Grounded!

I just finished TWENTY BOY SUMMER late last night (or three am, whateve), it was fabulous. It was sad, moving, funny, but above all, it was REAL. I loved the MC, Anna. I literally felt like she was here, and having been born and raised in California, Sarah Ockler captured the feeling of being near the Pacific Ocean flawlessly. Through this book, you will feel the sand on your feet, you will pick up pieces of sea glass, you will feel the ocean breeze whip your hair, and you will come to know one of the most fleshed out characters I have "met" in a long time. Great book! Highly recommend it!

In other news, I am officially grounding myself from reading anymore books this week until I meet my next word count. I am up to 15,000 words (9,000 of them this week, so it's not too bad) but I have so many ideas that I just need to focus on getting out before I lose all the spark behind them. I have a massive to-read list and my kiddos are bugging me to take them to the bookstore today for some new books, but I am trying to at least make it till Monday before we do. If not, I will surely pick up a giant stack of wonderfulness that I don't need until I make it to at least 25,000 words!

Have a great weekend!

My Muse..ok, my obsession... :)

Damien Rice! I adore him. (see: I want to marry him!) He dominates my writing playlist.

This particular song is my inspiration behind my current WIP. It captures the theme and feel of the novel perfectly!

Damien Rice: Rootless Tree live

What I'm Reading Today

I finished MY SISTER'S KEEPER on Monday night. It was written well, I really did like it a lot. It was a heartwrenching story that left me in tears for 30 minutes after I read the last page. My only problem with it (and I won't get too elaborate, so that I don't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it) was the ending. I don't care if a book ends happy, or sad, or the way that I want it to. But the ending did leave me kind of upset, like it was a cop out, the easy way for the author to end it so that she didn't have to make a tough choice, which ironically, was what the theme behind the book was... So... I do recommend it... I am curious to hear what others think of the ending!

So, after such a heavy read over the weekend, I read something much lighter yesterday, PERFECT YOU by Elizabeth Scott. I really enjoy Ms. Scott's books. They are exactly what you think and want them to be. Easy, quick reads that are sweet and leave you satisfied with the characters and the story.

Today, I started TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler. I am just a few chapters into it, but I really like her style of writing!

WIP Wednesday (Work, used very loosely)

Progress on the WIP for Wednesday 05/27/09

*Well, it is almost 1230pm and I have yet to write one single word. BUT, I did do a bunch of outlining...of course, that was yesterday...

*I read an amazing WIP from a writerly Internet pal last night (err...really early this morning) and it was good. I mean, really good! It left me feeling inspired to go work on my WIP...but I watched a tivo'd Young and the Restless instead before going to sleep at 4, which may explain my avoidance of opening the WIP today.

*So, Wednesday is not shaping up to be very productive on the novel front. (Although, I did clean out the fridge, fold laundry and attempt to scrub the jelly that Liam smeared out of the brand new beige suede sofa -- so, I haven't been a total lump!)

*I did wake up randomly around 530 this morning and pick up my PALM and type a few lines for what someday (when I finish this manuscript) may be my query. And also jotted down 2 title ideas. Does that count towards word count?

*As it stands this week, I am up to 14,000 words of what I anticipate to be around 70,000. And finally have a firm outline of what is going to happen--although I still don't have an ending. I'm hoping an amazing one will wake me up at 530 tomorrow morning! :)

What I'm Reading today...

I typically only read one book at a time. I am quite the voracious reader and tend to devour a book in a sitting, tuning out everything (including my children--sorry, kids!) in order to finish. I'm not sure if it is just this week, or perhaps the books that I am reading, but I am bouncing back and forth between two this week.

Both are EXTREMELY good, albeit it, total opposites!

The first is Jodi Picoult's MY SISTERS KEEPER. It's the first book I have read by Ms. Picoult, I tend to pass by the shelves where the authors have like 15 different books. I don't know why that is, I guess I just assume (probably wrongly so) that if they crank out that many books, they can't possibly be great quality. Well, I am not sure about her other novels, but this one is fabulous. Her writing style is beautiful and captivating and I will definitely be picking up more of her books! I typically don't cry while reading, (there are exceptions to this - IF I STAY by Gayle Forman definitely brought on the water works), but I was teary just a few pages into this novel! I don't say that as a bad thing, it is a good book, but it makes you feel!

I am one of those people that HAS to read the book before seeing the movie, although it more often than not leads to a big let down because we all know, the book is better than the movie 99% of the time. (The 1% being P.S. I Love You)

The other book I am reading this week (to counter act the urge to slit my wrists, brought on by MY SISTERS KEEPER) (just kidding, although it is quite sad). is by one of my FAVORITE authors, Jen Lancaster. If you haven't read her memoirs, you must pick them up! They will have plenty of strangers at the park starting at you like you are on glue while you laugh out loud to yourself. (I may or may not be speaking from personal experience) The title of her latest book is PRETTY IN PLAID: A Life, A Witch, and a Wardrobe, or the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self Centered Smart Ass Phase

My friend, Monica and I took a mini-road trip to Houston, Texas on May 12th to attend a book signing and reading by Jen. She was hilarious and fabulous! Here we are! (That's Monica in the plaid, Jen in the center & I'm the one in the purple with the rockin' yellow purse I scored earlier that day!)

New! Niew! Novo! Nuovo! 新しい

Why the new blog? Well....umm...acutally... See, what had happened was... The truth is, I can't remember what e-mail address or password I used for my last one! I kid you not. Is that not the lamest thing you have ever heard? I'd like to use the excuse that I have a brain tumor, but I think it's just that (sigh!) I am getting older, and thus, more forgetful.

I will try harder to keep this one up-to-date!

xo