tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56593907876461995602012-02-12T02:08:41.179-05:00I'm making this up as I go alongAlice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.comBlogger1441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-10472135905006584872012-02-10T19:09:00.000-05:002012-02-10T19:09:00.335-05:00

When I write these blog entries, my hope is that writers who are even more new than I am to the process of writing and publication are stumbling across my entries and finding this useful. I don't have a lot of information that would be useful for seasoned veterans, and some of my advice may even seem naive or wrong-headed. I don't know; I'm still on the outside looking in. I do know that new

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-49643894467487878432012-02-09T18:16:00.000-05:002012-02-09T18:16:12.180-05:00

After last week's write-in, Tara and I joked on Twitter about how we were too lazy to be serial killers, which was why we'd become writers. (I had just linked this shirt, for context.) We channel our daily frustration into hurting fictional people, because it's socially unacceptable to threaten people with weapons for minor infractions. It's not that I'm one incident of being cut off in

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-30023495871552335492012-02-09T00:54:00.001-05:002012-02-09T00:54:54.995-05:00

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars I "read" Oryx and Crake on audio a couple of years ago, but I hadn't realized this was a follow-up novel, or how much time elapsed between their being written. I'm not sure if that would've made me more or less apt to read The Year of the Flood, but I am glad I gave this book a listen. It greatly enriched my enjoyment of both

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-39031448565378964542012-02-08T23:37:00.000-05:002012-02-08T23:37:04.847-05:00

Tonight, Josh and I noticed our tax refund had cleared. We've needed a printer for a while, so we were off to the office supply store to pick one up. We'd done our research ahead of time, went straight to the laser printers, looked at what models they had, and picked one out within the first two minutes. We didn't leave for another forty minutes. We had to pick up paper, and then he wanted to

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-13225138973129075532012-02-07T19:16:00.000-05:002012-02-07T20:35:19.105-05:00

The February 28th awesomeness is right on track, and I can give you a hint: it's related to two posts I made in January. I'm pretty consistent for someone making this up as she goes along. Yesterday, my husband asked for a copy edit of a novel he was working on. I'm pretty brutal in my edits (seriously, the last time he asked me for feedback, I added a comment that said just, "Knock it off"), so

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-3664883318951873442012-02-06T20:40:00.001-05:002012-02-06T20:40:43.631-05:00

Sometimes when I'm browsing online, I come across a blog post on a topic upon which I have Opinions, and I use it as a jumping-off point for my own post. Other times, as today, I notice that someone else posted something I already posted about. Do I feel like my idea was stolen? Am I stealing an idea if I'm starting from the same point, but writing my own post about it? No. Sometimes, for

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-72603089291389741262012-02-05T22:19:00.000-05:002012-02-05T22:19:47.666-05:00

I've already written about my standards for reviewing, but I realized my ratings scale of one to five stars makes absolutely no sense without some idea of why I rate things the way I do. And so, what I'm looking for when I mark books the rating I do: Five Stars — I want everyone I know to read this book so we can talk about how awesome it is. Reading this book changed my life. I thought about

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-37507953493985889412012-02-04T15:39:00.001-05:002012-02-04T15:41:00.261-05:00

Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this book when I was younger, and I remember liking it very much, but I couldn't remember why.Katie Welker is an unusual girl. She creeps people out, because of her flat expression and silver-colored eyes. That's even before they know that she can move small objects with her mind, call up

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-74296960259353603402012-02-03T17:53:00.001-05:002012-02-03T17:53:58.679-05:00

Image obtained from a Public Domain site I started out the month with about 38800 words on "Reincarnation," which is the tentative title for the second book in my trilogy. I'd set it on the back burner while I did edits, because there are only so many hours in the day, but I spent a little time pecking at it to get back into the groove of writing in time for SWANoWriMo. When I finished up my

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-69571426381188821372012-02-02T19:25:00.000-05:002012-02-02T19:26:06.170-05:00

Before I explain the not-writing jar, as I promised I would in last night's post, I have some administrative details to get out of the way. First: to the individuals googling whether "let it be" is bad grammar or not, and who stumbled across my blog without getting an answer, it's perfectly correct, and I don't know why it wouldn't be. It's only incorrect if you use "it" to denote a "her," "him,

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-11802134576157268892012-02-01T18:52:00.001-05:002012-02-01T18:52:10.851-05:00

Back during NaNoWriMo, a lot of the members of the writing group bemoaned that it took place in November. Most of us had family visiting, dinners to cook, shopping to start, and houses to scrub down. The timing was just awful, and those of us who participated dropped out fairly quickly. We bounced that around the writing group, and found that we all had the same thought: that it took place

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-48512456585692846042012-02-01T09:38:00.001-05:002012-02-01T09:42:15.684-05:00

Daily Life in Medieval Europe by Jeffrey L. Singman My rating: 4 of 5 stars It turns out that I'd already read this a few years ago. The reread did a lot to refresh my memory, though, so it was a wise move.The Daily Life in History series was once recommended as a resource for getting into the texture and details of a time period in order to write about it. These books

