Completing

Writing group did not meet last week but I was able to send Hey Man to another writing friend for some feedback. I'm trying to decide if I should jump right back into editing or give it a week or so while I work on something else. I have so many writing projects I would like to start I do not even know where to begin.

There are a few small memoir type things that I would like to write while they are still fresh in my mind. I've been very neglectful of my journal the last few years and I feel like this is kind of a way to catch up. And while I may not be writing them with the intent to publish, that's okay. My current objective is to get back in to a regular writing routine and to get some practice. I have been out of the game for a while and need to work the kinks out. I'll probably work on those for the next few days and evaluate from there.

In other news, I finally finished A Dance with Dragons. My sister-in-law suggested the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin a few years back and I finally started reading it a while ago. Of course, thanks to a sub par librarian, I started by reading the third book, A Storm of Swords. I thought the writer referred to a lot more past events than is usual for a first book in a series, but I caught on pretty quick.

Of course, had I been smart enough to glance at the first pages before the story started I could have avoided this but I didn't. Eventually, I figured out my mistake and I went back to the beginning. I've been reading all the way through since. Now, I have finished the fifth. I am eager to read what comes next but I have been warned by long time fans that I will probably be waiting...for about five years.

This will drive me mad. When it comes to reading I am a completest. I have to finish things. Even if I completely dislike them. Yes, I finished the entire Twilight series just because I couldn't not know how it ended.

So I'm hoping, but not counting on, the success of the HBO series to motivate Mr. Martin to produce this one a little faster. Until then..

Just finished reading: A Dance with Dragons-George R.R.Martin

Currently listening to: Dancing Days-Led Zepplin

Recently watched: Friends With Benefits

Books read in 2010

American Gods-Neil Gaiman
Tuesdays With Morrie-Mitch Albom
A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius-Brian Eggers
Wicked Lovely-Melissa Marr
Heat Wave-Ricahrd Castle
Queen of the Damned-Anne Rice
Ink Exchange-Melissa Mar
Fragile Eternity-Melissa Mar
The Five People You Meet In Heaven-Mitch Albom
Dune- Frank Hurbert
Nineteen Minutes-Jodi Piccoult
The Blind Side-Michael Lewis
Chances-Jim Butcher
In Cold Blood-Truman Capote
The Wizard Of Oz-L. Frank Baum
Firestarter- Stephen King
The Road-Cormac McCarthy
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings-Maya Angelou
The Shining-Stephen King
French Women Don't Get Fat-Mireille Guialiano
One On One-Tabitha King
All The Pretty Horses-Cormac McCarthy
Budget Wedding For Dummies-Meg Schneider
Bridal Boot Camp- Cynthia Conde
Mean Streats-Various Authors
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights-John Steinbeck
Total Money Makeover-Dave Ramsey
Naked Heat-Richard Castle
Lost Symbol- Dan Brown
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows-J.K. Rowling
To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee

Blog slacking...again.

Okay, I suck as a blogger. I haven't posted in a while and really I have no excuse for that. I would write a big update on what's been going on but the truth is that nothing noteworthy has happened these past few weeks. I've just been living life and enjoying it for the most part.

This weekend my boyfriend and I went to see Rob Schneider and that was a pretty funny show. His humor was actually pretty intelligent and not just 45 minutes of him yelling "you can do it!" The crowd, however, was a different story.

My hope had been to go to Penguincon at least one day this weekend but money kept me away. Since I've switched jobs and bought a new car, I'm trying to get used to less money and getting paid different days. So right now the budget is tight.

I had writing group today. So I worked on turning another section of comic script into prose and met with my writing group. A lot of the writing this week was humorous and once again I find myself drifting toward writing humor.
And that reminds me that I'm still working on my humor/sci-fi story that I was suppose to have done months ago.

