Merry Christmas everyone!

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I hope all of you had an awesome Christmas. Mine was ok. It ended up being mostly just another day for me.  This year has really turned out to be a bust for me when it comes to writing.  I’ve come up with MANY plots for stories, one just recently that I think will be two different kinds of novels in the end, and well I just really haven’t sat down to work on anything.  I think it’s my lack of belief in myself when it comes to writing.  I just worry I suck at it, and heck I probably do.  And I know I need to suck before I can be good, but when I write the suckage just doesn’t seem to be getting any less suckier.  So I guess that’s why this year I was disheartened.  I didn’t win Nanowrimo, and I’m not upset by it.  It just wasn’t in me.  And honestly, I don’t know if I will do Nanowrimo again.  I think I am beyond it now.  I don’t need an event to write.  I need good old fashioned butt in seat fingers on keyboard, or pen on paper as the case can be sometimes.

Next year I want to get back into writing again and writing more.  I am thinking about going to school for English/Literature, but I’m not sure if that will help me more or be a waste of money.  I have until the fall to figure it out.  But for now I’m just going to squirrel away my plot bunnies and ride out the rest of this year.

I hope this Christmas found you all happy and well and gave you plenty of down time to write.  I will talk to you all soon.  Take care until then.  Bye for now. 

Longing to crawl into bed and call it a wrap on Christmas 2011,
Michelle

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you and yours are having a happy and safe Thanksgiving.  And if you are thinking of going out into that mess tomorrow please be extra careful and safe.  Talk to you all again soon.  Be good until then.  Bye for now. 

Writing away,
M.

Google Friend Connect Shutting Down

I know this might not affect many of you, but some of you it will and I wanted to mention it.  I was randomly looking at my Mozilla browser and noticed the headlines button.  Clicked on it for the first time today and noticed a title mentioning Google was shutting down some things.  I usually don’t pay attention to stuff like that, but today I did for some reason.

So from what I’ve read, if you do not have a Blogger account, and you have a Google Friend Connect gadget on your website or blog, come March 1, 2012 you will no longer have your followers gadget on your website.  It doesn’t seem to affect Blogger though, just non-Blogger sites.  They are encouraging people to instead make a Google+ account and use their gadget on there to drive traffic to your Google+ account.  Yeah, don’t see how that works for people to stay connected and follow your blog or website, and I do see this as Google’s way of getting more traffic in an attempt to surpass Facebook, but I see them closing the service as lame.  I have seen so many blogs out there using Google Friend Connect, so I call bull poo on this one not being a success.  But I thought I’d mention it to those of you in danger of losing your followers gadget.  If I’m on your non-Blogger Google Friend Connect, you have no worries of me not continuing to follow, I’ll still be there.  But you might want to mention it to your readers who maybe only follow you through the service and might lose your website after it closes down.

And with that I make my return back to real life again. *sad sigh*  I’ll be returning guys, I promise.  After Monday some time for sure.  I have things to share with you still.  I might post about some of that tomorrow when I get a free moment.  But I shall return soon.  Until then, be good, and bye for now. 

Sadly returning back to real life,
Michelle

Happy Veteran’s Day

Thank you for your bravery and thank you for my freedom.

Writing away,
M.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween to all of your freaks and ghouls out there!    I hope you are all playing it safe and having a fun time tonight.  I’m doing my usual Halloween thing of spending the night in.  It’s raining something horrible out there so I don’t think there were any trick-or-treaters out tonight.  My friend even took her kids to the mall because we got hit with one of the coldest and wettest Halloweens in a long time. I remember Halloweens just a few years back where you had to wear short sleeve shirts because it was hot an muggy.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the cold, but the wind and rain make it extra brrrrrrr.  So I hope you are staying warm tonight if your neck of the woods is unseasonably cold too tonight.

Right now I am currently counting down the hours to the start of Nanorwrimo.  I am being a Nano Rebel this year by not writing a novel.  I’m going to be finishing up a script for the photostory I’ve been trying to finish for a long time now.  I think my time of Nanowrimo is coming to an end.  I don’t know if I’ll be doing it next year.  I do cherish the crazed writing during November, I just think I want to start making that an everyday thing than just a one month thing, so I don’t know about future Nanos.  But this year is my first as a Rebel and I’m kind of excited about it.  I don’t want to write a novel just to write a novel and waste time on something I’ll hate, so I will write the script which will hopefully help me write my story and get it done so I can start taking pictures in December and start putting it up next year.  Fingers crossed.

