Lists

Before the lists, a review:

The Girl Who Played With Fire.

I loved it. I need the next one. NEED, I tell you.

This one picks up about a year after the last one left off, Millennium magazine is back on top after the expose and subsequent downfall of corporate giant schmuck Wennerstrom. They're taking on another hot topic: human trafficking.

Lisbeth Salander, "the woman who hates men who hate women" of course gets involved. 700 pages and several major plot twists later, it leaves you with an evil cliffhanger.

I repeat: I NEED the third book.

YOU, if you haven't read them, NEED the first book.

And scene.
On to lists.

Writing Things to Accomplish Before November:

1- Finish Halley's Comet
2- Finish/make substantial progress on He and She
3- Preliminary edit Letters to Myself
4- Polish and send queries for The Smell of Rain
5- Don't forget to have at least a vague idea of plot or characters for NaNoProper.

Fiber Things To Do Before Rhinebeck:

1- Finish Rosa's blanket
2- Finish the Evening Mist shawl
3- Finish the brookstick lace tank
4- Use the yarn that I bought last year at Rhinebeck. (which will be two as yet unstarted projects)
5- Start my first pair of socks.
6- Make an effort to incorporate as many scraps as possible into the ugly afghan, to free up space in the yarn basket.
7- Start planning Christmas projects

See those lists? I'll be (hopefully) blogging regularly about things as I complete them.
But now, I have to go work on them so...I'm out.

Wrapping Up

Irene has come and gone in Philadelphia. There's still some rain and wind, but we came through unscathed and with power. From the lack of damage chatter on the radio this morning, I'd say the rest of the city did all right too.

I had a very productive day yesterday, despite all the hurricane panic. To our credit, we didn't panic. We filled up bottles with water, put some extra containers of ice in the freezer, bought a few non perishables, and put down the storm windows. There was none of the mass hysteria that I saw on facebook from friends and family elsewhere.

I did race against Irene to get my August novel finished, in case we lost power. I made it! I hit 50,000 words and wrapped up the whole thing yesterday afternoon. It's short, and will definitely need more added to it, but the basic plot arc is there and ready to work with during my months of revision before November.

I also finished a pair of knitted baby booties. Thanks again to Lizzie, over at Books and Sushi for alerting me to the pattern. It was a perfect, simple first 3 dimensional object pattern.

On Friday after work I bought materials for my first pair of socks. I'm excited to try them, but first I really have to make some substantial progress on Rosa's 2nd Birthday blanket. (She turned two on the 22nd, but we couldn't make it up there for the party. We're planning on going soon though, so I really need to get going, or it will be a Christmas present instead.)

I have so many projects. The next post will probably be lists of all the things I want to do writing-wise before NaNoProper and all the things yarn-wise I want to do before Rhinebeck.

For now, I leave you with a picture, as I go off to work on a little girl's crayon blanket.

Beret, as promised!

I'm almost at 35,000 words. I'm struggling to get there. The big turning point of the novel just happened, and while it should be smooth sailing from here on out, it isn't quite, yet. I also haven't really gotten through the big climax. But it's getting there.

The more I write, the more I think people are going to freak out about it. And by people, I mean the general public. Because people tend to freak out about student/teacher relationships.

Anywhooo...

Ashley loved her hat. I love Ashley's hat. Eventually, I will have a purple one that matches my winter coat.

I'm Still Here

Follies is on Broadway. Or it will be. I think it doesn't open until October. It's never been my favorite Sondheim show, but I'd still love to see it. It only costs me $20 round trip to get to the city from here, so I'd like to see as much as I can while we're so close.

In other random news:

- The novel is progressing nicely. I have slightly over 27,000 words.

-I actually like it. I'm fascinated by this concept of relationships that, in any other realm of society, would be perfectly acceptable, but when you stick them in a high school setting they can't happen.

-or can they? Probably not in high school. When I first came up with this idea, I asked Liz Rosenberg, my highly respected creative writing teacher, if student/teacher relationships were too much for YA. She replied that she didn't think so, but then, she'd married her creative writing teacher.

-yes, it was in college, and yes that writing teacher was John Gardner. Yes, the man who wrote Grendel and is one of the most esteemed writers of the 20th century.

