Just sending out a quick little post to say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy Kwanza! I’m afraid I missed my chance to say Happy Hanukkah as that ended over a week ago (apologies!) but the sentiment remains!
My family and I are not particularly religious these days, but we still go all out for Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday – I just love the colors and the lights and the decorations and the music and the food and the whole atmosphere! My mother and I, in particular, are a bit obsessed, actually…. we have FIVE Christmas trees! Each has a different theme or color scheme! We only put up three of them this year, though. My mother also has a collection of Santas and Nutcrackers that we display every year! Anyway, here’s a few photos of our decorations, in case a few colorful festive photos might make anyone smile.
Yes, that last one is me…. *shrug* Anyway! Merry Christmas and all that! And Happy New Year!
Hello all! Today, I have more of a general life update kind of post. Just to share a few things while I start working on a couple new book reviews.
First of all: I wanted to share my overall progress for NaNoWriMo 2020! I didn’t make it to the 50k words as I’d hoped, but I did still have a very productive month, and I made good progress on my new project. I ended up with about 27k words, which is still WAY more than I have managed in a single month in AGES (though I came fairly close to that back during Camp Nano in April, with about 23k words). Just as important, I am getting better at building up a daily (or almost-daily) habit, which makes me happy. Even if I don’t write a LOT per day, just being more intentional and consistent about my writing is a huge step in the right direction. Here’s a couple snapshots of my Nano progress over the month:
In OTHER news, I finished two books in ONE DAY this week, completing the audiobook of The Name of the Wind while I was working, and finishing reading the ARC of Hall of Smoke that night while sitting in bed. They were both EXCELLENT. And I had been working through Name of the Wind off and on (while reading other things as well) for TWO MONTHS, so I’m glad I finally finished it. I will have book reviews up for both of those, hopefully fairly soon. *crosses fingers* (I then immediately started RE-READING House in the Cerulean Sea, which I have concluded is DEFINITELY going to be my fave book of the year now.)
And in finally happy news (for me anyway), with a pay raise I got in September and a bit of assistance from my friend/employer (we’re too small a business to buy into group insurance rates, but she does what she can) I have finally managed to get health insurance for the first time in THREE YEARS. I am very excited about this! I haven’t been to a doctor for a single thing in THREE YEARS (and I haven’t been to a dentist in…. uh…. a really REALLY long time). So yay!
Ok, that’s all from me for now! I’ll be back with book reviews soon, I hope!
Hey there, folks! Sorry I’ve been radio silent for so long. First, I was elbow deep in work (October was absolutely NUTS folks, and I’m still in the process of getting totally caught up). And THEN, NaNoWriMo started last Sunday, and that’s been keeping me busy too.
I think most people know what NaNoWriMo is these days, but just in case: NaNoWriMo stands for “National Novel Writing Month,” which takes place every November. It’s an event that started in 1999, and the challenge is to write 50,000 words (which is considered the average length of a novel) in just one month, from Nov 1st through 30th. It’s a ton of fun for those of us who are writerly types. You can find the website and more info here: nanowrimo.org
This year is my fifth attempt to “win” Nano (by winning, we mean actually completing the 50,000 words — while the organization has partnered with some places that provide fun prizes for winners, such as a discount to purchase the writing program Scrivener and such, its really just a personal victory sort of win). The only time I actually finished and won was during my very first attempt back in 2010. Since then I have barely even come close to finishing 50k words — in fact, last year I only managed about 7k for the whole month. I try not to put too much pressure on myself, after all I am working and this is mostly supposed to be fun, but I am determined to make a real push for 50k words this year! *fingers crossed*
My project this year is a secondary-world fantasy, with the tentative title The Onyx Seal. I’m usually a very serious planner, with lots of outlines and chapter break-downs ready long before the month starts, but this year I came up with the story idea late in October, and have done almost NO planning whatsoever. I’m pretty much totally pantsing it this year, which is both terrifying and exciting! So far, I’m pretty much right on track with the daily word goal (I fell a tiny bit behind the word count last night, but I should be able to get caught back up today).
