Reading Journal

Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts by Anna Grossnickle Hines


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've never seen quilts in this light before. The pictures are wonderful, and I'm so glad the grocery store had this in their bargain bin. The photography and quilting skills help me appreciate art in all it's forms. I plan on reading this book to any children I care for.

Personally not a fan of the poetry, but I don't hold that against the book.


Seriously.  Find this book.  If you've got kids in your life, buy it.  If you've got a quilter in your life, share it.  If not, just check it out.  I promise you won't regret it.

Reading Journal

I've hardly touched Family Lies.

I finished O! Pioneers last night, and found myself trying hard to figure out the relationship between Alexandra and Frank.  I've read the book a few times before, but this was really the first time I had thought about what goes on between these two.  And it may be a few more times before I understand it.

When I finished Old Border Road, I picked up A Thousand Bayonets.  I feel as though my reaction to it is common in the reading world.  I started off tentative about liking it and slowly made my way through the beginning.  Then, one night, I couldn't sleep.  So I read.  And I read deep into Christmas Eve morning with this book, getting wrapped in the plot.  It had finally started to move!  It wasn't earth-shattering to the point where I couldn't put it down (most books aren't), but it was better than I thought.

I can tell I'm nearing the end of something self-or-locally published, though, as the editorial stuff is starting to weaken.  One page has three consecutive paragraphs on the page starting with "John [verb]ed..."  But considering I got it for free, I like it better than the other one I won from goodreads.

Reading Journal

I finished "Old Border Road."  It was an okay book.  Not bad, but not really my style.

The ending was one of the worst I've ever read. 

I'm going to talk about the ending....
....just so you know.

....If you don't want the ending spoiled, stop reading.

.....I mean it.

It ends with her taking him to the hospital, and the very last scene is her filling out the paper work.  She signs her full name.

It should have ended with them leaving the hired man at the old adobe house.  That would have been a better ending, and probably fit more with the style of the book.

I started "A Thousand Bayonets," which is a Goodreads Giveaway I won like 6 months ago.  It isn't bad, but I'm not so sure I'm going to be impressed with it.  We'll see.

Writing Journal

First off, I've been an utter failure with making 2012: Year of the Poem. I've gotten a few pretty good ones, I'll admit, but highly doubt I'm anywhere near the 366 I wanted.  I'm so far behind, I might not even add them up.

And I haven't been doing all that great at reading poems after every book I read, either.  Part of that's because I've had to slog through all my reading.  Part of it's because I forgot, though.  Yeah.  To be fair, the forgetfulness happened because it was November and I was excited about starting my annual re-read of O! Pioneers.

Last week, I went to the grocery store...I forget why, exactly, but I had an experience there.  I started composing a few lines about it to post as a clever little facebook status, but then I got long-winded.  So I'll put it here.  As with most all of my other poems, it's open for title suggestions.

(This is the raw version, the one mostly scratched out in my car......at stoplights....of course....)
---------------------
After finding my own peace of mind,
I went to the store, and what did I find?
My energy gels in flavors galore!
And then books were on sale,
So I picked out four.
One for my roommate,
And then three for me.
(It's abou ttime we put up the tree.)
And then right there, at the end of the aisle,
Was the perfect big gift
To make my Secret Friend smile.

All of these things I was so glad to find.
And after all this, I was still glad to find
When I went up to pay,
There was not a line!
She scanned half my things as I dug through my purse,
'Twas then that I saw things turn for the worse.
My wallet--have mercy on me!
My wallet was gone--oh, where could it be?!

I scoured my memory, then left like a jerk,
For my wallet, I realized, had been left at work.

Writing Journal

(A repost for those who follow my general blog.)

I'm only about 40% pleased with the title of my NaNo: Family Lies
Then again, I'm probably my worst critic since I judge myself against who I want to be (like) and who I am/have been.

Anyway...you're probably going to ask if I finished it.
Well....my answer is: I hit the 50k, but the story I wanted to tell is not yet complete. (Which, by the way, is not that uncommon.)

My intentions are to toss the dross* in December, mostly to see how many worthwhile words I wrote.  I aim to finish telling the story in January and go back through it in February.  March I'll design the cover and then look into getting 5 free copies of it from createspace, which is a deal they offer through June for NaNoWriMo winners.  Everything for 2013 is a pipe dream, though.  We'll see if I get to smoke it. 

