What I'm Reading: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, A Journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy, and Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris.
What I'm Working On: Tomorrow I will be working on writing again. A two month haitus has clarified alot for me.
25 Random Things
I was tagged at Facebook to write 25 random things about myself and post them. I decided to post them here, too. If you're reading, your tagged.
1. I’d rather read than watch TV. Any. Day. Of. The. Week. Last year, I read 67 books.
2. I’m a mountain person. People either tend to be mountain people or beach people. I live 45 minutes from the beach and (other than last March) went for YEARS without visiting it. On the other hand, when I lived in Arizona, I made it to the mountains several times a month.
3. I’m a nomad. It’s unfortunate that I seem to get stuck living in one place for so long. When the kids are out of school, I want to explore the world.
4. Really good, made from scratch, with the skin-still-on-the-potatoes French fries are my favorite food.
5. I have 3 college degrees and am getting ready to start a 4th. I love going to school. All 3 degrees are different. Vastly. I guess I get bored easily and always need a change of pace. I have a BSEd in Biology and PE, an MS in Exercise Science/Human Physiology, an EdS in Curriculum and Instruction, and I’m about to start a new masters program in Writing Popular Fiction.
6. Yes, I like to write. Love it. When I grow up (don’t laugh), I want to be writer – fiction, probably YA or literary.
7. My hero is Dr. Paul Farmer. He started Partners in Health. There is a book about him. It’s called Mountains Beyond Mountains. I think he’s an amazing example of what the heroic actions of one determined person can do.
8. I have four dogs. If I lived in the country, I’d have more. Maggie is a Chow-mix mutt. Rex is a Golden retriever mix. Cipy and Alice are retired racing greyhounds.
9. I once smoked a cigar. Just once. It turned my throat and tongue black and tasted awful for hours. I kept getting up from bed all night to brush my teeth. I brushed by tongue until it was raw. Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.
10. I like to cook. I love trying new recipes and mixing new ingredients together. However, I’m not much of a baker. I don’t enjoy that at all.
11. The place I most want to visit before I die is Israel.
12. I’m completely unable to file things. If I do, I can never find it. I like stacks. Or very generic files that say things like “January”. I can always remember where something is in a stack or a “time-related” file. But otherwise, I’m hopeless.
13. I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the all time best TV series ever, ever, ever. The writing was brilliant. The story arcs were perfect. The conflicts exquisite. I loved that show!
14. Fall is my favorite season. (Not in Florida, but in places where you have real fall.) I like the cool bite of the air, the shade of the sky, and the colors of the leaves. Equinoxes are so much more interesting than Solstices. Plus, it’s football season.
15. I believe the best plan is one that can be easily changed. I like extreme flexibility.
16. Ever since I hit about 35, I can’t ride roller coasters, which is sad since I used to love them so much. I have real problems with motion sickness on them. Apparently, it’s tied to the migraines I’ve been having since then, too. The doc says the migraines are hormonal and that when I hit menopause (what fun) they might go away. Maybe I’ll be able to ride roller coasters again then, too.
17. I’ve voted Republican and Democrat in presidential elections almost an even number of times. I’m truly the person to which politicians are campaigning. This year, I was Obama all the way!!
18. I’m an introvert and need quality alone time to recharge my batteries.
19. I like having a fully stocked pantry, but I detest grocery shopping.
20. I don’t see the point in going “window shopping.” If you’re going to shop, it should be with a purpose. Plan on buying something.
21. I would love to live in a city where a car was completely unnecessary. Maybe Manhattan or London. I could totally get into public transportation in a city where it was efficient and well run. I like the compactness of Manhattan and London. I’m not a fan of urban sprawl.
22. No matter how many times I snorkel and despite the vastness of the ocean, I always feel completely claustrophobic wearing a mask and snorkel.
23. On the Meyer’s Briggs, I’m an INTJ (and occasionally, like 10% of the time, an INTP).
24. I once hiked rim to base to rim in the Grand Canyon in one day. The next day, I couldn’t move.
25. My glasses are progressive lenses. Isn’t that pathetic? I’m forty and basically have bifocals.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
25 Random Things
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Waiting on Wednesday
What I'm Working On: Why do I never have a good way to answer this question?
