Christine Cook's blog

QUICK UPDATE ON READING--I am currently at 19 books read so far this year. Since I'm actually in Week 21 of the year, I'm two books behind. It's not bad for the year, though, and perhaps I've forgotten a few that I've read...

MORE READING

I've been spending a lot of time cleaning the house and reorganizing the garden in preparation for D's graduation and party. Today, I spent four hours in the garden. Wednesday was another four hours. So, I'm tired, Buttercup. (And yes, you get bonus points if you know where that quote's from).

So, I don't plan to spend a huge amount of time blogging tonight. But I do have a few books I've finished recently, and so I wanted to make sure they made my list. I don't know what number I'm at without going through all my other posts, so I'll just start numbering at one this time, and I'll consolidate later:

1) Marla Cilley's SINK REFLECTIONS--this is an organizing book with a difference; mainly, it really is more about being able to clean and declutter your house on a constant basis, and making it fun so you don't fall off the wagon. This has at least partially been responsible for my work at finally organizing this house for realsies this time. It seems to be working--keep fingers crossed.
2) THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, by the one and only Mark Twain. P had a history presentation on Samuel Clemens, so I figured it was time to pull out this classic for him to read, and I reread it with him. It's still very funny, especially that last chapter when the widow tries to civilize Huck Finn.
3) THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by AC Doyle. Well, speaking of classics, this is a another one. I enjoyed these short stories better than I enjoyed his first two novellas. ACD had a serious issue with continuity, and it seems that once you've read a couple of the stories, you'll recognize the themes. But Sherlock is "elementary" for any mystery writer, don't you think? So I had to read them eventually.
4) TRIPLE WITCH, by Sarah Graves. This one is another of the Home Repair is Murder series. It is, in fact, the first one, I believe. It was pretty good. One thing I found off-putting, though, is that at the end, they describe a murder that's taken place that they discuss possibly solving, and it's the exact same plot construct that the author uses several books later, in Wreck the Halls, which I ready recently. (Did I put that on my list? If not, shame on me...)

Books I'm currently reading include, but are not limited to: DARK TORT, by Diane Mott Davidson (soon to be finished), and a Laurie R. King book that is NOT one of the Mary Russell books. It's called TOUCHSTONE. I'm also reading the latest Rick Riordan book (one of the Caine Chronicles) and I'm 2/3 of the way through A WRINKLE IN TIME (Madeleine L'Engle, of course).

Have a meaningful Memorial Day weekend, and I'll see you around the horn.

TOO MANY WANNDO'S, NOT ENOUGH TIME

Last night, my cup ranneth over in the ideas department, and it left me in a state of overwhelm...again.

This all started when we went down to the Fisher Theater to see the Blue Man Group. The subscription for the season traveling National Tour shows was some of the best money we as a family have spent this year. Because of this, we have been able to see COME FLY AWAY, the Frank Sinatra dancing show, A CHRISTMAS STORY musical, MILLIONAIRE QUARTET, SHREK the musical, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and now, as our last show of the season, the aforementioned Blue Men. Every show has been inspiring and magical, and if I can scrounge up the cash for next year, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

But I digress. We went downtown, had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, then headed over to the Fisher Building. There is a fantastic yarn store, soon to move (sniff...sob...), called City Knits, and so we went in for what is likely to be our last time, and sat and knitted and talked to the sales person who was there. I was doing fine until I saw the new Vogue Knitting Crochet magazine.

Of course, I bought it. The kicker, though, was this article they had on crochet artists. There is a part of me who would like to be a fine artist in either the knitting or crochet medium. There is a part of me that would like to be a knitwear designer. There's a part of me who would like to be a fashion designer, or a costume designer.

There is also the writer in me, who would like to have bestselling novels...and bestselling screenplays...and plays...and poems...and short stories...and memoirs.

As I sat there reading the magazine, and later as I sat in the theater, getting ready to watch the Blue Man Group, I also caught myself thinking, what if I turned Living on Tattooine into a musical?

Wait, wait, wait, back up. Granted, part of my problem is that I am probably an undiagnosed ADHD patient. But it's one thing to think I could be successful with crocheted or knitted art and design. After all, I have been crocheting since I was seven, knitting since I was twelve. And it's another thing to say perhaps I can write a screenplay if I can put together a novel successfully.

But music? Like, writing a book--with lyrics and music composition? Perhaps I could put the lyrics together...but seriously. I haven't played the piano seriously since high school, and it was somewhere mid-college that I gave up singing as a going concern.

But I love musical theater so much. And as I sat there, I could come up with at least eight or nine themes for songs. I caught myself wondering, just how many songs does a musical normally have? Could I use the knowledge my daughter or son has of music? Could I have a collaborator?

And just when do you think you can get this all done? Ah, the best laid dreams of mice and women...and Blue Men.

HAPPY MAY DAY

I have completed the ScriptFrenzy. It was another win for me; in fact, it was two wins, as I completed BAD WISDOM, and did some extensive revisions of LIVING ON TATTOOINE.

