Category: Musings

Reading is fun. Usually. Sometimes it can be a down right chore as that joy of starting a new book quickly turns into wishing you hadn’t had all your wisdom teeth removed because that seems like it would be a much more enjoyable experience. Of course when this happens to some people, they have no qualms about closing the book forever. Then there are those of us, myself included, who have to finish, unless something catastrophic happens, whatever we are reading. However, over the last couple of years I’ve slowly started changing my attitude toward finishing every single book I start reading. If I’m getting massively annoyed or bored with it, then why the hell should I continue reading on?

With that being said, here are the worst books I read in 2014. I’m not including the one book I failed to finish as that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a terrible book just I got too fed up to stay through to the end. So an honorable mention goes to Romulus Buckle and the City of the Founders by Richard Ellis Preston, Jr.

In no particular order:

Persuasion by Jane Austen: This was Ms. Austen’s last book written and published. While I normally don’t have a probably with the telling and head-hopping a lot of literature before the 20^th century is known for, this one just didn’t do it for me. I’ve only read a smattering of Jane Austen and wanted to read one of her lesser known works. I think there’s a reason why this one isn’t mentioned very often. It’s annoying when the reader is told of a brief flirtation between the two main characters years before their paths converge again. I would have liked to have seen that interaction as they rarely interacted with each other throughout the book. I honestly have no idea why they fell in love with each other. I’m not saying they didn’t deserve each other just it would be nice to know why these two are right for each other. There was also the typical Jane Austen antics of people doing silly things for attention and every other person marrying the appropriate person before our two leads do. Yawn.

The Wealthy Frenchman’s Proposition by Katherine Garbera, The Apollondies Mistress Scandal by Tessa Radley, and The Corporate Raider’s Revenge by Charlene Sands: First off let me say that the biggest two reasons why I read these books was 1) I didn’t know what I was buying. I went to second hand store and couldn’t resist the mystery grab bag of books for a quarter (5 books for 25 cents? Hell yeah I’m in!), and 2) I was behind on my book reading goal for the year. Damn you Goodreads for your constant reminders.

I’m lumping all three of these books together because they just represent to me all the reasons why I avoid romance and in particular, contemporary romance. The plots are highly unrealistic, the women are, of course, gorgeous, the men are, of course, gorgeous, everyone knows what they are doing sexually and have all the energy of a Chihuahua on meth, everyone’s going to fall in love because that’s what is expected to happen no matter how morally and unethical people’s behavior is, any secondary characters are trite, and the romances are naturally quick and always lead to marriage. Admittedly I’m not the most romantic person on the planet and I understand these are pure escapism but, ugh. Just try to realize your readers have an IQ above 10.

Only redeemable quality they had was I was able to trade them into my local used bookstore for store credit well above the nickel each they cost me. Like a boss.

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon: This one was a book club selection and that is the only reason why I finished it. I’ve never read anything before by this still alive and very reclusive author, but I had heard a little bit about him so I was looking forward to it. While I have read, and enjoyed, books with a non-linear style and an arguably complete absence of a discernable plot, this one was too much for me. Written in the 1960s I think it was meant as one of those “screw the establishment” novels by messing around with plot structure, characters, and language. The book is about a woman chosen as a co-executor of a former lover’s estate. She has to travel to the Bay Area to deal with it. Somehow some oddball symbol in connection with the very first postal service in the world is connected with her ex. I think? We meet a variety of weird characters as she aimlessly wonders up and down the California coast gathering clues. Or something? I wasn’t sure. Apparently this book is an example of post-modernism. I think I’m going to stay away from that genre. Made my brain hurt, but not in a good way. The book was about stamps. Or something.

Danielle by Vivian Schurfranz: Man I sure am offering up a lot of excuses on this list. When I was a teenager my local library had a series of historical fiction books set in various parts of the United States in different time periods. All the titles being named after the female main character. I just gobbled them up. Imagine my surprise when I found out my name was one of them! Alas, my library never had it so I gave up on getting my hands on it.

Fast forward to the glorious internet and a little website called Amazon. On a lark I did a search to see if anyone was selling this book. Yes, yes they were so I ordered it last year. I read it this year and oh, how I wish I hadn’t. My god if I could go back in time and warn my teenage myself, I would. I had no idea these books were YA Historical Romance. Yes, there was always at least one guy that the girl fell in love with but as we’ve already established, I’m not the most romantic person on the planet. I was more interested in the time period than some dopey boy as boys have cooties.

Anyway, I got through this purely on principle. I wanted to throttle my namesake as she was a spoiled, naïve, annoying, little rich girl who fell for the bad boy only to have his family kidnap her, which she was okay with because you know, the guy was a pirate and is just misunderstood and I can make my daddy see pirates aren’t all that bad. She has her heartbroken when she discovers her bad boy pirate stole her favorite cameo. Why in the world her nice, but rather boring, fiancée took her back I’ll never know other than it was the early 1800s and that’s what people do.

There you have it. Books I wish I hadn’t read. At least it’s a small list. Next week I’ll share my favorite books I read in 2014. Thankfully the list is much longer.

