Writing CRAP

So I've decided to pretend to be a writer.
I have decided that I am going to write a lot of really shitty stories.
It kind of takes the pressure off of having to write good stories when I know that all I have to do is write shitty ones.
Eventually, like any writer, those shitty stories will get better and better and might even turn into something that other people might want to read.
The mind is a very sophisticated entity, but it can be tricked rather easily.
The pressure to write something good keeps me from wanting to write anything at all, but if all I expect is crap then I feel free to write anything I want.
I have to start somewhere and tricking my brain seems like a great place to start. I am not getting any younger and I'm getting sick of making excuses for myself.

Tomorrow I meet Anne Rice and hopefully she will inspire me to go for it and just start writing crap and get it over with already.

Immortality

Immortality.
It's a huge subject and I'm starting to dive in.
I've read 10 books this month and will write about them all here, but not today.
I'm listening to a new found gem.
"Whisper of a Thrill" by the City of Prague Philharmonic from the movie Meet Joe Black.

If you have never seen Meet Joe Black, take this week to search it out and see it. Yes it is 3 hours long and very slow, but it is beautiful in so many different ways. It will be worth your time.

Naked in a Pile of Books

Can I just please please please have a job where I am required to read all day?
Can I have one of those jobs where I get stacks of books mailed to me?

I want packages of books delivered to my house each and every day. I want to rush to read them all. I want to categorize and catalog them. I want to smell the pages and see the beautiful cover art work. I want to know everything about every book that is published. I want to basically know everything that was ever written.

Is that too much?

Should I be a publisher? Is it possible to be a publisher or work for a publisher in Arizona?
It is possible to be a freelance librarian? Can I read books for Junior Library Guild? Horn Book? PW? Can I sell packages of librarian approved books? Should I be a bookseller? Can I just roll around naked in piles of books?

Am I obsessive? Of course. There is no denying that. I take medication daily for my obsessiveness.

Is there anything more healthy to be obsessed with than books? Well,  maybe health.

Can I sit in a big private library pouring over old books while listening to Handel's Messiah?

Can I wear my hair in a bun for the rest of my life, wear sensible shoes, and surround myself with cats in that dream library? Can I dress myself in long velvet gowns and sit in front of a raging fire in that library?

I've really got to get out of the house today.

NaNoWriMo 13

This month I have been on a reading frenzy. I'm up to 7 already with 2 more almost done.

1. Fallen - Lauren Kate
2. Ajax Penumbra 1969 - Robin Sloan
3. Maxed Out - Katrina Alcorn
4. Ripped - Shelly Dickson Carr
5. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
6. Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold
7. The Riddle of the Labyrinth - Margalit Fox

and almost done with
8. The Wolves of Midwinter - Anne Rice
9. The Good Lord Bird - James McBride

All of them have been awesome in their own particular way but I'm thinking I may need to take a break from such exhaustive reading. I love to read obviously, but sometimes it just feels overwhelming to keep up with my TBR pile. The pressure is enormous especially when there are library due dates to deal with. My Kindle is full. My desk is full, and I have several issues of PW and the Horn Book yet to go thru. It's hard to keep up with all the good stuff I read about and that are recommended to me.

Next year I have my Dickens list I will work on, but maybe that will be all I will read.

If I could just keep a running list of books (that are not in my Amazon shopping cart) that I need to read as I come across them instead of buying and reserving at the library everything that I think I need to read I would have that ever so necessary time I need to write.

TBR right now.

1. The rest of John Green
2. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
3. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Holly Black
4. Dust and Shadow - Lyndsay Faye
5. A Spark Unseen - Sharon Cameron
6. Book of Ages- The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin - Jill Lepore

That doesn't even account for all the other books I have on hold at the library.

November will have to be a sort of reading break.

That leads me to NaNoWriMo: the perfect November reading break.
I tried it once before and did pretty well. I didn't finish since the end of November is a flurry with school and family stuff. Then I got busy with school and haven't tried again. This year I'm thinking would be a great time to try again. No pressure, no planning, just a word count that I need to meet every day.
It sound like fun. It might be less exhausting that reading.
I have 10 days to decide.

All of Dickens

In the next year I intend to read all of Dickens.

I keep a rather large bound composition notebook where I write down all the books that I have read. I really only started this in earnest in January 2008. I read before then, but didn't write it down. If only I had kept librarian like records before 2008.

In looking through my list recently I noticed that I have read all of Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and the Brontes, but what about Dickens?

