  Rosalie's family kind of drove me crazy, but I think that was the point.  Also, I tend to smack people upside the head when they call me by an unauthorized nickname, so it irritated me that Nick called Rosalie 'Lee' even though no one else did.  Ever.  All those little things aside, I did enjoy reading it.  And it kept me intrigued - I had a hard time putting it down.  And I can think of three other people that I will recommend this book to.  So if you like a light, quick-reading romance, pick up Romeo, Romeo by Robin Kaye.

I'm also in the middle of The Fiction Class by Susan Breen.  I'm reading this one over lunch breaks at work, but it's not capturing me quite as much as Romeo, Romeo did.  It's interesting, but I'm having a hard time connecting to the voice.  I think it's because of the layout of the story.  The chapters switch between Arabella's fiction class, and her visits with her mother.  After each chapter with the class, you get to see the assignment that Arabella gives them, which has actually caught my interest more than any other part of the book.  It's not bad.  It's well-written.  It's just not working for me.

We'll see how the next set of books stacks up...

Beta and Critique Readers

Over the years, I've been part of several writing groups, ranging from informal gatherings where the topic of writing just happened to come up, to NaNoWriMo groups, to critique groups.  I've shared my work, and read others' work and given feedback.  If there's one thing I've learned, all beta readers/crit partners are NOT created equal.  Here are some of the characters I've run into:*

- The Published Writer.  You've probably run into him at some point.  He's had a short story published in an ezine.  Or he wrote a novel that was published by a small press.  Whatever it is, he has decided that he is talented.  Very talented.  So talented, in fact, that you, an unpublished writer, could never measure up to him.  Your writing will never be as good as his, because your work is not published.  Like his.  Did I mention that he takes every chance he gets to remind you that he is published.

- The Emphatic Realist.  This fellow writer doesn't quite grasp the concept of the suspension of disbelief.  At all.  He can't figure out why you've insisted on ignoring a particular historical figure in your historical romance, even though it would not do anything to further the plot.  He demands historical accuracy!  And that plane you have in chapter three - that style of plane has two rows of seats, not three.  Obviously, you haven't done enough research.

- The Genre Snob.  He doesn't read anything but one genre.  The romantic drivel you've written is completely mindless, as far as he is concerned.  And the YA project?  Why you're wasting your time on such a pathetic genre is beyond him.  Sure, it's okay for what it is, but it's not much.  Trying to get this guy to like anything that isn't in his genre is like trying to make my dog eat... umm... okay, that metaphor doesn't work.  It's like trying to get a shark to swim backwards.

- The Insecure Crank.  He doesn't think that his writing is any good.  To see your writing, which is (theoretically) good, just irritates him.  He doesn't like the thought of someone being better than him, and he will find every little error possible in your work.  He will find errors that don't exist.  He will find flaws in every character and setting.  He will find tiny plotholes and blow them into gaping chasms.  Because he thinks his work is no good, he will not let yours be good either.

Of course, not all critique partners or beta readers are one of these folks!  I have met amazing readers, people I trust to read anything I write, and to give me honest feedback.

- The Read-Everything Partner.  He will read absolutely everything that is written.  Genre, length, style - it doesn't matter.  He has a preferred genre, of course, but he won't ignore a story just because it's not his favorite style.  His best line? "It's not something I'd pick out on my own, but I liked it."

- The Grammar Snob.  He knows the English language inside and out.  He knows where each and every punctuation mark belongs.  He may not be able to correct flaws in your character arc, but he will make sure that your final draft is polished to a high sheen.

- The Gentle Let-Down.  Your story sucks.  The characters are one-dimensional.  You have no arc.  Your plot has holes that a Mack truck can drive through.  But he can still point out the good things, like your ability to place a semi-colon in just the right place, and make you feel better about having churned out a big ol' pile of crap.

*All genders have been made male for the purposes of masking identities.  If you happen to recognize yourself in one of these readers, chances are good that I'm not actually talking about you personally.  But hopefully, you recognize yourself as one of the awesome ones!

Booooo! And also, first-person POV

I was on a streak!  I read two awesome books in a row, polishing each of them off in a single day.  I was on a roll!  I was ready to keep on going!

