October’s book club choice

This months book is “Beauty” by Robin McKinley.  It’s a retelling of the Beauty & The Beast tale.  The following is copied from her own website:

Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are beautiful. But what she lacks in looks she can perhaps make up for in courage.
When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty declares she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will.

I’m going to be honest here and admit that I’ve previously attempted to read this book and failed miserably.   I’ve had this same thing happen with books I later fell in love with so I’m willing to try again.  If anyone would like to participate blogs are due up on October 21.  Please feel free to join us.

QOTD:  What books have you started to read, abandoned and later fell in love with?  A couple for me are Vampire Academy and Dead until Dark.

So much for that

Saying I’d blog every weekday was obviously what it took to throw a wrench in the works.  Almost immediately after my Tuesday blog I lost internet for more than 24 hours.  My sweet and cuddly kitty knocked my modem off my desk and it pulled the cable to where it looked connected but wasn’t.  Something had left it weak prior to that so the guy needed to come out and fix it so I had a proper connection and now my signal is strong and my connection is active again.

I named my router “Use this and Die” and when I got reconnected I was looking at names of other routers nearby.  Some are default like ‘Linkysys’ or the users last name ‘Turner’ and then there is ‘insightwifi’ which is the company I get my internet through.  Someone else has named their connection “WARNING!  Secured by Chuck Norris.”  I think mine is better.

Check in tomorrow when I’ll be announcing the title of the book club selection for October so that if you’d like to join in with your own review or comments you can.

Things that inspire me to write

So I’ve noticed that there are a few very particular things that inspire me to write or create.  I thought I’d share them with you but promise not to laugh at me

1. Feeling good about myself – When I’m eating well and sleeping well and getting my exercise in and losing weight I feel more creative and even like some of the ideas I come up with.

2. Reading a good book – The book doesn’t even have to be in the genre I want to write about, YA paranormal, but a good book can inspire me, not to steal ideas but just make me think about the path my story would be taking.

3. Watching BBC America or a good film from the UK.  I’m a huge Anglophile and so I like to watch a lot of movies/television out of the UK and was originally inspired to write, an incomplete chick lit, after watching an episode of Doctor Who.  My Doctor is #10 for anyone who understands what I mean by that.  Some of my favorite shows are Doctor Who, Torchwood, Survivors, Being Human (which is currently shooting in my favorite UK city of Cardiff), Primeval and I am looking forward to Luther and Sherlock.

4. Music – I listen to a lot of music out of the UK and have an app on my phone that lets me listen to radio from all over the world and I tend to listen to Red Dragon FM out of Cardiff, Wales, UK the most.  I like Paolo Nutini, Scouting for Girls, Plan B, Alphabeat, Mika, Lily Allen, Florence and the Machine, The Script and Antony & The Johnsons.  I’ve also recently found a gorgeous song by The Perishers called Sway that I can’t get enough of.

5. Westlife – This should probably go under the previous catagory but they are pretty much their own inspirational source.  I love to listen to them and find I write better when I do.  I’ll go through phases where I listen to nothing but Westlife and I am very anxiously awaiting their next album so that I can have some new materials to choose from.  I’ve a weakness for sexy Irish lads and that they are.  So if either Nicky, Mark, Kian or Shane ever read this I <3 you all and your music *giggle*  Brian too I suppose.

There are many other things but these are just the first 5 I could think of today.  What inspires you?  Any suggestions on things that might help me?

Shame on me!

I haven’t been posting like I’d planned.  I had every intention of posting Monday to Friday without fail.  I even have a list of 20 blog ideas for when I draw a blank on what to blog about on any given day.  The only reasoning I can come up with is that my birthday last week was emotionally traumatic for whatever reason.  I turned 32 on Friday which isn’t a big deal but for some reason it bothered me a lot, more than 30 which I could have cared less about.  I just started feeling like I’m 32 and the dreams and goals I’d hoped for by then hadn’t even started to come true.  Goofy I know but I really let it get me down.

Another issue I had was with this book that I really was looking forward to reading for months but then 12 days into reading a book that should have taken 1 day I realized I was never going to finish it and that also bothered me to a degree.  It’s hard getting back my stride when it comes to reading.

Beginning today I’ll be back to blogging Monday to Friday and if there is any reason I won’t be blogging I’ll announce it the day before.  Holidays that fall on weekdays will be quiet on the blog front as well.  I’m back people

Book Hungry review

Okay so I haven’t been blogging lately but what a great post to come back with.  I’ve always wanted to be a part of a book club and finally I am.  These women are great and I’m proud to be among them.

This month’s book was chosen by the wonderful Cynthia Reese and it isn’t something I would normally read on my own and I was very skeptical about how I would feel about it.   The chosen book was “Gods in Alabama” by Joshilyn Jackson.

Official synopsis:

Arlene Fleet, the refreshingly imperfect heroine of Jackson’s frank, appealing debut, launches her story with a list of the title’s deities: “high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus.” The first god, also a date rapist by the name of Jim Beverly, she left dead in her hometown of Possett, Ala., but the last she embraces wholeheartedly when high school graduation allows her to flee the South, the murder and her slutty reputation for a new life in Chicago. Upon leaving home, Arlene makes a bargain with God, promising to forgo sex, lies and a return home if he keeps Jim’s body hidden. After nine years in Chicago as a truth-telling celibate, an unexpected visitor from home (in search of Jim Beverly) leads her to believe that God is slipping on his end of the deal. As Arlene heads for the Deep South with her African-American boyfriend, Burr, in tow, her secrets unfold in unsurprising but satisfying flashbacks. Jackson brings levity to familiar themes with a spirited take on the clichés of redneck Southern living: the Wal-Mart culture, the subtle and overt racism and the indignant religion. The novel concludes with a final, dramatic disclosure, though the payoff isn’t the plot twist but rather Jackson’s genuine affection for the people and places of Dixie.

