Read, Write, Knit, Panic

In Which Dana Reads Romance

2011-06-23T20:59:00.001-06:00

I'm sure I won't surprise any of you if I say that I've never read a romance novel before this week. Now, that's not to say that I have anything against romance novels; it's more that they've never caught my eye in the store, nor have they been recommended to me. (Guess my friends don't think I'm romantic. ;) ) That being said, I follow romance author Tawna Fenske's blog. I don't remember how I landed on Tawna's blog, but I am glad that I did. She is funny, smart and all around adorable, so when she recommended some books a while back, I thought I would take her recommendation for one of her favorites Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgans, and do a swan dive into the world of romance. I guess I'm saying all of this to tell you: take my review here with a grain of salt. I've never read romance before, and it really could just not be my thing.

Just One of The Guys- Kristan Higgans

Summary: Chastity (yes, in fact Chastity Virginia) O'Neill returns to her hometown in search of a simpler life, a man and a family. She's struggled in love, partially because she's 5'11" and built like an Amazon, partially because of her four firefighter older brothers and captain father, and partially because she's never gotten over her first love (and honorary O'Neill brother) Trevor. So when she meets Dr. Perfect, Chastity has to decide whether she'll take the safe route, or hedge her bets on true love.

Review: Oh boy....oh boy. I thought this book was all kinds of terrible. Now, this is why I put in my "I don't read romance" disclaimer at the top, because it could be an excellent romance novel (as is evidenced by the Amazon reviews), and I could just not like romance novels, but I thought this book was awful. The plot was so predictable (I knew who Chastity would end up with on page 3 or so). I took a bit of personal offense to Chastity's "woe is me, I'm 30 and I should have had 16 children by now" personality. The sub plots were boring (EMT class and a divorce). The writing was not great. Too many adjectives, adverbs and unnecessary and repetitive explanation. I kept reading it because I hoped that there might be a serious twist at the end, hoped that it would get better. It didn't.

Now, before I write off the genre as a whole, I've downloaded a couple of other romance novels, one by Higgins and one by another author. We'll see if I like those any better. My guess is that romance is just not my genre, but who knows. Overall, I can't say this book wasn't worth the time and money I spent on it. It was kind of entertaining. If you like romance, you'll have to check it out and let me know what you think. I'd love to know if I'm way off base in my distaste or not.

Book Review Catch Up

2011-06-20T19:40:00.000-06:00

Life... as it always seems to be, has been insane the last few weeks. We adopted a new cat (Luna, she's super cute) and had a death in the family (the hubs's grandfather), so it's felt a little crazier than usual. I'm WAY behind in my book reviewing, and even my super short reviews have been taking too long and not getting posted. So, I'm going to do one giant marathon post of the entire back log of books I've read, with what will hopefully be ridiculously short reviews. :) BTW- anything labeled Adult is merely market to that audience, not necessarily "adult" content. I think most of the books here would be great for teens as well; just as I think adults would enjoy a lot of the Young Adult books. :) Here we go!

Anthem- Ayn Rand Fiction- Adult

Summary- the classic novella about one man's struggle against an oppressive Utopian regime.

Review- I thought it was decent. Nothing earth shattering for me, but a quick read.

The Glass Castle-Jeanette Walls Memoir- Adult

Summary- One woman's memoir of a dysfunctional childhood and her crazy, yet loving parents.

Review- Loved it. Made me feel like my own family is normal. Beautiful writing and a very unique story.

Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen Historical Fiction- Adult

Summary- Love story set in a circus during the Great Depression

Review- Loved it. I thought the writing was great, and loved the back and forth between present day and past. Seemed well researched and was all around great.

The Trophy Hunter- J.M. Zambrano Suspense- Adult (actually adult)

Summary- Thriller about a lawyer who gets in way over her head with a case of missing women and children. The culprit is up to far more than she'd imagine.

Review- I'm not a huge fan of thrillers, but this book was written by a friend and I think it's pretty good. Definitely worth a read.

Illyria- Elizabeth Hand Fiction- Young Adult (technically, reads older)

Summary- Two kissing (literally) cousins are the descendants of a famed actress. They create their own world for their talents and odd relationship.

Review- I have to admit, I'm not sure I 'got' this book. It was beautifully written, but there really wasn't much to the story, and I didn't feel like I understood the message. Meh.

Unwind- Neil Shusterman Dystopian Fiction- Young Adult

Summary- In the near future, abortion is illegal, but parents are given the choice to have their children "unwound" at age 13. Three unwinds escape their immediate fate and go on the run.

Review- Awesome book. It's a really, really interesting take on abortion and the right to life. Well written and quickly paced. Great read!

The Trylle Trilogy: Switched, Torn & Ascend- Amanda Hocking Paranormal Romance- YA

Summary- Girl finds out she was switched at birth and is a troll princess. She must learn the rules of her new society and help protect against a rival troll faction.

Review- Pretty good overall. Definitely well paced, the characters are interesting and I liked the love story as well. Good, easy reads.

Shiver- Maggie Stiefvater Paranormal Fiction- Young Adult

Summary- Girl lives next to woods where there is a strange pack of wolves. When a student is believed killed by them, she tries to save the pack and finds out they aren't ordinary wolves.

Review: Good book. The story line is interesting as are the characters. I like the tension that was built and the initial romance.

Linger- Maggie Stiefvater Paranormal Fiction- Young Adult

Summary- Follow up to Shiver. Follows Grace and Sam as they try to learn more about his condition and have a normal life.

Review- Again, good book. I liked that the love problem wasn't a love triangle like in every other teen book out there, but a fight against Sam's werewolf problem.

Illusions- Aprilynne Pike Paranormal Fiction- Young Adult

Summary- The third book in this series. Laurel is still torn between Avalon and the real world. She and David are struggling, there's a weird new girl at school. Tamani's at school with her too, and of course, there are still trolls after her.

Review- Decent book, though it felt a bit like Harry Potter 5, a placeholder that's setting up action for later, which was a bit of a bummer. I still think the series overall is good, but this one was kind of lame.

Paranormalcy- Kiersten White Paranormal Fiction- Young Adult

Summary- Evie's always worked for an international organization dedicated to tagging and bagging paranormals to keep the general population safe. But, when a cute boy paranormal shows up at the compound, her world completely changes.

Review- I really liked this book. The voice was great. The concept was interesting. The characters were relate-able, and while there was a love interest, it wasn't the tried and true love triangle. A quick read that kept me guessing.

13 Little Blue Envelopes- Maureen Johnson Fiction- Young Adult

Summary: After her crazy aunt dies, Ginny receives a package from her with 13 blue envelopes in them. These envelopes lead her on a wild adventure through Europe finding out about her aunt, and herself.

Review: I liked this book. I love the idea of some crazy unplanned adventure. Ginny was great, just the right amount of nervous and adventurous. Great read!

The Last Little Blue Envelope- Maureen Johnson Fiction- Young Adult

Summary- Ginny finds out there is one last blue envelope, which directs her on an even stranger mission than before.

Review- I like this book as much, if not more than the first. I really loved the strained love triangle (quadrangle?) and the fun last mission. Great book!

Curly Girl: The Handbook- Lorraine Massey Non Fiction- all ages

Summary- All about caring for and styling curly hair, with lots of interviews and personal anecdotes thrown in

Review- Well, I'm revealing my cards here a bit aren't I? I do have naturally curly hair, and for years denied that and straightened it daily. I'm finally ready to embrace my curly self, and this book has been a vital help in that quest. I only recently started their regime, so I can't tell you is it's 100% effective, but, thus far, I'm pleased with my results. I think it's a must read for anyone with curly hair.

On Writing- Stephen King Non-fiction- Adult

Summary- A witty short autobiography and King's thoughts and advice for writers

Review- I loved this book. King's life story was interesting and humbling without being too full of itself. His writing advice was clear, to the point and very interesting. I felt like I was sitting at coffee with him throughout the book, just chatting with a friend. A must read for any aspiring writer, and an interesting read for everyone else.

Reader, Reader

2011-06-10T11:28:00.000-06:00

The internet is a definite time suck. I keep up with a lot of blogs, or at least try to, and I use Google Reader to do it. It takes a decent amount of time to get through all of the posts each day, and they're an easy distraction when the writing gets hard. :)

I've had a reader feed for years, and yesterday, decided it was time for some housekeeping. I go through my list of feeds occasionally and unsubscribe to blogs that I find myself just skipping most days. This time it made me think a little bit about how much the blogs I subscribe to have changed over the years and how they have reflected what is important in my life at the time. Four years ago my reader was full of wedding and bridal blogs as I planned my wedding. After that, lots of design and knitting blogs. Recently it's been full of celebrity gossip and writing and a large dose of cute animals. I was talking with my critique partner, Cari, this week about eliminating stress from my life and not taking taking on things that aren't my problem. So, I decided to cull the blogs I follow. I was spending a lot of time being distracted by things that don't really matter to my life. I wanted to eliminate as many useless distractions as possible, and make sure that I might be able to eek out a bit more time for writing. I am a bit bummed that I might miss out on some interesting things, but, hopefully I'll survive.

Not that I've cleared some space from my reader feed, I'm looking to fill it (at least a little bit) with some more useful blogs. I want more writing and reading blogs, and especially ones that may provide some inspiration. So, dear readers, any suggestions? Any blogs out there that you refuse to miss? I'd love to hear about them in the comments. Shameless self promotion is totally cool too. :) If we don't support each other who will?

Matched- Ally Condie

2011-06-09T11:16:00.000-06:00

Matched by Ally Condie

Again, my librarian gave this book to me. She is normally a wonderful source for all things good and new in Young Adult fiction. She hadn't read this one, but it had been recommended by several students. Now, as those of you who are regular readers of this blog know (what like 5 of you? ;)), I read a lot of YA fiction. I try to keep on on new books so I always have something to recommend when my students whine at me that there's nothing good to read. That being said, I guess I can see why kids would like this book, but I really didn't feel it.

Cassia lives in a utopian world where the society is in charge of everything. You get specially prepackaged meals designed to maintain your ideal health and body weight. You only have two sets of clothes, very utilitarian, and at the age of 17 you are matched with your ideal mate in terms of genetics, personality, preferences, everything. After a few years of dating, you can chose to marry that person, or stay single for the rest of your life. The book opens with Cassia being matched with her best friend from childhood, Xander. Great right? She thinks so, until she goes to open Xander's info the next morning and sees a brief flash of another boy she knows, Ky. Now there are lots of questions and she's doesn't trust the answers she's being given.

Here's the rub. I get why teens would like this book. Kids of this age are always wanting to push against the status quo, test their limits and see where they can break or bend rules. So, of course they're going to feel for Cassia's plight against the oppressive regime. Me? I couldn't get into it. The world sounded sort of awesome. Prepackage meals specially designed for me? A job picked especially for my preferences and strengths? A mate who is perfect for me in every way? Sounds fine. Now, maybe I feel this way because I was reading this book at a particularly tumultuous time when everything around me was up in the air, but I just couldn't garner any sympathy for Cassia. She felt unnecessarily whiny and I just wasn't having it. Granted, we do start to see the dark side of all of this perfection, but I feel like it comes too late in the novel for me to care.

So, overall, I didn't like it. That bums me out because Condie used to be an high school English teacher and I felt like I should lend a fellow teacher some support, but I just didn't like it. Teenagers may well love it, especially the angst-y teens if your life, but I wouldn't recommend it for adults.

In Which I do Terrible Things...

2011-06-06T11:01:00.025-06:00

Hey ya'll, first terrible think I have done is not updating this blog for a month. Oy, sorry about that! The last month of school got to be super crazy. Probably the most insane end of year I've had in eight years of teaching. It was generally nutso. So, that coupled with my little sister's graduation from high school, and the hubs buying a car, made for a particularly busy May. But, trust me, you weren't the only ones getting ignored. :)

At any rate, I'm officially on summer vacation now and thoroughly excited. It already feels like I won't be able to fit it all in, but I'm sure going to try.

So, without further ado, the second terrible thing that I've done, recently that is. I was mean to one of my characters. I know, after all that build up it sounds a little lame, but dang ya'll it was super hard. My first novel was much more autobiographical, so things that went bad in it, had actually gone bad at some point, so it wasn't hard to deal with. This new book though... it is super hard to be mean to my characters. I know that it makes for a better novel; heck just look at Harry Potter. What doesn't go wrong for that poor kid? So what did I do to my poor character? It wasn't even really that bad. She doesn't stand up for herself and a guy starts a terrible rumor about it. See? Not that bad. Now I feel super lame for even thinking it was hard, but honestly it was. Which brings up an interesting point.

When I write I always think that I want this perfect world where everything is sunshine and kittens eating ice cream. Cute right? But that's not what I read, and that's certainly not what other people read, so why am I compelled to write it? Do I get some kind of God-complex where I feel if I'm going to create a world it had better be nice? I'm not entirely sure, but serious conflict is always hard for me.

Does anyone else have this problem? Or are you all meaner than I am? :) How to you create conflict in your writing?

Shine, Coconut Moon- Neesha Meminger

2011-05-06T11:04:00.000-06:00

Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

This is another book that really deserves a longer review, but it's going to have be a super short one for now.

Sam has never known much about her heritage because her mom cut off all family ties. Shortly after 9/11, a man wearing a turban shows up at her doorstep and introduces himself as her uncle. He wanted to reconnect with family after the tragedy of 9/11 and rapidly introduces her to both her heritage and the sad intolerance of people.

Like Meminger's other novel, Jazz in Love, I really loved this book. She deftly captures both Sam's voice, and her struggle to find her place in the world. I think that any teenage could relate to Sam's struggles to accept her family and mesh her present with her past. It also dealt quite well with the racism that immediately followed 9/11. Meminger's plots and characters are engaging and believable. I can't wait for her next novel!

When to Stop Planning and Start Writing

2011-05-05T11:04:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the bit of bloggy silence guys. The school year is winding down (only 2 weeks left!!!) and things are a little crazy. I have tons of testing and data stuff to do before the end of the year. It's been nuts, so posting may be slightly sporadic for the next couple of weeks, but I'll do my best!

Anyway, I've mentioned before how I'm working on my latest novel. I've been doing tons of plotting, planning and story boarding. With my first novel I just sat down and wrote. It went really well until I was about 2/3 of the way through the book. Then, I got stuck. I had no idea how to get from where I was to the ending that I envisioned. I faltered and eventually set the whole manuscript aside. With this book I was determined to be different. I've read tons about plotting, structure, character development. I've got a notebook full of ideas, plot lines and my story board (as seen at the right). I was bent on having every single scene for my novel plotted out before I wrote the first sentence.

This went well as I plugged along through the first act. I had all of my scenes laid out, scene cards done. I had character sketches and setting sketches and I was ready to rock and roll with my second act. And....I hit a huge block. I had no idea what my characters were going to do next. I sat at Borders with Cari, my lovely critique partner, for a week doing generally nothing. I stared at my sticky notes and flipped idly through my notebook, and made a big production of drinking my coffee. I whined at Cari, and bless her soul, she finally shut me up and told me to just start writing.

I did, and finished my first chapter today. It's not pretty, but it's on paper and a first draft is done. I'm still feeling a little daunted by the second act, but I'm getting there and I at least feel like I'm making some progress.

So my question is this, how do you write? Or do make any decision. My husband is currently over-thinking what car he's going to buy. :) Do you just start writing? Plot is all out? Some combination of both? How do you decide when you have planned enough and just jump in?

The Iron Fey- Julie Kagawa

2011-04-29T13:15:00.000-06:00

The Iron Fey Trilogy (and a half) by Julie Kagawa

So, rather than attempt to review each of these books individually, I'm just going to give you my opinion of the whole series. Not that each of these books isn't worthy of it's own review, each is, I just know that if I try to make it harder for me to keep up this blog, it will never stay current. So, four books, one review.

Since I can't really tell you about the plots of all of the books without giving away spoilers for the earlier books, I'll just give an overall concept for the series. Megan Chase is half faery; her father is Oberon (yes, that Oberon) Summer King. Her little brother has been stolen and taken to faery, and Megan must go to save him. Meanwhile, the Iron Fey are taking over faery and slowly killing both Summer and Winter's lands.

I really liked this series. I loved the way that Kagawa wove known stories of faeries into this new tale. I loved all the Midsummer Night's Dream references, including Puck as Megan's best friend. (Probably because I love Midsummer Night's Dream so much) I thought the love triangle was believable, even though I was irritated that it was YET AGAIN a fantasy love triangle. I felt like Megan was an actor in her own story and definitely not passive. I also loved how Kagawa incorporated modern day into the world of faeries. It was an interesting take on a very old idea and I think it worked quite well.

These were definitely quick reads. I don't know that you would necessarily need to read Winter's Passage. It bridges the gap between the first and second book and follows Megan on a short journey. It was quite nice, and I liked the novella, but much of it was covered again at the beginning of the second book. If you like YA Fantasy or faeries at all, they are fun books to read!

The Unsuspecting Mage- Brian Pratt

2011-04-27T11:04:00.000-06:00

The Unsupecting Mage by Brian Pratt

I think I will in fact be able to keep this review very, very short. This book is terrible. Don't read it.

Wow. Now, I feel bad saying that. I'm sure that someday I will be reading reviews of my own book (hopefully) and I'll come across someone that doesn't like my own writing and you know what, I'll probably be devastated. I hope, however, that I'll be able to take whatever criticism they offer and move on. Regardless, I just don't have really anything nice to say about this book.

To be fair, I don't think that I am the demographic that this book is geared towards. I'm not a nerdy high school boy, or a man who once was a nerdy high school boy. A short summary is this: James, a high school student looking for a job, replies to an ad in the paper about someone wanting to learn magic. At the office he enters a door and is deposited into some Middle English-type world, where he learns to use his magic, puts all of his Dungeons and Dragons time to good use and gets in a lot of fights. This book read like one long D&D script, and I've never played D&D, or any other game like that. the writing was drab and terrible. The book itself is a case against self publishing- the editing is awful and there were countless typos and errors. Granted, the book is free, but I still don't think it was worth the time. A friend of mine recommended it to me, with the caveat that there were typos and such, but he thought the plot was great. I did not. People who love playing World of Warcraft and other such fantasy role-playing games might like it because that's how it read. Very episodic, lots of magic, finding trinkets and fights, no real plot or character arc.

Now, if that sort of thing appeals to you, then by all means check it out. It's free for Kindle, so you're not going to waste anything other than your time, but it really was not my cup of tea, or bourbon, or really anything.

Even More- Rules for Writing

2011-04-25T11:00:00.003-06:00

It seems that everyone has some opinion on writing, actual writers or not. Any time I tell people that I'm an author, which I tend not to do, they have some sort of opinion on what I should be writing and when I should be writing and how I should be writing. Every one's a critic. However, I do rather like reading actual author's rules of writing. Taking advice from someone who has been there before is far easier than taking advice from someone who will never even try to go down that road.

So, without further ado, here are Elmore Leonard's Rules for Writing, shamelessly lifted from Melody Godfred over at Write in Color. I found her website with StumbleUpon, which is super fun, but such a time suck. Just FYI... you've been warned. Also, if you, like me, had no idea who Elmore Leonard is, here's a short bio of him and his works. My own opinions on each of these rules follows in italics. What, you thought I'd let everyone else have an opinion and keep mine to myself? Ha.

1 Never open a book with weather. This seems reasonable, and seems to follow with the understood rule to never open a book with your character waking up. You've got to grab the reader and immediately give her someone she cares about. I do think that an excellent example of this is Graceling, where we are thrust immediately into the action with the main character.

2 Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. Mmm.... maybe. I waver on this rule quite a bit. Some prologues I think are fantastic, especially if they give me a good hint at how the book is going to end, but other times they are annoying. I think prologues must be treated very delicately, because a bad one can definitely stink up the whole novel.

3 Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. OH man... yes, yes, yes. This totally drives me nuts and smacks of a middle school child with their first thesaurus. I hate when writers use all kinds of ridiculous dialogue tags. It's just bad writing. SHOW that your character is angry, or grumbly, or gaspy, whatever, don't tell me.

4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” We're always told that adverbs are the death of writing. I think it probably true, but definitely something I have a hard time with. My writing isn't strong enough without adverbs, so I know that is something I personally have to work on. (Disclosure: I just had to bite back using like 5 adverbs in that last comment... ugh, really need to work on it!)

5 Keep your exclamation points under control. This also reminds me of middle schoolers. I can't tell you how many, "This Summer I Rode a Roller Coaster!!!!!!" stories I've had to read in my career, all dripping with exclamation points. No, just no.

6 Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose”. Heee... this reminds me of a conversation the lovely Cari (my writing partner) and I were having the other day about character motivation. It seems, if you have to use "suddenly" and the likes, then there hasn't been sufficient motivation set up for the character. If something is "suddenly" happening to the character, then just show it!

7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Hmmm... this makes me think of Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is riddled with dialect, but it works. I've heard dialect described like salt. A little can really accentuate a plot and characters but too much and no one can stomach it.

8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters Well, this one I may have to disagree with, or at least, partially disagree with. I love having a clear picture in my head of the characters and the setting. I like it when the author gives me most of that picture. It's not that I don't have an imagination and can't come up with something myself, but if the author has someone in mind, I want to have that same person in mind. That being said, I don't want a long monologue of description because that is rarely entertaining. Also, get the description out of the way up front, in the first few chapters at least. I hate when I've formed a picture of a character, only to find out halfway through the book some key detail that is not how I originally pictured it. It's so jarring. I never went to see the movie version of the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini because when the movie came our, Eragon was blond and the whole time I'd been reading the book I thought he was a brunette. Small detail? Yes, but it bothered the heck out of me.

9 Don’t go into great detail describing places and things Again, I have mixed feelings. I love beautiful sweeping descriptions, but I think these are probably better suited to lovely works of literary fiction where the plot takes a backseat to the characters and their changes. I do like description though and being able to get a clear sense of the place.

10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip Now this one really made me think. What parts of novels do I skip? I honestly couldn't come up with a lot. I know that when I'm getting close to the end of a book or close to what appears to be the climax that I'll skip dialogue or descriptions that seem unimportant because I want to find out what happens, but that is usually because the writer has gotten me so excited about the plot that I just can't stand to wait any longer than necessary.

How to Turn a Book into a Vase

2011-04-22T11:00:00.001-06:00

So, some of you may have guessed based on the title of this blog, regardless of the lack of knitting content, that I'm a bit of a crafty person. I've always loved making things. In my old age, I've tended to focus on knitting just so I have a focus, but I love to paint, draw, make ornaments and decorations and I'm planning on learning to use my new spinning wheel and sewing machine this summer. At any rate, because of my inherent craftiness I thought I would share this amazing video on how to turn an old book into a vase. I don't necessarily advocate tearing up books, but I'm sure I could find some random ones at the thrift store to sacrifice. I think these are super cute and I would love to have a little collection of them filled with pretty faux daisies in my classroom. Maybe I'll take a break from knitting for a bit to churn out a few. :)

The how-to video below is via Green Upgrader, which I just stumbled upon, but it looks like a super fun website. Anyway... enjoy! And please share pics if you decide to make some vases for yourself. :)

Born Confused- Tanjua Desai Hidier

2011-04-18T11:08:00.003-06:00

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier

A super short review for a super long book. Born Confused is sort of the epic quest of one Jersey-born Indian girl who doesn't quite fit in to either her American or Indian culture. Dimple had never been that interested in her Indian roots, until her beautiful blonde friend Gwynn starts to take over her culture, including the boy Dimple's parents have set her up with. Over the course of 500 very long pages, Dimple finds herself, her culture, love and friendship.