I picked up book number three, and just before the halfway point, the MC did something so stupid and out-of-character that I had to put the book down and walk away.  Argh!  I'm actually pissed off at the book right now, and it's been kicked under the bed.  The stupid thing wasn't the only bit that irritated me, though it was what made me stop reading.  I noticed that this book was really dated.  The references, which would have been pretty current when it was published in 2007, just seem, well, dumb.  And in ten more years, they just won't make any sense at all.  Note to self: don't reference too much pop culture, or your book will get really old, really fast.

All three of the latest books (the two awesome and the one under the bed) had one thing in common - they were all written from the first person POV.  Up until I read The Duff by Kody Keplinger, I had not read much that was written in first, and what I had read was chick-lit style (which I really enjoy, but it's not serious stuff (usually)).  These days, there's more and more popping up, and I'm starting to find myself more open to reading it.  I'm still not sure about things written in first-person present tense, but I'm working on it.

After reading these books, I started thinking about HEA, and the full re-write I'm going to start very soon, and I think that a first-person POV might actually be just what the book needs to feel right.  It focuses entirely on Princess Jane (formerly Princess Martha Louise), and I really didn't get into much of anyone else's head in the first draft.  I think I'll try the first couple of chapters and see how it's feeling.  This might be what I need to feel better about the story.  Wish me luck!

And I thought I didn't like mysteries!

It turns out that I just don't like crappy mysteries!

I started reading Lisa and Laura Roecker's The Liar Society at lunch yesterday.  I've been following their blog for months, and I enjoy it, so I made sure to bring a lunch that wouldn't be hard to eat while holding a book in my free hand.  That was an excellent plan.  I ended up coming back late from lunch because I didn't want to stop reading.  And I took the book with me on my 15-minute break.  And since it was raining when I left work, I sat in the car for a half-hour and read when I got home before I went inside.  And then I curled up on the couch and read until my ride showed up to take me to dinner - with three chapters left!  As soon as it was not-really-rude, I wrapped up dinner and hurried to my bedroom to finish the book.  So I read the entire thing in a day.  And I'm sooooo glad I did!

As I've said, I've followed Lisa and Laura online for a while, and I've found them really funny and entertaining.  While I'm not a mom and I can't related to any of their kid stories, it hasn't mattered, because they still connect with me.  I can say the same thing about The Liar Society - I'm not a teenager anymore, but the book connected.  I loved the character of Kate.  She was messed up and human, but lovable nonetheless.  Her flaws were reasonable, and she made perfect sense as a girl whose best friend died a year ago.  But even though she's got this whole 'damaged' thing going on, by the end, I got the sense that she would grow up to be okay.  Not perfect, because who is?  But okay, which is more than a lot of people can ask for.

I wasn't sure what to make of a lot of the male characters in the book, but honestly, that's exactly how I felt about the guys I knew back in high school, so it worked for me ;)

Also?  LOVED the Latin throughout!  I took some Latin, and I have a degree in Classics, so it totally thrills me every time I see it used in 'real life.'  The other thing that it reminded me of was The Jewel That Was Ours by Colin Dexter.  The subject matter was totally different (adult vs. YA), but it was the only other mystery that I've really enjoyed, and it [coincidentally?] also had lots of Latin and Classical references throughout.

Which brings me back to the title of this post:  I have read so many mystery novels in the past year, and disliked all of them, that I was afraid I wouldn't like The Liar Society based on that.  I was soooooo wrong!  If you like funny, strong, normal(ish) female characters, you should go out and get this book.  I've already got a list of people that are getting copies for birthdays/Christmas/Easter/Tuesdays!

National Crafting Month

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard by now about the earthquake in Japan.  I hate how useless disasters like that make me feel.  Maureen Johnson, though, isn't being useless.  Check out her blog, and think about donating. ShelterBox seems, to me, to be a brilliant idea!  If you're like me, trying to figure out some way to help from halfway across the globe, this could be your answer.

Now, on to my own stuff...

Did you know that this month is National Craft Month?  That's what the big sign at JoAnn's told me yesterday, and I'm pretty psyched about it.  If you haven't gathered from my other posts, I'm a big crafter.  BIG.  So it stands to reason that I should have BIG plans for this month.

So far, I've finished Otter's sweater, made her a card to go with it, a birthday card for Tanya, two back-up birthday cards, SIX bridal shower cards, three general cards, worked on Mum's cross-stitched Christmas stocking (for next year!), finished a dishcloth, and finished three more squares for my picnic blanket.  And we're not even halfway through the month.

