Elephants On Trapezes

Big Sur Writing Workshop (and crazy-face goals)

2012-02-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

I have been absent, but I have good reasons:

I took the plunge and registered for the Big Sur Writing Workshop, to be held the first weekend of March. Not only is this the very first professional workshop/conference/anything! I've ever been to as a prospective writer, it will also be the first time I've rented a car. Ever. Not to mention the fact that I haven't driven more than a few blocks in five years. (Let the adventure ensue.)

Honestly, I had absolutely no idea I was going to be interested in this workshop a month ago. I wasn't even thinking about workshops -- mostly I was moping about how much I had left to do on my current WIP before I could possibly consider sending queries for it. But then one of my friends came back from a conference of his own, gushing, and I saw Casey McCormick's post about it a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden I was thinking thoughts like, It's only BARELY out of my price range, and Why not? Because really, WHY NOT? I've been seriously plugging away at this writing thing for close to two years now, and to be honest, I haven't really gotten where I wanted to be (or even close). Maybe it's time to change something up, I thought.

So I registered. Which turned out to be a great decision right off the bat, as it forced me to write a query for the first time. I think it's sort of okay, but who really knows? (Hint: After this workshop, I will!)

I'm excited. I'm really, really excited. For the first time ever, my writing is going to be in front of (relatively) objective eyes. Specifically, objective eyes from one of the most respected children's lit agencies in the country (Andrea Brown Literary). I had a dream about it last night, that's how crazy excited I am...

...But there's just one (tiny) catch: My WIP is not ready to be seen by objective eyes. In fact, before I signed up for this workshop I was busy doing an enormous drag-down beat-it-out rewrite of the entire thing. And then, suddenly, I had four weeks to beat it into shape. (GULP.)

So that's where I've been all of February. I finished the rewrite on Monday (YAY!), but now am look forward to the sprintiest marathon of my life as I attempt (Heroic or tragic? You decide.) to prettify this draft sufficiently in the next two and a half weeks. I'm doing a rough outline tonight and diving in tomorrow. There is a good chance I will not survive. (There is an even greater chance that you will not hear from me until after the workshop. Gentles, do not despair.)

Are any of you going to be there? It occurs to me that I have absolutely no idea what I am getting myself into...

Re: The Hunchback

2012-01-29T22:24:00.000-08:00

I should really come up with a feature title for these posts, since I may be doing more of them. No literary analysis here as yet - just one (spoiler-free) quote. My favorite of the first 160 pages, regarding the bells of Notre Dame:

"Here, certainly, is an opera worth hearing. Ordinarily, the murmur that escapes from Paris in the daytime is the city talking; in the night, it is the city breathing, but here, it is the city singing. Listen then to this ensemble of the steeples; diffuse over it the murmur of half a million people, the everlasting plaint of the river, the boundless breathings of the wind, the grave and distant quartet of the four forests placed upon the hills in the distance like so many vast organs, immersing in them, as in a demitint, all in the central concert that would otherwise be too raucous or too sharp, and then say whether you know of anything in the world more rich, more joyous, more golden, more dazzling than this tumult of bells and chines, this furnace of music, these ten thousand voices of brass, all singing together in flutes of stone three hundred feet high--than this city which is no longer anything but an orchestra--than this symphony as loud as a tempest." (p. 133)

This quote takes my breath away. I imagine actually hearing the bells would produce a similar effect.

Tumblr?

2012-01-26T17:01:00.000-08:00

I always believe that I don't have that many internet homes, but when I list them all out my eyes tend to go slightly buggy. My "for-public-consumption" homes include two blogs (this one, as well as one currently in hibernation), one twitter feed (this one), and one pinterest account (this one). That's probably not so many, come to think of it...

While I've engaged in brief flirtations with other services in the past there hasn't been one that's caught my eye...except tumblr. People do things on tumblr. Shiny things. Things that make me think that maybe I should do shiny things on tumblr as well. Except...really, does the world need "just another tumblr blog"? Given that I have enough trouble keeping this one up-to-date and (hopefully) at least a smidge above "watching paint dry" on the boring scale, I probably should not start a tumblr without a clear vision. Which means starting a tumblr is not in my immediate plans.

But still...shiny. So, anyone who has a tumblr, I'm soliciting opinions here. What do you think of yours? The service? What is it good at? Any tips would be appreciated.

The Canon: The Phantom Tollbooth

2012-01-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that I read this book for the first time last week?

I know, it's incredible. Astonishing, really, that a bookavore so well-read as I could possibly go twenty two years without The Phantom Tollbooth clutched greedily in her paws.

To be honest I was a little concerned when I began this book that it would turn out much like my reading experience of Betsy-Tacy. I read that one for the first time in December, and while I could see my five-year-old self adoring these books, my twenty-two-year-old self merely nodded approvingly in a few places and shrugged at the end.

Luckily The Phantom Tollbooth is a book no word lover could ever shrug at. This is why, though it hasn't been in my life for very long, I feel confident in saying that The Phantom Tollbooth will have a treasured place in my hypothetical child's library. (Of course my child will love words as I do - how could s/he not?)

Frequent readers of this sort of book will not be fooled by the dangers presented in its pages. Of course Milo will rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason and come out at the other end alive. That good triumphs in the end is not at question. The delight, then, is in the words themselves.

It's clear that Norton Juster is a master at wordplay. The wit! The double meanings! The literalization of the Doldrums, Expectations, Conclusions... There is something witty happening on every page. I loved every second of this book, though if forced to pick and choose I would give Tock first prize, followed closely by Chroma's orchestra.

If you love words and adventures and dogs, I recommend this book to you. It would be an excellent read-aloud pick, but only if you share the illustrations liberally.

Reading the Classics

2012-01-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

This is not a hugely long analytic post about how to read the classics. This is just to say, I'm reading them. I made a few resolutions for 2012, none of which have anything to do with reading. But the start of a new year is always a good time to reflect on things, even if you don't elevate goals into the elite status of "Resolution," so this year I want to do this, reading-wise: read the classics.

I've been around the classics block. I've certainly read more classic literature than the average American (though less than the average English major, no doubt). I count Les Miserables among one of my all-time favorite books (and I was looking forward to the new movie adaptation...until they cast Taylor Swift...). It's not like my life is completely bereft of the classics...but these days my literary diet consists mostly of young adult.

There's nothing wrong with young adult! I love young adult! I write young adult! But sometimes I want a book guaranteed to push me and make me think. Over the winter holidays I read Emma, and boy did that make my brain hurt in the "I really can't read more than two chapters at a time without feeling my eyes blurring" way. Reading the classics is often difficult, and I like that. I like reading sentences more than once to catch the double- or triple-meaning. I like feeling like I'm soaking in the knowledge of a different era, a different mindset, a different life. I like working for it, is what it comes down to.

So, my goal: to always be reading a classic. Right now I'm mining my own shelves, since I have a number of very nice hardcover editions I haven't even cracked. Having just finished Emma (and I may have to review it here, just to see what you all think of it), I'll be starting The Hunchback of Notre Dame in a few days. I may post thoughts here. Or maybe not. I suppose you'll just have to wait and see.

A Million Suns (Beth Revis)

2012-01-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "Godspeed was fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to enact his vision - no more Phydus, no more lies.

But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart. In book two of the Across the Universe trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis mesmerizes us again with a brilliantly crafted mystery filled with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship."

There is something about Beth Revis. She just does not. let. up.

I opened up A Million Suns right before bed, intending to read one chapter... Well, you can guess where this is going. Suddenly it was pretty late, and there was work in the morning, and I was just wrapping up the book. Just what was compelling enough to keep me compulsively glued to the pages?

Well, the action. If you can remember, Across the Universe didn't exactly end on the best of circumstances. A Million Suns just goes downhill (in the best of ways). Bad things happen, and they just keep coming. Things are bad? Well, they're about to get worse. Things are going well? Never a good sign. Revis kept me turning pages as the stakes were raised higher and higher, and each reveal meant coming to terms with the fact that hardly anything on Godspeed was what it seemed. It wasn't like I wasn't sure who was going to survive to the end of the book -- it was more like I wasn't sure who was going to survive to the end of the scene at times.

Second, the romance. In the midst of all this epic sci-fi-thriller-ness, the way that Elder and Amy interacted was, dare I say, totally realistic? They disagreed, neither of them acted the shrinking violet or the ultra-protector, all the while maintaining that slow, closing orbit. Which, of course, made the payoff that much better. I am really interested to see how the relationship will develop given some of the things I'm predicting will happen in the next book...

Confession time: I don't remember Across the Universe that well. Getting caught by all the baits and switches that A Million Suns pulled really made me want to go back and read the first book again, if only to see if I could spot all the tricks. I will definitely be rereading both of these before the third book comes out.

So, onward to the third book! I really enjoyed the ending. Not giving anything away here, but I thought it made complete sense given what I understood of the characters, and it left the door WIDE open for all sorts of shenanigans. Now I'm biting my nails to see what happens next. Given everything that Revis has set up, it can't be anything less than explosive.

Source: I received an ARC of this title through an ARC tour facilitated by www.secretofthestars.com.

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Notes To Myself

2012-01-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

To myself (and to you), for 2012 (and beyond), on this blog (and beyond):

Write for yourself, not for an audience. Do not censor yourself in anticipation of future "platform" issues. Swear, if swearing is called for. Be frivolous, if frivolity is invited. Break rules. Write what you want, when you want. Write things worth reading. Write things that make you think. Write things with no simple answers. Talk to people to whom you want to talk. Comment on the blogs that interest you. Talk to everyone...or talk to no one. You owe nothing to anyone except to yourself, as a writer, as a blogger.

Above all things stay true to yourself.

Query Responses

2011-11-28T15:21:00.001-08:00

I've been out of it for the past few weeks (life stuff is stressing me out big time), but I've heard there are some things going around on the internets about whether an agent has a responsibility to respond to each query he or she receives. So, my brief thoughts.

1. Agents are busy people. Many queries they receive are (to say it politely) just slightly unhinged. Not to mention the hordes who don't read instructions, who query on projects outside of what the agent represents, who can't spell to save their lives.... The list goes on.

2. I don't believe that agents have an absolute responsibility to reply individually to each query they receive. Given that some bigger agencies receive hundreds of queries per agent, per day, I don't think it's feasible. It would be nice...but I think there are better ways for agents to be spending their time.

3. However, I do feel that if an agency has a "no response means no" policy, they do have a responsibility to have an auto-response indicating receipt. Color me slightly unhinged myself (and let's face it, what writer isn't?), but I'm just neurotic enough to bite my nails for six weeks straight worrying that my query was eaten by a spam filter. An auto-response means that after six weeks I can accept the rejection and move on, rather than tearing my hair out wondering if maybe, just maybe, my query wasn't received (and should therefore be re-sent).

So, thoughts. Now I'm out. Maybe next week I'll have fought my way out of the stress-monster.

True Confessions: The 99%, Occupy Cal

2011-11-14T20:58:00.001-08:00

Much life-ness going on, and much I'm not sure I want to talk about on this blog. The truth is, there are many things I'm just not sure about. And there is enough not-sure-ness to keep from writing coherently about it. But these things are haunting me - enough so that I feel compelled to write something, despite the not-sure-ness I feel. So. True confession time.

I sympathize with the frustrations expressed by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. At one point I was reading the We are the 99% Tumblr and shaking my head inside. I am blessed enough to have been born into a fairly well-off family, enough so that I could afford to attend college and graduate with no student loans, private or federal. (I still owe a lot back to my family, but I'm lucky not to have the atrocious terms attached to outside loans.) I am lucky enough to still be covered by my family's health insurance plan, though I'm paying out-of-pocket costs of several hundred dollars for annual doctors' visits and prescriptions. I'm fortunate enough to have found a full-time job right out of college that enables me to pay for those visits, as well as the occasional dinner out or new dress.

But there are so many people who don't have those privileges. A response Tumblr, We are the 53%, seems to have an audience saying (generally speaking) that the 99% are nothing more than lazy. That if they just tried more, or worked harder, they'd be fine. Again, I have nothing more to say than "Screw you," to those folks.

Sure, there are some people complaining about nothing much in their own lives. I'm sure there are some currently unemployed people who are lazy. But for most of the 99%, at least what I've seen, this couldn't be farther from the case. Most of 99% messages I saw referred either to crushing student loans (the majority of which were over $100,000), or exceptionally high health care costs, usually related to a severe illness such as cancer. So, 53%, are you blaming these people for getting cancer?

I don't pretend to know the best way to fix this country. But I do know there is something terrifyingly wrong when our citizens' futures are compromised because of circumstances largely outside of their control. I believe there are minimum services the United States government can and should provide to all citizens, at affordable prices. Students should not have to work full time so they can afford to attend college at the same time. Every person in this country should have access to affordable health insurance and health care. Getting a quality education should not put anyone into insurmountable debt. Being diagnosed with cancer should not be an automatic bankruptcy sentence.

Back to Occupy Wall Street. I'm not sure what can realistically come of the movement, but I support the motivation and the right of the people to protest nonviolently. I'm pretty sure that for this next bit to make sense, I need to out myself as a Berkeley resident. I moved here to attend UC Berkeley, have since graduated, and now work full time in Berkeley.

So I heard about Occupy Cal as it was happening. I rode past it on my bike, though I was not part of the crowd. I heard the helicopters outside. I watched the live broadcasts online late, late into the night last Wednesday. And I was absolutely disgusted to see what I saw, and read what I read following the incident. (Please see this link for fairly comprehensive coverage, as well as this article at The Daily Cal, the UC Berkeley student newspaper.) These are students and professors being beaten and offering no resistance while being arrested. (Arrests which, I should note, they did not resist.) One notable professor, Celeste Langan, was yanked by the hair and forced to the ground in the course of her arrest.

Berkeley, I don't know what to say. I admire the UC Berkeley students and professors who stood in peaceful protest. I condemn the UC Regents leadership and police team, whose use of force in the events of November 9, 2011, were atrocious and completely unwarranted.

What's my position on all this? Nebulous and not easily articulated. But I've been thinking a lot about it recently, and I hope you will as well.

Some thoughts

2011-11-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

...These are kind of uncollected, and all relating to NaNoWriMo.

So, it's started. So far it's been going well (after two days, possibly the best I've ever done NaNo). This is my fifth year participating. I've "won" every year, but for the most part, produced nothing I'm interested in hanging on to. Over the past few years I became a master at mass-producing crappy words. This year, I'm going for leisure (and quality). Hitting 1,667 (good words) a day is a lot easier when I'm used to churning out 5,000+.

It's also very bizarre working on my NaNo WIP. The WIP I've been revising has been the only thing I've worked on for the past year, literally. It's weird to be writing something new, and weird to be writing the sequel. All the characters who show up in the second book are so different from the way they are in the old one, and working on the two side by side is messing with my mind. (Not only am I aiming for 1,667 on the new WIP, I'm also trying to revise one scene on the old WIP per day.)

...Now that I'm working on two big things at once, I'm thinking I should give them different code names. They can't both be simply "WIP." They can't even both be simply "NaNo WIP." Well. Secret Novel and Agent Orange? Thing 1 and Thing 2? Blue Spots and SnoogyBoo?

Anyway, those are my scattered thoughts. I'd try to mess this into a better blog post, but I need to get back to NaNo. Hope it's going well for you all!

The Canon: Ella Enchanted

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is not a very good image of the cover, but it will have to do.

So I asked you all a few weeks ago about "the canon": what books you would stock your child's library with. My long term goal with that project is to talk about every single one of those books, but first I have to reread each of them and make sure that a: I still think they make the cut, and b: I remember what happens.

Ella Enchanted is first. Why? Mostly because it's the book I reread first, but it's an obvious choice for my child's library. I have a paperback copy. The binding is worn out and the cover is torn. I keep meaning to purchase a nice hardcover, but I never get around to it. Suffice to say this book has been well-loved, and I will (eventually) buy another copy. In the meantime, my copy shows its 50+ reads.

I reread it yesterday. There's something innately comforting about Ella Enchanted, like snuggling into a comfy chair with a mug of hot chocolate on a rainy day. For those of you who haven't read the book (Where have you been living? Under a rock?), Ella Enchanted is a retelling of the fairy tale Cinderella. The hook? Ella, our heroine, has been saddled with a curse of obedience: When given an order, she must follow it. Add in some ogres, giants, a very charming prince, and devious step-siblings, and you have one interesting ride.

I love Ella because she's stubborn and independent, and she doesn't take no for an answer. She is an active heroine who spends an understandable amount of time wallowing in her misfortune before picking herself back up and moving on. Char, her love interest, is also compelling, if not equally so, and he's a genuinely nice guy (a rare creature if ever there was one in the current YA scene). Gail Carson Levine's writing is smooth and playful, and honestly, every single page of this book is a pleasure to read.

Let's not talk about the ill-advised movie adaptation. This is definitely one where I say READ THE BOOK. The movie is not worth your time.

In conclusion, why does Ella Enchanted make my canon? First, because it's a fairy tale. I am a fairy tale devotee -- telling me that your book is based on a fairy tale automatically makes me about twice as likely to pick it up. Second, because it's a fun, well-written adventure about an independent girl with a big heart and a taste for adventure. The world needs more heroines like Ella. Third, because after 50+ readings (and who am I kidding, it's probably more like 100+), this story doesn't lose its charm. I can easily imagine reading it to my child night after night after night. In fact, I might just go reread it now...

NaNoWriMo!

2011-10-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

These days I'm trying not to look at the calendar too much (seriously, what day is it again?) because if I see how much time is left in the year I might actually pass out. Where did 2011 go? But one thing that makes counting down to the end of the year slightly more bearable is the arrival of NaNoWriMo.

Many "serious" writers and publishing folk tend to scoff at NaNoWriMo, claiming that no "serious" writer would ever stoop to attempting the challenge (in basic terms, to produce 50,000 new words in the 30 days of November), claiming that NaNoWriMo is nothing more than a colossal waste of time.

To which I say, "Sucks to be you, then." (Short side note: there is SO MUCH kerfluffle in my small niche of the book world [Nano enthusiast and YA writer/reader] that at the end of the day I don't have much energy to say anything other than "Whatever, screw you," to each new article claiming that such and such doesn't count as "real literature" or is worthless or is corrupting our children! or.... Yeah.)

Don't get me wrong, NaNoWriMo doesn't work for everyone, and its purpose is easily misinterpreted. If you sit at your computer at 12:01am November 1st, expecting to have a completed, query-ready novel at the end of the month... Well, then you don't really know much about writing, or the industry.

In my experience, NaNoWriMo is the perfect antidote to writer's block, an excellent kick-starter, and an all-around good time. NaNo is great if you've been meaning to write that novel FOREVER, but just haven't found the time. NaNoWriMo tells you, "This is the time!" NaNoWriMo is excellent for those people (like me) who have a serious perfectionism complex, resulting in hours and hours spent varying four words in a 75,000 word manuscript. NaNoWriMo tells us, "There's no time for dilly-dallying! Get those words writ, man!"

In short, the ideal product of NaNoWriMo is a draft of a novel. It may be misshapen and slightly green, but it's a draft. (The founders are very clear about this. If you go to the site, there's an entire section devoted to what to do after NaNo, the biggest point of which is REVISE.)

If that sounds like a good time, then by all means, hop on. This ride is for you. But please please please remember: Do not submit your NaNo novel to agents at 12:01am December 1st. There are publishing folk everywhere girding their inboxes for the onslaught of queries reading something like "OMG I TOTES finished this book in 28.4 days and it is TOTES AWESOME!"

