In which I get all fangirly about Charlaine Harris -- SPOILER ALERT!!

LAST WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS...
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Do any of my blog peeps read Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series? I just read the two latest books in quick succession (I'd been one book behind for a while) and loved them. I can't wait for the last book!!! I'm dying for a Sam-Sookie match up.

I feel like the last book or two have come under a fair bit of scrutiny but I found them to be just as good as the previous books in the series. One of the things I loved most about the last two books was the slow demise of Sookie's relationship with Eric. I think Charlaine (cuz, you know, we're totally on a first name basis) deftly and realistically handled the break down of their relationship from something that *is* love to something that seems like love but is maybe more of a habit, to something that isn't really love at all. It's easy (or, I should say, easier) to write about big dramatic endings to relationships where one person dies or there is a deep betrayal. But what happened with Sookie and Eric is much more understated and, therefore, much more difficult to carry out in an engaging and believable way in a story.

Sookie and Eric start out being very in love with each other and that simmers down to a comfortable relationship that starts to feel less honeymoon-ish and more everyday. When trouble starts chafing at the feelings between them, they carry on with the things that have grown into a habit - asserting they love each other, telling themselves that they care about each other, making some decisions as though they are still and always will be a couple in deep, passionate love. But eventually, Sookie realizes that maybe she's just saying these things. And that Eric's actions don't back up his words. And that just because the idea of them breaking up is soul-crushing doesn't mean they're still in love after all.

As a reader, I came to these realizations quicker than Sookie did, as I'm sure Charlaine intended me to. But that almost made it better for me. It certainly made it easier for me to handle the letdown of the breakup (even if that didn't help poor Sookie any!). Genius reader-handling. Without this plot point being handled so carefully, I don't think we would be properly reconciled with the ending of DEAD RECKONING or for what Charlaine has in store for DEAD EVER AFTER. (Which I'm only, of course, guessing at.)

I don't know if you read her Harper Connelly series, but she handled another very big, very controversial plot twist in much the same skillful way.

That Charlaine. She's pretty damn talented.

Charlaine's the bomb. May can't get here fast enough!

Chocolate, and other things

I took Ben on a tour and tasting at a local chocolate "factory" yesterday. I use the quotes because the facility is very very small. I had visions of our experience at the Ben and Jerry's Factory tour and the chocolate factory is, like, the size of my living and dining room. So there were a few minutes where we had to adjust our expectations and settle into the reality of the actual experience. But from then on, it was wonderful! We learned a ton about chocolate making and even got to help with some of it. We took all kinds of silly pictures but they were on old-school disposable cameras and I haven't gotten them developed yet.

In other news, I've been making slow progress with my current WIP. It's been especially difficult to carve time out of my schedule to write over the past several months. Wait, let me amend that--to carve time out of my schedule when my brain is still functioning. My day job has spilled over into my personal life and I'm trying to reclaim my personal time for myself. It's a slow process. :)

In other other news, this week marks the first of a six week commitment I've made to myself to exercise, for real. I've done some off-and-on jags with the elliptical machine in the past but this time I'm getting serious and committing to at least 3 times a week and including weights. I know it's going to suck and I'm going to hate every moment of it for a while but I'm hoping that if I press myself through six weeks of it, I'll get past that point to where I at least don't hate it and it feels a little more habitual and integrated into my life, versus some sort of looming Olympic challenge. My first workout is planned for tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Accomplishments

[So...yeah. I'm just jumping back in here without much preamble. No promises as to how often I'll be able to blog or catch up on everyone else's blogs--work life balance still isn't very balanced--but I miss it!]

 Things I have accomplished this weekend:

1. Saw a play (I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI, adapted from Giulia Melluci's memoir by the super hilarious Jacques Lamarre - if you're in the Hartford, CT area, I recommend it for a good laugh)
2. Bought, like, 15 items of clothing (oh, hello there, TJ Maxx)
3. Bought a rug for my Impossible Living Room Situation*!!
4. Determined I need return said rug.
5. Leveled up like 3 times and knocked off a bunch of quests in Skyrim
6. Cleaned out and re-organized my hair and make up drawers OH MY FREAKING WORD I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
7. Worked on Brilliant Novel.

And there are still many hours left in the day! I still have plans to go grocery shopping, get my nails done and possibly return the rug-that-let-me-down.  

Things Logan has accomplished this weekend:

1. Eat
2. Drink
3. Sleep
4. Sunbathe
5. Look cute
6. Gotten hairs all over my pillow

Clearly time well spent for both of us.  


