The Goodreads Challenge has turned into a tradition for me. I like setting goals, especially when they're realistic and fun. So far I've participated in four with varying degrees of success. Last year, I analyzed the past Challenges and how I fared each year. You can read it about them here.
This past year I set a goal of reading 35 books, a reasonable challenge for myself, I thought. Little did I know that my reading would come to a screeching halt come mid-August. I had read 19 books by then. My goal wasn't completely out of reach, but my desire to pick up a book last fall totally disappeared. Correction: the desire was there but the energy and ability to keep my eyes while reading a page disappeared.
And so I ended the year with a total of 20 books. Not too shabby, but I had definitely hoped to complete more books than that. If you'd like to check out the titles of the those I read, click the Books Read tab at the top of my blog page. I really enjoyed them all and would recommend each one without hesitation.
This year I think I'll lower my expectations. I planned on 35 last year. This year I think I'll shoot for 2 books a months + 1 thrown in for good luck. Twenty-five books doesn't seem like very many, but I know my late spring will be similar to last fall; big family events, work, spring sports, and very little free time.
Goodreads Challenge 2015 = 25 books
Do you participate in the Goodreads Challenge? What is your goal?
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Saturday, January 3, 2015
It's 2015! How'd That Happen?
I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year. It's been an embarrassingly long time since I posted..
since I've written...
since I've read.
My last blog post was in August and I can honestly say that from that time forward, I've had an intense schedule. Last fall, my hours increased at work and my position/responsibilities changed. My day began at 5:15am and ended between 9:30 and 10:30pm. I kept it up through the end of October with a slight break during the month of November. Fall sports ended for 2 children and we managed to sit down to dinner at 6:30 rather than 7, 7:30, or some nights, 8:00. I also have a high school senior who has been writing essays and applying to colleges, so a lot of reading, visiting schools, interviews and meet ups, offering suggestions, rereading, checking the Common App what seemed like a billion times before she pushed Submit. Whew! It's finally done, and while she's still waiting for 3 schools to respond, she's been accepted to a number of great schools. Well worth the late nights and hard work.
Instead of questioning my commitment to writing and reading at every "failure," because I was too tired, I decided to just drop these two aspects of my life for the time being. That "time being" stretched out for 4 1/2 months. The only extra I allowed myself was running, usually twice a week at the soccer field. This was essential for my mental well being, not to mention the physical benefits. Exactly what I needed during my down time, because it required no thought, just motion. I promised myself that at 10:00pm, I was done for the day, no matter what. No dishes, no laundry, no prep for work, nothing. I promised myself that I would not feel guilty about my time away from writing or reading. I would not view it as a failure because I didn't reach my projected goals. Situations change. People change. Priorities change.
Sure I could have pushed myself harder. Could have sacrificed my weekend time. Could have slept less. But I'm learning a valuable lesson.
Being present for my family is priority.
Taking care of myself is priority, too.
Now that the holidays are over, I declared to my husband that the day after Christmas is perhaps my favorite day of the year. The stress and activities are over and I have a week off to do whatever I want, guilt-free. For me this has meant cleaning, resting, learning to crochet, and re-watching season 4 of Downton Abbey in preparation for the new season (I can't wait!). I've started reading again and have peeked at my WIP. Actually, the winter months are usually productive for me and so I'll recommit myself to reading more and writing again.
As far as resolutions go, I will continue trying to live the lessons I've learned from above:
Take care of my family.
Take care of myself.
Happy 2015 everyone!
Any thoughts as to how you will approach this new year?
since I've written...
since I've read.
My last blog post was in August and I can honestly say that from that time forward, I've had an intense schedule. Last fall, my hours increased at work and my position/responsibilities changed. My day began at 5:15am and ended between 9:30 and 10:30pm. I kept it up through the end of October with a slight break during the month of November. Fall sports ended for 2 children and we managed to sit down to dinner at 6:30 rather than 7, 7:30, or some nights, 8:00. I also have a high school senior who has been writing essays and applying to colleges, so a lot of reading, visiting schools, interviews and meet ups, offering suggestions, rereading, checking the Common App what seemed like a billion times before she pushed Submit. Whew! It's finally done, and while she's still waiting for 3 schools to respond, she's been accepted to a number of great schools. Well worth the late nights and hard work.