My goal in this National Craft Month is to finish up at least one of my other outstanding projects.  I'm thinking the picnic blanket will get targeted, if only because I want to go on a picnic before it gets too hot out.  Of course, the Hufflepuff scarf is another good candidate.  Once one of those is finished, I'll move on to the next round of baby gifts (do people ever stop breeding??).

And, of course, I'll still be reading and writing.

Speaking of reading, I'm still working my way through Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.  Today, when I sat down to open the book at lunch (because that's still when I do most of my reading), I realized that I'm almost done.  It still doesn't feel like I've actually made any progress, if that makes sense.  There was a lot of the story that was presented as dreams/memories, and I think that's why I feel like I'm still waiting for the story to get going.  It's not dragging - I just feel like I'm waiting to get to the conflict, but the number of pages left makes me feel like I should expect the resolution soon.  Once I'm finished, I'll be able to give you a better impression.  I hope.

And speaking of writing, I sat down to continue editing "Happily Ever After" and realized that I need to just start over.  But that's not a bad thing!  The first draft let me get everything out.  Now, I can start working on the story using the characters as I knew them by the end.  Wish me luck!

YA has changed since my day...

"Back in my day..."

Isn't that something my grandpa used to say?  Yeesh.  I swear, I'm not really that old!  But to be honest, things have definitely changed since I was reading "Young Adult" books.

At work, we have this locker upstairs.  It's full of the most random collection of books.  I have no idea why it's there.  I have no idea whose books they were.  But every once in a while, when I forget my book at lunch, and there's nothing else to read in the kitchen, I'll grab one of them.

Lately, I've run into a lot of books by Caroline B. Cooney. I remember reading The Face on the Milk Carton when I was in junior high, and I got to thinking about the other books I read back then. I read some of the Sweet Valley High series, but I wasn't a big fan.  However, I was a HUGE fan of Lurlene McDaniel - Six Months to Live, I Want to Live, Sixteen and Dying... I owned the entire Dawn Rochelle series, and most of the One Last Wish series, and I read them over and over and over again.  And that just might have been the extent of my "Young Adult" reading.  Honestly, back in the early 90's, there wasn't nearly as much to choose from.  The YA section of my local library was made up of four shelves (not four shelving units, just four shelves) buried at the back of the regular fiction section.  I read through that in one summer.  It didn't take long for me to switch over to 'adult' books - I ended up a sci-fi/fantasy fan.

These days, though, there's sooooo much out there!  And so much of it is aimed at girls!  Now don't get me wrong, boys should have something to read, too, but I would have loved most of this stuff when I was the age of the target audience.  Fourteen-year-old-me would have adored Twilight, even though I can't stand it now.

The content is much different, too.  True, the whole paranormal thing has taken off like wildfire, but even with contemporary YA, things are different.  The most obvious thing I can point out is sex.  When I read Young Adult books, there was no mention of sex.  At all.  Kissing was a HUGE deal.  Now, in books like Kody Keplinger's The Duff, it's not unusual for teenagers to have sex.  In fact, it's accepted as normal. The Twilight series has sex.  It's as if today's authors actually connect with their audience and don't try to paint them as their parents see them... which is not to say that's what authors did fifteen years ago.  I just don't ever remember really relating to any of the characters in the books I read.  Of course, that could be because I didn't have cancer and wasn't dying...

Fun fact:  for years after reading Lurlene McDaniel's books, every time I had a bruise that I couldn't explain, I became absolutely convinced that I had leukemia and I would die a beautiful and tragic death.  Now, however, I realize that I've become such a klutz that, unless bumping into something dramatically impedes my forward momentum, I don't even feel it.  I just accept the bruises and wear long pants.

Where do I go?

I've been busy today!  I added the "Links" section to my blog, so you can see the places I visit when I'm surfing the web.  The thing is, while I have close to a hundred blogs that I check out on a regular basis, I rarely comment on any of them.  It's not that I don't like what I see - on the contrary!  I love what I see, and I keep going back for more.

Unfortunately, it seems like most bloggers post either during the day (while I'm at work), or at night (while I'm asleep).  There's nothing inherently wrong with these times (she says as she types tonight's blog at 11pm).  Because I work in a medical office, we've got a fairly tight internet policy.  While I can get away with reading one or two blogs for fun while I catch up on the latest medical news, I can't read all of the ones I want, and I certainly can't wander off and comment on them.  When I do get a chance to make comments (usually after work), a lot of what I wanted to say has already been said, and I hate to comment with something like, "Yeah, I agree with Mr. X!"

