Book Impressions

Schuyler's Monster by Rob Rummel-Hudson
Interesting, but kind of whiny. I feel for him and his family having to deal with such a tough situation, but I couldn't get behind some of the things that he did in response to the situation. Having worked closely with many special needs kids through teaching and nannying, I am always interested in personal stories about dealing with people going through things.He did do a good job of describing how heartbreaking his situation is, but then he just reiterated it over and over and over.

Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
I have a huge fascination with North Korea--partly because of the mystery surrounding it, partly because of what I learned about it in my Asian Studies class when I studied in Japan. This book did not disappoint at all, and I have a feeling that the people whose lives I read about will stick with me for a very long time. Also, I almost always think about North Korea whenever people complain about America. Seriously, with all of our imperfections, we have it DAMN GOOD here.

Escape from Camp 14
An amazing story about a boy who was born, raised, and then escaped from a North Korean Labor Camp. In many ways this book is sadder than "Nothing to Envy," but in other ways, more amazing.

The Wilder Life
While I enjoyed the tidbits about Laura Ingalls Wilder's life that I learned without having to do the actual research myself, the book itself kind of fell flat. Not as dramatic or funny as I had hoped to find it. 

The Chocolate Money
I got this from the library after seeing a review of it, and it pretty much was what I expected. Not nearly as shocking or interesting as it could have been, and the main character was a little too Holden Caulfield for me.

The Year of Magical Thinking
Kind of boring and a little too Lit-fic and not enough memoir for me. However, I see this being incredibly good for anyone who is dealing with the loss of a spouse or adult child, or who is familiar with Joan Didion's other writings. For me though, it just made it harder to sleep at night for fear of my husband or baby suddenly dying.

Nanowrimo Winner

I did it! I got to 50051 words at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 30. I hugged the 1,666 words per day goal pretty well, falling off the wagon a little bit around Thanksgiving but then managing to make it up in with a few late nights. I only had 4 days in which I didn't write anything, and my all time high was 4,092 words when I was trying to catch up after a few days of not writing. My story surprised me, it made me laugh and cry, and reminded me of things I hadn't thought about in years. In the end, I actually really like and and can't wait to edit it.  I feel like there is so much potential there!

Hurdles this Month:

Writing in a vacuum
Most of my past nano victories were accomplished in the presence of my fellow nano-ers. I haven't gotten involved with the San Antoni Nano community for a lot of reasons, mostly personal, but I think that writing alone with hardly any contact with other writers did make it more challenging.

Unsupportive Significant Other
At one point this month my husband said that my novel sounded "Completely uninteresting and not something that I would ever read." Ouch. He later apologized, but that quote stuck with me and struck me to tears several times, particularly at moments when the words just didn't want to flow.

Living like a Grown-up
Now that I have a baby who wakes up at 7 a.m. every day and a husband who is at school/work for 12 hours a day, I can't pull all-nighters or have a whacked-out schedule. I couldn't just skip my usual activities (like feeding baby, changing diapers, etc) like I could skip class in college. I had to actually schedule my writing time and not goof off during my allocated writing time. It was HARD!!!! However, I think it is good practice for me, since I am a stay at home mom, to carve out time for my writing every day. I think it's been great for my self-satisfaction and I hope to continue writing daily well past the end of November.

Wouldn't have Finished Without: 

The Outline
Oh god, the outline. I can't believe I've done Nano so many times without it!!! It was truly a lifesaver, except that I left it at my parent's house when I came back home after Thanksgiving. I cried when I realized that I'd left it, but luckily I had a copy saved to my dropbox. I didn't have all my handwritten notes I'd made on the outline, but at least I still had a plan. Whenever I got stuck I could glance at my outline and think, "Okay, what's supposed to happen next?"


The Nano Forums
 In particular the "Scene Unstickers" thread and the Reference Desk forum. (Though it seemed much more politically correct, and thus lame, this year...) The forums offered a welcome mix of inspiration and distraction when I needed it!

Staying Strictly on Schedule
I did crazy good with sticking to my minimum wordcount per day, and made my slow and steady climb towards the finishing. It was different from my past years, and honestly I think easier than my usual motto of "No minute like the last minute."

Story within a Story
A big part of my story is a girl watching anime for the first time with her sister, so whenever I got stuck I would write a synopsis of whatever episode they were watching of the main anime (Hachi Hachi Neko--invented by me) and get my imagination started up again. It was a nice break from the reality of realistic fiction main story. 

Change in POV
 I got stuck about three chapters in. I felt like the story was flat and too distant from the audience, so I switched from 3rd person to 1st person POV. What a change! Several of the anecdotes in the novel are based on things that actually happened in my life, and with the first person narrator I was able to really get in there and describe how my main character felt about what was happening, rather than just describing the events as they happened.

