BW6: Sunday's Book Babble - Mystery, Myth, and Monte Cristo

 

Jazzberry Blue 

I started reading the Count of Monte Cristo with my 52 Books group this week in which we planned to read three chapters a week.  I couldn’t help myself because I needed to know what happened so read through Chapter 6.  Then I got totally bogged down in chapter 7 with all the history and will have to reread with my ipad standing by to look up information. Jealousy reared its ugly head.  Danglars, the supercargo, dislikes Dante taking over the ship and his super secret mission for the late captain.  Caderousse is jealous of his money or maybe just too greedy, but Dante's father felt the need to pay back a loan even though it left him destitute and hungry until Dantes returned from his trip. Fernand hates Dantes even before he meets him because he is Mercedes love.  Danglers is quite manipulative, feeding both Caderousse’s and Fernand’s dislike.  Is Dantes blind, too young and arrogant or is he really just that nice in that he is kind, even to those who treat him badly.  It could have read like a soap opera but didn't and I'm enjoying it so far.  

I finished two new to me authors this week.  The first book in Toni Anderson's Cold Justice mystery series, A Cold Dark Place,  in which  FBI Agent Mallory Rooney has spent her life trying to find the man who kidnapped her twin from their bedroom when they were children. While searching for a vigilante whose been killing criminals and pedophiles, she gets involved with a private security contractor who is actually a clandestine government approved assassin. You can probably guess where this is going and it causes plenty of angst and trouble for both characters. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me reading and kept me from figuring out who the serial killer was.  

(Category:  Be Still My Heart, Police Procedural,  Setting: Virginia U.S)

I finally read the Bear and the Nightingale which is the first book in Katherine Arden's Winternight mythological fantasy trilogy.   I don't know anything about Russian mythology or fairy tales so enjoyed learning all about it.  The beautifully written story drew me in with its vivid imagery, and you can almost feel the bite of the freezing snow, and played on your emotions with plenty of love, fear,  and anger,  as well as evil and hope and magic.  Set during Medieval times, the lead character, a young girl by the name of Vasya challenges the culture and mores of the times with her powers and belief in spirits others might consider evil.  She is a wild child and can talk to horses, communicate with nature and household spirits. When a priest decides to challenge and destroy the villagers beliefs in the spirits,  and rein in Vasya, it endangers the whole village as well as himself. I totally enjoyed it and looking forward to reading the rest of the series. 

(Category: Magic and Mystery / Dragons and other fantastical creatures.  Setting:  Russia,)

Continuing my Nora Roberts reread with Blue Smoke about a female arson investigator. 

I finally broke down and subscribed to Netflix this week and enjoyed watching the first few episodes of the Good Place.  Which means I didn't accomplish  much on the writing front.  Bad me. Time to sit down, reread my story, then tackle editing again.  

Sunday Salon: Productive and Creative

Happy Sunday!  I am quite proud of myself although it's only been four days.  I've automatically, without help of the alarm, woken up an hour early every day.   Except for today of course.  I have spent at least 10 minutes daily working on the first scene in Chapter one. I'm ready to type it up and move on to the next scene.  Yesterday I had been thinking that since it had only been four days and the month started midweek, I should give myself extra time and continue to work on that one scene for this week.  However, I'm ready to move on.  Hubby's been quite useful as a sounding board, bouncing ideas off of him.  He's being quite encouraging.  

So the goal for this week is to review and rewrite Scene 2 from Greg's point of view, plus write and schedule posts for this week.  I'm almost caught up with my book reviews, have three more to write and then I'll schedule them for the coming weeks.  

James and I are going out this afternoon for our annual Super Bowl Shopping trip.  It became a tradition when our wonderful neighbor starting putting off an air horn every time his favorite team made a touchdown.  Drives both of us up the wall.  We have fun going to the comic book store, Barnes and Noble, and picking up something for dinner.  My book buying ban is still in force (which a friend quickly reminded me of when she heard about our shopping trip) so I'm going to try and resist temptation.  Maybe I'll pick up a book for Hubby.  *grin*

My 52 Books group is traveling through England for the month of February and this month's flower is Rose.  I shouldn't have too much trouble spelling that one out.  

I'm still reading Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War (dusty and chunky) which is quite interesting and Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase (ebook) and as always, his books are off the wall.   I just finished listening to Faith Hunter's Blood of the Earth from her Soulwood series and will begin Curse on the Land tomorrow during my drive to work.   

It's the beginning of the end of our homeschooling journey.  We are down to the wire as we begin James 2nd Semester of 12th grade. Never imagined we'd end up working through all 12 years.  Hubby, who always swore he wasn't a teacher, now happily embraces his position and is learning just as much as James this year with Geometry and Chemistry.  I'm in charge of the two e's this semester -- English and Economics.   We still have half our budget given to us by Visions to spend, so going to have some fun shopping for biographies, memoirs, poetry, as well as more chemistry materials.  

Off to shop, then plan lessons for the week.  

~Cheers~

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Yikes! There are only two week and a half weeks left to our summer break and we haven't accomplished 1/4 of our to do list, nor did we manage to take off somewhere and explore.  I need one of those - stop the world, I want to get time off buttons. A Tardis would actually do quite nicely.   Yes, I've been watching way too much Doctor Who.