As for other things I am doing right now, I’m focusing on my health right now.  There are a lot of things I need to get done by the end of the year.  I have something I am dreading coming up in 28 days, and I don’t really want to talk about it right now because I’m that nervous about it.  It’s really silly to be nervous about it, but when I explain it…on the 28th or 29th of next month, then I’m sure it will be clearer why I dreaded it.  I’m working on inventory for my shop.  I finally found a place to put my shop.  I think that was another problem for me, where to put my shop, but I found a nice place for it to be that a lot of other doll sellers are on so it works.  And well, I guess that’s about it right now.  So the goals for the end of the month is to work on the immediate health issues at hand, get through that situation I’m dreading at the end of next month, and get the shop open.  I know I won’t make the Christmas rush with my shop, but that’s ok, as long as I get it open.  Oh, and yes I am still working on emails, comments, etc., etc. etc., you get the point.  I’m working on all that.  Now that some stress has been taken off of me with my parents health either doing better or being looked at, my mom still worries me some with her heart issues, I’m getting a little more calmer and I can focus better.  I’m hoping this next month will be busy and productive for me.  I’m ending this year on a good note, no matter what.  And NO Michelle, that isn’t jinxing it for you by saying it aloud.   

And on that crazy note, I will bring this post to a close.  I will talk to you lovelies soon.  Be good until then.  Bye for now. 

Writing away,
M.

12 Years Ago Today

January 5, 1997-October 12, 1999

And I still can’t believe you are gone forever.  You are always in our hearts and thoughts.  We love you.

Love always,
M.

Camp Nanowrimo Beta Anyone?

So if you haven’t heard, Camp Nanowrimo Beta has started today.  It’s a bit buggy, as to be expected, but it’s also working as well.  I am joining in with just an idea for a story and no outline whatsoever.  Ahhhh!!!  My big word count as of day 1?  4.    I’m off to a great start.  Oh, and I plan to do the full Camp Nanowrimo in August as well…hehehe.  Wish me luck, and be sure to join in the fun on the Camp Nanowrimo website, and find out information on camp at the main Nanowrimo website.  See you there!

Writing away,
M.

Maybe I’m Not A Pantser

Ok, so I am trying to work on my newest novel, and I’m on page 25 of it, and I’m just so frustrated with it.  One, I’m still sucking, and two, it just seems like it isn’t flowing right.  But the thing is, if I were to leave this alone and come back to it in a couple of months I would laugh my ass off at the things I wrote…that’s a good thing.  So I guess I’m not that bad, just needing to figure out ahead of time what I want these people to do.  I hate outlining, but if I could just have a general idea what I want to happen in each chapter that would be good I guess.  I’m liking this story, just needing to know how to get to the end point.  But I worry having an outline might take away from the writing for me.  Ugh!  Just not sure what to do.  Ok, I’m going to try to do an outline for this current chapter and see how it turns out for me.  More soon.

Writing away,
M.

I Give Myself Permission To Suck

So I am hard at work on my new novel that I decided to pick up after I made peace with myself for putting “Jumper” on hold.  This new novel is coming along, just I still have the stress of not knowing what’s going on in the novel and the stress over thinking that what I am writing sucks.  This is when a video by Maureen Johnson popped into my head where she talked about sucking.  I went back and watched it and it made me feel a little better about sucking.  So for public knowledge, I give myself permission to suck!  And now you can too.

Writing away,
M.

Jumper…

So for those of you who don’t know, I’ve been working on my first Nanowrimo winning novel “Jumper” since 2008.  I am currently in the process of rewriting it, but the story is just not there for me yet.  So I am going to put it away for now and focus on something else.  I feel the time I am wasting avoiding working on it because the story is still locked away in my head somewhere is wasted time that could be dedicated to a story that is brimming and ready to come out of me.  So I am working on something new for now and will return to “Jumper” at a later time.  *sigh*  That is all.

Writing away,
M.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

You know this movie is going to be so sad yet so exciting at the same time.  I honestly can’t wait to see it, but I am also sad to see it.  I was so sad when I finished the Deathly Hallows knowing that was it for the world of Harry Potter.  Honestly thinking about it almost makes me want to get weepy.  I’m sure those of you who have read the books can agree that you feel you have put an investment into this world.  You “made friends”.  You “made enemies”.  You’ve “fallen in love”.  This world was alive in the minds of so many and to see it end was so sad.  I know all good things come to an end, but I am truly sad to see it end and I’m truly sad to see the last movie ready to roll out.  I know we can always revisit the world, but we already know what happens.  I’d like to know what happens after all was well.  But alas, I suppose that I’ll just have to make assumptions and come up with my own story in my mind.  *sigh*

But I am looking forward to the last movie.  I haven’t been feeling well lately so I couldn’t go see the last one in the theater, so this one I have to go see.  I plan to see the midnight showing even though I know it’s going to be super expensive, but oh well, it’s the last epic hoorah and that’s when everyone dresses up and whatnot.

