Reading List: Powell’s staff’s best books of 2016

January 2, 2017January 2, 2017 ~ EMM ~ 2 Comments

Powell’s just released their Staff Top 5 Picks of 2016 yesterday. I crunched the numbers* and calculated their “consensus” Top Ten. Presented in order of most to least total points, they are (links take you to Powell’s, because that seemed appropriate):

The Lonely City by Olivia Laing (20 points)
The Girls by Emma Cline (17 points)
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (12 points)
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (12 points)
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (11 points)
What Is Obscenity? by Rokudenashiko (10 points)
The Fireman by Joe Hill (10 points)
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (10 points)
LaRose by Louise Erdrich (10 points)
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (10 points)

What I love about this list is that there are so many books on here that I’d not heard of before. Sure, I knew that The Girls and The Fireman were getting a lot of buzz. I’ve also been hearing great things about Commonwealth. I’ve already started Homegoing and the first few chapters are great. But, other than that, the rest are completely new to me.

As I’ve mentioned before, I trust Powell’s staff recommendations. So, I’ve added these to my to-read shelf and created a separate PowellsBestof2016 Goodreads shelf to keep track of them. I’ve already started Homegoing, but if you’ve read anything else on this list, or are planning to read anything else here, let me know what you think/recommend in the comments.

* In case you’re interested, here’s how I came up with the total points… I did some good old “copying and pasting” of all the lists into a spreadsheet. Then I assigned points to each mention of each book based on where it appeared in each list (5 points for first place, 4 points for second place, etc.). Then I made a pivot table and sorted the results by total number of points in descending order. There was an obvious cut-off after the first ten books. After that, there were a bunch with 9 points each. So I capped the list at ten books.

I did this same analysis last year for the Powell’s Staff Top 5 Picks of 2015. You can check out that post here if you missed it. You can also check out my shelf for those books on Goodreads, where I’m keeping track of what I’m reading.

Christmas #BookHaul

December 28, 2016December 29, 2016 ~ EMM

Santa was very kind to me this year… Just look at all the fabulous books I received!

I’m so excited to dive into these in the New Year! I may even start Saga and/or Monstress today…

Reading: Best of 2016

December 28, 2016December 30, 2016 ~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

The year isn’t quite over yet, but I think I’m going to go ahead and call it. Of the ~50 books I read in 2016 (not counting all the manuscripts I read for critique partners) these were my favorites (links take you to my Goodreads reviews)…

Top 5 non-fiction:

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert — I didn’t really write a review for this one, but it’s hands-down the best book I’ve read on how to deal with being a creative person in the world.
Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground by Kevin Poulsen — This had been on my TBR for a while, and I was inspired to finally pick it up and read it based on my love for the first season of Mr. Robot… it didn’t disappoint.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler — I never watched any of her shows, even SNL when she was on it, but this book really resonated with me.
Making It Right: Product Management For A Startup World by Rian Van Der Merwe — I read this to learn more about Product Management and it turned out to be a great book, filled with tons of useful info. I took a lot of notes.
Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman — Similar to Amy Poehler’s book, I never watched any of his shows, but I’ve seen him in bit parts on other TV shows. Months later, I’m still quoting life advice I picked up from this book.

Top 5 fiction:

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N. K. Jemisin — Easily the best book I read overall this year, this book has everything I want in a novel: unique world-building, excellent characters, compelling plot, politics, magic, relationships… I could gush about this all day, but you should really just read it.
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1) by Victoria Schwab — While not my favorite of her books (that award still goes to Vicious), I love the world she built here, and I can’t wait for more in this series.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) by Becky Chambers — I had some quibbles with the narrative here (felt more like a collection of short stories than a full-length novel), but the characters, writing, and the world-building are top notch.
Trade Me (Cyclone, # 1) by Courtney Milan — Easily the best romance book I read this year — complex, nuanced characters, and a unique take on the poor girl / rich boy trope.
A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) by Sarah J. Maas — I’d nearly written this series off after reading the first book, but this book more than made up for everything that bugged me about the first one. The romance is hot, and the Night Court is possibly my favorite ensemble of any book I’ve read in recent memory.