Instead of questioning my commitment to writing and reading at every "failure," because I was too tired, I decided to just drop these two aspects of my life for the time being. That "time being" stretched out for 4 1/2 months. The only extra I allowed myself was running, usually twice a week at the soccer field. This was essential for my mental well being, not to mention the physical benefits. Exactly what I needed during my down time, because it required no thought, just motion. I promised myself that at 10:00pm, I was done for the day, no matter what. No dishes, no laundry, no prep for work, nothing. I promised myself that I would not feel guilty about my time away from writing or reading. I would not view it as a failure because I didn't reach my projected goals. Situations change. People change. Priorities change.
Sure I could have pushed myself harder. Could have sacrificed my weekend time. Could have slept less. But I'm learning a valuable lesson.
Being present for my family is priority.
Taking care of myself is priority, too.
Now that the holidays are over, I declared to my husband that the day after Christmas is perhaps my favorite day of the year. The stress and activities are over and I have a week off to do whatever I want, guilt-free. For me this has meant cleaning, resting, learning to crochet, and re-watching season 4 of Downton Abbey in preparation for the new season (I can't wait!). I've started reading again and have peeked at my WIP. Actually, the winter months are usually productive for me and so I'll recommit myself to reading more and writing again.
As far as resolutions go, I will continue trying to live the lessons I've learned from above:
Take care of my family.
Take care of myself.
Happy 2015 everyone!
Any thoughts as to how you will approach this new year?
Monday, August 11, 2014
It's Here!!
Woo Hoo!!
My copy of Donna Hosie's The Devil's Intern came in the mail today!
Just try and tear it out of my hands!
My copy of Donna Hosie's The Devil's Intern came in the mail today!
Just try and tear it out of my hands!
Thursday, July 31, 2014
50K: The End is in Sight!
I just reached 50,000 words on my WIP and I'm pumped!
Why? Because I've been working on this MS for over three years, from its conception during a NaNoWriMo challenge until now. Kind of ironic isn't it? Writers are supposed to write 50K in one month and here I took 3 1/2 years! But that's okay because there was a period of 4 to 6 months when my writing practically stopped and I feared that the spark wouldn't reignite when I faced this MS again.
But you know what? It did. I was still in love with my characters and the direction the story was heading. And so I continued on, working on it while I could, little by little. I hoped to finish it by the summer, but then the spring of constant motion and exhaustion hit, and I was barely writing or even reading.
Here I am in July. I'm behind in my reading, behind in my housework but I reached 50K words. Before I started this project I wrote an outline for this novel and have been using it as a road map of sorts. To be honest, I haven't looked at it that often, but I love that I have it as a safety net. Last week, I revisited that outline. I was feeling a bit nervous about the approaching climax and how I'm going to end this novel. I have a vague idea, but wasn't sure how many total words I should aim for.
First, I went back and checked my word count for each chapter. As of now, before revisions, they range from 1500 - 2500 words. Then I checked my outline and came up with a plan for how many chapters I should have left. I figure I have about 16K left. 16!! That's totally doable! These last chapters are not going to be easy but being to finally see the finish line is all the motivation I need to work hard at it each day until I'm done.
I finally have a working title which seems to reflect the general gist of this novel: REACH. It may change as I continue to work on this but it's so nice to refer to it as something other as YAGS (young adult ghost story).
Now, back to work.
How are your projects going?
Why? Because I've been working on this MS for over three years, from its conception during a NaNoWriMo challenge until now. Kind of ironic isn't it? Writers are supposed to write 50K in one month and here I took 3 1/2 years! But that's okay because there was a period of 4 to 6 months when my writing practically stopped and I feared that the spark wouldn't reignite when I faced this MS again.
But you know what? It did. I was still in love with my characters and the direction the story was heading. And so I continued on, working on it while I could, little by little. I hoped to finish it by the summer, but then the spring of constant motion and exhaustion hit, and I was barely writing or even reading.
Here I am in July. I'm behind in my reading, behind in my housework but I reached 50K words. Before I started this project I wrote an outline for this novel and have been using it as a road map of sorts. To be honest, I haven't looked at it that often, but I love that I have it as a safety net. Last week, I revisited that outline. I was feeling a bit nervous about the approaching climax and how I'm going to end this novel. I have a vague idea, but wasn't sure how many total words I should aim for.