But this does make me think about one thing.  This was kind of like J. K. Rowling’s big Super Bowl win.  The movies and whatnot were like her trip to Disney World.  What now?  I know she said she’d write under a different name, but does she have anything else to tell?  I mean this was an epic story.  What is left?  What other ideas has she got?  I’ve love to know what other worlds or people have formed in her mind since she bid farewell to Harry and his crew.  It’s sad to know that if she does write under a different name we may not know for a while and may miss out on reading her new work.  I know eventually the beans will spill and we will find out, but it could take a while. *sigh*  Well I suppose I need to stop worry about what she’s writing now and worry more about what I’m writing now.  I’ll make a new post about that in a second.  Until then, enjoy this Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailer.  Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Script Frenzy

I completely forgot to mention it here, but I took part in Script Frenzy this year.  It was my second attempt at it.  I tried to do it the first year it came out, but I dropped out early on.  This year I started strong, then fizzled in the middle, then came out winning in the end.  It was an interesting experience for me, but I do not think script writing is my thing except for personal fun.  I’ll stick to novels.  They are more fun to write for me.

I saw a debate one whether or not Script Frenzy was easier or harder than Nanowrimo.  Here’s my take on it.  I think it flows a lot faster because you are writing 100 pages and now 50,000 words.  It just seems more doable in my mine.  A lot of the page can be filled up with white space and/or dialogue so that speeds things up too. If you outlined, which I didn’t, I imagine things speed up for you.  My experience, it was fun and fast and I wasn’t stressed when on the last day I was still finishing up my page count and came in with a mere few hours to spare.  Now with Nanowrimo, I am so stressed near the end when I still have some words to write and it’s the last day. Not sure why there was such a difference for me, but I found Script Frenzy fun and light where I find Nanowrimo work and stressful.  But I like both, I just don’t see myself do Script Frenzy again unless I want to have some fun or do something for a personal project related to a hobby of mine.  That is what my script this year was for, a hobby comic/photostory of mine.  So maybe it was easier because even though I didn’t outline I kind of knew where things were going.  Don’t know.

But yeah, just wanted to tell you guys I won it this year and when I use the script in the near future for my comic/photostory you are more than welcomed to check it out.  Well that’s all for now.  Talk to you all later.

Writing away,
M.

The Blue Mirror

The Blue Mirror by Kathe Koja

So my sister bought some discount books for a dollar each at Books-A-Million the other day, and one of them was The Blue Mirror.

Here is the book's synopsis: Some guys are more than bad news.  Sixteen-year-old Maggy's life consists of trying to be invisible at school, taking care of her alcoholic mother, and spending all the time she can at the Blue Mirror, a downtown cafe. She can lose herself there for hours with a cappuccino and her sketchbook, in which she creates a paper world she calls "The Blue Mirror." But everything changes when she meets Cole, a charismatic runaway. Maggy is intrigued by Cole's risky life on the streets and by the girls who follow him, childlike Jouly and strange Marianne. And when Cole says that he loves her, Maggy comes alive. But as Maggy becomes more entwined with Cole and looks at him with all her heart, she sees something far more dangerous than she may be capable of handling…

In poetic and evocative language, Kathe Koja draws us into the haunting, passionate world of The Blue Mirror.

Ok, so this book starts off kind of like every lonely girl's fantasy. She is having trouble at home, hates school except for art since she loves to draw, and just feels out of place everywhere she goes. So she goes to a cafe called The Blue Mirror, where she is friends with a guy on staff there and she feels like she belongs there. She has a booth by the front window she always sits in to look out the window and uses what she calls her z-ray to seeing the world outside the window. She draws what she sees in her sketchbook and calls her sketchbook “The Blue Mirror”. Now this right here is where I got a little thrown off. Why call the sketchbook the same names as the cafe? I think this story might have gone a better way if the cafe was called something else, and she called the sketchbook The Blue Mirror because the glass had a blue hue to it to keep out sun rays or what have you, and looking through the window the saw a world that mirrored our own. It's just how she made it in the book, it just kind of seems cliché to me.

Anyway, in the opening of this book, she sees a cute guy hanging out outside that was brought to her attention by a scene she saw when she first walked into the cafe. She thinks he is just amazing and rushes to draw him but he and his friends disappear before she can. This leads the story on to her coming back the next day to see him, sees him walking by with his friends, they come into the cafe and sit down with her. Here she learns they are homeless teens on the street, which in turn turns into a whole homeless community in the downtown area that this girl hangs out. She gets swept up by the attention her new guy friend is giving her and these leads her into a roller coaster of events she does and doesn't want to happen. In the end she is able to get away from Mr. Hunk by showing him who he really is and how everyone views him as.

Now this story is still very confusing to me because it is never really revealed who the guy is. He seems to be a normal guy who is homeless on the street just looking for the next girl he can use, but he also seems to have supernatural powers. But supernatural powers aren't really discussed in the book, she just kept focusing on how he held a sort of lusty power over her, but that made me think more of teen cravings than supernatural powers. So I'm not sure if the author meant for him to be supernatural or what. Another thing that made me wonder about the supernatural part is a lipstick he gives to all the girls he likes. It stains their lips blue, and it stays for a long time and has to wear off if you are with him and use it long enough. It just doesn't make sense.