Just for fun, here are links to my word count rewards.  I hit every one of them on time, except for the 40k, which was due to my not taking the project with me on vacation.  But I'm saving it for if I finish the doss tross by the end of December.
5k by Nov. 3
10k by Nov. 6
20k by Nov. 12
30k by Nov. 17
40k by Nov. 23/24 (can't remember)
50k by Nov. 30
(haven't partaken of this yet, but did find it rather entertaining that the label-typer switched "is" and "never," despite placing the label directly next to the words on the case.)

*(I so wish I could take credit for that phrase, but my buddy Diane introduced it to me)

Writing Journal

Partai!

I finished NaNo! 

In that I wrote 50,200 words of a novel.  I did not, however, finish telling the story I wanted to.
Since validating my novel,  I added an acknowledgements page (and a half).  It's some of my best work, and perhaps I'll share that excerpt here.  I've perused some of the pages, and I've cut probably 1,000 words already.  I did take out a scene that took up an entire page and a half because it made me uncomfortable, and not in a good way, but I've also removed a lot of "that"s, which is a great fluff word.  One of the biggest whoopsies I noticed was that I kept switching the names of the towns.

There is a larger town and a smaller town.  Sometimes I called the larger town Harbringer and sometimes I called it Colbion.  Sometimes I called the smaller town Harbringer and sometimes I called it Colbion.  So you can see some need for clarification.

It also wasn't until the very last scene I wrote that I gave one of my characters a last name.  (Come to think of it, Justin doesn't have one, either, I don't think.)  The last sentence I wrote was:

"He was very proud of the people that is children had becomed."

Not literary's finest, but it will be finished someday.

Writing Journal

Just real quick....I'm at 38,332 words.  I need to be at 44k by tomorrow at dinner if I want to stay on track with my goals.

The NaNoWriMo official website has regular (I think daily) pep talks, and today's came from Marissa Meyer, a published Wrimo.  My favorite part was this, cleverly hidden at the end:

I advise you to keep your head in the clouds and your hands on the keyboard, and to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. But if NaNoWriMo had been around back then, it very well might have been built in thirty

 

Writing Journal

So a real quick update on NaNo...

I hit kind of a block over the weekend/yesterday.  I could've written something between Jeopardy and Wheel, but chose to read instead.  I just felt as though there was this large, raging river between where my story was and where I wanted it to go, but I just could not find the bridge over it.  How frustrating.

I tried for about half an hour before Castle and half an hour after.  I started the day where I wanted to end, so the little I wrote makes me less ahead than I was when I started the day.  Just pushed words out, most of them meaningless and doing nothing to take the story forward.  I was dragging my knuckles through the words, I guess you could say.

Since I've been feeling this way since, oh, Saturday-ish, I had been including a request for guidance in my prayers.  I knew my heavenly Father knows this story is important to me, and wants to help me, so I figured I'd ask.  Just in case He had any advice to impart.  I mean, he created the earth, so He's got some imagination, ya know?

Well, last night's prayer was cut short by an epiphany (crap!  I just realized I left my laptop in my car.  I hope the 40 degree weather doesn't do any damage!) as to where to take my story next.  I wrote down the ideas, expressed my gratitude and opened up my Bible to this verse:

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

1 Chronicles 28:9

emphasis added

Reading/Writing Journal

So, I looked at the reading list widget over there ------->
for the first time in a long time.  I thought I was okay with starting this year's round of O! Pioneers after I finished Mayor of Casterbridge, but I was wrong.  It was a New that was next up, and I can only count O! Pioneers as either an old or a random.  Flubzies!
Looks like I've got more reading to do than I thought.

Which is okay, since I'm practically an entire day ahead of my lofty NaNo goal.  I didn't want to write on Sundays or Thanksgiving, so I set my daily word count at 2000 a day, rather than the 1666/7 a day set by the "officials."  The goal was to reach 16k by the end of today, and I reached 16,308 last night!

I think I'm starting to plateau, though.

NO!  Don't say that!! 

Just because the story isn't moving as quickly as you'd like, and you've found yourself unable to tell it any way but chronologically, that doesn't mean anything.  Okay, all four MC's have finally met each other, and it's only a matter of time before the connections are made.  Yes, that's the goal for tonight: make the connections, especially between Justin and Candy.  (Last night's work kind of ended with Marcus and Corby.)