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-23014358716527239602012-01-31T20:06:00.000-05:002012-02-01T00:01:47.950-05:00

I mentioned that I might do a recap post, and no one howled in protest, so here it is. January 2012, in review: Book reviews Road Rage by Richard Matheson, Stephen King, and Joe Hill (3/5 stars, read on audio) — thriller/horror; two novellas about terror on the highway The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines (4/5 stars) — fantasy; another take on fairy tales that has the heroines heading out to

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-63348522771170338982012-01-30T18:13:00.000-05:002012-01-30T18:15:22.599-05:00

Yog's Law (as coined by James D. Macdonald): "Money should flow toward the author." I hope everyone reading this has heard, and understands, the above quote. When an author signs a contract, that author doesn't pay the agent, publisher, editors, or publicist. Instead, that author should expect to be paid for the intellectual copyright, for the time and energy it took the words to get onto the

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-59471021123806754632012-01-29T19:35:00.000-05:002012-01-30T09:57:29.358-05:00

I've already written about making the most of your writing time, but I haven't posted so much on where you find that time to begin with. At most of the writing workshops and conferences and panels I've been to, about half the time, someone asks, "But where do you find time to write?" What follows is a long list of obligations that take up their time, then, a helpless shrug. You don't find time

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-90396138272903057132012-01-27T18:42:00.001-05:002012-01-27T20:29:32.502-05:00

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich My rating: 3 of 5 stars I listened to this on audio. It was meant to be a fluffy palate-cleansing sort of read, and it most certainly accomplished that. I wouldn't say it accomplished anything more.The story was much shorter and less complicated than the numbered volumes. In this, Diesel returns to inform Stephanie that she has to take

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-78655919751434455212012-01-27T07:05:00.000-05:002012-02-02T20:19:21.748-05:00

Everything below the jump is going to contain spoilers. If you haven't already read the book and you don't want to know how it ends, please don't click to read further. (Spoilers begin after the fourth paragraph, if you clicked to get to this post directly.) What a ride! Stephen King knows his stuff. He knows how to string along a reader so that we keep coming back for more. He knows how to

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-54438316439923174182012-01-26T18:15:00.003-05:002012-01-26T18:47:08.407-05:00

Listening to music isn't directly related to writing. Authors have produced classics in relative silence since the advent of the novel. Some authors in the '70s and '80s admitted that they listened to the radio while they wrote, but that was nothing on the distractions of the modern age. Most computers have a built-in CD player, and anyone can import music into the computer to carry around their

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-59538733805481554722012-01-26T11:44:00.001-05:002012-01-26T11:45:51.939-05:00

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the fourth installment in the Dexter series, and I'm glad to see it's back in its stride. While the supernatural elements that bothered me so much about the last one aren't entirely gone, they're pushed back into the realm of subtlety, leaving more room for the story and our charming-but-murderous

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-27202494302559890872012-01-25T18:19:00.000-05:002012-01-25T18:19:26.702-05:00

I just got back from picking up a book I requested from the library, so I thought I'd use today to discuss the institution of the public library. Where I live now, the library isn't much to look at. It's a one-story building, and the library takes up the same space as your average store in a mall. It's organized well with good lighting, but there's a clear space crunch. They simply don't have

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-88673988197886936022012-01-24T22:24:00.000-05:002012-01-24T22:34:05.855-05:00

I don't see this in published works, luckily, but I do think it's an important grammar rule to have down. I didn't even learn about verb conjugation until I took French, so I think some people may need a remedial course in subject/verb agreement. Basically, a verb changes based on what it's modifying. For the verb "to write," the conjugation looks like I write                       We write

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-72159661079327739312012-01-23T19:44:00.000-05:002012-01-24T10:34:13.969-05:00

I don't write to an audience. Even when I'm typing up this blog and specifically addressing the nebulous "you," I'm writing something that amuses me. I've tried writing in just such a way that many, many people will be impressed, but what came out was bland and uninspired, and it was no fun to put together. I may ask you for feedback, and I might tweak the site or blog based on suggestions, but

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-54302997226251370452012-01-22T14:21:00.001-05:002012-01-22T14:22:18.183-05:00

Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A. Collins My rating: 4 of 5 stars Sometimes, context is everything. Nancy A. Collins wrote this book in the 1980's, after the rise of Anne Rice's pretty-boy, drinking-blood-as-a-metaphor-for-sex vampires. She went against that tide by making Sonja Blue the monstrous killer of older vampire stories, but forged a new path by giving her the

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-25933957026324027422012-01-21T16:02:00.000-05:002012-01-21T16:25:21.202-05:00

11/22/63 by Stephen King My rating: 5 of 5 stars The ending to 11/22/63 was perfectly telegraphed from the beginning of the story, and yet I still found my heart pounding 150 pages from the end as I flipped pages, worrying what would happen. It sucked me in, and, though it took me almost two weeks to finish, it felt like it was over too soon. There are a lot of things that I like about

