I won an award! See! It’s over there, in the right hand sidebar, under the calendar. Thank you to whomever nominated me. I am tremendously honored.
This is going to be VERY spastic, but I have a lot of things roaming around my mind this morning.
My new issue of Book Forum came in the mail yesterday. This is only my second issue, but I ate up the first one I received, so I’m sure this will be no different. There looks to be a fascinating article of Shakespeare by James Shapiro called “Much Ado About Shakespeare” amongst other interesting articles. And of course lots of books, books, books. I can’t wait to dig in. The reviews alone look good. This may be my new favorite magazine. I just wish I came out more often.
This has to be one of the most touching, yet also horrible, stories I have read in awhile. After 65 years, two siblings who were separated by the Holocaust have been reunited. 65 years. Not knowing that the other was still alive. I cried like a baby reading this article. It’s just so wonderful. And sad.
I am enjoying The Woman in White immensely. I am finding Collins to be much more accessible than Dickens, his contemporary. But, you could sense the but couldn’t you? But, I am not totally sure I appreciate the way he writes women. So far only woman woman in the book (I’m about 150 pages in) seems to have any wits and backbone about her. I’m holding out hope she stays that way.
Is anyone going to do NaNoWriMo this year? If you don’t know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month which is November. You have one month to write a 50,000 word novel. It can be about anything you want, any genre, any style, as bad as can be. You just have to write a novel. I participated last year, but didn’t do very well. It was right after my grandmother (really, mother) died and I was so wrapped up in my grief I couldn’t really concentrate. I still have that novel in progress (sort of) because it’s (I think) a fantastic idea. I’m tempted to use it again, even though you are not supposed to use pre-existing work, but I really would like to get this book written. And I don’t know if I can come up with another idea. Well, actually I’m sure I could, but I don’t know if I want 2 novels going at once. Decisions decisions.
See what happens when I have caffeine? I don’t drink much, but when I do, my mind goes all over the place. Maybe I should drink it a lot in November. Would make for interesting writing.
I commented on the same thing about Collins' The Haunted Hotel and think it is pretty common for books in this time period. I'm noticing the same thing in The Wyvern Mystery.
Yep, I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year for the first time. Should be fun. I hope!
Congrats on the award! It is well deserved.
I too am really enjoying Woman in White. I'm only about 70 pages in but am thrilled that it was recommended because it is fun…and very accessible.
That magazine looks great, may have to look into picking that one up.
Yay you for the award!
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo for two reasons – I have no story to write and I'm sure that halfway through I'd be ready to jump off a bridge.
I loved that story about the siblings too. So sad that they were separated all those years but so happy that they found each other.
Congrats on the award!
Yes, congrats on the award! I really liked The Woman in White, but like Jenclair said, I think it is fairly common that women are portrayed this way in this period. She does get spunkier though, I think!
You do sound a little buzzed!
Of course we like you! Congrats on the award. Well-deserved. Thanks for the link to the magazine. Looks like something I may have to get.
Again, congrats on the award, Heather! Glad you won!
I've considered NaNoWriMo, but I don't know that I have the discipline to stick with it… I've got a work-in-progress, too, that I'd like to get finished. I'll keep thinking about it…
Congrats on your spiffy award!
I am thinking of doing NaNoWriMo again this year. Last year was my first time participating and although I managed to eke out 50,000 words just before deadline, it was a pretty crazy month and the novel itself is total crap that hasn't seen the light of day since!
Congrats Heather!!
Woo-hoo – congrats on the award!
I tried to do NaNoWrimo last year. Failed miserably and I'm not really in the mood this go around. Good luck if you decide to go for it.
Congrats on the award, Heather!
I'm planning to do NaNoWriMo, again. Last year was my first year and I had no idea what I was going to write when I began. In fact, I worked on one story (I usually just start with a shred of dialogue or an opening sentence and let thing unfold) for 3 days, ditched it and started over – and I did finish. Although the book was pretty awful, it was a great feeling to complete a novel as I'd been struggling to finish one for years. Go for it! It's fun!