Reading is always a priority for me. However, I’ve been super busy lately, so it fades a bit under the need for sleep while working 12-14 hour days. With only small increments of time at my disposal, I’m reading several things, in tiny chunks. So, here’s what I’m reading currently:
Suddenly Spellbound, by Erica Lucke Dean. (Just started it, but I like the breezy voice.)
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. (Will always be my favorite, but only time for a little bit at a time right now.)
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. (Just a few chapters in, but I’m liking it a lot.)
Beginning Theory, by Peter Barry. (Quite dense textbook.)
Fatal Revenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson. (Considering this series has been around since the year I was born, I’m really loving it.)
Friday I spent a little bit of time in a place I never really imagined I’d be: the house where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind.
The Margaret Mitchell House, where the tiny apartment the author and her husband lived in was located.
Gone with the Wind is my favorite book. I read it for the first time when I was 11 years old. I’ve probably read it at least 25 times. I’m reading it now (Sort of.). The name of this blog comes from the novel. It’s not that I idolize the era it takes place in. I don’t. There was a lot wrong with that society, its practices, and its beliefs. It’s not that I wished I lived there. (Ha. I despise wearing dresses, so living where elaborate dresses was the norm is a joke.).
This painting was actually used in the movie. Gorgeous dress, but not my style.
But the characters are so vividly realized I feel like I know them, as is the setting. I think Margaret Mitchell did an astounding job creating characters and bringing them to life. I still laugh, and cry, every time I read the book.
Where she actually wrote the novel (Although not the actual desk or typewriter, which is on display at the Atlanta library.). She used a towel to cover her work when unexpected visitors dropped in.
I did not know that Ms. Mitchell had her husband burn the first draft (there was only one copy) of the novel after her death, as well as any other projects she was working on. I didn’t know that she never intended to publish it at all, and wanted it back after she did let a publisher look at it.
A story the author wrote as a girl.
I knew she worked as a reporter for a while.
Ms. Mitchell was so short that the legs of the desk she used as a reporter had to be shortened.
So, last year, I joined the Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge. Initially, I set my goal at 50 books. Between school and work, I decided that was a good number, but I ended up revising it to 75 later in the year, when I passed the 50-book mark with plenty of time to spare. I actually ended up reading 110 books (My Goodreads account only shows 108, but I re-read The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear, both of which I had previously read, and if there’s a way to mark them as re-read, I haven’t figured it out yet.)
This year, I’m setting my goal a bit higher right from the start, at 75. We’ll see how that works out.
Currently, I’m reading this:
And this:
(This isn’t the actual book cover, but it is the movie poster that is hanging over my desk, on a piece of old barn wood. My parents got it for me somewhere years ago.)
I’m also reading Warrior Chick, by Holly Wagner, and various assorted other books (textbooks) for school.
Can we talk about The Runes of the Earth? I read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant I-have-no-idea-how-long-ago, when my mother gave me the initial two trilogies. Meanwhile, these last four books have been on my TBR shelf for…I have no idea how long. At least 6 or 7 years (hence the goal of actually reading from this shelf this year). It’s ridiculous. Initially, I didn’t start the first book because the second book was about to come out and I wanted to wait…then life happened.
I picked this up New Year’s Eve, and immediately got sucked in. Now I’m slapping myself in the forehead for not reading these years ago.
So, what’s everyone reading right now? What do you plan to read this year?
I used to make very complicated, intricately planned-out lists of resolutions every year. A few years ago, I stopped that, but this year I decided to give it another go. I ended up with three separate lists (Life, Writing, and Reading), each with eight goals.
Here are my Writing goals for the year:
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 make X dollars at it per month.
7) Have 500 followers on this blog. (I can dream, right?)
8) Have 200 followers on my personal blog (It’s a goal.)
Here are my Reading goals:
1) Read Gone with the Wind (for at least the 25th time. I normally read it every year, but it’s been a few years.).
2) Read 1 book per month from my TBR shelf.
3) Read all books on the reading list for my American Women Writers class (8 total).
(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Kensington Books and Lyrical Press.)
Laura Johnston loves music, reading, and running. She also loves to write stories with heart. Her newest book, Between Now and Never, is a contemporary young adult novel with shades of mystery and romance.
Cody Rush is the “good” kid: basketball star, stays out of trouble, has a loving family. Julianna Schultz is his complete opposite: she loves art, her brother has a troubled past, her home life is falling apart. Cody’s dad is an FBI agent. Julianna’s mom is in prison. To make things worse, Cody’s dad is the man who put her there. Cody has only spoken to Julianna once, but he knows that their parents’ history will always make them enemies. And Cody agrees.
Until he wakes up in the hospital, with no memory of the night before, and finds pictures of himself and Julianna. Laughing. Having fun. Kissing. What happened that night? Why can’t he remember anything? And what is going on between him and Julianna? As Cody searches for answers to the mystery, he and Julianna grow closer. But the secret hidden in Cody’s memory may drive them apart forever.
