Happy New Year! I hope everyone had/is having a good holiday weekend.
This is, of course, the obligatory re-hash of my 2016 goals, as well as a public declaration of my goals for 2017.
In 2016, my goals were:
Writing:
1) Finish Witches HTRYN. Didn’t happen. I started work on it, and realized that I have to re-write the story from scratch (mostly).
2) Finish 1st draft of Siren Song. Done! (More or less.)
3) Finish 1st draft of The Fall.Nope. I did write some of it, but not much.
4) Start Camelot Done! (To the tune of 1 chapter, a sort-of prologue, and some brainstorming.
5) Revise Casting Shadows. Didn’t even look at it.
6) Finish copyediting classes and make X dollars at it per month. Also no, although I did work on the classes some.
7) Have 500 followers on this blog. Only up to 314.
8) Have 200 followers on my personal blog. Only up to 199.
Reading:
1) Read Gone with the Wind. Done!
2) Read 1 book per month from my TBR shelf. Done!
3) Read all books on the reading list for my American Women Writers class (8 total). Done!
4) Read one classic per month. Done!
5) Read one book of poetry. Done!
6) Read 2 books per month to review. Done!
7) Read one inspirational book per month. Done!
8) Read 75 books total. Done!Actually, I read 128 books—WAY over my goal—which I’m pretty happy about. You can check out my books on the 2016 Goodreads challenge here.
Goals for 2017
Writing:
1) Finish draft of The Fall.
2) Finish draft of Camelot.
3) Finish Witches revision.
4) Self-pub something or find agent.
5) Revise Chasing Shadows.
6) Publish/sub Chasing Shadows.
7) Do/win NaNo (with the Southern Fic story).
Reading
1) Read one book per month set in a different culture or by an author from a different culture.
Wonder Women, by Sam Maggs (Stopped reading because the author’s side comments were so biased and snarky that it completely overshadowed the interesting tales of women who should’ve been famous.)
Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Cordova (Read to review.). Loved this!
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert (Read for school, and as one of my classics for the month.)
Cutter Boy, by Cristy Watson (Read to review.). Quick, good read about a difficult topic.
Darcy Moon and the Aroona Frogs, by Catherine Carvell (Read to review.) I didn’t realize this was a middle-grade book, but it was enjoyable, with a good message.
The Sunlight Pilgrims, by Jenni Fagan (Read to review.) Wow. This novel is extremely well-done! Unique setting, and the characters are fascinating.
Tracing the Bones, by Elise Miller (Read to review.) This book was both intriguing and painful to read.
Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles (Read for school). Read it before. It still bores me.
Scary Close, by Donald Miller (My spiritual book for the month.)
At the beginning of the year, I set quite a few goals for myself (not resolutions). Eight goals in each of three separate categories, one being reading and one being writing. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how I’m doing on those goals, since we’re halfway through the year.
Reading goals:
1) Read GWTW.
2) Read 1 book per month from TBR.
3) Read all books on AWR list.
4) Read one classic per month.
5) Read one book of poetry.
6) Read 2 books per month to review.
7) Read one inspirational book per month.
8) Read 75 books.
I haven’t read any of Gone with the Wind since January, so I better get on that. I have read one book each month from my TBR pile. I successfully read all of the books on the reading list for my American Women Writers class. I have read a classic per month. I have not read any poetry. (Oops.) I’ve read and reviewed at least two books each month. I’ve read at least one inspirational book each month. And I’ve currently read 69 out of my goal of 75 books.
Writing goals:
Writing goals:
1) Finish Witches HTRYN.
2) Finish 1st draft of Siren Song.
3) Finish 1st draft of The Fall.
4) Start Camelot.
5) Revise Casting Shadows.
6) Finish copyediting classes and start making money at it.
7) Have 500 followers on this blog.
8) Have 200 followers on my personal blog.
I’m still working on the revision of Witches.Siren Song is outlined, but I stopped working on it, and started writing on The Fall again. No progress on Camelot. No progress on Casting Shadows. I’m still working on the copyediting classes. I’m still chipping away at the blog goals.
Verdict: I’m doing okay on my goals, but I need to get it together and get on all of them!
