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Saw Avengers: Age of Ultron over the weekend. My little geek girl heart was mostly pleased. The movie had a lot going on with a multitude of new characters in addition to a multitude of old ones, which made things a bit messy. But this in no way took away from the fun for me and it was good to see the characters I love back again. 

I have mixed feeling’s about how Black Widow is portrayed in Age of Ultron. One the one hand I agree with some that it’s nice to see some humanity brought to her character and on the other I agree with others who feel it could have been handled better. 

At any rate, though it wasn’t my favorite Marvel movie, but I had a good time.

What I’m Reading

I’m a little wary to be starting in on Patrick Ness’ final installment of the Chaos Walking trilogy, Monsters of Men, because I’m not sure I’m ready to have my feels put through a meat grinder, but here I go.

Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman get more witty and fun and interesting with every poem I read.

More slow and steady progress on Don Quixote.

What I’m Writing

Ummmmm…. yeah… so…

I need to come up with a new routine that involves me going to a coffee shop or library in order to get actual work done, because as soon as I get home after work I slip into relaxation mode. This week’s plan is to bring my laptop to work on Tuesday and Thursday for just that purpose.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit the chapbook to a few more publishers. Gather together/edit poem drafts and submit to lit journals.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I’m trying to meditate in the evening before I go to bed. Just 5-10 minutes of quiet breathing. I’m finding that after the few times I’ve done it, I sleep better and wake up more refreshed. So, it’s a good thing for me to keep up.

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Up, up, and away!

My weekend involved a recovery period, hanging out with friends, eating good healthy food (mostly), and resting when needed. The resting bit involved sleeping for twelve hours Saturday night. Astounding since I haven’t slept past 10 a.m. since high school. I guess my body needed the rest.

I’m feeling more energized going into this week…. We’ll see if it lasts.

What I’m Reading

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka UgreÅ¡ić is not what I was expecting, not that I really knew what to expect. But being based on folklore, I guess I was looking for something a little more of that kind of feel rather than the this-is-real-life tone I’ve gotten so far. It’s still interesting, though, in how it looks at older women and how society perceives them.

I’ve started reading Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman. I saw her read at Writers with Drinks one night and the poems are just as fun and witty as her performance.

More slow and steady progress on Don Quixote.

What I’m Writing

Up, up, and away! I knuckled under and sent out a chapbook of poems to Paper Nautilus last night, biting my knuckles the whole time and pretending I wasn’t nervous, not at all.

(eeeeeeeeeeee!)

No. Not really. No.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit the chapbook to a few more publishers. Gather together poem drafts and submit to lit journals.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Last week I mentioned starting a new eating plan and so far it’s been going great. I’m not torn apart from cravings and am actually feeling drawn to fresh veggies. I feel cleaner. I don’t know how else to describe it. Since my sister has dropped out of the plan, I’m easing up on my restrictions a hair by letting myself have a splash of milk in my coffee, because mmmmm, coffeeeeee.

As I’ve cut out the added sugar and grains, I’m looking into what I can cut out in other areas to be more focused on the things I want to accomplish. Two of the main things that come to mind are TV and my iPad video games — both of which either need to go entirely or limited to an hour or so. Cutting out the TV is the hardest, since my roommate likes to have it on as background noise; that’s fine, I just need to put headphones on and listen to music while I write or retreat into my bedroom for quiet time.

Linky Goodness

In Fallacy: The Primer for Surprise, Lancelot Schaubert talks about how mystery and any writers are able to surprise their readers, noting that it comes not from withholding information, but forcing the reader to the wrong conclusions. A very interesting concept that has me thinking about how I approach my own storytelling.

Also:

If someone tells you singular ‘they’ is wrong, please do tell them to get stuffed,  by Tom Chivers, who writes, “Actually, “their” has commonly been used as a singular possessive for rather longer than either Allan or I have been alive.”

Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Love to Write — an interesting and we-are-awesome post for writers.

 

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Hey, it's Monday!

Another lovely weekend as the Bay Area warms up into summer (though kinda wish we had a few more stormy weekends before we totally dry out).

Saturday was spent in a crazy cocoon of baby love, as my mom and I babysat my niece and nephew. We got to take them to the park, push them on the swings, and see them laugh in delight at just running around and playing.

Sunday I met up with friends Lise and Allie at the Village House of Books in Los Gatos, where S.G. Browne was holding a meet and greet. I came away with a signed copy of Less Than Hero, which I can’t wait to read.

Afterward I was delighted to walk around with my buddies and introduce them to my favorite indulgence, Icing on the Cake — just about the best bakery in the world. We sat out on the curb, enjoying our cupcake treats and watching the passersby. Such joy.

