breathed so deep i thought i'd drown

Well, everyone, I feel like I'm really starting to get into the thick of it. I'm delivering my manuscript in a week for that professional critique. I did register for Mary Robinette Kowal's workshop next June, "Writing the Other." I thought of another middle-grade book I'd like to write. I'm continuing to re-evaluate other aspects of my life, and I do feel like I'm taking steps in the right direction.
With those things in mind, I do have more work I should be doing right now, so I'll keep this brief. I have three more books to report:
28) Fray by Joss Whedon. This is a graphic novel in the Slayer mythos, but set in the future. I went into this read knowing I would love it, and I was not disappointed. I did love it. Melaka Fray is a great Slayer, complex, more sassy than Buffy, but also less knowledgeable. I really liked the ragtag family she'd built for herself. I'd love to read more about her. The storyline was solid, and I want some more!
29) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Ah, Holly Black, you kill me. Your books are so damn good. All the time. Seriously, this book was a lot of fun. It put vampires squarely where the belong: in the "predator" category. Tana is a fairly regular girl caught up in irregular happenings, and she handles them with aplomb and just the right amount of shock at the right moments for her to be quite believable. The Coldtowns are a great idea, and I love how this book takes our world and tilts it just a little bit so things feel familiar, but off-kilter. It's almost our world. Almost here and now. Except for the vampires. This is in my top five for this year. Definitely a keeper, and I'm already looking forward to reading it again!
30) Doll Bones by Holly Black. Yeah, I read two books by her in one month. October just feels like the right time for Holly's books. Doll Bones is a middle-grade book about a trio of preteens and what happens when their regular game takes on a life of its own. This is great creepy writing. It's a ghost story and a coming-of-age story all at one. Holly's books really made my October great!
And now, back to it. Two chapters left to edit, and a little tidying outside of that, and I need to deliver the novel on Friday, November 1. I can do it, I just need to say focused. On that note, I'll be back to report after I submit my novel for critiquing.
Happy October, everyone!

you can't choose what stays and what fades away

Happy Saturday! What's everyone got planned for their weekend? I've got a crazy amount of editing I want to get through, and shopping plans this afternoon with my friend K. Aside from that, the usual: tidy, laundry, balance the checkbook, play some pool, play my instruments.
I've been working on reprioritizing, so that the writing comes first, and I think I've made some good headway on that. I'm working my ass off on this draft. I've committed to getting it professionally critiqued in November. While the critique is happening I'm going to start working on the next novel, and I'll try to wrap up "Emmelina and the Rat King" as well. I really want to keep my momentum going. There's also that writing workshop next June. Registration happens in a week. Fingers crossed that I'm fast enough to get in when the registration opens!
Other autumn things: I'm starting to bake more again. The weather doesn't quite feel like autumn yet, but it's inching in that direction. Next weekend we're going apple picking, which I'm really excited about! I made sauerkraut, which turned out really well, and I also made fire cider, which only needs about two more weeks to steep before it's ready too. All in all, it's been a really productive couple of months around here. I'm dying to do a serious clean/purge of the apartment, but that'll have to wait until November as well. There's just not enough time in the day for me.
Two more books to tell you about:
26) St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell. These stories are powerful. Uncomfortable. Raw. Extremely well written. This is a great collection of short stories by a great writer. The first three stories are my favorite. Ava is such a strong character, and I love reading about her family running Swamplandia. I can't wait to read the novel about them. "Haunting Olivia" is creepy and beautiful and heart-wrenching. And the sleep-away camp for dream disorders is brilliant and frightening. Karen Russell really has a knack for seeing to the heart of things, be they everyday happenings or otherworldly occurrences.
27) Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill. The first book in the Locke & Key graphic novel series. Wow. This is imaginative, scary stuff. The art is perfect for the thriller of a storyline. The juxtaposition of actually possible (home invasion, moving to a new town) with the supernatural (ghosts in wells, magic keys) is smooth and well managed. The characters are believable, as are their reactions to things. If you enjoy thrillers or paranormal fiction or graphic novels or damn good writing, check out this series. I'm going to buy the next book on Tuesday I think.
And now, readers, it's time for me to move on with my weekend. I think next up is finishing my tidy. Blessed Be!