Yeah, it’s been a while since I posted anything but a book review. I’ll work on that this week. Promise. Right now, here’s what I read in May. (Quite a few books as a reward for living through the semester.)
This week, I’m on Spring Break, so technically I shouldn’t be doing homework. And I’m not doing a lot, but I’m doing some. Working on an essay for grad school. Outlining the short story that is my final paper in my capstone English class. Reading.
Sounds horrible, doesn’t it?
Here’s what I’m supposed to be reading this week:
simplify, by Bill Hybels (for my monthly reading goal): 10 pages a day
Against All Things Ending, by Stephen R. Donaldson (monthly goal): 30 pages a day
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (for school): 35 pages a day
The Coquette, by Hannah W. Foster (for school): 20% on 5 days
2 chapters in Connected: living in the Light of the Trinity, by Sam Alberry (for school)
2 chapters and the introduction in Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism, by Douglas R. Groothius (for school)
The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever, by Jeff Strand (reading to review)
You see my problem? I love to read. I’m a quick reader. But….I’m where I’m supposed to be on #1 and #4. I intend to catch up on #3 and #2 today, and start #5. That leaves me #6 and #7 for…sometime.
I did pretty well with my reading goals for the month. I did not finish one of the books from my TBR pile, but I’m almost done with it, so I’ll finish it and another book this month to catch up. Here’s what I read in February:
1). Where My Heart Used to Beat, by Sebastian Faulks (read to review).
2) The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (read for school, but worth a read, even if only at the sheer absurdity of the characters).
3) The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. (Read for my AWR class, but wow.)
4) Love Sick, by Cory Martin (read to review, but enjoyed a lot).
5) Suddenly Spellbound, by Erica Lucke Dean (read to review).
6) Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending up with More, by Erin Boyle (I’m a huge fan of her blog, and this encourages my goal to simplify.).
7) Stone and Silt, by Harvey Chute (read to review).
8) The Man who was Thursday: A Nightmare, by C.K. Chesterton (read for British Lit. Eh.).
Two weeks ago, I reviewed Love Sick, by Cory Martin. Today I have a lovely interview with the author, who was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions. Love Sick is a great read for anyone who has ever struggled with an illness, dating, or trying to find themselves. The author is open about her struggles, and this honesty shines through on every page. You can pick up a copy here.
(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Write Out Publishing.)
(I was interested in reading Love Sick because I’ve been through health issues, too. I had a major stroke almost three years ago. Learning to live with a new reality is challenging, at best. If you’re interested, you can read about that here and here.)
Who is your favorite author and why? (Do you love being scared by Stephen King, inspired by Maya Angelou, loved by Nicholas Sparks, entertained by Jane Austen?)
You know what’s funny is I literally just looked at my bookshelves to find an answer, like I was just going to pluck one out of thin air so I could look smart, but the truth is I don’t have a favorite author. I have plenty of authors who I admire and whose books I adore, but there’s not one that I return to over and over. If I went through the books on my shelves I could probably give you a reason why I like, love or admire each and every author. But let me just give you a sampling…I love Erica Jong for her fearlessness and portrayal of women, and Curtis Sittenfeld for her well crafted character based stories, and Jeannette Walls for writing a memoir that felt like a piece of literary fiction and Jenny Lawson for making me laugh out loud on an airplane and Dave Eggers for taking his writing and parlaying that into a publishing company and an amazing non-profit (If you don’t know about his 826 program you should check it out.) and Tom Wolfe because he is such a part of history, and Fitzgerald and Austen and Hemingway and so many others. I guess I am a fan of writers in general and anyone who can persevere and not only finish writing a book but then put themselves and their art out there to be judged by all has my support.
What is your absolute favorite, read over-and-over again, book? (Mine is “Gone with Wind,” which I’ve read about 25 times, because the story and the characters are so real to me.)
The one book that has stuck with me forever is “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. I have only read it a few times, but the way it made me feel the first time I read it has been imprinted on my soul. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to go out and change your life or do something grand and against the norm when you finish reading it.