*I have a loden green couch and periwinkle walls. My husband would not budge on the couch, I would not budge on the wall color. I vowed to make it work. It took 5 years to find an accent chair that pulled the two colors together--which, btw, we spent a small fortune on. Another 5 years later, I still don't have a rug that goes with both the couch and the chair. UGH.

Turning into an amoeba

I think I'm devolving.

I used to maximize every moment, seize the day, etc. etc. and lately by the time I get home from work I'm so drained all I can bring myself to do is lay around like a slug and play DrawSomething on my iPhone. Who am I? What am I becoming? Or unbecoming? Damn.

The Day Job is definitely sucking a bunch of my life away, but it's going beyond that. Maybe I need to start taking vitamin D? Maybe I need to drink more? AHA! This downward spiral SUSPICIOUSLY coincides with the point at which I decided to severely reduce my alcohol intake! Problem solved. I just need a glass of wine! ;P

Spring is almost here. Hopefully the change of season will shake me out of this rut. In the meantime, I'll continue to be quiet here when I have no energy and/or only want to whine. :)

I have been making slow progress on the new book, which I continue to be madly in love with. This is a contemporary YA and is definitely presenting its fair share of plotting challenges. How the hell do people make interesting stories about real life???? Haha. No magic system, no one changes into anything (except, perhaps, a new and improved version of themselves) and there are no evil overlords to vanquish. FOR THE LOVE OF RHINOS, WHAT THE HELL DO WE DOOOOO ALL DAY?

So, yeah. Trying to figure out how to get my characters to hit all their narrative touchpoints without a shiny paranormal action plot to move them along.

In other news, I'm growing my hair out. And making wedding invitations for one of my BFFs. And trying to get my addictions to Thai food and Teavana under control. Other than that, it's life per usual around here.

OH! I'll be in San Francisco at the end of the month. Do I have any SF peeps here? Anyone have any must see/must do recommendations?


6/16 ETA: Have closed comments since this post appears to be a huge spam attractor.

Another Earth

Has anyone seen the film Another Earth? Ben and I watched it recently and it's been nagging at me. I can't let go of the central idea of the movie, which is what if you did something utterly unforgivable, something that ruined many lives, but then discovered a way to see what your life--and theirs--would have been like if you had never made that mistake? I love love love this concept and all of its inherent hope and heartbreak. There were other aspects of the film that are bugging me, though, and not in a good way. Like, say, the ending. And the "romantic" "relationship."

Anyone whose watched it, care for a spoilery discussion?

Random Updatery

I'm eating croutons as a snack right now. Is that weird? I think that's weird.

Anyway.

I apparently have to resign myself to the fact that my blogging is simply going to be sporadic. *le sigh* I have the best intentions, really I do. For now, other things continue to worm their way ahead of my LJ on the priority list. I am trying to keep tabs on all of your blogs, though, even if I don't always have time to comment. :)

I started a new project. I feel like I have multiple personality disorder, as I've cycled through several project ideas since finishing TLOS but there it is. I guess, thinking back, I did something similar when I finished B&S. It still strikes me as both strange and wonderful that the things my brain wants to write do not always bear any relation to the things my creative heart wants to write.

I am INSANELY IN LOVE with the new project, though. It's another YA, which is one of the reasons I decided to delay again on the idea I mentioned in my previous post (the old notes), which was definitely adult. Also, the research is FASCINATING! I have two words for you, people: Shaun Ellis. If you can find the National Geographic documentary on him called A Man Among Wolves, watch it. Unbelievable stuff.

(P.S. No, I'm not working on a werewolf book.)

ETA: I meant to point you to this excellent post on Marjorie Liu's blog about how to differentiate yourself as an artist. Really, really great stuff. I've been thinking about it a lot.

Old Notes

Do you ever look back at something you worked on a long time ago and think, "Really? I came up with all that? Huh..."  :)

I've spent the morning going over old notes I made on a book (working title abbreviated: PR) that was Absolutely Going to be the Next Book I Wrote No Really...back before I started on TLOS. This story will not let me go. I have really good notes on it and I like the characters and the potential for conflict between them. Now I just need to figure out plot and how to tell the story. The backstory is huge and essential (I know, I know, everyone thinks that about their characters' backstories but this one really is) and I have to think creatively about how much of that information needs to get to the reader and when.

Hmmm. Time to get to work!