2015 What I'm Reading #9

Time for Round 2

This round, my goal is to start a daily writing practice.  I am starting by completing Blogging University's Writing 101 through The Daily Post.  I will be posting on my blog daily using the prompt and twist provided.  I will also be continuing to work on my reading goal of 30 books this year.

Number of Books Read: 14

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

I started reading the Chaos Walking Trilogy but I ran out of time, and the library snatched it off my Kindle.  I immediately put it on hold again :)  I like what I read so far.

So now I am reading On Writing by Stephen King.

What are you reading this week?

Top Ten Books I will Probably Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  Check out future topics here.

I had a hard time with this list.  I love to read many different genres and will usually give any book a try.  That being said, I was able to come up with 6 books that I will probably never read.

1.  Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
I barely made it through Wicked, so I doubt that I will go back for more.

2.  Anything by Nicholas Sparks
I foolishly let my husband convince me to watch The Notebook, even though I knew I would hate the movie.  His writing is just not my thing.

3.  The Long Night of White Chickens by Francisco Goldman
I tried to read it, I really did, but I could not make it through the whole book.  I am pretty sure that I will not try again.

4.  50 Shades of Grey
I have zero interest in reading this book.  I don't really understand why it is so popular, especially since I have heard that the writing is bad.

5.  Moby Dick by Herman Melville
I chose this book for a book report in high school and couldn't even make it past the first chapter.  I passed the assignment by choosing to do a dramatic reading of a scene from the book as my book report.  I chose the very first scene.

6.  What to Expect when You're Expecting
I don't ever plan to have children, so I am pretty sure I will never read this book.

If you think I am missing out on something by not reading/re-trying to read any of these books, let me know.  I might be convinced to give them a whirl :)

2015 What I'm Reading #8

Time for Round 2

This round, my goal is to start a daily writing practice.  I am starting by completing Blogging University's Writing 101 through The Daily Post.  I will be posting on my blog daily using the prompt and twist provided.  I will also be continuing to work on my reading goal of 30 books this year.

Number of Books Read: 13

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

Well, I have finally escaped from Wicked and added two more books to my list.  Reviews and journal pages are coming soon.  I am now starting Forever Odd.  I really liked the first book in this series, so I hoping this one will be just as entertaining.  If I can continue this reading rate, I should make my goal by the end of the year :)

What have you been reading lately?  Any suggestions to add to my TBR list?

Death to Adverbs: Writing 101, Day 8

Today’s Prompt: Go to a local café, park, or public place and write a piece inspired by something you see.
Today’s twist: write an adverb-free post.

The man walks down the street, his legs crossing and bending at strange angles like a scarecrow brought to life.  His medium build wears an aged leather vest, black like his greasy hair.  His weathered face matches the texture of his vest.  The man scrunches his face and sticks out his tongue as he ambles down the street.

A short while later, the man stumbles past my house.  A tall can of PBR peeks out from the crook of his elbow as he crunches on chips that he pulls in fistfuls from a colorful bag.  He walks on the grass, and the uneven ground tosses his body around, his rubbery legs faltering beneath his torso at times.

He veers across the grass tot he sidewalk and back to the grass again.  At one point he almost falls but momentum keeps him upright.  He wanders out of my line of sight, munching his chips and cradling the PBR with his arm.

Day 8 Reflection:  It took me a long time to write this post.  I am a homebody.  But today was a beautiful day, and I got to sit on my front porch and observe the world passing me by.  This was a fun post to write once I had my topic.  I hope that I convey the man's drunkenness successfully.  Let me know what you think.

Writing Update 4/26/15

Time for Round 2

This round, my goal is to start a daily writing practice.  I am starting by completing Blogging University's Writing 101 through The Daily Post.  I will be posting on my blog daily using the prompt and twist provided.  I will also be continuing to work on my reading goal of 30 books this year.

This week I have had some successes and some disappointments.  I have not been keeping up with the Writing 101 posts.  The last few prompts have really stumped me and I still feel stuck on prompt 8.   I may have to skip prompt 8 and come back to it later.

I have been writing almost every day but I did not write Thursday or Friday.  However, Saturday I completed my first draft of ZF.  The surprising part is how close I was and how much I procrastinated finishing.  I still can't believe it took me so long to write the last few pages.  Now it's time to start completing some more projects :)

I Completed a First Draft?

Yes, it's true!  Just moments ago, I completed my first draft of ZF!

I am still in a state of disbelief.  I have a hard time completing projects of any type and somehow, I just completed my first draft of what I hope will be a novel someday.  

image source:http://careergirlnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Celebrate.jpg

I'm not delusional.  I know that this is just the first step of many in taking this to novel status.  I know I have a lot of revising to do (believe me, this first draft is rough) but I am still celebrating this victory.  Yippee!!

2015 What I'm Reading #7

Time for Round 2

This round, my goal is to start a daily writing practice.  I am starting by completing Blogging University's Writing 101 through The Daily Post.  I will be posting on my blog daily using the prompt and twist provided.  I will also be continuing to work on my reading goal of 30 books this year.

Number of Books Read: 11

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

7.  Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz

8.  Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March 

9. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

10.  The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

11.  Wicked by Gregory Maguire

I finally updated my list of books I have read this year.  Eleven is not a bad number.  You can tell that I started out the year strong and then had a slight problem.  I lost all interest in reading for a while.  I'm not sure why.  Sometimes it happens.  But I always come back to my books.

I finally made it through Wicked.  I don't know if I feel enough about it to even write a review.  I will try.  Surprisingly, the Kindle version of the book came with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, so now I am reading that book.  I will get to the rest of my electronic bookshelf soon.

What are you reading this week?