Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Slight Regression
Wow, that was fast! The very next day after I pledged to quit my day job by 6 p.m. each day, I ended up finishing a project for work after dinner and now I have no time to work on my own personal writing before I go to bed. Oh, well. I'll try to get back on track tomorrow. *Sigh*
Monday, July 9, 2012
Slight Progress
So, OK, I still haven't done much writing at night, but I'm making progress. I've decided that I don't have to finish every single work assignment I take on each day. If it's 6 p.m. and I still have one more story to write for work, well, it's just going to have to wait until the next day. After all, I turn on my computer at 7 a.m. to start work each morning. I do take breaks to take my son to school and eat lunch. But, hey, 6 p.m. is not an unreasonable quittin' time. OK, with the rare exception for really important stories ... I know, I'm weak.
I can happily say that I have read some really fantastic books lately. Lots of young adult novels, but some regular fiction as well. If you have a chance to read John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars," stop what you're doing and start reading. You will not regret it. I laughed, I cried ... to the horror of my seat-mates on a flight to Boston ... I loved, loved, loved it. The best cancer story you'll ever read even without the kids finding miracle cures for their diseases (that's not too much of a spoiler, I hope).
I just finished "Shatter Me" by Tahereh Mafi. It was a really excellent, un-put-down-able book. The beginning was a little shaky, but by the end I was saying to my son, "OK, buddy. I'll get your medicine in a minute, but just wait a minute ... mommy's reading." Marie Lu's "Legend" was equally compelling. I'm already looking forward to reading both first-time writers' sequels.
Unfortunately, I did not love "The Street Sweeper" by Elliot Perlman. It was beautifully written, but one of the main characters was really great and I could really route for him, but the other main character was hard to love. And then, the story moved waaaaayyyy too sloooowwwwllllyyyy to keep my attention. I made it about two-thirds of the way through the book then did something I never do -- I flipped through the last 200 or so pages to see if the story ever actually progresses. It doesn't. No one has any kind of revelation or closure in the end. Maybe we all know a little more about the Holocaust and the Civil Rights movement, but come on, those are not exactly little-known historical events. In fact, those aspects felt a little preachy in a "You're preaching to the choir" kind of way.
Up next: "American Dervish" by Ayad Akhtar. It's fiction, but apparently it is loosely based on the author's life. It ought to be fun speculating about which events actually happened to him. I love a good coming-of-age story. Hence, my interest in young adult fiction.
I can happily say that I have read some really fantastic books lately. Lots of young adult novels, but some regular fiction as well. If you have a chance to read John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars," stop what you're doing and start reading. You will not regret it. I laughed, I cried ... to the horror of my seat-mates on a flight to Boston ... I loved, loved, loved it. The best cancer story you'll ever read even without the kids finding miracle cures for their diseases (that's not too much of a spoiler, I hope).
I just finished "Shatter Me" by Tahereh Mafi. It was a really excellent, un-put-down-able book. The beginning was a little shaky, but by the end I was saying to my son, "OK, buddy. I'll get your medicine in a minute, but just wait a minute ... mommy's reading." Marie Lu's "Legend" was equally compelling. I'm already looking forward to reading both first-time writers' sequels.
Unfortunately, I did not love "The Street Sweeper" by Elliot Perlman. It was beautifully written, but one of the main characters was really great and I could really route for him, but the other main character was hard to love. And then, the story moved waaaaayyyy too sloooowwwwllllyyyy to keep my attention. I made it about two-thirds of the way through the book then did something I never do -- I flipped through the last 200 or so pages to see if the story ever actually progresses. It doesn't. No one has any kind of revelation or closure in the end. Maybe we all know a little more about the Holocaust and the Civil Rights movement, but come on, those are not exactly little-known historical events. In fact, those aspects felt a little preachy in a "You're preaching to the choir" kind of way.
Up next: "American Dervish" by Ayad Akhtar. It's fiction, but apparently it is loosely based on the author's life. It ought to be fun speculating about which events actually happened to him. I love a good coming-of-age story. Hence, my interest in young adult fiction.
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