Madly Jane > Recent Status Updates

One of my favorite writing references. A keeper.

So I go to my PC doctor today and he says I am stressed. Both my sisters are ill and it's not good and I am working too hard. He says, you love to read. Read light. Read fun. Next fall you can jump back into studying. Write your book, get Netflix. So I am doing that. My reading list for next year has really changed. Laughing. Oh, well.

It's strange but true. Most of my favorite reads now are rereads of books written at least 10 years ago. Uprooted, Rook, The Night Circus, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. I am rereading them again this year.

No more romantasy for me, YA or Adult. Not my cup of tea.

I'm eating my words. Onyx Storm is better than any and all of her books. I am over 50 pages in. No mats. No sparring. No YA feelings. This is an ADULT book finally. A war. A desperate group of people about to enter a hopeless scheme to save their country.

wow political intrigue now.

Lots going on now.

This is nothing like some of the wild reviewers posted on YouTube. I am going to write about it. Because if you can write as well as Chapter 10-17, I salute you. Sign, a writer.

Lots of descriptive action in just one little afternoon or less of hours. 69 pages in and we have a hallucinatory section where the heroine is facing death by knives and we finally meet the other half of this wild couple. This is one big mess. Not sure about this book at all.

So far, lots of descriptive action. One girl and a guard. A gauntlet and a wall.

Anthony Doerr has to one of the finest writers of this century and certainly of this generation of writers.

Donald Maas has written 3 books on writing that no author ought to miss. This is one of them. So far I have really enjoyed this book and am doing the exercises.

The first seven pages of this book are stunning writing! OMG. I love this guy and it's only 7 pages. I hope he gets some eggs and coffee soon.

Okay, I am only reading now to write. I am back in writing mode. I've cleaned up my account, reviewed the last really big novels I am going to read this year, and even cleaned up my other social media platforms. I don't have time to play now. Only four months left in the year. Holiday season, too. I have to work.

Reading vintage historical romance and writing reviews. Hoping all of them stand up to around 20 years or more. I am reading the easy ones first. Laura Kinsale's books will take more time than a night.

So after a few failures, hits and misses, I have chosen the books I am going to read not only the rest of 2024 but also 2025, because I will be reading series to the end. Some of these books are research (long time to read ) and some are for a class I am teaching on fairy tales and fantasy, and some for my own pleasure. I was surprised at the rereads. Amazon says I have 3455 books. Who knew?

Well, I got all the books I did not like or love out of the way, some rereads, and now on to better books. I hate reviewing or posting about books I don't like at all. It's either okay or no rating if I didn't like it. I suppose I could just hit read as in past tense and be done with it.

I was musing on how I loved all the books in Leigh Bardugo's series but two , Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, which have the least mythology and are more kiddie. It is her other books, particularly the first three and the additional book on fairy and folk tales that interest me as a reader.

I've chosen all the books I am going to read until I finish writing my WIP. 2024. I am going to be teaching some, too. I have chosen books that are small, light genre, and YA, which is what I write. I have some very serious Nonfiction to read and study, too. I will follow some of these series too, if possible.

Choosing what I need to read for the next 18 months is just mind boggling. I feel sort of desperate looking at time to write, work, and read. OMG.

Wow I am just gloaming all these YA/NA fantasy books. I am doing Nano and I just needed to read something for FUN. To feel fun when I read. So much new Adult fiction is misery lit. Don't publishers know we don't want grim, grim character studies in the midst of war, drought, and elections. We want escape. Even literature can do that. I might reread Dickens next.

THIS BOOK IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!