Mabon

Happy Mabon, everyone! (Yes, I know I'm a day late.) Mabon is the second harvest festival, so we had a great dinner: an entire chicken, stuffed bell peppers from our garden, and a sweet potato puree with fig goat cheese on top. Top that off with a bottle of red, and it was perfect. After dinner we did a really nice ritual with our friend A. Even though we were all up way past our bedtimes, it was a lovely evening.

What did you all do to celebrate Mabon?

Addendum

As an addendum to the link I posted last week regarding LGBT characters/themes in YA fiction, please read this as well. Ah, Internet, how easy it is for things to spiral out of control. . . .

It's Tuesday, but today is my Monday. I took yesterday off since it was my partner-in-crime's birthday. We had a really nice weekend. I think America should change to a four-day work week. How great would that be?

I'm a little sad this morning; our foster puppy moved in with a nice family yesterday. I miss her. I know I haven't mentioned her before. I'll try to do a post soon about our whole experience with the puppy. For now I'll just drink my coffee and get to work, and try to ignore the sadness.

I hope everyone has a good week!

link salad

Hey guys, no time for a long post, but I wanted to share a few links:

• Check out this amazing book art. I would love to have a sculpture like this on display in my apartment!
• This blows my mind. What is the point in asking authors to cut gay characters from their narrative? I'm very offended about that happening in my industry. I hope it wasn't one of the agents I've submitted to; I would hate to support an individual who's close-minded about character types in fiction.
• Here's a map of New York that shows the current location of many food truck vendors. How cool is that? It doesn't show ALL of the food trucks out there, but it's a good start.
• Hedi Slimane's photo diary is a thing of beauty. Recently, he posted pictures of Frances Bean Cobain, and they are STUNNING photos.

Time to get to work. Happy Wednesday, everybody!

champagne dreams

Life has continued to be busy, busy, busy. I'm definitely struggling with balancing work, freelance, writing, relationship, clarinet, and social life. I'm determined to slow down for the rest of September, to have time to enjoy the beginning of autumn. I want time to sit in the park with a cup of tea and a good book.

That said, apartment hunting should begin sometime in the next week or two. I can't WAIT to live aboveground, in a place with lots of windows and more space. I'll tr to post regularly about how the hunt goes.

And here are a couple books:

38) Heartless by Gail Carriger. This is the fourth book in the Umbrella Protectorate series, and as I've said before, I just adore them. The language is sharp, I love the juxtaposition of the vampires and werewolves with Victorian London, and the steampunk bits are great without being overwhelming. I can't wait for the fifth and final book in this series.

39) How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley. I always enjoy Sloan Crosley's essays. I think they're sharp and funny. I read her first collection a year or two ago for a book club, and was hooked. For anyone who likes the essay as a writing genre, or who likes humorous writing, I'd say give her work a try. This one is definitely a keeper for me.

In other news . . . I have a temporary puppy. She's lived with us for three weeks now. If anyone out there is interested in adopting a very sweet chihuahua mix puppy, or knows someone who might be, please get in touch. I love the puppy, but we can't keep her. Sigh.

I need to start thinking about plane tickets home for the holidays. It seems early for that, doesn't it? It seems early to me, too. But tickets are just getting more and more expensive. I paid far too much to go home for that wedding in July; I'd really like this plane ticket to be cheaper.

Last night, I dreamed that my twin sister was marrying her boyfriend. It was the day off; all the guests were arriving, we were trying to get ready, things were in chaos. Then we decided to take a ten-minute power nap. We laid down at 2, and the ceremony was supposed to be at 2:30. We woke up at 4, and panicked. All the guests were wondering what was going on. My sister finished getting ready while I circulated among the guests to tell them that the ceremony would happen at 4:30. I caught a guy trying to steal a camera from a girl's backpack, which he then denied. Weird. When it was time for the ceremony I still wasn't ready, although I was the guest of honor, so I slapped some makeup on and just left my hair down, and we went to the hall to do the ceremony. The groom-to-be's friends were playing the music for the ceremony on guitar, bass, and drums. It was fun. I woke up thinking how fun it would be if they actually got married.

And on that note, I should settle into my Monday morning at work. Have a good week, everybody, and I'll do the same.

this summer

I have to admit, this summer has been rough. I've been busy as all hell. I'm not as happy with my job due to a department shake-up. I'm waiting to hear back from several agents about my superheroes novel, which is nerve-wracking, and I've started a new one that I'm not totally sure about yet. Last weekend a stray dog showed up on our stoop; we've been taking care of her all week while we look for her owners. Through July and August I've felt stressed out and exhausted more than anything else. This summer has had some great moments, too. My trip home around the fourth of July was great. We've gone hiking twice, and been to the beach once. I've started a literary salon with a good friend. I've read some great books, and finished Buffy, and had some good times with some good friends. Overall, though, it's been a tough summer.