Also, because I am addicted to the Penguin Classics Cover Generator (found HERE), I made myself a book cover for my project:
If you’re a Nanoer, I wish you the best of luck with your project! If you’re not, but you’re intrigued, I hope you’ll take a look at the website, and come join us (either this year, or next year!).
A few months ago, after years of saying I eventually would, I finally bought a little kit to teach myself how to cross-stitch. What with the quarantine and all, it seemed like the perfect time to try my hand at a new hobby. I even shared my first couple endeavors here on the blog. But then I kind of stopped talking about it.
Well, let me tell you, folks! I am hooked!
I have been trying increasingly difficult patterns. I have moved on from pre-made kits and have started downloading patterns from digital shops online and buying whole skeins of embroidery floss. I have quite a collection already! Approximately 80 colors and counting!
I have become so obsessed that I have been thinking about subscriber to a bloody cross-stitch magazine (who is this person I have become!?) and I found a wonderful blog that offers free geek-themed cross-stitch patterns here at Cross Stitch Quest. They are wonderful! 😍
I am currently working on Sleeping Beauty’s castle from Disneyland (I have mentioned before that I’m a huge Disney nerd!)— from this Etsy shop: Awesome Pattern Studio — and I will soon be starting a secret project for a Christmas present.
There is something delightful about doing cross-stitch. I have always liked working with my hands, I have an appreciation for fine detail work. I also love art, but I’m not a particularly good artist, so I feel like this is a bit like painting for me. The designs are pre-set, of course (though I’m already making plans to try making my own patterns), but still… The image comes together through my handiwork. And the motions are fine and repetitive, almost mindless, a little like some people say kitting or crochet is. So it can also be very meditative and therapeutic. And on top of all that, you have lovely creations you can frame or hang up, or make into a pillow case, or give as gifts!
How many random new hobbies can one person pick up before it becomes silly and possibly stupid?
…asking for a friend…
Me. I’m asking for me.
In the last few months (and frankly, even BEFORE the whole COVID quarantine nonsense got started – like even as far back as a year ago) I have started re-picking up old half-started hobbies I had tried out as a kid, or dropped because of grad school, and picking up brand new hobbies that I had always wanted to try.
These new and renewed hobbies include: 1) puzzles (I am slightly addicted) 2) drawing (I have always wanted to be an artist but never had the talent or the patience to keep practicing) 3) cross-stitch (as mentioned before) 4) junk journaling 5) making miniatures 6) stamp collecting (I tried briefly as a kid because my dad was a bit of a philatelist, but it didn’t last, and I just randomly started buying bundles of stamps again a couple months ago because I totally have loads of surplus cash lying around… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
Some other random hobbies I have thought about picking up: 1) I have always wanted to learn how to do paper quilling 2) making zines (as mentioned in my previous post) 3) sewing/making cosplay (I have always wanted to and I just recently started planning a cosplay outfit for the first time ever!)
And all of this is on top of my reading and writing habits I’ve been trying to reinvigorate the last 6 months or so…. (And on top of my day job…)
I just wish most of these hobbies didn’t cost quite so much money! Why must most hobbies be so damn expensive???
Ok, back to your regularly scheduled program. (I’m almost done with Charmed Life and will hopefully post a review later this week!)
Hello folks! I apologize for the long pauses between posts lately. I’ve been working a lot of hours and that trend is likely to continue through November at least. I am trying to get better at staying on top of things and using what free time I have productively, but alas, I’ve been so exhausted the last couple weeks that I usually get home from work, make (or order) dinner, take care of the dogs, and then crawl into bed to stare at the ceiling for a few hours.
Anyway! I confess I haven’t done much reading as of late, and what reading I have done has been mostly re-reading, rather than reading anything new. As I mentioned before, I am working my way through Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series, again. I recently finished the second book, Lirael, and have now started the third book, Abhorsen.
I am, however, also reading the first of the Chrestomanci books by Diana Wynne Jones, which is called Charmed Life. I have been meaning to read these books for AGES and just never seemed to get around to it. And I needed something a little lighter/funnier to listen to while I work, so I borrowed the first audiobook from the library. I’m about ⅔ of the way through it now and I really like it!
