Reader’s Playlist

My genre interest seems to be at times, ever-changing. Though I’ve mostly stuck with the YA book choices, there are  times that I find myself veering into the realms of NA, mystery, and even scoping back into classics of yesterday.  I’ve discovered that I seem to be a book connoisseur of sorts, relishing any given genre of book that crosses my path most times.

I always seem to find myself back at the table of perusing new and old books alike at this time of year, siphoning book sites for a readers playlist of sorts. I’ve been off to a lukewarm start so far for 2017 in my book challenges and pursuits. And at times it almost feels like a theme song is necessary to amp up a surge into my reading list.  A Readers Playlist of sorts.

Something to power-up or serve to propel me into the next installment of my next fantastic book.  A something that lights up a person so much that they are giddy with excitement at the mere possibility of whatever might or will be found within the pages of a potential new book. O’ the life, the times, and the moments embedded within a readers playlist.

Hopes, Goals, and Reflections: 2017

As 2017 continues to power forward, making its illustrious presence known in varying ways, I have dusted off my readers cap and mapped out my ever glorious reading goal by way of Goodreads once more.  Reeling in pride that no matter what happens in my everyday life each passing year, I will try to always strive to find a way to tunnel my way through either meeting or surpassing my book/reading goal.  Reflecting back now, I realize that reading truly has been that one life constant that I haven’t strayed from regardless of my feelings, predicaments, or detours that pop up in my life….

I’m guessing that by now this will continually be a contented and pleasant accomplishment/goal of mine each year.  Or at the very least it’ll reveal itself as a hope that I’ll strap onto my life and leisure goals for 2017 and the years going forward…..

Clarity……

So it’s been a good minute since I’ve ventured into the pinning down and pouring out my thoughts onto this blog (or anywhere else for that matter).  To say a lot has happened in my life, and probably the lives of countless others would be an understatement to say the least.  So welcome 2017.

I watched a ball drop, watched one of my favorite singing icons drown in “mishaps”, and yet again, pen my wishful resolutions to take shape in this bright and shiny New Year ahead….but at this very moment, as I sit here keying and taking in this extraordinaire thing called everyday life I can’t help but flash back to the blur that we called 2016.

As the days continue to tick onward regardless of where we find ourselves, each passing year I continue to hold onto one particular constant.  My love of books. My beacon of happiness that I have come to find usually embedded within the pages of a good book. It’s amazing what joy, inspiration, or even just a simple distraction a good story can play,  running rampant against the confines of mere pages….the colorful chalk outline of my clarity….

 

For The Love Of Reading

More than half of 2016 is now under our belts and for the first time in a long time I  honestly feel  in the zone for reading.  It hasn’t been systematically on a to do list to make time for my favorite pastime, finagling around work, family, or just everyday life to read more. It’s just been pure and simple…..Desire….Intrigue….A Sanity must some days, just to secure some much-needed me time away from the trials and tribulations known as life.

My Goodreads reading goals are more than on track, yet I have an inert book lovers longing to take it even further. I admit to taking myself off  the readers radar for a while now. Yet now I’ve seen to have found myself back in my comfort zone, my familiar, my home away from home, longing to be snuggled within the confines of an amazing plot, invested in new and exciting characters, to be immersed in the plot of an addicting series.  Yes, I’ve found my way home.  Back to basics.  Back to my love of reading.

Saving A Writers Light

Now that daylight savings time has arrived and is still settling into the life routines of most of us, I have to admit that I’m glad for it. No, not for the hour less sleep, or the groggy Monday morning beginnings to kick start the work week for many of us (though coffee shall serve undoubtedly as the quintessential BFF for the early part of the week. No, I am able to take comfort in what Daylight savings presents to the writer in me.  The light.  Or more importantly being creatively  fueled by the longer light embedded within each day.

For me daylight savings time always serves as the reemergence of Spring, the signal of rejuvenation within the change of seasons. The rebirth of creativity of my writing.  It serves as my beacon of inspiration to hopefully land me back on the trails of creativity that has been all but been buried beneath this past winters cold.  My words, my story, and oh yes the writer in me welcomes you back with open arms.  Now let us begin…….

