Sonshine Thoughts

Buckets of Tears or Don't Read this Book While Driving

2012-01-23T19:48:00.000-05:00

So my original title for this post was Tears and Snot and Drool, but I though that was a bit disgusting for a post title. So instead I subject you to it in the first line. Classy, no?

I drive over 2 and a half hours 3-4 days a week commuting to school. Most of the time I really don't mind it and when people ask how I can stand it I have two words for them: Audio Books.

I can't even begin to tell you how many books I have managed to read over the last year and a half by listening to them.

However, sometimes this can cause problems. Such as when I listened to the ending of Bridge to Terabithia. I have read this book multiple times. I have seen a couple different movie versions of it. I ALWAYS CRY. I am a crier. I freely admit this.

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But usually I just kind of tear up. Or have the silent tear trickle. I honestly can't think of ANY book or movie that has ever made me sob the kinds of body shaking sobs that Bridge to Terabithia does.

Until now.

AND THE BOOK IS BARELY HALF OVER.

11-year-old Aubrey has everything she needs: food, a house, and a new family - her beta fish Sammy. A tragic accident has taken her family away and when Aubrey has to move in with her grandmother one of the only ways she can express what she's going through is writing letters. But as she develops a friendship with the girl her age next door and gets to know her grandmother better, Aubrey slowly learns that maybe she's not so alone after all.

Aubrey's grief is so raw and so harshly painful that I found myself literally gasping with sobs. Part of the experience is listening to the amazing performance of Becca Battoe. She captures the voice of Aubrey so well and does remarkable justice to Suzanne LaFleur's beautiful prose.

Perhaps you think my adjectives are a bit too glowing? Go read, or better yet, listen to this book. I guarantee it will touch your heart. I can't get it out of my mind and I can't wait to get in my car tomorrow so I can hear the rest.

Grown Up or Something

2012-01-20T11:30:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I graduate this May with my MA in English. These two years have flown by in a blur of reading, grading, writing, and, fortunately, a lot of laughing too.

But the scary thing is that I now have to figure out what I'm doing next.

I have definitely decided not to go straight for my PhD, but that means I have no plans.

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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Except I just found this great accredited online program to get my Masters in information and library sciences.

So I started the application today.

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I also set up a "professional" e-mail address.

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And started working on my CV.

And updating my resume.

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I'm feeling all grown up and everything.

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Now excuse me so I can go get dressed and maybe eat some Lucky Charms.

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Breaking the Rules

2012-01-04T11:37:00.000-05:00

If you read my post yesterday you may remember that I said one of my goals for this year was to figure out what I wanted to do with this blog.

Well, last night I think I finally realised what the problem is. Then I read this post today by Jamie Harrington, and she's come to the same conclusion.

When I started blogging I had no idea what I was doing. I was following one blog (Nikki Stafford's fabulous Nik at Nite) and pretty much only talking about Lost. Then I started visiting the blogs of other Nik at Nite followers whose comments I enjoyed. And I discovered the world of author and writer blogs. I also found that people wrote about funny stuff from their lives. And food. And movies. And socks. And other random stuff. So I started writing random posts about whatever I wanted to write. Then I started reading more and more blogs and suddenly there were "rules" - There were things you were "supposed to do" to build readership and develop a platform.

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I felt like I was doing everything wrong. So I set up a schedule and failed miserably, so I started only doing one regular feature (Retail Wednesdays) and feeling guilty for not doing more. And I stopped having time to go to other people's blogs. My readership dropped off and I got frustrated.

Over the summer I established a schedule again. And actually kept up with it. But I had even less time to visit other blogs. Then school started and I stopped having time to do any blogging or reading and I felt guilty. Constantly.

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It stopped being fun. It started being a chore. An extension of all of my other responsibilities instead of a chance to be free and goofy and enjoyable.

So I've decided to do two things - actually three - actually four things this year:

Post what I want to post when I want to post it. I want to rediscover the fun of blogging. I want to remember why I loved coming here.
Stop feeling guilty for not posting regularly. Who wants to read my continually apologies for not posting? No one! That's who. So I'm not going to apologize. I'm just going to post.
I'm going to go back to visiting other people's blogs. Not to get more people to visit me (though I've noticed that's usually a side-affect), but because I miss reading what you guys have to say. I miss laughing and chatting and getting to know you all better.
Clean up the clutter on my blog. Maybe even mix up the background - though I do like this one. Get rid of old things I don't need. Make it a little fresher. You know. Before the end of the world and all :)

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So that's my goal/plan. I'm breaking the blogging rules and doing what's right for me. I hope you'll stick around for the ride!

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2012-01-03T18:46:00.001-05:00

Looking Back:

This has been an interesting year for me, and I thought it would be good to do a little reflecting on the highs and lows:

Survived a full year of grad school, which I loved/hated/loved depending on the day.
Survived a full year of teaching freshman English, which I pretty much loved/loved/loved - except for that whole grading papers part :)
I started a tumblr. Best time sucker EVER.
I won NaNo for the second time and ended up with an actual workable, revisable manuscript that I love.
I managed to keep up with all my favorite TV shows and still do all the work I was supposed to.
I read 140 books - only 10 shy of my goal.
Experienced the heart-rending closure of Borders. Saying good-bye to my co-workers, customers, and the store itself was one of the saddest things I've gone through and brings tears to my eyes even now.

Started a book club and then a book blog with a bunch of my coworkers who just couldn't bear saying good-bye to each other forever.
Became an aunt to the CUTEST little ladybug girl in the entire world.

Proof that she is in fact the cutest ladybug girl. ever.

Cut my hair. (hey, that's a big deal for me!)
Managed to post on my blog pretty regularly over the summer.
Lost track of my bloggy buddies. Didn't carve out the time to visit around and keep up with everybody. I really, really miss it.
Experienced the premier of the final Harry Potter movie with an amazing group of movie-goers in Toronto.

Went to Italy! With good friends and professors from school.
Was a panelist in three panels at Polaris (including moderating 2 of them) - WAY outside my comfort zome, but SO loved every minute of it!
Started going to the gym again!
Decided not to go straight on for my doctorate, which is a decision I'm happy with.
Laughed a lot, made good friends, cried some.

Looking forward:

This year is going to bring a lot of changes and, while I don't really make "resolutions" I think it would be good to make some goals or articulate some hopes.

Finish grad school on a high note! I graduate in May and I want this semester to be more positive than this past semester was.
Get at least one adjuncting job. I love teaching freshman English and I would love to be able to do this while I figure out what my next step is.
Figure out what I want to do with this blog. The every day thing is most definitely not working. Also, I feel like it gets stale when I put myself in too much of a schedule. But I need some sort of regularity to keep myself motivated. So I need to figure that out.
Get back to visiting all y'all's blogs. I miss it. I miss it so much and that made me realise that I don't want to do without it. So I need to carve out some time to do it.
Rewrite Solo, my NaNo novel. I love this book, but it needs some serious work. I will buckle down and do this. I don't want another crummy rough draft sitting around moping at me.

Win NaNo for the third time. Yes.
Read 150 books. I want to make this goal this year.
Step out of my comfort zone more. I'm not sure what form this should take, but I'm getting claustrophobic and if I'm not moving away from home yet I need to do more things to get me out and meeting people with like interests.
Help build our group book blog into a great place for readers to gather and share book love.
Waste less time on the interwebs. Twitter is fantastically fun and Tumblr is a great place to share fandom love, but honestly? I need to set a timer or something and get out more.
Go to the gym regularly. Even when I'm busy. I know I feel better when I do this, so why is it so hard?!
Laugh hard, cry sometimes, make more friends.

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What are your highlights from last year? Things you're looking forward to this year?

Booksellers Without Borders

2011-12-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

As those of you that have been around here for a while know, I used to work at Borders. And closing our doors was one of the saddest things I've ever experienced. Fortunately my coworkers and I found a way to keep in touch - we started a book club. We meet once a month and it's like a mini reunion every time ... and sometimes we even talk about the book ;)

Well, at our December meeting we decided that it would be the best thing ever to start a group blog! So we did. So if you're looking for a book suggestion or want to join us on our book club reading or just want to see what we're reading or thinking, we would love it if you'd pop on by and check us out. Maybe even comment or follow us. Or spread the word.

You can find our blog at Booksellers Without Borders

And on Twitter at The Booksellers

Thanks! Y'all are the best of the best of the best!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:30:00.002-05:00

To all my lovely blogging friends. May you have a blessed day!

Dream Ticket

2011-12-22T18:32:00.000-05:00

Okay. So last night I had a dream that my school gave me a ticket for having too many "identifiable items" in my car. Like a map opened to my home town. The ticket was for $2400. I tried to argue with them, but they were adamant that I had to pay. I have no idea what this means. Except I think my semester from youknowwhere finally caught up with me.

And there's your little bit of random for the day.

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CHRISTMAS IS IN LIKE 3 DAYS PEOPLE! Have a merry one!
And a little more random. Because I'm generous that way.

A Little Christmas Poem

2011-12-16T17:43:00.001-05:00

Holy smokes! Can it really have been so long since I posted? I really shouldn't even be on here now since I have a paper to write (the last one of the semester!) but...

I have been very very sad about my Borders being closed, particularly now when I think about all the fun, craziness, angst, etc. that would be going on if we were open. It was making me all teary eyed today thinking about not spending these weeks with my Borders family. Then my manager posted on Facebook about a poem I wrote, apparently 3 years ago today, when the mall got evacuated (for no real reason as it turned out) and as we waited for hours, huddled in cars, trying to stay warm but not asphyxiate, we began composing our own version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which I then later finished and printed up and passed around at work.

I don't THINK I've posted it here, but even if I did, I had way too much fun with it not to repost:

'Twas the Week Before Christmas
or
Evacuation: Holidays at the Galleria

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the mall
Deadly gas was a-creeping unnoticed by all.
The shoppers were shopping caught up in their cares
For in only one week Christmas day would be there.
Their children were hustled first up and then down
Unaware of the danger gathering round.
The cashiers were ringing, the booksellers selling,
Each customer wanting a book most compelling
When out in the mall there arose such a clatter
Larry called from upstairs to see what was the matter.

Away to the phone Danielle flew with a squeak
But there was no security with whom we could speak.
Our emergency box went from yellow to red.
"Evacuate the store" was all that it said.
With a breath and calm voice Danielle gave the report,
"The mall has announced we must all leave the store."
Customers were waiting with books in their hands
And the call to get out only heightened their demands.
Much slower than inchworms the customers moved
And making them leave very difficult proved.
"I just need the bathroom." "Can I buy this book?"
"How 'bout some coffee?" "My bag someone took."
From the back of the store to the front they delayed.
"We have to get out! Leave the store! Go Away!"

Like obstinate children the customers balked
As we nudged and we prodded and forced them to walk.
So out of the building we went to the cold
And gathered at lightpost D6 like we're told.
And then on the schedule that Jessica brought
She counted to see we were all in the lot.
As we noticed that Larry was not to be found
Through the cars, cross the lot Larry came with a bound.
And then we called Kevin to tell him the news.
"Are you joking?" he said. "Oh, what money we'll lose."
"Will they let us back in?" Charles wanted to know.
"I don't have my keys. I have no where to go."
We gathered in cars all lined up in a row
And turned up the heat as we warmed all our toes.

We turned on the walkies to talk in between
But then someone decided that "Rudolph" they'd sing.
(Inspired, no doubt, by the antlers and nose
On Melanie's car - at least, so I suppose)
We had a long wait, Danielle wanted to leave.
"My shift ended at seven, it's ten past I believe."
Brian's car was all fogged since the windows were closed
And we laughed and we warned against starting to doze.
"Oh, but carbon monoxide's a good way to die."
"Then we won't have to pay you," said Bill and said I.
"My managers are mean," Brian cried to the crew.
"You're just figuring that out? Oh, that's right, you are new."

"T-Mobile says we will be closed for the night."
Wayne delivered the news, but T-Mobile wasn't right.
We sprang to the mall as they opened the doors.
"If you work here, then you may return to your stores."
So with all the debris left from customer's flight
Merry Christmas to all, we've reopened tonight.

Holy Smokes, or NaNo Day 30, or VICTORY IS MIIIIIIIINE!

2011-12-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here we go! My last day to spam you with my NaNo progress.

About day 24 I was seriously starting to wonder if I would make the deadline. I got more and more behind and school got busier and busier. But then, on day 26 as I posted, I did some word wars and challenges that gave me a 4,000 word day. I followed that up with a 2,000 word day, which gave me a lot of incentive to finish. How lame to come so close and not cross the finish line. I am by no means disparaging anyone who did not finish by any margin. I am talking about my own peptalk to my own self. Yes, I do embarrass myself into doing things. All the time. Hey, it works, right!?

Anyways, by the time I sat down to write yesterday I only needed 1,200 words to finish it. I exported my Scrivener document to Word to double check my word count. As I scrolled down to the end of the document so I could smash out my last words I stumbled across a conversation I had forgotten about. It's one of the many info dumps that occurred in this novel so I could work through my world building while still adding onto my word count. So I know that it won't end up in the next draft in its entirety, but as I passed it I had to stop and reread it. As I did I got all giddy and happy. It reignited my love for this world and these characters and reminded me what is at stake.

Taking that enthusiasm I jumped down to where I had left off and zipped through my last scene. Is it good? No, not really. The ending is way too preachy and sappy. But is this draft basically done? YES! Do I have a world that has come together and developed in ways I never anticipated? Absolutely. Do I have a main character that has grown throughout the progression of the novel? Shockingly, YES! Do I have great secondary characters that I'm dying to develop further in my next draft? Oh my goodness yes. Devvon, I will discover your secrets. And Virra? Let's just say the little twist in your character surprised me.

This is only my 3rd NaNo year and it's my 2nd win, but it is definitely my most satisfying experience. I felt like I was better prepared going in, that I have a better and more cohesive (though all over the place and completely convoluted) rough draft than any rough draft I've ever written. There is a TON of stuff that needs to be fixed and rearranged and taken out and added in and I am giddy over the prospect of all the plotting and outlining and rewriting I get to do now (As soon as I write these 2 massive research papers).

I understand that NaNo doesn't work for everybody, but it has always been a fantastic experience for me and, whether I end up with a few random scenes, a random idea for a story that doesn't end up going anywhere, or a workable rough draft, the point is that I wrote. That I made time in my schedule to get my thoughts down on paper. That I created a world that didn't exist before. Made friends with other WriMos. These are the things that make NaNo worth it and I most highly recommend it to anyone who wants a challenge or just wants to try something new. It's the experience, not the "perfect product" that matters.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now and celebrate my win by allowing myself to watch a couple episodes of Friends. And by leaving you with a cute kitty.

happy December everyone! And happy writing!

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I Shall Prevail! Or NaNo Day 26

2011-11-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

Word Count: 44,122 CAUGHT UP!

Mood: FEELING FANTASTIC! Did 1k in half an hour on a challenge from a fellow WriMo and then a 2K hour a little later, which got me majorly caught up. I'm also hitting the climax of the story, so it's all actiony and things are happening and this weird guy named Ulrrick just showed up and I snicker every time I type his name. This is where I'm pretty solid with what is happening and what is going to happen, though the details, of course, are coming as I write. But it's a good place to hit at this point in the month, because I'm really feeling like it won't be a problem to actually win this year! I've been holding steady at various levels of being behind all month, but never let myself get to the point where I was ready to despair. I think 4 days behind was the worst that it got and 2 days of burst writing got me back into the game.

The absolute best thing is that I'm kind of in love with this WIP even though the middle is SO rough and I've been writing out of order and I think I have people alive when they should be dead and dead when they should be alive, but I don't care, because the scenes are getting written and after November is over I can go back and outline and rewrite and figure out what the hay bale is missing and I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT. More than I've ever ever been before.

How is your NaNo journey? Are you despairing? Excited? Already done?! (you overachiever you)

A Tower of Books!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're having a marvelous day of family, friends, food, and writing (for those of us behind on our NaNo word count *cough cough*).

One thing that I am epically thankful for is the mountains of books that I own. I love books. I love reading, I love authors, I love writer friends. *hugs*

So earlier this week, the lovely folks over at Reading Teen posted a video of a "Tower of Epic Bookishness" and challenged their followers to build their own tower.

Well, Naomi and I just can't pass up a challenge like that so..... we had the afternoon free and we decided to kick it up a notch and not only build a tower, but build an Eiffel Tower made completely from books.

Here you go - The Tour de Livre!

Excuse me, but have you seen my brain? or NaNo day 18

2011-11-19T08:00:00.005-05:00

I'm sure you're tired of me spamming your Google Readers with pointless posts about my progress or lack thereof. Just think ... November is almost over!

