Stop Bitching and WRITE Already!

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Amanda Hocking, take over the world, writing

So I’m sitting here thinking about how I should write, how I want to write, but how I have nothing to write about and nothing to say. Basically I’ve been in a slump for awhile now (as my lack of blogging attests) and just haven’t found the mojo to get out of it. I’d been blaming the muse for awhile because well… It’s better than admitting that I just don’t have the juice. Then something happened.

My sister came over and in talking about television shows we ended up on the subject of Amanda Hocking. I’m not going to go into the weird way that our minds work though it is something akin to this scene from Gilmore Girls:

That’s basically what happens when we get together. Anyhow so she came over and we ended up talking about Amanda Hocking and her success as a writer. At some point I may or may not have been cackling and rubbing my hands together announcing my plans to take over the world. That’s when it happened. As I was loudly informing her that I too could (and would!) write a book in fifteen days I started to seek her opinion on a story that I’ve had bumping around in the back of my mind for a bit now.

Is it the story that I’ve been writing and working on for many, many months in hopes of someday finishing it? Nope. That story still sits (unfinished) in my writing folder. Was it another story also already begun and just waiting on finishing touches? Absolutely not. What this is, is the story that I want to read. So I started pitching the idea to her and then ended up asking her opinion. What happened next was writing magic.

After not getting out a single sentence (alright so I’m embellishing the facts. Isn’t that what good writers do?) for light years I sat down and did something I haven’t done since high school. I wrote an outline. It started as just wanting to capture her input and notes on my story and ended up with a lot of pitching ideas back and forth and getting the first three scenes outlined.

I discovered something magical (paranormal?) about writing tonight. Sometimes you have to stop bitching about the process and just sit down and write. You might find that block you thought was in the path between you and brilliance was naught but a stone that you could easily sidestep on your journey to taking over the world.

Felt Food for Christmas

Tags

Belle, felt food, links, tutorials

Belle has firmly hit the stage where she’s in love with play food. She’s going to be ecstatic on Christmas when she finds this under the tree:

To help her fully enjoy her kitchen (that, might I add, is better than mine!) I’m going to make her some food to go along with it.

Sliced bread

 

Romaine lettuce leaves

 

Tomato slices

 

Cheese slices

 

 

Brown bag lunch

 

Popsicles

Candy cane

Cookies

Doughnut

Bacon

Carrot

Tortilla chips

Pizza slice

Banana and slices

Christmas Tutorials 2012: Round 2

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christmas, links, tutorials

No tree? No problem with this Christmas tree wall art.

Christmas Book Tree

 

Christmas Tutorials 2012: Round 1

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christmas, links, tutorials

Reading These Past Months

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books, reading list

The last time I did a “Reading This Month” it was April and the year looked a lot longer… Once again, December has arrived and I’m scrambling to make goals and complete activities. On that note, I’m going to jump right in.

38.   Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #12)

39.    Hammered by Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid Chronicles #3)

40.    Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

41.    Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (Anna #1)

42.  Double by Jenny Valentine

43.   Bad Blood by Kristen Painter (House of Comarre #3)

44.    Dark Lover by J.R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1)

45. -53.                  The Calling, Changeling, Strife, Seeker, Origins, Eclipse, Reckoning, Full Circle, Night’s Child by Cate Tiernan

54.    Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

55.     Wither by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #1)

56.      Fever by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #2)

57.      Die for Me by Amy Plum (Revenants #1)

58.     Not a Genuine Black Man by Brian Copeland

59.     Skinwalker by Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock #1)

60.     Stolen into Slavery by Judith Bloom Fradin

61.     What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

62.     Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #1)

63.     Make Every Man Want You by Marie Forleo

64.     Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #2)

65.     Need by Carrie Jones (Need #1)

66.     Stray by Rachel Vincent (Shifters #1)

67.     Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

68.     Rogue by Rachel Vincent (Shifters #2)

69.     Black Blade Rules by J. A. Pitts (Sarah Beauhall #1)

70.     Tricked by Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles #4)

71.     Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (Paranormalcy #1)

72. – 75.          Kitty Takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand, Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #3 – 6)

