Movies, Books, Music, and Other Randomness

*Warning: This post got pretty long, so I apologize. But if you made it all the way through, thanks for reading, and a gold star for you for sticking with me through my ramblings. :)

Hey there! How are all of you enjoying your summer so far? Lovely? Mine's been pretty good so far. Did you know that it's mostly over? Yeah, you heard me right - MOSTLY OVER. Well, at least it is for me. Dude goes back to school in just over a month, which is insane. That means summer vacation is almost over and he'll be back in school - all day now. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I'm excited for him to be going all day because he loves school, it will give him and Diva some time apart (which we need after this summer of togetherness), and I will have at least 2 hours every weekday where I'm kid free and able to get some work done. (Diva napping, Dude still in school. This will be a HUGE luxury and one I am greatly looking forward to.) But he's a super picky eater and I kinda worry about him not really eating lunch since I won't be there to make sure he does. But, that's something I don't really need to worry about for another month, so I'm going to put it in the back of my nind for now. In related news, Dude turns 6 tomorrow. This is completely weirding me out, for defineable and undefinaeble reasons. But I'm excited to give him his gifts. I'm pretty proud of myself this year. (I am a notoriously bad gift giver. My ideas are rarely the awesome ones I think they are. But this year, I know I did a good job.)

In a completely unrelated topic, I went and saw the final Harry Potter movie this weekend with Sparky. He really enjoys the movies and we've seen every one together since a date we had when Prisoner of Azkaban came out. He's not really a reader, but once upon a time we tried reading them together, and we made it through the first two before we realized that he's insanely busy and it would take us until we're 60 to read them that way. So for now I just fill him in on things I felt they left out in the movies over dinner afterwards and he gets confused because I don't explain it very well and it's all good fun. He was greatly anticipating this movie because HP7.1 left him feeling very unsatisfied.

Sparky: "Nothing happened!! Why did we spend a whole movie watching them wander around England? I don't get it! Was it really necessary?"
Me: "Well, you really have to get a sense of how hopeless their quest is, and how difficult everything they go through is, personally and as friends, before the big epic battle. It makes sense in the book, I swear."
Sparky: "I still think it was boring. The last half better be awesome."
Me: "It will be. I promise."
Sparky. "Alright then."

So, we went and it was awesome and epic and everything we had been hoping for. And as we were driving home, I asked him what he thought.

Sparky: "I was not happy that no one was there to see Neville get all badass with the sword. And that absolutely NO ONE was around when Voldemort finally died. What the hell was that?"
Me: *laughs loudly* "That's funny that you should mention that, because both of those things happen that way in the book. Everyone is watching when Neville kills the snake and also when Harry takes down Voldemort."
Sparky: "Why didn't they leave it that way then?"
Me: "I don't know."

You can't please everyone, I suppose. But I must say, I agree with him. Those two scenes...I wish they would have stuck to the book. In my opinion, it gave Neville his shining moment - which is completely deserved. And as for the final showdown, while it wouldn't have been as visually arresting, I think it's more emotionally impactful. It's extremely tense, and for the first time, Harry isn't afraid. He knows what's about to go down, and it's his turn to taunt Voldemort - make him afraid for once. And everyone is there! *sigh* Those were really my only two issues with the movie, and they're pretty small. (Not at all like the Freakout of Order of the Pheonix, where Dumbledore's 40-ISH PAGE explanation to Harry about ALMOST EVERYTHING is watered down to barely 2 minutes of screen time. I was NOT happy and it still annoys me.) Anyway, I think it was a fabulous ending to the movies, and a great way to close the era of Harry Potter. Those books are super fantastic, and the movies were very well done. I'm happy with how it all ended.

In other book news, I have been reading up a storm, now that I'm not quite as distracted by Bound in Ink, and I've finished a few books that were very, very excellent. I love books with strong, self-aware female characters, I think it's a rare quality in YA books, although it's becoming more and more common - which is awesome. But there's a few books that stand out in my mind as having awesome main female characters, and I wanted to share some with you.

The DUFF - Kody Keplinger - I loved Bianca. She's smart and witty and sarcastic and not afraid to say what she thinks. And her back and forth with Wesley was always fantastic. There's a ton of sex in this book - it's practically a character in and of itself - but it's believable and not overdone, and actually shows a side to Bianca as the story progresses that makes her one of my new favorites.

