away from myself

I'm in Seattle for a long weekend right now, and am having a very nice time just relaxing and not doing a whole lot. Went to a great used bookstore with my friend K and her husband B, and bought too many books, darn! I have to say, overall, this has been a good reading year. I mean, I always like the books I finish, but this year I have read a lot of books that I love. The kind of love that means I shove copies into other people's hands and say "You've GOT to read this, it's so amazing!" So that's great. I know that I'm super behind on my book blogging these days, but today I just can't be bothered. Eventually you, dear readers, will find out what books have occupied my (small amounts of) spare time, but today is not that day.
Last night I went to the wedding party for a couple of good friends of mine, and it was lovely. A few other friends were up from Oregon for it, so I got to catch up with them, and there was good food, good wine, great company, all in a lovely backyard with music and candlelight and a gentle rain. It was perfectly lovely.
There's a lot in my head right now. Story ideas, dream fragments, books I'm reading . . . K and I have stayed up late drinking wine and talking both nights I've been here so far, so there's a lot of those conversations tangled up in my head too. Serious illness and history and people and relationships and books and just big life concepts. It's great, but my head feels a little overly full. (The wine hangover probably isn't helping that, either!)
The end of summer is approaching. Only a couple more weeks of summer hours before work goes back to normal. Only several more weeks until the weather really starts to cool off, and after a couple days in Seattle I'm REALLY ready for the humidity to go away in New York.
This fall promises to be fairly quiet. Not a lot of travel, not many houseguests. Just me, my partner-in-crime, and my writing. Of course, things never turn out that simply, do they? Still, I'm looking forward to it.
Anyway. I should probably go wake up K from her nap and start talking about dinner plans. Getting hungry already! Have a good Sunday evening out there, everybody.

but i like the way you play

This weekend I read a bunch of freelancing, managed to not catch a single fish while deep-sea fishing, got a little drunk at a birthday party, and laid on a beach. What did you all do?
I'm behind on my book blogging, as per usual. So while I try to prod my brain into disgorging the dream I had this morning, here are a couple of nutshell book reviews:
33) Some Girls by Jillian Lauren. You know, usually I'm not a big fan of memoirs, but this one really got me. It's about a young struggling actress who gradually falls down the slippery slope into sex work, and ends up accepting a job that turns out to be a position in a harem in Brunei. She goes on from there to talk about the politics of the harem, and the royal family of Brunei, including the prince who the girls are vying for the attention of. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well-written, thought-provoking, and certainly an entertaining story. Highly recommended!
34) Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. This was my first exposure to Westerfeld's work (I own Uglies and Pretties but haven't gotten around to them yet), and you know what? This book is wicked. Great alternative history/steampunk storyline set around the beginning of WWII, with a total cliffhanger at the end that leaves you clamoring for more. I will definitely pick up the sequel as soon as it's released (October!), and will also definitely read more of his work. I highly recommend this, not just for you but for every kid you know over the age of twelve or so.
35) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Everyone loves this book. Everyone, that is, except for me. No spoilers here, in case someone out there hasn't read it yet, don't worry. The story is interesting, overall. But to be perfectly frank I found the writing to be a little excessive and the pace uneven. What's more, there were two major instances where Lisbeth's actions didn't gel with her personality AT ALL to my mind, and the horrific acts of violence scattered throughout the quiet narrative were a big turnoff as well. (And no, Lisbeth's revenge after that one scene didn't make me feel better about it; instead it made me feel that Lisbeth was no better a person than the individual who harmed her.) (Slight spoiler ahead!) My last complaint is that all three of the major female characters slept with the Blomkvist, the main guy, and I just found that unbelievable. I have to say that this book is distinctly not a keeper for me, nor will I be reading the sequels.
Okay, what little I can recall of my dream last night . . . I was at a party at a bar, for my younger sister's wedding (which is weird because in real life she got married in 2003). She was also heavily pregnant in my dream. Anyway, a ton of us were there including some of my NYC friends, like K and LG. At some point we realized that we'd missed the cars we arranged for, and were going to be late for Rose's wedding. So we had to run for it. I was with my sister the bride-to-be, in our long fancy gowns, running down dark city streets to get to the church. At one point we even scaled a wall, which was difficult for her but she managed just fine. And managed to get a little ahead of me. I got my shoes all muddy and nasty, and then lost one of them and spent precious minutes looking for it. When I got to the church everyone else was already there in the back rooms. I spent a few minutes trying to fix my appearance, then spent more time looking for my shoe in that room (which doesn't make sense, really, since I lost it while running) and managed to miss the whole damn ceremony. I felt terrible about it. Everyone left me there, looking for my shoe, while they did a brief ceremony and left. There was also something earlier on about some kittens, but I'm not sure if that was at the bar or at the church, just that for some reason we had to have these kittens present at the ceremony so we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to catch them.
Writing goals for this month:

• Finish episode six of the radio play.
• Edit Emmelina.
• Write my New Orleans voodoo story.
• Agent research.

