Holidays

They came quickly this year, yeah? It seems weird that Thanksgiving is already done and over with and in another month from today Christmas will be a thing of the past as well.

Another New Beginning!

Its been quite a while since I have last posted here. Sorry about that. Things on my end have consisted of eating, sleeping, writing, and preparing for our newest addition, which will make its tiny debut in March!

Wasting Time

Why is it that when you have the most time to dedicate to writing you want to do everything but write? Can anyone tell me why? I get so irritated with myself over it. I am excited for this story I am working on. I have ideas and feel as though it is actually going somewhere. But you'd think to make me sit and write it was the biggest punishment that ever was. I need to stop that.

Slacker!

Thats me lately. Well mostly anyway. To be fair, I have been very distracted lately. I can't tell you why for another 3 weeks, but some exciting (I hope) changes are getting ready to happen. I have read 10 books since I have been away. But for the most part they were meh. I'll tell you about a few of them in a minute. First I want to show you a picture of my new chair!

My husband is the best! I have been complaining about my work chair since November when I did NaNoWriMo and worked all around the house trying to find a comfortable place to write my 50,000 words. Finally, in a last ditch attempt I posted it on Facebook, did a little tagging, and whalla, new chair! 

As well as being completely distracted, a good friend and myself have started a little writing group. Its been really fun and helpful. I have completely enjoyed her company, and have learned a lot from her. 

Ok, onto books. I finished the 50 Shades series, which, I have to say, are completely overtaking. They overtake your life until you've finished. Also, the writing does get better. A bit at least. 

The Great Gatsby, which was just kind of meh for me. I had never read it and I wanted to love it. I just didn't. I did finish it in a day, but that was mostly because I kept reading in hopes that something was going to happen. Things did, but I still was just kind of meh about it.

Where We Belong -Emily Giffin. I have to say, she did it again. I have loved absolutely every single one of her books, and this one is no exception. SoBo SoBlue, will always be my favorites I think. But I will read anything she puts out because I love her so!

Such a Rush -Jennifer Echols. She is one of those authors that I stumbled upon and fell in love with. I haven't read everything by her yet, but everything I have read has been great! She has a way with emotion. She makes you truly feel for her characters, like you are in them. I enjoy reading, and figuring out how she does it. If you have never read anything by her I would suggest Going to Far to begin with. That for me was just. Ah! Just read it if you haven't already! But Such a Rush was really good too. I have enjoyed everything I have picked up by her so you can't really go wrong.

Another book I was enthralled with, and couldn't put down until it was done, was, Something Like Normal -Trish Doller. Here is the synopsis according to Amazon. You'll want to read it, promise. 

"When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero."

And of course, my Lauren Dane. She is usually my fall back girl because she never disappoints!

The author I want to talk about though, who has really stuck out to me, and I have read two of her books since my break in blogging, is Abbi Glines. I read The Vincent Brothers which was really captivating. You couldn't help but root for the bad boy. Although, I always do. Its a curse. Then I read While it Lasts. Wow. WOW. I literally couldn't put it down. According to her Twitter, she is working on a sequel, which I am oh, so excited about! She is another one that gets you involved, completely in the story. I think you should read something by her if you haven't already!

Anyway, I have to try to work on my own novel now. Then off to coffee with a friend. Cleaning the house, and grocery shopping. Oh, days off.

Sick....

I've got the sickness. I didn't even go to work today, thats how miserable I am. Those who know me know that I NEVER call off. I slept 15 hours yesterday. Finally I'm starting to feel a bit better today. Z is working afternoons this week, so he has already left for work and I have the house to myself. Sometimes thats so nice and other times the quiet is disturbing. Today its a little disturbing. I've got Pandora going and I think I'm going to try to write a little today to distract myself.

Anyway, books. I have been reading like a crazed person lately. 6 books since my last post. The two I want to focus on in this blog are Rachel's Holiday -Marian Keyes, and Fifty Shades of Grey -E.L. James.

First, the one and only Marian Keyes. Once again, she writes another fantastic novel. This one takes on one of the sisters from the book Watermelon and tells her story. Its a book about addiction. Rachel's story is my favorite out of the Welsh sisters, so far. It was just one of those books where I got all of the characters. It was heartwarming and funny, but also very sobering and serious in places as well. I just really enjoyed reading it.
One of the things that I adore about Marian, yes, I'm going to pretend we are on first name basis because I love her so, is her openness and honesty. She has never tried to hide that she used to be an alcoholic. She has never tried to hide that she deals with depression. And I love her for it. I think that her writing is stronger for it.
Its very scary to be open about things like that, especially when you have a product that you have poured your heart and soul into and you just want people to like it, or like you, so that they will buy it. It makes being yourself hard, I believe. But Marian is just so sweet about it. She arrives on the scene saying, "Here I am take it or leave it." And unfortunately for you if you choose to leave it you are missing out big time. Her books, as I have said before, are some of my favorites. Pick one, any one, and try it, you'll be addicted too!

