Books Read and Reviewed (24 books)

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 6034 pages
Pages Remaining: 949,211 pages

Current Read

Blameless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate #3) -- Absolutely in love with this series right now. I'm blowing through Blameless and should be starting Heartless very soon. Unfortunately I have to wait a few months for Timeless.

Books Won (7)

Thank you all for hosting some great giveaways! I can't wait to dig into this spooky pile.

Awaking by Madeline Freeman from The Wormhole.
Feed by Mira Grant from Julie at My Book Retreat.
Zombie Apocalypse, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Zombie Blondes from Michelle at Castle Macabre.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs from Lori at Pure Imagination.
Dead on the Delta by Stacey Jay (personalized and signed!!!) from Kelly at Reading the Paranormal.

Series I Gave Up On

Night World -- It became much too formulaic for my tastes. I had to call it quits.

Challenges Completed (6)

Frightful Fall Readathon. Dewey 24-Hour Readathon. Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. Bout of Books Readathon. Page to Screen Reading Challenge. Vampire Challenge.

Three readathons and three reading challenges completed. I am very happy with my success from this past month. Also I am getting closer and closer to my 2011 reading goals (over 80% done!).

Comments

I knew this month would be a transition time. Settling into my full time position meant I had to reexamine my reading habits and time. Hence the abundance of graphic novels in my reading list. They are easier to stop and start than full length novels. Plus I can finish one of them in a day. They helped me smooth over the transition. I already have my TBR list for next month. It's full of historical fiction to wrap up that and some other yearly challenges. I am certain the Fables series will be continued once those books come off hold at the library. And J just told me today that the next The Boys volume comes out towards the end of the month... You know we will be getting and devouring that.

I am crazy. There's no other explanation. I have committed myself to attempting NaNoWriMo this year. Like today! How did I get myself into this? Short answer: I signed up. Long answer: a bit more of a journey. I always have tons of ideas floating in my head. As a child, I used to tell myself stories to fall asleep. I told stories to my dolls, my dog, any and all toys. I was constantly retelling stories I heard and making up a few of my own. I loved it. And then I grew up. Writing and story telling become a thing of the past. When I taught history, I loved telling the stories of history. I loved giving some exposition, describing characters, creating a conflict, and sometimes pointing out a conclusion. History of full of stories and I loved each and every one of them. Unfortunately, I am not teaching anymore. I don't have a good outlet for my storytelling. So I told myself I was going to start writing more. It started with this blog. I began to document my life, my reading, and my stories. I have failed at the story aspect. I've written only a few fiction pieces. But the stories persist.

And so, I signed myself up to complete NaNoWriMo. I have a short story "The Place That Bordered Death" that I wrote for a creative writing class in college. I've always loved that story and think there's more than a few pages in there. I'm going to attempt to expand the story. The core of the story will stay the same, but I will be adding characters, scenes, flashbacks, descriptions to try and fill it out.

I might be absolutely off my rocker, but I'm going to try and do it. Fellow NaNoWriMo participants come find me. My username is TFrances.

October 2011 Wrap-Up

NaNoWriMo Begins!