I had a bit of a hard time with this book. I loved the main character, Dimple. I liked her family and the plot, but the book felt too long. To be honest, I'm not sure what I would cut, because it all felt relatively important when I was reading it, but it was a struggle to finish because it just dragged. I liked the friction between Dimple and her Indian heritage and Gwynn. I think that the book is quite relatable for any girl who doesn't feel like she fits in, but the prose lumbered.

Sleep Toward Heaven- Amanda Eyre Ward

2011-04-15T11:06:00.000-06:00

Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward

Another super short review. My lovely librarian also recommended this book to me. This is Ward's debut novel, and she really started her career well.

The book follows three women who, while all connected, don't know each other at all. Karen is on death row for murder. Franny is a doctor, who after losing a child cancer patient whom she cared about deeply, ends up in Gatestown, Texas as the doctor at the prison where Karen is held. And finally, Celia, whose husband was murdered by Karen. The story tells each woman's struggles as she works her way through the difficulties in her own life. And though each of their lives are drastically different, they feel eerily familiar.

I really loved this book. My first novel was a work of literary fiction, and despite how much Young Adult fiction I've been reading lately, I do really love a good work of literary fiction. Ward captures each woman's voice and personality perfectly. The way their stories interweave was really lovely and I felt satisfied at the end. My own personal mantra is that if your story doesn't have a strong plot pushing it forward, it must have strong characters and they must change drastically so that the reader is compelled to keep reading. Ward did a great job of creating characters that I not only loved, but rooted for and wanted redemption for each of them.

A bit of Knitting

2011-04-13T10:16:00.000-06:00

I know that I said I wouldn't be posting knitting on this blog any more, but I feel compelled to share this project with you as it took me quite a while to finish. One of my very best friends, Jenny, had a baby about 6 weeks ago. This is the blanket I made for her. The pattern is Interweave Knits Yggdrasil Afghan. (ravelry link). Yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Marlin. I made the medium size, but didn't measure it before I gave it away. I think it was about 60" square-ish. I love the look of this blanket, but it was a bit fiddly to knit, especially grafting the braided borders. There are plenty of mistakes, which I won't point out, but suffice to say, it's definitely hand made. I hope that little James loves it for years to come. :)

The whole thing. The color is a little more saturated than that.

a close up of the center tree secion, knit from the center out

close up of the third border, the braid and leaves

close up of the first border, the braid. Love how this looks, but the corners and grafting were a huge pain

I've cast on for the next baby blanket. I'll not disclose details here in case the momma reads this, but I hope that it will be as beautiful as this one. :)

Jazz in Love- Neesha Meminger

2011-04-11T11:00:00.001-06:00

Jazz in Love by Neesha Meminger

I went on a bit of an Indian book jag, which turned out to be really enjoyable. I try to read books from a wide variety of cultures, but don't always succeed. I really liked how this book blended some traditional aspects of the Indian culture with modern American life.

Short summary- Jazz is a Indian high school student who has always been smart and all around wonderful. However, her mother freaks when she hears about Jazz hugging a male friend and decides that she needs to be pushed into arranged dating immediately. The arranged dating doesn't go as planned and Jazz is falling in love with a completely unarranged and unsuitable boy instead. Additionally, she's on a quest to fix her aunt's love life and find the auntie's long lost love.

I really liked this book. It was sweet, light and funny. I thought that Meminger really captured how teenagers feel when they're in those first relationships (at least as I remember it, we'll not talk about how long ago that was). The story progressed well and Meminger also introduced us to the culture in a way that didn't feel like a school lesson. It was very natural and all around wonderful. I think it's a great romance book for teen girls, especially since it has a strong heroine who does her own work rather than being saved by everyone else (cough, Twilight, cough). So, if you want some cute and fun chick lit, check it out.

Marcelo in the Real World- Francisco X. Stork

2011-04-08T11:00:00.002-06:00

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

This is unfortunately going to be one of my short reviews. I say unfortunately because this book really deserves a lot more of my time. I actually finished it forever ago, and just never got around to reviewing it.

Short summary- Marcelo has autism and has been attending a special school for years. His father, a big-shot lawyer, wants him to learn to deal in the real world and gets him a job in the mail room at his law firm for the summer before his senior year. At this job Marcelo meets a lovely girl, a nasty boy and finds out some secrets that he wishes he didn't know. (really short and crappy summary, I know)

I would say, don't worry about my summary, just go read the book. It is so beautifully written and I thought that Marcelo's voice was perfect. Stork really captured the autism (at least in my relatively limited experiences with autistic kids and adults), without letting it be distracting. The story is a little bit mystery, a little bit love story and a lot of growing up. I think that teens and adults alike will really love it.

Wee Bit of Me- and an update

2011-04-06T13:44:00.000-06:00

Hey ya'll, sorry it's been a while again. I was in NYC for a vacation and as much as I love to travel, I hate the whole getting there and back part. I hate packing and getting the house ready to leave and then all the catching up when you get home. At any rate... I'm back and while I don't have a legit blogpost, I'll try to satisfy you guys with a Wee Bit Wednesday, which I haven't done in a while.

I've also got a ton of books that need reviewing and some writing updates, so those will come soon. The next few book reviews are going to be short because I just need to get them out there. Many of the books are ones that I'm sort of ambivalent about, and I think that's why it's taken me so long to write the reviews. But, some are great books and I just haven't set aside the time to blog. So... anyway... that's what's coming up! Now, on to more of things you probably never cared to learn about me. :)

{one} what is one food that, as an adult you love, but as a child you said you’d never touch?

Blue Cheese. My mom always used to eat it and I thought it was disgusting, but I love it now!

{two} did you go to college? if yes, what was your major?
Yep. Undergraduate majors were English Literature and Secondary Education. Masters is in Literacy Education.

{three} what’s the most wild animal you’ve seen in real life (not counting the zoo)?
Um... elk? Wild boar? I haven't really seen that many wild animals in real life!

{four} have you ever been to a fortune teller?
Not a fortune teller, but a psychic... which was interesting.

{five} can you juggle?
Not any more. I used to be able to juggle; a coworker one summer in high school taught me.

{six} hardwood floors or carpet?
I have carpet now, but would like hardwood floors. I have mixed feelings about both.

{seven} is it called “soda” or “pop”?
soda

{eight} what was your first car?

A blue 1976 Jeep Wagoneer. Her name was Bessie and my parents bought her for $100. She was one of the crappiest cars ever! Here's a picture for reference (not my actual car). I really hated that car.

{nine} what is the most decadent dessert you’ve ever eaten?

Uh... there is this cake from Whole Foods... chocolate explosion or something. It's pretty delicious. I also had an amazing goat cheese cheesecake from the Dessert Truck in NYC.

{ten} how often do you rearrange your furniture?

Rarely. Our place is pretty small, so there aren't really a lot of options for where things can go.

The Rules of Writing

2011-03-16T14:13:00.000-06:00

So Eric, over at Pimp My Novel, had a post a couple of days ago about Kurt Vonnegut's Eight Rules of Writing. He got it from somewhere else, so if you're really concerned with accurate citation, you can follow all the links back. Eric runs an awesome blog though, so even if you don't care about proper citation, go check his post out. :)

These 8 rules really got me thinking and I wanted to share both the rules and my thoughts on them. I realize that I'm no "professional" when it comes to writing. While I have published a couple of random magazine articles, I'm not JK Rowling. Still... I read a awful lot, and I have some opinions on these. Plus, it's my blog and therefore I get to do what I want. :) Vonnegut's rules are bold, and my thoughts on each follow. Enjoy....

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

Now this I completely agree with, expecially since I'm the kind of person that almost always finishes a book that I start. I think I've only stopped reading a book, like, once, maybe. I always push through to the end, but with some books that leaves me feeling disappointed. I think that all art, be it a book, painting, or song, should do something for the person experiencing it. It should leave them feeling as if the time spent on that piece of art was not wasted; that they are maybe better for it. This concept, to me, also ties into the whole indie-publishing 99cent novel thing. Granted, many of the 99cent books may not be good, but I haven't yet felt like my money was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
Definitely agree with this one, though I sometimes have a hard time with it in my own writing. We HAVE to care about at least one of the characters. I recently finished reading Matched by Ally Condie, which has gotten a lot of buzz. A full review will come, someday, but I had a hard time with the main character. I couldn't sympatize with her. I didn't care whether she succeeded or not becuase she just felt whiney. Contrast that to one of the best characters of all time to root for- Harry Potter. We all wanted Harry to succeed, not just for his own personal gain, but for the fate of the whole world.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
Another item that I really struggle with, though I did just figure out what my main character wants in my current WIP. :) I think the bigger trick here is making these desires known to the reader and making the reader want the character to get what she wants. Sort of a combination of 2 and 3. If a character wants a glass of water, but I hate her so much that I want her to dehydrate, I'm not sure that will really work for an entire novel.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
Now this one is powerful, especially if you've read any of Vonnegut's own writing. I'm not sure that I agree with this one though. One of my favorite authors is John Steinbeck who has many sentences that do neither of these two things. Rules sometimes, were made to be broken. I love good description of setting and such, though it can be overdone and is terrible if done poorly.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.
Amen to this one. Maybe it's because I just finished The Roar and I felt like I could have easily cut the first 2/3 of that novel. I think that this can be difficult. I know that I have a TON of backstory in my current WIP, but you really do just have to leave it out. Don't drag your reader through 20 years of a character's life before she gets to do something awesome.

6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading charcters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Also hard for me. I want to be a little Pollyanna-ish in my writing, but honestly, that's not life, and it shouldn't be writing either. Crappy things have to happen to your characters to make them change, grow, and take action. My main character's father dies in the opening pages of my current novel. Is is epically sucky? Yes. does it spur her into action? Yes, definitely.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
Ha... I love this one, partically because of how it's phrased, but also the actual message. Don't write to please everyone. Don't write about vampires/werewolves/angels/whatever just because it's hot right now. Don't write planning to make a billion dollars on marketing and movies and stupid dolls of your characters. Write thinking of that one person for whom your book will change her life. If her elebenty plus friends love it as well and you get movies and candy and dolls, then great, but write for that one person first.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
Well.... maybe. I read and loved Graceling which give us nothing to start with and is all kinds of mystery for quite a while. I also love books that give me everything. I actually really like prequels, where I know where the book has to get to by the end and am excited to see how the author takes me there. But, I know that this may not work for all people. I'm also the person who likes to read the last two lines of a book before I start it, and doesn't mind watching an entire football game even when I already know who won. I think for me, this rule works, but I would imagine that most of the population likes a little bit more mystery in their books.

So, those are my thoughts on the rules of writing according to Kurt Vonnegut. I'd love to hear your take on the rules. Any you particularly love or hate? Does writing need rules at all or should we just do whatever we want as the creators of our worlds? What are other writing rules that you subscribe to?

(These are from the above link, which in turn borrows them from Vonnegut's Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction.)

Spells- Aprilynne Pike

2011-03-14T11:11:00.001-06:00

Spells by Aprilynne Pike

Spells is the second book in Pike's trilogy. If you'd like to read my review of Wings, which is the first book, check it out HERE. If you haven't read Wings and aren't interested in spoilers, then stop here!Actual review is after the jump.

Okay... we good? Only people who don't care about first book spoilers still around? Excellent. So, a quick plot summary. Laurel has to go spend a few weeks in the summer in Avalon- fairy land, getting caught up on all of the training she's been missing. As a Fall fairy, she's responsibly for lotions and potions and healing and such. We learn a lot about Avalon and fairy culture, and get to meet Tamani's family. Laurel struggles with her studies, misses David, and has a really hard time with the strict caste system in Avalon. She loves David, loves Tamani and is still super worried (with good reason) about the troll Barnes and he's evil intentions toward her and the gate that protects Avalon.

So, I'll confess... I'm writing this review a while after I finished this book. I'm a bit behind on my blogging. :( So, it isn't as fresh in my mind as I'd like. However... I did still like this book. Definitely enough to keep reading the series. (Illusions is the third book which is due out in May) I love the world of Avalon. Pike is a master at world building and it just felt so pretty and fairy-like. The caste system is interesting and adds another dimension to Laurel and Tamani's relationship. I still loved the love triangle, and am totally rooting for David. Speaking of whom, his relationship with Laurel deepens nicely and I thought it felt believable and real. The action towards the end was maybe a little forced, and I'm not sure who this mercanary-type is that has come in to save the say. That seemed a little convenient, but I'm hoping that all ends will be tied up in the third book. Overall, a really fun, light read with an intriguing heroine and unique selling point!

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Ugh... for some reason blogger isn't letting me add links into the text, and I don't feel like actually coding it right now- so below are the links to my review of Wings and the pre-order page for Illusions

http://readwriteknitpanic.blogspot.com/2011/02/wings-aprilynne-pike.html

http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Aprilynne-Pike/dp/0061668095/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Character with a Zillion Names

2011-03-11T11:11:00.002-07:00

I've been trying to get back in the writing saddle this week, working on plotting and flushing out beats and scenes for the book. My first novel I pantsed. For those non-writer out there, that means I just started writing with an idea and little else, not that I embarrassed my book by displaying it's awesome My Little Pony underoos. :) At any rate, I just started writing with my first novel and it ended rather disastrously. I hummed along quite well until about two-thirds of the was through the book and then I fell apart. I knew where I wanted it to end, but I just couldn't get there. So, for my second book, I've decided to do some serious plotting. I been using Save the Cat (which is awesome) and The Writer's Journey (also awesome) to help me pace the story and make sure that I have all of the proper beats in it.

So anyway... long story to get to a shorter point, in the process of planning a scene on Monday, a new character popped up. This totally stopped me in my tracks, because while I could picture her and knew exactly what her personality was going to be... I don't have a name for her and it's driving me nuts! NUTS!

Being a teacher, I've had a really hard time finding names for my characters. I've taught so many kids over the years, that lots of names have connotations with them... sometimes good, sometimes bad. And to add to that complication, I always get all wrapped up in the meaning on the name. Envisioning high school English students years from now analyzing my choices and writing papers about how fitting my names are. Ugh. So I'm just stuck... I have my main characters' names: Katy and Tom, though now it makes me think of Katy Holmes and Tom Cruise... so that may not work out. :P But this third character... no idea what she's going to be named.

So... I'm turning to you my lovely readers. Any suggestions? For my writer friends out there, how do you come up with your names? I'm floundering a bit here... I get so lost in baby name websites. And if it helps- girl in question is poor, shy, very kind, smart, loyal, and plain but pretty... at least that's what I've gotten of her so far.

The Roar- Emma Clayton

2011-03-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Roar by Emma Clayton

My absolutely lovely school librarian (people whom I believe have a special place in heaven) always has new books to share with me. The Roar was one such book. I usually try my darndest to read an awful lot, not just because I like reading, but also for my writing and to be able to recommend books to my students. So, since my librarian hadn't read this one, I told her that I'd read it and get back to her. My report.... not so good.

In a super simple version of the plot, so as not to give away what little spoilers there are: Mika and his twin Ellie live in a dystopian near future. Due to an animal plague, the entire population of the planet has been moved behind The Wall that rings the top of the globe. Ouside the wall, the Earth is decimated from all of the chemicles that had to be used to kill all the animal and vegetative life and irradicate the plague. Inside the wall, society is highly stratified- literally. The richest live at the tops of the cities in the Golden Towers, while the poor live underneath those towers in The Shadows. The story opens with Ellie trying to escape from bad guy Mal (yes, bad = mal... thank you Clayton).She has been thought dead by her family for over a year, and is trying to get back to them. She dosen't succeed. Meanwhile, Mika and his parents live in the bad part of the city and while his parents have already grieved Ellie's death, Mika is sure that she is still alive. We go back and forth between the Mal/Ellie perspective and Mika's perspective throughout the book. Mika and his fellow classmates are all enrolled in the Fit for Life program, meant to get them healthy and bolster their measly "fab food" which is really just processed mold. Then everyone competes in a video game. The top players keep moving up in the ranks, blah, blah, blah. I'll not spoil what actually happens to the winners, or Ellie and Mika as that's really the ONLY thing that kept me reading this book.

Ugh... so, in a lot of ways, I hated not liking this book. I really, really wanted to like it. It has a male narrator, which is great for my students- mostly boys. The writing is at a pretty easy reading level, so again, great for my students, but I just can't like it, and really can't recommend it to anyone. It was sort of terrible. The pacing of the book dragged on and on. Nothing was ever really explained. I had so many questions that it stopped moving me forward on the quest for answers and just started irritating me. I feel like this was an awful lot of set up that could and should have been cut. The premise is interesting, and I think it could have been really good had the book started about halfway through. I also really didn't like, or believe, this mystic twin connection that Ellie and Mika share. It was lame. Now, granted, I'm not a twin, so I don't know what it's like. For all I know that's how being a twin really is, but I didn't buy it. The point of view was terribly done and jumped around far too much. The characters were pretty flat, especially the supporting cast. And the ending... on the ending. I was so unbelievably disappointed. It just ended. The action started, questions were being answered, I was maybe going to get excited about what was going on in this book... and then, a page later, it ends. Just ends. Terrible. And there wasn't even enough of a hook or cliffhanger for me to feel excited about a potential sequel.

So, overall, I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on this one folks. It breaks my heart to say it, especially being a writer and thinking about someone hating a book I write so much, but still. Not Good. Now... to be fair, Clayton lives and is presumably from England, so maybe... maybe this is just some British thing that I'm really not understanding... like British humor???? I don't know... but I just didn't like it.

Contest Winner!

2011-03-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your kind wishes on my fabulous anniversary! I'll cut right to the chase!

Random Number generator says..... Number 20! Which, after creating a spreadsheet of all comment entries, and then followers means that Miss Sarah is my winner! Yay! Sarah, I've emailed you, so please let me know which gift card you'd like!

As for everyone else, thanks for entering! I hope that maybe I can have another contest sometime soon. That was fun! And I apologize for the stupid format of the number generator picture... my computer is not currently cooperating. :(

The Tail of Emily Windsnap- Liz Kessler

2011-03-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

I'll preface this review by saying that I don't often read middle-grade fiction, so I'm not sure that I can be an entirely fair judge of this novel. I picked the book up for some ideas on the "daughter of two worlds" plot line for my own novel. Sadly, I found myself comparing this book to the plethora of YA books that I read on a much more regular basis, and upon comparison, I was rather disappointed.

Kessler's book opens with a girl, Emily, who lives with her mother on a houseboat. Emily is worried because she doesn't know how to swim (her mother has never allowed her to take lessons) and their is an impending swimming unit in gym at school. As an aside, I could totally relate to this fear. The intermediate school that I went to as a kid (grades 3-8) was also the recreation center in town and we had a large swimming pool. Every year in gym we had to do a swimming unit. I hated it. Not because I don't know how to swim, but because I totally hate water in my face. There you go... random fact about me of the day. :)

At any rate, Emily ventures into the pool only to find that her legs begin to fuse together. She plays it off as a cramp, but refuses to swim at school again. As the story plods along, Emily meets a real-life mermaid and finds out that she is part mermaid herself. She only develops a fin when she's in water, and it fades when she's on land. Her new mer-friend takes her to mermaid school and Emily learns that her mother was in love with a merman who is now in mer-jail.

Bored yet? Yeah, so was I. Honestly, I might have found this book cute if I were about eight, but I'm not and it really didn't translate well to an older audience. I thought the plot was trite and irritating. I really hated all the stupid mermaid slang, and it was all around cheesy. In theory, the concept behind the novel could have worked well, but it just never gelled. There are about a bazillion sequels and the book got good reviews on Amazon, so apparently someone likes it, but just not me. Maybe I'm too far removed from my tween days, though, I do love reading Teen and Young Adult books, so I can't be that much of an old fogey yet.

I wouldn't recommend the book for the general audience of my blog, but if you have a young female reader, you might pick her up a used copy. :)

ALSO! Today is the last day to enter my blogiversary contest! Go enter now!

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Book purchased from Amazon.com

Check out all of my other reviews HERE.

Blogiversary!!!

2011-02-25T13:23:00.001-07:00

Well, I've managed to sporadically post for the last three years. THREE YEARS! Craziness. I decided to celebrate my belated (Feb 23rd officially) blogiversary with a give away. :) Since I don't have tons of sponsors (or any)... and I'm a teacher, the prize will be modest. :) If you win, you'll have a choice of $25 gift card to either Amazon.com (my favorite place for books- only because I have a Kindle, not because I'm anti-indie or anything) or knitpicks.com (my favorite place for yarn and needles- even though this isn't really a knitting blog anymore) or to barberryandlace.com (just because I lurve Leigh's jewelry).

You have a wide variety of ways to enter-

1 entry for commenting on this post
1 entry for being a follower- hopefully public as I don't know how to see people who don't follow publicly
1 entry for blogging about my little giveaway, and leaving a comment with a link
1 entry for following me on Twitter and leaving a comment with your Twitter handle
1 entry for Tweeting about my giveaway (I think the "proper" term is Twittering, but I think that sounds dumb) and leaving a comment.

So... there you are. :) Since I don't have terribly many followers, you have a pretty good chance of winning!

I'll close entries... well, when I close entries. I'm not entirely sure. I'll be out of commission Monday and Tuesday and you all have seen my track record for blogging on the weekends... so Wednesday? Sure... I'll close entries Wednesday March 2nd at midnight MST. I'll try to announce a winner on Thursday... but again, don't hold your breath. :) Entries are closed! Thanks for participating!

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Bernard Pivot Blogfest

2011-02-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Nicole Ducleroir is hosting a Bernard Pivot Blogfest today. Well, technically yesterday, but I'm always a day late and a dollar short aren't I? If you are interested in participating, please visit her blog to sign up. There are over 100 people participating.

We're having fun with Pivot's ten questions, made famous in the United States by James Lipton of Inside the Actor's Studio. Blogfest participants have filled out the questionnaire and pasted it with their answers on their blogs today. We are then hopping from blog to blog to read everyone's answers and learn something interesting about our blog friends. Hopeully we'll meet some new people as well. Should be fun. I thought it would be an interesting departure from Wee Bit of Me. I've always fantasized about being on Inside the Actor's Studio... which is rather odd, since I've never wanted to be an actor. Maybe Lipton can host and On the Writer's Desk instead. :) At any rate... more than you've ever wanted to know about me below.

1.What is your favorite word? caddywhompus You can't help but smile when you say it. :)

2.What is your least favorite word? a tie between moist and girth Eww... they just feel gross in my head thinking them. Ew.

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Oh man... kindness, potential, possibility, humor

4.What turns you off? People who are rude or mean.

5.What is your favorite curse word? Fuck

6.What sound or noise do you love? Andrea Bochelli singing

7.What sound or noise do you hate? metal underwater

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? besides writer, which I'm already attempting? Wedding Planner

9.What profession would you not like to do? anything with the stock market

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Well done.

All right...it might be a good thing that I've no desire to be an actor. :)

At any rate, sorry I haven't been around, life has been the definition of insane. Welcome to my new followers! Yay! I will try my darndest to get something more posted next week, or maybe even this weekend. I'm heading to Crested Butte with my church's youth group and I plan on sitting my rumpus (another favorite word) by the fire and writing, reading and knitting... though hopefully not panicing. :)

Wings- Aprilynne Pike

2011-02-07T12:04:00.001-07:00

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

I've been on a major YA kick. Mostly YA Fantasy, since that's what I'm currently writing, but lots of YA in general. Anyway, I know that someone recommended this book to me, but now I don't remember who. Again...person who recommends good books, thanks. This was a great one.