Top 5 short fiction (comic trades and novellas):

Binti (Binti, #1) by Nnedi Okorafor — I think this won the Hugo and the Nebula for best novella this year. I read it before the short lists for the awards were announced and knew it would be a big hit. One of the reasons I like this is the Meduse (the alien species). Another reason is the perspective it’s told from. The story is surprising and creative and you should really just read it already. It’s less than 100 pages. You can finish it in an afternoon. So, get on it because there’s a sequel coming out in January.
Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) by Seanan McGuire — This was a surprise hit for me. I loved the premise (what became of the children who had been thru a portal to a strange world and returned?) and the execution (there’s also a mystery to be solved). I’m very excited that there are going to be more books set in this world.
Bitch Planet, Vol. 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Robert Wilson IV — I read this earlier in the year, and it just became more and more relevant the further we got into 2016. I’m (not so) patiently waiting for vol 2.
Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze — This is not your typical Marvel super hero comic. It’s way more complex and sticks with you longer.
The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac: June 2016 by various authors, edited by The Book Smugglers — This little speculative fiction journal contains a few essays and a few short stories, all of them very smart and very enjoyable.

If you’re curious about what else I read, that link at the very top will take you to my “read in 2016” shelf on Goodreads. If you’re too lazy to click through, here’s a snapshot of what you’ll find there (minus the few books I am still finishing up)…

That’s (nearly) a wrap for my 2016 reading! Just planning to finish up the three more books I’m in the middle of, then I’m looking forward to 2017 and diving into all the really great stuff I still have in my TBR… Especially the awesome books I got for Christmas this year! More on that soon… 🙂

Books on my Christmas wish list

December 10, 2016December 10, 2016 ~ EMM

So, yes, I did just post about having too many books to read and not enough time. But, really… is it even possible to have too many books? I don’t think so.

Of course I asked for books for Christmas. Some were included on my “Santa Mom” wish list. Some I put on my TBTB Secret Santa wish list. Most I don’t really *need* right now, but I there are just so many books I want to read. I can’t help it! These are the books I wished for this year:

Comics…

Saga vol 1 comic trade — Everyone loves this series and I want to see what all the fuss is about…
Monstress Volume 1: Awakening — This art-deco/steam punk art looks so gorgeous, and the story sounds intriguing…

Sequels or companion books…

One Was a Solider and Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer Fleming — The final two books (I think) in this Adirondak mystery series that I’ve been enjoying during my summer vacations at Camp for several years now.
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers — The follow up to Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet, which I really enjoyed and might even make it into my top five books read in 2016…
The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 2: Fandemonium vol 2 comic trade — I enjoyed the first volume and want to know what happens next…
Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen — I haven’t even read the first two books yet, but I will definitely be binge-reading them before the movie comes out…
Book Smugglers Quarterly Almanac vol 2 — I really enjoyed their first Quarterly Almanac. So, I plan on continuing to pick these up as they are released.

New releases…

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith — This book about the “alien consciousness” of the octopus looks absolutely fascinating and is possibly the non-fiction book I am most looking forward to reading
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds — I am really excited about this new book by one of my favorite sci-fi authors!
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake — I’ve heard such great things about this book, I can’t wait to read it!
Frantumaglia by Elena Ferrante — Because I write and I am enjoying her Neapolitan series, I thought I might enjoy this “behind the scenes” book about her writing.
The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst — This book looks so good.
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi — This has been getting great reviews…

Not-so-new fiction…

Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Hossain — Looks good, can’t get it on Kindle from the library…
Slade House by David Mitchell — Really enjoyed Bone Clocks and this is a companion to that book…
The Anatomy of Curiosity by Brenna Yovanoff, Tessa Gratton, and Maggie Stiefvater — I’ve wanted this one for a LONG time, but keep forgetting to put it on my wish list… stories by these authors, plus commentary on the creative process!
Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson — This looks awesome, even though I don’t often read books of short stories, a review of this caught my eye, and the blurb that says the author has “an imagination that most of us would kill for” sold me on it…
Kraken by China Miéville — This looks awesome… and I’ve not read anything by him yet…

And some non-fiction…

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott — A classic book on writing that’s been recommended to me multiple times, but I still haven’t read it yet…
Automate the Boring Stuff by Al Sweigart — I’ve been trying to learn to code in Python and this combines that plus the fact that, in my day job, I spend way too much time in spreadsheets doing stuff that really should be automated…
Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina — Another one that I’ve been wanting to read for a LONG time because I’m fascinated with the ocean…
The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson — Same as above… I really don’t *need* either of these, yet… but I don’t want to lose track of them, either…
Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg — Something about this made me want to read it… maybe the fact that it was a husband/wife team doing a business together… something that my husband and I talk about a lot.