Other than that not much is going on. A few weeks ago I did finally get around to reading Dune. I still couldn't believe I had yet to read it. At least I can now scratch that off my list. Now I'm reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

Until next time...( and I make no promises about when that will be)

The Three R's

I'm taking a break from working on the list because all it is doing is making my head hurt.
First off, I'm not doing that bad on getting my scene for writing group done. Of course, it's mostly translating from comic script to prose, so really is shouldn't be that hard. I'm confident it will be at least done in long hand before the night is done.
I haven't even begun to find a place for my rejected short story. I've been too busy trying to find a humor literary magazine. I've had no luck, I think that's mostly because it doesn't exist.
As for the rewrite of the First Line story, I'm stuck. I've given it to others to read. I've gotten advice but I don't like the way the story has to change. I have this image in my head of this character and I feel like anything that I do makes her not the person she is. I'm crazy, I know.

I might take a break and read for a few. Right now, I'm currently in the middle of reading Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. I just recently read the Vampire Lestat and long ago I read the Tale of the Body Thief. Even longer ago I read the Interview with the Vampire. I know I'm reading out of order, but everything still makes sense to me. Anyway, I like Anne Rice but her books can be too descriptive sometimes. It feels like it takes me forever to read them.
When I was on vacation I read Tuesdays With Morrie. That was a great book. It was really short and to the point. And the point was amazing. Live and Love.
After that I read Brian Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius. The book definitely started off strong. I couldn't help but feel awful for the author, but later on his sense of entitlement kind of annoyed me. In my experience personal tragedy never entitles anyone to anything but having to work harder.
The last book I read was a YA book called Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marrs. It's about faeries and it was pretty good. The story was quick moving and an interesting subject. I haven't really read a lot of fiction that deals with fey but the stuff that I have read I like. I've got the next two of the series on hold at the library.

Now I'm off to work on Writing, Reading and Researching submissions.

Vacation

Now that the busy season is over and done with at work, I have decided to take a break. Do I wish I was somewhere warm and sunny right now? Heck yes but I'm not. Instead I'm just taking a vacation from my stressful and time consuming job.
I don't have any definite plans for this week other than catching up with a few people. Aside from that, I plan to just get stuff done. I need to finish taking down the Christmas decorations, clean the house and work on posting more books on half.com and eBay.
What I really want to get done is lots of writing. I have to work on the story that I need to send to The First Line by the end of the month and I have a few other things to work on, like my next section of story for my writing group. We just met last night and normally wouldn't meet again until the first Sunday in February but due to birthdays, the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day, we wouldn't be able to meet at least until the 3rd Sunday so instead we're aiming for January 31st.
I also hope to get some reading done. I started the year out with Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which was good but long and slow moving, thus making it the only book I've read this year. If I'm trying to keep on schedule for 50 books a year, I'll need to read two books this week to catch up. A book a week is my usual goal. So now I need something short and light to read. Maybe my week off will include a trip to the library.

... until tomorrow

It's my week to work five days straight and today was my first of two nights to close. Before work I had to go grocery shopping and check on my sister's dog. After work I ate dinner and answered some e-mails. Now I'm posting before going to bed. And the whole point of this post is to say that I got absolutely nothing done today. I've fallen even further behind.

On the bright side last night I finished the book I've been reading. It's called "The City and the City" by China Mieville. When I first started reading it it took me a while to remember who was who because all of the names were unique to me. The story is an interesting idea but it takes a lot of thought to follow what's going on, especially in the beginning. It gets easier to understand further in when the writer has revealed more about how this particular society works but once I got to the end I felt a little let down. It's a murder mystery and the whole murder revolves around this huge and complicated idea but ends with such a simple explanation.
Although, to be fair I think I might have scanned over the last few pages a little too quickly. I was trying to finish it before falling asleep. Either way I finished.
Now I'm starting a new book by an author that's had work published in the magazine that I'm writing my story for. Hopefully, it will help with some insight.
Here's hoping tomorrow is more productive.

