I'd like to be able to say that I haven't blogged in the past couple of weeks because I've been madly engaged in upping my word count for nanowrimo this year.
I suppose it would be partly true.
But, the truth is that while nano has taken some time, I've just been lazy. I pretty much took last week off from any kind of writing, as it was my birthday, and I'll be lazy if I want to. Go ahead. Try it on your birthday. I give you permission.
Nanowrimo, meanwhile, is going well. I just updated my word count(I'm kind of bad about doing that daily, so it makes it look like I write in bursts of 10 k or so) and I'm right on track for the goal of 50,000 words in the month of November. The book, Dead in the Water, is coming out much better than I thought it would and I'm having a lot of fun writing it.
Taking time off from writing never means taking time off from reading for me, however. I've mowed through several titles in the past couple of weeks. Here goes:
iDrakula by Bekka Black. Just when you thought it was no longer safe to delve into the waters of vampire books....
No, seriously. This was a fun book. If you haven't read the original Dracula by Bram Stoker the brilliance may be lost on you. The original is an interesting read. It isn't written in a traditional fashion, rather it is a series of letters and journal entries. It's as though you were attempting to understand what transpired by reading the correspondence of the people involved.
Similarly, Bekka Black has recreated the same story as though it had occurred in our day. The entire book is written in iPhone texting screens, iPad web browser histories, and emails. Here's an example:
Like I said, it was really a fun read. Clever, witty, and a good story. She didn't rely only upon the unique format, either. It's well written to boot, so it's worth checking out. I blew through it in a day, so give it a try. You won't regret it.
I started reading the Dresden Files over again. The new book is out in April, and in an interview Butcher said that it had to do with some of the enemies that Harry has dispatched over the years. I decided that I didn't remember everything as well as I wanted to, so I'm brushing up on it. Storm Front was good, and surprisingly, Fool Moon was better than I remember. I don't know why, but when I read it the first time I must not have been into it all that much, because I remember not enjoying as much as the other books in the series. Reading it again, however, has shown me that I was wrong. It may not be as good as the later books in the series, but it is still a very good book. I forgot a lot about the story, so I'm glad that I'm going back through the series.
If you haven't read this series, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! No, just kidding. But seriously, read these books. I'm going to officially say that this is the most enjoyable series of books I've ever gotten into.
I'm reading some non fiction, Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L. O'Connell. All about the biggest slaughter of Roman soldiers in history, at the hands of the military genius Hannibal. (No, not Lecter, don't make me slap you. Argh! I hate Silence of the Lambs. Curse you Mr. Hopkins.) It's well written, I'm about halfway through. Aside from a brief random explanation about how evolution fits into the history of the battle(it doesn't by the way) the book has held my attention and taught me a lot(just not about evolution).
Oh, and lest I forget, I picked up the new Rick Riordan book, The Lost Hero. It's a continuation of the Percy Jackson Camp Halfblood series. About 1/3 of the way in, I had some concerns. By the end, he took care of them. The book was great, and I'm excited to see where he goes with the story form here. It has an aspect that's new for fans of the original series, which is about the children of the Greek gods of myth, and their adventures today. Now we have a new group. Romans....
This book was well worth the time to read, even for adults. Seriously. The whole series is just fun, in a Harry Potter sort of way. It does for Greek Mythology what Harry Potter did for wizards and magic and northern folklore.
That should just about catch me up for the time being. I'll be blogging on Sunday, too, covering my take on the new Harry Potter movie that I'm going to go see as soon as I finish typing this entry.
As always, thanks for reading and write ruff!
