Already The Middle Of The Week

Can you believe it? It's already Wednesday.
Monday was a bit on the crazy side so I wasn't able to post. But hey! I'll make up for it today. I hope. 

How has your week gone so far? 

I am pleased to announce that the last two days, heck THREE days, I've been in the planning stages for NaNoWriMo. At last I have an idea. For my 8th year, I'm hoping to get a third win! Another 30 Days of Literary Abandon, here I come! 

I'm thinking of a title like 'Broken and Beautiful' since it's going to be about a young woman who follows her rock star boyfriend to California and, as you can probably guess, she gets there and finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her since he stepped foot off the plane. 
Bam! An idea was formed. AND I got the idea while working cash register at Barnes & Noble. No idea how those two are related. But it worked. Ideas in my head. And I've been writing them all down furiously.

A computer is great. Not going to lie. I love them. But I think it would be even BETTER if I could drag around a typewriter to write my novel. You could be all 'yeah, I carry my typewriter with me. what of it?' 

I so hope one day to get one of my very own. I had one when I was young, but it broke and it was an old electric one. Above all, if your typewriter breaks nowadays, you're pretty much screwed because who knows how to repair a TYPEWRITER anymore? 

*takes a sip of tea* 

Moving on! 

Today is kind of a busy day! I finished a book, started a new book, and packed two more with me just in case I finish the other one. Then, I vacuumed and picked up the living room, watched Grey's Anatomy on Lifetime channel, then did the dishes. I contemplated doing my laundry .... but then .... decided against it.

Hey everyone, you get a new fact about me. There's nothing I hate more than cleaning bathrooms. But laundry comes in a close second because you have to take a basket of dirty clothes, take them to the laundry or basement or what have you and you put them in. You have to separate whites, colors, darks, lights, and add the appropriate amount of detergent/fabric softener. Then you have to pick what temperature is perfect for each basket of clothes. 
Here's MY way of doing laundry. Unless it's delicate or has zippers or just seems like something that shouldn't be shoved in the washing machine ... mine ALL goes in. I put in the laundry detergent, put it ALL on cold/cold and turn it on. Simpler. More effective. And less loads. 
But then you have to put them in the dryer and make sure that everything goes in and comes out dry or even just SLIGHTLY damp. I have no problem with this part. Here's where I get stumped. The putting away. I hate doing that. My clean clothes wind up just STAYING in the laundry basket and I sort through what I need when I need it. 

Am I the only one that does this? *raises hand and looks around* Anyone? Anyone at all? 

Dirty or clean? You'll never know. Hahahaha! 

Now .... because it's October 16th and Halloween is about 15 days away or so, I wanted to share another one of my favorite Halloween traditions. The decorating. Last year (or was it the year before), I carved a pumpkin in the shape of one of the Skelanimals. The bird. Looked like this...

And yes, these are fair game. They're on google, after all. But yeah, I love carving pumpkins. Now the degooping of the pumpkin. Kinda gross still. It's cold and slimy. *shudders* But the end result's worth it. Don't you think? SO CUTE. 
Another of my favorite Halloween traditions to decorate are the Fall leaves garland and little haunted houses, the Boney Bunch Collection, the fake spiderwebs and the Halloween lights. 

When I lived in Holland with my roommate, I surprised her by decorating the entire front porch and even the bushes out front. I had taken the old ceiling light and had covered it with fake cobwebs and hung a long strand to about eye level and then tied on a plastic spider. Then I put up lights and fake Caution tape everywhere. That is one thing I miss about where I lived. Being able to hand out candy. The kids in Holland loved our decorations. Because even though it was simple, it was creative. 
I love seeing all the costumes kids choose every year and love seeing their faces when you hand them their favorite candy bar. I even had water bottles set out for the parents who'd been walking all over town with their kids.
I loved being able to go all out for Halloween night. 
And for those who've seen It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown ... No one got any rocks. 

I thought about it. 

But I decided that that wouldn't be funny. It's just depressing. 

And now let's go on to the Wednesday Writers Workshop! 
Today Topic: Reading! 

A lot of people think that you can just sit down and start penning the Great American Novel. That it's easy. It's not. 
In order to bring out your inner writer, you have to be able to read anything. I can and do. It took practice, actually. For a LONG time, I had refused to read anything nonfiction. I only read CERTAIN fiction books and didn't even touch the Romance section. It wasn't until I met my dear friend Jeanne that I truly grasped this concept. She reads EVERYTHING. She wasn't afraid to read anything new or strange or banned. She was the one who told me that in order for me to be able to write, I had to have an understanding of everything else that had been written. 
I started with my favorite kind of biographies. Stories of people studying wolves or the reading field guides from the library. I then went on to reading different nonfiction accounts from documentaries that I liked. Thus, breaking my fear of nonfiction. 
This writer believes that no book can be counted out. 
No author should be ignored. 

I have a very firm philosophy that when it comes to literature, it all matters if it tells a story (of any kind) and can make one think. My philosophy also stems from the fact that I'm a Christian, born and raised (ooh, you got two facts about me today) and that I was RAISED to believe that all people deserve a chance. They deserve to be looked at as people. Not objects. My mom taught me that you can't look at a person and judge them for what they look like, how they act, or what defines them. I took that lesson and have never really looked back. 
I accept people. This includes authors. All of them. 
I'm not kidding when I tell you that I read everything or that if you suggest me to read a book, I won't think twice. It WILL get added to my 'To Read' pile. 

So there's my suggestion for any writer. 
Do you read just one genre? Do you ignore others because they're 'controversial' or you're worried what people will think of you if you choose them? 
My advice on that? Ignore those feelings. So what if someone looks at the title and wonders what you're reading. You look them straight in the eye and you tell them 'I'm a reader, I'm a writer and (Emily and Ash, you'll appreciate this) .. Don't look at me with those judgy little eyes' 
Read EVERYTHING. Read the newspapers, read magazines, read the banned books list cover to cover. Read the side of buses. Read advertisements. Read the books with the weird covers and titles that you can't understand. Read the classics to understand what was popular in the 1800s. Read the fine print on contracts. Read Harry Potter just for the fact that it's Harry Potter. Read it all and don't look back. 

I also wanted to share what I'm currently reading. I just finished reading Requiem by Lauren Oliver in the Delirium Trilogy. And I refuse to do a review on it based solely on the fact that ... I'm not sure what I think of it yet. When the dust settles in my brain, I'll let you know. 

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg! 

This book is a bit more on my controversial side since it's LGBT literature. But I think it has some good storyline in it. 

"Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.
And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.
So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret -- not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben . . . who doesn't even know that love is possible."

Again, it's a bit controversial for those who do NOT like LGBT literature so ... and I quote. "Don't look at me with those judgy little eyes" (Thanks Emily for making me watch that show. DAMIEN IS SO FUNNY) 
It was recommended to me a WHILE ago and I finally got to it on the pile. 

Be open, be loving, be yourself!
-Taryn