K.D. Sarge's Blog, page 32

Shelfie Challenge, Book the First: The Crystal Gryphon

First up, The Crystal Gryphon by André Norton, given to me for Christmas by my marvelous roomie. After deciding months ago that it had been too long since I’d read the trilogy, I managed to locate the sequels. The first book, however, had eluded me. Luckily my roommate is a skilled huntress of books.

The Crystal Gryphon is an old favorite, written by one of my old favorite authors. It’s the story of two young people suddenly finding themselves in a world at war, and I am very fond of both Kero...

Introducing the Shelfie Challenge

The idea, as well as the name for it, started here.

It hardly needs saying that Neil Gaiman is a genius. “Shelfie” is a marvelous and meaningful word. Here is a shelfie of the built-in bookcase in my living room, along withmy share of the not built-in bookcase in the living room, followed by the stacks of books I received for Christmas.

Trust me, there’s a reason for all the pictures.

In middle school and much of high school, I read a book a day. Mostly books of a mere 300 pages, yes, but a boo...

Merry Christmas to All

And to all a good night.

Tonight we ate at our kitchen table, potato soup that I made in my new Christmas crockpot (opened early, sue me.) It was delicious. The kid was a pain in the butt as she’s been so much lately, but it was still nice. After we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol and after that we worked together to prep breakfast and then to clean up the kitchen, singing carols as we did.

It was really, really nice.

So the kid’s room is trashed because we’re in the middle of a major clean and...

GDI

Will you (generic you) PLEASE PROOFREAD?

And in the VERY NEXT ARTICLE I happened to look at…

Holy carp, will you please proofread? IT’S NOT THAT HARD! Read it aloud. Get another pair of eyes on it. SOMETHING.

VACATION!!!

It’s vacation, it’s vacation! Two weeks of winter break, here at last! I’m the hap-happiest girl in the whole USA…

Okay, I’ll stop singing. But seriously. I need this break so bad. I thought I was gonna shrivel up and die before we made it, but we finally all got out of there. The grades are out, the place is in good shape. All the plants watered and left to grow in peace (or more like, hibernate.)

I’ve got so much to dooooo…I want to make a list. And then I want to Do It All. All the things!

Ye...

A Growing Pile of Do-It-Later

Do you have that extra piece of furniture in your room? You know the one. In most of my bedrooms it’s been a chair. Once it was a desk, and another time just the top of my dresser, but it’s always there. In this bedroom, it’s my bed.

Under that picture is the end of my daybed, with a railing high enough to hold all that stuff even when I slide my feet under it in the night.

I like a neat bedroom. Especially with my writing desk in here, I spend a lot of time in this room. It needs to be comfort...

Putting Up the Tree

The first year after my husband died, I had absolutely zero interest in Christmas, but I still had a six-year-old. I acquired a tree, dragged all the lights and ornaments out, and let the kid have at it.

It was a six foot tree, and all the lights and ornaments were on the one section of tree she could reach, standing directly in front of it. I didn’t care, and she thought it was beautiful. We still laugh about that tree.

Letting her decorate the tree alone has remained a tradition, though. Acqu...

Life After NaNo

So life goes on. A bit of the sparkle is gone, but so is a lot of stress. I have a ton of things to do still, but I no longer need to stress about putting NaNo aside to do them–or about putting off more legitimate needs in order to self-indulgently NaNo. I actually read a book the other day! (His Majesty’s Dragon, and I very much enjoyed it.)

Final project is coming up in Spanish, and I’m trying to work up the courage to sign up for my oral final. I hate the oral finals, guys. Really hate them...

I Could Have You All Hanged

“Really, guys? We need four thousand words on Hiro book three and you’re giving me Nemesis bits? I think that qualifies as a mutiny. I could have you all hanged.”

It’s fun the things that come out of your fingers when you’re writing like the wind. Sometimes it’s just babble. This happened on the 25th, a day where I barely managed 750 words:

We can write laundry lists (what the hell? Why would you list your laundry anyway?) if we have to, in order to get to the finish line. No more losing NaNo....

10K Day

That’s what happens when you don’t write enough due to various THINGS but you’re determined to win NaNo. You have a ten-thousand-word day.

And then, if you really want to win and you’re really behind, you write more.

And then you do it for two more days.

I still need 16k, and it’s nearly ten on the night of November 28th.

Onward.