I know a lot of people who complain that NaNoWriMo takes place during the month of November. Thanksgiving, the beginning of the holiday season, school, work problems... But I think the thing is that NO month would ever be good for some people. There are definitely times that I wonder if I have lost my mind in trying to fit this into my already crammed full schedule. But then I sit down and get lost in my story and realize that the strange boy who appeared in the second chapter is one of my favorite characters I've ever written. And that Devvon has way more layers than I first realized. And that Evva, well, she isn't the kick butt heroine I was anticipating, but I really like her anyway. And that the woman who annoyed me by her appearance in chapter 5 was the key to helping me figure out my entire plot. And that Granntt is pretty much THE biggest jerk I've ever written... what a sleazeball. How fantastic!

And I realize that all these late nights, early mornings, frantic writing sessions, panicking over homework and grading while I'm plotting in the back of my mind... it's all so totally worth it.

I have every intention to reach that 50,000 word mark before November is over. But if I don't? Well, there's a solid beginning to a story that probably wouldn't have gotten written if it weren't for NaNo. I have characters I want to chortle over. I have a crazy plot I might never have figured out. So it's totally worth it. Is my draft even a proper draft? Sometimes I wonder... but it's something. And it's something I wouldn't have without this insanely fun challenge.

Do you have to do it? Absolutely not. But don't knock it till you've tried it. What could it hurt? I honestly can't think of any reason not to at least give it a whirl.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.

I'm totally at 26,075 words and I know I'm about 4,000 words behind, but I wrote some yesterday! Yeah! That makes my mood exhausted, but happy.

Yeah! Augh! Yeah! Augh! or NaNo Day 17

2011-11-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

Word Count: 25,275 - Broke the half way mark! Yeah! Still behind, but maintaining at least :)

Mood: Up and Down for sure. Yesterday, in the middle of class I figured out a major plot point for my novel. I was so excited beyond all reason and I had to SIT IN CLASS for 2 hours and then drive over an hour home and then eat something before my stomach ate itself and then. ALL motivation gone. Managed to crank out a couple thousand words by forcing myself to sit down and just write. Like where it's heading, but today I look at where I left off and don't know where to go next. So I'm back to the blah part. I really just want to crank out the roughness of this rough draft so I can then go back and figure out what pieces are missing. I love this story and I really want to see it developed, but this is the first time ever that I've been more excited about the prospects of revising than I am about the idea of drafting.

Surprises: The random woman that appeared a while back turned out to be the key to my whole entire plot. Funny how that happens!

Blurgh. Or NaNo Day 14

2011-11-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

Word Count: 20,909 - about 2 days behind. Bad, but not insurmountable.

Mood: Happy because I finally downloaded Scrivener and now I have all my notes and everything in one place and it's got me geeking out all over the place. Cranky because my plot is lagging again.

Surprises: Not so much surprises as awkwardnesses. I can't get the main male character down. He's supposed to be really annoying, but the main female character is coming off as rude instead. Also this random woman popped up and she and Evva are having this weird conversation right now and I have no idea where it's going. I may just start skipping forward to stuff I know has to happen. At least to get words on the page.

How about you? Hit any snags? Having problems? This project has been so up and down for me.

Why do I keep using the same letters, or NaNo Day 12

2011-11-13T08:00:00.008-05:00

Word Count: 18,744 - about 1300 words behind. Not too shabby.

Mood: Confused.

Surprises: So yesterday I realised I had a Lirra and a Larra. Today I realised I have a Garrett and a Granntt. Good heavens. And yes, the double letter thing is a cultural thing. Don't know why yet, but every single character has at least one double letter if not two. I think it's my way of defamiliarizing common names and creating some sort of language difference and continuity. I tend to do this with dystopian or fantasy that I write. *ponders*

Had a great scene yesterday. Weird scene today. Tomorrow I'm pretty sure someone dies and I'm not looking forward to it.

It's Been a Loooong Week, or NaNo Day 11

2011-11-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Word Count: 17,050... made up some wordage tonight. Only about 1300 words behind now!

Mood: wiped out.

Surprises: Named a new character Larra and then realised that Evva's best friend's name is Lirra. Now I have to figure out which one to change, but I don't want to change EITHER :(

Also ended up with this horrific scene unfolding that I never intended. Holy cow. Intense and really terrible and rather emotionally draining. Taking this novel to darker places than I thought it would go. But it's so ... right. In a writing sense that is. It's what needed to happen at this point and this one event does a better job of showing the corruption I've been trying to figure out how to express than pretty much anything I had planned.

How about you. Any twists you hadn't seen coming? Does writing wipe you out sometimes? I'm telling you that exhausted me!

Cover Fun, Procrastination, and NaNo Day 10

2011-11-11T09:00:00.002-05:00

Word Count: 14,369 - about 2300 words behind. Totally doable.

Mood: Happy

Surprises: today I have a surprise for YOU! Okay, only sort of. I mean... never mind let me just go with this.

So I've been wanting to create a cover for my NaNo novel. Really badly. The society in the novel is sort of obsessed with trees. I think I may have mentioned this before. They count time in seasons and rings instead of months and years, etc, etc. And the novel opens with a funeral where Evva performs a ceremony with a leaf. So I've been weaving in a lot of tree/plant imagery and speak. It's petering out as I just try to write, but it's something that will be important in the novel as I work on revisions later, so I wanted to cover to reflect that. I thought it would be fun to go out and take some pictures myself and play with them so it would be totally my work. Today it was gorgeous, so I took a break from grading in the afternoon, found a leaf I liked and started a photo shoot. I ended up laying flat on my back in the grass, holding the branch with the tips of my fingers as I blindly took the picture since the sun was so bright. I love the way they came out. Then tonight I allowed myself to play with Photoshop while Vampire Diaries was on. This is the first cover I came up with:

I like the look of it. I love the starkness of the red leaf against the sky and the clouds cooperated perfectly. But it seemed a little - I don't know. Plain or something. so I played with it a bit more, adding some really faded layers and developed this:

I like the lettering of the name on this better and I love the faint leaves in the clouds. But I changed the title a little bit and I'm not sure I like it. I'm also not sure if the single leaf isn't a better image with the title being Solo.
But the main thing is I had a ton of fun with it.

What do you think? Have a preference between the two? Do you ever make fake covers (or real covers ) for your WIPs? Is this a reasonable form of procrastination? :)

Pooped, or NaNo Day 8

2011-11-10T09:00:00.004-05:00

Word Count: 12,797 - about 2200 behind :(

Mood: tired and a bit cranky

Surprises: blrgh. I've just hit that point where everything sounds ridiculous and lame and nothing is happening. Mid-month slump. I will persevere!

When did this turn into Personal Enlightenment? or NaNo Day 7

2011-11-09T09:00:00.006-05:00

Word Count: 11,688 - about a day behind

Mood: Kinda bummed about being behind, but glad it's only a day. Also pretty excited about some things I figured out and kinda emotionally wired.

Surprises: So, my main character decided to go visit her parents and in a too long expository thought block, which will definitely be reduced or completely removed in revisions, she laid out the basic tenets of the society. Now, I knew a number of things already. I knew that it was a rather controlled society. I also knew it was another world. As in not ours. I also knew that this was not going to be a dystopian novel at all. Because it was going to be all about the secret powers and the evil scientists (not that all scientists are evil, but some of the ones in the novel are... not to hurt the feelings of any scientists that randomly stumble across this blog ... okay, writing these posts really late at night is apparently not the best idea.)

Anyhoodles... yeah, so in this expository paragraph I realized that 1) this is TOTALLY a dystopian novel and I started wondering if it's too derivative of Tahereh Mafi, Elana Johnson, and Allie Condie, but deep inside I know it's not - I just happen to have read all of their books fairly recently and it has some sorta similar elements. 2) it totally takes place on earth in the future, which actually makes things a lot simpler and more complicated at the same time. 3) It is about the secret powers and the evil scientists, but it's also about a girl who has to figure out who she is in a world where people are completely defined by their Pair. You basically aren't anything on your own. Nothing. You're a second-class citizen. So even if you're an amazing doctor or a fabulous chef, your talent is repressed. And it's all about how Evva has to find out who she is alone. Not as a girl, not as half of a Pair, but as herself and who she wants to be and what she wants to do, no matter what other people tell her. 4) It feels a little uncomfortable, because it's pretty different than anything I've ever written. But it feels really right. I'm single. I've been single my whole life and it's really hard to navigate a world where people are defined by their relationship status. No matter what people say, it's true. Is it something that's changing? Yes and no. Life in our world is designed for couples. It's natural. I don't have a problem with that. I really, truly don't. But it's hard to be on the outside of that sometimes. So I like the idea of writing a book that isn't a romance.It isn't about who the girl will end up with in the end. In fact, I already know that Evva doesn't end up with anybody, though there will certainly be some cute boys along the way. Because you have to know who you are and what you want and what you have to offer the world before you can truly be able to enjoy that in someone else. And that's a message that I feel often gets overlooked a bit in YA fiction (though I totally love a lot of those squee worthy boys). And I'm totally not dissing ANYONE who writes romance or has a romance in their novel. This is just something I have to write, whether it goes anywhere or not. 5) I totally didn't mean to get on my soapbox there, but I feel a lot better and I'm really excited about where this novel is going, no matter what happens.

Phew. so, any soul wrenching revelations come to you while you write? Do share!

Are you sure this was only one day? or NaNo Day 7

2011-11-08T09:00:00.010-05:00

Word Count:10,629 - about 1,040 words behind. Easy to make up. I will stay positive!

Mood: TIRED. Today consisted of three days: 1) 1201 class, which was library orientation, and my own reading and research before I left school. 2) Gym. Again. Just for like 45 minutes and then home for a shower and cleaning. 3) Dinner, which was amazing, and evening television shows. I can't miss Terra Nova and Hart of Dixie was fun tonight and I absolutely can't miss Castle. Which was great. As always. Yes, I could have been writing instead of watching, but I didn't. And so I'm behind. You wanna make something of it?! Oh. I guess you should add touchy to mood too :)

Surprises: Doing stomach crunches makes it hurt to laugh. Or cough. or pretty much move your stomach in any way whatsoever. What?! It's not a surprise to you? well, I wish I'd gotten the memo :-P

Also, this gave me a pretty good giggle, so I thought I'd share:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

NaNo Day 6 (Sorry, no clever title today)

2011-11-07T09:00:00.001-05:00

Word Count: 10,127 - on track! Still! Shockingly!

Mood: Excited that I am keeping up, but feeling a little blah about the novel. Had a really awkward encounter between the female MC and the male MC and it was ... awkward. I mean, it was supposed to be, but it wasn't awkward like, oh yeah you can tell they're all awkward together. It was like um, yeah. Don't really get where this is going kind of writing awkward. Anyways. I'm sure it will come together. Eventually. I hope. Did end up with Evva coming face to face with her mother and found out they have a distinctly CHILLY relationship. Which I didn't know. Which raises some interesting questions for later in the novel for me. So that's good.

Any writing awkwardness for you? Have you been able to push through it? Isn't it tempting to agonize over it until you get it "right"?

My Motivation Went to Vegas with Tessa's Muse, or NaNo Day 5

2011-11-06T09:00:00.003-05:00

Word Count: 8,716

Mood: Impressed that I managed to make my goal for the day.

Surprises: Somehow the random upstairs neighbor that bounded into the novel on Day 1 is cute and adorably friendly. Not a love interest, but a fun character to have around. Didn't see that one coming AT ALL. Also, Evva's best friend is kind of funky and a bit of a rebel. I'm fairly certain she's going to die, even though she wasn't supposed to. This is depressing me. A lot.

So today I was supposed to be super duper productive and get all this homework done and spend time getting ahead on my word count for later this month. Yeah. It's all my fault really, because I allowed myself to get sucked into Facebook and Twitter. Did manage to get some stuff done, just not as much as I had hoped.

Anyhoo... I ended up in this Twitter conversation with Mia Hayson and Tessa Conte and it was pretty hilarious. Among other things Tessa asked if anyone had seen her muse and I told her it had probably run off with my motivation. We also determined that they apparently stole Mia's chocolate and went off to Vegas to GAMBLE IT ALL AWAY. hahahaha! Okay, so maybe you had to be there, but these are the kinds of conversations that are only made possible through Twitter and NaNo word count despair.

So how has your productivity been? Had any random conversations lately? Can I use them in my novel? :D

I Has a StorySaurus, or NaNo Day 4

2011-11-05T08:00:00.001-04:00

Word Count: 6,809 - still on track!

Mood: Better. Things are starting to get interesting and I have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen next, so the words are flowing faster and the plot is moving a bit more than it was.

Surprises: Nothing really, but I did take some time yesterday to set up my inspiration/plotting board. Are you curious? Of course you are!

So here it is:

Tada!
So, I totally stole the StorySaurus idea from Jamie over at Totally the Bomb. And believe me, hers is much more awesomesaucier than mine is. Much. But mine gets my main plot points in place, and because it's a white board I can totally erase and move and add and change and stuff.
Other things to note: the mascot sitting up in the very top right corner is Gothic NaNo Cheerleader Barbie, which Lindsey, my amazing CP, sent me last year when I won NaNo. GNC Barbie is the depressing source of so much inspiration :) For instance. She is glaring at me right now for writing this instead of raising my word count.
The list of numbers down the side is where I should be at the end of each day if I want to keep on track. I know I have to write 1,667 words a day, but having the total needed to date written out helps me see at a glance how close or far I am from my goal.
The little bits around the edges are some pictures that have inspired me/gotten me in the mood/otherwise made me happy or thinky or writery.
And then I have the open areas to jot in bits of information, questions, etc. Things I don't want to forget.
And that giant word in the middle is the title and is there to help me remember the overall driving point behind the story.

So there you have it! How about you? What do you do to get inspired?

How Did That Happen? Or NaNo Day 3

2011-11-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

Word Count: 6062 On Track!

Mood: Weird. I was trying to keep a day ahead, but had an abysmal word count from two nights ago. Wanted to at least make it up last night and ended up picking up an extra 1,000 words, which totally shocked me.

Surprises: It is incredibly hard to write a novel that is set in a fantasy world, but is also a rather Earth-like society. It's a tree based society (e.g. they have Branches instead of Streets, count time in Seasons and Rings instead of months and years) and I'm having such a hard time making that work without info dumps (bad in a stream of consciousness type style) or just leaving it up to my audience to figure out. And I can't change ALL the terms because then it's like deciphering another language, which is bad. And it's hard to find the balance between what should be the same, what should be slightly different, and what should be totally different.

Also, things are definitely taking a LOOOOOOONG time to tell, which is good for my word count, but frustrating for pacing, because I know tons of this is going to have to be cut and I'm not entirely sure how much to have happen now and how much to bring in later. My character is changing too fast, but I don't want her to be too mopey for too long, because that is boring.

Oh the fun of NaNo writing!

Any weird world building things you've come across? How's your pacing?

Surprise Support, or What happened on NaNo Day 2

2011-11-03T08:00:00.005-04:00

Word Count: 4,345, but the day isn't over and I don't have class today. Just research and grading, so I'm hoping to squeak out the rest of my daily goal - which is only about 700 words. Easy peasy.

Current Mood: Strangely blah. I've been so excited and psyched. Maybe I'm just tired because of my long school day yesterday. Had to force myself to write last night, even though I'd been looking forward to it ALL DAY LONG.

Surprises: I stuck an "Ask me about my novel" sticker on my office door and one of my fellow TAs saw it and exclaimed over it, wanted to know everything about what I was doing, insisted on reading my opening paragraphs and demanded to read more. Said when it got published she'd be all, yeah, I read the first draft. She also promised to ask me about it regularly over the month. Her enthusiasm was so fantastic. Thinking about it is making me want to write again, so here I go!

Any happy supporters that have inspired you already?

P.S. I'm presetting these posts at night to post the next day. It's weird to talk about tonight as yesterday when it's really today... weird.

Insanity has begun aka NaNoWriMo or WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING

2011-11-02T08:00:00.002-04:00

Day: 2

Word Count so far: 3545! Woot!

Mood: Optimistic. Off to a good start. So glad I don't have morning classes on Tuesday so I was able to stay up until midnight Monday night and get my first day's word count done before I even went to bed. Couldn't do that last night, having to get up at 4:30ish, but allowed myself an hour before crashing. Which of course turned into an hour and 20 minutes, but I got myself on track for today, so even if I don't get back today (since this is my insanely long school day) I will not be behind tomorrow! Also, the story is flowing so well right now. The characters are popping out of everywhere, the story is unfolding and I'm starting to get some interesting glimpses of my MC's personality. Can't wait to see where it goes!

