December 2012 Wrap Up
A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
READING
Ancient Creek, Gurney Norman
As a writer, it can be a hard thing to throw your work out into the world, not knowing if your reader’s will pick up what you’ve put down. Art is subjective, always. Ancient Creek is a modern day folktale, not to mention a quick and entertaining read. The second half of the book is entirely compromised of critical essays about the work. I found this pretty unusual, to say the least, but an awesome reminder of the wide, unrestrained influence of art. Once something’s been created and released for mass consumption, not even the creator can control how their work is received. The story is fun and clever, but it’s the whole package that makes this a good read.
LISTENING
Gary Clark Jr, Blak And Blu
Awesome album, right from the first listen. I am dying to see this guy live- his music has so much energy, I can’t wait to see how it sounds in person. Some of the tracks are less than memorable but, overall, this was a great album to end the year with.
Mumford & Sons, Babel
A good, solid album, exactly as advertised. It did feel like it was missing something; that is, any standout songs whatsoever. I was a big fan of “Sigh No More” when it came out, in part because there were songs I really loved on that album (“Thistle and Weeds” still gives me goosebumps). This was good, but the kind of record you happily play as background music (or shower music), but never feel the need to crank up the volume
WRITING 8566 words
I spent approximately a gazillion hours working on grad school apps, not to mention plotting my novel, tracking down references, and generally ignoring anything not related to the application process
WATCHING
Nothing
I did watch a lot of tv this month, but it was all things I’ve seen before (FMA, Gossip Girl, etc), good background stuff. I started “American Horror Story” and “Spaced”, but didn’t get very far. I was simply too busy to devote my full attention to anything.
VISITING
Las Vegas, Nevada
As I told a friend of mine, I’m starting to think Vegas is my spirit animal. I didn’t go for the gambling or drinking or general debauchery, I went to relax and to write. And I did (though, ok, I did gamble and drink a bit). I also wrote a trip report, which will get it’s own special post.