I am technically also reading Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. I am reading that one in print, but I haven’t actually picked it up in almost two weeks so… Not much progress is being made on that front currently.
What little free (and conscious/lucid) time I have had lately has been devoted to a new project.
I am considering making a zine.
Well, I say “considering” – I am, in fact, already tinkering with/formatting one in a free publishing app. What I’m considering is whether or not I will actually try to print and sell it.
I love zines. Good ol’ fashion handmade DIY zines. Newer, more modern, glossy printed zines. Political zines. Personal/poetry zines. Fan zines. Art zines. ALL THE ZINES!
If you aren’t familiar with the zine as a genre, here’s a couple links to some useful explanations:
(sidenote, there is some crossover and bleedthrough between zines and chapbooks…)
Zines are such a great way to make something with your own two hands (or computer), as an outlet for political ideas, fandom, emotions, creativity, whatever! And I have always wanted to try my hand at one. Or several. Eventually, I think I’d like to try making/collaborating on a fanzine or two, with other writers and artists and such, but for now I’m trying a personal zine on my own. I have compiled a collection of poetry and a few short creative nonfiction/memoir-ish essay-thingies that I’ve written over the years and didn’t know what to do with, in combination with a couple photos and a few doodles, and I am tinkering with putting them together into something semi-passable.
I’m still on the fence about whether or not I will try to print and sell it. If you look on Etsy there are tons of great, fun zines for sale! Some are totally handmade DIY old-school, and some are more glossy and professionally designed and printed, perfect bound instead of just stapled, and so forth. And they can range in price anywhere from like $5 to something like $15 depending on the quality and on the person selling them. If I did sell mine, it would probably only be for like $5-6 since it would be entirely handmade and all. But, we’ll see… *shrug*
Anyway, how are you all doing? Is the situation of the world-at-large freaking you all out yet? Here in Houston we are currently flipping out over the fact that there are currently not one, but TWO separate hurricanes forming in the Gulf! For the first time in recorded history! How fun! Only in 2020, folks… *cries*
OK, so this blog is supposed to be mainly about books, with a bit about movies and such here and there, so really I probably shouldn’t be subjecting my handful of readers to a rant about an anime, but I’m doing it anyway. Because I can. Not sorry.
I finished Fairy Tail yesterday. And I’m feeling some kinda way.
So, some backstory: Fairy Tail is anime that started in 2009 (it was a manga first, like so many anime, but that’s a separate discussion). The original run was 7 seasons that wrapped up in 2014. I didn’t start watching it when it first started – I started it just as season 7 was ending, on the recommendation of my brother (who keeps up with more anime than I can name!), and had watched all 7 seasons by the end of 2015.
Then, a new season – a kind of prequel/in-between arc – came out in 2016. SO, I made a crazy decision to re-watch the whole series again, from the beginning and then go through the new season. This time I skipped a bunch of filler arcs and some dumb throwaway episodes, and I was watching it with my mother (we are whole anime-loving family!) and we BLASTED through it (we sometimes would sit and watch 15-20 episodes in a single weekend!). The season ended on a somewhat sour note and then the show went into a long hiatus. The manga author was writing an ending in the manga, so the anime producers said they would do a final season when they had an ending.
That final season didn’t come out until the beginning of 2019, and by then it had been three years since I’d watched the show (except for re-watching an episode here or there just for the fun of it, of course). So I made the insane decision to ONCE AGAIN watch the whole thing from beginning to end. This time, I would watch every single episode, not skipping a single one, and this time it would TRULY be from beginning to END. I started the re-watch in early 2019 – I THINK around February, though I can’t quite remember. I watched usually just a couple episodes per night, and sometimes would not watch for a week or several weeks at a time if I was busy, or too tired at night. So it has taken me about a year and a half. But I finished it, all 328 episodes, from beginning to surprisingly satisfying ending, last night.
