Posts Tagged ‘reading’

my social networking vacation: the first month

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

It’s been a month since my post about taking a vacation from Facebook, Twitter and the BlueBoards! At first the withdrawal was painful. I was itching to see what everyone else was doing and living my life in 140 character spurts (now it’s in longer terms for blog posts). After a month, it’s better. I miss the fun and industry news on Twitter and the community on the BlueBoards, but I’m surviving. I don’t miss Facebook, except for a couple of people I only connect with there. I have heard through the grapevine that I have friend requests, which I don’t know what to do about. I feel awful that I haven’t approved them, but I’m not logging on to Facebook for four months so there’s no way around that. My hope is that people will understand and not be offended.

How am I doing on my goals?

- Exercise: I’m exercising on a regular basis (this is week three)!!! Some days I’m so sore I can barely get out of bed (even though I’m using one pound weenie weights … yeah, I’m that out of shape). I know from the last time that eventually it gets easier (it’s starting to get better). I’ve only lost a couple of pounds but my clothes fit better, so I’m guessing I’ve gained muscle weight.

- Zombies: Almost done revising the beginning! Plus I have a shiny new synopsis that has helped me figure out the ending! I have a ton of writing left before the book is done, but I’m happy with how it’s going.

- Chickens: This is going to be a chapter book graphic novel, or at least that’s what I’m shooting for. I just sent a story overview and three act arc to my critique group. I’m crossing my fingers that they won’t find too many plot problems so I can start writing and drawing (actually, I already started, but knowing if the story works will help me keep going).

- Blogging: Still working on how often to blog and how to fit it into my schedule. Lots of planned blog posts haven’t happened either because I didn’t have time or I thought they weren’t that interesting (in otherwords, posting to my blog all the things I wanted to Tweet about seems like a bad idea).

- Visiting Blogs: I thought I’d be visiting blogs all the time now, but I’ve only visited a few. The first week I stayed away because I didn’t want a new obsession (or actually an old obsession – blogs were my time kryptonite before I found Twitter). Then I got involved in my projects. Since I’m not online much, I don’t think about going online just to read blogs.

- Having a life offline and away from work: This is starting to happen now that the crazy deadlines are done (meaning all the stuff I was neglecting because I was online all the time).

- Reading: No novels yet, but I’m almost caught up with my Writer’s Digest magazines and SCBWI Bulletins. Novels are next on my list; I can’t wait!

- Art: I finished my cats wearing hats picture. I’m also working on my chicken graphic novel and new pieces for my portfolio, as well as creating art for the ripple project (all proceeds from the sale of art goes to help animals affected by the gulf oil spill). Two of my paintings are still up for sale ($10 each) with new artwork available later this week!

That’s what I’ve been up to the last month … well that and wondering about all the fun stuff and news that I’ve missed.

How’s your summer going so far?

Time to make the donuts …

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

no wait, that should read, “Time to make the artwork!” or “Time to write the story!” or “Time to read the books!”

I was traveling for about a month, but I’m back home now, creating artwork, writing, and reading books.

Artwork: It’s only January 14th, and I’ve already had my first portfolio review of the year! It was very helpful and showed me I’m going in the right direction, at least for now. It also showed me an area where I might be able to grow and create a new style. Lots of art deadlines in the next month, and 2 chicken images I need to have done by the end of the week. I’ll post them soon! One of them is for a postcard to send out to art directors and editors (also from my PB dummy).

Writing: I’m starting a YA writing class next week, so I’m busy building my zombie world and characters for the novel I’m going to write (same world as Sheila, but different MC for this book, which will be prose, not a graphic novel).

Reading books, books, and more books: I’ve been tweeting about what I’m reading. It’s a fun challenge to sum up a book in 140 characters. Here are my reviews of what I’ve read so far this year (I’ve added the author’s name here and deleted the tag #bookreview):

Going Bovine by Libba Bray: One of the best books I’ve read in a while. Funny & heartbreaking. Road trip, mad cow disease, & a garden gnome.

Candor by Pam Bachorz: A nice place to read about, but I wouldn’t want to live there (shudder). George Orwell would love this book; I did too.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier: Who needs the truth, when the MC tells an amazing, can’t put the book down story? Read for the truth about Micah, maybe.

How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot: Fun book I got sucked into & couldn’t put down til I was done. Loved the advice from the old book she reads.

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers: Can mean girl Regina survive after friends turn on her? Amazing story that shows brutal reality of girl bullies.

I’ll continue tweeting book reviews in the future. You can follow me on Twitter here.

Happy 2010 everyone! What are you reading, writing, and/or drawing?

Beach books and library books

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Here’s what I’m going to be doing on my vacation  … 

 

sruble doing a handstand?

sruble doing a handstand?

Ok, not really. I can’t do a cartwheel, or a handstand. What I will be doing is working; I’ll be writing, drawing, painting and reading while I’m at the beach. Here’s my reading list:

 

sruble's beach books

sruble's beach books

I’m way behind on my reading, so there’s a mix of old and new here to keep me busy. When I’m not reading, I’ll be taking long walks on the beach with my DH or building sandcastles. 

When I’m not playing in the sand, I’ll be working on a PB dummy a dummy revision, a zombie graphic novel, and another PB, if I have time. (haha) The PB dummy I’m almost done with is on deck first. Sheila the zombie cheerleader will probably be chasing me around the beach, threatening to eat my brains if I don’t work on her story, so that’s really good incentive to get my PB dummy done! I also brought watercolor paints and a couple of small watercolor blocks – just in case I want to paint something.

You might be wondering why I’m not bringing any PBs to read, since I’ll be working on at least one while I’m at the beach. There’s a great bookstore and a library where we’re going, plus I just got done reading all of these PBs from the library:

 

PBs from the library

PBs from the library

Some old favorites and some new favorites too!

You probably won’t hear from me for a while; I’ll be working at the beach. See you when I get back!