I'm pretty sure I've not been this far behind this early on in NaNoWriMo before (with the obvious exception of the year I didn't win), but it's only 7k words. Compared to the 25k I was behind two years ago, I'm SO not worried about it. I'll catch up, no problem. Especially once the story really starts to get underway.
So far I'm still kind of in the beginning stages of Follow the Raven (again), so the story hasn't exactly picked up yet. It's been kind of interesting to switch from the third person in every other version of this story to first person in this current rewrite, because in some ways it's easier and in other ways it's hard to keep up because Cale and Amber started telling their sides of the story at different points in time. So right now Cale is actually talking about what happened before she met Amber while Amber is talking about how she met Cale and what became of that. It's different, but I'm kind of liking it. (Also I've become a master at secret noveling, which is something I've never done before. Most of the writing I did this week was done at work when I had a few spare minutes here and there. My average is 800 words a night. Shh!)
In other news, I'm really stressed about my reading right now because WHY did I think it would be okay for me to go into NaNoWriMo while still in the middle of three books?! I'm almost done with two of them, and I think finishing them will help immensely, but still. WHAT have I done. Help meeeee. I sincerely hope that by the next update I'll only be reading one or maybe two at the same time, because I cannot continue to handle all this stress. XD
I am currently at 8,018 words.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
The First DNF of 2017 (October Book Wrap-Up)
Happy Halloween! Hard to believe it's the end of October already, and with NaNoWriMo starting tomorrow November is going to fly on by as well. What a year, already! This month I hosted my very own readathon (which had one other participant besides myself), but despite that I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked. My NaNoWriMo planning took a complete u-turn, as well. Let's talk about it!
Writing
As NaNo loomed on the horizon this year I knew I truly wanted to focus on Follow the Raven, but at the same time I felt the story was going nowhere, which is why I allowed myself to think of other ides for this November. But once the story hit a standstill and I had some time to think about it, I realized that if I ever, ever want to really get on the road towards publication, I have to put in the effort, even if there are times when I'd rather do anything else. In last month's wrap up I talked to you guys about the novel I'd been planning to write, Star Island. While it is a really fun idea that I hope to give life to later, I ultimately decided not to work on that project this year in favor of sticking to my 2017 New Year's Resolution of rewriting Follow the Raven, which is the novel I hope to have published first. I've done some rethinking and opened my mind up to a few new ideas, and I'm hoping to take those ideas and implement them in the 3.0 draft I'll be writing starting at midnight tonight.
I want Follow the Raven to take center stage until it is done. The biggest issue I've been struggling with recently is that I haven't been able to get through that rewrite. At the end of every November for the past three years, I've had a completed draft of a novel. This year, that draft will be Follow the Raven. After that I'll at least have something to work with, and I can focus more on revising and editing. I'm hoping I can use this year's NaNoWriMo as a springboard for my grander plans down the road.
Reading
In terms of reading, I did manage to finish three books this month and start two others, although that wasn't as much as I was hoping to finish - especially with the readathon that happened last week. My bookworm friend on Goodreads completely left me in the dust with that one, having finished almost three books over the course of seven days. She's awesome. But alas, my slow reading pace plagues me again. Here's what I was able to finish in October:
Writing
As NaNo loomed on the horizon this year I knew I truly wanted to focus on Follow the Raven, but at the same time I felt the story was going nowhere, which is why I allowed myself to think of other ides for this November. But once the story hit a standstill and I had some time to think about it, I realized that if I ever, ever want to really get on the road towards publication, I have to put in the effort, even if there are times when I'd rather do anything else. In last month's wrap up I talked to you guys about the novel I'd been planning to write, Star Island. While it is a really fun idea that I hope to give life to later, I ultimately decided not to work on that project this year in favor of sticking to my 2017 New Year's Resolution of rewriting Follow the Raven, which is the novel I hope to have published first. I've done some rethinking and opened my mind up to a few new ideas, and I'm hoping to take those ideas and implement them in the 3.0 draft I'll be writing starting at midnight tonight.
I want Follow the Raven to take center stage until it is done. The biggest issue I've been struggling with recently is that I haven't been able to get through that rewrite. At the end of every November for the past three years, I've had a completed draft of a novel. This year, that draft will be Follow the Raven. After that I'll at least have something to work with, and I can focus more on revising and editing. I'm hoping I can use this year's NaNoWriMo as a springboard for my grander plans down the road.
Reading
In terms of reading, I did manage to finish three books this month and start two others, although that wasn't as much as I was hoping to finish - especially with the readathon that happened last week. My bookworm friend on Goodreads completely left me in the dust with that one, having finished almost three books over the course of seven days. She's awesome. But alas, my slow reading pace plagues me again. Here's what I was able to finish in October:
- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
- The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles by G.S. Denning
- One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
I can't even put into words how amazing A Monster Calls was. I really don't even remember why I picked it up; I think I was trying to be thematic with Halloween coming up and whatnot, searching for books about monsters and ghosts and things. "Monster" is literally in the title, and the synopsis was intriguing, so that's probably what did it. But oh, my goodness, this was so much more than just a monster story. It was so amazing, and so heartbreaking, and just so well done. I absolutely loved the dynamic between the Monster and Conor, and how their relationship grew over the course of the novel. I don't want to spoil too much, but I will say that this is the first book in a while that has made me cry in a good way.
The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles was the second book in the Warlock Holmes series. You may recall last year at about this time how I was raving about the first book and couldn't wait for the second and so on. I was super excited for this second book because the case of the Baskervilles has always been my favorite Sherlock mystery, and I was curious to see how the author of Warlock Holmes would parody it. Ultimately, though, while I thought it definitely had its moments (Warlock's backstory was outstandingly well done), I feel like I was just hoping for...more. I mean, it was decent, but I feel like I trudged through the last 150 pages or so because there was just so much happening all at once and it was too difficult to try and keep up with. The hell-hound itself was a straight-up disappointment (although the way it came into being was brilliant), and all the smaller mysteries that came before the primary story seemed kind of pointless. I don't know. It was still a fun read, but when it came to the Baskervilles mystery I feel like I was left wanting more, and not in a good way. With that said, however, I am definitely going to read book three next year.