Cool moment

*For the record, I am post dating this entry. I tried to post it last night but blogger was not having it. However, it was posted on my livejournal

I got my laundry done tonight but I didn't get much else done at the laundromat. I usually go with my sister so that neither one of us has to face the potential creepiness alone. Too many weird old guys have it in their brain that the laundromat is a good place to pick up ladies. Yikes.
Anyway, the only thing really productive that came from the laundromat was that my sister actually had a cool moment. She's been reading the Twilight saga because every one of the grown women in her department has fallen in love with it and won't stop talking about it. My sister's a moderate reader. She doesn't read a lot but she does read. So she decided that she would try these books so she'd know what the heck everyone was talking about.
I'll admit I've read all four but regardless of whether I like something or not, I will struggle through it. I tell myself it could get better or I could think on it a while and realize that maybe it was good. If neither of those things happen I call it a learning experience.
I'm not trying to rip on Twilight. It's got the young people reading instead of watching TV, which is good, but Harry Potter it is not. And if one more person calls it that I will scream.
The books are okay and I can see why young girls fall in love with them. But the last one was the hardest for me to read (*spoiler alert*) because it was completely boring and unrealistic. The main character ends up with everything. She's immortal but gets to keep her mortal family. She's rich, well-dressed, beautiful, has a child (half mortal/half vampire) and despite the fact that she's only been a vampire for mere months she manages to stand up to an entire coven of the world's oldest and strongest vampires and, surprise, she has a super power that protects her family and friends from them. Oh and she doesn't lose her best bud/other love interest because she's going to let him marry her daughter. So they all just live happily ever after. There isn't even a cool battle in the end. They all show up to fight and then talk it out. LAME!
To me it was too perfect. Real life has tragedy and if a writer completely avoids that I think it makes a book pointless. There's has to be downs for there to be ups.
I could really go on in a bit more detail abou the book and what I didn't care for but it's not really something I feel I have to do.
Now back to my original story. So my sister's cool moment came when she was in the middle of Breaking Dawn, the final book, she drops it to the ground and says, "will you just tell me how this crap ends because I can't stand to read it any longer?"
Of course, when you don't read all that much, you probably don't want to waste your time on a novel you don't really like. Regardless, she had the power to walk away and for that I commend her because it is not something that I can do.

Adapted

Last night I went to see Angels and Demons. I was a little worried because they really changed the end of the Da Vinci Code and I didn't like it. I was happier with Angels and Demons. They did cut out a few things but I felt that two of the scenes they cut out were the things in the book that I thought were just a little too outrageous. Overall, it was a good movie and better than the movie adaption of the Da Vinci Code.

Speaking of books adapted to movies, two of my latest reads are books that were turned into movies, both of which I had seen the movie first.

The first was Memoirs of a Geisha. I really like the movie but I loved the book! The detail to culture was really interesting, but it was woven in with a great plot that kept too many facts from being boring. I was so intrigued and could barely put the book down despite already knowing what was going to happen.
The characters were also really well defined. I think that each ones personality was really well developed, no one was flat. There really wasn't anything that I didn't like about it.
It also defined what a true geisha is. Most people have misconceptions and don't realize the amount of work that went into the art of entertaining. It's an amazing book.


The other book that I read was the Notebook. I did like the movie. I thought it was a good love story. I have to say that this is the first time that I actually liked the movie better than the book. I liked how the movie told the whole story of their relationship not just a few days. I also liked how the movie made Noah's character so desperately in love with her, that he would do anything to have her back and never gave up hope. That may have made the movie a little more cheesy but I think if a girl is going to leave her fiance that she loves, than what she's leaving him for needs to be worth it.

Planning ahead

It hit me a few days ago that the month was almost over. How time flies. That means that the first Sunday in May is almost here, which means writing group. So I spent today working on the last part of Worth Something. I have it to a point where it could be the end or I could add a little more and I'm not really sure what to do. Maybe I'll add a little more then ask the writing group where they think it should end.

