I'm like the cookie monster but with books not cookies

^ That's a mouthful! ^

I have been reading nonstop it seems! I keep 'buying' (mostly free) books for my kindle app and borrowing ebooks from the lending library it's so great!
I can't even remember the number of books I've read so far this month but it's been at least two-three a week. It feels good to read again it's been too long since I've really read.

I'm currently on the 4th Harry Potter book again. I only read HP when I blow dry my hair...it's a long process and I've gone through three books since this fall.

I've officially finished all of Sarah Eden's books- thankfully the woman writes like crazy and her next book comes out next month and will probably have one or two more by the end of the year. They are just fun to read there is nothing scandalous or crazy and they're the types of books you can finish in just a couple days. Just in the last few weeks I've read Seeking Persophne, As You Are, An Unlikely Match, and A Glimmer of Hope. I recommend all of the above and every other book she's written.

Another fun author similar to Sarah Eden is Karen Witemeyer. I've only read two of hers so far in the last couple weeks, Short Straw Bride and A Tailor-Made Bride. They both happened to be either free/cheap for my kindle. I have a third book of hers I got today from the library that I'm excited to begin. I'll have a reading super bowl instead of football!

I have also read five other random books on my kindle that were just alright. Nothing terribly exciting.

I did check out two books from the e-lending library I just finished the first one today it's called Persephone. It must have popped up because of the Sarah Eden book. I'm not into Greek mythology too much but I remember a little bit from school. It's a more modern take on the myths which is kind of interesting. Not one I'd rush out and buy or anything but it was a library book.

Anyways. I love reading. I also love writing. About a month and a half ago I started writing another book and I have over 60,000 words so far which equals approximately 250 pages (book formatted pages). It's not done yet but it takes a couple minutes to fully load on my computer. Cray.
On Monday or Tuesday I had a random thought and thought, hey that would be a fun book so I started writing again and have almost 15,000 words which is about 60 pages. I just have a fun time writing and daydreaming. I don't write out an outline or anything I just write and come up with stuff as it happens and occasionally I have to go and adjust small details but the thought of writing an outline and all that kind of takes the fun out of it. I enjoy just going where I want to with it.
I've been staying up too late though because I don't realize how much time passes. I should be indexing for one of my classes but I find little spurts of time to work on that and other homework too. 

Well go read those books. And if you have any recommendations for me let me know! I can always add more to my list :)

I kind of love January I feel like I've been hibernating and things haven't been so dang crazy. Last year I almost lost my mind so this is a good pace to begin the year.

The Parable of the Lanyard

*Disclaimer, this post is really a story, not a parable, I'm just overly dramatic and like to use big words

This is a story of a girl who didn't know how to keep her nose out of errybody's bid-ness. Let's call her Miranda. She was pretty tall for her age with skin white as snow. She was the coolest kid on the playground, and let's be honest, the coolest kid this side of the Miss-ippi. *Please note, we are now reading in a southern accent. She had/has the best dance moves and the most exquisite and charming personality that has ever graced this green earth.

When Miranda was just a wee lass *Please note, we are now reading in a Scottish accent the tender age of but 10ish years young, she decided to do a naughty thing. Now Miranda did a lot of naughty things like jumping out her bedroom window to play in the cul-de-sac, dripping nail polish on carpets, making big messes and blaming it on the one year old who couldn't yet speak, and she once 'borrowed' one of those cool pen erasers from a boy in the 4th grade and 'forgot' to return it (let it be known that she has been tossed around a sea of guilt since). But there was one time of year that Miranda was especially naughty. December.

for reference, this is the same exact color and model of the pen 

eraser mentioned in the story

Remember, Miranda was a nosy girl and was always up in someone's grill *Please note, we are now reading in a New York accent December was a difficult time for Miranda. Back then the days, weeks, months, years went by soooooo slowllllly it seemed like Christmas only happened once every decade. Being nosy, she knew of the many hiding places in her parents bedroom. (shhhhhh) This one day in December, she was trying to see over the counter to look at her perfect complexion in the mirror and it dawned on her that her parents had probably started hiding Christmas presents. Quiet as a mouse, Miranda left the bathroom and crawled to her parents bed. Jackpot. There were several bags tossed in 'plain site' behind extra blankets and pillows deep under the bed. Quickly and quietly she pulled the only bag her little arms could reach. She crawled back into the bathroom and opened the bag. Inside was an object that caught her eye. She wasn't quite sure what it's purpose was, but she loved it. The rest of the items weren't for her so she shoved everything back inside and returned it to it's hiding spot.