I'm not sure I can go into a lot of detail about One of Us Is Lying without also having to go on a rant/rave, so I'll try to keep this brief. I chose this audiobook for October because it was a murder mystery (again, I thought it was thematic). In short, this book was incredible. I could only read it in spurts because it made me so mad in all the best ways; the injustice of what was happening to the four main characters was just too much on top of all the personal crap each of them were going through. And when it all came together in the end...oh my goodness. I cannot recommend this book enough. It was absolutely, without a doubt, completely and 100% fantastic.
(Side Note: The narrators for this book were all pretty good; I was impressed with the voice of Cooper for not trying to go over-the-top with the Southern accent. And I actually just found out that the guy who voiced Nate also voices Olly's part in the audiobook for Everything, Everything which, coincidentally, is the next audiobook I've chosen to listen to. That was not planned! Haha!)
Now it's time to talk about the title of this blog post. I am sorry to say that for the first time this year (and longer, for that matter), I had to DNF a book that I'd planned to read this month. That book was The Farm by Emily McKay. The really sad part is I'd had my eye on this book for years - literally, years. The premise sounded really good, and I think if the right author had done it it would have been good. But Emily McKay simply could not pull it off. Not just because of how unbelievable a lot of things were, but because of the awful writing and how unlikeable the main character was. I cannot begin to describe to you how terrible the writing was. It was like reading a fanfiction that was trying too hard to be canon. The way the characters spoke to each other was cringeworthy at best, and the main character (I don't even remember her name now) would NEVER let anyone else talk. She'd interrupt them when they were trying to explain something important to her, asking a bunch of sarcastic questions, and then a few pages later she'd be all mad because "no one told me about this." Well DUH. She was just not a character I felt I could get behind. Also the author decided to write from multiple POVs, which is fine, but every time she got to Carter's POV she wrote in the third person. That doesn't even make sense! And having chapters from Carter's POV completely ruined the suspense of the novel, because everything was revealed right away, so there was no mystery as to why he was acting the way he was.
It was just bad writing all around, a really awful main character, and an unbelievable story. (Like, the Ticks invaded less than a year before the start of this novel, yet everyone is now suddenly calling the pre-invasion "The Before?" Not that fast, they wouldn't. Maybe five or six years down the line, but less than a year? No one would call it "The Before." They'd just say "before." Come on.) I was really sad about it, but I just did not feel like powering through something so poorly written, so I DNF-ed at 112 pages in. Better luck next time, McKay. (Also this book was published by an imprint of Penguin. HOW.)
As I said earlier, I started two other books in addition to the ones I actually finished this month. I just couldn't get to the 100 pages or less mark in time for them to count for October's wrap-up, so you'll see them next month. I am currently reading Too Many Ghosts by Paul Gallico and The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon. The former is kind of slow, but still interesting. I'm liking it so far. The latter is something I tried to get my hands on last year at this time but couldn't; I'm just over 100 pages in and it's just now getting to the part that may actually be scary. If you don't know, Scott Cawthon is the guy who created the Five Nights at Freddy's games, and this book is supposed to be based in that world / provide some extra story behind the animatronics being so hell-bent on murder. The FNAF series scared me when it came out initially, but now I'm kind of used to it. I hope the book will change my mind about that. We'll see!
It was just bad writing all around, a really awful main character, and an unbelievable story. (Like, the Ticks invaded less than a year before the start of this novel, yet everyone is now suddenly calling the pre-invasion "The Before?" Not that fast, they wouldn't. Maybe five or six years down the line, but less than a year? No one would call it "The Before." They'd just say "before." Come on.) I was really sad about it, but I just did not feel like powering through something so poorly written, so I DNF-ed at 112 pages in. Better luck next time, McKay. (Also this book was published by an imprint of Penguin. HOW.)
As I said earlier, I started two other books in addition to the ones I actually finished this month. I just couldn't get to the 100 pages or less mark in time for them to count for October's wrap-up, so you'll see them next month. I am currently reading Too Many Ghosts by Paul Gallico and The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon. The former is kind of slow, but still interesting. I'm liking it so far. The latter is something I tried to get my hands on last year at this time but couldn't; I'm just over 100 pages in and it's just now getting to the part that may actually be scary. If you don't know, Scott Cawthon is the guy who created the Five Nights at Freddy's games, and this book is supposed to be based in that world / provide some extra story behind the animatronics being so hell-bent on murder. The FNAF series scared me when it came out initially, but now I'm kind of used to it. I hope the book will change my mind about that. We'll see!
As for the readathon, I already mentioned above but despite my constant posting about it on Twitter and even here on my blog, only one other person joined me in my quest to read three horror novels in a week. And, as mentioned above, she blew me away. I didn't even touch the third book I had lined up, and I barely got started with the other two. Ah, well. It was fun to try, and I'll probably do it again next year just for the heck of it. Haha!
Now...on to National Novel Writing Month! :D
Note: I apologize if the format of this blog is wonky for some of you. I don't know what happened to Blogger as I was editing this but it suddenly decided to change the font and text size of certain paragraphs on me and I had to do some work to get it back to looking mostly normal. Technology, right?
Now...on to National Novel Writing Month! :D
Note: I apologize if the format of this blog is wonky for some of you. I don't know what happened to Blogger as I was editing this but it suddenly decided to change the font and text size of certain paragraphs on me and I had to do some work to get it back to looking mostly normal. Technology, right?
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
I'm Hosting a Readathon!
That's right! Last month in my book wrap-up I briefly mentioned that I had decided to host a readathon, despite how small I anticipate it being. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I absolutely love Halloween, and I also love reading. I thought it would be fun to have a horror-themed readathon in the week leading up to Halloween for those who enjoy a good scary story, and also for those (like me) who are planning on doing NaNoWriMo next month and will have little to no time for reading. Second, I thought it would be fun to try and take the reins for once, so to speak. I've participated in a lot of readathons but I've never hosted one until now, and it got me really excited to try it out. It may just be me and my bookworm friend Kailey, but hey, it will be fun either way.
All that said, bear with me here, as this is my first time hosting a readathon and I've yet to work out any kinks.
