July 13-6: All Star Break

I've been so busy.

Most of my busy time was creative. I kept thinking of Neil Gaiman's annual New Year's instruction: "Don't forget to make some art." There may not be any words to report for the past few days, but art was made.

The stripes are gone.

The hallway was primed

and then painted feather gray.

The hallway looks enormous now - and I can decorate it for the first time.
That means shopping. Yes!

I like it. It's mellow.

The bathroom, a rich chocolate brown that borders on a deep #2, has been mocking me since I built this house. It will soon be wolf gray, two shades darker than the hallway's color. You can see a slice of the bathroom wall through the door on the right in the "after" picture. For me, my house is a palette. Rethinking and redecorating is art.

Also, I burned through a set of AA batteries in my mouse (recharged overnight) as I fulfilled a commitment for two other artsy projects. It was 13 hours over two days of hunching over the computer and right hand crampiness, but they're done. Shutterfly photobooks are on their way.

While busy with these other creative projects, I had time to think through two nagging Summer of Kings problems.

1

The first problem is romance.

Although there are lots of potential hook ups within my cadre of characters, I don't want this to be a "getting a boyfriend" story. Plus, I want to pass the Bechdel Test. Because real life.

So the question that swirled around in my head as I was rolling on paint and tearing off tape and making 6000 mouse clicks was this: Can a book about high school girls without romance as the central goal and driving force even exist?

I have little patience for Twilight-type stories which posit that life without "the one" is worthless. Not that Meyer invented the meme. And not that I don't enjoy romance. I adore Austen. I blissfully read an old Jude Devereaux paperback one afternoon last week. Romance is wonderful. Still, I do think books about teen girls (and even boys, thanks to John Green) lean toward "how to get a partner" overall and over all. Even when they deliberately present something else, here comes... Peeta. And Gale.

Teenage girls do have boys on the brain. It's a biological imperative. But I think a lot of those obsessive thoughts are also self-worth related (thanks to a culture of "life without 'the one' is worthless" on television, especially). Gals think, "Having a boyfriend proves I am worthy of love." And conversely, "Without a partner, I am rubbish."

Meanwhile, books about boys may have secondary plots that are romance related, but so many of them are allowed to be about other things. Friendship. Survival. Ethics. Following a dream. Success. Relationships with a parent. Their girls usually show up as tower princesses, mostly motive/prize. These are not new thoughts. I've read Campbell. I've read Woolf.

So...

As I was completing my art these past few days, I spent a lot of time thinking through the books I teach, the books I've read, and books being read by teens these days. I also spent a lot of time imagining different roles -- roles other than potential love interest -- for the main male characters in my story.

I finally figured out exactly who two of the main male characters need to be. They already had names. Now they have purpose. And that purpose is NOT to fall in love with Sarah.

I think.

2

The second problem I had was related to theme.

I'm in the writer zone. Everywhere I look, everything I do, it all seems symbolic.

e.g. Oh, I'm using my left hand to weed this garden plot. My left hand works better than my right, as it is weaker and pulls the weeds more slowly. I have a better chance of pulling up the weeds by the roots if I'm patient. Or slow. Or simply weak. That works with people, too. An older person (principal) who blusters into a situation and pulls at a problem (unruly student) with his or her "right hand" (yelling, punishment) will only break off the problem. It'll grow back. It is the softer, weaker "left-handed" solution (talking out why the misbehavior occurred, alternative punishments) that truly solves the problem.

This thinking is useful and entertaining. I enjoy making mental leaps. It is also dangerous. Without fetter, it leads to garbage. See: the stupid windblown plastic bag in American Beauty.

I have a long list of possible symbol and theme ideas. Until yesterday, I didn't know which one was dominant. I suspected none of them were. Most importantly, I didn't see how any of them related to my title. Once I figured out "V.S." and how he fits into the whole story, I found my thematic direction. It turns out he's the key to it all (the mystery, the rising conflict/complication, the climax of the story).