Surprises: Oh boy. Don't even get me started! I am writing a fantasy YA novel. I was going to write it in third person limited with flashbacks that would weave into the present to help unfold the mystery. Exciting right? Yeah. So when I sat down and started writing it came out in first person. It was working really well, so I just went with it. But THEN about 1,000 words in, I suddenly realised that I had randomly switched to PRESENT TENSE. Oh. My. Werd. I'd written a couple of paragraphs, but could see where I had switched. So I went back to fix it. It didn't work. I literally COULD NOT change it back and the story, the voice, the rawness of Evva's situation was perfect in present tense.

But how do you do flashbacks in present tense?! Well, it turns into a sort of stream of consciousness thing where the flashbacks are ending up woven into her thoughts about the present. It has such potential for disaster, but so far, I think it's really working.

So I'm doing the one thing I have always told myself I would never ever do: writing in first person present tense. AND writing stream of consciousness. Another giant no-no for me. What?

How about you? Are you doing NaNo? Any crazy surprises for you yet? Anything like that happen to you in the past? Am I crazy? Wait. Don't answer that :)

Books of Gratitude

2011-11-01T08:00:00.001-04:00

If someone asked you what book you were most grateful for, what would it be? Could you even choose?!

Well, Beth Revis asked this question and I had the hardest time coming up with an answer.

I definitely have to be grateful for Little Women - it was the first book that made me cry and realize that books could move people so deeply!

There have been multitudes of books since then that have affected me one way or another, but right now there are two that I am particularly thankful for:

Divergent by Veronica Roth

and

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (coming out in TWO WEEKS PEOPLE GO PREORDER IT!)

Both books inspired bursts of creativity in me and reminded me why I love this whole writing thing so much. I wouldn't be so psyched about NaNo if it weren't for books like these that are so creative and fun and good that they inspire me to strive to be all I can be.

How about you? Have a book that you are grateful for? Check out Beth Revis' giveaway where you can win 19... yes NINETEEN! signed books that she is grateful for! PLUS an ARC of A Million Suns which I am DYING to get my hands on!

The Name is the Thing

2011-10-31T08:00:00.001-04:00

First off NANO STARTS TOMORROW OH MY GOODNESS I AM SO EXCITED I CANT EVEN HANDLE IT.

Are you a NaNoer? Leave me your screenname in the comments and we can be writing buddies! I'm sonshinemusic (what else :)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

I have been doing a lot of research on children's literature. I am writing 2 papers plus my thesis, which has me ordering so many books from inter library loan that I'm pretty sure the library is getting suspicious.

Anyhoodles. I have been trying to figure out what to write for my Age of Romanticism paper so I got a bunch of books about children's literature over the ages, etc. I have a few ideas percolating now, which is good, but the best thing has been seeing the titles of books from the 1700s and early 1800s. Some of them are so hilariously long that I had to share them with all y'all. Maybe you can even come up with some ideas for your NaNo novel title ;)

A Little Pretty Pocket-Book intended for the Instruction and Amusement of little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly, With Two Letters from Jack the Giant-Killer; As Also a Ball and Pincushion; The Use of which will infallibly make Tommy a good Boy, and Polly a good Girl

Now you know the secret to getting children to behave!

An Easy Introduction to the English Language; Or, a Compedious Grammar for the Use of young Gentlemen, Ladies and Foreigners

There's a whole series of these Easy Introductions. Does anyone know what Compedious means? Obviously I need this book!

The Art of Poetry made easy, and Embellish'd with great Variety of the most shining Epigrams, Epitaphs, Songs, Odes, Pastorals, etc.

Especially etc. That is the best way to make poetry easy.

The Prodigal Daughter ... who because her parents would not support her in all of her Extravagance, bargained with the Devil to poison them

I feel like this book needs to be rewritten as a modern day YA novel. I call dibs.

Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathaniel Mather, who having become at the age of nineteen, an instance of more than common learning and virtue, changed earth for heaven, Oct. 17, 1688. Whereto are added some discourses on the true nature, the great reward, and the best season of such a walk with God as he left a pattern of

Talk about spoilers!

The Pilgrim's Progress From This World, To That Which is to come: Delivered Under the Similitude of a Dream Wherein is Discovered, The manner of setting out, His Dangerous Journey; and safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey

Who else thought it was only called Pilgrim's Progress?

The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes; Otherwise Called Mrs. Margery Two-Shoes. With the Means by Which She Acquired Her Learning and Wisdom, and In Consequence Thereof Her Estate.

Now if someone calls you a goody two-shoes you can inform them that your name is not Margery. Unless it is. Because then that might not work so well.

Guys! We have been titling things ALL WRONG. There is definitely not enough plot summary in any of my titles. Excuse me while I go rethink all of them!

And the NaNo Comes in the NIIIIIIIIGHHHHT!

2011-10-25T23:19:00.000-04:00

I may have spent the last couple of weeks watching old StrongBad e-mails with my brother. And if you haven't watched them go to HomeStarRunner.com RIGHT NOW and become addicted.

Anyhoo.... I have a couple of things to say, and since today is still technically Tuesday, this will be my Two for Tuesday post too!

1. As much as I absolutely adore blogging and love all of you wonderful people that lurk around and read my ramblings and comment and everything, I just can't keep up with posting regularly. So I've decided just to make the announcement that I will try to post once a week, but that is the most I can say. I've kept my schedule up on the side (because I don't want to have to remember all that when I get back to a place where I CAN post regularly), but it's just not gonna happen right now.

So I will be here, just not as often, which I haven't been anyways, but I feel better making it all official like.

2. My life is chaos. I'm doing research for my thesis (SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT) and working on two other lengthy papers - 1 for my PostColonial class and 1 for my Age of Romanticism class, and teaching English Comp where we are about to start the dun dun dun Research Paper.

So of course, the most logical thing for me to do is obviously to add another writing project onto my life! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for anyone who doesn't know) starts in like 6 days. SIX FREAKIN DAYS! I am so psyched about this year. So very very psyched. I am starting something completely new and I've been plotting it in my head and in scribbly notes for a couple of weeks now and I think this is the most I've ever planned something out before giving in to writing a scene or two. It's a YA fantasy and there are magic powers and evil scientists and PEOPLE DIE HORRIBLE DEATHS which is something completely new to me and my writing. I usually go out of my way to keep people alive. It's kind of ridiculous. But this project is much darker and I'm so excited about it.

I was sitting in class today and I suddenly broke into this huge goofy grin thinking about it and the professor actually asked if I was okay. Which was kind of embarrassing, but I really didn't care, because I'm SO EXCITED.

But here is the bad thing. Three times a week I have to get up at 4:30 in order to get to campus a little early before I teach. Which means that I need sleep and I need to fall asleep before midnight. Preferably no later than 11, but whatever.

This novel has decided I don't need sleep as much as I need to figure out why the hay bale Gavvet died in the first place. And WHY Devvon is acting like such a jerk. And what exactly is Evva's deal?! And why there are trees EVERYWHERE in the novel. And so my writer's brain goes in circles like a hyper-active little puppy while my logical brain tells it to shut up or it's going to have to lock it outside and for Pete's sake be quiet the neighbors are trying to sleep.

But I can't even get too upset about my writer's brain being so hyper because I'm SO SO EXCITED about this novel!

What about you? Are you doing NaNo? Is your story idea haunting you like Nearly-Headless Nick? Does your writer brain keep you up at night?

Cover Love Thursday: Stoneheart

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

This is my most recent audiobook love. First, it's narrated by Jim Dale. Love his voices!

The story was amazing as well. And look at that cover! So perfect for the book. I love the green tint over everything. The second book is all blue and the third is red.

Quick non-spoilery summary:

George is just trying to get away from the teacher he doesn't like and the other kids that just don't get him, but he never meant to break anything. Only moments after he accidentally snaps the stone dragon's head off outside the Natural History Museum a pterodactyl crawls off the building and tries to attack him.

What a way to find out that he's fallen through to another layer of reality in London and that all the stone and metal statues around London have the capacity to wander from their plinths. And he's managed to anger the stone at the heart of London and he only has 24 hours to make penance for his crime. He runs into a statue of a world war I soldier called the Gunner and a strange girl with a rather scary ability. Can he complete his mission in time? And what will he have to sacrifice in order to free himself from the new life he's tumbled into?

It's kind of a cross between Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and His Dark Materials, but with a delightful charm all its own. If you're a fantasy fan, you'll love this book!

Two for Tuesday: Stupid is as Stupid Does

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I have to laugh at my life, because things happen to me. Things that should only happen in a sitcom. Really.
People ask me if it's "too soon" to tease me about these things. In my opinion, it's rarely too soon to laugh at yourself. Because if you can't laugh, you're gonna cry. and laughing is ALWAYS the better option!

1. A couple weeks ago I was teaching my 1201 class. I had just split them up to do some group work and turned to go back to my desk.

FYI this is the floor in my office. So stylish, no? (sarcastafont engage!)

I happened to be wearing these shoes:
I love these shoes.
As I turned something happened that I could never ever duplicate. No matter how hard I tried.

I put the heel of the right shoe through the bow on the left shoe and BAM

crashed to the ground. Yes. Flat on my face in front of the class.

They all went dead silent and one of the boys jumped up to see if I was all right. I was fine, but the heel was still caught and it took me approximately 4 minutes to untangle it. Okay, probably more like 10 seconds, but it felt so much longer. I waved the student away and managed to stand back up.

But man was I totally self-conscious about my feet for the entire rest of the day.

As soon as I got back to the offices I had to tell my colleagues and we all laughed until our sides ached. I was glad to offer some levity to the day.

2. This Saturday I took the GRE Literature in English test. Talk about a brain implosion. 2 of my friends and I signed up to take it at the same location together so we could provide moral support for each other.

We finally found the room where we were supposed to take the test and the proctor, who was absolutely hilarious, started to get us into rows based on the test we were taking. Everyone was chatting as the proctor went around to check us in.

When she got to me my name wasn't on her list. So she checked her other list. Not there. So we looked at my ticket and I realised, to my horror, that whether I made a mistake or there was a computer glitch (a theory I strongly support as I swear I double and triple checked before signing up), I was registered to take the test at a different campus of the same school.

Yeah.

The proctor told me to take a deep breath and said she'd make a call to see what she could do for me. She pulls out her phone and the entire room goes deathly silent as she announce, "I've got a girl here who came to the wrong testing center. Can she take the test here?"

I am sure that my face went BRIGHT. RED. as everyone turned to look at me.

Fortunately I was able to take the test and it wasn't a problem. But after the proctor moved on I turned around and my 2 friends and I started cracking up as I threw up my hands and said, "Only me!"

How about you? Done anything hilariously stupid recently? Do tell, I could always use a good laugh!

Podcastin' Twilight or Soundin' Like a Ditz to the World

2011-10-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

When I was at Polaris I was on a panel about the genre of YA. It was a lot of fun to actually talk about something I have such a passion about with other people that are of like minds. I mean, it's great to read blogs and chat with y'all online, but there's something about doing that in person that is so much more fun.

Well, afterward one of the other panelists Deanna Toxopeus asked if I would be willing to join in on a Twilight podcast on Revolution Sci Fi. It's a great website with a bunch of different things, but they do weekly podcasts on different topics and I was excited to do something like this.

So I joined Deanna and three other fun Twihards to talk about the series, what we liked, themes we saw, why it's so popular, and so on. It was a really great experience, even if I do feel like I sound like a total ditz at the beginning :)

If you care to check it out the link to the website is HERE

I definitely warmed up as the hour went on and started talking more. It was fun, but weird. Definitely something I would love to do again, maybe with another topic!

The thing that I realised as I was preparing for it and doing it is how much I really am passionate about children's and adolescent literature. I want to study this, want to write about it and talk about it and analyze it and present about it. So whatever I do next, I know that this kind of literature is where I want to spend my life, personal and academic.

What do you get excited about? Is there a particular type of book that gets you super excited? Or another interest that makes you all giddy when you met other people that love it?

Two for Tuesday: Bad/Good

2011-10-11T11:56:00.001-04:00

Bad. It is a bad idea to run into the library and lock your keys in the car. After having left your cell phone at home.

Good. It is a good idea to have an amazing dad who will bring you your spare set of keys so you are not stranded at the library all day (although, that could have been fun too :)

Pictured Inspiration

2011-10-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

I know October barely started, but I am getting totally psyched about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November.

I've had a massive writing dry spell. Mass. Ive. As in I haven't written pretty much anything since like May. I had all these grand plans for the summer and they didn't happen.

so.

NaNo is going to get me writing something again. And I've been trying to figure out what to write, because last year I had my Layla story and was really excited to do that and this year I've been drawing a total blank.

Until yesterday. And I remembered this scene from a dream. It was one of those dreams where the emotions of the dream sticks with you creating a sort of dream hangover. So it's always been vividly in my mind emotionwise, but the visual was really sketchy. And then the first words of my novel came to me. I've rewritten them in my head about a billion times already, but it's a start.

So I spent a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday getting lost on DeviantArt which is pretty much THE coolest website ever and I'm trying to figure out why I haven't spent time on it before. Since I don't really have anything except the opening scene planned I was hoping to find some inspiration.

I already know that this story is going to be much darker than anything I've ever written before. In fact, *gasp* people die. Shocking, I know.

But here are some of the pictures that were giving me wondrous inspiration (I've linked the picture to its original place in all cases and referenced the artist). I also did my best not to use any where the artist asked they not be shared. Even though those were fantastic! Like THIS one (this artist is beyond amazing. Check out some of her other stuff. A TON of it was super inspiring). Or THIS one.
So I mean no harm by posting any of these - I am merely grateful for the talent of these amazing artists and if, by chance, you want me to take your picture down, I will be more than happy to do it.
INSPIRATION:

"Miss Mourning" from Burning-Shark

"I Miss You" by Mitsumi-Mishitori

Drowned Catacomb by lyno3ghe

Mourning Air by inflexible

trees by loose665

Into the death by your-rain

Don't you just love pictures!? I'm so inspired now!

Whatcha Watchin' Fall '11

2011-10-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

Once again I have proven myself to be a ridiculous tv addict. For serious. I love SO many of the new shows, am super excited about return of old favorites. AND my school schedule actually seems designed to fit around the shows I want to watch! I am sick! Sick I tell you!

And I love it!
So, for fun, here are the shows I'm watching and what I think about them :)

Watching the previews, I wasn't sure whether I was going to like this or not. I couldn't tell whether it was going to be great or super corny. Great. Definitely. Okay, so maybe a tiny bit of corniness, but I am loving it. Totally different than most of the other stuff I watch, so it's a nice adventurous sci-fi think. And the dinosaurs are pretty cool :)

I was NOT going to watch this. I thought it would be cute, but I just had too much on my plate, so I told myself I wasn't going to watch it. But it falls right between Terra Nova and Castle, so I flipped over to it this Monday. Oh my goodness. SO adorable. And hilarious. And full of ... heart :P

Some people are getting frustrated with Castle, but I love it as much as ever. Love, love, love, love. Maybe it's just Nathan Filion. Maybe it's the annoying new captain. Maybe it's the way they're bringing Ryan and Esposito more to the forefront this season. Yeah, they haven't gotten Beckett and Castle together yet, but to me it feels right, not annoying. Beckett had so many issues dredged up at the end of the last season. That's not going to go away overnight and Castle is completely tied up in all of it. Anyway. It's a great, humorous crime show and I loves it.

I almost didn't watch this again. Last season annoyed me. I kept hoping it was going to get better, but it never did in my opinion. Got home from school in time for the premier, so I turned it on. Seriously. The first 3 episodes of this season were better than the entire last season combined. It seems to have found its way again and it's not just S1 all over again. There is character growth! We get to learn more about minor characters! TONS of musical numbers! whee!

Another show that drifted toward the end of last season. This season is cracking me up so much. Hope is older, Virginia and Burt are pretty much the most hilarious people ever. <3

A lot of people are complaining about the corniness. Maybe a little, but I am really intrigued by how all of this is going to play out. I'm not sure how it can last more than one season, but it's kept my interest every episode and left me dying to watch the next one, so they're doing something right. Plus it's nice to see SMG in something new.

I'm not sure what I think about this season. Honestly, the Caroline and Jeremy storylines are the only ones that are really keeping me interested right now. The whole Stefan thing just isn't doing it for me. I am curious where they're going to take everything.