Now, onto Fifty Shades. Wow. Ok. I wasn't exactly sure what it was all about when I got it. I knew that it was a New York Times Bestseller, and that it was everywhere, I also knew that it was a pretty dirty book. Well, yes, its dirty. And there is a ton of sex. Sex on practically every page. There are orgasms flying around everywhere. To be honest with you, and if my mother ever reads this she would disown me, but to be honest, sometimes those books are exactly what I need. Although normally when you read explicit books they are light and fluffy, everyone falling in love and winning things and perfect lives, which is fine if thats what you need. In Fifty Shades that isn't the case at all. Christian Grey is a messed up man. In more ways then just his sex life.
My honest thoughts, and I never like to knock writers because at least they are writing, where I usually just think about writing, but I thought that this book was poorly written. I felt that there were phrases that were WAY overused, and it was just kind of generic. From a writers standpoint I couldn't understand why it was a bestseller.
However, the story itself is absolutely captivating. I couldn't put it down. I just had to know what happened. As soon as I finished I bought the other two in the series because I couldn't wait to find out what goes on. So, from a readers standpoint, I can see it being a bestseller in this regard.
If you are squeamish or don't like dirty, don't even try this book. While the characters are fantastic and the storyline intriguing, there is no way around the sex. So don't bother. But if you don't mind reading stuff like that give it a try. I really enjoyed it. I'm almost done with the second book now and the writing seems to have improved a bit.

Well, I'm off to finish reading that book and get some writing done. Have a good day everyone.

“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.”

- Abraham Lincoln

The Lap of Luxury.

I come to you from Napa Valley on my honeymoon. God, I could get used to vacationing. Its fantastic. The only annoying part is that I still have fake nails from my wedding and they are getting gross and annoying but I cant bite them off. The end.

The weather has been terrific. It rained a bit in San Diego, which was fine with me because I was still by the water. And as Z and I decided, you can not be angry about anything ever when you are near the ocean. Its so beautiful out here. Every part of California. The ocean, the mountains as well as the valleys. I am plotting our permanent return to San Diego, I just have to get Z to agree :) Also robes. I can't wait to get back home and buy myself a nice robe. I fear it will be the end of my wardrobe and I will be the person who never gets out of their robes, but why would you after trying it?

Yesterday we drove for 14 hours through the mountains. I will post pics soon. But as was our agreement I had to write for at least an hour. I am currently reading this. Its actually a very good and helpful book. So on my ride yesterday I took some of his advise and applied it to my outlining. I don't know if I mentioned that I am outlining this novel. I decided that my current way of working, well isn't, and that I needed a change. This seemed like the most practical way to change. Not only that but my brain needs structure. The more I get into my writing the more I see that. I was so against scheduling and planning. I was a total panster -see previous blogs- but that isn't working for me any more. And to be quite truthful with you it never really worked for me to begin with. So if you are ready to try something new I would say read this book. Its a fairly cheap book and an easy read. Its worth a try if you are stuck.


Being on vacation Z and I have been reading a whole lot. He is on his second book. I am on my third but am balancing between the book above and a fiction novel. Those who are regular readers - all three of you- know that currently I am hooked on Marian Keyes. I just adore her work. I am learning a lot about scenes and story structure by reading and actually paying attention. Her style is a lot like mine and I think to learn how to construct a well rounded novel you need to be reading as much in the field of your style as you can get your hands on- and find the time to. I just finished This Charming Man, and I have to admit, although it was classic Marian Keyes -witty, funny, tragic, sad, good cast of characters-, it was unlike her other books, I didn't hate it, I just wasn't in love with it. A lot of the reviews I read on it said that's why people liked it, but that's precisely why I couldn't get into it. To be fair it is from the prospective of four girls and they all have completely different voices- I thought that must have been very challenging for Marian to do and I think she did it incredibly well- but for me, and maybe not everyone is like me, hopefully not, obviously not, I find that when there are more then two main voices I get bored and lost. Although I didn't really get lost in this book, she kept the flow going very nicely, I just wasn't that into it, which pains me to say because I love Marian so very much. That being said, it is a book on domestic violence mainly. And she writes it very raw and straightforward, and with that I can see that victims of an abusive relationship could really bond with these characters. They are all, well, most, very smart independent women who found themselves second guessing their mental health after being in a relationship with a particular man. I appreciated that they weren't all walking around with the word victim placed on their head, they were strong, and they were fighters, for the most part. I love that Marian gives her characters depth and I strive to do that more, which I feel I am learning through her books. On Goodreads I gave this book a 3. Not because it wasn't well written, because, I mean come on, it is Marian Keyes, and not because the story wasn't well thought out or didn't have a believable ending, simply because I wasn't that into it. But you might be, so give it a try if you feel so inclined.