Between Now and Never is a contemporary romance with hints of old-fashioned sweetness. Cody and Julianna are perfect foils for one another, and their relationship grows throughout the trials they face while the two learn to judge things—and people—for themselves, despite their past and what other people say. Between Now and Never is a great read that will have the reader intrigued by the mystery of Cody’s memories while rooting for him and Julianna to work out the issues that stand between them.
(Galley provided by Kensington Books and Lyrical Press via NetGalley.)
So, I started revisions on Witches on Sunday, using HTRYN. I haven’t touched this story in years, and, in fact, have actually forgotten large chunks of it, so reading it has been an experience. In the first lesson of HTRYN, you’re looking for places the characters, story, or world went wrong (or places they went right). I remember the first time I used it to revise a story: I had red ink all over the pages, with notations of things. This time…the first few chapters have a few scattered marks, but the rest of the 20 chapters I’ve read so far have nothing. Nothing.
This concerns me. Oh, the story isn’t perfect, not by any means. But it’s written in a far different voice and POV than I use now, and that is what bothers me. It feels off, but not wrong. I’ve found a few “wrong” things: like a couple of details that don’t mesh well with the worldbuilding, but the story/plot itself seems to be sound. So…
I still have a lot more reading (and lessons) to get through, but as it stands now, the main thing seems to be that I’m going to have to fix the voice. I’m not as worried about that as I probably should be, because I would fix that a chapter at a time, which isn’t an overwhelming idea.
I have zero experience with this result from revisions. Anyone have any thoughts?
I’ve found inspiration both ways. (Or, really, it has found me.) Usually, though, it’s a bit more…mundane. A random thought, picture, name, or word will settle in my brain and I’ll hear an almost-audible click, and I know the Muse has snatched up whatever tiny piece just arrived and ran off into the darkness with it, giggling. (My Muse is a bit terrifying at times.) That little bit will be fitted together with other random bits to form a somewhat-complete idea. When the Muse is finished with an idea, she’ll give it to me. Or I’ll have to pry it from her greedy little fingers. One of the two.
But reading inspires me. Fiction. Creative non-fiction. Classics. Blog posts.
That being said, here are a few interesting, inspiring links I’ve come across lately:
Jackie Bardenwerper is a self-published author of young adult fiction. Her first novel, On the Line, is an honorable mention recipient in the Writer’s Digest Self-Published eBook Awards. Her second novel is Populatti, and deals with issues faced by young adults every day, including social media struggles and bullying.
At sixteen, Livi Stanley thinks she has it all: a new life free from the traumas of her middle-school-year awkwardness and unpopularity, great grades, good friends, and membership in Populatti, an exclusive website that allows her access to the hottest social scene around. Which includes Brandon Dash, baseball star and Livi’s long-time crush. But along with all the benefits, membership in Populatti has a catch: the other members can vote you out at any time.
When the online rumors start, growing uglier by the second, Livi’s place as a popster is threatened. Her friends don’t really seem to care, so Livi will have to look for help in places she never imagined. With her insider view of the reality behind Populatti, Livi has some questions: Why is everyone voting against her? Are these people really her friends at all? And does she even want to stay in Populatti, no matter what the votes decide?
Populatti is a book dealing with real issues faced by young adults today, in a world colored by the distorted lens of social media. The characters are well-imaged people, not cardboard cutouts, and the trials that Livi goes through are realistic—if also slightly horrific. This fast-paced novel captures the nuances of the high school social scene, and one girl’s realization that there is more to life than popularity and social media.
Holly Lisle is looking for readers and writers to build a community that fosters the growth of new writers. The readers will have the opportunity to help writers they support to grow and learn, the writers will gain support and assistance where they need it. Holly does wonderful things for other writers, and this is a fantastic new idea of hers that is still in beta development. If you’re interested, check it out here.
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
Meghan Ciana Doidge is a writer from Vancouver, Canada. She writes about magic and the supernatural, fantasy with a tint of romance. The newest book in her Dowser series, Cupcakes, Trinkets, and other Deadly Magic, is out now, and mixes werewolves, vampires, and cupcakes for a sweet twist on the urban fantasy genre.
Jade’s life was normal: bake cupcakes for her boutique bakery every morning, get in the occasional bit of trouble with her sister, Sienna, create art out of the magical items that seemed to find their way to her. Well, maybe not normal, but when you’re a dowser, half-witch and half…something else, “normal” is relative. Right up until the moment the vampire showed up on her doorstep.
Someone has been murdering werewolves in Vancouver. Someone with a lot of power at their disposal. Someone whose magic smells a whole lot like Jade’s.
She manages to convince the vampire investigator of her innocence, but is swept up into the search for the black magic murderer. Jade discovers that everything she has always thought she’s known is not the truth. Her family has been hiding things from her, things that will affect her life, her abilities, and her future…if she manages to stay alive at all when her barely-tested powers battle black magic for high stakes. And chocolate.
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic is a light-hearted urban fantasy with darker shadings. The characters are unique and well-realized, and the setting does not have the traditional feel of most urban fantasies. Instead, the author offers up appealing glimpses into the quirky setting of Vancouver that will have the reader eager for more. The tasty cupcake descriptions aren’t bad, either.
Tomorrow Is Another Day 