The Year in Review 2015

Well, another year has ended.  Time to look back at the goals I made and how close I came to actually attaining them.  Overall I think I was successful this year.  I attained two and a half of my four goals.  That's over 50%.  Let's take a closer look....

These were my reading and writing goals for 2015:
   1.  Write 250 words each day(1750 total words per week)
I did not attain this goal.  I continue to struggle with daily writing practice.  I can maintain a daily practice for a few days and then it just dies away.  I started the year out with writing prompts and discovered that does not work for me :)

I have joined online communities to help me stay on track, and they work for a while but eventually the motivation seems to just die away.  I have lots of excuses, but they are really just excuses.  When I think of how much time I sit idly in a day, I know that I could easily write 250 words each day.  I am easily distracted and I have a difficult time following through.  I hope to work on both of these problems in the new year.

   2. Complete the first draft of my novels (ZF and DOVH) and begin the next.
Wow!  I actually attained half of this goal.  I completed the first draft of ZF.  It is not ready for anyone to read or even glance at it yet, but it is complete.  I made some good progress on DOVH and I started the next one even though I probably should not start something new without first finishing the old.  Anyway, in the new year I will continue working on DOVH and I will start the editing process with ZF.  And of course I will continue starting new projects before completing the old ones :)

   3.  Read at least 30 books.
This was my most successful goal.  If you read my post from yesterday then you know that I exceeded my reading goal this year.  I read 35 books, and I am super proud of myself.  Click on the image to visit my Pinterest page of books I read in 2015.

   4.  Post on this blog at least twice a week.
Ok, this one I am calling a win.  I may not have posted twice a week every week this year, but by the end of the year I had a posting schedule blocked out and I stuck to it for a few weeks.  I feel really good about the schedule and plan to continue it into the new year.  

2015 What I'm Reading #20

I have been reading a lot this December.  I even found the time to read an entire book in one sitting!  It was not a particularly long book, but I am still proud of that fact.  I am ending this year having exceeded my reading goal.  Since my last post I have read 3 books: This Book is Full of Spiders, The Perks of Being a Wallflower(read in one sitting), and Paper Towns.  Yay!  Currently I am reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. 

Starting a new book. I'm excited to see how similar to the movie it is. #amreading

A photo posted by Lisa (@lalocadesigns) on Dec 28, 2015 at 11:45am PST

 I have already seen the movie, but as I have mentioned on this blog many times, I tend to read books way after they were originally published and I often see the movie before I read the book :)

Here's the progress so far.

Number of Books Read: 35

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September

1.  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker

October

1.  Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2.  The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch

3.  Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler

4.  The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

December

1.  John Dies at the End by David Wong

2.  Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

3.  This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong

4.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

5.  Paper Towns by John Green

Do you make reading goals?  Did you meet your goal for 2015?

What are you reading right now?

Teaser Tuesday (Dec. 29)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser:

"The woman's cries aroused the interest of three men, whose faces appeared from behind the crooked copse of trees I was walking toward.  Two of them glared at me, belligerent, and the youngest one, a skeletal man in his forties, shot out, running toward me full bore bearing a stick he'd lit on fire.  I took two steps back and planted myself."

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (no page number as I am reading on my Kindle).

Stuck in My Head: Christmas Songs

I am taking a week-long break from blogging for the holiday season but thought it would be nice to leave you with some of my favorite Christmas songs.

"A Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues

"A Spaceman Came Travelling" by Chris De Burgh

"Make it So"  Star Trek TNG

2015: What I'm Reading #19

This week I am reading:

Image source: Amazon.com

The sequel to John Dies at the End.

Here's the progress so far.

Number of Books Read: 32

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September

1.  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker

October

1.  Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2.  The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch
3.  Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
4.  The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

December
1.  John Dies at the End by David Wong
2.  Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

What are you reading this week?

Top Ten Best Books I Read in 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

1. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman  - Loved the movie and now i love the book too.
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer - I was really surprised by this book.  I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
3. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - Such as interesting story.  Difficult to read at times but definitely compelling.
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I don't know it I can really express how much I loved this book.  I love the magical world that Morgenstern created.
5. On Writing by Stephen King - Great advice from a great writer.
6. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - I really enjoy Neil Gaiman's writing.  This book was no exception.
7. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott - I am excited to read the rest of the series.  Fun, action-packed, magical book.
8. Bird Box by Josh Malerman - While I was reading this book, I refused to like it, but it definitely make an impact on me.  I often think about the story and what might happen next.  That's a sign of a good book.
9.   Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - I really liked this book.  I could relate with the characters, even the ones I had little in common with.
10. The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker - I really want a sequel for this book.  It supposed to be in the works.  I was engaged the whole way through and didn't want to stop reading.

