© Benji87 – Fotolia.com
“Yeah, you just aim them peepers somewhere’s else, bub. That’s it, keep walkin.’ Nuttin’ to see here. Oh hey, you gots food? Hey, come back here, I’m talkin’ to ya’s!”
Your job this week is to write a story, poem, whatever you like about this inquisitive-looking seagull.
As always, if you do come up with something inspired by this prompt (and I hope you do) and you post it on your blog, please come back and let me know. I’d love to read it!
Happy writing!
Life sometimes throws you curve balls.
I had four books to choose from: Don Quixote, by Cervantes; The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H.G. Wells; The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame and David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens.
I’d nearly made up my mind (with the help of the advice given by those who read the original post) to go with Wells. Then I found a book I’d lost awhile back. It seems to me that when I find a book after it’s been lost for some time, it’s like that book is begging to be read.
Who am I to argue with fate? Especially since the author recently passed away and I’ve been wanting to get into some of his works that I haven’t read, including this one.
So that settles it.
For my NaNoReM0 2013 read, I’m going to the Red Planet with Mr. Bradbury.
Look for my tweets and Facebook statuses as I go along.
Happy reading, everyone!
As my friend John Wiswell recently pointed out, National Novel Reading Month, or NaNoReMo, is almost upon us.
National Novel Reading Month is when we look to the sad state of our reading lives, the classics that we have shamefully avoided or haven’t had the time to enjoy. Excuses, excuses. I am so poor in my classical reading that it’s not funny, it’s tragic. There are hundreds of classic books that I’ve yet to read. NaNoReMo is when I get a chance to help rectify that pitiful condition.
Last year, I read these two wonderful books. But before I read them, I downloaded a huge pile of free Kindle classics to my iPhone. I have a lot to choose from this year. I’m going in circles trying to decide what book to read.
I made a list of those that I would consider “classics” and filtered that into a shortlist of four books I thought I might be able to choose from. Now, I need your help. Let me know what you think of any, or all, of these books in the comments. You’re opinion may be the one that leads me to my new favorite classic.
Thank you.
#NaNoReMo 2013 Shortlist:
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. How my childhood missed this classic fantasy, I don’t know. As a fan of fantasy, and animal fables (Chronicles of Narnia; Watership Down; One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, etc…) I have always hungered to delve into this tale of forest creatures.
Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. I’m taking Spanish 2 and have this book on my Kindle app in both English and Spanish. Wondering if reading it and comparing the two would help me get through the class a little better. I’d like to read this at some point in my life, but not sure now is the time.
The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H.G. Wells. I loved War of the Worlds, and this sounds like a really cool book. I’ve also never entirely read The Time Machine. I’m not listing it because I read about a third of it and then got sidetracked. I would like to finish that book someday. But the Island of Doctor Moreau has always appealed to me. It sounds like a cool, mad scientist story. I’d like to find out someday if I’ve judged the book by it’s title correctly.
Last book I’m considering is David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens. I’ve read (and dearly love) A Tale of Two Cities. It’s one of my favorite classics. I have not read another Dickens book and I need to remedy that. Soon. Not sure if this is the next Dickens book I need to read or not. I’ve considered others, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. Would love to hear what my reader/writer friends think on the matter.
So, friends, what classic book do you think I should tackle for National Novel Reading Month?
NOTE: Read John Wiswell’s post for more information, if you’d like to participate in National Novel Reading Month yourself.
I posted a status to Facebook that people liked about some more 2013 Resolutions that occurred to me. I’m going to re-post that here.
More ressies:
Also, I’m setting a new reading goal with Goodreads to try and read 50 books. I almost accomplished that last year. Here’s to reading! 
A love of reading.
© Redshinestudio – Fotolia.com
Here we are, this year coming to a close and staring down the barrel of a new one.
2012 was a great year. Many good things happened. I won some awards both for academics and for writing. I didn’t publish as many short stories, but I feel like the ones I did publish were better stories. I got paid for my first story, Nowhere Land, and that story got some great reviews. I had my first reprint: my story The ABCs of the Apocalypse was reprinted in The Best of Friday Flash, Volume 2. I had a vampire story, The Bloodletter’s Tale, published in the Flashes in the Dark e-zine. I have a story called The Apprentice’s Mother, being published in the Sunday Snaps anthology soon.
I ventured into journalism, writing a story for the school online newspaper about President Obama’s visit to one of our campuses.
I was nominated by my school for the All Florida Academic Team. I had a short story win two academic awards.
I did not do everything I planned to do in 2012. I’m still working on getting my book of short stories finished and out there in the world.
That being said, my list for 2013 contains some items of old business.
There are also some major changes in store for me in 2013, some life adaptations that I’ll be making. But as a friend of mine, Sophie Solitaire once told me: “You have to adapt or you will die.” Sophie is a character in my post-apocalyptic story Sophie Solitaire: Confessions of an End-Time Girl.