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-8736243903402023252012-01-20T23:29:00.000-05:002012-01-23T12:56:13.457-05:00

As promised, here is part 2 of the dinner with authors series. Part one is here. And, this link will explain my title better than I can. Last year, my husband and I learned that we would have the opportunity to meet Seanan McGuire, a new author whose blog we both read and contribute to, whose books we both like, and who we both wanted very much to meet in person. She was attending Arisia as a

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-21973155612763416322012-01-19T18:07:00.000-05:002012-01-23T13:17:35.399-05:00

This is the first of two tales about taking authors to dinner. Part two is here. The first year I attended Dragon*Con, Peter S. Beagle was in attendance. Not only had The Last Unicorn been one of my favorite movies, ever, when I was young, but I'd read the book when I was temporarily homeless because of an arson fire. It had done much to restore my faith in humanity. Since then, I'd looked up

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-49013084774930789412012-01-18T21:00:00.001-05:002012-01-18T22:20:27.562-05:00

Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Harper Connelly books aren't my favorite of Charlaine Harris's series. I'm "reading" them (on audio, which isn't quite the same) while I wait for the installments of the series I am looking forward to. And, while it's entertaining enough, the parts I didn't like about the first book stand out even more when

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-37580633210046059042012-01-18T20:20:00.000-05:002012-01-18T22:24:54.743-05:00

I know, I said I'll post my cool stories about going to dinner with authors. Not yet. Today I want to talk about the need for narrative tension, often manifested as suspense, mystery, or, "Is the next book out, yet?" As a reader, it's one of my favorites, when it's done well. When it's done poorly, either the book is boring, or, on the other extreme, I want to chuck it into a wall for being so

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-24063684215680626912012-01-17T20:11:00.000-05:002012-01-23T13:18:57.768-05:00

I want to share a couple of stories of authors I've had some excellent interactions with, but first, I need to lead up to it. I don't want to give the impression that I'm advocating you harass, stalk, or feel entitled to an author's time. Some authors are friendly, and will welcome your approach no matter how inept. Others are introverted, tired, or socially awkward. If there's one thing I want

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-76741857200677996762012-01-16T17:33:00.000-05:002012-01-17T20:15:07.772-05:00

I've been tweaking the color scheme, setup and layout of my blog, and I think I have it the way I like it. The text was way too light for a while, and I figured out how to get a greater contrast so your eyes wouldn't hurt reading my posts. Because that's a bad way to cultivate readers. The blog is pretty and just the way I like it, but what does everyone else think? You're the ones reading it,

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-45882354419035127402012-01-15T21:11:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.612-05:00

I finally set aside some time to work on book 2. Mostly, I typed up my handwritten pages, and finished up the chapter.  It's currently at 24544 words long, and I've just started chapter 8. My writing goal was to type my handwritten pages and get to a certain point in my mental plotting that will happen in chapter 9 or 10, so I'm on track. I can't get any more specific than that, because I never

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-36146957202937829502012-01-13T18:29:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.612-05:00

It's been a long week.  Therefore, today I'm taking a break from my usual effort to be upbeat. Nothing kills momentum in a book better than a great big chunk of description.  Start describing the scenery in an epic fantasy, and I groan and grit my teeth until something happens.  Pause the narration to catalogue a character's physical features and I sigh impatiently.  Contrive a book of

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-32419235381429599422012-01-12T22:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T01:20:27.407-05:00

I didn't want to mix this in with my post about the mistake of responding to reviews, because I wanted to avoid the implication that reviewers behaving badly brought it upon themselves.  No reviewer should ever expect to be flamed, called names, sworn at, or harassed in the pursuit of telling people about books she's read, no matter that reviewer's approach.  Just as people have different tastes

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-40442225980307669242012-01-12T17:09:00.001-05:002012-01-15T01:25:13.952-05:00

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the last of Christopher Moore's published books I hadn't gotten around to reading (though he has another coming out this year). You'd think, by now, that I'd be used to not knowing what to expect of Moore's books. He's written about vampires, Coyote the trickster god, Christ's childhood

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-38150212339333928352012-01-11T18:50:00.000-05:002012-01-30T09:51:16.208-05:00

I've been reading a lot of good things about 11/22/63, and it came highly recommended. It was, therefore, the only book I made sure to specifically ask for as a Christmas present, so I could participate in the readalong. I could've put myself on the library waiting list, but lots of other people have also heard what a good book this is. I know very little of the JFK assassination, other

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-51190323119753313042012-01-10T20:00:00.000-05:002012-01-19T21:35:16.393-05:00

Lately, there have been a few a lot of cases cropping up of the Author's Big Mistake, which is when an author steps up to defend his or her work online.  Leigh Fallon apparently wrote an email asking people to vote down the negative reviews, and upvote the positives, to reverse the possible stigma of a detailed and specific negative review.  According to online sources, the author confessed

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-40270180891166609112012-01-09T19:52:00.000-05:002012-01-09T19:52:00.971-05:00