Here's a fun little anectdote, now that I'm done talking to myself....
I was dozing off a little between my write-in and a meeting, when I caught myself thinking it was September for some reason.  As soon as I realized it was not September, I wondered why I would think such a thing.  Maybe the weather?  But could it also have been that I had just finished writing about something taking place in September?  I think that might have actually had more to do with it than the weather....

Writing Journal

NaNoWriMo kicked off at midnight!!!

I had considered taking a nap and going to the First Chance Midnight Write-in. 
I ended up not going because I knew I wouldn't be able to stay much after midnight if I wanted to function at work today.  I also knew that, with as excited as I was about my NaNo, I wouldn't be able to write just a few (hundred) words, and that it would get me too keyed up to go to bed.

Instead, I went to bed relatively early (10:30) and woke up early (5:30) to write for about an hour this morning.

1,722 words, baby!!

I was surprised at how easily they came, as well as how easy it was to let my internal editor sleep.  I never went more than a paragraph back to change anything, and only added or changed a few things as I went.  Going back to it tonight is going to be difficult, though.  I think the best way to keep my editor out of it is to not read much of what I've written, which is unusual for me.  Call it egotistical, but I like reading what I write.  But I know when I do, I automatically look at ways I could have said it better or differently.

That's going to be hard to turn off.

Oh, and I also wrote a poem yesterday and 3 on Saturday (while waiting for my roommate's plane to get in).
The one yesterday I especially like because it was challenging to say what (I thought) I wanted to say with the rhythm I set with the first two lines.  Then I noticed some patterns that ocurred naturally and wanted to keep those, too.  It was only 8 lines, but it took me about 3 hours as a secondary or tertiary thought item.  (During those 3 hours, I was also processing claims, day plotting and communicating with other people in a social manner.)
Still veerrrrrrrrrrry far behind my 366 goal, though. 

Writing Journal

Yes! 

I took a walk on my lunch break.  It was brisk and chilly, and I normally think as fast as I walk.  Which was good today.  I got a lot of thinking done for my NaNoWriMo.

I know who my main characters are (I cut out one that I had before) as well as who needs to receive and grant forgiveness and what for.

This week my roommate's out of town, so I'm hoping to get the apartment clean enough to foster clear thinking come November.  I'm also hoping to get my story binder filled.  I've got a tab for characters/relationships, one for settings, and one for plot points (stuff that happens).  I'm thinking I might create one for the conclusion, too, since I struggle with those.

I also just joined on at the NaNoWriMo website.  My username is seashmore if you want to be my buddy. 

Writing Journal

So, it just hit me: I'm going to write a novel.
Next month.
And I don't know what is going to happen.

I mean, I know what's going to happen to the novel I write: it'll probably sit on my computer for a while.  I might let other people read it (if I'm satisfied).  If they like it, I might save up and try to talk to my dad's publisher. 

What I don't know is what's going to happen inside the story.  I know who my characters are (or did; I haven't spent time with them in months), but I don't know what they're going to do.

So I asked myself: what do I want them to learn from their experiences?  That might help me decide what experiences to give them.
I've decided: I want them to learn about forgiveness.  How's and why's of granting and receiving.  I've got some drafts for a series about this on my home blog, but haven't really made time to flesh them out.  I probably should.

Next step: deciding how I want my characters to learn these lessons.

Reading Journal

I did some Hopkins for my poet between books.  I also read another poet; I don't remember his name but remember I liked his rhythm.  (I also liked the fact that I got some inspiration for a lesson I have to give in church in a couple of weeks because I read the bookmark before I started reading the other guy.)

Instead of doing "Latter-day Liberty," I opted for "You're Wearing THAT?" due to reading this.

Reading/Writing Journal

I'm falling desparately behind, mostly in my writing and scripture reading.  I'm only kind of behind in my leisurely reading.

I'm starting to doubt whether or not I'll have what I've decided to title "Constance in Sioux City" cut to even 15,000 by the end of the month.  I'm currently sitting at about 26k and am averaging less than 1k an hour when I cut.  If it's going to be in the 2013 issue of the BCR, I've got to have it done by mid-October at the very latest.  So like 3 weeks.  gulp

I finished "Like Any Normal Day" and was somewhat disappointed.  I read the acknowledgements and was not in the least bit surprised to see the author didn't thank a copy edietor.  I felt the story had so much potential, but the book barely came close to reaching it. Kind of like me on the chin-up bar in gym class.

