To Be Read

Way back when, I used to read like crazy. Trips to the bookstore were a weekly occurrence. I read Gone With the Wind in two days. Grisham's The Firm? Two hours (no lie. It's a record that still stands.)

Unfortunately, I don't have the same time I had back then. I'm so busy with my own writing and revising that it kind of takes over everything else. And, I've found I don't quite enjoy it as much as I used to, because I no longer read as a reader, but as a writer. Reading as a writer definitely has its drawbacks - mainly, I notice things that are wrong in the book. Whether it be grammatical, spelling, logic errors or plotholes - things that used to escape my attention now scream at me when I read. Which takes some of the pleasure out of reading.

Combine the two, and the result is that my TBR (To Be Read) pile is out of control.

In that pile currently:

1. Last Words - George Carlin. My other half gave me this for my birthday. I'm about halfway through it some three months later. I'll probably have to start it over when I get the chance to reread it.

2. Seduce Me at Sunrise - Lisa Kleypas. I bought this one (even though I never finished Mine 'Til Midnight. I just couldn't get into that story) and I'm thisclose to finishing. Hopefully before spring because I also have...

3. Tempt Me at Twilight - another Kleypas' Hathaway novels. I hope to get to it... some day.

4. True Compass - Ted Kennedy. Another birthday gift from my other half. It's on my dresser, collecting dust.

5. The Yankee Years  - Tom Verducci and Joe Torre. I started reading this when it came out, but honestly, it's an awful book. It's BORING as hell and frankly, I wanted to throw it across the room when Verducci (using a knitting metaphor of all the WTFness) wrote "knit one, pearl two." Now, I'm a knitter, but even before I learned, even I knew it was PURL and NOT PEARL. Dolt. Look it up if you're going to use a phrase you don't really understand. I have no desire to finish this horrid book. Not even if Joe Torre himself came to my house to read it to me. Blech.

ahem

6.  Emma - Jane Austen. I know... I'm supposed to revere Jane Austen and all things Austen, but I don't. I've only read one book by her and I had to slog through it. But... I'm willing to try again. Eventually.

7. Inferno - Dante. Someday. I swear I'm going to read this damn book.

And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

So... what's in your TBR pile???

Looking Ahead

Real life has snuck up on me again in the form of a sick Girl. She's been home from school since Thursday, running a fever until yesterday, when I took her to the doctor. Turns out she has a major ear infection. Ah, yes... winter has come to my household.

Anyway, I try not to make New Year's resolutions, simply because I know I'm not going to keep them. It just never seems to happen.

However, I have a few goals, I'd like to reach. Is that the same thing as resolutions? I don't know... Great, there's another one - look up the difference between goal and resolution. Sigh.

So here they are, some of my writing-related goals for 2010...

1. Get Tiger Eyes and Devil in Disguise completely finished and out the door.

2. Finish Dance with the Devil, Angel of Darkness, and One Wicked Kiss

3. Start researching and writing the historical western that's been poking holes in my brain for months. I've had this story idea for the longest time, now I want to get it out on paper.

4. Blog on a more regular basis

5. Get an agent - this is kind of a perennial goal for me, but I have yet to seriously pursue it. So, maybe this year, I'll actually do it. We'll see.

I've also got ideas for several other books, and if I get them written this year, wonderful. If not, I have a list for next year as well. And I'm sure this list will grow as the year progresses. And change. And who knows? The agent hunt may spill over into next year. We'll see.

It's not the biggest list, but it's a start.

What about you? What's on your list for 2010???

Write, Revise, Repeat as Needed

 And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. The writing part is done. The revising, however... yikes.

The best part about the revision process is when I can't read my own notes. **headsmack** It happens more often than I care to think about. I know I should know what it says, but damn it - I can't make it out for the life of me.

To be honest, I'd rather write the damn book than revise it. No, that's not entirely true. Later revisions are okay, because by then, there aren't that many (duh) but those earlier ones? Ugh. The pages end up a mess of red. Scratch-outs, arrows, new scenes written on the backs of pages, with cryptic notes (that made sense at the time I wrote them, but now... WTF did I mean by that???) and not-so-cryptic notes (continue on backs of pages 47, 52, and 92)

That's where Devil in Disguise is right now - that mess-of-red-ink stage. And not only does my handwriting suggest medical school would have been perfect for me, but I write small and I use a fine point pen (all the better for cramming as many changes into a small a space as possible) so the deciphering can be quite the challenge.

What's even better? When I change something in Draft #2, then change that same something in Draft #3, then find out that I changed it back to what it originally was in Draft #1! **headsmack**

And since Devil in Disguise is not going to edit or revise itself, that's probably what I should be doing right now!