What does all of this mean?  Well, it means that the awesome people that I admire probably have no idea who I am.

Except for Lisa and Laura Roecker. They know who I am now.  *squee!*

Do you know who they are?  You should go check them out!  Now!  Go!  I'll wait here until you get back.

Welcome back!  Did you have fun over with LiLa?  I'll bet you recognize the book below (since you clearly followed my directions and went to visit their blog!).

I went out and bought this book just after it came out (on March 1st).  Turns out, I wasn't the only one. Another friend of mine, who is friends with Lisa and Laura on facebook, posted a photo of herself buying the book at our local bookstore, and I commented on the photo, saying that I had bought it, too.

Next thing I know, I wake up the next morning with a friend request!  How cool is that??

Really, though, I think it's more than a little awesome that someone (well, two someones) that I have been admiring for months thought it would be a good idea to contact me.  And it certainly doesn't hurt that they're uber-talented.

I'm planning to start (and finish) The Liar Society this weekend.  I would have started it the same day I bought it, except I had three other books in progress, and that's my upper limit for multiple-reads.

Oh, right, there was one more thing!  The new list of links is a work-in-progress, mostly because I follow so many blogs that I can't stare at the screen long enough to put them all up at once.  Because it's so long, I don't think that many people will just go to that tab and start looking at all of them, all at once.  So what I'm going to do is, every week or so, post a blog about these other blogs, and why I follow them.  That way, you can a) get an idea of what they're about and b) get a bit of an idea about what I like to read.

Until next time, blogglings, have a nice weekend!  And don't forget to visit Lisa and Laura Write!

A Bit About Writing/Reading

I still like Meliora!  I re-read my short story, and I still like it.  However.  It needs more.  I totally get the comments that I got on it, and I'm really starting to think that Meliora needs a whole novel, not just a short story. Know what that means?  Plotting time!

In the meantime, I've been listening to audiobooks lately, rather than reading.  Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE reading.  Unfortunately, with the other stuff I've got going on, I haven't had a lot of time to read lately.  Instead of abandoning books altogether, though, I've been listening to audiobooks.  I can listen while I drive, while I work, while I shop (yes, I listen to books while shopping), while I knit... Audiobooks make it nice and easy to multitask.

The thing is, I'm cheap.  Or broke, depending on how you look at it.  Anyways.  I don't want to spend $20 on an audiobook, especially if I can just buy the paperback for $7.99 or so.  I've been using the iTunes store and stocking up on classic books via Librivox.  I started off with Jane Eyre last year, and while I don't think I would have had the patience to read it, I got through the audiobook in just a couple of weeks.  I've also listened to most of the Anne of Green Gables series - I had read them as a child, and I was surprised to find myself enjoying them the second time around.

Right now, I'm working my way through Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.  I've finished volume one, and I started on volume two this morning.  As I was listening to it, I remembered why I had such a hard time getting through it when I first read it.  I was in junior high, and I was so proud of my three-inch-thick book.  I felt all smart and cultured as I carried it around.  It took me several months to get through the book.  It wasn't above my reading level, and the language wasn't anything complicated for me.  It was just, well, boring.  Hugo takes nineteen (19!) chapters to set up Thenardier as a thief.  Nineteen chapters of inane details about the battle of Waterloo.  NINETEEN!

Ahem.

By going back and listening to these classics, though, I'm getting a better handle on flow and pace and plot.  I can see where Hugo loses my attention, and where he gets it back.  I'm not saying that I can now write better than Victor Hugo - what I'm saying is, I'm starting to realize the things that make my attention wander.  Once I realize what makes my attention wander, I can start to take that stuff out of my own writing.  If I can get rid of the boring stuff, that just leaves the interesting stuff - the good stuff!

So I shall continue slogging through the boring parts and finish up Les Miserables, possibly by the end of next week, and then move on to the next one.

Curious about what's up next?  Well, I haven't decided for sure, but here's what I've got in iTunes, ready to go:

1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
4. Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
5. Emma by Jane Austen
6. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
7. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
8. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
9. Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
10. Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter
11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
12. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
13. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
14. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett
15. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
16. Ulysses by James Joyce

Any suggestions about what should be next on the playlist?  Or other suggestions for classics to listen to?

