NaNoWriMo Week One Update

One week down, three to go! It's been a fun week of writing. It started out slow and I felt my story was so so boring, trying to establish character and setting and all that, but the past three days of writing it feels like it has really picked up. I feel excited to go where I think ('cause you never really know!) it's going and I can't wait to get there! This is the adrenaline of Nano that I keep talking about, the addictive nature of it. That feeling of anticipation to see if what's in your head pans out. And how.

I've had a few new thoughts about my story after starting that I'm excited... well nervous... about too. I think this time around I'm being much braver, and that's such a good thing I'm noticing! I don't know, I guess we'll see.

So, after a week I'm at 15,805 words, which is a little head of the game. That's because I know there will be crazy non-writing days to come and I really want to be ahead when those hit! I haven't written anything yet today, so here's hoping by the end of today we'll be about 2000 more, which seems to be my daily average-ish. Only today might turn out to be one of those crazy days before it's over.

What I'm loving so far about this current writing experience:

• writing in present tense. I feel more... um... present! :)
• having my characters be different, like not exactly what we'd expect to see here in this world.
• having the world be different, though sometimes that's hard because my imagination is crap
• having a better idea of where this is going, and that's only because it's a retelling so I have the outline of the original story to go by!
• having my sister participating with me fairly consistently. We chat while writing and moan and worry and sprint and bounce ideas around. It's lovely. Here's hoping she stays with me for yet another week! And another. And another.
• having my family "get it" a little better this time around because they've actually seen a printed up visual of the story from two years ago. I think that makes a huge difference, to actually see that... oh, cool...you really WERE writing something!
• figuring out a music playlist as I go. Why is that so much fun?
• having so many published authors, and favorite authors participating. I know they have in the past, but it seems more this time. Anyway, to compare my daily word count with Brandon Sanderson's (so far about the same!) makes me smile. (To have him working on Stormlight 3 makes me smile even bigger.)
• feeling a little braver and a little less restrained in the writing and truly noticing an improvement. This is the best thing of all. Here's hoping it's not all in my <crappy> imagination!

I can't wait to keep going! Are you writing? How did your first week go? Are you still excited about your story? Let me know!!

(P.S. If we aren't buddies on the Nano page... find me: SueySays. Also, if you are interested, I pushed  the public button on my new writing website. Still not sure how to make the transition with writing related posts, as you can see I wanted to reach more people and post it here, (and I'll probably cross post this one there) but we'll get there maybe. If you click over, let me know what you think. I'd love feedback!)

Book Review Discussion: The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond

Book: The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond
Genre: YA Historical
Rating:★★★★★
For: Fun and Beehive Award long list
From: the library

Short Synopsis: Dominic and Holly have been best friends forever, living together in post WWII England as the neighborhood tries to get back to normal life. Their fathers work for the nearby shipyard. One summer they see tightrope walkers at the circus and they spend much of their time practicing and trying to be tightrope walkers too. But that's not what this book is about. That's just a metaphor for what it's really about, which is growing up and surviving. Dom's big worry at first is about the bully beating him, and then turning into a strange sort of friend later. He loves Holly, but he shuns her too. Basically, he can't figure anything out. And then something happens that changes their lives forever.

My Response: Ah, this book. I love books like this. Plot people, you will probably hate it.. it's ALL CHARACTER! But such beautiful writing. I enjoyed the writing in Skellig, the only other David Almond book I've read, so I had high expectations with this one. All fulfilled. Simple, beautiful, poetic writing. How does he DO that??? The setting and characters were great and the historical nuggets and British-isms also awesome. I loved it.

But do be warned, this book has many many disturbing things. The bully is really awful and does really awful things. Dominic is mixed up in some of those things for awhile which makes (the reader, his parents, Holly) cringe and wring our hands and hope. As a parent, I can totally relate. But, yes, I would say this book while marketed as YA could be more NA or even adult. Very very disturbing things.

Bottom Line: Loved the writing and the character development, despite the disturbing and deep subject matter. The book makes my heart ache with both beautiful things and hard things.

