To Kill a Mockingbird

I started reading this book yesterday for the first time in my life and I'm absolutely loving it. Ughh...I actually started it two days ago and started this post yesterday, but as you can see, I have neglected finishing it until now.

I've lived my entire adult life only reading (or listening to the audiobook versions) about one classic piece of literature per year.  Usually they're Jane Austen books...and I often don't get through an entire one.  I've read Dracula, Wuthering Heights (definitely not what I expected), A Christmas Carol, Persuasion (didn't finish this one yet), Sherlock Holmes (also haven't finished, but got through a whole lot of it), Tale of Two Cities (listened to the audio version and got through so little of it, I'm embarrassed to even list it here).  Hm...I really need to get on GoodReads so I can keep better track of this.  

I love listening to audiobooks.  I can't remember how much I've written about them in previous posts but it's really one of my favorite things to do.  The obsession started while I was moving from Louisiana to Pennsylvania in 2009.  I think my sister suggested I try listening to audiobooks for the 20+ hour drive (spread over two days).  The first one I listened to was Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.  I finished it on that trip, while intermittently listening to music and talking on the phone to my husband.  I'll always be thankful for that drive...who knows how long it might have taken me to realize my love for audiobooks otherwise?  I'm even a subscriber to Audible now, have been for over a year, and there hasn't been one month that I've regretted the cost of the membership.  

So I'm currently reading three books.  To Kill a Mockingbird (strictly the paper version), Reached by Ally Condie (doing the whispersync for voice where I can read it on my Kindle and it picks up where I left off in the audiobook I also have through Audible...technology is nuts), and I just started listening to Life of Pi (just the audiobook version of this one).  

The editing is still going well.  I flew through a chapter today and I'm getting more and more excited about the story and the way it all fits together.  I'm starting the edits on Chapter 17 tomorrow and there are 33 total.  Since I realized it'd go slower, my ultimate goal has been to have it done before the end of the month, and I'm well on my way to achieving that.  

Even the jewelry shop has picked up (today I had the first sales I've had in weeks...and I've had a bunch of custom requests lately).

But still no job.  And still no interview.  Booooo to that. 

Weight loss challenge with the husband started again officially (we took a hiatus over the holidays...I'm still struggling to get back to where I was before the hiatus).  Weigh in is tomorrow morning and he made us a disgustingly fatty taco lasagna type thing tonight.  Which I ate a serving and a half of and enjoyed every filling bite.  

Well played husband, well played.  I can already feel my rings uncomfortably pressing into my bloated sodium filled fingers.  

Still Thanksgiving

So, I went back a few blog posts (which was about how long it took me to get to the beginning of this blog...this year anyway) and I sort of regret not keeping up with you. I am currently at 64% with my book (Holy S****, right? compared to the last time I updated you) and on Chapter Twenty Two (is there supposed to be a hyphen between Twenty and Two? Shouldn't I know this?!).

My story is moving along pretty much exactly how I want it to. Somedays I feel awesome about it, and others I'm overwhelmed with fear that it'll be a flop when I'm all done and finally doing my first read-through.

I listened to that whole Audible book about the 'Successful Novelist' and loved it. I might re-listen to it soon. I then listened to Stephen King's 'On Writing', which was also a great motivator. Now I'm on to 'Stein's On Writing', which is so far my least favorite of the three, but I can't tell if it's because of the narrator or the book itself. Either way, the fact that I'm listening to audiobooks about writing, reading a book in my genre ('Matched' by Ally Condie, totally addictive and I'm loving it), still unemployed (not proud, just finding it helpful for the book), and able to drive 10 minutes to the nearest Barnes N Noble.. have all been adding to the recipe that is me finishing my first ever book.

It's not like I got to this point without a lot of dedication and struggling. Like I said a few months ago, I was a damn busy woman when I started writing this book. For example, the first two weeks of writing this involved a full-time job, a ridiculously busy two weeks of two summer courses in grad school (basically a full semester crammed into 4 weeks), Jane, selling a house, and I think there was a bout of strep throat in there too. Then, when school was done, I still had the job, the house selling, Jane having strep and me getting it AGAIN, and then actually moving to the other side of the country.

Right now, I'm getting about 750 (average) words written a day but I'm still in school and my jewelry shop had a crazy busy spurt. Plus, no more daycare (we miss them soo much! Hardest part about leaving dubois...saying goodbye to Jane's first friends :( ) ...so yea, lots more time now, but still really busy. I think all of that helps in getting me to write when I do finally have time. Then again, on some days it's definitely placed on the back burner in order to really shut off for a bit.

I guess right now I'm sort of giving myself a shout out for how far I've gotten. 64%. Damn. Obviously if I don't reach the story's end by 70,000 I'll keep going. But for all intents and purposes (I suck at common phrases..is that even right?), I'm gonna finish it if I get that far, you know? And if I go past 70,000 words, I'll be at 105%, 110%, etc. :)

64%!!!!!!!!


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Location:Litchfield Park, AZ