Rainy and Wine Sunday Funday

The weekends just never seem long enough! I can't believe it's Monday now.

Since Michael was gone on a business trip the weekend before, we definitely made up for it this weekend! On our Friday date night we had sushi at Nishino and saw the new Dracula Untold film.

Staurday we did the pumpkin patch, had dumplings at Din Tai Fung, shopped, and ordered a pizza for dinner and rented the Chef movie. It was pretty rainy all weekend as fall settled in, so when Sunday came around we kept it low key and watched the Somm documentary on netflix then went to Bottlehouse for a flight and some delicious pound cake!

It's weekends like these that I live for, so can it please be friday already?

Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

Last year Michael and I went pumpkin picking and went through a corn maze. It was such good fun we decided to do it this year and make a tradition out of it.

Michael picked out a white pumpkin this year while I picked out orange ones for Blaire and I.

The weather unfortunately was very unpredictable, going from dry to pouring down rain the next. Nonetheless we stuck it out and waited for it to past.

After getting all our pumpkins we decided to treat ourselves with some kettle corn and hot spiced apple cider.

Then it was off to the corn/sunflower maze!

All in all it was fun and relaxing way to spend our Saturday. If you haven't been pumpkin picking yet, I recommend doing so before the season ends!

"Indefinitely"

Desperation siezes me
and it seems like an eternity,
as I wait and wait
for a muse.

But do not mistake me
I am not dependent on mere
                             W H I M S
I am just afraid
of the light in my head that grows
                                             d      i    m     .

Will it leave and be gone forever?
for hopes and dreams, it will sever

this darkness of cruel reality--
it laughs,
it taunts,
it picks on me.

So what is the point
when it is out of our control?
when we've slaved on words
and bared our soul.

it becomes our obsession
an imaginative affair--
an abstract depiction
of our current cares--

Yet the words keep us enamored
like a siren at sea.
It pulls us in--indefinitely.

Writing Hiatus

So I'm drawing near the time I first started writing M2. M2 was my most serious committed project. I was committed to M1, but as I drew near the last quarter of M1 I knew it just wouldn't work out. Though I loved the story, my writing capabilities lacked the skill to push that manuscript to its full potential.

Now, I'm about halfway through M3. It has been extremely slow going and difficult to write. I have a lot of ideas about where I want M3 to go, but it's hard for me to organize my thoughts clearly. M3 is loosely inspired by my time in high school in college and the friends that have come and gone and the issues we had dealt with. Thus, M3 is more of an issues/coming-of-age story which I've come to learn is harder to write than paranormal or fantasy. At least, for me it is.

Thus I am starting to miss M2 like crazy. I love this story to pieces and I want so much to go on and write the next book and the next to M2. But I know I shouldn't. If M2 ever gets picked up (and I hope it does), there would probably be major editorial changes that may change the course of the series.

So inbetween projects and wants and desires, I've found myself in a writing hiatus. Since I haven't been getting much progress on M3, I've been journaling, binge tv watching, and reading whatever I can get my hands on.

 

Despite my distractions, I feel disociated, like I've lost something. A part of me is itching to go back to M2 and tweak some more and add some scenes, but I can't decide if it would be more damaging then helpful. Alas, I will ponder on this some more and will continue to be positive about writing.

 

This will just be a small bump in the long and windy road.

Book Review: Made For You by Melissa Marr

I rated it 4 out of 5 stars.

Overview: Bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely books Melissa Marr’s first contemporary YA novel is a twisted southern gothic tale of obsession, romance, and murder. A killer is obsessed with Eva Tilling. Can she stop him, or will he claim her?

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused—who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends—and themselves—alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

For the first time, New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr has applied her extraordinary talent to contemporary realism. Chilling twists, unrequited obsession, and high-stakes romance drive this Gothic, racy thriller—a story of small-town oppression and salvation. Melissa’s fans, and every YA reader, will find its wild ride enthralling

Review: This review is long overdue, but better late than never. I'm a big fan of Marr's after her Wicked Lovely books. I adored them. So it was interesting to hear that she was writing a contemporary thriller. Of course I picked it up and devoured this book. Marr's writing in contemporary is just as beautiful as her writing in fantasy. Though for a contemporary, she did throw a small supernatural element in, but it added to the story and worked as a good device for building suspense and narrowing down the suspect list.

