The Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do You Have Goals? ... JUNE

For my Write ... Edit ... Publish ~ ROMANCE post, click HERE.

Cephalopod Ramblings

Some things of note occurred this month, in terms of reading:

1. I finished Alex J. Cavanaugh's CASSA series, and found the third book to be my favourite of the series, even if I thought they were all great.
2. I read my first Sarah Dessen novel, Dreamland. I thought it was very good, but I couldn't relate to the main character at all - just kept yelling at her to GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM, DUDETTE.
3. I read my bloggy friend Cheyanne Young's Motocross Me, and really enjoyed it. I liked that main character Hana was far from perfect. This book reminded me of the movie Rush, just a little bit.
4. And finally, I read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, which is my pick of the month:

This book left me feeling rather depressed. As soon as I'd finished it, I put it aside and said, "Ohhh that's saaaad!" and gave my kitty a big hug for comfort.

This is a great book, though the story is terribly tragic. I feel like a bit of a psycho saying this, but learning the truth about what happened in the last moments of the massacre made me just a tiny bit ... happy. But I certainly didn't finish this book feeling happy in any way. The thing that haunts me most is Peter's story.

This book is so important - it's relevant to the past, but also to the future. America is inevitably going to continue to suffer more of these horrible tragedies, until some very drastic changes occur. I sincerely hope those changes are nigh, but I can't help but doubt that they are.

Goals

Ummm, so yeah, another month has passed, and what have I achieved since last time? Let's recap the last few months for just a second here.

At the end of April I was up to Chapter 13 in my revision project. At the end of May, I was still stuck on Chapter 13.

At least I can say now that I've made it to Chapter 16. But it's been the usual hard slog. And I believe I have edited Chapter 16 already about 5 times. The most recent edit is still confined to paper, because it was rather disheartening to realise I'd have to transcribe edits and print out yet another copy of the chapter to edit ... again!

Anyway, I hope to actually be done with Chapter 16 by the time June is out. But my days for achieving that little goal are numbered!! But at least I can say June was better than May, by along shot!

Hope you guys have had a great June!

Cephalopod Coffeehouse bookclub & Goal update (LMG revisions)

Today it's the monthly Cephalopod Coffeehouse book club meeting, hosted by the very groovy Armchair Squid. I'm sharing some medium-sized book reviews.

 Bitter Like Orange Peel - Jessica Bell :: Jessica Bell's latest offering is the story of a messed-up family riddled with secrets and lies. Over the course of the book, the great blanket of lies begins to unravel, with that saying "the truth will out" being constantly proven. Honestly, I sometimes wondered if this family would ever get its poo together. And I'm not really sure they did, even by the book's end. At least I can say they made progress. Jessica Bell is a beautiful writer with a knack for writing "difficult", complicated characters. Most of the characters in this book I wanted to slap really hard a lot of the time. The end of the book didn't feel like much of an end - more like there was a clean slate and the family finally had a chance to start fresh. Without lies, this time. I feel like I need to wish them good luck!

True Grit - Charles Portis :: Quite a few years ago, one of my aunties told me I should read this book. Now that I finally have, I can see what she meant when she told me, "It's fantastic!" I loved it to bits. The character of Mattie Ross is truly loveable and admirable, and as one review in a famous magazine said, she sure knows what it means to have "true grit". There were other characters to get a kick out of, too, a colourful cast of people with really cool names like "Rooster" Cogburn, La Boeuf, and Lucky Ned Pepper. Tom Chaney was a good name for an "outlaw" too, I suppose. But Rooster was a great character who really did have the "true grit" Mattie was seeking in others all through the book. I can definitely see myself re-reading this book in future. And I'll have to check out the movie, even if I'm not convinced it can do the book justice.

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult :: I finally read this, many years after it was first "hot", and can say that it's a great book. I wasn't expecting the  ending, and I hear they changed it in the movie - I can imagine how they might've done so, but I'd have to watch it to find out. Which I will do, someday. In this book, characters do things I totally did not agree with, but I could still see their reasons, and understand their predicaments. Jodi Picoult writes family pain and characters in crisis so well, and makes you hurt along with them. Sometimes I did feel that I was being manipulated (like with at least one scene narrated by Anna that just verged on a bit too dramatic), but I guess these characters had the right to some dramatic flair!

