Seven Things: Bookish Thoughts

01 - For some reason, the hot weather make me not have much patience for reading long books or even long series —  It's like the time goes so quickly that spending it reading long books just seems tedious and too much work. I've been reading a lot of short books and standalones (which I will post about later) and and I'm a much happier reader.

02 - "She hosted a grin of nostalgia," from Hands On Homicide by Sarah Hualde — What does this mean to you? I had written this down to think about it and still it just seems like a weird phrase and not quite right. Is this just one of those writings that you have to tear it apart to understand or do you just suppose to shrug it off as something quirky that means something but not really? I didn't read the book but I'm sure it wouldn't help to understand this phrase any better.

03 - If you're going to have the word ghost or ghosts in the title and if it's a fantasy, please have a ghost in the book — Same thing with mermaids and whatever else that promise something. I think there's an unspoken or unwritten promise with book titles. I know you shouldn't always take book titles literary but I can't help myself. How do you stop yourself from judging book titles?

04 - I hate those cute cute illustration for romance books that are smutty. At least with those shirtless man/half naked lady on the cover, we know what type of books they are but with these cute covers, you cannot be sure. These make people think they are some type of family-friendly, wholesome romantic comedies but no, they are filled with explicit sex scenes. Why can't modern romance books say exactly what type of books they are? (Example of these cute covers: The love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, The hating game by Sally Thorne, The Brown sisters series by Talia Hibbert, Fix her up by Tessa Baily)

05 - I know age shouldn't matter when comes to authors but when I find published books written by teenagers, I just kind of judge the books and maybe unfairly. What I want to know is why adults are publishing books by teenagers but failed to edit them properly. By that I mean, they just aren't written better. So maybe books written by teenagers are aimed at children and teenagers and perhaps this is why they kept the writing as it is but that didn't mean they shouldn't be properly edited.
    But I guess it can be said the same for adult writers. Some books written by adults aren't properly edited either so why are publishers do such a sloppy job at editing their books? Self-published authors, I can understand they may not be able to afford more thorough editing but major publishers have the ability and yet, they don't do it. But then again why do they have to care about good editing as long as the books sell? I'm not going to name names but some books could do with better editing and cutting the length down.

06 - Romances disguise as murder mysteries and how hot guys ruin murder mysteries — So maybe books aren't disguising their genres but when you put the word mystery or murder in your book title and said it's a murder mystery, it had better focus on the murder mystery in equal focus with the romance. I don't want to read a book focusing on romance with a side of murder mystery - those are romances.
    What's with using the word hot? It always sound like some teenager is saying it. And of course our main character (most of the books I read have female main characters) always ends up romancing the hot guy. And these hot guys (some of them are a bit extreme in the looks department) are always quite intelligent. So they (the authors) are telling us there isn't a single hot guy who is dumb even in the entire fiction universe? I'm not making fun of dumb hot guys but I just think they are unfairly under represented. But I suppose no one wants a main male love interest to be dumb so it's why they are always intelligent and good looking.
    There was a book (actually I think read several of these) that I remember reading where the main character returns to the home town where she grew up but her ex-boyfriend/childhood crush/whomever stayed hot (or they get even hotter - they must be in need of fire hydrants badly) and I thought, he stayed that way because he was waiting for her to come back or else he would be an overweight guy with receding hairline because we can only have hot guys as love interest for our heroines because having an ordinary or plain-looking guy is just not good enough! Oh no, that would blasphemy!
    What's annoying is when these women keeps drooling over these hot guys with internal drooling with monologues and whatever. Lust is okay but in a murder mystery, it's distracting and it makes it seems like I'm reading a romance.

07 - Does knowing more about an author makes the reading experience better or worse? — If an author is the kindest human on the planet, does this make reading their books a good experience? No, it makes no difference to me. If an author is an asshat, does this make reading their books a horrible experience? I would still say no. It all should depend on the books themselves. It's because authors and almost everyone post their lives on the web, readers can't always avoid not knowing anything. But more so because the news just pours out whatever they could find no matter what the effect is on people. Perhaps it's better to avoid reading about authors' lives or perhaps readers shouldn't get to know authors so well, not as fans. I prefer not to know an author in depth. I prefer to just know whatever the short bio in the back of the book or on the book jacket said. Why do we need to know more?

What bookish thoughts do you have today?

Fiction: The Returner

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Charlotte (MotherOwl) over here. This week's prompts are: building, tailfeather, trees, metal, cloak, linen and/or boots, ring, spirit, opera mints, phone, whole.