"Waiting on Wednesday":
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Release date: February 10th 2009 by Putnam Adult
Synopsis:
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
Why:
Look how far we've come, baby!! It might be good to remember where we've been and why it was so bad and to celebrate the little things people did to get us where we are today. I read a great novel about the evil's of racism last year. I hope this one is just as inspiring.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Manic Monday
What I'm Reading: A Journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy, Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
What I'm Working On: I'm actually going to write something today -- probably notes by hand, but that counts.
In an effort to blog more -- and more interestingly this year -- I'm trying to find some standard blogs that I can always count on. I discovered Manic Monday. I love that it's so random. I'm going to try to participate for awhile.
The point is to answer the random questions posted every Monday. This Monday's questions are:
1. What gives you hope?
For me, I guess hope comes from seeing the world and people as they could be, not as they are. I make a point to look for ways to see this. God gives me hope, too. For what it's worth, I believe in a loving, forgiving God, and for a person who messes up alot (like me) that is a very hopeful consolation.
2. How often do you get your haircut? Describe your worst haircut.
About every 6 to 8 weeks. This usually includes new color, too. My worst haircut must have been when I was about 13 or so. My mom took me to a new lady and she waited in the car while I went in. I kept telling the lady that my bangs curled in a weird way and that she should leave them long. She didn't listen and instead whacked them off. The were awful and curled up so tight that it looked like I had no bangs at all. I wanted to pretend I was sick for a week.
3.What's your most treasured piece of jewelry? Why?
My wedding ring. And, seriously, do you need to ask?
So, if you're reading this, you're tagged. Post away.
M
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Waiting on Wednesday
What I'm Reading: Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
What I’m Working On: Does writing and editing for the day job count?
When Michael Walden—a deep-sea diver who lost his parents in a violent hurricane—arrives in town, Leesie sees someone who needs her. They fall for one another, even though his dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above.
Will their intense chemistry be too strong to resist?
Leesie and Michael must make the hardest choice of their lives: whether to follow their beliefs or their hearts.
Readers will be swept away by this tale of forbidden romance told in online chats, Leesie’s chapbook poems, and Michael’s dive log. It’s as steamy as Twilight and just as clean.
Monday, January 19, 2009
MLK
What I'm Reading: Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
What I'm Working On: Not writing. Sad but true.
In honor of MLK, here is the complete text of his now famous I Have A Dream speech. Read it. Remember. Look forward to a great future. Change is coming.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Waiting on Wednesday
What I'm Reading: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo, and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Of course, if the author of The Magic of Ink objects, she simply needs to let me know and I’ll cease and desist.
“Waiting on Wednesday”: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.
Release date: March 10th 2009 by Delacorte Press
Synopsis:
In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?
Monday, January 12, 2009
Not so resolutions
What I'm Reading: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo, and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
What I'm Working On: Avoidance (I'm quite good so far.....)
So, about those resolutions I was going to post.....
I frankly haven't been feeling that introspective. I've been worrying alot -- an old habit of mine that I hate -- which doesn't leave much energy for anything else.
I really need to change that.
So, if I were going to make resolutions -- and I am, I swear -- I would make the following (give or take a few):
1) Read alot. Last year I did the 8 books in 8 categories in 08 challenge. This year, as you can probably guess, it's 9 books in 9 categories in 09 challenge. For the math challenged, that's 81 books. There is absolutely no way I can do that. However, I like the idea of 9 categories. If I do 7 books in 9 categories for 09, then I'll manage to read at least 63. That's more doable. So, despite the fact that it's not at all catchy, that's my reading challenge. I'll post my highly-likely-to-change-because-I'm-fickle categories in a few days.
2) Make sure at least one category is non-fiction. I did that last year. I read 8 non-fiction books. I'm not a huge non-fiction fan, so I thought I might not make it, but I did. I like that I actually read non-fiction, so continuing to read it will be another resolution.
3) See how people are like me before I notice how they are different. Isn't this just a good rule?
4) Workout. Seriously, this may be why I'm not making real resolutions yet -- I'd actually have to at least pretend to try to follow through and the gym has just not been calling my name.
5) Appreciate the really important things more by making more time for them. This means family and friends because, really, after that, what is there?
6) Invest more time in my faith. This means being more diligent about going to and getting involved at my church, and reading and studying my Bible and other Christian writings more.
7) Write regularly. So far, again, I've not been in the mood. However, I want to write and finish something this year. This means, I'll probably rewrite Slayer. Again. But it's evolving in a new direction which is away from the traditional, paranormal, hot romance that it once was to something more teenish, more horrorish, more darkly hopeful, less happy-endingish. I know, I know........