Wings opens with Lauren navigating her first day of high school after being homeschooled for years. We immediately get the sense that something is a little off about her, but can't quite place it. When she later discovers a growing bump on her back, we quickly find out what exactly is strange about her. After finding out who she really is, Lauren is forced into a conflict of the ages, trolls vs faeries, and must fight to protect her loves, both new and old. Sorry, I know that's sort of a lame, short summary, but I really don't want to give too much away because really, you should just go read it. :)

Overall, I liked this book. That sounds maybe more hesitant that I actually am about the novel. It was good. Good enough that I immediately purchased and read the second book the trilogy, Spells (review to come) and pre-ordered the third book. I liked the love triangle, which all YA fiction seems to have these days. I liked that while Lauren clearly liked her boys, she has a spine and is her own actor in the novel. She isn't constantly being saved (cough, Bella, cough) and really takes charge in a lot of situations. Her relationships are pretty healthy too... no strange pedophilia or necrophilia or anything. I really liked Pike's updated take on faeries. I've never been a huge faery person myself, but this was a cool version of their lore. It was different, but still felt familiar, something that I strive toward in my own writing. The writing was crisp and the plot moved along pretty well. I have to admit, it was a touch slow at the beginning, but I'm also glad that the mystery wasn't revealed immediately. Good stakes, characters you care about and a beautiful world, all make for a compelling novel. I would venture to say that just about anyone who likes Fantasy or YA, or YA Fantasy, would like this novel. I think it would also be good for the younger, middle grade, set because it's pretty darn tame, and little girls always love faeries.

So, check it out... and check out the rest of my reviews here for more reading suggestions. I'll be back later in the week with some writing thoughts and my Spells review.

Just When I'm on a Roll...

2011-02-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

I always think that I'll be one of those awesome bloggers who writes cool, interesting, informative, useful things everyday. I have grand aspirations to be that person, but alas, I am not. I've been dealing with some sucky health stuff for the last couple of weeks, and blogging hasn't really be on the top of my to do list. I have, however, read a ton, so I have a lot of books to blogs about, and have a bunch of writing stuff to talk about too. So... next week, hopefully, I'll be back in the saddle. Have a great weekend ya'll. :)

My whole life has been like this recently.

2011-01-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Wee Bit of Me

2011-01-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Every week when I do this, it feels a little self-indulgent... like there are so many people out there just clamoring to find out what my favorite condiment is. Alas... it will be good fodder for when I am actually famous and people really do care. :)

And so... Wee Bit of Me for the week:

{one} name one thing you worry about running out of.

Uh... I really don't know. I always have too much food in the house, but I've been known to run out of plenty of things.

{two} what is your favorite pizza topping?

Everything. Except pineapple, much to my husband's dismay.

{three} what is your favorite harrison ford movie?

Any of the Indiana Jones movies, although the last one is really pushing its luck.

{four} apple juice or orange juice?

Orange... low acid orange with no pulp to be very specific.

{five} what’s your favorite thing to do on a sunday afternoon?

Watch football, nap or knit.

{six} what is the wallpaper on your cellphone of?

A beach scene

{seven} do you have a favorite tv commercial?

I love the Allstate Mayhem commercials, and the Old Spice commercials.

{eight} what is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Huh... I eat a fair amount of strange things because my mother always forced me to try everything. I guess the weirdest by common standards would be frog legs, escargot, and foie gras... all delicious I might add.

{nine} what is one piece of clothing you can’t live without?

Jeans. I live in jeans.

{ten} if you were a character from “lost”, who would you be?

I actually never watched Lost... so, from my best Google search and an online quiz... I am apparently Jack. Don't know if that's good or bad, but he looks sort of cute, so I'll take it. :)

Well then... that's enough narcissism for me for one day. Until next time. :)

Wee Bit of Me for the New Year!

2011-01-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Leigh is back over at myleighashley with Wee Bit of Me, so without further ado... more information that you could probaby not care less about. :)

{one} have you ever been on tv?

Yes, more times than I care to mention actually. When I was a kid, I was on PBS a couple of times, doing these little spots they did about local attractions. I think mine was on the Tabors or something. I really don't remember. And Lord in Heaven, if someone finds that on YouTube... oy.
I was actually on TV a fair amount in college because I was in the marching band and basketball band at CU. So, I often ended up with a camera stuffed in my face being asked to cheer. My favorite was when the camera man was below me at a basketball game and my well-endowed rump got splashed across ESPN for all to see. Yay... or not. :)

{two} what was the best movie you saw last year?

I really liked Inception. The writing was excellent; the effects were cool and I thought the cinematography was fantastic.

{three} do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

They start tucked in at the bottom, but rarely stay that way.

{four} do you cut coupons?

No... that's entirely too much effort.

{five} do you ever count your steps when you walk?

Not usually when I walk, but almost always when I go down stairs.

{six} what sauce do you dip your chicken nuggets in?

I don't really eat chicken nuggets as they are, by definition, covered in gluten, but when I did I loved Honey Mustard.

{seven} do you have any magazine subscriptions?

Oprah and The New Yorker

{eight} when was the last time you wrote a letter on paper?

Um... this morning. I always hand write thank you notes, and try to send letters to people on a semi-regular basis. Everyone likes getting something in the mail that's not a bill. :)

{nine} what’s your favorite fruit pie?

Probably blueberry or cherry, thouse I really like berry pies too. Honestly... it realyl doesn't matter. I love pie.

{ten} black olives or green olives?

Black, unless the green ones are stuffed with something awesome.

If there are questions that you would like to contribute to Wee Bit of Me, let me know in the comments!

Graceling- Kristin Cashore

2011-01-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

I can't remember who recommended this book to me now, but I really wish I could because I need to thank them profusely. Graceling is an excellent YA adventure/fantasy with a strong female protagonist, something of a rarity anymore.

There is not a whole lot that I can say about the plot without giving it away, but Katsa (it's always Kat, or Katniss, or Katsa isn't it? Makes me rethink my character being Katy) has a Grace. In Cashore's world, someone who is graced has two different colored eyes, and a remarkable ability at something: cooking, politics, singing, etc. Katsa's grace is killing. Interesting for sure.
When the book opens we are dropped immediately into the action without any explanation. I alternated between being thoroughly annoyed at this (What is going on!?!?) and totally loving it (just one more page/chapter). Ultimately, I think it really worked. The world is not so far off the charts that the reader can't easily follow along, and all is revealed in good time. It definitley makes the first part of the novel a page turner; I couldn't set it down.

In very short, Katsa goes on a bunch of adventures, meets a cute guy (Po) who is also graced, and has to fight to save herself and what she believes in. There is obviously much more to the book than that, but you should just go read it. :)

I think Cashore created some very interesting and believable characters. The plot was smooth and well paced, for the most part. There were a couple of spots that lagged. I liked the good guys and hated the bad guys. The idea of a grace is unique and really cool and I enjoyed all of the different graces that she came up with. I was a little bummed with the ending, mostly because I wanted more, which I thought was coming in her second book Fire, but that is apparently a prequel, not a sequel. I'm still waiting on that sequel Ms. Cashore, if you are ever trolling the web and read this. I really want to know what happens after Graceling ends.

My favorite part of this book though was the fact that Katsa is a strong, independent woman. In this age of simpering, whiny, weak heroines (cough, cough, Bella, cough), I appreciated that Katsa was her own woman and took charge of situations. She still had a love interest, which was also really well written, but her life didn't revolve around a man. She is just fine on her own, a welcome change.

So, I'd say go buy it, or check it out from your library, or download a sample to your Kindle, whatever, but read it. I think it's a must read for anyone writing YA and I'd strongly recommend it as a fun read to everyone else.

Check out my other reviews here!

New Year, New Year

2011-01-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well... I have survived the holidays, albeit only barely. Sorry for the blog silence, but the insanity that is family, food and festivities took presidence. I had a wonderful Christmas, and hope that you all had a great Christmas/other holiday/winter Saturday. :) The new year always makes me think about new beginnings, and while I've stopped making resolutions, mostly because I can never keep them, I do like to think about what the new year holds for me, and the rest of the world.

A lot of these thoughts have been centered around writing. This spring my work schedule allows me to spend every other afternoon at Borders with my writing buddy and one of my favorite people of all time, Cari.We met a few years ago in a critique group and have supported each other in our writing since. Our new writing ritual has been great for me. I've been working hard on building character sketches and trying to flush out the motivations for my characters in the new YA fantasy novel I'm working on.

Cari and I have also spent a decent amount of time talking about the future of publishing, especially surrounding self-publishing on the Kindle and other ereaders, and the fate of the big traditional publishers. She had a great post on her blog today about her sadness over leaving behind the printed world in favor of her newly purchased Kindle.

I resisted the idea of an ereader for a long time. Citing that I liked the feel of the book in my hands, the smell of it, the way it looked on my shelf. No more than 6 months ago was I singing the song of the dead tree. That completely changed when I got my Kindle. I ended up buying it on craigslist for a bit of a discount, thinking that I wouldn't like it and would have to sell it shortly. Wrong. I love that stupid little thing like I love my cat, my shoes and my purses.... in other words, a friggin' lot. I don't' miss the feel of a book, or the smell, or all of the books on my shelf. I love the convenience. I love having books with me all the time, being able to download new books instantly. Heck, I even like working out now because it's another 45 minutes I can read without guilt.

So yes, I like my Kindle. I think it's the future of publishing. I know that JA Konrath has been extolling the virtues of indie publishing for a while, but I'm drinking the Kool-Aide with him now, especially after Borders' disasterous few days in the stock market. I think that epublishing will be great for authors. People, myself included, are a lot more willing to take risks on new authors and books outside of their normal interests when those books are only a few dollars. A perfect example: I haven't read and of Steig Larson's books- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so forth. I know they've all received amazing reviews. I've even heard first hand from people whose tastes I trust that they are great books, but I hadn't read them yet. Why? The price. I didn't want to spend $15-20 on something I wasn't sure about. But, while scrolling through Amazon's recommendations for me yesterday, I came across those books, available for Kindle for $5. I downloaded them immediately. $20 is hard to risk, $5, not hard at all. I waste more money on coffee and tea.

I hope that I'm right about the future of publishing. Right now, I think I'd really prefer self-publishing rather than taking on the uncertainty of a major publishing house contract, but we shall see what the future holds.

How about all of you? Do you have an ereader? Want one? How do you feel about the apparent downfall of major publishing houses and the rise of the indie author?

Cookie Truffles

2010-12-10T14:12:00.001-07:00

I know that this has not ever been a cooking blog, nor will it ever be a cooking blog, but this weekend is my family's annual Cookie Bake. I come from a rather large family (my mother was one of ten children) and most of us all live near each other. So, the holidays are always very busy around here. One of my favorite traditions that we have is our Cookie Bake. All the girls, and some of the boys, get together at my aunt's house for one long day of crazy baking. We start around 9 in the morning, end sometime around dinner, and make hundreds upon hundreds of cookies. All of us have our own specialties that we bake and everyone chips in to make others. At the end of the day we each make huge trays for our own families and the rest of our uncles, coworkers, friends, really anyone who would eat a cookie. It's exhausting, but fun. Some of my fondest memories are of me sitting with my cousins decorating sugar cookies, or rolling out candy cane twists, or making these truffles.
So, in honor of Cookie Bake tomorrow, I'll share one of my favorite recipes. I love this recipe not just because it's delicious, which it is, but because it's super easy and people always think you spent far more time making them than you really did. Seriously, even when I tell people who are eating them how easy they are they don't believe me. :)

Cookie Truffles (I'm not sure this is the real name, so call them what you want)

Ingredients
1 package Oreo cookies (or generic Oreos. Don't use the Double Stuff, but Mint and Peanut Butter are delicious in this recipe too. I use the Gluten Free cookies so I can eat them also)
1 block cream cheese (non fat, part fat or full fat, doesn't matter)
1 package chocolate Candy Quik (or other microwavable candy coating)
Optional:
Decorations- sprinkles (bigger ones work better), nuts, cake frosting, white candy quik
Mini cupcake cups

Directions
1. Crush the entire bag of Oreos (cookie parts and cream parts). I usually just toss them in my food processor and let it go to town, but you can put them in a baggie and smash with a rolling pin too. Just make sure they are crushed fine and evenly.
2. Mix the block of cream cheese with the crushed Oreo. It helps to soften the cream cheese first, but you don't want it to be too melty.
3. Roll the mixture into small balls. About 1 ounce in size. It doesn't really matter, but something relatively bite sized. Place them on wax paper or parchment paper.
4. Microwave the Candy Quik according to package directions. Dip each ball in the candy to cover completely, then return to the wax paper to harden.
5. Decorate! If you're using sprinkles or nuts, make sure you put the decorations on before the chocolate coating dries. I usually melt a little white candy quick and drizzle it over the balls, or make holly with cake icing and Red Hots candies.
6. Put them in the mini cupcake wrappers and enjoy!

Super easy, super delicious and they look really pretty! I hope you all enjoy your weekend! Let me know if you try out my truffles, or if you have any delicious cookie recipes to share!

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

2010-12-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back. I survived texturing the closet... albeit barely. Now I've moved on to full-fledged panic mode. We've got TONS!!! FRIGGIN' TONS! of cleaning/repairing/etc to finish before our new dining room table comes in a week, and before we have a party at our house in a week and a half. Yep.... had a full on panic attack last night. It was special. But, blogging is a nice distraction from all the stuff that I really need to be doing, so here we go! It's Wee Bit of Me again. :) As always, thanks to Leigh and Jumblemash for getting me blogging weekly.

{one} if you were granted three wishes, what would they be?
I'm going to assume that I can't wish for infinite wishes.... which would be awesome. I think I would wish for peace, happiness and tolerance throughout the world. Then, I would wish for an unlimited supply of money. I know that money isn't everything, but I think I could do a lot of good with a lot of money. And buy some killer shoes. And third, I would wish for a completely clean bill of health, including but not limited to: no risk for cancer, no thyroid problems, and being able to eat whatever I want while maintaining a healthy weight.

{two} who is your favorite author?

I refuse to pick just one favorite author... it's just so limiting. So, here are my top 3 or 5ish authors whom I love: Paulo Coelho- The Alchemist is one of my favorite books of all time. I love him and how kind and giving he is. His web presence is fantastic too. Isabel Allende- Yes, I have a thing for South American authors. Her works of mystical realism are breath-taking. I know that saying an author's writing is lyrical is quite cliche, but her work is the definition of lyrical. John Steinbeck- another beautiful writer whose work can only be described as sweeping. East of Eden is still one of my all time favorites. J.K. Rowling- I'm actually not a huge fan of her writing; she uses passive voice entirely too often, but she is an amazing storyteller. I hope that my own YA Fantasy novel can have the brilliant themes, characters and fantastic plot arcs that her work does.

{three} what crowd were you involved in during high school?
Oh... you're all still with me after that last marathon answer. Well then. I was sort of a crowd defy-er in high school. I was popular, a jock, hung with the punk kids, was in band and choir, and did a ton of volunteer work, and just regular work in general. I don't know that I could really be defined in high school. :)

{four} what is your favorite thing to do when you have time to yourself?
I love to read, watch bad television, knit and sleep.

{five} do you have any hidden talents?
Hmmm... I can knit, sing, play clarinet, draw and paint decently. My most hidden and random talent though is probably my awesome butchering skills. I can take apart a piece of meat like a pro.
{six} can you fake any accents?
Not really on purpose, though I've been told that I sound Southern sometimes and like I'm from Minnesota sometimes.

{seven} have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper?
Oh yeah, loads of times. One of the benefits of growing up in a small town I guess. I was always in the newspaper for sports and music and whatnot. As an adult I've been in the paper a few times for stuff in college and teaching.

{eight} have you ever been arrested?
No.. not yet at least. ;)

{nine} what is your favorite job you’ve had?
Um.... I really liked teaching skiing. It was all the fun of teaching without the stress. I Like my job now pretty well too, most days at least.

{ten} do you have any scars?
Tons! I scar really easily. I have scars on my forehead from a dog bite as a kid and chicken pox, scar on my back from having a cyst removed, scars on my knee from surgery, and a wide variety of scars from things like the cat, my razor, ski edges... I'll never win any perfect skin prizes.

Whew! That was a long one. If you made it all the way to the end I commend you for listening to me blather on for so long! As a reward, I'll be back on Friday with an amazing holiday cookie recipe! It's so easy! And Fast! And Delicious! :)

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays.... or Thursday

2010-12-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well then... I missed a couple of weeks of Wee Bit due to illness and it being Thanksgiving here in the states, and the ever important Black Friday. The hubs and I started shopping at 10pm and didn't stop until about 9 the following morning. It was insanity, but I'm a huge sucker for a good bargain. :)

At any rate... I'm trying to get back to regular blogging. I've finished a bunch of books that I need to review, so maybe I'll get to those this weekend. Though the weekend is currently slated for re-texturing the walls of our pantry if we can find an air compressor.... should be riveting. But, without further ado... here is this week's Wee Bit of Me, just a little late

{one} if you were going to a remote place and could only bring one CD, what would it be?

I totally suck at picking favorites... I would probably take a Now CD, or Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation.

{two} are you generally more of an optimist, pessimist, or realist?

I think I'm a mix of all three. I know... that's a cop out, but I am. Realist at home, pessimist and optimist at work, optimist in the rest of my life.
{three} have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? if not, would you?

No way... and never would. Though I've considered hitch-hiking myself.

{four} what spice or seasoning is your favorite?

Salt. Kosher Salt preferably.

{five} what’s your birthstone? do you like it?

Peridot. It's okay. Some peridots are really pretty, but I'm generally more of a blue person.

{six} do you know what your name means?

From Denmark. It's not a particularly exciting meaning, though my parents were doing to name me Dana regardless of my gender.

{seven} what is your favorite breakfast cereal?

I'm not much of a cereal eater. Before being gluten-free, probably Great Harvest, Grape Nuts or any Kashi cereal. Now, my options are pretty limited, so just Rice or Corn Chex.

{eight} if there was an extra hour in each day, what would you spend it doing?

Realistically? Sleeping. Idealistically? Writing.

{nine} if you could turn any book into a movie, which would it be?

my own! Ha... actually the book I'm currently working on would make a great movie... someday. :)

{ten} if you could go back and play out one day of your life to watch (like scrooge), what day would it be?

That is a really tough question. I'm not sure that I would go back. If I was forced to choose a day though... probably my wedding day. It went by really fast, but was so beautiful and fun!

Well... there you are. More to come soon, unless I'm buried in texture in the closet. Wish me luck!

Draculas- Crouch, Kilborn, Strand, Wilson

2010-11-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

Many aspiring and experienced writers alike know of J.A. Konrath and his blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. If you are a writer, or someone interested in epublishing, and you haven't visited his site yet, go, now... I'll wait.

Now that you're back, that site is how I found and virtualy met Konrath (aka Kilborn) who seems like a pretty nice guy. Because I've known him in the virtual world for a while (and even did an interview for his blog tour), I knew of the upcoming release of Draculas, a book written with three of Konrath's comrades and published exclusively electronically. I got an advanced copy, but ended up buying the book anyway because at $2.99, who cares if it's terrible. I waste more money on make up weekly. So, without further ado, here's my Draculas review. Which- FCC or whoever is in charge of making sure I don't take bribes for blogging reviews- I did get for free, but also purchased... so make of that what you will.

Crouch, Kilborn, Strand and Wilson are all excellent writers in their own right and when they collaborated they set out to write a serious horror novel and bring vampires back to the scary side of town. Overall, I think they succeeded. The book was pretty terrifying. Taking a page from Kilborn's Afraid, the book alternates between various points of view and is one long cannonball of a novel. It was exceptionall difficult to put down. I'll not spoil the plot here, but the very short summary is that a strange skull is found in an Eastern European farm field. The skull looks human, but has ridiculous fanged jaws that appear to unhinge like a snake's. A reclusive and near death millionaire purchases the skull, and well... mayhem ensues.

Now, I'll preface my opinion here by saying that I don't read much horror, so my thoughts on this particularly horrific book may be skewed. Overall, I did like the book. It was fast paced and well written. I couldn't tell where one author stopped and another began. The characters were believable and I liked the diversity of personalities. It was quite gory, but it worked, and didn't feel like too much given the gross situation. I did want more though. The book was short, at least I think it was, it's hard to tell length with an ebook. Regardless, I was a little diappointed when it ended. Granted they left it pretty open ended for a sequel, but I wanted more immediately. I liked the treatment of the vampires, no sparkles or dating teenages in this book. I think that it is well worth the price if you like horror or vampires at all.

Wee Bit of Me

2010-11-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well... at least I can do something regularly. :) Many thanks to myleighashley and jumblemash for their bloggy inspiration. I have finished a couple of books too; I just need to write the reviews. Those will be up later this week.... fingers crossed.

{one} do you collect anything? if so, what and how long have you been collecting?

Nothing in particular... yarn I suppose and maybe jewelry.

{two} what is one cleaning tip that you swear by?

Uh... clean stuff up? No, I wish that I had been born with the cleaning gene, but sadly I was not. I have been following Flylady recently, and that's helped a lot!

{three} who would you call for bail money?

Well... the hubs, but if he were with me, probably my friend Pehle or Jenny

{four} what is one thing you miss about being a kid?

Besides everything! I really miss just sitting in my backyard and reading away a summer day.

{five} name a few of your guilty pleasures.
I've got far too many! Television, knitting, shopping, wine and cheese

{six} how early do you start your holiday shopping?

I'm always shopping. I do a lot of it after Thanksgiving, but I usually have picked up quite a few things throughout the year.

{seven} what is a family tradition that you would like to pass on to your significant other/children?

I love the Chili Supper that my family does the weekend before Christmas, Black Friday Shopping and Christmas Day itself being super low key.

{eight} what do you consider your greatest achievement?

Uh... surviving this long? No, I'm pretty proud of my wedding and my master's degree.

{nine} what do you do to pamper yourself?

I love getting my hair cut and colored and I try to paint my nails once a week.

{ten} if you were to start your own restaurant, what would it be called?

Hee! When I was little I remember my best friend and I deciding that we were going to open a cafe. We made menus and everything. The name... Lizard Alley... I know, right? Terrible. :)

Well... until next time. Book reviews will hopefully be up soon!

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

2010-11-03T14:32:00.000-06:00

Wee Bit of Me is back again... two weeks in a row of blogging. That's a record for me. :) At least as of late.

{one} do you still use a checkbook?

Occasionally. I never have cash, so if somewhere doesn't take a credit card, it's got to be a check.

{two} what size shoe do you wear?

6.5-8 it totally depends on the shoe, though I think my feet have been getting bigger in recent years.

{three} scary movies or happy endings?

Definitely happy endings. There is enough scary in the world without scary movies.

{four} do you prefer spontaneity or stability?

I'm an off mix of both. I like stability and predictability, but there's definitely a spontaneous part of me.

{five} what is the most embarrassing cd that you own?

I'm not sure I'd be really embarassed by any of my CDs, since all my friends know of my ridiculous love of pop music, but maybe some country CDs from my high school days.

{six} do you watch reality tv?

All the time. I get completely sucked into bad reality TV, but usually only the shows on VH1: Rock of Love, Tough Love, The Ultimate Catch... bad, crappy television.

{seven} what is your favorite home-made meal?

Hmmm.... that is hard. Probably Thanksgiving dinner, or White Chicken Enchiladas.

{eight} do you have any allergies?