First, I went back and checked my word count for each chapter. As of now, before revisions, they range from 1500 - 2500 words. Then I checked my outline and came up with a plan for how many chapters I should have left. I figure I have about 16K left. 16!! That's totally doable! These last chapters are not going to be easy but being to finally see the finish line is all the motivation I need to work hard at it each day until I'm done.
I finally have a working title which seems to reflect the general gist of this novel: REACH. It may change as I continue to work on this but it's so nice to refer to it as something other as YAGS (young adult ghost story).
Now, back to work.
How are your projects going?
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Quest of the Artisan: Cover Reveal
Hybrid author and friend, Donna Hosie, is the author of the successful THE RETURN TO CAMELOT young adult series. Earlier this year she released Book One in her spin off series, THE CHILDREN OF CAMELOT called THE RING OF MORGANA. Coming soon in 2015 she will self publish Book Two in this series called QUEST OF THE ARTISAN. Here's the gorgeous cover and what it's about.
THE CHILDREN OF CAMELOT series continues in QUEST OF THE ARTISAN.
Six months ago, seventeen-year-old Rustin Hall thought he knew what he wanted. Then he travelled back in time with his best friend, Mila, to the world of Camelot, knights and magic, and everything changed.
Now Rustin is the artisan, and he knows his future because it's written in the past.
But Rustin's plan to build the first temple for the Gorian druids is cut down like the trees he talks to when the Round Table reveals the name of the newest knight of Camelot: a name that carves fear and unrest into the other knights. With Mila now in danger, Rustin, along with his friends, James and Jalaya, goes on a quest to find her before a new malevolent evil gets there first. A necromancer is building an army of the dead, and they are coming for Arthur's daughter.
Rustin will join forces with a young would-be knight called Galahad, as his quest takes him into the very heart of the Arthurian legends he grew up reading. A quest that could be the end of the artisan's life, not just in Logres, but for good.
Due for release in 2015. I can't wait!!
For more information on Donna's fabulous books:
Amazon
Donna Hosie's blog
THE CHILDREN OF CAMELOT series continues in QUEST OF THE ARTISAN.
Six months ago, seventeen-year-old Rustin Hall thought he knew what he wanted. Then he travelled back in time with his best friend, Mila, to the world of Camelot, knights and magic, and everything changed.
Now Rustin is the artisan, and he knows his future because it's written in the past.
But Rustin's plan to build the first temple for the Gorian druids is cut down like the trees he talks to when the Round Table reveals the name of the newest knight of Camelot: a name that carves fear and unrest into the other knights. With Mila now in danger, Rustin, along with his friends, James and Jalaya, goes on a quest to find her before a new malevolent evil gets there first. A necromancer is building an army of the dead, and they are coming for Arthur's daughter.
Rustin will join forces with a young would-be knight called Galahad, as his quest takes him into the very heart of the Arthurian legends he grew up reading. A quest that could be the end of the artisan's life, not just in Logres, but for good.
Due for release in 2015. I can't wait!!
For more information on Donna's fabulous books:
Amazon
Donna Hosie's blog
Thursday, June 19, 2014
What Makes Me Happy
1. I am officially on summer break from work for 2 and a half months. Although it will be a summer of full days as I catch up on deep cleaning the house and driving children to work, friends, camp etc., I'll finally be able to tackle projects that have been on hold for a month and a half - my WiP being one of them.
2. I'm on Twitter! Not sure whether to say "Yay!" or "Yikes!" or how active I'll be, but thought it was time. If you'd like to follow me, and I feel weird even typing this, I'm at suzmforbes.
2. Yesterday's weather was a humid 90 degrees. After the cold, miserable, never-ending winter (seriously, we had no spring and were getting cold and snow well through April) summer is finally here and I'm ecstatic!
3. I'm beginning a bittersweet side writing project. I haven't quite figured out what exactly it will consist of but it's related to my Dad.
4. Last Saturday I ran and finished my first 5K race! It was a gray, drizzly morning when I woke -- perfect for a race :) I purposely positioned myself toward the back of the pack. What an incredible joy it was to run past cheering family, friends and strangers. The first song on my Running playlist was "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons -- very fitting and the perfect motivation. I felt good the entire time and crossing the finish line was awesome! My time was 40:55 and I came in 192 out of 225 so yeah, I was definitely running at a tortoise pace. But I ran the whole way and and achieved my goal by finishing.
