Hey there! Look! I'm back when I said I would be! I KNOW! I'm shocked too. So, since we're all here, would you like to hear my three things for this week? Excellent.
1. This world is full of horrible things, but sometimes we come together and show we still have compassion and empathy for those who suffer. The shooting in Colorado last week still leaves me horrified and a little afraid to go to the movies again. It was a terrible, terrible tragedy and when I think of those families, my heart breaks for them. But as I've been on Facebook and Twitter and seen people sharing encouraging words and kind thoughts, sending prayers and condolences to the victims and their families, it's given me hope. People from all over where sending love and kindness to that town, and it was beautiful to see. I've seen it before, and I'm sure I'll see it again. My only wish is that I hope to see it happen more often. Not only when extreme tragedy occurs, but whenever we see someone in need of some kind thoughts and words. The world is a scary place, but it doesn't always have to be, and I've decided I want to be a part of trying to always spread some sunshine into the darkness.
*takes a deep breath and moves on to less serious topics so you don't all leave feeling sad*
2. I struggle choosing what to read when starting a new series. I kind of knew that about myself, but as I've been on vacation, and going through books I own and books I can get from the library, I'm really having trouble committing to a single book or series. There are just so many good ones!! I'll pick one eventually (I have a free day today, so I'm going to need something to read) but it's hard. I just wish I could magically read everything all at once. But I think I'm going to read The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, and then reread Paranormalcy and Supernaturally by Kiersten White so I'm all caught up when it's my turn for Endlessly from the library. I'm very excited to see how her trilogy ends! And I'm still bummed I'm missing her signing in SLC tonight because I'm still in Idaho. Oh well. Hopefully I catch her when her next book comes out next year.
3. I would never go anywhere or see anything if it wasn't for Sparky. I have a TERRIBLE time following directions and I get lost VERY easily. Combine that with a bit of timidity when it comes to new things and you'll see why I'm not a very adventurous person. But Sparky loves to go and see new things, and he is way better at finding his way around than I am. This week he took us all out sight seeing while visiting my mom and it was a blast. It made me think of a line from The Muppets. "Life is like a song, when there's someone by your side to sing along." And I think that's true. Life is always more fun when you're sharing it with someone you love, whether it's family or friends.
Well, that's it for me today. What about you? Have you seen anything that has given you more faith in the human race lately? Struggled to decide which book to read next? Gone and done something fun with someone that you wouldn't have done on your own? I want to hear all about it!
*If you're curious about the books I read, you can find me on Goodreads here.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
I live!!!
Hello, hello all you wonderful people in Internet Land. How have all of you been? Me? I've been busy. And, as you can tell from the date of my last post, very absent. Sorry about that.
Or maybe no one noticed. *looks around* *shrugs*
In any case, here I am! *jazz hands*
So, since I have been extremely long winded in my posts in the past, I'm going to try and keep my posts from now on a little shorter. The plan (at the moment) is to do a post every week called the Thursday Three, letting you all know three things I've been up to or thinking about or reading or whatever. That way it's less stressful for me, less time consuming for you, and everyone wins and we all get to chat. Sounds excellent, yes?
So, even though it is Friday, and not Thursday, (yesterday was Dude's birthday, so I was a bit busy) I thought I would give you the scoop on three things that have happened since the last time I posted.
1. We moved. Yep, we finally found a house in February that we loved in a good neighborhood and in March we moved. The kids did much better than we expected and even though we're constantly finding new things that need to be fixed or we want to change/update, it's a great house and it's been AWESOME having so much room for everyone. We're very excited to be in a home we know we can stay in long term.
2. I've discovered I hate revising. I finished Secret Story in May and was super excited to get to work editing and revising so it made sense. (It's BY FAR the messiest first draft I've ever written. Makes no sense to anyone else reading it right now.) So I printed it out and got to work with my red pen and post it notes. But by the time I finished there was SO MUCH red ink and notes EVERYWHERE that my confidence was feeling very, very small. So what could I possibly do to get my confidence back? Ditch it for a new story, of course! So right now I'm working on Shiny Idea. It's fun and makes me feel like I'm not a fool for loving to write. I am definitely going to get back to Secret Story, but I'm letting it rest for right now while Aubrey and Andrea finish reading it. Once I have their thoughts and notes, I'll get back to it. But for right now, Shiny Idea is my main squeeze. (I know, we did this with Bound in Ink, but I am determined to follow through with Secret Story. It's different and deserves to be fixed up.)