Okay, that's my list of not-so-resolution resolutions. Since I missed the January 1st start day, I just need to pick a day to get going. (No, it won't be tomorrow.)
Michelle
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The resolutions have to wait
What I'm Reading: The Society of S by Susan Hubbard and Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
What I'm Working on: I seriously have to remove this question if I continually can't answer it.
The resolutions and goals are forthcoming -- as soon as I get some much needed rest. Yes, I know: I was supposed to rest on holiday. Whatever. That didn't happen. However, I have nothing real planned this weekend, so after some downtime for the brain, I'll post my resolutions.
In the meantime, here are some photos from my trip to London and York for your entertainment.
The York Minster
The London Bridge
The bro, oldest niece and me talking to a Beefeater at the Tower of London
My much-missed niecesM
Friday, January 2, 2009
The 888 challenge recap
What I'm Reading: The Society of S by Susan Hubbard and Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
What I'm Working on: Reacclimating to the eastern time zone. I said I'd start writing again. Yesterday. I got in REALLY late from London last night so I think maybe I should aim to start on Monday. (Seriously. Monday is it.)
Last year about this time, I took the 8 books in 8 categories in 2008 challenge. (The 888 challenge.) I made it. Actually, I surpassed it. I read 67 books in all. Of course, if you're comparing, I made DRAMATIC changes to what I proposed to read, but really, I am nothing if not flexible. The best plan, in my opinion, is one that's easy to change.
In the end, here's what I read last year. What did you read?
888 Challenge*8 books/8 categories*
I. Romance novels:
1. The CEO’s Scandalous Affair (The Garrison’s) by Roxanne St. Claire
2. Seduced by the Wealthy Playboy (The Garrison’s) by Sara Orwig
3. Burning Up by Sarah Mayberry
4. His Style of Seduction by Roxanne St. Claire
5. The Mercenary by Cherry Adair
6. The Sins of His Past by Roxanne St. Claire
7. Dark Seduction by Brenda Joyce
8. Driven by Eve Kenin
9. It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
II. Continue 8 series I’ve already started:
1. The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann (starts the Trouble Shooters series – which I read out of order)
2. Blood Fever by Karen Marie Moning (2nd in Moning’s Fever series)
3. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyers (3rd in the Twilight series)
4. Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas (sequel to Sugar Daddy)
5. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (sequel to I’d Tell You…)
6. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer (4th in the Twilight series)
7. The Hollow by Nora Roberts (2nd in the Sign of Seven trilogy)
8. Faefever by Karen Marie Moning (3rd in Moning’s Fever series)
III. Young Adult/Youth:
1. Raven’s Gate by Anthony Horowitz
2. Over Sea, Under Stone: Book 1 of the Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
3. Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
4. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
5. London Calling by Edward Bloor
6. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
7. Gossamer by Lois Lowry
8. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
9. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
10. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
IV. Book Club books (TBA – of course – as we select them):
1. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (Discussion on January 14th)
2. Poison Study by Maria Snyder (Discussion February 10th)
3. Breaking Point by Suzanne Brockmann (Discussion March 9th)
4. Can You Keep a Secret by Sophia Kinsella (April discussion)
5. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (May discussion)
6. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (June discussion)
7. The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan (September discussion)
8. Splendid by Julia Quinn (October discussion)
V. Just Fiction:
1. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
2. the Host by Stephanie Meyer
3. Austenland by Shannon Hale
4. Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
5. Brothers by Da Chen
6. The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
7. The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
8. The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera by J. Joaquin Fraxedas
VI. Books by Authors I’ve Never Read Before:
1. Madapple by Christina Meldrum
2. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
3. Runemarks by Joanne Harris
4. How Far is the Ocean from Here by Amy Shearn
5. Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy
6. When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
7. The Wave by Todd Strasser
8. The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
VII. Audio Books:
1. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
2. The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
4. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
5. The Charm School by Nelson DeMille
6. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
7. The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen
8. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
VIII. Non-fiction:
1. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
2. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
3. Writing the Break-Out Novel by Donald Maass
4. Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School by Matt Copeland
5. What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancy
6. From Bagdad to America: Life Lessons from a Dog Named Lava by Jay Kopelman
7. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink
8. Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!!!
