A buncha stuff... just me babbling, really

What's happenin', hot stuff?

I'm just relaxing on what remains of my day off. I had a great day - DH's on school vacation this week so I got to sleep in till 7:45 this morning. Woohoo! Got up, drank coffee, did laundry, and played with the boys for a bit, then brought LS to daycare and had a big kid date with BS.

We went to see Coraline in 3D. It was awesome, and very, very creepy. BS amazes me because be never seems to get afraid of scary stuff; I was kind of cowering a couple of times, but he was enraptured the whole time. It's also a cool message - "be careful what you wish for." Basically, kids, your parents may be boring, but at least they're not scary witch creatures who try to eat your soul, so be grateful! Yay!

Now I'm home and DH has taken BS to the dentist, so I'm just chillin', folding laundry, listening to music, watching Grosse Pointe Blank on TV, AND blogging. Look at me multitask! I've got some fun activities coming up that I'm looking forward to, and life is good!

Lessee... in other news. I haven't been writing much, but I have been reading like a fiend. I am convinced that reading is as good as writing; I honestly think it puts my mind in the right place and helps me establish my own voice and style. Or, maybe that's just what I tell myself to justify gobbling up books like they're made out of candy and leaving my own novel half finished. Dunno.

At any rate, it is my habit to go to author's websites when I find one whose work I admire. Almost all of them have tips for aspiring writers, and they all say: if you want to write, READ!

So, I'm taking their advice, and am currently devouring the Outlander series. Damn, this woman can write. She is both prolific and, at times, overly verbose. I found myself thinking in a Scottish accent this week; I became so enmeshed in her language and world that I felt like my brain was in the book. Wow. Her work can be a little too descriptive at times, and I find myself skimming certain sections since there is really only so much detail one can use when describing something like a garden, right? But, her style is fantastic - she manages to create these believable and realistic characters that you feel like you know intimately, she has a massive and impressive vocabulary, and her stark intelligence is just palpable. On her website, http://www.its.caltech.edu/~gatti/gabaldon/ , she says some things that stick in my memory and spur me on more than any of the other "reach for the stars" stuff I've read on other author's websites. I'll paraphrase, because I'm lazy and have provided the link above so you can go read it yourself if you're so inclined. Basically, she says the idea is the easy part, the writing is the hard part. And you won't know if you can do it until you try. And the more you try, the better you'll get. And the hardest part isn't starting, it's keeping it going.

I think she's my new hero, which is why I had no qualms about ordering the rest of the Outlander series from Amazon just now, and why I look forward to every historical, romantic, overly-descriptive word and sentence that she has sent forth into the world for us to read. And yes, Jill, you can borrow them when I'm done. ;)