Day 11 – A book you hated
Well. There are a couple of books that fit this bill… if you search through my one and two star ratings on GoodReads, you’ll find them. This one in particular was terrible, and I didn’t understand why it had so many four star reviews!
So I was over on my Tumblr doing this meme and then I was like…..why am I not posting these on my blog, you know, the internet space I am paying for? And so then I smacked myself like I coulda had a V8.
So anyway, I am going to start with Day 10 here. Days 1-9 can be found on my Tumblr as well as the rest of the days going forward so you can follow wherever you please!
I was going to go with Pride and Prejudice because I do so love Ms. Jane Austen, but I decided to go with my fave book of all time, To Kill a MockingBird:
I can’t even tell you anymore why this is my favorite book. It might have been the first classic I ever read, something I really enjoyed in high school and whenever I think of a really great book, this one comes to mind. In fact, I may re-read this soon. It’s been forever since I read it last.
From Goodreads:
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior – to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
Also, yes I am quite alive. I have been alternately busy, bored out of my mind, uninspired, and writing up a storm. I now have an idea for my Secret Santa Story Exchange project and I’m trudging my way through a new serial story that I’ve started at the archive.
I have read 43 books toward my Goodreads goal of 50 books read during 2011. SO CLOSE! I’m confident I’ll be able to finish since I have some time off coming up for the holidays. I’m excited about actually achieving that goal.
Toward the end of the year I think I am going to try to count up all my words and see what I produced this year. I was initially going for 350K, but I dropped out of that challenge. I still want to see what I managed to churn out.
Well. I can breathe and there is no longer a fear of imminent death or otherwise dramatic conclusion, so I guess I am doing better. Still a bit coughy and sinusy but I feel more like it’s clearing out. If there was any more visible sign that I feel better, it’s that my mind has been allowing me to think about writing again. I’m still cloudy and there are pieces and snips, but at least they’re there.
I don’t think I am doing NaNo this year, mostly because I don’t have a viable idea and because I don’t really need the pressure. I did sign up for our annual holiday challenge at the fan fiction archive so I know I will write at least one more story this year. I have another that I am trying to piece together in my mind but it’s not really cooperating. I’m not in a hurry so I’m taking my time.
I don’t know if it’s just me being sick but I haven’t really kept up on my writing twitter and blog feeds. It seems there is so much advice and information that I don’t know what to follow or what to disregard, what to incorporate and what to leave alone. I am easily overwhelmed and with NaNoWriMo approaching, there’s just. so. much. out there! I see so many tips, hints, guidelines, 136 Do’s and 4,593 don’ts, and here’s 13 books you need to read RIGHT NOW to be a good writer… UNPH. I think all this ‘advice’ is killing my mojo. I’m so worried about being a bad writer and writing a bad story that I can’t write.
That’s my update for this Writing Wednesday… we get our matches for Secret Santa next week so hopefully by next Wednesday, I will have more of an idea of what I’m writing. Should be fun!
OH! I also got John Grisham’s new book The Litigators yesterday! YAYYYYYYYY. I love me some Grisham, and I’ve already started reading so by #FridayReads time I’ll have a new entry and hopefully by #JustRead Monday, I will have finished it (because I plan to do nothing but sleep and read this weekend)!
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Two weeks of traveling for business as well as pleasure, catching up, launching a challenge at the fanfiction archive and general life living have run me down. I’m sick. *hacksnifflesneeze*
I’m hoping that after a lot of rest this weekend I will be back in the usual groove. Or… I will have established a new groove…?
The benefit to being bed ridden is that I can read to my heart’s content. Between Nyquil induced sessions of passing out. YAY!
Catch you all next week!
I’ve had my Nook Color for nearly a year and have been happy with it but lately have been wondering how I could spice it up some, since it had limited web browsing. B&N helped by launching an app store, but many of the apps are too expensive (especially when they come stock on my phones). $1.99 for a calculator? Are you MAD? Plus the B&N app store isn’t varied at all. It’s much like having 500 cable channels but there’s nothing to watch.
So I took the next step and ‘rooted‘ it. Rooting basically gives you SuperUser access to be able to change the User Interface and add options like the Android market, themes, etc. There are ways to perma-root your device, but it honestly read like Greek to me. I went the easy route and ordered an 8G microsd card from http://rootmynookcolor.com. It comes with the root software on it.
Super easy! Install the sd card, boot, and viola you go from:
to
I was having some issues connecting to the Android market, so I emailed RootMyNookColor them and someone answered right away and spent an hour and a half walking me through troubleshooting to get it to work. I now have a small Android tablet that is pretty freaking neato!
The only reason I really wanted to do it was so that I could have my Kindle and my Nook books on ONE device, including all my self loaded books. I’m a HAPPY girl and this’ll tide me over for quite awhile, until I feel like I need a tablet with data service.
FYI, the Nook Color was $249 when it launched and is now $149 and dropping.
It’s been a whirlwind week at Chez Jones, and this week is going to be a bit of one, too. Therefore, I got no writing done. Not really a big deal since I have zero ideas and nothing I’m really working on ATM. Im fresh out of ideas, so maybe this is a good time for another one of those breaks I’m so famous for.
I did a lot of flying and a lot of waiting in hotel rooms, so I got some reading done, so much that I am two books ahead of my GoodReads goal for 2011! Woot! I only have 10 more books to read to hit my goal of 50 books read this year. Amazingly awesome. Quite proud of that, even though it makes me sound like the most boring person on the planet.
Oh, well.
I won’t have any issues finding books to read… I’ve ordered a crapton over the last week, all to do with the WIP I thought I was writing for NaNoWriMo. Crazy thing? I don’t want to write that story anymore. Bleh. I wish I had an idea I cared about that would stick.
