Sunday, October 25, 2015

Taking the Challenge... Write a Novel in 30 Days

This blog has been about books I've currently read, for the most part. However, I'm not just an avid reader of just about anything, I'm also a writer. Granted, I am a procrastinating writer. I have yet to actually finish a novel to it's final stages for it to be published, indie style in my case. Though, I do have a few completed rough drafts.

I can say that I wouldn't have those drafts if it wasn't for a site called NaNoWriMo, aka National novel Writing Month. This month happens to be in November and in those 30 short days the site is challenging the writer to write 50 thousand words. I did it for several years and I enjoyed myself because I was challenging myself, but more than that, I was writing a novel. It didn't have to be perfect, it just had to be written.

I love the image of a man or woman sitting in a coffee shop, bookstore, or the like with a cup of coffee or tea, writing or reading. I love being that person actually. I basically do that from the comfort of my couch, but the image is there and it's awesome.

For the last couple of years, I haven't been able to do Nano because of life. Even this year seems to be daunting, but I'm going to try. I would rather try and fail, than not to have tried. On the bright side, I'll have some sort of manuscript by the end of it and that's nothing to scoff at. As long as one can maintain something like 1667 words a day or so, one can write 50k in 30 days. Plus they have nifty badges to let the world know you are doing the challenge.


I will still be trying to read as much as possible as well. There are so many books and so little time. I have several I am in the middle of right now. They are in different stages of being completed and as I finish them, I'll list them and tell you what I think. I might even tell you where I'm at in this challenge, so watch out for the insanity to ensue.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

So Many Books... And a Movie

It's been over a month since there's been a post. Oh dear. I have read several books in the last month, but I have been very very busy and haven't posted about any of them. Shame on me. Of course I was reading across the board. It will be evident by just how varied my reading is by the books I've read this month. There was a paperback I was looking forward to being released at the beginning of last month which I read pretty quickly. I didn't have a choice, I promised my friend and fellow blogger the book the next time I saw her. Otherwise, I have been reading on my Kindle. I never thought I would enjoy digital books, but I do even though there is something about paper books that can never be replaced. Plus they don't require batteries. I'm only going to talk about two of the books I read this past month.

Nalini Singh has the Guild Hunter series that I love and it was the paperback I was waiting for. Archangels, vampires, and hunters oh my. Archangel's Enigma is the latest novel in the series where Naasir is the hero. Naasir is a vampire, but he's also something more, something not human. He's on a mission to find his mate and he finds her alright, a scholar angel with secrets. There is mystery, humor, and action. I love how each novel builds onto the next in this world with one all encompassing plot line. Being inside of Naasir's mind was fun. He doesn't have the same thought processes as other characters. He has a very childlike attitude, only he's hundreds of years old and in the service of an archangel. The description was amazing. I don't want to spoil any of the books I read for other readers so I won't go into any of the details. With this being book eight, I would suggest reading books 1-7 along with the book of novellas, unless you are one of the few that can get away with reading books out of order.

After I finished this book, I already had another one lined up. I entered a Facebook giveaway for a new favorite author, Jade West, and won her latest novel Dirty Bad Strangers. It's a dark erotic novel that is defiantly 18+. I loved her first two novels and there are a few points in all the books where I have cringed. It's all good, because that just means the writing sucked me in and engaged me. This novel was about a woman named Gemma who enjoys sex with strangers and she happens to work as a sex chatline operator. It's there she meets a caller named Jason and he is her ultimate fantasy. She does the one thing she isn't supposed to and gives Jason her phone number and it turns into dirty bad stranger sex. Like the title says, its dirty and bad. Not only does Gemma have sex with Jason, she's blindfolded and knows nothing about him other than his first name. There are plenty of sex games between these two and friends of Jason. One of my favorite things about this book is that Gemma meets Cara, a character in the previous books.

Of course this weekend was also the release of The Martian on the big screen. After having read the book, I was looking forward to this movie. The trailers looked good, and Matt Damon seemed to be Mark Watney. Since I read the book, I understood the jokes. This is a drama and not a comedy, but being on a deserted planet without communication to anyone means, one has to keep themselves sane somehow. Comedy only makes sense. I was disappointed in how certain things were explained, but as we all know, movies don't follow books exactly. Other than certain scenes not making their way into the movie, I was happy with the movie. I would suggest watching it and I would say reading the novel makes the experience even better.

On a wacky sidenote, I have noticed that trailers are showing clips or having audio that never makes it into the movie. It's becoming something like a game for me now. I try to place the scenes and in some cases the audio as I watch the movie. Sometimes I'm disappointed in not seeing or hearing what was in the trailer because I want to know where is would have been. Anyone else have thoughts about movies trailers?