I don't think I can possibly express how very, very excited I am to have Michael Emerson back on my tv every week. This show is so interesting and intriguing and almost like a crime show, but not. Jim Caviezel does a great job and did I mention MICHAEL EMERSON?! This show has so many possibilities and I hope it lasts for a long time.

So that's what I'm hooked on right now. Any shows you're loving this fall?

Cover Love Thursday: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2011-10-06T14:34:00.000-04:00

This was our freshman read for this year, and as a professor of freshman comp, I had to read it as well. We incorporate the freshman read into one of our writing assignments over the semester.

I don't normally read non-fiction except in preparation for writing a paper. It's just not my preference.

But I am SO glad that I had to read this one. Rebecca Skloot is a master at prose and she weaves together her personal experience, interviews, stories she was told, and (most impressively of all) some pretty heady scientific information into a narrative that you will find yourself thinking of for months after you finish.

I love this cover. The orange and red is not only eye-catching, but looks quite similar to some of the colored pictures that have been taken of Henrietta's cells. The iconic picture of Henrietta herself shows the personal touch that is prevalent throughout the book.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman diagnosed with cervical cancer. Her cells were taken without her knowledge and they launched an entire branch of medical research that revolutionized the industry - and her family never knew. She died at a very young age while her cells continue to thrive and grow even now. While Skloot cannot avoid the social issues of informed consent, race, social class, and economic status, this is mainly a story of a family.

Skloot meets Henrietta's husband and children, and as she develops a relationship with the family and, in particular, Deborah, she unfolds the story of a woman who was full of life and whose family considers her legacy to be much more than a medical marvel.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. No matter your interest, I believe you will enjoy the narrative Skloot develops will engage, entertain, and enrich you.

Tell the Truth Tuesday: Things I've Learned

2011-09-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

1. It is a bad idea to listen to the last disc of Bridge to Terabithia while driving to work and right after applying mascara.

2. There is nothing wrong with my tear ducts.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

3. Years of watching sci fi has affected my brain. As soon as I heard the premise for Terra Nova I started trying to figure out how they could avoid destroying the time/space continuum. Dad and I decided that they must have slipped into an alternate dimension, which actually satisfied our desire for logic. Immediately after we decided this, the show went on to explain that this was exactly what had happened.

4. I have no problem with people going back in time as long as they move to another dimension so as to not disturb the space/time continuum.

5. I become addicted to Twitter when I have a stack of papers to grade. This both distracts me and has the added bonus of making me sound like a total whiner for several days.

From HERE

6. I was way too concerned that my class schedule would interfere with the tv shows I want to watch this fall. They don't and I'm absurdly happy.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

So how about you? Any truths to share this week?

This is Not a Post

2011-09-25T22:21:00.000-04:00

I need to organize my time better, because I KNOW that some of you are just as if not more busy (busier? Yeah, I'm the English professor screwing up her grammar. Whatever :) than I am. So I have no real excuse.

So I'll just say I'm sorry and promise to pop in really soon. I have some really fun things and EXCITING news (well, exciting to me, but I will plague you with it too) and other randomness I've been wanting to share. And it is ON MY LIST of things to do. I PROMISE.

I will leave off plaguing you with all of the capital letters and find time to visit some of y'all very soon.

<3 <3 <3

The Saddest Retail Wednesday Ever

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

This is it. Today is the last day. My Borders is closing later today. Tomorrow is cleaning and fixture sales. By Thursday night it will all be over. Such a sad, sad end to almost 6 fantastic years of book selling, book loving, and some of the best people I've ever met. I just hit my 5 years with the company in July - just in time to get the news about the liquidation.

I posted some of my thoughts a few weeks ago. That post is HERE if you missed it.

Today I wanted to show a video slideshow I put together of some of our happy moments over the last few years.

To all of you that have shopped at Borders - thank you from the bottom of my heart.
To all of you that have supported my random little retail stories here - thank you just as much.

I've already got a pretty good lead at CVS and hope to be hired in the next week or two, so this may not be the end of Retail Wednesdays.

I'm so filled with sadness and love and mushiness so I'll just let the Muppets speak for me:

Feedburner Rocks My World

2011-09-09T11:22:00.002-04:00

Now that I'm crazy busy I have found that those of you that offer the feedburner subscribe by e-mail option get more attention from me. If you pop up in my e-mail I'm more likely to read and/or pop by and answer.

So... if you don't have it, you should totes do it. It's super easy.

If you do have it, let me know! I might even come find you :P

And I have it too! It's over there on the sidebar. You know. If you want your e-mail randomly attacked by my randomness :P

School ate my life again

2011-09-08T13:21:00.000-04:00

I was going to try so hard to keep up with this once school started, but I'm swamped already.

I miss everyone around here so much.

I hope to pop around occasionally, but I won't be here much myself for now.

<3 to all of you for hanging in here with me!

See you around!

A word on time travel

2011-09-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

There only ever needs to be one time traveler's convention.

~Time Travel Panel at Polaris

Alphabet Reading Challenge

2011-09-01T10:54:00.000-04:00

I saw this challenge posted on GoodReads and thought it was amazing and fun, so I thought I would fill in what I have done so far. Now I'm on a mission to find books that begin with the rest of these letters to finish off the alphabet!

Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry

Blood Feud by Alyxandra Harvey

Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Emily’s Quest by L. M. Montgomery

Fly Trap by Frances Hardinge

Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Hourglass by Myra McIntyre

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

J (Ooh! I have to read Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow!)

Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Need by Carrie Jones

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Priest’s Graveyard by Ted Dekker

Q (Guess I need to go back to the Septimus Heap books and read Queste!)

Rosebush by Michele Jaffe

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman

X (Any suggestions?)

I had a lot more of the vowels than I anticipated. Ooh! I'm excited to try to finish this off. Have you ever tried anything like this?!

(And yes, I know this isn't a cover love post, but it's about books. And I love most of these covers, so... whatever :P)

It's a Birthday Retail Wednesday Post!

2011-08-31T09:02:00.005-04:00

Even our fridge is fighting against the fact that we're closing.
It's randomly become a freezer.
I went to get my Dr. Pepper and it was frozen.
SOLID.

Someone had left this randomly in the Young Adult section.
We promptly decided it is our new favorite book.

Father and teenage son walking through bargain.
Father: That's weird. I thought this store was closing.
Son: Yeah, me too. I was sure I heard that somewhere.
Me: Um... we are.
Father: Really?!
Son: Huh.

There was a small toy stuck on top of the shelving in kids.
I got up on a step stool and used a roll of wrapping paper to pull it forward.
I almost had it to the edge and it suddenly disappeared.
Apparently the end there is HOLLOW.
J and I started laughing SO HARD.
I wonder what else is down behind this wall?!
I'm kind of scared to find out.

Two for Tuesday: Forgotten TV I Love

2011-08-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Somehow our family finds our way to random TV that we love, but that very few people seem to have heard of.

1. The Pretender.

This is one rare instance where everyone in our family loved a show. From my parents to me and my sisters to both of my brothers, this was the one show we could all watch together. I just started re-watching it and I love it still!

Michael Weiss plays a man who has been trapped inside "The Center" for the first thirty-something years of his life, running simulations to solve mysteries, crimes, problems, whatever. Now he's escaped and he can become anything and anybody that he wants to be. The show quickly develops an intriguing mystery as the background of Jarod and the relentless Miss Parker and their entanglement with The Center are slowly unveiled.

Weiss does a fantastic job of playing the innocence and joy of someone discovering the world for the first time. And it doesn't hurt that he's pretty easy on the eyes as well ;)

It only lasted 4 seasons and then there were 3 movies to try to wrap up loose ends, which was fairly effective. Definitely a show I recommend!

2. Dave the Barbarian

This short-lived glory of randomness needs to be released on DVD. For serious. This cartoon is SO random it definitely isn't for everyone, but if you like stupid hilarity, you should watch the bits that are posted on YouTube. Here's one for your viewing enjoyment!

Any forgotten TV you love, that most people haven't heard of?

Are you an architect or a gardener?

2011-08-29T08:50:00.000-04:00

I found my notebook from Polaris! Yeah! Which means that I now have lots and lots of notes so I will spread this out over several weeks. But it also means that I don't have to worry about what I'm going to post as I get back into the swing of school!

Most of you have heard of the terms "plotting" and "pantsing" but at the panel on "Details, Filler, Plot" Brandon Sanderson referenced the terms "Gardener" and "Architect" - a gardener is a pantser. They kind of just let things happen organically, planting seeds as they go, but unsure exactly how the end product will look. The architect is the plotter. They have blueprints and plans and have a fairly good idea what the finished product is going to be, though of course there are always surprises along the way.

I really like those terms. I am a mixture of those two, so maybe I'm an architect of gardens?

One of the panelists also used a quote from Neil Gaiman saying that writing is like "Jumping out of an airplane and knitting a parachute before you hit the ground." Which made me laugh because it is SO true. Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, an architect or a gardener, you are jumping out into the unknown and hoping everything makes sense in the end.

Brandon also said that the best way to learn how to plot a book is to write one that's a total disaster because you didn't plot it right. That will teach you more than going to a hundred panels on plotting or reading a bunch of books.

The one thing that was emphasized over and over (which I mentioned before) is you have to practice. You have to write. If you're in the middle of a story and realize you forgot something, don't let it slow you down. Make a note of it, go back if you can, but avoid the eternal rewrite if it's keeping you from actually finishing. MUST FINISH.

So, are you an architect? Or a gardener? Or a mixture of both?

Retail Wednesday in MORE Pictures!

2011-08-24T14:22:00.000-04:00

This was just such a fun way to do a post last week, so I'm doing it again! Woot!

Stupid Customer Question while standing in this spot:
Excuse me, where are your books on tape?"
Me: "ummmm..... here?"

Perfume and Makeup and Plates... OH MY!
Sometimes I don't know whether we're a bookstore or not anymore.
Perfume on the table to the left, partyware on the display on the right
and to the back and right are the racks of makeup kits - right behind the expensive notecard sets.

And of course, you can't buy a makeup kit without a spa set -
Get a bathrobe, mask, loofah, and hair towel!

However, these blankets are softer than you can possibly imagine
So I forgive them for invading my store.

Box of cloud fluff - seriously. The softest. Blankets. Ever.

Every time I see this book I want to intone:
Dinosaurs Through Tiiiiiimmmmeeeee
In an epically deep voice like I did the first time I unpacked it

And speaking of dinosaurs, this was in the middle of the floor one morning.
Attack!

This is one of life's oddities. It was shortly after we'd arrived, before the store opened.
I walked past information and saw this lying there.
I looked closer and realized with horror/chagrin/confusion
that it was my sock from the day before.
All I can figure is it stuck to my pant leg and fell off once I got into the store.
Strange.

A woman came up, set this on the info desk and looked at me.
Woman: What is this?
Me: Well, it's $160 and 40% off so it would be--
Woman: NO. What do I have here? (gestures at box)
Me: A DVD boxset.
Woman: (snorts) No. What IS this?
Me: It's DVDs.
Woman: I know that, but what is it?
Me: I'm not sure what you're asking.
Woman: (snort-laughs and walks away)
I raise my eyebrows in confusion and look up to see the next customer
looking back at me with the exact same expression on her face.
We both break into giggles.

You too can smell like a photo album!
Or better yet, Family Vacation!
The Shower Gels you never knew you wanted!

And that's it for this week! See you later :D

Two for Tuesday: Back to School

2011-08-23T08:12:00.000-04:00

1. I am so excited for school to start. I get to see my school friends again and, because of my schedule, I actually get to see all 4 of the other senior TAs on a regular basis. Can't wait to try some of my new ideas for teaching. Excited about having Dr. G again. Can't wait to start some real work on my thesis.

2. I am so not ready for school to start. I was supposed to read a bunch of stuff over the summer. I did, but not for school. I read like 40 books this summer and only 5 of them were in any way related to school. I don't want to go back! I am scared about pulling my thesis together. I am nervous about the new professor I'm taking. I really don't want to know if I'm off the poo list of another professor, but I hope I am since they are one of my thesis advisers (and I know the "they" is technically not grammatically correct, but we have no other generic pronouns, so I like using they and you can't stop me). I'm scared about all the romantic poetry we have to read. I don't want to try to figure out what I'm going to do once I graduate.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

So there you have it. Eek! What are your feelings about the start of the school year?

It's Lost!

2011-08-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

Okay.

I know I promised last week that I would have more about the writing workshops from Polaris. So I set aside time on Sunday evening to write the post. But when I went to get the notebook in which I had taken all my notes, it wasn't where I was sure I had put it.

So that post is going to have to wait. Yet again. Until I find the notebook.

See, one of my goals this summer was to organize my room. Which included basically cleaning, moving, and throwing out tons of stuff. I bought some new cabinets and shelves and got rid of some old ones that weren't working in the space I have. I'm almost done, but I still have some things kind of everywhere and I'm guessing the notebook is one of those things.

One of the benefits I am finding is that I am being able to actually work in my room better with less clutter. And right now I have to work in my room because it is the only space that is mine since I'm still living at home right now.

How about you? Do you work better in an organized environment? Or does it not really matter? Will you forgive me for this lame post?

Also, I wanted to give y'all the heads up that this week I have meetings all week and next week school starts so my blog will probably suffer a bit because of it. I want to try to keep up some sort of schedule, but things can get crazy and there's the added insanity of my store closing, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks to everybody who has hung in here and read my ramblings over the past couple years. I <3 you all!

Here is some cuteness to thank you.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Rebecca and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2011-08-19T09:00:00.002-04:00

Oy. I would like to submit that yesterday be stricken from the record and never actually have happened.

My day went a little something like this...

4:35am - Alarm goes off. Groan and hit snooze button
4:44am - Alarm goes off again. Hit snooze button.

4:53am - Hit snooze button. Just this ONCE more.
5:15am - Wake up and stare in horror at the clock, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that I have to leave in 15 minutes. Wonder what happened to snooze.
5:16am - Stumble down hall and see that Naomi isn't awake either. We have to leave at the same time.
5:17am - Force contacts into eyes that don't want to open.
5:32am - Grab lunch from fridge, breathing a prayer of thanks that I packed it the night before.
5:35am - Pull out of driveway with Naomi safely strapped in passenger seat.
5:37am - Realize that if I don't eat something I will be nauseous by the time I get to work.
5:40am - Buy bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit at McDonalds
5:42am - Get on highway.
5:57am - Take exit for mall. Stare in shock at time. We're actually not late.
6:05am - try to find hot cups for the pack of hot chocolate I brought. The entire sleeve has vanished in one day.
6:06am - decide to buy mug so I can have my stinkin hot chocolate.
6:08am - begin putting up new sale signs
6:10am - realize that previous crew threw out all the signs from the night before - signs that have to be reused. Dig them out of the garbage. Cringe.

6:55am - Cheer that all the signs are done
6:56am - Realize that all of the specific price points in the entire store (Regular price $19.99, now 30% off - You pay only $13.99!) haven't been changed. Pout.
9:59am - Wonder how on earth there were so many "you pays" everywhere. Frantically try to grab the last few signs before the locusts (aka customers) descend.
10:00am - Store opens. Bring a cart of bargain books out onto floor.
10:10am - Begin straightening stacks of books to make room for more.
10:11am - liquidator informs me that I have to remove all the books I just straightened so he can put tables in their place.
10:12am - Bang head on ground.
10:40 - liquidator has brilliant idea to condense all magazines to one side to make room for bargain. (not sarcastically brilliant)
11:00 - go on lunch break
12:15 - Ask coworker to help with magazines. Hear that cashier has called out. bang head on floor.

12:45 - Ring on register.
1:15 - straighten 5 magazines
1:17 - Ring on register.
1:26 - Customer flips out and screams that an item didn't ring up according to the You Pay prince.
1:28 - Take down signs until we can figure out what happened
1:30 - Straighten 2 magazines
1:32 - Ring on register
1:33 - Another customer flips out about same item. Insists sign is still up. Contradict her.
1:35 - Check where customer directs. Find 1 sign that had been missed
1:36 - Bang head on floor.
1:45 - straighten 8 magazines
1:48 - Ring on register
1:57 - Have rude customer insist on 2 bags for his 2 books. Even after I tell him we are running low. Refrain from throwing said bag over his head.