Drum roll...

This will be a book about power.

Side note: I'm currently reading Wolf Hall (about power in Henry VIII's England) and Brutal (about power in a high school). Accidental good timing.

July 12: Names

Sarah.
Ryann.
Alex.

I've known since early on that these were my three main characters. Each one is a combination of people I've known here in Monte, in college, and in my family. Plus a little of myself, I suppose. It's hard to avoid that.

They now have last names: Sarah Olson, Ryann James, and Alex Taylor. And they have coworkers, friends, and family members with names, as well. It was fun both surfing the internet with abandon and playing around with the ssa.gov database to find appealing, age-appropriate names for the characters.

There was one surprise.

As I filled out the work schedule on Friday, I realized that Sarah works about a third of her shifts with someone I haven't fully imagined yet. I only know that Sarah's new friend speaks Spanish. She's possibly from Honduras, like several of my students from last year. This was a surprise to me. One that I like very much.

On the homefront, I've decided to do a brown paint purge. That means goodbye, clever but impossible-to-decorate-around hallway stripes.

I almost to forgot to take the before picture!

Yes. I see that I have invoked the golden-throated James Taylor. I'm more than okay with that.

July 11: "Managing" King's

It was a productive day. I felt energized by my day off and inspired by Rowell's Eleanor & Park. However, as I spread out the plot, I realized I didn't know how many people worked at King's. I couldn't plan interactions well if I didn't know who was available for the interacting.

So I became King's manager and created a work schedule for the summer.

It's basically in code. Makes perfect sense to me.

One of my favorite tasks when directing the fall play (something is wrong with me)  is taking 30 kids' schedules (full of sports practices and events, pep band appearances, God-forbid-we-miss-it home football games, music lessons, private dance classes, part-time work, out-of-town field trips, etc.) and figuring out call for the first month's worth of practices, dividing and ordering the scenes so nothing conflicts. I can generally make everything fit except driver's ed. So, yeah, doing a work schedule? FUN.

Most important, I figured out how many employees I need. Ten.

Next up: Finding names for everyone.

July 10: A Day Off

Because

lunch with a friend

sunshine

nap

laundry

sunshine

eleanor and park.

July 9: Of Outlines

In high school, our College Prep Composition teacher, the legendary Jake Polta, required us to write outlines before composing our essays. I hated it. How could I know what I was going to write before I wrote it? The madness continued in college. To skirt this seemingly illogical mental task, I wrote papers, and then I reverse engineered the outlines.

But now?

Now I am an outline lover. And I have a new question: How will I know what to write without planning it beforehand?

So I spent my writing time Wednesday moving ideas from my mind and research notes into a grand Excel document. I have columns for main characters and their nicknames, minor characters/customers, general plot events (out of order so far), pranks, and theme topics. And I have columns for each chapter, where I can sketch outline the events and touchpoints for each chapter. The first five chapters are pretty set.

When I wrote SPOTD, I enjoyed plotting out the super powers and main plot events in this way. It was important to spread out the "good" and "bad" powers and hit the powers I needed at specific times over the course of the story. And I could easily add ideas to any day's outline. When writing, I picked up a chapter's outline and jumped in. Here's a look at an early version of the outline (sorry for the poor quality):

The colors mark my efforts to divide the story into three volumes in a logical way.

I still have serious thinking to do for Summer of Kings. Specifically, my brother Nate has requested scenes of valor, so I need more jeopardy. But the outline is coming together nicely. 

New prewriting: 1136 words

July 8: Yes, I Love Books

I finished reading The Great Santini. I cried. I transcribed half of my second interview. I went to book club. I laughed a little. I cried a little. I drank a little wine. I came home. I transcribed the second half of the interview.

Now begins the more challenging work of complicating my characters' lives, organizing the overall plot (big events and smaller, humorous moments), and WORDS.