76.     Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #1)

77.     Part Wild by Ceiridwen Terrill

78.     Cell 3116 or How to Marry a Loser Without Even Trying by Dee Sanderson

79.     Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (All Souls Trilogy #2)

80.     Secrets of a Webcam Girl by Annabelle Baxter

81.     Vicious Circle by Linda Robertson (Persephone Alcmedi #1)

82.     Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #7)

83.     The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #2)

84.     Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford (Jane Fairfax #1)

85.     The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

86.     Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

87.     A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang (Abby Sinclair #1)

88.     Kitty Goes to War by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #8)

89.     Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford (Jane Fairfax #2)

90.     Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson (Persephone Alcmedi #2)

91.     Green-Eyed Demon by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #3)

92.     A Sliver of Shadow by Allison Pang (Abby Sinclair #2)

93.     Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #4)

94.     City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #1)

95.     Blue-Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #5)

Somehow I got my count wrong and thus I’m behind. However, I won’t let that deter me from my goal. I still have a couple weeks left, I believe I can finish five books in that time. Happy reading!

Book SWAG

Tags

48 hour book challenge, reading

I have been remiss. Mother Reader sent me a lovely package of goodies awhile back as my prize for hitting a pure 48. So without further ado…

After Hello by Lisa Mangum (advance reader’s edition, signed baby!!!)

Kiss & Make Up by Katie D. Anderson (uncorrected proof)

Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught (advance uncorrected proof)

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter (Signed!!!)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Signed!!!)

Spyology Agent K Secret Decoder Pen

Spike Light (booklight)

Reading is Fun cards

Book themed necklace and earrings set

First let me get the gush out. Signed, advance copies of books = me in a gushy pile of mush on the floor. All are going on my reading list and have already pushed aside other books on the shelf. The decoder pen is being saved for my oldest who loves to keep everyone’s secrets. I’ll give it to him on the first day of school, slipped in his bag to brighten up his day.

The book light is MINE!!! Ahem, excuse me but with my love of paperbacks and my habit of sitting in the dark added to my clumsy, forgetful nature, I need all the book lights I can get. As for the necklace/earrings, for awhile I didn’t know what they were. I saw them in their little clear package and first thought they were some type of knitting markers. Ah, I thought, Mother Reader must have read the few blog posts where I mentioned attempting knitting… How nice. Now I must actually learn to knit. Because, you know, knitting markers and crochet markers are two different beasts. So, I left them in their little package. I showed them to my mom, as if to alleviate the mystery. Of course, she doesn’t crochet or knit so that wasn’t much help. She gave it a cock-eyed look and shook her head at me. “I don’t know what that is Muttix. Now will you please carry that water inside like I asked?” Hmph. Fine.

Mind you, it never occurred to me to open the package. The pieces looked small and I just knew I’d open the little bag and small things would scatter across the floor, never to be seen again. Today I decided to write this blog and that’s when I finally got the guts. Sinking to the floor (so as to minimize the spatter), I carefully opened the bag and tipped the contents into my hand. Huh. A necklace and earrings made from what looks like the pages of a book. Cool. I should’ve opened this earlier.

I’m going to read the signed ones first. Just because, I mean, the author touched them. I’m also going to attempt a review for each as it seems the right thing to do for free book swag.

Thanks Mother Reader!!!

Work at Home : Swagbucks

Tags

links, work at home

Changing economy, blah blah blah. My main reason for wanting to work at home is just because I want to. There isn’t a driving fire behind that (besides the need to pay bills, without which I might never work again). I figure that there are other people who want to do the same. Without further ado, take a look at this:

Swagbucks: This is my number one, go to site. I use it as a search engine (as opposed to Google) and I’ve installed the toolbar to make it easy to use. I also set it as my default page on my phone so when I’m searching on the go, I have the chance to earn. There are other ways to earn besides searching, that’s just the biggest draw for me since it is something I do anyway. There are surveys, special offers, coupons, games, special codes (from Facebook, Twitter, or their blog), etc. You can also watch Swagbucks TV and earn. I check out fashion, celeb, and food news. You can turn your SB into many things, I choose either Amazon or Paypal gift cards but there are many options.