I got some good news yesterday.  I got a call from the head of the small press I've been doing editing work for, and he asked if I'd be available to edit some rougher work.  It would, "Of course," pay more. More pay to do something I like?  Somehow, I managed not to squeal in his ear, and I think I even sounded professional and mature, maybe. I've been flying high ever since on the rush of being

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-30151534577782370512012-01-08T19:20:00.000-05:002012-01-08T19:20:38.648-05:00

The writing group met today, after skipping the December meeting due to life and other inconveniences.  We had no "homework" to read, so we talked about things we'd had trouble with, various writing resources, and our goals for 2012.  I talked a little about how I've been focusing most of my writing effort on copy editing, which isn't a problem for me, but the group saw it as one.  They

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-45135893154582604002012-01-06T20:22:00.000-05:002012-01-09T17:37:40.491-05:00

Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've been hearing good things about Carrie Vaughn for years, but this is the first book of hers I've picked up. Her concepts intrigue me, but I've always wondered if the writing lives up to my expectations. A lot of high-concept authors fizzle on the delivery.The book is about a comic book writer named Evie

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-36724979437102953932012-01-05T22:16:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.613-05:00

A few short years ago, I wasn't writing.  I simply didn't make it a priority, and so it didn't get done.  I still had ideas, and I had one great big unfinished idea that I'd been churning over in my mind for ages.  I'm the perfect example of why you shouldn't wait to have time to write, because you never will. Then one night, I had a vivid dream.  In the dream, I was on the T going through

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-49556987230707659912012-01-04T19:46:00.000-05:002012-01-04T19:46:44.511-05:00

I didn't think there were too many books I was anticipating the publication of, until Goodreads posted a list of books we can't wait for in 2012.  The list is ranked by the number of users picking a book, and each vote is weighted by its position on your personal list. I thought I'd share my list, in order of expected publication date. 1. Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire (expected

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-6402202346868754702012-01-03T18:59:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:29:51.604-05:00

Once upon a time, I worked on a college newspaper as copyeditor.  This position entailed writing an editorial for each issue to help fill the page.  I went to work, happily tearing down all the vices of consistently bad spelling, misused punctuation, and the dreaded they're/their/there problem. The paper got a letter, from an education major who shall remain nameless (mainly because I can't

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-53992692384647893262012-01-03T12:48:00.001-05:002012-01-03T14:12:22.502-05:00

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines My rating: 4 of 5 stars I went into this book with high expectations. After all, I love new takes on fairy tales, I love stories where the heroine saves the guy, and humor is always a plus. This book has not just one strong female lead, but three, with several more supporting female characters that make it clear this fairy tale

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-8187540999856751472012-01-02T17:51:00.000-05:002012-01-02T17:54:48.304-05:00

I should probably have posted about this earlier, but I wasn't even sure if I could participate until I got the book for Christmas. Grace at Feeding My Book Addiction is doing a readalong during the month of January for 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  I will be posting my thoughts for the first half on Saturday, January 14th, and the second half on Tuesday, January 31st.  I'll also be popping by the

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-27095534594971317092012-01-01T23:24:00.001-05:002012-01-01T23:39:25.148-05:00

Road Rage: Two Novellas by Joe Hill My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a decent way to pass a couple of hours on the road.Road Rage is two novellas: Richard Matheson's "Duel," which inspired a movie of the same name by Steven Spielberg, as well as "Throttle," a short story written by Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill.Matheson is probably best known by modern readers for

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-9491468457681427672011-12-31T15:49:00.000-05:002012-01-01T02:43:21.822-05:00

As with all other years, there were some changes in 2011.  Some were anticipated, like finishing a draft of "Awaken" and starting in on book 2.  Some were not, like starting this blog (entirely a whim, like most things I decide to do), moving into an apartment, and picking up a freelance editing job.  Most of the good things that have happened this year came because I moved out of my comfort zone

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-23639962277924281812011-12-30T18:50:00.000-05:002011-12-30T18:50:47.162-05:00

I challenged myself to read 125 books in 2011.  I started out with a lowball figure, which I upgraded to 100 by spring.  Then, over the summer, I decided I could make it to 125.  And, as of December 22, I made it. That's a lot of books.  Rather than talk about all of them, I thought I'd tell you about the 12 I liked best.  In no particular order, and bearing in mind I read them in 2011, not

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-57524291410314297622011-12-28T16:08:00.001-05:002012-01-02T17:56:55.389-05:00

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the second in Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz books, a YA series he supposedly writes for fun. As there are a lot of writing in-jokes, self-deprecating asides, and puns galore, I have no reason to doubt how much fun Sanderson has writing these books. In this book, the title character rides a crystal

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-64958480749045850942011-12-28T15:53:00.001-05:002011-12-28T15:53:31.101-05:00

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the second book in the Dresden Files series. If you like Harry Dresden and the first book, I suspect you will like this one more. If you don't, I would not foist this book upon you. That isn't to say it's a retread, like certain series I might mention. But not a lot has changed.In this book, Harry Dresden is