The blurb doesn’t do it justice in the slightest and I have to say if I just picked it up in the library it’s very likely I would just put it back.  I was very very pleased with what I read.

Have you ever read a book where you find parts of yourself in the main character?  Now I didn’t sleep my way through all the boys in my school but there was something about Arlene that really touched me.  I loved the story from start to twisty finish.

With a crazy family and a dark secret it amazed me that Arlene was able to really connect with Burr and fall in love with him.  My favorite part of the whole book was the way that Arlene saw her relationship with her aunt and then the way it truly was.

I may not do the story justice with my review but I have already checked out a copy of her other book set in the same world and will be reading that very soon.  I definitely would recommend this book

PS This is the very first time I’ve ever tried to review anything so don’t hold it against me.

Anniversary

I had the pleasure of being raised by my mother sometimes and my grandparents at other times.  My mom got sick when I was in 5th grade and so I spent 6th grade with my grandparents.  I spent most summers with them and holiday breaks.  When I was 15 I moved in with them and spent the rest of my school years with them.  I loved my grandparents as if they were my parents.

My grandmother, Vida, was slightly crazy and that’s okay with me.  I am the oldest grandchild and only granddaughter, last girl born into my family and in 3 weeks I will be 32.  I was spoiled.  I won’t deny it and it wouldn’t work to try denying it.  When I graduated high school they were there fiercely supportive despite all the mistakes I made.

Several years ago she fell and broke her hip and that was pretty much the beginning of the end.  She went to a nursing home and was pretty out of touch, not communicating well.  In the end she was sent to a hospital because she became very jaundiced and the ER doctor took one look at her, without instruments, just eyes, and said “she has cancer.”  Sure enough she did.  She had lung cancer that had metastasized to her liver, causing the jaundice.  Hospice was due to arrive the following Monday which was Labor Day 2007 but she didn’t make it.  My mom called me on that Sunday, September 3, 2010, to tell me that my beloved Mamaw was gone.  The very last thing she ever said to me was how pretty I was.  I still miss her all the time and yesterday was horrible for me.

Busy Day

I have a lot going on today so writing a blog post isn’t something I have a lot of time for.  I have now renamed my MC AND figured out how to begin it.

In the beginning

I have this wonderful book idea that I think could be the one.  I have pages and pages of notes and a great general idea of where it should go.  I have character names and descriptions and family trees.  Not at all my usual style by the way.

One thing I do not have is the beginning.  I have a list of ideas for how to start it, 7 ideas.  None of these actually seem to fit how I want to start.  I had been working with someone to bounce ideas but she’s mostly never around so I don’t rely on her when she only answers emails once a week or so.  I need to find a good crit partner I know but it’s hard and hasn’t worked so far.  What do you do when you can’t find your stride with writing?

Another thing I’m struggling with is the name I’ve chosen for the main character.  I’ve been seeing it everywhere in YA books and there is even a television show of the same name at the moment.  Do I change it or do I keep with it?

A beautiful day

Today is a beautiful day.  Blue skies, cool breeze, spring temps.  A day like today would be wonderful for laying in a hammock and reading a book.  Instead I’m sitting inside with headphones on and working.  I have all the windows open and the cats can’t decide which one they want to look out of most.  They followed me room to room as I opened them and then came back to sit in the first one I opened.

I wanted to write today about my current WIP or discuss some great books I’ve read.  I thought maybe I could write about my fibromyalgia and how I appear to be in a flare.  I could write about how long it takes my doctor to return phone calls or how I’ve gone in 3 times for one specific thing and she keeps pushing it off until the next time.  I would write about my job and tell you some of the funnies there but then I could be sued since it’s a privacy violation.  Instead of all of those ideas I instead want to track down this cricket that I keep hearing and give it a stern lecture or let my kitty play with it or set it free.

True Love and movies

Have you ever seen the movie Empire Records?  This is one of my all time favorite movies.  Bitchin’ music, great young cast before and a place I wished I could be too.  I’ve always loved music and if only the place were real I’d have been right there, probably hitting on Lucas because Rory is fine as hell.

One of my favorite scenes is when AJ is on the roof and Corey flies out there having thrown herself at Rex Manning and she’s upset and he chooses that moment to tell her he loves her.  Only he’s kind of a bumbling idjit so he tells her a story about a day she wore a skirt he hated and tells her that he knows that since he could love her in that skirt he knows that his love must be true.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post.  I have a deep love for David Tennant, Scottish actor and the 10th Doctor.  If you don’t know what this means just google it….are you done?  Isn’t he adorable?  Well I had my own AJ moment today thanks to a link posted by a twitter user, @KimberlyRPauley .  This link was to a website with pictures of poorly dressed people.  One of those pictures was my own true love, David.

If I can love him in this I can love him no matter what! He is why most men I write as romantic leads are Scottish.