I'm not sure who my poet is going to be, but I'll be reading that tonight.  Haven't got much further in Casterbridge, either. 

I think I've got "Latter-Day Liberty" on deck for my next True.  I'll probably have to do Cather as a Random in order to get her in for the fall.  I was really hoping to get her in as an Old.  sigh

Reading Journal

I did it!  I did it!
I finished the Catechism!! 
(True story: I texted a Catholic friend of mine and she said "I haven't even done that.")

My poet after that was Thomas Hardy, and I liked it.  (Having a hard time remembering which ones, in particular, though.)

He was my poet because I wanted to read "Mayor of Casterbridge."  I really enjoy Hardy's work--his descriptions of the land and characters, mostly.  I'm only a few chapters into Casterbridge, but I have high hopes for it.

Reading Journal

This is pretty much a monthly update of: I'm still reading the same books and working on the same writing projects.

However, I have stumbled upon some new motiviation and inspiration, both for my reading and my writing.  That 2012: Year of the Poem has been facing failure for months, but there's someone newish in my life who has me thinking more like a poet than I have been.  I haven't written any yet, but I'm working on rearranging my life to allow more time for that. That same person is also motivation for me to finish the Catechism...by the day after tomorrow....I have about 100 pages...

I've developed a habit of having conversations via text.  I know it sounds impersonal and impractical, but....while waiting for the next one, I read a few paragraphs.  This works for me because I have a hard time focusing on just what I'm reading for extended periods of time.  So I compose a textual response, send it, and read until I get a response.  Then I come to the nearest stopping point (usually the end of a paragraph or section) and respond. 

It's no different than when I would read my homework between commercials on tv.

Reading Journal

I began "Like Any Normal Day," which is an advance reading copy I let sit so long you can probably buy it.  But I wouldn't.  Maybe get it from the library, though.  I'm not that far into it (trying not to be, since I'm barely 2/3 through the Catechism) and maybe it's because I've let so much time go between readings that I just haven't gotten into it.  It seems like a good story, though.  Essentially a paraplegic asks his younger brother to take him to Dr. Kevorkian to do what Dr. Kevorkian does best, focusing on the emotions of the younger brother--torn between doing what he thinks is best for his brother and what his brother thinks is best.  And haven't we all felt that way about someone? 

But the editors aren't very good.  I'm only a few chapters in and have already seen more errors than Tricia would have allowed in the BCR.

I'll try to keep reading so I can update this more than once a month.  Sheesh seashmore, it's like you've got a life or something.

Writing Journal

I finished "Tell Me Who I Am."  I liked it, but I liked it a whole lot better before it was revealed to be a bunch of paginated, published blog posts.  Well, I guess, some of them were more than that, but that revelation burned it for me.  I still plan on referring back to it from time to time and sending it to a friend or two. 

In rearranging my bookcases (after I cleaned off a shelf in my bedroom), I not only made room for me to purchase more books, but I also rediscovered a memoir that my dad sent me.  It was written sometime before 1988 by my dad's grandma's cousin.  It's over 35,000 words, and I've decided to take upon myself the task of abridging her early years, when she lived in Sioux City, for submission to the Briar Cliff Review for consideration for their Siouxland section.

But, holey moley, has that been invaluable as a resource for family history.  I've unearthed a lot of research needing to be done.  Which I'm trying to not get so caught up in that I forget to work.  *sheepish smile*

Reading/Writing Journal

Reading
I can now allow myself to purchase more fiction!  I cleaned out the closet part of my dresser a little bit over the weekend and rearranged my bookcases.  (Sorry no before pictures.)


My LDS lit



Top shelf: writing/craft in front and kiddie lit in theback
Middle shelf: anthologies/collections
Bottom shelf: Reference & some cassette tapes



Fiction on the left, non-fiction on the right












Now if only I could find time to read more......