Another sleepless night since my body has now decided it doesn't like Bel Air's Chipotle Panini's. Maybe it's the Chipotle sauce?   I've been dragging all day and managed to get out to the grocery store. Otherwise, have lazed around, reading.  I'm almost finished spelling out Sardonyx and have X left. I ordered Jeff Vandemeer's Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy which will arrive in a couple days.  Meanwhile I'm reading Seanan McGuire's first book - Discount Armageddon in her InCryptid series.  Delightful light paranormal read which is just what I needed right now.

It's book week 33 in our 52 Books Quest and this week I highlighted a new to me American Poet - Alfred Corn.

This next week's goal is to do an all court press to finish outlining curriculum for 12 grade.   Writing goals are to continue posting every day and begin the 30 day writing challenge on the 15th.

~Cheers~

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Hubby came back from his walk yesterday morning and showed me pictures of bins of books he'd seen at a garage sale in his meanderings.  I quickly told him what authors I liked before heading off to work while he returned to pick up a few.  A few?  When I got home, he lead me into our bedroom and showed the haul.  He'd gone back with a backpack and stuffed it full.     Thanks honey. I love you too!  Gee, I won't have to buy any more books for a month, err, a week. Hmm....a while.  *grin* 

This past week I finished number eight in the Wheel of Time series - The Path of Daggers - in which Elayne and Nynaeve find the bowl of winds, Rand continues to win allies and fight enemies, Egwene proves she is capable of being the Amyrlin Seat and Perrin works to find and stop Masema Dagar, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the Dragon.   I'm still trying to wrap my head around the visual of Rand and others moving thousands of troops and all that accompany them through the gates.  The series continues to fascinate and entertain.  

I dove back into October Daye's world with Ashes of Honor written by Seanan McGuire.  October is searching for another lost child and trying to stay one step of head of those trying to stop and kill her. 

I also started reading Dorothy Dunnett's historical novel - Niccolo Rising - in her House of Niccolo series, which is set in the 15th century.  Much like Ben Kane historical novels, it is well written and one of those hard to put down, forget what time it is, and stay up way past your bedtime reads.  

Speaking of Dorothy, she is the author of the month and highlighted on 52 Books this week.  

James scored four video games, a few books, and several comic books for his birthday, plus a gift certificate from his grandpa.  Now he's contemplating what to buy next.  I advised no more video games for a while.  Then realized my books are his video games.  There are always unread books on my shelves just waiting for me to read.  Such a hard life.  

I found this adorable picture of mom and James on his 1st birthday. I missing mom today as its the anniversary of her 86th birthday. I'm sure she is having a grand party up in heaven with her folks and brothers and sister.  Love ya, mom!

Happy Sunday! 

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Oh my goodness, where did July go?  This month zoomed by and I don't feel like we got anything accomplished life wise.  Blog and writing goals wise, I'm zooming online.  I've posted every single day of the month. Albeit a little late in the afternoon some days.  I've established daily themes with plenty of flexibility built in so I don't have to stick to that daily theme if I have something else to chat about.  I'm playing with art and poetry and having fun.

The one thing I haven't done is work on Eyes in the Ashes. I seem to be stuck in a nonfiction mode.  Or is that just an excuse?  Am I still percolating or has it moved on to procrastinating.  Why am I having trouble with fiction?  The book I'm reading currently - Fire Up Your Writing Brain says to write down and clarify your intentions about why you want to work on this piece.  Find your reasons.  Find your passion. Be sure of your passion.  

I'm not feeling really passionate about Eyes in the Ashes at the moment so what do I need to do to get that back?  Immerse myself in the story, immerse myself in fiction writing. Do prompts every day. Fill my notebook with ideas and story lines. Talk to my characters and listen to what they have to say.  I know what I have to do for Eyes in the Ashes and realize it is going to be a lot of work. Fun work.  I know there are ideas in the back of my brain just waiting for me to pull them out.  And yes, I will clarify my intentions.

Speaking of intentions, I just saw the most beautiful video of the Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah rewritten following the events of Easter.  Impossible to watch without choking up.  Enjoy!







Happy Sunday! 

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

We met with our building team consisting of our architect, contractor, and electrician. Now the real works begins and since it took so long for the plans to be approved, it looks like things will be progressing a bit more slowly than planned and it will be about four to five months.  Everybody's busy since it is high summer so we just have to be patient. Grrr!  Never fear, I will be cracking that whip to make sure the renovations are done by the end of the year.  Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and where did my dang rabbits foot disappear too.  *grin* 

I finished my birthstone bookology challenge for this month which should have been relatively easy since spelling out RUBY.   However a few other books yelled for my attention in the midst of the challenge.    

R: The Rook - Daniel O'Malley (#1 Rook, paranormal, 504) 

U: Fire Up Your Writing Brain - Susan Reynolds (nonfiction writing, 266) 

B:  The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny (#8 Inspector Gamache, 384, e)

Y:  The Year of Yes - Shonda Rimes (nonfiction, 336)

I just finished reading Ill Wind by Nevada Barr which is the third book in her Anna Pidgeon series.  I was annoyed by Anna in this particular book and feel like the author provided too much information and then not enough in some areas including Anna's issues with alcohol.  She had one major blackout and then declared at the end of the book - I'm an alcoholic. Or maybe I missed something in the reading.   I'm just glad I didn't start out with this one or I'd never had read any more of her stories.   The first book I read in the series was Blind Descent which was excellent, so I guess the stories are hit and miss depending on the story line, just like other series. 

Plus Roxanne St. Claire's latest in her Dogfather contemporary romance series came out a couple days ago,  Leader of the Pack, which is a quick, delightful, palate clearing read.   