2013 Goals:
Writing/Publishing Goals:
Kill the Crow – Get the stories that are going in it finished, get them all assembled in anthology format and find beta readers for the book. Find out how I can publish to both Smashwords and Amazon. If anyone reading this can help me with beta reading or publishing suggestions, please comment. I need all the help I can get.
Quellseek: Army of Empaths, Book 1 – This is the novel I started for NaNoWriMo this year. I want to finish it and let it sit for a bit before I start editing. I’ve also begun note-taking and planning the second book of the series: Blood War.
Blood War: Army of Empaths, Book 2 – The second book of Army of Empaths. I won’t give too much away, but Quellseek ends with some cliffhanger stuff. I want to start work on Blood War right way, while the momentum and juices are still hot and flowing.
Army of Empaths, Book 3 – I want to begin planning what’s going to happen in the 3rd book while I’m writing the 2nd book, taking notes as I go along on anything that might be a loose end that would need wrapping up. We don’t like loose ends.
Short stories — I’d like to get some short stories written, I don’t know if I’ll have time. If I get invited to write another eMergent story, I’d definitely say ‘yes.’ I love working with Jodi Cleghorn and the eMergent crew.
I’m also planning a children’s fantasy about a dragon princess, but it’s just in the beginning/tinkering stages right now. And I’m playing with the idea of putting a volume of poetry together.
The Were-Travler — My first year as a fiction magazine publisher went pretty smoothly. Ever since the mag was listed on Duotropes, the submissions have been pouring in. It may be that I’ll need someone to help me with it eventually, but I’m having a lot of fun with it and definitely plan to keep it going.
Academic Goals:
Find a new school. In May, I will receive my Associates degree. I need to make up my mind about what university I’m going to attend to get my Bachelors. I need to make this decision soon. It hasn’t been easy. I’ve applied for some scholarships, we’ll see what happens.
Awards. I’m trying to get another short story ready for Phi Theta Kappa Regional Awards for this year. I’m also entering a poem.
Survive Spanish 2. I need to pass this class in the Spring. It will count toward my BA. I haven’t been able to practice my Spanish much since I took Spanish 1 in the summer, so this will be hard. I may have to get a tutor. 
This is what I hope to accomplish for 2013. If I can achieve a fraction of it, I’ll be happy.
I wish everyone a successful and happy new year ahead!
I gave myself a reading challenge with Goodreads this year. I set a goal of reading 50 books (that’s 1.04 books per week). Even though that was a daunting figure, and I did not succeed, I did manage to read 43 books! Only 7 short of 50, and the year is not over yet. I plan to challenge myself to the same goal in 2013.
Some of the best reads I’ve had in 2012 (most of which have been series):
I wish you great reading joy in 2013!
Excerpt from Quellseek: Army of Empaths. From the end of Chapter 9, A Visitor in the Night (Wellynd Niles, POV). Wellynd wraps up his visit to Bon Pelees Atarem, a strange stopover even for a spy. He received a visitor to his room which left him disturbed (and not a little frustrated!) and saw a curious sight in the early dawn, a person sneaking out of the keep instead of into it! In this excerpt, Wellynd ends his visit by giving Pelees a revelation.
“Thank you for delivering your message and may all the Unnamed see you home in safety. Doralinda made you up this bundle of food for your journey.” Pelees handed him a packet wrapped in linen.
“Thank you, my lord. A fine woman, your serving lady.”
Pelees looked surprised. “You were speaking with her yesterday.”
“Yes. I was getting a bottle of ghurzin from your storehouse. She is very concerned for you, my bon. As are we all.”
Pelees looked angry. “She spoke out of turn, I fear. I shall have to chastise her.”
“Don’t. Please, my lord. She spoke only out of her worry. She suffers greatly.”
“I know,” Pelees nodded. “She was very attached to Nissen. It hurt her when he quelled my poisoning.”
‘Now here’s a chance for me to do some good on this visit, at last,’ Wellynd thought.
“Is that what you think, my lord? That she loved your Quell?”
Pelees screwed up his eyes, not comprehending his guest’s meaning. “She must have…the way she cried when he died.”
Wellynd Niles put his heel to his horse and started to trot away, following his other guards and Wallis who were already leaving the stable. Then he stopped and turned to regard Bon Pelees Atarem thoughtfully.
“Hmm…yet her meander was the first one to leave Blackened Falls when you were poisoned, before your Quell was even feeling the full effect of it.” He grinned. “Well…I’ve heard it said love is blind. It must be stupid as well. Beg pardon, my lord. Thank you for your hospitality. Until we meet again.”
Then Wellynd Niles spun his horse around and headed out of the stable, leaving the Bon gaping after him in confusion, before Pelees could feel the full measure of the insult and call him back to have him flogged.
© Astrid Gast – Fotolia
