What I Read In 2007 (Part I)

Since I did so much reading this year, I want to post a list of everything I read. It’s too long to put in one post, so I’m breaking it up into groups of 25 books. The * denotes an author I had never read before.

Sunny: Mona Lisa Awakening (01/01/07)*

Saintcrow, Lilith: Working for the Devil (01/02/07)*

Saintcrow, Lilith: Dead Man Rising (01/03/07)*

Gaiman, Neil, and Pratchett, Terry: Good Omens (01/05/07)*

Shayne, Maggie: Prince of Twilight (01/06/07)

Hendee, Barb and J.C.: Thief of Lives (01/12/07)*

Hendee, Barb and J.C.: Sister of the Dead (01/14/07)

Bennett, Janice, Blayne, Sara, and Ellis, Monique: Lord of the Night (01/16/07)*

Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables (01/18/07)

Brashares, Ann: Forever in Blue (01/19/07)

Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Avonlea (01/19/07)

Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of the Island (01/20/07)

Lisle, Holly: Courage of Falcons (01/24/07)

Lisle, Holly: Sympathy for the Devil (01/26/07)

King, Stephen: The Shining (01/27/07)

Stackpole, Michael A.: Talion Revenant (02/01/07)

King, Stephen: Secret Windows (02/19/07)

Marillier, Juliet: Lady of the Forest (02/22/07)*

Marillier, Juliet: Son of the Shadows (03/07/07)

Marillier, Juliet: Child of the Prophecy (03/10/07)

Evanovich, Janet: One for the Money (03/11/07)*

Evanovich, Janet: Two for the Dough (03/12/07)

Evanovich, Janet: Three to get Deadly (03/13/07)

Kopelman, Jay Lt. Col.: From Baghdad, With Love (03/15/07)*

Roberts, Nora: Morrigan’s Cross (03/17/07)

Writing Goals for 2008

Since I work better under a deadline (it helps me overcome procrastination), I’ve set myself goals to accomplish in my writing this year. I even gave each of the goals a completion date. This will help keep me motivated and focused. I did more or less the same thing in 2007, but I got off-track in about August with the editing on Witches, and I never really got completely back on-track. I’m hoping to avoid that problem this year. And to make it even more “official”, I’m posting the goals here. I’ll try to do updates every few months to hold myself accountable.

1) Finish first draft of NaNo 2007 story (February).

2) Start subbing Through Shadowed Stone (April).

3) Finish first-round edits on NaNo 2007 (May/June).

4) Finish first draft of zombie story (June).

5) Finish first-round edits on Witches (June).

6) Finish first-round edits on zombie story (September).

7) Do NaNo 2008 (November, of course.).

8) Outline the sequel to Witches (end of December).

9) Finish 2YN class (end of 2008).

10) Write 250,000 new words (up 25% from my goal in 2007).

Happy New Year’s!

Woot!

I hit my word goal for 2007! 200,000 words! Yay! That is all.

The Results of the Mini-Vacation!

I’ve actually had quite a productive week. I accomplished everything that was on my to-do list last weekend, and of course, I have another list for this weekend, since I have four more days off. I enjoy being off, I just won’t enjoy the paycheck. But, I’m determined to get work done while I have the time.

I still have the two partially finished zombie chapters. Although now, thanks to the brainstorming session with my co-writer, I know what’s supposed to happen in the latter part of both chapters. I just have to write them. Much mayhem must ensue. Zombie attacks! In both chapters! Fun! In slightly related news, my co-writer is showing some interest in finishing a story she began over five years ago (before her beautiful daughter Reyna came along). It’s about shapeshifters, and the three chapters she has done are wonderful, so I really hope she does finish it.

The 2YN story…is going great. I sat down to write last weekend, and the chapter just flowed off my fingertips! Three new characters I was unaware of just jumped on the page. I’ve also finished about half of another chapter, and that’s going well also.

The NaNo Atlantis story is going okay. I’m about two thirds of the way through it, so the end is in sight. Which means all the really fun stuff is coming up soon. I get to destroy Atlantis, so that should be entertaining, and hopefully, believable.