What are some of the best books you read this year?

Stuck in my Head: Break-up Songs

Recently, I have been hearing a popular Taylor Swift song many many times, and it has managed to lodge itself in my brain.  It is definitely stuck in my head.  Here it is:

Taylor Swift "We are Never Getting Back Together"

It reminded me of a couple of other great break-up songs.

Alanis Morisette "You Oughta Know"

Sinead O'Connor "Last Day of Our Acquaintance"

What are your favorite break-up songs?

John Dies at the End by David Wong

What it's About:

"STOP.

You should not have touched this book with your bare hands.

NO, don't put it down. It's too late.

They're watching you.

My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours.

You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, aboutKorrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye.

The only defense is knowledge. You need to read John Dies at the End, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

The important thing is this:

The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension.

John and I never had the chance to say no.

You still do.

Unfortunately for us, if you make the right choice, we'll have a much harder time explaining how to fight off the otherworldly invasion currently threatening to enslave humanity.

I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind:

None of this is was my fault."

-from Amazon.com

What I Thought:

This book took me a long time to read.  I knew the book was going to be weird -I had seen the movie- I just wasn't aware how weird it would end up being.  At times, I just got tired of how weird it was; the weirdness was tiresome.  Overall, I enjoyed the book, although I still had a hard time wading through it.  I am still interested in reading the sequel, but I am taking a break with something lighter first.

Favorite Quotes:

"Society is doomed for one very simple reason: it takes dozens of men working months with millions of dollars in materials to build a building, but only one dumb-ass with a bomb to bring it down" (p. 293)

" 'But say they worked it like links in a chain, they touch the guy who pulled Bill Gates out of a car wreck thirty years ago.  Make it so that guy was never born, so he could never save Gates. Gates dies as a child and tomorrow we wake up in a world where everybody is using Macs?'

I shivered." (p. 353)

2015 What I'm Reading #18

Wow!  It took me forever to read John Dies at the End.  I have finally moved on and am now reading Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Number of Books Read: 31

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September

1.  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker

October

1.  Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2.  The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch
3.  Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
4.  The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

December
1.  John Dies at the End by David Wong

What are you reading this week?

Teaser Tuesday (Dec. 8)

A day late, but here it is...

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

"Crocker had wandered off the trail for a better look at a jacamar; otherwise they'd never have found the hidden path, slanting down steeply between moss-slick walls.  Then, that crude hut, half-buried among ancient trees, in the wet vale where daylight barely penetrated...  The two Botocudo guides, normally chattering nonstop to each other in Tupian, shut up immediately.  When questioned by Carlos, one of them just muttered something about a guardian of the hut, and a curse on anybody who violated its secrets.  Then, for the first time, Whittlesey had heard them speak the word Kothoga.  Kothoga.  The shadow people."
p. 5 Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I am really enjoying this book.  It is just what I needed.  Have you ever read Relic?

Teaser Tuesday (Nov. 11)

A day late, but here it is...

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser:

"And just like that, I was dying.  I could feel a poison living in my body, shutting me down, rotting my guts, burning my veins.  And there was only one cure--the thing in North's palm.  Suddenly the spider was my salvation, the narrow, bright window out of this dark room."   John Dies at the End by David Wong, p. 239

The Man Who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch

Really enjoyed this book and even illustrated one of my favorite quotes:

2015 What I'm Reading #17

I made a trip to the library yesterday and picked up some books to read.  

 I am starting with John Dies at the End by David Wong.  I have already seen the movie and was very surprised when I discovered that it had started out as a webserial which later was published as a book.  The front inner flap has me hooked.

In other exciting news, I have officially met my reading goal for the year :)

Number of Books Read: 30

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September

1.  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker

October

1.  Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2.  The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch
3.  Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
4.  The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

What are you reading this week?