1:59 - hear that other cashier has called out. Scream internally.
2:30 - straighten 3 magazines
2:31 - Ring on register
2:45 - Straighten 10 magazines. Thank coworker for doing my project (sincerely)
2:47 - Ring on register
3:10 - Run screaming from the building

3:15 - Naomi and I decide we need a smoothie to make everything better.
3:40 - Smoothie works for a little while.
4:43 - Almost fall asleep while trying to order 5 books for classes that start in a week and a half.
6:02 - Eat dinner.
6:35 - Watch hilarious Brian Regan videos on YouTube with Dad and Mom
7:56 - Get excited that Wipeout is about to come on.
8:37 - Decide to make a milkshake for the first time in a year.
8:45 - Turn on blender. Hear horrible grinding noise. Turn off blender.
8:52 - Empty all contents out of blender. Discover that blender is broken. Die a little inside.
9:02 - Give up and whisk now melty ice cream and chocolate sauce into an iffy chocolate milk kind of thing with large Oreo cookie pieces.

9:07 - Disappointed, but okay with results.
WARNING - next part is not for the faint of heart. Seriously. If you don't want to be grossed out, don't highlight the next section. I will make it as invisible as I can. Just so you don't have to be grossed out if you don't want to be. I'll just say that I didn't get to finish my milkshake thing.
9:15 - Bite down on Oreo. Hear strange crunch in molars. Spit out on napkin and discover legs. Large ant had crawled into milkshake during blender catastrophe.
9:17 - Freak out and practically throw cup at Dad who discovers more ants in glass.
9:19 - Wash mouth out vigorously.
9:39 - Decide I need to go to sleep and make this day go away.

10:02 - Decide to write blog post to try to make myself laugh. It sorta works.

Here's to a better day tomorrow!

PS - I got all the GIFS from tumblr and I don't mean any disrespect or anything for using them. I think they're so cool and they are not mine.

Cover Love Thursday: The Year We Were Famous

2011-08-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

I came across this when browsing, and I love the cover - also quite intrigued by the description! I read a lot of fantasy, but I'm a historical fiction lover too and this is based on a TRUE story!

I love the detail around the edges and the font is perfect for the book. It looks like a cross between a stitched sampler and an old news notice.

Here's the description from Goodreads:

With their family home facing foreclosure, seventeen-year-old Clara Estby and her mother, Helga, need to raise a lot of money fast—no easy feat for two women in 1896. Helga wants to tackle the problem with her usual loud and flashy style, while Clara favors a less showy approach. Together they come up with a plan to walk the 4,600 miles from Mica Creek, Washington, to New York City—and if they can do it in only seven months, a publisher has agreed to give them $10,000. Based on the true story of the author’s great-aunt and great-grandmother, this is a fast-paced historical adventure that sets the drama of Around the World in Eighty Days against an American backdrop during the time of the suffragist movement, the 1896 presidential campaign, and the changing perception of “a woman’s place” in society.

One more book on my ever-expanding to-read pile!

Retail Wednesday in Pictures

2011-08-17T16:14:00.000-04:00

So I decided to take random pictures around the store and then use them to tell random stories of my day and ridiculous customers.

Questions I shouldn't have to answer:
(Please note that people are usually standing in the picture when they ask the question)

"Are your bathrooms closed?"

"Excuse me, do you work here?"
No, I just stole an employees name badge and decided to rearrange the shelves on this endcap for FUN.

"I can pay for this here, right?"
WE DON'T EVEN HAVE COMPUTERS ANYMORE!
WHAT ON THIS COUNTER MAKES YOU THINK YOU COULD POSSIBLY PAY HERE?!

"Wait, the store is closing?! How come no one told me?!"
Note signs hanging from ceiling all the way through the store.

At least the warehouse workers are having fun.
We unpacked a couple of boxes and found these kinds of messages on the bottom!

Because "ginormous" is apparently now a real word...
Also, is it just me, or is that supposed to be "imagine"?

Stained ceiling tile LOOKS LIKE OWL!

Epic book. I want to buy this.
It shows you how to do snow LANTERNS!
Or snow ghosts with glowing eyes.
Or giant Loch Ness Monsters!

Whee! That was fun :D Maybe I'll do this again next week :D

Tell the Truth Tuesday

2011-08-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

Oh, the things I will do not to write anything with real content, but still consider it a blog post.

Hey, wait. I think that's truth #1 for today.

2- I am passive agressive. I am just coming to this realization. The customers coming into our store during this period of liquidation are BRINGING IT OUT IN ME.

3- I am also becoming more violent. In the past 2 weeks I have had intensely strong urges to: a) throw a book at a customer's head, b) dropkick a customer, c) stab a pen into a customer, d) use my words to wound

4- my new motto is: People are Stupid. This applies to an alarmingly large part of the populace

5- This blogpost is getting a little too honest

6- I am hoping some of the customers read this and feel terrible.

7- I should be ashamed of 1-6 BUT I'M NOT

8- I really am.

9- dear heavens someone please stop this diarrhea of the fingers

10- I have to have an even number for my list.

ahem.

So what is your truth for this Tuesday? Do tell!

Finish It

2011-08-15T09:00:00.007-04:00

I swear I AM going to do a real post on the writing workshops at Polaris with Brandon Sanderson and the other authors. They were amazing and I have a lot I want to say. I will do it within the next week. There, now I've put it out there, so there's pressure to deliver.

Today I want to offer the one piece of advice that Brandon emphasized over and over again.

Finish.

It doesn't matter how good/bad/unique/original/terrible/cliche/whatever your book is if you never finish it. You can't edit it or do anything real with it if you never finish it.

He said, if you aren't being able to finish, you need to find out what it is that is keeping you from finishing it and get rid of it. FINISH.

This is the thing I am terrible at. I start a bunch of projects and then I get lost halfway through them and feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do. So I go back the beginning and try to rework it, but then I never get past where I've already written. Okay, not never, but it's a consistent problem in my writing life.

One of the panelists (I have this written down somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look it up now) told of a person in their critique group that turned in their first chapter something like 30 times. They'd take the feedback and rework and resubmit it. Over and over. But at the end of the day, they didn't actually have anything real to work with. One chapter and an idea in their head, which, I imagine, became so twisted from trying to incorporate everyone else's ideas, that it wasn't really their idea anymore.

Critique groups are fantastic. Reading partners are the bomb (waves at Lindsey). But if you allow that to keep you from finishing what you've started, you will never write a novel. If you keep rereading and trying to fix the beginning before you have an end, you will never write a novel. If you sit and blog and tweeter and play on Facebook and ignore your WIP, you will never write a novel.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Sheesh. Talk about convicting. Um, I'm just gonna go work on my book now. I'll catch you guys later.

Cover Love Thursday: Emily of New Moon

2011-08-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

This series is one of my favorites of all time. It is by one of my favorite authors and it's been on my mind a lot recently. First, because I just re-read them. Second, the reason I re-read them is because I am doing my thesis on the trilogy.

I am SO. Excited.

I love this cover. I really do. But as I was doing this post, I began to wonder. What would this cover look like if it were being published today? As I was browsing for the cover picture, I came across this version that was just published this year.

I'm sorry, but no. no. and more no. This cover misses the charm and childlike simplicity and wonder of the character that is Emily. She looks like some sort of tragic heroine, not an eleven year old girl with slightly pointed ears, a massive imagination, and a heart of delight in the world around her.

So what do you think? Which cover would make you pick up the book? Have you read these books? WHY NOT?! :) Do you completely disagree with me and think that I'm rude for being so emphatic? :P

What Borders Means to Me: An Open Letter

2011-08-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

Dear Borders Customers,

To me, Borders was more than a job. It was more than a paycheck. It was more than thinly veiled slavery in helping you find that book you wanted. It was more than clocking in and clocking out. It was more than putting books on the shelves and straightening the aisles.

Borders was my life. Borders was coworkers that drove me crazy and made me love them all at the same time. Borders was sharing crazy stories and passing down epic hilarity. ("The man with the gun is here for the money.") Borders was making friendships. Borders was discovering things in common.

Borders was wearing reindeer antlers the week before Christmas and having someone laugh and say they couldn't get mad at Rudolph. Borders was re-reading the Twilight books to come up with trivia for the release of Breaking Dawn. Borders was dressing up as a Witch and making potions with little kids in the hall for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Borders was wearing a Dorothy costume to work on Halloween.

Borders was storytime every Wednesday with Miss Alicia. Borders was laughing at the juggling baristas in the cafe. Borders was dueling cashiers on the Saturday before Christmas. Borders was satisfaction over a newly straightened section. Borders was giggling over the cycloptic elephants. Borders was three people pushing a bargain cart piled so high it weighed a ton. Borders was getting to know the NEMF guy on a first name basis. Borders was cafe samples on the information desk.

Borders was meeting local authors that really cared and loved to come in and talk (We Love you Michelle Zink! You too Owen Palmiotti!). Borders was events that fell in our lap (Brandon Mull!) Borders was obnoxious local authors that we hid from (no names here, but true story). Borders was going to BEA with coworkers and geeking out that we got something signed by one of our favorite authors.

Borders was exchanging book titles and sharing new authors, both with customers and with coworkers. Borders was dancing with glee when a favorite author's latest book arrived. Borders was gawking over a gorgeous cover and reading a new author we never would have discovered otherwise. Borders was reading.

Borders was asking a little kid what kind of book they liked to read and handing them an old favorite. Borders was helping grandma find the perfect gift for her grandson. Borders was directing a woman to other historical fiction she might like. Borders was a fifteen minute conversation with a man about science fiction books. Borders was a middle school girl saying, "you helped me last time and gave me really good books. What should I get now?" Borders was passing on the love of books and authors and reading to anyone and everyone who was willing to listen.

Borders was more than a store. Borders was a home. A home for learning and sharing. For friendships and fun. For the regular shopper and the once a year visitor. For the browser and the hunter.

These are the things I worked for. These are the things I will miss.

So, to those of you just looking for a deal? To those annoyed that the books aren't cheap enough? Those angry that we can't find your specific book? Those smirking over the fact that we "deserve to lose our jobs"? To you? We didn't do this for you. We never did.

Borders was the people. The people that loved reading, that loved books, that loved the atmosphere you can only find in a bookstore. And it's those people that I will miss the most.

It was a great five years and I know I will never have another experience like this.

Goodbye Borders. It was fun.

Two for Tuesday: Lovely Books

2011-08-09T12:07:00.000-04:00

I'm ba-ack.

Pete's sake. I didn't mean to be gone so long, but I feel much better after that break. Now I need to find time to visit all y'all.

I have been on a major reading binge - whipping through novels and audiobooks like nobody's business, so I thought I would share a couple of my favorites with you :)

The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry. I've kind of fallen in love with Julie's writing. I started Secondhand Charm yesterday and I'm already half way through.
The Amaranth Enchantment is kind of a Cinderella twist, but so different it isn't really. If that makes any sense. Anyhoo - those of you that have been around for a while know my love for/fascination with good fairy tale-esque stories or retellings. Julie's characters are fun, resourceful, witty, and engaging.

A quick non-spoilery review. Poor Lucinda lost everything when her parents were killed in a terrible carriage accident. Sent to live with her uncle and his abrasive wife, Lucinda not only has to deal with the harsh words and blows of Aunt, but with the faint air of scandal that overhangs her parents and their death. When a ragged thief breaks into her room, a rumored witch visits the shop and leaves an unusual stone, and she has a chance encounter with the prince, who is certain they've met before, Lucinda's life takes a turn for the worse, but all of these events may just lead her back to where she belongs, if she can figure out where that is.

My favorite character in the book? Dog, Lucinda's self-appointed pet goat. How frawesome is that?!

The other book I just finished is The Fledgling by Jane Langton. Such a sweet, poignant, lyrical book. I got it on audio and it kept me enchanted all through my commute over the past week.

Georgie knows she can fly. She's sure she's done it before - or was that a dream? No. She's sure she can. Unfortunately, every time she tries she merely tumbles down the stairs until her entire family is worried that she will really hurt herself. The call of the flock of Canadian geese inspires her, and it seems like one of the geese - the most majestic and largest of all, has taken a personal interest. Set in Concord, with a background of Walden pond, and a family entrenched in the study of Henry Thoreau, Langton paints a beautiful picture of a dream that just might come true.

So how about you? Read any good books lately? Do tell!

Um, yeah, so

2011-07-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be MIA this week.

I know. Lame sauce.

But it's for a good reason. I'm going on vacation to some friends in Virginia. I could use the recharge before I hit a straight month of liquidation insanity at work.

I may pop in briefly on Wednesday if I am so inspired, but otherwise I will be delightfully unavailable. Pool, family, friends, and some good books :)

Thanks to all of you that stick around and read my ramblings and especially to those that let me know you stop by. I think I would've given this up a while ago if it weren't for all of you. <3

It's a Harry Potter World

2011-07-22T08:30:00.001-04:00

It's over. That's it. No more new Harry Potter.

If we could pause for a moment of silence and copious weeping.

Naomi and I realized that we would be in Toronto on the night of the midnight release. We had already planned on going a day early to do some sightseeing, as I talked about on Tuesday, but now we were really glad we had, because there's no way we could have gone to the midnight release at home, gotten to bed at 3 and then left in any kind of decent time on Friday to make it in time for Polaris.

So we ordered tickets online, finding a theatre only 5 minutes and a straight shot from our hotel. Yeah!

It was a huge fancy theatre. I have never been to one like this.

It looked much more impressive at night with a million neon lights
But I forgot to take a picture then

Trelawney has a prediction for you!

What is wrong with my face?

We got there early, not sure how the line would be, and it was pretty long already. We decided to dress up, because - come on! - it's the last Harry Potter for goodness sake! When we got there we didn't see anyone else in costume and I felt a little weird (Naomi would say I was a lot weird, but whatever) anyhoo.

Once we got inside it was better. Not because a lot of people were dressed up, because they weren't, but because of the whole atmosphere. The place was charged with anticipation, Potter love, and good natured Muggleness.

We got in line and after a while, they shifted us all forward. Our line snaked into this side entrance, which was basically a concrete floored, cinder block walled, hallway with no ventilation. Fortunately we discovered that the doors at the end of the hall led outside and were not alarmed. Naomi and I stood by the door and sang the Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog soundtrack to amuse ourselves.

Finally they let us into our theatre, but there was still at least half an hour before the movie started. Naomi and I had great fun listening to the conversations around us. Two girls to my right kept trying to one up each other with horror stories from their childhood. Everything from stove burns to wasp swarms. It was pretty hilarious.

Then. The movie.

I thought it was really well done. It was very satisfying and a solid ending to the movie series. I won't say anything more, because I avoid spoilers, so I'll just say I enjoyed it.

But the best part of the whole thing was the way the audience reacted. I've never experienced anything like it before. Not even when I went to the midnight release of Half Blood Prince. I don't know if it's Canada, if it's because it was the last movie, or if it was just the group of people in the room, but it was amazing. Everyone gasped, cheered, booed, clapped, awwwed, laughed, and just generally interacted with the happenings on the screen, but without being distracting or detracting from the movie. In my opinion it enhanced it and I will look back on that night with special fondness whenever I think about the final book or movie.

Have you seen it yet? Are you planning on seeing it? Did you like it? No spoilers please!
:D

Cover Love Thursday: How to Judge a Book by its Cover

2011-07-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

A little twist on my normal Cover Love post... Inspired (as you might guess) by Polaris. On Friday we went to a panel called "How to Judge a Book by its Cover." It was really fascinating. The panelists were Stephen B. Pearl, Julie Czerneda, Erik Buchanan, and the lovely Nikki Stafford. So there were authors, art directors, editors... pretty much the whole gamut to give us a perspective on how a cover is chosen, what makes a cover good or bad, and what a publisher is trying to do when they slap a cover on a book.

The interesting thing is that most authors have little say in their covers, but Erik and Nikki both work for/with smaller publishers and Julie used to work in publishing (if I'm remembering correctly) so they have had a greater opportunity for helping choose or, in some cases, actually putting together their covers. Stephen is working with a larger publishing house, so he's had very little say in the final product.

They talked about the "thirty foot rule" in that, having a cover that stands out, or at least has a visible title from a good distance away is important. Nikki talked about her original cover for her Season 6 Finding Lost book, which featured a chessboard with a black king and a white king in the center and red lettering. The thirty foot impression was of Twilight, not Lost, so they reworked it.

Though I liked the original, I absolutely ADORE this cover.
It sums up the final season so well in my mind.
And I got my copy autographed, so I'm thrilled :D

Erik had both of his books, Small Magics and Cold Magics and talked about how the stock fantasy imagery was so corny that he actually worked with a couple of friends that do photography to shoot what became the covers of his books.

This is his second novel - note how the white swirl
draws your eyes up to the title

Julie shared some of the interworkings of publishing houses and how they buy art, sometimes not even for a specific book, but keep it in the files to use someday.

This has nothing to do with what she talked about,
but I wanted to throw up one of her books
And I think this cover is sweet!