Fiction: The Returner
She came back to a new life but she had no idea how it happened. Nine months ago, she woke up in the beach house and found she was someone by the name of Carmen Nightingale. It somehow fit her. But there was a vague nag in the back of her mind telling her she had not always been Carmen Nightingale.
    As Carmen walked the beach in the early morning hours, her white boots accumulating sand at the toes, she kept her mind clear and moved her body automatically. It was as if she knew walking the beach each morning was an old habit even though she had no memory of doing it.
    The silver ring on her right forefinger gleamed under the dull light. She didn't know why she had the ring but she sensed it had belonged to another and now she was wearing it and probably because the owner had died.
    "Yoo-hoo!" A few distant away, Risa, Carmen's neighbor of only four months, waved from her chair. Carmen waved back. Risa always sat by the beach in the morning with her oversized hat, deep black sunglasses and a gigantic umbrella to keep her in the shade. As always, she was chewing on opera mints and reading a romance novel.
    A man in blue shorts and white shirt jogged past her. Carmen had seen the man many times before on the beach but he had never seen her. Or rather, he could not see her. For reasons she couldn't figure out, not many people could see her.
    Sometimes Carmen seemed like someone with no real body, just a spirit gliding along the streets, the beaches, the stores and various places, invisible but somewhat present. Other times, she couldn't be ignored even if she tried.
    Carmen walked on. Behind her, a phone rang. After three rings, Risa answered. "Yes, Jean, I'm alive. You don't have to call the priest." There was a pause. "Yes, yes, I'll try to answer on the first ring next time. Goodbye Jean." Risa's daughter called every day to check on her mother. Carmen liked the idea of someone checking on you just to make sure you're alive, as if it's evidence you're still around. Carmen wasn't old like Risa who would only admit to being 60 but she was probably close to 80. Carmen was nearly 40. Half her life had already passed but she had no clue what she had done with those 39 years. But she knew she was not married and had no relations, at least, none came to visit or called.
    In her dreams now and then, she saw herself as someone else living another life, doing things she had never done before. She moved with a certainty that her life was bleak and will remind bleak. Then she would wake and wonder what it all mean.
    A short woman wearing a sunhat with a tailfeather sticking out and carrying a Yorkshire terrier walked past Carmen. It was Mrs. Suzuki, the other neighbor of Carmen's. Carmen smiled at the woman but Mrs. Suzuki didn't respond. Carmen had gotten used to being invisible to a lot of people but she still had hoped some of them would see her someday. Mrs. Suzuki knew she had a neighbor named Carmen but she never could see Carmen. Once Mrs. Suzuki had said to Risa, perhaps Carmen was a recluse while Carmen was standing behind her. They were at Risa's barbecue housewarming party the day Risa had moved in. Risa just smiled at Carmen and continued serving burgers.
    Carmen looked toward the water. A gentle breeze flew over her. There was hardly sunlight today and the water was as still as if frozen in a photograph. She turned away and headed toward home, toward the buildings, the trees, metals gleaming their dull shine, linens flying in the cool breeze and the dark clouds hovering above like a cloak over the landscape. Carmen smiled. This was where she was. This was where she existed. She was still getting used to her whole new life, getting to know people and getting to know herself. It wasn't a completely new life but it wasn't an old one either, it was rather a perpetual life with a side of forgetfulness and bits of inconspicuousness.

Are you a blogger?

If you have a blog and you keep putting content into it, are you a blogger? I would say yes to this but then it might not be true. There was someone who was an author but he had a blog but he insisted he was not a blogger. He even had comments turned off. So is he a blogger?
   I guess blogger is just a title, much like author or actor. And it's no big deal but I think it's a big deal for those who blog. I wouldn't call myself a blogger but I might do so since there is no other word for someone who slacks at blogging but still blogs.

If you have a blog, do you consider yourself a blogger?

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Today, July 17, is the 3rd anniversary of this blog you're reading. I don't really do much celebrating of any kind but I like to make a note of this phenomenon since I have a bad habit of moving to new urls. Blogging is not my life but it's part of my life so I'll probably continue doing it for a long while. Let's hope I stay put here and not move to a new url. Happy 3rd anniversary, dear blog.

Seven Things

01 - I finally posted a hello/about page. You can read it here or click on the hello link below the header. I do have an about/introduction post which is the first post of this blog which you can read over here. I like having an about page because it gives readers a sort of a little intro to me, the blogger, since not every reader will read the first post.