When I wrote SPOTD, I started in the middle. Specifically, I wrote Chase's big crash in the barn on Flight Day. This time I suspect I will start at the beginning, as the first sentence is rolling around in my head, 90% ready to be recorded. Once that first sentence is digital pixels, I'll be off and running.

I received this gorgeous poster (which I had ordered) in the mail today:

NaNoWriMo's 2009 promotional poster.

It is currently being flattened on the largest, flattest surface in my library/office, the top of my whiteboard. The one with all my summer to-do jobs listed on it. So I can't see the jobs. So they don't exist. So I can't do them.

Right?

New prewriting: 2290 words

July 7: The Humble Surrender

Monday morning I interviewed the current Art's manager, she of the famed "perfectly beautiful banana split." We talked for a little over an hour. She had some pretty funny stories about working at the ice cream shop, and I intend to steal a few of them.

The most satisfying part of spending time with The Vet was knowing such a talented, patient, and kind person is headed into my world: education. I think she will be a fantastic elementary and/or special education teacher.

Later in the day, I transcribed the first interview (with Newbie). I would have continued with the second interview, but my wrist skin was starting to shine up in a precursor to callous. I love my desktop, but it takes a toll. Plus I needed to make progress on my bookclub book, due Tuesday night.

It has been twenty years since I read Conroy. I love him. Like Irving and Hassler, his prose is rich and lovely, his stories are delightfully place- and time-specific, and his characters have so much heart. They are three authors I rediscover again and again, thinking, "Oh, yeah. That's why I like his writing."

It's a little intimidating to read Conroy, to be honest. So I keep in mind Cheryl Strayed's comments on finishing her first book, from Tiny Beautiful Things page 57:

"I didn’t know if people would think my book was good or bad or horrible or beautiful and I didn’t care. I only knew I no longer had two hearts beating in my chest. I’d pulled one out with my own bare hands. I’d suffered. I’d given it everything I had. / I’d finally been able to give it because I’d let go of all the grandiose ideas I’d once had about myself and writing—so talented! so Young! I’d stopped being grandiose. I’d lowered myself to the notion that the absolute only thing that mattered was getting that extra beating heart out of my chest. Which meant I had to write my book. My very possibly mediocre book. My very possibly never-going-to-be-published book. My absolutely nowhere-in-league-with-the-writers-I’d-admired-so-much-that-I-practically-memorized-their-sentences book. It was 
only then, when I humbly surrendered, that I was able to do the work I needed to do."

New prewriting: 1699 words

July 4-6: My Weekend

Report: Lots of family time, boat rides, sunshine, and too much good food. The best sort of holiday.

No new words of prewriting or sentences. But I'm happy to share that I found a title. For the setting's title, as well as the novel's, I was searching for a connotation-rich, one syllable word that could be a person's last name. It came to me as I was driving to my sister's house: King.

The small dairy freeze will be King's.

The title will be Summer of King's or Summer of Kings.

It sounds a little George R. R. Martin, which I like, and its regality plays off Dairy Queen. Plus, I had a goofy study hall group last semester, the students in which took turns wearing my plastic crown (pictured below), drew crowns all over my white board, and made up silly catch-phrases such as "Do you even king, brah?" They wanted me to write a story about them. I took notes.

For Monday: An interview with the current Art's manager, a 9-year veteran of the place.

July 3: Rebel

I'm breaking the rules. I mostly don't care. Pat says it's okay, after all.

Yesterday I read my first pep talk form the NaNoWriMo website. I selected Patrick Rothfuss, since I just read The Name of the Wind and loved it. The first part of his message was to avoid doing other things and JUST WRITE. Specifically, don't read stuff.

Ironic, given that his 1107 page sequel is near the top of my summer reading pile... As soon as I finish e. lockhart's We Were Liars and my July bookclub book, I'll probably get sucked in.