I think this story has some good bones, but I feel like it was rushed and not thought out completely. The author is award winning for some young adult novels, so maybe I need to try reading some other ones before I decide completely if this author is not for me. Right now, it's standing at a no. But I'll try another book by her. Maybe this was just a one off.

So on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest I give this book a 4. It has some strong bones, but it just fizzled out in the middle and end of the book. Another reason for the 4 rating is I hated how the dialog was written. It just did not flow well and I had to sometimes pause to figure out who was speaking. That's not something I want in a book. I want smooth reading to keep me in the moment. So yeah, like I said, strong bones, not enough meat. I would say if you want to read this story, go to the library, or try to get it super cheap second hand or at Books-A-Million if they have it at yours for a dollar. I think you will feel cheated if you spend the 7 dollars it originally cost. Unless you are a fan of the author then you may feel differently. Both my sister and I felt that the plot was good but the story was seriously lacking. But I think I may try reading the author's novels Buddha Boy or straydog. I hear they both are good. So we'll see.

Writing away,
M.

Dead On Town Line

So I’ve been trying to decide if I want to do my own personal book reviews anymore since I do want to eventually start actively looking for an agent and trying to become a published author.  But right now since my life is at a point where I am focusing more on my health and still working on my manuscript, I feel I will go ahead and do my reviews.  I might delete them later if it’s suggested to me when I do start looking for an agent, but for now I just want to get my thoughts out there for my own personal use to reflect on what I like about stories I read and what I don’t like.

Also I plan to make a page soon with cover pictures of the books I’ve read so I can keep a tab.  I’d get one of those bookshelf widgets but some of my books are really old and a lot of those widget places don’t have cover pictures on file for them and I really want them all to have cover pictures because I will be getting rid of some of the books I don’t see myself ever reading again.  I’m thinking about holding on to some of them and offering them as a giveaway on my blog in the future.  Still deciding on that.  But for now, on with the review.  Enjoy.

Dead On Town Line by Leslie Connor

Here is another one of the novels my sister picked up for a dollar at Books-A-Million. So this story was written in a very interesting way. It's completely in prose, as in poem. Each poem is a new chapter of the story. This story reads super fast, like a hour tops for fast readers.

Here's it's synopsis: Of all the revelations her afterlife brings, perhaps the most startling thing Cassie Devlin discovers is that being dead isn't being done. Murdered by a classmate, Cassie finds herself stuck on the edges of the world she once knew and a realm whose tug she feels but can't quite find her way to. And . . . she is not alone.There's another like her, who arrived earlier and who, like Cassie, has some unfinished business.

Beautifully crafted in electrifying free verse, Dead on Town Line offers teens an emotionally provocative, can't-put-it-down reading experience that will linger long after the last page is turned.

So I like the plot of this story. It does become easy to figure out who killed the main character in the story pretty early on, but it's still worth sticking to the story to find out how the murder was pulled off. The main character starts off the story dead, retelling her story from a while back. She explains what happened to her and why she is currently dead. However, along the way in her story she jumps back to present time as she and her new friend, an also dead girl who's mystery is unsolved, try to find ways to get the living's attention so their bodies can be found and they can move on. They practice using ghost tricks to try to make this happen.

This story kind of read like a Lifetime or after school special movie for me. There's the drama of past events that leads up to the person wanting to kill the main character, to the assumed and expected ending. It really wasn't a bad story. I dare to say I might be tempted to read it again some day.

So on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best I give this story an 8. It was a decent little story with an interesting plot and decent ending. It's not the best story out there, but I find a story being told in prose very interesting. It makes me want to experiment with my writing and perhaps try writing a novel in prose to see how it turns out. If you can find this book in your local library or used for super cheap or have a Books-A-Million close by, totally pick this one up. I think you will find it very interesting. I am curious to read more books by the author to see how I like them. The hunt is on.

Writing away,
M.

Monster High 2–The Ghoul Next Door

Ok, so from reading another blog I learned about the 2 chapter sneak peek at the new Monster High novel.  Granted I’ve yet to read the first one but I wanted to see how this one was.  The blog owner said there wasn’t much brand name dropping in this book, but I found that that simply wasn’t the case.  There are a lot of brand names in this sneak peek.  I’ve sense found this to be kind of cute since reading the last book’s sneak peek.  Not sure why really.  I guess because I realize this is what the story called for and although I haven’t read Lisi Harrison’s other novels I feel this is her style of writing, and who am I to say anything about her style?  It’s her vision and her way of telling the story, so more power to her.  This sneak peak makes me want to hunt down the first novel and read it.  I hope it’s at my library…which I still need to get a new card for.  Oops.   But yeah, it looks like it will be a cute novel.  It seems to pick up from a cliffhanger from the last novel, so seems like some questions will be answered.  If you are interested in reading the sneak peak for yourself, click here.  Enjoy.

Writing away,
M.

Update on “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies”.

Ok, so I am reading through the parts that gave me trouble and wanted to report back on them.