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say in all this other than ask everyone for a little patience while I sort my life out. I won't be exhausted and overwhelmed forever. I just need a little time to get a couple things off my plate, and to get reorganized about a couple other things. Fair deal, life? Give me time to relax, and we can have a good autumn?

At least today is my Friday. Hopefully this weekend will be good for getting some things done. Especially with Hurricane Irene possibly nailing the East Coast, I'm hoping for a quiet, productive weekend.

Happy Thursday, everyone.

the rain falls like whispers

It's the middle of August in New York City and rain has been pouring out of the sky for over twelve hours now. It's a gloomy Sunday afternoon, and I'm rather enjoying it.
August has been a busy month. Somehow I've developed quite the social life recently, so that plus work plus writing plus clarinet has kept me well occupied. It's been a good busy, though: I'm working on a few books I'm excited about, I'm over ten thousand words into my next novel, and I'm playing as part of a clarinet quartet for a wedding next weekend. But here's the big news: Two days ago, after five years, I finally finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And I was totally satisfied with the ending. It was epic, and intense, and not everybody survived. But it was also hopful. I know I'll watch it all again at some point; it's a good story. The question is, what to watch now, on the rare occasions I do sit down in front of the television? Twin Peaks? Veronica Mars? Something else entirely? Any suggestions?
Also, I've read four more books:
34) Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This is the sequel to Raised by Wolves, which I read last year and loved. And it's a strong sequel. I still find it really compelling to read a werewolf story where the main character is not a werewolf. Bryn is strong, and capable, and smart, and the alpha of her pack, but she's not a werewolf. Love it. This book really forced Bryn to make some difficult choices, and she learns a lot about what it takes to be a good alpha. This is definitely a keeper, and I'd recommend this series to anyone who likes YA paranormal stuff.
35) The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. I ADORE this book. It is dark and creepy and shivery, and Mackie Doyle is a great antihero. I really enjoyed watching him stumble through his life and sort of fall accidentally into a position of heroishness. The dark fey folk who live under the town of Gentry were really well done. I'd recommend this book to everybody. It's SO GOOD. Probably on my top ten list for this year. I can't wait to see what Brenna does next.
36) Lament by Maggie Stiefvater. I love Maggie's writing in general; her Mercy Falls trilogy just makes me weep it's so good. While Lament is good also, the story is a little more typical--it's about a girl who discovers she has magic powers and can see faeries, who are trying to get rid of her--and I can tell that it's an earlier book for Maggie. That said, I really enjoyed it. The characters had depth, I loved all the music stuff, and the faeries were well crafted. This one's a keeper, and if faeries are your thing, you should check this book out.
37) The White Cat by Holly Black. I really enjoyed this book. And I really like Holly's work in general. But I never quite settled into the story. I love the sharpness of the characters, how cracked and broken and human they are, especially Cassel and Lila. And I loved the twist at the end. But it almost felt a little too slick to me. Nonetheless, this was a departure for Holly, and it has a great noir feel to it, and I'm definitely going to check out the sequel. I'm keeping this one; I think I'll reread it next year or the year after, and see if I just wasn't in quite the right headspace for it.
And now I've been on the computer for far longer than I ought to have been. Time to do some writing and some clarinet and some freelancing. Happy gloomy Sunday, everybody.

August already?

This summer is just flying by. August, where did you come from? Wasn't yesterday the 4th of July? Yikes!
This morning is just a quick books-and-update post before I run out the door for work. So. Since the last time we spoke, I've been to the beach, I've been hiking, I've started writing my next novel--5,000 words in, and I should really start doing daily metrics here--and things are good at work. Somehow I managed to totally miss Lughnasadh on Monday, but we were out in nature for a good portion of Sunday, so I do feel like that counts as celebrating, at least a little bit.
Three books for you today:
31) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, as this book doesn't come out until mid-September, so I will just say that this book is gorgeous. All the hype out there about this one? It deserves all of it. This is a magical book. Go preorder it from your local bookstore right now. You won't be disappointed.
32) The Bone Palace by Amanda Downum. This is the second book in a series, and I thought it was just as good as the first one. I really enjoy Amanda's writing, and the world she's created. Isyllt is a phenomenal character, full of passion and conflict. I love the character Savedra; so much depth! I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fantasy books.
33) A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. This is the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and it does live up to the first book. It is well written, sweeping in scope, and manages to move each character's story forward without getting stuck on any one storyline for too long. I find myself strongly reacting to a number of the characters, whether I like them or not, which says good things. I still like Jon, Arya, and Dany the best out of all of the characters, and I'm looking forward to reading the third.
That's it for today. I just realized what time it is, and must dash off to work. Happy Wednesday, my dears!