Like a good thriller, Marr kept me guessing on the stalker, but I was just able to figure it out a few chapters before the protagonist. I didn't mind it though because it took nothing away from the story. the only thing that made me rate this a four instead of a five is because I don't think the actions or sacrifices of the Stalker made sense. I wish there was more motive behind it.

Nonetheless, I would recommend it for a good leisure read.

Hello, October

I cannot believe it's been over a week since I last blogged! Nonetheless, a lot of fun stuff has been happening, but I have no pictures to show for it! Michael got the new iPhone 6 so he's been taking photos of our fun moments since his camera quality is better than mine. I still need to put in an order for mine since I am eligible for an upgrade, so I'll need to do that soon. But I'll still post a photo set of the end of my September sometime next week when Micahel returns from his business trip (I'll steal his photos muwhahaha *evil laugh*).

In the meantime, I can tell you what's been going on:

1. We celebrated Michael's mother's birthday at Spinasse in Seattle.

2. Michael and I's Friday Night Date Night was in Wallingford for some wine, ramen, and churros. (Not at the same place of course! We made three different stops.)

3. I met with my cool writer friend Lisa at this wine bar right in front of Alkai Beach. We had a fun time catching up while we caught the sunset.

4. Michael and I made the trip to Whidbey Island to visit his grandparents. They fed us, wined us, and showed us some family heirlooms. It was pretty cool.

5. I felt sick Monday and stayed home from work, afraid I was coming down with the cold. Luckily I wasn't! Turned out to be a one day fluke kind of thing. That being so, I had time to binge through Black List season 1, and read Sarah Dessen's The Moon and More.

Also, I know I still owe you that book review on Made For You, so look for that tomorrow.

Happy October everyone!

Book Review: Dream Boy by Mary Crockett & Madelyn Rosenburg

I rated it 2 out of 5 stars.

Overview: Annabelle Manning feels like she’s doing time at her high school in Chilton, Virginia. She has her friends at her lunchtime table of nobodies. What she doesn’t have are possibilities. Or a date for Homecoming. Things get more interesting at night, when she spends time with the boy of her dreams. But the blue-eyed boy with the fairytale smile is just that—a dream. Until the Friday afternoon he walks into her chemistry class.

One of friends suspects he’s an alien. Another is pretty sure it’s all one big case of deja vu. While Annabelle doesn’t know what to think, she’s willing to believe that the charming Martin Zirkle may just be her dream come true. But as Annabelle discovers the truth behind dreams—where they come from and what they mean—she is forced to face a dark reality she had not expected. More than just Martin has arrived in Chilton. As Annabelle learns, if dreams can come true, so can nightmares.

Review: Oh man, I really wanted to like this one, but I didn't. I think this is the first two-star rating I have given on my blog (one stars are reserved from books I can't even finish because I don't want to waste my time). So why a two-star? PREDICTABLE. Everything that happened was so predictable. The characters were so obvious, I mean cleary you can see who's into who. Everything is spelled out for you which takes some fun out of the reading. You would think with two writers on this book that they could have seen how predictable and obvious it all is.

Alright, I know what you're thinking, Michelle, give the book some slack, it is a young adult book for christ's sake not an American literary masterpiece. And though I do understand that this is directed for young adults, I think they should be challenged in what they read. They should think for themselves and come to their own conclusions. This was a 'fun' little plot book, but it was too obvious for my sake. I only read half and skimmed the rest. The more I buy books that I don't really end up liking, the more it makes me want to go to the library and just borrow books. However, I know buying books is a way to support the author, which is why I continue to buy them, but man, I keep getting disappointed as of late.

One book I wasn't disappointed in this week? Made For You by Melissa Marr. A review of that one will be posted sometime this week!