Ok, so the first part of the book that gave me trouble was the section called “Don Brown’s Body”.  So in the book Kerr says that sitting through a dramatic reading of “John Brown’s Body” ,by Stephen Vincent Benét, one night made her come up with her own version she called “Don Brown’s Body”.  Now what follows is a crazy mishmash of a play that is to be read dramatically.  The play is based off of Mickey Spillane crime novels.  So Kerr took his style of writing and made a play based on his stories in the way that “John Brown’s Body” was written, which honestly is a jumbled collection of words that kind of told the story of the civil war in the form of an epic poem.  I tried reading it (John Brown’s Body), but it hopped around so much and it just did not read well or easily for me so I gave up a little over a 1/4th of the way in.  But I got the gist of it and see what Kerr meant now by her version…I think.  LOL!  Still didn’t make me laugh, but I understood it a little bit better now.  I find that as I age I understand things I read a little bit better with experience, so maybe in another couple of years I will fully understand this section of the book.  Maybe not.  Either way, at least I kind of feel a little clearer on the essay.

And the second section that gave me trouble called “Toujours tristesse” would have given me less trouble if I had paid attention to the first sentence of the chapter where she said basically that she had written the essay after reading “A Certain Smile” by Françoise Sagan.  “A Certain Smile” is about a young woman in a relationship with a male classmate.  The classmate takes her to meet his businessman uncle and his uncle’s wife.  The young woman and uncle see they have an attraction to each other and go off the Cannes to spend a romantic time together because they are afraid of being bored and it seems they may be bored in their relationships and want to try someone new.  However there is a rule of no falling in love so they don’t hurt her boyfriend and his wife.  But when they get back from Cannes the woman sees she loves the uncle, but he does not love her.  His wife finds out and the relationship ends.  In Kerr’s essay, the young woman is still in a relationship with a classmate, but the uncle is now the guy’s grandfather and the grandfather’s wife.  The young woman and grandfather fall for each other, but instead of being afraid of boredom they invite it and like being bored.  They still go off to be alone, at the sea, but instead of the wife finding out, the grandfather tells the young woman that while he was bored with her he was more bored with his wife and he was going back to her.  So their relationship ends and the woman is alone.  Now it makes more sense to me, and even without reading “A Certain Smile” I find this essay funny now.  LOL!  Delayed understanding, you’ve gotta love it. 

So there you have it, I am a little clearer, have learned about some interesting bits of literature and new authors I didn’t know about before, and am ready to move on to my next novel.  Man, you’ve gotta love reading and the places it will take you.  Oh and the internet too, gotta love it, because I doubt I would have found out this information or found it as easily without it.    Ok, off to read some more, have a great day.    Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Please Don’t Eat The Daisies

Jean Kerr’s “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies” is an interesting and fun read.  It’s a collection of humorous articles about her life as a mother, wife, and playwright.  While the book is dated and may lose younger readers like myself on some of the people or events mentioned in the book, for the most part the book is very relevant to modern times.  Though I’m not a mother yet, I could still relate to Kerr from remembering my childhood and how I drove my mom crazy and how she dealt with me, my brother, and my sister. Kerr’s four boys clearly made life interesting for her and her husband, but mostly her.  LOL!  Tales about the house her and her family moved in are very interesting as well.

For the most part this book kept my attention, except for some essays that kind of went over my head.  There was one essay about a play she’d write after a play she had just seen.  I’m assuming her play was a parody of the play she’d just seen, and am kind of bummed I just didn’t get that part of the story.  Nor the part of the story about a woman running off with her boyfriend’s father.  I mean I “got” the story, but didn’t “get” the story.  I plan to go back and reread both parts to see if I can understand both better.  Sometimes when I read my mind will trail off in thought and then I will miss out on the context of a chapter of a story and have to reread, so I will be going back to reread and see how I come away from it.  I’ll update you on my findings.

So I suggest if you can get a copy from the library or get a cheap copy of this book it’s so worth the read.  It’s funny, it’s relatable no matter if you are a mom or former child, and it’s a quick read as well.  I took a couple of days with it because I only read it while exercising, but avid readers will get through this book in a couple of hours easily.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did if you read it.   

So what am I reading now, you may ask?  I’m reading this:

“How I Stole Her Husband” by Liz Ireland.  I’m going to be honest, I have NO idea what this book is about.  I bought it on discount at Books-A-Million one day after reading the cover of the book and thought it  sounded interesting.  I’m assuming it’s going to be a silly romance novel along the lines of this one:

“Switcheroo” by Olivia Goldsmith.  I read this novel and it was a pretty cute story about two women who look very similar and traded lives for a while.  I don’t think the two stories will be along the same plot but along the same kind of “cuteness” level.  I wish I could explain my version of “cuteness” level.  Just kind of like one of those funny romance movies that end happily.  That how I see the book being.  I’ll let you know if I was right or wrong.  Watch me be very wrong and it ends up being a murder mystery.  LOL!  Either way I’m excited to find out.  I read all kinds of books, so anything that catches my attention gets me drooling to read it.  So I’m off to start the first chapter and see how it starts out.  Talk to you all soon.  Bye for now. 