I also tackled several minor projects (buying supplies to paint my master bathroom, finally weeding my back garden, getting my glasses and lawn mower fixed) and two major projects (reshingling the garage and putting up a decent bird feeder). I expect the rest of July will be just as full of distracting, yet satisfying, accomplishments.

The boys on the roof.

It took me three days to screw the post base into the ground. 

Rothfuss' second message was to break the rules. Specifically, he advised three places NaNoWriMo rules could be bent:

1) "You don't have to start from scratch."
Actually, I am starting from scratch. So I'm following that rule.

2) "Revise sometimes."
Since I haven't started writing sentences, I don't know if it will be hard for me to avoid revision. I suspect it will be nearly impossible. I like revising. Still, I'll try to minimize my revising overall.

3) "Follow your enthusiasm."
That's the one. NaNoWriMo pushes writers to set down at least 1667 words per day in order to reach the 50,000 word goal. I am already at the point where it may impossible to catch up. But I'm so excited about the project and making significant progress daily.

Yesterday I brainstormed for about 40 minutes into my phone's recorder and later typed up those ideas (more prewriting). A few ideas were off track, as happens with good brainstorming. Most ideas were good. A few ideas may be brilliant.

I also set up my interviews with Newbie and the Vet. In fact, Newbie came over for nearly two hours and downloaded her thoughts and emotions during a friendly and informative conversation about her first impressions and challenges working at the ice cream shop. Priceless. So much of her experience will be in the novel. Together we thought of ideas that would work in the story, and I am ready to start writing sentences even before the second interview.


New prewriting: 1257 words
Words: 16 (I have an opening sentence!)

July 2: Research

I love this NaNoWriMo poster.

My favorite quotes:

"The first step in writing a good book: giving yourself permission to write a bad book."
"You are part ninja, part monkey, part starmaster cyborg."
"Write first! Ask questions later!"

I will write a bad book.
I am a ninja monkey starmaster cyborg. NMSC.
I am... asking so many many many questions!

Summer of Art's (working title) happens at an ice cream shop, but I don't know anything about working at an ice cream shop. I am at a loss. I can write the characters, but not the action. So I don't have scene. And it all starts with scene. So yesterday I wrote over 500 words worth of questions about ice cream shops.

And fetched my lunch at the real Art's. (Can I write that off?) The food was good, but I was there to see if I recognized any of the workers -- who knew the answers to my questions.

Thankfully, a recently graduated student of mine whom I know well through extra-curricular activities was window-jockey. I asked for her help.

"Of course I'll help. But it's only my first day," she demured.

Enter another window-working former student, curious.

"How about you? First day?"

"I have nine years experience."

"I need to interview both of you."

My total word count is still nil. But I'm on my way.


BTW: At first I imagined the novel in rotating third-person limited POV. Now I'm pretty sure it's Sarah's story. I'll start with her. I don't think the others will pipe up, but you never know. Wonder paved the way for odd POV shifts.

Also, I ran an SSA list of popular baby names for 1997 and scrolled down to the bottom to find a name for my third character. Close but rejected names:
      999 Stormy (there will be storms of all kinds in the story, too on point)
      993 Elsa (I bet that'll make the top ten for 2014)
      978 Katerina (love the name, but I had a Kat in SPOTD)
      976 Devan (the right feel, but I taught a Devan and am searching for a new name)
      963 Quinn (too Glee)

      966 Ryann

I've never taught one.
I've never met one.
Perhaps a little indulgent, given my name is Ann. She's not based on me, though. And when you say the name, it just sounds like Ryan.
It has a familiarity and uniqueness at once.
Ryann it is.

New prewriting: 545 words
Novel: 0 words

July 1: It's a Start

So... this did not go in the direction I thought it would go.

A few weeks ago I turned my phone's recorder app and listed all the interesting "types" of students I knew. Not the Hollywood-typical "dumb jock" or "Cinderella girl" types that are overused on Disney channel and rarely seen in the real world. Real world kids are so much more complicated than those stereotypes, and most kids fit several of those pre-determined tropes at once. I listed real kids, by name, and tried to describe them on a deeper level.