Christmas morning came, just before Miranda thought she would burst from anticipation. One of her packages contained the item she had found a few weeks back. She put it around her neck and knew it upped her cool meter by a good 86%. 

Fast forward a couple years later. Miranda gets her very first house key. Pulling the item from her desk drawer she proudly attached her key to the coveted 'Old Navy' Lanyard. A few more years later, Miranda got her driving permit and the next year her drivers license. Now it had been many years since this lanyard had made it's debut, but she knew where it was. Now all of her keys were on this lanyard, never to be taken off.

Miranda had purchased many lanyards over the years, colorful ones, blingy ones, cutesy ones, but never managed to switch the old lanyard for the new ones. Until now. 15ish years after snooping around under her parents bed, Miranda finally realized that the poor Old Navy lanyard had seen better days and she had a really cute bright green one hanging from her mirror, taunting her for a year. It was a memorable moment for Miranda. She breathed a sigh of remorse mixed with trepidation (would this new lanyard hold up to such high standards?), mixed with sadness, mixed with glee, mixed with anticipation. Miranda had finally done it. Chances are, that little blue Old Navy lanyard will go in a memory box, perhaps in a box with this story. Maybe in 10 years Miranda will find that box and reminisce on all the good times her and that blue lanyard had. Perhaps that new bright green lanyard will be dulled and worn, needing to be replaced and it's story will be recorded, and placed to rest in the same box.

I have a confession, the girls name was not Miranda as I had convinced you, it was Amanda. Miranda is me, I am Miranda. Perhaps you cannot believe me to be capable of such tom foolery and lies but, I cannot deny it, or who I was back then. I defied all authority and convention, and this is my story.

 My trusty, blue, Old Navy lanyard. Perhaps the smallest, most random item I have ever not lost.

 My new, bright green BYU-I lanyard. It won't be the same, but it will sure make it a heckuvalot easier to find my keys from within the depths of my purse.

 *PS, I'm REALLY sorry if you just read that entire story, while all the facts are true, this was the most random, strange, unrelated to anything, story I have ever told.

Stay tuned for next week's Miranda story, The forgotten bottle of glow in the dark nail polish. dun dun dun, it's a doozy.

Ideas

I've posted in the past about how I love to write. I'm not a very eloquent writer but it is something I really enjoy. Roald Dahl once said when he writes, he leaves this world for another. It is kind of true. Although I would never compare myself to someone great like him, when I write I find I'm able to completly focus on what I'm writing. Whatever the characters that come out of my brain are doing, I do along with them. Sounds SO weird and I sound like a coo-coo bird but I'm just being honest. I love escaping to the world of whatever I'm writing. Wondering what the people in my mind are going to do next, who they will meet. I often just start writing. I'm not very good at outlines or anything.

An idea starts out as a dream, or I'll hear something in a song that gives me an idea, walking around stores gives me ideas, listening to people talk, going to restruants. One of my favorite past times is people watching. My mom thinks I'm a creep because I love to watch people, listen to their conversations, when driving I often find myself looking in house windows (ok that sounds creepy but it's not, I promise). My favorite time is around 5-6pm when people are sitting down to dinner and I can see them through the kitchen window (I bet whoever reads this will start closing their blinds now....shucks :)) I make up stories and histories for the people I watch, invent characters out of them. I've done that ever since I can remember. I've always had a crazy imagination that sometimes would scare me haha.

Today while driving around a resident for work, we were listening to a song and there was one line that made something snap and all of a sudden I was imagining this new place, this new idea for another book partly written already in my mind. During my 'break' between my evening shift and overnight shift I got out my trusty ipad and new blutooth keyboard (worth every penny) and just wrote down a few lines of basic information, things I had thought of. I started writing the first page. That's always my favorite, trying to come up with something that will make people want to continue reading. I often judge a book by it's first couple pages.

Anyways it just made me think. Inspiration is all around us, no matter what our hobbies or interests are. If we're open to seeing them, we can find ideas everywhere. I've always been envious of people who are just creative all around, whatever they want to do, they're great at it. even though writing is just for fun, I really enjoy it and if we can all find something we enjoy and that let's us 'escape' a little bit, we'll be better, healither people.

Anyone have any dreams of becoming a book editor? haha I could use some 'test subjects'.


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Nothing to do with anything:

Tomorrow I might post about a fun new treat I had today. I started my Prism diet again. Tomorrow it starts full swing, I have my water chilling in the fridge ready for the drinking. Yesterday and today I avoided all sugar but I did have some WW garlic bread that I made for dinner last night so I didn't fully start but will tomorrow. ANYWAYS this is a really tastey treat that I think others will enjoy, made with mini oranges (cuties), some cinnamon, and a little agave. Be excited.

