Quick Pics

Today is a quick post.

Things have been hectic at work, so I don’t have much energy to do things when I get home. However, I have made it to 11,900 on my Writing WIP, which is a nice feeling. Though I want to hit 15,000 by the end of day Sunday, so we’ll have to see how that goes. At least I don’t work on weekends, so I’ll have 2 days to work on my stuff instead of work stuff. Plus, this is still mostly re-typing, so it should move faster. It’s just a case of BIC,FOK. (Otherwise known as Butt In Chair, Fingers On Keyboard. Or “Just Do It.”)

And I have been knitting.

Proof! There’s the second sock NEXT TO THE FIRST SOCK, so you can’t claim that I’m just recycling pictures of the first sock. I might even get this pair finished before the Summer of Socks ends. That would be nice. (Though I do like having a sock to work on, so I’d probably start a new one when I finish this one. Though maybe I’ll take a short sock break and knit some Christmas scarves or something. We’ll have to see.)

Anyway… that’s me in a nutshell right now. Work will probably have some good news that I can talk about soon, but not yet. I’ll let you know when I can, but in the meantime I’m really pleased with the direction my life is going. It’s just tiring at the moment…

Thursday 13 #53 ~ Falling

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Reasons I’m Glad Fall Is Coming

I can wear handknits.

The Mystery Stole #4 KAL will be going on.

NaNoWriMo.

I love the crispness to the air.

We’re planning to have a Christmas Cookie Bake. Only we might get too excited to wait until Christmas. Which means fall cookies instead in addition! Yay!

We will (hopefully!) start getting some rain.

The trees look lovely when they turn colors (if they do, around here).

Fall means Christmas is closer.

And Thanksgiving. (Yay turkey dinners!)

While I love hot weather, I’m always ready for it to end by the time summer’s over.

And fall arriving means we’re only 1/2 a year away from spring, and my birthday.

Halloween is fun when you have people to dress up with.

The Harry Potter movie is due out. . . .  Nevermind. I’ll find something to amuse myself with, I’m sure.

~*~

Happy Thursday!

SHOMI Yours

Well, I was going to do a knitting WIP post today. But there isn’t much progress that can’t be imagined, since I’m knitting a second sock. If you’re really curious, take a look at my prior pictures of my Trekking Grandiflora sock, and you’ll get an idea what this one looks like. Besides, I don’t have a current picture from my camera, so it would be a bad cell phone pic that you got today.

Instead, I’ll just tell you that I’ve passed the heel and am onto the gusset decreases. And then we’ll move on to a new topic.

Book Binge is having a CONTEST!

Quite a good one, too!

If you follow a few easy rules, you can be entered to win 7 SHOMI books. I can tell you from personal experience that two of them are quite good. Based on my entire SHOMI experience, I can guess that the others are good, too. (Yes, I own the two of the contest books I’ve read. And yes, if I am lucky enough to win this contest I will be having another contest of my own with the two duplicate books as prizes.)

Anyway, if you haven’t read any of these books, I strongly encourage you to. And even more than that, I encourage you to look for Phenomenal Girl 5 by my friend AJ Menden, being published by the SHOMI line in the late fall/early winter. (November, I think.)

Bookish MEME

Popin tagged me for this MEME, so here goes:

Instructions:
1. Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences after the tag chain.
5. Spread this tag to as many people as you can.

(Only I am still not in a tagging mood, so just play along if you want.)

“Shhh,” both Shane and Eve hissed, eerily in unison.

Because Miranda was talking in a strange monotone voice, and she looked… dead. Unconscious. Only talking.

~The Feast of Fools, Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series #4

Okay, I posted 4 sentences. The last 2 were only 3 words total, so I can do that.

~*~

Also, I am really liking this series. I’ve read but not posted about books #2 and 3, The Dead Girls’ Dance and Midnight Alley. They’re fun books, and the one real issue I have with them is Caine’s tendency to end them with HUGE hooks. Cliffhangers. Whatever you want to call them, she uses them a lot.

In many ways, these don’t seem so much like individual novels as one big serial novel. I don’t have a problem with that (yet) as I haven’t yet caught up to the publishing dates, and so I can read them one after the other as if they were one big unit. However, once I’m done with this one, I think I will have to wait for the publisher (and perhaps the writer) to catch up with me. Argh.