My first NaNoWriMo-inspired step was to type up that rant (654 words) and see which characters would call me over to say hello.

Three gals did.

Each of them* is complicated in the most wonderful ways. I can't wait to get to know them better. Two of them now have names: Sarah and Alexis. The third is in search of a name. My book club friends, who requested that my next project be either about a girl (if I go the YA route) or a mystery (if I go the adult fiction route) will be happy. So you know, I was not expecting to write about teenage girl drama. But Sarah, Alexis, and No-name are dancing around in my head. There will be drama.

My next step was to decide which computer to use for the actual writing. I love my desktop mac but prefer to sprawl out in more comfortable chairs (and my bed) to write. I charged my Lenovo Yoga laptop and gave it a chance to replace my smaller, more lap-sized PowerBook G4. It won me over. It's not as bulky/awkward to hold as I thought it would be and the touch screen functions are working better than I remember. I just have to get used to the locations of the backspace, shift, and control function keys and remember to hit the "end" and "beginning" buttons instead of mac commands with arrows to maneuver quickly. Give me a few days.

The Lonovo Yoga, along with an accidental glimpse of my summer reading pile

I did (329 words) more prewriting (can't help myself) and fleshed out Sarah, Alexis, and No-name a bit. I added a setting -- one summer at a smalltown ice-cream shop like Art's Dairy Freeze -- and listed a few minor characters and plot complications. Then I paused to consider point of view before jumping in with actual sentences. SPOTD uses first person well enough, but I've known for a while now that my next novel would be in third person limited. I decided to rotate from character to character at chapter breaks.

Then my phone rang. That was the end of my writing for the day.

In my head, I have a fantastic conceit for a high school version of Slumdog Millionaire involving a fostered boy. It's not happening.

Prewriting word count: 988
Novel word count: 0



* the characters, who were inspired by kids I've known but not meant to BE those kids

July Challenge

Last November found me, as usual, in the throes of orchestrating final rehearsals, mounting our high school's fall play, and suffering the subsequent mental, physical, and emotional elation and exhaustion that follows intense art-making. Thanks to that, plus a good dose of Thanksgiving food stupor, I did not join the 563,484 amazing writers who participated in NaNoWriMo. 

But I wanted to. 

I really wanted to.

Crest of National Novel Writing Month (November)

July is my chance to give it a try.

My first novel, which turned into the SPOTD series, took six years to finish. How on earth can I do a 50,000 word novel in a month? I guess we'll find out.

Two Weeks to the Party -- Above Ground

I remember fondly the wide open basement space of the old Willmar library. Each summer, once a week, my mom shuffled the three of us kids to the top of the stairs, we descended, and she promptly took off for a half hour of "me" time. Waiting for us downstairs was story time.

I hate basements, but I loved that basement.

In two weeks, the Montevideo-Chippewa County Public Library will host an open house book signing for Super Power of the Day: The Final Face-Off. Our "space" won't be in a basement, but it will be one I love. Seriously, what could be more fun than hanging out in a LIBRARY? Surrounded by stories...that's my heaven.

An April Book Signing!

Every time I stop in to the local library my buddies behind the counter ask when we'll have an Open House book signing for the final book in the SPOTD series.

This week we decided:

This is wonderful timing. The launches of volumes 1 and 2 were heralded by much local press and interest, but attention for volume 3 was thwarted by busy-ness on my part. A local event would be cause for press releases and coverage... A great opportunity.

Just think. By then the snow will be gone, the sun will be shining, the trees will have leaves, the tulips will be popping, and finches will be building their nests.

Of course, we all thought the snow would be gone by now. And it's not. So maybe I shouldn't make any predictions on the weather front. I take it back.

There will be snacks.  THAT I am sure of.