5. Last Saturday night was girls night out at the movies. We all saw The Fault in our Stars together. I brought tissues just in case, but didn't cry. Not unusual for me. My biggest fear was that the actor portraying Augustus wouldn't be able to pull off Green's book Augustus, but Ansel did. No wonder why millions of teenage girls find him swoonworthy. I enjoyed the movie very much.
What's making you happy today?
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
A Different Kind of Debut
As an unpublished writer, I dream of the day when I can announce my literary debut. Until then I'll keep working on my WiP little by little until I'm finished.
But that doesn't mean I can't have a different kind of debut.
All of my kids are runners of varying degree. My girls are involved with track and/or cross country. My son ran in high school and continues to do so for the love and fitness. While on break from college last summer, I witnessed his dedication to training, often in 90 degree weather after working 7 hours. This past fall, he flew home on his semester break, ran a local marathon (coming in first for his age group) with a time of 2:56:52 qualifying him to run the 2015 Boston Marathon if he so chooses. /bragging mom
I was so impressed with my daughters' dedication and my son's accomplishment that I secretly decided that I would start running myself in 2014. There was no way I was going to start out in the fall with winter ahead of me, so I announced that "maybe I would start running" after the winter when it got a little warmer. I got a lot of snickers and "that's nice" pats on the head. Nobody really believed I would start. But I did. You know what my first realization was after I bought new sneakers, charged up my iPod, and started jogging around the track?
Running is hard!
And the thing was, it wasn't the breathing that was hard, it was how my calves felt like lead balloons as I ran. In the beginning, I started at the track and decided I would run/walk for 1 mile (4 times around times = 1 mile). The first day, I ran around once and nearly collapsed, walking the rest of the mile. Once I built up to running a continuous (no walking in between) mile I was ready to tackle road running. My route is three miles of which I jog and walk when I have to. I've found that running on the street has been harder on my calves and knees because of the inclines, the harder surface, and uneven sidewalks. Not to mention avoiding puddles and trash cans! And so my recent strategy has been to alternate between running at the track (which can get monotonous) and on the street.
After about 2 months, I am able to run 2 miles straight now. I love that I'm making progress and more importantly that I'm strengthening my heart. Nobody is making fun of me now.
I have no marathon aspirations. My short term goal was to be able to run a mile and I reached it. My next goal, run in a 5K race. Long term? If I stick with this and my legs can handle it, maybe a half marathon in the future. We'll see. As much as I love writing, the progress I've made has been slow. I really needed something else in my life that I could feel successful at short term. Something to get me away from my computer, from the busyness of everyday life, something just for me.
Any runners out there? What advice would you give a running newbie?
But that doesn't mean I can't have a different kind of debut.
I was so impressed with my daughters' dedication and my son's accomplishment that I secretly decided that I would start running myself in 2014. There was no way I was going to start out in the fall with winter ahead of me, so I announced that "maybe I would start running" after the winter when it got a little warmer. I got a lot of snickers and "that's nice" pats on the head. Nobody really believed I would start. But I did. You know what my first realization was after I bought new sneakers, charged up my iPod, and started jogging around the track?
Running is hard!
And the thing was, it wasn't the breathing that was hard, it was how my calves felt like lead balloons as I ran. In the beginning, I started at the track and decided I would run/walk for 1 mile (4 times around times = 1 mile). The first day, I ran around once and nearly collapsed, walking the rest of the mile. Once I built up to running a continuous (no walking in between) mile I was ready to tackle road running. My route is three miles of which I jog and walk when I have to. I've found that running on the street has been harder on my calves and knees because of the inclines, the harder surface, and uneven sidewalks. Not to mention avoiding puddles and trash cans! And so my recent strategy has been to alternate between running at the track (which can get monotonous) and on the street.
After about 2 months, I am able to run 2 miles straight now. I love that I'm making progress and more importantly that I'm strengthening my heart. Nobody is making fun of me now.
I have no marathon aspirations. My short term goal was to be able to run a mile and I reached it. My next goal, run in a 5K race. Long term? If I stick with this and my legs can handle it, maybe a half marathon in the future. We'll see. As much as I love writing, the progress I've made has been slow. I really needed something else in my life that I could feel successful at short term. Something to get me away from my computer, from the busyness of everyday life, something just for me.
Any runners out there? What advice would you give a running newbie?
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