So, there you go. Way more books than I’d ever get around to reading in the next year. Some new, some really old. Some comics, some short stories. A little bit of everything.

Anything on here that you’ve already read and think I should move to the top of my list? Anything you also put on your list? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

My December TBR is out of control

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 ~ EMM

I didn’t finish any books in November. I tried to read a little bit, but between NaNoWriMo and the election, I just couldn’t make much progress reading anything except Twitter. As a result, I have quite a bit of catching up to do if I hope to meet my 2016 Goodreads challenge goal of 50 books.

Current status:

I have 6 books to go, and I’m 2 books behind schedule. And let’s just ignore the fact that some of those 44 books read have actually been novellas and comics trade volumes. For some purists, those wouldn’t even really count. But, I’m counting them. And, with Christmas vacation coming up, I think I’ll be able to achieve my 50 book goal.

However, I’ve definitely given up on my other 2016 reading goal, the Book Riot Read Harder 2016 Challenge. It’s just not happening. I wasn’t officially participating this year, anyway. So, no big disappointment there.

What have I learned from all this? Oh yeah, the same thing I learned last year. No. More. Reading. Challenges.

But, I mean it this time. Seriously.

Well… except I will maybe still do the Goodreads Challenge next year… but I’m dialing my goal back to 3 books per month, average. More on that when I post about my 2017 goals.

This post was supposed to be about my December TBR. So, let’s get back to that.

It should come as no surprise that I have an enormous TBR pile at this point. There are SO MANY books that I really want to be reading right now. I made myself narrow that list down to 12. There is no way I’ll read that many books in December, so I’ve prioritized them into two batches.

These 6 are at the top of my list:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi — I started this book, loved the first chapters, then had to put it down to do other stuff. I am dying to get back to it, and I am determined for that to happen before the end of this year.
Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin — I’ve not done my “best of 2016” list year, but I think it’s safe to say that book one in this series is definitely going to be on my top 5 list for books I read this year. I am so excited to dive into this next book.
Alterations by Stephanie Scott — This one just released today, and it’s a modern, YA re-telling of the movie Sabrina. I love that movie (the original more than the re-do), and I can’t wait to read this book. Plus, I know the author from Twitter, and she seems super cool.
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi — I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, but it’s recently been moved to the top of my list due to reasons that shall be explained later…
The Magician King by Lev Grossman — I am rediculously, crazy excited for season 2 of The Magicians on the SyFy channel (starts in January). If you liked this series and aren’t watching that show, you should be. I’m determined to at least read book 2 before season 2 starts, even though I think there are major deviations between the books and the show (in a good way).
Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff — This is the sequel to Illuminae, which I loved. I pre-ordered this one, and I’ve had it for almost two months now, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Because of how the story is told (through found documents, same as the first book), I bought the hardcover edition (again, same as the first book). But (like the first book) the hardcover is enormous, and I haven’t wanted to drag it with me on the bus. So, it’s coming with me on Christmas vacation instead.

As if that wasn’t enough end-of-year reading, I also really want to read these:

The Year of the Crocodile by Courtney Milan — a Christmas themed novella featuring the hero and heroine from her novel Trade Me that I read earlier this year and highly recommend.
Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton — I’ve owned this for months and it’s been on my TBR even longer. It’s a dance book. I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo — This went on sale recently, and I bought it. I still haven’t read her first series, but I’ve heard such great things about this book, I may start here.
Nuts by Alice Clayton — I grabbed this one when it was on sale after hearing great things about it. Seems like a fun diversion.
Bedmates by Nichole Chase — I loved her Suddenly Royal series, and I’ve heard good things about this first book in her new series.
Rebel’s Honor by Gwynn White — There’s a really long story behind this one… Short version is, this is by the wife of Andrew St. Pierre White of Overland Expo and 4xOverland fame. My husband is a big fan of Andrew’s videos, and we met Andrew and Gwynn back in April. I am really curious to read this book because it’s a strange coincidence Gwynn and I apparently write in the same genre.

But before I do any of that, I need to finish the book I’m currently reading:

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho — I started this in November, but haven’t made much progress. It’s good, but it’s just not capturing my attention the way I thought it would. I can completely understand why this book is getting so much attention. It’s good. It deserves all the praise it’s getting. It’s just not quite what I’m looking for right at this moment. But, I’m enjoying it, and it’s on loan from the library (I had to renew it). So, I’m going to finish it before moving on.

