Tag: Blog (Page 12 of 14)
Do you ever reread your favorite books?
Do you ever reread your favorite books A LOT?
I’m currently reading Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series for the first time (it’s quite good, by the way), but I keep thinking about all of the books I want to reread right now. Pride and Prejudice. The Royal We. The Help. I’ve read them all before. In a few cases, I have read them several times. But I’m just in the mood to revisit my favorite characters again.
My mother thinks I’m crazy. She reads a book once and she’s done. Maybe I am crazy. My to-read list is insufferably long.
But I don’t know. When I think about my favorite books, they’re all about people and worlds that I feel like I’ve come to know. Sometimes, they’re filled with beautiful worlds. And I want to revisit them.
It’s like visiting an old friend.
Do you reread your favorite books multiple times?
I hate waiting.
I don’t consider myself the most proactive person out there or anything, but I would rather be working for my own destiny than waiting for something to happen.
Waiting and waiting and waiting.
I’m sure the anxiety doesn’t help. I get sick to my stomach. I get shaky. I forget out to breathe. And I agonize. I agonize over the wait and every little detail.
Tomorrow I find out if I have a job still or not. Maybe. How am I supposed to wait for that?
How am I supposed to get over my waiting nerves? How can I keep my mind off of it?
And what do I do if it’s bad news?
I read somewhere that whatever you do on New Year’s Day is what you will be doing for the rest of the year. I’m more superstitious than I care to admit, so I took it by heart. If superstitions prove to be true, then this is what I can expect from the rest of my year:
- Huge breakfasts with delicious mimosas
- Writing! (I have had a little bit of writer’s block the past few weeks, and I THINK I broke through, so that was exciting)
- Harry Potter movies
- Driving snowy roads (gross!)
- Eating chocolate chip cookies
- Reading books
I can’t say that any of this is shabby. Especially all of the food.
What do you expect in your New Year?
I don’t know what I am going to blog about.
I usually like to plan these things in advance. I try to be interesting for you all. I really do.
Today though, everything is uncertain. My life, my job. I’m twenty-seven years old, and I don’t know for sure where I’m going to be in a month.
I envy the people in my life who don’t plan. I envy the people who can pick up and move across the country, without a job in line, without an idea of where they are going.
I like to know what’s coming next. I like stability and continuity. I’m not saying that every day has to be exactly the same, because how boring would that be? But I have a routine, and I like it.
When it goes away, when it gets taken from me, I feel like the rug is pulled out from under my feet. Where was the warning? Where is that stability I was promised?
The routine gives me control. I’ve been searching and searching for jobs and boyfriends and friends and apartments and all sorts of things for years now. Routine gives me power. It’s something that I can change, that I can do, that I can accomplish.
And now it’s all fraying away. And I am sick and I am lost, and I don’t know what to do.
Everyone keeps telling me that I need to just worry about enjoying the holidays, and I am going to try. But with this hanging over me? How can I think about anything else?
Something I don’t think I’ve talked about on here at all (which is crazy, since I’m a little nutty about it) is my love of all things theater.
It stemmed from when I was a kid, when I used to dance and perform in my school plays. And heck, when I used to put on plays for my friends and family on my front porch. I was never very good… I was okay, but I LOVED it. (In a way, I think my writing comes from that. I’m not telling stories on the stage, but rather on the page… Okay, I didn’t mean to make that rhyme.)
Since high school, I’ve become kind of a theater watcher. Which is good. I’ve seen over 60 shows on Broadway. I listen to lots and LOTS of showtunes. And I watch every musical I can get my hand on. In fact, my current novel is about some (made-up) Broadway actors. And it’s been a lot of fun letting myself live in that world.
There’s something about the theater that transports you. For two hours, you’re in a different world. You’re moved by words and music. You forget the outside for a while. You see magic (sometimes literally) on the stage. And it’s stories. Beautiful stories, all wrapped up in a neat package. A beginning, middle, and end. Satisfying or not. Told by someone gifted, who becomes the character on stage. Can you tell it’s one of my favorite things?