Writing
This is more editing than actual writing, but.....this weekend, I was finally able to figure out why that essay about an experience I had 6 years ago never felt quite right.  I was writing for the wrong audience!  Instead of intending it to be submitted to The Briar Cliff Review, I wrote it with the intent to submit it to the Ensign.  Came out much better, although still in need of some work.
In cleaning, I rediscovered something my dad sent me.  His grandmother's cousin wrote her life's story in about 36,000 words.  She was born and raised in Sioux City, so I've decided to abridge it and submit that to the BCR for their Siouxland section.  (There's a lot of personal reaction to historical data in there.)  That was something started on impulse because if I had thought about the repercussions of such an undertaking, I would have put it off until I wasn't feeling so busy. 
After I'm through with my version, I'm going to talk to my dad about getting permission to submit at least the Siouxland parts.

Reading Journal

I finally finished Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, which was replaced by "Tell Me Who I Am."  There are some fabulous stories in there, people.  Check it out, seriously.

Here's my quotes from this round of Milton's Paradise

PL, Book III
"...if I foreknew
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault...
Authors to themselves in all
Both what they judge and what they choose; for so
I form'd them free, and free they must remain."

"For neither Man nor Angel can discern
Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone."

Book V
"In contemplation* of created things
By steps we may ascend to God."
*contemplation: from Latin "com" and "templum," consecrated space

Book VI
"When Reason hath to deal with force, yet so
Most reason is that Reason overcome."

Book XI
"Their Maker's Image...then
Forsook them, when themselves they vilifi'd
To serv'd...
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own."

_________
The poet that I read from (for 2012: Year of the Poem) was Emily Dickinson.
Here are some of my favorite lines from that reading.

632
"The Brain is just the weight of God--
For--Heft them--Pound for Pound--
And they will differ--if they do--
As Syllable from Sound."

1732
"My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to se
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me.

So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we konw of heaven,
And all we need of hell."

________
Still chugging through the CCC.  I really hope I don't have to shelve that.

Reading/Writing

I've made decent progress in the Catechism, and slight progress in Paradise Lost.  I am hoping beyond hope to have one of them (most likely the latter) finished by the end of the month.  (Which means I should probably be reading on my lunch break right now....)

My NaNoWriMo is coming along quite nicely.  Kind of. 
That change I posted about before?
Irrelevant.

The only thing I've kept the same is the reader's advocate character and the main concept of the novel.  Two of the female characters have undergone sex changes and I've added another major character, bringing my total to 4.5.  (The one female character is more of a prop, but needs to retain a presence in the story.)
I've figured out how most of the characters have met each other, as well as my conflict.  I'm hoping to finish finding out how the rest of the characters know each other, mostly CD and CY as their relationship is going to be very important to the presentation of the conflict.

I'm also not sure how/if I want to incorporate Fate vs. Destiny into the novel. 

The best news is that I have my resolutions mostly conceptualized!  (By which I mean how Justice is served and an idea of how Mercy is delivered.)

Writing Journal

First, a little bit of Reading...

I'm working through finishing the excerpt of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" in my textbook for Modern Poetry.

I've also started reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church. A few weeks ago, each of the Relief Society Presidencies in our stake got a copy of "Pure Religion." I had been hoping I could stretch "Drowning Ruth" until our president finished it, but I just couldn't. Oh, well. I've been wanting to read the catechism for a while, just to know more about their beliefs. And if I read anything shorter, I'd finish it before I finished Paradise Lost, which means I'd have to shelf that, and that throws all sorts of hooey into my system.

Now the writing....

I've come up with a theme for my NaNoWriMo novel, and it's different than what I thought it would be. I still haven't come up with the exact conflict(s) that need resolving, much less how to do so, nor have I really even decided who is in on which side. But I do have some ideas and took a cue from my roommate. We each have a story wall in our dining area.

After finishing with "Drowning Ruth" at 2 a.m., I found myself gawking at them and I noticed that mine is on drywall and hers is on cinderblock. Then I giggled as I thought to myself, "that's her writer's block."

Then I remembered the wall in the kitchen that had been left bare-looking after some slight rearranging a month or so ago. It happens to be cinderblock.

So we created a Writer's Block. It has a few writing prompts and ideas, although not in this picture.

Reading Journal

In the time it took me to update my Reading List sidebar (I shelved "Waiting for the Galactic Bus" because I didn't like the irreverent way it was portraying religious history) to add "Drowning Ruth," I finished it. No, seriously, I added it yesterday (even though I started it a while ago) and stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it. The cover bills it as a "psychological thriller," but I'm not sure I even understand what that term means.