*Side note to those who claim nothing but crap ever comes out of NaNoWriMo: The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern), Water For Elephants (Sara Gruen), The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan), and Cinder (Marissa Meyer) all started as NaNo novels, among others.

All quiet on the blog frontier

2011-10-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

So it's been quiet. Too quiet. So quiet I can't even think of where to begin updating on what's been going on in my life. I have a feeling that if I started meandering about everything that I'm occupied with these days, this blog post will get so long no one will make it to the end. It would become one of those endurance courses: can you get to the third paragraph? The fifth? The fourteenth?

My time recently has been spent occupied by one or more of the following:

1. Work. An unfortunate necessity. I don't think anything more needs to be said on the subject.

2. Writing. This is going - going! This is the first time I'm announcing it in public, so here goes: I'm aiming to have my first substantive revision done (and off to as-yet-undecided betas) by November 1. Conveniently, this allows for a break from this WIP to work on an altogether different WIP during NaNoWriMo (which is approaching, as you all should know).

3. Running. It's puzzling. I say I hate running...and yet I do it anyway. Why? Mostly because it's the easiest way I can think of to get in a decent workout. So that's been happening. Puzzlingly.

4. Choir. I've been kicking around an idea about tying in my choir with my WIP (there's lots of singing in both), but haven't really figured out how to articulate it yet.

What I haven't really been doing: Reading. Oh, there are books. But not enough that I feel like I'm really reading, not like I'm used to. Apparently this is an unfortunate side effect of spending most of my free time writing.

More to come. I feel like I'm shaking the dust off my blog and sending back out into the world. Hello, world!

When She Woke (Hillary Jordan)

2011-09-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "Faith, love and sexuality have fallen prey to politics in this stunning creation of America in the near future, from the author whose international bestseller, Mudbound, so hauntingly recreated America’s past. Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family, but after her arrest, she awakens to a nightmare: she lies on a table in a mirrored room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new “chromes”—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime— is a new and sinister form of reality TV. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. The victim, says the state of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love. Inspired by The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a dark fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate a dystopian, theocratic America of the not-too-distant future, where convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated, but “chromed” and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the moral authority of a country that politicizes the personal."

I thought the premise was brilliant. There are so many places you can go! The whole "chrome" idea has so much potential, especially regarding the back and forth between privacy and safety. Same goes for the integration of the reality television bit, even though that only appears for a short bit in the beginning. And let's not forget the tracking devices. SO MUCH going on here with government overstepping its bounds and human interaction and where to draw the line. Abortion! Hate crimes! Religion and state! So much to salivate over! So much to chew on!

Unfortunately, I wasn't as keen on where Hillary Jordan chose to take her story. The set up was wonderful, and raised really big questions, but I was disappointed to find that the story itself, as it developed, remained so close to Hannah and her personal journey, which mirrors that of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Obviously that's a big inspiration here, but in the end I felt that Jordan had created this wonderfully terrifying world only to follow Hannah through a story the well read reader will already knows, sticking closely with Hannah's limitations and points of view. Almost like creating a masterpiece only to cut out a 3 by 3 inch piece and present that to the viewer -- I thought there was potential for a much larger, more thought-provoking work than the one we see.

I wish that Jordan had let go of the need to stick to the storyline of The Scarlet Letter. It serves as a great starting point, but she came up with a world much bigger than the original story line. When She Woke should have expanded to consider more of the questions the premise raises. Instead, it stayed small.

Final thoughts: The premise is brilliant; the execution doesn't match it. Still a good read, though.

Source: I received an ARC of this title from the publisher.

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Paralysis

2011-09-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

Seems like the writer's life is plagued by paralysis. At least, mine is. It took me a lot longer than expected to finish the first complete draft of my current WIP, and I'm pretty sure I could only do it because I gave myself permission, nay, ordered myself to suck.

After I finished this draft I took a little break. Did some TV-watching, book-reading. But my WIP was always in the back of my mind. I just got a new computer, and to celebrate, I got myself a copy of Scrivener. There are hundreds of cool features. I've probably used four of them. Even so, I'm already finding Scrivener helpful in terms of organizing the whole project and switching back and forth between layouts to get a better view of the story as a whole. I've taken a lot of notes, and I've marked a lot of scenes as extraneous. But here's the part where it gets tricky.

You see, I'm pretty sure I've done what I can in the re-reading and note-taking department. It's time to dive headfirst into a sea of revision, and I'm coming up against a wall: paralysis.

Paralysis is a common writerly affliction, mostly (in my experience) brought on by thoughts of the "This sucks!" "How can I possibly make this better?!??" "I don't know what I'm doing!" variety. I overcame paralysis in my last draft by allowing myself to be crappy. But how can I do that this time around, where the point is to be improving the writing?

My particular issue (currently) is first lines. I'm convinced that nothing I come up with is anything more than mediocre, and my brain is insisting we not move on to meatier parts of the book until I have the perfect first line, darn it! How can I possibly induce agents and editors to pick up the book if my first line isn't all shiny and eye-catching?

Argh, it's not going so well. I probably should have expected it, but it's disappointing nonetheless. I thought it would be easier to improve something that already existed, but I'm having trouble getting started now that there's a bar: my first draft. (Low, admittedly, but still there.)

How do you get over paralysis when you can't simply allow yourself to suck any more?

The Canon

2011-09-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

I've decided to create The Canon (according to Rebecca). Briefly, it's a list of books that I would purchase for my (hypothetical, future) child. Books I think are worthwhile for one reason or another. Books that make me laugh and make me cry. Books that changed (or will change) the world. And I need your help!

I've read too many books in my life to remember them all, even some of the good ones, so I'm enlisting you all, my fellow readers and book lovers. What book(s) would you purchase for your children, and why? All books are welcome, from picture books to classic literature to young adult. They just need to have one thing in common: They need to be worthy.

If you nominate a book that makes it into The Canon, you will be recognized for your contribution.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Rae Carson)

2011-09-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.Most of the chosen do."

The parts I enjoyed most about this book were the details of the world. I really liked the way Carson described the geography of the kingdoms, the jungle, the desert. The culture was rich, and the religion, which is central to the story, is well-integrated into the world.

Unfortunately I found a few things a little troubling. Elisa, the heroine, is fat. In the beginning of the book, she constantly disparages herself because of her weight, and when she is married to a handsome king from another land, she despairs of ever being able to connect with him on a romantic level. Throughout the story Elisa comes into her own and finds her self-worth and confidence, which is great. However, this transformation coincides almost exactly with a part of the book where she inadvertently loses a lot of weight. While Carson might not have intended this, it concerns me that this overweight, self-conscious girl with a brilliant mind can only find the confidence to use that mind (and save the day) after she has lost weight.

There were parts of the book I found really simplistic. While I appreciated the religious aspects and the idea that Elisa really grappled with her faith to come to an understanding of her place in the world, the way that the religious disagreements between kingdoms was presented seemed a little on the surface and obvious. There are a few other things like this that set The Girl of Fire and Thorns apart from others in the same genre, but for the most part the plot twists and turns were predictable, and as a result, not that compelling.

One last thing I quite liked: One would assume that since the book begins with a wedding between Elisa and King Alejandro, the two will eventually fall in love with each other and be happy. I'm not going to give away exactly what happens, but I can assure you that Elisa's romantic entanglements are not nearly that straightforward, which I loved.

Final thoughts: It's a diverting read, but a little simplistic and reminiscent of others in the genre. I also found Elisa troubling as a role model.

Source: I received an ARC of this title from the publisher.

View all my reviews

Netflix, you are stupid. (One consumer's perspective)

2011-09-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, Netflix is at it again. First they raised prices (a de facto 60% price increase for subscribers of both streaming and DVD-by-mail service). Now, they're "apologizing" for messing up... while making it worse. Not better.

For the record, I can see the sense in raising prices of the DVD-by-mail service. Before the switch, I was paying $7.99 a month for unlimited streaming, + $2.00 flat for 1 DVD out at a time. I don't know about you, but I can go through those DVDs like nobody's business. Let's assume that I have 2 DVDs out a week (reasonable if I watch each DVD the night I receive it and mail it back the next morning). That adds up to about 8 DVDs per month. $2 doesn't even cover the shipping fees for that service. We can quibble about the exact price charged, but $7.99 for this plan makes sense if Netflix wants to, say, make money off of it. And I'm assuming for the moment that they do.

I disagree with the implementation of the price change in two ways. First, I disagree with the way it was presented. Seriously Netflix, you need a whole new PR department, because selling a price increase by saying that you want to satisfy your customers? SUCH a bad idea. How about going with the honesty approach? Tell us that charging $2 for a DVD service isn't sustainable, that you're losing money. Tell us that you are paying more for renewals of streaming licenses, and to keep the quality content, you need a price increase. Netflix, your subscribers aren't stupid. The way you handled that first price increase, PR-wise, was a nightmare.

The second (and perhaps more important) problem I have with the price increase was that it doesn't have a bundled price for people who want both the streaming AND DVD services. I understand that the whole point was the separate out the streaming and DVD services, but bundling really is everywhere. The whole pill would have been easier to swallow if Netflix had provided that option. Want streaming only, or DVDs only? Pay $7.99. Want both? How about a low price of $12? The price would have gone up, but it would have been a smaller leap, and it would have been a recognition of the large segment of customers (like me) who use both services. Netflix has great content in both the streaming and DVD libraries. But until there is a significant increase in the amount of overlap, it's not realistic to expect that customers will be satisfied with the offerings from only one option.

...And that's what they seem to be doing with this newest snafu. Please refer to the article I linked to above, but the gist of it is: Netflix is dumping its DVD program. From here on out if you're a Netflix DVD subscriber -- oh wait, you're not. You're a Qwikster customer. Netflix, that was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. There may be good business reasons for doing what you're doing, but there are NO good consumer reasons. So if you want your consumers to stay happy, you'd better provide one hell of an explanation, or just stop this nonsense before you sink the whole ship. Let me tell you about what I care about as a consumer:

1. Content. Netflix, you seem to be under the impression that I care about whether I get my media via streaming or DVD. The truth is, I don't. If your entire library was available on streaming, I would probably be a streaming-only customer. But since it's not, I use the DVD service. Consumers don't care about DVDs vs. streaming issue nearly as much as they care about the content. Lesson #1: Keep the CONTENT together. If you make me log into two different websites just to search the same company's database to see if a particular movie available, I'm going to want to strangle you. And I will most likely be canceling my DVD service. Same thing with the ratings. Do you really think that I'm going to rate things twice just to get the same suggestions in two different places? Your suggestion algorithm has shown me some gems, but splitting it down the middle like this seems like a horrible idea.

2. Convenience. Two websites? Two lists? Two bills? Need I say more? People don't want to log on to two sites to search for one movie. It seems likely that many will let go of one or another, in favor of one of the other services (Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Blockbuster Express, etc.) currently on the rise. And if anyone comes up with a site where you can do both, I imagine we're going to be seeing a much faster drain as current Netflix subscribers jump ship to a new site that will be (effectively) what Netflix just abandoned.

3. Affordability. Truthfully, I don't think there's an issue here at the moment. If you use both services actively, $7.99 per is actually pretty reasonable. But again, it would be so much more convenient if you'd just kept them together in the first place.

The bottom line, Netflix, is that from a consumer's perspective this makes no sense whatsoever. You are taking away convenience. You are taking away content. You are annoying people, period. See the following for more coherent (and knowledgeable) opinions of this mess: here and here.

For the moment I'm staying with you. Even with the increase, it's still a reasonable price for the amount of content I watch through Netflix each month. But if you keep making decisions like this, it might not be that long before I'm saying goodbye.

MacBook. No, really.

2011-09-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

So it's official. I type this post from my brand spanking new computer, which has now taken over the coveted position of "on the desk." (In its transitional phase it was perched semi-precariously on top of a plastic set of drawers from Target while I toggled back and forth between the old PC, the external hard drive (doing all of the heavy lifting), and the new MacBook Pro).

I've downloaded all the programs I need. I reset all of my bookmarks and saved passwords on Firefox. I even (after about 2 hours of wrangling) figured out my iTunes problems and finally managed to get all my music from the old computer to the new (thankfully!). I even had some fun looking through all the Word documents I've lugged around throughout the years. I had story snippets in my files that hadn't been modified since 2001! (Yeah... those were the awkward middle school years, and you can totally tell.)

Most of those ones are now gone (I finally made an executive decision to trash everything dated earlier than 2005), but there are actually some things that are surprisingly not-horrible. Which is not saying they're examples of stellar (or even good) writing. Not at all. But some of those did make it through into this computer.

Anyway, now that all the moving in is done, it's time to start living here. And it begins with... revisions? Eep!

(And I think Time Machine is done backing up now... I had no idea when I started it for the first time that there would be over 1,000,000 items! Egads.)

Giveaway of Triumph Winner!

2011-09-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who spread the word and entered my giveaway! I'm especially looking forward to following the bits of advice you gave, both for revision and relaxing. I'm pleased to announce that the winner is:

Tiffany at Books For Bears!

Congratulations! (PS: I just checked out Tiffany's blog and it is adorable. Really, really adorable. Seriously, who couldn't love bears with books?)

I can has Macbook? Pro?

2011-09-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

So I've been in the market for a new computer for a while. My current computer (an HP) has been fuzzy for a long time. The big problem (among several smaller ones) is that it overheats very easily, and the fan is super super noisy. So in order to get anything done I have to accept the fan running in the background, take out the battery, and prop the whole thing up on top of some books to facilitate air flow.

Anyway, after many months of hemming and hawing, I finally have a 13" Macbook Pro. The problem now is that I don't quite know what to do with it. I work on Macs at the office, so I know my Mac basics. But this thing is so... shiny. And thin. And I seem to have been hit by a sudden attack of HP nostalgia, missing (in advance) my 15" screen and the current setup (cozy, if occasionally aggravating). I am entrenched in the familiar. This Macbook Pro, which is currently sitting innocuously on a set of drawers, happily charging away, is an imposter. I'm almost scared to touch it.

I suppose part of my reluctance to get it all set up is that I'm afraid of losing data on the transfer (not least my novel draft, but also my other WIPs, music, etc. etc. etc.). I have an external hard drive so it shouldn't be a problem. It's just the getting started that's the hard part.

Do any of you have tips for getting through all this transferring nonsense and setting up the new computer? I'm sure that once I actually start using it I'll be zoinks!amazed, but right now it's hard to fathom resigning my current trusty (if LOUD and ANNOYING) PC to the backup closet.

Triumph! (And a contest!)

2011-08-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, this post is a long time coming. I haven't been around that much lately, for a few reasons:

1. Scary bike accident. Seriously, potholes are no fun. Neither are huge scrapes across one's back.

2. Camp NaNoWriMo! Now you can churn out lots and lots of (generally crap) words every month! I've been doing that this August, which leads to point three:

3. My WIP. IT. IS. DONE. Well. Not exactly. This particular draft is done, ringing in at 71,598 words. This is a big deal. This is a huge deal. This is an unbelievable deal. First off, I'm a writer, or I'm trying to be. But I'm really bad at finishing things. This is the first full draft of a novel I've finished since...okay, that's embarrassing. But it's been a long time! Right now I'm feeling more exhausted than elated, but one thing I said about today was that if I finished my draft today, I'd hold a contest!

So here it is: a sneak peek of the books you can win:

I am in love with Stephanie Perkins' books. They are cute, fun, flirty, and all-around delicious. And if you enter this contest, you'll have a chance to win a pre-order of her newest, Lola and the Boy Next Door!

Okay, so if I'm in love with Stephanie Perkins' books, I may just be in love with Jackson Pearce, period. Her vlogs are awesome. I wish I were as charming as she is. Up for grabs here: a copy of her hot-off-the-press, just-released book Sweetly, a reimagining of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. (Also, fairy tales? Awesome. So awesome.)

I have been jealous of those folks at BEA forever, and this is one of the reasons why. There is just something so attractively different about this book -- the title, the cover, the description... If you have been as jealous of me, this is your chance to win a pre-order of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.

Here's the deal. There are some awesome books. If you enter this contest, you have a chance to win your choice of ONE. I'm ordering through The Book Depository, so this contest is international! (Well - open to wherever TBD ships. Be sure to check on that!) A winner will be drawn randomly.

To enter, just fill out THE FORM.

*(This event will close at 11:59 PM EST, September 7. The winner will be announced on or by September 10.)

Alternate Histories

2011-08-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

I tend to talk a fair amount about YA trends I just can't stand, so I thought I'd take a moment to talk about something I would love to see A LOT more of: alternate histories.

I realized this as I was finishing up Leviathan (Scott Westerfeld) last night. What drew me in the most about this book was the alternate history. For those who haven't read the book, I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying that the book starts on the eve of World War I (before it was called WWI, obviously, but even before it was termed 'The Great War'), in a world where the British and their allies are "Darwinists," and the Austro-Hungarians are "Clankers". The Darwinists use genetically engineered animals and ecosystems as vehicles and weapons; the Clankers use machines.

I love that stuff. Can't get enough of it. It appeals to the history buff in me, and I'm in awe of the people who can do this well, because to do alternate history well, you need to be neck-deep in research for a very long time if you want to avoid sounding like an idiot. Maybe that's why I don't see more of these sorts of books in the YA market.

But there must be some! I'm racking my brains right now and am only coming up with a few on the YA side (although to be fair, I can only come up with a few on the adult side as well):

Young Adult Alternate History

1. Year of the Hangman, by Gary Blackwood. Possibly the first alternate history book I ever read -- the premise is that the Americans did not win the Revolutionary War.

2. Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest. Haven't finished this one, but the premise is that the Civil War just did. Not. End. (After 16+ years.)

Adult Alternate History

1. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, by Orson Scott Card. This one is a little more complicated, but the premise is that in the distant future, everything sucks (to put it bluntly). A team of scientists believe they have traced the tipping point to 1492, when Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas. So they send a team back in time to stop Christopher Columbus from making his fateful discovery... only to discover that somewhere, somewhen, someone else has already made the same journey.

2. The Eyre Affair and sequels, by Jasper Fforde. Very difficult to describe, except to say that it's an alternate version of Great Britain circa 1985. There's time travel, cloning, and you can, literally, get lost in a good book. Very cool for fans of Jane Eyre.

There are more -- there HAVE to be, right? And I want to read them. So, friends -- anyone have any suggestions for further alternate history reading? My list is pathetic. Help me out!

Friday Five

2011-08-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

Because Kristin Creative was doing one, and I got lazy.

1. I have 33 books on my nightstand, literally. How is that possible? I need to start laying down the law around here - no more library books until I return the ones I have out! Slightly related: I think my #fridayreads is Entwined, by Heather Dixon.

2. I discovered the pool at my gym this week. Since my knee started bothering me I haven't been running, but maybe swimming is the thing right now? I swam on Monday, and that was tough. I think swimming laps is a lot harder than running, but maybe that's just me. And if I keep this up, I really need to buy a decent pair of goggles.

3. Jackson Pearce rocks. Specifically, her vlogs. (And her live show!) If I were an author I would want to do vlogs like her, but I don't know if I'd have the stomach for it. I'm more of a hide-behind-the-books sort of girl.

4. Downton Abbey. A Donna Hosie (of Musings of a Penniless Writer) recommendation. I LOVE IT! And it's on Netflix instant, for those of you who have that. I watched six straight episodes yesterday (seven total) and now I'm chomping at the bit for January to come around so I can watch the second season. It's so...!!!

