I'm a real grownup! Maybe?

This is going to be a sort of a list update. Firstly I want to say that I did get a new phone with new phone number. So if you don't hear from me, or you've texted me with no reply, that's most likely why. Send me a message or email me with your number and we'll get all square. In addition to a new phone I now use apps! Shocking. Scary. I know. I was even able to upload my Starbuck's gift cards to the Starbuck's app so that I can use my phone to get coffee. Mind. Blown.

Speaking of adulting, last week I went to the Pin for Goth Night. It was a bit dead. Which is funny because it was Goth Night, hurrhurr. But it was kind of neat. Hannah and I and one of our witchy friends went out to unleash our inner macabre. It was interesting. And it was free. That's the big key here, it was free and it was an excuse to go all out with black lipstick, dark eyes, frizzy hair, black clothes, and awkward swaying. I actually had a very good time. I had to work the next day so we ended the evening at 10:30PM. 

In other news, I finished the first book of the Seventh Tower series and am now working on number two. This weekend we are celebrating Hannah's birthday. The plan so far is for her and I to go on a writing date at Barnes and Noble starting as soon as we get our butts out the door. And then about 6 or so that night we'll meet people at Peking North for dinner. I'm excited for this as I've been yearning to get back to work on some Death Man. I've been a terrible person - or actually - you know what - I haven't been a terrible person. I've simply not been actively writing. Which doesn't make me terrible. Damn inner critics and mentor's echoes in my head have convinced me that I must be terrible if I went to school for writing and am not currently writing. But that's bullshit. I'm not terrible.

Last news: I'm playing DnD with some friends. I'm going to play a straight & narrow Paladin. He's the babysitter type who doesn't cuss, doesn't drink, doesn't do anything improper. He abides by a strict moral code and is generally not very fun at a party. This should be fun considering he's teaming up with a succubussy tiefling, a rogue, and a clumsy monk. And then another character who I don't know yet. Anyway, it's interesting. I think this is what he's going to look like - see below!

Back to the Books!

Hannah and I are picking out books for each other to read as a sort of "Wifey Book Club." The book I selected for Hannah is The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and the book she selected for me was one that she read many times as a young adult (and it is the book that got her really excited about story-telling and becoming a writer): Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. I haven't read The Alchemy of Stone yet but I picked it for Hannah because it looked very much like something she would enjoy, but she picked Mara for me because she wanted to share a very important memory and piece of her past with me. I'm delighted she picked it. I had tried to read it once before and wasn't feeling it, however this time around I ate it up hungrily.

Last night I did something I haven't done in a very, very long time: I stayed up past my bedtime to read. Don't get me wrong I stay up later all the time (because I'm so responsible!) but it's usually to chit-chat with Hannah or to watch a show or something like that. It's been ages since a book has kept me up. It felt really exhilarating to get carried away by the written word again. So I didn't wait for Hannah to pick the next one. I chose one she had recommended to me a while ago: The Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix. 

This series has been on my mind for two reasons: 1)I'm excited to read this author and 2) it's called the Seventh Tower series but there are only six books. This bothers me greatly! I realize that the name is due to there being seven towers of interest in this fantasy setting. And I realize that Garth only needed six books to tell his tale. But damn. It would have felt so incredibly satisfying if there had been just one more book. That aside, I am excited to get back to reading. And then... back to writing. Gotta work my muscles, my mind, my imagination, my everything so I can start getting my brain back in the game.