My Notebook

Before I bought my laptop I had a hard time writing on paper. I’m impatient, and it irritated me because my mind would work faster than my hand. After four months with the computer and no manuscripts appeared, it appeared I was just lazy. I took a writing class which  allowed me to realize the many stories in me. To bad the stories were all sad.

The stories all had the hero dying and the heroine grieving. I felt wonderful though. It was like a huge burden had been removed from my shoulders. The feeling was intense as the grief I’d been wrapping around me for years fell away. I kept beginning stories and not finishing them. Then, as many of you know, I entered Nano.

I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to, but I did get a short story (very short) written. Now I’ve started something new. This time I’m writing it in a notebook first. I’ve brainstormed and have ideas for four ideas for four different books. I had thought about writing the stories separate before having them converge at different points in one book. Right now it’s  a toss up. I have little more than my concept written and the first few pages about one of the women in the story.

The good part is that I haven’t read any books about my idea. It’s set in the future so I have a whole new world to build. I’m excited. I feel like accomplishing this. I know that I can do it if I give it the proper time. What better time than now? I’m not pressed for time. In another week the girls will be back in school and I’ll have time to get my butt into gear without interruption. What are you working on?

Advertisement

Dress Up

What have you dressed up as?

 When I worked at the bookstore I dressed up as  and  . For one of my girl’s birthday parties I dressed up as .

 

Today, my daughter asked me to get a job at Chuck E. Cheese so that I can wear the costume.

 

Note to all: this is the kid who’s afraid of Chuck E.

 

Thank you cousin, thanks for conveniently forgetting to tell me that your kid is afraid of Chuck E. until we’re in the restaurant and she freaks out. Your kid scared the crap our of mine by screaming and hiding under the table.

 So, what have you dressed up as?

Technorati

I’ve just set up my Technorati account. I don’t know exactly how this will help me, but what the hell here goes.
Technorati Profile

Blood Diamonds

Tonight I went and watched a movie that hurt my heart. I watched Blood Diamonds with Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou. The movie has two stories running at the same time. The first story is about an African man from Sierra Leon and his struggle to regain his family. Rebels invaded his village and took Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) to work in the diamond mining camp. While there Solomon finds a large diamond and is able to hide it before the government soldiers attack the camp. Unfortunately, a guard catches Solomon as he is burying it and promises to find his family in order to gain the diamond.

Down by the River

When I took my Senior seminar I had to choose a book from a list to write a fifteen pagepaper. I choose Edna O’Brien’s Down by the River. It is written by an Irish author who originally shocked her homeland by writing about women having affairs and eventually abortions.

One important fact to know about Ireland is that it was created based on the Catholic church’s teaching. They believe that the woman belongs in the home, while the man provides for the woman. They also believed (like many other countries)  that woman was the moral keeper of man. I’m not saying that this is the way all Irish people think, just that there are written accounts of this line of thinking.

Down by the River takes the real life account of an Irish girl who was molested and became pregnant and fictionalizes it. The young girl in the novel is molested by her father for many years before becoming pregnant. She runs away to England in hopes of having an abortion and staying away from her father.

Unfortunately, she is sent back home to her father who tries to perform an in house abortion with a broom handle. (It is brutal but drives home the idea that if the government doesn’t allow legal abortions more dangerous illegal abortions will take place.) The courts become involved after it becomes known who the baby’s father is.

This book dives into several minds and is disturbing. It is thought provoking and painful. It is worth reading and I will probably read it again.

I’ve Been Tagged

Racy tagged me to answer this meme:

Four Jobs That I’ve Had

1. Jewelry store associate- I spent all my money on jewelry. I may have been broke but I looked expensive.
2. Bookstore/Hallmark associate- I found out what ‘smutty’ magazines were and for a while became a Cherished Teddies collector.
3. Band-Aid factory worker- I packed band aids for 6 hours a day. (I used crap loads of band aids from ripped cuticles.)
4. Assistant Technical Manager- I did crap loads of data entry, cleaned dirty tanks twice my size, and played with chemicals.

Four Favorite Foods
1. Cheese cake
2. Chicken Lo Mein
3. Loaded smashed potatoes
4. Baked chicken wings

Four Movies I can watch over and over
1. Rent
2. Dirty Dancing (“Nobody puts baby in the corner.”)
3. Phantom of the Opera (Every time I want the phantom to be loved by Christine as he loves her.)
4. Beaches/Always (Yes, I cheated. I love both of these movies. If I want a movie to cry with, these are my choices.)