5. Denver Publishing Institute. It's a little hard to believe that I graduated from DPI just over a year ago, and that I've been working in my current (publishing) job for almost exactly a year. Wow, time flies. Recently I've been thinking about the newest graduates and wondering if any of them are going to write me up and ask me for all the publishing savvy I've accumulated in the last year. (Hard to think that I actually have some...)

Marshland

2011-08-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't talked about writing in a while, so I thought I'd take this beginning-of-August thing to give you all an update.

For those of you who don't know, I've been working (on and off) on the same book since last November, when I wrote what I like to call the spaghetti draft of my WIP during NaNoWriMo. (At least for me, NaNo is a really good way to get a spaghetti draft of a story down.) A few fun facts: 1. I'd been thinking about this book for about three months before I wrote the spaghetti draft. 2. Spaghetti drafting is my crazy draft. Throwing spaghetti on the wall, seeing if any of it sticks. I wrote a ton of stuff, and a ton of stuff out of order. 3. For those who are interested, my current WIP is a retelling of the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid." (I think that doesn't give away too much -- I mean, take a look at all the mermaid books that are out there right now!)

After that I sat on it for a while, until I opened it back up a few months ago and started chipping away at it again. Right now I'm working on moving all my out-of-order scenes into order, and doing a little bit of light editing as I go along. My goal for this draft is to get every scene in the right place, and fill in the blanks where there are scenes missing.

So, progress. I've been working seriously on this book for the last month and a half, and sometimes it seems like I haven't made progress at all. I know that's not true -- I've figured out a number of plot things and details about the world, and added in characters, and (hey!) written 10,000 words in the last three days... But to me, there's not a lot that's really tangible about that work. It's not the same as saying, "I worked for the last six weeks and now I have a completed draft!" Right now, I'm in the middle of the marshland, putting one foot in front of the other, feeling like I'm working hard and getting somewhere... but that it might just be taking me around in circles.

Fellow writers, do you know what I'm talking about? Are there milestones that, for you, really bring home the progress that you've made? Obviously there are the big ones -- finishing a book, getting an agent, getting a book deal, for heaven's sake -- and there are smaller ones, finishing one round of revisions, finishing a draft (and another, and another). But what about in between those drafts? What about the weeks and months it takes to move from one to the other? How do you keep yourself positive about the work that you're doing instead of getting mucked down in the marshes?

I'm going to take myself out to a (slightly) upscale restaurant when I'm done with this draft, and I already have the place picked out. But it still feels forever away...

The reader's perspective

2011-07-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

I have been sitting on this post for a while.

Rather, I have been sitting on this topic for a while, wondering how to go about writing about it, or even if I should write about it, or if I should write about it, whether it might be better placed in a journal or diary. After much waffling, here we go:

I read the book Sisterhood Everlasting, by Ann Brashares, a few weeks ago. I didn't count, but I probably started crying about six or seven times while reading it. After I'd finished, I felt really, really emptied. Devoid, desolate, bleak. It took me a few days before I really felt back to normal.*

Why this intense reaction? Well... It's because of my baggage. What I bring to the table, whenever I sit down and read a book. Without getting extremely personal, I will say that I have experience with some of the following: suicide, depression, bipolar disorder, family schisms, and dead mothers. Sisterhood Everlasting has all of the above (in various shades), and in my opinion, Sisterhood Everlasting got it wrong.

Would I say that the book treated those topics lightly? Not lightly, exactly. But I almost felt that the book made an attempt to lighten the subject matter by making the overarching message of the book one of light, and hope. Like a character who clearly suffers from bipolar disorder (albeit a milder case) can somehow turn herself around on the dot and decide to be better. (Not exactly true, my friends.) It's odd, the way I feel about the book. On one hand, I was perturbed by the fact that the rest of the Sisterhood books are so light (not blase, but definitely light), touching on serious material only carefully, and that this one was not. And on the other hand, I was saddened by the fact that this last book aimed to cover these problems, but (in my opinion) didn't treat them with the right amount of gravitas.

Anyway. As I was sitting around despondently after reading this book, it occurred to me that no one who does not have my personal experience will likely feel this way about Sisterhood Everlasting. Looking at it from an objective perspective (or as objective I can be), I would say that it's a good book. Others will agree. Others will likely not be bothered by the way Brashares treats these topics, because others have not experienced them firsthand. And that's fine. But it does mean that a lot of how "good" people think a book is actually has to do with the perspective of the reader -- not the objective quality of the book.

Whether we like a book or not depends on how good a book is, yes. But it also depends on whether we're hungry or impatient as we read the book, or whether we're grouchy or tired, or instead in a marvelous, "I love the world!" mood. Feeling marvelous? Well, then you might enjoy a few pages about how nice it would be to have a pet tiger. Feeling sleepy? Well, then you might wish the writer would go on and kill the damn tiger already. And if you have firsthand experience with a topic covered in a book, experience that differs drastically from the way it's presented, that inevitably changes how you evaluate the story.

I've definitely put down books before that I probably would have liked, if I hadn't been tired/annoyed/sick/hungry when I started reading them. Sometimes I recognize those moods, and I make a note to pick the book up again later. Sometimes I don't, and I just let them go.

So, my friends, here's the question: How much do you think your rating of a book depends on your particular perspective, on your background, your mood, your habits, and how they relate to the book? How much objectivity can people really have when they sit down to read? Clearly my personal example is a little extreme, but have you ever noticed smaller, subtler ways in which your reader's perspective shapes the way you feel about a book?

*There is a point to be made here about the book accomplishing its purpose if reading about particular subjects brought my personal feelings SO far out of their usual hiding places. But my distaste for the book was more in the way it was handled, not so much that the topics were covered at all in the first place.

Wildefire (Karsten Knight)

2011-07-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Wildefire by Karsten Knight

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "Every flame begins with a spark. Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm."

I have mixed thoughts about this book. I was intrigued in the beginning -- but I was quickly put off by the following: gratuitous violence with (relatively) no consequences, unrealistic dialogue, and unsympathetic characters. Seriously -- Ashline throws a girl across the parking lot, knocking out a few of her teeth, and all she gets is detention? Where I come from that would have been expulsion followed by police charges. The rest of the book follows along the same lines. The main characters get away with some really nasty stuff, as the "authority figures" turn the other way. This, I had a problem with.

But I kept chugging away, and was eventually drawn back in. How? I'm still puzzling out this one. To me, the strength of the book is the idea behind it. A bunch of gods from different mythologies get together to fulfill some destiny? (Said destiny as yet unrevealed.) I think that's pretty cool, especially since Karsten Knight drew on some of the lesser-known gods and goddesses out there. While the match of their human personalities with the god-traits were fairly simplistic in this book, I think there's a lot of potential in the idea. I enjoyed learning a little bit about deities who aren't the run-of-the-mill Greek gods, and I really think there are things to build on here.

I'll avoid spoilers here, but I will say that there are a few other things that stayed with me after I'd finished the book, and there are questions raised that I definitely want answered!

The ending made me gnash my teeth, as it is one of the most CLIFFHANGER of cliffhanger endings. (And for those who don't know: I despise cliffhanger endings.) But it wasn't enough to make me swear off reading the next book.

Final thoughts: The idea is better than the execution, but the series has potential.

Source: I received an ARC of this title from the publisher.

View all my reviews

Bloggy Redirect

2011-07-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry to pull a bait and switch on you, dear readers. The blog post I'd intended to write for today ended up over at my other blog, Lost Book Girls. If you're interested to hear about how I feel about celebrities writing memoirs, please feel free to head over!

Otherwise, I will see you on Monday. There WILL be a blog post here, and it will be good.

Harry Potter Query: Slytherin

2011-07-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

I promise, this is not going to turn into a Harry-Potter-themed blog. But between the rereading I'm doing and the, oh, I don't know, MOVIE that's coming out next week, there's more and more of this stuff floating around on the internet and you just can't avoid it. You just can't. Expect a full return to normal programming after next week.

Example: Today I woke up to find a video blog by the delightful Jackson Pearce addressing Harry Potter. In this blog, she told us what house she would likely be sorted into if she were to attend Hogwarts. The answer, my friends, is Slytherin.

This really got me thinking. Slytherin (at least the people who get sorted into Slytherin) is supposed to have some redeeming qualities, right? Room for people with potential for greatness and all that. So why is it that everyone in Slytherin is portrayed as simply awful? And likewise, why is it that everyone who ever went bad came out of Slytherin? (Okay, technically there's Peter Pettigrew to be accounted for, but that's just one person. Seriously.)

I really think that Rowling dropped the ball here. Yes, there are some Slytherins that do some good things (sort of -- example, Malfoy's mother lying to Voldemort), so I suppose there's a little redemption going on there. But the point is that no one in Slytherin is portrayed as nice to begin with. Couldn't Harry have had a friend from Slytherin? Would that have been too much to ask? Do they all have to be described, from the beginning, as a rather "nasty bunch"?

This sort of circles back round to some of the issues raised in my last blog post, about the Sorting Hat and the strict separation of houses. (See comments.) There certainly is a problem in Hogwarts when no one will really hang out with anyone who's from a different house. In fact, really the only time I saw students from different houses mingling seriously was when Harry founded Dumbledore's Army, at which point the whole of Hogwarts society was beginning to crumble under the strain of Umbridge's awfulness anyway. (But notice that there are no Slytherins in the D.A.)

Dear readers, am I missing something here? Are there "good" Slytherins? It seems like some of them get a little redemption, but is it too much to ask that one might have been good from the start?

Harry Potter Query: First Years

2011-07-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Warning: this post may not be thrilling to you if you are not interested in/curious about Harry Potter minutia.

I'm busy rereading Harry Potter, and moving rather slowly. I have no particular deadline in mind, but thought it would be a good time to get reacquainted with the books. It has been a while. I used to reread each book as the next came out, resulting in my reading the first Harry Potters many times more than I read the later ones. I anticipate a few "No way!" moments when I get down the line, but for now I'm meandering through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

It's an interesting read, especially considering how many things J. K. Rowling brought back in later books. I'm sure there have been interviews on this, but did she really plot out every book that carefully, in advance? It seems just a little insane -- certainly I'm nowhere near that as a writer.

Anyway, here's one question that just occurred to me as I was reading the bit about Harry and company being sorted into their respective Houses. (I'm hoping that another rabid fan out there may be able to answer/clarify this point...) The narrative states that when Harry and his Gryffindor crew hop up to the dormitory for the first time, there is a room with five beds in it, one for each of the boys. I assume that this means there were only five male Gryffindor first years that year: Harry, Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Dean.

Carrying this further (based on the number of brooms present at the first flying lesson: twenty, for the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years combined), there are a: exactly five female first years per House, and b: exactly ten first years total per House. This comes out (assuming a 100% retention rate) to seventy students per House, two hundred and eighty students in the entire school.

Was this obvious to everyone else? Was I just being silly when I was thinking that we only focused on a few Hogwarts students per year, and there were many more who simply weren't that important? (Because this means that each student is much more important than I previously gave them credit for...)

Anyway, that's not my actual question. My question is, then: If the five and ten student quotas are set, then doesn't that mean the Sorting Hat has two tasks? First, to sort the students into their appropriate Houses, and second, to fill the quota? And if the Sorting Hat must fill the quota, then what happens if there are more students appropriate for a certain House than there are spaces? One assumes that the Sorting Hat reads your true nature and places you appropriately, but if there is a quota on how many students are sorted into each House, can this be absolutely true? OR, does this mean that admissions letters are sent to the appropriate batch of students in the first place, and the Sorting Hat is just reaffirming what the professors (or admissions committee, or whatever) knew already about which students will end up in which House?

Of course, the free-wheeling, all-powerful nature of the Sorting Hat is touted from Sorcerer's Stone onward, so it doesn't make much sense that the Sorting Hat is just reaffirming something that's already known. But if the Sorting Hat is really free to choose (and if the students, like Harry, have some say about which is their House), then how can that be reconciled with the strict ten students per year quota that seems to be in place? (This assumption follows from the fact that both Gryffindor and Slytherin have exactly ten students in the first year, five male and five female.)

Anyone have any thoughts? Or am I just taking this way too far? (By the way, Happy Fourth of July and all that.)

Public service announcement (or, living with food allergies)

2011-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night I went out to eat at an Indian restaurant and ordered something benign. I can't remember the name of the dish, but it had potatoes and peas in a spicy curry. It smelled delicious...but I knew after only three small bites that there was something wrong. My throat had become scratchy, and swallowing was just on the edge of painful. I was having an allergic reaction.

Most people don't know this, but I have an allergy to tree nuts. (Not peanuts -- peanuts are legumes. Look it up.) The reason most people don't know this is that to me, it's never been that big of a problem. Some people have life-threatening allergies, and in comparison, mine felt like no big deal. I wasn't as careful as I could have been, but my reactions, when they occurred, weren't that serious: a scratchy throat, some drowsiness, a little trouble swallowing. Just take some Benadryl, go to sleep, and wake up better. (I can see those people who carry EpiPens everywhere rolling their eyes.)

Wednesday night was different. Not from the start -- from the start it felt the same as it always did. I excused myself from the table and made for the closest Walgreens to pick up some Benadryl and water.

The trouble started after that. I'd obtained my Benadryl, but the symptoms were not going away. Au contraire -- they were getting worse. Much worse. Over the next six hours my ears swelled, inhibiting my ability to hear. I was alternately feverish and chilled. I got hives all over my body, and my eyes swelled so much that I could barely open them. I had severe abdominal pain, and I threw up multiple times.

I almost went to the emergency room, but could not muster enough energy to get out of bed. Sleep would solve the problem, I reasoned, taking another dose of Benadryl. After all, the biggest worry during allergic reactions is that the throat will swell, cutting off the airway and a person's ability to breathe. That hadn't happened to me, so in all likelihood everything else would take care of itself. (Everything else, in other words, was only painful. Not life-threatening.)

It turned out that I was right, for the most part. Most of my symptoms diminished overnight, leaving me with puffy eyes and bone-deep exhaustion in the morning. I slept most of the day, and though I'm still not feeling well, I hope to get there by tomorrow. A happy ending: no emergency room visit involved.

I am lucky. There are many people in this world who have worse allergies, life-threatening ones. I should know -- my brother is one of them. Allergies like those mean carrying EpiPens, questioning the labels on everything, and interrogating cooks at restaurants. I've always felt like my allergies are just "no big deal" in comparison. And it's true, my allergies are not life-threatening. But after my experience over the last day, I've learned that I cannot treat them like "no big deal" any more.

My allergies are not simply an inconvenience, even though that's how I've been treating them. They are painful and frightening, and they demand more attention than I have given them in the past.

I know there are people like me out there, people with moderate food allergies, people who consider this allergy to be a mere inconvenience -- nothing to fuss over. And this may be so. But after my experience, I will be taking a number of steps to prevent such occurrences in the future, and I highly recommend anyone with this level of allergy do the same.

1. I will carry at least one dose of Benadryl with me at all times in eating situations. This is just common sense, and something I should have been much better about in the past.

2. I will not be shy about asking about ingredients on a restaurant menu, even if it seems like the dish will not be a problem. This is not about being picky. This is not about seeming pushy. This is about protecting my health.

3. I will be visiting a general physician in the near future to have a full allergy test done. This may not be necessary for many of you other allergic folk out there, but the last time I had an allergy test done, I was about seven years old. You forget things after fourteen years, and you almost certainly didn't understand them well enough to begin with. Also, some allergies can develop or disappear given enough time. My server on Wednesday night assured me repeatedly that there were no nuts in the dish I had ordered. It's possible (though unlikely) that I have developed an allergy I don't even know about yet. (Certainly it would explain the severity of my reaction if this is the case, as I've never had anywhere near the same level of reaction with any previous encounters with nuts.)

In short, I will be taking steps to be much more careful in the future. I've treated my allergies like no big deal in the past, and I've been careless. If you have an allergy like mine, manifesting in relatively minor reactions (scratchy throat, sleepiness, etc.), I strongly recommend that you make sure you are prepared and knowledgeable in the event of a stronger attack. It may not happen to you. It may never happen to you. But I was sick as a dog last night after a lifetime of very minor reactions, and it scared me badly. I thought I knew what to expect from my allergies, but I was wrong, and I was unprepared for the consequences.

Anyone have any tips for living with food allergies? I'm in an advice-collecting mood, so feel free to share in the comments.

This has been a public service announcement from your scared-prepared book-blogging buddy. Be prepared and stay safe, everyone.

The Game of Kings (Dorothy Dunnett)

2011-06-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "Praised for her historical fiction by critics and devoted fans alike, author Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles took the romance world by storm some 30 years ago, firmly fixing Dunnett's reputation as a master of the historical romance. The Game of Kings, the first story in The Lymond Chronicles, sets the stage for what will be a sweeping saga filled with passion, courage, and the endless fight for freedom. The setting is 1547, in Edinborough, Scotland. Francis Crawford of Lymond returns to the country despite the charge of treason hanging over his head. Set on redeeming his reputation, He leads a company of outlaws against England as he fights for the country he loves so dearly. Dangerous, quick-witted, and utterly irresistible, Lymond is pure pleasure to watch as he traverses 16th-century Scotland in search of freedom. The Game of Kings is a must-have for the historical romance connoisseur."

I picked this book up on Danica's recommendation, so I had high expectations. Impressions: sweeping, complicated, intrigue! Piqued interest!

I had to work harder reading this book than I've had to in a long time. It was such hard going that I put the book down for about a week, then picked it up and started it over again, being very careful to actually read every word. On one hand, I appreciated it. Reading actively is something I think most people don't do quite enough of, especially since it requires single-minded focus, an increasingly endangered skill in today's world.

On the other hand, I wish I hadn't had to work quite so hard. It took a good 150 pages to really sink into the book, to get past the set-up and into some of the real action, players playing against each other instead of moving their pieces cautiously around the board, hiding. If this book hadn't come so highly recommended, it's likely I would have put it down somewhere in there.

On to Lymond. He's such a bizarre enigma that I can't think of any way to properly describe him. He's an antihero. He knifes a lady in the first 30 pages or so. (Don't worry, she lives.) He's haunted by a dark and dangerous past marked by the scent of treason. He plays people against each other until they don't know whether he's friend or foe.

I like to know my main characters, but Lymond wouldn't let me close enough to know him. (Entirely in character for him, of course, but it detracted from my enjoyment of the story.) Instead I pinned my hopes on the supporters: the lovely Christian Stewart, the dastardly Margaret Lennox, and of course the matriarch, Lady Sybilla. Lymond's brother? Hmm. I think he has potential. If he can stop acting like an ass all the time.

The Game of Kings is a difficult book to read. It's hard to fall into if you don't have at least a basic understanding of the political climate of the place and time. Getting at the meat of the story means going through a lot of obscure word parrying and jouncing back and forth (many pages worth). But in the end, it's worth it. There is action, there are the hints of romance. There are people who are not who they appear to be, and those who are exactly who you expected them to be right from the beginning. There are BIG questions raised, and plenty of time (five books worth?) to answer them. It's a complex story, and it's all sorts of awesome.

Final word: It's the start of a grand adventure, but takes some commitment to get into.

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An Evening With Neil Gaiman

2011-06-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

So tonight around 7:25 tonight I was sitting in a church, waiting for Neil Gaiman to show up. I was also cursing myself for being nice enough to lend my digital camera to my sister, which left me camera-less when the man himself walked into the room. No one fainted. As far as I know.