Dates
The official name for this readathon is inspired by my friend Kailey, who came up with it after I informed her that someone else had beaten me to the original name I had in mind. Thus I present to you the Hallowreader's Marathon of Monsters! This year's readathon will take place from Monday, October 23 - Sunday, October 29, starting of course at midnight on the 23rd and ending at midnight on the 30th, in your respective time zones.
Challenges
As this is the first year I'm doing this, I've come up with three challenges for participants:
How to Join
If you're interested in joining this readathon and are a member of Goodreads, you can find the link to the group I've created for this event here. The only reason I've made this group private is so I can keep track of who joins, basically. There's no criteria; just ask to join and I'll make it happen!
If you don't have a Goodreads account or are simply not interested in joining the official group, just tag me on Twitter (@ForeverMobian) letting me know you're interested. If you want to go ahead and follow me, too, that will be a good way to keep up with any further readathon info, as well as a way to share TBRs and other challenge ideas and etc. (Fair warning - if you follow my Twitter be prepared for lots of nerdy fangirling and some ranting.) Depending on how many people join I may host some reading sprints, too. We'll see!
If you would prefer to do neither of the above, you can also comment on this blog post to let me know you're in.
I'm very excited to host this readathon and see how it goes! It may be a total flop, but I'll have fun with it either way. I've got at least one other person joining me. That has to count for something, right? I look forward to seeing if anyone else is interested in this very first Hallowreader's Marathon of Monsters!
All that said, bear with me here, as this is my first time hosting a readathon and I've yet to work out any kinks.
Dates
The official name for this readathon is inspired by my friend Kailey, who came up with it after I informed her that someone else had beaten me to the original name I had in mind. Thus I present to you the Hallowreader's Marathon of Monsters! This year's readathon will take place from Monday, October 23 - Sunday, October 29, starting of course at midnight on the 23rd and ending at midnight on the 30th, in your respective time zones.
Challenges
As this is the first year I'm doing this, I've come up with three challenges for participants:
- Read a classic horror story (Dracula, Turn of the Screw, Frankenstein, etc.)
- Read a horror story that was published this year
- Read the horror story that has been on your TBR/WTR the longest
Of course if you want to try the classic "seven books, seven days" challenge you can feel free to do that, as well as any other personal challenges you come up with. These are just the "official" ones which are, of course, completely optional. The point is just to read scary stuff!
How to Join
If you're interested in joining this readathon and are a member of Goodreads, you can find the link to the group I've created for this event here. The only reason I've made this group private is so I can keep track of who joins, basically. There's no criteria; just ask to join and I'll make it happen!
If you don't have a Goodreads account or are simply not interested in joining the official group, just tag me on Twitter (@ForeverMobian) letting me know you're interested. If you want to go ahead and follow me, too, that will be a good way to keep up with any further readathon info, as well as a way to share TBRs and other challenge ideas and etc. (Fair warning - if you follow my Twitter be prepared for lots of nerdy fangirling and some ranting.) Depending on how many people join I may host some reading sprints, too. We'll see!
If you would prefer to do neither of the above, you can also comment on this blog post to let me know you're in.
I'm very excited to host this readathon and see how it goes! It may be a total flop, but I'll have fun with it either way. I've got at least one other person joining me. That has to count for something, right? I look forward to seeing if anyone else is interested in this very first Hallowreader's Marathon of Monsters!
Saturday, September 30, 2017
What Happened to September? (September Book Wrap-Up)
I swear I blinked and September was over. I was so excited for it to get here because it means fall and cooler weather and cozy days indoors with hot chocolate, but it all happened too fast, and now we're entering October! Yikes! I feel like I didn't get a lot done this month, but looking back on it now I think I did all right. This always seems to be the time of year where I start to lag a little bit in terms of both reading and writing. Compared to last year at this time I'm definitely ahead of the game.
Writing
In lieu of working on Follow the Raven, I've begun planning for NaNoWriMo 2017! September and October are both prep months for the main event in November, and I spent most if it initially listing stories I was interested in, then narrowing down my choices to six, then to three, and finally choosing the one I think I'm going to stick with. The working title for it is Star Island. I'll tell you more as I develop and plan more. I think it goes without saying that I'm very excited for this year's NaNo!
Alas, "Everything Changes" over on Wattpad has come to a close. Yesterday I released the final chapter and epilogue of the story, which were both received extremely well. My readers are excited for the next book (which I'll be releasing in November), and I'm excited to finally get into the more action-packed parts of Kay's newest adventure. (And don't worry - I have a plan for balancing both this story and my actual novel in November. I've thought ahead.) My stats for this story have currently rested at 2,821 reads; 224 votes; and 62 comments.
Reading
I feel like this was a slow reading month for me. I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked, but the books that I did read were all very good in their own ways.
It took me the entire month of September to finish Mortal Coil, which is the fifth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I can't even really explain why. I think it was a combination of it being just shy of 600 pages and the fact that I had fairly flown through the first four books to get to that one. Either way I think I've reached some sort of Skulduggery Pleasant burnout (even though I would never have thought it possible) and I've decided to revise my initial goal of reading the entire series by the end of the year. At this point I'd like to at least finish book six, which will be the end of the second arc in the series. I feel like that's much more manageable and less stressful at this point in time, and in a way I'll still be completing some part of the series, at least.
With all of that said, I enjoyed Mortal Coil. It was much darker than the rest of the books before it, but I liked it more because of that. Valkyrie had a lot of character development in this one, and the primary threat was much bigger and more dangerous than ever before as the book neared its end. I'm really intrigued by the concept of the Death Bringer and I'm curious to see how Valkyrie is going to handle it all.
Writing
In lieu of working on Follow the Raven, I've begun planning for NaNoWriMo 2017! September and October are both prep months for the main event in November, and I spent most if it initially listing stories I was interested in, then narrowing down my choices to six, then to three, and finally choosing the one I think I'm going to stick with. The working title for it is Star Island. I'll tell you more as I develop and plan more. I think it goes without saying that I'm very excited for this year's NaNo!
Alas, "Everything Changes" over on Wattpad has come to a close. Yesterday I released the final chapter and epilogue of the story, which were both received extremely well. My readers are excited for the next book (which I'll be releasing in November), and I'm excited to finally get into the more action-packed parts of Kay's newest adventure. (And don't worry - I have a plan for balancing both this story and my actual novel in November. I've thought ahead.) My stats for this story have currently rested at 2,821 reads; 224 votes; and 62 comments.
