Category: Books

What a weekend!

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How was everyone’s weekend?  I spent mine mostly offline, fighting a migraine and watching TV.  Lots and lots of TV.  But it was good, because some of it qualified as research for The Lokana Chronicles.  After last week’s writing class and my two-day Reign marathon and a bunch of Wikipedia-browsing, I’ve got a bunch of ideas for revisions (which I’d just resumed and will now have to go back over, but at least it’s only a chapter or two).  I decided the book needs to be split in half, so I’ve got a lot of work to do because, once I’m done revising, I’m going to have to figure out how to wrap up the first half so that it feels like a complete book and then do the same for the second half.

Oy.  Vey.

icyWe had some snow over the weekend that made for lovely inspiration, but I felt too miserable most of the weekend to do much about it.  I finally got a chance to sit down this noon and work on a new short story, but then the phone rang, and there went half my lunch hour.  Hopefully I can get some more writing done tonight – that would be awesome!  I’m still feeling a bit blah, though, so I guess we’ll see what happens.

In other news…

Still hungover

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So I haven’t posted in a few days.  Kind of unusual.  Okay, wow, so it’s been more than a few days – it’s been a week.  I’ve been doing a lot of writing, though, and a crap ton of rewriting, and I think it’s going well.  But I’m still dealing with that book hangover.  I just can’t get those books out of my head.

I’ve spent far too much time the last couple days on Tumblr and ogling all the pretty pictures and listening to pi while thinking about The Hunger Games and America and analyzing the series and thinking about how I can’t remember being stuck on a book like this ever and I finally decided something:

forget

I don’t want to forget. …

Hungover

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Cover of "The Hunger Games"

Cover of The Hunger Games

Yep, I am suffering a massive book hangover after my all-weekend reading spree.  I still can’t believe that I stayed up all night reading Mockingjay, but it was just too hard to put down.  After seeing the movie, I was actually a bit indifferent about reading the books.  The movie left me with the impression they were leaving a lot out, but I was only mildly curious to find out what had been cut.  I managed about twenty pages or so in the first sitting, but once I picked up The Hunger Games Friday afternoon and sat down to have a good (uninterrupted) read, I found I couldn’t stop.

Since I saw the movie before I read the books, my mental image of what things looked like in the first book was pretty much what I’d already seen.  And every time Haymitch spoke up, I heard Woody Harrelson’s voice dripping sarcasm which, frankly, I thought was great.  I’m not sure anyone else could have played him better.  Same for Donald Sutherland as President Snow – he makes such a good villain!

Read no further if you’ve not already read the books.   Spoilers abound. Sort of.

Apology

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English: A map of the fictional nation of Pane...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Please excuse my lack of presence over the last couple of days.  I’ve become lost in Panem and hope to return shortly.  Meanwhile, have a great rest of the weekend!

(c) 2013.  All rights reserved.

Are they real?

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c. 50

c. 50 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Are you working through lunch again?” the man asked as I pulled out my notebook.

“Yeah, but this is fun work,” I replied, smiling.  I plopped the MS for The Lokana Chronicles down on the table.

He bent closer to inspect the title page.  “What’s this?  A novel?”

“Yep.  And here’s the sequel,” I said, removing the MS for Remnants from my purse.  It hit the table with a thud.

He took another look.  “You wrote these?”

My waitress joined us.  “You’re a writer?”

“Yep.”

Her eyes widened.  “Wow!  I always see you writing in your little notebook…”

“This is usually what I’m working on,” I said, smiling again.

I told them a little about my work and the man asked if he was part of my story.  I said no.   Then he asked,

And now, an interview!

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Will's PhotographAs promised, I have an interview for you with the lovely Will Macmillan Jones, author of the hilarious Banned Underground books.  It might have taken me a little longer than I first thought to get this posted, but what can I say?  Writers are not necessarily the most organized lot.  (Some may very well be, but I most certainly am not.)

KK: So, now that you’ve done it a couple of times, what’s it like to put out two books a year?

WMJ: What’s it like?  Let me see…imagine being run over by a lawnmower, thrown in a washing machine, a tumble drier and finished off in an old fashioned mangle.  It’s hard going.  As you know, I don’t write especially long books, mainly for commercial reasons.  But even so it is very hard work, both creatively and practically.  But actually quite rewarding too.  I can now look at my dressing table and see a line of my books.  Yes, I’m really that sad as to have them on show in my bedroom, so that I can see them when I wake up.

KK: I see nothing wrong with that.  In all honesty, I would likely do the same thing. 🙂  They say it takes three books to see success.  Do you feel like that’s true?   Why or why not?