What I’m Reading

The Ask and the Answer, the second book in Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series, is kicking me right in the feels. I can’t really talk about it without spoiling The Knife of Never Letting Go. I’m almost to the end and have ordered the third book, Monsters of Men, from the library already, since I’m expecting another cliffhanger here.

I’m also in the middle of wingless, scorched & beautiful, a poetry chapbook by Allie Marini Batts, which I’m hoping to post a review of later this week.

I stalled out a bit on Don Quixote but have started up again.

What I’m Writing

I’ve pulled one of the poems from the chapbook (maybe). I keep going back and forth on it, since I’m not sure it’s ready (so pulling it is probably the best option — maybe).

In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list of publishers to send my chapbook out to (thanks to some advice from Allie). I’ll be sending it out just as soon as I bring myself to finalize the collection.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit chapbook. Gather together poem drafts I’ve written from internet and the universe and organize them in my computer.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I’ve started in on a modified version of Whole 30 today, which is to say that I’m trying to stick to veggies and proteins with some fruits. So, primarily no added sugar, no dairy, no grains, no legumes (although I’m still eating premade salads that do not follow the rules for lunches, because it’s what I’m capable of right now and I have a couple of cookies I plan to eat this week instead of throw out). This modified version may lead to me trying the strict version, though we’ll see.

I’m finding this inspiring, because for a long while I stopped cooking other than throwing some frozen food item into an oven. This making me think differently and more creatively about the foods I eat and reminding me of yummie things I’ve forgotten about — like avocados and asparagus and brussel sprouts and other foods I haven’t been eating because I haven’t been cooking.

This process has me thinking about how I can find new ways to approach my writing life.

Linky Goodness

In Living Out Loud, Lise Quintana presents great reasons as to why writers should participate in reading their work out loud at events. Solid reasons all.

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In which I feel as though I haven't done thing…

My weekend whispered away, it seems. The days melting into each other with the TV chattering in the background — a large part of that chatter involving a full day marathon of all the Star Wars movies at my sister’s house.

And yet, somehow my laundry is done and my bed is made and my life doesn’t seem to have dissolved into chaos, so I guess I’ve been productive, too.

What I’m Reading

I have a great love for cowgirl stories (even though I don’t read them often), so Under the Painted Sky by Stacey Lee is perfect for me. I’m loving this so far, with two strong girls (one of Chinese decent accused of murder and one a runaway slave) running out into the empty wild west, dressed as boys.

Still working on Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It’s slow reading, but fun. Sometimes I guffaw outloud at the antics of these characters.

What I’m Writing

Putting together a collection is a strange process, something I don’t have much experience with and, in the past, it has not felt natural to group my poetry together. Since this present collection is made up primarily of letter-poems, they all at least fit around a single concept. Over the past week, I’ve read through all of the poems, made selections of those to include and performed edits (substantial in some cases) to each, as well as spreading them out across my living room floor to decide on an order.

I’m feeling good about where I’m at with chapbook — better than any previous time I’ve tried to put a collection together. At the moment, I’m trying to just let things sit for a bit in order to be sure of a few final edits to a couple of the poems, then I think I’ll be ready to send it out. (Eeeeee!)

Goal(s) for this week: Submit chapbook. Gather together poem drafts I’ve written from internet and the universe and organize them in my computer.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Reading poetry this month, because beautiful words get me thinking about words and then wanting to write them, too.

Linky Goodness

E. Jade Lomax imagined what the Harry Potter stories would have been like, if Petunia Dursley had opened her home and heart to Harry instead of rejecting him and the result is so beautiful, it made me cry.

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In Recovery

Last week was a bit rough. I got sick with a sore throat and a fever, which floored me for most of the week. I had to take time off work and from functioning in general in order to recover, so I wasn’t very productive.

I started to feel better by the time the weekend rolled around, however, so at least I was able to hang out with the family, play with my niece and nephew, and decorate easter eggs with them. It was a good, fun, relaxing weekend, which was exactly what I needed to help get me back to normal.

What I’m Reading

I’ve started reading Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool, which is about a young girl who has been left in the care of a family friend during the 1930s depression.

Still working on Blue by George Elliott Clarke and Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

What I’m Writing

I meant to make some edits to my chapbook submission, reworking and cleaning up a few poems, but that didn’t happen. I needed rest more than I needed words last week.

Goal(s) for this week: Finish and submit chapbook. Or, at least finish editing the poems for said chapbook.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Good health. It’s amazing how important it is to just be able to function well.

Linky Goodness

Here is a complete list of poets giving away free poetry books this month as part of the Big Poetry Giveaway!

I may have missed my chance to be added to the list, but am also giving away two books of poetry here.

Looking to read some great poetry, check out Nonbinary Reviews latest issue.