Let's Reboot - Happy 2013!

Life was a bit challenging during the latter half of 2012, and no blogging took place (as you can see from the date of my prior post).  June thru December took me on quite a roller coaster of good and bad and in-between, but since the Mayans were wrong and the Creator let me wake up today to a new year, I can reboot life just like we reboot our computers.

2013 will bring different topics to this blog.  I won NaNoWriMo 2012 and will be in edit mode for my book.  I still enjoy crafting and this year marks Stampin Up!'s 25th Anniversary, so I'll share some projects (if I remember to take pictures--I made some cute things for Halloween and Christmas for my office mates and didn't remember I wanted photos until after they were boxed up for mailing).

And you will see posts on healthy eating.  I lost my younger brother to a heart attack in 2012 and my physical showed high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, so I intend to use this blog to help hold me accountable. 

Finally, I didn't get the pleasure reading done that I had planned--but hope springs eternal LOL.  I will read more this year, and not only about the Civil War and health/nutrition, but also politics and fantasy and mysteries and...you get the picture.  Actually, I'm loving Audible--Tim Curry did a wonderful narration of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and since I need to be walking/exercising more and sitting less, Audible will make the exercise much more fun.

And in honor of the new year, here's my first project--a totally digital piece because one goal for the year is to learn MDS2, the digital design software from Stampin' Up!

World Book Day

Today is World Book Day, a celebration of reading that is a part of UNESCO (soon be followed by World Book Night on April 23, 2012).  Hooray for reading!  Whether physical books or e-reads, reading is the most frugal way I continue my education, plus the cheapest entertainment I know (I subscribe to both the Kindle Daily Deal and the NOOK Daily Find since I have both a Kindle and the NOOK Tablet, so I find new reading for very little cost).  Paperback Swap is still a favorite place to find great books, and I cannot say enough about my wonderful local library.

I have a TBR mountain of physical books, plus loads on I-Books, Kindle, NOOK, and let's not forget Audible, LOL.  My 2012 Reading list is already way too full, but I am enjoying the challenge of working thru mystery, fantasy, history, politics, self-help, current events--you name it.  Outside of sports, childcare, horror and a few other genres, I read a bit of everything, and encourage others to do so as well. 

Do you enjoy reading?  What genres?  Have you succumbed yet to e-reading?  Do your children enjoy reading?  I cannot imagine a life without the written word...

"I Fell Into a Burning Ring of Fire"

(all due props to Johnny Cash for the post title above--it's a great song)

I have seriously needed some escapism lately, and as much as I love studying the Civil War, I also needed a break from research, so I've time-traveled back to 1632-1634 courtesy of Eric Flint and his phenomenal Ring of Fire series of alternate history during the Thirty Years' War.

1632 starts the series (and many volumes are long enough for the Chunkster Challenge if you are looking for great, long reads).  Although I read this about a decade ago, when I decided to read other books in the series, I realized that the old memory was a bit faulty with some of the characters and I needed to start from scratch to really enjoy this alternate universe.  Basically--to prevent spoilers--a group of West Virginia miners end up in the German States in 1632, and boy howdy, do Americans have a different idea of how to treat people than the Europeans in the seventeenth century LOL.  It was a totally rollicking read this time around as well--I still give it 5 stars out of 5!  And since the book itself (not counting the author's afterword) is 592 pages, it definitely counts as a chunkster :-0

This is my second-favorite time travel series after the beloved Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, so when I finished 1632, I dove straight into 1633.  Eric co-wrote this book with David Weber, another wonderful sci-fi author, and before the afterword, 1633 is 665 pages of purely delightful escapism fiction for any reader who enjoys history, politics, war, adventure, fantasy and romance all smashed together into a fast-paced storyline (another 5 stars out of 5).  By this time, the setting is the United States of Europe (and no, that is not a typo)...

I'm still engrossed in the Ring of Fire universe, but once we get to the year of our Lord 1634, the universe breaks into multiple books in separate locations with concurrent stories.  The final book I'll list here for now is 1634: The Baltic War.  Somehow, I ended up kinda out-of-order on 1634 by publication date, I think, but since the timeline coincides with events occurring in 1634: The Galileo Affair, I suppose it matters not which of the two gets read first. 

Just a warning--from this point forward, the list of characters (both historical/factual and fictional) increases tremendously, as do the settings.  The maps and charts thoughtfully provided by Flint and his co-authors help, but the reading necessarily slows in order to fully absorb nuances.  I'm still enjoying the series--The Baltic War gets a solid 4.75 stars--but I do feel that this book was a bit wordier than possibly necessary; some scenes could possibly be edited a bit tighter.  On the other hand, it is another chunkster, weighing in at 718 pages (not counting maps, genealogical charts, and a character list).