For the first time in a while I got out the Writer's Market. I know I mentioned a few months back that I think humor might be my thing. It's the only thing that I've had much luck with and I hadn't really gotten anywhere with literary stories, which was mostly what I had been submitting. So I've been trying to find places to send a few of my humorous stories, including the one that started my funny revelation, Secret Identity Crisis.
What I've come to find is that, when it comes to short stories, there are a lot less places for humor than there are for literary stories. Of course, in the past, I found the same problem with action, adventure, fantasy and sci-fi.

I finished the Lord of the Flies, but I read it kind of half-heartedly before bed every night. And I feel like a bad reader/writer because I didn't catch the big flaw that D.B. Echo mentioned.
Now I'm on to Bone Crossed, the fourth book in the Mercy Thomas series, by Patricia Briggs. I'm actually almost done. I'll probably finish it tonight.

Just watched: Marley and Me (again)
Currently watching: Reno! 911

Bands and books

I started my short story that I mentioned in the last post. I think I'm going to call it Helping Hand, so that's how I'll I refer to it for now. I have really gotten much done but the day is young.

Last Thursday I went to see a band called Brena and they were awesome. They have a very cool mainstream rock style going on. I liked them so much that I just uploaded their new album on my iPod.
Yes, that's right. I now have an iPod. After years of saying that I want one, but not buying one for various reasons, an iPod nano has managed to fall into my hands. So now I can create all kinds of awesome playlists for all my writing endeavors.

I started reading Lord of the Flies and I just bought the 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes. Both are pretty short books. I like to envision me having them both done by the end of the week, but I hate to get ahead of myself.

Birthdays, holidays, musicals, books and jury duty and it's only Wednesday!

Well this week has been pretty hectic. It started with Easter, which was also my birthday. Yes, I am another year older. And I will spare everyone my melodramatic look back at my accomplishments or the lack there of. I will also not venture to far out to say "this will be my year," because I think I've just been jinxing myself.

After that, I had jury duty. I did get picked for a trial but then I was dismissed after the lawyers questioned me. It was an interesting experience. Some of the things that the lawyers think to ask potential jurors just amazes me. That's probably why they make the big bucks. The experience definitely gave me some insight in case I'm ever writing about a trial.

Yesterday, I went to see the Lion King. The tickets were a birthday present and I was very excited. It was a fantastic performance. The kids that played Simba and Nala were very cute and talented. The dialogue and music pretty much followed the movie. There were also some new songs. A few of the new songs like "The Morning Report" and "Chow Down", were a little cheesy and seemed like they were in the show just because they needed more musical numbers. Other songs like "Endless Night," were a beautiful addition. There was also a lot of added African dancing and music, which really added to the show making it less like a Disney cartoon and more like a work of art. The costumes and the set design were amazing. There was literally far too much to take in. Every thing was so colorful and lively, I didn't know where to look. I would love to see it again.

And the only other thing is that I finished reading the Historian. I was real bummed out with the ending. When you're going to battle Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler, that battle better be grueling and it better take more than one gun shot to take him down. Sorry if I ruined it for anyone but if this is a book someone was going to invest time into reading, they may want to be prepared for the fact that the book is all about history and not suspense and action-filled battles.

Now, what to read next? Also, I have the day off tomorrow. I'd like to start a new short story about dealing with a bad work environment. I have an idea, obviously. I'll try to elaborate more once I have something actually written.

The latest reading list

A few weeks ago I finally finished reading the eleven books that have, so far, made up the Harry Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Although, I believe a new book has or will come out in April. The books weren't necessarily intellectual reading but they were fun and they read pretty quickly. They're about a modern day wizard, living in modern day Chicago, who is the only wizard listed in the phone book. During the series he runs into all kinds of supernatural beings such as vampires, werewolves, fairies, ghost, fallen angels, demons, and he has lots of really interesting friends to help him. I enjoyed the series for some light and entertaining reading.