Sharing the plot is the best way I can think of to share how, well, thrilling, this book is. A woman drowns in a lake in Wisconsin in November of one of the years during WWI. Her husband was away at war and she was living on an island in the lake with her toddler daughter and older sister when it happened. The mystery of what happened that night and how it got to be that way is told through repressed and distorted memories of Amanda and Ruth (sister and daughter). There's also some 3rd person omnicient narrative going on, mostly in "present" time, so it was a little difficult to latch on to.

But the rising action really got a rise out of me. Just ask my roommate. She was in the living room with me until around midnight, so she heard me gasping and saw me covering my face with the hand that wasn't holding the book. When a book moves me like that, I know it's good. Or, at least, that part of it.

Here's my goodreads review of it:
I thought it was a little slow to start off, but I will say it had the best rising action I've ready in a LONG time! I was gasping and talking to the characters like you do at game show contestants. My biggest irritation was all the shifts in perspective. I enjoy changing points of view and jumps in chronology, but the combination was difficult to get used to. I definitely plan on reading it again.

all my reviews

I also have some writing ideas, but I'll make a separate post on that next week.

Writing Journal

A few things this weekend reminded me of the loss of a friend(ship).
My facebook status this morning was
"Dear Seashmore's Body,
I'm sorry for waking you up at 4 this morning and not going back to bed. But I hope that emotionally healing poem I wrote makes up for it.
Forever yours,
Seashmore's Brain"

This one was so inspired, it even has a working title! This is the 4 a.m. draft, and it definitely needs some fixing up before I call it finished.

You That I Once Knew
While I miss your body,
I mostly miss your soul.
The You that I see now is
Not the You that I once knew.

You're better in some ways,
This I won't deny.
But somehow, over time, the world
Has lost the You that I once knew.

But maybe the parts that
Made You whole haven't
Left this earth, for I have found
Pieces of the You that I once knew;

Strewn about my friends,
A hand hold here, a kind word there,
A wisecrack in my ear, almost
Bring back the You that I once knew.

It's not your presence I miss the most,
Not your laugh, your smile, your hug.
It's not the things that can be refound-
I miss the You that I once knew.

Writing Journal

This article is about a woman who used to write "sad stories" for the newspaper. By which she means what my 9th grade newswriting teacher would call "fuzzy bunny stories." They're the stories about "the cancer patients,...the bereft parents, the brave teenagers, [and] the toddlers waiting for transplants."

She talks about being able to do it because she could keep her distance emotionally. She says it requires a special talent, and I agree it is a talent to be able to look at an emotional situation objectively. She says that all changed when she had her first child and her "empathy went airborne."

It's a fascinating concept and one that gets touched on in the movie "Stranger Than Fiction." (Starring Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah, Will Ferrell and Dustin Hoffman, I'd say the title fits the cast, too.) Essentially, Thompson's author character is known for writing stories where the main character dies. Ferrell's character finds himself at the center of the book she's in the progress of writing, and there is at least once good scene where Thompson ponders how it's different when the characters she is killing off are real people.

It makes me wonder if I'm going to give my NaNoWriMo project a happy or sad ending.

In semi-related news, my roommate and I cleaned like crazy on Saturday, and cleaning off the table made us realize how empty the one wall looks. The adjacent one looks less empty because it's covered in masking tape & sticky notes laying out her most recent NaNo project. I think I might put mine up on the other wall.

Lay out the characters & relationships, plot events, rising action, and climax. Just as soon as I figure out what all of those are.

Fun story: I was cleaning off my catch-all chair and said, "Hey, look, it's Paradise Lost." Pun not intended, but laughingly allowed.

Writing Journal

I woke up this morning and almost called in to work because I wanted to write so badly.

I've decided to do the NaNoWriMo challenge this year. My current roommate (who I anticipate still being my roommate in November) does this and her post-its on the dining room wall inspired me. I've learned from her mistakes and have already been starting rolling some ideas around. I also know I'm terrible at ending things, so I want to get a head start on that for sure.

While reading Paradise Lost, I found I really enjoy how Milton draws from Satan's experiences and provides a lot of dialogue from that antagonist's point of view. I like the idea of the main character being antagonistic. It's just different enough for me. I like the dichotomy of finding yourself almost sympathizing with a character you (know you should) despise. And even though the "bad guy" is the focal point of the story, I of course want the "good guy" to still "win" in the end.