Stephen also had one of his books with him, which he passed around and shared the humorous confusions that can sometimes occur when an artist isn't quite getting the same picture the author provides.

See that windmill? That's supposed to be a wind turbine.
It's also supposed to be on a solar powered van
Which you can kind of see under the windmill.
Disconnect much :)
But overall, he liked the effect of the cover

It was just such an interesting panel to listen to how authors work with their publishers to create the best possible cover, the ups and downs authors and editors have trying to produce the best product possible, and the types of things they themselves look for in covers.

So what catches your eye on a cover? Have you seen any covers you've loved recently? Have you seen the cover of Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me?!

Retail Wednesday Polaris Style

2011-07-20T10:16:00.000-04:00

So having been gone for practically a week, I don't really have any good stories from the bookstore, but I have a funny geek power story that I wanted to share.

Also, the news has officially been released that Borders is closing. So I will be out of the book job before too long. However, I foresee many insane customers in that process, so I will take copious notes and keep y'all apprised of their hilarity.

This year at Polaris, Larry Stewart was once again master of ceremonies. We met Larry for the first time last year and let's just say I hope there are many, many, many years of him joining the Polaris team. He is freakin' hysterical. Naomi and I made sure we made it to one of his Harry Potter readings and it was well worth it. (He is a voice actor and an artist and a billion other things and if you click on that link up there you can hear him do some of his impressions. He does a wicked McGonagall and his Snape is rather scary!)

Be careful - he might set his shirt on you!

anyhoo...

When we went to the Q&A for Brandon Sanderson (just you wait... I have SO much to say about him from the weekend. Loved every minute of the panels he was on) Larry made some announcements before introducing Brandon. (I feel strange calling them by their first names, but it would be weirder to not)

Everyone in Toronto is obsessed with Tim Horton's. At least that's what it feels like. And Larry had gone across the street from the hotel to get a coffee. When he walked in, the store felt like a sauna. It was humid and hot and nasty and he asked the young woman working there what the problem was. She said that the air conditioner had broken, but it wasn't a priority to get it fixed. However, if enough customers complained....

so Larry asked us all to do a favor. He gave us the number to the Tim Horton's home office and gave us the store number and asked us to flood the office with phone calls until they fixed the problem. He said that he'd gotten the answering machine when he'd called and wanted it to be filled up with people asking for the air conditioner to be fixed.

There was a massive cheer when he asked this. This was on Saturday morning. On Sunday, when Naomi and I went to the Q&A for Jewel Staite (oh my goodness SO adorable) Larry had an announcement.

He had gone back over to the Tim Horton's and there were now signs up in the window apologizing and letting the customers know that the air conditioner was being addressed. He talked to the young woman who said that the woman from the home office was there right at that moment and asked if Larry wanted to talk to her. He said sure!

The woman came out and talked with him briefly and then made the comment that "it was better today." Never at a loss, Larry took his coffee punch card and slapped it against his forehead, where it stuck due to the moistness. "This is not normal."

She looked at him. "This was you," she said.

He admitted that he had asked some people to call and leave a message. She looked him in the eye. "All those phone calls. Came. to. Me."

Oh my werd, hearing Larry tell this story was pretty much the most hilarious thing ever. But he got the job done. And I'm just saying that if you are working in a store where the heat or the AC or something doesn't work, it's always good to have Larry on your side.

They asked him to be Master of Ceremonies again next year.
He said yes!

This is what I love about geekdom - or at least the geekdom at Polaris. It's like a family - a community. And we stick up for the underdog and for each other.

Long live the geeks.

And could someone call my home office about the AC.....

Two for Tuesday: Toronto!

2011-07-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

I'm Ba-ack!

It was such a fun weekend and Naomi and I had a blast. We drove up a day early so we could spend some time sightseeing. Being the nerdy sisters that we are, we did not do the "normal" spots most people visit in Toronto.

Here we are waiting for the bus

1. We went to the Toronto Reference Library.
Oh. My. Werd. This place is huge and gorgeous and I totally wish I lived close to it. There's even a waterfall inside, but it was under renovation, so we couldn't really get the full effect. :(
But the rest of it? So worth it.

Those are elevators in the center. They're glass, so you can see everything as you ride

How cool is it having the plants growing over the edges?!

Are you drooling yet?

Plants! Everywhere!

The books. Oh the books! And the plants and the ... everything. Seriously. We just walked around kind of drooling.

2. We also went to the Lilliam H. Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library.

Guarding the library entrance

Guard, guard, guard

Yes, that's right. One library is not good enough for the Thompson sisters. No, we must go to two. :) But the real reason we went there is because it is the home of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. They have a whole room dedicated to displays of children's books of various kinds, shapes, and sizes. So. Cool.

The theme right now is reptile/amphibians. There were glass cases with books laid flat, and each one had a theme, like Frog, or Crocodile, or Tortoise. And then all the books inside were connected with that theme and there were little plastic frogs or crocodiles or turtles. For example, they might have a case with an early copy of Frog and Toad are Friends along with a copy of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass open to the page with the frog messenger and a copy of a children's natural history with a page about frogs and their habitats and habits and then a book of children's poetry with a poem about a frog. So much fun.

I love this t-shirt!

There were also larger display cases where they had a series on the Franklin books. These had sketches and paintings from the artist and stuffed animals and books and other things connected with it. They had a whole shelf of things on Aesop's tale of the tortoise and the hare with books ranging in size and illustrations. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was well worth the trip since Naomi and I love children's books so much.

I don't think she's making out with the gryphon, but I'm not sure.

So that was pretty much all we did - we walked through downtown to get from one to the other and had a lot of fun doing that, but we didn't "go" anywhere else. Maybe next time we'll see some of the more "traditional" sights, but we had fun!

Do you like to visit out of the norm places when you go on vacation? Have you ever visited a super cool library?

Please Hold

2011-07-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Just a quick note to say that there will not be a post today. Ahem. I had all intentions of doing it, but Naomi and I leave tomorrow morning for Canada, and I'm doing a slideshow of my trip to Italy for our Ladies' Fellowship group at church tonight. And I kinda haven't finished it yet.

so

no new posts until Tuesday probably, since I will be mostly interweb free all weekend. But be ready for next week because I'll have all KINDS of goodies to share with you! All. Kinds.

Like pics of Naomi and I dressed up for the HP7 midnight (ish) release. She found a Trelawney costume in her wardrobe. Ha!

And stuff about the panels at Polaris. I'm a panelist on one about the genre of YA and how it's developed over the years and where it's going. I'm scared and super excited at the same time.

And stuff about our sightseeing in Toronto where we will be dorks and have a blast.

Any fun plans for the weekend?

Two for Tuesday: New Things

2011-07-12T10:20:00.000-04:00

I am very excited because I have learned two new things in the last week.

1. I learned how to knit. Okay, not everything, but the basics. I even made a cute little swatch. See!

I learned how to knit, pearl, do ribbing, increase, decrease, and cast off! Whee!
My friend is teaching me and she said my stitches are very neat and even. :D I have crocheted and sewed and cross-stitched, but knitting always looked scary. Now I want to try EVERYTHING.

2. Re-watching the final season of Lost in under a week is not recommended.

Okay, so this is much more lame than the other, but it is nonetheless true. On Sunday we watched like 7 episodes and then yesterday watched the finale and a bunch of the special features. As of 11:00 last night, my sinuses and eyes were still itchy and sore from all the crying I did. I liked the last season, but after the last week, I love it.

I did not do this just for kicks. I am moderator of the "Lost in Memory" panel at Polaris on Saturday and I was scared that I would not remember well enough to talk about it. Hence the rushed watch. You'd think I could have started back in February when I signed up, but apparently I like waiting until the last minute. Which is another thing I have come to a greater realization of this week.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

But then I would have to call this Three for Tuesday, and it just doesn't have the same ring.

Have you learned anything new lately? A new skill? Something you realized about yourself? I also just realised that I like the "realised" spelling better than the "realized" spelling. That z feels jarring.

Tata!

To Write is Human, to Revise Divine

2011-07-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

It seems like almost everyone says they could write a novel if they wanted to. Some of those actually do take a stab at writing something. Some of those actually finish a rough draft. But only a handful of those will take the time and effort to polish and revise and rework that draft into something better.

I feel like I am perpetually in the camp of people that have a rough product, but aren't really sure how to get it from word vomit to coherent story.

From Finding Wonderland

So I do what any good writer would do and troll the interwebs for hints, suggestions, and cute animal pictures.
(by the by, that website where I found that hilarious cartoon has a ton more - they do a "Toon Thursday" and I was laughing pretty hard. See? Troll the interwebs, my friends, troll around)

This last week I stumbled across two very different and very visual means of plotting or organizing your book. The WIP I'm struggling with started as a NaNo novel that I wrote while attending grad school and teaching, so it's very much (very, very much) word vomit. It was the pantsiest (pantserest?) I've ever written. The characters are coming together, the basic plot is kind of in place, but I'm not really sure how to get where I need to go. So even though I have some raw material, it's kind of like I'm starting from scratch and I have been trying to figure out ways to make this work. I found both of these super helpful, and they also reminded me of a third idea that someone posted a while ago.

The first one comes from a post by Jamie Harrington over at Totally the Bomb. The post is from last year, but someone (I totally forget who) linked to it and I thought it was hilarious and brilliant and I had to share.

She uses a "storysaurus" to plot her books. Click on the link above to see a picture of it. It's basically a way to easily and loosely plot the ARC of your story. The nice thing about it is that, even if you are a pantser, it's flexible enough and versatile enough that you can add spikes, remove spikes, rearrange spikes, without much trouble. Plus it's WAY more fun than a bullet point outline.

The second one is from the ever helpful QueryTracker website. Suzette Saxton posted on this tip that she had come across elsewhere. It's basically a tic tac toe board for your novel, with nine important sections and how they intersect and interact. You can click on the link above to take a look at them.

I love both of these because they are so visual and so loose. I feel like it would be so easy to rearrange, rework, redo anything you put on these. A traditional outline can feel very constraining at times (at least to me).

The last one is actually based on the book Save the Cat which I NEED to read, but haven't had a chance to get to yet. Anyhoodles, Elizabeth over at Liz Writes Books shared this beat sheet that she created to help her plot out the "beats" of the novel. I've played around with this a bit and have found it incredibly helpful in getting my thoughts in order. It's also very visual, plus it's Excel, which I kind of love playing around with (yes I am a geek). The link there will take you to her post.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

How about you? Do you have any tricks you use for organizing, plotting, or revising your novels? Any helpful (or hilarious) sites you've come across when trolling for help?

6 ARC giveaway

2011-07-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, you read that right.

But this time it is not me giving them away.

It is the lovely Frankie Diane whose posts would often make me spew water out my nose if I happened to be drinking water whilst reading them.

Ahem.

She is having a CONTEST! For reals! And giving away 6 ARCs! And there will be 3 winners!

So go check it out. And you could maybe say I sent you and she might maybe give me more entrages. (I am claiming that to be a word.)

Happy Friday!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Cover Love Thursday: Haunting Violet

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

I picked this book up for several reasons - the main one being that Alyxandra Harvey was at Polaris last year, and is going to be there again this year and I've been meaning to read something by her ever since last year.

But look at that cover! It's so perfect for the book and I love the water lilies floating in the deep purple. And the font - I love the curlies on the letters.
I loved this book. It was a great read and I didn't want to put it down!

Here's my review from Good Reads:
Violet's mother is a medium. At least, that's what she would have everyone believe. But no one knows better than Violet just how much of a charlatan her mother really is. She's tired of the games and the pretense and how they prey on the grief of good people, but the only way out of this life is through marriage. It's a good thing the handsome, kind, and wealthy Xavier has his eye on her. But then Violet starts seeing ghosts. For real. And what about Colin? One minute he's teasing her, the next he's kissing her and Violet can't figure out what to do. Caught up in the mystery of a young girl's death, her feelings for Colin and Xavier, and the scandalous behavior of her mother, Violet isn't sure where to turn.

Part mystery, part ghost story, part romance, Haunting Violet has a little bit of something for everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters, and the voice of Violet.

I definitely recommend it! You can also check out Alyxandra Harvey's website and her Drake chronicles HERE.

Tata!

And now it's time for RETAIL WEDNESDAY!

2011-07-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

I don't know how to start today, so ON to the awards :D

Private Amusement Award:

Yesterday I was leading a customer toward the back of the store when I nearly bumped into a gentleman. He had a bath towel draped across his shoulders. I wanted to ask him what the answer was to life, the universe, and everything, but I restrained myself.

Dense Customer Award:

Our cafe was serving samples. We have a small table near the info desk where the tray gets placed. The barista had brought out a tray, so I asked what was being sampled in case someone asked me.

A little while later a customer came up and asked what the one drink was.

Other customer: It's some orange thing.
Me: It's our peach Fruitkula.

This is pretty much the most heavenly drink of ever.

Customer: (takes a sip) No, I think it's mango.

Me: It's our peach Fruitkula.

Customer: (sips, smacks lips) I'm pretty sure it's mango.

Me: I just asked what they were sampling. It's our peach Fruitkula.

Customer: (eyes me suspiciously) Are you sure?

Me: Um. Yes.

Customer: It's really good.

Outright Bizarre / Witty Co-worker / Weirdest Reaction Award:

This is actually 3 stories in one (aren't you excited?).
I almost didn't post this, because I'm kind of nervous that people will take it wrong. But I think it's funny/weird, so here it is.

Don't take it the wrong way.

A woman approached me and cleared her throat, looking around rather nervously.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This nervous.

Woman: Excuse me. I don't really even know how to ask this, but ... do you have any ... black books?

Me: Do you mean African American Fiction?

Woman: (breathes huge sigh of relief) Yes. Thank you.

I show her the section, trying not to burst out laughing. I go back to information and share this with A who gets a wicked grin on her face and says, "I would have been tempted to go get her Mein Kampf."

Because the book is ... black ... get it?
(Don't go getting all offended... it's only because of the cover. Has nothing to do with the book itself. Just Sayin')

On a related note, J had a customer asking for the same section and when J referred to it as the "African American Fiction section" (which is how they happen to be categorized or labelled) the woman got quite offended and asked:

"Do you have a White Caucasian Section?"

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

....... you do realize we're just taking you to the section YOU asked for?

Cutie Patootie Award:
A young girl, maybe 4 years old, walked past the information desk. "A" looked at me and said in a hushed tone, "She's so CUTE!"

The little girl looked back at her and smiled broadly. "Thank you!"

see more Daily Squee

Oh my werd how adorable!

And that's it for today! See you later alligators!

I haven't used this picture in ages. I missed it :D

Two for Tuesday: What I love about the 4th

2011-07-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

of July that is!

Every year when we talk about our plans for the fourth of July, my Dad and I always have the same answer. We like to go to a town nearby. They have a parade, and a craft fair, and carnival food, and a really good fireworks display. So yesterday, none of us had to work (shock!) so we went over pretty early in the afternoon and made a day of it. It was so much fun that I had to share what I love the most.

1. Fireworks. I love them. I forgot my camera this year, so I don't have any pictures. But fireworks are amazing! The skill and science that goes into creating them and putting the show together and coordinating it with the music - it blows my mind! They're beautiful, intense, and entertaining!

2. The sense of community. My Dad and I love going to this town because it's just that - a community! And everyone who comes on July 4th is a part of that. They've got the softball teams and the gymnastic groups and old tractors and the Civil War reenactors and the bands from the high school marching band to the seniors brass band sitting in the back of a wagon - all in the parade. It's so cute and fun and interesting. And when it gets dark and everyone gathers around the lake and there are people everywhere you look and you chat with the family behind you and share glow sticks and hold your breath as those first "test" rockets go off. Then the music starts and the show starts and everyone is united in such a unique way. They always play the same (or very similar) set of songs during the firework show and I love it, but this year there was a problem with the sound system. In the middle of the first chorus of "God Bless the USA" the sound cut out and there was a universal "HEY!" of frustration from the crowd. After a few seconds it came back on, but during the second chorus it cut out again. But that time, everyone just kept singing. It was a really special moment to have hundreds of people singing through the song.

I am proud to be an American and I am glad to live in this country! So here's a little music to continue the 4th for you :D

Next weekend our town does their fireworks display. I like that they spread it out so I can go to more than one!

Camp NaNoWriMo? Don't Mind if I Do!

2011-07-04T09:00:00.003-04:00

First off, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to all of my readers also in the States. I think this is my favorite holiday. At least my second favorite.