These are fun books, and I do recommend them to anyone who enjoys reading urban fantasy books with a dose of vampires, and who doesn’t mind reading teen books. In many ways – and this is odd – the YA books have less angst in them than the adult books in the same genre. And that’s just silly, since “teen angst” is a lot more expected than “30-something angst.”

Of Winners and Moon Cakes

(Okay, only one winner. Sorry.)

So, I used the random number generator to come up with the winner of Lynn Viehl’s “Evermore,” and it spit out number 9 (cue Beatles music) to come up with Lisa! Congrats, Lisa! Let me know where to send the book, and I’ll pop it in the mail!

~*~

Also, this is that wonderful time of year in the Chinese calendar where we get moon cakes.

It is second only to Chinese New Year, when we get Nian Gow (we used to call it “brown sugar go” because we’d only been told the “gow” part of the name and it’s made with tons of brown sugar).

Regardless, moon cakes are awesome. They are made and eaten around the harvest festival, and the egg yilk in the center symbolizes the Harvest Moon. The yolk is supposed to be good luck. (However, I prefer my moon cakes sans yolk, as I think they taste better that way.)

Happy Harvest time, everyone! Go eat moon cakes!

Finally Friday

Well. This has been a long week. And before it’s over, one last reminder:

TODAY IS THE DEADLINE TO COMMENT ON MY CONTEST POST

TO BE ENTERED FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!

There. Public service announcement done.

And now, it’s Friday. I get to celebrate a friend’s birthday tonight, which should be fun. And we may be participating in a block-wide garage sale tomorrow, which will hopefully be productive (aka get junk out of our house by means of transforming it into someone else’s treasure). And Sunday… I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll get a manicure or pedicure. Or a massage. That sounds nice.

Oh yeah, I’ll also be drawing the contest winner either Saturday or Sunday. That’s always fun! I’ll be putting together the gift package, too.

So. What are your weekend plans? Anything enjoyable?

Thursday 13 #52 ~ A Year

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Things I’ve Learned Over a Year of Thirteens

Lists are fun.

Lots of people enjoy making lists.

Lists of goals are actually helpful.

I have way more books on my TBR list than I will be able to read anytime soon.

You can make good friends just by talking once a week online.

Many, many (if not most) bloggers seem to have cats. Those that don’t almost always have dogs.

Even when you skip a week here and there, 52 weeks of Thirteens still makes a year.

There is a huge amount of knowledge among bloggers. And each one has a slightly different specialty.

I am probably at the average age for bloggers.

Thursdays are the days when I get my highest number of blog visitors…

… and yet that doesn’t mean that people comment. My most comments seem to come when I: 1. have contests (reminder – go enter my contest to win Lynn Viehl’s Evermore: A Novel of the Darkyn); 2. post FO pictures of my knitting; or 3. post notes about relationship issues.

You can come a long ways in a year

Though 52 weeks seems like a lot, it also seems like very few…

~*~

Happy Thursday!

Not Tagged

I got this MEME from Lorraine, a while ago. I’m still not tagging anyone… do it if it pleases you!

~*~

Rules: You must answer the questions using only one word. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? charging

2. Your significant other? hurt

3. Your hair? dirty

4. Your mother? awake

5. Your father? asleep

6. Your favorite thing? cats

7. Your dream last night? forgotten

8 Your favorite drink? tea

9. Your dream/goal? published!

10. The room you’re in? bedroom

11. Your hobby? knitting

12. Your fear? varies

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy

14. What you’re not? married

15. Muffins? okay

16. One of your wish list items? house

17. Where you grew up? California

18. The last thing you did? e-mail

19. What are you wearing? PJs

20. Favorite gadget? MacBook

21. Your pets? here

22. Your computer? MacBook!

23. Your mood? sad

24. Missing someone? *sigh*

25. Your car? Zoom-Zoom

26. Something you’re not wearing? dress

27. Favorite store? Panera

28. Like someone? family

29. Your favorite color? green

30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday*

31. Last time you cried? today

~*~

*please note that it is 12:45 Wed morning, so laughing yesterday is not as bad as it could be, and crying today is rather telling. I’m pretty good, all things considered. You can puzzle this out from the above, but it boils down to this: life and relationships aren’t always happy, and I just had to make a hard choice. I’ll be fine, I just need time.