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-9723053404533789462011-12-28T15:29:00.001-05:002011-12-28T15:53:31.101-05:00

Bloodshot by Cherie Priest My rating: 4 of 5 stars I found this a far cry from Cherie Priest's other novels, and not just because it's an entirely different genre with very different characters. The tone was different, the voice was entirely fresh, and the narrative approach was quite different from the other books I've read of hers. Nonetheless, it still added up to

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-90452505720968831332011-12-22T22:43:00.001-05:002011-12-22T23:20:24.492-05:00

The Stupidest Angel CD: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is a review for the audio edition of this book. I read the hardcover version a few years ago, and really liked it, and so I took this out of the library to listen to on my car trip to see family for Christmas.The Stupidest Angel is the story of an angel

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-29150761403715411622011-12-21T12:09:00.001-05:002011-12-22T23:20:24.492-05:00

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book was not for me.I can certainly understand and appreciate its influence on modern literature. I like that it's one of the influences that have made urban fantasy such a popular genre. All on its own, though, I found it lacking.The story starts with young Janet Carter starting school at her hometown college where

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-17613568130142275402011-12-20T19:41:00.000-05:002012-01-22T16:45:32.515-05:00

I'm going to be on the road starting tomorrow, and unlikely to have the time or inclination to post until after Christmas.  I thought today could be another grammar gripe, to carry you through the week. Commas are a useful piece of punctuation.  I use them daily, if not hourly.  When used properly, they aid in the flow of sentences and make for a seamless reading experience.  They clarify (

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-4811146432224835302011-12-19T23:01:00.001-05:002011-12-22T23:20:24.493-05:00

Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am no history expert. I know even less about South American history. And so, from the standpoint of accuracy or filling in details I didn't already know, I can't comment on this book. But then, I don't think that was the point of this novel.American audiences, in general, aren't familiar with Chilean

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-57439487436252424682011-12-19T22:31:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.613-05:00

I have rarely felt as inspired to write as I do now, when I haven't the time.  Between preparing for Christmas, doing paid editing work, and having cable for the first time in ages, on top of my regular day job, I don't find myself with a surplus of writing time.  I am, in fact, cutting into sleeping time. Not that I'm complaining.  I chose to take the editing job, and I choose to watch TV.  I

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-52526196557681396392011-12-15T21:41:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.614-05:00

Reading several of an author's works in close detail all in a row gives you an understanding of facets of the person's mind.  At least, that's what's happening with my copy edits.  I see some strong patterns emerging from what I'm copy editing.  There are some themes that run throughout all of the manuscripts, while others are limited to just one work, but it begins to paint a picture of what

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-87719512476944263422011-12-14T19:32:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:29:51.605-05:00

One of the requests for posts, once upon a time, was for grammar snark.  Not in so many words, of course, but the reader asked if I might elucidate on grammar and writing mechanics. I just wrote up a "study guide" for someone who has consistent issues with homonyms and apostrophes, so I thought that sounded like a good place to start.  For those of you who have graduated college, hopefully this

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-71502062548435817532011-12-13T20:55:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.614-05:00

Someone found my blog, according to my blog stats, by searching for how pantsters make the most of their writing time.  I have a few tips scattered here and there on my blog, but not an explicit post on the subject.  So, I thought I'd toss out an answer. Treat it like a second job. When you're at work, you have expectations, you work on fulfilling them while you're on the clock, and you

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-84309634904880758252011-12-12T18:28:00.001-05:002011-12-12T18:29:23.092-05:00

Duma Key by Stephen King My rating: 5 of 5 stars Usually, if everyone starts telling me how much they loved a book as soon as I mention I'm reading it, I steel myself for disappointment. Books rarely live up to my expectations in such circumstances, for some odd reason I have yet to figure out.Duma Key, though, lived up to my expectations, and then some. It was a

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-63719607463377211992011-12-12T18:04:00.000-05:002011-12-15T20:02:53.486-05:00

I've seen some worrying talk bandied about online lately, and so I wanted to make sure to add one voice, at least, of dissension.  The idea addresses how much more expensive books are at brick-and-mortar book sellers.  The assumption that follows is how much more profit they're making than the big box stores who mark theirs down 30%, or Amazon, where they're consistently less expensive. The

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-27384282593660119162011-12-08T21:52:00.000-05:002011-12-08T21:52:29.167-05:00

One of the most often reiterated pieces of advice, especially to new writers, is to write what you know.  I've heard this piece of advice disparaged a lot in recent weeks, so I wanted to stick up for this adage. When I hear "write what you know," I don't think of it as an excuse to avoid research.  I've never heard it as advice to only write my own experiences or things I've seen for myself.  