To be perfectly honest, my first thought was Man, I wish I could live-tweet this. Because if I could have, I would have been tweeting something like "Holy @#$%, he's so close you could @$@@%!&^ attack the man!" I've never had the urge to live-tweet anything before, so it took me a while to figure out where this urge was coming from. After a moment I realized that it had to have something to do with the audience. We (all 300 of us) were sitting there in jaws-dropped awe as Neil (Can I call him Neil? Probably not, we're not that close. I was only in the twentieth row or so.) Gaiman opened his mouth and started to talk. And I wanted the audience to be there together, shooting rapid-fire messages back and forth about his beard (should really come off), his Doctor Who obsession (is awesome), his dog (adorable). It was weird. I am not normally a live-tweeter, but apparently the presence of the Gaiman can do that to you.

Tweeting aside, it was a lovely evening. Adam Savage (apparently of Mythbusters fame) interviewed Neil, and off they went. At times I was tempted to think they'd practiced the whole thing beforehand, as Adam pulled obscure quote after obscure quote about literature from his pocket, dropping them haphazardly into the conversation. Neil talked about his immigrant experience as it related to American Gods, about the difference between what you intend to create and what is there when you're finally through, about Daleks and invisibility and Mars bars. It was lovely. Being in the twentieth row (or so) it was exceeding hard to see the man. I had to crane my neck -- but that's what happens when you get there only twenty-five minutes early to see Neil Gaiman.

Some selected quotes:

- Regarding the weirdness of arriving in the Midwest to live: "Does this water taste weird to you?"

- Question from the audience: "Are you tweeting right now? Like, with your feet?" Answer: "I'm tweeting with my mind. With the hashtag #whataweirdquestion"

- Oddly appropriate for my WIP: "You never had to hide behind the sofa from little mermaids."

And then there was a bit about meeting a red Dalek and feeling sorry for it, because apparently Daleks can't see the color red. Apparently this would curse it to effective invisibility.

Final thoughts: lovely show. I'd see it again. I'm tempted to type in an emoticon at this point, but will abstain.

ETA: Coincidentally, I happened to write a blog post today that mentioned memoirs, Neil Gaiman, and bee-keeping. I can say almost for sure that if Neil Gaiman writes a memoir about bee-keeping, I will read it.

Why (Read) Memoir?

2011-06-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I put down a memoir. I'd picked it up on the recommendation of Michael and Ann of the excellent podcast Books on the Nightstand, and gotten about 40 pages or so into the story before setting it down again. At the time I couldn't quite pinpoint why I was having trouble getting into the story. The writing was quite good -- the author is a well-received writer of novels -- so that wasn't the problem. But for some reason, I just wasn't captivated.

There are a lot of reasons why books captivate or bore, and I could write at length about all of those. I'm not trying to make an all-encompassing statement here on why I read in general. But I was able, after a few days of thought, to come up with the particular reasons I'd put down this particular memoir. It wasn't because it was a bad book. It wasn't because the author is a bad writer. To put it simply, there are two reasons I read memoir (assuming, of course, a baseline of decent writing and storytelling, and the like).

1. The author. There are fascinating people out there, and though I'm not prone to celebrity stalking as much as some people, there are certain well-known people I pay attention to. Neil Gaiman, for instance. I would definitely pick up a memoir by Neil Gaiman, or by Vienna Teng. Musicians, politicians, actors, writers -- there are many whose name on a book would immediately pique my interest.

2. The subject matter. I am a travel memoir junkie, mostly because I can't afford to do any of the traveling myself. Same goes for food -- can I afford to hit the hot spots where twelve course dinners are $250 a person? Hell no. Also, I've got some food allergy troubles. But for some reason, I've been really into food memoirs lately, by chefs or just really good eaters. Add to this list the ever-increasing line of subjects I find fascinating... Bee-keeping, for one. I would read a memoir about bee-keeping. Or jaguar-taming.

The problem with the memoir that shall go unnamed is not that it was bad, as I said earlier. It's just that I read memoirs for two very simple reasons, and this memoir satisfied neither of those. I know the author's name, but am not particularly interested in him otherwise, and the lens of the story was not a subject I found interesting.

So readers, why do you read memoirs? Do you read them at all?

One Day (David Nicholls)

2011-06-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

One Day by David Nicholls

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "It's 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. They both know that the next day, after college graduation, they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. As the years go by, Dex and Em begin to lead separate lives—lives very different from the people they once dreamed they'd become. And yet, unable to let go of that special something that grabbed onto them that first night, an extraordinary relationship develops between the two. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself."

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. You probably shouldn't read this review if you want to read this book and haven't yet.

URGH. I thought this book was going to be light, in a When Harry Met Sally kind of way, but I was so wrong. That assumption in itself colored my entire take on the book, leaving me feeling empty and depressed in the end -- perhaps if I'd gone in with no expectations, things would have been different...

Somehow One Day has been on my to-read list since last year, but I only got around to picking it up after I saw the trailer for the movie adaptation with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. It looked cute. I was in the mood for cute. So I picked up the book, expecting cuteness galore: these two lost souls meet up just after university, are obviously madly attracted to each other, and fall victim to bad timing. Again, and again, and again. For twenty years, apparently.

This part is fine. Nicholls deals well with the long, drawn-out-ness of Emma and Dexter's relationship -- I wasn't bored by it, and in a sense the history the two create ends up making the story feel more like real life. There are real life problems here, marriages, divorce, alcoholism, the inevitable floundering-along of the mid-twenties. It felt real, and I appreciated that.

Of course with a book like this the audience is waiting for the lovers to finally get together, and they do. At this point I feel like the structure of the book (chapters centered entirely around the one day each year that Dexter and Emma's lives intersect) hobbles the story, as Emma and Dexter are such different people I wished more screen time was given to how they figure out how to make their relationship work. The way things are, we see the moment they make a commitment to each other, and then fast forward a year. It's not a great payoff for the twenty years of missed connections the reader has been waiting patiently through.

But it is a happy ending, at least. They're happy, and they're together. Emma is a pretty successful writer, and Dexter has finally landed on his feet. They're looking to buy a house together.

SPOILER! Seriously, do not read ahead if you don't want the book to be spoiled.

And then Emma gets hit by a car and dies a tragically young death.

I wish I were kidding. I suppose there's an argument to be made for realism, and it's all about the fleetingness of life and understanding of the important things and all of that, but I was expecting a happy ending. I was expecting cute. This book was sold to me as CUTE! Instead, right at the lead-up to the end of the book we're treated to Dexter wallowing in depression and semi-alcoholism before settling into a relationship with a new woman (a very nice one, but obviously not Emma).

Sigh. If you read this book expecting cute, I guarantee you'll be disappointed and depressed at the end. You'll probably be better off reading with no expectations. I very much enjoyed it...until Emma's death killed off all the joy and happiness in my heart.

Final word: DEPRESSING. This book may be for you, but it really should come with a NOT CUTE warning label.

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My Korean Deli (Ben Ryder Howe)

2011-06-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "It starts with a gift, when Ben Ryder Howe's wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents' self-sacrifice by buying them a store. Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws' Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton's Upper East Side townhouse by day, and heading to Brooklyn at night to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets. My Korean Deli follows the store's tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original gift—and the family—while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity."

2.5 stars. On the one hand, Ben Ryder Howe writes competently. His prose isn't purple, and doesn't get in the way of the story -- but overall, it's not memorable. Which is to say, it's amusing, but ultimately bland.

Howe's memoir is about taking the plunge into small business ownership with his Korean-American wife, who wants to purchase a deli to give to her mother. The plan is to get it up and running before turning it over to Howe's mother-in-law, who is stereotypically concerned with hard work, family loyalty, and money.

Oh, this book had potential. It's a crazy situation, and I was looking forward to the "Korean" part of My Korean Deli. Unfortunately, it didn't deliver what I was looking for. I was expecting hilarious. What I got was vaguely amusing, with a side of attempted deep and meaningful.

Howe's writing is not of the laugh-out-loud variety you'd expect with a cover like that. There are a few amusing lines, but overall the prose reads as though he's trying very hard to be funny, rather than actually pulling it off. There are also a number of extremely difficult situations throughout the book, including a few of the near-death (and death) variety, where there is a clear attempt at bringing a deeper meaning into the story. Yes, Howe brings some ruminations on life. They're a little more broad than deep. Owning this deli is meant to be a transformative experience, but in the end, most of what I got was "It transformed me," and I was left wondering how.

I also would have liked to see fuller characterization of Howe's wife, and the relationship between the two. After all, she is the one who brought on the idea of purchasing a deli in the first place. You have to be a pretty committed husband to go along with that, throwing most of your life savings into a project with very high rates of failure and moving in with your in-laws out of necessity. But this crucial relationship (and the changes that inevitably occur) falls into the background, making way for the flashier story of arguing about gourmet vs. traditional delis, and more expensive coffee.

Sometimes amusing, but not the book to read if you're looking for the meaning of life.

Final word: meh. It's not a necessary read.

Source: I received an ARC of this title through the publisher.

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Shameless self-promotion

2011-06-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

By the way, I have renovated a blog. Lost Book Girls is a group book blog founded last fall, which sadly fell victim to a number of things, including: schoolwork, full time jobs, and general inertia. But now it's back, (hurrah!), with a new addition to our blogging team and some snazzy new designs and features. Check it out, let us know what you think! Today I'm talking about the best book to read when crying over your undead boyfriend.

Hope to see you over there!

Running/Writing

2011-06-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

Running is a lot like writing. This is one of those statements I feel qualified to make because I'm currently occupied with both: I just started training for a half-marathon, and I'm currently in the middle of trying to make my NaNo soup look more like a linear story. Don't believe me? Read on.

1. They both operate on delayed gratification. Sure, you can go for a run tomorrow. But when will you start to see the results? If you're like me (motivated by the desire to be physically fit and less flabby), it's going to be a few weeks before the physical changes start kicking in. In the meantime, you have to bust your butt and take the pain.

It's the same thing with writing. Sure, there may be instances of "IAFOS! The perfect sentence!", but by and large writers are partly motivated by the desire to develop their skills, finish books, and ultimately get published. Again, these are not changes you are likely to see tomorrow. And probably not in the next few weeks, either. (This is an instance of running delivering before writing does.) But if you keep at it, your writing will improve. You will finish your first draft, and then your second. And if you have the discipline and patience to keep at it, you stand a shot at being published. (Eventually.) (And because the rest of your puny competition will have thrown in the towel.)

2. They're both occasionally painful. Ever felt the muscle seize up after you ran four miles for the first time in months? Yes, that's painful. I've been running for four weeks now and still occasionally wake up sore. Don't get me wrong, I actually kind of enjoy it. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something. But it's still pain, and it doesn't really make me thrilled to get up in the morning and get to the track.

Writing? Well, keeping to a schedule and writing every day is painful too, at times. Sometimes it's really hard. Sometimes all you can do is stare at the wall and think thoughts along the lines of: "I hate this story! This sucks! It's so unoriginal! Everyone's doing vampire/werewolf/zombie/mermaid/unicorn books these days! No one is going to like it! It's not the same as it was in my head!" I may eventually take back this statement, but for now I'll lay it out there: Writing is generally painful. Writing is generally hard. But if you want to be a writer...it kind of needs to get done.

3. They are both worth it. I was a serious athlete in high school, and continued (sort of) in college. But now that I have an office job, it's difficult to motivate myself to get moving after a day of mind-numbing paper-pushing. But I still do it (and hope to continue). Why? Because exercise is key to a healthy lifestyle. Because it helps me sleep better at night. And because (yes, it's vain) I want my body to be attractive (in a healthy way), and I don't like that it's only my own laziness that stands in my way.

I also want to be a writer. I want it so badly, sometimes I can't sleep because of it. I read the agency blogs, I know the news, and every time I hear about a new book deal I think about how that's going to be me someday. Every day I sit down to write and push through the can't-find-words syndrome, that's a day closer to being where I want to be, no matter how few or how silly my words are. It's an accomplishment, writing another 750 words, running another 4 miles. It's work towards my goals. And that makes it all worth it in the end.

Extraordinary

2011-05-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

What makes a book extraordinary? Are the necessary elements quantifiable, or ineffable?

And how many extraordinary books can one expect to read in a year? A lifetime?

I've been succumbing to reader fatigue recently, and I just really want to know. When is that extraordinary book going to appear? And how will I know it, when it appears?

By the way

2011-05-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

By the way, I started training for a half-marathon.

I'm not sure exactly how this will inform my writing, but it's something that I've been thinking about for a while now. I've been out of college for almost exactly a year, and let's face it: my level of in-shape-ness has been on a steady decline since my varsity cross country/soccer days in high school. Am I going to turn into one of those ridiculously buff people with absolutely no fat on their bodies? No. But I'm looking to get in good shape, to sleep better, to get high off all the endorphins, etc. etc. To be healthy. To negate the effects of my largely sedentary day job. To meet the requirements of my superhero application.

So I'm running. I don't particularly like running (I kind of loathe it, actually), but it's straightforward. Put one foot in front of the other. Plus, I spent way too much time getting a running playlist together for my iPod. You kind of have to use it once you do that.

I've caved (or something)

2011-05-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

Those of you keeping up with the blog will remember my recent entry on my development of reading discontent. In an effort to refresh, rejuvenate, and return cooler than ever, I've made a resolution. That resolution? To erase young adult literature entirely from my reading life for the month of June 2011.

It's a big step, but a good one, I think. I have nothing against young adult literature (I actually love it a whole lot more than most people think I should), but my recent oversaturation in the genre has left me...bloated. In a slouchy reader kind of way.

I don't know what's going to step up and fill the gap, but we'll be finding out soon... Thanks to those who suggested taking a step back from young adult -- I think it's really going to help!

Hypothetical Crichton

2011-05-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

So I just read this nifty piece in GalleyCat about Micro, Michael Crichton's unfinished novel, and it got me thinking. I'm not a huge fan of Michael Crichton, but you have to wonder what he thinks about all this. One third of his novel was drafted, and someone else was called in to complete the book using Crichton's notes and outlines, etc.

(Sort of) the same thing just happened at my work, actually -- one of our authors passed away, leaving what some would have called his magnum opus unfinished. We'll be publishing it, but it certainly won't be the product that our author (or Michael Crichton, for that matter) would have completed.

You have to wonder, when this happens, why? In this case money is clearly a big factor. Michael Crichton sells many books. Oodles of them, to be precise. But would the man himself have wanted this work to be completed by someone else? Would he have wanted someone else to write the majority of the words of this book?

If it were me, I would say...no. I think. Writing is a tricky business. On the personal side, every book is someone's baby. Would I want someone messing with my book-baby? Um, no. The end-product might have my name on it, but it wouldn't be mine. You also have to wonder about what stuff Crichton was carrying around in his head that he just hadn't gotten around to putting down on paper. There could have been twists! Turns! Jumps off cliffs that no one will ever know.

So from an author's perspective: do I think that unfinished works should be published posthumously? If it were up to me, no. It wouldn't be perfect, it wouldn't be done. As a reader, however, reading an unfinished manuscript exactly as is would be a fascinating experience in the creative mind of another person.

So which is it? If you were an author, would you want your last work to be published, if it's not complete? (Or even if it's completed by someone else?) And how do you feel about these works as a reader?

Diagnose Me

2011-05-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

I have the blahs. That gorgeous cover of the latest YA AWESOME? Eh. The best cyber-zombie-were-cow-mermaid series to hit the streets? Been there, done that. Reading? So over it.

In short, friends, I haven't felt like reading much lately. But that might be because I haven't felt like reading young adult fiction lately. At some point, they all start to blur together. Take the last book I read (title and author redacted). There was nothing inherently wrong with it. The writing didn't make me want to roll my eyes and send the author back to kindergarten. The romance didn't make me want to throw up. I wasn't immediately able to detail the entire plot from start to finish off of the jacket flap. But altogether, it was pretty much meh.

Is there something wrong with the genre, or something wrong with me? Is it even (gasp) possible that I've finally gotten tired of young adult altogether?

I hope not. There's cool stuff going on in there. It's just that I haven't read a really cool book in a very long time. Anyone else feeling the YA fatigue? What are you doing to snap yourself out of it?

WIP Update

2011-05-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a mad dash to get this draft of my work in progress done by the end of May. For those who haven't been privy to the whole story, this work in progress started as an idea, which turned into my NaNo novel last November, which has been languishing ever since. Since my NaNo draft was really a splat draft, this will be my actual first draft, with (hopefully) most of the scenes present, if not perfect, and most characters and plot points in place.

In all probability I won't make it -- I'm only just over 8,000 words in, and anticipating at least 70,000 more to go before I reach the end. But it's a goal, and that's the important thing, right?

I reached two big milestones today, anyway. First, my main character has a name. (Yes, she went 8,000 words nameless, and her name still has not appeared in the text. But it will.) Also, I've discovered the first song on my WIP playlist: "Poison & Wine," by The Civil Wars. It's kind of ridiculously fitting, both in tone and message.

So that's how that's going. In the meantime I really haven't been reading much at all, yet somehow there are still 17 library books on my shelf...

The Book Lantern

2011-05-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA for a while, and I apologize. Real life has gotten complicated, what with a: trying to find a new apartment, b: freaking out about graduate school applications, c: trying to write a novel, and d: worrying about my PURPOSE. That wasn't an Avenue Q reference at all.

I'm making the effort to come back soon, but in the meantime, the following:

1. Where She Went is the best book I have read in a really long time.

2. "The Book Lantern" is my new favorite book blog. Check it out!

3. I am taking book recommendations. If you were going to recommend only ONE book (let's say, one book that has influenced your life in a major way), what would it be? Keep in mind I'm attempting to branch away from young adult, but if you have an extraordinary YA book to recommend, I'll definitely put it on my list.

See you soon! I still love you, and hope you still love me. :)

Rollings Reliable

2011-04-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

I've been slowly making my way through rereads of Anne of Green Gables, and sequels. Like so many of the series I loved as a child, I've read the first books many times. The later ones? Not so much.

I'm sure there are a few explanations for this, but one of them has to be that I just hate my favorite characters growing up and getting old and giving way to new generations. I hated it in Little Women (okay, technically Jo's Boys by that point), the later Little House on the Prairie books, and certainly once we get to talking about Rilla in the Anne books.

BUT that's not what I set out to talk about when I sat down to write this blog. I was going to talk (and will still talk) about Rollings Reliable. (For your reference, it's in the third Anne book, Anne of the Island.)

Anyone remember this? Anyone?

Well, for those who haven't read the Anne-girl books in a while, Anne tries her hand at writing. She writes a "perfectly pathetic" and dramatic story entitled "Averil's Atonement," sends it off to several major magazines, and...gets rejected. Yeah. This part should be pretty familiar to a lot of you. It's pretty dramatic -- Anne even swears that she will never write again.

I could say SO much about that (and I probably will, at some point), but this blog is not about forsaking writing forever. It's about the Rollings Reliable baking powder competition that takes place a few chapters later. Diana enters Anne's story without telling her, inserting some apt words about Rollings Reliable baking powder, and the story is picked.

Anne, of course, is devastated over the hideous commercialization of her baby. And I can understand that. But the thought that comes to mind is this: if you are a novelist, or aspiring to be, isn't some degree of commercialization to be expected? Of course the vast majority of writers have strong visions of their story, and work very hard to stay true to the heart of their story. And agents and editors -- they're lauded in the acknowledgments as always working to discover the story's soul, to make each book as perfect as it can possibly be.

But isn't there something more? Because after all, no editor would acquire a book that he or she believed would not sell. Some books are bestsellers, anticipated or not. And some books are abject failures. But besides being a beautiful work of art, besides being the vessel into which the writer pours a story that has been gnawing at her for years -- isn't the point, at the end of the day, to create something that will sell?

Not that I'm going to be putting Rollings Reliable advertisements into Chapter Three of my historical fantasy novel anytime soon... But seriously. Would any agent even look at my book (whenever it gets finished) if they thought it would never sell, or that I didn't have a talent that would, eventually, sell?

Yes, writing is about beauty. Yes, it's about issues, it's about important messages and pain and love and art. But at the end of the day, it's about money too.

(This message brought to you in a circuitous way by Anne of Green Gables, who would be appalled to hear such callous acceptance of our capitalist society.)

I think someone's missing the point

2011-04-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about five YA trends I am SO OVER. I got a lot of good comments, and was pretty impressed that so many people seem to agree with me. (And yet there are still tacky vampire books coming out and lined up for years to come... Hmm.)

Anyway, Kay, at Dead Book Darling, added dystopian novels to the list that she would write. And at first I disagreed. I really liked The Hunger Games, and have since come across a number of YA dystopians I enjoyed as well. So I'm not convinced that I'm quite over that particular vein yet. But the more I thought about her comment, the more I realized that there really is something bugging me about the general level of YA dystopian novels being released nowadays.

You know, dystopians used to exist for a reason. 1984. Brave New World. Fahrenheit 451. I could go on. I know many people were force fed these novels in high school, and I admit, they're not the first books I would pick up, given a varied selection. But they exist to make social commentary. Really, really important social commentary. Dystopian novels used to be serious, in other words. They used to be real movers and changers. Consider that so very many things predicted in 1984 have actually come to pass. That's scary. It's downright terrifying.

At least on the young adult scene, I feel like I'm setting foot on an entirely different planet. A lot of YA dystopians nowadays (not all, but a lot), seem to include the dystopian element for much the same reason that the other trends in YA are included in books: to serve the romantic plot. It's (usually) about the main character, (usually) a girl, slowly waking up from the system, (usually) a vaguely Big-Brother-esque universe with not a lot of background given on the roots of this new society, with the help/guidance of a (usually) politically subversive male love interest. Poof, she sees the evil of the System. Poof, everything's set up for a sequel. Me against the Man. (Along with my boyfriend, of course.)

These novels, the majority of them, are not making the social commentary that dystopians were once known for. They're dystopian for one reason: because it's cool. Because the author thought it was cool, because the publishers thought teenagers would think it was cool.

Do dystopian novels have to be creepy harbingers of a dark future? Not necessarily. It's fine to write a book just because it's entertaining. But I think it's tragic that the roots of dystopia have been diluted so much in its current incarnation. For once I'd like to see a YA dystopian novel that terrifies me as much as Fahrenheit 451 did. That's not all about using the evil Society to set up a rebellious teenage love affair. That makes readers think, really think, about the world we live in, and the way we want to live.

I think we can handle it.

Five YA Trends I am SO OVER

2011-03-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

(Not in any particular order.)

1. Eternal love. You know, the kind where for whatever reason, the protagonist (usually a girl) is reincarnated but never remembers the past, and her romantic meant-to-be interest (usually the brooding, semi-abusive guy) is stalking/"educating" her about her past. Plus some nonsensical danger thing. Sometimes involving a curse.

2. Vampires. Way back in the day (as in, WAY before vampires spiked) there were some novels I remember as being pretty cool (as in not totally sucky) -- Robin McKinley's Sunshine, Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss, and (for some random reason) Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' In the Forests of the Night. I haven't picked these up in a while, but from what I recall, the main difference was that the vampire trope was not just a foil for eternal love and crap like that. There was actually a plot. Shocking, I know.

3. Werewolves. I don't know if I've ever read a really good werewolf novel. I like the way they're dealt with in the earlier Anita Blake books, but those are certainly not YA. (Same with vampires. The early Blake books are kind of awesome.)

4. Fairies. Have I ever read a good fairy book? (I'm talking "the fair folk" sorts of stories, not "fairy tales." The two are very different.) Perhaps the only books I have ever loved that had fairies as a factor were Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier, and sequels. Probably because again, the fairies were not the love interests. Although technically, that book is both a "fair folk" and a "fairy tale" book.

5. Angels. You know it's awful when you've only read ONE book featuring angels, and the thought of more makes you gag.

It's not that I hate vampires, werewolves, or fairies. It's that I detest all books that use these tropes just to carry some half-assed story about forbidden/destined/eternal/teenage love. Period.

Any trends you're sick of? Please share!

MacBook vs. MacBook Pro

2011-03-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

I'm considering my next computer. I've already decided on a Mac, but am having difficulty choosing between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. For those not in the know, I generally use my computer for the following:

- internet (email, blogging, streaming video)
- DVD watching
- iTunes
- Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.

I'm a light to moderate user (I think), but I do tend to watch a lot of video content (Netflix, Hulu, DVDs) and get really annoyed when things take forever to load.

Any opinions here?

Covers and such

2011-03-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today I bought a second copy of The Goose Girl. Why? Did my first get caught in the rain? Eaten by wolves? Blasted in a nuclear explosion?

No... It was just that my first copy had the photographic cover, and what I really really really wanted was the old cover. The Alison Jay cover. This is not to say the photographic cover is awful -- it's just that the Alison Jay covers are gorgeous. I want. (PS: They're coming out with Alison Jay covers for Forest Born, in case you were wondering.)

Anyway, that's that. Now I have two copies of The Goose Girl. They look right at home next to my two copies of The Graveyard Book (one US, one UK). (Although I may need to track down a hardcover copy now... with the Alison Jay cover, of course.) And now my inner self is raising an eyebrow and wondering, when did I become the sort of person to buy multiple copies of books just for the cover? It's starting slow but may be catching on... I've also got multiple copies of Les Miserables (three of them!) and two of The Brothers Karamazov. Where does it end??!?

Do any of you do this sort of thing? Buy multiple copies of a book? (For any reason... my thing seems to be the cover, but I'm sure there are vastly more interesting reasons behind such compulsions.) Speak!

Vienna Teng (and the art of creation)

2011-03-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

I love Vienna Teng. Put simply, she writes lyrical, beautiful, meaningful songs. Gorgeous songs. Scrumptious songs. And today she has something to share with you: how to write a song, edit, record, and master it all in ONE DAY. This is the project called Dubway Days, a production of Dubway Studios, and it's all about experimentation and creation. Go check it out, and you can see how Vienna Teng (and friends) produced a song out of nothing in less than 24 hours. It's a really interesting (although certainly not comprehensive) look at the creative process.*

Yes, this is really me sidling out of having to write something about my own (pathetic) creative process.

And it's about telling the whole world about Vienna Teng, who is amazing. I can't decide which song to point you towards -- either "Stray Italian Greyhound" or "Antebellum," I think. Oh, what the heck! Listen to them all!

*Plus if you get there early enough, you can get a free download of the one-day song. Just don't tell anyone I told you.

The President's Daughter (Ellen Emerson White)

2011-03-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a girl named Meghan Powers. She likes her life simple, but that's not always going to be the case. Her mother, Senator Powers, is running to be the first female president of the United States.

There's more I could tell you, but I think you get the gist. There aren't any vampires in this book, or in this series. No ghosts, no aliens. Instead, there's a political race, and a teenage daughter who doesn't really want to be involved. I think you should read this book. In fact, I know you should read this book, and ALL the books in this series, and I will tell you why:

1. Family. A lot of YA these days have orphans, distant/stupid parents, mysterious circumstances of birth... Anything except a real family. The President's Daughter has that. Meg has two kid brothers who crack stupid jokes, and two parents, both successful, who bicker about spending more time with their children, parent as best they know how, and feel like real people. This family is a real family, with all of the benefits and drawbacks that come with it, and it's refreshing to see.

2. Politics (and the White House). I probably know more about politics than the average person, but I certainly don't know everything -- I can't call White on every little detail, but the politics of the book feel real. Also, there's a lot of stuff about Secret Service details, etc. Again, what do I know about Secret Service details? Not much, but what is here feels real, makes sense, and paints a very good picture of what day to day life would be like, if you lived in the White House.

3. Meg. She's got a couple of quirks, but that's what you love about her. She's the average intelligent teenager, angry at her parents occasionally, worried about doing/saying the wrong things, and it's lovely to walk through this story with a real person instead of an alien. She has a great snarky sense of humor, which she puts to good use on the campaign trail, much to the dismay of her mother's campaign team. Plus, she KICKS ASS in the third and fourth books. Just saying. So you have something to look forward to.

Bottom line: Read these books if you like contemporary YA, politics, real families (and people), and great writing. These books were first released in the 1980s, and got a reissue in 2008. In my opinion, this series is a hidden gem -- one that has gotten far less attention than it deserves. I highly recommend them.

Giddy/Bubbly

2011-03-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, today I am feeling giddy/bubbly. Why? Well, it's because last night, I had a very productive talk with my roommate, which resulted in the discovery of the ending. Turns out the place I thought was the end of my book was actually about 4/5 of the way through. Oops.

But I'm not feeling at ALL silly about that because finally finally finally I have a clear picture of this book, this story, this heroine, in my mind. I know the stakes, the love interests, the intrigue. I know it all, if not exactly how it's going to fit together just yet, and I have all weekend to play with the outline (yes, play!) before I kick into real revisions on Monday.

Revision. Wow. Secret: I have never revised a novel before. I have never even attempted to revise a novel before, as long as you don't count that time in middle school... Yeah.

Anyway, I'm on a writer's high, and everything about writing is making me excited. Even the prospect of typing away on my horribly crippled computer that should probably be put out of its misery.

Endings? :(

2011-03-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

According to my master plan of doom, I was supposed to start revisions yesterday.

Did this happen? Not exactly. But I have spent at least six or seven hours over the last few days just trying to come up with one thing: HOW does my book end?

It's a really frustrating thing. Originally I had planned it to be a book with a sequel... And I still do. But I find myself supremely annoyed (like, throw the book across the room annoyed) when I get to the end of a book and it just doesn't hold together, because everything's waiting for the second book. Yes, I like series. But I hate books that can't even pretend to stand alone.

So I tried to come up with a way to end my book in a satisfying, wrap-it-up type of way. And it's proving to be IMPOSSIBLE. I don't understand why! (Well... Part of it might be because there's a planned coup of the kingdom right at the end, but still! I have plot! I have sub plot! You would think they would lead to some sort of conclusion, right?)

Anyway, that's where I'm stuck. I feel like if I don't have a decent idea of the ending, I won't be able to write effectively. And I don't have a good idea of the ending.

Rar. It's frustrating. And maybe at this point I should just start writing and hope that something occurs to me as I'm going along.

Hello, world...

2011-02-28T13:54:00.000-08:00

So it's been radio silence the last few weeks. I can make the usual excuses -- work, life, stuff, gunk, aliens -- but the pertinent details of what I've been up to boil down to this: I've been thinking about what I want out of life. And what I want out of life is to be a writer. This is one of those things I've dreamed of doing for forever, it seems. And I think I've been spending too much of my time not being a writer. This is not to say that taking time off is worthwhile, or having different pursuits, or any of those things, isn't great. They're all great. But at the end of the day, there's one thing that goes through my head as I lie down to sleep: This will not happen if you don't make it happen.

This will not happen if I don't make it happen. It's easy for me to kick back and watch a few episodes of a favorite television show after coming home from work. It's comforting, fun, and doesn't require much effort. But it's my dream to be a writer, and it always has been. And change is not going to happen unless I make it happen. To that end, I will be implementing a few changes here and across the internet, concerning how I present myself to the world.

1. I will no longer be accepting books for review, or reviewing on a regular basis. I will certainly talk about books, and I will definitely do my fair share of gushing over books I adore (just hand-sold a copy of Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss the other day at a bookstore -- by (happy) accident!). But there's a line I've been straddling for a while on the blogosphere, between "prospective author" and "reviewer/blogger". I think it's time I landed firmly on the side on which I want to be.

2. I will resume my previous posting schedule -- something readerly on Mondays, something writerly on Wednesdays, and something random on Fridays.

3. This last one isn't really internety, but concerns me as an author, so here goes: I'm starting revisions tomorrow. Yipes! (Even though I haven't managed a complete outline. Even though there are still some major characters who don't exist. Even though, even though, even though there will always be more even thoughs. Or perhaps in spite of that fact.)

Sigh. I miss my internet friends. I haven't poked my head out from the burrow in weeks, either to read or write. It's good to be back with you all.

PS: The blog's getting a revamp too. Although that might take a while.

Angelfire (Courtney Allison Moulton)

2011-02-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember."

This book definitely pulled me along. I started it not quite sure if I'd like it (picked it because of the awesome cover, if you want to get right down to it), and I ran into some problems early on. I didn't really like Ellie, for one. I sympathized with her position, that's true. It's not every day that you get pulled aside and told you're a super warrior with a mission to defeat bad guys. But I kind of got the impression that she was spoiled, and not really used to taking responsibility for herself.

The stories that Moulton created in this book are great. The history of the reapers, and the Preliator -- I gobbled up the history of the book, was blown away by the twist (yes, there is a twist, and it's a good one), and was left at the end wanting to know a whole lot more about the world...but not so much more about Ellie.

I loved most of the other characters. Who doesn't want a Will around? Ellie's mother was believable and present, an uncommon feat in the young adult genre, and to tell the truth, I was suitably freaked out by Ellie's father. There were also some strong supporting characters who made appearances, both on the "good" side and the "bad." In short, I'm looking forward to the next book. I can't pass up the chance to get some answers to the questions that are niggling in my head right now, and to see my favorite characters again. Ellie? Well -- lots of things can happen in a year. Here's hoping she'll grow up a little and make the sequel a resounding success.

*I received an e-galley of this book via Netgalley for review.

View all my reviews

Still on Anne

2011-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

To be perfectly honest I haven't been reading as much as I'd hoped this year. There's certainly still time for it to change, but for the moment (and the last few weeks) it seems I've been figuring out how to work in one of my new year's resolutions (working out) only by trading in time I would otherwise have used for reading (and/or writing).

Anyway, all that goes to show that I'm still on Anne of Green Gables, although I've blown through a few other books here and there. Anne of Green Gables is one of those books that always prompts me to start a "books I'm buying for my child, in the event that I have one" list. I certainly can't pass down this copy -- the spine is shot, and the front cover is gone, a result of an unfortunate overnight encounter with a rainstorm many years ago.

There are a lot of books I would put on my "to-buy" list for my child. Harry Potter, definitely. Anne of Green Gables, Little Women (and Little Men, etc.), Cloudy With a Change of Meatballs, Hop on Pop!, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, The Chronicles of Narnia... The list goes on. And on. And on. I should actually write that list down someday... Although I'm sure it can wait a few years, at least, before needing to serve a practical purpose.

What books would you put on your list? (And do you have a better name for that list than I do? Because "books I'm buying for my child, in the event that I have one" list is just too darn long.)

An anecdote. Some of you may be familiar with it

2011-02-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

I went home to visit my family this past weekend.

I thought I would be safe with three books.

No. Not at all. I'd zoomed through all three (BART helps) by Saturday morning. The only thing left to do was go to the library and get more...

I managed to limit myself to five... But that means that on the way back, I was carrying eight books. Erm.

This is the part where having a Kindle would come in handy. Oh, wait! I do have a Kindle. It's just that I'm adverse to actually purchasing books to put on there, when you can get books for free from the library!

Anyway, to make a short story shorter, my shoulder is now aching slightly. Looks like I still haven't gotten over book hauler syndrome...

PS: Across the Universe, by Beth Revis. Pretty good read.

Don't demonize the textbook companies, children

2011-02-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is a topic near and dear to my heart, if only for the simple reasons that a: less than 12 months ago, I was a student myself, and b: I now interact on a daily basis with textbook companies (as part of my job). This will be a glossy, windswept post just because I don't have the time to treat it in depth, but I consider myself sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to cover the gist of it, at least.

College textbooks are expensive. Take it from someone who knows -- in my short-lived career as a mathematics major, I was purchasing books that were easily $150 new. (If I was lucky, I could get them for $90 used. Maybe.) And that's just one textbook, for one class. When you're a full time student, taking four courses a semester, you can easily spend over $500 (per semester) on textbooks alone. More if you're in one of the harder sciences -- physics, chemistry, etc.

It sucks. And I totally understand the need and desire for cheaper textbooks, the irate reactions upon finding out that yeah, used textbooks are cheaper...but in the way $70 is cheaper than $95. It's cheaper, but they both hurt. And I understand the impulse to blame the college textbook industry. Those soul-sucking mother-^&*%%*%! Why can't they suck it up and bypass a bonus this quarter?!?!?!??

Children, I'm here to educate you differently. Yes, college textbooks are ridiculously expensive. But to blame the textbook companies solely is just...misguided. Ignorant of the facts. And the facts are these:

Once upon a time, textbooks weren't "used" so much. Most people bought new. Which meant that a college textbook company could anticipate getting at least four or five years (eight or ten semesters) out of one edition of one textbook. Let's do a little math: Pretend with me that you could get a certain science textbook for $30. Say one class is 20 students, that's $600 per class, per semester. Times ten semesters, $6000 for one textbook. (Remember these are pretend numbers, for illustrative purposes only.)

And then, someone had the brilliant idea of introducing the concept of "used." The books aren't changing! they cried. You can buy the very same textbook that was used last semester (that will be used next semester, come to think of it), for half the price! College students aren't suckers in this department, for the most part. 50%? Yeah, I'll take that. So the used business was born. A student who bought that new $30 textbook could sell it to a used bookstore for $10, who could then turn around and sell it to another student (for another semester) for $20. And so on, and so forth. So the students are making a little cash, saving a little cash, and they're happy. But what about the publishers?

Suddenly, things don't look so pretty. I work in publishing, and let me tell you -- the margin between black and red is pretty darn thin. Once (see above) you could expect the return on one textbook to be $6000. Now what? If only one class buys the textbook (that very first semester), and then sells it to the next class, the total amount that a college textbook publisher will receive plummets from $6000 to $600. 90% loss. Now, some people will hang on to their textbooks, and some people will buy new. Let's assume for the moment that 10% of any given class will be purchasing new textbooks, after the first semester. So, the first semester will return $600 for the publisher. After that? $60. At the end of a ten semester cycle, you're left with $1140. Not even a fifth of what you started with.

So what can a publisher do against this? Obviously it's not sustainable -- starting with an expected return of $6000, and seeing that money drop 90%? Not a workable business model. What can a publisher do? Well...they can turn out new editions faster (which will bring back the "new" prices for at least a semester, as students are forced to get them to obtain new material), or they can raise prices. How do you get back up to $6000 from $960? You raise the price of a single textbook to $158, that's how.

And just like that, more students are driven to used textbooks (because $158? for a textbook? that's crazy!), and more textbook companies have to raise prices and put out new editions faster, and more students are driven to used textbooks, and more textbook companies have to raise prices, etc. etc. etc.

Obviously this is not the complete picture. I'm working with simple numbers, not taking into account royalties, what bookstores actually pay the publishers, etc. Just simple numbers. But I hope you've gotten the gist -- once upon a time, textbook publishers could rely on their textbooks being good for at least five years (sometimes more like ten), and so reaching a profit could be spread more evenly among those five to ten years. Now, they have to count on making almost no money after the first one or two semesters. Which means higher prices. Which means more demand for used textbooks. Which means... you get the picture.

