Posts Tagged ‘words’
good words on good friday
March 29, 2013BOOK HUNGRY: just one day
February 28, 2013
who says you have to be crowded into the living room, kitchen, and/or dining room to hold a book club? we are ladies of the 21st century. we don’t need no stinkin’ couches. so pull up a blog and join in the conversation.
the members of the BOOK HUNGRY are (alphabetically): patty blount, kelly breakey, karla nellenbach, and myself. we pick a book to read. we discuss via email/phone. we post a review on our individual blogs the 3rd thursday of the month OR, well, we used to all post reviews. now, i think, it’s just patty and me. but anyways, go for it. click on their names above and if they have a review up, it’ll take you to there. enjoy.
this month’s BOOK HUNGRY selection is:
JUST ONE DAY by gayle forman
what it’s about from amazon:
A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay.
When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!
my opinion:
woah, boy. i had a lot of expectations for this book considering IF I STAY (one of gayle’s other novels) is one of my all time favorites. we all know i don’t do well with expectations, and yeah, i didn’t do so well with this book. allyson goes through a lot of change and is wonderful at the end, but up until the end? yeah, i didn’t like her.
but the real reason i didn’t like her is probably because,umm, well…here, sarah from forever YA says it better… “It took me a while to warm up to Allyson, and ironically, it’s because she is a lot like my teenage self. (*abby nods, agrees*) She’s uptight and anxious and has absolutely no confidence when it comes to boys. Her internal freak-outs initially drove me craaaaazy cakes, but I completely understood her confusion. I just wanted her to get over it a lot faster than I ever did because seriously, jump Willem’s bones already! And also, when girl got depressed, DAMN. It SUCKED, and there was nothing I could do about it. Over the course of the story, she takes more risks, and gains more courage, and by the end, I was so proud of her, I wanted to go to one of those kids’ party places where they have trampolines everywhere so I could jump and jump and jump with joy. Allyson is a real, live teenager, artfully drawn with crippling emotion and soaring hormones, and I cherished our journey together. Also, seriously, let’s go to one of those trampoline places because they are AWESOME.”
in a nutshell, yes, that’s basically how i felt about this book. a slow beginning and middle, but by the end, this character and this book had found its stride. i was very dismayed when it ended. i wanted, nay, needed to know what happens next! although, if my sources are correct, i don’t have too long to wait because the companion novel JUST ONE YEAR comes out this fall!! woohoo!
you might be surprised by my enthusiasm considering my review above, but let it be known that i’ll read anything gayle forman writes because she’s got a magical gift with words.
sneak peek
January 29, 2013this is on the front page of my WIP to remind me of the core of the story i’m trying to write:
“It’s the lack,
the gap, the absence
and the silence
that fills me
now.
How can so little
take up so much
space
inside of me?
hide and seek
November 2, 2012sometimes something SO BIG comes along the desire to hide overwhelms your sense of logic.
in this case, the something so big is NaNoWriMo (NAtional NOvel WRiting MOnth) in which a novel is defined as 50K and is started on november 1 and finished on/by november 30.
yup. i signed up to write a novel in a month.
i’m considering a costume so maybe it won’t recognize me.
bubba mac yoda is.
baby mac as minnie mouse sans traditional ears.
the WA mums channeling dr. seuss
i swear this wasn’t just an excuse to show off my beyond adorable nieces and nephews. though, really, aren’t they the cutest?!? i’m not biased at all. this is the truth.
but back to my point. i’m really scared of this task, of this herculean effort, of this novel, of all these expectations (mine + others’). i’ve already started this one once and wrote 20K before i realized i needed to restart it and that brings me to what i’m doing this november.
this is manuscript #3 for me, which means i should have learned something from manuscripts 1 and 2 and those things learned should be incorporated now, but, umm, i can’t find my notes, a pop quiz today?, THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK, TEACHER.
wow. that’s already a lot more than i tell most people about my writing because i’m (a) too much of a perfectionist where i don’t want people to see the process, just the results, (b) superstitious, (c) private, (d) awkward, (e) uncomfortable talking about myself, (f) private, (g) see aforementioned items x100. i guess i’m hoping if i put this in writing, i’ll be held accountable.
i want to be accountable.
but i’m scared.
i think it’s time to take a cue from my dear (and ridiculously talented) friend adriana.
mrs. cloud at HER harvard book store reading
perhaps i should throw on something bright so (in her case) the people at the reading focus on that instead of her (so she said); or so (in my case) i focus on the outer (getting the words out) instead of the inner (editor)?
maybe i’m grasping at straws here. maybe that analogy sounded better in my head. maybe i’m procrastinating from working on that manuscript (if you look at the date, yes, i’m two days into NaNo) because the blog is safe and the MS is uncharted territory.
okay, okay. i’m leaving. but first, tell me how YOU go about facing your fears.
let’s all be in this together!
revelation
August 7, 2012summer is supposed to be a time of relaxation, of sunshine and sunscreen, of picnics in the park, of beaches and pools, of long, lazy hours that blend together.
or maybe that’s just the summers of my childhood because i can’t recall a summer like that in recent years. nowadays, i’ve barely added the white back into my wardrobe post memorial day before the fireworks are popping and labor day shuts down any fantasies i had about going to the beach. it’s one thing after another — work, trips, sports, friends, family, etc — and pretty soon, the leaves are changing color and i’m putting the blankets back on my bed.
so where does that leave me time to write?
it doesn’t really, so i have to remember to make writing a priority, to squeeze in the words any way i can: on a lunch break. on the train. before bed. when i’m tired. when i’m happy. when i’m bored. when i’m busy. when i’m cold. when i’m sick. when i’m healthy. whenever, wherever i can.
simply put…