With Her Boots On

From the back cover:
     Mel Melrose is getting ready to be a bridesmaid in her brother's wedding and the bridesmaids' dresses that the bride has promised "won't be over-the-top" have actually raised the bar for over-the-top. These dresses are poofier than poof even before the full crinoline enhancement, in a colour that can only be described as construction cone orange.
     Unfortunately, atrocious wedding attire and drunken bridal showers aren't her only stressors.  Mel's career is turned upside down with the addition of a personal translator, a run-in with a sea mammal, and a television commercial producer with an affinity for very large dogs. Any attempt to find solace at home in the arms of her boyfriend is foiled by his sudden infatuation with all things modern dance - especially his teacher, Undulating Ursula.
     Control freak Mel is on the edge even before her neighbours' sudden fascination with lawn adornments rears its gnome-like head. Something has to give... and quickly.
     Will Mel manage to clamber off the edge with her four-inch boot heels intact, or will she discover that maybe, just maybe, Prada boots aren't the answer to all of life's hurdles?

My take:
I started reading With Her Boots On by Lisa Dow in the airport on the way home from a memorial service.  I don't really like the take-off and landing parts of flying, so I really like to have something to read while that's going on.  With an e-reader, though, it's problematic - you're not supposed to have electronic devices on during those times.  I usually end up buying a book at the airport, even though I know that I'm going to need an actual book for the flight.  (I know that it would be cheaper to just bring one of the books from my TBR pile, but that would make too much sense!)

In any case, this was an airport selection.  I picked it up because of the back copy.  I like chick-lit, even if it's not popular anymore.  I like stories about dealing with other people's weddings (I'm in my 30's and unmarried - I can relate!).  I'm a bit of a control freak myself.  I love shoes.  It seemed like a good fit for me.

I wish, however, that I had opened up the book before I got it.  It's written in first-person present tense, and I find that VERY hard to get into.  I know lots of people who like that format, but for me, it's always been a challenge.  I made it to page 72 (of 463) on the plane, reading only during take-off and landing.  When I got home, I set it aside, and I haven't opened it again.  I'm going to blame that partly on NaNo - I read much less during November than I do during the rest of the year, and I'm less inclined to finish a book that I couldn't get into.

I picked the book up again today, and I like the premise.  I sort of like the characters (although I get the feeling that I'm not supposed to really like the MC to start with).  I want to keep trying to read it.  So the plan is, now that November is almost done, I'll take this book to work, and I'll read it during my lunch hours.  Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll have a proper review, not just a short commentary about why I only made it to page 72!

Brilliant idea. Brilliant!

Yeah, deciding to make Sunday my 'book review' day the weekend before wedding-cake-baking-weekend and two weekends before NaNoWriMo was a brilliant plan.  I am a genius.  A total genius.

I have not read anything this week.  I've barely even re-read stuff that I've written.  I certainly haven't picked up a book... I kind of want to read, but I find that when I start reading in the middle of relatively intense writing, two things happen.  First, I start to try to imitate the style of any author that I'm reading.  Second, I decide that I am a total hack and can't write anything at all.  I know that I'm not a hack, but the first draft is always a great, big, steaming pile of crap.  Stinky, smelly crap.  Editing always helps, but still... when I'm in the middle of a first draft, I don't like reading other people's work.

I've got a couple of things on my TBR pile, though.  I started Confessor, the last book in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.  I really want to finish it, but I don't want to pick it up and feel bad about myself... *sigh*  Also on the pile, Hush Money by Susan Bischoff.  I've been meaning to read it for an awfully long time, and I do need to write a review of it for both Goodreads and Smashwords.  Once I'm done my draft, though, I'll get back to my regularly planned reading.

In the meantime, I've been spending my non-writing time with crafting - it lets me be creative and relax in different ways than writing, plus, it lets me feel productive.  If you're interested in seeing what I've been doing, go check out my craft blog: Confessions of a Yarn Whore.

311 Pelican Court, fin.

I finished it.  It took weeks, literally, for me to work my way through Debbie Macomber's 311 Pelican Court.  I did not enjoy it.

I was talking to someone about it, and in the middle of our conversation, I realized what it felt like: it felt like I was reading a soap opera.  It was as if I had channel-surfed into the middle of it.  There were eighty-bajillion story lines being told in the same book (okay, it was more like 8, but it felt like a lot more).  It felt as though the characters had been previously established, but at the same time, the author was telling me the same thing over and over, in case I hadn't read the previous chapters.