Writing away,
M.

What I’ve read and am reading.

So I have been trying to read a little each day.  The best way for me to do that is to do it while I am on my exercise bike doing my miles.  I haven’t been on my bike in forever since I’ve been sick, but now that I am feeling better I am slowly exercising with 5-6 miles a day.  So I decided to get back to reading while I exercise, it makes the time go by seriously.  So the first book I read on my return to the bike was Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones.

I know this is not the cover for newer copies of the book, but this is the copy that is on my copy.  I am not sure how I got this book.  I believe it may have been through way of my sister when she was a kid.  Not sure.  I know it came from the library at my old elementary school.  I am guessing they were giving away the old books and this was the one my sister chose.  Well anyway, I have wanted to read this book ever since I got it but just never did so it sat on my shelf for years.  Last year I started it then I got ill and just stopped reading.  Well I decided to start it over and finish it.

The book was an interesting read.  Diana is a British writer, so the story is told with a British theme to it.  It’s about a boarding school that takes all students as well as witch orphans.  But no one knows who is a witch and it’s to stay that way because witches were burned if found out.  Well some of the students start to figure out they are witches and start using their magic which causes some issues at school and starts people wondering about who was a witch in the school.  All the witches seem to be in room 6B at the school.

The story goes on about the students that know they are different and their discovery of their magic, what they can do, and how to hide it.  Eventually they are found out and they have to work together to protect themselves.  They call up help that takes an odd approach to helping them, but help them he does and things change for the witches in one way or another.

I thought the book was interesting.  I won’t say it’s my favorite book, but it got my attention and kept it.   The ending was kind of “meh” to me, but it was kind of interesting how it unfolded and how things ended up.  The story was really thought out and planned which I like when an author does that.  I’m keeping the book to share with my hopefully future children.  It’s a cute story that I think would be fine for any child.  I would say between 5-12 would like this story.  Depends on the reading level of your child, or their attention span and ability to understand what’s going on in the story.  The book has it own version of cursing.  They say “magick” as a way of cursing since that was feared in the story.  So you may want to consider that before getting the book.  I don’t think it would really register with a child that it’s considered a form of cursing in the story so I think the story would be fine.  So all in all it was a cute story and I liked that it was a British story to get a different theme or way of telling a story.  I think the new cover is kind of creepy for the story, but don’t let it cause you to judge the story before giving it a flip through.    I’d like to read more Diana Wynne Jones stories, so I will be doing that hopefully this year.

Now on to what I am reading now.  I’m reading “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies”.  Now I saw my mom had this book for years and I was always curious about it but never read it.  Then I saw the movie and thought that was what the book was about. I was wrong.

When I started the book I thought it would be more of a novel, but as I read it I noticed it didn’t follow a plot and it was kind of a jumble of something I wasn’t quite sure about.  So I googled to learn more about the story and found out the book is a collection of essays written by the author Jean Kerr who was a humorist and playwright.  This cover is not the cover on the one I have.  Mine is a really old copy.

From and Amazon listing, this is the book I actually have.  I love older books that don’t have fancy covers.  Just the book and the title on the bind.  It just makes me feel like I am in for a vintage treat.  I have several old books like that that I will be working through this year.  But back to the book I am reading, so far it’s an interesting read.  I’m not laughing like crazy, but I am smiling and chuckling every now and again.  And how Jean Kerr writes it’s like she is talking to you and telling you a story.  I loved the introduction to the book.  It made me laugh and smile and I knew I’d like her writing.  I like a good witty book and this one is giving me that so far.  I love her dedication as well.  She dedicated the book to her severest critic.  LOL!  Is it tacky to borrow another author’s dedication because I so LOVE hers and want to use it.  LOL!

Well that’s about all for now.  I have some other books I have read that I wanted to post about but that of course is for a later time.  I’m back to reading and working on understanding Script Frenzy.  So I will talk to you lovelies later.  Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Script Frenzy?

Ok, so years when Script Frenzy started, I was all jazzed about it.  I so wanted to try my hand at writing a script, and decided to give it go.  However, when April 1st rolled around, haha the joke was on me, I couldn’t motivate myself enough to actually write a script.  So I didn’t do it and figuring script writing wasn’t for me, even though I have written several plays and a movie script once, I gave up on it and never tried it again.  Forward to 2011 and I got the email about Script Frenzy and thought, nah I just don’t write scripts and I’ll just wait for Nano.  But I kept reading about it all month, and how it was so easy to log in with my Nano login and it couldn’t be easier to participate.  Still I thought, nah not for me.  Then tinkering around with some dolls I use in a webcomic/photostory I am trying to work out the idea for it hit me that I need a script, I want it written fairly quickly, but I don’t have the motivation to force myself to write it out fast.  Humm…wait…Script Frenzy…in need of a script…no brainer anyone?  So I am reattempting Script Frenzy with some gusto this time.  The script I have mostly formed in my head, I just need to get it down and organized so I can “film” it all later this summer and get this project done so I can move on to another one.  So yeah, you know what I’ll be doing this April.    Should be fun.    Anyone else doing Script Frenzy this year?