After that, I received the new David Sedaris book, When You Are Engulfed In Flames, for Valentine's Day. It was funny and I did enjoy it but I feel like he has less interesting things to say now that he's a wealthy, famous writer rather than a poor, struggling writer. Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that this book mentioned his family significantly less than his others. His unique family was definitely something that really made his early books funny. I still laughed with this one but not as much as I have with his previous works.

Right now I'm reading the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I really didn't plan on reading this book but it came to me in a weird way. I had given somebody one of my book club chain letters that Jenni dragged me into, and that person was suppose to send a book to Jenni. However, he didn't really feel that he would be able to handle the task of mailing it. (The post office can be complicated.) So he asked me to give it to her...four months ago. Well, I have seen her twice since then but I have forgotten the book. Then I started reading it.
Anyway, it's a long book, well over 600 pages. The idea is cool. A group of historians search for proof that Vlad the Impaler is the real Dracula and that he is still living an undead existence as a vampire. Of course, the book can move slowly. They cover a lot of history and geography. There is a ton of detail. At times it reads more like non-fiction, full of facts, and the story tying it all together seems to just fall in every now and again. I'm just now in the 400s after two weeks of reading. It's not one of those books that I just can't put down. I usually fall asleep after a chapter or so if I'm reading before bed. So far I don't feel emotionally connected to any of the characters. I could really care less what happens to them I just want to get to the end and find out what the plot twist is because there must be one. Also, I'm not a person who can quit a book. I have to finish. The book is intriguing sometimes but most of the time I feel like I'm studying. Maybe the last 200 pages will pick up a bit.

50 in '08!

I did it! I finally did it. I read 50 books in a year! Here are the books I read in 2008.



1. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

2. The Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind

3. The Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind

4. Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind

5. Soul of Fire by Terry Goodkind

6. Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind

7. Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind

8. Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind

9. Chainfire by Terry Goodkind

10. Phantom by Terry Goodkind

11. Confessor by Terry Goodkind

12. The 36 Hour Day by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins

13. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

14. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

15. Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

16. The Golden Notebook by Doris Letting

17. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult

18. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

19. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

20. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

21. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

22. Wicked by Geoffrey Maguire

23. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

24. He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behren

25. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

26. Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

27. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

28. Blood Is the New Black by Valerie Stivers

29. Atonement by Ian McEwan

30. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

31. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

32. Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

33. The Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

34. Twilight by Stephenie Meyerr

35. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

36. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

37. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

38. Cravings by Laurell K. Hamilton, Mary Janice Davidson, Eileen Wilks and Rebecca York

39. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King

40. Everything's Eventual by Stephen King

41. Gates of Eden by Ethan Cohen

42. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

43. 20th Century Ghost Story by Joe Hill

44. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

45. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

46. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

47. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

48. Death Masks by Jim Butcher

49. Holidays on Ice by Dave Sedaris

50. The Tales of Beetle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Get back to work

Yes, I have a new computer. So why haven't I posted more? Well I have a job that takes up too much time. And I'm not at home much (it just recently occurred to me that a laptop is mobile). Plus, the holidays are hectic for me. In my family, I always host the holidays. I do the planning, the shopping, the cleaning, the cooking, the cleaning and it's time consuming.
Enough excuses, I need to get back to it. Writing group will be meeting a week from today, which means I need something to send by Fridayish.
What to send? My last story was such a success that I'm worried nothing will live up to Secret Identity Crisis. I have no new funny stuff. So I might have to go back to drama.
I have a short story, Worth Something, that examines the value of money and what it means to different people. It's basically done. I wrote it in long hand and planned to put the finishing touches on it as I typed it up, which I'm about half way done with.
I could take a section of my short story turned novella that I still have no title for. No one dies in either story but they are both a bit depressing.
There's also the option of scrounging up something super old or writing something completely new.

Aside from writing group I need to get reading. I need to finish four more books by the end of the year to finally accomplish my goal of reading 50 books a year.