Obviously, someone likes this style, because Macomber's got a pile of books out there.  Unfortunately, I don't like this style.  I was in a used bookstore this weekend, and I opened up two or three other books by her, and they all had the same feeling for me.  I don't think I'll be reading any more books by this author.

So now that I've managed to finish this book (finally!), what should I read next?  Suggestions are definitely welcome!  If I don't get any, though, I'll probably start in on the last two installments of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.

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Want to see my crafting adventures?  Visit Confessions of a Yarn Whore

311 Pelican Court

It's been a slow week for reading - usually, I do most of my reading during my lunch hour at work, but I took a few days off this past week, and worked through a couple of lunch hours so I could leave early.

I did, however, try to read more of 311 Pelican Court by Debbie Macomber.  I'm about 2/3 finished, and it's a hard read.  It's not that the language is beyond me or anything like that - it's just hard to make myself read it.  In the first two chapters, there were five couples introduced.  I had expected that one of them would become the main focus (perhaps the one mentioned in the back cover blurb?), but at page 259, there's no clear leader.

I feel very scattered with this book.  I want it to focus on one plotline.  Just one.  There is just so much going on here!  I feel like she could do a really great job if she would stop jumping around.  As it is, there's no continuity, and the writing feels choppy to me.

However, I will still finish it.  Eventually.  I don't know, though, that I'll ever pick up another Debbie Macomber book.

A Change in the Plan

If you've been following my blog, you probably know that I've got a schedule: Tuesday is fiction day, Thursday is writing about writing day, and Sunday is crafting day.  I've talked to a few people, though, who have mentioned that they don't really read the Sunday craft posts, because they don't fit with the rest of my blog.  And you know what? I realized that they're right.

I have another blog, Confessions of a Yarn Whore, that I have neglected for a while.  This weekend, I copied my last few crafting entries over to that blog, which I consider my craft blog.  I've decided that I'll still blog about my crafty stuff, but I'll do it over there.

That leaves Sunday open.

I thought about it for a little while, and I've realized that there's something that goes along really well with writing - reading!  So on Sundays, instead of filling you in on my craftiness, I'll share a bit about what I've read each week.

And if you really want to keep up with my crafting, follow me over at Confessions of a Yarn Whore, or just click the link at the bottom of every Sunday blog!

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Want some crafty goodness? Check out Confessions of a Yarn Whore!

Officially a writer

Yes, that's right - I feel like I'm officially a writer now, because I have received my first rejection.

It came via email, first thing Monday morning.  (Great way to start a week, isn't it?)  I didn't even have the pleasure/torture of staring at the screen debating whether or not I should open it to reveal my fate because the subject line was "Your submission to [name redacted] (sorry)".

On the bright side, there were two editors who commented on the piece, and the comments were NOT along the lines of "you suck" or "you should never try writing anything again, ever."  They were both actually fairly similar - basically, the piece needed to be longer to satisfy them.  The piece, Fog Rolls In, was about 750 words, flash-length. The magazine accepts flash, but they also look for short stories and serials.  I get the feeling that, if I were to submit to a place that was looking at flash exclusively, my chances might be better.

So I'm torn - do I take the piece, as is, and start submitting to flash markets, or do I take the piece and flesh it out more, making it into a full short-story or serial, and submit it to short story markets?

I think I'll sit on it for now.  Really, there's not a rush for me.  It would be nice to have something published, but there's no deadline for me.

In other writing-related news, I've had this romance idea brewing for three years, and it's perking up again.  I've got the female MC fleshed out in my head, and the male MC is coming together really well.  It may actually get onto paper soon... that's exciting!

I'm still not doing much editing for HEA, but I've been thinking about it, and I may have to do major re-writes, so I'm procrastinating.

I'm still reading a lot!  Below is my list of summer reading, started on June 17:

• Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind
• Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
• The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind
• Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind
• Chainfire by Terry Goodkind
• Phantom by Terry Goodkind
• Confessor by Terry Goodkind
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
• A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire
• My Life Uncovered by Lynn Isenberg (my favourite book in a long time!)

I've finished the first three already!  Plus, as I'm sure you've noticed in my GoodReads feed --> I've got several others in progress that WEREN'T on the list.  I'm feeling pretty good about my progress.  Summer really is more of a reading season for me than it is a writing season.  There's just something about the heat that feels conducive to laying around with a book, so that's what I do!