More MEMEs

This is a writing MEME I got from Ann. (I am really not feeling creative today. I did read Rachel Caine’s The Dead Girls’ Dance and enjoyed it, but I don’t have the energy to write up anything about it at the moment. I did sign up on GoodReads, though, so you can get a general overview of what I think of books there. Plus I’m on LibraryThing. Overkill, anyone? Heh.)

So. The writing MEME. I’m not tagging today either, just let me know if you participate!

1. List one of your writing goals for the upcoming month, and how likely are you to accomplish it?

I actually already did the only writing goal that has a specific monthly deadline, and that was to write and submit a YA book proposal. So, I’d have to say I’m VERY likely to accomplish it, since it was done last week…

2. What genre or subject would you like to write about that you aren’t currently?

None, really. I write what I want to be writing as it is.

3. What are your writing lifestyle habits? How do you manage the interruptions with your writing? How do you stay positive? How do you believe in your writing success?

I find it easy to stay positive. I like what I write, and I like doing it, and as such it has already fulfilled it’s main purpose. I want to be published, yes. I want to be a pro-writer and actually make a living at it. But my main success is just to do what I love… as long as I keep writing and keep loving it, I am a success.

As far as writing habits, though, I have yet to develop them. I need to, but the Day Job keeps getting in the way. So I guess that answers the interruptions one too: I’m not very good at dealing with them.

4. Are you a panster or a plotter?

Mostly a plotter. Though I don’t know of anyone who keeps going at it who isn’t a combination of both.

5. Who are two of your favorite current authors and why?

Kelley Armstrong is one. She is not only a great author, but a nice person and a wonderful mentor.

The other would either be Lynn Viehl or Holly Lisle, I’m not sure. They’re also great authors and good mentors, though I haven’t met either in person.

6. How does your family feel about your writing?

They support me fully. They (well, parents and sister, I’m not sure the others have read anything I’ve written) think I write well and hope I pursue my dream of being published. They are one of the reasons I think I have a shot at it. Without support, I don’t know that I would be the type to keep going for anyone except myself. (I might be. But I don’t know.)

Movie Madness

FIRST: A Reminder.

Don’t forget to swing by my post of a few days ago to enter my latest contest! This one is for a copy of Lynn Viehl’s Evermore, a novel in the Darkyn series. (I think it’s #5.)

~*~

SECOND: A MEME

I was lazy. So here’s a MEME I got from Lesley instead of blog content. Actually, I think this will be MEME-Week, as I have 2 other MEMEs I’ve been meaning to do. Though, I’m not going to tag anyone today. I just ask that if you choose to play along, you let me know so I can compare our answers!

~*~

Copy the list below.
Mark in bold the movie titles for which you read the book.
Italicize the ones that you’ve watched.

Tag 5 people to perpetuate the meme. (You may of course play along anyway.)

1. Jurassic Park
2. War of the Worlds
3. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
4. I, Robot
5. Contact
6. Congo
7. Cocoon
8. The Stepford Wives (Didn’t know this was a book… might have to read it.)
9. The Time Machine
10. Starship Troopers
11. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
12. K-PAX
13. 2010
14. The Running Man
15. Sphere
16. The Mothman Prophecies
17. Dreamcatcher
18. Blade Runner(Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) (Technically, I have seen the end of this movie, and the book is on my TBR list.)
19. Dune
20. The Island of Dr. Moreau
21. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
22. The Iron Giant (The Iron Man)
23. Battlefield Earth
24. The Incredible Shrinking Woman
25. Fire in the Sky
26. Altered States
27. Timeline (…and the movie is on my to-watch list)
28. The Postman
29. Freejack(Immortality, Inc.)
30. Solaris
31. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
32. The Thing(Who Goes There?)
33. The Thirteenth Floor
34. Lifeforce(Space Vampires)
35. Deadly Friend
36. The Puppet Masters
37. 1984 (Another one on my TBR list…)
38. A Scanner Darkly (…and yet another I want to read.)
39. Creator
40. Monkey Shines
41. Solo(Weapon)
42. The Handmaid’s Tale
43. Communion
44. Carnosaur (I didn’t see this, but supposedly I know one of the actors… Heh. Or maybe he was in the sequel? I forget.)
45. From Beyond
46. Nightflyers
47. Watchers
48. Body Snatchers