For the past few years I have been listening to J.D.Robb's In Death Series in the car and finished with her latest # 44,  Echoes in Death.  It's always a pleasure to listen to her stories because she writes so well,  although the subject matter is a bit tough at times. As a writer, I've learned quite a bit between both reading and listening to the stories. I have to give props to Susan Erickson who does a magnificent job with all the voices.    Knowing myself, I'll probably start missing the characters in a few days and start listening all over again.  Can't get enough.    I started listening to Louise Penny's Beautiful Mystery today and am enjoying the narrator so far, however I did find my mind wondering a little bit since its a change.  We'll see how it pans out.  

It's week 30 in our 52 Books challenge and the last week in our Science Fiction and Fantasy reading months and highlighting author birthdays and bookish news.  

I have no idea what I'm going to read next.  Off to peruse my shelves.   

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

All systems are go. Our architect and contractor are working out details with subcontractors and gave us homework to start picking  out the rock siding for the columns on the front of the house.  I had it in my head that river rock or irregular rectangular rock would look good.  John likes stacked stone and even asked customers for their opinions  and they agreed with him. Generally, he lets me make the final decision as he usually ends up agreeing with me.  No, I don't always have to be right, I told him.   He patiently waited for me to come around to his viewpoint.   After photo shopping different styles onto a picture of the house, I came to the conclusion he was right and stacked stone created a more clean look. Miracle of miracles, we passed the first test in husband and wife decision making 101 with the new building without a major argument.  *grin*

My sister and brother in law came by on Sunday and dropped off the box of stuff I'd collected from Dad's house.  A couple months ago, we had a packing party and relieved dad of lots of knick knacks and such. I was pretty conservative and didn't take a whole lot. Happy to say I now have another crafty birdhouse to add to my collection as well as a few books hubby will enjoy reading.

Speaking of reading,  I read through the whole of Fire Up Your Writing Brain and highlighted plenty of sections in which I'll go back and write down to remember.  And which is something they talk about in the book. Hand writing contributes to better memory as well as reading literary books and learning new things.  Keep your brain engaged and challenged and it will reap dividends.   However, I'm just not ready for a reread of War and Peace. Some day soon however.    

I finished Anne Stuart's Wild Fire as well as Seanan McGuire's One Salt Sea, #5 in her October Daye series.    I'm currently reading Daniel O'Malley's The Rook which is a dusty book in my nook virtual pile.  Thoroughly enjoying it and don't know why it took me so long to read.   I may dive back into the world of a Wheel of Time with #8 The Path of Daggers.  Given than August's birthstone is Peridot or Sardonyx, it will suit perfectly.  

James curriculum is rolling in for the 12th grade and now I get to have the fun of sorting through, outlining and figuring out the schedule.  Always Fun!

I'm sort of surprised, but not overly so with the choice for the new Doctor in Dr. Who. Never expected a woman to be chosen.  James and I had a big debate over it. He's excited and I'm skeptical and since the head writer and producer is also new, we'll have to see what course direction the show takes.  I'm going to be my perpetually optimistic self and wait patiently for the Christmas special. 

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Waterdrop by Zen 

Another hot weekend with temps in the 100's however I can't complain since Dad is in Arizona with consistent 110 + temps everyday.  I lasted all of 10 minutes out on the patio this morning.  Such a wimp when it comes to heat.  Despite it all, we are celebrating this weekend as we received our red tag approval from the fire department and got our final green tag approval from the city.  Yes, ma'am. Which means we can finally move forward and begin construction and renovation on the new property.  Happy Dance!!!

In book news, it is week 28 in our 52 books quest and this week we are celebrating Octavia Butler.  I have Dawn in my stacks and plan on reading it sometime this year.   As for our readalong of War and Peace is going, I'm been a bit distracted and haven't gotten too far.  I've been reading Louise Penny's Armand Gamache inspector series and I've fallen in love with Penny's writing and can't get enough  I  read # 8 Beautiful Mysteryin ebook and immediately went to the store and bought the book because there is so much to it and it's one of those I know I'll read again and again, highlighting and underlining those parts that speak to me. I just downloaded it in audiobook to listen to in the car, plus I've added it to my copy work project.  Immediately started #9 How the Light Gets In.  I had to find out what happened with Jean Guy!     Now I'm reading #10 The Long Way Home.  There are three more books left to the series, then will probably read it all over again at some point.

I'm now working on the exercises from Fire Up Your Writing Brain and the very first exercise calls for you to list your resources and motivations:

"To solidify and validate the characteristics (affinities) you have in your writing arsenal, make a list - include even the seemingly unimportant qualities. List the attributes that contribute to your ability to write well.  Take time to ponder and be as generous and honest as possible -  noting strengths and areas that may need more work....   Keep doing this over time, reinforcing your ownership.... Once the list is complete, create another list that details your motivations for working on whatever you're currently working on.  Again be as specific and personal as possible, digging beneath the surface to get really clear on why you are choosing to write about whatever it is your currently working on. "

I'll be pondering what attributes I think I bring to the table as well as my motivations for writing my current stories. Why?  Yes, good question.

" What you are doing is feeding body, soul, mind, and brain the nourishment all will need to persist and do the best work possible.  Your brain is your greatest writing asset, so engage it from the beginning layering in complexity and encouraged focus and you will be fostering the kind of writing mindset that reinforces your efforts and leads to successful completion."