So that’s the only one that I currently use and receive money from on a consistent basis. As I find more reliable options I’ll post them, but I only want to post those from which I’ve seen actual funds.

A Pure 48!

Tags

48 hour book challenge, reading challenge

When I started writing the last post, it was with the intention of updating. Not rambling. Wow. And that is exactly why I should follow my instincts when I think I’m too far gone to blog. Anywho…

Finished: (7 physical, 1 audio) Die For Me, Wither, Fever, Skinwalker, The Immortal Highlander (audio book), Not a Genuine Black Man, Stolen Into Slavery, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Unfinished: (3) Briar Rose, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Witches of East End

Total time spent reading/blogging/socializing: 48 hours!!! Roughly 8 hours of that spent on social. My actual social time is less than that, as I’d start to blog, get frustrated, go read, then remember I didn’t mark the time so just started marking it off when I looked up. But as that’s what I’ve got down, I’m going with it.

Pages read:  1879 (counting pages read in unfinished books)

Time spent NOT reading/blogging/socializing:  0

Caffeine consumed: Countless.

Alright, let me first express my joy, wonder, and some other feeling (oh wait, that’s nausea from the caffeine) at the achievement. I finally did it! I hit a pure 48!! I’d dance a jig but that will have to wait for when I’ve regained control over my lower extremities.

My page count is down from last year. When I went to check my stats this year against last, disappointment and bewilderment flavored the air. How, if I’d hit it pure this year and missed last, had I read less? The answer lies in the audio book. Last year we only managed it to disc 2 of the audio book, this year we completed the entire thing. Speaking of which, we were unaware that the book, The Immortal Highlander, was book six in a series. However, it seemed to do just fine as a stand alone. Our problem with it? While both my sister and I enjoy PNR, it is highly uncomfortable to unknowingly start listening aloud to something as steamy as this book. There was a bit of avoidance of eye contact and nervous laughter until we got too tired to play the prude. Next year I’ll make sure the only sex scenes I read are privately enjoyed…

I’ve just got to take another minute. Forty-eight hours of reading. Was it hard? Hell yeah. At a couple points I had to ask myself why I was putting myself through this. Part of the reason behind the blog post prior to this one was not to convince you of why I read, but to remind myself. But that was such a small part of it. The majority of this weekend was a barrel of monkeys because of the books. No other time of year can I eschew the outside world and just sit down and enjoy the physical act of reading.

Skinwalker was amazing. Jane Yellowrock is badass. I’ve already placed requests for the rest of the series and this is going on my to-buy list.

Not a Genuine Black Man will get its own review post later this week (once I’ve recovered). Suffice to say, it made an impact.

Stolen Into Slavery was labeled YA by my local library. Times like these, I’m reminded that I’m in the South. The book reads like YF but I know that it was labelled YA based on the fact that there are some hard truths in it. I’m going to read it aloud to the chits before I return it. It isn’t perfect, and in fact at points I thought it trite, glossing over the hard bits, but it broaches the subject.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running was… Interesting. I wanted to read a book about running. Instead, I somehow ended up with a book about writing. And running. And various parts of the author’s life that had nothing to do with either. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. It is just that, when I walk into a book being told (by the blurb, no less) that it is about running, I just expect more of it to actually be about running.

The ones I didn’t finish: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop was only put down because it was heavy. Seriously and in the literal sense. The hardback was too heavy and I was too tired so I exchanged it for something lighter. I’ll definitely be picking it back up later. I’ve read quite a bit of Jane Yolen so Briar Rose was no surprise (in my enjoyment), another one that I’ll finish later. Witches of East End… I don’t know what it is about you, I’ve been attempting to read you for so long. I want to read you, I enjoy being in your world, but when I put you down, I can’t seem to pick you back up. I’m going to force myself to finish it though as there is no reason not to. I like the book, enjoy it even, I’m just apathetic for some strange reason.

48 Hour Book Challenge really and truly completed!!! Happy dance! Happy dance!

(I hope this is all coherent. My apologies if it is not.)