Since I want these to count for the Chunkster Challenge, so far I'm reading the series in either paperback or hardcover (I already own these four and several more--this is a keeper series for me).

I'll be back soon with a review of The Galileo Affair...

Voices in My Head...

I've often said my brain carries a full-fledged entertainment center inside it, ready to break out at a moment's notice.  Some people would think that makes me borderline crazy.  People who know me well are astonished at the amount of trivia my mind holds--bits and bobs of this and that, facts and figures that would bode well if I were ever brave enough to test for Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune (which I am not--stage fright would undoubtedly turn me into someone who resembled a mannequin--you know, stiff and quiet LOL).

But I am hearing a new set of voices in my head these days.  Not only do I live much of my life in 1862 ferreting out facts and trivial bits to use in my current novel, but I have just rediscovered several pages of notes I made in New Orleans that are the beginning of a fantasy.  I have soldiers and poets and elves and healers and princesses clamoring to have their tales told.  Their world would seem ancient to us and has none of the "conveniences" available even in the 1700s, so this chronicle is much different from anything I am currently writing.

Nevertheless, these people are whispering in my ear and asking me to tell their story.  I'm starting to dream their world and their dress, their mannerisms and their speech patterns. They are in need of help from unseen forces who want to destroy their land--who am I to deny them that help?  Something tells me this will become the outline for NaNoWriMo 2011 if not written before November...

Guess I'll take the time to listen to the voices in my head...

Deathly Hallows Part One (four months away LOL)

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Okay, I am having trouble waiting... thanks to the recent Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family and the little sneak peeks of the final two Harry Potter movies, I'm really looking forward to seeing how they have translated the final tome of the series onto film.

Of course, the timing of the film's opening creates challenges for me.  Yes, it opens the day before my 55th birthday--a great birthday present!-- but having attempted an opening day viewing of OOTP (Order of the Phoenix for the Muggles reading this), I find I enjoy any movie more when the theatre is less crowded. Usually, the second weekend would suffice--in this case, probably not so much as that will be Thanksgiving weekend.

Of course, November is NaNoWriMo, so I will be totally committed to writing 50,000 words in thirty days that month and will also be working full-time at my day job.

So, when can I finally see Part One?  Rest assured, it will definitely be prior to Christmas--after all, Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes out at Christmas LOL...

2009 Reading Challenges Update

Sure haven't had as much time to read this year as I thought I would. My recent devouring of "An Echo In The Bone" by Diana Gabaldon should receive a post of its very own (out of a 5-star rating, it gets a 9 LOL!) but in the interest of time, I'll confine this post to its titled topic--an update of where I am with my challenges with less than three months left in the year.

For the 100-book challenge, I have read 89. I've spent many reading hours this year with young adult series (I have felt the need for light, amusing reading with a moral tone). Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series has become a new favorite series and I loved "The Chronicles of Narnia" earlier this year--how had I missed those as a child?

Daisy Dalrymple amused me five times so far this year with her spunky way of solving a cozy mystery.  One of her volumes solved the "book with summer/winter in the title" part of my "On The Porch Swing" Reading Challenge.

Many of my other 2009 reads thus far have been non-fiction:  various writing guides, New Orleans history and geography books, and extensive Civil War research.  All the writers I admire do the research necessary to have their settings and characters make sense.  If I ever want to be published, I need to follow that example.

I have writing guides from two of my favorite authors (Terry Brooks and Janet Evanovich) and a memoir from Rita Mae Brown (another of my favorites).  I'm wanting to count these as my other three memoirs for the "In Their Shoes" Challenge--I know the writing guides may be stretching the point a bit, but they do include biographical info along with explaining how they craft their books.  Sounds autobiographical to me LOL!

So, I guess it is time to stop posting and start reading maybe???

Fantastic Interview!

Exclusive: Producer David Heyman talks HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

I know, I know--I never post twice in a day, but I just found this exclusive interview regarding the two Deathly Hallows movies coming in 2010 and 2011 and I just had to share!

(The posted photos from Half-Blood Prince are cool too LOL!) Guess it's time to go back for another showing this weekend...

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince--I Loved It!!!!!

Voracious fans of the book series are having discussions all over the Web regarding the storyline of the books versus the movies--it happens every time and will certainly happen with parts 1 & 2 of Deathly Hallows in 2010 and 2011.

Half-Blood Prince was different than I expected (not better and certainly not worse). On site reviews and preview videos showed me scenes not in the book so I knew something of what to expect. The movie left out parts of the master story line and yes, I walked out wondering how certain "necessary" parts of Deathly Hallows can be filmed if the essential back story was not.