No deadly allergies, but I don't do well with gluten or soy.

{nine} if you could open your own restaurant/store, what would it be?

I've thought it would be fun to open a one-stop wedding shop. Dress, planning, invites, etc. Everything wedding all in one place.

{ten} would you ever go skydiving (or have you been)?

Never been, and probably wouldn't go. I'm not much of an adreline junkie.

Well... that's all for today folks. I just finished another book, so I hope to have a review posted some time this week, but we'll have to see how it goes. :)

Ladder of Years- by Anne Tyler

2010-10-29T12:48:00.000-06:00

Ladder of Years- by Anne Tyler

As I was sitting a month or so ago, twiddling my thumbs at Parent-Teacher Conferences, since I rarely have parents show up, one of my assistant principals came down to my room to chat with me. We somehow got started talking about books and our family lives and she recommended this book to me. She said it was one of her favorites, and promptly sent a student with a copy for me to borrow the next day. I'm always intrigued by book recommendations, especially since I get them surprisingly rarely, so I dove in and hoped for the best.

Ladder of Years features Delia (coincidentally the name that I chose for myself in high school Spanish class), a middle-aged housewife who feels rather, well, beige about her life. She married Sam, the doctor set to take over her father's practice, right out of high school, promptly had three children and now that her kids are mostly grown and her husband completely settled in his practice, she doesn't have much to do with her time.

The book opens at the grocery store, where an attractive young man asks Delia to pretend to be his girlfriend so he doesn't have to encounter his estranged wife and her new boyfriend. She is secretly thrilled by this little escapade and when she later bumps into him on the street, begins a clandestine, though small affair. Her building dissatisfaction with her home life comes to a head when she is with her extended family on their annual trip to the beach. She's fed up, so she picks up her beach tote and walks away without ever looking back.

Now, in theory, I should have loved this book. I have upon many occasions, since the age of oh... nine or so, fantasized about simply running away from my life to try something new. Not that my life is particularly dissatisfying, or bad in any way, but there's just something about how beautifully free I would feel walking away from it all. So, I should have liked this book. I should have related to Delia and her plight to start from scratch. I should have, but I didn't. At all. I was rather disappointed by the whole thing. The writing was lovely, but I had a really hard time getting a sense of time in the setting. The book itself was published in 1995, but the social morays and way people acted felt more like 1950 something. But, then there would be other indications that it was more recent, computers, medical stuff, etc. It probably shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did, but I just felt lost in time. The characters also felt flat to me. Now, that may have been the point, showing how Delia was really nothing in her world, felt see-through, blah, blah, blah. It still didn't work. The plot was meh and the end really left me wanting something more substantial.

I may not have connected as well to this book as the middle aged housewives this book was geared towards would have, but who knows. It just didn't speak to me. It was interesting enough, I guess. I did keep turning the pages because I wanted to see what was going to happen to Delia, but it's not a book that's going to stick with me. So, I guess, in the end, I would probably recommend this book to anyone who has kids, a husband and not much else on their reading list. Otherwise... skip it.

Read my other reviews HERE.

Still here- with a Wee Bit of Me Wednesday

2010-10-27T13:17:00.000-06:00

Well... yeah... not a whole lot to say. :) I'm still alive, still reading, writing, knitting and panicking, but just not blogging about it. In an effort to get back into the groove of blogging, I'm going to start participating in Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays which I shamelessly stole from Jumblemash (who is awesome!) and who stole it from myleighashley (also awesome). I have read roughly one bazillion books since April, bought a Kindle, went back to work and have not been writing at all... so I do have quite a bit to talk about, but blogging just seems so daunting, for no particular reason. At any rate, I'm going to do Wee Bit Wednesdays so I can have something to write about. Hopefully it will get me back into the groove of blogging. I'll keep my fingers crossed. :) So without further ado...

{one} have you ever seen a ghost?

Oh, goodness... a complicated question to start. Yes, I believe I have seen a ghost. When I saw my mother right after she passed away there were a few moments where she was standing next to me before she left. An interesting experience to say the least.

{two} when was the last time you dressed up for Halloween?

Last year. I generally dress up every year, but the hubs was out of town last year and so I only sort of dressed up. This year we're going to a club themed party though, and I'll be rockin' a totally sweet 80's outfit. We'll see if I wear it to work on Friday as well. I may just blend in with all the retro 80's looks the kids wear.

{three} what’s your favorite candy?

That is a tough one. I used to love Twix, but since I can't eat gluten any more that's out. I do love caramel though, or Skittles.

{four} did you have a favorite costume growing up?

I think my absolute favorite costume was the black cat costume that my mom made me. It was a huge furry body suit that she accidentally stitched her thumb to in the process of making. It was warm and fuzzy (two of my favorite feelings) and perfect for cold Colorado Halloweens.

{five} did you carve pumpkins this year?

No. Halloween always sneaks up on me and I never quite remember to carve pumpkins.

{six} what’s your favorite scary movie?

I'm not a huge scary movie fan, but I did love Zombieland, though that wasn't really scary. The Shining is good, as was the Aliens trilogy, but I don't really like hard core horror.

{seven} haunted houses or corn mazes?

Mmmmm.... not so much on either. Corn Mazes are fun, unless they have those ridiculous chainsaw dudes. And I really don't care for Haunted Houses. These aversions may also be due to the fact that both places are generally infested with high school kids acting dumb, which I get enough of at work. :)

{eight} are you superstitious?

Sort of. I'm not super superstitious, but I do knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, say rabbit rabbit, etc.

{nine} have you ever owned a black cat?

Yes, one of my favorite kitties, Ralphie. He was the sweetest cat.

{ten} what are you plans for this coming Halloween?

We are heading over to a friend's house for a Halloween Party. It should be fun! I'd like to hope that we'll get Trick or Treaters, but we've only had two ever in the six years we've been in the house, so I don't think I'll worry about it this year.

More on Gilbert and Eat, Pray, Love

2010-04-16T14:38:00.004-06:00

I saw this video on Ted.org which if you have not been to that website...GO! NOW! It's amazing. Anyway, I saw this right after I finished the book, and it just made me love Gilbert even more. I really like this idea... makes me feel a little better when I'm struggling with my own writing and creativity.

And.... just in case you hadn't seen it yet. The trailer for Eat, Pray, Love the movie. Which stars Julia Roberts (who I love) and is coming out this summer. I never have high hopes for a movie that has been adapted from a book, but we'll see. It looks like it has potential at least.
And... despite my best web-editing efforts, I can't the the video to scale to the proper size. So, if you know how to fix said problem, leave me a comment. Otherwise, I guess, just deal with it. :)

Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert

2010-04-16T14:27:00.000-06:00

I am sort of surprised at myself for avoiding this book for so long. I bought it a few years ago, at the height of it's popularity, but let it languish on my bookshelf. For some reason it irritated me, sitting there, Gilbert's pretty blonde face smiling, gloating at me from the back cover. "Every woman on the planet loves me right now," she said. It was probably my own irritation at my life that made me mad at her. Who was she to go have some grand adventure in three of the most beautiful places on Earth, and be able to write a book about it, and get paid to write about her travels, AND get a cool cover for said book as well!? It was just too much for me as I sat and stared at the white wall of my office, struggling to complete my first novel, and so, the book sat. It wasn't until this spring when an audio book copy of it turned up on the book trading shelf at work, that I finally gave in to the crowd and picked it up. I always liked audio books, especially those read by the author, and hadn't listened to one in a while, so I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did.

Eat, Pray, Love is a memoir of Gilbert's journey to find herself and her purpose in life after a traumatic divorce and major life crisis. On the surface that quick synopsis might sound like any other divourcee's memoir of love lost and life found, but Gilbert's story is different. Her marriage has ended, it seems, for no major reason; she just wasn't happy any more. Initially, her husband refuses to grant her a divorce and after a long and arduous battle with lawyers, Gilbert is finally set free... a little too free. The on-again, off-again relationship with her boyfriend is off-again, she's depressed, anxious and beginning to feel a little crazy. So, she plans a year of travel, to three very different but equally stunning places around the globe, with the hopes of finding her pleasure, passion, devotion, and herself.

To me, on the surface, this book still sounds irritating. I'm not a huge fan of the "find yourself" novels that have been popular of late. No one else's journey has ever made me realize something in myself and generally I'm just mad that they've been able to leave their lives behind and embark on the journey to begin with. I didn't feel this way with Gilbert's work, however. Her writing has such a frank and earnest tone that I couldn't help but immediately relate to her and, dare I say it, love her. She has just the right amount of self deprication and self esteem to drag me with her around the globe and never once feel a twinge of jealousy. I was there in Italy with her experiencing all of the pleasures of pasta and gelatto. In India, I meditated alongside her and deeply felt her desperation for spiritual guidance and serenity. Indonesia brought her balance and made me reflect on the delicate balance of my own life. I was completely taken in by her descriptions, her adventures, even her evervescence.

I felt empowered after reading this book, not irritated. I felt like she had given me a blueprint and permission to explore my own world and desires. I am unlikely to get divorced, quit my job and travel around the world for a year, but I feel like I could now. So, while I really didn't want to like this book, I ended up loving it. As a writer, I also appreciate how she structured it (which is explained in the preface). I liked her attention to detail; how every word had a place and while it felt carefully crafted, still flowed like a long conversation with your best friend.

I'm quite glad I got over my aversion of following the crowd and my anger at those whose lives are more spectacular than mine, to read this book. It was definitely worth the time and I think is one that I might even visit again to refresh my own commitments to food, prayer and love.

Fearless- Max Lucado

2010-03-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

I'll preface this review with a couple of caveats. First, I received this book for free from publisher Thomas Nelson. Second, I'm a bit new to religion in general. I wasn't raised anything and have only recently come to church. I'll not divulge my faith or personal beliefs here, but from what I've heard Lucado is more conservative and evangelical than I tend to be. I've tried to not let any of these factors temper my review.

Being fearless is something that I've always equated with the young kids I used to teach skiing to when I was in high school. Watching tiny three and four-year-olds barrel down a ski hill without regard to cracked heads, torn ACLs or aching muscles is the definition of fearless. Seeing as how they only have two or three feet maximum to fall, this lack of fear isn't too hard to imagine. However, most of us grow past three feet and even if we didn't the knowledge that we gain in life often comes at a price. Sometimes the adage that ignorance is bliss is all too true. It's hard to be fearless when you're farther than three feet from the ground and have a much better idea of what life's consequences. Lucado breaks the book up into chapters that all focus on various fears that people have in modern society. Fears of overwhelming challenges, violence, not mattering, and not protecting the kids, are some of the difficulties that Lucado expounds on.

In each chapter, Lucado illustrates the fear through personal anecdotes and stories of this type of fear manifesting in regular people's lives. He then pulls quotations, parables and psalms from the Bible to illustrate why people needn't be afraid of any of these calamities because God and Jesus are on their side.

Overall, I liked this book, but I have some reservations about it. I love the message: don't worry; just live your life and do what you can about your own actions. I think this is something that everyone, can or should be able to practice. We can't change everything in the world. We can't change other people actions or thoughts or practices, but we can take charge of our own thoughts and actions and practices, and create change in the world that way. What I don't like about this book is how heavy handed it is with God and the Bible. Now, I understand that is is a Christian book from a Christian publisher and for that audience, I think it's great. For me, it worked. For the rest of the population, I think they would be turned off by it, which is unfortunate because I really love the message. Granted, if you weren't a Christian, or someone who believed in God, you'd be unlikely to pick up this book to begin with, but I still wish the message were more accessible to everyone, faithful, agnostic and atheist.

I would say, if you're Christian of any persuasion, read this book. If you're religious of any other persuasion or not religious at all, read the book, but listen to the words, and don't worry about the tradition from which they have come. These are good ideas for every human, not just Christians.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian- Sherman Alexie

2010-01-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian- Sherman Alexie

When I was in college, I read Alexie's collection of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. I loved his work then, so I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick up this book. It was only sort of on my radar, but when I found myself sitting in my school's library waiting for students to finish reading tests, I was drawn to it on the shelf and thought I would read a little bit. Well, a little bit turned into the entire novel in short order. (Note to the FCC- since I know this is your favorite blog to read... book was checked out from my school's library)

Arnold "Junior" Spirit is a Spokane Indian living on the rez in the Northeastern United States. He is poor; his friends are poor; the entire reservation is poor and without much hope. Junior is excited to start high school, despite the beatings he is sure to receive. He's been a town punching bag since birth because of his plethora of physical defects and personality quirks. He would likely be in much worse shape if his best friend Rowdy wasn't always looking for a fight and willing to stick up for him. When Junior receives his math book in his first class and finds that it's the same book his mother used thirty plus years prior, he loses all patience and decides that he must get off the rez and go to the white school in the farm town 22 miles away. This decision leads to a backlash from his tribe and he soon fits in nowhere. Throughout the novel Junior's life gets better in some areas, but completely falls apart in others. His sense of humor and wit however, never falter.

I really loved this book. The voice was spectacular, probably due in part to the semi-autobiographical nature of the writing, but Alexie really nails it. Junior's humor and observations cut right to the bone. Alexie never shies away from the difficult and unsavory aspects of life as a teenage boy, or life as Native American. Though it was lightly uncomfortable at times for me, a white woman, to read, I could still relate and sympathize with Junior's pain and coming from a small town myself, his deep desire to leave and make his mark on the world.

Though this book is technically YA fiction, it is worth everyone reading. The pain of being a teenager is something that no one is impervious to. Though, I particularly think this book would be fantastic for reluctant readers, particularly boys. I plan to have my literacy class of struggling juniors, all boys, read this. The pacing is well done, and while the themes and issues have a remarkable depth, the language is easy to read. I also loved the cartoons throughout. They were hilarious and totally believable. I dislike books where pictures just seem to be added in but don't actually add anything to the story. These drawings moved the plot just as much as words, sometimes more so. Overall, a triumph of the teenage years by Alexie. I'm sure that this will be a favorite of many.

You can read my other reviews HERE.

Reading up on the Best YA Fantasy

2010-01-13T22:34:00.001-07:00

I've started working on a Young Adult fantasy novel. The idea is actually from a short story that I wrote when I was 11. At the time I thought it was the best story ever and that it definitely needed to be published. The story was written for a school assignment, so I already had it typed up and I figured it was just a matter of mailing it off and waiting for my book to hit the shelves. I diligently copied the addresses of publishers from the inside covers of my books, typed up a cover letter and sent my story off into the world. Needless to say, I didn't get a seven-figure book deal. :) One or two houses wrote back, with a form letter that stated they didn't accept unsolicited manuscripts. I shelved the story for 17 years, but recently it came back to mind. It really was a good story idea... not executed in the best manner, but I decided I wanted to see if I could make something of it. Hence... my latest book project was born.

When I wrote my first novel (which I'm not even going to try to market), I just jumped straight into writing. No outline, plan, nothing. I did really well with that until about halfway through the book and then I got stuck. I had no idea how to get from the middle of the book to the end. I stopped, tried to write an outline and managed to slog through it, but I never felt like it really worked. The plot ended up being really jumbled and messy. So, to combat this problem with the current book, I decided to write an outline and have a really good, clear idea of where I'm going with this novel (and potentially this series) before I ever start that first sentence.

In preparation for writing my own YA adventure/fantasy, I decided to read seven other YA fantasies: classics, epic bestsellers, and honored authors. Here are my thoughts on each of these books, from a writer's perspective. I tried to analyze what I liked, didn't like, thought worked, would like to copy...etc. For the FTC- like they'll ever look at this blog- I purchased all of these books myself, none were gifted from the authors or the publishers.

The Sea of Trolls Nancy Farmer

Quick Synopsis: Farmer boy is taken on as an apprentice to a bard (wizard). When the Berzerkers (bad guys) capture his little sister, he has to venture to the land of trolls to help save her.

This is the second time I've read this book and while I like it, it doesn't blow me away. I really like Farmer's use of Norwegian myths and folktales. She really brings Norse mythology to life and integrates it into the story without sounding like she's telling a folktale. Things I didn't like: I don't really buy the relationship between the sister and brother. The little sister is ridiculously whiny and annoying and it's hard to believe that her brother keeps going out on a limb for her just because she's his sister. The book drags a little in places and then moves too quickly through some of the parts that I thought would be most interesting. This book definitely inspired me to use myths and folktales in my own novel, but I want to make sure that my characters' motivation are more believable and my pacing better.

Twilight: Stephenie Meyer

Quick Synopsis (in case you've managed to avoid any teenage girls): Clumsy, new-girl-in-town, Bella meets godlike Edward. They fall in love, but he's a vampire and could eat her at any minute. She doesn't care.

Oy... I have such mixed feeling about this book. On the one hand, it, and the entire series, is totally engrossing. I was reading this for a second time and I still couldn't put it down. On the other hand, the characters are irritating, the plot is trite and I hate the underlying "you're nothing without your man" message. I think there are a couple of things that Meyer does really well in this book. First, Bella as a person easily slips away and as a reader you can place yourself in her position. Second, she preys upon what many women want, or would at least like: a stunning, rich man who worships you. We all want to feel wanted and she really drives at the core of that desire. I don't like how simpering Bella is; she can't do anything for herself and I really don't think that is the kind of message that anyone needs. I don't particularly care for her writing. It's very flowery and repetitive. I know Edward is gorgeous, I don't need to be reminded of it every other sentence. I do think that a love story resonates with the population (obviously) so I'd like to incorporate some romance into my own novel... but not quite this much.

A Wrinkle in Time: Madeline L'Engle

Quick Synopsis: Meg Murray's scientist father has been missing for quite some time when she and her genius little brother Charles are approached by some odd beings to tesseract (a wrinkle in time) across the universe to save him from dark forces.

This is a classic in Ya fantasy/sci fi and while I do like it, I felt like it had some points which I would not copy. To be honest, it actually moved a little quickly. I wished that L'Engle would have build this world and all of the nuances of it a little more. It also ended a bit abruptly. I do like the combination of our 'regular' world and a fantasy world. Her characters also have clear, strong personalities, but at some points they felt a little too one sided and not entirely believable. The "villian" also isn't well developed and thus isn't very scary.

Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone: J.K. Rowling

Quick Synopsis: Eleven-year-old orphan, Harry, finds out that he's a wizard and is sent off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He also learns that he survived an attack by the most dangerous wizard in the world as a baby and now that wizard is after him and on a quest to return to power.

I really love Harry Potter. I think that Rowling does an excellent job of building a world and making it very believable. We're helped from it feeling like an info dump by the fact that Harry conveniently doesn't know anything either. Her characters are multi-dimensional and have real and believable flaws. Voldemort, our villain, while not really in this novel, is still built to be a formidable and scary force. As a storyteller, Rowling is impeccable. The plot moves, is interesting and the reader becomes very invested in the characters. However, as a writer, I don't think Rowling is the best. Her writing is passive often and sometimes plot points are left unanswered. Harry Potter is a phenomenon for a reason though. It's a great book.

Magyk: Angie Sage

Quick Synopsis: The Heaps are a magical family of wizards who, after their seventh son died, have been unknowingly raising a princess for the last ten years. When the evil wizards DomDaniel returns to take reign over the kingdom they flee with Princess Jenna to try to keep her safe.

I remember when this book came out and it was really being pushed as the next Harry Potter, sadly it fell woefully short. At least the first novel, I haven't read the rest of the series. The premise is interesting, but I found the plot to be very predictable and slow moving. I also felt that the characters didn't actually "do" anything. Lots of stuff happened to them, and all of the plots points were a result of who they are externally, not who they are in their personalities. I'm not sure if that makes sense, and I hesitate to explain it more, lest I really give the plot away to those who haven't read the book. The characters didn't feel are well rounded or deep. I also got pretty annoyed by how the book was typeset. Any magical words were bold and in a different font. This, coupled with all of the 'y's in words (like Magyc), really irritated me. Overall, it was an okay book, and cute, but it didn't intrigue me enough to read the read of the series.

A Great and Terrible Beauty: Libba Bray

Quick Synopsis: In 18th century England, Gemma Doyle is sent to a finishing school after her mother is mysteriously murdered in India. At the school Gemma befriends some of the popular girls and they soon form a secret club revolving around Gemma mysterious magical abilities.

There are a few things that I really liked about this novel. I really enjoyed the time and setting of the book. I'm not a huge historical fiction person, but this was interesting. I liked the bond between the characters and how their personalities played off of each other. They all had strong traits, but it didn't feel gimmicky or stereotypical. The plot was interesting, but it was very slow moving. I didn't feel like there were enough interesting questions consistently raised to keep my interest. I kept reading because I generally keep reading, but I can imagine others putting the book down several times in the book. The only other thing that bothered me was how the girls spoke in the book. They sounded far too modern and at times it jarred me out of the story.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis

Quick Synopsis: Four children find a secret world called Narnia in the back of their uncle's wardrobe. In this world one of the children falls into the clutches of the evil White Witch who has forced the world into a perpetual winter, with no Christmas. The three other children band together with a lion to bring good back to Naria.

This is another classic and I really love this book, as well as the entire Chronicles of Narnia series. I know that some people don't care for the "Jesus allegory", but I find that it isn't as in your face as some make it out to be. I would really like to have a deeper meaning in my novel as well. Maybe not quite as overt as Lewis, but something with some substance. The characters don't have quite as much depth as I would like, and like A Wrinkle in Time, I felt like it could have had more meat to the plot and description. The book moves quickly from the ordinary world into Narnia and then even faster through the plot points, but I wish that Lewis had slowed down at times.

So, there you have it. My take on some of the best YA fantasy novels. Or at least the best fantasy nobels that I knew of and had to read. :) I'd love to hear your take on the best YA, or Adult, fantasy. What are your favorites?

New Year...new blog

2010-01-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

So, it has again been far too long since I've written here. I'm not sure that anyone particularly missed me, but I'm back, regardless. 2009 went out with... well... it went, and I'm glad to see it gone. '09 was a year of a lot of trials for me health, work, writing, life in general. I'm really hoping that '10 is a true fresh start and will bring some peace and organization to my life.

I didn't make specific resolutions this year. Normally, I am the type to make resolutions, and promptly break them a few days later, but my overall resolution is to just get my life together. I want to organize my time better, organize my writing time more, get my health back in line, get my finances and career back in line, just get my act together in general. We'll see how it turns out, but so far I feel like I'm on track at least.

Since I'm trying to focus my time more and eliminite superfluous things I'll be paring down the focus of the blog. Not to make excuses, but part of the reason I haven't blogged is because I never feel like I have things to talk about that really fit into my "read, write, knit, panic" idea. I'm constantly knitting, but rarely remember to take pictures of my works in progress, or when they're finished for that matter. And a knitting blog without pictures is pretty boring. I always have plenty to panic about, but I'm also trying to focus on the positive more. So the knitting and panicing aspects of this blog will be no more. I'm going to focus on writing about what I've been reading, and what I've been writing. I've read mixed reviews on whether authors should reveal their process as they work on a novel, but I have always wondered how authors write and find it terribly interesting. I don't know if my own journey to publication will be quite as intriguing, but I'd at least like to document the process.

I also debated blogging about my heath trevails and what I'm doing to try to solve the variety of problems that I have. There isn't a lot out there from a first hand perspective about the illnesses that I have, so part of me feels like I should tell my story to help others, but another part of me really doesn't want to add anything else to my plate. We'll see. If I do decide to blog about it, I think I'll start a separate blog so as not to muddy the waters further.

At any rate... if you're still even reading this... look for more of a focus on reading and writing in the coming months. I'm going to shoot for blogging twice a week or so. If my track record is any indication this means that I'll blog twice a week for about a month and then no one will hear from me until July. Trying to break old habits though.