Reading
I feel like this was a slow reading month for me. I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked, but the books that I did read were all very good in their own ways.
- Mortal Coil by Derek Landy
- The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
- The Siren by Kiera Cass
It took me the entire month of September to finish Mortal Coil, which is the fifth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I can't even really explain why. I think it was a combination of it being just shy of 600 pages and the fact that I had fairly flown through the first four books to get to that one. Either way I think I've reached some sort of Skulduggery Pleasant burnout (even though I would never have thought it possible) and I've decided to revise my initial goal of reading the entire series by the end of the year. At this point I'd like to at least finish book six, which will be the end of the second arc in the series. I feel like that's much more manageable and less stressful at this point in time, and in a way I'll still be completing some part of the series, at least.
With all of that said, I enjoyed Mortal Coil. It was much darker than the rest of the books before it, but I liked it more because of that. Valkyrie had a lot of character development in this one, and the primary threat was much bigger and more dangerous than ever before as the book neared its end. I'm really intrigued by the concept of the Death Bringer and I'm curious to see how Valkyrie is going to handle it all.
The Love Interest is a book that I added to my WTR the instant I saw it on Goodreads back in April. Then, while on vacation in the Yellowstone area, I saw it sitting on the shelf at the town's public library and I was like, "Heck yeah, I'm getting that!" So I checked it out while on vacation and then brought it home with me to read, since it was from another library in the state and I was allowed to do that. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I loved the unique - very unique - spin on the classic love triangle story and the fact that it was told from the perspective of one of the guys instead of the girl. I felt like I was being introduced to the love triangle trope for the first time, in a way. I absolutely loved it and I'm so on board with whatever this author comes up with next.
Howl's Moving Castle and The Siren were both books that were a) from my TBR and b) audiobooks I listened to this month. I had watched the movie Howl's Moving Castle as a kid but never really understood what was going on. My roommate in college and now best friend is a huge anime fan and so when she and I saw the book sitting on the shelf at Hastings before it closed down, I gave it a second look and she convinced me to buy it. I put off reading it for a while, but when I finally did I couldn't get enough of it. Oh my goodness this book was so amazing. I loved absolutely everything about it, and the narrator was fantastic! I love Howl and Sophie so much, and now that I've listened to the book I want to try and find the movie to watch again so I can compare the two and see if I understand it any better now that I'm older and have read the book it was based on.
Earlier this year I read the first three books of The Selection series by Kiera Cass and absolutely loved them. They were amazing in all the right ways. So when I saw The Siren sitting on the shelf at a little bookstore in the Yellowstone area, it only took a moment for me to decide I wanted it. I not only loved the audiobook version of this novel (with yet another fantastic narrator), I completely fell in love with the entire story because of how incredibly unique and pure it was, just as The Selection series had been. To date I've rated every book I've ever read from Kiera Cass four stars, and I think she's quickly becoming a new favorite author for me. (Plus I just recently found out that she's a woman of the faith in a mainstream publishing world, which is absolute goals, so I admire her doubly for that.) I fully intend to read the rest of The Selection series (with America's daughter) as soon as I can, and I'm super excited to see what Kiera Cass comes up with next.
Earlier this year I read the first three books of The Selection series by Kiera Cass and absolutely loved them. They were amazing in all the right ways. So when I saw The Siren sitting on the shelf at a little bookstore in the Yellowstone area, it only took a moment for me to decide I wanted it. I not only loved the audiobook version of this novel (with yet another fantastic narrator), I completely fell in love with the entire story because of how incredibly unique and pure it was, just as The Selection series had been. To date I've rated every book I've ever read from Kiera Cass four stars, and I think she's quickly becoming a new favorite author for me. (Plus I just recently found out that she's a woman of the faith in a mainstream publishing world, which is absolute goals, so I admire her doubly for that.) I fully intend to read the rest of The Selection series (with America's daughter) as soon as I can, and I'm super excited to see what Kiera Cass comes up with next.
That's all I have for September, but I have big reading (and writing) plans for October! I have no idea if anyone besides myself and my bookworm friend Kailey will even be interested in doing this, but I've officially decided to host my first readathon! I initially was going to call it Halloreadathon, but as it turns out, that's already been taken. So I'll have to come up with a new name. The readathon will take place from October 23-29, and there are three challenges that go along with it. The overall goal is to read a bunch of horror novels (in the spirit of Halloween) and to get those last minute books in before the craziness of NaNoWriMo starts in November. I'll be posting a full, in-depth overview of this readathon here on Endless Possibilities very soon, but in the meantime if you're interested in joining feel free to let me know! (I may or may not be stating a Goodreads Group for it. We'll see.)
Anyway, that's all she wrote, folks! See you in October! :D
Anyway, that's all she wrote, folks! See you in October! :D
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Epic Reads Book Tag (August Book Wrap-Up)
Before we begin this book update I'd like to state for the record that I was gone for a week in the early part of August on vacation to the Cody / Yellowstone area, and then for another two days last weekend for an overnight trip to Montana. Therefore I got less reading and writing done this month, and I'm actually okay with that. It was nice to take a breather for a while.
Writing
Let's not talk about Follow the Raven.
Once again this month I only posted one chapter of "Everything Changes," but I daresay it was the most popular chapter I've released of this story so far. A lot of people are really on board with the direction I'm taking the story, and I couldn't be happier about it! I can't wait to see how they react when we get to the cliffhanger ending next month when I wrap up the story. (Yes, sadly, this book is drawing to a close.) My current stats are 2,504 reads; 202 votes; and 54 comments.
Reading
While I am even further along in my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough now, because I took so much time off this month I was unable to complete book five in time for it to count for August (as there are more than 100 pages left for me to read at this time). You'll get to see my full thoughts on it next month, but in the meantime, these are the books I did manage to complete:
Grave Mercy is the most recent audiobook I listened to, and it was so long that it took me two months to get through it (14 hours!). At one point I almost DNF-ed it, but I decided to push through and I'm really glad I did. It was good, albeit kind of difficult to keep up with all the names and whatnot while listening vs. actually reading the thing. The thing I liked most about it was that it was more than just a love story, and at that it really wasn't even a love story. It was a political story, and love just happened to come along. It was a nice change of pace.