It being May Day, I have two competitions I plan to enter--the Nicholls Fellowship, and the Writers' Digest competition. In fact, it's also my aperiodic NaNoMarketMo month, and my focus this month will be on entering all kinds of writing competitions.

In addition to this focus, I also intend to post MURDER MOST MOTHERLY to Kindle and to Smashwords, mop up the BAD WISDOM Smashwords edition so it will be accepted to Apple products (I don't know what I did wrong the past two times I submitted it...) and set up the PayPal account so I can get some money from this whole foray.

Finally, in the actual writing department, I plan to continue the second draft of GUESTS OF THE GUNMETAL GRAY, which stands at 50% complete after NaNoEdMo in March.

Lots of stuff to do; not enough time to do it, so I'm off to the races!

APRIL SHOWERS PAST ME

It's nearly the end of the month, and I haven't done much blogging, I'm afraid. I have, however, been busy with my writing. It's ScriptFrenzy, and I first finished a screenplay of BAD WISDOM in about half a month. It's rough, and way too long, and not in the right format, so I keep chipping away at it, trying to pare it down to the 120 page length a screenplay should be. It's currently 150 pages.

Then, I moved on to a rework of LIVING ON TATTOOINE, which I wrote last year in 6 days. It was long, at 142 pages. Again, I have to chip away at it. Now, it's 126 pages, but I think I've messed up the format a bit. It's much closer and tighter now, I think.

If I get my act together by month's end, I will submit both of them to the Nicholl's Fellowship contest, put on my the Motion Picture Academy (the same guys who give us the Oscars). I didn't do too badly last year, although I didn't win. If I don't have my act fully together, I will just resubmit the new version of LIVING ON TATTOOINE.

The other contest that is coming up is the Writer's Digest Writing Competition. I may try to submit one or two things to this contest as well, but I haven't really figured out what yet. Perhaps I could submit one of the screenplays, and/or the most recent version of GUESTS OF THE GUNMETAL GRAY. My priority will go to the Nicholls contest, though.

I did, by the way, submit MURDER MOST MOTHERLY for the self-published book awards, so we'll see how that goes.

In reading, I will probably not be able to remember everything I've read, but I can say I recently finished CREWEL WORLD, by Monica Ferris, and SINK REFLECTIONS, by Marla Cilley. The first one took some time for me to get into, but once the murder took place, I enjoyed it more. Would I rush out and get more of the series? Not sure yet. As for the second book, it's an organizing/cleaning book. Yeah, believe it or not, I need help getting my house clean.

Currently reading projects include DARK TORT, by Diane Mott Davidson, and WRECK THE HALLS, by Sarah Graves. Ms. Graves has an annoying habit of separating pieces of dialogue with long swaths of description, but the stories are okay.

More anon.

BI-ENNIAL POST

My ability to post on a daily basis seems to have gone by the wayside. So I'll do a quick post today to catch everyone up on my progress.

1) Since I last posted, I won NaNoEdMo, with 50.5 hours of editing completed on GUESTS OF THE GUNMETAL GRAY. I got to about the midpoint in my second major rewrite.
2) I have begun Script Frenzy, and I'm wamming and jamming on my screenplay for BAD WISDOM. I'm on page 69, and have just finished the midpoint scene. I hope to do about 10 pages per day, so I can work on a second script for the remainder of the month.
3) I have finished a couple more books. The first was WHAT'S SO FUNNY? by Donald Westlake. It was vintage Westlake. I think once you've read on of his books, you've read them all. But it was fun. And I just finished DOUBLE SHOT, by Diane Mott Davidson. That was number 12; I seem to be missing DARK TORT, which was number 13. So I'm taking a break while I try to find that book, and meanwhile, I'm reading CREWEL WORLD, by Monica Ferris. I'm also trying to read THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE, by Laurie R. King, but, while I normally enjoy this author, this is not my favorite book by her.

More anon.

MORE MISS THAN HIT

First it was two weeks of army duty, then it was more army from home and NaNoEdMo. But really, it's "No Excuse, Sir!" I've been more miss than hit on my blog this month.

I have finished a few more books:

1) THE GAME, by Laurie R. King--always a good, fun read
2) GOING POSTAL, by Terry Pratchett--another fun read, this one a comic fantasy, not a mystery
3) THE ASSOCIATE, by Phillip Margolin--I read this one because it is recommended reading in THE BREAKOUT NOVELIST WORKBOOK, by Donald Maass. It was, indeed, a gripping tale, and a very quick read.

I am currently working on THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING, which I am enjoying very much. After that book, I think I'll read another Donald Westlake book, and then go back to my Diane Mott Davidson books. In addition, I'm working on some non-fiction titles, in preparation for the writing I'm doing on NaNoEdMo.

Speaking of which, I have now completed 28 hours out of the 50 hour goal for this month's editing extravaganza. I'm reworking GUESTS OF THE GUNMETAL GRAY, and I've had good days and bad days on this project. For the first nine days of the month, I was doing full-time army work, and had literally no time to edit. Since then, I've tried to do about 3 hours of editing per day, and I've been able to revise the key scenes and Act 1.