I’m planning to get those two zombie chapters finished up this weekend, finish at least the half-done chapter of the 2YN story, and do another chapter of the NaNo story. So, wish me luck!

Reading My Favorite Book Ever!

I finished reading the anthology, Holidays are Hell. Pretty entertaining read, although I don’t usually do short stories. I like to get much more involved with the characters. I did enjoy the Rachel Morgan story, from before the series. That was pretty good, although I missed Jenks. I’ve read Lyndsay Sands as well, and this was a good short story, too. I’m glad there was a story by Marjorie M. Liu, since I’ve been hearing good things about her. This gave me a chance to sort of preview her writing, and I was impressed, so I’ll probably be buying more of her stuff. The story by Vicki Pettersson was interesting to me. I liked the whole set-up of the world, it was an interesting take on superheroes. All in all, a good read, just a little bit short.

I like thick books. I like to get involved with the character and the world, and all the intricacies of plot and just lose myself in the story. That said, I’m now reading my favorite book ever. Gone with the Wind. Again. For at least the twentieth time. I’ve read it at least once every year since I was eleven. (I left it kind of late this year, so I may not finish before the first.) Even though I know every single thing that is going to happen, I still love it. I have the first line memorized (and the second and third), and the last line, of course. Kind of nerdy, I admit, but that just sort of happened by accident.

I think Scarlett O’Hara is a great character. She’s flawed, definitely, but that only makes her more interesting. She’s self-centered and conceited, but she’s smart enough to realize she’s different from everyone else she knows. Except for Rhett, of course, and I think he’s a great character, too. I get so mad every time I read this book! I just want to slap Scarlett and shake some sense into her, and tell them both to quite being so prideful! So, that’s all I’m reading now, just getting lost in the world of Southern belles and the Civil War.

Yay!

I am so relieved and excited that I have five days off now! Normal people would probably be planning to take it easy and relax, but not me. Oh no. I have a two-page to-do list, organized by days. It may be the holidays, but I intend to get some things done! My goal during this little break is to write or complete two chapters in each of my three WIPs, and also to edit several chapters in Witches. I also have two crits on the agenda, and I plan to post the revised first chapter of Witches sometime early next week. And I’m not going to mention all the other, non-writing-related things on the list. Like packing. Cleaning. Cooking. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun. Somehow, I always feel better if I have a lot of things to do. So, Merry Christmas to everyone!

A Little Bit of Writing

As far as updates go, this will probably be brief. I haven’t gotten too much done on the writing front this week. I did start working on the 2YN story again, and finished up the chapter where Samantha finds the help she needs to complete her spell. It was really quite easy to slip back into her voice/character, much easier than I expected. Then, today, I finished up another chapter on the NaNo story. It actually turned out to be a couple thousand words, which surprised me. It didn’t feel like that much. This story is on the downhill slide now, moving towards the climax. I don’t quite have a feel for that yet, so I guess it’s a good thing I’ve got a little bit to work up to it. I haven’t done any work on the zombie story this week. I started to, a couple of days ago, then realized the scene I was supposed to write had to be from Moya’s POV. And since I’m not writing Moya’s POV, I couldn’t very well write that scene. Dang it. It would have been fun, too. So now I have to come up with something else to write. I’ll do that tonight.

I haven’t even been doing much reading. I finished up the Earthsea trilogy, and I’m currently reading the anthology Holidays Are Hell, with stories from Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, and Vicki Pettersson.

Toady I went and saw I Am Legend. I liked the movie a lot, despite the fact that it made me cry. Twice. I got the book as a Christmas gift, but I wanted to watch the movie before I read it. (Afraid the movie would spoil the book.) It was kind of dark, and depressing, since he was the only man left alive in New York City. I can see humanity destroying itself with something like that, so that part scared me. Of course, I don’t like scary movies, and this one kind of fell on the border for me. (Yes, things that go bump in the dark qualify as scary for me.) I’ll probably be paranoid for a while when going outside in the dark. Me and my overactive imagination. I know it’s a good thing for a writer to have, but it’s a little unsettling when you’re always imagining vampires or werewolves are about to get you!