41,128

That's how many words I have written for my book. It's 90 pages long so far (8.5x11). I remember in school I always had to write long papers and I remember being so stressed out about not being able to write enough words but I always had more than I needed...usually. I'll be honest, some papers were bulked up with excessive use of the word "that" :). I just love to write. I'm not a great speaker (not saying I'm a great writer either :p) but I do enjoy writing much more than speaking.

About two years ago I woke up from a really intense dream. Usually I have dreams but can't remember them or they were just silly dreams. This one was different. I woke up in a panic and felt very much in distress, weird. It took me a few minutes to really remember what I had been dreaming about but when I remembered I thought, 'hey, this would be a really good book'. It may have been the sleep talking but a few weeks later I decided to write it down. I couldn't get it out of my mind, I would carry around a little notebook to write down ideas and plot twists as I thought of them. Then I started typing it up. I made up characters' names and just started typing.

I'm sure many authors use a much different method and write an outline of events, but I'm too ADD for that, I just wrote whatever I felt like writing. Then I'd reread and rewrite parts. I have a general idea of where this is going but sometimes I start typing and I can't stop so I have to go through and check the continuity. One mistake I made was one of the girls didn't like mustard, then a few chapters later she ordered extra mustard...no bueno. Now she likes mustard in case you were wondering :).

I always thought they should hire me as a continuity person on TV and movies, I always hone in on the silly mistakes and can't stop thinking about them throughout the show...

I like that I get to decide what happens. In some books or movies I am mentally yelling at the characters to chose another option, to change their 'path' and live a happy life. Sometimes I don't want a dramatic plot twist, I want everyone to sit on clouds, eating rainbow lollypops, and singing covers of Elton John songs....granted I wouldn't really want to read boring books so I guess plot twists are good, unless they involve a certain red headed twin dying at the end of a certain series of books...good one J.K. good one.
I'm still bitter but I'm in counseling and will pull through somehow.

I digress. Again. ADD. Sorry.

My book doesn't have a title, you could call it title-less. Eventually it will have a title. There's a large probability I'll change character names and 'destiny's' but I reserve that right.

Would you like to read an expert? Of COURSE you would. OK I'll find a part to share.

Please be warned, you can click back on your browser at this point and save yourself from more random words. BTDUBS, this is copyrighted so I don't want to see no tomfoolery :) In honor of SOPA ;)

  ...My last obstacle was getting around the 8-foot high trees that lined the border between our two yards. I couldn’t go in the front the officer would see me. My only choice was to try to crawl under the dense bushes. I got down on my hands and knees and pushed my way through the thick trees. The branches snapped across my face and I could feel the knees of my jeans getting soaked through. It took a little maneuvering but I made it to the other side. I could see where the sliding glass door had once been; it was now sealed with thick plastic and bright blue tape. As I got closer to the door I reached into my backpack and pulled out the pocketknife I had stolen from Kyle’s room before I left. This knife had duel purposes; first I was hoping the broken door would still be broken and covered exactly how it was so I could cut through and be in no problem. The second reason was a little more nerve-wracking; I had to have a weapon to protect myself if anything went wrong. Someone could be here just like last night and I had to give myself a fighting chance. As I made my way across the yard I snapped the knife open, my hands were trembling so bad the knife fell to the grass. I picked it up and continued to the door. There were several layers of heavy plastic covering the door so it took a few minutes to cut a big enough slit for me to fit through. As I stepped through the plastic a terror ripped through my body, the last time I had been in this house was when I found the bodies of my dead parents. The fear gripped my whole body and I stopped just inside the kitchen. I couldn’t go upstairs where her body had been, couldn’t see the red stained carpet. Taylor, the mental image of my sister flashed through my head, I had to do it for Taylor. If we were going to stay together, I needed to do this. After steadying my breath I crossed the kitchen into the hallway, I rushed past the office door that, thankfully, was closed. I started climbing the stairs, each step I took brought me closer to the horror, the awful images crashing like waves through my thoughts...

This book is about two sisters who have to deal with finding their parents murdered and finding a way to stay together amidst turmoil and heartache. PS-the formatting didn't transfer over from Word so it's all one big paragraph. 

Only one person (hollla Michelle) has read this partially written book and she only read it when it was like 40 pages long but she said she liked it. It might be a situation like that ugly sweater your grandma gets you for Christmas that you just 'love' and wear the next time you see her then it goes in the donation pile....it's highly possible.