What about you, folks?  Is summer a reading season or a writing season for you?

Not going to feel guilty

Aside from my Tuesday piece, I have not written anything this week.  Nothing.  I haven't edited, I haven't prepped for my game on Saturday, I haven't done a thing.

And I'm okay with that.

I read a post today by a guest blogger on the Variety Pages, and realized that it's okay.  Just because there's not a story in my head now, it doesn't mean that there won't be later.  I've been stressed.  REALLY stressed.  It doesn't surprise me that the voices have stopped.  My brain is just crazy with other stuff, so there's not room for much else.

And so I'm reading.  I'm reading like crazy, because that's what I need to do.  It's like my writing brain is taking a break, resetting itself.  I'm learning from what I'm reading, but I'm not worrying yet about putting this all into practice.  I'm re-learning what I like to read, and figuring out why I like to read it.  I'm listening to audiobooks and figuring out the difference between what I like to listen to and what I like to read.

So I will not feel guilty for not writing.

Although I may feel guilty about not preparing for the game come Saturday... I'll probably have to work on that!

Why it's hard to write right now

I was sitting in front of the computer today, trying to figure out how to finish 'Partners,' when I realized what my current block is.

When you write romance novels, or chick lit, or a lot of the other stuff that I write, it's pretty much mandatory that your story ends with a 'happily ever after.' In fact, most romance imprints actually have that requirement in their guidelines. It doesn't necessarily have to be heroine ending up with the gorgeous Prince Charming, but it has to be a happy ending of some sort.

Unfortunately, I had my happy ending pulled out from under me a couple weeks ago. When I'm sitting here, wondering where it went, it's hard to find a happily-ever-after for someone else. I was so sure that I knew how my story would end, yet it turned out to be completely the opposite of what I was expecting. I'm having a hard time moving forward with my WIPs because of that. There's a lot of doubt in my mind now - does the ending that I think I'm going to have really work out? Is it remotely realistic? Why hasn't he dumped her whiny ass by now?

So I don't think I can work on the things I've been working on in the past few months. But that's okay! It is, really. I have proven to myself that I can set things aside, and then come back to them and finish them later. That's what I'm going to do for now. I'm going to put all of the romantic crap off to the side. In the meantime, I'm going to work on a science-based piece. There doesn't have to be a happy ending here - one of the MC's is a murder and rapist, and not at all likable. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he's going to die a miserable death. No happily-ever-after for him! Once I'm done that, maybe I'll be ready to work on happy endings again.

In unrelated news, I discovered GoodReads today! It is wonderful! I spent most of the evening inputting the books that are in my bookshelves (although I'm quite certain that there are other books around here that have been missed). I appear to have 255 books (fiction only - non-fiction are currently in boxes in the closet), and of those, 124 are on my 'to-read' list. Seriously? I have that many unread books??? But then I thought about it a bit... I bought a lot of books at a Friends of the Library book sale last year, and haven't gotten around to them yet. And there are four series that I've been collecting, but haven't started yet because they looked like the type that I would want to read all at once - I hate it when I have to wait a year for the next book to come out! On the bright side, that means that I don't have to buy anything at all for summer reading!

And speaking of summer reading, I've finished Soul of Fire and moved on to Faith of the Fallen. If you look at the widget to the right, you'll see that I've got three books on the go: Faith of the Fallen is the primary, Murder List is from the kitchen at work (for the days when I forget Faith at home), and Anne of Green Gables is actually an audiobook (for the ride to and from work, and to and from D&D games).

Have I mentioned that I love GoodReads?

The REAL Thursday post!

Because, of course, once I give up and post via my phone, the internet decides that it likes my computer after all. After half an hour of messing around. *sigh*

Thursday is supposed to be the day that I update my writing progress, right? Unfortunately, I feel like I've made very little. I have not touched HEA for edits in a week or two. I've written my Tuesday flash pieces, but not much else. If you missed it, I had a post up at Flash Fiction Chronicles on Monday.

But I've been reading! So in lieu of writing updates, I'm going to tell you what I'm reading, and what I plan to read for the rest of the summer!