Writing away,
M.

Georgy Girl

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So I have “known” of Georgy Girl since I was child.  My mom has had this album by The Seekers for forever.  She would let me borrow her records and along with the Mamas and Papas this record always came to my room with me.  I don’t recall many of the other songs on this album except maybe one or two others, but Georgy Girl I would listen to over and over again.  I would sing and dance along with this song and at my young age feel they were talking about me.  Can you tell who didn’t have high self esteem as a kid?  LOL!  Here’s the song if you are interested.

Well when I grew older I learned from my mom the song was for a movie called Georgy Girl, that I found out when I grew even older was based off of a book called Georgy Girl.  My mom told me about the movie and well, I had to watch it.  It was from the 1960s, it was British, and it was that corny camp kind of movie I love, so I HAD to watch it.  Speaking of watching, and totally off the topic, the other day I watched a video online of Soleil Moon Frye dressed up as Punky Brewster…as in at her age now, to say thanks to her million Twitter followers.  It was a bit corny and camp as well.  Don’t know why that came to mind.  But moving back to Georgy Girl.

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*Warning, I am going to talk about the movie so there are spoilers ahead.*  So in short this movie is a about a girl named Georgy, third person to the right in the picture, who lives with her best friend Meredith, second person to the right.  Meredith dates Jos, first person on the left.  Georgy’s parents work for James, guy on the right, because basically they fell on hard times and he hired them as help in his mansion, oh did I mention James was rich, and he helped raise Georgy by paying for schooling for her and making a studio for her in his house so she can give dance classes to children.  So the going thing in the movie is Georgy is a fat ugly nobody while Meredith is a thin sexy somebody.  Jos comes over to pick Meredith up for dates and sometimes has to wait while Meredith is out on another date.  During this time Georgy keeps him company.  They are friends even though he calls her names like Fat Face and constantly remarks on her large body…which is easily a 12-14 in US sizing.  Well while all that is going on, James…the rich guy, is dealing with the fact that not only is his wife ill and refusing to go to the doctor for help but try to heal herself on her own but he also is seeing he cares for Georgy in more than a fatherly way.  One night when she shows up for a party he gives her a shocking proposal that she avoids giving her answer on for a while.  She avoids James as much as possible while she deals with new issues popping up in her life with a pregnancy, a marriage, a divorce, an adoption, a death, and then another marriage.  Whew, girl is busy.  In the end Georgy ends up kind of where she wanted.   I feel she would have preferred a different outcome but it gave her what she wanted…kind of.

I know I left out some of the bits and pieces, but I figured I would just in case you want to watch the movie.  And since I aim to please, here’s the movie.  You can either watch it down below or click here for a slightly bigger screen or so you can watch it full screen.  It’s a little over an hour and half.  Enjoy.    If you like old movies, British movies, or old British movies you’ll love Georgy Girl.

Yeah, I know the video window is big, but I didn’t want to mess up the viewing of the movie if you decided to watch it on my blog.  So I sacrifice for all of you.    Talk to you guys soon.  Be good until then. 

Writing away,
M.

Can they sell the color of her skin?

Hey guys, this one’s going to be a long one.  So I thought I would update you all on some interesting info.  So I have still not cracked open the “Jumper” outline yet.  Why?  Because I got to reading writer’s blogs last night.  But I’m so glad I did.  I think in reading them I learned why I am having such a problem with “Jumper”.

 

What am I reading?

So I thought I would start telling you guys what I am currently feeding my brain.  Right now I am currently feeding it “As You Wish” by Jackson Pearce.

So far I like it.  I have already heard a little about it from going to her live show last week and reading a little of what people have said about it since then.  It hasn’t taken away from the reading experience because there is a lot to the story that wasn't mentioned.  To give it to you quick, it’s about a young girl who conjures up a genie and has three wishes.  She doesn’t want them to be “bad” wishes so she is taking her time making them.  The genie gives her tips on how to get a good wish, even though he knows helping her take her time on the wish making is aging him and keeping him from his beloved home.  He doesn’t know why he’s helping her take her time, but he just can’t bring himself to trick her to wish.  She’s already made her first wish in the part of the novel I am at, and so far she is liking the wish, but for some reason the genie is not so happy.  I’ll be reading more today to find out what happens when she makes her second wish.  I’ll do a full book review later when I finish the novel.  I haven’t been doing book reviews lately, but I have several that need one, and I like sharing my thoughts on the books I read.  So expect more of those to come here as well.  I need to bring some over to this blog from my other blog so some may be showing up sooner than you think.    Ok, back to outlining.  Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Choices, choices, choices…

Ok, so I want to get back to writing, like as of yesterday, but I have one tiny little problem.  See while I was waiting to get the inspiration to work on “Jumper”, I would of course get other novel ideas and write them all down and tinker on some of them.  I’m still not ready to work on “Jumper”, and thought I’d try a contemporary novel idea I had.  Problem is, “Jumper” is still screaming at me and forming in my mind as I try to work on other stuff.  Why am I not working on it?  Why do I keep pushing it to the back burner?  I guess because the story is still cooking in my mind.  But then what do I work on now?