Have a cupcake on me :)

But it's also Monday, so on to some writerly thing :)

Have you guys seen this Camp NaNo thing? It's basically the November version, but in July and without its own forums and such. At least so far. But it is a nice option for people that are insanely busy in November.

I managed to do and win NaNo in November (Do NOT ask me how. It was insane), but I had such plans for writing over the summer.

Thus far I have written approximately 0 words.
ugh.

So I decided to do Camp NaNo as a way to kickstart myself back into writing.

I'm working with the novel I started in November, but the thing needs a complete rewrite. As in I can't use anything really that I wrote before. So I figured why not take the accountability of NaNo and that word counter to give myself the motivation to get started. I love this story and I'm starting to get itchy because I can't get going on it.

How about you? Done any writing or revising this summer? Planning on joining Camp NaNo? What do you do to motivate yourself when you just don't want to write?

Whatcha Watchin?

2011-07-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

When I was growing up we never really watched TV. Not really. There would be maybe one show a season that we would watch and then everything else was hit or miss. For example, we NEVER missed an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

So I'm not sure when I became such an avid TV viewer. I think I blame Lost. That was the first show I think I could sincerely attach the word "obsession" to. On TV, online, on DVD I'll have multiple shows going at once and multiple more that I wish I could get to!

Last season I couldn't miss:
1. Vampire Diaries - the second season was amazing. Plus the eye candy of Damon and Alaric :)
2. Castle - love this show to pieces. Hello Nathan Fillion (This also reminds me of the fact that I NEVER crushed on actors until recently... hm)
3. Raising Hope - Though it tapered off in hilarity for me this season I would watch it for the father alone. Oh my werd, but everything he says and does makes my mom, sister, and me laugh our heads off.

4. Glee - I watch it for the music. Really. The story line has completely lost my interest. But I do love when they have a good Sue episode.

And I liked when I could catch NCIS: Los Angeles. I love the cast they've gathered there. NCIS has kind of lost me because everything is pretty much the same that it was 2 seasons ago.

Also liked the occasional episode of Community.

And on DVD:
Dr. Who - The reboot. Just caught up with as much is available on DVD and I want to cry that we don't get BBC America. I think I'm a genuine Whovian now. (Also, David Tennant :D)
Buffy/Angel - Naomi and I were working our way through for the first time. We still have like 7 Angel episodes left.
Babylon 5 - Revisiting an old classic with my parents.
X-Files - Have to watch this only with my Dad as it freaks my Mom out and Naomi doesn't really care.
Firefly - Just finished my nth rewatch. Why oh why was that show canceled?!
Big Bang Theory - started from the beginning. Naomi and I now quote it regularly to each other. I haven't laughed so hard at a sitcom in a very long time. Every episode kills me. My favorite bits are always the exchanges between Sheldon and Penny.

Online:

Dollhouse - If you haven't seen this, and you like Joss Whedon's other stuff, GO. WATCH. It was streaming on Netflix and I became kind of obsessed. Also Tofer.
Torchwood - Netflix streaming is kind of my best friend. A lot of content that I didn't appreciate, but I got sucked in anyway. Not something I would rewatch, but I'm glad I watched it.
Battlestar Gallactica - the new one. I tried this because a lot of people I know loved it, but I just cannot get into it. I don't know as I'll really watch more.

And right now I am obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance! I love this show!

I also, inexplicably, love to catch an episode of Wipeout. I don't pay attention to when it's on or anything, but if it happens to be on I get excited and watch it. I can't explain my fascination with it.

So what do YOU like to watch? Have any good recommendations? I realize this list makes it sound like all I do is watch TV, but it's not as bad as it looks, so you don't need to plan an intervention :D

Also, this is too me not to post.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Retail Wednesday Thursday Edition

2011-06-30T09:23:00.000-04:00

Oops. Meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot. I was so busy doing important stuff like cleaning and making a flier for my Dad and watching Firefly and voting for So You Think You Can Dance (which, btw, was aMAzing and can I just say that Cat Deeley is adorable and should totally get an Emmy for host!) and I forgot!

So, no Cover Love Thursday this week, because I've got some good stories. Oh man, the crazies were out in force this last week!

So on to the Awards!

Close but No Cigar Award:

A woman came up to the information desk and asked for the book Snow Storm and the Revolving Fan.
Me: Do you mean Snow Flower and ...
Woman: (cutting me off) Oh, yeah. Snow Flower and the Revolving Fan.
Me: It's actually the Secret Fan.
Woman: I don't know. The book by Lisa See.
Me: (find her the book and try not to laugh at the image her book title has provided)

Book Titles That Make Me Laugh Award:

A teenage girl asked me for this book... which happens to be in our etiquette section.

Phone Freak Award:

I answer the phone.
Lady: Hi, I was in your store about an hour ago to buy this book. I bought it because this church is bringing in a special speaker to talk about it at the end of July and I wanted to read it before then. So I called this morning and talked to Christine and they couldn't find the book, so she checked with the manager and then they found it and put it on the side for me. I came in and bought it and the girl at the register tried to give me something for the store. Some kind of card or something. But I don't have a computer and they needed an e-mail so I couldn't get it.
Me: Okay. (what is your point and btw, there is no Christine here and no one even has a similar name)
Lady: Well, I have a flier here from the church and it says that the book is available at Borders book store and it has your address and phone number and then it says that the book is $11.99, but when I bought the book, my receipt says $14.99. I thought it was strange when I bought it, but I didn't say anything, but when I got home I saw that this paper does say that it's available at Borders for $11.99.
Me: The price of the book is $14.99. I'm not sure why they put $11.99 on the flier. No one has arranged anything with us and we aren't able to do special pricing like that. The prices are all set by the company or by the publishers.
Lady: But the flier says that it's available at your store for $11.99. Why would they put that?
Me: I'm not sure where they got that number from. Give me one second. (Pull up Borders.com to discover that the special on-line pricing is... you guessed it, $11.99) Okay, I see what happened. Whoever put the flier together looked it up online and put the sale price. Unfortunately that price is only valid online. It even says it on the website.
Lady: But the paper doesn't say anything about that. Why didn't someone tell me when I bought this book?
Me: Because it's not our flier. They put that out without contacting us or telling us anything.
Lady: Well, they're advertising your store.
Me: And we appreciate that. But we can't honor a price that someone put on a flier that isn't from our store.
Lady: So I can't get the $11.99?
Me: The only thing that we could do would be to have you bring back the book you bought, we could return it and then order the book online and have it shipped to you. That would take about a week.
Lady: Well, I don't need it until the end of July, but I figured I'd go ahead and get it now, since I was there and you had the book. So if I come in they can give me the $11.99?
Me: We would have to order it. But just to let you know, I don't know how long the book will be on sale on our website. I couldn't guarantee that if you came in next week it would still be $11.99.
Lady: Well, they would change it for me, right?
Me: No, we don't have any control over the website prices. If it's on sale you would get that price. If it's not, we can't change it.
Lady: Well I think in this instance you should since there was a discrepancy in the flier price.
Me: That wasn't our discrepancy. We can't help what some random person puts on a flier that they make.

Look! I made a flier where everything is half off! Why won't you honor it?!

Lady: So you can't give me the $11.99?
Me: Only if we order it through our website while it is still on sale.
Lady: When are you working? Because they won't let me return the book. They'll want to know why I'm returning a book and buying it again.
Me: As long as you have your receipt it won't be a problem to return the book.
Lady: But they won't know to give me the $11.99 price if you aren't there.
Me: The price is automatic on the website. It won't matter who helps you order it, the price is set right now. That's why I told you we can't change it, so if it's not on sale anymore, we wouldn't be able to give you that price.
Lady: Well, I just don't understand why you can't just give me that price. They should have told me when I was in the store, since it was on the flier.
Me: (losing it just a little) It's. Not. Our. Flier.
Lady: Oh, I understand that, but they shouldn't have put that on there.
Me: I agree.
Lady: I don't know when I'll be able to get a ride back over there. That's why I came today. Because my husband could bring me. He already doesn't like bringing me there, he's just going to love this.
Me: I'm sorry. I guess you just have to decide whether the $3 is worth making another trip over here.
Lady: I'm not someone to quibble over $3.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This actually has nothing to do with the story,

but it was the only picture with the word "quibble" and it made me laugh so...

Me: (OH REALLY BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ON THE PHONE FOR 15 MINUTES WITH YOU OVER $3!)
Lady: I guess I'm just going to keep it. It isn't worth coming back and going through all that. Thank you (hangs up)
Me:

And that's it for this week! Hope you're having a great summer!

Two for Tuesday: Lame Edition

2011-06-28T09:42:00.000-04:00

I woke up and realized I hadn't written a post for today. And that I had NO idea what I wanted to write about. But I'm trying to keep myself on schedule for the summer so I had to do something.

So here are 2 random facts about myself:

1. I hate talking on the phone. Like with a passion. Like I will do anything to avoid calling someone. Or answering the phone. Or whatever. I would rather text, e-mail, wait until I see them, smoke signals would be better than talking on the phone.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

2. I have about a trillion stuffed bears. I got one for every Christmas since I was born until last year. And I bought them for myself. I named them (almost all) with names that started with "B" such as Bernard, Belinda, Boo, Betsy, Bob, and so on.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This is pretty much one of the cutest GIFs ever.

Now it's your turn! Tell me a random thing or two about you!

Inspiration Covered

2011-06-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

As those of you that have been following me for a while know, I have been working on a YA novel. I wrote the first VERY rough draft during NaNoWriMo in November and have been trying to figure out where to go ever since then. I've rewritten the opening scene at least 7 times, tried to keep going on the rewrite I started in January. I'm stuck.

So I was looking for inspiration.

First I did a search for castle pictures. There are a lot of gorgeous pictures. A. Lot. I felt inspired just looking at them. Here's a couple:
(The one I wanted to show you the most is all rights reserved and I don't want to step on anyone's proverbial toes. So just go HERE if you are interested. GORGEOUS!

This is a scene from Edward Scissorhands, but it's exactly how I picture Layla wandering through Tavares' castle.

From Internet Pop Culture. I love this. The sky is PERFECT

From timepassages tumblr
This is not what I envisioned the entryway to be, but once I saw that picture I thought it was PERFECT!

This is from PlanetWare

So I got all excited and everything. And then I decided that I wanted to do a faux cover. I've always wanted to do one, but never have. This also forced me to title my book something. Which I've been trying to do. It's hard for me to get excited when it's just "that Layla thing." Now it feels more real and I'm hoping that will get me writing again.

Tada!

I'm still not ENTIRELY happy with it, but I like a lot about it. And it's just for my fun, so...
As for the title - In the book I reference Magic or Enchantment as almost a living force (very inspired by Mercedes Lackey's 100 Kingdoms books) but I didn't like the terms "Magic" or "Enchantment" so I looked up both word in various languages thanks to Google Translator. "Magiciste" is I don't remember what, but it is different enough that I like it and looks enough like Magic not to be too confusing. And so I decided to use it for the title. For now anyway. But I likes it :D

What do you do to inspire yourself when you're dragging on a project?

Polaris part 2!

2011-06-25T09:02:00.000-04:00

So yesterday you saw the pictures, (if you didn't you can go HERE) and the first of our ridiculous videos.

Last year they had fantastic guests like Ethan Phillips who played Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager, and Kai Owen from Torchwood and Mark Sheppard from Battlestar Gallactica. For book guests they had Kelley Armstrong and Robert Sawyer, plus SO many more.

I went to one panel, 30 years after the Empire Struck Back and one of the panelists was Craig Miller who worked on the Star Wars movies and had all these fantastic behind the scenes stories and stuff.

There were also two panels on Lost, since the show had just ended that year, and the discussion there was so interesting.

Kelley Armstrong, Alyxandra Harvey, and Michelle Rowen hosted a panel on What's Next for YA Fantasy and Supernatural Readers that was a lot of fun and we went to one panel on what to read after Harry Potter.

Larry Stewart (the master of ceremonies and a hilarious guy who is going to be there again this year) did a reading of a chapter of Harry Potter that had the entire room (which was packed to the gills) roaring with laughter and completely enthralled (I'm crossing my fingers he does another one this year).

There was a panel about vampires (cleverly called Then Buffy Staked Edward) in which several people argued heatedly against sparkles no matter how the panelists tried to direct the conversation, and one on Steampunk, which we attended because we were wondering what it was all about.

One of my favorite panels was called "The Book was Better" and the panelists were Violette Malan and Marc Mackay. It was fascinating and they were hilarious. I will never look at a movie adapted from a book the same way again. They are SO limited that it amazes me anyone is ever able to pull it off. We enjoyed it so much that we went to a reading by Violette Malan and got free signed books from her just by showing up! Also went to a reading/discussion by Nikki Stafford and to the one by Michelle Rowen.

Here's another ridiculous video:

There were also games you could play - they had a StarGate game that was kind of like bingo, except not. You got a sheet of paper with a bunch of StarGate symbols on it and then those symbols were hidden all over the building - little squares of laminated paper stuck on pillars, in rooms, behind benches, on the ceiling, etc and those papers had numbers on them. So you had to write down the number on your paper and the person that found the most won a free entry to this year's convention. There was also a Clue type game, which we didn't play because we were kind of confused and overwhelmed by the awesomeness that was Polaris.

Here's another ridiculous video:

SO this year Naomi and I are really excited because we know a bunch of the special guests. (And by know I mean we have watched the shows they were in, because we don't actually know them, though that would be super cool)
There's Armin Shimmerman who played Quark on Star Trek: DS9 and Principal Snyder on Buffy, Ben Browder from Stargate SG-1, Adam Baldwin - JAYNE! (Browncoats unite) and to make THAT even better, Jewel Staite is going to be there too! Yeah Kaylee! She also was on Stargate Atlantis as Dr. Keller.

The two big author guests this year are Charlaine Harris who writes the Sookie Stackhouse series that True Blood is based on and Brandon Sanderson, who writes fantasy and is best known now, probably, for being chosen to finish Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

The panels look really good and I'm going to be on a couple this year. I even submitted a Lost panel that was accepted :D, there's one on the genre of YA, and so many others that should be fascinating.

AND they're doing a Whedon singalong with the Buffy episode "Once More with Feeling" and then Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog!

So, it's too late for pre-registration, but you can still buy tickets so, if you're free on July 15-17 and can make it to Toronto, you totally should come. Or you should make plans for next year.

You can go HERE for more information or just to check it out.

So... have you gone to any super fun conventions? Anything planned for this year?

POLARIS

2011-06-24T09:40:00.000-04:00

I promised AGES and AGES ago to post about this and now it's almost a whole year later.

But that's okay, because I still want to tell you all about it and it's not too late to plan to come this year! But more on that later...

Naomi and I heard about Polaris through the amazing Nikki Stafford as she was one of the author guests last year. (I keep hoping she'll be there again this year, but no word yet *crosses fingers*)

Polaris is basically a sci-fi/fantasy convention that covers books, movies, tv shows, fandoms, etc. etc. etc. It is big enough to attract some really great author and actor guests, but small enough that you feel right at home and the panels are small enough you can actually say something and easily engage in the discussions. I loved pretty much every second of it.
Get ready for some pictures!

Naomi likes to take pictures of people eating. Also food.

See? food...

Naomi by the TARDIS! We'd barely started Dr. Who at this point. The Friday night party was all Dr. Who themed and now that I'm a regular Whovian I wish we'd come prepared!

We stayed at the Sheraton where the conference was held. It was really nice, but we had to walk down like 3 halls like this to get to our room. It felt like it went on forever (in a good way)

This was a steampunk fashion show. So cool.

We met up with some of the Nik at Niters for dinner on Saturday. This was the coolest Coke bottle chandelier!

Some of the Nik at Niters! So nice to put names to faces :D

Naomi and I with the lovely Nikki Stafford! This was the second time we'd had a chance to meet her and it was such fun.

Ex-ter-mi-nate.

Naomi and I went all out on the costumes for Sunday (I made both of them, finally getting a chance to put my sewing skills to good use) I went as Delenn from Babylon 5 and Naomi was an elf or something. People kept guessing different random things. She just wanted the sleeves :)

Nature meets ... machine? Loved this little Wall-E that was randomly in our hotel hall!

Scary elf!

I love those sleeves. Love them.

And me. This was a fountain near one of the entrances to the hotel. Sunday, everything finishes around noonish, but we stayed through till Monday so we wouldn't have to drive 8 hours on exhaustion. So we walked around and took random pictures.

Loved this cabinet

I remember now why I didn't put this up right after we went. It was because I had put together some of the video we took, but YouTube wouldn't upload it for FOREVER. So. I will post one here and the others I will post tomorrow. Tomorrow I will also tell you a little about the panels we got to join in on AND give you the scoop on this year!