The two other books that I have read over and over have more to do with me being a writer. They are Stephen King’s “On Writing” and Erica Jong’s “Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life”. If anyone reading this is a writer or aspiring writer, I highly recommend these books. They’re about the craft, yes, but they also make you feel less alone in your idiosyncrasies and habits that have to do with writing.
Where is your dream place to write? (Personally, I have visions of white sand and waves. Maybe a drink with an umbrella in it.)
Oh my gosh, I’ve had visions of white sand and waves too, but I know me and I would get way too lazy and comfortable there and would probably never write another word. But take me to some old flat in Europe with character and history, somewhere like Prague or Vienna and I think I might thrive. Whenever I travel I love to research the writers who were from that place, or who were ex-pats there and I try to visit the locations where they lived or wrote or got drunk on a daily basis. I have always been fascinated with the lives of writers, and to be where they once were inspires me.
How has writing changed your life? (If I’m doing “character research,” people-watching is much more socially acceptable.)
I don’t know if it’s necessarily changed my life because I’ve always been an introverted observer who loved writing, but I can definitely see now how it has affected the way I interact with the world. I think being a writer has taught me how to empathize with people. To be a writer and to be able to develop characters and write dialogue you have to really understand the way humans interact and work and think and feel, and I believe that because of this I have become a great listener and I have learned to sympathize with someone before jumping to conclusions or passing judgment.
How is your health these days? Do you feel like your body betrayed you? (One of the reasons I wanted to read your book was because I have had a major health issue myself. Almost 3 years ago, at the age of 36, I had a major stroke without warning and almost died. Overnight, my entire world changed, and it felt like my body had tried to kill me, literally, so I had to relearn how to trust it again.)
Wow. How scary. I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like and all that you’ve probably had to go through and might still be going through as a result. That must’ve been so hard to learn to trust your body again. I hope you are doing much better and are as healthy as can be. Thank you for sharing that. Stories like yours and mine and so many others are the reason I wrote the book. I knew I couldn’t be the only woman struggling with an illness or betrayal of their body who was also trying to navigate life in the most normal way possible and I wanted to share my story in the hopes that it would at the very least make other women feel less alone.
My health these days is quite good and I feel very lucky. The one major thing I deal with is my cognition. I forget things or names of things quite frequently and there are so many mistakes in my writing these days that I swear I spend more time editing than I do writing, but this I can tolerate. However, and this is the thing that makes MS so hard to deal with, you can never predict what will happen next, so while I don’t feel like my body has betrayed me yet, I live in constant fear that one day I will wake up and it will have done so.
What is your advice for anyone interested in getting into yoga? (Because I’d like to, but I have limited time and resources. It seems like such a beneficial practice. And maybe my brain would stop talking to itself so much.)
Ah, yes, yoga is great for quieting the mind and getting your brain to stop talking to itself so much, but it definitely takes practice. My advice for anyone interested in getting into yoga is to not assume that it has to be perfect right from the get go. Try a class here and there, or just learn one or two poses you enjoy, or follow a video online or read a book (not to plug my own work, but I did write a book called Yoga for Beginners, which might be helpful). Also, know that it might take time for you to find a teacher or a type of yoga that you connect with and that’s fine. There are so many different types of yoga out there and you have to try them out to find out what works for your body. I think the problem now, especially in the US, is that yoga has become this big flashy thing you see on Instagram where yogis are tying themselves into knots or doing these poses that are displays of amazing feats of strength. And that’s great and I don’t want to take away from any of that, but the real yoga lies in being able to simply be in the moment. I practice yoga constantly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I get on my mat and move my body into the poses. The poses are just a way to help you get to the point where you can, as you said, get your brain to stop talking to itself so much. So truthfully if you can get into one pose, which might be Sukhasana, which is basically sitting Indian style like you did as a kid, and get your mind to quiet even if just for one second, you are doing yoga and that’s the best place to start.
Thank you, Cory, for taking the time to answer these questions. I purchased “Yoga for Beginners,” and I can’t wait to start reading it. I have some cognition problems, too, but they are sporadic–and without warning–which is quite frustrating. I still worry sometimes that something else will happen, so I understand your fear. I’m happy that you are doing so well, and I hope “Love Sick” does well. I recommend it to everyone.)
Tomorrow Is Another Day 