Matched is an audiobook I listened to while I was on vacation, and I'm proud to say I finished the entire thing while I was out of town. I knew we'd be in the van a lot driving around, especially in Yellowstone, so I figured I'd give on-the-road-audiobooking a try, and it worked out well! The story was good, the narrator was great, and I'm totally down for listening to the other two as well.
The story of how I came to own Invasion of the Overworld is both funny and kind of sad. A few years ago I got this book for my brother for Christmas, in what ended up being my last-ditch attempt to get him to like reading. He was really into Minecraft at the time, and I liked the idea of the book because it's basically published fanfiction. (And as you know, I'm a fanfic author myself.) I figured I'd be appealing to his interests that way, but it ultimately didn't work. He read all of about ten pages in the three years he owned the thing, and then earlier this year he was cleaning out his room and asked if I wanted the book since he'd decided he didn't anymore. Of course I took it, and added to to my TBR. Fast forward a handful of months later, and now I've read it, and it was actually not bad! It was a fun, quick, easy read, and I really think he would have liked it too had he given it a chance. C'est la vie.
As I mentioned earlier I'm not far enough into Mortal Coil (SP #5) to put it in this wrap-up, but I am a little under halfway through it at the moment and very much enjoying it! This one is darker than the first four were, and I'm loving that. I can't wait to see where this all goes, since the title of the next book is Death Bringer. Check back here at the end of September for my full thoughts on both. :)
Epic Reads Book Tag
1) If you could invite one author and one of their fictional characters to tea, who would you invite and what would you serve them?
2) What book do you wish the author would write a prequel for and what would the main storyline be?
3) Which two characters (not from the same book) do you think would make a good couple?
4) If you ran into your favorite author on the subway and could only say one sentence to them, who is it and what would it be?
5) What book made you a reader and why?
6) Your bookshelf just caught on fire! Choose the one book you save.
7) Which dystopian world would you want to live in if you had to choose one and why?
8) What is your most epic read of all time?
Writing
Let's not talk about Follow the Raven.
Once again this month I only posted one chapter of "Everything Changes," but I daresay it was the most popular chapter I've released of this story so far. A lot of people are really on board with the direction I'm taking the story, and I couldn't be happier about it! I can't wait to see how they react when we get to the cliffhanger ending next month when I wrap up the story. (Yes, sadly, this book is drawing to a close.) My current stats are 2,504 reads; 202 votes; and 54 comments.
Reading
While I am even further along in my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough now, because I took so much time off this month I was unable to complete book five in time for it to count for August (as there are more than 100 pages left for me to read at this time). You'll get to see my full thoughts on it next month, but in the meantime, these are the books I did manage to complete:
- Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
- Matched by Ally Condie
- Invasion of the Overworld by Mark Cheverton
Grave Mercy is the most recent audiobook I listened to, and it was so long that it took me two months to get through it (14 hours!). At one point I almost DNF-ed it, but I decided to push through and I'm really glad I did. It was good, albeit kind of difficult to keep up with all the names and whatnot while listening vs. actually reading the thing. The thing I liked most about it was that it was more than just a love story, and at that it really wasn't even a love story. It was a political story, and love just happened to come along. It was a nice change of pace.
Matched is an audiobook I listened to while I was on vacation, and I'm proud to say I finished the entire thing while I was out of town. I knew we'd be in the van a lot driving around, especially in Yellowstone, so I figured I'd give on-the-road-audiobooking a try, and it worked out well! The story was good, the narrator was great, and I'm totally down for listening to the other two as well.
The story of how I came to own Invasion of the Overworld is both funny and kind of sad. A few years ago I got this book for my brother for Christmas, in what ended up being my last-ditch attempt to get him to like reading. He was really into Minecraft at the time, and I liked the idea of the book because it's basically published fanfiction. (And as you know, I'm a fanfic author myself.) I figured I'd be appealing to his interests that way, but it ultimately didn't work. He read all of about ten pages in the three years he owned the thing, and then earlier this year he was cleaning out his room and asked if I wanted the book since he'd decided he didn't anymore. Of course I took it, and added to to my TBR. Fast forward a handful of months later, and now I've read it, and it was actually not bad! It was a fun, quick, easy read, and I really think he would have liked it too had he given it a chance. C'est la vie.
As I mentioned earlier I'm not far enough into Mortal Coil (SP #5) to put it in this wrap-up, but I am a little under halfway through it at the moment and very much enjoying it! This one is darker than the first four were, and I'm loving that. I can't wait to see where this all goes, since the title of the next book is Death Bringer. Check back here at the end of September for my full thoughts on both. :)
Epic Reads Book Tag
1) If you could invite one author and one of their fictional characters to tea, who would you invite and what would you serve them?
- I'm going with the first thing that came to mind here. So I'd invite Julie Kagawa and either Megan or Ash from her Iron Fey series, and I'd most likely serve them spaghetti, since that's one of very few dishes I can make well. (Don't judge me!)
2) What book do you wish the author would write a prequel for and what would the main storyline be?
- I'm not a big fan of prequels, except in extremely rare cases.
3) Which two characters (not from the same book) do you think would make a good couple?
- Puck from the Iron Fey series and Sybella from the His Fair Assassin trilogy. They were the first two to come to mind and honestly, I think the whole opposites-attract thing would totally work for them.
4) If you ran into your favorite author on the subway and could only say one sentence to them, who is it and what would it be?
- It would be Derek Landy, and I would say, "Thank you so much for Skulduggery Pleasant." Maybe cliche, but if I could only say one thing, it's what I'd tell him.
5) What book made you a reader and why?
- I've been reading my whole life, even before I could remember. I'm pretty sure there was no one book that set me on that path; I just loved books in general from the very beginning.
6) Your bookshelf just caught on fire! Choose the one book you save.
- Just one?! Honestly, I have a lot of really great, rare edition books I'd like to save if possible. But if I really only could choose one, I would probably go for a specific children's book that my dad had growing up and gave to me when I was a kid. It's old and probably not in print anymore, but it's very precious to me.