Nanowrimo update

I wanted to update about my nano before this, but...I've actually been working on it in my free time!

I'm a big proponent of the "No minute like the last minute" technique of getting stuff done, so on November 1st I sat down at my computer and made a 16 chapter outline for my novel, filling in a few key points in each chapter. Then I got to writing!

So far it has been going pretty good--I hit 22,000 last night, which puts me right on track to finish on time if I keep up my discipline and momentum. I haven't hit my minimum word count every day--I usually go about two or three good days and then one awful day, then two or three good ones. I was really struggling with my main character being a huge bore for the first few chapters, but then I switched it up from 3rd person POV to first person POV and things went a lot smoother. I think that the first person narration is easier for me with this story because many of the events are based on some of my own experiences. 

Since my ipod is dead, I've been listening to music on Spotify, which I hate. The ads are absolutely obnoxious and the layout is atrocious. I spent a good hour just trying to figure out how to use in on November 2nd, wasting precious noveling time! But it allows me to listen to a single artist's album on repeat for hours at a time on my netbook, so at least there's that.

Anyway, the baby is asleep and my husband is still at work--prime writing time! I'm going to make myself a mug of Mexican Hot Chocolate, scoop a cat onto my lap, and write!

Narnia

The fall always reminds me of Narnia, because with cold weather comes hot chocolate, Halloween, renaissance festival, and Thanksgiving--family things. And Narnia is very much a family thing for me.

My brothers and I grew up loving The Chronicles of Narnia, and we always played that I was Susan, John was Peter, and Nick was Edmund. (Lucy was invisible, and boring.) When the movies came out we immediately began working on costumes resembling each of our chosen characters, even though we are now grown up.

I've read the entire series probably 6 times now, and it always bothered me that Susan didn't end up in Narnia at the end of The Last Battle, but I never thought too much of it. I never read Neil Gaiman's reportedly downer of a short story "The Problem of Susan" and I'm not sure I ever will, because I found something that resolves my bother and ties up all the loose ends just how I imagine: The Queen's Return by Honorh on Livejournal.

It is a fanfiction, but I don't believe that fanfiction stories are any lesser stories compared to those that are published originals, and in fact are a necessary piece of our cultural exchange of ideas If you're a fan of Narnia or Susan, you just might agree.

NanoWriMo

Oh, God.

Nanowrimo is in 18 days and I have...nothing. After my spectacular fail last year, I'm feeling mighty trepid about tackling a whole novel this year.

I can always use the "I have a 9 month old baby" excuse, but I didn't let full time jobs, being out of state for 2 weeks, or college stop me before, so using a baby as an excuse seems kinda lame. Not to mention that said baby is sleeping from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. every night with two one hour naps during the day. So it's not like I have to really work to find the time to write. One less hour of puttering around on the internet shouldn't be too hard.

So I can't not try. Maybe if I plan and scheme, and write another novel in the world of Farion, where I have written three previous (winning) Nanonovels it will be easier.

I have some major brainstorming to do. Where's my giant dry erase board again???

Publication!

Two of my poems have been published by Bay Laurel Online Literary Journal! Check them out here: http://www.baylaurelonline.com/2012/09/autumn2012.html


Also, if you are my friend and you killed one of your pets as a kid, you might have a starring role in one of those poems. Sorry.

Waitlisted

I'm still waiting to read A Dance of Dragons...I'm next on the hold list at my library, but it's been "In Transit" since Friday! On Sunday I thought, "Well, I've waited this long...I can wait one more day rather than going to Half Price Books and buying it," and I thought the same thing yesterday, and now it's Tuesday and I'm kicking myself. Shoulda bought it Friday, and then I could have read it at the beach last weekend.

My IDEAL Library would have:
Desks and chairs in a quiet space for studying, reading, and writing
Small meeting rooms for group discussions and study groups
A kids area separate from the adult area/study area so they can be loud and not disturb others
Summer reading programs for kids, teens, AND adults
Access for members to online databases such as JSTOR
Computer access and printer/copier access
A decent lending library with the ability to send for other books at nearby libraries
A good supply of newer books I don't want to buy in hardcover as soon as they come out

San Antonio is building some new libraries, so I sent an email to the director hoping to get my input at least heard, though I doubt that it will make a difference. So far the best library I have been to in Central Texas as far as space goes is the Round Rock Public Library. The Cody Branch of the San Antonio Public Library System is one of the WORST. The kid's area kind of rings the entire library, and their sheiks and tantrums ECHO in the high-ceiling room. (I'm sure my son will be among them soon!) There is one big meeting room but it is almost always in use and not available for regular patrons to reserve. It's a terrible space.

Alas, maybe someday I'll be wonderful enough to grant the city funds for a library in my name, and build it to my specifications!