I’m not going to try to explain or recap the whole show for all you non-anime folks, but I’ll just say: Fairy Tail is in a lot of ways your standard shonen adventure anime. It’s a fantasy, set in a fantasy land, and it focuses on the adventures (on might say MIS-adventures) of a guild of wizards (in a world of many guilds of wizards) called Fairy Tail. The MAIN main characters are the central five (later seven characters) Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Ezra, Happy, Wendy, and Carla. There adventures, of course, get bigger and bigger as the series go, until by the end of the series, they are dealing with literally world-ending villains and events. It’s full of (melo)drama, and humor, and kickass fight scenes, and its cheesy as hell! In many instances, the day is saved (and in the last couple episodes, literally all of reality) by the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. Literally. And I loved every single fucking second of it!
I found the ending surprisingly satisfying. So many shows (Western or otherwise) end the series in some depressing way in which all the characters go their separate ways, or everyone dies, or in some other way that feels way too FINAL. I much prefer endings in which we get a sense of “and their adventures continued! (You’re just not going to see them).” Fairy Tail had that ending. The bad guy was defeated, the world was saved, a few people died but a few more survived than I thought would, a couple of my preferred ships went canon, a few others were left ambiguous as ever (anime loves to do that!), and the main characters were all preparing to go on their next adventure!
But I am feeling some kind of way, folks! Endings always mess me up, especially after a very long series. And I have been devoting SO MUCH time and energy to it. I watched the whole series three times through, and this was probably the last time I’ll do that (at least for a very long time…). As Zaphod says in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “I need to go find something else for my entire life to be about…” (I’m currently considering re-watching My Hero Academia and catching up. I was watching it pretty consistently for awhile, but completely lost track at the beginning of season four).
If you like anime in a general sense, but haven’t watched Fairy Tail specifically, I HIGHLY recommend it. Especially if you enjoy a good, exciting, endearing shonen-style anime.
For now, I think I just need to sit with my feelings for awhile.
Ok, anime rant done now. Back to your regularly scheduled program.
Hello all. Long time no see. It’s been nearly two months since I posted anything here, for which I apologize. There were a few reasons for this, some obvious, some not so much.
The last couple months have been difficult on a global scale, for pretty much everyone. On top of the continued stress and anxiety and weirdness of the COVID-19 situation and quarantine, those of us in the U.S. (and to a smaller degree, in other countries) have been dealing with the powerful resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, in response to continued and escalating police violence against the black community. This has obviously been a particularly difficult time for the black community, but it has also been difficult for those of us who consider ourselves allies. (I have been very vocal and active on this matter in other places – Facebook, Twitter, petitions, donation campaigns, etc. but I’m not planning on getting into here for the very simple reason that pretty much no one reads this blog anyway.)
On top of all of that, I have also been dealing with my own particular issues: financial instability, severe depression, and a family death.
I have been considering simply discontinuing this blog. Despite starting it in January, and posting very consistently in February, March, and April , it has seen almost no growth in views or reader interaction. And that’s fine. I knew when I started this that the big “moment” for blogs had mostly died down, and that I didn’t have any particular hook or unique angle to pull in a readership. It was an experiment, to see if I could get back into it the way I did with my old blog from 2011-2014 (Ironically, on my old blog which has not been updated since 2014, I still get an average of 100 views per day! Here, not so much). And I find it is an experiment that has mostly failed. No one seems particularly interested in what I have to say, and while I am content to mainly write for myself, there are other things I could/should be devoting my time to if I’m just going to end up talking to myself on here.
But that is a decision I am still on the fence about. And in the meantime, I have a few more book reviews and such that I am working on that I might as well share here, just in case a small handful of people are actually interested. To that end, some time over the next week or so you should expect to see:
1) not a review, exactly, but more of a rant about how much I love Artemis Fowl – possibly with my opinions on the movie which was released on Disney+ today (I’m still trying to decide if I’m masochistic enough to watch it)
2) A book review of Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott, an ARC I have from work, due for release in July
3) A book review of Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt
Hello folks! I hope you are all doing well. How is the quarantine treating you? I’m on day 44 of “self-isolation” – well, sort of anyway. I did have to go into work a few days this week and will again next week, but other than that I haven’t gone anywhere else and most things are still shut down (so no bookstores or movie theatres or window-shopping in Midtown…)
Are you all handling things ok? Are you finding things to keep you occupied? Did you have some kind of income to keep you afloat, or did you lose your job because of the pandemic? It’s all very scary right now and we are all under a lot of stress. Some people are using this time to “better themselves” and others are taking care of their families and still others are just fighting to keep it together. Whatever you are doing, it is ALL GOOD. You are doing the best you can and that’s all anyone should expect of themselves or others in a time like this.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. This is something I have to remind myself as well as anyone else. I have had some really rough days, and some days that have been perfectly fine. That’s totally natural but sometimes we cannot help but feel like we’re not doing enough – even though we know logically that that’s totally silly.