Beyond all those, I still have the remaining stack of books that I either pre-ordered this year, or that I received from my Indiespensible subscription, but haven’t read yet:

Poseidon’s Wake by Alastair Reynolds — This is the third and final book in this series that I am really enjoying
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas — This is book five in this series. Normally I would have devoured this one already, but early reviews were less than gushing. So, I’ve been letting it sit for a while.
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg — This book is enormous. I got it from my Indiespensible subscription box and probably wouldn’t have otherwise picked it up.
Best Boy and The Boy Who Went Away by Eli Gottlieb — Both of these also came from Indiespensible and probably weren’t ones I’d have picked up otherwise.
Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg — Also from Indiespensible and also something I probably wouldn’t have selected on my own, but the blurb and reviews have piqued my interest.
Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt — Another Indiespensible selection, but one I am really looking forward to reading.
A Doubter’s Almanac by Ethan Canin — More Indiespensible that I probably wouldn’t have noticed but the blurb and interview with the author make me really want to read it.
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee — I’ve heard this one is really hard to get into, but every review I’ve read puts this squarely into my sci-fi wheelhouse. So, I’m determined to give it a shot.
Barkskins by Annie Proulx — Recieved this from Indiespensible and my husband grabbed it to read. I think he’s only halfway through, but enjoying it.
Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer — Another Indiespensible pick. I worried this was yet another “white guy literary book,” but the blurb and the reviews have me thinking that may not be the case. So, I’m tentatively interested.
Hold Me by Courtney Milan — This is the second book in this series and everything I’ve heard about it so far makes me really want to read it. I just haven’t had a chance to get to it yet.

So, yeah. I need more reading time. And I probably need to stop buying new books. To that end, I’ve canceled my Indiespensible subscription. It made me sad to do it, but I just can’t keep up (clearly). I do have some books on my Christmas list (more about that in a future blog post). But I’m going to try even harder next year to stick to reading what I have or getting books from the library.

Given that I have so much to choose from here — and really, this only scratches the surface of what I have unread on my Kindle — is there anything jumping out at you? Anything you’ve already read that you’d highly recommend me pushing to the top of my list? Anything you want me to read so I can report back and let you know if it’s any good?

If you have thoughts, let me know in the comments…

#TopTenTuesday: ten books I’ve added to my TBR list lately

November 8, 2016January 6, 2019 ~ EMM

While I’m busy adding words to my NaNoWriMo project, enjoy this Top Ten Tuesday post featuring a list of the ten books I’ve added to my TBR most recently…

Thick as Thieves (The Queen’s Thief, #5) by Megan Whalen Turner — YAY! We’re getting another book in this fantastic series! But, we’re not getting it until May of next year… in the meantime, I went out and bought the existing books on Kindle so that I can re-read them. It’s been a while, but this is one of my favorite series.
A Change of Heart by Sonali Dev — I still haven’t read her second book yet (Bollywood Bride), but I loved the first one so much, and the premise for this one sounds like there might be some magical realism involved. I’m intrigued.
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman — Neil Gaiman plus any type of mythology is pretty much my catnip. Neil Gaiman plus Norse mythology has me basically just standing here with a fist full of money trying to decide between Kindle and hardcover. At least I have a little time to decide because it doesn’t come out until February…
Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple — I loved her first book (Where’d You Go Bernadette). So, of course this one immediately went on my TBR list. It sounds like it will be very similar, but that’s okay by me.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire — I have to wait until June for this one… it’s a follow-up to one of my favorite novellas I’ve read this year (Every Heart a Doorway). I am so excited for this book!
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds — One of my favorite sci-fi authors wrote a sorta, kinda (according to some people) YA sci-fi novel! If that’s supposed to turn me off on this book, it did not work. I think Alastair Reynolds writing YA is a great idea, and I can’t wait to read this one!
Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns, #1) by Kendare Blake — I keep hearing great things about this book, and the premise (three sisters who have to fight to the death to become queen) has me super curious. This one is high on my list for my post-NaNo reading binge.
A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2) by Becky Chambers — This one is a follow up to A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, but this time we get a deep dive on the AI stuff… this was one area where I felt like the first book fell a bit flat for me. So, I’m interested to see where they go with this… but, I’m thinking I’ll get it from my library instead of buying it.
Kraken by China Miéville — I can’t even remember anymore where I heard about this book. I think it was on one of the podcasts I listen to… Anyway, myth plus magic plus London plus a giant squid sounded so freaking amazing that I just had to add it to my TBR. I’ve never read anything by him, but I’ve been meaning to for some time now. I’m hoping this is a good place to start.
The Queen of Blood: Book One of The Queens of Renthia by Sarah Beth Durst — This is another one that I can’t remember how I found out about. I think maybe it was the comparisons to Uprooted and Name of the Wind that got my attention, but the premise sounds just different enough than all the other fantasy I keep seeing over and over again out there, that I added it to my TBR. Something about this book makes me think I might enjoy it more in paperback, but we’ll see.