Another Wasted Week

I know it’s the holiday season and all, but where does the time go? It seems like I never have time to do much of anything, starting with cleaning and chores, much less things that I want to do, like reading and writing. It’s frustrating me a little bit. My procrastination tendency is coming to the forefront, and I don’t like it. I must stomp it to death!

In the last week, I really haven’t done much writing. I wrote a new chapter in the zombie story. I think that one’s coming along nicely, although I’m still trying to develop a feel for the characters. The next scene should be fun, though. A thwarted attack, retaliation, and accusations of attempted murder. What’s not to like? I also did a tiny bit on the 2YN story, about 1k or so. Trying to get back in the swing of things with Samantha. Hopefully I’ll get another chapter or so this week in all three stories.

I’ve had a little bit of time for reading. I read the second book in the Wizard of Earthsea trilogy, The Tombs of Atuan. Pretty good. Again, short and the language is formal, but it wasn’t bad at all. Interesting culture, and I like the sense of history behind everything.

Next up is Your Coffin or Mine? by Kimberly Ray. As always, a fun and entertaining read. Made me laugh several times. Especially the cat named Killer. I have five cats myself, so I could really relate to those parts. And the image of a prissy vampire turning into a giant pink bat never fails to make me laugh. I have a couple of friends who love the Shopaholic books, and I’m thinking I need to turn them on to this series. There’s a fun mix of paranormal creatures, along with the whodunit aspect to this story that I really liked.

Last but not least, is The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant. This is not my normal reading material, but a friend of mine said it’s her favorite book and wanted me to read it. I’m glad I did. This book was disturbing to me on several levels, but it was an excellent read. It’s about Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah (from the Bible). I know it’s fiction, but the description of the way of life in this time frame was very detailed and interesting to me. Sometimes the everyday details fascinate me more than anything. I can’t imagine the interaction between the four wives of one man, especially with two of them being sisters. The portrayal of some of the men in the book bothered me. I guess I never really pictured biblical characters quite like that, but they were vividly drawn. And the story itself was sad. But it was a very good book, and one I intend to buy.

In other news, well, not news. I’m wondering if anyone has read The Golden Compass, and the rest of its trilogy. I’ve heard some disturbing things about what the books are about, and I would really like to know.

Books Galore!

I’ve actually done quite a bit of reading over the last couple of weeks (while I was avoiding NaNo). Two books in series I’ve previously read, three new authors, and one author that I normally don’t read.

I read Confessor, by Terry Goodkind, the last in the Sword of Truth series. I really like these books, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. I discovered them quite by accident. I read something about one of the books, I think it was Temple of the Winds, and thought it sounded good. So, I went to the bookstore to get it. And discovered it was the fourth book in a series. I decided to try the first one, and was completely enthralled from the first sentence. I devoured that, and had to go back the next week to get the other three books. Terry Goodkind is not afraid to be very, very cruel to his characters, and I know I cried several times while reading the series. Parts of it are funny, parts of it are very serious. There are so many layers to the series that it amazes me. Confessor was a fitting ending to the series. I enjoyed it a lot, and I think he wrapped up everything neatly (although I would still love to read more in this world). Richard and Kahlan are great characters, and after reading the series, I feel like I know them personally.

Next up was Halfway to the Grave, by Jeanine Frost. I heard her speak this summer at Conestoga, on a panel about vampires, and I was impressed by what she had to say (Plus, she gave away really cool cover flaps of her book.). Halfway to the Grave is about a girl who lures vampires and slays them, in amateur fashion. One of her attempted murders goes awry when she tries to stake Bones, who takes her under his wing and trains her so they can go after a really bad vampire who is kidnapping and selling women. I wasn’t too sure about the first part of this book, but I ended up really enjoying it, and I’m looking forward to the next in the series. I thought Frost’s writing was strong, and she did a good job with this story.

The High King’s Tomb by Kristen Britain was a very enjoyable story. I stumbled over the first book in this series, and have been hooked ever since. (Strangely enough, I was checking Amazon to see if she had written anything new, and it happened to be this book’s release day). The characters are great, especially Karigan, and even minor ones are well-drawn. There is always a lot of action and mystery, and I enjoy that. (And dang it, I want Karigan and the King to get together!) I think I read somewhere that Kristen Britain is a protégée of Terry Goodkind’s, so the story quality is definitely good.

