• Writing Clear Prose by George Perkins
• The Storyteller’s Art by Francis Porretto
• Elements of Style (not free, $.99) by William Jr. Strunk
• How to Write a Great Book and Get It Published by Tom Evans
• Worth Writing About and Other Stories by Mitch Lavender
• StoryStarters by Clifford Fryman
• Write Good or Die by Scott Nicholson
• How to Write a Great Query Letter by Noah Lukeman
• Writers Write by William Meikle

I’ve also decided that of my annual reading goal, at least one book a month should be something writing, to help me improve or just have a store of information in the back of my mind, mentally slapping my hands, should I do something I probably shouldn’t. I know they say ignorance is bliss, but ignorance could also keep a person from improving and

I’ve been playing with my new toy since yesterday though!

The Nook Color is amazingly wonderful. I’ve been futzing with my books since it booted up, and reading some great stuff. I had been reading books on my iPhone, which didn’t bother me a bit. The bigger screen on the Nook is fantastic, and it’s great being able to add my own eBooks to it as well. Definitely my favorite purchase lately.

So I’m off to read more of David Cullen’s Columbine. It’s a really gripping, near moment-by-moment account of the 1999 massacre in Colorado. More writing tomorrow, hoping I get further than I did today.

WRITING GOALS

As everyone is already well aware, I’ve re-upped for Get Your Words Out, 2011. I’ve challenged myself to 350K words for the year. No small feat but I’m not really afraid of it. Either I’ll make it or I won’t, but I’m not trying to fail. Of those 350K words, I need to set some mini goals as to what I plan to do with those words:

A. Finish All I Wanna Do. I was hoping for only 60 chapters but it may stretch to 61 o 62.

B. Write more short stories. We all know that short and succinct is a challenge for me.

C. Get back to my original fiction piece. Maybe I will write chapter 2 next year?

D. Write a big bang- 20,000 words on a subject. GYWO will be running this.

READING GOALS

I’ve been a busy little reader lately. I’ve discovered the world of eBooks which has made it easier and more convenient to read. I’ve never done an official reading challenge, so I’m going to join Roni here:

and here….

I read eBooks almost exclusively, so an eBook challenge should be no problem. I think I should also challenge myself to buy physical books at least once  a month. That’s probably a more difficult challenge. As for book reading, I’d like to set my goal at 50. I never counted before, but I’m guessing I’ve read about a book a month in 2010, give or take a month. I also want to REVIEW them, which is a challenge for me as well.

BLOGGING GOALS

I’m trying to be better about being more descriptive as to the process of writing. What are my goals, what am I thinking about, what am I planning. And when a chapter/story is done, what I thought of it. What were my strong/weak points, what I could improve on. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’m a pretty hard nut to crack about myself. I’m not in anyway deluded that I’m an “excellent” writer. In my humble opinion, I could use some work.

So I’ll be getting down to it in 2011.

]]> http://www.thesweetescape.net/blog/2010/writers-write/2011-goals-reading-and-writing-challenges/feed/ 1 http://www.thesweetescape.net/blog/2010/authored-inspiration/books-i-loved/a-little-bit-of-a-lot-of-progress/ http://www.thesweetescape.net/blog/2010/authored-inspiration/books-i-loved/a-little-bit-of-a-lot-of-progress/#comments Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:24:08 +0000 MJones http://www.thesweetescape.net/blog/?p=913 Continue reading →]]> Very brief update. I got some writing in at work because boss left early. Yay. And then read and read and READ until I finished Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Really great book. Thoughtful review coming soon.

My eyes hurt, though, so it’s time to chillax and enjoy some boob tube before bedtime.

I also started reading a new book that is way less of a disappointment than my last book.

[Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is] an atmospheric drama set in rural Mississippi. In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas “32″ Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town.
More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they’ve buried and ignored for decades.

It’s fantastic so far, fast paced and full of questions to be answered and puzzles to solve. I’m on Ch 4 and I expect to finish in the next few days.

Goodnight.

Oh no. Not goodnight. I finished The Lonely Polygamist. Sort of. I’ll let my goodreads review stand for itself. Suffice it to say…. *two snaps* HAAATED IIIIITTTT…

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This box asks me what I think… well. I think I don’t understand the 4 and 5 star ratings of this book. I liked the story itself. It seemed to be full, however, of winding stories and retrospection, which provides us with back story. I guess I’ll have to think further about the characters and development and writing style. [Adding: Which were fine, I guess. It wasn't impossible to understand].