Wow. Never quite thought of my writing in such a way before so this will be interesting.  I also dove into What If by Bernays and Painter and working my way through the exercises and prompts in the Revision is rewriting section.  Having fun with it so far.

I also pulled You can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler out of our shelves.  James and I had worked through another of his workbooks - I think the 3d one, can't remember for sure and had fun with it.  I found it while straightening out the shelves, prepping for 12th grade curriculum and decided I'd give it a go.  Which means really drawing and just not playing on inspire pro. With inspire, I have a tendency to do a lot of pastel, feathery, misty things.  I haven't had too much luck with really fine work on electronic medium,  so paper art pad, here I come.

~Cheers and stay cool~

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

I was a complete slug this morning as my wonderful son decided to by helpful by putting my kitty alarm cat outside. Hubby is out doing his 10k walk and James is playing Breath of the Wild.

I just finished #7 in Wheel of Time – A Crown of Swords – and it seemed a bit more chaotic with a lot more characters coming into play and poor Matt being treated rather shabbily for most of the book. Last night I delved into The Year of Yes by Shonda Rimes which is pretty darn good.  As an introvert myself, saying Yes to everything that is scary, is in itself a scary proposition.

Also reading Fire Up Your Writing Brain by Susan Reynolds which is quite interesting and working my way through a new release by a blogging friend -  Journaling towards Wholeness by Molly Totoro.  It's out in physical book format now, too.

I’m ready to dive into War and Peace and give it my complete attention…sort of, kinda, maybe.

So...I managed, quite successfully, to post for every single day of June and by doing so, it's put me back in the habit of writing daily. Surprisingly in Fire Up  Your Writing Brain, they say:

"Fifteen to twenty minutes of expressive writing, three to five times a week has been shown to have positive health benefits, including long term improvements in mood, stress levels and depressive symptoms.  Those who experienced stressful or traumatic events and wrote about it had fewer illnesses, lower blood pressure, and spent less time in the hospital....writing in a journal and blogging result in the release of dopamine to create positive effects similar to the effect running or listening to music produces.  Moral: Write a blog and give your brain a rush."

Who knew writing daily could be good for your blood pressure.  Guess what. Yep, mine has been down and more consistently too as well.   How about that!

My goal is to do the same for the month of July.  However, I almost blew it yesterday.  I started reading A Crown of Swords during breakfast because I was close to the end. Well at 85% according to Kindle.  So I continued reading until I finished around lunch time. Then had to do some laundry and 52 books post to write and then so on and so forth.  I did sit down to write later in the evening, but it didn't feel the same.

It's also week 27 in my 52 Books group quest to read 52 books and this month is Scifi July, plus the birthstone of the  month is Ruby.   

I'm continuing to experiment with poetry. I picked up two books:  Sage Cohen’s  Writing the Life Poetic and In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit.  I'll be working through both this summer. Always good to learn something new.

~cheers~

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Happy Sunday!  Supposedly our heat way is over, the highs should be in the 90's and our delta breezes are back.  I refused to do our usual two and half mile evening walk all week after attempting it in the heat without our usual evening cool off.  Gah!  Went out last night and it was balmy, breezy 70 ish.  Wonderful!

I finished spelling out Pearl for the June Birthstone Bookology challenge

P: The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson is his second novel in the Millenium series. Salander is wanted for a triple murder and she chooses to simply disappear. Even the reader doesn't know if she is innocent or guilty and only knows what Blomkist does as he decides to investigate without her.

E: Gods and Ends by Devon Monk is her third novel in the paranormal trilogy, Ordinary Magic. Vampires, devils, even a crochet and knitting rivalry almost turns into a gang war as Delaney works to protect the town of Ordinary, Oregon.

A: Ashley Bell by  Dean Koontz is an excellent psychological thriller about a writer who been diagnosed with brain cancer and only has a year to live.  She wakes in the hospital believing she is totally cured after a mysterious middle of the night encounter and thinks she needs to save a life.

R: Relics by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is the first book in his Pendergast series. Someone's been savagely murdered in the natural history museum.  Is the culprit human or animal? No one knows for sure.

L: Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire, the 4th book in her October Daye series has October running for her life, trying to stay away from the Queen of the Mist's who wants her dead and trying to save Lily and Luna who are dying from a mysterious ailment.

I also read The Girl who Played with the Hornet's Nest and don't want to give away any spoilers except to say everyone who knows Salander personally are in her court, doing what they can to help her.

Nora Robert's hits it out of the park as usual with her latest Come Sundown, a thriller of epic proportions with a loving extended family who run a dude ranch/resort and a nasty villain, living on the edges of life and sanity.

Last but not least, a new to me author John Dechancie's and his science fiction adventure, Starrigger. A fascinating adventure about an interstellar trucker, a hitcher who knows him but he doesn't remember her and a gangster one step behind him all the way.

My reading has slowed down quite a bit since I'm concentrating more on writing, plus most of the books were  chunky.  I just started #7 in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series with A Crown of Swords.  Plus War and Peace.   Both will keep me busy for the rest of the month and beyond.

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Courtesy of Gunjankarun.com

Happy Father's day to all the dads today where ever you are.  Hubby is enjoying a very relaxing day and we'll be having roast beef with yorkshire pudding this evening. 

 Summer has unofficially arrived in the form of a heat way and we will be baking for the next few days.   Officially Summer starts on Wednesday and I'm so happy to have several weeks off in which to play. We're giving James a couple weeks off because we know he is going to get bored, then we'll start doing math and perhaps some physics or chemistry experiments.  We have several books to tackle that we just haven't had time to read together so he's trying to decided between  Winter is Coming by Garry Kasparov, Putinism by Walter Laqueur or even possibly an actual fiction book like Fahrenheit 451.  Yes, he's very much into politics and foreign affairs.  I'm waiting with bated breath to see which he chooses.   

Today is the start of week 25 in my 52 Books Quest and a group of us have decided to read War and Peace.  For me it will be a reread which is a good thing since I zoomed through it the first time.  I have a number of chunky books to read on my plate at the moment - Besides War and Peace, I also have Dean Koontz's Ashley Bell and Robert Jordan's A Crown of Time, the 7th book in Wheel of Time. I just finished the Steig Larsson's Millenium trillogy with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Now I'm contemplating whether I want to read David Lagercrantz continuation of Salander's saga in The Girl in the Spider's Web. The reviews are 50/50 so I'll have to decide for myself. 

We finally received approval from the planning commission on our plans for the new building.  Just waiting for the fire department to do their thing.  Yeah!  So ready to get started with construction.  Speaking of which my father's project on creating the Bull Head City food Bank and coordinating and combining all the churches to make it nondenominational is ready to go. The building will be dedicated and opened on Wednesday.   He's worked his fingers off so am very proud of him.   

Sunday Salon: Comedy of Errors

Happy Sunday!  The past week have been quite hectic.  The air conditioner blew on hubby's Chevy.  I don't know how folks deal with being one car families.  You have to  coordinate everything you do and end up spending lots of time in the car.  We dealt with it pretty well until things went to heck Friday. We received a call at 7:00 am from the security company telling us our business phone lines were down. The landlord has been doing a lot of construction about the shopping center and a few weeks back managed to cut our phone lines. We thought they did it again so didn't worry about it too much until my technician texts to tell me all four lines are down. 

We call the phone company fix it guy who says to report it again to AT&T before he can be dispatched. Because it took them a week or more last time to do anything, I decided to order a cell phone from Verizon and pick it up locally.   Since we expect the mechanic to call and let us know the car will be ready sometime on Friday, hubby and James pile in the car to come with me to work.  Hubby goes looking for the cut phone lines and discovers two other businesses in the center have lost their lines as well.  He calls the phone company who won't be able to have anyone out there for another two weeks. Hair pulling time.  The car and the phone are ready for pick up so off we go. Drop off the guys at the mechanic, I drop by Verizon to pick up the new phone, then go back to the shop and change all the voicemail messages so folks know to call the back up line. Couple hours later, hubby says the car is hissing, part of the repair has gone bad and he has to take the car back. Oy!  

Saturday morning, we are all up early. Hubby drives car to mechanic, I jump into the shower because its my turn to man (or woman), err, work at the shop and have to be there at 11:00.  Then race out to pick up hubby at mechanic, drive him home and then go to work.  Owner of auto shop is embarrassed because his mechanic screwed up one of the lines and sorry for the inconvenience, proceeds to get it done even though they are usually closed on Saturday.  After work, I drive home, pick up the boys and off to the garage we go. After dropping them off, it's time to do the grocery shopping.  Home, dinner, then crash instead of our nightly 2.5 mile walk because I'm pooped.  

Our landlord calls today to let us know the phone company repair guy showed up and discovered...you ready for this - the phone lines had been cut and removed.  Copper thieves are at it again.

The next time our security company calls to say they've lost signal, we're telling them to dispatch the police.  Fortunately they were able to repair it today and tomorrow, God willing, all four phone lines will be working properly.  Keep your fingers crossed.  

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

Happy Sunday!  June is turning into a very busy reading month. My 52 Books group is celebrating all things fantasy including the 20th anniversary of the publication of J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Bloomsbury Publishing has come up with 4 special editions, each with the house flags on the cover. I'm trying to decide which one I want or if I should just get all four.  *grin*  We are also celebrating Father's Day and well as the June Solstice which ushers in Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and Winter in the Southern Hemisphere. With the beginning of Summer, we will be also diving into a summer long read of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace starting on June 18th. 

June means I have three birthstones to choose from for the Birthstone Bookology reading challenge: Pearl, Moonstone or Alexandrite. 

I'm going to work on spelling out Pearl since I have a few P books and L books as well as chunky books on my shelves waiting to be read.  On my reading plate for this month are: The Girl who Played with Guns (chunky), A Crown of Swords (Chunky #7 Wheel of Time), as well as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone  and other fantasy novels.  I'm working my way through Seanan McGuire's October Daye series and next up is  # 4 Late Eclipses.  
I'm currently reading Devon Monk's Gods and Ends, #3 in her Ordinary Magic Series. I so enjoy Devon's creative mind and have read all her books. 

Writing wise:  Also decided I want to experiment more with poetry, so reading In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poets Portable Workshop by Stephen Kowit.   Plus added Fire Up Your Writing Brain: How to Use Proven Neuroscience to Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Writer by Susan Reynolds to my writing stacks.   

I've been getting back in morning pages, freewriting, journaling - whatever you want to call. it. Synchronicity is at work since a writerly friend, Molly Totoro,  just published her book - Journaling toward Wholeness: A 28 day to Develop Journaling Practice.  Woot! Woot! Congratulations Molly! 

Plus War and Peace. It will be a second read for me, this time a bit more slowly as I consumed it the first time in a couple weeks.  Yes, I know Tolstoy isn't fantasy but quite a few people in my book group wanted to spread it out over the summer.  We'll probably be doing a volume a month, along with some discussion.  Thank goodness for spark notes.

Eleventh grade is wrapping up as of Wednesday.  Hubby and James are doing a mad dash to finish up Algebra 1.   This year was a mish mash with math as we started the year with Saxon, segued into Starline Press, then ultimately settled on Mathusee mid year. We discovered teaching math is not my forte' so hubby took over completely   He was determined James would complete the whole book, learn everything there is possible to learn about Algebra 1.  Somewhere along the line, things started to click for James and he's been zooming through the lessons.   It's coming down to the wire, however and they are doing a full court press to finish up Wednesday, the official end, rather than easing through to the end of Friday.  I think they are going to make it.  

Off to enjoy our beautiful sunny, breezy day! 

Sunday Salon: Ch ch ch changes!

Happy Sunday!  We had a very blustery week weather wise so this afternoon we'll be cleaning up the yard.  The inauguration is over and Trump is finally ensconced in the white house.  I am cautiously optimistic and open minded and looking forward to the future.  I'm willing to give him a chance, unlike a lot of folks out there who are afraid of change.  

The marches this weekend reminded me of the 70's ERA and feminist movement and all the bra burning and the them against us rhetoric.  I'm turned off by Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Madonna and other celebrities.  I'm turned off by the p**sy parade.  Let's take a word that doesn't belong in pubic and shout it from the rooftops. They are offensive, more so than Trump.  People forgave Bill Clinton for his white house indiscretions and his semantics on is.  All the things folks want to affect  - the double standard, lack of respect, racism - they are all guilty of. The I'm right, you are wrong attitudes.  Plus I have problems with groups who pay people to protest which de-legitimizes the effort in my eyes.  For the paid protesters, it's only a job, not a true conviction.  But hey, you could say Trump has already helped improve the economy by creating more jobs.  

We are a free nation, allowed to disagree. But respectfully.  I don't think they remember what happened when Jane Fonda protested the Vietnam war.  People have long memories and still won't watch any of her movies.  I'm pretty much the same way. I want to be entertained, not preached at.  Once I find out an author or a actor has an agenda, which creeps into all their stories and movies, I'm done. What I find discomforting is how socialism has taken over, infiltrating many groups, influencing the behavior of the younger generations, and sabotaging democracy. 

It takes more courage to act every single day, doing what you can to change your life, helping others, raising up and treating people with respect.  The more offensive people become, the more people cry and whine and complain, the less they will be respected or listened to.  You want other countries to believe we are a nation of whiners, that democracy is a bad thing, then keep it up.  


Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable
and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott

So change is a good thing.  I am making an effort to change my habits that have been affecting my writing.  I started reading K.M Weiland's Conquering Writer's Block and Summoning inspiration and within the first chapters, received a swift kick in the rear. I've gotten in the habit of reading emails and checking facebook while preparing and eating breakfast, which as everyone knows can lead to distraction of the internet.  I've also gotten in the habit of listening to ebooks in the car as well as when cleaning or cooking. Diving into a book, rather than writing.   I wasn't allowing my mind quiet time in which to think or daydream. I was creating too much white noise for my characters or story ideas to be heard.  

So, I unplugged last Tuesday which was quite refreshing and decided I'd hold myself to the same standard as I do James with no technology until 4:00 p.m. everyday. Except for the weekends, of course.  I stopped listening to audiobooks in the car and just let my mind wander as I drove.    I decided to do morning pages again ala Julia Cameron's Artist Way. Within a couple days, ideas started popping into my head.  I've been creating my own stumbling blocks and restricting my creativity.  I'd been sabotaging myself.  


When we are no longer able to change a situation, 
we are challenged to change ourselves.

 ~Viktor Frankl

Sunday Salon: What's on my nightstand

Happy Sunday! Our rain deluge has passed and once the morning fog burned away, we had a bright and glorious day Saturday.  I'm getting back into the swing of blogging and thanks to a timely mini quest from the Bloggiesta crew,  am taking the opportunity to spruce up the joint!   

Book wise, I've finally organized my reading plans, which are quite flexible, because I never quite know when the mood will strike to dive into a comfort read or challenge myself with something heavier.  Since it is a prime year, I decided to shoot for 107 books which encompasses the Birthstone Bookology reads as well as A to Z read by author and/or title.   Are you a monogamous reader or have multiple books going at once?  I used to read one book at a time, but no longer.  Half the time I'll start an ebook in the midst of reading a print book.  Then there's the bathroom book which right now is KonTiki by Thor Heyrdahl.  I'm working my way through my dusty shelves and my selections for Garnet are: 

• Spartacus: the Gladiator - Ben Kane (completed)
• Alexandria Link - Steve Berry  (completed)
• Russian Winter - Daphne Kalotay (currently in progress)
• Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami  (52 Books readalong)
• 6th Extinction - James Rollins
• The Translator - John Crowley 

I'm also working on reading more non fiction so my A by author book is Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams.  

I also have Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker and Cixin Lui's Three Body Problem on tap for the month. Yes, I'm being a bit ambitious so we'll see how far I get this month.  