So I leave you in suspense with this...

Cover Love Thursday: Forgiven

2011-06-23T09:00:00.001-04:00

I had never heard of this book, but I saw the cover and I want to read it.

Look at this:

Gorgeous, no?

What I like about it: That red! It's so eye-catching. And the way her hair is all flying out behind her! I love the typeset of the title. The composition is just stunning.

Here's the GoodReads synopsis:
Kula Baker never expected to find herself on the streets of San Francisco, alone but for a letter of introduction. Though she has come to the city to save her father from a cruel fate, Kula soon finds herself swept up in a world of art and elegance - a world she hardly dared dream of back in Montana, where she was no more than the daughter of an outlaw. And then there is the handsome David Wong, whose smiling eyes and soft-spoken manner have an uncanny way of breaking through Kula's carefully crafted reserve. Yet when disaster strikes and the wreckage threatens all she holds dear, Kula realizes that only by unlocking her heart can she begin to carve a new future for herself.

mmm.... books....

Retail Wednesday Time Once Again

2011-06-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

Guess what!? I actually worked this week!

Guess what that means?! I actually have some good stories!

so without further ado... I give you

THE AWARDS

Phone Freak Award:

I answered the phone.
Guy: I was wondering if you could tell me if you had a few books?
Me: Sure. What books?
Guy: No Exit and Other Plays by Sartre
Me: (looks it up) Yes, we should have that one. I'd have to double check the shelves, but why don't you tell me the other ones so I can look for them all at once.

Guy: Okay, how about Critique of Pure Reason by Kant?

Me: Sorry. That would have to be ordered.

Guy: What about The Republic by Plato
Me: Is there a particular translation you need?
Guy: What?
Me: If you need it for a class some teachers require specific editions.
Guy: (hurriedly) oh, no. Never mind.
Me: We should have a couple of different ones.
Guy: (ignoring me) What about Discourse on Method by Descartes?
Me: We should have it.
Guy: Okay thanks.
Me: (stopping him as he's about to hang up) Don't you want me to check and see if we actually have them?
Guy: (hurriedly) That's okay. Bye.

Was he just taking a poll?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Or perhaps it was simply a philosophical exercise

Private Amusement Award:

I was walking through our teen shop when I saw a guy in his early 20s browsing in the graphic novel section. He had that look of someone trying to find something specific, so I asked if he needed help finding anything.
He kind of hesitated and then grinned a little sheepishly, almost blushing.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

At this point I got a little nervous. What was he looking for that would embarrass him like that?
He leaned in toward me and almost whispered, "Do you have Halo books?"
I almost laughed. But I didn't. Give me a little professional credit. "Sure!" I said brightly. "They're back in sci-fi/fantasy." I led him toward the section and showed him where they were and walked away, biting the insides of my cheeks to keep from smiling too broadly until I was well away. I felt like saying, look, you're talking to someone who mainly reads YA and middle grade novels. I don't think you need to be embarrassed about reading books based on a video game.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Cutie Patootie Award:

I was on the register and a mother came up with her 3 or 4 year old son. He handed me this giant dinosaur book from our bargain section.
"Oh, do you like dinosaurs?" I asked him. He smiled up at me and nodded his head vigorously.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

His mom smiled and said, "Tell her what you want to be when you grow up."
He got this really intense look of concentration on his face and said, "I want to be a pa-wee-un-tologist."
I about died from the cute :D

see more Daily Squee

Oh my werd, like this. SO. CUTE.

And that's it for today!
(p.s. pardon all the LOLcats today. Blogger wouldn't let me upload any other pictures. *grrr* Not that I don't always have a hefty dose of them anyways :D)

Two for Tuesday: Books you HAVE to go read. Now.

2011-06-21T09:00:00.002-04:00

I have been doing SO much fun reading since I got out of school. It's like I'm trying to suck up as much "fun" stuff before I get bogged down in theory and having to analyze everything again.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Sorry, I just can't seem to resist these adorable LOLCats!

And I recently read two amazing books that I wanted to plug a little bit because I loved them so much.

The first is Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Seriously. Read this book. Oh my goodness it's like amazing. See I even went all italicky on you to show you how serious I am. I found the beginning a little bit slow, but then I was all ZOMW I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ALMOST DONE NO I DON'T WANT IT TO END WAIT WHAT THE HAY BALE OH MY WERD FREAK OUT AND WHOA.

So read it.

Here's my Goodreads review (because I'm lame lazy and don't want to rewrite the thing.)

Honestly, at very first I was interested, but not totally sucked in. Yeah, that didn't last long. Oh my goodness I love this book. I love Tris and Tobias and Caleb and Christina and Will. These characters are so vivid, so vibrant, so astoundingly real that you just can't help but hold your breath for them.

Beatrice has known for a long time that she's just not selfless enough to spend her life in Abnegation. But that means she has to choose a different faction and turn her back on her family. Easier said than done. And now that she's in the middle of Dauntless initiation she's even more confused as to where she belongs. She's taken a new name, making new friends, and even getting a tattoo (or two), but does all of that really change who she is or who she wants to be? And what will she do when everything she's worked for starts crashing down around her?

Go. Read. Love :)

And the second book is Myra McEntire's Hourglass.

I just finished this on Saturday and I didn't want to put it down. From the very beginning I was hooked on Emerson's voice. I hit this one line, which I can't remember exactly, but it was about a guy screaming like a lady who's forgotten to take her panties off the line when the preacher comes to call. I mean, who comes up with a word picture like that! I loved it. Definite laugh out loud moments, but a lot of intensity too. Time travel, hot guys (yes plural), mysterious men, loving family, and did I mention TIME TRAVEL?! So fantastic. You totally should go read it. Like right now.

Emerson just wants to be normal. Which is really not easy when you have to walk through southern belles just to get into your house. But she really doesn't want to see this new "consultant" her brother hired. She knows he's just trying to help, but she's had enough of hokum and hospitals. Then she meets Michael and he sees the things she sees. And he tells her she's not seeing ghosts, she's seeing time ripples. And she just might have more power than she could ever have realized. But what is she going to do about it? And what is Michael hiding? They have the opportunity to change everything, but can they trust each other enough?

Both lovely ladies have blogs and stuff (you can get to them by clicking on their names) and, if you haven't bought either of the books, they're both ON SALE and you can get to that by clicking on the titles.

So those are my two for Tuesday... have you read anything you loved lately? DO TELL! I'm always looking for my next fab read :D

The Age Dilemma

2011-06-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

I think this is the first writing related post I have done in MONTHS.

My problem is I came out of NaNoWriMo totally stoked about my new project. But then I workshopped it in my fiction class at school and got so much feedback (good btw) that my brain rebelled and every time I tried to restart I froze.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

One of the biggest problems I am still having is figuring out how to make my characters FEEL like the age they are supposed to be.

A number of people commented on my opening scene, saying that they thought the MCs were like 13. Great, except they're supposed to be just out of high school. Now granted, after reviewing it I realized that my first scene basically stunk. But I don't want people reading this thinking that Layla and Moira are 13 when they're supposed to be 18. But then later, people got confused and thought they were older. Like in their 20s. *headdesk*

So I started thinking about why I have a problem with this. I read a lot of YA and MG (middle grade) novels. A lot a lot. Like 90% of my pleasure reading. I want to specialize in children's and adolescent lit for my doctorate (if I go there, but that's a whole nother story). I have younger siblings. I spend a lot of time around 15-17 year olds.

BUT I am *mumblemumble30mumblemumble* years old and sometimes I wonder if I'm just too disconnected? I know there are a lot of people older than I am writing fantastic YA fiction, so I don't think it's that.

However, I never had anything close to a "normal" (whatever that means) adolescence.
1. I was homeschooled. my entire life. The first time I set foot in a classroom was in college. I love the fact that I was homeschooled. I think it was fantastic. But my entire view of high school life comes from books, tv, movies, and random conversations I've overheard. That's easy, just make your character homeschooled, right? Except that doesn't work since her parents died and she lives with her cantankerous grandmother *sigh*

2. I graduated high school when I was 16. Yes. 16. Then I spent a year student teaching my younger brother and sister. Then I worked for 5 years. Then I finally decided to go to college. Oh. And we moved to a new state in there too. So I feel lost when I try to write about any of that kind of stuff. Because I never experienced it. Not really.

So my characters end up sounding too young. Or too old. Because I am a mixture of both. Sometimes I will goof around and act like I'm 13. For serious. But then I'll act my age and I'm all professory and professional. But no one EVER guesses my real age. Which I appreciate.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This is kinda how I act. Sometimes. Both sides of this :)

When I'm writing dialogue between two girls that have been friends, and practically sisters, since they were little, I write it the way Naomi and I would talk. Or the way she and some of her friends might talk. But those are the parts that people said made them sound too young. But I'm basing it on real people that are actually older than the age of my characters. So I get confused.

My point is that I'm not sure how to make sure my characters "act their age" and what does that mean anyways? And does it matter? Every person is different, right? So some 17 year olds act 12 while others act 22. How do you clarify that in your writing. Do you just find an organic way to slip their age in near the beginning? Or do you not think about the age thing at all? Am I being too overanalytical? Should I end with some funny posters?

Where was this three months ago?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Something Random for Your Friday

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was totally going to finally have my Polaris post up from our trip *cough*last year*cough* BUT I didn't quite get to finish it. So next week. Promise (see, now I have to do it).

So instead I decided to do something random. Because there isn't ever any of that over here. *sarcastafont engage*

Except I honestly can't think of anything random.
....
....

Boring, huh? Aren't you glad you came all the way over here?

oh! I know. Last night we went to the carnival that always comes through on Father's Day weekend. We don't ride the ... rides (that sounded redundant) normally (Naomi was a big fat rebel and actually rode some yesterday). No. We go to a carnival for the FOOD.

My top favorite carnival foods in no particular order:
1. FUNNEL CAKES - no fried dough here people. No, it has to be the funnel cake. The crispy, fried, delectable goody covered with enough powdered sugar to choke you. Nothing better.

2. Chicken Gyros - oh. my. goodness. I love these pita filled wonders with their yummy chicken and their crisp lettuce and juicy tomatoes and drippy cucumber sauce. *drool*

3. Ribbon Chips - these are a dying breed. I haven't seen them for like 2 years. The curls, the crisps, the fake cheese sauce that burns your mouth and tastes oh so good!

From HERE

And that's all I've got. What's your favorite fair or carnival food? *props chin on hands* *waits*

Cover Love Thursday: Possession

2011-06-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

You know you judge a book by its cover. We all do. And there are lots of books and authors I've discovered because of a little bit of cover love :) Not that it's the final or only criteria for picking up a book, but there's a reason they put so much work into these covers!

Today I decided to post a favorite cover of mine recently.

I have to admit, I wasn't that thrilled with it when I saw it online, but in person it's absolutely gorgeous. It's all shimmery and lurvely.

and the story inside is even MORE fantastic! Okay, so I've gushed about this a bit before, but today is the official web tour for this book TOO.

I wrote a non-spoilery review last week, which you can read HERE AND if you want to join in the festivities you can go to Elana's loverly BLOG or to the WEBSITE because she is all awesomesauce and stuff.

What I love about this cover: It looks plain white in the picture, but it's actually kind of pearly and shimmery. I love the simplicity of it. The letters are raised just slightly and the colors! Oh the colors are so PRETTY. The purple and the green and the ice cube and the butterfly. Love it.

So have you gotten your copy yet? huh?!? What on earth are you waiting for!? Go HERE. or HERE and do it NOW :D

Retail Wednesday for You and Me

2011-06-15T13:12:00.000-04:00

Um. Yeah. It gets hard to come up with clever titles after a while.

But LOOK! It's BACK! Retail Wednesday has returned to your computer screen! Aren't you excited?! Aren't you dancing with glee!

From HERE

Okay. Maybe not. Maybe it's just me :D

For those of you that might be new here (though I don't know if there are any of you) I work at a Borders and a while ago I decided rather than getting annoyed at people I should just write down their stories and make myself (and others) laugh about it. Because people are crazy. And I am a writer. And this is FAR more therapeutic than spitting in their coffee. (not that I would do that. I don't work in the cafe. ;)

AWARD TIME!

Book Titles That Make Me Laugh Award:

I saw this on an endcap and did a double take. Yes. Yes, this is actually a book.

The perfect answer for the allergic type I guess? I love that they are PEDIGREE POOCHES. No mutts for this knitter. No. Sir.

Private Amusement Award:

I answered the phone.

Woman: Hello, I was looking for a specific book.
Me: Okay, what book?
Woman: I was looking for a Super Horoscope book. I need Gemini and Scorpio.
Me: Hold on just a second and I'll see if we have them.
I put her on hold, but as I was trying to check, another customer accosted me and refused to leave me alone until I answered their question. I finally make it to the section, discover that we only have Gemini and return to the phone.
Me: Sorry for the wait.
Woman: Oh, that's okay. My psychic told me that I'd have to wait today.

Me: (to myself - why couldn't your psychic tell you if we'd have the books in stock?)

The best thing is that I found this on a psychic blog!

But seriously. I don't believe in the whole psychic/astrology thing, but if it made more people this patient I wouldn't mind.

Outright Bizarre Award:

Our deposits are picked up by Loomis, the armored car company. We have had the same guy forever and he's super nice. He walked into the store with his little cart with our change order on it. A customer looks over as we walk by.

Man: Hey, is that for me? (grins)
Loomis: Only if you want to go to the state prison. (smiles back)
Man: Oh, I've already been there. (turns back to browsing)

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Me: !!!!!!!!

And here's a bonus pic that came up and was too funny NOT to share :D

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

And that's it for today! Thanks for stopping by :D

Two Truths for Tuesday

2011-06-14T09:00:00.002-04:00

Wow! Look at that! I've started back on my schedule again!

Try not to die from shock or anything. I've also started my bloggy rounds again, trying to get back around to you lovely people who haven't given up on me despite my spotty appearances and spastic posts.

So today, for my Two for Tuesday, I have once again decided to steal from the Roecker sisters and post truths as well.

1. I am enjoying my summer off of school a little too much. So much that when I had a day of work cut from this week I kind of didn't really care. It's been a lot of years since I had this amount of time on my hands and I think it's gone to my head. I wouldn't mind if I was actually like writing or something, but I'm not. And worse, I don't feel bad about it. Not really. Case in point. Yesterday I did the following:
a. sleep in until 10:30 (completely unheard of unless I am sick)
b. read the rest of Cruel Love by Kate Brian (my guilty pleasure in YA books)
c. try to log into my school account, which won't load
d. lose all desire to work on my syllabus
e. read 2 chapters of They Say/I Say to make myself feel like I am accomplishing SOMETHING
f. write my blog post about the winners of my Tuscan Tales contest
g. read some blogs
h. snicker over Sarah and LiLa's posts on procrastination
i. continue to read blogs
j. decide at 2:15 I should probably eat some lunch
k. slump around trying to find something to eat
l. put a frozen chicken and cheese quesadilla in the toaster oven
m. get the mail
n. dance around because I got notification that I was awarded a scholarship
o. decide to fill out the acceptance sheet later
p. hide award letter in room in order not to think about it
q. eat quesadilla while watching Torchwood on Netflix streaming
r. keep watching Torchwood
s. help Mom pick lettuce from our garden for dinner
t. watch more Torchwood
u. go to Wal-Mart with Dad to buy frozen pizzas
v. eat dinner with the family
w. read some more of Divergent
x. start another episode of Torchwood
y. get ready for bed
z. write this blogpost
As you can see. I have an entire alphabet's worth of stuff and nothing really productive. At all.

2. I didn't really know what to write about for today so I made a random list and am pretending that it is a real post and that I am NOT totally ripping off multiple other bloggers.

So what's your truth today? Are you feeling lazy now that summer is here? Or are you still busy, busy, busy?

Tuscan Tales WINNER!

2011-06-13T12:26:00.000-04:00

Hi all!

And thanks for perusing my adventure to Italy! So many of you left comments and at least pretended to be interested in the fact that I was inundating you with pictures and random facts :)

So thanks to all of you and I'm so glad to have a little time so I can bounce around and visit all y'all again!

But wait, someone here is a winner, yes? A winner of the fabulous Italy prize pack and the Italy owl, yes?

So.... according to Random.org, the winner is...

Yeah! Sarah Ahiers wins!

Sarah, I already have your address (because I'm a stalker that way) so as soon as I finish the owl your little package will be on its way :D

Thank you all for entering and I've had so much fun this past week! Hope you have too!