Right now I just can’t get over the fact that I skipped about 1/3 of this book until it seemed like the story advanced.

I tried my hand at a review… I’ll have to try again another time. Everything I write sounds as boring as I found this book to be. I will say that I did not initially find Golden Richards to be a strong enough man to have 4 wives and that made me hard to respect him as a character. We find out, pretty early on from his skulking around his own house trying to avoid his wives, that he’s not really the head of his house. His children run wild and there is little bond/sisterhood that we hear so much about in polygamist families. Much more apparent is the discordance and dysfunction.

Golden didn’t seem very lonely, to me. Just out of control. The lonely one seemed to be his son, Rusty, who everyone thought was just weird. That story line seemed to be the most interesting of all of them and unfortunately seemed to get such little attention up until the end.
View all my reviews

I don’t know what I’m reading next, but please let it be good.

My chapter opens with my characters on a long awaited flight. I’ve spent 3 days with them on the plane… my goal today was to get them off of the plane and I did that.

Now it’s time to settle down and get some reading in. I’m taking a break from Pretty Little Liars and I’ve picked up the Lonely Polygamist. I don’t know why I am drawn to stories about this life, but I am. The MC so far doesn’t seem like a strong enough man to have 4 wives, but whatever. Just getting into it.

Speaking of, my to read pile is kind of scary. I’ve committed to not getting any more books (fingers crossed behind my back) until I’ve made a dent in that list. It’ll get to where I can’t remember why I thought a book would be interesting to read (why did I get a book named BUFFALO???) and then I’ll archive it and I’ll never read it. Thankfully most ebooks are free downloads so it’s not like it’s a waste of money, but… I don’t need to waste space either.

Speaking of x 2… I think I am going to give myself the gift of a Nook Color. I have so many books in .epub format, which the kindle doesn’t read. Also I only have the iPhone app, which doesn’t let you add books to it. I CAN add books to my Nook for PC app but they don’t translate to the Nook app on my iPhone. I’m hoping that is something that will work for the Nook, otherwise I’m still out an eReader that is truly compatible with my iPhone.

Ah well. Seems more research is in order!

I find, though, that while I’m interested in what’s happening… I just want to know how it ends. I’m just not sure my attention span can hang on for 8 books. I just want to know who A is and who killed Ali and what’s up with all the secrets? I’m not all that concerned about Emily’s budding lesbianism or Aria’s dad and his mistress or Hanna’s relationship with her dad or her best friend who has serious clinging issues. Not being able to answer the question that has been lingering since book ONE is making me anxious, for some reason. I normally read the end of a book first, and maybe this ‘not knowing’ is just a new thing but.. argh! *bites nails*

So… baby did a bad thing. I started looking for spoilers of each book. And I found MOST of what I’m looking for. And while I’m still kind of confused, I can relax. I know, I’m weird, but now I can read the rest of the books at my leisure and know what clues I’m looking for.

I also did a little bit of writing today. About 400 words into Ch 58. Doing a lot of research on Greece, since that’s what this chapter focuses on, their trip to Greece. Not only is there a lot of scenery to read about and try to make real, but there will be a couple of important conversations. I was hoping to be done in 60 chapters. We’ll see.

Interested in what I’m reading? Find me at Goodreads!

Since this is my writing blog, I obviously plan to write in it. More than that, I am hoping to transform this into a place where I can bounce ideas off of other writers, post snips and get feedback, ask questions and muse about the difficult task of buckling down and getting some writing done… because as we’ve all seen in the past year… I’m not that huge of a fan of actual writing.

I’m also planning to design or locate a blog theme that says less cute and whimsy and more ‘writer with personality’. I’m always on the hunt for a new look that isn’t cluttered but is professional. I’ve tried on several looks over the last year and I’m sure I’ll try several more. I’m no WP coder or designer but I know how to find what I’m looking for. Look for some aesthetic changes to the theme here very soon.

I’m also going to try to get myself to digest more of the books I read, enough to write at least a summary review of them. I read so fast that sometimes I finish a book and think, ‘wow that was good’ but I can’t put my finger on why. The WHY is important because if I can’t do it with someone else ‘s work, I can’t do it with my own. And neither can anyone else.

2011 will be a year of new horizons. Okay maybe revisited horizons. Horizons I was heading for and then saw something shiny and got distracted but I’m headed toward them again.  The only way I can make it through and be successful is to have a soft, comfortable place to land.

This place is it.