Let's Talk About: What do you feel about the rough in life paired with the beautiful? Pretty true to real life, wouldn't you say? And still, it's a little jarring in a book such as this. Yet, somehow it works. It works unbelievably well.

Other Reviews:

THE TIGHTROPE WALKERS is both brutal and romantic, realistic and fantastical --- and it offers a coming-of-age story that won't soon be forgotten. From TeenReads.com

As I was reading the book with my reviewer's cap on my head, I kept wondering to myself if teens would like the book, if they would recognize the literary merit behind the prose. I don't know the answer. I am quite conflicted. I guess my advice to you is to read the book and decide for yourself. From My Head Is Full of Books

David Almond addresses the dark side of humanity, but like real life, sometimes hope can be found and sometimes the sense of loss can be overwhelming. However, the beautiful writing, metaphors, and lyrical prose make this book very special. From YA Books Central.com

The Walking Dead S6E4: Here's Not Here (SPOILERS!)

Meet Eastman

So, just as we feared, the story does not pick up where it left off last week and we still don't know the for sure fate of Glenn and Rick. And I'm not sure next week will help either. Oh, the pain and agony! Lucky those who end up binge watching this season and can skip this all this anxiety!

As we all figured from the "next week on the Walking Dead" clues, we backtracked to pick up Morgan's story somewhere after Rick left him when they crossed paths that one time and we knew Morgan had lost it.

He wanders around by himself for awhile, barley surviving, and going pretty insane. Then he stumbles upon a dude with a goat, living what looks like a nice normal life in a cabin in the woods. The dude is so calm and confident about... everything. We take to him immediately. (Well, I did anyway.)

Morgan... what ARE you thinking???

He "locks" Morgan up in cell in his house until he can get him calmed down. When he lets him out Morgan attacks him but this dude (his name is Eastman) has skillz  and takes him down. After that, Morgan seems to chill a little and when Eastman is out doing whatever one day, Morgan saves the goat from walkers and decides to learn Eastman's peaceful philosophy and ways.

Time to spar!

To start, they learn Aikido, a form of martial arts involving the staff. And thus we see why Morgan is so good with that stick! And Eastman says a couple of things that I found powerful and true... I tweeted them:

Suey ‏@SueySays  Nov 1

All life is precious. Everything is about people. Thanks for the words of wisdom Eastman! #TheWalkingDead

Morgan learns these things from Eastman and vows to never kill again. We learn the back story of Eastman (sad sad tale) and I'm starting to get worried about now because Eastman is not in our present story.. so WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM??

Well, of course he saves Morgan from a walker (when Morgan freezes up) and gets bit and so then Morgan has to kill Eastman, though thankfully, we don't have to see it. And then Morgan walks off and sees the Terminus signs. Bam. We are back to the moment at the beginning of LAST season when we were all so excited to see Morgan's face again!

After the last couple of intense weeks, this episode felt pretty slow. But, I still enjoyed it a ton. Eastman was great and I'm sad we can't keep him around awhile longer.

Now, what do you think is in store NEXT week?

Book Review Discussion: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Book: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: YA contemporary romance
Rating:
For: readathon
From: bought with B and N gift card awhile back

Short Synopsis: Ellie accidentally gets an email from some dude about his pet pig. They enjoy bantering with each other and continue the emails, even though they have no idea who the other is. They hope to meet someday. (Sounds a little like You've Got Mail, The Shop Around the Corner and She Loves Me, am I right?) Some day happens when the boy, Graham, shows up at Ellie's small town as part of a movie production. And just happens to be the movie star. The teen heart throb. The famous dude. Ellie is blown away and pretty much wants nothing to do with him at first. But then, she changes her mind. And changes it again. It's kind of a mess. But a fun one.

My Response: Ah, what a perfectly fun book for the readathon. Mostly fluff, a little serious, lots of angst, banter, and romance. I sailed through it. The story and the writing isn't like WOW, but it's engaging and lovely and what else can I say?