For some reason (my mother made me), I read Nicholas Sparks’ A Bend in the Road. I don’t normally read Sparks, because I’ve read several of his things in the past, and I just don’t enjoy them. This one wasn’t a bad story, and the writing was fine, but I figured out what was going to happen early on, and I’m not a big fan of predictability in my reading.

Also read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’ve heard a lot about this book this year, so I decided to read it. It was…a little strange. Mind you, I had to force myself to put it down at night, but it was an uncomfortable book to me. I thought it was odd that the characters’ names were never revealed, and the whole world was depressing to me. Good writing, just not a book I would read again.

Last up is A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I’ve never read anything of hers before, and tried this one on a whim. I enjoyed it, despite its brevity and the formality of the language. Ged is an interesting character to me, and he grew a lot in this story. I’m now working on the second book in the trilogy.

A City Divided

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, my family and I visited New Orleans. I had been there once before, about eleven years ago. Everyone else in my family has been since Katrina hit, and I had heard my dad talk about what the city was like on his many trips there to volunteer after the storm, so I was really curious to see what had changed. I have many vivid memories of that previous trip, even though we were only there for two days. I fell in love with the city then, and always said that if I had the opportunity to move there, I would (funny how those things come back to you). Since that visit, I’ve always read everything I could about the city, especially any story set there in any time period. I was afraid that the trip this past weekend would completely overshadow my memories of how the city was.

We did visit the French Quarter, which is fascinating to me. The buildings are so beautiful, and I love the wrought iron balconies. For someone much more familiar with the DFW area, it’s like a foreign country down there. The narrow, crowded streets and the buildings crammed together make me a touch claustrophobic. Jackson Square was interesting, with all the “psychics” sitting around offering to tell your future, and musicians playing everywhere. Café du Monde was great (and very crowded). Wonderful beignets and coffee. We drove through the Garden District and looked at the beautiful, wonderful houses. In short, we did most of the tourist things.

But…you drive through these huge neighborhoods full of big houses, and you realize that only two or three houses on a street are occupied now. There are still “blue roofs” everywhere, the damage from the storm covered by bright blue tarps stretched so tightly they look like you could bounce a quarter off of them. You can see the holes in some of the roofs where people escaped the rising water. And everywhere, everywhere are the spray-painted Xs on the houses with the number of dead bodies found there and the date and crew who searched them. It’s been over two years, and still parts of the city look like a ghost town. I think the creepiest thing for me was going past the now-deserted Six Flags theme park. It’s just past Lake Pontchartrain, in the middle of an expanse of weeds, brush, and broken trees. The empty rollercoasters rise up out of that mess like giants, and they stand there all by themselves, like sentinels for the lost.

My dad took us to the Lower Ninth Ward. Having heard so many stories about what a bad neighborhood that is, I was more than a little nervous. (Oak Cliff in Dallas doesn’t even make me nervous.) So much of the neighborhood is empty now. I know it used to be row upon row of shotgun houses crammed together, but we drove past empty, overgrown lots, and then suddenly, in the middle of nothing, there would be a house, standing crooked and abandoned. Or sometimes a brand-new rebuilt house. Deserted cars in now-empty lots. Street after street of empty lots and occasional houses. The farther away from the levee you get, the more houses there are, although many of them are still empty. Up close to the new levee, there are really no houses. I think I saw one ramshackle house that somehow managed to stay standing when everything around it didn’t, and one half-crumbled brick church. The levees aren’t what I expected either, just a mound of dirt with a wall on top of it. I know people live in the Lower Ninth, but the only signs of life we saw were a cop sitting in his patrol car in an empty parking lot, and a man walking through what my dad told me was a hippie commune called Common Ground. Quite sad, actually.

But the people we met were friendly. I love to listen to them talk, their words have such a musical rhythm, sort of flowing along. And they say “sugar” and “darlin’,” and “all right” (which comes out sounding like “aw ‘ight”). I love it. Already an idea is niggling the back of my mind to set a story there. Definitely. And the research will be great!

Also posted to A Figment of My Imagination.