Reading, reviewing, writing, and editing

Last night before I fell asleep I had this blog all written out in my head. Unfortunately I was too tired to write it down and now I've lost some of it. I am attempting to recreate it anyway.

We came home yesterday from a day trip to the Boston area. In the mailbox was a book that I'd won from a giveaway on Goodreads.com.  I've been winning a few of these giveaways lately and my book pile is piling up faster than I can read the books. He said "Wow, people must really love your reviews." Maybe they do, maybe they don't. I don't write great reviews. They're usually pretty simple and straight forward. Def not my best writing.

We went in the house, and he took care of our daughter while I disappeared into the bedroom and fired up my bedside computer. I opened up the browser and went to Facebook. I posted an unofficial review of the places we'd been to in Somerville. Then I went over to TripAdvisor and wrote up 2 official reviews. This required a little research because the restaurant that we ate at didn't have it's own listing. Once those reviews were done, I went over to Goodreads and updated my book shelf to show I'd gotten the book. A peek inside the front cover showed me that the author had even written me a note and autographed it. Well that deserved some special attention. I looked him up and sent him a thank you note. He wrote back and offered me another complimentary book that he's written. I haven't replied yet. I figure I'll wait until I read this one before I answer. I hope it's a good book though. I'd hate to write a negative review now.

After my reviews were posted on Facebook, Goodreads, and TripAdvisor I looked up his website and checked the listing of other books he's written. This isn't a debut novel. Then I went over to Twitter to see if he was on there. Nope. However he was mentioned by another Twitter entity recently who has already read the book I just got. I tweeted to him/her, and they tweeted back. I scrolled through my Twitter feed, a mix of many things including many authors promoting their books.

Phew!! When I was done with all that I finally cracked open the E-book that I had just borrowed from the library. This is one that I tried to win a print copy of, but failed so I had put a hold on it and I finally got it. I read a few chapters to get myself into it. Then finally very late, I turned off the screens and went to sleep.

Meanwhile July is fast approaching and while I have been editing my Work In Progress it is not completely revised yet. I'm probably about 1/3 of the way through it. In July though I will be doing Camp Nanowrimo and I will begin the next draft of this novel whether I am ready or not. The thought of having 2 drafts going is challenging. I will have to come up with a way to keep them separate. I am not even sure what my writing schedule will be like, but I have set a low word goal and I plan to make it happen.

It seems like lately I spend more time writing reviews of other people's works, quick and simple as they may be, than I do working on my own material. Oh well. Hopefully it all pays off in the end.

I know ultimately I need an editor, and maybe a cover designer too. I'm not there yet though. Just need to keep plugging away.

I think of Lisa

A poem I just wrote - "I Think of Lisa"

When I hear a woodpecker early in the morning before the sun comes up, I think of Lisa. 
When I drive to work at sunrise and the fog is hovering over the water on the lake and no where else, I think of Lisa.
 When I have to brake hard because a deer has run out in front of my car, I think of Lisa.
 When new blossoms show their colors in the courtyard garden at work, I think of Lisa.
 Whenever I find a little beauty in my day, I think of Lisa.

--by me

This poem is dedicated to Lisa B. Adams who is still fighting, and to  my neighbor Tanya, my cousin Daryn, the mother of one of my daughter's classmates Kiran, and all of the other mothers and fathers out there who don't get to watch their children grow up because of cancer.  Cancer Sucks. 

"Find some beauty in each day."- Lisa B. Adams

Lisa's website is here-  http://lisabadams.com/

"Shotgun Lovesongs" book review

Here's my review from Goodreads--

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved this book, except the ending, but that shouldn't stop anyone. I ran across this title through my work in a library and looked it up here on Goodreads. After I started reading it, I looked it up on Amazon and read some more reviews on Goodreads. I had no idea about the connection to "Bon Iver" as another reviewer mentioned, but I spent a few hours doing some research and listening to some music and became a fan.

When was the last time you read a book that led you to good music? I don't know if that's ever happened to me before, and I loved the book even more for that.

Getting back to the novel itself though, the story takes place in a small Wisconsin town, a farming town, much like many farming towns all across America I imagine. I can certainly imagine this story happening in a small town that I've lived in myself or one of the others nearby. I liked that. I like stories in small towns. I can imagine the bar at the VFW because I've been in a few. So this story struck a chord with me.

I was thrown off for a minute as I went from the first chapter to the second and the narrators changed, but once I adjusted to that and began to pay attention to the "L", "H", "R", "B","K",etc.. at the beginning of the chapter I did just fine. It's a good way to tell this story, switching points of view all the time because it really helps you get the full story. I was fully drawn in to the characters, and I had trouble putting the book down when it was time to do other things.

Now that I've read it, and returned it to the library, I may buy a copy to put on my shelf for when I want to read it again. It was that good.

Highly recommended.



View all my reviews

Dear "Greg" on Goodreads.... thank you

Dear "Greg" from Goodreads,

Thank you! Thank you for your review of "Shotgun Lovesongs" by Nickolas Butler. You've got your settings set up on Goodreads so I can't send you a message on Goodreads directly. I know it's unlikely that you will ever see these words either.

You inspired me though. First of all, I went back to Goodreads and changed my own settings just in case some day someone sees something that I write and wants to comment on it.

Secondly, and most importantly you inspired me to look up "Bon Iver". You said in your review of the book that you are not a Bon Iver fan, and yes you know he has another name, but you're going to leave it at that. You said that "Shotgun Lovesongs" seemed to be about "Bon Iver". Thank you for that.

I had never heard of Bon Iver until I read your review. Today I looked him up, and yes I found Justin Vernon. I also found Volcano Choir, Gayngs, The Shouting Matches, and Kathleen Edwards while I was at it.

I found Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, and NPR. I've listened to over an hour of Volcano Choir's music today at work.

So, Greg wherever you are... Thank you for all of that. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book as much as I am enjoying it, but thank you for mentioning the reference that other reviewers didn't know about. Thank you for introducing me to new music.

I'm not actually done with the book yet myself, but now that I have this music to go with the book I think I'll enjoy it even more!