7) Which dystopian world would you want to live in if you had to choose one and why?
- I am not a fan of dystopia generally speaking; I never understood how people could get so into it when it was the "big thing" back in the early 2010s. I only ever actually read three or four dystopia novels, and considering my choices I think the gentlest, least-violent one is probably the one I'd go for, and that's Matched by Ally Condie. Although if I were to choose one I haven't read personally but sounds decent, it would be Delirium by Lauren Oliver.
8) What is your most epic read of all time?
- I know what you're expecting to see for this answer, but I'm going to surprise you. My most epic read of all time is actually A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. I read this book when I was a sophomore in college and it blew me away. It's a masterpiece, and I recommend that everyone read it.
That's the end of my summer of book tags, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this short break from the norm, and maybe learned a few things about my reading preferences along the way. Next month we return to regular book wrap-ups, but keep the same level of excitement about them! See you next time!
Friday, August 18, 2017
Let's Talk About Boys
I feel like this post has been a long time coming. I've just not really wanted to face it head-on or risk receiving criticism and negativity like I did when I told everyone I was taking a break from school. But the longer I keep this in the more lost and hopeless I feel, and I refuse to let my previous relationship ruin all future relationships for me. So...here we go.
Most everyone who knows me knows that from October 2014 to about February of this year I kept having this on-again, off-again relationship with a guy I met on my college campus. We met solely because I happened to be wearing a Sonic shirt that day. He probably never would have given me the light of day otherwise.
I'm not going to go into all the details of what happened after that here. Suffice it to say we hit it off right away, but afterwards things got really bumpy. I'll get straight to the point.
On the outside this guy was everything I could have hoped for, and my parents really liked him. I believe they probably still do. But over the course of the two and a half years I knew him, I began to see who he really was behind closed doors and no matter how hard I tried for the sake of my parents and my church, I just couldn't bring myself to keep at it. There were just too many things about him that didn't line up with what I believe, and weren't what I was looking for in a future provider and father. Despite his perfect exterior when around my parents and the general public, he was not the best to be with in private settings. I think I knew that for a long time, but I didn't really do anything about it until earlier this year.
In January of this year the two of us officially came forward in the church as a courting couple. Courting, not dating. If you want to know the difference go look it up. Educate yourself. I think officially we broke up for the last time in early March, but I knew about a month earlier that I just could not continue to try and see this man anymore. I know my parents were happy about our making it official after two years of on-again, off-again-ness, and that they were bummed when I told them we'd broken up that last time. But in the long run I strongly believe it was the best decision.
The reason I'm giving you this backstory is so you'll have a better understanding of why when I say that despite the fact that he moved out of state in May (finally), this man has completely changed the game when it comes to my personal desire to experience romance and get married one day. He sexually harassed me over and over again, and it has made me less trusting of other guys and of myself.
(Note: Nothing sexual ever truly happened between us, for which I thank the Lord to this day. The harassment always came in the form of unwanted advances, uncomfortable conversation topics that alluded to sex, etc. It was harassment because I repeatedly asked him to stop, but he would only become upset or even angry and blatantly refuse to heed my wishes.)
Because I had encounters like this almost every time I saw him - especially in those last several months - while I look at men my age today with mild interest every now and then, I also have doubts ringing in the back of my mind, saying, "What if he ___?" or "I bet he's into ___, and I'm not." I've even caught myself saying, "You are going to die alone" to my reflection in the mirror. And you know what? I'm sick of it.
One failed relationship does not define whether or not I will have successful ones in the future. Everyone makes mistakes. It happens. We just have to learn from them and move on. I had a bad experience with a boy in high school. I had a really bad experience with a boy in college. But you know what? I've grown from both of those experiences. And I don't want what happened with my ex to have a lasting impression on me and how I perceive other men my age. Or even in general.
Not every man I meet is going to disrespect me like my ex did. Not every man is going to be seemingly picture-perfect, either. And that's okay.
I think the biggest thing that bothers me about this whole ordeal is the fact that my parents still really like the guy I was with. But they don't know about the harassment, and honestly, I doubt they'd believe me if I told them. Especially since I won't tell them exactly how it all went down. Despite what he did to me, I'm not going to openly expose certain things that he shared with me. It would be disrespectful to him, and that's not how I roll. To my parents he was the picture of a good, Christ-following man, and they probably think I missed out. But I know that they won't keep referring to my ex if and when I openly show interest in someone else, no matter how much my mind may tell me otherwise.
And yes, part of the reason I'm writing this all out is because I do have an interest in someone else now. There's a young man in my church whom I've noticed recently, and despite not knowing anything about him (even his name) I would really like to get to know him. He sits on the same side of the sanctuary that I do; we've even shaken hands during the greeting time once. He always comes in alone and sits alone, but he's friendly and isn't shy about going to greet others when the time comes even though at first (I'm assuming) he didn't know anyone. I've watched him pray before every service and get into the worship time. He focuses on the sermon intently; I don't think I've seen him leave the sanctuary during a sermon, ever. All of these things made him stand out to me, and while I can only assume that he's around my age (I'm guessing a couple of years older), I'd like to at least learn his name soon.
I like this guy. And I'd really like it if I didn't feel like I had to hide the fact that I like him for no legitimate reason.
I've been through a lot in the last few years when it comes to boys, and I've walked way often feeling hurt or betrayed or even scarred. And while I do have my doubts and anxieties when it comes to the thought of any future relationships, my hope is that I'll be able to push past them and be able to find happiness with someone in the future. That I'll be able to fall in love again, and have them love me in return. I imagine it will be a beautiful thing.
As a Christ-following woman I have different standards than most when it comes to guys, but I'm not like a lot of women out there who have these ridiculous lists of qualities they require their partners to have. My number one requirement is that he be a truly dedicated Christ-following man; not someone who puts on a show just to convince others. All other qualities or aspects that I tend to prefer in guys are negotiable. In the long run it really doesn't matter if he wears glasses or is taller than me or isn't overly gushy when it comes to romance. In the end what I'm truly looking for is someone who will be a good husband, provider, and father for my children. I don't just want a "bubblegum boy." I want a real, mature man of God.
