Ebooks, the library, and work

This weekend I discovered the wonders of borrowing ebooks from the library. I’ve had a Kindle Fire for a few years now and for the first time this weekend borrowed an ebook from the library. It was actually very easy to do. The best part about it for me is that there are no late fees! My first book was Inferno by Dan Brown. I’m about a third of the way through it at this point and I’m entertained so far. It’s not award winning by any means but I am finding it entertaining.

By training, I should be a lawyer. My undergraduate degree was in political science, I graduated from law school, and I’ve passed the bar. However, I’ve discovered that as much as I love the law, I’m not terribly interested in the day to day of actually being a lawyer. So for now, I’m simply looking for a job that will pay me enough for me to live on my own but leave me time to read and write at night and on the weekends. Being a lawyer doesn’t leave much room for personal time. I’ve come to realize I want more from my life than being a workaholic.

Reading and writing character

I finished the Paranormal Public series by Maddy Edwards last night. What a ride that was! The series starts off fairly slow but it definitely built bit by bit until it was a thrilling ride. Now it’s time to find a new series to dive into. I’m thinking about The Selection series by Kiera Cass. If you’re interested in what I’m reading/have read/want to read, there’s a link to my goodreads profile on the right. I’m pretty good about updating it every few days. I’m always picking up new ebooks for my kindle fire and they get added to my shelves within a few days.

I’ve been thinking about characters today and how they’re created. So far in my own novel evolution, I have the basic idea for a story. However, I don’t really have a main character. I know who I think it should be within the context of the story but I don’t feel like I know the ins and outs of that character and who she is. I’ve heard about authors whose characters speak to them and I can’t help but be jealous. Looks like reading on creating characters is in my near future. I know my characters will have to have flaws. I’ll have to fight the desire to make them perfect because I always cringe when my favorite character does something stupid.

Once I have a better idea of where I want my story to go (of course, no guarantee it goes that way!), I plan to write at least 1,000 words every day. Some days I’m sure I’ll write more than that. But 1,000 words every day is going to be my minimum. Ideally the story would top out between 60,000 and 80,000 words but for now I’m just going to let the story take me where it will. Freaking out over word counts is for the editing stage of this process.

Current Reading

As I said yesterday, I’m a prolific reader. These days I read a lot of different genres, from fantasy to YA to romance to sci-fi. I’ll read the occasional biography, but generally I stay away from horror. I also tend to have several books going at once, skipping between them as I get bored with one. I’ve been trying to read Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin for awhile now, but it’s so dense I can only read a little at a time before I’ve got to try something else.

Most recently I’ve gotten into the YA series called Paranormal Public by Maddy Edwards. It’s an interesting series and an easy read. I generally like books with magic and paranormal abilities so it’s right up my alley. It’s about a girl named Charlotte who discovers she’s a paranormal and should attend a college for paranormals. Unbeknownst to Charlotte, there’s a war brewing in the paranormal world and she’s about to be at the center of it. The story is told in first person and while it’s no award winner, it is entertaining.

I’ve also started re-reading the Hunger Games series. However, this time I’m reading it with a closer eye on the literary devices Suzanne Collins uses to such great success. I’m paying closer attention to things like why the dialogue works or how she’s carefully added the necessary backstory. When I’m done with the Hunger Games, I’ll probably go back and reread the Divergent trilogy, though I’ll say I didn’t enjoy that one as much as the Hunger Games the first time around.