If you’ve read any of these, or have any thoughts you’d like to share, leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

#WriterTag responses and more #NaNoWriMo prep

October 24, 2016October 25, 2016 ~ EMM

I saw this tag on Jenna Moreci‘s vlog and thought the questions also worked well for a NaNoWriMo prep blog post.

WRITER TAG QUESTIONS:

What do you eat or drink while writing? I drink green tea and lots of it. When I’m in a rush or feeling lazy, I drink Stash organic green tea in bags that I buy in bulk. Or, I drink loose leaf in my teapot if I’m feeling fancy. As for snacks, I haven’t quite figured out how to snack and write at the same time since both things require using my hands. I find that if I’m snacking, I’m not typing. So, I save the snacking for rewards. Recently, I’ve discovered that I really like plain popcorn with just salt as a writing break reward. I also reward myself with dark chocolate. In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I’m making sure that I’m fully stocked up on all my favorites.
What do you listen to while writing? I prefer to listen to music with no words when I write. Classical music is okay, but I prefer movie score soundtracks or electronic music. For soundtracks, I love the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack, and I just discovered the Children of Dune soundtrack. Both of these are “comfort food” movies for me, which means they work great as soundtracks for highly emotional scenes. As for electronic music, I like dubstep. I have a tendency to enjoy the bro-iest and most intense stuff (Knife Party/Pendulum, Skrillex, and deadmau5, as examples). The beat is motivating for typing fast, and I can tune out the words because they’re kind of repetitive. For this type of thing I like Amazon Music’s playlists. Devastating Dubstep Drops is usually pretty good for the intense stuff, and Electronic Beats for Work is good when I don’t want a lot of lyrics. In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I’ve made sure that all these go-to soundtracks and playlists are available on my phone and on my laptop when they are both in “off-line” mode. If you’re wondering why I need them available when I’m off-line, see my response to the next question…
What is your biggest distraction while you’re writing? THE INTERNET! Seriously. I have to turn off the wi-fi on my laptop and put my phone on “do not disturb” so it doesn’t beep if I get a message. During the month of November, I’ll probably only be online when I’m at work, or as a reward if I happen to be killing my word count goals and tracking ahead of schedule.
What is the worst thing that has happened to you while writing? My computer went nuts one time and started deleting a chunk of text I’d just edited. It was like the delete key got stuck or something. I couldn’t stop it and had to just close Scrivener and restart it. Luckily, I had back-ups of the file. I’m usually pretty good about back-ups. I haven’t decided on my back-up strategy for NaNoWriMo this year. I’ll probably export the compiled doc from Scrivener and save it in multiple places before I go to bed each writing day. Or, I may post chapters to Google Docs so I can share them with some of my “alpha readers” to get feedback as I’m writing. Or both. You can never have too many back-ups.
What is the best thing that has ever happened to you while writing? I finished a novel. And then I did it again. And then I did it one more time. Finishing a novel (even though it just means you have a pile of editing to look forward to), is such a rush. I’m looking forward to doing it again.
Who do you communicate with while you’re writing? When I have a new idea for a novel I don’t really talk about it in detail with anyone, even my husband, even critique partners. In the early stages of an idea it always feels so tentative, like if I say too much the idea will just fizzle and go away. Or, sometimes the idea is so big and vague I don’t really have words to describe what I want to do, it’s just a feeling or an image in my head. If I try to explain anything to anyone at that stage, I’ll just sound like a crazy person. I’m most comfortable talking about what I’m working on when I’m about half to two-thirds done with the first draft. At that point I’m committed and I have a pretty good idea what I’m doing. So, after I finish my 50k words for NaNoWriMo, I’ll be happy to tell you more about my project. Until then, you’ll just have to wait. 🙂
What is your secret to success and your biggest writing flaw? Secret to success is definitely discipline combined with persistence, two skills I learned from competitive swimming and coxing crew. My biggest writing flaw is neglecting character development in favor of plot and world-building. Oh, and beginnings. I hate trying to write amazing first chapters, and first sentences are the absolute worst. One of the reasons NaNoWriMo works so well for me is because it’s all about discipline combined with persistence. And I give myself the freedom to write a completely crappy beginning because I know I can always make it better later.
What is your inspiration? What makes you productive? I’m inspired by professional writers like Victoria Schwab, John Scalzi, and Courtney Milan. Even though they’ve each reached some level of success, they haven’t lost their hustle. They treat their writing career like a business and they still write great books. They inspire me. This is super dorky, but when I was in the middle of editing during Pitch to Publication earlier this year, my husband printed out a copy of one of Victoria Schwab’s photos of her desk (for that day). It’s basically just a table with a laptop, a cup of tea, a notebook, and some headphones. But, it’s become my visual reminder that those writers are just like me. They put on their pants one leg at a time the same way we all do. They put their butts in their seats and their hands on the keyboard and write the words. To quote Victoria Schwab, “One word at a time. One page at a time. One scene at a time. One chapter at a time. One book at a time.” That’s how it’s done, and that’s going to be my NaNoWriMo mantra.
What is one thing that you do or that other writers do that is super annoying? Compare myself to others. I’m competitive. I try to find healthy ways to compete (like in the pool, for example). But when I’m beating myself up because I don’t think I’ve been as productive as I “should be,” I have an annoying tendency to start comparing myself to others. I’ve gotten better at catching myself doing this, taking a huge step back (and usually off the internet), and focusing my eyes on my own paper. When I’m producing new words (like during NaNoWriMo), this isn’t a problem. When I’m stuck (aka, not writing), it’s easy to find myself falling into the competitive death spiral.
Are you willing to share something you’ve written? Oh, sure. Why not. In celebration of NaNoWriMo, I’ll post an excerpt from my very first NaNoWriMo novel (un-edited) for your reading pleasure. This is from 2007, and it’s the first time I’ve opened this file in almost that many years. The novel is pretty bad. But because you’ve read this far, you deserve a reward. So, I’ve posted a (somewhat) embarrassing excerpt on my NaNoWriMo author dashboard. You can read it here.

Before I sign off, thanks to Jenna Moreci (who I don’t know, but is another writer who inspires me) for the idea for this post. You can watch her answer these same questions in the video below.

If there are any other writers out there reading this blog, I’d love to hear your responses! Post a link to your blog post (or vlog post) in the comments if you do a response to the “writer tag.”

October TBR

October 1, 2016September 30, 2016 ~ EMM

I took a long, hard look at the books on my Kindle, and the TBR pile on my bookshelf, and had to make some hard decisions about what I wanted to make sure I read before the end of this year.

The priority for October is to finish the two books I want to read in preparation for NaNoWriMo this year. The rest of my October reading list is made up of books that I’ve shuffled to the top of my TBR for a variety of reasons.

I’m not planning on doing much, if any, reading in November. So, whatever I don’t read this month will probably end up getting pushed to December.

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku (paperback) — I just bought this one to do a little pop science research for my sci-fi WIP that I’m planning to write in November. Not sure if it will help, but it looks promising.
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly (paperback) — I’ve been meaning to read this for a while now for writing research. Now time is running out and I need to read it before November.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (Kindle) — I bought this a while ago (July?), and lately everywhere I look there is a glowing review about this book. It’s time. I need to read it before the end of this year. And then I need to read the sequel.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Hardcover, signed special edition) — I still haven’t been able to find time to read this book. This is what happens when I have a hardcover and I do most of my reading on my Kindle during my commute.
The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Kindle, library) — I may or may not get to this one this month, but I do want to read it before the TV series starts up again in January.
Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas (Kindle, pre-order) — This is another one that my have to get pushed to post-NaNoWriMo. I wanted to read this right away when it came out, but writing is the priority for October and November. So, as much as I want to dig into this and read it before everyone else has and spoilers have invaded the internet, this may have to wait.

September in Review

September 30, 2016September 30, 2016 ~ EMM ~ 2 Comments

September did not exactly go as planned. This is the first time in a long time that’s happened. I’d created some fairly ambitious goals for September, and I accomplished ~3/5, barely.

You may not be able to tell from this blog, but I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard this year. It’s gone beyond “burning the candle at both ends.” Between work stuff, writing stuff, and personal stuff (swimming, reading, social, etc.), it feels like I’ve cut the candle into a bunch of smaller pieces so I could burn each of those at both ends. As a result, this month I may finally have snapped.

Mid-month, I decided to dial it way back and re-set my expectations about what I want to accomplish for the rest of this year. More on that (maybe) in a future blog post. This one is just meant to be a September wrap-up.

Let’s recap each of my goals (since I posted them for ya’ll to see…)…

1. SWIM at least 4 x 3300 yards per week

This would have resulted in ~52.8k yards swum in September. I actually ended up swimming 15 days for a total of 53k yards. So, I did okay on the yardage, but 15 days isn’t quite 4x per week. Still, I’m considering this one accomplished, but just barely.

2. READ at least 1 book per week on average

There were four weeks plus three days in September, and I read three novels, one short non-fiction book, one comic trade, and one “quarterly almanac” of short stories and book/movie reviews. So, I’m calling this one accomplished as well, but also just barely.

Here’s what I read this month (links take you to my Goodreads reviews):

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (Kindle, pre-order) — Supposedly this is VES in her “YA” mode. It’s the first of her “YA” books I’ve read. That said, it didn’t really feel much more “YA” than her Shades of Magic series. This may have something to do with the fact that it had that gritty almost-real-world feel to the world-building, plus the dark complexity around what makes someone a hero vs. a villian that Vicious did. So, yeah. I loved it and want more, please.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Kindle) — This book is like if you took the anthropological world building of an Ursula Le Guin book and crossed it with the TV show Firefly. I had a few small quibbles with parts of this book when I thought about it critically (see my Goodreads review for more on this, if you’re curious). But, overall, I loved it and I can’t wait to read more stories set in this world. Apparently, there is a new one coming out in October! Woo hoo!
A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab (Kindle, library) — Book two in the series, and it ends on a massive cliff-hanger. Most of this story takes place around VES’s equivalent of the “tri-wizard tournament” in Harry Potter. In the process, we get to know our main characters better, and we learn a little more about magic in this world. I’m looking forward to the final book in this series, and I’m bummed that I have to wait until next year for its release. NOTE: my Goodreads review contains spoilers. Don’t click on the link above if you don’t want to be spoiled.
Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates (trade paper) — I know nothing about Black Panther except that he was in the latest Captain America movie. I do know that I really like Mr. Coates’s writing (I took note of his articles in The Atlantic and started following him long before Between the World and Me). This comic was really dense and satisfying because of that. There is definitely a much more complex story building here than I feel like you usually get in most Marvel comics. This feels more like volume one of Bitch Planet or The Wicked & The Divine than any of the recent X-Men volumes I’ve been consuming. This is a good thing. Our superhero stories could use more depth.
Making It Right: Product Management For A Startup World by Rian Van Der Merwe (Safari Books Online) — I’ve been thinking about my day-job a lot and realizing more and more that what I really want is to get closer to the engineering side of the world. I should have been a software engineer. I may still, someday, become a software engineer. But, in the meantime, I wanted to learn a little more about the difference between Program Managers and Product Managers. This book did a great job explaining what makes a great Product Manager and what great Product Managers do to ship great products. Highly recommend this one if you are considering becoming a Product Manager.
The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac: June 2016 edited by The Book Smugglers (Kindle) — This collection had a “superhero” theme. It included some excellent reviews for some books I want to read and some superhero movies (one I saw and one I skipped). Plus, there were a few short stories and essays. All were very good, a few were fantastic. The only hang-up I had was the copy editing. For some reason there were a ton of copy edit errors in my Kindle version.

3. NaNoWriMo Prep

Well, I picked which project I’m going to work on. But I didn’t write a plot synopsis for any of the ideas I was considering. So, I should maybe just get partial credit for this goal. I’m pretty excited about this idea though… and I’m excited to dive into prep and research in October. It feels good to be back in “creation” mode again after months and months and months of editing.

I’ve also been working hard on getting my region ready for NaNoWriMo. I’ve been scheduling write-ins and the kick-off and TGIO parties. I’m working on prizes and prep sessions. I’ve already hit my first fundraising goal, and now I’m trying to see if I can raise a little more so I can bring a guest. I’m probably completely over-committing, but I’d rather start strong and see how it goes. I think I can make it work. It’s just a month. How bad could it be? (Famous last words…)

4. Re-read “Falling” and decide next steps

I didn’t even try to do this. I had too much else going on and decided that I didn’t want to try to push another project through before NaNoWriMo starts. I decided that I needed a break. So, all non-NaNoWriMo writing projects are officially on hold until January.

