Thankful Update

It is the day after Thanksgiving. I am still full of food after spending a really enjoyable day with my family at my sister's boyfriend's house. It was the first really formal Thanksgiving my family has done in a while. Normally it is just the four of us so we don't use the fine china or the fancy table cloth. My sister's boyfriend, however, was all about the pomp and circumstance. Like, we had water and wine glasses and there was a single fresh cut rose in the center of each plate. Then we watched It's a Wonderful Life (I LOVE YOU JIMMY STEWART!). It was the kind of Thanksgiving I remember from my childhood when my family was still a little bigger. I loved it.

Also, musical auditions are over for both shows I'm working on this season. I'm running point on The Wedding Singer with my sister's assistance while my sister is heading up Pippin with my backup. Auditions were cool, casting had some setbacks. I am trying to remain excited instead of apprehensive but I'm struggling.

Finally, I haven't touched G4 in over a week. I am stuck in the middle and it is a barren wasteland with no lifelines or avenues of escape. I chatted with the lovely Jenny Adams Perinovic about it and have decided on a change of plan. I was writing this story linearly, from point A to point B because I had events I wanted to happen but was pantsing everything in between. With two musicals and being back in my family home instead of holed up in a big house alone, I am going to be a lot busier soon and being stuck with G4 will mean no progress if I'm already busy. I know myself well enough to know that I won't make time for it. So I am switching paths. I am going to write the scenes I know I want and piece it all together later. Hell, I might even write the end first. But I have a new plan and I'm gonna stick to it!

Five Favorites This Fall

Fall is my favorite time to read. I love reading all the time but when it starts to get cold, there is just something about grabbing a cup of tea and a good book and snuggling under the covers with warm fluffy kitties. Since finishing college - which put a serious damper on my leisure reading - I always read a ton in the fall. Like, I've read 30 books since September 1st. I wanted to share a few of my favorites from the last few months.

1. Paper Towns by John Green 

I read Looking for Alaska and it was good but after this one, I understand why everyone loves John Green. This is accurate yet adventurous coming of age. 

2. The Misfits by James Howe

Middle school is rough but having friends makes it better. I really liked everything about this book. 

3. Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

The characters is this are great. Having been the girl with the crush on the inappropriate older guy, Buzo gets it SO right.

4. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This book is eerily easy to relate to. I'm not going to try and explain it. Just read it. 

5. Winter Town by Stephen Emond

If you have friends you only see during certain seasons, you will understand how just a short period of time together can still feel incredibly important. This book might break your heart but it will kind of put it back together again. 

YA for Everyone

I've put 100,000 miles on my car in the last four years. Suffice it to say that I drive a ton. I love driving and have been doing it daily since I got my first car just before I started college. However, every once in a while I get this fleeting moment of memory as I'm driving. It is like for a split second I'm 17 again driving alone in the car for the first time with freedom coursing through my fingers as they grip the wheel. That is the best way I can explain it. That half a moment, that ephemeral instant, is what I want my book to feel like for adults. When non-teenagers read my YA work-in-progress G4, I want it to be a tiny window into the firsts of your adolescence. Is that too much to ask?

NaNoWriMo and Words

I am not doing NaNo.

I have never won NaNo. 

I will probably never win NaNo. 

But I am writing. 

I'm earning stickers instead and it is going ok. It isn't perfectly awesome but it is good words on the page. 

This has been an update.

Also, it is such a perfect autumn day. I want to bottle it and paint my room in it. I want to live in eternal autumn. It makes me wonder how death can be so beautiful.