Writing wise, I just downloaded Jennifer Blanchard's Align your Writing Habits to Success: From procrastinating writer to productive writer in 30 days  and K.M Weiland's Conquering Writer's Block and Summoning Inspiration.   I've been procrastinating big time, reading instead of writing, so giving myself a swift kick in the butt and diving in again.  I'm also taking wibbly wobbly  timey whimey (thanks Dr. Who) words out of my vocabulary such as I hope too or will try and replacing them with I will and I am doing such and such.  Positive, optimistic, forward thinking!  Woot Woot!  

Blogging wise, my intent is to post one short book review as well as one general post a week.  

~Cheers to a great week~ 

Toodles!

   

Sunday Salon: Dinty Moore's Field Guide to Writing Flash Non Fiction

I've been derailed by nonfiction. Would never have believed it.  Me, who only reads fiction and likes to escape into a book has embraced nonfiction.  I knew absolutely nothing about flash fiction or flash non fiction before I started taking courses at WVU.  First I read Dinty Moore's Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Flash Fiction which led me to the Field Guide for Writing Flash Non Fiction

I’m intrigued by Moore’s history of flash non fiction.  It’s renewed my interest for reading Montaigne’s Essays which has been languishing in my stacks. It occasionally yells ‘read me, read me’ and I say, ‘okay in a few.’   I’m fascinated by all the rabbit trails, authors and essays and magazines to read and absorb. 

“Bernard Cooper offers perhaps the first attempt to define the brief essay form...To paraphrase Cooper, then, the brief essay form is discrete, sharply focused, and must be held up, studied like a small tableau, to review the secrets of human nature contained therein.”

I’ll have to remember that: a tableau, a picture, a moment frozen in time.  What does it say? How does it say it?  How do you paint a word picture of an grand idea in as few words a possible while still retaining the emotion of the moment?

According to Moore, likening the reader to a smoke jumper, you start at the flash point, in the heat of the moment.  Kind of scary actually.  No build up, no lead in, just jump right in.  Will take a bit of practice, but that’s why we’re here.

Moore brings up the point “This tendency toward briefer prose in the digital domain stems partially from the eyestrain caused by staring too long into a conventional computer monitor and also from the perceived unwillingness of computer surfers to scroll too far or too often.”

Do we have shorter attention spans caused by internet surfing?  Probably.  It’s odd that when I read anything on the computer, I skim versus I absorb more when using my ipad. I have no idea what the difference is, except maybe I can curl up with my Ipad which makes it more like a book, versus having to sit upright and tense at my computer.  The computer is a tool to me, so yes, I skim to find the most information in the shortest amount of time and move on to something else.  Media has changed the way we view things.  Which I guess is a good thing for those who write flash fiction or flash nonfiction.

Which leads back to the field guide and what I hope to learn from the essays.  Moore says “literary writing is an art form, and no one definition can ever successfully pin down artistic production or product.”  Alrighty then!  I'm not going to worry about defining flash non fiction.   I’ll work on learning as much as I can, experimenting and see where it takes me.  Just keep it short, simple and exciting from the get go. And real, of course.   But how do you define real? 

Sunday Salon: Life in the household

Honey Bee

I guess you could say life has been busy as bees for us this summer. The past two months have passed in a flash and can't believe it's August already.  We are downsizing and have been busy cleaning out our garage and purging all the stuff that we haven't used in several years.   I'm almost at the point to start getting rid of all the old books  **gasp**  stored in the garage and those in my shelves that I'll never read again.  Shocking, I know.  If there is anything I hoard, it's books.  Note, I said almost. Give me a few more days and we'll see if the feeling passes.  **grin**.

In the midst of purging and decluttering, Hubby finally gave up his 1971 Cadillac which has been sitting in the driveway for several years.  He'd been dreaming of he and James working on the engine together, but James isn't technically or mechanically inclined.  He's rather write or draw and play video games. 

We've repainted and redecorated James room (turned it into a teenage room) and I'm waiting for cooler days to tackle the hallway, bathroom and living room. 

Our days have also been taken up with taking James to speech, occupational and physical therapy.  All on different days, of course.  Which has lead us to doing multiple errands while we are out, so we've been spending lots of time running around as well.

In the midst of all that, I've been taking an online creative writing course which is helping me get back into the writing mode after a long dry spell.  I've not been in the mood for reading new books and have just been rereading older books in my library by Nora Roberts, Patricia Briggs and Laurel K. Hamilton, among others. 

And now that it's August, it's time to start working on 8th grade lesson plans. The good news is we already received all his curriculum, so now just need to sit my butt down and start figuring out his schedule. Fun, fun, fun.



So what has your summer been like?

Sunday Salon: Happy Easter

Happy Easter! We have had a wonderful spring break and I've enjoyed being extremely lazy, reading and just hanging out.   All those things on my to do list -- are still there waiting to be done and I'm not going to feel the least bit guilty about any of it.  We have nine more weeks and 7th grade will be done.   It was a bit more stressful this year since we joined  Visions, our public home school charter, and followed their schedule which meant fewer breaks. The past few years we did 4 weeks on, 1 week off and usually ended mid June.  I discovered those breaks are absolutely necessary for all involved or we get extremely grumpy with each other and mom has less patience.  So we are going to allow for more breaks come 8th grade.  

Reading wise, I should be reading Manuscript Found in Accra which is being released April 2, but I got sidetracked with Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock Series and read Skinwalker.  Finished it, liked it enough to start the 2nd - Blood Cross. What can I say, I'm a sucker for paranormal fantasy series.  This month my reading was eclectic ranging from suspense, psychological thrillers, romance, science fiction,  paranormal and urban fantasies.