Bottom Line: I totally enjoyed it. If you enjoy contemporary YA, read it!

Let's Talk About: Guys, I can't think of anything specific to "talk" about for this one! Some books are like that, right? They just are and you just say, that was cool. And move on! We could talk about what happy looks like for you. I did a whole post on that the other day!

Other Reviews:

It’s weird but I really like the whole strangers who know nothing about each other but their words trope. From Good Books and Good Wine

To watch their love unfold with sweetness and hardships, defines both characters. From Books With Bite

I have to say that I was actually impressed by this one. From Bookshipper

But when they both figure out how to reconcile the person they see with the person they know, their interactions become as sweet as possible. From Reader's Dialogue

Fifty Things I Want To Do

And the countdown continues! We are just over two weeks away! Make times stop!

So, I've listed fifty things I've done and now you get the other list, the bucket list per say, the more common list... the list of things I still want to accomplish in life. Well, some of them. Actually, I struggled coming up with this list, and yet, I know there are a ton more I could add.

Fifty Things I Want to Do

1. go on a writing retreat (particularly the Writing Excuses cruise!)
2. live in England for a summer
3. have a beautiful yard and garden
4. finish the hexagon quilt wall hanging
5. lose 20 pounds
6. visit all 50 states
7. go to San Diego Comic Con
8. ride in a helicopter
9. see the Northern lights
10. get published
11. meet Josh Groban
12. watch a shuttle/rocket/spaceship launch
13. visit PEI in Canada
14. visit other places in Canada.. Quebec/Montreal stand out
15. drive across the country on back roads, no freeways
16. put together, glue and frame a puzzle
17. finish a scrap quilt
18. see Donny and Marie in Las Vegas
19. finish my Classic Club list
20. be in the audience of a talk show (once upon a time I would have said Oprah or Regis..but now I don’t know what)
21. visit New England
22. visit all the continents
23. wade in all the oceans
24. have Jenni successfully teach me how to crochet something
25. see Markus Zusak IN Australia
26. watch all the Supernatural seasons
27. finish all the Buffy seasons
28. be “The Book Grandma”
29. buy a convertible
30. clean up my “craft” room
31. meet John and Hank Green
32. build, decorate and furnish a miniature doll house
33. go to a Sundance Film Festival movie
34. do Zumba for a year
35. try whole food eating for a month (maybe a week…)
36. take the Lord of the Rings tour in New Zealand
37. stay in a beach house for a week
38. try a vlog with Megs… at least try
39. start up journaling again
40. blow up vacation pictures onto canvases and make a collage on the wall
41. have an herb garden
42. finish putting home videos onto DVDs
43. cosplay at Comic Con, once
44. go to BEA
45. finish The Wheel of Time series
46. write life story essays
47. revamp my wardrobe
48. empty my email inbox
49. take up boxing
50. think happy thoughts and fly

Any suggestions for how to accomplish some of these things? :) How are you doing with YOUR bucket list?

October 2015 Reading Wrap Up

Favorite Picture of the Month:
Carving pumpkins and preparing costumes.
(With my three oldest kids...not a normal sight around here anymore!)

The month started out very very bad reading-wise. But then the readathon happened and I managed five books in a day. That helped! And then I read a couple more toward the end of the month to make it be a really decent month after all!

Here's my list:

The Martian by Andy Weir: I think everyone knows this one by now! An astronaut is abandoned accidentally on Mars when his crew has to evacuate. This is how he survived.

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis: Essie is surviving just fine and then a ship crash lands on her planet and she realizes that she needs to make some changes and stop running away from her past.

Saints by Gene Luen Yang: The story of the Boxer Rebellion in China from the point of view of a young girl who became a Christian.

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang: The story of the Boxer Rebellion in China from the point of view of a young boy who brings together a group to fight the Christians.

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde: What happens if you move into a haunted house and haunt the ghost that lives there?

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith: Ellie has been email a stranger for months. She is intrigued. And then one day, a movie set comes to town and the star of the movie is a famous pretty boy that she has no interested in. Until...