Obviously, college textbooks are too expensive. I'm not arguing that everyone go out and purchase new books, rather than used. I'm just saying that things are more complicated than they seem, and that the next time you want to curse a textbook publisher for slapping a $180 price tag on a textbook, take a deep breath and consider that they're not the only ones to blame here. Sorry about that price tag, though. Really. I remember how that feels. But it's a vicious cycle, man. Just vicious.

Progress: It has been made

2011-02-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hi all...

So, the Board. It has been made. I was putting it off because I was telling myself I absolutely had to go to the supply store and purchase a brand new cork board (along with brand new index cards and brand new push pins) -- but then I got my act together and pulled down the one I have been studiously not using for a while (had random inspirational poetry and such on it) and got out my 200 index cards and the matching set of push pins I have never opened. (Yes, that was procrastination. And love of new office supplies.)

Long story short, I've got a board with some masking tape across it (as prescribed by Save the Cat), and some index cards. I would take a picture and show it to you, but I had an unfortunate incident with our oven last night (I am currently typing without the use of my left middle finger) and negotiating a digital camera, etc., would be a lot right now. I promise, picture to come. Anyway, now that I've gotten this together, some things about the story are immediately apparent:

1. The main character doesn't have a name. Oops?

2. There are a lot of empty spaces where lots of intrigue and action should go.

3. I honestly don't know where the story "ends," according to the handy plot formula I've been working off of.

It's good. I've started. Next step? Outlining the sub plots from beginning to end. Theoretically this will provide fodder to fill the empty spaces I've got. I'll probably have to come up with my main character's name all by myself, though...

Delirium (Lauren Oliver)

2011-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love."

Wow. It's difficult to know where to start with this book. Maybe I should start with Lauren Oliver. I love the quality of her writing. It's beautiful and flowing, and has the effect of coaxing you into the story and staying there. The writing was, quite frankly, the best part of the book.

I was so intrigued by the premise. Love as a disease? I loved the way it was written up scientifically, symptoms and all, because once you started looking at the symptoms as written in the book, you almost felt like yeah -- this (almost) makes sense. I was so excited to see what Lauren Oliver would do with this book, but unfortunately it fell a little short of expectations.

I felt as though the world was not new enough, different enough. I tend to measure dystopia by how creeped out I am at the end, just because great dystopian novels chill me to the bone, thinking that one of those futures could be right around the corner. This terrified feeling simply wasn't there throughout Delirium. I thought the premise was so great, I wanted to see a deeper look into the world, into the nature of people, into the nature of love, as Lena started falling into it... but instead, the dystopian world was one of those run-of-the-mill ones, the government-watches-you-don't-step-out-of-line new civilizations, and Lena, as much as I loved the fact that she ran, didn't think deeply enough about her surroundings, her life, to satisfy my desire for a deeper tale.

The cast of characters was well thought out -- I enjoyed Lena's sister particularly, and thought there was great potential in her character, as well as in Lena's best friend. I also loved the way Lena struggled with her feelings, developing a crush on a boy, fearing all the while that it will someday kill her... In short, Delirium was entertaining, and I like Oliver's writing so much I was happy to dwell in the story, but I wanted there to be more. It was good -- it could have been great.

*I received an e-galley of this book via NetGalley for review.

View all my reviews

Rereading

2011-01-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

Last week I saw The Untouchables. All comments on the movie aside (apart from the fact that Andy Garcia is the kick-assest of them all), I'm bringing this up because I was asked, after the movie, how many times I'd seen it.

I honestly could not answer. The best I could do was "Umm... Less than ten? Probably around five." At which point I was met with an incredulous look. Apparently the immediate response was -- with so many movies in the world, why would I ever take time to watch a single one even twice, much less five times?

Shrug. The reason I rewatch movies is the same reason I reread books. Because I take something away from the experience, every time. Maybe I'm an extreme -- I've never counted, but I'm fairly certain that among the books I've reread the most, the movies I've rewatched the most, the number approaches twenty. That's almost once a year for every year I've been alive, and since clearly I wasn't watching R-rated movies or young adult books in my early years, that means I've been doing my re-experiencing an average of two or three times a year, for some books.

People read books in the first place (and watch movies, but let's drop that intro for the moment) for so many reasons. To learn, to experience new worlds, new places, new situations. A book can be an escape, a romance, an adventure, or even just a sugary snack. And rereading, to me, is a chance to gain even more. Why read a book once you already know the ending? Because the experience of reading a book, sinking into the world, spending time with fabulous (made-up) people, is so much more than just the ending. It's comfort food, and it's a chance to discover even more, to see a world through different eyes and different perspectives. (And sometimes, I admit, it's because I've forgotten the ending.)

This year I've decided to spend time rereading several books from my childhood, including Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie, and Anne of Green Gables, among others. I started with Anne of Green Gables, and right from the beginning it's hard to come up with a reason why I wouldn't want to go back and spend time with incorrigible Anne, prickly Marilla, shy Matthew, and domineering Mrs. Rachel Lynde, and cheeky Gilbert, among others. It's like spending time with some dear old friends -- the experience has that same cold night-warm blanket-hot cocoa feeling.

Anyway, do you reread books? Why? And which of your books has the highest number?

Lucky Charms

2011-01-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

I like Lucky Charms. This is what I'm writing about today because my wrist is bothering me (again), and I don't feel like sitting here waiting for a more inspired idea. So yeah. I like Lucky Charms.

But... Just not all the time. I know, they're delicious and packed with artificially added vitamins, and so sweet they make your teeth hurt, literally, and drinking the milk after the cereal is gone is like drinking chocolate milk, or melted ice cream... But there's just so much of that a person can take before she resorts to vegetables and brown rice.

Anyway, I just had that urge a couple of weeks ago and bought myself a big box of Lucky Charms, which I have been steadily working through. They're not as ridiculously delicious as the first bowl was anymore, but I continue to enjoy them. And when the box is gone, I will enjoy the memory of them until my next Lucky Charms binge, which, according to experience, will likely be 9 months to a year from now. I figure that's infrequent enough that eating (pretty much) straight sugar can't do that much harm, can it?

In (short) other news, have been reading my plotting book. I plan on buying a board and index cards today (ha!). They're exactly what my detail-obsessed brain will love and spend hours upon hours poring over. And I've started rereading Meg Cabot's Airhead. It's kind of awesomer than I remembered -- perfect for when you're in a cotton candy sort of mood, definitely.

Happy Friday, all!

Nah nah nah procrastination

2011-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

My books from Amazon arrived yesterday, shoving out my last legitimate excuse for procrastination. Theoretically, this means I should be down, nose to grindstone, from now until eternity (or whenever I have a decent second draft done, which is to say, it'll be eternity). Instead I'm doing pretty much what I was doing before, except I postulate that it really counts as not procrastinating this time because even though I'm sitting around reading instead of writing, this time I'm reading the books I purchased specifically to aid my writing.

And I've actually learned a lot. I read Save the Cat, that book Elana Johnson gushed about, and it actually makes sense. Even without setting up the board (yet), I can sort of squint my eyes and see where certain scenes would fall into this lineup that Blake Snyder has so keenly set up. It's pretty cool. And I am totally that person who outlines and color codes and dog ears, so now I get to spend all day in an office supply store and call that working too... Heh...

Long story short, this book is going to MAJORLY impact my plotting ability -- which is to say, give me some plotting ability in the first place. Easy four stars, might just push up to five depending on the results. Yes, this is a results-measured book. And that really makes me wonder whether people should be rating books on the results they achieve. And that makes you wonder... what sort of results are you talking here?

But that's a post (probably many) for another day.

Derivative Works

2011-01-24T00:37:00.000-08:00

You know, I should get into a much longer discussion about derivative works sometime. Because I happen to love them. But today we're talking about one specific derivative work -- Jane, by April Lindner.

I read it over the weekend. For those not in the know, this is a recent debut novel that takes Jane Eyre, and throws it into the twenty-first century. Example: Mr. Rochester becomes a rock star. Literally. (Those of you who have not read Jane Eyre, please be aware that there will be spoilers (of Jane Eyre, not the recent Jane).)

Honestly... I wasn't thrilled. But the problems lay not so much in the actual telling of the story -- the craft was there. I think the problem is that Jane Eyre is just really difficult to translate into the twenty-first century. Think female autonomy. Sure, we've all read the stories about how women still aren't equal, how we only make 80 cents to every man's dollar. But it pales in comparison to the reality of the time. The reality of limitation, and the trap of a world where a woman's working options were few. Jane Eyre strives above all else for independence, fighting against a system that believes inherently that women are weak-minded. The twenty-first century? Well, the struggle just doesn't quite translate.

Same for the (SPOILER!) crazy wife in the attic. In Jane Eyre, one can believe that whatever else Rochester was, he was truly trying to care for his wife in the best way he knew how. In a world (see above) where women were devalued and treated like feeble-minded children, the only place for Bertha, alternative to the proverbial attic at Thornfield, would have been a mental institution far worse than those that exist today. So Rochester -- was he doing the correct thing, keeping his wife locked up in the attic? Well... A little, yeah. If you consider that the only real alternative would have been a nightmarish institution she would likely never have left alive.

Truth is, though, this doesn't work today. Nico Rathburn, our Rochester counterpart, argues pretty much the same thing. That he's keeping his beloved crazy first wife locked in the attic (and presumed dead, if you want to get right down to it) because he can't stand the idea of locking her in a mental institution. Sure, there are bad places out there. But any decent institution nowadays (and let's remember that Rathburn is a rock star, so he can afford the best of the best) has got nothing on the ones you could find two hundred years ago.

I could go on (and on), but I'll stop here. Let me be clear: This is not a critique of Jane. Rather, this is a (very brief, and incomplete) eye shed on the difficulty of modernizing Jane Eyre. Some stories lend themselves to the touch-ups, the cell phones, the world of today. Some don't. The power of Jane Eyre is in the power of woman, in particular our heroine. It's the portrayal of the world as a beast sitting on the belief that women are inferior, unimportant, and useless, that makes Jane's story that much more potent.

But all that coming-into-your-power, independent thinking and choices -- sorry, but it doesn't translate in the world of today. Jane is a diverting book, to be sure. But stripped of the context that made Jane Eyre's story so powerful, it's a story about a girl who falls in love with a rock star, and not much more.

Amazon!

2011-01-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I blame this entirely on Elana Johnson. Because she talked on and on and on about how splendiferously awesome this book on plotting was, and I thought: Hey. I trust this Elana. I have respect for her. I think she may be an internet-cyborg-thingy, the way she seems to be everywhere at the same time and still get her books done. So maybe I'll pick up that book, the one about plotting, since I am having the EXACT SAME PROBLEM.

This post is not about how I'm having trouble with plotting, although I could talk at length about that. No, this post is about how Amazon is a soul-sucker. Because you know what happens? I go over there to check out this book, Save the Cat. Easy enough. One click and it's in my cart.

But then they had to go and do that thing, you know the thing. The one where they say: "eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25!!!" Okay, the exclamation marks are mine. So now I've spent at least twenty minutes agonizing about what I should purchase in addition to my life-saving plot book, and still cannot come to a decision. Not to mention the fact that Amazon is sneakily convincing me that spending more money to buy more stuff (say, $12-15 to reach the magic $25) is better than spending less money ($3-4, right?) on shipping.

Curse you, Amazon! If only you didn't have everything I could possibly want to buy online!

In the meantime, I'll be puzzling over the relative merits of these seventeen books. Yeah...

Getting grounded

2011-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

You know what I did this week? I'll tell you. (Just for the record, it wasn't being sent to my room for the next three years without supper or recreational activities.)

This week, I reread my first draft.

I'd been avoiding since the end of November. To be perfectly honest, I had been operating under the assumption that I would outline the entire book and rewrite the whole thing, effectively scrapping everything I had written before. But when I made the decision to sit down and read my really (REALLY!) crappy first draft, it was because my way wasn't working.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what needed to change in this book, and the changes piled up really fast. First it was small things -- add in a minor character here, clarify where the government gets its money from here -- but the big stuff wasn't far behind. I decided that what had previously been the ending of the book had to be the ending of part one, instead. I changed the gender of a major character, changed the first love interest, changed an entire society, killed off a god. It got to be so bad, pretty much everything had been changed, usually more than once. It became a story I didn't even recognize. (And to be perfectly honest, many of those changes were led by my idea of what would be marketable, which is ALWAYS a horrible idea during your first rewrite.)

So I did the thing I thought I'd never do. I went back and read my NaNo2010 novel.

And it wasn't bad. Clearly, it's not in publishable shape, not by a long shot. But the writing is entertaining in places, characters do their funny little character things, and most importantly, I caught the slightest glimpse of the heart of the story. I promptly threw out about 95% of the changes I had made in the six weeks I'd been away from my novel.

Going back to the very first draft was something I thought I'd never do, and it turned out to be something that was so, so necessary. Getting grounded -- I got grounded again in my book, firmly entrenching myself in the potential and the heart that's there. Doing this reminded me that in fact, I don't hate my book. I actually kind of like it. And those things I like about it -- those are the most important things to remember, and to keep around.

The lovely and supremely talented Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss, (which I loved and highly recommend, by the way), wrote a similar post on Between Fact and Fiction, where she argued for the creation of a "love list," a list of all the things you love about your novel, small and big, in order to remind yourself when the going gets hard that yes, you do like your book. You may even love it at times.

So that's what I was doing this week. I was rekindling my love for my book, grounding myself in the style and the mood. It takes a big weight of my shoulders to remember that I actually like my story, that it isn't actually hopeless, that I don't actually have to turn the characters on their heads and shake everything out of them to make the pieces fit. Here's hoping I can make this time last.

Adverbiage

2011-01-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

I'm late on the blog post today, dear readers. I hope against hope that you will find it in your hearts to forgive me. Today, I'm addressing one of my reading resolutions for the year - rereading childhood favorites.

Since I downloaded the Kindle version of Anne of Green Gables, I thought I'd start with that one. The book is as delightful as I remember it being (and also puts me in the mind of the equally delightful TV miniseries (1985 and 1987) based on the books). However, there's one thing I'm noticing this time around that I definitely didn't see last time: adverbs.

Everything Marilla says is said drily! Anne sobs "luxuriously"! People think "shamefacedly," cry out "sternly," sarcastically," and "admiringly". I could go on, but I think you get the picture. If every there was a poster book for what not to do when attempting to use adverbs, this is it.

Of course, I still can't help but laugh in delight at what hijinks little Miss Anne gets up to, and it is with absolute pleasure that I sink into a book that to this day fills me with those warm, cuddly happy feelings. But you have to admit, L. M. Montgomery really did overdo it with the adverbs.

Anyone else out there with similar experiences with childhood favorites?

This is not really a blog post

2011-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is an obligation to have a sort of blog post (as in, something) posted on Friday. I want to be writing my book instead of writing a blog post. So in lieu of a blog post, this is what I have recently learned (and have resolved to remind myself of every day):

1. It is easy to want to be a writer. I've gotten that one down. If wanting to be a writer was a career, I would be stellar at it. (I'd make a lot of money doing that too. Although -- what does it look like? "Please please please please pleASE MAKE ME A WRITER!" If the job were to scream that at the top of my lungs every day, I might not be that great.)

2. It is very difficult to actually be a writer. Let's forget about all the publication and post-publication woes for the moment. I'm talking about sitting down in a chair and writing. Word by word. A story that I'm convinced sucks, and may never rise above the suckage. (It's that time of book-life, friends. Seems like it will never end.)

3. I am trying to bridge the gap between the two.

4. And that is where I am on Friday, instead of writing my blog post. I'm writing my book.

The power of thinking deeply

2011-01-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

Doing a lot of thinking about writing this past week. And I think (although I am not sure) that I have discovered a few things about myself as a writer, and about writing in general.

1. I cannot start writing this second draft until I have a clear picture in my mind of the following: the beginning of the story, the end of it (and the general story arc), and the main characters. (I currently know some, but not all of these things.)

2. It takes a lot of time to think about all these things. Specifically, I can't think about writing in the spare five minutes while waiting for my tea at work. Can't think about it walking to work, because walking to work takes less than five minutes. I need at least thirty solid minutes to really sink into a writing thought mode, and ask difficult questions (ex: How does the crown pay for everything? Do they collect taxes? If so, how so?), and write all of that awesome information down. Which means that...

3. I, as a writer, suffer because of the internet. Because of technology, really. If I'm in a room with a computer, I'm thinking about the king's favorite color until -- Wait! What color, exactly, is mauve? And chartreuse? I've never been quite clear on those, either. I should check this, and Google is right there, and it's so easy, and look! Wikipedia! And I should check Twitter too -- you never know when your favorite author will say something amazing like "I GOT MARRIED!".......... Yeah. That's why going on long walks and sitting in restaurants for far longer than they want to have you with only a pen and paper is a very good idea. I recommend it...

4. Because that's the only way I got around to realizing that perhaps this book I'm trying to write? The part where I thought it ended actually happens to be the end of Part One, that's what. (Don't worry, this is not going to turn my book into a gargantuan mess. It was short to begin with.) <-- That's big. Really, really big. It has been bothering me for months, and was only solved last Friday.

And that's the power of deep thinking. Internet, beware. I can (and really should) get stuff done without you. (And so should all of you, my fellow writers.)

To listen or not to listen

2011-01-10T08:48:00.000-08:00

So, audio. That's what I've been thinking about the last few days, ever since I listened to the episode of Books on the Nightstand where they talked up audio. (Side note: everyone should be listening to Books on the Nightstand, period. It's awesome.)

I've never listened to an audiobook. Mostly this has to do with the speed. I read pretty darn quickly, and so listening to an audiobook always makes me feel as though I'm being held back. My first college roommate loves audiobooks (she used to listen to them to fall asleep), but I never quite got that. However, Ann brought up some interesting points on the podcast that made me stop and think about it. Specifically, Ann wants to use audiobooks to help her stay motivated at the gym.

I thought that made perfect sense -- that audiobooks could potentially take the place of music in terms of what to listen to while walking, jogging, running, etc. (I suppose that they would be good to listen to in the car, although I don't have one, so it doesn't really concern me.) So I thought to myself, why not give this audiobook thing a try? You never know until you try, right? (This is in keeping with my philosophy about books -- that I pretty much give everything a fair shot.)

Anyway, I started looking around at audiobooks, and, because I have never looked up audiobooks before, I was struck by a severe case of sticker shock. $30+??!? And that's normal?!?? Well. Maybe I won't be getting into audiobooks as quickly as I wanted (although I probably will be looking into what my local library has to offer), but the desire remains to give them a try. So, my friends -- what's your take on audiobooks? Awesome? Not quite as awesome? Any favorites that I should start with? (I presume that, like translations, the narrator makes a huge difference in the quality of the finished product.) Any suggestions on where to come by these audiobooks?

Also, I read Red Glove, by Holly Black, over the weekend. It's awesome. (Review to come closer to publication date.) My only regret here is that I will have to wait until 2012 to read the next one. Urgh.

Some thoughts (randomness, really)

2011-01-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's Friday today. The auditory sounds that accompany this post are: the pianist upstairs who practices about three hours a day... AND the intermittent chirp of (I think) the smoke detector. It would like a new battery, I think that's what it's trying to say, except I am not tall enough to reach it. Alas, the limitations of a not-quite-average-heighted person.