Calculated in Death - J.D. Robb (New York - 400) 
Never Let You Go - Erin Healy  (U.S. - 352)
Kitty Steals the Show (KN#10) - Carrie Vaughn (eb)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip Dick (futuristic S.F. - 256)
There was an Old Woman - Hallie Ephron (New York - 293)
Odd Hours - Dean Koontz (California -413)  
The Likeness - Tana French (Ireland - 466)
Hopscotch - Julio Cortazar (Paris/Argentina - 564)
Touch of a Demon (#5 Kara Gillian) - Diana Rowland (448)
Relentless - Cherry Adair (Egypt - 368)  
Angelopolis - Danielle Trussoni (New York/Paris/Siberia - 302)
Odd Interlude - Dean Koontz (eb)
Sand Castle Bay - Sherryl Woods (North Carolina - 384)
The Wanderer - Robyn Carr (Oregon - eb)
Deadly Sting (Elemental Assassin #8) - Jennifer Estep (eb) 
Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock#1) - Faith Hunter (New Orleans - eb) 

I also had the 'eyes are bigger than my stomach' syndrome lately when it comes to book offers and will have quite a few reviews coming up in the next couple months.  This week is the release of the first book in Sherryl Woods new Ocean Breeze comtemporary romance series Sand Castle Bay and Paulo Coehlo's latest Manuscript Found in Accra. 

Writing wise, don't ask.  It's been rather sparse lately, including here on the blog and I'm working on improving.  Speaking of blogs, March marks my 6th year blogging on My Two Blessings and my 4th year hosting Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.  We'll find a way to celebrate in April, perhaps with a giveaway or two.   

This week on 52 books it is book week 14 and highlighting Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald,  The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart which lead me to Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother.  James and I have had many a conversation about Lincoln's mother and how she died from milk sickness so of course I had to buy it.  We'll also be doing a readalong starting April 7th of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.  1Q84 originally was published in three volumes in Japan in 2009-2010 and released as one book in North American in 2011. It is according to Murakami,  a mind bending ode to George Orwell's 1984. 


Have a Happy Easter and a wonderful Week! 




 

Sunday Salon: Happy St. Patrick's

         Dia duit ar maidin! Happy St. Patrick's day.  It is a beautiful day and spring is approaching.  I'm looking forward to hanging out on the patio, pondering and enjoying nature again.  

         I just finished a book that really made you ponder -  Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar.   One of those book in which the characters discuss the meaning of life to death in a stream of consciousness fashion.  Plus one in which I needed the dictionary/encyclopedia several times to look up words and people.  Which made me realize I wouldn't have liked or finished the book at all 20 to 30 years ago because I wouldn't have appreciated or understood it.  I totally disliked the main character, Horacio Oliveira, and there were times I simply wanted to throw the book across the room in disgust. He had no redeeming qualities and I felt the same way about him as I did about Gatsby in The Great Gatsby.   But like a train wreck waiting to happen, had to finish the book. There were two ways to read the book - straight forward or in a Hopscotch manner jumping into 'expendable' chapters the author had written which were suppose to add to or explain some of what was going on.  I hopscotched around, letting the number at the end of each chapter tell me what to read next.  Which if you weren't paying attention, wouldn't realize you were in an endless loop at the end.  

         My brain was saturated upon finishing the book and needed time to rest. Couldn't even think of reading anything else.  James and I went to the comic book store and Barnes and Noble Friday afternoon and I was quite happy to discover the next book Touch of the Demon in Diana Rowland's urban fantasy Demon series.  Perfect book to dive into and escape for a while.  I also picked up a few next in the series books such as Patricia Brigg's Frost Burned, Laurel K. Hamilton's Hit List and Keri Arthur's Moon Sworn. So happy my son dragged me out to the store.


        I finished listening to the In Death  series by J.D. Robb.  Was at a loss wandering what I was going to listen too after a year and a half of the adventures of Eve and Roark. I'm so picky about the narrators and love Susan Ericksen. Checked out Lorelie King who narrates Patricia Brigg's Mercedes Thompson series and downloaded the first book Moon Called. Already read the series, so it's fun listening to it as well.   Enjoying it so far.  

         It's book week 12 in my 52 Books in 52 Weeks reading challenge and this week I'm highlighting  Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter:  Book # 7 in the list of great fiction from SWB's Well Educated Mind. Coincidentally, this is also the anniversary of the book's publication 163 years ago on March 16, 1850.  

         James has started a new blog based on the latest fan fiction story he wrote called Sonic the Hedgehog Z. which is a mashup involving characters from Sonic, Mega Man, Star Wars and who ever else can cook up. My son has a fascinating imagination. He also wants me to pass on to everyone the news that Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man are getting together in a comic book cross over event called Worlds Collide which will be published across three comic books - Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe and Mega Man and starts April 10. 

        Hubby just finished reading Lincoln's Last Days written by Bill O'Reilly and Dwight Jon Zimmerman.  He says it's excellent and one of the first history books he's read that is suspenseful, based on reality and simple enough for a child to read, but also good enough for an adult to read without being demeaning or feeling they are being talked down to.  He is encouraging both James and I to read it as well.  

       Life beckons. My HP Printer took a dump so just ordered and received a Brothers Wireless color printer with scanner and other nifty things. I have the fun of getting it set up today along with planning lessons for the week.  One more week to Spring break - Yahoo.  Although I'll be spending it doing the taxes.  But first - 50 more chapters to go in my book, so off to read.  Happy Sunday!