I thought I would share a few things that I’ve been keeping busy with, and if you’d like to share what you’ve been up to, that would be great!
I am still participating in Camp Nanowrimo for the month of April, and doing surprisingly well. I mean, I’m not going to be writing 50k words like some people – I gave myself a SMALLER goal, just 20k words this time. But I have managed to keep up a daily writing streak ALL MONTH, which is the best I’ve done in YEARS, and I have written a little over 16k words so far, which is more than I have written (again) in YEARS. I am very happy about that. While I am in no way minimizing or trivializing the difficulties, tragedies, and death toll of this pandemic, I am trying to be grateful for the small things, and one of those things has been the luxury of free time I haven’t had in quite awhile.
I have also been reading a lot still. Not quite as much as I did the first couple weeks, but still. I finished Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex (book #7 of the series) last night (technically at 2:30am this morning). Unfortunately, because I am borrowing those audiobooks from the library, I now have to wait for the final book of the series to become available and the wait is KILLING ME. In the meantime, I have started the audiobook of The Wee Free Men (one of the Discworld books) by Terry Pratchett. This book will satisfy one of the categories in my “Storm the Castle” 2020 Reading Challenge (which much of my reading these days has not done). I am also slowly working through the nonfiction book The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt.
Speaking of my reading challenge, I have now completed 9 out of the 21 books on my challenge. When I finish the two books I’m currently reading, that will put me at 11 and I’ll be halfway through! In addition, when I finish the 8th Artemis Fowl book I will have officially finished the first series in the 2020 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge. And then I’ll move on to the next series (perhaps The Dresden Files, though that I might be TOO ambitious…)
I have also bought a computer game for the first time in, oh… 12 or 13 years… I bought the video game Gris when Steam was having a sale last week. I’ve never been a big gamer, but I did play a couple computer games back in the day and I thought it would be fun to pick it up again. I’m only 3 “chapters” into Gris so far, but I absolutely love it. It’s quiet and calming and the art (which was the main selling point for me, I admit) is absolutely GORGEOUS. I highly recommend it.
In addition, I am doing more cross-stitch work. I’m almost done with this robot design I got from the Etsy shop DianaWattersHandmade. She has great designs for reasonable prices, she ships quickly, and she’s really friendly as well!
Anyway, those are some of the things (besides work and house-cleaning) I’ve been doing to keep busy and calm. How about you guys? Found anything fun? Read anything good lately? Please do share! I’d love to hear about it!
Well, my quarantine has officially come to an end. Not because it is particularly safe now, because it isn’t remotely, but because I must return to work. Needs must. And it is what it is. I take consolation in the fact that I come in contact with a very limited number of people at work, right now, so that’s something at least.
I had hoped/planned to have a few blog posts written ahead of time to post this week despite being at work… but between housework, and doing Camp NaNoWriMo writing, and plain ol’ depression-fueled laziness, that just didn’t happen. So there may not be any blog posts this week. I’ll try to put one or two together in the evenings, but I get pretty worn out after work, so no promises.
Not that I have much a readership at this point anyway, of course. I appreciate those of you who have decided to subscribe, but I guess I’m not appealing to a larger audience. Maybe I’ll work out the right formula, or tone of voice, or subject matter, or tagging system. Or maybe I’ll just remain not-interesting-enough. *shrug*
In the meantime, you all be safe! Stay inside if you can! If you cannot avoid work any longer (or were considered essential from the beginning), I wish you safety and luck. I you are anyone who has been integral to keeping this country from total collapse, be it nurse or doctor, grocery store worker or delivery driver, cleaning staff and tech support, etc etc etc…. thank you for all you do. Good luck to us all!
Amanda Haimoto Rudd 