Guess Who's Back!

So, I think it's obvious that I've been slacking on my blog. I'm sorry. Life has been really busy, but there's good news. I graduate from grad school in December! This means I'll have more time to read AND blog! I'm making some changes to how I run things around here.


First off, I'm going to be changing how I post reviews. I like having a standard format, but I'd like my reviews to be more free flowing and expressive. I'd also like to come up with a cute rating system, but I'm significantly challenged when it comes to doing most things on the computer.

I'm hoping to post almost every day. The Fall Book Challenge for my online book club will finish up in December, but the Winter Book Challenge will start up. I'll be participating in that and will post an update of my progress every week. This year I was hoping to read 75 books. When that started to look a bit daunting, I dropped the goal to 50 books. I'm pretty close. Next year, I think I'm going to strive for 100 books. I think it's feasible. I'll be done with school, so I'll have my evenings and weekends free.

School will wrap up December 17. The blog might not pick up until closer to the new year because of the holidays, but it will pick up. I've got a handful of books that need reviews written and a buttload of other books that need read. Stay tuned!

I am Neurotic

My online book club has seasonal book challenges.  For the Fall Book Challenge, one of the tasks was the read a book with an orange or green cover.  I couldn't think of any books meeting this criteria off the top of my head.  I decided to browse through the Barnes & Noble ebooks to look for a book that fit.  When I stumbled upon this book, I am Neurotic (and so are you), I couldn't resist. 

Lianna Kong was doing something everyone does when she realized something.  While making a routine trip to the bathroom at work, she realized she cannot pee with her co-worker in there using the bathroom at the same time.  Kong started iamneurotic and that is how this book came about.  It's a collection of anonymous confessions.  People have revealed their neurotic behaviors.  Some are sad.  Some are strange.  Some are funny.

I liked this book.  It was a quick and easy read.  As a counselor, I've heard of most of the neurotic behaviors mentioned in this book.  Some of the behaviors seemed rather normal, but the significance the poster placed on them made them abnormal.  I also found myself thinking of things I do that could be considered neurotic.

Here is an example of my own:

I have a thing with locked doors.  Every time I come into my house, I lock the door.  It could be the middle of the day, and I lock the door.  My husband could be home with me, and I lock the door.  He thinks I'm nuts.

If you're looking for a book that is fast and funny in some places, this could be it. 

Rating: 2/5 

It's NaNoWriMo time!

Okay, so who else is super excited about NaNoWriMo this year?  I am!  I tried doing it last year but got way too busy with schoolwork.  I'm hoping this year will be different.  It may be difficult, but I'm really committed to getting my 50k words.

For those who aren't familiar with NaNoWriMo, it's a writing challenge done every year in November.  The idea is to write 50,000 words throughout the month.  Many people use this as a way to jumpstart a book they've been wanting to write.  Many people have actually published stories started from Nano.

I've had several story ideas floating around in my head for awhile.  It was kind of hard to decide which one to use, but it finally came to me.  I know some people spend a lot of time outlining, researching, and planning their Nano story, but I didn't.  One, I have no idea where to even start.  I've tried to outline, but I get really overwhelmed in trying to sort out the details.  Writing spontaneously seems to work better for me.  Now, even though I haven't done any prep work, I still have the story figured out.  I've played it through in my head over and over again.  When I'm driving to school or waiting for a commerical to end, I think about the story from start to finish and imagine it playing out like a movie. 

I don't want to give away too much, but I will tell you a little bit about my story.  As of right now, I'm thinking my story will be a YA.  The main issue will be about domestic violence.  That's all I can say.  :-) 

Good luck everyone!  I'll try to check in periodically with my progress.