A lot of really awesome stuff was published in 2013. As I look forward to the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy voting this year, I have done my utmost to read a smattering of what is available. I will have to winnow down my selections from here, especially in the short story category, but these are my favorites. I link to the story if it's available ( Read more... )

My friend Rhonda made a comment a few days ago about how many books she reads at once, and that got me thinking. My reading habits have changed in recent years, too. I used to zoom through one book at a time. Now I tend to read two books at once: one in print, one on my iPad. I currently am reading a third book as well--skimming through for ( Read more... )

It's been one weird week; between parent-teacher conferences, ridiculous school scheduling that made it easier to just call Critter out for Friday, and then a long holiday weekend, my daily rhythm is gone. It felt nice to dive back into writing today and have the house to myself for a few hours.

Normal status check: I'm now on chapter 12 ( ( Read more... )

Earlier today I finished reading Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge. It's a brand new superhero novel. Therefore, I pushed it to the top of my to-read pile because I can dub it as "research," not merely reading.

( Cut because I do a lot of rambling about superhero books. )

I started on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and am absolutely hooked. No wonder this book has so much buzz! I'm already halfway through, and even worse I got my husband started on it. He doesn't read many books, so getting him snared on this one is a notable achievement ( Read more... )

Hooray for school days!

I already finished reading chapters 19, 20, and 21. They went pretty fast because they had a lot of action, and therefore I already edited these scenes some during November.

Favorite line of the day:
The man to my right reeked of fish, as though the odors clung to his mighty beard and decided to travel the country as his ( Read more... )

I'm now up to chapter 7 in my read-and-lightly-edit mode on Normal. It's fairly cohesive so far, and I was happy to note that I ended my first few chapters with cliffhangers - a good thing to entice agents if they want to know more. I can't help but worry, though. It's a very complex story because roughly the first half of the book has ( Read more... )

I strolled into Barnes & Noble today and I found Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak on a feature table of Valentine's-related material. There is no index by author name, so skimmed through the entire book to find my entry. I was starting to get worried and then I finally found my name on one of my last pages in the book on page 125 ( Read more... )

As a child, I was horse-obsessed. Strangers knew me by my obsession. I read every book my library had to offer and had a substantial collection of my own at home. I taught myself to run like a horse. I loved Rainbow Brite but mostly watched for Starlite. I enjoyed my Little Ponies, but my preference went to Breyer models because they were more ( Read more... )

I'm a coupon-clipping fiend. Really, as I clip coupons I have horns pop out of my head and I cackle maniacally about how I'll save 50-cents on a stick of deodorant. I like saving money, especially since I don't make any of my own because I'm a mooching housewife trying to be a published writerHere's a little bargain of note to other writers ( Read more... )