Flawless - Lara Chapman - Sarah was an interesting character to read about. Most of the girls in books - especially main characters - are anywhere from gorgeous to pretty-but-plain. Sarah is very pretty, but she has a huge nose - something that her mother struggles with (having had a big one as well before a nose job) but she tries to make light of it so she doesn't dwell on it. It's a take on Cyrano as a whole, but I love her personal transformation the best. You don't have to be gorgeous for a guy to fall in love with you, because the right guy will fall in love with YOU, not just your face.

Fire - Kristen Cashore - I read this a while ago, but it will remain one of my favorites because I find Fire to be such an incredibly complex character. I don't even really know how to describe what exactly I love about her, but it's there. She's strong, smart, and struggles deeply with herself about making sure she does the right thing, even if that means sacrificing the one thing she wants most, or doing something horrible for the sake of the greater good. And her relationship with Brigan is slow and moving and beautifully written. Seriously, I loved this book.

There are a bunch of others, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head right now. If you're really curious now about what I'm reading (or have read in the past, or looking forward to reading in the future) you can come find me on GoodReads. I love to share what I'm reading, and I love to see what others are reading as well.

And finally, I am spending a lot of time going through my CD's and importing them onto my computer. The burned CD's are taking the longest, but I'm rediscovering some really great songs that I haven't heard in ages and I'm loving it. My writing playlist is getting REALLY long (last session put me at just over 12 hours of music on that one playlist) but it's really helping me get into a good groove and bringing fresh ideas for my round of revisions and rewrites. And with that, I leave you with a song I was in love with once upon a time and just recently found again. I've been listening to it on repeat for the last 3 days. Enjoy!

And until next time, happy reading and writing!!

In Other Writing News....

I know what you're thinking? With the insane writing I've been doing these past few days, what on earth could I possibly be up to now? Well, it's July, and it's time I posted my story over on Once Upon a Distraction, which is now up! Hooray! Something you can read now instead of just hearing me talk about it. Excellent.

This month's theme was just something a little more upbeat, since the last few stories we've posted have been a little on the...dramatic side. This month was hard for me, because I was super distracted by Bound in Ink, but I'm pretty happy with what I was able to come up with. However, I'm aware this particular story isn't my strongest, so please be gentle in your comments. Either way, I hope you enjoy it! And please, please leave comments. I love hearing what people think - good or bad, it's all constructive to me.

I might be popping up again this week with some music to share, but if I don't, it's because my brain is still recovering from the writing marathons I've had the last couple days. Have a great week, and until next time, happy writing!

I FINISHED!!!!

YES!!! It's true, this afternoon after two word wars and a couple hours writing solo, I wrote the very last scene for Bound in Ink.

That means the end. Which means it's done.

No, actually, it doesn't. At least, not really. It's done in the sense that I now have the complete skeleton of the story written. There's a little meat here and there, but for the most part it's pretty rough. Now I'm going to go back through it, from beginning to end, and add scenes here, details there, and tweak some dialogue so that it's better. Because as many wise authors have said, you can always make it better.

So, I'm going to spend the next few weeks really working on Bound in Ink so that I can feel comfortable sending it to my little group of readers. Andrea and Aubrey can hardly wait to read it, and I can't wait for them to read it. I am so excited to hear what they think!

Well, I'm going to give my tired brain a break and watch the next movie in my little Harry Potter mini-marathon as I get ready to see the final film with Sparky on Saturday. (It's like then end of an era, it really is.) And I'm going to reward myself with brownies! Here's to an awesome day!!

Almost Done and a Working Title!

That's right boys and girls, you read that right. I am *this close* to being done with the first complete draft of book 1 - which now has a working title because I'm sick of calling it "book 1".

Are you ready?

Here we go.

BOUND IN INK.

Nice, right? I like it. It has a certain ring to it. And sounds WAY better than "book 1". So there you are.

Anyway, back to the progress. I'm just under 50k, and am really close to the end. I'm guessing it'll be around 55k when I hit the end, which seems small, but as I'm writing I'm realizing that I'm skipping over things that will need to be added in. I didn't mean to skip over them, I just thought it wasn't important to cover, until I got further into the story and realized it was important. So, that will be next, once I finish. I'm still keeping it to myself, and once I get to the end, I'm going to do a read through and add/revise/rewrite the things that need to be fixed, and then it goes out to my beta readers and the girls to critique. I have a total of 5 (possibly 6) people who will read it and send it back to me with all of their thoughts, suggestions, and edits. Then, hopefully, I can organize all of that and get to work on the next round of edits and revisions. It's getting all kinds of exciting for me around here!

So, that's where I am. Next time you hear from me, I will have - for the first time - completely finished writing a book. Even if it's still pretty rough. ;) Hooray for progress! Until next time, happy writing!