EDIT: I was going to make the rounds and comment but after realizing that it took me an hour to write the above post, I’m going to go attempt to crash. My brain has apparently decided to stop working.

My Soul Mate, the Book

Tags

48 hour book challenge, reading challenge

I know that I just tweeted that I had no intention of blogging right now but I’m so jittery and just all around full of (weird, fluttery) energy that I couldn’t help it.

Anyhow…

Sigh. Why don’t men exist in the world as they are portrayed in fiction? Are they just the whispered fantasies of authors (and readers) the world over? Or are the men of collective dreams actually in existence in the real world?

I’m thinking that my first musing is the one most close to the truth… though perhaps with a bit of the second thrown in. Maybe a piece from one man, a smidgen of another, with a bit of fantasy to fill in the blanks? Irregardless (I like unnecessary words like that one), I still sigh a bit on the inside (and maybe some on the outside) when I read a man so perfect, so strong, so sweet, so sexy… Let me collect myself.

Back on topic, this is why I read. Because of the pure escapism. To read what can only be imagined in real life. To experience that which doesn’t actually exist. This feeling. The desire, the laughter, the sadness. Defeat, unending possibilities… All of that is why I read, why I can often be found curled up in a comfy corner, snuggling up with a book like a long-missed lover.

But it isn’t just the men. Beyond the declaration of true love and soul mates, I crave the action and adventure of a good read. Being transported back in time as I slowly turn the pages, drinking it all in. Visiting countless variations on a supposed future. Crying over the deep sadness created by a tragedy and then getting up and walking away from it, having lost nothing but salty water in the process. For as long as I can remember, I have had adventures through books.

My first experience with love was in a book. My first crush found in fiction. Judy Blume made me giggle in wonder about so many growing pains and I’m sure without her, I would have had a much rougher time with it. Jane Auel taught me about sex better than any sex ed class I’d blushed through in school. Ronald Dahl taught me that it is ok, no, fantastic to be the one who loved to read and that sometimes, grown ups weren’t always right. Stephen King scared the ever-loving shit out of me.

I searched for clues everywhere, inspired by children who lived in a boxcar and a little girl detective. I looked for a conch shell of my very own, scanned my room for little people, believed in fairies, peered through rabbit holes, lived the life of a horse, moved around first the big woods and then the prairie.

So many memories, as real to me as my own. While reading about staying golden, I had my first real kiss. I whispered tales of mischievous  rabbits to my growing belly. In times of loss, when I felt most alone, I turned to the classics and Austen and Dickens held my hand and my heart. Numerous poets took up residence in my mind as I learned to let my anger and sadness leak onto the page instead of out my eyes.

Reading has been a constant in my life. Books have been the cornerstone of my existence. Knowledge, entertainment, solace, and hope have been provided to me from the same constant source: the page. While the messenger has changed throughout the years, and with it, the message, what has been important was that it was delivered.

Why did I chose to spend my weekend reading? Why did I forgo sleep and showers to bury my nose in the stories of others? Because of this feeling, this inexplicable thing, that I can find nowhere else.

For I have found my soul mate, the one I’ve been looking for all along, and it is the book.

Quick

Tags

48 hour book challenge, reading challenge

Not an update really (just turned off the audio book but have spent the past hour socializing while listening to it on and off at the same time, but counting that as social time not reading time as it was frequently switched off)…

Just had to post, I dislike capchas. They hate me. They mock my eyesight and the audio version sounds like a cult is attempting to steal my immortal soul and bring it to live forever on the internetz. I really, really, really abhor them.

Tried to post on everyone’s blog who is participating this year (less than half of what was participating last year… Don’t know what happened. Sad.) but I know that I missed a few, either from bleary-eyed tiredness or because I couldn’t comment without signing up for a service I don’t currently use (and I’m on a LOT of various sites). Then a few, I failed your capchas. Repeatedly. And then gave up.

But I’m going back to physical reading as the socializing/continuous intake of coffee has turned me into a semblance of a human, which I need to take advantage of. On the seventh disc of the audio book which only has nine total so we decided we need to save it.

Words have resumed but math fails me, thus I’ll post some stats later.