I’ve always found paranoia to be a perfectly defensible position.
- Pat Conroy
Here are the goals I set for myself way back in April:
- Plot & outline RS.
- Finish crit of AD for Phoenix.
- Start writing RS - get a chapter done by May 31.
- Work up an estimated word count of RS based on outline.
- May 1-31: write final chapter for the Naked Project on the OWG.
- Finish M’s socks.
- Finish Blood Diamond socks.
- Finish Icarus.
Uh huh. And here’s how I did on them:
- Plot & outline RS. ~ Nope. Did a series of plot points, but not the entire thing, and no outline.
- Finish crit of AD for Phoenix. ~ Partially done. I have a good start on her crit, but it’s by no means finished.
- Start writing RS - get a chapter done by May 31. ~ I decided part-way through the month that I wasn’t going to keep shooting for this goal. Not only was the outline not done, but I decided it was more important to get SS edited again first.
- Work up an estimated word count of RS based on outline. ~ No outline, no word count estimate.
May 1-31: write final chapter for the Naked Project on the OWG. ~ DONE! Yay!- Finish M's Socks. ~ Nope. One sock and a third of the other done, maybe.
- Finish Blood Diamond socks. ~ Not yet. But close, and May’s not over yet, either. We’ll see.
- Finish Icarus. ~ No way. But it’s so much fun to work on, and I don’t want to rush the ending.
I hope you all have a great day!
Read More...
Summary only...
Week 22 ~ May 28-June 3, 2007
Talyn
by Holly Lisle
(fantasy)
Talyn is a sweeping tale of love, war, and betrayal. It focuses on honor among enemies, trust, and faith. It will catch you up in the World of the Korre, and won't let you go even after you finish the final page.
This is an amazing book. Holly Lisle is an incredible author, who manages to make fantasy worlds come alive. Her characters have more depth than some real people I know, and the Korre cultures are so much a part of the world that it seems like an actual place you can visit.
I have heard others say that the very beginning of the book was hard to get into, and while I didn't have that problem I suppose I can understand it. However, everyone I have spoken to has been hooked by the story before too long, and I have heard nothing but praise for Talyn. If I have a problem with it, it is that the story catches you up and won't let you go, but is too long to easily finish while still allowing yourself to get any sleep. I would have trimmed it a bit, though I'm not sure what to have edited out and yet still kept the tale's impact. All told, though, it's a wonderful book.
Read More...
Summary only...
Week 21 ~ May 21-27, 2007
Dark Lover
by JR Ward
(paranormal romance)
Dark Lover is the first in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and is a re-read for me. I still enjoy it after who knows how many reads. (It's one of the books that I can pick up and read a chapter here or there and then put the books down again without finishing it, since I know the story so well. But I can also read it all the way through without getting bored.)
It is a good intro to the world, and if you plan to read the BDB I would highly recommend starting at the beginning. The trickiest part about getting into this series - for me - was the names. (Wrath, Rhage, Phury... the only one that sounds the way I would expect is Darius.) They seem a bit artificial at first. But by this point I am so used to them that I don't think about it anymore.
Anyway. Great book. Probably my favorite in the series, just because everything is still so new in this book. And the multitude of plot threads (which I enjoy reading about ) are still manageably confusing at this point. Plus, it's nice to go for a re-read and get to see the seeds for the other plot threads get started.
Read More...
Summary only...
I decided that it was silly to take nice pictures and not use them. So here's a new template using a picture I took instead of someone else's artwork.
Enjoy!
Read More...
Summary only...
- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
Courtesy of
Maripat and
Hanna, though with so many people I know blogging it was really only a matter of time before I got hit with this one. And I really don't mind... it gives me something to blog about this morning. (But remind me later - I have knitting progress pics to show you, too.)
So... eight random facts. Well now, let's see just how random I can get, shall we? Sounds like a challenge to me.
- When I was little, I wanted to be an author. Specifically, a novelist. Then I let Real Life interfere, and accepted that I would never make a living at it, and so let that dream slip by the wayside. Now, I have determined that even if I never actually make a living at it, I am going to be a novelist. (Some time after college graduation I decided that Real Life was way overrated, and have since gone back to my own personal blend of Romantic Idealism. I'll take that over the dog-eat-dog world any day.)
- If I had entered college with the knowledge that I graduated with, I would have majored in Linguistics instead of English.
- I almost made it to the top of Half Dome (in Yosemite National Park), and to this day I regret the sense of vertigo that prevented me from going all the way up. (Yeah? You try hiking up a one-person-wide trail with two-way traffic, lots of gravel, and a very steep drop-off. My poor little 13-year-old mind couldn't handle it.)
- I am a morning person by choice, but given the opportunity will stay up until all hours. Partly because when you're involved in theatre it's often hard to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Partly because night is when I get new story ideas. Partly because I'll turn on the computer to play a game "just for a half-hour before bed" and next thing I know it's 2 AM.
- I kicked a guy in the shins once in junior high. He was invading my personal space. Poor guy was probably just trying to get up the nerve to talk to me, or something, but he was being super annoying.
- I am a firm believer in both fate and free will.
- I talk to spiders and try to convince them that if they stay outside, I will live and let live. But if they come inside, and get within my reach, I will kill them. This discussion doesn't usually work very well. Perhaps because both M and my dad are the "save the spider" type, and so will carry the crawly things outside instead of letting me kill them. I mean. Really. They are ruining my credibility, here.
- Books are a not-so-secret not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. I can wander a bookstore for hours trying to decide what I can afford to buy. When I have my bookshelves set up (not at the moment because I am currently living at my parents' home) and all my books out (ditto previous) I can also spends hours re-arranging them so that they are grouped by type, or by author last name, or by genre, or just in a way that looks really cool. And then don't try to put one back in the wrong place, because I will have just spent hours making them exactly the way I want them. I will know.
That was fun. Thanks, Mari!
And now who to tag... Let's see.
- Sian, who I have been finding out has an insane amount of stuff in common with me, and besides she is the one who made sure I knew I was tagged.
- Charlie, since she's been absent for so long.
- Brigitte, in the hopes of getting more stories of the Little Dudes.
- Crys, since she'll have some things to write about when she gets back from her trip.
-
-
![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
springfire, since they have both complained of not having spent time with their flists
- Also ez_oz and
- andrea_miccaver who always seem to like MEMEs.
Read More...
Summary only...
Week 20 ~ May 14-20
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
(science-fiction)
Oryx and Crake was recommended to me by a co-worker, and so I picked it up with some hesitation. I never know how a rec is going to be coming from someone who barely knows me.
I was quite pleasantly surprised. It is a good book, well written with good character depth. The issues in the book are relevant and creepy in their possibilities. Some parts are definitely sci-fi in their reach, but other aspects are quite possible in the not-so-far future. Which, of course, is what makes the book so creepy. No one *really* is comfortable reading an apocalypse novel about a future that could actually happen.
Snowman/Jimmy is the main character in the book. His is the only POV voice, and he delivers the story of the End Of The World As We Know It in a series of flashbacks interspersed with clips of the "present" day. The timeline is a little confusing at first, as we struggle to figure out exactly what happened to the rest of the world, but it emerges piece by piece into a rather complex and developed plot.
Read More...
Summary only...
It’s the pre-lunch thoughts of food! Yay!
Mom, why are you talking about food? You’re making me hungry.
When I used to work at the library, one particular co-worker and I often worked evening shifts together. And inevitably when it got to be about a half-hour to closing, we’d start talking about food. She and I suffered through many a Chinese food craving while stuck behind the check-out counter.
But it was fun.
Now, at my current job, I have snacks with me. I’m at the front desk, though, so they have to be unobtrusive snacks. No microwave popcorn for me. No, I munch on things like dried fruit, teddy grahams (yummy AND bite sized! Win-win!), and Chex mix (it’s in the quarter vending machine… what can I say?). I try to be healthy, and given that I could be munching on M&Ms (yummy chocolate…) I think I’m not doing too badly.
Suzy, on the other hand, munches on Girl Scout cookies.
When she can get them.
Which, if my niece is dropping them ON THE FLOOR, is often.
Mmmmm… Girl Scout cookies…
Go away, Mom, I’m dreaming of cookies.
Yup. Dreaming of cookies. She's my cat, alright.
Read More...
Summary only...
Week 19 ~ May 7-13, 2007
No Humans Involved (Women of the Otherworld, book #7)
by Kelley Armstrong
(fantasy, paranormal romance-ish, some – not me – will tell you horror)
Ah, back to the Otherworld. I love this series. A lot. It’s well developed, well-rounded, and well written. The heroines are strong and yet versatile, and the relationships make sense. A very nice series indeed.
This specific book could, if you chose, be read out of order without much confusion. Jaime, the narrator, hasn’t been a huge part of the previous books, and the parts she has played are touched on as good reminders of her background or ways to introduce new readers to her. (I suspect that the format change from paperback to hardback made it a priority that this book be able to support readers who are new to the series.) There are plot points from prior books that will be spoiled if this one is read first, and there are nuances to character that will be missed, but the book should hook new readers as well as old.
As to that hook, it starts off with Jaime preparing for a séance to raise the spirit of Marilyn Monroe and discovering that she’s going to be staying in a house where she’ll be required to eat her meals inches away from a hanged man – only he’s a ghost, so she’s the only one who notices. Jaime is a necromancer, and her powers of being able to see and contact the dead alert her to the presence of half-ghosts in the garden… ghosts which shouldn’t exist in the fashion they do. It’s written with a good blend of humor and substance, romance and action and thought. This is possibly my second favorite book in the series, possibly my third fav. But it’s definitely near the top of the series, and comes with high praise from me.
Read More...
Summary only...
Look what arrived in yesterday's mail:
Pretty new stitch markers from Hide and Sheep's
Etsy shop. Aren't they nice? And when you add two of them (there are six in the set) to the Blood Diamond sock, you get a sock-face. Look. Can't you see it? The markers are the eyes, and the part of the toe where the pattern starts puckers in a bit and looks like a nose...
Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees this. I already suspect that I may be going slightly insane.
The dangle-free stitch markers weren't the only thing I bought from Hide and Sheep, though. I also bought sheep.
The sheep (set of four) are on Icarus. The white crochet cotton is my lifeline, and everything above the lifeline is chart #2. I love the subtle way the pattern started changing. It's great. Much fun to knit.
Anyway, I suppose I should finish up the work week by actually doing work at work, so I'll get back to it. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Read More...
Summary only...
Please also make a note of whether you would prefer some kind of fibery prize or bookish prize.
Thanks for helping me celebrate!