Movie audiences are not always readers. My friend watching with me only knows Hogwarts and environs through the movies and has no desire to read the books. She was quite happy with the balance between the main story and the little sideline romances, and I agree. We were both pleasantly surprised that the darker tone was present but not overwhelming. Voldemort has returned and is causing havoc everywhere, yet the young people at Hogwarts still have time to fall in and out of "love" and there is much to laugh about. The comedic timing of Rupert Grint in so many scenes had me laughing far more than I had expected. Emma Watson also had moments that just floored you and showed a totally different side to the usually serious Hermione.

Not that there were not tears--there were many. I knew I would have sad moments throughout but I did not expect to feel sympathy for Tom Felton. Crying through the books was one thing--the tears were NOT shed for Draco. Watching the performance, I cried as much for Draco's plight as I did for Dumbledore.

Yes this post is long and was hard to write without spoilers, but please see the movie. We need morality tales today. We need to see the consequences of poor choices. We need accountability for our actions. Harry offers all this and more in a movie that entrances adults as well as older children and it does all this without fire and brimstone preachiness. Where else can you see honest affection and caring between young people today without seeing them jump into bed? Where else do we see that bad choices made in the past do not force a person into bad choices in the future?

I'm anxiously awaiting 2010 and Deathly Hallows #1...

Fate of the Jedi

I have been remiss in not sharing my deep abiding love for all things Jedi. Perhaps my personally eclectic belief system feels a deep resonance with The Force, or perhaps I just love old-fashioned serial adventure stories, but Star Wars has become an often-visited alternate universe for me for several decades.

Unfortunately, until now, my travels to Tatooine, Courescant, and Endor have all been courtesy of video. I am quite ashamed to admit that reading the serials has never been a priority. Somehow, I keep hearing my mother's rather inane refrain that good girls did not read books written for boys. Mother, prepare to roll over in whatever domain you now inhabit--I intend to read Star Wars! As great as the newest chronicles look, I'm actually going to start with the original trilogy and move backwards and forwards as necessary--The Han Solo Trilogy, Lando Calrissian's tales, Luke's rebuilding of the Jedi Order...I have skirted around these for quite some time as I instinctively know I will want to collect them all and my apartment is already somewhat overrun with books.

So, since I have the Trilogy, I shall begin. Expect my book postings to be of this overall genre for a while--science fiction and fantasy will make a wonderful distraction from my novel research and the topics and styles differ enough from mystery that my novel's plot line shouldn't receive undue influence. (Stay tuned for more postings on learning to craft a novel--that is also a tremendous learning experience).

Yet Another Challenge

Do you think I set my sights too high? Well, with this one, maybe not so much...

I ended up reading 125 books in 2008, so I am again joining the 100 Book Reading Challenge for 2009 (see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/100bookchallenge for details). These can be any genre and believe me, mine last year ran the gamut from self-help to crafting to sci-fi and fantasy. I enjoyed many cozy mysteries and added some time-travel and historical fiction to my "keeper" pile as well. Since my TBR mountain now numbers 655 volumes, I hope that 100+ will decrease that pile somewhat this year (I guess it would decrease even more if I would quit adding to it on an almost weekly basis LOL!)

This year has started well--eight books have been read so far (three were devoured--thank you Stephenie Meyer and your Twilight series!) I know I am not yet too old (and hope I never am) to read fiction targeted to young adults; after all, I read Tolkein's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings annually (and do not count those volumes in the 100-book challenge) and have started doing so with the Harry Potter series as well. I also do not count my annual re-read of the Outlander series; that pleasure is akin to vacationing at the same favorite location each year.

Musing about Meyer

What can I say about Stephenie Meyer? Not much on the surface--I had to find her website to link to this post and haven't had a lot of time to explore it as of yet... http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

I can talk about Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse however. Rarely do I add to my annual re-read list (friends say that if I keep re-reading the same books annually, I will sooner or later never get around to reading anything new LOL!) The Twilight series will become an annual re-read, even without having the privilege as yet of reading Breaking Dawn.

My dear BFF Ruth asked how I could read about vampires and still hate horror movies. Meyer, perhaps because of her targeted young adult audience, brilliantly walks the sometimes fine line between suspense and horror very gracefully. She kept me laughing and crying while sitting on the edge of my seat--pure, unadulterated, escapism entertainment. I remember being so very like Bella in high school--totally unaware of my true gifts and wanting desperately to fit in somewhere. I knew mean girls and dorky guys. A writer who can bring those memories to the surface again for me more than three decades after I left high school has true talent in captivating a wide audience.

Ms. Meyer, thank you for treating Native Americans with dignity and respecting their belief systems. Thank you for showing teens that sex and drugs are not foremost in every teenager's mind. Thank you for showing dedication of purpose and adherence to moral ideas. Thank you for showing that actions have consequences. Thank you for writing Twilight.