Welp, I best be off. I have a wine tasting to attend with my love in an hour and I am still laying about in my robe!

"Couldn't understand a single word he said but he sure had some mighty fine wine....and I helped him drink his wine" -- 3 Dog Night

Day of matrimonial bliss!

Well we did it!

My love and I!

Kisses

The crew/siblings

Daddio

Mom

Now that that's over with we are settling back into our daily lives. BUT I'm off work for another 14 days. Its fantastic. I love vacation. I don't know why I haven't done it sooner.

Z made me promise to write every single day for an hour while I'm on vacation. And I did yesterday. I feel like thats good progress. Ha! We leave for our real honeymoon tomorrow. Off to California and Seattle for 11 days. I'm stoked!

And now I have a husband who I am completely and utterly in love with!

Calling Down Lightning!

Funny, this is what I learned about this week, and what I have been working on all week, and currently we are in the middle of a giant thunderstorm! Clever.

Z and I walking in to get our
Marriage License!

This week I have been a little busy beaver so I am sure you will forgive me for not blogging at all. As you already know I am getting married on friday so there is much to be done with that. But along with that I have started a new novel. I am really excited about it. I have been toying with the idea for quite some time now. As in I started my first draft a few years ago but it never clicked. Now I am doing the work. Researching my characters. Writing out character sheets. Writing down questions. Calmly and patiently waiting for my Muse to answer them. Or not. He isn't cooperating very well. He has been kind of a douche lately but I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

My little binder with questions
and a graph!

I like the idea of calling down lightning. It gets you in tune with your muse. Includes him, which is the whole point. You have to get to the point where you realize that you need him. Writing isn't just about you and what you know. Writers know that. Its also about all of the outside sources that affect you and how you work and how your brain works. Its about the world around you and how your Muse subconsciously stores all of this random shit and if you include him in your projects you will get a lot more done because he will throw ideas your way that you didn't even realize you had as an idea somewhere in that head of yours.

Try it. Ask questions. Become your Muse's best friend. And you will be productive. Its definitely helped me. Without sounding all out there, you should know that he will only answer when he is ready. But its worth it to wait!

Happy writing!

But I can only write what the muse allows me to write. I cannot choose, I can only do what I am given, and I feel pleased when I feel close to concrete poetry - still.
Ian Hamilton Finlay

Clustering

This is what I've been working on. Clustering. For those of you who don't know what it is, its more or less a bunch of ideas that you have about a certain word. The first thoughts that come into your head and how they relate to each other. As you can see I can't do anything without Pandora, and tonight, I needed my glass of wine. This is harder for me then I thought it would be. It kind of frustrated me because, while I can see how I could potentially benefit from it I can't see how it relates to the story that I am trying to tell yet. You are supposed to let your Muse take over. To work on each section, and there are 6, which I have oh so cleverly taped together, for 10 minutes each. And eventually your Muse will poke his tiny voice in and all of a sudden you are writing outside of yourself. That didn't really happen to me. I did have two reoccurring themes though and I thought that was interesting. They were Z and coffee, both of which I love and couldn't imagine my life without. But so far I can't see how any of my plot points will be sorted by this exercise. Although it was a lot of fun, and got me writing, which is always fabulous.

Its weird to have homework now. Almost every night I am working on something that has to do with my novel. Its an exciting change, and all because I got the nerve to take a course.

I'm always telling Z about how I wish I could be a full time writer, and he always says that I can. I don't have to work. Although I fear what my days would look like if I didn't work. I would bleach the sink 97 times a day and then rearrange the furniture and then wash the already clean sheets, just to be sure. My floors would be scrubbed clean at least once a day and polished at least three times a week. Yes I am neurotic about the cleanliness of my house. Although you couldn't tell right now. I really need to dust. BUT, that's because I have a full time job, that I go to everyday, and it wears me out so by the time I come home I don't want to scrub every already clean surface. I fear for Z's life if I was here by myself all day. By the time I got done with all of my cleaning and internet surfing Z would be home from work and then I would sneak away to write, which would be counterintuitive because either way it would take away from the time that we can spend together. But a girl can dream right?