02 - I've been slacking in commenting on blogs but then again, I've been slacking on a lot of things but it's summer. I feel the hot weather is an excuse not to do anything productive. But that's probably my lazy self talking. Also, I go to war every other week with a fly or two. That's what you get for keeping windows open.
    
03 - You would think after 18+ years of writing (I had started writing the same time I started blogging), I would have more confidence in my work but I don't. I had a chance to post several short story fiction that I had finished but then I didn't. (I try to post my fiction pieces in between other posts so it won't be one fiction post after another.) And my stories are becoming a bit longer than usual. The more I edit a piece, the longer it becomes because I would think of things to add which is why my fiction posts are the least read but I'm okay with that. If one or two people read it, it's enough.
    I know my writing have barely improved in the last few years but at least I know I don't suck as much as some of the books that are published but I don't have the confidence as those authors. Those authors are willing to put their work out there even if the reviews trashed them and saying how badly they needed an editor. Where do these people get their confidence?
    Posting my fictions on my blog is really the only chance I'll ever have anything published. My problem is in finishing. I lack motivation. I lack discipline. And tons of other things but I'll keep trying to finish my writings because maybe one day, I'll have a whole book completed.

04 - Some people believe there's no such thing as a bad book and that it depends on whether the book resonate with the reader or not. I want to be neutral on this but heck, I'm not neutral. There are bad books and there are a ton of evidence on this: the books themselves. People can love what they want and that's okay. It's all opinions. Just don't try to change my opinion on those bad books.

05 - Romantasy anyone? It's the latest word combination that I had heard lately and I think it's the dumbest one yet. I already saw this word in several youtube video titles and I hated it. But of course this word and many new ones to come will eventually get into people's head and will be used so much that, it will be a common word. But I still hate it.

06 - One store (or perhaps there are more I don't know of) locked their products behind glass doors so if you want to buy a product that is locked which is like 85% of the whole place, then you have to ask for help or press one of those buttons and wait for someone to come and unlock so you can get the product. This says the store doesn't trust customers. This says theft is so rampant that the store is forced to do this. But even if this deters thieves which probably does, it also deters customers. How do you feel about asking someone to unlock a door so you can get a box of bunion cream? That's an example but I now just ask to unlock for one product and then pay and leave because I find this very annoying. It's extra work for the employees and the customers cannot get to the products to read the labels so you can't even do comparison shopping. You have to know exactly which product you want or you might feel like an ninny for wasting the employee's time. It's uncomfortable shopping, is what this is.

07 - I'll not be buying ebooks anymore. I got a kobo clara bw ereader to help me with that. I'll pretty much be borrowing ebooks from my local library through overdrive. I didn't even put any credit card info on my kobo account (although I did get email telling me I should add this info) so this will (mostly) deter me from buying ebooks needlessly. But old habits are hard to leave behind so this could turn into an expensive mistake but I'm willing to make it if only to get out of the kindle eco-system. If I can't get a book through overdrive which does happen because if the kobo store doesn't have a listing of a book you borrow, it won't show up on your kobo so you either learn to use epub books or read pdf books or read it through a kindle ereader which I do because I really hate trying to set up epub books or read pdf books. If I love a book (which has been rare these couple of years) and I want a copy, I'll buy the paper version.

What's on your mind these days?

Fiction: Death Before Breakfast

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Charlotte (MotherOwl) over here. This week's prompts are: agile, bleak, comfort, dull, even, full, and/or the photo below from Spencer Gurley, Pexels.

Fiction: Death Before Breakfast
This morning, as Enyo started on buttering the first of ten toasts, she thought of how Spence should die. It was her morning ritual before breakfast ever since she came here. Today, Spence was to fall into a volcano that was just erupting. He would slowly melted away and turned to ash. Yes, that would do. No pieces of him would exist after that, maybe ashes but who would decipher what was the man and what was not?
    It might be bleak to think of death before breakfast but Enyo was used to it. Back in the days, she used to witness one or more deaths before she even had her morning tea. Death was a comfort to her.

Bizarre Blogger Name Generator

July 17 is the 3rd anniversary of this blog you're reading so I thought I post a couple of posts to celebrate with all things blogging. Here's the third post. 
    If you're craving for a new and zany name for your blogger friends to call you instead of your boring, normal name, try the Bizarre Blogger Name Generator. The silliness or just plain weirdness of your new name will drive your friends nuts with joy or maybe disdain. Happiness is almost guaranteed (assuming you actually like the result). If not, please refrain from throwing coffee or other drinks at the screen. Cleaning such mess is guaranteed to be no fun at all. Enjoy your new name! Or not. 