spill yourself at her feet

Happy September, all. And happy Mabon! That's technically tomorrow but we all know that entries two days in a row on this blog never happen.
Mabon: This is the second harvest festival, and celebrates the balance of light and dark. At Mabon we celebrate the abundance on our table and in our cupboards for the coming winter.
Vacation was . . . well, it was hectic. It was great to see my family and great to be out of the city, but it was a little stressful as well. I'm happy to be back in New York and settled back into my routine.
I have books to discuss!
23) The Kingdoms of Dust by Amanda Downum. This is the third in her Necromancer Chronicles, and I love this series. I love how flawed her characters are, and how vibrantly her settings come alive, and how the choices the characters have to make are never easy or black and white. Amanda, when are you going to write more books so I can devour them?? If you're a fan of fantasy, check out Amanda's work. She's a great writer.
24) Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire. This is the first book in her Incryptid series. As you all know, I ADORE her October Daye series, so I was excited to give this a shot. And I love the idea here. I love the story, and the cryptids, and the two opposing groups of the Covenant and the Price family . . . but I have to be honest, this didn't quite do it for me. I felt like the book was winking at me, a "Look how clever and funny I am!" sort of feeling. And there were a couple jokes that I felt were overused. Don't get me wrong, this is a well-written book, just like her other work. It's just not quite my cup of tea.
25) The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. People have been recommending this book to me for a couple years. Last year a friend pressed his copy on me, telling me I should read it. So I finally did. And you know what? It's a well-written book, with great characters full of depth. You know what else? It's depressing as all hell. Why didn't anyone warn me about THAT? It's cancer fiction! Which there's nothing wrong with, it's just not the type of thing I like to read. So I just powered through it. And really enjoyed a lot of the character interaction, and the sense of humor, and etc. But I knew form the beginning who was going to die, and spent the whole book tense, waiting for that. I can't enjoy books like this. It's extremely well done, and if you like books that make you sad, then check this one out. As for me . . . Well, I'll definitely read something less sad next.
I'm plugging along on editing my novel, thankfully. With the exception of the first half of chapter three, it's gone pretty well so far. We'll see if I can shift that into high gear so I can get through it and move on to the next novel(s). I also found a writing workshop that I want to attend next June; cross your fingers that I can manage it!
It's noon on a Saturday. I'm seeing a play at 3 p.m., which will be nice. I also have a list of things to get done, so I should probably get moving. Enjoy your Mabon weekend, everyone!

we've cracked the code

It's humid out. I'm a little sleepy, drinking coffee in my living room while I type. And in a few hours my partner-in-crime and I will get on a plane and leave NYC to visit our families. Hurray for a vacation! It's going to be a busy one, though. I hope I get some down time. And I should keep this short, since I need to finish packing. A couple more books to discuss:
20) Ravens in the Library, an anthology created to raise money for Sooj Tucker when she had some medical problems. It was uneven, as anthologies often are, but a keeper for me for a couple specific stories. Terri Windling's and Ari Berk's, specifically. They are two of my favorite writers. Everything they write is magic.
21) Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy by Kage Baker. I adore this book. The writing voice is terrific, it knows when to take itself seriously and when not to, and the characters are a lot of fun. This is related to the Company series, for those of you who are familiar with Baker's work, and I can't wait to dig in to those books.
22) Carpathia by Cecilia Woloch. I love this woman's poetry. Love.
Clearly I've not been reading enough; it's pretty disgraceful that tomorrow is September and I've only read twenty-two books. I'll have to work on that.
Anyway. My hope for vacation is to have some good down time and to get some editing done. Wish me luck, everybody, and I'll see you all on the other side!

tell mama all about it

Last night was not very conducive to sleep. Went to bed around twelve. Had a crazy intense dream. Woke up from that, and was so disoriented it took me a moment to recognize our bedroom, when my partner-in-crime came in to go to bed. I was awake for a while as he settled in for the night. The an hour or two later my darling little Zoe cat decided to go moth hunting. On the bed. Which was adorable, but kept me up for a bit. Then she wanted attention. Then we went to sleep. Then she woke me up later to let me know she was exiting the bed. I went back to sleep. Then the alarm went off to get up for work this morning. *YAWN* Needless to say, not a bad night, but a sleepy day after.
Without further ado, here is the dream:
I was in some sort of giant camp, a semipermanent thing, there were tents crammed together wall-to-wall, and lamps and rugs and such all over the place, and my partner-in-crime was there with me. I followed a path (I think someone was leading me, perhaps?) around and through tents and over other people's rugs, ducking under and around hanging lamps (the light felt very yellow for most of this), and then we came to a particular tent and that's where we stopped. There was an old woman who insisted I open a trunk (I think it was at the foot of a bed?) and put on a particular pair of boots from in there. I keep wanting to call them mukluks. They were definitely leather, with fur around the top and other decorative strips of fur around the ankles. My partner-in-crime copied me with the most similar pair of boots he could find. And then things . . . shifted. We were still in the tent, but it was fey folk and people all mixed together. And we sat down at this gorgeous rectangular (oak? pine?) dining table. I was at the left hand of this fascinating tree-looking man, he had appeared before us when things shifted and corralled all of us into sitting down at the table. (Think Pan's Labyrinth satyr, ish. But more treelike.) Anyway. I did something disrespectful, but it's hazy. Maybe I drank out of his glass? I said something impertinent? I know there was a glass in front of me as well, it was clear, with I think copper accents, and had a green liquid in it. Everyone had a glass like that. Anyway, I did something, he called me arrogant, and called two other fey over (they were tall like him, but hunched over and creepy and less treelike). They picked me up and carried me around the table while pinching me and tearing my clothing in punishment.
And that's when I woke up. I think that'll show up in a novel or short story at some point. Blessed be!

in these rags of wind

That's how I feel right now. Ragged. Summer usually does this to me. It just gets so busy, so full, and flies by. I can't wait for autumn. For cool nights at home, for sweaters, for a quiet couple of months in the company of good books and cups of tea. I also can't wait to see my family in September; it'll be a most welcome change of pace.
Three books to talk about:
17) Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs. This series is one of my absolute favorite things happening in urban fantasy right now. Mercy Thompson is a well-fleshed-out character. The secondary characters are also well-done. The werewolf pack politics are believable, and the complicated relationships between the different kinds of fey as well as between fey and humans are spot on. This is book four. At the beginning, Mercy is still recovering from the trauma she suffered in book three, and I found her reactions to things and her panic attacks to be on the money. I can't wait to read the rest of this series, when I get my hands on it.
18) Not Flesh Nor Feathers by Cherie Priest. An older title by a long-standing favorite author of mine. This is one of the Eden Moore books, and I have to be honest: While I did enjoy it quite a bit (Southern Gothic ghost story!), it's been so long since I read the other two Eden Moore books that I'd forgotten some of the pertinent information from them. Nonetheless, this is a keeper for me, and recommended to all of you. (I just need to work on reading series titles closer together!)
19) Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. This book made me really angry. It's about a woman named Claudia, who doesn't want children. She's happily married to Ben . . . until he decides that he DOES want children. They divorce. Claudia spends time being depressed. Meanwhile, every other woman in the book treats her like she's an alien for not wanting babies. And every other woman either has kids, is trying to have kids, or is going to have kids. Claudia keeps wondering how she and Ben didn't work out if he's her soul mate. At one point, someone says to her, "He wasn't your soul mate. If he WERE, you'd do ANYTHING to keep him. Even have his baby." And that is Claudia's lightbulb moment. Her "Being with Ben is more important than my desire to not have babies" moment. And as a woman in her thirties who doesn't want children, this infuriated me. This female character decided that having her man was more important than her own wants and needs, more important than her own decisions about her body and career and etc. What. The. Hell? Every woman makes whatever decisions they make, and that's cool, but the overwhelming message I got from this book is "Ladies, you should want babies, and if you don't, there is something wrong with you. If you don't, you will lose your partner and be sad and lonely and pathetic for the rest of your life. So start making babies!"I'm angry enough at this book that I won't read any more of Emily Giffin's work, and I'm no longer recommending her to friends.
Have any of you ever read a book that made you angry? Do tell.
And on that note, I have to get back to work, it's piling up. Happy Monday, everyone!

i used to sail the deep and tranquil sea

Gosh, it's been a month again. Sorry about that. I've been busy, but work is finally starting to become more manageable, so that's good. The flip side of that is that I've taken on a bunch of freelancing again, so my evenings are more full than they were. The writing has taken a bit of a backseat, although I did recently pound through a project that will get its own post sometime soon.
Today, I want to talk about two books I read, and then two writers who I admire.
15) An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire. I love this series, the October Daye series. Love love love. Toby is an empathetic character. I love how the fey and the human worlds interact. The writing is great. And this one in particular was terrifying and beautiful and overwhelming all at once. Blind Michael, the bad guy, really creeped me out, and I am constantly in awe of how far and how hard Toby pushes herself to take care of those she loves. I need the rest of the series ASAP so I can find out what happens.
16) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Yes, it came out a week ago. Yes, I've already read it. And loved it. Deliciously creepy, this one, with many, many brilliant moments in it. I won't say anything at all about characters or plot, in case any of you darling people reading this haven't gotten your paws on it yet. I adore this book, like all of Neil's work, but I don't think it'll be my favorite. For as much as I loved it, I don't think I was in the right place for it. Which is a failing not of the book, but of mine.
And the authors: First up is Erin Morgenstern. I have rambled before about how great she is, and I really think that she is one of the best new authors I've read in the last several years. Her debut novel, The Night Circus, blew me away. I enjoy her blog on a regular basis. Last week I watched her interview Neil Gaiman at Symphony Space and she was charming and engaging. (And has great taste in boots!) Please, everyone, if you haven't done so yet, please pick up her novel. I promise you won't be disappointed.
Second up is Kat Howard, who hasn't even had a novel published yet. Five years ago she attended Clarion, a writing workshop. Since then she has sold several short stories, some of which she has links to on her blog, and I believe she has a novel under contract. I love finding authors this early. I love watching them grow. I love their excitement as their career takes off. It's so uplifting and heartening, and I love reading about Kat's journey in particular (she blogs here) because she's so honest and upfront about things.
I would love, in my heart of hearts, to take both of these women out for tea sometime and just ask them questions about their writing habits, about what books they love and why, about how they grew into the writers they are today. And maybe (fingers crossed!) someday, I too will be a writer new on the scene, so vibrantly excited about things and alive, just as they are now.