Where did March go?

It was wonderful to meet so many great little readers and their families at the Montevideo PTSA Letters & Art Night way back in February. It feels like that happened last week. What's wrong with my internal calendar? In any case, here's a shot of my good friend Monica and me set up to share SPOTD with our guests.

We gave out piles of stickers, chatted with everyone who wandered by, and even sold a few books.

After the first hour (pizza and art stroll), I was invited to read a few pages of SPOTD: Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero during the "Celebrity Reading Time." I strolled down the Sanford Elementary hallway looking for  my assigned room of upper elementary... WAIT! THOSE ARE TINY KIDS! SOME OF THEM CAN'T EVEN TALK (much) YET! WHO ORDERED 3 TO 5-YEAR-OLDS FOR MY READING ABOUT A SIXTH GRADER? I TEACH 18-YEAR-OLDS AND HAVE NO CHILDREN OF MY OWN.

WHAT DO I DO?

I learned a lot.

First, I learned that a teacher is a teacher, whether the learners are itty bitty or a few months from university. Engaging them with questions, focusing on them so they know you are listening to their answers, and presenting info in little chunks works with any age. Once I started, my instincts kicked in.

Second, the first few pages of the novel are BRILLIANT for kids to act out. Whenever I read an auditory image, we paused and made the onomatopoetic sound together. Whenever I read a visual image that the kids could mime, we paused and used our bodies. There were claws and growls and squeaks and whooshes and baseball throws and knocks. Such fun!

Finally, and I always knew this, I remembered how much I love to read aloud. It's my favorite. Students in my high school classes know they won't often get called on to read aloud because I hog all the action.

Thanks to the Montevideo PTSA for organizing this wonderful event. You are spreading the love of books and learning to a new generation. I was proud to help out.

Letters and Art Night

Happy February!

It's always sweet to turn my calendar to February, the month of my birth, the snow moon (February 14th this year), and the anniversary of Snow Moon Publishing, which is now three years old. I've accomplished my goal to publish the SPOTD series (one book per year) and look forward to setting and reaching many more writing goals.

But first, a little meet and greet.

Monday, February 10 from 5:00 to 7:00, join me and other Montevideo H-list* celebrities for a night of pizza, reading, and art. It's an ECFE event to be held at the Sanford Education Center here in Montevideo.

Pictures to come!

*H-list = Hometown

Encounters of the Fan Kind

As a newbie to the world of "being recognized," I don't always respond perfectly.

Just before Christmas, I ran into a young fan at the mall in my original hometown. He shyly did the slide-closer-to-Mommy's-leg move as I chatted with his mother. I hesitated to engage him, although I'm perfectly capable of kneeling down and asking a few questions. In the moment, I felt fear. Specifically, an unreasonable fear that if I asked him how he liked the ending, I wouldn't get the answer I wanted to hear – even though he had written me this lovely note after reading volume 2:
 

In retrospect, I realize that I need to get over myself.

Lesson learned: Have a few open-ended questions ready to go and ASK THEM. It was definitely a lost opportunity.

This past weekend, I ran into a home-schooling mother who is reading the series to her kids. They've just finished volume 2 and are eagerly anticipating a dive into the final book. She was effusive in her praise. She loved the ending of the first book, which felt concluded (to her) despite being only the end of part 1. She appreciated how the characters are learning to see from others' perspectives. And she said that her kids were pretty into the story, asking her daily, "What do you think the SPOTD will be today?" And instead of letting her ramble on (basking in the praise), I jumped in and talked over her. I explained my favorite parts and told her why I thought she'd like the last book. In retrospect, I would have enjoyed hearing more from her and less from myself.

Lesson learned: When I meet ultimate fans, I need to step back and shut my trap.

Thankfully, I don't always respond imperfectly when surprised by a reader's attention. Several times in recent weeks I've run into fans who requested volume 3... and voila! Turns out I had copies ready to sell or give away within walking distance. I also graciously accepted my book club's wish to put The Final Face-Off on our reading list for 2014.