That being said, I believe I've reached the end of this post and said all I really wanted to say. This is what I've been dealing with recently, but I'm tired of just "dealing." I want to start healing. I'm going to attempt to put myself out there again and maybe learn the name of this guy I've had my eyes on for about a month now. I refuse to let my doubt and fear get the better of me. Starting today, I'm not just telling God about my mountains. I'm telling my mountains about my God.
Most everyone who knows me knows that from October 2014 to about February of this year I kept having this on-again, off-again relationship with a guy I met on my college campus. We met solely because I happened to be wearing a Sonic shirt that day. He probably never would have given me the light of day otherwise.
I'm not going to go into all the details of what happened after that here. Suffice it to say we hit it off right away, but afterwards things got really bumpy. I'll get straight to the point.
On the outside this guy was everything I could have hoped for, and my parents really liked him. I believe they probably still do. But over the course of the two and a half years I knew him, I began to see who he really was behind closed doors and no matter how hard I tried for the sake of my parents and my church, I just couldn't bring myself to keep at it. There were just too many things about him that didn't line up with what I believe, and weren't what I was looking for in a future provider and father. Despite his perfect exterior when around my parents and the general public, he was not the best to be with in private settings. I think I knew that for a long time, but I didn't really do anything about it until earlier this year.
In January of this year the two of us officially came forward in the church as a courting couple. Courting, not dating. If you want to know the difference go look it up. Educate yourself. I think officially we broke up for the last time in early March, but I knew about a month earlier that I just could not continue to try and see this man anymore. I know my parents were happy about our making it official after two years of on-again, off-again-ness, and that they were bummed when I told them we'd broken up that last time. But in the long run I strongly believe it was the best decision.
The reason I'm giving you this backstory is so you'll have a better understanding of why when I say that despite the fact that he moved out of state in May (finally), this man has completely changed the game when it comes to my personal desire to experience romance and get married one day. He sexually harassed me over and over again, and it has made me less trusting of other guys and of myself.
(Note: Nothing sexual ever truly happened between us, for which I thank the Lord to this day. The harassment always came in the form of unwanted advances, uncomfortable conversation topics that alluded to sex, etc. It was harassment because I repeatedly asked him to stop, but he would only become upset or even angry and blatantly refuse to heed my wishes.)
Because I had encounters like this almost every time I saw him - especially in those last several months - while I look at men my age today with mild interest every now and then, I also have doubts ringing in the back of my mind, saying, "What if he ___?" or "I bet he's into ___, and I'm not." I've even caught myself saying, "You are going to die alone" to my reflection in the mirror. And you know what? I'm sick of it.
One failed relationship does not define whether or not I will have successful ones in the future. Everyone makes mistakes. It happens. We just have to learn from them and move on. I had a bad experience with a boy in high school. I had a really bad experience with a boy in college. But you know what? I've grown from both of those experiences. And I don't want what happened with my ex to have a lasting impression on me and how I perceive other men my age. Or even in general.
Not every man I meet is going to disrespect me like my ex did. Not every man is going to be seemingly picture-perfect, either. And that's okay.
I think the biggest thing that bothers me about this whole ordeal is the fact that my parents still really like the guy I was with. But they don't know about the harassment, and honestly, I doubt they'd believe me if I told them. Especially since I won't tell them exactly how it all went down. Despite what he did to me, I'm not going to openly expose certain things that he shared with me. It would be disrespectful to him, and that's not how I roll. To my parents he was the picture of a good, Christ-following man, and they probably think I missed out. But I know that they won't keep referring to my ex if and when I openly show interest in someone else, no matter how much my mind may tell me otherwise.
And yes, part of the reason I'm writing this all out is because I do have an interest in someone else now. There's a young man in my church whom I've noticed recently, and despite not knowing anything about him (even his name) I would really like to get to know him. He sits on the same side of the sanctuary that I do; we've even shaken hands during the greeting time once. He always comes in alone and sits alone, but he's friendly and isn't shy about going to greet others when the time comes even though at first (I'm assuming) he didn't know anyone. I've watched him pray before every service and get into the worship time. He focuses on the sermon intently; I don't think I've seen him leave the sanctuary during a sermon, ever. All of these things made him stand out to me, and while I can only assume that he's around my age (I'm guessing a couple of years older), I'd like to at least learn his name soon.
I like this guy. And I'd really like it if I didn't feel like I had to hide the fact that I like him for no legitimate reason.
I've been through a lot in the last few years when it comes to boys, and I've walked way often feeling hurt or betrayed or even scarred. And while I do have my doubts and anxieties when it comes to the thought of any future relationships, my hope is that I'll be able to push past them and be able to find happiness with someone in the future. That I'll be able to fall in love again, and have them love me in return. I imagine it will be a beautiful thing.
As a Christ-following woman I have different standards than most when it comes to guys, but I'm not like a lot of women out there who have these ridiculous lists of qualities they require their partners to have. My number one requirement is that he be a truly dedicated Christ-following man; not someone who puts on a show just to convince others. All other qualities or aspects that I tend to prefer in guys are negotiable. In the long run it really doesn't matter if he wears glasses or is taller than me or isn't overly gushy when it comes to romance. In the end what I'm truly looking for is someone who will be a good husband, provider, and father for my children. I don't just want a "bubblegum boy." I want a real, mature man of God.
That being said, I believe I've reached the end of this post and said all I really wanted to say. This is what I've been dealing with recently, but I'm tired of just "dealing." I want to start healing. I'm going to attempt to put myself out there again and maybe learn the name of this guy I've had my eyes on for about a month now. I refuse to let my doubt and fear get the better of me. Starting today, I'm not just telling God about my mountains. I'm telling my mountains about my God.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Passenger Book Challenge (July Book Wrap-Up)
This month I participated in both Camp NaNoWriMo July and the annual BookTubeAThon, and while I feel like I got more writing and reading done than I would have otherwise, I didn't necessarily complete my goals in either event. Still, progress is progress!
Writing
As I'm sure you know, my goal for this session of Camp NaNo was 10k words, as it usually is during the camp months. You may also recall that I strongly felt this was the year I'd win both camps. Well...I'm sorry to say I didn't, but I did get halfway there! I wrote just over 5k of Follow the Raven in July, and I've finally gotten past that scene that was keeping me from moving forward, so I consider that massive progress. I'm feeling much better about it now.