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-85330298004477835112011-12-07T21:05:00.000-05:002011-12-07T21:05:53.419-05:00

Most people would put a game or a video or message board chock full of excellent advice here, wouldn't they?  Well.  I've established I'm not normal or 'most people' by now, right? Good. The site that exports my books reviews, image of the book and rating and all, is Goodreads (yes, that links to my profile so you can add me if you want), which recently rolled out some changes.  Based on site

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-61418931786338894692011-12-07T00:58:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.614-05:00

A fair chunk of the manuscript I'm copy editing now is in dialect, so I thought I'd briefly discuss the topic. I don't generally write in dialect.  I've been taught that it's distracting and doesn't add much to the story.  However, the manuscript I'm going over isn't something up for publication for the first time; it was first published in the '60's.  As I said in my earlier post, I'm about

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-49965386007422447882011-12-05T00:56:00.001-05:002011-12-07T21:15:23.835-05:00

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore My rating: 4 of 5 stars I picked this one up because it's been on my to-read for a while, and I needed something light and funny to cleanse my reading palate, so to speak. This was definitely the right choice.Tucker Case, who shares a history suspiciously similar to a certain Prince of Denmark, gets himself in hot

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-45125455095479508412011-12-03T23:44:00.001-05:002011-12-07T21:15:23.836-05:00

Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire My rating: 5 of 5 stars I won a copy of the ARC in a random giveaway on the author's blog. This series just keeps getting better and better. This is the fourth book in the series, and, at this rate, the last one's going to be so mind-blowingly awesome that you're going to kick yourself for the rest of eternity if you don't read it. I don't want to get into

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-8648132808595618382011-12-03T23:43:00.001-05:002011-12-07T21:15:23.836-05:00

An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire My rating: 5 of 5 stars My husband won an ARC of this book from the author, so I was lucky enough to read it before the release date. Sadly, that means I have to wait that much longer for the next one. Late Eclipses doesn't come out until March 2011, and I'm already impatient to read it. This book introduces May Daye, an exact double only in memory

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-53389161755949697252011-12-03T23:40:00.001-05:002011-12-07T21:15:23.836-05:00

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the second in a series that will, hopefully, go for a really long time. I read the first standing in lines at Dragon*Con, which should give you a good enough idea of how riveting it was. This one matches, then outpaces it, for sheer sucking-the-reader-in.This book has Toby on Faerie business,

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-53074836070610451752011-12-01T22:29:00.000-05:002011-12-01T22:29:42.407-05:00

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been busy with copy edits.  I'm basically looking over manuscripts that have already been published and swapped to different formats so they can be published in a new edition.  So I'm looking for errors that might've existed in the original text, or that were put in by the format switches.  It takes me about three times as long to edit text as it does

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-74357637593434396752011-12-01T20:40:00.001-05:002011-12-01T22:11:37.827-05:00

Night Road by Kristin Hannah My rating: 4 of 5 stars With audio books, I listen to them in the car while I drive around throughout my work day. With this book, though, I had to take it inside to finish listening to it on headphones. Not only was the last third of the book so compelling I didn't want to wait another day to finish it, but I was afraid it would make me

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-36936271664424596992011-11-28T23:09:00.000-05:002011-11-28T23:09:00.243-05:00

I'm not going to have much in the way of writing updates for at least a couple of weeks, because I have copy editing to do now and will have to spend most of my writing time on edits, instead. I'm still plugging away at the second book in the trilogy, and I just finished chapter 5.  I felt like I'd dropped into this rhythm of bringing characters in, two per section (one for each perspective

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-60330147618691636772011-11-28T01:46:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.615-05:00

In this post, I'm going to briefly discuss writing rule number one:  show, don't tell. It sounds like such a simple rule.  Allow characters' actions, what other characters say about that character, and that character's thought processes speak for that character.  Don't outline what kind of person we're reading about.  And yet, I see it in so many books, where it feels like the author is droning

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-71411748310512834852011-11-26T14:38:00.001-05:002011-11-26T20:16:13.575-05:00

Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal My rating: 2 of 5 stars I won this book in Goodreads' First Reads.I honestly can't remember the style of the original Sweet Valley High books, or if they were well-written. I remember reading them when most of my classmates were just starting chapter books, which isn't a zing on them so much as a comment on

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-76957690828588985662011-11-25T18:26:00.000-05:002011-11-25T18:26:03.785-05:00

I sent the current draft of book 1 out to several beta readers, with the instructions to take their time reading and get back to me if/when they had input. My father (who received a PG-13 version of the manuscript, because I would die of embarrassment if he gave me feedback on my sex scenes) mentioned a factual error, and had two lines he'd written down.  The first was because he tripped over it

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-82053801488340333072011-11-25T18:14:00.001-05:002011-11-25T18:15:00.470-05:00

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book has been on my to-read shelf as long as I've had bookshelves to call my own. I bought it soon after it came out, then other books just kept pushing it down on my to-read list. I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading, but, now that I have, I'm going to have to add more of Kelley

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-19685060912656454932011-11-22T21:54:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.615-05:00

If you're like me (which I imagine you are, because you're reading a blog about writing and reading), you read a lot of writing advice.  There's a lot to be had.  A search for "writing advice" yields 434,000 hits, and that doesn't even scratch the surface of books written about writing, workshops, classes, BFA and MFA programs, or well-meaning strangers who will spout off advice if you mention