Well then. Other than that, I've started a new story. Don't worry, this isn't cheating on my novel, really -- it's a short story (or it BETTER be). Just a little thing on the side. Just to break up the rhythm a bit. It has to do with a rather jolly king who inadvertently gambles away his kingdom? Although that's just in the first paragraph, so who knows what's going to happen next. It might be the end of the world. You never know.

Considering that this is my first experience with random Fridays (or Fridays of Randomness? Or Frighteningly Freakish Fridays? Okay, scratch that last one...), I think it's going rather well. I get to hop about from subject to subject without thinking ahead, without looking ahead, without pausing before I jump feet first into a hole...

So the first week of January comes to a close. It's been a little stressful, to tell the truth. Stuff at work and all that. Trying to live up to all the resolutions, which have decided to gang up on me and hold me down while one by one, they punch me in the stomach -- that's not working out very well. I may have to adjust as necessary, although the one I'm actually living up to so far is the 300 books thing. Oh, that and the blogging three times a week thing. Week 1, check!

I suppose that the thing to look forward to is February, then. Because in February I will be seeing Avenue Q, and it will be marvelous.

In the slog

2011-01-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

I'm in the slog, yo. Which is funny, really, because it's not like I'm three hundred pages into revisions. I made a resolution to spend fifteen minutes a day writing, and so far I've written half a scene from the hero's perspective (rather than the heroine's), a thought exercise on the history of the kingdom I'm writing in, and a doodle about whether the heroine should be in love with someone other than the person with whom she's in love at the beginning of the book.

In other words, I've been slogging around, doing something, sure, but what? Err...

I've got two problems. 1. I don't know where to start. There's too much. The prospect of reconsidering the entire book is staring down at me from the ceiling, claws extended. AH! And 2. I'm losing faith in the book. The ideas. The characters.

There are horror stories everywhere (at least everywhere I'm looking) about how hard it is to make your book stand out, about how hard it is to be successful as a writer, about how hard everything is, even if your writing is extraordinary. And even though my writing is certainly nowhere near extraordinary -- well, I had hopes that I would make this book as amazing as it could possibly be. And this is one of those slogs where I don't think I can. It's not new enough. Not cool enough, not captivating enough, not original enough...

Sigh. Revision is slow going. On the other hand, it took a long time figuring out how to write crappy first drafts. I've only just figured out how to finish a crappy first draft. So maybe it'll just take a while to figure out how to revise those first drafts into slightly less crappy second drafts. (Hopefully, though, it won't take quite as long as the first-drafting process...)

Well, it's Monday

2011-01-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

This week in reading... or last week summed up.

I brought a suitcase full of books (literally -- there were 18) home with me over the holidays. I thought I would polish them off for the new year, then sit back and attend to other things. Alas, this was not to be. The books refused to cooperate -- instead of yelling "Pick me! Pick me!" from their pile on my sister's already-messy table, they exuded a supreme air of boredom. Lackadaisical-ness. They didn't want to be touched, they were perfectly happy by themselves.

Which all goes to say that I lugged 18 books home with me, only to bring them back up to my apartment this afternoon and send them packing to the library. It's a mystery, sometimes, why you're in the mood for one book over another (or perhaps no books at all). In this case, I had seven or eight books looking at me, and I wasn't interested in any of them. Why? Well, they were all perfectly fine books, and most are on my eons-long Goodreads to-read list. But for whatever reason, I wasn't interested. So back to the library they went, and I spent my time picking up some books that I really was excited to read (among them Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett, and Storyteller: the Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, by Donald Sturrock). And now I am perfectly interested in reading again.

In other reading news, I'm on target to complete the year with 300+ books read, seeing as how I read a book yesterday, and a book today. Two down, so many more to go... I've also started Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff. The first ten pages are pretty awesome.

All this goes to say... Well, that reading is subjective. There are bad books, certainly. But even among the good books, you just might not be the right type of person for them. Not the best fit, not the best genre. Or even -- you might not be in the right mood for them. It might not be the right time. Or even the right year. In other words, some books are amazing, but you will never like them. And some books are worth giving a second chance. (And some aren't worth it at all, when you get right down to it -- but there are a lot of them that are.)

Happy Monday, everyone. I hope you're reading excellent books.

Resolutions

2010-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

Every year I have scores and scores of resolutions, most of which grow dusty and fat with disuse very quickly (and are only pulled out again around this time of year, to be recycled for the new year). This year, I'm determined to be different, to be focused, and to actually make it through my list.

Resolutions in Reading

Join the re-reading challenge. There's this challenge that has been going around the blogosphere that involves re-reading favorite books during 2011. (Unfortunately I haven't been able to find it again -- does anyone know who's hosting it? Help?) There are a number of books and series I've been thinking about re-reading recently (Harry Potter, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Sabriel, etc. etc. etc.), and formalizing it would go a long way toward actually making it happen.
Broaden my reading horizons. My favorite genres tend to be young adult, but this past year I've been making an effort to read more, especially nonfiction. For 2011, I'm aiming to further read outside my habitual reading zones.
Follow authors. I'm beginning to realize that I used to be pretty bad about keeping track of authors, even if I'd read a fantastic book by someone. In 2011, I'd like to make notes of the fantastic books I read, and immediately put their authors on my to-watch list. (Already there: Gail Carriger, Carrie Ryan, and Lish McBride, among others.)
Read 300 books. This year (so far) I've read 259. For no particular reason, my number for 2011 is 300. (Not counting rereads.)

Resolutions in Writing

Write every day. Even if it's just for fifteen minutes.
Keep a random writing journal for thought exercises and such, and actually use it.
Stop worrying so much about perfection.
Finish one full rewrite of my NaNo 2010 novel.

Resolutions in Blogging

Make a schedule and stick to it. I've been a fairly unreliable blogger my first year in, but I think I've hit upon a fairly flexible schedule that will help me keep to a steady pace. Starting January 1, 2011, my schedule will be as follows: Mondays in Reading, Wednesdays in Writing, Fridays in Random (better titles to come).
Polish up the blog. I haven't given the layout, page information, sidebars, (etc.) of my blog nearly enough thought as I've grown and developed as a blogger over the past year. At some point in the near future, I'd like to go through an evaluation and revamp of the blog as necessary.
Be a better contributor. I read a lot of blog posts, by a lot of bloggers, but I'm not nearly as good as I should be at commenting on them, and commenting back to people who have commented on my blog, etc. etc. Resolution: reply to everyone.
Revive Lost Book Girls. Yes, I blog there...or I used to. I still think it's a cool place for book-thought. It just fell victim to busyness over the last few months. (A revamp there is probably appropriate.)

Anyone else have thoughts for the new year?

2010 in Retrospect

2010-12-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

As we close the door (slowly, over a number of days) on 2010, I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some big, life-changing events that happened in the last 363 days. In chronological order...

May 2010: I graduated from college.

July 2010: I attended the Denver Publishing Institute, which turned out to be a brilliant thing to do, as it led directly to...

August 2010: Getting a job. Like a real, salaried, full time job with vacation time and everything.

September 2010: I turned 21. As it turns out, this mostly meant surreptitiously sipping at other people's alcoholic drinks before making a face and spitting them out. (But I can do it legally now!)

November 2010: I finished a full rough draft of a novel, which is a: the second complete draft of a novel I've ever written, b: the first one I've done since middle school (eight years!), and c: the product of my most successful NaNoWriMo yet.

So it's been a big year for me. Here's hoping that next year will be even better, especially in the writing things category.

To all of you out there -- I'm so happy to have met a lot of you. I've discovered that the internet is far, far vaster than I ever knew, and I'm looking forward to knowing you more in the future. Happy 2010!

Top 10 of 2010

2010-12-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

So I cheated a little. (And by a little, I mean I lumped some (many) series into one entry rather than trying to decide on the best of the series.) But here you go: my personal favorites of 2010, in no particular order.

White Cat (Holly Black)

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Lish McBride)

Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins)

The Forest of Hands and Teeth series (Carrie Ryan)

The Parasol Protectorate series (Gail Carriger)

Perfect Chemistry series (Simone Elkeles)

The Seven Kingdoms series (Kristin Cashore)

Twelve Houses series (Sharon Shinn)

The Queen's Thief series (Megan Whalen Turner)

Fables series (Bill Willingham)

Read them all! Know them! Love them!

Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins)

2010-12-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommended for: Fans of Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot

From Goodreads: "Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?"

Anna and the French Kiss surprised me so much. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting a book a little floofy. Diverting, but strictly excellent? Nah. Was not expecting that.

It's true, though. Anna and the French Kiss is EXCELLENT. It's fun, flirty, frothy, fantastically French... Need I go on?

There are many contemporary young adult books out there. How many of them have the incredibly smooth writing style you expect from veteran authors? I'm a picky reader, and the writing is the first stumbling block for me.

Perkins nailed it. Yeah, there were some things I was annoyed by. Anna sometimes acted in annoying ways, but come on -- she's a teenager. I loved how her relationship with St. Clair evolved, and the way it was so realistically fraught. Here there are no vampires, no tortured immortal souls, no life-or-death battles. Just two young people finding each other, and finding Paris. Simple, sweet, and absolutely lovely.

I'm saying it here, and I will continue to say it -- Stephanie Perkins is an author going places. Contemporary young adult -- the fun, flirty, sweet kind -- has long been my go-to comfort genre, and Stephanie Perkins may well be my newest comfort author, taking her place right alongside Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot. I can't WAIT for her next book to be out. Yes, I will be buying that one too.

View all my reviews

Why yes, this is what revising looks like...

2010-12-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

...and it looks like a whole lot of procrastination.

Okay, just kidding. There's a (BIG) difference between revising procrastination. It's just that where I'm at right now looks a lot like both. (It's revision. It totally is.)

So there are steps to writing a novel, and they're different for every writer. So far, step 1: write a really crappy first draft -- check!..............................

.....................Now I'm just having trouble moving past that. I took a break. And then that break turned into a longer break... And that longer break turned into revision. Really. My draft is a very very very rough draft. Some writers call that draft 0. In any case, that means I am sitting down to a LOT of changes, planning, insertion of subplots and characters. (Yeah, that's right. I am currently missing at least one major secondary character.) ...Where do you go from here?

There are lots of things that need to change about this story, but I wanted to make sure I had a foundation (a solid idea of my vision, at least, for the story) before I started tinkering with the drapes. With that in mind -- well, I'm sitting. Listening to some music, but mostly sitting and letting thoughts wander in and out. I'm not planning on doing this for too long (my next step is character sheets for every major character), but so far I've changed a major institution, sacked six universities, and made a god irrelevant (or at least, relevant in a very different way than he was previously) in my hunt for the heart of the story.

This, despite the fact that it appears to the outward eye like me sitting in my chair for an hour, doing nothing, actually counts. Yes it does.

November (Belatedly)

2010-12-15T21:15:00.000-08:00

Yeah, this is late. It's almost time to be doing a December retrospective, but still! I read some really good books in November. Here's what I'd recommend:

Lips Touch: Three Times, by Laini Taylor.
Eerie, otherworldly stories. The first one I didn't love that much, but the second and third! My goodness, this is the kind of imagination that I wish I could steal. And the illustrations are gorgeous.

Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly.
This book has been getting a lot of attention. So there's history, foreign lands, some adventures... There's some solid French history, and a surprising amount of very interesting music history. Plus, the classic story of personal trauma and recovery. This book is in turns heart-tugging, entertaining, and informative.

A Spy in the House, by Y. S. Lee.
Another historical book, this one about Victorian England. This book also illuminates a part of history I had never even thought about (which I am not going to talk about, because it's kind of spoiler-y). But there's a feisty heroine, a delicious hero, some mystery and intrigue and plenty more to keep me waiting for the next book in the series.

Mistwood, by Leah Cypess.
Wow. Wow... This book may not be the best one I read in November, but it was certainly the one that surpassed my expectations by the most. I applaud Leah Cypess by coming out with original, compelling mythology, and a story I just could not call for much of the book. Unexpected, with some awesome girl kick-assery.

Well, that's it for me for November. All of these books are young adult... Hmm... (I don't read only young adult, I promise...)

Moment of Panic

2010-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Yes, that is what a moment of panic looks like on paper. Much akin to what going down a very long drop on a roller coaster looks like. Except I'm telling you that this is not a roller coaster. This is a moment of panic. And I had one of those over the last two days.

Why? Well, I listened to half of an interview with the deplorably AWESOME Neil Gaiman. I am convinced that there is no one quite as AWESOME as Neil Gaiman, nor can there be. And the sheer AWESOMENESS and brilliance of Neil Gaiman really just makes me want to throw the towel in right now, because come on. With Neil Gaiman, who needs me-writer in the world? (This is not usually me -- I'm usually very confident that the world needs me-writer in the world. But Neil Gaiman is Neil Gaiman. AWESOME, but intimidating.)

The other thing that had me going was the prospect of revision. And the fact that I have never really revised a novel. Not really. Not if you don't count that one from middle school that I outlined neatly with my co-writer before going on to NOT revise it. Yes, it's been sitting, unfinished, for about eight years now. Anyway, I'm now facing the bottomless pit of revisions, and I'm really hanging on by a thread here.

I can identify problems. Identifying problems is not the problem here. The problem (which, of course, is really an over-simplification of a LOT of problems) is that I don't even know where to start. Plotting? Characters? Setting? Whaaaaa...?

Which is why I would love it if you all could suggest books to me. Books on crafting a story, and character arcs, and creating settings. Or -- they don't have to be books, by any means. But help? Guidance? Divine intervention? I take all the above, and more.

THE PLAN

2010-12-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

I've come up with the final (and right) plan. The absolutely perfect plan to begin revising my novel. Yep, I've got it. I really do. And I'm going to show you... Err...

Yeah. So there's a vast world of revision to be done out there. And what am I doing? Putting it off, of course. But in a very responsible manner, I'm sure you'll agree. My reasoning is as follows: Yes, it's time to get started on revising. But before I do that, I should make sure my computer isn't going to die on me, right? (That has actually been a tricky thing for the past couple of months -- I've started saving up for a new computer.) So yesterday I installed some much better security software, and defragmented my hard drive. And today I'm going to be backing up my computer (yes, it's the first time in years...let's not dwell on that, shall we?) to my brand new fancy-shmancy external hard drive. And then I will be ready to write.

Tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow.

Hello, world!

2010-12-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

So I've been on a bit of a hiatus. We can chalk that one (almost entirely) up to NaNoWriMo and Post-NaNo vacationing. Yes, the rumors are true. I completed 50,000 words on November 29, making me a NaNo 2010 winner. After clocking out on the website I promptly declared myself on a writing break for an entire week. No writing. All reading.

And I read some really good books this past week, including Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Lish McBride) and Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins). It was a good break. A great break. A necessary break, to let my fingers recover from the incessant pounding of fingertips on keys. But now, it's time to get back to work. Work like writing. And reading. And blogging.

About NaNoWriMo. This year, 2010, has been without a doubt my best NaNo success ever. This is my fourth year doing it, and my fourth year "winning," as far as word count goes. But this is the first time I've a) stuck to a story the whole way through, without restarting; b) finished a rough draft (beginning, middle and end) in the month of November; and c) come up with something I actually plan on working on going forward.

In other words, it was awesome. I chalk this up to the amount of time I planned for this year's NaNo, because let's face it -- NaNoWriMo does not (and should not, and will never) work as a productive tool for all writers. But it does help a lot of them. And I really really really wanted it to work for me, so I switched up my modus operandi for the month of November.

The big things I changed in preparation for NaNo 2010? First, I spent about two months just thinking about the story, and then another month (October) doing a rough outline of it. Second (and perhaps more importantly), I concentrated on the story, rather than the words. I dropped my obsession with word count and instead made sure that every scene, no matter how painful or weird it was to write, actually moved the story forward.

And all that resulted in a really crappy first draft -- but it's a complete first draft, and one I'm actually looking forward to tearing apart.

In conclusion, NaNoWriMo? A success. Resoundingly so. (But it does not work for everyone, and if you want to do it you should first give some thought to how to make it work best for you.) Now on to the revision -- expect (many) more posts about that to come.

NaNoWriMo: A heads up

2010-11-17T23:27:00.000-08:00

This is just to say I have disappeared into the noveling monster, and do not expect to come out again until December has come. Possibly longer, as I do not expect my first draft to be done by the first. If you would like to pay attention to me, I seem to be posting on twitter every so often (@readerlyperson). This is probably because it's short.

In the meantime, please enjoy yourselves. I intend to come back way cooler than I left, although we'll see how that goes. Also, any suggestions for how to celebrate finishing the first legitimate draft of my first legitimate novel?

NaNoWriMo: The music

2010-11-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

So, about music. Anyone listen to it while writing? Specifically, anyone listening to music while doing NaNoWriMo?

I used to do the music thing, especially during my college years, while doing homework. But as time went on things changed. I'm still not sure what--maybe I started concentrating more, or maybe I started paying more attention to the music. But as is, I cannot listen to music while writing. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration. I can listen to music. But not just any music. Specifically, music I cannot associated with anything. Nothing with words, or else I'll start listening to them. No movie soundtracks from movies I know and love, because I will start thinking of the scenes in which each song comes up. Yep, it's that bad.

That being said, this year's NaNo novel is being written to the soundtrack from the new Alice in Wonderland. I did see the movie, but only once, and some time ago at this point. Thus, it provides the perfect musical background (without being too intrusive) for my finger-tapping.

What about you? Do you listen to music while writing? What kind? Worded? (If so, how can you possibly concentrate on the novel? I just don't get it...)

Notes from the (noveling) front: NaNoWriMo (1)

2010-11-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

So, the writing's going. I'm excited! Beginnings are difficult to me, because I go back and forth on when the story should start. In the case of this year's NaNo novel, the horribly tentatively titled Like Water, Like Air (PLEASE suggest better titles if you've got them, and I know you do), I wrestled with the beginning for weeks. Prologue? No prologue? Before or after the horrible accident? How cliche is starting with a character awakening, anyway? What if she's waking from a coma? You get the picture.

Anyway, it's day four as I write this and I have managed to get those words down! This may be the first year I actually feel like keeping the stuff I throw down on the page, which I credit entirely to the fact that I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make NaNoWriMo work for me as a writer. (This included an extensive outline process during October, and a commitment to the story, rather than the word count.) And so far, it's going well.

Tomorrow, our heroine will meet the hero. (She thinks he's her hero, anyway -- turns out he's someone else's, but that's a whole different book.) I'm excited! What about all of you? How are your NaNo adventures coming along?

Notes, introductions, explanatory notes, and other things the Kindle classics lack

2010-11-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

So I've downloaded about 70 free classics onto my Kindle. The text is there, alright. One can read the old, public domain works and get lots and lots of stellar insights and education from them. But something that's missing from all the ones I've looked at so far? The notes.

Yes, the notes. The introductions. The forwards. The scholars who elucidated the author's life and purpose, who discussed where this work stood in comparison to the rest of the author's works, and the rest of the world's works, for that matter.

Now, I know this was the most boring thing to read in high school--at least, it was for me. I couldn't wait to skip what this boring person said and just get on with the story. But lately, I've been gobbling them up. All the introductions, all the forwards, all the footnotes. I've been in a frenzy to learn absolutely everything I can able every author I read (evidenced by the fact that I'm actually reading the introductory notes to Mark Twain's Autobiography, which run through the first 200 or so pages of the book), which is why I'm disappointed that the Kindle free classics do not come with such text.