So, here's to a productive 2010 for all readers of this blog. I'd love to hear your resolutions, or goals, or whatever your hopes and dreams are for the new decade. I'm always inspired by the dreams of others. :)

Confessions of a Shopaholic- Sophie Kinsella

2009-11-09T10:30:00.007-07:00

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
While I was standing at the Redbox rental kiosk, this seemed like a cute movie to watch while my husband wasn't home. After I watched the movie, I decided I wanted to read the book also. The premise is funny and I knew it had done well both as book and movie, so I thought I would see how the two compared. Honestly, there isn't much of a comparison. The book and the movie, while they have similar themes and some similar plot points, are very different. I like the movie a little bit more... I know... blasphemy. The movie had a stronger conflict and more drama; plus, I love Isla Fischer.

The book was cute, pretty simple and good chick lit. I'm not a huge chick lit person, but I do love a quick and easy read every now and then. Becky Bloomwood, the heroine, is a journalist who works for Successful Saving magazine. She is a strong financial voice, but her own financial life is in shambles. She's being harassed by a collector, can't stop herself from buying nearly everything in sights and is completely overwhelmed. Her harebrained solutions for conquering her debt range from winning the lottery to making fabric frames. Eventually she realizes that she does actually understand finances far more than she gave herself credit for and is able to use her knowledge to help others and herself.

Overall, this books was okay. Not the best book I've ever read, but a quick and easy read. The characters were endearing, though a little stereotypical. The plot was decent, but events were a little convenient at times. It was funny enough. Not amazing, but decent. Now, I love to shop. I love sales and could totally relate to that thrill of buying something. However, I wasn't really a fan of all of the name dropping of brands and stores. It just wasn't my style and got a little irritating after a while. I'd saw both the book and movie are worth reading and watching, especially if you have some time to kill while your husband is out of town, want a good girls' night flick, or something easy to ready while traveling.

View all my reviews >>

Mysteries of Pittsburgh- Michael Chabon

2009-11-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Michael Chabon was at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver for a reading from his most recent book Manhood for Amateurs. As he read selections from the book, I could see that his prose had grown since this first novel of his, but it still had the ring of truth and beauty found in all of Chabon's works. He is funny, witty and eloquent. He was a wonderful speaker and gave some great writing advice (to be blogged about later). I look forward to reading even more of his work.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel by Michael Chabon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am ridiculously jealous that Chabon was able to create a novel so beautiful his first time out of the gate. Mysteries of Pittsburgh is Chabon's debut novel and abounds with his lyrical prose and intriguing characters.

Art Bechstein has graduated from college and is spending the summer following working at a book store and playing with his new found friends. Arthur LeCompte entices Art into a world of interesting people and even more interesting parties. Between Art's new girlfriend Phlox, his increasingly sexual feelings for his friend Art and new friend Clevland's interest in Art's father's mobster ways, Art is lost and confused. This novel is reminiscent of Fitzgerald and a bygone era of sophisticated parties and debauchery.

Chabon's prose is lyrical and striking. His descriptions are always unique and the characters are beautifully written. I am always impressed by his way of viewing the world. The details that he sees are vivid and intriguing. I always turn to Chabon's work when I'm feeling like I need inspiration for my own writing. He has not disappointed me yet.

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The past oh.... two months

2009-10-16T15:05:00.003-06:00

Well, I hadn't really realized quite how long I'd been away from the blog. So much for my grand plan of blogging at least four days a week. Ugh. I don't really have any specific stories or grand excuses for my absence. Life has just been a little insane.

School started back in mid-August and that definitely took some getting used to. I'm really not a morning person, so having to get up at about 5 to get to work just doesn't cut it for me. I'd much rather stay up until 3 or so and roll out of bed around noon. Unfortunately, school doesn't start at noon. :( Overall the transition back to work has been okay. I've been pretty exhausted and feeling stressed trying to get a handle on my job, but things seems to be calming down a little bit. I'm a literacy coach at a high school, which means that I monitor and teach students who are not reading at grade level. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone really doing that job full time previously, so all of the files and data were a mess. It definitely took a while to organize it all and get into the swing of working. The kids have been decent and I generally like it, though I much prefer staying home and writing.

In writing news... well, nothing has really happened. I haven't been working on the book. I was working on revising a short story, but that has also fallen to the wayside in recent weeks. I'm really hoping to get back into writing this weekend and in the coming weeks. I just haven't felt inspired. I'm definitely questioning whether I have the chops to really be an author. Feeling a little depressed and down on myself about it... but I suppose all writers go through that. I'm just not sure if I'm good enough. No way to find out though unless I actually finish something and get it out there. Alas... I really wish some one or some thing from on high could just tell me if I should keep going or just quit now. Meh. I've also been half considering an MFA or PhD in Creative Writing. I definitely don't have the time or money to do either, but the thought is nice. I guess I just want some outward assurance that I'm on the right track, that I have some talent and might actually get published. Something...

Knitting has also been rather slow. I finished up the Sleepy Monkey baby blanket and gave that to Andrew's cousins. I have a few other projects that just need to get finished, but I've been working on knitting mittens and hats for Boulder's homeless resource center The Carriage House instead. They're pretty quick and it's satisfying to get something done. I have a couple of friends who are having babies in the spring though, so I'm going to need to come up with some more baby projects.

In reading news, I finished Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon. I'll post on that next week. I've also been reading the 2008 Best American Short Stories. I may or may not report on those. We'll see if I can find a non-irritating way to review a collection of stories. I'm still working on The Writer's Journey and plan to read another Chabon. Probably Kavalier and Klay.

Other than the general stress and self doubt, life is going okay. I might be having some eye surgery. I meet with the doctor again on Tuesday. If so, I'll definitely post on that since my own research into the subject has yielded little in the way of anecdotes. More to come Monday, when I hope to return to a semi-regular posting schedule... but we've all seen how that goes. :)

Still here

2009-10-13T22:29:00.000-06:00

I'm still here... life has been insane. More to come, soon hopefully.

The Bridges of Madison County- Robert James Waller

2009-08-10T17:15:00.002-06:00

The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I will preface all of this by saying that I don't generally read romance, so please don't be offended. And, everyone likes different things, so don't let my review taint you if you want to read this novel.

I hated this book. In fact, I think I would give it zero stars if that didn't seem too mean. I thought it was absolutely terrible.

Very basically the novel is about a photographer who goes to Iowa to photograph some covered bridges for National Geographic. He gets lost, meets a farm wife whose family is away at the fair and they have a torrid affair for a week, exciting all of the passion that she has never felt and all of the commitment that he has never felt. At the end of the week they part and return to their normal lives but never forget their one true love.

There are a wide variety of things that I disliked about the book, so I think I'll just list them. 1. I hate (HATE!) the writing technique where the "writer" has been approached to tell some story and then proceeds to tell it and wraps the whole book up with "well, that's their story." I don't care whether you were actually approached and commissioned or something to write this book. Don't tell me.

2. The actual story is so contrite. It's played and there wasn't enough plot to it. Really? Boy meets girl, boy can't have girl, boy and girl always wonder what would have been.

3. There is no depth to the characters. I hated the descriptions. If I had to read the female character describing her love as "hard" one more time, I might have thrown up. I didn't care about them. I couldn't relate to them.

4. Waller switches between points of view like a forth grader. I had a really hard time following whose head I was in. The reader is bounced around so much, I started to feel dizzy. The transitions aren't smooth. It wasn't well balanced between POVs either.

5. Waller also gets preachy at points. He had his characters spout off some long monologue that you can tell is just the author expressing his own viewpoint. It wasn't good and didn't feel natural.

6. The ending was awful. It ends with an interview of some random guy that knew one of the characters. No, just no.

Now, one might ask, if I thought this book was so terrible, why did I finish it? Because I thought it would get better. It was a bestseller. I honestly thought that something good had to happen in it. Nope, wrong. I really don't know how so many people purchased this book. My only guess is that there are a lot of desperate housewives out there.

As an aside, I got this book from my husband's bookshelf. It apparently was a gift or something. I knew he had read it and when I finished I tentatively asked him if he had liked it. Thank God he said it was awful too. If he loved this book, that might have been grounds for a divorce.

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A Good Dose of Panic

2009-08-06T17:00:00.002-06:00

I figured I haven't panicked here on the blog in a little while, so it seems about time. Knitting might some tomorrow... if I decide that I'm in a good enough mood to work on it.

I'm starting a new job here in a couple of weeks, back to teaching, though I'll be teaching at a new school and a new subject. That in and of itself isn't particularly panic inducing, but the way that it has evolved it. I currently have no classroom. Well, technically I have rooms in which I'll be teaching, but not one of my own and I don't even have an office. I'll not explain why I don't have an office, but I'm thoroughly unamused by the fact that I don't have anywhere to sit down and do work. I also have no curriculum. Again, that might not be terrible, but in addition to the no office thing, it's a little irritating. Also, my schedule appears to involve a longer day that I had originally thought I was getting into and I'm just generally mad at the whole situation right now. I really didn't want to go back to work in the first place. I'd much rather be sitting on my butt here at my desk working on my novel, but money just won't allow for that. And, when I got this job I thought it would be pretty perfect at jobs go. Too good to be true I suppose. So, we shall see how this all plays out. I'm trying really hard not to get very angry and to just be all calm and zen, but it's not really working for me. Maybe some good Thursday night TV will help. :) Ugh.

Eleven Great Links for Writers

2009-08-06T00:07:00.003-06:00

Well, I know that Wednesdays are supposed to be for knitting, but since I skipped Writing Tuesday and also because my current knitting project is soaking in a bucket waiting to be blocked, I'm going to share some of my favorite writing links. It's like a top ten list but better, since it's eleven. :)

In my own writing news, the book is coming along. I'm working out some subplots and trying to get the beginning to line up better with the new ending that I have in mind. I'm also revising a short story that I'd like to start submitting sometime soon. So, we shall see.

But, if you're a writer, or at all interested in the publishing industry you have to be reading these blogs:

I love reading agent blogs and if you aren't already following Nathan, Janet, Colleen, Rachelle, Jonathan and Jessica go add them to you reader now. Their insights into the industry are invaluable and they offer lots of advice on queries and managing a writing career.

Moon Rat is the Editorial Ass(istant) who is hilarious and always brings a ray of light to a sometimes dismal publishing industry.

The Intern is an intern at a New York publisher and her posts are funny, insightful and always make me feel a little better about the fact that I at least get paid for my toils. She offers an inside view to the editorial meetings, which is definitely interesting.

Eric over at Pimp My Novel works in sales at a major publisher and he offers a different point of view of the publishing industry. His posts are very informative and I'm pretty sure he's the only blog of his kind on the web.

John Upchurch runs More Novel by the Week, in which he offers tips for writers varying from common grammar mistakes to definitions of obscure literary terms. He also trolls the web looking for fantastic new websites related to reading and writing.

And finally, last but certainly not least is the Guide to Literary Agents by Chuck. He gives updates on new agents, tells stories of how real authors landed their agents and keeps me in the loop of his Cover Band drama. :) He has interviews from some of the greatest names in the biz and it is a great blog for advice and information.

Hopefully this will keep you all satisfied in the writing department for at least a week. I'll try to post pictures of the latest knitting project later this week.

Wonder Boys- Michael Chabon

2009-08-03T22:00:00.002-06:00

Somehow Mondays seem to be good for blogging. Who would have guessed? I've been working through The Bridges of Madison County and am still unimpressed. I hope that it gets better. But, this week I have at least finished a book and can give my full review of it. So... here goes:

Wonder Boys: A Novel by Michael Chabon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow. This wasn't my first foray in the the wonderful world of Michael Chabon, but it was his first adult novel that I have read. I had previously read Summerland which is a fantastic Young Adult fantasy. I'd seen the movie version of Wonder Boys ages ago and loved it, so I was definitely excited to pick up the book. I had high expectations and Chabon exceeded them.

In brief, Wonder Boys is about a college professor, Grady Tripp, who is also a bit of a has been writer. Tripp saw great success with his first couple of novels, hence the professor job, but has been unable to finish his thousand page epic Wonder Boys, due partly to his marijuana addiction, partly to his disastrous marriage and affair, and partly to the fact that he's just trying to cram far too much into this novel. When Grady's neurotic and addict editor rolls into town for the college's LitFest, the pair end up on an epic adventure involving a suicidal student, Tripp's ex-in-laws, a dead dog and a lot of drugs.

While the plot of this novel is hilarious and well crafted, I enjoyed the writing the most. What I wouldn't kill to have Chabon's gift. He is a beautiful writer and each sentence is so melodiously crafted that they are hard to get out of your head. He finds uniques ways of saying things and his comparisons are superb. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone because it's a great book, but I would especially recommend this novel to writers. Seriously, study how this man crafts a sentence, a paragraph, a book. It's beautiful and lyrical. Well worth the read.

View all my reviews >>

Reading Monday!

2009-07-27T20:38:00.002-06:00

Well, not so great about keeping my schedule, but apparently I can keep a Monday appointment at least. In my own slightly pitiful defense, it has been a ridiculously busy week and I'm not going to make any promises for the current week. This next week is very busy too. But, no more excuses... here's my reading for the week.

I actually haven't made a whole lot of progress on either Wonder Boys or The Writer's Journey. I did start The Bridges of Madison Country, but have not gotten very far. So far it's okay, but I'm not very impressed with the writing.

So, since I don't really have books to actually blog about, I thought I would share some of my favorite book blogs and websites.

First up: Bookshelves Of Doom. This is a great blog run by a librarian, or self-described uber-librarian. She offers astute and funny reviews of books, some YA movies and life in general. She always cracks me up and somehow manages to find tons of amazing new stuff on the web. Definitely worth checking out.

Next: Henry Sene Ye Designs I don't talk about it much on this site, mostly because I already have a lot to cover, but I love design and art. This is the blog of a book cover designer. He shares his process in deciding on cover designs, contacting artists and putting it all together. I find it really interesting, especially seeing the failed designs.

Finally, one of the most fun new sites I've stumbled across: The Book Seer. Though slightly silly, I really like it. At this site you type in the title and author name of the most recent book you have finished and the site pulls from Amazon, Librarything and BookArmy to compile a list of recommendations. Now, I don't particularly need to add anything else to my TBR pile, but I like it nonetheless.

Hopefully you'll all enjoy clicking around these new sites! I'm going to try my best tomorrow to be back with some writing news.

New Schedule and a Book Review

2009-07-20T22:16:00.004-06:00

So, I've decided to try something new here on the blog, in the hopes that it will keep me more accountable to posting more than once a month. Following in the title of the blog I'll keep this schedule: Mondays will be for reading, Tuesdays for writing, Wednesday for knitting, Thursday for panicking :), and Friday for whatever else might come up. We'll have to see how this actually goes, but that's the current plan.

And for this Monday, here's what I've been reading.

The Writer's Journey by Chris Vogler
I haven't actually finished this yet, but so far so good. I'm really enjoying it so far. It's an interesting analysis of the structure of the stories that we as a human race love. They all follow the Hero's Journey. It's been recommended to me by a number of other authors and I think that it will be really helpful in the development of my plot. We shall see.

Wonder Boys- Michael Chabon
I'm also in the middle of reading this. I've seen the movie, and loved it, but the book is so much better. I've only recently started reading Chabon, and I'm not quite sure where he's been all my life. His writing is so beautiful and his images so striking that I nearly weep when I read it, seriously. He has such a unique way of putting everything. I only wish that I can someday rise to this level of literature. The story is hilarious. The comedy of errors that ensues from page one is fantastic without being completely improbable and the characters are ridiculously interesting. I'm really excited to finish this one.

The Notebook- Nicholas Sparks
Well, this book was on my Project 100 list and I believe I was one of the last remaining women in the US that hadn't read this novel. I'll preface all of this by saying that I'm not a huge romance reader, but having read and enjoyed Sparks' Three Weeks with my Brother, I was willing to give this a shot.

I'll not give away too much of the plot, but very basically it is about a young man of little means and a young woman of fantastic means who fall in love only to be separated by time and social circumstances.

What made this novel better than the typical love story is the framing of it, as a old man reading the story to an unknown woman. The story is touching and while predictable, still genuinely warm and fuzzy. I did enjoy it. It's a great quick read and especially good when you just want to read and not think too much. Sparks' writing is lovely, clean and concise and his characters are lively and real. While I enjoyed the book in general, I think that I enjoyed it more after reading Three Weeks because I knew how he wrote it and what was happening in his life at the time. Overall, it was worth the hype (and million dollar advance) that it received.

If You Want to Write- Brenda Ueland; The Story of Edgar Sawtelle- David Wroblewski; For One More Day- Mitch Albom

2009-07-01T00:26:00.001-06:00

Here's a drive by book review. I haven't been in my house for more than about 48 hours in the last two months. Unfortunately, that also hasn't translated into good blogging or reading time, but I have read a few books. Here are the super quick and dirty reviews.

If You Want to Write- Brenda Ueland

This was a decent book. I liked some of her advice, expecially about finding the microscopic truth in everything you write. It really had a quiet confidence to it. I don't know that I like it more than Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, but it was pretty good. Worth the read for any writer.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle- David Wroblewski

I'm almost always a day late and a dollar short in jumping on the Oprah bandwagon. So, I'm sure by this point many of you have already read this book, or read a million reviews about it, but here's what I think anyway. I liked it. It was a nice sweeping style family epic that we haven't seen in a while. I felt it moved a little slowly at times, and I can't say that I loved the ending. However, Wroblewski's writing is fantastic and his characters are really intriguing and have a depth that most authors don't achieve. Quite good overall, but not earth-shattering.

For One More Day- Mitch Albom

I might be a little biased on this one, having lost my own mother, but I loved this novel. It is so crisp and beautiful. The concept is intriguing and the pacing is spectacular. Albom creates a magical space and I bought it. The characters are very real and the plot is everyone's wish. Read it, definitely. It's a quick read and is quite amazing.

Very Quick

2009-05-29T18:03:00.002-06:00

I'm off to a wedding this weekend, but I hope to provide a more detailed blog post next week. We'll see.
Here's the quick version:
finished all the books that I'm listed as reading on my Goodreads. Started The Yiddish Policeman's Union
Haven't been writing much. I have no plot, nothing actually happens in my novel. This is a problem that I am attempting to fix.
Started knitting a new baby blanket and new scarf. Pics to come.
Got a job for next year.
Went to NY for my cousin's graduation from West Point and hung out in the city for a few days.

Again... more to come, possibly with pictures and/or more details. :)

The Winner Stands Alone- Paulo Coelho

2009-05-12T23:24:00.001-06:00

The Winner Stands Alone: A Novel by Paulo Coelho

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I list Paulo Coelho as one of my favorite authors, and I love a number of his books. While I liked this one, it definitely wasn't my favorite. That being said, I also think a lot of people just won't get it.

The Winner Stands Alone follows a number of characters through twenty-four hours at the Cannes Film Festival. Igor is a powerful Russian entrepreneur who goes to the festival to get back his wife Ewa, who left him. He is trying to catch her attention by destroying worlds. We follow a variety of characters: Igor, a notorious film distributer, an aspiring actress, model on the rise, and an unknown film director. Igor believes that his mission is one that must be carried out at any cost. I won't say a whole lot more about the plot, as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who would like to read this book.

I do think that Coelho paints an interesting picture of this world of excess. No one is happy in this novel, regardless of how famous they are or how much money they have. He illustrated the fleeting quality of life and I believe, tries to acknowledge what really should matter--not money and fame, but love and people. I think I'll read this book again in a few months and try to think about it more. While I did like it, I don't know if many people will. The vast majority of society clings to the idea that if we just had a little more money, or were famous, or more beautiful, then everything would be all right. Not so, says Coelho and while I believe this is an important message, I'm not sure that the world is ready to hear it, nor am I really sure that is what he intended, it's just my own interpretation.

At any rate, I would definitely recommend this book. It was a good read, and was structured in an interesting way. As a writer, I really appreciated the structure and his interesting points of view. It definitely read quickly, but like I said, I think I will read it again to delve into the deeper meaning.

View all my reviews.

Still alive... barely

2009-04-21T01:58:00.003-06:00

So, I've been sick. Not for the entire two and a half weeks since I last posted, but it's a good excuse right? This won't be a long post but a quick update. I've been working on my writing. I'm heading to the Pikes Peak Writer's Conference this week and I'm really excited about it. I hope that I get a lot of great feedback on my novel and get to meet some new people! Should be fun.

I've been reading Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write, loving it so far. I'm also reading Portrait of a Lady for my 100 Books Project. Didn't get very far in that one before Coelho's latest, The Winner Stands Alone, showed up for me to review. So... hopefully I'll have some reviews soon. :)

In knitting news... well, not much actually. I'm working on a project for a friend. I don't think she reads this blog, but just in case, I'm going to keep it stealth. It should be cute though.

And panicking, yep good dose of that. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing for work next year. I have a job teaching 6th grade Language Arts if I want it, but it's full time. So, I'm waiting around to see if any half time jobs come up that I might like better.

At any rate- I'll try to blog more about the conference when I get there. Also, I have a website going live soon. It will really only link you back here- but I'm increasing my web presence. Building that ever-important platform. :)

Hilarious! :)

2009-04-02T13:30:00.004-06:00

This is just too awesome not to share... and it's sort of knitting related, so maybe it makes up for my lack of knitting pictures recently. :)

Project Fill in the Gaps

2009-04-01T18:07:00.004-06:00

So I'm stealing (well, not stealing as she asked people to do it with her) this directly from Moonrat, but she stole it from a friend of hers... so really it's not stealing any more right? :)

Anyway... this is Project Fill in the Gaps. If I can figure it out, I'll be putting a button on this blog for it; that's big if though. At any rate, Moonie put together a list of books that she feels she should have read at some point. I'm copying her rules exactly for this project, so here they are. Feel free to steal from me if you wish.
I'm giving myself 5 years starting now and rounding up (ie almost 6 years...) so my goal will be to finish 75 of these 100 books by New Year 2015. There is a 25% accident forgiveness. So if I finish 75 of these books, I'll consider myself victorious.

Here are my criteria for selecting the books that appear on this list:
1. They were on the bookshelf in my bedroom and I hadn't read them.
2. They were on the bookshelf in my office and I hadn't read them. (I didn't venture to the basement with the 8 other bookshelves because I didn't feel like dealing with stairs.)
3. They were on some of the "books I should read" lists that I've printed over the years.
4. My husband rambled books at me and I choose some of those as well.
It was a very scientific method of choosing.

Without further ado... here's the list. If I misspelled or mis-authored something please let me know. I'll be posting reviews of these as they are finished both here, on Goodreads, and on The BookBook.

1. Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoevsky
2. War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy
3. Great Expectations- Charles Dickens
4. The Scarlet Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne
5. The Crucible- Arthur Miller
6. The Infinite Plan- Isabel Allende
7. The Pilgramage- Paulo Coelho
8. Obit- Jim Sheeler
9. Siddartha- Hermann Hesse
10. The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver
11. Anthem- Ayn Rand
12. Into the Wild- Jon Krakauer
13. Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe
14. Jasmine- Bharati Mukherjee
15. A Room with a View- E. M. Forster
16. The Garden of Eden- Ernest Hemingway
17. The Remains of the Day- Kazuo Ishiguro
18. The Reivers- William Faulkner
19. Breakfast at Tiffany’s- Truman Capote
20. The Bluest Eye- Toni Morrison
21. Bee Season- Myla Goldberg
22. Cat’s Eye- Margaret Atwood
23. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri
24. Les Miserables- Victor Hugo
25. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha- Roddy Doyle
26. Anna Karenin- Leo Tolstoy
27. The Canterbury Tales- Geoffrey Chaucer
28. Eldest- Christopher Paolini
29. Citizen Hughes- Michael Dronin
30. Guns, Germs, and Steel- Jared Diamond
31. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
32. Vanity Fair- William Makepeace Thackeray
33. The Matamorphosis- Franz Kafka
34. Persuasion- Jane Austen
35. Portrait of a Lady- Henry James
36. Travels with Charley- John Steinbeck
37. Violin- Ann Rice
38. The Man in the Iron Mask- Alexandre Dumas
39. Caramelo- Sandra Cisneros
40. Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins
41. Titus Andronicus- William Shakespeare
42. Uncle Tom’s Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe
43. Gulliver’s Travels- Jonathan Swift
44. The Time Machine- H.G. Wells
45. Treasure Island- Robert Louis Stevenson
46. The Invisible Man- H.G. Wells
47. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court- Mark Twain
48. The Importance of Being Earnest- Oscar Wilde
49. Catch-22- Joseph Heller
50. Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison
51. Waiting for Godot- Samuel Beckett
52. The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde
53. Absalom Absalom- William Faulkner
54. The Bridges of Madison County- Robert James Waller
55. Wuthering Heights- Charlotte Bronte
56. Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austin
57. Across the River and into the Trees- Ernest Hemingway
58. Under the Banner of Heaven- Jon Krakauer
59. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood- Rebecca Wells
60. Sula- Toni Morrison
61. Beloved- Toni Morrison
62. The Fifth Mountain- Paulo Coelho
63. A Star Called Henry- Roddy Doyle
64. The Inferno- Dante Alighiere
65. Islands in the Stream- Ernest Hemingway
66. The Valkyries- Paulo Coelho
67. Mansfield Park- Jane Austen
68. The Long Valley- John Steinbeck
69. The Winter of Our Discontent- John Steinbeck
70. Tortilla Flat- John Steinbeck
71. Portrait in Sepia- Isabel Allende
72. Ines of my Soul- Isabel Allende
73. Don Quixote- Miguel de Cervantes
74. On Writing- Stephen King
75. Wonder Boys- Michael Chabon
76. An American Childhood- Annie Dillard
77. The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
78. Tuesday with Morie- Mitch Albom
79. Dune- Frank Herbert
80. The Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett
81. The Clan of the Cave Bear- Jean M. Auel
82. Angela’s Ashes- Frank McCourt
83. Ender’s Game- Orson Scott Card
84. Interview with a Vampire- Anne Rice
85. Love in the Time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
86. The Little Prince- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
87. The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd
88. Native Son- Richard Wright
89. Animal Farm- George Orwell
90. Brideshead Revisited- Evelyn Waugh
91. Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury
92. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest- Ken Kesey
93. Snow Crash- Neal Stephenson
94. The Notebook- Nicholas Sparks
95. Beowulf
96. Wonder Boys- Michael Chabon
97. The Mysteries of Pittsburg- Michael Chabon
98. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay- Michael Chabon
99. If You Want to Write- Brenda Ueland
100. Mumbo Jumbo- Ishmael Reed

I doubt that I'll read them in this order. Starting with War and Peace and Crime and Punishment seems like a little much. I'll try to remember to cross them out here as I go. :) And re-link this post in my reviews, but we'll see. Let me know if you plan on doing Project Fill in the Gaps too; I'd be really interested to see other people's lists. :)

Afraid- Jack Kilborn

2009-03-25T22:28:00.001-06:00

Afraid by Jack Kilborn

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'll preface this review by saying that I don't read horror. I also don't read thrillers, but I loved the Jack Daniels books, by JA Konrath. And since JA and Jack Kilborn are the same person, I was excited to read his latest novel. Afraid is all out horror, and is designed to play on any fear you might have.

In the town of Safe Haven, something terrible has landed. A team of Red Ops has "accidentally" landed in this small town with one mission, kill everyone. An aging sheriff, lone firefighter and single mother are fighting for their lives. I don't want to say too much more, as it is a twisting and exciting plot. You really just have to read it.

I really liked this book. I'd heard that some thought it was too gory, and over the top, but honestly, Kilborn leaves a lot to the imagination, which just makes it that much scarier. I finished this book in one day, and while freaked out, didn't immediately think it was that scary. I was able to remove myself from the scenes in the novel. Or so I thought. It wasn't until a couple of days ago that I realized the reason I'd been having a hard time sleeping was because of scenes from the book. It definitely lingers... and scares far beyond the pages. Read it with the lights on.

View all my reviews.

JA/Joe/Jack Reads, Writes and doesn't Panic

2009-03-25T21:00:00.004-06:00

Infamous and amazing writer extraordinaire JA Konrath, aka Jack Kilborn, is taking his one man show on the road. JA writes the fantastic blog A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, which is essential to any writer's RSS reader. Konrath also writes the thrilling Jack Daniels series. Seriously... awesome. I don't read thrillers and I loved his books. I honestly thought they were far superior to the James Patterson book I read (I know, blasphemy). I'm a huge fan of JA, so when he was asking for people to review his new book Afraid (coming out March 31) written under the pseudomyn Jack Kilborn, and going on a blog tour, I knew I had to get in on that action. Check out my review of Afraid here. And read on for an interview with JA/Joe/Jack (hereon referred to as J^3 [that's J cubed for you non math nerds]). He's always funny, and sometimes serious. :)

Dana: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
J^3: An adult.

Dana: What else do you do in all your spare time? Besides scare people and write funny Facebook statuses. Any hobbies?

J^3: I collect hair.

You should come to my house. Between me and the cat, you'd be set for life.

Dana: You've said many times that it took 12 years and 500+ rejections before you were published. What kept you going through all of that? Was there ever a point where you just wanted to throw in the metaphorical towel?

J^3: My wife was a huge source of support and inspiration. That's why, when someone asks what they need to do in order to get published, I tell them they have to marry my wife.

Also, liquor helps.

Again... come on over. The bar is always stocked. :)

Dana: Obviously, you probably like to read thrillers, but what else is on your list of favorites? Any books that you just couldn't make it through? If you had to recommend three books (not by J.A., Joe or Jack) that everyone should read what would they be?

J^3: I gotta send a shout out to my peeps here. Three books that everyone should read this year are Pressure by Jeff Strand, Abandon by Blake Crouch, and Killing Red by Henry Perez. These are all books I got to read prior to their upcoming publication, and I loved them

As far as my three favorite books of all time, they'd be The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, The Judas Goat by Robert B. Parker, and Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris.

If we're talking about classic literature, then I'd be walking away, looking for an exit.

Dana: What is your favorite brand of pen?

J^3: Black Sharpies.

Dana: Which would you rather be, the letter a or the number 7? Why?

J^3: I'm a writer. Gotta go with the letter.

Dana: While you were amassing all of those rejections, what was your day job?

J^3: I had many. My favorite was assisting a brewmaster. What a great job. Where else can you get paid to drink beer at nine in the morning?

Dana: There is a new trend in authors (okay, I know of you and Paulo Coelho, but two a trend can make) to give away free texts on their blogs. Do you think this has helped you? Hurt you? Would you recommend it for newbies or should we wait until the cow's been purchased before giving the milk for free?

J^3: Eventually, print will go digital the same way music did, and people will be downloading books for free anyway. But I believe it has helped my sales, and helped spread brand awareness.

I can't make any decisions for newbie authors. Well, wait a sec, actually I can. Send your book to every big agent in NY. If it has been rejected by all of them, go ahead and offer it for free on your website. At that point it can't hurt, only help.

Dana: And finally some very random questions- they'll be used for your psychological profiling later:
Mittens or gloves?

Gloves. The fingers need their freedom.

Spring or Fall?
Spring. I prefer things to get warmer than cooler.

Home or away?
Home. My wife calls my house "Joe's Little Playland." I've got over ten thousand books, movies, CDs, videogames, and magazines. If I didn't have to leave the house, I wouldn't.

Black or blue?
Black and blue. With multiple contusions.

And your favorite burger toppings?

Cheddar cheese, bacon, and a roll of fifty dollar bills.

A huge thanks to JA for coming over to my humble little blog. If you don't already own his books, go buy them. All of them. You won't regret it.

I am Awesome :)

2009-03-25T16:29:00.000-06:00

Dana just took the What are you born to do? quiz.

Best at Everything: You are the social person who makes useful contacts. You introduce important people to influencial people and always reap some sort of reward as a result... but you dont enjoy the spotlight as much. You prefer to stay in the back as there is more room to stretch and you like the feeling that you are the one with the power and most of the time that is true... You will do well in almost any field. You know how to flatter without being too obvious and you can make just about anyone like you!

Fantastic... if Facebook tells me I'm awesome, it must be so. :)

Seven Steps on the Writer's Path- Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott

2009-03-23T11:22:00.001-06:00

Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment by Nancy Pickard

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Books on the craft of writing are a tricky bunch. I've found that I either think they are amazing and want to live by them, or that they're sort of useless. For once a writing book fell inbetween.

Seven Steps on the Writer's Path describes the journey that each writer (supposedly) takes from Unhappiness to Fulfillment. When I first started this book, and just glanced through the steps, I thought that I would be somewhere in Wavering or possibly Letting Go. As I read however, each step felt like exactly where I am in this moment. While it was nice that the steps were all very relatable, it also made it hard to really understand where I was and how I could apply the authors' suggestions to my writing life.

I really liked their examples of a writer's feelings and actions at each step and appreciated the interviews and comments from established authors. I wanted more concrete exercises to help work through each step. Some writing exercises would have been nice as well. Overall, it was okay, but it didn't motivate me at all and didn't give me a better understanding of myself as a writer. It might be a nice book to own, simply so I could read it at a more leisurely pace and only focus on the step that I think I'm currently in. It felt a little weird to read the whole thing straight through. A decent book to check out, but not a must read.

View all my reviews.

Summerland- Michael Chabon

2009-03-21T15:52:00.002-06:00

Summerland by Michael Chabon

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Apparently I was one of the last three people on Earth who hadn't already fallen in love with Michael Chabon. I'd heard him touted on various blogs, and a friend had bought me The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and Wonder Boys is one of my favorite movies, but I'd never put all of those things together. It wasn't until I was subbing recently that I saw Summerland and picked it up. Having not read any of Chabon's other novels, I didn't have any expectations for this book, but I thought it was wonderful.

Summerland is an amazing fantasy, along the lines of The Lord of the Rings. Summerland is the story of a young boy, Ethan Feld, and his best friend, Jennifer T. Rideout, as they venture across different lands on a quest to prevent Coyote from destroying the entire world. Along the way, they pick up an unlikely band of friends, from a mini giant to a sasquatch. With their new friends they cross the four branches of the great tree: The Middling (our world now), Summerland (where fairies and other creatures live in eternal summer), Winterland (lots of strange creatures, but always winter) and The Gleaming (no one knows what lies here). They meet a variety of creatures from Indian legends and American Tall Tales. They play a number of games of baseball along the way (it's the only sport common to all of the lands) to earn their freedom to continue on their quest.

I really loved this book. I'm not a huge fantasy reader, but I loved Chabon's treatment of the classic quest plot. I really liked that it had such strong American roots, and almost would have wanted just a little bit more, such as when he describes American Tall Tales by their appearance. I would have preferred names, mostly because I wasn't familiar with all of the tales he spoke of. I liked the characters, and loved the relationship between all of them. I also like how each member of their party had a different reason for going on this quest. It felt quite authentic. Overall, this is a great book for young and old alike. It's an easy ready, though long, and is easy to connect to. I would love to see more fantasies tied to truly American elements, celebrating the heritage we have.

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East of Eden- John Steinbeck

2009-03-18T21:50:00.002-06:00

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
So, whenever people asked me to pick a favorite book, a common question as both an English teacher and an author, I usually dodged it as best I could. Asking me to pick a favorite book is like asking me to pick a favorite pair of shoes. I just can't; I love them all too much. However, when pressed I would usually say East of Eden, even though I hadn't read it since high school, which has been, we'll just say a while. So, I decided to re-read this classic novel to see if it still held such a special place in my heart. I have to say, it does. Maybe not number one any more, but at least tied or possibly number two.

East of Eden can really only be described as sweeping. The novel follows Adam Trask most closely, from his childhood to old age, though all of the people who have an affect on his life: his brother, wife, neighbor and sons, are all developed fully as characters. Trask, after growing up angry and afraid of both his father and brother, is forced to join the Army and upon release takes his inherited fortune and moves to the Salinas Valley. With the support of his servant, Lee, and his prophetic neighbor Sam Hamilton, Trask survives being left by his wife (who sets up a whorehouse in a nearby town) and raises his twin boys.

This isn't a plot driven book. So, if you are looking for a thrilling page turner, keep on moving. However, East of Eden is like sitting down to a grand eight course dinner. The descriptions are fantastically detailed and the pacing slow. This is a book to be savored and enjoyed. The writing is both literary, lyrical and accessible and the plot and theme well carried out. There's a reason this book is a classic that has stood the test of time- it's beautiful. If you haven't read this book... do it now, and savor it like you would a really fine cut of steak- or tofu or whatever.

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Slaughterhouse Five- Kurt Vonnegut

2009-03-16T22:27:00.001-06:00

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I somehow managed to avoid reading any Vonnegut until now, and I had heard that you either love him, or hate him. I definitely fall into the former category. Now, I will admit that I was potentially swayed by the fact that my writing group said my own writing was like a nice, sweet Vonnegut, but that's beside the point.

Slaughterhouse Five is the portrait of Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist who has witnessed the firebombing of Dresden in WWII and been taken as a zoo subject by the alien planet Tralfmador. In the book Billy has become "unstuck in time" and bounces from one point in his life to another. We follow him from being captured in Germany, to his mental breakdown senior year of optometrist school, to his wedding anniversary and off to Tralfmador where he is on display at the zoo.

The novel is an interesting portrayal of war, life, and time. I was intrigued by the Tralfmadorians view of time. All moments are in existence at once. They see the whole span of time all at once. This is what enabled Billy to move between these moments with ease. Quite interesting. Billy was also a unique character. He isn't quite the lovable hero that you want him to be. He's sort of bumbling, definitely a coward and not entirely likable. However, he is interesting, and probably more real than most characters.

Overall, I really liked this book, almost more for the structure than anything else. It was really unique, gave an interesting perspective and (I thought) a fair treatment of WWII. Vonnegut makes you look at some of life's simple things with a different eye. It also didn't feel super hardcore sci-fi, which was nice. I found it to be a quick read and it was definitely worth it. It's a classic for a reason.

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Preview...

2009-03-12T20:01:00.002-06:00

Yes... still alive. I'm subbing for two weeks during CSAPs, so hopefully I'll get a chance to write sometime, but not soon. What's to come when I actually do a post? Two book reviews (Slaughterhouse Five and East of Eden), two finished knits (EZ's garter blanket and a ruffle scarf- yes, the dreaded angora one), some writing updates and a couple of panic- or non-panicky things. :)

seriously... soon... maybe.

A real update...

2009-02-20T13:28:00.003-07:00

Yeah... haven't blogged in a while. I'm sure it hasn't been missed too much, if at all, but I figured since I've only posted book reviews I would give a more normal post, just in case anyone is paying attention.

So, here goes. Life has been, well... as life often is: crazy. Sickness, uncertainty, business... all of it sort of piled up in this last month. Not a whole lot has changed, but here's the break down.

Reading: I have been reading, as evidenced by my book reviews. The books were pretty decent and kept me entertained, so that's a definite plus. I'm currently re-reading East of Eden. I love Steinbeck. And in a fit of trying to read all the books I've collected over the years, I started reading Flatland by Edwin Abbot. I've only just started that one, so nothing to report yet. It was simply the first book on my shelf that is alphabetized by author... so we'll see how it goes. Seems like it could be interesting.

Writing: I hit a real funk for a few weeks with the writing. I hadn't done any writing (including this blog) since mid-January. This past week it has perked up a bit. I finally brought in some new stuff to my critique group and overall everyone loved it. I got a great suggestion for a first line and some reorganizing and was told that I'm like a "warm and nice" Vonnegut. Hmm... interesting. :) I haven't read Slaughter House Five (I know... I'm not sure how I avoided that either) so that's going on my reading list next. I'm currently about two-thirds of the way done with the novel. Here's hoping that it's finished and ready to go out to agents soon!

Knitting: I've been in a knitting funk too. I'm currently making a blanket for my cousin's baby, due in April. It's EZ's garter stitch blankie. I love the pattern and was totally smitten for the first 3 1/2 pieces, but this last section is just taking forever. And....I still have the angora scarf, Andrew's socks, and the lace and bead shawl to finish. I've felt totally uninspired with all of them. I think I need to make something for myself, but I'm not quite sure what. I've been totally smitten with a glove pattern from Brooklyntweed and a mitten pattern that I dredged from the depths of the pattern stash. I'm tempted to make those, but the 60 degree weather we've been having here hasn't really motivated me too much. We'll see. Maybe I can get the blanket done tonight. If nothing else, I just found out another cousin is preggo, and a set of friends and one of my besties' baby is turning one in a few months. Maybe I'll just make baby things for them instead.

Panic: Ahh... finally something I haven't been putting off. :) The job thing has been, well, interesting to say the least. I'm sort of on hold with the Assistant Editor position. We'll see how that pans out. I just recently got a letter from the district and I have until March 4th to tell them if I am returning or not. I was feeling more amiable to it until I subbed today... little monsters. We shall see. The Superintendent of HR is apparently very excited for me to come back and really wants to talk to me about it. Maybe I can swing a really cool part time gig...like creative writing for Seniors or something of the sort. We'll have to see. I've really been trying to be all zen-like, but it's been difficult. Whatever, at this point, I'm a writer until someone else starts paying me to do something else. What will be will be I suppose.

In other news, the hubs and I are talking about remodeling the kitchen, which should provide some fantastic blog fodder should we actually go through with it. :) I'll keep you all posted.

Kiss- Ted Dekker & Erin Healy

2009-02-20T12:54:00.001-07:00

Kiss by Ted Dekker

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had never read anything by either of thsee authors before and so I really had no idea what to expect. Overall it was a decent book. Sort of like sushi: good and hard to put down, but you don't really remember eating it when you're done and are still hungry for something more.

Kiss is about a young woman, Shauna, who is the daughter of a man running for President of the United States. At the very beginning of the book Shauna is talking to her brother and phsychiatrist about confronting her father. We don't know what she is confronting him with, but it sounds serious. Next the reader knows, Shauna is in a coma, her brother is a parapalygic and all hell has broken loose. Shauna doesn't remember the car accident, or the six months previous. Gradually she begins to uncover part of her story and realizes that she had blown the cover off of an accounting scandal that financed her father's campaign. Her father knew nothing of it, but his business partners were behind her accident and drugged her afterward to try to erase her memory. The drugs however, had an odd side effect: Shauna can now steal other people's memories. Shauna uses this new power to recreate her accident and confronts her father, who for the first time in her life, stands by her side.

I surprisingly liked this book. It was a really quick read, very hard to put down. Within the first fifty pages I thought I had everything figuered out. It seemed like it was going to be really predictable, but it wasn't at all, which was a nice surprise. The characters were a little flat, and at times the paranormal got difficult to swallow, but overall it was a decent read. I'm not usually one to pick up a paranormal thriller, but I would definitely try another one after reading this. It was interesting and easy enough that I really didn't have to think too much about it. Overall, it was worth reading and I would recommend it to others.

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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency- Alexander McCall Smith

2009-02-20T12:30:00.002-07:00

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
The very short summary of this novel is that Mma Precious Ramotswe has used her inheritance to purchase a house and start a detective agency. The novel chronicles some of her cases, ranging from a lost dog to retrieveing a stolen child from a witch doctor. It also relates her past, how she grew up, her relationship with her father, her marraige, birth and death of her child as well as her current love.

I was sort of surprised by this book. I really had higher hopes for it. I have to admit, that I did like Smith's writing and style. It had a definite ease to it and I love how he incorporated so much of African culture without it feeling like a textbook. I think I was most disappointed by the pace of the novel. It was quite slow at the beginning. I wish that Smith would have sprinkled Mma Ramotswe's backstory through the entire novel, rather than focused it at the beginning. I also with that Mma Ramotswe had just a little more depth. I think she could have benefited from more time spent on her personality; she seemed quite flat in spots.

I did enjoy the book overall, but it wasn't as good as I expected. I loved the setting and the overall premise, but it needed just a little bit more. It was worth reading, but I don't know if I'll read any of the other book by Smith.

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Patterson Review

2009-01-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Cross Country by James Patterson

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
So, this may be blasphemous, but I thought this book was pretty lame. I have to admit, I don't normally read thrillers or mysteries and this is my first Patterson book, but honestly, I don't think it lives up to the hype. Granted, I read the book in two days, but not because the storyline was particularly compelling. It was more because the chapters are so short that I just had to keep going. Patterson does a good job of ending each chapter with a question or cliffhanger, but overall it wasn't well written and wasn't well developed. The novel is very forgettable. The storyline was mildly interesting, but then got rather convoluted and difficult to follow. There were almost too many twists. I didn't get a sense of the characters either and really didn't care about them, which made reading difficult. Now, if I had read the rest of the series, it might have been better, but I didn't and I was told that each book stands on its own. At any rate... I'd go pick up J.A. Konrath instead.

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New Year!

2009-01-07T12:19:00.002-07:00

Well... it has again bee a while, but at least I have the holidays as an excuse this time. My Christamas and New Years were lovely, spent with friends and family and overall great.

I have seen a lot of bloggers going through 2008 month by month or reviewing in some other fashion. I won't be doing that for a few reasons: 1) I can't necessarily remember every thing that happened 2) I hate looking back and would rather look forward and 3) I'm pretty sure no one reads this so no one really needs a refresher. :)
Instead I'll be looking forward to what I hope to accomplish in 2009 and be giving brief updates on recent happenings. So here goes...

Reading: I am currently reading House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo. It is a YA mystery/thriller. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far it's okay. I am also rereading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I always list this one as a favorite novel, but hadn't read it in years. So, I'm rereading to make sure that I still like it and to see if I can glean any writing wisdom from Steinbeck's style. So far... still love it. Who says you always have to show not tell. I love his telling, beautiful. I also finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Check out my review over on The Book Book.

Writing: Well, originally I had hoped to have my first draft finished by the end of the year. That didn't happen, but I do feel pretty decent about how it's coming along now. My astrologer says that this year ma be a banner year for writing/publishing, so I have my fingers crossed. I really hope to have it done, agented and with editors by April or so. I know that's super fast, but here's hoping.

Knitting:Barf... I am super sick of all of my projects (prayer shawl, angora scarf, Andrew's socks) but I am forcing myself to finish them before I start something else. Which means I man never start something else. I just don't have the motivation now. But, I am joining the Boulder Handweaver's Guild and hope to make some things to sell at their annual sale. Also, I'm being interviewed by Interweave Knits for an assistant editor position. We'll see how that goes.