The Bestest Friend Ever!

Jenni is the bestest friend ever because she gave me this new awesome computer that I'm now using. It's much faster and has many more great attributes than the last one I had. The best part is that Jenni gave it to me out of love, not because she wanted free Internet.

And since I'm using terms like "bestest friend ever", let me tell you what I did last night. I went to see Twilight. I know, why, when I didn't really care for the book? I had some weird hope that the screenplay would add more action and cut out a lot of inner-dialogue, which is usually what movies do to ruin stories that I loved in book format. This movie left in all that whiny, selfish inner-dialogue and had about five minutes of decent action. No good. I wanted to leave in the first fifteen minutes. Slow moving and completely unsuspenseful. Of course, the giggling and applauding teen girls in the crowd apparently thought differently.
I dragged Slipstream with me and he says it doesn't matter if he "looks" 17, he's still over a hundred and dating a 16 year old. And that's just not right.

Reading update

Since I've been away from blogger world, I haven't had a chance to update on what I've been reading. I haven't even been able to add to goodreads.com.
While my new job doesn't allow much extra time for writing. I also haven't had a lot of time for reading. I miss those eight hour shifts with nothing to do but read.
I'm still on track to read fifty novels this year. I'm up to forty-three. So that means a novel a week for the rest of the year.
Right now, I'm finishing "Odd Hours," the most recent book in Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series. I go back and forth with these books. I really liked the first one. Odd is funny, even though he's not trying to be, so his interaction with others is what I like most. Unfortunately, in book two he was solo most of the time, which I didn't really enjoy. Book three brought back some of that great interaction, which I enjoyed. Book four he's mostly solo again. And it's too bad because a lot of characters, that help Odd, are real fantastic. Not to mention, the book has a very vague ending, which does set up a sequel, but left me feeling really lost.

Pass it on

Normally, I'm not down with chain mail. If you send me an e-mail saying I'll have good fortune if I forward it, I won't do it. If someone sends me a myspace message that says I'll die if I don't repost it, I'll take my chances. However, today I got a cool chain letter that I actually think could be fun. I'm asked to send a book, just one, that I've enjoyed to another person, that is named on my letter. Then I send out six of my own letters that will have the person that sent the letter to me listed on it. The people I send the letters to should in turn send a book to my sender and then send out letters with my name. So if each person sends one book and six letters they will receive 36 books.
I know it seems like most chain letters are a scam, and some are, particularly those that involve money, but I have to get behind this one. First off, it's one book. It can be used and I'm sure everyone has one book sitting around somewhere that they don't plan on reading again. Second, books are cheap to send. Ask for media mail at the post office. It's less than $3.00 for books. Third, it's basically just a book exchange, which I do with lots of people already. The number one thing I give to and lend to people is books. I like to encourage reading. It's becoming a lost art, in a world of t.v. and video games.
So I'm going for it. I'm going to do it. I already know what book I'm going to send and I plan on listing any books I may receive. I hope it works out and that the people I select keep it going because it seems like a super cool idea.

Books are my new blogs

I want you all to know that I feel very lonely not having regular Internet access. I miss my daily blog readings. If your blog is in my sidebar I most likely checked it daily, if not twice daily because I have no life. Now I only get to check them once a week.

I'm trying to get over my loneliness and utilize my time without the Internet. I'm happy to report that I'm up to 32 novels this year, which has me well on my way to this being the year I finally read 50 novels.

I finished Iron Kissed from the Mercedes Thompson series, the werewolf books, by Patricia Briggs. I was seriously surprised by the end of the last book. Usually nothing bad ever happens to the main characters. Something almost always prevents it just in time. This book did not end up like that. I was amazed the writer had the nerve to do that. And from what I read she's writing another book in the series. I'm curious to see how that turns out.