Totally doable. And now it's time to get ready to head out. Happy Monday!

august already

Summer always goes too quickly. Although, with the heat and humidity in NYC this year, I'm looking forward to autumn. Summer Fridays are really what goes to quickly! Ah, those lazy Fridays at home with nothing to do and no one to answer to. . . . Of course, it doesn't actually turn out that way most of the time, but I can dream, right?
This is supposed to be an effort in speed-blogging, since it's time to go home, but I've got loads of books to talk about. So, in a nutshell:
31) Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital. This was good and interesting. The writing was good. It follows two people in love in post-September 11 America. She's American, he's not. The love story is beautiful but then it descends into the underworld with politics, fear, paranoia, and a really messed-up character from the woman's past. The man is a musician and I adored the parts of the narrative that spoke about the music. But that wasn't enough for me to keep it; I struggled with the fear and pain and sheer angst on these pages. Which was maybe the point of the book. It's very plausible, normal everyday people becoming accidentally caught up in political events that have larger meanings. I do recommend this book, but as I said, not a keeper for me.
32) The Buried Book by David Damrosch. I really enjoyed this book! It's about the discovery of the epic of Gilgamesh, the loss of it in ancient times, and the rediscovery in recent. Totally fun, interesting, and accessible. This encompasses archaeology, cultural studies, ancient literature, and the actual story of Gilgamesh. Great stuff! I totally recommend this to anyone who read Gilgamesh in college or for fun, or is into ancient literature or archaeology.
That's all; it's time to go. More books tomorrow!
Happy Monday!

she walks through a land of her own making

Draft zero of my teenage superhero novel is done!! I finished just now at 78,470 words! And in only four months! I feel pretty good about it. But now I'm putting it away for a month so I can edit it with fresh eyes. August is for radio play episodes and short stories and agent research, I think.
So, that's that. I did it!
More blogging to come soon about books and dreams and such. I've been pretty writing-oriented lately, so haven't really taken the time for much else. August will be much more relaxed.
Happy weekend!

balance is grace standing still

I'm here to talk about a book. Not just any book, either. I've read a lot of good books so far this year, and I've read a couple exception books. But number 30, the halfway mark in how many books I'm going to read this year, is the best book I've read this year. And that's saying a lot.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is that book. It absolutely blew my mind. The language is luminous and beautiful and lush. You can feel the ache, the yearning in the main characters for something that they know they will never have. It hurts to read this book, in the best possible way. Sam and Grace read like people I would want to hang out with, and the relationship between the two of them is hard. But . . . I don't even know how to say all the things I feel about this book. I was trying to tell a friend about it and she said, "So, it's what Twilight was trying to be." And that's sort of right. I mean, in a sense, yes, it is a teenage love story between a mortal and a supernatural being. But Twilight felt trite to me. An emasculated vampire who wants to be with (and eat) a girl because of how she smells? Yikes. Shiver, on the other hand . . . Oh, it gave me chills. It's visceral and raw and full of hardship and wanting and confusion. I held my breath for most of this book, and wept at the end. It's that good. This is one of those books that I think everybody should read, regardless of whether or not you usually read YA or paranormal. This transcends all of that, and is really just an amazing love story.

off in the night

Well, it's been too long, once again. I've been busy, of course. Isn't that always my excuse? There are a couple posts I've been putting off writing, but it's time to nail them down and let them go so I don't get buried in things to talk about. . . .
I'm sure all of you know this by now, but my cat, Abigail, passed away on June 23. She was fourteen years old, and had been with my family for most of them. She was a great cat with a big personality (and a big appetite, until the end!). When she lived with me, she slept either on or behind my knees almost every night. There are still mornings when I wake up expecting her to be there. I left her behind when I moved to the big city because I couldn't bear to force her into living her life indoors, and I wish that I could have seen her more than once or twice a year since then. I wish she'd held on for another month, then I could've seen her one more time. Ah, well. Wherever she is, she's happy, and not suffering. She's probably in kitty heaven with the other cats my family has lost in the last few years, looking down at us while she eats her favorite foods and smiling.

she climbs the mountain

Official word count on YA novel: 51,375 words!!! Yeah!!! Good progress. My goal is currently a little crazy---80,000 by the end of July---but right now, I feel like I can really do it.
Now on to a little freelancing, and a little writing for a radio play episode. Regularly scheduled blogging will recommence soon, I promise.
Happy Wednesday, everybody!