Notes
Finished reading: Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis 📚
The first novella in a series of three. At first I thought it might not be the right moment for me to read this, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The payoff is great.
Finished reading: Dark Russian Angel by Odette Stone 📚
📚💬 “… there’s no reason to believe you’ll ever feel ‘on top of things,’ or make time for everything that matters, simply by getting more done.” Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
📚💬 “… once you become convinced that something you’ve been attempting is impossible, it’s a lot harder to keep on berating yourself for failing.” Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Finished reading: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell 📚
I really enjoyed this! Sad boys falling in love in space.
📺🍿 How I Met Your Mother co-creator Craig Thomas wrote about .
I replied with this:
This has me thinking about the voice-over narration in The Wonder Years, beautifully done by Daniel Stern. A Christmas Story (which for years my dad would put on for its 24-hour marathon) came out in 1983. The Wonder Years ran 1988-1993. What other films and shows use this device? (I think maybe 8-Bit Christmas does?) Are they all doing the same thing with it? What does it do that stories without flashback voiceover don’t? I would read the heck out of a smart pop culture essay about this.
🔖 Read HTML Is Actually a Programming Language. Fight Me by Tim Carmody (Wired)
Carmody and I came to HTML within a year of each other, both via Netscape, and I love this love letter to my favorite programming language (yes, I love HTML more than BASIC). Count me in as part of HTML’s posse.
Finished reading: Whiteout by Adriana Anders 📚
Like if The Thing, that Antarctica episode of The X-Files, and a Michael Crichton book all had a baby with a romance novel. So, you know, pretty great.
Finished reading: The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath 📚
A wild premise deftly handled.
I’m very psyched that a local romance lover is launching a mobile romance-focused bookstore. She’s launched an Indiegogo to help her get over the finish line. Please consider contributing!
💬📚📝 “…a story’s as much house or garden as song.” Jane Alison, Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative
Finished reading: Falling Into Bed with a Duke by Lorraine Heath 📚
Lorraine Heath knows the job. Minerva Dodger is a delightful heroine.
Finished reading: Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes 📚
A very useful and straightforward book about romance novel structure.
Finished reading: The Heroine’s Journey: For Readers, Writers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger 📚
This is a great book about story structure that helped me understand, among other things, why Jean-Luc Picard is my favorite Star Trek captain.
📚💬📝 “…what are we writers but Machiavellian manipulators of a stranger’s emotions?” Gail Carriger, The Heroine’s Journey
Life is a lot right now. I give you permission to take a harm reduction approach to literally anything you need to. Taking some supplements is better than taking none. Eating unhealthy food is better than not eating. You’re doing your best and I see you.
Finished reading: A Duke Worth Falling For by Sarah MacLean 📚
I love Sarah MacLean so much.
Finished reading: The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa 📚
Cute rom-com with a heroine who has put walls around her heart and has to learn when to open the gate and let someone in.
Finished reading: To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins 📚
Another awesome heroine.
Finished reading: Anything You Want by Derek Sivers 📚
Finished reading: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott 📚
A classic for a reason.
💬📚 “Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
💬📚 “Don’t be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
💬📚 “You wouldn’t be a writer if reading hadn’t enriched your soul more than other pursuits.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
💬📚 “… everything we need in order to tell our stories in a reasonable and exciting way already exists in each of us.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life