Teaser Tuesday (Oct. 26)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser:
"'A friend described Sherlock Holmes as a self-medicating bipolar with obsessive tendencies,' Kate told them.  After a startled moment, everyone in the room began to laugh excessively, as if to relieve the personal direction the talk had been taking."
                          The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King, p.267

Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler

What it's about:
"A bomb rips through present-day London, tragically ending the crime-fighting partnership of Arthur Bryant and John May begun more than a half-century ago during another infamous bombing: the Blitz of World War II. Desperately searching for clues to the saboteur’s identity, May finds the notes his old friend kept of their very first case and a past that may have returned…with murderous vengeance. It was an investigation that began with the grisly murder of a pretty young dancer. In a city shaken by war, a faceless killer stalked London’s theater row, creating his own sinister drama. And it would take Bryant’s unorthodox techniques and May’s dogged police work to catch a fiend whose ability to escape detection seemed almost supernatural—a murderer who decades later may have returned to kill one of them…and won’t stop until he kills the other." - Amazon.com

What I thought:
At first, I had a difficult time getting into this book.  The language is really dense and it was slow-going, but once I found the rhythm I loved the writing and didn't want to stop reading.  

I especially enjoyed the character of Arthur Bryant.  The crazy long scarves of strange colors, the marijuana plant growing in his office, pranking friends with poisonous plants, consulting with covens and spiritualists, and his far-fetched theories made his character a joy. I'd love to meet him in real life.  I think we would probably get along :) and he has definitely made me want to read more of the Peculiar Crimes Unit Series.

Before reading this book, I had not realized how awful the London Blitz actually was.  I mean bombing is always awful, but the fear that Londoners must have been living with is incredible.  Reading the descriptions of life during the blackouts, the aerial raids and the destruction that the continuous bombings caused was an eye-opener.  I know that this book is fiction, but I believe that fiction can often give us a good glimpse into another time or way of living.  I cannot believe what people lived through at that time.

Some quotes I enjoyed:
"'She was a woman forced to survive in a world of harmful magic.'
'That's what witches are.  Do you think she was a witch?'
'Well, someone dropped a house on her,' said Bryant, 'so she might have been.'"

From the hilarious Appendix:
"Incendiary devices, inadvisability of using as paperweights
      Mistaken for thermos flasks
Jack the Ripper, ability to melt pavements
Landladies, unlikely swordsmanship abilities of
Lift, as device for removing feet
Lithuanian botanists, incidence of vampirism amongst "

Have you ever read this book or another from the Peculiar Crimes Unit Series?  What did you think?  I will definitely be looking for more.

Stuck in my Head: Birds

Stuck in my Head is a feature where I share the music I love and the songs that I just can’t seem to get out of my head. This time, the theme is birds, so here are three songs I love that are about birds.

"Alabama Chicken" by Sean Hayes

"Blackbird" by The Beatles

"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley

2015 What I'm Reading Wednesday #16

A short post this Wednesday because I am still reading Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler.

Here is one of my favorite quotes so far:

"Well, your manifestation of guilt just killed someone with a cut-throat razor"

Here is my yearly reading progress so far.  The goal is 30 books:

Number of Books Read: 28

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September

1.  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker

October

1.  Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2.  The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch

What are you reading this week?

2015 What I'm Reading #15

Recently I have been on a mystery kick.  It all started one day as I was driving home and listening to NPR.  They had a story about a new James Bond book and the author who was attempting to imitate Ian Fleming's style while also updating the character and storyline.  It made me realize that I had never read a James Bond book.  This was a strange realization for me.  My granddad was a huge James Bond fan, and I grew up watching the movies in his living room.  

I immediately decided to take a detour to the library.  I found Casino Royale in the Mystery section and then picked up three more mysteries that had interesting covers.

image source:  wikipedia.org

I was hugely disappointed.  This book was not what I expected.  Where were the chase scenes, the crazy-bad-guy-with-the-complex-plan-to-take-over-the-world, the cool gadgets?  Are the movies so different from the original books?  I may have to try another Ian Fleming book just to be sure.

The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch was the next book on my list.

image source: goodreads.com

I really like the cover picture, where the cat and the hat blend together.  The book was also very entertaining.  Although I did think that cats were going to play a larger part in the story :)

Now I am reading Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler.  I'm not sure what I think of this one yet, but I am intrigued by the teaser quote that I shared yesterday.

What are you reading this week?  Have you ever read any of these books?  What did you think?