Sister - Rosamund Lupton :: I remember reading about this book on somebody's blog and thinking I would have to read it. I've done so now, and I really enjoyed the read, even if I found it quite a strange experience. The story was gripping, and for the most part well written, but I found Lupton's use of commas really odd. And yet her book was generally written in a beautiful, poetic style. The story itself? Very gripping, and with a gasp-worthy, haunting twist at the end. In the back of the copy I read, there's an interview with the author where she is asked a question about the twist - did that really happen? She answers that she feels it did, but that it's up to the individual reader to make up their own mind. I'm the sort of person who can't really believe something's real unless there is 100% blatant "yes, it is real and here is all the proof" confirmation. So I'm not really sure what I believe. But I'm sure as heck still wondering. So, if you like crime/thriller from an amateur sleuth perspective, I definitely recommend this read.

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Also today is the Do You Have A Goal? (DYHAG for short, or so I'm referring to it) monthly bloghop, which is hosted by Misha Gericke.

The goal I chose was to:

get LMG ready for QueryCon by end of August

So, how have I done with this goal since I signed up for Misha's hop?

Tomorrow is the last day of August. I have so far sent chapters 1-4 of LMG to a CP and got feedback. I have since sent chapters 5-6 off, and doubt I'll get feedback before August ends. There are twenty chapters in this novella. So, I guess you could say I didn't achieve my goal. And you want to know why? I'm a slacker. That is the sole reason for it. I should have read through the whole thing by now and polished it up, fleshed it out where it needs fleshing, etc.. But instead I have watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls.

And it's been awesome.

So, yeah, I totally blame myself for not meeting my goal. But luckily I'm not that miserable about it. I'm content to just keep on plugging away at this thing. Because it's true that I really should just work on one writing project at a time. When I try to do bits of everything, I do nothing.

I went to the library, and took some photos

I thought I had a blogfest to post for today, but it turns out I got the dates wrong so after I spent like an hour composing this rather 'large' post, I realised I don't have to post it until early September. Ahhh well, at least it's ready to go now! I'm just usually not a "do stuff faaaar in advance" sort of gal.

Anyways, I do have something to talk about. The library. I joined a library at the start of this year, with a view to spending less money on books and still getting to read them. I borrowed three books and read them all within the three-week loan period. Returned them on time, no fines. And then that was it. No more visits to the library. No more books. Hey, I work in a library so I tend to visit one 5 out of every 7 days of the week, but still, no more visits to that other library for free books.

It's now August and I finally made myself go back. There are some Jodi Picoult books that have been on my TBR since 2009 that I have finally borrowed - albeit in large print format, as they're the only ones that aren't checked out to other patrons for months and months at a time with no availability date in sight - and currently I'm reading My Sister's Keeper. Then I saw Mum today and she said, "Remember to ask me if you want any Jodi Picoult books - I've got them all." And I'll bet they're not in large print or quite as dirty and worn as the ones I got from the library.

Now, pictures of my two cats and a recent sky view from out front of my place:

Another update on 2011 goals

It's been a while since I gave an update. To be honest, it's been a while since I got anything serious done. I have pathetic excuses that I won't even bother to utter because they're just not acceptable!! Suffice it to say though, I'm having fun and enjoying my life a lot! On my paper edit, well for a while there I was managing one chapter a night, but more often than not I don't get that done anymore. I'm up to page 65 or so, out of 188 pages. Other goals on my list can only be achieved after I'm done with my paper edit...so I guess I better get my act together!! On the preliminary read-through/edit of NAUSICAA...not much is happening. No, scrap that. Nothing is happening.

On A'vron's classics book club, nothing is happening, but at least that one's not my fault!

Now, though, onto things I have been doing.

I've been playing my guitar again, and currently I'm learning how to play "Rhythm Is A Dancer" (not just the chords but lead guitar parts, and the bass line). I've also been scanning old photographs from negatives and slides, and writing stories for the Chrysalis Experiment. I've been managing to post at least once a week in this blog, so that's another goal I'm keeping up with. And of course, I've been reading. It's pretty slow going. I'm currently on Jodi Picoult's Second Glance, and I'm enjoying it but I admit at first there were just so many characters and I was getting confused between them all. The central chapters from Cecilia's point of view were a welcome relief. But they also made me realise I should probably start reading the book all over again, to better understand all the interweaving storylines. I'm on page 301 of 420, so getting there. Slowly. But surely.

So there you go. An update, at last.