Since 2008 I've only read two Dickens novels: A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield.
Great books, yes, but there are so many more.
I've never read Great Expectations. I've started it so many times and never finished. The movie with Ethan Hawke and Gweneth Paltrow really had a huge impact on me and yet still I have not read the book.

It will be number one on my list starting in January.

January: Great Expectations

February: Our Mutual Friend

March: Bleak House

April: Little Dorrit

May: Oliver Twist

June: Nicholas Nickleby

July: Dombey and Son

August: The Pickwick Papers

September: Hard Times

October: The Old Curiosity Shop

November: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

December: TBD Biography of Dickens

It will be difficult, but I will do it. The hardest part will be waiting to read all the other great new books that are coming out in 2014. After I've finished the Dickens novel for the month I'll try and squeeze in something new before the new month starts.

Any one want to join me?

The Fault in Our Stars

 

 

I know I am extremely late to the game on this book, but I had to put in my two cents.

This is the most perfect book I have ever read!

I had been putting off reading this for so long. I didn't want to read a cancer kids book. I didn't want to cry. I didn't think it would be any good.

I jumped on the hype bandwagon with Wonder and I couldnt' finish it. It was written horribly. I couldn't get past the first two chapters.

I found the Fault in Our Stars last week on Amazon with a Kindle sale price of only $3.99.
I bought it. My new thing was to just read the most recently purchased book at the top of the screen and this was it on Saturday.
I read it in one afternoon.

It is hilarious, existential, philosophical, sad, romantic, and realistic. There were big words used that even I had to look up for definitions. It was so different from most YA books that I pick up. They are usually just a story written by someone with a good idea. This is a story written by an artist. The plot is perfect. The timing is perfect. The dialog is perfect. The romance is perfect. The man knows how to turn a phrase.

I almost never say this, but, I am going to reread it. I will make all of my children read it when they are old enough, starting with my 13 year old right now.

This is how you write a book. Anything less is just a sorry attempt.

I will need an actual physical copy of this book and if I ever encounter John Green I will have it signed and put it in a glass box for posterity.

Maxed Out by Katrina Alcorn

Maxed Out by Katrina Alcorn
(photo not loading today- mountain Internet issues)


I loved this book. I'll read anything that speaks to the plight of professional mothers, so I've read a lot of crap, but loved this.
What I found most helpful was the info in the back of the book on how to help and how to fight: MomsRising, Emily's List and ROWE.
I felt validated reading Alcorn's story. It is similar to a lot of working mothers as well as to my own story. I've opted out of the male dominated world of architecture to be an elementary school librarian and be there everyday for my three kids.
If you have suffered from guilt, panic attacks and overwhelming exhaustion you will relate to this story.
Others have claimed the book "whines" too much. Whining is often misinterpreted. I see it as a healthy ability to ask for what you need, a skill that a lot of women lack. No one can help you if you don't ask for help.
Overall a good read, entertaining and educational.

That is my official Amazon Review. I stole it and posted it here. I hope that's okay with Amazon. I didn't read the terms and conditions of my review contract. I'm sure there is one out there somewhere.

I'm always on the bandwagon for working mothers. The few reviews that I saw of this book on Amazon that call the writer a "whiner" make me so mad. I want to punch those reviewers in the face.

Working full time and raising a family is not a job that everyone can or wants to take on.
For me it is too much. I cannot work full time and be sane. I've tried it and I sacrificed my health and my family for the sake of a few dollars. Unfortunately that is choice some of us have to make. You cannot judge unless you have been in a situation where your mind and body are about to snap under the pressure. Personal accountability is not a factor and neither is whining. It's just different strokes for different folks.
When I see books like this written I know I am not alone. I know it is okay for me to be at home with my kids. I know it is okay to work part time even though I am an architect and have a masters degree in library science. Sometimes I feel guilty that I am not working up to my full potential, but then I realize that I am doing the absolute best that I can in the jobs that I can handle. I am not giving 20% to anything. I am finally able to give 100% to the things that I have committed to; my part time job at a library, my job with the family businesses, my children, my husband and my home. It is a very empowering feeling to be in control and to be able to choose those things carefully. I have weeded out all the things that I cannot handle. Sure I still have bad days. Who doesn't? But everything is under control.
I have extra time for me as well. I have time to read and time to write. I have time to take a quiet lunch at Chipolte once a week. I have time to roam the shelves at my local library. What more can a gal ask for?