I don’t live in New York, though I try to get down there as much as I can. So I love it when shows are filmed and put on DVD. Or TV (wasn’t The Wiz fantastic? And I’m no fan of that show.) Or the Web. Tonight, I am watching the “first-ever” live theater livestream. And it’s great. So far, Daddy Long Legs is a beautiful musical. I hope there are more of these in the future.
There isn’t much to talk about today. Things have been crazy during preparations for Thanksgiving (my very favorite holiday!) and trying to get caught up on my NaNoWriMo writing. But finally, FINALLY, I did it. I hit my 50,000. 50,012 to be exact. There’s a bit more that I want to write before I officially put in to “win” NaNoWriMo, but I’m almost there. Even just seeing the 50,000 is one of the best motivations I know.
I’m a little nervous about finishing it, but I am even more nervous about revising it. I’ve always been absolutely terrible at revisions. It’s hard for me to take what I have written and deconstruct it and start anew. Does anyone have any good advice on revisions?
And if you celebrate it, I hope that you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And if not, have a wonderful day regardless!
I guess I’ve been a little MIA the past few weeks. Between getting papers graded for work and participating in National Novel Writing Month, I feel like I haven’t had any time to myself!
If you don’t know what National Novel Writing Month is, I highly recommend you look into it. Writing a novel in a month is insanity. The good kind of insanity. In fact, the only novels I have ever finished were NaNoWriMo projects (this makes me a VERY BAD AUTHOR).
This year’s NaNoWriMo has been the craziest of them all. Real life has decided to be a thing this year. I am actually being a social human being (what!)! Plus there’s the whole work thing, which is taking up more of my time this year than it has in the past.
The craziest thing though is that I completely changed what I was going to write on the very first day. Originally, in my head, it was going to be a spin on popular fairy tales. I spent all of October planning and researching and getting ready (I am a planner).
But on November 1, I woke up completely inspired to start working on a novel I had scrapped long ago. I had some of it written, and about half an outline done, and I set to work on it. Scrapped all of my plans from the first novel and went with it. And I haven’t looked back since.
It’s not perfect, but I am enjoying it. And NaNoWriMo is all about getting the words on the page, right? I can make it better later.
I wish there were 25, 30 hours in a day. This past week I have been stressing myself out over everything I have to do, everything that needs to be done, and everything that I want to do.
At work, there is reams of paperwork to do, plus essays and projects to grade, plus lesson-planning to accomplish. All this on top of actually, you know, teaching. And interacting with the students and my colleagues.
When I get home, there is an apartment to clean (who knew I would be such a neat freak before I moved into my own place?), books to read, writing to do, generally more stuff from work that I brought home. Plus, I need to work out. And cook.
Of course, all of this is if I’m not tired. If I am tired? Forget about it. I don’t get anything done.
The worst is between the hours of 3 and 6. I feel so drained that I am lucky if I can do anything with myself besides stare at a computer screen. This three hours of dramatic nothingness puts me off schedule, which just stresses me out even more. Then I work to quickly get things done, and it’s always a mess.
How do we find more time? I want to write, I want to relax, I want to feel like I am not running from one place to another all of the time. I hate being stressed. I am done with being stressed.
So give me more time. Please?
Since starting this website, I’ve labelled myself as a Contemporary Romance and Chick Lit writer. To an extent, that is exactly what I am. The only novel I’ve completed is definitely contemporary romance. The novel I was working on when I opened this site (which has since fallen by the wayside) was also a Contemporary Romance.
My next novel? Fantasy. Young adult fantasy.
For now, I figure, this is an okay thing. I’m writing this for fun before if I see if it goes anywhere. I am writing it for National Novel Writing Month.
But when I publish, if I publish this, is there going to be a problem? The genre is quite different than what I usually write. Assuming I build up some notoriety, is it smart to switch genres all of the time? Even when I want to try my hand with someone else?
Or should I focus on one? OR should I come up with pen names for each?
Why isn’t this all easier?
