Back in Action
All right, one week to get myself back on my feet, and here I am, returning to ye olde blog. (I was delayed in turning in my short story to my editor, and one of the things I forbade myself from doing was blogging before it was finished and ready to turn in.) But a couple of cool things happened today, and I wanted to make sure to blog about them, and update you guys on my goals from the trip, before Saturday turned into Sunday. (Hopefully, the novel tourism post will go up tomorrow!)
So, first cool thing: my review of Caitlin Kittridge's (blackaire's) novel, Street Magic, went up on Flames Rising. Matt was kind enough to post it for me on a Saturday, because the book has just hit the shelves, and I didn't want to have gotten an advanced reader copy for nothing! It's a really, really excellent novel, which I expound upon in my review. Check out what I had to say, and look for the novel at your local bookstore!
Second cool thing: I finally got to meet Anton Strout (antonstrout) (who is, for the record, the most beloved low-to-midlist urban fantasy writer in America, or so I hear) live and in person. He did a book signing up in Pittsfield, his home stomping grounds and not distant from my college stomping grounds. So finally, I have my books signed. Hooray! I decided that bringing him a PEZ dispenser would border on creepy fangirl, so I decided to eschew it and just bring books and questions and a big smile. He did a reading from the first chapter of Deader Still, which was brilliantly creepy and got wonderful reactions from the audience (including me -- I'd forgotten how vivid, and, frankly, gross, that scene was!). The best part, however, was his commentary -- as he was reading, he'd interrupt himself and tell us little bits about the characters or his word choice or things that he liked about the scene, which was a huge enhancement to the story for me. Also (and I hope I'm not blowing his cover), he is super nice in person. Based on his blog and his books, I was expecting more snark, but he was totally gracious and sweet. (And I'm not just saying this because he might find this entry later. These are honest impressions here!)
The Barnes and Noble in Pittsfield is pretty darn great. They didn't have Pandora's Closet in stock, sadly, but I did pick up Red Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells and Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh. The staff was really great, too, but my favorite part was walking in and seeing a young woman reading manga with this huge grin on her face, totally oblivious to anyone walking by. Seeing the power of reading in person like that gives me a little thrill.
So, those are my good things. As for how my goals went while I was abroad, as it turned out, we didn't have nearly the kind of time to read or sit still and get work done in England that I'd had in Greece and Turkey -- and even in Ireland (weirdly, because I think we traveled more in Ireland with less stationary time). The England tour only has five cities, but at each of them, there are a ton of things to see within driving distance. So not only did we not have ferries to get us from place to place -- and create novel reading time -- but we spent a lot of time just being places. Given that, I'm not too upset about falling short!
Here was my checklist:
Take photographs
Check! I've already uploaded more than 100 to facebook so the students can access them. I think I have something like 600 left... I may have to weed!
Read 7 books
Nope, didn't make this one. Including my catch up week, however, I have read three full novels: The Last Olympian, The Stepsister Scheme, and Magic Strikes, as well as two ARCs: Caitlin's, and one I can't mention here. I also read five short stories from different sources (which should totally count as a novel equivalent) and almost all of the course reading (I wasn't getting graded, but I did try to keep up). So, technically, nope, didn't make it. If I stretch my definition of book, though, I got pretty close!
Finish one short story
I finished "Good Company" in London (something about being in England made me want to write about the American Revolution, apparently -- go figure), and finished my second short story in the world of Crown upon getting home. So, this one got accomplished in spades!
Compose a photo essay for Journey to the Sea
I have the photos, and I've started writing the essay. I also bought some source material there that will make the photo essay work better. I just have to put it all together!
Copyedit one autobiographical essay
I didn't even touch this one.
Blog at least once
I think I made it four times.
So, not too bad! I need to remember to follow Devon's (devonmonk) guidelines better next time, though, and remember that the Reasonable Goal should be something that's easy to get done, an absolute minimum, so that you know you can have success! I'll do better next time.
So, first cool thing: my review of Caitlin Kittridge's (blackaire's) novel, Street Magic, went up on Flames Rising. Matt was kind enough to post it for me on a Saturday, because the book has just hit the shelves, and I didn't want to have gotten an advanced reader copy for nothing! It's a really, really excellent novel, which I expound upon in my review. Check out what I had to say, and look for the novel at your local bookstore!
Second cool thing: I finally got to meet Anton Strout (antonstrout) (who is, for the record, the most beloved low-to-midlist urban fantasy writer in America, or so I hear) live and in person. He did a book signing up in Pittsfield, his home stomping grounds and not distant from my college stomping grounds. So finally, I have my books signed. Hooray! I decided that bringing him a PEZ dispenser would border on creepy fangirl, so I decided to eschew it and just bring books and questions and a big smile. He did a reading from the first chapter of Deader Still, which was brilliantly creepy and got wonderful reactions from the audience (including me -- I'd forgotten how vivid, and, frankly, gross, that scene was!). The best part, however, was his commentary -- as he was reading, he'd interrupt himself and tell us little bits about the characters or his word choice or things that he liked about the scene, which was a huge enhancement to the story for me. Also (and I hope I'm not blowing his cover), he is super nice in person. Based on his blog and his books, I was expecting more snark, but he was totally gracious and sweet. (And I'm not just saying this because he might find this entry later. These are honest impressions here!)
The Barnes and Noble in Pittsfield is pretty darn great. They didn't have Pandora's Closet in stock, sadly, but I did pick up Red Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells and Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh. The staff was really great, too, but my favorite part was walking in and seeing a young woman reading manga with this huge grin on her face, totally oblivious to anyone walking by. Seeing the power of reading in person like that gives me a little thrill.
So, those are my good things. As for how my goals went while I was abroad, as it turned out, we didn't have nearly the kind of time to read or sit still and get work done in England that I'd had in Greece and Turkey -- and even in Ireland (weirdly, because I think we traveled more in Ireland with less stationary time). The England tour only has five cities, but at each of them, there are a ton of things to see within driving distance. So not only did we not have ferries to get us from place to place -- and create novel reading time -- but we spent a lot of time just being places. Given that, I'm not too upset about falling short!
Here was my checklist:
Take photographs
Check! I've already uploaded more than 100 to facebook so the students can access them. I think I have something like 600 left... I may have to weed!
Read 7 books
Nope, didn't make this one. Including my catch up week, however, I have read three full novels: The Last Olympian, The Stepsister Scheme, and Magic Strikes, as well as two ARCs: Caitlin's, and one I can't mention here. I also read five short stories from different sources (which should totally count as a novel equivalent) and almost all of the course reading (I wasn't getting graded, but I did try to keep up). So, technically, nope, didn't make it. If I stretch my definition of book, though, I got pretty close!
Finish one short story
I finished "Good Company" in London (something about being in England made me want to write about the American Revolution, apparently -- go figure), and finished my second short story in the world of Crown upon getting home. So, this one got accomplished in spades!
Compose a photo essay for Journey to the Sea
I have the photos, and I've started writing the essay. I also bought some source material there that will make the photo essay work better. I just have to put it all together!
Copyedit one autobiographical essay
I didn't even touch this one.
Blog at least once
I think I made it four times.
So, not too bad! I need to remember to follow Devon's (devonmonk) guidelines better next time, though, and remember that the Reasonable Goal should be something that's easy to get done, an absolute minimum, so that you know you can have success! I'll do better next time.