Anywhoozle. This coming weekend I am going to be out of town so hopefully I will find something to write about this week.
Everyday I’m TUMBLIN‘… I still don’t get tumblr, but whatever. I’m a follower. Sometimes. Join me there for randomness and writing blather.
Am hunched over
QWERTY row. Brain is buzzing.
Maybe I need food.
I’m not hungry but
it’s something to do besides
take another nap.
The same line runs through
my mind like skipping record
the rest doesn’t come.
Whoever said that
writing was art in print form
deserves Nobel Prize.
Back to drawing board.
Same line over and over.
Soon the end will come.
I’m up early, as is the norm these days. It doesn’t matter what time I go to bed. My body will wake up around 6:30, whether I’m done sleeping or not. So, I’ve been awake for awhile.
I love the quiet of an early morning. It’s even too early for social media to be much of a distraction. The sun has just come up over the horizon. The day is still sort of pink. It’s not even warm yet, but my fans run almost non-stop. I need to circulate the air.
I sleep with my laptop next to me. Actually, all of my devices share my bed. Two cell phones, Nookie, and my laptop all charge while I sleep. When I roll over in the morning, it is an automatic response to reach for something. I’m addicted to email. Seriously. Unread email drives me bonkers. I love to wake up in the morning to responses from the night before– blog posts or discussions or emails to people in other countries whose day has already begun.
This morning, in my early morning internet jaunt while I’m still lying in bed, I came across a few posts where people were discussing why they write. I read stories of writers who have known they were the next Great American Novelist since they were children. Writers who were influenced by someone or something. Writers who recently discovered the power of the written word. It made me think, to ask myself the same question:
Why do I write?
Why, when it’s so frustrating for me, lately? Why, when I seem to be not writing more than I am actually putting “pen to paper”, so to speak. Why don’t I quit?
Why do I write?
To make the voices shut up. When something really gets going in my mind, it is a record on repeat, playing the same song until I’m singing along. And I’m not actually singing, I am talking. Playing the scene out in the car, at home while watching TV, whatever. If you pass me on the freeway, I’m usually talking. I’m not on the phone. I’m talking out a scene. Doesn’t everyone do this?
To feel accomplished. There are few things I’m really good at, that I can show off. I am not musical. I am not athletic. I’m smart but not brilliant. I can’t do magic tricks and I am not a gymnast. But with my words, I reveal
talent. With my words, I’m a show-off. With my ability to paint a picture on paper or help a person escape to another world, I am a genius. It’s something I’m good at. I excel at. Even if I don’t always feel that way about my own work and even if I’m not writing more often than I am writing.
To encourage others. I took a very long break from writing. Years. Decades. When I decided to kick it back up again, I was so encouraged by other great writers. To this day, I love to read something compelling and moving and beautiful from a fellow writer. It fertilizes my creativity, like plant food does for plants. From their words spring ideas and prose and setting and scenery. If you write, know that people are encouraged by your talent, your wisdom, your way with words.
It beats any other kind of addiction. I’ll admit it– I really like praise. I don’t mind critique and opinion, but praise is addicting. “Oh my goodness, this is so great! I just love it!” feels good. Cannot deny that. As part of a fanfiction community, fanfic writers in particular (because we submit our stories for public opinion, using software that provides for feedback) have huge opportunities everyday to encourage one another, stroke egos, and feed the Praise Addiction with positive feedback. I always say that I don’t write for reviews or feedback or comments. Much of what I write doesn’t get a huge response. I have an entire archive of stuff that has no response… but when I get it? Wow, what a feeling. Unless they’re faking it. In which… I’d just rather not know. Don’t fake the funk but if you’re faking it, keep doing it well.
To prove to myself that I can do it. For no other reason than to sit back after I type the last sentence, the last word, the last bit of punctuation and feel like I did something I can be proud of. I start a lot of stories. A lot of drabbles and ficlets and one-shots and a lot of them go nowhere. When I finish one? I have proven to myself (again) that I can do it. And then I should keep doing it.
I should keep writing.
Why do you write? What are your reasons to keep going?
A little personal post here… because #YOUCARE.
I recently (as in days ago) moved. I haven’t been able to really concentrate on writing or any projects because I’ve been so preoccupied with THE MOVE. First I didn’t really have the money to move and get something nice. I worried I was going to have to move to a… uh… less uppity part of town to match what I could afford. And then I worried that I wouldn’t be able to find something in time, since my lease expired June 30. And then I found something and there were SNAFUS GALORE and I ended up spending about 8 hours driving around the city to find something else.
And boy DID I. Continue reading
So, I tried this awhile back on my now defunct personal blog and no one ever asked me anything. I deemed it stupid and pointless and deleted it and never reconsidered doing it again. Skip ahead a year or so, I haven’t been writing or reading, I have reached the end of the internet and I’m bored… as well, maybe SOMEONE out there has a question… or something?
Anyway, I decided to set up the ole formspring again. If anyone has any questions, comments, ideas, observations to share, please be sure to pop them in that box and send them right on up! I guess…. I will consider a request for writing, like a drabble or a writing exercise. I’m not great at writing on command but sometimes a good idea sparks from something someone said or suggested, so I’m open to it.
Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em! Wait… that’s not right. Ask ‘em if ya got ‘em. There we go.
Hope everyone is having a great week. Is this not the slowest short week ever? Is tomorrow really Friday? I’m scared I’ll wake up and it’ll only be Wednesday.
PS. Have you ever been to Pinterest? Holy crap, it’s my new obsession!