Last night, I had an experience that reminded me of a term I've used before: Divine Coincidence. It sounds oxymoronic, I know. But the best way I can define it is that it's a situation that could be explained by either coincidence or divine intercession. The example I gave on facebook was being stressed when you make an impulsive trip to the grocery store and you run into someone who relieves that stress for you.

I want to explore that concept in my NaNo project. Or at least make it an underlying theme. Toni Morrison and "rememory" or Tim O'Brien and metafiction. S.E. Ashmore and divine coincidence.

Good thing I've got 8 months to figure it out.

Reading Journal

I finished both Count of Monte Cristo and Circle of Friends within the same week. I really tried to stretch it out because if I finish two books at the same time, that means I'm starting two books at the same time, and that's rough for me. I can handle and almost enjoy picking up a book while I'm in the middle of another one. But that's precisely where I need to be: in the middle of one. Otherwise it's too easy for me to get them confused, even if one is a classic and the other is a short book about management.

Another downfall of finishing them so close together is that it didn't allow me poetry time the way I had intended. So I decided to make my next Old read to be Milton's two epics on Paradise. Technically, it's in the same book that I would hold in my hands, but it's two separate pieces. And they're poems. So it's like reading two poems. Also, I think the content has the potential to be helpful in my personal life during the next few weeks. (!)

I wasn't particularly a fan of the way Monte Cristo ended. Although I do remember finding a couple of passages intriguing and worth sharing. Too bad I left my copy at home. It's a great book, though, and read surprisingly fast considering the heft of the pages and the language. Having a character and alternate name list would have been helpful, though.

Same goes for Circle of Friends. Except I like the ending of that one. It's one of my favorites, actually. It's a pleasant and satisfying ending, but it isn't overdone and truer to life than most novel endings. I really would like to say more about it, but it would involve spoilers. Just know that I'll talk about it with anyone who has read the book. It's just fabulous and I should probably stop building up to more than it actually is.

Writing Journal

So I've been a slacker on writing a poem a day. (I figured I'd have dry days, which is why the precise goal is 366 this year.) It's the 9th and I've only counted 6. Although I may have one or two I don't remember in a notebook at home and I almost thought a list of Wheel of Fortune puzzle answers was some wierd, abstract poem I had written. Although that does give me an idea for future inspiration...

Anyway, today, I'm going to freestyle. Disclaimer: This may be a little obscure to some readers and all too clear for others. I wish there was some other way, but I've learned that I can only put so many emotions into one bottle before it explodes like a Molotov Cocktail. (And I totally call dibs on that imagery.)

(Title Suggestions?)
I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.

The sinister side says to laugh.
After all, the olive branch has made her shy.
Why else the lack of response?
The immediate turn of the glance?

The sensitive side says to cry.
After all, I couldn't ask for a hug goodbye.
Why else but for her coldness?
The thickening tension in the room?

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Well, that was easier and quicker than I thought it would be.

Reading Journal

This weekend, I finished Mr. Fooster. It was an ok book, although I'm thinking I'll put it with my children's selections. It's a better fit, both literally and logistically. The content is very appropriate and good for that hard-to-reach-with-books age: 8-12. And my regular fiction bookcase is literally overflowing. The rows of books bowed as I put selections back after deciding I didn't want to read that particular one for my "random." I'm lucky the Maeve Binchey paperbacks are small and the shelves are wide because the one I picked out for Christmas fits perfectly in front of the other one I have.

I spent half an hour reading out of a book I snatched from my mom's house sometime ago. Something called "Best Loved Poems of the American People" or something. Read a few by the Shelly's and a couple about an old bucket in a well. (One was in response to the first one.) Found a movie ticket stub stuck in the pages for some reason. I didn't recognize any of the poems on the page, although read and liked the one about Mr. Felix and work. (Or something like that.) I'm thinking of using that incident as poem fodder. If it's appropriate to share, I will. If it becomes to personal or winds up being no good, I won't.

I picked up "Anpao," as a re-read for my Random.
But after bringing up Ms. Binchey just now, I might put him back and go for "Circle of Friends" as a re-read. It's a little closer to home in terms of my personal life and I'm anticipating reading the one I just bought as being my next New. (Can't remember the title; I just know she's a good author and it was like $5.)