~ Bizarre Blogger Name Generator ~

1. First Name
Pick the last letter (or the first letter) of your first, last or middle name:
A = Taradiddle
B = Widdershins
C = Awesome
D = Snuggery
E = Kismet
F = Everywhen
G = Jacket
H = Quire
I = Amnesia
J = Zephyr
K = Zeugma
L = Firkin
M = Wabbit
N = Quonk
O = Nemesis
P = Moocher
Q = Kerfuffle
R = Moola
S = Headscratcher
T = Zippy
U = Analog
V = Jedi
W = Noob
X = Syzygy
Y = Zneesy
Z = Teazel

Optional: 2. Middle Name
Pick the main color you are currently wearing (or the color closest to it):
Black = Wink
Gray = Wifi
White = Pickle
Green = Smooch
Purple = Smoothoperator
Pink = Dodo
Red = Terminator
Orange = Pout
Yellow = Goutweed
Brown = Bah
Blue = Bubblegum
Indigo = Galaxy
Navy = Beast
Olive = Knotty
Gold = Soufflé
Silver = Do-Re-Mi

3. Last Name
Pick your favorite (or near favorite) drink:
Coffee = Eunoia
Ice Coffee = Nid-Nod
Tea = Bippy
Ice Tea = Bugbear
Milk = Goatbogie
Chocolate Milk = Moonshine
Juice = Cakesmirk
Red Wine = Efete
White Wine = Bananahead
Cider = Talkophobia
Vodka = Froufrou
Whisky = Blackwindow
Beer = Longtalker
Root Beer = Guminmyhair
Soda = Edgeyolks
Fruit Punch = Youyou
Hot Chocolate = Kvetch
Milkshake = Luckjoy
Water = Sandwitch
Smoothie = Doodad
Energy Drink = Woonow
Sparkling Water = Loofah
Lemonade = Earthwalker
Coconut Water = Brouhaha

4. Combine the results and there's your new, zany name. Optional: Scramble the results.

~ ~ ~ ~
Example Answer:
1 - Name used: Lissa, using the last letter which is A = Taradiddle
2 - Color I'm mostly wearing today is Pink = Dodo
3 - My favorite drink is Chocolate Milk = Moonshine
4 - Results when combined: Taradiddle 'Dodo' Moonshine Or when scrambled = Dodo Moonshine Taradiddle  
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59 Reasons why I'm a bad blogger

July 17 is the 3rd anniversary of this blog you're reading so I thought I post a couple of posts to celebrate with all things blogging. Here's the second post.

mouseover the image

I don't think I'm a bad blogger but sometimes I am a bit too lazy to blog. This list is an updated of a similar list I posted on my previous blog and it's not ordered in any way. Why 59? Because the previous list is 49 but that probably doesn't explain it so I guess I don't know why 49 or 59. (Also, because I'm lazy, I'm using the same art.)