In addition, I have a long list of other changes to put into effect, based on the Donald Maass book I mentioned above. My plan is to do the revisions on Acts 2 and 3, then begin the long process of the updates. Once I've done that, I will be very close to finishing the slog of the second revision, and will be able to do the polishing part of the job.

But I'm liable to need a break, first.

Till later--

IS IT FRIDAY ALREADY?

My near-daily accounting of my writing pursuits is quickly becoming a once-weekly version, not that that is my intention. Life is passing me by at a very fast clip. I will do a round-up of the week's events here:

1) Reading. I finished another book. This one was the 12th in the Diane Mott Davidson series, called CHOPPING SPREE. It was cute, vintage Davidson. I'm getting a little tired of her one-note food preparation narratives, which she sprinkles throughout the book, so I find myself skimming them. And the character's son is turning into a brat, but then he's now 15, and perhaps this is reality (ugh, I think as I contemplate my own young man, who is getting dangerously closer to this age himself). I am now reading THE GAME, by Laurie R. King, and next up after that will be GOING POSTAL, by Terry Pratchett.

2) Writing. I have read through my novel, GUESTS OF THE GUNMETAL, in preparation for the long, slow second rewrite. Now I'm starting the reworking of the six key scenes, which are opening and closing scene, plot points 1 and 2, midpoint, and catharsis. With any luck, by this time next week I'll be able to tell you I've completed that process.

3) Marketing. I have about five contests I plan to enter within the next three months, so I began the process of rewriting the piece that goes forward first. I have also completed the formatting for putting MURDER MOST MOTHERLY on Kindle and on Smashwords, so now all I need to do is create a jpg of the cover and we're in business.

4) Professorship. I have completed the evaluations of six papers out of seventeen. So far, so good.

5) Knitting/Crocheting. Since I have a bit of an audience in the Rav-world, I will add this section. This week I haven't finished anything, but I did make good tracks on two projects. I have one mitten done out of two fair-isle mittens, minus the thumb. And I have completed 62 rows of a shawl for D, which is getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger...this is actually my first triangular shawl, so color me surprised to realize it was done from the top middle down to the bottom/edge. I always thought the triangles were done from the point up. These are both Nerd Wars projects #3 and #4 out of six per month.

More anon.

TUESDAY UPDATE

I finished another book yesterday, so I'm still on track for 52+ books in a year. This one was the next in the Diane Mott Davidson that was on my list--#10 in this case. She is at number 17 or 18 in real life, so I'm now more than half-way through. The book is 6) STICKS AND SCONES.

I am also reading THE SIGN OF FOUR, by Arthur Conan Doyle. I am reading it on the Kindle, in the middle of a complete works of ACD, so I can't tell you how far along I am, but I can say that I have 180 kindle pages left.

In addition, I have bought and am working my way through the latest Julia Cameron book, PROSPEROUS HEART. It's a 12-week program, so with any luck it will take 12 weeks for me to read. I am also reading Mark Allen's THE MILLIONAIRE COURSE. I find it ironic that I picked them both up at Barnes and Noble at the same time, from different sections of the store, but they dovetail very nicely together.

In writing and marketing news, I am about a third of the way through the reread of GUNMETAL GRAY, which is step one in the laborious second draft process. This is the hardest draft for me, since it takes so much work to shape the book the way I want it to be, but it is also ultimately the most fulfilling part of the process. I must say, I am actually enjoying reading the book for the first time post first draft.

My Christmas mystery is stalled a bit, as is my time-travel steampunk, alas. I am hearing voices in my head from one of my Norse mythology characters, so I think I may be putting some things to paper there soon.

And on the marketing front, LIVING ON TATTOOINE should now be available on most ebook devices, and I am 4/5 of the way through the formatting process for MURDER MOST MOTHERLY. It should be making its Kindle debut by week's end, with any luck, and other ebooks shortly thereafter.

ANOTHER BOOK TO ADD TO THE LIST

At this rate, I actually WILL be able to make the 52 books in 52 weeks goal. In addition to MONSTROUS REGIMENT, TOUGH COOKIE, GET REAL, and--um--the other one (ETA: SON OF NEPTUNE), I have now finished book #5 in as many weeks.

5) A STUDY IN SCARLET, by Arthur Conan Doyle. I have joined a Read-Along group (RAL) wherein the plan is to read all the Sherlock Holmes books. This is the first one ever written, and it was good, although I liked the first part better than the second. AC Doyle gets off on a tangent about Mormon bashing in the second half, and it doesn't contribute significantly to the whole of the book. I think that's why when they film this one, they cut it off right around the end of Part 1. But I'm really glad to be reading all the ACD books, for the first time in my life.

Current reading projects are: 1) STICKS AND SCONES, by Diane Mott Davidson. This is the next in that series after TOUGH COOKIE; 2) THE SIGN OF FOUR, the next AC Doyle book; and 3) I'm rereading GUNMETAL GRAY, the next in my dWC series. I'm rereading it in preparation for starting the second, blood-letting, draft.

Wish me luck!