Four TV shows I enjoy
1. Law and Order (all of them)
2. Heroes
3. Avatar
4. Judge Joe Brown (and Judy/Christina/the People’s Court)

Four Places I’ve traveled
1. Washington D.C.
2. N.Y. city
3. Charleston, W.V.
4. Louisville, KY

Four Websites I go to daily
1. Jaci Burton
2. Racy Li
3. Midnight Moon Cafe
4. Dear Author

Four people I’m tagging to do this meme
1. Melanie
2. Cora
3. Susan
4. Rosie

Eragon

I wasn’t going to read this book because I have a problem following the reading habits of others. Yes, I have to be different. Throughout the book I felt like I was reading Lord of the Rings. The major exception to this being I read all of Eragon but failed to finish the Tolkien book. The book was interesting.

It’s about a young man coming of age during a dangerous time. Complicating matters, he finds a dragon’s egg and thinks that it’s a jewel. We are told that his mother appeared long enough to give birth to him and give him to his uncle and aunt to raise. (This is also the darkest foreshadowing I’ve read in a long time. I’m assuming because it’s a book written for children.) Dark forces arrive and drive Eragon on a road fraught with danger.

On his journey he meets a bard (who is more than he seems), learns to use magic, and creates a deep bond of friendship with his partner/dragon Sapphire. He suffers loss while gaining love and friendship. He lost one family and gained another. Adults reading Eragon will easily figure out the “mysterious” aspects of this book, but it is a book for children.

Now I need to watch the movie to see if I can complain about the movie veering away from the book. A friend told me that it included the next book in the trilogy Eldest. After I watch the movie I’ll come back and review it.

Off for the Holiday

Just a little note to let y’all know that I’m going to take a few days off for the holiday. I’ll be back on 12/26/06. Happy holidays everyone.

The Distressing Damsel

Favorite line: “Through gritted teeth, she snapped, “Did you just shush me?”” (p32)

A witch about to be burned at the stake. A husband who can’t get it up. A Lout in need of a lesson and the woman who gives it to him. Secrets abound in a land filled with magic where anything can happen. The Distressing Damsel finds what she least expects in the Dragon who saves her.

The heroine, Talaith, is a smart a**. She speaks her mind and is hiding something. I’m not going to tell you what the something is, but it’s worth reading. Talaith reminds me of a young, pretty fishmonger’s wife. She is a nag but it’s great to listen to.

Briec the Mighty is full of himself. He doesn’t see anything wrong with keeping Talaith after rescuing her from the stake. He sees her as a pretty bauble he can pleasure himself with and then discard. He has no clue that there are many lessons he has yet to learn nor does he know that Talaith is the woman to teach him.

This book shows that you can teach a dragon new tricks and that with a little help from new friends anything is possible. I enjoyed the banter between the hero and the heroine. The secondary characters have me salivating for their story. I also find myself thinking in a prejudiced manner. In the back of my mind a voice is shouting this should be a mass market paperback novel not just an e-book. I don’t know why this persists to bother me. I’ve read many good e-books and many horrid paperbacks. I’m hopeful that acknowledging the unfair comparisons that exist in my mind between the two markets, I’ll be taking the first steps towards setting this aside.

Back to the book, the dialogue overwhelmed the novel. It was so great that I didn’t want to stop reading nor did I want to pick the story apart. The settings worked well. From the lakeside to the different lairs in the cliff side, they are wonderful. The diction used by Shelly Laurenston paints a beautiful picture that wrapped around me and drew me in. I’ll be one of the first to pick up the next book in this series whether it’s in electric or paper format. I’d give this book 3.5 stars making it an enjoyable read.

13 E-books

Thirteen E-books that I’ve bought or read: 1. Kiss Me Deadly (Flashback to the Birds.) 2. Caged Desire (It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s super hot guy.) 3. Hunter’s Pride (My lover’s a Lion.) 4. King of Prey (He was my vet, now he’s my husband.) 5. Firebird (A**hole leaves me to die…oh well he’s hot.) 6. Lycan Instinct (Strong woman seeking stronger man.) 7. Ice Dragon (I’m falling in love with the Dragon King.) 8. Maiden Flight (I married two men and they are best friends.) 9. Border Lair (I’m copying my daughter and marrying two men.) 10. Dragon’s Mate (I’m in heat.) 11. Lure of Passion (I’ll be your honey.) 12. Sacred Places (My man is 800 years old but boy is he hot.) 13. Distressing Damsel (You love my smart a** mouth!) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. http://www.amychristopher.blogspot.com/ 2. http://adventuresinjuggling.blogspot.com/ 3. http://www.mmarty831.blogspot.com/ 4. http://tinkerbell-nl.blogspot.com/ 5. http://westofmars.blogspot.com/ 6. http://www.racyli/blogspot.com 7. http://alittlecheesewiththatwhine.blogspot.com/