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-51883368845080737362011-11-21T21:40:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:29:51.605-05:00

I've reviewed a lot of my lowest ratings on GoodReads, and found a few patterns in books I've intensely disliked.  The most common factor, so far, is unlikable characters. It's not that everyone in the book has to be someone I'd want to be my best friend.  And they really shouldn't be flawless and perfect, because that makes for an annoying protagonist.  I do, however, need to be able to relate

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-1575350449984161802011-11-21T00:42:00.000-05:002011-11-21T00:42:57.734-05:00

I have 11425 words written in "Reincarnation," and I'm about halfway through chapter 4.  I seem to have fallen into a pattern of writing half of it in one character's perspective, then switching to the other character. I've just written a scene that wasn't possible with the single-perspective way I'd written it previously, and I'm pretty pleased with it.  I like this character.  I like being in

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-18243572046353856282011-11-18T20:54:00.001-05:002011-11-18T20:56:29.449-05:00

Storm Front by Jim Butcher My rating: 4 of 5 stars Blurb (from GoodReads, who lists the source as the publisher):  My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards.

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-5005409279293374872011-11-17T20:38:00.000-05:002012-02-03T22:41:06.084-05:00

I've seen it mentioned a few times lately that various writers are being granted permission to suck.  It came up at the latest writers' group meeting, it came up on a podcast of Writing Excuses I listened to, and it's apparently the subject of this week's NaNoWriMo pep talk.  (Yes, I should've been including links in my posts from the beginning.  Didn't even occur to me until tonight's post.  

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-76733198383905587062011-11-16T23:21:00.000-05:002011-11-16T23:21:01.658-05:00

I've just received an email asking if I'm interested in assisting with copy edits on 7 manuscripts to assist with the process of turning them into ebooks.  To that, my answer was, "Absolutely."  I've done editing for this publisher before, for a different pay model.  This one, though, would pay up front for the completion of the editing work.  It wouldn't be enough to make a huge difference in my

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-63224157837859122992011-11-15T20:58:00.001-05:002011-11-16T22:43:15.557-05:00

American Rose by Karen Abbott My rating: 4 of 5 stars I don't read much nonfiction, but the subject matter of this one interested me. I don't know much about the 1920's and '30's, and all I know of Gypsy Rose Lee is the movie (I've seen the 1962 version with Natalie Wood, and the 1993 made-for-TV version). The book reads well, to a layperson, but it fails to deliver

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-60931274033466714392011-11-15T00:47:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.616-05:00

It turns out that this is the third draft of "Reincarnate," as I found out when I went to save a copy of what I'd typed up from my handwritten pages.  The first draft must've been really awful, for the second one to be that scattered and unfocused.  Ah, the trials of a pantster. This draft is starting from a much clearer spot, and there are echoes of book one.  But the characters have changed

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-14736165466232502242011-11-14T14:45:00.001-05:002011-11-14T22:13:30.808-05:00

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss My rating: 4 of 5 stars Summary from GoodReads:  For nearly four years, fantasy and science fiction enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting this second volume to Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles. The first volume, The Name of the Wind, won the prestigious Quill Award and was recently voted as the third-best SFF novel of the decade on Tor.com. In

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-26471835966013604782011-11-13T20:50:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.617-05:00

I've already posted about how roleplaying games have fed into my writing skills, but I got to thinking about other skills I've picked up, and where they came from.  One of the concepts that has served me well with characterization is that of metagaming. In a roleplaying game, you have in-character knowledge, or things your character knows because he or she learned it.  You also get a lot of out

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-68996703715672947292011-11-11T23:23:00.000-05:002011-11-11T23:23:11.559-05:00

I'm glad I'm not one of those writers who can't write if my environment is less than pristine.  I'd never have gotten any writing done. I share the above musing because I just spent hours that I could've spent typing up handwritten pages or fleshing out ideas or doing something creative, instead, on cleaning up my living space.  I moved into a one-bedroom apartment from sharing a house in

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-39164623017931024502011-11-11T00:03:00.000-05:002011-11-11T00:03:51.558-05:00

The second book in my trilogy is tentatively titled, "Reincarnation."  The first draft I came up with was an utter mess, and has a lot to do with why I had to go back and do a fourth draft of book one.  I needed a stronger foundation for the later novels, and I'd figured out some parts of my characters as I wrote. Right now, I'm three handwritten pages into this draft.  I am, more or less,

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-64398291615693948732011-11-09T19:16:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.617-05:00

Of all skills related to word output, I would have to say that titles are my biggest sticking point.  You've probably already noticed, if you've read this blog at all.  My post titles are literal, with no embellishment.  I do the same thing on Livejournal, where I've had an account since 2003.  If I'm creative, I'll title my post with a pun somewhat related to something I'm writing about. If

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-69728197585264355132011-11-08T20:24:00.001-05:002011-11-08T21:48:52.402-05:00