I am currently in the middle of Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind, the fourth book in his Sword of Truth series. I've already finished Wizard's First Rule, Stone of Tears, and Blood of the Fold. Well, technically, I've finished the first ten books, but I'm re-reading them as I have finally acquired the last one. I may end up finishing Temple by the end of the week, depending on how driven I am to do housework.

My summer reading list is as follows:

• Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind
• Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
• The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind
• Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind
• Chainfire by Terry Goodkind
• Phantom by Terry Goodkind
• Confessor by Terry Goodkind
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
• A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire
• My Life Uncovered by Lynn Isenberg (my favourite book in a long time!)

If anyone out there has any other suggestions, I'll be happy to take them! It looks like my current list is running towards fantasy, but I do like other genres. I'll probably forget my book at home at least a few times, which means I'll be reading the mystery and YA novels that seem to be lying around the lunchroom at work. And when I'm just not up for something heavy, I've got a pile of romance and chick-lit to keep me entertained.

I've also recently downloaded the B&N Reader for my laptop, and I've been collecting free e-books of all genres. I liked Kait Nolan's Forsaken By Shadow, and I'll be watching for the sequels. If you haven't checked her out, you should! The top of her site links to all sorts of places to acquire her latest piece.

On the bright side, the more I read, the more I want to write! With any luck (and lots of effort), I'll get some more editing done on HEA (it's on my to-do list for the weekend!), and I think I might expand on Jane from my last flash post.

I hear voices...

I've read an awful lot about "voice" lately. It seems that the big thing in writer blogging these days is talking about voice. Everyone seems to have an opinion about voice, and advice on how to find yours.

But not me.

I don't really have any advice on finding a voice, and I don't really know how I managed to find mine. I do know, however, that one of my beta readers just compared my voice to Neil Gaiman!

I was super-excited to hear that - and then I realized that I don't actually know what his voice sounds like. The only novel of his that I've read is "Good Omens" with Terry Pratchett, and I've been told that Pratchett's voice is the more prominent of the two. Luckily, Cavid is awesome and lent me a copy of "Neverwhere."

Now I've got a dilemma... I'm in the middle of re-reading Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, because I still haven't read Confessor, but I want to review the whole series, rather than just jumping into the last book. But now I have "Neverwhere" sitting on the table, and I really want to read it! I'm afraid that it will interrupt the flow of the series in my head, though, and I'll have to start over. Maybe I'll just read really fast...

Finally, today is my 600th post on this blog! Hooray! In honor of that, I want to do something different. I want to give stuff away! That's right, post a comment for a chance to win a hamster bean, handmade by me. Deadline is 10 pm EST tomorrow! I need more exclamation points!!

EDIT: Here's a link to some hamster beans - the one I'm making is all multi-coloured and cute!

Today's post, with 74% less ranting!

So my job sucked again today (hooray for half-hour lunch breaks!), but the boss let me go home early to compensate for getting out of surgery at 1 instead of 12, so that was a bonus.

I've been working on critiquing a novel for a woman in my critique group, and it's made me realize that I'm fairly sensitive to style in novels.  Well, not quite - I've realized that for a while, but her novel has reminded me of it.  I'm a fan of what might be referred to as classic styles.  I like my narratives to be non-conversational when told from a third-person POV.  I don't mind conversational tones from a first-person POV.  I hate sentence fragments, both in first- and third-person POVs, even when the tone is conversational.

I get bored by run-on sentences.  I get bored with really long descriptions of mundane things.  I get lost when seven people are introduced in the first page and none of them are described at all.

I get distracted when my dog starts to eat the confetti that fell out of my hole-puncher.

In short, if the writing feels awkward at all, I have a really hard time getting past the first page.  Sometimes, when I force myself to continue, the writing and the story improve.  Sometimes, they don't.  

I recently re-read Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara.  I had first read it about fifteen years ago, and I loved it then.  That was when I was first getting into reading sci-fi and fantasy, which might be why I liked it so much.  This time around, it was like slogging through mud in many places.  It was full of pointless descriptions, and endless changes of POV, and it just didn't flow well.  The overall story was interesting, though, and that's what kept me reading.  I'm now re-reading The Elfstones of Shannara, and it's better.  In the notes at the beginning of this edition, Terry Brooks wrote a bit about the process, and how he had actually written something else in between the two that was just awful, and threw it out.  He then took all the advice that his editor gave him, and worked on this one.  Based on the difference between the two of them, if I ever get an editor, and he/she gives me advice on how NOT to suck, I think I'll take it!