As a Writers World Turns

So we will be springing forward in a matter of weeks, and the aura of fresh new beginnings  more than wisps through the air.  It’s the feeling of promise, the sense of the creative rebirth that transcends the emergence of each new season of change.  It’s the beacon that guides writers of all walks and stages of life towards the path that turns the uncertainty of their untold stories into the possibility of sharing the best of their soul with the world.  Facing this reality of potentially having my writing sit stagnate against loose leaf pages is becoming more than motivation in keeping my writer’s tale inked as more than  just a random author’s chance to be heard. It’s serving as a life palate of untapped possibility to paint something great for the world with my words.  Page after page, story after story, I’m still happily and deeply embedded within the ever twisting, turning, yet terrific trails of this great escapade known as the writer’s life……

Winter Writing Blues: The Season of Drought

I can’t believe that this is my first blog post of 2016.  Wow!! Well here goes.  It’s been over 10 years since making NC my home, yet I still haven’t come to terms with or managed to find any common ground in dealing with the ever changing winters here. One day it’s dipping into what constitutes a normal winter with frost, snow, and ice, then the next day we’re cruising to seventy city. It’s crazy.  But what has become even more sporadic, grazing the lines of unsettling, has been the up and down scattered state of my writing/reading.

For me it seems that the winter season, for whatever reason, posts most of my drought times as of late. I have always been one to curl up with a good book during the dry cold season (usually accompanied by a hot caffeinated beverage), yet now days I rarely find or make the time for either when I get home from work.  Even my participation in my beloved NanoWriMo the last few seasons has been minimal at best

At times I’ve all but had to drag myself into finishing or even starting new books and/or series. While my love of reading/writing is still present, it seems as though my drive and desire to partake in either has seriously dwindled.  I’m hopeful that this first blog post of 2016 will be the spark that I need to pull me out of the virtual funk that I’ve been in.  The spotlight has been cast.  But I guess only time will tell if the fog lacing this writer’s/readers drought will descend soon. Fingers crossed!!!

Daring The NanoWriMo Challenge

Yep it’s that time of the year again for many writers and yes aspiring writers. The time where we decide to step up and take on a writing challenge, one in particular that many of us have come to look forward to with bounds of anticipation. Colorfully creative writing spurts of ideas, unimaginable plots, and for many, the true art of throwing writing caution to the wind.

It’s where spell check, run on sentences, and fragments alike are fully welcome at the writing-table. The challenge where quantity wins out for 30 days rather than quality (or for some of us sticklers….both). It’s NanoWriMo time, where for the solid month of November, writers from all walks, paths, and crosses of life, unite in our dedication, partaking of the possibility, and pure love of writing a novel in 30 days or less. The reward of course is the satisfaction deep-set in the art of writing your heart out, regardless of whether or not you cross the deadline at the end of the month. For me it always serves as my “I dare you” moment, challenging my resolve to write everyday, rain or shine, whether I’m in the mood or not.

It’s the challenge where you challenge yourself as a writer, not so much for the glory of writing a best seller (though some clearly have wonderfully accomplished this feat), but more so of holding in high regard, the challenge to commit yourself to making your writing dream or pursuit a reality. So with that being said, it’s time to start brainstorming (if you haven’t already). The time to gather all of your pertinent writing supplies and make pre-arrangements for keeping a supply of your coffee of choice on hand for those late night writing stints. Four days and a wake up to NanoWriMo. Writers I happily ask…..Who’s up for a NanoWriMo dare!!!!!

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Book Escapades: Summer Reading Wrap-Up

Now that we are truly on the edge of another summer’s end has left me thinking about just how my 2015 summer reading journey began. Thinking back, I recall making a change-up of sorts, shifting genre gears, breaking out of my customary book zone of all things YA. Instead I found myself at some point taking trips down roads of age-old classics, tripping down the sideways of the lands of paranormal, and even making a few fantastically winding detours down the historical fictions and sci-fi lanes of the engagingly wonderful. So to say that I happily found my great escape with more than a few notable reads, would be more than an understatement.  Books are forever my escape into the wilds of an author’s colorful imagination, but this summer was truly my road trip of amazing.  And as the sun settles on the cusp of summer, lowering one season onto the bridge of another, it will be this book reader/writer’s pleasure to dip into the folds of Fall.