For creative types having just the right space is crucial for their success. Others can work no matter where they are; be it on a train commuting to work, on the bus, in a noisy spot, or in the great outdoors. Others require a tremendous amount of quiet and calm in order to concentrate.

I fall into the category of needing just the right environment. Things have to be in just a certain way or else I can’t be comfortable and relaxed enough. I’ve touched upon my writing routine (which has changed a bit)  as well as experimenting with the kind of music I listen to while writing. Today’s post, however, will be about what my ideal writing space would look and feel like if I had an unlimited amount of funds and space.

First, what my old set up had. In my old house, we had a spare bedroom that I eventually commandeered and claimed as my writing room. It had a neat view of the park behind our house so I could stare, not in a creepy way, at the soccer or football practice of the local kids, people flying kites, and just general playfulness. I had my tall, heavy duty plastic table that acted as my desk, a couple of little book shelves, my office chair I got for dirt cheap thanks to a garage sale the company I worked for had, and a white board. It was a serviceable set up for me at the time. Not ideal and not my dream but it worked.

Fast forward to my current set up. Thanks to moving to a new house with a completely different configuration from my old house, I have a bit more room and have put it to good use. I have the entire second story, which consists of a loft with a full bathroom, all to myself. Plenty of wall and floor space for an additional desk, a bit old fashion with cubby holes, which I use to actually write on while the plastic table houses my laptop and acts as a multi-purpose collection of stuff I’ll eventually get to. I’ve got more book cases which scream to be filled up and I have two white boards. Its two downsides are there is no view and no door so if the animals are annoying me I have to put up a baby gate to keep them out. Overall it’s a great set up and really helps compartmentalize how I work.

Oh but if I had the funds and space, what would my dream space look like? I am seriously jealous of Neil Gaiman’s writing space. Yes, it’s out in the woods and appears quite isolated from the world. Talk about distraction free unless he’s getting great internet service out there then maybe not so much.

Yet as much as I drool over that space, it might be a bit too far away from the house for my tastes. Perhaps something more like a large shed located in the back yard (I need plenty of space to work out ideas and store research) complete with its own heating and air conditioning. The view would have to be of a wooded area because I prefer that to the beach. Plus the animals I could watch would be more interesting. Perhaps have it wired for sound so I could have music piped in and control it via remote when my mood changes. Maybe throw in a nice little fridge, my own coffee maker, and a small pantry and I wouldn’t have to run to the kitchen nearly as often. Hmmm, on second thought, that might not be a good idea. Family might start to wonder what I look like if I had all that. Wait, no, they’d see me at dinner time, the evenings, and some of the weekend. That should be sufficient enough.

All I can do is dream about that and make do with what I have now. I’m very fortunate to have a room to call my own, one that does allow me to concentrate and be productive. It’s a space that is usually respected as being sacred. Perhaps in a way I already have my ideal space.

I’ve always been a huge music fan. Growing up I pretty much killed every Walkman I had from listening to music all the time. Killed many pairs of headphones, too. At least MP3 players and headphones are way more durable and streaming music is awesome. As a kid I’ve learned to play an instrument or three only to discover as an adult that I was a mediocre musician on a good day. Best to stick to listening to music and singing along when I’m in the car.

So where am I going with this ode to music and how important it is in my life? How does this connect to a blog about being a writer?  Well, it may be surprising to many people that it is not unusual for writers to create a playlist when they write. Music, at times, can express emotions better than the written word. The emotion a singer or instrumentalist puts into the words and melody touches a different part of the soul. On a personal level, music can helps me concentrate, it can soothe, it can inspire, or it can energize me.

Listening to music while writing makes sense to me because by engaging with another art form while creating your own art, I think it helps amp up the creative part of the brain. It opens up the dam of creative thought allowing words to flow like water.

Over the past year I’ve been experimenting with varying up the music I listen to while I write. Originally I could only write while listening to classical music. The main reason is because there are no lyrics, so I’m not tempted to sing along. After a while, though, I can only listen to so much classical music. In talking with other writers and listening to other writers’ processes, I heard many will tailor music to the project they’re working on. Made sense to me so I thought I would try that.

While working on a short story set in the future space, I created a playlist full of songs what sounded spacey and futuristic. It took me a little while to get used to but it seemed to really help put me in the right frame of mind. It was easier to ‘see’ into the future with the appropriate soundtrack. Probably would have been harder to do if I’d been listening to Beethoven unless the story was about Beethoven in space. Wait that could be an interesting experiment…

In addition to getting me in the right frame of mind, it was fun getting exposed to artists I would normally not listen to. I’m not the biggest fan of techno or dub step but if any music aims for the futuristic sound, it would be those genres. I also included artists I do like so that I’d have some sanity.

With that experiment a success I started working on creating playlists for when I write romantic scenes, battle scenes, and because I’m currently working on a novel set during the Middle Ages, medieval music (although there is only so much of that music I can take wanting to shove a lute up someone’s butt). It’s fun to compile these lists and the online streaming music service I use makes it super easy since they have so many categories to choose from.

In the future I look forward to experimenting more with my playlists and revising the current ones. Connecting music with words is just another road to inspiration for me.