Blah Humbug...

That's about how uninspired I am at the moment. I can't even muster an exclamation point for the title.

Christmas was wonderful, don't get me wrong. We're home this year for the first time since 2007, and since our nearest family is in Florida, all of the boxes under our tree were for D. The boy got properly spoiled. We spent Christmas Eve and day with friends, and have plans to join them for their Christmas dinner. (There was an emotional impediment to having dinner on Christmas Day, so they put it off for a week. Stretch out the season, I say. I leave my tree up until January 6th...That's 12th Night. Epiphany. I'm not religious, but that's my excuse.)

So, what's with the blah, humbug? Making myself do anything creative...(other than make covers for JB using internet photos of Jackson Rathbone and Taylor Swift)...feels like a chore. I feel like I'm in 2-wheel drive and stuck on a jack...all four wheels off the ground, one's spinning wildly but taking me absolutely nowhere.

I have ideas. I even managed to squeeze out a tiny bit of snark...which I may share on Saturday. (That depends on Marie Sexton.) I did some reading on the power struggle between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. I looked up a cool Japanese motorcycle and a classic Ford pick-up. I have a new article on Asperger's that gave me a huge leap forward on Delilah.

That all may sound like progress, but it's not really writing, and that has me feeling a bit like a poser. And, you didn't come her to hear me whine. Forgive me.

I've been reading a bit lately. Not finishing anything, but making an effort to read when I have time.

YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

I started reading Andrew Smith's The Marbury Lens. I've gotten 13 chapters into it and I'm not sure if I will finish. It's not because the book isn't good. Quite the opposite, TML is very well written, and that is my problem with it. You see...the book is YA Horror, and when I take into consideration how convincing the 17-yo male lead is, and how well written the kidnapping/attempted rape by a psychotic doctor is, I must consider the small text a warning. It says the story will "crawl inside your head and won't leave."

I have mentioned before that I'm on medication for anxiety. The last thing I need is a teen boy's literal insanity taking up residence in my gray matter. So...will I finish it? Maybe, maybe not. But please, if you are the type to read YA Horror chapters 1-13 read like a bullet.

Literary, Historical Fiction

 I got my copy of Vlad Dragwlya by way of a clever bit of the author's self-promotion. He announced on his Facebook page that free copies would be shelved at two major retailers in Baton Rouge. I saw this post while I was way out of town and I didn't honestly think the book would still be at Barnes and Nobles when I got home. I looked anyhow and ha! Free book.

Vlad Dragwlya: Son of the Dragon is historical fiction, featuring the rise to power of the man we've come to fondly call Dracula. I've read one chapter so far, so there is not much on which I can comment. Upfront...and granted, when it comes to Transylvania, I am not smarter than a fifth grader...but upfront, the research feels thorough. I have noticed some typographic errors, as well as some sudden changes in POV that caused me some confusion. I am reserving judgement until I've read more.

Literary, Historical Fiction

Finally, this little gem is how I occupied myself on the planes that took me out of town and brought me back. I have been a huge fan of Eco's since 1992, which I first picked up Foucault's Pendulum. I don't read his books straight through, though. They're dense. I need months, even years to absorb them.

The Prague Cemetery may not need that long. It's the tightest premise since The Island of the Day Before. A man with Dissociative Personality Disorder is coming around to the knowledge that he has more than one personality. The two men...one a priest and the other a charlatan...begin leaving each other notes, filling in holes in the other's life story. And no Eco story is complete without liberties being taken with the details. In this case, there's a forged document--one of the most famous in human history--that the Nazis later used to justify the extermination of the Jews. In The Prague Cemetery, the charlatan is the creator of that document.

I've gotten five chapters into it and haven't had to look anything up yet. Maybe this one won't take me a year! Which would be awesome, because I have some writing to get done.