Obviously this makes sense and there's no other way it could have been done (since it all stems from the public domain/not public domain question), but I'm still sad to see my additional notes disappear. Anyone else? Or am I just the only nerd out there?

PS: I got my Kindle cover. And it's awesome. Yay!

Notes From the Stacks (1)

2010-11-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

So I recently wrote about Books on the Nightstand, that awesome awesome book podcast that absolutely everyone should check out. Well, everyone should still check it out, but I mention it today because Cinette expressed her disappointment that the post wasn't about what books I have on my nightstand and am currently reading.

So I thought about that. It's true, I do the occasional review, and I do my monthly wrap-ups, but I don't really do regular updates on what I'm reading. This thought coincided with another of my thoughts (my disappointment that Goodreads doesn't have a very good way of keeping track of books reread), and they hung out together until I decided that yes -- maybe it would be interesting to do a semi-regular feature about what I've been reading. (It's called the Stacks -- well, because I have about 75 books, give or take, stacked around my desk at the moment, waiting to be read. A picture may or may not be forthcoming.)

So. What have I been reading? Well, I just finished rereading The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusack. I first read this book... Honestly, I can't remember when I first read it. The text is copyright 2005, so it must have been sometime between then and now. Before I reread the book, I remembered the Death bit, and that was pretty much it. So it was a great experience rereading -- I would recommend this read to all comers.

Besides that, I've started The Autobiography of Mark Twain (volume 1). It's great! I'm the kind of nerd who loves the explanatory notes at the beginning, so I'm having a ball swimming in the first 200 pages or so before Twain's actual words start. The only problem is that it's HUGE. I love that it's huge, but I went on BART a few days ago and was forced to face the fact that I could not take it along. (Because it's huge and weighs a ridiculous amount.) This would be where having the Kindle version would be helpful.

Speaking of my Kindle, it's been fairly quiet on the front, mostly because I had no cover for it and was therefore forced to leave it at home all the time. Now that I've finally ordered the cover, I'm anticipating being able to carry the Kindle around in the real world, which is, of course, very exciting.

So, more later. I've decided preemptively that I like this feature. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it'll probably hang around.

October (Disappointedly)

2010-11-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

Is it weird that I'm kind of disappointed in October? I read books, I know I did...but for some reason they're just not sticking in my mind the way they should. 20 books down in October, and here are the ones you should think about:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson.
Adorable, I say. About growing older and learning new worlds. Very British, too.

A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner.
Yay, Megan Whalen Turner! This book continues her series "The Queen's Thief," and of course it's full of intrigue and characters who are never doing exactly what you think they're doing...

Prisoners in the Palace, by Michaela MacColl.
I reviewed this book here. In short, some good old-fashioned mystery and intrigue, focused on the real-life Princess (later Queen) Victoria. Very well detailed world, sympathetic (if not absolutely original) characters, and some fun too.

More later. One hopes that this slight slump is not a staying thing.

NaNoWriMo! (!!)

2010-11-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's here, and I've just gotten used to the idea myself. Now, onward to fame and fortune! My blank Word document awaits...

Please, brethren, keep me up to date on how you're doing! How are your characters? Still as fuzzy and lovable as they were through your planning months? Tricking you into thinking they're the good guys, when the truth is the exact opposite?

All I can say is that I am emphatically NOT up at midnight tonight, but I'll be writing tomorrow! And I'll be posting updates...

This all goes to say: It's not too late! You can do it! Enter, join, write write write!

See you on the other side.

Reader fatigue (leads to writer breakthrough?)

2010-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Lately I haven't really felt like reading. Is that weird?

I mean, I love books. I couldn't live without them. But for some reason... For some reason I'm having a hard time coming up with the last book that just blew me away. Oh, right. That was months ago.

None of the books I'm reading right now are really captivating me, pulling me in -- and part of me wants to think that they're just not that good, and part of me suspects that it just might be time for a reading break. Because some of these books? Well, they're on the list for a reason, and I know that on a different day I'd find the acerbic puns absolutely delightful, but today (right now) they're just not working. (There may be a post on different book-moods some other time.)

So what is it, if the books are good, but I'm just not interested? (For those who need a glimpse into my book-life, I can say honestly that I have at least 75 books piled (literally) around my desk, not to mention those wiling time away on my Kindle -- and I'm not really interested in any of them.) Maybe it's just reader fatigue. I tend to read a lot, and hold this bizarre notion that if I can't finish a month having read at least 20 books, I've somehow failed. So my Goodreads page has been getting kind of depressing for me to even look at...

But I do have a suspicion. And that suspicion, while perhaps bad news for my reading life in the short run, may turn out to be just the thing for my writing life. And that suspicion is based on this observation: Lately, I've been dreaming of writing, of being a writer, of holding a finished draft, of marking it up countless times, sending it off to agents like a parent sends her first baby to school... Sometimes (and increasingly all the time, nowadays) I want to be a writer so badly it affects me physically -- I lie awake and just think about it, dream about it, hope for it. And I think that's why I haven't been that interested in reading lately. It's because my brain is trying to make me divert all possible energy into writing.

It's perfect timing, really -- NaNoWriMo starts on Monday (go buddy me! (by clicking on the sock!)), and I have an outline that, while not perfect, is probably the most planned I've ever gotten on a serious project. So, I must tell myself this: There will be time to read later. Now is the time to grasp that manic write! energy and ram words down its throat. Who's with me?

Naked Books

2010-10-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

(This only applies to hardcovers.)

How many of you take off the jackets of your book as you read? I never used to, but then I started thinking about things like longevity of the jackets, and how I wanted them to line up prettily on my custom-made bookcases someday, so I started taking off the jackets of books while I read them, replacing them once I'd finished. And boy, what a difference.

For those of you who are not in the habit of defrocking your books, I have to tell you: You should be. Some books, admittedly, are boring on the inside. But many books have been meticulously designed (both the jacket and the cover), so that once you remove the jacket, an entirely different side of the story is revealed. Maybe you can think of it as books going out to a party. When in the bookstore, they dress to impress. Every little detail counts, and everything is designed to grab attention and keep it. But once they get home the jacket comes off, and you are sometimes met with a shockingly different look. (But keep in mind -- this look is also designed to attract, even if it's not quite as flashy.)

I say it's interesting (but not essential) to defrock your books. What say you?

Prisoners in the Palace (Michaela MacColl)

2010-10-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: "London, 1838. Sixteen-year-old Liza's dreams of her society debut are dashed when her parents are killed in an accident. Penniless, she accepts the position of lady's maid to young Princess Victoria and steps unwittingly into the gossipy intrigue of the servant's world below-stairs as well as the trickery above. Is it possible that her changing circumstances may offer Liza the chance to determine her own fate, find true love, and secure the throne for her future queen?"

Okay, I think I need to start out by saying that historical fiction is my drug.

Well, books are my drug. And certain genres are tastier than others, among them historical fiction. I'm kind of obsessed with Elizabethan England, so one would think I would know lots of things about other famous English times (like, for instance, the Victorian era). Turns out this is so not the case, and it's also clear, after reading this book, that I have been missing out.

I thought Prisoners in the Palace was an excellent, well-researched historical novel. Michaela MacColl draws largely on personal documents while writing (most of Princess Victoria's writings included in the book are completely real), and all in all provides a colorful, accessible portrait of the times. While history must be bent in order to make room for novels, you can be sure that the spirit of the time is completely intact in the book.

Besides the history, I found myself enjoying the characters. While they may not be the most nuanced in the world (and while things may work out slightly better for some of them than you might expect, considering the times), they were just fun, and I was rooting for our heroines the entire way through. Liza, a plucky teenage girl heartbroken by the loss of her parents, refuses to take no for an answer and wins herself a place in the Princess's household. I thought she was painted with just the right amount of gentile entitlement, but her spirit kept her from becoming simply annoying. Inside Boy, of course, is a favorite. But Victoria!

Did Ms. MacColl intend to draw Victoria the way she did? I think so... Princess Victoria is at turns completely spoiled and utterly childish -- but right from the start her political savvy is apparent in the way she manipulates the adults around her with what little power is left to her. She begins as a sheltered child, but by the end of the book she has grown completely into a young woman you know will have a backbone of steel. I loved what the author did with the Princess.

In short, I thought this book a diverting historical portrait that introduces the reader to some fascinating time periods that could otherwise have remained unknown. I know I'm much more interested in Princess (later Queen) Victoria than I was before I'd read this book. Recommended for fans of historical fiction, England, and strong women.

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Adventures with the Kindle (Week Two)

2010-10-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

On the flip side...

This post is all the things that annoy me about the Kindle. There aren't many, but there are a few.

1. It's in black and white. Okay, that's not something that annoys me, per se, but it's a limitation that I feel should be addressed. The Kindle is in black and white, so no one is going to see excellent illustrations or pretty covers. (I hear the iPad has pretty shocking color -- if that's something that matters to you, you might want to check that out.)

2. Lack of backlighting. I want to be able to read in the dark, people! Backlight! Backlight!... Okay, I should temper my call here, because after reading some reviews it's pretty easy to see that the designers made a calculated move here. Sure, you don't have backlighting. But you also don't have the added weight that a lighting feature would have added. All told, I don't need my Kindle to be backlit -- I just think it would have been kind of cool. So I'm okay with the Kindle not being backlit.

3. The Kindle store on the Kindle. I think it's cool that you can order books through the Kindle, but I wish the store layout were better. There's no real way to browse -- since the screen is so small, you pretty much have to know what you're looking for, and search for it directly. Which is fine when I know what I want. Bad when I'm just puttering around, which I usually am.

4. This one actually annoys me, and annoys me a lot. (In fact, it's pretty much my only big complaint that I have at this point.) The Kindle does not have a cover. For those thinking of getting a Kindle, I have to say it is imperative to have a good cover. I do not yet have a cover, and for the last two weeks have lived in fear of dropping my Kindle, smudging it, cracking it, whatever. In fact, I rarely take it with me places, and when I do, I actually put it back in the Amazon shipping container to avoid it banging around haphazardly in my enormous bag with the rest of my junk. Okay, read that again. I actually put it back in the shipping container. Because I am that scared of messing it up. So -- a cover is absolutely necessary if you actually want your Kindle to be functionally portable. I will be buying one shortly, as soon as I can decide which one I should get...

5. The audio voice. I don't do text-to-speech -- never have, even the actual audio books which are meant to be listened to. But this text-to-speech thing, while a nice idea, is just creepy. It's like there's a homicidal robot reading to you, with no understanding of pauses or paragraph breaks. While I understand this could be a useful feature, it definitely needs to go through some new iterations before it'll be functional and pleasant.

(The actual reading is going quite well. I approve. It's a good reading experience. Yay.)

Adversary (Kate Kaynak)

2010-10-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Adversary by Kate Kaynak

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(Mild spoilers, if you haven't yet read Minder, the first book in the series.)

From Goodreads: "The second book of the Ganzfield series. Things are more dangerous than they seem at Ganzfield, and not everyone will survive. Does Maddie have what it takes? See what happens next in the sequel to Minder."

Wow. Just... Wow. I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I was by this book, after having read the first. I reviewed Minder in July, and while I enjoyed it, there were some things that gave me pause when I went back to evaluate how I felt after reading the book.

Not so for Adversary. Right from the beginning it was as though I'd gotten on a roller coaster and taken off, and after that there was no stopping the ride. The book's flawless pacing and much-improved writing lend themselves to a story that I just could not put down.

For those of you just joining the series, our heroine is Maddie Dunn, a teenager with some "special" abilities. After joining the Ganzfield community and finding a place where she can grow and learn, she now finds that there may be danger around every corner, as a dangerous criminal, himself specially abled, is determined to see all G-positives taken down...

While I was reading Minder, I found myself thinking that Maddie had things just a little too easy. Well, maybe all that was just preparation for the grenades that are thrown in Adversary. The introduction of a potential new love interest for Maddie (one who I assume must be coming back in future books, because he is totally delectable), the advent of some broken limbs even before the story's gotten off the ground, and an overwhelmingly threatening adversary -- all these and more make Adversary deliciously gut-wrenching and nail-biting. But even with moments of sheer terror and horrific danger, there are still moments of tenderness, passion, and that friendly teenage snark that's just so much fun to read.

In short, I applaud Kate Kaynak for a sequel that's faster, leaner, and (let's face it, even if it's not a word) funner than the last. Looking forward to the next!

*I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Reasons why this week rocked

2010-10-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

1. Ann Kingman commented on my blog.

2. I got a copy of The Autobiography of Mark Twain. Oh, I want to read it, but I am afraid to ruin its pristine condition by taking it out of the shrink-wrap. Err...

3. After two months of temping, I was officially offered the job. Hello, employment. Hello, job in a publishing house.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Back on Monday.

Notes from the (noveling) front: The montage

2010-10-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

So the writing's going. The countdown to NaNoWriMo is on -- ten days (depending on how you count) to go, and the big question is: Am I done with my outline? The answer is no, but come on! I still have a third of the month.

Anyway, the outline is coming along, but I find myself at the moment in the part of the outline inevitably referred to as "the montage."

You know, that part of the movie where the hero/ine has met the main characters and settled into the training/romance/whatever sequence, set to a bunch of music (before the big conflict blows up, which will inevitably lead to the dramatic climax). If it's Say Anything, then there's a bunch of kissing and some rain. If it's Mulan, there's a bunch of manly man-stuff and manly singing. (By Donny Osmond too! Who knew?) And if it's my book, it's the heroine learning a bunch of stuff at the castle, and I find myself not really being that enthusiastic about outlining it. Because it all reads like this:

...and then she met up with the awesome spy.
...and then she found the secret tapestry language.
...and then she discovered the god underneath the castle.
...and then blah blah blah.

Set to some creepy music, of course. It's the montage sequence. Which will be interesting when I get around to writing it, but while outlining, I'm fed up with the mounting tension. I want the BIG stuff to happen already! There are some really, really wrenching scenes in my head from the end of the book, and I am just itching to set it all out prettily on my yellow legal pads. (Yes, my outline is currently on yellow legal pads. I'm just that old school.)

Of course, the wrenching scenes won't be nearly as wrenching without the necessary foundation of the montage. Which is why every scene of your book is (and should be) important and necessary. Because every step should lead to the next, should lead to the next, should lead to the (ultimately astounding and powerful) climax and ending. The fact that I can't wait to get there is good, I think...? But it still means slogging through the montage. Wish me luck!

Books on the Nightstand

2010-10-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

So does who here listen to book podcasts? Anyone? Anyone actually do a book podcast? Because if you do, I want to know about it...

Anyway, even though I've been blogging (both successfully and unsuccessfully, at times) for ten months, I still sometimes feel like there is WAY too much stuff on the internet to wrap my head around. Blogging? Okay, I can write some stuff every so often. Tweeting? Hmm... Might be able to pull that off. Goodreads, of course, is just an extension of my massive to-read list. But book podcasts are beasts I hadn't really heard of for a while, and I still think I'm just scraping the surface in terms of what's out there to be seen.

I've tried out about eight or ten podcasts, and have come to the general conclusion that I don't really have the time. Too much stuff going on, too much work, too much to read and write without adding more hours into the day listening to people talk about books. So I don't really listen to book podcasts. Except...

Except Books on the Nightstand, of course. Who can say exactly what it is about this particular podcast that hooked me, except that it is just head and shoulders above all other podcasts I've tried out so far. It's awesome. Just awesome. It feels like your best friend is in your head, giving you delicious (delicious!) book recommendations at the drop of the hat. I've added pretty much every book they've talked about on that show to my list, because they always sound so good.

There's also that sense of community -- BotNS is very much a listener-participation show, where listeners regularly call in and comment, and the founders, Ann and Michael, actually talk up many of those comments.

Anyway, there's my two cents for the day. If you're listening to book podcasts and you haven't tried this one, you should. And if you don't and you're looking to try it out, do this one. Books on the Nightstand is available to subscribe via iTunes, or you can listen on their website (link above). They also have Goodreads and Facebook groups, if you want to get that into it...

Adventures with the Kindle (Week One)

2010-10-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

I've had the Kindle for a week now, so I figure it's about time for an update on how things are going.

Things, as it turns out, are going swimmingly. Remember when I was that skeptical girl with the raised eyebrow and the "Okay, Kindles are fine, but I love me my print books"? Well, I still love me my print books. But as it turns out, I love my Kindle too.

I LOVE it. I LOVE it. I'd bring it to work and read all day if only it were easily mistakable as an in-house book I was referencing for some work-related reason, instead of being what it obviously is, which is a Kindle. (Duh.) As I'm a list-maker, I figured I'd do a handy-dandy list of what I've been up to.

1. Downloading books. Downloading is so nifty! Especially with that new 3G feature that enables you to access the Kindle Store from everywhere. I've downloaded a number of the free classics (all those public domain works you hated in high school), just because I wanted them. (And also to show off to friends just how FAST I can get a book sent straight to my inbox. And yes. It is FAST.)

2. Reading books. Of course! Because that's what you need to do once you've downloaded them. I've read Frankenstein for the first time ever, although Pride and Prejudice was my test download (because one's first download should always be Pride and Prejudice). Then I moved on and read two galleys from NetGalley (more on that below), and right now I'm highlighting and barreling through Northanger Abbey.

3. NetGalley. I first joined NetGalley a while ago, thinking that I'd (maybe) use it, since at the time I had no interest or inclination in an e-reader. Then, of course, the stars aligned and a Kindle fell into my lap. At approximately the same time, I got a notification from NetGalley that there were some hot new books available to request, so I tentatively made my first requests from NetGalley. Which were answered pretty much instantaneously. And then (here's the magic) I figured out how to download them onto my Kindle. For free. Awesome? Awesome.

4. Highlighting. I have to admit, I'm not a notetaker, underliner, or highlighter when it comes to my print books. I tried it once -- there was a phase in middle school where that was the thing to do, and yes, I know we were a pretentious bunch back then -- but I could never get over that feeling of desecration. Well, guess what? This feeling is nonexistent when it comes to the Kindle, because it's NOT PAPER. You can just delete a highlight later, and there will be no record of it having ever existed at all. Poof! So I've been trying it out on the hilarious Henry Tilney. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just so hilarious and awesome it's ridiculous.

In short, I love my Kindle, and I would highly recommend it for all insatiable readers. (This does NOT mean, however, that I believe the Kindle will or should supplant the print book. More on this later.) The last thing I really need to do is name it. Right now it bears the obnoxious assembly line name "Rebecca's Kindle." Anyone have a better suggestion?

Progress Report #3

2010-10-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

So how's the writing going, Rebecca?

The answer is that I am SO a plotter, but I was trying and trying and trying to make myself into a pantser. (I will let you in on a little secret: That is the biggest reason none of my NaNo novels have gone anywhere other than into a sad little Word document hidden away on the archives somewhere. Somewhere without light.)

So now that I've figured this out, that I can't just write and produce a story without some kind of PLAN, what's next? Well, NaNoWriMo is next, and I've been taking October to plan. So far, I have a vaguely outline-shaped thing. My latest addition is an enormous character interview (sketch/meme/questionnaire?) to fill out for all of my characters. Because the main three or four? We're getting along. We've been friends for a couple months, maybe. But the rest of the supporting cast is shadowy. Example: Two princes are among my main characters. Since they are princes, there must be a king or queen around, right?

Umm... Yeah. I know absolutely nothing about the king. And gaping holes like these are keeping my plot from moving forward on the outline. So that's where I'm headed now. Character interviews.

What are you up to? Gearing up for NaNoWriMo? Mourning the loss of summer? Making some new book-friends?