Panic: Much the same... but feeling slightly better about life in general. Everything does happen for a reason... everything. :)

Anyway... I'm off to do some actual work. More later... how later? Who knows. :)

Grateful

2008-11-30T20:43:00.007-07:00

Well, it's Thanksgiving week here in the states and it has given me much reason to reflect on what I am grateful for in my life. The list is long, so I won't relive it here, but I do appreciate this time to get away from all of the stresses and trivialities of daily life and focus on the simple things I have that many people in the world don't. At any rate, it has been a wonderful week of family, turkey and lots of knitting and reading. :) So, without further ado... here's the update:

Reading: I finished The Sum of Our Days, by Isabel Allende. As I've said before, simply fantastic. I love her writing, I loved the ending. It wasn't saccharine, or unreal, but simple and fantastic. Her voice is so beautiful that I think she could write about cat puke and I would find it fascinating. :)
I did start reading my free book from Thomas Nelson, where I signed up to be a book reviewer. It's called In the Shadow of the Sun King, by Golden Keyes Parsons. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant at first. It's historical fiction, which isn't usually my style, but so far I am LOVING it. I really can't put it down. It's about a family of Huguenots (French Protestants) in France during the 17th century. The Huguenots being persecuted for their beliefs and Madeline and Francois Clavell have hidden their two young boys to keep them safe from the dragoons, come to send the boys to be re-educated as Catholics. Madeline was a friend and possible lover (it hasn't been explicitly said yet) to King Louis as a teen and when the dragoons take over her house she travels to Versailles to plead with the King to spare her family. So far I really like it. It is fast paced and hard to put down. When I finally went to bed last night, Madeline had angered the King because she rejected his proposal that she be his mistress in exchange for sparing her family. King Louis had ordered her estate burned to the ground and took her young daughter to the convent and her husband to jail. Madeline returns home to find her house and family gone. She collects her remaining servants, brother-in-law and two boys (who have been hiding) and prepares to travel to Geneva. I'm excited to keep reading and I'll keep you posted. I do think this book would make a lovely movie- the costumes!- it feels rather like Gone with the Wind.

Writing: Well... NaNo just isn't going to happen. It's currently 10pm on Sunday night and I technically have until midnight to write my remaining 20,000 words. Not going to make it. I'm rather disappointed, but I just can't bring myself to write drivel just to write. So, I'm going back to my original plan of trying to have my draft done by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes. I did however complete my article for the January edition of Women's Edition magazine. It's about lypossage and is rather interesting. I'll let you all know when it comes out.

Knitting: I started and finished a Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket this weekend. I really enjoyed knitting it. So simple and intriguing. It definitely looks like a blob, but folds up into a lovely little sweater. Unfortunately the yarn I used was a little thick and it will likely fit a four year old, not the six month old it was intended for. So, back to the knitting board. I'm going to look for a thinner yarn and make another. Luckily it was very quick, so I believe I can still finish it for Christmas. Otherwise I've been working on a prayer shawl, my angora scarf and Andrew's socks. I desperately want to make a sweater for myself, but I'm trying to restrain myself until I get these other projects done.

Panic: Oh... definitely some good old fashioned panic. I was supposed to start tutoring at a center in Boulder on Monday, but will not be doing that. After some serious soul-searching, I decided I wasn't comfortable with it, for a variety of reasons. So, I resigned before I even started. Though it was exceptionally difficult, I really felt that I had to trust my gut and not start the position. Anyway, I've also thrown my hat into the ring for the 1/2 time position at Sunset and I have a friend who is trying to get me to take a different 1/2 time position at her middle school. Though that position sounds great, the commute would be 40 minutes each way, which may be too much. I suppose we'll just have to see. I'm panicking less I suppose, since I'm trying to embrace the idea that it will all work out in the end, but it's definitely difficult. We shall see what the weeks to come bring.

Quick update

2008-11-18T16:16:00.002-07:00

Well, there's always something isn't there? I may be looking at going back to teaching, but only half-time. We'll have to see. I'm trying not to over think it right now. I'm really hoping that life will just work out as it is supposed to. Everything happens for a reason right?

Well anyway... here it goes.

Reading: I've been obsessively reading The Sum of Our Days, by Isabel Allende. I really can't say enough good things about her writing. This is a sequel memoir to Paula. It's about the years after her daughter's death, and is written in a similar style, she tells the story to her daughter so she won't be lost. It's really beautiful, dramatic (what a family!) and just lovely. I especially like how Allende sees what has happened with that clarity that only comes with hindsight, but she also never lets herself off the hook. She is quick to point out where she screwed up, which is endearing and also quite relatable.

Writing: I don't know about NaNoWriMo. I'm really trying to push through this first draft, but I just keep wanting to change things, drastically. I'm not sure if this is my way of trying to procrastinate even more than usual, or if my new ideas have merit. I'm trying to just push through... but we'll see if I make it. Additionally, I don't believe I ever blogged about my articles that have been published in Women's Edition magazine. You can check out the most recent one here. I can't say I'm thrilled with the editing, but whatever. Non-fiction is not my forte, so I'm just glad that it's published. I will have another article coming out in January.

Knitting: I've been knitting like a mad woman, not that I have any pictures to show for it. I really need to get better at photographing my work. What's a knitting blog without pictures? Well anyway, I've been obsessively working on the Noro striped scarf. It's just so beautiful. I'm trying to restrain myself from making another one. I was totally inspired by Yarn Harlot and Brooklyn Tweed. They're bad for me I tell you... :) I mean, how could you not knit one of those after seeing Brooklyn Tweed's? But, I finished it last night. I just need to weave in my ends and then we'll see what I work on. I have a number of projects on the needles: mystery stole 4; angora scarf, Andrew's socks, not to mention the quilt and sweater that I just dug out of the depths a month or two ago. But who wants to finish one of those? I might treat myself to making the Vivian. Mmmmm.... cables. Which, by the way, if you have not seen Twist Collective, go check it out RIGHT NOW! Lovely patterns and great articles. Love it!

Well... that's about it for now. I'm not putting in a panic section as I'm trying desperately not to panic at the moment. We'll see how long that lasts though.

Ahh...change

2008-11-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well, what an eventful week is has been. I can't even express how excited I am about the next four years in this country. I hope that President-elect Obama will be able to continue to inspire people the way he did during his campaign. I'm also very glad that the election was uneventful. No replay of the 2000 election or anything. I was a supply judge for my local precinct. That meant I was an election judge, but sort of the judge in charge. Overall it was pretty uneventful. Most people in Colorado had either voted by mail or voted early, so we didn't have a lot of turn out at the polls. That was nice. No one had to wait in line and we had very few problems. Though first thing in the morning there was an altercation between a poll checker and a security guard. It was so ridiculous. Why can't we all just get along? I don't understand why people have to be negative about things. I've felt this way a lot in the last few days as I read friends' and family's negative comments about Obama winning. Regardless of who won, we're going to have to work together to get anywhere and a negative attitude isn't going to help anything. Anyway, I'll get off of my soap box now and get back to my regularly schedule blogging. :)

Reading: Well, because we had such a slow election day, I was able to get a couple of books finished. I finished Paula, by Isabel Allende. I always love her writing. It is just so beautiful, lyrical and real. It sounds like she's sitting next to you telling you a story. This book was no differnt. The story of it is quite sad. Allende's daughter, Paula, has fallen into a coma because of a rare illness and Allende write the book as a letter to her daughter so "she doesn't feel lost when she wakes up." It's a beautiful story of Allende's life and a really gripping account of South American history, which many of us American's don't know much about. The poignency of Allende finally coming to terms with her daughter's condition is heart-wrenching and the love of their family will make anyone want to be an Allende. Truely beautiful, as always.

I also finished Warrior of the Light, by Paulo Coelho. Coelho is so inspiring and I usually feel as if I'm not quite getting to the depths of his novels. I enjoyed Warrior very much, but feel like I'll need to read it again and again before the deep meaning really sinks into my life. Given it's format, short one page stories and reflections, I believe that it would be a good book to read just one page a day and really meditate on the meaning of Coelho's words in my life. Sometimes I feel like my brain just isn't quite ready to learn things. Still, a lovely book.

So, I'm currently in a bit of limbo with my books. I've been keeping a more "spiritual" book on the shelf to read as well as something that I think can help me with my writing. I've picked upOpen Mind, Open Heart, by Thomas Keating as my "spiritual" book. I've been taking a contemplative prayer class at church, and this is the book that goes with it. However, I'm not sure what to read next for my other book. I had started Catch-22 quite a while ago, but haven't been able to bring myself back to it yet, and I don't know if it would be a good influence on my writing right now. We'll have to see. I'd like to read something that I think my own book would sit in the shelf next to... not sure what that is though.

Writing: Well... the writing has actually been going much better. As I said earlier, I signed up to do NaNoWriMo. I'm currently behind in my word count, (I'm not counting anything that I wrote before Nov 1st) but it is coming along and the pressure of churning out 50,000 words in a month has helped me somewhat to let go of the perfection that I had been seeking. I can't say that what I've been writing is any kind of good, but it's at least out and on the page. I figure I just need to get a first draft done and then I can go back and spend years revising. :) At some point I might get the courage to post bits of the novel here, but we'll have to see.

Knitting: Well, somthing has to fall of the deep end doesn't it? I haven't been knitting much at all. I worked on my pink prayer shawl some on Tuesday and Wednesday, but just haven't been motivated. Andrew's socks are still confounding me. I think I might have to frog them and start over. It's justnot working to try to double the bottom of the sock. The Mystery Shawl 4, which I now know all the clues to, is also still languishing in the bottom of my knitting bad. I just haven' t had the attention span to work with lace and beads. I'm also working on an angora scarf, which I'm starting to think may be completely impractical as it sheds ridiculously and I think I'll have bunny fur up my nose constantly. We shall see though. I have a deep hankering to make myself a sweater, but am not sure that I have the time or money to currently contribute to such a project. I also don't want to get into more startitis than I already have. I don't need 12 million projects on the needeles sitting unfinished. I need to get some done before I start any more.

Panic: I did have some close call panic attacks on Tuesday morning. I was so worried that something was going to go tragically wrong with the election and it would some how be my fault. All went smoothly, except the checker/gaurd thing, and the outcome makes me happy as well. So, it hasn't been too panicky a week. I did get an email from an old professor asking if I would be interesting in applying for an elementary literacy coach job. Not sure how I feel about that. I don't know if I really want to go back to teaching. But I decided that I'd inqure about the application process and see where we go from there. I haven't heard back from anyone yet, so maybe I won't have to worry about making a decision at all. :) The job front still sucks though. Maybe some day someone will call me back. I just keep trying to have faith that everything will work out in the end and that it all happens for a reason... sometimes it's just so hard to keep trekking through the dark though. :/

Voting

2008-10-29T15:50:00.003-06:00

Well, at least it's every other day... or just less than a month in between posts for now. :) Here's the current status.

Reading: Not much has changed here. I actually haven't read anything since Monday. Special, I know. I have bene sick, which means that my normal before bed reading hasn't happened because I've been so tired. I also haven't been reading because I've been staying up late with Andrew while he works on his Halloween costume. It's turned into quite the project. I really have no good excuses though. I did however, just sign up to be a reviewer for Thomas Nelson. Basically you sign up, choose a book and they send you a preview copy. You agree to review the book (at least 200 words) on your blog and on Amazon. Fine by me. :) I think it should be an interesting project if nothing else. My first book, In the Shadow of the Sun King, by Golden Keyes Parsons, is on it's way. I have hopes that it will be good. I'd rather not write a bad review for my first one.

Writing: Mmmm... yes, much the same as the reading. I've done nothing. I might be able to get something in today, but I just don't currently have the inspiration. I'm still trying to decide between continuing work on the current book or starting a new one for NaNoWriMo. We'll see... I'm just not feeling inspired or motivated recently. I'm hoping that some WriMo pressure might help, but I have my doubts.

Knitting: Haven't been knitting either. I know... seriously. What have I been doing? Cleaning the house mostly and running errands. I don't understand how I can have "all the time in the world" to do things, and still not get anything done. I did buy some more shawl yarn at Walmart yesterday though. Not that I need any more yarn for shawls, but it was all on sale and I can never pass up a good sale.

Panic: Well.. I'm actually feeling less anxious than usual today. And I VOTED! Yay! I still need to go turn in my ballot (it's a mail-in) but I figure I can do that tomorrow. I have to go to the cleark and recorder anyway to get some extra training since I am now not just an election judge, but a supply judge. Yeah, that means I'm in charge at the precinct. Honestly... that just seems like a bad idea, but we'll see.

Voting did take forever though. I did actually read the blue book and do some research on all the issues, which definitely added time, but the ballot is huge! I STRONGLY encourage everyone to either vote early or by mail so you don't have to be stuck in line on election day. Filling out these ballots is going to take a while. And if you do vote on Election Day, please review your ballot beforehand (you can find them online) and bring a cheat-sheet so it doesn't take you forever to read everything.

Anyway, that is all for now... I think I might go take a nap. To the rest of you-- GO VOTE!!!!!

back again...

2008-10-27T23:13:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been a while, as usual. I've determined that what holds me back from blogging the most is that I never have pictures to post. I always have the intention of taking lots of pictures of my knitting and other things, but I just never get around to it. So, I've decided that I'll just write my posts as they are sans photos. I doubt anyone will notice.

So, at any rate. The blog... in order. :)

Reading: I've been bouncing between a lot of novels. Paula, by Isabel Allende and Warrior of the Light, by Paulo Coelho mostly. Diary of Anais Ninn, A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle, and Catch-22 are all still sitting on the bedside shelf. Someday I might get back to them, we'll have to see. I've really enjoyed Paula so far. That book has been me trying to immerse myself int he idea of a memoir. I had hoped that it would help me with my own novel; give me some inspiration. You'll see how well that's turned out in the writing section. Allende's writing is, as always, amazing however and the stories in the novel are simply stunning.

Writing: Well, on the good side, I am an officially published author now. I had an article published in a local magazine. Got paid for it even! So that was fantastic. I have another article coming out in the same magazine in November and hopefully a third in December. So, my non-fiction writing career is getting some feet I suppose. The fiction side however... well, I'm in a bit of a rut. I've just been really struggling with finding the motivation to work on my novel. I keep getting parts of it written, but none of it seems to be flowing and I get stuck very easily. It's definitely been hard. I did sign up for NaNoWriMo but I'm not sure if I want to continue working on my current novel (which would sort of be cheating) or if I want to start a new one to finish in November. We'll have to see. I guess I have a few days to decide. Part of me thinks I might need a break from my current book, but I don't want to get distracted and not finish the stupid thing. Decisions, decisions.

Knitting: Lots of things on the knitting front. I finished a pair of socks- Wendy Knits' Cabletini, My So-Called Scarf (which is AWESOME!) a couple of mini-sock ornaments for the "Creepy Christmas" Halloween party that our friends are having this Friday. I'm also still working on Mystery Stole 4-though I know what it looks like. I'm just a little behind on that one. Making some socks for Andrew. He wants a doubled bottom, which is proving to be quite difficult. We'll see if I can make it through those. I finished a pink prayer shawl, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, and am making a second. I'm also working on a lovely ruffled scarf in baby blue angora. It's SO soft! I think I need to actually finish some projects here soon, rather than continually starting them. ;)

Panic: Oh... so much going on in life in general. I'm not sure how my days are so busy. I still don't have a job, haven't been writing much, and yet there still aren't enough hours in the day. Whatever. I'm ready for the election to be over. I'm sick of nasty political ads. Though if Obama doesn't win, I'm not really sure how I'll feel about the future of our nation. I'll be an election judge for the election and I hope that goes smoothly.
I've been subbing more, which in general is nice. It's definitely nice to not have to plan, grade and deal with parents. I would still rather have a steady paycheck, but we'll have to see how it turns out. I'm still holding out that I'll be published and making millions by next summer. I can dream right?
In other news, we got a cat. He's a lynx point Himalayan- or at least a mix of something quite like that. We got him at our local Petsmart. They bring in cats from overcrowded shelters. He's pretty freaking adorable. Really sweet, loving and pretty independent.
Otherwise... life has been going on. I'm sick as all get out this week and feeling like crap. Less motivation to get some writing done... but I have hope. Maybe NaNoWriMo will inspire me. Until then...

insanity...

2008-09-22T17:29:00.003-06:00

Oy... good thing I decided to stop pursuing jobs as a full time blogger... I would have been fired within a week. Anyway, here's a brief (very brief) reacap of life for the past few weeks.
-school started, I didn't go back. It was great.
-Have been subbing. I like it, but it's a mixed bag. Overall I've come to realize that the public school system is even more screwed than I thought it was.
-Read a bunch... Million Little Pieces, My Invented Country, Three Weeks with My Brother, probably a couple of others I'm forgetting.
-Knit a bunch.. two pairs of socks, working on my third. Finished a prayer shawl. Starting the Mystery Shawl 4 knit-a-long. Pictures later.
-Went to California with Andrew. He worked; I tooled around San Francisco. Took a bay cruise, saw the wharf and the bridge, went to the art museum, saw the City Lights book store, bought yarn at Artfibers and a variety of other things. We went to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival. It was meh. We went to Sonoma. It was great. I saw a family friend and went out to Capitola. Quite fun. Pictures later.
-Andrew had PRK... that was... special. Luckily he can see now and my life might be getting back to normal.

Overall, I've felt supremely busy. Not actually getting anything done though. My writing is especially lacking. I will have my first published article coming out in a few days. It's not amazing, but it's published. I've also decided that I will have some form of my book done by the end of the year. 100 days. That's what I've got. I even made myself a chart. :) We shall see. That's the goal at least.
We've been seeing a personal trainer. He's been kicking my ass on a regular basis, but it's good for me.
I'm really hoping that I can take a breath this week and maybe get caught up. Not likely, but it's a nice thought. Until then...

OLYMPICS! and whatever else...

2008-08-18T17:04:00.003-06:00

Now, I'll be the first to say that I am a bit of a TV junkie. There isn't much I like more than sitting and watching a good show, or a terribly bad show, but I can usually restrain myself. For the past week however, no such luck. It has been all Olympics all the time around our house. I'm not quite sure what it is about the Olympics that makes them so hard to stop watching, but I just can't quit. I was up until three in the morning last night watching synchronized swimming. Which, by the way, looks ridiculously hard. Loved the pretty suits though.:) I haven't gotten any writing done because I've been completely engrossed with Olympic action. I have knit some- more posts on that to come, but mainly I've been cheering on whoever is on the screen. Gymnastics, swimming (I love Phelps, he seems so nice), rowing, tennis, badminton, diving, synchronized swimming, table tennis, cycling, volleyball- indoor and outdoor, weightlifting, track, dressage, I have watched anything and everything that is on. I LOVE it! Granted, I haven't really slept or cleaned the house or anything else, but it's been worth it. The tremendous human spirit makes me want to cry constantly. Phelps winning number eight; Dara Torres holding up the race so another swimmer could get her suit fixed; any time the national anthem is played. It's so touching. I don't know what it is that makes me so emotional about all of these things, but I can barely keep it together when all of those Morgan Freeman commercials come on, and if it's the one with Bella Caroli- forget it. Tears abound. Anyway, only a few more days of Olympic action and then maybe life can get back to normal. : )

In other news- well there is no other news. :) Schools went back today. I didn't. Which, was alright overall. I'm actually subbing on Wednesday, so I won't be out of the classroom for long. :) I had an interview at an athletic club, but haven't heard anything back from them yet. So we'll have to see. Went to the wedding of a childhood friend last Wednesday. It was nice, quite beautiful and interestingly enough I learned that I used to be baby-sat by the mother-in-law of one of my best friends from Sunset. The world is quite a funny place. Always too small. It was also nice to catch up with some of my mother's old friends. They are all such lovely women.
I finished my sun ray shawl, while being an election judge for the primaries. That was pretty painfully boring, we had about no one show up to vote. Not that they really needed to, they had mail in ballots and only one contested race. I also finished and blocked the 2008 Summer of Socks socks and am working on another Wendy Knits pair. I am thoroughly addicted to her sock patterns. Quick, cute, and just the right amount of effort. I really love tow up socks now too. I don't know if I'll manage to go back to cuff down socks.
If you are a knitter and don't read Wendy's blog- well shame on you. :) And the book.... well I have about four different beginnings now. Two of them may be viable. We'll have to see. I'll be taking them to my writing group this week for some critique.

Anyway, I'm off to have some dinner with friends. My friend Emma is also struggling with finding a job... we're going to commiserate over some margs at the Rio. :)
Until... well... whenever I get back to this.

Oh... and I believe I know who wrote my first and only comment. :) I'll miss you too E.R. maybe I'll get to see you when I sub.

beginnings...

2008-08-05T15:50:00.002-06:00

Why is it that starting something is always harder than finishing it? Ugh... again, no posts in a while and this one will be sans pictures. Maybe tomorrow I'll post some of the knitting that I've finished, but right now it's beginnings that are on my mind. I've been struggling for the past couple of weeks with the beginning of my book. Nothing seems to be working right. It originally started with me waking up, but that seemed too cliche, plus it didn't really get the theme of the book going quickly enough, so I wasn't sure if my readers would stick with me. I tried another beginning. It sucked. I'm working on a third one right now (well... I'm actually procrastinating from working on a third one) and I'm not sure if it's going to work or not. I like it better than the first two, but I don't now if it's there yet. It's just so difficult to get the whole thing going. I have the ending planned. It's going to be great. If I can ever get there. I see now why George Lucas started with the last three Star Wars. Beginnings just suck.

In related news, applying for jobs also sucks. I've applied for a ton of jobs, and heard nothing back. Seriously? I'm well educated, hard worker... blah, blah, blah. I can't ever get a call back? I don't know. I just hate being in limbo. I just want things to be set and on their way. Book beginning set...job set... things are so much easier to work with when they're already in motion.

Anyway... I'll stop complaining and go work on my book some more. If anyone wants to employ me, let me know. :) I'm up for just about anything at this point.

Viva Las Vegas

2008-07-09T23:11:00.003-06:00

Well, not quite as soon as I'd hoped, but whatever. I just got back from beautiful Las Vegas where Andrew and I were on vacation for our one year (!) anniversary. It was a great trip. I always love Vegas, it's just so... much. We had a great time there, as usual, so here's the recap:

Accommodations: We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel. Now, I like the Trop, it's classic old school Vegas. But, it is old. It's definitely starting to fall apart at the seams a little bit. I've heard rumors that it's going to be torn down soon and rebuilt, but who know. No one can seem to confirm that. The rooms aren't fantastic, and ours smelled like BO sometimes, but overall we don't stay in the room that much and they are super cheap, so it doesn't really matter. The best part of the Tropicana is the pool. They have something like 5 acres of gardens and pool. It is quite fantastic.

Shows: We only got to one show on this trip, but we went to see Penn and Teller. We always go down to the Tickets 4 Tonight place next to the MGM to see what kind of discounted tickets we can get. Penn and Teller was great. I really liked that they showed you how some of the tricks were done. It still amazed me, even when they showed us what was happening. The slight of hand was awesome. Very fun show, and not terribly priced.