Today, my co-worker and future roommate lent me the last book of the Twilight series. I find the main character to be selfish and whiny, and I can't understand why two immortal and supernatural beings are fighting over her. Yet, I can't seem to go without ever knowing how it ends. My co-worker dropped me some hints about why I'll like the main character, Bella, even less.
After that I'm not sure what I'm going to read.

The Weekend

I have the weekend off from work. So today is my last chance to post without going a whole week without posting. Unless of course I made it to the library this weekend, which could happen.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything deep and meaningful to write. Just a few updates.

Writing group went well on Monday. Sadly, we're starting to fade out again. August is filled with vacations and weddings. Before you know it, school will be back in again. We're going to try to have a few more meetings in August and make an attempt at meet once a month during the school year. Hopefully, we can hold it together.

My summer reading list is getting longer. I started reading the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, as well as continuing with my werewolf series by Patricia Briggs. I'm not sure what the series is called but I just read the second book, which was Blood Bound.

And I've given into peer pressure. Thanks to my co-worker, I'm now on the third book with of the Twilight series. Those young adult romance novels about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. Apparently, they're huge. There's a movie coming out in December and the fourth book comes out next week and they're having midnight book parties for it. I have some thoughts about these books but I'll share later when I'm done.


Also, I miss my Internet friends. I hardly ever get a chance to e-mail Jenni anymore. I haven't had a IM chat with DBEcho in forever. I've tried my best to keep up with every one's blogs. Hang in there with me. I'm trying to fix this.

And I've added another link to the sidebar. Chad is another writer who stumbled into this blog. I've checked out his blog and I think the links worth sharing.

Summer reading

Not having a functioning computer has given me lots of time for reading. I was hoping to have 25 by the end of June to have me on track for 50 books in a year. I have 26 books read and am working on 27. YAY!

I finished the Thirteenth Tale and it was pretty good. There was a crazy twist at the ending. And the author wrote it so that the clues were there all along but they weren’t obvious clues. I enjoyed it.

After that I didn’t really have anything on hand to read so I started reading an Ann Rice book I had on hand but had never read, The Mummy. I haven’t read all of her stuff, just a few things. For the most part I like her work, but I wasn’t really getting into this book. I had been reading it for three days and only had 50 pages done. For me that’s not normal.

So I went to the library looking for Dean Koontz, James Patterson and Patricia Briggs books, all which have been recommended to me, and I promised I would give a try. I went to a smaller branch that didn’t have much in stock, except for books that seemed to be in the middle of series and I can’t dive in like that.
Then I remembered a movie preview I had seen when I went to see Get Smart, which was hysterical, go see it. Anyway, the trailer for this movie looks funny so I thought I would check for the book, He’s Just Not That Into You.
It was a short book that I read in a day. Not funny at all. In fact it was non-fiction but I can see how they would get the idea for the movie from it. It got me thinking about situations that myself and my friends have been in or are in and it bummed me out. Of course, this book is just one guy’s opinion but if he’s right, which seems logical, then I must say ‘boys are stupid, throw rocks at them’.

Then I finished up my Ann Rice book, because I really can’t start reading something then stop. It got better the more I read it, but the ending was a bit boring. And overall it just moved too slow.

After that I did find the first of a Patricia Briggs series, Moon Called, and the book was really good. It revolves around the lives of werewolves, which I thought was interesting. Usually, they rarely show the human side of werewolves, it's more a "they're scary and will eat you" kind of thing. This book really went into how they live normal lives and how they control themselves, so that they can blend in with society. It seems like this is pretty common with modern vampire fiction, but this was the first time I found it with werewolves. Maybe I just don't read enough werewolf fiction.

Now I'm reading Atonement, another book about a writer writing. I saw the movie, which, I really liked and was worried I wouldn't. I thought it was going to be a cheesy romance and I was happy to be wrong, even though the story was tragic.
I find it really interesting how the movie stuck so strongly to the book, even with what the characters were wearing. At least as far as I can remember. Maybe I'll have to watch it again once I'm done with the book.

Just saw: Hancock