59 Reasons why I'm a bad blogger
01 - Late at commenting
02 - Late at replying to comments on my blog
03 - Have a vivid avoidance to social media
04 - Refuse to use hashtags in my post titles
05 - Refuse to use hashtags in my post labels
06 - Spend too much time worrying why people don't like my blog and doing nothing about it
07 - Write posts that may or may not be way too long
08 - Change my blog's header often or maybe not often but certainly more than most bloggers
09 - Sometimes moves to new urls for no reason
10 - Have short attention span
11 - Do not use any type of social media (unless you count blogging)
12 - Sometimes do not like to blog on Mondays
13 - Sometimes avoid blogs that are a bit too challenging for my eyes (such as color or white text on black background)
14 - Refuse to blog after 8 p.m.
15 - Waste a lot of time trying to perfect the look of my blog but ends up putting it back exactly as before
16 - Spend too much time just writing & editing one comment only to rewrite it shorter or delete it and not leave any comment
17 - Sometimes refuse to accept that bloggers can also do social media
18 - Do not have any type of blogging schedule
19 - While blogging, wonder too often why I'm not doing something else
20 - Awkwardly but not too often, tell people there's something wrong with their blog
21 - While reading blogs, sometimes skim through long posts that had no indents or line breaks
22 - Do not often get along with bloggers who leave one comment and never come back again
23 - Join a lot of memes/challenges/blog events so I don't have to think up things to post
24 - Refuse to have a sidebar
25 - Sometimes have no understanding of time
26 - Post erratically or not at all
27 - Post a lot list posts
28 - Do not have a blog niche or any sense what my blog is about
29 - Take too long to update anything on my blog
30 - Waste time stalking old blogs that are not being updated
31 - Do not leave comments for blogs using disqus
32 - Do not leave comments for Wordpress blogs that requires signing only into Wordpress/Twitter/Facebook
33 - Do not have a Wordpress account
34 - Edit/correct/change posts long after they are posted, sometimes a few months after
35 - Do a lot of thinking before hitting the Publish button on a post, sometimes even taking a week or more
36 - Do not know how to spell procrastinate but practice it all the time when blogging
37 - Often feels bad about not commenting enough but does nothing about it
38 - Spend a lot of time writing posts and then abandoning them
39 - Recycle posts ideas often
40 - Spend too much time worrying about what I have said in my comments on other people's blogs
41 - Post a lot of rants and ramblings that may or may not be too negative
42 - Have short thinking span
43 - Post things nobody cares about or have any interest in
44 - Is often a bit too honest and then regret what I post or comment
45 - Make a lot of last moment decisions when it comes to what to post
46 - Ask a lot of dumb questions when commenting
47 - Only blog when I'm in the mood
48 - Really don't like to leave a comment just to leave a comment
49 - Very bad at checking for replies on blogs I leave comments on even when I ask a question that I'm interested in getting an answer
50 - Write a lot of post drafts but don't post about 99% of them
51 - Have a habit of reverting posts to drafts
52 - Takes a lot of blog vacations (where I just don't post)
53 - Do a lot of regretting for some posts that I had posted
54 - Repeat myself a lot but often doesn't realize it until later
55 - Always making excuses not to blog
56 - Mostly don't care to be up to date on anything recent relating to blogging
67 - Do a lot of drive-by-hopping where I read blogs and don't leave comments
58 - Sometimes forget I have a blog
59 - Still don't know why I'm still blogging

Fiction: The Girl in the Closet

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts  are provided by Charlotte (MotherOwl) over here. This week's prompts are: fish, kettle, black, human, cloister, serene and/or flagstone, quarry, bush, rowan, Finnish, mango. I only used the first half of the prompts.

Fiction: The Girl in the Closet

~ ~ 01 ~ ~
The closet is Ida's whole world. In this small space, she has everything she needs and wants. And if it isn't there, she would close her eyes for a moment and open them to find it right in front of her.
    Today, Ida notices the noise outside her closet is different than before. Even though she tunes them out, she is accustomed to the many footsteps, various voices, the fast and slow shuffling of all the movements all around the house. Today, the noise have lessened, as if there are less of them.

The Blogger Freakout Tag

July 17 is the 3rd anniversary of this blog you're reading so I thought I post a couple of posts to celebrate with all things blogging. Here's the first one.
    There is a tag call the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag going around the web with questions about books but nothing about freaking out but I like the title. Inspired by that, I made this question list which I titled The Blogger Freakout Tag but I'm not tagging anyone. According to Dictionary.com, freak out or freak-out means to lose or cause to lose emotional control from extreme excitement, shock, fear, joy, despair, etc.  Feel free to answer 1 or 2 questions or all of them in the comments or on your blog.

~ The Blogger Freakout Tag ~

01 - When you first started your blog, did you freak out and worry you might fail?

02 - If you share something (on your blog) and then regret it, do you revert (to draft)/delete/remove that post or just leave it? Or do you just freak out, calm down and then pretend it never happened?

03 - Have you ever been freaked out or offended by a reader's comment or a blogger's post?

04 - Do you freak out/get annoy when a blogger leaves short comments that are generic or devoid of any relation to the post? (ie, nice blog or good post)

05 - If you cannot access your blog (ie, because of web glitches or wi-fi not working), do you freak out and try to fix it somehow or do you just wait patiently until the problem solves itself?

06 - Does it bothers you when a blogger changes their blog's direction/starts behaving like a new-to-you blog with nothing like the posts you are used to seeing?

07 - Does getting comments (on your blog) makes you giddy?

08 - Was there a time you had freaked out when you made a mistake on your post, ie, got some information wrong or said something that you really shouldn't?

09 - When bloggers overshare (on their blogs), do you get annoyed or happy that they are willing to share even the most intimate of things?

10 - Do you sometimes freak out (in a good way) when you get new readers?