The Banned Underground: The SatNav of Doom

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TSODThe latest installment in The Banned Underground series, The SatNav of Doom definitely holds up to the standard set by the first four novels (you can read my reviews of them here, here, here, and here).  Chock full of humor as always, I laughed my way through The SatNav of Doom at an admittedly slower pace than the previous books, but that was due to my overwhelming open house (and moving) preparation and is in no way a reflection on this fine novel.  Indeed, settling down with Fungus and the gang for a rockin’ gig was a welcome relief from my moving stress. 🙂

The discerning reader will find many gems along the way to the Edern’s enchanted Fairy Hill hideout.  From wonderful musical jokes to brilliant pop culture references, there’s plenty here to make you giggle, grin, and even guffaw.   For example:

A memory of books

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Yesterday morning I was running errands with Cricket and Thumper, and they wanted a story.  I was at Sam’s Club, and they happened to have a bunch of Dr. Seuss board books for sale.  Just the sight of them triggered a fresh wave of childhood memories – my dad hated Dr. Seuss, but not me.  My sister and I both loved his books, and we kept checking them out at the library and insisting he read them to us before bed.  I remember reading a wide variety of books with my mom, particularly from The Great Illustrated Classics line, but I mostly remember reading Dr. Seuss with my dad.

I think it was because he hated him so that we made him read those books to us.  Either that, or he hated Dr. Seuss because we made him read the books so often.

We happened to own a copy of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and we read it so frequently that the spine is now falling off the book.  I saw a shiny new copy yesterday next to the board books and was sorely tempted to buy one, but in the end, it remained on the shelf.  I remember bringing home How the Grinch Stole Christmas from the school library and insisting on hearing it before bed one Christmas.  And who could forget Green Eggs and Ham?  Or The Cat in the Hat?  Or Fox in Socks?  Or The Lorax?

When I graduated high school, my childhood Sunday School teacher gave me a copy of Oh! The Places You’ll Go!  I breezed through it, then put it aside.  The whimsy of the illustrations still captivated me, but the message of the book didn’t really soak in.  Not until I had graduated college, married, had a child of my own, and divorced, did the book really make much sense for me.  I recognized several of the stops mentioned in the book, and adjusted my life’s path accordingly.

Books were a huge part of my childhood, and I can’t imagine life without them.  What are some of your favorite books, from childhood or otherwise?

(c) 2013.  All rights reserved.

We are the champions, my friends!

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campnano

I did it!  I crossed the 50k line tonight!  Well, I probably actually crossed it sometime this noon, but I typed across the 50k line tonight and validated everything tonight and holy crap, you guys!  Fifty thousand words is a lot of freaking words!

Okay, so that’s my excitement for the night then.  I know I can write another 50k because I’ve done it before (The Lokana Chronicles is roughly 100k) and that it will probably take that many more before my story is all done, but I’m just trying to focus on one thing at a time right now, especially since I was hoping to have this story nearing completion by this point in time.  I can’t believe I’ve been working on it for almost a year now and I’m only half done.  I had hoped to be so much further along than this!  But I suppose that’s just the way it goes, huh?  That that’s all part of being a mother/wife/friend/office drone/writer.  There are only so many hours in the day and I only get one of them, sometimes two, to write.

But I’m greedy – I want more.

Luckily, my work schedule is about to get a lot less hectic, so that should help.  Naptime will once again be writing time!  And with school starting back up in just a few short weeks, perhaps homework time can be writing time, too?  I guess we’ll see.

In the meantime, I’m going to celebrate my Camp Nano win by going to bed early tonight.  I could definitely use the sleep.  How has everyone else done with their Nano goals?  If you haven’t done Nano, why not try it come November?

(c) 2013.  All rights reserved.

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Down for the count: My reaction to the recent authonomy kerfuffle

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That’s right, I’m feeling a bit let down tonight.  See, I’ve taken my work down from authonomy.  The fit hit the shan late this afternoon (or at least that’s when it hit my attention, anyway) and after much reading and much soul-searching, I decided that this was the right thing for me to do.

What could have prompted such a decision?  The story of Carl Ashmore, author of The Time Hunters.  The book was up on authonomy a few years ago and reached the Editor’s Desk (if you’re unfamiliar with authonomy, the top five books each month make the desk and receive a review from a HarperCollins editor).  The review was good, stating that the book had “…terrific potential.

You can read all about it here and here.  Suffice it to say, Mr. Ashmore published his novel and it began to sell well and now all of a sudden, there’s a new series called Time Hunters being released by HarperCollins that is eerily similar to Mr. Ashmore’s work.   Anyway, check out the links above for the full scoop.