3. I've cut WAY back on reading. It's tangled into a lot of reasons, but mostly it was throwing my life way out of balance. By the time 2011 was over, I had read around 150 books in that year alone. (My goodreads shelf says otherwise, but I don't count rereads on there.) That's A LOT of books in a single year. And it was a problem. So now I try to read no more than 2 books a week. (You think that's a lot, but during the Library Madness of Winter 2011, I was reading about 5 books a week. Yeah.) It's hard, because I still want to read ALL THE BOOKS and I want to read them RIGHT NOW, but it's finally clicked that they will all still be there later. And it's been helpful to my writing, because as I've taken more time with my books, I'm noticing things I like/don't like in the writing and have applied those same principles to my own stories. It's been good for me I think.
(*stops and examines post* Man, that got long anyway, didn't it. *headdesk* Sorry about that. I really will try working on that in the future.)
So, until we meet again next week, tell me, what have all of you been up to?
Or maybe no one noticed. *looks around* *shrugs*
In any case, here I am! *jazz hands*
So, since I have been extremely long winded in my posts in the past, I'm going to try and keep my posts from now on a little shorter. The plan (at the moment) is to do a post every week called the Thursday Three, letting you all know three things I've been up to or thinking about or reading or whatever. That way it's less stressful for me, less time consuming for you, and everyone wins and we all get to chat. Sounds excellent, yes?
So, even though it is Friday, and not Thursday, (yesterday was Dude's birthday, so I was a bit busy) I thought I would give you the scoop on three things that have happened since the last time I posted.
1. We moved. Yep, we finally found a house in February that we loved in a good neighborhood and in March we moved. The kids did much better than we expected and even though we're constantly finding new things that need to be fixed or we want to change/update, it's a great house and it's been AWESOME having so much room for everyone. We're very excited to be in a home we know we can stay in long term.
2. I've discovered I hate revising. I finished Secret Story in May and was super excited to get to work editing and revising so it made sense. (It's BY FAR the messiest first draft I've ever written. Makes no sense to anyone else reading it right now.) So I printed it out and got to work with my red pen and post it notes. But by the time I finished there was SO MUCH red ink and notes EVERYWHERE that my confidence was feeling very, very small. So what could I possibly do to get my confidence back? Ditch it for a new story, of course! So right now I'm working on Shiny Idea. It's fun and makes me feel like I'm not a fool for loving to write. I am definitely going to get back to Secret Story, but I'm letting it rest for right now while Aubrey and Andrea finish reading it. Once I have their thoughts and notes, I'll get back to it. But for right now, Shiny Idea is my main squeeze. (I know, we did this with Bound in Ink, but I am determined to follow through with Secret Story. It's different and deserves to be fixed up.)
3. I've cut WAY back on reading. It's tangled into a lot of reasons, but mostly it was throwing my life way out of balance. By the time 2011 was over, I had read around 150 books in that year alone. (My goodreads shelf says otherwise, but I don't count rereads on there.) That's A LOT of books in a single year. And it was a problem. So now I try to read no more than 2 books a week. (You think that's a lot, but during the Library Madness of Winter 2011, I was reading about 5 books a week. Yeah.) It's hard, because I still want to read ALL THE BOOKS and I want to read them RIGHT NOW, but it's finally clicked that they will all still be there later. And it's been helpful to my writing, because as I've taken more time with my books, I'm noticing things I like/don't like in the writing and have applied those same principles to my own stories. It's been good for me I think.
(*stops and examines post* Man, that got long anyway, didn't it. *headdesk* Sorry about that. I really will try working on that in the future.)
So, until we meet again next week, tell me, what have all of you been up to?
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