I'm excited to find what Holly has for me next week. This will be my week three. I think I'll start tomorrow. I downloaded the lesson yesterday but I didn't start it yet because I was so involved with lesson 2.

Anyway, back to Clustering. I think if I wasn't doing it for my homework I would pick different words to center around. Different main themes. I think that would help me, but because I was practicing I felt that I should do what Holly told me to. I mean the woman is a professional. And I am not. So there's that. But I really do think you can break through writers block by doing that. Just pick a word and write down all of your thoughts that have to do with it and how they relate to each other. And then you can figure out where to go next with your story. I'll show you how it works.

So this is my I hate section of it. It was all of the random things I thought of at the time and then the thoughts that ricocheted off of those original thoughts. Kind of cool how it worked. Try it you may like it!

“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.” Tom Krause

Sorry

Its been a while and I apologize. In my defense though, I have been super busy. My wedding is *AUGH* 18 days away and me being me, I have pushed everything back to the very last second. So that's what I have been doing. It seems that with all of that on my plate, and working out 6 (ok more like 4-5) x's a week and with everyone who suddenly wants me to do their hair, I have zero time left at the end of the day. Well, that's not entirely true but by the time the end of the day rolls around, I officially want to do nothing.
.
I have been reading a lot though. I am currently hooked on Marian Keyes. She is fantastic. I just got done reading her debut novel Watermelon and was sad for it to end. I love books like that. Where you get so involved that its like you are saying goodbye to good friends by the conclusion.

Here is a cover photo. It really is a delightful read. It seems typical chic-lit (which I can't help but admit is pretty much all I read) but her characters are so well developed and the story line is so believable. It is a very chatty book which is right up my alley because that's how I tend to write as well.

Speaking of writing I have joined Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course. I have been reading things that Holly has written for about a year now. She is trying to get out of teaching and move more into full time novel writing now so she has started closing her courses. I got in right as she was closing this one. She has a lot of books on Kindle and she is very inspirational. You should go to her website here if you are interested. She is very helpful. In fact I have had friends who went to school to write, say that her courses and books are much more helpful and realistic then any class they have ever taken.

So that's that. I'm trying to make writing more of a priority. Z has been trying to make me put writing higher on my to-do's and I think I am finally ready. Yes, now probably isn't the best of times, what with the wedding and everything else on my never ending list, but those things will still be there tomorrow, and what am I gaining by making sure every little thing in my life is perfect? Nothing. I'm only losing time, precious time to fulfill my dream.

Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent.
Ambrose Bierce

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo = Wow.

So sometimes my fiance and I decide to get all cute and lovey and go off to the bookstore -because there is only one teeny tiny bookstore in our town and we try to support it as much as possible, even though I am absolutely in love with my Kindle- and pick a book to read aloud to each other. The process is a tough one because we each have completely different views on good books. I cant help that I adore a good love story or something with girl power, and he cant help that he loves mind game books, or Syfi. So the process includes a bunch of pro's and con's, likes and dislikes, and a little of both worlds. One of these days I will win and he will read The Time Traveler's Wife, but until that day we compromise.

This past time we decided to be cute, we went down to Book Mouse, and selected The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We both wanted to see the movie, and come on, the book is a best seller, we decided that we couldn't go wrong.

I have to admit that the beginning was boring. I couldn't care, or pay attention. It was a lot of background, and a lot of me asking Zach, "So, recap what just happened, I forgot to listen." And he would smile and patiently tell me what the hell Stieg was trying to say.

But then all of a sudden, I was SO into it. I couldn't stop reading. Which was annoying, because as the rules of reading out loud to your significant other clearly states, both parties have to be present to read. Bah. Zach works a swing shift so sometimes that was quite hard.

The dialogue was kind of annoying sometimes, but that could have to do with how the novel translated into english, as well as all of the Swedish names and places. By the end we were making up our own, or just simply saying, some place I cant pronounce. We never did learn how to say the main characters last name, and renamed him Karl.

But all in all it was a very well written book. Very realistic, and thoroughly thought through. I really enjoyed it, and to day before my boy leaves for work we are taking a trip to get the second book in the series!!

Happy reading!

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”