The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond: A coming of age story set in England just after WWII about a boy and girl and another boy that causes them all sorts of grief for years.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes: When Louisa gets a job taking care of a guy in a wheelchair, she has no idea how it's going to change her life in all sorts of ways.

Year of Origin (beta read for Maren T.): Blue finds herself Displaced into the future and all she wants to do is find her family.

Gah! I have some major review catching up to do!

Favorites of the Month: The Martian, Stitching Snow, Me Before You and The Tightrope Walkers.... just to name a few. Way too many good books this month!

Plans for November:

• read as many Beehive long list books as I can including:
• Silver in the Blood
• Kissing in America
• All the Bright Places
• and I don't know what else
• oh, Ten Thousand Skies Above You... sent to me to review.
• the goals are small this month because
• NaNoWriMo!
• I'll be writing my own story!
• I hope.

How did your October turn out?

Two Movie Reviews: Pan and The Walk

I'm getting behind in movie thoughts, so here's two at a time!

Movie: Pan
Genre: Fantasy
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Garret Hedlund
Rating: PG 
My Rating: One thumb mostly up

The previews made this movie look really quite wonderful. And cute and fun. But then when it came out the reviews weren't that great, so I decided I'd probably skip it. But then we found ourselves with a free night and this movie fit our schedule, so we went.

Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard

And, it was... okay. A little too strange in parts. And very cheesy in lots of parts. I enjoyed the kid who played Pan. I enjoyed Hugh Jackman of course, who played Blackbeard. (He was not even recognizable, though my daughter Toto picked him out right off.) And Tiger Lily was okay, but the guy who played Hook? (Who in this adaptation is not a bad guy.. just a normal guy who is imprisoned by Blackbeard, just like Pan and a bunch of other kids/people.) He was jut not right. He rubbed me the wrong way. I guess I wanted him to be like Killian from Once Upon a Time. And he was SO FAR from that, and it made me crazy. Oh, well. It was enjoyable. The special effects were cool. So I deem it worth the $5 Tuesday! And kids will like it I bet.

The not-so-great Hook

Here's the trailer:





Movie: The Walk
Genre: Historical
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon
Rating: PG13
My Rating: Two thumbs up

When I saw the preview for this movie, while at the Imax, I was like, NO WAY am I seeing this one! Well, just the opposite from Pan, the reviews were great and so I changed my mind and decided to go. But I HAD to see it in 3D. It was MADE for that! And we managed to get to it just before it left the theaters. Sweet.

I was nervous. I'm scared of heights. In movies, whenever someone is in peril from up high, my body totally reacts as if I'm really there. It's crazy. So I knew this movie would be hard in parts. But I was ready to give it a try.

Can you kind of feel the 3D with this one?

The story is a fun one. This guy from France decides to be a tightrope walker, and one day when he sees an article about about the Trade Towers being built in New York, he decides it's his life's mission to walk between them. He gets several people to help him and they pull of the "coop." It's all nail biting, not just the walk itself. But the walk? Oh my WORD I thought he'd never come down. And yes, I was squirming and closing my eyes and wringing my hands. Awesome. In real life the guy actually walked back and forth eight times...and he knelt and saluted the crowd below and he LAID DOWN on the wire and everything. This was all depicted and all I could think was GET DOWN NOW!!

Perfect for this role!

JGL was awesome and so cute and so lovely and so perfect for this movie. Pretty much, he  makes the movie. That and the re-creation of the two towers. In fact, the move ends up being not only a nod to the craziness of this guy, but the beauty of these buildings. Sad and bittersweet. He ends up with a lifetime pass to go to the top of the towers whenever he wants (yes, he didn't really get in trouble after all) that has no expiration date. Let that sink in. That's when I got teary in the movie.

So, I say, see this one, even if you aren't a fan of heights. And it will be good even without the awesome 3D effects we got to experience! Really. Go see it. Rent it. Just do it.

Here's the trailer: