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Feb 16

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Four Years with the Unlucky and Lucky Girl

In some ways, I am a very lucky girl.   I have great family, great friends, a cool home, a job, and my health.  The basics are covered and I know that I’m not struggling like a lot of folks out there.  But sometimes I find myself bummed that I can’t have everything that I want.  Those wants sneak up on me and, suddenly, all I want is what I want.

When those moments hit me, I have to take a breath and count what is good in my life.

I’ve been feeling bummed, because ever since I found that Margaret Atwood book last fall, I haven’t found another great book when I go searching.  I know.  I know.  It was such a high to find it and I’ve been chasing that high ever since.  Now I realize I may never get it back.  So instead, I am going to chase the other high I get.

Writing more stories.

This is a bit of a secret, but I actually feel good when I finish writing a piece.  I can’t sit still.  I get giddy…yes I used the word “giddy”!  I feel so proud that I finished what I started.  I just can’t wait to finish something else.

This year I had a goal to get published.  But I also want to get stuff done.  I have so many half-finished pieces.  Things that need a rewrite that sit on my desk.  I stare at it and wonder why I am not chasing this high.  In the long run it is better for me (and my wallet).

I started this blog about four years ago, because I wanted to put my work up for my family and friends.  So far I haven’t put anything up.  I know.  I flaked.  But I want to do better.  Last post alluded to some secret projects that I am working on.  They are still not done, but hopefully by March 1, I can make some announcements.  There, I have given myself a deadline.  Let’s see if I hold to it.

I also want to thank everyone who takes the time to read this blog.  I actually have people who aren’t related to me, or that I don’t know reading my thoughts.  Thanks for sticking with me.

I may have hit upon an unlucky streak with books, but I can feel my luck changing with my writing.

I really am a very lucky girl.

Feb 2

Writing and Reading — February 2013

Even snow days look pretty at my new place!

Snow Day!

Snow Day!

It has been a little over a month since I moved in to my new place. I still need a few more bookshelves, a chest of drawers, and some nightstands, but all in all, I am moved in. The biggest change has been how much more productive I have been. It may not seem like it, but I have actually done a lot more writing.

Which is good, because my class this semester is a fiction workshop class. Over the course of the class, I have to turn in three pieces. All of them cannot be things I have used in workshop previously. So I went through my stuff and found one finished piece that I haven’t looked at in a few years. I have one that is about 1/3 finished. Finally, I have a new piece that I just started, but is so interesting, I’ll be done writing it in a week or so. I’ll save that one for the end of the semester.

Almost as exciting is the news that I have been steadily working on my novel. After years of believing I had no more novels in me, last year I found myself wanting to start a new one. I tried the NANOMO. But we all know how that ended… Still I’ve been plugging away and now have a few thousand words.

It’s amazing what a little piece and quiet will do for your writing soul.

I do have one more work that I am almost finished, but I don’t want to talk about that too much. It is not for class. It was just something fun I decided to do, with a very personal motive. Once it is done, I’ll make an announcement.

I didn’t talk about this last year, but I did have a reading list. After sorting through all my books, I realized that there were a few I never got around to reading. Kate Vaiden was one of them, but there were quite a few more that I read and crossed off the list. Let me give you a rundown of those I can remember:

 

  • The Windup Girl – by Paolo Bacigalupi
  • His Dark Materials Trilogy – Philip Pullman
  • Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
  • Origin Stories – Kelly Link

 

And of course there were the five I read for class:

  • A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan
  • Charming Billy – Alice McDermott
  • Isaac’s Storm – Erik Larson
  • Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
  • Kate Vaiden – Reynolds Price

Of those, my favorite was Flowers for Algernon. I thought that was a wonderful, unique story. For those who don’t know, it is the story of a man with a very low IQ, who volunteers for an experimental surgery to make himself smarter. The story is told through his diary entries and charts both his joy and sorrow in his new life. It was a great read and I recommend it.

Infinite Jest is still sitting in the to be read pile. I packed it early and just didn’t pick it up over the break. Now? I just started reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. She is one of my favorite writers, but I never got around to reading this series. I’m only thirty pages it, but I’m having a hard time putting it down.

But I must. I have writing to do.

Anyone else found a new favorite book last year? Let me know!