-I'm getting off topic.

-I'll have new crochet pictures to post on Sunday. I can't post them until Ashley has the present in her hands, which will happen Saturday.

-I'm going to see Dan Radcliffe again on Saturday. Be jealous :)

-Still chugging steadily through The Girl Who Played With Fire.

-It's long, and I have a lot of things I'm working on, currently, so it maybe be another week or two before I'm finished.

-Finally, a picture. Someday, this novel will be printed by a printer that isn't related to me.

Overcoming Week Two Doldrums

I've crossed the 15,000 word mark in my second of two Camp NaNo novel-writing months. Despite the fact that we are entering the middle of the notorious, infamous, evil week two doldrums, I feel like my novel is actually taking off. And I'm enjoying it.

I'm still struggling with the first person part of it, but it's good practice. Here's the cover I designed to celebrate the first 15,000 words. Does it make you want to read the book?



In other news, I'm a couple hundred pages into The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's just as good as the first one so far, but I'll let you know when I finish it.

Odds and Ends

I haven't updated in almost a week. I don't have too much exciting to say, but I thought I'd write something quick, just to keep in the habit.

I should be writing for CampNaNo Round Two, but I'll do that after work. I don't have enough time right now to really get involved.

This idea, like last months novel, has been kicking around in my head for awhile, and I suppose it could be considered....wait for it...Young Adult.

WHAT?!

I know. I don't even like Young Adult. That said, I think it would only fall into that category because two of my three main characters are in their senior year of high school. I won't tell you too much about the plot, because it's a little hazy right now and because I don't want it stolen, but I will say that it involves a student/teacher relationship.

Oooh, le scandal.

And now, before I go off to eat some cereal and take care of some dogs, I'll leave you with a picture of my latest shawl.



Baby Alpaca Lace....sooooo yummy :)

Ender's Game

I have less than 4,000 words to go for this month's CampNaNo novel. This makes me excited. Here's the primitive cover that I designed for it:



Does it make you want to read it? I hope so. It won't be nearly finished in the next 4,000 words, so don't hold your breath. But hopefully someday you'll get to read it.

For a smoothish transition, we'll now turn from books that I'm writing to books that I'm reading. Or rather, have read recently.

Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro

I'm pretty sure I spelled his name right. I'm sorry if I didn't. This was a book that I was told I 'had to read.'

It was. I loved it.
Set in a dystopian-ish society, it is the story of Kathy, a carer who is caring for her old school friends. As she does, they remember their lives as children at Hailsham, a private boarding school somewhere in England.
Through their memories the reader discovers more about them, and how very different they are from the rest of the society, and eventually, what their purpose in that society will be.

Of course, I can't tell you any of it, because it would ruin the whole book. Written beautifully, and paced beautifully, I've read that this is the weakest of Ishiguro's novels. If it is, I'm dying to read the 'good ones.' The book is like learning a secret about a friend, from little pieces gathered from other people. I thought it was wonderful, couldn't put it down, and highly recommend it. It would be a great book club book; there's a lot that can be discussed.

Next, Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card

I've had people telling me that I should read this for about ten years. I feel like if I had read it ten years ago, I would have thought that it was a lot better. It wasn't terrible, and I didn't hate it, but my overall reaction, and Ben's as well, was: meh.

It's interesting, though we both guessed the twist. The characters are good, mostly round. The story is engaging, and the world that Card creates is similar enough to be thought provoking, and different enough that it's science fiction at the same time.

What bugged me (hah, no pun intended. Buggers...see what I did there? :p ) the most, was the end. Ben and I agreed that it was weak. Card tried too hard to leave it wide open for a sequel and that was annoying. It reminded me a little bit of J.K Rowling's infamous epilogue. Just a bit.

If you haven't read it stop for a second:

I like that the buggers had been watching Ender through the computers the way that he'd been watching them, and that they built the End of the World. That was interesting. Him becoming the Speaker for the Dead I thought didn't ring true to the character that he had become.

Okay, come back people who didn't want spoilers.

Weak ending. Not the best book ever. I recommend it to little kids. They'll think it's awesome that kids are running the world.

Finally, I've finished a scarf that I've been working on for months. I love it!