"Everything Changes" was very slow going this month. I only released one chapter. I wanted to go ahead and release the rest of the story in July (since I literally only have three chapters left to post), but things just got kind of crazy with Camp and BookTubeAThon, and I wanted to give those two things priority. So while I may be a bit "behind" now, I feel that I'll be able to wrap up the story in August when I get back from my vacation and move on from there. My current stats are 2,208 reads; 193 votes; and 51 comments. (I find it worthy to note that at one point this month I got over 50 reads on this story in one day. That never happens. I don't know what all the sudden hype was about, but hey, I'm glad people are still liking my content!)
Reading
I'm further along in my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough now; I'm officially in unread territory! And I have to say, it's been an interesting experience breaking away from the familiarity of the first three books and entering into a whole new arc of bad guys and evil plots and fresh characters. But along with the couple of SP books I read in July, I also read another couple of on-the-side titles as well. Here's what I managed to finish this month:
Passenger Book Challenge
The basic idea of the Passenger Book Challenge is to find/read/recommend books that take place outside of the country you live in. In my case, of course, that's the United States. The challenge was inspired by Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and is over a year old now, but I've been reading way more beyond-USA books as of late so I thought this was a good opportunity to finally do this myself.
1) Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (takes place in Ireland)
2) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (takes place in the Middle East)
3) The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (takes place primarily in Germany)
4) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (takes place in Africa)
5) Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan (takes place in Australia)
Honorable Mentions:
These are books that I wanted to have on the above list but disqualified because they are based 1) in a neighbor country, 2) another popular country for books, and 3) not on Earth.
1) The Story of Owen by E.K. Johnston (takes place in Canada)
2) Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Warlock Holmes by G.S. Denning (take place in England)
3) The Word For World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin (takes place off-world)
And with that, I'm off for a vacation to Yellowstone National Park - which I've never been to! Maybe I'll get lucky and see some wolves. If nothing else I'll see Old Faithful. Be back next month!
Writing
As I'm sure you know, my goal for this session of Camp NaNo was 10k words, as it usually is during the camp months. You may also recall that I strongly felt this was the year I'd win both camps. Well...I'm sorry to say I didn't, but I did get halfway there! I wrote just over 5k of Follow the Raven in July, and I've finally gotten past that scene that was keeping me from moving forward, so I consider that massive progress. I'm feeling much better about it now.
"Everything Changes" was very slow going this month. I only released one chapter. I wanted to go ahead and release the rest of the story in July (since I literally only have three chapters left to post), but things just got kind of crazy with Camp and BookTubeAThon, and I wanted to give those two things priority. So while I may be a bit "behind" now, I feel that I'll be able to wrap up the story in August when I get back from my vacation and move on from there. My current stats are 2,208 reads; 193 votes; and 51 comments. (I find it worthy to note that at one point this month I got over 50 reads on this story in one day. That never happens. I don't know what all the sudden hype was about, but hey, I'm glad people are still liking my content!)
Reading
I'm further along in my Skulduggery Pleasant readthrough now; I'm officially in unread territory! And I have to say, it's been an interesting experience breaking away from the familiarity of the first three books and entering into a whole new arc of bad guys and evil plots and fresh characters. But along with the couple of SP books I read in July, I also read another couple of on-the-side titles as well. Here's what I managed to finish this month:
- The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy
- Beauty and the Beast (Movie Novelization) by Elizabeth Rudnick
- Dark Days by Derek Landy
- Easy by Tammara Webber
As with Playing With Fire from last month, reading The Faceless Ones (SP #3) for the second time was like reading it for the first time in that I really didn't remember a whole lot of the story, save for the very end. The ending I remembered almost exactly, probably because of that cliffhanger I've been clinging to for so many years. But the one thing I really want to note about the third book is that I understood so much more of what was going on this time around and how all the events in the first three books combined led up to the moment when Skulduggery was lost. It all made so much more sense; I really understood the weight and importance of his loss. Thank goodness I had book four to dive into immediately after this time!
Dark Days was really different from the books before it in that Skulduggery didn't show up until almost 100 pages in, whereas he usually made his first appearance in the first chapter of every other book. It just made me miss him more, and helped me realize how messed up things were without him around to keep everyone in line. It was also really different to see him almost totally disoriented and temperamental when he returned from what everyone in the book simply deems as "hell," where he'd been tortured daily and struggled to keep his sanity. He would train his weapons on good guys and spontaneously explode with rage for a while, which was way out of character for him, but I think that it was an accurate change considering what he'd been through. I'm not entirely convinced he's completely readjusted to life on Earth, but I suppose I'll see whether or not that's true as I move on to book five in August.
The basic idea of the Passenger Book Challenge is to find/read/recommend books that take place outside of the country you live in. In my case, of course, that's the United States. The challenge was inspired by Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and is over a year old now, but I've been reading way more beyond-USA books as of late so I thought this was a good opportunity to finally do this myself.
1) Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (takes place in Ireland)
- Do I really even need to say why I'm recommending this one at this point? Haha!
2) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (takes place in the Middle East)
- I recommend this book because it is super informative and oh my goodness it messed me up so much, but that's probably a good thing.
3) The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (takes place primarily in Germany)
- I usually hate reading books that talk about the Holocaust, but this one really stood out and I feel like I learned more from it than from any history book. (This one also messed me up.)
4) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (takes place in Africa)
- I didn't know much about African culture before reading this book, and even though it was required reading in college I have a personal copy for myself because I liked it so much.
5) Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan (takes place in Australia)
- I knew nothing about Australian culture, which is exactly why I picked up this book last year. I learned a lot, and it touched on certain details that are usually left out of survival stories, which I very much appreciated.
Honorable Mentions:
These are books that I wanted to have on the above list but disqualified because they are based 1) in a neighbor country, 2) another popular country for books, and 3) not on Earth.
1) The Story of Owen by E.K. Johnston (takes place in Canada)
2) Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Warlock Holmes by G.S. Denning (take place in England)
3) The Word For World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin (takes place off-world)
And with that, I'm off for a vacation to Yellowstone National Park - which I've never been to! Maybe I'll get lucky and see some wolves. If nothing else I'll see Old Faithful. Be back next month!
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