5. “Good clean living…” (no sweets, no alcohol except for one “cheat day” per week)

Yeah…. this did not happen. I bailed on this one pretty early. I don’t know what I was thinking. September is my husband’s birthday month, and if he was eating pie and drinking a beer, I certainly wasn’t going to just sit there and watch him! Plus, I had no real solid motivating factor here to keep me on the wagon. It’s not like I’m trying to lose weight or anything. This activity is best reserved for January as a post-holiday “cleanse” of sorts.

Oh, and this wasn’t exactly in my goals, but I totally bailed on that Instagram challenge (#IGAuthorLifeSept) that I said I was going to do in September.

Still, for a month where nothing seemed to be going as planned, I got the important stuff done. And, I definitely learned my lesson. Sometimes you just need a month to relax and re-group. I’m making a note of this and mentally scheduling December as my next “relax and re-group” month. After NaNoWriMo, I have a feeling I’ll need it!

Tagged: The Real Neat Blog Award

September 29, 2016September 29, 2016 ~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been tagged by Kayla at kdrewkthebookworm blog for something called the Real Neat Blog Award. Thanks, Kayla!

Here’s how it works:

Thank and link back to the blogger who nominated you.
Answer the seven questions set to you.
Create seven questions for your nominees.
Nominate seven other bloggers.

Here are my answers to the questions Kayla asked:

How many physical books do you own? Too many to count. Plus, it’s hard to tell where “my books” end and my husband’s books begin… some are pretty obvious, but there’s a lot of overlap. We did get rid of a lot of our books (donated to Friends of the Library) when we moved into this apartment, but we still have five completely full bookshelves and stacks of books everywhere.
Under what circumstances would you DNF a book? If I find myself rolling my eyes on almost every page, or if I put it down and have pretty much no interest in picking it back up again, I’ll abandon it. If the book came highly recommended from a friend, I’ll return to it later to see if I just wasn’t in the mood for it at the time I tried to read it. That’s what I’m planning to do with the last book I DNFed.
What are your favourite and least favourite things about blogging? I love the community of people I’ve met through my blog (or their blog) over the years. Finding people out in the world who are interested in the same things I’m into is so exciting. My least favorite thing about blogging is the process of blogging. It takes me forever to write, edit, format, and add links (and *gasp* photos!) to my blog posts.
Tell me a teaser sentence from the book you’re currently reading! I’m between books at the moment, but I just finished A Gathering of Shadows, and it ends on a massive cliff-hanger. I can’t wait for the next book. In the meantime, I’ll be dwelling on what happens after that last line… (which I won’t post here because, spoilers!)
What device do you use to write your blog posts (computer, phone, etc.)? I almost always use my computer. I’ve tried to use the wordpress app on my phone to create new posts, but most of my posts are heavy on the words and hyperlinks and light on the photos. I find that typing, formatting, and hyperlinking on my phone is incredibly frustrating. I prefer to do those posts on my computer. But, if it’s a photo-heavy post, it’s way easier to do it on my phone.
Tell me a little known fact about you that no other bloggers know. Hmm…. this one is pretty hard… I had to think about this one for a while and the best I can come up with is this: I became a major geek on bread baking about 14 years ago. I read a bunch of books. I made a sourdough starter. I taught myself to make a fairly decent loaf of pain au levain (the hard way… not any of that NYT bread in a cast iron soup pot stuff…). I also got pretty good at focaccia and cinnamon rolls. I love making bread, and I’ve always wanted to try working as a baker at some point.
What song is stuck in your head right now? Ugh. This one is so embarrassing… Hey, Jealousy by the Gin Blossoms… I heard this playing in our cafeteria earlier this week, and it’s been stuck in my head since then. Oh, the ’90s nostalgia…

In turn, I nominate the following seven bloggers:

To answer the following seven questions:

How many books are currently on your (pick one) Goodreads TBR / Amazon wish list / library hold list / whatever other app you use to track books you want to read?
Out of those books, if you had to pick just one to buy/borrow next, which one would it be and why?
When you walk into a bookstore, what’s the first section that you go to?
What future-release book are you most looking forward to reading and why? When does it come out?
What book have you re-read the most? How many times?
What was the last book you DNFed, and why?
What was the last book you stayed up past your bedtime reading?

Thanks again to Kayla for tagging me! This has been really fun!