Books I Read in 2012

In 2012, I read 23 books. In 2011 it was 28 and in 2010 it was 32. I'm sensing an unfortunate trend here. Part of the problem was that I started quite a few books on the Kindle and lost interest. I either had to force myself to finish them or else I didn't finish them at all. So what did I manage to read?

My Agatha Christie shelf.

I Wrote a Screenplay

Why write when you can waste time mocking up a cover for a book you haven't actually written?

So a month ago I thought to myself, why not try writing a screenplay? I've gotten stuck trying to write anything else and I figured that, assuming I could finish it, I could then turn it into a novel. And if I never got around to that, at least I'd have written a screenplay.

I picked a story that I've already written one and half times and that was the most movie-like. The current title is Hell or High Water. Here's the log line:


A womanizing country boy and a sarcastic city girl must save a riverfront dude ranch from a killer demon.

E-book Review: Redshirts by John Scalzi

Title: Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas

Author: John Scalzi

Page count: 318

Price when I bought it: $11.99
How I read it: Kindle 

Description:  

When the lower-ranking crew members of a starship realize that away missions always end badly for everyone but the high-ranking officers, they are determined to find the reason why while avoiding the missions at all costs.

Opening Line:

From the top of the large boulder he sat on, Ensign Tom Davis looked across the expanse of cave toward Captain Lucius Abernathy, Science Officer Q'eeng and Chief Engineer Paul West perched on a second, larger boulder, and though, Well, this sucks.

My Thoughts:

 I liked Redshirts. It's funny, the dialog is snappy and the story never drags. If you like Star Trek and you like funny, you'll probably like this.

That being said, I have two reservations.

I Wrote Something

 

I wrote something. Finally.

The good news: It's 13,000 words and has a beginning, a middle and an end.

The bad news: It's fan fiction. The Cabin in the Woods fan fiction. OH YEAH.

I don't know what happened. I haven't been able to write a word in months and then by chance I saw The Cabin in the Woods, which punched me in the side of the head with its awesomeness. I couldn't stop thinking about it and in particular, about one minor character who appears on screen for maybe thirty seconds. A story about that character started growing in my head and wouldn't go away so I wrote it down. It was awesome.

That is, having a 13,000 word story come out of nowhere was awesome. The story itself is less than awesome. It needs a lot of editing and based on the number of times my heroine bursts in to tears, I suspect she may be a Mary Sue. It's bad fan fiction and I will probably be doing the world a favor if I never let it see the light of day...

But that's okay, because I wrote something!


P.S. If you're wondering about our move, it's still happening but has been put off until the fall.

On Hiatus Again

Fireplace, before and after

My fingers are crossed that by the time this posts, our house in Arizona will be one hundred percent no longer ours. It was a nice little house and we were finally getting it the way we liked it (see above) when the move happened. I hope the buyers will enjoy it as much as we did, and that they don't hate my choices in paint colors!

Now that it has sold, that means it's time for us to find a place to live in Salt Lake City (and get out of this %$#@ apartment!). The amount of options here compared to where we lived in Arizona is frankly overwhelming. There are 15 towns/suburbs that are in a comfortable commuting distance from my husband's office and according to Zillow, there are about 1500 houses in those areas in our price range. It's hard to even know where to start!

All these big decisions we have to make and another move that has to happen means that over the next few months I will have absolutely no time or brain power left to devote to blogging. Instead of feeling bad about my blogs languishing alone and unloved, I'm going to put them on hiatus for a few months until things get back to somewhat normal. But if you need anything, feel free to leave a comment or contact me - I'll still be around.

If Frustration Were a Person

Nothing goes right for Frustration. Her keys are always lost and she can never find her glasses, though nine times out of ten they are perched on top of her head. There's a word on the tip of her tongue she just can't think of and the hint of an idea at the back of her mind that never seems to jell. Her shoes pinch, her jeans squeeze (they'd fit if she lost five pounds) and the blouse she ordered from a catalog looked much better on the model than it does on her.

Frustration is envious of her older sisters Patience and Acceptance, because they never seem bothered by the same troubles that dog their little sister. Insecurity and Fear are always blocking her path, keeping her from getting what she wants. "If only they would get out of my way," she says, "then I would be a success." But what Frustration doesn't know is that, if she only took a deep breath and gave it another try, she could sidestep her troubles and accomplish her goals.

***

Writing Prompt: Personify an emotion you've felt recently, like in The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler. This was an assignment in my evening writing class.

Advice for a Paranormal Romance Heroine

(I have no explanation for this, except that it was Halloween, I was in college and there were a lot of office supplies lying around)

So you've just discovered that you're a heroine in a paranormal romance. Here's some advice for you!

• Face facts: you are not normal. Most likely you are a vampire, werewolf, fairy, demon or other supernatural being. And if you're not one yet, just wait.

• If the hot guy seems evil, he's probably good. If he seems good,  he's probably evil.

• If you find something old, it's probably magic.

• Beware of quiet, relaxing moments because that's when the monster will come to get you.

• Don't get too attached to those you love because they're probably going to die. But you can take comfort in the fact that they can come back as a ghost or zombie.

 I wrote these as a exercise in my writing class and thought I'd share. Do you have any advice for a paranormal romance heroine?