Food: My favorite part of Vegas. :) I found out about a day in that I am NOT actually allergic to Gluten, so I went a little hog wild. :) Turns out I should probably still avoid it, but whatever. Vacation food doesn't count right? We rarely got up in time for breakfast, but did make it to the Tropicana's Island Buffet for breaky one morning. It was... well... it was okay. The food wasn't fantastic and there wasn't a whole lot of variety, but they kept the champagne flowing and the omelettes were good.
Lunch- We ate at La Salsa, great food and wicked good margaritas (yard margs nonethless). I think there are a few around. We went to the one by the MGM. We got a coupon from the Tickets 4 Tonight place (apparently they do dinner discounts too) but it wasn't super worth it.
Planet Hollywood at Caesars- totally not worth it. We got a coupon for this place too, but there actually wasn't that much memorabilia and the food wasn't anything exciting. The service was only so-so as well. My one tip here... Andrew had a "LA Lasagna" it was pretty darn good. It's basically lasagna that has been wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and deep fried. Just make it at home... it was delicious.
Pizza at the NYNY- I honestly don't remember the name, but it's in the back corner by the roller coaster and is wicked good.
Sherwood Forest Cafe at the Excalibur- decent enough, nice big burgers and waffle cut fries. Seriously... who doesn't love a waffle cut fry. :)

Dinner- the dinners were for the most part great. We got reservations and some discount coupons (50% off entrees for some of them) through Tickets 4 Tonight. They try to get people into the restaurants either early or late (like 6:30 and before or after 9) but it was worth it for the most part.
Buffet at Mandalay Bay- I don't remember the name, but it was pretty good. Not terribly priced and our server was nice.
Carnival World Buffet at the Rio- This was great. It really is the best buffet on the strip. Granted, I'm not a buffet connoisseur, but it's huge. Lots of great food and endless gelato. Again... who doesn't love gelato?
Pampas at Planet Hollywood. This is a Brazillian Steakhouse, which was great. We did the Rodizio where they just bring you endless meats on swords. Quite good. The sides and salads were decent, but the meat was great. Definitely try the filet mignon, ham and pineapple and the lamb. All fantastic.
Enoteca San Marco at the Venetian- so... I have to temper this review with the fact that we didn't entirely know what we were getting into. When we were at the Tickets 4 Tonight place, the guy just told us this is Mario Batali's restaurant. I thought- sweet, Italian Iron Chef's Restaurant, sign me up. Now, we missed our initial reservation and so had to come back at 9:30- no biggie, we went and had some drinks and didn't worry about it. Well, turns out an Enoteca is basically a wine bar where they use argon gas to preserve wines so they can dole out small pours of expensive wines for people to try. Had we know this, we might have saved our money and really focused on the wine. We didn't know and the $15-45 for a 4 ounce glass of the wines was quite steep. We ended up trying a couple of tastes, 2 ounce pours, but those were still about $13 each. A bit much for a taste. The sommelier, actually I think it was just a steward, was quite unhelpful and a little rude when he realized that we weren't' going to be dropping a few hundred dollars on a bottle of wine. Whatever... our regular waitress was quite nice and I was excited for the food. Overall though, disappointing. Andrew had a Carbonara. It really wasn't great. I had some veal and ricotta meatballs, they were quite good, but not what I expected from Batali's restaurant. Overall it was pretty meh.
However... because we missed our reservation we did find a fantastic Mexican place also at the Venetian. The Taqueria Canonita was FANTASTIC! We had great service (ask for Martin if you go there). Martin recommended some great tequila for our margaritas, and a fantastic appetizer (ceviche). The food and drink was excellent. Andrew did a tasting of some tequila and I had some tequila liquor. It was wonderful Martin ever brought us out a sample of the house made pineapple infused tequila, which was amazing and when we inquired about purchasing a bottle, directed us to the website where we can get the recipe for free. He was so nice and the food was wonderful, so it made up for the ridiculousness over at Enoteca.
Our final dinner was for our anniversary and we went to Les Artistes at the Paris. It was another great meal. John Wayne was our server and he was wonderful, helpful, funny and had an amazing singing voice. We got a great bottle of wine, some foie gras (which was meh) fantastic lobster bisque and wonderful steaks. Plus I had the absolute best chocolate souffle I have ever eaten in my life. It might have been the best dessert ever. Period. Really a wonderful time.

Anyway... that's the quick recap. Oh... and we lost money. :) But who doesn't in Vegas. I got just about no knitting and reading done and absolutely no writing... But tomorrow is another day. :)

Weekly at least. :)

2008-06-23T17:46:00.002-06:00

Well... again I'm not posting as often as I originally envisioned, but at least it's once a week now. There will be no pictures in this post... I'm feeling too lazy. But, the garden is surviving, despite my best attempts to kill it. I honestly juts forget to water it. Andrew and I are working on putting in the drip system, but it proved more difficult than we envisioned. Mainly because we can't run the hose underneath our deck from the spigot to the garden. We've moved on the plan b, but haven't executed yet. :)
I went to a wedding in Leadville this weekend. It was really beautiful, Jenna did an amazing job. I was sort of touched too because she used a lot of elements from my wedding last summer. It was really nice to see that someone was inspired by something that I put so much work into. I got to catch up with some old friends from high school too. At first I was nervous about this. I didn't really like high school the first time around, so I wasn't sure how it would be. It was really nice though. It was great to see everyone and from what I could tell, we all grew up a lot. I'm actually excited about my 10 year reunion next summer. I think it will be a lot of fun.
Anyway, on the way home from Leadville, Andrew and I stopped at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs (the original one). I had heard that they have gluten free pizzas, so we decided to check it out. It was in short, awesome. Not only do they have gluten free pizzas (plural too, lots of options) but they also have all of the nutrition info and allergy info listed ON THE MENU! It was really nice and I'm sure their staff appreciates it as well. This isn't exclusive to the Idaho Springs location, so I'm sure Andrew and I will be back for pizza at Beau Jo's soon.
In other gluten-free news, I've been eating out more than I thought I would be able to. Chili's, Wendy's, Good Times, Happy Sumo, and I'm sure more places, have all been great and very accommodating. Granted, I don't think I'm super allergic (we'll see when the test results come back) so I can eat things that have been around wheat, but overall they've been really nice.
The knitting is going. I'm currently working on a shawl from Elann and some simple socks for my uncle. Reading and writing are about in the same state. :) Anyway, I'm off to go run with Jenny. I know... working out. It will be an adventure. If I survive, I'll try to write more (with pictures) later this week.

Marathon Post....

2008-06-16T23:17:00.009-06:00

Yeah... my thought that when school was over I could totally post three or four times a week... I was wrong. I'm still working on developing my habits and learning to use my time well. It's going...well... it's going. Anyway. This will be a marathon post of all, or most, things that have happened in the past (that's p-a-s-t not passed... I've seen more people screw that one up in the last few days... it just irritates me) few weeks.
Here we go... in blog order
Reading: I haven't been able to devote much time to this, but I did pick up a new book. Simply Christian. It's pretty good so far. My sister is looking into Catholicism, and I'd like to be able to recommend some books for her to read so she has a full perspective on religion. I'm not Catholic myself, so I can't really speak directly to what she's learning at youth group, but I wanted to be able to give her some reading to understand Christianity as a whole. I think Simply Christian might be a little too academic for her, but I'm enjoying it. It's well written and very interesting. It addresses the basics of Christianity without centering on one religion and talks about why it is that Christianity makes sense, or should make sense I guess if you agree with the book. So far, so good, but I haven't had much time to read it.

Writing: Well.... yes. I haven't gotten very far on my book. I only have about 25 pages written. I got a little stuck about a week ago and went off into the weeds doing some probably useless research. I haven't gotten back into it since then. Again... this going beck to my "forming habits" problem. I need to set aside time each day to write, but I haven't. I did however get an hourglass. I'm quite excited. :) It looks very writerly on my desk and it supposed to help me stick with my "at least one hour of writing a day" task.

Knitting: The blanket is finally done! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I am so excited! I decided not to back it. Partially because EVERYONE told me that I didn't need to, and partially because I was just so sick of it. I needed to be done. :) So... here are some gratuitous pictures of the blanket. I really hope that Nicole and the baby like it. :) I also hope that none of my other friends have a baby any time soon... I really don't think I can take making another ridiculous blanket for a while.

So... there it is. I'm feeling about done with my computer taking forever to upload photos. So I'll share my haul from the Ester Park Wool Market and the re-do of the back yard, as well as current knitting projects tomorrow.... or sometime soon. :)
P.S. that blanket really is that big... it's sitting on our king-size bed in those pictures.

I'm done...

2008-05-23T19:13:00.002-06:00

Wow. It's still quite strange to say. I'm not really sure how I feel right now. Today was my last day of school. I don't know if it will be my last day of teaching ever, but it's definitely my last day of teaching for a while. A lot of people asked me how I was feeling. I'm not sure. I'm excited and happy, but also scared and sad. It sort of hit me when I left our FAC this afternoon. I really love the people that I work with and I'll really, really miss everyone. Sunset has been such a great place to work. Granted, I haven't worked at a whole lot of different places, but I've never worked with so many great people in one place. I'm not sure if it's all really hit me yet. Teaching is such a strange profession anyway. I mean, you spend so much time with your coworkers during the year, but come June, people generally go their separate ways. You usually don't see people a whole lot over the summer. It's a strange existence. I think it might hit me a lot more in in August, when for the first time in my life I don't be going back to school. I just don't know... we'll have to see how it all plays out. Right now I just feel weird.

again with the long absence....

2008-05-15T20:54:00.008-06:00

Right. I keep thinking that I'll post daily, or even weekly, but I just haven't gotten to it. So... here goes the marathon post. I'm not sure that any one actually reads this, but if you do, you're in for a long post. Get a snack and brace yourself.

First: School... counting down the days. Everyone's been asking if I'm getting emotional or if I'm going to miss it. I haven' t yet. I think I'll be a bit of a wreck in August when, for the first time in my life, I won't be going back to school, but we'll see. I'm excited right now. I'm really ready to have some time and energy to write.

Second: Reading... I've actually finished a couple of books. Inkheart and The Power of Intention. I wrote reviews for both of them over on my Goodreads page. So I won't bore you with a full review now. I started reading The Secret and The Birchbark House. Hopefully I can finish them in a reasonable amount of time. Yet another thing I'm looking forward to once school is out.

Third: I've been seeing an acupuncturist, as I think I've mentioned before. I'm pretty excited about it. She's the first person who has actually had some answers for all of the symptoms that I've been having for years. She believes that, among other problems, I have a gluten allergy. So, I'm going gluten -free to see if it helps. I'll be posting about that aspect of my life as well. One of the things I was really worried about when I first found out about my allergy was going out to eat. We like to go out with friends all the time and I didn't want to be the lame one that couldn't because of an allergy. So far I have had great luck though. We went out with Jenny and John last weekend to Jim and Nick's BBQ at Northfield Stapleton. They were fantastic! The server went and checked on the gluten in the chips and the BBQ sauce. We ate a giant plate of DE-licious nachos. I never thought to put BBQ sauce on nachos, but they were fantastic. Then I had a giant (literally the size of my head) backed potato with all the trimmings, plus pulled pork and BBQ sauce. Now, I believe that I'm just gluten-intolerant, not majorly allergic, so I can't say if there were trace amounts of gluten in anything or not, but the restaurant was really accommodating and helpful. It was my first outing gluten -free and definitely put me at ease.
The next outing was for Mother's Day with Andrew's mom and sister. We went to the Colorado Coal Company in Erie. They too were awesome. Granted, it's a steak house, so it's a little easier to go gluten free, but they were still nice and able to answer all of my questions.
Finally, last night we got Chipotle. At first I was really worried about going gluten free because I love Mexican food, but EVERYTHING at Chipotle is gluten0free, except the flour tortillas (duh). The guy there was also super nice and gave me a little allergy card with all of the major allergies on it and what they're in. Fantastic. I'm sure I'll be eating out more... so for those who are in Colorado and living gluten-free, hopefully my adventures can help.
Oh... I also bought some gluten-free bread at Great Harvest Bread Company today. Now... I'm only into this gluten-free thing about a week, so I haven't gotten the chance to try any other GF breads, but this stuff is pretty darn good. It's mostly buckwheat, but it's really hearty and not as crumbly as I imagined. The Great Harvest in Longmont bakes it every Wednesday, call ahead to place an order so they don't run out. Also, if you're seriously allergic, there probably is still wheat in the air and stuff. Very good though.

Finally... some knitting. :) And pictures too! I'm plugging away at the orange prayer shawl. No picture for that, it still looks the same. I did however finish the hardest thing I have ever knit in my life. Only after completely screwing it up.

That's the first one with all of the screw ups pointed out. I literally threw this thing across the room I was so irritated. Grumble...

Well, whatever... it got fixed. The next two are pictures of the finished square.

I'm so glad it's done. I hope it looks as hard as it was. Ugh... This one I finished before the square of death.... It wasn't nearly as bad.

And finally.... the square in progress now!

It's quite a lot easier than the last square. I really needed a break after that headache. :) Only 6 squares left. I really hope I can get this thing knit, blocked, sewn together and lined by the end of June. Yipes! Something else to do when school is out. :)
All right... hopefully I can post again soon.

I might miss the kids a bit...

2008-05-01T21:21:00.002-06:00

Well, though I am very excited about leaving teaching (only 22 days left!) There are some things I'll miss, mostly the stupid things that kids say. I got two new stories to tell today. One of my teammates had a student teacher this semester and tomorrow is her last day. He got her out of the classroom earlier this week long enough to plan a surprise party for her with the kids. So yesterday one of the kids ran up to her and said, "Miss Roe, Miss Roe, I'm so excited about your surprise party tomorrow!" Priceless... :)
Second story: Today the kids who were applying for Accelerated Language Arts in 8th grade had to do their writing sample for their application. The prompt was pretty simple: Accelerated Language Arts students have a variety of attributes including time management, self motivation, love of reading and independent writing. Use three of these attributes to describe why you should be in Accelerated Language Arts next year, or something of the sort. As I was explaining this prompt to my last class of the day, one of my boys raises his hand and says, "What if we don't have three of those attributes?" Well...maybe you should be applying for Accelerated Language Arts then. Seriously. Luckily he figured that out on his own and wrote for his essay: "I don't think I should be in Accelerated Language Arts next year because I don't write out of school and I have no time management." At least he spared me from telling him... :)

I ordered some beautiful sock yarn, a couple of cute felting projects and a WPI calculator from The Loopy Ewe today. That site could very well be the death of me. BEAUTIFUL yarns... just beautiful. I think I'll need to start making more socks. :)

I also ordered a couple of sweaters from the Gap (a fantastic blue cardigan and a grey cable knit. I really, really love cotton sweaters) and a MAXIglide hair straightener from HSN. I know, I know... but it looked totally awesome on the TV and Andrew had actually seen it on a late night infomercial and thought it looked pretty cool too. I had read a bunch of reviews online and there were some complaints, plus it was super expensive, so I didn't get it. Today however it was on sale, with a bunch of extras and it was a new generation with a lot of the problems fixed. So, we'll see. I'm excited to try it. Though I do like my hair curly, I really like it straight too. I have high hopes...

In other news the book is coming along, slowly, but I did work on it a bit yesterday. I'm thinking of posting parts of it on Goodreads, but we'll have to see.
Until later...

Well... yes... yes indeed.

2008-04-29T18:11:00.004-06:00

Still here... when I started this blog I had really grand aspirations. I totally thought that I would post at least once a day, maybe more like 5 million times a day or whatever Perez's number is. It appears however, that my upper limit right now is one post a week. I'm hoping that once school is out (24 days. 24 DAYS!!!! Not that I'm counting or anything), I'll have a bit more time to post... and write... and clean... and all of those other things that people do with their lives when they're not teachers. :)

Anyway... it's been a bit of a chaotic week. One of my best friends' mother died, rather suddenly. It was about a month from diagnosis to death. Way too quick. She was quite young too, only 54. That's Erin, my beautiful friend at the left, at my wedding last July. I felt terrible for her; it was a difficult end for her mom. So, Saturday was spent at the funeral and wake. It was surprisingly hard for me. My own mother passed away about five and a half years ago. (That's her in the picture below, with me at a ski meet my senior year in high school. Back when I was quite skinny :) ) I didn't quite think that the funeral would effect me as much as it did, but it was very hard. I was glad to be there for Erin though. I know how hard it is to lose a mother and how difficult it is to feel like anyone understands what you are going through. So, it was a long day. I was really glad to have all of my friends around though, both for me and for Erin. It's nice to have so many people who love and care about you. I love my family and am very close with all of them, but my friends are definitely family too, sometimes more so.

Anyway... so the weekend was pretty much shot. Friday Jenny, John, Andrew and I went to go see Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. It was really dumb, but completely hilarious. I totally laughed out loud multiple times. : )

Saturday was funeral and then afterwards was my cousin Juliana's first communion. We made it in time for a bit of the reception and then went home. We were both totally wiped out. Sunday was spent cleaning. I did get a bit of knitting done and like half a page of writing.
Yesterday was work... boo! And a TON of grading. I'm actually taking tomorrow off, but I think I'll have to grade most of the day to try to get caught up for the end of the year... maybe I'll take some time off to blog though. : ) I need to get some pictures up of the latest squares finished on Nicole's baby blanket. So it goes. Anyway, I'm off to my writing group, though I have no writing, and to pick up the baskets of grading that I forgot at school. I think someone is trying to tell me something... but it does need to get graded. :) Toodles...

The weekend...

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Well, It's again been a while since my last post, but I do have a good excuse this time. Last Wednesday-Friday I was up in Estes Park with all of the little monsters for our annual Outdoor Lab field trip. It snowed like crazy on Wednesday, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. The kids were good, and I think they had a great time. I was wiped out when I got back, but managed to make it through watching a movie and getting some knitting done. I'll post those pictures later, as I am currently too lazy to go downstairs and get my knitting and the camera. :)
We ended up watching The Lake House, which was all right. It has Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. It was a cute idea, but not well acted (surprise Keanu Reeves... duh) and the writing left a little to be desired. But, overall it was entertaining.

I went out Saturday and got a pedicure with Jenny. We then went shopping and met up with the boys for lunch. It was a good time. I was in definite need of a pedicure and it was very relaxing. We ended up going back over to Jenny and John's house so Andrew could help with some alumni band website nonsense, and then we all met Matt and Nicole for dinner. Also quite fun. Nicole looks great, she's getting a little round belly and says the baby has been kicking recently. Matt just got a new job and is really excited about it. I'm really happy for him; he's had a hard time being excited about work for the last few years.

Sunday was church, a ministry leader meeting and lunch with Andrew's family. All relatively fun. : )

Monday I took the day off and went with Andrew and Google to go do a project for Earth Day. We went out with Americorp and the Volunteers for Colorado to plant Cottonwood trees out at some ponds east of Boulder. It was a lot of fun, though I wasn't ecstatic about contributing to the population of cottonwoods. I'm quite allergic to the dumb things when they loose their cotton. That evening we met the church Young Adult Group for dinner at the Sink... it was a crazy busy day.

Since then I've just been at work, trying desperately to catch up on my grading. I've been relatively successful, but it hasn't slowed down much. This has also been hampered by the fact that I think I am currently allergic to everything. I hate this rotation I go through. I never had allergies as a child or a younger adult. About three or four years ago, I started noticing symptoms. First year, no biggie...didn't have to take anything. Second year, took Claritin. It worked great. Third year, tried Claritin, it did nothing. Went to my doctor and got Zyrtec. It worked great. This year, tried Zyrtec, it sucks. I want to claw my eyes out. It doesn't help either that I just got all of my tear ducts plugged to keep my eyes moist, so I have giant sized eye boogers and my eyes are just watery all the time. So irritating. I don't particularly want to go get new drugs though either... so this Friday I'm off to the acupuncturist. I've never been before. We'll see how it goes. I've talked to a couple of people who swear that it has completely cured their allergies, so I'm optimistic. We'll see. I'm also hoping to get some help with a variety of other mild problems that my regular dr doesn't seem to care much about. I'll have to keep you all (or one, or whoever actually reads this) posted. Anyway... off to make dinner, do laundry and clean. :) Fun times...

And finally....

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At last the finished drawer. I still have a long way to go on the rest of the desk, but it does look nice doesn't it? I do love organization and all things that help to organize too.

And something non-desk related. I finished another square. The middle is a little wonky, but I think it turned out nicely. I had a heck of a time grafting the edges of the border, but finally made it. It was defitnitely one of the more difficult squares.

Here's a close up of the corner. I thought they looked like hearts. :)

Also... after posting the last two posts, I saw a ton of typos... pardon those. I'm in a hurry as I should have left the house for a meeting about 15 minutes ago, but wanted to get this done. :) See you all later!

Addict Part 2

2008-04-14T18:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I really need to figure out how to get Picasa to post more pictures at once... a project for another day. For those of you that thought that really wasn't that many cards and I'm not addicted. Here is the rest of my card stock. These were just the ones in nice boxes. : )

And my collection of note pads. I don't really write notes. I keep some lists, but those are all on the four note pads that are on the fridge downstairs. I have no reason for having all of these... but again, do love them and most were only one dollar!

A small collection of my notebooks... another weakness of mine. I have about six more in various stages of use next to my bedside table and a bunch more in a drawer at school. So cute though, so cute and a writer can't write without notebooks can she?

My final addiction... puch penl Or pop-a-points as I call them. I love these! It is such a feeling of accomplishment to finish a point. Life finishing a pen, but in a much shorter time frame. Some of these even have scented erasers. How can you beat that?

I'm an addict.

2008-04-14T18:07:00.000-06:00

It's true. I am fully 100% addicted to all things office supply related. Below is a picture of my desk to proove it. : ) I took today off of work, partically because I just really need to use up my days before the end of the year, and partially because I had an eye appointment. I got my second set of punctal plugs* put in and my eyes feel great! So I came home this afternoon and decided to clean my desk. I spent a majority of yesterdya cleaning out my filing cabinet and the files in the bottom of my desk. Ridiculous the amount of crap that I have collected. I had kep so many articles and lessons and other nonsense that I totally thought I would use daily before I started teaching. I haven't looked at any of it since it was put in the cabinet. So anyway, I had a great little schedding party. Today I tackled my other drawers and realized that I am compoletely addicted to notecards, note pads, sticky notes and push pencils... it is a little ridiculous.
So... here's the desk with one of the drawers emptied. It's completely covered in various paper products. (and my pretty new monitor that Andrew bought me to support my writing. I love it!)

Here is the box, yes entire box, of blank envelopes. Not blank envelops that have card to go in them, just random extra blank envelopes. All of varying sizes, colors, weights. I really have no idea what I will ever do with all of these, but it seems like they had the potential to be useful someday so I didn't get rid of them. I did however shred any envelop that dared be too big to fit in the box. I have no use for nonconformist envelopes.

The box of little cards. Random love, inspiration, friend, whatever cards. I think I got all of these from a fundraiser the kids did a few years ago. I really don't remember. I think I've used about three of them. But they are just so cute! And if I ever actually thought about it, they would be wonderful to slip into friends' purses, Andrew's wallet, whatever... but I don't actually think about it. Sigh... maybe someday I'll be all super Martha Stewart like that. And when I am... I'll be prepared darn it. Armed with ridiculous amounts of tiny cards.

The rest of the cards. I really do have a problem. I don't know what it is, but I just can't pass up cute notescards. Stupid Michael's and Target always have awesome ones for like a dollar too. Who can pass that up? Really? One Dollar?? SO... I have massive amounts of Thank You Notes, blank notes, inspicational notes, friend notes... whatever. Keep in mind as well that these are all separate from the giant box of birthday cards that I have in my basement as well as my stock of about 100 tiny gift cards for wedding, birthday, graduation, baby... whatever. Do I write many notes? No, no I do note. I never write to long lost friends, teachers I should thank, my family. Well.. I take that last part back, I do occasionally write to my Great Aunt Dodie, but otherwise... no notes. So really, I have absolutely no reason to have so many friggin' cards, but I really do enjoy them a lot. : )

*Punctal plugs are little silicone things that plug your tear ducts so your eyes stay more moist. Fan-freakin-tastic for super dry Westerners like me. :)