I had a novel I was working on for last year’s Nano, but decided to quit because it needed an outline and I had no time to work on one.  So I am thinking of working on it now that I’ve found a way to make it work where I can tell the point of view of both characters from a book I am currently reading.  But that is not the contemporary novel I was thinking of working on.  I started outlining that one the other day and finding character names and whatnot.

Then I went through my writing folder, big mistake, and found all the other work I’d started on and didn’t carry through.  “Jumper” is the only one I carried through and finished the first draft, only to see that it wasn’t the right story my characters were trying to tell. So I am restarting it.  Keeping the skeleton of the story, but changing it around.  Even my main character Andrea has change some. So it still needs to be outlined. Maybe I need to focus on “Jumper” and leave these other novels alone until I finish it. “Jumper” won’t let me rest until it is written.

So maybe I already have the answer in front of me?  Just work on “Jumper” and get that story out of me since my characters are now being so talkative and I don’t have the deadline stress of Nano to tell me when to finish it by.  Of course I want to give myself only 3 months to finish it so it won’t be something I am still working on 5 years from now.  I mean it’s already something that I’ve been working on for a little over 2 years.  So maybe its time to get this novel done.  I really want to actively try to become an author.  Writing is just something that I find so fascinating and I have so many stories to tell.  So I’m deciding that this year is the year I am going to get serious about it.  I think I doubted myself before, but not anyone.  I’m still worried people won’t like me and any published works will be destined for lone dark shelves at discount liquidator stores and dollar stores, but I can’t let that fear stop me.  Because who knows, maybe one day my book will be reviewed by some of the awesome reviewers out there and be read by the awesome readers out there on their suggestions.  Maybe my book will be on a bookstore shelf one day and someone “will just have to have it”.  I can’t tell the future, and I shouldn’t act like I can.  I should just believe in myself, my work, and the fact that I’m pretty dang awesome. 

So…(takes a deep breath)…“Jumper” it is then.  I’m actually nervous about it.  I keep thinking it’s not ready to be written, but then when will it ever be ready?  So I guess me and my characters are going to be having a chat now.  Wish us luck.  This is going to be the year I finish this novel, and by my calculations, by the time May starts.  I am going to work on the outline for another couple of days, and since Feb. is short a few days I will be starting the actual novel writing on Jan. 30th.  So I have 4 days to get this outline done.  Busy bee mode is on.  I’ll keep you updated.  Bye for now. 

Writing away,
M.

I don’t think I read enough.

So I’m sitting here watching Jackson Pearce’s live show for the first time, yay!, and she’s asking questions about authors and books I either haven’t heard of or haven’t read yet.  I so need to read more about the genre that I want to write for…and no offense to anyone but Twilight is not cutting it.  I guess I need to go ahead and get to the library and update my card and soon.  Stop by the show if you get a chance.  It’s still going.  She’s doing trivia.

Watch live streaming video from jacksonpearce at livestream.com

See you there.

Writing away,
M.

New work in the works.

So I’ve started on my new novel now.  Thank everything.  I was going to work more on my 2008 Nanowrimo novel, but something just keeps forcing me to avoid it.  I think about it non-stop, but I just can’t do it.  I don’t know what it is.  I think I’m afraid of facing that story I’m trying to tell.  I don’t want to do Andrea, my main female character, any unjust by not telling her story right and getting it all out there.  So I want to take my time outlining.  So instead I choose to work on a contemporary piece that should hopefully come together nicely.  So far the outlining is coming together ok.  It’s taking some time to piece together my characters and the plot, but it’s coming along.  If this story works out how I see it in my head, does it ever work out the way we see it, then it should be a cute little novel.  Fingers crossed.  Well I’m going back to outlining.  I so need to come and work on this layout soon.  It’s so dated.  I’ll do that soon.  Writing takes priority now.    Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Coming back to this poor forgotten blog.

Hi all, I know it’s been a while.  I have not been writing as much, but planned to do so in the new year and well the new year is here, I’m serious about becoming a serious writer and learning more about the writing business, and so I bring my lazy but back to the community.  So expect some updates soon on what I’ve been working on, maybe a book review or two, and just getting more involved with the writing community.  Hi to all my followers, glad you are along for the ride.    Be back soon, promise. 

Writing away,
M.