Resolution for 2014

It's only January, which means I'm doing well on my 2014 resolution for writing. That's the thing about January. No stamina required (yet).

The big commitment: To do something each month in 2014 to market the SPOTD series.

January:
I contacted my dream agency with a request for representation. They asked for an upload of the text, which meant selecting a book from the series to send. My favorite book is #2, probably because it has the most classic superpowers (flying, invisibility, strength) and because Chase's inner journey ramps up as the veil of youthful self-centeredness starts to fall from his eyes. The story becomes less about a kid playing with superpowers and more about the superpowers playing with him.

But I think #3 is the strongest of the three books, so that's the one I sent. I loved putting together the puzzle of the whole series, and in the third volume, everything that happened in #1 and #2 has extra purpose and weight. Plot points and details that may have seemed extraneous earlier are suddenly indispensable. And I'm especially proud of both my temporal manipulations: the events foretold in precognitive flashes and the events affected by time travel to the past. Trust me, a lot of thought went into avoiding temporal paradoxes. I'm proud of the results.

I have one confession regarding the submission. Before I sent it, I clicked the "exclusive" button -- less to show my commitment to this particular agency (although, as I said, it is my dream agency) and more to let myself off the hook for further agency contacts in January.

Resolution =  check

Happy New Year!

First things first: I am so pleased to have reached my goal of publishing Volume 3 of the SPOTD series this year. Thanks to everyone who supported this fun project! One of my 2014 resolutions is to market the books better so more people (especially kids) have the chance to meet Chase Cooper and his friends.

As I reflect on 2013, I realize that it was one of my favorite years ever. Here are other highlights that I shared with friends and loved ones in my Christmas cards:

* Organizing my sewing closet with help from my niece G. It looks spectacular.

* Best birthday present: My nephew E visiting for the weekend.

* Traveling to Sanibel Island in June with my college housemates. Paddling, reading, eating, shelling, shopping, and sharing time with great friends. 

* Traveling with my sister to Washington DC in July to see a good friend and the sights. Good food.

* Worst night of sleep: Camping in the rolling oven (AKA the Shasta) at Prairie Island Campground in Winona. Seeing performances of Henry V and Twelfth Night at the Great River Shakespeare Festival made the hot night worth it.

* Best. School photo. Ever.

* Directing Peter Pan and Wendy at MHS. Cast and crew of 46, an enormous pirate ship, actual swordplay, and all.

* Taking a voice class at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

* Enjoying lots of family get-togethers at my parents' cabin.

And here is my list of favorites from the year:

Theater: As You Like It (Guthrie)

Music: Maroon 5’s Overexposed and One Republic’s Native

Cinema: No movie astonished me this year… It’s my goal to see more (better) films in 2014.

Movie on DVD: The Decoy Bride

Television: English teacher jokes on the new Michael J Fox sitcom and 80’s jokes on The Goldbergs

Young Adult fiction: Roth’s Divergent series

Adult fiction: The End of Your Life Book Club (Schwalbe), Cinnamon and Gunpowder (Brown)

Geek fiction: The Circle (Eggers)

Digital fiction: Half Way Home (Howey)

Web Series: Emma Approved

Graphic Novel: Stardust (Gaiman and Vess)

Prologue: Death Comes To Pemberley (James)

Binge fests: Orange is the New Black, early seasons of Supernatural and Breaking Bad

I neglected to share my favorite Marvel character of the year, Ming-Na Wen's Melinda May from Agents of Shield. The smartest, strongest, most well respected, least immature character on the series. And she's not only female, but in her 40's and still winning the affections of the requisite hottie. Without drama. 

Here's to a 2014 full of inspiring and entertaining books, movies, and poetry. In the words of the best new year blesser of all time, Neil Gaiman:

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."