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich My rating: 3 of 5 stars I deliberately put some space between numbers fifteen and sixteen, so that any similarity or sense I had of Evanovich phoning it in were because the book earned it, and not just because I was so familiar with the formula by now. It didn't help.While the sixteenth book in the Stephanie Plum series has its

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-4358600457694502892011-11-07T21:47:00.000-05:002012-01-18T17:27:55.617-05:00

As I write this blog post, the TV is on, my phone buzzes with periodic text messages, and I'm too tired to remain focused on the words on my screen.  My husband is listening to his show with headphones on, because he's considerate and kind, but the flashing images still catch my eye, and then I wonder what in the world is going on. I thought, with this backdrop, it would be good to talk about

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-64786233552069995272011-11-04T22:42:00.001-04:002011-11-04T23:32:30.392-04:00

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand My rating: 2 of 5 stars I don't know why I keep letting a book's popularity persuade me. More often than not, I wind up slogging through, irritated at it for existing. This was one such book. I found it a story jam-packed full of shallow people who have so few problems that they have to create drama in their lives. There wasn't a

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-36643255939542057112011-11-03T00:04:00.000-04:002011-11-03T00:04:26.020-04:00

Last night, I finished the fourth draft of the first book of the trilogy I've been working on for decades. The background, for those of you not sick of the story yet, is that I originally wrote this story when I was in middle school.  All I remember about that draft is that there were vampires, the characters spent a lot of time wandering around in the woods having inane conversations, and none

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-85907154593359424542011-11-01T20:54:00.001-04:002011-11-01T21:33:51.588-04:00

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding My rating: 3 of 5 stars Olivia Joules is a feature writer for the Sunday Times, and longs for legitimacy and the coverage of a really big story. She's sent, instead, to Miami to cover the release of a perfume. There, she witnesses the sinking of a cruise ship described as a floating luxury apartment

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-82233839522164425992011-10-31T18:57:00.000-04:002011-10-31T22:13:34.115-04:00

November 1 kicks off National Novel Writing Month, abbreviated NaNoWriMo or just NaNo to those familiar with it.  It's a challenge to write 50,000 words on an original work during the month of November.  At a steady pace, that's 1667 words per day (or about 2000 if you want to build in some days off), every single day for 30 days.  For reference, this blog post is 382 words.  I would need to

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-58612857160612432562011-10-29T17:01:00.000-04:002012-01-18T17:29:51.606-05:00

I have dozens of excuses about why I haven't been writing or updating this blog, but they're just that - excuses.  If I wanted to make it a priority, I would've.  I've found time to watch TV, to play with the cats, and lots of time to catch up on sleep.  I've found time to read, even if it's not as much as I would've liked.  I've found lots and lots of time to tool around online and play games.

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-62693010728509347702011-10-24T22:25:00.001-04:002011-10-28T18:27:31.743-04:00

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book caught my eye when some students were complaining about it as assigned reading in school. They posited that it might be more enjoyable if they hadn't been forced to read it, so I decided to test that. I can't say what made them not like this book, but I can say that I did like it, in a way I

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-60219917721892642752011-10-19T22:40:00.001-04:002011-10-21T23:51:49.429-04:00

I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy that started with I Am Not A Serial Killer. However, while it was compelling and an excellent story, I just didn't think the writing was as strong in this one as the last two.The tension wasn't as high as in the last two books, for starters. I just

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-2520470131333388842011-10-18T12:15:00.001-04:002011-10-21T23:51:49.425-04:00

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is not my kind of book. It was depressing and bleak and tried to make me sympathize with a character who actually turned out to be worse than initially depicted. The one character I liked died off-screen most of the way through the book, and I wound up feeling cheated more than anything else.The book

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-86355237052942540412011-10-13T00:51:00.001-04:002011-10-21T23:51:49.435-04:00

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an excellent take on the urban fantasy genre. While it clocked in at over 600 paperback pages, I hardly noticed how many pages I was flipping. There wasn't so much as a wasted word in the text.Madness of Angels used a lot of familiar concepts and settings, but took a twist that I haven't seen in

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-77610034832361357682011-10-06T17:02:00.001-04:002011-10-21T23:51:49.432-04:00

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is how I like my historical fiction. There were characters who felt real and three-dimensional to me, a fascinating story I could follow within the historical context, and an integration of historical details that made me feel like the story could've happened, once upon a time.Daughter of Fortune

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659390787646199560.post-90381544025691696282011-10-02T21:05:00.001-04:002011-10-21T23:51:49.440-04:00

Wild Hunt by Margaret Ronald My rating: 3 of 5 stars I did not enjoy this as much as Spiral Hunt, the first in the Evie Scelan books. I did enjoy it, and I liked the use of Boston as a setting, which was as much of a character as those who had speaking roles. It just wasn't as well-put-together as the previous novel.This book has Evie getting hired by a powerful and

Alice Keezerhttps://profiles.google.com/101248405002096574081noreply@blogger.com0